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INDEX 


AnBADiB  (A.d*),  a  Straight  Hand,  444 

Abb^  (Pro£  Cleveland),  Cloud  Heights — Kinematic   Method, 

398 
Ablwtt  (Dr.  S.  W.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 

Abel  (Sir  Frederick,  F.R.S.) :  Inaugural  Address  at  ihe  Annual 
Spring  Meetmg  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  42  ;  Society 
of  Arts  Albert  Medal  for  1889  awarded  to,  184,  301 

Aberration,  the  Constant  of,  90  ;  Influence  of,  upon  Observa- 
tions of  Solar  Prominences:,  M.  Fizeau,  530 

Ahncy  (Captain  W.  de  W.,  F.R.S.):  Colour  Measurements 
and  Mixture,  313  ;  Apparatus  to  show  Greater  Sensitiveness  of 
Eye  to  Different  Colours,  187 

Abonkir,  Discovery  of  Three  Colossal  Statues  at,  575 

Absolute  and  Gravitation  Systems,  Frederick  Slate,  445 

Academy's,  French,  20,cxx>  franc  Prize  voted  to  Elisee  Reclus, 
i6t 

Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  353 

Acclimatization,  Dr.  Robert  Felkin  on,  508 

Acclimatization  of  Plants,  &c.,  in  Russia,  388 

Achievements  in  Engineering,  1..  F.  Vernon- Harcourt,  147 

Acids,  Cause  of  Insolubility  of  Pure  Metals  in.  Dr.  Weeren,  259 

AcoQstics  :  the  Testing  of  Tuning-forks,  155  ;  on  the  Intensity 
of  Sound,  and  the  Energy  used  by  Organ- pipes,  C.  K. 
Wead,  310  ;  the  Production  of  Musical  Notes  from  Non- 
musical  Sands,  Cecil  Cams  Wilson,  322 

Actinotrocha,  Localities  where  found,  416 

Adami  (J.  George) :  Laboratory  Reports  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  of  Edinburgh,  Vol.  III.,  73;  Immunity, 
Natural  and  Acquired,  422 

Adams  (Matthew  A.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 

Adams  (Prof.  W.  G.,  F.R.S.),  Comparison  of  Simultaneous 
Magnetic  D'sturbances  at  various  Observatories,  and  Deter- 
mination of  the  Value  of  Gaussian  Coefficients  for  those  Ob- 
servatories, 237 

Aden,  Voracity  uf  Rats  at,  Capt.  R.  Light,  600 

Admiralty,  Hydrographic  Department  of,  500 

Advertisements  for  Instructors,  565 

Aeronautics  :  New  Method  of  determining  Vertical  Motion  of 
Aeronauts,  A.  Duboin,  144 ;  Experimental  Researches  on 
Mechanical  Flight,  Prof.  S.  P.  Langley,  277  ;  Maxin.'s  New 
Flying  Machine,  303 

Aerostats,  New  Method  of  determining  Vertical  Motion  of, 
A.  Duboin,  144 

Afghanistan,  Meteorology  and  Climatology  of  Northern,  W.  L. 
Dallas,  529 

Africa  :  Mnjor  Claude  M.  Macdonald  on  tho  Renue  and  the 
Kibbe,  46 ;  Ornithology  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  Era  in 
Pasha,  87;  Cetaceans  in  African  Lakes,  124,  198;  an 
Account  of  the  First  Ascent  of  Kilimanjar),  by  Dr.  Hans 
Meyer,  149  ;  the  Yoruba  Country,  Alvan  Millson,  209 ;  a 
Journey  in  Gazaland,  Denis  Doyle,  209  ;  Theodore  Bern's 
Investigation  of  Zimbabye  Ruins,  451  ;  Livingstone  and  the 
Exploration  of  Central,  H.  H.  Johnston,  492 ;  Colonel 
Hold  itch  on  the  Application  of  Indian  Geographical  Suivjy 
Methods  to,  508  ;  Mrs.  French  Sheldon  on  East,  508  ;  Mr 
Joseph  Thomson's  Explorations  in  South,  598 

Agriculture:   Technical   Education  in.   Dr.   W.   Fream,    137 
Agricultural   Education,    University   of  Oxford   and,     183 
how  can  the  Weather  Service  best  promote,  M.   W.    Har 
rington,  165  ;  Nit-ification  and  Aj^riculiural  Chemistry,    R 
Warington,     190 ;     Mr.    C.    A.    Barber    appointed    bupcr 
intendent   of   the    Agricultural     Department    of    the    Lee 
ward    Islands,   257 ;   Agricultural    Gazette    of   New  South 
Wales,   303 ;    Proceedings  of  the    Association    of    OflScinl 
Agricultural  Chemists,  317  ;  Agriculture  in  Japan,  Manuring 


Experiments  with  Paddy,  Dr.  O.  Kellner,  Y.  Kozai,  Y.  Mori, 
and  M.  Nagaoka,  353  ;  Dairy  Work  in  New  South  Wales, 
436  ;  International  Agricultural  Congress,  450 ;  Agriculture 
in  New  South  Wales,  451 ;  Agricultural  Entomology,  Resigna- 
tion of  Miss  Ormerod,  451,  528;  Contemplated  Central 
Agricultural  Institute  in  Russia,  502  ;  Victoria,  Department 
of  Agriculture,  Summary  of  Tasks  undertaken  by,  D. 
McAlpine,  529 ;  the  Farmers  and  the  Victoria  Department 
of  Agriculture,  D.  A.  Crichton,  550;  Projected  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College  at  San  Paulo,  Brazil,  549 

Air:  New  Gravimetric  Method  of  ascertaining  Comp'>sition  of 
Atmospheric,  A.  Leduc,  311  ;  the  Expansion  and  Compres- 
sibility of  Atmospheric,  A.  W.  Witkowski,  312 

Air-pressure  and  Temperature  on  Summit  of  Sonnblick,  Studies 
of,  Dr.  J.   Hann,  112 

Airy  (Sir  G.  B.,  F. R.S):  Completion  of  his  Ninetieth  Year, 
302  ;  his  Popular  Astronomy.  319 

Aiiken  (John,  F.R.S  ) :  a  Method  of  Counting  Water  Particles 
in  Fog,  119  ;  on  the  Sjlid  and  Liquid  Particles  in  Clouds, 
279 

Aitken  (Edith),  Elementary  Text -book  of  Botany  for  the  Use 
of  Schools,  467 

Alaska,  Prof.  RusselTs  Excursion  to,  629 

Albatross  :  the  Wandering,  a  Remarkable  Characteristic  of,  Sir 
Walter  Buller,  F.R.S.,  502  ;  a  New  Species  of.  Sir  Walter 
Buller,  F.R.S.,  502 

Albert  University,  the  Proposed,  W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer,  F.R.S., 
196;  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  222  ;  Prof.  G.  Carey 
Foster,  F.R.S.,  223,  257;  Prof.  G.  Croom  Robertson,  248; 
Rev.  Dr.  A.  Irving,  248 

Alcock  (Dr.  A.),  the  Cruise  of  the  Investigator,  501,  528 

Alcohol,  Muscular  Strength  diminiihfd  by,  MM.  Gtehant  and 
Quinquaud,  135 

Alcohol,  Physiological  Eflfects  of.  Dr.  Samuel  Wilks,  353 

Alcoholism,  Prof.  Harald  Westergaard,  484 

Alexandroff  (N),  the  Molecular  Weights  of  .\lbumen,  358 

Algebra,  Solutions  of  the  Examples  in  Charles  Smith's  lilemen- 
lary,  A.  G.  Cracknell,  444 

Algebra,  on  the  Evolution  of.  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde,  470 

Algeria,  the  Eocene  Fv>rmaiions  of,  .MM.  Pomel  and  Ficheur, 
264 

Alkyl  Sulphides  in  Petroleum  Oil,  89 

Allen  (Laurence),  Defective  Ventilation  in  American  Schools, 
476 

Allen  (W.  D.),  Forging  Press,  579 

Alloy,  Brilliant  Purple  Gold  and  .\luminium,  Prof.  Roberts- 
Austen,  III 

Almanac,  the  Nautical,  593 

Alphabet  of  Motions  J.  S.  Dismorr,  225 

Alpine  Flora,  the,  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  6  ;  J.  Innes  Rogers,  6 ; 
I.  Lovel,  83 

Alpine  Glaciers,  the  Variations  of,  389 

Alsace  Lorraine,  Meteorological  Service  E«?»abli>hed  in,  233 

Alternate  Current  Motors  at  the  Frankfort  International  Electri- 
cal Exhibition,  615 

Alum  Solution,  Harry  Napier  Draper,  446  ;  Ch.  Ed.  Guillaume, 
540;  Shelford  Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  565 

Amber  of  Cedar  Lake,  the  socilled,  B.  J.  Harrington,  584 

Ambleside,  Aurora  seen  at,  Mr.  Tuckwell,  475 

America  :  North,  Fossil  Insects  of,  with  Notes  on  some  Europe.in 
Species,  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  R.  Lydekker,  i  ;  American  Jour- 
nal of  Science.  91,  18  ^  310,  439,  463,  584  ;  American  Meteoro- 
logical Journal,  92,  165,  309,  464,  512  ;  the  Destruptivin  of 
American  Fauna,  113;  a  Geological  Excursion  in  America, 
S.    F.    Emmons,    182  j    Cap'.ain    Dutton    and   Geology    in 


VI 


Index 


[SuppLtTneni  to  Nature^ 
November  76,  1891 


America,  183  ;  American  Ethnological  Expedition  to  Labra- 
dor, 185  ;  American  National  Geographic  Society,  281  ; 
American  Journal  of  Mathematics  310;  Astron)my  in 
America,  323  ;  Appointments  to  Western  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Allegheny  Observatory,  323;  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Washington 
Meeting,  469 ;  Prof.  Geo.  L.  Go  >dale  on  some  of  the 
Possibilities  of  Economic  Botany,  470  ;  Section  A — Mathe- 
matics and  Astronomy,  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde  on  the  Evolution 
of  Algebra,  470  ;  Section  B — Physics,  Prof.  F.  E.  Nipher  on  1 
the  Functions  and  Nature  of  the  Ether  of  Space,  471  ; 
Section  C  —Chemistry,  Biological  Functions  of  the  Lecithines, 
by  Walter  Maxwell,  471  ;  Section  D — Mechanical  Science 
and  Engineering,  B.  £.  Fermor  on  Government  Timber 
Tests,  471  ;  Section  E — Geology  and  Geography,  Prof.  J.  J. 
Stevenson  on  the  Relations  of  the  Chemung  and  Catskill  on 
the  Eastern  Side  of  the  Appalachian  Basin,  471  ;  William 
Hallock,  a  Preliminary  Report  of  Observations  at  the  Deep 
Well,  Wheeling,  N.  Va.,  472;  Section  F— Biology,  Prof. 
John  M.  Coulter  on  the  Future  of  Systematic  Botany,  472  ; 
Section  H — Anthropology,  473  ;  Section  I — Economic 
Science  and  Statistics,  473  ;  Defective  Ventilation  in 
American  Schools,  Laurence  Allen,  476  ;  American  W^ealher 
Bureau,  59S  ;  Geological  Society  of  America,  601  ;  the 
International  Geological  Excursion  in,  629  ;  Amerrique 
Indians  at  Nicaragua,  J.  Crawford,  502 

Ammonium  Sulpho vanadate.  Crystallization  of,  Drs.  Kriiss 
and  Ghnmais,  19 

Amphioxus,  the  Later  Larval  Development  of,  Arthur  Willey, 
21,  202 

Amsterdam,  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  72,  144,  288 

Anaesthesia,  by  Subcutaneous  Injection  of  Distilled  Water,  Pro- 
duction of  Local,  Dr.  Sleich,  452 

Anatomy  of  Helodernia,  G.  A.  Boulenger,  444 

Anderson  (Dr.),  on  the  Constitution  of  Ordnance  Factories,  578 

Anderson  (William),  proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  15 

Andes,  Transandine  Railway  across  the,  87 

Andre  (Ch.),  Calorimetric  Research  on  Sugar-derived  Humic 
Acid,  144 ;  Contributions  to  the  Study  of  Atmospheric 
Electricity,  240 

Andrew  (James),  Pugnacity  of  Male  Ostrich  in  the  Nesting 
Season,  452 

Andrews  (Thos.,  F.R.S.),  the  Passive  State  of  Iron  and 
Steel,  92 

Aneroid  Barometer  and  Leibnitz,  40 

Animal  Chlorophyll,  Dr.  Ludwig  von  Graff,  Prof.  E.  Ray 
Lankester,  F.R.S.,  465 

Animal  Life  on  a  Coral  Reef,  Dr.  S.  J.  Hickson,  90 

Animals,  the  Evolution  of,  F.  Priem,  R.  Lydekker,  243 

Annelid,  the  Protective  Device  of  an,  Arnold  T.  Watson,  507 

Annuaire  de  I'Observatoire  Municipale  de  Montsouris,  576 

Anschutz's  Photographs  of  Rapid  Movements,  352 

Antarctic  Expedition,  Baron  Nordenskioid's  proposed,  231 

Anthropology:  the  Diminution  of  the  Jaw  in  Civilized  Races, 
326  ;  Opening  Address  in  Section  H,  by  Prof.  Max  Miiller, 
at  the  British  Association,  428  ;  Abnormal  Development 
of  Anns  and  Chests  of  Fakaofu  Islanders,  presumably  caused 
by  constant  Paddling,  J.  J.  Lister,  476  ;  Rarity  of  Colour 
Blindness  in  Savage  Races,  Dr.  L.  W.  Fox,  477 ;  Prof. 
R.  K.  Douglas  on  the  Social  and  Religious  Ideas  of  the 
Chinese,  510  ;  Major  J.  W.  Powell  on  Indian  Languages,  51 1  ; 
the  Marquis  of  Bute  on  the  Language  of  Teneriffe,  511  ;  Dr. 
E.  B.  Tyl  ir,  F.R.S.,  on  Savage  Religion,  511  ;  S.  E.  Peal 
on  the  Aforon^  of  the  Natives  of  Asam,  511  ;  Dr.  Garson  on 
Human  Remains  found  in  Yorkshire,  511;  Miss  Buckland  on 
the  *•  Mountain  Chant,"  511  ;  Dr.  S.  A.  K.  Straban  on  In- 
stinctive Criminality,  511  ;  E.  H.  Man  on  Nicobar  Pottery, 
512  ;  the  Melanesians,  Studies  in  their  Anthropology  and 
Folk-lore,  Dr.  R.  H.  Codrington,  613  ;  Primitive  Man  and 
Stone  Hammers,  J.  D.  McGuire,  630 

Antiseptic,  Microcidine,  a  New,  Prof.  Berlioz,  232 

Ants,  White,  Jackals  and  Jungle  Cocks,  30 

Aquatic  Insects,  some  Difficulties  in  the  Life  of,  Prof.  L.  C. 
Miall,  457 

Arab  Domination  to  British  Rule,  South  Africa  fro  u,  564 

Arachnida,  Propulsion  of  Silk  by  Spiders,  30 

Archjean  Gneiss  of  the  North- West  Highlands  of  Scotlan  J,  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie.  F.R.S.,  480 

Archaeology  :  Rock-sculptures  in  Scotland,  Sir  Herbert  Max- 
well, 350;  Discovery  of  Ancient  RDman  Helmet  in  Tiber, 
476  ;  Discovery  of  Three  Colossal  Statues  at  Aboukir,  575  ; 


Discovery  of  Anglo-Saxon  Skeletons  near  Lewes,  575 ; 
Mr.  C.  L.  Wacker's  Arcbseologtcal  Researches  in  South- 
West  New  Mexico,  576 ;  Album  de  Paleographie  Copte, 
pour  seivir  4  T Introduction  Paleographique  des  Actes 
des  Martyrs  de  I'Egypte.  Henri  Hyvemat,  609  ;  Flinders- 
Petrie  on  Exploration  in  Eg\  pt,  630 

Arctic  Expedition,  Lieutenant  Peary's  projected  Botanical, 
231 

Argyll  (the  Duke  of,  F.  R.  S.),  the  Green  Sandpiper,  274 

Arloing(Dr.  S.),   Les  Virus,  27 

Arloing  (Prof.),  Alleged  Danger  of  Consuming  Milk  and  Meat 
of  Tuberculous  Animals,  396 

Armstrong  (Prof.  H.  E.,  F.R.S.) :  the  Function  of  Chlorine  in 
Acid  Chlorides,  71  ;  Bromo-derivatives  of  Beianaphthol, 
Action  of  Nitric  Acid  on  Naphthol  Derivatives,  Formation 
of  Nitro-keto  Compounds,  New  Method  of  preparing  Nitro- 
derivatives.  Use  of  Nitrogen  Dioxide  as  a  Nitrating  Agent, 
190  ;  Chemical  Ctianges  occurring  in  Pi  ante  Cell,  237  ;  the 
Formation  of  Salts,  a  Contribution  to  the  Theory  of  Electro- 
lysis, and  of  Nature  of  Chemical  Change  in  Case  of  Non- 
electrolytes,  287 

Arsenic  for  the  Preparation  of  Plants,  Danger  of  using,  232 

Art,  Gallery  of  British,  at  South  Kensington  and  the  Science 
Museum,  37,  255,  388 

Art.  Physical  Science  for  Artists,  Prof.  J.  Norman  Lockyer, 
F.k.S.,  175,  227 

Art,  the  Existing  Schools  of  Science  and,  Oliver  S.  Dawson, 

547 
Artichokes.  Jerusalem,  at  Different  Periods  of  Growth,  Varia- 
tion of  Compo>iiion  of,  G.  Lechartier,  608 
Ascidians,  the  Classification  of.  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  130 
Ashmolean  Society,  ill 

Asia,  Prof.  Vambery  on  Britiah  Civilization  in,  88 
Asiatic  Wild  Sheep,  Specimens  of,  at  the  British  Museum,  40 
Assam  and  Burmah,  Botanical  Survey  in.  Dr.  King,  549 
Assam,  Mr.  W.  L.  Sclater's  projected  Collecting  Expedition  to 

Upper,  598 
Assmann  (Dr.  R.),  the  Aspiration  Psychrometer  and  its  Use  in 

Balloons,  512 
Asteroids,  New,  164,  438,  453,  504,  530.  S?^,  631 
Astronomy:  Prof.  I.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  on  Some 
Points  in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy,  8,  57,  107,  199 ; 
Apparent  Flattening  of  the  Vault  of  the  Heavens,  Prof. 
Reimann,  67 ;  Astronomical  Column,  69,  89,  115,  138,  164, 
209,  234.  259,  283,  305,  327,  355,  391,  438,  4S3,  478,  504, 
530,  55i»  577i  601,  631  ;  the  Photography  of  Faint 
Nebulae,  69  ;  Variations  in  Latituda,  Prof.  Van  de  Sande 
Bakhuyzen,  69;  Rediscovery  of  Wolfs  Comet  (1884  HI.), 
69  ;  Annual  Report  of  the  Paris  Observatory,  70 ;  a  Comet 
observed  from  Sunrise  to  Noon,  Captain  William  Ellacott, 
82  ;  Annual  Visitation  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich, 
87,  129;  the  Constant  of  Aberration,  90;  the  Meridian  Pho- 
tometer, 115  ;  Report  of  Harvard  College  Observatory,  115  ; 
the  Solar  Parallax  and  its  related  Constants,  Prof.  W.  Hark- 
ness,  115;  Observation  of  Passage  of  Mercury  across  Son's 
Di>k,  May  9,  1891,  D.  Eginiiis,  119;  Determination  of 
Solar  Constant,  R.  Savelief,  1 19 ;  Earth  Currents,  the 
Electric  Railway  and  the  Royal  Observatory,  William  Ellis, 
127  ;  the  Spectra  of  Double  Stars,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering, 
138  :  the  Perseid  Radiant,  138  ;  Newly- discovered  Markings 
on  Saturn,  A.  Stanley  W^illiams,  164 ;  Partial  Solar  Eclipse 
of  June  6,  1890,  M.  Perrotin,  168;  Brooks's  Comet,  1890 
II.,  G.  Rayet  and  L.  Picart,  168;  Prof.  Pritchard's 
Report  on  Oxford  University  Observatory,  184  ;  Obser- 
vations of  W^olf's  Periodic  Comet,  192,  478 :  Death 
of  Norman  Pogson,  205  ;  Formation  in  Berlin  of  a  Union  of 
Friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmical  Physics,  206,  507  ;  the 
Capture  Theory  of  Comets,  209 ;  Wolfs  Periodic  Comet  {b 
1891),  209;  the  Condition  of  Space,  Sydney  Lupton,  210  ; 
the  Draper  Catalogue,  Prof.  Edward  C.  Pickering,  223  ;  the 
Smithsonian  Astro- Physical  Observatory,  254  ;  the  Stellar 
Cluster  X  Persei,  259 ;  Lunar  Inequality  of  Long  Period 
owing  to  Action  of  Venus,  F.  Tisserand,  263  ;  a  Cause  of 
Lunar  Libration,  S.  E.  Peal,  283  ;  Double-Star  Observations, 
S.  W.  Burnham,  283  ;  Observations  of  the  Zodiacal  Counter 
Glow,  E.  E.  Barnard,  283  ;  Observatory  of  Vale  University, 
Dr.  Elkin,  283  ;  the  Gi eat  Comet  of  1882,  SerenoE.  Bishop, 
293  ;  the  Solar  Corona,  Dr.  J.  M.  Schaeberle,  300  ;  Prof. 
J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  300:  Apparent  Total  Disap- 
pearance of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  C.  Flammarion,  311  ;  Popular 
Astronomy,  by  Sir  George  B.  Airy,  F.R.S.,  319  ;  Appoint- 


Natmmker^  1891 


Index 


Vll 


ments  to  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  Allegheny 
Observatory,  323  ;  Prize  offered  by  Fiirstlicb  Jablonowsky 
Gesellschaft,  325  ;  Researches  on  the  Mean  Density  of  the 
Earth,  Prof.  A.  Coma,  327  ;  Parallax  of  P  Ursae  Majoris, 
327 ;  Lessons  in  Astronomy,  C.  A.  Young,  342  ;  a  Mag- 
nificent Meteor,  Donald  Cameron,  343  ;  the  Spectrum  of  3 
Ljrse,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  355  ;  the  Polarization  Theory 
of  the  Solar  Corona,  Prof.  Frank  H.  Bigelow,  355  ;  Observa- 
tions of  the  Motion  of  Sirius,  Prof.  Vogel,  355  ;  Return  of 
Encke's  Comet,  355;  Periodic  Variations  of  Latitudes  of  Solar 
Prominences,  A.  Kicc6,  360  ;  Bright  Streaks  on  the  Moon, 
the  Astronomer- Royal  for  Scotland,  360 ;  Pogson's  Observa- 
tions at  the  Madras  Observatory,  388  ;  Prof.  Lodge's  Pioneers 
of  Science,  415  ;  the  Proposed  Ot)servatory  on  Mont  Blanc, 
416 ;  Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering, 
438  ;  Photography  of  Solar  Prominences,  M.  Deslandres, 
438  ;  Encke's  Comet  {c  1 891),  Dr.  Backlund,  438 ;  a  New  Aste- 
roid, 438 ;  Jupiter  and  his  Markings,  W.  F.  Denning,  439  ; 
Solu  Observations,  Prof.  Tacchini,  453  ;  Connection  l^tween 
Terrestrial  Magnetism  and  Radiant  Sunlight,  Prof.  Frank  H. 
Bigelow,  453  ;  Two  New  Asteroids,  453  ;  Prof.  Newton  on  the 
Action  of  Jupiter  on  Comets,  453  ;  Solar  Observations,  Prof. 
Tacchini,  453  ;  W.  E.  Wilson  on  the  Absorption  of  Heat  in 
the  Solar  Atmosphere,  453  ;  Dr.  Copeland  on  Bright  Streaks 
in  the  Moon,  454  ;  Telescopic  Work  for  Starlight  Evenings, 
W.  F.  Denning,  467  ;  the  Linear  Arrangement  of  Stars,  478  ; 
Influence  that  Aberration  of  Light  may  exercise  on  Spectro- 
scopic Observations  of  Solar  Prominences,  M.  Fizeau,  488  ; 
Distribution  of  Solar  Phenomena  during  first  half  of  1891, 
P.  Tacchini,  488  ;  Messrs.  Philip  and  Son*s  New  Orrery,  501 ; 
Lightning  Spectra,  W.  E.  Wood,  504 ;  Photographic  Magni- 
tudes of  Stars,  Dr.  Scheiner,  526  ;  Influence  of^  Aberration 
upon  Ob-ervations  of  Solar  Prominences,  M.  Fizeau,  530 ; 
Physical  Appearance  of  Periodic  Comets,  G.  E.  Barnard, 
551;  Discovery  of  Teropel-Swift's  Comet,  551  ;  the  Siin*s 
Motion  in  Space,  A.  M.  Clerke,  572  ;  Measurements  of  Lunar 
Radiant  Heat,  577  ;  Two  New  Variable  Stars,  Rev.  T.  E. 
Espin,  578  ;  a  New  Comet,  578  ;  the  Story  of  the  Heavens, 
Sir  Robert  Stawell  Ball,  F.R.S.,  589  ;  Distribution  of  Lunar 
Heat,  Frank  H.  Very's,  601  ;  an  Astronomer's  Work  in  a 
Modem  Observatory,  Dr.  David  Gill,  F.R.S.,  603  ;  Tempel- 
Swift's  Periodic  Comet,  G.  Bigourdan,  608  ;  Peisonal  Equa- 
lion  in  Transit  Observations,  P.  Stroovant,  608  ;  the  Zodiacal 
Light  and  Auroras,  M.  A.  Veeder,  631  ;  Comet  e  1891,  631  ; 
Double  Stars,  631  ;  Jupiter's  First  Satellite,  631 

Athens,  Earthquake  at,  40 

Atkins  (Tommy,  Sen.),  W  =  M^,  493 

Atkinson  (Rev.  J.  C),  Forty  Years  in  a  Moorland  Parish,  122 

Atkinson  (R,  W.),  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  at  Cardiff, 
204 

Atlantic,  Pilot  Chart  of  North,  for  July,  281  ;  for  September 
1891,  501 

Atomic  Weight  Determination,  Stas's  Work  in,  134 

Attaches,  Engineer,  to  Austrian  Embassies,  proposed,  575 

Anerbach  (Prof.),  the  Measurement  of  Hardness  in  Transparent 
Bodies,  282 

Aurora  seen  at  Ambleside,  Mr.  Tuck  well,  475 

Aurora  Borealis,  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  494,  519,  541  ;  W. 
Dnppa-Crotch,  614;  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.,  614 

Aurora,  2U)diacal  Light  as  related  to,  O.  T.  Sherman,  310 

Aurora,  the  Heights  of,  T.  W.  Backhouse,  541 

Anrorae,  Zodiacal  Light  and,  M.  A.  Veeder,  631 

Ausdehnungslehre,  Quaternions  and  the.  Prof.  J.  Willard 
Gibbs,  79 ;  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait,  105 

Australia:  Australasian  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  40,  450,  574 ;  Exploration  of  Central  Australia, 
Alexander  McPhee,  67 ;  Meteorological  Service  of  Australasia, 
88 ;  Nest  and  Eggs  of  the  Catbird,  A.  J.  North,  207;  Luminous 
In.>^ecCs  in  the  Australian  Bush,  Henry  Deane,  233  ;  Earth- 
quake Shocks  in  Italy  and  Au'^tralia,  R,  L.  J.  Ellery,  F.R.S., 
272  ;  the  Australian  Marsupial  Mole,  Notaryctes  typhlops. 
Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater.  F.  R.S.,  449;  Extraordinary  Rainfall 
(1*190)  in,  Charles  Todd,  501  ;  Olive  Growing  in.  Principal 
Thomson,  501 

Ayrton  (Prof.  W.  E.,  F.R.S.) :  Quadrant  Electrometers,  166  : 
Alternate  Current  and  Potential  Difference  Analogies  in 
Methods  of  Measuring  Power,  237  ;  Construction  of  Non- 
inductive  Resistances,  261 

Azoimide,  New  Method  of  Preparing,  Drs.  Noelting  and 
Grandmougin,  600 

Azores,  Earthquake  in  the,  475 


B.Sc.  Exam.,  Lond.  Univ.  1892,  Edward  J.  Burrell,  565 

Backhouse  (T.  W.),  the  Heights  of  Auroras,  541 

Backlund  (Dr.),  Encke's  Comet,  c  1891,  438 

Bacteriology :  Les  Viras,  par  Dr.  S.    Arloing,  27 ;   Bacterio- 

l(^ical  and  Chemical  Examination  of  Potable  Waters,   A. 

E.  S.  C.  Newman,  74 ;  the  British  Institute  of  Preventive 

Medicine,  86  ;  Leprosy  Bacillus  cultivated  in  Seram,  by  Drs. 

Rake  and   Buckmaster  and  Surgeon-Major  Thomson,    16 1  ; 

Bacteria  and  their  Products,   Sims  Woodhead,  M.D.,  246; 

Congress  of  Hygiene  on  Bacteriology,  419  ;  Manuel  Pratique 

d' Analyse   Bacteriologique    des    Eaux,    Dr.    Miquel,    Prof. 

Percy  F.  Frankland,  F.R.S.,  513 
Bailey  (G.  H.),  University  of  London,  105 
Baines  (A.  C),  Soaring  of  Birds,  520 
Baker  (J.  G.,  F.R.S.) :  Hand-book  of  the  Femsof  Kaffraria,  T. 

R.  Sim,  75  ;  European  Botany,  Vol.  I.,  K.  Richter,  100 
Bakhuyzen  (Prof.  Van  de  Sande),  on  Variations  in  Latitude,  69 
Ball  (Sir  R.  Stawell,   F.R.S.):on  the  Cause  of  an   Ice  Age, 

480 ;  the  Story  of  the  Heavens,  589 
Bail   (V.,   F.R.S.):   Cetaceans  in   African   Lakes,   198;   the 

Koh-i-Nur,  a  Reply,  592 
Balloons,  the  Aspiration  Psycbrometer  and  its  Use  in  Balloons, 

Dr.  R.  Assmann,  512 
Baltimore  Fishing  School,  the,  549 
Bang  (Dr.),  Tuberculosis,  395 

Bangor  University  College,  Electricity  in  the  Physical  Depart- 
ment, 18 
Barber  (Mr.  C.  A  ),  appointed  Superintendent  of  Agricultural 

Department  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  257 
Barclay  (Dr.),  Death  of,  435 
Barlow  (Dr.),  Tuberculosis  in  Children,  397 
Barnard  (E.  E.) :  Observations  of  the  Zodiacal  Counter  Glow, 

283  ;  Ph3rsical  Appearance  of  Periodic  Comets,  551 
Barnes  (Lieutenant  H.  E  ),  Birds  Nesting  in  Western  India,  42 
Barometer,  the  Aneroid,  and  Leibnitz,  40 
Barometer  at  Ben  Nevis  Observatory  in  Relation  to  Wind,  Dr. 

Buchan,  167 
Barometric  Depression,  Erratic  Track  of  a.  Rev.  W.  Clement 

Ley,  150 
Barometric  Observations,  Prof.  Hellmann  on,  66 
Barrington   (.Sir  Vincent)  and    Surgeon-General  Bostock,  the 

Hospital  and  Ambulance  Organization  of  the  Metropolitan 

Asylums  Board  for  the  Removal  and  Isolation  of  Infectious 

Diseases,  486 
Basalt,  the  Specific  Heat  of,  456 
Batelli's  (Signor)    Exp-riments  on   Water-evaporation  in  Sun 

and  in  Shade,  136 
Bateman  (Dr.),  elected  Associate  of  Paris  Academy  of  Medicine, 

351 
Bateson  (W.),  Supernumerary  Legs  and  Antennae  in  Beetles, 

188 
Beam  (William)  and   Dr.   Henry  Leffmann,   Examination   of 

Wiiter  for  Sanitary  and  Technical  Purposes,  102 
Beare  (Prof.  Thomas  Hudson),  Translation  of  Luigi  Cremona's 

Graphical  Statics,  221 
Beaumont  on  Screw  Propellers,  510 
Becquerel  (Edmond),  Death  of,  39 
Becquerel  (Henri)  on  Underground  Temperatures,  632 
Bees  and  Honey-dew,  F.  M.  Burton,  343 
Bees  in  New  Zealand,  G.  M.  Thomson  on,  19 
Bees,  Remarkable  Instance  of  Frugality  in,  W.  H.  Harris,  550 
Beetle,  fam.  Curculionidse,  as  an  Example  of  Protective  Colora- 
tion, a  New  South  Wales,  Mr.  Froggatt,  576 
Beetles,   Supernumerary  Legs  and  Antennze  in,  W.  Bateson, 

188 
Belgian  Academy  of  Sciences,  Subjects  for  Prize  Competition 

Proposed  by,  136 
Bell  (Alfred),  Post-Tertiary  Marine  Deposits  on  South  Coast  of 

England,  191 
Bell  (John),  a  Dog  Story,  521 
Ben  Nevis  Observatory  in  Relation  to  Wind,   Barometer  at, 

Dr.  Buchan,  167 
Ben  Nevis,  the  Winds  of,  R.  T.  Omond,  A.  Rankin,  191 
Bendire  (C),  on  the  Collection,  &c.,  of  Birds'  Eggs  and  Nests, 

502 
Bengal,  Earthquakes  in,  185 

Bennett  (A.  R.),  on  Underground  Parcels  Delivery,  510 
Bennett  (Alfred  W.),  Aerial  Roots  of  the  Mangrove,  370 
Bent's  (Theodore)  Investigation  of  Zimbabye  Ruins,  451 
Benu^  and  the  Kibbe,  Major  Claude  M.  Macdonald,  46 
Berg  (Herr),  Snow-observation  in  Russia,  113 


VllI 


Index 


tSuppUment  to  Nature^ 
November  'A^  1891 


Bergeron  (Dr.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 

Berget  (A.iphonse),  Photography  in  Colours,  Prof.  R.  Meldola, 
F.R.S  .  194 

Berkeley  (Bishop)  Memorial,  the,  575 

Berlin  :  Academy  of  Sciences,  Recent  Grants  by,  136  ;  the 
Imperial  Physical  and  Technical  Institution  at,  154 ;  Forma- 
tion of  Union  of  Friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmical  Physic*, 
206;  Berlin  Univerbity,  351 

Berlioz  (Prof.).  Microci«line,  a  New  Antiseptic,  232 

Bernardinite,  is  it  a  Mineral  or  a  Fungus?,  J.  S.  Brown,  310 

Berne,  the  International  Geographical  Congress  at,  358 

Berthelol  (Daniel)  :  Calorimetric  Researches  on  Sugar-derived 
HumicAcid,  144  ;  Iron-Carbonyl  and  Nickel-Carbonyl,  192  ; 
the  Preparaiion  of  Iron-Carbonyl  and  Several  New  Reactions 
of  Nickel-Carbonyl,  208  ;  Hcais  of  Combustion  and  Forma- 
tion of  Nilrobenzenes,  360  ;  Study  of  Chemical  Neutralization 
of  Acids  and  Ba«es  by  means  of  their  Electric  Conductivities 
360 

Beaut  (VV.  H.,  F.R.S. ),  Solutions  of  Examples  in  Elementary 
Hydrostatics,  Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhii,  F.R.S.,  341 

Bessemer  (Sir  Henry),  Rolling  of  Steel  Sheets  direct  from  the 
Molten  Metal,  578 

Besson  (A.),  Phosphide  of  Boron,  288 

Best  Books,  the,  a  Contribution  to  Systematic  Bibliography,  by 
William  Swan  Sonnenschein,  5 

Bezold  (Prof.  W.  von),  on  the  Theory  of  Cyclones,  437 

Bible  Countries,  Buried  Cities  and,  George  St.  Clair,  540 

Bibliography  :  the  Best  Books,  a  Contribution  towards  System- 
atic Bibliography,  by  William  Swan  Sonnenschein,  5  ;  a 
Guide  Book  to  BooVs,  edited  by  E.  B.  Sargantand  Bernhard 
Wishaw,  196  ;  Bibliography  of  the  Chemical  Influence  of 
Light,  Dr.  Alfred  Tuckerman,  208  ;  Katalog  der  Bibliothek 
»icr  Deutschen  Seewarte  zu  Harobuig,  318  ;  Forthcoming 
Scientific  Books,  462,  478 

Bickerion(T.  H.),  Colour-blindness  Generally  Considered,  595 

Bidgood  (John),  Cordylophora  lacustris^  106 

Bilwell  (Shelford,  F.R.S.) :  the  Effect  of  an  Electric  Discharge 
upon  the  Conden'^ation  of  Sieam,  95  ;  Effect  of  Heat  upon 
Magnetic  Susceptibility  of  Nickel,  187  ;  Alum  Solution,  565 

Bigelow  (Prof.  Frank  H.):  the  Polarization  Theory  of  the  Solar 
Corona,  355  ;  Connection  between  Terrestial  Magnetism  and 
Radiant  Sunlight,  453 

Bi^ourdan  (G.) :  Observations  of  WolTs  Periodic  Comet,  192  ; 
Tempel- Swift's  Periodic  Comet,  6c8 

Biology  :  Miss  Mar>hali*s  Hequcbl  to  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment, 17;  Sydney  Biological  Station,  39;  A.  R.  Wallace's 
Natural  Selection  and  Tropical  Nature,  40  ;  Pycnogonids  or 
Sea  Spiders,  49 ;  Animal  Life  on  a  Coral  Reef,  Dr.  S.  J. 
Hickson,  90  ;  the  Classification  of  the  Tunicata  in  Relation 
to  Evolution,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  130 ;  Anatomy  and 
Physiology  of  Protoptcrus  annectnis.  Prof.  W.  N.  Parker, 
139  ;  Nature  of  Excretory  Processes  in  Marine  Polyzoa,  S.  F. 
Harmcr,  143  ;  Marine  Biolo::ical  Association  of  the  ijnited 
Kingdom,  205  ;  the  Evolution  of  Animals,  F.  Priem,  R. 
Lydekker,  243 ;  Lessons  in  Elementary  Biology,  Prof.  T. 
Jeffery  Parker,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  290  ; 
the  Anatomy  of  the  Heloderma,  Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt,  294  ; 
D'Arsonval  on  Stimulating  Muscles  by  Means  of  Light,  390  ; 
Opening  Address  in  Section  D  of  the  British  Association,  by 
Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  407  ;  Cotdylophora  lacustris^  Henry 
Scherren,  445  ;  Some  1  difficulties  in  the  Life  of  Aquatic  In- 
sects, Prof.  L.  C.  MiaH,  457;  Die  Organisation  der  Turbel- 
latia  Acoela,  Dr.  Ludwig  von  Graff,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester, 
F.  R.S.,  465  ;  Biological  Functions  of  the  Lecithines,  Walter 
Maxwell,  471  ;  Biological  Bearings  of  Fact  of  Stronger 
Absorption  by  Water  of  Long  than  Short  Light  Waves,  Herr 
Hufner,  478 ;  Grenfell  on  the  Structure  of  Diatoms,  481 ; 
Calderwood  on  Sea  Fisheries,  481  ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on  the 
Reproduction  of  the  Pilchard,  481  ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on 
the  Rate  and  Growth  of  Age  of  Sexual  Maturity  in  Fish, 
482  ;  Prof.  Herdman  and  J.  A.  Clubb  on  the  Innervation  of 
the  Epipodial  Processes  of  some  Nudibranchiate  Mollusca, 

482  ;  Prof.  W.  N.  Parker  on  Respiration  in  Tadpoles,  482  ; 
Prof.  Howes  on  the  Cla<:sification  of  Fishes  by  their  Re- 
productive Organs,  483  ;  Prof.  Howes  on  the  Gills  of  Fishes, 

483  ;  Dr.  Arthur  Robinson  on  the  Development  of  the  Rat 
and  the  Mouse,  483  ;  Prof.  Marcus  Hartog  on  Protoplasmic 
Rejuvenescence,  483;  Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  on  the 
Artificial  Production  of  Rhythm  in  Plants,  484 ;  Marine 
Biology,  the  Cruise  of  the  Investigator^  Dr.  A.  Alcock,  501, 
528  ;   a  Difficulty  in   Weismannism,   Prof.  Marcus  Hartog, 


613 ;   Huxley  Laboratory  for  Biological  Research,  and  the 

Marshall  Scholarship,  627 
Birch  Oil,  ihe  Manufacture  of,  in  Connecticut,  391 
Birds,  Antipathy  (?)  of,  for  Colour,  31 
Birds*  Eggs  and  Nests,  the  Collection,  &c.,  of,  C.   Bendire, 

502 
Birds  Nesting  in  Western  India,  Lieutenant  H.  £.  Bames,  42 
Birds,  the  Soaring  of,  S.  £.  Peal,  56  ;  A.  C.  Baines,  52 
Birds  of  Victoria,  the  Insectivorous,  C.  French,  162 
Birds.  Wild,  Protection  Act,  65 
Birmingham  School  of  Medicine,  Account  of,  18 
Bishop  (Sereno  E.),  the  Great  Comet  of  1882,  293 
Bismuth,  Thermo  electric  Position  of.  Prof.  Kno»i,  311 
Black-Earth  Steppe  Region  of  East  Kussia,  the  Northern  Limits 

of,  Korzchinsky,  326 
Blackie*s  Science  Readers,  540 
Blanchard  (Emile),   Proofs  that  Asia  and  America  have  been 

recently  connected,  335 
Blanckenhorn  (Dr.  Max),  Geology  and  Physical  Geography  of 

North  Syria,  Prof.  Edward  Hull,  F.R.S.,  99 
Blanford  (Henry  F.,  F.R.S.),   M.   Faye's  Theory  of  Cyclones, 

348 
Blow- fly.  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Morphology,  and  Development 

of  the,  B.  Thompson  Lowne,  123 
Board  of  Trade  Committee  on  Electrical  Standards,  the  Report 

of  the,  417 
Boilers,  Papers  on,  20 
Bologna  Academy  :  looo  Lire  Gold  Medal  offered  by  Bologna 

Academy  for  Memoir  on    Best  Means   of   Fire- Prevention, 

303 
Bonney  (Prof.  T.  G.,  F.R.S.)  and  General  C.  A.  McMahon  on 

the  Crystalline  Rocks  of  the  Lizard  District,  22 ;  the  Ice  Age 

in  North  America.  G.  F.  Wright,  537 

Books,  the  Best,  a  Contribution  to  Systematic  Bibliography,  by 
William  Swan  Sonnenschein,  5 

Books,  a  Guide-book  to,  E.  B.  Sargant  and  Bernhard  Wishaw, 
196 

Bornet  (Dr.  Edouard),  Linnean  Society  Gold  Medal  awarded  to, 
III 

Bornstein  (R.),  Connection  between  Air- pressure  and  Horn- 
angle  of  Moon,  281 

Bort  (L.  Teisserenc  de),  the  Various  Kinds  of  Gradients,  469 

Bostock  (Surgeon- General)  and  Sir  Vincent  Barrington,  the 
Hospital  and  Ambulance  Organization  of  the  Metropolitan 
Asylums  Board  for  the  Removal  and  Isolation  of  Infectious 
Disease*,  486 

Boston  (U.S.),  Proposed  Zoological  Gardens  in,  18,  529 

Botany:  the  Alpine  Flora,  T.  D.  A.  Cockcrell,  6;  J.  Innes 
Rogers,  6  ;  Nuovo  Giomale  Botanico  Italiano,  21  ;  Botanical 
Text-book,  41 ;  the  Classification  of  Eucalypts,  41  ;  Death  of 
Dr.  Richard  Schomburgk,  65 ;  a  Concise  Manual  of  Botany 
for  Students  of  Medicine  and  Science,  Alex.  Johnstone,  75  ; 
Hand-book  of  the  Ferns  of  Kaffrar'a,  T.  R.  Sim,  J.  G. 
Baker,  F.R.S.,  75  ;  the  Alpine  Flora,  J.  Lovcl,  83  ;  the  Kew 
Bulletin,  87  ;  Drawings  for  the  Botanical  Magazine  bought 
by  the  Kew  Museum,  86 ;  Expedition  of  D.  Morris  to  the 
We«t  Indies,  87;  European  Botany,  Vol.  I.,  K.  Richter,  J. 
G.  Baker,  F.R.S.,  100;  Missouri  Botanical  Garden,  loi  ; 
William  Trelease,  588 ;  Botanical  Enterprise  in  the  West  Indies, 
no;  Botanical  Society  of  Edinburgh,  114;  Comparison  of 
Minute  Structure  of  Plant  Hybrids  with  Parent  Plants,  Dr.  J. 
A.  Macfarlane,  119;  Botanical  Appointments  in  United  States, 
135  ;  the  Relationship  between  Plants  and  Animals,  Prof. 
Stewart,  F.R.S.,  136;  the  Flora  of  Diamond  Island,  W. 
Botting  Helmsley,  F.R.S.,  138;  Cotton  Cultivation  in 
Russian  Turkestan,  163  :  Diseases  of  the  Cocoa-Nut  Leaf, 
M.  C.  Potter,  167  ;  Botanical  Wall  Diagrams,  S.P.C.K.,  173  ; 
Kinds  of  Cacao  in  Cultivation  in  Ceylon,  Dr.  Henry 
Trimen,  F.R.S.,  185  ;  the  Species  of  Epilobium  occurring 
North  of  Mexico,  Dr.  Trelease,  196  ;  Drs.  Bornmiiller  and  Sin- 
tenis's  Contemplated  Expedition  to  Greece  and  Turkey  in  Asia, 
Prof.  Penzig's  Contemplated  Expedition  to  Massowah  and 
Bogos,  206  ;  the  Flowers  of  the  Pyrenees  and  their  Fertilization 
by  Insects,  Prof.  J.  Macleod,  211;  Disengagement  of  Oxygen  by 
Plants  at  Low  Temperatures,  H.  Jumelle,  216 ;  the  Spiked 
Star  of  Bethlehem  {Ornithogalum  pyrenaicum).  Dr.  R.  A. 
Prior,  215  ;  the  True  Nature  of  Callus,  Spencer  Moore,  216  : 
Lieutenant  Peary's  Projected  Botanical  Expedition  Afoot  to  the 
North  Pole,  231  ;  Danger  of  Using  Arsenic  for  the  Prepara- 
tion of  Plants,  232  ;  Influence  of  External  Factors  on  the  Smell 
of  Plants,  Herr  Regel,   232  ;    Botanical  Gazette,  236,  335, 


Supplement  to  Natnrer\ 
Nffvember^^  189 1      J 


Index 


IX 


559 ;  Our  Couniry's  Flowers,  W.  J.  Gordon,  247  ;  Obituary 
Notice  of  Cardinal  Haynald,  256  ;  Flora  of  Tropical  Africa, 
257  ;  New  Indian  Labiatae,  Dr.  D.  Prain,  258 ;  the  Vegeta- 
tion of  Tibet,  260 ;  are  Seedlings  of  Hemerocallis  fulva 
Specially  Variable?,  Prof.  Marcus  M.  Hartog,  274;  the  Origin 
of  the  Flora  of  Greenland,  Clement  Reid.  299 ;  Relation 
between  Insects  and  Forms  and  Characters  of  Flowers,  T. 
Meehan,  335  ;  Pines  and  Firs  of  Japan,  Dr.  Maxwell  T. 
Masters,  339  ;  Botanical  Survey  of  India,  347  ;  Geo-Botanical 
Notes  on  the  Flora  of  European  Russia,  D.  J.  Litvinoff, 
359  ;  Aerial  Roots  of  the  White  Mangrove,  304  ;  Alfred  W. 
Bennett,  370  ;  A  climatization  in  Russia,  388  ;  Botanical 
Exchange  Club  of  the  Briiish  Isles,  391  ;  Francis  Darwin, 
F.R.S.,  on  Growth-Curvatures  in  Planls,  407  ;  Embryology 
of  Flowering  Plants,  Mdlle.  C.  Sokolowa,  437 ;  Botany  of 
the  Chinese  Classics,  438  ;  Abbildungen  zur  Deutschen  Flora, 
H.  Karsten's,  467 ;  Elementary  Text-book  of  Botany  for  the 
Use  of  Schools,  Edith  Aitken,  467  ;  Some  of  the  Possibilities 
of  Economic  Botany,  Prof.  Geo.  L.  Goodale,  469  ;  on  the 
Future  of  Systematic  Botany  Prof.  John  M.  Coulter,  472 ; 
Proposed  Conference  on  Conifers,  475  ;  Californian  Trees 
and  Flowers,  477  ;  Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Artificial 
Production  of  Rhythm  in  Plants,  484 ;  Flowers  and  Insects, 
G.  F.  Scott- Elliott,  488  ;  Sleep  Movements  in  Plants,  A.  G. 
Tansley,  493  ;  Acchmatization  of  the  Lacquer-Tree  at  Frank- 
fort, Prof.  Rein,  500 ;  American  Expeditions  to  Investigate 
Flora  of  Mexico,  501  ;  Olive-growing  in  Australia,  Principal 
Thomson,  501  ;  Cultivation  of  Tobacco  in  German  New 
Guinea,  502;  **  Kamm^,"  a  New  Species  of  Truffle,  A. 
Chatin,  512  ;  Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Meredith, 
517;  the  Fertilization  of  South  African  and  Madagascar 
Flowering  Plants,  C.  F.  S.  Elliott,  528 ;  the  Distribution  of 
Marine  Algae,  G.  Murray,  528 ;  Oesterreichische  Botanische 
Zeitung,  528 ;  Dr.  Palmer's  Collections  in  Western 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  528 ;  Some  of  the  Possibilities  of 
Economic  Botany,  Prof.  George  Lincoln  Goodale  on, 
530  ;  the  Cereals,  531  ;  Vegetables,  532  ;  Fruits,  532  ;  Tim- 
bers and  Cabinet  Woods,  534 ;  Vegetable  Fibres,  534 ; 
Tanning  Materials,  534  ;  Resins,  &c.,  534  ;  Fragrant  Plants, 
535  ;  Exhibition  of  Cone-bearing  Trees,  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  548 ;  Dr.  Prain  and  the  Investigator  Cruise,  549  ; 
Botanical  Survey  in  Assam  and  Burmah,  Dr.  King,  549 ; 
Wattles  and  Wattle-barks,  J.  H.  Maiden,  579 ;  Projected 
International  Botanical  Congress  at  Genoa,  598^  M.  Paul 
Maury's  Expedition  to  Mexico,  598  ;  Variation  of  Compo- 
sition of  J  erusalcrm  Artichokes  at  Different  Periods  of  Growth, 
G.  Lechartier,  608 
Boulenger  (G.  A.),  Anatomy  of  Heloderma,  444 
Bournemouth,  Meeting  of  the  Briiish  Medical  Association  at, 

161  ;  Earthquake  at,  Henry  Cecil,  614 
Boutroux  (Leon),  the  Fermentation  of  Bread,  336 
Bouty  (E.),  Dielectric  Properties  of  Mica  at  High  Temperatures, 

16S 
Bower  (Frederick  Orpen),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 

Boys  (C.  v.).  Pocket  Electrometers,  262 

Brackett  (R.   N.),  Newtonite  and   Rectorite,  New  Minerals  of 

the  Kaolinite  Group,  310 
Brandis    (Sir  D.,    F.R.S.),  a   Manual   of  Forestry,    William 

Schlich,  265 
Brass  Sheets,  T.  Turner  on  Red  Blotches  in,  455 
Brauner  (Dr.),  on  Lanthanum,  68 
Brazil,  H.  Morize  on  the  Climatology  of,  437 
Brazil,  Projected  Agricultur.il  Mechanical  College  at  San  Paulo, 

549 
Bread,  the  Fermentation  of,  Leon  Boutroux,  336 
Brezina  (Dr.  A.),  Capture  of  a  Supposed  Gem  Thief  at  Vienna, 

598 
Breweries:    Proposed  Utilization  of  Carbonic  Acid  produced 

in  Fermentation  of  Sugar,  303 
Brighton  Aquarium,  Birth  of  Sea  Lion  at,  185 
Brinton  (Dr.  Daniel  G.):  Races  and  Peoples,  124;  Vocabularies 

from  the  Musquito  Coast,  600 
Bristol  University  College  Calendar,  438 
British  Art,  Gallery  of,  at  South  Kensington  and  the  Science 

Museum,  37,  255 
British  Association  :  Meeting  at  Cardiff,  General  Pro- 
gramme, 65,  371  ;  Preliminary  Arrangements,  204,  280 ; 
Grants  of  the,  423 ;  Arrangements  for  the  Meeting  at 
Edinburgh  in  1892,  161,  398 ;  Inaugural  Address  at 
Cardiff  by  William  Huggins,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  372  1 


Section  A  {Mathematics  and  /Vz/jr/W)— Opening  Address  by 
Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the 
Section,  382  ;  Prof.  Newton  on  the  Action  of  Jupiter  on 
Comets,  453  ;  W.  E.  Wilson  on  the  Absorption  of  Heat 
in  the  Solar  Atmosphere,  453  ;  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 
F.R.S.,  on  whether  the  Ether  behaves  as  a  Viscous 
Fluid,  454  ;  Prof.  D.  E.  Jones  on  Electric  Waves  in  Wires, 
454 ;  Papers  on  Electrolysis,  454 ;  Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney, 
F.R.S.,  on  Double  Lines  in  the  Spectra  of  Gases,  454;  Dr. 
Copeland  on  Bright  Sireaks  on  the  Moon,  454  ;  Prof. 
Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.  R.  S  ,  on  Light  in  Modifying  the  Effect 
of  the  Gravitational  Attraction  of  the  Sun,  454  ;  Units  and 
their  Nomenclature,  454  ;  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S., 
on  the  Measurement  of  Lenses,  and  on  a  New  Polarizer, 

455  ;  F.  T.  Trouton  on  the  Propagation  of  Magnetization 
in  Iron,  455 

Section  B  (Chemistry) — Opening  Address  by  Prof.  W.  C. 
Roberts- Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Section, 
399  ;  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Formation  of  tlaloid 
Salts,  455  ;  Prof.  Vivian  B.  Lewes  on  the  Spontaneous 
I'^nition  of  Coal,  455  ;  Ludwig  Mond  on  Nickel-carbon 
Oxide  and  Metallic  Nickel  obtained  therefrom,  455  ;  Iron- 
carbon  Oxide,  455  ;  William  Crookes,  F.R  S.,  on  the 
Electrical  Evaporation  of  Metals  and  Alloys,  455 ;  T. 
Turner  on  the  Cause  of  ih^  Red  Blotclies  on  the  Surface  of 
Brass  Sheets,  45 S  ;  A.  P.  Laurie  on  the  Electromotive 
Forces  of  Various  Alloys,  456:  Prof.  Roberts- Austen, 
F.R.S.,  on  his  Self  recording  Pyrometer,  456  ;  A.  Vernon- 
Harcourt  and  F.  W.  Humphery  on  the  Relation  between 
the  Composition  of  a  Double  Salt  and  the  Composition  and 
Temperature  of  the  Liquid  in  which  it  is  formed,  456 ; 
Report  on  the  Isomeric  Naphthalene  Derivatives,  456  ; 
Profs.  Riicker  and  Roberts- Austen  on  the  Specific  Heat  of 
Basalt,  456 ;  Prof.  F.  Clowes  on  an  Apparatus  for  testing 
Safety-lamps,  456  ;  Prof.  C.  M.  Thompson  on  Rare 
Earths  and  New  Elements,  456  ;  Prof.  Ramsay  on  the 
Liquids  obtained  by  passing  Excess  of  Hydrogen  Sulphide 
into  Solutions  of  c.rtain  Metals,  456:  J.  J.  .Sudborough 
on  the  Action  of  Nitrosyl  Chloride  on  Unsaturated  Carbon 
Compounds,  456  ;  C.  G.  Moor  on  the  Disposal  of  Sewage, 

456  ;  A.  H.   Allen  on  treating  Glycerides  with  Alcoholic 
Potash,  456 

Section  C  (Geoiogy)^Vro(,  Boyd  Dawkin?,  F.R.S.,  on  the 
Channel  Tunnel  Boring  and  the  Discovery  of  Coal,  479 ; 
W.  Topley,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Origin  of  Petroleum,  479  ;  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie,  F.  R.S.,  on  the  Discovery  of  theOlenellus 
Zone  in  the  North- West  Highlands  of  Scotland,  479  ;  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Recent  Work  of  the 
Geological  Survey  in  the  Archaean  Gneiss  of  the  Norlh- 
West  Highlands  of  Scotland,  480  ;  Sir  R.  S.  Ball  on  the 
Cause  of  an  Ice  Age,  480 ;  Rev.  Dr.  Crosskey  0.1 
Distribution  of  Erratics  in  F.ngland  and  Wales,  480  ;  Prof. 
Wright  on  the  Ice  Age  in  North  America,  480  ;  Report  on 
the  Elbolton  Cave  near  Skipton,  480  ;  Dr.  flicks  on  the 
Siluiian  and  Devonian  Rocks  of  Pembrokeshire,  480 ; 
Palseontological  Papers,  481 

Section  D  (5/W.^^)— Opening  Address  by  Francis  Darwin, 
F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Section,  407;  Grenfell  on  the 
Structure  of  Diatoms,  481  ;  Calderwood  on  Sea  Fisheries, 
481  ;  J.  T.  Cunninjjham  on  the  Reproduction  of  the 
Pilchard,  481  ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on  the  Rale  and 
Growth  of  Age  of  Sexual  Maturity  in  Fish,  482  ;  Prof. 
Herdman  and  J.  A.  Clubb  on  the  Innervation  of  the 
Epipodial  Processes  of  some  Nudibranchiate  Mollusca, 
482 ;  Prof.  W.  N.  Parker  on  Respiration  in  Tadpoles, 
482 ;  Prof.  Howes  on  the  Classification  of  Fishes  by  their 
Reproductive  Organs,  483  ;  Prof.  Howes  on  the  Gills  of 
Fishes,  483  ;  Dr.  Arthur  Robinson  on  the  Development  of 
the  Rat  and  the  Mouse,  483  :  Prof.  Marcus  Hartog  on 
Protoplasmic  Rejuvenescence,  483  ;  Francis  Darwin, 
F.R.S.,  on  the  Artificial  Production  of  Rhythm  in  Planls, 

484 

Section  E  {Geography)-— O^nivQ.^  Addres>  by  E.  G.  Ravcn- 
stein,  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.S.,  President  of  the  Section,  423; 
Mrs,  French  Sheldon  on  East  Africa,  508  ;  Dr.  Robert 
Felkin  on  Acclimatization,  508  ;  Colonel  Holdich  on  the 
Application  of  Indian  Geographical  Survey  Methods  to 
Africa,  508  ;  H.  T.  Crook  on  our  Ordnance  Survey,  508  ; 
J.  Scott  Keltic  on  Geographical  Education,  509 

Section  G  {Mechanical  St  iencc) — G.  Chaiterton  on  Sewerage, 
509  ;  W.  Key  on  Ventilaiion,  509  ;  Sir  Edward  Reed  on 


Index 


tSuMUment  to  Naiurt^ 
Ncvembert6,  xfi9c 


the  Proposed  Channel  Tubular  Railway,  509  ;  Prof.  W 
Robinson  on  Petroleum  Engines,  509 ;  W.  H.  Preecc, 
F.R.S.,  on  the  London  and  Paris  Telephone,  510;  Prof. 
G.  Forbes  on  Electric  Motors,  510 ;  A.  R.  Bennett  on 
Undei^round  Parcels  Delivery,  510  ;  Major  R.  de  Villaniil 
on  Screw  Propellers,  510;  Mr.  Beaumont  on  Screw  Pro- 
pellers, 510 
Section  H  (Anthropology) — Opening  Address  by  Prof.  F. 
Max  M  tiller,  President  of  the  Section,  428 ;  Prof.  R.  K. 
Douglas  on  the  Social  and  Religious  Ideas  of  the  Chinese, 
510  ;  Major  J.  W.  Powell  on  Indian  Languages,  511 ;  the 
Marquis  of  Bute  on  the  Language  of  Teneriffe,  511 ;  Dr. 
E.  B.  Tylor,  F.R.S.,  on  Savage  Religion,  511  ;  S.  E. 
Peal  on  the  Morong  of  the  Natives  of  Asam,  511;  Dr. 
Garson  on  Human  Remains  found  in  Yorkshire,  511  ;  Miss 
Buckland  on  the  "Mountain  Chant,"  511  ;  Dr.  S.  A.  K. 
Strahan  on  Instinctive  Criminality,  511  ;  £.  H.  Man  on 
Nicobar  Pottery,  512 
British  Earthworms,   Identification   of  Templeton's,  Rev.  Hil- 

deric  Friend,  273 
British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  86,  97,  124,  301,  323 
British  Medical  Association  at  Bournemouth,  Meeting  of,   161, 

353 
British  Museum :  Specimens   of  Asiatic  Wild  Sheep  at,   40 ; 

British  Museum  in  1890,  Decrease  in  Number  of  Visitors  to, 
280,   352 ;  Additions  to  the  Bird  Department,  451  ;  Syste- 
matic List  of  the  Frederick  E.  Edwards  Collection  of  British 
Oligocene   and    Eocene   Mollusca    in    the,   Richard   Bulleu 
Newton,  610 
^British  Rule,  South  Africa  from  Arab  Domination  to,  564 
Brocken  Spectres  in  a  London  Fog,  A.  W.  Clayden,  95 
Brodie  (Fredk.  J.)>  the  Recent  Epidemic  of  Influenza,  283 
Brooks  (Prof.  W.  K.),  the  Oyster,  a  Popular  Summary  of  a 

Scientific  Study,  490 
Brown  (J.  Allen),  Technical  Education  in  Middlesex,  65 
Brown  (J.  S.),  Bemardinite,  is  it  a  Mineral  or  a  Fungus?,  310 
Brunner  (J.  T.,  M.P.),  Elected  President  of  the  Sunday  Society, 

135 

Briinnow  (Francis),  Obituary  Notice  of,  449 

Brunton  (Dr.   T.  Lauder,   F.R.S.):  Supplement  to  the  Text- 
book of  Pharmacology,  41  ;   on.  the  Progress  ojf  Medicine, 

327 
Brussels  Academy  of  Sciences,  24,  240,  312,  440,  560 

Budian  (Dr.),  Barometer  at  Ben  Nevis  Observatory  in  Relation 

to  Wind,  167 
Buckland  (Miss),  on  the  *'  Mountain  Chant,"  511 
Buckraaster  (Dr.),  Leprosy  Bacillus  cultivated  in  Serum  by, 

161 
Buckmastcr  (J.  C),  County  Councils  and  Technical  Education, 

588 
Buchner  (Dr.),  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  420 
Buda-Pesih  Academy  of  Sciences,  Sir  J.   D.   Hooker  elected 

Foreign  Member  of,  257 
Bnller  (Sir  Walter,   F.R.S.) :  a  Remarkable  Characteristic  of 

the  Wandering  Albatross,  502 ;  a  New  Species  of  Albatross, 

502 
Bulletin  de  la  Soci^te  des  Naturalistes  de  Moscou,  359 
Buried  Cities  and  Bible  Countries,  Geo.  St.  Clair,  540 
Burmah  and  Assam,  Botanical  Survey  in.  Dr.  King,  549 
Bumham  (S.  W\),  Double-star  Observations,  283 
Burrell  (Edward  J.),  B.Sc.  Exam.  Lond.  Univ.  1892,  565 
Burton  (F.  M.),  Bees  and  Honey- dew,  343 
Burton  (Sir  R.  F. ),  Funeral  of,  161 
Busch  (Herr),  Variations  in  Sunset  Phenomena,  599 
Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Meredith,  517 
Bute  (Marquis  of),  on  the  Language  of  Teneriffe,  511 
Butter  Export  from  New  South  Wales  to  England,  303 

Cacao  in  Cultivation  in  Ceylon,  Kinds  of.  Dr.  Trimen,  185 
Cahonrs  (M.),  on  the  Endowment  of  Kesearch  in  France,  17 
Cailletet   (M.),  Vapour- tension  of  Saturated  Water- vapour  at 

Critical  Point,  1 19 
Calculus,   DifTerenlial   and   Integral,    Prof.   A.  G.    Grcenhill, 

F.R.S.,  170 
Calcutta  Indian  Museum  :  Report  of,  18 ;  Completion  of  the 

Catalogue  of  the  Mammals  in  the,  324 
Calderwood  on  Sea  Fisheries,  481 
California  :  Severe  Earthquake  in,  206 ;  Californian  Trees  and 

Flowers,  477;  Hot  Winds  of,  Lieutenant  J.  P.  Finley,  512 
Calleja  (Dr.  Camilo),  General  Physiology,  20 


Cambridge:  Philosophical  Society,  96,  143,  191  ;  Honorary  De* 
grees  on  Scientific  Men,  189  ;  University  Extension  Students 
at,  205  ;  the  Study  of  the  Classical  Languages  at,  628 

Cameron  (Donald),  a  Magnificent  Meteor,  343 

Campbell  (Mr.),  Record  of  a  Tourney  in  Northern  Corea,  233 

Canada,  Geological  Survey  o/,  1 14 

Canadian  Meteorological  Service,  Report  for  1887  of,  136 

Cape  Cok>ny,  Meteorol(^  of,  452 

Carbon  Dioxide,  Production  of  Solid,  Dr.  Haus&knecht,  42 

Carbon  Monoxide,  Physiological  Researches  on,  392 

Carbonic  Acid  Gas  fwoduced  in  Sugar-fermentation  in  Breweries, 
proposed  Utilization  of,  303 

Carbonic  Acid,  New  Riseau  of  Isotherms  of,  E.  H.  Amag^at, 
608 

Cardiff,  the  Visit  of  the  British  Association  to,  65,  204,  280, 

371 
Cardiogram,  Displacements  of  Heart  and.  Dr.  J.  B.  Haycraft, 

167" 
Carpenter  (Dr.  Philip  Herbert,  F.R.S.),  Obituary  Notice  of, 

628 
Cartography,  Map-colouring  and.  Major  J.  W.  Powell,  506 
Carulla  (Mr.),  Curious  Phenomena  in  Melting  Bessemer  Scraps, 

579 
Cams  (Dr.  Paul),  the  Soul  of  Man,  293 

Cams- Wilson  (Cecil),  the  Production  of  Musical  Notes  from 

Non- musical  Sands,  322 
Cams- Wilson  (Prof.   Charles  A.)  :  the  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a 

Whirling   Ring,  31  ;    Instmment   for  Examining  Strains  in 

Bent   Glass   Beams,   187  ;    Influence  of  Surface-loading  on 

Flexure  of  Beams,  261 
Cat,  a  Two-l^iged,  Pro!  Leon,  600 
Catbird,  Australian,  Nest  and  Eggs  of,  A.  }.  North,  207 
Caucasus,  New  Glaciers  discovered  in,  452 
Cavern  in  Oregon,  Discovery  of  Enormous  Stalactite,  258 
Caves,  Stalactite,  in  Tasmania,  Discovery  of,  Mr.  Morton,  576 
Cayeux  (L.),  Difjfusion  of  Three  Distinct  Forms  of  Titanium- 
oxide  in  Cretaceous  Strata  of  Northern  France,  144 
Cecil  (Henr}')i  Earthquake  at  Bournemouth,  614 
Census,  Results  of  the  Recent,  N.  A.  Humphreys,  161 
Census,   189 1,  of  the  Parish  of  St.  George,   Hanover  Square, 

Alleged  Worthlessness  of,  303 
Census  of  India,  18 

Cephalonia,  the  Climate  of,  Dr.  Partsch,  326 
Cerebral   Localization,  the  Croonian   Lectures  on.  Dr.  David 

Ferrier,  F.R.S.,  292 
Cetaceans  in^  African  Lakes,  124,  198 
Ceylon,  Kinds  of  Cacao  in  Cultivation  in.  Dr.  Trimen,  F.R.S., 

185 
Chabry  (M.),  Pressure  which  can  be  produced  by  Electrolytic 

Generation  of  Gas,  M.  Chabry,  577 
Chamberlin  (Prof.  T.  C),  Clas&ificaiion  of  the  Glacial  Pleistocene 

Deposits,  504 
Chambers*  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  VII.,  173 
Channel  Tubular  Railway,  Sir  Edward  Reed  on  the  Propoaed, 

509 
Channel  Tunnel  Boring  and  the  Discovery  of  Coal,  Prof.  Boyd 

Dawkins,  F.  K.S.,  479 
Chanute  (O.),  Chemical  Methods   of  Protecting  Railroad-ties 

against  Decay,  476 
Chapman  (A.  C.),  Compounds  of  Dextrose  with  the  Oxides  of 

Nickel,  71 
Charles  (Dr.  R.  H.),  Craniometry  of  Outcaste  Tribes  of  Panjab, 

576 
Charpentier  (A.),  Oocillations  of  the  Retina,  311 
Charpy  (Georges),  Action  of  Nitric  Acid  upon  Iron,  216 
Chatin  (A.),  *'Kamme,"  a  New  Species  of  Truflie,  512 
Chatterton  (G.),  on  Sewerage,  509 
Chauveau  (A.) :  on  Blending  of  Separate  Chromatic  Sensations 

perceived  by   each   of   Two   Eyes,   488 ;    Colour- Sensation 

excited  in  One  Eye  by  Coloured  Light  Illuminating  Retina 

of  other,  536 
Cheese,  Digestibility  of  Different  Kinds  of,  Herr  Klenze,  325 
Cheeseman  (T.  F.),  the  Basking  Shark  in  Ne*  Zealand  Waters, 

576 
Chemistry  :  Cr)'stallization  of  Ammonium  Sulphovanadate,  Drs. 

Kriiss    and    Ohnmais,    19 ;    Silicon    Chlorolribromide,    19 ; 

Compounds  formed   by  Mercuric  Chloride,   48  ;   a  System 

of  Inorganic  Chemistry,  William  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  50;  Che- 

irical  Society,  71,  118,  215,  287;  Citraconfluorescein,  J.  T. 

Hewitt,  71  ;  Ethylic  Thiacetacetate,  Dr.  C.  T.  Sprague,  71  ; 

the  Function  of  Chlorine  in  Acid  Chlorides,  Prof.   H.  E. 


Supplement  to  Xature^ 
Hemmber  tC^  1891     J 


Index 


XI 


Armstrong,  F.ItS.,  71 ;  the  Action  of  Nitric  Acid  on  the 
LignocellaJoses,  C.  F.  Cross  and  C.  A.  Bevan,  71  ;  Studies 
on  the  Formation  of  Substitution  Derivatives,  H.  Gordon, 
71 ;  Compounds  of  Dextrose  with  the  Oxides  of  Nickel, 
^'  C*  Chapman,  71;  the  Gravivolumeter,  F.  R.  Japp, 
F.R.S.,  72;  the  Action  of  Acetic  Acid  on  Phenyithio- 
«rbimide,  J.  C.  Cain  and  Dr.  J.  B.  Cohen,  72 ;  Action  of 
Aluminium  Chloride  on  Benzinoid  Acid  Chlorides,  R.  F-. 
Hughes,  72  ;  Sulphides  of  the  Organic  Radicles,  89 ;  Ele- 
mentary Chemistry  for  Beginners,  W.  Jerome  Harrison,  102  ; 
Discovery  of  Brilliant  Purple  Gold  and  Aluminium  Alloy, 
Pro£  Roberts- Austen,  ill;  Synthetization  of  Indigo-carmine, 
Dr.  Heymann,  114;  Action  of  Alkalies  on  Nitro- compounds 
of  Paraffin  Series,  W.  R.  Dunstan  and  T.  S.  Dymond,  118 ; 
New  Addition  Compound  of  Thiocarbamide,  J.  £.  Keynolds, 
F.R.S.,  118  ;  Action  of  Acetic  Anhydrides  on  Substituted 
Thiocarbamides,  and  an  Improved  Method  of  preparing 
Aromatic  Mustard  Oils,  £.  A.  Werner,  118;  Decomposition 
of  Silver  Chloride  by  Light,  A.  Richardson,  no;  the 
Addition  of  Alcohol  Elements  to  Ethereal  Salts  of  Unsaturated 
Adds,  T.  Purdie  and  W.  Marshall,  118;  Azo-derivatives  of 
^-Naphthylamine,  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  and  F.  Hughes, 
118  ;  Method  for  Estimation  of  Nitrates,  G.  McGowan,  118  ; 
New  Benzylic  Derivatives  of  Thiocarbamide,  A.  £.  Dixon, 
118;  the  Sub-chlorides  of  Silver,  M.  Guntz,  120; 
Electrolysis  of  Fused  Salts  of  Boron  and  Silicon,  Adol).he 
Minet,  120;  Two  New  Crystalline  Compounds  of  Platinic 
Chloride  with  Hydrochloric  Acid,  L^on  Pigeon,  120; 
Stas's  Work  in  Atomic  Determination,  134  ;  Troilite,  Meteori- 
tic  Crystallized  Monosulphide  of  Iron,  Dr.  Richard  Lorenz, 
137  ;  Chemistry  in  Space,  Prof.  T.  H.  van  't  Hoff,  translated 
by  J.  E.  Marsh,  150  ;  the  New  Peroxide  of  Sulphur,  Prof. 
I'raube,  163 ;  Dr.  Gustavus  Hinrichs  on  the  Fusing  and 
Boiling  Points  of  Compounds,  174:  Action  of  Fluorine  upon 
Phosphorus  Trifluoride,  M.  Moissan,  186 ;  Nickel-Carbon- 
Oxide,  Ludwig  Mond,  F.R.S.,  187  ;  Calorimeiric  Researches 
on  Humic  Acid  derived  from  Sugar,  MM.  Berthelot  and 
Andre,  144 ;  Determination  of  Molecular  Weights  of  Critical 
Point,  P.  A.  Gaye,  144  ;  Research  on  Separation  of  Metals 
from  Platinum,  A.  Joly  and  E.  Leidie,  144 ;  Specific  Heats  of 
some  Solutions,  W.  Timofeiew,  144;  Solubility  of  Mixed 
Crystals  of  Isomorphoiis  Substances,  Dr.  B.  Roozeboom,  144 ; 
Blue  Silver,  M.  C.  Lea,  189  ;  Bromo- Derivatives  of  Beta- 
naphthol,  H.  E.  Armstrong  and  E.  C.  Rossiter,  190 ;  Action 
of  Nitric  Acid  on  Naphthol  Derivatives,  the  Formation  of 
Nitro- KetO' Com  pounds,  H.  E.  Armstrong  and  £.  C.  Rossi- 
ter, 190  ;  New  Method  of  preparing  Nitro-Derivatives,  and 
Use  of  Nitrogen  Dioxide  as  a  Nitrating  Agent,  H.  E. 
Armstrong  and  E.  C.  Rossiter,  190 ;  Nitrification  applied 
to  Agriculture,  R.  Warington,  190 ;  Iron-Car bonyl  and 
Nickel*  Carbonyl,  M.  Berthelot,  192  ;  Cotton-bleaching  by 
Oxygenated  Water  and  Calcined  Magnesia,  M.  Prudhomme, 
192 ;  Application  of  Measure  of  Rotatory  Power  to  Deter- 
mination of  Compounds  of  Aqueous  Solutions  of  Man- 
nite  with  Acid  Molybdates  of  Scxia  and  Ammonium,  192  ; 
Proceedings  of  the  Association  of  Official  Agricultural  Che- 
mists, 18^,  317 ;  the  Preparation  of  Iron-Carbonyl  and 
several  New  Reactions  of  Nickel-Carbonyl,  M.  Berthelot, 
208 ;  Molecular  Refraction  and  Dispersion  of  various  Sub- 
stances in  Solution,  Dr.  J.  H.  Gladstone,  F.R.S.,  215  ; 
Nature  of  Solutions  as  elucidated  by  Study  of  Densities,  ^c, 
of  Solutions  of  Calcium  Chloride,  S.  U.  Pickering,  215  ;  Note 
on  a  Recent  Criticism  by  Mr.  Lupton  of  Conclusions  drawn 
from  a  Study  of  Sulphuric  Acid  Solutions,  S.  U.  Pickering, 
215  ;  Volatile  Platinum  Compounds,  W.  Pullinger,  215  ;  Re- 
searches on  Osmium,  Osmiamic  Acids  and  Osmiamates,  A. 
Joly,  216  ;  Action  of  Nitric  Acid  upon  Iron,  H.  Gautier  and 
Georges  Charpy,  216  ;  the  Cryogen,  an  Apparatus  for  quickly 
Lowering  Temperature  by  Expansion  of  Liquid  Carbonic 
Acid,  M.  Ducretet,  232 ;  Microcidine,  a  New  Antiseptic, 
Prof.  Berlioz,  232  ;  a  Volatile  Compound  of  Iron  and  Carbonic 
Oxide,  Ludwig  Mond  and  F.  Quincke,  234  ;  Study  of  Plante 
Cell  from  Chemical  Point  of  View,   I.,   G.   H.   Robertson, 

236  ;  II.,  H.  E.  Armstrong,  F.R.S.,  and  G.   H.    Robertson, 

237  ;  on  Persulphates,  M.  Berthelot,  240 ;  Cause  of  Insolu- 
bility of  Pure  Metals  in  Acids,  Dr.  Weeren,  259  ;  an  Ex- 
plosive Compound  resulting  from  Action  of  Baryta  Water  on 
Chromic  Acid  in  Presence  of  Oxygenated  Water,  E.  Pechard, 
7^ ;  Study  of  Tetra-iodide  of  Carbon,  Henri  Moissan,  264  ; 
Dictionary  of  Applied  Chemistry,  Sir  H.  E.  Roscoe,  F.R.S., 
268 ;   a  Series  of  Addition  Compounds  of  Aldehydes  with 


Hypophosphorous  Acid,  M.  Ville,  282;  some  New  Re- 
actions of  Dehydracetic  Acid,  Dr.  f.  N.  Collie,  287; 
Lactone  of  Triacetic  Acid,  Dr.  J.  N.  Collie,  287;  Re- 
fractive  Powers  of  Certain  Organic  Compounds  at  Diflferent 
Temperatures,  Dr.  W.  H.  Pcrkin,  F.R.S.,  287  ;  the  Forma- 
tion of  Salts,  an  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Electrolysis  and 
of  Nature  of  Chemical  Change  in  Case  of  Non -Electrolytes, 
H.  E.  Armstrong,  287  ;  Dibenzyl  Ketone,  Dr.  S.  Young, 
287  ;  Vapour  Pres«^ure  of  Mercury,  Dr.  S.  Young,  287 ;  a 
New  Copper  Hydride  and  the  Prepara'ion  oF  Pure  Nitrogen, 
A.  Leduc,  288 :  Action  of  Light  on  Silver  Chloride,  M^ 
Guntz,  288  ;  a  New  Gaseous  Compound,  Phosphorus  Penta- 
fluochloride,  C.  Poulenc,  288 ;  Phosphide  of  Boron,  A. 
Besson,  288;  Artificial  Production  of  Datolite,  A.  de  Gramont, 
288;  on  a  Substance  Analogous  to  Fibrin  Ferments  con- 
tained in  Magnesium,  Sulphate-plasma,  or  Kalium-oxalate- 
plasma,  Herr  Pekelharing,  288  ;  a  History  of  Chemistry  from 
the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day,  Prof.  Ernst  von 
Meyer,  Prof.  T.  E.  Thorpe,  F.R.S.,  289;  Iron  Carbonyl, 
Mond  and  Quincke,  304  ;  New  Gravimetric  Methol  of  Ascer- 
taining Composition  of  Atmospheric  Air,  A.  Leduc,  31 1; 
Silicon  Selenidc,  Paul  Sabatier,  311  ;  Linamarine,  a  New 
Glncoside  from  Linum  usitntissimum,  A.  Jorissen  and  E. 
Hairs,  312;  Pinacone  of  Desoxy benzoin,  M.  Delacre,  312; 
Constitution  of  a-Benzopinacoline,  M.  Delacre,  312  ;  Rate  of 
Formation  of  Compound  Ethers,  N.  Menschutkin,  312 ;  the 
Crystallization  of  Thin  Liquid  Films,  Prof.  Tito  Martini,  325; 
the  New  Gas,  Chlorofluoride  of  Phosphorus,  A.  E.  Tutton, 
333  *»  Densities  of  Oxygen,  Hydrogen,  and  Nitrogen,  A. 
Leduc,  336  ;  the  Transport  of  Metallic  Iron  and  Nickel  by  Car- 
bon Monoxide,  Jules  Gamier,  336  ;  Act  ion  of  Water  on  Basic 
Salts  of  Copper,  G.  Rousseau  and  G.  Tite,  336  ;  Researches 
on  Thallium,  C.  Lepierre  and  M.  Lachaud,  336  ;  Parabanic 
and  Oxaluric  Acids,  W.  C.  Matignon,  336  ;  the  Fermentation 
of  Bread,  Leon  Boutroux,  336 ;  Volatility  of  Nickel  under 
Influence  of  Hydrochloric  Acid,  P.  Schiitzenberger,  336  ;  the 
Slow  Combustion  of  Explosive  Gas  Mixtures,  354  ;  Molecular 
Weight  of  Albumen,  Sabaneeffand  Alexandroflr,358;  Measure- 
ment of  Density  of  Sea-water,  Vice  Admiral  Makaroff,  359  ; 
Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts- Austen,  F.  R.S.,  on  Metallurgy,  399  ; 
British  Association  Report  on  the  Formation  of  Haloid  Salts, 
455  ;  Prof.  Vivian  B.  Lewes  on  the  Spontaneous  Ignition  of 
Coal,  455 ;  Ludwig  Mond  on  Nickel-carbon  Oxide  and 
Metallic  Nickel  obtained  therefrom,  455  ;  William  Crookes, 
F.R.S.,  on  the  Electrical  Evaporation  of  Metals  and  Alloys, 

455  ;  T.  Turner  on  the  Cause  of  the  Red  Blotches  on  the 
Surface  of  Brass  Sheets,  455  ;  A.  P.  Laurie  on  the  Electro- 
motive Forces  of  Various  Alloys,  456  ;  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts- 
Austen,  F.R.S.,  on  his  Self-recording  Pyrometer,  456 ;  A. 
Vernon- Harcourt  and  F.  W.  Humphery  on  the  Relation 
between  the  Composition  of  a  Double  Salt  and  the  Composi- 
tion and  Temperature  of  the  Liquid  in  which  it  is  formed, 

456  ;  Isomeric  Naphthalene  Derivatives,  456  ;  Profs.  RUcker 
and  Roberts- Austen  on  the  Specific  Heat  of  Basalt,  456  ; 
Prof.  F.  Clowes  on  an  Apparatus  for  Testing  Safety-lamps, 
456 ;  Prof.  C.  M.  Thompson  on  Rare  Earths  and  New 
Elements,  456;  Prof.  Ramsay  on  the  Liquids  obtained 
by  passing  Excess  of  Hydrogen  Sulphide  into  Solutions 
of  Certain  Metals,  456  ;  J.  J.  Sudborough  on  the  Action 
of  Nitrosyl  Chloride  on  Unsaturated  Carbon  Compounds, 
456 ;  C.  G.  Moore  on  the  Disposal  of  Sewage,  456  ;  A.  H. 
Allen  on  treating  Glycerides  with  Alcoholic  Potash,  456  ; 
Practical  Work  in  Organic  Chemistry,  Fredk.  Wm.  Srreat- 
feild,  466 ;  Biological  Functions  of  the  Lecithines,  Walter 
Maxwell,  471  ;  Allgemeine  chemische  Mineralogie,  Dr.  C. 
Doelter,  516;  Volatile  Carbonyl  Compounds  of  Platinum, 
Drs.  Pullinger,  Mylius,  and  Foerster,  530  ;  Das  Totalreflecto- 
meter  und  das  Refractometer  fiir  Chemiker,  Dr.  C.  Pulfrich, 
538  ;  Neutral  Sulphate  of  Hydrazine,  Prof.  Curtius,  550 ;  the 
Ketazines,  Prof.  Curtius,  551  ;  Outlines  of  General  Chemistry, 
William  Ostwald,  561  ;  International  Congress  of  Analytical 
Chemists  and  Microscopists,  574  ;  Persulphates,  Dr.  Marshall, 
577  ;  Allotropic  Silver,  M.  Carey  Leo,  584  ;  New  Methods 
of  Preparing  Azoimide,  Drs.  Noeltingand  Grandmougin,  600; 
Dr.  Thiele,  601  ;  Technical  Chemistry,  Prof.  R.  Meldola, 
602  ;  New  Rheau  of  Isotherms  of  Carbonic  Acid,  E.  H. 
Amagat,  608  ;  Further  Researches  upon  the  Element  Fluo- 
rine, A.  E.  Tutton,  622 

Chemung  and  Catskill,  on  the  Relations  of  the,  on  the  Eastern 

Side  of  the  Appalachian  Basin,  Prof.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  471 
Chicago  :  Bequest  to  the  University  of,  by  William  B.  Ogden, 


xu 


Index 


[SuppLment  to  Nature, 
November  a6,  1891 


388  ;  the  Coining  Chicago  Exhibition,  258  ;  and  the  McKinley 
Bill,  351  ;  Proposed  International  Conference  of  Electricians 
at,  450,  575 ;  Mines  and  Mining  Department  of,  476 ; 
Representation  of  Colorado  at,  501  ;  the  **  World's  Fair," 
629 
China  :  Is  the  Mariner's  Compass  a  Chinese  Invention  ?,  308  ; 
Botany  of  the  Chinese  Classics,  438  ;  the  Social  and  Religious 
Ideas  of  the  Chinese,  Prof.  R.  K.  Douglas,  510 
Chlorine,   the  Function   of,   in   Acid  Chlorides,  Prof.  H.    E. 

Armstrong,  F.  K.S.,  71 
Chlorofluoride  of  Phosphorus,  A.  E.  Tatton,  333 
Chlorophyll,    Animal,    Dr.    Ludwig  von  Graff,  Prof.  E.  Ray 

Lankester,  F. k.S.,  465 
Chree  (C.) :   the  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a  Whirling  Ring,  82  ;  Ex- 
periments on  Liquid  Electrodes  and  Vacuum  Tubes,  191 
Chronograph,  Stanley's  Phono Jaeter,  a  New  Form  of,  239 
Chrystal   (Prof.),    a    Demonstration   of   Lagrange's  Rule    for 

Solution  of  Partial  Differential  Equations,  310 
Cicada,  the  Song  of  the,  437 
Cilracon fluorescein,  J.  T.  Hewitt,  71 

City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute,  and  Instruction  in  Wood- 
work in  Public  Elementary  Schools,  327 
Clarke  (J.    F.    M.),  Geological  Formaiions  exposed  in  Bridg- 
water Railway  Cuttings  through  Polden  Hills,  530 
Clayden  (A.  W.),  Brocken  Spectres  in  a  London  Fog,  95 
CUrke  (A.  M.),  the  Sun's  Motion  in  Space,  572 
Climate,  Dr.  Briickner  upon  Variations  of,  325 
Climate  of  Cephalonia,  the,  Dr.  Partsch,  326 
Climatology  :     Anleitung    zur    Bearbeitung    meteorologischer 
Beobachtungen     fiir    die     Climatologie,     von     Dr.      Hugo 
Meyer,   27 
Climatology  of  Northern  Afghanistan,  W\  L.  Dallas,  529 
Clock  for  pointing  out  Direction  of  Earth's  Orbital  Motion  in 

Ether,  Prof  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  238 
Clooer  (Richardson),  Graphic  Daily  Record  of  the  Magnetic 
Declination   or  Variation   of  the   Compass  at   Washington, 
U.S.A.,  82 
Cloud   Heights,    Kinematic  Method,    Prof.    Cleveland   Abbe, 

398 
Clouds,  Luminous,  231  ;  O.  Jesse,  229 

Clouds,   on  the  Solid  and  Liquid  Particles  in,  John  Aitken, 

F.K.S.,  279 
Clover,  the  Flavour  of  Maltese  Honey  derived  from,  502 
Clowes  (Prof.  Frank),   Apparatus  for  Testing  Sensitiveness  of 

Safety-lamps,  260 
Clyde  Sea-Area,  Physical  Geography  of.  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill,  167  ; 

Dr.  John  Murray,  232 
Co-adaptaiion,  Prof  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  7,  28  ;  Prof.  George 

J.  Romanes,  F.  R.S.,  28,  55 
C«>al  and  the  Channel  Tunnel  Boring,  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins, 

F.R.S.,  479 
Coal,  the  Spontaneous  Ignition  of.  Prof.  Vivian  B.  Lewes,  455 
Coal  in  West  Vir^jinia,  87 
Cobalt,  Electric  Resistance  and  Thermo-Electric  Position  of. 

Prof.  Knoit,  311 
Cockerell  (T.  D.  A.)  :  the  Alpine  Flora,  6  ;  the  Natural  Selec- 
tion of  Indian  Corn,  56 
Cocoa- Nut  Leaf,  Diseases  of,  M.  C.  Potter,  167 
Coccidae,  W.  M.  Maskell  on  the,  550 
Codrington    (Dr.   R.    H.),   the    Melanesians,  Studies  in  their 

Anthropology  and  Folk-Lore,  613 
Coelho  (Prof.  J.  M.  L.),  Death  of,  500 
Colardeau  (M.),  Vapour  Tension  of  Saturated  Water- Vapour 

at  Critical  Point,  1 19 
Cole  (Prof.   Grenville  A.  j.).  Aids  in  Practical  Geology,  Prof. 

A.  H.  Green,  F.R.S.,  25 
Coleoptera  of  Yarkand,  318 
College   at    San    Paulo,    Brazil,    Projected    Agricultural  and 

Mechanical,  549 
Collie  (Dr.  J.  N. ) :  some  New  Reactions  of  Dehydracetic  Acid, 

287  ;  Lactone  of  Triacetic  Acid,  287 
Collins  (F.  H.),  the  Diminution  of  the  Jaw  in  Civilized  Races, 

326 
Colorado,  the  Survey  of  the  Canon  of  the,  437 
Colorado  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition,  Representation  of,  501 
Coloration,  Protective,  a  New  South  Wales  Beetle  (fam.   Cur- 

culionidse)  as  an  Example  of,  Mr.  Froggatt,  57^ 
Colour-Associations  with  Numerals,  &c..  Dr.  Edward  S.  liolden, 

223 
Colour- Blindness  in  Savage  Races,  Rarity  of.  Dr.  L.  W.  Fox, 
477 ;    Colour  Tests  used  in   Examinations    for   Mercantile 


Marine,  G.    T.  Swanston,  500 ;   Colour- Blindness  Generally 
Considered,  T.  H.  Bickerion,  595 

Colour-Measurement  and  Mixture,  Captain  Abney,  F.R.S.,  313 

Colours  and  Noises,  Startling,  the  Use  of,  Alfred  O.  Walker,  106 

Colours,  Registration  in  Numbers  of,  and  Apparatus  to  show 
Greater  Sensitiveness  of  Eye  to  Different  Colours,  Captain 
Abney,  F.R.S.,  and  General  Festing,  F.R.S.,  187 

Comber  (T.),  a  Negative  of  AmphipUura  pellucida  produced 
with  Zeiss's  New  ^V  of  '  6  N.  A.  and  Sunlight,  239 

Comets:  Re-discovery  of  Wolfs  Comet  (1884  III.),  69  ;  Wolfs 
Periodic  Comet,  209,  478  ;  Observations  of,  G.  Bigourdan, 
192  ;  a  Comet  observed  from  Sunrise  to  Noon,  Captain  Wm. 
Ellacott,  82;  Brooks's  Comet  (1890  II.),  G.  Ray et  and  L. 
Picart,  168 ;  the  Great  Comet  of  1882,  Sereno  E.  Bishop, 
293 ;  Return  of  Encke's  Comet,  355  ;  Dr.  Backlund,  438 ; 
the  Capture  Theory  of  Comets,  209 ;  the  Action  of  Jupiter 
on.  Prof.  Newton,  453  ;  Physical  Appearance  of  Periodic 
Comets,  E.  E.  Barnard,  551  ;  Discovery  of  Tem  pel -Swift's 
Comet,  551  ;  Tempel -Swift's  Periodic,  G.  Bigourdan,  608; 
a  New  Comet,  578 ;  Comet  ^  189 1,  631 

Commerce,  the  History  of,  in  England,  H.  de  B.  Gibbins,  222 

Comparative  Palatability,  E.  B.  Tiichener,  540 

Compass,  Mariners,  is  it  aChhiese  Invention?,  308 

Compounds,  the  Fusing  and  Boiling  Points  of.  Dr.  Gustavos 
Hinrichs,  174 

Confectionery  and  Birch  Oil,  391 

Congresses:  Vienna  International  Ornithological,  ill  ;  Inter- 
national Congresses  of  Hygiene  and  Demography,  337,  344  ; 
the  International  Geographical  Congress  at  B^rne,  355  ;  In- 
ternational Agricultural,  450  ;  International  Electro- technical, 
450;  of  German  Naturalists  and  Physicians,  499  ;  the  Inter- 
national Folk-lore,  527  ;  International  Statistical,  527  ;  In- 
ternational, of  Analytical  Chemists  and  Micro icopists,  574 ; 
Projected  International  Botanical,  at  Geioa,  598 

Conies,  Elementary  Geometry  of.  Dr.  Taylor,  517 

Conifers,  propohcd  Conference  on,  476 

Conroy  (Sir  John,  Bart.),  proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 

15 
Cons  (Miss  Emma),  Morley  Memorial  College,  469 

Consumption  :  the  Prevention  of.  Dr.  Arthur   Kansome,  369  ; 

Dr.  Finkelnburg  on  the  Influence  of  Soil  on,  370 
Contributions  from  the  U.S.  National  Herbarium,  528 
Cook   (Mr.  O.   F.),  projected  Natural  History  Expedition  to 

Liberia,  548 
Cook's  Tours,  the  Business  of  Travel,  W.  Eraser  Rae,  247 
Cooke  (J.  H.),  Geology  of  the  Maltese  Islands,  550 
Copeland  (Dr.  Ralph) :  on  Bright  Streaks  in  the  Moon,  454  ; 

a  Rare  Phenomenon,  494 
Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  273  ; 

I.  C.  Thompson,  294 
Coptic  Palseography,  Henri  Hyvernat,  609 
Coral  Reef,  Animal  Life  on  a,  Dr.  S.  J.  Hickson,  90 
Cordylophora  lacustris,  John  Bidgooi,  106  ;  Thomas  Shepheard, 

151  ;  Henry  Scherren,  445 
Corea,  Northern,  Record  of  a  Journey  in,  Mr.  Campbell,  233 
Com,  Indian,  the  Natural  Selecti  -n  of,  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  56 
Cornish  (T.  H.),  on  some  Remarkable  Catches  of  Fish,  19 
Correlation  of  Geological  Formations,  Mr.  Gilbert,  505 ;  Ptof. 

E.  W.  Hilgard,  506 
Cosmic   Physics,    the  Sjciety   of  Friends  of  Abtronomy   and, 

507 
Cosmical  Evolution,  a  New  Theory  of  the  Mechanism  of  Nature, 

Evan  McLennan,  342 
Coste  (F.  H.  Perry) :  Five  Years'  Pulse-curves,  35  ;  Tortoise 

inclosed  in  Ice,  520 
Cotes  (E.  C),  on  the  Locust  in  India,  18 
Cotteswold  Hills,  a  Microscopic  Study  of  the  Inferior  Oolite  of 

the,  Edward  Wethered,  95 
Cotton -bleaching  by  Oxygenated  Water  with  Calcined  Magnesia, 

M.  Prudhomme,  192 
Cotton  Cultivation  in  Russian  Turkestan,  163 
Coulter  (Prof.  John  M.),  on  the  Future  of  Systematic  Botany, 

472 
County  Councils  and  Technical  Education,  Sir  T.  H.  Farrer, 

6  ;  J.  C.  Buckmaster,  588 
Courtenay  (Right  Rev.  Bishop    Reginald),  the  Spinning  Ring, 

106 
Cowpcr  (J.),  Occurrence  of  the  Ringed  Snake  in  the  Sea,  541 
Cracknell    (A.    G.),    Solutions  of  the   Examples    in    Charles 

Smith's  Elementary  Algebra,  444 
Cracow  Academy  of  Sciences,  312 


SnppUment  to  Naiur€r\ 
Ncvemher  "ifi^  1891     J 


Index 


Xlll 


Craniometry  of  Oatcaste  Tribes  of  Panjab,  Dr.  R.  H.  Charles, 

576 
Craw-Craw,  the  Diseise,  367 

Crawford  (J.),  the  Amerrique  Indians  of  Nicaragua,  502 
Cremona  (Luigi),  Graphical  Statics,  translated  by  Prof.  Thomas 

Hudson  Beare,  221 
Crichton  (D.  A.),  the  Farmers  and  the  Victoria  Department  of 

Agriculture,  550 
Criminality,  Instinctive,  Dr.  S.  A.  K.  Strahan  on,  511 
Cromer  Forest  Bed  ani  its  Fossil  Mammalia,  6r2 
Crook  (H.  T.),  on  our  Ordnance  Survey,  508 
Crookes  (William,     F.  R.S.):    the    Elecirical    Evaporation  of 

Metals  and  Alloys,  212,  455  ;  a  Souvenir  of  Faraday,  230 
Cross  (B.  P.),  the  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock,  151 
Crosskey  (Rev.  Dr.),  on  the  Distribution  of  Erratics  in  England 

and  Wales,  480 
Crova  (A.),  Analysis  of  Sunlight  Diffused  by  Sky,  119,  144 
Crozet's   Voyage    to    Tasmania,    New   Zealand,    the   Ladrone 

Islands,  and  the  Philippines  in  the  Years  1771-72,  492 
Cryogen,  the,  an  Apparatus  for  quickly  Lowering  Temperature 

by  Expansion  of  Liquid  Carbonic  Acid,  M.  Ducretet,  232 
Crystal  Palace  Electrical  Exhibition,  450,  397 
Crystalline  Roc'xs  of  the  Lizard  D"strict,  Prof.   T.  G.  Bonney, 

F.R.S.,  and  General  C.  A.  McMahon,  22 
Crystallization,  G.  D.  Liveing,  F.R.S.,  156 
Crystallography    for    Students    of     Chemistry,     Physics,    and 

Mineralogy,  Geoige  Huntingdon  Williams,   Pj-of.  John  W. 

Judd,  F.R.S.,  193 
Crystailology :  Dr.  O.  Lehmann  on  Micro-Chemical  Analysis,  76 
Crystals  of  Platinum,  J.  Joly,  124 
Crystals,  the  Rejuvenescence  of,   Prof.  John  W.  Judd,  F.R.S., 

Cuckoo,  the,  223 

Cuningham  (Surgeon-General),  on  the  Mode  of  Preventing  the 

Spread  of  Epidemic  Disease  fron  one  Country  to  another, 

366 
Cunningham  (Dr.  Daniel  John),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal 

Society,  15 
Cunningham  (J.  T.) :  on  the   Reproduction  of  the   Pilchard, 

481  ;  on  the  Rate  anl  Growth  of  Age  of  Sexual   Maturity 

in  Fish,  482 
Curgenven  (J.  Brendon),  Eucalyptus  as  a  Disinfectant,  445 
Curtis  (Prof.  Geo.  E.),  Rain-making  in  Texas,  594 
Cnrtius  (Prof.)  :    Neutral    Sulphate    of  Hydrazine,    550  ;    the 

Ketazines,  551 
Cycles,  Weather,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  541 
Cycles,  Weather,  and  Severe  Winters,  591 
Cyclone  at  Martinique,  416 
Cyclone  of  August  28,  1891,  the  Martinique,  575 
Cyclone  Belts,  Physical  and  Geological  Traces  of  Permanent, 

Marsden  Man^on,  389 
Cyclones,  Currents  that  give  rise  to,  H.  Faye,  168 
Cyclones,  M.  Faye's  Theory  of,   Henry  F.  Blanford,  F.R.S., 

348 
Cyclones,  Prof.  W.  von  Bezold  on  the  Theory  of,  437 
Cyprus,  Orange  Disease  in,  A.  E.  Shipley,  528 


Dairy  Work  in  New  South  Wales,  436 
Dallas  (W.  L.),  Climatology  of  Northern  Afghanistan,  529 
Dalton,  Death  of  one  of  the  last  Surviving  Pupils  of,  574 
Damas  (Damascus  ?),  **  Kamme,"  a  New  Species  of  Truffle  from, 

A.  Chatin,  512 
Danish  Academy  of  Sciences,  Prizes  offered  by,  324 
D'Arsonval  on  Stimulating  Muscles  by  Means  of  Light,  390 
Darwin  (Charles),  his  Life  and  Work,  Chas.  Frederick  Holder, 

Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  337 
Darwin  (Francis,   F.R.S.):   on   Growth- Curvature  in   Plants, 

407 ;  on  the  Artificial  Production  of  Rhythm  in  Plants,  484 
Darwinian  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Species,  Francis  P.  Pascoe, 

247 

Daubree  (M.) :  Experiments  on  Mechanical  Action  on  Rocks  of 
Gas  at  High  Pressures  and  in  Rapid  Motion,  240 ;  Iron  in 
Gold  Washings  about  Berezowsk,  336 ;  Probable  R6U  of 
Gases  in  various  Geological  Phenomena,  360 

Davidson  (J.  M.),  Analyses  of  Kamacite,  Taenite,  and  Plessite 
from  Welland  Meteoric  Iron,  310 

Davison  (C),  the  Inverness  Earthquakes  of  1890,  240 

Dawkins  (Prof.  W.  Boyd,  F.R.S.):  on  the  Geology  of  the 
Country  around  Liverpool,  G.  H.  Morion,  172;  on  the 
Channel  Tunnel  Boring  and  the  Discovery  of  Coal,  479 


Dawson  (Dr.  George  Mercer),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal 

Society,  15 
Dawson  (Oliver  S.),  Existing  Schools  of  Science  and  Art,  547 
Deakin  (Rupert),  Rider  Papers  on  Euclid,  Books  I.-IL,  76 
Deane  (Henry),  Lnminous  Insects  in  Australian  Bush,  233 
Deep  Well,  Wheeling,  W.Va.,  a  Preliminary  Report  of  Obser- 
vations at  the,  William  Hallock,  472 
Definition,  Photographic,  A.  Mallock,  552 
Deir-el-Bahari,  Mummies,  Papyri,  &c.,  from,  66 
Delacre  (M.),    the  Constitution   of   a-Benzopinacoline,    312; 

Pinacone  and  Desoxybenzoin,  312 
Demography  and  Hygiene,  International  Congress  of,  65,  307, 

337.  344 
Dendy  (Arthur) :  Synute pulchellay  a  New  Species  of  Calcareous 

Sponge,  120;  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus,  468 

Denning  (W.  F.):  Telescopic  Work  for  Starlight  Evenings, 
467  ;  Jupiter  and  his  Markings,  439 

Desinfection,  Ueber  die.  Dr.  Pistor,  487 

Deslandres  (M  ),  Photography  of  Solar  Prominences,  438 

D*Espine  (Prof.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 

Destruction  of  Mosquitoes,  W.  Matlieu  Williams,  519 

Deiermi'iism  and  Force :  Evan  McLennan,  198 ;  Prof.  Oliver 
J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  198,  272  ;  Edward  T.  Dixon,  249,  319; 
Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan,  249,  319 ;  Rev.  T.  Travers  Sher- 
lock, 320  ;  D.  Wetterhan,  320 

Dextrose,  Compounds  of,  with  the  Oxides  of  Nickel,  A.  C. 
Chapman,  71 

Diamond  Island,  the  Flora  of,  W.  Botting  Hemsley,  F.R.S., 

Diamonds,  Emission  of  Light  by,  in  Darkness,  G.  F.  Kunz, 

88 
Diatoms  :  C.  Haughton  Gill  on,  23  ;  Grenfell  on  the  Structure 

of,  481 
Dickins  (F.  Victor),  University  of  London  Questi)n,  54 
Dickinson  (Dr.),  Harvey's  Discovery,  597 
Dictionary  of  Applied  Chemistry,   Sir   H.   E.  Roscoe,   M. P., 

F.R,S.,  268 
Dictionary  of  the  E  igUsh  Language,  Webster's,  102 
Dictionary  of  Political  Economy,  564 
Differential  and  Integral  Calculus,   by  Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhill, 

F.R.S.,  170 
Difficulty  in  Weismannism,  a,  Prof.  Marcus  Hartog,  613 
Dines  (W.  H.),  on  the  Formation  of  Storms,  95 
Dinotherium  en  Roumanie,  sur  TExistence  du.   Prof.   Gregoire 

Stefanescu,  602 
Diphtheria,  the  Congress  of  Hygiene  on,  368 
Disease  and  Population,  Studies  in  Statistics,  George  Blundell 

LongstafT,  4 
Disease  and  Weather,  Herr  Magelssen,  113 
Disinfectant,  Eucalyptus  as  a,  J.  Brendon  Curgenven,  445 
Dismorr  (J.  S. ,),  an  Alphabet  of  Motions,  225 
Distant  (W.    L.),    Hemisaga  hastata  and  Danais  chrysippus 

(Butterfly),  48^ 
Ditte  (Prof.  A.),  Le9ons  sur  les  M^caux,  Prof.   W.  C.  Roberts- 
Austen,  F.R.S.,  245 
Dixon  (A.   E.),  New  Benzylic  Derivatives  of  Thiocarbamide, 

118 
Dixon  (Edward  T.),  Force  and  Determinism,  249,  319 
Doberck  (Dr.),  Meteorology  of  the  Eastern  Seas,  389 
Doelter  (Dr.  C.),  Allgemeine  chemische  Mineralogie,  516 
Dog  in  Ancient  Egypt,  M.  Maspero,  207  , 
Dog  Story,  John  Bell,  521 

Domestic  Comfort  in  United  States,  Science  and,  354 
Dongola,  the  Engineering  Importance  of,  Mr.  Willcocks,  301 
Double-Star  Observations,  S.  W.  Bumbam,  283 
Double  Stars,  631 
Douglas  (Prof.  R.  K.),  on  the  Sod&l  and  Religious  Ideas  of  the 

Chinese,  510 
Douillot  (M.),  Scientific  Expedition  to  Madagascar,  11 1 
Doyle  (Denis),  a  Journey  in  Gazaland,  209 
Drag  )n-flies  v.  Mosquitoes,  491 
Draper  (Harry  Napier),  Alum  Solution,  446 
Draper  Catalogue  of  Stellar  Spectra,  89 
Draper  Catalogue,   the.  Rev.    Dr.  T.    E.    Espin,    133  ;  Prof. 

Edward  C.  Picker!  ig,  223 
Dredging  Products,  Alexr.  Meek,  344 
Dreux,  Destructive  Tornado  at,  Teisserenc  de  Bort,  112 
Dreyer  (Dr.  J.  D.  E.),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  541   "^^af 
Drift-Implement  of  Unusual  Form  found  in  Oxford  Street,  G. 
F.  Lawrence,  282  i.--  .      '*;'^^^ 

Du  Boys  (P.),  Fluctuations  in  Height  of  Lake  Waters,  120 


XIV 


Index 


LSiippiewunt  to  Nrnturty 


X)uboin  (A.),  New  Method  of  Determining  Vertical  Motion  of 

Aerostats,  144 
Duck's  Forethought,  a  Wild,  W.  Prenlis,  550 
Ducretet  (M. ),  the  Cryogen,  an  Apparatus  for  quickly  Lowering 

Temperature  by  Expansion  of  Liquid  Carbonic  Acid,  232 
Duncan  (Dr.  P.  Martin,  F.R.S.),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice 
^of,  135,  387 

Dunstan  (W.  R.),  Interaction  of  Alkalies  and  Nitroethane,  118 
Duppa-Crotch  (W.),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  614 
Durham  College  of  Science  Calendar,  502 
Durham  (William),  Food  Physiology,  540 
Dutton  (Captain),  and  Geology  in  America,  183 
Dyer(W.  T.  Thiselton,  F.R.S.),  University  of  London  Question, 

52  ;  the  Albert  University,  196 
Dymond  (T.  S.),  Interaction  of  Alkalies  and  Nitroethane,  118 


Eakins  (L.  E.),  New  Analyses  of  Astrophyllite  and  Tschcff- 

kinite,  310 
Ealing  Microscopical  and  Natural  History  Society,  Report  of,  40 
Ealing,  Remarkable  Meteor  at,  599 

Earth,  Determination  of  Gravitation  Constant  and  Mean  Den- 
sity of,  by  means   of  Common   Balance,   J.    H.   Poynting, 
F.R.S.,  165 
Earth,  Researches  on  the  Mean  Density  of  the,  Prof.  A.Comu,327 
Earth's  Orbital  Motion  in  Elher,  Clock  for  pointing  out  Direc- 
tion of.  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  238 
Earth's  Rotation,  Prof.  Padelletti  on  the   Insufficiency  of  the 
usual  Investigation  for  Movement  of  Plane  of  Oscillation  of 
Foucault's  Pendulum  in  relation  to,  326 
Earth-currents  and  the  Electric  Railway,  William  Ellis,  127 
Earthquakes  :  at  Athens,  40 ;    near  St.   Paul's  Rocks   in  the 
Atlantic,  41  ;  Earthquake  of  June  7,  Prof.  A.   Riggenbach- 
Burckhardt,  151  ;  Earthquakes  in  Italy,  136,  161  ;  the  Recent 
Earthquakes  in  Italy,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  293  ;  the  Earth- 
quakes in  Bengal  and  Italy,  185  ;  Earthquake  shocks  in  Italy 
and  Australia,  R.  L.  J.  Ellery,  F.R.S.,  206,  272  ;  the  Inver- 
ness (1890),  C.  Davison,  240  ;  Earthquakes  in  Indiana,  303  ; 
in   San   Salvador  and  the   Azores,  475  ;  at  San  Francisco, 
575 ;    at    Pantellaria,    599 ;    Earthquake    at    Bournemouth, 
Henry  Cecil,  614 
Earthworms,  Identification  of  Templcton's  British,  Rev.  Hilderic 

Friend,  273 
Elastboume,  Johnson's  Visitors'  Companion  to,  388 
Eclipse  of  June  6,  1891,  Partial  Solar,  M.  Perrotin,  168 
Edinburgh,  the  1892  Visit  of  the  British  Association  to,  161 
Edinburgh  Royal  Society,  119,  166,  191,  263,  310,  359 
Edinburgh,    Proposed  Informal  Congress  on  Scottish   Higher 

Education,  258 
Edinburgh  University,  Summer  Graduation  Ceremony,  323 
Education  :  Technical,  and  County  Councils,  324 ;  Sir  T.  H. 
Farrer,  6 ;  J.  C.  Buckmaster,  588 ;  the  Technical  Education 
of  Girls,  185 ;  National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of 
Technicsd,  231  ;  Lord  Hartington  on  Technical  Education, 
234  ;  Technical  Education  in  the  South- Eastern  Counties  of 
England,  303  ;  Technical  Education  for  Farmers,  Farriers, 
and  Engine  Drivers,  John  L.  Winter,  320 ;  the  City  and 
Guilds  of  London  Institute  and  Instruction  in  Woodwork  in 
Public  Elementary  Schools,  327 ;  the  Progress  of  Technical 
Education,  351  ;  New  Physics  and  Electrical  Engineering 
Department  at  Manchester  Technical  School,  475  ;  Technical 
Education  in  Essex,  548  ;  in  Scotland,  549  ;  Advertisements 
for  Instructors,  565 ;  Alterations  in  the  Science  and  Art 
Directory,  40:  University  Extension  Scheme,  40 ;  Eighteen 
Years  of  University  Extension,  52 ;  Education  in  India,  67, 
88  ;  Secondary  Education  in  Scotland,  161  ;  Educational 
Aspects  of  Free  Education,  169 ;  Technical  Education  in 
Agriculture,  Dr.  W.  Fream,  137  ;  University  of  Oxford  and 
Agricultural  Education,  183  ;  Hygienic  Advantage  of  Erect 
as  Compared  with  Slanting  Writing,  Dr.  Lore.iz,  325  ;  the 
Kindergarten  System  in  New  York,  502 ;  Increased  Accom- 
modation for  Scientific  Education  at  Oxford,  iii;  the 
Scientific  Measurement  of  Children  with  Respect  to  Educa- 
tion, Rev.  H.  A.  Soames,  114;  Scientific,  Appointments  to 
185 1  Exhibition  Science  Scholarships  for  1891,  258,  351  ; 
Les  Sciences  Naturelles  et  I'Education,  Prof.  T.  H.  Huxley, 
F.R.S.,  272;  Existing  Schools  of  Science  and  Art, 
Oliver  S.  Dawson,  547 ;  Proposed  Informal  Congress  at 
Edinburgh  on  Scottish  Higher  Education,  258  ;  Annual  Re- 
port of  Oxford  University  Extension  Delegates  on  Secondary 
Education,  451 ;  Education  and  Heredity,  J.  M.  Guyau,  292 


Edwards  (Frederick  E.)  Col  lection  of  British  Oligooene  and 
Eocene  Mollusca  in  the  British  Museum,  Systematic  List  of, 
Richard  Bullen  Newton,  610 

Eginitis  (D.),  Observation  of  Passage  of  Mercury  across 
Sun's  Disk,  May  9,  1891,  119 

Egypt :  Locusts  in,  40 ;  the  Dog  in  Ancient  Egypt,  M. 
Maspero,  207  ;  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Monuments  in, 
281  ;  the  Engineering  Importance  of  Dongola,  301  ; 
the  Projected  Storage  Reservoir,  548 ;  Discovery  of  Three 
Colossal  Statues  at  Aboukir,  575  ;  Exploration  in,  Flinden 
Petrie,  630 ;  Egyptian  Irrigation,  145  ;  Sir  Colin  Moncrieff 
on,  151 

Ehrlich  (Prof.),  Koch's  Present  Views  regarding  Tuberculin, 

398 
Ehrlich  (Dr.),  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  422 

Elbolton  Cave  near  Skipton,  B.  A.  Report  on,  480 
Electricity :  Hertz's  Experiments,  12,  31 ;  Electricity  in  the 
Physical  Department  at  Bangor  University  College,  18 ; 
Intensity  Coils,  how  made  and  how  used,  by  "  Dyer,*'  28 ; 
Production  of  Solid  Carbon  Dioxide,  Dr.  Havssknecfat,  42  ; 
Earth  Currents,  the  Electric  Railway  and  the  Royal  Observa- 
tory, William  Ellis,  127  ;  the  Theory  of  Electro-dynamics, 
J.  Larmor,  139 ;  Blakesley's  Method  of  Measuring  Power  in 
Transformers,  Prof.  Perry,  F.R.S.,  142;  New  Model  of 
Copper  Oxide  Batteries,  F.  de  Lalande,  144;  Quadrant 
Electrometers,  W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S.,  J.  Perry,  F.R.S.,  and 
W.  E.  Sumpner,  166 ;  Pocket  Electrometers,  C.  V.  Boys, 
F.R.S.,  262  ;  Dielectric  Properties  of  Mica  at  High  Tempera- 
tures, E.  Bouty,  168  ;  Discharge  without  Electroides  through 
Gases,  Prof.  J.J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.,  187;  Experiments  on 
Liquid  Electrodes  in  Vacuum  Tubes,  C.  Chree,  191  ;  Electri- 
cal Evaporation,  Wm.  Crooked,  F.R.S.,  212;  Electrolysis 
of  Barium  Chloride,  C.  Limb,  216  ;  the  Formation  of  Salts,  a 
Contribution  to  the  History  of  Electrolysis,  H.  E.  Armstrong, 
F.R.  S.,  287  ;  Papers  on  Electrolysis  at  the  Meeting  of  the 
British  Association,  454  ;  Conversazione  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  231  ;  Study  of  Plante  Cell,  from  Chemi- 
cal Point  of  View,  I.,  G.  H.  Robertson,  236;  11.,  H.  E. 
Armstrong,  F.R.S.,  and  G.  H.  Robertson,  237;  Alternate 
Current  and  Potential  Difference,  Analogies  in  Methods  of 
Measuring  Power,  Prof.  Ayrton  and  Dr.  Sumpner,  237  ; 
Experiments  with  Leyden  Jars,  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 
F.R.S.,  238  ;  Contributions  to  the  Study  of  Atmospheric,  Ch. 
Andr^,  240  ;  Magnetic  Anomalies,  Alfonso  Sella,  249 ;  Con- 
struction of  Non-inductive  Resistances,  Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton, 
F.  R.S.,  and  T.  Mather,  261  ;  the  Observation  of  Atmospheric, 
Herren  Eister  and  Geitel,  281  ;  Prof.  Poincare  on  Maxwell's 
Electro- magnetic  Theories,  Prof.  A.  Gray,  296 ;  Electric 
Resistance  of  Cobalt,  Prof.  Knott,  311  ;  the  Relative  Cost  of 
Electricity  in  London  and  Elsewhere,  M.  Haubtmann,  324  ; 
the  Origin  of  the  New  Electric  Photophone,  325  ;  Messrs. 
Staite  and  Petrie's  New  Electrical  Light,  327 ;  Proposal 
by  Sir  Edward  Watkin  to  place  Electric  Light  on  Snowdon, 
352 ;  Electric  Light  Fitting,  a  Handbook  for  Working  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  John  W.  Urquhart,  586  ;  the  Report  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  Committee  on  Electrical  Standards,  417  ; 
Electrical  Standards,  434  ;  an  Introduction  to  the  Mathemati- 
cal Theory  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism,  W.  T.  A.  Emtage, 
443 ;  Electrical  Exhibition,  Crystal  Palace,  450,  597  ;  Pro- 
posed International  Conference  of  Electricians  at  Chicago 
Exhibition,  450,  575  ;  International  Electro-Technical  Con- 
gress, 450 ;  Electric  Observations  on  Sonnblick,  Herren 
Eister  and  Geitel's,  452  ;  Prof.  D.  E.  Jones  on  Electric 
Waves  in  Wires,  454 ;  A.  P.  Laurie  on  the  Electromotive 
Forces  of  Various  Alloys,  455  ;  Dampening  of  Oscillations  in 
Iron  Wire,  John  Trowbridge,  463  ;  Frankfort  International 
Electrical  Exhibition,  494,  521,  542,  615  ;  Prof.  G.  Forbes 
on  Electric  Motors,  5 10 ;  Electric  Transmission  of  Power, 
Joseph  J.  Murphy,  590  ;  Mr.  C.  E.  Kehvay's  Apparatus  for 
Marine  and  General  Electrical  Signalling,  575 
Elkin  (Dr.),  Observatory  of  Yale  University,  283 
Ellacott  (Captain   Wm.),   a  Comet  observed  from  Sunrise  to 

Noon,  82 
Ellery  (R.  L.  J.,  F.R.S.),   Earthquake   Shocks  in  Italy  and 

Australia,  272 
Elliott  (Edwin  Bailey),  proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 

Ellis  (William) :  Earth  Currents,  the  Electric  Railway,  and  the 
Royal  Observatory,  127  ;  Comparison  of  Thermometricad 
Observations  in  Stevenson  Screen  with  same  on  Revolving 
Stand  at  Greenwich  Observatory,  239 


SuP^UmeHt  to  Nature^ 
Nvoembtr -^f^t  1891     J 


Index 


XV 


Elsier  (Hcrr),  the  Observation  of  Atmospheric  Electricity,  281 
Elster  and  Geitel  (HerreD),  Electric  Observations   on  Sonn- 

blick,  452 
Embryology :  Pycnogonids  or  Sea-Spiders,  49 
Emin  (Pasha),  Ornithology  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  87 
Emmerich  (Prof.),  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  421 
Emmons  (S.  F.),  a  Geological  Excursion  in  America,  182 
Emtage  (W.    T.    A.)t   an  Introduction  to  the  Mathematical 

Theory  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism,  443 
Encke's  Comet,  c  1891,  355  ;  Dr.  Backlund,  438 
Endowment  of  Research  in  France,  MM.  Cahours  and  Janssen, 

17 
Energy,   on    some  Test  Cases    for    the    Maxwell-Holtzmann 

Doctrine   regarding  Distribution  of.    Sir  William  Thomson, 

P.R.S..  355     , 
Engineer  Attaches  to  Austrian  Embassies,  Proposed,  575 

Engineering :  Marine  Engine  Trials,  20 ;  Achievements  in,  L. 
F.  Vernon- Harcourt,  147  ;  Engineering  Importance  of  Don- 
gola,  the,  Mr,  Willcocks,  301 ;  Government  Timber  Tests, 
B.  E.  Fermor,  471  ;  Electrical  Engineering,  494,  521,  542; 
the  Projected  Egyptian  Storage  Reservoir,  548;  Electric 
L^ht  Fitting,  a  Hand-book  for  Working  Electrical  Engineers, 
John  W.  Urquhart,  586  ;  Conversazione  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  231  ;  Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, 332 

Engrais  Chimiques,  Les,  Georges  Ville,  517 

Entomology :  the  Fossil  Insects  of  North  America,  with  Notes 
on  some  European  Species,  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  R.  Lydek- 
ker,  I ;  the  Locust  in  India,  18  ;  Entomological  Society,  95, 
143,  262,  488  ;  a  New  Sponge  Worm  Parasite,  Prof.  W.  B. 
Spencer,  120;  the  Blow-fly,  B.  Thompson  Lowne,  123; 
Redevelopment  of  Lost  Limbs  in  Insects,  John  Watson,  163  : 
the  Insect  House  in  the  Zoological  Gardens,  163,  198 ; 
Supernumerary  Legs  and  Antennas  in  Beetles,  W.  BatesoD, 
188 ;  Rearrangement  of  the  South  African  Museum  Collec- 
tion of  Lepidoptera  by  R.  Trimen,  207 ;  the  United  States 
Entomological  Commission,  Dr.  Alpheus  S.  Packard,  217  ; 
Luminous  Insects  in  Australian  Bush,  Henry  Deane,  233  ; 
Ant-imitating  Bug,  Mr.  Wroughton,  262 ;  Insect-flight 
Studied  by  Photochronography,  M.  Marey,  264 ;  Coleoptera 
of  Yarkand,  318 ;  New  Species  of  Russian  Trap  Spider, 
W.  A.  Wagner,  359  ;  the  Song  of  the  Cicada,  437 ;  Agri- 
cultural Entomology,  Resignation  of  Miss  Ormerod,  451, 
528;  Mimicry  in  Spiders,  £.  Heckel,  451  ;  Some  Difficuliies 
in  the  Life  of  Aquatic  Insects,  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall,  457 ;  In- 
sects and  Flowers,  G.  F.  Scott-Elliott,  488 ;  Hemisaga 
hastala  and  Danais  chrysippus  (Butterfly),  W.  L.  Distant, 
4S8 ;  Scoria  dealbaia,  H.  Goss,  488  ;  Dragon-flies  v.  Mos- 
quitoes, 491  ;  Orange  Disease  in  Cyprus,  A.  £.  Shipley, 
528  ;  Remarkable  Instance  of  Frugality  in  Bees,  W.  H. 
Harris,  550 ;  W.  M.  Maskell  on  the  Coccidse,  550 ;  a  New 
South  Wales  Beetle  (fam.  Curculionidse)  as  an  Example  of 
Protective  Coloration,  Mr.  Froggatt,  576 

Eozoon,  the  Origin  of,  308 

Epidemics :  Measures  adopted  for  the  Prevention  of  Infectious 
Diseases,  and  their  Relation  to  our  Knowledge  of.  Dr.  Lewis 
Sambon,  486 

Epilobium,  the  Species  of,  occurring  North  of  Mexico,  Dr. 
Trelease,  196 

Erratics,  the  Distribution  of,  in  England  and  Wales,  Rev.  Dr. 
Crosskey,  480  { 

Espin  (Rev.  Dr.  T.  E.) :  Photo-Stellar  Spectra,  133  ;  Two  New 
Variable  Stars,  578 

Essex  County  Council  and  Technical  Education,  324,  548 

Ether,  Clock  for  pointing  out  the  Direction  of  the  Earth's 
Orbital  Motions  in,  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  238 

£therof  Space,  on  the  Functions  and  Nature  of  the,  Prof.  F. 

E.Nipher,  471 
Ethers,  the  Rate  of  Formation  of  Compound,  N.  Menschutkin, 

Ethnology :  of  Sumatra,  68 ;  Races  and  Peoples,  Lectures  on 
the  Saence  of  Ethnography,  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  124  ; 
American  Ethnological  Expedition  to  Labrador,  185  ;  Manners 
and  Costoms  of  Shan  States,  W.  R.  Hillier,  137;  the 
Amerrique  Indians  of  Nicaragua,  J.  Crawford,  502;  the 
Aborigines  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  600 

£lhyl  Oxide,  an  Attempt  to  determine  the  Adiabatic  Relations 
ot  Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  and  E.  P.  Perman,  22 

Encalypts,  the  Classification  of,  41 

Eucalyptus  Branches,  Green,  as  a  Disinfectant,  Baron  von 
Modler,  353 ;  J.  Breadon  Curgenven,  445 


Euclid,  Books  I. -II,  Rider  Papers  on,  Rupert  Deakin,  76 
European  Botany,  Vol.  L,  K.  Richter,  J.  G.  Baker,  F.R.S., 

100 
European  Weather  Charts,  Captain  C.  H.  Seemann  on,  41 
Evaporating  Power  of  a  Climate,  Determination  of,  Dr.  Ule, 

137 
Evaporation,  Electrical,  William  Crookes,  F.R.S.,  212 
Evaporation,  Water,   in  Sun  and  in  Shade,  Signor  Batelli's 

Experiments  on,  136 
Everett    (Prof.,   F.R.S.),   Illustraliins  of  C.G.S.    System    of 

Units,  with  Tables  of  Physical  Constants,  Prof.  John  Perry, 

F.R.S.,  489 
Evolution  of  Algebra,  on  the,  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde,  470 
Evolution,    the  Classification  of  the  Tunicata  in  Relation  to, 

Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  130 
Evolution,   Cosmical,   a  New  Theory  of   the   Mechanism  of 

Nature,  Evan  McLennan,  342 
Evolutionary  Castigation,    Rev.  John  Gerard,   S.J.,  Prof.   R. 

Meldola,  F.R.S.,  441 
Ewing  (Prof.  J.  A.,  F.R.S.),  the  Molecular  Process  in  Magnetic 

Induction,  566 
Exhibition,  the  Coming  Chicago,  258 ;  and  the  McKinley  Bill, 

351 ;  Mines  and  Mining  Department  at  Chicago,  476  ;  British 

Electrical  Display  at  the,  575 
Exhibition,  Contemplated  Victorian,  352 
Exhibition,  Crystal  Palace  Electrical,  450,  597 
Exhibition  of  1851  Science  Scholarships,  351 
Exhibition  of  Photographic  Society  of  Great  Britain,  231 
Expedition  Afoot  to  the  North  Pole,  Lieutenant  Peary's  Pro- 
jected Botanical,  231 
Expedition,  Baron  Nordenskiold's  Proposed  Antarctic,  231 
Expedition,  the  Heilprin  Greenland,  the  Accident  to  and  Posi- 
tion of  Lieutenant  Peary,  475 
Expedition  to  Labrador,  American  Ethnological,  185 
Expedition   to   Liberia    by    O.    F.    Cook,    Projected    Natural 

History,  548 
Expedition  to  Pahang,  Straits  Government  Scientific,  112 
Expedition,  Pilcomayo,  J.  Graham- Kerr's,  135 
Expedition,  Scientific,  for  Investigation  of  South  Maryland,  208 
Expeditions  to  the  Chin  Hills  and  Bhamo  Country,  Projected, 

550 
Experimental  Physics :  Liquids  and  Gases,  Prof.  W.  Ramsay, 

F.R.S.,  274 
Experimental  Researches  on  Mechanical   Flight,    Prof.  S.  P. 

Langley,  277 


Face,  the  Growth  of  the,  Prof.  G.  M.  West,  325 

Fairyland  Tales  of  Science,  Prof.  J.  G.  McPherson,  5 

Faraday  Centenary,  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  178 

Faraday  (Michael),  a  Souvenir  of,  230 

Farrer   (Sir  T.   H.,  Bart.),   County  Councils  and  Technical 

Education,  6 
Fatio  (Victor),  Faune  des  Vertcbrcs  de  la  Suisse,  Dr.  Albert 

Glinther,  269 
Faye's  (M.)  Theory  of  Cyclones,  Henry  F.  Blanford,  F.R.S., 

348 
Fayrer  (Sir  Joseph,  F.S.A.):   Elected  Member  of  the  Royal 

Italian  Society  of  Hygiene,  323  ;  Elected  Associate  of  Paris 
Academy  of  Medicine,  351  ;  Address  in  the  Section  of  Pre- 
ventive Medicine  at  the  Congress  of  Hygiene,  363 
Fecundation,    Morphological    Nature  of   Principle    of,   Leon 

Guignard,  168 
Federated  Institution  of  Mining  Engineers,  500 
Felkin  (Dr.  Robert),  on  Acclimatization,  508 
Fermor  (B.  E.),  on  Government  Timber  Tests,  471 
Ferns,    Hand-book   of  the,   of  Kaffraria,  T.  R.  Sim,  J.    G. 

Baker,  F.R.S.,  75 
Ferrel  (Prof.  Wm.) :  Death  of,  500  ;  Obituary  Notice  of,  527 
Ferrier    (Dr.   David,    F.R.S.):    the    Croonian    Lectures    on 
Cerebral  Localization,  292 ;  Presentation  of  Cameron  Prize 

to,  351 
Festing  (General,  F.R.S.),  Greater  Sensitiveness  of  Eye    to 

Different  Colours,  Apparatus  to  show  the,  187 
Ficheur  (M.),  the  Eocene  Formation  of  Algeria,  264 
Field  Naturalists'  Club  of  Victoria,  Excursion  to  Kent  Islands, 

476 
Finger  Marks,  Method  of  Indexing,  Francis  Galton,  F.R.S., 

141 
Finger  Prints  as  a  Means  of  Identification,   Francis   Galton, 

F.R.S.,  187 


XVI 


Index 


ISuj^plement  to  Nature ^ 
L      NcvemheriAy  \Zqx 


Finkelnbaig  (Dr.),  on  the  Influence  of  Soil  on  Consumption, 

370 
Fire- Prevention  :  the  Society  of  Arts  Fothergill  Gold  Medal  for, 

135  ;  1000  Lire  Gold  Medal  offered  by  Bologna  Academy  for 

Memoir  on  best  Means  of,  303 

Firs  and  Pines  of  Japan,  Dr.  Maxwell  T.  Masters,  F.R.S.,  339 

Fischer  (H.),  Development  of  Liver  of  Nudibranchiates,  144 

Fish  :  some  Remarkable  Catches  of,  19  ;  the  Destruction  of,  by 
Frost,  F.  F.  Payne,  31  ;  Fossil  Fish  of  the  Scandinavian 
Chalk,  117  ;  Faune  des  Vertebres  de  la  Suisse,  Victor  Fatio, 
Dr.  Albert  Giinther,  F.R.S.,  269 ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on  the 
Reproduction  of  the  Pilchard,  481  ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on  the 
Rate  and  Growth  of  Age  of  Sexual  Maturity  in  Fish,  482 ; 
Prof.  Howes  on  the  Classification  of  Fishes  by  their  Repro> 
ductive  Organs,  483  ;  Prof.  Howes  on  the  Gills  of  Fishes, 
483 ;  United  States  Fish  Commission  Reports,  562  ;  Oyster 
Fisheries,  Mr.  Fryer,  233  ;  Fish  caught  in  the  Cruise  of  the 
Fifigal,  1890,  off  West  Coast  of  Ireland.  E.  W.  L.  Holt, 
282 ;  Calderwood  on  Sea  Fisheries,  481  ;  the  Baltimore 
Fishing  School  and  Irish  Fisheries,  549 

Fisher  (Prof.  W.  R.),  Forestry  in  North  America,  60 

Fizeau  {VLA  :  Influence  that  Aberration  of  Light  may  Exercise 
on  Spectroscopic  Observations  of  Solar  Prominences,  488 ; 
Influence  of  Aberration  upon  Observations  of  Sjlar  Pro- 
minences, 530 

Flame,  Optical  Proof  of  Existence  of  Suspended  Matter  in. 
Prof.  Stokes,  F.R.S.,  263 

Flammarion  (C.),  Apparent  Total  Disappearance  of  Jupiter's 
Satellite;,  311 

Flesh,  Organic  Bases  in  the  Juice  of,  G.  S.  Johnson,  117 

Fletcher  (Thomas),  Rain  Gauges,  371 

Flight,  Experimental  Researches  on  Mechanical,  Prof.  S.  P. 
Langley,  277 

Flora,  Alpine,  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  6  ;  J.  Innes  Rogers,  6 

Flora  of  European  Russia,  Geo-botanical  Notes  on,  D.  I. 
Litvinoff,  359 

Flora  of  the  Malayan  Peninsula,  Materials  for  a,  Geo.  King, 
F.R.S.,  492 

Florida,  Rain  Making  in,  in  the  Fifties,  521 

Flower  (Prof.  W.  H.,  F.R.S.) :  an  "International  Society,"  7  ; 
and  Richard  Lydekker,  Mammals  Living  and  Extinct,  Prof. 
E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  121 ;  Oxford  University  Museum, 
619 

Flowers,  our  Country's,  W.  J.  Gordon,  247 

Fluorine,  Action  of,  on  Phosphorus  Trifluoride,  M.  Moissan, 
186,  333,  622 ;  A.  E.  Tmton,  333 

Fluorine,  Further  Researches  upon  the  Element,  A.  E.  Tutton, 
622 

Foerster  (Dr.),  Volatile  Carbonyl  Compounds  of  Platinum,  530 

Fog,  a  Method  of  Counting  Water-Particles  in,  John  Aiiken, 
119 

Folk-lore  Congress,  International,  the,  527 

Folk-lore  of  the  Hungarian  Gypsies,  Dr.  H.  von  Wlislocki,  630 

Folk-lore,  the  Melanesians,  Studies  in  their  Anthropology  and, 
Dr.  R.  H.  Codrington,  613 

Food,  Copepoda  as  an  Article  of.  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  273 

Food  Physiology,  William  Durham,  540 

Forbes  (Prof  G.),  on  Electric  Motors,  510 

Force  and  Determinism  :  Evan  McLennan,  198 ;  Prof.  Oliver 
J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  198,  272;  Prof  C.  Lloyd  Morgan,  249, 
319  ;  Edward  T.  Dixon,  249,  319 ;  Rev.  T.  Travers  Sherlock, 
320;  D.  Wetterhan,  320 

Force  and  Motion,  the  Laws  of,  John  Harris,  443 

Forestry  in  India,  436 

Forestry  in  North  America,  Prof  W.  R.  Fisher,  60 

Forestry,  the  Teaching  of,  Williaoi  Schlich,  Sir  D.  Brandis, 
F.R.S.,  265 

Forestry,  on  Government  Timber  Tests,  B.  E.  Fermor,  471 

Forests  and  Air- Temperature,  68 

Forty  Years  in  a  Moorland  Parish,  Rev.  J.  C.  Atkinson,  122 

Fossil  Fish  of  the  Scandinavian  Chalk,  117 

Fossil  Insects  of  North  America,  with  Notes  on  some  European 
Species,  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  R.  Lydekker,  i 

Fossils,  Protopirata  centrodon,  H.  Trautschold,  359 
Foster  (Prof  G.  Carey,  F.R.S.),  the  Proposed  Albert  Univer- 
sity, 223 
Fourteenth  Century  Weather  Record,  538 
Fox  (Dr.  L.  W.),  Rarity  of  Colour-BHndness  in  Savage  Races, 

477 
Fox's  Head  for  Country,  the,  J.  Harting,  452 
France  :  Endowment  of  Research  in,  MM.  Cahours  and  Janssen, 


17 ;  French  Accent,  Dr.  Pringsheim,  67  ;  French  Meteoro- 
logical Society,  112;  New  Natursd  History  Stations  in 
France,  135  ;  French  Academy's  20,000  franc  Prize  voted  to 
Elisee  Reclus,  161  ;  the  Proposed  Law  on  Universities,  18^ ; 
French  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  2^), 
499,  598 ;  Lighting  in  France,  the  Increase  in  the  Consump- 
tion of  Gas,  Electricity,  and  Petroleum,  during  the  Last 
Decade,  282  ;  the  Protection  of  Prehistoric  Monuments  in, 
232  ;  the  Destruction  of  Small  Birds  in,  390 
Frank  (Dr.  J.),  a  Case  of  Periodical  Skin-shedding,  477 
Frankfort,  Acclimatization  of  Japanese  Lacquer-tree  at.  Prof. 

Rein,  500 
Frankfort   International  Electrical  Exhibition,  494,  521,  542 ; 

some  Notes  on  the,  615 
Frankland   (Percy  Faraday) :  proposed   Fellow  of  the  Rojral 
Society,  15  ;  Manuel  Pratique  d  Analyse  Bacteriologique  des 
Eaux,  Dr.  Miquel,  513 
Fream  (Dr.  W.),  Technical  Education  in  Agriculture,  137 
Freeman  (Dr.  J.   P.   Williams),   Importance  of  more  actively 

enforcing  Ventilation,  487 
French  (C),  the  Insectivorous  Birds  of  Victoria,  162 
Friend  (Rev.   Hilderic),   Identification  of  Templeton's  British 

Earthworms,  273 
Froggatt  (Mr.),  a  New  South  Wales  Beetle  (fam.  Curculionidae) 

as  an  Example  of  Protective  Coloration,  576 
Frost  Phenomenon,  Unusual,  A.  H.  White,  519 
Fryer  (Mr.),  Oyster  Disease  and  its  Remedies,  233 
Ftirstlich  Jablonowsky  Gesellschaft,    325  ;  Astronomical  Prize 

offered  by,  325 
Fusing  and  Boiling  Points  of  Compounds,  Dr.  Gustavus  Hin- 
richs,  174 


Gallon  (Sir    Douglas,  F.R.S.),   Address  at  the  Congress  of 

Hygiene,  362 
Gallon  (Francis,  F.R.S.):  Method  of  Indexing  Finger-marks, 
141 ;    Finger-prints    as    a    Means    of   Identification,    187  ; 
Meteorological  Phenomenon,  294 
Gardiner  (Walter,  F.R.S.),  Water  taken  up  by  Plants,  Pheno- 
mena associated  with  the  Absorption  and  Flow  of,  188 
Gamier  (Jules),  Transport  of  Metallic  Iron  and  Nickel  by  Car- 
bon Monoxide,  336 
Garson  (Dr.),  on  Human  Remains  found  in  Yorkshire,  511 
Gas  Jets  under  Pressure,  Combustion  of,  R.  W.  Wood,  189 
Gas  Mixtures,  the  Slow  Combustion  of  Explosive,  Krause  and 

Meyer,  354 
Gases  in  various  Geological  Phenomena,  Probable  RSle  of,  M. 

Daubree,  360 
Gases,   on  Double   Lines  in   the   Spectra  of.   Dr.  Johnstone 

Stoney,  F.R.S.,  454 
Gases,  the  Foundation  of  the  Kinetic  Theory  of,  V.,  Prof 

Chrystal,  310 
Gases,  Liquids  and.  Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S. ,  274 
Gautier  (Henry),  Action  of  Nitric  Acid  upon  Iron,  216 
Geikie  (Sir  Archibald,  F.R.S.):  on  the  Discovery  of  the  Olenel- 
lus  Zone  in  the  North- West  Highlands  of  Scotland,  479  ;  on 
the  Recent  Work  of  the  Geological  Survey  in  the  Archaean 
Gneiss  of  the  North- West  Highlands  of  Scotland,  480 
Geitel  (Herr),  the  Observation  of  Atmospheric  Electricity,  281 
Geitel  and  Elster's  (Herren)   Electric  Observations  on  Sonn- 

blick,  452 
Gem  Thief,  Capture  at  Vienna  of  a  supposed,  598 
Genoa,  projected  International  Botanical  Congress  at,  598 
Geo-botanical   Notes  on    Flora   of  European   Russia,    D.    I. 

Litvinoff,  359 
Geography:  Geographical  Society,  j^^  Royal ;  Major  Claude  M. 
Macdonald  on  the  Benue  and  the  Kibbe,  46 ;  the  Miranzai 
Expedition,  65  ;  Alexander  McPhee  on  the  Exploration  of 
Central  Australia,  67  ;  Physical  Geography  and  Geology  of 
North  Syria,  Prof  Edward  Hull,  F.R.S.,  99  ;  Mr.  T.  Graham- 
Kerr's  Pilcomayo  Expedition,  135  ;  Major  Hobday's  Ex- 
plorations on  the  Upperlrrawaddy,  137  ;  Across  East  African 
Glaciers,  an  Account  of  the  First  Ascent  of  Kilimanjaro, 
Dr.  Hans  Meyer,  149  ;  Contemplated  Geographical  Society 
at  Liverpool,  161 ;  Physical  Geography  of  the  Clyde  Sea 
Area,  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill,  167;  Dr.  John  Murray,  232;  the 
Karwendel  Alps,  A.  Rothpletz,  221  ;  the  History  of  Com- 
merce in  England,  H.  de  B.  Gibbins,  222;  the  Northern 
Limits  of  the  Black-Earth  Steppe  Region  of  East  Russia, 
Korzchinsky,  326  ;  Record  of  a  Journey  in  Northern  Corea, 
Mr.  Campbell,  233 ;  the  Business  of  Travel,  W.  Eraser  Rae, 


Sup^ement  to  Nature^ 
November  76y  1891      J 


Index 


xvii 


247 ;  the  Yoruba  Country,  West  Africa,  Alvan  Mil  (son,  209  ; 
a  Journey  in  Gazaland,  South-  East  Africa,  Denis  Doyle,  209  ; 
Proofs  that  Asia  and  America  have  been  Recently  Connected, 
Emile  Blanchard,  335  ;  the  International  Geographical  Con- 
gress at  Berne,  355  ;  Prince  of  Monaco's  New  Yacht  for 
Study  of  the  Sea,  359;  the  Field  of  Geography,  E.  G. 
Ravenstein,  423  ;  Exploration  of  Greenland,  436 ;  th? 
Nunivak  Islanders,  Ivan  Petroff,  477  ;  Mrs.  French  Sheldon 
on  East  Africa,  508  ;  Dr.  Robert  Felkin  on  Acclimatization, 
508 ;  Colonel  Holdich  on  the  Application  of  Indian  Geo- 
graphical Survey  Methods  to  Africa,  508 ;  H.  T.  Crook 
on  our  Ordnance  Survey,  508  ;  J.  Scott  Keltie  on  Geo- 
graphical Education,  509  ;  Russian  Geographical  Society's 
Medal  Awards,  598  ;  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson's  Explorations  in 
South  Africa,  59S ;  Prof.  Russell's  Excursion  to  Alaska,  629 
Cieology :  the  Crystalline  Rocks  of  the  Lizard  District,  Prof. 
T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  and  General  C.  A.  McMahon,  22  ; 
Geological  Society,  22,  94,  143,  191,  240 ;  Aids  in  Practical 
Geology,  Prof.  Grenville  A.  J.  Cole,  Prof.  A.  H.  Green, 
F.R.S.,  25  ;  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Petrology,  Dr. 
Frederick  H.  Hatch,  Prjf.  A.  H.  Green,  F.R.S.,  25;  the 
Tin  Resources  of  Tenasserim,  40 ;  Notice  of  Mathurin 
Roussault,  68 ;  the  Eocene  and  Oligocene  Beds  of  the  Paris 
Basin,  88  ;  Rhatic  Section  at  Pylle  Hill,  Bristol,  E.  Wilson, 
94;  a  Microscopic  Study  of  the  Inferior  Oolite  of  the 
Cotteswold  Hills,  Edward  Wethered,  95  ;  Geology  and 
Physical  Geography  of  North  Syria,  Prof.  Edward  Hull, 
F.R.S.,  99;  Geologic,  Priucipes,  H.  Hermite,  102;  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Canada,  1 14  ;  Relative  Age  of  Quaternary 
Stratum  of  Mont  Dol,  M.  Sirodot,  1 19  ;  Lower  Jaws  of 
Procoplodon,  R.  Lydekker,  143  ;  Recently  Exposed  Sections 
in  Glacial  Deposits  at  Hendon,  H.  Hicks,  F.R.S.,  143; 
Diffusion  of  Three  Distinct  Forms  of  Titanium  Oxide  in 
Cretaceous  Strata  of  Northern  France,  Dr.  B.  Roozeboom, 
144 ;  Geolop^ists'  Association,  a  Record  of  Excursions  made 
between  18&  and  1890,  edited  by  Thomas  Vincent  Holmes 
and  C.  Da  vies  Sherborn,  149 ;  Parka  decipUns,  165 ; 
Geology  of  the  Country  around  Liverpool,  G.  H.  Morton, 
Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  172  ;  a  Geological  Excursion 
in  America,  S.  F.  Emmons,  182 ;  the  International  Geo- 
logical Excursion  in  America,  629  ;  Captain  Dutton  and  Geo- 
logy in  America,  183  ;  Post-glacial  History  of  Hudson  River 
Valley,  F.  J.  H.  Merrill,  189  ;  Post-Tertiary  Marine  Deposits 
OQ  South  Coast  of  England,  Alfred  Bell,  191  ;  the  Glacial 
Epoch  Relics  at  Kelley  Island,  Ohio,  207  ;  Traces  of  an 
Inter-glacial  Period  in  Middle  Russia,  N.  Krischtafovitch, 
232 ;  Wells  in  West  Suffolk  Boulder-Clay,  Rev.  Edwin  Hill, 
240 ;  Inverness  Earthquakes  of  1890,  C.  Davison,  240 ;  the 
Eocene  Formation  of  Algeria,  MM.  Pomel  and  Ficheur,  264; 
Geological  Map  of  Monte  Somma  and  Vesuvius,  H.  J. 
Johnston- La  vis,  271  ;  the  Fossil  Echinoidea  of  Malta,  and 
their  Evidence  on  the  Correlation  of  the  Maltese  Rocks, 
J.  W.  Gregory,  311  ;  Hand-book  of  the  London  Geological 
Field  Class,  317  ;  Probable  RtVe  of  Gases  in  various  Geo- 
logical Phenomena,  M.  Daubree,  360  ;  Death  of  Prof.  Martin 
Duncan,  F.R.S.,  387  ;  Pleistocene  Fluvial  Planes  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  Frank  Leverett,  463  ;  on  the  Relations  of  the 
Chemung  and  Catskill  on  the  Eastern  Side  of  the  Appalachian 
Basin,  Prof.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  471  ;  a  Preliminary  Report  of 
Observations  at  the  Deep  Well,  Wheeling,  W.Va.,  William 
Hallock,  472  ;  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Chan- 
nel Tunnel  Boring  and  the  Discovery  of  Coal,  469  ;  W. 
Topley,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Origin  of  Petroleum,  479;  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Discovery  of  the  Olenellus 
Zone  in  the  North -West  Highlands  of  Scotland,  479  ;  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Recent  Work  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  in  the  Archaean  Gneiss  of  the  North  West 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  480  ;  Sir  R.  S.  Ball  on  the  Cause 
of  an  Ice  Age,  480 ;  Rev.  Dr.  Crosskey  on  the  Distribution 
of  Erratics  in  England  and  Wales,  480;  Prof.  Wright 
on  the  Ice  Age  in  North  America,  480  ;  Report  on  the 
Elbolton  Cave  near  Skipton,  480  ;  Dr.  Hicks  on  the  Silurian 
and  Devonian  Rocks  of  Pembrokeshire,  480 ;  Palaeonto- 
logical  Papers,  481  ;  the  International  Geological  Congress- 
Washington  Meeting,  504 ;  Prof.  Joseph  Le  Conte,  504 ; 
Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  Prof.  T.  McK.  Hughes,  and  Mr. 
McGee  on  Classification  of  the  Glacial  Deposits,  504 ;  Mr. 
Gilbert  on  the  Correlation  of  Geological  Formations,  505  ; 
Prof.  E.  W.  Hilgard  on  the  Importance  of  the  Abundance  or 
Scarcity  of  Species  in  the  C  ^rrelation  of  Strata,  506  ;  Major 
J.  W.    Powell   on    Map-colouring   and   Cartography,    506  • 


Antiquity  of  the  Last  Glacial  Period,   N.   S.  Shaler,  529  ; 

Geological     Formations    exposed    in     Bridgwater     Railway 

Cuttings    through    Polden    Hills,   J.    F.    M.    Clarke,   530 ; 

the   Ice    Age    in    North    America,    G.    F.    Wright,    Prof. 

T.    G.    Bonney,    F.R.S.,    537;    South    Italian    Volcanoes, 

Dr.  Johnston- Lavis,  539 ;    the  Rapakiwi,  J.  J.    Sederholm, 
.  548  ;   Geology  of  the  Maltese  Islands,  J.   H.  Cooke,  550  ; 

Geological   Society   of  America,   601  ;    Obituary  Notice   of 

Prof.  Alexander  Winchell,   601  ;    Sur  I' Existence  du   Dino- 

therium    en    Roumanie,    Prof.    Gregoire    Stefanesca,    602 ; 

Systematic    List    of    Frederick    E.    Edwards    Collection  of 

British    Oligocene    and    Eocene    Mollusca    in    the    British 

Museum  (Natural   History),   Richard  Ballen   Newton,   610  ; 

Memorials  of  John    Gunn,    being   some    Account    of   the 

Cromer  Forest  Bed  and  its  Fossil  Mammalia,  612 
Geometry  of  Conies,  Dr.  Taylor's  Elementary,  517 
Geometry  of  Position,  R.  H.  Graham,  Alex.  Larmor,  195 
Gerard  (Rev.  John,  S.  J.),  Science  or  Romance,  Prof.  R.  Mddola, 

F.R.S.,  441 
German    Naval    Observatory,    Hamburg,    Catalogue    of    the 

Library  of,  318 
German  Ornithological  Society,  Annual  Meeting,  39 
German  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Industry,  Prizes,  66 
Germany,  the  Heavy  November  Rains  and  Flojds   in.   Prof. 

Hellmann,  206 
Gernez   (D.),   Application  of  Measure  of  Rotatory  Power  to 

Determination    of    Compounds    of    Aqueous    Solutions    of 

Mannite   with  Acid   Molybdates  of  Soda  and  Ammonium, 

192 
Ghizeh  Museum,  Mummies,  Papyri,  &c.,  at,  66 
Gibbins  (H.  de  B.),  the  History  of  Commerce  in  England,  222 
Gibbs  (Prof.  J.   Willard),  Quaternions  and  the  Ausdehnungs- 

lehre,  79 
Gibert  (Dr.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 
GigUoli  (Dr.  Italo),  Rain-Making,  590 
Gilbert  (Mr.),  Correlation  of  Geological  Formations,  505 
Gilchrist  (Percy  G.),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  15 
Gill  (C.  Haughton),  on  Diatoms,  23 
Gill  (Dr.  David,  F.R.S.),  an  Astronomer's  Work  in  a  Modern 

Observatory,  603 
Giraffe  and  its  Allies,  524 
Girls,  the  Technical  Education  of,  185 
Glacial  Epoch,  Relics  at  Kelley  Island,  Ohio,  207 
Glacial  Period,  Antiquity  of  the  Last,  N.  S.  Shaler,  529 
Glacial  Pleistocene  Deposit*,  Classification  of  the.  Prof.  T.  C. 

Chamberlin,  504 ;  Prof.  T.  McK.  Hughes,  504 ;  Mr.  McGee, 

504      . 
Glaciers  discovered  in  Caucasus,  New,  452 
Glaciers,  Snow-slips  of  the  Kazbek,  Dr.  Woeikof,  600 
Glaciers,  the  Variation  of  Alpine,  389 
Gladstone   (Dr.   J.    H.,    F.R.S.),    Molecular    Refraction    and 

Dispersion  of  Various  Substances  in  Solution,  215 
Glazebrook  (R.  T.,  F.  R.S.),  on  the  Resistance  of  some  Mercury 

Standards,  94 
Ginelinite  from  Nova  Scotia,  L.  V.  Pirsson,  310 
Goff  (W.),  Sun's  Radiation  of  Heat,  468 
Goldsmiths'  Company's   New  Cross  Technical  and  Recreative 

Institute,  Opening  of,  280 
Golf,  some  Points  in  the  Physics  of.  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait,  497 
Goodale  (Prof.  Gej.  L.),  some  of  the  Possibilities  of  Economic 

Botany,  469,  530 
Gordon  (W.  J.),  our  Country's  Flowers,  247 
Goss  (H,),  Scoria  dealbata^  488 

Gottingcn,  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  66,  120,  264,  560 
Gotch    (Dr.    Francis),   appointed   Professor  of    Physiology  at 

University  College,  Liverpool,  257 
Goundry  (J.  W. ),  on  an  Instrument  for  giving  Enharmonic  In- 

tervals  in  all  Keys,  19 
Graff  (Dr.  Ludwig   von).   Die    Organisation    der    Turbellaria 

Acoeia,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  465 
Graham  (R.  H.),  Geometry  of  Position,  Alex.  Larmor,  195 
CJraham-Kerr's  (Mr.  J.),  Pilcomayo  Expedition,  135 
Gramont  (A.  de).  Artificial  Production  of  Datolite,  288 
Grandmougin  (Dr.),  New  Method  of  Preparing  Azoimide,  600 
Grapes,    Oranges,    &c.,   the    Cultivation    of,    in    Greece    and 

Australia,  630 
Graphical    Statics,    by   Luigi    Cremona,    translated  by   Prof. 

Thomas  Hudson  Beare,  221 
Gralzl    (Lieutenant),    the    Mareograph    in    Pola    and    Trieste 

Harbours,  600 
Gravitation    Constant,   and   Mean   Density  of  Earth,    Deter- 

b 


XVIll 


Index 


[ 


SHpf>U»tcnl  to  Xatttre, 


mination  by  means  of  Cominon  Balance  of,  J.  H.  Poynting, 

F.R.S.,  185 
Gravitation  Systems,  Absolute  and,  Frederick  Slate,  445 
Gravivolumeter,  the,  l'\  R.  Japp,  F.R.S.,  72 
Gray  (Prof.  A.).  Maxwell's  Electromagnetic  Theories,  296 
Graz,    Study  of   Remarkable   Series   of   Hailstorms   at,    Prof. 

Prohaska,  233 
Greece,  Mountain-Climbing  in,  Dr.  Philipson,  599 
(ireek,  the  Study  of,  at  Cambridge,  628 
(ireely  (Lieutenant  A.  W.),  the  Geography  of  the  Air,  388 
Green  (Prof.  A.  H.,  F.  R.S.):   Aids  in  Practical  Geology,  by 

Prof.    Grenville   A.  J.   Cole,   25 ;    an   Introduction    to   the 

Study  of  Petrology,  by  Dr.  Frederick  H.  Hatch,  25 
Cirecn  Ray,  the,  C.  Moslyn,  352 
Green  Sandpiper,  the,  Duke  of  Argyll,  F.R.S.,  274 
Greenhill   (Prof.    A.    G.,    F.R.S.):    Differential    and    Integral 

Calculus,  170  ;  Solutions  of  Examples  in  Elementary  Hydro- 
statics, W.  H.  Besant,  F.R.S.,  341 
Greenland  :  the  Origin  of  the  Flora  of,  Clement  Rcid,  299  ; 

Exploration  of,  436 ;  the  Ileilprin  Expedition,  the  Accident 

to,  and  Position  of  I.ieutenant  Peary,  475 
Greenwich  :  as  Prime  Meridian,  Arguments  against  Adoption  of, 

M.  Tondini,  119  ;  Earth  Currents,  the  Electric  Railway,  and 

the   Royal   Observatory,    William   Ellis,    127;    the   Annual 

Visitation  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  129 
Gregory  (J.  W.),    the   Fossil   Echinoidea  of  Malta  and  their 

Evidence  on  the  Correlation  of  Maltese  Rocks,  311 
Grthant  (M.),  Muscular  Strength  diminished  by  Alcohol,  135 
Grenfell  (Mr.) :  Tintullus,  a  Free-swimming  Infusorian  in  Royal 

liotanic  Gardens,  142  ;  on  the  Structure  of  Diatoms,  481 
Guignard  (Leon),  Morphological  Nature  of  Principle  of  Fecun- 
dation, 168 
Guiilaume  (Ch.  Ed.),  Alum  Solution,  540 
Gulick  (Rev.  John  T.),  Physiological  Selection  and  the  Different 

Meanings  given  to  the  Term  Infertility,  29 
Gunn  (John),  Memorials  of,  being  tome  Account  of  the  Cromer 

Forest  Bed  and  its  Fossil  Mammalia,  612 
Gunther   (Dr.  Albert),    Faune    dcs   Verlcbrcs    de    la   Suisse, 

Victor  I'^alio,  269 
Guntz  (M.) :  the  Sub-chloride  of  Silver,  120;  Action  of  Light 

on  Silver  Chloiide,  288 
Guyau  (J.  M.),  Education  and  Heredity,  292 
Guye  (P.  A.),  Determination  of  Molecular  Weights  at  Critical 

Point,  144 
Gypsies,  Hungarian,  Dr.  II.  von  Wlislocki  on  the  Handicrafts 
of,  630 


Haddon   (Prof.   A.    C),   Art  and   Oinamcnt  in  British   New 

Guinea,  188 
Hail  in  Process  of  Formation,  Observation  of,  Prof.  Tosctli,  113 
Hailstorm  of  May  24,  B.  J.  Hopkins,  224 
Hailstorms   at   Graz,    Study  of    Remarkable    Scries  of.    Prof. 

Prohaska,  233 
Hairs  (E.),  Linaniarinc,  a  New  Glucosidc  from  Liniim  mita- 

iissimufHt  312 
Hale  (Prof.  G.   II.),   Photography  of   Solar  Prominences  and 

their  Spectra,  391 
Ilalides  of  Potassium,  Ch.  Blarcz,  23 
Hall  (J.  W.),  the  Habits  of  the  Kingfisher,  502 
Halliburton  (Dr.  William  Dobinion),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the 

Royal  Society,  16 
Ilallock  (William),  a  Preliminary  Report  of  Observations  at  the 

Deep  W>11,  Wheeling,  W.Va.,  472 
Haloid  Salts,  the  Formation  of,  455 
Hamilton   (Prof.),    on   the    Milk    and    Meat    of   Tuberculous 

Animals,  397 
Hands  (A.  J.),  Curious  Case  of  Damage  by  Lightning  to  Church 

at  Needwood,  239 
Ilankin  (E.  IL),  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  421 
Hankow  Varnish,  163 
Hann  (Dr.  J.),  Studies  of  Air- Pressure  and   Temperature  on 

Summit  of  Sonnblick,  112 
Hanssen  (C.  J.),  Proposed  International  System  of  Weights  and 

Measures,  41 
Hardness,  the  Measurement  of,  in  Transparent  Bodies,  Prof. 

Auerbach,  282 
H ark ness  (Prof.  W.),  the  Solar  Parallax  and  its  Related  Con- 
stants, 115 
llarmer  (S.   F.),    Nature    of   Excretory    Processes   in  Marine 

Polyzoa,  143 


Harrington  (B.  J.),  the  so-called  Amber  of  Cedar  Lake,  584 
Harrington  (Prof.  M.  W.) :  How  can  the  Weather  Service  best 

Promote   Agriculture?,    165 ;    appointed   Chief  of    United 

States  Weather  Bureau,  280 
Harris  (John),  the  Laws  of  Force  and  Motion,  443 
Harris  (W.    H.),  Remarkable  Instance  of  Frugality  in  Bees 

550 
Harrison  (W.  Jerome) :  Elementary  Chemistry  for  Beginners, 

102  ;  Guide  to  Examinations  in  Physiography,  and  Answers 

to  Questions,  613 
Harting  (J.),  the  Fox's  Head  for  Country,  452 
Hartington  (Lord),  on  Technical  Education,  234 
Hartley  (Prof.  W.  N.,  F.R.S.):  Liquid  Prisms,  273;  a  Rare 

Phenomenon,  614 
Hartog  (Prof.  Marcus  M.) :  Arc  Seedlings  ot  /ft:f/t£roca//ts/tt/t'<f 

specially   Variable,   274 ;   on    Protoplasmic  Rejuvenescence, 

483  ;  a  Difficulty  in  Weismannism,  613 
Harvard  College  Observatory,  115 
Harvey's  Discovery,  Dr.  Dickinson,  597 
Hatch  (Dr.   Frederick  IL),  an  Introduction   to  the  Study  of 

Petrology,  Prof.  A.  H.  Green,  F.R.S.,  25 
Haubtmann  (M.),  the  Relative  Cost  of  Electricity  in  London 

and  Elsewhere,  324 
Haussknecht  (Dr.),  Production  of  Solid  Carbon  Dioxide,  42 
Hawk  and  Sparrows  in  New  Zealand,  T.  W.  Kirk,  529 
Hawkshaw  (Sir  John,  F.R.S.),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of, 

III 
Hay,  Remarkable  Rain  of,  294 
Ilaycraft  (Dr.  J.  B.),  Displacements  of  Heart  and  Cardiogram, 

167 
Haynald  (Cardinal) :  Obituary  Notice  of,  256 ;  his  Herbarium, 

388 
Heart  and  Cardiogram,  Displacements  of,  Dr.  J.  B.  Ilaycraft, 

167 
Heat,  Deteimination  of  Mechanical  Equivalent  of,  C.  Miculesco, 

168 
Heat  upon  Magnetic  Susceptibility   of  Nickel,    Effect  of,  S. 

Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  187 
Heat,  Sun's  Radiation  of,  W.  Goff,  468 
Heavens,  the  Story  of  the.  Sir  Robert  Ball,  589 
Ileaviside  (Oliver),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  16 
Heckel  (E.),  Mimicry  in  Spiders,  451 
Heights  of  Auroras,  T.  W.  Backhouse,  541 
Heiiprin  Greenland  Expedition,  the  Accident  to  and  Position 

of  Lieutenant  Peary,  475 
IlcUmann  (Prof.  G.) :  on  Barometric  Observations,  66;  Meteoro- 

logische  Volksbuchcr,  185  ;  the  Heavy  November  Rains  and 

Floods  in  Germany,  206 
Heloderma,  the  Anatomy  uf  the,  Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt,  294 
Hcloderma,  Anatomy  of,  G.  A.  Boulenger,  444 
llcmcyocallis  Juk'u^  are  Seedlings  of.  Specially  Variable,  Prof. 

Marcus  M.  Hartog,  274 
Ilcinslcy  (W.   Bolting,  F. R.S.),  the  Flora  of  Diamond  Island, 

Ilenslow  (Prof.  George),  A  priori.  Reasoning,  55 

Hepworth  (T.  C),  Evening  \Vork  for  Amateur  Photographers,  52 

llerdman  (Prof.  W.  A.):  the  Classification  of  the  Tunicata  in 

Relation  to  Evolution,  130  ;  Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food, 

273  ;  a  Pink  Marine  Microorganism,  565 
Heredity:  Co- Adaptation,   Prof.   R.    Meldola,   F.R.S.,  7,28; 

Prof.  George  J.  Romanes,  F.R.S.,  28,  55 
Heredity  and  Education,  J.  M.  Guyau,  292 
llermite  (li.).  Geologic,  Principes,  102 
Hertz's  Experiments,  12,  31 
Hess   (Dr.),  Relative   Merits  of  Different  Kinds  of  Points  for 

Lightning  Conductors,  550 
Hewelt  (Sir  Prescott  G.,  F.R.S.),  Death  of,  184 
Hewitt  (Dr.)  :  on  Epidemic  Disease,  367  ;  on  Diphtheria,  369 
Hewitt  (J.  T.),  on  Citraconfluorescein,  71 
Hewitt  (W.),  Elementary  Science  Lessons,  444 
Hexagram,  Pascal's,  H.  W.  Richmond,  191 
Heymann  (Dr.),  Synthetizalion  of  Indigocarmine,  114 
Hicks  (Dr.  H.,  F.R.S.) :  Recently  Exposed  Sections  in  Glacial 

Deposits  at  llcndon,  143  ;  Silurian  and  Devonian  Rocks  of 

Pembrokeshire,  480 
Hickson  (Dr.  S.  J.),  Animal  Life  on  a  Coral  Reef,  90 
Hildebrandsson  (II.  II.),  Is  Influenza  Spread  by  Wind?,  165 
llilgard  (Prof.  E.  W. ),  on  the  Importance  of  the  Abundance  or 

Scarcity  of  Species  in  the  Correlation  of  Strata,  506 
llilgard  (Prof.  J.  E.),  Death  of,  87 
Hill  (Dr.  Alex.),  the  National  Home-Reading  Union,  493 


i^upplement  to  Nature^ 
Xoi^entber^f  1891      J 


Index 


XIX 


Iim  (Rev.  Edwin),  Wells  in  West  Suffolk  Boulder-Clay,  240 
Hillier  (W.  R.),  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Shan  States,  137 
Hime  (Dr.)i  Tuberculosis,  397 
Ilinrichs  (Dr.   Gustavus),  the   Fusing  and   Boiling   Points  of 

Compounds,  174 
Hobday's  (Major)  Explorations  on  the  Upper  Irrawaddy,  137 
Hoffmann  (G.  C),  Examination  of  a  Peculiar  Form  of  Metallic 

Iron  found  on  Lake  Huron,  325 
Hofmeister  (Herr),  the  Swelling  of  Plates  of  Gelatine  in  Various 

Solutions,  326 
llolarctic  Region,  Prof.  A.  Newton,  F.R.S.,  197 
Holden  (Captain),  Measuring  Instruments  used  in  the  Proof  of 

Guns  and  Ammunition  at  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich,  578 
Holden  (Dr.  Edward  S. ),  Colour- Associations  with  Numerals, 

&C.,  223 
Holder  (Charles   Frederick),   Charles  Darwin,   His   Life  and 

Work,  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S..  337 
Holdich  (Colonel),  on  the  Application  of  Indian  Geographical 

Survey  Methods  to  Africa,  508 
Holt  (E.  W.  L.),  Fish  Caught  in  Cruise  of  s.s.  Fingal,  1890, 

off  West  Coast  of  Ireland,  282 
Holt  (George),  Endowment  of  Chair  of  Physiology  at  University 

College  by,  135 
Home-Reading  Union,  National,  Dr.  Alex.  Hill,  493 
Honey  Derived  from  Clover,  the  Flavour  of  Maltese,  502 
Honey,  an  Artificial,  600 
Honey-dew,  Bees  and,  F.  M.  Burton,  343 
Honours,  Birthday,  for  Men  of  Science,  ill 
Hooker  (Sir  J.  D.,  F.R.S.),  Elected  Foreign  Member  of  Buda- 

Pesth  Academy  of  Sciences,  257 
Hooker's  Icones  Plantarum,  498 
Hopkins  (B.  J.),  Erratic  Barometric  Depression  of  May  23-29 

and  Hailstorm  of  May  24,  224 
Horticultural  Society,  see  Royal 
HoskyDs-Abrahall  (Rev.  J.),  a  Beautiful  Meteor,  162 
Hospital  and   Ambulance    Organization   of   the   Metropolitan 

Asylums  Board  for  the  Removal  and  Isolation  of  Infectious 

Diseases,   Surgeon-General  Bostock   and   Sir  Vincent   Bar- 

rington,  486 
Howes  (Prof.  G.  B.) :  on  the  Classification  of  Fishes  by  their 

Reproductive  Organs,  483  ;  on  the  Gills  of  Fishes,  483 
Ilubrecht  (Prof.  A.  A.   W.),  a  New  Mammal  from  Sumatra, 

468 
Hufner  (Herr),  Biological  Bearings  of  the  Fact  of  the  Stronger 

Absorption  by  Water  of  Long  than  Short  Light-waves,  478 
Huggins   (Dr.    William,    F.R.S.),  Inaugural  Address    at    the 

Cardiff  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  372 
Hughes  (F.),  the  Azo  derivatives  of /3-Naphthylamine,  118 
Hughes  (Prof.  T.  McK.),  Classification  of  the  Glacial  Pleisto- 
cene Deposits,  504 
Hull  (Prof.  Edward,  F.R.S.),  the  Geology  and  Physical  Geo- 
graphy of  North  Syria,  99 
Humphreys  (N.  A.),  Results  of  Recent  Census,  161 
Hungarian  Gypsies,  Dr.   II.   von  Wlislocki  on  the  Handicrafts 

of,  630 

H.,    F.R.S.),    Les  Sciences   Naturelles   et 


for 


Biological 


Research,  and  the  Marshall 


Huxley   (Prof.   T. 
TEducation,  272 

Huxley  Laboratory 
Scholarship,  627 

Hyde  (Prof.  E.  W.),  on  the  Evolution  of  Algebra,  470 

Ilydrographic  Department  of  Admiralty,  500 

Hydrographic  Exploration  of  Mediterranean,  the  Frigate  Sci/ia 
fitting  out  by  Italian  Government  for,  501 

Hydrostatics,    Solutions  of  Examples   in  Elementary,  W.  II. 
Bcsant,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  A.  G.  Grecnhill,  F.R.S.,  341 

Hygiene  and  Demography,  International  Congress  of,  65,  307, 
337i  344f  361  ;  Visit  to  Cambridge,  361  ;  Degrees  Conferred, 
361  ;  Sir  Douglas  Galton's  Address,  362  ;  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer's 
Address  in  the  Section  of  Preventive  Medicine,  363  ;  Surgeon- 
General  Cuningham  on  the  Mode  of  Preventing  the  Spread 
of  Epidemic  Disease  from  one  Country  to  another,  366  ; 
Inspector- General  Lawson  on  the  Communicability  of 
Cholera  from  one  Country  to  another,  366  ;  Dr.  Ash  burton 
Thompson  on  Quarantine  in  Australasia,  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice, 366 ;  Dr.  Rochard  on  the  Prevention  of  Epidemic 
Diseases,  367 ;  Dr.  Stekoulis  on  Quarantine,  367  ;  Dr. 
Hewitt  on  Epidemic  Disease,  367 ;  Dr.  Manson  on  Filana 
mn^uinis,  367 ;  Dr.  Edward  Seaton  on  Diphtheria,  368 ; 
Dr.  Schrevens,  Dr.  Hewitt,  Dr.  Bergeron,  Dr.  Gibert,  Dr.  S. 
W.  Abbott,  Matthew  A.  Adams,  Charles  E.  Paget,  Prof. 
D'Espine,  Dr. Tripe,  Dr.Thursfield,  368,  369  ;  Tuberculosis  in 


all  its  Relations,  Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson,  F. R.S.,  393;  Dr. 
I^ang,  395 ;  Prof.  Arloing,  396 ;  Prof.  M'Fadyean  and 
Dr.  Woodhead,  396  ;  Prof.  Hamilton,  397  ;  Prof.  Nocard, 
397 ;  Dr.  Hime,  397  ;  Dr.  Bariow,  397 ;  Prof.  Perroncito, 
397 ;  Dr.  Metschnikoff  and  Dr.  Roux,  397  ;  Prof.  Ehrlich, 
398 ;  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  Dr.  Koux,  419 ;  Dr. 
Bucbner,  420;  E.  H.  Hankin,  421  ;  Prof.  Emmerich,  421; 
Dr.  Ehrlich,  422  ;  Dr.  Kitasato  and  Dr.  Behring,  422  ;  Dr. 
Adami,  422  ;  Dr.  Klein,  422  ;  Dr.  Metchnikoff,  422 ;  Alco- 
holism, Prof.  Harold  Westergaard,  484;  on  the  Improved 
Hygienic  Condition  of  Maternity  Hospitals,  Dr.  W.  O. 
Priestley,  485  ;  Measures  adopted  for  the  Prevention  of 
Infectious  Diseases,  and  their  Relation  to  our  Knowledge  of 
Epidemics,  Dr.  Lewis  Sambon,  486 ;  the  Hospital  and  Am- 
bulance Organization  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board  for 
the  Removal  and  Isolation  of  Infectious  Diseases,  Surgeon- 
General  Bostock  and  Sir  Vincent  Barrington,  486  ;  Ueber 
die  Desinfection,  Dr.  Pistor,  487 ;  Dr.  J.  P.  Williams  Free- 
man on  the  Importance  of  Ventilation,  487 

Hygiene  :  Herr  Rubner  on  Dry  and  Moist  Temperature  and 
Health,  66 ;  Royal  Italian  Society  of.  Dr.  Thorne  Thorne 
elected  Corresponding  Member,  351  ;  on  the  Improved 
Hygienic  Condition  of  Maternity  Hospitals,  Dr.  W.  O. 
Priestley,  485 

Hyvernat  (Henri),  Album  de  Paleographie  Copte,  pour  scrvir 
a  ,rintroduction  Palcographique  des  Actes  des  Martyrs  dc 
I'Egypte,  609 


Ice  Age,  Sir  R.  Stawdi  Ball,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Cause  of  an,  480 

Ice  Age  in  North  America,  Prof.  Wright,  480 ;  G.  Frederick 
Wright,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  537 

Ice,  Tortoise  inclosed  in,  F.  II.  Perry  Coste,  520 

Ichthyology :  some  Remarkable  Catches  of  P'ish,  19 ;  the  De- 
struction of  Fish  by  Frost,  F.  F.  Payne,  31  ;  Fish  Caught  in 
the  Cruise  of  s.s.  Fingal^  1890,  off  West  Coast  of  Ireland,  E. 
W.  L.  Holt,  282 :  Prof.  Mcintosh  on  Marine  Food-fishes, 
360 ;  United  States  Fish  Commission  Reports,  562 

Iddings  (J.  P.),  the  Minerals  in  Hollow  Rhyolitc  Spherulites, 
310 

Identification,  Finger-prints  as  a  means  of,  Francis  Galtou, 
F.R.S.,  187 

Identification  of  Templeton's  British  Earthworms,  Rev. 
Hilderic  Friend,  273 

Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  Dr.  Roux,  419;  Dr.  Buchner, 
420 ;  E.  H.  Hankin,  421  ;  Prof.  Emmerich,  421  ;  Dr. 
Ehrlich,  422 ;  Drs.  Kitasato  and  Behring,  422  ;  Dr.  Adami, 
422  ;  Dr.  Klein,  422  ;  Dr.  Metchnikoff,  422 

Imperial  Institute,  257 

Imperial  Physical  and  Technical  Institution  at  Berlin,  154 

Index  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Sui^eon-General's  Office, 
U.S.  Army,  Dr.  A.  T.  Myers,  563 

India  :  the  Census  of,  18  ;  Indian  Museum,  Calcutta,  18  ;  Edu- 
cation in  India,  67  ;  the  Forecast  of  the  Indian  Monsoon 
Rains,  225  ;  New  Indian  Labiata%  Dr.  D.  Prain,  258  ;  Im- 
proved Weather  Prospects  in  North- West  India,  303  ;  Bo- 
tanical Survey  of  India,  347  ;  Forestry  in  India,  436  ;  Marine 
Survey  of  India,  the  Cruise  of  the  Investigator^  Dr.  A.  Alcock, 
501,  528  ;  Captain  R.  F.  Hoskyn,  528;  Major  J.  W.  Powell 
on  Indian  Languages,  511  ;  Projected  Expedition  to  the 
Chin  Hills  and  Bhamo  Country,  550 ;  the  Natural  Selection 
of  Indian  Corn,  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  56 

Indiana,  Earthquake  in,  303 

Indians  of  Nicaragua,  the  Amerrique,  J.  Crawford,  502 

Indigocarmine,  Synthetization  of,  Dr.  Heyman,  114 

Industrial  Society  of  Mulhouse,  475 

Industry,  German  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of,  Prizes,  66 

Infectious  Diseases,  Hospital  and  Ambulance  Organization  of 
the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board  for  the  Removal  and  Isola- 
tion of,  Surgeon-General  Bostock  and  Sir  Vincent  Barrington, 
486 

Infectious  Diseases,  Measures  adopted  for  the  Prevention  of,  and 
ihcir  Relation  to  our  Knowledge  of  Epidemics,  Dr.  Lewis 
Sambon,  486 

Infertility,  Physiological  Selection  and  the  Different  Meanings 
given  to  the  Term,  Rev.  John  T.  Gulick,  29 

Influenza,  Is  it  spread  by  the  Wind,  H.  H.  Ilildebrandsson, 
165  ;  the  Recent  Epidemic  of,  Fredk.  J.  Brodie,  283 ;  Hon. 
R.  Russell,  302,  514;  Dr.  Richard  Sisley,  514 

Insects,  Aquatic,  some  Difficulties  in  the  Life  of,  Prof.  L.  C. 
Miall,  457 


XX 


Index 


f  Supplement  to  Nature^ 
Nofember^,  1891 


Insects,  Fossil,  of  North  America,  with  Notes  on  some  European 

Species,  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  R.  Lydekker,  i 
Insects,  Redevelopment  of  Lost  Limbs  in,  John  Watson,  163 
Insects,  the  Flight  of,  Studied  by  Photochronography,  M.  Marey, 

264 
Institute   at   New   Cross,    Opening  of  Goldsmiths'  Company's 

Technical  and  Recreative,  280 
Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  the  National,  184 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  119,  599 
Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  20,  332,  574 
Institution  of  Naval  Architects,  305 
Instruments  in  Just  Intonation,  Robt.  A.  Lehfeldt,  519 
Intensity  Coils;,  How  Made  and  How  Used,  by  "  Dyer,"  28 
International  Agricultural  Congress,  450 
International  Botanical  Congress  at  Genoa,  Projected,  598 
International  Conference  of  Electricians  at  Chicago  Exhibition, 

Proposed,  450 
International  Congress  of  Analytical  Chemists  and  Microscopists, 

574 
International  Electro-Technical  Congress,  450 

International  Folk-Lore  Congress,  the,  527,  548 

International  Society,  an,  Prof.  W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S.,  7 

International  Statistical  Congress,  527 

International  Weather  Charts,  Daily,  62 

Internationales  Archiv  fvir  Ethnographic,  163,  599 

Intonation,  Just,  a  New  Keyed   Musical  Instrument  for,  Dr. 

William  Pole,  F.R.S.,  446 
Intonation,  Instruments  in  Just,  Robt.  A.  Lehfeldt,  519 
Inverness  Earthquakes  of  1 890,  C.  Davison,  240 
Investigator  Cruise,  Dr.  Prain  and  the,  549 
Ions,  the  Velocity  of  the,  W.  C.  D.  Whetham,  94 
Ireland,  Fish  Caught  in  Crui«^e  of  s.s.  Fingal,  1890,  off  West 

Coast  of,  E.  W.  L.  Holt,  282 
Irish  Fisheries,  the  Baltimore  Fishing  School,  549 
Iron,  Action  of  Nitric  Acid  upon,  Henry  Gautier  and  Georges 

Charpy,  216 
Iron  found  on  Lake  Huron,  Examination  of  a  Peculiar  Form  of 

Metallic,  G.  C.  Hoffmann,  325 
Iron  in  Gold- washings  about  Berezowsk,  Daubree  and  Meunier, 

336 

Iron  Ores  by  Isomorphous  and  Pseudomorphous  Replacement 
of  Limestone,  Genesis  of,  J.  P.  Kimball,  463 

Iron  and  Steel,  the  Passive  State  of,  Thos.  Andrews,  F.R.S., 
92 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  527, 548  ;  Annual  Meeting,  17,  42  ;  An- 
nual Autumn  Meeting,  578  ;  Dr.  Anderson,  F.R.S.,  on  the 
Constitution  of  Ordnance  Factories,  578 ;  Capt.  Holden  on 
the  Measuring  Instruments  used  in  the  Proof  of  Guns  and 
Ammunition  at  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich,  578  ;  Sir 
Henry  Bessemer  on  Rolling  the  Steel  Sheets  direct  from 
Molten  Metal,  S78 ;  W.  H.  White  on  the  Shipbuilding 
Material  at  the  Naval  Exhibition,  579  ;  W.  D.  Allen,  Forg- 
ing Press,  579 ;  Mr.  Carulla  on  Curious  Phenomena  in 
Melting  Bessemer  Scraps,  579 

Iron-Carbon  Oxide,  455 

Iron-Carbonyl,  Mond  and  Quincke,  304 

Irrawaddy,  Major  Hobday's  Explorations  on  the  Upper,  137 

Irrigation,  Egyptian,  145  ;  Sir  Colin  Moncrieffon,  151 

Irving  (Rev.  Dr.  A.) :  the  University  of  London,  79,  104  ;  the 
Proposed  Albert  University,  248 ;  Reduplication  of  Seasonal 
Growth,  371 

Italian  Government,  the  Frigate  Scilla  fitting  out  by,  for  Hydro- 
graphic  Exploration  of  Mediterranean,    501 

Italy  and  Australia,  Earthquake  Shocks  in,  R.  L.  J.  Ellery, 
F.R.S.,  272 

Italy,  the  Recent  Earthquakes  in,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  293 

Italy,  Severe  Earthquakes  in,  136,  161,  185 

Italy:  South  Italian  Volcanoes,  Dr.  Johnston-Lavis,  539 


Jackals  and  Jungle  Cocks,  30 

Jamrach  (Charles),  Death  of,  450 

Janssen  (P.  J.  C),  on  the  Endowment  of  Research  in  France, 
17  ;  proposed  Astronomical  Observatory  on  Mont  Blanc, 
416 

Japan :  Transactions  of  the  Seismological  Society  of,  67 ; 
Education  in,  88 ;  Japanese  Playing  Cards,  Mrs.  Van 
Rensselaer,  162 ;  Meteorology  in,  207 ;  Journal  of  the 
College  of  Science,  Imperial  University,  208  ;  Pines  and  Firs 
of  Jaj)an,  Dr.  Maxwell  T.  Masters,  F.R.S.,  339;  Agriculture 
in  Japan,  Manuring  Experiments  with  Paddy,  Dr.  ().  Kell- 


ncr,  Y.  Kozai,  Y.  Mori,  and  M.  Nagaoka,  353  ;  Acclimatiza- 
tion of  Japanese  Lacquer-tree  at  Frankfort,  Prof.  Rein,  500 
Japp  (F.  K.,  F.  R.S.),  the  Gravivolumeter,  72 
Jaw  in  Civilized  Races,  the  Diminution  of  the,  F.  II.  Collin*;, 

326 
Jesse  (O.),  Luminous  Clouds,  229 
Johns  Hopkins  Uuniversity,  Marine  Laboratory  of,  206 
Johnson  (G.  S.),  Organic  Bases  in  the  Juice  of  Flesh,  117 
Johnson  (T.  T.),  a  New  Form  of  Student's  Microscope,  239 
Johnson's  Visitor's  Companion  to  Eastbourne,  388 
Johnston  (H.  H.),  Livingstone  and  the  Exploration  of  Central 

Africa,  492 
Johnston  (R.M. ),  Tasmanian  Official  Record,  1891,  196 
Johnston-Lavis  (Dr.  II.  J.)  :  the  Eruption  of  Vesuvius.  Jane  7, 

1891,    160,   320;  the    State   of  Vesuvius,   352;   Geological 

Map  of  Monte  Somma  and  Vesuvius,   271  ;    .South  Italian 

Volcanoes,  539 
Johnstone  (Alex.),  a  Concise  Manual  of  Botany  for  Students  of 

Medicine  and  Science,  75 
Joly  (A.):  Research  on  Separation  of  Acids  from  Platinum, 

144  ;  Researches  on  Osmium,   Osmiamic  Acid,  and  Osmi- 

amates,  216 
Jo^y  (J),  t^^e  Meldometer,  187 

Jones  (Prof.  D.  E.),  on  Electric  Waves  in  Wires,  454 
Jonstorff  (Baron),  Traitc  pratique  de  Chimie  Mctallurgique,  Prof. 

W.  C.  Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S.,  245 
Jorissen   (E.),    Linamarine,   a   New  Glucoside    from    Linttui 

usi/atiss  im  urn,  312 
Journal  of  .A.natomy  and  Physiology,  576 
Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,  114 
Journal  of  Botany,  236,  335,  559 
Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Imperial  University,  Japan, 

208 
Journal  fiir  Omithologie,  324 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  477 
Journal  of  the  Russian  Chemical  and  Phyiical   Society,  758 
Judd  (Prof.  John  W.,  F.R.S.) :  the  Rejuvenescence  of  Crystals, 

83  ;  Crystallography  for  Students  of  Chemistry,  Physics,  and 

Mineralogy,  George  Huntingdon  Williams,  193 
Jumelle  (H.),   Disengagement   of  Oxygen  by   Plants  at  Low 

Temperatures,  216 
Jungle  Cock  :   the  Crowing  of  the,  30  ;  Jackals  and  the,  S.  E. 

Peal,  30,  31  ;  the  Crowing  of  the,  B.  P.  Cross,  151 
Jupiter,  the  Action  of,  on  Comets,  Prof.  Newton,  453 
Jupiter  and  his  Markings,  W.  F.  Denning,  439 
Jupiter's  First  Satellite,  631 
Just  (Dr.  L.),  Death  of,  450 
Just  Intonation,  Instruments  in,  446  ;  Robt.  A.  Lehfeldt,  519 


Kaffraria,    Hand-book   of  the    Ferns   of,   T.    R.    Sim,    J.    G. 

Baker,  F.R.S.,  75 
Kamme,  a  New  Species  of  Truffle,  A.  Chatin,  512 
Kangaroo,  New  Sjiecies  of,  416 
Karwendel  Alps,  A.  Rothpletz,  221 
Kazbek  Glaciers,  Snow-  slips  of  the,  D.  Woeikof,  600 
Keegan  (Dr.  P.  Q.),  a  Lunar  Rainbow,  591 
Kellner     (Dr.     O. ),    Manuring  Experiments    with    Paddy   in 

Japan,  353 
Keltic  (I.  Scott),  on  Geographical  Education,  509 
Kelways   (Mr.   C.    E. )   Apparatus   for   Marine    and    General 

Electrical  .Signalling,  575 
Kew  Bulletin,  no,  528 

Kew  Museum,  Drawings  for  the  Botanical  Magazine  bought  by,  86 
Key  (W.),  on  Ventilation,  509 
Keyed  Musical  Instrument,  a  New,   for  Just  Intonation,  Dr. 

^yilliam  Pole,  F.R.S..  446 
Kilimanjaro,   an  Account  of  the  First  Ascent   of.  Dr.    Hans 

Meyer,  149 
Kimball   (J.   P.),   Genesis  of  Iron  Ores  by  Lsomorphous  and 

Pseud omorphous  Replacement  of  Limestone,  463 
Kindergarten  System  in  New  York,  502 

Kinematic  Method,  Cloud  Heights,  Prof.  Cleveland  Abbe,  39S 
King  (Dr.   George,   F.R.S.):   Materials   for  a   Flora    of   the 

Malayan  Peninsula,  492  ;   Botanical   Survey  in  Assam  and 

Burmah,  549 
Kingfisher,  the  Habits  of  the,  J.  W^  Hall,  502 
Kirk  (T.  W^),  Sparrows  and  Hawk  in  New  Zealand,  529 
Kirkby  (Rev.  John  H.).  Refraction  through  a  Prism,  294 
Kiiasaio    (Dr.)    and    Dr.     I'ehring,     Imuunity,   Natural    and 

Acquired,  422 


Ncvt9nber^i  2891     J 


Index 


XXI 


Kitchen  Range,  Waste  in  the  Use  of  the  Ordinary,  354 

Klein  (Dr.),  Imoiunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  422 

Klenze  (Henr),  the  Digestibility  of  Different  Kinds  of  Cheese, 

325 
Knott  (Prof.   C.  G.):  some  Relations  between  Magnetism  and 

Twist  in  Iron,  Nickel,  and  Cobalt,  191  ;  Electric  Resistance 

of   Cobalt    at  High    Temperatures,    311  ;    Thermo-electric 

Positions  of  Cobalt  and  Bismuth,  311 
Koch's  (Dr.)  Present  Views  regarding  Tuberculin,  Prof.  Ehrlich, 

39? 
Koenig  (Dr.  A.),  Ornithological  Observations  in  Madeira  and 

the  Canary  Islands,  163 
l^oeppelin  (Rodolphe),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  231 
Koh-i-Nur,  a  Criticism,  Prof.  N.  Story-Maskelyne,  F.R.S.,  555 
Koh-i-Nur,  a  Reply,  V.  Ball,  F.R.S.,  592 
Krause  (Dr.),  the  Slow  Combustion  of  Explosive  Gas  Mixtures, 

354 
Krischtafovitch  (N.),  Traces  of  an  Inter-glacial  Period  in  Middle 

Russia,  232 
Kriiss    (Dr.)    and   Dr.    Ohnmais,   on    the    Crystallization    of 

Ammonium  Sulphovanadate,   19 
Kiikenthal  (Willy),  Porpoises  in  African  Rivers,  175 
Kunz  (G.  F.),  Emission  of  Light  by  Diamonds  in  Darkness,  88 


Laboratory,  Marine,  of  [ohns  Hopkins  University,  206 

Laboratory    Reports  of  the   Royal   College   of   Physicians  of 
Edinburgh,  J.  George  Adami,  73 

Labrador,  American  Ethnological  Expedition  to,  185 

Lachaud  (M.),  Researches  on  Thallium,  336 

Lacquer  Tree  at  Frankfort,  Acclimatization  of  the.  Prof.  Rein, 
500 

Lake  Waters,  Fluctuations  in  Height  of,  P.  du  Boys,  120 

Lalande  (F.  de).  New  Models  of  Copper  Oxide  Batteries,  144 

Lancaster  (M.),  Normal  Temperature  in  Europe,  437 

Lang  (Dr.  C. ),  Secular  Variations  of  Damage  by  Lightning  and 
Hail,  354 

Langdon  (William),  Railway-Train  Lighting,  41 

Language,  the  Formation  of,  W.  J.  Stillman,  106 

Langley  (Prof.  S.  P.),  Experimental  Researches  on  Mechanical 
Fhght,  277 

Lankester  (Prof.  E.  Ray,  F.R.S.):  the  University  of  London, 
76 ;  Mammals  Living  and  Extinct,  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Flower, 
F.R.S.,  and  Richard  Lydekker,  121  ;  the  Proposed  Albert 
University,  222 ;  Lessons  in  Elementary  Biology,  Prof.  T. 
Jeffery  Parker,  F.  R.S.,  290  ;  Die  Organisation  der  Turbellaria 
Acccia,  Dr.  Ludwig  von  Graff,  465 

Lanthanum,  Dr.  Brauner  on,  68 

Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equation,  Van  der  Waals's 
Treatment  of.  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  499,  597;  Prof.  P.  G. 
Tait,  546,  627 

Urden  (W.),  W  =  M^,  493,  614 

Larmor  (Alex.),  Geometry  of  Position,  by  R.  H.  Graham,  195 

Larmor  (J.),  the  Theory  of  Electrodynamics,  139 

Law  of  Tensions,  H.  G.  Williams,  591 

Lawrence  (G.  F.),  Drift  Implement  of  Unusual  Form  found  in 
Oxford  Street,  282 

Laws  of  Force  and  Motion,  John  Harris,  443 

Lawson  (Inspector-General),  on  the  Communicability  of  Cholera 
from  one  Country  to  another,  366 

Le  Conte  (Prof.  John),  Death  of,  17 

Lc  Conte  (Prof.  Joseph),  Purposes  of  the  International  Geo- 
logical Congress,  504 

Lea  (M.  Carey),  Blue  Silver,  189 ;  Allolropic  Silver,  584 

Lcchartier  (G.),  Variation  of  Composition  of  Jerusalem  Arti- 
chokes at  Different  Periods  of  Growth,  608 

Lecithines,  Biological  Functions  of  the,  Walter  Maxwell,  471 

Leduc  (A.):  New  Gravimetric  Method  of  ascertaining  Com- 
position of  Atmospheric  Air,  311  ;  a  New  Copper  Hydride, 
and  the  Preparation  of  Pure  Nitrogen,  288;  Densities  of 
^*ygcD»  Hydrogen,  and  Nitrogen,  336;  the  Expansion  of 
Phosphorus,  360 
Leeward  Islands,  Mr.  C.  A.  Barber  appointed  Superintendent 

of  the  Agricultural  Department  of,  257 
LeflFmann    (Dr.   Henry)  and  William  Beam,    Examination   of 

Water  for  Sanitary  and  Technical  Purposes,  102 
Lehfeldt  (Robt.  A.)f  Instruments  in  Just  Intonation,  519 
Lehmann  (Dr.  O.),  on  Micro- Chemical  Analysis,  76 
Leibnitz  and  the  Aneroid  Barometer,  40 

Leidie  (E.),  Research  on  Separation  of  Acids  from  Platinum, 
144 


Leidy  (Prof.  Joseph,  M.D.) :  Death  of,  17  ;  Obituary  Notice  of, 

63  ;  Proposed  Memorial  to,  351 
Lenses,  on  the  Measurement  of.  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S., 

455 
Leon  (Prof.),  a  Two-legged  Cat,  600 

Lepidoptera,  South  African,  Rearrangement  by  Mr.  R.  Trimen 
of  the  South  African  Museum  Collection  of,  207 

Lepierre  (C. ),  Researches  on  Thallium,  336 

Leprosy  Bacillus  cultivated  in  Serum  by  Drs.  Rake  and  Buck- 
master  and  Surgeon-Major  Thomson,  161 

Leprosy,  Indian  Report  on,  436 

Leste,  or  Hot  Wind  of  Madeira,  Dr.  H.  Coupland  Taylor,  95 

Levander  (F.  C),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  519 

Levereit  (Frank),  Pleistocene  Fluvial  Planes  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  463 

Lewes,  Discovery  of  Anglo-Saxon  Skeletons  near,  575 

Lewes  (Prof.  Vivian  B.),  on  the  Spontaneous  Ignition  of  Coal, 

455 
Ley  (Rev.  W.  Clement),  Erratic  Track  of  a  Barometric  Depres- 
sion, 150 
Leyden  Jars,  Experiments  with,  Prof.  O.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  238 
Liberia,  Projected  Natural  History  Expedition  by  O,  F.  Cook 

to,  548 
Library  Association,  Annual  Meeting  of,  475 
Light  (Captain  R.)i  Voracity  of  Rats  at  Aden,  600 
Light  Diffused  by  Sky,  Analysis  of,  A.  Crova,  144 
Light- Waves,   Stronger  Absorption  by   Water  of  Long  than 

Short,  Biological  Bearings  of  Fact  of,  Herr  Hufner,  478 
Lighting  in  France,  the  Increase  in  the  Consumption  of  Gas, 

Electricity,  and  Petroleum  during  the  last  Decade,  282 
Lightning  to  Church  at  Needwood,  Curious  Case  of  Damage  by, 

A.  J.  Hands,  239 
Lightning  Conductors,  Relative  Merits  of  Different  Kinds  of 

Points,  Dr.  Hess,  550 
Lightning,  a  Curious  Case  of  Globular,  327 
Lightning,  Damage  by,  to  State  Buildings  in  Prussia,  1877-86, 

501 
Lightning  Spectra,  W.  E.  Wood,  504 
Liquid  Prisms,  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.,  273 
Liquids,  the  Measurement  of  the  Compressibility  of,  S.  Skinner 

94 
Liquids  and  Gases,  Prof.  W.  Ram«^ay,  F.R.S.,  274 

Liquids,  Instrument  for  Optical  Comparison  of  Transparent, 

M.  Sonden,  478 
Liquids  under   Mutual   Affinity,    Characteristic     Property    of 

Common  Surface  of  Two,  IH.,  G.  Van  der  Mensbruyghe,  240 
Liquoscope,  Instrument  for  Optical  Comparison  of  Transparent 

Liquids,  M.  Sonden,  478 
Limb  (C),  Electrolysis  of  Barium  Chloride,  216 
Linamarine,   a  New  Glucoside  from  Linuin  usitatissimnm^  A. 

Jorissen  and  E.  Hairs,  312 
Linear  Arrangement  of  Stars,  478 
Linnean  Society,  95,  118,    166,  215  ;  Gold  Medal  awarded  to 

Dr.  Edouard  Bornet,  1 1 1 
Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  233 
Lister  (J.  S.)i  Abnormal  Development  of  Arms  and  Chests  of 

Fakaofu  Islanders  presumably  caused  by  Constant  Paddling, 

476 
Litvinoff  (D.  I.),  Geo-Boianical  Notes  on  Flora  of  European 

Russia,  359 
Liveing  (G.  D.,  F.R.S.),  Crystallization,  156 
Liverpool,  Contemplated  Geographical  Society  at,  161 
Liverpool,  the  Geology  of  the  Country  around,  G.  H.  Morton, 

Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  172 
Liverpool,  Mr.  Francis  Gotch  appointed  Professor  of  Physiology 

at  University  College,  257 
Livingstone  and    the  Exploration  of  Central    Africa,    II.   H. 

Johnstone,  492 
Lizard  District,  Crystalline  Rocks  of  the.  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney, 

F.R.S.,  and  General  C.  A.  McMahon,  22 
Lockhart  (J.  G.),  the  Habits  of  the  Moose,  114 
Lockycr  (Prof.  J.   Norman,  F.  k.S.):  on  some  Points  in  the 

Early  History  of   Astronomy,    8,    57,    107,   199 ;    Physical 

Science  for  Artists,  175,  227  ;  the  Solar  Corona,  300 
Lo  usi  in  India,  18 
Locusts  in  Egypt,  40 
Lodge  (Prof.  Oliver  J.,  F.R.S.):   the  Spinning    Ring,  106; 

Name  for  Resonance,  248 ;    Force  and   Determinism,   198, 

272  ;    Clock  for  pointing  out  Direction  of  Earth's  Orbital 

Motion  in  Ether,  238  ;  Experiments  with  Leaden  Jars,  238  ; 

Opening  Address  in  Section  A  of  the  British  Association, 


xxu 


Index 


CSuMUmtHt  to  Nature, 
November  ^t  »8^« 


382  ;  on  whether  the  Ether  behaves  as  a  Viscous  Fluid,  454 ; 
on  Light  in  Modifying  the  Efifect  of  the  Gravitational  Atirac- 
tioa  of  the  Sun,  454 

Lundon  Entomological  Society,  359 

London  Geological  Field  Class,  Hand-book  of  the,  317 

London  Mathematical  Society,  598 

London,  University  of  i  Draft  Charter  of  the,  39 ;  Prof.  E.  Ray 
Lankester.  F.R.S.,  76;  Prof.  William  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  78; 
Dr.  A.  Irving,  79,  104 ;  B.Sa  Exam.,  1892,  Edward  J. 
Burrell,  565 

Longstaff  (George  Blundell),  Studies  in  Stati>tics,  4 

Lorenz  (Dr.  Richard) :  Troilite,  Meteoritic  Crystallized  Mona 
sulphide  of  Iron,  137  ;  Hygienic  Advantage  of  Erect  as  com- 
pared with  Slanting  Writing,  325 

Lovel  (J.)i  the  Alpine  Flora,  83 

Lowne  (B.  Thompson),  the  Blow-fly,  123 

Lucas  (Pruf.  Edward),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  574 

Luminous  Clouds,  O.  Jesse,  229 

Lunar  Heat,  Distribution  of,  Frank  H.  Very,  601 

Lunar  Libratiou,  a  Cause  of,  S.  £.  Peal,  283 

Lunar  Radiant  Heat,  Measurements  of,  577 

Lunar  Rainbow,  Dr.  P.  Q.  Keegan,  591 

Lupton  (Sydney),  the  Conditions  of  Space,  210 

Lydekker  (Richard) :  the  Fossil  Insects  of  North  America,  with 
Notes  on  some  European  Species,  by  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  i ; 
and  Prof.  W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S.,  Mammals  Living  and  Ex- 
tinct, Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  121  ;  Lower  Jaws  of 
Procoptodon,  143  ;  F.  Priem  on  the  Evolution  of  Animals, 

243 
Lyrjc,  Spectrum  of  i8.  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  355 


Mc Alpine  (D.),  Summary  of  Tasks  undertaken  by  Deparlmenf 

of  Agriculture,  Victoria,  529 
Macdonald  (Major  Claud  M.),  on  the  Benue  and  the  Kibbe,  46 
M'Fadyean   (Prof.),   on   the   Milk  and  Meat  of  Tuberculous 

Animals,  396 
Macfarlane  (Dr.  J.  M.) :  Comparison  of  Minute  Structure  of 

Plant   Hybrids   with   Parent   Plants,    119;    Vegetable    and 

Animal  Cells,  263 
McGec  (Mr.),  Classification  of  the  Glacial  Pleistocene  Deposits, 

504 
McGowan  (G.),  Method  for  Estimation  of  Nitrates,  118 
McGuire  (J.  D.),  Primitive  Man  and  Stone  Hammers,  630 
Mcintosh  (Prof.),  on  Marine  Food-Fishes,  360 
McKendrick  (Dr.  John  G.,  F.R.S.)and  W.  Snodgrass,  Note  on 
the  Physiological  Action  of  Carbon  Monoxide  of  Nickel,  70 
McKinley  Bill,  the  Coming  Chicago  Exhibition  and  the,  35c 
Mackintosh  (Daniel),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  302 
McLennan  (Evan) ;    Force  and  Determinism,   198 ;   Cosmical 

Evolution,  a  New  Theory  of  the  Mechanism  of  Nature,  342 
Macleod  (Prof.   J.),   the   Flowers  of  the  Pyrenees  and  their 

Fertilization  by  Insects,  211 
McMahon  (General  C.  A.)  and  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S., 

on  the  Crystalline  Rocks  of  the  Lizard  District,  22 
McPhee  (Alexander),  Exploration  of  Central  Australia,  67 
McPherson  (Rev.  J.  G.),  the  Fairyland  Tales  of  Science,  5 
Madagascar,  Scientific  Expedition  by  M.  Douillot  to,  ill 
Madeira,   the   "Leste"  or   Hot   Wind  of.  Dr.   H.   Coupland 

Taylor,  95 
Madras  Central  Museum,  629 
Madras  Observatory,  the  late  Mr.   Pogson's  Observations  at, 

388 
Magelssen  (Herr),  Weather  and  Disease,  113 
Magnetism  :  Magnetic  Declination  or  Variation  of  the  Compass 
at  Washington,  Graphic  Daily  Record  of,  Richardson  Clooer, 
82 ;  Magnetic  Anomalies  in  Russia,  General  A.  de  TilJo, 
83 ;  Magnetic  Anomalies,  Alfonso  Sella,  249 ;  Magnetic 
Observations,  Washington,  91 ;  Eflfect  of  Heat  upon  the 
Magnetic  Susceptibility  of  Nickel,  S.  Bid  well,  F.R.S., 
187  ;  some  Relations  between  Magnetism  and  Twist  in  Iron, 
Nickel,  and  Cobalt,  Prof.  C.  G.  Knott,  191  ;  Comparison  of 
Simultaneous  Magnetic  Disturbances  at  various  Observatories, 
and  Determination  of  the  Value  of  Gaussian  Coefficients  for 
those  Observatories,  Prof.  W.  G.  Adams,  F.R.S.,  237;  an 
Introduction  to  the  Mathematical  Theory  of  Electricity  and 
Magnetism,  W.  T.  A.  Emtage,  443  ;  Prof.  Frank  H.  Bigelow, 
on  Terrestrial  Magnetism  and  Radiant  Sunlight,  453  ;  F.  T. 
Trouton  on  the  Propagation  of  Magnetization  in  Iron,  455  ; 
the  Molecular  Process  in  Magnetic  Induction,  Prof.  J.  A. 
Ewing,  F.R.S.,  566 


Maiden  (J.  H.),  Wattle  and  Wattle  Barks,  577 

Makareff  (Vice- Admiral),   Measurement  o(    Density  of   Sea- 
Water.  359 

Malay  Peninsula,  the  Aborigines  of  the,  600 

Malayan  Peninsula,  Materials  for  a  Flora  of  the,  George  King^ 
F.R.S.,492 

Mallock  (A.),  Photographic  Definition,  552 

Malta,  the  Fossil  Echinoidea  of,  J.  W.  Gregory,  311 

Maltese,  Islands,  Geology  of,  J.  H.  Cooke,  550 

Mammal,  a  New,  from  Sumatra,  Prof.  A.  A.  W.  Hubrecht, 
468 

Mammals  in  Calcutta  Museum,   Completion  of  Catalogue  of^ 

324 
Mammals  Living  and  Extinct,  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S., 

and  Richard  Lydekker,   Prof.  £.  Ray   Lanke&ter,   F.R.S., 

121 
Man  (E.  H.),  on  Nicobar  Pottery,  512 
Manchester  Technical   School,   New   Physics    and    Electrical 

Engineering  Department  at,  475 
Mangrove  in  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  the  White,  3Q4 
Mangrove,  Aerial  Roots  of  the,  Alfred  W.  Bennett,  370 
Manson  (Dr.),  on  Filaria  sanguinis^  367 
Manson  (Marsden),  Ph}sical  and  Geological  Traces  of  Cyclone 

Belts,  389 
Map,    Geological,   of   Monte   Somma  and   Vesuvius,    H.    J. 

Johnston- Lavis,  271 
Map-Colouring  and  Cartography,  Major  J.  W\  Powell,  506 
Marble  Quarrying  in  the  United  Stales,  E.  R.  Morse,  576 
Marbles,  the  Origin  of  Certain,  308 

Marchand  (M.),  Observations  of  Sun-spots  and  FacuUe,  305 
Mareograph  in   Pola  and  Trieste   Harbours,  the.  Lieutenant 

Gratzl,  600 
Marey  (M.),  Insect-flight  studied  by  Photochronography,  264 
Marine   Biological  Association  of  the  United  Kingdom,  205, 

Marine  Biology,  a  Pink  Marine  Micro-organism,  Prof.  W.  A. 

Herdman,  565 
Marine,  Colour  Tests  used  in  Examinations  for  Mercantile,  G. 

J.  Swanston,  500 
Marine  Laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  206 
Marine  Micro-organism,  Pink,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  565 
Marine  Survey   of  India,  the  Cruise  of  the  Investigator^  Dr. 

A.  Alcock,  501 
Marine   Survey  of  India,    Captain  R.   F.  Hoskyn,  528  ;  the 

Cruise  of  the  Investigator^  Dr.  A.  Alcock^s  Report,  528 
Mariner's  Compass,  is  it  a  Chinese  Invention  ?,  308 
Marr  (John  Edward),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  16 
Marriage,  the  History  of  Human,  Prof.  W.  Robertson  Smith, 

Edward  Westermarck,  270 
Marbh  (J.  E.),  Prof.  T.  H.  Van't  HofTs  Chemistry  in  Space, 

150 
Marshall  (Arthur),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  519 
Marshall  (Dr.),  on  Persulphates,  577 

Marshall    (Miss),  Bequest   to   the    Science  and   Art    Depart- 
ment, 17 
Marshall  Scholarship,   the   Huxley  Laboratory  for  Biological 

Research,  and  the,  627 
Marshall  (W.),  the  Addition  of  Alcohol  Elements  to  Ethereal 

Salts  of  Unsaturated  Acids,  118 
Marsupial,  Notary ctes  typhlops^  the  New  Australian,  135,  188  ; 

Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  449 
Martin  (Horace  C),  Notes  on  Elementary  Physiography,  589 
Martini  (Prof.  Tito),  the  Crystallization  of  Thin  Liquid  Films, 

325 
Martinique,  Terrible  Cyclone  at,  416,  575 

Maryland,   South,   Scientific  Expedition   for  Investigation  of, 

208 

Maskell  (W.  H.),  on  the  Coccidae,  550 

Maspero  (M.),  the  Dog  in  Ancient  Egypt,  207 

Massachusetts,  Old  Time  Winters  in  Essex  County,  Mr.  Perley, 

353 
Masters  (Dr.   Maxwell  T.,  r.R.S.).  Pines  and  Firs  of  Japan, 

339  . 
Maternity  Hospitals  on  the  Improved  Hygienic  Condition  of. 

Dr.  W.  O.  Priestley,  485 
Mathematics:  Rider  Papers  on  Euclid,  Books  I.-IL,  Rupert 
Deakin,  76  ;  Quaternions  and  the  Ausdehnungslehre,  Prof.  J. 
Willard  Gibbs,  79 ;  Mathematical  Society,  96,  191  ;  Dif- 
ferential and  Integral  Calculus  with  Applications,  Prof.  A. 
G.  Greenhill,  F.R.  S.,  170;  Pascal's  Hexagram,  H.  W. 
Richmond,    181      Geometry  of   Position,    R.   II.  Graham 


Swoember^,  1891      J 


Index 


XXILl 


Alex.  Larroor,  195  ;  the  Conditions  of  Space,  Sydney  Lupton, 
210;  Graphical   Statics,  by  Luigi   Cremona,   translated  by 
Prof.  Thomas  Hudson  Beare,  221  ;  a  Demonstration  of  La- 
grange's Rale  for  Solution   of   Linear  Partial   Diflferential 
Equations,  Prof.  Chrystal,  310 ;  on  some  Test  Cases  for  the 
Maxwell- Holtzmann     Doctrine    regarding    Dislribation    of 
Energy,  Sir  WilHam  Thomson,   P.R.S.,  355;  the  Laws  of 
Force  and  Motion,  John  Harris,  443  ;  an  Introduction  to  the 
Mathematical  Theory  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism,  W.  T. 
A.  Emtage,  443  ;  Evolution   of  Algebra,  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde, 
470 ;  W=M^,  W.  Larden,  493  ;  Tommy  Atkins,  Sen.,  493  ; 
Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,   on  Van  Her  Waals's  Treatment  of 
Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equation,  499,  597 ;  Prof. 
P.  G.  Tait,  546,  627 

Mather  (T.),  Construction  of  Non-inductive  Resistances,  261 

Matignon  ( W.  C. ),  Parabanic  and  Oxaluric  Acids,  336  ;  Heat 
of  Combustion  and  Formation  of  N it ro- benzenes,  360 

Mauritius,  Report  of  the  Royal  Alfred  Observatory,  66 ; 
Meteorology  of,  451 

Maury's  (M.  Paul)  Botanical  Expedition  to  Mexico,  598 

Maxim's  New  Flying  Machine,  303 

Maxwell  -  Holtzmann  Doctrine  Regarding  Distribution  of 
Energy,  on  some  Test  Cases  for  the,  Sir  William  Thomson, 
P.R.S.,  355 

Maxwell  (Sir  Herbert),  Rock-sculptures  in  Scotland,  350 

Maxwell    (Walter),   Biological    Functions  of  the    Lecithines, 

471 
Maxwell's  Electro-magnetic  Theories,  Prof.  A.  Gray,  296 
Measurement  of  Lunar  Radiant  Heat,  577 
Mechanical  Engineers,  Institution  of,  20,  332 
Mechanical   Flight,  Experimental    Researches  on.  Prof.  S.  P. 

Langley,  277 
Mechanics  :  Influence  of  Surface-loading  on  Flexure  of  Beams, 
Prof.  C.  A.  Carus- Wilson,  261  ;  G.  Chattertonon  Sewerage, 
509 ;  W.  Key  on  Ventilation,  509  ;  Sir  Edward  Reed  on 
the  Proposed  Channel  Tubular  Railway,  509 ;  Prof.  W. 
Robinson  on  Petroleum  Engines,  509  ;  W.  H.  Preece, 
F.RS.,  on  the  Ixmdon  and  Paris  Telephone,  510  ;  Prof.  G. 
Forbes  on  Electric  Motors,  510;  A.  R.  Bennett  on  Under- 
ground Parcels  Delivery,  510  ;  Major  R.  de  Villamil  on 
Screw  Propellers,  510  ;  Mr.  Beaumont  on  Screw  Propellers, 
510 

Medical   Library,    Catalogue  of  the   Washington,    Dr.   A.  T. 
Myers,  563 

Medical  Society,  548 

Medicine,  Account  of  the  Birmingham  School  of,  18 

Medicine,  British  Institute  of  Preventive,  86,  97,  iii,  124,  135, 
184 

Medicine,  Paris  Academy  of,  Sir  Joseph  Fayrerand  Dr.  Bate- 
man  elected  Associates,  351 

Medidne,  the  Progress  of.  Dr.  T.  Lauder  Brunton,  F.R.S., 
327 

Mediterranean,  the  Frigate  Scilla  fitting  out  by  Italian  Govern- 
ment for  Hydrographic  Exploration  of,  501 

Mediterranean  during  July,  Remarkable  Atmospheric  Effects  in 
the,  502 

Meehan  (T.),  Relation  between  Insects  and  Forms  and  Charac- 
ters of  Flowers,  335 

Meek  (Alex.) :   Dredging  Products,  344  ;  on  Actinotrocha,  416 

Melanesians,  the,  Studies  in  their  Anthropology  and  Folk-Lore, 
Dr.  R.  H.  Codrington,  613 

Meldola  (Prof.  R.,  F.R.S.)  :  Co-adaptation,  7,  28;  the  Azo- 
derivatives  of  iS-Naphthylamine,  118;  Photography  in  Colour?, 
Alphonse  Berget,  194  ;  Charles  Darwin,  his  Life  and  Work, 
Charles  Frederick  Holder,  337 ;  Science  or  Romance,  Rev. 
John  Gerard,  S.J.,  441  ;  Technical  Chemistry,  602 

Meldometer,  the,  J.  Joly,  187 

Mendcleeff  (Prof.),  on  the  Variation  of  the  Density  of  Water  at 
Different  Temperatures,  334 

Mensbrugghe  (G.  Van  der),  Characteristic  Property  of  Common 
Surfaces  of  Two  Liquids  under  Mutual  Affinity,  III.,  240 

Menschutktn  (N.),  the  Rate  of  Formation  of  Compound  Ethers, 
312 

Mercadier  (E. ),  Determination  of  Constants  and  CoefiTicients  of 
Nickel- Steel.  264 

Mercuric  Chloride,  Compounds  formed  by,  48 

Mercury  Standards,  on  the  Resistance  of  some,  R.  T.  Glaze- 
brook,  F.R.S.,  94 

Meredith  (Mrs.  L.  A.),  Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania,  517 

Meridian,  Arguments  against  Adoption  of  Greenwich  as  Prime, 
M.  Tondini,  119 


Merle  (William),  Weather  Record  of  the  Fourteenih  CeiUur>', 

538 
Merrill,    (F.   J.    H.),    Post-Glacial  History  of  Hudson  River 

Valley,  189 
Metallurgy :    Le9ons  sur  les   Metaux,    Prof.    A.    Ditle,   245  ; 
Trail e  pratique  deChimieMetailnrgique,  Baron  Jonstorff,  245  ; 
Determination  of  Constants  and  Coefficients  of  Nickel- Steel, 
E.    Mercadier,   264;    Rolling  of   Steel   Sheets  direct   from 
Molten  Metal,   Sir   H.    Bessemer,    578 ;    Examination  of  a 
Peculiar  Form  of  Metallic  Iron  found  on  Lake  Huron,  G.  C. 
Hoffmann,  325  ;  Prof.   W.  C.   Roberts- Austen,  F.R-S.,  on, 
399;   Cause  of  Insolubility  of  Pure  Metals  ia  Acids,  Dr. 
Weeren,  259 
Metchnikoff,  Immunity  Natural  and  Acquired,  422 
Meteorology :  High  and   Low  Level   Meteorological  Obrerva- 
tories,  Joseph  John  Murphy,  7  ;  Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  of 
the    Itadian    Meteorological    Society,     18 ;    Bibliography  of 
United  States  Meteorology,  18 ;  Anleitung  zur  Bearbeiiung 
raeteorologischer  Beobachtungen   fiir  die  Klimatologte,  von 
Dr.  Hugo  Meyer,  27  ;  the  Winter  of  1890-91,    24 ;  Captain 
C.    H.    Seemann  on  European  Weather  Charts,   41  ;  Daily 
International  Weather  Charts,  62 ;  Prof.  He llmann  on  Baro- 
metric   Observations,  66 ;    Self-recording    Instruments,   dt ; 
Report  of  the   Royal   Alfred   Observatory,    Mauritius,  66  ; 
Dry  and  Moist  Temperature  and   Health,  66 ;  the  Influence 
of  Forests  on   Air- Temperature,  68  ;  Graphic  Daily  Record 
of  the  Magnetic  Declination  or  Variation  of  the  Compass  at 
Washington,   U.S.A.,   82;  Magnetic  Anomalies  in  Russia, 
General   A.   de  Tillo,  83;  Weather  Seivicc  of  the  United 
States,    88 ;     Meteorological    Service    of    Australasia,    88 ; 
Washington    Magnetic   Observations,    1886,   91  ;   American 
Meteorological  Journal,  92,  440,  464  ;  Formation  of  Storms, 
W.  H.  Dines,  95  ;  Brocken  Spectres  in  a  London  Fog,  A.  W. 
Clayden,  95 ;  an   Account  of  the  **  Leste  "  or  Hot  Wind  of 
Madeira,   Dr.    II.    Coupland   Taylor,   95 ;  the  Effect  of  an 
Electric  Discharge  upon  the  Condensation  of  Steam,  Shelford 
Bidwell,   F.R.S.,  95;  Fifty  Years'  Observations  at  Nancy, 
M.   Millot,   112;  Destructive  Tornado  at  Dreux,  Teisserenc 
de  Bort,  112;  Studies  of  Air-Pressure  and  Temperature  on 
Summit   of  Sonnblick,    Dr.   J.    Hann,    112;    Weather   and 
Disease,  Herr  Magelssen,  113;  Snow-Observations  in  Kussia, 
Herr  Berg,  113;  Observations  of  Hail  in  Process  of  Forma- 
tion,   Prof.   Toseiti,    113  ;  a   Method    of  Counting   Water- 
Parlic'es  in   Fog,   John   Aitken,  119;  Analysis  of  Sunlight 
Diffused  by  the  Sky,  A.  Crova,  119  ;  Atmospheric  Conditi  ns 
of  Greenwich  with  regard  to   Universal   Hour  Question,  M. 
Tondini,  119;  Canadian  Meteorological  Service,  Report  for 
1887  of,  136  ;  Determination  of  Evaporating  Power  of  a  Cli- 
mate, Dr.  Ule,  137  ;  Analysis  of  Light  Diffused  by  the  Sky,  A. 
Crova,  144;  ErraticTrack  ofa  Barometric  Depression,  Rev.  W. 
Clement  Ley,  150  ;  New  Russian  Meteorological  Review,  161, 
326  ;  Cold  Waves,  Prof.  T.  Russell,  165  ;  How  can  Weather 
Service  best  promote  Agriailture  ?,  M.  W.  Harrington,  165  ; 
Is  Influenza  spread  by  Wind  ?,   H.  H.  Hildcbrandsson,  165  ; 
Barometer  at  Ben  Nevis  Observatory  in  Relation  to  Wind, 
Dr.    Buchan,    167  ;    Currents   that    give   rise   to   Cyclones, 
H.  Faye,  168;  Meteorologische  Volksbucher,  Prof.  G.  ITell- 
mann,    185  ;  Meteorology  in  Paris,    185  ;  the  Winds  of  Ben 
Nevis,    R.    T.    Omond   and   A.    Rankin,    191  ;    the  Heavy 
November  Rains  and  Floods  in  Germany,   Prof.   Hellmann, 
206;  Meteorology  in  Japan,   207  ;   Erratic  Barometric  De- 
pression  of  May  23-29,  and    Hailstorm  of  May   24,   B.   J. 
Hopkins,   224 ;  on  a  Cycle  in   Weather  Changes,  225  ;j,lhe 
Forecast   of    the   Indian   Monsoon   Rains,    225 :    Luminous 
Clouds,  O.  Jesse,   229  ;  Luminous  Clouds,    231  ;   Study  of 
Remarkable   Series  of  Hailstones  at  Graz,  Prof.  Prohaska, 
233  ;  Meteorological  Service  established  in  Alsace  Lorraine^ 
233 ;  Curious  Case  of  Damage  by  Lightning  to  Church  at 
Needwood,  A.  J.  Hands,  239  ;  Comparison  of  Thermometri^ 
cal  Observations  in  Stevenson  Screen  with  same  on  Revolving 
Stand  at   Greenwich   Observatory,    W.   Ellis,  239  ;  Contri- 
bution to  the  Study  of  Atmospheric  Electricity,  Ch.  Andre, 
240  ;   on   the  Solid  and   Liquid   Particles  in  Clouds,   John 
Aitken,  F.R.S.,  279;  Prof.    M.  W.    Harrington   appointed 
Chief  of   the  U.S.  Weather  Bureau,  280;    Pilot  Chart   of 
l^orth  Atlantic  for  July,  281  ;  Pilot  Chart  of  North  Atlantic 
for  Septemt>er,  1891,  501  ;  Pilot  Chart  of  North  Atlantic  for 
September,  575  ;  Connection  between  Air-pre«fure  and  Hour- 
angle  of  Moon,    R.    Bornstein,    281  ;   the    Observation    of 
Atmospheric   Electricity,    Herren   Elster  and   Geitel,    2Si\ 
Meteorological  Phenomenon,   Francis  Galton,  F.  R.S.,  294; 


XXIV 


Index 


tSu/MefiUHt  to  Naiurtt 
AcvemberTiS,  1891 


Meteorological  Observalions  at  Sydney  for  January  1891, 
304 ;  Zodiacal  Light  as  related  to  Aurora,  O.  T.  Sherman,  310  ; 
the  Climate  of  Cephalonia,  Dr.  Partsch,  326 ;  Meteoro- 
logitscheskij  Westnik,  New  Russian  Meteorological  Journal, 
326  ;  a  Curious  Case  of  Globular  Lightning,  327  ;  the  Green 
Kay,  C.  Mostyn,  352  ;  Secular  Variations  of  Damage  by 
Lightning  and  Hail,  Dr.  C.  Lang,  354;  Rain  Gauges, 
Thomas  Fletcher,  371  ;  Geography  of  the  Air,  Lieutenant  A. 
W.  Greely,  388  ;  Physical  and  Geological  Traces  of  Permanent 
Cyclone  Belts,  Marsden  Manson,  389 ;  Meteorology  of  the 
Eastern  Seas,  Dr.  Doberck,  389  ;  Annales  of  the  Central 
Meteorological  Office  of  Paris,  389  ;  Remarkable  Weather 
Change  at  Orenburg,  389 ;  Snowdrifts  on  Russian  Rail- 
ways, 389 ;  Cloud  Heights,  Kinematic  Method,  Prof.  Cleve- 
land Abbe,  398  ;  Terrible  Cyclone  at  Martinique,  416,  575  ; 
the  Production  of  Artificial  Rain  in  Texas,  436,  473,  594  ; 
Rain-making  Experiments,  614  ;  the  International  Conference 
at  Munich,  435  ;  the  Present  Methods  of  reducing  Meteorologi- 
cal Measurement^,  Prof.  H.  Mohn,  436 ;  Prof.  W.  von 
Bezold  on  the  Theory  of  Cyclones,  437  ;  M.  Lancaster  on 
Normal  Temperature  in  Europe,  437 ;  H.  Morize  on  the 
Climatology  of  Brazil,  437  ;  Typhoon  at  Kobe,  437  ;  Meteoro- 
lojjy  of  Mauritius,  451  ;  of  Cape  Colony,  452;  Mountain, 
Meteorology,  A.  L.  Rolch,  464 ;  the  Various  Kinds  of 
Gradients,  L.  Teisserenc  de  Bort,  464  ;  Climatic  History  of 
Like  Bonneville,  R.  de  C.  Ward,  464  ;  Maritime  Meteorology 
Routes  for  Steamships  between  Aden  and  the  Straits  of  Sunda, 
476  ;  Symons's  British  Rainfall,  1890,  477  ;  Extraordinary 
Rainfall  (1890)  in  Australia,  Charles  Todd,  501  ;  Damage 
by  Lightning  to  Slate  Buildings  in  Prussia,  1877-86,  501  ; 
Remarkable  Atmospheric  Effect  in  Mediterranean  during 
July,  502;  Mountain  Meteorology,  A.  L.  Retch,  512  ;  the 
Bergen  Point  Tornado,  W.  A.  Eddy,  512  ;  Hot  Winds  of 
California,  Lieutenant  J.  P.  Finley,  512  ;  Meteorology  of 
Northern  Afghanistan,  W.  L.  Dallas,  529 ;  Weather  Reports 
of  the  Meteorological  Council  for  1880  and  1887,  529  ; 
Weather  Record  of  the  Fourteenth  Century,  538  ;  Weather 
Cycles,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  541  ;  Weather  Cycles  and  Severe 
Winter.*,  591  ;  Three  Aliases  bearing  upon  the  Meteorology 
of  United  States,  549 ;  Meteorological  Observations  at 
Stations  of  Second  Order  for  1887,  549  ;  American  Weather 
Bureau,  598 ;  Temperature  Atlas  ot  North  America,  issued 
by  U.S.  Army  Signal  Service,  599  ;  Squall  Oscillations  in  Pola 
and  Trieste  Harbours,  Lieutenant  Gratzl,  600 ;  our  Position 
with  Regard  to  Kainfall,  630;  Henri  Becquerel  on  Under- 
ground Temperatures,  632  ;  the  International  Meteorological 
Conference,  632  ;  Meteorological  Society,  see  Royal 

Meteors  :  a  Beautiful,  Rev.  ].  Hoskyns-Abrahall,  162:  Theory 
of  Shooting-stars,  M.  Callandreau,  168  ;  Remarkable  Meteor 
at  Ealing,  599 ;  a  Magnificent  Meteor,  Donald  Cameron, 
343  ;  a  Brilliant  Meteor,  August  30,  436 

Metrology  :  Proposed  International  System  of  Weights  and 
Measures,  C.  J.  Hanssen,  41  ;  Comparison  of  International 
Metre  with  Prototype  of  the  Archives,  M.  Bosscha,  464 

Metschnikoff  (Dr.)  and  Dr.  R  mx.  Tubercle  Bacilli,  397 

Meunier  (Stanislas),  Iron  in  Gold-workings  about  Berezowsk, 

335 
Mexico,  American  Expeditions  to  investigate  the  Flora  of,  501 

Mexico,  M.  Paul  Maury's  Expedition  to,  598 

Meyer  (Pr«>f.  Ernst  von),  a  History  of  Chemistry  from  the 
Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day,  Prof.T.  E.Thorpe,  F.R.S., 
289 

Meyer  (Dr.  Hans),  an  Account  of  the  First  Ascent  of  Kilima- 
njaro, 149 

Meyer  (Dr.  Hugo),  Anleitung  zur  Bearbeitung  meteorologischer 
Beobachtungen  fur  die  Klimatologie,  27 

Meyer  (Prof.  Victor),  the  Slow  Combustion  of  Explosive  Gas 
Mixtures,  354 

Miall  (Prof.  L.  C),  some  Difficulties  in  the  Life  of  Aquatic 
Insects,  457 

Mica  as  an  Invariable  Dielectric,  23 

Mica,  Dielectric  Properties  of,  at  High  Temperature*,  E.  Bouty, 
168 

Micaceous  Trachyte,  Artificial  Production  of,  392 

Micro  chemical  Analysis,  Dr.  O.  Lehmann  on,  76 

Micro-organism,  a  Pink  Marine,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  565 

Microbes,  Dr.  E.  L.  Trouessart,  173 

Microcidine,  a  New  Antiseptic,  Prof.  Berlioz,  232 

Microscopy :  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science, 
21 ;  C.  Haughton  Gill  on  Diatoms,  23 ;  Tintullus,  Free- 
swimming  Infusorian  in  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Mr.  Gren- 


fell,  142  ;  Ttrnia  lanceolata  in  Duck,  J.  B.  Rossiter,  143  ; 
New  Projection  Microscope,  E.  M.  Nelson,  143 ;  a  Negative 
of  Amphipleura  peUucida  produced  with  Zeiss's  New  ^ 
of  I '6  N.A.  and  Sunlight,  by  T.  Comber,  239;  Nelson's 
Apparatus  for  obtaining  Monochromatic  Light,  239  ;  a  New 
Form  of  Student's  Microscope,  T.  T.  Johnson,  239 ;  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Analytical  Chemists  and  Microscopists, 
574  ;  Microscopical  Society,  see  Royal 

Miculesco  (C),    Determination  of  Mechanical  Equivalent    of 
Heat,  168 

Milk  and  Meat  of  Tuberculous  Animals,  the  Alleged  Danger  of 
Consuming,    Dr.    Ban^T,    393 ;    Prof.    Arloing,   396 ;    Prof. 
M'Fadyean,  396  ;  Prof.   Hamilton,  397  ;  Prof.  Nocard,  397  ; 
Dr.  Hime,  397  ;  Dr.  Bariow,  397  ;  Prof.  Perronciio,  397 

Mill<Dr.  H.  R),  Physical  Geography  of  Clyde  Sea  Area, 
167 

Millson  (Alvan),  the  Yoruba  Country,  209 

Mimicry  in  Spiders,  E.  Heckel,  451 

Mind^  Retirement  of  Prof.  Croom  Robertson  from  the  Editorship 
of,  548 

Mineralogy:  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  and  General  C.  A. 
McMahon  on  the  Crystalline  Rocks  of  the  Lizard  District,  22  ; 
an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Petrology,  by  Dr.  Frederick 
H.  Hatch,  25 ;  Dr.  Brauner  on  Lanthanum,  68 ;  the  Re- 
juvenescence of  Crystals,  Prof.  John  W.  Judd,  F.  R.S.,  83  ; 
a  New  Silver  Mineral,  89  ;  Crystals  of  Platinum,  J.  Joly, 
124;  Precious  Opal  in  New  South  Wales,  162  ;  Elements  of 
Crystallography,  George  Huntingdon  Williams,  Prof.  John 
W.  Judd,  F.R.S.,  193  -,  Mineralogical  Society,  215,  574  ;  the 
Origin  of  Certain  Marbles,  308  ;  New  Analyses  of  Astrophyl- 
lite  and  Tscheffkinite,  L.  E.  Eakins,  310 ;  the  Minerals  in 
Hollow  Rhyolite  Spherules,  J.  P.  Iddings  and  S.  L.  Penfield, 
310 ;  Bemardinite,  Is  it  a  Mineral  or  a  Fungus?,  J.  S.  Brown, 
310;  Gmelinite  from  Nova  Scotia,  L.  V.  Pirsson,  310  j 
Analyses  of  Kamacite,  Taenite,  and  Plessite  from  Welland 
Meteoric  Iron,  J.  M.  Davidson,  310  ;  Newtonite  and  Rec- 
torite,  New  Minerals  of  the  Kaolinite  Group,  R.  N.  Brackett 
and  J.  F.  Williams,  310 ;  Iron  in  Gold- washings  about 
Berezowsk,  336  ;  Genesis  of  Iron  Ores  by  Isomorphous  and 
Pseudomorphous  Replacement  of  Limestone,  J.  P.  Kimball, 
463 ;  Allgemeine  chemische  Mineralogie,  Dr.  C.  Doelter, 
516  ;  Capture  of  a  Supposed  Gem  Thief  at  Vienna,  598 

Mines  and  Mining  Department  of  Chicago  Exhibition,  476 

Minet  (Adolphe),  Electrolysis  of  Fused  Salts  of  Boron  and 
Silicon,  120 

Mining  Engineers,  Federated  Institution  of,  65,  500 

Miquel  (Dr.),  Manuel  Pratique  d' Analyse  Bacteriolc^ique  des 
Eaux,  Prof.  Percy  F.  Frankland,  F.R.S.,  513 

Miranzai  Expedition,  the,  65 

Missouri  Botanical  Garden,  loi  ;  William  Trelease,  588 

Mohn  (Prof.),  the  Present  Method  of  Reducing  Meteorological 
Measurements,  436 

Moissan  (Henri) :  Action  of  Fluorine  upon  Phosphorus  Tri- 
fluoride,  186,  333,  622;  Study  of  Tetra  iodide  of  Carbon,  264 

Mole,  the  Australian  Marsupial,  Notoryctes  typkhps.  Dr.  P.  L. 
Sclater,  F.R.S.,  449 

Molecular  Process  in  Magnetic  Induction,  Prof.  J.  A.  Ewing, 
F.R.S.,  566 

Molecular  Weights  at  Critical  Point,  Determination  of,  P.  A. 
Guye,  144 

Monaco's  (Prince  of)  New  Yacht  for  the  Study  of  the  Sea,  359 

Moncrieff  (Sir  Colin),  on  Egyptian  Irrigation,  145,  151 

Mond  ( Ludwig) :  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  16  ; 
Nickel-Carbon-Oxide,  188 ;  a  Volatile  Compound  of  Iron 
and  Carbonic  Oxide,  234  ;  Iron-Carbonyl,  304 

Monkeys,  Results  of  Hemisection  of  Spinal  Cord  in,  F.  W. 
Molt,  189 

Monsoon  Rains,  Fo'ecasts  of  the  Indian,  225 

Mont  Blanc,  Projecte  i  Observatory  on,  302,  416 

Monte  Somma  and  Vesuvius,  Geological  Map  of,  H.  J. 
Johnston-Lavis,  271 

Monuments  in  Egypt,  the  Preservation  of  Ancient,  281 

Monuments  in  France,  the  Protection  of  Prehistoric,  232 

Moon,  Bright  Streaks  on,  the  Astronomer-Royal  for  Scotland, 
360 

Moon,  Dr.  Copeland  on  Bright  Streaks  in  the,  454 

Moor  (C.  G.),  Disposal  of  Sewage,  456 

Moore  (Spencer),  the  True  Nature  of  Callus,  216 

Moorland  Parish,  Forty  Years  in  a.  Rev.  J.  C.  Atkinson,  122 

Moose,  the  Habits  of  the,  J.  G.  Lockhart,  114 

Morgan  (Prof.  C.   Lloyd)  :  Force  and  Determinism,  249,  319 


SM/pL'meni  to  Nature,"^ 
November  nty  1891      J 


Index 


XXV 


Morgan  (T.  H.),  Pycnogonids,  49 

Morizc  (H.)»  on  the  Climatology  of  Brazil,  437 

Morley  Memorial  College,  Miss  Emma  Cons,  469 

Morphological    Nature    of    Principle    of   Fecundation,    Leon 

Guignard,  168 
Morris  (D.)f  Botanical  Expedition  to  the  West  Indies,  87,  no 
Morse  (E.  R.),  Marble  Quarrying  in  United  Stales,  576 
Morton  (G.  H.),  Geology  of  the  Country  around   Liverpool, 

Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  172 
Morton  (Mr.),  Discovery  of  Stalactite  Caves  in  Tasmania,  576 
Mosquitoes  :  the  Destruction  of,  591 ;  W.    Mat  lieu  Williams, 

519  ;  Dragon*  flies  z'.,  491 
Mostyn  (C),  the  Green  Ray,  352 

Mott  (F.  W.),  Results  of  Hemisection  of  Spinal  Cord  in  Mon- 
keys, 189 
Mouchez  (Admiral),  Annual  Report  of  the  Paris  Observatory, 

70 
Mountain  Chant,  Miss  Buckland  on  the,  511 
Mountain  Climbing  in  Greece,  Dr.  Philipson,  599 
Mountain  Meteorology,  A.  L.  Roich,  464,  512 
Mouse  and  Rat,  the  Development  of  the,  Dr.  Arthur  Robinson, 

483 

Miiller  (Prof.  F.  Max)  :  Physical  Religion,  219  ;  Address  on 
Anthropology  at  the  British  Association,  428 

Mueller  (Dr.),  Antagonistic  Action  of  Strychnine  and  Snake 
Poison,  162 

Mueller  (Baron  von),  Green  Eucalyptus  Branches  as  a  Disin- 
fectant, 353 

Murphy  (Joseph  John):  High  and  Low- Level  Meteorological 
Observatories,  7 ;  Electric  Transmission  of  Power,  590 

Murray  (Dr.  John),  the  Clyde  Sea- Area,  232 

Muscles,  Stimulating,  by  means  of  Light,  M.  D'Aisonval,  390 

Museums:  Contemplated  P^eorganizalion  of  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  Paris,  184,  258  ;  Museums  Association, 
285;  County  Museums,  451  ;  Oxford  University  Museum, 
Prof.  W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S,  619 

Mu>ic  :  J.  W.  Goundry  on  an  Instrument  for  giving  Enhar- 
monic Intervals  in  all  Keys,  19  ;  Instruments  in  Just  Intona- 
tion, Robt.  A.  Lehfeldl,  519;  a  New  Keyed  Musical  In- 
strument for  Just  Intonation,  Dr.  William  Pole,  F.R.S.,  446 

Musical  Notes  from  Non-Musical  Sands,  Cecil  Carus- Wilson, 
322 

Musquito  Coast,  Vocabularies  from  the.  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton, 
600 

Mycology,  Royal  Morphological  Research  Prize  of  10,000 
francs  awarded  by  the  Accademia  dei  Lincei  of  Rome  to 
Prof.  Saccardo,  257 

Myers  (Dr.  A.  T.),  Catalogue  of  the  Washington  Medical 
Library,  563 

Myles  (Rev.  Percy  W.),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  598 

Mylius  (Dr.),  Volatile  Carbonyl  Compounds  of  Platinum,  530 


Nageli  (Prof.  Carl  Wilhelm  von) :  Death  of,  65  ;  Obituary 
Notice  of,  D.  H.  Scott,  580 

National  Home-Reading  Union,  Dr.  Alex  Hill,  493 

Natural  History :  New  Stations  in  France,  135  ;  Natural 
History  in  Publ  c  Schools,  Rev.  T.  A.  Preston,  137  ;  Con- 
templated Reorganization  of  the  Paris  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  184,  258  ;  Mr.  Ridewood's  Dissections  in  the  En- 
trance Hall  of  the  Natural  History  Museum  to  illustrate 
Variations  in  Deep  Plantar  Tendons  of  the  Bird's  Foot,  303  ; 
.\dditions  to  Bird  Department  of  the  Natural  History 
Museum,  451  ;  a  New  Mammal  from  Sumatra,  Prof.  A.  A. 
W.  Hubrecht,  468 ;  a  Dog  Story,  John  Bell,  521 ;  Mr.  O. 
F.  Cook's  Projected  Natural  History  Expedition  to  Liberia, 
548  ;  Systematic  List  of  the  Frederick  E.  Edwards  Collection 
of  British  Oligocene  and  Eocene  MoUusca  in  the  British 
Museum,  Richard  Bullen  Newton,  610 

Natural  Science  at  Royal  Holloway  College,  Appointment  of 
Miss  M.  W.  Robertson  to  Resident  Lectureship  in,  231 

Natural  Selection,  Variation  and.  Dr.  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  518 

Nautical  Almanac,  593 

Naval  Architects,  Institution  of,  305 

Naval  Exhibition,  Royal,  180 

Nelson  (E.  M.),  a  New  Projection  Microscope,  143 

Nelson's  Apparatus  for  obtaining  Monochromatic  Light,  239 

Neptunia,  135 

New  Gallery  of  British  Art,  255 

New  Guinea,  British,  Art  and  Ornament  in.  Prof.  A.  C. 
Ha<ldon.  188 


New  Mexico,  Mr.  C.  L.  Walker's  Archaeological  Researches  in 

South- West,  576 
New  South  Wales  :  Sydney  Biological  Station,  39  ;  Precious 

Opal   in,    162  ;    Butter   Export    from,    to    England,    303  ; 

Dairy  Work  in,  436  ;  Royal  Society  of,  440 ;  Department 

of  Agriculture  in,  451 
New  York,  Kindergarten  System  in,  502 
New  Zealand  :  Journal  of  Science,  Revival  of,  18 ;  Bees  in, 

G.   M.  Thomson,  19 ;   Sparrows  and  Hawk  in,  J.  W.  Kirk, 

529  ;  the   Basking   Shark  in  New  Zealand  Waters,    T.  F. 

Cheeseman,  576 
Newman  (A.    E.   S.    C),  the  Chemical  and  Bacteriological 

Examination  of  Potable  Water,  74 
Newton    (Prof.   A.,    F.R.S.):    the   Holarctic   Region,    197; 

Notaryctes  typhlops^  493 
Newton  (Prof.),  on  the  Action  of  Jupiter  on  Comets,  453 
Newton   (Richard  Bullen),    Systematic  List  of  the  Frederick 

£.    Edwards   Collection   of  British  Oligocene  and  Eocene 

Mollusca  i  1  the  British  Museum  (Natural  History),  610 
Newtonite,   a  New  Mineral   of  the   Kaolinite  Group,  R.  N. 

Brackett  and  J.  F.  Williams,  310 
Niagara,  Falls  of.  Proposal  to  Utilize  the  Power  wasted  in  the. 

Sir  W.  Siemens  521 
Nias,  Island  of.  Ethnological  Collection  from,  68 
Nicaragua,  the  Amerrique  Indians  of,  J.  Crawford,  502 
Nichol>on  Institute,  Leek,  549 
Nickel,   Compounds  of  Dextrose  with  the  Oxides   of,    A.  C. 

Chapman,  71 
Nickel,    Effect   of    Heat   upon    Magnetic    Sensibility   of,    S. 

Bidwell,  F.R.S.,   187 
Nickelunderlnfluenceof  Hydrochloric  Acid,  P.  Schntzenberger, 

336 
Nickel,  Note  on  the  Physiological  Action  of  Carbon-Monoxide 

of.  Dr.  John  G.  McKendrick,  F.R.S.,  and  W.  Snodgrass,  70 
Nickel-Carbon-Oxide,  L.  Mond,  F.R.S.,  188 
Nickel- Carbon- Oxide  and  Metallic  Nickel  obtained  therefrom, 

455 
Nickel-Steel,  Determination  of  Constants  and  Coefficients  of, 

£.  Mercadier,  264 
Nicobar  Pottery,  E.  H.  Man  on,  512 
Nipher  (Prof.  F.  E.),  on  the  Functions  and  Nature  of  the  Eiher 

of  Space,  471 
Nitrates,  Reduction  of,  by  Sunlight,  24 
Nitrification,  R.  Warington,  190 
Nitrobenzenes,  Heats  of  Combustion  and  Formation  of,  MM. 

Berthelot  and  Matignon,  360 
Nocard  (Prof.),  Tuberculosis,  397 

Noelting  (Dr.),  New  Method  of  Preparing  Azoimide,  600 
Nordenskiold's  (Baron),  Antarctic  Expedition,  231 
Norfolk    Geologist,   the   Life  and    Work   of  a,   612 
North  America,  Forestry  in.  Prof.  W.  R.  Fisher,  60 
North  America,  the  Ice  Age  in,  G.  Fredk.  Wright,  Prof.  T.  G. 

Bonney,  F.R.S.,  537 
Notes  on  Birds  and  Insects,  J.  J.  Walker,  F.R.  S.,  565 
Notary cUs   iyphlops^    the    New  Australian    Marsupial    Mole, 

135,    188;    Dr.    P.    L.    S^later,    F.R.S.,   449;    Prof.    Alf. 

Newton,  F.R.S.,  493 
Nudibranchiate  Mollusca,  Herdman  and  Chubb  on,  482 
Nudibranchiates,  Development  of  Liver  of,  H.  Fischer,  144. 
Numerals,  Colour- Associations  with.  Dr.   Edward  S.  Holden, 

223 
Nunivak  Islanders,  the,  Ivan  Petroff,  477 
Nuovo  Cimento,  136 
Nuovo  Giornale  Botanico  Italiano,  21,  236,  359 


Observatories :  Annual  Report  of  the  Paris  Observatory, 
70;  Harvard  College,  115;  the  Annual  Visitation  of  the 
Royal  Observatory,  129;  Publication  of  the  Vatican,  136; 
Physical  Observatory  established  at  Smithsonian  Institution, 
161  ;  Prof.  Pritchard's  Report  on  Oxford  University,  184  ; 
the  Smithsonian  Astro- Physical  Observator>%  254 ;  Oi)serva- 
iory  of  Vale  University,  Dr.  Elkin,  283 ;  Proposed  Astro- 
nomical, on  Mont  Blanc,  302,  416  ;  the  Madras,  388 ;  an 
Astronomer's  Work  in  a  Modern  Observatory,  Dr.  David 
Gill,  F.R.S.,  603 

Observatories,  Meteorological,  High  and  Low  Level :  Joseph 
John  Murphy,  7  ;  Barometer  at  Ben  Nevis  in  Relation  to 
Wind,  Dr.  A.  Buchan,  167 

Ogden  (William  H.),  Bequest  to  the  University  of  Chicago,  3S8 
i  Ohio,  the  Glacial  Epoch  Relics  at  Kelley  Island,  207 


XXVI 


Index 


L     Nevembtr  t/S^  1891 


Old  Standards  of  Weights  and  Measares,  280 

OlenelluH  Zone,  the  Discovery  of,  in  the  North- West  Highlands 
of  Scotland,  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  F.R.S.,  479 

Olive- Growing  in  Australia,  Principal  Thomson,  501 

Omond  (R.  T.),  the  Winds  of  Ben  Nevis,  191 

Ontario,  Wolves  in,  18 

Opal  in  New  Soath  Wales,  Precious,  162 

Optics :  Dr.  Schobben's  Lantern  Stereoscope,  142  ;  Apparatus 
to  show  Greater  Sensitiveness  of  Eye  to  Different  Colours, 
Captain  Abney,  F.R.S.,  and  General  Festing,  F.R.S.,  187  ; 
an  Optical  Illusion,  Prof.  S.  P,  Thompson,  F.R.S.,  187  ; 
Refraction  through  a  Prism,  Rev.  John  H.  Kirkby,  294  ; 
Osdllations  of  the  Retina,  A.  Charpentier,  311  ;  Instru- 
ment for  the  Optical  Comparison  of  Transparent  Liquids,  M. 
Sonden,  478  ;  on  Blending  of  Separate  Chromatic  Sensations 
perceived  by  each  of  Two  Eyes,  A.  Chauveau,  488  ;  Colour 
Sensations  excited  in  One  Eye  by  Coloured  Light  illuminating 
Retina  of  other,  A.  Chauveau,  536 

Orange  Disease  in  Cyprus,  A.  £.  Shipley,  528 

Orange«,  Grapes,  &c.,  the  Cultivation  of,  in  Greeee  and 
Australia,  630 

Ordnance  Survey,  the,  112  ;  H.  T.  Crook  on  the,  508 

Oregon,  Discovery  of  Enormous  Stalactite  Cavern  in,  258 

O'Reilly  (Prof.  J.  P.) :  the  Recent  Earthquakes  in  Italy,  293  ; 
Weather  Cycles,  541 

Orenburg,  Remarkable  Weather  Change  at,  389 

Organ  Pipes,  the  Energy  used  by,  C.  K.  Wead,  310 

Organic  Chemistry,  Practical  Work  in,  Fredk.  Wm.  Streatfeild, 
466 

Orientation,  Prof.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  on  some  Points 
in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy,  8,  57,  107,  199 

Ormerod  (Miss),  Resignation  of,  451,  528 

Ornithology  :  the  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock,  S.  E.  Peal, 
30;  B.  P.  Cross,  151  ;  Antipathy  (?)  of  Birds  for  Colour,  31  ; 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  German  Ornithological  Society,  39; 
Birds- nesting  in  Western  India,  Lieutenant  H.  E.  Barnes, 
42;  the  Soaring  of  Birds,  S.  E.  Peal,  56;  A.  C.  Baines, 
520 ;  the  Wild  Birds  Protection  Act,  65  ;  Ornithology  of 
Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  Emin  Pasha,  87 ;  Vienna  In- 
ternational Ornithological  Congress,  11 1  ;  the  Second 
Ornithological  Congress,  153  j  the  Insectivorous  Birds 
of  Victoria,  C.  French,  162 ;  Dr.  A.  Koenig's  Ornitho- 
logical Observations  in  Madeira  and  Canary  Islands,  163  ; 
Nests  and  Eggs  of  Catbird,  Australia,  A.  J.  North,  207  ; 
the  Cuckoo,  223  ;  the  Green  Sandpiper,  Duke  of  Argyll, 
F.R.S.,  274  ;  Mr.  Ridewood's  Dissections  in  Entrance  Hall 
of  Natural  History  Museum  to  illustrate  Variations  in  Deep 
Pian'ar  Tendons  of  Bird's  Foot,  303  ;  the  Destruction  of 
Small  Birds  in  France,  390 ;  Additions  to  Bird  Department 
of  the  Natural  History  Museum,  451  ;  a  New  Species  of 
Albatross,  Sir  Walter  Buller,  F.R.S.,  502;  a  Remarkable 
Characteristic  of  the  Wan<^er  ng  Albatross,  Sir  Walter  Buller, 
F.R.S.,  502  ;  the  Habits  of  the  Kingfisher,  J.  W.  Hall,  502  ; 
the  Collection,  &c.,  of  Birds'  Eggs  and  Nests,  C.  Bendire, 
502  ;  the  Bird  Collections  in  the  Oxford  University  Museum, 
Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  518;  Water-birds  that  Live  in 
the  Woods,  G.  B.  Sennett,  529  ;  Sparrows  and  Hawk  in 
New  Zealand,  T.  W.  Kirk,  529;  a  Wild  Duck's  Fore- 
thought, W.  Prentis,  550 

Orrery,  Messrs.  Philip  and  Sons*  New,  501 

Ostrich  in  Nesting  Season,  Pugnacity  of  Male,  James  Andrew, 

452 
Ostwald  (Wilhelm),  Outlines  of  General  Chemistry,  561 

Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus,  Arthur  Dendy,  468  ;  Prof.  A. 

Sedgwick,  F.R.S.,  494 
Oxford :  University  of.   Increased  Accommodation  for  Medical 

and  Science   Schools,    iii;    Agricultural   Education,    183; 

Prof.   Pritchard's   Report  on  the   Observatory,  184 ;  Oxford 

Summer   Meeting  of    University  Extension  Students,    256  ; 

Report  of  Oxford  University  Extension  Delegates,  451  ;  the 

Bini  Collections  in  the  Oxford  University  Museum,  Dr.  P. 

L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  518;    Oxford  University  Museum,  Prof. 

W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S.,  619 
Oxygen  by  Plants  at  Low  Temperatures,  Disengagement  of, 

H.  Jumelle,  216 
Oyster  Disease  and  its  Remedies,  Mr.  Fryer,  233 
Oyster  Fisheries,  Mr.  Fryer,  233 
Oyster,  Mud,  of  New  South  Wales,  437 
Oysters  and  all  about  them,  John  R.    Philpots,  the    Oyster, 

a   Popular   Summary   of  a   Scientific    Study,    Prof.   W.    K. 

Brooks,  490 


Pacific  Postal  Telegraph  Company,  Opening  of  a  New  Tele- 
graph Office  at  San  Francisco,  231 

Packard  (Dr.  Alpheus  S.)j  Fifth  Report  of  the  United  Sutes 
Entomological  Commission,  217 

Paddling,  Effect  on  Development  of  Arms  and  Cbesf,  J.  J. 
Lister,  476 

Paddy  in  Japan,  Manuring  Experiments  with.  Dr.  O.  Kellner, 

353 
Padelletti  (Prof.),  on  the  Insufficiency  of  the  usual  Invest^- 

tion  for    Movement  of   Plane  of  Oscillation  of  Foucanit's 

Pendulum  in  Relation  to  Earth's  Rotation,  326 
Paget  (Charles  E.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 
Pahang,  Straits  Government  Scientific  Expedition  to,  1 12 
Palaeography,   Coptic,    Album    de  Paleographie    Copte    poor 

servir  k  1* Introduction  Paleographique  des  Actes  des  Martyis 

de  r^gypte,  Henri  Hyvemat,  609 
Palaeontology  :  the  Fossil  Insects  of  North  America,  with  Notes 

on   some   European   Species,   by  Samuel    H.    Scudder,    R. 

Lydekker,  i 
Palatability,  Comparative,  E.  B.  Titchener,  540 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  576 
Palmer's  (Dr.)  Botanical  Collections  in  Western  Mexico   and 

Arizona,  528 
Panjab,  Craniometry  of  Outcaste  Tribes  of,  Dr.  R.  H.  Charies, 

576 

Pantellaria,  Earthquakes  at,  599 

Paquelin  (M.),  Incandescence  of  Platinum  Wires  under  Water, 
512 

Parcels  Delivery,  Underground,  A.  R.  Bennett,  510 

Pareiasaurus,  Researches  on  the  Structure  of.  Prof.  H.  G. 
Seeley,  F.R.S.,  93 

Paris:  Academy  of  Sciences,  23,  48,  72,  96,  119,  144,  168, 
192,  216,  240,  263.  287,  311,  335,  360,  392,  416,  440,  464, 
488,  512,  536,  560,  584,  608,  632;  Annual  Report  of  the 
Paris  Observatory,  70 ;  Extraordinary  Telephone  Accident 
at,  113;  Contemplated  Reorganization  of  Paris  Museum  of 
Natural  History.  184,  258  ;  Meteorology  in  Paris,  185  ;  the 
Paris  Telephonic  Service,  326  ;  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer  and  Dr. 
Bateman  elected  Associates  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, 351  ;  Annales  of  the  Central  Meteorolc^ical  Office,  389 

Parka  decipiens^  the  Fossil,  165 

Parker  (Prof.  T.  Jeffery,  F.R.S.),  Lessons  in  Elementary 
Biology,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  290 

Parker  (Prof.  W.  N.),  on  Respiration  in  Tadpoles,  482 

Partsch  (Dr.),  the  Climate  of  Cephalonia,  326 

Pa-coe  (Francis  P.),  the  Darwinian  Theory  of  the  Origin  of 
Species,  247 

Pathology,  Hon.  R.  Russell  on  Influenza,  302 

Payne  (F.  F.),  the  Destruction  of  Fish  by  Frost,  31^ 

Peahody  Museum  of  American  Archaeology  and  Ethnology  in 
1890,  Liberal  Gifts  in  Aid  of,  232 

Peal  (S.  E.)  :  the  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock,  30  ;  the  Soaring 
of  Birds,  56  ;  a  Cause  of  Lunar  Libration,  283 ;  on  the 
Morong  of  the  Natives  of  Asam,  511 

Pearson  (Prof.  Karl),  the  University  of  London,  102 

Peary  (Lieutenant),  Projected  Botanical  Arctic  Expedition, 
231  ;  the  Accident  to  and  Position  of,  475 

Pechard  (E.),  an  Explosive  Compound  resulting  from  Action 
of  Baryta  Water  on  Chromic  Acid  in  Presence  of  Oxygenated 
Water,  264 

Pekelharing  (Heer),  on  a  Substance  analogous  to  Fibrin 
Ferment  contained  in  Magnesium-Sulphate- Plasma  or  Kalinm- 
Oxalate- Plasma,  288 

Pelzeln  (August  von),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  500 

Penfield  (S.  L.),  the  Minerals  in  Hollow  Rhyolite  Spherulites, 
310 

Periodic  Comets,  Physical  Appearance  of,  E.  E.  Barnard,  551 

Periodic  System,  a  Text-book  of  Chemistry  based  on  the, 
William  Ramsay,  F.  R.S.,  50 

Peripatus,  Oviparous  Species  of,  Arthur  Dendy,  468  ;  Prof.  A. 
Sedgwick,  F.R.S.,  494 

Perkin  (Dr.  W.  H.,  F.R.S.):  Refractive  Powers  of  Certain 
Organic  Compounds  at  Different  Temperatures,  287  ;  Society 
of  Arts  Albert  Medal  for  1890  presented  to,  301 

Perley  (Mr.),  on  Old-time  Winters  in  Essex  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, 353 

Perman  (E.  P.)  and  Prof.  W^  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  on  an  Attempt 
to  determine  the  Adiabatic  Relations  of  Ethyl  Oxide,  22 

Perroncito  (Prof.),  Tuberculosis,  397 

Perrotin  (M.),  Partial  Eclipse  of  Sun,  June  6,  1891,  168 

Perry  (Prof.  J.,   F.R.S.):    Blakesley's  Method  of  Measuring 


SiMemtnt  to  Nature^ 


Index 


XXV  a 


Power  in  Transformers,  142 ;  Quadrant  Electrometers,  166 ; 
Illustrations  of  C.G.S.    System    of  Uniis,  with  Tables  of 
Physical  Constants,  Prof.  Everett,  F.R.S.,  489 
Pcrsulphates,  M.  Berihelot,  240 ;  Dr.  Marshall,  577 
Petermann's  Mitieilungen,  630 
Petrie  (Flinders),  Exploration  in  Egypt,  630 
Petrie  and  Siaiie's  (Messrs.)  New  Electrical  Light,  327 
PelrofT  (Ivan),  the  Nunivak  Islanders,  477 
Petroleum,  on  the  Origin  of,  W.  Topley,  F.R.S.,  479 
Petroleum  Engines,  Prof.  W.  Robinson  on,  509 
Petrology,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of,  Dr.  Frederick  H. 

Hatch,  25 
Pharmacology,  Supplement  to  Dr.  Lauder  Brunton's  Text-book 

of,  41 
Phenomenon,  a  Rare,   Arthur  Marshall,  519;    W.  Tuck  well, 
519;  F.  C.  Levander,  519;  Herbert  Rix,  541  ;  Dr.  J.  L.  E, 
Dreyer,  541 
Phenomenon,  Unusual  Frost,  A.  II.  While,  519 
Philadelphia,  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of,  353 
PhDip  and  Son's,  New  Orrery,  501 
Philipson  (Dr.),  Mountain-climbing  in  Greece,  599 
Philology  :  the  Position  of  the  French  Accent,  Dr.  Pringsheim, 
67;    Vocabularies  from  the   Musquito    Coast,    Dr.    D.    G. 
Brinton,  600 
Philpots  (John  R.),  Oysters  and  all  about  ihem,  490 
Phonometer,  a  New  Form  of  Chronograph,  W.  F.  Stanley,  239 
Phosphorus :  Chlorofluoride  of,  A.    E.   Tutton,   333  ;  the  Ex- 
pansion of,  A.  Leduc,  360 
Photo-Stellar  Spectra,    Rev.   Dr.   T.    E.    Espin,     133  ;    Prof. 

Edward  C.  Pickering,  223 
Photochronography,  Insect  Flight  studied  by,  M.  Marey,  264 
Photography :  Evening  "Work  for  Amateur  Photographers,  T. 
C.  Hepworth,  52  ;  Photography  as  an  Auxiliary  to  Printing, 
L^on  Vidal,   136;  Photographic  Journal,   136;  Photography 
in  Colours,   Alphonse   Berget,  Prof.    R.   Meldola,    F.R.S., 
194;   Photographic  Society   of  Great   Britain,   Annual  Ex- 
hibition of,   231  ;  some  Applications  of  Photography,   Lord 
Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  249;  Proposed  Union  of  United  Kingdom 
Photographic  Societies,  258 ;    Proposed  British  Museum  of 
Photographic  Portraits,  324 ;  Photographs  of  Rapid   Move- 
ments, Anschiitz's,  352  ;  Photography  of  Solar  Prominences, 
M.  Deslandres,  438  ;  Photographic  Magnitudes  of  Stars,  Dr. 
Schdner,  526  ;  Photographic  Definition,  A.  Mallock,  552 
Photometer,  the  Meridian,  115 
Photophone,  the  Origin  of  the  New  Electric,  325 
Phthisis:  Dr.  Arthur  Ransome  on  the  Prevention  of  Consump- 
tion, 369 ;    Prof.   Finkelnbutg  on  the  Influence  of  Soil  on, 
370 
Phymosoma  weidoni,  21 

Physics  :  Special  Meeting  of  the  Physical  Society  at  Cambridge, 
'7i93;  Physical  Society  of  London,  Proceedings  of,  €^  ; 
Physical  Society,  142,  237,  261  ;  the  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a 
Whirling  Ring,  Chas.  A.  Carus- Wilson.  31  ;  C.  Chree,  82; 
Gottingen  Society  of  Sciences,  Prize  in  Physics,  66  ;  Prof.  J. 
J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.,  on  Vacuum  Tubes,  93,  94;  W.  C.  D. 
Whctham  on  the  Velocity  of  the  Ions,  94  ;  R.  T.  Glazebrook, 
F.R.S.,  on  the  Resistance  of  some  Mercury  Standards,  94  ; 
S.  Skinner  on  an  Apparatus  for  Measuring  the  Compressibility 
of  Liquids,  94  ;  W.  N.  Shaw  on  some  Measurements  with 
the  Pneumatic  Bridge,  94 ;  Experimental,  Vapour-tension  of 
Saturated  Water  Vapour  at  Critical  Point,  MM.  Cailletet 
and  Colardeau,  1 19 ;  Signor  Batelli's  Experiments  on 
Water-evaporation  in  Sun  and  in  Shade,  136 ;  Instru- 
ment for  Examining  Strains  in  Bent  Glass  Beams,  Prof. 
Cams- Wilson,  187  ;  Combustion  of  Gas  Jets  under  Pressure, 
R.  W.  WTood,  189 ;  Characteristic  Property  of  Common 
Surface  of  Two  Liquids  under  Mutual  Affinity,  II L,  G.  Van 
der  Mensbrugghe,  240 ;  Influence  of  Surface-loading  on 
Flexure  of  Beams,  Prcf.  C.  A.  Carus- Wilson,  261  ;  Optical 
Proof  of  Existence  of  Suspended  Matter  in  Flame,  Prof. 
Stokes,  263  ;  the  Measurement  of  Hardness  in  Transparent 
Bodies,  Prof.  Auerbach,  282  ;  the  Expansion  and  Compressi- 
bility of  Atmospheric  Air,  A.  W.  Witkowski,  312;  the 
Swelling  of  Plates  of  Gelatine  in  various  Solutions,  Herr 
Hofmeister,  326  ;  Incandescence  of  Platinum  Wires  under 
Water,  M.  Paquelin,  512  ;  Pressure  which  can  be  produced 
hy  Electrolytic  Generation  of  Gas,  M.  Chabry.  577  ;  Physical 
nd  Technical  Institution  at  Berlin,  154;  Physical  Observa- 
tory Established  at  Smithsonian  Institution,  161  ;  Physical 
Science  for  Arti-ts,  Prof.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.  R.S.,  175, 
227;  Physical  Religion,   F.   Max  Muller,   219;  B.    Woodd 


Smith,  249 ;  Name  for  Resonance,  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodger 
F.R.S.,  248;  Physicist  on  Colour- vision,  Capt.  Abney,  F.R.S., 
313  ;  Sir  William  Thomson,  P.R.S.,  on  some  Test  Cases  fo 
the  Maxwell-Holtzmann  Doctnne  regarding  the  Distribntion 
of  Energy,  355 ;  Opening  Address  in  Section  A  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  by  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 
F.  R.  S. ,  382 ;  Physics  at  the  British  Association,  453  ; 
W.  E.  Wilson  on  the  Absorption  of  Heat  in  the  Solar  At- 
mosphere, 453 ;  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  on  whether 
the  Ether  behaves  as  a  Viscous  Fluid,  454 ;  Prof.  D.  E.  Jones 
on  Electric  Waves  in  Wires,  454;  Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney, 
F.R.S.,  on  Double  Lines  in  the  Spectra  of  Gases,  454  ;  Prof. 
Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  on  Light  in  Modifying  the  Effect  of 
the  Gravitational  Attraction  of  the  Sun,  454 ;  Units  and  their 
Nomenclature,  454;  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S.,  on  the 
Measurement  of  Lenses  and  on  a  New  Polarizer,  455  ;  F.  T. 
Trouton  on  the  Propagation  of  Magnetization  in  Iron,  455  ; 
on  the  Functions  and  Nature  of  the  Ether  of  Space,  Prof.  F. 
E.  Nipher,  471  ;  Illustrations  of  C  G.S.  System  of  Units, 
with  Tables  of  Physical  Constants,  Prof.  Everett,  F.  R.  S.,  Prof. 
John  Perry,  F.R.S.,  489;  some  Points  in  the  Physics  of 
Golf,  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait,  497  ;  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  on  Van 
der  Waals's  Treatment  of  Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial 
Equa'  ion,  499,  597  ;  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait,  546,  627 ;  the  Society 
of  Friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmic  Physics,  507  ;  Das 
Total reflectometer  und  das  Refractometer  fiir  Chemiker,  Dr. 
C.  Pulfrich,  538  ;  Physical  Appearance  of  Periodic  Comets, 
E.  E.  Barnard,  551  ;  Physical  Chemistry,  Wilhelm  0.>twald, 
561  ;  W  =  M^,  W.  Larden,  493,  614 

Pnysiography  :  Notes  on  Elementary,  Horace  C.  Martin,  589  ; 
Guide  to  Examinations  in  Physiography,  and  Answers  to 
Questions,  W.  Jerome  Harrison,  613 

Physiology :  General  Physiology,  by  Camilo  Calleja,  M.D.,  28  ; 
Physiological  Selection  and  the  Different  Meanings  given  to 
the  Term  Infertility,  Rev.  John  T.  Gulick,  29 ;  Five  Years' 
Pulse  Curves,  F.  H.  Perry  Costc,  35  ;  Note  on  the  Physio- 
logical Action  of  Carbon- Monoxide  of  Nickel,  Dr.  John  G. 
McKendrick,  F.R.S.,  and  W.  Snodgrass,  70;  Laboratory 
Reports  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  Edinburgh, 
Vol.  III.,  J.  George  Adami,  73  ;  Organic  Bases  in  Juice  of 
Flesh,  G.  S.  Johnson,  117;  Endowment  by  Mr.  George 
Holt  of  the  Chair  of  Physiology  at  University  College,  135  ; 
Muscular  Strength  Diminished  by  Alcohol,  MM.  (Jrehant 
and  Quinquaud,  135 ;  the  Development  of  the  Liver  of 
Nudibranchiates,  H.  Fischer,  144  ;  Physiological  Psychology, 
Dr.  Th.  Ziehen,  145  ;  Displacements  of  Heart  and  Cardio- 
gram, Dr.  T.  B.  Hay  craft,  167 ;  Morphological  Nature  of 
Principle  of  Fecundation,  Leon  Guignard,  168 ;  Results  of 
Hemisection  of  the  Spinal  Cord  in  Monkeys,  F.  W.  Mott, 
189  ;  the  Later  Larval  Development  of  Amphioxus,  Arthur 
Willey,  202;  Mr.  Francis  Gotch  appointed  Professor  of 
Physiology  at  University  College,  Liveri>ool,  257  ;  Vegetable 
and  Animal  Cells,  Dr.  J.  M.  Macfarlane,  263 ;  the  Growth  of 
the  Face,  Prof.  G.  M.  West,  325  ;  a  Case  of  Periodical  Skhi- 
Shedding,  Dr,  J.  Frank,  477  ;  Harvey's  Discovery,  Dr. 
Dickinson,  597 

Physiqtu^  137 

Picart  (L.),  Brooks's  Comet,  1890  II.,  168 

Pickering  (Prof.  E.  C.) :  the  Spectra  of  Double  Stars,  138; 
Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra,  305,  438  ;  the  Draper  Cata- 
logue,  223  ;  Spectrum  of  iS  Lyrae,  355 

Pickering  (S.  U.) :  Nature  of  Solutions  as  Elucidated  by  Study 
of  Densities,  &c.,  of  Solutions  of  Calcium  Chloride,  215  ; 
Note  on  a  Recent  Criticism  by  Mr.  Lupton  of  Conclusions 
drawn  from  Study  of  Sulphuric  Acid  Solutions,  215 

Pidgeon  (W.  R.),  Rain-making,  565 

Pigeon  (Leon),  Two  New  Crystallme  Compounds  of  Platinic 
Chloride  with  Hydrochloric  Acid,  120 

Pihl  (O.  A.  L.),  the  Stellar  Cluster  x  Persei,  259 

Pilchard,  on  the  Reproduction  of  the,  J.  T.  Cunningham,  481 

Pilot  Chart  of  North  Atlantic,  281,  501,  575 

Pines  and  Firs  of  Japan,  Dr.    Maxwell  T.   Masters,   F.R.S.,. 

339 
Pink  Marine  Micro-organism,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  565 
Pirsson  (Louis  V.),  Gmelinite  from  Nova  Scotia,  310 
Pistor  (l^r.),  Ueber  die  Desinfection,  487 
Plane  Trigonomeiry  for  the  Use  of  Colleges  and  Schools,  I. 

Todhunter,  F.R.S.,  342 
Plants,  Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  on  the  Artificial  Produdioii 

of  Rhythm  in  Plants,  484 
Plants,  Growth-Curvature  in,  Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  407 


xxvni 


Index 


TSufPUmtnt  to  Sature^ 
[_     Xfft'ember26f  1B91 


Plants,  Sleep  Movements  in,  A.  G.  Tansley,  493 
Plants,  Water  taken  up  by.  Phenomena  associated  with  Ab- 
sorption and  Flow  of,  Walter  Gardiner,  F.R.S.,  188 
Plalinam,  Crystals  of,  J.  Joly,  124 
Platinum,  Volatile  Carbonyl  Compounds  of,    Drs.   Pullinger, 

Mylius,  and  Foerster,  530 
Playing  Cards,  Japanese,  Mrs.  Van  Rensselaer,  162 
Pneumatic  Bridge,  on  some  Measurements  with  the,   W.  N. 

Shaw,  94 
Pocock(R.  I.),  the  Scorpions  at  the  Zoo,  198 
Pogson  (Norman  R.):   Death   of,   205;    Observations  at   the 

Madras  Observatory,  388 ;  Memorial  to,  436 
Poincare    (Prof.),   on    Maxwell's    Electro-magnetic    Theories, 

Prof.  A.  Gray,  296 
Poison,    Antagonistic   Action  of  Strychnine  and   Snake,   Dr. 

Mueller,  162 
Pola  and  Trieste    Harbours,  the    Mareograph  in.  Lieutenant 

Gratzl,  600 
Polak  (Dr.  Eduard),  Death  of,  629 
Polarization   Theory   of   the   Solar  Corona,    Prof.   Frank   H. 

Rigelow,  355 
Polarizer,  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S.,  on  a  New,  455 
Polden  Hills,  Geological  Formations   Exposed  in  Bridgwater 

Railway  Cuttings  through,  J.  T.  M.  Clarke,  530 
Pole  (Dr.  William,  F.R.S.),  a  New  Keyed  Musical  Instrument 

for  Just  Intonation,  446 
Political  Economy,  Dictionary  of,  564 
Polyzoa,   Nature  of    Excretory   Processes   in    Marine,    S.    F. 

Harmer,  143 
Pomel  (M.),  the  Eocene  Formations  of  Algeria,  264 
Poore  (Dr.  G.  V.)  and  Vivisection,  135 
Population  and  Disease,  Studies  in  Statistics  George  Blundell 

Longstaff,  4 
Porpoises:   in  the  Victoria  Nyanza,  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S., 

124;    V.    Ball.    F.R.S,    198;     in   African   Rivere,    Willy 

Kiikcnthal,  175  ;  in  African  Lakes,  V.  Ball,  F.R.S.,  198 
Poiiiivc  Science  and  the  Sphinx,  315 
Potatoes,  the  Conservation  of,  390 
Potter  (Sf.  C),  Diseases  of  Cocoa-nut  Leaf,  167 
Pottery,  Nicobar,  E.  H.  Man  on,  512 
Poulenc  (C),  a  New  Gaseous  Compound,  Phosphorus  Penta- 

fluochloride,  288 
Powell  (Major  J.  W.) :  Map- Colouring  and  Cartography,  506  ; 

on  Indian  Languages,  511 
Power,  Electric  Transmission  of,  J.  J.  Murphy,  590 
Poynling  (J.  H.,  F.R.S.),  on  a  Determination  of  Mean  Density 

of  Earth  and  Gravitation  Constant  by  Means  of  Common 

Balance,  165 
Prain  (Dr.  D.) :  New  Indian  Labiatze,  258  ;  and  the  Investigator 

Cruise,  549 
Prausnitz  on  the  Existence  of  the  Bacilli  of  Tuberculosis  in 

Railway  Carriages,  390 
Preece  (W.  H.,  F.R.S.),  on  the  London  and  Paris  Telephone, 

510 

Prehistoric  Monuments  in  France,  the  Protection  of,  232 
Prentis  (W.),  a  Wild  Duck's  Forethought,  550 
Preston  (Rev.  T.  A.),  Naural  History  in  Public  Schools,  137 
Preventive  Medici,  e,  the  British  Institute  of,  86,  97,  iii,  124, 

135.  184 
Pricm  (F.).  the  Evolution  of  Animals,  R.  Lydekker,  243 
Priestley  (Dr.  W.  O.),  on  the  Improved  Hygienic  Condition  of 

Maternity  Hospitals,  485 
Primitive  Man  and  Stone  Hammers,  J.  D.  McGuire,  630 
Pringsheim  (Dr.),  on  the  Position  of  the  French  Accent,  67 
Printing,  Photography  as  an  Auxiliary  to,  Leon  Vidal,  136 
Prior  (Dr.  R.  A.),  the  Spiked  Star  of  Belh[t\itm{OrnithogaIum 

pyrenaicum)^  215 
Prism,  Refraction  through  a,  Rev.  John  H.  Kirkby,  294 
Prisms,  Liquid,  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.,  273 
Pritchard's  (Prof.)  Revolt  on  Oxford    University  Observatory, 

184 

Proceedings  of  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia, 

548 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada,  477 
Probaska(Prof.),  Study  of  Remarkable  Scries  of  Hailstorms  at 

Graz,  233 
Protective  Device  of  an  Annelid,  Arnold  T.  Wal&on,  507 
Protoplasmic  Rejuvenescence,  Prof.  Marcus  Hartog,  483 
Prudhomme  (M.),  Cotton- Bleaching    by    Oxygenated    Water 

with  Calcined  Magnesia,  192 
T*russia,  Damage  to  State  Buildings  by  Lightning,  1877-86,  501 


Psychology,  Physiological,  Dr.  Th.  Ziehen,  145 

Psychrometer,  the  Aspiration,  and  its   Use  in  Balloons,  Dr.  R. 

Assmann,  512 
Pujazon  (Captain  Cecllio),  Death  of,  17 
Pulfrich  (Dr.  C),  Das  Totalreflcctomeier  und  das  Refractometcr 

fiir  Chemiker,  538 
Pullinger  (W.)  :  Volatile  Platinum  Compounds,  215  ;  VolatUe 

Carbonyl  Compounds  of  Platinum,  530 
Puhe  Curves,  Five  Years,  F.  H.  Perry  Costc,  35 
Purdic  (T.),  the  Addition  of  Alcohol  Elements  to  Ethereal  Salts 

of  Unsaturated  Acids,  1 18 
Pycnogonids,  or  Sea-Spiders,  49 
Pyrenees,  the  Flowers  of  the,  and  their  Fertilization  by  Insects, 

Prof.  J.  Macleod,  211 
Pyrometer,  Prof.  Roberts- Austen,   F.R.S.,  on  his  Self- Acting, 

456 

Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science,  21 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Royal  Meteorological  Society,  599 
Quaternions  and  the  Ausdehnungslehre  :  Prof.  J.  Willard  Gibbs, 

79  ;  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait,  105 
Quincke  (F.):  a  Volatile    Compound   of  Iron   and   Carbonic 

Oxide,  234  ;  Iron -Carbonyl,  304 
Quinquaud  (M.),   Muscjlar  Strength  Diminished  by  Alcohol, 

13s 

Races  and  Peoples,  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  1 24 

Radiant  Heat,  Measurements  of  Lunar,  577 

Radiant  Sunlight,  Conneciion  between  Terrestrial  Magnetism 

and,  Prof.  F.  H.  Bigelow,  453 
Rae  (W.  Eraser),  the  Business  of  Travel,  247 
Railroad-Ties,  Chemical  Methods  of  Protecting  against  Decay, 

O.  Chanute,  476 
Railway- Train  Lighting,  William  Langdon,  41 
Rain- Gauges :  Thomas  Fletcher,  37c  ;  G.   J.  Symons,  F.R.S., 

398 
Rain-Making  :  in  Texas,  436,   473  ;  Prof.  Oorge   E.    Curtis, 

594;  in  Florida  in    the  Fifties,  521  ;  W.    R.  Pidgeon,  565; 

Dr.  Italo  Giglioli,  590  ;  Experiments,  614 

Rainbow,  a  Lunar,  Dr.  P.  Q.  Keegan,  591 

Rainfall  in  Australia  (1890),  Extraordinary,  Charles  Todd,  501 

Rainfall,  our  Position  with  Regard  to,  630 

Rake  (Dr.),  Leprosy  Bacillus  cultivated  in  Serum  by,  161 

Ramsay  (Prof  W.,  F.R.S.)  :  and  E.  P.  Perman,  on  an  Attempt 
to  determine  the  Adiabaiic  Relations  of  Ethyl  Oxide,  22 ; 
a  System  of  Inorganic  Chemistry,  50 ;  the  University  of 
London,  78  ;  Liquids  and  Gases,  274 

Rankin  (A.),  the  Winds  of  Ben  Nevis,  191 

Ransome  (Dr.  Arthur),  on  the  Prevention  of  Consumption,  369 

Rapakiwi,  the,  J.  J.  Sederholm,  548 

Rare  Phenomenon,  a,  Dr.  Ralph  Copeland,  494  ;  Arthur  Mar- 
shall, 519;  W.  Tuckwell,  519;  F.  C.  Levander,  519;  Her- 
bert Rix,  54 1 ;  Dr.  J.  L.  E.  Dreyer,  541  ;  W.  Duppa- Crotch, 
614  ;  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.,  614 

Raspail  on  the  Destruction  of  Small  Birds  in  France,  390 

Rat  and  Mouse,  the  Development  of  the.  Dr.  Arthur  Robinson, 

483 
Rats  at  Aden,  Voracity  of,  Captain  R.  Light,  600 

Ravenstein  (E.  G.),  the  Field  of  Geography,  423 

Rayet  (G.),  Brooks's  Comet,  1890  II.,  168 

Rayleigh  (Lord,  F.R.S.):  the  Faraday  Centenary,  178;  some 
Applications  of  Photography,  249  ;  Van  der  Waals's  Treat- 
ment of  Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equation,  499,  597 

Reale  Accademia  dei  Lincei,  Annual  Meeting  of,  324 

Reasoning,  A  priori^  Prof.  George  Henslow,  55 

Reclus  (Elisce),  20,000  Franc  Prize  of  French  Academy  voted 
to,  161 

Rectorite,  a  New  Mineral  of  the  Kaolinite  Group,  R.  N. 
Brackett  and  J.  F.  Williams,  310 

Reed  (Sir  Edward),  on  the  proposed  Channel  Tubular  Railway, 
509 

Refraction  through  a  Prism,  Rev.  John  H.  Kirkby,  294 

Refrigerator,  an  Automatic,  390 

Regel  (He.r),  Influence  of  External  Factors  on  Smell  of  Plants, 
232 

Reid  (Clement),  the  Origin  of  the  Flora  of  Greenland,  299 

Reimann  (Prof.),  Apparent  Flattening  of  the  Vault  of  the 
Heavens,  67 

Kein  (Prof.),  Acclimatization  of  Japanese  Lacquer  tree  at  Frank- 
fort, 500 


Su^Utneni  to  Nature ^~\ 
November  ^^,  1891     J 


Index 


XXIX 


Religion,    Physical,  Prof.    F.    Max   Miiiler,  219;    B.   Woodd 

Smith,  249 
Rensselaer  (Mrs.  Van),  Japanese  Playing-cards,  162 
Reptilia,  Fossil,  Researches  on  the  Structure  of  Pareiasaurus, 

Prof.  H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.,  93 
Research,  Endowment  of,  in  France,  MM.  Cahours  and  Janssen, 

17 

Resonance,  Name  for,  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  248 

Retina,  Oscillations  of  the,  A.  Charpentier,  311 

Retinxte,  the  So-called  Amber  of  Cedar  Lake,  B.  J.  Harrington, 

584 
Reuss  (Dr.  von),  Hygienic  Advantages  of  Erect  as  compared 

with  Slanting  Writing-,  325 

Reviews  and  Our  Book  Shelf  : — 

Fossil  Insects  of  North  America,  with  Notes  on  some  Euro- 
pean Species,  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  R.  Lydekker,  i 
Studies  in  Statistics  Geo.  Blundell  Longstaff,  4 
The  Best  Books,  a  Contribution  towards  Systematic  Biblio- . 

graphy,  W.  Swan  Sonnenschein,  5 
Fairyland  Talcs  of  Science,  Rev.  J.  G.  McPherson,  5 
Aids  in  Practical  Geology,  Grcnville  A.  J.  Cole,  Prof.  A.  H. 

Green,  F.R.S.,  2$ 
An    Introduction  to   the  Study   of  Petrology,   the   Igneous 
Rocks,  Frederick  H.   Hatch,  Prof.  A.  H.  Green,  F.R.S., 

Les  Virus,  Dr.  S.  Arloing,  27 

Anleitung  zur  Bearbeitung  meteorologischer  Beobachtungen 

fiir  die  Klimatologie,  Dr.  Hugo  Meyer,  27 
Intensity  Coils,  how  Made  and  how  Used,  "  Dyer,"  28 
General  Physiology,  Camilo  Calleja,  28 
Den  Norske  Nordhavs- Expedition,  1876-78,  49 
Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratory,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, Baltimore,  a  Con'ribution  to  tite  Embryology  and 
Phylogeny  of  the  Pycnogonids,  T.  H.  Moigan,  49 
System  of  Inorganic  Chemistry,  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  50 
Eighteen  Years  of  University  Extension,  R.  D.  Roberts,  52 
Evening  Work  for  Amateur  Photographers,  T.  C.  Hep  worth, 

Der  Wald  in  den  Vereinigten  Staaten  von  Nord  America,  60 
Laboratory  Reports  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of 

Edinburgh,  J.  George  Adami,  73 
Examen  Quimico  y  Bacteriologico  de  las  Aques  Potables,  A. 

E.  Salazar  y  C.  Newman,  74 
Botany,  a   Concise   Manual  for   Students   of  Medicine  and 

Science,  Alex.  Johnstone,  75 
Hand-hook  of  the  Ferns  of  KafTraria,  T.  R.  Sim,  J.  G.  Baker, 

F.R.S.,  75 
Rider  Papers  on  Euclid,  Rupert  Deakin,  76 
Die  Kryst  all  analyse  oder  die  Chemische  Analyse  durch  Beo- 

bachtung  der  Krystallbildung  mit  Hiilfe  des   Mikroskops 

mit  theilwtiser  Benutzung  seines  Buches  liber  Molekuiar- 

physik,  76 
Grundziige  der  Geologie  und  physikaltschen  Geographic  von 

Nord-Syricn,  Dr.  Max  Blanckenhorn,  Prof.  Edward  Hull, 

F.R.S.,  99 
Plantae  Europese,  K.  Richter,  J.  G.  Baker,  F.R.S.,  100 
Missouri  Botanical  Garden,  loi 
Geologie,  H.  Hermite,  102 
Webster's  International  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language, 

102 
Elementary  Chemistry  for  Beginners-,  W.  Jerome  Harrison, 

102 
Examination  of  Water  for  Sanitary  and  Technical  Purposes, 

H.  Leflfmann,  102 
Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Mammals  Living  and  Extinct, 

\V.   H.   Flower   and    Richard   Lydekker,  Prof.    E.    Ray 

Lank  ester,  F.R.S.,  121 
Forty  Years  in  a  Moorland  Parish,  Rev.  J.  C.  Atkinson,  122 
Anatomy,  Physiology,  Morphology,  and  Development  of  the 

Blow-fly  (Calliphora  trythrocrphala)^  B.  Thompson  Lowne, 

123 
Races  and  Peoples,  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Ethnography, 

D.  G.  Brinlon,  124 
Leitfaden  der  Physiologischen  Psychologic,  Dr.  Th.  Ziehen, 

145 
Achievements  in  Engineering,  L.  F.  Vernon -Harcourt,  147 

Geologists'  Association,  a  Record  of  Excursions  made  between 

i860  and  1890,  149 
Across   East    African   Glaciers,    an   Account   of   the    First 

Ascent  of  Kilimanjaro,  Dr.  Hans  Meyer,  149 


Chemisiiy  in  S^.ace,  150 

Differential  and  Integral  Calculus,  with  Applications,  Alfred 

George  Greenhill,  F.R.S.,  170 
Geology  of  the  Country  around  Liverpool,  G.   H.   Morton, 

Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  172 
Les  Microbes,   les  Ferments,  et  ses  Moisis-ures,  Dr.  E.  L. 

Trouessart,  173 
Botanical  Wall  Diagrams,  173 
Chambers's  Fncyclopadia,  175 
Glimpses  of  Nature,  Andrew  Wilson,  174 
Elements  of   Crystallography  for    Students    of   Chemistry, 

Physics,  and  Mineralogy,   George  Huntingdon  Williams, 

Prof.  J.  W.  Judd,  F.R.S.,  193 
Photographic  des  Couleurs  par  la  Methode  Interferentielle  de 

M.  Lippmann,  Alphonse  Berget,  Profl  R.  Meldola,  F.RS., 

194 
Geometry  of  Poilion,  R.  H.  Graham,  Alex.  Larmor,  195 
Species  of  Epilohium  occurring  North  of  Mexico,  Dr.  Tre- 

lease,  196 
Guide- Book  to  Books,  196 

Tasmanian  Official  Record,  189 1,  R.  M.  Johnston,  196 
De  Pyreneeenbloemen  en  hare  bevruchting  door   Insecten, 

Prof.  J.  MacLeod,  211 
Fifth  Report  of  the  United  States  Entomological  Commission 

on  Insects  Injurious  to  Forest  and  Shade  Trees,   Alpheus 

S.  Packard   217 
Physical  Religion,  F.  Max  Muller,  219 
Das  Karwendelgebirge,  A.  Roihpletz,  221 
Graphical  Statics,  Luigi  Cremona,  221 
History  of  Commerce  in  Europe,  H.  de  B.  Gibbins,  222 
L'Evolution   des  Formes  Animales   avant    I'Apparition  de 

I'Homme,  F.  Priem,  R.  Lydekker,  243 
Le9ons  sur  les   Metaux,  Prof.  Alfred  Ditle,    Prof.    W.   C. 

Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S.,'245 
Trait^  Pratique  deChemieMetallurgique,  Baron  Hansjiiptner 

von  Jonstorff,  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S.,  245 
Bacteria  and  their  Products,  Sims  Woodhead,  246 
Our  Country's  Flowers,  W.  J.  Gordon,  247 
A  Summary  of  the  Darwinian  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Species, 

Francis  P.  Pascoe,  247 
Business  of  Travel,  a  Fifty  Years'  Record  of  Progress,  W. 

Eraser  Rae,  247 
Manual  of  Forestry,  W.   Schlich,   Sir  D.   Brandis,  F.R.S., 

265 
Dictionary  of  Applied  Chemistry,  Sir  H.  E.  Roscoe,  F.R.S., 

268 
Faune  des  Vertebr^  de  la  Suisse,  Victor  Fatio,  Dr.  Albert 

Gunther,  F.R.S.,  269 
History  of  Human  Marriage,  Edward  Wcstermarck,  Prof.  W. 

Robertson  Smith,  270 
Geological    Map   of   Monte   Somma  and   Vesuvius,    H.    J. 

Johnston- La  vis,  271 
Les  Sciences  Naturelles  et  I'Education,  T.  H.  Huxley,  272 
History  of  Chemistry  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present 

Day,    Ernst  von   Meyer,   Prof.   T.    E.    Thorpe,    F.R.S., 

289 
Lessons  in  Elementary   Biology,  T.  Jeffery  Parker,  Prof.  E. 

Ray  Lankcster,  F.R.S.,  290 
Croonian  Lectures  on  Cerebral  Localization,  David  Ferrier, 

292 

Education  and  Heredity,  J.  M.  Guyau,  292 

The  Soul  of  Man,  an  Investigation  of  the  Facts  of  Physio- 
logical and  Experimental  Psychology,  Dr.  Paul  Cams,  293 

6lectriche  et  Optique,  H.  Poincare,  Prof.  A.  Gray,  296 

Colour- Measurement  and  Mixture,  Captain  Abney,  313 

Riddles  of  ihe  Sphinx,  a  Study  in  the  Philosophy  of  Evolu 
tion,  by  a  Troglodyte,  315 

Proceedings    of   the    Association    of    Official    Agricultural 
Chemists,  1890,  317 

Hand-book   of  the   London   Geological   Field   Class,  Prof. 
H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.,  317 

Kalalog  der  Bibliothek  der  Deutschen  Secwarle  zu  Hamburg, 

318 
Scientific  Results  of  the  Second  Yarkand  Mission,  based  upfn 

the  Collections  and  Notes  of  the  late  Ferdinand  Stoliczka, 

Popular  Astronomy,  Sir  George  B.  Airy,  319 

Charles   Darwin,   His  Life  and    Work,    Charics    Frederick 

Holder,  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  337 
Monographic  der  Abietineen  des  Japanischen  Reiches,  Dr 

Mayr,  Dr.  Maxwell  T.  Masters,  F.R.S.,  339 


XXX 


Index 


[ 


Sn/flentent  i9  Natmrr, 
NdvemberiSt  TS91 


Solutions  of  Examples  in  Elementary  Hydrostatics,  W.  H. 

Besant,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhill,  F.R.S.,  341 
Plane  Trigonometry  for  the  Use  of  Colleges  and   Schools, 

I.  Todhuuter,  F.R.S.,  342 
Lessons  in  Astronomy,  C.  A.  Young,  342 
Cosmical   Evolution,    a  New  Theory  of  the  Mechanism  of 

Nature,  Evan  McLennan,  342 
The  Telescope,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Heavens, 

J.  W.  Williams,  342 
Science  or  Romance,  Rev.  John  Gerard,  Prof.  R.   Meldola, 

F.R.S.,  441 
Laws  of  Force  and  Motion,  John  Harris,  443 
An  Introduction  to  the  Mathematical  Theory  of  Electricity 

and  Magnetism,  \V.  T.  A.  Emtage,  443 
Le  Sommeil  et  le  Systeme  Nerveux,  Physiologic  de  la  Veille 

et  du  Sommeil,  S.  Sergueyeff,  444 
Elementary  Science  Lessons,  W.  Hewitt,  444 
Solutions  of  the  Examples  in  Charles  Smith's   Elementary 

Algebra,  A.  G.  Cracknell,  444 
Die  Organisation  der  Turbellaria  Accela,  -Dr.   Ludwig  von 

Graff,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  465 
Practical  Work  in  Organic  Chemistry,  Fredk.  Wm.  Streat- 

feild,  466 
Telescopic  Work  for  Starlight  Evenings,  W.  F.   Denning, 

467 
Abbildungen  zur  Deutschen  Flora  H.   Karsten's,  nebst  den 
auslandischen  medicioischen  Pflanzen  nnd  Erg'anzungen  fUr 
das  Studium  der  Morphologic  und  Systemkunde,  467 
Elementary  Text- book  of  Botany  for  the  Use  of  Schools, 

Edith  Aitkin,  467 
Illustrations  of  the  C.G.S.  System  of  Units,  with  Tables  of 
Physical   Constants,    Prof.    Everett,    F.R.S.,    Prof.   John 
Perry,  F.R.S.,  489 
Oysters,  and  all  about  Them,  J.  R.  Philpots,  490 
The  Oyster,  a  Popular  Summary  of  a  Scientific  Study,  Prof. 

W.  K.  Brooks,  490 
Dragon-flies  versus  Mosquitoes,  491 
Materials  for  a  Flora  of  the  Malayan  Peninsula,  George  King, 

F.R.S.,  492 
Crozet's   Voyage  to  Tasmania,  New  Zealand,  the   Ladrone 

Islands,  and  ihe  Philippines  in  the  Years  1771-72,  492 
Livingstone  and  the  Exploration  of  Central  Africa,  H.  H. 

Johnston,  492 
Manuel  Pratique  d' Analyse  Bacteriologique  des  Eaux,  Dr. 

Miquel,  Prof.  Percy  F.  Frankland,  F.R.S.,  513 
Epidemic  Influenza,    Notes  on  its  Origin  and   Method   of 

Spread,  R.  Sisley,  R.  Russell,  514 
Allgemeine  chemische  Mineralogie,  Dr.  C.  Doelter,  516 
Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania,  Louisa  A.  Meredith,  517 
Elementary  Geometry  of  Conies,  with  a  Chapter  on  the  Line 

Infinity,  C.  Taylor,  517 
Les  Engrais  Chimiques,  Georges  Ville,  517 
The  Ice  Age  in  North   America,  and  its  Bearings  upon  the 
Antiquity  of  Man,  G.  Fredk.  Wright,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney, 
F.R.S.,  537 
Das  Total  re  fleet  ometer  und  das  Refractometer  fiir  Chemiker, 

Dr.  C.  Pulfrich,  538 
Consideraciones  temperiei  pro  7  annis  per  Magistrem  Wil- 
helmum  Merle,  socium  domus  de  Merton,  G.  J.  Symons, 
F.R.S.,  538 
South  Italian  Volcanoes,  Dr.  Johnston- Lavis,  539 
Buried  Cities  and  Hible  Countries,  George  St.  Clair,  540 
Food  Physiology,  William  Durham,  540 
Blackie*s  Science  Readers,  540 

Outlines  of  General  Chemistry,  Wilhelm  Ostwald,  561 
Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Fish  Commission,  562 
Index   Catalogue  of  the   Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's 

Office,  U.S.  Army,  Dr.  A.  T.  Myers,  563 
Dictionary  of  Political  Economy,  564 
South  Africa,  from  Arab  Domination  to  British  Rule,  564 
Electric  Light  Fitting,  John  W.  Urquhart,  586 
County  CounciU  and  Technical  Education,  J.  C.  Buckmaster, 

588 
Missouri   Botanical  Garden,    Second  Annual   Report,    W. 

Trelease,  588 
The  Story  of  the  Heavens,  Sir  Robert  Stawell  Ball,  589 
Notes  on  Elementary  Physiography,  Horace  C.  Martin,  589 
Thomas  Sop  with,  F.  U.S.,  with   Excerpts  from  his  Diary  of 

Fifty-seven  \Vars,  B.  Ward  Richardson,  F.R.S.,  $90 
Album  de  Paleoj^raphie  Copte,  pour  servir  k^l' Introduction 
PaleographiqMc   les  Actes  des  Martyrs  de  TEgypte,  Henri 
Hyvernat,  6o() 


Systematic  List  of  the  Frederick  E.  Edwards  Collection  of 
British  Oligocene  and  Eocene  Mollusca  in  the  British 
Museum  (Natural  History),  Richard  Bnllen  Newton,  610 

Memorials  of  John  Gnnn,  being  some  Account  of  the  Cromer 
Forest  Bed  and  its  Fossil  Mammalia,  612 

The  Melanesians,  Studies  in  their  Anthropology  and  Folk- 
lore, R.  H.  Codrington,  613 

Guide  to  Examinations  in  Physiography,  and  Answers  to 
Questions,  W.  Jerome  Harrison,  613 

Revue  Scientifique,  324 

Reynolds  (J.  E.,  F.R.S.),  New  Addition  Compounds  of  Thw- 

carbamide  affording  Evidence  of  its  Constitution,  118 
Rhxlic  Section  at  Pylle  Hill,  Bristol,  E.  Wilson,  94 
Ricco   (Prof.  A.):   a   Recent    Eruption    of   Stromboli,    280; 

Periodic  Variations  of  Latitudes  of  Solar  Prominences,  360, 

391 
Richardson  (A.),  Decomposition  of  S'dver  Chloride  by  Light, 

118 
Richardson  (Dr.  B.  Ward,  F.R.S.),  Thomas  Sopwiih,  F.R.S., 

with  Excerpts  from  his  Diary  of  Fifty-seven  Years,  590 
Richmond  (H.  W.),  Pascal's  Hexagram,  191 
kichter  (K.),  European  Botany,  Vol.  L,  J.  G.  Baker,  F.K.S., 

100 
Richter  on  the  Variation  of  Alpine  Glaciers,  389 
Riddles  of  the  Sphinx,  by  a  Troglodyte,3i5 
Ridewood's'  ((;.):    Disections    in  Natural     History    Mnseum 
Entrance    Hall    to    illustrate    Variations  in    Deep   Plantar 
Tendons  of  Bird's  Foot,  303 
Riggenbach-Burckhardt  (Prof.  A.),  Earthquake  of  June  7,  151 
Kinged  Snake  in  the  Sea,  Occurrence  of  tne,  J.  Cowper,  541 
Rix  (Herbert),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  541 
Roberts  (R.  D.),  Eighteen  Years  of  University  Extension,  52  ; 

University  of  London,  105 
Roberts-Austen  (Prof.  W.  C.,C.B.,  F.R.S.):  Brilliant  Purple 
Gold  and  Aluminium  Alloy  discoveied  by,  iii  ;  Le9onssar 
les  Metaux,  Prof.  A.  Ditte.  245  ;  Traiie  pratique  de  Chimie 
Metallurgique,  Baron  JonstorflT,  245  ;  on  Metallurgy,  399  ;  on 
his  Self-recording  Pyrometer,  456 
Robertson  (Prof.  G.  Croom):  the  Proposed  Albert  Urivcrsilj, 

248  ;  Retirement  from  the  Editorship  of  Mind  o^^  548 
Robertson  (G.  IL),  the  Plante  Cell  from  a  Chemical  Point  of 

View,  236 
Robertson  (Miss  M.  W.),  A ppointment  to  Resident  Lectureship 

in  Natural  Science  at  the  Royal  Holloway  College,  231 
Robinson  (Dr.  Arthur),  on  the  Development  of  the  Rat  and  the 

Mouse,  483 
Robinson  (Prof.  W\),  on  Petroleum  Engines.  509 
Rochard  (Dr.),  on  the  Prevention  of  Epidemic  Diseases,  367 
Rock- Sculptures  in  Scotland,  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  350 
Rocks,  Crystalline,  of  the  Lizard  District,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney, 

F.R.S.,  and  General  McMahon,  22 
Rogers  (J.  Innes),  the  Alpine  Flora,  6 
Romanes  (Prof.  George  J.,  F.R.S.),  Co-adaptation,  28.  55 
Rome,   Royal  Morphological   Research   Prize  of  10,000  francs 

awarded  to  Prof.  Saccardo  by  Accademia  dei  Lincei  of,  257 
Rommier  (A.),  the  Yeast  of  Wine,  512 
Roozeboom  (Dr.  B.),  Solubility  of  Mixed  Crystals  of  Isomorphous 

Substances,  144 
Roscoe  (Sir  Henry  E.,   F.R.S.):  the  Science  Museum,  63; 

Dictionary  of  Applied  Chemistry,  268 
Rosseter  (J.  B.)  Tania  lanceolata  in  Duck,  143 
Rossiter  (E.  C):  Bromo- Derivatives  of  Beta-Naphthol,  Action 
of  Nitric  Acid  on  Naphthol  Derivates,  Formation  of  Niiro- 
Keto  Compounds,  New  Method  of  Preparing  Nitro-Deriva- 
tives.  Use  of  Nitrogen  Dioxide  as  a  Nitrating  Agent,  190 
Rotch  (A.  L.),  Mountain  Meteorology,  464,  512 
Rothpletz  (A.),  the  Karwendel  Alps,  221 
Rouault  (Mathurin),  Notice  of,  68 

Rousseau  (G.).  Action  of  Water  on  Basic  Salts  of  Copper,  3^6 
Roux  (Dr.) :  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired,  419 ;  and  l^r. 

Metschnikoff,  Tubercle  Bacilli,  397 
Royal  Archaeological  Institute,  350 
Royal  Botanical  Society's  Lectures,  136 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  597 

Royal  Geographical  Society,  209  ;  Anniversary  Meeting,  164 
Royal  Holloway  College,  Appointment  of  Miss  M.  W.  Robert- 
son to  Resident  Lectureship  in  Natural  Science,  231 
Royal  Horticultural  Society,  18,  575  ;  Annual  Dinner  of,  184; 
Exhibition,  500 ;  Exhibition  of  Cone-bearing  Trees,  548  ; 
Display  of  Autumn  Foliage  airanged  for  Esthetic  Effect, 
628 


November  a6^  1891     J 


Index 


XXXI 


Royal  Institalion,  Election  of  Foreign  Honorary  Members,  184 

Royal  ludiao  Society  of  Hygiene,  Dr.  Thorne  Thorne  elected 
Corresponding  Member,  351 

Royal  Meteorological  Institute  of  Netherlands,  476 

Royal  Meteoroli>gical  Society,  95,  239 ;  Commemoration 
Dinner,  183,  231 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  '23,  142,  239 

Royal  Naval  Exhibition,  180 

Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich,  Annual  Visitation  of  the,  87 

Royal  Sjciety,  22,  92,  117,  139,  165,  189,  212,  236,  260; 
Selected  Candidates,  14 ;  Sairh^  45  ;  Election  of  Fellows, 
135  i  Conversazione^  187 

Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  263,  311,  560 

Royal  Statistical  Society,  161 

Royal  Veterinary  College,  Centenary  of,  598 

Rabner  ( Herr),  Dry  and  Moist  Temperaiures  and  Health,  66 

Range  (C),  W.  E.  Weber,  272 

Ros^l  (Prof.),  Excursion  to  Alaska,  629 

Ruaell(Hon.  R.)>  Influenza,  302 

RasseIl(R.),  Epidemic  Influenzji,  Dr.  Richard  Sisley,  514 

RnsseU  (Prof.  T.),  Cold  Waves,  165 

Rossia:  Snow  Observations  io,  Herr  Berg,  il^;  Technical 
Education  in,  116;  New  Russian  Meteorological  Review, 
161  ;  Traces  of  an  Inter-glacial  Period  in  Middle,  N. 
Kiischtafovitch,  232 ;  the  Northern  Limits  of  the  Black* 
earth  Steppe  Region  of  East,  Korzchinsky,  326 ;  Geo- bota- 
nical Notes  on  Flora  of  European,  D.  I.  Litvinoff,  359  ; 
Acdimaiizaiion  of  Plants,  &c.,  in,  388  ;  Snowdrifts  on  Rus- 
sian Railways,  389 ;  Contemplated  Central  Agricultural 
Institute  in  Russia,  502 ;  Russian  Geo^^raphical  Society, 
Medal  Awards,  598 


Sabaneeflf  ( A. ),  the  Molecular  Weight  of  Albumen,  358 

Sabatier  (Paul),  Silicon  Selenide,  311 

Saccardo  (Prof.)>  Royal  Morphological  Research  Prize  of 
10,000  francs  awarded  by  Accademia  dei  Lincel  to,  257 

Safety-Lamps,  Apparatus  for  Testing  Sensitiveness  of.  Prof. 
Frank  Clowes,  260 

Sl  Clair  (George),  Buried  Cities  and  Bible  Countries,  540 

Salt  Lakes,  Silver  Lodes  and,  George  Sutherland,  342 

Sambon  (Dr.  Lewis),  Measures  adopted  for  the  Prevention  of 
Infectious  Diseases,  and  their  Relation  to  our  Knowledge  of 
Epidemics,  486 

San  Francisco  :  Opening  of  the  New  Office  of  the  Pacific  Postal 
Telegraph  Company  in,  231  ;  Earthquake  at,  575 

Sin  Salvador,  Violent  Earthquake  in,  475 

Sanderson  (Prof.  Burdjn,  F.R.S.),  Tuberculosis  in  all  its  Rela- 
tions. 393 

Sandpiper,  the  Green,  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  F.R.S.,  274 

Sands,  the  Production  of  Musical  Notes  from  Non-Musical, 
Cecil  Cams -Wilson,  322 

Sanitary  Association  of  Scotland,  527 

Saigant  (E.  B.)  and  Bernhard  Wishaw,  a  Guide-Book  to  Books, 
196 

San  (G.  0.)»  Pycnogonidea,  49 

Satellite,  Jupiter's  First,  631 

Savage  Religion,  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  F.R.S.,  on,  511 

Savelief  (R.),  Determination  of  Solar  Constant,  119 

Scandinavian  Chalk,  Fossil  Fish  of  the,  117 

Schaeberle  (Dr.  J.  M.),  the  Solar  Corona,  300 

Scheiner  (Dr.),  Photographic  Magnitudes  of  Stars,  526 

Scherren  (Henry),  Cordylophora  lacustris,  445 

Schlich  (William),  a  Manual  of  Forestry,  Sir  D.  Brandis, 
F.R.S.,  265 

Schobben's  (Dr.)  Lantern  Stereoscope,  142 

•S:homburgk  (Dr.  Richard),  Death  of,  65 

S:hooIs,  Defective  Ventilation  in  American,  Laurence  Allen,  476 

Schools,  Natural  History  in  Public,  Rev.  T.  A.  Preston,  137 

Schools  of  Science  and  Art,  Existing,  Oliver  S.  Dawson,  547 

Schulhof  (M.),  the  Capture  Theory  of  Comets,  209 

Schutzcnberger  (P.),  Volatility  of  Nickel  under  Influence  of 
Hydrochloric  Acid,  336 

Science  and  Art  Department  :  and  County  Councils,  17  ;  Be- 
quest to,  17;  Alterations  in  the  Science  and  Art  Department 
Directory,  40 

^encc  and  Art,  the  Existing  Schools  of,  Oliver  S.  Dawson,  547 

Science  and  Domestic  Comfort  in  United  Slates,  354 

ScicDce :  Elementary  Science  Lessons,  W.  Hewitt,  444  ;  Forth- 
coming Scientific  Books,  462 ;  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of,  469 ;  Blackie's  Science  Readers,  540 


Science,  the  Fairyland  Tales  of,  Rev.  J.  G.  McPherson,  5 
Science  Museum,  63 

Science  Museum  and  Gallery  of  British  Art  at  South  Kensing- 
ton, 37 
Science  or  Romance,  Rev.  John  Gerard,  S.J.,  Prof.  R.  Meldola^ 

F.R.S.,  441 
Sclaler(Dr.  P.  L.,  F.R.S.):  Porpoises  in  the  Victoria  Nyanza, 

124;   the   Australian  Marsupial  Mole,    Notoryctes  typhlops^ 

449  ;  the  Bird- Collections  in  the  Oxford  University  Museum, 

518 
Sclater's  (W.    L.)  Projected  Collecting  Expedition  to  Upper 

Assam,  598 
Scorpions  at  the  Zoological  Gardens,  163  ;  R.  I.  Pocock,  198 
Scotland  :  Secondary  Education  in,   i6i  ;    Proposed  Informal 

Congress  at  Edinburgh  on  Scottish  Higher  Education,  258  ; 

Scottish   Meleorol  )gical    Society,   280;    Rock-sculptures   in 

Scotland,    Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  350 ;  Technical  Education 

in,  549 
Scott  (Dr.   D.  H.),  Obituary   Notice  of    Carl  Wilhelm   voq 

Niigeli,  580 
Scott-Elliot  (G.  F.),  Flowers  and  Insects,  488 
Screw-propellers:  Major  R.  de  Villamil  on,  510;   Beaumont 

on,  510 
Scudder  (Samuel  H.),   the  Fossil  Inw^cts  of  North  America^ 

Notes  on  some  European  Species,  R.  Lydekker,  i 
Sea,  Occurrence  of  the  Ringed  Snake  in  the,  J.  Cowper,  541 
Sea,  Prince  of  Monaco's  New  Yacht  for  Study  of,  359 
Sea-lion  at  Brighton  Aquarium,  Birth  of,  185 
Sea-sickness,  Dr.  Thomas  Dutton  on,  19 
Sea-spiders,  49 
Sea-water,  Measurement  of  Density  of.  Vice- Admiral  Makaroff, 

359 
Seasonal  Growth,  Reduplication  of.  Dr.  A.  Irving,  371 

Seaton  (Dr.  Edward),  on  Diphtheria,  368 

Secondary  Generator,  Messrs.  Gaulard  and  Gibbs,  523 

Sederholm  (J.  J.),  the  Rapakiwi,  548 

Sedgwick  (Prol.  A.,  F.R.S.),  an  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus, 

494 
Seeley  (Prof.  H.  G.,  F.R.S.),  Researches  on  the  Structure  of 

Parei-isaurus,  93 
Seemann  (Captain  C.  H.),  on  European  Weather  Charts,  41 
Seismology  :  Earthquake  near  St.  Paul's  Rocks  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  41  ;  Transactions  of  Seismological  Society  of  Japan, 
67  ;  the  Earthquake  of  June  7,  Prof.  A.  Riggenbach-Burck- 
hardt,    151  ;  the  Recent  Earthquakes  in  Italy,   Prof.  J.   P. 
O'Reilly,  293 ;  the  Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  June  7,  1891,  Dr. 
H.  J.  Johnsion-Lavis,  160,  320,  352  ;  Earthquake  at  Bourne 
mouih,  Henry  Cecil,  614 
Sel  borne  Society's  Magazine,  326 
Sella  (Alfonso),  Magnetic  Anomalies,  249 
Senneti  (G.  B.),  Water-birds  that  Live  in  the  Woods,  529 
Sergueyefr(S.),  Le  Sommeil  et  le  Systeme  Nerveux,  444 
Severe  Winters,  Weather  Cycles  and,  591 
Sewage,  Disposal  of,  C.  G.  Moor,  456 
Sewerage,  G.  Chaiterton,  509 

Shaler  (N.  S.'l,  Antiquity  of  the  Last  Glacial  Period,  529 
Shan  Slates,  Manners  and  Customs  of,  W.  R.  Hillier,  137 
Shark,  the  Basking,  in  New  Zealand  Waters,  T.  F.  Cheese- 
man,  576 
Shaw  (William  Napier) :  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 

i6  ;  on  some  Measurements  with  the  Pneumatic  Bridge,  94 
Sheep,  Asiatic  Wild,  Specimens  of,  at  the  British  Museum,  40 
Sheldon  (Mrs.  French),  on  East  Africa,  508 
Shepheard  (Thomas),  Cordylophora  lacustris^  i$i 
Sherborn's  (C.  D.)  Index  Generum  et  Specierum  Animalium, 

207 
Sherlock  (Rev.  T.  Travers),  Force  and  Determinism,  320 
Shipley  (A.  E.),  Orange  Disease  in  Cyprus,  528 
Shooting-stars,  Theory  of,  M.  Callandreau,  168 
Shufeldt  (Dr.  R.  W.),  the  Anatomy  of  the  Heloderma,  294 
Siam,  Proposed  University  in,  323 
Sibley  (George),  Death  of,  629 
Siemens  (Sir  W  ),  Proposal  to  Utilize  the  Power  wasted  m  the 

Falls  of  Niagara.  521 
Sijznalling,    Mr.   C.  E.     Kelway's  Apparatus  for  Marine   and 

General  Electrical,  575 
Silicon  Chloro- 1 ri bromide,  19 
Silurian  and  Devonian  Rocks  of  Pembrokeshire,  Dr.    Hicks, 

F.R.S.,  480 
Silver,  Alloiropic,  M.  Carey  Lea,  584 
Silver,  Blue,  M.  C.  Lea,   189 


XXXll 


Index 


[■ 


Supplement  to  Nature^ 
N<n>entb€r  i^y  iSpi 


Silver  Lodes  and  Salt  Lakes,  George  Sutherland,  342 

Silver  Mineral,  a  New,  89 

Sim  (T.  R.),  Hand-book  of  the  Ferns  of  KaflFraria,  J.  G.  Baker, 

F.R.S.,  75 
Sirius,  Observations  on  the  Motion  of,  Prof.  Vogel,  355 
Sirodot  (M.),    Relative  Age  of  Quaternary  Stratum  of  Mont 

Dol,  119 
Sisley  (Dr.  Richard),  Epidemic  Influenza,  R.  Russell,  514 
Skin-shedding,  a  Case  of  Periodical,  Dr.  J.  Frank,  477 
Skinner  (S.),    the    Measurement    of   the    Compressibility    of 

Liquids,  94 
Sky,  Analysis  of  Light  diffused  by,  A.  Crova,  144 
Sladen  (W.  Percy),  the  Zoological  Station  at  Naples,  124 
Slate  (Frederick),  Absolute  and  Gravitation  Systems,  445 
Sleep  Movements  in  Plants,  A.  G.  Tansley,  493 
Sleich  (Dr. ),  Production  of  Local  Anaesthesia  by  Subcutaneous 

Injection  of  Distilled  Water,  452 
Smith  (B.  Woodd),  Physical  Religion,  249 
Smith's    (Charles)    Elementary    Algebra,    Solutions     of    the 

Examples  in,  A.  G.  Cracknell,  444 
Smith  (Willoughby),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  302 
Smith  (Prof.  W.  Robertson),  the  History  of  Human  Marriage, 

Edward  Westermarck,  270 
Smithsonian  Astro-physical  Observatory,  254 
Smithsonian  Institution,  Physical  Observatory  established  at,  161 
Smyth  (Prof.   Piazzi),  on  Two  Series  of  Photographs,  in  the 

Visible  and  Invisible,  of  ihe  Violet  of  1  he  Solar  Spectrum,  191 
Snale   Poison  and   Strychnine,   Antagonistic  Action  of,   Dr. 

Mueller,  162 
Snake  in   the   Sea,    Occurrence  of  the   Ringed,   J.    Cowper, 

541 
Snodgrass  (W.),  and  Dr.  John  G.  McKendrick,  F.R.S.,  Note 

on  the  Physiological  Action  of  Carbon- Monoxide  of  Nickel, 

70 
Snow- Observation  in  Russia,  Ilerr  Berg,  113 
Snowdon,   Proposal  I  y  Sir  Edward  Watkin  to  place  Electric 
^  Light  c-n,  352 

Snowdrifts  on  Russian  Railways,  389 
Soames(Kev.   H.  A.),  the  Scientific  Measurement  of  Children 

with  Respect  to  Education,  114 
Soaring  of  Birds,  A.  C.  Baines,  520 
Soci(?e  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  452 
Socic'ie  Botanique  de  France,   135 
.Society  of  Arts,   Fothergill  Gold  Medal  for  Fire  Prevention, 

135  ;  Albert  Medals  for  1889  and  1890  presented  to  Sir  F.  A. 

Abel,  F.R.S  ,  and  W.  H.  Perkin,  F.R.S.,  301 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  353 

Sociciy  for  Preservation  of  Monuments  of  Ancient  Egypt,  281 
Solar  Corona,   Dr.  J.  M.    Schaeberle,  3CX) ;   Prof.  J.  Norman 

Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  300 
Solar  Corona,   the  Polarization  Theory  of  the.  Prof.  Frank  H. 

Bigelow,  355 
Solar  Observations  from  January  to  March,  1891,  90 
Siilar  Observations,  Prof.  Tacchini,  453 
Solar  Parallax  and  its  Related  Constants,   Prof.   W.    Harkness, 

Solar  Phenomena  during  First  Half  of  189 1,  Distribution  in 
Latitude  of,  P.  Tacchini,  488 

Solar  Prominences :  Periodic  Variations  in  the  Latitude  of. 
Prof.  Ricc6,  391 ;  Photography  of,  and  their  Spectra,  Prof. 
G.  H.  Hale,  391 ;  Photography  of,  M.  Deslandres,  438  ; 
Enormous  Velocity  of  a,  416 ;  Influence  that  Aberration  of 
Light  may  exercise  on  Spectroscopic  Observations  of, 
M.  Fizeau,  488 ;  Influence  of  Aberration  upon  Observations 
of,  M.  Fizeau,  530 ;  W.  E.  Wilson  on  the  Ab.'orption  of 
Heat  in  the  Solar  Atmosphere,  453  ;  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 
F.R.S.,  on  Light  in  Modifying  the  Effect  of  the  Gravitational 
Attraction  of  the  Sun,  454 

Solid  and  Liquid  Particles  in  Clouds,  John  Aitken,  F.R.S.,  on 
the,  279 

Solution,  Alum,  Harry  Napier  Draper,  446  ;  Ch.  Ed.  Guil- 
laume,  540;  Shelford  Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  565 

Sommeil  et  le  Sysieme  Nerveux,  Le,  S.  Sergueyeff,  444 

Sonden  (M.),  Instrument  for  Optical  Comparison  of  Transparent 
Liquids,  478 

Sonnblick  :  Studies  of  Air-pressure  and  Temperature  on  Summit 
of.  Dr.  J.  Hann,  112;  Herren  Elster  and  Geitel's  Electric 
Observations  on,  452 

Sonnenschein  (William  Swan),  the  Best  Books,  a  Contribution 
towards  Systematic  Bibliography,  5 


Sopwith  (Thos.,  F.R.S.),  with  Excerpts  from  his  Diary  of  Fifty- 
sevtn  Vearv,  590 

Soul  of  Man,  Dr.  Paul  Carus,  293 

Sound,  J.  W.  Gourdry  on  an  Instrument  forgiving  Enharmonic 
Intervals  in  all  Keys,  19 

South  Africa,  from  Arab  Domination  to  British  Rule,  564 

South  African  Museum,  Rearrangement  of  Lepidoptera  Col- 
lection by  Mr.  R.  Trimen,  207 

South  Kensington,  Art  Museum  at,  388 

South  Kensington  Museum,  Visitors  to,  450 

Space,  the  Conditions  of,  Sydney  Lupton,  210 

Space,  Sun's  Motion  in,  A.  M.  Gierke,  572 

Sparrows  Nesting  in  Western  India,  Lieutenant  H.  E.  Barnes, 
42 

Sparrows  and  Hawk  in  New  Zealand,  T.  W.  Kirk,  529 

Spectrum  Analysis :  the  Draper  Catalogue  of  Stellar  Spectra, 
89;  Photo-Stellar  Spectra,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  E.  Espin,  133;  the 
Spectra  of  Double  Stars,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  138;  on 
Two  Scries  of  Photographs,  in  the  Visible  and  the  Invisible, 
ofthe  Violet  of  Solar  Spectrum,  Prof.  Piazzi  Smyth,  191  ;  Use 
of  a  Monobromnaphtalin  in  Study  of  Ultra-violet  Rays,  Herr 
Wolter,  207;  Photo-Stellar  Spectra,  Prof.  Edward  C. 
Pickering,  223 ;  Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra,  Prof.  E.  C. 
Pickering,  305,  438  :  Liquid  Prisms,  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley, 
F.R.S.,  273;  Spectrum  of  /3  Lyrze,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering, 
355  ;  Inaugural  Address  by  Dr.  William  Huggins  at  the 
Cardiff  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  372  ;  Photography 
of  Solar  Prommences  and  their  Sp<ctra,  Prof.  G.  H.  Hale, 
391  ;  Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney,  F.R.S.,  on  Double  Lines  in  ihe 
Spectra  of  Gase«,  454  ;  Spectroscopic  Observations  of  Solar 
Prominences,  Influence  that  Aberration  of  Light  may  exer- 
cise on,  M.   Fizeau,  488;  Lightning  Spectra,  W.  E.  Wood, 

504 
Spencer  (Prof.  W.  B.),  a  New  Sponge  Worm  Parasite,  120 

Spiders:  Propulsion  of  Silk   by,  30;  Mimicry  in,  E.  Heckel, 

451  ;  Sea  Spiders,  49 
Spinning  Ring,  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Reginald  Courtenay,  106; 

Prof.  Oliver).  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  106 
Sphinx,  Riddles  of  the,  by  a  Troglodyte,  315 
Sponge,   Synute  pulchella,  a  New  Species  of  Calcareous,  A. 

Dendy,  120 
Staite  and  Petrie's  (Messrs.)  New  Electrical  Light,  327 
Stalactite  Cavern  in  Oregon,  Discovery  of  Enormous,  258 
Stalactite  Caves  in  Tasmania,  Dbcovery  of,  Mr.  Morton,  576 
Standards,  Old,  280 

Standards  of  Weights  and  Measures,  280 
Standards  of  1758,  the  Discovery  of  the,  295 
Stanley's  (W.   F.)  Phonometer,  a  New  Form  of  Chronngraph, 

239 
Starlight  Evenings,  Telescopic  Work  for,  W.  F.  Denning,  467 

Stars  :  the  Draper  Catalogue  of  Stellar  Spectra,  89  ;  the  Spectra 
of  Double  Stars,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  138;  Double  Star 
Observations,  S.  W.  Bumham,  283;  Double  Stars,  631; 
1*heory  of  Shooting  Stars,  M.  Callandreau,  168  ;  the  Stellar 
Cluster  X  Persei,  259 ;  Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra,  Prof. 
E.  C.  Pickering,  305,  438 ;  Linear  Arrangement  of  Stars, 
478  ;  Photographic  Magnitudes  of  Stars,  Dr.  Scheiner,  526  ; 
Two  New  Variable  Stars,  Rev.  T.  E.  Espin,  578 

Startling  Colours  and  Noises,  the  Use  of,  Alfred  O.  Walker, 
106 

Stas's  Work  in  Atomic  Weight  Determination,  134 

Statistical  Congress,  International,  527 

Statistics  of  Population  and  Disease,  George  Blundell  Longstaff,  4 

Steam,  the  Effect  of  an  Electric  Discharge  upon  the  Condensa- 
tion of  Steam,  Shelford  Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  95 

Steel  and  Iron,  the  Passive  State  of,  Thos.   Andrews,  F.R.S., 

92 
Stefanescu  (Prof.  Gregoire),  Sur  TExistence  du  Dinotherium  en 

Koumanie,  602 
Stekoulis  (Dr.),  on  Quarantine,  367 
Stereoscope,  Dr.  Schobben's  Lantern,  142 
Stevenson  (Prof.  J.  J.),  on  the  Relations  of  the  Chemung  and 

Catskill  on  the  Eastern  Side  of  the  Appalachian  Basin,  471 
Stewart  (Prof.,  F.R.S.),  ^^  Relationship  between  Plants  and 

Animals,  136 
Stillmann  (W.  J.),  the  Formation  of  Language,  106 
Stockholm  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  120,  264 
Stokes  (Prof.),  Optical  Proof  of  Existence  of  Suspended  Matter 

in  Flame,  263 
Stone  Hammers,  Primitive  Man  and,  J.  D.  McGuire,  630 


SnppUment  to  Nature^'\ 
November  ^^  1891     J 


Index 


xxxiu 


Stoney   (Dr.    Johnstone,   F.R.S.),   on    Doable    Lines  in  the 

Spectra  of  Gases,  454 
Storms,  the  Formation  uf,  W.  H.  Dines,  95 
Story  of  the  Heavens,  Sir  Robert  Stawcll  Ball,  F.R.S  ,  589 
Story-Maskel) ne  (Prof.  N.,  F.R.S. ),  the  Koh-i-Nur.  a  Criticism, 

555 
Strahan  (Dr.  S.  A.  K.),  on  Instinctive  Criminality,  511 
Straight  Han  1,  a,  A.  d*Abbadie,  444 
Straits  Government  Scientific  Expedition  to  Pahang,  112 
Strawberry  Plants  and  Climate,  83 
Streatfeild   (Frederick   William),    Practical   Work   in   Organic 

Cbemistry,  466 
Stroinboli,  a  Recent  Eruption  of,  Prof.  A.  Ricc6,  280 
Stroovant  (P.),  Personal  £(juation  in  Transit  Observation?,  608 
Strychnine  and   Snake  Poison,    Antagonistic  Action  of,   Dr. 

Mueller,  162 
Studies  in  Statistic:,  George  Blundell  Longstaflf,  4 
Sugar-cane  from  Seeds,  the  Propagation  of,  631 
Sumatra :  Ethnology  of,  68  ;  a  New  Mammal  from.  Prof.  A. 

A.  W.  Hubrecht.  468 
Sumpner  (Dr.  W.  E.)  :  Quadrant  Electrometers,  166  ;  Alternate 

Current  and  Potential   Difference  Analogies  in  Methods  of 

Measuring  Power,  237 
Sun :   Partial  Eclipse,  June  6,   1891,    of,   M.    Perrotin,    168  ; 

Lunninous  Outburst  observed  on  ihe  Sun,  234  ;  Sun's  Motion 

in  Space,  Miss  A.  M.  Gierke,  572 ;  Sun*s  Radiation  of  Heat, 

W.  Goff,  468;  Observations  of  Sun-spots  and  Faculse,    M. 

Marchand,  305  ;  Sun,  see  aLo  Solar 
Sunday  Society,  Mr.  J.  T.  Brunner,  M.P.,  elected  President  of, 

'35 
Sunday  Lecture  Society  s  Programme,  577 

Sunlight  diffused  by  Sky,  Analysis  of,  A.  Crova,  1 19 

Sunlight,  Radiant,  Connection  between  Terrestrial  Magnetism 

and.  Prof.  F.  H.  Bigelow,  453 
Sunset  Phenomena,  Variations  in,  Herr  Busch,  599 
Survey,  the  Ordnance,  112 

Sutherland  (George),  Silver  Lodes  and  Salt  Lakes,  342 
Sutherland  (Dr.  John),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  uf,  302 
Swanston   (G.   J.)>   Colour  Tests    used    in    Examinations  for 

Mercantile  Marine,  500 
Switzerland,   Fishes  of,    Victor    Fatio,   Dr.    Albert   Giinther, 

F.R.S.,  269 
Sydney  Biological  Station,  39 

Sydney,  Meteorological  Observations  for  January  1891  at,  304 
Sylvester  (Prof.  J.  J.,  F.R.S.),  Proposed  Complete  Edition  of 

his  Mathematical  Works,  183 
Synrions  (G.  J.,  F.R.S.),  Rain-Gauges,  398 
Syria,  North,  the  Geology  and  Physical  Geography  of.   Prof. 

Edward  Hull,  F.R.S.,  99 


Tacchini   (Prof.):    Solar  Observations,   453;    Distribution   in 

Latitude  of  Solar  Phenomena  during  First  Half  of  1 89 1,  488 
Tadpoles,  Prof.  W.  N.  Parker  on  Respiration  in,  482 
Tait  ( Prof.   P.  G. ) :    Quaternions  and  the  Ausdehnungslehre, 
105;  the  Foundations  of  the  Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases,  V., 
310 ;  Some  Points  in  the  Physics  of  Golf,  497 ;  on  Van  der 
Waals's  Treatment  of  Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equa- 
tion, in  answer  to  Lord  Rayleigh,  546,  627 
Tanslcy  (A.  G.),  Sleep  Movements  in  Plants,  493 
Tasmaa  Sea,  371 

Tasmania:  Bush  Friends  in,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Meredith,  517;  Dis- 
covery of  Stalactite  Caves  in,  Mr.  Morton,  576  ;  Tasmanian 
OfBcral  Record,  1891,  R.  M.  Johnston,  196  ;  Crozet's  Voyage 
to  Tasmania  in  the  Years  1771-72,  492 
Taylor  (Dr.  C),  Elementary  Geometry  of  Conies,  517 
Taylor    (Dr.    H.    Couplaud),  the    "Lesle,"  or  Hot  Wind  of 

Madeira,  95 
Teaching  University  for  London,  Proposed,  257 
Technical  Chemistry,  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.  R.  S. ,  602 
Technical  Education  and  County  Councils,  Sir  T.  H.  Farrer, 
6 ;  J.  C.  Buckmaster,  588  ;  Technical  Education  in  Middlesex, 
65  ;  in  Russia,  116;  the  Technical  Education  of  Girls,  185  ; 
National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of,  231  ;  Lord  Har- 
tington  on  Technical  Education,  234  ;  Organizers  of  Technical 
Education,  241  ;  Technical  Education  for  Farmers,  Farriers, 
and  Engine- Drivers,  John  L.  Winter,  320;  the  Progress  of 
Technical  Education,  351 
Technical  and  Phjrsical  Institution  at  Berlin,  154 
Technological  Examinations,  Programme  of,  344 

mc  de  Bort,  Destructive  Tornado  at  Dreux,  112 


Telegraph  Company,  Pacific  Postal,  Opening  of  New  Telegraph 

Office  in  San  Francisco,  231 
Telegraphy,  W.  E.  Weber,  C.  Runge,  272 
Telephone,  Extraordinary,  Accident  at  Paris,  113 
Telephonic  Service,  the  Paris,  326  ;  W.  H.  Preece,  F.R.S.,  510 
Telescope,  the,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Heavens,  J. 

W.  Williams,  342 
Telescopic  Work  for  Starlight  Evenings,  W.  F.  Denning,  467 
Temperature,  Dry  and  Moist,  and  Health,  Herr  Rubner,  66 
Temperature  in  Europe,  Normal,  M.  Lancaster,  437 
Temperatures,  Underground,  Henry  Becquerel,  632 
Templeton's  British  Earthworm*,  Identification  of.  Rev.  Hilderic 

Friend,  273 
Tempcl-Swift's  Comet,  Discovery  of,  551 
Tenerifie,  the  Language  of.  Marquis  of  Bute,  511 
Tensions,  the  Law  of,  H.  G.  Williams,  591 
Terrestrial  Magnetism  and  Radiant  Sunlight,  Connection  be- 
tween. Pi  of.  F.  H.  Bigelow,  453 
Texas,  Artificial  Production  of  Ram  in,  436,  473  ;  Prof.  Geoi^ge 

E.  Curtis,  594 
Thermo-EIectric  Positions  of  Cobalt  and  Bismuth,  Prof.  Knott, 

Thermometers,  the  Testing  of,  at  Berlin,  155 

Thiele  (Dr.),  New  Method  of  Preparing  Azoimide,  601 

Thompson  (Dr.    Ashburton),   on   Quarantine   in   Australasia, 

Theory  and  Practice,  366 
Thompson  (I.  C'.),  Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food,  294 
Thompson  (Prof.   Silvanus  Phillips) :   Proposed  Fellow  of  the 

Royal  Society,  x6 ;  an  Optical  Illusion,  187  ;  on  the  Measure- 
ment of  Lenses  and  on  a  New  Polarizer,  455 
Thomson  (G.  M.),  en  Bees  in  New  Zealand,  19 
Thomson's  (Joseph)  Explorations  in  South  Africa,  598 
Thomson  (Prof.  J.  J.,    F.R.S.):  on  Vacuum  Tubes,  93,   94; 

Discharge  without  Electrodes  through  Gases,  187 
Thomson  (^*rincipal),  Olive  Growing  in  Australia,  501 
.  Thomson     (Surgeon- Major),    Leprosy    Bacillus    cultivated   in 

Serum  by,  161 
Thomson  (Sir  William,  P.  R.S.),  on  Some  Test  Cases  for  the 

Maxwell- Holtzmann     Doctrine    regarding     Distribution    of 

Energy,  355 
Thorne  (Dr.  Thome),  elected  Corresponding  Member  of  Royal 

Italian  Society  of  Hygiene,  351 
Thorpe  (Prof.  T.  E.,  F.R.S.),  a  History  of  Chemistry  from  the 

Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day,  by  Prof.  Ernst  von  Meyer, 

289 
Thurbfield  (Dr.),  on  Diphtheria,  369 

Thurston  (tdgar),  Report  on  the  Madras  Central  Museum,  629 
Tiber,   Discovery  of  an  Ancient  Roman  Helmet  in,  476 
Tibet,  the  Vegetation  of,  260 
Tillo  (General  A.  de).  Magnetic  Anomalies,  83 
Timber  Tests,  on  Government,  B.  E.  Fermor,  471 
Timofeiew  (W.),  Specific  Heats  of  some  Solutions,  144 
Tin  Resources  of  Tenasserim,  40 
Tischler  (Dr.  Ott..),  Death  of,  280 
Tis?erand    (F.),    Lunar  Inequality  of   Long  Period  owing  to 

Action  of  Venus,  263 
Tiichener(E.  B.),  Comparative  Palatability,  $40 
Tite  (G.),  Action  of  Water  on  Basic  Salts  of  Copper,  336 
Tizard  (Thomas  Henry),  Proposed  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  16 
Tobacco  Fermentation,  390 
Todhunter  (L,    F.R.S.),   Plane  Trigonometry  for  the  Use  of 

Colleges  and  Schools,  342 
Tokyo  Botanical  Magazine,  236 
Tokyo  University  College  of  Agriculture,  353 
Tomlinson  Regulator  for  Electric  Light  Mains,  45 
Tondini  (M.),  Atmo«;pheric  Conditions  of  Greenwich  with  re- 
gard to  Universal  Hour  Question,  119 
Topley  (W.,  F.R.S.),  on  the  Origin  of  Petroleum,  479 
Tornado,  the  Bergen  Point,  W.  A.  Eddy,  512 
Tortoise  inclosed  in  Ice,  F.  H.  Perry  Coste,  520 
Tortoise,  Large  Duncan  Island,  113 
Toxicology :    Antagonistic   Action  of   Strychnine   and    Snake 

Poison,  Dr.  Mueller,  162 
Trachyte,  Micaceous,  Artificial  Production  of,  392 
Transandine  Railway  Across  the  Andes,  87 
Transmission  of  Power,  Electric,  J.  J.  Murphy,  590 
Traube  (Prof.),  the  New  Peroxide  of  Sulphur,  163 
Trautschold  (H.),  Prolospirator  ccntrodon^  359 
Travel,  the  Business  of,  W.  Eraser  Rae,  247 
Trelease   (Dr.   William) :  the  Species  of  Epilobium  occurring 

North  of  Mexico,  196;  Missouri  Botanical  Gardens,  588 


XXXiV 


Index 


TSuj^fiUmtnt  to  Xatttne, 
|_     Ncvcmberi^  x39t 


Trieste  and  Pala   Harbours,   the  Mareograph  in,   Lieutenant 

Gruizl,  600 
Trigonometry,  Plane,  for  the  Use  of  Schojls,  I.  Todhunter, 

F.R.S.,  342 
Trimen  (Dr.),  Kinds  of  Cacao  in  Cultivation  ia  Ceylon,  185 
Trimen  (Mr.    K.),    Rearrangement  of  South  African  Ma>eum 

Collection  of  Lepidoptera  by,  207 
Tri|>e  {^^t,)^  on  Diphtheria,  369 
Troilite,  Meieoritic  Crystallized    Monosulphide  of  Iron,   Dr. 

Richard  Lorenz,  137 
Trotter  Curve  Ranger,  45 
Trouessart  (Dr.  E.  L.),  on  Microbes,  173 
Trouton  (F.  T.),  on  the  Propagation  of  Magnetization  in  Iron, 

455 
Trouvelot  (M.),  Luminous  Outburst  observed  on  the  San,  234 

Trowbridge  (John),    Dampening  of  Electrical   Oscillations  in 

Iron  Wires,  463 
TruflBe  from  Damas  (Damascus  ?),  "  Kamme,"  a  New  Species  of, 

A.  Chatin,  512 
Tubercle  Bacilli,  Dr.  Metschnikoff  and  Dr.  Roux,  397 
Tuberculosis,  the  Bacilli  of,  in  Railway  Carriages,  Herr  Praus- 

nitz,  390 
Tuberculosis  in  all  its  Relations,  Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson,  393  ; 

Dr.  Bang,  395 ;  Prof.  Arioing,  396  ;   Prof.  M'Faydean,  3  »6  ; 

Prof.   HamiltOD,  397  ;  Prof.   Nocard,  397  ;  Dr.   Hime,  3;;; 

Dr.  Barlow,  397  ;  Prof.  Perroncito,  397 
Tuckerman  (Dr.  Alfred;,  Bibliography  of  the  Chemical  Influence 

of  Light,  208 
Tuckwell  (W.),  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  519 
Tunicata,  the  Classification  of  the,  in  Relation  to  EvolutioD, 

Prof.  W.  A.  Herd  man,  130 
Tuning-forks,  the  Testing  of,  155 
Turbellaria  Acoela,  Die  Organisation  der,  Dr.  Ludwig  von  Gralf, 

Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankes>ter,  F.R.S.,  465 
Turkestan,  Cotton  Cuhivation  in  Russian,  163 
Tutton  (A.  E.) :  the  New  Gas,  ChloroBuoride  of  Phasph^rus, 

333 ;  Further  Researches  upon  the  Element  Flujrine,  622 
Tyler  (Thomas),  University  of  London,  104 
Tyior  (Dr.  E.  B.,  F.R.S.),  on  Savage  Religion,  511 


Ule  (Dr.),  Determiiiation  of  Evaporating  Power  of  a  Climate, 

Underground  Temperatures,  Henri  Becquerel,  632 

United  States  :  Botanical  Appointment  ■;  in,  135  ;  Unit.^d  States 
Entomological  Commission,  217;  Prof.  M.  W.  H.irringioa 
appointed  Chief  of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau,  280  ; 
Science  and  Domestic  Comfort  in,  354  ;  United  States  Copy- 
right Act,  388  ;  Three  Atlases  bearing  upon  the  Meteorology 
o^  549;  U.S.  Fish  Commission  Reports,  562;  Marble 
Quarrying  in,  E.  R.  Morse,  576 ;  United  States,  see  alsj 
America 

Units  and  their  Nomenclature,  454 

Universities,  the  Proposed  French  Law  on,  185 

University  College,  Endowment  by  Mr.  George  Holt  of  Chair 
of  Physiology  at,  135 

University  of  Edinburgh  :  Summer  Graduation  Ceremony,  323  ; 
Presentation  of  Cameron  Prize  to  Dr.  Ferrier,  F.R.S  ,  351 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence,  21,  48,  91,  138,  165, 
188,  212,  2S7,  309,  335,  392,  536,  583 

University  Extension  Scheme,  40  ;  Eighteen  Years'  University 
Extension,  R.  D.  Roberts,  52  ;  Students  at  Cambridge,  205  ; 
Oxford  Summer  Meeting  of  Students,  256  ;  Report  of  the 
Oxford  Delegates,  451  ;  University  Extension  Society, 
Morley  Memorial  College,  Miss  Emma  Cons,  469  * 

University  of  London,  76,  104,  196 

University  of  Loudon,  Draft  Charter  of  the,  39 

University  of  London  Question,  W.  T.  Thisel ton  Dyer,  F.R.S., 
52  ;  F.  Victor  Dickins,  54  ;  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S., 
76;  Prof.  William  Ram>ay,  F.R.S.,  78;  Dr.  A.  Irving,  79, 
104 ;  Prof.  Karl  Pearson,  102  ;  Thomas  Tyler,  104 ;  R.  D. 
Roberts,  105  ;  G.  H.  Bailey,  105 

University,  Marine  Laboratory  of  Johns  Hopkins,  206 

University  of  Oxford :  Increased  Accommodation  for  Medical 
and  Science  Schools  at,  1 1 1 ;  and  Agricultural  Education, 
183 

University,  the  Proposed  Albert  ;  see  Albert 

University,  Proposed  Teaching,  for  London,  257 

University  in  Siam,  Proposed,  323 

Uiquhart  (John  VV.),  Electric  Light  Fitting,  a  Hand-book  for 
Working  Electrical  Engineers,  586 


Vacuum  Tubes,  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.,  on,  93,  9|. 

Vambery  (Prof.),  on  British  Civilization  in  Asia,  88 

Vanadium,  Sulpho-salts  of,  19 

Variable  Stars,  Two  New,  Rev.  T.  E.  Espin,  578 

Variation  and  Natural  Selection,  Dr.  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  51S 

Varnish,  Hankow,  163 

Vatican  Observatory,  Publications  of,  136 

Vault  of  the  Heavens,  Apparent  Flattening  of  the.  Prof.  Rei- 
mann,  67 

Veeder  (M.  A.),  Zodiacal  Light  and  Aurorae,  631 

Vegetation  of  Tibet,  260 

Veitch  (H.  J.),  on  Autumn  Foliage,  628 

Ventilation.  Importance  of  more  Actively  Enforcing,  Dr.  J.  P. 
Williams  Freeman,  487 

Ventilation,  W.  Key  on,  509 

Vernon- Harcourt  (L.  F.),  Achievements  in  Engineering,  147 

Very  (Frank  H.),  Distribution  of  Lunar  Heat,  601 

Vesuvius  :  the  Eruption  of,  June  7,  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston- Lavis, 
160,  320,  352  ;  Stoppa;Te  of  Lava  Flow  from,  z6i  ;  Geological 
Map  of  NIonte  Somma  and,  H.  J.  Johnston -La  vis,  271 

Victoria  :  the  Insectivorous  Birds  of,  C.  Freuch,  162;  Suaimaxy 
of  Tasks  undertaken  by  Department  of  Agriculture,  D, 
Mc  Alpine,  529  ;  Department  of  Agriculture  aud  the  Farmers, 
D.  A.  Crichton,  550 

Victoria  Nyanza :  Emin  Pasha  on  the  Ornithology  of,  87  ; 
Porpoises  in.  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  124 

Victorian  Exhibition,  Contemplated,  352 

Vidal  (Leon),  Photography  as  an  Auxiliary  to  Printing,  136 

Vienna  International  Ornithological  Congress,  11 1 

Vienna  Natural  History  Museum,  Mineral  Department,  Capture 
!      of  a  Supposed  Gem  Thief,  598 

Villamil  (Major  R.  de),  on  Screw  Propellers,  510 

Ville  (Georges) :  a  Series  of  Addition  Compounds  of  Aldehydes 
with  Hypophosphorous  Acid,  282 ;  Les  EngraisChimiques,  517 

Virchow  ( Prof.  Rudolph) :  Testimonial  Fund,  the,  324  ;  Cele- 
bration of  the  Seventieth  Birthday  of,  574  ;  and  his  Country- 
men, 585 

Virial  Equation,  Van  der  Waals's  Treatment  of  l.aplacc*s  Pres- 
sure in  the.  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  499,  597;  Prof.  P.  G. 
Tait,  546,  627 

Virus,  Les,  par  Dr.  S.  Arioing,  27 

Vivisection,  Mr.  G.  V.  Poorer  and,  135 

Vogel  (Prof.),  Observations  of  the  Motion  of  Sirius,  355 

Volcanoes  :  the  Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  June  7,  Dr.  H.  J.  John- 
ston-La  vis,  160;  Stoppage  of  Lava  Flow  from  Vesuvius,  16 r  ; 
the  Eruption  of  the  Skapta  Jokul,  Iceland,  in  1783,  Ib8  ;  Ex- 
periments on  Mechanical  Action  on  Rocks  of  Gas  at  High 
Pressure  in  Rapid  Motion,  M.  Daubree,  240 ;  a  Recent 
Eruption  of  StromboH.  Prof.  A.  Ricc6,  280;  the  Eruption  of 
Vesuvius,  June  7,  1891,  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston- Lavis,  320  ;  the 
Slate  of  Vesuvius,  Dr.  Johnston-La  vis,  352 ;  South  Italian, 
Dr.  Johnston- La  vis,  539 


W  =  M^,  W.  Larden,  493,  614 ;  Tommy  Atkins,  Sen.,  493 

Waals's  (Van  der).  Treatment  of  Laplace's  Pressure  in  the  Virial 
Equation,  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  499,  597;  Prof.  P.  G. 
Tait,  546,  627 

Wagner  (VV.  A.),  New  Species  of  Russian  Trap-Spider,  359 

Walker  (Alfred  O.),  the  U&e  of  Startling  Colours  and  Noises, 
106 

Walker  (C.  L.),  Archaeological  Researches  in  South- West  New 
Mexico,  576 

Walker  (J.  J.,  F.R  S.),  some  Notes  on  Ornithology  and  Ento- 
mology, 565 

Wallace  (Dr.  A.  R.):  Natural  Selection  and  Tropical  Nature, 
40  ;  Variation  and  Natural  Selection,  518 

Ward  (F.  O.),  a  Souvenir  of  Faraday,  230 

Ward  (R.  deC),  Climatic  Hi  ^tory  of  Lake  Bonneville,  464 

W^arington  (U.),  Nitrification,  190 

Washington  Magnetic  Observations,  91 

Washington  Medical  Library,  Catalogue  of  the.  Dr.  A.  T. 
Myers,  563 

Water,  the  Bacteriological  Examination  of,  Dr.  Miquel,  Prof- 
Percy  F.  Frankland,  F.R.S.,  513 

Water,  Examination  of,  for  Sanitary  and  Technical  Purposes, 
Henry  Leffmann,  M.D.,  and  William  Beam,  102 

Water  taken  up  by  Plants,  Phenomena  associated  with  Absorp- 
tion and  Flow  of,  Walter  Gardiner,  F.R.S.,  x88 

W^ater,  Potable,  the  Chemical  and  Bacteriological  Examination 
of,  A.  E.  S.  C.  Newman,  74 


November  ■26^  1891      J 


Index 


XXXV 


Water,  Production  of  Local  Anaesthesia  by  Subcutaneous  In- 
jection of,  Dr.  Sleich,  452 

Water,  on  the  Variation  of  the  Density  of,  at  DlfTerent  Tem- 
peratures, Prof.  Mendeleeff,  334 

Water- Birds  that  live  in  the  Woods,  G.  B.  Sennett,  529 

Watkin  (Sir  E.)*  Proposal  to  place  Electric  Light  on  Snowdon, 

352 
Watson  (Arnold  T.),  the  Protective  Device  of  an  Annelid,  507 

Watson  (lohn).  Redevelopment  of  Lost  Limbs  in  Insects,  163 

Watson  (William  Barnett),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  574 

Wattles  and  Wattle-barks,  J.  H.  Maiden,  577 

Wead  (C.  K.),  on  the  Intensity  of  Sound,  ii.  the  Energy  used 

by  Organ- pipes,  310 
Weather  Changes,  a  Cycle  in,  225 
Weather  Charts,  European,  Captain  C.   H.  Seemann  on,  41  ; 

Daily  International,  62 
Weather  Cycles,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  541 
Weather  Cycles  and  Severe  Winters,  591 
Weather  and  Disease,  Herr  Magelssen,  113 
Weather  Prospects  in  North- West  India,  303 
Weather  Record  of  the  Fourteenth  Century,  William  Merle, 

53« 
Weather  Service,  How  can  it  best  promote  Agriculture,  M.  W. 

Harrin^on,  165 
Weber  (Wilhelm  Eduard),  Death  of,  206;  Obituary  Notice  of, 

229 ;  C.  Runge,  272 
Webster's  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  102 
Weeren  (Dr.),  Course  of  Insolubility  of  Pure  Metals  in  Acids, 

259 
Weights  and  Measures :    Proposed  International    System    of, 

C.  J.  Hanssen,  41  ;  Old  Standards  of,  280 ;  the  Discovery  of 

the  Standards  of  1758,  295  ;  International  Committee  of,  475 
Weismanni^m,  a  Difficulty  in,  Prof.  Marcus  Hartog,  613 
Weiss  (Dr.),  Death  of,  388 
Werner  (E.   A.),  Action  of  Acetic  Anhydride  on  Substituted 

Thiocarbamides  and  an  Improved  Method  of  preparing  Aro- 
matic Mustard  Oils,  118 
West  (Prof.  G.  M.),  the  Growth  of  the  Face,  325 
West  Indies,  Botanical  Enterprise  in,  no 
Westergaard  (Prof.  Harald),  Alcoholism,  484 
Westerxnarck  (Edward),  the  History  of  Human  Marriage,  Prof. 

W.  Robertson  Smith,  270 
Wethered  (E'lward),  a  Microscopic  Study  of  the  Inferior  Oolite 

of  the  Cotteswold  Hills,  95 
Wetterhan  (D.),  Force  and  Determinism,  320 
Whetham  (W.  C.  D.),  on  the  Velocity  of  the  Ions,  94 
Whirling  Ring,  the  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a,   Chas.  A.   Carus- 

Wilson,  31 ;  C.  Chree,  82 
White  (A.  H.),  Unusual  Frost  Phenomenon,  519 
White  (W.   H.),  on  the  Shipbuilding  Material  at  the  Naval 

Exhibition,  579 
Whit  worth  Scholarships  and  Exhibitions,  392 
Wilken  (M.),  Death  of,  500 

Wilkinson  (Chas.  Smith),  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of,  574 
Wilks  (Dr.  Samuel),  Physiological  Effects  of  Alcohol,  353 
Willcocks  (Mr.),  the  Engineering  Importance  of  Dongola,  301 
Willey  (Arthur),  the  Later  Larval  Development  of  Amphioxus, 

21,  202 
Williams  (A.  Stanley),  Newly- discovered  Markings  on  Saturn, 

164 
Williams  (George  Huntingdon),  Crystallography  for  Students 

of  Chemistry,  Physics,  and  Mineralogy,  Prof.  John  W.  Judd, 

F.R.S.,  193 
Williams  (H.  G.),  the  Law  of  Tensions,  591 
Williams  (J.  F.),  Newtonite  and  Rectorite,  New  Minerals  of 

the  Kaolinite  Group,  3 10 
Williams  (J.  W.),  the  Telescope,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study 

of  the  Heavens,  342 
Williams  (W.  Mattieu),  Destruction  of  Mosquitoes  519 
Wilson  (E.),  on  a  Rhaetic  Section  at  Pylle  Hill,  Bristol,  94 
Wilson   (W.   E.) :    on  the   Absorption  of  Heat  in  the  Solar 

Atmosphere,  453  ;  a  Rare  Phenomenon,  494 
Winchell  (Prof.  Alexander),  Obituary  Notice  of,  601 
Wind,   Barometer  at  Ben  Nevis,  Observatory  in  Relation  to, 

Dr.  Burhan,  167 
Wind,  is  Influenza  Spread  by  the,  H.  H.  Hildebrandssoo,  165 


Winds  of  Ben  Nevis,  the.  R.  T.  Omond  and  A.  Rankin,  191 

Wine,  the  Yeast  of,  A.  Rommier,  512 

Winter  (John  L.)f  Technical  Education  for  Farmers,  Farriers, 

and  Engine- Drivers,  320 
Winters  in  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  Old-time,  Mr.  Perley 

on,  3S3 
Wishaw  (Bernhard)  and  E.  B.  Sargant,  a  Guide-book  to  Books, 

196 
Witkowski  (A.  W.):  the   Expansion  and   Compressibility  of 

Atmospheric  Air,  312  ;  an  Electrical  Thermometer  for  Low 

Temperatures,  312 
Wlislocki  (Dr.  H.  von),  on  the  Handicrafts  of  the  Hungarian 

Gypsies,  630 
Wood  (R.  W.),  Consumption  of  Gas  Jets  under  Pressure,  189 
Woeikof  (Dr.),  Snow-slips  in  the  Kazbek  Glaciers,  600 
Wolf's  Comet,  Re-discovery  of  (1884  III.),  69 
Wolf's  Periodic  Comet  (^  1891),  209,  478 
Wolter  (A.),  Use  of  a-Monobromnaphtalin  in  Study  of  Ultra- 
violet Rays  of  Spectrum,  207 
Wolves  in  Ontario,  18 
Wood,    Protection  against   Decay,  Chemical   Methods  of,  O. 

Chanute,  476 
Wood  (W.  E.),  Lightning  Spectra,  504 
Woodhead  (Dr.),  on  the  Milk  and  Meat  of  Tuberculous  Animals, 

396 
Woodhead  (Sims,  M.D.),  Bacteria  and  their  Products,  246 
Woodwork  in  Public  Elementary  Schools,  Instruction  in,  the 

City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute  and,  327 
Woolls  (Rev.  Dr.  W.),  the  Classification  of  Eucalypts,  41 
World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  629 
Wright  (G.  Frederick),  the  Ice  Age  in  North  America,  Prof. 

T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  537 
Wright  (Prof.),  the  Ice  Age  in  North  America,  480 
Writing,   Hygienic    Advanta;7es  of  Erect  as    compared    with 

Slanting,  Drs.  Von  Reuss  and  Lorenz,  325 
Wroughton  (Mr.),  Ant-imitating  Bug,  262 

Yale  University,  Observatory  of,  Dr.  Elkin,  283 
Yarkand,  Coleoptera  of,  318 
Yeast  of  Wine,  the,  A.  Rommier,  512 
Yellow-Fever,  Preventive  Inoculations  of,  392 
Young  (C.  A.),  Lessons  in  Astronomy,  342 
Young  (Dr.   S.),  Dibenzyl- Ketone,  287;    Vapour-pressures  ot 
Mercury,  287 

Ziehen  (Dr.  Th.),  Physiological  Psychology,  145 
Zimbabye  Ruins,  Mr.  Theodore  Bent's  Investigation  of,  451 
Zodiacal  Counter  Glow,  Observations  of  the,  E.  E.   Barnard, 

283 
Zodiacal  Light  as   related  to   Aurora,  O.  T.  Sherman,   310 ; 

M.  A.  Veeder,  631 
Zoology:  Additions  to  the  Zoological  Gardens,  19,  42,  69,  89, 
114,  137.  163.  186,  208,  234,  259,  283,  304,  327,  354,  391, 
416,  438,  453,  478,  502,  551,  577,  601,  631  ;  the  Insect- 
house  in,  103,  i68  ;  the  Scorpions  at  the,  163  ;  R.  I.  Pocock, 
198 ;  Opening  of  Stall  for  Sale  of  Zoological  Photographs, 
206;  for  Boston  U.S.A.,  Projected,  529;  Zoological  So- 
ciety, 48,  135,  143,  239 ;  Anniversary  Meeting,  22 ;  Zoo- 
logical Society  of  Philadelphia,  113;  Cordylophora  lacustris 
in  Norfolk,  John  BiJgood,  106  ;  the  Destruction  of  American 
Fauna,  113  ;  Large  Duncan  Island  Tortoise,  113  ;  the  Habits 
of  the  Moose,  J.  G.  Lockhart,  114  ;  Synute  pulchella^  a  New 
Species  of  Calcareous  Sponge,  A.  Dendy,  120;  Porpoises  in 
the  Victoria  Nyanza,  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  124;  W. 
Ball,  F.R.S.,  198;  the  Zoological  Station  at  Naples,  W. 
Percy  Sladen,  124;  Porpoises  in  African  Rivers,  Willy 
Kiikenthal,  1 75  ;  Notoryctes  iyphlops^  the  New  Australian 
Marsupial,  135,  18S  ;  Birth  of  Sea  Lion  at  Brighton  Aquarium, 
185  ;  Sherborn's  Index  Generum  et  Specierum  Animalium, 
207 ;  the  Australian  Marsupial  Mole,  Notoryctes  typhlops^ 
Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  449;  Animals  of  the  World 
arranged  according  to  their  Geographical  Distribution,  492  ; 
Zoological  Wall  Pictures,  492  ;  Giraffe  and  its  Allies,  524  ; 
Mr.  W.  L.  Sclater's  Projected  Collecting  Expedition  to 
Upper  Assam,  59S 


-^^ 


A    WEEKLY    ILLUSTRATED    JOURNAL    OF'  SCIENCE. 

Of  Naiurt  trusts  the  r. 


"  To  Iki  salid  ground 

ind  -aihUh  buUds  far  af«."— WORDS WOKTH. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  7,  1891. 


FOSSIL  INSECTS. 
The  Fonil  Imicti  of  North  America,  ■with  Notes  on  some 
European  Species.      By  Samuel  H.  Seudder.     a  Vols. 
4<o,   Illustrated.     (New  York:    Macmillan    and    Co., 
1890.) 
■yHE  name  of  Mr.  S.  H.  Seudder  isfamiliar  to  students 
A      of  every  branch  of  zoology  through  his  invaluable 
"Nomenclator  Zoologicus."     Though   that  work  alone 
would  be  sufficient  to  earn  the  gratitude  of  zoologists,  ) 
the  author's  claims  to  especial   distinction   really  rest  1 
the  results  of  his  investigations  into  the  structure  and  d 
tribution  of  fossil  insects,  and  more  particularly  those  of 
North  America. 

The  magnificent  work  before  us,  containing  consider- 
ably more  than  a  thousand  pages  of  letterpress,  and  illus- 
trated by  no  less  than  sixty-two  beautifully-executed 
plates,  as  well  as  by  numerous  figures  in  the  text,  con. 
tains,  in  a  collective  form,  practically  the  whole  of  the 
author's  contributions  to  the  history  of  North  American 
fossil  insects,  together  with  much  important  information 
relating  to  those  of  Europe.  In  reality,  however,  it  treats 
of  more  than  is  revealed  by  its  title,  since  the  author  in- 
cludes under  the  head  of  insects  not  only  the  animals 
usually  thus  designated  (which  he  distinguishes  as  Hexa- 
pods),  but  likewise  the  Myriopods  and  Arachnids.  Since 
the  issue  of  the  work  is  limited  to  100  copies  (each  sepa- 
rately numbered),  it  is  probable  that  it  will  soon  acquire 
an  adventitious  value  above  that  which  it  possesses  from 
its  intrinsic  merits.  Apart  from  the  author's  admirable 
account  of  fossil  insects  (in  the  larger  sense  of  the  term) 
contributed  to  Prof  von  Zittel's  "  PalEontologie,"  the 
work  is  the  only  one  giving  an  exhaustive  history  of  the 
subject,  and  is  therefore  invaluable  to  all  interested  in 
,  this  branch  of  study.  And  the  excellent  manner  in  which 
the  volumes  are  turned  out  demands  a  meed  of  praise 
aKke  to  author,  artists,  and  printers.  Indeed,  the  only 
serious  fault  in  the  book  is  that  in  the  first  volume  no 
explanation  of  the  plates  is  given  otherwise  than  in  the 
text,  at  the  close  of  the  articles  they  severally  illustrate. 
NO.   1123,  VOL.  44] 


The  first  of  the  two  volumes  treats  exclusively  of  the 
pre-Tertiary  insects,  and  consists  of  a  reprint  of  upwards 
of  twenty  articles  and  essays  published  in  various  serials, 
dating  from  December  1866  to  September  1S90.  The 
second  volume,  which  is  a  replica  of  the  one  recently 
issued  by  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey  of  the  Territories, 
formerly  under  the  charge  of  the  late  Dr.  F.  W.  Hayden, 
contains  practically  the  whole  of  what  has  been  written 
concerning  the  Tertiary  fossil  insects  of  North  America, 
in  which  field  the  author,  with  one  small  exception,  is  the 
sole  worker. 

In  the  first  volume,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  introduc- 
tion, the  whole  series  of  essays  shows  the  manner  in 
which  the  author's  views  have  been  gradually  modified 
in  certain  resprecis  with  increasing  knowledge ;  and  we 
think  he  has  exercised  a  very  wise  discretion  in  allowing 
(he  articles  to  stand  as  they  were  written,  and  thus  per- 
mitting the  gradual  evolution  of  his  later  views  to  be 

The  earliest  known  true  insect  is  Palaoblaitina  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  Upper  Silurian  of  France,  regarded  by 
its  describer  as  a  cockroach,  although  considered  by  our 
author  as  probably  one  of  the  Neuropteroid  Paheodictyo- 
ptera  (p.  286) ;  but  with  this  exception  the  insects  from 
the  Upper  Devonian  of  the  United  States  claim  the 
earliest  position.  It  is,  however,  only  (as  the  author  tells 
us  elsewhere)  when  we  reach  the  coal-measures  that  we 
find  insect-faunas  of  any  considerable  extent,  such  as 
those  of  France  and  Illinois.  The  Permian,  if,  with  the 
author,  we  refer  the  coal  of  Saarbriick  to  the  Carboniferous, 
is,  however,  poor  in  insects  ;  and  the  Trias,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  that  of  parts  of  Colorado,  almost  barren.  The 
later  Secondary  beds  of  America  are  likewise  very  barren 
of  in  sect- remains,  so  that  we  have  to  turn  to  Europre  to 
gain  any  definite  knowledge  of  the  fauna  of  that  dale. 
In  the  Tertiaries  abundant  insect-faunas  occur  in  several 
river  and  lake-basins  of  both  hemispheres ;  two  of  the 
most  celebrated  being  the  Florissant  basin  of  Colorado, 
and  that  of  CEningen  on  the  Rhine. 
The  wings  of  the  Palaeozoic  insects  being  those  parts 
the  body  which  are  most  commonly  preserved  in  a 
satisfactory  condition,  Mr.  Seudder,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  studies,  devoted  particular  attention  to  this 


J 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


subject ;  and  the  first  volume  commences  with  an  inquiry 
into  the  relationship  of  the  Neuropteroid  insects  of  the 
North  American  Carboniferous  to  the  existing  Ncuroptera, 
as  exemplified  by  the  structure  of  their  wings.  It  would 
be  out  of  place  here  to  allude  to  the  variations  in  the 
structure  of  the  veins  of  the  wings  presented  by  different 
groups  of  insects,  and  their  derivation  from  a  common 
plan  of  structure  ;  and  we  may  accordingly  proceed  to 
notice  the  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  whole  volume. 
This  is  the  essay  on  Palaeodictyoptera,  commencing  on 
p.  283.  Here  we  have  a  detailed  account  of  the  reasons 
which  induced  the  author  to  separate  the  whole  of  the 
Palaeozoic  insects  from  the  existing  orders  under  the 
name  of  Palaeodictyoptera — a  term  first  proposed  by 
Goldenberg  in  lieu  of  Dohrn's  preoccupied  Dictyoptera, 
which  had  been  suggested  for  an  order  typified  by  the 
Permian  Eugereon,  This  order  is  defined  more  by  the 
generalized  characters  of  its  various  members,  and  the 
lack  of  those  special  characteristics  which  are  the  pro- 
perty of  existing  orders,  than  by  any  definite  peculiarities 
of  its  own.  One  of  its  most  important  features  is,  how- 
ever, that  the  two  pairs  of  wings  are  always  closely 
similar  to  one  another,  being  equally  membranous,  and 
with  the  six  principal  veins  always  developed.  With  the 
exception  of  a  few  cockroach -like  insects  found  in  the 
American  Trias,  the  Palaeodictyoptera  not  only  includes 
all  the  insects  of  the  Palaeozoic,  but  is  restricted  to  that 
period,  and  is,  therefore,  extremely  convenient  to  the  geo- 
logist. The  order  is  divided  into  various  sections,  which  are 
severally  regarded  as  the  ancestors  of  the  existing  orders 
whose  names  they  bear.  Thus,  the  Palaeozoic  cock- 
roaches constitute  the  Orthopteroid  Palaeodictyoptera  ; 
while  we  have  a  Neuropteroid  section  represented  by 
Platephentera^  Miamia^  &c. ;  and  an  Hemipteroid  one 
by  the  above-mentioned  Eugereon,  The  presence  in 
wood  of  Carboniferous  age  of  borings  similar  to  those 
made  by  modern  Coleoptera,  further  suggests  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Coleopteroid  section  of  the  order.  The  author 
(p.  320)  considers  that  such  Coleopteroids  "at  first  showed 
no  greater  distinction  between  the  front  and  hind  wings 
than  existed  in  other  Palaeodictyoptera ;  but  afterwards 
those  races  were  preserved  in  which  the  thickening  of  the 
membrane  of  the  upper  wings  the  better  protected  the 
insects  in  their  burrows  for  the  marriage  flight  in  open 


air." 

The  author  gives  a  still  fuller  account  of  the  reasons 
for  adopting  the  order  Palaeodictyoptera,  in  the  essay  on 
"  Winged  Insects  from  a  Palaeontological  Point  of  View  " 
(p-  317))  from  which  the  preceding  extract  is  taken. 
Great  stress  is  there  laid  on  the  fact  that  the  differentia- 
tion of  wing-structure  characteristic  of  modern  insects  did 
not  exist  in  those  of  Palaeozoic  times ;  all  of  them  having 
a  common  type  of  neuration  barely  admitting  of  division 
into  families.  The  differences  in  the  organs  of  the 
mouth,  as  exemplified  by  the  biting  Progonoblaitina  (a 
Palaeozoic  cockroach)  and  the  suctorial  Eugereon^  are 
considered  merely  as  physiological  adaptations  of  no 
morphological  value  (pp.  284,  285). 

The  facts  and  arguments  detailed  by  the  author  leave, 
then,  no  doubt  as  to  the  close  affinities  and  undiffer- 
entiated characters  of  all  the  Palaeozoic  insects  ;  and  also 
that  the  group  Palaeodictyoptera  includes  the  ancestors 
of  a  considerable  number  of  the  existing  orders  of  insects. 

NO.    II  23,  VOL.  44] 


Since,  however,  all  the  latter  are  clearly  divergent 
branches  from  one  or  more  common  stocks,  and  are  in 
no  sense  ancestral  to  one  another,  the  suggestion  arises 
whether  it  might  not  be  advisable  to  group  all  the  existing 
orders  together — say,  under  the  name  of  the  Neodictyo- 
pterinc  "  series  " ;  and  to  rank  the  Palaeodictyoptera  as  a 
*'  series  *'  of  equal  value,  in  which  the  various  members 
were  not  sufficiently  differentiated  from  one  another  to 
constitute  "orders."  It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that, 
while  the  Palaeozoic  insects  show  ancestral  forms  of  those 
recent  orders  grouped  together  by  Packard  as  the 
Heterometabola,  they  include  no  ancestral  types  of  the 
more  specialized  orders — Lepidoptera,  Hymenoptera,  and 
Diptera— constituting  the  Metabola.  We  have,  therefore, 
proof  that  these  specialized  types  are  of  later  date ; 
and  it  thus  appears  that  palaeontological  evidence  is  in 
favour  of  Packard's  classification.^  Of  the  existing  orders 
of  insects  it  appears,  indeed,  that  while  the  Neuroptcra, 
Orthoptera,  and  Coleoptera  are  more  or  less  fully  repre- 
sented in  the  Trias,  it  is  not  till  the  Lias  that  we  meet 
with  Hemiptera  (Rhynchota),  although  Eugereon  may  be 
taken  as  sufficient  evidence  that  a  Triassic  member  of 
that  order  must  have  existed.  None  of  the  Meta- 
bola are  known  before  the  Lias,  the  Diptera  and 
Hymenoptera  dating  from  that  epoch,  while  the  Lepido- 
ptera are  unknown  till  the  Middle  Jurassic. 

Though  space  does  not  permit  of  much  further  reference 
to  the  true  insects  of  the  pre-Tertiary  epochs,  we  cannot 
pass  over  the  interesting  essay  (p.  323)  on  the  oldest 
known  insect  larvae.  These  larvae,  which  appear  to  be 
very  abundant  in  the  Trias  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
are  known  as  Mormolucoides  {Paiephemera\  and  there 
has  been  much  discussion  as  to  whether  they  indicate 
Coleopteroid  or  Neuropteroid  insects.  Mr.  Scudder's 
mode  of  treating  this  difficult  question  is  a  model  of 
palaeontological  induction.  After  carefully  reviewing 
all  the  evidence,  he  concludes  that  the  fossils  come 
nearer  to  the  larvae  of  the  Neuropterous  families  Per- 
lidcB,  EphemeridcB,  and  Sialidce,  and  that  the  relationship 
is  nearest  to  the  latter  family,  which  belongs  to  the  true 
Neuroptera.  Another  exceedingly  interesting  article  (p.  433) 
refers  to  the  cockroaches  of  the  Fairplay  beds,  Colorado. 
Several  of  the  species  from  these  beds  belong  to  the 
Palaeodictyoptera,  showing  the  complete  interdependence 
of  two  of  the  veins  of  the  fore-wing  characteristic  of  the 
Palaeozoic  types.  Others,  however,  are  true  Orthopteroid 
cockroaches,  and  we  thus  seem  to  have  presented  to  our 
view  the  very  period  when  the  Palaeodictyoptera  were 
passing  into  the  Orthoptera.  From  the  mingled  Palaeo- 
zoic and  Mesozoic  facies  presented  by  their  insect  fauna^ 
the  author  is  disposed  to  refer  the  Fairplay  beds  to  the 
Trias ;  although,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case,  the  plant- 
evidence  does  not  accord  with  that  presented  by  the 

animals. 

Passing  to  the  Palaeozoic  Myriopods,  we  notice  that 
while  all  the  forms  described  in  the  earlier  essays  are 
clearly  referable  to  extinct  ordinal  groups,  the  progress 
of  discovery  has  recently  shown  (p.  393)  that  side  by  side 
with  these  lost  types  there  existed  in  the  Coal-measures 
of  Illinois  Centipedes  closely  allied  to  existing  forms,  and 

*  Many  authorities,  attaching  more  importance  to  the  nature  of  the  meta- 
roorphoHis,  transfer  the  Coleoptera  to  the  higher  ^roup  (HolometaboU),  m 
which  some  also  include  the  true  Neuroptera,  placing  the  Pseudoneuropler^ 
with  the  Orthoptera. 


MvY  7,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


belonging  to  the  same  ordinal  group  (Chilopoda).  The 
essays  respectively  commencing  on  pp.  195  and  247  of  the 
first  volume  give  the  full  history  of  the  specimens  on 
which  the  author  founded  the  orders  Protosyngnatha  and 
Archipol3ri>oda.  The  former  group  is  represented  only  by 
a  single  specimen  from  the  Carboniferous  of  Illinois, 
described  as  Palaocampaj  this  curious  creature  being 
of  small  size,  and  in  its  short  body,  with  pencils  of 
bristles  on  the  back,  presenting  a  superficial  resemblance 
to  the  well-known  larva  of  the  tiger-moth.  Of  more 
interest  are  the  Archipolypoda,  confined  in  America  to 
the  Carboniferous  and  Permian,  although  represented  in 
the  "Old  Red"  of  Scotland.  A  restoration  in  Plate 
vii.  A,  of  one  of  the  largest  of  these  creatures  {Acantker- 
fesUs)  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  their  extraordinary 
appearance ;  the  animal  being  represented  as  emerging 
from  the  water  and  ascending  the  stem  of  a  Lepidoden- 
droiu  The  figured  species  attained  a  length  of  about 
one  foot ;  its  amphibious  habits  being  inferred  from  the 
presence  of  lateral  apertures  presumed  to  be  branchial. 
The  Archipolypoda  agree  with  the  Diplopoda,  or  Mille- 
pedes (and  thereby  differ  from  the  Chilopoda),  in  having 
two  ventral  plates,  each  carrying  a  pair  of  limbs,  to  every 
dorsal  plate,  but  differ  in  that  each  dorsal  plate  occupies 
at  most  only  two-thirds,  instead  of  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  circumference  of  the  body.  The  larger  species,  like 
the  figured  one,  were  further  distinguished  by  carrying 
rows  of  long  spines  on  the  dorsal  plates.  The  smaller 
forms  originally  discovered  by  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  in  the 
Sigillarian  stems  of  Nova  Scotia,  which  were  doubtless 
of  purely  terrestrial  habits,  and  have  been  described  as 
Xylobius  and  Archiulus^  appear  to  indicate  a  distinct 
group  of  this  order  approximating  to  the  modern 
Millepedes. 

As  an  instance  of  the  danger  of  drawing  inferences  in 
palaeontology  from  negative  evidence,  we  may  quote  a 
sentence  from  p.  196  of  the  first  volume,  where  the  author 
states  that  "  The  Diplopoda  are  universally  considered 
the  lower  of  the  two  in  their  organization,  and  it  is  there- 
fore not  surprising  to  find  that  no  Chilopoda  have  been 
found  in  rocks  older  than  the  Tertiary  series,  while 
Myriopods  with  two  pairs  of  legs  corresponding  to 
each  dorsal  plate  range  back  through  the  entire 
series  of  rocks  to  the  Coal-measures.'*  This  inference 
is,  of  course,  completely  traversed  by  the  above-men- 
tioned discovery  of  Carboniferous  Chilopoda ;  and  it 
may  be  suggested  whether  the  presumed  coalescence  of 
two  dorsal  segments  in  the  Diplopoda  and  Archipolypoda 
is  not  a  character  in  advance  of  the  Chilopoda. 

The  only  essay  devoted  to  Arachnids  in  the  first 
Tolume  is  the  one  commencing  on  p.  419,  which  was 
originally  published  for  the  first  time  in  September  1890. 
This  essay  treats  of  the  Palaeozoic  order  Anthracomarti, 
and  of  that  division  of  the  Pedi palpi  known  as  the 
Phrynidea ;  the  Scorpions  being  reserved  for  a  future 
occasion.  The  Arachnids  differ  from  both  the  insects 
and  Myriopods  in  being  represented  by  an  existing  order 
(Scorpions)  as  far  back  as  the  Silurian.  Indeed,  the 
only  extinct  order  of  the  class  is  the  Anthracomarti, 
which  is  confined  to  the  Carboniferous,  and  is  regarded 
as  having  some  points  of  connection  with  the  Adelarthro- 
somata,  as  represented  by  the  Phalan^idcs  ('*  Harvest- 
men '^y  and  others  with  the  Pedipalpi,  the  relationship 

NO.   1 1 23,  VOL.  44] 


being  on  the  whole  nearer  to  the  latter.  They  are  charac- 
terized by  their  somewhat  depressed  bodies,  in  which  the 
abdomen  is  distinct  from  the  cephalothorax,  and  consists 
of  a  single  mass  composed  of  from  four  to  nine  distinct 
joints  ;  while  the  palpi  are  short,  and  do  not  terminate 
in  pincers  or  claws.  With  the  possible  exception  of  the 
Scorpions,  these  appear  to  have  been  the  most  abundant 
of  the  Carboniferous  Arachnids,  and  were  represented  by 
a  number  of  genera  ;  those  described  in  the  essay  before 
us  being  arranged  in  two  families  and  six  genera.  In 
the  Phrynidean  section  of  the  Pedipalpi,  containing  the 
Spider-Scorpions,  Mr.  Scudder  describes  a  new  Car- 
boniferous genus,  Craophonus,  besides  giving  further 
characters  of  a  previously-described  species  oi  Geralinura^ 
whose  nearest  living  ally  is  Thelyphonus^  of  the  tropical 
regions  of  Asia,  America,  and  Australia. 

Passing  to  the  second  volume,  on  the  Tertiary  insects, 
of  which  only  a  very  brief  notice  can  be  given,  we  may 
touch  upon  a  few  points  mentioned  by  the  author  in  the 
introduction.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  circumstances 
to  which  he  refers  is  the  extraordinary  profusion  in  which 
insect  remains  have  been  preserved  in  some  of  the 
Tertiary  lake-basins  of  North  America,  this  being  espe- 
cially the  case  with  the  Florissant  basin  of  Colorado, 
belonging  to  the  Oligocene  epoch.  Not  less  remarkable 
is  the  fact  that  in  "  hardly  a  single  instance  has  the  same 
species  been  found  at  two  distinct  localities "  ;  and  this 
not  only  when  the  localities  are  separated  by  hundreds  of 
miles,  but  even  when  they  are  comparatively  near.  The 
author  considers  that  this  peculiarity  may  be  explained 
by  the  absence  of  exact  synchronism  between  any  of 
the  insectiferous  beds,  and  he  is  thus  led  to  infer  that 
insects  will  probably  afford  very  valuable  aid  in  deter- 
mining geological  horizons,  the  modification  of  species 
having  progressed  much  more  rapidly  than  is  the  case 
with  plants. 

Another  point  to  which  attention  is  directed  relates  to 
the  extraordinary  number  of  forms  known  only  by  a 
single  specimen  ;  the  author  stating  that,  in  beds  whence 
thousands  of  insects  have  been  obtained,  every  third  or 
fourth  specimen  will  prove  to  be  a  new  form.  The  in- 
terest of  these  investigations  is  enhanced  by  the  discovery 
that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  Tertiary  insects  must 
be  referred  to  extinct  genera  ;  the  author  considering  that 
a  large  number  of  the  species  he  has  placed  in  existing 
genera  will  eventually  have  to  be  removed  to  new  ones. 
We  trust,  however,  that  Mr.  Scudder  will  not  burden  the 
science  with  more  new  terms  than  are  absolutely  essen- 
tial ;  more  especially  since,  if  he  favours  us  with  a  new 
edition  of  his  "  Nomenclator,"  he  will  have  the  additional 
labour  of  recording  them  a  second  time. 

Following  the  introduction  there  is  a  chapter  devoted 
to  the  American  localities  where  fossil  Tertiary  insects 
are  most  abundantly  found.  In  addition  to  the  Florissant 
basin  of  Colorado,  there  are  deposits  of  approximately 
the  same  age  on  the  White  River  in  Colorado  and  Utah,  as 
well  as  on  the  Green  River  in  Wyoming.  Less  productive 
spots  include  a  town  in  Wyoming,  rejoicing  in  the  appro- 
priate name  of  "  Fossil,"  as  well  as  various  places  in 
British  Columbia,  Ontario,  and  Pennsylvania.  There  are 
also  a  certain  number  of  insects— mostly  Coleoptera — 
from  Pleistocene  or  recent  bone-caves  and  other  super- 
ficial deposits. 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


By  far  the  greater  bulk  of  the  enormous  collection 
with  which  the  author  has  had  to  deal  was  obtained 
from  the  Florissant  basin  ;  and  it  is  to  these  alone  that 
our  few  remaining  observations  will  refer.  The  mass  of 
material  from  these  deposits  is,  however,  so  vast  that  in 
the  present  volume  (large  as  it  is)  the  author  has  found  it 
possible  to  deal  only  with  the  Arachnids,  Myriopods,  and 
the  Neuroptera,  Hemiptera,  and  Orthoptera  among  the 
true  insects.  Some  introductory  remarks  are,  however, 
given  as  to  the  relative  proportions  in  which  the  Lepido- 
ptera,  Hymenopter.i,  Diptera,  and  Coleoptera,  are  repre- 
sented in  these  beds. 

The  total  number  of  specimens  of  insects  obtained 
from  Florissant  during  the  labours  of  a  single  summer  is 
estimated  to  be  more  than  double  that  obtained  during 
thirty  years  at  the  celebrated  European  locality,  (Eningen.^ 
A  remarkable  difference  occurs  between  the  relative 
number  of  species  of  the  diriferent  orders  of  insects 
found  at  the  two  places.  Thus,  while  at  (Eningen  the 
Diptera  are  less  than  7  and  the  Hymenoptera  less 
than  14  per  cent,  of  the  whole  ;  at  Florissant  they  reach 
respectively  30  and  40  per  cent.  On  th*  other  hand, 
while  the  CEningen  Coleoptera  form  nearly  half  of  the 
whole  number,  at  Florissant  they  fall  to  13  per  cent.  The 
great  percentage  of  Hymenoptera  is  due  to  the  prodigious 
number  of  ants ;  in  which  respect,  as  also  in  the  small 
proportion  of  beetles,  the  fauna  agrees  better  with  that 
of  Radaboj,  in  Croatia,  to  which  it  likewise  approximates 
more  closely  in  age.  It  would  take  too  much  space  to 
enter  into  the  details  of  the  proportions  in  which  the 
various  families  of  the  different  orders  are  represented  in 
these  be  ds ;  but  it  appears  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Lepidoptera,  nearly  every  prevalent  family  may  be 
demonstrated  to  have  been  in  existence  at  that  epoch. 
Among  the  beetles,  about  three-fifihs  belong  to  the 
normal  series,  and  the  remaining  two-fifchs  to  the 
weevils  ;  water-beetles  being  unexpectedly  scarce.  Lepi- 
doptera are  rare,  only  eight  species  of  butterflies,  all 
referable  to  different  and  extinct  genera,  and  about  the 
same  number  of  moths  being  at  present  known.  It  is  of 
especial  interest  to  note  that,  while  seven  of  the  eight 
butterflies  belong  to  the  Nymphalidce^  no  less  than  two 
of  these  are  referable  to  the  sub-family  Libythcince,  the 
members  of  which,  although  found  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe,  are  fewer  in  number  than  many  other  groups,  con- 
sisting only  of  ten  species,  referable  to  the  single  genus 
Udythea.  It  is,  therefore,  a  legitimate  inference  that 
the  Ubytheina  have  been  on  the  wane  since  the  Oligo- 
cene  or  some  later  Tertiary  epoch.  Some  writers,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  regard  Libythea  as  the  representative  of  a 
family  rather  than  a  sub-family. 

In  taking  leave  of  the  author,  we  congratulate  him  on 
the  patience  and  perseverance  which  have  carried  him 
thus  far  through  a  tas'c  of  unusual  magnitude  and  diffi- 
culty, and  hope  ere  long  to  have  the  pleasure  of  welcoming 
its  completion.  With  the  widely-scattered  literature  of 
palaeontology  ever  increasing,  the  importance  and  value 
of  monographs  like  the  present,  where  the  whole  subject 
is  collectively  treated  by  a  master-hand,  cannot  be  too 
highly  estimated.  R.  Lydekker. 

'  G^ningen  is  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhin:.  between  Shaffhausen 
and  Constance,  and  i^  in  Baden,  and  not,  as  the  author  states  on  p.  26,  in 
Bawria. 


NO.    II  23,  VOL.  44] 


5 TA  TISTICS  OF  POP ULA  TION  AND  DISEASE, 

Studies  in  Statistics.     By  George   Blundell  Longstaff. 

(London  :  Edward  Stanford,  1891.) 
it  Q' TUDIES**  is  a  title  appropriate  to  these  somewhat 

^  detached  investigations  concerning  at  least  three 
different  classes  of  subject.  The  first  few  chapters,  relat- 
ing to  vital  statistics,  are  described  by  the  author  as  "of 
an  introductory  and  elementary  character";  though  the 
discussion  which  is  contained  in  one  of  them,  on  the 
fluctuation  of  death-rates,  varying  according  to  the  cause 
of  death,  does  not  appear  to  us  so  very  rudimentary. 

A  great  part  of  the  book  is  occupied  with  the  ''growth 
of  population  "  :  whether  by  "  natural  increase  "  or  immi- 
gration. England  and  Wales  alone  add  1000  a  day  to 
the  population  of  the  world.  "  Over  and  above  reserve 
men  who  fill  up  the  gaps  caused  by  death,  a  fresh  regi- 
ment at  full  war  strength  daily  marches  to  the  front" 
To  what  quarters  are  they  marching  ?  The  answer  in- 
volves a  consideration  of  intra-migration,  as  Mr.  Long- 
staff  terms  the  migration  between  the  several  divisions 
of  the  same  kingdom.  The  inquiry  brings  into  view  the 
relatively  slow  increase  of  rural  as  compared  with  urban 
districts — a  contrast  not  peculiar  to  the  United  Kingdom. 

These  and  other  facts,  extracted  from  records  acces- 
sible to  all,  are  not  absolutely  new  to  the  student  of 
Statistics.  Yet  they  excite  gratitude,  almost  as  much  as 
if  they  were  wholly  due  to  the  author  ;  enhanced  as  they 
are  by  the  wealth  of  his  inferences  and  the  luxury  of  his 
illustrations. 

The  statistics  of  the  growth  of  America  are  less  familiar 
to  the  English  reader.  By  a  careful  analysis  of  the  Ame- 
rican census,  Mr.  Longstaff  estimates  that  nearly  one-third 
of  the  whole  population  (almost  2S  per  cent.)  is  ** foreign"; 
considering  as  foreign  not  only  those  born  of  foreign 
parents  (whether  in  America  or  elsewhere),  but  also  half 
of  those  who,  though  native-born,  have  one  foreign  parent. 
This  heterogeneity  of  population  constitutes  a  grave  social 
and  political  danger  ;  particularly  in  the  case  of  the 
rapidly-growing  coloured  population.  In  more  than  one 
sense,  says  the  author,  a  black  cloud  may  be  said  to  hang 
over  the  future  of  the  Republic. 

Canada  is  not  equally  threatened  by  the  dangers  arising 
from  a  mixed  population.  Yet,  even  in  Canada,  the  fact 
that  the  persons  of  French  race  form  about  a  third  part 
of  the  population,  and  increase  more  rapidly  than  any  other 
known  people,  "  cannot  but  be  a  source  of  apxiety  and 
possible  trouble  in  the  future."  The  solidity  of  our  Aus- 
tralian colonies  is  more  perfectly  satisfactory. 

Surveying  the  British  Empire,  the  writer  exhibits  the 
growth  of  the  colonies  relatively  to  the  mother  country 
during  the  last  half-century.  Whereas  the  ratio  between 
the  populations  of  the  colonies  and  the  United  Kingdom 
was  7:  100  in  1841,  it  had  become  21  :  100  in  1881. 
Entertaining  the  idea  of  an  Im]>erial  Federation,  our  sta- 
tistician thus- estimates  the  balance  of  power  in  the 
imagined  Federal  Parliament.  If  every  100,000  of 
white  population  are  entitled  to  one  representative,  then 
61  per  cent,  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  would  be 
English  ;  the  proportions  for  Scotland  and  Ireland  would 
be  9  and  12  per  cent,  respectively. 

But  the  political  interest  of  these  estimates  must  not 
detain  us  from  what  is  perhaps  the  most  severely  scientific 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


part  of  the  work  before  us— namely,  the  investigation  of 
the  causes  of  disease.  This  medical  portion  of  the  volume 
may,  as  the  author  fears,  "  prove  too  technical  for  many 
readers";  and,  perhaps  we  should  add,  critics.  The 
student  of  such  statistics  must  bring  much  knowledge  in 
order  to  carry  away  much.  The  need  of  this  requisite 
may  be  illustrated  by  one  of  Mr.  Longstaff's  examples. 
Certain  of  the  curves  which  he  traces  show  a  remarkable 
correspondence  between  the  outbursts  of  diphtheria  and 
a  group  of  other  diseases,  amongst  which  are  croup  and 
cynanche  maligna.  And  yet  between  the  two  latter  diseases 
and  diphtheria  the  correspondence  at  some  dates  is  not 
so  close  as  the  suggested  theory  desiderates.  Diphtheria 
in  1859  rose  enormously,  while  the  other  diseases  did  not 
rise  simultaneously,  or  even  fell.  But,  as  we  understand 
the  matter,  the  theory  is  saved  by  the  surmise  that  many 
cases  previously  ascribed  to  croup  and  cynanche  maligna, 
were  put  down  to  diphtheria  in  1859  and  afterwards,  when 
the  stir  created  by  letters  in  the  newspapers  had  excited 
the  attention  of  observers  to  the  "  new  disease.*'  This  is 
one  of  those  explanations  of  figures  which  an  outsider 
would  probably  not  even  have  thought  of,  and  the  import- 
ance of  which  he  is  little  qualified  to  estimate. 

The  "  aetiology  "  of  the  subject  must  be  left  to  the  ex- 
pert. The  general  reader,  if  he  cannot  penetrate  to  the 
laws  of  causation,  may  at  least  admire  the  uniformity  of 
results  which  the  author's  diagrams  exhibit.  The  nature 
of  some  of  his  observations,  and  the  labour  and  care 
which  they  required,  are  indicated  in  the  following 
quotation  : — 

"  The  object  of  my  investigation  was  .  .  .  [principally] 
to  see  whether  any,  and  if  so  what,  relations  subsist 
between  diseases  believed  to  be  distinct  ...  I  accord- 
ingly traced  eighty-nine  curves  representing  the  death- 
rates  per  million  in  England  and  Wales  from  as  many 
'alleged  causes.'  ...  By  a  simple  application  of  the  law 
of  combinations,  it  will  be  found  that  to  compare  all  these 
eighty-nine  curves  two  and  two  together,  would  involve 
3916  operations.  Of  these  I  have  as  yet  actually  made 
only  1425." 

This  comparison  of  curves  representing  the  fluctuation 
of  death-rates  for  different  diseases  forms  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  pieces  of  statistics  which  we  have  ever 
seen.  We  may  allude  in  particular  to  the  comparison 
of  erysipelas,  scarlatina,  rheumatism  of  the  heart,  and 
certain  other  diseases  with  each  other  and  the  variations 
in  the  rainfall  (Plate  xix.}.  The  death-rates  are  shown 
to  be  parallel  to  each  other,  not  only  for  different  times, 
but  also,  in  the  case  of  three  of  the  diseases,  for  different 
places  in  all  the  eleven  registration  counties  of  England 
and  Wales.  The  splendid  diagram  which  exhibits  this 
manifold  comparison  (Plate  xxi.)  affords,  as  the  author 
points  out,  a  good  illustration  of  the  value  of  large 
numbers  in  statistical  inquiries. 

"  The  curves  for  England  and  Wales  exhibit  smaller 
fluctuations  than  those  for  sections  of  the  country,  and 
the  correspondences  between  them  [between  the  rise 
and  fall  of  death-rates  for  three  specified  diseases]  are 
in  nearly  all  cases  much  closer." 

Among  investigations  of  which  the  interest  appeals  to 

the  mere  statistician  as  distinguished  from  the  medical 

expert,  we  may  mention  the  calculation  of  the  frequency 

with  which  coincidences  between  the  deaths  of  both 

husband  and  wife  from  phthisis  "  might  be  expected  to 

occur  as  a  pure  matter  of  chance j  on  the  hypothesis  that 

NO.   1 123,  VOL.  44] 


phthisis  is  not  a,  communicable  disease."  By  a  beautiful 
application  of  the  calculus  of  probabilities,  the  following 
conclusion  is  reached : — 

"  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that,  to  show  any  substantial 
argument  for  the  existence  of  infection,  it  would  require 
a  much  larger  collection  of  cases  than  has  yet  been 
published." 

Another  inquiry  which  the  general  reader  will  follow 
with  peculiar  interest  relates  to  hydrophobia.  The 
statistics  suggest  laws  very  different  from  popular  beliefs. 
The  paucity  of  the  observations,  however,  necessitates 
caution  ;  which  Mr.  Longstaff  does  not  fail  to  inculcate. 
It  is  not  his  least  merit  that  he  instils  what  may  be  called 
the  logic  of  statistics  by  occasional  precept,  as  well  as  by 
repeated  examples. 


OC/R  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Best  Books:  A  Contribution  towards  Systematic 
Bibliography,  By  William  Swan  Sonnenschein. 
Second  Edition.  (London :  Swan  Sonnenschein  and 
Co.,  1 891.) 

The  idea  of  this  "  contribution  towards  systematic  biblio- 
graphy" is  excellent,  and  has  been  excellently  carried 
out.  When  interest  in  a  subject  has  been  excited,  the  first 
question  of  the  student,  of  course,  is.  Who  are  the  best 
and  most  recent  authorities  on  the  matter  ?  The  question 
is  by  no  means  always  easily  answered,  for  as  yet  there 
are  few  good  subject-indexes,  and  the  most  valuable  of 
them  are  not  within  the  reach  of  everyone.  The  present 
volume  may  almost  be  said,  for  ordinary  practical  pur- 
poses, to  have  solved  the  problem.  Mr.  Sonnenschein 
has  not  attempted  anything  so  ambitious  as  a  philosophic 
classification  of  the  sciences.  He  has  worked  out  his 
scheme  on  what  he  properly  calls  *'a  common-sense 
plan,"  grouping  books  first  into  large  classes,  then  break- 
ing them  up  into  sections,  sub-sections,  and  paragraphs— 
''with  the  result  of  obtaining  all  the  literature  of  one 
subject  in  one  list,  and  that  of  outlying  subjects  close  at 
hand."  He  begins  with  theology,  next  takes  mythology 
and  folk-lore,  then  philosophy,  society  (including  many 
different  branches),  geography,  history,  archaeology,  and 
so  on,  until  all  important  departments  of  knowledge  have 
been  included.  No  one  who  has  occasion  to  use  the 
book  will  have  the  slightest  difticulty  in  understanding 
the  principle,  or  in  finding  the  particular  subdivision  pre- 
senting the  facts  of  which  he  is  in  search.  The  new 
edition  contains  the  titles  of  twice  as  many  books  as 
the  first  edition  (50,000  as  against  25,000) ;  and,  so  far  as 
we  have  been  able  to  examine  them,  they  seem  to  have 
been  admirably  selected.  Here  we  have  to  do  only  with 
the  scientific  part  of  the  work  ;  and,  considering  how 
vast  is  the  material  from  which  Mr.  Sonnenschein  had  to 
choose  his  lists  of  scientific  treatises,  he  may  be  con- 
gratulated on  the  manner  in  which  his  task  has  been 
accomplished.  For  the  most  part,  he  refers  only  to  books 
that  are  in  print,  and  easily  obtainable.  The  very  best 
books  he  has  "  asterisked,"  and  in  every  case  he  gives  the 
dates  of  the  first  and  last  editions,  with  the  price,  size,  and 
publisher's  name.  Two  separate  indexes— one,  a  list  of 
authors,  with  the  titles  of  their  works ;  the  other,  a  list 
of  subjects— add  greatly  to  the  value  of  the  compilation. 

The  Fairyland  Tales  of  Science,  By  the  Rev.  J.  G. 
McPherson.  Second  Edition.  (London:  Simpkin, 
Marshall,  and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  volume  consists  of  a  number  of  papers  which 
appeared  originally  in  various  periodicals.  The  author 
does  not  proless  to  embody  in  them  the  results  of  inde- 
pendent research.  His  object  is  to  give  to  readers  who 
may  not  have  access  to  recent  scientific  authorities  "an 
accurate  and  at  the  same  time  interesting  account  of  the 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


remarkable  discoveries  in  science  during  the  last  decade." 
This  object  he  attains.  His  style  is  clear  and  straight- 
forward, and,  without  being  "  sensational,"  he  knows  how 
to  present  facts  and  principles  in  a  way  that  is  likely  to 
arrest  attention  and  awaken  curiosity.  Among  the  sub- 
jects dealt  with  are  the  formation  of  dew,  the  colour  of 
water,  dust  and  fogs,  lightning,  sun-spots,  after-glows, 
the  enumeration  of  organisms  in  air,  micro-organisms 
in  water,  and  characteristics  of  deep-sea  fishes.  The  first 
edition  was  issued  about  two  years  ago.  In  the  present 
edition  the  author  has  added  a  few  notes  to  bring  the 
facts  up  to  date. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Ntithtr  can  he  undertake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  I^KIUKIL, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.'] 

County  Councils  and  Technical  Education. 

Your  article  of  April  30  (vol.  xliii.  p.  602)  is  scarcely  fair  to 
the  London  County  Council. 

When  you  allege  I  hat  the  Council  **  have  *  grabbed  *  a  fund ^ 
ear-marked  for  educational  purposes^*  yoM.  assume  the  question 
at  issue.  The  only  way  in  which  the  fund  in  question  is  "  ear- 
marked "  for  educational  purposes  is  by  a  clause  in  the  Act 
which  gives  each  Council  a  discretionary  power  to  apply  the 
fund  either  to  those  purposes  or  to  other  purposes,  as  they 
choose. 

London,  which,  as  proved  by  Mr.  Goschen,  is  exceptionally 
rated,  has  conae  badly  off  in  the  general  scranfible  for  Imperisd 
doles  which  are  devoted  to  the  alleviation  of  rates  ;  and  if  the 
representatives  of  London  ratepayers  treat  this  additional  dole 
out  of  the  beer  and  spirit  duties  as  a  make-up  fur  their  com- 
paratively small  share  of  other  doles,  they  are  doing  not  only 
what  the  law  allows,  but  what  equity  justifies. 

I  believe,  however,  that  amongst  those  who  voted  against  the 
plan  proposed  by  the  Committee  of  the  Council  there  are  many 
who  would  not  be  unwilling  to  see  the  money  devoted  to  educa- 
tion, if  any  well-considered  and  reasonable  plan  were  proposed 
for  this  purpose. 

But  there  are  several  questions  which  have  to  be  answered 
before  this  can  be  done  properly. 

What  do  the  promoters  of  "technical  education "  mean  by 
that  term  ?  It  is  not  to  be  the  teaching  of  the  elementary 
school ;  it  is  not  to  be  the  training  of  the  workshop  ;  but  be- 
tween these  two  extremes  all  is  uncertain.  The  counties  say, 
'*  instruction  in  the  elements  of  farming  "  ;  the  London  County 
Council  Committee  say?,  "Polytechnics";  the  statute  says, 
"whatever  the  authorities  at  South  Kensington  define  it  to  be." 
Educational  reformers  generally,  so  far  as  1  can  judge,  mean  by 
it  all  or  any  forms  of  secondary  education,  i.e.  of  the  education 
which  carries  foiwaid  ihe  work  of  the  elementary  school,  and 
brings  the  pupil  nearer  to  the  business  of  life.  But  we  need  to 
be  a  cood  deal  more  precise  before  we  establish  a  precedent  and 
a  practice. 

Then,  again,  is  it  wise  for  the  London  County  Council,  ^hich 
has  work  enough  on  its  hands  in  looking  after  the  physical  con- 
dition of  this  great  City,  to  take  upon  itself  a  task  for  which  it  is 
in  no  way  fitted,  and  which  was  not  contemplated  when  it  was 
elected  ?  Is  it  wise  to  muddle  administration  by  first  intrusting 
one  part  of  education  to  one  elective  body — viz.  the  School 
Board — and  then  intrusting  another  part  of  it  to  a  dififerent 
elective  body  chosen  for  a  different  purpose  ? 

Whilst  such  questions  as  these  remain  unanswered,  the 
London  Council  exercises  a  wise  discretion  in  not  committing 
itself  to  any  scheme  for  appropriating  this  fund,  the  offspring  of 
a  legislative  fluke,  to  any  special  and  permanent  object. 

You  speak,  as  persons  in  general  speak,  of  the  London  County 
Council  as  one  amongst  other  County  Council.*;.  The  name 
County  Council  is  a  misnomer  which  leads  to  constant  errors. 
The  London  County  Council  has  little  or  nothing  in  common 
with  the  bodies  which  have  taken  the  place  of  the  old  magistracy 
in  most  districts.  It  is  really  the  chief  Town  Council  of  the 
largest  city  or  aggregation  of  cities  in  the  world,  and  the  rules 
and  reasoning  which,  under  the  ill-drawn  and  ill-digested  Local 
Government  Act,  are  applied  to  both,  are  ofttn  smgulaily  in- 

NO.    II  23,  VOL.  44] 


appropriate.  Calling  London  a  county  is  the  parent  of  endless 
mistakes ;  and  to  abuse  the  London  Council  because  it  is  not 
acting  in  the  same  way  as  the  Councils  of  counties  seem  disposed 
to  act  is  no  less  confused  than  unfair.  T.  H.  Farreb. 

Mays. 

The  Alpine  Flora. 

.  I  HAD  not  intended  to  continue  the  discussion  on  this  subject, 
but  Prof.  Henslow's  last  letter  calls  for  a  few  remarks.  My 
argument,  summed  up,  is  as  follows : — 

(i)  Alpine  plants  as  a  class  show  certain  characters,  e.g. 
dwarfing  and  compact  growth. 

(2)  These  characters  are  advantageous  to  them,  or  are  cor- 
related with  such  as  are  advantageous. 

(3)  Although  dwarfing,  &c.,  may  be  produced  as  the  direct 
result  of  environment  {e.g.  poor  soil),  there  is  normal  variability 
in  respect  to  size,  time  of  maturing,  &c. 

(4)  When  in  cultivation  those  plants  are  selected  which  show 
a  natural  tendency  to  dwarfing,  &c.,  it  is  found  that  the  charac- 
ter is  inherited  ;  and  in  this  way,  dwarfed,  early- maturing,  and 
other  peculiar  races  can  be  produced. 

(5)  On  the  other  band,  when  plants  have  been  dwarfed  Itoid 
growing  in  poor  soil,  or  otherwise  as  the  result  of  environmeat 
acting  directly  upon  them,  there  appears  to  be  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  peculiarity  is  inherited. 

(6)  Supposing  natural  selection  to  be  the  only  factor,  it  is 
fully  competent,  working  on  the  normal  variability,  to  prodoce 
the  results  observed,  so  far  as  they  are  hereditary.  At  least,  so 
it  seems  to  me. 

To  illustrate  the  point,  take  Mertensia  again.  In  Colorado, 
Af,  sibirica  grows  in  ravines,  &c.,  by  creeks  ;  it  could  not  pos- 
sibly grow  in  the  same  way  above  timber-line,  with  its  tall 
stems  and  abundant  foliage.  Yet  it  gains  much  advantage  ia 
the  creek-  bottoms  from  its  height  and  rank  growth  ;  if  it  were 
a  dwarf,  it  would  be  almost  or  altogether  smothered.  Above 
timber-line,  on  the  Sangre  de  Cristo  Range,  I  found  the  dwarf 
species,  AI.  lanceolata.  Thus  we  have  two  species  frequenting 
different  situations  in  the  same  district :  each  is  fit  ted  for  its  sta- 
tion ;  either,  removed  to  the  station  of  the  other,  could  not  exist 
In  Arctic  regions,  M.  sibirica  has  produced  a  dwarf  variety  called 
drummondiiy  which  is,  I  suppose,  a  first  step  towards  the  estab* 
lishment  of  a  dwarf  Arctic  species. 

Prof.  Henslow  asks  why,  if  natural  selection  eliminates  tall 
plants  on  Alpine  summits,  it  does  not  also  do  so  lower  down? 
I  am  not  at  all  clear  that  it  does  not,  in  some  cases.  For 
example,  why  is  it  that  plants  growing  on  exposed  sea-shores 
have  a  tendency  to  lie  upon  the  ground  or  otherwise  to  evade 
the  violence  of  the  winds  ?  But  when  a  plant  is  growing  amoag 
others,  it  has  to  compete  with  them  in  raising  itself  into  con- 
spicuousness,  and  any  slight  disadvantage  from  exposure  to  the 
winds  would  be  more  than  compensated  by  the  advantage  of 
being  able  to  spread  its  flowers  and  foliage  in  the  sunlight  and 
attract  insects. 

The  only  plant  of  any  size  I  found  above  timber-line  on  the 
Sangre  de  Cristo  Range  was  Cnicus  criocfp^alust  a  wonderful 
great  thistle,  with  bright  chrome-yellow  flowers,  which  are 
visited  by  humble-bees.  But  this  plant  is  very  prickly  and 
woolly,  and  its  heads  are  nodding  ;  it  is,  though  it  seems  para- 
doxical to  say  so,  a  gigantic  dwarf. 

The  splendid  Ihimula  farryi  shows  its  crimson  flowers  by 
creeks  at  very  high  altitudes  in  Colorado ;  an  allied  but  viry 
small  species  lives  above  timber-line  in  the  same  districts,  called 
R,  an gusti folia.  These  are  true  species ;  afigus'ifolia  is  not 
starved  or  frozen  parryi.  Now  R.  parryi  is  coming  into  colti- 
vation,  it  would  be  interesting  to  see  whether  it  could  be  modi- 
fied by  environment  in  the  direction  oi  angustifolia^  and  how  far 
such  modification  would  be  inherited. 

There  are  other  matters  one  might  discuss,  but  I  think  I  have 
already  written  enough.  I  merely  ask,  will  Prof.  Henslow 
give  a  case  in  which  the  direct  elfect  of  environment  has  pro- 
duced inherited  dwarhng  ?  Will  he  also  show  that  natural  selec- 
tion cannot  produce  a  dwarfed  variety,  or  that  artificial  selection 
has  not  ?  T.  D.  A.  CocKERfcLL. 

3  Fairfax  Road,  Bedford  Park,  Chiswick,  W.,  April  27. 


Mr.  Thiselton-Dyer,  in  his  interesting  letter  in  Nature 
(p-  58')f  does  not  mention  one  of  the  strikirg  characteristics  of 
the  Alpine  flora — the  remarkable  brilliancy  of  the  flowers,  as 
compared  with  those  borre  by  the  same  or  similar  species  in 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


Eogland.  A  comparison  of  this  kind  made  by  the  memory  is 
DO  doubt  not  severely  scientiBc,  but  those  tourists  in  Switzerland 
who  are  in  (he  habit  of  observing  flowers  will  probably  confirm 
the  statement.  Plants  grown  at  high  levels  in  the  Alps  are,  as 
Mr.  Dyer  says,  above  a  great  screen  of  aqueous  vapour,  and  I 
have  in  my  own  mind  always  put  down  the  greater  brilliance  of 
Alpine  flowers  to  their  getting  more  sun  than  in  our  cloudier 
dimate.  It  is  not,  however,  solely  any  alteration  in  the  actual 
effects  of  the  solar  rays,  caused  by  this  absence  of  aqueous 
vapour,  that  makes  the  colours  of  Swiss  flowers  so  bright.  The 
same,  or,  I  should  assert  from  memory,  even  greater,  brilliancy, 
will  be  found  in  Arctic  and  sub- Arctic  Norway  by  anyone  who 
visits  the  Throndhjem  district  and  the  coast  to  Hammerfest  in 
June.  Western  Norway  notoriously  is  one  of  the  moistest  parts 
of  Europe  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has,  broadly  speaking,  no 
night  at  midsummer.  It  is  thus  apparently  the  quantity,  and 
not  the  quality,  of  the  sunlight  that  causes  the  peculiarly  vivid 
colours. of  Swiss  flowers,  including  those  of  the  pastures  from 
2000  feet  upwards.  I  have  never  been  in  Switzerland  in  spring, 
and  I  cannot  therefore  judge  whether  the  colours  of  the  flora  in 
the  lower  districts  are  also  more  brilliant  than  ours  ;  but  it  will  be 
seen  below  that  Swiss  observers  find  that  the  high  Alpine  flora 
is  much  more  brilliant  than  the  same  plants  in  the  lowlands. 

Oar  great  national  garden  at  Kew  is  peculiarly  badly  situated 
for  the  growth  of  Alpines.  The  situation  is  low  and  foggy,  and 
mild  muggy  weather  alternates  with  night  frosts.  Above  all,  the 
smoke  pall  of  London  is  peculiarly  destructive  in  connection 
with  the  other  disadvantages  of  the  site.  Alpine  plants,  as  Mr. 
Dyer  shows,  are,  in  their  natural  state,  at  rest  under  a  cloak  of 
snow  during  the  winter.  The  least  warmth,  however,  starts 
them  into  CTOwth,  and  the  marvellously  rapid  flowering  of  many 
kinds  in  the  ooze  on  the  melting  of  a  snow-bed,  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  sights  of  the  Alps.  The  Kew  climate  (and  the 
general  English  one  too,  though  to  a  lesser  degree)  keeps  the 
plants  in  growth  in  winter.  Then  fogs,  smoke,  and  damp  collect 
on  the  young  growth.  The.se  enemies  are  peculiarly  liable  to 
attach  themselves  to  the  numerous  sorts  with  hairy  or  woolly 
leaves.   Then  follow  night  frosts,  and  the  young  growth  perishes. 

The  application  of  these  remarks  is,  that  it  does  not  follow 
that,  because  cold  frames  are  necessities  in  the  culture  of  Alpines 
at  Kew,  they  should  be  used  elsewhere  in  England.  There  has 
been  a  long  discussion  recently  on  this  very  point  in  the  p[ar- 
dening  papers,  and  the  general  belief  appears  to  be,  that  given 
a  fairly  dry  climate  cold  frames  are  injurious^  because  they 
excite  and  keep  plants  in  growth  when  they  should  be  at  rest. 
A  sheet  of  glass  suspended  over  a  plant  in  the  open  air,  so  as  to 
shoot  off  our  superfluous  rain  and  to  keep  ofl"  some  of  our  fog, 
appears  to  be  much  better,  for  premature  growth  is  not  stimu- 
lated. Alpines  should  so  far  as  practicable  be  kept  as  dry  as  we 
can  in  winter,  by  drainage,  light  soil,  &c.  Then  when  growth 
commences,  say  in  March,  they  should  be  well  watered  each  day 
(unless  it  is  raining),  early  in  the  morning.  The  plentiful 
moisture  thus  supplied  to  some  degree  takes  the  place  of  the 
melting  snow,  and  it  has  dried  ofl*  before  the  evening  frosts  seize 
upon  the  leaves.  The  plants  thus  can  grow  freely  in  the  day 
because  they  are  surrounded  with  a  moist  atmosphere,  and  they 
are  kept  "  stocky  "  (in  gardeners'  phrase)  by  the  cold  at  night, 
JQst  as  they  are  in  fact  on  the  Alps.  This  is  the  plan  recom- 
mended by  that  great  authority  M.  H.  Correvon,  of  the  Jardin 
Alpin  d'Acclimatation,  Geneva.  In  the  drier  climate  of  that 
city.  M.  Correvon  replaces  the  snow  blanket  of  the  Alps  by 
pine  boughs  fastened  closely  over  his  Alpines.  In  England  this 
would,  I  fear,  only  make  the  plants  rot.  It  does  not  follow  that, 
because  many  plants  in  frames  at  Kew  grow  long  and  straggling 
and  lose  their  natural  habit,  they  do  so  in  England  generally  in  the 
open  air.  The  changes  in  the  habits  of  Alpines  are  largely  due 
to  changes  in  soil.  For  instance,  the  Edelweiss  {Gnapfialium 
Itontopodium)  grows  perfectly  freely  from  seed  anywhere  about 
London,  but  the  flowers  lose  their  compactness.  I  am  told, 
however,  that  if  plenty  of  lime  is  added  to  the  soil  they 
become  as  compact  and  close  as  in  Switzerland. 

In  **Les  Plantes  des  Alpes"  (Geneva,  Jules-Carey)  M.  Cor- 
revon very  fully  explains  his  views,  formed,  after  great  practical 
experience,  on  the  conditions  of  the  Alpine  flora.  Your  space 
will  not  allow  me  to  make  many  quotations  from  a  work  of  the 
utmost  interest  both  theoretical  and  practical,  but  the  following 
bears  on  m^  point  as  to  the  brilliant  colours  of  Alpine  flowers : — 

"Ces  vegetaux  sont  *reine  Kinder  des  Lichtes,*  omme  les  a 
appeles  un  poete  allemand ;  on  ne  trouve  pas  de  champignons 
dans  les  Alpes,  ni  aucune  plante  qui  n'appartienne  franchement 
aa  domaine  de  la  lumiere.     Aussi  les  especes  de  nos  plaines  qui 

NO.    II 23,  VOL.  44] 


se  trouvent  transportes  14-haut  sont-elles  parees  de  conleur  bien 
plus  vive?,  bien  plus  pures  qu'elles  ne  sont  cheznous." 

M.  Correvon  gives  a  number  of  instances  in  support  of  this, 
which  I  will  not  quote  here.  In  conclusion,  is  Mr.  Dyer  correct 
in  thinking  that  the  soil  in  the  high  Alps  is  permanently  frozen 
with  the  exception  of  a  slight  fllm  on  the  top?  I  am  aware  that 
when  you  get  to  considerable  elevations  the  subsoil  is  frozen. 
For  instance,  I  was  told  that  the  reason  for  the  well-known 
mortuary  on  the  Great  St.  Bernard  was  that  bodies  could  not  be 
buried  there.  But  a  great  many  of  the  flowers  generality  called 
Alpines  grow  below  the  tree  limit  of  6ooo  or  6500  feet,  and  few 
are  to  be  found  above  8000  feet.  If  the  subsoil  on  the  higher 
Alps  is  frozen,  it  would  not  apparently  be  so  where  trees  grow, 
and  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  line  of  subterranean 
frost,  and  at  what  depths  below  the  surface  it  is  permanent  at 
various  elevations.  J.  Innes  Rogers. 

Chislehurst,  April  27. 

Co-adaptation. 

I  DO  not  propose  to  extend  the  discussion  on  this  subject 
beyond  the  present  communication,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from 
calling  attention  to  the  remarkable  discrepancy  in  the  position 
taken  by  Dr.  Romanes  in  his  last  letter  (April  23,  p.  582), 
and  that  in  his  former  communication  (March  26,  p.  489),  in 
which  he  says: — *'I  do  not  .  .  .  hold  myself  responsible  for 
enunciating  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  argument,  which  the  quota- 
tion sets  forth.  I  merely  reproduced  it  from  him  as  an  argument 
which  appeared  to  me  valid  on  the  side  of  'use  inheritance.' 
For  not  only  did  Darwin  himself  invoke  the  aid  of  such  inherit- 
ance in  regard  to  this  identical  case  .  .  .  &c."  If  words  have 
any  meaning,  this  implies  that  Dr.  Romanes  agrees  with  Darwin 
in  regarding  this  case  as  one  in  which  "  use  inheritance  "  played 
a  part.  Now,  after  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  this  sup- 
posed case  of  co-adaptation  can  be  explained  without  the  aid  of 
''  use  inheritance  "  at  all,  Dr.  Romanes  says  that  there  is  no 
dlflierence  of  opinion  on  this  point  between  us.  I  can  only  say 
thatT  am  very  glad  to  learn  this  admission  on  his  part,  but  why 
did  he  quote  the  argument  from  Herbert  Spencer  as  **  valid  on 
the  side  of  *use  inheritance,'  "  if  he  did  not  believe  it  to  be  a 
case  of  true  co-adaptation?  R.  Meldola. 

High  and  Low  Level  Meteorological  Observatories. 

I  HAVE  read  with  much  interest  your  article  of  the  nth  inst. 
on  the  results  obtained  by  simultaneous  observations  in  the 
meteorological  ob<:ervatories  at  the  base  and  at  the  summit  of 
Ben  Nevis.  Ben  Nevis  rises  to  a  height  of  only  4370  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  yet  we  find  that  the  comparison  of  these  observa- 
tions gives  results  of  a  kind  that  could  not  be  obtained  from  any 
number  of  stations  all  on  the  same  level.  Might  w^e  not  hope 
for  still  more  valuable  results  from  similar  observatories  placed 
at  the  base  and  the  summit  of  Etna  and  Tenerifle  ?  Etna  is 
10,870  feet  high,  and  Tenerifle  12,200.  The«e  would  be  better 
than  any  Alpine  stations,  because  of  their  perfect  isolation. 

Belfast,  April  25.  Joseph  John  Murphy. 

An  ''International  Society." 

An  institution  with  th^e  grandiloquent  title  of  "  The  Inter- 
national Society  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art,"  which  appears 
now  to  be  largely  touting  for  subscriptions,  publishes  in  its 
prospectus  a  list  of  the  **  Honorary  Council,"  among  whom 
appears  **  Professor  Flower."  As  I  am  the  only  person  in  this 
country  to  whom  such  a  description  could  be  applicable,  and  as 
many  of  my  friends  have  inouired  of  me  whether  I  have  really 
given  my  support  to  the  institution,  I  wrote  to  the  secretary  to 
inquire  by  what  authority  the  name  appeared,  and  received  the 
following  reply,  which  needs  no  comment : — 

•*  Sir, — We  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  favour  of 
Saturday.  The  gentleman  to  whom  you  refer  is  the  well-known 
Professor  Ogilby  Flower,  of  New  York.  I  am  sorry  the 
coincidence  should  have  caused  you  any  annoyance.  In  future 
printings  of  our  prospectus  the  Christian  name  shall  be  inserted, 
so  that  no  misunderstanding  may  exist." 

Although  this  letter  was  dated  March  9  last,  I  find  that 
the  prospectus  continues  to  be  issued  unchanged,  otherwise 
I  should  not  have  cared  to  trouble  yon  with  what  may  appear  a 
small  personal  matter.  I  may  mention  that  there  are  other  names 
upon  the  list  which  present  as  great  or  even  greater  difficulties 
of  identification.  W.  H.  Flower. 

British  Museum  (Natural  History),  May  2,  189 1. 


8 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


ON  SOME  POINTS  IN  THE  EARLY  HISTORY 

OF  ASTRONOMY.'' 

II. 

A17  £  have  next  to  deal  with  the  astronomical  relations 
^^  of  the  horizon  of  any  place,  in  connection  with  the 
worship  of  the  sun  and  stars  at  the  times  of  rising  or  setting, 
when  of  course  they  are  on  or  near  the  horizon  ;  and  m 
order  to  bring  this  matter  nearer  to  the  ancient  monuments, 
we  will  study  this  question  for  Thebes,  where  they  exist  in 
greatest  number  and  have  been  most  accurately  described. 
The  French  and  Prussian  Governments  have  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  honourable  rivalry  of  mapping  and 
describing  the  monuments.  The  French  went  to  Egypt 
at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  while  the  Scientific  Com- 
mission which  accompanied  the  army,  a  Commission  ap- 
pointed by  the  Institute  of  France,  published  a  series  of 
volumes  containing  plans  of  all  the  chief  temples  in  the 
valley  of  the  Nile,  as  far  as  Philae. 

In  the  year  1844,  after  ChampoUion  had  led  the  way  in 
deciphering  the  hieroglyphics,  we  became  almost  equally 
indebted  to  the  Prussian  Government,  who  also  sent  out 
a  Commission  to  Egypt,  under  Lepsius,  which  equalled 
the  French  one  in  the  importance  of  the  results  of  the  ex- 
ploration ;  in  the  care  with  which  the  observations  were 
made,  and  in  the  perfection  with  which  they  were 
recorded.  Hence  it  is  that  in  attempting  to  get  informa- 
tion from  ancient  temples  it  is  wise  to  study  the  region 
round  Thebes,  where  the  information  is  so  abundant  and 
is  ready  to  our  hand. 

We  have  then  to  consider  an  observer  on  the  Nile  at 
Thebes,  and  to  adjust  things  properly  we  must  rectify 
the  globe  to  the  latitude  of  25*''  40',  or,  in  other  words, 
incline  the  axis  of  the  globe  at  that  angle  to  the  wooden 
horizon. 

It  will  be  at  once  seen  that  the  inclination  of  the  axis  to 
the  horizon  is  very  much  less  than  in  the  case  of  London. 
Since  all  the  stars  which  pass  between  the  North  Pole 
and  the  horizon  cannot  set,  all  their  apparent  move- 
ment will  take  place  above  the  horizon.  All  the  stars 
between  the  horizon  and  the  South  Pole  will  never  rise. 
Hence,  stars  within  the  distance  of  25^  from  the  North 
.Pole  will  never  set  at  Thebes,  and  those  stars  within  25° 
of  the  South  Pole  will  never  be  visible  there.  At  any 
place  the  latitude  and  the  elevation  of  the  pole  are  the 
same.  It  so  happens  that  all  these  places  with  which 
archaeologists  have  to  do  in  studying  the  history  of  early 
peoples,  Chaldaea,  Eg)pt,  Babylonia,  China,  Greece,  &c., 
are  all  in  middle  latitudes,  therefore  we  have  to  deal  with 
bodies  in  the  skies  which  do  set  and  bodies  which  do  not, 
and  the  elevation  of  the  pole  is  neither  very  great  nor 
very  small.  In  each  different  latitude  the  inclmation  of 
the  equator  to  the  horizon  as  well  as  the  elevation  of  the 
pole  will  vary,  but  there  will  b2  a  strict  relationship 
between  the  inclination  of  the  equator  at  each  point  and 
the  elevation  of  the  pole.  Except  at  the  poles  themselves 
the  equator  will  cut  the  horizon  due  east  and  due  west. 
Therefore  everything  to  the  north  of  the  equator  which 
rises  or  sets  will  cut  the  horizon  between  the  east  or  west 
point  and  the  north  point ;  those  bodies  which  do  not  set 
will  of  course  not  cut  the  horizon  at  all. 

The  sun  and  stars  near  the  equator,  in  such  a  latitude 
as  that  of  Thebes,  will  appear  to  rise  or  set  at  no  very 
considerable  angle  from  the  vertical ;  but  when  we  deal 
with  stars  rising  or  setting  near  to  the  north  or  south 

'  From  shorthand  notes  of  a  course  of  lectures  to  working  men  delivered 
at  the  Museum  of  Pracucal  Geology,  Jermyu  Street,  in  November  1890. 
The  notes  were  revistd  by  me  at  Aswan  during  the  month  of  January.  I 
have  found,  since  my  return  from  Egypt  in  March,  that  part  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  lectures  has  been  previously  discussed  by  Herr  Nissen,  who 
has  employed  the  same  materials  as  myself.  I'o  him,  therefore,  so  far  as 
I  at  present  know,  belongs  the  credit  of  having  first  made  the  suggestion 
that  ancient  temples  were  oriented  on  an  astronomical  basin.  Hi<«  article  is 
Co  be  found  in  the  Rheinuches  Museuw  ftlr  PhUoiogie^  1885.  Continued 
rom  vol.  xliiL  p.  563. 


NO.    II 23,   VOL    44] 


points  of  the  horizon  they  will  seem  to  skim  along  the 
horizon  instead  of  rising  directly. 

Now  it  will  at  once  be  obvious  that  there  must  be  a 
strict  law  connecting  the  position  of  the  sun  or  a  star 
with  its  place  of  rising  or  setting.  Stars  at  the  same 
distance  from  the  celestial  pole  or  equator  will  rise  or  set 
at  the  same  point  of  the  horizon,  and  if  a  star  does  not 
change  its  place  in  the  heavens  it  will  always  rise  or  set 
in  the  same  place.  Here  it  will  be  convenient  to  intro- 
duce one  or  two  technical  terms :  we  generally  define  a 
star's  place  by  giving,  as  one  ordinate,  its  distance  in 
degrees  from  the  equator:  this  distance  is  called  its  decli- 
nation. Further,  we  generally  define  points  on  the 
horizon  by  dividing  its  whole  circumference  into  360^ 
so  that  we  can  have  azimuths  of  90°  from  each  pole  to 
the  east  and  west  points.  We  also  have  amplitudes  from 
the  east  and  west  points  towards  each  pole.  We  can 
say  then  that  a  star  of  a  certain  declination  will  rise  or 
set  at  such  an  azimuth  ;  or  at  such  an  amplitude.  This 
will  apply  to  both  north  and  south  declinations. 

The  following  table  gives  the  amplitudes  of  rising  or 
setting  (north  or  south)  of  celestial  bodies  having  declina- 
tions from  0""  to  64^ ;  bodies  with  higher  declinations  than 
64°  never  set  at  Thebes  if  they  are  north,  or  never  rise  if 
they  are  south,  as  the  latitude  (and  therefore  the  elevation 
of  the  pole)  there  is  nearly  26°. 

Amplitudes  at  Thebes, 


Dedinati  n. 

'  Amplitude 

E  at  I'hebes. 

Declination. 

Amplitude  at  Thebes 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1           c      . 

0 

0 

0 

33 

37  " 

I 

I 

7 

34 

38  21 

2 

2 

13 

35 

39  31 

3 

1     3 

20 

36 

40  42 

4 

4 

26 

37 

41  53 

5 

5 

33 

38 

43   5 

6 

6 

40 

39 

44  17 

7 

7 

47 

40 

45  30 

8 

8 

53 

41 

46  43 

9 

9 

59 

42 

47  56 

10 

II 

6 

43 

49  10 

II 

12 

13 

44 

50  25 

12 

13 

20 

45 

51  41 

>3 

H 

27 

46 

52  57 

14 

IS 

34 

47 

54  U 

15 

16 

41 

48 

55  32 

16 

17 

4Q 

49 

56  51 

17 

18 

56 

50 

58  12 

18 

20 

3 

51 

59  34 

19 

21 

10 

52 

60  58 

20 

22 

17 

53 

62  23 

21 

23 

25 

54    , 

63  5' 

22 

24 

33 

55 

65  21 

23 

25 

41 

56 

66  54 

24 

26 

49 

57 

68  31 

25 

27 

58 

58 

70  12 

26 

29 

6 

59 

71  59 

27 

30 

15 

60    > 

73  55 

28 

31 

23 

61    ' 

76   I 

29 

32 

32 

62    . 

78  25 

30 

33 

4" 

63     : 

81  19 

31 

34 

51 

64 

85  42 

32 

36 

I 

This  being  premised,  we  now  pass  to  the  yearly  path 
of  the  sun,  with  a  view  of  studying  the  relation  of  the 
various  points  of  the  horizon  occupied  by  the  sun  at 
different  times  in  the  year.  In  the  very  early  obser- 
vations that  were  made  in  Egypt,  Chaldaea,  and  else- 
where, when  the  sun  was  considered  to  be  a  god  who 
every  morning  got  into  his  boat  and  floated  across  space, 
there  was  no  particular  reason  for  considering  the  ampli- 
tude at  which  the  boat  left,  or  came  to,  shore.  But  a  few 
centuries  showed  that  this  rising  or  setting  of  the  sun  io 
widely  varying  amplitudes  at  different  parts  of  the  year 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


depended  upon  a  very  definite  law.  We  now,  of  course, 
more  fortunate  than  the  early  Egyptians,  know  exactly 
what  this  law  is.  We  saw  in  the  last  lecture  that  not 
many  years  ago  Foucault  gave  us  a  means  of  demon- 
strating the  fact  that  the  earth  rotates  on  its  axis.  We 
have  also  a  perfect  method  of  demonstrating  that  the 
earth  not  only  rotates  on  its  axis  once  a  day,  but  that  it 
moves  round  the  sun  once  a  year,  an  idea  which  was 
undreamt  of  by  the  ancients.  As  a  pendulum  shows  us 
the  rotation,  so  the  determination  of  the  aberration  of 
light  demonstrates  for  us  the  revolution  of  the  earth  round 
the  sun. 

We  have,  then,  the  earth  endowed  with  these  two  move- 
ments—a rotation  on  its  axis  in  a  day,  and  a  revolution 
round  the  sun  in  a  year.  To  see  the  full  bearing  of  this 
on  our  present  inquiry,  we  must  for  a  time  return  to  the 
globe  or  model  of  the  earth. 

To  determine  the  position  of  any  place  on  the  earth's 
surface  we  say  that  it  is  so  many  degrees  distant  from 
the  equator,  and  also  so  many  degrees  distant  from  the 
longitude  of  Greenwich :  we  have  two  rectangular  co- 
ordinates, latitude  and  longitude.  When  we  conceive 
the  earth's  equator  extended  to  the  heavens,  we  have  a 
means  of  determining  the  positions  of  stars  in  the  heavens 
exactly  similar  to  the  means  we  have  of  determining  the 
position  of  any  place  on  the  earth.  We  have  already 
defined  distance  from  the  equator  as  north  or  south 
declination  in  the  case  of  a  star,  as  we  have  north  lati- 
tude or  south  latitude  in  case  of  a  place  on  the  earth. 
With  regard  to  the  other  co-ordinate,  we  can  also  say  it 
is  at  a  certain  distance  from  our  first  point  of  measure- 
ment, whatever  that  may  be,  along  the  celestial  equator ; 
speaking  of  the  stars  we  call  this  distance  right  ascension, 
as  speaking  of  matters  earthy  we  measure  from  the 
meridian  of  Greenwich  and  call  this  distance  longitude. 

The  movement  of  the  earth  round  the  sun  is  in  a 
plane  which  is  called  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  and  the 
axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth  is  inclined  to  that  plane  at 
an  angle  of  something  like  23}°.  We  can  if  we  choose  use 
the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  to  define  the  positions  of  the 
stars  as  we  use  the  plane  of  the  earth's  equator.  In  that 
case  we  talk  of  distance  above  the  ecliptic  as  celestial 
latitude,  and  along  the  ecliptic  as  celestial  longitude. 
The  equator,  then,  cuts  the  ecliptic  at  two  points  :  one  of 
these  is  chosen  for  the  start-point  of  measurement  along 
either  the  equator  or  the  ecliptic.  It  is  called  the  first 
pomt  of  Aries. 

We  have,  then,  two  systems  of  co-ordinates,  by  each 
of  which  we  can  define  the  position  of  a  star  in  the 
heavens  :  equatorial  co-ordinates  dealing  with  the  earth's 
equator,  ecliptic  co-ordinates  dealing  with  the  earth's 
orbit  Knowing  that  the  earth  moves  round  the  sun 
once  a  year,  the  year  to  us  moderns  is  defined  with  the 
most  absolute  accuracy.  In  fact,  we  have  three  years ; 
we  have  a  sidereal  year — that  is,  the  time  taken  by  the 
earth  to  go  through  exactly  360°  of  longitude  ;  we  have 
what  is  called  the  tropical  year,  which  indicates  the  time 
taken  by  the  earth  to  go  through  not  quite  360"^,  to  go 
from  the  first  point  of  Aries  till  she  meets  it  again  ;  and 
since  the  equinoctial  point  advances  to  meet  the  earth, 
we  talk  about  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes;  this 
year  is  the  sidereal  year  minus  twenty  minutes ;  then 
there  is  also  another  year  called  the  anomalistic  year, 
which  depends  upon  the  movement  of  the  point  in  the 
earth's  orbit  where  the  earth  is  nearest  to  the  sun  ;  this  is 
ninniog  away,  so  to  speak,  from  the  first  point  of  Aries, 
instead  of  advancing  to  meet  it,  so  that  in  this  case  we 
get  the  sidereal  year  plus  nearly  five  minutes. 

The  angle  of  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  plane  of 
rotation  to  the  plane  of  its  revolution  round  the  sun, 
which,  as  I  have  said,  is  something  like  23^°,  is  called 
the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic.  This  obliquity  is  subject  to  a 
slight  change  ;  6000  years  ago  it  was  over  24°. 

In  order  to  give  a  concrete  idea  of  the  most  important 

NO.   1 1 23,  VOL.  44] 


points  in  the  yearly  path  of  the  sun  round  the  earth,  I 
have  here  four  globes  representing  the  earth,  with  another 
globe  in  the  middle  representing  the  sun,  showing  the 
four  practically  opposite  points  of  the  earth's  orbit,  in 
which  the  north  pole  of  the  axis  is  most  inclined  to  the 
sun ;  the  north  pole  of  the  axis  is  most  inclined  away 
from  the  sun ;  and  the  two  opposite  and  intermediate  points 
where  the  axis  is  not  inclined  to  or  from  the  sun,  but  is 
at  right  angles  to  the  line  joining  the  earth  in  these  two 
positions. 

A  diagram  (Fig.  6)  shows  what  will  happen  under  these 
conditions.  If  we  take  the  two  points  at  which  the  axis, 
instead  of  being  inclined  towards  the  sun,  is  inclined  at 
right  angles  to  it,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  we  shall 
get  a  condition  of  things  in  which  the  movement  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis  will  cause  the  dark   side  of  the  earth 


8UNH— 


8 
SPRING 

Fig.  6. — Dlai^am  showing  the  equality  of  the  sun's  zenith  distance  at  the 
two  equinoxes,     n,  north  pole  of  the  earth  ;  s,  south  pole ;  z,  zenith  of 
Greenwich. 

and  also  the  light  side  represented  by  the  side  nearest  to 
the  sun  both  being  of  equal  areas,  to  extend  from  pole 
to  pole ;  so  that  any  place  on  the  earth  rotating  under 
those  conditions  will  be  brought  for  half  a  period  of  rota- 
tion into  the  sunlight,  and  be  carried  for  half  a  period 
of  the  rotation  out  of  the  sunlight ;  the  day,  therefore, 
will  be  of  the  same  length  as  the  night,  and  the  days  and 
nights  will  therefore  be  equal  all  over  the  world. 

We  call  that  the  period  of  the  equinoxes ;  the  nights 
are  of  the  same  length  as  the  day  in  both  these  positions 
of  the  earth  with  regard  to  the  sun. 

But  in  Fig.  7  we  have  a  very  different  condition.  Here 
the  north  pole  is  inclined  at  the  greatest  angle  of  23^'' 
towards,  and  away  from,  the  sun.  If  I  take  a  point 
very  near  the  north  pole,  that  point  will  not,  in  summer, 
be  carried  by  the   earth's   rotation   out   of  the    light, 


Fig.  7. — Diagram  showing  the  variation  of  ths  sun's  zenith  distance  from 
solstice  to  solstice,  n,  north  pole  of  the  earth  ;  s,  south  pole ;  z,  zenith 
of  Greenwich. 

and  a  part  equally  near  the  south  pole  will  not  be  able 
to  get  into  it.  These  are  the  conditions  at  and  near 
two  other  points  called  the  solstices. 

In  each  of  these  globes  I  have  placed  a  wire  to  represent 
the  overhead  direction  from  Jermyn  Street,  London,  and  if 
I  observe  the  angle  between  this  direction  of  the  zenith  to 
the  sun  in  winter  I  get  a  considerable  one ;  but  if  I  take 
the  opposite  six-monthly  condition  and  take  the  same 
zenith  point,  I  get  a  very  small  angle.  In  other  words, 
under  the  first  condition  the  sun  will  be  far  from  the 
zenith  of  Jermyn  Street,  we  shall  have  winter ;  and  in  the 
other  condition  the  sun  will  be  as  near  as  it  can  be  to 
the  zenith  of  Jermyn  Street,  we  shall  have  summer. 
These  two  points  represent  the  two  points  in  the  earth's 
orbit  at  which  the  sun  has  the  highest  declination  north 
or  south.  With  the  greatest  north  declination  the  sun  will 
come  up  high,  appear  stationary  for  a  day  or  two,  as  it 


NA  TURE 


[May  7.  1891 


;1ice,  and  then  go  down  again  ; 
at  the  other  point,  when  it  has  the  greatest  southern 
declination,  it  will  go  down  to  the  lowest  point,  as  it  does 
in  our  winter,  stop,  and  come  up  again— that  is,  the  sun 
will  stand  still,  and  the  Latin  word  solstice  esiadly 
expresses  that  idea.  We  have  then  two  points  in  the 
annual  revolution  of  the  earth  round  the  sun  at  which  we 
have  equal  altitudes  of  (he  sun  at  noon,  two  others  when  the 
altitude  is  greatest  and  least.  We  get  the  equal  altitudes 
at  the  equinoxes  and  ihe  greatest  and  the  least  at  the 
solstices.  These  altitudes  depend  upon  the  change  of 
the  sun's  declination.  The  change  of  declination  will 
affect  the  aiimulh  and  amplitude  of  the  sun's  rising  and 
selling,  this  is  why  the  sun  sets  most  to  the  north  in 
sununer  and  most  to  the  south  in  winter.  At  the 
equinoxes  the  sun  has  always  o"^  Decl.,  so  it  rises  and  sets 
due  east  and  west  all  over  the  world.  But  at  the  solstices 
it  has  its  greatest  declination  of  23!'  N.  or  S. ;  it  will 
lise  and  set  therefore  far  from  the  east  and  west  points  ; 
how  far,  will  depend  upon  ihe  latitude  of  ihe  place  we 
consider.    The  following  are  approximate  values  : 


3»2 


At  Thebes,  representing  Egypt,  we  find  that  the  sun's 
azimuth  at  the  summer  solstice  will  be  z6~  N.  of  E.  at 
rising,  and  it  will  be  26"  N.  of  W.  at  setting. 

These  solstices  and  their  accomp.iniments  are  among  the 
Striking  things  in  the  natural  world.  In  the  winter  solstice 
we  have  the  depth  of  winter,  in  the  summer  solstice  we 
have  the  height  of  sumrner,  while  at  the  equinoxes  we 
have  but  transitional  changes  ;  in  other  words,  while  the 
solstices  point  out  for  us  the  conditions  of  greatest  heat 
and  greatest  cold,  Ihe  equinoxes  point  out  for  us  those 
two  times  of  theyear  at  which  the  temperature  conditions 
are  very  nearly  equal,  although  of  course  in  the  one  case 
we  are  saying  good-bye  to  summer  and  in  the  other  to 
winter.  To  people  who  live  in  tropical  or  sub-tropical 
countries  a  summer  solstice  is  a  very  much  more  definite 
thing  than  it  Is  10  us.  In  Egypt  the  summer  solstice  was 
paramount,  for  it  heralded  the  rise  of  the  Nile.  Next 
came  the  autumnal  equinox,  for  it  marked  the  height  of 
the  inundation. 

Did  the  ancients  know  anything  about  these  solstices 
and  these  equinoxes?  That  is  one  of  the  questions  which 
we  have  to  discuss.  Dealing  with  the  monumental 
evidence  in  Egypt  alone,  the  answer  is  absolutely  over- 
whelming. The  evidence  I  propose  to  bring  before  you 
consists  of  thai  afforded  by  some  of  the  very  oldest 
temples  that  we  know  of  in  Egypt.  Among  the  mo=i 
ancient  and  sacred  fanes  in  Egypt  was  one  at  Abydos, 
which,  the  tradition  runs,  was  buih  by  the  Shosou-Hor  or 
servants  of  Horus  (therefore  sun- worshippers)  before  the 
time  of  Mcnes  ;  Menes,  as  we  have  seen,  having  reigned 
at  a  dale  certainly  not  less  than  4000,  and  possibly  5000 
years  B.C. 

First  a  word  as  to  the  general  plan  of  a  temple  such  as 
we  find  it  in  Egypt.  They  may  be  arranged  architecturally 
into  twomaingroups.  Edfoii  is  the  most  perfect  example 
of  one  of  the  first  group,  characterized  by  having  a  pylon 
consisting  of  two  massive  structures  right  and  left  of  the 
entrance,  which  are  somewhat  like  the  two  towers  that 
one  sometimes  seeson  the  west  front  of  some  of  our  English 
cathedrals.  The  Temple  of  Ramses  1 1,  in  the  Memnonia 
at  Thebes  is  another  example  (Fig.  8). 

From  the  en  trance- pylon  the  temple  goes  stretching 
along  through  various  halls  of  different  sizes  and  details 
until  at  last  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  temple  what  is 
NO.   1 123,  VOL.  44] 


called  the  Sanctuary,  Naos,orHoly  of  Holies,  is  reached. 
The  end  of  the  temple  at  which  the  pylons  are  ntoated  is 
open,  the  other  is  closed.  These  lofty  towers,  and  indeed 
the  walls,  are  sometimes  covered  with  the  most  won- 
derful drawings  and  hieroglyphic  figures  and  records. 
Stretching  in  front  of  the  pylons,  extending  sotnetimes 
very  far  in  front,  are  rows  of  sphinxes.      This  prin- 


n    »    P  •  •  I  W^-*-  •  (1 


ciple  is  carried  to  such  an  extent  that  in  some  cases 
separate  isolated  gales  have  been  built  right  in  front 
and  exactly  in  the  alignment  of  the  temple.  At  Kamalc 
there  really  are  two  such  temples  back  to  back,  and  the 
distance  which  separates  the  outside  entrances  of  both  is 
greater  than  the  distance  from  Pall  Mall  to  Piccadilly  ; 
the  great  temple  covers  about  twice  the  area  coveted  by 


Mav  7, 


St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  so  that  these  were  temples  of  a  vast-  i 
IKES  absolutely  unapproached  in  the  modern  world. 

Id  Denderah  wc  have  an  example  of  the  second  group,  ! 
in  which  the  massive  pylon  is  omitted.  In  these  the 
froDt  is  entirely  changed  ;  instead  of  the  pylon  we  have 
now  an  open  front  to  the  temple  with  columns — the  Greek  , 
form  of  temple  is  approached  (Fig.  9). 

1  shall  not  have  time  to  get  to  the  astronomical  side  of  , 
tbe  Greek  temples  in  this  course  of  lectures,  but  I  am  ■ 
aniious  to  take  this  opportunity  to  refer  to  tbe  transi-  , 
tioB  from  the  Egyptian  form  of  temple  to  the  Greek  one. 
The  east  front  of  the  Partheno.n  at  Athens  very  much 
more  resembles  the  temple  of  Denderah  than  It  does  the 
early  Egyptian  temple— that  is  to  say,  the  eastern  front  is 
open  i  it  is  not  closed  by  pylons. 

In  many  Egyptian  temples,  in  the  progress  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  one  Roes  through  various  halls  of  different 
styles  of  architecture  and  different  stages  of  magnificence. 
But  in  the  Greek  temple  this  is  entirely  changed  ;  the 
approach  to  the  temple  was  outside,  the  temple  represent- 
ing, so  to  «peak,  the  core,  almost  the  Holy  of  Holies,  cf 
ibe  Egyptian  temple,  and  any  magnificent  approach  to  ii 


I_»  •  •  :  ■  ■  •  X' 
•  «  •  -"•  >  •  I, 
•  •  •    «  •  •  4 


»h(froinl.tpsi.i 


which  could  be  given,  was  ^iven  from  the  outside.  But 
^though  they  were  quite  different  in  their  aspects,  they 
were  quite  similar  in  their  objects.  Some  Egyptian 
temples  took  hundreds  of  years  to  build  ;  the  obelisks 
Here  all  in  single  blocks  like  that  on  the  Embankment, 
and  all  were  brought  for  hundreds  of  miles  down  the  Nile. 
A  temple  meant  to  the  Egyptians  a  very  serious  thing 
indeed. 

So  much,  then,  for  a  general  idea  of  an  ancient  temple. 

Another  point  is  very  striking  in  these  temples,  notably 
in  the  chief  one  at  Karnak. 

From  one  end  of  tbe  temple  to  the  other  we  tind  the 
axis  marked  out  by  narrow  apertures  in  the  various 
pylons,  and  many  walls  with  doors  crossing  the  axis. 
There  are  17  or  18  of  the^e  limiting  apertures,  and  in  tbe 
other  temple  which  is  back  to  back  to  this  one  we  have 
pyhms  in  exactly  the  same  way  limiting  the  light  which 
falls  into  the  >loly  of  Holies  or  the  Sanctuary.  This 
construction  gives  one  a  very  definite  impression  that 
every  part  of  the  temple  was  built  to  subserve  a  special 
object,  viz.  to  limit  the  sunlight  which  fell  on  its  front  into  a 
narrow  beam,  and  to  carry  it  to  the  other  extremity  of  the 
NO.    I  123,  VOL.   44J 


temple — into  the  s.inctuary — which  extremity  was  always- 
blocked.  There  is  no  case  in  which  the  beam  of  light 
can  pass  absolutely  through  the  temple. 

The  idea  is  strengthened  by  considering  the  construction' 
of  the  astronomical  telescope.  Although  the  Egyptians 
knew  nothing  about  telescopes,  it  would  seem  that  ihey 
had  the  same  problem  before  tbem  which  we  solve  by  a 
special  arrangement  in  the  miidcm  telescope — they  wanted 
to  keep  the  light  pure,  and  to  lead  it  into  their  sanctuary, 
as  we  lead  it  to  the  eyepiece.  To  keep  the  light  that 
passes  into  the  eyepiece  of  a  modern  telescope  pure,  we 


^ 


Iht  nonh-WMl  pylon  (fcom  u  pholograiih  by  Ihe  aglhar). 

have  between  the  object-glass  and  the  eyepiece  a  series 
of  what  are  called  diaphragms  ;  that  is  a  series  of  rings 
right  along  the  tube,  the  inner  diameters  of  the  rings 
being  greatest  close  to  the  object-glass,  and  smallest 
close  to  the  eyepiece ;  these  diaphragms  must  so  be 
made,  that  all  the  light  from  the  object-glass  shall  fall 
upon  the  eyepiece,  without  loss,  or  reflection  by  the  tube. 
These  apertures  in  the  pylons  and  separating  walls  of 
Egvptian  temples  exactly  represent  the  diaphragms  in 
the' modern  telescope.  J.  NORMAN  LoCKVER. 

( To  be  continued.) 


12 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


HERTZ'S  EXPERIMENTS.^ 

n. 

T  N  the  last  article,  a  general  method  of  measuring  the 
^  velocity  at  which  a  disturbance  is  propagated  was 
described.  It  depended  on  being  able  to  produce  a 
regular  succession  of  disturbances  at  equal  intervals  of 
time.  These  were  made  to  measure  their  own  velocity 
by  reflecting  them  at  an  obstacle.  Then,  by  the  inter- 
ference of  the  incident  and  reflected  waves,  a  succession 
of  loops  and  nodes  are  produced  at  intervals  of  half  the 
distance  a  disturbance  is  propagated  during  the  time 
between  two  disturbances.  It  is  a  general  method  ap- 
plicable to  any  sort  of  disturbance  that  takes  time  to  get 
from  one  place  to  another.  It  has  been  applied  overwind 
over  again  to  measure  the  rate  at  which  various  kinds  of 
disturbance  are  propagated  in  solids,  liquids,  and  gases. 
It  was  applied  in  a  modified  form  years  ago,  to  measure 
the  length  of  a  wave  of  light ;  and,  within  the  last  year, 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  experiments  on  photography 
ever  described  are  applications  of  this  principle  by  Herr 
Wiener  and  M.  Lippmann. 

There  are  three  things  essential  to  this  experiment : 
(i)  some  method  of  originating  waves  ;  (2)  some  method 
of  reflecting  them  ;  (3)  some  method  of  telling  where 
there  are  loops  and  where  there  are  nodes.  We  will  take 
them  in  this  order: — 

(i)  How  can  we  expect  to  originate  electric  waves }  If, 
when  a  body  is  electrifled  positively,  the  electric  force  due 
to  it  exists  simultaneously  everywhere,  of  course  we  cannot 
expect  to  produce  anything  like  a  wave  of  electric  force  tra- 
velling out  from  the  body  ;  but  if,  when  a  body  is  suddenly 
electrified,  the  electric  force  takes  time  to  reach  a  place, 
we  must  suppose  that  it  is  propagated  in  some  way  as  a 
wave  of  electric  force  from  the  body  to  the  distant  place. 
This,  of  course,  assumes  that  there  is  a  medium  which  is 
in  some  peculiar  state  when  electric  force  exists  in  it,  and 
that  it  is  this  peculiar  state  of  the  medium,  which  we  call 
electric  force,  existing  in  it,  that  is  propagated  from  one 
place  to  another.  It  must  be  carefully  borne  in  mind 
what  sort  of  a  thing  this  is  that  we  call  the  electric  force 
at  any  place.  It  is  not  a  good  name — electric  intensity 
would  be  a  better,  one ;  but  electric  force  has  come  so 
much  into  use,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  it  can 
be  eradicated  now.  Electric  force  at  any  place  is  mea- 
sured by  the  mechanical  force  that  would  be  exerted  at 
jhe  place  if  a  unit  quantity  of  electricity  were  there.  It 
IS  not  a  force  itself  at  all ;  it  is  only  a  description  of  the 
condition  of  the  medium  at  the  place  which  makes  elec- 
tricity there  tend  to  move.  The  air  near  the  earth 
is  in  such  a  condition  that  everything  immersed  in  it 
tends  to  move  away  from  the  earth  with  a  force  of  about 
1*26  dynes  for  each  cubic  centimetre  of  the  body,  i.e, 
each  cubic  centimetre  tends  to  move  with  a  foice  of  1*26 
dynes.  Now  the  condition  of  the  air  that  causes  this 
is  never  described  as  volume  force  existing  at  the  place, 
though  we  do  describe  the  corrc  sponding  condition  of  the 
ether  as  electric  force  existing  there :  and  as  volume  force 
existing  would  be  a  very  objectionable  description  of  the 
condition  of  the  air  when,  being  at  different  pressures  at 
various  levels,  it  tends  to  make  bodies  move  with  a  force 
proportional  to  their  volume,  so  electric  force  existing  is 
a  very  objectionable  description  of  the  condition  of  the 
ether,  whatever  it  is,  that  tends  to  make  bodies  move 
with  a  force  in  proportion  to  their  electric  charges.  We 
know  more  about  the  structure  of  the  air  than  we  do 
about  the  ether.  We  know  that  the  structure  of  the  air 
that  causes  it  to  act  in  this  way  is  that  there  are  more 
molecules  jumping  about  in  each  cubic  centimetre  near 
the  earth  than  there  are  at  a  distance,  and  we  do  not 
know  yet  what  the  structure  of  the  ether  is  that  causes  it 
to  act  in  this  remarkable  way  ;  but  even  though  we  do 

'  Continued  from  vol.  zUiL  p.  538. 
NO.   1123,  VOL.  44] 


not  know  the  nature  of  the  structure,  we  know  some  of 
its  effects,  by  means  of  which  we  can  measure  it,  and  we 
can  give  it  a  name.  Although  we  know  very  little  indeed 
about  the  structure  of  a  piece  of  stressed  india-rubber, 
yet  we  can  measure  the  amount  of  its  stress  at  any 
place,  and  can  call  the  india-rubber  in  this  peculiar 
condition  ''stressed  india-rubber.*'  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  know  a  great  deal  more  about  the  peculiar  con- 
dition of  the  ether  that  we  describe  as  "electric  force" 
existing  than  we  do  about  the  "stressed  india-rubber"; 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  structure  of 
the  ether  is,  out  of  all  comparison,  more  simple  than  that 
of  india-rubber. 

When  sound-waves  travel  through  the  air,  they  consist 
of  compressions  followed  by  rarefactions,  and  between 
them  the  pressure  varies  from  point  to  point,  so  that  here 
we  have  travelling  forward  a  structure  the  same  as  that 
of  the  air  near  the  earth,  and  waves  of  sound  might  be 
described  as  consisting  of  a  succession  of  positive  and 
negative  **  volume  forces  "  travelling  forward  in  the  air : 
this  form  of  expression  would  no  doubt  be  objectionable, 
but  still  if  all  we  knew  about  the  properties  of  the  air 
near  the  earth  was  that  it  tended  to  make  bodies  move 
away  from  the  earth  with  a  force  proportional  to  their 
volume,  it  is  quite  likely  that  this  condition  of  affairs 
near  the  earth  might  have  been  described  as  the  existence 
of  a  "  volume  force  "  near  the  earth,  and  when  it  was  dis^ 
covered  that  this  action  was  due  to  a  medium,  the  air,  it 
would  have  been  quite  natural  to  describe  this  state  of 
the  air  as  *'  volume  force  "  existing  in  it :  and  then  when 
waves  of  sound  were  observed  it  would  be  quite  natural 
that  they  should  be  described  as  waves  of  "  volume  force,^ 
especially  if  the  only  way  in  which  we  could  detect  the 
presence  of  these  waves  was  by  observing  the  force 
exerted  on  bodies  immersed  in  it,  which  was  proportional 
to  their  volumes,  and  which  we  happen  to  know  is  really 
due  to  differences  of  pressure  at  neighbouring  points  in 
the  air.  We  do  not  know  what  is  the  structure  of  the 
ether  that  causes  it  to  exert  force  on  electrified  bodies, 
but  we  know  of  the  existence  of  this  property,  and  when 
it  is  in  this  state  we  say  that  "electric  force"  exists  in  it, 
and  we  have  certain  ways  by  which  we  can  detect  the 
existence  of  "  electric  force,"  one  of  which  is  the  produc- 
tion of  an  electric  current  in  a  conductor,  and  the  con- 
sequent electrification  of  the  conductor,  and  if  this  is 
strong  enough  we  can  produce  an  electric  spark  between 
it  and  a  neighbouring  conductor.  When  a  conductor  is 
suddenly  electrified,  the  structure  of  the  ether  which  is 
described  as  electric  force  existing  in  it  travels  from  its 
neighbourhood  through  the  surrounding  ether,  and  this 
is  described  as  a  wave  of  electric  force  travelling  through 
the  surrounding  ether.  It  is  desirable  to  be  quite  dear 
as  to  what  is  meant  by  the  term  a  wave  of  electric  force, 
and  what  we  know  about  it.  We  know  that  it  is  a  region 
of  ether  where  its  structure  is  the  same  as  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  electrified  and  some  other  bodies,  and  owing 
to  which  force  is  exerted  on  electrified  bodies,  and  electric 
currents  are  produced  in  conductors. 

We  may,  then,  reasonably  expect  that,  if  it  is  possible 
to  electrify  a  body  alternately  positively  and  negatively 
in  rapid  succession,  there  will  be  produced  all  round  it 
waves  of  electric  force — that  is,  if  the  electric  force  is 
propagated  by,  and  is  due  to,  a  medium  surrounding  the 
electrified  body,  if  electrification  is  a  special  state  of  the 
medium  that  fills  the  space  between  bodies. 

(2)  The  next  question  is:  How  can  we  reflect  these 
waves  .»*  In  order  to  reflect  a  wave,  we  must  interpose  in 
its  way  some  body  that  stops  it.  What  sort  of  bodies 
stop  electric  force  1  Conductors  are  known  to  act  as 
complete  screens  of  electric  force,  so  that  a  laige  con- 
ducting sheet  would  naturally  be  suggested  as  the  best 
way  to  reflect  waves  of  electric  force.  Reflection  always 
occurs  when  there  is  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the 
medium,  even  though  the  change  is  not  so  great  as  to 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


13 


Stop  the  wave,  and  it  has  long  been  known  that,  besides 
the  action  of  conductors  as  screens  of  electric  force,  dif- 
ferent non-conductors  act  differently  in  reference  to  elec- 
tric force  by  differing  in  specific  inductive  capacity. 
Hence  we  might  expect  non-conductors  to  reflect  these 
waves,  although  the  reflection  would  probably  not  be  so 
intense  from  them  as  from  conductors.  Hence  this 
question  of  how  to  reflect  the  waves  is  pretty  easily 
solved.  We  are  acting  still  on  the  supposition  that  there 
are  waves  at  all.  If  electric  force  exist  everywhere 
simultaneously,  of  course  there  will  be  no  waves  to  re- 
flect, and,  consequently,  no  loops  and  nodes  produced  by 
the  interference  of  the  incident  and  reflected  waves. 

(3)  The  third  problem  is :  How  can  we  expect  to  detect 
where  there  are  loops  and  where  there  are  nodes  ?  Recall 
the  effects  of  electric  force.  It  tends  to  move  electrified 
bodies.  If,  then,  an  electrified  body  were  placed  in  a 
loop,  it  would  tend  to  vibrate  up  and  down.  This  method 
may  possibly  be  employed  at  some  future  time,  and  it 
may  be  part  of  the  cause  of  photographic  actions,  for 
these  have  recently  been  conclusively  proved  to  be  due  to 
electric  force  ;  but  the  alternations  of  electric  force  from 
positive  to  negative  that  have  to  be  employed  are  so  rapid 
that  no  body  large  enough  to  be  easily  visible  and  electri- 
fied to  a  reasonable  extent  could  be  expected  to  move 
sufficiently  to  be  visibly  disturbed.  It  is  possible  that  we 
may  find  some  way  of  detecting  the  vibrations  hereby 
given  to  the  electrified  ions  in  an  electrolyte  ;  and  it  has 
recently  been  stated  that  waves  originated  electrically 
shake  the  elements  in  sensitive  photographic  films 
sufficiently  to  cause  changes  that  can  be  developed.  The 
other  action  of  electric  force  is  to  produce  an  electric 
cunent  in  a  conductor  and  a  resultant  electrification  of 
the  conductor.  Two  effects  due  to  this  action  have 
actually  been  used  to  detect  the  existence  of  the  wave  of 
electric  force  sent  out  by  a  body  alternately  electrified 
positively  and  negatively.  One  of  these  is  the  heating  of 
the  conductor  by  the  current.  Several  experimenters 
have  directly  or  indirectly  used  this  way  of  detecting  the 
electric  force.  The  other  way,  which  has  proved  so  far 
the  most  sensitive  of  all,  has  been  to  use  the  electrifica- 
tion of  the  conductor  to  cause  a  spark  across  an  air- 
space. This  is  the  method  Hertz  originally  employed. 
A  priori^  one  would  not  have  expected  it  to  be  a  delicate 
method  at  all.  It  takes  very  considerable  electric  forces 
to  produce  visible  sparks.  On  the  other  hand,  the  time 
the  force  need  last  m  order  to  produce  a  spark  is  some- 
thing very  small  indeed,  and  hitherto  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  keep  up  the  alternate  electrifications  for  more 
than  a  minute  fraction  of  a  second,  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  other  apparently  more  promising  methods  have 
failed  to  be  as  sensitive  as  the  method  of  producing 
sparks.  If  two  conductors  be  placed  very  close  to  one 
another  in  such  a  direction  that  the  electric  force 
is  in  the  line  joining  them,  their  near  surfaces  will  be 
oppositely  electrified  when  the  electric  force  acts  on 
them,  and  we  may  expect  that,  if  the  force  be  great 
enough,  and  the  surfaces  near  enough,  an  electric  spark 
will  pass  from  one  to  the  other.  This  is  roughly  the 
arrangement  used  by  Hertz  to  detect  whether  there  are 
loops  and  nodes  between  the  originator  of  the  waves  and 
the  reflector. 

Now  arises  the  problem  of  how  to  electrify  the  body 
alternately  positively  and  negatively  with  sufficient 
rapidity.  How  rapid  is  "with  sufficient  rapidity''? 
To  answer  this  we  must  form  some  estimate  of  how 
rapidly  we  may  expect  the  waves  to  be  propagated. 
According  to  Maxwell's  theory,  they  should  go  at  the 
same  rate  as  light,  some  300  million  of  metres  per  second, 
and  it  is  evident  that  if  we  are  going  to  test  Maxwell's 
theory  we  must  make  provision  for  sufficiently  rapid 
electric  vibrations  to  give  some  result  if  the  waves  are 
propagated  at  this  enormous  rate.  The  distance  from  a 
node  to  a  node  is  half  the  distance  a  wave  travels  during 

NO,   1 1 23,  VOL.  44] 


a  vibration.  If  we  can  produce  vibrations  at  the  rate  of 
300  million  per  second,  a  wave  would  go  i  metre  during 
a  vibration,  so  that,  with  this  enormous  rate  of  alternation, 
the  distance  from  node  to  node  would  be  50  cm.  We 
might  expect  to  be  able  to  work  on  this  scale  very  well, 
or  even  on  ten  times  this  scale,  i.e.  with  alternations  at 
the  rate  of  30  million  per  second,  and  5  metres  from 
node  to  node,  but  hardly  on  a  much  larger  scale  than 
this.  It  almost  takes  one's  breath  away  to  contemplate 
the  production  of  vibrations  of  this  enormous  rapidity. 
Of  course  they  are  very  much  slower  than  those  of  light : 
these  latter  are  more  than  a  million  times  as  rapid  ;  but 
300  million  per  second  is  enormously  more  rapid  than 
any  audible  sound,  about  a  thousand  times  as  fast  as  the 
highest  audible  note.  A  short  bar  of  metal  vibrates 
longitudinally  very  fast,  but  it  would  have  to  be  about  the 
thousandth  of  a  centimetre  long,  in  order  to  vibrate 
at  the  required  rate.  It  would  be  almost  hopeless  by 
mechanical  means  to  produce  electric  alternations  of  this 
frequency.  Fortunately  there  is  an  electric  method  of 
producing  very  rapid  alternate  electrifications.  When  a 
Leyden  jar  is  discharged  through  a  wire  of  small  resist- 
ance, the  self-induction  of  the  current  in  this  wire  keeps 
the  current  running  after  the  jar  is  discharged,  and  re- 
charges it  in  the  opposite  direction,  to  immediately 
discharge  back  again,  and  so  on  through  a  series  of 
alternations.  This  action  is  quite  intelligible  on  the 
hypothesis  that  electrification  consists  in  a  strained 
condition  of  the  ether,  which  relieves  itself  by  means  of 
the  conductor.  Just  as  a  bent  spring  or  other  strained 
body,  when  allowed  suddenly  to  relieve  itself,  relieves 
itself  in  a  series  of  vibrations  that  gradually  subside, 
similarly  the  strain  of  the  ether  relieves  itself  in  a  series  of 
gradually  subsiding  vibrations.  If  the  spring  while  relieving 
itself  has  to  overcomefrict  tonal  resistance,  its  vibrations  will 
rapidly  subside  ;  and  if  the  friction  be  sufficiently  great, it 
will  not  vibrate  at  all,  but  will  gradually  subside  into  its 
position  of  equilibrium.  In  the  same  manner,  if  the  re- 
sistance to  the  relief  of  the  strain  of  the  medium,  which 
is  offered  by  the  conducting  wire,  ne  great,  the  vibrations 
will  subside  rapidly,  and  if  the  resistance  of  the  wire  be 
too  great,  there  will  not  be  any  vibrations  at  all.  Of 
course,  quite  independently  of  all  frictional  and  viscous 
resistances,  a  vibrating  spring,  such  as  a  tuning-fork  that 
is  producing  sound-waves  in  the  air  which  carry  the 
energy  of  the  fork  away  from  it  into  the  surrounding 
medium,  will  gradually  vibrate  less  and  less.  In  the 
same  way,  quite  independently  of  the  resistance  of  the 
conducting  wire,  we  must  expect  that,  if  a  discharging 
conductor  produces  electric  waves,  its  vibrations  must 
gradually  subside  owing  to  its  energy  being  gradually 
transferred  to  the  surrounding  medium.  As  a  conse- 
quence of  this  the  time  that  a  Leyden  jar  takes  to  dis- 
charge itself  in  this  way  may  be  very  short  indeed.  It 
may  perform  a  good  many  oscillations  in  this  very  short 
time,  but  then  each  oscillation  takes  a  very  very  short 
time.  To  get  some  idea  of  what  quantities  we  are  deal- 
ing with,  consider  the  rates  of  oscillation  which  would 
give  wave-lengths  that  were  short  enough  to  be  con- 
veniently dealt  with  in  laboratories.  300  million  per 
second  would  give  us  waves  one  metre  long ;  consider 
what  is  meant  by  100  million  per  second.  We  may  get 
some  conception  of  it  by  calculating  the  time  correspond- 
ing to  100  million  seconds.  It  is  more  than  3  years  and 
2  months.  The  pendulum  of  a  clock  would  have  to 
oscillate  3  years  and  2  months  before  it  would  have  per- 
formed as  many  oscillations  as  we  require  to  be  per- 
formed in  one  second.  The  pendulum  of  a  clock  left  to 
itself  without  weights  or  springs  to  drive  it,  and  only 
given  a  single  impulse,  would  practically  cease  to  vibrate 
after  it  had  performed  40  or  50  vibrations,  unless  it  were 
very  heavy,  i,e,  had  a  great  store  of  energy  or  were  very 
delicately  suspended,  and  exposed  only  a  small  resistance 
to  the  air.    A  light  pendulum  would  be  stopped  by  com- 


14 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


municating  motion  to  the  air  after  a  very  few  vibrations. 
The  ca<e  of  a  Leyden  jar  discharge  is  more  like  the  case 
of  a  mass  on  a  spring  than  the  case  of  a  pendulum, 
because  in  the  cases  of  the  Leyden  jar  there  is  nothing 
quite  analogous  to  the  way  in  which  the  earth  pulls  the 
pendulum  :  it  is  the  elasticity  of  the  ether  that  causes  the 
electric  currents  in  the  Leyden  jar  discharge,  just  as 
it  is  the  elasticity  of  the  spring  that  causes  the 
motion  of  the  matter  attached  to  it  in  the  case 
of  a  mass  vibrating  on  a  spring.  It  is  possible  to 
push  this  analogy  still  further.  Under  what  conditions 
would  the  spring  vibrate  most  rapidly  ?  When  the  spring 
was  stiff  and  the  mass  small.  What  is  meant  by  a  spring 
being  stiff.?  When  a  considerable  force  only  bends  it  a 
little.  This  corresponds  to  a  considerable  electric  force 
only  electrifying  the  Leyden  jar  coatings  a  little,  i.e.  to 
the  Leyden  jar  having  a  small  capacity.  We  would  con- 
sequently expect  that  the  discharge  of  a  Leyden  jar  with 
a  small  capacity  would  vibrate  more  rapidly  than  that  of 
one  with  a  large  capacity,  and  this  is  the  case.  In  order 
to  make  a  Leyden  jar  of  very  small  capacity  we  must 
have  small  conducting  surfaces  as  far  apart  as  possible, 
and  two  separate  plates  or  knobs  do  very  well.  The 
second  condition  for  rapid  vibration  was  that  the  mass 
moved  should  he  small.  In  the  case  of  electric  currents 
what  keeps  the  current  running  after  the  plates  have 
become  discharged  and  recharges  them  again  is  the  so- 
called  self-induction  of  the  current.  It  would  be  well  to 
look  upon  it  as  magnetic  energy  stored  up  in  the  ether 
around  the  current,  but  whatever  view  is  taken  of  it,  it 
evidently  corresponds  to  the  mass  moved,  whose  energy 
keeps  it  moving  after  the  spring  is  unbent  and  rebends 
the  spring  again.  Hence  we  may  conclude  that  a  small 
self-induction  will  favour  rapidity  of  oscillation,  and  this 
is  the  case.  To  attain  this  we  must  make  the  distance 
the  current  has  to  run  from  plate  to  plate  as  short  as 
possible.  The  smaller  the  plates  and  the  shorter  the 
connecting  wire  the  more  rapid  the  vibrations ;  in  fact, 
the  rapidity  of  vibration  is  directly  proportional  to  the 
linear  dimensions  of  the  system,  and  for  the  most  rapid 
vibrations  two  spherical  knobs,  one  charged  positively 
and  the  other  negatively,  and  discharging  directly  from 
one  to  the  other,  have  been  used.  Hertz  in  his  original 
investigations  uiied  two  plates  about  40  cm.  square, 
forming  parts  of  the  same  plane,  and  separated  by  an 
interval  of  about  60  cm.  Each  plate  was  connected  at 
the  centre  of  the  edge  next  the  other  plate  with  a  wire 
about  30  cm.  long,  and  terminating  in  a  small  brass  knob. 
These  knobs  were  within  2  or  3  mm.  of  one  another,  so 
that  when  one  plate  was  charged  positively  and  the  other 
negatively  they  discharged  to  one  another  in  a  spark 
across  this  gap.  An  apparatus  about  this  size  would 
produce  waves  10  or  12  metres  long,  and  its  rate 
of  oscillation  would  be  about  30  million  per  second. 
As  the  vibration  actually  produced  by  these  oscillators 
seems  to  be  very  complex,  the  rate  of  oscillation  can 
only  be  described  as  "  about ''  so  and  so.  In  a  subsequent 
investigation  Hertz  employed  two  elongated  cylinders 
about  15  cm.  long  and  about  3  cm.  in  diameter,  termin- 
ated by  knobs  about  4  cm.  in  diameter,  and  discharging 
directly  into  one  another.  Such  an  oscillator  produces 
waves  from  60  to  70  cm.  long,  and,  consequently,  vibra- 
tions at  the  rate  of  between  400  and  500  million  per 
second.  Most  other  experimenters  have  used  oscillators 
about  the  same  dimensions  as  Hertz's  larger  apparatus, 
as  the  effects  produced  are  more  energetic  ;  but  many 
experiments,  especially  on  refraction,  require  a  smaller 
wave  to  be  dealt  with,  unless  all  the  apparatus  used  be 
on  an  enormous  scale,  such  as  could  not  be  accommo- 
dated in  any  ordinary  laboratory.  When  we  are  thus 
aiming  at  rapid  rates  of  vibration,  it  must  be  recollected 
that  we  cannot  at  the  same  time  expect  many  vibrations 
after  each  impulse.  If  we  have  a  stiff  spring  with  a  small 
weight  arranged  so  as  to  give  a  lot  of  its  energy  to  the 

NO.    II 23,  VOL.  44] 


surrounding  medium,  we  cannot  expect  to  have  very- 
much  energy  to  deal  with,  nor  many  vibrations,  and,  as  a. 
matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  this  is  the  case.  The  total 
duration  of  a  spark  of  even  a  large  Leyden  jar  is  very 
small.  Lord  Kayleigh  has  recently  illustrated  this  very 
beautifully  by  his  photographs  of  falling  drops  and  break- 
ing bubbles.  We  cannot  reasonably  expect  each  spark 
to  have  more  than  from  10  to  20  effective  oscillations,  so- 
that,  even  in  the  case  of  the  slower  oscillator,  the  total 
duration  of  the  spark  is  not  above  a  millionth  of  a  second. 
It  is  very  remarkable  that  the  incandescent  air,  heated  to 
incandescence  by  the  spark,  should  cool  as  rapidly  as  it 
does,  but  there  is  conclusive  evidence  that  it  remains 
incandescent  after  the  spark  proper  has  ceased,  and  con- 
sequently lasts  incandescent  longer  than  the  millionth  of 
a  second  What  is  seen  as  the  white  core  of  the  spark, 
may  not  last  longer  than  the  electric  discharge  itself,  and 
certainly  does  not  do  so  in  the  case  of  the  comparatively 
very  slowly  oscillating  sparks  that  have  been  analyzed 
into  their  component  vibrations  by  photographing  them 
on  a  moving  plate.  The  incandescent  air  remaining  in 
the  path  of  such  discharge  is  probably  the  conducting 
path  through  which  the  oscillating  current  rushes  back- 
wards and  forwards.  Once  the  air  gap  has  been  broken 
through,  the  character  of  the  air  gap  as  an  opponent  of 
the  passage  of  electricity  is  completely  changed.  Before 
the  air  gap  breaks  down,  it  requires  a  considerable  initial 
difference  of  electric  pressure  to  start  a  current.  Once  it 
has  been  broken  down,  the  electric  current  oscillates 
backwards  and  forwards  across  the  incandescent  air  gap 
until  the  whole  difference  of  electric  pressure  has  sub- 
sided, showing  that  the  broken  air  gap  has  become  a  con- 
ductor in  which  even  the  feeblest  electric  pressure  is 
able  to  produce  an  electric  current.  If  this  were  not 
so,  Leyden  jars  would  not  be  discharged  by  a  single 
spark.  All  this  is  quite  in  accordance  with  what 
we  know  of  air  that  is,  or  even  has  lately  been, 
incandescent :  such  air  conducts  under  the  feeblest  electric 
force.  All  this  is  most  essential  to  the  success  of  our 
oscillator.  Only  for  this  valuable  property  of  air,  that  it 
gives  way  suddenly,  and  thenceforward  offers  but  a  feeble 
opposition  to  the  rapidly  alternating  discharge,  it  would 
have  been  almost  impossible  to  start  these  rapid  oscilla- 
tions. If  we  wish  to  start  a  tuning-fork  vibrating,  we 
must  give  it  a  sharp  blow :  it  will  not  do  to  press  its 
prongs  together  and  then  let  them  go  slowly :  we  must 
apply  a  force  which  is  short-lived  in  comparison  with  the 
period  of  vibration  of  the  fork.  It  is  necessary,  then,  that 
the  air  gap  must  break  down  in  a  time  short  compared 
with  the  rate  of  oscillation  of  the  discharge ;  and  when 
this  is  required  to  be  at  the  rate  of  400  million  per  second, 
it  is  evident  how  very  remarkably  suddenly  the  air  gap 
breaks  down.  From  the  experiments  themselves  it  seems 
as  if  any  even  minute  roughnesses,  dust,  &c.,  on  the  dis- 
charging surface,  interfered  with  this  rapidity  of  break- 
down :  it  seems  as  if  the  points  spluttered  out  electricity 
and  gradually  broke  down  the  air  gap^  for  the  vibrations 
originated  are  very  feeble  unless  the  discharging  surfaces 
are  kept  highly  polished  :  gilt  brass  knobs  act  admirably 
if  kept  polished  up  every  ten  minutes  or  so.  One  of  the 
greatest  desiderata  in  these  experiments  is  some  method 
of  making  sure  that  all  the  sparks  should  have  the  same 
character,  and  be  all  good  ones. 

{To  be  continued^ 

THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  SELECTED 
CANDIDA  TES. 

T^HE  following  fifteen  candidates  were  selected  on 
-*•  Thursday  last  (April  30),  by  the  Council  of  the 
Royal  Society,  to  be  recommended  for  election  into  the 
Society.  The  ballot  will  take  place  on  June  4,  at  4  p.m. 
We  print  with  the  name  of  each  candidate  the  statement 
.  of  his  qualifications. 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


15 


William  Anderson, 

V.-P.Iost.M.E.  M.T.C.E.  Consulting  Engineer,  Rcyal  Agri- 
•coltaral  Society  of  England.  Pupil  of  the  late  Sir  William 
Fairbaim,  F.R.S.  Member  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Courtney 
and  Stephens,  Engineers,  of  Dublin,  from  1855  to  1864. 
President,  in  1863,  of  the  Inst,  of  Civil  Engineers  of  Ireland,  to 
which  Society  he  communicated  important  papers: — *'0q  the 
Theory  of  Braced  Girders  ; "  "  The  Strength  of  Railway  Bridges 
of  Small  Span,  and  the  Crossbeams  of  Large  Bridges  ;"  and 
other  subjects.  Between  1872  and  1885,  communicated  many 
important  papers  to  the  Inst,  of  Civil  Engineers,  e.g.y  **  Ex- 
periments on  Sugar  Manufacture,  in  Upper  Egypt,  by  the 
Sulphurous  Acid  Process;"  "Experiments  and  Observations 
on  the  Emission  of  Heat  by  Hot-water  Pipes;  '*  and  *'  PuriB- 
cation  of  Water  on  the  Large  Scale  by  Agitation  with  Iron*' 
{being  a  process  successfully  elaborated  by  him,  and  applied  at 
the  Antwerp  Waterworks,  &c).  Received  the  Telford  Medal 
and  the  James  Watt  Gold  Medal  of  the  Inst.  C.E.  Author  of 
a  Lecture  on  **  The  Generation  of  Steam,"  being  one  of  the 
"Heat  Series  "  of  Special  Lectures  delivered  at  the  Inst.  C.E.  ; 
of  a  Text-book  on  **  The  Conversion  of  Heat  inio  Useful  Work," 
being  the  substance  of  a  course  ol  Lectures  delivered  at  the 
Society  of  Arts  under  the  **  Howard  Trust";  of  a  paper  on 
"New  Applications  of  the  Mechanical  Properties  of  Cork," 
communicated  as  a  Lecture  to  the  Royal  Inslituiion ;  and  of 
various  papers  communicated  to  the  Inst,  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  ihe  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  &c.  Dis^tinguished 
for  the  ability  with  which  he  has  applied  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  science  of  heat,  and  other  cognate  sciences,  to  the  practical 
requirements  of  the  engineer. 

Frederick  Orpen  Bower,  D.Sc.  (Camb.), 

F.LS.,  F.R.S. E.  Regius  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow.  Distinguished  for  his  researches  in 
histological  and  morphological  botany.  Author  (in  conjunction 
with  Prof.  S.  H.  Vines,  F.R.S.)  of  "A  Course  of  Practical 
Instruction  in  Botany,"  and  of  the  following  papers,  amongst 
others : — On  the  Development  of  the  Conceptacle  in  Fucaceoe" 
{Quart,  yourn.  Micros,  Set.,  1879)  ;  *'0n  the  Germination  of 
Welivitschia''  {ibid.,  1880) ;  **  On  the  Further  Development  of 
Wehvitschia'^  {ibid.,  1881)  ;  "On  the  Germination  and  Em- 
bryogeny  of  Gneum  Gnemon*^  {Quart,  jfourn.  Micrrs.  Set., 
1882) ;  "  On  the  Structure  of  the  Stem  of  Rhynchopftalum 
montanum*^  (Journ.  Linn.  Soc,  1883)  ;  **  On  the  Comparative 
Morphology  of  the  Leaf  in  Vascular  Cryptogams  and  Gymno- 
sperms"  (Phil.  Trans.,  1884)  ;  "On  the  Apex  of  the  Root  of 
Osmunda  and  Toaia**  {Quart,  yourn.  Micros.  Sci.,  1884); 
"On  Apospory  in  Ferns"  (Journ.  Linn.  Soc,  1884) ;  •*  On  the 
Development  and  Morphology  of  Phyiloglossum  Drummondii " 
(Phil.  Trans.,  1885) ;  "On  Apospory  and  Allied  Phenomena" 
(Trans.  Linn.  Soc.,  1887) ;  **  On  the  Limits  of  the  Use  oI  the 
Terms  Phyllomeand  Caulome"  {Anuals  of  Bo!.,  1887) ;  "On 
the  Modes  of  Climbing  in  the  Genus  Calamus'*  {ibid.)',  **0n 
some  Normal  and  Abnormal  Developments  of  the  Oophyte  in 
Trichomanes  "  (/^/V. ) ;  **  I/umboidiia  laurifc/ia  as  a  Myrmeko- 
philous  Plant "  (Trans.  Phil.  Soc.  Glasg.) ;  "The  Comparative 
Examinati  m  of  the  Meristems  of  Ferns  as  a  Phyl  ^genetic 
StoAy**  {Annals  of  Boi.,  1889)  ;  "On  the  Morphology  of  the 
I^caf  of  Nepenthes "  (/^/V. ) ;  "On  Antithetic  as  distinct  from 
Homologous  Alternation  of  (generations  in  Plants"  {ibid.,  1890). 
Translator  (in  conjunction  with  Dr.  D.  H.  Scott)  of  "  Com- 
parative Anatomy  of  the  Phanerogams  and  Ferns,"  by  Anton 
de  Bary  (Clarendon  Press,  1SS4). 

Sir  John  Conroy,  Bart.,  M.A., 

F.C.S.  Lecturer  on  Physics  and  Chemistry,  Keble  College, 
Oxford.  An  assiduous  Student  of  Experimental  Science,  and 
author  of  the  following  papers  : — "  On  the  Dioxides  of  Calcium 
md  Strontium"  (Journ.  Chem.  Soc,  1873) ;  "  On  the  Polariza- 
turn  of  Light  by  Crystals  of  Iodine"  (Proc  Roy.  Soc,  1876) ; 
"Absorption -Spectra  of  Iodine"  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  1876)  ; 
"On  the  Light  reflected  by  Potassium  Permanganate"  {Phil. 
Mag.,  1878) ;  "  The  Distribution  of  Heat  in  the  Visible  Spec- 
tram  "  {Phil.  Mag.,  1879) ;  "  Experi  uents  on  Metallic  Reflexion  " 
(Proc  Roy.  Soc,  187 1,  1870,  1883). 

Daniel  John  Cunningham,  M.D.  (Edin.), 

M.D.  (Dublin),  F.R.C.S.L,   F.R.S.E.,   F.Z.S.,   Professor  of 
Anatomy,    University  of    Dublin.      Distinguished   both   as  a 

NO.    112  7,  VOL.  44] 


teacher  and  original  inquirer.  Examiner  in  Anatomy  in  the 
Universities  of  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin.  Member  of 
Council,  Royal  Irish  Academy.  Vice-Prrs.  Zoological  Society, 
Ireland.  Vice-Pres.  Anatomical  Society  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  Author  of  numerous  anatomical  memoirs  in  journals 
and  publications  of  scientific  societies.  More  especially  may  be 
mentioned — "Report  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Marsupialia" 
{Challenger  Report,  Part  16);  "The  Lumbar  Curve  in  Man 
and  Apes,"  forming  Cunningham  Memoir,  No.  2,  published  by 
the  Ro>al  Irish  Academy,  1S86  ;  "I'he  Spinal  Nervous  System 
of  the  Porpoise  and  Dolphin"  {Jown.  Anal.  Physiol.,  1876). 
Author  of  a  Text- book  of  Practical  Anatomy. 

George  Mercer  Dawson,  D.Sc, 

F.G.S.,  A.R.S.M.,  F.R.S.C.  Assistant  Director,  Geological 
Survey  of  Canada.  Much  important  and  valuable  work,  more 
especially  in  geology  and  ethnology,  as  in  the  following  summary 
statement.  During;  his  thirteen  years  of  service  on  the  Geol. 
Survey  (Canada)  has  been  chiefly  engaged  in  working  out  the 
Geology  of  the  North- West  Territory  and  British  Columbia. 
Placed  in  charge  of  the  Yukon  Expedition,  1887.  Author  of 
numerous  papers,  chiefly  geological,  but  including  geographical, 
ethnological,  and  other  observations,  published  in  the  Quart. 
;  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  Trans.  Hoy.  Soc  Canada,  CancuHan  Natura* 
listy  &c.  These  deal  more  especially  with  the  superficial 
geology  of  the  regions  explored,  but  some  describe  Foraminifera 
and  other  microscopic  organisms.  Author  of  fifteen  reports 
published  by  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  and  ioint  author 
(with  Dr.  Selwyn)  of  a  Descriptive  Sketch  of  the  Physical 
Geography  and  Geology  of  Canada,  and  (with  Dr.  W.  F. 
Tolmie)  of  Comparative  Vocabularies  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of 
British  Columbia. 

Edwin  Bailey  Elliott,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford.  Vice  President  of  the 
London  Maihematical  Society.  Mathematical  Lecturer  of 
Queen's  and  Corpus  Christi  Colleges.  Distinguished  as  a 
Mathematician  and  original  investigator  in  various  branches  of 
mathematical  research.  Author  of  the  following  papers:  — 
"  Generalization  of  Prevost  and  Lhuilier*s  Theorem  in  Chances  " 
{Ed.  Times,  vol.  xxxv.)  ;  "  On  Normals  to  Envelopes"  {Mess, 
of  Math.,\(j\.  ix.  p.  85);  "On  Multiple  Definite  Integrals" 
(Lond.  Math.  Soc.  Proc,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  35,  146) ;  "  Kinematics 
on  a  Sphere"  {ibid.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  47);  "Multiple  Frullanian 
Integrals"  {ibid.,  vol.  xv.,  p.  12;  Small  Motions  of  Systems 
with  One  Degree  of  Freedom "  (A/«j.  of  Math.,  vol.  xv.,  p. 
38) ;  "  The  Linear  Partial  Differential  Equations  satisfied  by 
Pure  Ternary  Reciprocants"  (Lond.  Math.  Soc.  Proc,  vol. 
xviii.,  p.  142)  ;  "  On  the  Interchange  of  the  Variables  in  certain 
Linear  Difterenlial  Operators"  (Abstract,  Roy.  Soc.  Proc,  vol. 
xlvi.,  p.  358  [ordered  to  be  printed  in  the  Phil  Trans.]);  and 
eighteen  other  papers  printed  in  the  London  Mathematical 
Society's  Proceedings  and  elsewhere  between  the  years  1875  and 
1890. 

Percy  Faraday  Frankland,  B.Sc, 

A.R.S.M.,  Ph.D.  Professor  of  Chemistry.  Formerly  Senior 
Demonstrator  in  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Normal  Schools 
of  Science,  South  Kensington.  Author  of  upwards  of  twenty 
original  papers  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  in  the 
Journals  of  the  Chem.  Soc,  the  Soc.  of  Chem.  Industry,  &c 
Known  for  his  researches  on  Bacteriology  and  on  the  Chemical 
Aspects  of  Fermentation. 

Percy  C.  Gilchrist, 

A.R.S.M.  Metallurgist.  Distinguished  as  a  Metallurgist, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel. 
In  association  with  the  late  Mr.  S.  G.  Thomas  he  greatly  ad- 
vanced metallurgical  practice  by  the  introduction  of  a  process 
which  enables  iron  to  be  dephosphorized  on  a  large  scale.  The 
process,  which  is  known  as  the  **  Basic"  process,  possesses 
more  than  national  importance,  and  its  value  has  been  univer- 
sally recognized.  It  has  further  been  shown  that  the  slag,  which 
is  a  product  of  the  Basic  process,  contains  phosphorus  in  a  form 
which  can  be  readily  assimilated  by  vegetation.  One  result  of 
his  metallurgical  work  has  thus  been  to  substantially  benefit 
agriculture,  as  more  than  half  a  million  tons  of  ba^ic  slag  are 
now  used  annually  as  a  fertilizer.  He  is  the  author  of  numerous 
papers  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
and  elsewhere. 


i6 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


William  Dobinson  Halliburton,  M.D.,  B.Sc, 

Assistant  Professor  of  Physiology  in  University  College,  London. 
Has  during  the  past  four  years  devoted  his  entire  time  to  research 
work  in,  and  teaching  of  Physiology,  especially  the  chemical 
side  of  that  science.  Has  published  the  following,  among  other 
communications: — "On  the  Proteids  of  Serum"  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc, 
and  Journ,  of  Physiol. ^  1884)  ;'*  On  the  Chemical  Composition 
of  Invertebrate  Cartilage"  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  1885,  and  Quart, 
fount.  Micros,  Sci,) ;  **0n  the  Blood  of  Crustacea"  {Journ. 
of  Fkysiol.y  1885,  and  in  a  Report  to  the  Scottish  Fisheries 
Board):  "On  Haemoglobin  and  Methaemoglobin  Crystals" 
(Brit,  Med.  Journ.,  1886,  and  Proc.  Physiol.  Soc.);  "On 
the  Blood-proteids  of  Lower  Vertebrates  "  {Journ.  of  Physiol, , 
1886) ;  "On  the  Coagulation  of  Myosin"  (Prelim.  Communi- 
cation to  Physiol.  Soc,  1887). 

Oliver  Heaviside, 

Learned  in  the  science  of  electro-magnetism,  having  applied 
higher  mathematics  with  power  and  success  to  the  develop- 
ments of  Maxwell's  theory  of  electro- magnetic  wave  propaga- 
tion, and  having  extended  our  knowledge  of  facts  and  prin- 
ciples in  several  directions  and  into  great  detail.  He  is  the 
author  of  the  following  papers  among  many  others: — "On 
Electro- magnetic  Induction  and  its  Propagation"  (48  parts, 
1885-87,  in  the  Electrician) ;  "  The  Induction  of  Currents  in 
Cores"  (15  parts,  1884-85);  "Some  Electrostatic  and  Mag- 
netic Problems"  (5  parts,  1883) ;  "  Current  Energy  "  (19  parts, 
1883-84) ;  "  On  the  Electro-magnetic  Effects  due  to  the  Motion 
of  Electrification  through  a  Dielectric"  (Phil,  Mag.,  1889); 
"The  General  Solution  of  Maxwell's  Equations"  {Phil. 
Mag,)',  "  On  Electro-magnetic  Waves  "(6  parts,  Phil.  Mag., 
1888);  "On  Resistance  and  Conductance  Operators"  [Pkil. 
Mag.,  1887) ;  "  On  the  Self-induction  of  Wires"  (7  parts,  Phil, 
Mag.,  1886-87);  "On  the  Electro- magnetic  Wave  Surface" 
(Phil,  Mag.,  1885) ;  "  On  the  Electro- magnetic  Effect  of  a 
Moving  Charge";  "The  Deflection  of  an  Electromagnetic 
Wave  by  Motion  of  the  Medium  " ;  "On  the  Working  of  Cells 
with  Condensers"  (Phil,  Mag.,  1874);  "On  the  Extra  Cur- 
rent" (1876);  "On  the  Speed  of  Sij^nalling  through  Hetero- 
geneous Telegraph  Circuits"  {ibid.,  1877) ;  "On  the  Effect  of 
Faults  on  the  Speed  of  Working  Cables";  "On  Electro- 
magnets" (Journ.  Soc.  Tel.  Eng.) ;  "On  Induction  between 
Parallel  Wires  "  (ibid). 

John  Edward  Marr,  M.A.  (Cantab.), 

F.G.S.  Fellow  and  Lecturer  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
and  University- Lecturer  in  Geology.  First  Class  Nat.  Sci. 
Tripos,  1878  ;  Sedgwick  Prizeman,  1883  ;  Examiner  for  the 
Nat.  Sci.  Tripo?,  1886-87.  Secretary  of  the  Geological  Society, 
1888.  Author  of  the  following  : — "  Fossiliferous  Cambrian 
Slatesnear  Carnarvon  "(Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  1876);  "On 
Phosphatized  Carbonate  of  Lime  at  Cave  Ha  "  {GeoL  Mag., 
1876) ;  "  On  some  well-defined  Life-zones  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  Silurian  of  the  Lake  District "  (Quart.  Journ.  GeoL  Soc, 
1878) ;  "  On  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian  Rocks  of  the  Dee  Valley  " 
{ibid. ,  1880) ;  "On  the  Pre-Dcvonian  Rocks  of  Bohemia  "  {ibid., 
1880) ;  "  On  some  Sections  of  the  Lower  Palaeozoic  Rocks  of  the 
Craven  District "  (Proc.  Yorks.  Geol.  Soc,  1882,  and  Brit.  Assoc, 
1881) ;  "  The  Classification  of  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian  Rocks 
(Geol,  Mag.,  1881) ;  "  On  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian  Rocks  of 
Scandinavia"  (Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  1882);  "Origin  of  the 
Archaean  Rocks  "  {Geol.  Mag.,  1883) ;  "The  Classification  of  the 
Cambrian  and  Silurian  Rocks"  (Sedgwick  Prize  Essay,  8vo,  Cam- 
bridge, 1883);  "The  Earth  History  of  the  Remote  Past  com- 
pared with  that  of  Recent  Times  "  (8vo,  Cambridge,  1886) ; 
"  The  Lower  Palajozoic  Rocks  near  Settle  "  {Geol.  Mag.,  1887) ; 
"The  Work  of  Ice  Sheets"  {ibU.)\  "Glacial  Deposits  of 
Sudbury"  {ibid.)',  "  On  some  Effects  of  Pressure  on  the 
Devonian  Sedimentary  Rocks  of  North  Devon"  ({^i</.,  1888); 
"  The  Lower  Palaeozoic  Rocks  of  the  Fichtelgebirge "  (ibid, 
1889);  "The  Metamorphism  of  the  Skiddaw  Slates"  (Brit. 
Assoc. ,  1889).  Joint-papers  : — "  The  Lowirr  Palaeozoic  Rocks  of 
the  Neighbourhood  of  Haverfordwest "  (Quart.  Joam.  Geol. 
Soc,  1885) ;  **  The  Stockdale  Shales"  (ibid,,  1888). 

LUDWIG  MOND, 

F.LC.  President  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  V.-P. 
Chem.Soc    Distinguished  technical  chemist  and  inventor.     Has 


ti 


made  important  additions  to  chemical  industrial  processes  and 
products,  especially  with  reference  to  the  alkali  industry,  having 
improved  the  mode  of  manufacture  of  carbonate  of  soda,  caustic 
soda,  hydrochloric  acid,  chlorine,  ammoniacal  proiducts,  and  gas- 
generating  furnaces,  &c  In  1863  he  developed  what  is  known 
as  the  "  Mond  Process  of  Sulphur  Recovery  from  Alkali  Waste,"^ 
and  has  since  that  date  devoted  himself  to  the  introduction  and 
development  of  the  ammonia  soda  process  of  alkali  manufacture 
into  England.  Author  of  various  papers  in  Rept.  Brit.  Assoc, 
Journ.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind. 

William  Napier  Shaw,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  Emmanual  College,  Cambridge.     Was  nominated  by 
Lord  Rayleigh  as  one  of  the  Demonstrators  of  Physics  in  the 
Cavendish  Laboratory  at  Cambridge.     He  held  that  position 
from  1880  to  1887,  *ncl  he  has  since  continued  his  connection 
with  the  Laboratory  as  University  Lecturer  in  Physics.     His 
knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  the  teaching  of  Physics  is 
conducted  in  the  great  German  Universities  (acquired  at  Berlin 
under  Helmboltz)  enabled  him  to  bear  an  in^portant  part  in  the 
organization  of  the  laboratory.     A  considerable  part  of  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Cambridge  School  of  Physics  is  due  to  his  exertions, 
backed  by  his  knowledge   of  Physics.     Author  of  numeroas 
books  and  papers,  of  which  the  following  are  especially  worthy 
of  notice:— "  Piactical  Physics"  (jointly  wiih  Mr.  Glazebrook), 
Longmans,  1885  ;  "  Practical  Work  in  the  Cavendish  Labora- 
tory," University  Press,  1886  ;  "Faraday's  Law  of  Electrolysis 
with  reference  to  Silver  and  Copper,"  Rept.  Brit.  Assjc,  1886  ; 
"Electrolysis"    and     "Pyrometer,"    "  Encyc    Brit.";    "On 
Vaporimeters,"  &c,   Rept.   to  the   Meteorol.    Council,    1884; 
"On  Hygrometric  Methods,  Part  I.,  "  Rept.  to  the  Meteorol. 
Council,  printed  in  Phil.  Trans. 

SiLVANus  Phillips  Thompson,  D.Sc.  (Lend.), 

Principal  and  Pro'essor  of  Physics  in  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
London  Technical  College,  Finsbury  ;  formerly  Professor  of 
Experimental  Physics  in  University  College,  Bristol.  Author 
of  many  papers  published  in  the  Proceedings,  &c.  Royal  Society, 
Physical  Society,  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Society  of 
Arts,  and  Britibh  Association,  including  the  following: — "The 
Theory  of  the  Magnetic  Balance"  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  1884); 
"Electro-deposition  of  Alloys"  («Vi»t/.,   1887);  "Subjective  In- 


NO.    II  23,  VOL.  44] 


Lifting  Power  of  Magnets"  (Phil 
Mag.,  1888);  "Development  of  the  Mercurial  Air  Pump" 
(Journ.  Soc  Arts,  1887);  "  The  Influence  Machine  from  1788 
to  1888"  (Journ.  Soc  Telegr.  Engin.,  1888).  Author  of  a 
treatise  on  " Dynamo- Electric  Machinery"  (3rd  edit.,  1888), 
and  of  an  elementary  text-book  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism 
(43rd  thousand,  1889),  which  has  gone  through  many  English 
and  several  foreign  editions.  Originator  of  improvements  in 
polarizing  prisms,  in  the  method  of  adjusting  resistance  coils,  and 
in  sundry  electrical  apparatus.  Member  of  Council  of  the 
Physical  Society,  and  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers. 
Distinguished  for  his  acquaintance  with  the  science  of  electricity, 
more  particularly  in  its  experimental  and  technical  aspects. 

Thomas  Henry  Tizard,  Staff-Commander,  R.N., 

H.M.S.  Triton, 

F.R.G.S.  Distinguished  as  a  Hydrographical  Surveyor  and 
Marine  Meteorologist.  Has  been  employed  for  25  years  in  the 
Naval  Surveying  Service.  In  China,  Mediterranean,  and  Red 
Seas,  1862-72.  Senior  Assistant-Surveyor  in  the  Challenger 
Expedition,  1872-76.  Prepared  the  reports  on  the  sea  tem- 
peratures, and  on  the  meteorological  observations  obtained 
under  his  own  superintendence  during  the  voyage  (Challenger 
Report,  vol.  ii.) ;  Joint  Author  of  vol.  i.  Challenger  Report, 
contributing  the  hydrographical  portion  of  the  Narrative  of  the 
Voyage.  Has  since  served  for  nine  years  in  charge  of  survejrs 
on  the  coasts  of  the  United  Kingdom  ;  now  employed  in  com- 
mand of  H.M.S.  Triton,  Has  contributed  a  paper  to  the  Royal 
Society  on  the  exploration  of  the  Faeroe  Channel  ( Proc.  Roy. 
Soc,  vol.  XXXV.  pp.  202-26;  and  on  the  meteorology  of  Japan, 
to  the  Meteorological  Council  (Official  Publication,  No.  28). 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


17 


THE  ENDOWMENT  OF  RESEARCH  IN 

FRANCE, 

AT  the  meeting  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  on 
April  27,  the  Secretary  read  the  following  extract 
from  the  will  of  the  late  M.  Cahours :  — 

"I  have  frequently  had  the  opportunity  of  observing,  in  the 
course  of  my  scientific  career,  that  many  young  men,  distin- 
guished and  endowed  with  real  talent  for  science,  saw  themselves 
obliged  to  abandon  it  because  at  the  beginning  they  found  no 
efiicacions  help  which  provided  them  \^'iih  the  first  necessities 
of  life  and  allowed  them  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to 
scientific  studies. 

"  With  the  object  of  encouraging  such  young  workers,  who  for 
the  want  of  sufficient  resources  find  themselves  powerless  to 
finish  works  in  course  of  execution,  and  in  remembrance  of  my 
be!oved  children,  who  also  would  walk  in  a  scientific  path  at  the 
moment  when  death  takes  me  from  them,  I  bequeath  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  which  has  done  me  the  honour  to  admit 
roe  into  its  fraternity,  a  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs. 

*'I  desire  that  the  interest  of  this  sum  may  be  distributed 
every  year  by  way  of  encouragement  to  any  young  men  who 
have  made  themselves  known  by  some  interesting  work*;,  and 
more  particularly  by  chemical  researches. 

**  In  order  to  assure  this  preference,  independently  of  the 
express  recommendation  that  I  make  here  to  my  successors,  I 
wish  that,  during  at  least  twenty- five  years  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  interest  payable  to  the  Academy,  three  members  at 
least  of  the  Chemistry  Section  may  take  part  each  year  in  a 
Commission  of  five  members  charged  by  the  Academy  to  distri- 
bute the  prizes.  I  express  further  the  formal  desire  that  this 
choice  should  fall,  as  far  as  possible,  on  young  men  without 
fortune  not  bavins;  salaried  offices,  and  who,  from  the  want  of  a 
sufficient  situation,  would  find  themselves  without  the  possibility 
of  following  up  their  researches. 

"These  pecuniary  encouragements  ought  to  be  given  during 
several  years  to  the  same  young  men,  if  the  Commission  thinks 
that  their  productions  have  a  value  which  permits  such  a  favour. 

"Nevertheless,  in  order  that  the  largest  number  of  young 
workers  may  participate  in  the  legacy  I  institute,  I  desire  that 
the  encouragements  may  cea<ie  at  the  time  when  the  young 
savants  who  have  enjoyed  them  obtain  sufficiently  remunerative 
positions." 

M.  Janssen  then  made  the  following  remarks  : — 

"The  legacy  which  has  been  made  to  the  Academy,  by  our 
very  eminent  and  very  regretted  confrere^  appears  to  m?  to  have 
considerable  import  not  only  by  its  importance,  but  especially  by 
the  way  that  it  opens,  and  the  example  that  it  affords,  to  all  those 
w^o  hereafter  may  desire  to  encourage  the  sciences  by  their 
liberality. 

"M.  Cahours.  whose  sure  judgment  and  long  experience 
enabled  him  to  know  the  most  urgent  necessities  of  science, 
had,  like  most  of  us,  become  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
introducing  a  new  form  in  the  institution  of  scientific  re- 
compenses. 

"Our  prizes  will  always  continue  to  meet  a  great  and  noble 
nfcessity ;  their  value,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  them,  and  the 
fcfat  they  take  from  the  illustriousness  of  the  body  which 
awards  them,  will  make  them  always  the  highest  and  most 
envied  of  recompenses. 

'*But  the  value,  also,  of  the  works  it  is  necessary  to  produce 
in  order  to  lay  claim  to  them  prohibits  the  research  to  begin- 
ners.    It  is  a  field  that  is  only  accessible  to  matured  talents. 

"But,  besides  thofe  savants  who  have  already  an  assured 
career,  there  are  many  young  men  endowed  with  precious  apti- 
tmles,  and  directed  by  their  inclination  to  pure  science,  but 
tarned  very  often  from  this  envied  career  by  the  difficulties  of 
existence,  and  taking  with  regret  a  direction  giving  more  imme- 
diate results.  And  yet,  how  many  among  them  possess  talents 
which,  if  ^well  cultiva'ed,  might  do  honour  and  good  to 
science! 

**  We  must  say,  however,  that  it  is  in  leaving  their  studies 
tliat  those  who  wish  to  devote  themselves  to  pure  science 
experience  the  most  difficult  trials,  and  these  difficulties  are  in- 
creased every  day  by  the  very  rapid  advance  of  the  exigencies 
of  life. 

"We  must  find  a  prompt  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  if 
we  do  not  wish  to  see  the  end  of  the  recruitment  of  scieoce. 


•*  This  truth,  however,  is  beginning  to  be  generally  felt.  The 
Government  has  already  created  institutions,  scholarships,  and  en- 
couragements, which  partly  meet  the  necessity.  Some  generous 
donors  are  also  working  in  this  manner.  I  will  mention  espe- 
cially the  roble  foundation  of  Mdlle.  Dosne,  in  accordance  with 
whose  intentions  a  hall  is  at  this  moment  being  built,  where 
young  men,  having  shown  distinguished  aptitudes  for  high  ad- 
ministration, the  bar,  or  history,  will  receive  for  three  years  all 
the  means  of  carrying  on  high  and  peaceful  studies. 

"  Let  us  Fay,  then,  plainly,  and  in  speaking  thus  we  only 
feebly  echo  the  expressions  of  the  most  illustrious  members  of 
the  Academy,  that  it  is  by  following  the  way  so  nobly  opened 
by  Cahours  that  the  interests  and  prospects  of  science  will  be 
most  efficaciously  served." 


NOTES. 

A  SPECIAL  meeting  of  the  Physical  Society  of  London  will  be 
held  at  Cambridge  on  Saturday,  May  9.  The  members  will 
leave  Liverpool  Street  at  1 1  a.m.,  and  on  arrival  at  Cambridge 
will  become  the  guests  of  the  Cambridge  members.  The 
meeting  will  be  held  in  the  Cavendish  Laboratory  at  2.30. 
The  following  communications  will  be  read :  some  experi- 
ments on  the  electric  dischaige  in  vacuum-tubes,  by  Prof 
J.  J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.  ;  some  experiments  on  ionic  velocitieF^ 
by  Mr.  W.  C.  D.  Whetham  ;  on  the  resistance  of  some  mercury 
standards,  by  Mr.  R.  T.  Glazebrook,  F.R.S. ;  on  an  apparatus  for 
measuring  the  compressibility  of  liquids,  by  Mr.  S.  Skinner ; 
some  measurements  with  the  pneumatic  bridge,  by  Mr.  W.  N. 
Shaw.  After  the  meeting  members  will  have  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  the  Cavendish  Laboratory  and  other  University 
Laboratories. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  began 
yesterday,  and  will  continue  to-day  and  to-morrow.  It  is  being 
held  as  usual  at  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  in  Great 
George  Street. 

A  VALUABLE  bequest  has  been  made  to  the  Department  of 
Science  and  Art  by  the  late  Miss  Marshall,  of  92  Warwick 
Gardens,  Kensington.  In  addition  to  a  large  number  of  scien- 
tific books  and  instruments  which  are  lefc  for  the  use  of  students, 
a  sum  of  ;£'iooo  is  bequeathed  for  the  founding  of  scholarships, 
or  fur  application  in  any  other  way  that  may  be  considered  be^l 
for  the  advancement  of  biological  science. 

The  Queen  has  approved  the  appointment  of  Lord  Derby  to 
be  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  London,  in  the  room  of  the 
late  Lord  Granville. 

The  death  of  Prof.  Joseph  Leidy,  in  his  sixty- eighth  year,  is 
announced.  He  was  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  of  Natural  History  in  Swarthmore  College  ; 
President  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia; 
and  Director  of  the  Department  of  biology  in  the  University. 
In  a  future  number  we  shall  give  some  account  of  his  services 
to  science. 

A  Reuter*s  telegram  from  New  York,  dated  May  i,  announces 
the  death,  at  Berkeley,   California,  of  Prjf.  John  Le  Conte, 
brother  of  Mr.  Joseph  Le  Conte,  formerly  professor  of  geology 
and  natural  history  in  the  University  of  California. 

We  regret  to  have  to  announce  the  death  of  Captain  Cecilio 
Pujazon,  the  Director  of  the  Marine  Observatory  of  San  Fer- 
nando, near  Cadiz.  He  died  on  April  15,  in  his  fifty-seventh 
year.  Captain  Pujazon  was  well  known  to  the  members  of  the 
Eclipse  Expedition  of  1870,  who  formed  the  Cadiz  party.  He 
came  to  London  to  the  Conference  on  Marine  Meteorology  in 
1874. 

In  answer  to  a  question  put  by  Mr.  H.  Fowler  in  the  House 
of  Commons  on  Monday,  Sir  W.  Hart  Dyke  said  that  from  the 
returns  already  received,  in  answer  to  a  circular  issued  by  the 


NO.    I  123,  VOL.  44] 


i8 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


Science  and  Art  Department  at  the  end  of  March  last,  it 
appeared  that  of  the  fifty  county  councils  and  sixty  county 
boroughs  in  England,  sixteen  of  the  former  and  twenty- five  of 
the  latter  had  already  decided  to  apply  the  whole  of  their  share 
of  the  residue  under  the  Local  Taxation  (Customs  and  Excise) 
Act  of  1890  to  science  and  art  and  technical  education.  Nine 
county  councils  and  two  county  boroughs  had  made  grants  vary- 
ing from  "nearly  the  whole"  to  a  smaller  proportion  of  their 
share  to  the  same  purpose.  Twelve  county  councils  and  seven 
•county  boroughs  had  the  matter  under  consideration  ;  that  is 
to  say,  they  had  appointed  committees,  and  in  many  cases  the 
•committees  had  recommended  the  allocation  of  the  whole  or  the 
greater  part  of  the  residue  fund  to  technical  instruction,  but  iheir 
reports  had  not  yet  been  confirmed  by  the  county  or  borough 
councils.  With  regnrd  to  Wales,  the  question  was  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  Welsh  Intermediate  Education  Act  included 
technical  instruction,  but  it  appeared  that  four  county  councils 
and  one  county  borough  had  applied  the  whole  of  their  share  of 
the  residue  under  the  Intermediate  Education  Act ;  while  two 
county  councils  and  one  county  borough  had  divided  their  quota 
between  that  Act  and  the  Technical  Instruction  Act.  The  re- 
maining six  county  councils  had  either  made  no  return,  or  else 
had  the  matter  under  consideration. 

The  Council  of  University  College,  Bangor,  having  resolved  to 
make  provbion  in  the  physical  department  (Prof.  A.  Gray) 
for  the  study  of  applied  electricity,  an  8  horse-power  (nominal) 
compound  engine,  working  up  to  24  horse-power,  has  just  been 
installed  by  Messrs.  Robey  and  Co.,  Lincoln.  On  Saturday 
last  a  satisfactory  trial  of  the  engine  and  boiler  was  made.  The 
equipment  includes  a  special  educational  Victoria  dynamo 
(capable  of  being  converted  at  will  into  a  shunt,  com- 
pound-wound, or  series  dynamo,  without  impairing  its  use- 
fulness for  general  work),  by  the  Brush  Electrical  Engineering 
Co.,  an  alternating  dynamo,  and  a  large  secondary  battery. 
The  electrical  measuring  instruments  are  of  the  latest  design, 
and  include  a  fine  composite  balance,  and  electrostatic  voltmeter 
of  Sir  William  Thomson's  invention.  The  equipment  forms  a 
valuable  addition  to  the  resources  of  the  College  for  the  teaching 
of  pure  and  applied  physical  science,  and  will  render  it  possible  to 
give  a  very  complete  course  of  instruction  in  electrical  engineering, 
as  well  as  in  the  general  theory  of  electricity. 

The  Philosophical  Society  of  Berlin  offers  a  prize  of  1000 
marks  for  the  best  essay  on  the  relation  of  philosophy  to  the 
empirical  science  of  nature.  The  essays  may  be  written  in 
German,  French,  English,  or  Latin,  and  must  be  sent  in  before 
April  I,  1893. 

The  Italiap  Meteorological  Society  has  celebrated  its  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  by  erecting  a  memorial  tablet  in  the  mediaeval 
castle  of  Turin.  The  founder  of  the  Society,  Father  Denza, 
and  various  notabilities  and  ladies  were  present.  Father  Denza 
gave  a  risumi  of  the  history  of  the  Society,  which  now  possesses 
no  less  than  250  observatories  and  stations.  The  ceremony 
was  terminated  by  the  transmission  of  a  telegram  to  the  King, 
as  Honorary  President  of  the  Society. 

The  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  United  States  has  published 
Part  III.  of  "  Bibliography  of  Meteorology,"  comprising  titles 
relating  to  the  general  motions  of  the  atmosphere,  or  '*  winds,'' 
while  the  important  division  of  *'  storms  "  is  being  prepared  for 
issue  as  Part  IV.  The  present  volume,  like  its  predecessors,  is 
a  lithographic  reproduction  of  a  copy  prepared  by  means  of  a 
type-writer,  as  funds  were  not  forthcoming  for  printing  the  work, 
and  it  contains  a  total  of  2000  titles  of  books  and  papers  dating 
from  the  origin  of  printing  to  the  close  of  1881,  with  a  supple- 
ment to  the  close  of  1889,  and  an  author  index.  The  work  is 
quite  unique,  and  will  be  an  invaluable  aid  to  the  study  of  the 
subject  treated  of. 

NO.    II 23,  VOL.  44] 


An  account  of  the  Birmingham  School  of  Medicine,  written 
originally  for  the  information  of  those  members  of  the  medical 
profession  who  attended  the  Birmingham  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  in  1890,  has  now  been  published  separately.  The 
authors  are  Dr.  B.  C.  A.  Windle  and  Mr.  W.  Hillhouse.  Thdr 
intention  is  to  show — and  this  they  do  most  effectually — ^that  the 
centre  of  the  Midland  district  possesses  one  of  the  best  equipped 
schools  of  medicine  in  the  provinces.  The  interest  of  the 
descriptions  is  greatly  increased  by  reproductions  of  some 
photographs. 

A  Fish  and  Game  Commission,  taking  evidence  on  behalf 
of  the  Ontario  Government,  has  received  many  complaints 
as  to  the  destruction  of  deer  and  other  depredations  by  wolves  ; 
and  all  the  witnesses  agree  that  the  present  bounty  of  j^\ 
paid  for  each  wolf  killed  should  be  raised  to  £2,  loj.  or  jf  3. 
It  has  also  been  shown  that,  if  the  game  laws  are  not  more 
strictly  enforced,  many  birds  and  fur-bearing  animals  will 
probably  b^  exterminated. 

The  preliminary  returns  of  the  recent  census  operations  in 
India  show  that  the  population  in  British  territory  is  220,400,000, 
as  against  198,655,600  in  the  former  censns,  an  increase  of 
nearly  22,000,000.  The  Feudatory  States,  omitting  incomplete 
returns,  which  may  be  taken  at  about  90,000,  have  a  popala- 
tion  of  61,410,000,  making  a  total  of  281,900,000,  as  against 
250,700,000  for  the  same  areas  at  the  last  census.  The  returns 
give  Bombay  8o5,ooo,  Madras  449,000,  Calcutta  municipal 
area  and  port  674,000,  and  including  the  suburbs  Howrah  and 
Bally,  969,000.  At  the  last  census  the  total  for  the  same  area 
was  847,000.  Calcutta  municipal  area  shows  an  increase  of 
92,000,  and  Howrah  and  Bally  an  increase  of  24,000.  The 
returns  from  Burmah  show  that  the  population  of  the  whole 
country,  excluding  the  Shan  States,  is  7,507,063,  or  48*8  per- 
sons to  the  square  mile.  The  population  of  Lower  Burmah 
alone  is  4)526,432,  or  an  increase  of  about  790,000  since  1881. 

The  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History  has  issued  a  pamphlet 
announcing  the  completion  of  the  general  plans  for  the  forma- 
tion of  zoological  gardens  and  aquaria  in  Boston,  and  appealing 
to  the  American  public  for  support.  The  pamphlet  is  prettily 
printed  and  illustrated,  and  sets  forth  very  effectively  the  argu- 
ments which  may  be  advanced  in  favour  of  the  scheme. 

The  new  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticaltnral 
Society  contains  a  full  report  of  the  Dahlia  Conference,  held  at 
the  Ch  is  wick  Gardens  on  September  23  last ;  and  of  the  Grape 
Conference,  held  in  the  same  Gardens  on  September  24.  The 
number  also  contains  valuable  papers  on  various  other  subjects 
interesting  to  horticulturists. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Indian  Museum,  Calcutta,  have  issued  an 
interesting  and  instructive  Report,  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Cotes,  on  the 
locust  of  North- Western  ln^vs^' {Acridium  peregrinum).  The 
Report  sums  up  the  results  of  an  investigation  conducted  in  the 
entomological  section  of  the  Museum.  It  seems  to  be  estab- 
lished that  most  of  the  flights  of  this  locust  issue  from  the  region 
of  sand-hills  in  Western  Rajpulana.  Others,  however,  invade 
India  from  breeding-grounds  which  probably  lie  along  the  Suli- 
man  Range,  or  even,  perhaps,  in  some  cases,  beyond  India's 
western  frontier,  in  the  sandy  deserts  of  Baluchistan,  Southern 
Afghanistan,  and  Persia,  though  the  reports  received  from  these 
regions,  Mr.  Cotes  says,  are  so  fragmentary  that  no  very  definite 
conclusions  can  be  formed  from  them. 

The  Nfw  Zealand  Journal  of  Science,  the  publication  of 
which  was  suspended  in  1885,  has  been  revived.  The  first  two 
numbers  of  the  new  issue  have  been  sent  to  us,  and  if  the  same 
general  level  of  excellence  can  be  maintained  in  future  nurobers, 
there  ought  to  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 
The  following  are  among  the  papers  :   on  the  history  of  the 


Mav  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


19 


Kiwiy  by  Prof.  T.  J.  Parker ;  on  the  breeding  habits  of  the 
Enropean  sparrow  in  New  Zealand,  by  T.  W.  Kirk  ;  the  humble- 
bee  in  New  Zealand,  by  G.  M.  Thomson  ;  some  notes  on  the 
occurrence  of  the  trap-door  spider  at  Lyttellon,  by  R.  M. 
I^aiog ;  on  the  discovery  of  the  nickel-iron  alloy  Awarnite,  by 
Prof.  G.  H.  F.  Ulrich. 

In  the  paper  on  the  humble-bee  in  New  Zealand,  Mr.  Thom- 
son says  that,  wishing  to  find  how  far  these  insects  are  adapting 
themselves  to  new  flowers  in  the  colony,  he  has  for  a  consider- 
able time  kept  a  record  of  the  flowers  they  visit  and  of  those 
they  leave  alone.  He  has  noticed  them  on  many  species  of 
introdaced  plants  which  they  never  appear  to  visit  in  Europe. 
They  seldom  approach  white  flowers  ;  and,  with  two  exceptions, 
he  has  never  heard  of  their  visiting  the  flowers  of  indigenous 
plants.  The  exceptions  are  Fuchsia  excoriicata  and  the  Ngaio 
{Myoporum  latum), 

Messrs.  R.  Etheridge,  Jun.,  and  Mr.  A.  Sidney 
Olliff  have  produced  in  common  a  paper  which  forms  a  valu- 
able addition  to  the  Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  New 
South  Wales.  The  title  is  "The  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary 
Insects  of  New  South  Wales." 

Messrs.  Bailliere,  Tindall,  and  Cox  publish  a  second 
edition  of  Dr.  Thomas  Dutton's  practical  treatise  on  *'  Sea- 
Sickness."  Sensible  readers  will  at  once  be  favourably  im- 
pressed by  the  author's  statement  that  there  is  "no  absolute 
specific  "  for  this  distressing  malady. 

Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.  have  issued  Part  31  of  their 
"New  Popular  Educator,"  which  will  be  completed  in 48 parts. 
Besides  illustrations  in  the  text,  there  is  a  carefully  prepared 
page  representing  coloured  reactions  characteristic  of  certain 
metals,  &c. 

Mr.  T.  H.  Cornish,  of  Penzance,  has  a  note  in  the  current 
number  of  the  Zoologist  on  some  remarkably  large  catches  of 
fish  on  the  Cornish  coast.  On  March  18  last,  12,000  grey 
mallet,  Mugil  capito^  were  captured,  by  means  of  a  draw  seine, 
by  the  fishermen  of  Sennen  Cove,  at  Whitsand  B.iy,  Land's 
End.  The  fish  were  of  fine  quality,  one  being  brought  to  Mr. 
Cornish  which  measured  2  feet  in  length,  i  foot  3  inches  in 
girth,  and  weighed  6  pounds  10  ounces.  On  the  31st  of  the 
same  month  a  Lowestoft  mackerel  dtiver,  fishing  some  leagues 
south-west  of  the  Lizard,  took  48,000  mackerel.  No  such  catch 
of  mackerel,  for  one  night's  fishing,  had  ever  been  heard  of  before 
at  Penzance,  and  what  makes  it  more  extraordinary,  says  Mr. 
Cornish,  is  that  it  should  have  taken  place  in  March,  when  the 
catches  usually  average  a  few  hundreds  only.  Later  on  in  the 
season,  in  the  fishing  west  of  Scilly,  20,000  to  25,000  is  regarded 
as  a  heavy  catch.     The  catch  sold  for  ;f  360. 

With  reference  to  our  note  (vol.  xliii.  p.  521)  on  an  award 
made  by  the  Japanese  Government  to  Dr.  Sbohei  Taiiaka  for 
"the  invention  of  a  new  musical  instrument,"  Mr.  J.  W. 
Goondry,  of  Gosforth,  Newcastle,  writes  to  us  that  over  twenty 
years  ago  he  patented  an  arrangement  for  giving  enharmonic 
intervals  in  all  keys  on  the  ordinary  unaltered  keyboard,  and 
that  he  has  had  both  an  organ  of  31,  and  a  harmonium  of  36, 
sounds  per  octave,  playing  Bach's  fugues  and  Handel's  choruses, 
&c.,  on  the  system.  He  claims  that,  although  his  patents  were 
▼ery  crude  and  imperfect,  they  contain  at  least  the  germ  of  a 
complete  solution  of  the  problem  of  reconciling  just  intonation 
with  the  ordinary  manual.  ' '  They  embody  a  system  of  sounds," 
he  says,  **  which  I  believe  to  be  theoretically  the  truest  and 
practically  the  simplest  possible,  and  which  has  nowhere  else 
been  described." 

AU.MONIUM  sulphovanadate,  CNH4)3VS4.  has  been  isolated  in 
large  crystals  by  Drs.  Kriiss  and  Ohnmais,  and  an  account  of 
their  work,  which  also  includes  the  preparation  of  several  other 

NO.   1123,  VOL.  44] 


sulpho* salts  of  vanadium,  will  be  found  in  the  latest  number  of 
Liebig^s  Annalen.     It  is  well  known  that   when  ammoniacaV 
solutions  of  vanadates  are  treated  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  a. 
magnificent  purple  colouration  is  produced,  presumably  due  to 
the  formation  of  sulpho-salts.    It  has  not  been  found  possible,, 
however,  to  obtain  such  salts  by  crystallization  in  vatuo.     The 
method  of  obtaining   the  ammonium  salt  now  described  is  as 
follows  : — A  stream  of  .sulphuretted  h}drogen  is  led  into  an  ice- 
cold  saturated  solution  of  ammonium  metavanadate,  NH4VO3,, 
in  the  strongest  ammonia.     The  imirediate  effect  is  to  produce 
the  violet-red  colour,  but  the  colouration  soon  disappears  and  a 
brown  solid  is  precipitated.     On  continuing  the  passage  of  the 
gas  this  precipitate  slowly  redissolves  with  production  again  of 
the  deep  violet  colour.     When  the  re-solution  of  the  precipitate 
is  almost   complete    the    liquid    is  filtered,   and  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  again  led  through   the   solution.     In   a  short  time 
crystals  commence  to    separate,   when   the  current  of  gas  is 
stopped  and  the  liquid  left  to  crystallize  in  a  closed  vessel.     The 
crystals  thus  obtained  consist  of  opaque  rhombic  prisms  very 
much  resembling  in  appearance  those  of  potassium  permanganate. 
The  faces  are  very  brilliant  and    reflect  a  steel  bluish-violet 
colour  with  a  greenish  tint  when  the  reflection  is  received  at  a 
certain  angle.     They  may  be  washed  with  abbolute  alcohol  and 
afterwards  with  ether,  and  finally  dried  in  vacuo.     The  mother 
liquors  from  the  first  crystallizations  deposit  magnificent  crystals 
on  being  allowed  to  stand  some  weeks.     The  substance  may  be 
much  more  quickly  obtained  and  in  larger  quantity  by  substituting 
either  potassium  or  sodium  vanadates  for  the  ammonium  vana- 
date used  in  the  above  mode  of  preparation,  as  these  salts  are- 
much  more  soluble  in  ammonia  than  ammonium  vanadate.     It 
is  somewhat  remarkable  that    in   this    case    pure  ammonium 
sulphovanadate  should   be   obtained,  no  potassium  or  sodium 
sulpho-salis  being  ever  found  in  the  product.     The  crystals  of 
ammonium  sulphovanadate  are  permanent  in  dry  air,  but  are 
slowly  decomposed  with  evolution  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  in. 
moist  air.    They  are  readily  soluble  in  water,  forming  a  solution 
which  is  coloured  intensely  violet  even  when  very  dilute.     A 
solution  containing  only  one  part  of  the  salt  in  100,000  parts  of 
water  still  possesses  a  beautiful  rose-red  colour.     After  a  short 
time  this    solution  decomposes,   sulphuretted    hydrogen  being, 
liberated  and  the  colour   changing  to  brown.     When  a  freshly 
prepared  solution  is  added  to  a  solution  of  a  salt  of  the  alkaline 
earthy  metals,  no  precipitate  is  produced,  owing  to  the  solubility 
of  the  sulphovanadates   of  these   metals.     But   in  the  case  o^ 
calcium  a  remarkable  deepening  of  the  violet  colour  is  produced. 
If,  for  instance,  a  little  calcium  chloride  is  added  to  a  dilute 
solution  possessing    a    just    perceptible  rose  tint,   the  colour 
becomes  immediately  deep  violet,  owing  to  the  extreme  tinctorial 
power  of  the  calcium  salt. 

In  our  note  in  vol.  xliii.  p.  592,  upon  the  prepar«tion  among 
other  silicon  compounds  of  silicon  chloro-tribromide,  SiClBr,, 
by  M.  Besson,  it  was  stated  that  this  substance  had  not  beca 
hitherto  prepared.  We  wish  to  correct  this  statement.  Silicon 
chloro-tribromide  was  prepared  by  Prof.  Emerson  Reynolds  in 
1887,  and  a  descriptive  note  of  the  work  was  given  in  Nature. 
at  the  time  (vol.  xxxvi.  p.  137). 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  {Alacacus  rhesus  9 )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Emily  Palmer ;  two  Brazilian  Caracaras 
{Polyborus  brasiliensis)  from  Terra  del  Fuego,  a  Turkey  Buzzard 
{Catharles  aura)  from  the  Falkland  Islands,  presented  by  Mr. 
F.  E.  Cobb,  C.M.Z  S. ;  two  Herring  Gulls  {Larus  argeniatus)^ 
British,  presented  by  Mrs.  Attenborough ;  a  Pine  Grosbeak 
{Pinicola  eHucleator)^  British,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  H.  St. 
Quintin ;  a  Bennett's  Wallaby  (Half/iaturus  bennetti  S  > 
from  Tasmania,  two  Diamond  Snakes  {Morelia  spi'otes)  from 
Australia,    deposited  ;    two    Tasmanian    Wolves    ( Thylacinus- 


20 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


cytwcephalus  <y  9 ),  ihree  Ursine  Dasyures  (Dasyurus 
ursinus  <$  9  9  )  from  TasmaDia,  two  Brush  Turkeys  ( TaUgalla 
lalhami  <(  9 )»  four  Australian  Wild  Ducks  {Anas  superciliosa) 
from  Australia,  received  in  exchange ;  a  Black  Lemur  (Lemur 
macaco)^  two  Persian  Gazelles  {Gazella  subpitturosa)^  bom  in 
the  Gardens. 


THE  INSTITUTION  OF  MECHANICAL 

ENGINEERS. 

/^N  the  evenings  of  Thursday  and  Friday  of  last  week,  the 
^^  30th  ult.  and  the  ist  inst.,  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  held  an  ordinary  general  meeting  ;  the  President,  Mr. 
Joseph  ToinlinsoD,  occupying  the  chair.  There  was  an  at- 
tendance of  members  somewhat  in  excess  of  that  which  is 
usual  at  the  ordinary  meetings  of  this  Institution.  There  were 
two  items  on  the  programme — namely,  a  paper  on  Lancashire 
boilers,  and  a  further  report  from  the  Research  Committee  on 
Marine  Engine  Trials.  The  discussion  of  the  latter  occupied  so 
much  time  that  the  boiler  paper  had  to  be  shelved  until  next 
meeting. 

The  latest  steamer  upon  which  the  Marine  Engine  Research 
Committee  has  been  experimenting  is  a  cargo  vessel  named  the 
lona.     She  was  built  and  engined  by  W.  Gray  and  Co.,. of  West 
Hartlepool,  and  is  a  good  modem  example  of  what  can  be  done 
in  fuel  economy  with  triple  expansion  engines  when  high  speed 
is  not  aimed  at.     This  latest  report  of  the  Committee  should 
re-establish  in  some  minds  the  belief  in  the  economy  of  the 
marine  surface-condensing  engine,  which  had  been,  so  it  was 
thought,  rather  shaken  by  the  previous  labours  of  the  Committee. 
When  on  the  6rst  trials  of  the  Committee  the  fuel  consumption 
of  the  Meteory  Fust  Varna,  and  the  Colchester  came  out  at  not 
iess  than  2  pounds  of  coal  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour 
— the   Colchester^ s    consumption    being   nearly    3    pounds  per 
hour — it  was  said,   by  those  who  had  never   believed  in   the 
claims  of  marine  engineers,  that  the  bubble  was  pricked  by  a 
trial  made  by  competent  and  unbiassed  persons.     It  is  true  the 
Tartar's  trisd  improved  on  these  figures,  the  coal  consumption 
coming  out  1 7  7  pound  per  ind  icated  horse- power  per  hour ;  still  this 
is  some  way  behind  the  i^  pound  of  which  marine  engineers 
had  been  boasting.    The  experiments  with  the  lona,  now  under 
consideration,    have    rehabilitated    the    marine    engine    as  an 
economical  form  of  steam  motor,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  engines  of  that  vessel  have  given  off  on  trial  one  unit  of 
power  per  hour  for  less  than  the  pound  and  a  half  of  coal,  and 
we  have  no  reason  to  think  that  the  i  '38  pound  shown  on  the 
chief  engineer's  independent  trial  is  not  a  fair  average  for  sea 
running  when  the  disturbing  element  of  measuring  tanks  is  omitted. 
The  lona  is  a  well  decked  vessel,  built  in  1889.     She  has 
•triple  expansion  engines  on  three  cranks,  working  a  single  screw. 
Ttie  vessel  is  275*1  feet  long,  37*3  feet  wide,  and  19  feet  deep 
in  the  hold.     Her  moulded  depth  is  21  feet  10  inches,  and  her 
coefficient  of  fineness  is  0765.    She  has  a  cellular  bottom.    Her 
mean  draught  in  dock  before  trial  was  20  feet  8  inches,  but  she 
rose  half  an  inch  in  salt  water,  the  displacement  being  4430 
tons.     The  engines  had  been  freshly  overhauled.     The  trial 
took  place  off  the  east  coast,  between  Robin  Hood  Bay  and 
Great  Yarmouth.  The  weather  was  fine  throughout.  The  engines 
are  triple  compound  surface  condensing.  The  cylinders  are  placed 
in  the  order — intermediate,  high,  low,  going  from  forward  to  aft. 
The  cranks  rotate  in  the  sequence —hi}i>h,  intermediate,  low. 
The  diameters  of  the  cylinders  are  21*88  inches,  34*02  inches, 
and  56*95  inches;  the  stroke  is  39  inches.     The  high  pressure 
cylinder  only  is  jacketted,  steam  being  taken  from  the  boiler 
direct.     Outside  this  jacket  are   the  receivers   for  the  inter- 
mediate and  low  pressure  cylinders.    The  jacket  steam  therefore 
parts  with  heat  to  the  high  pressure  cylinder,  and  also  heats  up 
the  steam  passing  to  the  two  other  cylinders.     The  arrangement 
is  unusual  but  not  new.     A  feature  worth  noting  in  the  present 
<)ay  is  that  the  steam  distributing  valves  are  all  slide  valves. 
Mr.  Mudd,  the  designer  of  the  engines,  does  not  follow  the 
modern  fashion  of  using  piston  valves,  it  being  his  belief  that 
the  advantages  they  offer  are  not  equal  to  those  lost.    The 
surface  condenser  has  1360  square  feet  of  lube  surface.    There 
are  two  ordinary  steel  boilers  having  42  square  feet  of  grate 
surface,  the  total  heating  surface  being  3160  square  feet ;  which 
is  equal  to  75  *2  times  the  grate  area.     It  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that,  with  this  liberal  allowance  of  heating  surface,  the  fuel 
«conomy  came  out  very  satisfactorily.     The  total  cross-sectional 

NO.    II 23,  VOL.  44] 


area  through  the  tabes  is  18*3  square  feet,  and  the  area  across 
the  funnel  307  square  feet.  A  notable  feature  about  this  vessel 
is  that  the  boilers  are  worked  on  forced  draught ;  or  rather  there  is 
a  fan  for  supplying  air  to  the  fires,  for  a  pressure  eqoal  to  only  0*17 
inch  of  water  in  the  ash  pits  haidly  fulfils  the  popular  notion  of 
forced  draught.  The  steam  for  driving  the  fan- engine  was  supplied 
from  the  donkey  boiler,  and  therefore  the  measurements  of 
quantities  in  the  performance  table  were  not  affected  by  the 
amount  of  steam  used  by  the  fan.  The  matter  is  not  one  of 
great  importance — the  power  to  drive  the  fan  not  being,  per- 
haps, more  than  the  three- hundredth  part  of  the  power  of 
the  propelling  engines ;  but  we  question  whether  it  is  strictly 
fair — as  comparing  the  Iona*s  machinery  with  that  of 
other  vessels — not  to  take  the  fan-engine  steam  from  the 
main  supply.  The  boilers  in  this  ship  have  an  extra- 
ordinarily large  proportion  of  tube  surface  as  compared  to  the 
grate  surface,  and  this  would  be  likely  to  lead  to  an  insufficieocj 
of  draught  were  the  lighter  specific  gravity  of  the  chimney  gases 
alone  depended  upon.  If,  therefore,  the  aid  of  the  fan  hss  to 
be  brought  in,  its  cost  as  well  as  its  services  should  be  taken 
into  account.  This  is  looking  at  the  matter  from  the  point  of 
view  of  taking  the  total  efficiency  of  the  machinery,  and  Prof. 
Kennedy  might  very  justly  urge  that  the  steam  used  by  the  fan 
would  be  a  disturbing  element,  and  prevent  him  from  properly 
determining  the  efficiency  of  the  engmes.  The  fan  undoubtedly 
belongs  to  the  boiler,  but  not  more  so  than  the  feed-pumps; 
all  boilers,  however,  must  have  feed-pumps,  while  comparatively 
few  have  fan-engines.  If  ever  it  comes  to  be  that  fan-engines  aie 
almost  as  much  matters  of  course  as  feed-pumps,  it  will  be  con- 
venient to  class  the  former  with  the  engine,  but  until  then  it  is 
as  well  to  estimate  the  steam  required  for  forced  draught  pur- 
poses by  itself;  still  it  should  be  taken  into  account. 

The  air  from  the  fans  is  taken  to  the  furnace  through  gridiron 
valves,  wh  ch  close  automatically  when  the  furnace-door  is 
opened,  so  as  to  prevent  a  msh  of  flame  into  the  stokehold.  A 
small  jet  of  air  is  also  admitted  through  the  wet  end  of  the 
boiler  back  by  a  passage  made  for  the  purpose.  In  this  way 
there  are  two  streams  of  air  which  meet  in  the  combostioti- 
chamber.  There  is  also  a  hanging  bridge  attached  to  the  back 
tube  plate,  and  depending  into  the  fiame  box  at  the  back  of  the 
bridge.  By  these  arrangements  a  very  thorough  mixing  of  the 
air  and  furnace  gases  is  secured  ;  and  to  this,  no  doubt,  is  dae 
the  unusually  perfect  combustion  which  was  obtained  on  the 
trial.  The  small  grates  give  additional  space  for  the  mixing  and 
burning  of  the  gases  before  they  enter  the  tubes,  a  most  desir- 
able feature  in  boiler  design,  and  one  which  should  do  much  to 
put  the  cylindrical  flues  of  modern  high-pressure  boilers  on  an 
equality,  in  the  matter  of  combustion,  with  the  rectangular 
furnaces  of  the  comfortable  low-pressure  days  of  the  past  genera- 
tion of  marine  engineers.  At  the  same  time  we  must  not  Uxgti 
that  a  large  amount  of  fuel  burnt  on  a  small  grate  requires  a 
large  combustion  chamber.  It  is  the  volume  of  gases  evolved 
which  has  to  be  considered.  It  should  be  stated  that  the  arTang^ 
ment  for  forced  draught  was  designed  by  Mr.  J.  R.  FothergUl,  of 
Hartlepool,  engineer  superintendent  to  the  firm  owning  the  ship. 

It  is  so  difficult  to  get  accurate  data  upon  the  weight  of  marine 
engines,  that  we  add  the  figures  given  in  the  report : — 


£ngines  alone 

Shafting,  tunnel-bearings,  and  propeller 

Engine  room  auxiliaries,  including  donkeys, 
pipes,  platforms,  ladders,  and  gratings 

Boilers  alone 

Boiler-room  auxiliaries,  including  forced  draught 
gear,  smoke-box,  uptake,  funnel,  furnace  gear, 
mountings,   stokehold    floor,    boiler-chocks, 

Alio  Lies .  ■  •  ••■  ■■■  ••■  •••  •■■ 

Water  in  boilers 


Tons. 
9492 
26-59 

I2'l6 

58-60 


Total  ... 


2849 
-    3575 

...  22822 


The  coal  used  was  of  good  quality.      The  following  analysis 

(as  used)  will  be  of  interest : — 

Percent. 

Carbon      ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     82*34 

Hydrogen...         ...         ...         ...         ...        ...      5'47 

Moisture 1'94 

*\9U  *••  •••  •■«  ••■  ■••  •••  ^    «r^ 

Nitrogen,  sulphur,  oxygen,  &c.,  by  difference...      7*35 

100  tx? 


May  7,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


21 


The  calculated  calorific  value  is  14,830  thermal  units  per 
pound,  which  corresponds  to  the  evaporation  of  15*35  pounds  of 
water  from  and  at  212**  F.,  A  portion  of  the  coal  used  was  also 
tested  by  a  Thomson  calorimeter,  and  gave  a  value  of  141980 
thermal  units  per  f)ound.  Thirteen  samples  of  furnace  gases 
were  taken  over  mercury  and  were  analyzed.  The  following 
are  the  means : — 

.  By  volume  By  weight 

per  cent.  per  cent. 

Carbonic  acid 8'20  ...  I2'I2 

Carbonic  oxide o'oo  ...  O'oo 

Oxygen      11*17  •••  i2"Oi 

Niirogen    8063  ...  7587 


100*00 


lOO'OO 


Chimney  temperatures  were  read  every  half-hour  by  a  mercury 
thermometer  and  by  two  Murrie  pyrometers  at  30  feet  above  the 
faroace  bars.  The  readings  of  the  three  instruments  agreed, 
the  average  temperature  being  452**  F.  It  was  a  pity  that  the 
readings  were  taken  so  far  from  the  (ires,  it  being  desirable  to 
know  the  heat  of  the  products  of  combustion  immediately  after 
leaving  the  heating  surface  of  the  boiler.  The  arrangement, 
however,  was  unavoidable,  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  running 
the  ship  on  her  voyage.  The  measurement  of  the  feed  was 
carried  out  by  means  of  two  tanks  in  the  usual  way.  An  effort 
was  made  to  determine  the  quantity  of  water  brought  over  un- 
evaporated,  by  the  draught  of  steam.  This  was  done  by  taking 
samples  of  condensed  steam  from  the  steam  pipe  and  samples  of 
boiler  water,  and  analyzing  them  to  ascertain  the  percentage  of 
salt.  Unfortunately  the  apparatus  broke  down;  but  from  two 
pairs  of  analyses  male,  it  was  estimated  that  there  was  2*87  per 
cent,  of  nnevaporated  boiler  water  in  the  condensed  steam.  If 
this  were  the  case  with  boilers  so  easily  driven  as  those  of  the 
/(Wia,  where  there  could  hardly  have  been  any  semblance  of 
"priming,"  as  the  term  is  understood  by  engineers,  the  quantity 
of  water  brought  over  in  small  and  hardly  driven  boilers  must 
be  enormous.  It  is  a  point  of  the  greatest  importance  in  steam- 
engine  economy,  and  we  trust  Prof.  Kennedy  will  pursue  his 
investigations  in  this  direction.  It  also  came  out  during  the 
discussion  that  the  stop  valve,  or  throttle  valve,  was  very  much 
closed  during  the  trial,  a  fact  which  should  still  further  have 
reduced  the  chance  of  nnevaporated  water  finding  its  way  into 
the  engines. 

Indicator  diagrams  were  taken  every  half-hour  during  the 
trial,  and  an  aversige  set  is  attached  to  the  report.  The  power 
was  very  evenly  distributed  between  the  three  cylinders,  showing 
good  design  of  the  engines.  The  total  indicated  horse- power 
was  645 '4.  Diagrams  were  also  taken  from  the  air  and  circu- 
lating pumps.  For  these  interesting  and  valuable  details  we 
must  refer  our  readers  to  the  paper  itself,  as  we  are  unable  to 
reproduce  the  diagrams. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  chief  elements  of  the  trial :  — 


^^•^  w  •«■  >■•  •*■  •••  •■• 

Duration  of  trial  

Heating  surface,  total  ... 

ft         ,f       tulles  ...         ...         ... 

Grate  area 

Total  heating  surface  to  grate  surface... 
Grate  area  to  flue  area  through  tubes... 
Mean  boiler  pressure  above  atmosphere 
Mean  admission  pressure,  high- pressure 

cylinder 
Mean  vacuum  in  condenser  below  at- 
mosphere 

Mean  revolutions  per  minute 

I.  H.  P.  of  high-pre.ssure  cylinder 
„  intermediate        „ 

M  low-pressure        ,, 

Coal  burnt  per  hour  

„  „  square  foot  of  grate  per 

"""•  •••  •••  •••  •••  ••• 

Coal  burnt  per  square  foot  of  total 

heating-surface  per  hour     

Coal  burnt  per  I.H.P.  per  hour 

Carbon  equivalent  of  coal        

Feed-water  per  hour 

„  ,,  lb.  of  coal 

n  ,»  ,,    from  and  at 

212"  F 


July  13  and  14,  1890. 

16  hours. 

3160  square  feet. 

2590     » 

42      >f         it 
75*2  ratio. 

2*3     .» 
165*0  lbs.  per  sq.  in. 


142-5 


If 


f » 


13*88 
611 
205-6 
221*2 
218-6 

942      pounds. 


)i 


>i 


NO.    II 23,  VOL.  44] 


22*4 

0-298 
1-46 
I '02 
8616-0 

915 
1063 


Efficiency  of  boiler       

,,  engine 

,,  engine  and  boiler 

Mean  speed  of  vessel  during  trial 


69*2  per  cent. 

11-8        „ 

8*6  knots  per  hour. 


A  long  discussion,  occupying  both  evenings  of  the  meeting, 
followed  the  reading  of  the  paper,  but  our  account  has  already 
extended  to  such  a  length  that  we  cannot  give  a  report  of  it. 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  point  raised  was  in  connection  with 
the  closing  of  the  chimney  damper,  which  it  appeared  was  only 
one- sixth  open  during  the' trial.  The  reason  given  for  this  was 
that  in  this  way  heat  was  prevented  from  escaping  up  the 
chimney.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  such  an  effi?ct,  excepting 
perhaps  to  some  trifling  extent  due  to  minor  causes,  but  several 
engineers  whose  opinion  is  worthy  of  respt  ct  testified  that  such 
was  the  eflect  in  practice.  One  would  think  that  the  escape  of 
heat  by  the  chimney  would  be  governed  by  the  volume  of 
escaping  products  of  combustion  with  a  chimney  of  any  reasonable 
cross  area. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  first  Clerk  Maxwell  Scholarship,  for  re- 
search in  Experimental  Physics,  has  been  awarded  to  W. 
Cassie,  M.  A.,  Trinity  College. 

Mr.  H.  J.  Mtfckinder,  the  Reader  in  Geography  at  Oxford,  is 
to  lecture  for  the  Teachers*  Training  Syndicate  on  **  The  Teach- 
ing of  Geography,"  on  May  30. 

The  annual  dinner  of  the  Philosophical  Society  was  held  in 
the  Combination  Room  of  St.  John^s  College  on  May  2,  Prof. 
G.  Darwin  in  the  chair. 

Dublin. — Sir  Robert  Ball  begins  on  Wednesday,  the  13th 
inst.,  a  course  of  lectures  on  **The  Theory  of  Screws,"  in 
Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

The  Quarterly  y<mmal  of  Microscopical  Science  for  March 
contains  : — On  a  new  species  of  Phymosoma,  with  a  synopsis 
of  the  genu«,  and  some  account  of  its  geographical  distribution, 
by  Arthur  E.  Shipley  (Plate  xi.).  The  new  species,  P,  weldoni^ 
was  found  by  Prof.  Weldon  at  Bimini  Island,  the  Bahamas ;  it 
has  no  trace  of  hock^*  on  the  introvert ;  there  are  two  retractors. 
A  synopsis  of  the  twenty- seven  species  now  known  is  given, 
but  seventeen  species  are  described  in  Se1enka*s  monograph  on 
the  Sipunculidse.  As  to  the  geographical  distribution,  seventeen 
species  are  found  in  the  Malay  Archipelago,  of  which  thirteen 
are  endemic,  five  are  found  in  the  Red  Sea,  four  in  the  Mauri 
tins,  and  three  are  found  in  the  West  Indies,  but  P,  lovenii  is 
found  only  in  the  Bergen  Fiord. — On  the  British  species  of 
Crisia,  by  Sidney  F.  Harmer  (Plate  xii.).  The  author  thinks 
that  the  ovicells  furnish  satisfactory  specific  characters  ;  the 
aperture  in  the  ovicell  i^  also  an  important  character.  Specific 
diagnoses  of  C.  denticulcUa,  Lmk.,  C  eburnea,  Linn.,  C, 
aculecUa,  Hass.,  and  C.  ramosa^  n.  sp.,  are  given.  Notes 
are  given  of  the  habit  of  the  Zoarium  at  different  seasons,  on 
the  mode  of  branching,  and  on  the  breeding-times. — The  later 
larval  development  of  Amphioxus,  bv  Arthur  Willey  (Plates 
xiii.-xv  ).  The  author  again  visited  Messina,  in  the  summer  of 
1890,  to  complete  his  studies  on  the  development  of  the  atrial 
chamber  of  Amphioxus.  As  a  possible  explanation  of  the 
asymmetry  of  the  larva,  Willey  thinks  that  it  can  be  traced 
ultimately  to  the  adaptive  forward  extension  of  the  notochord, 
being  thus  a  purely  ontogenetic  phenomenon  ;  the  club-shaped 
gland  is  shown  to  be  a  modified  gill-slit. — On  the  structure  of 
two  new  genera  of  earthworms  belon^^ing  to  the  Eudrilidae,  and 
some  remarks  on  Nemertodrilus,  by  Frank  E.  Beddard  (Plates 
xvi.-xx.).  Hyperiodrilus africanus^  n.  gen.  and  sp.,  and  Helio- 
drilus  lagosensis,  n.  gen.  and  sp.,  found  in  a  Ward  case  from 
Lagos,  at  Kew  Gardons. 

The  only  article  of  general  interest  in  the  Nuovo  Giornale 
Botanuo  Italiano  for  April  is  a  note  on  the  stigmatic  disk  of 
Vinca  major^  by  Sig.  M.  Pitzorno.  In  the  reports  of  the 
Italian  Botanical  Society  are  short  papers  by  Sig.  Baccarini  on 
the  secretory  system  of  the  Papilionaceae  ;  on  the  arrangement 
of  herbaria,  by  Sig.  L.  Micheletti ;  and  others  of  special  interest 
to  Italian  botanists. 


22 


NA  TURE 


[May  7,  1891 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  April  i6. — "  An  Attempt  to  determine  the 
Adiabatic  Relations  of  Ethyl  Oxide.  Part  I.  Gaseous  Ether." 
By  Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  and  E.  P.  Perman,  B.Sc. 

The  object  of  the  research  described  in  the  memoir  is  the 
•determination  of  the  behaviour  of  ether  in  the  state  of  gas 
approaching  towards  the  state  of  liquid*  when  heat  is  communi- 
cated to  it,  so  as  to  alter  its  condition  adiabatically. 

Previous  researches  by  one  of  the  authors  in  conjunction  with 
Dr.  Sydney  Young  have  yielded  data  regarding  the  relations  of 
pressure,  temperature,  and  volume  of  gaseous  and  of  liquid 
•ether  from  which  the  values  of  the  isobaric  and  of  the  isochoric 
differentials  are  obtainable.  Such  results  lead  directly  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  difierences  between  the  specific  heats  at 
<x>n<;tant  pressure  and  those  at  constant  volume ;  and  these 
differences  are  not  constant,  but  vary  with  varying  volume, 
pressure,  and  temperature. 

The  memoir  contains  an  account  of  experiments  made  to 
<letermine  the  ratio  between  the  specific  heats  at  constant  pressure 
and  those  at  constant  volume.  The  velocity  of  sound  in  gaseous 
ether  was  determined  at  various  temperatures,  pressures,  and 
volumes ;  and  by  means  of  the  isothermal  differentials,  and  the 
experimental  results  for  the  velocity  of  sound,  the  ratios  between 
the  two  specific  heats  were  calculated.  From,  the  differences 
and  the  ratios  of  the  specific  heats,  the  values'  of  the  specific 
heats  were  deduced. 

The  general  conclusion  is  that,  for  any  constant  volume,  the 
specific  heat,  whether  at  constant  volume  or  at  constant  pressure, 
decreases  to  a  limiting  value  with  rise  of  temperature,  and  sub- 
sequently increases;  and  that  the  change  with  temperature  is 
more  rapid,  the  smaller  the  volume. 

At  large  volumes,  the  specific  heats  tend  towards  independence 
of  temperature  and  volume,  while  at  small  volumes  the  influence 
of  change  of  temperature  and  volume  is  very  great. 

The  authors  are  at  present  investigating  similar  relations  for 
liquid  ether. 

Zoological  Society,  April  21. —Prof.  W.  H.  Flower,  C.B., 
F.  R.S  ,  President,  in  the  chair. — A  communication  was  read 
from  Lieut-Colonel  Sir  Oliver  B.  C.  St.  John,  R.E.,  con- 
taining notes  on  a  case  of  a  Mungoose  i^Herpestes  mungo)  breeding 
during  domestication. — Mr.  R.  E.  Holding  exhibited  and  made 
some  remarks  on  some  remarkable  horns  of  Rams  of  the  domestic 
Sheep  of  Highland  and  other  breeJs. — Messrs.  Beddard  and 
Murie  exhibited  and  made  remarks  on  a  cancerous  nodule  taken 
from  the  stomach  of  an  African  Rhinoceros  (A'A»«e>r^r^jW^<7r«jV), 
which  had  recently  died,  after  living  22  years  in  the  Society's 
'Gardens.----Mr.  E.  T.  Newton  read  a  paper  on  the  structure 
and  affinities  of  Trogontherium  cuvieri,  basing  his  remarks 
principally  on  a  fine  skull  of  this  extinct  Rodent  lately  obtained 
by  Mr.  A.  Savin  from  the  forest- beds  of  East  Runton,  near 
Cromer. — Mr.  H.  J.  Elwes  read  the  first  part  of  a  memoir  on 
the  Butterflies  collected  by  Mr.  W.  Doherty  in  the  Naga  Hills, 
Assam,  the  Karen  Hills  in  Lower  Burmah,  and  in  the  State  of 
Perak. — Mr.  J.  J.  Lister  gave  an  account  of  the  birds  of  the 
Phoenix  Islands,  Pacific  Ocean,  as  collected  and  observed  during 
a  visit  to  this  group  made  in  H.  M.  S.  Egeria  in  1889. 

May  1. — Sixty-second  Anniversary  Meeting. — Prof.  Flower, 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — After  the  auditors'  report  had 
been  read,  and  other  preliminary  business  had  been  transacted,  the 
report  of  the  Council  on  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  during 
the  year  1890  was  read  by  Mr.  Sclater,  F.R.S.,  the  Secretary. 
It  stated  that  the  number  of  Fellows  on  January  i,  1891,  was 
3046,  and  that  the  number  of  Fellows  elected  or  readmitted  in 
1890  was  121,  being  4  less  than  the  corresponding  number  in 
1889.  Since  the  last  anniversary  2  Foreign  Members  and  11 
Corresponding  Members  had  been  elected  to  fill  vacancies  in 
those  lists.  In  recognition  of  the  effective  protection  accorded 
for  sixty  years  to  the  Great  Skua  {Siercorarius  calarrhactes)  at 
two  of  its  three  British  breeding  stations— namely,  in  the  Island 
of  Unst  by  the  late  Dr.  Liurence  Edniondston  and  other  members 
of  the  same  family,  and  in  the  Island  of  Foula  by  the  late  Dr. 
Scott,  of  Melby,  and  his  son,  Mr.  Robert  T.  C.  Scott— the 
silver  medal  of  the  Society  had  been  awarded  to  Mrs.  Edmonds- 
ton,  of  Buness  House,  as  representative  of  that  family,  and  to 
Mr.  Robert  T.  C.  Scott,  of  Melby.  The  total  receipts  of  the 
Society  for  1890  had  amounted  to  ;f  25,059,  which,  although 

NO.   1 123,  VOL.  44] 


not  quite  equal  to  those  of  1889,  had  exceeded  those  of  1888  by 
upwards  of  /'looo,  and  might  be  deemed  to  be  satisfactory.    The 
ordinary  expenditure  for  1890  had  been  ;f23,342  61.  ii</.,  whid 
was  ;£'659  2j.  8^.  more  than  the  corresponding  amount  for  1889. 
Besides  this  an  extraordinary  expenditure  of  ;^230  41. 6^/.  had  been 
devoted  to  the  material  improvement  of  the  Monkey  House,  which 
brought  up  the  total  expenditure  of  the  year  to  jf  23,572  lu.  5^. 
The  balance  brought  forward  from  1889  was  £^242  13J.  1 1</ ,  and 
this,  added  to  the  income  received  in  1890,  gave  a  total  sum  of 
;£'26,302  1 1  J.  9^.  available  for  the  expenditure  of  the  year  189a 
By  these  means  the  Council  had  been  enabled,  after  payment  of 
the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  expenditures  of  the  year,  not  only 
to  devote  the  usual  sum  of  ;f  1000  to  the  reduction  of  the  mort- 
gage-debt on  the  Society's  freehold  premises  (which  at  present 
amounted  to  ;£'5O0O  only),  but  also  to  purchase  a  sum  of  ;£'iooo 
in  Consols,  in  order  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a  new  reserve  food. 
The  usual  scientific  meetings  had  been  held  during  the  session 
of  1890,  and  a  large  number  of  valuable  communications  had 
been  received  upon  every  branch  of  zoology,     lliese  had  been 
published  in  the  annual  volume  of  Proceedings  for  1890,  which 
contained  730  pages,   illustrated   by  57  plates.     Besides  this, 
part  X.,  being  the  concluding  part  of  the  twelfth  volume,  of  the 
Society's  quarto  Transactions  had  been  issued.     The  twenty- 
sixth  volume  of  the  Zaological  Record^  containing  a  summary  of 
the  work  done  by  British  and  foreign  zoologists  during  the  year 
1889,  had  been  issued  to  the  subscribers  in  December  last,  and 
had  thus  been  published  before  the  close  of  the  year  after  that 
to  which  it  relates.     The  library  had  been  kept  in  good  working 
order  during  the  past  year,  and  had  been  much  frequented  by 
working  zoologists.  A  large  number  of  accessions,  both  by  gift  and 
purchase,  had  been  received  and  incorporated.  In  the  Gardens  the 
only  new  work  carried  out  in  1890  had  been  the  completion  of  the 
improvements  of  the  Monkey  House,  but  a  lai^e  number  of  repairs 
and  renewals  of  the  different  buildings  in  the  Gardens  had  beeo 
made,    and    other    minor    improvements    had    been    carried 
out.      The    number    of  visitors    to  the  Gardens  during  the 
year  1890  had   been  640,987,    the  corresponding  numl^  in 
1889  having  been  644,579.     The  number   of  school  children 
admitted  free  in  1890  was  35,935.     The  number  of  animals  io 
the  Society's  collection  on  December  31  last  was  2256,  of  which 
693  were  mammals,  1273  birds,  and  290  reptiles.     Amongst  the 
additions  made  during  the  past  year,  twelve  were  specially  com- 
mented upon  as  of  remarkable  interest,  and  in  most  cases  Tepr^ 
senting  species  new  to  the  Society's  collection.      About  28 
species  of  mammals  and  20  of  birds  had  bred  in  the  Society's 
Gardens  during  the  summer  of  1890.     The  report  concluded 
with  a  long  list  of  the  donors  and  their  various  donations  to  the 
Menagerie  during  the  past  year. — A  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
Council  for  their  report  was  moved  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Hudlestoo, 
F.R.S.,  seconded  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Scott,  and  carried  unanimously. 
— The  report  having  been  adopted,  the  meeting  proceeded  to 
elect  the   new  Members  of  Council  and  the  officers  for  the 
ensuing    year.      The  usual  ballot  having   been  taken,  it  was 
announced  that  Mr.  William  T.  Blanford,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  Albert 
Gunther,  F.R.S.,   Mr.   E.   W.  N.  Holdsworth,  Sir  Albert  K. 
Rollit,M.P.,and  Mr.  Howard  Saunders,  had  been  elected  into  the 
Council  in  the  place  of  the  retiring'members,  and  that  Prof.  Flower, 
C.B.,    F.  R.S.,  had  been   re-elected    President,    Mr.  Charles 
Drummond,  Treasurer,  and  Dr.  Philip  Lutley  Sclater,  F.R.S.« 
Secretary  to  the  Society  for  the  ensuing  year. — The  remaining 
business  having  been  concluded,  the  President  handed  the  silver 
medal    of   the    Society   to    Mr.    Thomas    Edmondston,   who 
attended  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Ursula  Edmondston,  of  Buness, 
Unst,  Shetland,  and  to  Mr.  A.   P.  Purves,  who  attended  on 
behalf  of  Mr.    Robert   T.    C.    Scott,  of  Melby,  Shetland,  in 
recognition  of  the  effective  protection  accorded  by  them  and 
their  families  respectively  to  the  Great  Skua  at  its  breeding 
places  in  the  Shetland  Islands. — The  proceedings  termmated 
with  the  usual  vote  of  thanks  to  the  President. 

Geological  Society,  April  22. — Dr.  A.  Geikie,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  communications  were 
read  : — Results  of  an  examination  of  the  crystalline  rocks  of  the 
Lizard  district,  by  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  and  Major- 
General  C.  A.  McMahon.  The  authors,  in  company  with  the 
Rev.  £.  Hill,  spent  a  considerable  part  of  last  August  in  ex- 
amining anew  those  sections  in  the  Lizard  district  which  had 
any  bearing  upon  the  questions  raised  since  the  publication  of 
Prof.  Bonney's  second  paper  in  1883.  They  had  also  the  ad- 
vantage of  occasional  conference  with  Mr.  Teall  and  Mr.  Fox, 


May  7,  1891] 


NA TURE 


23 


whose  valaable  contributions  to  the  knowledge  of  the  crystalline 
rocks  of  this  district  are  well  known.  That  the  Lizard  serpentines 
are  altered  peridotites  may  be  regarded  as  settled,  but  doubts 
have  been  expressed  as  to  their  relation  to  other  associated 
rocks,  and  as  to  the  meaning  of  a  streaky  or  banded  structure 
exhibited  by  certain  varieties.  The  authors,  after  re- examination 
of  a  large  number  of  sections,  feel  no  doubt  of  the  accuracy  of 
their  original  view  that  the  peridotite  was  intruded  into  the  horn- 
blende schists  and  banded  *'granulitic"  rocks,  after  these  had 
assumed  their  present  condition.  In  it  they  find  no  signs  of  any 
marked  pressure- metamorphism,  either  prior  or  posterior  to 
serpentinization.  They  have  failed  to  connect  the  streaky  or 
banded  structure  with  any  foliation  or  possible  pressure-structure 
in  the  schists,  and  they  can  only  explain  it  as  a  kind  of  fluxion- 
structure,  viz.  as  due  to  an  imperfect  blending  of  two  magmas  of 
slightly  different  chemical  composition,  anterior  to  the  crystalliza- 
tion of  the  mass.  The  Porthalla  sections  have  been  examined 
with  especial  care,  not  only  because  the  serpentine  is  nowhere 
so  conspicuously  banded,  but  also  because  its  intrusive  character 
has  been  denied,  both  it  and  the  hornblende  schists  being  ascribed 
to  the  alteration  of  a  series  of  sedimentary  rocks  of  suitable  com- 
position. For  this  view  the  authors  have  failed  to  discover  any 
evidence,  and  consider  it  contrary  to  stratigraphical  and  petro- 
graphical  facts.  In  regard  to  the  genesis  of  the  crystalline 
schists,  which  for  purposes  of  reference  were  divided  by  Prof. 
Bonney  into  a  " granulitic,"  a  "homblendic,"  and  a  "mica- 
ceous group,  the  authors  show  that  in  parts  of  the  first  the 
more  acid  rock  breaks  through  the  more  basic,  as  if  intrusive, 
in  others  they  appear  to  be  perfectly  interstratified,  the  one 
rassing  backwards  and  forwards,  though  rapidly,  into  the  other. 
But  between  these  extremes,  intervals  can  be  found  where  the 
two  rocks  seem  as  if  partially  drawn  out  together.  The  authors 
are  agreed  that  certainly  one,  probably  both,  of  these  rocks  are 
igneous,  that  when  the  basic  rock  was  solid  enough  to  be  rup- 
tared,  the  acid  magma  broke  into  it,  and  sometimes  softened  it 
sufficiently  to  allow  of  the  two  flowing  for  some  little  distance 
together,  after  which  crystallization  took  place.  In  regard  to 
the  hornblende  schists,  the  authors  are  not  yet  satisfied  that 
either  fluxion  or  mechanical  crushing  will  account  for  every 
stroctare  which  they  have  examined,  and  prefer  to  leave  the 
qaestion,  in  certain  cases,  an  open  one.  The  most  distinctive 
features  of  the  micaceous  group  appear  due  to  subsequent  earth- 
movements,  so  that,  though  it  exhibits  some  special  character- 
istics, the  authors  are  doubtful  whether  it  is  any  longer  worth 
while  separating  it  from  the  hornblende  schists.  Of  the  igneous 
rocks  newer  than  the  serpentine,  the  gabbro  has  received  the 
closest  attention.  It  exhibits  in  places  (especially  in  the  great 
dyke-like  mass  at  Carrick  Luz)  a  very  remarkable  foliation  or 
even  mineral  banding,  which  has  been  claimed  as  a  result  of 
dynamo-metamorphism.  The  authors  bring  forward  a  number 
of  instances  to  establish  the  following  conclusions  : — (a)  That 
this  foliation  occurs  most  markedly  where  the  adjacent  serpentine 
does  not  show  the  slightest  sign  of  mechanical  disturbance ; 
{h)  that  it  must  be  a  structure  anterior  to  the  consolidation  of  the 
rock ;  [c)  that  it  sets  in  and  out  in  a  very  irregular  manner ; 
(</)that  when  it  was  produced  the  rock  was  probably  not  a  perfect 
floid.  Hence  they  explain  it  also  as  a  kind  of  fluxion  structure, 
produced  by  differential  movements  in  a  mass  which  consisted 
of  crystals  of  felspar  and  pyroxene,  floating  thickly  in  a  more  or 
less  viscous  magma.  The  authors'  investigations  tend  to  prove 
that  (a)  structures  curiously  simulative  of  stratification  may  be 
produced  in  fairly  coarsely  crystalline  rocks  by  fluxioned  move- 
ments anterior  to  crystallization  ;  and  that  {b)  structures  which  of 
late  years  have  been  claimed  as  the  result  of  dynamo- meta- 
morphism subsequent  to  consolidation  must  have,  in  many  cases, 
2  like  explanation.  This  is  probably  the  true  explanation  of  a 
large  number  of  banded  gneisses  which  show  no  signs  of  crush- 
ing and  holocrystalline,  but  in  their  more  minute  structures 
differ  from  normal  igneous  rocks.  The  authors  have  seen 
nothing  which  has  been  favourable  to  the  idea  that  pressure  has 
nised  the  temperature  of  solid  rocks  sufliciently  to  soften  them. 
A  discussion  followed,  in  which  Mr.  Teall,  the  Rev.  £.  Hill, 
Prof.  Hull,  the  President,  General  McMahon,  and  Prof.  Bonney 
took  part — On  a  spherulitic  and  perliiic  obsidian  from  Pilas, 
Jalisco,  Mexico,  by  Frank  Rutley. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  April  15.— Dr.  R.  Braith- 
waite.  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  T.  Charters  White  presented 
three  slides  of  sections  of  teeth  permeated  with  collodion.— A 
letter  from  Mr.  J.  Aitkin,  of  Falkirk,  was  read,  on  a  spot-mirror 


NO.   1 123,  VOL.  44] 


method  of  illumination. — An  abstract  vias  read  of  a  paper,  by 
Surgeon  V.  Gunson  Thorpe,  K.N.,  on  some  new  and  foreign 
Rotifera  found  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  and  belonging  to- 
the  genera  Trochosphara  and  Floscularia. — Mr.  E.  M.  Nel- 
son exhibited  two  forms  of  bulFs-eye  condenser — one  made  like 
Herschel's  asplanalic,  the  other  a  new  and  simpler  form,  being 
made  of  two  plano-convex  lenses.  This  condenser  seemed  to 
answer  its  purpose  admirably,  the  amount  of  spherical  aberration 
being  only  about  one-fifth  of  that  which  existed  in  the  old  form. 
— Mr.  Nelson  also  read  some  further  notes  on  Diatom  struc- 
tures as  test-objects,  which  he  illustrated  by  photographs. — 
Mr.  C.  Haughton  Gill's  additional  note  on  the  treatment  of 
Diatoms  was  read,  the  subject  being  illustrated  by  photo-micro- 
graphs. Mr.  Mayall  said  the  problem  Mr.  Gill  had  endea- 
voured to  solve  was  as  to  the  existence  or  not  of  cellular  structure 
in  Diatoms  extending  through  their  substance,  and  he  sought 
to  demonstrate  this  by  making  chemical  depositions  which  would 
probably  fill  up  the  cavities  sufficiently  to  be  distinguished  by 
the  microscope.  Mr.  Gill's  observations  were  of  great  interest,, 
because  he  had  experimented  with  the  definite  purpose  of  testing 
a  special  point,  thus  applying  to  microscopy  what  Herschel 
would  have  termed  an  ** experiment  of  inquiry" — a  direct 
questioning  of  Nature  on  a  point  that  had  hitherto  been 
regarded  as  almost  beyond  the  sphere  of  experiment. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  April  27.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — The  Secretary  read  an  extract  from  the  will  of  the  late 
M.  Cahours,  and  M.  Janssen  made  some  remarks  upon  the 
legacies  left  for  the  foundation  of  scholarships  (seep.  17). — On 
the  expressions  of  the  pressures  in  an  elastic  homogeneous  body,, 
by  M.  H.  Resal. — On  the  theory  of  elasticity,  by  M.  H.  Poin- 
car^. —  Researches  upon  humic  substances,  by  MM.  Berthelot 
and  G.  Andre.  According  to  the  observations  of  the  authors,, 
the  humic  substance  formed  by  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid 
upon  cane  sugar  possesses  etheric  and  anhydric  properties,  and 
is  comparable  in  certain  respects  to  the  lactones. — On  the  origin 
of  pus  cells  and  on  the  rdU  of  these  elements  in  inflamed 
tissues,  by  M.  L.  Ranvier. — On  the  performance  of  marine 
engines  and  that  of  screws,  and  on  a  geometrical  method  for 
calculating  the  first  of  these  values  vdthout  a  dynamometer,  by 
M.  A.  Ledieu. — Mica  as  an  invariable  dielectric,  by  M.  £. 
Bouty.  The  author  has  previously  shown  that  the  capacities  of 
mica  condensers  vary  slightly  with  the  duration  of  charging.  .lie 
now  finds  that  mica  behaves  as  an  invariable  dielectric  in  a  direc- 
tion normal  to  the  planes  of  cleavage— that  is,  the  capacity  {c)  of  a 
lamina  of  useful  surface  (p)  and  thickness  (^)  is  represented  by  the 

formula  c  =>  -^ ,  where  >&  is  a  constant.     It  is  remarked  that  the 

origin  of  the  large  variations  of  such  condensers  with  duration  of 
charging  is  the  electrolysis  of  foreign  substances  contained  in 
the  superficial  layers. — On  an  alternate  current  motor,  by  MM. 
Maurice  Hut  in  and  Maurice  Leblanc. — Quantitative  studies  on 
the  chemical  action  of  light :  first  part — measure  of  physical 
absorption,  by  M.  G.  Lerooine.  The  action  of  light  upon 
a  mixture  of  oxalic  acid  and  ferric  chloride  of  various  thicknesses 
and  strengths  is  theoretically  and  experimentally  determined. — 
Effect  of  the  presence  of  halides  of  potassium  upon  the  solu- 
bility of  the  neutral  sulphate  of  potassium,  by  M.  Ch.  Blarez. 
Between  o''  and  30**  the  solubility  of  K,S04  in  water  is  given  ia 
parts  per  100  by 

Qtf  =  8'5  -f  o  I2tf. 

On  adding  KCl,  or  other  halide  of  potassium,  at  any  definite 
temperature,  the  K2SO4  remaining  in  solution  is  given  by  the 
expression — 

K,S04  dissolved  =  a  constant  -  the  amount  of  K  in  added  salt ;. 

for  any  temperature  this  becomes 

K,S04  dissolved  at  tf"  =  7*5  -I-  0-14170  -  K  of  added  salt. 

The  precipitating  action  of  the  halides  of  potassium  upon 
the  saturated  solution  of  the  neutral  sulphate  of  potassium  is 
proportional  to  the  equivalent  of  the  adaed  salt, — On  iso-cin- 
chonine,  by  MM.  E.  Jungfleisch  and  E.  L^ger. — On  a  hydro- 
carbon of  the  terj^ne  series  contained  in  the  oils  of  compressed 
gas,  by  MM.  A.  Etard  and  P.  Lambert.  Thii  is  a  pyropenty- 
lene  not  identical  with  val>lene  or  pirylene;  it  polymerizes 
readily  to  CiqHi,.  Its  properties  and  relations  with  the  ter 
penes  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  paper. — Researches  upon 
trehalose,  by  M.  Maquenne.    Anhydrous  trehalose  is  an  oct* 


24 


NATURE 


[May  7,  1891 


atomic  alcohol  isomeric  with  the  saccharoses,  and  very  near  to 
maltose  in  chemical  constitution  ;  it  yields;  glucose  on  inversion, 
and  does  not  fulfil  aldehydic  functions. — On  the  constitution  of 
aqueous  solutions  of  tartaric  acid,  by  M.  Aignan.  The  author 
arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  tartaric  acid  exists  in  aqueous  solu- 
tion in  the  state  expressed  by  the  formula  (C4HqOq),,  partially 
dissociated  according  to  a  definite  law. — Researches  upon  the 
artificial  production  of  hyalite  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  by 
M.  Stanislaus  Meunier. — On  the  stomachic  digestion  of  the 
frog,  by  M.  Ch.  Contejean.  Experimental  evidence  is  given 
(i)  that  the  pepsin  secreted  by  the  oesophagus  is  more  abundant 
or  more  active  than  that  of  the  stomach  ;  (2)  that  the  oesopha- 
gean  and  stomachic  pepsins  transform  coagulated  albumin  into 
synlonin,  and  afterwards  into  peptone,  without  passing  through 
the  pro-pepsin  stage  ;  (3)  that  the  predominance  of  the  action 
of  oesophagean  pepsin  on  stomachic  pepsin  is  especially  manifest 
by  the  larger  quantity  of  syntonin  that  it  produces. — On  the 
sexual  evolution  of  the  trouts  of  ti?e  Pyrenees,  by  M.  A.  Can- 
nieu.  The  metamere  of  the  endodermous  layer  and  of  the 
primitive  circulatory  system  in  the  post- branchial  region  of 
Vertebrata,  by  M.  F.  Houssay. — Contribution  to  the  study  of 
the  mechanism  of  urinary  secretion,  by  M.  O.  van  der  Strichf, 
— Reappearance  during  winter  of  the  starch  in  ligneous  plants, 
by  M.  Emile  Mer.  The  researches  indicate  that  in  ligneous 
plants  starch  is  reabsorbed  at  the  end  of  the  autumn,  and  gener- 
ated at  the  beginning  of  spring.  It  results  from  this  that  the 
winter,  instead  of  being  the  season  during  which  the  amylaceous 
reserve  is  most  considerable,  is  the  season  during  which  it  is 
least. — On  some  points  in  the  anatomy  of  the  vegetative  organs 
of  Ophioglossa,  by  M.  G.  Poirault.  The  observations  show 
that  the  Ophioglossum  fungus  is  never  reproduced  by  spores,  but 
is  propagated  exclusively  by  buds  on  the  roots. — On  the  exist- 
ence of  Diatoms  in  the  lower  lands  of  North  France  and  Bel- 
gium, by  M.  L.  Cayeux. — On  the  proportion  of  water  in  corn 
from  diAerent  localities,  by  M.  Balland. — On  the  treatment  of 
phylloxerous  vines  by  carbon  bisulphide  mixed  with  vaselines, 
by  M.  P.  Cazeneuve. 

Brussels. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  February  7. — M.  F.  Plateau  in 
the  chair. — Micrographical  researches  on  the  nature  and  origin  of 
phosphate  rocks,  by  M.  A.  F.  Renard.  The  author  gives  the 
preliminary  results  of  some  researches  on  the  formation  of  phos- 
phate rocks.  The  investigation  has  been  especially  directed 
towards  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  these  rocks,  and  some 
important  conclusions  are  arrived  at  with  regard  to  this  point. 
A  lithographic  plate,  containing  magnified  representations  of 
nineteen  phosphate  chalk  specimens,  accompanies  the  paper. — 
The  winter  of  1890-91,  by  M.  F.  Folic.  It  is  remarked  that 
observations  at  Brussels  show  that  the  winter  of  1890-91  is  one 
of  the  severest  passed  during  the  last  sixty  years.  Since  1833 
seven  winters  have  been  of  a  severity  comparable  with  the  last. 
They  are  1837-38,  1840-41,  1844-45,  1846-47,  1854-55, 
1870-71,  1879-80.  A  table  is  given  showing  the  mean  minimum 
temperature  and  the  mean  temperatures  experienced  during  these 
years.  This  comparison  and  a  consideration  of  summer  tem- 
peratures do  not  point  to  any  particularly  definite  facts.  The 
idea  that  a  hot  summer  succeeds  a  rigorous  winter  does  not 
appear  to  be  supported.  On  the  contrary,  it  appears  that  the 
coming  summer  should  be  more  cold  than  hot,  with  the  exception 
of  the  months  of  May  and  August. — On  variations  in  the  latitude 
of  a  single  place,  by  M.  F.  Folic.  The  reality  of  the  variations 
in  latitude  deduced  from  observations  made  at  Berlin,  Potsdam, 
and  Prague,  are  contested  on  the  ground  of  systematic  errors  in 
the  formulae  of  reduction,  due  to  the  assumption  that  the  earth 
has  been  considered  to  move  as  a  solid  body,  whereas  M.  Folic 
believes  it  to  be  composed  of  a  fiuid  nucleus  with  a  solid  crust. 
— Researches  on  the  development  of  Arachnaetis  :  contribution 
to  the  morphology  of  Cerianthida;,  by  M,  £.  van  Beneden. — 
Researches  on  the  velocity  of  evaporation  of  liquids  at  tem- 
peratures below  their  boiling-points,  by  M.  P.  de  Heen.  The 
first  part  of  this  paper  was  read  at  the  January  meeting.  The 
results  are  now  given  of  experiments  on  the  variations  of  the 
velocity  of  evaporation  with  the  hygrometric  condition  of  the 
current  employed.  The  whole  of  the  observations  show  that 
the  velocity  of  evaporation,  v,  of  a  liquid  surface  acted  on  by 
wind  may  be  expressed  by  the  formula — 

»  =  AF(ioo  -  o-88/)VV 

where  A  is  a  constant,  F  the  tension  of  the  saturated  vapour  at 
the  temperature  of  the  liquid,  and  V  the  velocity  of  the  current. 

NO.   1 123,  VOL.  44] 


—Determination  of   the  radius  of  curvature    in  parallel  co- 
ordinates, by  M.  Maurice  d'Ocagne. 

March  7. — M.  Plateau  in  the  chair. — On  a  curious  peculiarity 
of  currents  of  water,  and  on  one  of  the  causes  of  sudden  floods, 
by  M.  G.  van  der  Mensbnigghe.  An  explanation  is  given  of 
the  fact  that  in  a  river  the  maximum  velocity  of  the  current  does 
not  occur  at  the  surface,  but  about  three-tenths  of  the  depth 
below  the  surface. — Reduction  of  nitrates  by  sunlight  (second 
note),  by  M.  £mile  Laurent.  The  author  has  caused  a  beam  of 
sunlight  to  fall  upon  solutions  of  nitrates  placed  in  a  vacuom, 
and  has  found  that  after  a  certain  time  the  space  contvoed 
liberated  oxygen,  whilst  the  liquids  possessed  the  characteristic 
reactions  of  nitrites.  M.  Laurent  has  analyzed  the  oxygen  and 
nitrites,  and  finds  that  the  quantity  of  gas  is  sensibly  proportional 
to  the  nitrite  formed.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the  blue 
end  of  the  spectrum  possesses  the  most  powerful  redncing 
action. — Note  on  the  coagulation  of  the  albumins  of  theseram 
of  cow's  blood,  by  MM.  J.  Conn  and  G.  Ansiaux.  The  authon 
support  the  assertion  made  by  Halliburton  in  1883,  that  the 
albumin  of  serum  ought  not  to  be  considered  as  a  single  sab- 
stance,  but  as  a  mixture  of  two  or  three  albuminoids,  a,  i3,  and  7, 
coagulating  respectively  at  temperatures — a  =  73*  C,  /B  =  77° C, 
and  7  «  82"  C.  The  blood  of  man,  the  dog,  pig,  rabbit,  &c:, 
were  known  to  contain  these  three  substances,  and  it  is  now 
shown  that  the  serum  of  the  cow  also  contains  the  paraglobalin 
a,  and  the  albumins  i8  and  7.  Further,  it  is  shown  that 
opalescence  and  coagulation  are  not  distinct  things,  but  two 
forms  of  one  and  the  same  phenomenon  occurring  at  the  same 
temperature. — On  the  curvature  of  polars  with  respect  to  a 
point  on  a  curve  of  the  «th  order,  by  Prof.  C.  Servais. — Dis- 
covery of  a  variable  star,  by  M.  L.  de  Ball.  An  account  is 
given  of  observations  of  a  variable  red  star  situated  in  R  A. 
2oh.  41m.  19s.,  Decl.  -f  2°  2' '3  (189 1).  The  observations  ex- 
tend from  September  15,  1890,  to  January  9,  1891.  In  this 
time  the  magnitude  of  the  star  increased  from  87  to  8.  The 
star  is  not  included  in  Bermingham's  Red  Star  Catalogue.  M.  de 
Ball's  observations  are  only  eye-estimations,  and  have  not  been 
made  by  the  aid  of  a  photometer.  Further  evidence  of  varia- 
bility is  therefore  required. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Le<;sons  in  Astrommy  :  C.  A.  Young  (Arnold). — Practical  Perspective : 
J.  Spencer  (Percival). — Revision  or  Kxaminaiion  Sheets  ;  Subject  II.. 
Machine  Construction  and  Drawing,  Elementary  Stage  :  A.  G.  Ehf 
(Percival).— General  Physiology  :  Dr.  C.  Calieja  (Kegan  PaulX— Differ^ 
ential  and  Integral  Calculus  :  A.  G.  Greenhill,  and  edition  (Mactnillan  and 
Co. ). — Natural  Selection  and  Tropical  Nature :  A.  R.  Wallace  :  new  edition 
(Macmillan  and  Co).— Fifth  Report  of  the  U.S.  Entoinologic«(l  Commis- 
sion :  A.  S.  Packard  (Washington). — Principles  of  Political  Economy  axtd 

Taxation :  D.  Ricardo  ;  edited  by  E.  C.  K.  Conner  (Bell). — L'^volctioa 
des  Formes  Animales :  F.  Priem  (Paris,  Bailli<^re). — G^ologie,  Prindpes— 
Explication  de  I'^poque  Quaternaire  sans  Hypothesis  :  H.  Henatte 
(Neucbatel.  Attinger). 

CONTENTS.  P.^CE 

Fossil  Insects.     By  R.  Lydekker i 

Statistics  of  Population  and  Disease 4 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Sonnenschein :    "The  Best    Books:    A  Contribution 

towards  Systematic  Bibliography  "           5 

McPherson  :  '*  The  Fairyland  Tales  of  Science  "...  5 
Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

County  Councils  and  Technical  Education. — Sir  T.  H. 

Farrer,  Bart 6 

The  Alpine  Flora.— T.   D.  A.   Cockerell ;  J.  Inncs 

Rogers 6 

Co-adaptation.— Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S 7 

High  and  Low  Level  Meteorological  Observatories. — 

Joseph  John  Murphy 7 

An  '*  International  Society."— Prof.  W.  H.  Flower, 

F.R.S 7 

On  some  Points  in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy. 

IL     {.Illustrated,)    By  J.  Norman  Lockycr,  F.R.S.  8 

Hertz's  Experiments.     II 12 

The  Royal  Society  Selected  Candidates 14 

The  Endowment  of  Research  in  France 17 

Notes 17 

The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers so 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 21 

Scientific  Serials     21 

Societies  and  Academies                             22 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 24 


NA  TURE 


25 


THURSDAY,  MAY  14,  1891. 


PRACTICAL  GEOLOGY, 

Aids  in  Practiced  Geology.  By  Grenville  A.  J.  Cole, 
F.G.S.,  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Royal  College  of 
Science  for  Ireland.  (London  :  C.  Griffin  and  Co., 
1 891.) 

An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Petrology :  the  Igneous 
Rocks,  By  Frederick  H.  Hatch,  Ph.D.,  F.G.S.  (Lon- 
don :  Sonnenschein  and  Co.,  1891.) 

HOWEVER  prophetic  may  have  been  the  far-seeing 
premonitions  of  men  in  advance  of  their  age  in  the 
dim  past,  and  however  invaluable  may  have  been  the 
additions  made  to  the  superstructure  since,  it  can  scarcely 
be  doubted  that  the  foundation-stones  of  geology  were 
laid  by  Scotchmen  and  Englishmen  towards  the  end  of 
the  last,  and  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  present 
century.  And  what  a  charm  is  there  about  the  story  of 
these  sturdy  pioneers,  not  perhaps  quite  the  men  whom 
one  would  have  picked  out  as  most  fitted  or  most  likely 
to  become  the  fathers  of  a  new  science.  It  has  about  it 
the  elements  of  a  genuine  romance.  For  the  early  train- 
ing of  few  of  these  men  was  such  as  to  give  a  scientific 
bent  to  their  mind ;  they  did  not  have  what  we  are 
pleased  to  call  '*  the  advantage  of  a  scientific  education  " ; 
it  is  probable  that  they  never  spoke,  perhaps  never 
dreamed  of,  such  a  phrase  as  ''the  scientific  method," 
which  we  are  so  fond  of  formularizing,  and  on  which  we 
plume  ourselves  somewhat.  But  in  spite  of  these  seeming 
drawbacks,  rather  perhaps  because  with  these  men  genius 
was  allowed  to  run  its  spontaneous  untrammelled  course, 
they  opened  out  to  mankind  a  domain  of  knowledge  the 
very  outskirts  of  which  had  been  barely  touched  upon 
before.  Of  shrewd  mother-wit  were  they;  too  keen  of 
eye  to  be  wrong  about  their  facts  ;  not  a  few  were  ardent 
sportsmen,  and  the  same  instinct  which  led  them  to  ride 
straight  to  hounds  or  patiently  and  warily  to  stalk  the 
deer,  led  them  also,  as  they  brushed  away  minor  details, 
to  go  direct  to  main  issues,  and  carried  them  on,  without 
rest  but  without  haste,  through  the  toils  of  many  a  year's 
steady  field-work.  With  what  awe  and  reverence  do  we 
look  up  to  these  giants  when  we  pass  their  achievements 
in  review ! 

Nor  does  it  one  whit  impair  this  feeling  of  respectful 
admiration  to  turn  to  the  other  side,  and  cast  a  glance  at 
what  were  their  unavoidable  shortcomings.  They  were  too 
hard-headed  to  be  illogical  in  the  matter  of  straightforward 
inferences,  but  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  they  would 
escape  going  astray  sometimes  when  they  ventured  on 
recondite  speculation.  Rough  is  not  the  word  for  their 
method ;  incomplete  would  be  nearer  the  mark,  but  even 
that  can  scarcely  be  applied  when  the  means  at  their  dis- 
posal are  taken  into  account.  No  one  had  yet  taught  the 
value  of  the  microscope  and  balance  to  the  geologist ; 
and,  when  these  and  other  instnunents  of  precision  were 
introduced,  there  was  just  a  tendency  to  gird  at  appli- 
^ces  that  had  a  fiimicking  look  about  them  to  Titans  who 
had  so  long  and  so  successfully  relied  on  their  hammers 
suid  their  wits. 

But  by  degrees  it  became  clear  in  Germany,  and  later 
on  in  England,  that,  though  the  great  main  roads  of  the 

NO.   1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


newly- discovered  territory  had  been  tracked  out  with 
such  brilliant  success,  methods  more  refined  than  had 
sufficed  for  pioneering  -work  must  be  introduced  if  all 
the  intricacies  of  its  lanes  and  by-ways  were  to  be  ex- 
plored. Then  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  rather  tended 
to  bring  about  a  disposition  to  exalt  the  new  means  of 
investigation,  and  there  was  just  a  risk  that  the  sound 
basis  of  field-work  might  come  to  be  undervalued  if  not 
neglected  ;  and  that  Mineralogy  and  Petrology,  instead 
of  being  the  handmaids  of  Geology,  might  be  thought  to 
constitute  the  whole  of  that  science.  But  the  mischief 
never  went  far.  The  mantle  which  had  fallen  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  great  fathers  was  not  to  be  lightly  cast 
aside  ;  and,  while  every  new  aid  was  cordially  welcomed, 
the  conviction  grew  stronger  and  stronger  that  honest 
work  in  the  field  must  for  ever  be  the  starting-point  of 
geological  inquir}^ 

How  thoroughly  this  truth  has  become  engrained  in 
the  minds  of  geologists  is  seen  directly  we  open  Prof. 
Cole's  "  Aids  in  Practical  Geology."  A  large  part  of  the 
book  is  taken  up  with  minute  and  precise  directions  for 
carrying  out  the  various  kinds  of  microscopical,  optical, 
and  chemical  examination  of  minerals  and  rocks.  But 
on  the  first  page  we  read — 

'*  Such  aids  in  determinative  geology  as  are  given  in 
the  following  pages  may  be  applied  in  any  halting-place, 
or  in  cities  after  the  return  from  an  expedition  ;  but,  in 
any  case,  observations  made  on  specimens  are  of  slight 
importance  if  uncoupled  with  knowledge  of  their  true 
position  in  the  field." 

And  again — 

"  After  a  study  of  a  number  of  type  specimens,  the 
student  is  recommended  to  go  out  to  some  well- described 
district,  and  to  endeavour  to  recognize  the  varieties  of 
igneous  and  sedimentary  rocks  by  careful  observation  in 
the  field.  In  this  way  alone  can  he  appreciate  the  various 
modes  of  weathering,  the  massive  or  minuter  structures 
due  to  jointing,  the  smooth  or  rugged  outlines  that  cha- 
racterize the  masses  of  which  his  hand-specimens  form  a 
part.  .  .  .  Nothing  short  of  striking  the  rock-mass  in 
situ  with  the  hammer,  and  taking  in  with  the  eye  its 
position  and  surroundings,  even  to  the  broader  features 
of  the  landscape,  should  content  the  geologist  who  would 
follow  worthily  the  founders  and  masters  of  the  science." 

Again  and  again  the  author  reiterates  the  lesson — 

''Just  as  no  mountain  mass  can  be  described  by  a 
stranger  from  a  number  of  hand-specimens,  however 
beautiful,  so  no  rock  can  be  adequately  described  from 
isolated  microscopic  sections.  Again  and  again  the 
observer  will  pass  from  his  section  to  the  solid  specimen, 
and  from  this,  in  memory  at  any  rate,  to  the  great  mass 
of  which  it  formed  a  part." 

And  in  dealing  with  the  nomenclature  of  igneous  rocks, 
the  chaotic  state  of  which  is  so  largely  due  to  the  ignoring 
of  their  field-relations,  it  is  insisted  that — 

''  The  following  out  of  an  igneous  rock  in  the  field  is  a 
most  important  lesson,  and  will  soon  determine  what  is 
valuable  and  what  is  valueless  in  any  proposed  scheme  of 
classification." 

That  the  author,  in  these  and  similar  passages,  is  not 
speaking  from  hearsay,  not  merely  re-echoing  what  is  now 
a  truism,  is  shown  by  the  admirable  practical  directions 
which  he  gives  in  the  first  chapter  for  the  outfit  and  pro- 
cedure of  the  field-geologist.  Here,  and  indeed  through- 
out the  book,  the  instructions  are  detailed  and  precise 

C 


26 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1 89 1 


The  author  has  not  forgotten  the  time  when  he  was  a 
beginner,  his  early  failures,  and  the  disappointments  of 
his  student-days,  when,  from  the  neglect  of  some  slight 
precaution,  he  failed  to  obtain  the  results  he  had  been 
led  to  expect ;  and  he  has  used  every  means  in  his  power, 
by  minute  and  specific  instruction,  to  shield  those  who 
use  his  book  from  similar  mishaps.  As  an  instance,  take 
what  he  says  about  the  effect  of  acids  on  minerals.  How 
often  has  the  self-taught  man  turned  wearily  to  one  book 
after  another  on  mineralogy,  in  the  hope  of  getting  some 
definite  information  on  this  point,  and  all  he  arrived  at 
was  the  curt  statement,  "  Soluble  in  acids,"  which  each 
apparently  had  copied  from  its  predecessor,  or  all  had 
borrowed  from  some  common  source.  What  acid  ? 
Concentrated  or  dilute?  Cold  or  hot.^  Quickly,  or 
perhaps  only  after  a  fortnight's  boiling?  All  these 
points  he  was  left  to  make  out  for  himself  as  best  he 
could.  The  happier  pupil  of  Prof.  Cole  is  treated  far 
more  liberally,  and  will  not  have  to  weary  himself  by 
feeling  about  in  the  dark  if  he  attend  to  the  cautions 
and  instructions  of  the  book  now  before  us.  The 
directions  for  blowpipe-work  are  equally  precise.  Only 
one  who  has  been  himself  an  actual  worker  would  have 
told  the  observer  to  wait  "  till  the  first  red  glow  has  gone 
off''  before  noting  the  colour  of  a  borax-bead.  Of  course, 
anyone  would,  sooner  or  later,  find  this  out  for  himself ; 
but,  till  he  had  found  it  out,  he  would  probably  blunder 
not  a  little  ;  and  anything  that  economizes  time  nowadays 
is  not  to  be  despised.  There  is  no  need  to  multiply  in- 
stances ;  ever>'^one  who  uses  the  book  will  find  that  it 
eminently  deserves  the  epithet  of  "  practical,"  which  the 
author  has  assigned  to  it. 

But  are  there  no  weak  points  on  which  the  critic  may 
exercise  his  function  ?  Attention  may  perhaps  be  called 
to  the  following : — On  p.  6,  a  graphical  method,  due  to 
Mr.  Dalton,  is  given  for  determining  the  full  dip  of  a  bed 
from  the  dips  on  two  oblique  sections.  The  writer  may 
perhaps  be  pardoned  for  preferring  a  method  of  his  own, 
given  first  in  the  Geological  Magazine  for  1876,  p.  377. 
But,  independently  of  any  personal  predilection,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  diagram  in  the  case  of  this  method  is 
simpler  than  in  that  of  Mr.  Dalton.  This  makes  it  easier 
to  recollect,  and,  besides,  the  fewer  lines  there  are  in  a 
graphical  construction  the  less  is  the  chance  of  error. 
In  dealing  with  "  streak,"  it  would  be  well  to  notice  that 
the  true  streak  of  some  hard  minerals,  Iron-glance  for 
instance,  is  not  obtained  till  they  have  been  rubbed  down 
in  an  agate  mortar. 

Doubt  is  thrown  on  the  value  of  Turner's  test  for 
the  detection  of  boron  (p.  41) :  there  is  an  article  by 
Dr.  C.  Le  Neve  Foster  in  the  MineralogicaJ  Magazine 
(vol.  i.  p.  ']^)  which  should  be  consulted  in  this  connection. 

It  is  hardly  worth  while  criticizing  the  nomenclature 
and  classification  of  the  crystalline  rocks.  No  two  petro- 
graphers  are  in  agreement  here,  and  probably  the  exist- 
ing schemes  of  arrangement  are  all  of  about  equal  value. 
There  is  fortunately  no  multiplication  of  species  or  intro- 
duction of  new  names.  It  might  be  possible  to  take 
objection  to  the  description  of  Quartz-felsite  as  a  compact 
form  of  Granite,  for  the  part  played  by  the  quartz  in  the 
two  rocks  is  totally  different,  and  must  be  correlated  with 
a  difference  in  their  mode  of  consolidating.  Quartz-fel- 
sites  are  specially  common  as  dykes,  and  there  may  have 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


been  facilities  for  the  escape  of  water  in  their  case,  up 
the  fissures  which  thsy  fill,  that  were  not  present  in  the 
case  of  the  more  thoroughly  buried  magma  of  Granite. 
It  was  doubtless  the  presence  of  water  in  the  granite- 
magma  which  kept  the  quartz  fluid  or  plastic  after  the 
other  minerals  had  crystallized  ;  its  escape  in  the  case  of 
Quartz-felsite  may  have  led  to  the  early  crystallization  of 
the  quartz.  In  dealing  with  the  foliated  rocks,  the  author 
touches  on  the  debated  point  of  the  "  true  schists."  We 
are  pretty  well  used  to  this  phrase,  and  have  waited  long 
in  the  hopes  of  being  told  what  constitutes  a  "true  schist," 
but  our  patience  has  not  yet  met  with  the  reward  it  merits. 
The  author  is  of  opinion  that  "the  alleged  distinction 
between  schist-like  rocks  and  schists  of  pre-Cambrian  age 
requires  great  delicacy  of  definition."  This  is  delicately 
put,  and  will  command  the  assent  of  most  geologists. 

The  palaeontological  section  will  perhaps  be  looked 
upon  somewhat  derisively  by  those  well  versed  in  biology. 
But  it  will  serve  its  end,  which  is  to  enable  those  who 
cannot  pretend  to  any  large  amount  of  biological  know- 
ledge to  know  the  commoner  fossils  when  they  see  them, 
and  determine  the  genus  to  which  they  belong.  The 
method  may  have  a  large  element  of  "  rule-of-thumb '' 
about  it,  it  may  be  called  empirical,  but  in  a  large 
number  of  cases  it  is  not  practicable  to  attain  to  anything 
better.  And  it  has  a  certain  educational  value,  for  it 
makes  a  student  use  his  eyes  even  if  it  but  slightly 
disciplines  his  reason. 

That  the  work  deserves  its  title,  that  it  is  full  of  "aids" 
and  in  the  highest  degree  "  practical "  will  be  the  verdict 
of  all  who  use  it. 

Nor  will  Dr.  Hatch's  handy  volume  be  any  less 
welcome.  Those  who  wish  to  have  in  a  compact  form 
the  prominent  characters  of  the  rock-forming  minerals 
and  the  igneous  rocks,  will  find  all  the  information 
needed  by  a  student  concisely  and  lucidly  put  forth. 
Some  slight  acquaintance  with  crystallography  and  the 
optical  properties  of  minerals  is  assumed.  A  short  sec- 
tion on  these  subjects  would  have  made  the  book  more 
self-contained,  and  need  not  »have  increased  its  size  verv 
materially. 

The  igneous  rocks  are  defined  to  be  "  those  that  have 
been  formed  by  the  consolidation  of  molten  material.*^ 
There  is  a  spice  of  danger  in  the  word  "  molten,"  for  it 
may  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  fluidity  of  the  material 
was  the  result  of  "  dry  heat."  In  the  case  of  a  Laccolite 
the  view  so  generally  held  is  taken,  that  the  overlying 
beds  have  been  bent  up  by  the  intrusion  of  a  molten 
mass.  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  quite  as  likely  that  earth- 
movement  caused  a  differential  amount  of  bending  in 
two  adjoining  beds,  and  that,  as  an  empty  space  was 
thus  gradually  formed  between  the  two,  the  molten  matter 
was  driven  into  it. 

On  the  subject  of  the  classification  of  the  igneous  rocks 
we  find  the  following  healthy  expression  of  opinion : 
*'  The  various  types  are  so  intimately  related,  that  any 
attempt  at  rigid  and  systematic  classification  is  not  likely 
to  meet  with  any  great  measure  of  success."  •Certainly 
not  till  some  sounder  basis  of  classification  than  any  yet 
suggested  is  hit  upon.  In  the  meantime  Dr.  Hatch's 
grouping  is  one  that  from  its  clearness  and  simplicity  will 
be  a  real  boon  to  the  student. 

A  most  useful  feature  in  the  book  is  the  list  of  localities 


May  14,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


27 


where  each  rock  occurs.  The  illustrations  are  very  well 
executed.  Though  the  book  has  appeared  only  recently, 
one  teacher  at  least  can  already  bear  testimony,  founded 
on  actual  experience,  as  to  its  value  to  students. 

A.  H.  Green. 


BACTERIOLOGY. 

Us  Virus.     Par  Dr.   S.   Arloing.       (Paris  :    Ancienne 
Librairie,  Germer,  Bailli^re,  et  Cie.,  1891.) 

'"PHE  name  of  Dr.  S.  Arloing  as  the  author  of  a  work 
L  on  bacteriology  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  that  the 
book  is  worth  reading,  nor  are  we  disappointed.  "  Les 
Virus"  is  one  of  the  best  volumes  on  this  science  yet 
produced.  It  is  not  a  mere  compilation  of  other  men's 
work,  giving  a  categorical  account  of  the  numerous 
pathogenic  and  non-pathogenic  bacteria  now  recognized, 
but  is  a  thorough  scientific  investigation  into  the  prin- 
ciples of  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  medical 
science,  and  might  perhaps  be  better  called  a  manual  of 
"  microbiology." 

The  work  is  divided  into  six  parts,'under  the  following 
heads : — 

(1)  General  considerations  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
bacterial  poison. 

(2)  Form  and  mode  of  life  of  the  microbes  (biology). 

(3)  The  part  taken  by  the  microbes  in  the  propagation 
and  spread  of  infectious  diseases. 

(4)  Struggle  of  the  host  against  the  poison.  Natural 
extinction  and  artificial  destruction  of  its  effects. 

(5)  Immunity  enjoyed  by  the  body  against  certain 
microbes. 

(6)  Attenuation  and  reproduction  of  the  bacterial 
poison. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  list  that  this  work  covers  a 
large  field,  and  one  not  exactly  dealt  with  by  any  previous 
author. 

In  the  first  part,  which  is  subdivided  into  six  chapters, 
Dr.  Arloing  commences  with  an  historical  survey  of  the 
science  of  bacteriology,  pointing  out  the  gradual  exten- 
sion of  ideas  from  the  time  of  Rhazes,  who,  in  the  ninth 
century,  attributed  small-pox  to  a  process  of  fermentation 
"comparable  to  that  which  takes  place  in  the  juice  of  the 
grape  when  made  into  wine";  touching  then  on  the 
works  of  Rayer,  Davaine,  Chaveau,  and  others,  the  author 
traces  the  development  of  the  science  until  present  times 
and  the  discoveries  of  Koch  and  Pasteur.  An  interesting 
comparison  of  the  "  virulent  *'  parasites  with  simple  para- 
sites, such  as  Trichina  spiralis,  then  follows ;  and,  next, 
the  formulation  of  two  statements  which  form  the  basis  of 
the  modern  science  :  (i)  the  active  agents  of  the  virulent 
process  are  or^^anisms ;  (2)  these  organisms  are  living, 
and  possess  specific  properties. 

The  second  part  of  the  work  deals  with  the  biology  of 
bacteria.  The  methods  of  cultivating  them  are  fully  de- 
scribed, and,  what  we  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  in  any 
other  work  on  bacteriology,  there  is  a  full  account  of  the 
effect  on  micro-organisms  of  nourishment,  temperature, 
light,  atmospheric  conditions,  and  electricity.  In  this 
part,  also,  are  two  most  important  chapters — namely,  the 
effects  on  the  microbes  of  the  nature  of  the  cultivating 
medium.     This  is  only  just  beginning  to  be  properly  un- 

NO.   1 1  24,  VOL.  44] 


derstood,  and  its  investigation  has  already  been  productive 
of  valuable  results. 

The  chapter  on  the  products  of  the  growth  of  micro- 
organisms is  hardly  up  to  the  general  excellence  of  the 
work.  It  has  not  been  sufficiently  brought  up  to  date,  so 
that  the  researches  of  Dr.  Hankin,  and  the  more  com- 
plete investigations  of  Dr.  Sidney  Martin  in  reference  to 
the  albuminoses  and  alkaloids,  do  not  appear  in  it.  The 
diastases  and  ptomaines  are,  however,  fully  discussed, 
and  much  may  be  learnt  from  a  perusal  of  this  chapter. 

The  third  division  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  rSle 
which  the  microbes  play  in  the  propagation  and  causation 
of  disease.  The  chapter  on  contagion  is  one  of  the  best  in 
the  book,  and  would  alone  form  a  most  valuable  brochure. 
After  a  consideration  of  the  general  modes  in  which  con- 
tagion is  carried,  a  most  exhaustive  account  is  given 
of  air,  water,  soil,  food,  and  artificial  inoculation  (vaccina- 
tion) as  carriers  of  disease.  As  a  natural  sequence,  the 
modes  of  entry  of  the  germs  into  the  body  are  then  de- 
scribed, auto-infection  being  included  ;  and  next  we  have 
a  consideration  of  what  may  become  of  the  organisms  after 
their  entry,  and  the  changes  which  take  place  in  the 
host.  The  descriptions  here  given  are  exceedingly  pre- 
cise, and,  although  rather  condensed,  convey  all  that 
can  be  desired. 

Passing  now  to  the  fourth  part,  we  find  four  chapters 
devoted  to  the  strife  between  the  host  and  the  microbes, 
and  the  natural  extinction  and  artificial  destruction  of  the 
poison.  In  the  third  chapter  the  subject  of  disinfection 
is  noticed,  both  by  heat  and  antiseptics,  special  atten- 
tion being  drawn  to  the  necessity  of  the  careful  dis- 
infection of  sputum,  linen,  bedding,  &c., — points  which 
cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon  in  all  hospitals,  and 
not  merely  in  those  devoted  to  fevers  or  diseases  of  the 
chest. 

The  fifth  part  deals  with  the  very  difficult,  and,  at 
present,  vague  subject  of  "  immunity."  Dr.  Arloing 
divides  immunity  into  two  classes — "acquired"  and 
"natural."  On  this  subject  no  one  is  more  qualified  to 
speak  than  the  author  of  this  work,  for  he  has  made  it 
almost  a  special  study  for  years,  and  it  is  treated  of  in 
his  usual  masterly  way. 

The  sixth  and  last  part  contains  some  of  the  more 
recent  researches  (especially  those  of  Pasteur)  on  the 
attenuation  of  the  virus. 

Taking  the  work  as  a  whole,  we  cannot  speak  too 
highly  of  it.  We  heartily  congratulate  the  author  on 
the  success  of  his  labours.  The  book  is  well  illustrated, 
and  we  cordially  recommend  it  to  all  those  who  wish  to 
study  a  subject  so  replete  with  interest  and  of  such  vital 
importance  to  mankind.  F.  J.  W. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Anleitung  zur  Bearbeitung  meteorologiscJier  Beobach- 
tungen  fiir  die  Klimatologie.  Von  Dr.  Hugo  Meyer. 
(Berlin  :  Julius  Springer,  1891.) 

Were  this  little  book  less  severely  technical  in  form,  it 
might  be  commended  to  the  notice  of  that  large  class  of 
observers  whose  sole  aim  and  object  in  meteorological 
registration  is  to  ascertain  the  characteristics  of  the  local 
climate  and  to  compare  them  in  detail  with  those  shown 
by  the  similar  records  of  other  places.  It  teaches  how 
the  results  of  observation  may  be  tabulated  or  graphically 


28 


NATURE 


[May  14,  1891 


represented  in  the  forms  most  approved  by  climatologists, 
and  discusses  with  much  precision  the  meaning  of  different 
kinds  of  mean  values  ;  though,  indeed,  it  omits  all  mention 
of  the  geometric  mean,  the  application  of  which  in  clima- 
tology was  lately  under  discussion  in  the  Royal  Meteoro- 
logical Society.  But  it  is,  we  fear,  hardly  elementary 
enough  to  meet  the  requirements  of  beginners  and 
amateurs,  especially  such  as  regard  a  formula  of  any 
complexity  with  something  of  that  distant  respect  that 
they  accord  to  holy  mysteries  ;  and  on  the  other  hand  it 
aims  at  nothing  beyond  the  formal  and  statistical  present- 
ment of  facts,  and  never  deviates  into  the  seductive,  if 
sometimes  illusive,  field  of  physical  causation.  It  is  what 
its  title  proclaims  it  to  be,  a  guide  to  the  working  out  of 
meteorological  observations  for  the  purposes  of  climato- 
logy— the  climatology,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  temperate 
zone.  For  those  who  work  in  a  more  extended 
field,  some  of  the  author's  methods  and  dictates 
may  be  found  to  need  modification.  His  schedule 
of  the  usual  hours  of  observation  makes  no 
mention  of  those  most  frequently  observed  in  the 
tropics,  and  his  uncompromising  condemnation  of  the 
use  of  Lambert's  formulae  in  reducing  wind-registers, 
however  justifiable  in  the  case  of  the  variable  winds  of 
these  latitudes,  ignores  that  of  countries  where  trade- 
winds  or  monsoons  blow  steadily  for  weeks  or  months 
together  with  but  little  deviation  from  the  normal  quarter, 
and  where  the  direction  undergoes  a  regular  oscillation 
daily.  In  working  out  this  daily  oscillation  at  such 
places,  the  use  of  Lambert's  formula  is  not  only  justified 
but  almost  indispensable. 

Within  the  somewhat  narrow  limits  that  Dr.  Meyer 
has  prescribed  to  himself,  he  has  executed  his  task  care- 
fully and  conscientiously,  but  in  this  country,  at  least, 
his  merits  are  likely  to  be  appreciated  by  only  a  small 
class ;  chiefly,  indeed,  by  that  estimable  few  who  find  in 
plodding  labour  its  own  sufBcient  reward.  The  student 
who  is  endowed  with  some  share  of  scientific  imagina- 
tion, who  loves  to  trace  the  inner  workings  of  Nature, 
and  sees  in  diagrams  and  tabulated  statistics  only  means 
to  this  end,  will  find  Dr.  Meyer's  work  a  somewhat  dry 
study ;  and  when  he  shall  have  mastered  its  contents, 
should  he  ever  be  challenged  by  Arthur  Clough's  "  Ques- 
tioning Spirit,"  and  asked, 

'*  What  will  avail  the  knowledge  thou  hast  sought  ?" 

he  must  answer  as  he  best  may  from  his  own  mental 
resources.  His  author,  at  least,  will  not  help  him  to 
a  reply. 

Intensity  Coils  :  how  made  and  how  used.  By  "  Dyer." 
Sixteenth  Edition.  (London :  Perken,  Son,  and 
Rayment.) 

In  this  book  a  simple  and  interesting  account  is  given 
of  galvanic  batteries,  induced  electricity,  and  the  methods 
of  making  and  using  intensity  coils,  which  include  numerous 
experiments  that  may  be  described  briefly  as  "  popular." 
In  the  present  edition  many  other  branches  of  the  subject 
have  been  touched  upon,  including  electric  lighting,  elec- 
tric bells,  electric  telegraph,  electric  motors  ;  and  a  few 
words  are  said  on  the  telephone,  microphone,  and  phono- 
graph. Although  the  book  is  not  presented  as  a  scientific 
treatise,  but  simply  as  a  guide  containing  the  necessary 
instructions  for  making  and  using  the  above-named  in- 
struments, yet  by  its  means  many  may  be  led  to  make  a 
more  advanced  study  of  the  subject,  which  to-day  is  of 
such  high  importance. 

General  Physiology,  By  Camilo  Calleja,  M.D.  (London: 
Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  and  Co.,  Limited,  1890.) 

The  author  of  this  book  means  by  the  word  "  phy- 
siology "  "  discourse  of  nature "  ;  and  his  intention  is  to 
denote  by  it  "  the  study  of  positive  science  in  the  abstract 
sense."    The  scheme  he  has  set  before  himself  is  nothing 

NO.   II 24,  VOL.  44] 


less  than  "  to  comprehend  under  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  mechanism — conservation  of  energy — all  the 
laws  and  theories  concerning  nature."  In  order  to  show 
the  spirit  in  which  he  sets  about  the  accomplishment  of 
his  task,  it  may  perhaps  be  enough  to  say  that  he  regards 
the  planets  as  '*  bodies  constituted  of  organic  and  in- 
organic matter,"  and  that  to  him  living  organic  matter 
seems  '^  the  proximate  agent  of  planetary  movements,  for 
which  non- living  bodies  are  only  the  cosmic  medimn." 
The  sun,  we  learn,  is  not  "a  body  in  combustion,"  but 
"principally  a  great  reflecting  mass,  which,  situated  in 
the  focus  of  the  orbits  of  many  planets,  reflects  their 
infra-luminous  emissions,  these  producing  light  by  their 
conglomeration."  As  for  "  natural  light  or  daylight,"  it 
is  "  a  photothermic  radiation  produced  by  transference, 
not  only  of  the  radiating  motion  of  the  planets,  but  also  of 
the  motion  engendered  by  solar  living  beings."  If  anyone 
is  attracted  by  writing  of  this  kind,  he  will  find  plenty  of 
it  in  Dr.  Calleja's  amusing  volume. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertaJtt 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  rejicicd 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  <7/"Naturl 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications, ^ 

Co -adaptation. 

It  sometimes  appears  to  me  that  the  neo-Darwinians  most 
speak  a  language  of  their  own,  because  they  are  so  fond  of  tcHio^ 
me,  in  a  stereotyped  phrase,  that,  '*  if  words  have  any  meaoiog, ' 
such  and  such  words  have  expressed  some  meaning  which  no 
ordinary  grammatical  construction  can  extract.  The  present  is 
a  good  case  in  point.  Prof.  Meldola  says  that  he  finds  "t 
remarkable  discrepancy  "  between  my  two  previous  letters  on  the 
above  subject,  and  seeks  to  reveal  it  by  quoting  from  the  fiist 
letter,  thus : — 

«  *  I  do  not  .  .  .  hold  m3rself  responsible  for  enunciating  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer's  argument,  which  the  quotation  sets  forth.  I 
merely  reproduced  it  from  him  as  an  argument  which  appeared 
to  me  valid  on  the  side  of  "  use-inheritance."  For  not  only  did 
Darwin  himself  invoke  the  aid  of  such  inheritance  in  regaird  to 
this  identical  case,  .  .  .  '  &c.  If  words  have  any  meaniBg, 
this  implies  that  Dr.  Romanes  agrees  with  Darwin  in  regarding 
this  case  as  one  in  which  '  use -inheritance '  played  a  part." 

Does  it  ?  When  a  man  says  that  in  his  opinion  a  pertain 
argument  in  favour  of  a  certain  conclusion  is  valid,  is  this 
equivalent  to  his  saying  that  he  accepts  the  conclusion  ?  And 
when  he  adds,  twice  over,  that  he  purposely  abstains  from  ex- 
pressing any  opinion  of  his  own  with  regard  to  the  conclosioOf 
is  this  equivalent  to  his  saying  the  precise  opposite  ? 

The  slate  of  the  case  is  simply  as  follows.  Prof.  MeldoU 
reproduced  Mr.  Wallace's  argument  against  Mr.  Spencer'jJ 
defence  of  "use-inheritance."  I  wrote  to  show  that  this  parti- 
cular argument  was  invalid  ;  but  that  there  was  another  ai^gumcot 
on  the  same  side,  which,  if  adduced,  would  be  valid,  supposing 
that  it  could  be  sustained  by  facts.  Now,  in  his  reply,  Prof- 
Meldola  abandoned  the  invalid  argument,  and  adopted  the  one 
which  I  had  stated.  Accordingly  I  wrote  a  second  time,  in 
order  to  show  that  we  were  then  agreed  upon  this  being  the 
only  argument  which  could  be  logically  brought  against  Mr. 
Spencers  position.  But  I  again  added  that  I  would  express  no 
opinion  as  to  whether  this  argument  could  be  successful  in  sub- 
verting Mr.  Spencer's  position.  In  point  of  fact,  with  regard  to 
this  question  I  have  no  fully-formed  opinion  to  express.  But, 
unless  the  neo- Darwinians  have  eventually  become  unable  to 
comprehend  the  attitude  of  **  suspended  judgment,"  one  would 
suppose  that  they  might  still  appreciate  the  difference  between 
sifting  arguments  as  good  or  bad  on  both  sides  of  a  question, 
and  finally  deciding  with  regard  to  the  question  itself. 

Christ  Church,  Oxford,  May  8.         George  J.  Romanes. 


I  WROTE  in  good  faith  when  in  my  last  brief  communication  I 
expressed  the  intention  of  allowing  the  subject  to  drop,  because 
I  considered  that  the  discussion  had  arrived  at  a  stage  when 


May  14,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


29 


those  who  were  interested  in  the  matter  would  be  able  to  form 
their  own  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  the  arguments  adduced  on 
either  side  of  the  question.  I  very  much  regret  to  find,  how- 
ever, that  Dr.  Romanes — whose  amount  of  spare  time  appears 
to  be  most  enviably  inexhaustible — still  finds  it  necessary  to 
prolong  the  correspondence.  I  am  compelled,  therefore,  to  enter 
the  field  once  more,  if  only  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  my 
own  case  in  its  true  light.  What  Dr.  Romanes's  position  may 
now  be  I  must  confess  is  becoming  distinctly  less  clear  with 
each  of  his  contributions  to  the  subject,  but  I  am  not  the  first  who 
has  lost  his  way  in  attempting  to  thread  the  mazes  of  this  writer's 
prodactions.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  it  will  suffice  to  say  that 
the  case  is  not  ''simply'*  as  he  presents  it  in  the  foregoing  com- 
munication. In  the  review  of  Mr.  Pascoe's  book,  from  which  this 
discussion  originated,  I  did  not  merely  reproduce  "  Mr.  Wallace's 
alignment  against  Mr.  Spencer's  defence  of  '  use- inheritance.'  " 
I  accepted  that  argument  as  valid,  but  I  extended  it  by  em- 
phasizing the  importance  of  the  factor  of  superimposed  useful 
characters  accumulated  during  successive  periods  of  the  phylogeny. 
I  pointed  out  that  large  numbers  of  cases  of  co-adaptation  might 
be  thus  accounted  for,  and  I  used  Mr.  Spencer's  own  illustra- 
tion bv  way  of  example.  In  summing  up  his  own  conclusion, 
Mr.  Wallace  says:  "The  difficulty  as  to  co-adaptation  of 
parts  by  variation  and  natural  selection  appears  to  me,  there- 
fore, to  be  a  wholly  imaginary  difficulty  which  has  no  place 
whatever  in  the  operations  of  Nature"  (**  Darwinism,"  p.  418). 
Not  only,  therefore,  has  Dr.  Romanes  misrepresented  my  view, 
bat  he  has  gone  further.  The  other  "  argument  on  the  same 
side  "  referred  to  in  the  above  communication  is  this  very  denial 
of  co-adaptation  as  a  fact  in  Nature.  This,  with  most  amazing 
sangfroid^  is  now  claimed  by  my  correspondent,  who  speaks  of 
it  as  "the  one  which  I  had  stated"  !  I  must  leave  it  to  others 
to  decide  what  -  value  can  be  attached  to  the  statements  of  a 
writer  who  adopts  the  principle  of  appropriating  an  argument, 
and  patting  it  forwara  in  a  manner  which  would  lead  most 
readers  to  consider  that  he  had  been  the  first  to  elaborate  it 
sinaply  because  he  has  expressed  the  same  idea  in  abstract 
symbob  instead  of  in  concrete  terms. 

The  next  phase  in  the  discussion  is  the  admission  by  Dr. 
Romanes  that  Mr.  Wallace's  conclusion  is  correct,  i.e,  that  co- 
adaptation  is  non-existent :  "  As  it  appears  to  me,  from  his  reply, 
that  Prof.  Meldola's  views  on  the  subject  of  '  co-adaptation ' 
are  really  the  same  as  my  own,  I  write  once  more  in  order  to 
point  out  the  identity"  (Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  582).  Mr. 
Romanes  did  more,  therefore,  than  simply  point  out  that  we 
were  agreed  that  this  was  "the  only  argument  which  could  be 
proper^  brought  against  Mr.  Spencer's  position."  He  said 
that  oar  views  were  "  really  the  same,"  and  this  after  I  had 
accepted  Mr.  Wallace's  conclusion  as  to  the  non-existence  of  co- 
adaptation.  To  crown  all,  he  now  tells  us  that  he  has  no  fully- 
formed  opinion  to  express,  but  that  he  is  in  a  condition  of 
"  suspended  judgment"!  I  must  really  leave  the  case  as  it 
standis.  If  "neo- Darwinians"  have  a  language  of  their  own, 
at  any  rate  it  appears  to  be  intelligible  among  themselves,  if 
only  from  the  circumstance  that  they  have  been  enabled  to 
stereotype  a  phrase  which  conveys  their  views  with  respect 
to  the  difficulty  of  following  my  correspondent's  reasoning.  I 
have  been  no  more  fortunate  than  other  "  neo-Darwinians " 
in  this  attempt,  but  in  the  endeavour  to  carry  on  the 
discussion  of  a  biological  question  with  a  writer  who  stops 
short  as  soon  as  the  subject  assumes  a  truly  biological 
aspect  (see  Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  582),  I  have  become  keenly 
impressied  with  the  utter  sterility  of  Dr.  Romanes's  method, 
which  not  only  fails  to  advance  our  knowledge  of  the 
ori^n  of  species  by  any  substantial  contribution  of  fact,  but 
which  degrades  the  theoretical  side  of  the  subject  into  mere 
verbiage.  If  this  is  "  palaeo-Darwinism,"  I  am  rejoiced  to  think 
that  I  am  grouped  with  those  who  are  outside  the  pale. 

In  conciosion,  to  prevent  further  misunderstanding,  let  me 
add  that,  in  admitting  that  the  chances  are  "  infinity  to  one  " 
s^ninst  a  number  of  independent  useful  variations  occurring 
when  required  in  the  same  individual,  I  merely  quoted  the  ex- 
pression as  eiven  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  and  repeated  by  Dr. 
Romanes.  1  do  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  Mr.  Spencer 
used  the  words  in  any  more  than  a  colloquial  sense  as  indicating 
that  there  were  "heavy  odds"  against  such  a  combination,  and 
in  this  sense  only  is  my  admission  made.  That  the  phrase  has 
no  exact  mathematical  significance  is,  I  imagine,  sufficiently 
obvious,  but  I  have  thought  it  desirable  to  make  this  qualifica- 
tion. R.  Meldola. 


NO.    1 124,  VOL.  44] 


Physiological  Selection  and  the  Different  Meanings 
given  to  the  Term  "Infertility." 

In  the  discussion  concerning  the  segregation  of  varieties 
occupying  the  same  region,  and  the  influence  of  physiological 
selection  in  securing  this  result,  it  is  necessary  that  we  consider 
the  different  meanings  given  to  some  of  the  terms  by  different 
writers.  The  general  fact  on  which  Dr.  Romanes  insisted,  in 
his  paper  on  "  Physiological  Selection,"  was  compatibility  in 
the  reproductive  system  of  some,  and  incompatibility  in  that 
of  others  belonging  to  the  same  species.  On  p.  360  of  his  paper 
we  read  that  "racial  incompatibility,"  "however  produced," 
"  is  the  primary  condition  required  for  the  development  of  varie- 
ties into  species."  Infertility  and  sterility  are  also  used  by  him  as 
equivalents  for  incompatibility  in  the  reproductive  system.  Thus, 
on  p.  400  we  find  the  statement  that  "AH  natural  varieties 
which  have  not  been  otherwise  prevented  from  intercrossing, 
and  which  have  been  allowed  to  survive  long  enough  to  develop 
any  differences  worth  mentioning,  are  now  found  to  be  protected 
from  intercrossing  by  the  bar  of  sterility — that  is,  bv  a  previous 
change  in  the  reproductive  system  of  the  kind  which  my  theory 
requires." 

Dr.  Romanes  did  not  attempt  to  catalogue  the  different  forms 
of  discriminative  incompatibility  that  are  included  in  the  incom- 
patibilities of  the  reproductive  systems  of  different  races,  but 
reference  was  made  to  three  forms  :  (i)  to  compatibility  in  the 
time  of  flowerin|r  in  those  of  the  same  race,  as  contrasted  with 
incompatibility  m  those  of  different  races,  as  on  pp.  352  and 
356  ;  (2)  to  greater  numerical  fertility  when  the  male  and  female 
elements  of  the  same  race  unite,  than  when  those  of  different 
races  unite,  as  in  the  note  on  p.  354  ;  and  (3)  to  numerical  in- 
fertility through  deficient  production  by  hybrids,  as  on  p.  369, 
and  p.  357  in  the  note,  and  in  the  suggested  experiments  on 
p.  405,  in  which  the  pure  and  hybrid  seed  are  both  to  be  sown, 
and  the  comparative  "degrees  of  fertility "  to  be  noted.  To 
these  forms  which  were  mentioned,  we  may  add,  as  coming 
under  the  category  of  physiological  incompatibilities,  (4)  lack 
of  vigour  in  hybrids  ;  (5)  lack  of  adaptation  in  hybrids ;  (6)  lack 
of  escape  from  competition  with  kindred  in  hybrids ;  and  (7)  the 
superior  energy  and  promptness  with  which  the  male  and  female 
elements  unite  in  pure  unions,  as  contrasted  with  cross  unions. 
Dr.  Romanes  probably  refers  to  this  principle  when  he  speaks 
of  sterility  as  "failure  to  blend"  (p.  365). 

This  last,  when  associated  with  the  free  distribution  of  the 
fertilizing  elements,  ensures  the  segregation  (that  is,  the  dis- 
criminative isolation)  of  two  or  more  varieties  occupjdng  the 
same  area  and  propagating  during  the  same  season,  and  there- 
fore seems  to  me  the  most  important  of  the  forms  of  physio- 
Ic^ical  segregation.  This  segregative  principle,  which  I  call 
potential  or  prepotential  segregation,  must,  in  almost  every  case, 
be  operative  between  species  and  varieties  that  continue  distinct 
while  indiscriminately  min(rled  on  the  same  area  and  while 
fertilized  by  elements  freely  and  indiscriminately  distributed 
during  the  same  season,  for  no  other  principle  is  able  to  secure 
free  propagation  and  at  the  same  time  to  prevent  crossing  under 
such  conditions.  Seasonal  segregation  is  here  excluded,  and  the 
other  forms  of  physiological  segregation  when  acting  under  such 
conditions  are  of  little  avail  in  preventing  swamping  unless 
carried  to  the  extreme,  and  they  then  involve  a  waste  of  from 
one-half  to  the  whole  of  the  germs  of  the  less  numerous  variety ; 
for  the  most  favourable  case  possible  is  when  two  varieties 
occupy  the  area  in  equal  numbers,  and  such  cases  rarely  exist, 
especially  in  the  initial  history  of  species. 

Though  numerical  infertility  and  tardy  potency  are  readily 
distinguished,  complete  impotence  and  complete  numerical 
sterility  are  more  likely  to  be  confounded ;  for  the  complete 
incapacity  of  the  male  and  female  elements  of  different  varieties 
for  uniting  involves  failure  to  produce  hybrids,  as  complete  as 
when  the  elements  unite  without  producing  living  offspring  or 
germinating  seed.  The  great  difference  is  that  in  the  case  of 
cross  impotence  the  germ  remains  unaffected  by  the  alien  fer- 
tilizing element,  and  therefore  ready  to  be  fertilized  by  any 
fertilizing  element  of  its  own  kind  that  may  reach  it ;  while  in 
the  case  of  simple  numerical  cross  sterility  (if  there  be  any  such 
case)  the  alien  elements  promptly  unite,  and  therefore  leave  no 
opportunity  for  subsequent  fertilization  by  the  coming  of  the 
kindred  fertilizing  elements.  Cross  impotence,  with  prepotence 
of  pure  unions  when  associated  with  the  free  distribution  of  the 
fertilizing  elements,  produces  positive  segregation ;  for,  when 
characterizing  varieties  occupying  the  same  area,  it  ensures  the 


30 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1 89 1 


propagation  of  each  with  its  own  kind  while  preventing  crossing ; 
but  numerical  infertility  of  first  crosses  produces  what  I  call 
n^ative  segregation,  for,  though  it  is  unable  to  secure  segregate 
breeding,  it  lessens  or  obliterates  the  swamping  effects  of  any 
crossing  that  takes  place,  and  is  therefore  of  great  importance  in 
the  preservation  of  distinct  varieties  and  species  when  the  posi- 
tive forms  of  segregation  only  partially  prevent  crossing.  The 
four  forms  of  hybrid  inferiority  mentioned  above  are  also  forms 
of  negative  s^;regation,  and,  though  of  the  highest  importance 
when  co-operating  with  prepotential  segregation  or  any  other  prin- 
ciple that  partially  prevents  cross  unions,  are,  it  seems  to  me, 
incapable  of  preserving  distinct  varieties  or  species,  when  un- 
assisted by  any  degree  of  positive  segregation. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  see  how  the  different  meanings  of  in- 
fertility have  occasioned  more  or  less  misunderstanding  in  the 
discussion  of  physiological  selection  and  its  effects.  With  Dr. 
Romanes,  the  seven  forms  of  segregation  above-mentioned  are  all 
forms  of  infertility  between  races,  and  therefore  are  all  causes  of 
physiological  selection ;  while  in  my  nomenclature,  all  but  the  first 
are  included  under  impregnational  segregation,  and  only  the 
second  and  third  are  considered  forms  of  cross  infertility  (or,  in 
other  words,  of  segregate  fecundity).  Using  the  term  in  this 
restricted  sense,  I  have  elsewhere  maintained  that  it  is  very  im- 
probable that  cross  infertility  is,  in  any  case,  the  only  isolative 
principle  securing  the  continuance  of  distinct  varieties  and 
species  indiscriminately  commingled  on  the  same  area,  even 
when  the  elements  are  freely  distributed  ;  and  as  this  statement 
is  liable  to  be  taken  as  equally  applicable  to  physiological  selec- 
tion, I  wish  to  have  it  clearly  understood  that,  in  my  usage,  the 
two  terms  are  not  equivalent,  and  what  I  have  said  of  cross  in- 
fertility is  not  in  the  same  sense  true  of  physiological  selection. 

In  Dr.  Wallace's  criticism  of  physiological  selection,  he  seems 
to  limit  the  meaning  of  infertility  between  races  to  numerical  in- 
fertility of  first  crosses,  and  then  assumes  that  this  is  the  only 
incompatibility  that  is  included  under  physiological  selection. 
This  limitation,  if  correct,  would  of  course  limit  the  effects  that 
could  properly  be  attributed  to  this  principle. 

Before  closing  I  wish  to  raise  the  question  whether  a  high 
degree  of  selective  numerical  fertility  between  races  is  not 
always  associated  with  some  degree  of  selective  potential  fer- 
tility. Or,  using  infertility  in  the  more  restricted  meaning  given 
in  my  nomenclature,  is  not  a  high  degree  of  segregate  fecundity 
and  cross  infertility  always  associated  with  some  degree  of  segre- 
gate prepotence  and  cross  impotence  ?  As  we  know  that  these 
two  forms  of  incompatibility  are  usually,  if  not  always,  associated 
in  the  segregation  of  species,  is  it  not  probable  that  they  are  simi- 
larly associated  in  the  segregation  of  varieties?  Again,  as  we  know 
that  segregate  prepotence,  when  associated  with  the  free  distribu- 
tion of  the  fertilizing  elements,  will  produce  prepotential  segrega- 
tion, effectually  preventing  crossing,  without  impairing  powers  of 
survival,  and  as  there  are  many  cases  in  which  the  continued 
segregation  of  varieties  occupying  the  same  area  is  due  entirely 
to  this  principle,  and  many  other  cases  in  which  it  is  due  to 
weakened  forms  of  this  principle  associated  with  other  forms 
of  incompatibility  in  the  reproductive  system,  and  still  other 
numerous  cases  in  which  partial  isolation  (produced  by  a  slight 
diversity  of  habits,  or  by  the  occupation  of  adjoining  districts) 
would  be  speedily  broken  down  except  for  these  physiological 
incompatibilities,  are  we  not  fully  warranted  in  the  assertion 
that  physiological  selection  is  an  essential  factor  in  the  evolution 
of  many  species  ? 

The  importance  of  this  form  of  segregation  having  been 
recognized,  the  question  naturally  arises  as  to  what  have  been 
the  causes  through  which  the  incompatibility  has  ceased  to  be 
sporadic,  and  has  become  racial.  As  Dr.  Romanes  has  not 
entered  on  the  discussion  of  this  point,  I  have  given  the  more 
attention  to  it.  I  think  I  have  succeeded  in  showing  :  (i)  that 
any  portion  of  a  species  subject  to  temporary  isolation,  through 
occupying  a  new  station  or  district,  is  more  or  less  liable  to 
become  incompatible  with  the  rest  of  the  species,  owing  to  the 
cessation  of  reflex  selection,  by  which  the  mutual  fertility  and 
other  compatibilities  of  an  inter- generating  stock  are  kept  in 
force  (see  Nature,  vol.  xlii.  pp.  28  and  369) ;  (2)  that  partially 
segregative  endowments  are,  through  the  very  laws  of  propaga- 
tion, cumulative  (see  **  Divergent  Evolution,"  Linn.  Soc.  Journ. 
— Zool.,  vol.  XX.  pp.  246-260) ;  (3)  that  all  the  transformations 
that  arise  in  forms  thus  segregated  are  inevitably  divergent,  and 
not  parallel  (see  "Intensive  Segregation,"  Linn.  Soc.  Journ. — 
Zool.,  vol.  xxiii.  pp.  312-322).  John  T.  Gulick. 

26  Concession,  Osaka,  Japan. 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


Propulsion  of  Silk  by  Spiden. 

The  author  ("O.  P.  C")  of  the  article  on  "  Arachnida"  in 
the  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  says;— "The  emission  of  silk 
matter  appears  to  be  a  voluntary  act  on  the  part  of  the  spider  ; 
but  it  is  a  di.<(puted  question  among  arachnologists  whether 
spiders  have  the  power  forcibly  to  expel  it,  or  whether  it  » 
merely  drawn  from  the  spinnerets  by  some  external  force  or 
other.  Mr.  Black  wall,  author  of  the  *  History  of  Spiders  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,'  is  of  the  latter  opinion.  Mr.  R.  H. 
Meade  (Yorkshire)  in  Report  of  the  British  Association,  1858, 
thinks,  that  (from  microscopic  anatomical  investigations  which 
he  has  himself  made)  there  is  good  evidence  of  spiders  having 
the  power  to  expel  it ;  for  he  finds  a  certain  muscular  arrange- 
ment which  would  apparently  suffice  to  give  this  power,  and 
observers  have  actually  seen  the  lines  propelled." 

Owing  to  the  doubt  herein  expressed,  may  I  ask  your  inser- 
tion of  a  chance  observation  lately  made  by  me  upon  a  spider, 
which  has  convinced  me  of  the  truth  of  the  theory  that  spiders 
do  expel  their  lines  at  will,  and  this,  too,  as  secondary  to  one 
still  remaining  attached  to  the  spinnerets  ? 

She  was  hanging  from  the  ceiling  about  3  feet  from  a 
mullioned  window,  against  which  I  was  able  to  observe  her 
movements  most  accurately.  I  was  first  led  to  observe  lier 
closely,  by  finding  myself  attached  to  her  within  one  minute  of 
my  approach.  On  my  breaking  this  line,  she  attempted  to 
regain  the  ceiling  ;  a  breath  of  air  from  me  stopped  and  brought 
her  down  again,  when  I  saw  her  draw  her  legs  together,  pull 
her  head  up  higher  than  the  spinnerets  of  her  abdomen  by 
means  of  her  ceiling-line,  zxi^^  following  upon  no  visible  effort  of 
hers  whatever^  I  was  the  next  moment  conscious  of  the  presence 
of  another  line  stretching  out  from  her  spinners  to  a  distance 
short  of  3  feet,  and  at  an  angle  of  about  75  with  the  first.  This 
line  failing  to  find  an  attachment  floated  upwards  and  lay  along- 
side of  the  other,  and  the  spider  again  made  for  the  ceiling. 
Nine  times  during  the  space  of  one  hour,  I  got  her  to  repeal 
this  attempt  to  make  a  horizontal  connection.  Between  two  of 
the  intervals  of  her  attempts,  I  called  in  two  naturalist  friends 
who  both  witnessed  with  me,  and  at  the  same  instant  of  time^ 
the  sudden  appearance  of  the  new  line. 

With  each  successive  trial,  I  was  able  to  substantiate  and 
improve  my  observation ;  at  first  the  appearance  of  the  line 
seemed  instantaneous,  as  to  its  whole  length  ;  next  I  was  able 
to  detect  its  elongation  of  itself  after  about  2  feet  of  its  length 
was  visible ;  then  I  could  see  it  leaving  the  spinnerets  ;  and 
finally,  during  the  last  moment  of  its  travel,  I  could  perceive 
very  distinctly  that  it  drew  the  spider  slightly  forward. 

From  these  premises  I  can  but  infer  that  the  viscid  matter 
contained  by  the  silk-glands,  which,  at  the  ordinary  slow  rate  of 
emission,  turns  to  gossamer  immediately  upon  its  exposure  to  the 
air,  when  expelled  as  now,  violently,  remains  viscid  sufficiently 
long  to  reach  a  certain  distance. 

These  secondary  threads,  carried  towards  the  ceiling  by  the 
spider,  were  never  brought  down  again  when  she  fell  to  the 
length  of  the  main  line,  but  were  each  time  left,  disconnected 
from  her,  at  the  spot  from  whence  she  fell  when  I  blew  her. 
I'heir  loose  end  invariably  floating  upwards  until  alongside  of 
the  spider's  main  line,  was,  I  think,  noteworthy. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  say  that  sight  seemed  to  play  no  part 
in  her  choice  of  a  direction  for  the  connecting  line ;  though  I 
was  close  to  her  all  the  time,  and  indeed  the  only  object  appar- 
ently which  was  close  enough,  she  only  hit  me  the  first  time, 
when  perhaps  she  had  heard  my  approach  ;  this  may  strengthen 
the  remarks  made  by  Mr.  C.  V.  Boys  in  your  number  for 
November  13,  1890,  where  he  says:  **....  sight,  as  we 
understand  the  term,  in  spite  of  their  numerous  eye2<,  seems  to 
be  absent."  S-  J. 

St.  Beuno's  College,  St  Asaph,  N.W.,  April  27. 


The  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock. 

I  THINK  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Mr.  H.  O.  Forbes  has 
fallen  into  the  same  mistake  as  I  had,  in  regard  to  Mr.  Bart- 
lett's  statement  that  "none  of  the  known  wild  species  are  ever 
heard  to  utter  the  fine  loud  crow  of  our  domestic  cock." 

At  first  I  took  this  to  mean  that  the  jungle  cock  did  not  crow 
at  all,  and  was  collecting  notes  from  sporting  men  here,  to 
supplement  my  own  26  years'  experience,  when  yours  of 
February  5  arrived,  and  by  it  I  see  that  Mr.  Bartlett  implies 
that  the  crow  is  not  so  full,  loud,  and  long,  as  that  of  our  hsjn- 
door  cock. 


May  14,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


31 


Mr.  Forbes  exactly  gives  the  difference,  as  thinner,  more 
•wiry,  and  high  pitched;  it  is  also  shorter,  at  least  in  the  wild 
G,  ferrugina.  These  I  have  often  heard  crowing,  and  shot  in 
the  extreme  east  of  Asam,  where  for  a  very  Urge  area,  on  the 
Upper  Diking  River,  and  across  Patkai,  there  are  no  inhabitants. 

This  same  G,  ferrugina  is,  however,  to  be  found  wild  all 
over  Asam,  and  the  countries  around  ;  eggs  found  in  the  jungles 
are  often  batched  under  domestic  fowls,  and  hence  these  are 
frequently  crossed,  and  the  crow  of  the  cock  varies  much  in 
consequence. 

But  the  difference  between  the  wild  G,  ferrugina  and  our 
"barn-door  "  cock,  in  this  particular,  is  so  well  marked  that  it 
could  invariably  be  detected. 

I  may  perhaps  mention  a  curious  sight  I  saw  last  year,  within 
100  yards  of  my  bungalow,  in  the  evening.  A  cloud  of  white 
ants  were  rising  on  ihe  air,  in  the  main  road,  and  a  jackal  and 
jungle  cock  were  busy  eating  the  "neuters"  swarming  all  over 
the  ground ;  presently  another  jackal  joined  and  the  cock  was 
between  them  :  all  were  so  busy  feeding  that  they  took  no  notice 
of  each  other,  the  jackals  often  lying  on  their  bellies,  while  the 
cock  moved  about  between  them,  at  2  or  3  yards  only.  By  this 
time  15  or  20  people  were  looking  on  and  laughing.  Suddenly 
a  third,  younger  jackal,  joined  the  group,  and  after  eating  the 
ants  a  short  lime,  and  walking  about  like  the  others,  dropped 
into  the  ditch  and  stalked  the  cock,  crouching  close  to  him. 
The  latter  at  once  flew,  and  made  a  bee  line  for  the  forest  400 
yards  off.  The  total  area  of  the  ants  was  about  20  feet  by  8 
only-  S.  E.  Peal. 

Sibsagar,  Asam,  March  27. 


Antipathy  [?]  of  Birds  for  Colour. 

With  regard  to  the  destruction  of  the  yellow  crocus  by  the 
sparrow,  mentioned  by  your  correspondent  "  M.  H.  M."  in 
Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  558,  this  bird  appears  to  have  a  pre- 
dilection for  yellow.  In  an  article  on  **  Birds*  Nests  and  Nest- 
building,"  in  the  Animal  IVorU,  present  number,  an  instance 
is  given  of  sparrows  using  the  flowers  of  the  laburnum  for 
their  nest.  Only  lately  I  have  been  watching^  them  picking  out 
the  yellow  centres  of  the  daisy,  but  in  this  case  it  was  for  food, 
and  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  some  portion  of  the  crocus  is 
also  eaten.  At  this  time  of  the  year  they  are  well  known  to  be 
partial  to  buds  and  flowers  of  different  kinds — for  instance,  the 
blossoms  of  the  gooseberry  bushes. 

Doubtless,  the  bright  yellow  colour  attracts  the  attention  of  this 
now  much  censured  bird,  so  omnivorous  in  his  tastes  and  such  a 
general  scavenger,  and  therefore  not  wholly  to  be  condemned. 

Clevedon,  April  28.  T.  B.  J. 

The  Destruction  of  Fish  by  Frost. 

Referring  to  Prof.  Bonney's  letter  in  Nature,  vol.  xliii. 
p.  295,  regarding  the  destruction  of  fish  by  frost,  and  in  which 
he  asks  for  information  from  more  northern  latitudes,  I  may  say 
that  during  the  winter  of  1885-86,  at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales, 
Hudson's  Strait,  when  the  thickness  of  ice  in  a  small  lake  was 
being  measured,  live  fish  were  often  seen;  and  upon  the  last 
occasion,  when  the  ice  measured  six  feet  and  half  an  inch,  several 
were  thrown  up  with  the  water  that,  upon  our  cutting  through,  im- 
mediately overflowed.  These  fish  were  about  an  inch  and  a  half 
in  length  and  were  extremely  lively.  I  may  add  that  during  the 
summer  both  feeder  and  outlet  of  the  lake  averaged  about  eight 
inches  in  depth  and  the  lake  nine  feet  in  its  deepest  part.  The 
former  ceased  to  flow  on  November  8,  when,  too,  ice,  fourteen 
inches  in  thickness,  covered  the  lake.  F.  F.  Payne. 

Meteorological  Service  of  Canada, 
Toronto,  April  16. 


The  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a  Whirling  Ring. 

With  reference  to  the  recent  discussion  in  your  columns  on 
the  whirling  of  steel  bands,  the  following  results  will  be  of 
interest. 

A  weldless  steel  flask,  with  spherical  body  12  inches  in 
diameter  and  |  inch  thick,  constructed  for  use  in  a  centrifugal 
ffiilk  separator,  to  revolve  about  its  axis  of  symmetry  at  a  normal 
<peed  of  7000  revolutions  per  minute,  was  whirled  at  a  gradually 
increasing  speed,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  ** bursting" 
velodiy. 

At  16,000  revolutions  per  minute  the  body  of  the  flask  had 
NO.    I  124,  VOL.  44] 


bulged  2  inches  in  diameter  :  this  is  equivalent  to  an  extension 
of  17  per  cent,  of  the  circumference  ;  the  peripheral  speed  being 
840  feet  per  second,  and  the  tension  31  '5  tons  per  square  inch. 

The  experiment  was  not  continued,  as  it  was  considered  suffi- 
ciently satisfactory,  and  the  bulged  flask  is  kept  as  a  curiosity. 

Chas.  a.  Carus-Wilson. 

McGill  University,  Montreal. 


HERTZ'S  EXPERIMENTS} 

III. 

IN  the  last  article  the  principles  upon  which  a  rapidly 
vibrating  electric  oscillator  should  be  constructed 
were  considered,  and  how  the  sudden  break- down  of  the 
air  gap  enabled  these  rapid  vibrations  to  be  started.  It 
is  probable  that  this  break-down  occurs  in  a  time 
smaller  than  the  thousand  millionth  of  a  second.  How 
very  rapid  interatomic  motions  must  be ! 

Consider  now  the  principles  on  which  an  apparatus  is 
to  be  constructed  to  receive  the  vibrations  prcJduced  by 
this  oscillator.    We  may  observe  in  the  first  place  that 
as  we  are  dealing  with  a  succession  of  impulses  at  equal 
intervals  of  time  we  can  utilize  resonance  to  accumulate 
the  eflfect  of  a  single  impulse.      Resonance   is  used  in 
an  immense  variety  of  circumstances  to  accumulate  the 
effect  of  a  series  of  impulses,  and  is  avoided  in  another 
immense  variety  of  circumstances  to  prevent  accumulating 
the  effect  of  a  series  of  impulses.     We  see,  we  hear,  we 
photograph  by  using  it ;   we  use  it  to  make  musical 
sounds,  to  keep  clocks  and  watches  going,  to  work  tele- 
graphs.    By  avoiding  it  carriages  drive  safely  over  rough 
roads,  ships  navigate  the  seas,  the  tides  do  not  now  over- 
whelm the  land,  the  earth  and  planets  preserve  their 
courses  round  the  sun,  and  the  solar  system  is  saved 
from  destruction.     Resonance  may  be  thus  described  : — 
If  a  system  is  able  to  vibrate  by  itself  in  any  way,  and  if 
we  give  it  a  series  of  impulses,  each  tending  to  increase 
the  vibration,  the  effect  will  be  cumulative,  and  the  vibra- 
tion will  increase.     To  do  this  the  impulses  must  be  well 
timed,  at  intervals  the  same  as  the  period  of  vibration  of 
the  system  itself.     Otherwise  some  of  the  impulses  will 
tend  to  stop  the  vibration,  and  only  some  to  increase  it, 
and  on  the  whole  the  effect  will  be  small.     In  order  to 
use  resonance  in  the  construction  of  the  detector  of  waves 
of  electric  force,  we  must  make  our  detector  so  as  to  be 
capable  of  an  electric  vibration  of  the  same  period  as  the 
generator  of  the  waves.     If  we  do  this  we  may  expect  the 
currents  produced  in  it  to  be  increased  by  each  wave,  and 
thus  the  electrification  at  its  ends  to  increase,  and  so  in- 
crease the  chance  of  our  being  able  to  produce  a  visible 
spark.    Two  ways  of  using  a  detector  have  been  men- 
tioned.    One  is  to  observe  the  heating  of  a  conductor 
by  the  current  in  it,  and  the  other  to  observe  a  spark  due 
to  the  electrification  at  the  end  of  the  conductor.    The 
latter  is  the  most  sensitive  and  has  been  most  frequently 
employed,  and  is  the  method  first  employed  by  Hertz. 
Two  forms  of  detector  may  be  used  for  observing  sparks. 
One  form  consists  of  a  single  conductor  bent  into  a  circle 
with  its  two  extremities  very  close  together.    An  electric 
charge  can  oscillate  from  one  end  of  this  to  the  other  round 
the  circle  and  back  again.     If  the  circle  be  the  proper 
size,  about  70  cm.  in  diameter  for  the  large  sized  oscillator 
and  about  8  cm.  in  diameter  for  the  smaller  sized  one 
described  in  the  last  article,  the  period  of  oscillation  of 
this  charge  will  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  charge  on  the 
generator  of  the  waves,  and  its  oscillation  will  be  increased 
by  resonance  until,  if  the  ends  of  the  circular  wire  be  close 
enough  together,  the  opposite  electrification  of  the  ends 
will  become  great  enough  to  cause  a  spark  across  the 
gap.    The  other  form  of  detector  depends  on  using  two 
conductors,  each  of  which  has  the  same  period  of  electric 
oscillation  as  the  oscillations  we  wish  to  detect.     These 

*  Continued  from  p.  14. 


32 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1891 


are  placed  in  such  a  position  that  an  end  of  one  is  near 
that  end  of  the  other  which  will  at  any  time  be  oppositely 
electrified.  For  example,  if  the  electric  force  in  our 
waves  be  in  vertical  lines,  then  if  we  place  two  elongated 
conductors,  one  vertically  above  the  other  and  separated 
by  a  very  small  air  space,  the  electric  force  alternating  up 
and  down  will  cause  currents  to  run  up  and  down  the 
conductors  simultaneously,  and  the  upper  ends  of  both 
will  be  similarly  electrified  at  any  instant,  while  the  lower 
end  of  the  upper  one  will  always  be  oppositely  electrified 
to  the  upper  end  of  the  lower  conductor,  and  if  these  two 
points,  or  two  short  wires  connected  with  them,  be  close 
enough  together,  a  spark  will  pass  from  one  to  the  other 
whenever  the  electric  force  sets  up  these  electric  oscilla- 
tions in  the  conductor.  Thus  this  apparatus  is  a  detector 
of  the  electric  force.  Whenever  there  is  a  spark  we  may 
be  sure  that  there  is  electric  force,  and  whenever  we  can- 
not get  a  spark  we  may  be  sure  that  there  is  either  no 
electric  force  or  anyway  too  little  to  produce  sparks. 
The  apparatus  will  be  more  sensitive  for  electric  forces 
that  oscillate  at  the  same  rate  as  the  natural  vibration  of 
the  electric  charge  on  the  conductor,  because  the  effect 
ofeach  impulse  will  then  add  to  that  of  the  last  ;  resonance 
will  help  to  make  the  electrifications  great,  and  so  there 
will  be  a  better  chance  of  our  being  able  to  produce  a 
spark.  We  may  weaken  the  strength  of  this  air  gap  by 
reducing  the  pressure  of  the  air  in  it.  To  do  this  the  ends 
of  the  conductors,  or  wires  connected  with  them,  must 
lead  into  an  exhausted  air  vessel,  such  as  a  Geissler's 
tube.  There  is  no  doubt  that  much  longer  sparks  may 
thus  be  produced,  but  they  are  so  dim  and  diffused  that 
when  dealing  with  very  minute  quantities  of  electricity 
those  sparks  in  a  vacuum  are  not  more  easily  seen  than 
the  smaller  and  intenser  sparks  in  air  at  atmospheric 
pressure.  The  additional  complication  and  difficulty  of 
manipulation  from  having  the  terminals  in  a  vacuum  are  not 
compensated  for  by  any  advantages.  This  whole  detect- 
ing apparatus  works  on  somewhat  the  same  principle  as  a 
resonator  of  definite  size  connected  with  one's  ear  when 
used  to  detect  a  feeble  note  of  the  same  pitch  as  the 
resonator.  Such  a  resonator  might  very  well  be  used  to 
find  out  where  this  note  existed  and  where  it  did  not.  It 
would  detect  where  there  were  compressions  and  rarefac- 
tions of  the  air  producing  currents  of  air  into  and  out  of 
your  ear.  In  the  same  way  the  conductor  sparking  tells 
where  there  are  alternating  electric  forces  making  currents 
alternately  up  and  down  the  conductor,  and  ultimately 
electrifying  the  end  enough  to  make  it  spark.  In  the 
sound  resonator  there  is  nothing  exactly  like  this  last 
phenomenon.  We  have  much  more  delicate  ways 
of  detecting  the  currents  of  air  than  by  making  them 
break  anything.  If  anybody  would  allow  the  electric 
currents  from  a  Hertzian  detector  to  be  led  directly  into 
the  retina  of  his  eye,  it  would  probably  be  a  very  delicate 
way  of  observing,  though  even  in  this  direct  application 
of  the  current  to  an  organ  of  sense  it  is  possible  that  these 
very  rapidly  alternating  currents  might  fail  to  produce 
any  sensible  effect,  for  they  are  not  rapid  enough  to  pro- 
duce the  photochemical  effects  by  which  we  see. 

To  recapitulate  the  arrangements  proposed  in  order  to 
detect  whether  electric  force  is  propagated  with  a  finite 
velocity,  and  if  possible  to  measure  it  if  finite.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  create  electric  oscillations  of  very  great  rapidity, 
oscillating  some  four  or  five  hundred  million  times 
per  second,  and  it  is  expected  thereby  to  produce  waves 
of  electric  force  whose  length  will  be  less  than  a  metre 
if  they  are  propagated  with  the  velocity  of  light.  It  is 
proposed  to  do  this  by  causing  an  electric  charge  to 
oscillate  backwards  and  forwards  between  two  con- 
ductors, and  across  an  air  gap  between  them.  This 
oscillating  charge  is  to  be  started  by  charging  the 
conductors,  one  positively  and  the  other  negatively, 
until  they  discharge  by  a  spark  across  this  air  gap. 
By  making  the  conductors  small,  and  the  distance  the 

NO.   1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


charge  has  to  go  from  one  to  the  other  small,  the 
rate  of  oscillation  of  the  charge  can  be  made  as  great 
as  we  require.  If  waves  are  produced  by  this  arrange- 
ment, we  can  reflect  them  at  the  surface  of  a  large  con- 
ducting sheet,  and  then  loops  and  nodes  will  be  produced 
where  the  incident  and  reflected  waves  co-exist.  The 
loops  will  be  places  where  the  alternating  electric  forces 
arc  great,  while  at  the  nodes  there  will  be  no  electric 
forces  at  all.  In  order  to  detect  where  there  are  these 
alternating  electric  forces  and  where  there  are  none,  it  is 
proposed  to  use  either  a  single  wire  bent  nearly  into  a 
circle,  with  a  very  minute  air  gap  between  its  ends,  or 
else  two  conductors  placed  end  to  end,  with  a  minute 
air  gap  between  their  ends.  In  either  case,  if  the  natural 
period  of  vibration  of  a  charge  on  the  single  conductor, 
or  on  each  of  the  conductors  in  the  second  arrangement, 
is  the  same  as  the  rate  of  alternation  of  the  electric  force 
we  wish  to  detect,  there  may  be  sufficient  electrification 
of  the  neighbouring  ends  to  cause  a  spark  across  the 
minute  air  gap.  We  are  thus  in  possession  of  a  complete 
apparatus  for  determining  whether  electric  waves  are 
produced,  and  what  their  wave-length  is. 
The  experiment  is  conducted  as  follows  : — 
The  two  conductors  which  are  to  generate  the  waves 
are  placed,  say,  one  above  the  other,  so  that  the  electric 
charge  will  run  up  and  down  in  a  vertical  line  across  the 
spark  gap  between  them.  They  might  be  placed  hori- 
zontally or  in  any  other  line,  but  for  definiteness  of 
description  it  is  well  to  suppose  some  definite  position. 
W^e  may  call  them  A  and  B.  They  are  terminated  in 
polished  knobs,  between  which  the  spark  passes.  A  and 
B  are  connected  with  the  terminals  of  a  Ruhrokorff  coil, 
or  a  Wimshurst  or  other  apparatus  by  which  a  succession 
of  sparks  may  be  conveniently  made  to-  pass  from  A  to 
B.  Before  the  spark  passes,  A  and  B  are  being  electri- 
fied, and  when  the  spark  occurs  the  electricity  on  A 
rushes  over  to  B,  and  part  of  it  charges  B,  while  the  elec- 
tricity on  B  rushes  across  the  spark,  and  partly  charges  A, 
this  taking  place  alternately  up  and  down.  Each  time 
there  is  less  electricity,  for  some  is  neutralized  during 
each  oscillation  by  the  opposite  charge ;  for  energy  is 
being  spent,  some  in  overcoming  the  resistance  of  the 
spark  gap,  i.e,  in  producing  the  heat  developed  there, 
and  somt  in  producing  electric  waves  in  the  surrounding 
medium.  Thus  the  electric  energy  of  the  two  oppositely 
charged  bodies  A  and  B  is  gradually  dissipated,  and 
one  way  of  describing  this  is  to  say  that  the  two  opposite 
electric  charges  combine  and  neutralize  one  another. 
This  whole  language  of  talking  of  electric  charges  on 
bodies,  and  electric  currents  from  one  to  the  other,  of 
electric  charges  neutralizing  one  another,  and  so  forth,  is 
not  in  accordance  with  the  most  recent  developments  of 
electro-magnetic  theory.  At  the  same  time,  those  for 
whom  these  articles  are  written  are  familiar  with  this 
language,  and  with  the  view  of  the  subject  that  it  is 
framed  to  suit,  while  they  are  unfamiliar  with  ether 
electrically  and  magnetically  strained  and  thereby  the 
seat  of  electric  and  magnetic  energy,  and  consequently 
it  would  have  added  very  much  to  their  difficulty  in 
grasping  the  details  of  a  complicated  question  if  it  had 
been  described  in  unfamiliar  terms,  and  from  an  un- 
familiar point  of  view. 

The  electric  force  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  vertical 
generator  will  lie  in  vertical  planes  through  it,  and  as 
A  and  B  are  alternately  positive  and  negative,  the 
electric  force  will  alternately  be  from  above  downwards, 
and  from  below  upwards.  If,  then,  this  force  is  propa- 
gated outwards  in  a  series  of  waves,  we  may  expect  that 
all  round  our  generator  waves  of  electric  force  will  be 
diverging ;  waves  in  which  the  force  will  be  alternately 
down  and  up.  The  state  of  affairs  might  be  roughly 
illustrated  by  elastic  strings  stretched  out  in  every  direc- 
tion from  our  generator.  If  their  ends  at  the  generator 
be  moved  alternately  down  and  up,  waves  will  be  propa- 


May  14,  1891] 


NA TURE 


33 


gated  along  the  strings,  waves  of  alternate  motion  down 
and  up. 

In  order  to  reflect  these  waves,  we  require  a  metallic 
sheet  of  considerable  area  some  two  or  three  wave-lengths 
away  from  the  generator ;  so  far  away  in  order  that  we 
may  have  room  for  our  detector  to  find  the  loops  and 
nodes  formed  every  half  wave-length  where  the  outgoing 
waves  meet  those  reflected  from  the  screen.      Not  too 
far  away,  or  our  waves  will  be  too  feeble  even  at  the 
loops  to  affect  our  detector.    The  waves  are  thrown  off" 
all  round,  but  are  most  intense  in  the  horizontal  plane 
through  the  spark,  so  that  our  detector  had  better  be 
placed  as  near  to  this  plane  as  possible.    The  detector 
may  be  either  a  very  nearly  closed  circle  of  wire,  or  two 
conductors,  each  somewhat  longer  and  thinner  than  the 
combined    lengths  of   the  generating   conductors,  and 
placed  vertically  over  one  another,  and  separated  by  a 
minute  air  gap.     As  the  theory  of  this  latter  form  of 
detector  is  simpler  than  that  of  the  circle,  it  will  simplify 
matters  to  consider  it  alone.    The  two  conductors  should 
each  have  a  period  of  electrical  oscillation  up  and  down 
it,  the   same  as  that  of  the  charges  on  the  generator. 
The  generator  consists  of  two  conductors  certainly,  but 
then  during  the  time  the  spark  lasts  they  are  virtually 
one  conductor,  being  connected    by  the   spark  across 
which  the  electric  charges  are  rushing  alternately  up  and 
down.     Hence  the  period  of  oscillation  of  the  charges  on 
the  generator  corresponds  to  that  on  a  single  conductor 
of  the  same  size  as  its  two  parts  combined.     Various  ex- 
periments have  been  made  as  to  the  best  form  for  these 
conductors  that  form  the  detector.    They  might  be  made 
identical  with  the  generator,  only  that  the  spark  gap  in 
the  generator  should  be  represented  by  a  connecting  wire. 
They  may  be  longer  and  thinner.     If  longer,  they  should 
be  thinner,  or  they  will  not  have  the  same  period  of 
vibration.     On  the  whole,  the  best  results  have  been  got 
with  conductors  somewhat  longer  and  thinner  than  the 
generator.     It  is  not  generally  convenient  that  the  spark 
between  the  two  conductors  that  form  the  detector  should 
take  place  directly  from  one  to  the  other.     It  is  not  easy 
to  make  arrangements  by  which  distance  apart  of  these 
conductors  can  be  regulated  sufficiently  accurately.     The 
most  convenient  way  is  to  connect  the  lower  end  of  the 
upper  conductor  and  the  upper  end  of  the  lower  one 
each  with  a  short  thin  wire  leading,  one  to  a  fixed  small 
knob,  and  the  other  to  a  very  fine  screw  impinging  on 
the  knob.    The  screw  may  then  be  used  to  adjust  the 
spark  gap  between  it  and  the  small  knob  with  great  ac- 
curacy.   This  spark  gap  must  be  very  small  indeed,  if 
delicate  work  be  desired.    A  thousandth  of  a  centimetre 
would  be  a  fair-sized  spark  gap.     The  minute  sparks  that 
are   formed   in   these  gaps  when  doing  delicate  work 
are  too  faint  to  be  seen,  except  in  a  darkened  room. 
Having  placed    the  detector    in    position  between  the 
generator  and  the  screen,  the  difficult  part  of  the  obser- 
vation begins.     It  is  heartrending  work  at  first.    A  bright 
spark  now  and  then  arouses  hope,  and  long  periods  of 
darlmess  crush  it  again.    The  knobs  of  the  generator 
require  repolishing ;  the  spark  gap  of  the  detector  gets 
closed  up ;  dust  destroys  all  working ;  and  not  without 
much  patience  can  the  art  be  attained  of  making  sure 
of  getting  sparks  whenever  the  conditions  are  favourable, 
though  it  is  easy  enough  not  to  get  sparks  when  the  con- 
ditions are  unfavourable.     Before  making  any  measure- 
ments, all  this  practice  must  be  gone  through.     It  is  hard 
enough  with  the  success  of  others  before  us  to  encourage 
us,  with  their  advice  to  lead  us,  with  a  clear  knowledge 
of  what  is  to  be  expected  to  guide  us.    How  much  credit, 
then,  is  due  to  Hertz,  who  groped  his  way  to  these  won- 
derful experiments  from  step  to  step,  without  the  success 
of  others  to  encourage  him,  without  the  advice  of  others 
to  lead  him,  without  any  certainty  as  to  what  was  to  be 
expected  to  guide  him.  Patiently,  carefully,  through  many 
by-paths,  with  constant  watchfulness,  and  checking  every 

NO.   1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


advance  byrepeated  and  varied  experiments,  Hertz  worked 
up  to  the  grand  simplicity  of  the  fundamental  experiment 
in  electricity  that  is  engaging  our  attention. 

Having  gained  command  over  the  apparatus,  we  may 
look  about  for  places  where  sparks  occur  easily,  and  for 
others  where  they  cannot  be  produced.    Two  or  three 
places  may  be  found  where  no  sparks  can  be  observed. 
These  places   will   be  found  to  be  nearly  equidistant. 
They  are  the  nodes  we  are  in  search  of.    The  distance 
between  any  pair  is  half  the  distance  an  electric  wave  is 
propagated  during  the  period  of  an  oscillation.     Their 
presence  proves  that  the  electric  force  is  not  propagated 
instantaneously,  but  takes  time  to  get  from  place  to  place. 
If  the   electric  force   were  propagated  instantaneously, 
there  might  be  one  place  where  the  action  of  the  currents 
induced  in  our  reflecting  sheet  neutralized    the    direct 
action  of  our  generator  ;  but  there  could  not  be  a  series 
of  two  or  more  such  places  between  the  generator  and 
the  reflecting  sheet.  That  there  are  more  than  one  proves 
that  electric  force  is  propagated  from  place  to  place,  and 
does  not  occur  simultaneously  everywhere.      It  sets  the 
crowning  stone  on  Maxwells  theory  that  electric  force  is 
due  to  a  medium.    Without  a  medium  there  can  be  no 
propagation  from  place  to  place  in  time.     It  only  remains 
to  confirm  by  calculation  that  the  rate  of  propagation  is 
the  same  as  that  of  light.     This  is  a  complicated  matter. 
It  involves  the  question  of   how  fast   should,  on  any 
theory,  the  charge  oscillate  up  and  down  a  conductor. 
The  problem  has  only  been  accurately  solved  in  a  few 
special  cases,  such  as  that  of  a  sphere  by  itself.     The 
conductors  that  have  been  employed  are  not  this  shape, 
are  not  by  themselves,  and  so  only  rough  approximations 
are  possible  as  to  the  rate  at  which  these  oscillations 
occur.     Knowing  the  wave-length  will  not  determine  the 
velocity  of  propagation  unless  we  know  the  period  of 
vibration  ;  and  consequently  this  direct  measure  of  the 
velocity  has  only  been  roughly  made ;  but  it  agrees  as 
accurately  as  could  be  expected  with  Maxwell's  theory 
that    it  must  be  the  same  as    the  velocity   of   light  if 
electrical  phenomena  are  due  to  the  same  medium  as 
light     The  conviction  that  more  accurate  determinations 
will  confirm  this  agreement  is  founded  upon  safe  ground. 
It  was  pointed  out   that  the  ether  that  transmits  light 
and  is  set  in  vibration  by  the  molecules  of  matter  can 
hardly  avoid  moving  them  itself.    This  ether  can  hardly 
help  having  other  properties  than  merely  transmitting 
a  comparatively  small  range  of  vibrations.     It  can  hardly 
help  producing  other   phenomena.    When  it  has  been 
shown  that,  if  there  is  a  medium  concerned  in  con- 
veying electric  and  magnetic  actions,  it  must  possess 
properties  which  would  enable  it  to  transmit  waves  like 
light ;  and  when  it  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a  medium 
concerned  in  conveying  electric  and  magnetic  actions, 
and  that  the  rate  at  which  they  are  conveyed  is  approxi- 
mately the  same  as  the  rate  at  which  light  is  propagated  ; 
the  conclusion  is  almost  unavoidable  that  we  are  dealing 
with  the  same  medium  in  both  cases,  and  that  future  ex- 
periments, capable  of  accurate  calculation  and  observa- 
tion, will  confirm  the  conclusion  that   electric  force  is 
propagated  through,  and  by  means  of,  the  luminiferous 
ether  with  the  velocity  of  light.     We  really  know  very 
little  about  the  nature  of  a  wave  of  light.     We  know  a 
great  deal  more  about  electric  and  magnetic  forces,  and 
much  may  be  learnt  as  to  the  nature  of  a  wave  of  light 
by  studying  it  under  the  form  of  a  wave  of  electric  force. 
The  waves  produced  by  the  Hertzian  generator  may  be  a 
metre  long  or  more.    The  difficulty  is  to  get  them  short 
enough.    We  know  a  good  deal  about  how  they  are  pro- 
duced, and  from  this,  and  also  by  means  of  suitable  de- 
tectors, we  can  study  a  great  deal  about  their  structure. 
They  are  truly  very  long  waves  of  light.     Atoms  are 
Hertzian  generators  whose  period  of  vibration  is  hundreds 
of  millions  of  millions  per  second.     A  Hertzian  generator 
may  vibrate  rapidly,  but  it  is  miserably  slow  compared 


34 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1 89 1 


with  atoms.    And  yet  the  wonder  is  that  atoms  vibrate 
so  slowly.     If  a  Hertzian  generator  were,  say,  10"^  cm. 
long,  about  the  size  of  a    good  big  atom,   its   period 
of  vibration  would    be    some    hundreds  of  times   too 
rapid  to  produce  ordinary  light     Atoms  are  probably 
complicated  Hertzian   generators.     By  making  a  com- 
plicated shape,  as,  for  example,  a  Leyden  jar,  a  small 
object  may    have  a  slow  period  of  vibration.    All  that 
is  required  is  that  the  capacity  and  self-induction  may 
be   large   in    comparison    with   the    size   of   the    con- 
ductor.   We  saw  that  these  rapidly  vibrating  generators 
have  but  little  energy  in  them  :  they  rapidly  give  out 
their  energy  to  the  ether  near  them.    This  is  also  the 
case  with  atoms.    These,  when,  free  to  radiate,  give  up 
their  energy  with  wonderful  rapidity.      How  short  a  time 
a  flash  of  lightning  lasts !     It  is  hardly  there  but  it  is 
gone  :  the  heated  air  molecules  have  so  suddenly  radiated 
off  their  energy.    The  reason  why  atoms  in  the  air,  for 
instance,  do  not  radiate  away  their  energy  like  this  is 
because  all  their  neighbours  are  sending  them  waves. 
Each  molecule  is  a  generator,  but  it  is  a  detector  as  well. 
It  is  kept  vibrating  by  its  neighbours :  it  occupies  a  part 
of  the  ether  that  is  in  continual  vibration,  and  so  the 
atom  itself  vibrates.  As  each  atom  can  radiate  so  rapidly, 
it  must  be  a  good  detector  :  its  own  vibrations  must  be 
very  much  controlled  by  the  neighbourhood  it  finds  itself 
in ;  and  as  the  waves  of  light  are  very  long  compared 
with  the  distances  apart  of  molecules,  those  in  any  neigh- 
bourhood are  probably,  independently  of  their  motions  to 
and  fro,  each  vibrating  in  the  same  way.     It  is  interest- 
ing to  calculate  how  much  of  the  energy  in  the  air  is  in 
the  form  of  vibrations  of  the  ether  between  the  molecules 
of  air.     A  rough  calculation   shows  that  in  air  at  the 
ordinary  density  and  temperature  only  a  minute  fraction 
of  the  total  energy  in  a  cubic  centimetre  is  in  the  ether  ; 
but  when  we  deal  with  high  temperatures,  such  as  exist 
in  lightning-flashes  and  near  the  sun,  and  with  very  small 
densities,  there  may  be  more  energy  in  the  ether  than  in 
the  matter  within  each  cubic  centimetre.     All  this  shows 
how  wide-reaching  are  the  results  of  Hertz's  experiments. 
They  teach  us  the  nature  of  waves  of  light.    We  can 
learn  much  by  considering  how  the  waves  are  generated. 
Let  us  consider  what  goes  on  near  the  generator,  consist- 
ing of   two    conductors,  A  and   B,    sparking  into  one 
another.     Before  each  spark,  and  while  A  and    B   are 
being  comparatively  slowly  what  is  called  charged  with 
electricity,  the  ether  around  and  between  them  is  being 
strained.     The  lines  of  strain  are  the  familiar  tubes  of 
electric  force.     If  A  be  positive,  these  tubes  diverge  from 
all  points  of  A,  and  most  from  the  knob  between  it  and 
B,  and  converge  on  B.    Where  they  are  narrow,  the  ether 
is  much  strained ;    where  wide,  the  ether  is   but  little 
strained.     Each  tube  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  tube 
of  unit  strain.     The  nature  of  the  strain  of  the  ether  is 
not  known  ;  it  is,  most  probably,  some  increased  motion 
in  a  perfect  liquid.     We  must  not  be  surprised  at  the 
nature  of  the  strain  being  unknown.     We  do  not  know 
the  nature  of  the  change  in  a  piece  of  !r.dia-rubber  when 
it  is  strained,  nor  indeed  in  any  solid,  and  though  the 
ether  is  much  simpler  in  structure  than  india-rubber,  it 
can  hardly  be  wondered  at  that  we  have  not  yet  dis- 
covered its  structure,  for  it  is  only  within  the  present 
century  that  the  existence  of  the  ether  was  demonstrated, 
while  men  have  known  solids  and  studied  their  properties 
and  structure  for  thousands  of  years.    Any  way,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  ether  is  strained  in  these  tubes  of  force 
when  A   and   B  are  oppositely  charged,  and  that  the 
energy  per  cubic  centimetre  of  unstrained  ether  is  less 
than  that  of  strained  ether,  and  that  the  work  done  in 
what  is  called  charging  A  and  B  is  really  done  in  strain- 
ing the  ether  all  round  them.     When  the  air  gap  breaks 
down,  and  an  electric  spark  takes  its  place,  there  is  quite 
a  new  series  of  phenomena  produced.      Suddenly,  the 
strained  ether  relieves  itself,  and,  in  doing  so,  sets  up  new 

NO.   II 24,  VOL.  44] 


motions  in  itself.  The  strained  state  was  probably  a 
peculiar  state  of  motion,  and  in  changing  back  to  ordin- 
ary ether  a  new  and  quite  distinct  state  of  motion  is  set 
up.  This  new  state  of  motion  all  round  the  conductors 
is  most  intense  near  the  spark,  and  is  usually  described 
as  an  electric  current  in  the  conductors  and  across  the 
spark,  or  as  a  rushing  of  the  electric  charge  from  one  con- 
ductor to  the  other.  The  electric  current  is  accompanied 
by  magnetic  force  in  circles  round  it,  and  the  tubes  of 
magnetic  force  define  the  nature  of  the  new  movement 
in  the  ether  as  far  as  we  know  it.  Hitherto,  for  the  sake 
of  simplicity,  the  existence  of  this  magnetic  force  has 
been  unnoticed.  It  is  due  to  a  peculiar  motion  in  the 
ether  all  round  what  are  called  electric  currents.  The 
current  in  fact  consists  of  little  else  than  a  line,  all  round 
which  this  movement  is  going  on ;  like  the  movement 
surrounding  an  electrified  body,  but  also  unlike  it.  When- 
ever electric  forces  are  changing,  or  electrified  bodies 
moving,  or  electric  currents  running,  there  this  other 
peculiar  motion  exists.  We  have  every  reason  for  think- 
mg  that  this,  which  may  be  called  the  magnetic  strain  in 
the  ether,  as  the  movement  all  round  electrified  bodies 
was  called  the  electric  strain — that  this  magnetic  strain 
only  exists  in  these  three  cases :  (i)  when  the  electric  strain 
is  changing  ;  (2)  when  electrified  bodies  are  moving ;  and 
(3)  when  electric  currents  are  running.  These  three  may 
be  all  cases  of  one  action  :  certainly  the  magnetic  strain 
that  accompanies  each  is  the  same,  and  it  seems  most 
likely  that  the  electric  change  is  only  another  aspect  of 
the  magnetic  strain.  There  are  analogies  to  this  in  the 
motion  of  matter  that  partly  help  and  partly  annoy, 
because  they  partly  agree  and  partly  will  not  agree  widi 
the  etherial  phenomena.  Take  the  case  described  in  a 
former  article  of  a  chain  transmitting  waves.  Attention 
was  drawn  to  the  displacement  of  a  link  and  to  its  rota- 
tion. Now  for  the  analogy  :  to  seem  at  all  satisfactory 
the  first  thing  that  would  strike  one  would  be  to  pay 
attention  to  two  motions^  to  the  velocity  of  displacement 
of  the  link  and  to  its  rotation.  This  would  lead  to  in- 
terminable difficulties  in  carrying  out  the  analogy.  We 
cannot  liken  electric  strain  to  a  velocity  in  this  direct  and 
simple  way,  because,  what  are  we  to  do  with  a  change  in 
the  strain  which  produces  the  same  effects  as  a  continuous 
current  ?  A  change  in  the  strain  is  all  very  well,  it  would 
be  like  a  change  in  the  velocity,  but  what  about  a  con- 
tinuous change  in  the  velocity :  we  can  hardly  suppose  a 
velocity  continually  increasing  for  ever  :  we  arc  evidently 
landed  in  immediate  difficulties.  It  is  better  therefore  to 
be  content  to  liken  the  electric  strain  to  a  displacement 
of  the  chain  link.  It  seems  most  likely  that  it  really  is  a 
peculiar  motion  in  the  ether,  but  we  must  be  content  for 
the  present  with  the  analogy.  If  we  want  to  drive  it 
further,  we  must  suppose  stress  in  the  chain  that  draws 
the  link  back  to  be  due  to  a  motion  in  the  chain  or  of 
things  fastened  to  it,  and  then  the  changed  motions  pro- 
duced by  a  displacement  of  the  chain  might  be  analogous 
to  the  peculiar  motions  accompanying  electric  strain.  It 
would  lead  us  too  far  to  work  out  this  analogy.  Return- 
ing to  the  simpler  case  of  the  displacement  of  the  link 
representing  electric  strain,  and  the  velocity  of  its  rotation 
representing  magnetic  strain,  see  how  the  actions  near  a 
Hertzian  generator  may  be  likened  to  what  takes  place 
when  a  wave  is  being  sent  along  a  chain.  W^hile  the 
conductors  are  being  slowly  charged  we  must  suppose 
electric  strain  to  be  produced  in  all  the  surrounding  space. 
This  is  a  comparatively  slow  action,  and  as  the  rate  of 
propagation  is  very  rapid,  the  electric  strain  will  rise 
practically  simultaneously  in  the  whole  neighbom-hood, 
and  that  it  does  so  is  a  most  important  fact  to  be  taken 
account  of  in  all  our  deductions  from  these  experiments. 
This  slow  charging  must  be  represented  by  a  slow  raising 
of  one  end  of  the  chain,  which  raises  the  rest  of  it  to  a 
great  distance  apparently  simultaneously  if  the  raising  be 
done  slowly.     Suddenly  the  air  gap  breaks.     This  might 


May  14,  1 891] 


NA TURE 


3S~ 


be  represented  by  lifting  the  chain  with  a  weak  thread, 
and  by  having  the  end  of  the  chain  fastened  to  a  pretty 
strong   spring.      When    the    thread   broke    the    spring 
would    pull  the  chain    back    quickly,    would    pass    its 
position  of   equilibrium,  and  thus  commence  a  series 
of  rapid    vibrations    on    each    side    of   this    position ; 
the   vibrations    would    gradually    die    away    owing    to 
the  energy  of  the  spring  being  gradually  spent,  partly 
on    friction    in    itself,    and    partly  in   sending   waves 
along  the  chain.     In  actually  performing  the  experiment, 
an  india-rubber  tube  or  limp  thin  rope  is  better  than  a 
chain  when  hung  horizontally,  as  the  chain  is  so  heavy  ; 
when  it  can  be  hung  vertically,  a  chain  does  very  well. 
In  the  description  it  simplifies  matters  to  describe  a  chain, 
because  it  is  easier  to  talk  of  a  link  than  of  a  bit  of  the 
roi>e :  a  link  has  an  individuality  that  identifies  it,  while 
a  bit  of  the  rope  is  so  indefinite  that  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
keep  in  mind  any  particular  bit     Consider  now  what 
these  waves  are,  what  sort  of  motion  originates  them. 
When  the  spring  first  starts,  the  near  parts  of  the  chain 
move  first     What  happens  to  any  link  ?    One  end  of  it 
moves  down  before  the  other.     What  sort  of  motion, 
then,  has  the  link?     It  must  be  rotating.    Thus  it  is  that 
change  in  the  displacement  is  generally  accompanied  by 
rotation  of  the  links.     Thus  it  is  that  change  in  electric 
strain  is  accompanied  by  magnetic  strain.     The  analogy 
goes  farther  than  this.    Each  wave  thrown  off  may  be 
described  as  a  wave  of  displaced  or  as  a  wave  of  rotating 
links,  and  the  most  displaced  are  at  any  time  the  most 
rapidly  rotating  links.    Just  in  the  same  way,  what  have 
hitherto  been  called  waves  of  electric  force  may  also  be 
looked  upon  as  waves  of  magnetic  force.     Because  there 
are  two  aspects  in  which  the  motion  of  the  chain  may  be 
viewed  does  not  diminish  from  the  essential  unity  of 
character  of  the  wave-motion  in  its  waves  ;  and  similarly 
the  fact  that  these  Hertzian  waves  have  an  electric  and  a 
magnetic  aspect  does  not  diminish  from  the  essential  unity 
of  character  of  the  wave-motion  in  them.    At  the  same 
time  the  two  elements,  the  displacement  of  a  link  and  the 
rotation  of  a  link,  are  quite  distinct  things  ;  either  might 
exist  without  the  other ;  it  is  only  in  wave  propagation 
that  they  essentially  co-exist     In  the  same  way  electric 
strain  and  magnetic  strain  are  quite  different  things ; 
though  in  wave-motion,  and  indeed  whenever  energy  is 
transmitted  from  one  place  to  another  by  means  of  the 
ether,  they  essentially  co-exist. 


FIVE   YEARS'  PULSE  CURVES, 

r^  VER  five  years  ago  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  would 
^^  be  considerable  interest  in  keeping  a  systematic 
record  for  some  time  of  the  rate  of  pulsation,  i,e,  of  the 
number  of  beats  (per  minute)  of  the  pulse.  .1  therefore 
commenced  the  practice  by  taking,  every  night,  an  obser- 
vation of  my  own  pulse ;  these  observations,  originally 
undertaken  solely  for  my  own  personal  interest,  have 
been  continued  without  intermission  up  to  the  present 
time ;  and,  on  throwing  the  results  into  a  graphic  form,  I 
found  so  close  a  symmetry  and  concord  between  the  curves 
for  these  five  years,  that  I  thought  it  might  be  interesting 
to  readers  of  Nature  to  have  these  results  put  before 
them. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  method  adopted  in  these  observa- 
vations.  I  count  the  pulse  beats  for  one  minute  *  every 
night*  before  retiring  to  bed,  and  invariably  while  in  a 
standing  posture.  From  the  records  thus  obtained  the 
average  for  each  month  is  deduced  in  the  usual  way,  viz. 
by  adding  together  all  the  numbers  for  the  month,  and 
dividing  by  the  number  of  days  on  which  observations 
''^ere  taken.    With  regard  to  this  important  consideration 

"Hius  avoidixig«the  considerable  error  that  is  introduced  by  counting  for, 
'"''tt.***?  **con<is  onlyt  and  multiplying. 

The  ume  has  varied  from  23.0  o'clock  to  i  o'clock. 

NO.    1 1  24,  VOL.  44] 


I 


— i,e.  of  the  number  of  observations,  since  an  insufficiency 
thereof  would,  of  course,  greatly  vitiate  the  value  of  my 
curves — I  may  state  that  during  the  first  four  years  I 
omitted  to  take  an  observation  on  only  seventeen  nights 
altogether.     During  the  fifth  year,  I  find  twenty-one  ob- 
servations   missed.      Nevertheless,  the  net  data   from 
which  the  curves  are  deduced  are  not  quite  so  abundant 
as  this  statement  would  imply  ;  for,  in  calculating  the 
monthly  average,  I  have  invariably  struck  out  altogether 
all  readings  above  79.     My  reason  for  this  procedure 
was  simply  that  I  wished  to  obtain  a  curve  showing  the 
normal  pulsations  ;   now,  anything  much  above   75    is 
abnormally  high  (especially  in  my  own  individual  instance, 
for  it  will  be  noticed  that  my  pulse  is  below  the  usual 
average  of  70),  and  I  can  nearly  always  assign  a  distinct 
cause,  such  as  the  feverishness  caused  by  a  cold,  or 
excitement,  or  recent  exercise  ;  it  therefore  appeared  to 
me  fairest  to  knock  out  altogether  the  results  of  such 
disturbing  causes,  and  since  for  this  purpose  an  arbitrary 
line  must  be  drawn  somewhere,  I  decided  to  draw  it  at 
79.     On  the  other  hand,  however,  I  have  retained  all  the 
other  readings,  no  matter  how  low  they  might  be,  although 
the  "fifties "  are  very  common,  and  occasionally  even  the 
"forties"  have  been  touched      It  might,  perhaps,  be 
thought  that  these  very  low  readings  should  be  neglected 
equally  with  the  very  high,  but  such  a  course  appeared  to 
me  altogether  illegimate,  both  because  such  low  readings 
seemed,  judging  from  their  occurrence,  to  be,  so  to  speak, 
normally  caused,  and  unassignable  to  any  distinct  extra- 
ordinary cause  known  to  myself,  and  also  because  I 
should  hardly  have  known  where  to  draw  a  minimum 
line.     However,  I  now  regret  that  the  readings  below  50, 
at  any  rate,  were  not  rejected  ;  but  such  readings  are  so 
extremely  rare  that  they  cannot  have  much  influenced 
the  curves.      In  order  that  the  reader  may  judge   for 
himself  on  what  data  these  curves  are  founded,  I  have 
appended  a  table  showing  the  net  number  of  readings 
from  which  each  monthly  average  was  drawn,  and  have 
also  stated  (in  brackets)  the  number  of  readings  below 
60  included  in  each  month. 

Turning  now  to  the  curves  themselves,  this  monthly 
average  is  shown  by  the  thin  line.  It  is  necessary  to 
explain  that  these  curves  were  drawn  by  marking  the 
monthly  average  by  a  dot  on  the  extreme  right  of  each 
space  representing  a  month.  I  was  undecided  for  some 
time  whether  to  adopt  this  plan  or  to  mark  this  dot  in 
the  middle  of  each  monthly  space  ;  but  after  trying  both 
plans  I  concluded  that  now  adopted  to  be  the  simpler. 
The  actual  curves  were,  of  course,  obtained  by  connecting 
all  these  dots  by  straight  lines. 

On  examining  this  monthly  curve,  it  is  at  once  obvious 
that  there  is  a  strong  similarity  between  the  five  years ; 
clearly  every  year  the  curve  falls  through  the  spring,  until 
about  midsummer,  and  then  rises  wonderfully  steadily 
and  regularly  in  every  case  (except  in  1889)  through  the 
autumn  to  November  or  December.  On  the  whole,  two 
maxima  seem  to  be  indicated — namely,  one  in  Nov- 
ember, followed  by  a  fall,  and  then  by  a  rise  to  another 
maximum  in  February  or  January.  But  it  will  be  noticed 
that  in  the  winter  1889-90  there  is  the  unusual  pheno- 
menon of  a  fall  through  November,  and  then  the  two 
maxima  are  replaced  by  an  intermediate  maximum 
reached  in  December.  So  that  here,  in  spite  of  the 
broad  concord  and  regularity,  there  was  rather  too  much 
local  irregularity  to  be  altogether  satisfactory.  In  the  lower 
portions  of  the  curves,  again,  there  is  even  more  irregu- 
larity. Those  of  1887  and  1888  (but  emphatically  the 
former)  are  indeed  remarkably  free  from  aberration  ;  but 
in  1886  there  is  an  extraordinarily  abrupt  and  irregular 
rise  through  July^  followed  by  a  compensating  fall 
through  August.  In  1890  there  is  an  almost  identical 
irregularity  in  the  same  two  months;  while  in  1889  we 
have  a  remarkable  irregularity  in  the  spring.  Now  these 
irregularities  puzzled  me  a  good  deal ;  still,  in  each  case 


36 


NATURE 


[May  14,  1891 


(except  that  of  the  winter  irregularity,  1889-90),  I  could 
assign  a  fairly  plausible  explanation.  For  instance, 
during  the  summer  of  1886  I  was  under  medical  treat- 
ment :  in  July  of  1890  I  was  touring  among  the  Swiss 
mountains:  while  at  the  end  of  February  1887  I  had 
removed  from  a  low-lying  northern  suburb,  to  a  rather 
higher  southern  one ;  this  change  might  with  some 
plausibility  be  considered  as  the  possible  disturbing 
cause  in  the  18S9  spring  curve. 

Nevertheless,  looking  at  the  results  as  a  whole,  I  was 
not  satisfied  with  the  curves :  it  appeared  to  me  as  by  no 
means  improbable  that  the  monthly  average  was  calcu- 
lated on  a  rather  too  short  period,  thus  allowing  tem- 
porary disturbing  causes  to  manifest  themselves  unduly. 
I  therefore  determined  to  try  the  elTect  of  calculating 
the  averages  on  a  two-monthly  period,  throwing  into  one 
total  January  and  February,  March  and  April,  May  and 
June,  July  and  August,  September  and  October,  Nor- 
ember  and  December  respectively.  On  drawing  the 
curves  corresponding  to  these  averages  (/AiV*-lined 
curve),  I  was  delighted  to  find  order  and  synunetiy 
completely  regnant ;  all  the  aberrations  have  of  coarse 
disappeared,  and  order  is  supreme.  This  two-monthly 
curve  clearly  shows  a  single  maximum  in  winter,  followed 
by  a  fail  to  the  minimum  at  midsummer,  and  then  by  a 
rise  to  the  winter  maximum. 

It  is  evident  that  the  curves  for  all  live  years  are  very 
closely  similar,  though  by  no  means  identical '  in  nature ; 
but  I  am  especially  anxious  to  point  out  the  extraordinary 
symmetry  displayed  by  the  curvet  on  either  tide  of  a 
maximum  or  minimum  point.  For  instance,  the  curves 
for  the  following  periods, 
1886  July-October,  I  18SS  Noveinber-M>y  1889, 

,,     April-December,  1889  The  whole  year, 

„    November- Febniuy  1S87,  | 

are  wonderfully  symmetrical,  in  some  cases  even  being 
almost  geometrically  exact. 

What,  however,  may  be  the  exact  interpretation  of 
these  curves  I  must  leave  it  to  those  better  acquainted 
than  myself  with  Iphysiology  to  decide  j  but  it  15  wrnlh 
noting  that  these  curves  are  exactly  contrary  to  the 
Michael  Foster's  text-book,  that  the  pulse 


The  following  is  the  table  above  referred  to  as  showii^ 
the  net  data  for  each  month,  and  also  (in  brackets)  the 
number  of  readings  below  60  included  in  each  case : — 


T.nuaiy       28 
February     19 

Jaou«y       25    1) 
Febroaiy    23    D 

March         « 

Mtrch         24   3) 

April           25 

April          30  4) 

May            30  (0 

mV            30   11) 

June            29 

June            y>   lO 

July          30  (I) 

July            31    10) 

August        28  (8) 

Ai^ust        28  (9 

September  28  {5 

October      29  (i] 

October      3r  (5 

November  25 

November  26  (2 

December  23 

December  28  (3 

.887. 

,38,. 

lanoary       28  (i) 
February     26  (l) 

January       25 
February    23(2) 

March         30  (3) 

March         3>  (9) 

April           27  (4) 

April           28  (8) 

May           27  (3) 

May            28  (3) 

June            as  {5) 

July         31  (3I 

June            29  (10) 

July            38  (4 

August       30  (6) 

August        28(7 

September  2S  (2) 

October      30  (2) 

October      30  (2 

November  =3 

November  26  (4 

December  25  (2) 

December  25  (1 

Ini  how  -nrr  many  au«i 

nun  co-opintte  in  ^odadoK  tb 

t-of  pulHli™.«le-il  wou 

d  be  v«T  mange  if  Ihe  cum 

>yur>^nidcmk>L 

uo«fromiheihir<l«lition.  i 

May  14,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


2>7 


January  27  (5)) 

February  24  (5) 

March  28  (4) 

April  28  (7) 

May  27  (7) 

June  26  (8) 


1x890. 


July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 


24(2) 

30(8) 

29(7) 

24(5) 
22(1) 

30 


If  these  numbers  be  compared  with  the  curves,  it  will 
be  found  that  in  a  rough  way  they  agree  with  them  ;  the 
diminishing  number  of  these  low  readings  every  autumn, 
no  less  than  their  increase  towards  the  summer,  being 
obviously  correlated  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  curves. 

F.  H.  Perry  Coste. 

THE  SCIENCE  MUSEUM  AND  GALLERY  OF 
BRITISH  ART  AT  SOUTH  KENSINGTON 

17IG0R0US  protests  continue  to  be  made  against  the 
*  appropriation,  for  the  new  Gallery  of  British  Art, 
of  the  site  which  ought  to  be  used,  as  originally  intended, 
for  the  Science  Museum.  Several  letters  on  the  subject  by 
men  of  high  authority  have  been  printed  in  the  Times; 
and  on  Tuesday  a  deputation,  which  could  not  but  com- 
mand attention  and  respect,  waited  upon  Lord  Cranbrook 
and  Mr.  Goschen  to  represent  to  them  the  opinions  held 
by  all  who  are  in  a  position  to  form  a  trustworthy  judg- 
ment on  the  Question.  The  Government  are  still  en- 
gaged in  considering  the  matter,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  they  are  receiving  and  giving  heed  to  the  counsel  of 
their  natural  advisers,  although,  unfortunately,  this  is 
a  priori  extremely  doubtful. 

We  print  the  letters  addressed  to  the  Times  by  Sir  F. 
Bramwell,  Mr.  Poynter,  and  Sir  J.  Coode,  and  an  account 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  deputation  on  Tuesday. 

It  has  for  many  years  been  recognized  that  the  science  col- 
lections at  South  Kensington  are  housed  in  a  manner  which 
lai^ely  diminishes  their  value  for  their  principal  use — viz.  that 
in  connection  with  the  Royal  Normal  School  of  Science. 

This  school,  as  every  one  knows,  is,  as  regards  its  main  build- 
ing, situated  on  the  east  side  of  Exhibition  Road,  while  the 
collections  are  scattered  about  in  the  South  Gallery  and  in  the 
West  Gallery  adjacent  to  Queen's  Gate. 

In  1885  the  Government  appointed  an  inter-departmental 
committee  to  consider  the  subject  and  to  report,  and  they 
nominated  me,  as  being  unconnected  with  any  department, 
chairman  of  the  committee.  The  committee  (with  one  dis- 
sentient) reported  in  the  sense  that  on  the  land  Iving  west  of 
Exhibition  Road,  and  between  that  road  and  Queen  s  Gate,  suit- 
able buildings  should  be  erected  according  to  a  complete  design, 
but  that  they  should  be  carried  out  in  successive  portions. 
Nothing  was  done  on  this  report. 

In  iSiSQ  another  committee  was  appointed ;  this  committee 
made  very  similar  recommendations,  and  last  year  the  Govern- 
ment acquired  further  land. 

There  are  now  on  the  west  side  of  Exhibition  Road,  and 
immediately  opposite  the  science  schools,  the  observatories  used 
by  Mr.  Norman  Lockyer,  and  also  a  newly-erected  physical 
laboratory. 

Everything  seemed  to  be,  after  all  these  years  of  waiting,  in 
train  for  affording  the  needed  accommodation,  when,  incredible 
as  it  must  appear,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchcauer  announced 
that  the  whole  of  this  well-considered  and  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment is  to  be  given  up.  He  stated  it  had  been  determined  to 
sweep  away  the  observatories  and  the  physical  laboratory, 
already  on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  and  close  to  the  science 
schools,  and  to  devote  this  particular  plot  of  ground  to  a  picture 
gallery.  I  look  upon  this  as  a  most  disastrous  proceeding,  and 
one  that,  in  the  mterest  of  the  great  National  Department  at 
*  South  Kensington,  should  not  be  entertained  for  one  moment. 

Any  one  who  will  take  the  pains  to  visit  the  ground,  or  even 
to  look  at  an  accurate  plan  of  it,  will  see  that  there  is  plenty  of 
good  space  available  for  the  picture  gallery  without  interfering 
with  the  needs  of  the  science  collection,  and  that  the  notion  of 
building  it  where  proposed  is  so  thoroughly  preposterous  that, 
as  our  American  friends  say,  it  must  have  originated  in  "pure 
cossedness."  Frederick  Bramwelu 

No.  5  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  May  9. 

NO.   1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


Sir  Frederick  Bramwell  in  his  letter  of  this  morning 
points  out  the  disastrous  effect  on  the  interests  of  the  national 
Department  of  Science  at  South  Kensington  which  will  result 
from  the  intrusion  of  the  new  Gallery  of  British  Art,  to  be 
planted  precisely  on  the  spot  where  it  Will  cause  the  greatest 
amount  of  inconvenience.  To  an  artist  a  still  more  flagrant 
instance  of  *'  pure  cussedness  "  in  this  matter  would  appear  to 
be  that  the  building  should  be  placed  where  it  can  have  no  con- 
nection with  the  existing  galleries,  when  there  is  a  piece  of 
ground  higher  up  the  road  in  immediate  connection  with  them. 

The  galleries  on  the  east  and  west  of  the  Horticultural 
Gardens,  which  were  built  for  pictures  at  the  time  when  there 
was  a  scheme  for  holding  annual  international  exhibitions,  are, 
whether  by  a  happy  "fluke"  or  by  careful  calculation  on  the 
part  of  their  constructor,  General  Scott,  without  doubt  the  best 
lighted  and  the  best  proportioned  picture  galleries  that  have 
ever  been  constructed  in  England.  Sir  Frederick  Leighton  has, 
I  know,  expressed  this  opinion,  and  every  artist  who  exhibited 
in  these  galleries  during  the  three  or  four  years  that  the  exhibi- 
tions were  held  there  will;  I  believe,  agree  in  it :  "We  never 
saw  our  pictures  look  so  well."  These  galleries  are  even  now 
being  connected  by  a  building  crossing  the  intervening  space, 
the  lower  half  of  which  will  belong  to  the  Imperial  Institute, 
while  the  upper  part  is  to  be  available  for  purposes  of  exhibition, 
thus  making  a  connected  group,  and  what  would  appear  to  be 
an  unrivalled  building  for  the  purposes  of  a  Gallery  of  British 
Art. 

Why  these  buildings,  acknowledged  to  be  as  good  as  they  can 
be,  and  actually  ready  on  the  spot,  should  not  be  used  for  this 
purpose,  according  to  what  I  understand  was  the  original  and 
nearly  accepted  sdieme,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  understand. 
If  the  building  for  which  ;f  80,000  has  been  so  liberally  offered 
were  i^aced  higher  up  the  road,  above  the  Technical  Institute, 
where  there  is  a  piece  of  ground  available,  it  would  back  imme- 
diately on  the  Eastern  Gallery,  in  which  the  Indian  collection  is 
now  housed,  thus  affording  provision  for  the  extension  of  the 
collection,  which  is  growing  annually  by  the  addition  of  the 
pictures  purchased  under  the  Chantrey  bequest,  and  to  which 
it  is  certain  that  further  considerable  additions  will  constantly 
be  made  by 'gift  and  bequest  as  soon  as  there  is  a  place  in  which 
they  can  be  properly  and  permanently  exhibited. 

Also,  there  is  for  once,  if  advantage  be  taken  of  it,  an  oppor- 
tunity for  carrying  out  a  reasonable  and  consistent  scheme  for 
both  science  and  art.  Edward  J.  Poynter,  R.A. 

28  Albert  Gate,  S.W.,  May  11. 

Having  served  on  the  Committee  on  Machinery  and  Inven- 
tions in  connection  with  the  Science  and  Art  Department  of  the 
Committee  of  Council  on  Education,  I  desire  most  emphatically 
to  endorse  the  protest  of  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell  which  appears 
in  your  columns  of  this  day's  date. 

Although  the  fees  received  from  patentees  up  to  the  end  of 
1885  excMded  the  expenditure  of  the  Patent  Office  by  upwards 
of  2^  millions  sterling,  nothing  practically  has  been  done  to  put 
the  Patent  Museum  and  Museum  of  Machinery  and  Inventions 
in  an  efficient  condition. 

Year  after  year  the  Committee,  of  which  I  am  a  member,  has 
urged  that  more  space  should  be  given  to  the  authorities  at  South 
Kensington,  and  now,  when  it  was  thought  the  recommendations 
were  about  to  be  realized,  it  is  asserted  that  the  promised  site  is 
to  be  devoted  to  a  picture  gallery. 

I  sincerely  trust  that  this  intention  may  not  be  carried  out,  but 
that  the  site  in  question,  which  exactly  faces  the  Royal  College 
of  Science,  will  be  appropriated  for  the  science  collections,  to 
which  purpose  it  has  long  been  assigned. 

Jno.  Coodk,  President. 

The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  25  Great  George  Street, 

Westminster,  May  1 1. 

The  deputation  which  waited  upon  Lord  Cranbrook, 
the  Lord  President  of  the  Council,  and  Mr.  Goschen 
was  larjje  and  representative.  Mr.  Plunket,  M.P.,  First 
Commissioner  of  Works,  was  also  present.  Among  the 
deputation  were  :  Sir  William  Thomson  (President  of  the 
Royal  Society),  Sir  Bernhard  Samuelson,  M.P.,  Sir 
George  Gabriel  Stokes  (Past  President  of  the  Royal 
Society),  Mr.  C.  Acland,  M.P.,  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell, 
F.R.S.,  Prof.  Story-Maskelyne,  M.P.,  Sir  Douglas  Galton, 
C.B.,    Mr.    Poynter,    R.A.,   Prof.   Unwin,   Mr.   Francis 


38 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1891 


Galton,  Prof.  Ayrton,  Prof.  Flower,  C.B.,  Prof.  Armstrong 
(Secretary  of  the  Chemical  Society),  and  Mr.  Fletcher 
and  Mr.  WoodwarS,  of  the  British  Museum. 

Prof.  Story-Maskelyne,  in  introducing  the  deputation,  in  the 
absence  of  Sir  Henry  Roscoe  (who  is  laid  up  wilh  influenza), 
said  it  embraced  a  body  of  gentlemen  distinguished  not  so  much 
by  their  numbers  as  by  their  character,  representing  as  they  did 
the  Rojral  Society  and  the  scientific  men  of  England.  They 
had  come  there  to  ask  that  the  question  of  the  site  of  the  new 
National  Gallery  for  British  Art  should  be  reconsidered.  Those 
who  were  deeply  concerned  in  what  he  might  call  the  new  Uni- 
versity which  had  risen  for  science  at  South  Kensington  felt 
that  the  proposed  building  would  be  a  wedge  put  in  between 
the  place  now  oocupied  by  it  and  the  place  dedicated  to  science. 
Scientific  men  would  have  to  go  across  the  road  to  get  to 
another  and  interesting  branch  of  the  National  Science  Collec- 
tion in  a  portion  of  the  ground  which  would  then  be  con- 
siderably remote  from  where  they  at  present  were.  They 
understood  it  to  be  very  much  a  question  of  money,  and  it  was 
believed  that  the  Government  would  have  to  ask  Parliament  to 
supplement  the  grant  of  ;fSo,ooo  given  by  the  anonymous 
donor.  What  he  asked  was  that  they  should  not  be  told  off- 
hand that  the  scheme  could  not  be  altered,  but  that  they  should 
be  allowed  to  take  the  sense  of  Parliament  as  to  whether  the 
site  was  to  be  occupied  in  the  way  proposed  or  not.  They 
objected  to  the  money  being  simply  asked  from  Parliament  and 
the  control  taken  out  of  its  hands. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — You  may  entirely  exclude 
that.  That  will  not  be  done.  We  shall  take  such  precautions 
by  trustees  and  by  contracts  that  such  a  contingency  will  not 
occur. 

Prof.  Story-Maskelyns  said  he  was  very  glad  to  hear  that. 

Sir  William  Thomson,  on  behalf  of  the  Royal  Society,  said 
they  respectfully  protested  against  the  proposal  to  take  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  physical  laboratory  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Science  for  any  other  purpose.  Sixty  pupils  were  now 
actively  engaged.  There  was  also  a  mining  school  in  the  same 
locality.  No  other  sites  could  be  as  convenient  as  the  site 
which  those  departments  at  the  present  occupied.  It  would  be 
most  fatal  to  the  science  work  if  the  present  arrangements  were 
interfered  with  or  the  scientific  collections,  so  conveniently 
arranged,  were  disturbed.  Nor  would  the  proposed  site  be  the 
most  convenient  one  for  the  pictures.  A  Jar  better  one  would 
be  that  at  present  occupied  by  the  School  of  Cookery,  which, 
while  affording  ample  room  for  the  present  proposal,  would  also 
be  perfectly  convenient  for  subsequent  expansion  in  a  direction 
that  would  result  in  the  most  admirable  collection  of  picture 
galleries  in  the  world. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — Can  you  tcH  us — for  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  make  it  out — in  what  way  the  pro- 
posed arrangement  would  be  fatal  to  the  work  of  the  College  of 
Science  ? 

Sir  William  Thomson. — By  cutting  the  school  in  two — by 
separating  the  school  from  the  place  in  which  the  instruments 
are  kept. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — Yon  mean  that  it  is  too 
far  to  walk  ? 

Sir  William  Thomson. — It  would  be  dreadfully  risky  to  have 
to  carry  about  delicate  instruments. 

Sir  Bemhard  Samuelson,  as  a  member  of  a  departmental 
committee  which  considered  the  questiou  of  housing  the  College 
of  Science,  supported  Sir  William  Thomson's  views,  and  pointed 
out  that  already  there  had  been  an  encroachment  upon  the 
land  which  had  been  acquired  for  the  purposes  of  the  Science 
Museum. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — It  was  purchased  for 
science  and  art.  You  do  not  contend  that  the  whole  of  it  should 
be  devoted  to  science  ? 

Sir  Bemhard  Samuelson  said  he  did.  He  would  like  to  ask 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  after  the  assurance  which  he 
had  just  given  that  there  would  be  no  occasion  to  go  to  the 
House  of  Commons  for  a  vote  in  aid  of  this  work,  whether  he 
meant  that,  if  there  should  be  an  expansion  of  the  art  gallery, 
some  one  would  be  ready  to  extend  the  munificence  of  the 
present  donor. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — I  think  that  that  is  rather 
a  matter  for  our  grandchildren.  I  think  there  is  plenty  of  space 
to  fill  with  worthy  pictures  for  a  very  long  time  to  come. 

Prof.  Story-Maskelyne. — But  ;i"8o,ooo  will  not  do  it. 

NO.    I  124,  VOL.  44] 


Sir  B.  Samuelson  said  he  hoped  the  question  of  the  site  would 
be  reconsidered,  and  that  those  representing  science  should  have 
the  assurance  that  ample  space  would  be  given  them  not  only 
for  their  present  requirements  but  also  for  the  extension  which 
appeared  to  be  looming  in  the  future. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — I  am  anxious  to  provide 
well  for  science.  We  hope  to  bring  science  into  one  centre 
fronting  the  Imperial  Institute. 

Sir  B.  Samuelson  said  that  if  they  were  given  an  area  equal 
to  the  amount  purchased  last  year  for  the  purpose  of  science 
alone  they  ought,  in  his  opinion,  to  be  content.  But  already 
there  had  been  a  small  encroachment,  and  the  fact  of  their 
having  no  actual  claim  to  the  ground  would  lead  to  further 
encroachment,  which  would,  in  the  end,  make  it  impossible  for 
science  to  be  efficiently  provided  for. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. — I  am  anxious  to  show  yon 
that,  quite  irrespective  of  my  interposition,  we  have  not  been 
blind  to  the  interests  of  science,  and  that  one  of  our  plans  has 
been  to  satisfy  science  in  the  most  ample  manner  for  the  future. 

Sir  B.  Samuelson  said  the  art  gallery  was  looked  upon  with  a 
great  deal  of  jealousy,  and  in  the  next  place  they  feared  that  the 
full  area  of  200,000  feet,  which  they  considered  to  be  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  future  requirements  of  science,  would  be 
encroached  upon. 

Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  who  was  chairman  of  the  departmen 
tal  committee  which  considered  the  question  in  1888,  said  there 
was  a  site  to  the  north  of  the  City  and  Guilds  Institate,  and 
from  the  east  to  the  west  there  were  galleries,  and  a  cross  gallery 
was  being  made  by  the  Imperial  Institute  which  would  give  com 
munication  one  with  the  other,  and  which  would  be  in  immediate 
connection  with  the  site  he  suggested.  That  would  be  an  admir- 
able art  gallery.  He  would  ^  glad  to  see  the  Science  School 
and  everything  belonging  to  it  moved  so  that  there  might  not  be 
a  road  dividing  it.  He  trusted  that  the  anonymous  donor  migbi 
be  induced  to  see  that  his  gift  would  prove  more  graceful  if  he 
did  not  impose  a  condition  that  would  have  so  prejudicial  an 
effect  as  would  be  the  case  if  the  recommendations  of  the  two 
committees  he  had  referred  to  were  disr^^rded. 

Lord  Cranbrook. — The  question,  of  course,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
considered  will  be  considered,  and  I  quite  agree  with  Sir 
Frederick  Bramwell  that  nobody  can  predict  what  may  be  done 
hereafter.  You  may  have  a  scheme  which,  in  itself,  is  a  good 
one,  but  which  may  possibly  have  to  wait.  But  in  the  meantime 
I  can  assure  you  that  the  interests  of  science  will  be  most  care- 
fully considered,  and  that  we  will  do  what  we  can  in  order 
to  further  them. 

Prof.  Story-Maskelyne,  having  thanked  Lord  Cranbrook 
and  Mr.  Goschen  for  the  hearing  that  had  been  given  to  their 
views. 

The  deputation  withdrew. 

We  have  received  the  following  communication  on  this 
subject : — 

Sir, — The  curious  admissions  made  by  Mr.  Goschen  to  the 
deputation  which  waited  upon  him  and  the  Lord  President  in- 
dicate very  clearly  that  we  have,  in  the  present  muddle  toachin^ 
the  site  of  the  Art  Gallery,  another  of  those  instances  in  which 
we  suffer  from  the  system,  or,  rather,  want  of  system,  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  relation  of  Government  to  science,  and 
from  the  absence  of  scientific  knowledge  in  those  branches^  of 
the  public  service  by  which  matters  of  the  highest  scientific 
moment  are  settled.  A  reference  to  some  of  the  facts  will,  I 
think,  show  this  very  clearly. 

The  particular  site  which  has  been  allocated  by  the  Govern- 
ment in  this  way  for  the  purposes  of  an  art  gallery  forms  part  of 
a  piece  of  land  which,  as  is  well  known,  only  last  year  was 
deliberately  purchased  by  the  same  Government  for  scientific 
purposes — to  be  quite  accurate  for  "science  and  the  arts** — 
that  is,  science  and  its  manifold  applications.  The  space  of 
ground  thus  purchased  was  less  than  hctlf  the  space  allotted  to  the 
Natural  History  Museum.  I  say  deliberately,  because  the  par- 
chase  of  the  land  in  1890  had  for  its  object  the  carrying  out  of 
one  of  the  recommendations  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  Com- 
mission, which  dates  from  the  year  1874 — namely,  the  erection 
of  a  Science  Museum. 

This  object  so  warmly  commended  itself  to  the  Royal  Commis- 
sioners of  the  185 1  Exhibition  that  in  1876  they  offered  the  land 
on  which  the  Imperial  Institute  is  now  being  erected  and  a  sum 
of  ;f  100,000  towards  its  realization.     Few  acquainted  with  the 


May  14,  1 891] 


NA TURE 


39 


manners  and  customs  of  our  GovernmcDt  Departments  in  relation 
to  science  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  this  magnificent  offer  was 
refused ;  and  it  is  to  prevent  a  like  disastrous  mistake  being 
now  made  that  the  strong  memorial  was  presented  to  Lord 
Salisbury. 

The  ideal  arrangement  for  a  great  national  collection  of  scien- 
tific apparatus  which  is  to  do  for  the  sciences  of  experiment  and 
observation  what  the  British  Museum  does  for  literature  and 
antiquities,  the  Natural  History  Museum  for  biology,  and  the 
National  Gallery  for  art,  is  that  it  shall  be  in  close  connection 
with  laboratories  where  the  apparatus  can  be  used,  presided 
over  by  experts  who  are  familiarly  acquainted  with  its  construc- 
tion and  uses. 

This  was  the  ideal  recommended  to  the  Government  by  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire's  Commission  in  1874,  and  such  is  the 
ideal  now  being  carried  out  by  several  of  our  provincial  Colleges. 

As  all  Londoners  know,  at  present  the  Science  Schools  and 
the  collection  of  scientific  apparatus,  which  are  both  necessary 
for  the  realization  of  this  scheme,  are  placed  one  on  the  east 
side  of  Exhibition  Road,  and  the  other  chiefly  in  the  Western 
Galleries.  If  the  apparatus  is  employed  in  teaching,  it  must 
necessarily  be  transported  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  back 
from  the  one  to  the  other.  And  this  accounts  for  the  strange 
processions  occasionally  met  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Museum 
carrying  delicate  apparatus  along  the  street  alike  in  wet  and  dusty 
weather. 

When  the  new  piece  of  land  was  purchased  last  year  on  the 
recommendation  of  a  very  strong  Treasury  Committee,  it  was 
naturally  expected  that,  as  the  overcrowded  state  of  the  existing 
school  buildings  rendered  immediate  action  imperative,  plans 
would  be  at  once  drawn  up  for  an  extension  in  the  closest 
possible  contiguity  with  the  present  building — that  is  to  say,  on 
the  part  of  the  newly-acquired  plot  immediately  fronting  it. 

It  was  also  believed  that  the  Science  Museum  would  be  built 
in  close  and  organic  relation  with  the  new  laboratories,  and 
that  a  scheme  would  be  initiated  which  would  supply  pressing 
needs,  and  could,  in  course  of  time,  be  developed  mto  the  ideid 
institution  which  has  been  sketched. 

These  plans,  to  the  carrying  out  of  which  the  friends  of 
science  confidently  looked  forward,  would  be  rendered  abso- 
lutely futile  by  the  grant  for  art  purposes  of  the  particular 
plot  the  alienation  of  which  from  the  use  for  which  it  was  pur- 
chased will  render  the  objects  of  its  purchase  nugatory. 

All  hope  of  a  compact  site,  therefore,  for  the  future  worthy 
representation  of  physical  science  would  disappear  as  the  result 
of  this  action  of  the  Government. 

The  public  have  a  right  to  know  who  is  responsible  for  iftb, 
and  how  far  the  scientific  officers  of  the  Science  and  Art 
Department  have  been  consulted.  If  they  have  in  any  way  been 
consenting  parties,  it  seems  probable  that  they  will  have  a 
mauvais  quart  (P/iettrc  with  their  scientific  brethren  who  have 
signed  the  memorial  and  who  attended  the  deputation  ;  if  they 
have  not  been  consulted,  the  whole  transaction  is  a  disgrace  to 
our  administrative  system. 

An  idea  of  the  impasse  in  which  this  decision  has  landed 
matters  scientific  at  South  Kensington  was  to  be  gathered  from 
one  of  Mr.  Goschen's  replies  as  to  the  makeshift  arrangements 
at  first  proposed  : — 

(i)  The  second  half  of  the  Science  Schools  is  to  be  built 
somewhere  at  the  back  of  the  new  Art  Gallery.  This  at  once 
prevents  all  close  relationship  between  the  two  halves  of  the 
same  institution. 

(2)  The  scientific  apparatus  is  to  be  distributed  in  galleries 
whidi,  although  built  tor  artistic  purposes,  are  not  considered 
good  enough  for  art. 

These,  I  presume,  are  the  Western  Gallery,  the  present 
terminus  a  quo  of  the  processions  to  which  reference  has  been 
made,  a  corresponding  Eastern  Gallery,  now  occupied  by  the 
Indian  Museum,  and  the  upper  part  of  a  new  gallery,  also  de- 
signed for  art,  situated  between  the  Imperial  Institute  and  the 
Royal  College  of  Music.  All  these  galleries  are  as  far  removed  as 
the  limits  of  the  Government  estate  will  permit  from  the  Science 
Schools,  with  which  they  are  supposed  to  be  in  organic  connection. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  provision  to  be  made  for  the 
Science  Museun>^  which  ought  to  rank,  and  in  the  future  must 
rank,  with  the  British  Museum,  the  National  Gallery,  and  other 
like  institutions,  is  that  the  two  halves  of  the  Science  Schools 
are  to  be  widely  sundered,  while  any  organic  connection  with  the 
Science  Museum  is  to  be  rendered  impossible. 


I  do  not  think.  Sir,  I  need  occupy  any  more  of  your  space 
with  recent  history  ;  the  whole  question  stands  thus  : — 

(i)  In  our  museum  system  Art,  Antiquities,  Literature,  and 
Natural  History  are  magnificently  provided  for. 

(2)  Science  is  not  provided  for  at  all  in  any  permanent 
manner. 

(3)  During  the  last  twenty  years  Royal  Commissions,  Treasury 
and  Departmental  Committees  without  number,  and  deputations, 
have  pointed  out  this  gap. 

(4)  Last  year  the  Government  bought,  and  the  Royal  Com- 
missioners for  the  Exhibition  of  185 1  sold  cheap,  a  plot  of  land 
to  be  used  for  this  purpose,  and  for  this  purpose  alone. 

(5)  The  plot  is  less  than  half  of  that  on  which  the  Natural 
History  Museum  stands. 

(6)  The  Government  now  barter  away  a  large  portion  of  this 
small  site  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

F.R.S. 


NOTES, 

The  ladies'  soiree  of  the  Royal  Society  will  take  place  on 
i  Wednesday,  June  17. 

On  Tuesday  the  Convocation  of  the  University  of  London 
considered  the  Draft  Charter  drawn  up  by  the  Senate.  A 
resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  scheme  should  be  approved  was 
moved  by  Lord  Herschell,  seconded  by  Sir  Richard  Quain,  and 
supported  by  Dr.  Pye  Smith.  Mr.  Bompas,  Q.C.,  Mr.  R.  H. 
Hutton,  and  others  spoke  on  the  other  side.  In  the  end  the 
scheme  was  rejected,  461  voting  against  it,  and  only  197 
recording  their  votes  in  its  favour.  The  whole  subject  needs  to 
be  thoroughly  reconsidered,  as  the  question  of  the  higher 
teaching,  one  of  the  points  first  insbted  on,  seems  to  be  drop- 
ping out  of  view.  To  educationists  this  is,  of  course,  the 
really  important  element  of  the  subject ;  and  it  cannot  be  for 
ever  tolerated  that  the  existence  of  an  Imperial  Examining 
Board,  because  it  has  been  wrongly  named,  should  prevent  the 
largest  city  in  the  world  from  securing  educational  advantages 
which  have  for  centuries  been  possessed  by  many  a  small 
I  German  town. 

I  The  Government  of  New  South  Wales  have  granted  for  the 
1  purposes  of  the  Sydney  Biological  Station  a  plot  of  land  of  two 
I  acres  on  the  north  shore  of  Port  Jackson  at  a  part  where  the 
'  littoral  fauna  is  particularly  rich,  and  where  the  conditions  are 
in  other  respects  highly  favourable.  The  Royal  Society  have 
I  made  a  grant  of  ;^50  towards  the  cost  of  the  proposed  new 
station. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  German  Ornithological  Society  U 
I  being  held  this  year  at  Frankfort,  and  the  attendance  is  some- 
;  what  larger  than  usual,  as  several  ornithologists  have  stopped  at 

Frankfort  on  their  way  to  the  Congress  at  Budapest.  The  sub- 
,  ject  of  zoological  nomenclature  was  considered  on  Tuesday, 
I  when  a  discussion  on  the  rules  proposed  by  Dr.  Reichenow  and 

Graf  von  Berlepsch  ensued.  The  question  will  be  further  con- 
,  sidered  at  the  forthcoming  Ornithological  Congress  at  Budapest, 

where  Dr.  Reichenow  w^ill  be  the  exponent  in  the  systematic 

section.  '*  »• 

The  conversazione  of  the  Society  of  Arts  will  be  held  at  the 
South  Kensington  Museum  on  Wednesday  evening,  June  17. 

M.  Edmond  Becquerel,  son,  and  successor  as  Professor,  of 

.Antoine  C^sar  Becquerel,  died  on  Monday,  in  Paris,  at  the  age 

of  71.     He  was  the  author  of  treatises  on  the  solar  spectrum, 

the  electric  light,   magnetic  phenomena,  and  other  scientific 

subjects. 

Prof.  James  Geikie,  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  has 
been  delivering  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  Lowell   Institute* 


NO.    I  124,  VOL. 


44] 


40 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1 89 1 


Boston,  on  Europe  during  and  after  the  Ice  Age.     The  course 
began  on  March  13  and  ended  on  April  10. 

A  SHOCK  of  earthquake  was  felt  at  Athens  on  Monday 
evening. 

The  fourth  summer  meeting  of  University  Extension  and  other 
students,  to  be  held  at  Oxford  in  August,  will  be  divided  into 
two  parts.  The  first  part  of  the  meeting  will  begin  with  an 
inaugural  lecture  by  Mr.  Frederick  Harrison  on  Friday  evening, 
JuJy  3i»  swid  will  end  on  Tuesday  evening,  August  11.  The 
second  part  of  the  meeting  will  begin  on  Wednesday  morning, 
August  12,  and  end  on  Monday  evening,  August  31.  In  natural 
science  fifty-nine  lectures  will  be  delivered,  and  there  will  be 
classes  for  practical  work  in  the  University  laboratory  and  ob- 
servatory, &c.  Among  the  scientific  lecturers  will  be  Mr.  E.  B. 
Poulton,  Prof.  A.  H.  Green,  Mr.  W.  E.  Plummer,  and  Mr. 
C.  Carus-Wilson.  Scholarships  to  the  value  of  ;^  120  have  been 
offered  by  various  gentlemen  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Uni- 
versity Extension  students,  who  would  not  otherwise  be  enabled 
to  afford  it,  to  study  for  a  short  time  at  Oxford. 

A  GLASS  case  just  placed  in  the  Mammal  Gallery  of  the 
British  Museum  contains  a  series  of  specimens  of  two  of  the 
largest  species  of  Asiatic  Wild  Sheep,  collected  and  presented 
to  the  nation  by  Mr.  St.  Geoiige  Littledale,  the  well-known 
sportsman.  Three  of  these  represent  Marco  Polo's  Sheep  {pvis 
poll)  from  the  Pamir  Range,  and  three  of  them  the  Ammon 
[Ovis  ammon)  of  the  Altai.  These  are,  we  believe,  the  first 
perfect  specimens  of  Ovis  poli,  the  finest  and  largest  of  all  the 
Asiatic  Sheep,  that  have  yet  been  brought  to  England,  the  species 
been  generally  known  only  by  its  horns,  which  are  remarkable 
for  their  enormous  size  and  width. 

The  Australasian  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
has  published  the  Report  of  its  second  meeting,  held  at  Mel- 
bourne in  January  1890.  The  volume  is  edited  by  Prof.  W. 
Baldwin  Spencer.  No  one  who  glances  over  the  volume  can 
fail  to  recognize  that  the  Association  is  likely  to  exercise  a  most 
important  influence  on  the  development  of  scientific  research 
and  thought  among  our  kinsfolk  in  the  Australasian  colonies. 

The  Ealing  Microscopical  and  Natural  History  Society,  of 
which  the  Rev.  G.  Henslow  is  President,  has  issued  its  Report 
and  Proceedings  for  1890.  The  Committee  are  able  to  record 
that  the  work  of  the  Society  proceeded  quietly  but  steadily  on 
the  lines  laid  down  in  previous  years ;  the  evening  meetings, 
the  excursions,  and  the  conversazione  having  all  been  held  in 
their  appointed  seasons,  and  having  had  a  full  measure  of 
success.  Among  the  subjects  brought  before  the  evening  meet- 
ings were  '*  Adventures  in  Siberia,"  by  Mr,  H.  Seebohm  ; 
"The  Natural  History  of  Malta,"  by  the  Rev.  G.  Henslow; 
"Diatoms,"  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Nelson  ;  and  '*  A  Gossip  on  Mush- 
rooms and  Toadstools,"  by  Dr.  M.  C.  Cooke. 

During  the  last  fortnight,  according  to  the  Cairo  corre- 
spondent of  the  Times,  there  have  been  in  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt  large  swarms  of  locusts,  which  have  caused  much  alarm, 
as  it  is  believed  that  they  originate  from  eggs  laid  in  the  country 
last  year.  The  damage  done  to  the  young  maize,  sugar,  and 
cotton  is  as  yet  insignificant,  though  some  individual  growers 
have  had  to  re-sow  cotton  patches  which  had  been  devastated. 
The  provincial  Mudirs  have  received  orders  to  do  everything  in 
their  power  to  secure  the  extermination  of  the  locusts.  The' 
correspondent  says  that  this  is  the  most  serious  reappearance  of 
an  old  Egyptian  plague  that  has  been  recorded  for  about  forty 
years. 

A  CIRCULAR  relating  to  certain  alterations  in  the  Science  and 
Art  Directory  for  the    session    1891-92  has    been    issued   to 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


managers  of  schools  of  science  and  art  by  the  Lords  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Council  on  Education.  The  following  is  an  outline  of  the 
alterations,  so  far  as  they  refer  to  science,  or  to  science  and  art 
together : — ( i)  Subject  6 — Theoretical  Mechanics — will  be  treated 
in  two  subdivisions :  (a)  the  mechanics  of  solids,  and  (3)  the 
mechanics  of  fluids — ^liquids  and  gases — pajrments  being  made 
on  each  subdivision  as  a  separate  subject.  Subject  8 — Sound, 
Light,  and  Heat — will  be  treated  in  three  subdivisions  in  the  ad- 
vanced and  honours  stages,  which  may  be  taken,  and  will  be 
paid  upon,  separately.  The  elementary  stage  will  still  include 
all  three  subjects,  but  the  syllabus  will  be  curtailed  and  rendered 
easier,  especially  in  '*  Sound."  (2)  These  subdivisions  will  not 
be  considered  as  separate  subjects  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
rule  which  limits  the  number  of  subjects  on  which  payments 
may  be  made  on  a  student  in  any  one  year.  (3)  The  namber  of 
National  Scholarships  in  science  to  be  competed  for  each  year 
will  be  increased  from  14  to  22.  (6)  In  both  science  and  art, 
the  prizes  of  books,  as  distinguished  from  certificates,  will  be 
largely  reduced  in  number,  and  only  given  in  competition  ;  those 
prizes  which  are  now  awarded  simply  on  the  student  attaining  a 
certain  standard  of  excellence  in  the  examinations  being  abo- 
lished, llie  time  has  passed  when  such  prizes  from  a  central 
authority,  which  entail  a  disproportionate  cost  and  delay  in 
administration,  were  justified  by  the  necessity  for  stimulating 
science  and  art  schools ;  and  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of 
Council  on  Education  are  of  opinion  that  the  scholarships  which 
will  be  substituted  for  them  will  be  more  useful.  They  trust 
that  those  interested  in  education  in  the  several  localities  wiD 
themselves  provide  prizes  of  books  for  deserving  stadents  which 
may  be  useful  to  them  in  their  studies. 

According  to  the  Indian  papers,  a  persistent  effort  is  being 
made  by  the  Geological  Department  of  the  Government  of  India, 
in  association  with  the  Burmah  Government,  to  explore  the  tin 
resources  of  Tenasserim.  The  flourishing  condition  of  the 
almost  adjacent  Malay  States  of  Perak  and  Selangor,  whidi 
are  under  British  protection,  is  mainly  due  to  the  income  derived 
from  tin  royalties.  A  year  ago  an  expert  was  borrowed  from 
tly  Straits  Settlements  and  placed  iu  Tenasserim  under  Mr. 
Hughes,  of  the  Geological  Department.  The  party  has  this  year 
been  joined  by  Dr.  Warth,  the  officer  who  did  very  good  work 
for  the  Government  in  the  Punjab  salt  mines  ;  and  Dr.  King, 
the  Director  of  the  Department,  has  left  Calcutta  for  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  survey  operations  which  have  been  conducted  during 
the  last  twelve  months.  It  is  now  two  years  since  the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Burmah  sent  a  special  ^officer  to  report  on  the 
tin  mines  of  the  Straits  Settlements,  and  the  present  explora- 
tions are  being  conducted  in  pursuance  of  the  recommendations 
then  made. 

A  PASSAGE  in  the  correspondence  of  Leibnitz  and  John  Ber- 
noulli, to  which  Prof.  Hellmann  has  recently  called  attention 
in  the  Meteorologische  Zeitsckrift^  indicates  that  Leibnitz  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  the  aneroid  barometer,  which  was  first  practi- 
cally realized  by  Vidi  in  1847. 1  Bernoulli,  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  was  considering  the  phosphorescence  of  mercury  in  the 
barometer,  and  the  possibility  of  making  a  new  instrument 
which  would  give  the  variations  of  air-pressure  on'a  larger  scale ; 
also  the  idea  of  a  barometer  for  travellers ;  and  Leibnitz  tells  him 
he  had  thought  of  a  portable  barometer,  without  mercory,  in 
which  a  metallic  case  should  be  compressed  by  the  weight  of 
the  air.  A  bladder,  or  leather  case,  which  he  also  suggested, 
Bernoulli  considered  would  be  too  hygroscopic 

Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co.  have  just  published  "  Natiiia> 
Selection  and  Tropical  Nature — Essays  on  Descriptive  and 
Theoretical  Biology,"  by  Mr.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace.  The 
volume  consists  mainly  of  a  reprint  of  two  well-known  volame 


May  14,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


41 


of  essays — "  Contributions  to  the  Theory  of  Natural  Selection," 
and  "Tropical  Nature  and  other  Essays."  Several  essays  have 
been  either  wholly  or  in  part  omitted.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
author  has  included  essays  on  the  antiquity  of  man  in  North 
America,  and  on  the  debt  of  science  to  Darwin,  which  have 
hitherto  been  accessible  only  in  the  periodicals  where  they 
originally  appeared.  The  text  has  been  carefully  corrected,  and 
some  important  additions  have  been  made. 

A  SUPPLEMENT  to  Dr.  T.  Lauder  Brunton's  "Text-book 
of  Pharmacology,  Therapeutics,  and  Materia  Medica "  has  been 
usned  by  Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co.  It  presents  the  additions 
made  in  1890  to  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  of  1885.  Although 
the  medicinal  substances  contained  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
of  1885  are  considered  in  the  body  of  the  work  under  the 
natural  divisions  of  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  king- 
doms to  which  they  belong,  the  author  thinks  it  is  easier  to 
remember  the  additions  by  grouping  them  together  according 
to  their  uses.  A  complete  alphabetical  list  of  them  is  also 
given. 

A  "Botanical  Address- book "  has  been  issued  by  the 
well-known  Leipzig  publisher,  Wilhelm  Engelmann.  It  con- 
tains a  list  of  living  botanists,  and  of  botanical  institutions, 
societies,  and  periodicals. 

F.  A.  Brockhaus,  of  Leipzig,  has  issued  a  catalogue  of 
scieDtific  works  which  are  offered  for  sale  at  his  establishment. 
It  includes,  besides  books,  a  large  number  of  scientific  periodi- 
cals and  the  publications  of  many  learned  societies. 

The  92nd  and  93rd  Parts  of  the  "  Landerkunde  von  Europa," 
edited  by  Alfred  Kirchhoff,  have  been  published.  They  present 
an  excellent  account  of  various  parts  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula. 

Willing's  (late  May's)  useful  "British  and  Irish  Press  Guide  " 
for  1891  has  been  published.  This  is  the  eighteenth  annual  issue. 

The  first  number  of  a  monthly  journal  for  civil,  mechanical, 
and  electrical  engineers,  was  published  last  week.  The  new 
journal  is  called  the  Engineering  Review^  and  is  edited  by  Mr. 
H.  C.  £.  Andree  and  Mr.  Edward  Walker. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales 
on  March  25,  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  Woolls  read  a  paper  on  the 
classification  of  Eucalypts.  After  critically  reviewing  the  cha- 
racters of  Eucalypts  which  hare,  from  time  to  time,  been  made 
use  of  for  classificatory  purposes,  more  particularly  those  of  the 
uthers  and  of  the  bark  as  set  forth  in  the  anthereal  and  cortical 
systems  of  Bentham  and  Mueller,  the  author  suggested  the 
probable  value  of  a  classification  based  on  the  characters  of  the 
iruit— such  as  shape,  position  of  the  capsules,  the  number  of 
cells,  and  the  appearance  of  the  valves,  &c 

Captain  Petersen,  of  the  Swedish  barque  EUanora^  noted 
a  submarine  earthquake  in  the  volcanic  region  of  the  Atlantic 
west  of  St.  Paul  Rocks  on  March  13  between  7  and  8  p.m. 
According  to  a  statement  in  the  printed  matter  prepared  for  pub- 
lication on  the  Pilot  Chart  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean  for  the 
present  month,  the  ship  was  heading  north-west,  going  about 
3  knots,  with  a  light  easterly  wind  and  calm  sea,  when  a  noise 
was  heard  on  the  port  side,  like  a  heavy  surf,  and  almost  im- 
nedittdy  the  sea  began  to  bubble  and  boil  like  a  huge  kettle, 
the  broken  water  reaching  as  high  as  the  poop-deck.  No  distinct 
shodc  was  felr,  but  after  the  disturbance  struck  the  ship  she  con- 
tinned  to  tremble  as  long  as  it  lasted.  After  about  an  hour  it 
ceased  for  an  hour,  and  was  then  followed  by  another  similar 
disturbance.  A  bubbling  sound  was  all  that  could  be  heard, 
and  the  water  appeared  foamy,  but  it  was  impossible,  on 
■cwMint  of  the  darkness,  to  say  whether  it  was  muddy.  The 
next  day  weather  and  sea  were  as  usual.  Position  at  8  p.m., 
'»»•  3*  47'  N.,  long.  42'  03'  W.     The  region  from  St.  Paul  . 

NO.   II 24,  VOL.  44] 


Rocks  to  and  including  the  Windward  Islands  is  especially 
subject  to  earthquakes,  and  reports  similar  to  the  above  are  often 
received. 

At  the  ordinary  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers 
on  May  5,  Mr.  William  Langdon  read  an  interesting  paper  on 
railway-train  lighting.  He  pointed  out  that  the  main  questions 
to  be  determined  were  whether  electricity  was  safe,  trustworthy, 
and  less  costly  than  other  illuminants.  The  fact  that  electrically- 
lighted  trains  had  now  been  running  for  a  considerable  period 
without  accident  appeared  to  him  conclusive  evidence  of  its 
safety,  and  experience  had  shown  that  there  was  no  reason  to 
doubt  its  trustworthiness  where  efficient  provision  had  been 
made  ;  and  he  believed  that  when  the  cost  of  applying  any  of 
the  illuminants,  whether  oil,  gas,  or  electricity,  to  a  complete 
railway  system  was  taken  into  account  the  latter  would  be  found 
the  most  economical.  Regarding  electricity  as  the  illuminant 
which  would,  at  no  distant  date,  be  universally  employed  for 
train  lighting,  Mr.  Langdon  suggested  the  desirability  of  arriving 
at  a  common  basis  with  regard  to  the  following  fundamental 
points :  (i)  electrical  system ;  (2)  form  and  position  of  the 
electrical  couplings  ;  (3)  pressure  of  current.  Unless  this  was 
effected  it  was  to  be  feared  that  unnecessary  difficulties  might 
be  created  by  the  diversity  of  the  plans  adopted. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Hanssen,  a  civil  engineer  of  Copenhagen,  has 
proposed  a  new  international  system  of  measures  and  weights,  to 
which  he  invites  our  attention.  He  hopes  that  England  will 
adopt  his  system,  and  that  then  the  United  States  and  Russia 
will  follow,  and  thus  the  new  system  would  become  entirely 
international.  Mr.  Hanssen  proposes  that  the  English  foot 
should  be  increased  in  length  by  about  i/25ooth  part  of  its 
present  length  (from  i  -00000  to  i  '000403)  ;  the  pound  avoir- 
dupois, the  ounce,  and  the  imperial  gallon,  remaining  unaltered^ 
The  cubic  foot,  as  Mr.  Hanssen  states,  would  then  contain 
exactly  1000  ounces  of  distilled  water  at  4°  C.  ;  and  its  inter-- 
comparison  with  the  metric  units  of  weight,  length,  and  volume, 
would  become  apparently  easy.  We  fear,  however,  that  there 
is  little  hope  in  this  country  of  introducing  any  such  new  system. 
As  Mr.  Chaney  has  indicated  in  his  report  on  the  Metric  Con- 
ference, there  are  only  two  things  possible  in  the  metrology  of 
this  country :  either  to  adhere  to  the  present  Imperial  system,  or 
to  introduce  the  metric  system.  No  half-way  or  modified 
Imperial  system,  such  as  Mr.  Hanssen  would  propose,  appears 
to  be  possible. 

The  Deutsche  Seewarte  has  published,  in  vol.  xiii.  of  its 
Aus  dem  Archiv,  a  paper  by  Captain  C.  H.  Seemann,  one  of 
the  assistants  in  that  establishment,  entitled  "  Weather  Lexicon : 
an  Index  to  the  European  Weather  Charts  from  1 876-1 885." 
The  author  considers  that  the  principles  we  at  present  possess 
for  forecasting  the  weather — e,g.  Buys-Ballot's  law,  the  relation 
of  the  tracks  of  depressions  to  the  distribution  of  pressure  and 
temperature,  or  the  dependence  of  the  lower  air-currents  upon 
the  upper  currents — are  not  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  and  he  has 
made  an  index  of  the  various  similar  types  of  weather-charts. 
He  has  calculated  the  barometrical  differences  which  occur  each 
day  in  three  directions  :  (i)  from  Hamburg  towards  the  north- 
west (Stomoway) ;  (2)  from  Hamburg  to  the  south-west 
(Biarritz)  ;  and  (3)  from  Hamburg  to  the  north-east  (Helsing- 
fors) ;  and,  by  knowing  the  difference  for  any  day,  a  reference 
to  a  table  of  such  differences  shows  the  dates  of  other  charts 
with  similar  conditions,  so  that,  by  selecting  one  which  appears 
most  suitable  to  the  present  conditions,  we  may  judge  of  the 
probable  weather  from  that  which  actually  followed  that  par- 
ticular type.  In  the  paper  in  question,  only  barometer  and 
wind  have  been  taken  into  account ;  the  distribution  of  tem- 
perature would,  of  course,  have  great  influence  upon  the  changes 
of  weather,  but  the  author  preferred  to  postpone  the  considera- 
tion of  that  element  in  this  primary  classification. 


42 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1 89 1 


In  the  new  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay  Natural 
History  Society,  Lieutenant  H.  £.  Barnes  continues  his  inter- 
•esting  papers  on  nesting  in  Western  India.     Speaking  of  house- 
sparrows,  he  says  that  no  amount  of  persecution  seems  to  deter 
them  from  building  in  a  place  when  they  have  once  made  up 
their  minds  to  it.     At  Deesa,  be  found  that  a  pair  had  built  a 
large  nest  in  the  antlers  of  a  sambur  in  the  veranda.     Another 
pair  made  a  nest  in  the  soap-box  in  the  bath-room,  and  although 
the  nest  was  destroyed  several  times,  they  would  not  desist,  and 
at  last,  *'from  sheer  pity,"  he  had  to  leave  them  alone.     The 
most  peculiar  case  was  when  a  pair  had  a  nest  in  a  bird-cage 
hanging  against  the  wall,  just  above  where  the  "  durzi''  sat  all 
day  working,  and  close  to  a  door  through  which  people  were 
passing  in  and  out  continually.     The  door  of  the  cage  had  been 
left  open,  the  previous  occupant  having  been  transferred  else- 
where.    Not  only  were  four  eggs  laid,  but  the  nestlings  were 
reared,  although  the  cage  was  frequently  taken  down  to  be 
shown  to  visitors.      Once  the  eggs  were  nearly  lost,  a  boy 
having  taken  them  out.     The  fuss  made  by  the  birds  led  to  the 
recovery  of  the  eggs.     The  author  has  a  curious  note  on  another 
peculiarity  of  sparrows.     "  I  have  often,"  he  says,  **  had  to  turn 
the  face  of  a  looking-glass  to  the  wall  to  prevent  them  from 
injuring  themselves,  for  immediately  one  of  them  catches  a 
glimpse  of  himself  in  it,  he  commences  a  furious  onslaught  on 
what  he  imagines  must  be  a  rival,  and,  if  not  prevented,  will 
continue  fighting  the  whole  day,  only  leaving  off  when  darkness 
sets  in,  recommencing  the  battle  at  dawn  the  next  day.     I  once 
tried  to  see  how  long  it  would  be  before  the  bird  gave  in,  but 
after  two  days,  seeing  no  likelihood  of  his  retiring  from  the 
unequal  contest,  I  took  pity  on  him  and  had  the  glass  covered 
up.     The  bird  did  not  seem  in  any  way  exhausted,  although  I 
do  not  think  that  he  had  a  morsel  of  food  for  two  days." 

Some  remarkable  electrical  phenomena  accompanying  the 
production  upon  the  large  scale  of  solid  carbon  dioxide  are 
described  by  Dr.  Haussknecht,  of  Berlin,  in  the  current  number 
of  the  Berichte  of  the  German  Chemical  Society.  In  order  to 
obtain  large  quantities  of  solid  carbonic  acid  it  is  found  most 
convenient  in  practice  to  allow  the  liquid  stored  in  the  usual 
form  of  iron  cylinder  to  escape  into  a  stout  canvas  bag,  best 
constructed  of  sail-cloth  or  some  such  strong  fabric,  instead  of 
the  usual  lecture-room  receiving  apparatus,  the  cylinder  being 
inclined  from  the  vertical  so  as  to  permit  of  a  ready  and  uniform 
exit  from  the  opened  valve.  The  liquid  under  these  circum- 
stances issues  at  pressures  varying  from  60-80  atmospheres,  and 
a  compact  snow-  like  mass  of  solid  carbon  dioxide  is  formed  in 
the  canvas  receiver,  owing,  as  is  well  known,  to  the  extreme 
lowering  of  the  temperature  of  the  liquid  due  to  its  sudden 
expansion  and  the  accompanying  absorption  of  heat.  When 
the  experiment  is  performed  in  the  dark,  the  canvas  receiver  is 
seen  to  be  illuminated  within  by  a  pale  greenish-violet  light, 
and  Dr.  Haussknecht  states  that  electric  sparks  10-20  cm. 
long  dart  out  from  the  pores  of  the  cloth.  If  the  hand  is  held 
in  these  sparks  the  usual  pricking  sensation  is  felt,  similar  to 
that  perceived  on  touching  the  conductor  of  an  electric  machine 
at  work.  Dr.  Haussknecht  further  states  that  the  phenomenon 
is  very  noticeable  in  the  dark  whenever  there  is  a  leakage  in 
any  portion  of  the  compressing  apparatus  or  the  manometers 
connected  therewith.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  development 
of  statical  electricity  is  similar  in  principle  to  that  usually 
accepted  in  explanation  of  the  hydro-electric  machine  of  Sir 
William  Armstrong.  As  the  liquid  carbonic  acid  is  issuing 
from  the  valve  it  becomes  partly  converted  into  gas  which  is 
violently  forced  through  every  pore  of  the  canvas.  Moreover, 
carried  along  with  this  stream  of  gas  are  great  quantities  of 
minute  globules  of  liquid,  which  are  brought  in  forcible  contact 
with  the  solid  particles  already  deposited.  Dr.  Haussknecht 
therefore  considers  that  the  electrical  excitation  is  due  mainly  to 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


the  violent  friction  between  these  liquid  globules  and  the  solid 
snow.  It  is  very  essential  for  the  successful  reproduction  of 
these  electrical  phenomena  that  the  carbon  dioxide  should  be 
absolutely  free  from  admixed  air;  that  prepared  artificially 
yielding  much  finer  results  than  that  obtained  from  natural 
waters,  which  latter  contains  considerable  quantities  of  air. 
The  luminosity  is  not  generally  developed  in  the  interior  of  the 
receiver  until  a  crust  of  solid  carbonic  acid  0*5-1  cm.  thick 
has  been  deposited,  which  renders  the  probability  of  the 
correctness  of  the  above  theory  all  the  greater.  Dr.  Hauss- 
knecht has  constructed  a  special  form  of  apparatus,  with  which 
he  is  now  experimenting,  with  the  view  of  being  able  to  determine 
the  sign,  nature,  and  quantity  of  the  generated  electricity. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Brown  Capuchins  ( Cebus  fatiullus  6  6\ 
an  Ocelot  {Felis  pardalis\  a  Coypu  {Myopotamus  coypus\  two 
Ring-tailed    Coatis    {.Naum    ru/a),    two    Cayenne    Lapwings 
{VafuUus  cayenntnsis),  seven  Burrowing   Owls  {Speotyto  cum- 
cularia)  from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr.  James  Meldium ; 
a  Pig-tailed  Monkey  {Macacus  nemestrinus  9  )  from  Java,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  C.  Powell ;  a  Common  Hare  {Lepus  curopau5\ 
British,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Bowes  ;  three  Pintails  {Dafila 
acuta  (^  ^  9 ),  European,  a  Mandarin  Duck  {Alx gaJtricuUUa  x) 
from  China,  presented  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Mathews,  R.N.,  F  Z.S. ; 
a  Common  Boa   {Boa  constrictor)  from   South  America,  pre- 
sented by  the  Directors  of  the  Museum,  Demerara ;  two  Cheer 
Pheasants   {Phasianus  wcUlachii   6  9 )   from    Northern   India, 
twelve  Common  Teal  {Querguidula  crecca,  4.  d,  8  9  )t  European, 
purchased;    a    Viscacha    {Lagostomus    trichodactylus),   a   Red 
Kangaroo  {Afacropus  rufus\  born  in  the  Gardens. 


THE  IRON  AND  STEEL  INSTITUTE, 

C\^  Wednesday  and  Thursday  of  last  week  the  annual  spring 
^^  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  was  held.  The 
gathering  was  announced  to  extend  over  Friday  also,  but  for 
some  reason,  best  known  to  those  who  had  the  control  of  the 
meeting,  the  second  day's  proceedings  were  so  hurried  through 
that  all  the  business  was  disposed  of  by  half-past  one  u'dodc  oa 
the  second  day  ;  no  less  than  six  papers  being  taken  at  the  one 
sitting.  Naturally  there  was  very  little  discussion  ;  and  indeed 
the  second  day  of  the  meeting  might  almost  as  well  have  been 
dispensed  with,  and  copies  of  the  papers  given  to  members  10 
take  home  to  read  at  their  leisure.  It  is  seldom  that  we  hate 
been  present  at  a  duller  gathering  than  that  which  the  meeting 
became  towards  its  close,  there  not  being  a  dozen  members 
present  to  hear  the  Secretary  hurry  through  the  papers  one  after 
another,  the  President  apparently  being  only  anxious  that  there 
should  be  no  discussion  to  prolong  the  proceedings. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  papers  read : — On  the  manu- 
facture of  war  material  in  the  United  States,  by  Mr.  W.  H. 
Jaques,  of  Bethlehem,  U.S.A.  ;  on  tests  for  steel  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  artillery,  by  Dr.  Wm.  Anderson,  Director- 
General  of  Ordnance  ;  on  certain  pyrometric  measurements  and 
the  method  of  recording  them,  by  Prof.  Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S. ; 
on  the  changes  in  iron  produced  by  thermal  treatment,  by  Dr. 
E.  J,  Ball,  London  ;  on  a  graphic  method  of  calculating  the 
composition  of  furnace  charges,  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Jenkins; 
on  economical  puddling  and  puddling  cinder,  by  Prof.  Thomas 
Turner,  Birmingham  ;  on  the  micro-structure  of  steel,  by  M. 
Osmond,  of  Paris.  There  were  three  other  papers  which  were 
not  read. 

Upon  the  members  assembling  in  the  theatre  of  the  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers,  which  was  lent  for  the  occasion  by  the 
Council  of  the  latter  Society,  according  to  their  hospitable 
custom.  Sir  James  Kitson,  the  retiring  President,  occupied  the 
chair.  After  the  usual  formal  business  had  been  transacted,  the 
new  President,  Sir  Frederick  Abel,  F.R.S.,  was  duly  installed, 
and  at  once  proceeded  to  deliver  his  inaugural  address.  Sir 
Frederick  is  also  this  year  President  of  the  British  Assodatkn, 
and  should  spend  a  busy  autumn  attending  both  the  meeting  oif 
the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  in  Birmingham,  and  of  the  Associa- 
tion in  Cardiflf.    The  address  was  of  considerable  length,  embmc- 


Mav  14,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


43 


ing  a  wide  range  of  subjects  and  a  long  span  of  time.  The 
duration  of  Sir  Frederick  Abel's  official  life  has  been  long, 
exceptionally  long  for  the  years  he  has  lived,  for  he  obtained 
employineDt  in  the  Government  service  at  an  early  age.  It  was 
shortly  afier  the  outbreak  of  the  Russian  War  that  he  succeeded 
the  illustrious  Faraday  in  the  Professorship  of  Chemistry  at  the 
Royal  Military  Academy,  and  since  then  he  may  be  said  to 
have  seen  almost  the  whole  history  of  the  birth  and  subsequent 
growth  of  applied  science  in  connection  with  the  industries  of 
iron  and  steel  making.  At  the  beginning  of  his  career,  he  tells 
ns  in  his  address,  those  who,  in  this  country,  appraised  at  their 
proper  value  the  services  which  the  analytical  and  scientific 
chemist  could  render  to  the  iron-master  and  manufacturer  of 
steel  might  be  counted  on  the  fingers.  Systematic  mineral 
analysis  was  just  in  process  of  application,  volumetric  analysis 
was  altogether  in  its  infancy,  and  spectroscopic  analysis  was  not 
even  dreamt  of.  The  metallurgic  operations  in  the  Arsenal  at 
Woolwich  were  limited  to  the  production  of  small  castings  of 
brass  for  fittings  of  gun  carriages,  and  to  the  casting  of  bronze 
ordnance  for  field  service.  Our  supplies  of  cast-iron  ordnance 
for  siege  and  naval  use  were  drawn  from  a  very  few  of  our  most 
renowned  iron-works,  and  our  shot  and  shell  were  exclusively 
supplied  from  private  works.  What  Woolwich  has  become 
since  those  days— and  in  spite  of  its  faults  of  administration  it 
is  something  of  which  the  country  may  be  proud — and  how  large 
a  part  Sir  Frederick  has  borne  in  this  development,  most  of  our 
rnders  must  be  well  aware.  In  those  days  our  most  powerful 
puns  were  8-inch  smooth  bore  68-pounders  of  cast-iron,  weigh- 
mg  95  hundredweight,  and  fired  with  a  charge  of  18  pounds  of 
powder.  Now  we  have  the  no- ton  breech-loading  rifled  gun, 
built  up  of  steel  hoops  and  tubes,  the  calibre  of  which  is  i6| 
inches,  and  which  throws  a  steel  projectile  weighing  i8co  pounds 
with  a  powder  charge  of  960  pounds.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  iio-ton  gun  is  in  advance  of  its  time — our  medumical 
skill  and  engineering  knowledge  not  yet  being  sufficient  to  pro- 
perly carry  out  the  design — it  would  be  difficult  perhaps  to  find  a 
more  striking  example  of  the  application  of  scientific  principles 
to  the  industrial  arts ;  although  we  must  not  forcet  that  the 
credit  of  the  advance  is  due  rather  to  Elswick  than  to 
Woolwich. 

Leaving  the  region  of  historical  retrospection,  the  address 
makes  reference  to  the  proposal  of  Prof.  Langley,  of  Michigan 
Unifersity,  made  at  the  last  Bath  meeting  of  the  British 
Association,  that  a  series  of  samples  of  steel  should  be  dis- 
tribated  between  the  metallurgical  experts  of  diffisrent  countries, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  analyzed  and  a  part  deposited  as 
standards  in  each  of  the  countries.  The  sets  of  samples  supplied 
to  each  country  were  to  be  identical  in  composition,  but  each  set 
would  contain  specimens  varying  in  composition.  The  results 
of  the  analyses  were  to  be  compared,  the  object  being  to  promote 
greater  uniformity  of  procedure  and  a  selection  of  the  best 
methods.  The  Crescent  Steel  Works  of  Pitteburg  have 
supplied  the  samples,  and  the  English  experts  have  almost 
completed  their  work.  Should  the  Commission  succeed  in 
bringing  about  uniformity  of  practice  in  this  respect,  it  will  do 
much  towards  lightening  the  work  of  those  who  have  to  compare 
the  results  arrived  at  in  different  countries.  Sir  Frederick  next 
referred  to  Dr.  Sorby's  method  of  examination  of  iron  and  steel 
bjr  microscopic  examination  of  carefully  prepared  samples,  in 
which  the  structure  has  been  developed  by  treatment  with  a  weak 
add.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Sorby  gave  a  description 
of  his  process  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
two  or  three  years  ago ;  and  since  then  Dr.  Herman  Wedding 
has  followed  the  matter  up  with  success.  Many  years  previously 
Faraday  had  pursued  an  analogous  course  of  investigation.  It 
Bsatirfactory  to  learn  that  **the  systematic  application  of 
Sorby's  system  of  microscopic  examination  of  prepared  surfaces 
of  steel  and  iron  is  continually  extending  at  the  German  works, . 
ttd  that  many  series  of  experiments  have  demonstrated  that  by 
mis  system  of  examination  characteristic  features  of  grades  of 
|Rm  may  be  discovered,  physical  differences  co-existing  with 
identity  of  chemical  composition  explained,  and  evidences  of 
the  true  grounds  of  disasters  obtained."  A  very  interesting 
wbject  next  occupied  a  place  in  the  address.  This  was  the 
self-destruction,  if  one  may  use  the  term,  of  steel  projectiles  by 
the  development  of  cracks.  It  is  well  known  that  steel  pro- 
jeailes  may  be  received  from  the  manufacturer  to  all  appear- 
■jjcc  perfectly  sound,  and  after  a  time  cracks  will  develop 
themselves.  In  extreme  cases  the  occurrence  has  been  so  sudden 
that  a  violent  rupture,  attended  by  a  sharp  report,  has  taken 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


place.  The  cause  doubtless  is  the  surface  treatment  to- 
which  the  shot  is  subjected  in  order  to  get  the  requisite 
hardness,  and  which  leads  to  internal  strains  being  set 
up.  In  one  case  mentioned  in  the  address  the  head  of  the 
projectile  had  been  thrown  to  a  distance  of  many  feet  by 
the  violent  spontaneous  rupture  of  the  metal.  The  importance 
of  rest  in  bringing  about  a  diminution,  if  not  entire  disappear- 
ance, of  internal  strains  in  masses  of  metal  is  illustrated  by 
the  behaviour  of  chrome  steel  projectiles,  which  had  to  be 
stored  for  several  months  before  their  transport  to  a  dis- 
tance could  be  ventured  upon.  In  connection  with  this 
subject  Sir  Frederick  referred  to  a  previous  report  in  which  he 
dwelt  upon  the  effect  of  time  in  establishing  chemical  equilibrium 
in  masses  of  metal.  He  also  quoted  a  letter  written  to  him  by 
Thomas  Graham,  when  Master  of  the  Mint,  in  which  was  dis- 
cussed the  tendency  to  the  development  of  cracks  in  tempered) 
steel  dies,  and  stating  that  in  the  Mint  it  was  generally  considered 
that  if  such  dies  were  kept  in  store  for  a  year  or  two,  they 
became  less  apt  to  crack  when  in  use,  and  coined  more  pieces 
than  dies  newly  tempered.  The  same  phenomena  have  to  be 
considered  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  ordnance  ;  and  an 
instance  was  given  by  the  lecturer  of  the  tube  of  a  large  gur> 
which  bad  fired  three  proof  rounds.  A  circumferential  crack 
was  found  to  have  become  developed  in  the  front  threads  of  the 
breech  screw,  and,  upon  removing  the  jacket  from  the  tube  the 
crack  extended  forward  along  the  chamber  and  into  the  rifling. 
When  the  tube  was  placed  in  the  lathe,  with  a  view  to  cutting  ofl 
the  injured  portion,  the  crack  suddenly  developed  itself  with  a 
loud  report,  and  ran  along  to  within  eight  feet  of  the  muzzle  ;  a 
spiral  crack  at  the  same  time  ran  completely  round  the  tube, 
which  fell  in  two  upon  removal  from  the  lathe.  This  instance 
will  strengthen  the  hands  of  those  who  are  opposed  to  oil- 
hardening  the  parts  of  a  steel  gun ;  and  Sir  Frederick's  own 
words  in  connection  with  this  vexed  question  are  worth  quoting. 
*'  One  effect  which  the  oil-hardening  treatment  has  occasionally 
exercised  in  the  case  of  particular  qualities  of  steel  is  that  of 
developing  minute  fissures  or  cracks  in  the  metal,  either  super- 
ficially or  in  the  interior  of  the  mass.  This  cannot,  of  course, 
be  rectified  by  any  annealing  process,  and  it  is  still  a  question, 
to  be  determined  by  the  teachings  of  experience  and  the  result 
of  investigations,  whether  any  definite  or  reliable  modifications 
in  the  composition  of  steel  used  for  guns,  lending  to  secure  the 
desired  combination  of  hardness  and  tenacity  may  not  be  intro- 
duced, with  the  result  that  a  method  of  treatment  of  the  metal 
may  be  discarded  which,  however  carefully  applied,  and  however 
efficient  the  means  adopted  for  reducing  or  neutralizing  its 
possible  prejudicial  influence  upon  the  physical  stability  of  the 
parts  of  which  a  gun  is  built  up,  carries  with  it  inherent  elements 
of  uncertainty  and  possible  danger.''  Dr.  Anderson's  remarks 
on  the  subject  of  oil-hardening  should  also  be  read  in  connection- 
with  the  observations  contained  in  the  President's  report.  On 
the  whole,  perhaps,  it  would  not  be  rash  to  predict  that  the 
days  of  this  process  are  numbered  in  connection  with  the  manu- 
facture of  steel  ordnance  for  Her  Majesty's  service.  For  a  long 
time  many  of  our  best  authorities  have  been  opposed  to  it. 

We  have  not  space  to  follow  the  address  into  the  subject  of 
the  effect  of  silicon  in  cast-iron.  General  interest  in  this  matter 
was  aroused  a  year  or  two  ago  by  a  paper  read  before  the  Iron 
and  Steel  Institute  by  Thomas  Turner,  of  Mason's  College ; 
and  since  then  the  mvestigation  has  been  followed  up  by 
German  experimentalists,  with  a  general  result  that,  under 
certain  conditions,  it  is  concluded  that  silicon  will  contribute  to- 
the  production  of  dense  and  homogeneous  castings. 

The  following  passage  from  the  address  speaks  for  itself.  It 
would  be  well  if  it  could  be  printed  and  distributed  to  every 
British  iron  or  steel  maker : — 

"The  absolute  dependence  of  the  development  of  new  metal- 
lurgic processes  upon  the  results  of  the  labours  of  the  analyst, 
the  chemical  investigator,  the  physicist,  and  the  microscopist, 
and  the  thoroughness  with  which  this  all-important  fact  is 
appreciated  by  the  German  metallurgic  establishments,  afford 
new  occasion  for  a  regretful  recognition  of  the  distance  which 
we  are  still  behind  our  Continental  brethren  in  availing  ourselves 
of  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  constant  pursuit  of  scientific 
research,  and  the  thoroughly  efficient,  systematic,  and  direct 
application  of  the  labours  of  the  scientific  investigator  to  the 
daily  operations  at  works  of  all  kinds,  although  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  of  late  years  ue  have  made  important  pro- 
gress in  these  directions.  It  has  certainly  been  humiliating  to 
have  to  admit  that  industries  which  the  genius  of  individual 


44 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1891 


Englishmen,  possessed  of  exceptional  powers  of  applying  to 
important  practical  purposes  the  results  of  research,  have  created 
and  have  developed  to  an  extent  foreshadowing  their  high  im- 
portance, gradually  passed  out  of  our  hands  through  the  far- 
sightedness of  the  Germans,  who  have  very  long  since  recog- 
nized the  absolute  dependence  of  progress  in  such  industries 
upon  the  constant  pursuit  of  chemical  research  into  the  far- 
reaching  and  continually  spreading  ramifications  of  organic 
chemistry.  Thus,  in  fields  of  work,  where,  in  dajrs  past,  and 
even  of  late,  our  industrial  chemists  have  been  content  to  pursue 
their  attempts  at  progress  with  the  co-operation  of  one  or  two 
young  chemical  assistants,  small  armies  of  highly-trained  che- 
mists, who  have  gained  academic  honours,  and  have  won  their 
spurs  in  original  investigation,  are  in  constant  employment  at 
the  magnificent  manufacturing  establishments  in  Germany, 
systematically  pursuing  researches  which  constitute  succes- 
sive indispensable  links  in  a  great  network  of  exhaustive 
inquiry,  and  which,  while  conferring  large  benefits  on  the 
science  itself,  are  continuously  productive  of  improvements  in 
existing  processes,  or  of  the  development  of  new  methods,  while, 
ever  and  anon,  they  result  in  some  fresh  discovery  of  great  tech- 
nical importance  and  high  commercial  value.  Similarly  elaborate 
and  comprehensive  arrangements  now  exist  at  important  German 
iron  and  steel  works  for  systematic  investigation  and  comparison 
/materials  of  products  and  processes.'' 

We  must  hurry  over  the  remaining  parts  of  Sir  Frederick's 
iddress,  and  can  only  mention  some  of  the  chief  subjects  touched 
upon,  referring  our  readers  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Institute 
for  fuller  information.  Thus  we  find  the  following  matters  occu- 
pying attention :  the  presence  and  effect  of  nitrogen  in  iron  ; 
the  state  in  which  carbon  exists  in  steel ;  Osmond's  study,  by 
means  of  the  Le  Chatelier  pyrometer,  of  the  slow  cooling  of 
iron  and  steel,  together  with  the  phenomena  of  recalescence, 
and  the  existence  of  two  allotropic  forms  of  iron  ;  the  effect  of 
aluminium  ia  iron  ;  Hadfield's  researches  in  connection  with 
manganese  steel ;  the  progress  of  nickel  steel ;  and  the  inter- 
esting discovery  of  Langer,  Quincke,  and  Ludwig  Mond  of 
the  action  of  carbonic  acid  upon  finely  divided  nickel  at  high 
temperature,  in  which  it  was  found  that  the  metal  had  the 
power  of  separating  carbon  from  the  gas,  with  production  of 
carbonic  acid  in  place  of  the  oxide,  l^ese  and  other  matters 
were  dealt  with  at  greater  or  less  length,  and  constituted  a  most 
interesting  and  characteristic  address. 

Only  one  paper  was  read  on  the  first  day  of  the  meeting. 
This  was  Dr.  Anderson's  contribution  on  tests  for  steel  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  artillery.     The  announcement  of  a  contri- 
bution on  this  subject  by  the  Director- General  of   Ordnance 
Factories  had  caused  a  good  deal  of  interest  both  among  the 
scientific  and  manufacturing  members  of   the  Institute,  more 
especially  as  it  was  known  that  the  Government  authorities  had 
been  overhauling  the  official  test  regulations.     Unfortunately, 
however,  the  meeting  was  a  little  too  early,   so  far  as  Dr. 
Anderson's    paper  was    concerned,    for   the   new    regulations 
have  not  yet  been  officially  published,  and,  until  they  are, 
it  is  against  official  etiquette,  if   not  official  rules,   that  they 
should  be  made  known.     The  paper  was  therefore  very  like  the 
play  of  "  Hamlet "  with  the  Prince  of  Denmark  left  out,  and  bore 
evidence  of  having  been  brought  forward  rather  with  a  view  of 
fulfilling  a  promise  than  because  the  author  had  anything  new 
to  advance.     It  was  not  Dr.  Anderson's  fault  that  his  paper  was 
robbed  of  its  chief  interest,  and  certainly  the  thanks  of  the 
Council  were  due  to  him  for  good-naturedly  allowing  it  to  stand 
on  the  programme.    Notwithstanding  what  we  have  said,  the 
paper  was  very  Interesting,  but  as  we  hope  to  hear  Dr.  Anderson 
again  on  the  subject,  when  the  official  veto  has  been  removed 
by  publication  of  the  new  tests,  we  shall  treat  the  matter  briefly. 
It  is  first  pointed  out  that  the  mechanical  properties  of  steel, 
and  of  alloys  generally,  are  affected  in  a  remarkable  manner  by 
extremely  minute  quantities  of  substances,  by  the  relative  pro- 
portions, by  the  changes  in  some  or  all,  produced  by  the  more 
or  less  rapid  changes  of  temperature,  which  influence  dissociation 
and  reveal  their  effects  by  recalescence ;  indicating,  to  a  less 
degree,  allotropic  changes  in  some  or  all  of  the  components. 
Chemical  analysis  sufficiently  minute  to  detect  even  traces  of 
every  substance  associated  with   iron  would    be  tedious  and 
•costly.      Years  must  pass  away  before  chemical  and  physical 
science  together  will  succeed  in  determining  the   laws  which 
govern  the  mechanical  properties  of  alloys.    For  these  reasons, 
and    others,  the   specifications  of  gun-steel  used  in  Her  Ma- 
jesty's service  exclude  all  definitions  of  chemical  composition, 

NO.    1 1  24,  VOL.  44] 


so  far,  at  any  rate,  as  ordinary  ineredient^  are  coDcemed.  The 
author  thinks  it  is  not  sufficiently  realized  that  metals  are  in- 
capable of  appreciable  cubical  compression  under  any  stress  that 
can  in  practice  be  brought  to  bear  on  them,  whether  fluid,  V^^t 
or  cold.  Like  ice  and  water,  steel  and  cast-iron  have  a  greater 
volume  in  a  solid  than  in  the  liquid  state,  and,  therefore,  red- 
hot  solid  cast-iron  or  steel  floats  on  the  surface  of  the  molten 
mass :  although,  it  should  be  added,  cold  cast-iron  will  at  first 
sink  in  a  bath  of  li(^uid  iron,  but  will  rise  to  the  surface  and 
float  when  it  has  acquired  a  sufficient  degree  of  heat  to  bring  it 
about  to  a  cherry  red.  This  was  shown  by  the  well-knovn 
experiments  of  Mr.  Wrightson,  referred  to  at  the  meeting. 
The  manner  in  which,  during  cooling,  compressive  stress 
is  suddenly  turned  into  tension  high  enough  to  cause  rupture 
(due  to  the  swelling  during  solidification)  is  dealt  with  ;  this 
being  a  subject  also  treated  upon  in  the  President's  addi^s. 
The  bearing  of  these  phenomena  upon  the  process  of  haidenii^ 
is  also  discussed.  The  relative  influence  of  carbon  in  iroa  as  a 
definite  compound  of  carbon  and  iron  dissolved  in  an  excess  of 
iron,  and  as  a  finely  subdivided  carbon  diffused  through  the  nias% 
is  considered,  and  the  author  expresses  an  opinion  that  the 
'*  apparently  capricious  behaviour  of  steel"  is  due  not  only  to  the 
internal  stresses  engendered  by  oil-hardening,  but  also  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  chemical  condition  of  the  steel  and  its 
molecular  structure  are  greatly  influenced  by  comparatively 
slight  errors  of  judgment,  or  by  carelessness  in  the  adjustmeot 
of  the  temperatures  at  which  the  operations  are  performed. 

A  discussion  followed  the  reading  of  the  paper,  in  which  the 
most  interesting  incident  was  Mr.  Wrightson's  desciiptioD  of 
his  experiments  to  determine  the  volume  of  cast-iron  at  difiTeroDt 
temperatures.  Mr.  Edmunds,  of  Woolwich,  defended  the 
practice  of  oil-hardening  for  gun-steel ;  and  Mr.  Hadfield  would 
attribute  cracks  in  steel  rather  to  contraction  than  expansion. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  meeting  the  proceedings  were 
opened  by  Prof.  Roberts-Austen  ^ving  a  verbal  description  of 
the  Le  Chatelier  p^ometer,  an  instrument  which  is  now  well 
known  to  the  scientific  world.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  state 
that  Sir  Lowthian  Bell  and  other  practical  men  spoke  of  the 
great  assistance  this  pyrometer  had  been  to  them  in  the  oooise 
of  manufacturing  operations. 

M.  Osmond's  paper  on  the  micro-structure   of  steel  was  do 
more  than  a  note  which  accompanied  the  presentation  of  a 
series  of  micro-photographs.     The  paper  of  Dr.  £.  J.  Ball, 
which  followed,  was  supplemental  to  a  previous  paper  contributed 
by  him  (see  Journal  Iron  and  Steel  Inst.,  1890,  No.  I,  p.  85) ; 
and,  as  the  present  paper  will  be  supplemented  by  another,  we 
will  refer  our  readers  to  the  Proceedings,  merely  giving  the 
general  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  author,   which  are  as 
follows : — ''  (i)  That  in  iron  containing  o'l  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
the  tenacity  of  the  metal  increases  by  hardening,  either  in  oil  or 
in  water,  with  the  temperature  at  which  the  metal  is  quenched 
with  a  view  to  hardening,  a  maximum  tensile  strength  being 
reached  at  a  temperature  of  about  1300''  C.    This  temperature 
once  exceeded,  however,  the  tenacity  of  the  metal  diminishes, 
although  the  extensibility  increases.     (2)  By  raising  the  per- 
centage of  carbon  from  0*1   to  0'2,  the  maximum  tenacity  is 
attained,  not  at  1300''  C,  but  at  a  much  lower  temperature — about 
1000** — below  the  melting-point  of  iron  oxide,  which,  moreover, 
was  not  present.     (3)  By  further  considerably  increasing  the 
percentage  of  carbon,  this  point  of  maximum  tenacity  appar- 
ently disappears  almost  entirely,   the  annealed  metal  having 
nearly  as  nigh  a  tensile  strength  as  the  same  metal  which  has 
been  quenched  in  oil  from  any  temperature  up  to  a  bright  ted 
heat.     Beyond  this  temperature,  or  when  quenched  in  water,  the 
hardened  metal  became  so  hard  and  brittle  that  it  could  not  be 
gripped  by  the  jaws  of  the  testing  machine."    It  will  be  remem- 
bered by  those  who  attended  the  meeting  when  Dr.  Ball's  last 
paper  was  read  that  M.  Osmond  put  forward  the  idea  that  the 
fourth  point  in  change  (in  addition  to  Osmond's  three  points), 
which  occurs,  according  to  Dr.  Ball,  in  very  mild  steel  at  a 
temperature  approaching  the  melting-point,  might  be  due  to  the 
fusion  of   iron  oxide.     The  present  paper  is  founded  on  this 
remark,  but  for  the  results,  beyond  the  salient  features  given,  we 
must,  as  we  have  said,  refer  our  readers  to  the  originals.     Mr. 
Turner's  paper,  which  was  read  next,  does  not  require  a  detailed 
notice  at  our  hands.     It  was  an  economic  paper  on  a  subject 
which  is  rapidly  losing  economic  interest ;  and  the  author  does 
not  appear  to  have  made  himself  well  acquainted  with  the 
labours  of  previous  investigators  in  this  field.     The  paper  of 
Mr.  Jenkins  does  not  admit  of  an  abstract  being  made  ;  whilst 


May  14,  189 1] 


NA  TURE 


45 


the  last  paper  read,  that  of  Lieutenant  Jaques,  U.S.N.,  was  of 
sach  a  volnminoas  nature  that  it  might  better  be  described  as  a 
treatise,  and  is  far  beyond  our  scope,  as  may  be  judged  from  its 
title. 

The  autumn  meeting  of  the  Institute  will  probably  be  held  at 
Birmingham. 


THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  SOIRJ&E. 

HTHE  soirees  given  by  the  Royal  Society  become  every  year 
'''     more  pleasant.     The  one  held  on  Wednesday,  May  6,  was 
in  every  sense  most  successful.     We  note  some  of  the  objects 
exhibited : — 

Mr.  J.  Wimshurst  exhibited  an  electrical  influence  machine 
(alternating  and  experimental). 

The  Trotter  curve  ranger  was  shown  by  Mr.  A.  P.  Trotter. 
This  portable  instrument  is  intended  to  facilitate  setting  out 
large  curves  for  railway  and  other  work.  It  dispenses  with 
tables  of  angles  and  with  the  use  of  chains  and  assistants.  No 
comolative  error  can  arise  as  with  theodolite  work. 

Profs.  Riicker  and  Thorpe,  FF.R.S.,  exhibited  a  map  showing 
the  probable  connection  of  lines  towards  which  the  magnet  is 
attracted  in  England  and  France.  Profs.  Riicker  and  Thorpe 
found  that  the  north  pole  of  a  magnet  is  attracted  to  a  line 
which  runs  south  from  Reading,  and  enters  the  Channel  near 
Chichester.  M.  Moureaux  has  traced  a  similar  line  from 
Fecamp  to  the  south  of  Paris,  but  its  southern  termination  has 
not  yet  been  discovered.  The  directions  of  the  two  lines  make 
it  probable  that  they  are  parts  of  the  same  axis  of  disturbance. 

The  Director-General  of  the  Geological  Survey  exhibited  ; — 
(i)  Specimens  illustrating  the  phosphatic  chalks  in  England, 
France,  and  Belgium,  arranged  by  Mr.  A.  Strahan,  G^Iogical 
Survey  of  England  and  Wales.  Phosphatic  band  in  the  upper 
chalk  of  Taplow,  containing  about  30  per  cent,  of  phosphate  of 
lime.  Taplow  phosphatic  chalk  separated  by  washing  into  :  (i) 
brown  sand  composed  of  phosphatised  organisms,  and  con- 
taining about  50  per  cent,  of  phosphate  of  lime ;  (2)  chalky 
mud  composed  largely  of  rhabdoliths,  coccoliths,  and  discoliths. 
Microscopic  preparations  of  the  phosphatised  organisms  of  the 
Taplow  chalk,  showing  Foraminifera,  prisms  of  Inoceramus  shell, 
fish-scales,  fish-bones,  and  fish-pellets.  Photographs  of  the 
Taplow  phosphatised  organisms,  by  Mr.  J.  J.  H.  Tc»d],  F.  R.  S. 
Phosphatic  chalk  of  Beauval  (Somme),  and  microscopic  pre- 
paration. Phosphatic  chalk  of  Ciply  (Belgium),  and  microscopic 
preparation. — (2)  Illustrations  of  a  former  Arctic  climate  in 
the  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  determined  by  Mr.  Clement  Reid, 
Geological  Survey.  At  Hailes,  about  three  miles  south-west  of 
Edinburgh,  in  a  thin  seam  of  silt,  resting  immediately  on 
boulder  clay,  Mr.  J.  Bennil,  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Scot- 
land, has  lately  found  numerous  remains  of  plants.  These  show 
a  climate  probably  15°  or  20°  colder  than  that  of  the  Lowlands 
at  the  present  day.  In  the  following  list  the  peculiarly  Arctic 
species  are  marked  with  an  asterisk.  The  only  tree  is  an  alder. 
The  willows  are  all  dwarf  species  ;  two  of  them  {Salix  herbacea 
and  S.  reticulata)  still  live  on  the  higher  mountains  of  Scotland, 
the  third  (5.  polaris)  is  an  Arctic  form  now  extinct  in  Britain. 
At  the  same  locality  there  is  another  deposit,  probably  of  later 
date,  which  contains  only  plants  still  living  in  the  neighbourhood, 
including  several  trees. 


Tkalicirum 

Ranunculus  aqualilis 
Viola 

SUllaria  media 
Oxalis  acetosella 
Hifpuris  vulgaris 
*Loisel€uria  pracumbens 
Menyanthes  trifoliaia 
Stachys  palustris 
Ajuga  reptans 

Chrysanthemum  Leucanthemum 
Polygtmum  aznculare 


*  Salix  Jurbacea 

*  Salix  polaris 

*  Salix  reticulata 
Alnus 

Evipetrum  nigrum 
Potamogeton 
Eleocharis  palustris 
Scirpus  paucijlorus 
Scirpus  lacustris 
Scirpus  ? 

Carex  ? 
Isoetes  lacustris 


The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Silchester  Excavation  Fund 
tthibitcd  (by  permission  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington) : — (i)  Iron 
tools  and  utensils  of  the  Roman  period,  found  together  in  a  pit 
in  the  Romano-British  city  at  Silchester,  Hants,  in  September 
'?90.—(2)  Bronze  objects  of  the  Roman  period  found  at 
Silchester. 

Prof:  H.  Carrington  Bolton,  Ph.D.  (of  New  York),  exhibited 

NO.  1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


musical  sand,  from  Arabia,  United  States  of  America,  and  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  collected  by  the  exhibitor. 

Prof.  H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  remains  of  Anomodont 
Reptiles  from  the  Trias,  Karoo,  Cape  Colony. 

The  Director  of  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  exhibited  a 
collection  of  views  in  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  showing  the 
development  of  the  Gardens  during  the  last  fifty  years.  This 
series  is  a  portion  of  a  very  extensive  and  valuable  collection  of 
prints,  drawings,  and  photographs  of  the  most  interesting  features 
in  the  Royal  Gardens.  It  has  been  brought  together  during  the 
past  twenty  years,  and  is  now  deposited  for  exhibition  in  Museum 
No.  3. 

Messrs.  J.  E.  H.  Gordon  and  Co.  exhibited  Tomlinson 
regulator  for  electric  light  mains.  The  Tomlinson  regulator  is 
intended  for  use  in  transformer  sub-stations.  It  is  worked  by  a 
wire  from  the  central  station,  but  automatically  corrects  any 
error  of  the  attendant  at  the  central  station.  Ordinary  automatic 
apparatus  cannot  be  safely  used  for  this  purpose,  as,  though 
should  such  get  out  of  order  when  taking  out  transformers,  no 
harm  is  done  except  the  waste  of  coal,  yet  if  it  gets  out  of 
order  when  putting  in  transformers  it  may  bum  up  the  sub- 
station. The  peculiarity  of  the  new  apparatus  is  that  if  anything 
whatever  goes  wrong,  all  transformers  are  at  once  put  in,  thus 
ensuring  absolute  safety.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  Brush  Company, 
and  of  the  Metropolitan  Electric  Supply  Company,  who  have 
lent  the  necessary  machinery,  the  apparatus  has  been  tried  on  a 
large  scale  in  the  Brush  Company's  works.  A  plant  of  1950 
lights  capacity  has  been  run  for  24  hours  with,  and  for  24  hours 
without,  the  new  apparatus,  with  the  result  of  a  saving  of  4^ 
cwt.  of  coal,  or,  in  other  words,  with  the  new  apparatus  there 
was  a  saving  of  89  pounds  of  coal  per  8  c.p.  lamp  per  annum, 
or  about  26  per  cent,  of  the  total  coal  bill. 

Sir  J.  B.  Lawes,.Bart.,  F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  J.  H.  GUbert,  F.R.S., 
showed  : — (i)  Three  enlarged  photographs  of  Leguminous  plants, 
grown  in  1889,  in  experiments  on  the  question  of  the  fixation  of 
free  nitrogen.  The  plants  were  grown,  in  some  cases  with 
sterilization,  and  in  others  with  microbe-seeding  of  the  soiI» 
With  suitable  microbe-infection  of  the  soil,  there  was  abundant 
formation  of  the  so-called  leguminous  nodules  on  the  roots  of  the 
plants,  and  there  was,  coincidently,  very  considerable  fixation  of 
free  nitrogen.  The  evidence  at  command  points  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  free  nitrogen  is  fixed  in  the  course  of  the 
development  of  the  organisms  within  the  nodules,  and  that  the 
resulting  nitrogenous  compounds  are  absorbed  and  utilized  by 
the  higher  plant. — (2)  Coloured  drawing,  by  Lady  Lawes,  of 
the  Rothamsted  rain-gauges. — (3)  Coloured  drawing,  by  Lady 
Lawes,  of  the  Rothamsted  drain-gauges. 

Old  plan  of  the  Mint  in  the  Tower  of  London,  exhibited  by 
the  Hon.  Sir  C.  W.  Fremantle,  K.C.B.  This  document  is 
described  as  an  exact  survey  of  "  The  Ground  Plot  or  Plan  of 
His  Majesty's  Office  of  Mint  in  the  Tower  of  London."  It 
bears  the  date  170^,  and  must  have  been  prepared  by  the  order 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  was  appointed  Master'of  the  Mint  in 
1699.  The  position  of  Newton  s  official  residence  is  shown 
at  A. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Crompton,  M.InstC.E.,  exhibited:— (i)  Section 
of  armature  winding,  showing  copper  divided,  twisted,  and  com- 
pressed, to  avoid  loss  from  eddv  currents. — (2)  Crompton's 
method  of  obtaining  accurately  sub-multiples  of  the  ohm ;  for 
current-measuring  purposes. 

Prof.  Oliver  Lodge,  D.Sc,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  : — (i)  Revolving 
mirror.  Rapid  revolving  mirror  driven  by  clock-work,  with 
detachable  fan  to  give  moderate  speeds,  with  adjustable  main 
spring  to  vary  the  speed,  and  witn  vacuum  cover  for  highest 
speeds  (the  last  not  yet  satisfactory).  Slow  moving  index,  to 
enable  the  speed  to  be  determined ;  and  electro- magnetic  brake 
to  regulate  its  going,  or  to  stop  it  gradually.  Mirror,  2*3  x  i 
cm.,  silvered  back  and  front;  very  light,  but  giving  fair 
definition.  It  makes  5760  revolutions  for  i  of  the  winding 
arbor.  Used  for  analyzing  sparks,  and  observing  the  speed  of 
electric  pulses  along  conductors  of  various  kinds.  Made  by 
Mr.  W.  Groves. — (2)  Clock  for  pointing  out  continually  the  direc- 
tion of  the  earth's  orbital  motion.  (Two  home-made  forms.)  A 
disk,  or  dial,  set  on  a  polar  axis  with  the  obliquity  of  the 
ecliptic,  is  driven  by  a  clock  against  the  rotation  of  the  earth. 
On  the  dial  are  recorded  365  days  of  the  year.  It  is  set  once 
for  all  in  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  with  the  actual  date  pointing 
90*^  from  the  sun.  In  the  first  instrument  I  devised,  the  direction 
of  the  right-dated  radius  of  the  dial  henceforth  points  out  the 
direction  of  the  earth's  motion  at  any  instant,  if  the  clock  keeps 


46 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1891 


sidereal  time.  A  modified  and  improved  instrument,  devised 
by  my  assistant,  Mr.  Edward  E.  Robinson,  adds  a  sighted 
pointer  to  the  dial,  this  pointer  being  moved  by  hand  to  the 
right  date  ;  and  the  clock  may  then  keep  ordinary  time.  The 
dial  is  geared  down  I  :  24,  and  driven  by  the  minute  hand,  so  as 
to  be  under  the  ordinary  control  of  clock-regulation.  In  each 
instrument  a  one-day  hand-shift  is  needed  every  29th  February. 
— (3)  Resonant  Leyden  jars.  A  couple  of  independent  but  similar 
Leyden  jar  circuits  arranged  at  a  moderate  distance  from  each 
other,  the  self-induction  or  capacity  of  one  of  them  being  ad- 
justable, with  an  easy  overflow  path.  On  discharging  one  of 
the  jars,  the  other  resounds  and  overflows,  being  provided  with 
an  easy  overflow  path.  The  oscillations  are  much  more  numerous 
than  with  ordinary  linear  (Hertz)  vibrators,  and  therefore  some 
precision  is  demanded  in  the  tuning. 

Self-recording  instruments,  exhibited  by  M\f.  Richard  Fr^res. 

Method  of  recording  pyrometric  measurements  at  temperatures 
between  600"  C.  and  1200'  C,  exhibited  by  Prof.  Roberts- 
Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.  The  apparatus  is  that  employed  in  a 
research  undertaken  for  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
and  is  used  for  automatically  recording,  by  the  aid  of  photography, 
the  indications  of  a  platinum  and  platinum-rhodium  thermo- 
couple. The  experiments  shown  illustrate  a  method  of  recording 
the  rate  of  cooling  of  heated  miasses  of  metal.  Curves  are 
shown  to  illustrate  the  kind  of  results  which  are  obtained  by  the 
aid  of  the  apparatus. 

Length-measuring  instrument,  exhibited  by  Prof.  W.  C. 
Unwin,  F.R.S.  In  ordinary  screw  or  vernier  micrometers  the 
straining  of  the  instrument  alters  the  readings,  and  in  using  the 
instrument  much  depends  on  personal  skill.  In  this  instrument 
the  contact  is  with  Bxed  pressure,  and  independent  of  feeling. 
Delicate  levels  show  when  the  instrument  is  adjusted. 

Portraits  of  deceased  astronomers  and  physicists,  exhibited  by 
Mr.  W.  B.  Croft. 

Mr.  Killingworth  Hedges  exhibited: — (x)  Electrical  safety- 
valve. — (2)  Exhausted  bulbs,  used  to  ascertain  the  space  traversed 
by  high  tension  alternating  currents.  The  electrical  safety-valve 
as  designed  for  attachment  to  low  pressure  service  lines,  in  order 
to  prevent  their  being  charged  at  a  dangerous  difference  of 
potential  from  the  earth,  "fiie  glass  bulbs  were  exhausted  to 
different  pressures,  and  fitted  with  electrodes  of  various  forms, 
in  order  to  ascertain  if  an  arc  could  be  started  with  an  E.M.F. 
of  300  volts,  which  is  the  limit  of  potential  fixed  by  the  Board 
of  Trade  for  currents  of  low  pressure. 

Focometer,  exhibited  by  Prof.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson.  By 
this  instrument  can  be  determined  the  position  of  the  two 
principal  "focal  planes  "  and  of  the  two  *•  principal  planes"  of 
Gauss,  for  any  compound  system  of  lenses,  such  as  a  microscopic 
objective  or  the  lens  of  a  photographic  camera  ;  thus  giving  the 
true  focal  length,  and  the  positions  and  distance  apart  o?  the 
two  virtual  optical  centres  of  the  lens-system.  The  principle 
applied  is  that  of  finding  directly  the  two  principal  foci,  and 
then,  by  means  of  a  right-and-left-handed  screw,  moving  two 
micrometers  placed  at  these  foci  to  the  two  symmetric  points 
where  each  micrometer  coincides  with  the  image  of  the  other. 
The  displacement  so  given  by  the  screw  is  equal  to  the  true  focal 
length. 

Mr.  Shelford  Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  exhibited:  (i)  Selenium 
cells,  the  electrical  conductivity  of  which  is  greater  in  the  light 
than  in  the  dark.  (2)  A  selenium  lamp-lighter,  lighting  an  in- 
candescent lamp  automatically  when  darkness  comes  on.  (3)  A 
selenium  alarm,  for  calling  attention  to  the  accidental  extinction 
of  a  ship's  light  or  railway  signal  lamp. — Mr.  W.  Crookes, 
F.R.S.,  exhibited  electricity  and  high  vacua. — Mr.  G.  J.  Symons, 
F.R.S. ,  exhibited  photographs  of  damage  produced  by  the 
tornado  of  August  18,  1890,  at  Dreux  (Sure  et  Loire),  France. 
— Prof.  C.  Piazzi  Smyth  exhibited  examples  of  phot(^raphic 
enlargements  of  the  solar  spectrum,  each  magnified  from  the 
original  negative  from  25  to  27  times  linear. — Mr.  George  Higgs 
exhibited  photographs  of  the  normal  solar  spectrum. 

M.  G.  Lippmann  exhibited  colour  photographs  of  the 
spectrum : — (i)  Small  spectrum,  exposure  about  3  minutes. — 
(2)  Large  spectrum,  exposure  about  6  minutes,  without  coloured 
screens.  The  colours  seen  on  these  plates  are  produced  by  the 
direct  action  of  light ;  they  are  not  due  to  any  pigments,  the 
substance  of  the  films  remaining  colourless,  but  are  of  the  same 
kind  as  the  colours  of  soap-bubbles  and  mother-of-pearl,  viz. 
interference  phenomena  ;  they  are  due  to  the  structure  imparted 
to  the  film  by  the  stationary  waves  of  incident  light  during 
exposure  in  the  camera.    These  colours  are  perfectly  permanent. 

NO.    I  I  24,  VOL.  44] 


Prof.  A.  Schuster,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  some  forms  of  Claik 
cells. 

Prof.  Emerson  Reynolds,  F.R.S.,  exhibited:  (i)  Specimens 
of  tetrathiocarbamid-ammonium  bromide,  (H5N2C.S)4NBr,  and 
related  substances.  (2)  Series  of  photograph^  illustrating  the 
application  by  Colonel  Waterhouse  of  the  above  bromide  to  the 
reversal  of  the  photographic  image  on  gelatino*  bromide  of  silver 
films. — Mr.  W.  Saville-Kent  exhibited  photographs  of  living 
corals,  taken  in  Torres  Straits. — Or.  W.  Hunter  exhibited  a 
series  of  ptomaines — alkaloidal  products  formed  by  bacteria 
from  animal  tissues. — The  Committee  of  the  Camera  Clab 
exhibited  allotropic  forms  of  silver,  prepared  by  Mr.  Carey  Lea, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  described  in  Amer,  Journ.  of  Science  for 
1889,  and  PhiL  Mag  for  1891.— Prof.  G.  F.  Fitzgerald,  F.R.S., 
exhibited  crystals  of  platinum  and  palladium  (prepared  Mr.  T 
Joly).— Prof.  J.  A.  Ewing,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  Prof.  Sekiya's 
model  of  a  Japanese  earthquake. — The  Council  of  the  RoyaJ 
Society  exhibited  a  cabinet  containing  medals  struck  in  honour 
of  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society. — Mr.  Edward  Schonck, 
F.R.S.,  exhibited  indigo- blue  and  allied  substances  and  deriva- 
tives of  chlorophyll. — Mr.  Fred  Enock  exhibited  microscopic 
preparations  of  the  British  Mymaridae  (egg  parasites). — Dr.  H. 
Woodward,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  skull  and  shoulder-girdle  of 
Procolophon  trigoniceps  (Owen),  collected  by  Dr.  Exon  in  the 
Orange  Free  State  (figured  Phil.  Trans.,  1889,  p.  267). — Mr.  J. 
Howard  Mummery  exhibited  specimens  illustrating  some  points 
in  the  structure  and  development  of  dentine. — Mr.  Allan  Dick 
exhibited  a  new  form  of  polarizing  microscope. 

Meteorological  photographs,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Arthur  W. 
Clayden.  The  photographs  of  clouds  have  been  taken  by 
reflection  from  a  mirror  of  black  glass,  placed  in  front  of  ifaie 
camera,  so  that  the  plane  of  its  surface  makes  the  polarizing 
angle  with  the  axis  of  the  lens.  Those  of  hoar-frost  show  how 
the  crystals  attach  themselves  to  the  projecting  portions  of 
objects,  such  as  the  margins  of  leaves,  the  loose  fibres  of  a 
string,  and  the  thorns  of  a  briar,  and  also  their  tendency  to 
grow  towards  the  direction  from  which  the  air  has  been  moving. 


THE  BENUA  AND  THE  KIBB£. 


A 


T  Monday's  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
*  Major  Claude  M.  Macdonald,  H.M.  Commissioner  to 
West  Africa,  gave  an  account  of  a  journey  up  the  Benue  and 
its  northern  tributary  the  Kibbe,  in  the  summer  of  1889.  T^ 
Benue,  we  need  scarcely  say,  is  the  great  tributary  of  the 
Niger.  Major  Macdonald  referred  to  the  previous  explorations 
of  Barth  and  others,  and  to  the  fact  that  it  has  been  maintained 
that  a  connection  existed  between  Lake  Chad  and  the  Benue,  by 
the  overflow  of  the  Shari  on  one  side  and  the  Kibbe  on  the 
other.  Major  Macdonald  has  been  the  first  to  explore  the  Kibbe. 
After  describing  the  ascent  of  the  Benue,  Major  MacdonaU 
went  on  to  say  that  he  and  his  party  started  on  their  journey  up 
the  Kibbe  in  the  Royal  Niger  Company's  stern-wheeler  the 
SenuJ,  on  August  21. 

The  Kibbe  at  its  mouth  is  some  250  yards  wide,  while  the 
Benu^  is  upwards  of  600.  The  average  depth  of  the  Kibbe 
at  this  season  of  the  year,  nearly  high  water,  is  from  10  to  12  feet. 
On  both  banks  for  the  first  five  miles  the  country  is  flat  and 
well  wooded,  with  patches  of  bright  green  grass,  and  looks  very 
gamey,  though  owing  to  the  high  grass  we  saw  no  deer.  A 
noticeable  feature  some  five  or  six  miles  from  the  river  is  Mount 
Katie,  a  rounded  hill,  some  800  feet  high,  well  wooded  to  its 
summit.  This  hill,  from  its  isolated  position,  served  as  an 
excellent  point  on  which  to  take  angles  for  mapping  purposes. 
Patches  of  cultivation  were  now  to  be  seen  on  both  banks,  and 
after  two  hours'  steaming  the  party  passed  the  Fulbe  village  of 
Dii^hL  The  inhabitants,  though  they  had  never  before  seen  a 
steamer  or  a  white  man,  did  not  seem  much  disconcerted,  and, 
when  shouted  to  in  their  language,  returned  the  salutations  in  a 
very  friendly  manner.  On  August  22  the  ^^t/^m/ anchored  off  a 
large  village  on  the  left  bank.  *'  We  very  soon  saw,"  Major 
Macdonald  states,  '*  that  we  had  to  deal  with  the  purest-bred 
Fulbe  we  had  seen  so  far.  The  crowd  consisted  almost  entirely 
of  women — by  far  the  best-looking  we  had  as  yet  seen  on  the 
Niger,  and  indeed  the  best-looking  I  have  seen  in  either  east  or 
west  Equatorial  Africa.  They  wore  the  usual  piece  of  cloth 
wound  round  their  bodies,  leaving  their  arms  and  shoulders 
bare,  and  reaching  down  below  the  knee.  Their  features,  in 
most  cases,  approached  the  European,  and  their  expression  most 


May  14,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


47 


gentle  and  modest,  yet  full  of  Tivadty.  Tbey  told  us  that  the 
name  of  their  village  was  Pamu,  and  that  it  was  governed  by  an 
Emir,  who  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Emir  of  Yola.  The 
men  were  armed  with  spear  and  bow  and  arrows,  though  they 
are  said  to  be  an  agricultural  people,  and  certainly  it  would  seem 
so,  for  every  yard  of  ground  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Pamu  was 
nnder  cultivation.  We  asked  them  if  they  would  bring  us  pro- 
visions in  exchange  for  cloth  ;  this  they  readily  did,  and  we  soon 
were  hard  at  it,  bartering  pieces  of  cloth,  salt,  &c.,  for  live  stock, 
weapons,  ornaments,  and  indeed  anything.  The  whole  time 
nothing  but  the  greatest  good  temper  prevailed,  and  I  was  much 
struck  by  their  gentleness  and  courtesy  ;  albeit  the  ladies  were 
very  good  at  a  bargain,  and  I  noticed  that  when  it  came  to 
bartering  their  ornaments,  members  of  the  fair  sex,  who  were  not 
so  yonng  or  so  fair  as  their  more  fortunate  sisters  in  this  respect, 
surreptitiously  handed  their  ornaments  to  the  latter  to  dispose  of, 
hoping  thereby  to  get  better  value,  and  I  am  bound  to  confess 
they  did." 

Shortly  after  this  the  steamer  came  to  a  deserted  strip  of  country, 
some  fifteen  miles  in  length,  which  was  evidently  the  barrier  be- 
tween the  Mahommedan  and  Pagan  tribes ;  it  was  of  an  undulating 
character,  with  isolated  hills,  and  well  wooded.  The  river  was 
still  about  100  yards  wide,  but  commenced  to  be  dotted  with 
grassy  islands,  and  was  in  parts  very  shallow  with  a  sandy  bottom. 

Next  day,  as  the  steamer  advanced,  the  river  narrowed  again 
and  made  a  sharp  bend  to  the  eastward,  and  approached  a 
grassy  range  of  mountains,  leaving  a  higher  range  to  the  north. 
Half  an  hour  after  starting  the  party  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the 
|rassy  slopes  of  the  former ;  a  pathway,  which  could  be  traced 
for  a  considerable  distance,  wound  up  the  face  of  the  mountain 
and  disappeared  over  one  of  its  grassy  ridges.  Patches  of  cul- 
tivation could  be  seen  dotted  here  and  there  ;  the  main  valley 
stretched  back  some  three  or  four  miles,  but  we  could  see  no 
signs  of  a  village. 

"  We  were,  however,"  Major  Macdonald stated,  "  not  left  long 
in  doubt  as  to  whether  the  country  was  inhabited  or  not,  nor  as  to 
the  character  of  the  inhabitants,  for  down  the  winding  path, 
which  was  distant  some  600  yards  from  where  we  were,  came  a 
line  of  warriors,  some  200  in  number ;  the  majority  of  them 
were  quite  naked,  though  some  few  had  a  small  cloth 
round  their  waists.  They  were  all  armed,  mostly  with  spears, 
the  almost  mvariable  number  being  three.  Leaving  the  pathway, 
they  advanced  in  excellent  order  across  the  boulder-covered 
grassy  piece  of  ground  whichjay  between  the  river  and  the  moun- 
tain side.  We  accordingly  moved  into  mid-stream,  which  was 
only  some  15  yards  from  the  bank,  and  dropped  anchor  in  about 
4  feet  of  water.  Our  friends  advanced  straight  at  us,  not  a  M'ord 
being  spoken,  but  an  excellent  line  being  maintained,  when  sud- 
denly they  all  took  cover  behind  boulders  and  tufts  of  grass, 
nothing  being  visible  but  the  gleaming  points  of  their  spears. 
It  was  a  source  of  some  gratification  to  us  that  the  points  were 
gleaming,  for  it  showed  that  at  any  rate  they  were  not  poisoned. 
There  was  now  a  pause.  Then  our  Fulbe  interpreter,  under 
my  directions,  opened  fire  in  a  dialect  of  the  Battawa,  with 
satisfactory  results,  for  they  appeared  to  understand  him.  Their 
first  qnestion  was  as  to  whether  '  we  were  Mahommedans  ? 
because  if  so  we  could  not  pass,  as  they  were  the  outposts  of 
the  Pagan  tribes,  and  had  orders  not  to  allow  Mahommedans  to 
pass.'  We  assured  them  that  we  were  not  Mahommedans. 
They  then  told  us,  in  answer  to  our  queries,  that  the  name  of 
iheir  village  was  Katsho,  and  that  it  lay  back  from  the  river 
amongst  the  hills  ;  they  said  that  if  we  went  on  we  would  come 
to  more  villages*  After  a  great  deal  of  persuasion  two  of  their 
nnmber  consented  to  come  on  board.  So  we  sent  a  six-oared 
gig,  which  we  had  towed  up  with  us  in  case  of  accidents,  to  fetch 
ihem.  They  were  fine,  well-made  men,  but  were  trembling  with 
fright  at  the  sight  of  the  steamer  and  white  men,  and  prostrated 
themselves  on  the  deck  at  our  feet.  These  two  men  wore  loin 
cloths  of  native  manufacture  ;  the  great  majority  of  the  others 
were,  as  I  have  said,  naked.  After  getting  as  much  information 
oQt  of  these  men  as  we  could,  which  information,  on  account  of 
their  terror  and  the  difficulty  in  interpreting,  was  somewhat 
meagre,  we  proceeded  on  our  way.  By  this  time  large  numbers 
of  men  and  boys  had  assembled,  and  ran  along  the  banks  ges- 
ticulating and  pointing  at  our  little  ship.  They,  men  and  boys 
>like,  were  all  armed,  mostly  with  spears ;  we  saw  very  few 
bows  and  arrows. 

*'  The  scenery  now  was  very  picturesque ;  to  our  right,  i.e.  the 
south  of  the  river,  some  few  3rards  from  the  water's  edge,  the 
mountains  rose  in  some  places  quite  abruptly.     These  mountains 


NO.    1 1 24,  VOL.  44] 


were  for  the  most  part  covered  with  green  wavy  grass  ver} 
pleasant  to  the  eye.  One  or  two  streams  trickled  down  the 
mountain  side,  forming  now  and  again  picturesque  waterfalls. 
The  river  had  suddenly  broadened  out  to  a  lake,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  marsh,  some  three  miles  long  by  two  wide. 
The  range  of  grassy  mountains  I  have  mentioned  ran  along  the 
southern  shores  of  the  lake  and  terminated  with  it.  The  country 
on  the  east  and  north  shores  of  the  lake,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see  in  the  direction  of  the  Tuburi  marsh  (near  the  Shari  river) 
was  open  and  gently  undulating,  while  from  the  western  shores 
of  the  lake  the  beautiful  range  of  mountains,  with  their  needle- 
shaped  peaks,  stretched  back  apparently  for  many  miles.  In 
the  north-east  comer  of  the  lake  we  saw  a  very  lar^^e  village 
some  two  miles  distant ;  this  we  afterwards  ascertamed  was 
Bifare.  The  channel  of  the  river  evidently  followed  the  base 
of  the  southern  hills.  We  accordingly  steamed  gaily  along, 
followed  on  the  shore  by  an  ever-increasing  crowd,  till  we 
arrived  at  a  large  village  prettily  situated  almost  on  the  edge 
of  the  lake.  The  houses  or  huts  were  built  in  clusters,  each 
cluster  apparently  belonging  to  a  different  family.  The  huts 
were  very  well  constructed,  having  round  walls  some  6  feet 
high,  with  flat  roofs  formed  by  beams  covered  over  with  mud 
and  thatch.  The  walls  of  the  huts  were  made  of  black  and  in 
some  places  red  mud,  and  the  workmanship  of  both  walls  and 
roof  was  excellent.  Several  hamlets  were  prettily  situated  on 
the  slopes  of  the  hill,  surrounded  with  patches  of  cultivation, 
and  had  the  appearance  of  the  country  places  of  the  richer 
inhabitants  of  the  village. 

''A  large  crowd  had  now  assembled,  and  regarded  our  move- 
ments with  great  curiosity.  We  asked  to  see  the  chief  of  the 
village,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  palaver,  a  man  appeared  attired 
in  a  very  tattered  '  tobe '  or  gown.  He  had  something  of  the 
Fulbe  in  his  countenance,  and  was  a  tall  6ne  man,  though  of 
rather  a  forbidding  appearance.  He  came  on  board,  and  we 
endeavoured  to  get  what  information  we  could  out  of  him.  He 
said  the  name  of  the  big  water  we  saw  was  Nabaret,  but  that 
it  was  only  a  fourth  that  size  in  the  dry  season.  The  name  of 
his  village  was  Kaku.  The  channel  of  the  river  ran  along  by 
the  mountains.  He  knew  of  the  Tuburi  marsh,  but  had  never 
been  there ;  he  did  not  think  the  river  came  from  there  as  it 
was  distant  many  days'  journey.  He  knew  of  no  other  big 
water,  but  would  give  us  a  guide  to  show  us  the  way.  The 
people  of  the  Nabaret  district  are  possessed  of  cattle,  but  no 
horses ;  they  live  principally  on  dhurra,  which  they  cultivate 
largely,  and  on  fish  which  abound  in  the  lake.  They  also  hunt 
the  hippopotami,  of  which  we  saw  a  dozen  in  the  lake,  though 
doubtless  there  may  be  many  more. 

*'  We  took  our  guide  on  board  and  endeavoured  to  make  for 
Bifare,  already  mentioned,  which  appeared  to  be  a  village  of 
quite  6o03  inhabitants,  situate  on  the  north-east  shores  of 
the  lake,  and  distant  some  two  miles  from  where  we  were. 
After  proceeding  about  100  yards  we  found  that  the  water 
shoaled  about  a  foot,  and  even  less,  and  though  we  made  every 
effort  to  proceed,  we  were  completely  bafHed ;  turning  back,  by 
direction  of  the  guide,  we  went  for  an  opening  in  the  high 
dhurra,  which  grew  in  immense  quantities  about  here,  and  found 
ourselves  once  more  in  the  channel  of  the  stream,  which  was, 
however,  only  some  8  yards  wide  and  2\  feet  deep,  flowing  with 
a  swift  current.  After  proceeding  with  great  difficulty  for 
almost  a  mile,  with  fields  of  dhurra  growing  to  a  height  of  8 
feet  on  either  side  and  completely  shutting  out  the  view,  the 
navigation  became  so  difficult  that  we  had  to  turn  back,^  having 
already  smashed  in  the  bow  of  our  gig,  bent  our  rudder  into  the 
shape  of  a  bow,  and  more  than  once  berthed  our  little  ship 
amongst  the  dhurra  stalks.  The  stream  was  so  narrow  that  we 
could  not  turn,  but  had  to  float  down  backwards  for  a  good  half 
mile.  The  highest  point  reached  was  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
village  of  Kaku,  and  from  what  the  people  said,  a  good  thirty 
miles  from  Dawa,  in  the  Tuburi  country,  the  furthest  point 
reached  by  any  European  entering  Africa  from  the  north,  viz. 
Dr.  Vogel  in  1854.  The  stream  at  the  point  where  we  re- 
luctantly turned  back  was  not  more  than  2  feet  deep,  and 
from  15  to  20  feet  wide,  and  this  at  the  period  of  high 
water.  I  should  say  that  in  the  dry  season  (and  this  is 
corroborated  by  the  natives  themselves)  that  a  man  could  step 
across  it.  It  is  more  than  probable,  therefore,  that  had  we 
been  able  to  proceed  another  three  miles  or  so,  we  should  have 
arrived  at  its  source." 

It  seems  evident,  then,  from  Major  Macdonald's  observations, 
that  no  connection  can  exist  between  the  Shari  and  the  Benu^. 


48 


NA  TURE 


[May  14,  1891 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE, 

Cambridge. — Mr.  J.  W.  Clark,  Superintendent  of  the 
Museum  of  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy,  has  been 
elected  to  the  Office  of  R^istrary  of  the  University,  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Luard. 

The  degree  of  M.  A.  honoris  causd  has  been  conferred  on  Mr. 
J.  Y.  Buchanan,  F.R.S.,  University  Lecturer  in  Geography. 

The  Electors  to  the  new  Isaac  Newton  Studentships,  founded 
by  Mr.  F.  McClean,  are  Sir  G.  G.  Stokes,  Profs.  Darwin  and 
Thomson,  Dr.  Glaisher,  and  Mr.  Glazebrook. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Zoological  Society,  May  5.— Prof.  Flower,  C.B.,  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  1 891,  and  called  special  attention  to  the 
arrival  of  what  appeared  to  be  an  adult  male  example  of  the 
Lesser  Orang  [Simia  morio)  of  Owen,  presented  by  Commander 
Ernest  Rason,  R.N.,  who  had  obtained  it  at  Sarawak,  and  to 
a  Great-billed  Tern  {Phaeihusa  magnirostris),  obtained  by 
purchase,  new  to  the  collection. — Mr.  Sclater  opened  a  discussion 
on  the  fauna  of  British  Central  Africa,  by  pointing  out  the 
limits  of  this  new  territory,  which  was  computed  to  embrace 
some  54,000  square  miles  of  land  lying  immediately  north  of  the 
Zambezi  and  west  of  Lake  Nyassa.  Mr.  Sclater  gave  an  account 
of  the  principal  authorities  that  have  already  written  on  the 
subject.  Mr.  Sclater  was  followed  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Boulenger, 
who  read  a  paper  *'  On  the  State  of  our  Knowledge  of  the 
Reptiles  and  Batrachians  of  British  Central  Africa."  The 
discussion  was  continued  by  Mr.  Edgar  A.  Smith,  who  read  a 
note  on  the  Molluscan  fauna  of  British  Central  Africa ;  and 
by  Mr.  £.  T.  Newton,  who  communicated  some  general  remarks 
on  what  is  known  of  the  geology  of  British  Central  Africa, 
stating  several  points  to  which  special  attention  should  be 
directed.  Remarks  on  various  branches  of  the  same  subject 
were  made  by  Dr.  Giinther,  Mr.  O.  Thomas,  Mr.  Stebbing, 
Mr.  Slavin,  and  Mr.  Beddard. — Mr.  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell  read 
notes  on  some  Slugs  of  the  Ethiopian  Region,  based  on 
specimens  in  the  collection  of  the  British  Museum.  — Dr.  C.  J. 
Forsyth-Major  read  a  paper  containing  a  summary  of  our  know- 
ledge of  the  extinct  Mammals  of  the  family  Giraffidae.  — A  com- 
munication was  read  from  the  Hon.  L.  W.  Rothschild,  F.Z.S., 
containing  the  description  of  a  new  Pigeon  of  the  genus  Carpo- 
phaga^  from  Chatham  Island,  South  Pacific,  proposed  to  be  called 
Carpophaga  chathamensis. — Colonel  Beddome  read  descriptions 
of  some  new  Land- Shells  from  the  Indian  Region. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  4.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — On  the  time  of  evaporation  of  water  in  boilers,  by  M. 
Haton  de  la  Goupilli^re.  The  author  has  mathematically  deter- 
mined the  rate  of  lowering  of  the  level  of  the  water  in  steam 
boilers  of  various  forms. — A  geometrical  theorem,  by  M.  Tarry. 
— On  a  class  of  ordinary  linear  differential  equations,  by  M. 
Jules  Cels. — On  the  convergence  of  recurring  simple  fractions, 
by  M.  H.  Pade. — On  an  induction  inclination  needle,  by  M.  H. 
Wild.  A  short  note  is  given  on  some  measures  of  magnetic  in- 
clination made  with  a  new  form  of  needle.  It  appears  from  the 
experiments  that  the  inclination  at  a  place  can  be  determined 
within  4" '5  by  a  single  observation.  Skilled  observers  make  the 
determination  within  2"'5.  Inclination  may  therefore  now  be 
determined  as  accurately  as  declination. — On  a  process  for  con- 
structing screws  suitable  for  the  instruments  to  be  used  for  the 
measurement  of  the  photographic  map  of  the  heavens,  by  M.  P. 
Gautier.  — Quantitative  studies  of  the  chemical  action  of  light  ; 
Part  ii.,  reactions  with  different  thicknesses  of  glass  and  with 
different  forms  of  vessels,  by  M.  Georges  Lemoine. — On  some 
compounds  formed  by  mercuric  chloride,  by  M.  G.  Andre.  The 
methods  of  preparation  of  the  subjoined  compounds  are  given, 
together  with  analyses  establishing  their  composition  : — 

(i)  4ZnCl2,  HgClj,  loNH,  +  2H,0  ; 

(2)  2ZnCl2,  HgClj,  6NH8  +  iHoO ; 

(3)  CaHsNHHgCl ; 

(4)  C^H^NH^  HgCl, ; 

(5)  SCflHoNHHgCl  4-  2HgCIs  ; 

NO.    I  124,  VOL.  44] 


(6)  3C,H5NHHgCl  -f  2HgCl, ; 

(7)  CeH5.CH,.NH^HgCl,; 

(8)  CeH5.CH,.NH.HgCl. 

— A  general  law  determining,  as  a  simple  function  of  the  chemical 
constitution  of  bodies,  the  temperatures  of  their  changes  of  state 
under  all  pressures,  by  M.  G.  Hinrichs. — On  boron  selenide,  by 
M.  Paul  Sabatier.  The  compound  is  prepared  by  the  action  of 
vapours  of  selenium  upon  amorphous  boron  at  a  red  heat,  or  of 
seleniuretted  hydrogen  on  amorphous  boron  at  a  bright  red  heat 
in  a  tube  of  Bohemian  glass.  The  action  of  water  upon  the 
selenide  shows  it  to  have  the  same  composition  as  the  sulphide 
and  oxide.  Its  formula  is  therefore  B,Se,,  a  conclusion  supported 
by  the  results  of  a  rapid  analysis. — On  the  action  of  hydriodic 
acid  on  boron  bromide,  by  M.  A.  Besson.  At  a  raised  tem- 
perature the  three  compounds  BBr^I,  BBrlg,  and  BIj,  have  been 
obtained. — On  the  basic  chromites  of  magnesium  and  zinc,  and 
the  neutral  chromite  of  cadmium,  by  M.  G.  Viard. — Prepwa- 
tion  of  disodic  erythrate,  by  M.  de  Forcrand. — DLscussioD 
of  the  experiments  of  Biot  on  aqueous  solutions  of  taztaric 
acid  in  presence  of  potash  or  soda,  by  M.  G.  Aignan. — Formt- 
tion  of  dimethacrylic  acid  in  the  preparation  of  the  acid  amides 
of  isovaleric  acid,  by  M.  E.  Duvillier. — Methyl-methylcyano- 
succinate,  methylethenyltricarboxylic  ether,  by  M.  L.  Bardie.— 
On  the  "dextrosity  "  of  certain  Gastropods  called  "sinisteis" 
(Lanistes,  Peraclis,  Limacina,  larvae  of  Cymbuliidae),  by  M. 
Paul  Pelseneer. — On  the  structure  of  the  composite  eye  of 
certain  Crustaceae,  by  M.  H.  Vaillanes. — Comparative  stmctoie 
of  the  inflated  roots  of  certain  umbelliferous  plants,  by  M. 
Gdneau  de  Lamarli^re.  It  b  shown  that  the  anomaly  whidi  is 
observed  in  the  inflated  lateral  roots  of  certain  umbellifenxs 
plants  (CEnanthe,  Carum)  is  more  apparent  than  real.  In  plants 
of  the  same  family  an  intermediate  series  should  be  found  between 
the  structure  called  normal  and  the  structure  of  a  normal  inflated 
root  (Daucus,  Apium). — On  the  microscopic  structure  of  the 
phosphate  rocks  of  Dekma  (Department  of  Constantine),  by  M. 
Bleicher.  The  rocks  examined  are  said  to  show  under  the 
microscope  the  mixture  of  a  fair  proportion  of  osseous  dlhrii^ 
whence  it  is  thought  that  this  is  the  origin  of  the  phosphoms  in 
rocks  rich  in  calcium  phosphate. — Note  on  the  Quateroaiy 
strata  of  6ragny  and  Cergy  (Seine-et-Oise),  by  M.  E.  Riviirc— 
On  the  production  of  diabetes  after  the  destruction  of  the  pan- 
creas, by  M.  £.  H^don. — Meteorological  observations  on  the 
Pamir,  by  M.  Guillaume  Capus.  An  account  is  given  of  thenno- 
metric  observations  made  between  March  13  and  April  19,  1887, 
on  the  high  plain  of  Pamir,  the  centre  of  the  highlands  d 
Europasia. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

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Bacteriology.     By  F.  J.  W 27 


Our  Book  Shelf: — 

Meyer:  *'Anleitung  zur  Bearbeitung  meteorologischer 

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"  Intensity  Coils  :  how  made  and  how  used  "    .... 

Calleja:  ''General  Physiology" 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

Co-adaptation. — Prof.  George  J.  Romanes,  F.R.S. ; 

ProfT  R.  Meldola,F.R.S 

Physiological    Selection   and   the  Different  Meanings 
given  to  the  Term  **  Infertility.  "—Rev.  John  T. 

Gulick      

Propulsion  of  Silk  by  Spiders. — S.  J 

The  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock.— S.  E.  Peal    .    .   . 

Antipathy  [?]  of  Birds  for  Colour.— T.  B.  J 

The  Destruction  of  Fish  by  Frost. — F.  F.  Payne  .   . 
The  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a  Whirling  Ring. — Charles  A. 

Carus-Wilson 

Hertz's  Experiments.     Ill 

Five  Years'  Pulse  Curves.     {^With  Diagram.)    By  F. 

H.  Perry  Coste 

The  Science  Museum  and  Gallery  of  British  Art  at 

South  Kensington 

Notes 

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451 

46 


NA TURE 


49 


THURSDAY,  MAY  21,  1891. 


PYCNOGONIDS, 

Den  Norske  Nordhavs-Expedition,  1876-78.  XX.  Zoo- 
logi^Pycnogonidecu  Ved  G.  O.  Sars,  Med  1 5  Plancher 
og  I  Kart.  (Christiania  :  Grondahl  &  Sons,  Bogtryk- 
keri,  1891.) 

Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratory ^  Johns  Hopkins 
University y  Baltimore  :  A  Contribution  to  the  Em- 
bryology and  Phytogeny  of  the  Pycnogonids,  By  T.  H. 
Morgan.  With  Eight  Plates.  (Baltimore  :  The  Johns 
Hopkins  Press,  1891.) 

THE  group  of  sea  spiders,  or  the  Pycnogonidea,  was 
for  a  long  time  among  the  least  known,  though  by 
no  means  the  least  interesting,  of  the  divisions  of  the 
marine  invertebrates.  Linnaeus  described  a  species  as 
a  Phalangium,  placing  it  among  terrestrial  forms,  and 
though  a  century  and  a  quarter  has  passed  since  then, 
the  problem  of  where  to  place  these  Pycnogonids  cannot 
be  said  to  be  finally  settled. 

Within  the  last  ten  years  or  so,  an  immense  advance 
has  been  made  in  our  knowledge  of  the  morphology, 
anatomy,  and  embryology  of  the  group,  thanks  to  the 
labours  of  Anton  Dohm,  who,  in  1881,  described  the 
forms  found  in  the  Gulf  of  Naples,  and  of  Hoek,  who 
about  the  same  date  described  the  species  found  during 
the  cruises  of  the  Willem  Barents  and  the  Challenger. 
During  all  this  period  opinions  varied  as  to  whether 
these  forms  should  be  placed  among  the  Arachnids  or 
the  Crustacea,  but  apparently  both  the  authors  just 
referred  to  have  agreed  that  the  Pycnogonids  should  be 
placed  with  neither,  but  that  they,  with  the  Arachnids 
and  the  Crustacea,  have  come  down  the  stream  of 
evolution  in  parallel  lines. 

To  the  existing  recent  memoirs  of  these  Arthropods, 
the  splendid  volume  just  published  on  the  Pycnogonidea 

'-  found  during  the  Norwegian  North  Atlantic  Expedition, 
1876-78,  by  Prof.  G.  O.  Sars,  adds,  perhaps,  from  a 
morphological  point  of  view,  the  most  important  of  the 
recent  publications  on  the  group ;  for,  valuable  as  beyond 
question  are  the  structural  and  developmental  details,  a 
special  knowledge  of  general  morphological  detail  is  also 

;;  needed  for  the  convenient  understanding  and  classifying 
of  any  group. 
The  material  at  Prof.  Sars's  disposal  was  very  large,  and 

'  in  addition  he  has  made  use  of  collections  made  by  himself 
during  many  years  back  on  the  coasts  of  Norway,  and 
also  of  some  few  forms  sent  to  him  by  Dr.  A.  Stuxberg, 
which  had  been  found  in  the  Kara  Sea  during  Norden- 

\  sldold's  expedition.  A  very  great  contrast  is  to  be  seen 
on  comparing  these  northern  forms  with  such  a  collection 
as  that  of  Dohm  from  the  Mediterranean.  The  great 
number  of  species  belonging  to  the  family  Nymphonidae 

,;  is  specially  characteristic  of  the  Northern  Seas  as  con- 
trasted with  the  Mediterranean,  while  again  the  Northern 
Sea  species  attain  very  generally  much  larger  dimensions* 
some  being  gigantic  in  comparison  with  those  of  the 

4  Mediterranean. 

In  working  out  the  classification  of  the  group,  Sars  has 

.  ^mnd  it  necessary  to  treat  the  families  in  a  somewhat  more 

NO.   1 125,  VOL.  44] 


restricted  sense  than  has  been  done  by  most  of  the  previous 
writers,  and  has  been  obliged  to  increase  their  number. 
While  fully  agreeing  that  the  descriptions  and  even  figures 
of  the  Pycnogonids  given  by  the  earlier  writers  leave 
much  to  be  desired,  and  are  as  a  rule  even  exceedingly 
defective,  in  some  cases  indeed  being  so  bad  as  not  to  be 
intelligible,  yet  he  thinks  that  some  quite  recent  describers 
have  rejected  as  bad  a  greater  number  of  descriptions 
than  with  a  little  patient  research  was  really  necessary. 
Thus  he  finds  it  hard  to  believe  that,  while  not  a  few 
species  have  been  described  from  the  Gulf  of  Naples,  all 
the  species  described  as  found  there  by  Dohrn,  with  one 
exception,  should  be  new.  Most  certainly  as  regards  the 
northern  species  we  cannot  sufficiently  admire  the  pains 
which  Sars  has  taken  in  working  out  all  the  imperfect 
descriptions  and  rough  figures  of  our  past  recorders  of 
new  forms,  with  the  result  that  he  has  succeeded  in 
re-establishing  many  wholly  forgotten  or  ignored  species 
of  Goodsir  and  others. 

As  regards  the  terminology  used  in  describing  the 
various  parts,  some,  classing  the  Pycnogonids  with  the 
Crustacea,  adopted  terms  in  use  among  the  latter  ;  while 
others,  holding  their  affinity  to  be  with  the  Arachnids, 
employed  again  a  different  set  of  terms.  Dohm,  to  avoid 
the  difficulty  as  regards  the  limbs,  rejects  all  special 
terms,  describing  them  as  No.  I.,  II.,  &c. ;  Sars  uses  a 
terminology  the  terms  of  which  involve  as  little  as 
possible  of  any  homologous  references. 

Forty-three  species  are  described  and  figured.  Several 
of  them  are  here  fully  described  for  the  first  time,  though 
short  diagnoses  of  them  appeared  in  a  preliminary  report. 
The  fourteen  genera  are  arranged  in  eight  families, 
and  these  are  grouped  into  three  orders,  the  ordinal 
characters  being  based  on  the  relations  of  the  "  chelifors." 
Thus  in  Order  i,  Achelata,  these  chelae  are,  except  in  the 
larval  state,  entirely  absent ;  in  Order  2,  Euchelata,  the 
chelae  are  well  developed  throughout  all  the  stages  of 
life ;  while  in  Order  3,  Cryptochela,  the  chelae  are  pre- 
sent, as  a  mle,  in  the  young  stages  (not  alone  in  the 
larvae),  but  in  the  fully  developed  condition  they  become 
atrophied  or  disappear.  This  arrangement  no  doubt  will 
have  to  be  modified  so  as  to  fit  it  to  receive  the  very 
numerous  forms  from  other  parts  of  the  world,  but  it  is  a 
first  step  in  the  right  direction  of  an  intelligent  grouping 
of  the  genera. 

The  second  memoir  on  our  list  treats  of  the  Pycnogonids 
from  a  different  standpoint,  being  a  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  embryology  and  phylogeny  of  the  group, 
by  T.  H.  Morgan,  Fellow  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
After  a  short  allusion  to  the  work  of  Dohm  and  Hoek, 
who  have  ''  placed  the  morphology  of  the  order  on  a  very 
firm  basis,"  he  proceeds  to  treat  of  the  early  stages  of  the 
embryology  of  the  Pycnogonids,  stages  which  have  been 
practically  unexamined,  and  a  knowledge  of  which  is 
needed  to  enable  the  relationship  of  the  group  to  be 
guessed  at. 

The  material  for  this  work  was  collected  at  Wood's 
Holl.  Three  genera,  each  with  a  single  species,  are  to  be 
found  at  this  place — Pallene  empusa^  Phoxichilidium 
maxillare^  and  Tony  sty  lum  orbicular e;  and  during  July, 
August,  and  September,  these  were  found  carrying  ova. 
The  alcoholic  picro-sulphuric  acid  process  was  adopted 
for  hardening ;  the  eggs  being   cut  in  paraffin.      The 

D 


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NATURE 


[May  21,  1891 


ea[g5<if  ?iH6ii,e^re  large,  0*25  mm.,  and  well  adapted 
Jorjioj^efitigation.  After  a  minute  description  of  the 
early  stages  of  development,  the  author  considers  that 
from  them  there  is  little  or  no  ground  for  a  comparison 
between  the  Pycnogonids  and  the  Crustacea,  certainly 
not  with  any  existing  forms.  The  multipolar  delamina- 
tion  of  the  endoderm  in  the  Pycnogonids  has  no  homo- 
logue  amongst  the  Crustacea,  nor  is  there  any  special 
similarity  in  the  formations  of  the  organs.  There  seems 
to  be  no  trace  of  gastrulation  like  that  in  the  Crustacean 
in  the  ontogeny  of  the  group.  And  if  there  be  reason  for 
rejecting  a  relationship  between  the  Pantopod  larva  and 
the  Nauplius,  and  with  Dohrn  he  believes  that  there  is, 
then  there  remains  nothing  in  common  to  the  ontogeny 
of  the  two  groups. 

Nor  are  there  any  special  affinities  between  the  insects 
and  Pycnogonids  ;  but  between  these  latter  and  Peripatus 
a  striking  similarity  is  met  with  in  the  paired  ventral 
organs,  both  in  the  structure  and  position  of  these,  but 
for  the  present  there  is  no  proof  forthcoming  as  to  a  real 
homology  of  these  bodies.  The  process  of  the  formation 
of  the  endoderm,  as  described  by  H eider  and  by  Wheeler 
in  insects,  shows  a  certain  resemblance  to  multipolar 
delamination  ;  but  if  it  be  such,  it  is  a  more  complicated 
form  than  is  shown  by  the  Pycnogonids.  With  these 
two  exceptions  there  would  seem  to  be  nothing  else  in 
common  in  the  ontogeny  of  the  two  groups. 

Lastly,  as  to  a  decision  as  to  the  relationship  with  the 
Arachnids,  or  as  to  their  being  an  independent  phylum. 
While  Dohrn  and  Hoek  ably  maintain  the  latter,  though 
not  agreeing  as  to  the  why  in  all  details,  yet  the  study  of 
the  early  stages  of  the  embryology  has  brought  to  light 
certain  facts  which  lead  the  author  of  this  memoir  to 
believe  in  a  community  of  descent  between  the  two. 
The  reasons  for  this  belief  are  given  in  full  detail,  with 
difficulty  admitting  of  abbreviation.    The  Pycnogonids 
form  the  endoderm  by  a  process  of  multipolar  delamina- 
tion, which  is  shown  in  its  simplest  form  in  Phoxichilidium 
and  Tanystylum,  and  in  a  more  modified  condition  in 
Pallene.     In  no  other  group  of  the  Triploblastica  is  a 
similar  phenomenon  found  except  in  the  Arachnids.     In 
the  spiders  the  process  is  not  so  well  marked,  but  ii 
Balfour's  conception  of  the  formation  of  the  yolk  nuclei 
be  correct,  then    a    direct    comparison  may  be  made 
between  the  two  groups.    The  first  trace  of  the  embryo 
to  appear  in  Pallene  is  a  round  opaque  area  at  the  spot 
where  the  stomodaeum  invaginates.     In  Schimkewitsch's 
recent  account  of  the  development  of  the  spiders,  he 
shows  that  the  primitive  cumulus  in  them  is  the  place 
where  the  stomodaeum  invaginates  ;  and  in  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  stomodaeum  of  spiders  in  its 
earliest    development  is  a  triangular  invagination,   he 
actually  compares  it  with  the  triangular  invagination  of 
the  oesophagus  of  the  Pycnogonids.     It  is  also  exceed- 
ingly probable  that  the  early  formation   of  the  body 
cavity  surrounded  by  mesoblast  in  the  legs  of  spiders 
has  an   exact  parallel  in  Pallene  and   Phoxichilidium. 
In    both  Arachnids  and  Pycnogonids    there    are  well- 
marked  diverticula  from  the  mid  gut  into  the  legs.     In 
both  Arachnids  and  Pycnogonids  the  first  pair  of  append- 
ages are  chelate,  and  in  both  this  first  pair  is  innervated 
from  the  brain  ;  these  facts  alone,  it  will  be  remembered, 
were  considered  by  Balfour  to   indicate  a  relationship 

NO.   II 2 5,  VOL.  44] 


between  the  groups.  Mr.  Morgan  was  unable  to  find  any 
post-oral  ganglia  for  Pallene,  but  the  first  pair  of  append- 
ages arises  on  the  sides  of  the  stomodaeum  and  moves 
forward  later.  In  this  respect,  it  compares  closely  with 
the  spiders,  and  the  early  innervation  of  this  pair  from 
the  brain  itself  may  be  regarded  as  a  more  abbreviated 
condition  than  what  was  seen  (by  Balfour)  in  the  spiders. 
Metchnikoffs  figures  for  Chelifer  show  the  first  pair  ok 
appendages  to  arise  above  and  on  each  side  of  the  pro- 
boscis-like upper  lip,  and  if  future  investigation  verifies 
Metchnikoffs  suggestion  that  this  proboscis  is  homo- 
logous, entirely  or  in  part,  to  the  proboscis  of  the  Pycno- 
gonids, as  his  figure  seems  to  indicate,  then  does  the 
whole  development  of  the  Chelifer  show  remarkably  close 
resemblances  to  that  of  the  Pycnogonids.  The  fourth 
pair  of  ambulatory  legs — the  seventh  pair  of  appendages 
— has  been  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  an  Arachnid 
relationship,  and  the  attempts  to  solve  the  difficulty  have 
been  many.  Here,  again,  Balfour's  suggestion  that  this 
last  segment  and  its  appendages  may  represent  the  first 
abdominal  segment  of  the  Arachnids  is  of  value,  as 
we  know  that  the  embryos  of  spiders  have  rudimentary 
appendages  on  the  abdomen.  In  a  second  part  of  this 
memoir  the  metamorphosis  of  Tanystylum  is  described, 
and  in  a  third  part  we  have  a  very  complete  study  of  the 
structure  and  development  of  the  eyes  of  Pycnogonids 
and  a  comparison  with  the  Arachnid  simple  eyes,  a  com- 
parison that  seems  to  verify  the  relationship  pointed  out 
in  the  first  part  of  the  memoir.  E.  P.  W. 


A  TEXT-BOOK  OF  CHEMISTRY  BASED  ON 
THE  PERIODIC  SYSTEM, 

A  System  of  Inorganic  Chemistry.  By  William  Ramsa>, 
Ph.D.,  F.R.S.  Pp.  700.  (London  :  J.  and  A.  Churchill, 
1891.) 

DURING  the  twenty-five  years  or  so  which  have 
elapsed  since  the  recognition  of  the  periodic  law 
of  the  chemical  elements  as  a  valid  relationship,  the 
pronounced  influence  which  it  has  exercised  both  on  the 
aspect  and  aims  of  chemical  science  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned. Whether  in  the  prediction  of  undiscovered  ele- 
ments, or  as  an  indicator  of  needful  research,  especially 
in  the  department  of  atomic  weight  estimations,  it  has 
met  with  signal  success.  In  connecting  the  physical 
properties  of  the  elements  themselves  and  of  their  com- 
pounds with  atomic  weight,  it  has  opened  up  new  fields 
of  investigation,  and  thrown  fresh  interest  into  old  ones. 
Properties  so  widely  different  as  those  measured  by  re- 
fraction equivalent  and  breaking  stress  find  an  explana- 
tion, nowadays,  in  the  magnitudes  of  the  atomic  weights. 
As  a  means  of  classification,  too,  the  success  of  the 
periodic  arrangement  has  not  been  less  striking.  Indeed, 
to  its  power  as  an  instrument  of  classification  it  owes  its 
general  acceptance  in  the  first  instance.  When  the  ideas 
of  Avogadro  had  become  recognized,  and  by  their  means 
the  old  system  of  "  equivalents "  had  been  replaced  by 
the  true  atomic  weights,  then  the  periodic  arrangement 
resulted  in  a  grouping  of  the  elements  so  much  in  har- 
mony with  existing  notions  of  their  relationships,  that 
the  far-reaching  power  of  the  generalization  could  no 
longer  be  resisted. 


May  21,  1891 1 


NA 7  URE 


51 


The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  book  before  us  con- 
sists in  the  use  of  the  periodic  arrangement  as  a  means 
of  classifying  the  subject-matter  of  inorganic  chemistry. 
Here,  the  time-honoured  methods  of  putting  the  facts 
and  theories  of  chemistry  before  the  student  are  set  aside, 
and  as  the  method  adopted  is  novel  to  English  text- 
books, it  may  be  advisable  to  consider  its  characteristics. 
After  a  short  historical  introduction,  the  author  pro- 
ceeds to  describe  the  occurrence,  preparation,  and 
properties  of  the  elements  in  the  order  in  which  they 
are  found  in  the  periodic  table.  First,  Group  I.,  hydro- 
gen and  the  alkali  metals ;  then  Group  II.,  metals  of  the 
alkaline  earths,  and  so  forth.  The  descriptions  refer,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  the  elements  of  the  same  group  taken 
collectively. 

The  compounds  of  elements  of  the  different  groups 
with  the  halogens  form  the  next  part,  and  in  the  intro- 
ductory portion  the  student  meets  for  the  first  time  with 
matter  which  it  is  customary  to  discuss  at  an  earlier 
stage  in  the  text-books  ;  such  matter  as  the  distinction 
between  element  and  compound,  the  use  of  chemical 
symbols,  the  gaseous  laws,  &c.  The  fourth  part  deals 
with  the  oxides,  sulphides,  selenides,  and  tellurides, 
and  under  these  headings  are  to  be  found  hydroxides, 
hydrosulphides,  &c.,  classed  as  compounds  of  the  oxides 
with  water,  hydrogen  sulphide,  &c.  Here,  also,  are 
treated  the  salts  of  the  oxyacids,  classed  as  double 
oxides,  and  compounds  as  POCJs  treated  as  double 
compounds  with  the  halogens. 

Part  V.  gives  an  account  of  the  borides,  carbides,  and 
silicides ;  such  of  the  hydrocarbons  as  are  considered, 
and  the  organo-metallic  compounds  occur  in  this  part. 
Compounds  with  the  elements  of  the  nitrogen  group,  in- 
cluding the  cyanides,  form  Part  vi.  Alloys  and  amalgams 
are  discussed  in  Part  vii.  The  first  chapter  of  ,thc  next 
part  gives  a  short  account  of  spectrum  analysis  and  the 
rare  earths.  The  second  chapter  is  chiefly  concerned 
with  the  criteria  for  fixing  atomic  and  molecular  weights, 
Che  Raoult  methods  finiding  a  place,  and  the  last  chapter 
is  devoted  to  the  periodic  law.  The  closing  part  of  the 
book  takes  up,  mainly  with  regard  to  the  chemical  prin- 
ciples involved,  the  manufacturing  processes  usually 
treated  in  the  text-books. 

It  will  be  seen,  as  the  author  states  in  his  preface,  that 
the  method  adopted  does  away  with  the  distinction 
between  metals  and  non-metals ;  no  special  stress  is  laid 
on  the  properties  of  acids  as  contrasted  with  bases ;  equal 
prominence  is  given  to  rare  and  more  common  substances ; 
and  the  commercial  importance  of  a  substance  or  process 
is  not  considered  an  argument  for  its  special  considera- 
tion. 

Such  a  work  as  this  may  be  looked  at  from  two  points  of 
view.  Regarded  as  a  systematic  arrangement  of  the 
£acts  of  inorganic  chemistry,  from  which  any  desired  in- 
formation may  be  speedily  taken  after  one  has  become 
familiarized  with  the  method  of  classification  adopted, 
its  success  is  undoubted.  The  book  is  quite  in  touch 
with  recent  investigations,  nothing  of  importance  seems 
to  be  omitted  from  the  descriptive  portion,  and,  what 
is  a  reconmiendation  to  a  large  class  of  readers,  the  size 
of  the  book  is  not  excessive.  Whatever  be  the  results  of  the 
system  adopted,  economy  of  space  is  assuredly  achieved. 

NO.   1 125,  VOL.  44] 


To  the  teacher  or  to  the  advanced  student  who  wishes 
to  use  the  book  as  a  work  of  reference,  or  desires  to 
systematize  his  knowledge,  it  will  be  eminently  useful. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  system  be  regarded  from 
the  point  ot  view  of  a  basis  for  teaching,  its  construc- 
tion from  its  very  novelty  must  be  open  to  discussion. 
A  method  of  teaching  chemistry  often  employed  may 
be  said  to  consist  in  giving  the  learner  in  as  easy  a  manner 
as  possible  the  leading  facts  of  chemical  science  with 
regard,  in  the  first  instance,  more  to  the  correct  apprecia- 
tion of  the  meaning  of  the  facts  themselves,  than  of  the 
exact  arrangement  or  classification  of  the  same.  To 
this  end  the  student  is  led  from  the  study  of  the  chemical 
properties  of  commonly  occurring  bodies  to  die  descrip- 
tion of  the  elements  contained  in  them,  explanations  of 
chemical  terms  being  given  as  they  crop  up,  or  in  short 
reviews  at  intervals  not  far  apart.  When  the  properties 
of  the  elements  are  being  explained,  their  reactions  with 
other  elements  have  to  be  noticed,  and  hence  it  appears 
natural  to  describe  the  important  compounds  of  an 
element  after  its  own  properties  have  been  discussed. 
The  periodic  system  does  not  seem  to  provide  the  means 
for  such  a  course  of  teaching,  and  this  appears  to  us 
to  be  the  main  reason  for  its  non-adoption  in  the  text- 
books. 

Indeed,  the  new  method  has  little  in  common  with 
that  indicated  above.  The  entire  series  of  the  elements 
apart  from  their  compounds  are  described,  and  chemical 
and  physical  terms  are  freely  used  without  any  attempt 
being  made  to  define  them  till  all  the  elements  have  been 
treated.  In  fact,  a  few  terms,  as  critical  point  and  heat 
of  formation,  are  used,  but  as  far  as  we  can  see,  not 
defined  in  the  book.  Again,  compounds  containing  a 
common  constituent  are  classed  together,  but  compounds 
of  what  may  be  taken  as  a  parent  element  are  scattered 
throughout  the  various  groups.  Surely,  in  connection 
with  this  point,  reasons  similar  to  those  which  lead  to 
the  grouping  of  compounds  containing  the  same  element, 
on  the  new  system,  would  hold  for  the  old  method  of 
considering  compounds.  The  position  of  the  iron  group 
of  elements  after  the  aluminium  group  and  of  the  copper 
group — the  last  one  described — may  be  taken  as  an  indi- 
cation that  even  in  the  author's  opinion  the  periodic  law 
does  not  in  all  cases  indicate  most  clearly  the  relation- 
ships of  the  elements.  Such  considerations  as  these  must 
weigh  with  a  teacher  before  he  can  adopt  the  system  ; 
during  four  years'  experience,  however,  the  author  has 
had  no  reason  to  doubt  its  success. 

The  book  is  clearly  printed,  and  the  illustrations,  though 
not  very  numerous,  are  for  the  most  part  new.  The 
frequent  use  of  vapour  jackets  in  the  apparatus  repre- 
sented is  suggestive  of  the  author's  more  recent  contribu- 
tions to  scientific  literature.  The  useful  system  adopted 
by  Ostwald  in  his  '^  Lehrbuch,"  of  indicating  the  state 
of  aggregation  of  a  substance  by  the  type,  has  been 
employed. 

Setting  aside  the  points  which  may  be  urged  against 
the  work  as  a  basis  for  teaching,  the  periodic  law,  as 
expounded  by  Prof.  Ramsay,  does  more  than  any  other 
system  of  classification  to  put  the  matter  of  inorganic 
chemistry  on  a  footing  resembling  that  which  holds  for 
organic  chemistry. 


52 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 


Eighteen  Years  of  University  Extension.  By  R.  D. 
Roberts,  M.A.,  D.Sc.  (Lond.).  (Cambridge  :  University 
Press,  1 89 1.) 

The  University  Extension  movement  takes  so  prominent 
a  place  among  the  educational  influences  of  the  age  that 
a  good  account  of  the  system  has  for  some  time  been 
needed.  This  is  supplied  by  Mr.  Roberts,  who,  first  as 
lecturer,  then  since  1881  as  assistant  and  organizing 
secretary  to  the  Cambridge  Syndicate,  and  since  1886  as 
secretary  to  the  London  Society,  has  had  the  best  possible 
opportunities  of  studying  the  new  method,  and  of  forming 
a  judgment  as  to  its  fitness  for  the  uses  to  which  it  is 
applied.  He  begins  with  an  account  of  the  origin  and 
growth  of  the  movement,  then  describes  the  character  of 
the  audiences,  the  reception  of  the  idea  by  artisans,  and 
the  signs  of  earnestness  displayed  by  various  classes  of 
students.  Mr.  Roberts  also  discusses  the  conditions  of 
success,  has  a  chapter  on  the  consolidation  of  the  work, 
and  presents  a  summary  of  results.  No  essential  fact 
has  been  omitted,  and  the  general  impression  which  will 
be  left  on  the  minds  of  most  readers  probably  is  that 
those  connected  with  the  movement  have  done  much  to 
foster  and  to  satisfy  the  desire  of  a  very  large  number  of 
persons  for  intellectual  training.  There  are  certain 
rules — some  of  them  rather  difficult — with  which  the 
system  must  be  brought  into  accord  if  it  is  to  be  capable 
of  further  development ;  and  these  are  stated  with  much 
force  and  precision  in  the  present  useful  little  volume. 

Evening  Work  for  Amateur  Photographers.  By  T.  C. 
Hepworth,  F.C.S.  (London;  Hazell,  Watson,  and 
Viney,  Ltd.,  1890.) 

I N  thisbook  the  author  has  written,  in  an  i  nteresting  manner, 
a  series  of  chapters  relating  to  many  points  in  photography 
that  are  generally  found  most  useful  to  amateurs.  The 
following  are  the  subjects  of  some  of  the  chapters  : 
lantern  entertainments,  lantern-slides  on  gelatine  plates, 
clouds  in  lantern  pictures,  frame-making,  enlarging,  pho- 
tography by  magnesium  light.  There  are  also  two  or 
three  chapters  on  electric  light,  light  by  incandescence, 
and  methods  of  making  cheap  batteries. 

The  subjects  are  treated  in  a  manner  that  makes  the 
book  well  worth  reading,  and  its  value  is  increased  by 
numerous  illustrations  obtained  from  photographs  and 
drawings  by  the  author. 


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  JUatu^i^. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications,] 

The  University  of  London  Question. 

The  Convocation  of  the  University  of  London  has,  by  a  large 
majority,  thrown  out  the  scheme  for  the  reconstitution  of  the 
University  proposed  by  the  Senate.  Even  those  who  had  little 
love  for  it  must  feel  some  sympathy  at  the  frustration  of  labours 
which  were  as  patient  as  they  were  undoubtedly  disinterested. 

For  the  moment  the  whole  question  remains  in  abeyance.  I 
am  disposed  to  think  that  it  may  be  useful  to  discuss,  in  the 
interval  which  must  elapse  before  any  further  step  is  taken,  some 
of  the  fundamental  questions  which  seem  to  me  to  underlie  the 
solution  of  the  problem,  and  have  never,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
been  properly  considered. 

On  such  a  subject  one  might  easily  write  a  great  deal.  For 
the  sake  of  brevity  I  shall  therefore  attempt  to  sum  up  what  I 
have  to  say  under  separate  heads. 

7^he  Examination  System, 

One  factor  in  the  present  situation  is  undoubtedly  the  growing 
dissatisfaction  of  many  distinguished  teachers  with  the  examina- 


NO.    I  125,   VOL.  44] 


tion  system  as  applied  to  University  education.  And  as  the 
University  of  London  at  present  does  nothing  but  examine,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  question  lies  at  the  root  of  any  judgment  that 
may  be  pronounced  on  its  present  work  and  constitution.  Those 
who  wish  to  know  all  that  can  be  said  against  the  present  use  of 
examinations  in  University  work  cannot  do  better  than  study 
a  paper  by  Prof.  Lankester,  which  he  has  reprinted  in  his 
**  Advancement  of  Science"  (pp.  175-192).  He  has  stated  his 
case  with  all  the  force  and  lucidity  of  which  he  is  a  happy 
master.  He  sees  "  the  most  injurious  result  of  the  system  "  in 
**  the  degradation  of  the  teacher."  The  "  intrusive  board  of 
examiners  "  draws  "  away  from  him  the  attention  and  the  respect 
of  his  pupils,"  or  urges  '*him  to  put  aside  his  own  thought  and 
experience,  and  to  leach  the  conventional  and  commonplace.'* 

I  am  free  to  admit  that  there  is  a  certain  element  of  truth  in 
what  Prof.  Lankester  says.  But  having  had,  like  him,  a  good 
deal  of  experience  both  of  examining  and  of  being  examined.  I 
am  disposed  to  think  the  picture  somewhat  over-coloured.  No 
doubt  the  University  of  London  in  the  past  has  exalted  ex- 
amination into  a  sort  of  idol.  But  as  regards  the  superior 
degrees  in  science  and  medicine,  at  any  rate,  examination  is 
now  practically  dispensed  with,  and  the  test  of  competence  is 
the  performance  of  some  kind  of  original  investigation. 

For  the  inferior  degrees,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  examina- 
tion system  in  more  or  less  prescribed  subjects  obtains  every- 
where in  the  three  kingdoms.  For  my  part,  I  think  the  system 
may  be  defended,  and  upon  the  same  lines  as  those  on  which 
Prof.  Lankester  defends  "leaving  examinations"  at  schools. 
For  he  says,  and  I  think  rightly,  that  such  an  examination 
"  may  be  regarded  as  a  means  of  criticizing  and  testing  the 
performance  not  merely  of  the  schoolboys  but  of  the  school- 
masters." Now  in  University  education,  as  carried  on  in  this 
country,  I  can  only  see  a  prolongation  of  school  education,  with 
methods  and  a  moral  discipline  modified  to  suit  the  more  ad- 
vanced age  of  the  pupils.  And  the  inferior  degree  (I  am  not 
speaking,  of  course,  of  professional  subjects)  is,  in  my  view, 
nothing  more  than  the  corresponding  **  leaving  examination.'* 
It  is  a  test  of  whether  teaching  has  been  faithfully  done  and 
learning  diligently  pursued. 

I  am  quite  ready  to  admit  that  impending  examinations  are 
more  or  less  irksome  both  to  teachers  and  taught ;  but  I  am  not 
convinced  that  that  discipline  is  in  itself  an  evil.  It  is  not  un- 
desirable that  some  restraint  should  be  put  on  the  possible 
vagaries  of  the  one  and  the  very  probable  desultoriness  of  the 
other.  It  is  necessary  in  entering  upon  the  study  of  a  subject 
to  go  over  its  fundamental  groundwork  in  a  methodical  manner. 
To  many  teachers  and  to  many  pupils  this  is  not  a  little  doll. 
It  is  easy  and  it  is  pleasant  to  dwell  at  some  length  on  attractive 
parts  of  a  subject  and  to  skim  superficially  over  others.  There 
are  probably  few  persons  who,  looking  back  upon  their  own 
student  days,  will  not  admit  the  truth  of  this.  The  fact  is  that 
to  get  any  mastery  of  a  subject  one  must  learn  its  grammar  ; 
and  the  majority  of  young  people  require  some  degree  of  com- 
pulsion to  make  them  do  it.  It  may  be  irksome  at  the  time,  bat 
the  advantage  is  life-long.  I  ^know,  speaking  from  my  own 
experience,  that  the  compulsion  of  schedules  which  is  so  odious 
to  Prof.  Lankester  has  made  me  devote  my  energies  to  the 
mastery  of  the  rudiments  at  any  rate  of  many  subjects  which  I 
should  certainly  have  carefully  avoided  if  I  had  not  been  com- 
pelled to  do  otherwise.  And  I  do  not  believe  that,  if  students 
are  carefully  and  soundly  taught,  they  suffer  any  real  in- 
justice at  the  hands  of  competent  examiners.  But  then  I  agree 
with  Prof.  Lankester  that  the  examiners  must  know  their  busi- 
ness, and  must  not  be  either  ill-informed  or  pedantic.  No  one, 
I  think,  can  urge  that  the  kind  of  men  that  the  University  of 
London  enlists  in  its  service  as  examiners  are  open  to  the 
charge  of  being  either. 

If  these  views  are  correct,  and  I  believe  in  the  main  they  are, 
then  the  evil  consists  not  in  the  examination  system  as  the  in- 
centive to  the  orderly  performance  of  a  curriculum,  but  in 
another  and  perfectly  distinct  evil  on  which  Prof.  Lankester 
very  sagaciously  puts  his  finger — the  mischievous  importance 
which  the  outside  world  attaches  to  academic  achievement.  "  A 
man  refers  throughout  his  life  to  the  fact  that  he  obtained  a 
'  first-class '  as  a  sort  of  perpetual  testimonial."  Of  conrse,  in  so 
fai  as  this  is  true  it  is  very  absurd.  A  course  of  University 
study  is  a  means,  not  an  end  ;  it  is  a  sort  of  apprenticeship  to  a 
subject.  The  student  learns  its  technique,  its  language,  and 
something  of  its  literature.  If  he  has  done  this  earnestly  and 
well,  his  University  will  applaud  him,  will  call  him  in  academic 


May  21,  1891] 


NATURE 


53 


language  ''a  ^ood  boy.*'  But  when  the  congratalation  of  his 
friends  has  subsided,  the  real  question  arises,  what  will  he  do 
with  the  tools  he  has  learnt  to  use  ?  Here,  I  think,  Uniyersity 
work  enters  upon  a  new  phase,  and  one,  it  seems  to  me,  too  little 
regarded — I  mean  post-graduate  study.  To  control  this  in  any 
fneasnre  by  means  of  examination  seems  to  me  in  the  highest 
degree  absurd.  And  I  must  contend  that  by  making  original 
investigation,  at  any  rate  for  its  doctorate  of  science,  the  qualifica- 
tion for  that  degree,  the  University  of  London  has  taken  a  step 
in  advance  of  many  .of  the  older  Universities  towards  destroying 
the  idea  that  the  passing  of  examinations  is  the  final  end  of 
Univeisity  study. 

A  Teaching  University, 

I  have  a]wa3rs  found  it  not  a  little  difficult  to  understand  what 
those  people  exactly  mean  who  so  strenuously  demand  a  teaching 
University  for  London.  What  Prof.  Lankester  means,  there 
•can,  as  is  usually  the  case,  be  no  sort  of  doubt  about ;  and  this 
I  shall  discuss  presently.  But,  as  far  as  I  can  make  out,  all  other 
persons  seem  to  think  that  London  University  students  labour 
under  some  special  disadvantage  which  undergraduates  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  do  not  experience.  Perhaps,  then,  it 
may  surprbe  many  to  be  told  that  there  is  no  essential  difference 
in  the  two  cases.  Examining  in  the  two  older  Universities  b  in 
the  hands  of  the  University,  and  is  just  as  much  distinct  from  the 
teaching  in  their  case  as  in  that  of  London.  I  can  speak  with 
some  positiveness  upon  this  point,  for  having  been  for  four  years 
an  examiner  for  the  Natural  Science  Tripos  at  Cambridge,  a 
University  with  which  I  have  no  connection,  I  found  the  func- 
tions I  was  called  upon  to  perform  exactly  the  same  as  those  I 
have  also  fulfilled  at  Burlington  Gardens.  In  fact,  I  can  see  no 
essential  difference  between  the  position  of  an  undergraduate  of 
New  College,  Oxford,  examined  for  his  degree  by  the  local 
University  and  an  undergraduate  of  University  College,  London, 
examined  by  the  University  of  the  capital.  If  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  are  teaching  Universities  in  any  intelligible  sense  of 
the  phrase,  then  I  contend  that  the  University  of  London  is 
equally  so. 

Prof.  Lankester  adopts  the  view  of  Fichte,  who  says  "  that 
a  University  is  not  a  place  where  instruction  is  given,  but  an  in- 
stitution for  the  training  of  experts  in  the  art  of  making  know- 
ledge, and  that  this  end  is  attained  by  the  association  of  the 
ptapil  with  his  professor  in  the  inquiries  which  the  latter  initiates 
and  pursues.''    Most  excellent,  and  I  can  imagine  nothing  more 
<le]ightful  than  for  some  wealthy  man  to  give,  say,  half  a  million 
of  money  to  found  such  a  University  in  some  quiet  country  town 
in  England,  where  professor  and  pupils  might  labour  together, 
undisturbed  by  the  life  and  movement  of  a  big  city,  or  the  worry 
of  the  examination-room,  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
But  if  such  *'  a  seat  of  learning,"  in  the  true  sense  of  the  words, 
ODuId  be  brought  into  existence,  it  would  probably  be  found  in 
]iractice  that  the  students  would  be  men  who  had    already 
frnuluated,  i,e,  in  my  view  acquired  that  knowledge  of   the 
elements  of  a  subject  which  is  essential  to  the  proper  perform- 
ance of  any  work  in  it.     A  Professor  of  Biology,  for  example, 
would  not  care  to  have  to  teach  a  pupil  at  the  commencement  of 
a  research  how  to  interpret  what  he  saw  through  the  microscope, 
or  how  to  cut  a  section.     And  if  we  firmly  grasp  the  idea  of  the 
non-finality  of  the  graduation  course,  we  get  an  intelligible  dis- 
trifmtion  of  labour  amongst  the  staflb  of  the  older  Universities  : 
the  college  lecturers  will  prepare  men  for  their  degrees;  the 
professors  will  guide  their  maturer  studies  afterwards. 

While  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  those  who  advocate  the 
creation  of  a  so-called  teaching  University  in  London,  have  got 
hold  of  an  idea  which  they  have  only  imperfectly  assimilated, 
it  is  still  worth  while  to  examine  some  of  the  ways  in  which 
it  might  be  realized. 

"With  an  adequate  endowment  a  new  so-called  teaching 
University  might  no  doubt  be  established  in  London.  It  would 
have  a  staff  of  professors  who,  we  may  assume,  would  be 
adequately  paid.  The  posts  would  in  that  case  be  no  doubt 
filled  with  men  of  distinction  and  eminence.  Would  they  be 
able  to  spend  their  time,  full  of  enthusiam  but  free  from  care,  in 
leading  students  in  the  paths  of  research  after  Prof.  Lankester*s 
ideal  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Such  an  institution  would  not  be  very 
different  from  a  Scotch  University,  where  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished scholars  of  his  age  is  said  to  have  found  his  time 
largely  taken  up  with  teaching  schoolboys  of  larger  growth  the 
mysteries  of  Greek  irregular  verbs.  In  proportion  as  the  new 
institution  became  a  success  the  drudgery  would  increase  and 
the  advantage  diminish.     The  bigger  a  professor's  class  the  less 

NO.   1 125,  VOL.  44] 


personal  contact  he  can  have  with  his  pupils,  till  at  last  he  has 
to  rely  for  any  influence  at  all  on  the  stimulus  of  lecture-room 
oratory.  As  Mrs.  Garrett-Anderson  has,  it  seems  to  me, 
correctly  pointed  out  in  the  Times,  xYktrt  is  very  little  really  to  be 
said  in  favour  of  anything  like  a  great  central  teaching  institution 
for  such  a  city  as  London. 

The  other  alternative  is  to  combine  University  and  King's 
Colleges  into  a  teaching  University.  But  can  this  be  regarded 
as  in  any  way  a  statesman-like  proposal?  Why  should  two 
out  of  many  institutions  be  picked  out  for  University  honours  ? 
And  can  anyone  really  suppose  that  such  a  settlement  would 
have  any  finality  about  it  ?  Why,  for  example,  should  Bedford 
College  be  left  out,  developing,  as  it  apparently  is,  in  usefulness 
and  activity  every  d?y  ?  Then  how  can  the  Royal  College  of 
Science  at  South  Kensington  be  ignored?  It  is  already  in 
popular  esteem  ranked  as  a  University,  and  bids  fair  to  become 
in  time  in  actual  fact  the  great  science  University  of  the 
country.  Why,  too,  ignore  the  City  and  Guilds  Institute  ?  It  is 
difficult,  then,  to  believe  that  a  teaching  University  founded  on 
University  and  King's  Colleges  can  be  regarded  as  in  any  way  a 
final  solution  of  the  problem.  If  it  is  sought  in  this  direction  it 
must  be  based  on  a  wider  federation  of  institutions  of  academic 
rank.  But  in  this  case  all  the  teachers  will  have  something  to 
say  as  to  the  conditions  of  common  examination.  Yet,  accord- 
ing  to  Prof.  Lankester,  the  essence  of  a  true  teaching  University 
idea  is  the  '*  absence  of  examiners — the  professor  himself  is 
examiner  and  teacher  in  one."  Schedules  will  nevertheless 
reproduce  themselves,  and  the  influence  of  colleagues  will  be 
quite  as  much  an  obstacle  to  the  independence  of  the  individual 
professor  as  the  oppression  of  boards  of  examiners. 

Furthermore,  it  is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  unless  the 
existing  University  is  abolished,  it  will  be  possible  for  a  younger 
one  to  escape  its  influence.  Notwithstanding  the  establishment 
of  the  Victoria  University,  it  is  still  found  necessary,  and  at  the 
request  of  Owens  College,  to  hold  the  examinations  of  the 
University  of  London  in  Manchester.  Conse<iuently,  the  pro- 
fessors of  Owens  College  have  to  adapt  their  teaching  to  a 
double  curriculum.  If  the  proposed  University  of  Westminster 
were  founded,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  same  thing  would 
happen.  The  professors  would  still  have  to  bow  their  necks  to 
the  yoke  of  the  Burlington  Gardens  schedules. 

Expansion  of  Existing  University, 

It  may  be  taken  as  quite  certain  that  the  existing  University 
of  London  is  too  well  rooted  in  the  esteem  of  the  community  to 
be  got  rid  of.  Nor,  with  its  own  consent,  will  it  readily  submit 
to  be  mutilated  or  dismembered.  And  its  pride  and  confidence 
in  itself  admits  of  easy  justification.  With  all  its  demerits  it 
can  hardly  be  denied  that  it  has  accomplished  a  great  work  in 
raising  the  standard,  throughout  the  country,  of  academic  edu- 
cation. This  need  not  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  it  has  always 
succeeded  in  enlbting  in  its  service  the  most  accomplished  and 
distinguished  men  in  every  branch  of  education.  If  examination 
is  to  bie  conducted  at  all,  I  can  hardly  imagine  conditions  more 
favourable  to  its  conduct  than  the  University  of  London  affi)rds. 

Instead  of  trying  to  diminish  and  curtail  the  usefulness  of  an 
institution  which  has  such  strong  claims  on  public  gratitude,  I 
prefer  to  make  the  suggestion — and  it  is  odd  that  it  should  have 
any  novelty  about  it — that  the  future  needs  of  University  educa- 
tion in  London  should  be  provided  for  by  an  expansion  of  the 
existing  University.  This  has  always  been  the  ambition  of 
Convocation,  and  many,  I  know,  share  my  own  opinion  that, 
if  the  Senate  would  have  given  greater  heed  to  the  representa- 
tions which  the  former  body  has  from  time  to  time  made  to  it, 
the  present  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  University  would  never 
have  arisen. 

I  will  briefly  indicate  the  by  no  means  drastic  changes  by 
which  this  might  be  gradually  provided  for. 

Organitatum  of  the  Faculties, 

I  am  myself  personally  impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
the  first  step  that  should  be  taken  in  the  interests  of  the 
higher  education  in  London,  and  of  those  parts  of  the 
country  which  look  to  London  for  academic  guidance,  is  the 
organization  of  the  faculties.  Everyone  is  agreed,  whatever 
view  they  take  on  the  examination  question,  that  the  teaching 
bodies  should  be  brought  into  as  intimate  a  relation  as  possible 
with  the  central  University.  At  present  there  is  no  recognized 
diannel  of  communication  between  them,  and  it  has  been  long 


54 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


felt  that  this  is  a  ^reat  evil.  Examination  is  an  art,  and  it  is  a 
progressive  art.  To  minimize  its  possible  harmfiilness  it  should 
keep  toach  with  the  teaching.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  system  which  now  obtains  at  the  University  of  London  does 
not  make  this  always  easy.  The  Senate  is  hard  to  move  and 
slow  to  act.  This  would  not  be  so  if  those  who  had  the  right 
to  move  it  possessed  the  momentum  which  would  be  derived 
from  a  more  obvious  authority.  In  fact  this  tendency  to  inaction 
arises  from  a  natural  timidity.  The  Senate  is  too  largely 
composed  of  persons  who  have  no  direct  touch  with  actual 
education. 

The  momentum  to  which  I  have  referred  above  would  come 
with  all  needful  force  from  the  faculties  if  they  were  organized 
in  a  comprehensive  way  to  include  every  competent  authority  in 
academic  education  in  London.  I  will  not  stop  to  discuss  the 
precise  machinery  by  which  this  should  be  brought  about.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  probably  sufficient  if  the  Senate 
were  to  have  power  to  admit  to  the  faculties  the  teachers  of  all 
institutions  of  academic  rank  which  supplied  it  with  candidates. 
To  these  should  be  added  the  past  and  present  examiners,  a 
certain  number  of  non-graduates  conspicuous  for  their  distinction 
in  the  subjects  with  which  the  faculty  was  occupied,  and  a 
proper  proportion  of  members  of  Convocation. 

Such  a  body  would  occupy  itself  with  any  and  everv  subject 
relating  to  academic  education.  Its  resolutions  would  embody 
the  deliberate  conviction  of  instructed  and  competent  persons, 
and  would  afford  the  Senate  a  solid  basis  for  administrative 
procedure.  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  faculties — if  they  took, 
as  I  doubt  not  they  would  do,  a  just  view  of  their  functions — 
would  look  to  the  advance  of  academic  interests  as  a  whole  ;  they 
would  not  seek  the  sole  advantage  of  the  central  University, 
but  would  watch  and  work  for  the  interests  of  the  collegiate 
institutions  they  represented — whether  in  London  or  the 
provinces — as  well. 

Boards  of  Studies, 

Delegations  from  the  faculties  should  be  intrusted  with  the 
duty  of  watching  the  examination  work  and  advising  the  Senate 
thereupon.  This  they  would  do  in  two  ways:  (i)  they  would 
consider  from  time  to  time  all  alterations  necessary  in  the  sche- 
dules so  as  to  keep  the  examinations  as  closely  as  possible  in 
touch  with  the  best  teaching ;  (2)  they  would  review  the  con- 
duct of  the  examinations,  though  without  in  any  way  interfering 
with  the  examiners.  It  would  be  their  duty  to  consider  the 
papers  set,  and  criticize  them  if  necessary,  and  they  would  con- 
sider and  report  on  any  apparent  variation  in  the  standard  as 
evidenced  by  any  sudden  change  in  the  percentage  of  passes  and 
rejections. 

Reform  of  the  Senate, 

I  think  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the  time  has  come  when 
some  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  Senate  is  advisable.  At 
present  it  is  an  assembly  of  notables  appointed  for  life.  Many 
of  them  never  attend,  and  some,  appointed  apparently  on  purely 
political  grounds^and  these  are  not  always  the  least  competent 
— never  perhaps  have  attended.  On  the  whole,  the  Senate, 
though  individually  eminent,  is,  it  must  be  confessed,  ill-informed 
on  educational  matters.  As  I  have  already  hinted,  it  is  apt  in 
consequence  to  be  somewhat  timid  and  irresolute  when  it  ought 
to  act  with  decision  ;  it  is  equally  apt,  I  am  afraid,  to  act  with 
precipitancy  when  it  ultimately  realizes  the  necessity  of  moving 
at  all. 

The  Senate  must,  however,  remain  the  supreme  governing 
body  with  whom  the  final  decision  must  always  remain  in 
matters  of  importance.  This  being  so,  it  seems  not  too  much 
to  ask  that  it  should  be  an  efficiently  constituted  body,  and  that 
the  members  should  attend  to  their  duties.  Tenure  of  office  for 
life  it  would  seem  desirable  to  abolish,  and  prolonged  absence 
from  attendance,  say  for  a  year,  should  ipso  facto  vacate  a  seat. 
As  for  the  Crown  nominees,  who  are  in  great  part  statesmen  of 
high  rank,  it  would  be  on  obvious  grounds  unwise  to  di.spense 
with  them,  if  they  took,  as  many  of  them  do,  sufficient  interest 
in  the  work  to  attend  with  some  regularity.  Where  the  Senate 
needs  strengthening  is  in  experts  in  academic  education  ;  and  it 
appears  to  me  that  the  faculties,  if  constituted  as  above,  might 
be  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  selecting  these  members  of  the 
Senate  from  their  own  ranks.  On  the  whole,  it  might  be  convenient 
to  constitute  the  Senate  something  on  the  lines  of  the  Heb- 
domadal Council  at  Oxford :  a  third  to  be  appointed  by  the  Crown, 
a  third  to  be  appointed  by  the  faculties,  and  a  third  by 
Convocation. 


Higher  Teaehing. 

There  is  still,  however,  one  direction  in  which  the  University 
of  London  might  even  more  closely  associate  itself  with  actna) 
teaching,  and  so  far  become  in  actual  fact  a  teaching  University. 
This  was  pointed  out  in  1872  by  the  late  Registrar,  Dr. 
Carpenter,  in  his  evidence  before  the  Royal  Commission  oi> 
Scientific  Instruction.  He  said  (Minutes  of  Evidence,  10,925), 
'*  I  think  it  very  important  that  the  State  should  provide  for  the 
carrying  on  of  those  higher  researches,  and  that  higher  teaching, 
which  are  not  provided  for  in  any  shape  at  present."  Again 
(10,926),  "I  think  that  a  body  like  the  University  of  London 
might  very  advantageously  be  empowered  to  take  up  such  higher 
and  more  special  teaching.  At  present  the  University  of 
London  has  nothing  to  do  with  teaching.  The  principle  of  the 
University  is  to  recognize  existing  institutions.  I  do  not  think 
that  it  would  be  at  all  the  function  of  the  University  to  interfere 
or  compete  in  any  way  with  the  institutions  which  it  recognizes. 
But  I  should  myself  be  very  glad  to  see  the  University 
empowered  to  carry  out  courses  of  instruction  of  a  higher  and 
more  special  kind  than  are  given  in  any  of  the  institutions 
affiliated  to  it."  The  scope  of  this  higher  teaching  was  brought 
out  more  clearly  in  a  subsequent  part  of  Dr.  Carpenter's 
evidence  in  answer  to  a  question  of  Prof.  Henry  Smith's 
(10,953).  He  asked,  "The  Senate  might  at  some  future 
time  endeavour,  might  they  not,  to  have  such  lectures  given  in 
connection  with  the  University  of  London  as  are  now  given  in 
the  Collie  de  France? — Yes,  more  of  that  character." 

Such  lectures  would  serve  for  the  post-graduate  study,  pro- 
vision for  which  seems  to  me  the  great  defect  in  University 
education  as  it  exists  in  London.  And  the  professorships  them- 
selves would  be  positions  which  could  be  filled  by  eminent 
scientific  men  whom  it  is  difficult  as  things  are  to  retain  in  the 
capital.  To  take  biological  subjects  as  an  example,  the  con- 
tinual draining  away  of  men  like  Michael  Foster,  Bordon 
Sanderson,  and  Lankcster  seems  to  me  a  real  loss  to  the  intel- 
lectual life  of  London. 

It  is  just  possible  that  it  may  be  objected  that  the  proposal  to 
have  a  superior  professoriate  attached  to  the  University  is  in 
some  degree  a  slight  on  the  Colleges  and  their  teachers.  And  it 
may  be  urged  that,  if  there  were  any  demand  for  post-graduate 
teaching,  the  Colleges  are  quite  competent  to  provide  it.  It 
may  be  so  ;  but  in  practice  I  do  not  believe  it  feasible.  The 
working  day  is  inelastic,  and  from  what  I  myself  know  of  the 
labour  involved  in  what  may  be  called  systematic  graduation 
courses,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  same  man  can  superadd  (the 
higher  work  as  well.  Besides,  to  be  of  any  value,  it  must  not 
be  formal  and  perfunctory  ;  the  essence  of  the  higher  teaching 
is  that  it  should  reflect  the  research  to  which  the  occupant  of 
each  chair  should  be  able  to  devote  the  whole  of  his  time. 

I  do  not  think  that  such  professorships  will  be  founded  as 
long  as  the  University  is  under  the  control  of  the  State.  For 
this  and  other  reasons  I  should  gladly  see  the  University  cease 
to  be  a  quasi-Government  institution,  and  launch  out  on  its  own 
resources.  It  seems  almost  incredible,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  at 
the  present  time  not  the  slightest  alteration  can  be  made  in  a 
schedule  without  the  approval  of  the  Home  Office,  or  the 
slightest  alteration  in  the  amount  of  prizes  without  that  of  the 
Treasury.  There  is  no  inducement  now  to  the  public  to  pro- 
vide endowments,  because,  as  the  University  nearly  pays  its  way, 
any  public  benefaction  would  only  tend  to  create  a  surplus,  which 
would  have  to  be  paid  over  to  the  Exchequer.  But  I  can  hardly 
doubt  that  if  the  University  were  cut  adrift  from  the  State  it 
would  receive  endowments  which  would  enable  it  from  time  to 
time  to  found  useful  and  important  chairs.  These  would  form 
not  an  unwelcome  addition  to  the  too  few  prizes  accessible  to 
those  who  devote  themselves  to  learning  for  its  own  sake. 

I  had  it  in  my  mind  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  very  com- 
plicated but  independent  problem  which  medical  University 
education  in  London  presents.  But  this  paper  has  already  run 
to  an  intolerable  length,  and  the  subject  is  perhaps  of  limited 
interest  to  the  readers  of  Nature,  But  I  may  say  that  I 
believe  that  the  organization  of  a  strong  medical  faculty  would 
bring  about  the  solution  of  all  existing  difficulties. 

W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer. 

Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  May  18. 


NO.    1 125,  VOL.  44] 


A  NOTE  in  the  last  issue  of  Nature  (p.  39)  seems  to  assume  that 
the  present  University  of  London  is  nothing  but  an  Imperial 
Examining  Board  that  has  got  wrongly  named,  and  stands  in  the 


May  21,  1891] 


NA TURE 


55 


way  of  London  possessing  the  educational  advantages  of  a 
Oerman  University  town. 

I  venture  to  offer  some  facts  and  considerations  which  may 
modify  this  view,  and  perhaps  aid  in  forming  a  juster  conception 
of  the  real  nature  of  the  University  question  than  is  commonly 
-entertained. 

Much  more  important  matters  are  involved  in  the  question 
than  the  maintenance  or  extension  of  existing  institutions, 
though  these  are  quite  legitimate  subjects  of  discussion  and  de- 
fence ;  and  in  the  columns  of  Nature  it  is  only  upon  the  broad 
^ound  of  the  advancement  of  science  and  learning  that  the 
question  can  be  dealt  with. 

The  epithet  "Imperial"  is  intended  to  imply  some  unfitness 
on  the  part  of  the  present  University  for  other  than  *'  Imperial " 
funcuons,  whatever  these  may  be.  But  the  University  has  not, 
and  never  has  had,  the  least  claim  to  any  such  title.  It  has 
never  at  any  time  held  colonial  examinations  of  its  own  motion. 
It  has  never  at  any  time  held  any  colonial  examinations  what- 
ever in  the  faculty  of  science,  or  in  the  faculty  of  medicine,  or 
for  honours  in  any  faculty,  or  for  any  of  the  higher  degrees. 
What  examinations  it  holds  In  any  colony  are  held  only  at  the 
request  of  the  Governor  of  the  colony,  transmitted  through  the 
Colonial  Office,  and  are  practically  confined  to  matriculation  and 
the  intermediate  examination  in  arts.  Occasionally,  but  very 
rarely,  an  examination  in  laws  or  for  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  is 
held  in  some  colony.  In  1890,  16  candidates  matriculated  in  the 
colonies,  and  5  passed  the  intermediate  examination  in  arts 
out  of  a  total  of  some  5000  candidates.  Not  a  single  degree  ex- 
amination was  held  in  any  colony.  In  fact,  tbese  colonial 
examinations,  which,  few  as  they  are,  yearly  diminish  in  number, 
never  formed  part  of  the  University  scheme.  They  were 
instituted  about  1864  at  the  request  of  the  colony  of 
Mauritius,  but  were  extended  and  have  been  maintained 
chiefly  to  facilitate  the  award  of  the  scholarships  at  the 
disposal'  of  the  Gilchrist  Trustees.  Not  only  is  the  Uni- 
versity of  London  not  an  Imperial  University,  but  it  is  even 
less  British  in  character  than  probably  either  of  the  older 
Universities.  Very  few  of  its  candidates  come  from  Scotland, 
fewer  still  from  Ireland,  and  my  strong  impression  is  that  the 
^eat  majority  come  from  midland  and  southern  England.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  even  to  find  that  a  considerable  majority 
are  now  drawn  from  an  area  having  London  for  its  centre  with  a 
radius  of  not  more  than  100  miles.  The  probable  establishment, 
at  no  very  remote  period,  of  provincial  Universities  will 
practically  give  a  still  more  exclusive  sense  to  the  name  Uni- 
sity  of  London. 

It  may  next  be  asked  what  precisely  is  meant  by  a  **  teaching 
University  in  and  for  London,"  the  creation  of  which  is  con- 
stantly put  forward  as  the  principal  educational  need  of  the 
metropolis.  Is  the  proposed  University  to  be  **for"  London 
in  some  sense  in  which  the  University  of  Oxford  is  not  **  for" 
Oxford,  or  that  of  Edinburgh  not  **  for  *'  Edinburgh  ?  I  know 
of  no  University,  British  or  German,  which  is  "  for  "  the  par- 
ticular town  or  district  in  which  it  has  its  local  habitation.  Or 
is  the  proposed  University  to  be  "  for"  London  in  some  sense 
in  which  the  existing  University  is  not  ''for"  London  as  well  as 
the  rest  of  the  country  ?  The  words  seem  mere  surplusage,  unless 
intended  to  impose  local  limitations  which  no  University  has 
ever  yet  imposed  upon  itself. 

The  expression  "teaching  University,"  too,  stands  in  need  of 
exacter  definition.  The  University  of  Edinburgh  is  a  teaching 
University,  so  is  that  of  Dublin,  so  are  the  German  Universities. 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  are  only  in  part  teaching  Universities  ; 
the  greater  part  of  the  teaching  is  done  by  the  Colleges.  Th- 
Victoria  University  is  not,  in  fact,  a  teaching  University  at  all  ; 
the  teaching  is  the  work  of  its  Colleges,  and  the  proposed 
*  teaching  University  in  and  for  London"  would,  as  far  as 
actual  teaching  is  concerned,  resemble  the  Victoria  University 
rather  than  a  Scotch  or  German  University.  At  this  point  the 
€rux  of  the  whole  question  reveals  itself.  The  really  distin- 
guishing feature  of  the  new  University  as  contrasted  with  the 
UniverNity  of  London  would  be  the  examination  of  collegiate 
candidates  (and  those  only)  by  their  teachers  in  alleged  con- 
formity with  the  principle  that  examination  should  follow 
teaching.  But  it  may  be  admitted  that  teaching  ought  to  be 
adapted  to  examination,  or  examination  to  teaching,  without  ad- 
mitting any  advantage  in  the  system  of  teachers  settling  the 
examination  of  their  own  students,  coll^iate  or  not.  The  com- 
bined teacher-examiner  system  is  not  wholly  trusted  by  its  sup- 
porters.     At  the  older  Universities  the  examiners  are  by  no 


NO.    1 125,  VOL.  44"! 


means  usually  the  teachers  of  the  candidates ;  at  the  Victoria 
University  one  of  the  examiners  is  always  an  ''external  "  one. 
I  am  not  quite  sure  how  the  matter  stands  at  the  Scotch  and 
Irish  Universities.  To  assert  that  such  partial  or  semi-partial 
modes  of  testing  knowledge  are  superior  to  disinterested  and 
independent  methods  is  merely  to  make  an  assumption,  announce 
an  opinion.  What  comparison  of  the  working  of  both  systems 
proves  any  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  first-mentioned  of 
them  ?  Do  the  pass  degrees  of  Scotch  or  Irish  Universities,  or 
even  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  stand  higher  than  those  of 
London  ? 

Further,  is  it  not  misleading  to  characterize  the  University  of 
London  as  a  mere  Examining  B  )ard  ?  Of  the  three  functions 
of  such  a  teaching  University  as  that  of  Edinburgh,  it  performs 
two.  It  directs  teaching  by  syllabu<«es  and  regulations  (pre- 
pared with  extreme  care,  and  not  without  ample  reference  to 
the  best  authorities  on  all  matters  of  special  knowledge),  and  it 
tests  teaching  by  absolutely  impartial  and  disinterested  examina- 
tions, but  it  does  not — without  space,  funds,  and  appliances  it 
could  not— pretend  to  teach.  Nothing,  however,  in  its  nature 
or  essence  forbids  its  development,  alone  or  in  union  or  con- 
junction with  other  institutions,  into  what  would  be  an  ideal 
University  of  the  non-residential  order,  neither  coercive  nor 
exclusive — one  that  should  offer  proper  University  instruction 
to  all  comers,  and,  at  the  same  time,  confer  degrees  upon  open 
examinations  independently  (save  for  obvious  reasons  in  relation 
to  medical  degrees)  of  place  or  mode  of  instruction. 

The  part  the  existing  University  of  London  has  played  in  the 
advancement  of  learning  may  be  indicated  by  the  fact  men- 
tioned by  the  Vice- Chancellor  in  his  Presentation  speech,  that 
during  the  last  thirty  years —that  is,  since  its  examinations  were 
thrown  open — the  number  of  degrees  conferred  by  the  Univer- 
sity has  increased  tenfold.  This,  however,  is  only  one  of  the 
ways  in  which  its  influence  is  shown  ;  the  great  advance  in 
scientific  education  the  last  fifty  years  have  witnessed  is  almost 
wholly  due  to  the  stimulus  and  example  of  the  University  of 
London.  But  the  subject  is  too  large  a  one  to  be  dealt  with  on 
the  present  occasion,  and  indeed,  from  its  nature,  scarcely  lends 
itself  to  treatment  capable  of  doing  full  justice  to  the  University. 

The  work  of  a  University  should  not  be  confined  to  the  edu- 
cation of  graduates.  Its  crowning  function  is  the  exposition 
and  illustration  of  the  higher  learning  along  the  whole  line  of 
advance.  Such  is  the  task  so  admirably  accomplished  by  the 
Sorbonne  and  the  College  de  France,  and  to  the  world  of  science 
and  learning  in  London  the  University  of  London  is  peculiarly 
well  adapted,  by  its  independence  and  impartiality,  to  render 
similar  services.  Some  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  work 
out  a  scheme  having  this  end  in  view,  but,  in  deference  to  rea- 
sons that  no  longer  exist,  it  was  found  necessary  to  abandon  its 
further  prosecution.  Its  resumption  has  now  becotne,  or  may 
shortly  become,  simply  a  question  of  means,  and  the  time  is  at 
hand  when  a  strong  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  afford  scholars 
and  men  of  science  in  London  some  of  the  advantages  their 
brethren  have  so  long  enjoyed  in  Paris. 

Richmond,  May  19.  F.  Victor  Dickins. 

Co -adaptation. 

Written  letters  remain.  It  is  for  anyone  who  may  read 
this  correspondence  through  at  one  time  to  judge  on  which  side 
lie  the  "  valid"  distinctions,  and  on  which  the  ** invalid*'  con- 
fusions— ^not  to  mention  comparisons  in  respect  of  "  verbiage  "  or 
mere  personalities.  But  I  am  obliged  to  write  once  more  to 
insist,  for  the  fourth  time,  that  my  agreement  with  Prof.  Mel- 
dola  does  not  extend  to  the  "  conclusion  as  to  the  non-existence 
of  CO  adaptation,*'  but  only  to  stating  that  co  adaptation  must 
be  proved  not  to  exist,  if  **  Mr.  Spencer's  argument "  is  to  be 
logically  met.  And  if,  as  Prof.  Meldola  now  says,  any  fuch 
statement  is  to  be  found  in  his  **  review  of  Mr.  Pascoe's  book  " 
(which,  I  repeat,  merely  reproduces  "  Mr.  Wallace's  argument " 
as  to  the  accumulation  of  adaptations^  without  remarking  that 
this  has  no  relevancy  to  the  argument  from  co-adaptation)^  it 
must  be  in  that  *'  language  of  their  own "  which  the  neo- 
Darwinians  find  "to  be  intelligible  among  themselves." 

Christ  Church,  Oxford,  May  15.        George  J.  Romanes. 


A  priori  Reasoning. 

I  SEEM  to  have  failed  to  make  my  contention  clear  to  Mr. 
Cockerell,  and  will  try  once  more.     What  I  maintain  i^  this : 


56 


NATURE 


[May  21,  1891 


that  it  is  unscientific — unphilosophical — to  state  an  hypothesis 
or  formulate  a  theory,  and  much  more  so  to  make  a  categorical 
statement,  when  no  antecedent  facts  are  given  nor  any  subsequent 
verification  attempted.  Thus,  Mr.  Cockerell  asks  the  question, 
"  Why  is  it  that  plants  growing  on  exposed  sea-shores  have  a 
tendency  to  lie  upon  the  ground  or  otherwise  to  evade  the 
violence  of  the  winds  "  (my  italics)  ?  Now,  what  evidence  has  he 
to  bring  forward  that  the  purpose  of  lying  down  is  to  evade  the 
violence  of  the  winds?  So  far,  it  is  nothing  more  than  his 
private  opinion — an  a  priori  assumption.  It  is  true  that  he  adds 
a  reason,  but  it  is  also  drawn  from  his  own  consciousness,  and 
not  from  nature  :  "  When  a  plant  is  growing  among  others,  it 
has  to  compete  with  them  in  raising  itself  into  conspicuous- 
ness."  But  do  not  dwarf  plants  ever  compete  ?  My  experience 
of  the  South  Downs,  where  plants  are  for  the  most  part  con- 
siderably dwarfed,  is  that  the  struggle  between  them  is  a 
severe  one.  Yet  their  flowers  and  foliage  are  fiilly  exposed 
to  sunlight  and  insects,  as  well  as  to  severe  gales  of  wind.  Mr. 
Cockerell  also  appears  to  forget  that  what  is  true  for  one  plant 
is  true  for  another,  and  each  must  try  to  overtop  all  the  others. 

I  would  venture  to  warn  our  younger  naturalbts  most  ear- 
nestly against  this  facilis  descensus  of  a  priori  reasoning  with- 
out ucts  or  verification.  It  has  been  the  bane  of  metaphysics  ; 
and  when  a  scientific  man  like  Dr.  Weismann  puts  forth,  in 
the  name  of  science,  most  deplorable  illustrations  of  it  in  his 
late  attempt  to  apply  his  theory  to  plants,  it  is  time  that  some 
one  should  venture  to  protest. 

In  reply  to  his  request,  I  would  refer  Mr.  Cockerell  to  M. 
Verlot's  pamphlet  "  Sur  la  Production  et  la  Fixation  des 
Vari^^s,''^  in  which  he  describes  his  inethod  of  creating  and 
fixing  dwarf  plants  by  sowing  seed  late  in  the  season.  Also  to 
M.  Roujou's  experiments  in  selecting  the  smallest  seeds  of 
plants  {youm.  d'Hisi.  Nat,  de  Bordeaux  et  du  Sud- Quest ^ 
18S4).  Mr.  McNab  also  raised  dwarf  rhododendrons  by  using 
pollen  from  the  smallest  stamens.  Want  of  space  forbids  me 
adding  more  on  the  subject.  George  Henslow. 

The  Natural  Selection  of  Indian  Corn. 

In  a  former  letter  I  had  occasion  to  mention  that  Zea  mats 
varies  in  its  period  of  maturing,  and  that  at  certain  altitudes 
and  latitudes,  only  some  of  the  varieties  {ue,  the  early  maturing) 
axe  able  to  mature  at  all,  the  rest  being  absolutely  eliminated  by 
natural  selection  in  a  single  generation.  A  few  days  ago  I 
received,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  James  Fletcher,  the  new 
(1891)  Report  on  Experimental  Farms  for  1890,  published  by  the 
Canadian  Government,  in  which  are  numerous  statistics  of 
experimental  planting  in  different  parts  of  the  Dominion.  On 
p.  296,  Mr.  T.  A.  Sharpe  gives  an  account  of  the  result  of  plant- 
ing twenty-nine  different  varieties  of  Indian  com  at  Agassiz, 
British  Columbia,  which  perhaps  deserves  notice,  as  illustrating 
the  above-mentioned  facts  in  a  particular!]^  clear  way.  Of  the 
varieties  planted  (all  exposed  to  the  same  kind  of  environment), 
the  majority  did  not  form  any  ears  at  all.  Some  formed  very 
small  ears,  and  others  reached  various  stages  of  maturity,  but 
only  a  very  few  actually  matured. 

For  example,  I  will  quote  some  of  them : — 

No.    I.  Moore's  Early  Concord,  com  matured,  one  of  the 

best. 
No.    3.  Early  Adams,  com  matured  to  glazing  stage. 
No.    6.  Mitchell's  Extra  Early  White  Flint,  produced  some 

matured  ears. 
Na  II.  Marblchead  Sugar,  matured  com,  ears  very  small. 
No.  12.  Narraganset,  sweet,  com  did  not  fill  to  tips  of  cob. 
No.  14.  Chester  Co.  Mammoth,  no  com  formed. 
No.  21.  Golden  Dent,  no  ears  formed. 

T.  D.  A.  Cockerell. 
3  Fairfax  Road,  Bedford  Park,  Chiswick,  W.,  May  10. 


The  Soaring  of  Birds. 

It  seems  a  great  pity  that  the  simpler  form  of  this  question — 
wherein  birds  soaring  steadily  rise,  in  a  gentle  breeze,  over  a 
large  plain — is  needlessly  complicated  by  the  flight  of  sea-birds 
over  waves. 

We  shall  get  the  solution  best  by  taking  the  former  and  less 
complicated  case,  wherein  the  pelicans,  adjutants,  cyms,  vul- 
tures, &c.,  slowly  rise,  by  soaring  alone,  to  great  heights,  under 
conditions  where  up-rashes  of  air  are  quite  out  of  the  question. 


Upper  Asam  is  a  dead  level,  some  60  miles  wide  by  200 
long,  and  over  this  area,  wherein  these  birds  rise  by  soaring 
alone,  the  air-drift  is  almost  invariably  from  north-north-east, 
or  else  south-west,  and  at  about  5  to  10  miles  an  hour.  They  do 
not  seem  to  rise  in  a  dead  calm,  nor  yet  in  stormy  weather,  and 
I  take  it  the  desideratum  is  a  slow  air-drift,  or  gentle  steady 
breeze. 

That  there  are  no  up-rashes  of  air,  I  have  fairly  good  proof  in 
the  small  tufts  of  cotton,  from  the  Bombyx  malciaricum,  which 
cross  the  field  of  my  telescope  when  examining  the  Noga  Hilb 
at  10  to  20  or  30  miles ;  these  are  always  beautifully  horizontal 
at  elevations  from  200  to  2000  feet,  coming  from  the  plains  and 
hills  north-east  of  us. 

So  that  out  here  there  is  no  complication  of  the  case  by  ver- 
tical movements  of  the  air,  as  at  sea.  The  question  is  not  bow 
laige  birds  sustain  themselves  (without  flapping  their  wings)  in 
a  wind,  when  there  are  rising  and  falling  and  strata  of  "difierent 
velocities  "  ;  but  how  large  birds  like  the  cyrus,  adjutant,  peli- 
can, and  vulture  can  rise  from  300  to  3000  feet,  in  a  steady 
breeze,  without  flapping  their  wings. 

It  b  not  mere  flotation  ;  they  have  to  raise  20  or  30  pounds 
some  2000  feet,  in  addition  to  what  the  albatross  does. 

Surely  this  is  the  major  question,  at  once  simpler  to  see^  and 
more  difficult  to  answer. 

In  Nature  (voL  xxiii.  p.  10)  I  drew  attention  to  this,  and 
sent  a  small  diagram,  to  show  how  I  thought  it  was  done.  I 
have  frequently  observed  the  phenomena  since,  and  see  no 
reason  to  modify  my  views. 

Firstly,  these  large  birds  do  not  soar  in  a  dead  calm,  or  a 
storm,  or  during  high  winds.     They  prefer  a  steady  breeze. 

Secondly,  they  rise  from  the  ground,  by  flapping  the  wings, 
and  continue  this  till  they  are  100  or  200  feet  up,  and  then 
begin  to  soar,  in  right  or  left  hand  spirals,  100  or  200  yards  acro6.«. 
At  each  lap  they  rise  10  or  20  feet^  and  make  as  many  yards 
leeway,  drifting  slowly  with  the  wind,  and  continue  thus  to  rise 
until  out  of  sight  above. 

With  a  go<xl  telescope  a  bird  can  be  easily  followed  after  a 
little  practice,  and  the  only  motion  which  can  be  seen  is  slight 
and  occasional  movement  of  the  tail,  in  steering. 

The  legs  (of  the  waders)  are  extended  at  full  length  behind, 
the  neck  thrown  on  the  back,  and  beak  projecting  over  the 


breast 


The  tips  of   the   primary   wing- 


feathers    are    always    well    separated    in    different     planes. 


,  and  strongly  curved  up,  thus, 


evidently  under  great  strain. 

The  lifting  power  is  evidently  applied  to  them  mainly,  and 
the  plane  of  the  outspread  wings  is  not  horizontal,  but  forms 
part  of  an  obtuse,  inverted  cone,  as  though  a  little  centrifugal 
force  was  implicated. 

The  speed  of  the  bird  is  always  greater  than  the  breeze,  and 
the  resistance  is  unequal  on  opposite  sides  of  the  loop  oif  the 
spiral ;  least  when  it  travels  with  the  breeze,  and  greatest  when 
on  the  opposite  half,  meeting  it 

It  seems  to  me  the  solution  is  that,  when  going  with  the  wind, 
the  bird  gathers  momentum  by  going  down  a  slight  incline,  and 
when  it  turns  and  meets  the  breeze,  this  extra  momentum  is 
used  in  lifting  the  bird  and  carrying  it  over  a  shorter  course. 
Tlius  it  starts  the  next  lap  at  a  slightly  higher  level,  but  some  20 
yards  to  leeward.  Variation  of  the  speed  of  the  wind  at  different 
levels  is  hei«  quite  out  of  the  question  ;  the  bird,  too,  keeps  to 
its  steady  spiral,  and  as  steadily  ascends  at  each  lap. 

I  feel  sure  that  Prof.  Tait,  Sir  W.  Thomson,  and  Lord  Ray- 
leigh  will  find  the  case  I  state  a  more  profitable  one  to  study 
than  the  erratic  flight  or  floating  of  sea-birds.  The  telescope  I  use 
to  watch  and  follow  these  birds  when  soaring  is  a  3 '5"  O.G. 
power  50^  with  long  tripod  legs,  and  on  a  mattrass  below  I  find 
no  difficulty  in  keeping  a  bird  in  the  field,  if  at  looo  feet  up. 
My  own  idea  is  that  all  these  birds  go  up  there  to  sleep  or  doze. 

Sibsagar,  Asam,  March  30.  S.  £.  Peal. 


NO.   1 1 25,  VOL.  44] 


May  21,  iSgiJ 


NATURE 


57 


III. 
\\7E  now  come  to  the  important  point  for  our  present 
**  inquiry — the  direction  in  which  the  temple  is  built, 
or,  technically,  its  orientation.  Confining  ourselves  for  the 
moment  to  kiamak,  is  there  any  meaning  in  the  direction 
of  that  line,  some  500  yards  long,  which  is  obviously  the 
main  feature  of  the  building,  and  to  which  all  parts  are 


How  can  we  inst  rumen  tally  determine  this?  I  have 
the  necessary  apparatus  here,  and  the  question  may  be 
answered  in  a  few  minutes  j  we  have  simply  to  determine 
cither  the  aiimulh  or  the  amplitude  (and  as  we  have 
seen  one  of  these  gives  the  other)  of  the  point  of  the 
horizon  towards  which  this  long  line  is  directed. 

The  aiimuth  compass  is  an  Instrument  familiar  to 
most  of  you.     It  consists  of  a  magnetic  needle  fastened 


to  a  card  carrying  a  circle  divided  into  360°,  which  can 
be  ixinveniently  read  by  a  prism  when  the  instrument  is 
timed  toward  any  definite  direction  marked  by  a  vertical 
wire. 

A  theodolite  airaed  with  a  delicately  hung  magnetic 
needle  which  can  be  rotated  on  a  vertical  axis  will  do 
equally  well ;  it  has  first  of  all  to  be  levelled;  there  is  a 
little  telescope  with  which  we  can  see  alot^;  the  line. 


When  we  wish,  for  instance,  to  observe  the  amplitude  of 
a  temple,  the  theodolite  is  set  up  on  its  tripod  in  such  a 
position  that  we  can  look  along  the  temple  wall  or  line 
of  columns,  &c.,  by  means  of  the  telescope.  We  then 
get  a  magnetic  reading  of  the  direction,  alter  having  un- 
damped the  compass ;  the  compass  showing  the  anele 
made  between  the  line  and  the  magnetic  north  (or  soutn), 
as  in  the  azimuth  compass. 
Having  made  such  an  observation  as  that  I  have  de- 

'  Condnucd  from  p.  it. 
NO.    1125,  VOL.  44] 


scribed,  the  next  thing  we  have  to  do  is  to  determine 
astronomically  the  real  north,  which  is  the  only  thing 
of  value.  There  are  two  ways  of  getting  this  oifronomicaC 
bearing  or  azimuth. 

It  is  sad  to  think  how  much  lime  has  been  lost  !n  the 
investigation  of  a  great  many  of  these  questions,  f6r  the 
reason  that  the  observations  were  made  only  with  refer- 
ence to  the  magnetic  north,  which  is  vastly  different  at 
different  places,  and  is  always  varying ;  few  indeed  have 
tried  to  get  at  the  astronomical  conditions  of  the  problem. 
Had  this  been  done  either  by  the  French  or  Prussian 
Commissions  to  which  I  have  referred,  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  years  ago  the  solstitial  orientation  of  Kamak 
and  other  temples  which  I  shall  have  to  demonstrate  to 
you  would  have  been  long  known  to  all  scholars. 

If  the  magnetic  variation  has  been  determined  for  the 
re^on  we  may  use  a  map.  Such  a  map  as  that  shown  in 
Fig.  13  gives  us  the  lines  along  which  in  the  British  Isles 
the  compass  variation  west  of  north  reaches  certain  values. 
From  such  a  map  for  Egypt  we  learn  that  in  1798  a  magnet 
swung  along  a  line  extending  from  a  little  to  the  west 
of  Cairo  to  the  second  cataract  would  have  had  a  variation 
of  12°  to  the  west ;  in  1844  of  8=  to  the  west ;  and  at  the 
present  time  the  variation  is  such  that  observations  made 
along  the  same  part  of  the  Nile  valley  will  have  a  varia- 
tion closely  approximating  5°  to  the  west.  By  means  of 
such  a  map  it  is  quite  possible  to  get  approximately  the 
astronomical  bearings  of  all  temples  which  were  observed 
by  the  French  in  1798  or  by  the  Germans  in  1844,  or 
which  can  be  observed  in  the  present  day. 

If  we  are  not  fortunate  enough  to  possess  such  a  map, 
the  theodolite  will  enable  us  to  observe  the  direction  in 
which  the  sun  cuhninates  at  noon.  This  gives  us  the 
south  point  astronomically.  From  observations  of  the 
pole  star  at  night,  the  astronomical  north  can  be  deter- 
mined. From  either  of  these  observations  the  magnetic 
variation  is  obtained  without  any  difGculty. 

This  being  premised  about  the  method,  we  next  come 
to  the  results.  The  amplitude  of  the  point  to  which  the 
axis  of  the  great  temple  at  Kamak  points  is  26°  M.  of 
W.,  which  we  learn  from  the  table  already  given  is  pre- 
cisely the  amplitude  of  the  place  of  sunset  at  the  summer 
solstice.  The  amplitude  of  the  point  to  which  the  axis 
of  the  small  temple  points  is  26°  S.  of  E.,  exactly  the 
position  of  sunrise  at  the  winter  solstice. 

There  is  more  evidence  of  this  kind.  Abydos, 
one  of  the  oldest  temples  in  Egypt,  built,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  by  the  servants  of  Hor,  is  now, 
it  is  true,  a  heap  of  ruins,  the  brick  walls  best 
showing  its  direction ;  but  it  is  possible  to 
gather  the  orientation  of  it  by  these  guiding 
lines.  It  is  37°  N.  of  W.— as  it  should  be,  being 
in  a  higher  latitude  than  Kamak— and  evidently 
was  onenced  to  the  solstice. 

At  Abydos,  then,  as  at  Karnak,  we  get  exactly, 
within  a  degree,  the  amplitude  shown  in  the 
tables  for  the  sun  in  the  Nile  valley  at  sunset  at 
the  summer  solstice.  So  that  the  Egyptians 
who  were  employed  In  building  those  temples 
must  have  known  exactly  what  they  were  gomg 
to  do,  and  what  they  did  was  to  build  a  temple 
such  that  the  sun  at  setting  should,  at  the 
summer  solstice,  pour  its  light  along  the  axis 
of  the  temple.  If  Masp^ro  and  the  great 
authorities  in  Egyptian  archeology  are  right— namely, 
that  the  Ab)'dos  temple  was  founded  before  4000  B.C. 
— and  if  we  can  depend  upon  the  French  figures,  we 
are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  we  have  in  this  temple 
a  building  which  was  orientated  to  the  solstitial  sunset 
place  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  The  Nile  valley  holds 
other  solar  temples  besides  those  we  have  named,  but  it 
is  best  to  fully  study  Karnak  ;  Instead  of  being  a  mere 
heap,  the  orientation  of  which  is  obtainable  only  by  the 
genera]  lie  of  the  remains,  this  temple  is  still  in  such 


58 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  189 1 


preservation  that  the  Germans,  in  the  year  1844,  could 
give  us  an  infinite  number  of  details  about  it,  and  locate 
the  position  of  the  innumerable  courts.  Its  orientation 
to  the  solstice  we  can  claim  as  an  early  astronomical 
observation.  So  it  is  quite  fair  to  say  that,  many  thousand 
years  ago  at  all  events,  the  Egyptians  were  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  solstices,  and  therefore  more  or  less 
fully  with  the  yearly  path  of  the  sun. 

But  so  far  we  have  only  dealt  with  solstices.  Did 
the  Egyptians  know  anything  about  the  equinoxes.^ 
Certainly.  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  to  go  from 
the  description  and  the  plans  of  such  temples  as  we  have 
seen  at  Abydos  and  Karnak  to  regions  where,  apparently, 
the  thought  is  totally  and  completely  different,  such  as 
we  find  on  the  Pyramid  Plains  at  Ghizeh ;  the  orienta- 
tion lines  of  the  German  surveyors  show,  beyond  all 
question,  that  these  structures  are  just  as  true  to  the 
sun-rising  at  the  equinoxes  as  the  temples  at  Abydos  and 
Karnak  were  to  the  sun-rising  and  settmg  at  the  solstices, 


Fig.  13. — Map  of  British  Isles  showing  the  magnetic  variation.' 

and  the  Sphinx  was  merely  a  mysterious  nondescript  sort 
of  thing  which  was  there  watching  for  the  rising  of  the  sun 
at  an  equinox,  as  the  Colossi  of  the  plain  at  Thebes  were 
watching  for  the  rising  of  the  sun  at  the  winter  solstice. 

The  observations  which  have  been  made  in  Babylonia 
are  very  discordant  among  themselves,  and  at  present 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  from  the  monuments  in  any  of 
this  region  along  the  Euphrates  valley,  whether  the 
temples  indicate  that  the  solstices  were  familiar  to  the 
Babylonians  ;  but  no  doubt  some  of  the  temples  were  as 
perfectly  squared  to  the  equinox  as  some  walls  at  Memphis 
or  the  Pyramids  at  Ghizeh  ;  and  certainly  there  is  no 
doubt  that  as  early  as  Solomon's  time  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem  was  orientated  to  the  east  with  care.  We  find 
there  that  the  direction  of  the  axis  of  the  temple  shows 
the  existence  of  a  cult  connected  with  the  possibility  of 

'  For  Figs.  X1-13  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Stanley,  Greal 
Turnstile,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

NO.   1 1  25,  VOL,  44] 


seeing  the  rising  of  the  sim  on  the  day  of  an  equinox, 
possibly  at  the  time  which  we  now  call  Easter. 

All  the  doors  being  opened,  the  sunlight  would  pene- 
trate over  the  high  altar,  where  the  sacrifices  were  offered, 
into  the  very  Holy  of  Holies,  which  we  may  remember  was 
only  entered  by  the  High  Priest  once  a  year. 

Have  we  any  other  evidence  except  the  evidence 
afforded  by  temples  ?  Yes.  It  has  been  stated  that  we  have 
no  temple  evidence  from  China,  but  there  is  a  good  dead 
of  written  evidence,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  China 
the  solstices  and  the  equinoxes  were  perfectly  well  known 
1 100  years  B.c.  Was  it  difficult  to  obtain  this  knowledge  ? 
Did  it  indicate  that  the  people  were  great  astronomers  ? 
Nothing  of  the  kind ;  nothing  is  so  easy  as  to  determine  a 
solstice  or  an  equinox. 

We  know  from  the  Egyptian  tombs  that  their  stock-in- 
trade,  so  far  as  building  went,  was  very  considerable ; 
they  had  squares,  they  had  plumb-lines,  they  had  scales, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing  just  as  we  have.  Suppose  an 
Egyptian  wished  to  determine  the  time  of  an 
equinox.  He  would  first  of  all  make  a  platform 
quite  flat ;  he  could  do  that  by  means  of  the  square 
or  plumb  line  ;  then  he  would  get  a  ruler  with 
pretty  sharp  edges  (and  such  rulers  are  found  in 
their  tombs),  and  in  the  morning  of  any  day  he 
would  direct  this  ruler  to  the  position  of  the  sun 
when  it  is  rising  and  he  would  draw  a  line ;  he 
would  do  the  same  thing  in  the  evening  when  the 
sun  set ;  he  would  bisect  the  angle  made  by  these  two 
hues,  and  it  would  give  him  naturally  the  north 
and  south  points,  and  a  right  angle  to  those  would 
give  him  the  east  and  west.  So  that  from  obser- 
vation of  the  sun  on  any  two  days  in  the  year  he 
would  practically  be  in  a  position  to  determine 
the  position  at  which  the  sun  would  rise  and  set  at 
the  equinox. 

There  is  another  way  of  doing  it.  Take  a 
vertical  rod.  Suppose  that  the  sun  is  rising,  let 
the  rod  throw  a  shadow  ;  mark  the  position  of  the 
shadow ;  at  sunset  we  again  note  where  the 
shadow  falls.  If  the  sun  rises  exactly  in  the  east 
and  sets  exactly  in  the  west,  those  two  shadows 
will  be  continuous  and  we  shall  have  made  an 
observation  at  the  absolute  equinox.  But  suppose 
the  sun  not  at  the  equinox,  a  line  joining  the  ends 
of  the  shadows  equally  long  before  and  after  noon 
will  be  an  east  and  west  line. 

It  is  true  that  there  may  be  a  slight  error  unless 

we  are  very  careful  about  the  time  of  the  year  at 

which  we  make  the  observations,  because  when 

the  sun  is  exactly  east  or  west  at  the  time  of  rising 

or  setting  it  is  moving  most  rapidly.      So  it  is 

better  to  make  the  above  observations  of  the  sun 

nearer  the  solstices  than  the  equinoxes,  because 

the  sun  changes  its  declination  most  quickly  at  the 

equinoxes. 

Such  a  rod  as  this,  which  I  may  state  is  sometimes 

called  a  gnomon^  may  be  used  with  another  object  in 

view :  we  may  observe  the  length  of  the  shadow  cast  by 

the  sun  when  it  is  lowest  at  the  winter  solstice,  and  when 

it  is  highest ;  at  these  two  positions  of  the  sun  obviously 

the  lengths  of  the  shadows  thrown  will  be  different.  When 

the  sun  is  nearest  overhead  in  the  summer  the  shadow 

will  be  least,  when  the  sun  is  most  removed  from  the 

vertical  the  shadow  will  be  longest. 

The  day  on  which  the  shortest  shadow  is  thrown  at 
noon  will  define  the  summer  solstice  ;  when  the  shadow  is 
longest  we  shall  have  the  winter  solstice. 

This  in  fact  was  the  method  adopted  by  the  Chinese 
to  determine  the  solstices,  and  from  it  very  early  they 
found  a  value  of  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  is  only  a  statement,  and  that  the 
record  has  been  falsified ;  some  years  ago  anyone  who 
was  driven  by  facts  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  any 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


59 


very  considerable  antiquity  was  possible  in  these  observa- 
tions met  with  very  great  difficulty.  But  the  shortest  and 
the  longest  shadows  recorded  (700  years  B.C.)  do  not  really 
represent  the  true  lengths  according  to  recent  knowledge. 
If  anyone  had  forged  these  observations  he  would  state 
such  lengths  as  people  would  find  to-day  or  to-morrow, 
bat  the  lengths  given  were  different  from  those  which  would 
be  made  to-day.  Laplace,  who  gave  considerable  attention 
to  this  matter,  determined  what  the  real  obliquity  was  at 
that  time,  and  proved  that  the  record  does  represent  an 
actual  observation  and  not  one  which  had  been  made  in 
later  years. 

The  solstices  and  the  equinoxes  were  therefore  in  all 
probability  thoroughly  known  to  the  Egyptians  4000  years 
B.C.,  perhaps  even  5000.  We  are  then  justified  in  con- 
sidering that  the  temples  at  Abydos  and  at  Karnak  are 
really  solar  temples.  The  Egyptians  marked  the  solstices 
and  the  equinoxes  not  only  by  their  temples  but  in  their 
calendars,  which  these  temples  enabled  them  to  construct. 
The  Chinese  had  also  this  knowledge,  but  we  have  no 
information  that  they  possessed  it  at  so  early  a  date. 

In  the  next  place,  then,  I  propose  to  make  a  special  study 
of  the  temples  at  Karnak,  because  they  are  those  which 
are  most  capable  of  minute  investigation.  I  do  this  in 
order  to  see  whether  any  other  indications  can  be  obtained 
of  any  higher  knowledge  possessed  by  the  Egyptians  of 
those  early  times. 

I  must  again  point  out  that  we  deal  with  the  solstices 
in  the  case  of  the  temples  at  Abydos  and  Karnak,  and 
with  the  equinoxes  in  the  case  of  the  pyramids,  some 
mounds  in  Babylonia,  and  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 
Since  the  labours  of  the  French  and  Prussian  Govern- 
ments who  have  given  such  full  records  of  Karnak,  a 
memoir  on  the  temples  has  been  published  by  Mariette, 
which  gives  us  not  only  plans,  but  precious  information 
relating  to  the  periods  at  which,  and  the  kings  by  whom, 
the  various  parts  of  the  temples  were  constructed  or 
modified. 

We  may  begin  by  the  general  plan  of  Thebes.  We 
find  there  a  perfect  nest  of  temples.  No  doubt  those 
which  are  still  traceable  form  only  a  very  small  portion 
of  those  which  once  existed,  but  however  that  may  be,  I 
have  now  only  to  call  attention  to  one  or  two  among 
them.  In  the  general  plan  we  see  indications  that  on 
both  sides  of  the  Nile  there  were  temples  pointing  to 
those  special  amplitudes  which  I  have  before  referred  to. 
What  we  have  first  to  do  is  to  refer  to  the  solstitial 
temples,  those  which  point  to  26°  N.  or  S.  of  E.  or  W., 
in  which  we  have  undoubtedly  indications  of  the  early 
attempts  to  observe,  or  to  worship,  the  sun  at  sun-rising 
and  at  sun-setting,  at  the  critical  times — the  solstitial 
times  of  the  year. 

The  first  point  that  I  wi^h  to  make  is  that  these 
temples — whatever  views  may  be  entertained  with  regard 
to  their  worship  or  the  ceremonial  in  them — were  un- 
doubtedly constructed  among  other  reasons  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  an  exact  observation  of  the  precise 
time  of  the  solstice.  The  priests  having  this  power 
at  their  disposal,  would  not  be  likely  to  neglect  it,  for 
they  ruled  by  knowledge.  The  temples  were,  then, 
astronomical  observatories,  and  the  first  observatories 
that  we  know  of  in  the  world. 

If  we  consider  them  as  horizontal  telescopes  used 
for  the  purpose  I  have  suggested,  we  at  once  understand 
the  long  axis,  and  the  series  of  gradually  narrowing 
diaphragms,  for,  the  longer  the  beam  of  light  used,  the 
greater  is  the  accuracy  that  can  be  obtained. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  direction  of  the  temple 
at  Karnak  is  quite  independent  of  the  locality,  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  presentation  of  the  temple  to  the 
Nile  or  to  any  other  particular  part  of  the  landscape,  and 
that  point,  I  think,  is  absolutely  settled  by  the  con- 
sideration that  we  have  temples  at  the  same  amplitude  in 
different  localities  up  and  down  the  Nile  Valley,  where,  , 

NO.   II 25,  VOL.  44] 


although  they  are  parallel  to  each  other,  their  presenta- 
tion to  the  river  in  the  different  localities  is  very  various. 

What  then  was  the  real  use  of  these  pylons  and  these 
diaphragms  ?  It  was  to  keep  all  stray  light  out  of  the 
carefully  roofed  and  darkened  sanctuary ;  but  why  was 
the  sanctuary  to  be  kept  in  darkness  } 

Independently  of  ceremonial  reasons — there  is  a  good 
deal  to  be  said  under  that  head — it  is  quite  clear  that  the 
darker  the  sanctuary  the  more  obvious  will  be  the  patch 
of  light  on  the  end  wall,  and  the  more  easily  can  its  posi- 
tion be  located.  It  was  important  to  do  this  on  the  two 
or  three  days  near  the  solstice  in  order  to  get  an  idea  of 
the  exact  time  at  which  the  solstice  took  place.  We 
find  that  a  narrow  beam  of  sunlight  coming  through 
a  narrow  entrance  some  500  yards  away  from  the  door  of 
the  Holy  of  Holies  would,  provided  the  temple  were 
properly  orientated  to  the  solstice,  and  provided  the  sol- 
stice occurred  at  the  absolute  moment  of  sunrise  or  sunset 
according  to  which  the  temple  was  being  utilized,  prac- 
tically flash  into  the  sanctuary  and  remain  there  for 
about  a  couple  of  minutes,  and  then  pass  away.  The 
flash  would  be  a  crescendo  and  diminuendo,  but  the 
whole  thing  would  not  last  above  two  minutes  or  there- 
abouts, and  might  be  considerably  reduced  by  arrange- 
ments of  curtains.  Supposing  the  solstice  did  not  occur 
at  the  precise  moment  of  sunrise  or  sunset,  and  provided 
the  Egyptians  by  any  means  whatever  were  able  to  divide 
the  days  and  the  nights  into  more  or  less  equal  intervals 
of  time,  two  or  three  observations  of  the  sun-rising  at  the 
solstice  on  three  different  mornings,  or  of  the  sunset  at 
the  solstice  on  three  different  evenings,  would  enable  a 
careful  observer  to  say  whether  the  solstice  had  occurred 
at  the  exact  moment  of  sunrise  or  at  some  interval  between 
two  successive  sunrises,  and  if  the  latter,  what  that  interval 
was. 

I  now  come  to  my  next  point,  which  is  that  here  we 
have  the  true  origin  of  our  present  means  of  measuring 
time — that  our  year  as  we  know  it  was  first  determined  in 
these  Egyptian  temples  and  by  the  Egyptians.  We  have 
seen  that  it  did  not  require  any  great  amount  of  astro- 
nomical knowledge  to  determine  either  the  moment  of 
the  solstice  or  the  moment  of  the  equinox.  I  think  you 
will  agree  with  me  that  the  most  natural  thing  to  begin 
with  was  the  observation  of  the  solstice,  for  the  reason 
that  at  the  solstice  you  can  watch  the  sun  day  after  day 
getting  more  and  more  north  or  more  and  more  south 
until  it  comes  to  a  standstill.  But  for  the  observation  of 
the  equinox,  of  course,  the  sun  is  moving  most  rapidly 
either  north  or  south,  and  therefore  it  would  be  more 
difficult  to  determine  in  those  days  the  exact  moment,  so 
that  I  have  little  doubt  that  what  they  attempted  in  the 
first  instance  was  to  mark  the  absolute  moment  of  the 
solstice.  If  that  be  so,  and  if  Masp^ro  is  right  that 
Abydos  was  built  before  Menes,  then  we  know  definitely 
that  the  Egyptians  could  and  did  observe  the  solstices, 
and  knew  what  they  were  doing,  7000  years  ago. 

Before  I  say  anything  more  about  the  use  of  these 
temples  in  determining  the  year,  it  is  worth  while  to  note 
how  very  different  the  treatment  of  this  subject  was  in 
Egypt  to  what  it  was  in  Chaldsea  and  Babylonia  and 
among  the  Jews.  We  do  of  course  in  the  Egyptian 
inscriptions  read  of  the  moon,  but  in  Chaldaea  it  would 
seem  that  the  moon  was  the  chief  thing  worshipped,  and 
it  was  thus  naturally  the  chief  means  used  for  measuring 
time,  and,  as  far  of  course  as  months  were  concerned,  this 
was  quite  right.  In  Chaldaea,  where  they  were  not  de- 
pendent upon  the  rising  of  the  Nile,  and  where  much 
desert  travel  had  to  be  undertaken  at  night,  the  moon  and 
the  month  were  the  points  considered,  and  the  sun  was 
hardly  regarded  at  all  from  that  point  of  view.  An  in- 
teresting point  connected  with  this  is  that,  among  any 
of  these  ancient  peoples,  the  celestial  bodies  which  gave 
them  the  longest  period  of  time  by  which  they  reckoned 
were  practically  looked  upon  in  the  same  category. 


6o 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


Thus,  for  instance^  in  Egypt  the  sun  being  used,  the  unit 
of  time  was  a  year ;  but  in  Chaldaea  the  unit  of  time  was 
a  month,  for  the  reason  that  the  standard  of  time  was  the 
moon.  So  that  when  people  began  speaking  about  periods 
of  time  it  was  quite  easy  for  one  nation  to  conceive  that 
a  period  of  time  was  a  year  when  really  it  was  a  month, 
and  vice  versd.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  years  of 
Methuselah  and  other  persons  who  are  stated  to  have 
lived  a  considerable  number  of  years  were  not  solar 
years  but  lunar  years— that  is,  properly,  lunar  months.  This 
IS  reasonable,  since  if  we  divide  the  numbers  by  12  we  find 
that  they  come  out  very  much  the  same  length  as  lives 
are  in  the  present  day. 

The  Egyptians,  taking  the  sun  as  their  measurer  of 
time,  began  very  early  with  a  year  of  360  days.  For 
some  reason  or  other  they  divided  these  360  days  into 
months,  probably  with  some  lunar  connection,  so  that 
they  had  12  months  of  30  days.  Now,  we  know  that  that 
is  not  the  true  length  of  the  year,  and  it  is  clear  that  any 
nation  which  uses  such  a  year  as  that  will  find  its 
festivals  going  through  the  year.  Further,  such  a  year 
as  that  is  absolutely  useless  for  the  agriculturist  or  the 
gardener,  because  after  a  time  the  same  month,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  same  day  of  the  month,  w^ill  not  mean 
reaping-time,  will  not  mean  sowing-time,  or  anything 
else.  So  that  this  360-day  year  did  not  last  very  long ; 
so  long  as  it  lasted,  however,  they  knew  that  they  got  the 
seasons  back  to  months  of  the  same  name  in  a  period 
of  70  years. 

This  method  led  to  complications,  which  possibly  may 
have  had  something  to  do  with  the  building  of  these 
temples.  Egypt  being  exclusively  the  gift  of  the  Nile, 
you  can  quite  understand  that  their  earliest  calendar 
would  be  connected  with  the  Nile,  and  so  one  finds  it. 
We  and  other  peoples  occupying  the  zone  in  the  north 
divide  the  year  into  four  seasons  ;  the  Egyptians  divided 
it,  and  still  divide  it,  into  three  :  they  have  four  months 
of  the  flood  of  the  Nile,  then  they  have  four  months  after 
the  Nile  has  retired,  in  which  they  do  their  sowing,  and 
then  they  have  other  four  months  which  they  call  their 
sunmier,  in  which  they  gather  their  harvest. 

We  began,  then,  with  a  year  of  360  days,  and,  having 
360  days  instead  of  365I,  we  had  a  cycle  of  70  years,  and 
during  that  cycle  each  day  of  the  year  meant  something 
different  with  regard  to  the  advance  of  the  seasons,  and 
with  regard  to  the  work  of  the  agriculturist  and  the 
gardener  to  what  it  had  meant  in  the  preceding  year. 
But  this  state  of  things  did  not  last  long.  The  ist  of 
the  first  month  fell  at  the  summer  solstice  on  June  20, 
and  the  reason  that  it  fell  then  was,  that  the  inundation 
of  the  Nile  reached  Memphis  on  that  day.  Whether  with 
the  help  of  the  temples  or  not,  they  soon  got  very  much 
nearer,  and  changed  the  year  of  360  for  one  of  365  days, 
which  is,  roughly,  within  a  quarter  of  a  day  of  the  truth. 
They  had  still  their  12  months  of  30  days,  and  then  they 
added  an  extra  month  of  5  days.  With  their  perfectly 
orientated  temples  they  must  have  soon  found  that  their 
festival  at  the  summer  solstice — which  festival  is  known 
all  over  the  world  to-day — did  not  fall  precisely  on  the 
same  day  of  the  new  year,  because,  if  365  days  had  ex- 
actly measured  the  year,  that  flash  of  bright  sunlight 
would  have  fallen  into  the  sanctuary  just  as  it  did  365 
days  before.  But  what  they  must  have  found  was,  that 
after  an  interval  of  four  years  it  did  not  fall  on  the  first 
day  of  the  month,  but  on  the  day  following  it.  They  at 
once  faced  this,  and  found  out  that  365  days  did  not 
exactly  make  a  year,  but  that  they  had  to  do  with  a 
quarter  day  in  addition.  What  the  Chinese  did  was  this : 
every  fourth  year,  instead  of  adding  5  days  to  their  360, 
they  added  6  days,  and  in  that  way  they  practically 
brought  the  calendar  right. 

Theory  indicated  that  retaining  the  365-day  year,  the 
1st  of  the  first  month  would  come  back  to  its  exact 
relationship  to  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  after  a  period 

NO.   1 125,  VOL.  44] 


of  1460  years,  the  1460  years  of  course  depending  upon 
the  quarter  being  added  (365  x  4  =  1460). 

This  was  known  in  Egypt  to  the  priests  alone.  They 
would  not  allow  the  year  of  365  days,  called  the  vagut 
year,  to  be  altered,  and  so  strongly  did  they  feel  on  this 
point  that  every  king  had  to  swear  when  he  was  crowned 
that  he  would  not  alter  the  year.  We  can  surmise  why 
this  was.  It  gave  great  power  to  the  priests ;  they  alone 
could  tell  on  what  particular  day  of  what  particular  month 
the  Nile  would  rise  in  each  year,  because  they  alone  knew 
in  what  part  of  the  cycle  of  1460  years  they  were,  and  in 
order  to  get  that  knowledge  they  had  simply  to  continue 
going  every  year  into  their  Holy  of  Holies  one  day  in  the 
year  as  the  priests  did  in  Jerusalem,  and  watch  the  little 
patch  of  bright  sunlight  coming  into  the  sanctuary.  That 
would  tell  them  exactly  the  relation  of  the  true  solar  sol- 
stice to  their  year,  which  was  supposed  to  begin  at  the 
solstice,  and  the  exact  date  of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile 
could  be  found  by  those  who  could  determine  ob- 
servationally  the  solstice,  but  by  no  others. 

In  reading  books  on  Egypt  we  come  across  another 
cycle  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  very  mysterious  one; 
in  fact  it  is  one  which,  I  think,  has  not  yet  been  suffi- 
ciently investigated,  and  it  is  very  well  worth  the  trouble 
of  anybody  who  will  give  the  time.  They  b^n  with  a 
year  of  twelve  months,  each  of  which  has  thirty  days, 
thus  giving  360  days ;  this  was  found  not  to  work.  They 
then  tried  365  days,  but  that  also  would  not  work,  because 
then  the  first  day  of  Thoth  (their  first  month)  would  only 
indicate  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  one  year  out  of  1460 ; 
and  then  the  priests  interpolated  the  other  day  and  got 
the  cycle  right,  but  it  was  not  yet  quite  right.  In  the 
time  of  Hipparchus  36525  did  not  really  represent  the 
true  length  of  the  solar  year ;  instead  of  365*25  we  must 
write  365*242392 — that  is  to  say,  the  real  length  of  the 
year  was  a  little  less  than  365^  days. 

Now  the  length  of  the  year  being  a  little  less,  of  course 
we  should  only  get  the  absolute  coincidence  of  the  ist 
of  Thoth  with  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  in  a  longer  period 
than  the  1460  years  cycle ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  foct,  the 
1460  years  had  to  be  expanded  into  1 506  to  fit  the  months 
into  die  years  with  this  slightly  shortened  length  of  the 
year ;  so  we  have  a  period  which  is  called  sothic^  of  14^ 
years ;  and  a  period  which  is  called  phceniXy  of  1506 
years. 

There  is  a  great  wealth  of  interest  connected  with  the 
uses  of  the  temples  from  the  point  of  view  of  worship,  but 
that  does  not  concern  us  here,  except  that  it  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  next  part  of  the  subject,  for  I  have 
next  to  point  out  that  it  necessitated  in  Egypt,  Chaldsea, 
and  elsewhere  contemporaneous  observations  of  the  stars. 
I  therefore  now  pass  from  the  sun  to  the  stars. 

J.  Norman  Lockyer. 

{To  be  continued.) 


I 


FORESTRY  IN  NORTH  AMERICA, 

N  continuation  of  the  notes  under  the  above  heading 
which  appeared  in  Nature  last  January,  I  wish  to 
refer  to  a  splendid  paper  ^  recently  read  by  Sir  Dietrich 
Brandis,  F.R.S.,  to  the  Natural  History  Society  of  Bonn. 
It  consists  chiefly  of  a  compilation  from  Dr.  Mayr's 
book,  "Die  Waldungen  von  Nord  America"  (Munich, 
1890),  and  from  works  by  Prof.  Sargent  Bemhard  Femow, 
the  present  Chief  of  Forestry  at  Washington,  and  some 
other  authors,  as  well  as  from  the  Agricultural  Reports 
of  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Mayr  is  the  son  of  a  Bavarian  State  forest  officer,and, 
after  studying  forestry  and  botany  at  Munich,  he  was  sent, 
at  the  expense  of  the  Bavarian  Government,  to  observe  in 
their  native  forests,  at  different  ages,  certain  important 

^  "  Der  Wald  in  dea  Vereinigten  Staaten  von  Nord  America,"  von  l)r. 
D.  Brandis  in  Bonn,  1891.  (Sonder  Abdruck  aus  den  VerkoMdinnge*  da 
Naiurhistorischen  I^cret'fUt  47  Jahrg.) 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TORE 


61 


North  American  forest  trees,  experimental  plantings  of 
which  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  in  Germany. 
After  spending  seven  months  on  these  researches,  and  ex- 
tending his  tour  through  Japan,  Java,  Ceylon,  and  Northern 
Hindustan,  Dr.  Mayr  returned  to  Germany  in  1888,  and 
was  shortly  afterwards  appointed  Professor  of  Forestry 
and  Forest  Botany  at  the  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Forestry  at  Tokio  in  Japan.  The  present  writer  had  the 
great  pleasure  of  accompanying  him  in  January  1888  for 
about  three  weeks  through  some  of  the  coniferous  and 
oak  forests  of  the  North- Western  Himalayas  and  the 
subtropical  forests  of  the  lower  hills  near  Dehra. 

After  leaving  Germany  a  second  time  for  Japan,  Dr. 
Mayr  bad  a  further  opportunity  of  visiting  North 
America,  and  thus  has  twice  traversed  the  length  and 
tnreadth  of  the  country  between  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
and  Mexico. 

Mayr  treats  of  the  demands  of  the  most  important 
North  American  trees  as  regards  climate  and  soil,  with  a 
summary  account  of  their  anatomical  structure  and  of  the 
physical  and  technical  qualities  of  the  most  important 
woiods,  and  his  book  contains  numerous  illustrations.  He 
also  gives  lists  of  destructive  fungi  and  insects  observed 
by  him  on  the  different  species. 

Brandis  has  some  criticisms  to  mete  out  for  a  few 
somewhat  rash  generalizations  made  by  Mayr.  These 
are  that  ever^^een  broad-leaved  (not  coniferous)  forest 
requires  a  higher  winter  temperature  than  deciduous 
forest,  and  that  deciduous  forest  vegetation  is  always 
absent  in  tropical  countries  on  account  of  the  uniformity 
of  the  dimate  throughout  the  year.  Brandis  shows 
clearly,  from  a  comparison  with  the  deciduous  forests  of 
teak  and  other  species  in  India,  Burma,  and  Java,  that 
this  statement  will  not  hold  wherever  there  is  a  prolonged 
dry  season,  which  renders  the  trees  leafless  for  a  certain 
period  of  the  year. 

Another  statement  of  Mayr's  controverted  by  Brandis 
is  that  conifers  never  grow  in  tropical  countries  except 
where  the  altitude  renders  the  climate  non-tropical,  and 
that  in  North  America  they  have  longer  needles,  supply 
heavier  timber,  and  contain  the  more  resin,  the  nearer 
they  grow  to  the  tropics.  The  latter  statements  may  be 
true  tor  Pinus  ausiralis^  the  pitch  pine  of  the  Southern 
States  of  North  America,  but  do  not  hold  good  in  India, 
where  the  Pinus  longifolia  of  the  Himalayas  has  the 
longest  needles  and  probably  yields  as  much  resin  as 
the  tropical  pine  (A  Merkensit)^  which,  however,  has  the 
heaviest  wood  of  all  the  Indian  pines,  and  grows  in 
latitude  17°  N.,  in  Tenasserim,  at  about  600  feet  above 
sea-level,  in  an  absolutely  tropical  climate. 
^  Mayr's  statement  that  oranges  will  only  grow  to  perfec- 
tion in  a  hot  dry  climate  is  also  not  true  for  India,  as 
oranges  of  splendid  flavour  are  grown  in  enormous 
quantities  in  the  damp  lower  hills  below  Cherapunji,  in 
Assam,  where  the  rainy  season  lasts  for  eight  months,  as 
well  as  in  the  dry  regions  near  Delhi,  and  the  compara- 
tively dry  country  near  Nagpur,  in  the  Central  Provmces 
of  India. 

Apart  from  these  criticisms  and  an  interesting  discus- 
sion on  the  origin  of  prairies,  we  find  in  Brandis's  paper 
a  most  complete  account  of  the  distribution  of  North 
American  forest  trees. 

Forest  v^;etation  is  much  richer  in  North  America  than 
in  Europe,  containing  about  412  species,  distributed  as 
follows : — 


Atlantic  r^on 
Pacific  r^on  ... 

Common  to  both 

Centra]  region  on  and  surrounding  Rocky  Moui- 

•^•■•w  •«•  •••  •««  ••«  ••«  «•« 

Tropical  species  near  the  coasts  of  Florida 


Europe. 


against  158  species  in 

NO.  II 25,  VOL.  44 


176 

106 

10 

46 
74 

412 


At  least  six  North  American  species  of  forest  trees, 
according  to  Brandis,  are  also  indigenous  in  Europe, 
being — 

Cercis  canadensis         —  Siliquastrnm 

Diospyros  virginiana  =  Lotus 

Celtis  occidentalis        =  australis 

Platanus  occidentalis  =  orientalis 

Ostrya  virginiea  =  carpinifolia 

Castanea  amerieana    =  vulgaris. 

All  these  species  now  grow  naturally  in  Europe  south 
of  the  Alps,  and  since  many  American  forest  genera 
existed  in  Europe  in  Tertiary  times,  whilst  only  five 
European  forest  genera  (Ceratonia,  Laburnum,  Olea, 
Syringa,  Laurus)  are  not  found  in  America,  it  is  possible 
that  other  species  formerly  common  to  both  countries 
were  destroyed  in  Europe  north  of  the  Alps  by  the  Glacial 
epoch. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  each  region  in 
detail,  and  I  must  here  merely  glance  at  them  in  the 
briefest  manner. 

A  small  outlier  of  the  West  Indian  tropical  flora 
extends  into  the  south  of  Florida,  and  is  followed  by 
a  broad  zone  of  evergreen  broad-leaved  forest,  of  which 
Magnolia  grandiftora  is  the  chief  representative.  We 
then  get  the  pitch  pine  forests  on  the  sandy  formations  of 
Florida,  Georgia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  extending 
westwards  to  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  The  wood  of 
the  pitch  pine  {P.  australis)  is  the  best  coniferous  wood 
in  the  world,  but  the  forests  are  being  utterly  ruined.  They 
are  tapped  in  the  most  wasteful  manner  for  turpentine, 
8,000,000  dollars  being  the  estimated  local  value  of  the 
annual  return.  More  wood  is  burned  than  is  utilized, 
and,  according  to  Mayr,  already  wide  belts  of  white 
sterile  shifting  sands  border  both  sides  of  the  railways 
of  the  Gulf  States,  showing  what  the  poorer  tracts  of  the 
country  will  come  to,  if  the  farmers  do  not  give  up  their 
pernicious  habit  of  burning  thousands  of  square  miles  of 
forest  every  year. 

Another  tree  of  the  Southern  Atlantic  zone  is  the 
swamp  cypress  {Taxodium  disHchum\  growing  on  an- 
nuaUy  inundated  land,  and  presumably  safe  from  fire,  if 
not  from  ill-regulated  and  wasteful  felling. 

The  valuable  pencil  cedar  (Juniperus  vir^niana)  also 
flourishes  at  its  best  in  the  Southern  Atlantic  region,  but 
grows  almost  everywhere  in  the  United  States  and  British 
America,  from  latitude  54°  southwards.  To  the  north 
and  in  the  prairies  it  has,  however,  only  a  stunted  growth. 
Hardly  any  sound  wood  of  this  species  is  now  procurable, 
as  I  learned  last  year  from  Messrs.  Faber  and  Co.  at 
Nuremberg.  Next  to  this  zone  comes  the  description  of 
the  broad-leaved  deciduous  forest  of  the  temperate  region, 
containing  many  oaks,  walnuts,  hickories,  and  the  tulip 
tree  {Liriodendron  tulipi/era).  The  heavy  seeded  trees 
are  found  chiefly  in  the  south,  and  lighter  seeded  ones, 
as  maples,  birches,  and  elms,  more  to  the  north. 

There  is  a  long  account  by  Brandis  of  the  prairie  region, 
and  the  region  of  thinly-stocked  forest  bordering  on  it ;  and 
it  appears  that  here,  as  cultivation  extends,  and  the  fires 
do  not  sweep  over  such  vast  extents  of  land  as  they  did 
formerly,  woods  of  Mesquit  bean  {Prosopis  julijtora)^ 
and  other  trees  are  spreading  by  seed  or  coppice  shoots, 
in  Western  Texas,  and  also  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
and  other  States.  Much  has  been  done  in  the  prairie 
region  by  plantations,  and  these  succeed  admirably 
wherever  the  climate  is  sufliciently  moist;  but  in  the 
central  and  western  parts  of  Kansas  all  planting  has 
hitherto  failed,  owing  to  the  extremely  dry  climate. 

In  the  northern  pine  zone  of  the  Atlantic  forest  region, 
Pinus  StrobuSy  the  Weymouth  or  white  pine  is  the  most 
important  species,  and  formerly  covered  enormous  tracts 
from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  North  Georgia,  and 
beyond  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  At  present,  the 
only  considerable  supply  of  white  pine  is  in  Canada,  and 
in  the  lake  districts  of  the  States  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 


62 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


and  Minnesota.  The  timber  operations  in  the  white 
pine  forests  have  only  one  object,  which  is  to  bring  as 
much  timber  as  possible  out  of  the  forest  in  the  shortest 
possible  time,  and  to  make  money.  Only  the  best  trees 
are  felled,  and  the  rest  burned.  A  forest  after  a  timber 
gang  has  left  it  presents  a  remarkable  appearance : 
between  the  standing  blackened  and  partially  charred 
stems  of  the  broad-leaved  and  other  trees  which  have  not 
been  felled  are  the  stumps  of  the  felled  pines,  whilst  the 
ground  is  covered  with  wood,  which  would  not  have  paid 
for  its  removal,  and  rots,  or  is  burned  by  the  annual  fires. 

In  1880,  there  were  in  the  three  lake  districts  7000 
million  cubic  feet  of  standing  white  pine  timber,  whilst  in 
the  last  ten  years  6205  millions  of  cubic  feet  have  been 
felled  and  exported,  750  millions  in  1889  alone.  There 
is,  therefore,  little  more  left  than  can  be  exported  in  a 
single  year.  Many  of  the  large  saw-mills  have  already 
been  obliged  to  stop  work,  or  get  timber  from  Canada. 
Chicago,  which  owes  its  rapid  rise  to  the  timber  trade, 
imports  yearly  166,000,000  cubic  feet  of  white  pine  timber. 
This  is  about  three-fourths  of  the  whole  forest  yield  of 
Prussia, the  produceof6,75o,oooacresor  10,547  square  miles 
of  forest.  Besides  the  Weymouth  pine,  Pinus  Banksiana^ 
the  grey  pine,  and  Pinus  resinosuy  and  various  broad- 
leaved  trees  arc  found.  The  sub-Arctic  region  of  Alaska 
and  British  North  America  is  poor  in  species  ;  Picea  alba 
and  nigra,  the  white  atid  black  spruce,  being  characteristic 
trees. 

Merely  glancing  at  the  North  Mexican  forest  region, 
with  forests  of  Prosopis  julijlora^  and  grassy  tracts  con- 
taining gigantic  cacti,  and  Yucca  baccaia^  a  palm  lily, 
attaining  40  feet  in  height,  we  come  to  the  Pacific  forest 
region,  where  the  Douglas  fir,  Pseudoisuga  Dougiasii,  is 
the  most  important  tree,  and  yields,  in  suitable  localities, 
perhaps  the  greatest  quantity  of  timber  per  acre  of  any 
known  species. 

We  finally  come  to  the  red  wood  forests  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  where  Sequoia  semperviretis  prevails,  its  congener 
Sequoia  gigantea  only  occurring  over  a  limited  area. 
Unregulated  fellings  also  prevail  in  the  Douglas  and  red 
wood  forests,  and  their  supply  cannot  last  much  longer. 

Besides  the  wholesale  destruction  of  forests  which  goes 
on  in  America,  and  has  already  driven  the  United  States  to 
remove  all  duty  from  Canadian  wood,  the  most  appalling 
destruction  is  now  being  annually  caused  by  the  floods 
which  pour  down  the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  bringing 
down  boulders,  stones,  and  gravel  on  the  cultivated  lands 
below.  Mayr  has  seen  standing  trees  covered  with  mud 
up  to  a  height  of  15  feet  in  some  of  the  Southern  and 
Central  States,  whilst  hundreds  of  magnificent  trees  lay 
uprooted  in  the  full  vigour  of  their  growth.  This  can 
clearly  be  traced  to  the  destruction  of  the  hill  forests. 

How  long  will  rulers  of  the  United  States  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  appalling  waste  of  the  resources  of  their 
country  which  is  still  rampant !  Brandis  hopes  that 
private  capitalists  may  invest  their  money  in  forests, 
tempted  by  the  rapid  rise  in  the  price  of  wood,  and  may 
manage  them  properly;  but  all  European  experience 
points  to  the  necessity  of  State  forests,  and  a  trained 
State  Forest  Service  to  manage  them,  as  the  only  effi- 
cacious remedy  against  the  impoverishment  of  the  soil  and 
natural  resources  of  America.  W.  R.  Fisher. 

BAIL  Y  INTERNA  TIONAL  WE  A  THER  CHARTS. 

A  T  the  meeting  of  the  Meteorological  Congress  at 
-^*^  Vienna  in  September  1873,  General  Myer,  the 
Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  sub- 
mitted the  following  proposal : — 

"  That  it  is  desirable  that,  with  a  view  to  their  ex- 
change, at  least  one  uniform  observation  of  such  a 
character  as  to  be  suitable  for  the  preparation  of  synoptic 
charts  be  taken  and  recorded  daily  and  simultaneously  at 
as  many  stations  as  practicable  throughout  the  world." 

NO.   1 1 25,  VOL.  44] 


Although  various  suggestions  had  been  made  before, 
and  synoptic  charts  had  been  previously  constructed 
for  large  areas,  this  proposal  was  a  bold  step  in  advance, 
as  the  charts  hitherto  published — those  of  the  English 
Meteorological  Office  excepted — were  mostly  synoptic 
only,  but  not  strictly  synchronous,  whereas  the  plan  now 
proposed  was  to  treat  the  whole  observational  area  of  the 
globe  as  a  unit,  and  to  represent  the  actual  conditions 
existing  at  the  same  instant  of  physical  time. 

The  proposal  was  well  received,  and  on  January  i,  i875» 
General  Myer  was  able  to  publish  his  daily  International 
Bulletin,  and  to  supplement  this,  on  July  i,  1878,  by  the 
daily  International  Weather  Map.  These  publications 
were  continued  until  the  end  of  March  1884,  after  which 
time  the  daily  Bulletin  was  discontinued,  but  the  chart 
was  issued  on  an  enlarged  scale,  containing  data  referring 
to  pressure  and  wind  direction  and  force  at  all  reporting 
stations  in  the  northern  hemisphere  and  over  the  northern 
portions  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  and  this  has 
been  published  tip  to  the  end  of  December  1887.  We 
have  before  referred  to  the  ability  with  which  this  great 
undertaking  has  been  carried  out  by  the  Signal  Service. 
The  necessity  of  obtaining  strictly  simultaneous  observa- 
tions was  generally  acknowledged  after  the  discovery  of 
Buys  Ballot's  law  of  the  relation  between  wind  force  and 
barometric  pressure,  about  the  year  1857,  and  it  is  almost 
entirely  due  to  the  construction  of  synoptic  charts  over 
large  areas  that  so  much  progress  has  been  made  in 
weather  prediction  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  This 
progress  would  hardly  have  been  possible  while  each 
country  dealt  exclusively  with  its  own  area,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  advance  made  over  the  old  system  of 
dealing  with  means  of  observations  by  the  publication 
of  telegraphic  weather  reports  and  weather  charts.  But 
notwithstanding  the  progress  already  made,  we  are  still 
unable  to  foresee  what  may  occur  for  more  than  a  day  or 
so  in  advance.  Much  more  research  is  required,  and  the 
thousands  of  observations  now  taken  on  land  and  sea 
over  the  globe  should  be  plotted  at  least  once  a  day.  We 
should  therefore  much  regret  the  discontinuance  of  such 
work  as  that  now  before  us,  which  deals  with  nearly  half 
the  globe. 

To  take  one  or  two  of  the  facts  shown  by  the 
charts  themselves:  the  very  severe  gale  which  visited 
these  islands  on  December  8  and  9,  1886,  in  which  about 
the  lowest  barometer  reading  on  record  was  observed,  will 
be  remembered  in  connection  with  the  capsizing  of  the 
Southport  and  St.  Anne's  lifeboats  near  Formby,  result- 
ing in  the  loss  of  twenty-seven  lives  out  of  twenty-nine 
which  constituted  the  two  crews.  In  a  paper  upon  this 
storm,  read  before  the  Royal  Meteorological  Society  on 
April  20,  1887,  by  Mr.  C.  Harding,  it  is  stated,  after  a 
careful  examination  of  the  materials  then  available,  that 
'^  the  Atlantic  was  in  such  a  disturbed  condition  at  this 
time  that  it  is  not  possible  to  track  the  passage  of  the 
storm  across  the  Atlantic  with  any  certainty."  The  daily 
International  Charts,  however,  show  the  position  of  the 
storm  day  by  day,  and  also  that  it  did  actually  cross  the 
Atlantic  from  shore  to  shore,  and  was  central  over  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  on  December  3. 

Another  instance  of  remarkable  weather,  it  will  be 
remembered,  occurred  in  June  1887 — the  Jubilee  year; 
the  weather  was  remarkably  dry  and  fine  in  this  country, 
there  being  an  extraordinar}*  drought  of  about  thirty  days. 
The  charts  for  that  period  show  that  similar  anticyclonic 
conditions  also  embraced  a  very  large  part  of  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  Atlantic,  and  extended  abnormally  over  a 
portion  of  Europe  ;  while  the  travelling  disturbances  are 
plainly  shown  to  be  confined  to  the  American  side  of  the 
ocean. 

It  is  only  Government  organizations  that  can  undertake 
the  laborious  work  of  producing  such  charts  ;  but  when 
they  are  published,  the  matter  should  not  be  left  there : 
the  meteorologist  should  make  use  of  the  materials  pro- 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


63 


vided  for  him,  and  endeavour  to  solve  the  problems  which 
underlie  weather  changes  and  the  general  movements  of 
the  atmosphere. 


JOSEPH  LEIDY,  M.D. 

npHIS  well-known  American  naturalist  was  bom  on 
*       September  9,  1823.     He  very  early  in  life  showed 
a  fondness  for  collecting  and  observing  insects,  one  of  his 
first  contributions  being  a  paper  on  the  mechanism  which 
closes  the  membranous  wings  of  the  genus  Locusta,  pub- 
lished in  1845  ii^  ^^6  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of 
Natural   Sciences  of    Philadelphia.     Having  taken  his 
degree  in  medicine,  he  devoted  himself  more  and  more 
to  the  study  of   natural  history,  and  few  men  of  any 
nation  have  left  behind  them  a  longer  list  of  work  done 
than  this  distinguished  man,  whose  death  we  announced 
in  a  recent  number.     Leidy  was  gifted  with  great  powers 
of  observation,  he  possessed  a  correct  eye  and  steady 
hand  for  the  delineation  of  whatever  objects  he  was  ob- 
serving, he  was  endowed  with  a  faculty  for  work ;  and 
as  he  had  also  an  excellent  memory,  one  reflects  upon 
his  half-century  of  work  with  less  of  surprise  than  admira- 
tion.    To  give  an  account  of  his  writings  would  be  to 
write  a  volume,  to  give  but  their  titles  would  be  to  fill 
many  of  our  columns,  so  that  it  must  suffice  to  call  to 
mind  rather  the  subjects  about  which  he  wrote  than  the 
writings.     Commencing  with  a  study  of  entomology,  and 
working  more  at  the  anatomy  than  at  the  gener^  mor- 
phology of  insects,  he  quickly  passed  on  to  the  study  of 
the  entophytic  worms,  his  "  Flora  and  Fauna  within 
Living  Animals,"  published  as  one  of  the  Smithsonian 
Contributions  in  1852,  having  made  its  mark  at  the  time. 
Then  he  took  up  the  fresh- water  Polyzoa,  his  labours  on 
which  will  be  understood  only  when  a  monograph  on 
this  group  as  inhabiting  America  comes  to  be  published. 
Leaving  for  a  time  the  study  of  invertebrate  forms,  he 
next  entered  on  the  field  of  research  among  the  fossil 
vertebrates,  describing  in  quick  succession  a  number  of 
remarkable  fossil  reptiles  and  fish,  and  he  was  the  author 
of  the  first  volume  of  the  quarto  series  of  reports  issued 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  of  the  Territories, 
under  the  title  of  "  Contributions  to  the  Extinct  Vertebrate 
Fauna  of  the  Western  Territories."     1 1  was  during  his 
journeys  to  the  Western  Territories,  that,  not  content 
with  investigating  the  fossil  vertebrates  of  the  district,  he 
worked  very  diligently  at  the  study  of  the  microscopic 
forms  of  life  which  inhabit  the  waters  met  with  therein, 
and  these  researches,  so  far  as  one  group  of  animals  is 
concerned,  were  happily  published  by  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  in  1879,  in  one  large  quarto  volume, 
**  The  Fresh-waterRhizopods  of  North  America,"  which  is 
illustrated  by  forty-eight  coloured  plates  after  Leidy's 
own  drawings.    This  work  on  its  appearance  was  received 
with  great  enthusiasm,  and  is  still  a  worthy  model  for  a 
monograph.      During  all  these  years,  and  amid  so  many 
and  so  varied  labours,  Leidy  still  discharged  his  duties  as 
Professor  of  Anatomy  to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  also  of  teacher  of  natural  history  to  the  classes  of  boys 
and  girls  at  the  Swarthmore  College.      No  doubt  many 
of  these  latter  pupils  will  now  call  to  mind  the  warm 
personal  interest  their  master  always  took  in  their  labours. 
In  one  of  his  books  he  tells  us  that  since  he  was  fourteen 
years  of  age  the  study  of  natural  history  was  to  him  a  con- 
stant source  of  happiness  ;  but  that  on  this  joy  a  shadow 
was  constantly  cast  when  he  thought  how  few,  how  very 
few,  of  those  around  him  gave  any  attention  to  intellectual 
pursuits  of  any  kind,  and  it  saddened  him  to  feel  that  the 
command  "  that  man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone  "  re- 
mained so  unappreciated  by  the  great  mass  of  even  so- 
called  enlightened  humanity.      The  results  of  Leidy's 
intellectual  pursuits  will  long  remain  to  testify  to  the 
manner  of  man  that  he  was. 

NO.   1 1  25,  VOL.  44] 


THE  SCIENCE  MUSEUM. 

THE  discussion  on  this  all-important  question  continues 
in  the  press.  The  Whitsuntide  holidays  have  pre- 
vented any  questions  being  asked  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  where  the  feeling  is  very  strong  against  the 
action  of  the  Government. 

As  before,  we  reprint  the  most  important  items  in  the 
discussion.  These  consist  of  letters  from  Sir  H.  Roscoe 
and  Profs.  Armstrong  and  Ayrton  to  the  Times,  We 
commend  to  our  readers  the  reference  by  the  latter  to 
Mr.  Goschen's  treatment  of  the  deputation,  and  also  their 
judgment  as  to  the  present  position  of  science  in  this 
country,  and  the  teaching  of  it  in  London,  as  compared 
with  Gottingen  and  Zurich.  No  one  can  speak  with  greater 
authority  than  Profs.  Armstrong  and  Ayrton  on  this 
subject 

Our  administrative  system,  however,  is  such  that  the 
present  question,  which  is  acknowledged  to  be  of  such  high 
importance,  is  being  settled  exclusively  by  officials  who 
are  quite  ignorant  of  science.  This  is  not  said  to  their 
disparagement :  it  is  only  a  statement  of  fact.  The  letters 
run  as  follow : — 

One  cannot  but  feel  much  sympathy  for  Ministers,  on  the  one 
hand  pressed  by  the  advocates  of  scientific  and  technical  educa- 
tion, and  on  the  other  nervous  at  the  prospect  of  not  securing 
the  gifts  of  the  munificent  but  somewhat  exigeant  art  donor. 
But  the  question  is  so  vitally  important  from  the  point  of  view 
of  .'•cience  that  I  feel  sure  no  excuse  is  necessary  if  I  urge  most 
strenuously  that  an  irrevocable  step  be  not  taken  without  full 
and  careful  consideration ;  and,  further,  that  a  definite  scheme 
for  providing  for  the  science  collections  and  Science  School  be 
formulated  before  what  many  of  us  believe  to  be  a  most  unwise 
interpolation  of  an  art  gallery,  on  land  which  when  bought  was 
universally  believed  to  have  been  acquired  for  scientific  ends, 
is  finally  decided  on. 

At  the  present  moment  it  is  impossible  to  say  under  which 
thimble  the  scientific  pea  is  housed,  and  it  was  no  doubt  due  to 
this  that  the  discussion  which  the  deputation  had  with  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  Lord  President  of  the  Council 
on  Tuesday  last  was  to  some  extent  abortive. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  reply  to  myself  on 
March  18,  said  : — 

**  It  would  be  possible  to  make  adequate  provision  for  chemical 
and  physical  laboratories  on  the  land  between  the  Imperial 
Institute  Road  and  the  Technical  Institute.  This  site  adjoins  the 
east  galleries,  and  it  is  in  these  galleries,  together  with  the  west 
and  southern  galleries,  and  a  proposed  cross  gallery  joining  the 
east  and  west  galleries,  that  the  science  collections  may  ultimately 
be  housed." 

But  by  April  15  the  impracticability  of  the  scheme  of 
putting  part  of  the  Science  School  at  the  south  end  of  the 
eastern  gallery  seems  to  have  been  discovered.  For  on  that  day 
Mr.  W.  H.  Smith,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Mundella,  propounded 
another  scheme  for  the  Science  School,  while  leaving  the 
collections  to  be  housed  in  the  east  and  west  and  cross  galleries. 
He  said : — 

"A  portion  of  these  vacant  lands"  (facing  the  Imperial 
Institute)  "can  be  utilized  for  the  extension  of  the  College  of 
Science  and  for  future  growth  of  the  science  collections. 
Additions  to  the  College  of  Science  must  in  any  case  take  the 
form  of  a  separate  building,  divided  from  the  present  building 
by  Exhibition  Road  ;  and,  as  access  to  ihe  lands  mentioned  above 
from  Exhibition  Road  will  be  secured  by  means  of  a  corridor, 
the  interposition  of  the  Gallery  of  British  Art  need  have  no 
more  serious  effect  than  to  increase  by  some  60  yards  (which 
will  be  under  cover)  the  distance  between  the  two  portions  of 
the  Science  College." 

By  the  former  plan  a  portion  of  the  Science  School  would  no 
doubt  have  been  in  immediate  contact  with  the  splendid  picture 
galleries  in  which  the  science  objects  were  to  be  housed  ;  but  it 
would  be  far  removed  from  the  other  part  of  the  school — the 
Exhibition  Road  thus  becoming  a  school  of  peripatetic  philo- 
sophy. By  the  latter  scheme  the  two  parts  of  the  school  would  be 
brought  somewhat  closer  together — less  of  Exhibition  Road  and 
more  of  covered  corridor — but  then  both  portions  would  be 
entirely  separated  from  the  science  collections — two  roads  to 
cross,  and  a  walk  of  half  a  mile,  or  thereabouts,  to  the  further  part. 


64 


NA  TURE 


("May  21,  189 1 


When  receiving  the  deputation  on  Tuesday  last,  a  third  scheme 
was  suggested,  if  not  distinctly  enunciated,  by  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  that  the  Science  School  extension  and  the 
Science  Museum  should  be  built  on  the  other  side  of  the  plot 
given  to  the  Art  Gallery,  but  1)oth  on  the  ground  recently 
acquired  facing  the  Imperial  Institute. 

The  two  earlier  projects  having  as  it  were  blown  themselves 
up,  it  is  only  necessary  for  me  to  deal  with  the  last 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  recent  Committee  on  the  science 
collections,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  only  asked  for  90,000 
square  feet  of  exhibiting  space,  and  that  more  than  that  area  can 
be  obtained  on  the  vacant  ground  opposite  the  Imperial  Institute. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that,  as  stated  by  our  Committee, 
this  space  did  not  provide  for  offices,  workshops,  &c — a  con- 
siderable item ;  that  it  did  not  in  any  wav  provide  for  the 
extension  of  the  Science  School ;  and  that  it  was  made  some 
time  before  an  immense  impetus  was  given  to  technical  educa- 
tion by  the  Technical  Instruction  Acts  and  the  grants  under  the 
Customs  and  Excise  Act  of  last  year. 

Now,  the  vacant  ground  recently  acquired — omitting  the  strip 
part  of  which  has  already  been  sold,  and  the  remainder  of  which 
is  going  to  be  sold  for  private  dwelling  houses — is  about  one- 
third  of  the  land  devoted  to  the  Natural  History  Museum,  and 
almost  exactly  of  the  same  area  as  that  already  covered  by  the 
Natural  History  Museum  buildings,  which  are  shortly  to  be 
enlarged. 

Is  it  unreasonable  for  the  scientific  man  to  urge  that  this 
vacant  land  is  not  too  much  to  provide  for  the  whole  range  of 
sciences  other  than  those  accommodated  in  the  Natural  History 
Museum  ;  for  a  proper  Museum  of  Machinery  and  Inventions  ; 
for  a  large  extension  of  the  Science  School ;  and  possibly  for 
the  collections  from  the  Jermyn  Street  Museum  ?  Surely  there 
can  be  but  one  answer  to  this  question. 

Why — and  we  have  never  yet  obtained  an  answer  to  this 
inquiry — will  not  the  munificent  donor  be  satisfied  with  another 
site  ?  Why  are  the  existing  physical  laboratory  and  scientific 
class-rooms  to  be  removed,  to  allow  an  art  gallery  to  be  inter- 
posed between  portions  of  the  school  ? 

Even  if  it  be  maintained  that  the  ground  south  of  the  Imperial 
Institute  Road  will  provide  for  the  immediate  wants  of  the 
Science  School  and  collections,  is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  we 
should  look  a  little  ahead,  and  not  now  initiate  another  hugger- 
mugger  arrangement  of  the  collections  and  schools  at  South 
Kensington,  which  all  will  lament  in  a  few  years  ? 

10  Bramham  Gardens,  S.W.,  Henry  E.  Roscoe. 

May  15. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  recent  deputation  to  the  Pre- 
sident of  the  Council  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
was  headed  by  Sir  William  Thomson — the  man  of  science  whom 
we  in  this  country  regard  as  first  among  all  others,  both  on 
account  of  his  individual  achievements  and  on  account  of  his 
occupying  the  representative  position  of  President  of  the  Royal 
Society— not  one  single  word  was  said  by  Mr.  Goschen  in 
explanation  or  justification  of  the  course  which  he  has  adopted  ; 
we  therefore  venture,  with  all  respect,  to  assert  that  the  Royal 
Society  has  just  cause  to  complain  when  one  of  its  Fellows — for 
Mr.  Goschen  b  one  of  us — thus  treats  representations  urged  by 
its  President. 

Where  the  science  collections  are  to  be  lodged,  where  the 
extensions  of  the  Science  Schools  are  to  be  placed,  are  in  them- 
selves all-important  questions ;  but  a  still  graver  issue  remains — 
whether  a  weight  of  opinion  of  the  magnitude  represented  by 
the  memorial  recently  published  in  your  columns  is  to  be  entirely 
set  aside  because  an  anonymous  donor  has  offered  £fio^ooo  plus 
a  collection  of  pictures,  valued  at  another  ;£^75,ooo.  That  a 
Government  which  has  at  its  head  a  Prime  Minister  whose  in- 
terest in  science  is  so  marked,  should  thus  disregard  the  opinion 
offered  by  so  representative  a  body  of  men,  is  one  of  those 
things  which  even  an  Englishmen  can  scarcely  understand  :  in 
no  other  country  in  Europe  would  such  action  be  possible. 

We  cannot  help  thinking  that  a  mistake  has  been  made  in 
calling  public  attention  too  exclusively  to  the  housing  of  the 
science  collections — the  extension  of  the  Science  Schools  appears 
to  be  a  far  more  important  matter.  Attention  has  often  been 
called  of  late  to  what  is  going  on  abroad,  especially  in  Ger- 
many; to  the  unremitting  attention  that  is  being  given  to 
scientific  instruction,  and  to  the  effect  that  is  being  produced 
on  manufacturing  industries  of  all  kinds  by  the  high  develop- 
ment of  science  and  of  the  application  of  every  kind  of  scientinc 

NO.   II 2 5,  VOL.   44] 


requirement.  Unfortunately,  in  this  country  such  matters  have 
not  yet  entered  into  the  domain  of  practical  politic^  But  in  the 
opinion  of  many  among  us  there  cannot  be  a  question  that  almost 
superhuman  effons  are  necessary  if  this  country  is  to  retrain  the 
position  which  it  has  given  away  to  foreigners  by  its  neglect  to 
apply  the  highest  developments  of  chemi(^  and  physical  scieooe 
to  industry. 

The  accommodation  at  present  afforded  by  the  Royal  College 
of  Science  laboratories  is  not  only  inadequate,  but  beneath  con- 
tempt in  comparison  with  that  to  be  found  in  Continental  cities, 
such  even  as  Gottingen  and  Zurich,  for  example ;  and  those  of 
us  who  have  some  knowledge  of  modern  requirements  know  fall 
well  that  every  inch  of  space  on  the  Imperial  Institute  Road 
side  of  the  block  of  land  on  which  stands  the  Natural  History 
Museum  will  before  long  be  required  for  the  purposes  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Science.  The  intrusion  of  an  art  gallery  into 
this  space  would  have  a  most  disastrous  effect  by  irretrievablj 
preventing  the  proper  and  natural  expansion  of  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Science^  laboratories.  This  expansion  must  necessarilj 
be  rapid,  for  science  is  developing  throughout  the  civilized  world 
at  a  (impound  interest  rate,  and  the  grants  recently  made  by 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  aid  of  technical  instmctioo 
must  lead  even  this  country  to  fully  appreciate  the  value  of 
experimental  studies,  and  to  insist  on  proper  laboratory  accom- 
modation being  provided. 

Surely  the  munificent  donor  will  accept  for  his  gallery  some 
other  site  equally  ^ood  for  art,  and  not  insist  on  striking  a  blow 
at  science  by  taking  a  piece  of  land  already  set  apart  for 
laboratories. 

Henry  E.  Armstrong, 

Secretary  of  the  Chemical  Society. 

W.  E.  Ayrton, 

President  of  the  Phjrsical  Society. 

It  seems  probable  that,  as  the  discussion  goes  on,. 
some  side  light  will  be  thrown  upon  the  motives  of 
those  who  have  the  "munificent  donor"  in  hand. 
Although  we  have  not  room  for  the  whole  of  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Marshall  of  Edinburgh,  the  general  drift  of  it 
may  be  stated  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  Marshall's  main  point  is  that,  according  to  the  state- 
ments made  by  Sir  Frederick  Leighton  in  his  speech  at  the 
Royal  Academy  banquet,  the  new  gallery  is  to  be  used  as  "  a 
worthy  home  for  the  permanent  display  of  the  works  of  coo- 
temporary  native  artists" — which  "means,  being  interpreted,"*^ 
says  Mr.  Marshall,  "a  worthy  home  for  the  works  of  Royal 
Academicians  and  their  friends."  The  object  for  which  Sir 
James  Linton,  Sir  J  .C.  Robinson,  Mr.  Orrocks,  and  others  have 
been  contending  is  that  there  should  be  adequate  "  recogoition 
throughout  its  whole  range,  both  as  regards  masters  and 
mediums  of  work,  of  the  artistic  triumphs  of  the  masters  of 
our  English  school."  What  these  gentlemen  have  urged  azul 
incontestably  proved  is  that  while  foreign  art,  and  especially 
early  Italian  art,  is  fiilly  if  not  excessively  represented  in  oar 
National  Gallery,  and  while  a  few  of  our  great  native  artists 
(notably  Turner  and  Constable),  and  many  of  our  small  ones, 
are  represented  far  beyond  what  is  necessary  or  even  desirable, 
our  native  water-colour  art  is  practically  not  recognized  at  all, 
and  many  of  the  very  greatest  of  our  masters  in  oil,  who  were 
(most  of  them)  masters  in  water-colour  also— Cox,  Miller, 
Barret,  De  Wint,  Crome,  Cotman,  Stark,  Vincent,  and  others — 
are  either  conspicuous  by  their  absence,  or  miserably  represented 
as  regards  quality  or  quantity  or  both.  If  the  public  wants  a 
"permanent  display  of  the  works  of  contemporary  native 
artists,'*  and  if  a  generous  millionaire  is  willing  to  provide  ''a 
worthy  home "  for  such  productions,  the  thing  can  be  done. 
*'But  I  object,"  continues  Mr.  Marshall,  '*to  our  astute 
Academicians,  with  the  accomplished  President  at  their  bead, 
calmly  stepping  in  and  absorbing  a  movement  at  the  very  mo- 
ment of  its  success,  diverting  it  from  its  legitimate  purpose,  and, 
after  having  stoned  the  prophets  of  English  art  while  they  lived, 
now  endeavouring  to  steal  the  stones  that  others  have  quarried 
and  hewn  for  the  martyrs'  monument  in  order  to  erect  with  them 
another  comfortable  mansion  for  themselves."  Mr.  Marshall  is 
of  opinion  that  "provincials"  have  opportunities  more  than 
enough  of  seeing  contemporary  art.  Their  wish  now  is  to  have 
a  chance  of  studying  fine  specimens,  authoritatively  selected,  of 
the  acknowledged  masters  of  our  English  school. 


May  21,  1891] 


NATURE 


65 


The  possible  existence  of  such  special  motives  as  those 
here  suggested  among  the  persons  who  are  attempting  to 
get  a  grant  of  land  for  the  carrying  out  of  their  so-called 
national  objects  should  form  an  additional  inducement 
to  men  of  science  to  redouble  their  efforts. 


NOTES, 

The  general  programme  for  the  Cardiff  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  has  now  been  arranged.  The  first  meeting  will  be 
hdd  on  Wednesday,  August  19,  at  8  p.m.,  when  Sir  Frederick 
Abel,  K.C.B.,  will  resign  the  chair,  and  Dr.  William  Huggins, 
President-elect,  will  assume  the  presidency  and  deliver  an 
address.  On  Thursday  evening,  August  20,  at  8  p.m.,  there 
will  be  a  sairie;  on  Friday  evening,  August  21,  at  8.30  p.m., 
a  discourse  on  "  Some  Difficulties  in  the  Life  of  Aquatic  In- 
sects," by  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall ;  on  Monday  evening,  August  24, 
at  8.30  p.m.,  a  discourse  by  Prof.  T  E.  Thorpe,  F.R.S. ;  and 
on  Tuesday  evening,  August  25,  at  8  p.m.,  a  soirie.  On 
Wednesday,  August  26,  the  concluding  general  meeting  will  be 
held  at  2.30  p.m. 

The  arrangements  for  the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene 
and  Demography  are  nearly  complete,  and  the  programme, 
corrected  up  to  May  i,  has  been  issued  in  the  form  of  a  pamph- 
let. It  has  been  definitely  fixed  that  the  opening  meeting, 
at  which  the  Prince  of  Wales  is  to  preside,  shall  be  held  on 
Monday,  August  10,  at  3.30.  The  sections  (of  which  there  are 
ten)  will  meet  on  the  four  following  days  from  10  to  2.  The 
u%,  medical  and  scientific  sections  will  meet  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Royal  and  other  learned  Societies  at  Burlington  House.  The 
University  of  London  will  give  the  use  of  its  large  theatre  to 
the  section  for  the  hygiene  of  infancy  and  childhood,  and  two 
examination  halls  to  the  sections  for  architecture  and  engineer- 
ing. The  division  of  demography  will  meet  in  the  Theatre  of 
the  School  of  Mines,  Jermyn  Street.  Much  attention  is  being 
given  to  the  necessary  social  preparations  ;  and  there  is  already 
a  long  list  of  proposed  entertainments  and  excursions. 

A  GENERAL  meeting  of  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining 
Engineers  will  be  held  in  London  on  Thursday,  the  28th  inst., 
at  12  noon,  and  on  Friday,  the  29th,  at  10  a. m.,  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  25  Great  George  Street, 
Westminster.     Various  works  will  be  visited  on  the  29th  inst. 

The  Committee  of  the  Cardiff  Naturalists'  Society  have  put 
on  foot  a  petition  in  favour  of  Mr.  Pease's  "  Bill  to  Amend  the 
Wild  Birds'  Protection  Act,  1880."  They  are  appealing  to 
other  sdendfic  societies  to  join  with  them  in  order  to  make  the 
petition  as  effective  as  possible. 

At  Mowbray,  a  spburb  of  Cape  Town,  Mr.  Cecil  Rhodes  has 
bought  for  jf  16,000  land  on  which,  it  is  understood,  the  pro- 
posed University  is  to  be  built. 

The  death  of  Prof.  Carl  Wilhelm  von  Nageli,  the  eminent 
botanist,  is  announced.  He  died  at  Munich,  on  the  loth  inst., 
in  the  74th  year  of  his  age,  and  will  be  buried  at  Ziirich,  in 
accordance  with  a  wish  expressed  before  his  death.  Prof,  von 
Nageli  was  a  Foreign  Member  of  the  Royal  Society.  We  hope 
on  a  future  occasion  to  give  some  account  of  his  scientific 
laboon. 

The  Australian  papers  announce  the  death  of  Dr.  Richard 
Schombttigk,  brother  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Schomburgk,  and 
for  many  years  Director  of  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  Adelaide, 
South  Australia.  Dr.  Schomburgk  was  associated  with  his 
brother  in  the  Boundary  Demarcation  Commission  of  British 
Guiana  in  1840,  and,  some  years  later,  settled  with  another 
brother  in  South  Australia  as  a  fiurmer  and  wine-grower.  On 
the  death  of  Mr.  Francis,  in  1866,  he  was  offered,  and  accepted, 
the  post  of  Director  of  the  Adelaide  Botanic  Gardens,  which 
he  held  with  much  distinction  until  his  death.     He  was  an 

NO.   I  125,  VOL.  44] 


enthusiastic  horticulturist,  rather  than  a  botanist — that  is  to  say^ 
as  an  author ;  and  his  services  in  connection  with  the  establii^- 
ment  he  directed  were  very  highly  appreciated,  as  the  sketches 
of  his  career  testify.  Indeed,  so  long  ago  as  1883,  a  large  num- 
ber of  his  admirers  subscribed  the  funds  to  procure  his  portrait 
for  the  Museum  of  Economic  Botany,  founded  by  himself.  His 
literary  work  commenced,  we  believe,  with  bis  **  Reisen  in- 
Britisch  Guiana  in  den  Jahren  1840-1844,"  the  third  volume  of 
which  is  devoted  to  a  ''Versuch  einer  Flora  und  Fauna  von 
Britisch  Guiana,'*  in  which  Schomburgk  had  the  assistance  of 
several  other  botanists.  This  work  has  not  yet  been  superseded,, 
though  its  usefulness  is  unfortunately  much  limited  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  large  number  of  new  names  without  descriptions. 
In  1876,  Dr.  Schomburgk  supplemented  this  work  by  his 
''Botanical  Reminiscences  of  British  Guiana."  But  his  most 
valuable  literary  work  relates  to  the  botany,  to  the  agricultural^ 
and  horticultural  capabilities  of  his  adopted  country,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  Botanic  Garden,  of  which  he  was  to  a  great  extent 
the  creator.  His  name  will  long  be  remembered  in  connection^ 
with  this  establishment,  which  is,  it  is  asserted,  the  "most 
complete  paradise  of  flowers  in  the  southern  hemisphere." 

According  to  the  Calcutta  correspondent  of  the  Times,  the 
Miranzai  Expedition,  under  Sir  W.  Lockhart,  has  obtained' 
much  valuable  geographical  information  about  places  which^ 
although  within  a  few  miles  of  the  frontier,  have  been  hitherto 
unvisited  by  Europeans.  .  The  surveys  effected  by  the  Kuram< 
field  force  during  the  Afghan  war  have  been  carried  on  to  the 
Kurmana  Valley. 

A  Russian  scientific  expedition,  under  the  command  ot 
Captain  Bartshevsky,  has  left  Samarcand  for  the  exploration  of 
Southern  Bokhara,  the  Pamir  district,  and  Kafiristan. 

On  Saturday,  May  30,  at  the  Royal  Institution,  Prof.  A.  H. 
Church,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts, 
will  begin  a  course  of  three  lectures  on  the  scientific  study  of 
decorative  colour. 

The  Rev.  H.  N.  Hutchinson  has  undertaken  to  write  for 
Messrs.  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.'s  "Introductory  Science 
Text-books  "  a  manual  of  physical  geology.  A  second  edition 
of  Dr.  Hatches  "  Petrology  "  in  the  same  series,  reviewed  in  our 
columns  last  week,  has  already  appeared. 

Messrs.  Whittaker  &  Co.  have  in  preparation  a  "Library 
of  Popular  Science."  Among  the  works  to  be  included  in  it 
are  "Astronomy,"  by  G.  F.  Chambers;  "Light,"  by  Sir  H. 
Trueman  Wood  ;  "  Chemistry,"  by  T.  Bolas  ;  "  Mineralc^,"" 
by  Dr.  F.  H.  Hatch ;  "  Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  by  S^ 
Bottone;  "Geology,"  by  A.  J.  Jukes-Brown;  "Botany,"  by 
G.  Massee. 

Mr.  J.  Allen  Brown  has  expounded  in  the  West  Middlesex 
Standard  an  excellent  scheme — now  printed  separately — for  a 
technical  institute  and  museum  for  the  Ealing  Parliamentary 
division  of  Middlesex.  This  division  comprises  Ealing,  Acton, 
and  Chiswick,  and  Mr.  Brown's  proposal  is  that  a  technical! 
institute  and  museum  should  be  established  in  whatever  position 
may  be  most  convenient  for  these  localities.  An  essential  part 
of  his  plan  is  that  the  instruction  shall  be  imparted  by  specially 
qualified  teachers  and  lecturers,  and  that  their  duties  shall  be 
"  migratory  or  peripatetic,"  so  that  classes  may  be  conducted  or 
lectures  given  in  any  part  of  the  division,  and  on  any  of  the 
subjects  contemplated  under  the  Technical  Instruction  Acts. 
We  commend  Mr.  Brown's  scheme  to  the  careful  attention  of 
the  Middlesex  County  Council,  which  will  soon  have  to  decide 
as  to  the  distribution  of  the  funds  placed  at  its  disposal  for  tech- 
nical instruction.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  proposed 
institutions  would  be  of  immense  advantage  to  the  three  districts,. 
.  for  Mr.  Brown  has  a  very  enlightened  conception  of  the  true 
I  nature  of  technical  instruction.     What  he  wishes  is  that  the 


66 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


youDg  workman  shall  acquire  "a knowledge  of  the  scientific  or 
artistic  principles  which  are  applicable  to  his  trade  or  industry," 
and  that  by  the  development  of  his  powers  of  observation  and  in- 
sight  into  the  laws  which  govern  all  things  "  he  may  afterwards  be 
enabled  to  effect  improvements  and  excel  to  a  greater  extent 
than  heretofore  in  the  work  he  desires  to  accomplish." 

The  Gottingen  Society  of  Sciences  has  recently  offered  the 
following  prize  in  physics  for  September  30,  1893:— From  the 
researches  of  W.  Kontgen  and  A.  Kundt  on  variation  of  the 
optical  properties  of  quartz  in  the  electric  field,  there  appears  to 
be  a  close  connection  between  the  electro-optic  phenomena  and 
the  elastic  deformations  which  that  piezo- electric  substance 
shows  under  the  action  of  electrostatic  forces.  An  exten- 
sion of  these  inquiries  to  a  series  of  piezo-electric  crystals  with 
various  properties  of  symmetry  seems  highly  desirable.  The 
investigation  shoald  also  be  directed  to  determining  whether 
the  electro-optic  phenomena  in  piezo-electric  crystals  are  caused 
exclusively  by  the  deformations  occurring  in  the  electric  field  or, 
besides,  by  a  direct  action  of  the  electrostatic  forces  on  the 
light-motion.     Prize,  ;f  25. 

The  German  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Industry 
offers  the  following  (among  other)  prizes:  (i)  How  far  is  the 
chemical  composition  of  steel,  and  especially  the  amount  of 
carbon  present,  a  measure  of  the  usefulness  of  cutting  tools  ? 
Prize,  a  silver  medal  and  ;^300;  date,  November  15,  189 1. 
{2)  A  silver  medal  and  ;£'i5o  for  the  best  chemical  and 
physical  investigation  of  the  most  common  iron  paints.  Date, 
November  15,  1894.  (3)  A  gold  medal  and  ;^i5o  for  the  best 
work  on  the  magnetism  of  iron.  This  should  comprise  a  critical 
comparison  of  previous  observations  ;  also  personal  observations 
oil  steel  and  wrought  iron  bars  of  the  most  various  chemical 
composition  possible,  examination  being  made  both  of  the 
strength  of  temporary  magnetization  with  absolutely  measured 
and  varying  magnetizing  force,  and  the  strength  of  permanent 
magnetism  and  its  durability  with  regard  to  temperature-changes 
and  vibrations.  Date,  November  15,  1893.  (4)  Investigation 
of  the  trustworthiness  of  the  usual  methods  of  determining  the 
carbon  in  iron.  Prize,  a  silver  medal  and  £1^0 ;  date,  Novem- 
ber 15,  1892). 

The  extraordinary  collection  of  mummies,  papyri,  and  other 
objects  of  antiquarian  interest  recovered  last  February  at  Deir-el- 
Bahari  is  now  safely  housed  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum.  According 
to  the  Cairo  correspondent  of  the  TimeSy  all  the  objects  are  in 
good  condition,  although  some  anxiety  was  caused  by  the  pro- 
tracted journey  by  boats  from  Luxor.  The  correspondent  says 
that  the  mummies  mostly  belong  to  the  21st  Dynasty,  and, 
though  styled  Priests  of  Ammon,  are  supposed  to  be  the 
corpses  of  generals  and  other  official  dignitaries  who  bore 
ecclesiastical  besides  other  titles.  The  163  mummies  and 
the  75  papyri  are  not  yet  unrolled,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
form  an  estimate  of  their  archaeological  value,  as  many  of  the 
sarcophagi  bear  different  names  on  the  outer  and  inner  casings, 
whilst  others  have  the  names  usually  inscribed  on  the  outer 
<:asings  intentionally  effaced.  M.  Grebaut  thinks  that,  owing  to 
this  circumstance  and  the  magnitude  of  the  collection,  some 
time  will  be  required  before  any  important  communications  can 
be  made  to  the  scientific  world. 

A  series  of  experiments  has  been  lately  made  by  Herr 
Ruhner  {Archiv  fur  Hygiene\  with  regard  to  the  familiar  fact 
that  not  only  dry  high  temperatures  are  more  easily  borne  than 
moist,  but  dry  cold  causes  much  less  discomfort  than  moist 
cold.  Dogs,  fasting  or  fed,  being  observed  in  an  air-calorimeter, 
it  appeared  that,  in  all  cases,  moist  air  increased  the  loss  of 
heat  by  conduction  and  radiation.  For  every  variation  of  the 
air- moisture  i  per  cent.,  heat  was  parted  with  to  the  extent 
of  0*32  per  cent.     In  a  previous  investigation,  Herr  Rubner 

NO.    II 25,  VOL.  44] 


demonstuted  the  Itssened  yield  of  water  by  evaporaticn  fzom 
animals  where  the  air-mobture  is  increased,  involving  lessened 
loss  of  heat.  Here,  then,  are  two  antagonistic  influences.  He 
is  disposed  to  regard  the  increased  radiation  and  conduction  in 
moist  air  as  the  primary  action,  and  the  diminished  evaporatioD 
as  secondary.  The  colder  feeling  of  moist  cold  thao  dry  is 
readily  explained  by  the  increased  heat  radiation.  In  moist 
heat,  with  the  sense  of  oppression  it  brings,  this  factor  passes 
rather  into  the  background.  The  degree  of  temperature,  and 
some  other  influences,  of  complex  nature,  also  affect  the  amQniit 
of  radiation. 

The  Meteorological  Council  have  issued  a  publication  con- 
taining the  hourly  means  obtained  from  the  self-recoidix^ 
instruments  at  their  observatories  for  the  year  1887.  This  work 
constitutes  a  new  departure  in  the  use  made  of  the  records  of 
the  self-registering  instruments,  and  one  which  we  think  will  be 
of  much  practical  use  to  meteorologists.  The  publication  of 
the  hourly  observations  in  extenso^  at  the  request  of  a  number  of 
scientific  men,  began  with  the  year  1874,  and  was  continued  until 
1880,  in  a  lithographed  form,  and  the  daily  means  were  added  in 
1879 ;  from  the  year  1881  to  1886  they  were  issued  in  a  printed 
form.  The  Council,  after  careful  consideration,  have  now  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  preferable,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  pub- 
lish mean  values  only ;  hitherto  no  hourly  means  had  been 
published  by  the  Office,  but  in  the  present  work  these  have  been 
grouped  into  five-day  and  other  periods,  in  a  convenient  form 
for  discussion,  and  the  necessity  for  dealing  with  an  excessive 
number  of  values  has  thereby  been  obviated,  while  many  nsdul 
tables  not  included  in  the  old  series  have  been  added.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  calculate  the  means  similarly  for  earlier  years,  while 
the  original  records  will  be  carefully  preserved,  and  will  be 
available,  should  they  be  needed,  for  any  special  research. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  Director  of  the  Royal  Alfred 
Observatory,  Mauritius,  for  the  year  1889  shows  that  the  island 
has  again  enjoyed  immunity  from  storms  ;  the  greatest  hourly 
velocity  of  the  wind  was  31  miles.  The  almost  total  absence 
of  tropical  cyclones  in  the  South  Indian  Ocean  during  the 
year  is  considered  by  Dr.  Meldrum  as  another  confirmation  of 
the  law  that  these  cyclones  are  fewest  in  number  and  least 
intense  in  the  years  of  least  solar  activity.  The  mean  tempera- 
ture was  o*'7  below  the  average  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  and 
below  the  average  in  every  month  except  July  and  October.  The 
maximum  shade  temperature  was  93"*  i  on  March  27,  and  the 
minimum  52^*4  on  June  18.  The  rainfall  was  8*56  inches  above 
the  average  ;  the  greatest  fall  in  one  day  was  3*88  inches  on 
March  11,  although  this  amount  was  much  exceeded  in  other 
parts  of  the  island.  On  January  I,  a  waterspout  burst  on  the 
Pouce  Mountain  ;  Port  Louis  was  flooded,  and  some  persons 
were  drowned.  The  collection  of  observations  made  at  sea  is 
actively  carried  on  ;  324  log-books  were  received,  and  the  ob- 
servations duly  tabulated.  The  Report  also  contains  observations 
made  at  the  Seychelles  and  Rodriguez. 

In  a  paper  recently  published  in  the  Meteorologisclu  Zeit- 
schrift.  Prof.  Hellmann,  of  Berlin,  shows,  from  observations 
taken  at  different  British,  Continental,  and  American  stations, 
at  which  barographs  are  used,  that  there  exists  a  close  coinci- 
dence in  the  daily  range  of  the  monthly  extremes  and  in  that  of 
the  hourly  values  of  the  barometer.  He  finds  that  the  hours  of 
occurrence  of  the  highest  and  the  lowest  readings  of  the  baro- 
meter during  a  month  agree  almost  completely  with  the  times  in 
which  the  normal  daily  range  has  its  maxima  and  minima,  both 
curves  being  so  similar  in  shape  that  it  may  be  possible  to  judge 
of  the  general  character  of  the  daily  range  of  the  barometer 
from  knowing  only  the  hours  at  which  the  monthly  extremes 
mostly  occur.  Hence,  as  the  lowest  readings  of  the  barometer 
are  accompanied  by  cloudy  and  stormy  weather,  during  which 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


67 


Uie  effect  of  the  solar  radiation  upon  the  surface  of  the  .earth 
and  the  heating  of  the  lower  strata  of  the  atmosphere  are  quite 
ii:signi6cant,  Prof.  Hellmann  concludes  that  Prof.  Hann  and 
othen  are  right  in  assuming  that  the  normal  daily  range  of  the 
barometer  is  chiefly  an  effect  of  the  absorpticm  of  the  solar  rays 
in  the  upper  strata  of  our  atmosphere.  Prof.  Hann  has  applied 
the  harmonic  analysis  to  the  numbers  furnished  by  Prof.  Hell- 
mann,  and,  by  combining  several  stations  in  a  group,  has  found 
the  coefficients  of  the  periodic  formula  to  be  practically  the 
same  as  those  for  the  normal  daily  range.  We  should,  how- 
ever, like  to  see  a  further  confirmation  with  respect  to  the  co- 
incidence of  the  lowest  readings  and  the  diurnal  minima,  since 
the  lowest  readings  occur  so  frequently  during  the  passage  of  a 
severe  storm,  which  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  any  agreement 
with  the  ordinary  diurnal  fluctuation. 

The  first  paper  in  the  last  volume  of  Transactions  of  the 
Seismological  Society  of  Japan  is  by  Mr.  Bertin,  and  describes 
the  double  oscillograph  and  its  employment  for  the  study  of 
rolling  and  pitching.  It  traces  curves  automatically,  showing 
the  motion  produced  in  a  floating  body  by  waves.  The  second 
paper  is  on  the  "Seiches"  of  lakes,  by  Dr.  F.  A.  Forel,  of 
Geneva,  and  discusses  those  variations  in  the  level  of  the  water 
of  lakes  with  the  investigation  of  which  the  author's  name  has 
been  associated  for  some  years  past.  Prof.  John  Milne  de- 
scribes the  remarkable  instrument  invented  by  him  for  measuring 
and  recording  the  oscillatory  movements  of  railway  trains.  Mr. 
Mason  contributes  a  paper,  accompanied  by  carefully  compiled 
tables,  demonstrating  the  importance  of  elaborating  some  uniform 
S3rstem  of  timekeeping  for  the  purposes  of  seismological  observa- 
tions. Prof.  C.  G.  Knott,  in  his  paper  on  earthquake  frequency, 
explodes  two  of  the  time-honoured  delusions  of  the  popular  mind 
in  regard  to  earthquakes,  viz.  that  they  are  more  frequent  during 
the  night  than  the  day,  and  that  their  periodicity  is  connected 
with  lunar  culminations.  Mr.  Otsuka  gives  an  interesting 
account  of  the  great  earthquake  that  visited  Kumamoto  in  July 
1888  ;  and  Mr.  Pereira  contributes  a  carefully  compiled  record  of 
all  the  earthquakes  noted  by  him  in  Yokohama  from  March  1885 
to  December  1889.  Mr.  W.  £.  Forster  writes  on  earthquakes 
of  non-volcanic  origin,  caused,  it  is  suggested,  by  the  displace- 
ment of  masses  of  land  beneath  the  ocean.  The  volume  con- 
cludes with  various  reports  and  papers  by  Prof.  Milne,  such  as 
diagrams  of  earthquakes  recorded  in  Tokio,  a  report  on  earth- 
quake observations  made  in  Japan  during  the  year  1889,  and 
an  essay  on  the  connection  between  earthquakes  and  electric 
and  magnetic  phenomena,  which  is  full  of  matter  of  an  interesting 
and  suggestive  kind. 

According  to  the  Colonies  and  India^  Mr.  Alexander 
McPhee,  a  West  Australian  bushman,  who  has  steadily  been 
earning  fame  lately  by  his  explorations  in  the  central  regions  of 
Australia,  started  inland  from  Roebourne  in  July  last  on  another 
tour  of  discovery,  taking  back  at  the  same  time  an  albino  aboriginal 
whom  he  found  and  brought  to  Melbourne  a  couple  of  years 
since.  News  has  been  received  from  which  it  appears  that 
Mr.  McPhee,  with  the  albino,  Jun  Gun,  and  a  "  black  fellow  " 
named  Timothy,  went  along  the  coast  some  250  miles  to  a 
station  called  Yinadong,  when  the'  party  turned  inland  in  an 
easterly  direction.  After  travelling  about  350  miles,  Mr.  McPhee 
came  upon  another  albino,  a  boy  of  fourteen  years,  whom  he 
describes  as  the  most  extraordinary  specimen  of  humanity  he 
ever  saw.  One  old  man  in  this  camp  told  Mr.  McPhee  that 
when  he  was  a  boy  he  heard  of  a  party  of  whites  and  horses 
dying  a  long  way  inland.  The  old  fellow  could  give  no  par- 
ticulars about  this  party,  but  Mr.  McPhee  feels  certain,  owing  to 
hb  acquaintance  with  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  blacks,  and 
being  thoroughly  conversant  with  their  dialect,  that  a  party  of 
white  men  perished  about  forty  years  ago  somewhere  in  the 

NO.    1 125,  VOL.  44] 


interior.  He  heard  of  Warburton's  party,  and  saw  a  native  who 
told  him  that  he  guided  them  to  Mater.  He  also  heard  of  two 
parties  of  whites  who  had  lately  been  in  the  desert,  but  turned 
back.  From  his  turning  point  to  the  coast  of  La  Grange  Bay,. 
Mr.  McPhee  reckons  he  was  about  250  miles  in  a  south-east 
direction  from  that  bay.  He  found  the  natives  very  friendly, 
and  on  no  occasion  was  it  necessary  to  keep  a  watch.  The 
country  is  described  as  very  poor.  The  only  birds  observed 
during  the  journey  were  an  odd  crow  and  a  few  sparrows  about 
the  water  ;  not  a  track  of  a  kangaroo  or  emu  was  seen. 

Some  satisfactory  statements  as  to  the  growth  of  collegiate 
education  are  made  in  the  last  official  report  on  public  instruction 
in  the  "North- West  Provinces  and  Oudh.  Of  individual  colleges, 
Agra,  at  which  the  numbers  in  1885  had  fallen  as  low  as  45, 
has  increased  within  the  last  two  years  from  97  to  175,  or  by 
over  80  per  cent.,  and  the  percentage  of  increase  last  year  was 
in  no  case  less  than  20.  The  number  of  matriculated  students, 
indeed,  is  rising  so  rapidly  that  the  existing  accommodation  is 
said  to  be  barely  adequate ;  it  will,  the  Government  resolution 
says,  become  a  question  of  urgent  importance  whether  the  in- 
creasing number  of  students  should  be  provided  for  by  additions 
to  the  staff  and  buildings  at  the  colleges  now  in  existence,  or  by 
the  creation  of  new  colleges,  or  by  the  strengthening  of  the 
college  classes  at  high  schools  and  adding  to  their  number.. 
'' Government,"  it  is  added,  "will  necessarily  be  guided  to  a 
great  extent  by  the  nature  and  direction  of  the  local  demand,  as 
indicated  by  the  willingness  of  the  residents  of  the  principal 
towns  to  contribute  to  the  increased  burden  of  expenditure."  On 
its  present  basis,  at  all  events,  the  higher  education  of  India  has 
received  a  fair  share  of  Government  support.  But  if  it  is  satis- 
factory, says  the  Pioneer^  to  find  that  collegiate  education  in  its 
present  form  is  making  decided  progress,  and  that  it  is  becoming 
possible  to  throw  the  cost  of  the  advance  on  private  shoulders,, 
it  is  a  distinct  disappointment  that  not  a  word  is  said,  as  not  a 
step  has  been  taken,  in  those  new  directions  of  educational 
activity  where  other  provinces  have  not  only  started,  but  made 
appreciable  progress.  There  may  be  two  opinions  as  to  the 
extent  to  which,  or  the  means  by  which,  it  is  possible  to  intro* 
duce  technical  education,  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  some 
movement  is  desirable.  It  may  be  hoped  that  the  omission  is 
due,  not  so  much  to  a  failure  to  estimate  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  as  to  a  desire  to  give  it  fuller  treatment  on  a  future 
occasion. 

The  amount  of  apparent  flattening  of  the  vault  of  the  heavens 
Prof.  Reimann  has  lately  attempted  to  measure  by  noting  the 
point  which  seems  to  bisect  an  arc  extending  from  the  zenith  to 
the  horizon.  From  83  observations  at  Hirschberg  he  found  that 
this  point  was  2i°'47  ±  o'o8  above  the  horizon.  This  indicates 
a  ratio  of  the  vertical  axis  to  the  horizontal  of  i  :  3*66.  This 
apparent  flattening  has  an  annual  period,  and  is  dependent  on 
cloud.  The  highest  position  of  the  bisecting  point  was  assigned 
in  autumn  (2i'''98),  the  lowest  in  spring  (2o''*42).  The  vault 
seems  flatter  the  more  the  doud.  It  seems  least  flat  with  a  misty 
horizon ;  and  the  flattening  seems  less  by  night  than  by  day. 
Curiously,  several  other  persons  whom  Prof.  Reimann  got  to 
make  the  same  determination  all  gave  higher  values  for  the 
angle. 

The  settlement  of  a  purely  philological  question  (that,  namely, 
as  to  the  position  of  the  French  accent),  by  a  physical  method,, 
has  been  recently  attempted  by  Dr.  Pringsheim,  of  Berlin 
[Naturw,  Kdsch,)  The  instrument  used  was  Konig  and  Scott's 
phonautograph,  into  which  a  number  of  Frenchmen  were  required 
to  speak  ;  the  measurement  of  the  record  being  afterwards 
made  by  means  of  a  tuning-fork  curve  running  parallel  with  it. 
This  instrument  renders  possible  a  determination  of  the  dura- 
tion, pitch,  and  intensity  of  each  syllable,  and  Dr.  Pringsheim 


68 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


-discusses  its  indications.  As  a  preliminary  result,  he  finds  that 
two-syllable  words  have  the  Towels  pronounced  with  equal 
length  and  strength.  Noteworthy  differences  appear  in  the 
•curve  of  a  word  according  as  it  occurs  in  the  middle  or  at  the 
end  of  a  sentence.  In  the  latter  case,  there  is  added  to  the 
characteristic  word  curve,  a  terminal  curve  with  declining  pitch 
and  strength,  which  is  nearly  the  same  for  different  words,  and 
corresponds  to  the  sinking  of  the  voice  before  a  pause.  The 
vowels  and  consonants  show  characteristic  curves  ;  and  notably 
long  wave-lengths  occur  with  k,  /,  b,  and  d.  The  duration  of 
syllables  varies  between  0*1  and  0*5  second  ;  and  between  the 
syllables  of  a  word  there  are  often  pauses  of  0*03  to  o'2 
second.  The  shortest  syllable  /  in  ///,  with  rather  slow  pro- 
nunciation, consisted  of  22  vibrations ;  yet  the  ear  is  capable 
of  not  only  hearing  the  tone,  but  of  detecting  fine  shades  and 
differences  in  the  mode  of  pronunciation.  Further  experiments 
in  this  direction,  with  an  improved  apparatus,  are  contem- 
plated. 

The  Perak  Gcvernnunt  Gazette  states  that  a  portion  of  an 
ethnographical  collection  formed  by  Signor  G.  B.  Cerruti,  in 
the  island  of  Nias,  has  been  recently  acquired  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  Perak  for  the  museum.  Pulo  Nias  is  one  of  a  chain 
of  islands  bordering  the  south-western  coast  of  Sumatra.  The 
population  b  said  to  be  numerous  and  of  one  race,  though 
divided  into  many  tribes  under  independent  chiefs.  Head- 
hunting is  as  common  with  them  as  it  used  to  be  in  Borneo,  and 
most  of  the  houses  have  skulls  hung  up  in  them.  Their  weapons 
consist  of  iron -headed  spears,  mostly  barbed,  knives  of  two 
patterns,  somewhat  resembling  the  Kadubong  Achi,  with  shields 
of  two  distinct  types.  No  bows  and  arrows  or  blow-pipes  seem 
to  be  known,  nor  are  throwing  sticks  applied  to  their  spears ; 
boats  also  are  not  used  by  them,  though  rafts  are  sometimes 
made  to  cross  th  e  rivers  on.  The  ironwork  of  their  weapons  is 
fashioned  by  themselves,  and  the  upright  double  cylinder  bellows 
is  used  to  supply  wind  to  their  forges — the  same  in  every  respect 
as  those  used  by  the  Semangs  of  Upper  Perak,  and  the  far  away 
Malagasy.  Helmets  of  black  ijoh  fibre  are  worn,  somewhat 
similar  to  the  cocoa-nut  fibre  ones  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders. 
Woven  body  armour  is  in  use,  in  the  shape  of  thick  coats  made 
of  what  appears  to  be  the  fibre  of  Hibiscus  tiliacens.  Buffalo 
hide  armour  is  also  said  to  be  used,  but  is  not  represented  in 
this  collection.  Attached  to  the  sheaths  of  some  of  the  knives 
are  four  or  five  animals*  teeth,  such  as  tigers,  rhinoceros,  &c., 
also  a  small  carved  wooden  idol,  and  one  or  more  bamboo  boxes 
containing  stones.  In  those  examined  there  were  twelve  pebbles 
in  each  box.  These  stones  are  supposed  to  have  been  taken 
from  the  spot  on  which  a  man  had  been  slain.  All  these 
•charms  are  tied  up  into  a  bundle  with  red  cloth,  and  bound  with 
string  on  the  upper  front  part  of  the  sheath  of  the  knife. 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  Study  of  the  influence  of  forests  on  the 
•daily  variation  of  air-temperature  has  been  recently  made  by 
Prof.  Miittrich  {Met,  Zeits.),  the  data  being  from  stations  in 
Oermany  and  Austria.  Inter  alia,  this  influence  is  greater  in 
May  to  September  or  October  than  in  the  other  months.  In 
pine  and  fir  woods  it  rises  gradually  from  January  to  a  maximum 
in  August  or  September,  then  falls  more  quickly  to  a  minimum 
in  December  ;  but  in  beech  woods  a  minimum  occurs  in  April, 
then  there  is  quick  rise,  till  the  maximum  is  reached  in  July. 
The  daily  variation  itself  is  greatest  in  May  or  June,  both  in 
forest  and  open  country.  The  influence  of  the  forest  is  to  lower 
the  maxima  and  raise  the  minima,  and  the  former  influence  is  in 
most  months  greater  than  the  latter  ;  in  December  and  January, 
and  occasionally  in  neighbouring  months,  it  is  less.  The  in- 
fluence on  the  maxima  in  summer  is  greatest  in  beech  woods, 
less  in  pine,  and  least  in  fir.  The  absolute  value  of  the  influence 
in  woods  of  a  given  kind  of  tree  is  affected  by  the  degree  of  density 

NO.    1 1  25,  VOL.  44] 


of  the  wood,  being  higher  the  denser  the  wood.  The  character 
of  the  climate  (oceanic  or  continental)  also  affects  the  results. 
From  daily  observations  in  forest  and  open  country,  eveiy  two 
hours  in  the  second  half  of  June,  it  appears  that,  soon  after 
5  a.m.  and  8  p.m.,  the  air-temperature  in  the  wood  was  equal  to 
that  in  the  open  ;  that  the  maximum  was  about  o**'9  lower  in 
the  wood,  and  the  minimum  o'^'d  higher ;  that  in  May  to  Sept- 
ember the  difference  sometimes  reached  2*'*7  ;  that  the  maxi- 
mum  in  the  wood  occurred  about  half  an  hour  later,  and  the 
minimum  a  quarter  of  an  hour  earlier,  than  in  the  open  ;  and 
that  the  daily  mean  air-temperature  was  about  ^°  less  in  the 
wood. 

The  Kevue  des  Sciences  Naturelles  de  t  Quest  gives  an  accoant 
of  the  life  of  Mathurin  Rouault,  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the 
geology  of  Brittany.  Rouault  was  born  in  18 13,  of  a  very  poor 
family.  At  the  age  of  ten,  while  engaged  as  a  shepherd,  he 
became  interested  in  "stones"  and  '* rocks,"  and  began  to 
make  a  collection.  By  the  death  of  a  relative  he  obtained 
possession  of  a  small  hairdresser's  shop,  where  he  worked  on 
Saturdays  and  Sundays,  spending  the  rest  of  his  time  in  hunt- 
ing for  rocks.  Although  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire  visited  his 
collection  of  specimens,  and  was  much  interested  in  them,  nothing 
would  have  been  done  for  the  poor  young  geologist — who  lived 
upon  something  like  five  centimes  a  day — ^if  it  had  not  been  for 
General  de  Toumemine,  who,  stationed  with  the  garrison  in 
Rennes,  had  been  attracted  by  him.  It  is  said  that  one  day  he 
went  into  the  shop,  and,  seeing  an  antique  pistol  which 
Rouault  had  bought  for  a  few  centimes  to  kill  himself  with,  the 
general  remarked,  "  That  is  just  the  pistol  I  am  after:  I  want 
it  for  my  collection."  And  without  waiting  for  an  answer  he 
took  the  pistol,  and  gave  the  young  man  100  francs.  M. 
de  Toumemine  went  still  further.  He  revised  a  memoir  u  hich 
the  illiterate  geologist  had  written.  This  was  read  in  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  met  with  so  much  success  that  the 
author  became  well  known.  The  town  of  Rennes  gave  him 
800  francs  a  year  to  help  him  to  live  in  Paris,  and  afterwards  he 
was  appointed  Director  of  the  Geological  Museum  of  Rennes^. 
But  he  was  dismissed  on  account  of  quarrels  with  some  unintelli- 
gent bureaucrat,  and  died  in  1881.  Before  his  time  only  five  or 
six  fossils  were  known  in  Brittany  :  afterwards  they  numbered  500 
or  600.  He  spent  two  years  or  more  in  making  up  TrinucUus 
Pongerardi  out  of  over  2000  fragments. 

An  important  paper  upon  the  atomic  weight  and  position  in 
the  periodic  system  of  the  rare  element  lanthanum  is  con- 
tributed by  Dr.  Brauner,  of  Prague,  .late  of  the  Owens  College, 
Manchester,  to  the  current  number  of  the  Berichte,  In  his 
recent  work  upon  the  reduction  of  oxides  by  metallic  magnesxmn 
Prof.  Winkler  advanced  the  view  that  lanthanum  is  a  tetravalent 
element  of  atomic  weight  180,  instead  of,  as  has  hitherto  been 
accepted,  a  trivalent  element  belonging  to  the  boron  vertical 
group  of  the  periodic  system,  with  an  atomic  weight  of  158  '5. 
If  lanthanum  were  indeed  tetravalent  with  atomic  weight  i8o»  it 
would  probably  be  the  missing  element  between  ytterbinm  and 
tantalum  on  the  one  hand,  and  cerium  and  thorium  on  the  other. 
Further,  Prof.  Winkler  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  old  valaes 
of  Rammelsberg,  Zschiesche,  and  Erk,  for  the  equivalent  of 
lanthanum,  are  correct.  These  experimenters  obtained  the  round 
number  45  for  the  equivalent,  and  this  number  multiplied  by  4 
gives  Prof.  Winkler's  suggested  atomic  weight  180.  If,  however, 
multiplied  by  3,  the  atomic  weight  135  is  arrived  at,  and  Prof. 
Winkler  argues  that  even  if  the  element  were  trivalent  its  atomic 
weight  would  not  be  138*5  but  135.  Against  these  views  Dr. 
Brauner  brings  forward  the  following  experimental  facts.  In  the 
first  place,  Hillebrand  (working  under  Bunsen)  found  the  specific 
heat  of  Bunsen's  pure  lanthanum  to  be  0*04475.  No  impeach- 
ment has  ever  been  brought  against  this  result,  and  Dr.  Brauner 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


69 


sees  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  accepted.  Making  use  of 
Dulong  and  Petit's  generalization  and  multipljring  this  number 
by  138,  a  normal  atomic  heat  of  6'i8  is  arrived  at,  whereas  if 
mnltiplied  by  180  the  abnormal  value  8*07  is  obtained.  Again, 
an  element  of  atomic  weight  180  should  possess  a  density  of 
8*2,  whereas  that  of  lanthanum  is  only  6*48,  a  specific  gravity 
corresponding  to  an  atomic  weight  of  138.  Considering  there- 
fore the  position  of  lanthanum  in  the  trivalent  boron  vertical  group 
assured.  Dr.  Brauner  brings  forward  a  redetermination  of  its 
atomic  weight  of  his  own  in  order  to  decide  between  138*5  and 
135.  His  experimental  method  consisted  in  converting  known 
weights  of  the  oxide  into  sulphate.  The  material  employed  was 
obtained  by  a  lengthy  process  of  fractionation  with  ammonium 
nitrate,  the  oxide  eventually  obtained  containing  the  most  positive 
of  the  cerite  earths  (lanthanum  oxide)  and  showing  no  traces  in 
the  spectrum  of  any  others.  His  value  thus  obtained  is  138*2, 
a  number  closely  agreeing  with  those  of  Cleve  and  Bettendorff. 
The  earlier  and  lower  values  of  Rammelsberg  and  others  are 
shown  to  be  probably  due  to  the  presence  of  yttria,  which  was 
not  detected  by  these  observers,  inasmuch  as  the  work  of  Thalen 
and  Bunsen  upon  the  spectrum  of  yttrium  had  not  then  been 
published.  Hence  lanthanum  of  atomic  weight  138*2  retains 
the  place  in  the  trivalent  group  of  the  periodic  system  marked 
out  for  it  by  its  well-known  basic  properties. 

Ths  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Striped  Hyaena  {Hyana  striata  ? )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mr.  B.  T.  Ffinch,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  two  Hairy- 
lumped  Agoutis  (Dasyprocta  prymnolopha)  from  British  Guiana, 
presented  by  Mr.  H.  Barrington ;  two  Brent  Geese  {Bernicla 
brenia),  a  Pintail  {Dafila  acuta  <$),  two  Wigeons  {Mareca 
penehpe  <(  9 )»  a  Common  Sheldrake  {Tadorna  vulpanser  9), 
two  Golden  Tench  {Tinea  imlgaris^  var.),  nine  Golden  Carp 
{^Carassius  auratus),  British,  presented  by  Mrs.  Atkinson  ;  eight 
European  Tree  Frogs  {/fyia  arbor ea)  from  the  South  of  France, 
presented  by  Mr.  Clifibrd  D.  Fothergill ;  a  Crested  Porcupine 
{Hysirix  cristata)  from  India,  a  Tibetan  Crossoptilon  yCrossop- 
tilon  iibetanum  9 )  from  Western  China,  deposited  ;  two  Swin- 
hoe's  Pheasants  (Euplocamus  sivinhoii  S  9 )  from  Formosa,  two 
Japanese  Pheasants  {Phasianus  versicolor  9  9  )  from  Japan,  two 
Amhexst's  Pheasants  ( Thaumalea  amherstia  9  9)  from  Szechuen, 
China,  a  Black-necked  Stilt  Plover  {Himantopus  nigricollis)^  a 
Cayenne  Lapwing  ( Vanellus  cayennensis)  from  South  America, 
purchased  ;  a  Wild  Swine  (Sus  scrofa  9  )  from  Persia,  received 
in  exchange ;  two  Indian  Desert  Foxes  {Canis  Uucopus)^  bom 
in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Photography  of  Faint  Nebulae.— In  the  Journal 
of  the  British  Astronomical  Association  for  February,  Dr.  Max 
Wolf,  of  Heidelberg  Observatory,  contributes  a  note  on  a 
nebula  surrounding  (  Orionis,  the  third  star  in  the  belt,  which 
he  has  discovered  on  photographs  taken  with  a  4-inch  portrait 
lens.  Some  reproductions  submitted  to  the  Association  show  a 
lar^ge  amount  of  nebulosity  south-west  of  C»  also  nebulous  ground 
around  C»  a^^  a,  nebulous  star  north  of  (.  Dr.  Wolf's  note  is 
important,  inasmuch  as  it  indicates  that  the  4-inch  portrait  lens 
used  at  Heidelberg  gives  results  which  compare  favourably  with 
those  obtained  at  Harvard  with  a  much  larger  instrument,  viz.  the 
Bache  eouatorial  of  8  inches  aperture  and  44  inches  focal 
length.  With  regard  to  the  use  of  portrait  lenses  for  celestial 
photography,  Dr.  Wolf  makes  a  few  succinct  remarks.  In 
photographing  the  stars,  the  intensity  of  the  image  depends  only 
upon  the  area  of  the  lens  employed,  and  an  instrument  of 
20  inches  diameter  therefore  requires  25  times  less  ex- 
posure than  one  4  inches  in  diameter  having  the  same 
focal  length,  in  order  to  obtain  the  same  number  of  stellar 
images.     But  it  is  a  different  thing  with  comets,  nebulae,  and 


NO.   II 2 5,  VOL.  44] 


IS 


the  like — bodies  having  a  finite  area.  The  intensity  of  the 
image  at  the  focus  then  varies  as  the  fraction  (  7  ] »  where  d  i 

the  diameter  of  the  object-glass,  and  /  its  focal  length.  If, 
therefore,  the  intensity  of  the  light  received  with  an  aperture  of 
20  inches  and  focal  length  of  100  inches  be  expressed  by  0*04,. 
that  of  a  portrait  lens  of  4  inches  aperture  and  12  inches  focus 
is  0*1 1.  This  shows  that  in  order  to  photograph  the  same  faint 
nebula,  the  instrument  of  20  inches  aperture  requires  an  ex- 
posure about  three  times  as  long  as  the  4-inch  portrait  lens. 

Another  paper  having  the  same  purport  is  contributed  by  Dr. 
Holdentovol.  iii.  No.  14,  ofthePuolications  of  the  Astronomical 
Society  of  the  Pacific,  from  which  it  appears  that  from  80  to  ioo> 
minutes'  exposure  with  the  33-inch  Lick  telescope  will  give 
about  the  same  number  of  stars  as  205  minutes'  exposure  with 
Mr.  Roberts's  20-inch  reflector.  When,  however,  the  amount  of 
nebulosity  depicted  is  considered,  the  advanti^e  is  considerably 
in  favour  of  the  short-focus  reflector,  a  comparison  of  the  results 
obtained  with  the  two  instruments  indicating  that  15  minutes' 
exposure  with  the  reflector  is  about  as  effective  in  showing  the 
nebulosity  of  Orion  as  60  minutes'  with  the  refractor. 

Variations  in  Latitude. — Prof.  H.  G.  van  de  Sande 
Bakhuyzen  extends  our  knowledge  of  this  subject  in  a  paper 
contained  in  the  March  number  of  the  Monthly  Notices  of 
the  Royal  Astronomical  Society.  The  conclusions  deduced 
from  the  investigation  of  observations  of  Polaris  made  be- 
tween 185 1  and  1882,  and  the  interesting  researches  of  Mr. 
Thackeray  (Memoirs  R.A.S.,  vol.  xlix.  p.  239),  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows: — (i)  The  monthly  discordances  in 
the  zenith  distances  of  Polaris  are,  for  the  greater  part, 
not  caused  by  a  real  variation  of  latitude,  but  chiefly  by  an- 
effect  of  temperature.  (2)  It  is  not  possible  to  explain  those 
discordances  by  an  error  in  the  indications  of  the  exterior  ther- 
mometer, or  by  an  influence  depending  only  on  the  exterior 
temperature.  (3)  The  discordances  can  be  explained,  for  the 
greater  part,  by  a  cause  depending  on  the  difference  of  the 
exterior  and  interior  temperatures.  (4)  Probably  that  cause  is 
a  refraction  in  the  observing-room,  and  its  effects  are  sensibly 
proportional  to  those  differences  of  temperature.  (5)  Tlie  dis- 
cordances corrected  for  that  refraction  are  about  the  same  for 
both  culminations,  and  can  be  explained  by  a  real  variation  of 
latitude. 

An  investigation  of  the  mean  North  Polar  distances  of  Polaris 
in  both  culminations  observed  at  Greenwich  between  1883  and 
1889  leads  to  the  conclusions :  (i)  that  it  is  probable  that  the 
observations  of  Polaris  at  Greenwich  confirm  the  variations  of 
latitude  observed  elsewhere  in  1884-1885  and  1889-1890 ;  (2) 
that  there  is  a  very  strong  probability  that  the  variations  in  these 
years  had  an  exceptional  character,  and  do  not  agree  with  the 
annual  variations,  deduced  from  the  observations  of  Polaris  at 
Greenwich  during  the  period  1851-1882. 

Re-discovery  of  Wolf's  Comet  (1884  III,),— Astro- 
nomische  Nachrichten^  No.  3033,  contains  the  information  that 
Wolf's  periodical  comet  was  observed  on  its  return  by  Prof. 
Barnard,  of  Lick  Observatory,  on  May  3*9792  G.M.T.  The 
following  ephemeris  is  from  one  given  in  Edinburgh  Circular 
No.  15,  by  Prof.  Berberich.  The  brightness  of  the  comet  at 
re-discovery  has  been  taken  as  unity. 


Ephemeris  for  Berlin  Midnight. 


1891. 


May  23 

,»     27 

M     31 
June    4 

M        8 

12 
16 
20 

24 
„     28 

July    2 

M       6 

The  comet 
mean  time, 
therefore  be 
Andromeda. 


If 
}) 


Right  Ascension. 

h.  n.  s. 
.   23  16  31   . 
25  42 

35  o 
44  26 

53  59  . 

0  3  40  . 

»3  30 
23  26  . 

33  32 
43  45 

54  5 

1  4  34  . 


Declination.        Brightness. 


17  47*1 

18  42-8 

19  377 

20  31-4 

21  23*9 

22  I4'9 

23  40 

23  508 

24  35 '2 

25  16-9 

25  55*4 

26  303 


I '44 
154 
1-65 

177 
1*90 

203 

218 

2*33 
2*50 

2-68 

2*88 

308 


will  pass  perihelion  on  September  3*3199  Berlin 
It  is  near  a  Pegasi  at  the  present  time,  and  may 
seen  just  before  sunrise.     The  motion  is  towards 


70 


NA  TURE 


[May  21,  1891 


THE  PARIS  OBSERVATORY.^ 

'T^HIS  report  opens  with  the  address  delivered  by  the  Director, 
^      Admiral  Mouchez,  before  the  Council  of  the  Observatory 
on  February  24  last ;  the  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the 
most  important  points  touched  upon. 

After  referring  to  the  successful  completion  of  the  building 
for  the  large  equatorial  coudi^  in  which  the  instrument  is  now 
being  erected,  and  to  the  formation  of  a  special  service  for 
spectroscopy,  over  which  M.  Deslandres  has  been  put  in  charge, 
he  enters  on  the  question  of  the  formation  of  a  branch  establish- 
ment outside  Paris.  "The  demands  of  modem  science,"  he 
says,  "the  extreme  smallness  of  the  quantities  on  v^hidi  the 
astronomy  of  position  depends,  and  the  extreme  faintness  of 
the  objects  that  physical  astronomy  studies  in  order  to  penetrate 
more  and  more  deeply  into  the  knowledge  of  the  universe,  admit 
indeed  of  new  processes  of  observation  of  such  delicacy  that 
they  are  altogether  incompatible  with  the  turmoil  and  dis- 
turbances of  all  kinds  in  a  populous  city.  The  instruments  with 
large  optical  power  lose  nearly  all  their  superiority,  because  they 
magnify  the  defects  of  an  impure  and  disturbed  atmosphere  at 
least  as  rapidly  as  the  images  of  the  stars." 

This  is  by  no  means  the  first  time  that  this  question  of  a 
branch  establishment  has  been  raised,  but  it  looks  very  much 
as  if  it  might  now  be  taken  up  seriously.  It  seems  that  a 
proposal  has  been  made  to  extend  the  railroad  from  Sceaux- 
Limours  in  the  interior  of  Paris  to  M^cis  and  Cluny,  where  it 
would  join  the  metropolitan  ;  if  this  project  was  carried  out, 
trains  would  run  as  close  to  the  Observatory  as  i$o  metres,  thus 
affording  the  assistants  at  the  Observatory  an  interesting  amuse- 
ment in  calculating  the  distances  of  these  trains  by  the  vibrations 
set  up  in  the  various  instiuments. 

A  committee  of  inquiry,  presided  over  by  M.  Chauchat,  has 
been  formed  to  inquire  into  the  situation,  and  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  all  the  astronomers  questioned  on  the  subject  was  that 
^'the  Observatory  would  be  almost  lost  if  this  project  was 
carried  out  according  to  the  present  conditions." 

Of  the  other  argimients  put  forward  by  Admiral  Mouchez  in 
favour  of  the  branch  establishment,  the  following  may  be 
mentioned.  The  lighting  of  the  surrounding  streets  by  means 
of  the  electric  light.  This,  as  he  says,  would  obliterate  all  stars 
above  the  12th  magnitude,  and  perhaps  even  above  the  iijth, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  minor  planets,  nebulae,  and  some  comets. 
And  with  regard  to  photographing  the  heavens  with  moderate 
exposures,  it  would  become  nearly  impossible  owing  to  the 
fogging  of  the  plates  before  the  images  are  formed,  the  gas  from 
the  street  lamps  even  now  producing  this  effect  on  the  sensitized 
plates.  Referring  to  the  opening  and  enlarging  of  the  Rue 
Cassini,  he  points  out,  that  at  no  remote  date,  houses  will  be 
constructed  from  20  metres  to  25  metres  in  height  at  a  distance 
of  100  metres,  and  just  in  the  direction  of  the  meridian  line  of 
the  instruments;  these,  besides  completely  blotting  out  from 
view  many  of  the  circumpolar  stars  at  their  lower  culmination, 
will  render  the  observation  of  those  that  remain  difficult  on 
account  of  the  smoke  from  the  chimneys. 

Following  Admiral  Mouchez's  address  are  the  reports,  from 
each  of  the  heads  of  the  various  departments,  of  the  work  done 
during  the  past  year.  With  the  meridian  circle  no  less  than 
14,374  stars  have  been  observed,  exclusive  of  the  432  observa- 
tions of  the  planets  made  with  the  same  instrument.  Ob- 
servations which  were  commenced  in  the  month  of  April  with 
the  equatorial  coudi^  have  been  regularly  pursued,  and  at  present 
the  results  have  been  highlv  satisfactory.  Not  only  **  do  we 
believe  that  we  have  settled  in  every  detail  the  most  precise 
rules  for  the  application  of  the  new  method,  but  also  we  have 
obtained  the  constant  of  aberration  with  an  exactness  which 
surpasses  all  researches  made  up  to  the  present  time." 

The  three  equatorials  have  been  used  by  M.  Bigourdan, 
Mdlle.  Klumpke,  and  M.  Boinot  respectively,  and  with  them 
observations  nave  been  made  of  comets,  double  stars,  nebulae, 
eclipses  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  occultations,  planets,  and  double 
stars. 

M.  Paul  Henry,  who  is  chief  of  the  photographic  department, 
has  been  busily  engaged  among  other  things  m  making  large 
clichis  of  different  regions  of  the  sky,  several  of  which  were 
prepared  at  the  request  of  foreign  astronomers. 

The  most  important  addition  to  the  Observatory  for  the  year 

'  "  Rapport  Annuel  snrl'Etat  de  TObservatoire  de  Paris  pour  I'Ann^ 
2890."  Prt^sent^  au 'Conseil  par  M.  le  Contre-Amiral  Mouchez.  (Paris: 
Gauthier-VillArs  et  Fils,  1891.) 


NO.   1 125,  VOL.  44] 


was  the  special  service  for  stellar  spectroscopy,  which,  as 
have  mentioned  before,  is  superintended  by  M.  Deslandres. 
This  branch,  when  in  full  working  order,  should  be  of  ttkc 
utmost  value  to  science,  and  the  results  obtained  will  be  looked 
forward  to  with  interest  With  regard  to  this  branch  Admiral 
Mouchez  has  given  an  extiact  from  M.  Deslandres'  report  oo 
the  installation  of  the  apparatus  and  the  results  obtained. 

After  a  short  description  of  the  meteorological  work  carried 
on,  together  with  the  various  other  reports  usually  inserted  in 
this  pamphlet.  Admiral  Mouchez  concludes  with  a  brief  reference 
to  the  Observatory  School  at  Montsouris,  of  whidi  also  he  k 
Director.  This  school  was  organized  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Bureau  of  Longitudes,  in  onler  to  supply  a  want  long  felt  in 
France  of  a  school  for  practical  astronomy,  where  *'aiariiie 
officers,  explorers,  professors  of  science,  and  others  could  come 
and  accustom  themselves  to  make  observations."  Since  the 
year  1877  the  Observatory  has  been  freely  opened  to  anyone^  the 
only  conditions  being  that  those  who  go  should  have  suffiaent 
scientific  knowledge  to  understand  what  is  taught,  and  that 
their  work  should  be  regular.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  range  of 
the  subjects  that  form  the  syllabus  of  instruction  we  cannot  do 
better  than  condense  the  methods  of  organization  as  given  in  the 
report. 

With  regard  to  astronomy,  both  theoretical  and  practical 
lectures  are  given  twice  or  three  times  a  week.  M.  Boitd 
delivers  a  course  on  electricity  and  magnetism  which  extends 
over  four  months,  during  which  time  he  conducts  the  officers 
over  all  the  large  electrical  manufactories  in  Paris.  Lectures 
on  meteorology  are  delivered  by  M.  Moureaux,  who  condodes 
them  with  practical  instructions  for  the  determination  of  the 
magnetic  elements.  M.  Thoulet  treats  of  ocean  geography 
in  a  course  that  is  of  interest  and  use  to  sailors.  The  regolatioo 
of  the  compass,  so  important  to-day  on  account  of  our  iron  ships, 
forms  the  subject  of  a  number  of  lectures  by  M.  Caspari,  while 
photography  is  studied  for  two  months  under  the  superintendence 
of  M.  Guenaire. 

From  this  syllabus  it  will  be  seen  that  a  good,  practical,  and 
sound  courre  is  open  to  all  those  who  wish  to  take  advanti^  of 
it,  and  in  the  list  of  explorers  who  have  figured  in  the  principal 
missions  during  the  last  fifteen  years  the  majority  will  be  foand 
to  have  served  at  any  rate  a  short  period  at  the  Observatory 
School. 

In  concluding  his  remarks.  Admiral  Mouchez,  after  refemng 
to  the  school  tluit  was  started  in  1879,  and  which  was  supipressed 
some  years  after  for  reasons  of  economy,  points  out  the  necessity 
of  giving  every  encouragement  to  the  one  that  is  doing  soch 
good  work  at  Montsouris.  W.  J.  L. 


NOTE  ON  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF 
CARBON-MONOXIDE  OF  NICKEL  [Ni(CO)  J.^ 

TI>  Y  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ludwig  Mond,  we  have  had  the 
^^  opportunity  of  examining  the  physiolop;ical  action  of  cai^ 
bon-monoxide  of  nickel,  a  substance  of  unique  chemical  com- 
position, represented  by  the  formula  Ni(C0)4.  The  general 
results  of  our  investigation  are  as  follows : — 

([)  Ni(C0)4  is  a  powerful  poison  when  injected  subcntaneonsly 
into  a  rabbit  weighing  i  '5  kilo,  even  with  a  dose  of  i/joth  ccm. 

(2)  The  vapour  of  Ni(C0)4  in  air,  even  to  the  extent  of  0*5  per 
cent.,  is  dangerous. 

(3)  The  symptoms  are  those  of  a  respiratory  poison,  and  are 
similar  to  those  caused  by  carbonic  oxide. 

(4)  The  spectrum  of  the  blood  of  an  animal  poisoned  by 
Ni(CO)4  is  that  of  carbonic- oxide-haemoglobin,  and  it  is  not 
reduced  by  sulphide  of  ammonium. 

(5)  When  the  substance  is  injected  subcutaneously  it  is 
probably  in  part  dissociated  in  the  tissues,  as  there  is  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  nickel  in  those  tissues,  but  the  nickel  also  finds 
its  way  into  the  blood,  and  is  found  there. 

(6)  The  substance  produces  a  remarkably  prolonged  fall  of 
temperature  even  when  given  in  small  quantities.  In  several 
instances,  with  lethal  doses,  the  fall  was  from  2**  to  12''  C.  This 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  haemoglobin  being  prevented  to  a 
large  extent  from  supplying  the  tissues  with  oxygen.  Nico,  as  we 
may,  for  convenience,  call  this  substance,  makes  it  possible  to  give 
graduated  doses  of  carbonic  oxide,  and  thus  reduce  temperature 

<  By  John  G.  McKendrick,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  and  William  Snodgrass,  M.A. 
M.B.,  Fhysiological  Labcratory,  University  of  Glasgow. 


May  21,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


71 


by  directly  interrering  with  the  respiratory  exchanges  occurriog 
in  the  tissues.  The  objections  to  its  use  as  an  antipyretic  are 
that,  owing  to  its  poisonous  properties,  it  is  difficult  to  inject  it 
subcntaneously  in  sufficiently  small  doses,  while  it  is  not^  easy  to 
obtain  a  solution  in  any  menstruum  in  which  decomposition  will 
not  ts^e  place.  If  a  convenient  method  of  dissolving  it^  could 
be  devised,  Ni(CO)4  might  become  a  valuable  antipyretic,  the 
modus  operandi  of  which  is  intelligible.^ 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Chemical  Society,   April  2. — Mr.  W.   Crookes,   F.R.S., 
Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — 
Citraconfluorescein,  by  J.  T.  Hewitt.    Lunge  and  Burckhardt 
have  shown  that  maleic  anhydride  is  capable  of  yielding  a 
fluorescein  ;   the   author   has  obtained  the  corresponding  nuo- 
rescein  from  citraconic  anhydride,  by  the  action  of  resorcinol  in 
the   presence  of  sulphuric  acid.     Citraconfluorescein  is  easily 
soluble  in  alcohol  and  glacial  acetic  acid,  fairly  soluble  in  water ; 
the  aqueous  solution  is  yellowish-brown  and  shows   a  green 
fluorescence. — Ethylic  thiacetacetate,  by  Dr.   C.  T.  Sprague. 
Hiibner  obtained  ethylic  thiacetacetate  by  the  action  of  sulphur 
moDochloride,  SjCl^,  on  ethylic  acetacetate.     It  has  since  been 
obtained  by  Delisle  by  the  action  of  sulphur  dichloride,  SCl2t  on 
ethylic  aceiacetate  ;  by  Schonbrodt  by  the  action  of  sulphur  on 
the  copper  derivative  of  ethylic  acetacetate  ;  and  by  Michaelis 
and    Phillips  from   thionyl  chloride  and  ethylic  acetacetate. 
Bnchka  proposed  the  formula  SCCH.AcCOaEt),,  but  an  al- 
ternative   formula,    S(O.C  :  CH.CO,Et)„    was   suggested    by 
Delisle.     The  author  describes  the  preparation  of  the  substance 
and  the  products  of  its  interaction  with  hydrazines  ;  and  shows 
that  it  behaves  towards  phenylhydrazine  in  the  same  manner  as 
ethylic   aceiacetate.     The  results  are  in  accordance  with  the 
formula  proposed  by  Buchka. — The  function  of  chlorine  in  acid 
chlorides  as  exemplified  by  sulphuryl  chloride,  by  H.  £.  Arm- 
strong.    A  number  of  experiments  carried  out  during  recent 
years  in  the  author's  laboratory  show  that  sulphuryl  chloride, 
SO^Cl^  acts  on  benzenoid  compounds  simply  as  a  chlorinating 
agent.     Sulphuryl  chloride  is  easily  formed  by  the  direct  union 
oFsalphttr  dioxide  and  chlorine  in  the  presence  of  a  catalyst, 
sach  as  camphor,  charcoal,  or  acetic  acid  ;  it  is  a  highly  mobile 
liquid  of  low  boiling-point,  and  is  acted  on  with  extreme  slow- 
ness by  water  and  alkaline  solutions.     It  is  an  inert  substance 
possessed  of  properties  by  no  means  such  as  are  usually  regarded 
as  characteristic  of  acid  chlorides.     The  chlorine  is  apparently 
but  loosely  held,  and  is  easily  withdrawn  by  a  compound  having 
an  affinity  for  chlorine,  such  as  naphthalene.     On  warming  a 
mixture  of  this  hydrocarbon  and  sulphuryl  chloride,   SO,  is 
evolved  and  naphthalene  tetrachloride  is  produced.     The  author 
doubts  whether  the  chlorine  in  acid  chlorides  is  possessed   of 
special  activity,  and  is  inclined  to  the  view  that  the  activity  of 
acid  chlorides  is  conditioned  by  the  oxygen  rather  than  the 
chlorine ;  this  view  being  supported  by  the  observations  of 
Wagner  and  Saytzeff,  and  the  later  ones  of  Pawlow  {AnnaUn^ 
dxzxviii  104).    The  author  also  discusses  the  action  of  SO3HCI, 
and  the  analogous  compound  SO3.  EiCl,  and  points  out  that  pyro- 
sulphuryl  chloride,  S^OfiCls,  behaves  much  as  if  it  consisted  of 
SOj  and   SOjCl). — The  action  of  nitric  acid  on  the  ligno- 
celluloses,  by  C.  F.  Cross  and  E.  J.  Bevan.     Dilute  nitric  acid 
attacks  the  ligno-celluloses  when  heated  with  them  at  60°,  with 
the  formation  of  a  bright  yellow  derivative  of  lignone  and  nitrous 
acid      On  further  interaction,  large  quantities  of  nitrous  oxide, 
N^O,  are  evolved,  together  with  carbonic  anhydride  and  a  small 
proportion  of  nitric  oxide.     A  sensible  quantity  of  hydrogen 
cyanide  is  also  produced,  the  proportion  being  increased  by 
increase  of  temperature.    The  observations  point  to  the  entrance 
of  the  NOH  residue  into  the  lignone  molecule  ;  its  interaction 
with  nitrous  acid  being  finally  the  displacement  of  H,  by  O. 
The  reaction  is  probably  general  for  compounds  containing'^he 
NOH  residue,  and  the  authors  suggest  that  attention  be  paid  to 
the  gaseous  products  of  the  interaction  of  nitric  acid  and  carbon 
compounds,  as  calculated  to  elucidate  their  mechanism. — The 
Chairman,  Mr.  Crookes,  gave  a  short  verbal  account  of  observa- 
tions on  the  volatilization  of  metals  in  vacuo  under  the  influence 
of  an  electric  discharge. 

'  This  investigadon  was  carried  on  during  last  winter.  It  appears  that  M. 
Hanriot  made  a  communication  of  the  subject  to  the  Soci^ic  Chimique  on 
Febnuuy  37.  He  found  the  substance  to  be  more  poisonous  than  CO,  and 
tint  die  blood  gave  the  spectrum  of  carbon-monoxide-haemoglobin. 

NO.    1 125,  VOL.  44] 


April  16. — Prof.  A.  Crum  Brown,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the 
chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — Studies  on  the 
formation  of  substitution  derivatives,  by  H.  Gordon.^  The 
following  experiments  were  undertaken  with  the  object  of 
throwing  further  light  on  the  laws  which  govern  substitution  iu 
the  case  of  benzenoid  compounds.  The  action  of  bromine  on 
diorthonitrophenoU-'^htn  bromine  is  added  to  an  acetic  acid 
solution  of  diorthonitrophenol  at  ordinary  temperatures,  the 
normal  product,  namely  parabromdiorthonitrophenol,  is  obtained. 
However,  if  the  mixture  be  heated  at  100  for  a  short  time, 
a  mixture  is  obtained  consisting  of  parabromdiorthonitrophenol 
and  orthobromorthoparadinitrophenol.  And  if  the  heating  be 
prolonged,  and  small  quantities  of  bromine  added,  the  mixed 
product  is  converted  into  orthobromorthoparadinitropbenoL 
Parabromdiorthonitrophenol  is  therefore  completely  converted 
by  the  action  of  heat,  and  bromine  into  the  isomeric  ortho- 
bromorthoparadinitrophenol.  The  same  isomeric  change  takes 
place  under  the  influence  of  nitric  acid.  An  acetic  acid'solution 
of  parabromdiorthonitrophenol,  when  heated  with  a  few  drops  of 
nitric  acid  at  ioo%  is  completely  converted  into  the  isomeric 
orthobromorthoparadinitrophenol.  Experiments  were  then  under- 
taken with  the  corresponding  chloro-compounds.  It  was  found 
that  chlorine  had  no  action  on  diorthonitrophenol  when  dis- 
solved in  acetic  acid  at  100%  even  in  the  presence  of  iodine. 
Chlorination,  however,  takes  place  when  chlorine  is  passed  inta 
a  solution  of  diorthonitrophenol  in  antimony  pentachloride  at 
105^  and  only  the  normal  product  parachlorodinitrophenol  is 
formed.  Action  of  bromine  on  parachlordiorthonitrophenol,  -Ex- 
periments to  ascertain  whether  isomeric  change  could  be  effected 
Dy  the  action  of  bromine  on  parachlordinitrophenol  only  gave 
negative  results,  the  normal  product,  parachlororthobromortho- 
nitrophenol,  being  obtained  in  every  case.  The  author  considers 
that  m  the  case  of  the  chlorine  compound  isomeric  change  does 
not  take  place,  because  the  chlorine  is  more  firmly  held  than 
bromine.  Action  of  sulphuric  acid  on  orthoparadichlorphenol- 
orthosulphonic  acid.-The  combined  action  of  heat  and  sulphuric 
acid  on  orthoparadichlorphenolsulphonic  acid  gave  no  indication 
of  any  isomeric  change  taking  place,  although  the  reaction  was 
investigated  under  a  great  variety  of  conditions  of  temperature, 
&c.  The  corresponding  dibromphenol  also  gave  negative  results, 
but  as  several  secondary  reactions  set  in,  such  as  the  formation 
of  tribromphenol,  this  reaction  was  not  further  investigated. 
The  chlorination  and  bromination  of  phenol,-^htno\  when 
chlorinated  in  the  ordinary  manner  yields  a  mixture  of  para-  and 
ortho-  chlorphenol.  The  author  finds  that  a  similar  mixture  is 
obtained  when  SO,C],  is  employed  as  the  chlorinating  agent. 
He  has  also  investigated  the  action  of  bromine  on  phenol  ucder 
the  conditions  described  by  Hiibner  and  Brenken  {Bcr,  vi.  170)^ 
and  finds  that  the  product  is  practically  pure  parabromphenol. 
7he  sulphonation  of  the  nitrophcnols,-Or\hoTi\Xxo^\iesio\  and 
paranitrophenol  are,  according  to  Armstrong,  both  readily 
acted  upon  by  SOjHCl ;  the  former  yields  the  well-known 
sulpho-acid ;  the  latter  yields  a  product  which  is  decomposed 
by  water,  and  was  supposed  by  Armstrong  to  be  the  sulphate, 
and  this  the  author  finds  to  be  the  case.  The  author  considers 
that  the  initial  action  in  both  cases  is  the  same ;  but  that  the 
sulphate  formed  from  orthonitrophenol  at  once  undergoes 
isomeric  change,  whereas  the  sulphate  from  paranitrophenol  is 
more  stable.  The  author  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  any 
sulpho-acid  by  heating  the  sulphate  from  the  paranitrophenol 
at  IOO^  But  he  obtained  a  fair  yield  of  sulpho-acid  by  heating 
the  nitrophenol  with  two  molecular  proportions  of  SO3HCI  at 
itxf.  Hence,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  paranitrophenol- 
sulphonic  acid  is  formed  by  the  sulphonation  of  the  sulphate. 
Metanitrophenol  resembles  the  para-compound  in  being  con- 
verted into  sulphate,  but  not  into  the  sulpho-acid  even  by  the  action 
of  heat. — Compounds  of  dextrose  with  the  oxides  of  nickel, 
chromium,  and  iron,  by  A.  C.  Chapman.  The  nickel  com- 
pound is  obtained  by  adding  a  solution  of  nickel  hydrate  in 
ammonia  to  a  solution  of  dextrose  in  90  per  cent,  alcohol.  It 
is  a  green  amorphous  substance,  insoluble  in  water  and  alcohol, 
of  the  composition  C8H,,Oe.2NiO  +  sHjO.  The  chromium 
compound,  which  appears  to  have  the  composition  represented 
by  the  formula  CgHiaOg-CrjOj  +  4H,0,  is  prepared  by 
dissolving  an  excess  ot  dextrose  in  an  aqueous  solution  of 
chromic  chloride,  and  pouring  this  solution  into  cold  strong 
ammonia.  The  precipitated  hydrate  partly  di^lves  on  stand- 
ing, and  on  pouring  the  purple  solution  so  obtained  into  90  per 
cent,  alcohol,  the  chromium  dextrosate  is  obtained  as  a  lilac- 
coloured  precipitate.     The  uron  compound,   2C8Hi,08.3Fe,Ot 


72 


NA  TURE 


[May  2[,  1891 


+  3H2O,  is  obtained  by  adding  a  slight  excess  of  ammonia  to  a 
•solution  of  ferric  chloride  containing  an  excess  of  dextrose  ;  on 
•standing,  a  deep  red  solution  is  obtained,  which  when  poured  into 
-90  per  cent,  alcohol  yields  the  dextrosate  of  iron  as  a  red 
flocculent  precipitate.  The  moist  compound  dissolves  easily  in 
water  to  a  red  solution,  is  decomposea  on  boiling,  but  is  not 
decomposed  by  ammonia,  potassic  ferrocyanide,  or  potassic 
thiocyanate.  The  dry  compound  is  insoluble  in  water. — A 
Tapid  method  of  estimating  nitrates  in  potable  waters,  by  Dr.  G. 
Harrow.  The  method  depends  on  the  reduction  of  nitric  to 
nitrous  acid  by  means  of  zmc  dust  and  hydrochloric  acid,  in  a 
•very  dilute  solution,  in  the  presence  of  anaphthylamine  and 
sulphuric  acid ;  the  estimation  is  made  by  comparing  the  depths 
of  the  pink  azo-coloration  developed  in  the  solution  with  that 
arising  on  similar  treatment  of  standard  nitrate  solutions. 
When  nitrites  are  present,  the  amount  is  estimated  in  a  similar 
manner  prior  to  the  addition  of  zinc  dust,  and^  due  allowance 
is  subsequently  made.  A  number  of  comparisons  with  the 
•Crum  method  show  that  very  satisfactory  results  are  obtainable. 
— ^The  **gravi volumeter,"  an  instrument  by  means  of  which  the 
observed  volume  of  a  single  gas  gives  directly  the  weight  of  the 
gas:  a  preliminary  note,  by  F.  R.  Japp,  F.R.S.  The  author 
-describes  a  method  of  constructing;  a  ^  apparatus,  by  means  of 
•which,  with  an  ordinary  graduation  in  cubic  centimetres,  any 
required  single  gas  may,  without  observation  of  temperature  or 
pressure  and  without  calculation,  be  measured  under  such  con- 
ditions that  each  cubic  centimetre  represents  a  milligram  of  the 
gas.  The  author  describes  the  apparatus  in  detail  and  the 
method  of  using  it,  and  he  anticipates  that  it  will,  at  least,  give 
-results  sufficiently  accurate  for  technical  purposes. — Mr.  de 
Mosenthal  exhibited  one  of  Lipmann's  coloured  photographic 
negatives. — The  action  of  acetic  acid  on  phenylthiocarbimide,  by 
J.  C.  Cain  and  Dr.  J.  B.  Cohen,  Owens  College.  The  authors 
show  that  the  product  of  the  action  of  pure  glacial  acetic  add  on 
phenylthiocarbimide  is  not  diacetanilide,  as  stated  by  Hofmann  ; 
but  that  two  compounds  are  formed — namely,  diphenylurea  and 
acetanilide.  At  low  temperatures  diphenylurea  is  mainly  formed, 
at  higher  temperatures  acetanilide.  The  reactions  may  be  ex- 
pressed by  the  following  equations : — 

aCgHjNCS  +  eCjH^O,  =  (CeH5NH),CO  +  3(C,H30),.0 

+  2HsS+C0, 
and 

(C8HbNH),CO  +  2CjH40,  =  2C8H5NHj+(C,H,0),0+  CO,. 

— The  action  of  aluminium  chloride  on  benzenoid  acid  chlorides, 
by  R.  £.  Hughes,  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  The  author  has  ex- 
amined the  action  of  aluminium  chloride  on  cinnamic  and 
'hydrocinnamic  chlorides,  in  the  expectation  that  pentamethylene 
-derivatives  might  result.  The  experiments,  however,  afforded 
negative  results.  The  chloride  was  either  dissolved  in  or  mixed 
with  light  petroleum,  and  aluminium  chloride  then  added ;  action 
-set  in  at  80-90°  in  the  case  of  cinnamic,and  at  50°  and  more  briskly 
in  the  case  of  hydrocinnamic,  chloride.  The  chief  product  in  both 
cases  was  an  ill- characterized  substance,  which  has  not  been  ex- 
amined. The  author  also  describes  the  following  compounds : 
hydrocinnamic  chloride,  hydrocinnamide,  and  hydrocinnam- 
anilide.  It  is  noted  that  benzoic  and  cinnamic  acids  may  be 
•readily  separated  by  treating  the  mixture  with  phosphorus 
pentachloride  and  distilling  the  product  under  reduced  pressure ; 
the  portion  passing  over  below  95"  under  10  mm.  contains  the 
benzoic  chloride. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  11. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
'chair. — Essay  on  graphical  dynamics,  with  reference  to  the 
periods  of  motion  of  hydraulic  motors,  by  M.  H.  Leaut^. — On 
the  lowering  of  the  surface  of  water  in  a  horizontal  cylindrical 
'vessel,  by  M.  Haton  de  la  Goupilliere. — On  the  boundaries  of 
the  littoral -zones,  by  M.  Leon  Vaillant. — Observations  made  at 

Marseilles  Observatory  of  the  asteroid  ^)  discovered  on  March 

31,  by  M.  Borrelly.  The  observations  for  position  extend  from 
April  6  to  April  30. — Elements  of  the  orbit  of  Borrelly*s  new 

asteroid^),  by  M.  Fabry. — Provisionary  elements  of  Borrelly's 

asteroid  deduced  from  observations  made  at  Marseilles  Observa- 
tory on  March  30,  April  8,  18,  and  26,  by  M.  Esmiol. — Solar 
observations  made  at  the  Royal  Observatory  of  the  Roman 
College  during  the  first  quarter  of  189 1,  by  M.  Tacchini. 
— On  the  movement  of  the  moon's  perigee,  by  M.  Perchot. 
— On  limited  permutations,  by  M.  C.  A.  Laisant. — On  a  class 

NO.    I  125,  VOL.  44] 


of  complex  numbers,  by  M.  MarkofT. — On  a  registering  mano- 
meter applicable  to  pieces  of  ordnance,  by  M.  P.  Vieille. — 
An  ''elastic"  theory  of  plasticity  and  fragility  of  solid  bcKlies» 
by  M.  Marcel  Brillouin. — On  the  wave-surface  in  cr3r5ta]s,  by 
M.  C.  Raveau. — On  the  determination  of  the  dielectric  constant 
of  glass  by  means  of  very  rapid  electrical  oscillations,  by  M.  R. 
Blondlot.     The  author  has  made  some  experiments  which  sap- 
port  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson's  conclusion  that  the  spedBc  indactive 
capacity  of  glass  is  very  nearly  equal  to  the  square  of  the  index 
of  refraction,  and  has  least  value  when  a  slow  frequency  of 
vibration  is  employed.— On  a  new  compound  of  oxygen  and 
tungsten,  by  M.  E.  P^hard. — ^Thermic  study  of  bibasic  organic 
aci(&  with  simple  functions,  by  M.  G.  Massol. — Remark  on  the 
preceding  note,  by  M.  Berthelot.-^On  the  fourth  primary  amyl- 
alcohol,  by  M.  L.  Tissier. — On  the  diffusion  of  fresh  water  into 
sea- water,  by  M.  J.  Thoulet.— On  the  theory  of  M.  Tschermak's 
felspars,  by  M.  K.  de  Kroustchoff     A  description  is  given  of  a 
new  triclinic  felspar  having  a  composition  very  similar  to  oligo- 
clase,  but  distinguished  from  it  by  several  peculiarities. — On  the 
genital  organs  of  some  Tristomidse,  by  M.  G.  Saint- Remy. — On 
the  constitution  of  the  sexual  nuclei  of  plants,  by  M .    Lena 
Guignard. — On  the  groups  of  the  genus  Clusia,  by  M.  J.  Vesqne. 
— ^^e  parasitic  fungus  of  the  larva  of  the  cockchafer,  by  MM. 
Prillieux  and  Delacroix. — ^The  parasite  of  the  cockchafer,  by  M. 
Le  Moult — On  a  remarkable  inversion  of  strata   termed  pU 
couchi  ol»erved  near  Toulon,  by  MM.  Marcel  Bertrand   aiod 
Zurcher. — On  the  permanence  of  the  orogenic  effort    in  the 
Pyrenees  during  the  geological  periods,  by  M.  RousseL 

AlCSTERDAlL 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  April  24. — Prof,  van  de 
Sande  Bakhuyzen  in  the  chair. — Mr.  van  der  Waals  dealt  with 
a  formula  for  electrolytic  dissociation,  which  may  be  deduced 
from  his  theory  of  a  mixture.  This  formula  accounts  for  the 
facts  (i)  that  ions  may  combine  with  absorption  of  heat ; 
(2)  that  the  parameter  of  electrolytic  dissociation  varies  with  the 
medium  which  holds  the  salt-molecules  in  solution ;  (3)  that 
the  quantity  of  free  ions  may  diminish  when  the  quantity  of 
salt-molecules  increases. 


CONTENTS.  PAGB 

Pycnogonids.     By  E.  P.  W 49 

A  Text-book  of  Chemistry  based  on  the  Periodic 

System , ••    .  50 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Roberts  :  '*  Eighteen  Years  of  University  Extension  '*  .  52 
Hep  worth :    "Evening   Work    for   Amateur    Photo- 
graphers"      • 52 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  University  of  London  Question.— W.  T.  Thisel- 

ton  Dyer,  C.M.G.,  P.R.S. ;  P.  Victor  Dickins  52 

Co-adaptation. — Prof.  George  J.  Romanes,  P.R.S.  55 

A  priori  Reasoning. — Prof.  George  Henslow  ...  55 

The  Natural  Selection  of  Indian    Corn. — T.   D.  A. 

Cockerell 56 

The   Soaring  of   Birds.     {With  Diagrams,)—'^,    E. 

Peal 56 

On  some  Points  in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy. 

III.     {Illustrated,)    By  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.  .  57 

Forestry  in  North  America.     By  Prof.  W.  K.  Fisher  60 

Daily  International  Weather  Charts 62 

Joseph  Leidy,  M.D 63 

The  Science  Museum , 63 

Notes 65 

Our  Astronomical  Colnmn : — 

The  Photography  of  Faint  Nebulae 69 

Variations  in  Latitude 69 

Re-discovery  of  Wolf's  Comet  (1884  III.) 69 

The  Paris  Observatory.     By  W.  J.  L 70 

Notes    on    the    Physiological    Action    of   Carbon- 
Monoxide  of  Nickel.    By  Prof.  John  G.   McKen- 

dnck,  F.R.S.,  and  William  Snodgrass 70 

Societies  and  Academies 71 


NA TURE 


73 


THURSDAY,  MAY  28,  1891. 


MEDICAL  RESEARCH  AT  EDINBURGH, 

Laboratory  Reports  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of 
Edinburgh.      Vol.   III.       (Edinburgh    and    London: 
Young  J.  Pentland,  1891.) 

NOW  that  for  three  years  the  laboratory  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Royal  College  of  Physicians  has  shown 
steady  advancement  in  every  direction — in  the  number  of 
workers  engaged  within  it,  in  the  volume  of  work  accom- 
plished, and  more  especially  in  the  quality  of  that  work — 
Dr.  Grainger  Stewart  and  his  Council  must  congratulate 
themselves  heartily  that  they  were  undeterred  by  any 
misgivings  from  entering  upon  a  venture  which  has  been 
so  abundantly  successful,  and  which  has  added  so  much 
to  the  renown  of  the  College.  It  must  be  a  source  of 
very  sincere  satisfaction  to  them,  and  especially  to  Dr. 
Batty  Tuke,  the  prime  mover  in  its  organization,  to 
know  that  no  laboratory  in  the  Kingdom  can  show  for  the 
same  space  of  time  a  record  of  so  much  good  work  in  so 
many  directions,  of  which  a  large  part  would  never  have 
been  undertaken  had  this  laboratory  not  been  established. 

In  many  respects  the  present  volume  exhibits  marked 
improvement  as  compared  with  its  predecessors.  While 
composed  of  more  than  a  dozen  papers,  these  only  re- 
present but  a  portion  of  the  investigations  that  have  been 
completed,  and  all  of  them  contain  matter  of  permanent 
interest ;  others  whose  interest  is  of  a  more  temporary 
nature  have,  I  think  wisely,  been  excluded.  The  value 
of  the  volume  is  further  enhanced  greatly  by  the  fact  that 
the  majority  of  the  reports  appear  here  for  the  first  time. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Dr.  Helme's  important 
contribution  to  the  physiology  of  the  uterus ;  Dr.  Gul- 
land's  heterodox  papers  upon  leucocytes  and  adenoid 
tissue  ;  Noel  Paton  and  Balfour's  very  full  studies  upon 
the  composition  and  physiological  action  of  the  human 
bile  ;  Woodhead  and  Cartwright  Wood's  observations 
upon  bacterio-therapeutics  ;  and  a  short  but  important 
communication  by  Cartwright  Wood  and  Maxwell  Ross 
on  the  influence  which  the  process  of  inflammation 
exerts  upon  the  course  of  infectious  disease. 

Taking  these  in  order,  Dr.  Helme's  paper  is  of  especial 
value,  not  only  clinically,  from  the  light  it  throws  on  the 
mode  by  which  certain  drugs  act  upon  the  uterus,  and 
from  the  consequent  indications  it  affords  as  to  the 
conditions  under  which  they  may  wisely  be  administered, 
but  also  as  a  contribution  to  the  physiology  of  non-striped 
voluntary  muscle.  Employing  the  uberlebende  organ — 
the  organ  removed  with  all  precautions  immediately  after 
the  death  of  the  animal  (a  sheep) — and  continuing  the 
circulation  through  it  artificially.  Dr.  Helme  has  been 
able  to  study  its  slow  rhythmic  contractions  apart  from 
the  influence  of  the  central  nervous  system  and  of  the 
changes  in  the  blood  supply.  From  a  physiological  point 
of  view,  his  most  important  observation  is  perhaps  that 
which  brings  out  the  striking  difference  existing  between 
striped  and  non-striped  muscle  as  regards  the  relationship 
between  contraction  and  blood  supply.  Whereas  a 
striped  muscle  during  contraction  becomes  hypersemic, 
the  uterus,  the  largest  mass  of  unstriped  muscle  in  the 
body,  becomes  during  contraction  relatively  anaemic. 

NO.   II 26,  VOL.  44] 


It  is  impossible  to  pass  Dr.  Gulland's  articles  upon  the 
nature  and  varieties  of  leucocytes  and  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  adenoid  tissue  without  bestowing  on  them  not  a 
little  adverse  criticism,  and  this,  while  appreciating  fully 
the  long  months  spent  in  laborious  preparation  and 
examination  of  tissues,  and  in  studying  the  literature  of 
the  subject,  of  which  they  bear  ample  witness.  That  Dr. 
Gulland  bases  his  conclusions  upon  the  view  that  the 
leucocytes  are  symbiotic,  and  shows  at  the  outset  that  he 
totally  misconceives  the  nature  of  symbiosis,  is  quite 
sufficient  to  render  fuller  criticism  of  his  views  unneces- 
sary. Yet,  that  it  may  not  be  said  that  I  misrepresent  his 
views,  it  may  be  as  well  to  quote  his  words  upon  this 
subject ; — 

"  There  are  still "  (in  the  Metazoan)  "  many  functions 
to  be  performed  which  can  only  be  discharged  by  cells 
possessed  of  Protozoan  characteristics.  ...  To  perform 
these  functions  it  is  necessary  that  a  certain  number  of 
cells  should  continue  to  be  practically  Protozoa,  and  these 
cells  are  what  we  call '  leucocytes,'  so  that  we  may  regard 
them  morphologically  as  representing  those  members  of 
the  primitive  Metazoan  colony  which  escaped  dijfferentia- 
tion,  and  have  remained  unaltered  Protozoa  through  the 
whole  series  of  Metazoa  "  (the  italics  are  mine). 

Such  inconsequent  theorizing  goes  far  to  neutralize  the 
minute  and  careful  observations  which  Dr.  Gulland  has 
made  into  the  histology  of  his  subject. 

That  the  formation  of  bile  solids  is  more  closely  asso- 
ciated with  the  general  metabolism  than  with  the  changes 
of  digestion  is  the  conclusion  drawn  by  Dr.  Noel  Paton 
and  Mr.  Balfour,  though  somewhat  unexpectedly  they 
find  that  in  fever,  where  the  general  metabolism  is 
greatly  increased  and  the  digestive  processes  reduced, 
the  amount  of  bile  solids  excreted  is  diminished.  All 
studies  of  cases  of  biliary  fistula  in  man  are  of  value,  and 
such  full  observations  as  those  here  described  are  rare. 
Of  drugs  they  find  calomel  and  salicylate  of  soda  active 
in  increasing  the  flow  of  bile.  Whether  they  are  right  in 
looking  upon  the  bile  as  an  excretion,  rather  than  as  at 
the  same  time  a  secretion  playing  an  essential  part  in  diges- 
tion, is  open  to  doubt.  Even  if  with  bile  excluded  from  the 
intestine  only  30  per  cent,  of  the  fats  ingested  pass  out 
unused,  that  nevertheless  is  a  proportion  large  enough  to 
demand  consideration,  and  to  support  the  assumption  that 
as  a  secretion,  as  well  as  an  excretion,  the  bile  is  of  de- 
finite importance.  The  ingenious  method  devised  for  the 
estimation  of  the  bile  pigments  (p.  197)  deserves  a  more 
extended  trial. 

At  a  time  when  Koch's  endeavours  to  cure  tuberculosis 
by  means  of  injections  of  products  of  growth  of  the 
tubercle  bacilli  have  brought  the  whole  subject  of  bacterio- 
therapeutics  prominently  to  the  fore,  the  full  discussion  of 
this  by  Drs.  Woodhead  and  Wood  is  very  acceptable, 
based,  as  it  is,  upon  their  own  important  discovery  that 
the  invasion  of  the  organism  by  the  bacillus  of  anthrax 
may  be  prevented  by  injections  of  the  sterilized  fluid  in 
v;hich  the  Bacillus  pyocyaneus  has  been  grown.  Space 
forbids  that  I  should  do  more  than  indicate  that  those 
interested  will  here  find  a  full  account  of  our  present 
knowledge  of  a  subject  which  is  occupying  the  energies 
of  every  leading  bacteriologist. 

Of  allied  interest  is  the  communication  by  Dr.  Wood 
and  Mr.  Ross.  It  has  long  been  known  that  the  advance 
of  erysipelas  can  often  be    successfully  combated  by 

E 


74 


NATURE 


[May  28,  1 89 1 


painting  the  skin  immediately  outside  the  erysipelatous 
area  with  some  counter-irritant.  The  authors  have 
studied  the  rationale  of  this  treatment,  and  conclude 
that  the  irritant  brings  about  the  formation  of  a 
zone  of  inflammation,  with  dilatation  of  the  vessels 
and  diapedesis  of  the  white  corpuscles,  which  now, 
by  destroying  the  micrococci,  act  as  a  barrier  to  the 
further  progress  of  the  disease.  With  the  malignant 
pustule  produced  by  the  inoculation  of  the  anthrax  bacilli, 
similar  counter-irritation  was  effectual  in  only  three  out 
of  thirty  cases— that  is  to  say,  with  the  more  active  virus 
the  stimulus  applied  was  not  sufficient  to  produce  an 
effectual  barrier.  J.  George  Adami. 


THE    CHEMICAL     AND    BACTERIOLOGICAL 
EXAMINATION  OF  POTABLE   WATERS, 

Examen  Quimico  y  Bacteriologico  de  las  Aquas  Potables, 
Por  A.  E.  Salazar  y  C.  Newman,  con  uno  capitulo 
del  Dr.  Rafael-  Blanchard  sobre  "  Los  Animales  Pard- 
sitos  introducidos  por  el  Aqua  en  el  Organismo." 
(London  :  Burns  and  Oates,  1890.) 

A  PECULIAR  interest  attaches  to  this  work  at  the 
•^^  present  moment  in  consequence  of  the  sad  political 
events  now  going  on  in  the  country  from  which  it  has 
emanated  ;  for,  whilst  almost  each  successive  day  brings 
news  of  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  in  one  of  the  fiercest 
and  most  sanguinary  civil  contests  of  recent  years,  the 
object  of  this  book  is  to  show  how  the  latest  results  of 
scientific  research  may  be  applied  to  combating  on  the 
same  soil  some  of  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to.  The 
publication  of  this  treatise  for  Chilian  students  affords  the 
strongest  evidence  of  the  rapidity  with  which  scientific 
knowledge  traverses  the  globe  at  the  present  day,  and  it 
must  be  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  all  interested  in 
the  dissemination  of  the  principles  of  hygiene  that  there 
should  be  a  demand  for  a  work  of  such  an  advanced 
character  in  a  country  so  remote  from  what  we  are  wont 
to  regard  as  the  centres  of  civilization. 

The  scope  of  this  work  is  more  comprehensive  than 
that  of  perhaps  any  similar  one  in  our  own  language ; 
English  treatises  on  water  analysis  being  in  general  only 
short  manuals  giving  instructions  for  the  execution  of 
analytical  methods  devised  by  their  authors,  who  usually 
dismiss  the  rival  methods  of  others  with  a  few  words, 
often  not  of  a  very  complimentary  kind.  The  pages 
under  review,  however,  not  only  give  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  the  various  methods  employed  by  water-analysts, 
but  subject  their  several  claims  to  a  fair  and  impartial 
criticism,  whilst  detailed  information  is  supplied  for  carry- 
ing out  those  methods  which  the  authors  regard  as,  on 
the  whole,  the  most  serviceable.  Again,  a  most  exhaustive 
account  is  given  of  the  bacteriological  examination  of 
water,  including  precise  instructions  for  the  cultivation  of 
micro-organisms,  the  preparation  of  nutritive  media,  the 
sterilization  of  apparatus,  the  use  of  the  microscope,  and 
the  performance  of  inoculation  experiments  on  animals. 
But  even  this  ample  programme  was  inadequate  for  the 
ambition  of  the  authors,  who  have  associated  with  them- 
selves a  third  colleague,  who  contributes  a  bulky  ap- 
pendix on ''  the  animal  parasites  gaining  access  to  the 
organism  through  water."  The  work  is  not  only  profusely 
illustrated  with  cuts,  but  contains  also  a  number  of  ori- 

NO.   1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


ginal  photographs  representing  both  the  microscopic  and 
macroscopic  appearance  of  some  bacteria.     Indeed,  the 
bacteriological  part  is  the  real  centre  of  gravity  of  the 
work.    A  decade  will  soon  have  elapsed  since  the  bac- 
teriological examination  of  waters  began  to  attract  much 
attention  in  consequence  of  the   ingenious  method    o 
gelatin-plate  cultivation  devised  by  Koch.     It  was  not, 
however,  until  some  years  later  that  the  method  yielded 
results  of  any  practical  importance,  inasmuch  as  it  iiras 
at  first  almost    exclusively    applied    by    bacteriologists 
whose  previous  information  on  questions  of  water-supply 
was  of  a  somewhat  limited  order,  whilst  the  value  of  the 
method  for  the  solution  of  many  hitherto  unsolved  prob- 
lems connected  with  the  hygiene  of  water  is  even  now 
but  imperfectly  appreciated  by  chemists.      When     the 
method  was  first  applied  to  the  London  water-supply^  in 
the  year  1885,  it  at  once  brought  to  light  that  in  the  pro- 
cess  of  sand-filtration,  as  practised  on  the  large  scale, 
a  most  astonishing  proportion  of  the  micro-organisms 
present  in  the  unfiltered  water  were  removed,  whilst  in 
the  best  of  our  deep-well  waters  the  number  of  microbes 
found  was  so  small  that  it  seemed  probable  that  the  re- 
moval of   these   low  forms  of   life  in  this  process    of 
natural  filtration  was  really  complete,  and  that  the   few 
actually  found  had  very  likely  been  imported  into  the 
wells  from  the  surface.     On  the  other  hand,  it  was  shown 
that  the  sand-filters  did  not  wholly  remove  the  organisms 
present  in  the  unfiltered*  water,  as,  in  the  course  of  regular 
examinations  carried  on  over  a  period  of  more  than  three 
years,  a  most  unmistakable    relationship   between    the 
number  of  microbes  present  in  the  unfiltered  and  filtered 
waters  respectively  was  discernible.  The  scope  of  the  bac- 
teriological method  of  examination  became  very  much 
narrowed  when  it  was  discovered  that  there  are  many 
micro-organisms  which  have  the  power  of   multiplying 
to  an  enormous  extent  in  the  purest  waters,  including 
distilled  water  itself,  so  that  the  number  of  microbes 
present  in  a  given  sample  of  water  affords  no  indication 
fier  se  of  the  purity  or  otherwise  of  the  water.    This   dis- 
turbing element   in  the  bacterioscopic  examination    of 
water  is  not  sufficiently  emphasized  by  the  authors.     But 
this  extraordinary  phenomenon  of  multiplication,  although 
it  invalidates  the  bacteriological  process  for  the  general 
purposes  of  water  examination,  does  not  at  all  interfere 
with  its  successful  application  to  the  investigation  of  the 
efficiency  of  filtration,  either  natural  or  artificial,   pro- 
vided that  the  filtered  water  is  subjected  to  examination 
without    delay  after  it  has  undergone  the   process    of 
filtration. 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that  there  exists  a  very  wide- 
spread misapprehension  as  to  the  ideal  object  of  the  bac- 
teriological examination  of  waters,  and  the  authors  of  this 
work  fall  into  the  same  error  to  some  extent  also.  It  is 
very  generally  supposed  that  the  main  object  of  a  bacterio- 
logical examination  is  to  discover  whether  or  not  there 
are  disease-producing  organisms,  e,g.  those  of  typhoid, 
in  the  water.  But  this  is  a  point  really  of  very  limited 
importance,  and  what  should  be  kept  in  view  in  an  ex- 
amination of  water  is  the  endeavour  to  discover,  not 
whether  the  water  contains  zymotic  poison  at  the  time 
of  analysis,  but  firstly,  whether  it  is  exposed  to  influences 
which  may  at  any  time  lead  to  the  introduction  of  such 
zymotic  poisons,  e,g.  through  contamination  with  sewage  ; 


May  28,  1 891] 


NA TURE 


75 


and  secondly,  whether,  if  such  organized  poisons  should 
gain  access,  there  is  any  sufficient  guarantee  or  not  that 
they  will  be  destroyed  or   removed  before  the  water 
reaches  the  consumer.  It  is  because  the  chemical  analysis 
affords  us  at  present  a  better  clue  than  the  bacteriological 
examination  as  to  whether  a  water  has  received  sewage  or 
not  that   it  is  of  more  general  applicability  than  the 
latter ;  but  we  must  appeal  to  a  bacteriological  inquiry 
in  order  to  ascertain  whether,  in  the  event  of  sewage 
gaining  access  to  the  water,  there  is  a  guarantee  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  water  that  the  zymotic  poisons, 
which  may  at  any  time  accompany  the  sewage,  would 
undergo  removal.      In   short,  the  object  of  nearly  all 
water  examinations  is  obviously  to  ascertain  whether  the 
water  may  at  any  time  be  dangerous  to  health,  and  not, 
even  if  this  could  be  with  certainty  determined,  whether 
it  contains  a  zymotic  poison  at  the  particular  moment  of 
examination.     On   the   other  hand,  the  fact  that   the 
microbe,  which  is  now  pretty  generally  accepted  as  the 
inducing  cause  of  typhoid  fever,  has  been  on  more  than 
one  occasion  actually  discovered  in  drinking-water  which 
was  under  suspicion  of  producing  an  epidemic  of  that 
disease,  affords  most  important  evidence  as  to  the  manner 
of  its  distribution. 

There  is  much  need  of  a  similar  work  to  this  in  Eng- 
lish, as  each  year  an  increasing  number  of  younger 
medical  men  are  coming  forward  for  the  degrees  in  Public 
Health  which  are  now  granted  by  several  of  our  Uni- 
versities, and  to  these  a  practical  and  critical  treatise 
such  as  this  would  prove  of  great  value.  It  is  of  great 
importance  that  such  Public  Health  students  should  be 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  responsibility  which 
attaches  to  the  examination  of  waters  for  domestic  pur- 
poses, and  that  most  serious  mischief  may  and  often  does 
result  from  such  investigations  being  intrusted  to  incom- 
petent persons.  It  is  gratifying  to  see  that  the  authors 
do  not  undertake  to  prescribe  any  of  those  artificial 
standards  of  purity  for  drinking-water  which  so  frequently 
figure  in  books  of  this  kind,  and  which  are  attended  with 
the  greatest  danger,  leading  as  they  do  the  ignorant  to 
believe  that  they  can  pronounce  upon  the  fitness  or  other- 
wise of  water  for  drinking  purposes  from  the  numbers 
which  they  have  obtained  in  a  few  simple  quantitative 
determinations.  For  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
sanitary  examination  of  water  is  surrounded  with  such 
difficulties  that  it  is  only  by  bringing  to  bear  on  each  par- 
ticular case  all  the  evidence  that  it  is  possible  to  obtain, 
and  then  interpreting  this  evidence  by  the  light  of  an 
extended  experience,  that  a  sound  judgment  can  be 
arrived  at.  P.  F.  F. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Botany :  a  Concise  Manual  for  Students  of  Medici  tie  and 
Science.  By  Alex.  Johnstone,  F.G.S.  (Edinburgh  and 
London  ;  Young  J.  Pentland,  1891.) 

During  recent  years  many  books  on  botany  have  been 
published,  specially  for  the  use  of  students  preparing  for 
examinations.  In  these  a  few  types  and  phases  of  plant 
life  have  been  described  somewhat  in  detail.  In  the 
present  case  a  much  wider  range  has  been  taken,  the 
result  being  an  illustrated  botanical  note-book,  condensed 
but  not  meagre.  In  the  preface  the  author  takes  it  for 
granted  that  every   student  nowadays  attends  lectures 

NO.   II 26,  VOL.  44] 


or  demonstrations,  and  "therefore  does  not  so  much 
require  a  manual  with  diffuse  explanations,  but  rather  a 
kind  of  illustrated  digest  and  general  note-book,  which 
will  enable  him  to  quickly  arrange  and  make  most  effec- 
tive use  of  the  various  facts  and  theories  treated  of  by  his 
teacher.''  A  book  on  these  lines  Mr.  Johnstone  has  been 
successful  in  producing.  It  consists  of  260  pages  and  226 
illustrations.  Some  of  the  latter  are  the  ones  which  seem  by 
custom  to  be  considered  necessary  for  reproduction  in  every 
fresh  botanical  manual,  while  others  appear  to  be  new. 
The  outline  ones,  such  as  those  on  p.  30,  illustrating  the 
branching  of  cells,  give  a  much  clearer  idea  than  could 
be  done  by  pages  of  letterpress.  A  short  introductory 
chapter  points  out  the  position  botany  holds  in  science. 
The  strictly  botanical  part  of  the  work  is  treated  of  in 
four  sections,  viz.  (i)  morphology  ;  (2)  external  morphology 
or  organography  ;  (3)  physiology  ;  and  (4)  taxonomy. 

Under  morphology,  the  structure,  life-history,  contents, 
and  modifications  of  the  cell  as  an  individual  are  first 
treated  of,  after  which  the  combinations  of  cells  to  form 
tissues  are  described,  a  special  chapter  being  reserved  for 
the  consideration  of  systems  of  permanent  tissues.  The 
section  on  external  morphology  will  be  found  very  useful 
to  beginners  in  systematic  botany.  It  could  be  wished 
that  the  chapter  on  physiology,  although  containing  much 
useful  information  in  its  15  pages,  had  been  more 
extended.  The  greater  part  of  the  remainder  of  the 
book  is  devoted  to  taxonomy,  in  which  the  leading 
characters  of  each  class  (arranged  in  ascending  order) 
are  given,  followed  by  the  names  of  some  of  the  genera, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  their  respective 
classes,  and  interspersed  with  illustrations.  The  orders 
of  Angiosperms  most  frequently  met  with  are  represented 
by  short  diagnoses  and  floral  diagfams.  A  useful  glos- 
sary and  index  complete  the  book. 

The  arrangement  throughout  the  book  is  good.  The 
various  headings,  &c.,  printed  in  type  differing  according 
to  their  importance,  have  been  very  carefully  set  out,  and 
give  a  good  rtsumk  of  botany  in  a  tabular  form.  As  an 
illustrated  note-book  for  a  teacher,  as  well  as  a  student, 
this  work  will  be  found  of  great  use.  C.   H.  W. 

Hand-book  of  the  Ferns  of  Kaffraria.  By  T.  R.  Sim, 
Curator  of  the  Botanic  Garden,  King  Williamstown, 
South  Africa.  66  pages,  63  plates.  (Aberdeen ; 
Taylor  and  Henderson,  1891.) 

This  little  book  contains  popular  descriptions  and  outline 
plates  of  the  ferns  of  Kaffraria,  with  a  chapter  of  defini- 
tions of  the  botanical  terms  used  in  describing  ferns,  and 
another  giving  directions  how  to  cultivate  them.  The 
Cape,  considering  the  general  interest  and  remarkable 
individuality  of  its  phanerogamic  flora  is  very  poor  in 
ferns.  Kaffraria  yields  only  68  species,  about  the  same 
number  as  Great  Britain.  Amongst  them  are  two  tree 
ferns,  a  Cyathea  and  a  Hemitelia,  and  several  herbaceous 
species  of  a  distinctly  subtropical  type,  such  as  Vittaria 
li?teata  and  Marattia  fraxi?tea.  Associated  with  these  are 
several  species  with  which  we  are  familiar  at  home,  such 
as  Aspidium  aculeatum,  Cystopteris  fragilis^  and  Adian- 
turn  Capillus'  Veneris,  No  doubt  by  further  exploration 
the  list  will  be  considerably  increased.  The  author  does 
not  seem  to  have  known  anything  about  the  Rev.  R. 
Baur,  a  Moravian  missionary  who  made  large  collections 
of  ferns  and  other  plants  in  Transkeian  Kaffraria.  The 
two  new  species  which  Mr.  Sim  claims  to  have  added  to 
the  Cape  flora  cannot  be  admitted  as  novelties.  Blechnum 
remotum  is  a  variety  of  the  American  B.  hastatum^  which 
I  do  not  think  can  stand  as  distinct  specifically  from 
the  common  Cape  B.  australe.  The  plant  figured  as 
Lomaria  lanceolata  on  Plate  25  is  no  doubt  Lomaria 
inflexa  of  Kunze,  which  was  gathered  long  ago  in  the 
colony,  by  Gueinzius,  and  is  beautifully  figured  by  Kunze 
from  specimens  which  he  forwarded.  By  the  aid  of  this 
book  there  can  be  no  difliculty,  even  to  an  amateur,  in 


76 


NATURE 


[May  28,  1 89 1 


recognizing  any  of  the  Kaffrarian  species  ;  and  perhaps  at 
some  future  time  Mr.  Sim,  who  was  trained  at  Kew,  will 
extend  his  area  so  as  to  cover  the  whole  colony,  for  which 
the  total  number  of  ferns  known  is  between  130  and  140. 

J.  G.  Baker. 

Rider  Papers    on   Euclid,      Books  1-lL      By    Rupert 
Deakin,  M.A.     (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  little  book  consists  of  a  series  of  graduated  riders  so 
arranged  that  the  beginner  may  be  able  to  thoroughly 
understand  and  grasp  the  principal  propositions  of  the 
first  two  books  of  Euclid.  One  of  the  chief  errors  that  the 
author  endeavours  to  avoid  is  the  great  stress  teachers 
lay  on  some  of  the  propositions,  which  are  treated  as 
most  important,  while  others  are  more  or  less  overlooked. 

The  method  he  adopts  is  to  treat  each  proposition  first 
as  a  rider,  and  by  giving  the  enunciation  and  drawing 
the  figure,  see  if  any  of  the  class  can  show  how  it  is  proved. 
By  this  means  the  subject  can  be  made  interesting,  as 
beginners  can  then  look  upon  each  rather  as  a  puzzle  than 
as  a  stiff  piece  of  work. 

The  two  books  are  divided  into  nine  parts,  each  part 
consisting  of  six  papers,  and  the  riders  in  each  paper, 
with  the  exception,  of  course,  of  the  first,  deal  with 
all  the  preceding  propositions.  The  student  is  ad- 
vised in  the  first  six  papers  only  to  draw  the  figures,  in 
order  to  accustom  himself  to  one  of  the  chief  difficulties 
which,  as  the  author  says,  '^  experience  shows  me  that  all 
students  feel  more  or  less  in  solving  riders." 

At  the  end  are  printed  the  enunciations  of  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  two  books,  followed  by  several  papers  set  at 
various  examinations.  Altogether,  teachers  will  find  this 
an  admirable  help  for  classes  in  which  the  subject  is 
being  treated  for  the  first  time. 

Die  Krystallanalyse  oder  die  ckemische  Analyse  durch 
Beobachtung  der  Krystallbildung  mil  HUlfe  des 
Mikroskops  mil  tkeilweiser  Benutzung  seines  Buches 
iiber  Molekularphysik,  Bearbeitet  von  Dr.  O.  Lehmann. 
(Leipzig :  Engelmann,  1891.) 

We  have  so  recently  noticed  at  length  the  splendid  work 
of  Dr.  O.  Lehmann  on  "Molecular  Physics"  (see 
Nature,  vol.  xlii.  p.  i)  that  it  is  only  necessary  in  this 
place  to  call  attention  to  this  pamphlet  of  82  pages, 
illustrated  by  73  woodcuts,  in  which  the  author  gives 
t^e  necessary  directions  for  the  work  of  micro-chemical 
analysis.  The  instruments  used  and  methods  employed 
are  concisely  stated,  and  all  the  essential  details  of  the 
operations  are  supplied  to  the  chemist  in  this  little  hand- 
book. Dr.  Lehmann  claims,  not  unjustly,  that  the 
methods  of  micro-chemical  analysis  must  play  the  same 
part  in  the  laboratory  of  the  organic  chemist  as  spectral 
analysis  does  in  the  laboratory  of  the  inorganic  chemist. 


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  pctrt  of 'i^KT'U'R^, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications. '\ 

The  University  of  London. 

My  friend,  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer,  invites  me,  by  his  reference^ 
to  what  I  have  written  on  this  subject,  to  a  discussion  in  your 
columns.  I  am  very  unwilling  to  accept  the  invitation,  because  I 
have  already  and  often  stated  my  views,  and  because  I  see  by 
the  length  of  Mr.  Dyer's  letter  that  I  ma^  be  led  into  an  inter- 
minable labyrinth  of  side-issues.  The  official  report  in  which  are 
published  the  minutes  of  the  evidence  given  before  the  Royal 
Commission  which  sat  on  this  subject  in  the  year  1888,  contains 
a  more  lengthy  discussion  of  the  subject  by  myself  and  others 
than  it  is  possible  to  carry  through  in  the  columns  of  Nature  ; 
and  I  could  wish  that  for  once  those  interested  in  a  subject 


NO.    I  126,  VOL.  44] 


would  rescue  from  proverbial  oblivion  the  pages  of  careful  state- 
ment entombed  in  a  Blue-book.  Since,  however,  my  friend  trails 
his  coat,  it  would  be  doing  violence  to  my  old-established  regard 
for  him  to  refuse  to  tread  on  it — ^just  a  little. 

The  question  raised  by  Mr.  Dyer  seems  to  be,  why  shoald  not 
the  examining  board  in  Burlington  Gardens  undergo  certain 
reforms  and  continue  to  be  the  so-called  University  of  London  ? 
It  has  done  good  service  to  education,  he  says,  and  with  the 
removal  of  more  than  half  its  members  and  their  replacement 
by  gentlemen  who  either  really  know  or  really  care  about 
University  education  it  might  do  more.  If  it  were,  he  suggests, 
to  rise  superior  to  all  its  most  solemn  obligations  and  falsify  the 
pledges  of  its  founders  by  undertaking  to  teach  as  well  as  to 
examine,  it  would  really  be  as  much  of  a  *'  teaching  University  " 
as  is  either  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  and  its  non-collegiate  sup- 
porters from  all  parts  of  Britain  might  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  the 
mother- college  (University  College)  from  which  this  examining 
board  took  birth,  abandoning  in  favour  of  Burlington  Gardens 
those  traditions  of  scientific  research  which  have  made  the 
College  in  some  measure  a  lealization  of  Fichte's  ideal. 

[Mr.  Dyer  seems  to  have  forgotten  the  facts  when  he  con- 
tends that  such  teaching  as  Fichte  sketched  in  his  plan  for  the 
University  of  Berlin,  cannot  be  carried  on  in  the  same  institution 
or  by  the  same  men  who  administer  the  teaching  required  by  a 
University  student  at  the  commencement]  ofhis  career.  Fichte's 
plan  was  carried  out  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  has  been 
followed  by  every  other  University  in  Germany.  The  very 
questions  which  we  are  no  w  debating  were  debated  in  the  early 
years  of  this  century  in  Germany,  and  the  Jesuits'  plan  of  edu- 
cation by  examination  was  rejected.  University  College  w^as 
founded  (except  so  far  as  it  was  a  private  enterprise)  on  the 
lines  of  a  German  University,  and  only  required  the  prestige  and 
independence  conferred  by  the  power  of  granting  University 
degrees  to  enable  it  to  fulfil  in  London  Fichte's  ideal.  Its  pro- 
fessors have  never  been  (as  Mr.  Dyer  well  knows)  mere  in- 
structors for  examination  purposes.  The  researches  of  Graham» 
Williamson,  Sharpey,  and  of  Michael  Foster,  Sanderson, 
Schafer,  Kennedy,  and  many  others  have  been  carried  on  in  its 
laboratories.  The  proposal  to  detach  such  work  from  the 
London  Colleges,  and  to  associate  it  with  the  examining  board 
in  Burlington  Gardens,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  inconsistent 
with  the  teaching  of  University  undergraduates,  appears  to  me  to 
involve  an  erroneous  conception  of  what  University  education  and 
University  organization  should  be.  This  by  way  of  parenthesis.} 
The  point  which  I  wish  to  insist  on  is  that,  excepting  the  pro- 
posal to  undertake  higher  professorial  teaching,  I  have  no 
objection  whatever  to  the  reforms  of  the  examining  body  in 
Burlington  Gardens  advocated  by  Mr.  Dyer. 

What  I  desire  (and  I  merely  use  the  first  person  singular  for 
the  purpose  of  discussion,  and  not  because  I  stand  alone  in  my 
wishes,  or  undervalue  the  support  of  others)  is  that,  without  any 
interference  with  the  Burlington  Gardens  board,  the  privilege 
of  granting  degrees  should  be  conferred  by  the  Crown  upon  a 
combined  Senate  consisting  of  the  Professors  of  University  and 
King's  Colleges  (the  authority  of  the  councils  of  the  two  Collies 
being  duly  guarded). 

The  fact  that  Burlington  Gardens  are  in  London  and  that 
University  and  King's  College  are  also  in  London,  as  well  as  the 
talk  about  a  teaching  University  'Sn  and  for"  London,  have 
very  little  bearing  upon  the  question  as  to  whether  it  is  or  is  not 
desirable  to  grant  University  privil^es  to  the  two  Colleges. 
There  is  population  enough  and  accommodation  enough  for  & 
dozen  Universities  within  the  metropolitan  area.  As  far  as  I  am 
able  to  judge  as  to  the  principles  which  should  guide  the  Crown 
in  bestowing  the  privilege  of  incorporation  as  a  University,  the 
only  questions  to  be  asked  are  :  '*  Does  the  body  which  asks  for 
this  privilege  consist  of  learned  men  whose  work  will  be  facili- 
tated by  the  granting  to  them  of  this  ancient  and  honourable 
position  ?  Do  they  give  guarantees  of  material  support,  and  of 
a  public  demand  for  their  teaching,  which  will  enable  them  to 
discharge  the  functions  of  a  University  with  dignity  and  efficiency, 
now  and  hereafter  ?  Will  the  concession  to  them  of  this  privi- 
lege tend  directly  or  indirectly  or  both  to  the  public  welfare  ?  " 
I  cannot  imagine  that  anyone  will  undertake  to  give  a  negative 
response  to  these  questions  in  reference  to  the  combined  Colleges, 
University  and  Kmg's.  Certain  it  is  that  during  the  acute  dis- 
cussion which  has  been  carried  on  for  the  last  four  or  five  years, 
no  one  has  ventured  to  do  so.  What  has  happened  is  simply 
this,  that  persons  connected  with  Burlington  Gardens  have 
opposed  the  bestowal  of  University  powers  on  the  two  Coll^es^ 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


77 


either  for  the  reason  that  they  consider  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Colleges  from  the  sphere  of  the  operations  of  the  Burlington 
Gardens  examining  board  a  reflection  upon  that  body,  or  be- 
cause they  are  unwilling  that  a  privilege  should  be  conceded  to 
Colleges,  however  well  fitted  to  receive  it,  which  their  own  local 
or  provincial  college  is  not  yet  important  enough  to  claim.  A 
fhrther  incident  of  the  movement  has  been  that  the  just  demands 
of  London  medical  students  and  their  teachers  for  a  University 
degree  in  medicine,  as  readily  attainable  by  London  students  as 
are  the  medical  degrees  of  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Dublin,  Aber- 
deen, St.  Andrews,  Durham,  and  Cambridge,  by  the  students 
of  those  places,  have  been  formulated  and  generally  approved. 

Neither  of  these  accompaniments  of  the  request  lor  University 
powers  made  by  University  and  King's  Colleges  seems  to  me  to 
touch  the  question  as  to  whether  it  is  right  on  grounds  of  public 
policy  to  accede  to  that  request.  Sir  William  Thomson,  Sir 
George  Stokes,  and  Mr.  Weldon  after  an  exhaustive  inquiry 
were  in  favour  of  granting  the  privilege  asked  for.  Three 
lawyers,  namely  Lord  Selbome,  Sir  James  Hannen,  and  Sir 
James  Ball,  were  not  persuaded.  The  commission  composed  of 
these  six  gentlemen  agreed  to  ask  the  Burlington  Gardens 
authorities  to  try  to  devise  such  alterations  in  their  **  University  " 
as  would  satisfy  the  aspirations  of  University  and  King's 
Colleges.  Burlington  Gardens  has  absolutely  and  hopelessly 
failed  in  this  attempt — as  anyone  conversant  with  the  conditions 
of  the  problem  could  foresee  must  be  the  case.  They  have 
proposed  a  scheme  which  has  not  been  accepted  by  the  Colleges, 
and  has  also  been  rejected  by  their  own  provincial  graduates. 
Why  should  more  time  be  wasted  about  the  attempt  to  put 
three  pints  into  a  quart  bottle  ?  Let  the  Burlington  Gardens 
University  continue  to  exercise  its  function  of  examining  for 
schools  and  colleges  which  are  not  strong  enough  to  examine 
for  themselves,  and  let  them  continue  so  to  do  only  until  the 
colleges  are  fit  to  receive  independent  University  powers ;  let 
the  Senate  reform  itself  if  it  can,  and  if  the  absurd  dead-weight 
of  graduates  tied  round  its  neck  and  called  Convocation  will 
permit  it  to  do  so.  But  do  let  us  have  in  the  meanwhile  a 
genuine  professorial  University  set  on  foot  in  London,  not 
because  it  is  London,  but  because  Universit}  and  King's 
CoU^es  are  there,  and  respectfully  petition  Her  Majesty  to  do 
for  them  what  the  monarch  has  done  (not  unwisely,  it  must  be 
allowed)  in  past  days  for  the  Senatus  Academicus  of  Edinburgh, 
of  Aberdeen,  of  Leyden,  of  Berlin,  Bonn,  Leipzig,  and  other 
cities. 

What  the  two  Colleges  ask  for  is  a  privilege — a  special  favour. 
To  include  other  institutions  as  co-recipients  of  the  privilege 
would  destroy  its  character  and  its  value.  As  Mr.  Dyer  points 
out,  we  do  not  want  a  federal  University,  such  as  are  Cambridge 
and  ^  Oxford  and  the  Victoria.  We  have  seen  enough  of  the 
friction  and  never-ending  committees  and  Fchedules  of  such 
clumsily  organized  Universities.  By  limiting  the  charter  to 
University  and  King's  Colleges,  a  professorial  University  can  be 
established  in  which  the  professors  shall  be — as  in  the  Scotch 
and  the  German  Universities —at  once  the  teachers,  the  ex- 
aminers, and  the  governing  body.  I  cannot  perceive  what  good 
can  be  attained  by  joining  a  series  of  rival  teaching  boidies 
together,  calling  them  a  University,  and  setting  them  to  waste  the 
lives  of  their  lecturers  in  committees  and  boards  and  the  drawing 
up  of  schedules.  The  only  persons  who  gain  by  such  wasteful 
arrangements  are  the  busybodies  and  bureaucrats,  who  either 
acquire  importance  by  their  intermediation  in  the  disputes  of 
rival  teachers,  or  gain  a  livelihood  by  pompously  conducting  the 
aflfairs  of  the  committees  and  boards  in  which  what  is  good  and 
strong  in  each  member  is  counteracted,  whilst  only  what  is 
feeble,  worthless,  and  emasculate  survives. 

The  professorial  University  formed  by  a  union  of  King's  and 
University  would  be  of  modest  dimensions,  and  rightly  so.  It 
would  in  virtue  of  its  charter  be  able  to  grow.  This  I  regard  as 
the  most  important  feature  in  the  proposal.  Instead  of  hastily 
bringing.together  a  variety  of  teaching  bodies,  we  should  leave 
it  to  the  new  University  to  assimilate  them,  make  terms  with 
them,  in  the  course  of  time. 

Though  they  are  modest  bodies  compared  with  the  Imperial 
centralizing  institution,  from  the  thraldom  of  which  they  seek  to 
escape,  yet  King's  and  University  Colleges  can  show  figures 
stating  the  property  and  the  number  of  students  which  they  would 
bring  to  the  new  University,  which  are  far  larger  than  the  cor- 
responding figures  for  many  other  Universities  both  in  the  United 
Kingdom  and  abroad.  Their  buildings  and  land  are  worth  half 
a  million  sterling.     Their  annual  receipts  exceed  ;^30,ooo ;  their 


NO.    IT 26,  VOL.  44] 


annual  attendance  of  students  is  as  great  as  that  of  the  University 
of  Oxford.  This  is  an  ample  basis;  with  this  start  the  new 
University  would  without  any  doubt  be  able  to  ensure  a  steady 
growth,  increase  of  its  property  and  of  its  teaching  capacities, 
by  a  healthy  and  gradual  development. 

Mr.  Dyer  skilfully  seeks  to  enlist  support  for  the  supremacy 
of  Burlington  Gardens  by  asking  the  following  questions  (to 
which  he  does  not  give  the  answers  for  obvious  reasons) :  "  Why 
should  two  out  of  many  institutions  be  picked  out  for  University 
honours  ?  Why  should  Bedford  College  be  left  out  ?  How  can 
the  Royal  College  of  Science  be  ignor^  ?  Why  ignore  the  City 
and  Guilds  Institute  ?  " 

The^e  questions  are  excusable  only  when  we  admit  that  Mr. 
Dyer  may  for  the  nonce  treat  his  defence  of  Burlington  Gardens 
as  a  lawyer  may  treat  a  shady  case  entrusted  to  his  advocacy  in 
the  courts. 

The  reason  why  the  Crown  should  pick  out  the  two  Colleges 
for  the  University  privilege  is,  firstly,  that  they  and  they  alone 
have  asked  for  it ;  secondly,  that  they  and  they  alone  possess 
the  property,  professoriate,  status,  and  historical  purpose  which 
could  warrant  the  privilege  ;  and,  lastly,  that  University  powers 
are  essentially  a  privilege  fitted  and  intended  to  strengthen  and 
build  up  the  institution  to  which  they  are  granted  above  others. 
Bedford  College  is  cited  by  Mr.  Dyer  solely,  I  am  afraid,  with 
the  purpose  of  rousing  the  jealousy  of  its  members.  They  are, 
I  hope  and  believe,  too  sensible  to  be  led  to  imagine  that  their 
excellent  institution  is  at  all  comparable  in  magnitude  or  im- 
portance to  University  and  King's.  As  to  the  Royal  College  of 
Science,  the  answer  is  different.  It  is  a  Government  institution 
under  a  special  department  founded  and  carried  on  with  a  special 
purpose.  It  grants  its  own  certificates  and  fulfils  its  objects.  I 
see  no  objection  to  its  receiving  the  privilege  of  granting  those 
certificates  in  the  form  of  University  decrees ;  but  it  could  not 
be  associated  with  University  and  King^  Colleges  to  form  one 
Senatus  Academicus.  To  introduce  it  or  the  City  and  Guilds 
Institute  into  the  new  University  would  necessitate  the  forma- 
tion of  what  I  am  persuaded  would  be  a  pernicious  and  futile 
organization — namely,  a  federal  University.  And,  moreover, 
it  appears  that  botn  the  Royal  College  or  Normal  School  of 
Science  and  the  Guilds  Institute  were  founded  with  public 
money  and  are  carried  on  for  other  purposes  than  that  of  train- 
ing University  students,  and  that  their  managers  do  not  seek 
the  privilege  of  granting  University  degrees  nor  consider  that 
their  public  utility  would  be  increased  by  any  such  federation 
with  the  new  University  as  Mr.  Dyer  suggests.  There  is 
plenty  of  room  in  London  for  non- University  Colleges  as  well 
as  for  more  than  one  University.  The  objectionable  notion 
which  Mr.  Dyer  and  some  others  entertain  is  that  these  institu- 
tions can  be  made  more  useful  by  arbitrarily  bringing  them 
under  the  control  of  some  central  government — such  as  is  now 
exercised  by  Burlington  Gardens. 

The  fact  appears  to  me  to  be  that  centralization  in  University 
matters  is  wasteful  of  time  and  energy,  paralyzing  and  delusive. 
Two  Colleges  like  University  and  King's  can  unite  and  settle 
their  affairs  together,  and  if  granted  such  powers  as  other  Uni- 
versities possess  they  may  in  time  take  into  their  organization, 
partially  or  completely,  other  institutions,  or  arrange  methods  of 
co-operation  with  other  institutions.  Indeed  they  would,  if 
incorporated  as  a  University,  be  sure  to  do  this,  and  to  do  it 
far  more  efficiently  than  could  be  the  case  were  they  abrupil> 
associated  with  a  variety  of  rival  corporations,  each  with  cqua 
rights  and  equal  voice,  and  left  to  compromise  and  to  vote 
through  endless  committee-s  either  as  constituents  of  a  reformed 
Burlington  Gardens  University  or  of  a  new  piece  of  federal 
futility. 

Mr.  Dyer  has  wisely  avoided  the  question  of  the  demand  for 
medical  degrees.  I  confess  that  this  is  a  very  difficult  problem 
on  account  of  the  attitude  of  the  medical  profession.  If  the 
medical  profession  is  to  be  allowed  to  grant  medical  degrees, 
the  present  significance  and  a  good  deal  of  the  value  of  the 
University  privilege  will  be  destroyed.  It  is,  I  believe,  quite 
useless  to  attempt  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession in  this  matter.  The  thing  to  be  aimed  at  is  to  remedy 
an  injustice  ;  it  is  necessary  to  provide  a  degree  as  accessible  as 
that  of  other  Universities  through  whatever  University  or  Uni- 
versities may  exist,  hereafter,  in  London. 

In  my  evidence  to  the  Commissioners  I  made,  some  sugges- 
tions on  this  matter.     I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  following 
steps  are  necessary  for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem : 
i  (a)  the  abolition  of  the  medical  faculties    of   University  and 


78 


NATURE 


[May  28,  1891 


King's  Colleges — excepting  the  Professorships  of  Anatomy, 
Physiology,  Pathology,  and  Forensic  Medicine — and  the  crea- 
tion of  independent  clinical  schools  attached  to  the  North 
London  and  Lincoln's  Inn  Hospitals ;  {f>)  the  nomination  of  a 
medical  professoriate  for  the  new  University  by  representatives 
of  all  the  London  medical  schools,  vacancies  to  be  hereafter 
filled  up  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Senate  of  the  Uni- 
versity ;  (r)  the  recognition,  under  conditions,  by  the  new  Uni- 
versity,  of  the  clinicaJ  teaching  in  each  of  the  London  hospitals, 
and  the  admission  of  students  to  its  medical  degrees  on  condi- 
tion of  having  passed  the  prescribed  examinations  of  the 
University  and  of  having  pursued  not  necessarily  more  than 
one-half  of  the  entire  curriculum  under  the  professors  of  the 
University.  The  University  might  also  be  required  to  re- 
cognize (in  exchange  Sqt  a  like  concession)  the  examinations 
in  certain  subjects  o?  the  Conjoint  Board  as  excusing  candidates 
from  like  examination  by  the  University. 

This  is  undeniably  a  complex  part  of  the  subject.  It  would 
be  simplest,  and  probably  satisfactory  in  the  end,  to  grant  the 
power  of  giving  medical  degrees  to  the  limited  body  (King's 
and  University)  and  to  leave  it  to  make  such  arrangements  as  it 
might  find  expedient  wilh  the  medical  schools  of  London.  The 
professional  feeling  of  the  medical  faculties  of  University  and 
King's  Colleges  would  insure  their  making  an  equitable  use  of 
the  privilege,  such  as  their  medical  brethren  would  heartily 
approve.  E.  Ray  Lankestkr. 

P.S. — There  is  one  argument  put  forward  by  Mr.  Dyer  which 
I  have  omitted  to  notice  in  the  foregoing,  but  should  like  to 
tread  on.  He  quotes  my  opinion  that  the  University  may  use- 
fully examine  scholars  passing  from  the  schools  to  the  University 
as  a  test  both  of  the  work  of  the  schoolboy  and  of  the  efficiency 
of  the  schoolmaster,  and  proceeds  to  maintain  that  in  the  same 
way  an  examining  board  may  usefully  check  not  only  the  work 
of  University  undergraduates,  but  of  their  teachers.  This  is 
advanced  as  an  argument  in  favour  of  external  or  superior 
examining  boards  m  University  examinations  as  opposed  to 
examinations  conducted  by  University  professors  with  associated 
external  examiners.  Mr.  Dyer  has,  however,  omitted  to  cite 
the  reply  which  I  had  already  given  to  his  specious  argument. 
It  is  this :  the  University  is  the  highest  term  in  the  educational 
hierarchy.  It  may  fittingly  examine  students  who  are  about  to 
pass  from  the  school  to  continue  their  studies  on  a  higher  level, 
viz.  its  own.  But  who  or  what  are  the  persons  recognized  as 
standing  above  the  University  professoriates  ?  I  do  not  know  of 
any  such  body.  It  is  precisely  the  arrogation  of  this  position  for 
the  Senate  of  the  University  of  London  which  renders  it 
objectionable.  There  is  necessarily  a  limit  to  the  organization 
of  authority  in  educational  matters,  and  it  is  as  absurd  for  the 
members  of  a  central  examining  board  to  control  the  teaching 
of  those  who  are  ex  hypoihesi  the  most  capable  teachers  in  the 
country  as  it  is  for  the  Home  Office  to  control  the  details  of  the 
work  of  the  Senate  of  Burlington  Gardens.  Either  University 
professors  are  worthy  to  occupy  their  positions  or  they  are  not — 
no  higher  branch  of  the  educational  profession  exists.  To  coerce 
them  by  means  of  Senates  composed  of  retired  teachers  and 
dilettanti  educationists  is  clearly  injurious  :  to  set  them  to  work 
to  criticize  and  worry  one  another  as  "  impartial  examiners  "  is 
odious  and  a  waste  of  their  time.  The  only  thing  to  do  is  to  take 
such  measures  as  are  possible  for  insuring  that  no  one  who  is  not 
fit  for  the  position  shall  hold  office  as  a  professor  in  a  chartered 
University,  and  to  so  arrange  that  it  shall  be  to  the  interest  of 
the  professor,  and  also  to  that  of  his  University,  for  him  to 
discharge  his  duties  efficiently. 

If  we  are  to  have  an  indefinite  series  of  authorities  one  above 
the  other,  who,  one  would  like  to  know,  is  to  control  the 
examining  board  which  sits  over  the  professors  ?  And  who 
again  to  control  these  controllers  ? 

The  bureaucratic  machinery  which  seems  to  find  favour  with 
Mr.  Dyer  is,  in  my  opinion,  superfluous.  The  most  efficient 
Universities  (in  two  difiering  directions),  those  of  Germany  and 
of  Scotland,  have  no  authority  in  educational  matters  above  that 
of  the  professoriate,  and  are  not  subject,  like  Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, and  London,  to  the  interference  of  graduates  in  the 
form  of  convocation. 


Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  appears  to  think  that  Fichte's  ideal 
of  a  University  is  unrealizable,  unless,  as  he  supposes,  **  some 
wealthy  man  gives,  say,  half  a  million  to  found  such  a  University 
in  some  quiet  country  town  in  England,  where  professor  and 

NO.   1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


pupils  might  labour  together,  undisturbed  by  the  life  and  move- 
ment of  a  big  city,  or  the  worry  of  the  examination-room,  for 
the  advantage  of  knowledge."  I  venture  to  think  that  this  sup- 
position of  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer's  conveys  the  unwelcome  truth 
that  the  conception  of  the  true  nature  of  a  University  has  not 
yet  reached  some  even  of  that  section  of  the  British  public  who 
have  earned  well-merited  distinction  in  science  ;  and  it  is  as  one 
who  has  had  experience  of  a  Scottish  and  a  German  University, 
in  the  character  of  student  and  teacher,  and  of  two  English 
University  Colleges  as  teacher,  that  I  ask  permission  as  shortly 
as  I  can  to  place  before  your  readers  what  many  minds  aim  at, 
in  the  hope  that  a  teaching  University  in  London,  call  it  what 
you  will,  would  ultimately  provide  it. 

I  reiterate  the  assertion  which  I  lately  made  in  a  letter  to  the 
Times,  that  a  University  is  primarily  a  place  for  the  extension  of 
the  bounds  of  knowledge  ;  this  is  to  be  achieved  by  the  labours 
of  the  professors  and  teaching  staff;  by  fellows,  sp>ecially 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  if  the  system  of  fellowships  is 
thought  desirable,  although,  in  my  opinion  and  experience, 
much  may  be  said  against  it ;  and  by  the  whole  body  of  the 
students.  Of  course  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  every  student 
is  capable  of  dUcovering  new  facts  or  of  applying  principles  in  an 
original  manner  ;  but  almost  every  man  is  endowed  with  some 
share  of  inventive  faculty,  which  must  ultimately  be  developed, 
if  he  is  to  make  his  way  in  the  world  otherwise  than  as  a  day- 
labourer,  or  as  a  piece-worker  in  a  factory,  or  as  a  copying- 
clerk  ;  and  the  object  of  a  University  should  be  to  cultivate  this 
faculty  to  the  utmost.  An  efficient  medical  man  spends  his  life 
in  clinical  experimentation  ;  a  successful  barrister  exercises  his 
ingenuity  in  applying  old  decisions  to  new  cases  ;  a  competent 
engineer  not  merely  studies  how  to  improve  his  machinery,  but 
also  studies  his  fellow-creatures,  and  the  chances  of  trade,  so  as 
to  bring  his  manufactures  into  new  fields.  If  the  inventive 
faculty  is  not  developed  at  the  University,  it  will  be  developed 
later,  in  every  man  who  fulfils  his  duty  to  his  fellow- creatures 
and  to  himself. 

Now  I  dare  to  contend  that  the  degree-stamp  of  the  English 
Universities,  especially  of  the  University  of  London,  except  in 
certain  cases  in  its  highest  degrees,  such  as  the  D.Mus.,  D.Litt., 
M.D.,  and  D.Sc.  degrees  (and  these  only  as  a  result  of  recent 
modifications),  is  of  no  value  whatever  in  the  eyes  of  that 
portion  of  the  public  whose  opinion  carries  with  it  a  commercial 
reward.  Speaking  for  myself,  I  have  had  assistants,  graduates 
of  Edinburgh,  of  London,  and  of  German  Universities,  and  I 
unhesitatingly  state  that  the  only  degrees  to  which  I  should 
attach  the  least  importance  are  those  of  Germany,  and  that 
because  there  is  in  them  some  evidence  that  the  graduate  has  had 
at  least  an  initiation  into  the  methods  of  research.  As  this 
assertion  may  be  applied  personally,  I  should  wish  it  to  be 
clearly  understood  that  I  have  no  reason  whatever  to  be  in  any 
way  dissatisfied  with  graduates  from  Edinburgh  or  from  London, 
but  merely  to  state  that  the  fact  of  their  being  graduates  in  no 
way  influenced  me  in  their  appointment.  And  many  manu- 
facturers, in  want  of  assistants,  actually  regard  an  English 
degree  in  the  light  of  a  disqualification ;  so  that  most  of  the 
posts  of  ''works-chemists"  are  held  by  non-graduates.  They 
prefer,  in  fact,  to  train  their  own  men — that  is,  to  give  them 
such  an  education  in  research  as  bears  on  the  particular  problems 
which  they  themselves  have  to  solve  ;  or  to  take  them  from  the 
laboratories  of  general  analysts,  where  new  problems  present 
themselves  from  time  to  time. 

It  is  impossible,  under  existing  circumstances,  to  give  under- 
graduates such  training.     They  have  examination  on  the  brain. 
They  judge  from  the  standpoint  of  "Will  this  'papr'  at  an 
examination?"  not  from  the  standpoint  of  "Is  this    worth 
knowing  ?  "    And  they  cannot  be  blamed.    It  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  examiners ;   it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  students ;   the  pro- 
fessors, I  believe,  do  not,  except  in  a  general  way,  follow  the 
s]pllabuses ;  it  is  simply  that  the  better  students  conscientiously 
aim  at  what  is  set  before  them — a  degree  that  has  no  market 
value,  except  in  the  eyes  of  school  teachers.     Personally  I  can- 
not complain  that  I  do  not  get  research  done  by  students ;  in 
actual  fact  a  considerable  number  do  stay  after  graduation,  and 
some  do  not  graduate  at  all ;  I  merely  hold  the  opinion  that 
the  method  is  on  wholly  wrong  lines  ;   that  a  degree,  if  given, 
should  be  the  official  testimony  to  a  certain  time  spent  with 
diligence  and  profit  in  gaining  knowledge  of  how  to  attack 
problems — of  how  to  acquire  knowledge  useful  for  the  purpose  in 
view. 

It  will  be  said  that  honours-degrees  will  find  no  place  in  suck 


May  28,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


79 


a  mtem.  Why  shoald  they  ?  Does  the  desire  to  beat  com- 
petitors stimulate  a  desire  tor  knowledge  ?  Does  it  stimulate 
originality  ?    I  lor  one  would  willingly  see  them  non-existent. 

Up  to  a  certain  point,  the  acqubiiion  of  knowledge  of  facts 
should  be,  as  at  present,  tested  by  examination ;  but  I  am 
•conyinced  that  the  system  is  at  present  pushed  to  an  extreme, 
and  that  much  better  results  would  be  gained  by  giving  a  degree 
for  training,  and  that  can  be  done  only  by  the  trainer — the 
teacher.  He  will,  as  a  rule,  be  glad  to  share  his  responsibility 
with,  and  to  benefit  by  the  advice  of,  an  outsider ;  but  with  him 
shonld  ultimately  rest  the  decision  as  to  the  merit  or  demerit  of 
a  candidate,  as  he  is  the  only  person  able  to  judge.  Under 
such  a  system,  there  would  be  little  plucking ;  for  the  student 
would  bie  advised  not  to  present  himself,  unless  he  had  suffi- 
ciently qualified. 

It  may  also  be  said  that  undue  advantage  would  be  taken 
by  the  teacher  in  recommending  unfit  students  for  graduation. 
Teachers  in  such  positions  are,  I  believe,  generally  honourable 
men  ;  ihey  are  chosen  after  the  roost  caret ul  inquiry  into  their 
f>ast  career.  It  is  not  held  fitting  in  commercial  circles  to 
appoint  a  clerk  or  an  accountant  on  good  recommendations, 
and  after  sufficient  apprenticeship,  and  then  to  surround  him 
with  safeguards,  in  case  he  turn  out  incapable  or  dishon  est. 

The  objection  may  possibly  be  raised,  that  under  such  a 
system  the  standard  of  degrees  would  be  very  uneven  ;  but 
what  of  that  ?  As  at  present,  anyone  applying  for  a  post  of  any 
kind  would  furnish  a  reference  to  his  teachers  ;  and  a  private 
letter  from  one  well  acquainted  with  the  candidate  turns  the 
-scale,  for  or  against,  in  spile  of  every  degree  in  the  United 
Kingdom. 

In  plain  English,  degrees,  as  at  present  given,  are  not  valued 
•by  that  portion  of  the  public  qualified  to  judge ;  and  we  must 
face  this  fact,  and  endeavour  to  render  a  degree  a  real  mark  of 
fnerit. 

I  believe,  with  Mr.  Dickins,  that  the  examinations  of  the 
University  of  London  have  d  >ne  much  in  disseminating  know- 
ledge, and  they  have  therefore  proved  of  great  service,  but 
•except  in  the  case  of  the  higher  degrees  before  mentioned,  and  of 
the  degrees  in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  where  evidence  of  training 
is  a  iine  qud  non,  I  greatly  doubt  whether  they  have  contributed 
towards  the  creation  of  knowledge,  or  training  in  originality. 
And  from  the  very  nature  of  the  constitution  of  the  University 
of  London,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  be  otherwise.  This 
very  morning,  I  happened  to  ask  a  student  attending  my  lectures 
on  organic  chemistry  why  he,  a  B.Sc  in  chemistry,  was  attend- 
ing my  lectures.  His  reply  was  characteristic.  "  I  scamped  up 
enough  of  the  subject  privately,  sir,  to  squeeze  through  ;  but 
now  I  wish  to  know  it."  In  any  right  system,  such  a  proceeding 
should  be  impossible. 

It  is  therefore  with  the  hope  that  the  creation  of  a  teaching 
University  for  London  might  tend  to  remedy  such  evils,  that  I, 
for  one,  would  welcome  it.  I  would  urge  that  the  distinguished 
names  mentioned  by  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  are  surely  guarantees 
that  the  London  Colleges  recently  possessed  men  capable  of 
imparting  the  highest  standard  of  knowledge,  and  of  stimulating 
true  originality  ;  yet  I  believe  that  it  is  by  no  means  "  cutting 
cheese  with  a  razor  "  to  employ  just  such  men  in  watching  over 
the  development  even  of  junior  students  ;  and  it  is  not  without 
advantage  to  the  most  able  men  of  science  and  of  letters  to  be 
obliged  periodically  to  devote  consideration  to  ''elements"  and 
to  pass  in  review  first  principles.  It  counteracts  the  tendency 
towards  specialization,  which,  however  valuable,  always  limits 
the  mental  horizon.  I  will  undertake  to  say  that  the  quality  of 
the  most  advanced  teaching  in  biology  and  physiology  in 
University  College  when  the  chairs  were  occupied  by  Burdon 
Sanderson,  by  Michael  Foster,  and  by  Lankester  knew  no 
limit ;  and  I  greatly  doubt  the  wisdom  of  appointing  teachers 
whose  attention  is  to  be  devoted  exclusively  to  research.  As  my 
predecessor.  Prof.  Williamson,  often  remarked,  it  is  more 
difficult  to  teach  junior  than  to  teach  senior  students ;  and 
while  the  superintendence  of  exercise  and  laboratory  work  may 
well  be  shared  by  assistants,  in  order  that  the  professor  may 
have  time  to  devote  to  research,  and  to  superintendence  of 
advanced  students,  it  would  be  a  serious  calamity  were  the 
influence  of  such  minds  to  be  withdrawn  wholly  from  the 
joniors. 

It  is  precisely  by  such  a  federation  of  Colleges  such  as 
University  and  King's,  and  of  other  sufficiently  (Qualified 
institntions  which  have  the  will  and  the  power  to  join,  that 
spedalization  may  ultimately  be  effected.     The  future  occupants 

NO.   1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


of  the  chairs  may  be  chosen  so  as  to  represent  every  side  of  a 
subject ;  and  anyone  wishing  to  pursue  research  in  any  special 
branch  would  have  no  difficulty  in  selecting  that  particular 
college  where  his  specialty  was  also  the  specialty  of  the  teacher. 

William  Ramsay. 


No  well-wbher  of  the  University  can  fed  otherwise  than 
grateful  to  you  for  affording  a  portion  of  your  valuable  space  for 
the  letters  of  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  and  Mr.  Dickins  on  this  sub- 
ject. No  t»  o  men  could  be  found  to  speak  with  greater  authority 
from  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  facts.  The  arguments  on  the 
subject  have  been  too  much  of  an  ex  parte  character  hitherto,  not 
seldom  based  on  insufficient  inforination  or  erroneous  impressions. 
Nothing,  for  example,  could  be  further  from  the  truth  than  the 
statement  in  the  Times  of  May  13,  by  the  writer  of  what  was 
upon  the  whole  a  fair  and  comprehensive  leading  article,  that 
'•  there  is  no  reason  why  the  highest  honours  of  the  University 
of  London  should  not  be  obtained  by  a  person  who  never  set 
foot  in  London  or  even  in  England."  Many,  who  like  myself 
voted  for  the  projected  scheme  of  the  Senate,  must  have  felt,  as  I 
did,  as  a  result  of  a  wide  and  varied  educational  experience,  that 
it  was  potential  with  great  good  in  the  future,  and  could  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  working  basis  of  the  future  development  of  the 
University,  although  we  felt  that  the  one  serious  blot  in  it  was 
the  abandonment  of  uniformity  in  the  examinations  for  the  pass 
degrees.  I  verily  believe  that  this  was  the  one  thing  fatal  to  its 
success  in  Convocation  ;  that  it  was  so  far  in  excess  of  the  re- 
commendations of  the  Royal  Commission  as  to  be  unwarrantable ; 
and  that  it  put  a  lever  into  the  hands  of  the  opp>osition,  of  which 
— as  the  event  proved — a  practised  disputant  like  Mr.  Bompas 
did  not  fail  to  make  most  effective  and  disastrous  use. 

Wellington  College,  Berks,  May  25.  A.  Irving. 


Quaternions  and  the  <*  Ausdehnungslehre." 

The  year  1844  is  memorable  in  the  annals  of  mathematics  on 
account  of  the  first  appearance  on  theprinted  page  of  Hamilton's 
"Quaternions"  and  Grassmann's  " Ausdehnungslehre. "  The 
former  appeared  in  the  July,  October,  and  supplementary 
numbers  of  the  Philosophical  Magazine^  after  a  previous  com- 
munication to  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  November  13,  1843. 
This  communication  was  indeed  announced  to  the  Council  of  the 
Academy  four  weeks  earlier,  on  the  very  day  of  Hamilton's 
discovery  of  quaternions,  as  we  learn  from  one  of  his  letters. 
The  author  of  the  **  Ausdehnungslehre,"  although  not  un- 
conscious of  the  value  of  his  ideas,  seems  to  have  been  in  no 
haste  to  place  himself  on  record,  and  published  nothing  until  he 
was  able  to  give  the  world  the  most  characteristic  and  funda- 
mental part  of  his  system  with  considerable  development  in  a 
treatise  of  more  than  300  pages,  which  appeared  in  August 
1844. 

The  doctrine  of  quaternions  has  won  a  conspicuous  place 
among  the  various  branches  of  mathematics,  but  the  nature  and 
scope  of  the  *' Ausdehnungslehre,"  and  its  relation  to  qua- 
ternions, seem  to  be  still  the  subject  of  serious  misapprehension 
in  quarters  where  we  naturally  look  for  accurate  information. 
Historical   iustice,   and  the  interests  of  mathematical  science. 


Tait's  "  Treatise  on  Quaternions,"  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass 
without  protest. 

It  is  principally  as  systems  of  geometrical  algebra  that  qua- 
ternions and  the  "Ausdehnungslehre"  come  into  comparison.  To 
appreciate  the  relations  of  the  two  systems,  I  do  not  see  how 
we  can  proceed  better  than  if  we  ask  first  what  they  have  in 
common,  then  what  either  system  possesses  which  is  peculiar  to 
itself.  The  relative  extent  and  importance  of  the  three  fields, 
that  which  is  common  to  the  two  systems,  and  those  which  are 
peculiar  to  each,  will  determine  the  relative  rank  of  the  geo- 
metrical algebras.  Questions  of  priority  can  only  relate  to  the 
field  common  to  both,  and  will  be  much  simplified  by  having 
the  limits  of  that  field  clearly  drawn. 

Geometrical  addition  in  three  dimensions  is  common  to  the 
two  systems,  and  seems  to  have  been  discovered  independently 
both  by  Hamilton  and  Grassmann,  as  well  as  by  several  other 
persons  about  the  same  time.  It  is  not  probable  that  any 
especial  claim  for  priority  with  respect  to  this  principle  will  be 
urged  for  either  of  the  two  with  which  we  are  now  concerned. 


8b 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1891 


The  functions  of  two  vectors  which  are  represented  in  qua- 
ternions by  Sa/9  and  Vai9  are  common  to  both  systems  as  pub- 
lished in  1S44,  but  the  quaternion  is  peculiar  to  Hamilton's. 
The  linear  vector  function  is  common  to  both  systems  as  ulti- 
mately developed,  although  mentioned  only  by  Grassmann  as 
early  as  1844. 

^  To  those  already  acquainted  with  quaternions,  the  first  ques- 
tion will  naturally  be :  To  what  extent  are  the  geometrical 
methods  which   are    usually    called   qnatemionic    peculiar   to 
Hamilton,  and  to  what  extent  are  they  common  to  Grassmann? 
This  is  a  question  which  anyone  can  easily  decide  for  himself. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  run  one's  eye  over  the  equations  used  by 
quatemionic  writers  in  the  discussion  of  geometrical  or  physical 
subjects,  and  see  how  far  they  necessarily  involve  the  idea  of 
the  quaternion,  and  how  far  they  would  be  intelligible  to  one 
understanding  the  functions  So^  and  Vai9,  but  having  no  con- 
ception of  the  quaternion  ai9,  or  at  least  could  be  made  so  by 
trifling  changes  of  notation,  as  by  writing  S  or  V  in  places 
where  they  would  not  affect  the  value  of  the  expressions.     For 
such  a  test  the  examples  and  illustrations  in  treatises  on  qua- 
ternions would  be  manifestly  inappropriate,  so  far  as  they  are 
chosen  to  illustrate  quatemionic  piinaples,  since  the  object  may 
influence  the  form  of  presentation.     But  we  may  use  any  dis- 
cussion of  geometrical  or  physical  subjects,  where  the  writer  is 
free  to  choose  the  form  most  suitable  to  the  subject.     I  myself 
have  used  the  chapters  and   sections   in  Prof.  Tail's    '*  Qua- 
ternions "  on  the  following  subjects :  Geometry  of  the  straight 
line  and  plane,  the  sphere  and  cyclic  cone,  surfaces  of  the  second 
degree,  geometry  of  curves  and  surfaces,  kinematics,  statics  and 
kinetics  of  a  rigid  system,  special  kinetic  problems,  geometrical 
and  physical  optics,  electrodynamics,  general   expressions  for 
the  action  between  linear  elements,  application  of  v  to  certain 
physical   analogies,    pp.    160-371,    except   the   examples  (not 
worked  out)  at  the  close  of  the  chapters. 

Such  an  examination  will  show  that  for  the  most  part  the 
methods  of  representing  spatial  relations  used  by  quatemionic 
writers  are  common  to  the  systems  of  Hamilton  and  Grassmann. 
To  an  extent  comparatively  limited,  cases  will  be  found  in  which 
the  quatemionic  idea  forms  an  essential  element  in  the.significa- 
tion  of  the  equations. 

The  question  will  then  arise  with  respea  to  the  comparatively 
limited  field  which  is  the  peculiar  property  of  Hamilton,  How 
important  are  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  the  use  of  the 
quaternion?  This  question,  unlike  the  preceding,  is  one  into 
which  a  personal  equation  will  necessarily  enter.  Everyone 
will  naturally  prefer  the  methods  with  which  he  is  most  familiar  ; 
but  I  think  that  it  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  in  the  majority 
of  cases  in  this  field  the  advantage  derived  from  the  use  of  the 
quaternion  is  either  doubtful  or  very  trifling.  There  remains  a 
residuum  of  cases  in  which  a  substfintial  advantage  is  gained 
by  the  use  of  the  quatemionic  method.  Such  cases,  however, 
so  far  as  my  own  observation  and  experience  extend,  are  very 
exceptional.  If  a  more  extended  and  careful  inquiry  should 
show  that  they  are  ten  times  as  numerous  as  I  have  found  them, 
they  would  still  be  exceptional. 

We  have  now  to  inquire  what  we  find  in  the  "  Ausdehnungs- 
lehre "  in  the  way  of  a  geometrical  algebra,  that  is  wanting  in 
quaternions.  In  addition  to  an  algebra  of  vectors,  the  "Aus- 
oehncngslehre  "  affords  a  system  of  geometrical  algebra  in  which 
the  point  is  the  fundamental  element,  and  whidi  for  conve- 
nience I  shall  call  Grassmann's  algebra  of  points.  In  this  algebra 
we  have  first  the  addition  of  points,  or  quantities  located  at 
points,  which  may  be  explained  as  follows.     The  equation 

flA  -I-  ^B  -I-  fC  +  &c.  =  ^E  +/F  +  &c., 

in  which  the  capitals  denote  points,  and  the  small  letters  scalars 
(or  ordinary  algebraic  quantities),  signifies  that 

tf  +  ^-»-^  +  &c.  =^  +/+  &c., 

and  also  that  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  weights  a,  3,  r,  &c.,  at 
the  points  A,  B,  C,  &c.,  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  weights  ^,  /j 
&c.,  at  the  points  E,  F,  &c.  (It  will  be  understood  that  nega- 
tive weights  are  allowed  as  well  as  positive.)  The  equation  is 
thus  equivalent  to  four  conations  of  ordinary  algebra.  In  this 
Grassmann  was  anticipated  by  Mobius  ( *'  Barycentrischer  Calcul," 
1827). 

We  have  next  the  addition  of  finite  straight  lines,  or  quantities 
located  in  straight  lines  {Liniengrdssen).  The  meaning  of  the 
equation 

AB  +  CD  -I-  &c.  =  EF  +  CII  +  &c. 

NO.    I  I  26,  VOL.  44] 


will  perhaps  be  understood  most  readily,  if  we  suppose  that 
each  member  represents  a  system  of  forces  acting  on  a  rigid 
body.  The  equation  then  signifies  that  the  two  systems  are 
equivalent.  An  equation  of  this  form  is  therefore  equivalent  to 
six  ordinary  equations.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  Linifn- 
grbssen  AB  and  CD  are  not  simply  vectors;  they  have  not 
merely  length  and  direction,  but  they  are  also  located  each  in  a 
given  line,  although  their  position  within  those  lines  is  imma- 
terial. In  ClifforcTs  terminology,  AB  is  a  rotor^  AB  +  CD  a 
motor.  In  the  language  of  Prof.  Ball's  "Theory  of  Screws^" 
AB  +  CD  represents  either  a  twist  or  a  wrench. 

We  have  next  the  addition  of  plane  surfaces  {Plangrdssen\, 
The  equation 

ABC  +  DEF  +  GHl  =  JKL 

signifies  that  the  plane  JKL  passes  through  the  point  common 
to  the  planes  ABC,  DEF,  and  GHI,  and  that  the  projectioo 
by  parallel  lines  of  the  triangle  JKL  on  any  plane  is  equal  to  the 
sum  of  the  projections  of  ABC,  DEF,  and  GHI  on  the  same 
plane,  the  areas  being  taken  positively  or  negatively  accordii^ 
to  the  cyclic  order  of  the  projected  points.  This  makes  the 
equation  equivalent  to  four  ordinary  equations. 
Finally,  we  have  the  addition  of  volumes,  as  in  the  equation 

ABCD  +  EFGH  -  IJKL, 

where  there  is  nothing  peculiar,  except  that  each  term  repre- 
sents the  six-fold  volume  of  the  tetrahedron,  and  is  to  be  takes 
positively  or  negatively  accoidmg  to  the  relative  position  of  the 
points. 

We  have  also  multiplications  as  follows  : — The  line  {Limem- 
grosse)  AB  is  regarded  as  the  product  of  the  points  A  and  B. 
The  Planmsse  ABC,  which  represents  the  double  area  of  the 
triangle,  is  regarded  as  the  product  of  the  three  points  A,  B, 
and  C,  or  as  the  product  of  the  line  AB  and  the  point  C,  or  of 
BC  and  A,  or  indeed  of  BA  and  C.  The  volume  ABCD,  which 
represents  six  times  the  tetrahedron,  is  regarded  as  the  product 
of  the  points  A,  B,  C,  and  D,  or  as  the  product  of  the  point  A 
and  the  Plangroise  BCD,  or  as  the  produa  of  the  lines  AB  and 
BC,  &c.,  &c 

This  does  not  exhaust  the  wealth  of  muhiplicative  relaUons 
which  Grassmann  has  found  in  the  very  elements  of  geometry. 
The  following  products  are  called  regressive,  as  dbtingoished 
from  \h^  progressive,  which  have  been  described.  The  product 
of  the  Plangrdssen  ABC  and  DEF  is  a  part  of  the  line  in  which 
the  planes  ABC  and  DEF  intersect,  which  is  equal  in  numerical 
value  to  the  product  of  the  double  areas  of  the  triangles  ABC 
and  DEF  multiplied  by  the  sine  of  the  angle  made  by  the 
planes.  The  product  of  the  Liniengrbsse  AB  and  the  PUm- 
grbsse  CDE  is  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  line  and  the 
plane  with  a  numerical  coefficient  representing  the  product  of 
the  length  of  the  line  and  the  double  area  of  the  triangle  multi- 
plied by  the  sine  of  the  angle  made  by  the  line  and  the  plane. 
The  product  of  three  Plangrdssen  is  consequently  the  point 
common  to  the  three  planes  with  a  certain  numerical  coefficient 
In  plane  geometry  we  have  a  regressive  product  of  two  Urnen- 
grbsse,  which  gives  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  lines  with  a 
certain  numerical  coefficient. 

The  fundamental  operations  relating  to  the  point,  line,  and 
plane  are  thus  translated  into  analysis  by  multiplications.  The 
immense  flexibility  and  power  of  sucn  an  analysis  will  be 
appreciated  by  anyone  who  considers  what  generalized  multipli- 
cation in  connection  with  additive  relations  has  done  in  other 
fields,  as  in  quaternions,  or  in  the  theory  of  matrices,  or  in  the 
algebra  of  logic.  For  a  single  example,  if  we  multiply  the 
equation 

AB  -f  CD  +  &C.  =  EF  +  GH  -♦-  &c. 

by  PQ  (P  and  Q  being  any  two  points),  we  have 

ABPQ  +  CDPQ  -f  &c.  =  EFPQ  +  GHPQ  -f  Ac., 

which  will  be  recognized  as  expressing  an  important  theorem  of 
statics. 

The  field  in  which  Grassmann's  algebra  of  points,  as  distin- 
guished from  his  algebra  of  vectors,  finds  its  especial  application 
and  utility,  is  ricarly  coincident  with  that  in  which,  when  we 
use  the  methods  of  ordinary  algebra,  tetrahedral  or  anharmonic 
co-ordinates  are  more  appropriate  than  rectilinear.  In  fact, 
Grassmann's  algebra  of  points  may  be  regarded  as  the  applica- 
tion of  the  methods  of  multiple  algebra  to  the  notions  connected 
with  tetrahedral  co-ordinates,  just  as  his  or  Hamilton^ 
algebra  of  vectors    may   be  regarded    as    the    application  ul 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


81 


the  methods  of  multiple  algebra  to  the  notions  conDected 
with  rectilinear  co-ordinates.  These  methods,  however,  enrich 
the  field  to  which  they  are  applied  with  new  notions.  Thus  the 
noti<Ki  of  the  co-ordinates  of  a  line  in  space,  subsequently  intro- 
duced by  Pliicker,  was  first  given  in  the  *'  Ausdehnungslehre '' 
of  1844.  It  should  also  be  observed  that  the  utility  of  a  multiple 
algebra,  when  it  takes  the  place  of  an  ordinary  algebra  of  four 
co-ordinates,  is  very  much  greater  than  when  it  takes  the  place 
of  three  co-ordinates,  for  the  same  reason  that  a  multiple  algebra 
taking  the  place  of  three  co-ordinates  is  very  much  more  useful 
than  one  taking  the  place  of  two.  Grassmann's  algebra  of 
points  will  always  command  the  admiration  of  geometers  and 
analysts,  and  furnishes  an  instrument  of  marvellous  power  to  the 
former,  and  in  its  general  form,  as  applicable  to  space  of  any 
number  of  dimensions,  to  the  latter.  To  the  physicist  an  algebra 
of  points  is  by  no  means  so  indispensable  an  instrument  as  an 
alpbra  of  vectors. 

Grassmann's  algebra  of  vectors,  which  we  have  described  as 
coincident  with  a  part  of  Hamilton's  system,  is  not  really  any- 
thing separate  from  his  algebra  of  points,  but  constitutes  a  part 
of  it,  the  vector  arising  when  one  point  is  subtracted  from 
soother.  Yet  it  constitutes  a  whole,  complete  in  itself,  and  we 
may  separate  it  from  the  larger  system  to  facilitate  comparison 
with  the  methods  of  Hamilton. 

We  have,  then,  as  geometrical  algebras  published  in  1844,  an 
algebra  of  vectors  common  to  Hamilton  and  Grassmann,  aug- 
mented on  Hamilton's  side  by  the  ouatemion,  and  on  Grass- 
mann's by  his  algebra  of  points.  This  statement  should  be 
made  with  the  reservation  that  the  addUion  both  of  vectors  and 
of  ooints  had  been  given  by  earlier  writers. 

In  both  systems  as  finally  developed  we  have  the  linear 
vector  function,  the  theory  of  which  is  identical  with  that  of 
ttrains  and  rotations.  In  Hamilton's  system  we  have  also  the 
linear  quaternion  function,  and  in  Grassmann's  the  linear 
function  applied  to  the  quantities  of  his  algebra  of  points.  Thb 
application  given  those  transformations  in  which  projective 
properties  are  preserved,  the  doctrine  of  reciprocal  figures  or 
pnnciple  of  duality,  &c.  (Grassmann's  theory  of  the  linear 
ranction  is,  indeed,  broader  than  this,  being  co-extensive  with 
the  theory  of  matrices ;  but  we  are  here  considering  only  the 
geometrical  side  of  the  theory.) 

In  his  earliest  writings  on  quaternions,  Hamilton  does  not 
discuss  the  linear  function.  In  his  "  Lectures  on  Qaaternions" 
(1853),  he  treats  of  the  inversion  of  the  linear  vector  function, 
as  also  of  the  linear  Quaternion  function,  and  shows  how  to  find 
the  latent  roots  of  the  vector  function,  with  the  corresponding 
axes  for  the  case  of  real  and  unequal  roots.  He  also  gives  a 
remarkable  equation,  the  symbolic  cubic,  which  the  functional 
symbol  must  satisfy.  This  equation  is  a  particular  case  of  that 
which  is  given  in  Prof.  Cay  ley's  classical  ''Memoir  on  the 
Theory  of  Matrices  "  (1858),  and  which  is  called  by  Prof.  Syl- 
vester the  Hamilton- Cayley  equation.  In  his  *'  Elements  of 
Quaternions"  (1866),  Hamilton  extends  the  symbolic  equation 
to  the  quaternion  function. 

In  Grassmann,  although  the  linear  function  is  mentioned  in 
the  first  "Ausdehnungslehre,"  we  do  not  find  so  full  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  until  the  second  *' Ausdehnungslehre" 
(1862),  where  he  discusses  the  latent  roots  and  axes,  or  what 
oonesponds  to  axes  in  the  general  theory,  the  whole  discussion 
relating  to  matrices  of  any  order.  The  more  difficult  cases  are 
indoded,  as  that  of  a  s'rain  in  which  all  the  roots  are  real,  but 
there  is  only  one  axis  or  unchanged  direction.  On  the  formal 
side  he  shows  how  a  linear  function  may  be  represented  by  a 
quotient  or  sum  of  quotients,  and  by  a  sum  of  products, 
LUckenausdruck, 

More  important,  perhaps,  than  the  question  when  this  or  that 
theorem  was  first  published  is  the  question  where  we  first  find 
those  notions  and  notations  which  give  the  key  to  the  algebra 
of  linear  functions,  or  the  algebra  of  matrices,  as  it  is  now 
ttnerally  called.  In  vol.  xxxi.  p.  35,  of  this  journal,  Prof. 
Sylvester  speaks  of  Cayley's  "ever-memorable"  "  Memoir  on 
Matrices  "  as  constituting.'*  a  second  birth  of  Algebra,  its  avcUar 
in  a  new  and  glorified  form,"  and  refers  to  a  passage  in  his 
"Lectures  on  Universal  Algebra"  from  which,  I  think,  we  are 
justified  in  inferring  that  this  characterization  of  the  memoir  is 
Uigely  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  there  shown  how  matrices  may 
he  treated  as  extensive  quantities,  capable  of  addition  as  well  as 
of  multiplication.  This  idea,  however,  is  older  than  the  memoir 
of  1858.  The  LUckenausdruck^  by  which  the  matrix  is  expressed 
u  a  sum  of   a  kind    of   products  [lUckenkaltig,  or  open),  is 

NO.   1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


described  in  a  note  at  the  eud  of  the  first  "  Ausdehnungslehre." 
There  we  have  the  matrix  given  not  only  as  a  sum,  but  as  a  sum 
of  products,  introducing  a  multiplicative  relation  entirely  different 
from  the  ordinary  multiplication  of  matrices,  and  hardly  less 
fruitful,  but  not  lying  nearly  so  near  the  surface  as  the  relations 
to  which  Prof.  Sylvester  refers.  The  key  to  the  theory  of 
matrices  is  certainly  given  in  the  first  "  Ausdehnungslehre,"  and 
if  we  call  the  birth  of  matricular  analysis  the  second  birth  of 
algebra,  we  can  give  no  later  date  to  this  event  than  the 
memorable  year  of  1844. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  this  communication  is  the  follow- 
ing passage  in  the  preface  to  the  third  edition  of  Prof.  Tait's 
"Quaternions"  : — 

**  Hamilton  not  only  published  his  theory  complete,  the 
year  before  the  first  (and  extremely  imperfect)  sketch  of  the 
'  Ausdehnungslehre '  appeared ;  but  had  given  ten  years 
before,  in  his  protracted  study  of  Sets,  the  very  processes  of 
external  and  internal  multiplication  (corresponding  to  the  Vector 
and  Scalar  parts  of  a  product  of  two  vectors)  which  have  been  put 
forward  as  specially  the  property  of  Grassmann." 

For  additional  information  we  are  referred  to  apt.  "  Quater- 
nions," "Encyc.  Brit.,"  where  we  read  respecting  the  first 
"  Ausdehnungslehre  "  :-^ 

"In  particular  two  species  of  multiplication  ('inner'  and 
'  outer ')  of  directed  lines  in  one  plane  were  given.  The  results 
of  these  two  kinds  of  multiplication  correspond  respectively  to 
the  numerical  and  the  directed  parts  of  Hamilton's  quaternion 
product.  But  Grassmann  distinctly  states  in  his  preface  that  he 
had  not  had  leisure  to  extend  his  method  to  angles  in  space. 
....  But  his  claims,  however  great  they  may  be,  can  in  no 
way  conflict  with  those  of  Hamilton,  whose  mode  of  multiplying 
couples  (m  which  the  'inner'  and  'outer'  multiplication  are 
essentially  involved)  was  produced  in  1833,  and  whose  quaternion 
svstem  was  completed  and  published  before  Grassmann  had 
elaborated  for  press  even  the  rudimentary  portions  of  his  own 
system,  in  which  the  veritable  difficulty  of  the  whole  subject, 
the  application  to  angles  in  space,  had  not  even  been  attacked." 

I  shall  leave  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  accuracy  of  the  general 
terms  used  in  these  passages  in  comparing  the  first  "Ausdeh- 
nungslehre "  with  Hamilton's  system  as  published  in  1843  or  1844. 
The  specific  statements  respecting  Hamilton  and  Grassmann 
require  an  answer. 

It  must  be  Hamiltou's  "  Theory  of  Conjugate  Functions  or 
Algebraic  Couples "  (read  to  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  1833 
ana  1835,  and  published  in  vol.  xvii.  of  the  Transactions),  to 
which  reference  is  made  in  the  statements  concerning .  his 
"  protracted  study  of  Sets  "  and  "  mode  of  multiplying  couples** 
But  I  cannot  find  anything  like  Grassmann's  external  or  internal 
multiplication  in  this  memoir,  which  is  concerned,  as  the  title 
pretty  clearly  indicates,  with  the  theory  of  the  complex  quantities 
of  ordinary  algebra. 

It  is  difficiUt  to  understand  the  statements  respecting  the 
"Ausdehnungslehre,"  which  seem  to  imply  that  Grassmann's 
two  kinds  of  multiplication  were  subject  to  some  kind  of  limita- 
tion to  a  plane.  The  external  product  is  not  limited  in  the  first 
"  Ausdehnungslehre  "  even  to  three  dimensions.  The  internal, 
which  is  a  comparatively  simple  matter,  is  mentioned  in  the  first 
"  Ausdehnungslehre  "  only  in  the  preface,  where  it  is  defined, 
and  placed  beside  the  external  product  as  relating  to  directed 
lines.  There  is  not  the  least  suggestion  of  any  diflerence  in  the 
products  in  respect  to  the  generality  of  their  application  to  vectors. 

The  misunderstanding  seems  to  have  arisen  from  the  following 
sentence  in  Grassmann^  preface :  "  And  in  general,  in  the  con- 
sideration of  angles  in  space,  difficulties  present  themselves,  for 
the  complete  (allseitig)  solution  of  which  I  have  not  yet  had 
sufficient  leisure."  It  is  not  surprising  that  Grassmann  should 
have  required  more  time  for  the  development  of  some  parts  of 
his  system,  when  we  consider  that  Hamilton,  on  his  discovery  of 
quaternions,  estimated  the  time  which  he  should  wish  to  devote 
to  them  at  ten  or  fifteen  years  (see  his  letter  to  Prof.  Tait  in 
the  North  British  Review  for  September  1866),  and  actually 
took  several  years  to  prepare  for  the  press  as  many  pages  as 
Grassmann  had  printed  in  1844.  But  any  speculation  as  to  the 
questions  which  Grassmann  may  have  had  pnncipally  in  mind  in 
the  sentence  quoted,  and  the  particular  nature  of  the  difficulties 
which  he  found  in  them,  however  interesting  from  other  points 
of  view,  seems  a  very  precarious  foundation  for  a  comparison  of 
the  systems  of  Hamilton  and  Grassmann  as  published  in  the 
years  1843-44.  Such  a  comparison  should  be  based  on  the 
positive  evidence  of  doctrines  and  methods  actually  published. 


82 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1891 


Such  a  comparison  I  have  endeayoured  to  make,  or  rather  to 
indicate  the  basis  on  which  it  may  be  made,  so  far  as  systems  of 
geometrical  algebra  are  concerned.  As  a  contribution  to  analysis 
m  general,  I  suppose  that  there  is  no  (question  that  Grassmann's 
system  is  of  indefinitely  greater  extension,  having  no  limitation 
to  any  particular  number  of  dimensions. 

J.   WiLLARD  GiBBS. 

The  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a  Whirling  Ring. 

In  Nature  of  May  14  (p.  31)  I  notice  a  letter  by  Mr.  C.  A. 
Carus- Wilson  on  the  rotation  of  a  hollow  steel  flask,  composed 
apparently  of  a  spherical  shell  mounted  on  an  axis  constituting  a 
diameter.  Mr.  Carus- Wilson  speaks  of  this  body  as  being 
under  a  **  tension  "of  **  31  '5  tons  per  square  inch  "  at  a  certain 
speed  of  rotation.  He  does  not,  however,  specify  what  is  the 
tension  to  which  he  refers,  nor  where  it  is  found,  neither  does 
he  give  the  density  and  elastic  constants  of  the  material  nor 
indicate  the  method  by  which  he  arrived  at  his  resulL 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  only  problem  of  the  kind  which  has 
yet  been  solved  is  that  of  an  isotropic  spherical  shell  ^  rotating 
about  an  imaginary  axis  through  its  centre  at  speeds  at  whi<£ 
the  strains  follow  Hooke's  law.  This  differs  from  the  case  Mr. 
Cams- Wilson  speaks  of,  inasmuch  as  the  existence  of  a  real 
material  axis  must  introduce  conditions  somewhat  different  from 
those  assumed  by  the  mathematical  theory,  and  further  the 
results  obtained  by  this  theory  cannot  legitimately  be  applied  to 
speeds  exceeding  that  where  bulging  becomes  sensible,  if  indeed 
so  far. 

This  solution  is  probably,  however,  the  nearest  to  the 
practical  problem  at  present  attainable. 

According  to  it  the  strains  and  stresses  vary  throughout  the 
shell  with  the  distance  from  the  centre,  and  the  angular  distance 
from  the  axis  of  rotation.  They  also  depend  on  the  density  and 
on  the  elastic  properties  of  the  material.  There  are  also  at 
every  point  three  principal  stresses,  whereof  one  it  is  true 
vanishes  over  the  surfaces.  Thus  such  a  statement  as  Mr. 
Carus- Wilson's  requires  further  explanation. 

According  to  the  two  theories  most  commonly  entertained,  the 
quantity  which  determines  the  limiting  safe  speed  is  the  maxi- 
mum value  of  either  the  greatist  strain  or  the  maximum  stress- 
difference^ — i.e.  the  algebraical  difference  between  the  greatest 
and  least  principal  stresses  at  a  point.  Over  the  surfaces  of 
the  shell  the  absolutely  greatest  values  of  both  these  quantities 
are  found,  for  shells  of  all  degrees  of  thickness,  in  the  equatorial 
plane — or  plane  through  the  centre  perpendicular  to  the  axis 
of  rotation. 

Denoting  the  angular  velocity  by  «,  the  radii  of  the  outer  and 
inner  surfaces  respectively  by  a  and  a\  the  density  by  p,  Young's 
modulus  by  E,  the  greatest  Jtrain  by  j,  the  maximum  stress- 
difference  by  S,  and  the  stress  at  right  angles  to  the  meridian 
plane  by  4>,  the  three  last  quantities  being  measured  in  the 
equator,  the  following  are  some  of  the  results  I  found  for 
materials  in  which  Poisfon*s  ratio  is  1/4  : — 


Inner     Outer        Inner      Outer 
surface,   surface,    surface,   surface. 


tf'/a  =  o"9 

— ~^ —  negligible 
a 


0-950      o"833 
X  o  I  'o 


1*064      0-866 
x'o  10 


Inner      Outer 
surface,   surface. 
. ^> . 

o'gia      0-866 

I'o  x'o 


Apparently  in  the  case  mentioned  by  Mr.  Carus- Wilson, 
a*la-=  15/16  =  0*9375.  Supposing  the  material  to  have  Poisson's 
ratio  =  1/4,  which  seems  to  accord  fairly  with  experiments  on 
steel,  the  approximate  values  of  x,  S,  and  4>,  for  this  case  could 
be  obtained  by  interpolation  from  those  I  give  above.  The  dif- 
ferences between  the  values  of  corresponding  strains  and  stresses 
at  the  two  surfaces  are  less,  of  course,  for  a'/a  =  15/16  than  for 
a'ja  =  0'9,  but  still  are  far  from  negligible.  Mr.  Carus- Wilson's 
numerical  result  rather  suggests  that  the  tension  he  refers  to  is 
the  stress  4>,  measured  as  above  in  the  equator,  and  that  he 
employed  the  formula  4  =  (»^^c^.  This  formula  (see  Cambridge 
Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  xiv.  p.  300),  is  correct  for 
the  value  of  #  in  the  equator  in  an  infinitely  thin  shell,  but  it 
does  not  strictly  apply  to  any  shell  whose  thickness  is  comparable 
with  its  radius.  In  the  paper  in  the  Cambridge  Transactions 
first  referred  to,  there  are  given  tables  of  the  numerical  measures 
of  the  strains  and  stresses  over  the  surfaces  for  a  series  of  values 

'  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society's  Transactions,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  467-483. 
NO.    1 1  26,  VOL.  44] 


of  alia  for  materials  in  which  Poisson's  ratio  is  1/4.  These  give 
by  interpolation  fairly  accurate  values  for  all  valaes  of  o'/o. 
For  other  values  of  Poisson's  ratio,  recourse  must  be  had  to  the 
general  formulae  given  in  the  paper,  unless  c,  =  I  -  dja^  is  reiy 
small,  when  the  greatest  values  of  s  and  S  are  given  appvazi- 
mately  by  Ej/»V*  =  i  -  i«(i  -  ■n\  S/«t^pa-  =  i  +  6/(1  +  ^), 
where  ti  is  Poisson's  ratio  (see  Cambw  Trans.,  voL  ziv.  p.  504). 
May  16.  C.  Chree. 

A  Comet  observed  firom  Sunrise  to  Noon. 

A  SHORT  time  ago  I  got  the  loan  of  an  old  number  of  Har^^s 
Monthly  (March  1889),  good  reading  matter  being  very  accept- 
able, however  old,  in  this  oatlandish  place,  in  which  I  read  an 
article,  on  the  origin  of  celestial  species,  by  J.  Norman  Lockyer. 
F.R.S.,  Cor.  Inst.  France,  that  set  me  thinking  of  what  I 
observed  of  the  great  comet  of  1882,  when  it  made  its  tremcD- 
dous  plunge  round  the  sun,  on  September  18.  At  that 
time  I  was  master  of  a  small  vessel,  trading  in  the  Society 
Islands ;  and  on  the  day  mentioned — in  latitude  16**  25'  S., 
longitude  151°  57'  W.  of  Greenwich,  a  position  about  midway 
between  the  two  islands  Bolabola  and  Maupiti  (the  Manmaof 
Cook) — I  saw,  with  the  naked  eye,  the  comet  travel  about  90"  of 
the  circle  of  the  sun's  disk,  between  sunrise  and  noon  ;  but  what 
made  it  most  remarkable  to  us  was  that  it  should  be  possible 
for  us,  in  a  perfectly  clear  sky,  to  be  able  to  watch  it  all,  from 
sunrise  to  noon,  with  very  little  more  distress  to  the  eye  than  if 
in  a  clear  night  looking  at  a  full  moon. 

Now,  Sir,  may  it  not  be  that  this  is  partly  a  proof  of  the 
theory  set  forth  by  Norman  Lockyer  in  the  article  above  men- 
tioned, viz.  that  comets  are  swarms  of  meteorites  in  collision, 
travelling  through  space,  and  that  the  outer  invisible  part  oi 
the  swarm  that  formed  this  comet's  nucleus  had  partially  eclipsed 
the  sun,  like  a  veil  over  it  ?  I  am  not  aware  if  it  was  noticed 
by  any  competent  astronomer  or  not,  but  the  chances  are  that 
none  had  the  splendid  opportunity  that  we  had  to  see  the 
phenomena  ;  so,  Sir,  knowing  that  men  of  science  are  always 
glad  to  get  facts  from  observers  in  all  parts  of  the  world  is  my 
excuse  for  writing  this  to  you,  not  knowiig  Mr.  Lockyei^s 
address.  Thinking  this,  although  late,  may  probably  be  of  some 
interest  to  the  scientific  world,  I  leave  you  to  do  what  you  may 
think  proper  with  it.  Wm.  Ellacott. 

Raiatea,  January  30. 

Graphic  Daily  Record  of  the  Magnetic  Declination  or 
Variation  of  the  Compass  at  Washington. 

I  BEG  to  call  your  attention  to  the  enclosed  reprint  from  the 
May  Pilot  Chart  of  curves  of  magnetic  declination  as  recorded 
at  the  United  States  Naval  Observatory  at  Washington.  This 
reprint  admits  of  reproduction  more  readily  than  the  curvK  as 
shown  on  the  Pilot  Chart,  being  in  black  and  white,  and  only 
reduced  to  two>fifths  of  true  size  (the  reduction  on  the  Pilot 
Chart  itself  being  one- quarter).  It  will  be  interesting  to  this 
Office  to  elicit  expressions  of  opinion  relative  to  the  advantages 
of  the  prompt  publication  of  these  curves.  The  experiment  is  to 
be  tried  for  three  months,  but  it  is  not  likely  to  be  continued 
longer  unless  certain  decided  advantages  develop.  It  may  be  of 
sufficient  interest  to  Nature  to  republish  these  curves,  and  thus 
assist  us  in  giving  them  wide  publicity. 

Richardson  Clooer, 

Washington,  D.C.,  May  6.  Hydrographer. 

[We  are  unable  to  print  the  curves,  but  we  may  note  that 
they  are  issued  with  the  following  explanation  : — "  1  hese  curves 
indicate  graphically  the  true  direction  in  which  the  magnetic 
needle  at  the  Naval  Observatory  pointed  during  each  instant 
from  noon,  March  29,  to  noon,  April  30.  The  b^ise-line  shows 
a  slight  break  at  the  end  of  each  two  hours,  75th  meridian  time, 
and  the  amount  of  westerly  variation  at  any  time  is  4''  plus  the 
number  of  minutes  represented  by  the  height  of  the  curve  above 
the  base  line  at  that  time,  measured  by  the  scale  at  the  right  or 
left  margin  of  the  diagram.  The  slight  breaks  in  the  curve 
itself  occur  when  the  chronograph  sheets  are  changed.  Although 
the  daily  change  of  variation  at  any  one  place,  even  in  magnetic 
storms  such  as  those  that  have  occurred  during  the  past  month, 
is  too  small  to  be  of  any  importance  in  practical  navigation,  yet 
it  is  thought  that  the  prompt  publication  of  these  curves  cannot 
fail  to  interest  masters  of  vessels,  as  well  as  scientific  men.  The 
mean  daily  curve,  which  can  be  drawn  by  taking  the  average  of 
many  such  curves,  shows  that  there  is  a  regular,  though  slight, 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


83 


daUy  change  in  the  variation,  somewhat  analogous  to  the  daily 
range  of  the  barometer,  although  the  dailv  minimum  of  variation 
atWashtngton  occurs  at  about  8  a.m.,  and  the  maximum  between 
I  and  2  p.m.  It  is  proposed  to  continue  the  publication  of 
these  curves  on  this  cWt  for  at  least  three  months,  luid  any 
questions  regarding  them  will  receive  immediate  consideration 
and  reply.  The  attention  of  masters  of  vessels  is  called  to  the 
form  issued  by  this  Office  for  the  record  of  observations  of  varia- 
tion at  sea,  and  to  the  general  importance  of  the  subject  in  con- 
nection with  vessels'  compasses  and  the  variation  curves  plotted 
OD  our  charts/'] 

The  Alpine  Flora. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  (see  Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p. 
581)  it  may  be  well  to  draw  the  attention  of  botanists  to  the 
£ict  that  a  young  vigorous  strawberry  plant,  in  an  exposed 
garden,  will,  during  the  winter  season,  place  all  its  leaves  in  a 
perfectly  horizontal  position,  some  even  close  to  and  resting  on 
the  ground,  in  striking  contrast  to  its  summer  habit  of  erect 
growth,  whereby  it  is  often  damaged  by  strong  winds. 

Whether  direct  climatal  conditions  be  the  sale  cause  of  this 
peculiarity,  or  whether  inherited,!  cannot  determine ;  presumably, 
ui  its  natural  surroundings,  the  continual  crowding  and  con- 
sequent struggle  would  not  necessitate  the  adoption  of  dwarfing 
as  a  means  of  survival.  J.  Lovel. 

May  13. 

Magnetic  Anomalies  in  Russia. 

The  magnetic  disturbances  in  England  and  Wales  as  com- 
municated to  Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  017,  by  M.  Mascart  and  A. 
W.  Riicker,  are  of  great  interest,  out  the  size  of  the  disturbances 
between  Charkov  and  Kursk  in  Russia  is  of  much  higher  value. 
More  than  150  stations  with  magnetic  elements  have  proved  that 
in  the  above  region  there  are  points  where  the  declination  differs 
by  86^  the  inclination  by  29^  and  the  magnetic  total  force  by 
0*39  el.  un.  The  principal  centres  are  distant  from  each  other 
not  more  than  12  kilometres.     The  m.  elements  are  : — 

Principal  centres  of  Dec!. 

disturbance.  o 

Nepchaevo +40     ... 

V  ISlOw       •••         •■•         ••■  ^    w^        *  *  * 

Kisselevo      —  3©  •• 

Sobinino      +  30  ... 

Petropavlovka     ...  -  20  ... 

Belgorod       -  36  ... 

The  normal  values  are    -  1°  Decl.  ;   +  64''  Incl. ;  0*48  total 
force.    The  districts  are  covered  by  sedimentary  rocks. 
Sl  Petersburg,  April  30.  A.  de  Tillo. 


THE  REJUVENESCENCE  OF  CRYSTALS,^ 

"IZERY  soon  after  the  invention  of  the  microscope,  the 
^  value  of  that  instrument  in  investigating  the  pheno- 
mena of  crystallization  began  to  be  recognized. 

The  study  of  crystal-morphology  and  crystallogenesis 
was  initiated  in  this  country  by  the  observations  of  Robert 
Boyle ;  and  since  his  day  a  host  of  investigators — among 
whom  may  be  especially  mentioned  Leeuwenhoek  and 
Vogelsang  in  Holland,  Link  and  Frankenheim  in  Ger- 
many, and  Pasteur  and  Senarmont  in  France — have  added 
largely  to  our  knowledge  of  the  origin  and  development 
of  crystalline  structures.  Nor  can  it  be  said  with  justice 
that  this  field  of  investigation,  opened  up  by  English 
pioneers,  has  been  ignobly  abandoned  to  others  ;  for  the 
credit  of  British  science  has  been  fully  maintained  by 
the  numerous  and  brilliant  discoveries  in  this  department 
of  knowledge  by  Brewster  and  Sorby. 

There  is  no  branch  of  science  which  is  more  dependent 
for  its  progress  on  a  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  of 
crystallization  than  geology.  In  seeking  to  explain  the 
complicated  phenomena  exhibited  by  the  crystalline 
masses  composing  the  earth's  crust,  the   geologist  is 

I  The  Friday  EveniK  Dbooane,  ddivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on 
Jttmary  30,  1891,  byProf.  John  W.  Judd,  F.R.S. 


Incl. 

Total  force, 

0 

e.  u. 

+  81 

...     084 

+  52 

...     065 

+  63 

...     072 

+  60 

...     075 

+  76 

..    o-8o 

+  71 

...      064 

NO.   1 126,  VOL.  44] 


constantly  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  physicist  and 
chemist;  from  them  alone  can  he  hope  to  obtain  the 
light  of  experiment  and  the  leading  of  analogy,  whereby 
he  may  hope  to  solve  the  problems  which  confront  him. 

But  if  geology  owes  much  to  the  researches  of  those 
physicists  and  chemists  who  have  devoted  their  studies  to 
the  phenomena  of  crystallization,  the  debt  has  been  more 
than  repaid  through  the  new  light  which  has  been  thrown 
on  these  questions  by  the  investigation  of  naturally-formed 
crystals  by  mineralogists  and  geologists. 

In  no  class  of  physical  operations  is  tt?ne  such  an  im- 
portant factor  as  in  crystallization  ;  and  Nature,  in  pro- 
ducing her  inimitable  examples  of  crystalline  bodies,  has 
been  unsparing  in  her  expenditure  of  time.  Hence  it  is 
not  surprising  to  find  that  some  of  the  most  wonderful 
phenomena  of  crystallization  can  best  be  studied — some, 
indeed,  can  only  be  studied— in  those  exquisite  specimens 
of  Nature's  handiwork  which  have  been  slowly  elaborated 
by  her  during  periods  which  must  be  measured  in  millions 
of  years. 

I  propose  to-night  to  direct  your  attention  to  a  very 
curious  case  in  which  a  strikingly  complicated  group 
of  phenomena  is  presented  in  a  crystalline  mass:  and 
these  phenomena,  which  have  been  revealed  to  the 
student  of  natural  crystals,  are  of  such  a  kind  that  we 
can  scarcely  hope  to  reproduce  them  in  our  test-tubes 
and  crucibles. 

But  if  we  cannot  expect  to  imitate  all  the  effects  which 
have  in  this  case  been  slowly  wrought  out  in  Nature's 
laboratory,  we  can,  at  least,  investigate  and  analyze  them  ; 
and,  in  this  way,  it  may  be  possible  to  show  that  pheno- 
mena like  those  in  question  must  result  from  the  pos- 
session by  crystals  of  certain  definite  properties.  Each 
of  these  properties,  we  shall  see,  may  be  severally  illus- 
trated and  experimentally  investigated,  not  only  in  natural 
products,  but  in  the  artificially-formed  crystals  of  our 
laboratories. 

In  order  to  lead  up  to  the  explanation  of  the  curious 
phenomena  exhibited  by  the  rock-mass  in  question,  the 
first  property  of  crystals  to  which  I  have  to  refer  may  be 
enunciated  as  follows  >  - 

Crystals  possess  the  power  of  resuming  their  growth 
after  interruption;  and  there  appears  to  be  no  limit  to 
the  time  after  which  this  resumption  of  growth  may  take 
place. 

It  is  a  familiar  observation  that  if  a  crystal  be  taken  from 
a  solution  and  put  aside,  it  will,  if  restored  after  a  longer  or 
shorter  interval  to  the  same  or  a  similar  solution,  continue 
to  increase  as  before.  But  geology  affords  innumerable 
instances  in  which  this  renewal  of  growth  in  crystals  has 
taken  place  after  millions  of  years  must  have  elapsed. 
Still  more  curious  is  the  fact,  of  which  abundant  proof 
can  be  given,  that  a  crystal  formed  by  one  method  may, 
after  a  prolonged  interval,  continue  its  growth  under 
totally  different  conditions  and  by  a  very  different  method. 
Thus,  crystals  of  quartz,  which  have  clearly  been  formed 
in  a  molten  magma,  and  certain  inclosures  of  glass,  may 
continue  their  growth  when  brought  in  contact  with  solu- 
tions of  silica  at  ordinary  temperatures.  In  the  same 
way,  crystals  of  felspar,  which  have  been  formed  in  a 
mass  of  incandescent  lava,  may  increase  in  size,  when 
solvent  agents  bring  to  them  the  necessary  materials 
from  an  enveloping  mass  of  glass,  even  after  the  whole 
mass  has  become  cold  and  solid. 

It  is  this  power  of  resuming  growth  after  interruption, 
which  leads  to  the  formation  of  zoned  crystals,  like  the 
fine  specimen  of  amethyst  enclosed  in  colourless  quartz, 
which  was  presented  to  the  Royal  Institution  seventy 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Snodgrass. 

The  growth  of  crystals,  like  that  of  plants  and  animals, 
is  determined  by  their  environment ;  the  chief  conditions 
affecting  their  development  being  temperature,  rate  of 
growth,  the  supply  of  materials  (which    may  vary  in 


J 


84 


NA  rURE 


[May  28,  1891 


quality  as  well  as  in  quantity),  and  the  presence  of  certain 
foreign  bodies. 

It  is  a  very  curious  circumstance  that  the  form  assumed 
by  a  crystal  may  be  completely  altered  by  the  presence  of 
infinitesimal  traces  of  certain  foreign  substances — foreign 
substances,  be  it  remarked,  which  do  not  enter  in  any 
way  into  the  composition  of  the  crystallizing  mass.  Thus 
there  are  certain  crystals  which  can  only  be  formed  in  the 
presence  of  water,  fluorides,  or  other  salts.  Such  foreign 
bodies,  which  exercise  an  influence  on  a  crystallizing  sub- 
stance without  entering  into  its  composition,  have  been 
called  by  the  French  geologists  "  mineralizers."  Their 
action  seems  to  curiously  resemble  that  of  diastase,  and 
of  the  bodies  known  to  chemists  as  "  ferments,"  so  many 
of  which  are  now  proved  to  be  of  organic  origin. 

Studied  according  to  their  mode  of  formation,  zoned 
crystals  fall  naturally  into  several  diflerent  classes. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  the  cases  in  which  the 
successive  shells  or  zones  differ  only  in  colour  or  some 
other  accidental  character.  Sometimes  such  diflerently 
coloured  shells  of  the  crystal  are  sharply  cut  ofl"  from  one 
another,  while  in  other  instances  they  graduate  imper- 
ceptibly one  into  the  other. 

A  second  class  of  zoned  crystals  includes  those  in 
which  we  find  clear  evidence  that  there  have  been  pauses, 
or,  at  all  events,  changes  in  the  rate  of  their  growth. 
The  interruption  in  growth  may  be  indicated  in  several 
diflerent  ways.  One  of  the  commonest  of  these  is  the 
formation  of  cavities  filled  with  gaseous,  liquid,  or 
vitreous  material,  according  to  the  way  the  crystal  has 
been  formed — by  volatilization,  by  solution,  or  by  fusion  ; 
the  production  of  these  cavities  indicating  rapid  or  ir- 
regular growth.  Not  unfrequently  it  is  dear  that  the 
crystal,  after  growing  to  a  certain  size,  has  been  corroded 
or  partially  resorbed  in  the  mass  in  which  it  is  being 
formed,  before  its  increase  was  resumed.  In  other  cases, 
a  pause  in  the  growth  of  the  crystal  is  indicated  by  the 
formation  of  minute  foreign  crystals,  or  the  deposition  of 
uncrystallized  material  along  certain  zonal  planes  in  the 
crystal 

Some  very  interesting  varieties  of  minerals,  like  the 
Cotterite  of  Ireland,  the  red  quartz  of  Cumberland,  and 
the  spotted  amethyst  of  Lake  Superior,  can  be  shown  to 
owe  their  peculiarities  to  thin  bands  of  foreign  matter 
zonally  included  in  them  during  their  growth. 

A  curious  class  of  zoned  crystals  arises  when  there  is  a 
change  in  the  habit  of  a  crystal  during  its  growth.  Thus, 
as  Lavalle  showed  in  1851  {Bull,  Geol.  Soc.  PariSy  2me. 
s^r.,  vol.  viii.  pp.  610-13),  if  2in  octahedron  of  alum  be 
allowed  to  grow  to  a  certain  size  in  a  solution  of  that 
substance,  and  then  a  quantity  of  alkaline  carbonate  be 
added  to  the  liquid,  the  octahedral  crystal,  without 
change  in  the  length  of  its  axes,  will  be  gradually  trans- 
formed into  a  cube.  In  the  same  way,  a  scalenohedron 
of  calcite  may  be  found  inclosed  in  a  prismatic  crystal  of 
the  same  mineral,  the  length  of  the  vertical  axis  being 
the  same  in  both  crystals. 

By  far  the  most  numerous  and  important  class  of  zoned 
crystals  is  that  which  includes  the  forms  where  the  suc- 
cessive zones  are  of  diflerent,  though  analogous,  chemical 
composition.  In  the  case  of  the  alums  and  garnets,  we 
may  have  various  isomorpkous  compounds  forming  the 
successive  zones  in  the  same  crystal ;  while,  in  substances 
crystallizing  in  other  systems  than  the  cubic,  we  find 
plesiomorphous  compounds  forming  the  different  enclosing 
shells. 

Such  cases  are  illustrated  by  many  artificial  crystals, 
and  by  the  tourmalines,  the  epidotes,  and  the  felspars 
among  minerals.  The  zones,  consisting  of  diflerent 
materials,  are  sometimes  separated  by  well-marked 
planes ;  but  in  other  cases  they  shade  imperceptibly 
into  one  another. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  it  may  be  well  to  point 
out  that  zoned  crystals  may  be  formed  of  two  substances 

NO.   II 26,  VOL.  44] 


which  do  not  crystallize  in  the  same  system.  Thus,  crys- 
tals of  the  monoclinic  augite  may  be  found  surrounded 
by  a  zone  of  the  rhombic  enstatite ;  and  crystals  of  a 
triclinic  felspar  may  be  found  enlarged  by  a  monoclinic 
felspar. 

Still  more  curious  is  the  fact  that,  where  there  is  a 
similarity  in  crystalline  form  and  an  approximation  in 
the  dominant  angles  (plesiomorphism),  we  may  have 
zoning  and  intergrowth  in  the  crystals  of  substances 
which  possess  no  chemical  analogy  whatever.  Thus,  as 
Senarmont  showed  in  1856,  a  cleavage- rhomb  of  the 
natural  calcic  carbonate  (calcite),  when  placed  in  a  solu- 
tion of  the  sodic  nitrate,  becomes  enveloped  in  a  zone  of 
this  latter  substance ;  and  Tschermak  has  proved  that 
the  compound  crystal  thus  formed  behaves  like  a  homo- 
geneous one,  if  tested  by  its  cleavage,  by  its  suscepti- 
bility to  twin  lamellation,  or  by  the  figures  produced  by 
etching  In  the  same  way,  zircons,  which  are  composed 
of  the  two  oxides  of  silicon  and  zirconium,  are  found 
grown  in  composite  crystals  with  xenotime,  a  phosphate 
of  the  metals  of  the  cerium  and  yttrium  groups. 

These  facts,  and  many  similar  ones  which  might 
be  adduced,  point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  beautiful 
theory  of  isomorphism,  as  originally  propounded  by 
Mitscherlich,  stands  in  need  of  much  revision  as  to  many 
important  details,  if  not,  indeed,  of  complete  reconstruc- 
tion, in  the  light  of  modem  observation  and  experiment 

The  second  property  of  crystals  to  which  I  must  direct 
your  attention  is  the  following  : — 

If  a  crystal  be  broken^  or  mutilated  in  any  way  what- 
ever^ it  possesses  the  power  0/ repairing  its  injuries  duriti^ 
subsequent  growth. 

As  long  ago  as  1836,  Frankenheim  showed  that,  if  a 
drop  of  a  saturated  solution  be  allowed  to-  evaporate  on 
the  stage  of  a  microscope,  the  following  interesting 
observations  may  be  made  upon  the  growing  crystals. 
When  they  are  broken  up  by  a  rod,  each  fragment  tends 
to  re-form  as  a  perfect  crystal ;  and  if  the  crystals  be 
caused  to  be  partially  re-dissolved  by  the  addition  of  a 
minute  drop  of  the  mother  liquor,  further  evaporation 
causes  them  to  resume  their  original  development  {Pogg. 
Ann.,  Bd.  xxxvii.,  1836). 

In  1842,  Hermann  Jordan  showed  that  crystals  taken 
from  a  solution  and  mutilated  gradually  became  repaired 
or  healed  when  replaced  in  the  solution  {Miiller  Archh\ 
fUr  1842,  pp.  46-56).  Jordan's  observations,  which  were 
published  in  a  medical  journal,  do  not,  however,  seem  to 
have  attracted  much  attention  from  the  physicists  and 
chemists  of  the  day. 

Lavalle,  between  the  years  1850  and  1853,^  and  Kopp, 
in  the  year  1855,  made  a  number  of  valuable  observations 
bearing  on  this  interesting  property  of  crystals  (JJebig 
Ann.,  xciv.,  1855,  pp.  118-25).  In  1856  the  subject  was 
more  thoroughly  studied  by  three  investigators  who  pub- 
lished their  results  almost  simultaneously :  these  were 
Marbach  (Compt.  rend.,  xliii.,  1856,  pp.  705-706,  800-802), 
Pasteur  {^bid.,  pp.  795-800),  and  Senarmont  {}bid.,  p.  799). 
They  showed  that  crystals  taken  from  a  solution  and 
mutilated  in  various  ways,  upon  being  restored  to  the 
liquid  became  completely  repaired  during  subsequent 
growth. 

As  long  ago  as  1851,  Lavalle  had  asserted  that,  when 
one  solid  angle  of  an  octahedron  of  alum  is  removed,  the 
cr>'stal  tends  to.  reproduce  the  same  mutilation  on  the 
opposite  angle,  when  its  growth  is  resumed  !  This  re- 
markable and  anomalous  result  has,  however,  by  some 
subsequent  writers  been  explained  in  another  way  to  that 
suggested  by  the  author  of  the  experiment. 

In  the  same  way  the  curious  experiments  performed  at 
a  subsequent  date  by  Karl  von  Hauer,  experiments  which 
led  him  to  conclude  that  hemihedrism  and  other  pecu- 

«  Bull.  Gfol.  Soc.  Paris^  ame  s^r.,  vol.  viii.  pp  610-13,  1851 :  Moigno» 
Cosmos^  ii ,  1853,  pp.  454-56 ;  CoinpU  rend.^  xxxvi..  1853,  pp.  493~95- 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


85 


liarities  in  crystal  growth  might  be  induced  by  mutilation,^ 
have  been  asserted  by  other  physicists  and  chemists  not 
to  justify  the  startling  conclusions  drawn  from  them  at 
the  time.  It  must  be  admitted  that  new  experiments 
bearing  on  this  interesting  question  are,  at  the  present 
time  greatly  needed. 

In  1 88 1,  Loir  demonstrated  two  very  important  facts 
with  regard  to  growing  crystals  of  alum  {CompL  rend., 
Bd.  xcii.  p.  1 166).  First,  that  if  the  injuries  in  such  a 
crystal  be  not  too  deep,  it  does  not  resume  growth  over 
its  genera]  surface  until  those  injuries  have  been  repaired. 
Secondly y  that  the  injured  surfaces  of  crystals  grow  more 
rapidly  than  natural  faces.  This  was  proved  by  placing 
artificially-cut  octahedra  and  natural  crystals  of  the  same 
size  in  a  solution,  and  comparing  their  weight  after  a 
certciin  time  had  elapsed. 

The  important  results  of  this  capacity  of  crystals  for 
undergoing  healing  and  enlargement,  and  their  applica- 
tion to  the  explanation  of  interesting  geological  pheno- 
mena has  been  pointed  out  by  many  authors.  Sorby  has 
shown  that,  in  the  so-called  crystalline  sand-grains,  we 
have  broken  and  worn  crystals  of  quartz,  which,  after 
many  vicissitudes  and  the  lapse  of  millions  of  years,  have 
grown  again  and  been  enveloped  in  a  newly  formed 
quartz-crystal.  Bonney  has  shown  how  the  same  pheno- 
mena are  exhibited  in  the  case  of  mica,  Becke  and 
Whitman  Cross  in  the  case  of  hornblende,  and  Merrill 
in  the  case  of  augite.  In  the  felspars  of  certain  rocks  it 
has  been  proved  that  crystals  that  have  been  rounded, 
cracked,  corroded,  and  internally  altered — which  have,  in 
short,  suffered  both  mechanical  and  chemical  injuries — 
may  be  repaired  and  enlarged  with  material  that  differs 
considerably  in  chemical  composition  from  the  original 
crystal. 

It  is  impossible  to  avoid  a  comparison  between  these 
phenomena  of  the  inorganic  world  and  those  so  familiar 
to  the  biologist.  It  is  only  in  the  lowest  forms  of  animal 
life  that  we  find  an  unlimited  power  of  repairing  injuries  : 
in  the  Rhizopods  and  some  other  groups  a  small  fragment 
may  grow  into  a  perfect  organism.  In  plants  the  same 
phenomenon  is  exhibited  much  more  commonly,  and  in 
forms  belonging  to  groups  high  up  in  the  vegetable  series. 
Thus,  parts  of  a  plant,  such  as  buds,  bulbs,  slips,  and 
grafts,  may — sometimes  after  a  long  interval — be  made  to 
grow  up  into  new  and  perfect  individuals.  But  in  the 
mineral  kingdom  we  find  the  same  principle  carried  to  a 
much  farther  extent.  We  know,  in  fact,  no  limit  to  the 
minuteness  of  fragments  which  may,  under  favourable 
conditions,  grow  into  perfect  crystals — no  bounds  as  to 
the  time  during  which  the  crystalline  growth  may  be 
suspended  in  the  case  of  any  particular  individual. 

The  next  property  of  crystals  which  I  must  illustrate,  in 
order  to  explain  the  particular  case  to  which  I  am  calling 
your  attention  to-night,  is  the  following : — 

Two  crystals  of  totally  different  substances  may  be 
developed  within  the  sp<ice  bounded  by  certain  planes, 
becoming  almost  inextricably  intergrown,  though  ecu:h 
retains  its  distinct  individuality. 

This  property  is  a  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the 
substance  of  a  crystal  is  not  necessarily  continuous  within 
the  space  inclosed  by  its  bounding  planes.  Crystals  often 
exhibit  cavities  filled  with  air  and  other  foreign  substances. 
In  the  calcite  crystals  found  in  the  Fontainebleau  sand- 
stone, less  than  40  per  cent,  of  their  mass  consists  of 
calcic  carbonate,  while  more  than  60  per  cent,  is  made 
up  of  grains  of  quartz-sand,  caught  up  during  crystalliza- 
tion. 

'  Wien,Sit»,  Ber.,  xxxix.,  i860,  pp.  61X-22:  Zrdmsinn, /oum.  Praki, 
tAm..  Ixjud.  pp.  356-^a  ;  tVien.  Geol.  Verhandl.^  jcii.  pp.  212-13,  &c  : 
rrankenhtim,  Pogg.  Ann,,  cxiii ,  1861.  Compare  Fr.  Scharff,  Pogg.  Ann., 
gx.,  1B60.  pp.  5*9-38 ;  Neuesjahrb.  far  Min.,  &c  ,  1876.  p.  24  ;  and  W. 
?1n  •  ^^'^  '^**-  ««»•.  «863.  pp.  78-82 ;  also  W.  0»twald,  •'  Lehrbuch 
J.  Alte.  Chcra.  "  1885,  Bd.  i.  p.  738;  and  O.  Lehmann,  "Molckular 
'^nynjt,    x888,  Bd.  i.  p.  3x2. 


NO.   II 26,  VOL.  44] 


In  the  rock  called  "graphic  granite,"  we  have  the 
minerals  orthoclase  and  quartz  intergrown  in  such  a  way 
that  the  more  or  less  isolated  parts  of  each  can  be  shown, 
by  their  optical  characters,  to  be  parts  of  great  mutually 
interpenetrant  crystals.  Similar  relations  are  shown  In 
the  so-called  micro-graphic  or  micro-pegmatitic  inter- 
growths  of  the  same  minerals  which  are  so  beautifully 
exhibited  in  the  rock  under  our  consideration  this 
evening. 

There  is  still  another  property  of  crystals  that  miist 
be  kept  in  mind,  if  we  would  explain  the  phenomena 
exhibited  by  this  interesting  rock: — 

A  crystal  may  undergo  the  most  profound  internal 
changes,  and  these  may  lead  to  great  modifications  of  the 
optical  and  other  physical  properties  of  the  mineral;  yet, 
so  long  as  a  small — often  a  very  small— proportion  of  its 
molecules  remain  intact,  the  crystal  may  retain,  not  only 
its  outward  form,  but  its  capacity  for  growing  and 
repairing  injuries. 

Crystals,  like  ourselves,  grow  old.  Not  only  do  they 
suffer  from  external  injuries,  mechanical  fractures,  and 
chemical  corrosion,  but  from  actions  which  affect  the 
whole  of  their  internal  structure.  Under  the  influence 
of  the  great  pressures  in  the  earth's  crust,  the  minerals 
of  deep-seated  rocks  are  completely  permeated  by  fluids 
which  chemically  react  upon  them.  In  this  way,  negative 
crystals  are  formed  in  their  substance  (similar  to  the 
beautiful  "  ice-flowers "  which  are  formed  when  a  block 
of  ice  is  traversed  by  a  beam  from  the  sun  or  an  electric 
lamp),  and  these  become  filled  with  secondary  products. 
As  the  result  of  this  action,  minerals,  once  perfectly 
clear  and  translucent,  have  acquired  cloudy,  opalescent, 
iridescent,  avanturine,  and  "  schiller "  characters ;  and 
minerals,  thus  modified,  abound  in  the  rocks  that  have 
at  any  period  of  their  history  been  deep-seated.  As  the 
destruction  of  their  internal  structure  goes  on,  the  crystals 
gradually  lose  more  and  more  of  their  distinctive  optical 
and  their  physical  properties,  retaining,  however,  their 
external  form ;  till  at  last,  when  the  last  of  the  original 
molecules  is  transformed  or  replaced  by  others,  they 
pass  into  those  mineral  corpses  known  to  us  as  *'  pseudo- 
morphs." 

But  while  crystals  resemble  ourselves  in  "growing 
old,''  and,  at  last,  undergoing  dissolution,  they  exhibit 
the  remarkable  power  of  growing  young  again,  which 
we,  alas  !  never  do.  This  is  in  consequence  of  the 
following  remarkable  attribute  of  crystalline  structures : — 

//  does  not  matter  how  far  internal  change  and  dis- 
integration may  have  gone  on  in  a  crystal — //  only  a 
certain  small  proportioft  of  the  unaltered  molecules  re- 
main, the  crystal  may  renew  its  youth  and  resume  its 
growth. 

When  old  and  much-altered  crystals  begin  to  grow 
again,  the  newly-formed  material  exhibits  none  of  those 
marks  of  "  senility  "  to  which  I  have  referred.  The  sand- 
grains  that  have  been  battered  and  worn  into  microscopic 
pebbles,  and  have  been  rendered  cloudy  by  the  develop- 
ment of  millions  of  secondary  fluid  cavities,  may  have 
clear  and  fresh  quartz  deposited  upon  them  to  form 
crystals  with  exquisitely  perfect  faces  and  angles.  The 
white,  clouded,  and  altered  felspar-crystals  may  be  enve- 
loped by  a  zone  of  clear  and  transparent  material,  which 
has  been  added  millions  of  years  after  the  first  formation 
and  the  subsequent  alteration  of  the  original  crystal. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  explain  the  particular  case 
which  I  have  thought  of  sufficient  interest  to  claim  your 
attention  to-night. 

In  the  Island  of  Mull,  in  the  Inner  Hebrides,  there 
exist  masses  of  granite  of  Tertiary  age,  which  are  of  very 
great  interest  to  the  geologist  and  mineralogist.  In  many 
places  this  granite  exhibits  beautiful  illustrations  of  the 
curious  intergrowths  of  quartz  and  felspar,  of  which  I  have 


86 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1 89 1 


already  spoken.  Such  parts  of  the  rock  often  abound  with 
cavities  (druses),  which  I  believe  are  not  of  original  but  of 
secondary  origin.  At  all  events,  it  can  be  shown  that  these 
cavities  have  been  localities  in  which  crystal  growth  has 
gone  on — they  constitute  indeed  veritable  laboratories  of 
synthetic  mineralogy. 

Now,  in  such  cavities  the  interpenetrant  crystals  of 
quartz  and  felspar  in  this  rock  have  found  a  space  where 
they  may  grow  and  complete  their  outward  form ;  and 
it  is  curious  to  see  how  sometimes  the  quartz  has  pre- 
vailed over  the  felspar  and  a  pure  quartz-crystal  has  been 
produced ;  while  at  other  times  the  opposite  eftect  has 
resulted,  and  a  pure  felspar  individual  has  grown  up.  In 
these  last  cases,  however  much  the  original  felspar  may 
have  been  altered  (kaolinized  and  rendered  opaque),  it 
is  found  to  be  completed  by  a  zone  of  absolutely  clear  and 
unaltered  felspar-substance.  The  result  is  that  the  cavities 
of  the  granite  are  lined  with  a  series  of  projecting  crystals 
of  fresh  quartz  and  clear  felspar,  the  relations  of  which  to 
the  older  materials  in  an  altered  condition  composing  the 
substance  of  the  solid  rock,  are  worthy  of  the  most  careful 
observation  and  reflection. 

Those  relations  can  be  fully  made  out  when  thin  sections 
of  the  rock  are  examined  under  the  microscope  by  the 
aid  of  polarized  light,  and  they  speak  eloquently  of  the 
possession  by  the  crystals  of  all  those  curious  peculiarities 
of  which  I  have  reminded  you  this  evening. 

By  problems  such  as  those  which  we  have  endeavoured 
to  solve  to-night,  the  geologist  is  beset  at  every  step. 
The  crust  of  our  globe  is  built  up  of  crystals  and  crystal 
fragments— of  crystals  in  every  stage  of  development,  of 
growth,  and  of  variation — of  crystals  undergoing  change, 
decay,  and  dissolution.  Hence  the  study  of  the  natural 
history  of  crystals  must  always  constitute  one  of  the  main 
foundations  of  geological  science ;  and  the  future  progress 
of  that  science  must  depend  on  how  far  the  experiments 
carried  on  in  laboratories  can  be  made  to  illustrate  and 
explain  our  observations  in  the  field. 


BRITISH  INSTITUTE   OF  PREVENTIVE 

MEDICINE. 

A  VIGOROUS  attempt  is  being  made  by  ignorant  and 
prejudiced  persons  to  prevent  the  establishment  of 
a  National  Hygienic  Institute  worthy  of  the  United  King- 
dom. A  deputation  will  wait  upon  Sir  Michael  Hicks- 
Beach,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  on  Friday, 
June  5,  to  submit  to  him  an  exact  statement  of  the  facts 
relating  to  the  tnatter.  Meanwhile,  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee has  issued  the  following  circular  : — 

On  Monday  afternoon,  July  i,  1889,  a  meeting  was 
held  at  the  Mansion  House,  under  the  Presidency  of  Sir 
James  Whitehead,  Bart,  then  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
*'  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  statements  from  Sir  James 
Paget,  and  other  representatives  of  scientific  and  medical 
opinion,  with  regard  to  the  recent  increase  of  rabies  in 
this  country,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  treatment  discovered 
by  M.  Pasteur  for  the  prevention  of  hydrophobia." 

Although  convinced  of  the  advantages  likely  to  accrue 
to  the  community  at  large  by  the  founding  of  a  Bacterio- 
logical Institute  in  England,  the  Committee  felt  that  the 
time  was  not  then  come  for  establishing  in  England  an 
institute  similar  to  the  "  Institut  Pasteur  "  in  Paris,  or  the 
"  Hygienische  Institut "  in  Berlin.  The  idea,  however,  was 
not  abandoned,  and  on  December  5,  1889,  an  Executive 
Committee  was  appointed  to  take  measures  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  in  England  a  British  Institute  of 
Preventive  Medicine. 

Acting  on  the  advice  of  their  solicitors,  Messrs.  Hunters 
and  Haynes,  the  Executive  Committee  decided  to  incor- 
porate the  Institute  as  a  limited  liability  company,  with 
the  omission  of  the  word  **  Limited,"  in  order  to  impress 

NO.  1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


the  public  with  the  fact  that  the  Institute  was  not  estab- 
lished for  purposes  of  gain,  but  for  purely  charitable  and 
scientific  objects. 

The  application  was  lodged  at  the  Board  of  Trade  on 
February  13,  1891,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  a  number  of 
petitions  were  sent  in  asking  the  Board  of  Trade  to  with- 
hold its  license,  as  the  objects  of  the  Institute  ''  clearly 
pointed  to  experiments  on  living  animals."  As  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee,  Sir  Joseph  Lister  then  wrote  to 
the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  showing  why,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Committee,  their  opponents  should  not 
gain  their  point  In  the  first  place,  he  pointed  out  that 
the  granting  of  a  vivisection  license  is  not  within  the 
province  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  but  under  the  control  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department.  In  the 
second  place,  he  clearly  proved  that  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  Institute  should  be  licensed  in  the 
manner  described,  for  it  could  not  be  registered  under 
the  Companies  Act,  1862,  without  most  seriously  inter- 
fering with  its  prospects.  From  counsel's  opinion  it  is 
evident  that,  should  the  Institute  be  registered  as  an 
ordinary  limited  liability  company  under  the  Act,  it  would 
at  any  time  be  possible  for  the  members  to  wind  up  the 
company  and  divide  the  funds  of  the  Institute  ;  whereas 
the  Board  of  Trade,  in  granting  the  license  asked  for, 
would  make  it  a  condition  that  all  the  property  of  the 
Institute  should  be  applied  to  the  advancement  of  science 
and  kindred  subjects  only,  and  not  be  distributed  among 
the  members.  In  this  way  only  could  security  be  given 
that  the  funds  would  be  applied  for  the  purposes 
intended. 

This  letter  was  posted  by  one  of  the  secretaries  on 
May  12,  1 89 1  ;  but  on  the  same  day  the  solicitors  to  the 
Executive  Committee  received  a  letter  from  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  who,  without  giving  any  reason 
whatever  for  his  decision,  declined  to  grant  the  applica- 
tion. On  the  next  day,  however.  Sir  Joseph  Lister  re- 
ceived a  letter  in  answer  to  that  posted  on  May  12,  in 
which  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  intimated  his 
willingness  to  receive  a  deputation  on  June  5  at  1 1  a.m. 

Workers  in  bacteriological  science  are  now  labouring 
under  considerable  difficulties,  as  there  is  no  place  in  the 
United  Kingdom  specially  fitted  for  such  research.  By 
the  establishing  of  this  Institute,  they  would  be  placed 
in  the  best  possible  conditions  for  carrying  out  original 
investigations.  Moreover,  a  central  Institute  for  the 
systematic  teaching  of  bacteriology  would  be  provided, 
not  only  for  medical  men,  but  also  for  veterinary  surgeons, 
chemists,  agriculturists,  &c. 

At  present,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  made  in  this  direction 
by  several  medical  schools,  most  of  the  English  workers 
who  wish  to  gain  special  knowledge  in  bacteriology,  are 
compelled  to  go  to  the  Continental  laboratories  for  their 
instruction.  The  question,  therefore,  which  the  Board 
of  Trade  will  have  to  decide  is,  whether  such  a  state  of 
things  should  continue,  or  whether  England  should  have 
its  own  national  bacteriological  Institute.  Similar  Insti- 
tutes have  been  endowed  by  the  State  in  other  countries; 
and  the  Board  of  Trade,  by  refusing  to  grant  their  applica- 
tion, would  prevent  a  body  of  private  gentlemen  firom 
doing  what  has  been  done  at  great  expense  by  the 
Governments  of  other  nations. 


NOTES. 

We  are  informed  that  Kew  has  recently  acquired  by  parchase 
from  Mr.  F.  Curtis,  a  descendant  of  William  Curtis,  the  founder 
of  the  Botanical  Magazine^  about  1650  original  drawings,  chiefly 
of  figures  which  appeared  in  that  publication.  They  belong 
partly  to  the  first  series  and  partly  to  the  second,  firom  1800  to 
1826— that  is  to  say,  during  the  period  that  the  magazine  was 
edited  by  Dr.  Sims.  Many  of  these  drawings  are  very  beantifol, 
and  very  carefully  coloured,  especially  those  done  by  James 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


87 


Sowerby  and  Sydenham  Edwards;  but  some  of  the  finest  of 
their  work  was  not  reproduced  in  the  plates.  The  collection 
also  includes  some  of  the  poorest  work  that  ever  appeared  in  the 
magazine.  In  181 5  Sydenham  Edwards  seceded,  and  worked 
for  the  rival  Botanical  Register ;  Sowerby  had  ceased  con- 
tributing, and  there  seems  to  have  been  a  lack  of  novelties  for 
illustration.  Towards  the  end  of  Dr.  Sims*s  editorship,  in  1826, 
the  Botanical  Magazine  was  doubtless  supplanted  in  a  great 
measure  by  the  Botanical  Register  then  conducted  by  the  vigorous 
Lindley.  Its  circulation  greatly  decreased,  and  the  impres- 
sion was  small ;  hence  this  series  is  very  rare.  The  following 
jrear,  however,  Sir  William  Hooker  became  editor  and  speedily 
raised  both  the  artistic  and  botanical  character  of  the  magazine. 
Many  of  the  plates  published  during  the  latter  half  of  Dr.  Sims's 
editorship  are  not  signed,  but  all  the  drawinj^s  are,  and  we  learn 
that  William  Hooker,  the  artist  of  the  Paradisus  Londinensis, 
was  an  occasional  contributor.  The  collection  also  contains  a 
number  of  unpublished  drawings. 

A  LETTER  lately  received  from  Emin  Pasha  by  one  of  his 

ornithological  correspondents  in  Europe  is  datsd  from  one  of 

the  larger  islands  on  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  in  November  last. 

It  is  full  of  details  about  birds,  in  which,  as  is  well  known,  the 

Pasha  takes  the  keenest  interest,  and  alludes  especially  to  an 

apparently  new  Gralline  form,  with  three  toes,  met  with  in  that 

district.     Emin  was  on  the  point  of  starting  southwards  into  the 

territory  near  the  north  end  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  is  now 

probably  somewhere   in  that  little-known   country.      He  had 

been  joined  by  Dr.  Stuhlman,  a  young  naturalist  of  Hamburg. 

Dr.  G.  Hartlaub,  of  Bremen,  has  just  published  a  memoir  on  the 

birds  collected  by  Emin  during  his  return  to  the  coast  with  the 

Stanley  Expedition,  and  his  subsequent  sojourn  at  Bagamoyo. 

The   specimens  are  referred  to  140  species,  of  which  eight  are 

described  as  new  to  science. 

The  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects  has 
resolved  to  award  the  gold  medal  of  the  Institution  to  Prof. 
V.  B.  Lewes  for  his  paper  on  boiler  deposits,  read  at  the 
Institution's  recent  annual  general  meeting. 

T^E  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  is  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Visitors,  will  hold  the  annual  visitation  of  the  Royal 
Observatory  at  Greenwich  on  Saturday,  June  6  next.  The 
Observatory  nill  be  open  for  inspection  at  3  p.m. 

Mr.  James  E.  Keeler,  the  Astronomer  of  the  Lick  Obser- 
vatory, has  lately  been  appointed  Director  of  the  Alleghany 
Observatory,  in  succession  to  Mr.  S.  P.  Langley,  Secretary  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

A  Czech  Academy  of  Sciences  was  opened  at  Prague  on  the 
i8ih  inst.,  by  the  Archduke  Charles  Louis.  The  Latin  title  of 
the  Academy  is  Bohemica  Scientiarum,  litterarum  et  artium 
Academia  Imperatoris  Francisci  Josephi ;  the  President  is 
Josef  HUvka,  and  the  General  Secretary  Dr.  F.  J.  Studniika. 

An  extra  evening  meeting  of  the  Royal  Institution  will  be 
held  on  Tuesday,  June  2,  at  nine  o'clock,  when  Dr.  Charles 
Waldstein  will  give  a  discourse  on  the  discovery  of  "The  Tomb 
of  Aristotle." 

American  papers  announce  the  death  of  Prof.  J.  E.  Hilgard, 
late  saperintendent  of  the  U.S.  Coast  Survey.  He  was  bom 
at  Zweibriicken  in  1825,  went  to  America  with  his  father  in 
1835,  and  entered  the  service  of  the  U.S.  Coast  Survey  in  1845. 
"  Hb  work,"  says  the  New  York  Nation,  **  lay  directly  in  the 
line  of  his  profession,  in  the  improvement  of  methods,  the  deter- 
mination of  weights  and  measures,  and  the  novel  method  of 
ascertaining  the  differences  of  longitude  by  telegraph.  His 
publications  on  these  subjects  are  to  be  found  chiefly  in  the 
Coast  Survey  Reports.     One  of  the  most  noteworthy  relates  to 

NO.    1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


the  telegraphic  determination  of  the  differences  of  longitude 
between  Greenwich,  Paris,  and  Washington.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  International  Metric  Commission  in  1872,  and  a 
member  of  the  International  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures, 
of  which  he  declined  the  directorship.  He  was  an  originid 
member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  for  some 
years  its  Home  Secretary.  In  1874  he  was  elected  President  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
He  succeeded  to  the  work  of  Bache  in  connection  with  the  work 
of  the  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures,  and  took  a  leading  part 
in  preparing  exact  metric  standards  for  distribution  to  the  States 
and  Territories." 

The  recent  botanical  mission  of  Mr.  D.  Morris  to  the  West 
Indies  forms  the  subject  of  the  JiTew  Bulletin  for  May  and  June. 
The  Bulletin  publishes  the  official  correspondence  recording  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  Imperial  Government  assented  to 
Mr.  Morris's  mission,  and  reproduces  his  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Colonies. 

The  Kew  Bulletin  does  good  service  by  publishing  lists  of 
garden  plants  annually  described  in  botanical  and  horticultural 
publications,  both  English  and  foreign.  In  Appendix  II.,  1891, 
there  is  a  list  which  comprises  all  the  new  introductions  recorded 
during  1890.  "  These  lists,"  says  the  Bulletin,  "  are  indispens- 
able to  the  maintenance  of  a  correct  nomenclature,  especially  in 
the  smaller  botanical  establishments  in  correspondence  with  Kew, 
which  are,  as  a  rule,  only  scantily  provided  with  horticultural 
periodicals.  Such  a  list  will  also  afford  information  respecting 
new  plants  under  cultivation  at  this  establishment,  many  of  which 
will  be  distributed  from  it  in  the  regular  course  of  exchange 
with  other  botanic  gardens." 

On  the  13th  inst.  the  Council  of   the  county   borough  of 
Bootle  decided  to  appropriate  and  set  aside  for  the  purpose  of 
technical  education  the  whole  of  the  portion  of  the  Exchequer 
contribution  account  which  may  so  be  used  under  the  provision 
of  the  Local  Taxation  (Customs  and  Excise)  Act,   1890.     The 
Free  Library  and  Museum  Committee  were  entrusted  with  the 
carrying  out  of  a  scheme  submitted  by  them  to  the  Council ; 
and  they  have  appointed  Mr.  John  J.  Ogle  to  the  office  of 
Organizing  Secretary  to  the  Buotle  Technical   School.     Mr. 
C.  H.  Hunt  was  also  appointed  Registrar.     The  sum  available 
is  estimated  at  /'1936  per  annum. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Tinus  of  last  week 
which  may  interest  many  of  our  readers  : — Some  months  ago  a 
company,  which  had  been  formed  at  Wheeling,  West  Virginia, 
for  the  purpose  of  "developing"  that  city,  began  to  drill  a  well 
in  search  of  petroleum  or  natural  gas.  A  depth  of  over  4100 
feet  was  reached,  and  in  this  distance  a  dozen  thick  veins  of 
coal  are  said  to  have  been  passed,  while  petroleum  and  gas 
have  both  been  struck — though  not  in  paying  quantities — and 
gold  quartz,  iron  ore,  and  many  other  minerals  have  been 
brought  to  the  surface.  The  officers  of  the  Geological  Survey 
at  Washington,  according  to  a  Wheeling  despatch,  have  become 
very  interested  in  the  proceeding,  and  "the  hole  will  be  drilled 
to  a  depth  of  one  mile."  After  this  the  Government  will  take 
up  the  work  under  the  direction  of  two  expert  officers  of  the 
Survey,  and  the  drilling  will  be  continued  into  the  earth  as  far 
as  human  skill  can  penetrate.  The  object  is  to  ascertain  the 
thermometric  and  magnetic  conditions  as  far  as  possible. 

The  Transandine  Railway  across  the  Andes,  connecting  the 
Argentine  railway  system  with  that  of  Chili,  has  been  the  subject 
of  an  interesting  article  in  Engineering.  Our  contemporary  in 
its  Issue  of  this  week  again  deals  with  this  fine  piece  of  engineer- 
ing, and  describes  the  tunnelling  plant  used,  as  well  as  the 
distribution  by  electrical  means  of  the  power  available  and 
necessary  for  driving  the  air  compressors  for  the  Ferroux  rock 


88 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1 89 1 


drills  used.  This  line  across  the  Andes  consists  of  a  series  of 
tunnels  and  other  heavy  works  ;  the  tunnels  had  to  be  bored  in 
most  inaccessible  regions,  where  the  means  of  transport  are 
meagre  in  the  extreme.  The  whole  of  the  plant  therefore  had 
to  be  designed  with  great  care  and  with  special  reference  to 
the  unusual  requirements.  Weight  had  to  be  minimized,  and 
strength  and  simplicity  had  to  be  carefully  obtained.  Water- 
power  was  available  at  some  distance  from  the  scene  of 
operations ;  the  water-power  was  brought  to  the  primary  stations 
by  means  of  20-inch  steel  pipes.  On  the  Chilian  side  the 
primary  station  contained  ten  dynamos  and  two  spare  ones,  each 
being  of  80  horse-power,  and  each  coupled  direct  to,  and  driven 
by,  a  Girard  turbine.  The  electric  power  generated  is  trans- 
mitted through  a  cable  to  secondary  stations,  where,  by  means 
of  motors,  the  air-compressors  are  operated.  A  similar  arrange- 
ment is  in  use  on  the  Aigentine  side,  only  the  d3rnamos  are  of 
40  horse-power,  because  they  had  to  be  transported  over  moun- 
tains on  mules'  backs,  which  made  it  necessary  to  minimize  the 
weight.  This  use  of  the  electrical  transmission  of  power  is 
highly  interesting,  the  circumstances  being  such  that,  without 
it,  the  boring  of  the  tunnels  would  have  been  a  work  of  great 
expense  and  magnitude. 

Globus  has  received  information  from  Japan  to  the  effect  that 
there  is  an  increasing  reaction  in  the  country  against  foreign 
influences.  This  is  said  to  be  especially  visible  in  schools  where 
European  instruction  is  given.  Two  such  schools,  one  of  which 
formerly  had  300  pupils,  the  other  150,  have  been  obliged  to 
combine  their  forces,  having  no  more  than  150  pupils  between 
them.  At  the  University  of  Tokio  the  number  of  native  lecturers 
increases,  while  that  of  the  foreign  staff  decreases. 

In  the  New  York  Sun^  Mr.  G.  F.  Kunz,  the  well-known 
expert  in  gems,  has  recently  called  attention  to  a  property  of 
the  diamond  which  may  serve  as  a  means  of  distinguishing  it 
from  other  substances.  Referring  to  the  paper  of  Robert  Boyle 
"  On  a  Remarkable  Diamond  that  Shines  in  the  Dark,"  pub- 
lished in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1663,  Mr. 
Kunz  remarks  that  this  paper  has  been  indirectly  alluded  to 
by  a  number  of  authors,  but  never  read.  Among  a  quantity  of 
facts  Boyle  mentions  one  diamond  that  phosphoresced  simply  by 
the  heat  of  the  hand,  absorbed  light  by  being  held  near  a 
candle,  and  emitted  light  on  being  rubbed.  He  stated  that 
many  diamonds  emitted  light  by  being  rubbed  in  the  dark. 
The  experiments  made  by  Mr.  Kunz  show  conclusively  not  only 
that  Boyle's  statement  that  some  diamonds  phosphoresce  in  the 
dark  after  exposure  to  the  sunlight  or  an  arc  of  electric  light  is 
true,  but  also  that  all  diamonds  emit  light  by  rubbing  them  on 
wood,  cloth,  or  metal,  a  property  which  will  probably  prove  of 
great  value  in  distinguishing  between  the  diamond  and  other 
hard  stones,  as  well  as  paste,  none  of  which  exhibit  this  phe- 
nomenon, and  will  be  welcomed  by  the  general  public  who  do 
not  possess  the  experience  of  the  dealer  in  diamonds.  The 
property  is  evidently  not  electric,  or  it  would  not  be  visible  on 
being  rubbed  on  meal. 

We  learn  from  the  American  Meteorological  Journal  for 
April  that  the  appropriation  for  the  new  Weather  Service  of  the 
United  States  is  879,753  dollars,  being  an  increase  of  62,797 
dollars  on  the  amount  for  the  current  year.  This  is  accounted 
for  by  the  addition  of  50,000  dollars  for  the  proposed  extension 
of  the  service  in  agricultural  regions,  and  by  the  fact  that,  under 
the  present  arrangement,  five  of  the  leading  officials  were 
assigned  from  the  army,  and  their  salaries  must  henceforward 
be  provided  for  from  the  appropriation  for  the  new  Weather 
Service.  The  Chief  of  the  Service  is  to  receive  4500  dollars  a 
year.  No  appointment  has  yet  been  made  to  this  position.  It 
>s  quite  possible  that  the  present  Chief  Signal  Officer  will  be 
detailed  from  the  army  for  this  duty,  and  Prof.  Abbe,  Prof.  W. 

NO.    I  126,  VOL.  44] 


M.  Davb,  Prof.  Nipher,  and  Dr.  Uinrichs  are  some  of  the 
other  prominent  meteorologists  mentioned  as  possible  can- 
didates. The  same  Journal  also  reports  that  Dr.  Baker, 
Secretary  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of  Health,  has  iovcsti- 
gated  the  cause  of  influenza.  He  stated  that  the  germs  are  at 
all  times  present,  but  that  there  must  be  certain  coincident 
meteorological  conditions  to  irritate  the  throat  and  air  passages 
sufficiently  to  let  the  germ  gain  an  entrance  to  the  body.  These 
conditions  were,  in  this  instance,  the  excessive  prevaleooe  of 
north  and  north-east  winds,  and  the  excessive  amonnt  of  ozone 
during  the  past  three  months. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Wragge  has  issued  a  circular,  dated  Febmaij  5 
last,  stating  that  *'in  consequence  of  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
Meteorological  Service  of  Australasia  in  connection  with  the 
Queensland  Government — an  extension  which  now  embraces  a 
large  portion  of  the  Western  Pacific  Ocean,  New  Guinea,  and 
the  Malay  Archipelago — it  has  been  determined  to  stop  the  issae 
of  the  laxge  charts  which  have  hitherto  dealt  with  the  meteoro- 
logy of  Australasia  only,  and  to  issue,  instead,  in  the  eariy 
future,  a  weather  chart  as  complete  as  possible,  embraciiig  not 
only  Australasia,  but  also  the  regions  above  indicated."  Some 
charts  have  already  been  issued  giving  the  isobaric  lines  for  the 
region  referred  to,  and  extending  southwards  and  eastwards  to 
New  Zealand  and  the  New  Hebrides.  Isobars  drawn  for  20* 
to  30''  to  the  eastward  of  Brisbane  must  be  to  a  great  extent 
problematical,  aQd  in  fact  this  is  admitted  by  the  broken  lines 
extending  over  the  ocean.  The  information,  to  say  the  least,  seems 
at  present  insufficient  for  the  purpose,  and  over  large  tracts  it  k 
absolutely  wanting  ;  but  the  establishment  of  stations  in  remote 
islands  is,  of  itself,  very  desirable. 

The  other  day  Prof.  Vambery  delivered  m  Edinburgh,  onder 
the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Geographical  Society,  an 
interesting  lecture  on  British  civilization  and  influence  in  Asia. 
He  had  many  pleasant  things  to  say  about  England,  but  did  not 
quite  overlook  her  shortcomings.  He  said  he  was  immensely 
struck  by  the  indifference  shown  by  the  public  at  large  to  every- 
thing that  concerned  Asia.  He  had  lectured  in  more  than  20 
towns  in  this  country,  and  found,  even  amongst  the  middle 
classes,  great  ignorance  in  regard  to  Asiatic  geography  and 
ethnography.  Asiatic  languages,  moreover,  were  greatly  neg- 
lected. Germany,  which  had  not  got  any  territory  in  Asia, 
bestowed  far  greater  attention  upon  the  old  world  than  this 
country.  He  opined  that  if  the  interest  in  Asia  would  increase 
in  this  country  commensurately  with  its  political  power  and 
influence  over  the  various  races  in  Asia,  Britain  would  decidedly 
remain  there  a  permanent  Power  which  could  never  be  ousted 
by  any  rival.  He  thought  that  there  ought  to  be  more  schoob 
for  Oriental  languages  in  this  country.  There  was  a  general 
supposition  that  Britons  in  general  could  not  learn  foreiga 
languages,  but  that  was  not  true.  The  greatest  linguists  of  o&r 
age  had  been  British,  as,  for  example.  Lord  Strangford  for 
Turkish,  and  the  late  Sir  Richard  Burton  and  the  late  Prot 
Palmer  for  Arabic  Then  there  were  scholars  like  Sir  James 
Redhouse,  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  Sir  William  White,  and  many 
others  bearing  evidence  of  the  brilliant  linguistic  capacity  of  the 
British.  He  believed  that  nothing  could  be  easier  than  to 
recruit  in  this  island  a  goodly  number  of  Oriental  linguists  for 
employment  in  various  Asiatic  countries. 

A  PAPER  by  Messrs.  G.  F.  Harris  and  H.  W.  Burrows,  on 
the  Eocene  and  Oligocene  beds  of  the  Paris  Basin,  is  to  be  issued 
as  a  separate  publication  by  the  Geologists'  Association.  It  wiU 
be  illustrated  by  a  map  and  sections.  The  paper  is  the  result 
of  several  years'  careful  study  of  the  Parisian  Tertiaries,  and 
close  communication  with  many  eminent  French  geologists. 
The  authors  give  an  elaborate  appendix,  consisting  of  a  list  of 
the  fossil  Mollusca,  some  3500  species,  showing  the  range  in 


May  28,  1 89 1.] 


NA  TURE 


89 


time  ;  the  nomenclature  of  each  species  has  been  critically  re- 
vised and  brought  up  to  date.  Careful  attention  has  also  been 
paid  to  the  relationship  between  recent  and  Tertiary  forms. 
The  generic  names  under  which  most  of  the  shells  are  siill 
known  in  this  country  are  added  as  an  assistance  to  the  student. 

The  Physical  Society  of  London  has  published  the  first  part 
of  the  eleventh  volume  of  its  Proceedings.  Among  the  contents 
are  notes  on  photographs  of  rapidly  moving  objects,  and  on  the 
oscillating  electric  spark,  by  Mr.  C.  V.  Boys  ;  a  formula  for 
calcolating  approximately  the  self-induction  of  a  coil,  by  Prof. 
John  Perry ;  a  lecture  experiment  illustrating  the  effect  of  heat 
upon  the  magnetic  susceptibility  of  nickel,  by  Mr.  Shelford 
Bidwell ;  and  experiments  in  photo-electricity,  by  Prof.  G.  M. 
Minchin. 

A  LECTURE  by  Pro£  A.  Macalbter,  delivered  on  January  29, 
on  the  opening  of  the  new  anatomical  lecture-room  at  Cambridge, 
has  been  published  by  the  Cambridge  University  Press.  The 
subject  is  '*  The  History  of  the  Study  of  Anatomy  in  Cam- 
bridge." 

Messrs.  Charles  Griffin  and  Co.  have  published  the 
eighth  annual  issue  of  the  ''Year-book  of  the  Scientific  and 
Learned  Societies  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland."  The  work  is 
compiled  from  official  sources,  and  comprises  lists  of  the  papers 
read  during  1890  before  Societies  engaged  in  fourteen  depart- 
ments of  research,  with  the  names  of  their  authors. 

The  Engineering  Company,  publishers.  New  York,  are 
issuing  a  new  monthly  magazine,  entitled  Engineerings  which  is 
to  be  wholly  devoted  to  the  record  of  industrial  progress.  The 
first  two  numbers  have  been  published. 

There  are  some  valuable  morphological  notes  in  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Circulars  for  May.  Among  other  papers 
we  may  mention  one  on  the  structure  and  development  of  the 
gonophores  of  a  certain  Siphonophore  belonging  to  the  order 
Anronectae  (Haeckel),  by  NV.  K.  Brooks  and  K.  G.  Conklin. 
Other  papers  are :  preliminary  notes  on  some  new  species  of 
Squilla,  by  R.  P.  Bigelow,  and  a  preliminary  note  on  the 
anatomy  and  transformation  of  Tomaria,  by  T.  H:  Morgan. 

The  "  Biblioth^ue  ^volutioniste  "  is  the  general  title  of  a 
new  scientific  series  which  is  being  published  in  Paris.  The 
editor  is  M.  Henry  de  Varigny.  The  first  volumes  are  mostly 
translations,  Wallace's  "  Darwinism  "  opening  the  list ;  but 
French  authors  are  also  to  contribu  te,  and  works  are  being  pre- 
pared by  Messrs.  A.  Sabatier,  of  Montpellier ;  J.  Deniker,  the 
well-known  anthropologist ;  Prof.  Giard,  and  others. 

In  Nature  for  May  14,  p.  36,  line  5  from  top.  or  "  1887  " 
read  "1889." 

A  new  and  very  beautiful  silver  mineral  is  described  by  Mr. 
F.  A.  Genth  in  the  May  number  of  the  American  Journal  of 
Science.  It  was  discovered  by  Seflor  Aguilar,  of  the  San  Carlos 
SHver  Mine  at  Guanajuato,  Mexico,  and  has  been  named  after 
him,  aguilaiite.  It  is  a  sulpho-selenide  of  silver,  of  the  composi- 
tion Ag|S  +  AggSe,  the  analyses  of  pure  crystals  agreeing 
exactly  with  this  formula.  The  crystals  are  iron-black  in 
colour,  and  possess  a  most  brilliant  lustre.  They  belong  to 
the  cubic  system,  and  consist  of  curious  skeleton  dodecahedrons, 
the  edges  of  which  are  perfect,  while  the  centres  of  the  faces  are 
more  or  less  worn  or  imperfectly  developed.  These  dodecahedrons 
are  frequently  elongated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  either 
tetragonal  prisms  terminated  by  pyramids  of  the  opposite  order, 
or  hexagonal  prisms  terminated  by  rhombohedral  planes.  They 
generally  occur  in  interlaced  and  closely  aggregated  groups,  the 
individual  crystals  of  which  attain  a  size  of  a  centimetre  or  more 
in  diameter.     They  are  for  the  most  part  embedded  in  colourless 

NO.    II 26,  VOL.  44] 


calcite,  which  may  readily  be  removed  from  them  by  means  of 
dilute  acetic  acid  ;  frequently  a  little  quartz  is  associated  with 
them.  The  crystals  are  readily  sectile  and  malleable,  and  their 
hardness  is  only  2*5.  Their  specific  gravity  is  7*586.  When 
heated  in  an  open  tube  to  low  redness,  gradually  increasing  to 
bright  redness,  they  yield  metallic  silver,  together  with  a  slight 
sut^limate  of  selenium,  and  slender  needles  of  selenious  and 
sulphuric  oxides,  which  latter  forms,  with  a  little  of  the  silver, 
silver  sulphate.  In  many  of  the  specimens  of  aguilarite  examined, 
the  crystals  were  observed  to  be  penetrated  in  a  remarkable 
manner  by  rpund  holes,  and  they  also  frequently  exhibited 
deposits  of  pure  metallic  silver  upon  their  faces. 

Several  of  the  simpler  sulphides  of  the  organic  radides  have 
been  found  to  occur  naturally  in  the  crude  petroleum  oil  of  Ohio 
by  Messrs.  Mabery  and  Smith,  who  describe  the  mode  adopted 
for  their  isolation  in    the  current    number  of  the  American 
Chemical  youmaL     As  far  as  they  are  aware,   these  alkyl 
sulphides  have  never  previously  been  found  in  nature.     When 
the  higher  boiling  fractions  of  the  dbtilled  oil  are  agitated  with 
oil  of  vitriol,  these  sulphur  compounds  are  taken  up  by  the 
sulphuric  acid,  and,  upon    subsequently  neutralizing  the  acid 
solution  with  slaked  lime,  unstable  calcium  salts  are  obtained, 
which  are  readily  decomposed  by  distillation  in  steam,  which 
carries  over  the  sulphides  without  decomposition.    By  emplojring 
these  reactions  upon  a  large  scale,  and  afterwards  subjecting 
the  mixed  sulphides  to  a  rigorous  fractional  distillation  under 
reduced  pressure  (150  mm.  being  the  most  convenient  working 
pressure),  the  foUowing  sulphides  have  been  isolated :  methyl 
sulphide,  (CH,)(S ;  ethyl  sulphide,  (CsHq)}S  ;   normal  propyl 
sulphide,  (CtH7),S  ;  normal  and  iso-butyl  sulphides,  (C4H9)jS  ', 
amyl  sulphide,  (C9H]i),S  ;  hexyl  sulphide,  (C8Hi,)2S  ;  and  a  few 
other  sulphides  of  mixed  radicles.     Most  of  these  sulphides  were 
obtained  in  the  pure  state  by  treating  the  products  of  the  frac- 
tionation with  mercuric  chloride,  and  thus  obtaining  crystak  of 
the  addition  compounds  of  the  type  (CH,),S  .  HgCl^,  and  sub- 
sequently decomposing  these  crystals  of  the  mercury  compounds 
with  sulphuretted  hydrogen. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Barbary  Ape  {Macacus  inuus  6)  from 
North  Africa,  presented  by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Watkins  ;  a  Diuca 
Finch  {Diuca  grisea),  two  Gay's  Finches  {Phrygilus  gayi)  from 
Chili,  two  De  Filippi's  Meadow  Stariings  {Siurnella  defilippC^ 
from  La  Plata,  presented  by  Mr.  Charles  G.  Sharpe ;  two  Bankiva 
Jungle  Fowls  {Gallus  bankiva  6  9)  from  India,  presented  by 
Captain  George  James;  a  Common  Rhea  {Rhea  americana) 
from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  P.  Houston;  an 
Algerian  Tortoise  (Tesfudo  mauritanica)  from  North  Africa, 
presented  by  Mrs.  Margaret  Clarke ;  a  Black* eared  Marmoset 
\ffapale  penicillatcC)  from  South-east  Brazil,  presented  by  Mr* 
Aubrey  Lace  ;  a  Capybara  {ffydrocharus  capybara\  a  Brown 
Milvago  {Afilvago  chimango),  a  Violaceous  Night  Heron  {Nycti- 
corax  violaceus)  from  South  America,  two  Blue-bearded  Jays 
{Cyanoeorax  cyanopogon)  from  Para,  four  Crested  Screamers 
{Chauna  chavaria)  from  Buenos  Ayres,  deposited  ;  two  Varie- 
gated Sheldrakes  ( Tadorna  variegata)  from  New  Zealand,  two 
Larger  Tree  Ducks  [Dendrocygna  major)  from  India,  purchased  ; 
two  Japanese  Deer  {Cervus  sika  d  9  ),  a  Chinchilla  {Chinchilla 
lanigera),  an  African  Wild  Ass  {Equus  taniafius),  bom  in  the 
Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN, 

The  Draper  Catalogue  op  Stellar  Spectra. — Vol. 
xxvii.  of  the  Annals  of  the  AstronomiccU  Observatory  of  Harvard 
College  contains  a  catalogue  of  the  spectra  of  10,351  stars,  nearly 
all  of  them  north  of  the  parallel  of  declination  -  25%  photo- 
graphed with  the  8-inch  Bache  telescope.     As  the  work  forms  a 


90 


NATURE 


[May  28,  1891 


part  of  the  Henry  Draper  Memorial,  it  is  suggested  that  it  be 
designated  as  the  Draper  Catalogue.  In  order  to  produce  the 
spectra,  a  prism  8  inches  square  and  having  a  refracting  angle 
of  13%  was  fastened  in  front  of  the  object-glass,  with  its  refract- 
ing angle  placed  perpendicular  to  the  earth's  axis.  The  spectra 
obtained  have  been  conveniently  arranged  in  classes  indlicated 
by  the  letters  A  to  Q.  Of  these,  A,  B,  C,  and  D  indicate 
varieties  of  Secchi's  first  type,  £  to  L  varieties  of  the  second 
type,  M  the  third  type,  and  N  the  fourth  type.  The  letter  O  is 
used  for  stars  whose  spectra  consist  mainly  of  bright  lines,  and 
the  letter  P  is  reserved  for  planetary  nebulae.  The  classes  O 
and  P  closely  resemble  each  other,  and  are  regarded  by  Prof. 
Pickering  as  a  fifth  t^pe  of  spectrum.  AH  spectra  not  included 
in  these  classes  are  indicated  by  the  letter  Q.  Viewed  as  the 
result  of  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  types  of  the  photographic 
spectra  of  stars,  the  catalogue  is  of  the  highest  importance.  But 
it  is  to  the  discussion  of  individual  lines,  which  is  to  follow  in 
another  volume,  that  we  have  to  look  for  detailed  information 
which  may  improve  our  knowledge  of  stellar  constitution. 

Solar  Observations  from  January  to  March  1891. — 
In  Comptes  rendus^  No.  19  (May  11,  1 891),  Prof.  Tacchini  gives 
the  following  account  of  solar  activity  during  the  first  three 
months  of  this  year. 

Observations  of  spots  and  faculee  have  been  made  on  64  days, 
viz.  16  in  January,  26  in  February,  and  22  in  March.  The 
results  obtained  are  : — 


1891. 

January 

February 

March 


Relative  frequency 
y '^ > 


Relative  magoitude 


of 
spots. 

1-56 
231 
1*27 


of  days 
with  juc 

spots. 

0-30 
.   0'I5 

.  o'i4 


of 
spots. 

18-50 
24*04 
11*91 


of 
facule. 

16-88 
89-62 
41-82 


Number 

of 
groups 
per  day. 

1-38 


The  following  are  the  results  of  observations  of   hydrogen 
prominences : — 


1891. 

January 

February 

March 


Number 

of  days  of 

observation. 

13 
22 

17 


Prominences 


Mean 
number. 

4*62 

7*55 

6*12 


Mean 
height. 


// 


369 
44*1 

40*1 


Mean 

extension. 

o 

1*3 
1-8 

I  "5 


When  these  numbers  are  compared  with  those  obtained  for 
the  last  three  months  of  1890,  a  marked  increase  is  apparent. 
In  addition  to  this  the  results  obtained  for  spots,  faculae,  and 
prominences  indicate  that  a  secondary  maximum  of  solar 
activity  occurred  during  the  month  of  February. 

The  Constant  of  Aberration. — A  short  time  ago  MM. 
Loewy  and  Puiseux  described  the  principle  of  their  new  method 
of  studying  annual  aberration  and  the  general  conclusions  de- 
duced from  the  observations    made   last  year  (see  Nature, 
vol.  xliii.  p.  498).     In   Comptes  rendus^  No.  20  (May  19)  they 
give  a  detailed  account  of  the  modus  operandi,  and  the  numerical 
values  obtained  by  the  observation  of  two  groups  of  four  stars. 
The  mean   of  all  the  observations  gives  for  the  constant  of 
aberration  the  value  20" '447  ±  o'''024. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  ON  A  CORAL  REEF.^ 

T  N  nearly  all  the  shallow  waters  of  the  tropical  seas  there  is  an 
^  abundant  fauna,  but  nowhere  is  there  such  a  crowd  of 
marine  animals  of  all  kinds  as  there  is  in  the  region  that  extends 
from  the  growing  edge  of  the  coral  reef  to  a  depth  of  some 
10  or  15  fathoms  beyond  it.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
in  this  region  there  is  plenty  of  light  and  heat,  no  great  or 
sudden  changes  of  temperature,  or  of  the  chemical  composition 
of  the  water,  and  there  is  an  abundant  food  supply  brought  by 
tidal  currents  from  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  Here  it  is,  then, 
that  we  find  the  richest  fauna.  Here  it  is  that  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  most  severe,  and  here  it  is  that  the  animals  are  pro- 
tected and  concealed  by  the  most  pronounced  marks  and  colours, 
and  provided  by  Nature  with  various  forms  of  armour,  stings 
and  spines  to  defend  them  in  the  battles  with  their  enemies. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  results  of  this  severe  struggle  for 

'  Abstract  of  Lecture  by  Dr.  S.  J.  Hickson,  delivered  at  the  London 
Institution,  January  32,  189 1. 

NO.    1 126,  VOL.  44] 


existence,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  of  the 
large  number  of  species  competing  for  existence,  is  the  important 
faunistic  difference  that  may  be  observed  between  one  reef  and 
another — ^nay,  indeed,  between  one  part  of  a  reef  and  another 
part  of  the  same  reef. 

Darwin  long  aeo  pointed  out  that  in  the  stm^le  for  ezistence 
a  very  slight  advantage  gained  by  any  one  of  the  competing 
species  may  entirely  alter  the  whole  aspect  of  the  field  ;  and  it 
follows  that  a  very  slight  though  constant  difference  in  the 
physical  conditions,  such,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  coral  reefe. 
as  rapiditv  of  tidal  currents,  amount  of  surf  or  character  of  the 
shore  rocks,  may  completely  change  the  characteristics  of  the 
fauna.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some  genera  and  species  that  ate 
apparently  found  on  all  the  reefs,  such  as  Tubipora  and 
Madrepora,  but  every  reef  has  its  own  peculiar  characters,  and 
a  naturalist  never  feels  when  he  is  examining  one  that  he  has 
seen  something  exactly  like  it  on  any  previous  occasion. 

The  majority  of  the  corals  that  are  found  on  the  reeis  oi 
North  Celebes  belong  to  two  great  orders — the  Zoantharia  and 
Alcyonaria.  The  prevailing  colour  of  the  living  Zoantharia 
is  dull  greeny-brown.  The  tentacles  and  the  oral  disks,  and  in 
some  cases  the  growing  or  younger  branches  as  a  whole,  may  be 
very  brightly  coloured.  White,  pink,  emerald  green,  violet, 
and  blue,  are  colours  frequently  met  with  in  different  parts  oif 
the  Zoantharian  colony.  The  colours  of  the  Alcyonariacs  may 
be  due  to  the  bright  red,  yellow,  or  purple  spicules,  or  to  the 
rich  brown  or  green  colour  of  the  soft  parts.  There  is  veiy 
considerable  variation  in  the  colour  of  the  soft  parts  of  the 
Alcyonaria.  The  tentacles  of  the  polyps  of  Tubipora,  for 
example,  may  be  any  shade  between  bright  green  and  pinkish- 
brown.  A  species  of  Sarcophytum,  again,  common  oq  the  shores 
of  Celebes,  showed  green  and  greenish-yellow  and  yeliov 
examples  within  the  same  half-mile  of  reef.  All  of  these  coral 
colours,  with  the  exception  of  the  oolour  of  the  spicules  mentioned 
above,  are  soluble  in  spirit,  the  soft  parts  becoming,  after  pro- 
longed immersion  in  this  fluid,  pale  brown.  The  alcohol 
extracts  of  a  considerable  number  of  corals  have  now  been 
submitted  to  spectrum  analysis,  and  the  bands  they  exhibit  show 
close  affinities  with  vegetable  chlorophyll. 

There  is  no  experimental  evidence  at  present  that  proves  that 
the  colours  of  the  corals,  nor,  indeed,  oi  the  sponges,  are  either 
protective  or  warning  in  function.  It  seems  much  more  probable 
that  these  brilliant  colours  represent  different  stages  in  the  boiJdiog 
up  or  breaking  down  of  some  complex  chemi^  substance  that 
is  always  present  in  marine  zoophytes,  and  performs  some 
important  physiological  function. 

Besides  the  numerous  sponges,  corals,  holothurians,  mollusks, 
&c.,  that  are  attached  to  the  bottom  or  creep  but  slowly  from 
place  to  place,  the  numerous  species  of  swimming  animals  that 
are  capable  of  active  movements  in  pursuit  of  prey,  or  escaping 
from  their  enemies,  must  be  considered  as  part  of  the  fauna  of  the 
coral  reef.  These  include  fishes,  cephalopods,  and  Crustacea, 
and  those  of  them  that  seem  to  live  habitually  among  the  corals 
of  the  reef  are  characterized  by  the  possession  of  very  carious 
spots  or  stripes  and  very  brilliant  colours. 

Soon  after  my  arrival  in  Talisse  a  large  lobster  was  brought  to 
me  marked  by  broad  transverse  bands  of  blue  and  white ;  a 
large  Squilla  is  not  uncommon  marked  with  similar  bands  of 
white  and  deep  purple,  and  the  little  prawn  Stenopus  hispidus, 
that  I  found  in  a  tidal  pool  close  to  a  reef,  has  bands  of  red  and 
white.  The  cephalopods  have  also  peculiar  markings.  One 
specimen  that  I  found,  Octoptis  lunulcUus^  had  large  blue  spots 
over  its  body  and  arms.  The  fishes,  again,  are  marked  with 
spots  and  stripes  of  various  kinds  and  many  brilliant  colours. 

Without  going  too  deeply  into  the  argument,  we  are  justified 
in  saying  that  these  animals  are  so  marked  and  coloured  because 
they  live  among  the  brilliant  surroundings  of  the  coral  reef;  or, 
to  put  it  in  another  way,  animals  similarly  organized  and  of 
similar  habits  would  be  at  a  disadvantage  on  the  coral  reeCs  if 
they  were  not  so  marked  and  coloured.  The  other  fishes  of  the 
tropics  do  not  possess  these  curious  and  beautiful  characters ; 
the  sharks,  bonitos,  flying  fishes,  herrings,  and  others  that  do 
not  live  habitually  on  the  coral  reefs  are  not  unlike  in  general 
colour  and  ornamentation  the  fish  of  temperate  seas.  Again,  the 
Crustacea  and  fish  of  the  tropical  rivers  and  lakes  are  not  as  a 
rule  characterized  by  any  peculiar  colouring  or  marking.  These 
peculiarities,  then,  are  not  directly  due  to  the  high  temperature 
and  bright  light  of  the  tropics,  but  they  are  due  to  the  cnarader 
of  the  surroundings. 

Most  of  the  colours  must  be  considered  to  be  concealment 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


91 


colours.  Stenopus  hispidus,  thoagh  so  very  conspicuous  when 
taken  out  of  the  water,  was  extremely  difficult  to  see  in  the  pool 
where  I  found  it.  I  should,  in  all  probability,  have  failed  to 
notice  it,  had  I  not  quite  unintentionally  and  blindly  touched  it 
with  my  stick.  Like  all  animals  protected  by  concealment 
coloars,  it  remained  perfectly  motionless  when  alarmed.  When 
looking  down  on  to  the  growing  edge  of  a  reef  from  a  boat  on  a 
calm  day,  it  is  very  difficult  at  first  to  see  anything  but  the 
corals  and  sponges.  After  a  time,  when  the  eyes  become  more 
accustomed  to  the  light,  the  fish  may  be  distinguished.  Those 
that  are  coloured  blu2  are  much  less  readily  seen  than  the  gold, 
yellow,  and  red  varieties  ;  but  an  examination  of  the  fish  that  I 
caught  myself,  and  were  caught  for  me  by  the  natives,  showed 
that  the  fish  in  which  blue  is  the  prevailing  colour  are  much 
more  frequent  in  the  very  shallow  water,  while  those  that  were 
caaght  in  water  from  15  to  20  fathoms  were  more  frequently  red 
or  yellow.  The  blue  colour  seems  to  be  a  protection  for  the 
fish  from  air-breathing  enemies — the  eagles,  ospreys,  and  hawks 
—and  as  these  enemies  can  only  approach  them  from  above,  the 
coloars  are  frequently  confined  to  tne  dorsal  sides.  The  red  and 
yeUow  colours  of  the  fish  seem  to  be  a  protection  from  animals, 
such  as  the  sharks,  perch,  and  other  carnivorous  fish,  that 
approach  them  from  the  deeper  waters  beyond  the  reefs.  Thus 
red  and  yellow  fishes  rarely  have  these  colours  confined  to  the 
upper  sides,  and  many  of  the  blue  fishes  are  coloured  red  or 
yellow  ventrally. 

It  is  difficult  to  frame  any  general  rule  to  account  for  the 
carious  distribution  of  the  colours  of  these  animals  in  spots  and 
stripes.  Speaking  in  very  general  terms,  for  there  are  many 
exceptions,  the  fish  that  browse  on  the  corals,  possessing  small 
mouths  and  chisel-shaped  teeth  (such  as  the  Chaetodoos,  Trigger 
fish,  and  Surgeons),  are  striped  ;  those  that  feed  on  other  fish, 
and  have  large  mouths  armed  with|camivorous  teeth,  such  as 
the  Serranidse,  are  spotted. 

The  only  example  of  what  appears  to  be  a  warning  colour  that 
I  have  noticed  occurs  in  connection  with  the  spines  on  the  tails 
of  certain  Surgeons  and  Trigger  fish.  Acanthurus  achillisy  for 
example,  has  a  uniform  purple  colour,  but  there  is  a  bright  red 
patch  surrounding  the  formidable  tail  spines  that  give  these  fish 
the  name  of  Surgeons.  Similar  warning  colours  are  very  pro- 
pounced  also  in  Naseus  unicornis  and  Naseus  lituratus^  and 
in  some  of  the  Balistidse. 


WASHINGTON  MAGNETIC    OBSERVATIONS, 

i886.> 

T'HIS  volume  contains  the  results  that  have  been  obtained 
from  the  magnetic  observations  taken  at  the  Naval  Obser- 
vatory during  the  years  1888  and  1889.  The  instruments  with 
which  they  were  made  were,  in  the  year  1887,  placed  in  their 
respective  buildings  that  had  been  erected  for  that  purpose  by 
the  Bureau  of  Navigation.  In  the  construction  of  these  build- 
ings the  greatest  care  was  taken  to  insure  the  complete  elimina- 
tion of  local  disturbances.  No  iron  or  any  ma^etic  material 
was  used  at  all,  and  the  fastenings,  &c.,  were  entirely  of  copper, 
brass,  and  wood ;  even  the  stoves,  in  which  only  wood  was 
l>omt,  were  of  soap-stone,  with  copper  pipes. 

The  instruments  that  were  employed  consisted  of  a  declino- 
meter, theodolite,  portable  magnetometer,  dip-circle,  a  set  of 
self-recording  magnetographs,  a  seismoscope,  and  seismograph  ; 
each  of  them,  with  the  exception  of  the  last  two  mentioned, 
being  set  on  piers  based  on  concrete,  and  in  no  way  connected 
with  the  floors  of  the  buildings.  To  complete  the  equipment,  a 
oompass-testing  stand  is  plac^  on  a  pier  north  of  the  theodolite, 
ud  is  capable  of  motion  in  an  east  and  west  direction.  By 
means  of  an  arm  carrying  two  prisma  that  have  adjusting  screws, 
^e  opposite  marks  on  the  compass  card  can  be  placed  in  the 
field  of  view  of  the  theodolite  when  the  latter  is  directed  on  the 
pnsms.  All  the  observations,  which  are  represented  in  tabular 
fonn,  denote  the  results  that  have  been  obtained  after  applying 
«jll  necessary  corrections.  The  tables  include,  among  others, 
tbe  mean  hourly  values  of  the  horizontal  and  vertical  force  for 
c>ch  month  of  1889,  and  of  the  declination  for  each  month  of 
1888  and  1889,  the  last  of  which  are  taken  from  the  monthly 
cvfes ;  declination  ordinates  for  each  hour,  in  minutes  of  arc 
taken  from  daily  declination  traces  ;  hourly  values  of  horizontal 

,/ AMendix  I.—*'  Magnetic  ObservatioiM.''    By  Ensign  J.  A.  Hoogewerff, 
u.a.  Nary.    (Washington :  Government  Printhig  Office,  x89a) 

NO.   II 26,  VOL.  44] 


and  vertical  force  in  absolute  measure  with  all  corrections  ;  ob- 
servations of  horizontal  intensitv  and  dip,  with  a  summary  of 
disturbances  in  declination  which  difiered  two  minutes  or  more 
from  the  mean  monthly  curve. 

No  less  important  is  the  series  of  the  fourteen  large  plates  at 
the  end  of  the  volume.  The  first  shows  the  way  that  the  daily 
photographic  traces  of  declination,  horizontal  and  vertical  force 
are  recoided ;  while  the  second  illustrates  the  mean  diurnal 
variation  of  the  magnetic  elements  for  the  year  1889.  In  this 
latter  plate  the  curve  that  gives  the  integration  of  these  elements 
— that  is,  that  gives  the  mean  diurnal  total  force — brings  out  the 
fact  that  in  every  twenty-four  hours  there  are  two  maxima  and 
two  minima,  these  latter  two  occurring  between  midnight  and 
noon  (75th  meridian  mean  time). 

Plates  iii.  to  vi.  inclusive  show  the  traces  of  the  monthly 
composite  curves  of  declination  for  the  two  years. 

In  Plates  vii.  to  xiv.  most  interesting  comparison  is  made  of 
the  disturbed  days  of  declination  taken  from  observations  at 
Washington,  Los  Angeles  (California),  Toronto  (Canada),  and 
Pawlowsk  (Russia) :  the  curves  are  all  computed  for  the  same 
time  (f>.  for  the  75th  meridian  west  of  Greenwich),  and  reduced 
to  the  same  length  of  base  line.  Although  on  the  whole  the 
curves  show  a  more  or  less  equal  variation,  yet  there  are  some 
cases  in  which  a  decided  local  variation  has  taken  place.  For 
instance,  on  January  20,  between  the  hours  of  noon  and  four 
o'clock  (75th  meridian  time),  the  magnetic  declination  at  Wash- 
ington, Los  Angeles,  and  Toronto,  shows  only  slight  variations, 
while  at  Pawlowsk  the  disturbance  is  in  comparison  quite  large. 
Another  very  interesting  case  happens  on  March  17,  when  the 
curves  traced  at  Washington  and  Toronto  are  quite  similar  ta 
each  other,  but  different  from  those  traced  at  the  other  two  places : 
the  curve  showing  the  magnetic  disturbances  in  declination  at 
Pawlowsk  being  very  similar  to  that  indicating  the  horizontal 
force  at  Washington. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCA  TIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  subject  of  the  Rede  Lecture,  to  be  given 
by  Sir  Alfred  Lyall  on  June  17,  is  **  Natural  Religion  in 
India." 

The  General  Board  of  Studies  have  again  brought  forward 
proposals  for  the  increase  of  the  stipends  paid  to  University 
Lecturers  and  Demonstrators  in  Natural  Science,  which  had  to 
be  postponed  last  year  owing  to  want  of  funds.  1 

Mr.  A.  Hutchinson,  Demonstrator  of  Chemistry  in  Caius 
College,  has  been  recognized  as  a  Teacher  of  Chemistry  with 
reference  to  the  regulations  for  medical  degrees. 

A  Syndicate  is  proposed  by  the  Council  of  the  Senate  for  the 
purpose  of  considering  whether  any  alternative  for  Greek  should 
be  permitted  in  the  Previous  Examination.  This  is  sure  to 
rouse  much  agitation,  but  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  long-vexed 
question  will  at  length  be  settled  in  a  liberal  sense. 

Another  Syndicate  is  to  consider  the  office  of  Superintendent 
of  the  Museums  of  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy,  about 
to  be  vacated  by  Mr.  J«  W.  Clark,  Registrary.  Some  rearrange- 
ment of  the  duties,  &c.,  is  considered  desirable. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American /(mmal  of  Science^  May. — On  the  relationship  of 
the  Pleistocene  to  the  pre- Pleistocene  formations  of  the  Missb- 
sippi  basin,  south  of  the  limit  of  glaciation,  by  T.  C.  Cham- 
berlain and  R.  D.  Salisbury. — On  certain  measures  of  the 
intensity  of  solar  radiation,  by  William  Ferrel.  The  author 
shows  that  many  measures  of  the  intensity  of  solar  radiation  are 
of  uncertain  value.  He  specially  discusses  M.  Crova's  curves  of 
the  relative  intensities  of  solar  radiation,  obtained  at  Montpellier 
with  a  modified  form  of  the  thermopile,  called  the  registering 
actinometer.— Geological  age  of  the  Saganaga  syenite,  by 
Horace  V.  Winchell. — On  a  self- feeding  Sprengel  pump,  by 
H.  L.  Wells. — Contributions  to  mineralogy,  No.  50,  by  F.  A. 
Genth  ;  with  crystallographic  notes  by  S.  L.  Penfield  and  L.  V. 
Pirsson.  The  composition  and  habits  of  the  following  minerals 
are  given  :  three  new  varieties  of  axinite,  eadialyte,  and 
monticellite,    and   titanite  from  Magnet   Cove,    Arkansas. — 


92 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1891 


Contributions  to  mineralogy,  No.  51,  by  F.  A.  Genth.  A 
new  species,  which  has  been  named  aguilarite,  is  described.  It 
appears  to  be  a  cupriferous  stephanite  with  an  admixture  of 
metallic  silver. — Columbite  of  the  Black  Hills,  South  Dakota, 
by  W.  P.  Blake. — The  raised  reefs  of  Fernando  dc  Noronha, 
by  Henry  N.  Ridley. — The  cause  of  active  compressive 
stress  in  rocks  and  recent  rock  flexures,  by  T.  Mellard  Reade. 
— A  new  phosphate  from  the  Black  Hills  of  South  Dakota, 
by  W.  P.  Headden. — Note  on  certain  peculiarities  in  the 
behaviour  of  a  galvanometer  when  used  with  the  thermopile,  by 
Ernest  Merritt. — Supplementary  notice  on  the  polycrase  of 
North  and  South  Carolina,  by  W.  £.  Hidden  and  J.  B. 
Mackintosh. 

The.  American  Meteorological  Journal  for  March  contains  :— 
An  article  by  S.  M.  Ballou,  on  Prof.  Russell's  theory  of  cold 
waves,  published  in  the  Report  of  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  for 
18S9.  This  article  is  a  reprint  of  a  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of 
the  New  England  Meteorological  Society  on  January  20  last. 
According  to  Prof.  Russell's  theory,  the  cause  of  the  cold  area 
from  which  the  cold  wave  is  drawn  is  held  to  be  a  preliminary 
strong  upward  diminution  of  temperature  in  the  air,  a  subsequent 
overturning,  bringing  the  cold  air  to  the  surface  and  producing 
uniform  temperature  upwards,  and  a  further  cooling  above, 
producing  high  pressure.  The  author  points  out  that  each  of 
these  assumptions  would  probably  be  questioned,  and  he 
considers  each  of  them  in  detail,  quoting  from  the  works  of 
various  authorities  upon  the  subject. — Temperature  in  high  and 
low  areas.  This  is  a  translation  of  the  substance  of  a  reply  by 
Dr.  Hann,  in  the  Meteorologischi  Zeitschrift  of  September  1890, 
to  the  criticisms  of  Prof.  Hazen.  These  papers  have  already 
been  noticed  at  length  in  Nature. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES, 

London. 

Royal  Society,  April  30. — "The  Passive  State  of  Iron  and 
Steel,  Part  III."     By  Thos.  Andrews,  F.R.S.,  M.Inst.C.E. 

Series  V.,  Set  i.  Relative  Passivity  of  Wrought-iron  and 
various  Steel .  Bars,  and  the  Influence  of  Chemical  Composition 
and  Physical  Structure  on  their  Passive  StoUe  in  Cold  Nitric 
Acid, — ^The  passive  state  of  iron  or  steel  may  have  hitherto  been 
regarded  by  many  as  a  sort  of  fixed  property  pertaining  to  iron 
and  steel  alike,  when  immersed  in  cold  strong  nitric  acid.  The 
following  experiments  were  made  to  investigate  if  the  passivity 
was  of  a  universally  static  character,  or  whether  it  varied  with 
the  chemical  composition  and  general  physical  structure  of  the 
metal,  and,  if  so,  to  what  extent. 

The  experiments  of  Series  V.,  Set  i,  were  made  on  bars  of 
the  various  steels  selected  from  the  author's  standard  samples. 
The  bars  were  cold  drawn  through  a  wortle,  and  were  therefore 
-different  in  physical  structure  to  the  rolled  plates  used  in  the 
second  series  of  the  experiments.  An  idea  of  their  general 
properties  will  be  obtained  on  reference  to  Part  II.,  Tables  IV. 
and  V.  A  polished  bar,  8^  inches  long,  0*310  inch  diameter, 
of  the  steel  to  be  tested  was  placed  in  the  wooden  stand  w, 
along  with  a  polished  wrought-iron  bar  of  equal  size,  and 
the  pair  were  then  immersed  in  i\  fluid  ounce  of  nitric  acid, 
1*42  sp.  gr.,  contained  in  the  U-tube,  the  bars  being  in  circuit 
with  the  galvanometer.  The  immersion  was  continued  for  the 
periods  stated,  and  with  the  electro-chemical  results  given  on 
Table  VI. 

llie  wrought-iron  bars  used  in  each  experiment  were  cut  from 
one  longer  polished  rod,  so  as  to  afford  a  fair  comparison  of  the 
relative  passivity  of  the  various  steels,  compared  with  the 
wrought-iron  and  also  with  each  other.  The  results  are  the 
average  of  numerous  experiments  in  each  case. 

The  experiments  of  Series  V.,  Set  i,  on  the  relative  passivity 
of  wrought-iron,  soft  cast-steel,  hard  cast-steel,  soft  Bessemer 
steel,  and  tungsten  steel,  showed  that  wrought-iron  was 
•electro-positive  to  the  steels  with  a  considerable  E.M.F.,  the 
wrought-iron  being  thus  shown  to  be  less  passive  than  the 
steels. 

Series  V.,  Set  2.  Relaiive  Pcusivity  of  Wrought-iron  and 
various  Steel  Plates  in  Cold  Nitric  Acid,  sp.  gr.  1*42. — In  the 
following  series  of  observations,  the  metals  experimented  upon 
consisted  of  plates  of  rolled  wrought-iron,  rolled  steels  made  by 
the  Bessemer,  Siemens-Martin,  or  crucible  cast  steel  processes, 
such  as  soft  cast-steel,  hard  cast-steel,  soft  Bessemer  steel,  hard 


Bessemer  steel,  soft  Siemens  steel,  hard  Siemens  steel,  and  they 
are  of  the  chemical  composition  given  on  Table  VII.  Tbe 
terms  "soft"  and  "hard"  relate  only  to  difference  of  per- 
centage of  combined  carbon,  and  not  to  their  having  under- 
gone annealing  or  hardening  processes.  Each  plate  was 
3  inches  square,  by  \  inch  thick  =  total  area  of  exposare 
19*5  square  inches  including  edges,  brightly  polished  aD 
over,  and  had  a  long  thin  strip  left  on  the  top  side,  for 
convenience  of  attaching  to  the  galvanometer  connections. 
The  whole  of  the  wrought-iron  plates,  used  as  elements  ^th  the 
various  steel  plates,  were  cut  from  one  larger  wrought-iron  plate, 
and  were  thus  practically  of  uniform  composition,  thus  ensoring 
an  accurate  comparison  of  the  relative  passivity  of  the  wmngfat- 
iron  compared  with  the  different  types  of  steels,  and  at  the  same 
time  indicating  relatively  the  influence  of  varied  composition 
and  structure  on  the  passivity  of  the  different  classes  of  steels 
under  observation.  In  each  experiment,  a  polished  wrought- 
iron  plate  and  a  polished  steel  plate  were  firmly  placed  in  two 
small  holes  drilled  through  a  thick  plate-glass  cover  ;  the  cover 
holding  the  two  plates  was  then  carefully  placed  closely  over  a 
porcelain  vessel  containing  15  fluid  ounces  of  nitric  acid,  sp.  gr. 
1*42,  the  plates  being  fully  immersed  in  the  acid,  and  die 
protruding  shanks  of  tbe  bars  connected  in  circuit  with  the 
galvanometer.  The  electro-chemical  effects  observed  were  thea 
taken  in  the  usual  manner,  and  the  results  are  given  in  detail  oa 
Table  VIII.,  and  indicated  that  wrought-iron  was  less  passive 
than  the  steels,  and  further  demonstrated  that  steels  of  a  higher 
percentage  of  combined  carbon  are  more  passive  than  those  of  a 
lower  percentage  of  combined  carbon. 

General  Remarks, — It  has  been  necessary  to  give  in  modified 
detail  the  effects  observed  during  the  periods  of  experimentatioo 
recorded  on  the  Tables,  Parts  I.,  II.,  and  III.,  so  as  to  convey 
an  accurate  intimation  of  the  method  and  nature  of  the  reseaidi ; 
and  a  brief  risumi  of  some  of  the  principal  results  and  con- 
clusions arrived  at  by  the  author  up  to  the  present  time  may  now 
be  given. 

(i)  The  experimental  observations  of  Part  I.,  Series  I, 
indicate  that  the  influence  of  magnetization  on  the  passive  state 
of  steel  rods  in  cold  nitric  acid,  sp.  gr.  i  '42,  is  not  very  great,  bat 
it  was  detectable  with  the  delicate  galvanometer  and  by  tbe 
sensitive  electro-chemical  method  pursued  by  the  author  in  tbe 
investigation. 

The  effect  of  magnetization  is  more  marked  in  warm  nitric 
acid  and  when  the  iron  is  in  a  powdered  state,  as  shnwn  in  tbe 
independent  and  separate  experiments  of  Messrs.  Nichols  and 
Franklin  on  passive  powdered  iron  in  warm  nitric  acid,  pre- 
viously alluded  to  in  Part  I.,  by  whom  it  was  shown  that  the 
temperature  of  transition  from  the  passive  to  the  active  state  was 
very  materially  lowered  by  powerful  magnetism  ;  their  experi- 
ments also  indicate  that  the  passive  state  of  powdered  iron 
cannot  be  fully  overcome,  even  under  strong  magnetic  infloeocc, 
until  a  temperature  of  about  51**  C.  is  reached. 

(2)  The  author's  experiments  of  Part  I.,  Series  II.,  at  higher 
temperatures,  confirm  those  of  Part  I. ,  Series  I. ,  and  further  tend  to 
demonstrate  the  influence  of  magnetization  in  somewhat  lessening 
the  passivity  of  steel,  showing  that  even  previous  to  the  critical 
temperature  point  of  transition  from  the  passive  to  tbe  active 
state,  magnetized  steel  bars  were  rather  less  passive  in  warm 
nitric  acid  than  unmagnetized  ones. 

(3)  The  results  in  Part  II.,  Series  III.,  show  that  the  passivity 
of  both  unmagnetized  wrought-iron  and  unmagnetized  steel  in 
nitric  add,  sp.  gr.  i  '42,  is  considerably  and  proportionately  re- 
duced as  the  temperature  of  the  acid  increases,  until  the  tem- 
perature point  of  transition  from  the  passive  to  the  active  state 
is  reached  at  a  temperature  of  about  195°  F.,  and  it  was  also 
found  that  the  wrought-iron  was  less  passive  in  the  warm  nitric 
acid  than  cast-steel.  (See  also  remarks  at  foot  of  Diagram  I. 
in  Part  II.) 

(4)  The  results  of  the  observations  of  Part  II.,  Series  IV., 
indicate  that  Scheurer-Kestner  was,  to  some  extent,  in  error  in 
regarding  the  passivity  of  iron  as  not  dependent  on  the  greater 
or  less  degree  of  saturation  of  the  acid.  The  author's  experi- 
ments herein  recorded  have  shown  that  the  passivity  of  (he 
metals  employed,  viz.  wrought-iron,  soft  cast-steel,  hard  cast- 
steel,  soft  Bessemer  steel,  and  tungsten  steel,  was  very  materially 
increased  with  the  concentration  of  the  nitric  acid ;  and  it  was 
also  observed  that  wrought-iron  was  much  less  passive  in  tbe 
nitric  acid  of  less  concentration  than  most  of  the  steels,  the  soft 
Bessemer  steel  being  found  about  equal  in  passivity  to  the 
wrought-iron  under  the  conditions  of  experimentation.     A  ^^ 


NO.    1 126,  VOL.  44] 


May  28,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


93 


erenoe  to  Table  III.  shows  that  a  considerable  amount  of 
E.M.F.  was  developed  between  the  various  metals  in  every 
DStance,  which  is  a  circumstance  of  much  interest  in  connection 
with  the  passive  state  of  iron  and  steel. 

(5)  The  results  obtained  in  Part  III.,  Series  V.  and  VI. »  on 
he  relative  passivity  of  wrought -iron  and  the  various  steels — 
loft  cast-steely  hard  cast-steel,  sofk  Bessemer  steel,  hard  Bes- 
temer  steel,  soft  Siemens  steel,  and  hard  Siemens  steel — are  of 
m  important  character,  showing,  by  the  delicate  electro-chemical 
method  employed,  the  sensitive  influence  of  difference  in  che- 
mical composition  and  physical  structure,  &c.,  on  the  passive 
itate  of  the  metals.  Generally  throughout  this  series  of  experi- 
ments it  will  be  observed  that  the  wrought- iron  was  electro- 
positive to  the  steels  with  a  considerable  E.M.F.,  amounting, 
m  some  cases,  to  as  high  as  one  tenth  to  one-seventh  of  a  volt, 
the  wroaght-iron  being  thus  shown  to  be  less  passive  than  the 
steels. 

A  reference  to  the  experiments  on  the  wrought- iron  and  various 
steel  plates,  on  Table  VIII.,  shows  that  the  E.M.F.  between 
the  passive  wrought-iron  and  the  various  soft  steels,  which  con- 
tained less  percentage  of  combined  carbon,  in  circuit  in  cold 
nitric  acid,  sp.  gr.  i  -42,  was  very  considerably  less  than  the 
E.M.F.  under  similar  conditions  between  the  wrought-iron 
plates  and  the  different  hard  steels  having  a  higher  percentage  of 
combined  carbon.  The  latter  results,  therefore,  demonstrate 
the  interesting  circumstance  that  steels  of  a  higher  percentage 
of  combined  carbon  are  more  passive  than  those  of  a  lower  per- 
centage of  combined  carbon.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
wrooght-iron  was  also  electro-positive  to  most  of  the  steels, 
whether  of  a  higher  or  lower  percentage  of  combined  carbon, 
which  shows  that  wrought-iron  may  be  regarded  as  generally 
less  passive  than  steels. 

May  14. — "  Researches  on  the  Structure,  Organization,  and 
Classification  of  the  Fossil  Reptilia.  VII.  Further  Observa- 
tions on /lir««jaiir«j. "  By  H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.,  Professor 
of  Geography  in  King's  College,  London. 

All  the  affinities  hitherto  attributed  to  Pareiasaurus  with 
Labyrinthodonts,  Anomodonts,  Procolophon^  and  Mammals  are 
shown  more  strongly  in  the  several  parts  of  the  skeleton,  by  the 
new  evidence.  The  shoulder-girdle  is  more  Labyrinthodont 
than  was  previously  supposed,  the  skull  is  more  Reptilian,  and 
the  pelvis  and  limbs  are  more  Mammalian,  though  with  some 
resemblance  to  Dinosaurs. 

From  furthur  evidence  .of  the  structure  of  the  skeleton  in 
ProeohphoHy  the  author  regards  that  type  as  a  member  of  the 
Pareiasanria,  rather  than  as  forming  a  distinct  sub-order.  It 
also  has  four  sacral  vertebrae. 

The  divisions  of  the  Anomodontia  are  grouped  as — 

Theriodontia. 


Flacodontia. 


\ 

Dicynodontia. 

Endothiodontia. 

Pareiasauria.  Mesosauria. 

Physical  Society,  May  9.— The  Society  varied  its  ordinary 
procednre  by  paying  a  visit  to  the  ancient  seat  of  learning 
situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Cam.     Assembling  at  Liverpool 
Street  Station,  members  and  visitors  to  the  number  of  about 
one  hnndred   were  conveyed  in   saloon  carriages  by  the   ii 
o^cIock  express  direct  to  their  destination,  the  whole  journey 
being  accomplished  in  about  seventy-five  minutes.     Amongst 
those  present  were  Dr.  E.  Atkinson,  Prof.  Ayrton  and  Mrs. 
Ayrton,  Mr.  Walter  Baily,  Mr.  Shelford  Bidwell  and  Mrs.  Bid- 
well,  Mr.  D.  J.  Blaikley,  Mr.  T.  H.  Blakesley  and  Mrs.  Blakes- 
l€y,  Mr.  J.  T.  Bottomley,  Mr.  C.  V.  Boys,  Prof.  Carey  Foster, 
Mr.  Conrad  W.  Cooke,  Prof.  Fitzgerald,  Dr.  E.  Frankland  and 
Mis.  Frankland,  Dr.  W.   R.    Hodgkinson,  Prof.  O.  J.  Lodge, 
Prof.  Meldola,  Prof.  Perry  and  Mrs.  Perry,  Prof.  Rucker,  Dr. 
Sumpner,  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  and  Mrs.  Thompson,  Mr.  A.  P. 
Trotter  and  Mre.  Trotter,  and  Mr.  G.  M.  Whipple.    On  arriving 
at  the  historic  town  the  party  became  the  guests  of  the  Cam- 
bridge members,  and  proceeded  to  Emmanuel  College,  where 
they  were    received  by  Mr.   W.    N.  Shaw.      Various  groups 
'isited  the  cloisters,  chapel,  and  gardens,  and  at  one  o'dock 
Innch  was  provided  in  the  College  Hall.     At  2.30,   a  meet- 
»g  of  the  Society  was  held  in  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Caven- 
dwh  Laboratory.    Thj  papers  read  were  all  by  authors  resident 

NO.   1 126,  VOL.  44] 


in  Cambridge,  and  the  abstracts  given  below  will  sufficiently 
indicate  the  variety  of  the  subjects  brought  before  the  Society. 
After  the  meeting  the  visitors  inspected  the  Cavendish  Labora^ 
tory.  Amongst  the  many  interesting  instruments  and  apparatus 
to  be  seen,  specially  noticeable  were  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson's 
50-feet  vacuum  tube,  glowing  from  end  to  end  with  a  luminous 
discharge;  Mr.  Shaw's  pneumatic  bridge,  bv  which  the  pneumatic 
resistance  or  conductivity  of  various  shaped  orifices  and  channels 
can  be  compared  ;  and  the  new  air  condensers  to  be  used  by 
Mr.  Glazebrook  as  standards.  The  Cambridge  Scientific  Instru- 
ment Company  had  an  interesting  exhibit,  including  a  dividing 
engine,  Boys's  radio- micrometer,  electrically  driven  tuning-forks, 
and  various  recording  instruments,  amongst  which  was  Galton's 
apparatus  for  registering  the  growth  of  plants.  Other  things 
which  attracted  attention  were  Glazebrook  s  spectrophotometer  ; 
Lord  Rayleigh's  coils  and  apparatus  used  in  his  determination  of 
the  ohm  ;  a  collection  ot  models,  medals,  and  instruments, 
formerly  belonging  to  Prof.  Maxwell ;  the  resistance  standards 
of  the  British  Association,  together  with  the  historic  rotating 
coils  and  electrodynamometer  used  in  the  determination  of  the 
B.A.  unit.  Tea  was  served  in  the  Combination  Room  of 
Trinity  Colleee,  and  a  majority  of  the  visitors  returned  to  town 
by  the  8  o  clock  express,  greatly  pleased  with  the  day's 
outing.  Others,  however,  prolonged  their  visit  until  Monday,^ 
and  had  opportunities  of  discussing  important  physical  problems 
with  the  Cambridge  members.  The  meeting  was  in  every  sense 
a  great  success,  and  will  long  be  remembered  as  a  red-letter  day 
in  the  history  of  the  Society. — At  the  science  meeting,  held  in 
the  Cavendish  Laboratory,  Prof.  Ayrton,  F.R.S.,  President,  in 
the  chair,  the  following  communications  were  made : — Some 
experiments  on  the  electric  discharge  in  vacuum  tubes,  by  Prof. 
J.  J.  Thomson,  F.  R.  S.  The  phenomena  of  vacuum  discharges 
were,  he  said,  greatly  simplified  when  their  path  was  wholly 
gaseous,  the  complication  of  the  dark  space  surrounding  the 
negative  electrode  and  the  stratifications  so  commonly  observed 
in  ordinary  vacuum  tubes  being  absent.  To  produce  discharges 
in  tubes  devoid  of  electrodes  was,  however,  not  easy  to  accom- 

J)lish,  for  the  only  available  means  of  producing  an  electromotive 
brce  in  the  discharge  circuit  was  by  electro-magnetic  induction. 
Ordinary  methods  of  producing  variable  induction  were  value- 
less, and  recourse  was  had  to  the  oscillatory  discharge  of  a 
Leyden  jar,  which  combines  the  two  essentials  of  a  current  whose 
maximum  value  is  enormous,  and  whose  rapidity  of  alternation 
is  immensely  great.     The  discharge  circuits,  which  may  take  the 
shape  of  bulbs  or  of  tubes  bent  in  the  form  of  coils,  were  placed 
in  close  proximity  to  glass  tubes  filled  with  mercury,  which 
formed  the  path  of  the  oscillatory  discharge.     The  parts  thus 
corresponded  to  the  windings  of  an  induction  coil,  the  vacuum 
tubes  being  the  secondary  and  the  tubes  filled  with  mercury  the 
primary.     In  such  an  apparatus  the  Leyden  jar  need  not  be  large^ 
and  neither  primary  or  secondary  need  have  many  turns,  for 
this  would  increase  the  self-induction  of  the  former  and  lengthen) 
the  discharge  path  in  the  latter.     Increasing  the  self-induction 
of  the  primary  reduces  the  E.  M.  F.  induced  in  the  secondary, 
whilst  lengthening  the  secondary  does  not  increase  the  E.M.F. 
per  unit  length.     Two  or  three  turns  in  each  were  found  to  be 
quite  sufficient,  and  on  discharging  the  Leyden  jar  between  two 
highly  polished  knobs  in  the  primary  circuit  a  plain  uniform 
band  of  light  was   seen  to   pass   round  the  secondary.     An 
exhausted  bulb  containing  traces  of  oxygen  was  placed  within  a 
primary  spiral  of  three  turns,  and  on  passing  the  jar  discharge 
a  circle  ot  light  was  seen  within  the  bulb  in  close  proximity  to 
the  primary  circuit,  accompanied  b^  a  purplish  glow  which  lasted 
for  a  second  or  more.     On  heatmg  the  bulb,  the  duration  of 
the  glow  was  greatly  diminished,  and  it   could   be  instantly 
extinguished  by  the  presence  of  an  electro-magnet.     Another 
exhausted  bulb  surrounded  by  a  primary  spiral  was  contained 
in  a  bell  jar,  and  when   the  pressure  of  air  in  the  jar  was 
about  that  of  the  atmosphere,  the  secondary  discharge  occurred 
in  the  bulb,  as  is  ordinarily  the  case.     On  exhausting  the  jar, 
however,  the  luminous  discharge  grew  fainter,  and  a  point  was 
reached  at  which  no  secondary  discharge  was  visible.     Further 
exhaustion  of  the  jar  caused  the  secondary  discharge  to  appear 
outside  the  bulb.      The   fact  of  obtaining  no  luminous  dis- 
charge either  in  the  bulb  or  jar  the  author  could  only  explain 
on  two  suppositions,  viz.  that  under  the  conditions  then  existing 
the  specific  inductive  capacity  of  the  gas  was  very  great,  or  that 
a  discharge  could  pass  without  being  luminous.     The  author 
had  also  observed  that  the  conductivity  of  a  vacuum  tube  with- 
out electrodes  increased  as  the  pressure  diminished,  until  a  certain 


94 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1 89 1 


-point  was  reached,  and  afterwards  diminished  again,  thus  show- 
ing that  the  high  resistance  of  a  nearly  perfect  yacunm  is  in  no 
way  due  to  the  presence  of  the  electrodes.     One  peculiarity  of 
the  discharges  was  their  local  nature,  the  rings  oi  light  being 
much  more  sharply  defined  than  was  to  be  expected.     They  were 
also  found  to  be  most  easily  produced  when  the  chain  of  mole- 
cules in  the  discharge  were  all  of  the  same  kind.     For  example, 
a  discharge  could  l^  easily  sent  through  a  tube  manjr  feet  long, 
but  the  introduction  of  a  small  pellet  of  mercury  in  the  tube 
stopped  the  discharge,  although  the  conductivity  of  the  mercury 
was  much  greater  than  that  of  the  vacuum.     In  some  cases  he 
had  noticed  that  a  very  fine  wire  placed  within  a  tube  on  the 
side  remote  from  the  primary  circuit  would  present  a  luminous 
discharge  in  that  tube. — Some  exp>eriments  on  the  velocities  of 
the  ions,  by  Mr.  W.  C.  D.  Whelham.     In  studying  electrolysis 
the  question  as  to  whether  there  is  any  transference  of  solvent 
when  a  porous  wall  is  absent  presented  itself  to  the  author.     The 
ordinary  methods  of  testing  for  transference,  such  as  by  increase 
of  pressure,  or  by  overflow,  not  being  available,  when  there  is  no 
diaphragm,  the  author  used  different  coloured  solutions  of  the 
same  salt,  such  as  cobalt  chloride  in  water  and  in  alcohol,  the 
former  of  which  is  red  and  the  latter  blue.     By  putting  the 
solutions  into  a  kind  of  U-shaped  tube  any  change  in  the  position 
of  the  line  of  junction  of  the  two  liquids  could  be  measured. 
Two  aqueous  solutions  in  which  the  anion  was  the  same  were 
also  tried,  one  combination  being  cupric  chloride  and  common 
salt,  and  in  this  case  the  line  of  demarcation  traversed  about 
7  inches  in  three  hours.     The  results  hitherto  obtained  by  this 
method    agreed  fairly  with  those  found  by  Kohlrausch. — On 
the  resistance  of  some  mercury  standards,  by  Mr.  R.  T.  Glaze- 
brook,  F.  R.  S.     In  1885,  M.  Benoit,  of  Paris,  supplied  the  author 
with  three  mercury  standards,  nominally  representing  the  Paris 
-Congress  ohm,  now  commonly  known  as  the  legal  ohm.     Tests 
of  these  standards  were  described  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Physical  Society  in  1885  by  the  present  author.     Recently  he 
haa  occasion  to  compare  two  of  the  standards  with  the  British 
Association  coils.     The  mean  of  many  concordant  results  gave 
the  resistance  of  one  of  the  mercury  standards  (No.    37)  as 
i'olio6  B.A.U.,  whilst  that  of  the  other  (No.  39)  was  i  01032 
B.A.U.     Expressing  them  in  legal  ohms  the  present  resistances 
are  (No.  37)  0*99986  and  (No.  39)  0*99913,  whilst  in  1885  the 
values  obtained  were  (No.  37)  0*99990  and  (No.  39)  0-99917. 
This  shows  that  within  the  limits  of  experimental  error  the  ratios 
of  the  mercury  standards  to  the  B.  A.  coils  have  remained  practi- 
cally unchanged  during  six  years.     The  numbers  given  above 
are  based  on   Lord   Rayleigh's  determination   of  the  specific 
resistance  of  mercury,  which  differs  appreciably  from  that  found 
by  Mascart  and  other  observers.     Taking  the  mean  of  the  later 
concordant  determinations,  the  values  of  the  mercury  standards 
expressed  in  legal  ohms  become  (No.  37)  1*00033  and  (No.  39) 
0*99959.     The  values  given  by  the  maker  were  1*00045  and 
0*99954  respectively,  showing  a  very  close  agreement.     The 
author  also  k>und  that  refilling  No.  37  from  the  same  sample  of 
mercury  produced  no  appreciable  change  in  its  resistance,  whilst 
No.  39  was  somewhat  affected  by  a  similar  operation.     Experi- 
ments on  the  co-efficient  of  increase  of  resistance  of  mercury  with 
temperature  gave  the  value  0*000872  as  the  mean  coefficient 
between  o*  and  10"  C,  a  number  rather  less  than  that  obtained 
by  Kohlrausch. — On  an  apparatus  for  measuring  the  compressi- 
bility of  liquids,  by  Mr.  S.  Skinner.     The  apparatus  consisted 
of  a  large  spherical  flask,  with  a  long  narrow  neck  containing  the 
liquid  to  be  experimented  upon,  the  lower  part  of  which  was  in 
communication  through  a  stopcock  and  flexible  tube  with  an 
adjustable  reservoir.     By  raising  or  lowering  the  latter  the  flask 
could  be  easily  filled  or  emptied  or  the  quantity  of  liquid  ad- 
justed.    The  flask  was  inclosed  in  a  bell  jar,  whose  interior 
was  in  communication  with  a  pump  and  barometer  gauge.     So 
sensitive  was  the  arrangement  that  the  compression  of  water 
produced  by  blowing  into  the  jar  caused  the  liquid  to  descend 
about  I  centimetre  in  the  neck  of  the  flask.     This  movement 
corresponded  with  a  change  of  volume  of  about  half  a  millionth. 
The  coefficient  of  compressibility  had  been  tested  at  different 
temperatures,  and  the  results  were  not  very  different  from  those 
obtained  by  Tait  and  others.     The  influence  of  salts  in  solution 
in  chan^ng  the  compressibility  had  also  been  tested,  and  a 
great  difference  in  this  respect  found  between  electrolytes  and 
non-electrolytes. — Some    measurements    with    the    pneumatic 
bridge,  by  Mr.  W.  N.  Shaw.     The  action  of  the  apparatus  is 
analogous  in  many  respects  to  the  Whealstone's  bridge,  and  its 
object  is  to  compare  the  pneumatic  resistances  or  conductivities 

NO.    I  126,  VOL.  44] 


of  various  orifices,  channels,  tubes,  &c.    The  proportiooal  arms 
are  represented  by  two  circular  holes  in  thin  plates  of  mica,  the 
third  arm  by  an  aperture  provided  with  a  sliding  shutter  adjust- 
able by  a  screw,  and  the  fourth  might  consist  of  any  apertnre  or 
tube  whose  conductivity  was  to  be  determined.     The  several 
apertures  are  pneumatiodly  connected  by  large  wooden  boxo. 
The  batteiT  takes  the  form  of  a  Bnnsen  burner  with  a  long 
chimney,  wnilst  the  galvanometer  is  represented  by  a  glass  tube 
connecting  opposite  chambers,  and  containing  a  vane  which  seti 
itself  at  right  an^^les  to  the  tube  when  no  air  current  is  passing. 
The  apparatus  is  remarkably  sensitive  to  movements  of  the 
shutter,  and  on  starting  or  stopping  the  draught  after  balance 
had  been  obtained,  effects  analogous  to  those  produced  by  sdf- 
induction  are  observed.     By  its  use  it  has  been   found  that 
bevelling  off  one  side  of  a  hole  in  a  thin  plate  increases  the 
pneumatic  conductivity  of  the  aperture  ver^  considerably,  parti- 
cularly when  the  bevel  is  on  the  egress  side.     Another  inter 
esting  result  is  that  for  square-ended  tubes  of  given  size  the 
conductivity  first  increases  as  the  length  is  made  greater,  and 
afterwunds  diminishes  with  further  increase  of  length.     Putting 
a  flange  on  the  outlet  end  reduces  the  anomalous  effect,  whilst  a 
bevelled  mouthpiece  similarly  placed  causes  it  to  disappear.    In 
the  discussion  on  Prof.  Thomson's  paper,  Prof.  Fitzgerald  said 
the  beautiful  experiments  were  likely  to  lead  to  very  important 
results.     He  did  not  quite  understand  how  placing  a  fine  wire 
in  a  vacuum  tube  could  prevent  the  luminous  discharge,  for  if 
the  wire  was  on  the  side  remote  from  the  primary,  and  if  there 
was  any  great  increase  in  specific  inductive  capacity,  he  would 
have  expected  the  air  to  screen  the  wire.     Prof.  Lodge  adud 
for  further  information  as  to    the  action  of  the  magnet  in 
preventing  the  after-glow,  and  in  some  cases  precipitating  a 
luminous  dbcharge.     The  experiment  with  the  exhausted  bolb 
within  the  bell  jar  was  also  difficult  to  understand,  and  he  did 
not  see  why  one  of  Prof.  Thomson's  two  suppositions  most 
necessarily  be  true.      The  President  inquired   whether  Pro£ 
Thomson  had  tried  Mr.  Crookes's  experiment,  in  which  the 
electric  pressure  necessary  to  produce  a  discharge  was  greatly 
lessened   by  putting  a  phosphorescent  material  in  the  tube. 
Prof.  Thomson,  in  reply,  said  he  had  not  tried  the  experiment, 
but  the  phosphorescence  he  had  observed  was  of  quite  a  different 
character  from  that  produced  in  Mr.  Crookes's  tubes.     To  Prof. 
Fitzgerald  he  said  the  action  of  the  wire  was  probably  a  question 
of  time,  and  thought  the  whole  field  was  in  some  way  thrown  on 
the  wire  and  thus  dbcharged.     In  reply  to  Prof.  Lodge,  he  had 
not  ascertained  the  true  nature  of  the  effect  of  a  magnet  00  the 
glow,  but  he  believed  the  glow  to  be  due  to  a  combinatiao 
which  might  be  prevented  or  facilitated  by  the  action  of  the 
magnet  causing  the  density  to  be  different  in  different  parts  of 
the  bulb.      M.  Guillaume,  in  discussing  Mr.  Skinner's  pap»f 
described  the  methods  used  by  Sabine,  Jamin,  pd  others,  m 
determining  the  compressibility  of  liquids,  and  pointed  out  their 
defects.     The  chief  difficulty  in  such  experiments  was  in  findmg 
the  compressibility  of  the  reservoir.     Numbers  expressing  the 
compressibility  of  mercury  obtained  by  different  observers  were 
given,  the  best  vdues  varying  between  0*0000039  and  oxxxxx^a 
— On  the  motion  of  Prof.  Ayrton,  seconded  by  Prof.  Riicker,  a 
hearty  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  the  authors  for  their 
valuable  and  interesting  communications,   and  for  the  kind 
manner  in  which  the  Society  had  been  received  and  entertained 
by  the  Cambridge  members.     Prof.  Thomson  and  Mr.  Glaze- 
brook  acknowledged  the  vote. 

Geological  Society,  May  6. — Dr.  A.  Geikic,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  communications  were 
read :— On  a  Rhaelic  section  at  Pylle  Hill  or  Totter  Down 
Bristol,  by  E.  Wilson.  In  a  deep  railway-cutting  at  Pylle  HiU« 
the  Rhaetic  beds,  having  a  thickness  of  not  more  than  seventeen 
feet,  are  exposed  between  the  Tea-Green  Marls  and  the  Lower 
Lias.  There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  division  between  the  Rluetic 
and  Keuper  beds  in  this  section,  but  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  Rhsetic  and  the  Lias  has  always  been  a  matter  of 
uncertainty  in  the  West  of  England.  In  connection  with  this 
subject  the  term  *' White  Lias,"  as  applied  to  beds  some  of 
which  are  Rhs?tic  and  others  Liassic,  is  held  to  be  unsatisfactmy. 
The  author  tsdces  a  limestone  which  is  the  equivalent  of  the 
Cotham  Marble  as  the  highest  Rhsetic  bed  in  the  section 
described.  He  divides  the  Rhsetic  beds  of  the  cutting  into  an 
Upper  Rhaetic  series  and  Avicula  coniorta  Shales.  The  in- 
timate connection  betwixt  the  Tea-Green  Marls  and  the  Red 
Marls  of  the  Upper  Keuper  is  well  displayed,  whilst  there  is  a 


May  28.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


95 


sharp  line  of  demarcation  between  the  former  and  the  Avicula 
eontorta  Shales.  Most  of  the  characteristic  fossils  of  the  British 
Rhaetic  are  met  with  at  Pylle  Hill,  together  with  a  few  forms 
which  are  new  to  England,  and  some  of  these  possibly  to  science. 
A  detailed  section  of  the  subdivisions  of  the  Rhsetic  and  adjacent 
beds,  and  a  list  of  Rhaetic  fossils  found  in  the  section  are  givei 
by  the  author.  After  the  reading  of  the  paper  some  remarics 
were  made  by  Mr.  Etheridge,  Mr.  H.  B.  Woodward,  the  Rev. 
H.  Winwood,  and  Prof.  T.  Rupert  Jones. — A  microscopic 
study  of  the  Inferior  Oolite  of  the  Cotteswold  Hills,  including 
the  residues  insoluble  in  hydrochloric  acid,  by  Edward  Wethered. 
The  author  gives  the  following  main  divisions  of  the  Inferior 
Oolite  of  the  Cotteswold  Hills  in  descending  order  : — 

Ragstones. 

Upper  Freestones. 

Oolitic  Marl. 

Lower  Freestones. 

Pea  Grit. 

Transition  Beds  resting  on  Upper  Lias. 

Thestrata  are  described,  and  the  results  of  microscopic  examina- 
tioD  of  the  different  beds  given.  These  latter  confirm  the  author's 
views  as  to  the  important  part  which  Girvamlla  have  taken 
in  the  formation  of  oolitic  granules  ;  whilst  an  examination  of 
the  borings  referred  to  by  Prof.  Judd  in  the  discussion  of  Mr. 
Strahan's  paper  "  On  a  Phosphatic  Chalk,"  convinces  the  author 
that  these  have  no  connection  with  the  genus  Girvanella,  In 
the  second  part  of  the  paper  the  insoluble  residues  left  after 
treating  the  various  deposits  with  acid  are  considered.  They 
contain  chiefly  detrital  quartz,  felspars,  zircons,  tourmaline, 
diip  of  garnet,  and  occasionally  rutile.  In  the  argillaceous 
beds  silicate  of  aluminia  was  found  to  occur  plentifullv.  The 
detrital  material  is  considered  to  be  due  to  denudation  of  crystal- 
line felspathic  rocks,  and  not  of  stratified  ones.  This  view  seems 
to  be  supported  by  the  quantity  of  felspar  and  its  good  state  of 
preservation.     The  paper  concludes  with  a  consideration  of  the 

Snantity  of  residue  and  the  size  of  the  quartz-grains   in  the 
ifierent  deposits,   which    are    summarized    in    the    following 
table:— 


Ragstones  ... 
Upper  Freestones 
Oolitic  Marl 
Lower  Freestones 
Pea  Grit  Series 
Transition  Beds    . 


Percentage 

of 

residue. 

2-8 

I'l 

3*2 

1-8 

50 

38-3 


Size  of 

quartz-grains, 

in  nuTlim. 

•17 
'12 

•09 
•13 

•13 


This  shows  a  great  falling  off"  in  the  percentage  of  residue  above 
the  Transition  Beds.  That  of  the  Freestones  is  remarkably  low, 
and  it  would  appear  that  these  rocks  were  formed  under  condi- 
tions which  allowed  of  very  little  sediment  being  deposited.  The 
paper  gave  rise  to  a  discussion,  in  which  Prof.  Hull,  Mr. 
Etherise,  Mr.  H.  B.  Woodward,  the  Rev.  H.  Winwood,  and 
the  author  took  part. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  May  20. — Mr.  Baldwin 
Latham,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were 
Ycad :— On  the  vertical  circulation  of  the  atmosphere  in  relation 
to  the  formation  of  storms,  by  Mr.  W.  H .  Dines.  After  giving 
an  outline  of  the  circulation  of  the  atmosphere,  the  author  refers 
to  the  two  theories  which  have  been  suggested  to  account  for  the 
fonnation  of  storms,  viz.  (i)  the  convection  theory,  which  is  that 
the  central  air  rises  in  conseauence  of  its  greater  relative  warmth, 
this  warmth  .being  produced  by  the  latent  heat  set  ixtit  by  con- 
densation ;  and  (2)  the  theory  that  the  storms  are  circular  eddies 
|iTodnced  by  the  general  motion  of  the  atmosphere  as  a  whole, 
jut  as  small  water  eddies  are  formed  in  a  flowing  stream  of 
^^er.  The  author  is  of  opinion  that  the  convection  theory  is 
the  more  probable  of  the  two,  but  more  information  about  the 
temperature  of  the  upper  air  is  greatly  needed. — On  Brocken 
jectres  in  a  London  fog,  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Clayden.  During  the 
dei^  fogs  in  February  last,  the  author  made  a  number  of  ex- 
periments with  the  view  of  raising  his  own  spectre.  This  he 
Intimately  succeeded  in  accomplishing  by  placing  a  steady  lime- 
hght  a  few  feet  behind  his  head,  when  his  shadow  was  projected 
00  the  fog.  He  then  made  some  careful  measurements  of  the  size 
ud  distance  of  the  spectre,  and  also  succeeded  in  taking  some 
photographs  of  the  phenomenon. — An  account  of  the  "Leste," 
?T^  wind  of  Madeira,  by  Dr.  H.  Coupland  Taylor.     The 

I^stc  **  is  a  very  dry  and  parching  wind,  sometimes  very  hot, 

NO.   1 1 26,  VOL.  44] 


blowing  over  the  island  from  the£.N.E.  or  E.S.E.,  and  corre- 
sponds to  the  sirocco  of  Algeria,  or  the  hot  north  winds  from  the 
deserts  of  the  interior  experienced  in  Southern  Australia. 
During  its  prevalence  a  thin  haze  extends  over  the  land,  and 
gradu^ly  thickens  out  at  sea  until  the  horizon  is  completely 
hidden.  It  is  most  frequent  during  the  months  of  July,  August, 
and  September,  and  usually  lasts  for  about  three  days. — Mr. 
Shelford  Bidwell,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  an  experiment  showing  the 
effect  of  an  electrical  discharge  upon  the  condensation  of  steam. 
The  shadow  of  a  small  jet  of  steam  cast  upon  a  white  wall  is, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  of  feeble  intensity  and  of  a  neutral 
tint.  But  if  the  steam  is  electrified,  the  density  of  the  shadow 
is  at  once  greatly  increased,  and  it  assumes  a  peculiar  orange- 
brown  hue.  The  electrical  discharge  appears  to  promote 
coalescence  of  the  exceedingly  minute  particles  of  water  con- 
tained in  the  jet,  thus  forming  drops  large  enough  to  obstruct 
the  more  refrangible  rays  of  light.  It  is  suggested  that  this 
experiment  may  help  to  explain  the  intense  darkness,  often 
tempered  by  a  lurid  yellow  glow,  which  is  characteristic  of 
thunderclouds. 

Linnean  Society,  April  16.— Prof.  Stewart,  President,  in 
the  chair. — A  paper  by  the  Rev.  F.  R.  Wilson,  was  read,  on 
lichens  from  Victoria,  in  which  several  new  species  were  described, 
specimens  of  which  were  exhibited. — A  paper  by  Surgeon-Major 
A.  Barclay  followed,  on  the  life-history  of  two  species  oiPucciniay, 
viz.  P.  coronata^  Corda,  and  a  new  species  which  the  author 
proposed  to  name  P,  Jasmini-chrysopogonis.  A  feature  of 
peculiar  interest  noted  in  the  latter  species  was  the  extra- 
ordinary abundance  and  wide  distribution  of  the  teleutosporic 
stage  as  compared  with  the  comparative  scarcity  of  the  aecidial 
stage,  and  this  disproportion  in  the  distribution  of  the  two 
stages  had  been  remarked  by  the  author  long  before  he  had 
ascertained  that  they  were  related. — A  discussion  followed,  in 
which  several  of  the  botanists  present  took  part. 

May  7. — Prof.  Stewart,  President,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  R.  J. 
Anderson  exhibited  a  panoramic  arrangement  for  displaying 
drawings  at  biological  lectures. — Mr.  John  Young  exhibited  a 
nest  of  the  Bearded  Titmouse  {Calamophilus  biarmicus\  which 
had  been  built  in  his  aviary.  Several  eggs  were  laid,  but  none 
of  them  were  hatched. — The  Rev.  £.  S.  Marshall  exhibited 
several  specimens  of  a  Cochlearia  from  Ben  More,  believed  to 
be  undescribed. — Mr.  Robert  Deane  forwarded  for  exhibition  a 
plant  of  the  Ravless  Daisy,  found  growing  abundantly  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cardiff*;  and  an  undetermined  Sponge,  dredged 
in  about  40  fathoms,  off*  the  coast  of  South  Wales. — Mr.  D. 
Morris  drew  attention  to  a  Jamaica  drift  fruit  recently  found  on  the 
coast  of  Devonshire.  Although  figured  so  long  ago  as  1640  by 
Clusius,  and  subsequently  noticed  by  other  observers,  the  plant 
yielding  it  had  only  lately  been  identified  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Hart,  of 
Trinidad,  as  Sacoglottis  amazonica.  Mr.  Morris  likewise  ex- 
hibited specimens  of  the  fruit  of  Catostemma  fragrans^  received 
for  the  first  time,  from  St.  Vincent,  showing  its  true  position  to 
be  amongst  the  Malvacea,  tribe  Bombacea. — Mr.  Thomas 
Christy  exhibited  some  Kola  nuts,  and  made  remarks  on  the 
properties  attributed  to  their  medicinal  use. — A  paper  was  then 
read  by  Mr.  Malcolm  Lawrie,  on  the  anatomy  of  the  genera 
Pterygotus  and  Sliinonia^  and  their  relationship  to  recent 
Artichnida,  An  interesting  discussion  followed,  in  which  the 
President,  Prof.  Howes,  Dr.  H.  Woodward,  and  others  took 
part. 

Entomological  Society,  May  6. — Mr.  Frederick  DuCane 
Godman,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  D.  Sharp 
exhibited  a  number  of  eggs  of  Dytiscus  marginalis  laid  on  the 
sheath  of  a  species  of  reed,  and  commented  on  the  manner  of 
their  oviposition,  which  he  said  had  been  fully  described  by  Dr. 
Regimbart. — The  Rev.  A.  E.  Eaton  exhibited  a  collection  of 
Psychodida  from  Somersetshire,  including  six  species  of  Psyckoda^ 
eleven  species  of  Periconia,  and  one  species  of  Ulomyia,  Mr. 
McLachlan  commented  on  the  interesting  nature  of  the  exhi- 
bition. — Mr.  P.  Crowley  exhibited  a  specimen  of  Proihoi  caU- 
doniat  a  very  handsome  butterfly  from  Perak  ;  and  a  specimen 
of  another  equally  handsome  species  of  the  same  genus  from 
Tonghou,  Burmah,  which  was  said  to  be  undescribed. — Mr.  H. 
Goss,  the  Secretary,  read  a  letter  from  Mr.  Merrifield,  pointing 
out  that  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  Fenn,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Society  on  April  i  last,  of  his  views  on  the  effects  of  tem- 
perature in  causing  variation  in  Lepidoptera,  was  incorrect ; 
he  (Mr.  Merrifield)  had  never  suggested  what  might  happen  to 
Taniocampa  instabilis^  and  had  expressly  stated  that  he  had 


96 


NA  TURE 


[May  28,  1891 


found  a  reduction  of  the  temperature  below  57**  to  produce  no 
«ffecty  whereas  in  Mr.  Fenn's  experiments  the  temperature  must 
have  been  below  40^ — The  Secretary  also  read  a  letter  which 
Lord  Walsingham  had  received  from  Sir  Arthur  Blackwood, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Post  Office,  in  answer  to  the  memorial 
which,  on  behalf  of  the  Society,  had  been  submitted  to  the 
Postmaster-General,  asking  that  small  parcels  containing  scien- 
tific specimens  might  be  sent  to  places  abroad  at  the  reduced 
rates  of  postage  applicable  to  packets  oi  bond  fide  trade  patterns 
and  samples.  The  letter  intimated  that,  so  far  as  the  English 
Post  Office  was  concerned,  scientific  specimens  sent  by  sample 
post  to  places  abroad  would  not  be  stopped  in  future. 

Mathematical  Society,  May  14.— Prof.  Grecnhill,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  communications  were 
made: — Relations  between  the  divisors  of  the  first  n  numbers, 
by  Dr.  Glaisher,  F.  R.S. — Wave  motion  in  a  heterogeneous 
heavy  liquid,  by  Mr.  Love. —Disturbance  produced  by  an 
element  of  a  plane  wave  of  sound  or  light,  by  Mr.  Basset, 
F.R.S. — On  functions  determined  from  their  discontinuities  and 
ft  certain  form  of  boundary  condition,  and  on  a  certain  Riemann's 
surface,  by  Prof.  W.  Burnside. — Messrs.  MacMahon,  Larmor, 
Bryan,  and  the  President  took  part  in  the  discussions  on  the 
papers. 

Cambridge. 

Philosophical  Society,  May  4. — Prof.  G.  H.  Darwin, 
President,  in  the  chair. —The  following  communications  were 
made  : — The  most  general  type  of  electrical  waves  in  dielectric 
media  that  is  consistent  with  ascertained  laws,  by  Mr.  J. 
Larmor. — A  mechanical  representation  of  a  vibrating  electrical 
system  and  its  radiation,  by  Mr.  J.  Larmor. — The  theory  of 
•discontinuous  fluid  motion  in  two  dimensions,  by  Mr.  A.  E.  H. 
Love.  The  paper  contains  an  account  of  a  modification  of  Mr. 
Michell's  method.  It  is  shown  that,  in  all  problems  where  the 
fixed  boundaries  consist  of  parts  of  straight  lines,  a  figure  can 
be  constructed  whose  conformable  representation  upon  a  half 
plane  gives  rise  to  the  eauation  of  transformation  which  contains 
in  itself  the  solution  ot  the  problem.  The  relation  by  which 
the  representation  is  effected  can  in  each  problem  be  determined 
by  known  methods.  The  whole  subject  is  thus  reduced  to  integral 
calculus.  Several  new  cases  of  the  resistance  offered  by 
obstacles  to  the  motion  of  fluids  are  solved.  These  include 
the  determination  of  the  mean  pressure  on  a  disk  with  an 
elevated  rim,  and  of  the  mean  pressure  on  a  pier  or  other 
obstruction  in  a  canal  of  finite  breadth. — On  thin  rotating 
isotropic  disks,  by  Mr.  C.  Chree.  The  subject  treated  is  that 
of  the  rotation  about  their  axes  of  thin  disks  whose  section 
parallel  to  the  plane  faces  consists  of  a  circle  or  the  area  between 
two  concentric  circles.  The  paper  aims  at  providing  a  solution 
which  is  not  open  to  the  objections  recently  urged  by  Prof. 
Pearson  in  Nature  against  previous  solutions* 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  19.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Determination  of  the  constant  of  aberration  ;  numerical 
values  deduced  from  two  groups  of  four  stars,  by  MM.  Loewy 
and  Puiseux. — On  the  transit  of  Mercury,  by  M.  J.  Janssen. 
It  is  remarked  that  a  conclusive  confirmation  of  the  solar  origin 
of  the  corona  would  be  obtained  if  Mercury  were  photographed 
when  at  a  short  distance  from  the  edge  of  the  sun,  and  appeared 
in  the  negative  projected  upon  a  luminous  background. — On 
the  physical  explanation  of  fluidity,  by  M.  Boussinesq. — The 
heat  of'^combustion  and  formation  of  some  chlorine  compounds, 
by  MM.  Berthelot  and  Matignon.  The  experiments  indicate 
that  for  each  equivalent  of  hydrogen  replaced  by  chlorine  in  a 
series  of  compounds  from  30  to  32  calories  is  disengaged.  Cl^ 
substituted  for  H„  thus  disengages  about  3011  calories. — On  a 
double  halo  with  parhelia  observed  on  May  15,  1891,  by  M.  A. 
Cornu. — On  a  memoir,  by  Herr  W.  von  Bezold,  relative  to  the 
theory  of  cyclones,  by  M.  Faye. — Remarks  on  the  employment 
of  carbon  bisulphide  in  the  treatment  of  phylloxerous  vines,  by 
M.  A.  F.  Marion  and  G.  Gastine.— On  the  intermediate  inte- 
grals of  equations  from  derived  partials  of  the  second  order,  by 
M.  E.  Goursat. — On  an  elementary  method  of  establishing 
differential  equations  of  which  B  functions  form  the  int^ral, 
by  M.  F.  Caspary. — On  a  class  of  complex  numbers,  by  M. 
Andre  Markoff.^-Quantitative  studies  of  the  chemical  action  of 
light ;  Part  iii.  influence  of  dilution,  by  M.  Georges  Lemoine. 
Experiments  with  mixtures  of  oxalic  acid  and  ferric  chloride 
taken  in  equivalent  proportions  but  with  different  quantities  of 

NO.    1 1  26,  VOL.  44] 


water  indicate  that  the  chemical  action  of  light  npon  them  in- 
creases with  the  excess  of  water.     The  action  of  heat  npon  the 
mixtures  appears  to  follow  the  same  laws  as  that  of  light. — Cal- 
culation  of  the  temperatnres  of  fusion  and  ebullition  of  noctnal 
parafiins,  by  M.  G.  Hinrichs.     A  comparison  is  given  of  the 
observed  and  calculated  melting  and   boiling    points   of  the 
normal  paraffins.     The  method  of  calculation  is  contained  in 
Comptes  rendus.  May  4,  1891. — On  the  action  exercised    by 
alkaline  bases  on  the  solubility  of  alkaline  salts,  by  M.  Engei. — 
On  the  detection  of  silica  in  the  presence  of  iron,  by  M.  Ledere. 
— On  the  constitution  and  heat  of  formation  of  bi basic  erythrates, 
by  M.  de  Forcrand. — Thermal  data  relative  to  propionic  acid 
and  the  propionates  of  potash  and  soda,  by  M.  G.  Massol.    Facts 
are  stated  which  prove  that  propionic  acid,  in  combining  with 
potash  or  soda,  disengages  as  much  heat  as  its  saperior  and 
inferior  homologues,  acetic  and  butyric  acids. — On  the  heat  of 
dissolution  and  the  solubility  of  some  organic  acids  in  methyl-, 
ethyl-  and  propyl-alcohols,  by  M.  Timofeiew.     The  results  indi- 
cate that  there  is  a  relation  between  the  molecular  solubility  and 
heat  of  dissolution,  the  variation  of  molecular  solubility  carrying 
with  it  a  variation,  in  the  opposite  sense,  of  the  heat  of  disK>- 
lution. — Action  of  chlorides  of  bibasic  acids  on  cyanacetic  etheis, 
by  M.  P.  T.  Muller. — On  the  formation  of  nitrates  in  the  earth, 
by  M.  A.  Muntz. — Considerations  of  abysmal  waters,  by  M.  J. 
Thoulet. — On  the  genus  Royena  of  the  family  Ebenaceie,  by 
M.  Paul  Parmentier. — On  an  inferior  Basidiomycete  parasite  of 
grapes,  by  MM.  Pierre  Viala  and  G.  Boyer. — On  a  particolar 
appearance  of  the  Cretaceous  formation  in  the  Bou-Thafebgioap, 
Algeria,  by  M.   E.  Ficheur. — A   bed  of    nephritis    found  ia 
China,  in  the  Nan   Chan    mountain-chain,  by  M.  Martin.— 
Correction  to  a  note  on  a  recently  described  fossil,    by  M. 
Stanislas  Meunier. — Discovery  of  a  human  skeleton  contem- 
porary with  the  Quaternary  volcanic  eruptions  of  Gravenoire 
(Puy-de-D6me),  by   MM.   Paul   Girod    and    Paul   Gaatier. — 
Chemical  and  physiological  researches  on  microbic  secretions  ; 
transformation    and    elimination    of   organic    matter    by    the 
pyocyanic  bacillus,  by  MM.  A.  Arnaud  and  A.  Cbarrin. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Medical    Research    at   Edinburgh.    |By  J.    George 

Adami 73 

The  Chemical  and  Bacteriological  Examination  of 

Potable  Waters.     By  P.  F.  F 74 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Johnstone  :  ''Botany  :  a  Concise  Manual  for  Students 

of  Medicine  and  Science." — C.  H.  W 75 

Sim:  "Hand-bookof  thcFernsof  Kaflfraria."— J.  G. 

Baker,  F.R.S 75 

Deakin  :  "  Rider  Papers  on  Euclid  " 76 

Lehmann:  "Die  Krystallanalyse" 76 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  University  of  London. — Prof.   E.    Ray   Lan- 
kester,     F.R.S.  ;     Prof.     William     Ramsay, 

F.R.S.  ;  Dr.  Irving 76 

Quaternions  and  the  **  Ausdehnuogslehre." — Prof.  J. 

Willard  Gibbs 79 

The  Flying  to  Pieces  of  a  Whirling  Ring.— Q.  Chree  .    82 
A  Comet  observed  from  Sunrise  to  Noon. — Captain 

Wm.  Ellacott 82 

Graphic  Daily  Record  of  the  Magnetic  Declination  or 
Variation  of  the  Compa«s  at  Washington. — Richard- 

son  Clooer 82 

The  Alpine  Flora.— J.  Lovel 83 

Magnetic    Anomalies    in    Russia. — General    A.     de 

TiUo 83 

The  Rejuvenescence  of  Crystals.    By  Prof.  John  W. 

Judd,  F.R.S 83 

British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine 86 

Notes 86 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Draper  Catalogue  of  Stellar  Spectra 89 

Solar  Observations  from  January  to  March  1891    ...    90 

The  Constant  of  Aberration 90 

Animal  Life  on  a  Coral  Reef.     By  Dr.  S.  J.  Hickaon    90 

Washington  Magnetic  Observations,  1886 91 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence    ......    91 

Scientific  Serials 91 

Societies  and  Academies 92 


NA TURE 


97 


THURSDAY,  JUNE  4,  1891. 


THE  BRITISH  INSTITUTE  OF  PREVENTIVE 

MEDICINE, 

THE  progress  of  bacteriological  science,  and  the 
amount  of  exact  information  which  it  has  shed 
upon  the  problems  of  disease  during  the  last  fifteen 
years,  have  led  several  of  the  Governments  of  the  Con- 
tinent and  America  to  establish  institutes  providing  for 
original  research,  as  well  as  technical  instruction,  in 
preventive  medicine. 

This  country,  on  the  other  hand,  which  pioneered  sani- 
tary science  from  its  birth,  has,  strangely  enough,  been 
distinctly  behindhand  in  the  study  of  bacteriology  (fraught 
as  it  is  with  interest  of  such  vital  importance  to  the 
health  and  prosperity  of  the  nation) ;  and  of  the  provision 
of  institutes  of  the  kind  which  have  been  established 
abroad,  such  as  the  Pasteur  Institute  in  Paris,  the  Hy- 
gicnische  Institut  in  Berlin,  K6nigsberg,  Breslau,  Wies- 
baden, St.  Petersburg,  Moscow,  Odessa,  Tiflis,  Warsaw, 
Cracow,  Naples,  Turin,  Rome,  Milan,  Palermo,  Malta, 
Barcelona,  Constantinople,  Bucharest,  Budapest,  Rio 
Janeiro,  New  York,  Washington,  we  have  no  example 
in  the  United  Kingdom.  In  these  institutions,  the 
study  of  the  morphology,  biology,  physiology,  and  che- 
mistry of  micro-organisms,  whether  pathogenic  or  not,  is 
being  actively  pushed  forward,  and  a  thorough  analysis 
of  their  subtle  influence  as  causative  factors  of  disease 
pursued. 

In  this  manner  the  poisons  of  the  following  maladies, 
the  effects  of  which  are  among  the  direst  evils  to  huma- 
nity, viz.  pyaemia,  anthrax,  erysipelas,  septicaemia,  glan- 
ders, tubercle,  diphtheria,  &c.,  have  been  isolated,  and 
discovered  to  be  micro-organisms  which  are  now  known 
certainly  to  be  the  active  principle  of  the  virus.  When 
we  reflect  that,  for  centuries  and  centuries,  the  crippling 
effects  of  epidemic  and  devastating  diseases  have  been 
only  too  well  known,  but  attributed  to  the  operation  of 
all  manner  of  causes,  e.g,  supernatural  agencies.  Divine 
wrath,  meteorological  and  climatic  influences,  &c.,  &c., 
the  fact  that  the  real  truth  concerning  the  nature  of  their 
causes  has  been  ascertained  only  within  the  last  few 
years  by  laboratory  research  is,  in  itself,  overwhelmingly 
expressive  of  the  immense  value  of  Bacteriological  Insti- 
tutes and  their  work. 

But  their  value  does  not  stop  here.  Knowing,  as 
thanks  to  bacteriology  we  now  do,  the  origin  of  these 
diseases,  it  may  be  asked  what  has  the  same  science 
done  towards  stamping  them  out  and  preventing  their 
development,  or  haply  arresting  their  progress  should 
they  unfortunately  gain  access  to,  and  invade,  the  tissues 
of  the  body.  To  express  ourselves  more  plainly,  the 
question  might  be  put  in  this  form,  "  What  has  bacterio- 
logical science  done  to  discover  the  antidotes  of  such 
poisons.^"  The  answer  is,  that  whereas  centuries  of 
clinical  observation  have  done  very  little  indeed — by 
watching  the  sick  and  the  employment  of  drugs — to- 
wards the  direct  arrest  of  the  virus  of  infective  maladies, 
laboratory  work,  on  the  other  hand,  has  already  provided 
Qs,  not  merely  with  many  invaluable  and  additional  f4.cts 
to  general  science  on  the  subject  of  immunity,  vaccina- 

NO.   II 2 7,  VOL.  44] 


tion,  i,e,  protection  before  infection,  resistance  of  tissues 
to  invasion  by  parasitic  organisms.  &c. ;  but  has  given  to 
medical  science,  what  no  pharmacopoeia  has  ever  been 
able  to  do — namely,  chemical  antidotes  which  by  their 
specific  action  upon  the  virus  ofdtseases  alone  successfully 
save  human  beings  as  well  as  the  lower  animals  from 
death  and  incapacitating  illness. 

Of  these  new  methods,  perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  is 
Pasteur's  treatment  of  hydrophobia,  but  others  have  been 
already  discovered,  and  are  being  examined  and  tested 
for  practical  employment  in  medicine  and  surgery. 

A  large  institute  of  this  kind,  however,  is  not  reserved 
solely  for  the  investigation  of  the  problems  of  disease — on 
the  contrary,  it  has  a  far  wider  sphere  of  usefulness. 
Bacteriology,  which  Pasteur  showed  was  the  key  to  the 
secrets  of  fermentation,  is,  of  necessity,  all-important  to 
many  very  extensive  trades  and  commercial  undertakings. 
The  botanical  and  biological  researches  of  the  Pasteur 
Institute  are  thus  to  a  large  extent  utilized  by  the  French 
manufacturers,  as  well  as  by  those  of  other  countries,  to 
their  great  profit. 

The  particular  bearing  of  this  branch  of  science  has 
never  been  fully  comprehended  by  the  public,  who  are 
not  aware  what  an  enormous  debt  of  obligation  they  owe 
to  M.  Pasteur,  and  to  the  extension  of  scientific  research, 
which  received  its  impetus  from  his  genius,  and  which  has 
resulted  in  so  much  direct  gain  and  benefit  to  the  com- 
munity. In  like  manner,  to  agriculture,  the  questions  of 
changes  in  soils — such,  for  example,  as  nitrification,  now 
known  to  be  due  to  the  action  of  micro-organisms — ^are 
not  less  important,  and  indeed  essential.  A  Bacterio- 
logical Institute,  therefore,  has  in  agriculture,  quite  apart 
from  the  subject  of  diseases  of  animals,  a  fertile  source 
of  work  of  the  utmost  value  and  assistance  to  practical 
men.  But,  in  addition,  there  has  of  later  years  arisen  a 
branch  of  chemical  industry  directed  towards  the  syn- 
thetic production  of  numerous  substances  which  prove  to 
be  powerful  drugs.  The  knowledge  of  these  is,  of  course, 
incomplete  and  dangerous  until  thorough  experimental 
investigation  of  the  action  of  these  substances  has  been 
made.  In  this  country,  however,  our  chemists  are  pre- 
cluded, by  the  harassing  legislation  under  which  their  co- 
workers in  physiology,  pathology,  and  medicine  labour, 
from  pursuing  this  useful  line  of  research,  without  great 
trouble  and  endless  restrictions,  although  such  work  is 
solely  directed  towards  the  therapeutic  relief  of  disease 
and  suffering. 

The  chemistry  of  disinfection  offers  in  itself  an  extensive 
field  of  research  which  can  alone  be  cultivated  in  an 
institution  of  this  kind  reserved  for  bacteriological  in- 
vestigations. 

Lastly,  in  such  an  institute  two  subjects  of  general 
interest  receive  special  careful  attention.  These  are 
(i)  the  technical  instruction  of  medical  men,  health 
officers,  chemists,  and  manufacturers,  in  bacteriology,  both 
in  its  morphological  and  biological  aspects ;  and  (2)  the 
examination  of  tissues  and  substances  suspected  to  be 
the  seat  or  vehicle  of  infectious  diseases  and  submitted 
for  investigation  and  report.  The  functions  of  a  Bac- 
teriological Institute,  therefore,  clearly  involve  interests 
of  the  highest  national  as  well  as  particular  or  individual 
import 
Since  the  formation  of  the  Pasteur  Mansion   House 


98 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


Fund,  which  has  provided  for  the  treatment  in  Paris  of 
many  English  sufferers  from  the  bites  of  rabid  dogs, 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Committee  of  that  Fund, 
as  well  as  of  the  Mansion  House  meeting  at  which  it 
was  inaugurated,  knowing  the  importance  to  the  com- 
munity of  having  a  similar  institute  in  Great  Britain, 
determined  to  make  an  effort  to  establish  the  same. 

A  survey  of  the  conditions  under  which  bacteriology  is 
practised  in  Great  Britain  is  sufficient  to  show  at  once 
the  pressing  need  of  creating  a  centre  of  the  kind,  since, 
although  several  medical  schools  and  Universities  have 
provided  for  the  teaching  of  bacteriology  to  a  degree 
suitable  for  diplomas  in  public  health  medicine,  and 
although  in  the  laboratories  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  in  Edinburgh,  and  of  the  conjoint  London 
Colleges,  besides  those  of  University  College,  King's 
College,  and  the  College  of  State  Medicine,  there  is  room 
and  provision  for  a  certain  amount  of  original  work,  still 
it  is  quite  notorious  that  the  majority  of  original  inves- 
tigators are  driven  to  go  to  Paris  and  Berlin,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  splendid  collection  of  material  and  free- 
dom of  experiment  there,  but  also  for  lack  of  sufficient 
accommodation  in  the  laboratories  of  the  United  King- 
dom. To  remedy  this  state  of  things,  and  to  pro- 
vide an  establishment  which  would  greatly  assist  the 
medical  schools  and  technical  education  generally, 
is  therefore  the  object  of  the  promoters  of  the 
British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine.  The  deve- 
lopment of  the  scheme  has  now  arrived  at  a  very  inter- 
esting point,  which,  as  usual  in  this  country,  resolves 
itself  into  a  contest  between  the  friends  and  enemies  of  i 
science.  The  object  of  the  Institute  being  purely  charit- 
able and  scientific,  it  was  from  the  outset  necessary  to 
give  its  constitution  a  firm  basis,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
confidence  of  the  public  from  whom  naturally  the  cost  of 
creating  the  Institute  is  to  come.  It  has  therefore  to 
be  incorporated,  and  such  incorporation  can  practically 
only  be  obtained  by  permission  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
which  grants  leave  for  the  registration  of  such  institutes 
as  limited  companies,  the  word  limited  being  omitted, 
thus  insuring  the  appropriation  of  the  funds  for  none 
but  purposes  identical  with  the  original  object  for  which 
they  were  intended.  The  Executive  Committee  of  the 
British  Institute,  therefore,  made  through  their  solici- 
tors, Messrs.  Hunter  and  Haynes,  the  formal  appli- 
cation for  such  registration  to  Sir  Michael  Hicks  Beach, 
the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  To  their  surprise 
Sir  Michael  refused  to  register  the  Institute,  and  this 
without  assigning  in  his  letter  any  reason  for  his  refusal. 
It  is,  however,  understood  that  he  has  done  so  in  con- 
sequence of  his  having  received  petitions  from  a  few 
bodies  of  anti-vivisectionists,  among  whom  are  to  be  found 
as  usual  certain  names,  mostly  ecclesiastical,  of  gentle- 
men whose  intentions,  however  admirable,  are  dictated 
by  absolute  ignorance  of  the  questions  which  they  pre- 
sume to  discuss. 

We  understand  (though  it  is  incomprehensible  how  a 
Minister  should  have  allowed  himself  to  be  placed  in  such 
a  false  position)  that  Sir  Michael  Hicks  Beach  alleges 
privately  that  by  registering  the  Institute,  a  portion  of 
the  work  of  which  will  naturally  include  experiments  on 
animals,  he  will  be  encroaching  on  the  duties  of  the 
Home  Office,  to  which  department  alone,  ho  .vever,  as  a 

NO.   II 2 7,  VOL.  44] 


matter  of  fact,  is  intrusted  the  administration  of  th& 
utterly  incompetent  and  harassing  so-called  Vivisection 
Act.  Nothing  can  excuse  the  confusion  of  mind  or  ignor- 
ance which  is  thus  displayed  by  an  official  of  the  Govern- 
ment, for,  as  is  evident  to  the  merest  tyro  in  law,  th& 
question  of  experimental  science  has  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  the  matter  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Trade. 
That  body  has  only  to  make  sure  that  the  funds  of  the 
Institute  cannot  in  the  future  be  misappropriated  to  any 
other  object.  That  is  all  it  is  asked  to  do,  and  that  solely 
in  the  interests  of  the  public. 

The  official  seal  of  the  Board  of  Trade  having  thQ» 
been  given  to  stamp  the  Institute  with  the  character 
designed  for  it  by  its  promoters— namely,  that  of  a 
charitable  and  not  a  commercial  undertaking— it  wouid 
then,  of  course,  be  necessary  for  the  Executive  Committee 
to  apply  to  the  Home  Office  for  the  registration  of  the 
Institute  as  a  place  where  experimental  science  may  be 
carried  on. 

With  this  second  registration  the  Board  of  Trade  hai 
nothing  whatever  to  do,  and  by  taking  upon  himself  the 
duty  of  considering  this  part  of  its  constitution,  the 
President  has  gone  out  of  his  way  to  raise  difficulties  in 
the  formation  by  private  individuals  of  a  National  Institute^ 
which  in  other  more  intelligent  and  far-seeing  countries 
the  Governments  have  hastened  to  take  the  initiative  ia 
establishing  and  liberally  supporting. 

It  is  evident  that  Sir  Michael  Hicks  Beach  has  been 
greatly  misinformed  on  this  matter,  and  we  look  forward 
with  interest  to  the  result  of  the  representations  of  a  veiy 
powerful  deputation  which  we  learn  is  to  wait  upon  him 
on  Friday,  June  5,  at  11  a.m.,  and  which,  constituted  a> 
it  is  of  distinguished  men  in  all  branches  of  science,  as 
well  as  of  those  of  the  general  public  who  are  interested 
in  philanthropic  sanitary  measures,  will  point  out  to  him 
the  real  facts  of  the  case  on  which  he  has  to  adjudicate, 
and  rescue  the  question  from  the  erroneous  position 
which  it  now  occupies,  owing  to  his  unfortunate  readiness 
to  listen  to  the  calumnious  assertions  of  the  haters  of 
science  and  progress. 

It  is  not  difficult,  we  believe,  to  read  between  the  lines 
in  such  a  case  as  this.  No  beings  are  more  human  than 
Ministers  and  members  of  Parliament,  or,  in  fact,  aU 
those  whose  own  position  or  that  of  their  party  depends 
upon  popular  clamour.  Such  unfortunates  listen  like 
Eve  with  a  fatal  fascination  to  the  voice  of  the  deceiver, 
but,  with  a  taste  less  worthy  than  hers,  the  fruit  which 
attracts  them  is  not  that  of  the  tree  of  universal  know- 
ledge, but  of  the  ballot-box.  They  have  hitherto  laboured 
under  the  mistaken  impression  that  an  energetic  and  noisy 
group  of  agitators,  leading  in  their  train  a  few  unscientific 
quasi-public  men,  were  an  important  political  body,  and 
they  consequently  sacrifice  to  their  misrepresentations 
the  liberties  of  science  and  the  good  of  commerce.  The 
day  is  coming,  or  is  rather  come,  when  the  scientific  and 
cultured  world  will  refuse  to  submit  any  longer  to  such  a 
condition  of  affairs,  and  when  all  its  branches,  physio- 
logists, agriculturists,  chemists,  engineers,  medical  and 
legal  men,  will  unite  in  a  compact  body  for  the  protection 
of  their  common  interests,  and  we  rather  welcome  the 
present  difficulty,  which  has  served  to  bring  prominently 
forward  the  spirit  animating  them,  and  which  no  adminis- 
trator will  do  wisely  in  failing  to  recognize. 


June  4,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


99 


THE  GEOLOGY  AND  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY 

OF  NORTH  SYRIA. 

Grundsiige  der  GeologU  und  pkysikaliscken  Geographic 
van  Nord-Syrien,  Von  Dr.  Max  Blanckenhorn.  Mit 
Zwci  Karten,  &c.     (Berlin :  Friedlander,  1891.) 

IN  this  excellent  treatise  the  author  presents  the  reader 
with  a  synoptical  view  of  the  results  of  his  observa- 
tions over  a  region  but  little  known  ;  referring  to  his 
previous  essays  on  the  geology,  palaeontology,  and 
petrology  of  North  Syria  for  fuUer  details.  The  region 
described  extends  from  the  northern  slopes  of  the  Lebanon 
to  those  of  the  Taurus  Mountains,  and  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  ruins 
of  Palmyra,  embracing  an  area  of  about  45,000  square 
miles.  It  also  includes  the  whole  of  the  Orontes  Valley 
and  the  Kurdish  Mountains.  The  mountainous  tracts 
immediately  to  the  south  have  already  been  ably  described^ 
as  regards  their  physical  structure,  by  Carl  Diener,  in  an 
essay  which  was  favourably  reviewed  in  Nature  at  the 
time  of  its  publication  in  1886,  and  these  observations  on 
the  geology  of  the  Lebanon  and  Hermon  have  been  taken 
up  and  extended  by  Dr.  Blanckenhorn  to  the  borders  of 
Asia  Minor.  Still  further  south,  we  have  the  geology  of 
Palestine  illustrated  and  described  by  Fraas,  Lartet, 
Tristram,  and  the  officers  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund,  extending  into  Edom  and  Moab  and  the  Sinaitic 
peninsula ;  so  that,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  travellers  to 
carry  out  such  a  work  as  that  of  the  geological  portraiture 
of  the  region,  we  have  now  the  whole  tract  from  the 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Taurus  Mountains  very  fully 
described  and  illustrated.  Two  maps  on  a  large  scale, 
one  showing  the  topography,  the  other  the  geology, 
accompany  the  present  work.  That  there  should  be 
uncoloured  spaces  at  intervals  in  the  latter  was  inevitable, 
and  is  a  proof  of  the  caution  exercised  by  the  author  in 
its  preparation.  The  text  itself  also  contains  numerous 
geological  sections  and  illustrations. 

In  comparing  the  geological  structure  of  the  Lebanon, 
as  described  by  Diener,^  with  that  of  the  range  between  the 
valley  of  the  Orontes  and  the  coast,  called  Djebel  Ansdrige 
(Nusairicr-gebirge),  the  author  observes  that  the  re- 
presentatives of  the  Upper  Jura  and  Cenomanian  lying  at 
the  base  of  the  Lebanon  formations  are  absent  in  the 
more  northerly  tracts,  the  lowest  beds  of  the  series 
being  represented  by  the  '*  Rudisten-kalk,"  of  probably 
Toronian  age.  The  engraved  longitudinal  section  which 
the  author  g^ves  to  illustrate  this,  amongst  other  physical 
featureSy  is  drawn  from  the  coast  at  Latakia  (Lddikije) 
over  Dj.  Hassan  Erai  to  the  Orontes  at  Mischaldm,  and 
is  of  much  interest  as  illustrating  the  general  structure  of 
this  part  of  Northern  Syria.  The  valley  of  the  Orontes  is 
shown  to  be  in  the  line  of  a  great  fault,  or  system  of 
faults,  by  which  the  Eocene  limestone  beds  are  ''thrown 
down  ^  along  the  eastern  side  of  the  valley  against  the 
older  Cretaceous  strata,  which  are  elevated  into  the  ranges 
of  Dj.  el  Ansdrije  and  Hassan  Erai,  capped  by  the  same 
Eocene  limestones  which  form  the  bed  of  the  Orontes,  but 
at  a  difference  of  relative  level  of  about  1600  feet.  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  valley  the  Eocene  strata  rise  into  high 
ridg^,  partly  by  the  aid  of  a  N.-S.  fault,  which  is  not  im- 

'  "LibanoD,  Grundlinien  der  phys.  Geozraphie  u.  Geologic  v.  Mitiel- 
syiicn,"  1886. 

NO.   1 1 27,  VOL.  44] 


probably  a  continuation  of  the  '*  great  Jordan-Arabah 
fault,"  which  has  produced  such  remarkable  effects  in 
connection  with  the  physical  structure  of  Palestine  and 
Arabia  Petrsea.^  The  position  of  this  fault  seems  also  to 
be  indicated  in  the  section  across  the  Orontes  at  Ham- 
mam  Sheikh  Isa,  illustrating  the  region  of  M  ons  Cassius. 

The  author  gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  gorge  of 
the  Orontes  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  hot  springs 
(Hammam)  above  the  great  bend  which  the  river  takes 
from  its  northerly  course  towards  the  west  in  order  to 
reach  the  Mediterranean.  At  Djisr  esh-Schughr  the  river 
enters  a  canon  which  has  been  worn  down  to  a  depth  of 
160  metres  in  beds  of  Eocene  limestone  and  marble  rich 
in  NuUipores,  and  amongst  the  massive  Miocene  lime- 
stone (Grobkalk)  ;  while  to  the  left  rises  the  plateau  of  Dj. 
el  Koseir,  breaking  off  in  successive  terraces  towards  the 
Orontes  Valley,  and  on  the  right  the  crest  of  Dj.  el  'Ala. 
On  leaving  this  gorge  the  river  enters  an  extensive  alluvial 
plain,  making  a  magnificent  sweep  round  to  the  westward  ; 
and  in  its  course  through  a  rocky  and  broken  country 
bathes  the  ruined  walls  of  Antioch,  the  once  famous 
capital  of  Syria — a  city  which  bears  so  honourable  a  place 
in  the  early  history  of  Christianity. 

The  region  of  Northern  Syria  physically  divides  itself 
into  three  distinct  regions  which  are  adopted  for  purposes 
of  description  by  the  author.  The  first  includes  the  coast 
ranges ;  the  second,  the  depression  lying  to  the  east  of 
these,  including  the  valleys  of  the  Orontes  and  the  Kara 
sea  and  river ;  the  third,  the  "  Hinterland,"  or  interior 
tracts  of  North  Syria  lying  to  the  east  of  the  depression, 
and  including  the  Khurdish  Mountains :  we  can  only  here 
specially  notice  this  last.  This  region  is  remarkable  for 
the  great  tracts  of  Miocene  strata,  reposing  sometimes  on 
those  of  Eocene,  sometimes  on  those  of  Cretaceous,  ages 
of  the  Palmyrene  wilderness  and  of  Anti-Lebanon,  and 
which  are  in  turn  largely  overspread  by  great  sheets  of 
plateau  basalt.  Of  these  Miocene  strata  the  plains  round 
Aleppo  are  chiefly  formed.  Here  they  are  nearly 
horizontal,  but  towards  the  north  they  are  tilted,  and  the 
Eocene  and  Cretaceous  strata  again  rise  to  the  surface 
and  terminate  in  the  escarpment  of  Kardalar  Dagh, 
beyond  which  rises  the  high  plateau  of  K4wir,  and  stiU 
further  towards  the  north-west  the  lofty  ridge  of  Giaur 
Dagh,  which  reaches  an  elevation  of  1 330  metres.  This 
latter  is  formed  of  Devonian  limestone,  slate,  and  grit, 
which  appear  to  be  the  fundamental  rocks  of  this  part  of 
Syria.  The  plateau  of  KAwir,  which  intervenes  between 
the  Giaur  Dagh  and  the  Kurdish  ranges,  is  formed  of 
gabbro,  norite,  schillerfels,  and  serpentine,  of  an  age 
intervening  between  the  Upper  Chalk  and  the  Eocene. 
The  Miocene  strata  which  occupy  so  extensive  a  part  of 
Northern  Syria  were  formed,  according  to  the  author, 
under  the  waters  of  an  arm  of  the  Mediterranean,  which 
extended  inwards  at  the  base  of  Dj.  el-Koseir  beyond  the 
Kuweik  and  the  vicinity  of  Aleppo,  bounded  by  irregular 
ranges  of  emergent  hills  of  Eocene  and  Cretaceous  strata. 
The  formation  consists  of  basal  conglomerates  of  flint 
pebbles,  passing  into  calcareous  sands,  clays,  and  finally 
the  massive  limestone  (Grobkalk)  already  referred  to,  and 
has  yielded  forms  of  Operculina^  Clypeaster^  &c.,  clearly 
indicating  its  marine  origin.    This  epoch  was  remarkable 

'  *•  Mem.  on  the  Physical  Geology  and  Geography  of  Arabia  Petrsea, 
Palestine,  &c."  (Palestine  Ex.>Ioration  Fu  id),  1886,  pp.  103-12. 


lOO 


NATURE 


[June  4,  1891 


for  the  display  of  volcanic  energy  on  a  vast  scale.  Great 
sheets  of  augitic  lava,  together  with  tuff  and  agglomerate, 
were  erupted  during  the  Miocene  epoch,  not  only  in 
Northern  Syria  but  in  the  East  Jordanic  region  to  the 
south,  and  were  again  renewed  in  Post-Pliocene  times. 
It  is  probable  that  to  volcanic  action  we  must  refer 
the  origin  of  some  of  the  peculiar  little  lakes  of  Northern 
Syria,  such  as  those  of  Horns  and  Kara,  one  occupying 
the  bed  of  the  Orontes,  the  other  that  of  the  Kara,  where 
the  ground  probably  fell  in  and  became  filled  with  water. 
The  Pliocene  period  is  represented  by  both  marine  and 
freshwater  strata,  deposited  in  bays  and  depressions  along 
the  margins  of  uprising  lands,  formed  of  all  the  older  for- 
mations, including  those  of  the  Miocene  period.  All  of 
these  had  been  disturbed,  upraised,  and  partially  eroded 
before  the  deposition  of  the  Pliocene  strata.  In  this,  as 
in  other  physical  phenomena  of  Northern  Syria,  we  are 
reminded  of  those  of  Palestine  and  Egypt.  Throughout 
all  this  region  the  Nummulitic  and  Cretaceous  strata  were 
disturbed  and  upraised  into  dry  land,  and  subjected  to 
extensive  denudation  at  the  close  of  the  Eocene  and 
again  at  the  close  of  the  Miocene  epochs,  so  that  the 
stratigraphical  continuity  of  these  Tertiary  formations  has 
been  repeatedly  broken. 

It  may  be  worth  while,  in  conclusion,  to  glance  at  the 
prints  of  analogy,  as  well  as  of  difference,  between  the 
physical  conditions  of  Syria  and  of  the  region  to  the  south 
of  the  Lebanon.  In  Northern  Syria,  and  along  the  ranges 
of  the  Taurus  and  Anti-Taurus,  the  fundamental  rocks  on 
which  are  superimposed  the  great  calcareous  formations 
of  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  ages  consist  of  Devonian 
schists,  greywacke,  and  limestone,^  together  with  masses 
of  various  igneous  rock.     In  Southern  Palestine  and  the 
Sinaitic  peninsula,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fundamental 
rocks  consist  of  granite,  gneiss,  various  crystalhne  schists 
of  Archaean  age,  traversed  by  innumerable  dykes  of  hom- 
blendic,  augitic,  and  felspathic  rock ;    surmounted    at 
intervals  by  Lower  Carboniferous  beds  ;  this  is  a  remark 
able  contrast.     But  a  still  greater,  perhaps,  is  to  be  found 
at  the  next  stage.    All  along  the  eastern  border  of  the 
Jordan  Valley,  south  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  extending 
southwards  along  the  table-land  of  Moab,  Edom,  and  the 
Arabah  Valley,  as  well  as  through  the  Sinaitic  peninsula, 
and  into  Upper  Egypt,  the  base  of  the  Cretaceous  series 
is  represented  by  the  Nubian  sandstone,^  a  formation  of 
great  persistency,  and  interesting  from  an  architectural 
point  of  view  for  its  extensive  use  as  a  building-stone  in 
the  great  structures  of  Ancient  Egypt ;  as,  for  example,  in 
the  colossal  figures  of  Amenophis  in  the  plain  of  Thebes, 
as  also  in  the  temples  and  sepulchres  of  Petra.    This 
formation  appears  to  be  altogether  wanting  north  of  the 
Lebanon,  where,  according  to  Herr  Blanckenhorn,  the 
Cretaceous  strata  of  the  Turonian  stage  are  the  lowest  of 
the  series.'    The  points  of  contrast,  however,  here  ter- 
minate ;  for  over  the  whole  region  from  Upper  Egypt  and 
the  Libyan  Desert  on  the  south  to  the  Taurus  Mountains 
on  the  north,  a  distance  of  looo  miles  and  beyond,  the 
Cretaceous  and  Eocene  limestones  were  deposited,  and 
formed  part  of  the  floor  of  the  ancient  ocean,  the  original 
limits  of  which  it  is  hard  to  determine  with  any  approach 
to  accuracy. 

'  As  determined  by  Hamilton.  Warington  Smyth,  Tchihatchefif,  and  others. 

"  Probably  of  Neocomian  age. 

3  Representing  those  of  the  chalk-marl  of  England. 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


At  the  close  of  the  Eocene  epoch  this  ocean  bed 
subjected  to  powerful  movements.  Large  tracts,  including 
the  Libyan  Desert  and  Egypt,  Palestine  and  Syria,  were 
elevated  into  dry  land ;  while  the  strata  were  bent,  folded, 
and  faulted  along  lines  ranging  generally  from  north  to 
south.  To  this  period  is  to  be  referred  the  production 
of  the  great  Jordan-Arabah  fault,  which  has  now  been 
traced  at  intervals  from  the  Gulf  of  Akabah  to  the  valley 
of  the  Orontes,  a  distance  of  over  350  miles,  while  the 
main  features,  especially  the  mountains,  had  the  outlines 
which  they  now  present  marked  out.  During  the  Mio- 
cene period,  along  with  a  partial  re-submergence,  volcanic 
action  came  into  play  over  a  region  generally  bounded  by 
the  Jordanic  depression  on  the  west,  and  extending  from 
the  Arabian  Desert  to  the  base  of  the  Taurus,  and  the 
head  waters  of  the  Euphrates.  In  Northern  Syria,  ex- 
tensive sheets  of  basaltic  lava  are  found  west  of  the 
Orontes  Valley,  as  well  as  at  Antioch,  Aleppo,  and  other 
parts.  At  a  later  period,  bordering  on  the  present,  fresh 
eruptions  were  added.  The  region  we  have  been  con- 
sidering has  its  natural  boundary  towards  the  north  in 
the  Taurus  range,  where  a  system  of  E.-W.  flexures  take 
the  place  of  those  of  the  region  to  the  south,  where  (as 
we  have  seen)  the  prevalent  direction  of  the  flexures  is 
meridional  Edward  Hull. 


EUROPEAN  BOTANY. 

PlantcB  Europece :  enumeratio  systematica  et  synonymtca 

plantarum  phanerogamicarum  in  Europa  sponte  ere- 

scentium  vel  mere  inquilinarum,     Autore  K.  Richter. 

Tomus  I.,  pp.  378.     (Leipzig  :   Verlag  von  Wilhelm 

'  Engelmann,  1890.) 

WHAT  is  most  wanted  in  systematic  botany  at  the 
present  time  is  a  general  flora  of  Europe,  worked 
out  for  the  different  countries  on  one  uniform  plan,  with 
the  sub-species  and  varieties  placed  in  their  proper  sub> 
ordination  under  the  primary    specific   types,  and  the 
synonyms  worked  out  carefully.    The  number  of  plants 
in  Europe  is  about  the  same  as  in  the  United  States. 
For  these  Asa  Gray    planned  a  general  flora  in  three 
volumes,  of  which  the  middle  one,  containing  the  Gamo- 
petalae,  was  published  shortly  before  his  death,  and  the 
flrst  and  third  left  in  a  forward  state  of  preparation. 
Many  years  ago  Mr.   Benthani  planned  and  carried  out, 
with  the  assistance  of  Baron  von   Mueller,  a  complete 
flora  of  Australia.     There  are  40  or  50  per  cent,  more 
plants  in  India  than  in  Europe.     Sir  Joseph  Hooker's 
"Flora  of  British   India,"  containing  descriptions   and 
full  synonymy  of  every  species,  has  reached  the  end  of 
the  Dicotyledons,  and  in  the  last  part  the  Orchidese  are 
finished,  so  that  five-sixths  of  the  work  is  now  done. 
There  is,  however,  no  such  book  in  existence  as  a  general 
descriptive  flora  of  Europe.     For  Europe  the  difficulty 
lies  far  more  in  the  bibliography  than  in  the  plants  them- 
selves.   An  enormous  number  of  subordinate  forms  have 
been  described  under  specific  names,  and  the  number 
of  channels  of  publication  in  the  way  of  journals  and  re- 
ports of  societies  becomes  greater  and  greater  every  year. 
Nyman's  "  Sylloge,"  published  in  1854-55,  and  his  later 
"  Conspectus,"  have  been  a  great  boon  to  all  European 
workers.    Though  they  do  not  contain  any  descriptions^ 
they  givel  a  tabular  view  of  the  whole  European  flora. 


June  4,  1891] 


NATURE 


101 


tracing  out  in  detail  the  geographical  distribution  of  the 
species ;  and  in  the  ''  Conspectus ''  especially,  great  pains 
has  been  taken  to  separate  the  subordinate  from  the 
primary  types.  The  present  work,  like  Nyman's,  does 
not  contain  any  descriptions.  It  deals  with  the  geo- 
graphical range  of  the  species  much  more  briefly,  in- 
cUcating  it  within  the  compass  of  a  single  line.  Its 
strong  point  is  bibliography,  and  it  gives  under  species 
a  list  of  all  the  names  that  have  been  applied  to  it  by 
different  authors,  with  a  citation  ;of  the  book  and  page 
where  each  name  is  published,  with  a  note  of  the  date  of 
publication.  The  plan  followed  can  be  best  illustrated 
by  an  example,  and  the  following  is  the  way  in  which  the 
cultivated  wheats  are  dealt  with : — 

Triticum,  Section  Sitopyros, 

19.  7'.  monococcunty  L.,  Sp.  PI.,  edit,  i,  p.  86  (1753). 

Syn.:  jEgilops  Crithodium^  Steud.,   Syn.  Gl,  i. 

p.  355  (1855). 
Crithodtum  agilopoides^  Lk.,  in   Linn.,  iv. 

p.  142  (1829). 

T,  boeticunty  Bss.,  Diagn.  PL  Or.,  i.  13,  p.  69 

(i8S3)- 
T,pubescenSy  MB.,  Casp.  M.,  p.  81  (1800). 

Earopa    austro-orientalis    (Ceterum    cultum).      (Cau- 
casus.) 

20.  71  sativum^  Lam.,  Enc,  ii.  p.  554  (1786). 

{a)  Spelta^  L.,  Sp.  PL,  ed.  i,  p.  86  (1753. 
Syn. :  T,  Zea^  Host,  Gram.,  iii.  t.  29  (1805). 

ijf)  dicoccuniy  Schrk.,  Baier.  Fl.,  p.  389  (1789). 

Syn.  :  T,  amyleum,    Ser.,    Mel.   Bot.,  L    p.    124 
(1818). 
T,  airatumj  Host,  Gram.,  iv.  t.  8  (1809). 
T.  CienfugoSy  Lag.,  EL,  p.  6  (1816). 
T.  Gartnerianuniy  Lag.,  ib» 
T,  Speltay  Host,  Gram.,  iii.  t.  30  (1805). 
T,    iricoccuniy    SchuebL,    in    Flora,    1820, 
p.  458. 
(r)  sativum y  Hack.,  in  Nat.  Pflzf.,  ii.  2,  p.  85  (1887). 
a.  vulgarcy  VilL,  PL  Dauph.,  ii.  p.  153  (1787). 
Syn. :  T,  astivuttiy  L.,  Sp.  PL,  ed.  i,  p.  85 

(1753)- 
T,  cereaUy  Bmg.,  En.,  iL  p.  266  (1846). 

T,  hybernunty  L.,  l.c,  p.  86. 

3.  compactum^  Host,  Gram.,  iv.  t.  7  (1809). 
Syn. :   T,   veiuitnuf/ty    SchiibL,    Diss.,   p.    13 
(1818). 

y.  turgiduniy  L.,  Sp.  PL,  ed.  i,  p.  86  (1753). 
Syn. :  T.  compositumy  Linn.,  f.  SuppL,  p.  477 

(1781). 
T.  LinncEanutHy  Lag.,  EL,  p.  6  (1816). 

d.  aurunty  Desf.,  Fl.  Atlant.,  i.  p.  114  (1798). 
Syn. :  T,  Bauhiniy  Lag.,  EL,  p.  6  (1816). 
T,  brachystackyumy  Lag.,  ib. 
T,  cochleare y  Lag.,  ib. 
T,  fastuosunty  Lag.,  ib, 
T.  hordeiformey    Host,  Gram.,  iv.   t.  5 

(1809). 
T.  platystachyumy  Lag.,  Lc, 
T,  sativum  /3,  Pers.,  Syn.,  i.  p.    109 

(1805). 
T.  tomentosumy  Bayle-Bar.,  Mon.,  p.  40 

(1809). 
T,    villosumy    Host,    Gram.,    iv.   t.   6 
(1809). 

Cultum  in  diversis  varietatibus. 

21.  T.  polonicutny  L.,  Sp.  PL,  ed.  i,  p.  86  (1753). 

Syn. :  T,  CevalloSy  Lag.,  EL,  p.  6  (1816). 

Cultum. 

NO.  1 127,  VOL.  44I 


Of  course  it  is  impossible  for  an  author  covering  such  a 
wide  field  to  work  out  for  himself  all  the  details,  and  in 
the  critical  genera,  such  as  Potamogeton,  Festuca,  CrocuF, 
Iris,  Tulipa,  and  Narcissus,  no  two  authors  are  ever  likely 
to  agree  as  to  which  should  be  classed  as  primary,  which 
as  subordinate  types,  and  which  as  mere  synonyms.  The 
present  portion  of  the  work  includes  only  the  Gynmo- 
sperms  and  Monocotyledons.  The  author  admits  250 
European  genera,  1830  species,  and  840  sub  species.  He 
keeps  up  the  oldest  specific  name  published  under  any 
genus,  not,  as  is  usual  in  England,  the  name  first  pub- 
lished under  the  genus  in  which  the  plant  is  now  placed. 
I  find  that  a  considerable  number  of  books  and  papers 
published  in  England  have  not  been  taken  into  account ; 
for  instance.  Maw's  magnificent  monograph  of  the  genus 
Crocus,  C.  B.  Clarke's  monograph  of  the  European 
species  of  Eleocharis  in  the  Journal  of  Botany y  1887, 
p.  267,  and  Arthur  Bennett's  work  on  Potamogeton,  as 
summarized  in  the  last  edition  of  Hooker's  '*  Student's 
Flora."  The  book  has  cost  great  care  and  pains,  and  will 
be  found  very  useful  by  all  who  work  at  European 
botany.  J.  G.  Baker. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Missouri  Botanical  Garden.  8vo,  with  several  Maps 
and  Engravings.  (Printed  for  private  circulation  by 
the  Managers,  1891.) 

The  Missouri  Botanical  Garden  is  situated  at  the  city 
of  St.  Louis,  and  was  founded  by  the  late  Henry  Shaw. 
He  was  born  at  Sheffield  in  the  year  1800,  and  emigrated 
to  Canada  with  his  father  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  a 
year  later  moved  southward  to  St.  Louis,  which  was  then 
a  small  isolated  French  trading  post.  He  established 
himself  in  business  as  a  dealer  in  cutlery,  made  a  fortune 
of  250,000  dollars  by  the  time  he  was  forty  years  of  age, 
and  then  retired  from  business.  In  1840  he  visited 
Europe  for  the  first  time,  and  in  1842-45  made  a  three  years' 
tour  in  the  Old  World.  In  185 1  he  visited  Chatsworth,  and 
particularly  admired  its  garden  and  conservatories.  This 
led  him  to  entertain  the  idea  of  forming  a  large  garden 
at  home.  One  of  the  best  American  botanists.  Dr. 
Engelmann,  lived  at  St.  Louis,  and  Mr.  Shaw  sought  his 
help  and  advice.  In  1857  he  opened  a  correspondence 
with  Sir  William  Hooker.  He  engaged  from  the  Royal 
Botanic  Garden  in  Regent's  Park  Mr.  James  Gurney  to 
superintend  the  carrying  out  of  his  plans.  He  died  in 
]  889,  and  bequeathed  to  his  trustees  760  acres  of  land, 
situated  partly  within  and  partly  outside  the  limits  of  the 
city  of  Sc.  Louis,  to  be  kept  up  as  a  Botanic  Garden  open 
to  the  public,  containing  a  museum  and  library. 

On  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  Mr.  William 
Trelease,  who  was  then  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  Wis- 
consin University  at  Madison,  was  appointed  in  1885 
Director  of  the  Garden,  a  post  which  he  still  holds,  and 
provision  was  made  for  the  establishment  of  a  school 
of  botany  and  the  endowment  of  six  scholarships  for 
garden  pupils,  each  worth  300  dollars  a  year,  with  free 
lodging  and  free  tuition. 

The  present  volume  contains  a  biographical  sketch  of  the 
founder  of  the  Gardens  ;  a  copy  of  his  will ;  of  the  Act  that 
was  passed  to  enable  him  to  convey  the  land  to  the  trustees, 
and  of  the  deed  of  gift  for  the  endowment  of  the  School  of 
Botany ;  a  copy  of  the  inaugural  address  by  Prof.  Trelease, 
when  the  School  of  Botany  was  founded  ;  also  of  the  first 
annual  report  of  the  Director  ;  of  the  proceedings  at  the 
first  annual  banquet  of  the  trustees,  to  which  a  large 
number  of  eminent  men  of  science  and  other  guests  were 
invited ;  and  of  the  first  annual  flower  sermon,  which  was 


I02 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891. 


E reached  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral  on  May  i8,  1890, 
y  the  Bishop  of  Missouri.  The  book  is  illustrated  by 
plans  of  the  garden,  a  large  number  of  views  of  the 
museums  and  other  buildings,  including  Mr.  Shaw's 
house  and  a  fine  statue  of  Humboldt. 

Everything  is  now  in  full  working  order,  and  we  have 
just  received  from  Prof.  Trelease  a  capital  synopsis  of  the 
American  species  of  the  difficult  genus  Epilobium,  con- 
taining full  botanical  descriptions  and  figures  of  all  the 
species.  The  herbarium  now  contains  about  20,000 
mounted  sheets  of  flowering  plants  and  ferns,  also  a 
large  collection  of  Fungi  and  other  Cryptogamia. 

J.  G.  B. 

Geologie:  Prindpes — Explication  de  Vipoque  Quater- 
naire  sans  Hypotheses.  Par  H.  Hermite.  Pp.  145. 
(Neuchatel,  1891.) 

On  taking  up  this  little  book  the  geological  reader  is  at 
once  struck  by  the  words  "  sans  Hypotheses  "  in  the  title. 
A  volume  on  Pleistocene  geology  free  from  hypotheses 
would  seem  to  him  to  usher  in  a  new  era  in  geology,  and 
would  be  most  heartily  welcomed  by  him.  The  title  of 
the  present  work,  however,  is  misleading  ;  the  book  is 
almost  entirely  devoted  to  theoretical  explanations  of 
purely  hypothetical  facts.  We  have  not  space  to  notice 
in  detail  the  various  subjects  of  which  the  author  treats, 
but  as  an  example  of  his  method  we  may  point  to  his 
"  Origine  des  Pluies  Quatemaires "  (p.  39).  In  this 
section  he  accepts  the  hypothetical  Quaternary  *'  Pluvial 
Period  " — which,  by  the  way,  seems  to  have  been  charac- 
terized by  a  singularly  poor  aquatic  fauna  and  flora— and 
he  then  accounts  for  the  supposed  excessive  rainfall  during 
Tertiary  and  Quaternary  time  by  the  amount  of  vapour 
thrown  out  by  volcanoes,  adding  that  the  small  rainfall  of 
the  Secondary  periods  is  accounted  for  by  the  absence  of 
volcanic  action  during  those  periods !  Then  we  meet 
with  our  old  acquaintance  the  former  excess  of  carbonic 
acid  in  the  air  and  its  influence  on  the  ancient  climate  of 
the  polar  regions — possibly  correct,  but  certainly  hypo- 
thetical. Further  on,  speaking  of  the  origin  of  the  con- 
tinental platform  at  a  depth  of  200  metres,  the  author 
states  that  this  feature  results  from  the  raising  of  the 
general  level  of  the  sea  from  the  melting  of  the 
Quaternary  ice ;  and  from  this  hypothetical  raising  he 
arrives  at  the  result  that  the  mass  of  the  Quaternary  ice 
corresponded  to  the  total  mass  of  the  sea  now  lying 
above  the  level  of  the  continental  platform.  Another 
speculation  relates  to  the  breaking  through  of  the  Indian 
Ocean  across  Siberia  to  the  Polar  seas,  thus  causing  a 
milder  climate,  and  accounting  also  for  the  parallel  roads 
of  Glen  Roy  and  the  terraces  in  Norway  and  Greenland. 
We  cannot  pretend  to  follow  the  reasoning,  but  it  is  all 
somehow  connected  with  the  author's  theory  "  qu'k  ime 
diminution  de  la  density  des  mers  correspond  un  abaisse- 
ment  de  leur  surface.'*  C.  R. 

Webster's  International  Dictionary  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage, Revised  and  Enlarged  under  the  Supervision 
of  Noah  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (London:  George  Bell 
and  Sons.  Springfield,  Mass.  U.S.A. :  G.  and  C. 
Merriam  and  Co.) 

Webster's  Dictionary  is  so  well  known  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  do  much  more 
than  note  the  appearance  of  the  present  edition.  The 
work  was  published  originally  in  1828,  after  which  it  was 
steadily  improved  in  successive  issues.  It  has  now  been 
revised  so  thoroughly,  and  with  the  aid  of  so  many  com- 
petent scholars,  that  for  popular  use  it  can  hardly  fail  to 
maintain  the  ground  it  has  already  won.  Much  promin- 
ence is  given  to  ''the  definitions  and  illustrations  of 
scientific,  technological,  and  zoological  terms,"  and  in 
the  preface  to  the  English  edition  it  is  stated  that  no 
pains  have  been  spared  to  make  this  part  of  the  book  "  as 
perfect  as  possible  in  both  text  and  illustration."    The 

NO.   II 2 7,  VOL.  44] 


definitions  in  particular  branches  of  science  have  been 
revised  by  such  men  as  Prof.  H.  A.  Newton  and  Prof. 
E.  S.  Dana-- names  which  are  a  sufficient  guarantee  for 
the  way  in  which  the  task  has  been  accomplished.  In  the 
department  of  etymology.  Prof.  £.  S.  Sheldon,  of  Harvaid 
University,  has  carefully  dealt  with  the  results  presented 
in  the  last  edition,  bringing  them  into  accord  with  the 
philological  ideas  of  the  present  day.  The  pictorial 
illustrations  are  numerous,  and  well  adapted  to  the  pur- 
poses for  which  they  are  inserted. 

Elementary  Chemistry;  for  Beginners,  By  W.  Jerome 
Harrison,  F.G.S.    (London :  Blackie  and  Son,  1890.) 

This  volume  of  144  pages  consists  of  an  expansion  of 
the  author's  notes  of  lessons  prepared  for  teaching 
children  from  nine  to  thirteen  years  of  age  according  to 
the  outlines  given  in  the  education  code.  The  inforaa- 
tion  is  conveyed  in  familiar  language,  and  each  chapter 
closes  with  a  series  of  questions  which  are  well  calculated 
to  test  the  child's  progress.  It  is  a  pity  to  issue  any  book 
that  deals  with  scientific  matters  without  a  contents  table 
and  an  index,  and  we  fear  that  the  absence  of  these  in 
the  present  case  will  lead  to  inconvenience.  And  we 
would  suggest  that  the  quantities  selected  for  the  examples 
might  approximate  more  closely  to  those  most  generally 
employed.  The  hydrogen  from  the  use  of  a  ton  of  zinc,  the 
preparation  of  1000  lbs.  of  carbon  dioxide,  eighteen  quarts 
of  oxygen  mixed  with  an  equal  volume  of  hydrogen  and 
exploded,  ten  gallons  of  hydrogen  mixed  with  half  its 
volume  of  chlorine  and  exposed  to  sunlight,  indicate  ex- 
periments on  an  extravagant  if  not  an  appalling  scale. 
These,  however,  are  matters  of  detail.  The  notes  of  so 
successful  a  teacher  as  Mr.  Jerome  Harrison  cannot  fail 
to  be  valuable  to  others  who  are  engaged  in  a  like  work 
as  well  as  to  the  students  themselves. 

Examination  of  Water  for  Sanitary  and  Technical  Pur- 
poses. By  Henry  Leflfmann,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  and  William 
Beam,  M.A.  Second  Edition.  (London:  KeganPaul, 
Trench,  Triibner  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1891.) 

The  fact  that  a  second  edition  has  been  called  for  only 
two  years  after  the  issue  of  the  first,  shows  that  this 
excellent  hand-book  has  been  ver>'  generally  appreciated. 
The  authors  have  revised  the  work  and  made  many  addi- 
tions to  it  chiefly  of  processes  that  have  recently  grown 
in  importance.  Among  the  principal  of  these  additions,  we 
observe  that  the  three  pages  on  "  Living  Organisms  in 
Water  "  of  the  first  edition  are  now  expanded  into  a  chapter 
of  thirteen  pages  entitled,  "  Biological  Examinations "  A 
table  of  culture  phenomena  of  some  of  the  more  import- 
ant microbes  is  given.  But  concerning  this  matter  the 
authors  state  that  "  until  pathogenic  microbes  are  more 
clearly  indicated  and  described,  the  methods  will  be  of 
little  use  in  dealing  with  the  problem  of  the  determina- 
tion of  the  sanitary  and  technical  value  of  water  sup- 
plies." 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  a- 
pressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undtrwt 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rgtcUd 
mantiscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of '^kVS^ 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The  University  of  London. 

I  DO  not  wish  to  criticize  in  the  least  Prof.  Lankesters 
valuable  statement  in  your  last  issue,  with  which  I  entirely  agree; 
but  I  desire  to  point  out  that  unless  some  energetic  action  » 
taken  very  soon  we  are  likely  to  be  farther  than  ever  from  the 
ideal  which  he  has  in  view — namely,  the  establishment  of  a  strong 
professorial  University  in  London.  The  only  scheme  at  present  m 
the  field  is  that  put  forward  by  the  Councils  of  University  ana 
King's  Colleges  m  the  proposed  charter  for  an  Albert  Unirersity. 


Juke  4,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


103 


This  scheme  has  never  met  with  the  cordial  support  of  a  lan^e 
section  at  least  of  the  teachiD{|^  staff  of  University  College,  and  tor 
the  very  obvious  reason  that  it  does  not  constitute  a  professorial 
University,  but  creates  a  new  examining  body  on  which  the  two 
Colleges  will  be,  in  the  beginning  at  any  rate,  fazgely  represented. 
The  Albert  University  charter  would  create  a  second  Victoria 
University  in  London.  Now,  both  Mr.  Dyer  and  Prof.  Lankester 
are  agreed  that  we  do  not  want  a  federal  University  like  Victoria 
in  London ;  but  they  seem  to  forget  that  this  pettifogging  excuse 
ibr  a  University — a  scheme  drafted  by  bureaucratic  rather  than 
academic  minds — is  the  only  scheme  in  the  field,  and  that,  further, 
the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  has  determined  to  hear  by 
counsel,  on  an  early  day  in  June,  what  can  be  said  for  and 
against  this  scheme.  It  is  further  rumoured  that  the  Burlington 
House  Senate  intends,  after  its  recent  discomfiture,  to  remain 
absolutely  neutral.  The  danger,  then,  that  we  shall  have  a 
repetition  in  London  of  the  difficulties  of  Manchester  is  a  very 
immediate  one.  Let  me  point  out  exactly  the  anomalies  of  the 
Albert  scheme.  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  create  a  teaching 
University,  but  a  new  examining  body.  The  University  as  such 
will  have  no  control  over  the  appointment  of  the  professoriate 
either  at  University  or  King's  Colleges,  it  will  have  no  funds  to 
dispose  of,  and  there  will  l^  nothing  to  prevent  rival  second-rate 
teachers  and  teaching  equipment  instead  of  first-rate  central 
teaching  and  central  laboratories.  For  example,  at  the  present 
time,  putting  aside  the  Central  Institute,  we  have  some  half- 
dozen  second-rate  physical  laboratories  in  London,  but  not  a 
really  first -class  one  worthy  of  a  modem  University  among  them. 
So  long  as  there  is  competition  between  the  Colleges,  so  long  as 
they  possess  a  double  staff  competing  at  every  turn  with  each 
other  for  students'  fees,  this  is  unlikely  to  be  remedied.  Prof. 
Lankester  speaks  of  a  union  of  King's  and  University,  and 
talks  about  their  combined  resources.  The  fusion  of  these  two 
Colleges  would  certainly  be  the  first  stage  to  a  true  professorial 
University  in  London,  but  there  is  nothing  in  the  Albert  charter 
to  bring  this  about :  it  unites  the  two  Collies  not  for  teaching 
but  for  examining  purposes.  But  what  is  still  worse,  while  these 
two  Colleges  will  remain  autonomous,  the  Albert  charter  proposes 
to  admit  any  further  autonomous  bodies,  the  teaching  of  which 
can  be  shown  to  have  reached  a  certain  academic  standard. 
These  bodies  will  not  be  absorbed,  but  their  independent  staffs 
will  be  represented  on  the  Faculties  and  Senate.  Here  we  have 
in  fact  the  University  of  London  over  again, — at  first  composed 
almost  entirely  of  the  two  Colleges,  afterwards  embracing  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  institutions  in  London,  and  ultimately 
open  to  every  isolated  text-book  reader  in  the  universe.  It 
cannot  be  therefore  too  strongly  insisted  upon  that  the  Albert 
charter,  if  granted,  will  not  call  into  existence  a  professorial 
University,  but  federate  a  group,  and  an  ever-widening  group,  of 
competing  institutions  for  the  purposes  of  examination.  If  it 
shedis  for  a  time  any  additional  lustre  on  the  teaching  staffs  of 
the  two  Colleges — which  I  am  much  inclined  to  doubt — it  will 
not  achieve,  uhat  most  of  us  have  at  heart,  the  establishment 
in  London,  at  any  rate  in  the  germ,  of  a  great  University  in  the 
Scottish  or  German  sense.  A  University,  on  the  scale  we  hope 
for,  would  absorb  the  plant  of  University  and  King's  Colleges, 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  and  of  the  Central  Institute 
without  the  least  di^culty.  With  the  death  or  transference  of 
existing  teachers,  whose  pecuniary  interests  would  have  of  course 
to  be  carefully  safeguarded,  special  branches  of  higher  teaching 
and  research  might  be  localized  at  these  various  centres,^  and  we 
thus  might  reach  in  the  future  an  efficient  University  organiza- 
tion in  London.  This  may  indeed  be  considered  a  merely  ideal 
future,  but  any  scheme  like  the  proposed  Albert  University, 
which  will  only  impede  its  ultimate  realization,  ought  to  meet 
with  strenuous  opposition  from  those  who  believe  that  a  gpreat 
professorial  University  must  sooner  or  later  be  established  in 
London. 

The  difficulty  as  to  the  granting  of  medical  degrees  will  for 
long  be  the  stumbling-block  of  any  scheme,  but  the  true  way  to 
surmount  it  seems  to  be  that  suggested  by  Prof.  Lankester — 
namely,  the  complete  divorce  of  the  dinical  teaching  at  University 
and  King's  CoU^es  from  the  science  teaching,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  separate  clinical  schools  at  the  existing  College  hospitals 
on  precisely  the  same  footing  with  regard  to  the  University  as 
the  other  medical  schools.  The  preliminary  science  teaching  at 
the^  various  medical  schools  might  then  be  safely  intrusted  to 
University  readers,  who  might  continue  to  be,  as  they  now  largely 

>  EUmenUiry  teaching  in  many  branches  might  for  local  convenience  be 
«tU  cani«d  on  at  fcveral  centres. 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


are,  peripatetic.  These  readers  would  naturally  belong  to  the 
science  faculty  of  the  new  University,  and  if  largely  paid  by 
students' fees  might  be  trusted  to  safeguard  the  ''preliminary 
scientific  interests "  of  the  medical  schools.  It  seems  to  me, 
therefore,  that  some  vigorous  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  obtain 
the  modification  of  the  Albert  University  scheme  in  the  sense 
indicated  by  the  following  proposals : — 

Proposals  in  re  Teaching  University. 

No  scheme  for  the  constitution  of  a  teaching  University  in 
London  will  be  satisfactory  which  does  not : 

1.  Place  the  appointment  of  the  teaching  staff,  as  well  as 
the  control  of  laboratories,  libraries,  and  buildings,  in  the  hands 
of  a  single  executive  body,  hereinafter  spoken  of  as  the  new 
University  Senate,  or  of  bodies,  such  as  Faculties  or  boards 
of  study,  to  which  it  may  delegate  its  powers. 

2.  Confer  on  the  new  University  Senate  the  power  of  granting 
degrees  in  all  Faculties,  including  that  of  Medicine. 

3.  Give  to  the  teaching  staff  an  immediate  representation  of 
one-third,  and  an  ultimate  representation  of  at  least  one-half,  on 
the  new  University  Senate. 

These  conditions  would  probably  be  best  fulfilled  by  : 

4.  The  immediate  fusion  of  the  Councils  of  University  and 
King's  Colleges,  and  the  Council  or  Governing  Body  of  any 
other  institution  doing  work  of  admittedly  academic  character 
in  London,  which  may  be  willing  that  its  laboratories  and 
equipment  should  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the  new 
University  Senate. 

[This  would  remove  any  ground  from  the  objection  that  the 
two  Colleges  are  claiming  powers  which  they  are  not  willing  to 
share  with  the  Royal  College  of  Science  or  the  Central  Institute. 
It  provides  for  these  latter  coming  into  the  scheme  on  the  same 
terms,  if  that  is  possible.] 

5.  The  granting  of  a  Charter  to  a  body  consisting  of  these 
combined  Councils  together  with  representatives  of  the  teachers 
in  the  combined  institutions. 

6.  The  constitution  of  the  new  University  Senate  in  the 
following  manner : — 

A.  Immediate  constitution — 

(i)  The  fused  Councils  of  King's  and  University  Colleges 
or  their  representatives. 

(2)  The  Councils  of  other  academic  bodies  in  London 

willing  to  be  absorbed,  or  their  representatives. 

(3)  Representatives  of  the  teachers  to  the  extent  of  one- 

third  of  the  total  number. 

B.  Ultimate  constitution — 

(i)  University  professors,  either  as  ipso  facto  members 
or  as  representatives  of  the  body  of  professors. 

(2)  Representatives  of  the  Faculties  {i,e.  of  the  readers 

and  professors  of  each  Faculty). 

(3)  Co-optated  members,  not  to  be  selected  from  the 

teaching  staff. 

And  possibly, 

( 4)  Representatives  of  bodies  willing  to  endow  professor- 

ships in  the  new  University,  or  to  hand  over  to 
the  control  of  the  University  existing  professor- 
ships or  lectureships,  e.g,  {a)  the  Corporation 
of  the  City  and  the  Mercers'  Company  as  trustees 
of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham's  estate ;  \Ji)  the  Inns 
of  Court — provided  these  bodies  are  willing  to 
attach  the  Gresham  Lecturers  and  the  Reader- 
ships instituted  by  the  Council  of  Legal  Education 
to  the  new  University. 
(5)  Representatives  of  the  Medical  Schools  and  Royal 
Colleges  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  other  than 
those  selected  by  the  Medical  Faculty.  This 
would  only  be  a  matter  for  consideration  when 
the  power  to  grant  medical  degrees  became 
actuaJ. 

7.  The  transition  from  the  immediate  to  the  ultimate  con- 
stitution of  the  new  University  Senate  in  the  following 
manner : — 

(a)  By  not  filling  up  vacancies  among  the  members  contri- 
buted to  the  new  Senate  by  the  existing  College 
Councils  as  such  occur. 

{p)  By  the  increase  of  professorial  members  and  representa- 
tives of  the  Faculties. 


I04 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


8.  The  suspension  of  the  power  to  gnmt  medical  degrees 
until  such  time  as  the  Senate  of  the  new  University  shall  have 
satisfied  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  that  an  agreement 
has  been  reached  with  the  Royal  Colleges  and  the  chief  London 
Medical  Schools  as  to  the  terms  on  which  medical  degrees  shall 
be  granted. 

9.  Providing,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Acts  of  Incorporation  of 
University  and  King's  Colleges  which  would  accompany  the 
granting  of  the  new  Charter,  special  regulations  for  the  control 
of  certam  portions  of  the  endowments  or  of  certain  branches  of 
the  College  teaching,  which  it  may  not  seem  possible  or  advisable 
at  present  to  hand  over  without  special  conditions  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  new  Senate.  For  example,  the  Department  of 
Divinity  at  King's  College. 

10.  Paying  due  regard  to  the  pecuniary  interests  of  existing 
teachers  (many  of  whom  depend  entirely  upon  students'  fees)  in 
the  appointment  of  future  University  professors  or  readers. 

11.  Offering  those  professors  of  tne  existing  Colleges,  who 
might  be  willing  to  surreader  the  title  of  College  professor, 
that  of  University  reader,  but  not  creating  the  occupants  of 
chairs  in  any  of  the  existing  Colleges  ipso  facto  professors  in  the 
new  University. 

In  this  mere  sketch  I  have  said  nothing  as  to  how  faculties  and 
boards  of  study  might  be  constituted  or  as  to  how  the  University 
should  grant  degrees,  for  these  seem  t>  me  "  academic  t  "  prob- 
lems, i,e,  problems  to  be  thrashed  out  by  the  University  itself  when 
it  is  once  incorporated.  Objection  will  be  taken  to  much  of 
the  above  by  many  individuals,  but  I  believe  it  foreshadows  the 
direction  in  which  the  only  scheme  at  present  under  discussion 
must  be  modified  if  it  is  to  lead  to  the  ultimate  establishment  of 
a  great  teaching  University  in  London,  and  not  to  a  mere 
organization  of  teachers  for  examination  purposes. 

Karl  Pearson. 


It  seems  to  me  that  the  force  of  the  arguments  of  Profs. 
Lankester  and  Ramsay  in  last  week's  Nature  (May  28,  pp.  76, 
78),  so  far  as  ihey  harmonize  with  each  other,  would  have  to  be 
admitted,  if  the  main  object  of  a  University  were  to  foster  that 
premature  specialism,  which,  under  the  scholarship  S]stem,  has 
already  wrought  great  mischief  to  real  education  in  this  country, 
or  to  increase  as  far  as  possible  the  number  of  clever  but  half- 
educated  specialists,  uith  which  a  close  acquaintance  with  any 
of  the  great  scientific  societies  makes  one  only  too  familiar. 
The  example  of  this  has  been  well  set  by  at  least  one  of  the 
great  metropolitan  day-schools.  The  fatal  weakness  of  the 
arguments  referred  to  is  that  they  ignore,  as  no  University  ought 
to  do,  the  claims  of  general  education.  If  the  advancement  of 
scientific  research  is  really  desired  by  University  and  King's 
Colleges,  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  institute  on  their  own  account 
a  diploma  of  the  nature  of  the  Associaieship  of  the  Royal  School 
of  Mines  or  College  of  Science,  and  make  the  training  for  it  so 
good  and  thorough  that  the  possessois  of  such  a  diploma  shall 
be  such  a  desideratum  in  those  **  commercial"  quarteis  to  which 
Prof.  Ramsay  appeals  as  a  ^ort  of  final  authority,  that  they  shall 
drive  such  creatures  as  B.Sc's  out  of  the  field.  Special  brain- 
power, highly  developed,  is  no  doubt  a  splendid  thing  in  its 
way,  and  recognition  of  it  in  the  field  of  science  is  fully  provided 
for  in  the  B.Sc.  honours,  and  in  the  ultimate  D.Sc.  degree  ;  but, 
in  considering  the  terms  on  which  a  degree  should  be  given, 
general  education  and  culture  cannot  be  left  out  of  account.  In 
Germany  something  of  the  sort  is  guaranteed  by  the  examinations 
which  have  to  be  passed  on  leaving  the  gymnasium  (or  high 
school)  before  students  proceed  to  the  University  to  specialize  ; 
in  England  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  institute  the  matricula- 
tion examination.  That  need,  however,  is  no  longer  so  impera- 
tive as  it  was  ;  and  for  my  own  part  1  -ee  no  real  objection  to 
the  *' leaving  certificate"  of  the  Oxfoid  and  Cambridge  Ex- 
amining Board  being  accepted  in  lieu  thereof;  for  I  speak  of 
what  I  know,  when  I  say  that  this  carries  with  it  a  guarantee  of 
as  much  education  and  culture  as  the  xMainculation  Exammation 
does,  and  often  a  great  deal  more.  1  would  only  stipulate  that 
it  should  include  one  modern  language  and  one   branch  of 

science 

Prof.*  Ramsay  has  over-ridden  his  horse,  by  the  emphatic 
preference  he  gives  to  a  German  decree.  He  is  a  comparatively 
young  man  ;  but  some  of  us  (who  are  not  yet  quire  senile)  can 
rem^ber  the  time  when  the  facilities  for  obtaining  the  Gernian 
Ph.D.  degree  were  such  (they  are  such  to  ihw  day  m  America) 
that  the  degree  became  a  by-word  and  a  reproach,  and  still 


carries  with  it  suspicions  altogether  disadvantageous  to  tluxe 
who  have  taken  the  genuine  degree  in  Germany.  This  is  soielf 
a  warning  against  the  multiplication  of  small  Universities  in  this 
country.  Again,  if  the  time-honoured  Universities  of  Oxfoid 
and  Cambridge  are  not  proof  against  the  temptation  to  sweQ 
the  contents  of  the  University  chest  by  accepting  fees  for  the 
silken  degree  of  M.  A.,  which  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgus  is  siip> 
posed  to  represent  higher  intellectual  attainments  than  the  B.A., 
can  we  expect  greater  virtue  in  a  small  and  brand-new  UniTcr- 
sity  struggling  to  "  make  both  ends  meet  "?  Were  any  further 
illustration  required  of  the  way  things  « ould  be  likely  to  diift 
with  small  and  independent  degree-sranting  corporations,  we 
might  find  it  in  the  readiness  with  which  the  authonlies  of  kWs 
College  threw  over  Latin  two  vears  ago  in  the  mercantile  de- 
partment of  their  school  (then  m  a  state  of  depression),  at  the 
mere  bidding  of  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  although  its  n- 
tention  had  been  advocated  by  two  leading  scientific  men.  The 
really  inspiring  motive  of  this  agitation  is,  I  think,  astutely  kept 
in  the  background.  A.  Irving. 

"Wellington  College,  Berks,  June  i. 


NO.   1 1  27,  VOL.  44] 


One  of  the  taunts  most  frequently  levelled  at  the  Londoo 
University— or  **  Burlington  Gardens,"  to  use  Prof.  Lankester^i 
favourite  compression — by  certain  professors  of  University  College 
and  other  advocates  of  a  "  teaching  University  in  and  for  Lon- 
don "  is,  that  the  present  University  is  a  "  mere  eiraminiin 
board."  The  University  has,  it  is  true,  a  Brown  Professor  of 
Physiology  and  Pathology,  who  delivers  annually  a  cooise  d 
lectures  relating  to  the  studies  and  researches  carried  on  at  the 
Brown  Institution.  But  this  professorship  is  an  exception, 
though  the  University,  by  accepting  the  Brown  Trust,  showed 
clearly  enough  that  it  did  not  recognize  any  obligation  to  abstain 
from  appointing  University  Professors  and  Lecturers.  We  hive 
been  previously  told  that  there  was  a  "  tacit  understanding  "  it 
the  foundation  of  the  University  that  this  should  not  be  done. 
But  Prof  Ray  Lankester  goes  far  beyond  the  assertion  of  t 
**  tacit  understanding."  He  talks  of  "pledges  "  given  by  the 
founders  of  the  University  being  •*  falsified,"  and  **  most  solemn 
obligations"  violated— terrible  crimes,  which,  however,  hafe 
been  committed  already  by  the  appointment  of  the  Brown  Pro- 
fessor. But  how  such  "obligations"  and  "pledges,"  or  even 
a  "lacit  understanding,"  could  ever  have  existed,  I  fail  alto- 
gether to  see,  for  it  was  the  expressed  intention  of  the  fonndeis 
of  the  University  that  its  powers  and  privileges  should  be  the 
same  as  those  of  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
Testimony  as  to  this  pledge  may  be  found  in  the  evidence  given 
before  the  recent  Conmiission.  The  late  Dr.  Carpenter's  tiew 
of  this  matter  was  stated  by  Mr.  Dickins  in  his  communicatioo 
to  Nature.  Convocation  has,  years  ago,  voted  in  farour  of 
the  establishment  of  University  Professorships  and  Lecture- 
ships, though  I  do  not  in  the  least  believe  that  the  graduates 
would  sanction  any  proposal  involving  that  the  University 
should  prepare  candidates  for  its  examinations,  or  compete  with 
the  ordinary  work  of  the  Professors  in  University  College  and 
other  similar  institutions.  Whether  research  is  or  is  not  earned 
on  successfully  at  University  College  is  a  matter  on  which  I 
express  no  opinion.  But,  however  this  may  be,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  the  students  of  this  College  have  become  owj 
a  small  fraction  of  the  candidates  for  London  degrees.  It  would 
be,  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  public  interest  that  the  Univeraty 
should  make  provision  for  the  encouragement  and  reward  of 
those  among  the  great  majority  of  its  members  who  show  t 
capacity  for  research  and  a  power  to  extend  the  boundaries  of 
knowledge.  That  the  University  has  only  one  solitary  Professw 
is  due,  I  believe,  in  great  measure  to  the  narrowmindcd  and 
unwise  jealousy  of  University  College,  and  to  the  fear  lest  some 
endowments  should  chance  to  be  diverted  to  the  University.    ^ 

Prof.  Lankester  abandons  altogether  the  scheme  set  forth  a 
the  Draft  Charter  of  the  "Albert  University  of  London."  This 
Chaiter  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  University  whose  range 
of  activity  should  extend  over  colleges  or  other  institutions  in  in 
area  with  a  diameter  of  thirty  miles.  Prof.  Lankcstcr's  wetj 
University,  which  would  still  be  ftderal,  is  to  consist  only  ol 
University  and  King's  Colleges.  These  institutions  have  not  is 
yet  shoiivn  any  disposition  to  amalgamate  the  one  with  tne 
other,  and  such  a  disposition  is  not  likely  to  arise.  They  vt, 
in  fact,  founded  on  distinct  principles.  The  motto  of  the  on^ 
if  I  recollect  rightly,  is  Cuncti  adsint  and  of  the  other  SMdta 
sapienter.     Some  time  ago  I  heard  of  a  Societv  of  University 


June  4,  1891J 


NA  TURE 


105 


College  students  being  compelled  to  meet  elsewhere  instead  of 
in  the  College  on  account  of  there  being  something  of  a  religious 
character  connected  with  their  meetings,  while  there  are  facts  of 
a  different  character  in  the  histoiy  of  King's  College  which  may 
be  easily  remembered.  That  a  federal  University  consisting  of 
institutions  so  dissimilar  would  work  harmoniously  I  very  much 
doabt.  Probably  the  graduates  of  the  existing  University  would 
care  but  little,  except  on  general  public  groundsj  about  Uni- 
versity and  King's  Colleges  having  power  to  grant  degrees,  if  as 
a  University  they  would  assume  a  name  not  likely  to  be  mis- 
taken for  that  of  the  University  of  London.  As  yet  the  Victoria 
University  is  not  a  conspicuous  succe^^s,  and  the  London  Uni- 
versity examinations  are  still  held  at  Owens  College. 

^  With  the  views  set  forth  by  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  I  should  be 
disposed   in   great  measure  to  agree,  though  there  are  some 
points  on  which  I  should  have  liked  to  make  some  remarks ; 
Dut  I  fear,  if  I  did  so,  I  should  trespass  too  far  on  your  space. 
London,  May  29.  Thomas  Tyler. 

Those  who  have  taken  part  in  the  interesting  discussion  on 
the  University  of  London,  in  your  columns,  have  all  viewed 
the  subject  from  the  academic  standpoint.  Would  it  not  be 
well  to  consider  it  also  from  another  point  of  view,  viz.  that  of 
the  educational  needs  of  Loudon?  Prof.  Ramsay  contends 
'*  that  a  University  is  primarily  a  place  for  the  extension  of  the 
bounds  of  knowledge. '  It  is  surely  more  accurate  to  say  that  a 
University,  under  the  conditions  that  now  exist,  has  two  main 
functions— the  one  the  extension  of  the  bounds  of  knowledge 
by  research,  and  the  other  the  wide  diffusion  of  that  knowledge. 
The  purpose  of  such  diffusion  should  be  to  afford,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  every  individual  the  opportunity  of  obtaining  such  a 
training  as  would  qualify  him  or  her  to  take  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  some  branch  of  knowledge,  or  at  any  rate  to  follow 
with  appreciation  and  interest  the  advance  made  by  others. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  it  would  be  for  the  advant- 
age of  research,  and  for  the  well-being  of  the  community,  that 
real  University  training  should  be  as  widespread  as  possible. 
Ability  and  bent  for  some  special  study  may  frequently  not  be 
developed  until  somewhat  late  in  life,  after  a  business  career 
has  been  begun.  There  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  science  that  does 
not  owe  much  to  investigators  whose  researches  were  carried  on 
during  hours  spared  from  some  bread- winning  occupation.  The 
late  Prof.  John  Morris  was  in  early  life  a  chemist  in  the 
Borough ;  Dr.  James  Croll  was  for  years  the  janitor  of  the 
Andersonian  University,  Gla^ow  ;  even  in  the  very  number  of 
Nature  containing  Mr.  Dyer's  letter,  the  cas:  of  M.  Rouault, 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  geology  of  Brittany,  is  mentioned, 
who  did  his  early  work  while  carrying  on  the  business  of  hair- 
dresser. A  University  training  would  have  been  of  inestimable 
value  to  such  students  as  these  (and  there  are  hundreds  of  such, 
with  capacity  for  good  work,  scattered  over  London  and  the 
country),  but  no  provision  is  made  for  them  in  our  existing 
systenL 

Surely  the  important  question  therefore  is.  What  kind  of 
University  would  discharge  most  effectively  for  London  the  duty 
of  providmg  for  the  needs  of  every  class  of  students  ?  The  Uni- 
versity should  clearly  recognize  all  organized  teaching  of  Uni- 
versity rank,  whether  eiven  within  the  walls  of  a  specified 
College  or  not.  One  of  the  most  urgent  needs  of  London  is  a 
co-ordinating  head  for  all  its  multifarious  higher  educational 
agencies.  I'he  only  University  that  will  really  adequately  meet 
the  needs  and  stir  the  enthusiasm  of  Londoners  will  be  a  Uni- 
versity in  vital  relation  with  and  directing  and  controlling  all 
the  higher  teaching  of  the  metropolis.  This  would,  no  doubt, 
be  a  new  type  of  University,  but  the  changed  conditions  of 
these  tianes  necessitate  large  modifications  in  the  constitution  of 
our  institutions.  This  is  sufficiently  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
the  University  of  London  itself  was  a  new  type  of  University,  as 
also  was  the  more  recent  Victoria  University. 

The  new  teaching  University  for  London  should  have  as  its 
accredited  professors  and  lecturers  the  staffs  of  University  and 
King's  Collies,  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  the  various 
medical  schools,  and  any  other  institutions  of  equal  rank,  and  in 
addition  a  laige  staff  of  lecturers  at  work  in  different  parts  of  the 
metropolis  at  convenient  centres.  It  would  be  possible,  by  an 
extension  of  the  principle  admitted  into  the  draft  scheme  for  the 
re- constitution  of  the  University  of  London,  viz.  that  of  requir- 
ing frotn  every  University  teacher  a  syllabus  of  his  course  of 
teaching,  and  rarther,  by  making  such  syllabus  the  basis  of  the 
examination,  to  incorporate  all  the  work  done  by  the  accredited 

NO.   1 1 27,  VOL.  44"S 


teachers  of  the  University  into  its  curriculum  for  degrees.  This 
would  make  it  possible  to  open  up  a  University  career  to 
evening  students.  While  day  students  would  complete  their 
course  of  study  in  three  or  four  years,  evening  students  would 
take  nine  or  ten,  and  the  curriculum  could  without  serious 
difficulty  be  modified  to  meet  the  conditions. 
May  30.  R.  D.  Roberts. 


I  WOULD  ask  whether  it  is  quite  fair  to  assume  that,  because 
Convocation  has  rejected  the  Charter  proposed  for  the  Uni- 
versity of  London,  it  therefore  follows  that  that  body  is  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  attempts  that  are  being  made  to  establish  a 
"real  University,"  whatever  that  may  mean.  Is  it  not  possible 
that  a  large  proportion  of  those  adverse  votes  were  recorded 
because  there  were  elements  in  the  scheme  which  were  felt  to 
be  impracticable  or  open  to  serious  objection  ?  At  all  events, 
I  feel  sure  that  there  are  many  who  would  refrain  from  regarding 
the  vote  as  being  an  expression  on  the  main  issue. 

The  views  so  well  put  forward  by  Prof.  Ray  Lankester  as  to 
the  undesirability  of  establishing  what  he  terms  federal  Uni- 
versities fully  enlist  our  sympathies  ;  but  are  we  not  sailing  very 
near  the  wind  in  the  suggestion  that  University  and  King^ 
Colleges  and  "other  institutions"  should  be  incorporated  on 
University  lines  ? 

I  say,  by  all  means  avoid  centralization  and  beware  of  the 
"never-ending  Committees  and  schedules  of  such  clumsily- 
organized  Universities."  But  what  of  value  is  then  left  that 
University  College  does  not  already  possess?  Would  the 
appropriate  definition  and  allotment  of  degrees  of  all  shades  and 
grades  have  contributed  one  iota  to  the  work  and  influence  of 
Graham,  Sanderson,  Sharpey,  Foster,  Williamson,  and  Prof. 
Lankester  himself,  or  have  added  to  the  benefit  they  have  con- 
ferred upon  University  College  ?  One  does  not  surely  regard 
the  granting  of  degrees  as  an  important  element  in  the  German 
University :  its  distinguished  professors  are  not  Berlin  men  or 
Strassburg  men — they  are  pupils  of  Liebig,  of  Wohler,  of 
Bunsen,  and  the  like;  and  its  students  are  not  regarded  as 
graduates  of  Heidelberg  or  Giessen,  but  in  like  manner  as  pupils 
of  so-and-so.  And  University  College  is,  I  take  it,  much  more 
nearly  in  function  a  German  University  now  than  ever  it  is 
likely  to  be  as  a  federal  University.  I  verily  believe  that  such 
is  the  taste  of  the  so-called  properly  ordered  English  mind  for 
schemes,  plans,  and  organizations,  that  a  governing  body,  even 
though  largely  composed  of  the  most  uncrystallizable  elements, 
would  shortly  be  found  carefully  hedging  itself  round  (and  the 
students)  with  that  beautiful  machinery  which  Prof.  Lankester 
so  heartily  detests.  Prof.  Ramsay's  association  of  "  examina- 
tion on  the  brain  "  with  the  London  University  undergraduate  I 
fear  does  the  said  undergraduate  an  injustice,  if  it  is  meant  to 
differentiate  him  from  his  fellows  of  the  "real  Universities." 

The  men  who  regard  the  College  Calendar  with  its  traditional 
questions  as  their  vade  micum^  and  whose  only  other  study  is 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  examiner,  are  ubiquitous,  and  their 
name  is  legion.  If  I  could  think  they  were  confined  to  the 
"Burlington  Gardens  University,"  I,  for  one,  would  vote 
against  the  alteration  of  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  present  organiza- 
tion, if  only  lest  they  might  be  disturbed  from  their  resting- 
place  there.  G.  H.  Bailky. 

May  30. 


Quaternions  and  the  Ausdehnungslehre. 

Prof.  Gibbs'  second  long  letter  was  evidently  written  before 
he  could  have  read  my  reply  to  the  first.  This  is  unfortunate, 
as  it  tends  to  confuse  those  third  parties  who  may  be  interested 
in  the  question  now  raised.  Of  course  that  question  is  naturally 
confined  to  the  invention  of  methods,  for  it  would  be  preposterous 
to  compare  Grassmann  with  Hamilton  as  an  analyst. 

I  have  again  read  my  article  "  Quaternions "  in  the  Encyc. 
Brit.y  and  have  consulted  once  more  the  authorities  there 
referred  to.  I  have  not  found  anything  which  I  should  wish  to 
alter.  There  b  much,  of  course,  which  I  should  have  liked  to 
extend,  had  the  Editor  permitted.  An  article  on  Quaternions, 
rigorously  limited  to  four  pages,  could  obviously  be  no  place  for 
a  discussion  of  Grassmann's  scientific  work,  except  in  its  bearings 
upon  Hamilton's  calculus.  Moreover,  had  a  similar  article  on 
the  Ausdehnungslehre  been  asked  of  me,  I  should  certainly  have 
declined  to  undertake  it.  Since  i860,  when  I  ceased  to  be  a 
Professor  of  Mathematics,  I  have  paid  no  special  attention  to 


io6 


NATURE 


[June  4,  1891 


general  S3rstems  of  Stts^  Matrices^  or  Algebras ;  and  without 
cnuch  further  knowledge  I  should  not  attempt  to  write  in  any 
detail  about  such  subjects.  I  may,  however,  call  attention  to 
the  facts  which  follow  ;  for  they  appear  to  be  decisive  of 
the  question  now  raised.  Cauchy  [Comptes  Rendus,  10/ 1/53) 
claimed  quaternia  as  a  special  case  of  his  "clefii  algebriques. " 
Grassmann,  in  turn,  {Comptes  Rtndus^  17/4/54;  and  Creue^  49) 
•declared  Cauchy's  methods  to  be  precisely  those  of  the  Ausdehn- 
UDgslehre.  Bat  Hamilton  {LecturgSf  Pref.  p.  (64),  foot-note) 
says  of  the  clefs  algebriques  (and  therefore,  on  Grassmann^s 
own  showing,  of  the  methods  of  the  Ausdehnungslehre)  that 

they  are  ** included  m.  that  theory  of  Sets  in  algebra 

announced  by  me  in  1835 of  which  Sets  I  have 

always  considered  the  Quaternions to  be  merely 

9l particular  CASE." 

But  all  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  Quaternions,  regarded  as 
a  calculus  *'  uniquely  adapted  to  Euclidian  space."  Grassmann 
lived  to  have  his  fling  at  them,  but  (so  far  as  I  know)  he 
ventured  on  no  claim  to  priority.  Hamilton,  on  the  other 
hand,  even  after  reading  the  first  Ausdehnungslehre,  did  claim 
priority  and  was  never  answered.  He  quoted,  and  commented 
upon,  the  very  passage  (of  the  Preface  to  that  work)  my  allusion 
to  which  is  censured  by  Prof.  Gibbs.  [Lectures,  Pref.  p.  (62), 
foot-note.]  I  still  think,  and  it  would  seem  that  Hamilton  also 
thought,  that  it  was  solely  because  Grassmann  had  not  realized 
the  conception  of  the  quaternion,  whether  as  /3a  or  as  iSa"^,  that 
he  felt  those  difficulties  (as  to  angles  in  space)  which  he  says  he 
had  not  had  leisure  to  overcome.  I  have  not  seen  the  original 
work,  but  I  have  consulted  what  professes  to  be  a  verbatim 
reprint,  produced  under  the  author's  supervision.  \Die  Ausdehn^ 
ungslehre  von  1S44,  ^^^f"  ^*^  lineale  Ausdehnungslehre,  6t^c. 
^weite,  im  Text  unverdnderte  Auflage,  Leipzig,  1878.]  Prof. 
Gibbs'  citations  from  my  article  give  a  very  incomplete  and  one- 
sided representation  of  the  few  remarks  I  felt  it  necessary  and 
sufficient  to  make  about  Grassmann.  I  need  not  quote  them 
here,  as  anyone  interested  in  the  matter  can  readily  consult  the 
article. 

In  regard  to  Matrices,  I  do  not  think  I  have  ever  claimed 
anything  for  Hamilton  beyond  the  separable  p,  and  the  symbolic 
cubic  (or  biquadratic,  as  the  case  may  be)  with  its  linear  factors  ; 
and  these  I  still  assert  to  be  exclusively  his.  My  own  work  in 
this  direction  has  been  confined  to  Hamilton's  p,  with  its  square- 
root,  its  applications  to  stress  and  strain,  &c. 

As  to  the  general  history,  of  which  (as  I  have  said  above)  I 
claim  no  exact  or  extensive  knowledge,  Cayley  and  Sylvester 
will,  no  doubt,  defend  themselves  if  they  see  fit.  It  would  be 
at  once  ridiculous  and  impertinent  on  my  part  were  I  to  take  up 
the  cudgek  in  their  behalf.  P.  G.  Tait. 

The  Spinning  Ring. 

I  cannot  suppose  that  the  mathematicians  are  all  in  error ; 
but  venture  modestly  to  ask  what  are  the  assumed  conditions 
under  which  a  girdle  round  the  earth  at  the  equator  would  be 
subject  to  strain.  If  the  surface  of  our  globe  at  the  equator 
were  continuous  and  level  land,  about  30,000,000  of  persons — 
more  than  1000  to  a  mile — standing  at  equsd  distances  and  join- 
ing hands,  would  form  a  girdle  without  any  strain,  or  the  girdle 
might  be  formed  of  separate  pieces  of  wire  placed  end  to  end  in 
-close  contact,  which,  if  afterwards  soldered,  would  form  a  girdle, 
without  strain. 


wire 
but 


Then,  it  is  stated,  in  Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  514,  that  a  wi 
girdle  supported  on  poles,  if  *' relieved  from  gravitation,*'  b 
acted  upon  by  a  (greatly  augmented)  ''centrifugal  force  equal 
to  the  cable's  weight  "—that  is,  by  an  equal  force  acting  in  the 
opposite  direction— would  be  subjected  to  a  20 fold  strain. 
Why  ?  Reginald  Courtenav. 

4  Serjeants'  Inn,  Fleet  Street,  April  30. 


Bishop  Courtenay's  questions  may  perhaps  be  clearly 
answered  as  follows.  The  centrifugal  force  of  a  free  spinning 
hoop  has  to  be  balanced  by  its  peripheral  tension ;  but  this, 
haying  a  laige  tangential  and  a  small  radial  component,  acts  at 
a  disadvantage,  and  may  have  to  be  very  big  to  balance  even  a 
moderate  centrifugal  force.  The  larger  the  hoop  the  more 
marked  is  the  magnitude  of  the  tangential  component  as  com- 
pared with  the  radial  or  effective  component ;  so  that  a  hoop 
8000  miles  in  diameter  could  not  rotate  even  once  a  day  without 
tearing  itself  asunder. 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


An  actual  girdle  round  die  earth  is  not  dependant  as  (wd- 
pberal  tension  for  balandug  its  oentriiugal  mice,  aiooe  it  ii 
subject  to  an  overpowering  centripetal  force  due  to  the  evth'i 
gravitation. 

The  statement  made  by  Mr.  Herschel  on  p.  514,  v»l.  xKiL, 
involved  not  a  ao-fold  stress  bnt  a  20-fold  speed,  wfaidi  mem 
a  400-fold  stress.  Oliver  J.  Lodge. 


The  Use  of  Startling  Colours  and  Noises. 

Last  January  a  friend  showed  me  a  smew  (Afergus  aiMlu^ 
shot  on  the  Dee,  near  Chester,  the  crop  of  which  he  had  fooad 
to  be  full  of  young  flat-fish.  He  called  attention  to  the  danfing 
whiteness  of  the  bird's  breast,  and  suggested  that  it  must  fiightca 
the  fish,  and  so  be  a  disadvantage  to  it.  A  little  considenUioi 
showed  that  the  effect  would  be  precisely  the  reverse.  As  loag 
as  the  flat-fish  remains  at  rest,  its  colouring  assimilates  so  dosdj 
to  the  sand  on  which  it  lies,  and  with  which  it  partly  covers 
itself,  that  it  would  not  be  easily  seen  by  the  smew.  Bat  if, 
startled  by  the  white  object  flashing  down  on  it  from  above,  it 
moves,  it  is  seen  at  once,  and  of  course  captured.  Anybodf 
who  has  ever  collected  small  insects,  such  as  beetles,  will  admit 
the  truth  of  this  at  once. 

The  same  effect  is  probably  produced  by  the  hooting  or 
screaming  of  owls  when  hunting  at  night.  A  mouse,  which 
would  be  invisible  even  to  the  sharp  eyes  of  an  owl  wfaea 
motionless,  would  be  seen  at  once  if  startled  into  motion  by  the 
sudden  '*  shout  '*  of  the  bird,  whose  noiseless  flight  had  brought 
it  unperceived  into  close  proximity. 

Perhaps  these  suggestions  may  serve  to  explain  other  appaicot 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  natural  selection. 

The  brown  owl  hoots  throughout  the  winter  here,  so  that  it 
cannot  be  a  sexual  call.  Alfred  O.  Walkxi. 

Nantyglyn,  Colwyn  Bay,  May  25. 


The  Formation  of  Language. 

I  PERCEIVE  that  my  note  on  the  evolution  of  speech  n  the 
case  of  one  of  my  children  has  excited  some  interest  and  called 
out  communications  both  to  myself  and  to  you  ;  but  I  must  trcs* 
pass  again  on  your  kindness  to  explain  that  what  I  considered 
noteworthy  in  that  case  was  not  the  invention  of  words,  which 
is  not  of  rare  occurrence,  but  the,  to  me,  far  more  importaat 
phenomenon  of  the  evolution  of  the  habit  of  speedtk  throogb 
the  three  stages,  so  distinctly  marked  in  this  case— H>f  siamh- 
tion,  the  faculty  we  share  with  the  monkey,  and  which  does  not 
imply  the  possession  of  the  idea  ;  of  invention  of  symbols,  which 
indicates  the  birth  of  the  power  of  conception,  and  perhaps 
the  formation  of  what  Max  Miiller  calls  "concepts,"  and  the 
perception  by  the  young  mind  of  a  community  of  intefcst  and 
intelligence  ;  and,  finally,  the  faculty  of  learning  from  otheis 
ideas  already  formed,  or  what  must  be  considered  the  genn  of 
science :  and  it  was  the  clear  demarcation  of  the  three  states 
which  interested  me  more  than  the  mere  invention  of  word& 
And  this  interest  is  the  greater  as  the  case  appears  to  illustrate 
a  law  that  the  development  of  the  individual  follows  the  lines  of 
the  universal,  so  that  the  child  but  repeats,  in  a  very  much 
abbreviated  sequence,  what  humanity  had  gone  through  as  a 
whole.  My  purpose  in  bringing  the  case  before  your  readers  was 
rather  to  invite  the  repetitions  of  my  observations  with  a  view 
to  the  establishing  of  the  law,  than  to  publish  an  isolated 
phenomenon.  W.  J.  Stilluan. 

Rome,  May  8. 


Cordylophora  lacustris. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  zoologists  to  know  that  Prof.  Wddoo 
recently  found  very  large  quantities  of  Cordylophora  lacustris  on 
submerged  roots  and  stems  in  the  Rivers  Ant,  about  Ludhao 
Bridge,  and  Thume,  at  Heigham  Bridges,  Norfolk.  From  my 
own  knowledge,  I  can  say  that  it  is  very  generally  met  with 
throughout  the  whole  system  of  rivers  and  broads  In  connectioo 
with  the  Bure.  At  the  places  spoken  of,  a  fresh-water  tide  of 
from  6  to  18  inches  is  felt.  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  a 
salt  tide  has  but  once  been  known  so  high  up  these  rivers. 

John  Bidgoodu 

7  Richmond  Terrace,  Gateshead-on-Tyne. 


]xmE  4,  1891] 


JSTA  TURE 


107 


ON  SOME  POINTS  IN  THE  EARLY  HISTORY 

OF  ASTRONOMY} 

IV. 

FROM  what  has  been  stated  it  is  not  too  much  to 
assume  that  the  Egyptians  observed  the  sun  on  the 
horizon.  This  being  so,  Uie  chances  are  that  at  first  they 
"would  observe  the  stars  on  the  horizon  too,  both  stars 
rising  and  stars  setting;  and  that  is  rendered  more 
probable  by  the  very  careful  way  in  which  early  astro- 
ix>iners  defined  the  various  conditions  under  which  a  star 
can  rise  or  set,  always,  be  it  well  remembered,  in  relation 
to  the  sun.  They  spoke  of  a  star  as  rising  or  setting 
achroBically,  heliacally,  or  cosmically. 


The  cosmic  rising  meant  that  the  star  rose,  and  the 
cosmic  setting  meant  that  the  star  set,  at  the  same  moment 
as  the  sun — that  is,  that  along  the  eastern  horizon  we 
should  see  the  star  rising  at  the  moment  of  sunrise, 
or  along  the  western  horizon  a  star  setting  at  the 
moment  of  the  sun  setting.  The  achronical  rising  is 
different  from  the  cosmic  in  this  respect — that  we  have 
the  star  rising  when  the  sun  is  setting  and  setting 
when  the  sun  is  rising.  Finally  we  have  the  heliacal' 
rising  and  setting  ;  that  is  taken  to  be  that  the  star 
appeared  in  the  morning  a  little  in  advance  of  the  sun- 
rise, or  set  at  twilight  a  little  later  than  the  sun.  The 
following  table  from  Biot^  should  make  matters  quite 
clear : — 


Star  at  eastern  horizon.    ...     Rising.     ... 


^  True  or  cosmic. Son  rising. 


Morning.     ...  v  Apparent  or  heliacal. 


True  or  achronic.     .. 


•  •  ■      •  ■  • 


•  •  •      •• I 


Evening.     ...(  Apparent  or  heliacal 


Sun  not  yet  risen,  but  depressed 
below  horizon  sufficiently  to 
enable  the  star  to  be  seen* 

Sun  setting. 

Sun  ju3t  set,  and  depressed 
below  horizon  sufficiently  to 
enable  the  star  to  be  seen. 


Star  at  western  horizon.    ...     Setting. 


<  True  or  cosmic. Sun  setting. 


Erening. 


Apparent  or  heliacal. 


...  ... 


r  True  or  achronic 


■••      •■•      •••      •■< 


Morning.     ...  (  Apparent  or  heliacal. 


•  ••      •••     ••• 


Sun  set,  and  depressed  below 
horizon  sufficiently  to  enable 
the  star  to  be  seen. 

San  rising. 

Sun  not  yet  risen,  but  depressed 
below  horizon  sufficiently  to 
enable  the  star  to  be  seen. 


It  is  Idder's  opinion  that,  in  Ptolemy's  time,  in  the 
case  of  stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  for  heliacal  risings 
and  settings,  if  the  star  and  sun  were  on  the  same 
horizon  a  depression  of  11°  was  taken  ;  if  on  opposite 
horizons  a  depression  of  7°.  For  stars  of  the  second 
magnitude,  these  values  were  14°  and  8i.°  But  if  temples 
mrere  employed  as  I  have  suggested,  even  cosmic  and 
achronic  risings  and  settings  could  be  observed  in  the 
case  of  the  brightest  stars. 

Before  we  begin  to  consider  the  question  of  stars  at  all, 
we  must  be  able  to  describe  them,  to  speak  of  them  in 
a  way  that  shall  define  exactly  what  star  is  meant.  We 
can  in  these  days  define  a  star  according  to  its  constel- 
lation or  its  equatorial  or  ecliptic  co-ordinates,  but  all 
these  means  of  reference  were  unknown  to  the  earliest 
observers ;  still  we  may  assume  that  the  Egyptians 
could  define  some  of  the  stars  in  some  fashion,  and  it  is 
evident  that  we  here  approach  a  matter  of  the  very 
highest  importance  for  our  subject. 

So  far,  as  we  have  been  dealing  with  the  sun  and  the 
observations  of  the  sun  at  rising  and  setting,  we  have 
taken  for  gpranted  that  the  amplitude  of  the  sun  at  the 
solstices  does  not  change ;  the  amplitude  of  26°  at  Thebes, 
for  the  solstices,  is  practically  invariable  for  a  thousand 
years  ;  but  one  of  the  results  of  astronomical  work  is  that 
the  stars  are  known  to  behave  quite  differently.  In  con- 
sequence of  what  is  called  precession  the  stars  change 
their  place  with  regard  to  the  pole  of  the  heavens,  and 
further,  in  consequence  of  this  movement,  the  position  of 
the  son  among  the  stars  at  the  solstices  and  equinoxes 
changes  also. 

In  the  last  lecture  we  considered  what  were  called  the 
ediptic  and  the  equatorial  co-ordinates.  The  ecliptic  was 
the  plane  in  which  the  earth  moves  round  the  sun,  and 
90^  from  that  plane  we  had  the  pole  of  the  heavens ; 

'  CoBtinned  from  p.  60. 

NO.   1 1 27,  VOL.  44] 


celestial  latitude  we  found  reckoned  from  the  plane  of  the 
ecliptic  north  and  south  up  to  the  pole  of  the  heavens^ 
and  celestial  longitude  we  reckoned  along  the  plane  of 
the  ecliptic  from  the  first  point  of  Aries.  We  had  also- 
declination  reckoned  from  the  equator  of  the  earth  pro- 
longed to  the  stars,  and  right  ascension  reckoned  along^ 
the  equator  from  the  first  point  of  Aries.  The  pole  of 
the  heavens  then  we  must  regard  as  fixed,  but  the  pole 
of  the  earth  is  not  fixed,  but  slowly  moves  round  it.  In 
consequence  of  that  movement  there  is  a  change  ofdeclino' 
tion  in  a  star's  place. 

Going  back  to  the  tables,  we  find  that  the  amplitude 
of  a  body  rising  or  setting  at  Thebes  or  anywhere  else 
depends  upon  its  declination,  so  that  if  from  any  cause 
the  declination  of  a  star  changes,  its  amplitude  must, 
change  at  any  particular  place. 

That  is  the  first  point  where  we  meet  with  difficulty^ 
because  if  the  amplitude  changes  it  is  the  same  as  saying 
that  the  place  of  star  rising  or  star  setting  changes  ;  that 
is,  a  star  which  rose  in  the  east  in  a  certain  amplitude 
this  year  will  change  its  amplitude  at  some  future  time. 

The  real  cause  of  the  precession  of  the  stars  lies  ii^ 
the  fact  that  the  earth  is  not  a  sphere,  its  equatorial 
diameter  being  longer  than  its  polar  diameter,  so  that 
there  is  a  mass  of  matter  round  the  equator  in  excess  of 
what  we  should  get  if  the  earth  were  spherical.  Suppose 
that  matter  to  be  represented  by  a  ring.  The  ring  is 
differently  presented  to  the  sun,  one  part  being  nearer 
than  the  other,  the  nearer  part  being  attracted  more 
forcibly.  If  we  take  the  point  where  there  is  the  greatest 
attraction,  and  draw  a  line  to  the  least,  we  can  show 
that  the  case  stands  in  this  way :  that  the  sun's  pall 
may  be  analyzed  into  two  forces,  one  of  them  between 
the  sun  and  the  point  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the 
line  joining  the  centre  of  the  sun  and  the  centre  of  the 

*  Biot,  "  Traits  dtfmentaire  d'Astronomic  physique,"  3rd  edition,  vol.  iv. 
p.  695. 


io8 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


.*^ 


ring,  and  another  force  at  right  angles  to  it.    The  question 
is,  what  will  that  force  at  right  angles  do  ? 

Here  we  have  a  roodel  showing  the  rotation  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis,  and  the  concurrent  revolution  of  the 
sun  round  the  earth  once  a  year.  To  represent  the 
downward  pull  it  is  perfectly  fair  if  I  add  a  weight.  Then 
the  earth's  axis,  instead  of  retaining  its  direction  to  the 
same  point  as  it  did  before,  is  now  describing  a  circle 
round  the  pole  of  the  heavens.  It  is  now  a  recognized 
principle  that  there  is,  so  to  speak,  a  wobble  of  the  earth's 
axis  round  the  pole  of  the  heavens  in  consequence  of  the 
attraction  of  the  sun  on  the  nearer  point  of  this  equatorial 
ring  being  greater  than  on  the  part  of  the  equatorial  ring 
removed  from  it.  That  precession  movement  is  not  quite 
so  simple  as  it  is  shown  by  this  model,  because  what  the 
Sim  does  in  this  way  is  done  to  a  very  much  larger  extent 
by  the  moon,  the  moon  being  so  very  much  nearer  to  us. 
In  consequence,  then,  of  this  luni-solar  precession  we 
have  a  variation  of  the  points  of  intersection  of  the  planes 
of  the  earth's  equator  and  of  the  ecliptic  ;  in  consequence 
of  that  we  have  a  difference  in  the  constellations  in  which 
the  sun  is  at  the  time  of  the  solstices  and  at  the  equinoxes ; 
and,  still  more  important,  we  have  another  difference,  viz. 
that  the  declinations,  and  therefore  the  amplitudes,  and 
therefore  the  places  of  setting  and  rising  of  the  stars, 
change  from  century  to  century. 

Having  thus  become  acquainted  with  the  physical  cause 
of  that  movement  of  the  earth's  axis  which  gives  rise 
to  what  is  called  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  we 
have  next  to  inquire  into  some  of  the  results  of  the 
movement.    The  change  of  direction  of  the  axis  in  space 
has  a  cycle  of  something  between  25,000  and  26,000  years. 
As  it  is  a  question  of  the  change  of  the  position  of  the 
celestial  equator,  or  rather  of  the  pole  of  the  celestial 
equator,  amongst  the  stars  in  relation  to  the  pole  of  the 
heavens,  of  course  the  declinations  of  stars  will  be  changed 
to  a  very  considerable  extent ;  indeed,  we  easily  see  that 
the  declination  of  a  star  can  vary  by  twice  the  amount  of 
the  obliquity,  or  47°,  so  that  a  star  at  one  time  may  have 
zero  declination — that  is,  it  may  lie  on  the  equator — and  at 
another  it  may  have  a  declination  of  47°  N.  or  S.  Or,  again, 
a  star  may  be  the  pole  star  at  one  particular  time,  and  at 
another  it  will  be  distant  from  the  pole  no  less  than  47^ 
Although  we  get  this  enormous  change  in  one  equatorial 
co-ordinate,  there  would  from  this  cause  alone  be  practi- 
cally no  change  with  regard  to  the  corresponding  ecliptic 
co-ordinate — that  is  to  say,  the  position  of  the  star  with 
reference  to  the  earth's  movement  round  the  sun.     This 
movement  takes  place  quite  independently  of  the  direction 
of  the  axis,  so  that  while  we  get  this  tremendous  swirl  in 
declination,  the  latitudes  of  the  stars  or  their  distance 
from  the  ecliptic  north  or  south  will  scarcely  change  at  all. 
Among  the  most  important  results  of  these  movements 
dependent  upon  precession  we  have  the  various  changes 
in  the  pole  star  from  period  to  period,  due  to  the  various 
positions  occupied  by  the  pole  of  the  earth's  equator.  We 
thus  see  how  in  this  period  of  25,000  years  or  thereabouts 
the  pole  stars  will  change,  for  a  pole  star  is  merely  the 
star  near  the  pole  of  the  equator  for  the  time  being.     At 
present,  as  we  all  know,  the  pole  star  is  in  the  constella- 
tion Ursa  Minor.     During  the  last  25,000  years  the  pole 
stars  have  been  those  lying  nearest  to  a  circle  struck 
from  the  pole  of  the  heavens  with  a  radius  of  23^°, 
which  is  equal  to  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic ;  so  that 
about  10,000  or  12,000  years  ago  the  pole  star  was  no 
longer  the  little  star  in  Ursa  Minor  that  we  all  know,  but 
the  big  star  Vega  in  the  constellation  Lyra.     Of  course 
25,000  years  ago  the  pole  star  was  practically  the  same  as 
it  is  at  present. 

Associated  with  this  change  of  the  pole  star  there  is 
another  matter  of  the  highest  importance  to  be  considered, 
because  as  the  axis  is  being  drawn  round  in  this  way,  the 
point  of  intersection  of  the  two  fundamental  planes,  the 
plane  of  the  earth's  rotation  and  the  plane  of  the  earth's 

NO.   II 27,  VOL.  44] 


revolution,  will  be  liable  to  change,  and  the  period  will  be 
the  same,  about  25,000  years.  Where  these  two  planes 
cut  each  other  we  have  the  equinoxes,  because  the  inter- 
section of  the  planes  defines  for  us  the  vernal  and  the 
autumnal  equinoxes  ;  when  the  sun  is  highest  and  lowest 
between  these  points  we  have  the  solstices.  In  a  period 
of  25,000  years  the  star  which  is  nearest  to  the  equinox 
will  return  to  it,  and  that  which  is  nearest  the  solstice  will 
return  to  it.  During  the  period  there  will  be  a  constant 
change  of  stars  marking  the  equinoxes  and  the  solstices. 

The  chief  points  in  the  sun's  yearly  path  then  will  change 
among  the  stars  in  consequence  of  this  precession.  It  is 
perfectly  clear  that  if  we  have  a  means  of  calculating 
back  the  old  positions  of  stars,  and  if  we  have  any  very 
old  observations,  we  can  help  matters  very  much,  because 
the  old  observations — if  they  were  accurately  made — 
would  tell  us  that  such  and  such  a  star  rose  with  the  sun 
at  the  solstice  or  at  the  equinox  at  some  special  point  of 
ancient  time.  If  it  be  possible  to  calculate  the  time  at 
which  that  star  occupied  that  position  with  regard  to 
the  sun,  we  have  an  astronomical  means  of  determining 
the  time,  within  a  few  years,  at  which  that  particular  obser- 
vation was  made. 

Very  fortunately  we  have  such  a  means  of  calculation, 
and  it  has  been  employed  very  extensively  at  difTerent 
periods,  chiefly  by  M.  Biot  in  France,  and  quite  recently 
by  German  astronomers,  in  calculating  the  positions  of 
the  stars  from  the  present  time  to  a  period  of  2000  years 
B.C.  We  can  thus  determine  with  a  very  high  degree  of 
accuracy,  the  latitude,  longitude,  right  ascension,  declina- 
tion, and  the  relation  of  the  stars  to  an  equinox,  a  solstice, 
or  a  pole,  as  far  back  as  2000  years  B.C.  Since  we  have 
the  planes  of  the  equator  and  ecliptic  cutting  each  other 
at  different  points  in  consequence  of  the  cause  which  1 
have  pointed  out — the  attraction  of  the  sun  and  moon — 
we  have  a  fixed  equator  and  a  variable  equator  de- 
pending upon  that.  In  consequence  of  the  attraction  of 
the  planets  upon  the  earth,  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  itself 
is  not  fixed,  so  that  we  have  not  only  a  variable  equator 
but  also  a  variable  ecliptic.  What  has  been  done  in 
these  calculations  is  to  determine  the  relations  and  the 
results  of  these  variations. 

A  simpler^  though  not  so  accurate  a  method,  consists 
in  the  use  of  the  precessional  globe,  one  of  which  I  have 
here.  In  this  we  have  two  fixed  points  at  the  part  of 
the  globe  representing  the  poles  of  the  heavens,  on 
which  the  globe  may  be  rotated ;  when  this  is  done 
the  stars  move  absolutely  without  any  reference  to  the 
earth  or  to  the  plane  of  the  equator,  but  purely  with  refer- 
ence to  the  ecliptic.  We  have,  then,  this  globe  quite  in- 
dependent of  the  earth's  axis.  How  can  we  make  it 
dependent  upon  the  earth's  axis  ?  We  have  two  brass 
circles  at  a  distance  of  23  J°  from  each  pole  of  the  heavens 
(north  and  south),  these  represent  the  circle  described  by 
the  pole  of  the  earth  in  the  period  of  26,000  years.  In 
these  circles  are  24  holes  in  which  I  can  fix  two  additional 
clamping  screws,  and  rotate  the  globe  with  respect  to 
them  by  throwing  out  of  gear  the  two  points  which  pro- 
duced the  ecliptic  revolution.  If  I  use  that  part  of  the 
brass  circle  which  is  occupied  by  our  present  pole  star, 
we  get  the  apparent  rotation  of  the  heavens  with  the 
earth's  axis  pointing  to  the  present  pole  star. 

If  we  wish  to  investigate  the  position  of  things,  say 
8000  years  ago,  we  bring  the  globe  back  again  to  its 
bearings,  and  then  adjust  the  screws  into  the  holes  in 
the  brass  circles  which  are  proper  for  that  period. 
When  we  have  the  globe  arranged  to  6000  years  B,c,  (/>. 
8000  years  ago),  in  order  to  determine  the  equator  at 
that  time  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  paint  a  line  on  the  globe 
in  some  water-colour,  by  holding  a  camel's  hair  pencil  at 
the  east  or  west  point.  That  line  represents  the  equator 
8000  years  ago.  Having  that  line,  of  course  the  inter- 
•  section  of  the  equator  with  the  ecliptic  will  give  us  the 
I  equinoxes,  so  that  we  may  affix  a  wafer  to  represent  the 


JjJNE  4,   1 891] 


NA  TURE 


109 


vernal  equinox.  Or  if  we  take  that  part  of  the  ecliptic 
which  is  nearest  to  the  north  pole  and  therefore  the 
declination  of  which  is  greatest,  viz.  23.^^  N.,  we  have 
there  the  position  of  the  sun  at  the  summer  solstice,  and 
23}°  S.  will  give  us  the  position  of  the  sun  at  the  winter 
soIsticCi  So  by  means  of  such  a  globe  as  this  it  is  quite 
possible  to  determine  the  position  of  the  equator  among 
the  stars,  and  note  those  four  important  points  in  the 
solar  year,  the  two  equinoxes  and  the  two  solstices.  I 
have  taken  a  period  of  8o3o  years,  but  I  might  just  as 
easily  have  taken  a  greater  or  a  smaller  number.  By  means 
of  this  arrangement,  therefore,  we  can  determine  within 
a  very  small  degree  of  error  without  any  laborious  calcula- 
tionSy  the  distance  of  any  body  north  or  south  of  the 
equator,  f.^.  its  declination. 

The  positions  thus  found,  say,  for  intervals  of  1000 
years,  may  be  plotted  on  a  curve,  so  that  we  can,  with  a 
considerable  amount  of  accuracy,  obtain  the  starts  place 
for  any  year.  Thus  the  globe  may  be  made  to  tell  us 
that  in  the  year  1000  a.d.  the  declination  of  Fomalhaut 
was  35°  S.,  in  1000  B.c.  it  was  42°,  in  2000  it  was  about 
44%  in  4000  it  was  a  little  over  42^  again,  but  in  6000  B.C. 
it  had  got  up  to  about  33"",  and  in  8000  B.C.  to  about  22°. 

The  curve  of  Capella  falls  from  41°  N.  at  o  A.D.,  to  10° 
at  6000  B.c,  so  we  have  in  these  6000  years  in  the  case  of 
this  star  run  through  a  large  part  of  that  variation  to 
which  I  drew  your  attention. 

Here  is  the  curve  of  Sirius.  This  star,  in  o  a.d.,  had 
a  declination  of  24*°  S. ;  but  5000  years  B.c.  it  had  a 
declination  of  something  like  31^°.  In  Sirius  we  have 
the  curve  plotted  from  the  computations  of  Mr.  Hind, 
who  has  kindly  placed  them  at  my  disposal.  From 
other  computations  supplied  by  him,  I  have  ascertained 
that  the  globe  is  a  very  good  guide  indeed  within  some- 
thing like  1°  of  declination,  always  assuming  that  the  star 
has  no  great  proper  motion.  Considering  the  difficulty 
of  the  determination  of  amplitudes  in  the  case  of  build- 
ings, it  is  clear  that  the  globe  may  be  utilized  with 
advantage,  at  all  events  in  the  first  instance. 

Now  that  we  are  familiar  with  the  effect  of  the  preces- 
sion of  the  equinoxes  in  changing  the  amplitudes  of  the 
rising  and  setting  places  of  stars,  we  can  return  to  the 
consideration  of  the  temples.  So  far,  we  have  considered 
those  built  in  relation  to  the  sun,  in  the  case  of  which 
body  there  is,  of  course,  no  precessional  movement,  so 
that  a  temple  once  oriented  to  the  sun  would  remain  so 
for  a  long  time.  After  some  thousands  of  years,  however, 
the  change  in  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  would  produce 
a  small  change  in  the  amplitude  of  a  solstice. 

Suppose  we  take,  as  before,  that  region  of  the  earth's 
surface  in  the  Nile  valley  with  a  latitude  of  about  i(P  N. 
The  temples  there  built  to  observe  the  sun  will  have 
an  east  and  west  aspect  true  if  they  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  sun  at  the  equinoxes,  and  will  have  an 
amplitude  of  about  26°  N.  or  S.  if  they  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  sun  at  the  solstices. 

The  archaeologists  who  have  endeavoured  to  investigate 
the  orientations  of  these  buildings  have  found  that  they 
practically  face  in  all  directions ;  the  statement  is  that 
their  arrangement  is  principally  characterized  by  the 
want  of  it ;  they  have  been  put  down  higgledy-piggledy  ; 
there  has  been  a  symmetrophobia,  mitigated  by  a  general 
desire  that  the  temple  should  face  the  Nile.  This  view 
may  be  the  true  one,  if  stars  were  not  observed  as  well 
as  the  sun  ;  for  at  Thebes,  if  any  temple  have  an  ampli- 
tude more  than  26°  N.  or  S.  of  E.  or  W.,  it  cannot  by 
any  possibility  have  been  used,  as  we  have  seen  the 
temples  at  Kamak  might  have  been  used,  for  observa- 
tions of  the  sun  ;  for  since  the  maximum  declination  of 
the  sun  is  almost  24^""  (it  is  at  present  only  23^^,  repre- 
sented by  an  amplitude  of  27°,  no  temple  oriented  in  a 
direction  more  northerly  or  more  southerly  could  get  the 
light  of  the  sun  along  its  axis. 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


Let  us  see,  then,  if  the  builders  of  them  had  any  idea 
in  their  minds  connected  with  astronomy.  If  they  had, 
we  may  conclude  that  there  was  some  purpose  of  utility 
to  be  served,  as  the  solar  temples  were  used  undoubtedly, 
among  other  things,  for  determining  the  exact  length  of 
the  solar  year.  When  we  come  to  examine  these  non- 
solar  temples,  the  first  question  is,  Do  they  resemble  in 
construction  the  solar  ones  ?  Are  the  horizontal  telescope 
conditions  retained  ?  The  evidence  on  this  point  is  over- 
whelming. Take  the  temple  of  Denderah.  It  points 
very  far  away  from  the  sun  ;  the  sun's  light  could  never 
have  enfiladed  it.  In  many  others  pointing  well  to  the 
north  or  south,  the  axis  extends  from  the  exterior  pylon 
to  the  Sanctuary  or  Naos  which  is  found  always  at  the 
closed  end  of  the  temple.  We  have  the  same  number  of 
pylons,  gradually  getting  narrower  and  narrower  as  we 
get  to  the  Naos,  and  in  some  there  is  a  gradual  rise 
from  the  first  exterior  pylon  to  the  part  which  represents 
the  section  of  the  Naos,  so  that  a  beam  of  horizontal 
light  coming  through  the  central  door  might  enter  it 
over  the  heads  of  the  people  flocking  into  the  temple, 
and  pass  uninterruptedly  into  the  Sanctuary. 

In  these,  as  at  Karnak,  you  see  we  have  this  collimating 
axis.  We  have  the  other  end  of  the  temple  blocked ; 
we  have  these  various  diaphragms  or  pylons,  so  that, 
practically,  there  is  absolutely  no  question  of  principle  of 
construction  involved  in  this  temple  that  was  not  involved 
in  the  great  solar  temple  at  Karnak  itself. 

We  made  out  that  in  the  case  of  the  temples  devoted 
to  sun-worship,  and  to  the  determination  of  the  length  of 
the  year,  there  was  very  good  reason  why  all  these  at- 
tempts should  be  made  to  cut  off  the  light,  by  all  these  dia- 
phragms and  stone  ceilings,  because,  among  other  things, 
one  wanted  to  find  the  precise  point  occupied  by  the 
sunbeam  on  the  two  or  three  days  near  the  winter  and 
summer  solstices  in  order  to  determine  the  exact  moment 
of  the  solstice. 

But  if  a  temple  is  not  intended  to  observe  the  sun, 
why  these  diaphragms?  Why  keep  the  astronomer,  or 
the  priest,  so  much  in  the  dark  ?  There  is  a  very 
good  reason  indeed ;  because  the  truer  the  orientation 
of  the  temple  to  the  star,  and  the  greater  the  darkness 
he  was  kept  in,  the  sooner  would  he  catch  the  rising 
star.  In  the  first  place,  the  diaphragms  would  indicate 
the  true  line  that  he  bad  to  watch  ;  he  would  not  have  to 
search  for  the  star  which  he  expected  ;  and  obviously  the 
more  he  was  kept  in  the  dark  the  sooner  could  he  see  the 
star. 

The  next  point  that  I  have  to  make  is  that  in  the  case 
of  some  of  these  temples  which  are  not  directed  to  the 
sun  we  get  exactly  the  same  amplitudes  in  different 
localities./  To  show  this  clearly  it  will  be  convenient  to 
bring  together  the  chief  temples  near  Kamak  and  those 
having  the  same  amplitudes  elsewhere. 

We  can  do  this  by  laying  down  along  a  circle  the  different 
amplitudes  to  which  these  various  temples  point  To 
begin  with,  I  will  draw  your  attention  to  those  temples 
which  we  have  already  discussed  with  an  amplitude  of  27® 
or  26°,  at  Abydos,  Thebes,  and  Kamak.  Next  we  have 
non-solar  amplitudes  at  Kamak  and  Thebes,  associated 
with  temples  having  the  same  amplitude  at  Denderah, 
Abydos,  and  other  places.  We  have  the  majority  of 
the  non-solar  temples  removed  just  as  far  as  they 
can  be  in  amplitude  from  the  solar  ones,  for  the 
reason  that  they  are  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles 
to  them.  We  have  temples  with  the  same  amplitudes 
high  north  and  high  south,  in  different  places— temples, 
therefore,  which  could  not  have  been  built  with  reference 
to  the  sun ;  just  as  we  have  at  different  places  temples 
with  the  same  amplitudes  which  could  have  been  used 
for  solar  purposes. 

In  connection  with  the  possible  astronomical  uses  of 
these  temples,  I  find  that  when  one  of  these  temples  has 
been  built,  the  horizon  has  always  been  very  carefully  left 


no 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


open  ;  there  has  always  been  a  possibility  of  vision  along 
the  collimating  axis  prolonged.  Lines  of  sphinxes  have 
been  broken  to  ensure  this;  at  Medinet  Abou,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  to  Karnak,  we  have  outside 
this  great  temple  a  model  of  a  Syrian  fort  If  we  pro- 
long the  line  of  the  temple  from  the  middle  of  the 
Naos  through  the  systems  of  pylons,  we  find  that  in 
the  model  of  the  fort  an  opening  was  left,  so  that  the 
vision  from  the  Sanctuary  of  the  temple  was  left  abso- 
lutely free  to  command  the  horizon. 

It  may  be  said  that  that  cannot  be  true  of  Karnak, 
because  we  see  on  the  general  plan  that  one  of  the 
temples,  with  an  azimuth  of  71°  N.,  had  its  collimating 
axis  blocked  by  numerous  buildings.  That  is  true  ;  but 
when  one  comes  to  examine  into  the  date  of  these 
buildings,  it  is  found  that  they  are  all  very  late  ;  whereas 
there  is  evidence  that  the  temple  was  one  of  the  first,  if 
not  the  very  first,  of  the  temples  built  at  Thebes. 

Mariette  spent  a  long  time  in  examining  the  temple 
of  Kamak.  His  idea  is  that  the  part  of  the  temple  near 
the  Sanctuary  represents  the  first  part  of  the  building  ; 
and  at  that  time  die  great  temple  of  Kamak — enormous 
though  it  is  now — was  so  small  and  entirely  out  of  the 
way  of  the  line  of  the  axis  of  the  temple  of  Maut  that  its 
existence  might  have  been  entirely  neglected.  There 
was  first  a  square  court  like  the  court  of  the  Tabernacle, 
and  very  shortly  after  that  a  very  laboured  system  of 
pylons  was  introduced  to  restrict  the  light.  The  next 
stage  shows  the  Sanctuary  thrown  back  away  from  the 
court ;  then,  after  that,  more  complication  is  introduced 
by  the  addition  of  pylons,  imtil  finally,  after  two  or  three 
extensions,  the  length  of  the  temple  was  quadrupled. 
So  that  the  proof  is  positive  that  at  first  the  horizon  of 
the  temple  of  Maut  was  left  perfectly  clear.  Why  it  was 
subsequently  blocked  I  shall  suggest  afterwards. 

The  next  point  to  be  noticed  is  that  there  is  in  very 
many  cases  a  rectangular  arrangement,  so  that  if  the  sun 
were  observed  in  one  temple  and  a  star  in  the  other,  there 
would  be  a  difference  of  90°  between  the  position  of  the 
sun  and  the  position  of  the  star  at  that  moment.  This 
would,  of  course,  apply  also  to  two  stars.  Sometimes 
this  rectangular  arrangement  is  in  the  same  temple,  as  at 
Kamak,  sometimes  in  an  adjacent  one,  as  at  Denderah. 

If  we  look  at  Denderah  we  find  that  we  have  there  a 
large  temple  inclosed  in  a  square  temenos  wall,  the  sides 
of  which  are  parallel  to  the  sides  of  the  temple  ;  and  also 
a  little  temple  at  right  angles  to  the  principal  one. 

It  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  a  rectangular  arrangement, 
repeated  in  different  localities,  is  accidental ;  it  is  one 
which  is  used  to  some  extent  in  our  modem  observatories. 

The  perpetual  recurrence  of  these  rectangular  temples 
shows,  I  think,  that  in  all  the  pairs  of  temples  which  are 
thus  represented,  there  was  some  definite  view  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  built  them. 

Another  point  is  that,  when  we  get  some  temples  point- 
ing a  certain  number  of  degrees  south  of  east,  we  get 
other  temples  pointing  the  same  number  of  degrees  south 
of  west,  so  that  some  temples  may  have  been  used  to 
observe  risings  and  others  settings  of  stars  in  the  same 
dechnation.  It  is  then  natural  of  course  to  conclude 
that  these  temples  were  arranged  to  observe  the  rising 
and  setting  of  the  same  stars. 

J.  Norman  Lockyer. 

( To  be  continued,) 


BOTANICAL  ENTERPRISE  IN  THE  WEST 

INDIES, 

WE  have  several  times  had  occasion  to  mention  the 
mission  of  Mr.  D.  Morris,  the  Assistant  Director 
of  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  to  the  West  Indies,  in 
connection    with    the    extension    and    organization    of 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


botanical  stations  in  the  British  colonies  of  that 
gion  ;  and  the  Kew  Bulletin  for  May  and  June, 
we  have  already  noted,  contains  his  report  thereofOL 
It  is  a  lengthy  and  interesting  document,  from  which 
we  propose  to  extract  some  particulars  that  may  be 
welcome  to  our  readers,  and  serve  to  put  on  record 
the  reviving  enterprise  in  the  development  of  the  natural 
resources  of  that  part  of  the  Empire.  The  primary  ob- 
ject of  Mr.  Morris's  visit  was  to  settle  the  practical  details 
of  a  scheme  for  establishing  and  administering  a  number 
of  smaller  botanical  gardens  in  connection  with  the 
larger  gardens  of  Trinidad  and  Jamaica.  The  main 
purpose  of  these  gardens  is  to  raise  plants  of  economic 
value,  suitable  for  cultivation  in  the  various  islands,  **  and 
to  do  all  that  is  possible  to  encourage  a  diversified  system 
of  cultural  industries,  and  thus  relieve  the  planters  from 
the  results  inevitable  from  the  fluctuations  of  prices  in 
the  one  or  two  staples  to  which  they  have  hitherto  con- 
fined their  attention  " ;  but  they  will  also  be  made,  as  far 
as  possible,  pleasant  places  of  public  resort.  Mr.  Morris 
met  with  a  hearty  reception  everywhere,  and  great  interest 
was  manifested  in  the  work  by  the  negro  freeholders,  in 
some  of  the  islands,  as  well  as  the  English  colonists. 
The  men  in  charge  of  these  experimental  stations,  as 
they  may  be  called,  rather  than  botanical  gardens,  aie 
mostly  trained  men  from  Kew ;  and  Kew  is  the  centre 
from  which  plants  and  seeds  of  economic  plants  likely 
to  succeed  in  the  West  Indies  are  distributed.  Mr. 
Morris  left  Kew  in  November  last,  and  returned  home 
at  the  end  of  February.  Advantage  was  taken  of  his 
outward  journey  to  send  by  the  same  ship,  under  his 
immediate  supervision,  a  number  of  W^ardian  cases  filled 
with  Gambier  plants.  Gambier,  it  may  be  added,  is  the 
name  of  a  substance  used  in  tanning,  obtained  from 
Uncaria  Gambier^  Roxb. ;  and  the  plants  had  been  raised 
at  Kew  from  seeds  received  from  the  Straits  Settlements, 
several  attempts  to  introduce  plants  from  the  East  having 
failed.  How  the  plants  were  successfully  carried  to  the 
West  Indies  we  learn  from  the  following  passage  in  the 
report : — 

"  Owing  to  the  cold  weather,  the  cases  containing  the 
plants  on  board  the  Atrato  were  placed  below  in  the 
main  saloon.  There  was  very  little  direct  light  in  the 
daytime,  but  the  question  of  warmth  was  for  the  moment 
of  more  importance  than  that  of  light.  It  was  also  hoped 
that  they  could  be  placed  on  deck  in  a  day  or  two  at  the 
most.  The  weather  during  the  whole  of  the  first  week, 
however,  continued  very  cold,  and  it  was  impossible  to 
expose  the  plants  on  deck.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  was  fortunate  that  the  electric  light,  with  which  every 
part  of  the  ship  was  supplied,  was  available  to  try  an 
experiment  of  some  interest.  Although  the  plants  re- 
ceived very  little  light  during  the  day,  they  had  a  good 
supply  of  the  electric  light  during  the  night,  and  the  plants 
in  the  cases  more  fully  exposed  to  the  electric  light  were 
afterwards  found  to  be  in  a  much  better  condition  than 
the  others.  It  is  well  known  that  plants  will  thrive  under 
the  influence  of  artificial  light,  but  m  this  instance  there 
was  so  little  direct  light  available  during  the  day,  that  the 
plants  had  to  depend  almost  entirely  on  the  light  they 
received  at  night.  The  Gambier  plants  are  particularly 
sensitive  as  regards  a  diminution  of  light.  During  the 
prevalence  of  fogs  at  Kew  they  have  been  known  to  drop 
their  leaves  within  a  day  or  two,  and  to  remain  bane 
during  the  rest  of  the  winter.  This  may  have  been,  in 
some  measure,  also  due  to  the  injurious  influence  of  the 
fog  itself. 

**  The  use  of  electric  light  for  the  safe  transit  of  sudi 
valuable  plants  as  are  obliged  to  be  despatched  from  this 
country  during  the  winter  months  is  evidently  capable  of 
being  greatly  extended.  It  may  also  be  utilizea  in  the 
case  of  tropical  plants  arriving  in  this  country  from 
abroad,  during  the  prevalence  of  cold  weather.  Such 
plants   could   be  placed  below  directly  the  weather  is 


June  4,  1891] 


NATURE 


III 


becoming  too  cold  for  them  on  deck,  and  then  the  more 
electric  light  they  have  the  better." 

Out  of  the  whole  consignment  to  the  various  islands 
only  ten  plants  succmnbed  ;  but  this  was  due  to  an  over- 
sight in  carrying  the  case  on  to  Trinidad  and  La 
Guayra,  and  having  to  bring  it  back  again  to  St.  Vincent, 
thereby  causing  a  delay  in  landing  of  ten  days. 

Mr.  Morris  visited  successively  Antigua,  Dominica, 
Montscrrat,  St.  Kitts,  Anguilla,  Tortola,  Santa  Lucia, 
St.  Vincent,  Grenada,  Barbados,  and  Jamaica,  being 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  Exhibition  at  the  last- 
named  island.  Everywhere  the  Governors  and  other 
officials  seem  to  have  done  their  utmost,  both  personally 
and  indirectly,  to  assist  Mr.  Morris  in  fulfilling  the  object 
of  his  mission.  Established  gardens  were  inspected, 
sites  for  new  gardens  selected,  means  discussed,  and 
addresses  delivered,  from  which  it  is  cbnfidently  hoped 
that  substantial  advantages  to  the  cultural  industries  may 
accrue. 

Mr.  Morris's  Report,  which  may  be  obtained  for  the 
-sum  of  fourpence,  is  a  valuable  and  interesting  account  of 
the  present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  planting  in 
the  various  islands,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  all 
concerned.  We  conclude  this  notice  with  an  extract 
from  a  description  of  the  lime  plantations  in  Montserrat, 
''  where  the  immense  golden  heaps  of  ripe  fruit  were 
alone  worth  a  journey  to  the  West  Indies." 

"  The  West  Indian  lime  {Citrus  tnedica^  var.  acidd) 
appears  to  be  a  thin-skinned  local  variety,  little  known 
outside  the  West  India  Islands.  It  yields  juice  of  a 
singularly  pure  acid  flavour,  and  it  deserves  to  be  much 
better  known  in  this  country  in  the  fresh  state  for  making 
"*  lemon '  beverages,  as  well  as  for  general  use  in  cookery. 
The  enterprise  of  the  Montserrat  Company  extends  to  other 
things  besides  limes.  Nevertheless,  from  limes  alone  it  is 
possible  to  produce  a  variety  of  articles  more  or  less  valu- 
able. The  limes  themselves  are  exported  as  gathered,  or 
they  are  preserved  in  salt  water,  and  shipped  in  a  pickled 
state  for  consumption  in  certain  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Lime-juice,  obtained  by  compression,  is  exported 
•either  raw  or  in  a  concentrated  state.  This  latter  is 
obtained  by  evaporating  the  raw  juice  in  boilers  until  it  is 
reduced  to  about  one-twelfth  of  the  original  bulk,  when  it 
is  ready  for  export  as  a  dark,  viscid  substance  like 
molasses.  This  is  used  for  the  preparation  of  commercial 
citric  acid.  From  the  rind  of  the  fruit,  by  a  process 
known  as '  ecuelling,'  which  consists  of  gently  rubbing  the 
fruit  on  rounded  projections  arranged  inside  a  brass 
basin,  a  very  fine  essence  of  limes  is  obtained.  Again, 
by  distilling  the  raw  lime-juice  a  spirit  is  obtained  known 
as  oil  of  limes." 

NOTES. 
Ths  deputation  which  is  to  sabmit  to  Sir  Michael  Hicks 
Beach  to-morrow  a  statement  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  pro- 
pofcd  British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  will  be  large, 
infloeotial,  and  thoroughly  representative  of  the  various  depart- 
ments of  science.  It  is  expected  that  the  following  gentlemen 
will  speak :  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  the  Duke  of  Westminster,  Sir 
Henry  Rosooe,  Pro£  Dewar,  Mr.  Haldane,  M.P.,  Q.C.,  and 
Prof.  Ray  Lankester.     A  letter  from  Prof.  Huxley  will  be  read. 

Ths  list  of  those  selected  for  Birthday  Honours  includes  Dr. 
Archibald  Geikie,  on  whom  the  honour  of  knighthood  has  been 
conferred,  and  Mr.  Robert  Giffen,  who  has  been  madeC.B. 

In  the  course  of  an  investigation,  part  of  which  has  already 
been  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society,  Prof.  Roberts- Austen 
lias  discovered  the  most  brilliantly  coloured  alloy  as  yet  known. 
It  has  a  rich  purple  colour,  and  bright  ruby  tints  are  obtained 
when  light  is  reflected  from  one  surface  of  the  alloy  to  another. 
It  contams  about  78  per  cent,  of  gold,  the  rest  of  the  alloy  being 
alnminium.  The  constants  of  the  aluminium-gold  series  of 
alloys  are  now  being  examined,  and  will  shortly  be  published. 

NO.    I  127,  VOL.  44] 


On  Tuesday  last,  at  Oxford,  Convocatkm  sanctioned  the 
expenditure  of  very  considerable  sums  of  money  in  order  to  pro- 
vide increased  accommodation  for  the  medical  and  science 
schools.  The  Lecturer  in  Human  Anatomy,  Mr.  Arthur 
Thomson,  estimated  that  the  immediate  wants  of  his  depart- 
ment necessitated  the  expenditure  of  £7000.  With  this  sum 
might  be  provided  a  laboratory,  which  would  indude  dissecting- 
rooms,  a  museum,  working  rooms,  and  a  lecture  theatre* 
Hitherto  the  accommodation  provided  for  the  lecturer  has  been 
of  a  temporary  character,  and  has  now  proved  itself  utterly 
inadequate  for  the  requirements  of  his  class.  The  number  ot 
students  now  studying  in  Oxford  with  the  intention  c^  passing 
the  M.B.  examination  is  67.  As  illustrating  the  growth  of  the 
class,  and  the  Interest  taken  in  this  school,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  in  1885  the  lecturer's  class  consisted  of  only  three  members. 
The  Deputy  Professor  of  Physiology  (Dr.  Ray  Lankester) 
required  the  more  modest  sum  of  £2000  in  order  to  supply  the 
deficiencies  in  the  department  of  Morphology.  With  this  sum 
two  laboratories  could  be  provided,  one  40  x  20  feet,  and  the 
other  30  X  20  feet.  Meanwhile  the  departments  of  Ethnology 
and  Geology  find  themselves  cramped  for  space  at  the 
University  Museum,  and  Convocation  has  granted  the  sum 
of  ^^1300  to  provide  rooms  for  the  use  of  the  Curator 
and  the  servants  of  the  Museum,  and  increased  accom- 
modation for  teaching.  The  Hope  Professor  of  2^1ogy  (Prof. 
Westwood)  needed  only  the  expenditure  of  £ZS'^  upon  additions 
and  improvements  in  his  department  at  the  University  Muse'im. 
The  expenditure  of  these  various  sums,  amounting  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  nearly  £1 1,000,  will  place  the  School  of  Medicine  and 
the  related  sciences  in  a  satisfactory  position,  and  the  University 
of  Oxford  is  to  be  congratulated  on  its  appreciation  of  the  im- 
portance of  these  departments,  and  the  liberality  with  which  it 
maintains  them. 

The  Gold  Medal  of  the  Linnean  Society  has  this  year  been 
awarded  to  Dr.  Edouard  Bornet,  of  Paris,  for  distinguished 
researches  in  botany.  His  earliest  publications  related  to  the 
structure  and  life-history  of  Fungi  and  Lichens,  but  his  name  is 
best  known  for  the  important  researches  in  which,  with  his 
friend  M.  Thuret,  he  has  been  for  some  years  engaged,  on  the 
life-histories  of  Algae,  and  for  his  valuable  contributions  on  this 
subject  in  the  "  Etudes  Phycologiques,''  and  the  "  Notes 
Algologiques,"  with  their  beautiful  illustrations. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Ashmolean  Society,  Oxford,  on  June  i, 
there  was  an  interesting  discussion  on  a  paper,  by  Mr.  Romanes, 
on  Weismann*s  theories  of  heredity,  in  which  Prof.  Lankester  and 
Mr.  Poulton  took  prominent  parts. 

M.  DouLiOT,  Demonstrator  in  Botany  at  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  Paris,  has  undertaken  a  scientific  expedition 
to  Madagascar. 

Mr.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  has  undertaken  to  give  a 
lecture  at  Bedford  College  (for  Ladies),  Baker  Street,  on  Wed- 
nesday next,  at  4  o'clock,  **  On  Natural  Philosophy  for  Artists." 

We  regret  to  have  to  record  the  death  of  Sir  John  Hawkshaw, 
F.R.S.  He  died  on  Tuesday  last  at  his  town  residence,  Bel- 
grave  Mansions,  in  his  8ist  year.  The  greatest  of  his  many 
engineering  feats  was  the  construction  of  the  Severn  Tunnel. 
He  was  President  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  in  1862- 
63,  and  of  the  British  Association  at  its  Bristol  meeting  in  1875. 
He  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1873. 

Seven  years  have  elapsed  since  the  first  International  Ornitho- 
logical Congress  took  place  in  Vienna,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  late  Crown  Prince  Rudolph.  England  was  on  that  occasion, 
as  a  correspondent  wrote  at  the  time,  ''conspicuous  by  her 
absence,"  and  at  the  second  Congress,  which  has  just  been  held 


112 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


at  Badapest,  Great  Britain  was  bat  feebly  represented.  It  is 
difficult  to  understand  this  unwillingness  of  Englishmen  to  visit 
an  International  Congress.  Oar  countrymen  are  always  sure  of 
a  hospitable  reception,  the  interchange  of  ideas  with  foreign 
colleagues  is  pleasant  and  profitable,  the  personal  friendships 
which  result  are  of  permanent  value,  and  in  the  case  of  Museum 
officials  the  relations  established  with  the  Museums  of  the 
Continent  invariably  result  in  mutual  benefit.  The  great  ques- 
tion which  all  zoologists  can  discuss  is  that  of  nomenclature. 
This  year  a  preliminary  skirmish  took  place  at  Frankfort,  where 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  German  Ornithological  Society  was 
held  on  May  1 1  and  1 2,  under  the  presidency  of  Prof.  Wilhelm 
Blasius,  of  Brunswick.  The  Senckenburg  Museum  at  Frankfort 
had  been  closed  for  four  years,  and  had  been  opened  to  the 
public  only  four  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  visitors.  Prof. 
Noll,  the  well-known  editor  of  the  Zoologischer  Garten^  wel- 
comed the  German  Ornithological  Society  in  a  few  well-chosen 
words,  and  then  followed  the  discussion  on  zoological  nomen- 
clature, which  occupied  the  best  part  of  two  days  of  hard  work. 
The  proposals  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  examine  into  and 
report  on  the  rules  of  zoological  nomenclature  were  fully  dis- 
cussed, and  were  adopted,  though,  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
members,  Mr.  Bowdler  Sharpe,  and  Mr.  Buttikofer,  of  the 
Leyden  Museum,  were  allowed  to  state  their  objections  to  some 
of  the  propositions.  The  members  and  guests  of  the  Society  were 
conducted  round  the  Museum  by  Prof.  Noll  and  Dr.  Hartert,  and 
great  satbfaction  was  expressed  at  the  excellent  condition  in 
which  Prof.  Riippell's  types  were  found  to  be.  The  ornitho- 
logical collection  has  been  carefully  catalogued  by  Dr.  Hartert, 
and  his  receutly- published  catalogue  of  the  collection  is  an 
admirable  piece  of  work.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting,  an 
adjournment  took  place  to  the  Zoological  Gardens,  where  the 
visitors  were  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Director,  who  per- 
sonally conducted  them  round  the  Gardens.  From  Frankfort  a 
detachment  of  members  and  guests  proceeded  to  Vienna  and 
thence  to  Budapest,  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Ornithological 
Congress. 

Messrs.  Macmillan  have  nearly  ready  for  publication  ''  A 
History  of  Human  Marriage,"  by  Dr.  Edward  Westermarck, 
Lecturer  on  Sociology  at  the  University  of  Finland,  Helsingfors. 
In  an  introductory  note  the  work  is  commended  to  the  attention 
of  students  by  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  who  expresses  a  high  opinion 
of  the  learning  and  insight  displayed  by  the  author.  Dr. 
Westermarck  differs  widely  in  many  respects  from  the  opinions 
hitherto  held  by  most  anthropologists  as  to  the  development  of 
the  various  forms  of  marriage. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  on  Friday  last,  there  was  an  in- 
teresting debate  on  the  Ordnance  Survey.  Mr.  Roby,  who 
introduced  the  subject,  had  much  to  say  as  to  the  unsatisfactory 
rate  at  which  the  Survey  is  proceeding,  and  wSir  George  Camp- 
bell effectively  contrasted  the  work  done  in  England  with  that 
done  in  other  countries.  In  India,  he  said,  the  survejrs  were 
incomparably  ahead  of  those  in  the  United  Kingdom;  he  was 
often  surprised  at  the  perfection  of  the  surveys  even  of  those 
portions  of  that  vast  country  only  reached  by  sportsmen  or  ex- 
plorers. "In  his  own  country  he  found  nothing  of  the  kind. 
There,  in  one  of  the  most  cultivated  and  civilized  places  in  the 
world,  they  had  nothing  but  the  old  survey.  It  was  a  disgrace 
to  the  country  that  we  should  not  have  decent  maps.''  Mr. 
Chaplin,  under  whose  department  the  Ordnance  Survey  has 
been  placed,  &aid  what  he  could  in  defence  of  existing  arrange- 
ments, but  was  not  disposed  to  deny  that  there  was  much  solid 
ground  for  complaint.  He  promised  that  his  influence  should 
be  used  to  secure  reform  in  various  directions. 

The  University  College  Biological  Society  has  arranged  for 
an  excursion  to  Sheerness  on  Saturday,  June  6.     The  excursion 

NO.    1127,  VOL.  44] 


will  leave  Victoria  at  10  a.  m.,  and  the  time  at  Sheerness  will  be 
spent  either  in  dredging  or  shore  work.  The  party  will  be 
accompanied  by  Prof.  Weldon. 

The  Eastern  papers  report  that  an  expedition  has,  by  order 
of  the  Straits  Government,  commenced  work  on  (he  frontier 
between  Burmah  and  the  Malay  Peninsula.  Its  operations  will 
be  chiefly  confined  to  Pahang.  It  is  placed  under  the  charge  o( 
Mr.  Ridley,  Director  of  Gardens  and  Forests  in  'the  Straits 
Settlements,  accompanied  by  Mr.  William  Davison,  Curator  of 
the  Raffles  Library,  Singapore,  and  Lieutenant  Kelsall,  R.A. 
The  funds  available  for  the  expedition  are  2000  dollars  voted 
from  the  Straits  Treasury.  The  object  is  to  ascend  the  highest 
mountain  in  Pahang,  incidentally  noting  all  that  can  be  learned 
about  the  physical  features  and  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the 
country.  The  expedition  was  to  go  by  steamer  to  Pekan ; 
thence  up  stream  to  Kuala  Lipis ;  thence  northerly  up  the 
Tembelinis  and  Sat  rivers.  Having  ascended  the  latter  riTcr  so 
far  as  it  may  be  navigable  for  small  canoes,  the  expedition  will 
strike  through  forest  and  jungle,  estimated  to  extend  for  sixty 
miles,  till  they  emerge  at  Gunong  Tahan,  which  is  said  to  be 
about  Sooo  feet  high.  Ascending  this  mountain,  and  crossiiig 
what  is  called  Cameron's  plateau,  they  will  then  ascend  Gnnoog 
Siam,  a  mountain  the  height  of  which  has  been  estimated  to  be 
as  much  as  14,000  feet.  Having  completed  this  ascent,  they  will 
return  by  the  same  route,  the  estimated  period  of  absence  firom 
Singapore  being  between  two  and  three  months.  The  party 
were  to  take  with  them  three  Tamil  hunters  and  collectors 
attached  to  Mr.  Davison's  Museum  staff,  and  three  Malays  of 
the  Gardens  and  Forests  Department. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  French  Meteorological  Society  on 
May  5,  a  discussion  by  M.  Millot  of  fifty  years'  observations  ax 
Nancy  was  presented.  The  temperature  and  rainfall  -values 
were  divided  into  two  periods,  viz.  1841-79  and  1880-90. 
These  averages  showed  that  the  mean  temperature  had  con- 
siderably decreased  since  the  winter  of  1879-80,  and  that  the 
amount  of  rainfall  had  increased  ;  the  climate  showed  a  tendency 
to  become  more  continental.  M.  Teisserenc  de  Bort  com- 
municated the  results  of  his  inquiries  respecting  a  destructive 
tornado  which  visited  the  town  of  Dreux  on  August  iS 
last.  At  I  oh.  5  m.  p.m.,  Paris  time,  a  sharp  clap  of  thunder 
occurred,  followed  by  heavy  rain  and  hail  for  about  a  minale, 
and  five  minutes  later  the  tornado  broke  over  the  town  with  a 
noise  resembling  that  of  an  express  train,  making  a  furrow  in 
the  ground,  and  in  less  than  a  minute  tiles  were  flying  ahoat, 
trees  uprooted,  and  several  houses  destroyed.  After  a  sh<8t 
course  the  eflects  of  the  tornado  ceased,  and  it  appeared  to  rise 
to  the  upper  strata  of  air,  but  descended  again  with  equal 
violence  near  Epone  about  60  kilometres  distant,  the  rate  of 
translation  being  about  29  miles  an  hour.  The  action  of  the 
electricity  seemed  to  be  of  an  unusual  nature  ;  although  much 
damage  was  done  by  it,  no  metallic  object  was  fused,  but  only 
traces  of  fusion  could  be  found  in  bad  conducting  bodies. 
Among  other  incidents  an  iron  bedstead  was  dismounted,  with- 
out trace  of  fusion.  The  paper  was  illustrated  by  several 
photographs,  showing  the  damage  done  in  various  parts  of  the 
path. 

Dr.  J.  Hann  has  communicated  another  important  treatise 
to  the  Vienna  Academy,  entitled  *'  Studies  on  the  Conditions  of 
Air-pressure  and  Temperature  on  the  Summit  of  the  Soonblick, 
with  remarks  upon  their  importance  for  the  theory  of  cyclones 
and  anticyclones."  The  work  is  based  upon  four  years' 
observations,  and  is  divided  into  eight  sections,  viz.  : — (i)  An 
investigation  of  the  general  meteorological  conditions  under 
which  the  maxima  and  minima  of  air*pressure  occur  on  the 
Sonnblick.  The  anomalies  of  pressure  are  more  marked  above 
than  below,  and  are  increased  by  the  accompanying  temperature 


June  4.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


113 


anomaly,  which  is  relatively  high  in  barometric  maxima,  and 
relatively  low  in  barometric  minima.  (2)  The  range  of  tempera- 
ture during  the  passage  of  a  barometric  wave,  lliis  is,  at  least 
during  the  winter  season,  the  opposite  to  that  at  the  lower  level. 
(3)  Temperature  with  varying  amount  of  cloud  in  winter.  The 
highest  temperature  coincides  with  the  least  cloud,  upon  the 
summit,  and  conversely  on  the  plain.  The  clear  winter  days 
on  the  Sonnblick  have  relatively  high  temperature  with  great 
dryness,  and  these  conditions  are  characteristic  of  the  barometric 
maxima.  (4)  Monthly  maxima  and  minima  of  temperature. 
The  former  mostly  occur  during  barometric  maxima,  and  the 
latter  when  tlie  high  pressure  lies  in  the  west  or  north,  and 
while  a  barometric  minimum  exists  over  Italy  or  the  Adriatic. 
(5)  Temperature  and  air-pressure  on  the  Sonnblick  during 
barometric  minima  over  Central  Europe,  especially  over  the 
Eastern  Alps.  The  mean  temperature  at  the  height  of  6650 
feet  during  the  passage  of  barometric  minima  was  below  the 
normal,  amounting  on  an  average  to  2° '5  F.  during  the  winter 
season.  The  u^e  of  deviations  of  pressure  and  temperature 
in  answering  many  questions  of  atmospheric  physics  is  here 
discussed.  (6)  Vertical  distribution  of  temperature,  and  mean 
temperature  in  a  column  of  air  of  3  kilometres  in  height.  The 
calculations  have  been  made  separately  for  each  winter.  (7) 
Preliminary  indications  respecting  the  relations  of  the  wind- 
directions  to  barometric  maxima  and  minima.  A  considerable 
divergence  (45'-9o'*)  is  shown  from  the  directions  as  observed 
below,  and  the  results  confirm  the  conclusions  drawn  from  cloud 
observations  by  J.  A.  Broun  and  others.  (8)  Refutation  of 
some  objections  against  the  conclusiveness  of  temperature 
observations  on  mountain  summits,  and  general  remarks  on 
cyclones  and  anticyclones.  The  author  points  out  that  recent 
mountain  temperature  observations  and  other  facts  are  opposed 
to  the  explanation  of  barometric  maxima  and  minima  in  extra- 
tropical  regions  b^  purely  thermic  considerations. 

The  relations  of  weather  and  disease  have  been  recently 
investigated  by  Herr  Magelssen,  of  Leipzig,  who,  having  formeriy 
called  attention  to  the  nature  of  certain  "waves"  which  recur 
in  the  variations  of  temperature  (distinguishing  waves  of  about 
12  days,  50  days,  and  18  to  20  years  duration),  now  traces 
a  connection  of  these  with  diseases  and  mortality.  The  year- 
waves  especially  show  this  connection  ;  the  mortality  (in  our 
latitudes)  varying  with  the  winter  temperature.  The  least 
mortality  (relatively)  is  at  the  middle  part  of  the  temperature 
periods.  The  injurious  influence  of  heat  is  dominant  in  the 
more  southern  latitudes  (such  as  Vienna),  while  cold  begins 
to  act  beneficially.  In  northern  places,  mild  winters  prove 
injurious  where  several  very  mild  winters  come  in  succession 
{€.g.  Stockholm  in  1871-74).  The  most  favourable  conditions 
seem  to  be  an  alternation  of  moderately  cold  and  moderately 
mild  winters.  Too  much  importance,  the  author  thinks,  has 
been  attached  to  relative  humidity.  He  further  offers  proof 
that  infectious  disease  is  even  more  dependent  on  weather  than 
disease  of  the  respiratory  organs,  or  arising  from  chill. 

The  value  of  systematic  observation  of  snow  is  now  being 
recognized  in  meteorology ;  and  in  Russia  observations  were 
commenced  in  January  last  year  at  428  stations  in  the  European 
portion  of  the  Empire,  21  in  the  Asiatic,  and  55  in  the 
Caucasus.  At  first  it  was  simply  reported  daily  whether  there 
was  a  continuous  snow-covering- about  the  station  or  not.  But 
last  winter  the  inquiry  has  been  extended  to  the  depth  and 
general  behaviour  of  the  snow.  Thus  it  is  expected  that  in  a 
few  years,  some  valuable  climatological  material  will  have  been 
accumulated  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  report  of  Herr  Berg  on 
the  snow  in  the  early  months  of  1890,  in  European  Russia 
{Repert.fur  Meteor. \  contains  a  map  showing  the  southern  and 
western  limit  of  the  continuous  snow- covering  for  the  first  and 
fifteenth  of  each  of  the  months  Tanuarv  to  Arril.     In  the  west 

NO.    1 127,  VOL    44] 


the  snow  extended  stea  ily  till  the  begmning  of  March,  the 
limit  being  then  close  to  the  Baltic  In  the  south-east,  there 
was  steady  advance  till  Ft  l.ruary,  and  as  far  as  the  coast  of  the 
Caspian.  In  the  south,  the  advance  was  fluctuating,  there 
being  a  maximum  in  the  middle  of  January,  and  the  middle  of 
February,  both  reaching  to  the  Black  Sea  coast.  The  retire- 
ment of  the  snow-limit  began  in  the  south  and  south-east  in  the 
middle  of  February;  in  the  west  about  half  a  month  later. 
The  general  direction  was  north-east.  On  April  15  the  limit 
passed  through  Onega  on  the  White  Sea,  Wetluga,  and 
Katherinenburg.  By  the  first  of  May,  all  European  Russia  was 
free  from  snow.  Herr  Berg  describes  the  weather  accompanying 
the  disappearance  of  the  snow,  and  traces  its  causation. 

A  DIRECT  observation  of  hail  in  the  process  of  formation  is 
recorded  in  the  NcUurw,  Rundschau.  In  the  afternoon  of  a 
squally  day  Prof.  Tosetti}  looking  eastwards  through  the  window 
of  a  house  (in  Northern  Italy)  which,  with  two  others,  enclosed 
a  court,  saw  the  rain  which  streamed  down  from  the  roof  to  the 
right,  caught  by  a  very  cold  wind  from  the  north,  and  driven 
back  and  up  in  thick  drops.  Suddenly  a  south  wind  blew,  and 
the  drops,  tossed  about  in  all  directions,  were  transformed  into 
ice  balls.  When  the  south  wind  ceased,  this  transformation  also 
ceased,  but  whenever  the  south  wind  recurred,  the  phenomenon 
was  reproduced,  and  this  was  observed  three  or  four  times  in 
ten  minutes. 

Engineering  of  the  29th  ult.  states  that  an  extraordinary 
accident  had  occurred  at  the  London- Paris  Telephone  Office 
in  the  Palais  de  la  Bourse.  One  of  the  emplnyh,  a  gentle- 
man named  Weller,  wished  to  communicate  with  the  London 
office  on  a  matter  of  service.  He  had  already  rung  up  the 
English  officials,  and,  the  bell  having  sounded  in  reply,  took 
up  the  receivers  and  put  them  to  his  ears,  when  he  suddenly 
sustained  a  shock  of  electricity  of  such  severity  that  it  threw 
him  staggering  backwards  against  the  door  of  the  telephone 
cabinet,  which,  not  having  been  properly  fastened,  flew  open, 
\vith  the  result  that  he  was  thrown  heavily  to  the  ground.  It 
appears  from  inquiries  that  similar  accidents,  although  less 
serious,  have  occurred  at  this  telephone  office  on  several  pre- 
vious occasions.  The  officials  attribute  them  to  lightning  strik- 
ing the  wire,  either  at  San  Gatte,  where  the  submarine  cable 
ends,  or  at  the  terminus  of  the  land  wire  on  the  Palais  de  la 
Bourse.  Such  accidents,  it  is  declared,  might  be  easily  prevented 
by  the  simple  expedient  of  erecting  lightning  conductors  at  the 
point  where  the  cable  comes  ashore,  and  at  the  terminus  in 
Paris. 

In  the  nineteenth  annual  report  of  the  directors  of  the  Zoological 
Society  of  Philadelphia,  attenlibn  is  called  to  the  unprecedented 
destruction  of  many  of  the  more  valuable  and  important  animals  of 
the  native  American  fauna,  and  to  the  need  for  the  immediate 
adoption  of  every  means  which  can  be  employed  to  save  them 
from  complete  extinction.  The  directors  think  that  a  good 
deal  may  be  done  in  furtherance  of  this  object,  both  in  zoological 
gardens  and  private  preserves.  Of  all  the  bisons  now  surviving 
outside  the  National  Park,  probably  nine-tenths  are  comprised 
in  a  few  herds  owned  by  private  individuals  and  zoological 
societies. 

A  FINE  tortoise,  weighing  87  pounds,  obtained  by  the  U.S. 
Fish  Commission  steamer  Albatross^  during  her  recent  visit  to 
the  Galapagos  Islands,  has  recently  been  deposited  in  the 
Zoological  Park  at  Washington,  D.C.  The  specimen  was 
collected  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Townsend  on  Duncan  Island,  and  is  of 
much  interest,  not  only  on  account  of  the  locality  it  represents, 
but  as  showing  that  Dr.  Baur  was  a  little  hasty  in  deciding  that 
Testudo  iphippium  is  only  a  synonym  of  T,  abingdoni.  The 
Duncan  Island  tortoise  agrees  exactly  with  Dr.  Giinther's  figure 
of  T.  ephippium^  and  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  Abingdon 
Island  species,   which  is  also  well-figured  in  Dr.   Giinther's 


114 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


paper.  This  figure  shows  a  little  emarginatton  in  the  second 
marginal  scute,  which  might  seem  accidental,  but  as  it  is  exactly 
repeated  in  the  specimen  belonging  to  the  U.S.  National 
Museum,  and  as  the  emargination  exists  in  the  bony  carapace,  it 
is  probably  a  constant  specific  character.  Dr.  Giinther  gives 
Indefatigable  Island  as  the  locality  of  T,  ephippium^  and  if  this 
l>e  correct  the  species  occurs  on  at  least  two  islands  of  the  group. 
Besides  the  Duncan  Island  Tortoise,  examples  of  T,  vicina  and 
T.  nigrita  are  now  living  in  the  Zoological  Park,  while  the 
U.S.  National  Museum  possesses  skeletons  of  T.  abingdoni 
(imperfect),  T,  vicina^  and  T,  nigrita.  The  locality  of  this 
last-named  species  is  still  uncertain,  but  there  is  some 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  may  be  from  Chatham  Island. 
7".  nigrita  has  the  most  arched  carapace  of  any  species,  T. 
^phippium  and  T.  abingdoni  the  longest  and  anteriorly  most 
compressed  and  elevated  carapaces.  Between  these  lie  in  the 
order  named  T,  microphyes  and  T.  vicina.  There  is  a  direct 
correlation  between  the  anterior  height  of  the  carapace  and  the 
length  of  the  neck,  the  rule  being  the  higher  the  carapace  the 
longer  the  neck,  T,  nigrita  and  7.  abingdoni  having  respectively 
the  shortest  and  longest  necks.  Mr.  Townsend  writes  that 
tortoises  are  now  extremely  rare  on  Duncan  Island. 

The  June  number  of  the  Zoologist  contains  an  interesting 
paper  on  the  habits  of  the  moose,  by  Mr.  J.  Q.  Lockhart.  One 
of  the  points  noted  by  the  author  is,  that  moose  generally  lie 
with  the  tail  to  windward,  trusting  to  their  senses  of  hearing 
and  smelling,  which  are  remarkably  acute,  to  warn  them  of 
approaching  danger  from  that  quarter ;  they  can  use  their  eyes 
to  warn  them  from  danger  to  leeward,  where  hearing,  and 
especially  smelling,  would  be  of  little  use.  While  they  are 
■sleeping  or  chewing  the  cud,  their  ears  are  in  perpetual  motion, 
one  backward,  the  other  forward,  alternately.  They  also  have 
the  remarkable  insight  to  make  a  short  turn  and  sleep  below 
the  wind  of  their  fresh  track,  so  that  anyone  falling  thereon  and 
following  it  up  is  sure  to  be  heard  or  smelt  before  he  can  get 
within  shooting  distance. 

Mr.  L.  Upcott  Gill  has  published  as  a  pamphlet  a  paper 
read  by  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Soames  before  the  Bromley  Naturalists' 
Society  on  the  scientific  measurement  of  children.  Mr.  Soames 
says  he  finds  such  measurements  as  he  describes,  taken  every 
term,  a  good  guide  as  to  whether  his  pupils  may  be  pressed  with 
work  or  noL  "If  the  increase  is  regular  and  the  weight  fair, 
according  to  the  height,  I  do  not  fear  to  press  them  ;  but  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  weight  is  low,  or  if  the  height  increases  and 
not  the  weight,  or  if  the  increase  in  height  is  too  rapid,  I  think 
it  a  very  fair  excuse  for  laziness,  and  take  great  care  that  too 
much  work  is  not  expected  from  them.'* 

The  first  volume  of  Sir  William  Thomson's  "Popular 
Lectures  and  Addresses "  (Macmillan),  has  reached  a  second 
edition.  The  third  volume  has  also  just  been  published,  and 
the  author  hopes  that  the  second  volume  may  appear  in  the 
course  of  a  year  or  two. 

The  new  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  In- 
stitute (vol.  XX,,  No.  4)  opens  with  a  paper  in  which  Lady 
Welby  calls  attention  to  what  she  calls  an  apparent  paradox  in 
mental  evolution.  The  number  also  includes  a  paper,  by  Mr. 
F.  W.  Rudler,  on  the  source  of  the  jade  used  for  ancient  im- 
plements in  Europe  and  America  ;  and  the  Presidential  address 
delivered  by  Dr.  Beddoe. 

The  Botanical  Society  of  Edinburgh  has  issued  the  eighteenth 
volume  of  its  Transactions  and  Proceedings.  Dr.  Aitchison's 
*'  Notes  on  the  Products  of  Western  Afghanistan  and  of  North- 
Eastem  Persia,"  forming  the  first  part  of  the  volume,  may  be 
obtained  separately. 

Two  new  parts  (62  and  63)  of  the  elaborate  dictionary  of 
Chemistry  included  in  the  '  *  Encyclopaedic  der  Wissenschaften  " 

NO.    1 127,  VOL.  44] 


(Breslau  :  Eduard  Trewendt)  have  appeared.  The  etgihth  part 
of  the  hand-book  of  Physics,  in  the  same  Encyclopaedia,  has  ako 
been  published. 

The  ninth  edition  of  "Telegraphy,"  by  W.  H.  Prccce  and 
J.  Sivewright  (Longmans),  has  been  published.  The  edition  is 
described  as  "  almost  a  new  book."  No  fewer  than  a4  fignres 
have  been  altered  and  44  excluded,  and  there  are  now  965  as 
compared  with  194  in  the  last  edition.  The  authors  have  aimed 
at  "  providing  such  a  general  introduction  to  the  art  and  socskc 
of  telegraphy  as  will  enable  the  student  to  proceed  to  the  stody 
of  more  advanced  works,  and  give  to  the  operator  an  intelligifale 
explanation  of  the  apparatus  with  which  he  has  to  deal." 

Messrs.  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.  are  issuing  the  tenth 
edition  of  Quain*s  '*  Elements  of  Anatomy."  It  will  appear  in 
three  volumes,  and  is  being  edited  by  Prof.  E.  A.  Schafer  and 
Prof.  G.  D.  Thane.  The  second  part  of  the  first  volume — hj 
Prof.  Schafer — has  just  been  published.  The  subject  is  genera] 
anatomy  or  histology. 

Part  32  of  Cassell's  "New  Popular  Educator"  has  becc 
published.  Besides  illustrations  in  the  text,  it  contains  a 
coloured  map  of  Switzerland. 

The  Geological  Survey  Department  of  Canada  has  issoed  the 
first  of  a  series  of  descriptive  and  illustrated  quarto  memoiis  on 
the  Vertebrata  of  the  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous  rocks  of  the 
Canadian  North-West  Territory,  prepared  for  the  Survey  by 
Prof.  K  D.  Cope,  of  Philadelphia.  The  Report  is  devoted 
exclusively  to  a  consideration  of  the  species  from  the  Lover 
Miocene  deposits  of  the  Cypress  Hills,  in  the  district  of  A 1 '  leita, 
and  consists  of  twenty-seven  pages  of  letterpress,  illostxated  bj 
fourteen  full-page  lithographic  plates.  The  second  part,  which 
will  contain  illustrated  descriptions  of  the  Vertebrates  of  the 
Laramie  formation  of  the  North-West  Territory,  by  the  same 
author,  is  now  in  course  of  preparation.  • 

Mr.  Percy  F.  Kendall  has  prepared  a  little  volame  en- 
titled "  Hints  for  the  Guidance  of  Observers  of  Glacial  Geology.*' 
It  is  intended  to  serve  as  an  answer  to  the  requests  for  guidance 
which  have  been  made  by  members  of  the  North- West  of 
England  Boulder  Committee.  The  work  is  printed  only  on 
alternate  pages,  so  that  students  using  it  will  have  space  for 
occasional  brief  notes. 

"An  approved  Treatise  of  Hawks  and  Hawking  by 
Edmund  Bert,"  16 19,  has  just  been  reprinted,  with  an  intro- 
duction by  Mr.  J.  E.  Harting.  It  is  the  rarest  of  English 
books  on  falconry,  and  no  copy  has  come  into  the  market  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  The  reprint  is  as  nearly  a  facsimile  as  it 
is  possible  to  make  it  without  the  aid  of  photography^  and  a 
hundred  copies  only  have  been  printed.  It  is  issued  by  Mr. 
Quaritch. 

Indigocarmine,  the  commercially  important  disulphoak 
acid  of  indigo,  has  been  synthesized  in  an  extremely  sinople 
manner  by  Dr.  Heymann  in  the  laboratory  of  Messrs.  Bayer  and 
Co.  of  Elberfeld,  and  a  description  of  the  mode  of  operation  is 
given  in  the  new  number  of  the  Berichte,  The  reaction  merely 
consists  in  acting  with  excess  of  fuming  sulphuric  acid  apon 
phenyl  glycocoll,  CeHj— NH— CHj— COOH,  the  aniline  deri- 
vative of  glycoUic  acid.  When  a  quantity  of  fuming  snlphoric 
acid  is  poured  upon  a  tenth  of  its  weight  of  phenyl  glycocoll  in  a 
test  tube,  the  phenyl  glycocoll  rapidly  dissolves,  the  acid  be- 
coming coloured  yellow  and  slightly  elevated  in  temperatore, 
while  sulphur  dioxide  commences  to  be  evolved.  If  the  solution 
is  then  poured  over  ice  the  greenish-blue  colour  of  indigocarmine 
is  at  once  obtained.  The  best  conditions  for  working  the  pro- 
cess on  the  large  scale  are  as  follows.  One  part  of  phenyl 
glycocoll  is  mixed  with  ten  to  twenty  times  its  weight  of  fine 
sand  so  as  to  avoid  local  superheating  during  the  process  of 
addition  to  the  fuming  acid.     The  mixture  is  then  introduced 


June  4,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


"5 


into  aboat  twenty  times  its  weight  of  faming  sulphuric  acid  at  a 
temperature  of  about  20°-25*'.  The  fuming  acid  should  contain 
at  least  80  per  cent,  of  sulphuric  anhydride,  and  the  temperature 
should  be  so  controlled  that  it  never  exceeds  30°  during  the  pro- 
cess of  adding  the  mixture.  The  yellow  solution  thus  obtained 
yields  instantly  the  blue  coloration  due  to  indigocarmine  on  re- 
moYingthe  large  excess  of  sulphuric  anhydride  by  the  addition 
of  ordinary  oil  of  vitrol,  sulphur  dioxide  being  evolved.  Upon 
finther  diluting  with  ice  and  addition  of  common  salt  (indigo- 
carmine being  more  difficultly  soluble  in  salt  solutions  than  in 
pare  water)  the  colouring-matter  is  precipitated,  and  may  be 
readily  isolated.  The  product  thus  obtained  is  found  to  consist 
of  pure  indigocarmine.  The  tints  obtained  with  this  product  are 
vastly  superior  in  beauty  and  clearness  to  those  obtained  with 
even  the  better  kinds  of  commercial  indigocarmine,  on  account 
of  the  higher  degree  of  purity  attained  by  this  mode  of  prepara- 
tion. The  chemical  changes  occurring  during  the  process 
appear  to  be  as  follows.  The  first  product  of  the  action  of 
faming  sulphuric  add  ijpon  phenylglycocoll  appears  to  be  the 

COSOjH 

sulphonic  acid  of  indoxyl  sulphate,   SOgH— CgH,/^  \CH  . 

NH 
Tbis  substance,   however,   is  unstable,   and  decomposes  upon 

the  removal  of  the  excess  of  SOg  into  indigo  disulphonic  acid, 
snlphur  dioxide,  and  water,  probably  according  to  the  following 
eqnation'-— 

COSOjH 

2S0,II— CjH,/     "^CH    =2S0j  +  2H,0  + 

NH 

SO,H-CeH8<;         >C  =  C<^         >CeH8-S0,H. 
^NH^  \nH^ 

Of  coarse  the  most  important  point  of  commercial  interest  about 
a  new  reaction  is  the  yield,  and  in  this  respect  Dr.  Heymann  is 
very  fortunate,  for  already  60  per  cent,  of  the  theoretical  has 
been  attained.  The  process  has  consequently  been  patented  by 
Messrs.  Bayer  and  Co.,  and  appears  likely  to  become  a  very 
saccessfol  one. 

Ths  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society^s  Gardens  daring  the 
past  week  include  a  Water  Buck  {Cobus  ellipsiprymnus  9 ),  a 
Leopard  {Felis  pardu5\  two  Vulturine  Guinea  Fowls  {Numida 
vulturina),  two  Mitred  Guinea  Fowls  {Numida  mitrata)  from 
East  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  G.  S.  Mackenzie,  F.Z.S.  ;  a 
Per^prine  Falcon  {Fako  peregrinus)  from  Scotland,  presented 
by  Mr.  Thomas  C.  Smith ;  a  Mountain  Ka-Ka  {Nestor  notabilis) 
from  New  2^aland,  presented  by  Mr.  Herbert  Furber ;  a  Grey 
Squirrel  {Sciurus  griseus)^  a  Squirrel  {Sciurus  sp.  inc.)  from 
North  America,  a  Ducorp's  Cockatoo  {Cacatua  ducorpsi)  from 
the  Solomon  Islands,  presented  by  Mr.  Nicholas  O'Reilly  ;  two 
Ravens  {Carvus  corax)  from  Ireland,  presented  by  Captain 
Ogilby ;   a  Cheetah  {Cynalurus  jabaius)  from   Persia,   three 

Blandford*s    Rats     (Mus    blandfordi\    two    Terrapins 

{Clemmys  sp.  inc.)  from  India,  deposited  ;  two  Coypus  {Myopo- 
tamus  coypus)  from  South  America,  two  Andaman  Starlings 
{Stumta  andamanensis)  from  the  Andaman  Islands,  two  Red- 
billed  Hombills  {Toccus  erythrorhynchus),  two  African  White 
Spoonbills  {Plaialea  alba)  from  Africa,  two  Virginian  Eagle 
Owls  {Bubo  virginianus)  from  North  America,  purchased ;  a 
Red  Deer  (Cervus  elaphus  S ),  a  Japanese  Deer  {Cervus  sika  9  ), 
bom  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Meridian  Photometer. — In  vol.  xxiii.  of  the  Annals 
of  the  Harvard  College  Observatory ^  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering  and 
O.  C.  Wendell  give  and  discuss  the  observations  made  at  Cam- 
bridge, U.S.,  with  the  meridian  photometer  during  the  years 
1882-88.     The  observations  relate  principally  to  stars  north  of  i 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


the  declination  -40^  Vol.  xiv.  of  the  Annals  contained  the 
results  of  observations  of  the  brightness  of  stars  made  with  a- 
small  meridian  photometer.  The  present  volume  deals  with 
the  photometric  measurements  of  somewhat  fainter  stars,  made 
by  means  of  a  similar  but  larger  instrument. 

Report  of  Harvard  College  Observatory. — Prof. 
Pickering  has  just  issued  his  Report  for  last  year.  He  again 
urges  the  necessity  of  a  fire-proof  building  for  storing  the 
27,000  photographic  plates  of  spectra,  9000  of  which  were 
taken  in  Z890.  Legacies  for  the  endowment  of  science  in 
America  are  so  common  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that 
the  Observatory  has  received  a  gift  of  25,000  dollars  through  the 
late  Mr.  J.  I.  Bowditch.  During  the  past  year  1309  photo- 
grraphs  of  stellar  spectra  have  been  taken  with  the  Bache  tele- 
scope at  the  station  near  Closica,  in  Peru.  Nearly  all  of  them 
relate  to  the  region  south  of  -  20°.  Mrs.  Draper  has  added 
another  instrument  of  the  same  kind  to  the  Henry  Draper 
Memorial.  This  is  mounted  in  the  Observatory  grounds  at 
Cambridge,  and  since  September  1889,  2157  photographs 
have  been  taken  with  it,  covering  the  sky  north  ol  -  20  .  By 
placing  a  prism  of  small  angle  over  the  objective,  the  spectra  of 
stars  as  faint  as  the  tenth  magnitude  have  been  obtained.  Six 
stars  with  Type  IV.  spectra  have  been  discovered.  Spectra 
of  fifteen  planetary  nebulae  have  been  photographed.  The 
hydrogen  line  F  has  been  shown  to  be  bright  in  eight  stars. 
Bright  line  stars  of  the  Wolf- Ray et  type  now  number  twenty- 
eight,  three  having  been  added  to  the  list  during  the  past  year. 
The  names  are  given  of  thirty  variable  stars  of  longperiod,  in 
which  the  hydrc«en  lines  are  bright  at  maximum.  This  pecu- 
liarity has  furnished  a  means  of  discovering  seven  new  variable 
stars.  The  1 1 -inch  telescope  has  been  usra  for  a  detailed  study 
of  the  spectra  of  the  brightest  stars,  with  the  result  that  /3  Aurigae 
and  i  Ursse  Majoris  have  been  discovered  to  be  close  binaries. 
One  photograph  of  a  Herculis  seems  to  show  that  this  star  also 
is  double,  but  this  has  not  been  confirmed.  With  the  12-inch 
telescope  a  number  of  ''canals  "  on  Mars  have  been  recognized, 
but  only  one  of  them  was  distinctly  seen  to  be  double.  An  im- 
portant accession  to  the  white  spot  surrounding  the  southern 
pole  was  found  by  photographs  to  have  occurred  between  the 
nights  of  April  9  and  10.  The  Report  concludes  with  a  list  of 
the  numerous  publications  issued  by  the  Observatory  during  the 
year. 

THE  SOLAR  PARALLAX  AND  ITS  RELATED 

CONSTANTS. 

T  T  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  masterly  and  compre- 
hensive  exposition  of  astronomical  and  physical  constants 
than  one  just  issued  by  Prof.  W.  Harkness,  of  the  United  States 
Naval  Observatory.  As  is  rightly  pointed  out,  "  The  solar 
parallax  is  not  an  independent  constant.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
entangled  with  the  lunar  parallax,  the  constants  of  precession 
and  nutation,  the  parallactic  inequality  of  the  moon,  the  lunar 
inequality  of  the  earth,  the  masses  of  the  earth  and  moon,  the 
ratio  of  the  solar  and  lunar  tides,  the  constant  of  aberration,  the 
velocity  of  light,  and  the  light  equation."  It  should  therefore 
be  determined  simultaneously  with  all  these  quantities  by  means 
of  a  least-square  Adjustment,  and  Prof.  Harkness  develops  such 
a  method.  The  equations  connecting  the  constants  are  given, 
whilst  the  numerical  values  which  are  discussed  are  based  upon 
an  enormous  mass  of  astronomical,  geodetic,  gravitational,  and 
tidal  observations  which  have  requir^  more  than  two  hundred 
years  for  their  accumulation.  The  sources  of  probable  error  are 
also  examined,  and  it  is  suggested  how  some  of  the  constants 
may  be  improved  in  the  future.  The  completeness  of  the  lists 
of  constants,  and  the  careful  manner  in  which  they  are  discussed 
and  corrected  by  the  comprehensive  least-square  adjustment  whicb 
is  developed,  justifies  our  giving  seriatim  the  results  obtained  :  — 

Equatorial  semi-diameter  of  the  earth — 

3963*124  ±  0*078  miles. 
Polar  semi-diameter  of  the  earth — 

3949*922  ±  0*062  miles. 

One  earth  quadrant — 

40001816  ±  125'x  metres. 

Oblateness  or  flattening  of  the  earth — 

1/300*205  ±.  2*964. 

Eccentricity  of  the  earth— 

0*006651018. 


Ii6 


NA  TURE 


[JUNR4,   1 89 1 


Mean  density  of  the  earth — 

5-576  ±0016. 
Surface  density  of  the  earth — 

2-56  ±o*i6. 
Length  of  the  seconds  pendalum  (^  =  latitude) — 
39*012540  •(-  0*208268 sin'^  inches. 
Acceleration  due  to  gravity — 

32*086528  +  0*171293  sin^  feet. 
Length  of  the  sidereal  year — 

365d  6h.  9m.  9*3145. 
Length  of  the  tropical  year  at  time  / — 

365d.  5h.  48m.  46*0695.  -  0*536755.  r-Zj£5o\ 

Length  of  the  sidereal  month — 

27d.  7h.  43m.  zi'524s.  -  0022671S.  r  "  '^ \ 

Length  of  the  syoodical  month — 

29d.  I2h.  44m.  2-8415.  -  0-026522S.  r  ""  '^^\ 

Leng^  of  the  sidereal  day — 

86164*09965  mean  solar  seconds. 
Ratio  of  the  mean  motions  of  the  sun  and  moon — 

0*074801329112. 

Mass  of  Mercury  (Sun  =  1), 
„       Venus  ,, 

„       Earth  „ 


f> 


8374672  ±  I 

I 

765762 

408968  ± 

I 

1874 

327214  ± 

I 

624 

3093503  ± 

I 

3295 

1047-55  =*= 

I 

020 

3501-6  ± 

I 

0-78 

22600  ± 

I 

36 

18780  ± 

I 

300 

Mars  ,, 

„       Jupiter  „ 

,,       Saturn  ,, 

„       Uranus  ,, 

„       Neptune  ,, 

„        Moon  (Earth  =  i)      g,.o68±  0*238 
Constant  of  solar  parallax — 

8^*80905  ±  o"*oo567. 
Mean  distance  of  earth  from  sun — 

92796950  ±  59715  miles. 
Eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit — 

0*016771049. 
Lunar  inequality  of  the  earth — 

6" '5 2294  ±  o"*oi854. 
Lunar  parallax — 

3422"*542i6  ±  o""i2533. 

Mean  distance  from  earth  to  moon — 

23885475  ±9-916  miles. 

Eccentricity  of  moon's  orbit — 

0*054899720. 

Inclination  of  moon's  orbit — 

5'  8'  43* -3546. 
Mean  motion  of  the  moon's  node  in  365^  days — 

-  19'  21'  i9"-6i9i  +  o''*i4i36  {^  ~  '^. 

Parallactic  inequality  of  the  moon — 

1 24"  '95 1 26  ±  o"  08 197. 
Constant  of  luni-solar  precession — 

5o"-357iodbo"-oo349. 
Constant  of  nutation — 

9" -22054  =^  o" '00859. 
Constant  of  aberration — 

20"  4545 1  ±o"-oi258. 
NO.   112  7,  VOL.  44] 


The  time  taken  by  light  to  traverse  the  mean  radios  of  the 
earth's  orbit  (the  light  equation) — 

498-005958.  ±  0*308345. 

The  velocity  of  light  in  vacuo  per  second  of  mean  solar  time — 

186337*00  ±  49*722  miles. 

In  order  to  improve  the  system  of  constants  discussed.  Pro£ 
Harkness  thinks  that  the  parallax  of  the  moon  should  be  deter- 
mined by  the  diurnal  method  at  one  or  more  stations  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  equator,  and  that  the  Observatories  in  the  noztherzi 
and  southern  hemispheres  should  co-operate  with  each  other  for 
two  or  three  years  m  systematically  making  meridian  observa- 
tions of  the  moon  to  improve  our  knowledge  of  its  parallax. 
Numerous  pendulum  observations  are  required,  and  new^  deter- 
minations of  the  constants  of  aberration  and  nutation  by  as  many 
different  methods  as  possible.  The  most  probable  coefficient 
of  the  lunar  inequality  of  the  earth's  motion  should  be  obtained 
from  Greenwich  and  Washington  meridian  observations  of  the 
sun,  whilst  the  opposition  of  Mars  in  1892,  and  favourably  sitnated 
asteroids,  should  be  utilized  for  new  determinations  of  the  solar 
parallax. 

The  laborious  character  of  an  investigation  which  leads  to  the 
results  here  given  is  patent  to  all  To  say,  therefore,  that  all 
the  computations  involved  were  made  and  checked  by  Prof. 
Harkness  himself  is  to  testify  to  Industry  very  rarely  excelled. 


TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  IN  RUSSIA. 

A  N  interesting  report  on  technical  education  in  Russia  has 
•^^  been  laid  before  Parliament  by  the  Foreign  Office.  It  it 
a  digest  by  Mr.  Harford  of  a  very  voluminous  Report,  compiled 
by  Mr.  Anopofi*,  Director  of  the  Nicholas  Industrial  School  at 
St.  Petersburg,  on  technical  education  in  Russia,  and  is  de- 
scribed by  Sir  R.  Morier  as  giving  an  exhaustive  review  of  all 
that  has  been  done  during  the  last  20  years  in  Russia  in  this  im- 
portant branch  of  national  education,  and  is  of  special  interest  as 
furnishing  information  on  the  most  recent  legislation  respecting 
schools  about  to  be  founded. 

M.  Anopoff  confines  himself  to  giving  full  details  of  inter- 
mediate and  elementary  technical  and  industrial  teaching 
institutions,  without  attempting  a  description  of  the  higher 
schools.  The  establishment  of  these  former  classes  of  schools 
dates,  he  says,  from  only  some  25  years  back,  but  in  that  short 
space  of  time  they  have  spread  to  the  confines  of  the  Rtxssian 
Empire.  In  1883,  a  special  section  for  technical  and  profe^cnal 
education  was  created  in  the  Ministry  of  Education.  According 
to  the  new  regulations  of  the  Realschulen^  intermediate  and 
elementary  technical  and  industrial  schools  are  to  be  opened  at 
the  public  expense.  M.  Anopoff  remarks,  however,  that  these 
new  schools  cannot  be  expected  to  be  at  first  as  successful  as  the 
existing  schools  with  their  long  practical  experience.  He  adds, 
too,  that  the  greater  number  of  the  technical  schools  in  Rossta 
were  founded  at  the  initiative,  and  often  even  at  the  expense^  of 
local  societies  and  private  persons.  The  various  technical  and 
industrial  institutions  in  Russia  are  divided  into  five  groups  r — 
(i)  Technical  schools  with  the  course  of  intermediate  schools  re^ 
serabling  the  Realschuien,  but  differing  from  them  by  their 
professional  character  being  more  strongly  marked.  The  task  of 
these  schools,  which,  as  regards  the  knowledge  required,  is  about 
equivalent  to  the  standard  of  the  Reahchulen^  with  a.  course 
of  from  six  to  ei^'ht  years,  consists  in  imparting  a  general 
acquaintance  with  the  technical  and  partly  commercial  subjects 
which  are  indispensable  for  the  assistants  of  engineers,  and  for 
independent  managers  of  small  technical  undertakings.  (2)  To 
the  second  group  may  be  referred  institutions  in  which  subjects 
of  general  education  are  taught  within  the  scope  of  the  courses  of 
municipal  schools  and  district  and  village  schools  with  two 
classes.  From  those  who  enter  them  a  knowledge  is  required 
approximate  to  the  scope  of  primary  schools,  the  full  course  of 
study  lasting  from  four  to  six  years.  In  these  schools,  besides 
the  subjects  taught  in  the  municipal  schools  under  the  regulations 
of  1872,  the  following  additional  subjects  are  taken  up  :  physics, 
mechanics,  technology  of  metals  and  woods,  bookkeeping,  &c., 
while  to  drawing,  both  freehand  and  geometrical,  much  attention 
is  given.  The  object  of  these  institutions  is  the  preparation  of 
skilled  artisans  for  factories,  of  lesser  mechanical  specialists, 
machinists,  and  draughtsmen.  In  this  category  should  be  in- 
cluded the  railway  schools,  but  as  they  are  under  the  control  of 
the  Ministry  of  Communications,  and  serve  certain  special  ob- 


June  4,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


117 


j«cts  exclusively  connected  with  railways,  no  account  of  them  is 
given.  (3)  Industrial  schools  with  a  course  of  general  education 
not  exceeding  the  scope  of  the  course  of  primary  schools,  or 
sometimes  reaching  the  standard  of  the  second  class  in  village 
schools  with  two  c]as«es.  In  most  of  them  pupils  are  received 
who  have  completed  the  course  in  the  public  school,  and  who 
repeat  what  they  have  gone  through  in  it.  These  schools  are 
founded  with  the  object  of  preparing  skilled  artisans  for  village 
and  domestic  industries,  and  also  factory  hands.  They  contam 
workshops  for  joiners,'  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  fitters,  tailors, 
shoemakers,  saddlers,  bookbinders,  &c. ;  but  few  of  these  in- 
stitutions can  boast  of  a  systematic  course  of  instruction  in  trades. 

(4)  To  this  group  belong  various  special  and  general  educational 
schools  for  adults,  as  the  school  for  foremen  builders,  the  school 
for  printers,  the  evening  and  Sunday  special  classes  of  the  Im- 
perial Technical  Societv  at  St.  Petersburg,  the  Riga  Industrial 
School,  &c.  The  teaching  in  these  institutions  takes  place  in 
the  evenings  of  week-days,  and  on  Sundays,  i.e,  when  the  adult 
workmen  for  whom  they  are  intended  are  free  from  their  work. 

(5)  This  group  consists  of  elementary  schools  of  general  educa- 
tion, i.e.  primary,  district,  or  municipal  schools  with  supple- 
mentary industrial  sections.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  persons 
who  have  gone  through  the  whole  course,  or  at  least  reached  a 
certain  standard,  at  any  of  the  schools  of  these  five  groups,  enjoy 
certain  privileges  with  regard  to  exemption  from  military  service. 

The  report  then  goes  on  to  describe  in  detail  the  courses  of 
some  of  the  leading  industrial  schools  as  types  of  the  different 
groups,  as  well  as  of  the  industrial  classes  attached  to  the 
elementary  schools.  In  conclusion,  the  report  summarizes  the 
more  important  provisions  of  the  ukase  of  March  7/19,  1888,  re- 
specting the  conditions  under  which  technical  and  industrial 
schools  may  be  opened  in  Russia,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  at 
the  expense  of  the  State  (given  in  Appendices  I.,  II.,  III.).  The 
cost  of  maintenance  of  these  schools  is  respectively  estimated  in 
the  ukase  as  follows :  the  intermediate  mechanical  technical 
schools  at  27,31  ir.  (/'2730)  per  annum;  the  elementary 
mechanical  technical  schools  at  I9i436r.  (;f  1945)  per  annum ; 
and  the  trade  schools  at  ii,96or.  (;^I200)  per  annum.  The 
Ministry  of  Education  has  assigned  for  this  year  the  sum  of 
;f  50,003  for  the  creation  of  these  technical  schools,  and  it  is 
reported  that  the  Ministry  has  been  urged  to  devote  a  consider- 
able portion  of  this  sum  to  founding  schools  in  the  districts 
where  village  industries  prevail,  the  richer  manufacturing 
districts  being  better  able  to  dispense  with  State  aid.  The  pro- 
Tisions  of  the  ukase  are: — (i)  The  industrial  schools  for  the 
male  inhabitants  of  the  Empire  exist  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing 
among  the  population  technical  education  of  the  intermediate 
and  elementary  standards,  as  well  as  instruction  in  handicrafts. 
(2)  The  intermediate  technical  schools  impart  the  instruction  and 
skill  indispensable  to  artificers  who  are  destined  in  time  to  act 
as  the  trusted  assistants  of  engineers  and  of  other  managers  of 
industrial  enterprises.  (3)  The  elementary  technical  schools, 
besides  initiation  into  the  mysteries  and  methods  of  some  one 
definite  handicraft,  likewise  impart  the  knowledge  and  skill 
indispensable  to  men  whose  duty  it  will  in  time  become  to  act  as 
master-workers  and  immediate  overseers  of  the  operations  of 
artisans  in  industrial  establishments.  (4)  The  trade  schools 
exist  for  the  purpose  of  giving  practical  tuition  in  the  methods 
of  any  one  trade,  and  at  the  same  time  of  communicating  such 
knowledge  and  skill  as  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  intelligent 
execution  of  the  work  of  such  trade.  (5)  Industrial  schools  of 
each  of  the  above-mentioned  categories  can  exist  either  ap^rt  or 
in  conjunction  with  other  similar  schools  of  various  degrees  and 
specialities.  (7)  The  industrial  schools  are  supported  at  the 
expense  of  the  Crown,  or  of  the  zemstvos,  societies,  guilds,  or 
private  individuals,  or  by  funds  contributed  simultaneously  from 
all  these  sources.  (8)  The  course  in  the  intermediate  technical 
schools  is  not  to  exceed  four  years  ;  that  of  the  elementary  and 
trade  schools  three  years.  (9)  Those  who  enter  trade  schools  are 
required  to  produce  a  certificate  of  their  having  gone  through  the 
course  of  an  elementary  school ;  those  who  enter  the  elementary 
technical  schools,  a  certificate  of  having  gone  through  the  course 
in  a  municipal  school,  or  village  school,  with  two  classes  ;  while 
those  who  enter  intermediate  technical  schools  must  have  gone 
through  five  classes  of  a  ReahchuU,  (10)  Those  who  are 
unable  to  satisfy  the  conditions  mentioned  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph, but  who  have  worked  not  less  than  two  years  in  industrial 
institutions,  and  have  proved  that  they  can  successfully  follow 
the  course  at  the  school  they  wish  to  enter,  may  be  also  admitted. 
(11)  Industrial  schools  must  have  :  {a)  a  library,  \b)  a  room  with 

NO.   II 27,  VOL.  44] 


appliances  for  geometrical  and  freehand  drawing,  (r)  where  pos- 
sible a  room  with  appliances  for  modelling,  {d)  the  necessarv 
school  books  for  the  special  object  for  which  the  school  is 
intended,  and  in  addition  the  requisite  appliances  for  the 
practical  work  of  the  apprentices.  (14)  Pupils  who  have 
successfully  completed  their  education  in  an  intermediate  tech- 
nical school,  after  a  four  years'  course,  receive  the  appellation  of 
artificer  in  their  specific  calling.  Those  who  have  only  gone 
through  a  two  or  three  years'  course,  only  receive  this  appellation 
after  three  or  two  years  respectively,  spent  uninterruptedly  in 
industrial  work.  Those  who  are  so  styled  obtain  certain 
privileges  as  regards  their  civil  status  and  in  respect  to  military 
service,  and  they  enjoy  in  addition  the  right  of  entering  the 
higher  technical  schools.  Those  who  have  completed  the  course 
at  the  other  two  categories  of  schools  enjoy  the  privileges  as 
regards  civil  status  and  military  service  which  correspond  to  the 
general  education  they  have  received. 


FOSSIL  FISH  OF  THE  SCANDINA  VI AN 

CHALK, 


M 


R.  DAVIS  has  availed  himself  of  the  opportunities  pre- 
sented to  him  by  the  chief  officers  of  the  Museums  of 
Lund,  Stockholm,  and  Copenhagen,  and  has  published  a  mono> 
graphic  account  of  the  fish  remains  from  the  Cretaceous  formations 
of  Scandinavia. 

Over  seventy  years  ago  Sven  Nillson  first  discovered  fish  re- 
mains in  the  Swedish  chalk.  Since  then  numerous  large  collec- 
tions have  been  made  by  the  officers  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Sweden  and  others,  and  the  greater  number  of  these  specimens 
were  unreservedly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Mr.  Davis  for 
description  in  his  memoir  ;  he  has  also  had  the  opportunity  of 
consulting  some  smaller  collections  in  Sweden,  and  most  of 
the  forms  have  been  figured  from  the  original  specimens  by 
Mr.  Crowther. 

These  fish  remains  show  a  closer  relationship  to  the  Cretaceous 
fish  remains  of  the  north  of  Europe,  as  represented  by  the 
English  and  French  chalk  fish,  than  to  the  more  highly 
specialized  chalk  fauna  of  Asia  Minor,  but  they  do  not  afford 
representatives  of  several  of  the  Phjrsostomous  Teleosteans,  such 
as  Ichthyodectes,  Protosphynena,  and  Pachyrhizodus,  which 
have  been  found  in  the  English  chalk,  and  have  also  occurred 
in  the  Upper  Cretaceous  rocks  of  North  America. 

The  great  majority  of  the  fish  remains  are  Selachian,  and 
comprise  twenty-four  species.  Of  these,  Carcharodon  rondeletiit 
Otodtis  obliquuSf  and  Odonlaspis  acutissimus  are  regarded  as 
indicating  a  Tertiary  fauna,  but  in  the  Scandinavian  chalk  they 
have  been  found  asoodated  with  many  undoubted  Cretaceous 
forms  in  the  Faxe  limestone  or  chalk.  The  character  and 
extent  of  this  fauna  indicates  conditions  very  similar  to  those 
accompanying  the  deposition  of  the  English  and  French  chalk 
and  of^  that  of  Central  Europe  generally,  whilst  it  affords  com- 
paratively few  data  for  comparison  with  that  of  Lebanon.  The 
occurrence  of  numerous  teeth  of  several  species  of  Scapano- 
rhyndius  in  the  Swedish  area  is  worthy  of  note,  but  the  fish  are 
not  found  preserved  bodily  as  they  are  in  the  chalk  of  Lebanon. 

This  memoir  is  published  as  Fart  vi.  of  vol.  iv.  of  the 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  and  is  illustrated 
with  an  atlas  of  nine  plates. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

XX>NDON. 

Royal  Society,  May  28. — '*  On  the  Bases  (Organic)  in  the 
Juice  of  Flesh.  Part  I."  By  George  Stillingfleet  Johnson, 
M.R.C.S.,  F.C.S.,  F.I.C.  Communicated  by  Prof.  G.  Johnson,. 
F.R.S. 

The  author  has  endeavoured  to  ascertain  by  carefiil  experi^ 
ments  how  far  the  substances  hitherto  prepared  from  fiesh  are  true 
"  A/«f/j,"  and  really  present  in  the  flesh  itself,  or  merely  pro- 
ducts, due  to  (i)  the  action  of  chemical  or  physical  agencies 
applied  in  the  course  of  extraction,  or  (2)  to  bacterial  action 
modifying  the  composition  of  the  flesh  before  it  comes  into  the 
hands  of  the  operator. 

The  final  conclusion  drawn  is  that  sarcous  kreatine  is  not 
present  in  fresh  muscle,   but  results   from    bacterial    action 
whereas  sarcous  kreatinin  is  probably  a  true  **  educt." 


ii8 


NA  TURE 


[June  4,  1891 


Chemical  Society,  May  7.— Dr.  J.  H.  Gladstone,  F.R.S.* 
Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — The  foUowingr  papers  were 
read : — The  action  of  alkalis  on  the  nitro-com pounds  of  the 
paraffin  series,  by  W.  R.  Dunstan  and  T.  S.  Djmond.  The 
paper  contains  the  results  of  further  investigation  of  the  inter- 
action of  alkalis  and  nitroethane,  of  which  a  preliminary  account 
has  already  been  given  (Chem.  Soc.  Proc,  1888,  p.  1x7). 
Nitroethane  and  alkali  carbonates  in  the  cold  interact  to  yield 
carbon  dioxide,  and  the  alkali  derivative  of  nitroethane,  which 
is  obtained  when  alkali  hydroxide  is  employed.  Ammonia  com- 
bines with  nitroethane  in  the  cold  to  form  a  crystalline  compound, 
analogous  to  the  potassium  and  sodium  derivatives.  The  action 
of  alkalis  pro  ceeds  fnrtfter  on  warming,  and  there  are  formed 
alkali  nitrite,  acetonitrile,  and  a  compound,  boiling  at  171°,  and 
solidifying  to  a  crystalline  mass  when  cooled  to  3** '5.  The 
authors  find  that  this  compoond  is  trimethylisoxazole 

CH| ,  C=::C.CHj 
CH,  .  C         O     . 

N 

It  is  very  stable,  and  is  almost  unaffected  by  heating  in  closed 
tubes  with  strong  acids  and  alkalis.     Permanganate  oxidizes 
it  to  acetic  acid,  and  nitric  acid  to  acetic  and  oxalic  acids.     By 
reducing-agents  it  is  slowly  decomposed  with  formation  of  am- 
monia, acetic  acid,  and  secondary  butyl  alcohol.     By  the  action 
of  sodium  on  a  well-cooled  moist  ethereal  solution,  a  dikydride 
CfHiiNO  (m.p.  no")  is  formed,  which,  when  heated  with  water, 
is  decomposed  into  ammonium  acetate  and  ethyl  methyl  ketone. 
The  nurcurichloride  has  the  formula  CjHgNO,  HgjCl,.  and  the 
^oiHchloride  the  formula  CeH^NO,  AuClj.   Nitropropane,  when 
acted  on  by  alkalis,  yields  triethylisoxazole,  propionitrile,  and 
alkali  nitrite,  but  the  reaction  occurs  with  greater  difficulty  than 
in  the  case  of  nitroethane.     Nitromethane  is  readily  acted  on 
by  alkalis,  and  hydrogen  cyanide,  alkali  nitrite,  and  much  resin 
are  formed.  The  parent  isoxazole  could  not  be  isolated.  Second- 
ary nitropropane  is  attacked  with  difficulty  by  alkalis,  and  no 
isoxazole  is  formed. — Some  new  addition  compounds  of  thio- 
•carbamide  which  affi>rd  evidence  of  its  constitution,  by  J.  E. 
Reynolds,  F.R.S.     Thiocarbamide  combines  with  ammonium 
bromide,  iodide,  and  chloride  at  the  temperature  of  boiling 
alcohol,  and  forms  compounds  of  the  type  (H4N2CS)4H4NR'. 
Under  the  conditions  specified  no  compounds  were  obtained 
containing  less  than  four  molecular  proportions  of  the  amide  to 
one  of  the  ammonium  haloid  salt.      Methyl-,  ethyl-,  allyl-, 
phenyl-,   diphenyl-,   and  acetyl phenyl-thiocarbamides    do  not 
yield  compounds  with  ammonium  bromide  at  the  temperature  of 
boiling  alcohol.  Thiocarb  amide  and  tetrethylammonium  bromide 
and  iodide  yield  compounds  of  the  type  (H4N2CS),Et4NR'. 
Under  the  experimental  conditions,  no  well-defined  substance 
was  obtained  containing  more  than  two  molecular  proportions 
of  the  amide  to  one  of  the  tetrethylammonium  salt.     Thio- 
carbamide and  diethylammonium  bromide  form  the  compound 
<H4N,CS),Et,HjNBr.       Thiocarbamide,    when    treated    with 
triethylammonium  bromide  yields  a  mixture  of  the  two  com- 
pounds (H4N,CS),Et8HNBr  and  (H4NgCS)jEt,HNBr.     With 
methylammonium   bromide    the    amide  forms  the  compound 
<H4N2CS)4MeH3NBr.      It  does  not,  however,  combine  with 
«thylammonium  bromide,  and  when  heated  with  the  salt  in 
the  molecular  proportions  4 :  I  at  135"  in  a  sealed  tube,  together 
with  alcohol,  it  yielded  ethyl  oxide  and  tetrathiocarbamidam- 
monium   bromide.      The  author  points    out  that  these   facts 
supply  evidence  against  the  symmetrical  constitution  of  thio- 
carbamide CS(NH,)^   and   altogether  in  favour  of   the  un- 
svmmetrical    constitution    HN :  C(SH)NH2. — The   action    of 
acetic  anhydride  on  substituted  thiocarbamides ;    and  an  im- 
proved method  for  preparing  aromatic  mustard  oils,  by  £. 
A.    Werner,   Trinity  College,  Dublin.     The  action  of  acetic 
anhydride    on    diphenyl-,    ortho-,    meta-    and    para-ditolyl-, 
meta-dixylyl-,   dibenzyl-   and  diethyl-thiocarbamides  has  been 
studied.     In  the  case  of  the  aromatic  derivatives,  no  acetylated 
derivatives  of  the  thiocarbamides  were  produced.     The  solution 
of  the  thiocarbamide  in  acetic  anhydride  is  accompanied  by 
simultaneous  decomposition  into  "  anilid  "  and  mustard  oil  in 
accordance    with    the    equation     CS(NHR)j  +  (CH,CO).0 
=  CHsCONHR    +    R.NCS  -I-  CHgCOOH.        When     the 
solution  is    heated  for  five  minutes  at  the    boiling-point  of 
acetic  anhydride,  an  almost  theoretical  yield  of  mustard  oil 
:  obtained.     Prolonged  heating    produces    a   secondary    re- 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


action  expressed  by  the  equation  R  .  NCS  -f-  CH.COOH 
=  CHjCONHR  -I-  COS.  In  the  case  of  fatty  thiocarb- 
amides a  well-defined  acetylated  thiocarbamide  is  first  produced, 
and  prolonged  heating  gives  rise  to  the  formation  of  mnstard  oil, 
but  the  yield  of  the  latter  is  never  high,  and  as  final  product  a 
substituted  amide  is  produced. — ^The  decomposition  of  slyer 
chloride  by  light,  by  A.  Richardson.  When  pure  silver  chloride 
is  exposed  to  light  under  water  oxygen  is  evolved,  part  of  which 
is  present  as  ozone  ;  when  small  quantities  of  water  are  |x«seot, 
chlorine  and  hydrogen  chloride  are  found  in  solution  ;  with  large 
quantities  of  water,  hydrogen  chloride,  but  no  chlorine,  is  found. 
The  influence  of  hydrogen  chloride  in  retarding  the  decomposi- 
tion of  silver  chloride  is  considered,  and  is  explained  from^  ex- 
perimental results  given,  which  show  that  even  minute  qasmtities 
of  hydrogen  chloride  exercise  a  marked  influence  on  the  stability 
of  chlorine  water  when  exposed  to  light,  the  rate  of  decomposi- 
tion of  the  silver  chloride  being  dependent  on  the  readiness  with 
which  the  chlorine  in  solution  and  water  interact  to  form  hydro- 
gen chloride.  The  author  describes  experiments  which  show 
that  the  darkened  product  obtained  by  exposure  of  silver  chloride 
to  light  contains  no  oxygen,  and  he  concludes  that  it  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  sub-chloride  rather  than,  an  oxychloride. — The  addi- 
tion of  the  elements  of  alcohol  to  the  ethereal  salts  of  unsaturated 
acids,  by  T.  Purdie  and  W.  Marshall  TJtie  authors  record  the 
results  of  experiments  on  the  addition  of  the  elements  of  alcohol 
to  ethereal  salts  of  fumaric  and  maleic  acids  by  the  agency 
of  smaJl  quantities  of  sodium  alkylate  ;  they  also  describe  a 
series  of  experiments  with  other  ethereal  salts,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  ascertain  if  the  ethereal  salts  of  unsaturated  acids  in 
general  are  capable  of  undergoing  the  same  additive  change. 
By  the  action  of  a  small  quantity  of  sodium  methylate  in  the 
cold,  on  a  mixture  of  methylic  alcohol  and  methylic  famazate, 
an  almost  theoretical  yield  of  methylic  methoxysuccinate  is  ob- 
tained. Methyl  fumarate,  on  heating  with  alcoholic  sodium 
methylate,  yielded  a  compound  of  the  formula  CiiH^O-, 
formed  by  tne  abstraction  of  3  mols.  of  methyl  alcohol  from  2 
mols.  of  methylic  methoxysuccinate.  Under  similar  conditions 
methylic  amylate  gave  methylic  methylpropionate.  Methylic 
and  ethylic  crotonate  gave  methylic  methoxybutyrate  and  ethylic 
ethoxybutyrate.  The  authors  think  that  the  alkyloxy-gronp 
attaches  itself  to  the  /3 -carbon  atom.  Ethylic  methacrylate  also 
formed  additive  compound  ;  but  pure  products  were  not  obtained 
from  the  reaction.  Ethylic  angel  ate,  ethylic  allylacetate, 
methylic  and  ethylic  cinnamat  e  and  ethylic  0'{fi)  ethylcumaraie 
do  not  undeigo  additive  change.— Notes  on  the  azo-derivatives 
of  iB-naphthylamine,  by  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  and  F.  Hi^jbes. 
The  authors  have  completed  the  series  of  azo-derivatives  ob- 
tainable from  the  nitranilines  and  iS-naphthylamine  by  pre- 
paring orthonitrobenzene  azo-/3-naphthylamioe.  The  latter  by 
the  action  of  nitrite  in  a  warm  acetic  acid  solution  gives 
orthonitrobenzeneazo-/3-naphthol.  In  cold  acetic  acid  solntioa 
the  naphthyl  acetate  is  formed.  Acetyl  derivatives  of  the 
ortho-,  meta-,  and  para-nitroazo-derivatives  of  iS-naphthylaxnine 
have  also  been  prepared.  The  pseudazimides  from  the 
para-  and  metanitro-compounds  have  been  prepared.      These 


com 


pounds      have  the    formula   CjoHj^  I  ^N  .  C5H4  .  NO^ 

(/  or  mY  The  action  of  aldehydes  on  these  iS-naphthylamine 
azo-derivatives  gives  rise  to  the  formatfoa  of  triazines,  which 
are  being  investigated. — A  method  for  the  estimation  of  n  itrates, 
by  G.  McGowan,  Ph.D.  This  estimation  is  based  on  the 
interaction  HNO,  +  3HCI  =  NOCl  -J-  CI,  +  2H,0.  The 
gaseous  products  are  led  into  a  solution  of  potassium  iodide. 
— New  benzylic  derivatives  of  thiocarbamide,  by  A.  £.  IDixon, 
M.D.  Are-examination  of  " monobenzyl- thiocarbamide "  has 
shown  that  the  substance  hitherto  bearing  this  name  b  benzyl- 
amine  thiocyanate ;  the  latter  can  be  converted  into  the  isomeric 
thiocarbamide  by  heating  for  a  short  time  at  i5o°-i6o'*.  The 
author  describes  a  great  number  of  benzylic  derivatives  of 
thiocarbamide. 

Ltnnean  Society,  May  24. — Anniversary  Meeting. — Prof. 
Stewart,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  Treasurer  presented  his 
Annual  Report  duly  audited,  and  the  Secretary  having  announced 
the  elections  and  deaths  during  the  past  twelve  months,  the  usoal 
ballot  took  place  for  new  members  of  Council,  when  the  follow- 
ing were  elected:  Messrs.  C.  B.  Clarke,  G.  B.  Howes,  Arthur 
Lister,  St.  G.  Mivart,  and  F.  W.  Oliver.  The  President  and 
officers  were  re-elected,  llie  usual  formal  business  havini;  been 
transacted,  the  President  proceeded  to  deliver  his  annual  address, 


June  4.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


119 


taking  for  his  ssbject  "The  Secondary  Sexual  Characters  of 
Animals  and  Plants,"  of  which  he  gave  several  interesling  ex- 
ampleSy  illostrating  his  remarks  with  graphic  sketches  in  coloared 
chalks.  On  the  motion  of  Mr.  H.  Dmce,  seconded  by  Mr.  C. 
Tyler,  a  Tote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  the  President  for  his  able 
address,  with  a  zeqaest  that  he  would  allow  it  to  be  printed. — 
The  Linnean  Society's  Gold  Medal  for  the  year  1891  was  then 
formally  awarded  to  Dr.  Edonard  Bomet,  of  Paris,  for  his 
researches  in  botany,  and  on  his  behalf  was  presented  to  M. 
Raymond  Lecomte,  Secretary  to  the  French  Embassy.  The 
proceedings  then  terminated. 

Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  May  26.  —Annual  General 
Meeting. — Sir  John  Coode,  K.C.M.G.,  President,  in  the  chair. 
— In  the  Report  of  the  Council  for  the  session  1890-91,  it  was 
remarked  that  the  salient  feature  of  the  session,  now  termi- 
nated, bad  been  the  realization  of  a  proposal  made  more  than 
forty  years  ago — namely,  the  formal  reception  by  the  President 
and  Council  on  stated  evenings  after  the  ordinary  meetings  of 
the  members  and  visitors  then  present.  A  series  of  receptions 
was  held  after  the  ordinary  meetings  in  the  months  of  January, 
Febmary,  March,  April,  and  May,  of  this  year.  An  endeavour 
has  also  been  made  to  identify,  in  some  degree,  each  gathering 
with  a  particular  branch  of  engineering,  both  in  respect  to  those 
invited  to  be  present  and  to  the  models  and  other  objects  of 
interest  exhibited.  These  receptions  were  believed  to  have 
been  most  successful,  and  experience  would  doubtless  suggest 
directions  in  which  they  might  be  rendered  still  more 
useful  and  attractive  in  the  future.  The  effective  increase  in 
the  roll  of  the  Institution  during  the  past  year  was  247.  The 
number  of  members  of  all  classes,  students  excepted,  on  March 
31  iasty  was  5150,  as  against  4903  on  the  same  day  last 
year,  representing  an  increase  at  the  rate  of  5  per  cent. — The 
adoption  of  the  Report  was  moved,  seconded,  and  carried,  and 
it  was  ordered^  to  be  printed  in  the  Minutes  of  Proceedings. 
Cordial  -votes  of  thanks  were  then  passed  to  the  President,  to 
the  Vice-Presidents  and  other  Members  of  the  Council,  to  the 
Auditors,  to  the  Secretaries  and  Staff,  and  to  the  Scrutineers. — 
The  ballot  for  Council  resulted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  George 
Berkley  as  President;  of  Mr.  H.  Hayter,  Mr.  A.  Giles.  M.P.,  Sir 
Robert  Kawlinson,  K.C.B.,  and  Sir  Benjamin  Baker,  K.C.M.G., 
as  Vicc-Pre>idents ;  and  of  Mr.  W.  Anderson,  D.C.L.,  Mr.  J. 
Wolfe  Barry,  Mr.  E.  A.  Cowper,  SirJas.  N.  Douglass,  F.R.S., 
Sir  Douglas  Fox,  Mr.  J.  Clarke  Hawkshaw,  M.  A.,  Mr.  Charles 
Hawksley,  Sir  Bradford  Leslie,  K.C.I.E.,  Mr.  George  Fosbery 
Ly»ter,  Mr.  J.  Mansergh,  Sir  Guilford  Molesworth,  K.C.I.E., 
Mr.  W.  H.  Preece,  F.R.S.,  Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 
M.P.,  Mr.  W.  Shelford,  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Webb  as  other  Mem- 
bers of  Che  Council. — The  session  was  adjourned  until  the  second 
Tuesday  in  November,  at  8  p  m.  [At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
newly-elected  Council,  the  folloa'ing  officers  were  re-ap(>ointed : 
Mr.  H.  L.  Antrobus,  as  Treasurer;  Dr.  Wm.  Pole,  F.RS., 
Honorary  Secretary  ;  and  Mr.  James  Forrest,  the  Secretary.] 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  May  4.— Sir  Douglas  Maclagan,  President, 
in  the  chair. — A  preliminary  note  by  Mr.  John  Aitken,  on  a 
method  of  observing  and  counting  the  number  of  water  particles 
in  a  fog,  was  communicated.  The  phenomena  which  are 
denoted  by  the  names  fog,  mist,  and  rain,  differ  merely  in 
degree,  and  not  in  kind.  In  a  haze  dry  dust  particles  are  present 
in  ihe  «r  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  The  haze  turns  into  a  fog 
when  water  vapour  is  condensed  upon  the  particles,  and  the  fog 
will  develop  into  mist  upon  the  condensation  of  a  sufficient 
amount  of  moisture.  So  that  we  may  regard  an  ordinary  fog 
and  a  mist  as  a  dry  fog  and  a  wet  fog  respectively.  The  water 
drops  in  a  fog  will  gradually  settle  upon  the  exposed  surfaces  of 
bodies.  Hence  it  might  seem  that,  in  order  to  determine  the 
extent  to  which  moisture  is  present  in  a  fog,  it  would  be 
snflficient  to  allow  the  drops  to  fall  upon  a  piece  of  mirror, 
which  they  would  soon  wet.  But  Mr.  Aitken  has  found  that 
when  exposed  surfaces  are  quite  dry,  a  great  quantity  of  water 
drops  are  often  present  in  the  air.  The  drops  are  exceedingly 
small  and  evaporate  with  great  rapidity  from  the  surfaces  (heated 
by  radiation)  upon  which  they  fall.  The  instrument  which  Mr. 
Aitken  has  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  determining  whether  or 
DOC  wjter  drops  are  present  is  essentially  identical  with  his 
pocket -dust  counter.  It  consists  of  a  glass  micrometer  divided 
into  squares  of  a  known  size,  a  spot  mirror  for  illuminating  the 
stage,  and  a  strong  lens  or  a  microscope  for  observing  the  drops 
00  the  stage.  It  is  found  convenient  to  observe  an  area  of  the 
stage  equal  to  about  i/i6th  or  i/aoth  square  centimetre  when 

NO.    1 127,  VOL.  44] 


working  with  a  magnifying  lens.  In  one  fog  which  was  ob- 
served, objects  at  a  greater  distance  than  100  yards  were  quite 
invisible,  and  the  surfaces  of  exposed  objects  were  quite  dry. 
The  number  of  drops  which  fell  per  minute  varied  greatlv,. 
sometimes  reaching  3000  per  square  centimetre,  sometimes  only 
300  per  square  centimetre.  Two  days  later  the  same  apparent 
external  conditions  regarding  fog  again  obtained,  and  the 
number  was  found  to  be  1 300  per  square  centimetre  per  minute 
— which  remained  fairly  constant  until  the  fog  began  to  clear  off 
when  it  slowly  diminished.  In  both  cases  the  observation  was 
made  at  10  a.m.  If  the  stage  be  slightly  heated,  the  drops 
never  reach  the  surface  but  evaporate  in  the  layer  of  heated  air 
over  it.  Mr.  Aitken  has  also  modified  this  apparatus  in  order 
to  admit  of  the  counting  of  the  number  of  drops  which  fall  from 
a  column  of  air  of  known  height.  A  low  power  microscope  is 
used,  and  so  a  column  of  air  5  centimetres  long  can  be  obtained 
over  the  stage.  Underneath,  and  concentric  with  the  micro- 
scope, a  tube  5  oentimeties  long  and  4  centimetres  in  diameter 
is  mounted.  The  top  and  bottom  of  this  tube  can  be  simulta- 
neously closed  by  covers  which  turn  on  an  axis  parallel  to  the 
axis  of  the  tube.  A  micrometer,  illuminated  by  a  spot  mirror, 
is  fixed  in  the  centre  of  the  bottom,  and,  in  the  centre  of  the 
upper  cover,  a  small  opening  which  corresponds  to  the  lens  of 
the  microscope  is  made.  The  former  instrument  may  be  used 
to  observe  the  larger  particles  of  dust  in  the  atmosphere. — Dr. 
J.  M.  Macfarlane  read  a  paper,  illustrated  by  lantern  demon- 
strations, on  a  comparison  of  the  minute  structure  of  plant 
hybrids  wiUi  that  of  their  parents.  He  finds  that  the  mmute 
structure  of  the  hybrid,  like  the  larger  features,  is  always 
intermediate  in  diaracter  between  the  corresponding  structures 
of  the  parents. 

Pakis. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  25. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Researches  on  the  camphene  series,  by  MM.  Berthelot 
and  Matignon. — Researches  on  the  vapour-tension  of  saturated 
water-vapour  at  the  critical  point,  and*  on  the  determination  of 
this  critical  point,  by  MM.  Cailletet  and  Colardeau.  In  a  recent 
note  {CompUs  rendus^  vol.  cxii.  p.  563,  1891)  the  authors  com- 
municated to  the  Academy  a  new  method  for  determining 
critical  temperatures  and  pressures.  They  now  give  the  results 
obtained  in  the  case  of  water.  Six  series  of  experiments  with 
different  weights  of  water  indicate  that  the  critical  temperature 
is  365**  C,  the  critical  pressure  which  corresponds  to  this  being 
200'5  atmospheres. — On  the  analysis  of  the  sunlight  diffused  by 
the  sky,  by  M.  A.  Crova.  If  B  be  the  intensity  of  th^  blue 
light  diffused  by  the  sky,  and  S  the  intensity  of  incident  sun- 
light, it  may  be  shown  that  —  =  \qc\j-  ^  j  ,  where  565  repre- 
sents the  wave-length  of  the  maximum  light  intensity  of  the 
spectrum,  and  n  is  an  empirical  coefficient.  M.  Crova  calcu- 
lates values  with  «  =  4  and  n  =  4*5,  and  finds  that,  although 
Lord  Rayleigh's  observations  (/%i7.  Mag.,  187 1,  p.  107)  are 
best  in  accord  in  the  former  case,  his  own  observations  at  Mont- 
pellier  give  results  which  are  better  represented  when  the  latter 
value  of  n  is  used.— On  the  relative  age  of  the  Quaternary 
stratum  of  Mont  Dol  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  by  M.  Sirodot.  The 
author's  observations  lead  him  to  believe  that  the  dibris  on 
Mont  Dol  belongs  to  ao  epoch  anterior  to  the  movement  which 
in  Quaternary  times  elevated  the  coasts  of  certain  regions  of  the 
Baltic  Sea.— On  the  exact  determination  of  the  glycolitic  power 
of  the  blood,  by  M.  R.  Lepine  and  Harral. — Observation  of  the 
passage  of  Mercury  across  the  sun's  disk  on  May  9,  1891,  made 
with  the  Plcessl  equatorial  at  the  National  Observatory  of 
Athens,  by  M.  D.  Eginitis.  The  internal  contact  of  egress 
occurred  at  i8h.  17m.  20s.,  and  external  contact  at  i8h.  2211.  os. 
(Athens  mean  time).  The  irradiation  phenomenon  known 
as  the  "black  drop"  was  not  observed. — The  atmospheric 
conditions  of  Greenwich  with  regard  to  the  universal  hour  ques- 
tion, by  M.  Tondini.  The  cloudy  state  of  the  Greenwich  sky, 
and  the  many  rainy  days  recoided  at  the  Observatory,  are 
adduced  as  arguments  against  the  adoption  of  Greenwich  as  the 
prime  meridian.  The  meridian  of  Jerusalem-Nyanza  is  said 
to  possess  numerous  atmospheric  and  other  advantages. — On  the 
algebraic  integration  of  differential  equations  of  the  first  order, 
by  M.  Painlev^. — On  the  determination  of  the  integrals  of 
equations  from  derived  partials  of  the  first  order,  by  M.  J. 
Collet.— On  Abelian  equations,  by  M.  A.  Pellet.— Researches 
in  thermo-electricity,  by  MM.  Chassagny  and  Abraham. — De- 
termination of  the  solar  constant,  by  M.  R.  Saveliet  From  an 
actinometric  curve  obtamed  on  December  26,  1890^  the  author 


T20 


NATURE 


[June  4,  1891 


obtains  for  ths  solar  constant,  reduced  to  the  mean  distance  of 
the  sun  from  the  earth,  the  value  3*47  calories.  Langley's 
value,  from  his  Mount  Witney  observations,  was  3*0  calories.— 
On  the  fluctuations  in  the  heights  of  lake  waters,  by  M.  P.  du 
Boys.  In  lakes,  and  particularly  in  the  Lake  of  Geueva,  the 
surface  of  water  regularly  rises  in  one  part  and  lowers  in  another, 

f)erforming  an  oscillatory  movement.     The  region  where  the 
evel  is  practically  constant  is  called  the  node,  and  the  move- 
ments referred  to  go  by  the  name  oi  seiches.     The  author  inves- 
tigates this  wave-motion  mathematically. — On  a  new  portable 
sounding-apparatus  of  steel  wire,  by  M.  ^mile  Belloc. — Study 
of  the  barometric  gradient,  by  M.  G.  Guilbert.     Some  remark- 
able relations  between  the  force  of  the  wind  and  the  barometric 
gradient  are  given. — Relation  between  atomic  weight  and  the 
density  of  liquids,  by  M.  Al.  Moulin. — On  the  sub-chloride  of 
silver,   by  M.   Guntz.      Under  the  action  of  heat,  the  sub- 
chloride    decomposes  into  silver  and   silver    chloride.      This 
decomposition  is  easily  seen  by  the  change  of  colours  of  the 
sub-chloride.     Dilute  nitric  acid  has  absolutely  no  action  upon 
the  compound.     With  hot  concentrated  nitric  acid,  chloride  of 
silver  mixed  with  the  sub-chloride  is  obtained.      Potassium 
cyanide  rapidly  dissolves  the  compound,   and  decomposes  it. 
Utilizing  this  reaction,  the  author  has  found  that  a  given  weight 
of  chlorine  disengages  practically  the  same  amount  of  heat 
(29  calories),  when  combining  with   Ag  as  when  combining 
with   Ag^ — Action  of  potassium  salts  upon  the  solubility  of 
potassium   chlorate,   by  M.   Ch.   Blarez. — Electroljrsis  of  the 
fused  salts  of  boron  and  silicon,  by  M.  Adolphe  Minet.     Some 
interesting  experiments  indicate  that,  by  the  electrolysis  of  white 
and  red  Imuxites,  it  is  possible  to  produce  a  series  of  alloys  of 
iron,  silicon,  and  aluminium,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  operation, 
to  obtain  aluminium  chemically  pure. — On  two  new  crystalline 
compounds  of  platinic  chloride  with  hydrochloric  acid,  by  M. 
Leon  Pigeon.     The  compounds  described  have  the  composition 
PtCl4  .  2HCI  .  4HjO  and  PtCl4  .  HCl  .  2H,0.— On  salicylate 
of  bismuth,  by  M.  H.  Causse. — On  the  heat  of  solution  and  the 
solubility  of  some  bodies  in  methyl-,  ethyl-,  and  propyl-alcohols, 
by  M.  Timofeiew. — On  the   Stelleridae  found  in  the  Bay  of 
Biscay,  at  the  Azores,  and  Newfoundland  during  the  scientific 
expeditions  of  the  yacht  HirondelU^  by  M.  Edmond  Perrier. — 
On  the  equivalence  of  the  bundles  in  vascular  plants,  by  M. 
P.  A.  Dangeard. — On  the  trappean  formation  of  Toungouska 
Pierreuse,  Siberia,  by  M.  K.  de  Kroustchoff. — Researches  on 
ibe  elimination  of  oxide  of  carbon  from  the  syrtem,  by  M.  L. 
de  Saint- Martin. 

Melbourne. 

Royal  Society  of  Victoria,  March  12. — The  following 
officers  were  elected  for  the  year  1891  : — President :  Pro^ 
(Cernot.  Treasurer :  C.  R.  Blackett.  Secretaries ;  H.  K. 
Rusden  and  Prof.  W.  Baldwin  Spencer. — The  following  papers 
were  read  : — ^A  new  species  of  Dictyonema,  by  T.  S.  Hall. — A 
iireliminary  account  of  Synute  pulchella^  by  Arthur  Dendy. 
This  is  a  new  genus  and  species  of  calcareous  sponge,  which  is 
.allied  to  Ute,  but  in  which  the  individuals  are  fused  together  into 
a  common  mass. — The  geology  of  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Moorabool  valley,  by  T.  S.  Hall  and  G.  B.  Pritchard. 

April  9. — On  the  occurrence  of  the  genus  Belonostomus  in  the 
Rolling  Downs  formation  (Cretaceous)  of  Central  Queensland,  by 
R.  Etheridge,  Jun.,  and  Arthur  Smith  Woodward,  of  the  British 
Museum.  This  is  described  as  a  new  species,  under  the  name  of 
Belonostomus  sweet i, — Note  on  a  new  genus  of  Chaetopod  worm 
parasitic  on  a  sponge  of  the  genus  Rhaphidophlus  from  Port 
Phillip,  by  Prof.  W.  Baldwin  Spencer.  The  worm  is  remark- 
able in  having  the  dorsal  surface  covered  with  a  series  of  rows  of 
setae,  each  row  enclosed  in  a  membranous  web,  the  bunches  of 
setae  on  the  feet  are  also  enclosed  in  webs. 

GOTTINGEN. 

Royal  Academy  of  Science. — In  the  Journal  of  the  Scien- 
tific Academy  of  Gottingen,  the  following  papers  of  scientific 
interest  appear  (July  to  December,  1890) : — 

July. — Fr.  Pockels  :  On  the  interference  phenomena  of  con- 
vergent homogeneous  polarized  light  through  twin-plate  uniaxal 
crystals. — Voigt :  Determination  of  the  elastic  constants  of 
Brazilian  tourmaline. 

August. — ^Julius  Weingarten :  On  particular  integrals  of 
Laplace's  equation,  and  a  class  of  fluid  motions  connected  with 
the  theory  of  minimum  surfaces. — Venske :  A  modification  of 
Hermite's  first  proof  that  e  is  transcendental. — Riecke  :  Special 
cases  of  equilibrium  of  a  system  having  several  phases. — Meyer  : 
Discriminants  and   resultants  of  singularity  equations  (second 

NO.   1 127,  VOL.  44] 


notice). — Burkhardt :  An  equation  in  the  theory  of  the  theta- 
functions. — Klein :  On  the  zero-points  of  the  hypes  geometric 
series. 

October.  — Nemst :  On  the  distribution  of  a  substance  between 
two  solvents. 

December. — Riecke  :  The  thermal  potential  of  weak  solatku. 
On  electricification  by  friction. — Meyer :  On  discriminants  and 
resultants  of  singularity  equations  (third  notice).  — Voigt :  Ob 
the  vibrations  of  strings. — Riecke :  Molecular  theory  of  diffowflB 
and  electrolytic  conduction. — Hnrwitz:  On  the  zero  points  of 
the  hypergeometric  series. — Voigt :  Determination  of  the  coe- 
stants  of  elasticity  of  several  non-crystalline  minerals.— 
Auerbach :  On  hardness  and  its  absolute  measurement. 

Stockholm. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  May  13. — The  elements  of 
the  hydrography  of  the  Kattegatt  and  Skagerack,  by  Prof.  0. 
Pettersson.  — Studies  on  the  Solenogastres  ;  i.    monograph  of 
Chaioderma  nitidulum,  by  Dr.  A.  Wiren. — Researches  on  tlte 
fossil  wood  of  Sweden,  by  Dr.  Conwentz,  in  Danzig. — Prof.  S. 
Lov^n  gave  a  report  on  the  work  executed  during    the  lasi 
summer  at  the  zoological  station  of  Kristineberg  in   Bohoslia, 
Sweden,  and  reviewed  a  paper  by  Dr.  C.  Aurivillins  00  tbe 
symbiosis  between  Pagurus  and  Hydractinia  as  well  u%  anoths 
by  Dr.  Wiren  on  Chatoderma  nitidu^um. — Researches  and  ob- 
servations on  the  method  of  Koch  in  treating  tubercnlar  disesss 
by  Prof.  Bruzelins. — A  copper-plate  engraving  of  a  map  of  the 
world  made  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  fonnedj 
belonging  to  the  museum  of  Cardinal  Borgia  in  Velletri,  described 
by  Baron  A.  £.  Nordenskiold. — Studies  on  the  brain  of  tdeos- 
teous  fishes,  by  HerrG.  Andersson  Malme. — A  final  contributios 
to  the  flora  of  the  Chlorophyllophyssc  of  Siberia,  by  Har  0. 
F.  Borge. — On  phen-ethyl-propyl  and  phenyliso-propyl-tiiuol 
combinations  by  Dr.  T.  A.  Bladin. — On  the  specific   heat  cf 
water  between  o®  and  +  40",  by  Herr  A.  M.  Johansson. — A  few   ' 
formulae  to  calculate  the  mortality  among  annuitants  of  public 
offices  and  private  societies  by  Dr.  G.  Enstrom. — A  oompaiisoB  { 

between  the  methods  of  Angstrom  and  Nenman  for  determiniog 
the  conductibility  of  heat  inoodies;  ii.  experimental  researches 
by  Dr.  Hagstrom. — Hydrographical  researches  in  the  Gallnai 
fiord  during  the  summer  of  1890,  by  Miss  A.  Palmrjvist. 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

The  British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine    ...     97 
The   Geology  and  Physical  Geography  of   North 

Syria.     By  Prof.  Edward  Hull,  F.R.S 99 

European  Botany.     By  J.  G.  Baker,  P.R.S 100 

Our  Book  Shelf: — 

''The  Missouri  Botanical  Garden.*' — ^J.  G.  B.     ...    101 
Herrnite  :     **  Geologie  :     Principes — Explication    de 

I'Epoque  Quaternaire  sans  Hypotheses." — C.  R.     .    102 
"  Webster's  International  Dictionary  of  the  English 

Language" 102 

Harrison  :  "Elementary  Chemistry  for  Beginners  "    .    102 
Leffmann  and  Beam :    '*  Examination  of  Water  for 

Sanitary  and  Technical  Purposes  " 102 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  University  of  London. — Prof.  Karl  Pearson; 
Dr.  A.  Irving;  Thomas  Tyler;  R.  D.  Roberts; 

O.  H.  Bailey 102 

Quaternions  and  the   Ausdehnungslehre. — Prof.    P. 

G.  Tait 105 

The  Spinning  Ring. — Right  Rev.  Bishop  Reginald 

Courtenay;  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  P.R.S.  .   .    106 
The  Use  of  Startling  Colours  and  Noises. — Alfred  O. 

Walker 106 

The  Formation  of  Language. — W.  J.  Stillman    .    .    106 

Cordylophora  kuustris, — ^John  Bidgood 106 

On  some  Points  in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy. 

IV.     By  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S 107 

Botanical  Enterprise  in  the  West  Indies no 

Notes Ill 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

The  Meridian  Photometer 115 

Report  of  Harvard  College  Observatory    ......    115 

The  Solar  Parallax  and  its  Related  Constants  ...    115 

Technical  Education  in  Russia 116 

Fossil  Pish  of  the  Scandinavian  Chalk 117 

Societies  and  Academies  ..•••.•...•••    117 


NA  TURE 


121 


THURSDAY,  JUNE  ii,  1891. 


MAMMALS  LIVING  AND  EXTINCT, 

An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Mammals  Living  and 
Extinct,  By  W.  H.  Flower  and  Richard  Lydekker. 
(London  :  Adam  and  Charles  Black,  1891.) 

THIS  work  is,  as  the  authors  inform  us  in  the  preface, 
based  largely  upon  the  article  Mammalia,  together 
with  forty  shorter  articles,  written  by  Prof.  Flower  for 
the  ninth  edition  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.'' 
Certain  other  articles  by  Dr.  Dobson  and  Dr.  St.  George 
Mivart  have  also  been  made  use  of.  The  illustra- 
tions, most  of  which  are  admirable,  are  chiefly  those 
prepared  for  the  "  Encyclopaedia."  but  many  have  been 
added.  Mr.  Oldfield  Thomas,  of  the  British  Museum, 
has  assisted  the  authors  in  special  matters.  To  Mr. 
Lydekker  fell  the  task  of  arranging  the  various  articles 
made  use  of  in  proper  sequence,  filling  up  gaps  and 
adding  new  matter,  a  large  amount  of  which  treats  of  the 
extinct  forms. 

The  book  resulting  from  this  process  is  undoubtedly 
one  which  will  be  found  interesting  and  useful  by  all 
students  of  zoology.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  it  which  is 
worth  reading ;  especially  so  are  the  four  introductory 
chapters  on  general  anatomical  characters,  origin  and 
classification  of  the  Mammalia,  and  on  geographical  and 
geological  distribution.  Moreover,  with  regard  to  im- 
portant animals  such  as  the  horse,  sheep,  goat,  pig,  a 
great  deal  of  accurate  information  of  varied  character  is 
given.  The  whales  are,  as  we  should  expect,  treated 
with  special  mastery,  and  throughout  the  book  we  come 
upon  pages  which  are  models  of  lucid  statement  and 
judicious  selection  of  matter. 

It  should,  however,  be  clearly  understood  that  the  book 
is  not  and  does  not  profess  to  be  a  complete  work  of 
reference  on  the  Mammalia.  The  references  to  extinct 
groups  are  exceedingly  scanty,  and  whilst  they  serve  to 
stimulate  the  reader's  desire  for  further  information,  do 
not,  as  a  rule,  furnish  him  with  the  titles  of  original  works 
in  which  such  information  is  to  be  found.  The  bulk  of 
the  work  consists  of  chapters  treating  of  the  orders  of 
Mammalia  in  systematic  sequence,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that,  both  for  the  general  reader  and  for  the  more  technical 
zoologist,  they  form  a  mine  of  valuable  information  well 
up  to  date,  and  as  a  rule  well  set  forth  by  the  aid  of 
illustrations.  As  an  example  of  the  latter,  I  may  refer  to 
the  excellent  woodcuts  of  the  skull  of  Tritylodon  from 
the  Trias  of  South  Africa,  and  of  various  lower  jaws 
illustrating  the  section  on  Mesozoic  Mammalia  ;  but  ad- 
ditional figures  of  this  most  important  and  little  known 
series  of  forms  would  have  been  welcome,  and  one  reads 
with  unfeigned  disappointment  the  declaration  that  **it 
would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present  work  to 
describe  in  detail,  or  even  to  mention  the  names  of,  all 
the  members  of  this  group." 

There  are  one  or  two  points  of  general  interest  in  the 
earlier  chapters  to  which  I  may  briefly  call  attention. 

The  view  originally  formulated  by  Huxley,  that  in  look- 
ing among  Vertebrates  for  the  progenitors  of  the  Mam- 
malia we  must  pass  over  all  known  forms  of  birds  and 
reptiles  and  go  right  down  to  the  Amphibia,  is  maintained 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


by  the  authors,  whilst  reconciling  this  conclusion  with 
Prof.  Cope's  important  observations  on  the  remarkable 
resemblances  which  obtain  between  the  extinct  reptiles 
known  as  Theromorpha  (Theriodontia,  Pelycosauria)  and 
the  Monotreme  Mammals.  Recent  observations  have 
shown  such  an  intimate  connection  between  the  South 
African  Theromorpha  and  the  Labyrinthodont  Amphibians 
that  there  can,  our  authors  maintain,  be  no  hesitation  in 
regarding  the  one  group  as  the  direct  descendant  of  the 
other,  and  ''  we  may  probably  regard  the  Mammalia  as 
having  originated  from  the  same  ancestral  stock  at  the 
time  the  Amphibian  type  was  passing  into  the  Reptilian." 
In  reference  to  classification,  the  authors  observe  that 
it  is  a  simple  matter  to  indicate  natural  groups,  such  as 
orders  and  sub-orders,  among  existing  Mammals,  but  when 
we  pass  to  the  extinct  world  all  is  changed.  New  forms 
are  discovered  which  cannot  be  placed  within  any  of 
the  existing  divisions.  "  Our  present  divisions  and 
terminology  are,"  say  Prof.  Flower  and  Mr.  Lydekker, 
"  no  longer  sufficient  for  the  purpose  [of  a  classification 
which  shall  embrace  extinct  forms]  ;  and  some  other 
method  will  have  to  be  invented  to  show  the  complex 
relationships  existing  between  different  animal  forms 
when  viewed  as  a  whole."  Apparently  the  authors 
mean,  by  the  last  five  words  of  this  sentence,  ''when 
all  are  viewed  together."  The  necessity  for  drawing 
up  lists  and  catalogues  in  a  linear  series  is  deplored, 
but  unhappily  no  attempt  is  made  by  the  authors 
to  grapple  with  the  difficulty.  A  classification  of  the 
Mammalia  in  a  linear  series  is  given  as  far  as  fami- 
lies ;  and  the  names  of  groups  containing  only  extinct 
forms  are  printed  in  special  black  type.  I  should  have 
been  very  glad  to  see  some  attempt  to  set  forth  in  the 
form  of  genealogical  trees  the  senior  author's  views  on 
the  genetic  relationships  of  this  confessedly  artificial 
linear  series.  I  cannot  admit  that  the  division  of  the 
Mammalia  into  three  groups — Prototheria,  Metatheria,. 
and  Eutheria,  or,  as  De  Blainville  called  them,  Ornitho- 
delphia,  Didelphia,and  Monodelphia— expresses  a  natural 
fact,  if  these  three  groups  are  regarded  as  equipollent, 
and  as  succeeding  one  another  as  three  ''  grades "  of 
evolution.  It  is  not  difficult  to  come  nearer  to  an  ex- 
pression of  actual  genealogical  relations  than  this.  It 
appears  preferable  to  divide  the  Mammalia  primarily  into 
two  grades  :  (A.)  the  Monotrema,  and  (B.)  the  Ditrema  ; 
only  so  do  we  give  expression  to  the  wide  gap  by  which 
the  archaic  characteristics  of  the  Monotremes  separate 
them  from  all  other  Mammals.  Then  we  can  divide  the 
Ditrema — not  into  two  successive  grades  of  structure — but 
into  two  diverging  branches^  viz.  Branch  a.  Marsupialia, 
and  Branch  b.  Placentalia.  Of  the  Placentalia  our 
authors  say  that  their  affinities  with  one  another  are  so 
complex  that  it  is  impossible  to  arrange  them  serially  with 
any  regard  to  natural  affinities.  They  might,  however, 
it  seems  to  me,  embody  their  own  conclusions  in  classi- 
ficatory  form,  and  divide  the  Placentalia  into  four  diverg- 
ing sub-branches,  the  chief  being  {a)  the  Typidentata,  the 
three  others  being  {p)  the  Edentata,  {c)  the  Cetacea,  and 
{d)  the  Sirenia.  The  group  which  I  call  Typidentata  our 
authors  actually  define,  though  they  do  not  name  it  and 
use  it  as  would  surely  be  convenient.  They  say,  **  The 
remaining  Eutherian  Mammals  \i.e.  Placentals  after  ex- 
clusion of  Edentata,  Cetacea,  and  Sirenia]  are  clearly  united 

G 


122 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


by  the  characters  of  their  teeth,  being  all  heterodont 
and  diphyodont  with  their  dental  system  reducible  to  a 
common  formula."  I  have  for  many  years  made  use 
in  my  lectures  of  the  classification  of  Mammalia  above 
indicated  which  may  be  summarized  thus : — 

Class  MAMMALIA. 

Grade  A.  Monotrema. 
Grade  B.    Ditrema. 


Branch  a.  Marsupialia. 


C/3 

§• 

I 

or 


O 

s. 

o 

3 


CO 

cr 


O 

O 

0 


Branch  ^.  PUcentalia. 

CO       C/3  CO       C/3 

C         C  C  B 

cr     cr  o*     cr 

or      a*  o*      cr 

»t       "^  •<       "I 


P       8 


D 
P 


CO 

§• 

a 


No  doubt  it  is  difficult,  even  with  the  use  of  the  addi- 
tional terms  "grade,"  "branch,"  and  "sub-branch,**  to 
set  forth  the  relations  to  one  another  of  the  known  orders 
and  sub-orders  of  Typidentata ;  but  the  attempt  must  be 
made,  and  there  are  materials  in  the  present  work  for 
gathering  some  indications  of  the  form  which  such  a  ten- 
tative pedigree  would  take  had  the  authors  gone  so  far  as 
to  formulate  it. 

In  the  chapter  on  geographical  distribution,  the  six 
zoological  regions  of  the  globe  proposed  by  Dr.  Sclater  in 
1857  are  accepted.  But  here,  as  in  regard  to  the  treat- 
ment of  morphological  groups,  it  seems  that  a  primary 
grouping  of  the  divisions  recognized  might  with  advantage 
be  introduced,  which  would  give  a  truer  expression  of  the 
historic  relations  of  existing  land  surfaces  than  that 
adopted.  Reference  is  made  to  the  proposed  elevation 
of  New  Zealand  into  a  primary  region,  but  would  not  the 
truth  be  more  nearly  expressed  by  separating  New  Zea- 
land and  the  rest  of  the  world  first  of  all,  as  Atheriogaea 
and  Theriogaea  ?  Should  not  the  Australian  region  next 
be  separated  from  the  rest  of  Theriogsea  1  Theriogaea 
would  then  be  divided  into  the  Terra  Marsupialium  and 
the  Terra  Placentalium  (without  prejudice  to  the  recog- 
nition of  the  occurrence  of  a  limited  number  of  Mar- 
supials in  the  latter).  The  Terra  Placentalium  includes 
the  five  regions  called  by  Sclater  Palaearctic,  Nearctic,  Neo- 
tropical, Ethiopian,  and  Indian.  The  authors  of  the 
present  work  mention  Dr.  Heilprin's  opinion  that  the 
Palaearctic  and  Nearctic  regions  should  be  united  and 
called  the  Holarctic  region.  But  they  do  not  adopt  this 
opinion,  nor  refer  to  Huxley's  proposal  to  term  this  same 
area  Arctogaea,  and  his  suggestive  speculations  as  to  the 
successive  connections  of  the  three  great  peninsulas  (as 
they  are  at  present)— the  Neotropical,  the  Ethiopian,  and 
the  Indian — with  this  northern  land  surface. 

I  have  ventured  to  cite  one  or  two  instances  in  which 
the  methods  of  classification  adopted  in  the  "  Study  of 
Mammalia  "  appear  to  be  open  to  improvement.  I  trust 
that  I  may  without  offence  express  a  doubt  as  to  what 
precisely  is  the  meaning  of  the  last  part  of  the  following 
passage : — 

"The  researches  of  palaeontologists,  founded  upon 
studies  of  casts  of  the  interior  of  the  cranial  cavity  of 

NO.   II 28,  VOL.  44] 


extinct  forms,  have  shown  that,  in  many  natural  groups  <^ 
Mammals,  if  not  in  all,  the  brain  has  increased  in  size 
and  also  in  complexity  of  surface  foldings  with  the 
advance  of  time,  indicating  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other 
respects,  a  gradual  progress  from  a  lower  to  a  higher 
type  of  development" 

I  confess  that  I  do  not  understand  what  this  "lower" 
and  "  higher  type  of  development"  refer  to,  The  re- 
markable thing  about  the  small  brains  of  extinct  Ungu- 
lata  is  that,  whilst  they  differ  enormously  in  relative  size 
and  in  the  low  development  of  other  features  from  the 
brains  of  living  Ungulates,  their  possessors  exhibited  no 
corresponding  difference  of  skeletal  structure  ;  so  that  it 
appears  that  the  brain  has  had  an  independent  evolution, 
advancing  in  size  and  complexity  from  the  initial  phase  of 
the  primitive  Ungulate  far  further  than  has  the  general 
body-structure.  The  gap  in  respect  of  brain  between  man 
and  the  highest  apes,  accompanied  as  it  is  by  mere  trivial 
differences  of  bodily  structure,  appears  to  be  a  less 
marked  case  of  the  same  general  phenomenon.  We  may 
say  that  the  brain  in  the  one  case  is  in  a  lower  and  in 
the  other  in  a  higher  stage  of  development ;  but  whether 
the  authors  mean  this  merely,  or  that  the  whole  animal 
has  passed  "  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  type  of  develop- 
ment," and  to  what  kind  of  morphological  doctrine  that 
phraseology  belongs,  are  matters  which  do  not  imme- 
diately explain  themselves. 

The  only  way  to  write  of  so  large,  so  comprehensive, 
and  so  authoritative  a  work  as  the  present,  is  to  point 
out  a  few  matters  for  discussion  which  a  rapid  review  of 
its  pages  suggests.  Such  indications  of  topics  on  which 
one  would  like  to  know  more  from  the  authors  of  a  book 
of  this  kind  are  not  fault-findings,  but  samples  of  the 
interest  which  it  awakens  in  a  sympathetic  reader. 

E.  Ray  Lankester. 


FORTY  YEARS  IN  A  MOORLAND  PARISH. 

Forty  Years  in  a  Moorland  Parish.  By  the  Rev.  J.  C 
Atkinson,  D.C.L.  (London:  Macmillan  and  Co., 
1891.) 

THE  moorland  parish  of  which  Dr.  Atkinson  writes 
is  the  parish  of  Danby,  which  lies  among  the 
Cleveland  Hills,  some  miles  inland  from  Whitby.  Here 
he  has  worked  as  a  clergyman  for  forty-five  years.  To 
a  man  of  narrow  sympathies  and  little  intellectual  curio- 
sity the  position  might  have  been  trying  enough  ;  but  in 
the  life  of  the  people,  in  the  aspects  of  Nature,  and  in 
local  problems  appealing  to  the  antiquary  and  the  his- 
torian. Dr.  Atkinson  has  found  sources  of  interest  which 
have  never  lost  their  charm.  In  the  present  volume  be 
records  some  reminiscences  of  the  pursuits  which  have 
occupied  him,  and  of  the  impressions  which  have  been 
made  upon  him,  during  all  these  years ;  and  a  very 
fascinating  record  it  is.  He  not  only  has  powers  of 
keen  and  accurate  observation,  but  carries  on  his  re- 
searches in  a  thoroughly  scientific  spirit ;  and  he  is  a 
master  of  the  difficult  art  of  stating  problems  in  a  manner 
that  secures  attention  while  they  are  being  gradually 
solved.  His  immediate  subject  is  Danby ;  but  if  the 
author  had  never  raised  his  eyes  to  look  further  afield, 
bis  readers  might  soon  have  felt  that  he  had  told  them 
about  as  much  as  they  wished  to  know.     Facts  relating 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


123 


to  a  particular  locality  can  never  be  really  understood 
unless  they  are  brought  into  connection  with  kindred 
facts  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  This  is  constantly 
borue  in  mind  by  Dr.  Atkinson,  and  his  ample  learning 
enables  him  to  apply  the  principle  in  many  different 
ways ;  so  that,  when  he  is  talking  about  Danby,  he  is 
often  talking  at  the  same  time  about  wide  regions  of  the' 
British  Islands,  and  even  about  stages  of  culture  through 
which  the  greater  part  of  the  human  race  has  passed. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  sections  into  which 
the  book  is  divided  is  the  one  headed  "Antiquarian." 
In  Danby,  as  in  Cleveland  generally,  there  are  many  pre- 
historic burial-mounds,  and  a  large  number  of  these  he 
has  carefully  excavated.  The  only  traces  of  bronze  he 
has  discovered  are  ''  a  few  mouldering  fragments  of  very 
thin  plate,  found  with  the  unprotected  bones  of  a  cremated 
body,  and  not  sufficient  to  fill  a  very  small  pill-box  half 
an  inch  in  diameter."  Nevertheless,  the  contents  of  the 
larger "  houes "  prove  conclusively  that  they  belong  to 
the  Bronze  Age  ;  and  Dr.  Atkinson  is  of  opinion  that 
they  date  from  the  later  part  of  the  period.  He  has 
found  many  vases  of  the  Bronze  Age  type,  some  jet  beads, 
two  polished  axe-hammers,  various  bone  pins,  arrow- 
heads and  other  objects  of  flint ;  and  by  far  the  larger 
proportion  of  these  treasures  may  now  be  studied,  along 
with  similar  treasures  recovered  elsewhere,  in  the  British 
Museum.  Dr.  Atkinson  tells  with  great  spirit  the  story 
of  the  more  memorable  of  his  explorations  ;  and  he  has 
much  that  is  amusing  to  say  about  the  wonder  excited 
among  his  rustic  neighbours  by  what  seem  to  them  his 
mysterious  proceedings,  and  about  the  interest  aroused 
in  the  minds  of  those  whom  he  has  from  time  to  time 
induced  to  help  him.  Across  the  ridges  between  which 
lie  the  dales  of  the  district  are  ancient  earthworks,  all  of 
which  "  are  defensive  against  attack  from  the  south,  and 
in  no  other  direction  whatever."  Of  these  dykes,  which 
seem  to  be  of  the  same  period  as  the  burial-mounds.  Dr. 
Atkinson  gives  a  full  and  lucid  account,  and  he  offers 
some  suggestive  hints  as  to  their  relation  to  other  old 
fortifications  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  has  also  an 
excellent  chapter  on  various  pits  which  have  often  been 
described  as  the  remains  of  "  British  settlements." 
There  can  be  little  doubt,  as  he  shows,  that  in  reality 
these  pits  are  the  remains  of  early  mining  excavations. 

Another  valuable  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  folk- 
lore. The  belief  in  witches  has  not  even  yet  wholly  died 
out  in  Cleveland  ;  and  forty  vears  ago  it  was  still  a  more 
or  less  potent  factor  in  the  lives  of  the  people.  The 
author  gives  some  curious  instances  of  the  power  formerly 
attributed  to  witches,  and  of  the  means  by  which  their 
devices  were  supposed  to  be  thwarted  by  the  "wise 
men"  of  the  district.  He  suggests  that  witches  may  not 
always  have  been  mere  impostors,  but  that  in  some  cases 
they  may  have  been  able  to  exercise  the  kind  of  influence 
to  which  the  phenomena  of  hypnotism  are  believed  to  be 
due.  Even  more  interesting  than  the  traces  of  faith  in 
witchcraft  are  the  survivals  of  "fairy,"  "dwarf,"  and 
"Hob"  notions.  According  to  a  tale  told  to  Dr.  Atkin- 
son by  an  old  woman,  there  was  a  farm  in  Glaisdale 
where  Hob,  so  long  as  he  was  not  spied  upon,  did  much 
excellent  work  at  night.  At  last  some  one  was  curious 
enough  to  watch  him,  and  it  was  thought  he  would  be  all 
the  better  for  "  something  to  hap  hissel*  wiv."    Accord- 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


ingly  a  coarse  shirt,  with  a  belt  or  girdle  to  confine  it 

round  his  middle,  was  made  for  him,  and  left  in  the  barn 

where  he  worked.     When  he  found  the  gift.  Hob  broke 

out  in  the  following  couplet : — 

"Gin  Hob  mun  hae  nowgbt  but  a  hardin'  hamp, 
He'll  coom  nae  mair,  nowther  to  berry  nor  stamp. " 

Dr. '  Atkinson  was  delighted  with  this  couplet,  for  it 
preserves  three  words  which  had  become  obsolete  forty 
years  ago,  and  two  of  which — "berry"  and  "hamp" — 
had  no  actual  meaning  to  the  speaker.  "  Stamp  "  was 
the  word  for  "  the  action  of  knocking  off  the  awns  of  the 
barley  previously  to  threshing  it,  according  to  the  old 
practice."  "  Berry,"  meaning  to  thresh,  he  had  been 
"looking  and  inquiring  for,  for  years,  and  looking  and 
inquiring  in  vain."  As  to  '*  hamp,"  he  had  "  never  had 
any  reason  to  suppose  that  it  had  once  been  a  constituent 
part  of  the  current  Cleveland  folk-speech."  The  hamp 
was  a  kind  of  smock-frock,  gathered  in  about  the  middle 
and  falling  below  the  knee,  and  was  at  one  time  the 
characteristic  garment  of  the  English  peasant.  The 
word  "seems  to  be  clearly  Old  Danish  in  form  and 
origin." 

There  are  several  chapters  which  will  give  pleasure  to 
students  of  geology  and  ornithology  ;  and  in  his  notes  on 
weddings,  burials,  the  harvest-home,  and  holy  wells,  the 
author  displays  much  ingenuity  in  detecting  survivals  of 
what  were  in  past  times  wide-spread  customs.  In  the 
interpretation  of  old  historical  documents,  and  in  the  purely 
descriptive  parts  of  the  book,  he  is  equally  successful. 
Some  readers,  finding  so  many  things  to  lure  them  on 
from  the  beginning  of  the  work  to  the  end,  may  be  dis- 
posed to  think  that  Danby  is  a  very  exceptional  parish. 
What  is  exceptional,  however,  is  not  so  much  the  writer's 
subject  as  the  knowledge  and  insight  which  enable  him 
to  appreciate,  and  to  make  others  appreciate,  its  true 
interest  and  significance. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Anatomy^  Physiolojsy^  Morphology^  and  Development  of 
the  alow-fly  {^CalUphora  erythrocephala).      Part   II. 
By    B.    Thompson     Lowne,     F.R.C.S.,    F.L.S.,    &c. 
(London :  R.  H.  Porter,  1891.) 

The  general  features  of  this  study  in  insect  anatomy  have 
already  been  noticed  (Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  77),  Part  II. 
describes  the  exoskeleton  in  considerable  detail,  and  con- 
tains many  useful  and  elaborate  figures.  Plate  v.  and 
the  accompanying  explanations  give  the  author's  views 
upon  the  morphology  of  the  insect-head.  The  pre-oral 
part  he  regards  as  developed  from  three  bladder-like 
swellings,  to  which  correspond  three  primary  divisions  of 
the  cephalic  nerve-centres.  The  post-oral  part  is  sup* 
posed  to  arise  by  the  fusion  of  three  jaw-bearing  seg- 
ments. The  terminal  portion  of  the  proboscis  is 
probably  developed,  according  to  Mr.  Lowne,  from  the 
first,  and  not  from  the  second  pair  of  maxillae.  The  de 
scription  of  the  mouth-parts  is  very  full,  and  the  figures 
are  extremely  good. 

The  thoracic  skeleton  is  also  minutely  described, 
perhaps  over-minutely,  seeing  that,  in  our  author's  words, 
"a  classification  of  the  various  sclerites  indicative  of 
their  morphological  significance  is  not  possible  with  our 
present  knowledge."  Other  careful  descriptions  by 
special  students  show  that  it  is  easy  to  interpret  the 
complex  thoracic  structures  in  a  different  way  from  that 
here  adopted. 

Excellent  figures  are  given  of  the  legs,  feet,  and  wings. 


124 


NATURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


and  the  description  of  the  foot  of  the  fly  is  of  very  special 
interest.  The  wing-joint  is  described  with  great  care 
and  thoroughness,  in  connection  with  the  mechanics  of 
flight. 

Comparisons  between  insect  and  vertebrate  structures 
are  made  with  great  boldness.  One  example  will  prob- 
ably astonish  common-place  morphologists.  Weismann 
observed  that  the  femoro-tibial  part  of  the  fly's  leg  forms 
at  first  a  mere  lateral  prominence,  which  is  converted  by 
segmentation  and  constriction  into  a  bent  knee,  the 
upper  part  yielding  the  coxa  and  femur,  the  lower  part 
the  tibia.  Mr.  Lowne  confirms  this  account,  and  illus- 
trates it  by  figuring  five  stages  (Fig.  34).  Next  he  com- 
pares the  lateral  prominence  to  the  exopodite  of  a  biramous 
limb.  Then  he  adopts  Dr.  Gaskell's  suggestion  that  the 
limbs  of  an  Arthropod  may  correspond  to  the  visceral 
arches  of  a  Vertebrate.  In  the  following  sentence  we 
reach  the  climax.  "  The  double  character  of  the  em- 
br>'onic  appendages  in  the  Crustacea,  and  in  the  maxillae 
of  insects,  as  well  as  in  the  thoracic  limbs  of  the  rudi- 
mentary fly-nymph,  is  certainly  very  suggestive  of  the 
double  character  of  the  pterygomaxillary  arch,  or  even  of 
the  hyomandibular  in  vertebrates.'' 

So  much  conscientious  labour  has  been  bestowed  upon 
this  treatise,  and  it  is  so  useful  to  the  student  of  insect 
anatomy,  that  it  is  a  pity  to  see  the  text  encumbered  with 
discussions  which,  to  avoid  dogmatism,  we  will  merely 
call  extremely  hazardous.  Would  it  not  be  better  to 
bring  out  such  views  in  another  place,  and  leave  the 
magnum  opus  free  of  doubtful  matter  ? 

When  all  deductions  have  been  made,  the  book  must 
be  counted  a  valuble  addition  to  the  literature  of  the 
subject.  L.  C.  M. 

Races  and  Peoples :  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Ethno- 
graphy. By  Daniel  G.  Brinton.  (New  York :  N.  D. 
C.  Hodges,  1890.  Sold  by  Kegan  Paul,  Trench, 
Triibner,  and  Co.) 

The  lectures  of  which  this  book  consists  were  delivered 
at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia,  early 
in  1 890.  They  present  a  good  general  view  of  the  lead- 
ing principles  of  ethnography,  as  these  are  understood  by 
the  author.  He  begins  with  a  discussion  of  what  he  calls 
the  physical  and  psychical  elements  of  ethnography,  next 
treats  of  the  beginnings  and  subdivisions  of  races,  then 
takes  in  order  the  divisions  in  which  he  arranges  the 
various  groups  of  mankind,  and  Anally  deals  with 
problems .  relating  to  ''  acclimation,"  amalgamation,  and 
the  influence  of  civilization  on  savages,  and  offers  some 
suggestions  as  to  the  destiny  of  races.  The  human 
species  seems  to  him  to  include  five  races — the  Eur- 
african,  the  Austafrican,  the  Asian,  the  American,  and 
insular  and  littoral  peoples.  Each  of  these  is  subdivided 
into  branches,  stocks,  and  groups  ;  and  an  effort  is  made 
to  define  the  traits  which,  according  to  Dr.  Brinton,  the 
members  of  each  race  have  in  common.  It  is  not  always 
easy  to  understand  the  principle  of  his  classification. 
The  Eurafrican  race,  for  instance,  includes  the  following 
groups:  Libyans,  Egyptians,  East  Africans,  Arabians, 
Abyssinians,  Chaldccans,  Euskarians,  Indo-Germanic  or 
Celtindic  peoples,  and  peoples  of  the  Caucasus.  These 
peoples  are  all  white ;  and  Dr.  Brinton  thinks  we  may 
also  say  of  them,  "hair  wavy,  nose  narrow."  But  the 
differences  by  which  they  are  separated  from  one  another 
are,  at  least  in  some  cases,  so  profound,  that  it  is  ex- 
tremely doubtful  whether  we  are  warranted  in  attributing 
to  them  a  common  origin,  except  in  the  wide  sense  in 
which  a  common  origin  is  attributed  to  humanity  gener- 
ally. So  long,  however,  as  Dr.  Brinton's  classification  is 
understood  to  be  merely  a  convenient  way  of  bringing 
together  great  masses  of  facts,  it  may  be  of  considerable 
service  to  students.  The  book  embodies  the  results  of 
much  careful  research,  and  is  written  in  a  clear  and 
vigorous  style. 

NO.   1 1 28,  VOL.  44] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertait 
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,] 

Crystals  of  Platinum. 

SiNXE  writing  a  note  on  this  subject  to  Nature  (toI.  xliii 
p.  541)  I  have  found  that  it  is  by  no  means  requisite  to  use 
topaz  in  order  to  obtain  crystals  of  platinum  from  a  ribbon  of 
that  metal  heated  by  a  current,  llius  the  ribbon  may  be  dusted 
over  with  quartz  dust,  and  if  the  temperature  be  raised  to  that 
at  which  this  is  slowly  melting  (1430**  C.  about),  crystals  of 

f>latinum  gather  upon  projecting  points  on  the  quartz.  Doubt* 
ess  the  presence  of  fluorine  will  facilitate,  as  described  in  mj 
former  letter,  the  volatilization  of  the  platinum,  but  there  is 
little  doubt  that  at  a  temperature  some  300"  below  its  melting- 
point  (1750*  ;  Violle)  there  is  a  slow  volatilization  of  the  metal 
due  either  to  heat  pure  and  simple,  or  to  this  in  conjnnctioa 
with  the  presence  of  a  current  as  in  high  vacua. 

To  put  the  possibility  of  chemical  action  out  of  the  c^nestion,  I 
weighed  a  clean  ribbon  of  pure  platinum,  9  centimetres  in  leo^, 
and  passed  such  a  current  through  it,  for  30  minutes,  as  raised 
it  to  nearly  the  melting-point  of  palladium  (1500^  ;  Violle).  The 
first  weighing  was  0*0700  grammes,  the  second  (after  heating) 
0*0688,  indicating  a  loss  of  1 7  per  cent,  of  its  weight. 

I  find  that  Prof.  A.  S.  Tomebohm,  of  Stockholm,  has  de- 
scribed in  a  recently-published  paper  {Aftryck  ur  Geol.  Fcren.  i 
Stockholm  Forhandl,^  Bd.  13,  Haft  2,  1 891)  cubical  crystals  of 
platinum  formed  by  the  action  of  chlorine  gas  upon  platinnm 
black  at  a  high  temperature.  The  figures  illustrating  his  paper 
depict  crystals  similar  to  those  obtained  by  the  present  method. 

J.  JOLY. 

Physical  Laboratory,  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


Porpoises  in  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 

In  Dr.  Carl  Peters's  "New  Light  on  Dark  Africa,"  bespeaks 

of  "  some  large  gray-bellied  porpoises  tumbling  about "  in  Lake 

Victoria  Nyanza,  "and  rollicking  in  the  tepid  flood  "  (see  pu  445). 

I  should  be  glad  to  know  whether  there  is  any  other  aathoritj 
for  the  occurrence  of  a  Cetacean  in  this  lake.  It  is  possible, 
but  very  improbable,  as  no  Cetaceans  are  known  to  occur  in  the 
Nile,  or  other  African  fresh  waters,  although  there  has  been  a 
report  of  the  Manatee  being  found  in  the  Shari,  which  runs  into 
Lake  Tchad  (see  Barth,  "  Reisen,"  iii.  p.  289),  and  the  Manatee 
also  occurs  in  the  Niger.  P.  L.  Sclater. 

The  Zoological  Station  at  Naples. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  names  of  any  biologists  who  wish  to 
make  use  of  the  British  Association  Table  at  the  Naples  Zoo- 
logical Station,  during  the  year  commencing  in  September  next, 
should  be  in  the  possession  of  the  Committee  before  the  meeting 
of  the  British  Association  at  Cardiff. 

Intending  applicants  are  therefore  requested  to  send  in  their 
names,  and  a  statement  of  the  nature  of  the  work  they  pro- 
pose to  undertake,  before  June  30,  to  me  as  Secretary  to  tbe 
Committee.  W.  Percy  Sladen. 

13  Hyde  Park  Gate,  S.W.,  June  6. 


A  BRITISH  INSTITUTE  OF  PREVENTIVE 

MEDICINE, 

ON  Friday,  June  5,  Sir  Michael  Hicks- Beach  received 
in  one  of  the  large  rooms  of  the  Victoria  Hotel, 
Northumberland  Avenue,  an  unusually  numerous  and 
influential  deputation  on  behalf  of  the  British  Institute  of 
Preventive  Medicine.  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  was 
accompanied  by  Sir  Henry  Calcraft,  K.C.B.,  Secretary  to 
the  Board  of  Trade,  Mr.  Courtenay  Boyle,  (Z.B.,  and  Mr. 
Walter  J.  Howell. 

Among  the  members  of  the  deputation  were  the  Doke 
of  Westminster,  the  Earl  of  Feversham,  Sir  Frederick 
i  Abel,  Sir  F.  Bramwell,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Sir  Benjamiii 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


125 


Baker,  Dr.  Farquharson,  M.P.,  Sir  William  Thomson, 
Sir  James  Bain,  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  Sir  Philip  Magnus, 
Sir  Jacob  Wilson,  Prof,  E>ewar,  Sir  Douglas  Galton,  Sir 
Archibald  Geikie,  Sir  William  Houldsworth,  M.P ,  Sir 
George  Humphry,  Mr,  Haldane,  Q.C.,  Mr.  Seager  Hunt, 
M.P.,  Sir  Guyer  Hunter,  M.P.,  Prof.  Ray  Lankester, 
Prof.  Norman  Lockyer,  Mr.  Blundell  Maple,  M.P.,  Sir 
Lyon  Playfair,  M.P.,  Sir  Robert  Rawlinson,  Sir  Henry 
Roscoe,  M.P.,  Sir  George  Gabriel  Stokes,  M.P.,  Prof. 
Burdon  Sanderson,  Sir  Henry  Trueman  Wood,  Prof. 
Victor  Horsley,  Dr.  Armand  Ruffer,  Mr.  Priestley,  Sir 
Henry  Simpson,  and  other  members  of  the  Royal,  the 
Linnean,  and  other  scientific  Societies. 

The  following  letters  were  read  from  Prof.  Tyndall  and 
Prof.  Huxley  : — 

**  Hind  Heady  Hasiemerty  June '^^  1 89 1. 

"My  dear  Sir  Joseph, — The  battered  remnant  of  four 
deadly  assaahs,  I  am  still  a  prisoner  in  my  bed.  Were  I  a  free 
man,  I  should  deem  it  a  privilege  to  join  your  deputation  to  Sir 
Michael  Hicks- Beach  on  June  5.  I  entirely  sympathize  with 
the  movement. 

"  Let  me  here  record  a  small  experience  of  my  own.  Last 
summer,  while  crossing  from  Dover  to  Calais  on  my  way  to  the 
Al|>$,  I  noticed,  huddled  up  in  a  corner  of  the  steamer,  a  poor 
Koglish  boy.  He  seemed  lonely  and  depressed,  and  I  spoke  to 
him.  '  Where  are  you  going,  my  boy  ?  I  asked.  '  To  Paris,' 
was  the  reply.  'And  what  are  you  going  to  do  in  Paris?' 
*  Well,  sir,  said  he,  '  I  have  been  badly  bitten  by  a  mad  dog, 
and  I  am  now  on  my  way  to  Mr.  Pasteur,  who  I  hope  will  save 
my  life.* 

"The  case  prompted  sad  and  bitter  musings.  Here  was 
wealthy  England,  with  the  amplest  means  at  her  disposal,  with 
some  of  her  ablest  men  ready  to  investigate  and  apply  those 
means,  insanely  forbidding  such  investigation,  and  compelling 
her  children  to  resort  to  a  foreign  country  to  have  themselves 
rescued  from  the  most  horrible  of  deaths.  As  I  spoke  to  the 
lad,  the  virulent  rabic  virus  was  probably  already  in  his  blood, 
and  his  chance  of  life  depended  on  the  promptness  with  which 
Pasteur's  vaccine  could  be  introduced  to  combat  and  destroy 
that  virus.  Every  hour  lost  in  the  collection  of  money  for  the 
boy's  journey  and  in  making  arrangements  with  Pasteur  for  his 
reception — every  hour  lost  in  his  transport  from  England  to 
France — was  so  much  time  given  to  the  virulent  virus  to  pursue 
its  fatal  work,  and  to  ruin  the  chances  of  the  boy's  rescue.  This 
is  the  state  of  things  to  which  we  in  England  are  forced  to  sub- 
mit ;  this  is  the  condition  to  which  we  are  reduced,  through  the 
deference  paid  by  English  statesmen  to  a  noisy  and  an  ignorant 
faction. 

"  But  while  the  investigation  and  treatment  of  hydrophobia 
confer  immortal  honour  on  Pasteur,  this  malady  is  but  a  small 
item  in  the  array  of  disorders  now  demanding  investigation. 
Suspected  from  time  to  time  by  men  of  genius  in  the  past,  the 
fact  that  all  communicable  diseases  are  due  to  micro-organisms, 
which  increase  and  multiply  after  the  manner  of  living  things, 
has,  in  the  opinion  of  our  first  authorities,  been  now  reduced  to 
demonstration.  Your  proposed  institute  is  to  be  devoted  to  the 
iovestigation  of  such  organisms — to  the  study,  that  is,  of  the 
<(cience  of  bacteriology.  In  regard  to  questions  of  life  and 
health,  such  an  institution  is  the  most  pressing  need  of  England 
at  the  present  hour.  A  good  deal  of  the  weary  time  which  I 
have  been  forced  to  spend  in  bed  during  the  last  six  months 
has  been  devoted  to  making  myself  acquainted  with  what  is 
being  done  by  the  staff  of  the  Hygienic  Institute  of  Berlin,  an 
institute  of  which  the  German  nation  may  well  be  proud.  I 
have  occupied  myself  in  drawing  up  an  account  of  the  researches 
recently  carried  out  in  connection  with  the  institute.  In  regard 
to  our  most  fatal  disorders,  these  researches  will  effect  a  revolu- 
tion, not  only  in  public  knowledge,  but  also  in  the  thoughts  and 
practice  of  medical  men.  It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a 
lamentable  mistake  on  the  part  of  an  English  statesman  to  place 
himself  in  official  antagonism  to  the  eminent  and  illustrious  men 
who  on  June  5  will  advocate  the  founding  of  a  similar  institute 
in  England. 

"  It  is,  I  think,  fortunate  that  you  have  in  Sir  Michael  Hicks- 
Beach  a  statesman  not  likely  to  fall  into  the  extravagances  of 
sentimentalism.  The  overwhelming  preponderance  of  English 
intellect  will  be  represented  by  the  deputation.  He  may  rest 
assured  of  it  that  this  preponderance  will  become  more  and  more 

NO.    1 1  28,  VOL.  44] 


conspicuous,  until  finally  the  misguided  opponents  of  a  true 
philanthropy  will  cease  to  engage  the  attention,  much  less  enlist 
the  sympathy,  of  the  English  people. 

"  Believe  me,  dear  Sir  Joseph,  most  faithfully  yours, 

"John  Tyndall. 

"Sir  Joseph  Lister,  Bart." 

**  HodeslMf  Eastbourne t  June  2,  1891. 

"Dear  Sir  Joseph  Lister,— I  am  very  sorry  that  I  am 
unable  to  join  your  deputation  on  June  5. 

"  If  I  could  have  been  with  you,  I  think  I  should  have  asked 
to  be  permitted  to  point  out  to  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  that  medical  science  is  not  excepted  from  the  rule  which 
holds  good  for  other  branches  of  natural  knowledge,  and  that  it 
can  be  advanced  only  by  reasoning  based  upon  observation  and 
experiment,  and  constantly  controlled  by  both,  especially  by  the 
latter. 

"  Further,  that  by  working  in  this  fashion  a  marvellous 
improvement  of  medical  science  has  been  effected  during  the 
last  half-century,  and  that  the  harvest  of  what  Bacon  called 
'fruits,*  which  is  now  waiting  for  the  gatherer,  might  fully 
occupy  half  a  dozen  such  institutes  as  that  in  which  we  are 
interested. 

"Starting  from  the  unquestionable  facts  that  the  work  we 
propose  to  undertake  is  of  supreme  public  utility,  and  that  the 
number  and  extent  of  the  problems  of  pathology  are  enormously 
great  in  proportion  to  any  existing  means  of  dealing  with  them, 
I  should  have  ventured  to  ask  why  we  should  be  refused  the 
only  privilege  we  seek — namely,  that  official  recognition  by  the 
Board  of  '1  rade  which  will  afford  the  institute  security  against 
the  possible  misuse  of  its  funds  in  future  ? 

"No  doubt,  however,  all  these  points  will  be  much  more 
effectually  put  by  yourself  and  other  members  of  the  deputation. 

"I  am  yours  very  faithfully, 

"T.  H.  Huxley. 

"  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  Bart.,  F.R.S." 

Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  M.P.,  in  introducing  the  deputation,  said 
that  it  represented  not  only  the  whole  body  of  medical  men  in 
this  country,  but  also,  without  exception,  all  the  scientific 
elements  amongst  scientific  men,  and  also  a  large  number  of 
others  who  were  interested  from  the  national  point  of  view  in 
the  establishment  of  an  institute  of  preventive  medicine  for 
this  country,  and  for  which  it  was  proposed  to  obtain  incor}^ora- 
tion  under  the  Board  of  Trade.  He  need  not  go  into  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  national  importance  of  an  institution  of  this  kind. 
There  was  no  civilized  country  in  Europe,  and  scarcely  any- 
where else,  in  which  this  subject  had  not  awakened  the  interest 
and  claimed  the  attention,  not  only  of  the  scientific  men,  but 
also  to  a  great  extent  of  the  Governments  of  those  countries. 
What  they  asked  was  that  Sir  Michael  Hicks- Beach  would  be 
good  enough  to  enable  them  to  found  and  to  carry  on  a  British 
Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  analogous  and  of  a  similar 
form  to  those  great  institutes  which  existed  in  France,  Germany, 
Russia,  and  in  a  great  number  of  other  countries.  They  were 
sorry  to  find  that  the  object  which  they  had  in  view  and  the 
request  that  they  made  to  Sir  Michael  had  not  met  altogether 
with  the  success  which  they  had  hoped.  They  learnt  from  the 
answer  which  he  had  given  to  Major  Rasch  in  the  House  of 
Commons  that  the  refusal  to  grant  what  they  requested  was 
based  on  objections  received  by  the  Board  of  Trade.  They 
merely  asked  that  the  institution  should  be  registered  under  the 
Limited  Company  Act,  with  the  omission  of  the  word  "  limited," 
in  order  to  impress  the  public  with  the  fact  that  the  institute 
was  not  established  for  the  purpose  of  gain,  but  purely  for 
sanitary  and  scientific  objects.  The  objections  were  based  upon 
the  fact  that  a  part  of  the  w  ork  would  include  experiments  on 
animals.  In  reply  to  this  they  had  the  opinion  of  counsel  that 
the  Board  of  Trade  had  only  to  satisfy  themselves  that  the 
object  was  charitable,  and  that  the  promoters  were  persons 
whose  position  was  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  high  character 
of  the  proposed  institute. 

Sir  Joseph  Lister  said  the  object  of  their  deputation  was  to 
request  Sir  Michael  Hicks- Beach  to  reconsider  his  decision,  and 
to  grant  the  licence  under  the  Board  of  Trade  which  was  really, 
as  it  would  seem,  almost  essential  to  the  prosperity,  if  not  indeed 
to  the  very  existence,  of  the  institute.  It  was  essential,  in  order 
that  they  might  hold  money  in  trust,  that  they  should  be  incor- 
porated. They  had  been  promised  a  large  sum  of  money,  the 
receipt  of  which  would  be  essentially  dependent  upon  their  in- 
corporation, and  if  they  were  incorporated  as  a  limited  liability 


126 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


company  they  would  not  be  able  to  appeal  to  the  public  for 
funds  with  any  success.     In  the  first  place,  their  institution  would 
have  a  mercantile  character,  which  would  tend  to  repel  sub- 
scribers ;  and  they  had  the  opinion  of  counsel  that  under  such 
circumstances  it  would  be  in  the  power  of  the  subscribers  at  any 
time  to  agree  to  have  the  institute  wound  up  and  the  funds 
divided  amongst  themselves.     To  appeal  to  the  public  for  sub- 
scriptions, therefore,  under  these  conditions  would  be  absolutely 
hopeless.     On  the  other  hand,  if  the  licence  were  granted  there 
could  be  inserted  by  the  Board  of  Trade  a  condition  that  the 
funds  of  the  institute  should  be  used  only  for  scientific  and 
charitable  objects,  and  in  that  way  their  po>ition  would  be  per- 
fectly secured.     The  only  practical  alternative,  if  it  was  still 
thought  right  to  refuse  their  request,  would  be  that  they  should 
be  incorporated  by  Act  of  Parliament — a  process  which  would 
involve  very  great  loss  of  time  and  also  very  serious  expense. 
The  importance  of  the  object  which  they  had  at  heart  was  one 
which  he  thought  need  hardly  be  much  dwelt  upon.    Preventive 
medicine  based  upon  bacteriology  was  a  matter  of  comparatively 
recent   experience,  but  it  bad   been  making  gigantic  strides, 
and   every  year  and  almost  every   week   they   were  learning 
of  new   triumphs  achieved   in   the  discovery  of  the  essential 
naiure    of  disease    and    of   the    means    of    preventing    such 
disease.     He   might    be   permitted   perhaps   to   refer    to    one 
or  two  illustrations   of  the  value  of  the  work  carried  on  at 
such  institutes  both  to  man  and  to  the  lower  animals.     The  work 
done  by  M.  Pasteur  for  the  rescue  of  those  bitten  by  mad  dogs 
from  the  horrible  death  of  rabies  was  bearing  invaluable  fruits. 
It  had  been  estimated  that  within  four  years  at   the   Pasteur 
Institute  12,000  lives  had  been  saved.     During  the  last  six  years 
403  British  subjects  had  been  treated,  and  out  of  those  403  only 
seven  had  died.     If  they  took  into  account  the  loss  of  time  in- 
volved in  making  arrangements  for  going  to  Paris,  and  con- 
sidered also  that  the  es^ence  of  M.  Pasteur's  treatment  was  to 
intercept  the  disease  before  it  arrived  at  the  vital  organisms  in 
the  brain,  they  might  anticipate  a  large  amount  of  success  if  they 
had  the  means  in  this  ccmotry  of  having  the  same  treatment 
carried  out.     From  Germany  had  come  the  discovery  of  what 
was  termed  tubercle  bacillus — that  was  to  say,  the  micro-organ- 
ism which  was  the  essential   cause  of  tubercle,   the  greatest 
physical  scourge  that  afflicted  the  human  race.     To  establish  that 
that  bacillus  was  really  the  essential  cause  of  this  disease  in  all 
its  diverse  forms  required  a  large  amimnt  of  investigation  such  as 
could  only  be  carried  on  in  institutes  like  that  which  they  desired 
to  see  established.     That  the  institute  would  be  of  great  benefit 
also  with  regard  to  diseases  of  the  lower  animals  might  be  seen 
from   the  discoveries  made  as  to  the  cure  of  anthrax  by  M. 
Pasteur,  and  as  to  the  treatment  of  another  affliction  known  as 
**  quarter  evil "  by  a  scientist  of  Lyons.     Various  bacteriological 
laboratories  had  been  already  established  in  the  British  Islands, 
but  it  was  universally  allowed  that  none  of  those  existing  was  in 
the  least  equal  to  a  great  institute  such  as  they  desired  to  see 
established.    One  proof  that  such  was  the  ca-e  was  presented  by 
the  fact   that  our  best  workers  in  these  subjects  had  been  going 
continually  to  Paris   or  to  Berlin  for  the  superior  Advantages 
that  they  could  obtain  there.     He  ventured  to  think  that  the 
mass  of  educated  opinion  represented  by  the  deputation  was 
surely  more  deserving  of  attention  than  the  views  of  those  who, 
with  whatever  excellent  intentions,  had  petitioned  against  their 
scheme.     The  truth  was  that  objections  were  made  because  the 
petitioners  objected  altogether  to  the  performance  of  experiments 
upon  living  aniDials,and  not  because  they  tht  ught  that  there  was 
already  sufficient  opportunity  for  work  of  this  kind.   If  those  peti- 
tioners knew  how  very  small  was  the  amount  of  suffering  really 
inflicted  upon  the  animals  in  such  an  institute,  and  how  scrupu- 
lous was  t  e  care  taken  to  avoid  all  needles<<  pam,  they  would 
not  (at  least,  the  great  majority  of  them  would  not)  have  made 
the  opposition  that  they  had  made.      He  even  doubted  whether 
the  question  of  their  being  likely  to  perform  experiments  upon 
living  animals  was  one  which  the  Board  of  Trade  had  any  fair 
rea^on  to  occupy  itself  with.     The  licensing  of  places  for  the 
performance  of  such  experiments,  and  the  licensing  of  indivi- 
dual experimenters  had  always  rested  with  the  Home  Secretary. 
Foreign  institutions  such  as  that  which  they  desired  to  see  estab- 
lished had  been  largely  endowed  by  the  State,  and  he  did  not 
relinquish  the  hope  that  our  Government  might  at  some  future 
time  see  its  way  to  give  them  substantial  aid.     But,  however 
that  might  be,  they  ventured  to  hope  that  no  department  of  this 
Government  would  oppose  any  unnecessary  obstacle  to  an  enter- 
prise which  had  for  its  sole  object  the  welfare  of  humanity,  the 

NO.   1 1 28,  VOL.  44] 


health  of  mankind  and  the  lower  animals,   and  the  general 
progress  of  the  public  weal. 

Sir  Lyon  Piayfair,  M.P.,  said  that  experiments  on  living 
animals  had  been  sanctioned  by  Parliament,  which  bad  intrusted 
the  Home  Secretary  to  make  suitable  restrictions  for  the  carry- 
ing out  of  the  operations.  The  proposed  institute  was  pro- 
moted differently  from  those  in  foreign  countries,  which  were 
being  founded  by  the  State,  and  the  deputation  only  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  associate  for  a  purpose  recognized  by  Parliament, 
and  with  such  restrictions  as  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  or  the 
Home  Secretary  thought  proper  to  impose. 

Prof.  Dewar  spoke  of  the  importance  of  the  proposed  institute 
from  a  chemical  point  of  view,  and  Dr.  Ray  Lankester  and  Sir 
James  Crichton  Browne  also  spoke. 

Sir  M.  Hicks- Beach,  in  reply,  said :— I  hope  that  it  is  not 
through  any  fault  of  mine  that  those  who  have  arranged  for  this 
deputation  have  not  come  to  me  in  the  ordinary  numbers  of  a 
deputation,  but  have  thought  it  necessary  for  their  object  to 
summon  from  different  parts  of  the  country  so  very  large  a 
number  of  gentlemen   who  are    very    actively  engaged,  and 
whtise  time  must  be  very   valuable,   not  only  to  themselves, 
but  also  to  the  public.     I  am  not  disposed  to  be  influenced 
in  any   matter   by   the    mere  numbers  of   a  deputation.     It 
would  be  perfectly  possible  for  you  and  for  those  who  differ 
from    you    on    the    other    side    to    fill    a  very   much   larger 
room  than  this.     I  think  the  deputations  should  be  weighed 
rather  than  counted,  and  if  half-a-dozen  of  those  who  are  now 
present  had  come  to  me  saying  what  has  been  said  to-day,  and 
authorized  to  speak  on  behalf  of  all  of  you,  I  can  assure  you  that 
I  should  have  attached  as  much  weight  to  their  arguments  as  I 
can  do  now.     But,  of  course,  I  accept  your  presence  here  as  a 
strong  testimony  to  the  great  interest  that  you  feel  in  this  sub- 
ject.    I  am  sorry   to  confess  to  have  differed  from  so  many 
gentlemen  of  such  eminence  as  those  who  have  supported  this 
movement,  and  to  have  found  myself  unable  to  grant  the  appli- 
cation of  the  British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine  for  per- 
mission to  register  the  Association  without  the  addition  of  the 
word  "limited."     It  is  only  due  to  you  that  I  should  explain, 
as  shortly  as  I  can  the  reasons  which  induce  me  to  arrive  ai 
that  decision.      Now,   the  section  of  the  Act  of  1867,  under 
which  you  ask  me  to  act,  lays  down  two  preliminary  require- 
ments which  must  be  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Board  of 
Trade — first,  that  the  Association  shall  be  formed  for  one  of 
several  purposes,  such  as,  for  instance,  that  of  promoting  science, 
or  some  other  useful  object  ;  secondly,  that  the  profits  or  income 
will  be  applied  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  Association,  and 
that  the  payment  of  dividends  will  be  prohibited.     Now,  I  will 
assume  that  you  have  complied  with  both  these  requirements ;  I 
say  nothing  to  the  contrary.      But  the  proof  of  such  compliance 
does  not,  in  my  opinion,  compel  the  Board  of  Trade  to  act  on 
the  section.     Something  has  been  said  to  day  to  ihe  effect  that 
you  have  obtained  counsel's  opinion  that  it  does  compel  the 
Board  of  Trade  so  to  act.     I  have  taken  another  view — I  admit 
without  legal  advice.     If  you  will  i>lace  before  me  the  opinion 
upon  which  your  view  is  based,  of  course  I  shall  very  carefally 
consider  it,  and  myself  obtain  legal  advice  upon  that  point, 
because  I  view  it  as  an  important  point,  as  you  will  see  from 
what  I  am  going  to  say.     I  have  considered,  as  I  said,  that  the 
section  of  the  Act  only  empowers  the  Board  of  Trade  to  act, 
and  leaves  it  to  the  Board  of  Trade  to   decide  whether  the 
licence  shall  be  granted  or  not ;  and  if  granted,  whether  any 
conditions  or  regulations  should  be  imposed  and  inserted  in  the 
memorandum  and  articles  of  association.     It  therefore  seems  to 
me  that  the  Board  of  Trade  could  hardly  grant  such  a  licence 
without  expressing  approval,  by  the  mere  fact  of  the  grant,  of 
the  Association  to  which  it  is  granted.     In  your  case  I  think  I 
have  no  right  to  express  such  an  approval,  because,  if  I  rightly 
interpret  Clause  3a  of  your  memorandum,  I  understand — and  I 
also  gathered  from  what  has  been  said  to-day — "that  experi- 
ments on  living  animals  calculated  to  give  pain,"  to  quote  the 
words  of  the   Act   of  Parliament,   are   included   among  your 
objects ;  in  one  word,  that  vivisection  would  be  part  of  your 
wcrk.     Now,  this   is  a  subject  which  the  Legislature  by  the 
Cruelty  to  Animals  Act,  1876,  has  placed  under  the  control,  not 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  but  of  the  Home  Of!ice.     By  that  Act, 
as  you  know,  vivisection  is  made  illegal  except  by  licence  from 
the  Home  Office,  and  under  the  most  stringent  regulations,  in- 
cluding inspection  by  inspectors  of  the  Home  Office.     I  assume 
that  when  you  had  established   this  institution,  supposing  my 
licence  were  granted,   an  application  would  be  made  to  the 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


127 


Home  Office  for  a  licence  or  licences  for  vivi'section  on  the 
premises  of  the  institute  for  some  one  or  more  of  its  members. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  Home  Secretary  would  have  fair  ground 
to  complain  of  my  action,  if  in  a  matter  of  such  admitted  diffi- 
culty, rousing  as  it  does  the  strongest  feelings  of  both  sides,  I 
did  anything  which  would  enable  you  to  go  before  him,  to  whom 
Parliament  has  intrusted  this  subject,  with  ihe  stamp  of  approval 
as  it  were  from  another  G>vernment  department  which  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  subject  at  all.  Now,  I  hope  I  have  put 
that  shortly  and  plainly.  What  are  your  alternatives?  You 
have  said  something  to  me  on  this  subject  to-day.  You  can,  of 
course,  if  you  choose,  remove  from  your  objects  anything  which 
could  bring  you  within  the  Cruelty  to  Animals  Act,  1876.  If 
yon  did  that,  my  objections  would  be  entirely  removed.  You 
could,  if  you  chose,  form  yourselves  as  a  Society,  vesting  your 
property  in  trustees ;  associate  yourselves  under  the  Companies 
Act  as  a  limited  company,  inserting  a  proviso  that  you  should 
pay  no  dividends.  Now,  I  should  like  to  have  before  me  the 
reasons  in  writing  which  have  been  ui^ed  to-day  why  none  of 
these  courses  would  meet  your  views.  I  can  only  say  in  con- 
clusion that  I  have  endeavoured  to  put  to  you  the  difficulty 
which  I  feel ;  that  I  will  carefully  consider  what  has  been  said 
to-day  ;  and  any  documents  which  the  promoters  of  the  Associa- 
tion wish  to  place  before  me  to  enforce  the  views  which  have 
been  expressed  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  in  moving  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Sir  Michael 
Hicks- Beach,  said  that  Sir  Henry. Roscoe  had  authorized  him 
to  say  that  the  further  information  which  had  been  asked  for 
should  be  furnished  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  Vivisection  was 
after  all  a  very  small  part  of  the  question  before  them,  unle^, 
indeed,  vivisection  was  to  be  understood  as  applying  to  (he 
bacteria.  He  would  venture  to  re^uind  Sir  Michael  that  although 
Acts  of  Parliament  might  orevent  them  from  destroying  the 
bacteria,  they  could  not  prevent  the  bacteria  from  destroying 
human  beings,  and  it  seemed  almost  a  significant  fact  that  no 
members  of  the  community,  as  he  knew  to  his  own  cost,  had 
suffered  more  from  them  than  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. .  He  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  bacteria  suffi^red  at 
aJ),  though  human  beings  suffere  i  very  much  from  the  bacteria. 
The  bacteria  were  now  experimenting  upon  them,  and  all  that 
they  asked  was  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  defend  themselves 
from  the  bacteria.  Something  had  been  said  about  agriculture, 
and  he  believed  that  such  an  institute  as  this  would  add  much 
to  the  prosperity  of  agriculture  and  probably  of  manufactures 
and  of  commerce.  As  regarded  the  technical  points  which  had 
compelled  the  right  hon.  gentlem«n  to  adopt  the  course  which 
he  had  taken,  he  thought  if  Sir  Michael  went  into  the  matter 
he  would  find  at  least  two  precedents  in  which  an  opposite  line 
had  been  taken  in  cases  where  vivisection  was  practised. 

The  President — I  ought  to  mention  that  any  of  the  prece- 
dents which  have  been  mentioned  I  should  like  to  have  placed 
before  me. 

The  deputation  then  withdrew. 


EARTH-CURRENTS  AND  THE  ELECTRIC 

RAILWAY, 

A  WELL-MARKED  case  of  interference  with  the 
earth-currents  recorded  at  the  Royal  Observatory, 
Greenwich,  due  apparently  to  the  working  of  the  new 
Electric  Railway,  having  recently  been  experienced,  of 
which  some  account  might  prove  to  be  interesting  to 
electricians,  the  Astronomer- Royal  has  kindly  allowed 
me  to  communicate  for  publication  in  Nature  some 
particulars  in  regard  thereto. 

It  is  known  that  for  many  years  past  a  continuous  ' 
photographic  register  of  earth  currents  has  been  main- 
tained at  the  Royal  Observatory.  There  are  two  circuits. 
For  one  circuit  the  earth-plates  are  at  Angerstein  Wharf 
(A.W.),  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  River  Thames,  near 
to  Charlton,  and  at  Lady  Well,  Lewisham  (L.W.) ;  for 
the  other  circuit  the  earth-plates  are  on  Blackheath  (B.), 
at  the  south  end  of  the  North  Kent  Railway  tunnel,  and 
at  the  North  Kent  East  Junction  (N  K.E.J.)  of  the 
South- Eastern  Railway,  the  junction  of  the  North  Kent 
and  Greenwich  lines.  The  earth  connection  is  in  each 
case  made  by  an  independent  copper  plate  ;  these  plates 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


are  used  only  for  the  earth-current  lines,  no  other  wires 
being  attached  thereto.  From  the  A.W.  earth-plate  the 
wire  passes  by  the  South-Eastern  Railway  lines  to  the 
Greenwich  Station,  thence  underground  to  the  Royal 
Observatory  recording  apparatus,  returning  underground 
to  the  Greenwich  Station,  and  thence  by  the  railway  to 
the  earth-plate  at  L.W.  Similarly  for  the  Blackheath- 
North  Kent  East  Junction  circuit.  The  direct  distance 
between  the  A.W.  and  L.W.  earth-plates  is  3  miles,  and 
between  the  B.  and  N. K.E.J,  earth- plates  about  24  miles. 
The  azimuth  of  the  A.W.-L.W.  line,  reckoning  from 
magnetic  north  towards  east,  is  50" ;  the  azimuth  of  the 
B.-N. K.E.J,  line,  reckoning  from  magnetic  north  towards 
west,  is  46^  Registration  is  effected  in  the  usual  way.  In 
each  circuit  there  is  a  horizontal  galvanometer  the  needle  of 
which  carries  a  small  mirror  ;  on  this  the  light  from  a 
fixed  gas-lamp  falls,  and,  reflected  therefrom,  finally 
reaches  the  revolving  cylinder  as  a  small  spot  of  light. 

Some  few  particulars  concerning  earth-current  motions 
generally  may  perhaps  be  given.  It  has  been  found  that 
all  cases  of  disturbance  of  the  magnets  are  accom- 
panied by  earth -currents,  more  or  less  powerful  as  the 
magnetic  disturbance  is  more  or  less  pronounced.  The 
correspondence  is  most  complete.  No  sudden  marked 
motion  of  the  magnets  ever  occurs  without  corresponding 
active  earth-currents,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  plates  (copies 
of  the  various  registers)  given  in  the  several  Greenwich 
volumes  since  the  year  1882.  On  days  on  which  the 
magnets  are  free  from  disturbance,  and  show  only  the 
ordinary  diurnal  change,  earth-currents  are  very  feeble. 

Before  speaking  of  the  recent  case  of  interference,  we 
may  devote  a  few  words  to  the  description  of  a  previous 
case  in  which  the  interference  was  much  less  marked  in 
character,  although,  with  some  intermissions,  otherwise 
very  persistent.  Some  five  years  or  more  ago  it  was  re- 
marked, in  the  A.W.-L.W.  register,  that  at  one  part  of 
the  day  a  slight  dislocation  of  the  trace  occurred,  in  no 
case  indicating  a  change  of  potential  of  more  than  o'l 
volt,  frequently  much  less  ;  after  some  hours  the  trace  as 
suddenly  returned  to  its  normal  position.  This  was  not 
discernible  every  day,  but  still  frequently,  and  still  con- 
tinues. Nothing  has  been  perceived  in  the  other  circuit. 
On  examining  the  A.W.-L.W.  records  for  a  number  of 
months,  it  appears  that  at  all  parts  of  the  year  the  dis- 
location occurred  some  th tee-quarters  of  an  hour  after 
sunset,  and  the  return  to  normal  position  at  about  the 
same  interval  before  sunrise.  The  cause  of  the  interfer- 
ence has  not  been  traced,  although  it  has  been  conjec- 
tured that  in  some  way  it  may  be  connected  with  electric 
lighting  in  the  vicinity  of  the  A.W.  earth-plate. 

We  now  come  to  the  recent  much  more  serious  case  of 
interference.  Towards  the  end  of  last  year  anomalous 
appearances  began  to  be  observed  in  both  of  the  earth- 
current  registers,  not  continuously  but  in  a  somewhat 
irregular  manner.  Now,  however,  for  some  months  past, 
these  new  interruptions  have  settled  down  into  a  regular 
order.  What  is  perceived  is  that  the  interference  in 
question,  causing  a  continuous  vibration  of  the  registering 
needles',  commences  shortly  before  7h.  in  the  morning, 
goes  on  all  through  the  day,  terminating  shortly  after  1 1  h. 
in  the  evening.  This  went  on  for  several  months  on 
week-days  only,  ceasing  on  Sundays,  nothing  being  seen 
after  iih.  p.m.  on  Saturday,  until  7h.  a.m.  on  Monday. 
But  on  Sunday,  April  5,  and  on  every  succeeding  Sunday 
to  the  present  time,  the  interference  has  been  experienced 
also  on  a  portion  of  the  Sunday,  commencing  at  about  ih. 
p.m.,  and  terminating  usually  at  loh.  p.m.  or  shortly  after- 
wards. Various  experiments  were  made  wiih  the  view  of 
discovering  the  cause  of  these  anomalous  appearances, 
but  without  definite  result.  Quite  recently,  Mr. 
Leonard,  the  telegraphic  superintendent  of  the  South- 
Eastern  Railway,  to  whom  the  Observatory  is  much 
indebted  for  considerable  assistance  in  many  matters 
connected  with  the  earth-current  work,  was  led  to  suggest 


[June  ii,  1891 


that  the  exceptional  appearances  were  most  probably 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  new  Electric  Railway, 
three  miles  in  length,  and  having  terminal  stations  in  the 
City  and  at  Stockwell.  A  comparison  being  made  be- 
tween the  observed  times  of  interference  with  the  earth- 
current  registers,  and  ifae  published  times  of  running  of 
the  Electric  Railway  trains,  it  was  found  that  these  were 
simultaneous.  Further,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year, 
during  the  period  in  which  the  earth-current  registers 
were  free  from  interference  on  Sunday,  there  were 
correspondingly  no  Sunday  trains.  But  on  Sunday, 
April  s,  it  appears  that  trains  commenced  to  run  on 
Sunday  afiemoon,  ihe  same  day  that  Sunday  inter- 
ference was  first  noticed  at  Greenwich,  and  these  Sunday 


The  line  of  the  Electric  Railway  tuns  from  about 
nonh>east  to  south-west  magnetic,  or  more  accurMch' 
Ihe  azimuth  of  the  line,  reckoning  from  magnetic  north 
towards  east,  is  about  50*.  The  nearest  earth-place  to  the 
railway  is  the  N. K.E.J,  plate,  which  is  distant  from  the 
railway,  in    a   perpendicular  direction  from  it,  about  3j 

The  correspondence  so  far  as  the  comparison  goes  is 
complete.  During  the  periods  of  interference  the  register- 
ing needles  at  the  Observatory  are  in  continual  vibrati  ir. 
Whether  the  impulses  are  in  one  direction  only  or  in  both 
directions,  and  what  is  their  frequency,  cannot  be  readily 
determined  from  the  registers.  Eye  observation  of  the 
needles  may  perhaps  reveal  something  to  us  00  these 


afiemoon  trains  have  been  since  continued.    The  whole 
matter  is  better  seen  in  the  annexed  tabular  statement  :— 

Trun  tovicc  on  EleorCc  Railwa 


From  shortly   b«rore  7 
o-m.  uniilihortly  aTlcr 


Od  SundaTt,  « 

From  about  I 
111  10  p.m. 
■rierwards. 


On  w«ek  diyL 

First  train  from  Stockwell  6.40  am. 

•1         II          City      ...  6.50am. 

Last  train  from  Stockwell  10.46  p.m. 

„         City       ...  10.58  p.m. 

First  tmin  Trom  Stockwell  i.o    p.m. 

„         Cily       ..  1.5    p.m. 

Lul  train  from  Stockwell  9.30  p.m. 

.1         ..         City       ...  9.30  p.in. 


points.  The  abnormal  excursions  of  the  needles  indicate 
a  change  of  potential  varying  from  a  small  fraction  of  a 
voit  to  perhaps  (be  one-third  of  a  volt  or  more.  When  any 
marked  earth-current  action  arises,  Ihe  interference  be- 
cotnes  in  some  degree  neutralized,  and  less  marked  io 
character. 

It  was  found  in  the  course  of  previous  experiments,  that 
when,  instead  of  employing  the  complete  A.W.-L\V, 
circuit,  the  A.W.  branch  only  was  allow,  d  to  register,  by 
putting  the  wire  to  earth  at  Greenwich,  the  amplitude  of 
vibration  of  the  needle  was  not  perceptibly  changed, 
neither  was  it  changed  when  the  L.W.  branch  only  was 
allowed  10  register.  Ccnespondingly,  when  the  B.  brand) 
alone  of  the  B.-N.K.E.J.  circuit  was  allowed  to  register, 
the  vibration  was  much  diminished,  whilst  with  the 
N. K.E.J,  branch  alone  registering  it  was  much  increased. 
William  Ellis. 


•yHE  Report  presented  by  the  Astronomer-Royal  this 
*  year  is  of  more  than  usual  interest.  The  first  part 
deals  with  proposed  new  buildings. 

It  has  been  decided  that  the  museum  or  storehouse  for 
NO.  II 28,  VOL.  44] 


portable  instruments  and  apparatus  should  be  built  s( 
to  form  the  central  octagon  of  a  future  cruciform  sb 
ture  in  tbe  South  Ground,  which  would  accommodate  the 

physical  branch  of  tbe  Observatory,  and  would  carry  the 
Lassell  equatorial  and  dome  at  such  a  height  abo^e  ibe 
ground  that  Ihe  neighbouring  trees  would  not  interfere 
with  the  effective  use  of  the  instrument.    Tbe  buildicg 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


129 


for  the 'Museum  was  commenced  at  the  banning  of 
Maich.  In  consequence  of  a  recent  decision  of  the 
Admiralty  to  largely  increase  the  number  of  chrono- 
meters and  deck  watches  for  the  Navy,  additional 
accommodation  for  chronometers  is  required  imme- 
diately, the  space  in  the  present  chronometer  room  being 
insufficient  even  for  existing  requirements. 

In  other  directions  the  difficulty  of  providing  in  the 
existing  Observatory  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  increasing  staff  and  of  the  accumulating  material  is 
severely  felt,  and  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  pressure  on 
the  space  available  should  now  be  relieved  by  means  of 
a  comprehensive  scheme,  which  would  supply  a  suitable 
fireproof  brick  building  to  replace  the  wooden  sheds  and 
huts  which  now  disfigure  the  Observatory  grounds,  and 
to  provide  for  the  expansion  which  has  taken  place  in  late 
years,  and  which  may  be  expected  to  continue  in  the  future. 

To  provide  for  the  efficient  working  of  the  28-inch 
refractor  about  to  be  mounted  on  the  south-east  equa- 
torial, the  Admiralty  have  authorized  the  construction 
of  a  new  iron-frameid  dome,  36  feet  in  diameter,  to  be 
erected  on  the  south-east  tower  in  place  of  the  ex- 
isting wooden  drum,  which,  as  mentioned  in  the  last 
Report,  has  been  so  much  strained  in  the  course  of  thirty 
years,  that  there  is  great  difficulty  in  turning  it.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  render  the  existing  dome  more 
serviceable  by  bolting  the  framework  together  more 
thoroughly,  and  by  substituting  properly  turned  spheres 
for  the  cannon-balls,  but  though  the  dome  is  not  now 
liable  to  stick  fast  as  formerly,  it  is  still  very  difficult 
to  turn,  and  cannot  be  considered  serviceable.  The  new 
36-foot  dome,  which  is  being  constructed  by  Messrs.  T. 
Cooke  and  Sons,  is  of  peculiar  form,  adapted  to  the 
conditions  of  the  case,  the  diameter  being  greater  than 
that  of  the  tower  on  which  it  is  erected. 

A  photographic  telescope  with  9-inch  object-glass  by 
Grabb,  and  a  prism  of  9  inches  diameter  by  Hilger,  have 
been  generously  presented  to  the  Royal  Observatory  by 
Sir  Henry  Thompson.  The  telescope  has  been  mounted 
on  the  Lassell  telescope  as  a  photoheliograph,  to  give 
8-inch  pictures  of  the  sun ;  a  camera  with  Dallmeyer 
doublet  (from  photoheliograph  No.  4),  and  an  exposing 
shutter,  specially  designed  to  give  very  short  exposures, 
being  attached  to  it. 

Six  more  electric  hand  lamps  and  an  Ampere  gauge 
(Sir  W.  Thomson's)  have  been  purchased. 

In  view  of  the  advantage  resulting  from  the  use  of 
electric  lighting  for  the  photographic  equatorial  and  for 
other  instruments,  the  Astronomer- Royal  considers  it 
very  desirable  that  an  electric  light  installation  should 
be  provided  for  the  Observatory,  so  that  this  method  of 
1i$i:hting,  which  is  specially  adapted  to  the  requirements 
of  an  observatory,  may  be  applied  to  the  instruments 
generally.  The  system  now  in  use,  of  charging  storage 
cells  from  primary  batteries,  is  necessarily  extravagant, 
and  it  does  not  admit  of  the  desired  extension. 

With  regard  to  the  work  done,  the  following  statement 
shows  the  number  of  observations  made  with  the  transit- 
cirde  in  the  year  ending  May  xo,  1891  :  — 

Transits,    the    separate    limbs    being     counted    as 

separate  observations •..  6036 

Determmations  of  col limation  error 307 

Determinations  of  level  error     390 

Circle  observations      ..  57^9 

Determinations    of   nadir    point    (included   in  the 

number  of  circle  observations     387 

Reflection  observations  of  stars  (similarly  included)  593 

For  determining  the  variation  of  personal  equation 
]»ith  the  magnitude  of  the  star,  324  transits,  not  included 
in  the  above,  have  been  observed.  The  apparent  magni- 
tudes of  the  stars  are  altered  by  placing  a  wire  gauze 
screen  in  front  of  the  object-glass  of  the  telescope,  and 
part  of  a  transit  is  observed  with  clear  aperture,  part 
with  obscured.    The  comparison  of  the  two  results  gives 

NO.  II 28,  VOL.  44] 


the  difference  of  personal  equation  for  a  definite  chance 
of  magnitude.  It  appears  that  all  the  four  regular  ob- 
servers record  the  times  of  faint  stars  later  than  bright, 
the  difference  per  magnitude  being  about  0*01  s. 

Altazimuth. — The  total  number  of  observations  made 
in  the  year  ending  May  10,  1891,  is  as  follows : — 


Azimuths  of  the  moon  and  stars 

Azimuths  of  Mark  I 

Azimuths  of  Mark  II 

Zenith  distances  of  the  moon 
Zenith  distances  of  Mark  I. 
Zenith  distances  of  Mark  II. 


253 
123 

193 
118 

124 

188 


Reflex  Zenith  Tube. — Since  the  date  of  the  last  Re- 
port, 14  double  observations  of  y  Draconis  have  been 
made  and  completely  reduced  to  the  end  of  1890.  M. 
Lcewy's  recent  work  seems  to  show  that  the  determina- 
tion of  the  constant  of  aberration  with  this  instrument  is 
more  trustworthy  than  had  been  supposed ;  though  the 
circumstance  that  the  observations  give  a  negative 
parallax  for  y  Draconis  suggests  that  there  is  some 
unexplained  source  of  error. 

Sir  H.  Grubb  reports  that  the  object-glass  and  tube  of 
the  28-inch  refractor  are  now  practically  ready  for 
mounting ;  but  the  Astronomer- Royal  proposes  to  delay 
this  operation  until  the  completion  of  the  new  dome  on 
the  south-east  tower  mentioned  in  the  first  section  of  this 
Report 

Work  with  the  ,  13-inch  photographic  refractor  was 
seriously  delayed  by  the  accident  to  the  driving-clock, 
and,  later,  by  the  illness  of  Mr.  Criswick  ;  but  81  stellar 
photographs  have  been  taken,  all  of  which  must  be  re- 
garded as  more  or  less  experimental.  Ferrous  oxalate 
development  was  used  throughout,  and  all  the  plates  were 
photographically  impressed  with  the  riseau  kindly  sup- 
plied by  Prof.  Vogel.  The  exposures  have  varied  from 
a  few  seconds  to  about  an  hour  ;  and  trails  have  been 
taken  both  on  the  equator  and  near  the  pole  to  test  the 
adjustment  for  orientation.  Several  different  kinds  of 
plates  have  been  used,  including  Cramer,  Seed,  Paget, 
Star,  Mawsonand  Swan,  and  liford  ;  and  on  the  whole  the 
choice  seems  to  lie  between  the  Star  and  the  Ilford  plates. 

Spectroscopic  and  Photographic  Observations, — For 
determination  of  motions  of  approach  or  recession  of 
stars,  286  measures  have  been  made  of  the  displacement 
of  the  F  line  in  the  spectra  of  31  stars,  and  14  of  the 
b  line  in  the  spectra  of  6  stars,  besides  comparisuns  with 
the  spectra  of  Mars,  the  moon,  the  sun,  or  the  sky,  as  a 
check  on  the  general  accuracy  Of  the  results.  The  series 
of  observations  with  the  i2}-inch  refractor  is  now  prac- 
tically completed,  and  the  results  are  under  discussion. 
An  examination  of  those  for  the  21  stars  most  frequently 
observed  shows  that  there  is  a  systematic  error  depend- 
ing on  the  hour  angle,  thus  necessitating  a  correction  for 
the  position  of  the  spectroscope  at  the  observation. 

In  the  year  ending  May  10,  1891,  photographs  of  the 
sun  have  been  taken  at  Greenwich  on  224  days,  and  of 
these,  483  have  been  selected  for  preservation,  besides 
18  photographs  with  double  images  of  the  sun  for  deter- 
mination of  zero  of  position. 

Magnetic  Observcttions, — The  following  are  the  prin- 
cipal results  for  the  magnetic  elements  for  1890 : — 


Mean  declination 
Mean  horizontal  force 

Mean  dip        


{3*9546  (in  British  units). 
I- 


17*  28'-6  W. 
9546  (in  Bi 
8234  (in  metric  units). 

67  21  19  (by  9-tnch  needles). 
67  22  53  (by  6-inch  needles). 
67  24  24  (by  3-inch  needles). 


Meteorological  Observations. — The  continuous  regis- 
tration of  meteorological  phenomena  has  been  maintained 
without  interruption,  except  for  four  days  in  February 
when  the  old  thermograph  and  shed  in  the  magnetic 
ground  were  dismounted,  and  the  new  thermograph  and 


IJO 


NA  TURE 


[June;  ii,  1891 


shed  were  transferred  fron)  the  South,  Ground  (o  the 
position  formerly  occupied  by  the  old  instrument,  to 
make  way  for  the  new  buildings  in  the  South  Ground. 

The  mean  temperature  of  the  year  1890  was  48°'6, 
being  o°*6  below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years. 
The  highest  air  temperature  .  in  the  shade  was  Sz^'S  on 
August  5,  and  the  lowest  I3°*i  on  March  4.  This  latter 
is  the  lowest  temperature  registered  in  March  since  1841, 
being  the  same  us  that  recorded  on  March  13,  1845.  The 
mean  monthly  temperature  in  1890  was  below  the  average 
in  all  months  excepting  January,  March,  May,  and  Sept- 
ember. In  December  it  was  below  the  average  by  100, 
and  in  January  above  by  ^'1. 

The  mean  daily  motion  of  the  air  in  1890  was  272 
miles,  being  10  miles  below  the  average  of  the  preceding 
23  years.  The  greatest  daily  motion  was  837  miles  on 
January  26,  and  the  least  32  miles  on  August  6.  The 
greatest  pressure  registered  was  14*5  pounds  on  the 
square  foot  on  January  26. 

During  the  year  1890  Osier's  anemometer  showed  an 
excess  of  about  three  revolutions  of  the  vane  in  the 
positive  direction  N.,  E.,  S.,  W.,  N.,  excluding  the  turnings 
which  are  evidently  accidental. 

The  number  of  hours  of  bright  sunshine  recorded 
during  1890  by  the  Campbell- Stokes  sunshine  instrument 
was  1255.  which  is  about  35  hours  below  the  average  of 
the  preceding  13  years,  after  making  allowance  for 
difference  of  the  indications  with  the  Campbell  and 
Campbell- Stokes  instruments  respectively.  The  aggre- 
gate number  of  hours  during  which  the  sun  was  above 
the  horizon  was  4454,  so  that  the  mean  proportion  of 
sunshine  for  the  year  was  0*282,  constant  sunshine  being 
represented  by  i. 

The  rainfall  in  1890  was  21*9  inches,  being  27  inches 
below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years. 

The  winter  of  1890-91  was  remarkable  for  a  long 
period  of  exceptionally  cold  weather  which  commenced 
on  November  25,  1890.  From  this  day  till  January  22 
the  mean  temperature  on  every  day  except  January  13 
was  below  the  average.  The  temperature  was  con- 
tinuously below  32"  on  November  27,  28,  December  10 
to  19,  22,  23,  25,  28  to  30,  January  2,  6  to  8,  10,  11,  17  to 
19.  The  greatest  defects  from  the  average  of  20  years 
were  on  November  28  (  -  I9®'i),  December  22  (-  20^7), 
and  January  10  (-  I9''3).  The  lowest  temperatures  re- 
corded during  the  three  months  were  i8°*3  on  November 
28,  I3°*4  on  December  22,  and  i2°-o  on  January  xo.  The 
mean  temperature  of  December  1890  was  29°*8,  or  lo^^o 
below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years,  the  coldest 
December  on  record .  since  1841  previous  to  1890  being 
that  of  1879,  whose  mean  temperature  was  32^*4.  In 
this  same  month,  December  1890,  only  2^"4  of  sunshine 
were  recorded. 

ChronotneierSf  Time  Signals^  and  Longitude  Opera- 
tions.— The  number  of  chronometers  and  deck  watches 
now  being  tested  at  the  Observatory  is  169  (113  box 
chronometers,  20  pocket  chronometers,  and  36  deck 
watches).  The  annual  competitive  trial  of  chronometers 
commences  on  July  4,  and  the  trial  of  deck  watches  on 
October  24. 

The  time-balls  at  Greenwich,  Deal,  and  Devonport 
are  next  referred  to. 

The  reductions  for  the  longitude  Paris-Greenwich  are 
now  completed  and  ready  for  publication.  In  reference  to 
the  discrepancy  between  the  results  of  the  French  and 
English  observers,  mentioned  in  the  last  Report,  Com- 
mandant Defforges  visited  Greenwich  in  June  1890,  and 
went  carefully  through  the  reductions  with  Mr.  Turner  and 
Mr.  Lewis.  No  mistake  was  found  in  the  work,  but 
several  questions  of  some  importance  were  raised.  The 
results  of  the  discussion  and  of  subsequent  correspond- 
ence are  summed  up  in  two  papers  by  Mr.  Turner  and 
one  by  Colonel  Bassot  and  Commandant  Defforges.  in 
the  Monthly  Notices  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society, 

NO.    I  128,  VOL.  44] 


vol.  li.  pp.  155,  407,  and  41 3  respectively.  As  the  matter 
now  stands,  the  English;de6nitive  result  fpr  the  difference 
of  longitude  between  the  Greenwich  transit-circle  acd 
Cassini's  meridian  is  9"*  20^*86,  while  the  French  resilt 
(not  yet  published)  is  about  0**15  greater,  a  discordance 
whicl^,  though  only  about  half  of  that  found  in  the  prdi- 
minary  discussion,  is  still  so  lai^e,  that  there  seems  to  be 
no  alternative  but  to  repeat  the  work  with  special  precau- 
tions suggested  by  the  experience  gained. 

The  proposal  to  determine  the  longitude  of  Montreal 
as  the  base  station  for  the  Geodetic  Survey  having  beet 
sanctioned  by  the  Admiralty  last  December,  arrang^ 
ments  have  been  made  in  concert  with  Prof.  McLood,  oi 
the  McGill  College  Observatory,  Montreal,  for  a  detei- 
mination  of  the  longitudes  Montreal-Canso-Watervilk- 
Greenwich,  the  termini  of  the  cable,  Canso  and  Water- 
ville,  being  occupied  as  longitude  and  not  merely  2s 
transmitting  stations,  a  course  which  seems  advisable  is 
view  of  the  great  geodetic  importance  of  these  points 
The  necessary  funds  have  been  voted,  and  the  Com- 
mercial Cable  Company  have  generously  granted  the  use 
of  their  cable. 

The  determination  of  the  longitude  of  Washington  has 
been  deferred  for  the  present. 

During  the  past  year,  Lieutenants  Heming,  Moore, 
and  Smyth,  R.N.,  and  Captain  Haynes,  R.E.,  have  at 
various  times  been  instructed  in  transit-observing.  Mr. 
S.  Hirayama,  of  the  Tokio  Observatory,  was  at  work  far 
some  weeks  studying  the  general  organization  of  tbc 
Observatory. 


THE   CLASSIFICATION   OF    THE    TUNIC  AT  A 
IN  RELATION  TO  EVOLUTION, 

THE  detailed  classification  of  the  Tunicata,  and  esp6 
cially  of  the  so-called  ^'  Compound  Ascidians,''  has 
usually  been  found  a  matter  of  special  difficulty  by  sys- 
tematists,  and  each  successive  investigator  has  discovered 
grounds  for  modifying  in  important  respects  the  grouping 
of  genera  and  families  established  by  his  predecessors. 
A  glance  at  the  systems  of  Giard,  Delia  Valle,  ^'oa 
Drasche,  and  Lahille,  all  of  recent  date,  (/>.  post-Dar- 
winian, and  since  the  introduction  of  modem  methods 
and  the  recognition  of  the  Tunicata  as  Chordata),  shows 
the  notable  want  of  agreement  between  competent  au- 
thorities. There  is  probably  a  special  reason  for  thb 
exceptional  diversity  of  opinion,  and  I  believe  the  cause 
is  to  be  found  in  the  course  of  evolution  or  phylogeny  of 
the  group,  and  especially  in  the  complex  relations  be- 
tween the  Compound  forms  and  the  other  Tunicata. 

In  fact,  if  the  matter  be  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  consistent  evolutionist,  the  special  difficulties 
vanish,  the  complicated  relationships  between  groups 
(which  can  only  be  represented  by  dendritic  diagrams, 
or  even  in  some  cases  by  networks)  become  explicable 
and  natural,  the  great  diversity  in  value  of  the  as- 
semblages of  forms  known  as  "genera"  and  **  species" 
is  simply  what  would  be  expected,  and  the  differences 
between  the  various  classificatory  systems  (allowing  for  a 
few  errors  which  have  been  corrected  by  later  investiga- 
tions) can  be  accounted  for,  and  the  conflicting  opinions 
of  the  authors  reconciled.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
subject  be  approached  from  the  standpoint  of  the  pure 
systematist,  whose  object  is  to  divide  and  subdivide  into 
clearly  defined  groups  of  approximately  equal  value,  and 
to  recognize  only  "  good "  genera  and  species,  nothing 
but  confusion  results ;  it  becomes  practically  impossible  to 
distinguish  and  arrange  naturally  the  groups  of  Simple 
and  Compound  Ascidians ;  and  some  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  instructive  points,  such  as  the  gradation  of 
varieties  into  species  and  species  into  genera,  and  the 
individual  variations  in  specific  characters,  are  altogether 
lost  sight  of 

These  views  were  expressed   partly  in    my   Reports 


June  ii,  iSgiJ 


NA  TURE 


'31 


m  the  Challenger  Tunicata,  but  further  work  since — 
m  some  very  extensive  collections  from  Australian  seas 
md  on  the  Ascidians  of  our  own  coasts — has  convinced 
ne  that  the  only  rational  explanation  of  the  protean 
brms  and  labyrinthine  inter-relations  of  the  Ascidians 
s  to  be  found  in  regarding  the  group  as  one  in  process  of 
evolution,  where  many  of  the  species,  genera,  &c.,  have 
lot  yet  become  markedly  differentiated  by  the  elimination 
>f  intermediate  forms,  and  where  the  animals  are  so  much 
Lt  the  mercy  of  their  environment  that  a  Special  pre- 
mium is  set  upon  useful  characters  (if,  indeed,  there  are 
iny  "specific"  characters  which  are  not  useful),  and  where, 
:onsequentIy,  the  relations  between  modification  of  struc- 
ture and  conditions  of  existence  brought  about  by  the 
iction  of  natural  selection  are  exceptionally  evident. 
Adopting,  then,  this  view,  the  following  difficult  subjects 
of  dispute,  and  probably  others  with  which  I  am  not 
concerned  at  present,  can  be,  I  think,  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained: (i)  the  connection  of  the  Simple  with  the 
Compound  Ascidians,  and  the  classification  of  the  latter ; 

(2)  the  value  of  some  modifications  of  the  branchial  sac  ; 

(3)  the  position  of  the  Polystyelidae ;  (4)  the  relations 
between  the  sub-families  and  genera  of  the  Cynthiidae ; 
and  (5)  the  numerous  "  species  "  of  the  genus  Botryllus. 

(i)  \i  the  attempt  is  made  (as  in  most  classifications) 
to  regard  the  Compound  Ascidians  as  a  group  distinct 
from  the  Ascidiae  Simplices,  and  forming  either  a  parallel 
or  a  divergent  line  in  regard  to  the  latter,  one  meets  at  once 
with  the  serious  difficulty  that  the  Compound  Ascidians 
show  affinities  with  the  Simple  at  several  distinct  points. 
Three  investigators  approaching  the  Compound  Ascidians 
after  the  previous  study  of  certain  Simple  Ascidians — say, 
the  first  fresh  from  Ctona,  Ecteinascidia^  and  C/avelina, 
the  second  from  Perophora,  and  the  third  from  Styela 
and  Polycarpa — could  each  make  out  a  good  case  for  the 
view  that  his  new  subjects  were  most  closely  connected 
with  the  genera  he  had  just  been  working  at.  The  first 
could  demonstrate  the  undoubted  relations,  in  external 
form  and  in  structure  of  branchial  sac,  between  Clavelina 
and  Chondrostachys,  Colella  and  the  other  Distomidae ; 
the  second  might  point  to  the  similarity  (on  which  I  per- 
sonally lay  no  stress)  of  Perophora  and  the  Botryllidae,  in 
the  relations  of  alimentary  canal  to  branchial  sac ;  and 
the  third  could  show  the  close  similarity  between  the 
Styelinas  and  the  Compound  forms  Synsiyela,  Goodsiria, 
and  Chorizocormus  in  nearly  every  detail  of  internal 
structure :  and  all  three  would  be  partly  right,  and 
therefore  unlikely  to  agree  upon  any  one  system  of 
classification. 

But  when  the  attempt  is  made  seriously  to  form 
a  conception  of  the  past  history  or  evolution  of  the 
forms  in  question,  it  becomes  obvious  that  the  Com- 
pound Ascidians  are  not  a  natural,  but  an  artificial 
group.  That  is,  they  are  not  the  whole  surviving  de- 
scendants of  a  single  group  of  ancestors,  but  are  poly- 
phyletic  in  origin,  being  derived  from  several  distinct 
lines  of  ancestry  which  have  arisen  independently  from 
different  kinds  of  Simple  Ascidians,  and  have  since  ac- 
<luired  the  common  characteristic  of  being  able  to  re- 
produce by  gemmation  so  as  to  form  compact  colonies  in 
which  the  members  (ascidiozooids)  are  embedded  in  a 
common  test  or  investing  mass.  We  know  with  as  much 
certainty  as  we  know  anything  in  such  phylogenetic  in- 
quiries that  the  ancestral  Tunicates  were  not  colonies, 
and  that  reproduction  by  gemmation  was  not  a  primitive 
character.  This  property  has,  then,  been  acquired 
secondarily  by  some  ancestral  Simple  Ascidians,  and  may 
very  possibly  have  been  acquired  more  than  once  (though 
this  is  not  at  all  necessary  for  my  theory  of  the  poly- 
Pnyletic  origin).  It  follows  from  this  view  (which  I  have 
expressed  before,  but  now  feel  more  certain  of  from  recent 
work),  that  if  we  are  to  retain  the  group  Ascidise  Com- 
'^l^jOf  Synascidiae,  in  our  system,  we  must  represent  it 
^  linked  on  to  the  Ascidiae  Simplices,  at  three  points  at 

NO.  1 128,  VOL.  44I 


least,  and  we  must  not  attempt  to  arrange  the  families 
and  genera  in  a  series  diverging  from  any  one  of  these 
points  alone  ;  or  if  we  do,  we  need  not  be  surprised  when 
we  arrive  at  obviously  unnatural  arrangements  which  are 
in  conflict  with  the  classifications  of  our  fellow-workers. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  might  abolish  the  group  Ascidiae 
Compositae  altogether  as  a  sub-order  of  Ascidiace<e,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  not  a  natural  group  {i.e,  a  compact  set  of 
descendants  from  a  common  ancestor — a  single  branch  of 
the  genealogical  tree). 

But  if  we  adopt  this  course  with  the  Compound  Ascidians, 
the  same  ar^^ument  might  be  used  in  connection  with 
other  polyphyletic  groups  throughout  the  animal  kingdom. 
They  should  all  be  broken  up,  it  might  be  urged,  as 
being  artificial  assemblages.  And  that  would  be  a  per- 
fectly logical  and  definite  position  to  take  up,  and  one 
for  which  a  good  deal  could  be  said,  but  before  adopting 
it  zoologists  should  remember  that  it  involves  a  loss  as 
well  as  a  gain.  If  it  gives  "the  system"  a  certain  preci- 
sion, and  an  advance  of  a  step  or  two  towards  the  goal  of 
a  completely  natural  classification,  it  at  the  same  time 
destroys  the  recognition  of  characteristics  which  certain 
forms  possess  in  common.  In  whatever  manner  they 
have  been  obtained,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Compound 
Ascidians  of  the  present  day  possess  certain  features  by 
which  they  can  be  identified  as  Compound  Ascidians,  and 
this  fact  is  surely  worthy  of  recognition  in  our  **  system." 
My  own  opinion,  then,  is  that  the  group  Ascidiae  Com- 
positae  should  still  be  retained,  but  that  its  polyphyletic 
origin  and  multiple  connection  with  the  Ascidiae  Sim- 
plices should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  when  drawing 
up  any  scheme  of  classification,  or  discussing  affinities. 

(2)  Some  of  the  ideas  noted  above,  and  others  to  be 
discussed  below,  took  definite  form  lately  in  reading  a  re- 
cently published  memoir  by  M.  Femand  Lahille,*  in  which, 
while  giving  a  number  of  important  original  observa- 
tions on  the  anatomy  and  bionomics  of  the  Ascidians  (and 
especially  of  the  Compound  forms)  of  the  French  coasts, 
the  author  introduces  what  1  cannot  help  thinking  in  some 
respects  an  unfortunate  attempt  to  remodel  the  classi- 
fication of  the  Tunicata  on  lines  which  he  communicated 
a  few  years  ago  to  the  French  Association  (Congr^s  de 
Toulouse,  1887),  and  now  elaborates  in  detail.  He 
regards  the  branchial  sac  as  the  most  important  organ 
in  the  Tunicata,  and  so  it  is  in  some  respects ;  but  that 
is  not  sufficient  reason  for  regarding  its  modifications  in 
structure  as  the  sole  characteristics  of  the  primary  groups. 
For  example,  the  Appendicularians,  instead  of  being  called 
Larvacea  or  Copelata,  and  characterized  by  the  presence 
of  a  tail  containing  the  urochord,  are  placed  in  a  group 
"  Atremata,"  defined  by  the  absence  of  stigmata  in  the 
branchial  sac.  The  openings  in  question  (stigmata)  are 
not  even  such  important  structures  as  the  primary  bran- 
chial clefts  (gill-slits),  but  are  merely  the  secondary  slits 
placing  the  cavity  of  the  branchial  sac  in  communication 
with  the  peribranchial  or  atrial  cavity,  and  are  of  nothing 
like  such  high  morphological  value  as  the  presence  or 
absence  of  a  urochord,  and  of  the  two  primitive  atrio- 
pores,  and  the  other  well-known  characteristics  employed 
in  former  classifications  as  distinguishing  the  Appendicu- 
lariidse.  Some  of  the  Thaliacea  are  placed  by  Lahille  in 
a  group  (Hemitremata)  of  primary  importance,  by  them- 
selves, because  they  have  the  stigmata  rudimentary  or 
imperfectly  formed,  while  the  other  Thaliacea  are  united 
with  all  the  remaining  Tunicata,  because  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be  alike  in  having  complete  stigmata.- 

Then,  again,  an  altogether  fictitious  value  is  given  by 
Lahille  to  the  presence  of  internal  longitudinal  bars  in  the 
branchial  sac,  especially  since  he  shows  (as  had  been  done 
by  former  writers)  that  these  bars  develop  as  outgrowths 

'  "  Recherches  sur  les  Tuniciers  des  Cdtes  de  France  "  (Toulouse,  1890). 

^  Which,  however,  is  not  really  the  case.  The  apertures  in  the  walls  cf 
the  branchial  sac  in  Lahille's  **  Eutremata  "  are  not  always  homologous 
««tructure)r.     ]n  the  genus  Culeolus,  for  example,  there  are  no  true  stigmata. 


132 


NATURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


from  the  connecting  ducts,  and  that  intermediate  condi- 
tions can  be  found  in  which  the  bars  can  neither  be  said 
to  be  absent  nor  present  He  describes  this  condition 
in  his  new  species  Perophora  banyulensis^  and  it  is  also 
present  in  P.  viridis,  Verrill,  and  in  various  other  Simple 
Ascidians,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  Challenger  Reports 
and  elsewhere. 

Such  cases,  although  rather  perplexing  to  the  syste- 
matist,  are  perfectly  natural  from  an  evolutionist's 
point  of  view,  and  they  certainly  make  one  regard  with 
some  suspicion  large  groups  founded  upon  any  such 
one  character.  Consequently,  Lahille's  order  "  Stolido- 
branchiata,"  characterized  solely  by  the  presence  of 
a  particular  kind  of  internal  longitudinal  bar  in  the 
branchial  sac,  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  most  unnatural 
assemblage  of  the  families  Polystyelidae,  Cynthiidae, 
Molgulidx,  and  Botryllidae,  which  cannot  be  retained. 
It  is  not  safe  to  trust  to  the  modifications  of  structure 
of  one  organ  in  the  detailed  classification  of  a  group,  and 
it  is  especially  unsafe  where  that  organ  is,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  branchial  sac,  of  great  physiological  importance, 
and  so  is  liable  to  be  considerably  modified  in  accordance 
with  the  mode  of  life  in  forms  which  are  otherwise  closely 
related.  Morphological  characters  of  less  functional  im- 
portance are  more  likely  to  be  retained  unaltered,  and  so 
indicate  real  genetic  affinity. 

Surely  Lahille  does  not  seriously  mean  to  contend  that 
the  internal  longitudinal  bars  in  the  branchial  sac  of  the 
Botryllidae,  Cynthiidae,  &c.,  are  different  in  any  morpho- 
logical sense  from  the  similar  bars  found  in  other  Asci- 
dians, such  as  the  Ascidiidse.  Although  they  may  be 
slightly  different^  in  their  relations  to  the  wall  of  the  sac 
in  these  two  groups,  being  attached  throughout  their 
length  in  Botryllus  in  place  of  only  at  the  angles  of  the 
meshes  as  in  Ascidia^  and  are  therefore  somewhat  different 
in  their  development  (ontogeny),  there  can  scarcely  be  any 
doubt  that  in  their  origin  (phylogeny)  all  such  bars  in 
the  branchial  sac  are  alike,  and  are  therefore  homologous 
structures. 

(3)  It  follows  from  what  has  been  said  above  in  regard 
to  the  origin  of  the  Compound  Ascidians,  that  even  though 
the  group  Polystyelidae  is  placed  (as  was  the  case  in  the 
Challenger  Report)  in  the  Ascidiae  Composite,  it  is  not 
thereby  widely  separated  from  its  relations  amongst  the 
Simple  Ascidians.  If  the  sub-order  Ascidiae  Compositas 
is  retained,  then  the  Polystyelidae  must  go  in  it,  since 
they  form  definite  permanent  colonies  with  the  ascidio- 
zooids  embedded  in  a  common  test ;  but  of  course  these 
forms  are  very  similar  in  many  respects  to  Styela  and 
Polycarpa — that  being  one  of  the  points  of  contact  be- 
tween Compound  and  Simple  Ascidians — and  therefore  I 
can  agree  fully  with  all  that  Lacaze-Duthiers  and  Delage 
say  in  favour  of  that  relationship.  The  matter  stands 
simply  thus : — If  Ascidiae  Compositae  is  retained,  the 
Polystyelidae  must  be  placed  in  it  at  the  nearest  point  to 
Polycarpa  amongst  Ascidiae  Simplices  ;  while  if  Ascidiae 
Compositae  is  abolished,  the  Polystyelidae  will  form  a 
family  or  a  sub-family  (it  matters  little  which)  alongside 
the  Styelinae  under  Ascidiae  Simplices.  To  go  further, 
and  break  up  even  the  genera  of  the  Polystyelidae,  placing 
the  species  beside  those  Cynthiidae  they  resemble  most  in 
the  structure  of  the  branchial  sac,  would  be  to  give  no 
value  at  all  to  the  property  of  reproduction  by  gemmation 
and  the  formation  of  colonies. 

(4)  It  has  long  been  recognized  that  there  are  two 
groups  of  forms  in  the  family  Cynthiidae,  those  which 
centre  around  Styela  and  those  related  to  Cynthia^  and 
when  the  remarkable  stalked  forms,  such  as  Bolienia  and 
the  deep-sea  genus  Culeolus,  had  been  added,  I  defined 
these  three  groups  as  sub-families  under  the  names 
Styelinae,  Cynthinae,  and   Bolteninae.     Leaving  the  last 

'  Even  this  dtflference  is  not  constant.  In  some  Botryllidae,  aud  I  think 
in  all  Polystyelidae  and  many  Cynthiidact  the  relations  of  the  bars  in  the 
adult  are  precisely  as  in  Ascldia^  Ciona^  and  EcUittascidsa. 


out  of  the  question,  we  have  the  two  former  distinguished 
amongst  other  characters  by  the  fact  that  the  Styelinse^ 
have  never  more  than  eight  folds  in  the  branchial  sac. 
and  have  simple  tentacles,  while  the  Cynthinae  have  always 
more  than  eight  folds,  and  compound  tentacles. 

A  few  years  ago  these  seemed  well-established  characters 
to  which  there  were  no  exceptions.  Last  year,  however, 
Lacaze-Duthiers  and  Delage  published  a  preliminary  ac- 
count of  a  Cynthia  from  the  French  coasts,  with  only  eight 
folds  (as  in  Styelinae)  in  its  branchial  sac  ;  while  Traustedt 
has  discovered  that  the  Cynthia  tesselata  of  Forbes  has 
four  folds  on  the  right  side  of  the  branchial  sac  and  three 
on  the  left  (like  some  Styelinae),  although  the  tentacles  are 
compound  (as  in  Cynthinae)  ;  and  I  find  that  long  ago 
Alder  described  the  reverse  case  in  Cynthia  tuberosa^ 
Macg.,  where  there  are  twelve  folds  in  the  branchial  sac 
(Cynthinae),  although  the  tentacles  are  simple  (Styelinae). 
Thus  the  two  links  required  to  unite  the  characters '  of 
Styelinae  and  Cynthinae  have  been  found,  which  is  perfeah 
natural  and  satisfactory  to  the  evolutionist,  and  the 
question  for  the  systematist  now  is,  Must  these  two  sub- 
families be  united  ?  I  think  not.  I  believe  that  they  are 
natural  groups,  and  that  they  are  really  as  widely  separated 
from  one  another  in  their  typical  members  as  we  e^^ 
supposed  them  to  be,  although  not  so  completely  isolated 
from  one  another  by  the  extinction  of  intermediate 
forms. 

If  these  interesting  links,  to  which  attention  has  just  been 
drawn,  and  which  are  apparently  not  common  nor  widely 
distributed  forms,  had  become  extinct  a  few  years  ago, 
the  Styelinae  and  Cynthinae  would  without  question  be 
justly  regarded  as  widely  separated  groups.  And  the 
present  position  is  merely  that  a  few  forms  are  known 
which  if  not  bridging  over  at  least  lie  as  stepping-stones 
in  the  gap  ;  while  the  vast  majority  of  the  species  in 
question  are  clearly  distinguishable  by  easily  recognized 
characters  into  two  definite  sets.  This  last  fact  has  an 
importance  which  entitles  it  to  recognition.  I  am  far 
from  wishing  to  ignore  the  importance  of  such  inter- 
mediate forms  ;  in  fact  I  am  more  likely,  I  fancy,  to  r^ard 
them  with  undue  interest  ;  but  after  all  they  are  single 
species,  minute  twigs  of  the  great  branch  under  con- 
sideration, while  long  series  of  typical  Styelinae  and 
Cynthinae — the  many  species  of  Styela  and  of  Polycarpa^ 
of  Cynthia  and  of  Microcosmus — can  be  divided  into  two 
groups  by  their  tentacles  and  their  branchial  folds,  and 
1  believe  we  are  justified  in  giving  expression  to  this 
natural  grouping  by  retaining  the  two  sub-families  in  our 
system  of  classification.  It  need  not  lead  to  any  diffi- 
culties :  the  intermediate  forms  can  be  placed  as  an 
appendage  to  the  sub-family  taken  first  We  cannot 
now  pretend  to  draw  hard  and  fast  lines  round  all  our 
groups,  a  serial  or  a  tabular  classification  will  always  give 
erroneous  impressions,  and  in  a  phylogenetic  arrangement 
the  linking  forms  will  appear  in  their  proper  places  as 
little  twigs  between  the  two  great  branches. 

(5)  The  genus  Botryllus  seems  to  contain  an  endless 
series  of  forms  which  might  be  (and  many  of  which  have 
been)  described  as  separate  species.  Giard,  twenty  years 
ago,  pointed  out  the  great  variability  of  the  spec[es  in 
this  genus,  and  described  many  varieties  and  local  con- 
ditions, but  the  supply  is  not  yet  exhausted,  and  one  is 
almost  tempted  to  conclude  that  no  satisfactory  position 
can  be  taken  up  anywhere  between  the  two  extremes  of 
either  (i)  regarding  the  whole  genus  (or  even  the  family 
Botryllidae)  as  an  enormous  protean  species,  or  (2)  de- 
scribing nearly  every  colony  as  a  separate  species. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  systematist  or  specio- 
grapher  who  wants  '^good"  and  well-defined  species, 
this  group  of  Ascidians  must  be  an  abomination,  but 
to  the  student  of  evolution  it  is  full  of  interest.  Here, 
if  anywhere,  characters    can  be    seen    varying    in   all 

I  These  are  the  chief  characters,  tut  there  are  others,  such  as  the  coodxtica 
of  the  stomach  and  digestive  glands. 


NO.   II 28,  VOL.  44] 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA TURE 


133 


directions  and  to  almost  all  degrees,  some  variations 
becoming  fixed  while  others  remain  indefinite.  I  am 
at  present  examining  (with  the  help  of  my  former 
student,  Miss  A.  £.  Warham,  B.Sc.)  the  anatomical 
characters  of  a  number  of  colonies  of  various  Botrylli 
with  the  view  of  finding  which  characters,  if  any,  can  be 
relied  on  in  distinguishing  species  or  ''forms,"  and  I 
have  just  seen  a  series  of  ascidiozooids  of  Botryllus 
sniaragdus  in  which  the  branchial  tentacles,  usually  re- 
garded as  important  features  in  the  diagnosis  of  species, 
present  all  variations  between  eight  and  sixteen.  Every 
one  of  the  numbers  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  and  16,  is 
represented  by  one  or  more  ascidiozooids,  although  8  and 
16  are  those  most  commonly  found.  Also  several  definite 
arrangements,  such  as  2  large  pigmented  tentacles  and  6 
small,  3  large  pigmented  and  13  small,  are  present,  and 
are  connected  by  all  possible  gradations.  Then,  again, 
we  find  that  the  smaller  set  of  these  tentacles  may  be  all 
alike,  or  may  be  of  two  sizes  placed  longer  and  shorter 
alternately,  or  they  may  be  2  shorter  and  4  longer,  or  2 
shorter  and  5  longer,  or  3  shorter  and  5  longer,  or  4 
shorter  and  5  longer,  or  6  shorter  and  5  longer,  and  so  on 
through  the  variations.  Two  or  three  of  the  extreme 
forms,  if  examined  by  themselves,  might  easily  be  regarded 
as  distinct  species. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  and  I  fancy  it  may  be  often 
thought,  that  since  evolution  has  changed  our  conception 
of  a  species,  the  modern  biologist  need  not  concern 
himself  with  the  description  and  nomenclature  and 
delimitation  of  those  assemblages  of  variable  forms  which 
are  known  as  varieties  and  species.  But  to  take  such  a 
course  would  be  a  great  mistake.  The  theory  of  evolution 
has  g^ven  taxonomy  and  speciography  an  additional  and 
a  very  real  interest.  Now  that  we  know  just  how  much 
and  how  little  the  term  species  indicates,  it  has  become 
of  great  importance  that  species  and  varieties  should  be 
re-studied  from  the  evolutionary  standpoint,  that  the  re- 
lations of  allied  forms  should  be  carefully  investigated, 
the  limits  of  their  variation  determined,  and  the  effect  of 
their  environment  ascertained.  The  Botryllidae  form  a 
specially  interesting  group  for  such  an  investigation. 

Many  of  these  more  general  remarks  will  no  doubt 
apply  to  other  groups  of  organisms  with  as  much  force 
as  to  the  Tunicata,  but  some  of  the  instances  discussed 
above  may  seem  points  of  mere  detail  of  no  great  general 
interest  I  believe,  however,  that  they  are  typical  cases 
illustrating  difficulties  which  may  confront  any  specialist 
in  the  course  of  his  endeavour  to  attain  to  that  important 
object  of  biological  investigation — a  natural  or  genetic 
cbissification  of  animals  and  plants. 

February.  W.  A.  Herdman. 


PHOTO'STELLAR  SPECTRAL 

OROF.  PICKERING,  while  retaining  the  four  types  of 
^  stellar  spectra,  finds  that  so  many  stars  show  an 
intermediate  stage  of  development,  that,  in  the  Draper 
Catalogue,  letters  are  substituted  for  the  types.  Thus, 
let  ters  A  to  D  denote  stars  of  the  first  type ;  E  to  L, 
stars  of  the  second  type  ;  M,  stars  of  Type  III. ;  while 
N  is  reserved  for  fourth  type  stars.  It  seemed  of  some 
interest  to  compare  the  photographic  results  with  those 
obtained  directly  with  the  spectroscope.  For  the  first 
and  second  types,  the  observations  of  Vogel  ("  Spect. 
Bcob.,"  —  1°  to  -}-  20**)  were  used.  The  stars  in  the  first 
four  hours  of  R.A.  which  occur  in  both  works  were  ex- 
amined and  tabulated,  those  being  rejected  where  there 
was  any  uncertainty  as  to  type  in  Vogel's  observations. 
The  following  table  shows  the  results  thus  obtained  : — 

<  "  Note  on  the  Classification  of  Star  Spectra  in  vol    xxvii.  Harvard 
Anmals^  and  on  some  Stars  with  Bright  Lines." 


Vogel. 

Eye  observation. 
Class. 

A  •  •  •  • 

T    » 

A  •     ■  •  •  ■ 

XX*         •  •  • 

II  ' 

II    " 


PiCKKRING. 

Photographic  observation. 
Letter. 


A 

B 

E 

F 

H 

I 

K 

68 

I 

25 

18 

15 

I 

I 

35 

I 

4 

— 

— 

— 

4 

— 

5 

28 

— ^ 

I 

^^^ 

^^^ 

^»« 

_^ 

2 

___ 

2 

To  show  the  differences  in  type,  the  following  table  has 
been  drawn  up  : — 


Vogel. 

P 

ICKERING. 

Stars. 
Number  and  Type. 
169    of    I. 
42    of    II. 

Type  I. 
105 

4 

Type  II 
64 

38 

NO.    1 128,  VOL.  44] 


These  tables  show  that,  in  the  case  of  Type  I.,  nearly 
half  the  stars  observed  with  the  eye  are  really  Type  1 1, 
according  to  the  photographs  ;  in  the  case  of  Type  1. 1, 
four  out  of  the  forty,  although  having  a  clearly  pronounced 
first  type  spectrum  to  the  eye,  are  really  second  type  stars 
according  to  the  photographs.  In  the  case  of  the  second 
type,  four  stars  out  of  forty-two  are  really  first  type. 

For  the  third  type  stars,  Dun^r  ("  Sur  les  6toiles."  &c.) 
was  consulted,  and  the  following  results  were  obtained: — 


DUNSR. 

Eye  observation. 
Type. 

III.         ... 
III.  !      ... 

III.  !!    ... 

mitt 
•     •  •  •     •  •  • 


Pickering. 

Photographic  observation. 
Letter. 


E 


3       —      — 


H 

19 
24 

16 

5 


I 

2 
2 
I 


M 

8 
22 
24 
12 


This  table  may.be  condensed  as  follows  :— 

DUN^S.  PiCKBRING. 

Tjrpe.  Type. 


III.  to  III.  !         ...     — 
III.  lltoIII.  !!!...      3 


II. 

III. 

Total 

48 

30 

...      78 

23 

12 

...     38 

Total 


71 


42 


116 


The  photographs  therefore  show  that  only  36  per  cent, 
are  third  type  at  all.  In  order  to  account  for  this  very 
remarkable  result,  the  words  of  Prof.  Pickering  may  be 
quoted ;— "  The  difference  between  this  (the  third)  type 
and  the  second  is  much  less  marked  in  the  photographic 
than  in  the  visible  portion  of  the  spectrum.  The  most 
noticeable  difference  is  that,  in  spectra  of  the  third  type, 
the  intensity  suddenly  changes  at  the  wave-length  476*2. 
Rays  of  greater  wave-length  than  this  are  fainter  than- 
those  that  are  shorter.'* 

It  will  be  seen  that  three  stars  of  the  third  type  appear 
as  first  type  stars  on  the  photograph.     These  are : — 

(i)  LL.  3717,  ih.  55m.-  9''o''4,  Dun^r  III.!!:  *' Les 
bandes  2-9  sont  fortement  ddvelopp^es,  tr^s  larges  et 
sombres." 

(2)  D.M.-t-i7=i479,6h.56m.  -}-  i7°53"8,Dundr  III.!!  : 
"  Les  bandes  2-8,  et  peut-etre  9,  sont  visibles  ;  elles  sont 
tr^s  larges  et  fort  obscures  autant  dans  le  vert- bleu  que 
dans  le  rouge." 

(3)  T*  Serpentis,  ish.  31m.  -\-  15^  25'-9,  Dun^r  III. !!  : 
"  Les  bandes  sont  larges  et  fortes,  sur  tout  dans  le  vert 
et  dans  le  bleu." 

Prof.  Pickering  states,  in  the  preface,  that  wheh  the 
brightness  exceeds  6*5  it  is  difficult  to  classify  the  spec- 
trum with  certainty.  The  photographic  magnitudes  of 
these  stars  are  665,  6*45,  6*44  respectively. 

As  regards  the  fourth  type,  it  is  stated  (p.  3)  that  **  the 
letter  N  is  reserved  for  spectra  of  the  fourth  type,  although 
no  star  of  this  type  is  bright  enough  to  appear  in  the 
Draper  Catalogue,  owing  to  the  red  colour  of  all  sucb 


134 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


n 


Stars."     This  seems  to  be  a  mistake,  as  three  fourth  type 
stars  are  found  in  the  Draper  Catalogue.    They  are  ;— 


Name. 

D.M. +  I7°i973 
DM. +68-617 

D.M.  + 76734 


R.A.        Dccl. 
h.    m.       o      / 

8  49+17  36 
10  38  +  67  56 
19  25  +  76  22 


Picker  inch's 

letter. 

H 

I. •     ^\  r    .1 


Photo, 
mag. 
6-65 
6*50 
708 


DuDtfr. 
IV.  !I! 

IV.  :i! 

IV.  !!! 


These  stars  each  occur  on  one  plate  only. 

The  photographs  show  that  the  following  stars  have 
bright  lines  in  their  spectra  :— 

Known  variable  stars :  c  Aurigae,  a  Orionis,  f  Gemin- 
orum,  a  Herculis,  fi  Pegasi. 

Suspected  variable  stars  :  o  Cassiopeise,  66  Ceti,  p  Per- 
sei,  a  Tauri,  h  Canis,  /3  Geminorura,  o  Bootis,  /3  Ursae 
Minoris,  /3  Cygni,  y  Cephei. 

Other  stars  showing  bright  lines,  not  hitherto  detected, 
are :  t  Ceti,  y  Andromedae,  k  Persei,  a  Persei,  v  Persei, 
Zo  Tauri,  f  Aurigae,  f  Cancri,  (t^  Ursae  Majoris,  o  Leonis,, 
7  Leonis,  |  Ursae  Majoris,  43  Comae,  o  Bootis,  y  Scorpii, 
^  Coronae,  f  Herculis,  i\  Herculis,  /*  Herculis. 

T.  E.  ESPIN. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  STAS'S  WORK, 

FOR  the  last  thirty  years  Stas's  work  has  set  the  stand- 
ard of  excellence  in  all  that  relates  to  atomic  weight 
determination.  The  literature  of  the  subject  teems  with 
referenced  to  his  classic  memoirs,  which  have  come 
to  be  regarded  by  chemists  in  the  light  of  canonical  books. 
Admiration  of  the  almost  magical  accuracy  of  Stas's 
results  seems  somewhat  to  have  diverted  attention  from 
the  rare  philosophical  insight  displayed  in  the  p/an  of  his 
researches.  Yet  it  is  not  too  much  to  sa/  that,  while  we 
owe  the  conception  of  the  atomic  theory  to  Dalton,  Stas 
first  placed  the  theory  on  a  sound  experimental  basis. 

It  was  in  the  year  1843  that  Dumas  and  Stas's  value  for 
the  atomic  weight  of  carbon  recalled  attention  to  the 
hypothesis  of  Prout  which  had  hitherto  met  with  little 
favour  on  the  Continent.  The  subsequent  work  of  Dumas 
andofde  Marignac  led  these  chemists  to  support  the 
hypothesis  in  a  modified  form.  In  1 860  appeared  the  first 
series  of  Stas's  researches,  "  Sur  les  Rapport  reciproques 
des  Poids  atomiques."  In  the  introduction  to  his  paper 
the  author  stated  his  conviction  that  these  researches 
furnished  proof,  as  complete  as  the  nature  of  the  subject 
admitted,  that  the  hypothesis  of  Prout  was  a  pure  delusion 
— that  there  was,  in  fact,  no  common  divisor  between  the 
atomic  weights  of  the  elements.  In  reviewing  the  work 
of  Stas,  de  Marignac  admitted  the  impossibility  of  recon- 
ciling the  concordant  results  obtained  by  Stas  and  himself 
-with  even  the  modified  form  of  Prout's  hypothesis.  Yet 
he  regarded  the  dictum  quoted  above  as  too  absolute  in 
character.  It  was  by  no  means  established,  he  contended, 
that  the  constituents  even  of  stable  compounds  are  present 
exactly  in  the  proportion  of  the  atomic  weights.  De 
Marignac*s  criticism  struck  at  the  very  basis  of  the  atomic 
theory  but  this  by  no  means  deprived  it  of  its  weight. 
The  laws  of  chemical  combination  are  the  experimental 
basis  of  the  atomic  theory,  and  Stas  admitted  that  these 
laws  had  never  been  proved  as  "  lois  mathdmatiques." 
Writing  in  1865,  in  the  introduction  to  his  "  Nouvelles 
Recherches,"  he  remarks  that  some  of  the  fundamental 
ideas  of  chemistry,  which  are  generally  taken  as  having 
been  proved,  are  as  a  matter  of  fact  far  from  being  so.  He 
considers  that  the  constancy  of  composition  of  chemical 
compounds  has  been  experimentally  established,  but  points 
out  that  this  does  not  constitute  a  proof  of  the  law  of 
constant  proportions,  the  law,  viz.,  which  states  that  the 
particular  proportions  in  which  two  elements  are  combin- 
ed in  a  certain  compound  is  a  constant  proportion  in  all 
the  compounds  which  contain  those  elements.     This  had 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


never  been  proved,  yet  it  was  only  in  this  way  that  the 
position  of  the  atomic  weights  as  constants  of  nature  could 
be  established.  The  so-called  law  of  multiple  proportions 
Stas  referred  to  as  an  hypothesis  of  Dalton,  pointing  out 
that  the  very  rough  analyses  on  which  Dalton  relied — of 
which  the  error  is  frequently  more  than  10  per  cent. 
— as  well  as  the  results  obtained  by  Wollaston  and 
by  Gay-Lussac,  were  at  most  capable  of  establish- 
ing a  "loi  limits."  The  state  of  science  at  the 
time  demanded  a  thorough  re-examination  of  the  basis 
of  the  atomic  theory.  Stas  realized  this  need;  and  took 
upon  himself  the  burden  of  the  task.  The  conception 
and  plan  of  the  "  Nouvelles  Recherches  sur  les  Lois 
des  Proportions  Chimiques"  show  the  mind  of  a 
great  thinker  not  less  clearly  than  the  results  of  the  work 
exhibit  the  skill  of  a  master  in  the  art  of  experiment. 
The  "Nouvelles  Recherches"  contains  a  verification  as 
'*  loi  math^matique  "  of  the  law  of  conservation  of  mass, 
in  the  complete  synthesis  of  silver  iodide,  and  the  com- 
'  plete  analysis  of  silver  iodate.  The  constancy  of  compo- 
I  sition  of  chemical  compounds  was  subjected  to  a  crucial 
'  test  in  the  experiments  on  ammonium  chloride,  and  the 
constant  proportion  between  the  combining  weights  of 
I  elements  in  different  compounds  was  tested  in  the  conver- 
sion of  silver  iodate,  bromate,  and  chlorate,  to  the  corre- 
sponding haloid  salts.  The  law  of  equivalent  proportions 
was  verified  by  the  concordant  results  obtained  for  the 
atomic  weights  of  silver  and  of  the  alkali  metals  deter- 
mined as  functions  of  those  of  iodine,  of  bromine,  and  of 
chlorine  respectively,  oxygen  forming  the  common  stand- 
ard. One  cannot  help  regretting  that  the  law  of  multiple 
proportions  was  not  also  made  the  subject  of  investigation. 
The  most  suitable  examples  occur  among  gaseous  sub- 
j  stances,  and  the  operations  of  gas  analysis  were  foreign  to 
I  the  methods  of  manipulation  employed  by  Stas.  The 
'  complete  analysis  of  nitrous  oxide  was  indeed  contem- 
plated in  order  to  determine  directly  the  atomic  weight 
of  nitrogen  as  a  function  of  that  of  oxygen,  but  the  idea 
was  abandoned  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  constructing  the 
necessary  apparatus. 

The  work  on  the  laws  of  combination  furnished  fresh 
materials  for  the  examination  of  Proui^s  hypothesis.  Stasis 
comments  on  the  origin  of  this  hypothesis  possess  a  high 
degree  of  philosophic  interest.  The  remarks  to  which  we 
more  particularly  refer  are  the  following  : — **  Lorsqu'on 
remonte  k  Torigine  de  I'hypoth^se  (de  Prout)  on  s'apcr^oit 
imm6diatement  qu'elle  doit  sa  source  k  un  pr^jugd  ou,  si 
Ton  veut,  k  un  opinion  prdcontjue,  concernant  la  simplicite 
des  lois  de  la  nature.  Pendant  longtemps  les  chimistes 
comme  les  physiciens,  dc^s  Tinstant  quails  ont  vu  certains 
faits  se  reproduire  avec  une  apparence  de  rdgularit<5,  ont 
cru  h  I'existence  d'une  loi  naturelle  susceptible  d'etre 
exprim^e  par  une  relation  math^matique  simple,  .... 
C'est  h  cette  tendance,  d'ailleurs  tr^s-naturelle,  qu'on  doit 
I'hypoth^se  de  Prout."  Dalton's  enunciation  of  the  law 
of  multiple  proportions  is  relegated  by  Stas  to  the  same 
category  as  a  generalization  on  insufficient  data. 
Mendeleeff  has  remarked  (Faraday  Lecture,  1889)  that 
the  periodic  law  has  shown  that  the  masses -of  the  atoms 
incre2ise per  saltum,  in  a  manner  which  "  is  clearly  con- 
nected in  some  way  with  Dalton's  law  of  multiple  propor- 
tions." Dalton  was  more  fortunate  than  Prout.  The 
combining  proportions  are  expressible  by  a  simple 
mathematical  law,  whilst  the  atomic  weights  are  only  to 
be  represented  by  a  complicated  formula  which  may  have 
some  such  form  as  that  proposed  by  Carnelley. 

The  "Nouvelles  Recherches"  appeared  in  1865.  The 
first  paper  on  the  periodic  system  was  read  before  the  Rus- 
sian Chemical  Society  in  the  spring  of  1869.  It  is  curious 
to  reflect  that  the  foundations  of  the  atomic  theory  had 
hardly  been  made  sure  by  Stas  ere  they  were  called  upon 
to  bear  the  magnificent  structure  raised  by  Mendelccft. 

V.  C 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


135 


NOTES, 


We  print  elsewhere  the  proceedings  of  the  important  deputa- 
tion to  the  Board  of  Trade  on  the  subject  of  the  Institute  of  Pre- 
ventiTe  Medicine.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  after  the  statement 
made  by  the  Minister,  the  registration  of  the  Society  will  shortly 
be  an  accomplished  fact ;  a  few  words  in  the  deed  of  registration 
or  a  few  minutes  of  reference  between  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
the  Home  Office  are  all  that  is  needed  to  safeguard  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach's  official  scruples.  The  importance  of  the  deputa- 
tion, howcTer,  will  not  be  limited  to  this :  it  shows  again,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Art  Gallery,  that  men  of  science  are  no  longer 
willing  to  be  snubbed  by  men  in  office. 

The  annual  meeting  for  the  election  of  Fellows  was  held  at  the 
Royal  Society's  rooms,  in  Burlington  House,  on  Thursday  last, 
when  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  into  the  Society : — 
William  Anderson ;  Prof.  Frederick  Orpen  Bower ;  Sir  John  Con- 
Toy,  Bart  ;  Prof.  Daniel  John  Cunningham  ;  Dr.  Geoi^e  Mercer 
Dawson ;  Edwin  Bailey  Elliott ;  Prof.  Percy  Faraday  F'rank- 
land;  Percy  C.  Gilchrist ;  Dr.  William  Dobinson  Halliburton ; 
Oliver  Heaviside  ;  John  Edward  Marr ;  Ludwig  Mond  ;  William 
Napier  Shaw  ;•  Prof.  Silvanus  Phillips  Thompson;  Captain 
Thomas  Henry  Tizard,  R.  N. 

Mr.  George  Holt,  of  Liverpool,  last  week  sent  the 
Treasurer  of  the  University  College  there  a  cheque  for  ten 
thousand  pounds  as  endowment  for  a  Chair  of  Physiology,  and 
candidates  for  the  appointment  are  forthwith  to  be  advertised 
for.  It  is  only  a  few  weeks  since  Mr.  Brunner,  M,P.,  sent  a 
similar  cheque  to  endow  a  Chair  of  Political  Economy.  The 
latter  post  has  been  offered  to  and  accepted  by  Mr.  E.  C.  K. 
Gooner. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  has  fixed  4  o'clock  on  Wednesday, 
Jane  17,  for  the  delivery  by  Lord. .  Rayleigh  of  the  first  of  the 
two  lectures  at  the  Royal  Institution  in  connection  with  the 
centenary  of  the  birth  of  Michael  Faraday  ;  and  Friday  evening, 
Jane  26,  at  9  o'clock,  has  been  appointed  for  the  second  of  these 
lectures,  which  will  be  given  by  Prof.  Dewar. 

Students  of  geology  were  sorry  to  hear  of  the  death  of  Dr. 
P.  M.  Duncan,  F.R.S.  He  died  on  May  29  in  his  sixty-seventh 
year.  Df.  Duncan  was  Professor  of  Geology  at  King's  College, 
London,  and  was  intimately  connected  with  the  Geological 
Society,  of  which  he  was  President  in  1876  and  1877.  He  viras 
also  a  member  of  the  Ltnnean  Society. 

Mr.  G.  V.  PooRE,  the  Government  Inspector,  who  has 
recently  drawn  up  a  report  upon  experiments  performed  on 
living  animals  during  the  year  1890,  states  that  during  the  many 
visits  he  has  paid  to  places  licensed  for  the  performance  of  such 
experiments,  it  has  never  fallen  to  his  lot  to  see  a  single  animal 
which  appeared  to  be  in  bodily  pain. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  announce  that  Mr.  J.  Graham- 
Kerr,  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  Naturalist  to  the  Pilco- 
mayo  Expedition^  has  returned  safely  to  this  country,  and  has 
succeeded  in  bringing  with  him  a  portion  of  his  natural  history 
collections.-  As  is  well  known,  the  Bolivia,  in  which  Captain 
Page  and  his  expedition  ascended  the  Pilcomayo,  was  stranHed 
in  that  river,  in  April  1890,  in  the  middle  of  the  Gran  Chaco. 
After  the  death  of  Captain  Page,  which  occurred  while  he  was 
returning  in  a  canoe  down  the  Pilcomayo  to  get  medical  assist- 
ance, the  Bolivia  remained  stuck  fast  nearly  in  one  spot  until 
March  of  this  year,  when  Mr.  Kerr,  finding  the  vessel  still  im- 
movable, and  no  prospects  whatever  of  a  rise  in  the  river,  decided 
to  come  away  as  best  he  could.  After  a  very  rough  journey  he 
reached.  Asuncion  on  mule- back,  bridging  as  many  of  his  light 
things  as  possible,  and  arrived  in  this  country  last  week.  Some 
very  interesting  letters  of  Mr.  Kerr's,  describing  the  natural 
history  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  will  be  found  in  the  two  numbers  of 
the  IHs  for  January  and  April  last. 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


Under  the  will  of  Dr.  Fothergill  (1821),  funds  were  be- 
queathed to  the  Society  of  Arts  for  the  ofTer  of  medals  for  sub- 
jects, in  the  first  instance,  relating  to  the  prevention  of  fire.  A 
Society's  Gold  Medal,  or  ;^20,  is  now  offered  for  the  best  inven- 
tion having  for  its  object  the  prevention  or  extinction  of  fires  in 
theatres  or  other  places  of  public  amusement. 

Mi£ssRS.  Newton  and  Co.  have  been  appointed  philosophical 
instrument  makers  to  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain, 
an  appointment  which  we  believe  has  not  been  held  by  any 
firm  for  some  years. 

Mr.  John  T.  Brunner,  M.P.,  has  been  elected  President 
of  the  Sunday  Society  in  succession  to  Prof.  G.  J.  Romanes. 
Mr.  Brunner  will  deliver  his  presidential  address  at  the  Society's 
public  annual  meeting  on  June  27. 

The  Societe  Botanique  de  France  recently  held  its  annual 
meeting  in  the  little  town  of  Collioure,  near  Perpignan,  on  the 
Mediterranean  coast.  After  the  meeting  many  excursions  were 
made  in  the  neighbourhood,  which  is  interesting  to  botanists. 

On  behalf  of  Prof.  E.  C.  Stirling,  of  the  University  of 
Adelaide,  South  Australia,  Prof.  Newton  communicated  to  the 
Zoological  Society  of  London,  at  its  meeting  last  week,  a  figure 
of  the  new  Australian  Marsupial,  originally  described  by  Dr. 
Stirling  in  this  journal  in  1888  (Nature,  vol.  xxxviii.  p.  588), 
together  with  some  notes  on  this  extraordinary  animal.  Notoryctes 
typhlops^  as  Dr.  Stirling  now  proposes  to  call  it,  is  a  small  mole- 
like animal  belonging  to  the  order  of  Marsupials,  of  which  it 
forms  an  entirely  new  type.  A  general  description  of  it  has 
already  been  given,  as  above  referred  to,  but  Prof.  Stirling  now 
adds  that  the  Marsupial  bones  are  exceedingly  small  nodules, 
and  escaped  his  notice  at  first.  Four  or  five  of  the  cervical 
vertebrae  are  fused,  and  there  is  a  keeled  sternum,  an  enormously 
thick  and  short  first  rib,  which  serves  a  purpose  of  buttressing 
the  sternum  in  lieu  of  coracoids^  and  a  bird-like  pelvis.  The 
penis  is  in  the  uro-genital  canal,  and  the  testes  are  external  in 
front  of  it.  The  eyes  are  mere  spots  underneath  the  skin.  The 
four  specimens  as  yet  received  of  Notoryctes  iyphlops  were  ob- 
tained in  the  centra  of  Australia,  on  the  telegraph  line  between 
Adelaide  and  Port  Darwin.  The  animal  is  said  to  burrow  ia 
the  sand  with  great  rapidity.  A  full  description  of  it,  it  b 
understood,  has  appeared  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  South  Australia,  but  no  copy  of  this  journal  has  as 
yet  reached  England. 

MM.  Gr^hant  and  Quinquaud  conclude  from  some  recent 
experiments  on  dogs  that  under  the  influence  of  alcohol  muscular 
strength  is  much  diminished. 

Prof.  John  M.  Coulter,  the  well-known  botanist,  has  beea 
elected  President  of  the  State  University  of  Indiana,  located  at 
Bloomington ;  and  Dr.  Douglas  H.  Campbell  has  been  ap- 
pointed Associate  Professor  of  Botany  at  the  new  Stanford 
University  of  California. 

According  to  the  Botanical  Gazette,  Mr.  Thomas  Meehan, 
of  Philadelphia,  is  about  to  establish,  in  conjunction  with  his 
sons,  a  new  journal  of  gardening  and  botanical  miscellany.  It 
will  be  called  Afeehan^s  Monthly ^  and  the  first  number  will 
appear  on  July  i. 

We  learn  from  the  Journal  of  Botany  that  Mr.  Worthingtoa 
G.  Smith  is  preparing  for  the  public  gallery  of  the  Botanical 
Department  of  the  British  Museum  a  series  of  96  tables  illus- 
trating the  British  Fungi.  Every  species  of  the  Hymenomycetes 
will  be  figured  in  its  natural  colours,  the  drawings  being  taken 
from  Mr.  Smith's  own  series  already  in  the  Museum,  with 
others  from  original  figures  lent  by  Mr.  Plowright  and  others. 

The  number  oi  Neptuuia  for  April  30  gives  a  brief  descrip- 
tion of  the  following  stations  for  the  study  of  natural  history : — 


136 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


A  marine  zoological  station  has  been  founded  at  Endoame,  near 
Marseilles,  by  Prof.  Marion,  especially  for  the  study  of  the 
fishes  of  the  Mediterranean.  M.  Alphonse  Biosson  is  about  to 
-establish  at  his  own  expense  a  zoological  station  at  Point-de- 
-Grave,  Gironde,  with  the  especial  object  of  promoting  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  ornithology  and  entomology  of  the  district. 
A  marine  station  for  physiology  has  been  opened  at  Tamaris, 
near  Toulon,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  R.  Dubois,  Professor  of 
Physiology  in  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  at  Lyons. 

The  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  has  recently  made  the  fol- 
lowing grants : — ;£^ioo  to  Dr.  Fleischmann,  of  Erlangen,  for 
researches  in  development ;  ;f  30  towards  the  cost  of  publication 
of  Dr.  Krabbe's  work,  ''Development-History  and  Morphology 
of  the  polymorphous  Lichen  Genus  Cladomia " ;  £(xi  to  Dr. 
Hart  wig,  of  Bamberg  Observatory,  towards  a  series  of  observa- 
tions on  variation  of  the  earth's  axis ;  and  £^0  to  Dr.  Schmidt, 
of  Halle,  for  researches  on  the  light  reflected  from  transparent 
bodies. 

The  following  are  subjects  for  prize  competition,  recently 
proposed  by  the  Belgian  Academy  of  Sciences  : — Advancement 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  relation  of  phenomena  of  solution  to 
phenomena  of  combinations  ;  discussion,  on  the  basis  of  new 
-experiments,  of  works  relating  to  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases ; 
perfection  of  the  theory  of  approximative  int^ration,  both  as 
regards  rigour  of  methods  and  facility  of  application  ;  researches 
on  the  embryonal  development  of  a  mammal  belonging  to  an 
order  the  erobryogeny  of  which  has  not  yet  been  investigated  ; 
determination,  by  means  of  palaeontology  and  stratigraphy,  of 
4he  relations  between  formations  referred  by  Dumont  to  his 
Laekenian  and  Tongrian  marine  systems ;  new  researches  on 
the  formation  of  polar  bodies  of  animals.  The  prizes  are  gold 
medals,  of  the  value  of  1000,  800,  and  600  francs.  Papers  to 
be  written  in  French,  Flemish,  or  Latin,  and  sent  to  the 
Secretary  before  August  i,  1892. 

Messrs.  Richard  Fk£:res  have  issued  an  illustrated  cata- 
logue of  measuring,  controlling,  and  self-registering  instruments 
for  scientific  and  industrial  purposes.  A  descriptive  and  illus- 
trated list  of  instruments  has  also  been  published  by  the 
Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument  Company. 

The  series  of  lectures  annually  given  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Botanic  Society  of  London  upon  subjects  connected  with 
botany  came  to  an  end  on  Friday  last,  when  Prof.  Stewart, 
F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society,  addressed  a  large 
number  of  visitors  and  students  upon  "  The  Relationship  between 
Plants  and  Animals."  The  subject,  he  said,  was  one  of  much 
•interest,  as  affording  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  many  ab- 
normal forms  of  vegetable  growth.  This  is  specially  the  case  in 
tropical  countries,  where  the  struggle  for  existence  is  more  in- 
tense than  in  colder  climes  ;  there  the  relationship  is  almost  vital, 
some  plants  providing  .food,  others  shelter,  to  various  kinds  of 
ants,  while  these  pugnacious  insects,  in  turn,  protect  the  plant 
from  damage,  by  attacking  any  living  thing  which  approaches  it. 
One  plant,  known  as  the  buirs-hom  acacia,  of  Central  America, 
provides  a  species  of  ant  not  only  with  food  and  drink,  in 
the  shape  of  tiny  egg-like  bodies  upon  the  leaves — of  which 
the  ants  are  very  fond — and  a  sweet  fluid  in  special  cavities  on 
the  stalk,  but,  in  addition,  furnishes  a  home  in  the  hollow  spines 
with  which  it  is  armed,  these,  when  punctured  by  the  ants, 
swelling  out  into  perfect  miniature  bull's  horns.  In  return  the 
ants  protect  it  from  its  enemies. 

A  SERIES  of  experiments  with  regard  to  evaporation  from  free 
water  surfaces  and  from  earth  saturated  with  water,  in  sun  and 
in  shade,  has  been  recently  made  by  Signor  Battelli  (77  Nuovo 
Cimento).  He  used  three  large  tubs  or  vats,  two  holding  water, 
and  the  third  earth  on  a  grating,  to  which  water  was  admitted 

NO.    I  I  28,  VOL.  44] 


from  a  pipe  entering  the  bottom.  One  water-tnb  and  the  earth- 
tab  stood  a  few  yards  apart  on  the  north  side  of  a  high  wall ; 
the  other  water* tub  was  in  the  open,  and  embedded  in  the  gromid. 
Signor  Battelli's  resiilts  are  thoe  :— The  quantity  of  water  eva- 
porated from  mobt  earth  is  in  general  greater  than  that  from  a 
free  stagnant  water  snriace,  when  the  air  temperature  rises  ;  but 
less,  when  the  latter  falls.  With  increasing  wind-velocity,  eva- 
poration increases  more  rapidly  from  the  water  surface.  The 
moisfeer  the  air,  the  greater  (other  things  equal)  seems  to  be  the 
ratio  of  the  water  evaporated 'from  the  moist  earth  to  that  £nnn 
the  stagnant  water  sarface.  The  evaporation  of  a  water  snrfece 
exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  is  greater  than  that  of  a  shaded  one, 
not  only  by  day,  but  in  the  following  night.  With  rising  tem- 
perature, the  ratio  between  the  water  quantities  firom  theae  two 
surfaces  increases  somewhat  more  quickly ;  with  rising  wind- 
velocity,  this  ratio  diminishes. 

The  Photographic  Journal  of  May  22  prints  a  paper  by  M. 
Leon  Vidal,  on  photographic  methods  of  obtaining  polydno- 
matic  impressions.  One  of  the  writer's  objects  is  to  show  diat 
typographic  and  lithographic  printers  ought  to  find  in  photo- 
graphy ''  one  of  their  principal  auxiliaries."  By  its  aid,  he  says 
their  work  might  be  executed  "more  cheaply,  more  thoroughly, 
and  more  artistically.'' 

On  Sunday,  June  7,  there  was  a  series  of  severe  earthquake 
shodcs  in  Italy.  The  centre  of  the  seismic  movement  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  province  of  Verona,  but  the  disturbance  was 
felt  over  a  wide  area.  At  Verona  three  strong  shocks,  preceded 
by  a  subterranean  noise  like  the  roaring  of  artillery,  are  reported 
to  have  occurred  at  2  o'clock  a.m.  The  inhabitants  mshed  in 
terror  from  their  houses  to  seek  safety  in  the  open  streets  and 
squares.  One  of  the  assistant  mistresses  at  a  boarding-school 
died  of  fright.  A  number  of  chimneys  were  thrown  down  by 
the  oscillation.  Still  more  violent  were  the  eflects  of  the  seismic 
disturbance  at  other  places  in  the  province  of  Verona,  eapeeiaUy 
at  Tregnago  and  Badia-Calavena.  Shocks  more  or  less  severe 
were  experienced  at  Brescia,  Belluno,  Ravenna,  Parma,  Modena, 
and  Ferrara.  The  Central  Meteorological  Bureau  reports  that 
the  earthquake  was  very  strongly  felt  at  Florence,  where  it  awoke 
several  people  from  their  sleep,  'llie  disturbance  also  ex- 
tended to  Rome,  as  was  shown  by  the  seismograph,  the  time 
at  which  the  shock  was  felt  in  Rome  being  6  minutes  and 
40  seconds  after  2  a.m.  In  Verona  and  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts slight  shocks  continued  to  be  felt  on  Monday  and 
Tuesday.  A  large  stream  of  lava  issued  on  Monday  from  the 
new  crater  of  Mount  Vesuvius  at  the  base  of  the  central  cone. 
Signor  Palmieri,  the  Director  of  the  Vesuvian  Observatory,  hokis 
that  this  flow  is  directly  connected  with  the  earthquake  shocks 
in  the  north,  and  points  out  that  seismic  disturbances  in  Italy 
generally  stop  when  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  begins. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Service  of  the  Doaunion 
of  Canada  for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1887,  just  issued, 
it  is  stated  that  nearly  eleven  hundred  warnings  of  approadiinf 
storms  were  issued  by  the  Service  during  the  year,  and  that  of 
these  warnings  972  were  verified,  being  88*9  per  cenL 

We  have  the  pleasure  of  recording  the  issue  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Publications  of  the  Vatican  Observatory,  contain- 
ing astronomical  and  meteorological  observations  for  the  last 
nine  months  of  1890.  This  Observatory  was  first  established 
by  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  for  astronomiod  purposes,  and  was 
used  for  regular  meteorological  observations  from  1 800-1821. 
After  passing  through  several  vicissitudes,  a  proposal  was  made, 
about  the  time  of  the  Vatican  Jubilee  Exhibition  in  1888,  to 
reorganize  the  Observatory,  and  the  present  Pope  accordingly 
re-established  it  on  a  sound  basis,  and  it  is  now  furnished  with 
the  best  instruments  procurable,  both  for  direct  observation 
and  continuous   registration  in  meteorology,  astronomy,  mag- 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


m 


netism,  and  earthquake  phenomeaa.*  It  is  proposed  to  carry  on 
■varioos  researches,  and  to  issue  farther  volumes  from  time  to 
time,  as  soon  as  scfficient  materiab  are  accumulated.  The 
Director  is  Padre  Denza,  the  founder  of  the  Italian  Meteoro- 
logical  Society,  and  Superintendent  of  the  Observatoiy  at 
Moncalieri. 

CoNsiDBRiNG  the  question  of  determination  of  the  evaporating 
power  of  a  climate.  Dr.  Ule  distinguishes  {Met,  ZHtsS)  between 
the  intensity  and  the  speed  of  evaporation.  The  latter  can  be 
well  determined  with  an  instrument  like  Wild's  evaporimeter, 
and  Dr.  Ule  sets  forth,  in  a  table,  the  monthly  data  of  this 
for  Chemnitz,  compared  with  those  of  absolute  humidity, 
"  saturation  deficit,"  and  relative  humidity.  The  agreement  of 
the  last  with  the  evaporimeter  figures  is  much  better  than  that  of 
the  two  others ;  still,  there  is  considerable  discrepance,  and  this 
is  not  explained  (the  author  shows)  by  variations  in  wind- 
intoisity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  data  of  the  psychrometer 
show  a  remarkable  parallelism  with  those  of  the  evaporimeter, 
and  by  taking  wind-variations  into  account  the  agreement  is 
increased.  Thus,  from  psychrometer-differences  and  wind  varia- 
tions, the  evaporative  power  of  a  climate  may  be  correctly 
•estimated  where  an  evaporimeter  is  wanting.  Dr.  Ule  offers  a 
new  formula  for  estimating  the  layer  of  water  evaporated  in  a 
given  time,  and  tests  it  with  two  German  climates,  and  one 
Australian. 

In  an  interesting  paper  on  technical  education  in  agriculture, 
feprinted  from  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society, 
Dr.  W.  Fream  refers  incidentally  to  the  value  of  mathematical 
studies  for  the  agriculturist.  Dr.  Fream*s  professorial  experience 
at  agricultural  colleges  has  convinced  him  that  a  lad  who  is 
luriy  competent  in  mathematical  studies  is  '*a  good  medium  to 
work  upon."  "Those  interested  in  the  welfare  of  any  young 
agriculturiat  shoald  take  care,"  he  says,  "  that  in  his  school  days 
the  study  of  mathematics  is  not  ignored.  The  time  devoted  to 
aoquiring  proficiency  in  arithmetic,  geometry,  mensuration,  and 
the  elements  of  algebra  and  trigonometry — the  latter  really 
indispensable  in  the  case  of  surveying— will  never  be  regretted." 

Those  who  are  interested  in  questions  relating  to  physical 
education  will  find  much  to  please  them  in  an  excellent  paper, 
in  the  June  number  of  Physiquf,  on  natural  history  in  public 
schools,  by  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Preston,  late  Preiident  of  the  Marl- 
borough College  Natural  History  Society.  Many  boys  are  not 
much  attracted  by  games,  and  it  seems  hard  that  in  such  cases 
any  sort  of  compulsion  should  be  used.  Why  not  -have  various 
alternative  ways  of  securing  exercise,  any  one  of  which  might 
be  chosen  ?  Mr.  Preston  shows  with  great  force,  and  in  a  very 
interesting  manner,  with  how  much  advantage  the  study  of 
natural  history  might  in  some  instances  be  substituted  for 
cricket  and  football.  Boys  out  for  a  field  excursion  take  a 
great  deal  more  exercise,  he  maintains,  than  is  ever  taken  at 
•cricket.  *'  With  those  who  are  keen  naturalists,"  he  says, 
"the  mere  exercise  taken  in  any  one  day  (not  in  an  excursion) 
is  often  such  that  it  might  almost  be  said  to  require  moderating. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  if  exercise  alone  Is  to  be 
considered,  a  field  naturalist  will  take  far  more  than  any  one  at 
games." 

Mr.  W.  R.  Hilliek,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  has  written 
a  very  curious  monograph  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Shan  States.  When  a  Shan  becomes  a  father  it  is  considered 
highly  undesirable  that  he  should  drive  pigs,  carry  the  dead, 
bore  holes,  fill  in  holes  in  the  ground,  or  indulge  in  mockery. 
"If  either  sex,"  writes  Mr.  Hillier,  "die  without  marrying, 
the  body,  befoie  burial,  is  banged  against  a  stump,  which  is  at 
the  time  considered  as  representing  the  husband  or  vrife," — a 
ceremony  which  is  supposed  to  guard  against  the  danger  of 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


unrequited  affection  in  the  next  stage  of  existence.  Marriage 
is  simplicity  itself.  A  young  man  takes  a  fancy  to  a  young  lady, 
and  if  the  liking  is  reciprocated,  she  straightway  accompanies  him 
to  his  house  as  his  wife.  Next  day  the  young  man's  parents 
meet  the  parents  of  the  young  lady,  and  after  informing  them 
of  what  has  taken  place,  beg  that  ''they  may  be  forgiven  for 
the  intrusion,"  and  ask  that  a  day  be  fixed  for  the  wedding. 
This  request  being  granted — and  apparently  a  refusal  is  not 
contemplated — the  young  lady  returns  to  her  parents.  Divorce 
is  easy  also,  the  man  merely  giving  his  wife  a  letter  permitting 
her  to  remarry,  and  the  wife  merely  being  required  to  pay  an 
unwilling  husband  thirty  rupees  f  >r  release  from  an  uncongenial 
mate.  As  to  food  the  Shan  is  (not  an  epicure,  eating  ever3rthing 
that  is  eatable  ;  and  indeed  it  is  considered  quite  becoming,  if 
he  only  be  of  high  rank,  to  devour  an  enemy.  This  privilege, 
however,  is  accorded  only  to  Bohs,  or  chiefs.  The  Shan  theory 
of  the  cosmogony  is  that  "the  earth  came  out  of  the  depths  by 
means  of  white  ants." 

Some  further  explorations  have  lately  been  made  on  the  Upper 
Irrawaddy.  Major  Hobday,  of  the  Indian  Survey  Department, 
with  an  escort  of  fifty  Goorkhas,  succeeded  in  getting  as  far 
north  as  latitude  26**  15'  up  the  Malika,  or  right  branch  of  the 
river.  Here  the  local  tribes  began  to  show  opposition,  and  the 
party  could  not  without  fighting  their  way  have  proceeded  further. 
The  point  reached  was,  however,  only  fifty  miles  south  of  that 
which  Colonel  Woodthorpe  gained  a  few  years  ago  in  his  ex- 
plorations from  the  far  north  of  Assam.  This  small  gap  will 
probably  be  crossed  when  the  next  attempt  is  made,  as  by  that 
time  the  wild  tribes  will  have  learned  from  their  neighbours  that 
British  oflScers  have  only  friendly  intentions  towards  them. 
Finding  his  progress  barred  to  the  north,  Major  Hobday  turned 
due  eastwards,  with  the  intention  of  striking  the  Meka,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  main  stream  of  the  Irrawaddy.  After  ex- 
ploring the  course  of  this  river  for  some  distance,  he  will 
journey  back  through  the  hills  along  the  Yunnan  border,  r;ach- 
in^  Bhamo  by  land.  He  will  thus  be  able  to  map  a  consider- 
able extent  of  country. 

An  interesting  synthesis  of  troilite,  the  crystallized  mono- 
sulphide  of  iron,  FeS,  which  is  so  frequently  found  in  meteorites 
and  yet  is  never  found  in  terrestrial  locks,  is  described  by  Dr. 
Richard  Lorenz,  of  Gottingen,  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Btrichte.  A  stream  of  dry  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  was  led 
over  a  bundle  of  iron  wire  contained  in  a  combustion-tube  heated 
in  a  lumace.  As  soon  as  the  wire  became  heated  to  dull  red- 
ness, it  became  ^uite  changed,  becoming  completely  covered 
with  innumerable  brilliant  little  crystals.  These  crystals  pos- 
sessed a  bright  silver- white  lustre  when  first  obtained,  but  after 
a  short  time  reflected  a  pale-green  coloured  light.  On  standing 
for  some  days,  the  crystals  further  changed  in  colour  to  blue  and 
afterwards  to  brown,  without  the  least  change  in  the  form  being 
apparent.  Under  the  microscope  they  appear  to  consist  of  well- 
formed  six-sided  tables  of  a  bright  steel-gray  lustre.  Prof. 
Groth,  the  eminent  crystallographer,  who  has  examined  them, 
pronounces  them  to  be  hemimorphic  hexagonal  in  form,  iso- 
morphous  with  wurtzite,  the  hexagonal  variety  of  zinc  sulphide. 
Any  kind  of  iron  may  be  substituted  for  the  wire ;  whatever  the 
variety  employed,  it  always  becomes  covered  with  a  crust  of 
these  crystals  when  heated  in  a  stream  of  sulphuretted  hydn^en, 
the  only  precaution  necessaiy  being  to  prevent  the  temperature 
from  rising  to  the  melting-point  of  monosulphide  of  iron.  The 
crystals  are  readily  detached  irom  the  iron,  and  upon  analysis 
yield  numbers  very  near  the  theoretical  ones  required  by  FeS. 
The  largest  and  best  developed  individual  crystals  of  troilite  are 
obtained  by  diluting  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  with  an  inert 
gas.  Wurtzite,  sulphide  of  zinc,  ZnS,  may  also  be  readily  arti- 
ficially obtained  in  a  similar  manner  by  passing    sulphuretted 


136 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


A  marine  zoological  stati6D  has  been  founded  at  Endoame,  near 
Marseilles,  by  Prof.  Marion,  especially  for  the  study  of  the 
fishes  of  the  Mediterranean.  M.  Alphonse  Biosson  is  about  to 
•establish  at  his  own  expense  a  zoological  station  at  Point-de- 
■Grave,  Gironde,  with  the  especial  object  of  promoting  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  ornithology  and  entomology  of  the  district. 
A  marine  station  for  physiology  has  been  opened  at  Tamaris, 
near  Toulon,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  R.  Dubois,  Professor  of 
Physiology  in  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  at  Lyons. 

The  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  has  recently  made  the  fol- 
lowing grants : — ;£'ioo  to  Dr.  Fleischmann,  of  Erlangen,  for 
researches  in  development ;  ;f  30  towards  the  cost  of  publication 
of  Dr.  Krabbe's  work,  '*  Development- History  and  Morphology 
of  the  polymorphous  Lichen  Genus  Cladamia " ;  £(xi  to  Dr. 
Hartwig,  of  Bamberg  Observatory,  towards  a  series  of  observa- 
tions on  variation  of  the  earth's  axis  ;  and  ;f  40  to  Dr.  Schmidt, 
-of  Halle,  for  researches  on  the  light  reflected  from  transparent 
bodies. 

The  following  are  subjects  for  prize  competition,  recently 
proposed  by  the  Belgian  Academy  of  Sciences  : — Advancement 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  relation  of  phenomena  of  solution  to 
phenomena  of  combinations  ;  discussion,  on  the  basis  of  new 
experiments,  of  works  relating  to  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases ; 
perfection  of  the  theory  of  approximative  integration,  both  as 
r^ards  rigour  of  methods  and  facility  of  application  ;  researches 
on  the  embryonal  development  of  a  mammal  belonging  to  an 
order  the  erobryogeny  of  which  has  not  yet  been  investigated  ; 
determination,  by  means  of  palaeontology  and  stratigraphy,  of 
the  relations  between  formations  referred  by  Dumont  to  his 
Laekenian  and  Tongrian  marine  systems;  new  researches  on 
the  formation  of  polar  bodies  of  animals.  The  prizes  are  gold 
medals,  of  the  value  of  1000,  Soo,  and  600  francs.  Papers  to 
be  written  in  French,  Flemish,  or  Latin,  and  sent  to  the 
Secretary  before  August  i,  1892. 

Messrs.  Richard  Fr£:res  have  issued  an  illustrated  cata- 
logue of  measuring,  controlling,  and  self-registering  instruments 
for  scientific  and  industrial  purposes.  A  descriptive  and  illus- 
trated list  of  instruments  has  also  been  published  by  the 
•Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument  Company. 

The  series  of  lectures  annually  given  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Botanic  Society  of  London  upon  subjects  connected  with 
botany  came  to  an  end  on  Friday  last,  when  Prof.  Stewart, 
F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society,  addressed  a  large 
number  of  visitors  and  students  upon  '*  The  Relationship  between 
Plants  and  Animals."  The  subject,  he  said,  was  one  of  much 
interest,  as  affording  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  many  ab- 
normal forms  of  vegetable  growth.  This  is  specially  the  case  in 
tropical  countries,  where  the  struggle  for  existence  is  more  in- 
tense than  in  colder  climes  ;  there  the  relationship  is  almost  vital, 
some  plants  providing  .food,  others  shelter,  to  various  kinds  of 
ants,  while  these  pugnacious  insects,  in  turn,  protect  the  plant 
from  damage,  by  attacking  any  living  thing  which  approaches  it. 
One  plant,  known  as  the  bnirs-horn  acacia,  of  Central  America, 
provides  a  species  of  ant  not  only  with  food  and  drink,  in 
the  shape  of  tiny  egg- like  bodies  upon  the  leaves — of  which 
the  ants  are  very  fond — and  a  sweet  fluid  in  special  cavities  on 
the  stalk,  but,  in  addition,  furnishes  a  home  in  the  hollow  spines 
with  which  it  is  armed,  these,  when  punctured  by  the  ants, 
swelling  out  into  perfect  miniature  bull's  horns.  In  return  the 
ants  protect  it  from  its  enemies. 

A  SERIES  of  experiments  with  regard  to  evaporation  from  free 
water  surfaces  and  from  earth  saturated  with  water,  in  sun  and 
in  shade,  has  been  recently  made  by  Signer  Battelli  (Jl  Nu<n}o 
Cimento).  He  used  three  large  tubs  or  vats,  two  holding  water, 
jind  the  third  earth  on  a  grating,  to  which  water  was  admitted 

NO.   II 28,  VOL.  44] 


from  a  pipe  entering  the  bottom.  One  water-tub  and  the  earth- 
tab  stood  a  few  yards  apart  on  the  north  side  of  a  high  wall ; 
the  other  water-tub  was  in  the  open,  and  embedded  in  the^roond. 
Signor  Battelli's  resiilts  are  thoe  :— The  quantity  of  water  eva- 
porated from  moist  earth  is  in  general  greater  than  that  from  a 
free  stagnant  water  surface,  when  the  air  temperature  rises  ;  bot 
less,  when  the  latter  falls.  With  increasing  wind-velocity,  eva- 
poration increases  more  rapidly  from  the  water  surface.  The 
moiater  the  air,  the  greater  (other  things  equal)  seems  to  be  the 
ratio  of  the  water  evaponated'from  the  moist  earth  to  that  fiom 
the  stagnant  water  snrface.  The  evaporation  of  a  water  snr&ce 
exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  is  greater  than  that  of  a  shaded  one, 
not  only  by  day,  but  in  the  following  night.  With  rising  tem- 
perature, the  ratio  between  the  water  quantities  from  these  two 
surfaces  increases  somewhat  more  quickly ;  with  rising  wind- 
velocity,  this  ratio  diminishes. 

The  Photographic  Journal  of  May  22  prints  a  paper  by  M. 
L^n  Vidal,  on  photographic  methods  of  obtaining  polydup- 
matic  impressions.  One  of  the  writer's  objects  is  to  aAiow  that 
typographic  and  lithographic  printers  ought  to  find  in  photo- 
graphy "  one  of  their  principal  auxiliaries."  By  its  aid,  he  says, 
their  work  might  be  executed  "more  cheaply,  more  tfaoronghly, 
and  more  artistically." 

On  Sunday,  June  7,  there  was  a  series  of  severe  earthquake 
shodcs  in  Italy.  The  centre  of  the  seismic  movement  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  province  of  Verona,  but  the  disturbance  was 
felt  over  a  wide  area.  At  Verona  three  strong  shocks,  preceded 
by  a  subterranean  noise  like  the  roaring  of  artillery,  are  reported 
to  have  occurred  at  2  o'clock  a.m.  The  inhabitants  rushed  in 
terror  from  their  houses  to  seek  safety  in  the  open  streets  and 
squares.  One  of  the  assistant  mistresses  at  a  boarding-school 
died  of  fright.  A  number  of  chimneys  were  thrown  down  by 
the  oscillation.  Still  more  violent  were  the  effects  of  the  seismic 
disturbance  at  other  places  in  the  province  of  Verona,  e^>eci8]ly 
at  Tregnago  and  Badia-Calavena.  Shocks  more  or  less  severe 
were  experienced  at  Brescia,  Belluno,  Ravenna,  Parma,  Modena, 
and  Ferrara.  The  Central  Meteorological  Bureau  reports  that 
the  earthquake  was  very  strongly  felt  at  Florence,  where  it  awoke 
several  people  from  their  sleep.  The  disturbance  also  ex- 
tended to  Roue,  as  was  shown  by  the  seismograph,  the  time 
at  which  the  shock  was  felt  in  Rome  being  6  minutes  and 
40  seconds  after  2  a.m.  In  Verona  and  the  snrronnding  dis- 
tricts slight  shocks  continued  to  be  felt  on  Monday  aud 
Tuesday.  A  large  stream  of  lava  issued  on  Monday  from  the 
new  crater  of  Mount  Vesuvius  at  the  base  of  the  oentml  cone. 
Signor  Palmieri,  the  Director  of  the  Vesuvian  Observatory,  holds 
that  this  flow  is  directly  connected  with  the  earthquake  shocks 
in  the  north,  and  points  out  that  seismic  disturbances  in  Italy 
generally  stop  when  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  begins. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Service  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1887,  just  issued, 
it  b  stated  that  nearly  eleven  hundred  warnings  of  approaching 
storms  were  issued  by  the  Service  during  the  year,  and  that  of 
these  warnings  972  were  verified,  being  88*9  per  cent. 

We  have  the  pleasure  of  recording  the  issue  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Publications  of  the  Vatican  Observatory,  contain' 
ing  astronomical  and  meteorological  observations  for  the  last 
nine  months  of  1890.  This  Observatory  was  first  established 
by  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  for  astronomiod  purposes,  and  was 
used  for  regular  meteorological  observations  from  1 800- 1821. 
After  passing  through  several  vicissitudes,  a  proposal  was  made, 
about  the  time  of  the  Vatican  Jubilee  Exhibition  in  1888,  to 
reorganize  the  Observatory,  and  the  present  Pope  accordingly 
re-established  it  on  a  sound  basis,  and  it  is  now  furnished  with 
the  best  instruments  procurable,  both  for  direct  observatiou 
and  continuous   registration  in  meteorology,  astronomy,  mag- 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


m 


netism,  and  earthquake  phenomena.'  It  is  proposed  to  carry  on 
'▼arious  researches,  and  to  issue  farther  volumes  from  time  to 
time,   as  soon  as  sufficient  materiab  are  accumulated.     The 

IMrector  is  Padre  Denza,  the  founder  of  the  Italian  Meteoro- 
logical    Society,  and  Superintendent    of  the  Ohservatoiy  at 

Moncalieri 

Considering  the  question  of  determination  of  the  evaporating 

power  of  a  climate,  Dr.  Ule  distinguishes  {Met,  Znts,)  between 

the  inteosity  and  the  speed  of  evaporation.     The  latter  can  be 

"well  determined  with  an  instrument  like  Wild's  evaporimeter, 

and  Dr.  Ule  sets  forth,  in  a  table,  the  monthly  data  of  this 

for   Chemnitz,    compared    with    those    of    absolute  humidity, 

"  saturation  deficit,"  and  relative  humidity.     The  agreement  of 

the  last  with  the  evaporimeter  figures  is  much  better  than  that  of 

the  two  others ;  still,  there  \s  considerable  discrepance,  and  this 

is  not  explained  (the  author  shows)  by  variations  in  wind- 

intenaaty.     On  the  other  hand,  the  data  of  the  psychrometer 

«how  a  remarkable  parallelism  with  those  of  the  evaporimeter, 

smd  by  taking  wind-variations  into    account  the  agreement  is 

increased.    Thus,  from  psychrometer-differences  and  wind  varia- 

tioDS,  the  evaporative  power  of  a  climate  may  be   correctly 

estimated  where  an  evaporimeter  is  wanting.     Dr.  Ule  offers  a 

new  formula  for  estimating  the  layer  of  water  evaporated  in  a 

^iven  time,  and  tests  it  with  two  German  climates,  and  one 

Australian. 

Ifi  an  interesting  paper  on  technical  education  in  agriculture, 
reprinted  from  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society, 
Dr.  W.  Fream  refers  incidentally  to  the  value  of  mathematical 
•sUKlies  for  the  agriculturist.  Dr.  Fream's  professorial  experience 
at  agricultural  colleges  has  convinced  him  that  a  lad  who  is 
£urly  competent  in  mathematical  studies  is  '*a  good  medium  to 
work  upon."  "Those  interested  in  the  welfare  of  any  young 
agricnltnri»t  should  take  care,"  he  says,  "  that  in  his  school  days 
the  study  of  mathematics  b  not  ignored.  The  time  devoted  to 
acquiring  proficiency  in  arithmetic,  geometry,  mensuration,  and 
the  elements  of  algebra  and  trigonometry — the  latter  really 
indispensable  in  the  case  of  surveying— will  never  be  regretted." 

Those  who  are  interested  in  questions  relating  to  physical 
education  will  find  much  to  please  them  in  an  excellent  paper, 
an  the  June  number  of  Physiqtie^  on  natural  history  in  public 
acfaools,  by  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Preston,  late  Preiident  of  the  Marl- 
boroogh  College  Natural  History  Society.  Many  boys  are  not 
cnncfa  attracted  by  games,  and  it  seems  hard  that  in  such  cases 
any  sort  of  compulsion  should  be  used.  Why  not  -have  various 
alternative  wajrs  of  securing  exercise,  any  one  of  which  might 
be  chosen  ?  Mr.  Preston  shows  with  great  force,  and  in  a  very 
interesting  manner,  with  how  much  advantage  the  study  of 
oatnral  history  might  in  some  instances  be  substituted  for 
cricket  and  football.  Boys  out  for  a  field  excursion  take  a 
great  deal  more  exercise,  he  maintains,  than  is  ever  taken  at 
•cricket.  *'  With  those  who  are  keen  naturalists,"  he  says, 
"the  mere  exercise  taken  in  any  one  day  (not  in  an  excursion) 
is  often  such  that  it  might  almost  be  said  to  require  moderating. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  if  exercise  alone  is  to  be 
considered,  a  field  naturalist  will  take  far  more  than  any  one  at 


Mk.  W.  R.  Hilliek,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  has  written 
a  very  curious  monograph  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Shan  States.  When  a  Shan  becomes  a  father  it  is  considered 
highly  undesirable  that  he  should  drive  pigs,  carry  the  dead, 
bore  holes,  fill  in  holes  in  the  ground,  or  indulge  in  mockery. 
"If  either  sex,"  writes  Mr.  Hillier,  "die  without  marrying, 
the  body,  befoie  burial,  is  banged  against  a  stump,  which  is  at 
the  time  considered  as  representing  the  husband  or  wife," — ^a 
ceremony  which  is  supposed  to  guard  against  the  danger  of 

NO.   1 1 28,  VOL.  44] 


unrequited  affection  in  the  next  stage  of  existence.  Marriage 
is  simplicity  itself.  A  young  man  takes  a  fancy  to  a  young  lady, 
and  if  the  liking  is  reciprocated,  she  straightway  accompanies  him 
to  his  house  as  his  wife.  Next  day  the  young  man*s  parents 
meet  the  parents  of  the  young  lady,  and  after  informing  them 
of  what  has  taken  place,  beg  that  "they  may  be  forgiven  for 
the  intrusion,"  and  ask  that  a  day  be  fixed  for  the  wedding. 
This  request  being  granted — and  apparently  a  refusal  is  not 
contemplated — the  young  lady  returns  to  her  parents.  Divorce 
is  easy  also,  the  man  merely  giving  his  wife  a  letter  permitting 
her  to  remarry,  and  the  wife  merely  being  required  to  pay  an 
unwilling  husband  thirty  rupees  f  >r  release  from  an  uncongenial 
mate.  As  to  food  the  Shan  is  (not  an  epicure,  eating  everything 
that  is  eatable  ;  and  indeed  it  is  considered  quite  becoming,  if 
he  only  be  of  high  rank,  to  devour  an  enemy.  This  privilege, 
however,  is  accorded  only  to  Bohs,  or  chiefs.  The  Shan  theory 
of  the  cosmogony  is  that  "the  earth  came  out  of  the  depths  by 
means  of  white  ants." 

Some  further  explorations  have  lately  been  made  on  the  Upper 
Irrawaddy.  Major  Hobday,  of  the  Indian  Survey  Department, 
with  an  escort  of  fifty  Goorkhas,  succeeded  in  getting  as  far 
north  as  latitude  26**  15'  up  the  Malika,  or  right  branch  of  the 
river.  Here  the  local  tribes  began  to  show  opposition,  and  the 
party  could  not  without  fighting  their  way  have  proceeded  further. 
The  point  reached  was,  however,  only  fifty  miles  south  of  that 
which  Colonel  Woodthorpe  gained  a  few  years  ago  in  his  ex- 
plorations from  the  far  north  of  Assam.  This  small  gap  will 
probably  be  crossed  when  the  next  attempt  is  made,  as  by  that 
time  the  wild  tribes  will  have  learned  from  their  neighbours  that 
British  officers  have  only  friendly  intentions  towards  them. 
Finding  his  progress  barred  to  the  north,  Major  Hobday  turned 
due  eastwards,  with  the  intention  of  striking  the  Meka,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  main  stream  of  the  Irrawaddy.  After  ex- 
ploring the  course  of  this  river  for  some  distance,  he  will 
journey  back  through  the  hills  along  the  Yunnan  border,  r;ach- 
ing  Bhamo  by  land.  He  will  thus  be  able  to  map  a  consider- 
able extent  of  country. 

An  interesting  synthesis  of  troilite,  the  crystallized  mono- 
sulphide  of  iron,  FeS,  which  is  so  frequently  found  in  meteorites 
and  yet  is  never  found  in  terrestrial  rocks,  is  described  by  Dr. 
Richard  Lorenz,  of  Gottingen,  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Btrickte,  A  stream  of  dry  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  was  led 
over  a  bundle  of  iron  wire  contained  in  a  combustion-tube  heated 
in  a  lumace.  As  soon  as  the  wire  became  heated  to  dull  red- 
ness, it  became  ^\Xit  changed,  becoming  completely  covered 
with  innumerable  brilliant  little  crystals.  These  crysUls  pos- 
sessed a  bright  silver-white  lustre  when  first  obtained,  but  after 
a  short  time  reflected  a  pale-green  coloured  light.  On  standing 
for  some  days,  the  crystals  further  changed  in  colour  to  blue  and 
afterwards  to  brown,  without  the  least  change  in  the  form  being 
apparent.  Under  the  microscope  they  appear  to  consist  of  well- 
formed  six-sided  tables  of  a  bright  steel-gray  lustre.  Prof. 
Groth,  the  eminent  crystallographer,  who  has  examined  them, 
pronounces  them  to  be  hemimorphic  hexagonal  in  form,  iso- 
morphous  with  wurtzite,  the  hexagonal  variety  of  zinc  sulphide. 
Any  kind  of  iron  may  be  substituted  for  the  wire ;  whatever  the 
variety  employed,  it  always  becomes  covered  with  a  crust  of 
these  crystals  when  heated  in  a  stream  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
the  only  precaution  necessary  being  to  prevent  the  temperature 
from  rising  to  the  melting-point  of  monosulphide  of  iron.  The 
crystals  are  readily  detached  from  the  iron,  and  upon  analysis 
yield  numbers  very  near  the  theoretical  ones  required  by  FeS. 
The  largest  and  best  developed  individual  crystals  of  troilite  are 
obtained  by  diluting  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  with  an  inert 
gas.  Wurtzite,  sulphide  of  zinc,  ZnS,  may  also  be  readily  arti- 
ficially obtained  in  a  similar  manner  by  passing   sulphuretted 


138 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


hydrogen  over  zinc  heated  to  whiteness  in  a  porcelain  tube  in  a 
Schlosing  furnace.  When  the  lube,  which  is  allowed  to  cool  in 
the  stream  of  gas,  is  broken,  immediately  beyond  the  portion 
which  has  been  heated  in  the  furnace  a  beautiful  sublimate  of 
crystals  of  wurtzite  is  found.  They  consist  of  well-developed 
hexagonal  prisms,  somewhat  transparent  and  of  a  yellow  colour, 
exhibiting,  according  to  Prof.  Groth,  their  bemimorphic  nature 
in  a  most  decided  manner.  In  a  similar  way  also  Dr.  Lorenz 
has  artificially  prepared  greenockite,  sulphide  of  cadmium, 
CdS.  This  synthesis  is  perhaps  the  easiest  of  all  to  effect,  and 
it  may  readily  be  conducted  in  an  ordinary  combust  ion -tube. 
The  metallic  cadmium  is  placed  in  a  porcelain  boat,  and  com- 
mences to  react  with  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  at  a  temperature 
just  below  its  boiling-point.  As  soon  as  this  temperature  is 
attained,  the  porcelain  boat  and  the  portion  of  the  tube  beyond 
it  become  covered  with  magnificent  long  yellow  skewer-like 
crystals  of  greenockite,  which  Prof.  Groth  finds  to  be  of  two 
kinds,  hexagonal  prisms  isomorphous  with  troilite  and  wurtzite, 
and  a  new  form  of  greenockite  consisting  of  monoclinic  crystals. 
Dr.  Lorenz  has  further  artificially  prepared  millerite,  the  sulphide 
of  nickel,  NiS,  by  the  same  method,  obtaining  in  this  case  very 
minute  but  undoubtedly  hexagonal  crystals  isomorphous  with 
the  three  other  sulphides  above  described. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  (Macacus  cynomolgns  9  ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  Walter  Fraser  ;  a  Rhesus  Monkey 
{Afacacus  rhesus  9  )  from  India,  presented  by  Colonel  Beresford  ; 
a  Great  Black-headed  Gull  [Larus  ichihyaiUus)  from  the  Persian 
Gulf,  four  Macqueen's  Bustards  {Houhara  macqueeni  <J  <J  9  9  ) 
from  Western  Asia,  three  Chaplin  Crows  (Corvus  capeilanus) 
from  Persia,  presented  by  Mr.  B.  T.  Ffinch,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  a 
Diamond  Snake  {Morelia  spilotes)  from  New  South "  Wales, 
presented  by  Mr.  J.  Hellberg  ;  a  Common  Viper  ( Vipera  berus) 
from  Hampshire,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  H.  B.  Pain  ;  two 
Piapecs  {Piiiostomus  senegalensis)  from  West  Africa,  purchased  ; 
a  Collared  Fruit  Bat  {Cynonycteris  collaris\  four  North  African 
Jackals  {Cants  anthus)^  two  Partridge  Bronze- wing  Pigeons 
(Geophaps  scripta)^  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Spectra  of  Double  Stars. — A  note  on  "  The  Dis- 
covery of  Double  Stars  by  means  of  their  Spectra  "  is  contributed 
by  Prof.E.  C.  Pickering  io  Asironomische  Ncuhrichten^  No.  3034. 
When  the  components  of  a  close  binary  system  have  similar 
spectra,  relative  orbital  motion  in  the  line  of  sight  may  cause  a 
periodic  doubling  of  the  lines.  But  if  the  s'pectra  be  not  similar 
any  lines  common  to  both  ought  to  be  conspicuously  strong,  and, 
provided  the  components  have  not  equal  and  opposite  velocities  in 
the  line  of  sight,  ought  also  to  be  displaced  with  reference  to 
other  lines.  Thus,  if  one  component  of  a  clobe  binary  system 
has  a  Group  V.  spectrum,  like  our  sun,  and  the  other  a  Group 
IV.  spectrum,  in  which  strongly  marked  hydrogen  Imes  is  the 
main  feature,  the  resulting  spectrum  will  have  a  composite 
character,  and  careful  measurements  should  >how  that  the  position 
of  the  hydrogen  line  is  periodically  displaced  when  compared 
with  the  lines  characteristic  of  the  solar-type  spectrum,  a  Canis 
Majoris  is  the  brightest  star  having  this  composite  spectrum,  and 
the  wave-length  of  the  hydr(^en  line  G,  derived  from  a  com- 
parison  with  three  lines  of  greater  and  three  lines  of  smaller 
wave-length,  was  434*09,  which  exceeds  that  derived  from  the 
solar  spectrum  by  0*03.  Similar  measures  of  the  hydrogen  line 
//  gave  a  wave-length  of  410*22,  which  also  exceeds  that  in  the 
solar  spectrum  by  0*03.  From  this  displacement  it  would 
appear  that  if  the  phenomenon  is  due  to  the  relative  motion  of  a 
faint  component,  it  is  receding  at  the  rate  of  20  kilimetres  per 
second,  as  compared  with  the  bright  component.  An  examina- 
tion shows  that  the  following  stars  have  the  composite  spectrum 
referred  to  :  7  Andromedse,  H.P.  650,  €  Booiis,  a  Scorpii,  and 
^  Cygni,  all  of  which  are  known  to  be  double  ;  also  ir  Persei, 
(  Aurigse,  8  Sagittarii,  31  Cygni,  and  3  Capricomi.  In  the  . 
cases  of  the  last  two,  the  spectra  of  the  distant  companions  are  | 

NO.    I  128,  VOL.  44] 


distinctly  separated  from  those  of  the  chief  stars.  Although  tke 
strong  hydrogen  lines  in  the  spectra  investigated  maybedneio 
the  presence  of  a  faint  companion,  their  intensity  may  aUo  Ik 
due  to  many  other  cau-^es.  Thus,  the  strong  hydrogen  lines  ii 
the  solar  spectrum  are  not  due  to  the  integration  of  the  spectna 
of  the  sun  and  that  of  a  companion.  It  is  necessary,  therefore, 
to  determine  whether  the  displacement  is  subject  to  a  pcrioiii: 
variation  or  not,  in  order  to  test  this  method  of  discovering  dos 
binaries. 

The  Perse  id  Radiant. — At  the  St.  Petersbuiig  Acadca? 
of  Sciences,  on  April  22,  M.  Bredichm  concluded,  from  ik 
meteor  observations  made  at  Pulkova  by  ten  astronocnen  is 
August  1890,  **  le  courant  des  aerolithes  n'est  pas  delimite  ^«r 
un  point  ou  un  petit  rond,  mais  presente  une  surface  constderatik 
parsem^e  de  radiants." 


THE  FLORA  OF  DIAMOND  ISLAND. 

r^IAMOND  ISLAND  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Basseio 
^^  River,  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  about  five  miles  from  Pago& 
Point  and  eight  miles  from  'Capb  Negrais,  and  in  about  16*"  N. 
lat.  It  is  of  sandstone  formation,  somewhat  exceeds  a  squR 
mile  in  area,  being  about  twice  as  long  as  broad,  and  the  ceotral 
part  is  a  kind  of  plateau  60  feet  or  so  above  the  level  of  th« 
sea.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  clearing  for  a  telegr^b 
station,  the  island  is  densely  wooded  down  to  the  sea,  bat  tbm 
is  no  mangrove  belt  on  any  part  of  the  sandy  coast,  unless  t 
be  considered  as  represented  by  a  few  patches  pf  Aviuntm 
officinalis.  Thus  is  the  island  described,  though  in  greatsr 
detail,  by  Dr.  D.  Prain,  Curator  of  the  Herbarium  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Garden,  Calcutta,  who  has  visited  the  island  in  H.M 
Indian  Marine  Survey  steamer  Investigator^  commanded  by  R. 
F.  Hoskyn,  R.N.  Dr.  Prain  has  published  an  elaborate  aos- 
lytical  account  of  the  Bora  in  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Sodcf  j 
of  Bengal.  He  collected  eighty-six  species  of  flowering  plants 
three  ferns,  and  four  funguses,  among  which  there  was  not  a 
single  novelty.  The  enumeration  includes  a  number  of  culti- 
vated plants,  among  them  the  coco-nut  palm  ;  but  these  are  all  of 
recent  introduction.  It  is  supposed  that  the  island  was  not  pre* 
viously  inhabited,  and  therefore  that  the  v^etation  of  the  dense 
wood  overspreading  the  island  is  quite  natural.  The  most  in- 
teresting fact  brought  out  is  the  evident  affinity  with  the  soioe- 
what  distant  Andaman  flora,  pointing  to  a  former  cooneciioB. 
The  Report  is  also  valuable  to  the  student  of  plant-distribmioD 
for  the  details  it  contains  of  the  habitats  and  relative  frequeocy 
of  the  component  species  of  the  vegetation. 

W.   BOTTING   HeMSLEY. 


UNI  VERS  I  TV  AND  ED  UCA  TIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE, 

Cambridge.— Lord  Walsingham,  F.R.S.,the  High  Steward 
elect,  has  issued  a  letter  of  thanks  to  ihe  Senate,  in  whidi  he 
promises  to  maintain  the  highest  traditions  of  "our  beloved 
University." 

W.  M.  Hicks,  F.R.S..  laie  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  and 
Principal  of  Firth  College,  Sheffield,  has  t)een  approved  for  the 
degree  of  Doctor  in  Science.  Dr.  Hicks  is  the  author  of  manj 
important  memoirs  in  mathematical  physics,  and  of  an  approved 
text- book  of. dynamics. 

Prof,  r^ewton  has  been  appointed  a  Manager  of'  the  Balfonr 
Studentship  Fund  for  five  years. 

A.  H.  L.  Newstead,  Scholar  of  Christ's,  and  E.  W.  Mac- 
Bride,  Scholar  of  St.  John's,  and  President  of  the  Union  Society, 
have  beep,  nominated  for  research  work  at  the  Naples  Zoologidil 
Station. 

The  Syndicate  appointed  for  the  purpose  have  selected  a  site 
for  the  Sedgwick  Memorial  Museum  on  the  old  Botanic  Garden 
area,  with  a  frontage  to  Downing  Street.  The  proposed  Museum 
will  lie  between  the  new  Chemical  Laboratory  and  the  old 
Anatomical  School,  and  complete  one  quadrangle  of  the  ne* 
Museums  group. 

The  following  distinguished  persons  are  proposed  recipienis 
of  honorary  degrees  on  June  16  :-rl.ord  Walsingham,  F.R.S., 
the  Marquis  of  Dufferin  and  Ava,  K.P.,  G.C.B.,  Prof.  Rodolf 
von  Gneist,  of  Berlin,  Sir  Alfred  Lyall,  K.C.B.,  Sir  Archibald 
Geikie,  F.R.S..  Antonin  DvofAk,  Prof.  Karl  Weterstrass,  of 
Berlin,  A.  H.  Taine,  member  of  the  French  Academy,  Dr. 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


^39 


£liats  Metschnikoff,  Directorof  the  Paris  Pasteur  Institute,  Prof. 
iV.  H.  Flower,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky. 

Delegates  from  the  seventh  International  Congress  of  Hygiene 
ind  DeoQography  will  be  received  by  the  Vice-Chancellor  in  the 
Senate  House  on  Saturday,  August  15. 

The  Museums  Association  hold  their  annual  meeting  in  July 
in  the  buildings  lately  erected  for  the  departments  of  Anatomy 
and  Physiology. 

Prof.  Foster  is  appointed  by  the  University  a  Member  of 
Council  of  the  Marine  Biological  Association. 

The  reference  to  the  Syndicate  on  the  question  of  Greek  in 
the  Previous  Examination  has  been  enlarged  to  include  Latin 
also,  and  will  be  decided  on  by  the  Senate  early  in  the  October 
term.  An  animated  discussion  on  the  question  took  place  in 
the  Arts  School,  in  which  the  claims  of  modem  (non-classical) 
education  for  consideration  by  the  University  were  strongly  pat 
forward  by  men  of  the  highest  classical  distinction. 

Mr.  J.  N.  Keynes,  the  Secretary  for  the  Local  Examinations, 
has  been  approved  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Science. 

An  election  to  an  Isaac  Newton  Studentship  will  take  place  in 
October.  The  value  is  ;^200  a  year  for  three  years  from  April 
15,  1891.  Candidates  are  to  send  their  names  and  testimonials 
to  the  Vice-Chancellor  between  October  i  and  10. 

It  is  proposed  to  affiliate  the  University  to  the  University  of 
Adelaide,  South  Australia. 

The  General  Board  of  Studies  propose  that  Dr.  Ruhemann, 
hitherto  Assistant  to  Prof.  Dewar,  shall  be  appointed  a  Univer- 
sity Lecturer  in  Organic  Chemistry. 

A  room  in  the  new  Physiological  Laboratory  is  to  be  set  aside 
for  Psychophysics,  and  a  grant  of  £<^o  for  instruments  is 
recommended  by  the  General  Board. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  University  Observatory  contains  a 
good  record  of  work  done  and  in  progress.  Prof.  Adams  is  to 
he  congratulated  on  the  satisfactory  way  in  which,  notwith- 
standing  his  long  and  severe  illness,  the  Observatory  has  been 
conducted. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  May  14.— "On  the  Theory  of  Electro- 
dynamics." By  J.  Lirmor,  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College, 
Cammdge.     Communicated  by  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson,  F.  R.S. 

The  electrical  ideas  of  Clerk  Maxwell,  which  were  cultivated 
partly  in  relation  to  mechanical  models  of  electrodynamic  action, 
led  him  to  the  general  principle  that  electrical  currents  always 
flow  round  complete  circuits. 

When  this  principle  of  circuital  currents  is  postulated,  the 
theory  of  electrodynamics  is  reduced  to  the  Ampere- Neumann 
theory  of  complete  circuits,  of  which  the  truth  has  been  fully 
established.  It  leads,  as  shown  by  Maxwell,  to  the  propagation 
of  electrical  action  in  dielectric  media  by  waves  of  transverse 
electric  displacement,  which  have  the  intimate  relations  to  waves 
of  light  that  are  now  well  known. 

The  problem  of  determining  how  far  these  remarkable  con- 
clusions will  still  hold  good  when  a  more  general  view  of  the 
nature  of  dielectric  polarization  is  assumed  was  considered  by 
von  Helmholtz  in  a  series  of  memoirs. 

The  roost  general  conception  of  the  polarization  of  a  medium 
which  has  been  formed  is  the  Poisson  theory  of  magnetization. 
The  magnetized  element,  whether  actuallv  produced  by  the 
orientation  of  polar  molecules,  or  otherwise,  may  be  mathe- 
matically considered  to  be  formed  by  the  displacement  of  a 
quantity  of  ideal  magnetic  matter  from  its  negative  to  its  posi- 
tive pole,  thereby  producing  defect  at  the  one  end,  and  excess 
at  the  other  end.  The  element  is  defined  magnetically  by  its 
moment,  which  is  the  product  of  the  displaced  quantity  and  the 
distance  through  which  it  is  displaced.  The  displacement  per 
unit  volume,  ipeasured  by  this  product,  is  equal  to  the  magnetic 
moment  per  unit  volume,  whether  the  magnetized  molecules  fill 
up  the  whole  of  that  volume  or  are  a  system  of  discrete  particles 
with  unoccupied  space  between  them. 

In  the  electric  analogue  we  replace  ideal  magnetic  matter  by 
ideal  electric  •  matter ;  the  displacement  thus  measured  consti- 
tutes the  electric  displacement,  and  its  rate  of  change  per  unit 
time  represents  the  displacement  current  in  the  dielectric.  We 
have  to  consider  whether  a  displacement  current  of  this  type  suf- 
fices to  make  all  electric  currents  circuital  ;  and  it  will  be  suffi- 
cient and  convenient  to  examine  the  case  of  a  condenser  which 

NO.    IT 28,  VOL.  44] 


is  charged  through  a  wire  connecting  its  two  plates.  In  the 
first  place,  this  notion  of  electric  displacement  leads  to  the  same 
distribution  of  potential  between  the  plates  as  the  ordinary  one, 
adopted  by  Maxwell  ;  for  i^  the  theory  of  induced  magnetism 
there  occurs  a  vector  quantity  of  circuital  character,  the  mag- 
netic induction  of  Maxwell,  of  which  the  components  are 
-ti{dWldx)t  -ti[i/V/dy),  -fi{dV/dz),  and  which,  therefore, 
eads  to  the  characteristic  equation  of  the  potential 

d  (     i/V\  ^   d  (     dV\  ^    d  {     dV\       ^ 


corresponding  to  the  one  given  above.     If  the  displacement  in 
the  dielectric  is  -K{dV/dx),  -K{dW/dy),  -  K{dV/dz),  ihtn 

/lA  =  I  -f-  4irK, 

The  displacement  in  a  unit  cube  may,  of  course,  be  considered 
as  a  displacement  across  the  opposite  faces  of  the  cube. 

Now,  considering  the  case  of  a  plane  condenser,  let  F  be  the 
electric  force  in  the  dielectric  between  the  plates ;  then  the 
displacement  is  kF.  Let  a  be  the  surface  density  of  the  charge 
conducted  to  a  plate ;  then  the  eflfective  electrification  along 
that  plate  will  be  of  surface  density  a'  =  <r  -  kF  ;  therefore, 
by  Coulomb's  principle. 


so  that 


F  =  4x0-' 

=  4»(<r  -  kF)  ; 

0-  =   f'-F  =  k¥  +   '  F. 
4»  4» 


Thus  the  current  is  not  circuital,  but  there  is  an  excess  of  the 
surface  density  conducted  to  the  surface  over  the  displacement 
current  from  the  surface,  which  is  equal  to  F/4ir. 

The  specific  inductive  capacity,  as  determined  by  static  experi- 
ments on  capacity,  is  here  measured  by  /i,  the  coefficient  in  the 
expression  for  a*. 

In  addition  to  this  discontinuity  at  the  face  of  a  condenser 
plate,  the  induction  in  the  mass  of  the  dielectric  will  not  be 
circuital  unless  the  electric  force  is  itself  circuital,  which  it  is 
not  in  the  general  form  of  the  electrodynamic  theory. 

The  most  general  type  of  electrodynamic  relations  which  is 
consistent  with  the  established  theory  of  complete  circuits,  is 
discussed  on  the  basis  of  von  Helmholtz's  work,  but  with 
avoidance  of  certain  restricting  conditions  introduced  by  him, 
the  chief  conclusion  being  as  follows  : 

In  a  complete  circuit  the  one  thing  essential  to  the  established 
theory  is  that  the  electric  force  integrated  round  the  circuit  should 
be  equal  to  the  lime  rate  of  change  of  the  magnetic  induction 
through  it,  and,  therefore,  have  an  ascertainable  value,  though 
its  distribution  round  the  circuit  is  a  subject  of  hypothesis.  The 
conclusion  that  waves  of  tran;»verse  displacement  will  be  propa- 
gated in  a  dielectric  with  velocity  Ki~*  will  hold  good  if  we 
assume  any  form  whatever  for  the  electric  force  whicti  does  not 
violate  this  one  relation,  and  also  assume  an  electrostatic 
polarization  of  the  medium,  equal  at  each  point  to  the  electric 
force  multiplied  by  a  constant  K^/^ir, 

The  increased  generality  which  can  be  imparted  to  the  theory 
merely  leads  to  various  modes  of  propagation  of  a  condensa- 
tional wave. 

If  K2  denote  the  specific  inductive  capacity  of  the  medium, 
measured  in  static  units,  this  polarization  constant  K^  is  equal 
to  Kg  -  I  ;  and  the  velocity  of  the  transverse  waves  is  the 
ratio  of  the  electric  units  of  quantity  in  a  medium  of  unit  induc- 
tive capacity  multiplied  by  the  static  value  of  Ki~  .  The  cor- 
respondence of  the  refractive  index  for  the  simpler  media  with 

K,~%  as  well  as  direct  measures  of  the  relative  velocities  of 
electric  waves  in  other  media,  give  for  the  value  of  this  velocity 

the  same  ratio  multiplied  by  Kj~  .  These  values  can  be  recon- 
ciled only  by  the  limitmg  form  of  the  theory  of  polarization 
which  is  equivalent  to  Maxwell's  theory. 

May  28. — **0n  the  Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  ProtopUrus 
amucicns:'  By  VV.  N.  Parker,  Ph.D.,  F.Z.S.,  Professor  of 
Biology  in  University  College,  Cardiff.  Communicated  by 
W.  II.  Flower,  F.R.S. 

The  work  which  has  resulted  in  the  present  paper  was  begun 
in  Freiburg  in  the  summer  of  1888,  when  the  author  was  for- 
tunate enough,  owing  to  the  generosity  of  Prof.  Wiedetsheim, 
to  obtain  a  number  of  fresh  specimens  lor  examination.  As  so 
many  interesting  points  presented  themselves  at  an  early  stage 


IVD 


N'A  TURE 


[June;  r I,  1891 


shed  were  transferred  fron)  the  South.  Ground  fo  the 
position  formerly  occupied  by  the  old  instrument,  to 
make  way  for  the  new  buildings  in  the  South  Ground. 

The  mean  temperature  of  the  year  1890  was  48°'6, 
being  o°'6  below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years. 
The  highest  air  temperature .  in  the  shade  was  82"'8  on 
August  5,  and  the  lowest  I'^'i  on  March  4.  This  latter 
is  the  lowest  temperature  registered  in  March  since  1841, 
being  the  same  us  that  recorded  on  March  13,  1845.  The 
mean  monthly  temperature  in  1890  was  below  the  average 
in  all  months  excepting  January,  March,  May,  and  Sept- 
ember. In  December  it  was  below  the  average  by  10  'o, 
and  in  January  above  by  ^"1. 

The  mean  daily  motion  of  the  air  in  1890  was  272 
miles,  being  lo  miles -below  the  average  of  the  preceding 
23  years.  The  greatest  daily  motion  was  837  miles  on 
January  26,  and  the  least  32  miles  on  August  6.  The 
greatest  pressure  registered  was  145  pounds  on  the 
square  foot  on  January  26. 

During  the  year  1890  Osier's  anemometer  showed  an 
excess  of  about  three  revolutions  of  the  vane  in  the 
positive  direction  N.,  E.,  S.,  W.,  N.,  excluding  the  turnings 
which  are  evidently  accidental. 

The  number  of  hours  of  bright  sunshine  recorded 
during  1890  by  the  Campbell- Stokes  sunshine  instrument 
was  1255.  which  is  about  35  hours  below  the  average  of 
the  preceding  13  years,  after  making  allowance  for 
difference  of  the  indications  with  the  Campbell  and 
Campbell- Stokes  instruments  respectively.  The  aggre- 
gate number  of  hours  during  which  the  sun  was  above 
the  horizon  was  4454,  so  that  the  mean  proportion  of 
sunshine  for  the  year  was  0*282,  constant  sunshine  being 
represented  by  i. 

The  rainfall  in  1890  was  219  inches,  being  27  inches 
below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years. 

The  winter  of  1890-91  was  remarkable  for  a  long 
period  of  exceptionally  cold  weather  which  commenced 
on  November  25,  1890.  From  this  day  till  January  22 
the  mean  temperature  on  every  day  except  January  13 
was  below  the  average.  The  temperature  was  con- 
tinuously below  32'  on  November  27,  28,  December  10 
to  19,  22,  23,  25,  28  to  30,  January  2,  6  to  8, 10,  11,  17  to 
19.  The  greatest  defects  from  the  average  of  20  years 
were  on  November  28  (  -  19*^*1),  December  22  (-  2o°7), 
and  January  10  (-  I9'"3).  The  lowest  temperatures  re- 
corded during  the  three  months  were  i8°'3  on  November 
28,  1 3° '4  on  December  22,  and  12*^-0  on  January  10.  The 
mean  temperature  of  December  1890  was  29°"8,  or  10^0 
below  the  average  of  the  preceding  49  years,  the  coldest 
December  on  record, since  1841  previous  to  1890  being 
that  of  1879,  whose  mean  temperature  was  32^*4.  In 
this  same  month,  December  1890,  only  2'^'4  of  sunshine 
were  recorded. 

Chronometers y  Time  Signals,  and  Longitude  Opera- 
tions.— The  number  of  chronometers  and  deck  watches 
now  being  tested  at  the  Observatory  is  169  (113  box 
chronometers,  20  pocket  chronometers,  and  36  deck 
watches).  The  annual  competitive  trial  of  chronometers 
commences  on  July  4,  and  the  trial  of  deck  watches  on 
October  24. 

The  time-balls  at  Greenwich,  Deal,  and  Devonport 
are  next  referred  to. 

The  reductions  for  the  longitude  Paris- Greenwich  are 
now  completed  and  ready  for  publication.  In  reference  to 
the  discrepancy  between  the  results  of  the  French  and 
English  observers,  mentioned  in  the  last  Report,  Com- 
mandant Deiforges  visited  Greenwich  in  June  1890,  and 
went  carefully  through  the  reductions  with  Mr.  Turner  and 
Mr.  Lewis.  No  mistake  was  found  in  the  work,  but 
several  questions  of  some  importance  were  raised.  The 
results  of  the  discussion  and  of  subsequent  correspond- 
ence are  summed  up  in  two  papers  by  Mr.  Turner  and 
one  by  Colonel  Bassot  and  Commandant  Defforges.  in 
the  Monthly  Notices  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society, 

NO.    1 1  28.  VOL.  44] 


vol.  li.  pp.  155,  407,  and  41 3  respectively.  As  tbe  matter 
now  stands,  the  £nglishjde6nitive  result  U>x  the  difTerence 
of  longitude  between  the  Greenwich  transit-circle  and 
Cassini's  meridian  is  9™  2o*'86,  while  the  French  resnk 
(not  yet  published)  is  about  0^*15  greater,  a  discordance 
whicl^,  though  only  about  half  of  that  found  in  the  preli- 
minary discussion,  is  still  so  large,  that  there  seems  to  be 
no  alternative  but  to  repeat  the  work  with  special  precau- 
tions suggested  by  the  experience  gained. 

The  proposal  to  determine  the  longitude  of  ISflontreal 
as  the  base  station  for  the  Geodetic  Survey  having^  been 
sanctioned  by  the  Admiralty  last  December,  arrange- 
ments have  been  made  jn  concert  with  Prof.  McLeod,  d 
the  McGill  College  Observatory,  Montreal,  for  a  deter- 
mination of  the  longitudes  Montreal-Canso-Watcrville- 
Greenwich,  the  termini  of  the  cable,  Canso  and  Waler- 
ville,  being  occupied  as  longitude  and  not  merely  as 
transmitting  stations,  a  course  which  seems  advisable  ie 
view  of  the  great  geodetic  importance  of  these  points 
The  necessary  funds  have  been  voted,  and  the  Com- 
mercial Cable  Company  have  generously  granted  the  use 
of  their  cable. 

The  determination  of  the  longitude  of  Washington  has 
been  deferred  for  the  present. 

During  the  past  year,  Lieutenants  Heming,  Monro, 
and  Smyth,  R.N.,  and  Captain  Haynes,  R.E.,  have  at 
various  times  been  instructed  in  transit-observing.  Mr. 
S.  Hirayama,  of  the  Tokio  Observatory,  was  at  work  for 
some  weeks  studying  the  general  organization  of  tbe 
Observatory. 


THE   CLASSIFICATION   OF    THE    TUNIC  ATA 
IN  RELATION  TO  EVOLUTION. 


THE  detailed  classification  of  the  Tunicata,  and 
cially  of  the  so-called  ^'  Compound  Ascidians,"  has 
usually  been  found  a  matter  of  special  difficulty  by  sys- 
tematists,  and  each  successive  investigator  has  discovered 
grounds  for  modifying  in  important  respects  the  grouping 
of  genera  and  families  established  by  his  predecessors. 
A  glance  at  the  systems  of  Giard,  Delia  Valle,  von 
Drasche,  and  Lahille,  all  of  recent  date.,  [i.e,  post-Dar- 
winian, and  since  the  introduction  of  modem  methods 
and  the  recognition  of  the  Tunicata  as  Chordata),  shows 
the  notable  want  of  agreement  between  competent  au- 
thorities. There  is  probably  a  special  reason  for  this 
exceptional  diversity  of  opinion,  and  I  believe  the  cause 
is  to  be  found  in  the  course  of  evolution  or  phylogeny  of 
the  group,  and  especially  in  the  complex  relations  be- 
tween the  Compound  forms  and  the  other  Tunicata. 

In  fact,  if  the  matter  be  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  consistent  evolutionist,  the  special  difficulties 
vanish,  the  complicated  relationships  between  groups 
(which  can  only  be  represented  by  dendritic  diagrams, 
or  even  in  some  cases  by  networks)  become  explicable 
and  natural,  the  great  diversity  in  value  of  the  as- 
semblages of  forms  known  as  "  genera "  and  "  species " 
is  simply  what  would  be  expected,  and  the  differences 
between  the  various  classificatory  systems  (allowing  for  a 
few  errors  which  have  been  corrected  by  later  investiga- 
tions) can  be  accounted  for,  and  the  conflicting  opinions 
of  the  authors  reconciled.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
subject  be  approached  from  the  standpoint  of  the  pure 
systematist,  whose  object  is  to  divide  and  subdivide  into 
clearly  defined  groups  of  approximately  equal  value,  and 
to  recognize  only  "  good "  genera  and  species,  nothing 
but  confusion  results ;  it  becomes  practically  impossible  to 
distinguish  and  arrange  naturally  the  groups  of  Simple 
and  Compound  Ascidians ;  and  some  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  instructive  points,  such  as  the  gradation  of 
varieties  into  species  and  species  into  genera,  and  the 
individual  variations  in  specific  characters,  are  altogether 
lost  sight  of. 

These  views  were  expressed   partly  in   my   Reports 


June  11,1891] 


NA  TURE 


'31 


n  the  Challenger  Tunicata,  but  further  work  since — 
n  some  very  extensive  collections  from  Australian  seas 
nd  on  the  Ascidians  of  our  own  coasts — has  convinced 
that  the  only  rational    explanation  of  the   protean 
and  labyrinthine  inter-relations  of  the  Ascidians 
to  be  found  in  regarding  the  group  as  one  in  process  of 
evolution,  where  many  of  the  species,  genera,  &c.,  have 
not  yet  become  markedly  differentiated  by  the  elimination 
intermediate  forms,  and  where  the  animals  are  so  much 
t  the  mercy  of  their  environment  that  a  Special   pre- 
lum is  set  upon  useful  characters  (if,  indeed,  there  are 
"specific"  characters  which  are  not  useful),  and  where, 
oonsequently,  the  relations  between  modification  of  struc- 
ture and  conditions  of  existence  brought  about  by  the 
a.ction  of   natural  selection    are    exceptionally  evident. 
Adopting,  then,  this  view,  the  following  difficult  subjects 
of  dispute,  and  probably  others  with  which  I  am   not 
ooncerned  at  present,  can  be,  I  think,  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained :    (i)   the  connection  of   the    Simple  with    the 
CTompound  Ascidians,  and  the  classification  of  the  latter ; 
C^)  the  value  of  some  modifications  of  the  branchial  sac  ; 
(3)  the  position  of  the  Polystyelidae ;   (4)  the  relations 
between  the  sub-families  and  genera  of  the  Cynthiidae ; 
svnd  (5)  the  numerous  "  species  "  of  the  genus  Botryllus, 

(i)  if  the  attempt  is  made  (as  in  most  classifications) 
to  regard  the  Compound  Ascidians  as  a  group  distinct 
from  the  Ascidiae  Simplices,  and  forming  either  a  parallel 
or  a  divergent  line  in  regard  to  the  latter,  one  meets  at  once 
MTith  the  serious  difficulty  that  the  Compound  Ascidians 
show  affinities  with  the  Simple  at  several  distinct  points. 
Three  investigators  approaching  the  Compound  Ascidians 
a.fter  the  previous  study  of  certain  Simple  Ascidians — say, 
the  first  fresh  from  Ciona^  Ecteinascidt'a,  and  Clavelina, 
the  second  from  Perophora,  and  the  third  from  Styela 
and  Polycarpa — could  each  make  out  a  good  case  for  the 
view  that  his  new  subjects  were  most  closely  connected 
with  the  genera  he  had  just  been  working  at.  The  first 
could  demonstrate  the  undoubted  relations,  in  external 
form  and  in  structure  of  branchial  sac,  between  CUivelina 
and  Chondrostachys^  Colella  and  the  other  Distomidce ; 
the  second  might  point  to  the  similarity  (on  which  I  per- 
sonally lay  no  stress)  of  Perophora  and  the  Botryllidae,  in 
the  relations  of  alimentary  canal  to  branchial  sac ;  and 
the  third  could  show  the  close  similarity  between  the 
Styelinas  and  the  Compound  forms  Synstyela,  Goodstria, 
and  Chorisocormus  in  nearly  every  detail  of  internal 
structure :  and  all  three  would  be  partly  right,  and 
therefore  unlikely  to  agree  upon  any  one  system  of 
classification. 

But  when  the  attempt  is  made  seriously  to  form 
a  conception  of  the  past  history  or  evolution  of  the 
forms  in  question,  it  becomes  obvious  that  the  Com- 
pound Ascidians  are  not  a  natural,  but  an  artificial 
group.  That  is,  they  are  not  the  whole  surviving  de- 
scendants of  a  single  group  of  ancestors,  but  are  poly- 
phyletic  in  origin,  being  derived  from  several  distinct 
lines  of  ancestry  which  have  arisen  independently  from 
different  kinds  of  Simple  Ascidians,  and  have  since  ac- 
quired the  common  characteristic  of  being  able  to  re- 
produce by  gemmation  so  as  to  form  compact  colonies  in 
which  the  members  (ascidiozooids)  are  embedded  in  a 
common  test  or  investing  mass.  We  know  with  as  much 
certainty  as  we  know  anything  in  such  phylogenetic  in- 
quiries that  the  ancestral  Tunicates  were  not  colonies, 
and  that  reproduction  by  gemmation  was  not  a  primitive 
character.  This  property  has,  then,  been  acquired 
secondarily  by  some  ancestral  Simple  Ascidians,  and  may 
very  possibly  have  been  acquired  more  than  once  (though 
this  is  not  at  all  necessary  for  my  theory  of  the  poly- 
phylctic  origin).  It  follows  from  this  view  (which  I  have 
expressed  before,  but  now  feel  more  certain  of  from  recent 
work),  that  if  we  are  to  retain  the  group  Ascidise  Com- 
positae,  or  Synascidiae,  in  our  system,  we  must  represent  it 
as  linked  on  to  the  Ascidiae  Simplices,  at  three  points  at 

NO.  1 128,  VOL.  44] 


least,  and  we  must  not  attempt  to  arrange  the  families 
and  genera  in  a  series  diverging  from  any  one  of  these 
points  alone  ;  or  if  we  do,  we  need  not  be  surprised  when 
we  arrive  at  obviously  unnatural  arrangements  which  are 
in  conflict  with  the  classifications  of  our  fellow- workers. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  might  abolish  the  group  Ascidiae 
Compositae  altogether  as  a  sub-order  of  Ascidiaceae,  on  the 
ground  that  ic  is  not  a  natural  group  {i.e,  2l  compact  set  of 
descendants  from  a  common  ancestor — a  single  branch  of 
the  genealogical  tree). 

But  if  we  adopt  this  course  with  the  Compound  Ascidians, 
the  same  arj^ument  might  be  used  in  connection  with 
other  polyphyletic  groups  throughout  the  animal  kingdom. 
They  should  ail  be  broken  up,  it  might  be  urged,  as 
being  artificial  assemblages.  And  thac  would  be  a  per- 
fectly logical  and  definite  position  to  take  up,  and  one 
for  which  a  good  deal  could  be  said,  but  before  adopting 
it  zoologists  should  remember  that  it  involves  a  loss  as 
well  as  a  gain.  If  it  gives  "  the  system  "  a  certain  preci- 
sion, and  an  advance  of  a  step  or  two  towards  the  goal  of 
a  completely  natural  classification,  it  at  the  same  time 
destroys  the  recognition  of  characteristics  which  certain 
forms  possess  in  common.  In  whatever  manner  they 
have  been  obtained,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Compound 
Ascidians  of  the  present  day  possess  certain  features  by 
which  they  can  be  identified  as  Compound  Ascidians,  and 
this  fact  is  surely  worthy  of  recognition  in  our  **  system." 
My  own  opinion,  then,  is  that  the  group  Ascidiae  Com- 
positae  should  still  be  retained,  but  that  its  polyphyletic 
origin  and  multiple  connection  with  the  Ascidiae  Sim- 
plices should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  when  drawing 
up  any  scheme  of  classification,  or  discussing  affinities. 

(2)  Some  of  the  ideas  noted  above,  and  others  to  be 
discussed  below,  took  definite  form  lately  in  reading  a  re- 
cently published  memoir  by  M.  Fernand  Lahille,^  in  which, 
while  giving  a  number  of  important  original  observa- 
tions on  the  anatomy  and  bionomics  of  the  Ascidians  (and 
especially  of  the  Compound  forms)  of  the  French  coasts, 
the  author  introduces  what  I  cannot  help  thinking  in  some 
respects  an  unfortunate  attempt  to  remodel  the  classi- 
fication of  the  Tunicata  on  lines  which  he  communicated 
a  lew  years  ago  to  the  French  Association  (Congr^s  de 
Toulouse,  1887),  and  now  elaborates  in  detail.  He 
regards  the  branchial  sac  as  the  most  important  organ 
in  the  Tunicata,  and  so  it  is  in  some  respects ;  but  that 
is  not  sufficient  reason  for  regarding  its  modifications  in 
structure  as  the  sole  characteristics  of  the  primary  groups. 
For  example,  the  Appendicularians,  instead  of  being  called 
Larvacea  or  Copelata,  and  characterized  by  the  presence 
of  a  tail  containing  the  urochord,  are  placed  in  a  group 
"  Atremata,"  defined  by  the  absence  of  stigrnata  in  the 
branchial  sac.  The  openings  in  question  (stigmata)  are 
not  even  such  important  structures  as  the  primary  bran- 
chial clefts  (gill-slits),  but  are  merely  the  secondary  slits 
placing  the  cavity  of  the  branchial  sac  in  communication 
with  the  peribranchial  or  atrial  cavity,  and  are  of  nothing 
like  such  high  morphological  value  as  the  presence  or 
absence  of  a  urochord,  and  of  the  two  primitive  atrio- 
pores,  and  the  other  well-known  characteristics  employed 
in  former  classifications  as  distinguishing  the  Appendicu- 
lariidae.  Some  of  the  Thaliacea  are  placed  by  Lahille  in 
a  g^oup  (Hemitremata)  of  primary  importance,  by  them- 
selves, because  they  have  the  stigmata  rudimentary  or 
imperfectly  formed,  while  the  other  Thaliacea  are  united 
with  all  the  remaining  Tunicata,  because  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be  alike  in  having  complete  stigmata.^ 

Then,  again,  an  altogether  fictitious  value  is  given  by 
Lahille  to  the  presence  of  internal  longitudinal  bars  in  the 
branchial  sac,  especially  since  he  shows  (as  had  been  done 
by  former  writers)  that  these  bars  develop  as  outgrowths 

'  "  Recherches  sar  les  Tuniciers  des  Cdtes  de  France  "  (Toulouse,  1800). 

'  Which,  however,  is  not  really  the  case.  The  aperttuei  in  the  walls  "f 
the  branchial  sac  in  Lahille's  **  Eutremata  "  are  not  always  homologous 
Ktructurej*.     In  the  genus  CnUolus^  for  example,  there  are  no  true  stigmata. 


132 


NA TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


from  the  connecting  ducts,  and  that  intermediate  condi- 
tions can  be  found  in  which  the  bars  can  neither  be  said 
to  be  absent  nor  present.  He  describes  this  condition 
in  his  new  species  Perophora  banyulensis^  and  it  is  also 
present  in  P.  viridis,  Verrill,  and  in  various  other  Simple 
Ascidians,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  Challenger  Reports 
and  elsewhere. 

Such  cases,  although  rather  perplexing  to  the  syste- 
matist,  are  perfectly  natural  from  an  evolutionist's 
point  of  view,  and  they  certainly  make  one  regard  with 
some  suspicion  large  groups  founded  upon  any  such 
one  character.  Consequently,  Lahille's  order  "  Stolido- 
branchiata,''  characterized  solely  by  the  presence  of 
a  particular  kind  of  internal  longitudinal  bar  in  the 
branchial  sac,  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  most  unnatural 
assembls^e  of  the  families  Polystyelidae,  Cynthiidae, 
Molgulidae,  and  Botryllidae,  which  cannot  be  retained. 
It  is  not  safe  to  trust  to  the  modifications  of  structure 
of  one  organ  in  the  detailed  classification  of  a  group,  and 
it  is  especially  unsafe  where  that  organ  is,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  branchial  sac,  of  great  physiological  importance, 
and  so  is  liable  to  be  considerably  modified  in  accordance 
with  the  mode  of  life  in  forms  which  are  otherwise  closely 
related.  Morphological  characters  of  less  functional  im- 
portance are  more  likely  to  be  retained  unaltered,  and  so 
indicate  real  genetic  affinity. 

Surely  Lahille  does  not  seriously  mean  to  contend  that 
the  internal  longitudinal  bars  in  the  branchial  sac  of  the 
Botryllidae,  Cynthiidae,  &c.,  are  different  in  any  morpho- 
logical sense  from  the  similar  bars  found  in  other  Asci- 
dians,  such  as  the  Ascidiidae.  Although  they  may  be 
slightly  different^  in  their  relations  to  the  wall  of  the  sac 
in  these  two  groups,  being  attached  throughout  their 
length  in  Botryllus  in  place  of  only  at  the  angles  of  the 
meshes  as  in  Ascidia^  and  are  therefore  somewhat  different 
in  their  development  (ontogeny),  there  can  scarcely  be  any 
doubt  that  in  their  origin  (phylogeny)  all  such  bars  in 
the  branchial  sac  are  alike,  and  are  therefore  homologous 
structures. 

(3)  It  follows  from  what  has  been  said  above  in  regard 
to  the  origin  of  the  Compound  Ascidians,  that  even  though 
the  group  Polystyelidae  is  placed  (as  was  the  case  in  the 
Challenger  Report)  in  the  Ascidiae  Compositae,  it  is  not 
thereby  widely  separated  from  its  relations  amongst  the 
Simple  Ascidians.  If  the  sub-order  Ascidiae  Compositae 
is  retained,  then  the  Polystyelidae  must  go  in  it,  since 
they  form  definite  permanent  colonies  with  the  ascidio- 
zooids  embedded  in  a  common  test ;  but  of  course  these 
forms  are  very  similar  in  many  respects  to  Styela  and 
Polycarpa — that  being  one  of  the  points  of  contact  be- 
tween Compound  and  Simple  Ascidians — and  therefore  I 
can  agree  fully  with  all  that  Lacaze-Duthiers  and  Delage 
say  in  favour  of  that  relationship.  The  matter  stands 
simply  thus : — If  Ascidiae  Compositae  is  retained,  the 
Polystyelidae  must  be  placed  in  it  at  the  nearest  point  to 
Polycarpa  amongst  Ascidiae  Simplices  ;  while  if  Ascidiae 
Compositae  is  abolished,  the  Polystyelidae  will  form  a 
family  or  a  sub-family  (it  matters  little  which)  alongside 
the  Styelinae  under  Ascidiae  Simplices.  To  go  further, 
and  break  up  even  the  genera  of  the  Polystyelidae,  placing 
the  species  beside  those  Cynthiidae  they  resemble  most  in 
the  structure  of  the  branchial  sac,  would  be  to  give  no 
value  at  all  to  the  property  of  reproduction  by  gemmation 
and  the  formation  of  colonies. 

(4)  It  has  long  been  recognized  that  there  are  two 
groups  of  forms  in  the  family  Cynthiidae,  those  which 
centre  around  Styela  and  those  related  to  Cynthia,,  and 
when  the  remarkable  stalked  forms,  such  as  Boltenia  and 
the  deep-sea  genus  Culeolus^  had  been  added,  I  defined 
these  three  groups  as  sub-families  under  the  names 
Styelinae,  Cynthinae,  and   Bolteninae.     Leaving  the  last 

'  Even  this  difference  is  not  constant.  In  some  Botryllidae,  aud  I  think 
in  all  Polystyelidae  and  many  Cynthiidae*  the  relations  of  the  bars  in  the 
adult  are  precisely  as  in  Ascidia,  Ciona^  and  EcttitimKidia. 


out  of  the  question,  we  have  the  two  former  distinguished 
amongst  other  characters  by  the  fact  that  the  Styelinae 
have  never  more  than  eight  folds  in  the  branchial  sac. 
and  have  simple  tentacles,  while  the  Cynthinae  have  always 
more  than  eight  folds,  and  compound  tentacles. 

A  few  years  ago  these  seemed  well-established  characters 
to  which  there  were  no  exceptions.  Last  year,  however, 
Lacaze-Duthiers  and  Delage  published  a  preliminary  ac- 
count of  a  Cynthia  from  the  French  coasts,  with  only  eight 
folds  (as  in  Styelinae)  in  its  branchial  sac  ;  while  Traustedi 
has  discovered  that  the  Cynthia  tesselata  of  Forbes  has 
four  folds  on  the  right  side  of  the  branchial  sac  and  three 
on  the  left  (like  some  Styelinae),  although  the  tentacles  are 
compound  (as  in  Cynthinae) ;  and  I  find  that  long  ago 
Alder  described  the  reverse  case  in  Cynthia  tuberosa^ 
Macg.,  where  there  are  twelve  folds  in  the  branchial  sac 
(Cynthinae),  although  the  tentacles  are  simple  (Styelinae}. 
Thus  the  two  links  required  to  unite  the  characters  *  ot 
Styelinae  and  Cynthinae  have  been  found,  which  is  jjcrfectly 
natural  and  satisfactory  to  the  evolutionist,  and  the 
question  for  the  systematist  now  is,  Must  these  two  sub- 
families be  united  ?  I  think  not.  1  believe  that  they  are 
natural  groups,  and  that  they  are  really  as  widely  separated 
from  one  another  in  their  typical  members  as  we  ever 
supposed  them  to  be,  although  not  so  completely  isolated 
from  one  another  by  the  extinction  of  intermediate 
forms. 

If  these  interesting  links,  to  which  attention  has  just  been 
drawn,  and  which  are  apparently  not  common  nor  widely 
distributed  forms,  had  become  extinct  a  few^  years  ago, 
the  Styelinae  and  Cynthinae  would  without  question  be 
justly  regarded  as  widely  separated  groups.  And  the 
present  position  is  merely  that  a  few  forms  are  known 
which  if  not  bridging  over  at  least  lie  as  stepping-stones 
in  the  gap  ;  while  the  vast  majority  of  the  species  in 
question  are  clearly  distinguishable  by  easily  recognized 
characters  into  two  definite  sets.  This  last  fact  has  an 
importance  which  entitles  it  to  recognition.  I  am  far 
from  wishing  to  ignore  the  importance  of  such  inter- 
mediate forms  ;  in  fact  I  am  more  likely,  I  fancy,  to  regard 
them  with  undue  interest  ;  but  after  all  they  are  single 
species,  minute  twigs  of  the  great  branch  under  con- 
sideration, while  long  series  of  typical  Styelinae  and 
Cynthinae — the  many  species  of  Styela  and  of  PofycarpOy 
of  Cynthia  and  of  Microcosmus — can  be  divided  into  two 
groups  by  their  tentacles  and  their  branchial  folds,  and 
I  believe  we  are  justified  in  giving  expression  to  this 
natural  grouping  by  retaining  the  two  sub-families  in  our 
system  of  classification.  It  need  not  lead  to  any  diffi- 
culties: the  intermediate  forms  can  be  placed  as  an 
appendage  to  the  sub-family  taken  first  We  cannot 
now  pretend  to  draw  hard  and  fast  lines  round  all  our 
groups,  a  serial  or  a  tabular  classification  will  always  give 
erroneous  impressions,  and  in  a  phylogenetic  arrangement 
the  linking  forms  will  appear  in  their  proper  places  as 
little  twigs  between  the  two  great  branches. 

(5)  The  genus  Botryllus  seems  to  contain  an  endless 
series  of  forms  which  might  be  (and  many  of  which  have 
been)  described  as  separate  species.  Giard,  twenty  years 
ago,  pointed  out  the  great  variability  of  the  species  in 
this  genus,  and  described  many  varieties  and  local  con- 
ditions, but  the  supply  is  not  yet  exhausted,  and  one  is 
almost  tempted  to  conclude  that  no  satisfactory  position 
can  be  taken  up  anywhere  between  the  two  extremes  of 
either  (i)  regarding  the  whole  genus  (or  even  the  family 
Botryllidae)  as  an  enormous  protean  species,  or  (2)  de- 
scribing nearly  every  colony  as  a  separate  species. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  systematist  or  specio- 
grapher  who  wants  ^^good"  and  well-defined  species, 
this  group  of  Ascidians  must  be  an  abomination,  but 
to  the  student  of  evolution  it  is  full  of  interest.  Here, 
if  anywhere,  characters    can  be    seen    varying    in   all 

I  These  are  the  chief  characters,  lut  there  are  others,  such  as  the  coaditioa 
of  the  stomach  and  difiestive  glaodsi. 


NO.   II 28,  VOL.  44] 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


133 


directions  and  to  almost  all  degrees,  some  variations 
becoming  fixed  while  others  remain  indefinite.  I  am 
at  present  examining  (with  the  help  of  my  former 
student,  Miss  A.  £.  Warham,  B.Sc.)  the  anatomical 
characters  of  a  number  of  colonies  of  various  Botrylli 
with  the  view  of  finding  which  characters,  if  any,  can  be 
relied  on  in  distinguishing  species  or  "forms,"  and  I 
have  just  seen  a  series  of  ascidiozooids  of  Botryllus 
smaragdus  in  which  the  branchial  tentacles,  usually  re- 
garded as  important  features  in  the  diagnosis  of  species, 
present  all  variations  between  eight  and  sixteen.  Every 
one  of  the  numbers  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  and  16,  is 
represented  by  one  or  more  ascidiozooids,  although  8  and 
16  are  those  most  commonly  found.  Also  several  definite 
arrangements,  such  as  2  large  pigmented  tentacles  and  6 
small,  3  large  pigmented  and  13  small,  are  present,  and 
are  connected  by  all  possible  gradations.  Then,  again, 
we  find  that  the  smaller  set  of  these  tentacles  may  be  all 
alike,  or  may  be  of  two  sizes  placed  longer  and  shorter 
alternately,  or  they  may  be  2  shorter  and  4  longer,  or  2 
shorter  and  5  longer,  or  3  shorter  and  5  longer,  or  4 
shorter  and  5  longer,  or  6  shorter  and  5  longer,  and  so  on 
through  the  variations.  Two  or  three  of  the  extreme 
forms,  if  examined  by  themselves,  might  easily  be  regarded 
as  distinct  species. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  and  I  fancy  it  may  be  often 
thought,  that  since  evolution  has  changed  our  conception 
of  a  species,  the  modern  biologist  need  not  concern 
himself  with  the  description  and  nomenclature  and 
delimitation  of  those  assemblages  of  variable  forms  which 
are  known  as  varieties  and  species.  But  to  take  such  a 
course  would  be  a  great  mistake.  The  theory  of  evolution 
has  given  taxonomy  and  speciography  an  additional  and 
a  very  real  interest.  Now  that  we  know  just  how  much 
and  how  little  the  term  species  indicates,  it  has  become 
of  great  importance  that  species  and  varieties  should  be 
re-studied  from  the  evolutionary  standpoint,  that  the  re- 
lations of  allied  forms  should  be  carefully  investigated, 
the  limits  of  their  variation  determined,  and  the  effect  of 
their  environment  ascertained.  The  Botryllidse  form  a 
specially  interesting  group  for  such  an  investigation. 

Many  of  these  more  general  remarks  will  no  doubt 
apply  to  other  groups  of  organisms  with  as  much  force 
as  to  the  Tunicata,  but  some  of  the  instances  discussed 
above  may  seem  points  of  mere  detail  of  no  great  general 
interest  I  believe,  however,  that  they  are  typical  cases 
illustrating  difficulties  which  may  confront  any  specialist 
in  the  course  of  his  endeavour  to  attain  to  that  important 
object  of  biological  investigation — a  natural  or  genetic 
classification  of  animals  and  plants. 

February.  W.  A.  Herdman. 


PHOTO'STELLAR  SPECTRAL 

OROF.  PICKERING,  while  retaining  the  four  types  of 
^  stellar  spectra,  finds  that  so  many  stars  show  an 
intermediate  stage  of  development,  that,  in  the  Draper 
Catalogue,  lett'ers  are  substituted  for  the  types.  Thus, 
let  tcrs  A  to  D  denote  stars  of  the  first  type ;  E  to  L, 
stars  of  the  second  type  ;  M,  stars  of  Type  III. ;  while 
N  is  reserved  for  fourth  type  stars.  It  seemed  oif  some 
interest  to  compare  the  photographic  results  with  those 
obtained  directly  with  the  spectroscope.  For  the  first 
and  second  types,  the  observations  of  Vogel  ("  Spect. 
Beob.,"  —  1°  to  -f  20°)  were  used.  The  stars  in  the  first 
four  hours  of  RA.  which  occur  in  both  works  were  ex- 
amined and  tabulated,  those  being  rejected  where  there 
was  any  uncertainty  as  to  type  in  Vogel's  observations. 
The  following  table  shows  the  results  thus  obtained  : — 

(  *'  Note  on  the  Classification  of  Star  Spectra  in  vol   xxvii.  Harvard 
AiHolt,  and  on  some  Stars  with  Bright  Lines." 


NO.    1 1  28,  VOL.  44] 


Vogel. 

Eye  observation. 
Class. 


I. 

I.  ! 
IL 
II.! 

II.  !! 


PiCKKRING. 

Photographic  observation. 
Letter. 


A 
68 

35 
4 


B 

I 

I 


E 

25 
4 
5 


F 
18 


H 
15 

28 

2 


I 
I 


K 

I 

I 

2 


To  show  the  differences  in  type,  the  following  table  has 
been  drawn  up  : — 

Vogel.  Pickering. 

Stars.  /  ^^ 

Number  and  Type.  Type  I.  Type  IL 

169    of    I.  ...  105  ...  64 

42    of    IL  ...  4  ...  38 


These  tables  show  that,  in  the  case  of  Type  I.,  nearly 
half  the  stars  observed  with  the  eye  are  really  Type  II. 
according  to  the  photographs  ;  in  the  case  of  Type  I. !, 
four  out  of  the  forty,  although  having  a  clearly  pronounced 
first  type  spectrum  to  the  eye,  are  really  second  type  stars 
according  to  the  photographs.  In  the  case  of  the  second 
type,  four  stars  out  of  forty-two  are  really  first  type. 

For  the  third  type  stars,  Dun^r  ("  Sur  les  6toiles."  &c.) 
was  consulted,  and  the  following  results  were  obtained: — 


DUN^R. 

Eye  observation. 
Type. 

III.         ... 

in. !    ... 

mil 

mill 
•     •  «  •     •  •  • 


Pickering. 

Photographic  observation. 
Letter. 


A 


E 


F  H  I 

—  —       —  19  2 

—  —       —  24  2 
3        __       —  16  I 


K  M 

—  •      8 


I 
I 


5       —      — 


22 
24 
12 


This  table  may.be  condensed  as  follows  :— 

DuN^a.  Pickering. 

Type.  Type. 


in.  to  III.  ! 
IIL  ntoin.  !!! 


L 
3 


Total 


IL 
48 
23 

71 


IIL 

30 

12 

42 


Total. 
78 
38 

116 


The  photographs  therefore  show  that  only  36  per  cent, 
are  third  type  at  all.  In  order  to  account  for  this  very 
remarkable  result,  the  words  of  Prof.  Pickering  may  be 
quoted:— "The  difference  between  this  (the  third)  type 
and  the  second  is  much  less  marked  in  the  photographic 
than  in  the  visible  portion  of  the  spectrum.  The  most 
noticeable  difference  is  that,  in  spectra  of  the  third  type, 
the  intensity  suddenly  changes  at  the  wave-length  476"2. 
Rays  of  greater  wave-length  than  this  are  fainter  than 
those  that  are  shorter.'* 

It  will  be  seen  that  three  stars  of  the  third  type  appear 
as  first  type  stars  on  the  photograph.     These  are : — 

(i)  LL.  3717,  ih.  55m.-  9°o'-4,  Dun^r  III.!!:  *' Les 
bandes  2-9  sont  fortement  ddvelopp^es,  tr^s  larges  et 
sombres." 

(2)  D.M.-fi7=i479,6h.56m.  +  i7°53''8,Dun^r  III.!!  : 
"  Les  bandes  2-8,  et  peut-etre  9,  sont  visibles  ;  elles  sont 
tr^s  larges  et  fort  obscures  autant  dans  le  vert- bleu  que 
dans  le  rouge.'' 

(3)  T*  Serpentis,  ish.  31m.  +  is""  25''9,  Dun^r  III. !!  : 
"  Les  bandes  sont  larges  et  fortes,  surtout  dans  le  vert 
et  dans  le  bleu." 

Prof.  Pickering  states,  in  the  preface,  that  wheh  the 
brightness  exceeds  6*5  it  is  difficult  to  classify  the  spec- 
trum with  certainty.  The  photogfraphic  magnitudes  of 
these  stars  are  665,  6*45,  6-44  respectively. 

As  regards  the  fourth  type,  it  is  stated  (p.  3)  that  **  the 
letter  N  is  reserved  for  spectra  of  the  fourth  type,  although 
no  star  of  this  type  is  bright  enough  to  appear  in  the 
Draper  Catalogue,  owing  to  the  red  colour  of  all  sucb 


134 


NA  TURE 


[June  11,1891 


» 


Stars."      This  seems  to  be  a  mistake,  as  three  fourth  type 
stars  are  found  in  the  Draper  Catalogue.    They  are : — 


Name. 

D.M. +  17°I973 
D.M. +68617 
D.M. +76734 


R.A.         Decl. 
h.    m.       o      / 

8  49+17  36 
10  38  +  67  56 
19  25  +  76  22 


PiclceiiaK's     Photo. 

DuD^r. 

letter.           mag. 

..     H      ...  6'65  ... 

IV.  !!! 

..     A?    ...  6'5o  ... 

IV.  I!! 

..     E       ...  708    .. 

IV.  !I! 

These  stars  each  occur  on  one  plate  only. 

The  photographs  show  that  the  following  stars  have 
bright  lines  in  their  spectra  :— 

Known  variable  stars :  €  Aurigae,  a  Orionis,  f  Gemin- 
orum,  a  Herculis,  ^  Pegasi. 

Suspected  variable  stars  ;  o  Cassiopeise,  66  Ceti,  p  Per- 
sei,  a  Tauri,  8  Canis,  /3  Geminorura,  o  Booiis,  /3  Ursae 
Minoris,  /3  Cygni,  y  Cephei. 

Other  stars  showing  bright  lines,  not  hitherto  detected, 
are :  t  Ceti,  y  AndromeJae,  k  Persei,  a  Persei,  v  Persei, 
^o  Tauri,  f  Aurigae,  f  Cancri,  o^  Ursse  Majoris,  o  Leonis,, 
y  Leonis,  f  Ursae  Majoris,  43  Comae,  o  Bootis,  y  Scorpii, 
3  Coronae,  f  Herculis,  17  Herculis,  /*  Herculis. 

T.  E.  ESPIN. 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  STAS'S  WORK. 

FOR  the  last  thirty  years  Stas's  work  has  set  the  stand- 
ard of  excellence  in  all  that  relates  to  atomic  weight 
determination.  The  literature  of  the  subject  teems  with 
references  to  his  classic  memoirs,  which  have  come 
to  be  regarded  by  chemists  in  the  light  of  canonical  books. 
Admiration  of  the  almost  magical  accuracy  of  Stas's 
results  seems  somewhat  to  have  diverted  attention  from 
the  rare  philosophical  insight  displayed  in  the  plan  oi  his 
researches.  Yet  it  is  not  too  much  to  sa/  that,  while  we 
owe  the  conception  of  the  atomic  theory  to  Dalton,  Stas 
first  placed  the  theory  on  a  sound  experimental  basis. 

It  was  in  the  year  1843  that  Dumas  and  Stas's  value  for 
the  atomic  weight  of  carbon  recalled  attention  to  the 
hypothesis  of  Prout  which  had  hitherto  met  with  little 
favour  on  the  Continent.  The  subsequent  work  of  Dumas 
and  of  de  Marignac  led  these  chemists  to  support  the 
hypothesis  in  a  modified  form.  In  i860  appeared  the  first 
series  of  Stas's  researches,  "  Sur  les  Rapport  reciproques 
■des  Poids  atoniiques."  In  the  introduction  to  his  paper 
the  author  stated  his  conviction  that  these  researches 
furnished  proof,  as  complete  as  the  nature  of  the  subject 
admitted,  that  the  hypothesis  of  Prout  was  a  pure  delusion 
— that  there  was,  in  fact,  no  common  divisor  between  the 
atomic  weights  of  the  elements.  In  reviewing  the  work 
of  Stas,  de  Marignac  admitted  the  impossibility  of  recon- 
ciling the  concordant  results  obtained  by  Stas  and  himself 
-with  even  the  modified  form  of  Prout's  hypothesis.  Yet 
he  regarded  the  dictum  quoted  above  as  too  absolute  in 
character.  It  was  by  no  means  established,  he  contended, 
that  the  constituents  even  of  stable  compounds  are  present 
exactly  in  the  proportion  of  the  atomic  weights.  De 
Marignac's  criticism  struck  at  the  very  basis  of  the  atomic 
theory  but  this  by  no  means  deprived  it  of  its  weight. 
The  laws  of  chemical  combination  are  the  experimental 
basis  of  the  atomic  theory,  and  Stas  admitted  that  these 
laws  had  never  been  proved  as  "  lois  mathdmatiques." 
Writing  in  1865,  in  the  introduction  to  his  "  Nouvelles 
Recherches,"  he  remarks  that  some  of  the  fundamental 
ideas  of  chemistry,  which  are  generally  taken  as  having 
been  proved,  are  as  a  matter  of  fact  far  from  being  so.  He 
considers  that  the  constancy  of  composition  of  chemical 
compounds  has  been  experimentally  established, but  points 
out  that  this  does  not  constitute  a  proof  of  the  law  of 
constant  proportions,  the  law,  viz.,  which  states  that  the 
particular  proportions  in  which  two  elements  are  combin- 
ed in  a  certain  compound  is  a  constant  proportion  in  all 
the  compounds  which  contain  those  elements.    This  had 

NO.   II 28,  VOL.  44] 


never  been  proved,  yet  it  was  only  in  this  way  that  the 
position  of  the  atomic  weights  as  constants  of  nature  could 
be  established.  The  so-called  law  of  multiple  proportions 
Stas  referred  to  as  an  hypothesis  of  Dalton,  pointing  out 
that  the  very  rough  analyses  on  which  Dalton  relied — of 
which  the  error  is  frequently  more  than  10  per  cent. 
— as  well  as  the  results  obtained  by  Wollaston  and 
by  Gay-Lussac,  were  at  most  capable  of  establish- 
ing a  *Moi  limits."  The  state  of  science  at  the 
time  demanded  a  thorough  re-examination  of  the  basis 
of  the  atomic  theory.  Stas  realized  this  need;  and  took 
upon  himself  the  burden  of  the  task.  The  conception 
and  plan  of  the  *'  Nouvelles  Recherches  sur  les  Lois 
des  Proportions  Chimiques"  show  the  mind  of  a 
great  thinker  not  less  clearly  than  the  results  of  the  work 
exhibit  the  skill  of  a  master  in  the  art  of  experiment. 
The  "Nouvelles  Recherches"  contains  a  verification  as 
'^  loi  math^matique  "  of  the  law  of  conservation  of  mass, 
in  the  complete  synthesis  of  silver  iodide,  and  the  com- 
plete analysis  of  silver  iodate.  The  constancy  of  compo- 
sition of  chemical  compounds  was  subjected  to  a  crucial 
test  in  the  experiments  on  ammonium  chloride,  and  the 
constant  proportion  between  the  combining  weights  of 
elements  in  different  compounds  was  tested  in  the  conver- 
sion of  silver  iodate,  bromate,  and  chlorate,  to  the  corre- 
sponding haloid  salts.  The  law  of  equivalent  proportions 
was  verified  by  the  concordant  results  obtained  for  the 
atomic  weights  of  silver  and  of  the  alkali  metals  deter- 
mined as  functions  of  those  of  iodine,  of  bromine,  and  of 
chlorine  respectively,  oxygen  forming  the  common  stand- 
ard. One  cannot  help  regretting  that  the  law  of  multiple 
proportions  was  not  also  made  the  subject  of  investigation. 
The  most  suitable  examples  occur  among  gaseous  sub- 
stances, and  the  operations  of  gas  analysis  were  foreign  to 
the  methods  of  manipulation  employed  by  Stas.  The 
complete  analysis  of  nitrous  oxide  was  indeed  contem- 
plated in  order  to  determine  directly  the  atomic  weight 
of  nitrogen  as  a  function  of  that  of  oxygen,  but  the  idea 
was  abandoned  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  constructing  the 
necessary  apparatus. 

The  work  on  the  laws  of  combination  furnished  fresh 
materials  for  the  examination  of  Prout's  hypothesis.  Stas's 
comments  on  the  origin  of  this  hypothesis  possess  a  high 
degree  of  philosophic  interest.  The  remarks  to  which  we 
more  particularly  refer  are  the  following : — '*  Lorsqu'on 
remonte  k  Torigine  de  I'hypoth^se  (de  Prout)  on  s'aperqoit 
immediatement  qu'elle  doit  sa  source  k  un  pr^jug(f  ou,  si 
Ton  veut,  k  un  opinion  prdcongue,  concernant  la  simplicite 
des  lois  de  la  nature.  Pendant  longtemps  les  chimistes 
comme  les  physiciens,  d^s  I'instant  qu'ils  ont  vu  certains 
faits  se  reproduire  avec  une  apparence  de  r^gularitd,  ont 
cru  \  Texistence  d'une  loi  naturelle  susceptible  d  ctre 
exprimde  par  une  relation  mathdmatique  simple.  .... 
C'est  h  cette  tendance,  d'ailleurs  tr^s-naturelle,  qu'on  doit 
I'hypoth^se  de  Prout."  Dalton's  enunciation  of  the  law 
of  multiple  proportions  is  relegated  by  Stas  to  the  same 
category  as  a  generalization  on  insufficient  data. 
Mendeleeff  has  remarked  (Faraday  Lecture,  1889)  that 
the  periodic  law  has  shown  that  the  masses  -of  the  atoms 
increase /^r  saltum,  in  a  manner  which  "  is  clearly  con- 
nected in  some  way  with  Dalton's  law  of  multiple  propor- 
tions." Dalton  was  more  fortunate  than  ProuL  The 
combining  proportions  are  expressible  by  a  simple 
mathematical  law,  whilst  the  atomic  weights  are  only  to 
be  represented  by  a  complicated  formula  which  may  have 
some  such  form  as  that  proposed  by  Carnelley. 

The  "  Nouvelles  Recherches"  appeared  in  1865.  The 
first  paper  on  the  periodic  system  v\  as  read  before  the  Rus- 
sian Chemical  Society  in  the  spring  of  1869.  It  is  curious 
to  reflect  that  the  foundations  of  the  atomic  theory  had 
hardly  been  made  sure  by  Stas  ere  they  were  called  upon 
to  bear  the  magnificent  structure  raised  by  Mendeleeff. 

V.  C 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


135 


NOTES. 


We  print  elsewhere  the  proceedings  of  the  important  deputa- 
tion to  the  Board  of  Trade  on  the  subject  of  the  Institute  of  Pre- 
ventive Medicine.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  after  the  statement 
made  by  the  Minister,  the  registration  of  the  Society  will  shortly 
be  an  accomplished  fact ;  a  few  words  in  the  deed  of  registration 
or  a  few  ininutes  of  reference  between  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
the  Home  Office  are  all  that  is  needed  to  safeguard  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach's  official  scraples.  The  importance  of  the  deputa- 
tion, however,  will  not  be  limited  to  this :  it  shows  again,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Art  Gallery,  that  men  of  science  are  no  longer 
willing  to  be  snubbed  by  men  in  office. 

The  annual  meeting  for  the  election  of  Fellows  was  held  at  the 
Royal  Society's  rooms,  in  Burlington  House,  on  Thursday  last, 
when  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  into  the  Society  : — 
William  Anderson ;  Prof.  Frederick  Orpen  Bower;  Sir  John  Con- 
roy,  Bart.  ;  Prof.  Daniel  John  Cunningham ;  Dr.  George  Mercer 
Dawson ;  Edwin  Bailey  Elliott ;  Prof.  Percy  Faraday  Frank - 
land ;  Percy  C.  Gilchrist ;  Dr.  William  Dobinson  Halliburton  ; 
Oliver  Heaviside  ;  John  Edward  Marr ;  Ludwig  Mond  ;  William 
Napier  Shaw  ;  -  Prof.  Silvanus  Phillips  Thompson  ^  Captain 
Thomas  Henry  Tirard,  R.N. 

Mr.  George  Holt,  of  Ltirerpool,  last  week  sent  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Univei^ity  College  there  a  cheque  for  ten 
thousand  pounds  as  endowment  for  a  Chair  of  Physiology,  and 
candidates  for  the  appointment  are  forthwith  to  be  advertised 
for.  It  is  only  a  few  weeks  since  Mr.  Brunner,  M,P.,  sent  a 
similar  cheque  to  endow  a  Chair  of  Political  Economy.  The 
latter  post  has  been  offered  to  and  accepted  by  Mr.  E.  C.  K. 
Conner. 

*     '  ■  • 

The  Prince  of  Wales  has  fixed  4  o'clock  on  Wednesday, 
June  17,  for  the  delivery  by  Lord  .  Rayleigh  of  the  first  of  the 
two  lectures  at  the  Royal  Institution  in  connection  with  the 
centenary  of  the  birth  of  Michael  Faraday  ;  and  Friday  evening, 
June  26,  at  9  o'clock,  has  been  appointed  for  the  second  of  these 
lectures,  which  will  be  given  by  Prof.  Dewar. 

Students  of  geology  were  sorry  to  hear  of  the  death  of  Dr. 
P.  M.  Duncan,  F.R.S.  He  died  on  May  29  in  his  sixty-seventh 
year.  Dr.  Duncan  was  Professor  of  Geology  at  King's  College, 
London,  and  was  intimately  connected  with  the  Geological 
Society,  of  which  he  was  President  in  1876  and  1877.  ^Ic  '^as 
also  a  member  of  the  Linnean  Society. 

Mr.  G.  V.  PooRE,  the  Government  Inspector,  who  has 
recently  drawn  up  a  report  upon  experiments  performed  on 
living  animals  during  the  year  1890,  states  that  during  the  many 
visits  he  has  paid  to  places  licensed  for  the  performance  of  such 
experiments,  it  has  never  fallen  to  his  lot  to  see  a  single  animal 
which  appeared  to  be  in  bodily  pain. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  announce  that  Mr.  J.  Graham - 
Kerr,  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  Naturalist  to  tlie  Pilco- 
mayo  Expedition^  has  returned  safely  to  this  country,  and  has 
succeeded  in  bringing  with  him  a  portion  of  his  natural  history 
collections."  As  is  well  known,  the  Bolivia,  in  which  Captain 
Page  and  his  expedition  ascended  the  Pilcomayo,  was  stranHed 
in  that  river,  in  April  1890,  in  the  middle  of  the  Gran  Chaco. 
After  the  death  of  Captain  Page,  which  occurred  while  he  was 
returning  in  a  canoe  down  the  Pilcomayo  to  get  medical  assist- 
ance, the  Bolivia  remained  stuck  fast  nearly  in  one  spot  until 
March  of  this  year,  when  Mr.  Kerr,  finding  the  vessel  still  im- 
movable, and  no  prospects  whatever  of  a  rise  in  the  river,  decided 
to  come  away  as  best  he  could.  After  a  very  rough  journey  he 
reached,  Asuncion  on  mule-back,  bridging  as  many  of  his  light 
things  as  possible,  and  arrived  in  this  country  last  week.  Some 
very  mteresting  letters  of  Mr.  Kerr's,  describing  the  natural 
history  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  will  be  found  in  the  two  numbers  of 
the  Ibis  for  January  and  April  last. 

NO.   1 128,  VOL.  44] 


Under  the  will  of  Dr.  Fothergill  (1821),  funds  were  be- 
queathed to  the  Society  of  Arts  for  the  ofTer  of  medals  for  sub- 
jects, in  the  first  instance,  relating  to  the  prevention  of  fire.  A 
Society's  Gold  Medal,  or  ;^20,  b  now  offered  for  the  best  inven- 
tion having  for  its  object  the  prevention  or  extinction  of  fires  in 

theatres  or  other  places  of  public  amusement. 
•t 
Messrs.  Newton  and  Co.  have  been  appointed  philosophical 

-instrument   makers  to  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain, 

an   appointment  which  we  believe  has  not  been  held  by  any 

firm  for  some  years. 

Mr.  John  T.  Brunner,  M.P.,  has  been  elected  President 
of  the  Sunday  Society  in  succession  to  Prof.  G.  J.  Romane«. 
Mr.  Brunner  will  deliver  his  presidential  address  at  the  Society's 
public  annual  meeting  on  June  27. 

The  Societe  Botanique  de  France  recently  held  its  annual 
meeting  in  the  little  town  of  Collioure,  near  Perpignan,  on  the 
Mediterranean  coast.  After  the  meeting  many  excursions  were 
made  in  the  neighbourhood,  which  is  interesting  to  botanists. 

On  behalf  of  Prof.  E.  C.  Stirling,  of  the  University  of 
Adelaide,  South  Australia,  Prof.  Newton  communicated  to  the 
Zoological  Society  of  London,  at  its  meeting  last  week,  a  figure 
of  the  new  Australian  Marsupial,  originally  described  by  Dr. 
Stirling  in  this  journal  in  1888  (Nature,  vol.  xxxviii.  p.  588), 
together  with  some  notes  on  this  extraordinary  animal.  Notoryctes 
lyphlops^  as  Dr.  Stirling  now  proposes  to  call  it,  is  a  small  mole- 
like animal  belonging  to  the  order  of  Marsupials,  of  which  it 
forms  an  entirely  new  type.  A  general  description  of  it  has 
already  been  given,  as  above  referred  to,  but  Prof.  Stirling  now 
adds  that  the  Marsupial  bones  are  exceedingly  small  nodules, 
and  escaped  his  notice  at  first.  Four  or  five  of  the  cervical 
vertebrse  are  fused,  and  there  is  a  keeled  sternum,  an  enormously 
thick  and  short  first  rib,  which  serves  a  purpose  of  buttressing 
the  sternum  in  lieu  of  coracoids,  and  a  bird-like  pelvis.  The 
penis  is  in  the  uro-genital  canal,  and  the  testes  are  external  in 
front  of  it.  The  eyes  are  mere  spots  underneath  the  skin.  The 
four  specimens  as  yet  received  of  Noloryctes  iyphlops  were  ob- 
tained in  the  centre  of  Australia,  on  the  telegraph  line  between 
Adelaide  and  Port  Darwin.  The  animal  is  said  to  burrow  in 
the  sand  with  great  rapidity.  A  full  description  of  it,  it  is 
understood,  has  appeared  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  South  Australia,  but  no  copy  of  this  journal  has  as 
yet  reached  England. 

MM.  Gr£hant  and  Quinquaud  conclude  from  some  recent 
experiments  on  dogs  that  under  the  influence  of  alcohol  muscular 
strength  is  much  diminished. 

Prof.  John  M.  Coulter,  the  well-known  botanist,  has  beea 
elected  President  of  the  State  University  of  Indiana,  located  at 
Bloomington  ;  and  Dr.  Douglas  H.  Campbell  has  been  ap- 
pointed Associate  Professor  of  Botany  at  the  new  Stanford 
University  of  California. 

According  to  the  Botanical  Gazette^  Mr.  Thomas  Meehan, 
of  Philadelphia,  is  about  to  establish,  in  conjunction  with  his 
sons,  a  new  journal  of  gardening  and  botanical  miscellany.  It 
will  be  called  Afeehan^s  Monthly,  and  the  first  number  will 
appear  on  July  i. 

We  learn  from  the  Journal  of  Botany  that  Mr.  Worthingtoa 
G.  Smith  is  preparing  for  the  public  gallery  of  the  Botanical 
Department  of  the  British  Museum  a  series  of  96  tables  illus- 
trating the  British  Fungi.  Every  species  of  the  Hymenomycetes 
will  be  figured  in  its  natural  colours,  the  drawings  being  taken 
from  Mr.  Smith's  own  series  already  in  the  Museum,  with 
others  from  original  figures  lent  by  Mr.  Plowright  and  others. 

The  number  oi  Neptuuia  for  April  30  gives  a  brief  descrip- 
tion of  the  following  stations  for  the  study  of  natural  history  : — 


136 


NA  TURE 


[June  ii,  1891 


A  marine  zoological  station  has  been  founded  at  Endoame»  near 
Marseilles,  by  Prof.  Marion,  especially  for  the  study  of  the 
fishes  of  the  Mediterranean.  M.  Alphonse  Biosson  is  about  to 
-establish  at  his  own  expense  a  zoological  station  at  Point-de- 
•Grave,  Gironde,  with  the  especial  object  of  promoting  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  ornithology  and  entomology  of  the  district. 
A  marine  station  for  ph3rsiology  has  been  opened  at  Tamaris, 
near  Toulon,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  R.  Dubois,  Professor  of 
Physiology  in  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  at  Lyons. 

The  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  has  recently  made  the  fol- 
lowing grants : — £\oq  to  Dr.  Fleischmann,  of  Erlangen,  for 
researches  in  development ;  £y:i  towards  the  cost  of  publication 
of  Dr.  Krabbe's  work,  "  Development- History  and  Morphology 
of  the  polymorphous  Lichen  Genus  Cladomia " ;  £60  to  Dr. 
Hartwig,  of  Bamberg  Observatory,  towards  a  series  of  observa- 
tions on  variation  of  the  earth's  axis ;  and  £^0  to  Dr.  Schmidt, 
of  Halle,  for  researches  on  the  light  reflected  from  transparent 
bodies. 

The  following  are  subjects  for  prize  competition,  recently 
proposed  by  the  Belgian  Academy  of  Sciences  : — Advancement 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  relation  of  phenomena  of  solution  to 
phenomena  of  combinations  ;  discussion,  on  the  basis  of  new 
■experiments,  of  works  relating  to  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases ; 
perfection  of  the  theory  of  approximative  integration,  both  as 
regards  rigour  of  methods  and  facility  of  application  ;  researches 
on  the  embryonal  development  of  a  mammal  belonging  to  an 
order  the  embryogeny  of  which  has  not  yet  been  investigated  ; 
determination,  by  means  of  palaeontology  and  stratigraphy,  of 
■the  relations  between  formations  referred  by  Dumont  to  his 
Laekenian  and  Tongrian  marine  systems ;  new  researches  on 
the  formation  of  polar  bodies  of  animals.  The  prizes  are  gold 
medals,  of  the  value  of  icoo,  800,  and  600  francs.  Papers  to 
be  written  in  French,  Flemish,  or  Latin,  and  sent  to  the 
Secretary  before  August  i,  1892. 

Messrs.  Richard  Fr^res  have  issued  an  illustrated  cata- 
logue of  measuring,  controlling,  and  self-registering  instruments 
for  scientific  and  industrial  purposes.  A  descriptive  and  illus- 
trated list  of  instruments  has  also  been  published  by  the 
Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument  Company. 

The  series  of  lectures  annually  given  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Botanic  Society  of  London  upon  subjects  connected  with 
botany  came  to  an  end  on  Friday  last,  when  Prof.  Stewart, 
F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society,  addressed  a  large 
number  of  visitors  and  students  upon  "  The  Relationship  between 
Plants  and  Animals."  The  subject,  he  said,  was  one  of  much 
interest,  as  affording  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  many  ab- 
normal forms  of  v^etable  growth.  This  is  specially  the  case  in 
tropical  countries,  where  the  struggle  for  existence  is  more  in- 
tense than  in  colder  climes  ;  there  the  relationship  is  almost  vital, 
some  plants  providing  food,  others  shelter,  to  various  kinds  of 
ants,  while  these  pugnacious  insects,  in  turn,  protect  the  plant 
/rom  damage,  by  attacking  any  living  thing  which  approaches  it. 
One  plant,  known  as  the  buirs-hom  acacia,  of  Central  America, 
provides  a  species  of  ant  not  only  with  food  and  drink,  in 
the  shape  of  tiny  egg- like  bodies  upon  the  leaves — of  which 
the  ants  are  very  fond — and  a  sweet  fluid  in  special  cavities  on 
the  stalk,  but,  in  addition,  furnishes  a  home  in  the  hollow  spines 
with  which  it  is  armed,  these,  when  punctured  by  the  ants, 
swelling  out  into  perfect  miniature  bull's  horns.  In  return  the 
ants  protect  it  from  its  enemies. 

A  SERIES  of  experiments  with  regard  to  evaporation  from  free 
water  surfaces  and  from  earth  saturated  with  water,  in  sun  and 
in  shade,  has  been  recently  made  by  Signor  Battelli  {II  Nuovo 
Cimento),  He  used  three  large  tubs  or  vats,  two  holding  water, 
Jind  the  third  earth  on  a  grating,  to  which  water  was  admitted 

NO.    1 1  28,  VOL.  44] 


from  a  pipe  entering  the  bottom.  One  water-tub  and  the  earth- 
tub  stood  a  few  yards  apart  on  the  north  side  of  a  high  wall ; 
the  other  water- tub  was  in  the  open,  and  embedded  in  the  grooiMl. 
Signor  Battelli's  retiilts  are  these  :— The  quantity  of  water  eva- 
porated from  moist  earth  is  in  general  greater  than  that  from  a 
free  stagnant  water  surfece,  when  the  air  temperature  rises  ;  bnt 
less,  when  the  latter  falls.  With  increaving  wind-velodty,  eva- 
poration increases  more  rapidly  from  the  water  surface.  The 
moister  the  air,  the  greater  (other  things  equal)  seems  to  be  the 
ratio  of  the  water  evaponated'from  the  moist  earth  to  that  fimm 
the  stagnant  water  surface.  The  evaporation  of  a  vrater  suifiue 
exposed  to  the  sun's  rajrs  is  greater  than  that  of  a  shaded  one, 
not  only  by  day,  but  in  the  following  night.  With  rising  tem- 
perature, the  ratio  between  the  water  quantities  from  these  two 
surfaces  increases  somewhat  more  quickly;  with  rising  wind- 
velocity,  this  ratio  diminishes. 

The  Photographic  Journal  of  May  22  prints  a  paper  by  M. 
L^n  Vidal,  on  photographic  methods  of  obtaining  polyduno- 
matic  impressions.  One  of  the  writer's  objects  is  to  show  that 
typographic  and  lithographic  printers  ought  to  find  in  photo- 
graphy "  one  of  their  principal  auxiliaries."  By  its  aid,  he  says, 
their  work  might  be  executed  "more  cheaply,  more  thoroughly, 
and  more  artistically." 

On  Sunday,  June  7,  there  was  a  series  of  severe  earthquake 
shodcs  in  Italy.  The  centre  of  the  seismic  movement  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  province  of  Verona,  but  the  disturbance  was 
felt  over  a  wide  area.  At  Verona  three  strong  shocks,  preceded 
by  a  subterranean  nobe  like  the  roaring  of  artillery,  are  reported 
to  have  occurred  at  2  o'clock  a.m.  The  inhabitants  rushed  in 
terror  from  their  houses  to  seek  safety  in  the  open  streets  and 
squares.  One  of  the  assistant  mistresses  at  a  boarding-school 
died  of  fright.  A  number  of  chimneys  were  thrown  down  by 
the  oscillation.  Still  more  violent  were  the  effects  of  the  seismic 
disturbance  at  other  places  in  the  province  of  Verona,  espenally 
at  Tregnago  and  Badia-Calavena.  Shocks  more  or  less  severe 
were  experienced  at  Brescia,  Belluno,  Ravenna,  Parma,  Modena, 
and  Ferrara.  The  Central  Meteorological  Bureau  reports  thai 
the  earthquake  was  very  strongly  felt  at  Florence,  where  it  awoke 
several  people  from  their  sleep.  The  disturbance  also  ex- 
tended to  Rome,  as  was  shown  by  the  seismograph,  the  time 
at  which  the  shock  was  felt  in  Rome  being  6  minutes  and 
40  seconds  after  2  a.m.  In  Verona  and  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts slight  shocks  continued  to  be  felt  on  Monday  and 
Tuesday.  A  large  stream  of  lava  issued  on  Monday  from  the 
new  crater  of  Mount  Vesuvius  at  the  base  of  the  central  cone. 
Signor  Palmieri,  the  Director  of  the  Vesuvian  Observatory,  holds 
that  this  flow  is  directly  connected  with  the  earthquake  shocks 
in  the  north,  and  points  out  that  seismic  disturbances  in  Italy 
generally  stop  when  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  begins. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Service  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  for  the  year  endii^  December  31,  1887,  just  issued, 
it  is  stated  that  nearly  eleven  hundred  warnings  of  approaching 
storms  were  issued  by  the  Service  during  the  year,  and  that  of 
these  warnings  972  were  verified,  being  88*9  per  cent. 

We  have  the  pleasure  of  recording  the  issue  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Publications  of  the  Vatican  Observatory,  contain- 
ing astronomical  and  meteorological  observations  for  the  last 
nine  months  of  1890.  This  Ot>servatory  was  first  established 
by  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  for  astronomic^  purposes,  and  was 
used  for  regular  meteorological  observations  from  1 800-1821. 
After  passing  through  several  vicissitudes,  a  proposal  was  made, 
about  the  time  of  the  Vatican  Jubilee  Exhibition  in  1888,  to 
reorganize  the  Observatory,  and  the  present  Pope  accordingly 
re-established  it  on  a  sound  basis,  and  it  is  now  furnished  with 
the  best  instruments  procurable,  both  for  direct  observation 
and  continuous   registration  in  meteorology,  astronomy,  mag- 


June  ii,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


137 


nedsin,  and  earthquake  phenomena.'  It  is  proposed  to  carry  on 
tarions  researches,  and  to  issue  farther  volumes  from  time  to 
dme,  as  soon  as  sufficient  materials  are  accumulated.  The 
Director  is  Padre  Denza,  the  founder  of  the  Italian  Meteoro- 
logical Society,  and  Superintendent  of  the  Observatory  at 
MoncalierL 

CoNSXDBJiiNG  the  question  of  determination  of  the  evaporating 
power  of  a  climate,  Dr.  Ule  distinguishes  {Met.  Zats,)  between 
the  intensity  and  the  speed  of  evaporation.  The  latter  can  be 
well  determined  with  an  instrument  like  Wild's  evaporimeter, 
and  Dr.  Ule  sets  forth,  in  a  table,  the  monthly  data  of  this 
for  Chemnitz,  compared  with  those  of  absolute  humidity, 
"  latunuion  deficit,''  and  relative  humidity.  The  agreement  of 
the  last  with  the  evaporimeter  figures  is  much  better  than  that  of 
the  two  others ;  still,  there  is  considerable  discrepance,  and  this 
ts  not  explained  (the  author  shows)  by  variations  in  wind- 
inteniity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  data  of  the  psychrometer 
show  a  remarkable  parallelism  with  those  of  the  evaporimeter, 
and  by  taking  wind-variations  into  account  the  agreement  is 
increased.  Thus,  from  psychrometer-differences  and  wind  varia- 
tioos,  the  evaporative  power  of  a  climate  may  be  correctly 
estimated  where  an  evaporimeter  b  wanting.  Dr.  Ule  offers  a 
new  formula  for  estimating  the  layer  of  water  evaporated  in  a 
given  time,  and  tests  it  with  two  German  climates,  and  one 
Australian. 

In  an  interesting  paper  on  technical  education  in  agriculture, 
itprinted  from  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society, 
Dr.  W.  Fream  refers  incidentally  to  the  value  of  mathematical 
studies  for  the  agriculturist.  Dr.  Fream's  professorial  experience 
at  agricultural  colleges  has  convinced  him  that  a  lad  who  is 
Isiriy competent  in  mathematical  studies  is  "a  good  medium  to 
work  upon."  "Those  interested  in  the  welfare  of  any  young 
agriculturist  should  take  care,"  he  says,  "  that  in  his  school  days 
the  study  of  mathematics  is  not  ignored.  The  time  devoted  to 
aoquiring  proficiency  in  arithmetic,  geometry,  mensuration,  and 
the  elements  of  algebra  and  trigonometry — the  latter  really 
indispensable  in  the  case  of  surveying — will  never  be  regretted.*' 

Those  who  are  interested  in  questions  relating  to  physical 
education  will  find  much  to  please  them  in  an  excellent  paper, 
in  the  June  number  of  Physiqiu^  on  natural  history  in  public 
schools,  by  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Preston,  late  Preiident  of  the  Marl- 
borough College  Natural  History  Society.  Many  boys  are  not 
much  attracted  by  games,  and  it  seems  hard  that  in  such  cases 
any  sort  of  compulsion  should  be  used.  Why  not  -have  various 
alternative  ways  of  securing  exercise,  any  one  of  which  might 
be  chosen  ?  Mr.  Preston  shows  with  great  force,  and  in  a  very 
interesting  manner,  with  how  much  advantage  the  study  of 
natural  history  might  in  some  instances  be  substituted  for 
cricket  and  football.  Boys  out  for  a  field  excursion  take  a 
great  deal  more  exercise,  he  maintains,  than  is  ever  taken  at 
<cricket.  *'  With  those  who  are  keen  naturalists,"  he  says, 
"the  mere  exercise  taken  in  any  one  day  (not  in  an  excursion) 
is  often  such  that  it  might  almost  be  said  to  require  moderating. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  if  exercise  alone  Is  to  be 
considered,  a  field  naturalist  will  take  far  more  than  any  one  at 
games." 

Mft.  W.  R.  HiLLiER,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  has  written 
A  very  curious  monograph  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Shan  States.  When  a  Shan  becomes  a  father  it  is  considered 
highly  undesirable  that  he  should  drive  pigs,  carry  the  dead, 
bore  holes,  fill  in  holes  in  the  ground,  or  indulge  in  mockery. 
** If  either  sex,"  writes  Mr.  Hillier,  "die  without  marrying, 
the  body,  befoie  burial,  is  banged  against  a  stump,  which  is  at 
the  time  considered  as  representing  the  husband  or  wife," — a 
ceremony  which  is  supposed  to  guard  against  the  danger  of 

NO.   1 1 28,  VOL.  44] 


unrequited  affection  in  the  next  stage  of  existence.  Marriage 
is  simplicity  itself.  A  young  man  takes  a  fancy  to  a  young  lady, 
and  if  the  liking  is  reciprocated,  she  straightway  accompanies  him 
to  his  house  as  his  wife.  Next  day  the  young  man's  parents 
meet  the  parents  of  the  young  lady,  and  after  informing  them 
of  what  has  taken  place,  beg  that  "  they  may  be  forgiven  for 
the  intrusion,"  and  ask  that  a  day  be  fixed  for  the  wedding. 
This  request  being  granted — ^and  apparently  a  refusal  is  not 
contemplated — the  young  lady  returns  to  her  parents.  Divorce 
is  easy  also,  the  man  merely  giving  his  wife  a  letter  permitting 
her  to  remarry,  and  the  wife  merely  being  required  to  pay  an 
unwilling  husband  thirty  rupees  iyt  release  from  an  uncongenial 
mate.  As  to  food  the  Shan  is  {not  an  epicure,  eating  everything 
that  is  eatable  ;  and  indeed  it  is  considered  quite  becoming,  if 
he  only  be  of  high  rank,  to  devour  an  enemy.  This  privilege, 
however,  is  accorded  only  to  Bobs,  or  chiefs.  The  Shan  theory 
of  the  cosmogony  is  that  "  the  earth  came  out  of  the  depths  by 
means  of  white  ants." 

Some  further  explorations  have  lately  been  made  on  the  Upper 
Irrawaddy.  Major  Hobday,  of  the  Indian  Survey  Department, 
with  an  escort  of  fifty  Goorkhas,  succeeded  in  getting  as  far 
north  as  latitude  26°  15'  up  the  Malika,  or  right  branch  of  the 
river.  Here  the  local  tribes  began  to  show  opposition,  and  the 
party  could  not  without  fighting  their  way  have  proceeded  further. 
The  point  reached  was,  however,  only  fifty  miles  south  of  that 
which  Colonel  Woodthorpe  gained  a  few  years  ago  in  his  ex- 
plorations  from  the  far  north  of  Assam.  This  small  gap  will 
probably  be  crossed  when  the  next  attempt  is  made,  as  by  that 
time  the  wild  tribes  will  have  learned  from  their  neighbours  that 
British  officers  have  only  friendly  intentions  towards  them. 
Finding  his  prepress  barred  to  the  north.  Major  Hobday  turned 
due  eastwards,  with  the  intention  of  striking  the  Meka,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  main  stream  of  the  Irrawaddy.  After  ex- 
ploring the  course  of  this  river  for  some  distance,  he  will 
journey  back  through  the  hills  along  the  Yunnan  border,  r:ach- 
in^  Bhamo  by  land.  He  will  thus  be  able  to  map  a  consider- 
able extent  of  country. 

An  interesting  synthesis  of  troilite,  the  crystallized  mono- 
sulphide  of  iron,  FeS,  which  is  so  frequently  found  in  meteorites 
and  yet  is  never  found  in  terrestrial  locks,  is  described  by  Dr. 
Richard  Lorenz,  of  Gottingen,  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Btrickte.  A  stream  of  dry  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  was  led 
over  a  bundle  of  iron  wire  contained  in  a  combustion -tube  heated 
in  a  lumace.  As  soon  as  the  wire  became  heated  to  dull  red- 
ness, it  became  ^uite  changed,  becoming  completely  covered 
with  innumerable  brilliant  little  crystals.  These  crystals  pos- 
sessed a  bright  silver-white  lustre  when  first  obtained,  but  after 
a  short  time  reflected  a  pale-green  coloured  light.  On  standing 
for  some  days,  the  crystals  further  changed  in  colour  to  blue  and 
afterwards  to  brown,  without  the  least  change  in  the  form  being 
apparent.  Under  the  microscope  they  appear  to  consist  of  well- 
formed  six-sided  tables  of  a  bright  steel-gray  lustre.  Prof. 
Groth,  the  eminent  crystallographer,  who  has  examined  them, 
pronounces  them  to  be  hemimorphic  hexagonal  in  form,  iso- 
morphous  with  wurtzite,  the  hexagonal  variety  of  zinc  sulphide. 
Any  kind  of  iron  may  be  substituted  for  the  wire  ;  whatever  the 
variety  employed,  it  always  becomes  covered  with  a  crust  of 
these  crystals  when  heated  in  a  stream  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
the  only  precaution  necessary  being  to  prevent  the  temperature 
from  rising  to  the  melting-point  of  monosulphide  of  iron.  The 
crystals  are  readily  detached  from  the  iron,  and  upon  analysis 
yield  numbers  very  near  the  theoretical  ones  required  by  FeS. 
The  largest  and  best  developed  individual  crystals  of  troilite  are 
obtained  by  diluting  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  with  an  inert 
gas.  Wurtzite,  sulphide  of  zinc,  ZnS,  may  also  be  readily  arti- 
ficially obtained  in  a  similar  manner  by  passing    sulphuretted 


148 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


bogies  to  take  the  curves.  The  water  is  carried  in  side 
tanks,  and  the  fuel  on  the  top  of  the  boiler  and  at  the  side. 
The  author  will  observe  that  there  is  no  central  pivot  and 
no  tender ;  the  engine  is  a  tank  engine  ;  and  that  the 
whole  of  its  weight  is  good  for  adhesion.  The  Fairlie 
engines  at  work  on  the  Mexican  Railway  weigh  in  order 
about  92  tons.  The  total  wheel  base  is  32  feet  5  inches, 
and  the  rigid  wheel  base  of  the  bogie  is  8  feet  3  inches. 

Chapter  iii.  includes  narrow  gauge  railways,  as  well  as 
the  Fell,  Rigi,  Pilatus,  and  Abt  mountain  railways.  The 
use  of  a  narrow  gauge  railway  in  place  of  the  standard 
gauge  is  due  to  questions  of  cost  of  construction  by 
diminishing  the  width  of  the  line,  and  also  enabling 
sharper  curves  to  be  adopted.  Narrow  gauge  railways 
now  in  use  were  years  ago  of  ample  capacity  for  the  traffic 
then  available,  but  are  now  a  continual  source  of  trouble 
where  the  traffic  has  increased  beyond  their  capacity. 
In  some  cases,  where  an  increase  of  gauge  is  impossible 
owing  to  the  cost,  the  rolling  stock  has  to  be  designed 
to  suit  the  abnormal  requirements,  and  the  locomotives 
recently  designed  have  to  be  made  to  suit  the  conditions, 
and  are  working  under  adverse  conditions  from  a 
locomotive  engineer's  point  of  view.  The  cost  of  a  break 
of  gauge  is  a  serious  matter,  involving  as  it  does  the  trans- 
shipment of  passengers  and  goods,  as  well  as  two  classes 
of  rolling  stock.  In  India,  for  instance,  the  metre  gauge 
has  given  place  to  the  broad  gauge  of  5  feet  6  inches  in 
many  cases,  in  order  to  obtain  through  communication 
without  break  of  gauge.  The  author  gives  an  excellent 
description  of  the  various  mountain  railways  named,  and 
they  are  without  doubt  monuments  of  engineering  daring 
and  skill. 

In  chapter  iv.  an  excellent  description  is  given  of  the 
piercing  of  the  Alps.  To  the  rivalry  of  European  Powers, 
each  anxious  to  command  a  route,  are  due  the  several 
Alpine  tunnels ;  from  the  design  and  execution  of  the  Mont 
Cenis  tunnel  to  the  more  recent  schemes  west  of  the  St. 
Gothard.  Had  the  author  told  us  a  little  more  about  the 
difficulties  encountered,  he  would  have  added  considerably 
to  the  interest. 

Tunnels  under  the  Alps  naturally  give  place  to  sub- 
aqueous tunnels  in  the  sequence  of  subject-matter  in  the 
volume.  The  Mersey  and  Severn  tunnels  are  described, 
and  the  tremendous  difficulties  encountered  in  the  execu- 
tion of  the  latter  undertaking  are  pointed  out.  We  also 
find  a  description  of  several  subaqueous  tunnels  in  the 
States,  including  the  Samia  tunnel  recently  opened  under 
the  St.  Clair  river,  to  connect  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway 
of  Canada  at  Sarnia  with  the  United  States  Railways  at 
Port  Huron.  The  chapter  closes  with  an  account  of  the 
proposed  Channel  Tunnel. 

The  progress  and  principles  of  modern  bridge 
construction  are  treated  in  chapter  vi.  This  gives  a 
good  account  of  the  great  advance  made  during  the 
last  fifty  years  in  this  important  branch  of  engineering. 
Wrought-iron  gradually  superseded  cast-iron  in  bridge 
construction,  and  steel  has  again  superseded  it.  The 
manufacture  of  steel  has  now  reached  a  stage  in  which 
there  are  no  uncertainties  in  its  quality.  The  earliest 
instance  of  the  adoption  of  steel  for  a  bridge  is  the  St. 
Louis  Bridge,  over  the  Mississippi,  constructed  in  1867-74, 
and  the  most  recent  example  is,  of  course,  the  cantilever 
bridge,  with  two  spans  of  1700  feet,  over  the  Firth  of 

NO.   1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


Forth.  The  author  gives  the  great  Indian  bridge  over 
the  Rori  branch  of  the  River  Indus,  at  Sukkur,  very  little 
notice,  and  does  scant  justice  to  this '' achievement  in 
engineering,"  certainly  a  monument  to  its  designer.  De- 
signed bySir  Alexander  M.  Rendel,  K. C.I. E.,M. Inst. C.E-, 
and  built  by,  and  erected  on  the  works  of  Messrs. 
Westwood,  Baillie,  and  Co ,  of  London,  this  bridge  was 
taken  to  pieces  and  shipped  to  India,  where  it  was 
re-erected.  The  chapter  closes  with  an  account  of  the 
proposed  bridge  over  the  Channel. 

Submarine  mining  and  blasting  are  treated  in  the  chapter 
that  follows.  This  chapter  is  interesting  mainly  owing  to 
a  detailed  description  of  the  operations  for  improviog  the 
entrance  to  New  York  Harbour  by  the  removal  of  the 
obstructions  at  Hell  Gate  and  Hallett's  reef.  With  refer- 
ence to  the  explosion  at  the  latter  site,  it  is  interesting  to 
observe  that  the  earth-wave  produced  was  carefully  re- 
corded at  various  places,  and  the  rate  of  transmission  of  the 
shock  was  found  to  be  more  rapid  and  more  uniform  when 
the  shock  passed  northwards  through  rock,  than  when  it 
passed  through  drift  in  an  easterly  direction.  In  travel- 
ling through  drift,  it  reached  Goat  Island,  a  distance  of 
145  miles,  in  59  seconds,  and  Harvard  Collie  Obser- 
vatory, i82§  miles,  in  3  minutes  40  seconds ;  and  in 
travelling  through  rock,  it  reached  West  Point,  42  J  miles 
distant,  in  11  seconds,  and  Litchfield  Observatory,  174^ 
miles  away,  in  45}  seconds. 

Chapters  ix.  to  xv.  deal  with  that  branch  of  engineerii^ 
which  may  be  roughly  included  under  the  title  of  **  Har- 
bours and  Docks."  In  a  previous  work  by  the  author, 
bearing  this  title,  and  reviewed  in  these  columns,  this 
subject  was  amply  dealt  with,  and  it  will  now  be  sufficient 
to  state  that  the  present  chapters  are  well  up  to  the 
standard  of  excellence  of  his  previous  work.  We  find 
an  interesting  description  of  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal 
works  in  these  chapters — a  work  rapidly  nearing  comple- 
tion, and  one  which,  if  successful,  will  be  the  forerunner 
of  many  similar  works  in  this  countrj'.  An  illustration 
is  given,  showing  the  progress  of  the  works  forming  the 
Eastham  Locks,  viewed  from  the  Eastham  end.  This 
illustration  gives  a  very  good  idea  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  undertaking.  Another  Manchester  undertaking  occu- 
pies considerable  space  in  this  work,  viz.  the  Manchester 
waterworks,  and  more  particularly  the  Thirlmere  scheme. 
The  author  tells  us  that  the  eventual  maximum  daily 
supply  of  50  million  gallons  of  water  will  be  conveyed  to 
Manchester  by  an  aqueduct,  or  conduit,  about  100  miles 
long.  Another  similar  undertaking  is  also  discussed  ;  in 
the  Liverpool  Vyrnwy  scheme  we  find  how  engineers 
have  solved  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  pure  water  supply 
for  that  city. 

The  volume  concludes  with  an  account  of  the  Cddy- 
stone  Lighthouse  and  the  Eiffel  Tower. 

The  frontispiece  is  a  portrait  of  Robert  Stephenson,  a 
very  appropriate  one  for  such  a  work.  His  name  will  ever 
be  associated  with  the  development  of  railways,  as  the 
author  remarks  ;  and  he  might  also  have  pointed  out  that 
the  railway  has  been  in  many  cases  the  reason  for  many 
"  achievements  in  engineering  "  being  called  into  exist- 
ence. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  this  work  is  a  very  interesting 
one.  It  is  well  written,  and  the  author  may  be  con- 
gratulated on  having  succeeded  in  his  endeavour  to  de- 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


149 


scribe  briefly  some  of  the  principal  engineering  works 
carried  out,  at  home  and  abroad,  within  the  last  fifty 
years.  The  book  is  well  printed,  and  the  illustrations 
are  excellent,  although  there  might  perhaps  have  been 
more  of  them,  considering  that  the  general  reader  has  to 
be  provided  for.  N.  J.  L. 


GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSIONS, 

Geolofrist^  Association :  a  Record  of  Excursions  made 
between  i860  and  1890,  Edited  by  Thomas  Vincent 
Holmes,  F.G.S.,  and  C.  Davies  Sherborn,  F.G.S. 
(London:  £.  Stanford,  189 1.) 

THE  Geologists'  Association  began  its  useful  career  of 
work  more  than  thirty  years  since.     It  has  stimu- 
lated— more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  body — a  real  in- 
terest in  geology  among  those    who  live  in  and  about 
London,  because  it  has  enabled  students,  still  near  the 
outset  of  their  work,  not  only  to  meet  for  mutual  help 
and  encouragement,  but  also  to  be  aided  by  those  of 
repute  in  science.     Of  its  meetings,  not  the  least  pleasant 
and  useful  are  the  excursions.    At  first  these  were  made 
generally  once  a  week,  so  long  as  weather  permitted,  and 
they  occupied  a  Saturday  afternoon  or  at  most  a  single 
day.    Then  an  occasional  journey  of  longer  duration  was 
attempted  ;  now  it  is  usual  to  undertake  excursions,  last- 
ing two  or  three  days,  at  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  and 
one  of  a  week  or  more  during  the  summer  holidays. 
Before  each  excursion  a  flysheet  is  issued  to  the  members 
vvith  a  brief  description  of  the  geology  of  the  locality, 
illustrated  by    diagrams    and    containing  references  to 
books  and  papers.    Afterwards,  a  report  of  the  excursion 
is  inserted  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Association.     It  was 
a  happy  thought  to  collect  together  in  one  volume  these 
scattered  notices,  for  they  give  succinct  descriptions  of 
almost  all  the  localities  of   geological  interest  readily 
reached  from  London,  so  grouped  as  to  be  conveniently 
accessible.    Thus  the  student,  instead  of  having  to  com- 
pile for  himself,  from  books  or  maps,  a  plan  of  campaign, 
whether  for  an  afternoon  or  for  a  longer  time,  finds  every- 
thing arranged  ready  to  his  hand,  and  is  directed  to  the 
sections  best  worth  visiting.     These  diagrams  and  reports 
possess  a  further  value,  that  they  frequently  record  sections 
which  can  be  no  longer  examined,  because  they  now  either 
are  overgrown  by  vegetation,  or  have  been  removed  in 
quarrying.    The  work  therefore  is  a  geological  guide-book 
of  an  exceptional  and  a  very  convenient  character  to  a 
large  district  around  London,  and  to  several  other  locali- 
ties of  special  interest  in  England. 

The  plan  which  has  been  followed  in  compiling  the 
volume  is  stated  in  the  preface.  The  excursions  are 
grouped,  as  far  as  possible,  within  county  boundaries; 
where  more  than  one  visit  has  been  paid  to  any  place, 
the  editors  have  "either  suppressed  the  shorter,  and 
retained  the  fuller,  or  given  from  each  account  that 
which  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere."  The  reports  have 
been  condensed  by  the  excision  of  matters  of  general  or 
merely  temporary  interest,  and  although  references  are 
made  to  all  excursions  up  to  the  year  1890,  no  reports  are 
given  of  later  dates  than  1884,  because  since  1885  it  has 
been  customary  to  print  all  these  in  the  November  number 
of  the  Proceedings,  so  that  they  can  be  easily  consulted. 
NO.    II 29,  VOL.  44] 


The  thanks  of  the  Association — indeed  of  a  wider  circle 
of  geologists — are  due  to  the  editors  for  the  pains  which  they 
have  taken  in  discharging  a  very  laborious  duty.    It  seems 
almost  ungracious  to  criticize,  and  to  do  it  effectively 
would  require  encyclopaedic  knowledge  ;  but  we  think  that, 
though  it  may  have  been  "  impossible  to  send  each  report 
to  the  original  reporter  for  revision,"  it  would  have  been 
prudent  to  submit  it  to  someone  with  a  special  know- 
ledge of  each  district     These  reports  occasionally  con- 
tain obiter  dicta^  or  the  crude  speculations  of  members 
who  are  better  acquainted  with  their  own  locality  than  with 
the  principles  of  the  science.     Hence  obsolete  notions  are 
preserved  like  flies  in  amber :  these  may  perplex,  but  they 
cannot  help  the  beginner.     By  way  of  testing  the  results 
of  the  editors'  method,  we  have  examined  the  reports  of 
two  or  three  districts  with  which  we  are  specially  familiar. 
The  statement  on  p.  203  about  the  section  at  Roswell 
Pit,  near  Ely,  is  misleading.     The  natural  interpretation 
of  its  words  would  be  that  the  Kimeridge  clay  formed  a 
part  of  the  great  erratic.    This,  in  reality,  consists  of 
Cretaceous  rocks,  the  Jurassic  clay  being  in  situ.     On  p. 
216,  the  sentence  "  at  the  base,  as  at  the  top  of  the  Gault," 
should  have  been  "  below  the  base,  as  above  the  top." 
Again,  the  clay  beneath  the  neighbouring  Upware  lime- 
stone, now  admitted  to  be    Coral  rag,  cannot  well  be 
Ampthill  clay,  and  we  are  not  aware  of  any  evidence  in 
favour  of  this  view.     Again,  the  account  of  Charnwood 
Forest  needs  correction.    At  p.  463  a  statement  is  quoted, 
which  was  published  without  due  authority,  and  has  been 
recalled  by  the  author.     On  pp.  465  and  466  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  Charnwood  Forest  rocks  "  ought  to  be  called 
Lauren tian  "  should  have  been  cancelled.   It  was  ground- 
less, even  as  Laurentian  was  defined  in  1875  :  it  is  absurd 
now.    All  reference  to  the  "  Archaean  Petrology  "  of  Prof. 
Ansted  might  well  have  been  omitted.     On  p.  472,  Peldar 
Tor  is  twice  misprinted  Peddar  Tor.    We  know  of  no 
ground  for  the  statement,  on  p.  473,  that  **  the  quartz  [in 
the  rocks  of  this  neighbourhood]  appears  to  be  of  sub- 
sequent formation."    Doubtless  similar  defects  could  be 
pointed  out  by  others  ;  indeed,  our  own  list  is  not  quite 
exhausted,  but  we  have  no  desire  to  carp  at  a  book  on 
which  so  much  labour  has  been  bestowed,  and  prefer  to 
welcome  it  as  a  valuable  addition  to  British  geologfy, 
which  will  be  indispensable  to  all  students  who  live  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  metropolis.  T.  G.  B. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Across  East  African  Glaciers :  An  Account  of  the  First 
Ascent  of  Kilimanjaro.  By  Dr.  Hans  Meyer.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  E.  H.  S.  Calder.  (London  : 
George  Philip  and  Son,  1891.) 

Long  before  he  thought  of  exploring  any  part  of  Africa, 
Dr.  Meyer  was  an  experienced  and  enthusiastic  traveller. 
The  idea  of  undertaking  explorations  in  "  the  Dark  Con- 
tinent" was  suggested  to  him  by  the  fact  that  while  the 
German  colonial  possessions  in  the  west  of  Africa  {iad 
been  thoroughly  investigated  under  Government  super- 
vision, and  at  the  Government  expense,  those  in  the 
East  had  been  left  to  the  more  limited  resources  of 
commercial  companies.  It  occurred  to  Dr.  Meyer  that 
he  might  do  good  service  to  his  countrymen  by  devoting 
himself  to  the  task  which  the  German  Government  seemed 
so  unwilling  to  undertake.  Accordingly,  in  1 886,  he  began 
to  make  preparations  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  plan 


i5o 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


and  since  that  time  he  has  organized  no  fewer  than  three 
important  expeditions,  in  the  third  of  which  he  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  top  of  Kilimanjaro.  It  is  this  third 
expedition  of  which  an  account  is  given  in  the 
present  work.  The  broad  results  of  the  journey 
were  soon  made  known  ;  but  of  course  it  is  only  from  the 
explorer's  full  narrative  that  an  adequate  idea  can  be 
formed  of  the  interest  and  importance  of  his  achieve- 
ments. The  mountain  mass  of  Kilimanjaro  towers  up  to 
a  height  of  nearly  20,000  feet,  and  Dr.  Meyer  describes 
well  the  feelings  with  which  he  saw  it  after  his  arduous 
march  across  the  steppes.  "  It  was  a  picture,"  he  says, 
'*  full  of  contrasts— here  the  swelling  heat  of  the  equator, 
the  naked  negro,  and  the  palm-trees  of  Taveta— yonder, 
arctic  snow  and  ice,  and  an  atmosphere  of  god-like  re- 
pose, where  once  was  the  angry  turmoil  of  a  fiery  volcano.*' 
The  story  of  the  ascent  is  told  most  vividly,  and  there  are 
few  readers  who  will  not  sympathize  with  the  delight 
with  which  he  speaks  of  the  moment  when  he  set  foot  on 
the  culminating  peak.  Although  the  record  of  his  ex- 
periences at  Kilimanjaro  forms  the  centre  of  the  book,  he 
has  much  to  say  about  what  he  saw  both  on  his  way  to 
the  mountain  and  on  his  way  back  ;  and  in  appendices 
various  writers  present  classifications  of  his  collections, 
and  the  conclusions  at  which  they  have  arrived  in  work- 
ing out  his  astronomical  and  meteorological  data.  The 
book  is  admirably  translated,  and  its  value  is  greatly 
increased  by  illustrations  and  maps. 

Chemistry  in  Space.  From  Prof.  T.  H.  van 't  HofT's  "Dix 
Annies  dans  I'Histoire  d'une  Th^orie."  Translated 
and  Edited  by  J.  E.  Marsh,  B.A.  (Oxford :  Claren- 
don Press,  1 891.) 

We  have  already  reviewed  the  monograph  of  which  this 
is  a  translation  (Nature,  vol.  xxxvii.  p.  121),  and  need 
not  therefore,  at  present,  say  anything  of  the  subject  with 
which  it  deals.  The  translator  has  done  his  work  care- 
fully, and  '*  the  invaluable  assistance  and  advice ''  of  the 
author  have  enabled  him  to  make  his  rendering  *'  a  con- 
siderable extension  of  the  French  edition."  Mr.  Marsh 
advises  those  to  whom  the  question  is  new  to  leave  the 
first  chapter  till  the  end,  as  it  contains  a  translation  of 
the  earliest  memoirs  on  the  subject,  and  the  ideas  are  in- 
completely developed,  obscure,  and  sometimes  erroneous. 


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 'Natxjkh, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Erratic  Track  of  a  Barometric  Depression. 

The  singular  course  of  the  cyclonic  system  which  has,  during 
the  week  terminating  on  May  29,  circulated  round  and  across 
the  British  Isles,  deserves  more  attention  than  can  be  thus 
early  given  to  it.  I  wish  here,  with  your  permission,  first,  to 
describe  the  path  of  its  centre  as  correctly  as  can  be  done  with 
the  data  at  present  in  my  hands,  mentioning  at  the  same  time 
the  principsd  modifications  of  the  isobars  and  of  the  weather  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  centre ;  secondly,  to  mention  some 
remarkable  facts  in  relation  to  the  upper  currents  as  observed 
by  myself  in  its  neighbourhood  ;  and  finally,  to  indicate  the 
nature  of  those  questions  an  examination  of  which  will,  I 
believe,  in  the  instance  before  me,  prove  to  be  of  most  scientific 
value. 

(i)  The  accompanying  chart  shows  the  course  of  the  centre 
of  depression,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  been  able  to  follow  its 
track,  the  arrow-heads  marking  the  position  at  6  p.m.  of  each 
day.  At  8  a.m.  of  the  23rd,  the  centre  appears  to  have 
lain  about  60  miles  to  the  west  of  Erris  Head,  with  a  baro- 
metrical pressure  of  a  little  below  29*4.  By  6  p.m.  it  had 
advanced  south-eastwards  into  Connaught  with  a  velocity  of  6 '5 

NO.    I  I  29,  VOL.  44] 


English  miles  per  hour,  and  by  8  a.m.  of  the  24th  to  a  little  west 
of  St.  Anne's  Head.  During  the  above  period  the  depression  wa* 
elongating  itself,  the  position  of  i's  major  axis  changing  from 
N.W.-S.E.  into  W.-E.  The  weather  in  the  meantime  was 
becoming  rainy  in  the  English  Channel  and  home  counties, 
while  continuing  fair  in  the  north.  At  6  p.m.  of  the  24tb  the 
eastward  elongation  of  the  whole  system  had  become  ven 
marked;  and  at  this  hour  the  centre  layover  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames,  after  a  somewhat  lengthened  thunder-storm  over 
London,  Woolwich,  &c.  The  velocity  of  transit  during  the 
twenty-four  hours  had  been  22  miles  per  hour,  and  the  path  of 
the  centre  was  beginning  to  curve  towards  the  left.  By  the 
morning  of  the  25th  the  centre  had  advanced  to  N.N.E.,  and 
lay  about  53"  2'  N.  lat,  0°  24'  W.  long.,  with  wet  and  cloudy 
weather  over  our  eastern  and  midland  districts.  By  6  p.m.  of 
that  day  the  centre  had  begun  to  move  slightly  to  the  west- 
ward, having  moved  during  the  twenty-four  hours  with  a  velocity 
of  10  miles  per  hour.  By  the  morning  of  the  26th  the  centre 
was  near  the  mouth  of  the  Humber,  rainfall  continuing  over  the 
north-east  and  north  midland  counties;  at  6p.m.  of  that  day 
the  centre  lay  over  north-west  Lincoln,  having  moved  only  with 
a  velocity  of  about  3*8  m.  per  hour.  The  centre  now  moved  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Solway,  with  a  velocity  of  about  10  miks 
per  hour,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  27lh  began  to  recurve  again 
a  little  to  the  left,  the  system  at  the  same  time  becoming  moTc 
circular  in  form,  and  the  central  pressures  slightly  decreasing. 
During  this  day  rain  and  cloud  prevailed  on  the  west  of  the 
system,  while  in  its  rear  there  were  some  scattered  thunder  and  hail 


showers  of  the  type  prevalent  in  summer  in  the  rear  of  cyclonic 
systems  travelling  to  north-east.  At  6  p.m.  on  the  following 
day  the  central  area  had  passed  into  Ulster,  with  a  velocity  ot 
5 '5  miles  per  hour.  The  thunderstorms  in  the  rear  were  on  that 
day  u:ore  pronounced.  During  the  following  night  the  centre 
travelled  with  increased  velocity  across  Donegal  to  the  Atlaniic, 
and  by  6  p.m.  of  the  29th  the  exterior  isobars  of  the  system  had 
almost  left  cur  shores,  finer  weather  setting  in  over  Great 
Britain  generally. 

(2)  The  point  marked  with  an  asterisk  on  the  chart  marls 
the  position  of  the  writer  during  the  progress  of  the  depres^ion, 
a  position  of  vantage  for  the  observation  of  upper  currents,  the 
value  of  which  was  much  diminished  by  the  predominant  thick- 
ness of  low  cloud,  and  by  the  fact  that  there  was  little  moonlight. 
Over  the  Midlands  outlying  threads  of  "cirro-filum"  advanced 
with  great  velocity  from  north-north-west  at  noon  of  the  23rd, 
soon  after  which  a  great  sheet  of  frozen  veil-cloud  rapidly 
overspread  the  sky,  the  exterior  edge  of  which  soon  disappeared 
over  the  north-east  horizon.  A  brilliant  solar  halo  was  coo  - 
pletely  eclipsed  before  5  p.m.  Meanwhile  the  lower  clonci- 
current  backed  from  south-west  to  south.  At  7.32  p.m.  thm 
was  a  squall  of  wind  from  south-east  with  rain,  and  a  "jump"  in 
the  barograph.  About  noon  of  the  following  day,  when  the  centie 
was  about  118  miles  to  the  south-south-west  a  glimpse  of  the  upper 
clouds  was  obtained ;  they  were  then  moving  from  south. 
Further  opportunities  of   observation   were  obtained    in    the 


June  i8,  1891] 


NATURE 


151 


eTcning,  which  showed  that  the  upper  current  had  changed  to 
south-east.  No  observations  could  be  made  during  the  two  wet 
days  which  followed  ;  but  early  in  the  morning  of  the  27th,  when 
the  centre  was  about  I03  miles  to  the  north,  true  cirri  were 
observed  moving  slowly  from  north-east.  These  soon  disap- 
peared ;  but  at  6  p.m.  of  the  same  day  an  Important  change 
took  place,  the  bands  of  ice-cloud  moving  from  south-south-west, 
from  which  point,  or  from  a  little  west  of  it,  the  belts  have  con- 
tinued to  travel  up  to  the  time  of  my  writing  this,  the  lines  being 
nearly  parallel  to  the  isobars,  and  to  the  general  direction  of  the 
sarface  winds,  and  precisely  resembling  in  character  the  stripes 
seen  in  most  cases  travelling  from  north -north-west  when  a 
depression,  whose  centre  has  passed  a  little  to  the  north  of  the 
observer,  has  moved  away  to  north>east.  ^ 

(3)  In  an  elaborate  paper  in  the  Quart.  Journ.  of  the  R. 
Met.  Soc.  for  October  1877,  the  writer  pointed  out  that  in  the 
extreme  left-hand  segment  of  an  approximately  circular  cyclone, 
moving  in  any  direction  in  the  northern  temperate  latitudes,  the 
movements  of  the  upper  currents  are  by  no  means  analogous  to 
those  in  the  right-hand  segment.'  In  the  case  of  cyclones  tra- 
veiling  eastwards,  the  reason  of  this  difference  is,  I  think,  now 
well  understood.  Owing  to  the  great  relative  density  of  the 
lower  atmosphere,  attended  with  low  barometric  pressure,  near 
the  poles,  the  gradients  for  westerly  currents  are  far  more  con- 
stant in  the  upper  than  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  atmosphere  in 
the  regions  traversed  by  extra-tropical  cyclones.  Over  a  large 
number  of  these  cyclones,  therefore,  many  of  the  isobars  in  the 
upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere  do  not  form  closed  curves,  but 
curves  somewhat  resembling  those  which,  at  the  earth's  surface, 
accompanying  what  are  popularly  termed  V-shaped  depressions. 
It  is  a  question  of  the  utmost  interest  whether,  during  the  periods 
in  which  depressions  travel  to  the  west,  the  distribution  of 
gradients  in  the  upper  atmosphere  is  really  for  the  time  reversed, 
and,  if  so,  what  can  be  the  causes  of  so  remarkable  a  change. 
There  is  a  further  question  correlated  with  the  above,  which 
deserves  more  attention  than  has  been  given  to  it.  The  writer 
long  ago  pointed  out  (Journ.  Scot.  Met.  Soc,  v^l.  iv.  pp.  333- 
335)  ^^^^  ^^  cases  of  depressions  travelling  westward  across  our 
islands,  temperatures  at  the  earth's  surface  are  in  general  higher 
over  Scandinavia  than  over  France  ;  and  a  considerable  number 
of  instances  have  occurred  since  1875  which  have  confirmed  this 
conclusion.  But  in  most  of  these  cases  an  anticyclone  ha; 
lain  to  the  north-east  of  us,  so  that  the  "gradient  force  "  of  the 
lower  strata  may  have  tended  to  send  the  depression  westwards, 
in  addition  to  the  ascensional  force,  associated  with  condensa- 
tion in  the  western  segment,  due  to  the  indraught  of  relatively 
warm  air  from  north  and  north-east.  In  the  instance  described 
in  this  paper  pressure  wa>«  not  particularly  high  over  Scandi- 
navia, during  the  westward  progress  of  the  system,  but  tempera- 
ture seems  to  have  been  higher,  over  Sweden  at  least,  than  in 
France.  W.  Clement  Ley. 

May  30. 


The  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock. 

I.V  Nature  (vol.  xliii.  p.  295)  Mr.  Henry  O.  Forbes  has  .1 
letter  commenting  on  a  statement  of  Mr.  Bartleit  to  the  effect 
that  the  wild  jungle  cock  does  not  crow,  and  testifying  that  he 
once  heard  one.  In  reply,  in  the  next  number  of  Nature,  it 
was  suggested  that  the  cock  heard  by  Mr.  Forbes  was  a  hybrid. 

I  think  that  no  one  who  has  travelled  in  the  jungles  of  Burma, 
during  the  dry  season,  can  have  any  doubt  that  the  jungle  cock 
crows  ;  for  he  cannot  fail  to  have  heard  them  many  times. 

It  so  happens  that,  just  after  reading  Mr.  Forbes's  letter,  I  had 
occasion  to  travel  among  the  hills  which  form  the  watershed 
between  the  Irrawaddy  and  the  Sittong  rivers.  In  one  region 
here  a  larg-;  kind  of  bamboo  was  seeding,  so  that  the  jungle 
fowl  were  very  numerous,  and  I  heard  them  crowing  in  great 
numbers.  I  remember  one  place  in  particular  :  the  Karens  had 
prepared  us  a  hut  in  which  to  sleep  just  outside  of  iheir  village,  \ 
which  consisted,  like  nearly  all  the  villages  in  these  hills,  of  a  , 
single  house,  each  family  having  its  separate  room  in  the  common  ' 

*  These  stripes  oi  cirro<filuai  are  so  abundinc  in  the  rear  of  most  clc- 
pre-iU3n«,  towards  the  termination  of  ths  inversion  disturbances  accompany- 
\n%  squalls  or  thunder-showers,  in  Europe  and  the  Northern  States  that  it  is 
singularly  unfortunate  that  the  statem;n:of  an  English  meteorologist,  to  the 
c^Tfict  that  they  d^  not  exist,  shiuld  have  f-mnd  its  way  into  the  first  edition 
of  Fcrrcl's  "  Popular  Treatise  on  the  Winds." 

'  Ser  als3  FerreU  *'Pjp.  Treat.,"  §  i3o;  '  M^djrn  Meteorolaxy,"  p.  xii 
(Jiigram). 


building.  **  At  cock  crowing  "  in  the  morning  we  had,  close  lo 
us,  the  crowing  of  the  village  cocks,  and  on  every  side,  far  and 
near,  the  answering  crows  of  multitudes  of  wild  birds.  I  do  not 
remember  ever  to  have  been  treated  to  such  a  chanticleer  concert 
before. 

The  idea  that  these  wild  cocks  were  all  hybrids  is  inadmissible, 
because  (i)  they  were  so  very  numerous,  and  (2)  the  country  is 
very  sparsely  peopled,  the  villages  all  being  small  and  far  apart, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  country  still  covered  with  primaeval 
forest. 

The  crow  of  the  jungle  cock  is  shrill,  like  that  of  the  smallest 
breeds  of  domestic  fowl,  and  is,  perhaps,  a  little  less  prolonged 
than  that  of  the  average  domestic  cock  ;  but  it  can  hardly  bie 
distinguished  from  the  crow  of  a  small  breed  of  fowl  kept  by  the 
Karens,  some  individuals  of  which  so  closely  resemble  the  wild 
fowl  that  they  are  u«e(l  as  decoys. 

I  have  several  times  heard  wild  fowl  cackle,  and  in  this 
journey,  while  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy  forest,  miles  from  any 
human  habitation,  we  came  upon  a  flock  of  wild  fowl  cackling, 
and  could  tell  by  the  tones  that  both  cocks  and  hens  were  cack- 
ling. One  of  the  followers  being  sent  with  a  gun  to  try  and  get 
a  shot,  some. of  the  birds  saw  him  and  flew,  whereupon  one  of 
the  cocks  gave  the  peculiar  call  which  the  domestic  cock  gives, 
when  a  bird  flies  over  him. 

I  might  add  that,  among  the  numerous  birds  shot  in  this 
region,  there  was  one  hen  which  had  a  pair  of  spurs  about 
half  an  inch  long.  B.  P.  Cross. 

Rangoon,  May  20. 


Cordylophora  lacustris. 

Ir  is  generally  believed  that  this  lube-dwelling  Hydrozoa  was 
originally  a  salt- water  animal,  and  although  now  found  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  tidal  water,  it  still  dwells  in  rivers  and 
canals  more  or  less  connected  with  tidal  rivers.  I  have  for 
many  years  found  it  in  the  Chester  and  Ellesmere  Port  Canal, 
growing  principally  on  the  shells  of  the  fresh-water  mussel,  from 
two  to  three  miles  from  the  tidal  river  (the  Dee).  It  seems  to 
be  a  shade-loving  animal,  as  I  have  always  found  it  under  the 
bridges,  and  from  4  to  6  feet  beniath  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  tubes  only  remain  during  the  winter  and  early  spring, 
and  the  animal  is  fully  developed  in  .A-ugust  and  September. 
It  is  generally  accompanied  by  Fredericella  sultana, 

Thomas  Shepheard. 

Kingsley  Lodge,  Chester,  June  12. 


Philosophical  Instrument  Makers. 

I  FIND  in  your  pap?r  of  June  11  (p.  135)  that  Messrs.  Newton 
and  Co.  have  been  appointed  philosophical  instrument  makers 
to  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain.  Allow  me  to  state 
that  they  are  not  the  only  ones,  and  that  I  also  was  appointed 
on  June  i  by  the  managers  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great 
Britain  to  be  their  philosophical  instrument  maker.  I  thought 
that  in  the  interest  of  the  public  you  should  know  this  fact. 

A.  HiLGER. 

204  Stanhope  Street,  Hampstead  Road,  June  12. 


The  Earthquake  of  June  7. 

The  earthquake  of  June  7,  whose  centre  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  province  of  Verona,  was  also  perceptible  at  Basle.  The 
seismometer  of  the  Bernoullianum  Observatory  registered  a 
horizontal  shock  at  ih.  47m.  29s.  a.  Basle  mean  time,  which 
corresponds  to  ih.  17m.  los.  Greenwich  mean  time. 

At  Thai,  a  village  east  of  St.  Gall,  the  ^hock  was  strong 
enough  to  be  felt  by  several  persons. 

Basle,  June  13.  A.  Riggenbach-Burckhardt. 


NOTE  ON  EGYPTIAN  IRRIGATION. 

IN  entering  upon  any  account  of  Egyptian  irrigation  it 
is  necessary,  at  first,  to  point  out  that  it  consists  of 
two  very  broad  subdivisions :  (i)  the  irrigation  eflfected 
by  the  Nile  flood  when  there  is  rich  muddy  water  in 
abundance  for  a  land  thrice  as  big  as  Egypt,  and  when 
everyone  considers  it  his  absolute  right  to  have  his  fields 


NO.    1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


152 


NA TURE 


[June  i8,  189*1 


Hooded  without  the  expense  or  trouble  of  raising  the 
\irater  artificially ;  and  (2)  the  irrigation  effected  by  the 
Nile  at  its  lowest,  in  those  hot  months  of  May  and  June 
when  the  water  surface  is  20  feet  below  that  of  the  field, 
2ind  when  it  is  only  by  the  strictest  economy  that  we  can 
water  an  area  not  exceeding  one-fourth  of  the  whole  of 

Egypt. 

2.  The  Irrigation  of  Old  Egypt — The  first  irrigation  is 
I  he  ancient  art  of  Egypt,  the  culture  that,  from  the  days 
of  the  Pharaohs,  made  this  little  valley  the  granary  of 
Europe.  The  products  are  wheat,  barley,  beans,  maize, 
;u[id  rice.  These  two  last  crops  require  special  irrigation. 
For  the  gro  A^th  of  wheat,  barley,  and  beans,  it  is  enough 
to  saturate  the  fields,  during  high  flood,  from  August  to 
October.  The  seed  is  scattered  as  the  waters  retreat,  and 
ibe  fields  receive  neither  irrigation  nor  rain  from  that 
time  till  the  harvest  is  gathered  in  at  the  end  of  April. 

3.  Perennial  Irrigation. — The  introduction  of  the 
second  system  is  due  to  the  sagacity  of  Mohamed  Ali,  who 
saw  that  the  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  were  such  as  to 
favour  the  growth  of  cotton  and  sugar-cane,  sub-tropical 
products  greatly  exceeding  the  value  of  cereals.  But 
these  crops  require  irrigation  during  the  months  when 
the  Nile  is  at  its  lowest,  hence  a  system  of  deep  canals 
was  necessary,  and  it  was  in  trying  to  carry  out  this 
system  in  Lower  Egypt  that  the  Egyptians  got  into  hope- 
less difficulties,  for  the  canals  got  blocked  with  silt,  and 
it  was  most  difficult  to  clear  them. 

4.  The  Barrage  unused. — The  obvious  remedy  was  to 
raise  the  water  in  the  river,  and  divert  it  into  the  canals 
by  a  Barrage  or  dam  at  the  apex  of  the  Delta.  Such  a 
work  was  constructed,  at  a  cost  of  about  two  millions 
sterling ;  but  soon  after  its  completion  it  cracked  in  a 
very  alarming  way,  and,  from  1867  to  1883,  remained 
practically  useless.  The  great  network  of  canals  con- 
tinued to  be  cleared  year  after  year  to  a  depth  of  about 
20  feet  below  the  soil,  and  for  half  of  each  year  the  corvee 
was  constantly  employed  on  them. 

5.  Pumping. — The  Egyptian  Government  had  aban- 
doned all  hope  of  again  using  the  Barrage.  They  had 
entered  into  a  contract  with  a  private  company  to  irrigate 
Hehera  by  a  system  of  pumps,  at  an  annual  cost  of  from 
;£5o,ooo  to  ;£6o,ooo ;  and  they  were  about  to  come  to 
similar  arrangements  for  the  rest  of  the  Delta,  at  an 
initial  cost  of  £700^00,  and  an  annual  one  of  ;£25o,ooo. 

6.  Neglect  0/ Drainage. — Continuous  irrigation  like  that 
of  Lower  Egypt  requires  to  be  accompanied  by  drainage, 
otherwise  the  land  becomes,  poured  and  waterlogged.  No 
attention  was  being  paid  to  this  subject  in  1883. 

7.  State  of  Upper  Egypt. — The  first  system  of  irrigation 
alluded  to  above  continued  to  be  practised  in  Upper 
Egypt.  A  few  very  costly  bridges  had  been  built  to 
assist  it,  but  little  attention  was  being  bestowed  on  it, 
und  even  in  years  of  average  Nile  flood  we  found  a  loss 
of  annual  revenue  amounting  to  about  £z^poo  taking 
place. 

8.  Addition  to  Area  of  Egypt. — Such  was  the  state  of 
affairs  when  we  took  charge  of  the  irrigation  in  1884.  1 
am  frequently  asked  whether,  since  then,  there  has  not 
been  a  great  addition  to  the  cultivated  area  of  Egypt. 
My  reply  is  in  the  negative. 

The  question  of  extending  cultivation  into  the  desert  is 
partly  one  of  displacement  of  population,  chiefly  on 3  of 
level,  for  above  the  point  that  the  Nile  flood  can  be 
brought  to  reach  we  must  not  look  for  an  extension  of 
cultivation.  Some  goes  on — notably  to  the  west  of  the 
province  of  Behera  and  in  the  Fayoum  ;  but  it  is  not  on 
a  very  large  scale. 

9  Reclamation  of  Marshes. — An  extension  much  more 
rapid,  and  of  more  importance,  is  in  progress  along 
iill  the  north  of  the  Delta,  where  land  is  being  yearly 
leclaimed  from  marsh  and  lagoon  by  our  drainage 
operations. 

NO.   1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


The  cultivated  and  revenue- paying  area  of  E^pt  is 
about  five  millions  of  acres.  The  lagoons  in  the  north 
cover  an  area  of  about  1,280,000  acres.  I  expect  in  a 
very  few  years  to  see  at  least  half  of  this  land  reclaimed 
and  cultivated. 

10.  The  Barrage  repaired^  and  the  Effect  on  Lu)>Ufer 
Egypt. — What  we  have  done,  are  doing,  and  propose  to 
do,  then,  in  future  years  is  as  follows : — 

First.  The  Barrage  has  been  completed,  and  placed 
in  a  condition  to  fulfil  its  original  purpose.  From  up- 
stream of  it  are  derived  three  main  trunk  canals  ivhich 
irrigate  the  whole  Delta,  and  three  smaller  canals  which 
irrigate  all  the  country  north-east  of  Cairo  and  to  the 
south  of  Zagazig ;  one  of  these  takes  water  to  Port  Said 
and  Suez.  The  outlay  on  the  Barrage  has  been,  since 
1884,  about  ;£46o,ooo. 

Of  the  three  trunk  canals,  that  on  the  west  had  been 
neglected,  and  completely  filled  in  with  sand.  It  has 
been  restored,  and  the  system  of  pumps  alluded  to  in 
paragraph  5  will,  I  hope,  never  be  used  again. 

The  canal  supplying  the  East  Delta  (termed  the  Tew- 
fikieh  Canal)  has  been  entirely  made  since  1886,  at  a  cost 
of  ;£372,ooo. 

Practically,  the  whole  summer  supply  of  the  Nile  is 
diverted  by  the  Barrage  into  these  canals,  and  none  flows 
out  useless  to  the  sea.  The  value  of  the  work  is  this — 
that  so  long  as  there  is  water  in  the  Nile  it  is  under  our 
control,  and,  however  low  the  river  may  fall,  the  water 
will  get  on  to  the  fields,  and  the  great  cotton  crop  will  be 
secured.  In  former  days,  during  low  Nile,  the  canals 
were  left  high  and  dry,  and  what  water  there  was  flowed 
out  to  the  sea,  useless. 

The  Barrage  has  not  much  increased  the  area  of  cul- 
tivation, but  it  has  very  largely  increased  that  of  land 
bearing  double  crops — that  is,  the  area  producing  cotton. 
It  was  in  1884  that,  by  employing  temporary  measures, 
we  began  to  use  the  Barrage.  Since  then,  the  average 
annual  yield  of  cotton  has  been  333,893  kantars  (15.000 
tons)  greater  than  in  the  five  years  preceding  18S4.  This 
represents  a  value  to  the  country  of  ;£835,ooo  a  year, 
exclusive  of  the  value  of  cotton-seeds. 

11.  Provision  for  Navigation.^StcondXy.  As  the  ab- 
straction of  water  renders  impossible  the  river  navigation 
during  four  or  five  months  every  year,  two  main  canals 
have  been  selected,  one  of  them  roughly  parallel  to  each 
of  the  branches  of  the  Nile,  and  fitted  with  locks  and 
rendered  navigable.  This  is  not  yet  quite  finished. 
When  it  is,  it  will  enable  laden  boats  to  pass  freely  be  ■ 
tween  Cairo  and  Alexandria  on  one  side,  and  Cairo  and 
Damietta  on  the  other  side,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 
Other  locks  have  been  built,  and  obstructions  removed,  so 
that  navigation  has  had  an  impulse  given  to  it  throughout 
the  whole  Delta. 

12.  Drainage  Introduced. — Thirdly.  Year  by  year  have 
been  opened  out  new  miles  of  drainage  arteries,  and  in 
Behera,  Gharbieh,  Dakahlieb,  Sharkieh  in  Lower  Hgypt, 
and  in  the  Fayoum,  large  tracts  have  been  reclaimed 
from  salt-marsh,  and  now  yield  good  crops.  The  Budget 
for  the  current  year  contains  ;^  140,000  for  new  drainage- 
works  in  Lower  Egypt.  No  part  of  our  work  has  been 
more  appreciated  than  this,  but,  unfortunately,  the  de- 
fective system  of  revenue  statistics  makes  it  impossible 
to  say  what  lands  have  been  reclaimed.  The  mileage  of 
drains  is  not  less  than  1500. 

13.  Measures  for  Improving  Irrigation  of  Uppet 
Egypt. — Fourthly.  I  have  said,  in  paragraph  7,  that 
there  has  been  an  annual  loss  of  about  ;£38,oooin  average 
years,  due  to  the  Nile  fiood  not  attainmg  all  the  fields  of 
Upper  Egypt.  In  exceptional  years  this  loss  has  been 
much  greater.  Thus,  afier  the  very  deficient  fiood  of 
1877  it  amounted  to  ;^i,i  11,880.  After  1888  it  was  about 
;£3oo,ooo.  If  such  was  the  loss  of  revenue  alone,  it  may 
be  imagined  what  a  heavy  calamity  was  inflicted  on  the 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


153 


'Cultivators.  Colonel  Ross,  Inspector-General  of  Irriga- 
cion,  has  studied  this  subject  most  closely.  Even  in 
<hese  deficient  years  there  was  water  enough  in  the  river 
if  it  could  only  be  got  on  to  the  land.  He  has  proved 
that,  by  a  judicious  system  of  canals,  sluices,  siphons, 
•escapes,  weirs,  &c.,  it  may  be  arranged  that,  even  in  the 
worst  years,  the  whole  Nile  valley  shall  receive  its  share 
-of  mud-charged  water.  This  involves  the  construction  of 
no  great  work  like  the  Barrage  (the  most  expensive  does 
not  exceed  ;^45,ooo),  but  of  a  great  number  of  works 
•costing  from  ;£5ooo  to  ;£  15,000  each,  requiring  very  care- 
ful designing,  and  built  often  in  remote  spots,  where 
-construction  of  any  kind  is  difficult. 

These  works  have  been  going  on  now  for  more  than  a 
year.  When  finished,  as  I  hope  they  will  be  in  1893, 
Ihe  whole  outlay  will  be  about  ;£6oo,ooo.  And  then,  I 
•trust,  the  lands  of  Upper  Egypt  will  yield  their  full  crop, 
iiowever  defective  may  be  the  Nile  flood. 

14.  Agricultural  Roads, — Fifthly.  A  minor  subject, 
^nd  yet  one  of  great  value  to  the  country,  deserves  notice 

here — namely,   the    introduction  of   agricultural   roads, 
This  reform  is  due  to  Riaz  Pasha.     Until  two  years  ago. 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  take  a  cart-load  of 
agricultural  produce  from  any  one  centre  of  population 
-to  another  in  the  Delta.    Comparatively  few  of  the  canals 
were  adapted  for  boats,  and  the  one  means  of  transport- 
ing cotton  to  the  railway  stations  or  to  the  river  was  by 
-camels,  which,  however  well  adapted  for  carrying  burdens 
on  the  firm  sand  of  the  desert,  are  not  suitable  for  the 
jich  alluvial  soil  and  the  sloppy  fields  of  the  Nile  valley. 
This  is  all  being  changed.    The  people  have  willingly 
accepted  a  tax  never  exceeding  P.E.  4  or  5  per  feddan  for 
•one  year  only,  and,  with  the  fund  thus  raised,  a  whole 
network  of  serviceable  roads  is  being  formed  sufficiently 
adapted  for  this  dry  climate. 

1 5.  Corvie  Abolition, — The  above  paragraphs  describe 
j^enerally  the  improvements  that  have  been  brought  about 
in  the  last  seven  years.  Second  to  none  is  the  boon  that 
has  been  conferred  on  Egypt  in  the  abolition  of  the 
xorvke.  Previous  to  1885,  the  whole  of  the  earth- work 
in  the  clearance  and  repairs  of  canals  and  embankments 
was  effected  by  the  forced,  unpaid,  unfed  labour  of  the 
peasantry.  In  1884  this  labour  amounted  to  85,000  men 
working  for  160  days.  We  were  told  that  this  was  quite 
a  necessary  state  of  things,  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  maintain  the  irrigation-works  otherwise,  and  that  the 
Eg}'ptian  peasant,  unlike  that  of  any  other  country,  would 
4iot  work  for  wages,  and  must  be  forced.  We  estimated 
<bat  to  redeem  this  corvee  and  to  pay  for  all  this  labour 
would  cost  ;£40o,ooo.  Nubar  Pasha,  in  the  face  of  the 
greatest  financial  difficulty  and  opposition,  managed  to 
give  an  annual  grant  of  ;^25o,ooo  for  this  object.  Riaz 
Pasha,  at  the  end  of  1889,  found  means  of  granting  the 

remaining;^ 1 50,000,  and  in  1890,  for  the  first  time  per- 
haps in  all  history,  there  was  no  corvee  in  Egypt. 

16.  Canal  Legislation, — When  we  began  work  here, 
we  were  much  hampered  by  the  want  of  any  canal  legis- 
lation, there  being  no  law  corresponding  to  what  is  found 
in  India,  Italy,  and  elsewhere,  treating  of  the  many  con- 
victing questions  connected  with  irrigation.  After  three 
years'  discussion,  a  very  useful  Canal  Act  now  exists,  and 
(he  only  misfortune  is  that  it  is  not  binding  on  residents 
of  foreign  nationality. 

17.  Storage  of  Nile  Water, — Lastly,  as  regards  our 
programme  for  the  future,  there  is  abundance  to  do  in 
carrying  out,  year  by  year,  solid  unpretending  reforms  ; 
but,  besides  these,  a  very  large  question  is  coming  to  the 
front.  The  restoration  of  the  Barrage  placed  at  our  dis- 
posal all  the  water  of  low  Nile,  but  the  increase  in  the 
area  irrigated  outruns  the  increase  in  the  water  available, 
and  we  have  to  look  for  means  of  storing  the  surplus 
volume  of  the  flood,  and  utilizing  it  when  the  river  is  low. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  this  may  probably  be 
done.    The  first,  which  is  connected  with  the  name  of  an 

NO.   1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


ingenious  American  gentleman,  Mr.  Cope  Whitehouse, 
is  to  divert  a  portion  of  the  flood  into  a  great  natural 
depression  existing  west  of  the  Nile  valley,  and  there  to 
form  a  storage  reservoir,  to  be  drawn  upon  as  the  water 
in  the  river  decreases.  This  has  been  examined  and 
found  feasible,  but  the  expense,  probably  x^  millions  ster- 
ling, is  against  it.  The  alternative  project  is  to  pond  up 
water  in  the  valley  of  the  river  itself  above  Assouan. 
This  project  is  being  studied  at  present  There  can  be 
hardly  any  further  extension  of  the  cotton  cultivation  if 
one  or  the  other  of  these  schemes  is  not  executed.  There 
is  room  enough  in  the  country  to  employ  both. 

Colin  Scott  Moncrieff, 
Under-Secretary  of  State,  Public  Works 
Department. 
Cairo,  March  5,  1891. 


THE  SECOND  ORNITHOLOGICAL  CONGRESS. 

A  FULL  report  of  the  proceedings  of  this  important 
Congress  can  only  be  obtained  when  the  official 
Comptes  rendus  are  published,  for  the  officers  of  one  sec- 
tion were  unable  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  other 
sections  owing  to  the  fact  that  all  four  sections  sat  at  one 
and  the  same  time.  This  is  the  only  complaint  we  have 
to  make  concerning  the  recent  proceedings,  but  as  it  affects 
the  future  of  these  useful  reunions,  we  feel  compelled  to 
make  our  protest,  because,  by  the  simultaneous  session  of  all 
the  sections  of  a  Congress,  no  man,  however  interested  in 
the  subjects  under  discussion,  can  hear  all  that  he 
wishes  to  hear ;  the  visitor  has  to  choose  between  two 
meetings,  both  of  which  probably  possess  for  htm  an 
equal  interest.  It  must  be  obvious  to  everyone  who  had 
the  privilege  of  attending  the  second  Ornithological  Con- 
gress that  a  great  gathering  of  specialists  such  as  that 
which  took  place  last  month  must  require  more  time  than 
three  days  to  discuss  such  varied  problems  as  were  placed 
before  them  at  the  recent  meeting. 

The  city  of  Budapest  was  happily  chosen  as  the 
meeting-place  of  the  Congress,  and  it  may  well  be  ques- 
tioned whether  there  is  any  country  in  the  world  that 
could  have  offered  so  many  attractions  to  the  ornithologist 
as  Hungary.  The  hospitality  of  the  Hungarians  is  pro- 
verbial, the  accommodation  in  the  beautiful  capital  is 
unlimited,  and  access  thereto  is  easy.  After  an  enjoyable 
trip  down .  the  Danube  from  Vienna,  the  travellers  found 
themselves  at  the  opening  conversazione  of  the  Congress, 
which  was  celebrated  in  the  Grand  Hotel  "  Hungaria.** 
Here  the  Hungarian  Committee  had  assembled  with  all 
the  members  of  the  Congress  to  welcome  the  guests,  and 
the  inaugural  banquet  served  as  a  pleasant  medium  for 
the  introduction  of  the  strangers.  On  May  17  the  first 
general  meeting  of  the  Congress  took  place  in  the 
sumptuous  theatre  of  the  Hungarian  National  Museum. 
After  some  words  of  welcome  from  the  Burgomaster  of 
Budapest,  the  officers  for  the  Congress  were  chosen  as 
follows  : — Honorary  Presidents  ;  Count  Bethlen,  Minister 
of  Agriculture  ;  Count  A.  Csdky,  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction ;  Mr.  B.  Kdllay,  Minister  of  Finance.  Presidents : 
Prof.  Victor  Fatio  (Geneva)  and  Mr.  Otto  Herman,  M.P. 
Vice-Presidents :  Dr.  Rudolph  Blasius  (Brunswick),  Prof. 
S.  Brusina  (Agram),  Prof.  R.  Collett  (Christiania),  Mr.  J. 
de  Csatd  (Budapest),  Dr.  Otto  Finsch  (Bremen),  Major 
Alex,  von  Homeyer  (Greifswald),  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer 
(Dresden),  Dr.  E.  von  Middendorf  (Livonia),  Dr.  Emil 
Oustalet  (Paris),  Dr.  Bowdler  Sharpe  (British  Museum), 
Mr.  E.  von  Szalay  (Budapest),  Victor  Ritter  Tschusi  von 
Schmidhoffen  (Hallein).  General  Secretary  :  Dr.  G.  von 
Horvdth.  Secretaries:  Mr.  E.  Chernel  von  Chemel- 
hdza.  Dr.  A.  Lendl,  Dr.  L.  Lorenz  von  Libumau, 
Dr.  A.  Lovassy,  Dr.  J.  von  Madardsz,  Mr.  O.  Reiser, 
Prof.  G.  Szikla.  Hon.  Secretaries :  Mr.  E.  de  Gadl,  Mr. 
B.  de  Lipthay,  Mr.  J.  d'Ottlik.     Quaestor:  Mr.  J.  von 


154 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


Xdntus.  After  preliminary  reports,  Major  Alex,  von 
Homeyer  gave  his  reminiscences  of  travel  in  West  Africa 
some  years  ago,  and  his  imitations  of  the  notes  of  African 
birds  were  strikingly  rendered.  Four  different  sections 
of  the  Congress  were  appointed,  the  names  of  the 
different  delegates  from  foreign  countries  were  read  out, 
as  well  as  letters  of  apology  for  their  absence  from  several 
naturalists,  Prof.  Fiirbringer,  Baron  de  Selys  Long- 
champs,  and  others. 

The  officers  of  the  different  sections  were  constituted  as 
follows:— (i)  Systematic  Section :  Presidents,  Dr.  Bowdler 
Sharpe  (London)  and  Prof.  Claus  (Vienna) ;  Vice-Presi- 
dents, Dr.  A.  Reichenow  (Berlin)  and  Mr.  C.  G.  Danford 
(Siebenburgen).  (2)  Biology  and  Oology  :  President,  Dr. 
Rudolph  Blasius.  (3)  Avigeographia :  President,  Dr. 
Palacky  (Prag).  (4)  Economic  Ornithology  :  President, 
Major  Alex,  von  Homeyer. 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  17  many  of  the  members  of 
the  Congress  ascended  the  Blocksberg,  to  enjoy  a  view 
of  the  city  of  Budapest  and  the  Danube  flowing  below — 
a  view  not  to  be  surpassed  in  beauty  and  interest  in  any 
country. 

On  Monday,  May  18,  the  Systematic  Section  met  in 
the  lecture- theatre  of  the  Polylechnicum,  which  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Congress  by  Prof  Szabo, 
whose  work  is  well  known  and  appreciated  in  Great 
Britain.  Papers  were  read  by  Prof  Klug,  on  some 
points  in  the  anatomy  of  the  stomach  in  birds,  and 
by  Dr.  Bowdler  Sharpe  on  the  classification  of  birds, 
the  latter  lecture  being  illustrated  by  several  large  dia- 
grams and  a  wax  model  of  the  phylogenetic  tree,  in 
which  Prof.  Fiirbringer  traces  the  evolution  of  birds  from 
a  reptilian  stock.  The  remainder  of  the  work  of  the 
Systematic  Section  consisted  in  the  passing  of  the  rules 
of  nomenclature,  as  put  forward  by  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  Prof.  Mobius,  Dr.  A.  Reichenow,  Count  von  Berle- 
poch,  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer,  and  Dr.  W.  Blasius.  The 
recommendations  of  this  committee  were  adopted  almost 
in  their  entirety  by  the  meeting,  after  a  two-days'  discus- 
sion, notwithstanding  some  protests  of  Dr.  Sharpe,  and 
Mr.  Biittikofer  of  the  Royal  Museum  of  Leyden,  who 
found  themselves  in  a  hopeless  minority.  The  chief 
points  carried  were :  the  adoption  of  the  loth  instead 
of  the  1 2th  edition  of  the  "  Systema  Naturae  "  of  Linnaeus, 
the  recognition  of  trinomial  names  in  certain  cases,  and 
the  adoption  of  names,  even  faulty  in  construction  or 
misspelt,  with  all  the  consequences.  The  lone  of  the 
report,  however,  is  so  moderate,  and  exhibits  so  much 
consideration  for  the  methods  of  other  ornithologists, 
that  it  ought  to  be  possible  now  to  arrive  at  a  definite 
conclusion  for  European  usage  at  least ;  and  then  it 
would  be  easy  to  assimilate  the  American  and  European 
methods  of  nomenclature. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  i8th,  the  Congress  met  in  the 
Museum,  and  Dr.  Otto  Herman.  M.  P.,  gave  an  account  of 
the  distribution  of  birds  in  Hungary,  and  explained  the 
collections  which  had  been  made  specially  for  the  Con- 
gress. These  consisted  of  beautifully  mounted  cases  of 
Hungarian  birds  with  nests  and  natural  surroundings  : 
some  very  rare  species  were  included  in  the  collection, 
which  was  the  work  of  four  ornithologists — Dr.  O.  Herman, 
M.P.,  Dr.  Julius  von  Madardsz,  Mr.  Chemel,  and  Prof 
Szikla.  These  gentlemen  had  each  occupied  a  station  in 
different  parts  of  Hungary,  and  had  not  only  collected 
the  series  of  birds  exhibited,  but  had  also  made  exact 
observations  on  migration  and  distribution.  The  Hun- 
garian National  Museum  is  a  very  fine  building,  and 
contains  a  collection  which  fairly  surprised  most  of  the 
visitors,  the  series  of  native  birds  being  especially  com- 
plete. Large  groups  of  Laemmergeiers,  *  Sea  Eagles, 
Ospreys,  &c.,  with  their  nests,  eggs,  and  young  birds,  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  Bird-galleries,  and  these  are  principally 
the  work  of  a  well-known  Hungarian  ornithologist.  Dr. 
J.  von  Madardsz.     The  collection  of  Mammalia  also  com- 

NO.   TT29,  ^^OL.  44] 


prises  some  great  rarities,  and  the  whole  Museum  teems 
with  specimens  procured  by  the  veteran  explorer,  Mr.  J. 
von  Xintus,  whose  labours  in  Lower  California  and 
Central  America,  as  well  as  in  Borneo  and  the 
Sunda  Islands,  are  also  widely  known.  The  Museum 
likewise  contains  a  fine  series  of  insects,  especially 
Coleoptera,  which  were  shown  with  much  natural 
pride  by  Dr.  Frivaldszky,  who  is  responsible  for  the 
beautiful  arrangement  of  the  latter  groups.  The  after- 
noon closed  with  an  adjournment  to  the  Hungarian 
Academy  of  Sciences,  where  Prof.  Robert  Collett  read  a 
paper  on  Arctic  Bird-life  before  a  crowded  audience  : 
and  the  evening  concluded  with  a  banquet  at  the 
"  Archiduc  Stephan  "  Hotel. 

On  Tuesday  the  debate  on  nomenclature  was  con- 
tinued ;  and  in  the  afternoon  the  Congress  assembled  on 
St.  Margaret's  Island,  which  forms  a  most  delightful 
summer  retreat  for  the  inhabitants  of  Budapest,  with  its 
dozens  of  nightingales,  its  ruined  cloisters,  and  its  sulphur 
springs. 

On  Wednesday,  the  20th,  the  general  meeting  of  the 
Congress  was  held  to  receive  the  reports  of  the  different 
sections  and  committees,  and  the  business  was  con- 
cluded. A  farewell  banquet  took  place  in  the  evening, 
and  the  second  Ornithological  Congress  came  to  an  end. 

Next  day  the  members  were  scattered  in  different 
directions — some  to  their  homes,  some  to  join  one  of  the 
pre-arranged  excursions.  These  were  three  in  number — 
one  to  the  Hansdg  marshes  and  Ferto,  a  second  to  the 
Platten-See,  and  a  third  to  the  districts  of  the  Drave.  Of 
the  first  excursion,  in  which  the  writer  took  part,  he  can 
only  say  that,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  von  Madardsz, 
the  members  of  the  Congress  who  accompanied  it  under- 
went a  never-to-be-forgotten  experience.  The  species  of 
birds  observed  were  mostly  those  unknown  to  an  English 
naturalist,  and  the  hospitality  dispensed  by  Prince  Ester- 
hazy,  Baron  von  Berg,  and  Count  Sz^chenyi,  is  not  likely 
to  disappear  from  the  memory  of  those  who  had  the  good 
fortune  to  partake  of  it. 

THE  IMPERIAL  PHYSICAL  AND  TECHNICAL 
INSTITUTION  AT  BERLIN, 

'X* HE  Imperial  Physical  and  Technical  Institution  which 
-*•  was  founded  in  1887  at  Charlottenburg,  near  Berlin, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  German  Government,  has  now 
been  for  some  time  in  active  operation,  and  recently 
there  has  been  issued  by  the  executive  Director,  Dr.  L. 
Loewenherz,  a  Report  on  the  work  of  the  Institution  up 
to  the  end  of  last  year. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  the  Institution  has  two 
main  objects  in  view  :  first,  that  of  physical  and  technical 
research  appropriate  to  the  practical  development  of 
manufacture — researches  for  instance  as  to  the  qualities  ot 
metals  and  materials  and  as  to  methods  of  construction 
and  measurement ;  the  second  object  being  that  of 
fundamental  research  in  theoretical  problems  m  physics, 
and  the  testing  of  all  kinds  of  measuring  apparatus 
applicable  for  use  in  science,  art,  and  manufacture.  It 
appears  to  undertake,  therefore,  investigations  and  veri- 
fications similar  to  those  undertaken  in  this  country  by 
the  Board  of  Trade,  or  at  the  Kew  Observatory :  and,  in 
France,  by  the  Bureau  International  des  Poids  et  Mesures. 
Its  staff  includes  (exclusive  of  the  clerical  staff)  a  Presi- 
dent, nominated  by  the  Reichstag ;  a  Director,  with  a 
Committee  of  seven  members  ;  seven  scientific  officers  in 
the  department  of  research  ;  four  technical  assistants,  and 
several  piechanics  and  machinists. 

From  time  to  time,  as  new  methods  of  testing  are 
adopted,  or  as  fresh  work  is  undertaken,  explanatory 
papers  are  issued  by  the  responsible  ofificers  of  the  Insti- 
tution (printed  by  Julius  Springer,  Berlin) ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing papers  have,  amongst  others,  been  already  issued : 
— Karl    Scheel,  H.    F.   Wiebe,  and  AUr.  liottcher,    on 


June  i"8,  1891J 


NATURE 


155 


meteorological  meatsureihents  ;  Dr.  K.  Feussner  and  Dr. 
St.  LindeckyOn  electrical  measurements  ;  Dr.  O.  Lummer 
and  Dr.  £.  Brodhun,  on  optical  measurements,  including 
photometry ;  Dr.  F.  Foerster  and  Dr.  F.  Milius,  on 
chemical  analysis  of  glass. 

We  gather  from  the  Director's  Report  above  referred 
to,  that  the  Institution  has  provided  itself  with  funda- 
mental standards  of  length  and  mass ;  with  primary 
thermometers  and  barometers  ;  with  electrical  standards 
of  resistance,  current,  and  pressure  ;  and  with  apparatus 
for  testing  the  flashing  point  of  petroleum  and  inflammable 
liquids.  Its  metrological  work  for  the  public  has  in- 
cluded the  proving  of  clinical  thermometers,  pyrometers, 
aneroid  barometers,  manometers,  alcohol  thermometers 
for  low  temperature,  and  thermometers  for  chemical 
research. 

In  October  1888,  the  official  testing  of  thermometers 
was  transferred  from  the  Normal  Aichungs  Commission  at 
Berlin  to  the  Imperial  Institution,  and  all  thermometers 
are  still  tested  on  the  basis  of  the  regulations  laid  down 
by  the  Commission  on  November  10,  1885  ;  excepting 
that,  in  place  of  basing  the  errors  of  scientific  thermo- 
rneteri  on  a  mercurial  thermometer,  thermometer  readings 
are  now  reduced  to  the  more  accurate  scale  of  the  air- 
thermometer  or  hydrogen-thermometer. 

The  use  of  thermometers  for  determining  pressures,  or 
altitudes,  &c.,  on  the  occasion  of  journeys  of  exploration, 
&c.,  seems  of  late  to  have  increased,  for  many  such  have 
been  already  presented  for  examination  at  the  Institu- 
tion. If  the  thermometers  are  made  of  Jena  glass  (or 
of  other  hard  thermometer  glass),  it  would  appear  to  be 
possible  to  ascertain  pressures  with  but  little  trouble  to 
±  0*25  millimetre.  The  necessity  for  using  proper 
glass  is  shown  in  an  experiment  ciarried  out  at  the  In- 
stitution with  two  thermometers,  Nos.  42  and  43,  made  of 
ordinaiy  Thuringian  and  crystal  glass.  On  September  7, 
1888,  the  corrections  of  these  thermometers  at  87°  C. 
were  found  to  be — 

No.  42,  —  o°'05  ;  No.  43,  -  0*^-24  C. 

The  thermometers  were  then  heated  for  1 5  minutes  to  a 
temperature  of  100''  C.  ;  they  were  then  allowed  to  cool, 
and  subsequently  retested  on  September  10,  when  their 
errors  were  found  to  be — 

No.  42,  +  o''o8  ;  No.  43,  -  o°'09  C. 

Such  variation  in  the  reading  of  a  thermometer  after 
its  exposure  to  a  high  temperature  would  unfit  it  for  use 
in  the  exact  determination  of  pressures  or  altitudes. 

With  reference  to  the  testing  of  various  sorts  of  glass  Dr. 
F.  Milius  points  out  that  Weber's  process,  generally  made 
use  of,  and  which  consists  in  exposing  the  body  to  be  exa- 
mined 10  an  atmosphere  of  muriatic  acid  vapour  for  a  space 
of  twenty- four  hours,  is  not  always  trustworthy.  Thus,  ac- 
cording to  the  quality  of  the  glass,  it  appears  to  be 
covered  more  or  less,  after  exposure  to  the  acid  vapour,  by 
a  thick  rime  (or  hoar  frost)  ;  and  that  although  the  ex- 
perienced observer  finds  Weber's  method  tolerably  certain, 
yet  the  less  experienced  observer  may  sometimes  be  left 
in  doubt,  particularly  where  rough  surfaces  are  treated, 
as  to  whether  the  rime  exists  or  not ;  Dr.  Milius  therefore 
proposes  an  optical  form  of  test  other  than  that  of  the 
muriatic  acid  test,  as  is  explained  at  length  in  his  paper. 

Dr.  Milius,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  F.  Foerster,  has  also 
investigated  the  solubility,  in  water,  of  potash  and  soda 
glass,  particularly  with  reference  to  Schott's  experiments 
as  to  the  capacity  of  potash  water-glass  for  absorbing 
water  without  losing  its  vitreous  quality.  This  latter  fact 
can  be  ascertained  by  keeping  pulverized  water-glass 
under  water,  when,  as  in  the  case  of  hydraulic  cement,  a 
hardening  of  the  paste  begins  to  take  place.  This  pro- 
cess is  connected  with  a  development  of  heat ;  in  the 
case  of  water-glass  in  which  there  was  one  atom  of  po'.ash 
to  three  of  silicic  acid  it  was  observed  at  the  Institution 

NO.  II 29,  VOL.  44] 


that  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  moistened  matter  had 
been  heated  10°  Centigrade,  and  it  became  hard  in  one 
day ;  if  the  proportion  of  silicic  acid  is  larger,  the  glass 
requires  from  two  to  three  days  for  solidification.  Their 
researches  appear  to  show  that  for  purposes  con- 
nected with  mercurial  electrical  standards,  the  glass  used 
should  be  very  little  soluble  in  water  and  acids ;  hard 
glass,  for  instance,  which  had  a  base  of  soda,  and  not 
potash,  being  little  hygrometric. 

In  the  important  field  of  electrical  measurements,  the 
Institution  appears  also  to  be  doing  good  work.  It  is 
preparing  to  undertake  the  verification  of  all  kinds  of 
apparatus ;  including  voltmeters,  ammeters,  meters  for 
the  measurement  of  power  and  efficiency,  galvanometers, 
and  resistance  coils. 

In  the  field  of  practical  photometry  we  have  to  com- 
pare the  intensities  of  different  sources  of  light  as  ex- 
perienced by  the  eye ;  but  unfortunately  we  have  ilot, 
even  for  commercial  purposes,  any  satisfactory  method 
by  which  intercomparisons  may  be  made  between  the 
relative  intensities  of  coal-gas,  electric  and  oil  lights  re- 
spectively. In  practical  photometry  much  is  being  done 
in  this  country  by  Abney,  Vernon- Harcourt,  Chaney,  and 
others,  as  well  as  by  Lummer,  Brodhun,  and  others  in 
Germany,  but  as  yet  no  standard  photometer  has  been 
produced.  The  standard  light  is  still  also  the  ancient 
''  sperm-candle,"  and  the  method  of  comparison  is  still 
the  old-fashioned  "  grease-spot "  Bunsen  photometer 
more  or  less  modified.  The  German  authorities  appear 
to  be  fully  alive  to  the  necessity  of  improvement  in  this 
field  of  technical  research ;  and  have  investigated  M .  VioUe's 
incandescent  platinum-standard  of  light,  and  also  the 
Hefner  lamp  and  Aubert's  apparatus  ;  and  for  electrical 
light  purposes  they  have  followed  a  form  of  standard 
glow  lamp. 

Among  the  papers  above  referred  to,  we  notice  also  one 
by  Dr.  Loewenherz,  on  the  testing  of  tuning-forks.  The  In- 
stitution undertakes  the  testing  of  tuning-forks,  on  payment 
of  a  small  fee,  the  object  of  the  examination  being  to 
ascertain  the  correctness  of  the  height  of  the  tone  of 
the  fork  in  terms  of  an  international  diapason  ;  or  the 
number  of  the  vibrations  of  the  fork  per  second,  at  the 
temperature  of  1 5"  Centigrade,  the  pitch  of  the  note  A 
being  fixed  at  435  entire  vibrations  per  second,  or  870 
half  or  single  vibrations  according  to  the  French  method 
of  counting.  Tuning-forks  sent  to  the  Institution  for 
examination  are  required  to  be  constructed  in  accordance 
with  conditions  laid  down  by  the  Institution.  Unity  of 
pitch  is  of  fundamental  importance  in  music  and  in  the 
construction  of  musical  instruments,  and  it  is  to  be 
desired  that  some  authoritative  testing  of  tuning-forks 
might  be  similarly  undertaken  in  this  country. 

In  metallurgy  the  work  of  the  chemical  laboratories  of 
the  Institution  does  not  appear  to  be  extensive ;  it  has 
included  more  particularly  analyses  of  the  metals  pla- 
tinum, cadmium,  and  rhodium.  In  the  Physical  Labora- 
tory, measuring  instruments  of  precision  for  workshop 
use,  such  as  speed  and  power  indicators,  screw-thread 
gauges,  have  also  been  examined  by  the  Institution  ;  and 
its  geodetical  work  has  included  the  verification  of  instru- 
ments of  precision  for  General  Schreiber,  of  the  Imperial 
Prussian  Land  Survey.  The  department  has  undertaken 
also  the  verification  of  polariscopes,  lenses,  prisms,  and 
other  optical  instruments,  to  a  limited  extent. 

The  above  observations  may  serve  to  show  that  the 
Institution  is  alike  prepared  to  verify  a  standard — as  a 
measurer  of  electrical  resistance— with  the  utmost  accu- 
racy, or  to  test  an  instrument  for  common  purposes — as  a 
gas  meter.  How  far  the  Institution  maybe  self-supporting 
is  not  stated  in  the  Director's  Report ;  but  as  the  demands 
for  verification  work  of  this  kind  are  largely  voluntary,  it 
would  appear  to  be  evident  that  the  excellent  staff  of  the 
Institution  could  not  be  maintained  unless  it  received 
valuable  support  from  the  State.] 


156 


NA TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


CR  YSTALUZA  TION.^ 

''pHERE  is  something  very  fascinating  about  crystals. 

*-  It  is  not  merely  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  their  forms, 
their  picturesque  grouping,  and  the  play  of  light  upon 
their  faces,  but  there  is  a  deling  of  wonder  at  the  power 
of  Nature,  which  causes  substances,  in  passing  from  the 
fluid  to  the  solid  state,  to  assume  regular  shapes  bounded 
by  plane  faces,  each  substance  with  its  own  set  of  forms, 
and  its  faces  arranged  with  characteristic  symmetry : 
some,  like  alum,  in  perfect  octahedra  ;  others,  like  blue 
vitriol,  in  shapes  which  are  regularly  oblique.  It  is  this 
power  of  Nature  which  is  the  subject  of  this  discourse. 
I  hope  to  show  that  crystalline  forms,  with  all  their  regu- 
larity and  symmetry,  are  the  outcome  of  the  accepted 
principles  of  mechanics.  I  shall  invoke  no  peculiar 
force,  but  only  such  as  we  are  already  familiar  with  in 
other  facts  of  Nature.  I  shall  call  in  only  the  same  force 
that  produces  the  rise  of  a  liquid  in  a  capillary  tube  and 
the  surface-tension  at  the  boundary  of  two  substances 
which  do  not  mix.  Whether  this  force  be  different  fh>m 
gravity  I  need  not  stop  to  inquire,  for  any  attractive  force 
which  for  small  masses,  such  as  we  suppose  the  molecules 
of  matter  to  be,  is  only  sensible  at  insensible  distances  is 
sufficient  for  my  purpose. 

We  know  that  the  external  forms  of  crystals  are  inti- 
mately connected  with  their  internal  structure.  This  is  be- 
trayed by  the  cleavages  with  which  in  mica  and  selenite 
everybody  is  familiar,  and  which  extend  to  the  minutest 
parts,  as  is  seen  in  the  tiny  rhombs  which  form  the  dust 
of  crushed  calcite.  It  is  better  marked  by  the  optical 
properties,  single  and  double  refraction,  and  the  effects 
of  crystals  on  polarized  light  These  familiar  facts  lead 
tip  to  the  thought  that  it  is  really  the  internal  structure 
which  determines  the  external  form.  As  a  starting-point 
for  considering  that  structure,  I  assume  that  crystalline 
matter  is  made  up  of  molecules,  and  that,  whereas  in  the 
fluid  state  the  molecules  move  about  amongst  themselves, 
in  the  solid  state  they  have  little  freedom.  They  are 
always  within  the  range  of  each  other's  influence,  and 
do  not  change  their  relative  places.  Nevertheless,  these 
molecules  are  in  constant  and  very  rapid  motion.  Not 
only  will  they  communicate  heat  to  colder  bodies  in  con- 
tact with  them,  but  they  are  always  radiating,  which 
means  producing  waves  in  the  ether  at  the  rate  of  many 
billions  in  a  second.  We  are  sure  that  they  have  a  great 
deal  of  energy,  and,  if  they  cannot  move  far,  they  must 
have  very  rapid  vibratory  motions.  It  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  parts  of  each  molecule  swing,  back- 
wards and  forwards,  through,  or  about,  the  centre  of 
mass  of  the  molecule.  The  average  distances  to  which 
the  parts  swing  will  determine  the  average  dimensions  of 
the  molecule,  the  average  space  it  occupies. 

Dalton  fancied  he  had  proved  that  the  atoms  of  the 
chemical  elements  must  be  spherical,  because  there  was 
no  assignable  cause  why  they  should  be  longer  in  one 
dimension  than  another.  I  rather  invert  his  argument. 
I  see  no  reason  why  the  excursions  of  the  parts  of  a 
molecule  from  the  centre  of  mass  should  be  equal  in  all 
directions,  and  therefore  assume,  as  the  most  general 
case,  that  these  excursions  are  unequal  in  different  direc- 
tions. And,  since  the  movements  must  be  symmetrical 
with  reference  to  the  centre  of  mass  of  the  molecule,  they 
will  in  general  be  included  within  an  ellipsoid,  of  which 
the  centre  is  the  centre  of  mass. 

Here  I  may,  perhaps,  guard  against  a  misconception. 
We  chemists  are  familiar  with  the  notion  of  complex 
molecules  ;  and  most  of  us  figure  to  ourselves  a  mole- 
cule of  common  salt  as  consisting  of  an  atom  of  sodium 
and  one  of  chlorine  held  together  by  some  sort  of  force, 
and  it  may  be  imagined  that  these  atoms  are  the  parts  of 

'  A  Discourse  delivered  at  the  Royal   In<:itutioo  of  Great   Britain  on 
Friday,  May  15,  1891,  by  G.  D.  Liveing,  F.R.S. 

NO.    II 29,  VOL.  44] 


the  molecules  which  I  have  in  mind.    That,  however,  is 
not  my  notion.     I  am  paradoxical  enough  to  disbelieve 
altogether  in  the  existence  of  either  sodium  or  chlorine 
in  common  salt.    Were  my  audience  a  less  philosophical 
one  I  could  imagine  I  heard  the  retort  from  many  a  lip  ; 
"  Why,  you  can  get  sodium  and  chlorine  out  of  it,  and 
you  can  make  it  out  of  sodium  and  chlorine  !  **    But  no^ 
you  cannot  get  either  sodium  or  chlorine  out  of  common 
salt  without  first  adding  something  which  seems  to  me 
of  the  essence  of  the  matter.     You  can  get  neither  sodium 
nor  chlorine  from  it  without  adding  energy ;  nor  can  yoo 
make  it  out  of  these  elements  without  subtracting  energ}*. 
My  point  is  that  energy  is  of  the  essence  of  the  molecule. 
Eacn  kind  of  molecule  has  its  own  motion  ;  and  in  this 
I  think  most  physicists  will  agree  with  me.    Chemists 
will  agree  with  me  in  tninking  that  all  the  molecules  of 
the  same  element,  or  compound,  are  alike  in  mass,  and 
in  the  space  they  occupy  at  a  given  temperature  and 
pressure.    The  only  remaining  assumption   I   make  is 
that  the  form  of  the  ellipsoid— the  relative  lengths  of  its 
axes — is  on  the  average  the  same  for  all  the  molecules  of 
the  same  substance.     This  implies  that  the  distances  of 
the  excursions  of  the  parts  of  the  molecule  depend  on 
its  constitution,  and  are,  on  the  average,  the  same  in 
similarly  constituted    molecules  under  similar  circum- 
stances. 

I  have  come  to  the  end  of  my  postulates.  I  hope  they 
are  such  as  you  will  readily  concede.  I  want  you  to- 
conceive  of  each  molecule  as  having  its  parts  in  extremely 
rapid  vibration,  so  that  it  occupies  a  larger  space  than  it 
would  occupy  if  its  parts  were  at  rest ;  and  that  the 
excursions  of  the  parts  about  the  centre  of  mass  are  on 
the  average,  at  a  given  temperature  and  pressure,  com- 
prised within  a  certain  ellipsoid  ;  that  the  dinoensions  of 
this  ellipsoid  are  the  same  for  all  molecules  of  the  same 
chemical  constitution,  but  different  for  molecules  of 
different  kinds. 

We  have  now  to  consider  how  these  molecules  will 
pack  themselves  on  passing  from  the  fluid  state,  in  which 
they  can  and  do  move  about  amongst  themselves,  into 
the  solid  state,  in  which  they  have  no  sensible  freedom. 
If  they  attract  one  another,  according  to  any  law,  and 
for  my  purpose  gravity  will  suffice,  then  the  laws  of  energy- 
require  that  for  stable  equilibrium  the  potential  eneiigy 
of  the  system  shall  be  a  mmimum.  This  is  the  same,  in 
the  case  we  are  considering,  as  saying  that  the  nnolecules 
shall  be  packed  in  such  a  way  that  the  distances  between 
their  centres  of  mass  shall  on  the  whole  be  the  least 
possible  ;  or,  that  as  many  of  them  as  possible  shall  be 
packed  into  unit  space.  In  order  to  see  how  this  packing 
will  take  place,  it  will  be  easiest  to  consider  first  the 
particular  case  in  which  the  axes  of  the  ellipsoids  are  all 
equal — that  is,  when  the  ellipsoids  happen  to  be  spheres^ 
The  problem  is  then  reduced  to  finding  how  to  pack  the 
greatest  number  of  equal  spherical  balls  into  a  given 
space.  It  is  easy  to  reduce  this  to  the  problem  of  finding 
how  the  spheres  can  be  arranged  so  that  each  one  shall 
be  touched  by  as  many  others  as  possible.  In  this  way 
the  cornered  spaces  between  the  balls,  the  unoccupied 
room,  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  You  can  stack  balls  so 
that  each  is  touched  by  twelve  others,  but  not  by  more. 
At  first  sight  it  seems  as  if  this  might  be  done  in  two 
ways. 

In  the  first  place  we  may  start  with  a  square  of  balls, 
as  in  Fig.  i,  where  each  is  touched  by  four  others.  We 
may  then  place  another  (shaded  in  the  figure)  so  as  to 
rest  on  four,  and  place  four  more  in  adjacent  holes  to 
touch  it, as  indicated  by  the  dotted  circles.  Above  these  four 
more  may  be  placed  in  the  openings  «  ^^  ^,  so  as  to  touch 
it — making  twelve  in  all.  I  f  the  pile  be  completed,  we  shall 
get  a  four-sided  pyramid,  of  which  each  side  is  an  equi- 
lateral triangle,  as  represented  in  Fig.  2.  It  will  be  seen 
that,  in  these  triangular  faces,  each  ball  (except,  of 
course^  those  forming  the  edges)  is  touched  by  six  others. 


June  i8,  1891J 


NA  TURE 


'57 


Again,  if  we  start  with  such  a  triangle,  as  in  Fig.  3,  where 
each  ball  is  touched  by  six  others,  we  can  place  one  ball 
— the  shaded  one — so  as  to  rest  on  three  others,  and  can 
then  place  six  more  round  it  and  touching  it,  as  in- 
dicated by  the  dotted  circles.  In  three  of  the  triangular 
holes  between  the  shaded  ball  and  the  dotted  balls  touch- 
ing it  we  can  place  three  more,  so  as  to  touch  the  shaded 
ball — again  twelve  touching  it  in  all.     If  we  complete 


Fig.  X. 

the  pile,  we  shall  get  the  triangular  pyramid  represented 
by  Fig.  4,  where  each  of  the  three  sides  is  a  right-angled 
triangle,  while  the  base  is  an  equilateral  triangle.  It  will 
be  seen  that  in  the  faces  of  this  pyramid  each  ball 
(except  those  outside)  is  touched  by  four  others.  In 
fact,  the  arrangement  in  these  faces  is  the  same  as  in  the 
base  of  the  former  pyramid ;  and  the  two  arrangements 
are  really  identical  in  the  interior,  only  one  has  to  be 


Fig.  2. 

turned  over  in  order  to  bring  it  into  parallelism  with  the 
other.  Fig.  2  represents  half  a  regular  octahedron ; 
Fig.  4  the  corner  of  a  cube.  Ellipsoids,  if  they  are  all 
equal  and  similar  to  one  another,  can  be  packed  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way,  so  that  each  is  touched  by  twelve 
others,  provided  their  axes  are  kept  parallel  to  each  other 
--that  is,  if  they  are  all  oriented  alike.  This,  then,  by  the 
laws  of  energy,  will  be  the  arrangement  which  the  mole- 

NO.  1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


cules  will  assume,  in  consequence  of  mutual  attraction,  in 
passing  from  a  fluid  to  a  solid  state. 

Next,  let  us  see  how  the  packing  of  the  molecules  will 
affect  the  external  form.  And  here  I  bring  in  the  surface- 
tension.  We  are  familiar  with  the  effects  of  this  force  in 
the  case  of  liquids,  and  if  we  adopt  the  usually  received 
theory  of  it,  we  must  have  a  surface-tension  at  the 
boundary  of  a  solid,  as  well  as  at  the  surface  of  a  liquid. 
I  know  of  no  actual  measures  of  the  surface-tension  of 
solids  ;  but  Quincke  has  given  us  the  surface- tensions 
of  a  number  of  substances  at  temperatures  near  their 


FtG.  3. 

points  of  solidification,  in  dynes  per  lineal  centimetre,  a?- 
follows  :— 


Platinum  ... 

Gold 

^inc  ••«     ... 

Tin    

Mercury    ... 

x^C&u  ...      ... 

Silver 

Bismuth  ... 
Potassium... 
Sodium 


1658 

983 
860 

587 
577 
448 
419 
382 

364 
253 


Antimony       244 

Borax       212 

Sodium  carbonate ...  206 

Sodium  chloride     ...  114 

Water      86'2 

Selenium 70*4 

Sulphur 41 '3 

Phosphorus     41*1 

• ' ■•^ •  •  •      •••      ■••      •••  jJ  4 


The  surface-tensions  of  most  of  the  solids  are  probably 
greater  than   these,  for    the    surface-tension   generally 


Fig.  ^ 

diminishes  with  increase  of  temperature;  and  you  see- 
that  they  amount  to  very  considerable  forces.  We  have 
to  do,  then,  with  an  agency  which  we  cannot  neglect.  Irv 
all  these  cases  the  tension  measured  is  at  a  surface  bounded 
by  air,  and  is  such  as  tends  to  contract  the  surface.  We 
have,  then,  at  the  boundary  between  a  crystallizing  solid 
and  the  fluid,  be  it  gas  or  liquid,  out  of  which  it  is  solidi- 
fying, a  certain  amount  of  potential  energy  ;  and  by  the 
laws  of  energy  the  condition  of  equilibrium  is,  that  this- 
potential  energy  shall  be  a  minimum.  The  accepted 
theory  of  surface-tension  is  that  it  arises  from  the  mutual 


158 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


attraction  of  the  molecules.  The  energy  will  therefore 
be  a  minimum  for  a  surface  in  which  the  molecules  are 
as  closely  set  as  possible. 

Now,  if  you  draw  a  surface  through  a  heap  of  balls 
packed  so  that  each  is  touched  by  twelve  others,  you 
will  find  that  the  surfaces  which  have  the  greatest 
number  of  centres  of  balls  per  unit  area  are  all  plane  sur- 
faces. That  in  which  the  concentration  is  greatest  is 
the  surface  of  a  regular  octahedron,  next  comes  that  of  a 
cube,  then  that  of  a  rhombic  dodecahedron,  and  so  on 
according  to  the  law  of  indices  of  crystallographers. 

The  relative  numerical  values  of  these  concentrations 
are  as  follows,  taking  that  of  the  faces  of  the  cube  as 
unity : — 

Tetrakishexahedron  0*4472 
E  ikos  itessarahedron  o  '4083 
Triakisoctahedron  ...  0*3333 

We  do  not  know  that  the  surface-tension  is  exactly  in 
the  inverse  proportion  to  the  concentration,  all  that  we 
can  at  present  say  is  that  it  increases  as  the  concentration 
diminishes. 

I  f,  then,  the  molecules  occupy  spherical  spaces, .  the 
bounding  surface  will  tend  to  be  a  regular  octahedron. 

But  we  have  another  point  to  consider.  If  a  solid  is 
bounded  by  plane  surfaces,  there  must  be  edges  where 
these  planes  meet.  At  such  an  edge  the  surface- tensions 
will  have  a  resultant  (see  Fig.  5)  tending  to  compress  the 
mass,  which  must  be  met  by  a  corresponding  opposite 
pressure,  and  unless  there  is  some  internal  strain  there 
must  be  a  corresponding  resultant  of  the  tensions  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  crystal.     Hence,  if  one  face  of  a  form 


Octahedron   ... 

...   1*1547 

Cube      

...   I  0000 

Dodecahedron 

...  07071 

is  developed  the  opposite  face  will  also  be  developed  ;  and 
generally,  if  one  face  of  a  form  be  developed  all  the  faces 
will  be  developed  ;  and  if  one  edge,  or  angle,  be  truncated, 
all  the  corresponding  edges,  or  angles,  will  be  truncated. 
Were  it  otherwise,  there  would  not  be  a  balance  between 
the  surface-tensions  in  the  several  faces.  But  there  is 
another  point  to  be  taken  into  account.  The  surface 
energy  may  become  less  in  two  ways — either  by  reducing 
the  tension  per  unit  surface,  or  by  reducing  the  totsd 
surface.  When  a  liquid  separates  from  another  fluid,  as 
chloroform  from  a  solution  of  chloral  hydrate  on  adding 
an  alkali,  or  a  cloud  from  moist  air,  the  liquid  assumes 
the  form  which,  for  a  given  mass,  has  the  least  surface — 
that  is,  the  drops  are  spherical.  If  you  cut  off  the  pro- 
jecting corners  and  plane  away  the  projecting  edges  of  a 
cube  or  an  octahedron,  you  bring  it  nearer  to  a  sphere, 
and  if  you  suppose  the  volume  to  remain  constant,  you 
still  diminish  the  surface.  And  if  the  diminution  of  the 
total  surface  is  not  compensated  by  the  increased  energy 
on  the  truncations,  there  will  be  a  tendency  for  the 
crystals  to  g^ow  with  such  truncations.  The  like  will  be 
true  in  more  complicated  combinations.  There  will  be  a 
tendency  for  such  combinations  to  form,  provided  the 
surface  energy  of  the  new  faces  is  not  too  great  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  first  simple  form. 

But  it  does  not  always  happen  that  an  octahedron  of 

NO.   II 29,  VOL.  44] 


alum  develops  truncated  angles.  This  leads  to  another 
point.  To  produce  a  surface  in  a  continuous  mass  re- 
quires a  supply  of  energy,  and  to  generate  a  surface  in 
the  interior  of  any  fluid  is  not  easy.  Air  may  be  super- 
saturated with  aqueous  vapour,  or  a  solution  witli  a  salt. 
and  no  cloud  or  crystals  be  formed,  unless  there  is  some 
discontinuity  in  the  mass,  specks  of  dust,  or  something 
of  the  kind.  In  like  manner,  if  we  have  a  surface  already, 
as  when  a  supersaturated  solution  meets  the  air  or  the 
sides  of  the  vessel  containing  it,  and  if  the  energy  of 
either  of  these  surfaces  is  less  than  that  of  a  crystal  of 
the  salt,  some  energy  will  have  to  be  supplied  in  order  to 
produce  the  new  surface,  but  not  so  much  as  if  there 
were  no  surface  there  to  begin  with.  Hence,  crystals 
usually  form  on  the  sides  of  the  vessel  or  at  the  top  of  the 
liquid.  1  When  a  solid  separates  from  a  solution  there  is 
generally  some  energy  available  from  the  change  of  state, 
which  supplies  the  energy  for  the  new  surface.  But  a: 
first  when  the  mass  deposited  is  very  small  the  energy- 
available  will  be  correspondingly  small,  and  since  the 
mass  varies  as  the  cube  of  the  diameter  of  the  solid, 
whereas  the  surface  varies  as  the  square  of  the  diameter. 
the  first  separated  mass  is  liable  to  be  squeezed  into  liquid 
again  by  its  own  surface-tension.  This  explain  s  the  usual 
phenomena  of  supersaturated  solutions.  A  deposit  occurs 
most  easily  on  a  surface  of  the  same  energy  as  that  of  the 
deposit,  because  the  additional  energy  required  is  only 
for  the  increased  extent  of  surface.  It  explains,  too,  the 
tendency  of  large  crystals  to  grow  more  rapidly  than 
small  ones,  because  the  ratio  of  the  increase  of  surface 
to  that  of  volume  diminishes  as  the  crystal  grows. 

While  speaking  of  the  difficulty  of  creating  a  new  sur- 
face in  the  interior  of  a  mass,  the  question  of  cleaN'age 
suggests  itself.  In  dividing  a  crystal  we  create  two  nen 
surfaces — one  on  each  piece,  and  each  with  its  o«ii 
energy.  The  division  must  therefore  take  place  most 
readily  when  that  surface  energy  is  a  minimum.  Flence 
the  principal  cleavage  of  a  crystal  made  up  of  mole- 
cules having  their  motions  comprised  within  spherical 
spaces  will  be  octahedral.  As  a  fact,  we  find  that  the 
greater  part  of  substances  which  crystallize  in  the  octa- 
hedral, or  regular  system,  have  octahedral  cleavage.  But 
not  all ;  there  are  some,  like  rock  salt  and  galena,  which 
cleave  into  cubes,  and  a  very  few,  like  blende,  have 
their  easiest  cleavage  dodecahedral.  These  I  have  to 
explain.  I  may,  however,  first  observe  that  some  sub- 
stances— as,  for  instance,  fluor-spar — which  have  a  very 
distinct  octahedral  cleavage  are  rarely  met  with  in  the 
form  of  octahedra,  but  usually  in  cubes.  In  regard  to 
this,  we  must  remember  that  the  surface  energy  depends 
upon  the  nature  of  both  the  substances  in  contact  at  the 
surface,  as  well  as  on  their  electrical  condition,  their  tem- 
perature, and  other  circumstances.  The  closeness  of  the 
molecules  in  the  surface  of  the  solid  determines  the 
energy,  so  far  as  the  solid  alone  is  concerned  ;  but  that 
is  not  the  only,  though  it  may  be  the  most  important 
factor  conducing  to  the  result.  It  is  therefore  quite  pos- 
sible that,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  the  natural 
crystals  of  fluor  were  formed,  the  surface  energy  of  the 
cubical  faces  was  less  than  that  of  the  octahedral, 
although  when  we  experiment  on  them  in  the  air  it  is 
the  other  way.  This  supposition  is  confirmed  by  the 
well-known  fact  that  the  foim  assumed  by  many  sadts  in 
crystallizing  is  aflected  by  the  character  of  the  solution. 
Thus  alum,  which  from  a  solution  in  pure  water  always 
assumes  the  octahedral  form,  takes  the  cubic  form  when 
the  solution  has  been  neutralized  with  potash. 

To  return  to  the  cubic  and  dodecahedral  cleavages.  If 
we  suppose  the  excursions  of  the  parts  of  the  molecule 
10  be  greater  in  one  direction  than  in  the  others,  the  figure 
within  which  the  molecule  is  comprised  will  be  a  prolate 
spheroid  ;  if  less,  an  oblate  spheroid.  Now,  as  already 
explained,  the  spheroids  will  be  packed  as  closely  aV 
possible  if  the  axes  are  all  parallel  and  each  is  touchec 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


159 


by  twelve  others.  Now  suppose  the  spheroids  arranged 
as  in  Fig.  6^  with  their  axes  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of 
the  figure ;  place  the  next  layer  in  the  black  triangular 
spaces,  and  complete  the  pyramid.  The  three  faces  of 
the  pyramid  will  be  equal  isosceles  triangles  ;  and  if  the 
spheroids  be  oblate,  and  the  axis  half  the  greatest  dia- 
meter, the  three  angles  at  the  apex  of  the  pyramid  will 
be  right  angles.  The  crystal  will  have  cubic  symmetry, 
but  the  relative  condensation  in  the  faces  of  the  cube, 
octahedron,  and  dodecahedron,  will  be  as  i :  0*5774 :  07071. 
The  easiest  cleavage  would  therefore  be  cubic,  as  in  rock 
salt  and  galena. 

Ag^in,  if  the  spheroids  have  their  axes  and  greatest 
diameters  in  the  ratio  of  i  :  V2,  and  we  place  four,  as  in 
Fig.  7,  with  their  axes  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the 
figure,  then  place  one  upon  them  in  the  middle,  and  then 
four  more  upon  it,  in  positions  corresponding  to  those  of 
the  first  four,  we  get  a  cubical  arrangement,  the  centre  of 


Fig.  6. 

a  spheroid  in  each  angle  of  a  cube,  and  one  in  the  centre 
of  the  cube.  Crystals  so  formed  will  have  cubic  sym- 
metry, but  the  concentration  of  molecules  will  be  greatest 
in  the  faces  of  the  dodecahedron,  and  their  easiest  cleav- 
age will  be,  like  that  of  blende,  dodecahedral. 

If  spheroids  of  any  other  dimensions  be  arranged,  as 
in  Figs.  I  and  2,  with  their  axes  perpendicular  to  the 
plane  of  Fig.  i,  we  shall  get  a  crystal  with  the  symmetry 
of  the  pyramidal  system.  If  the  spheroids  be  prolate, 
the  fundamental  octahedron  will  be  elongated  in  the 
direction  of  the  axis,  and  if  sufficiently  elongated,  the 
greatest  condensation  will  be  in  planes  perpendicular  to 
ctie  axis,  and  the  easiest  cleavage,  as  in  prussiate  of 
potash,  in  those  planes.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
spheroids  be  sufficiently  oblate,  the  easiest  cleavage  will 
be  parallel  to  the  axis. 

If  spheroids  be  arranged,  as  in  Fig.  6,  with  their  axes 


Fig.  7. 

perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the  figure,  they  will,  in 
general,  produce  rhombohedral  symmetry,  with  the 
rhombs  acute  or  obtuse,  according  to  the  length  or  short- 
ness of  the  axes  of  the  spheroids.  The  cubical  form 
already  described  is  only  a  particular  case  of  the  rhombo- 
hedral. If  the  ratio  between  the  axes  of  the  spheroids 
and  their  greatest  diameters  be  only  a  little  greater,  or  a 
little  less,  than  i  :  2,  the  condensation  will  be  greatest  in 
the  faces  of  the  rhombohedron,  and  the  easiest  cleavage 
will  be  rhombohedral,  as  in  calcite.  If  the  spheroids  be 
prolate,  the  easiest  cleavage  will  be  perpendicular  to  the 
axis  of  symmetry,  as  in  beryl  and  many  other  crystals. 
Such  crystals  have  a  tendency  to  assume  hexagonal 
forms — equiangular  six-sided  prisms  and  pyramids.  To 
explain  this,  it  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  6  that,  in  placing  the 
next  layer  upon  the  spheroids  represented  in  the  figure, 
the  three  spheroids  which  touch   that  marked  a  may 

NO.   1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


occupy  either  the  three  adjacent  white  triangles  or  the 
three  black  ones.  Either  position  is  equally  probable. 
The  layer  occupying  the  white  triangles  is  in  the  position 
of  a  twin  to  that  occupying  the  black  triangles.  So  far 
as  the  central  parts  of  the  layer  are  concerned,  it  will 
make  no  difference  in  which  of  these  ways  the  molecules 
are  packed.  It  is  only  at  the  edges  that  the  surface- 
tension  will  be  affected.  If  the  form  growing  be  a 
rhombohedron,  a  succession  of  alternating  twins  will 
produce  a  series  of  alternating  ridges  and  furrows  in  the 
rhombohedral  faces,  which  will  give  rise  to  increased 
surface-tension,  which  will  tend  to  prevent  the  twinning. 
On  the  other  hand,  an  hexagonal  form  and  its  twin, 
formed  in  the  way  indicated,  are  identical,  and  we  have 
in  this  fact  a  cause  tending  to  the  production  of  hexa- 
gonal forms.  This  tendency  is  increased  by  the  fact 
that,  for  a  given  volume,  the  total  surface  of  the  hexagonal 
forms  is  in  general  less  than  that  of  the  rhombohedral. 
Indeed,  such  forms  lend  themselves  to  the  formation  of 
almost  globular  crystals,  as  is  well  seen  in  pyromorphite 
and  mimetite. 

If  the  spheroids  be  arranged  with  their  axes  in  other 
positions  than  those  we  have  been  discussing,  or  if  the 
molecules  occupy  ellipsoidal  space-:,  they  will,  when 
packed  so  that  each  is  touched  by  twelve  others,  give 
figures  of  less  symmetry.  The  results  may  be  worked 
out  on  the  lines  indicated  in  the  foregoing  discussion, 
and  will  be  found  to  correspond  throughout  to  the 
observed  facts. 

Bravais  long  ago  proposed  various  arrangements  of 
molecules  to  account  for  crystalline  forms,  and  Sohncke 
has  extended  them  to  further  degrees  of  complication  in 
order  to  account  for  additional  facts  in  crystallography. 
But  neither  of  them  has  given  any  reason  why  the 
molecules  should  assume  such  arrangements.  To  me  it 
seems  that  only  one  arrangement  can  be  spontaneously 
assumed  by  the  molecules,  and  that  the  varieties  of  crys- 
talline form  depend  on  the  dimensions  of  the  ellipsoids 
and  the  orientation  of  their  axes.  Curie  also  has  in- 
dicated that  the  development  of  combined  forms,  as  those 
of  cube  and  octahedron,  will  depend  on  the  surface-ten- 
sions in  the  faces  of  these  forms,  but  he  has  not  indicated 
how  the  surface-tension  is  connected  with  the  crystalline 
arrangement,  or  why  the  energy  of  a  cubic  face  should  be 
greater  or  less  than  that  of  an  octahedral  face. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  the  interesting 
facts  brought  forward  by  Prof.  Judd  in  a  discourse  de- 
livered at  the  Royal  Institution  early  this  year.  How- 
ever long  a  crystal  has  been  out  of  the  solution,  or  vapour, 
from  which  it  was  formed,  its  surface-tension  will  remain 
unaltered,  and  when  it  is  replaced  it  will  grow  exactly  as 
if  it  had  not  been  removed.  Also,  if  any  part  be  broken 
off  it,  the  tension  of  the  broken  surface  will,  if  it  be  not  a 
cleavage  face,  be  greater  than  on  a  face  of  the  crystal, 
and  in  growing,  the  laws  of  energy  necessarily  cause  it 
to  grow  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce  the  potential  energy — 
that  is,  to  replace  the  broken  surface  by  the  regular  planes 
of  less  surface  energy.  The  formation  of  **  negative 
crystals "  by  fusing  a  portion  in  the  interior  of  a  crystal- 
line mass,  is  due  to  the  same  principle.  Surfaces  of  least 
energy  will  be  most  easily  produced  inside  as  well  as 
outside,  and  in  a  crystalline  mass  of  course  they  will  be 
parallel  to  the  external  faces  of  the  crystal.  We  see  the 
same  thing  in  the  action  of  solvents.  Most  metals  assume 
a  crystalline  texture  on  cooling  from  fusion,  and  when 
slowly  acted  on  by  dilute  acids  the  surfaces  of  greater 
energy  are  most  easily  attacked,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  energy,  and  the  undissolved  metal  is  left  with 
surfaces  of  least  energy  which  are  the  faces  of  crystals. 
This  is  easily  seen  on  treating  a  piece  of  tin  plate, 
or  of  galvanized  iron,  with  very  dilute  aqua  regia.  In 
fact,  solution  is  closely  connected  with  surface  energy. 
It  is  probably  the  low  surface  energy  of  one  form  of 
crystals  of  sulphur  which  makes  them  insoluble  in  carbon 


i6o 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


•di sulphide,  and  this   low   surface  energy  may  be  an 
electrical  effect. 

I  pointed  out  that  the  development  of  all  the  faces  of 
a  form,  and  the  similar  modification  of  all  corresponding 
•edges  and  angles  of  a  crystal,  is  in  general  necessary  in 
•ord^r  to  produce  equilibrium  under  the  surface-tensions. 
But  we  sometimes  find  crystals  with  only  half  the  modifi- 
cations required  for  symmetry.  In  such  cases  the  surface- 
tensions  must  produce  a  stress  in  the  interior  tending  to 
deform  the  molecules.  When  the  crystal  was  growing, 
there  must  have  been  equilibrium,  and  therefore  a  pres- 
sure equal  and  opposite  to  this  effect  of  the  surface- 
tension.  There  are  various  ways  in  which  we  may 
suppose  that  such  a  force  would  arise.  The  electric  field 
might  give  rise  to  a  stress  in  opposition  to  the  aggregation 
•of  the  molecules  in  the  closest  possible  way,  and  then 
the  crystal  would  grow  such  faces  as  would  produce  an 
equal  and  opposite  stress.  I nequalities  of  temperature,  or 
the  presence  of  molecules  of  other  kinds  amongst  those 
•of  the  crystal,  might  produce  similar  results.  When  the 
■stress  due  to  electricity,  or  to  temperature,  was  removed  by 
•change  of  circumstances,  that  due  to  the  surface-tensions 
would  persist,  and  the  crystal  would  be  left  with  an 
internal  strain.  Crystals  of  this  sort,  with  unsymmetric 
faces,  generally  betray  the  internal  strain,  either  by 
developing  electricity  of  opposite  kinds  at  the  two  ends 
when  heated  or  cooled,  or  they  affect  polarized  light, 
rotating  the  plane  of  polarization.  That  these  effects 
are  due  to  the  internal  strain  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
tourmalines,  and  other  crystals,  which  are  pyro  electric 
^hen  unsymmetrical,  show  no  such  property  when  sym- 
metrically grown.  Also  sodium  chlorate  in  solution, 
•quartz  when  fused,  and  so  on,  lose  their  rotatory  power. 
Substances  which  in  solution  show  rotatory  power,  as  a 
rule  develop  unsymmetric  crystals.  This  is  well  seen  in 
the  tartrates.  The  constitution  of  the  molecules  must  be 
such  that  they  will  not,  without  some  strain,  form  crystals ; 
.and  equilibrium,  when  the  crystal  is  growing,  is  attained 
by  means  of  the  opposing  stress  due  to  want  of  symmetry 
in  the  surface-tensions.  In  all  such  crystals  the  rotatory 
power  of  the  solution  disappears  in  whole  or  in  part.  We 
.cannot  test  this  in  biaxial  crystals,  but,  according  to  Des 
Cloiseaux,  sulphate  of  strychnine  is  the  only  substance 
which  shows  rotation  both  in  the  solution  and  in  the  crys- 
talline form,  and  in  it  the  rotatory  power  is  much  increased 
by  the  crystallization.  Effects  comparable  with  these 
may  be  produced  by  mechanical  means.  A  cube  of  rock 
salt,  which  has  no  effect  on  plane-polarized  light  in  its 
■ordinary  state,  changes  the  plane  of  polarization  when  it 
is  compressed  in  a  vice.  And  a  cleavage  slice  of  prussiate 
^f  potash,  which  is  uniaxial,  may  by  compression  be  dis- 
torted so  as  to  give  in  a  convergent  beam  of  polarized 
light  elliptical  rings,  and  two  eyes  like  a  biaxial  crystal. 


THE  ERUPTION  OF  VESUVIUS  OF  JUNE  7, 

1891. 

TOURING  the  latter  part  of  1890  and  the  eariy  part  of 
-■-^  the  present  year,  the  central  activity  of  Vesuvius  has 
very  slightly  varied,  except  about  the  new  year,  when  it 
Avas  considerably  increased,  rising  to  the  third  or  fourth 
degree,  simultaneous  with  the  stoppage  of  the  lateral 
•outflow  of  lava  that  had  been  going  on  since  August  7, 
1890.  Since  then,  up  to  the  present  outburst,  the  central 
activity  has  been  generally  at  the  first  degree,  and  the 
cone  of  eruption  has  slowly  grown  in  height. 

On  June  i  there  was  a  crater  within  the  central  erup- 
tive cone,  of  about  50  m.  in  diameter,  near  the  centre  of 
ivhich  was  the  eruptive  vent,  surrounded  by  another  em- 
bryonic eruptive  cone.  On  that  day,  four  small  eruptive 
mouths  opened  around  the  embryonic  cone  in  the  bottom 
•of  the  central  crater,  the  smallest  being  to  the  east. 

Thus  the  volcano  remained  till  June  7,  at  10  a.m.,  when 

NO.   II 29,  VOL.  44] 


activity  stopped,  only  a  small  quantity  of  vapour  escaping 
from  central  vents.  At  midday  a  radial  clefc  opened  at 
the  north  toe  of  the  cone  of  eruption  (May  1889,  June 
1 891)  traversing  towards  its  east  end,  the  little  sicUe- 
shaped  ridge,  the  remnant  of  the  1885-86  crater,  but,  as  yet, 
gave  out  little  vapour.  At  4  to  4.30  p.m.,  shocks  of  earth- 
quake commenced,  limited  only  to  the  upper  slopes  ol 
Vesuvius,  and  simultaneous  with  the  extension  of  the 
radial  fissure  down  the  side  of  the  great  Vesuvian  cone 
for  nearly  half  its  way  opposite  the  Punta  del  Nasone  of 
Monte  Somma,  from  which,  at  about  5.30  p.m.,  issued  a 
little  lava,  whilst  from  the  upper  extremity  of  the  fissure 
at  the  toe  of  the  cone  of  eruption  much  vapour  escaped, 
so  that  from  Naples  the  smoke-plume  arose  from  this 
point.  From  5.30  to  7  p.m.  the  fissure  still  extended 
lower,  accompanied  from  time  to  time  by  local  earth- 
quakes, noises,  and  the  elevation  of  columns  of  black 
dusty  smoke.  At  a  i^^  minutes  to  7  the  floor  of  the 
Atrio  del  Cavallo  was  reached,  and  a  remarkably  black 
column  of  smoke  had  arisen. 

My  friend  Dr.  L.  Sambon  saw  this  column  arise,  and 
came  to  inform  me  immediately,  as  I  had  left  off  watching 
the  mountain  at  5.30.    After  talking  a  photo  of  the  moun- 
tain, we  left  Naples  at  9  p.m.,  spent  some  time  in  in 
quiries  at  Resina  and  near  the  Observatory.     Everything 
was    now  dark,  as   the  volcano  had    calmed   down  at 
8  p.m.    At  2  a.m.,  June  8,  we  were  at  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of   the  Observatory  ridge,  and   commenced  to 
wend  our  way  across  the  lava  surface  towards    Monte 
Somma.     We  were  at  the  lowest  part  of  the  depression 
at  the  west  end  of  the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  where  it  joins 
the  Fossa   della    Vetrana,    and    along  which  some   ol 
the  largest  lava-streams  have  flowed  (1855,  1872,  &c], 
when  suddenly  on  our  right  above  us  (2.23  a.m.)  a  vast 
quantity    of   bright    red  vapour    arose   from   the    new 
outpour  of  lava.     We  hastened  our  steps  as  much  as 
the    road  and  our  lantern  would   allow   us,    so   as  to 
reach  the  escarpment  of  Monte  Somma,  the  foot  of  which 
was  followed  till  near  the  Punta  del  Nasone,  and  close  to 
the  theatre  of  eruption.     Here  we  clambered  up  some 
distance  above  the  level  of  the  Atrio  to  watch  events 
whilst  we  ate  our  late  supper  or  early  breakfasL     Along 
the  slope  of  the  great  cone  in  the  line  of  fissure  were  a 
few  luminous  points  from  some  pieces  of  still  uncooled 
lava  of  the  little  that  had  oozed  forth  from  the  lower  half 
of  the  fissure.    At  about  60  or  80  yards  from  the  foot  of 
the  great  cone  two  or  three  fountains  of  lava  were  throw- 
ing up  jets  of  molten  rock  for  2  or  3  m.,  and  the  lava 
was  slowly  spreading  out  on  the  almost  horizontal  plain 
of  the  Atrio  in  several  tongues.     The  lava  must  have  still 
been  high  in  the  main  chimney,  as  the  vapour  that  issued 
at  the  top  of  the  fissure  showed  a  slightly  red  illumina- 
tion.   So  we  remained  till  daylight,  when  we  could  see 
the  fissure  on  the  side  of  the  cone.    The  mouth  that 
formed  at  5.30  the  previous  day  was  still  smoking  a  little, 
whilst  the  fissure  below  it  sent  off  several  ramifications  at 
an  acute  angle  like  the  branches  of  an  inverted  tree,  from 
several  of  which  little  streams  of  lava  had  been  given  out, 
where  they  had  soon  consolidated.    We  now  followed  the 
base  of  the  great  cone  to  the  lower  railway  station,  where 
we  found  all  the  people  up  and  dressed,  frightened  by  the 
strong  shock  and  noises  at  2.23  a.m.,  coincident  with  the 
fresh  outflow  of  lava  that  we  had  witnessed,  but  which 
shocks  we  had  not  felt,  although  they  were  described  as 
the  strongest  that  had  been  felt. 

Having  ascended  to  the  summit  of  Vesuvius,  we  found 
the  central  crater  rapidly  enlarging  by  the  falling  in  of  its 
edges.  From  the  new  fissure  at  its  sumniit  was  issuing 
much  vapour  under  pressure,  and  rich  in  sulphurous 
acid,  which  is,  even  in  traces,  intolerable  ;  and  the  hot  air 
coming  from  innumerable  new  fissures  rendered  approach 
very  difficult.  We  did,  in  fact,  once  jump  across  part  of 
the  fissure,  but  returned  much  quicker  on  account  of  the 
hot   irritant  vapours.    An  approach  from  the  opposite 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


161 


side  was  equally  unsuccessful.  At  some  old  fumaroles 
on  the  1872  crater  plain,  I  collected  some  crusts  of  boric 
^cid  and  alum,  both  rare  products  at  this  volcano. 

One  of  three  terminations  we  may  expect  to  these 
phenomena,  which  are  very  characteristic  of  a  lateral 
•disruption,  so  common  at  Vesuvius : — 

(i)  Should  the  lava  cool  sulHciently  to  plug  the  radial 
•dyke,  no  further  phenomena  will  occur,  and  activity  will 
be  restored  to  the  central  vent. 

(2)  If  this  plugging  only  partially  takes  place,  lava  may 
<lribble  forth  for  months,  but  probably  the  escape  of 
vapour  will  soon  be  restored  to  the  central  vent. 

(3)  If  the  rent  should  widen,  considering  how  low  it 
extends,  we  may  expect  a  grand  eruption  which  might 

■rival  that  of  1872,  which  commenced  near  the  same  spot 
^nd  much  in  the  same  way ;  the  mechanism  by  which 
<his  occurs  I  have  explained  elsewhere.^ 

My  best  thanks  are  due  to   Mr.   L.  Sambon  for  his 
-company  and  help,  and  to  Mr.  £.  Treiber,  Inspecting 
Engineer  of  the  Vesuvian  Railway,  for  kind  information. 
Naples,  June  9.  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis. 

'  H.  J.J.  L.,  "The  Relationship  of  the  Structure  of  Igneous  Rocks  to 
<he  Conditions  of  their  Formation/'  sicientific  Proceedings  K.  Dublin  Soc., 
-vol.  v..  New  Ser.,  pp.  112-56. 

NOTES. 
A  LARGE  and  inilaential  meeting  was  held  at  Edinburgh  on 
Monday  to  consider  the  arrangements  which  ought  to  be  made 
^or  the  visit  of  the  British  Association  to  that  city  next  year. 
The  Lord  Pfx>?ost  presided.  On  the  motion  of  Sir  William 
Tamer  the  following  were  elected  Vice-Presidents  : — The  Lord 
Provost,  the  Marquis  of  Lothian,  the  Earl  of  Rosebery,  Lord 
fCingsburgh,  Principal  Sir  William  Mair,  and  Prof.  Sir  Douglas 
Maclagan.  A  local  executive  committee  was  chosen,  and  Mr. 
A.  Gillies  Smith  was  appointed  honorary  local  treasurer.  In  a 
4etter  from  Mr.  Griffiths,  secretary  of  the  Association,  it  was 
Ktated  that  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  who  will  preside  over  the 
Edinburgh  meeting,  was  in  favour  of  the  meeting  being  held 
•early  in  August.  A  considerable  majority,  however,  voted 
«n  support  of  a  proposal  that  the  meeting  should  begin  on 
Weda«day,  September  28. 

On  July  28  and  the  three  following  days,  at  Bournemouth, 
^e  British  Medical  Association  will  hold  its  fifty-ninth  annual 
cneeting  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  J.  Roberts  Thomson.  The 
scientific  business  of  the  meeting  will  be  conducted  in  nine 
•sections.  An  address  in  medicine  will  be  given  by  Dr.  Lauder 
Bmnton  ;  an  address  in  surgery  by  Prof.  Chiene ;  and  an 
address  in  public  medicine  by  Dr.  Cox  Seaton. 

A  Physical  Obiervatory,  furnished  with  specially  designed 
apparatus  for  the  prosecution  of  investigations  in  radiant  energy 
and  other  departments  of  telluric  and  astro-physics,  has  been 
established  as  a  department  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
The  communication  of  new  memoirs  bearing  in  any  way  on 
4iich  researches  is  requested,  and  for  them  it  is  hoped  that 
proper  return  can  be  made  in  due  time. 

The  Standard  understands  that  on  the  vote  for  the  salary  of  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  either  Sir  Henry  Roscoe  or 
Sir  Lyon  Playfair  will  call  attention  to  the  action  of  the 
Government  with  regard  to  the  proposed  Institute  of  Preventive 
Medicine. 

Thk  Committee  of  the  French  Academy  has  decided,  by  five 
votes  to  four,  that  the  prize  of  20,000  francs  should  be  given 
to  M.  Elisee  Reclus,  author  of  the  well-known  "  Nouvelle 
Geographic  Universelle."  It  is  expected  that  the  Academy  will 
catify  the  decision. 

According  to  a  Reuters  telegram  from  Simla,  dated  June 
i2,  Drs.  Rake  and  Buckmaster  have  succeeded  in  cultivating 
the  leprosy  bacillus  in  serum.  They  were  aided  in  their  re- 
searches by  Surgeon-Major  Thomson. 

NO.    II 29,  VOL.   44] 


In  reply  to  Mr.  Bryce,  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  Monday, 
the  Lord  Advocate  stated  that  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
Government  during  the  ensuing  year  not  only  to  weigh  very 
carefully  the  claims  of  secondary  education  in  Scotland  as  one 
of  the  interests  competing  for  a  share  of  the  additional  Scotch 
grant,  but  also  to  prosecute  further  inquiries  as  to  the  means  by 
which  any  grant  available  for  that  purpose  might  be  usefully 
applied.  Many  proposals  had  already  been  submitted  to  and 
considered  by  the  Scotch  Education  Department,  and  these,  as 
well  as  any  suggestions  which  might  be  made,  would  receive 
further  careful  consideration.  The  Government  would  also 
endeavour  to  bring  all  necessary  statistics  down  to  the  latest 
date,  so  as  to  aflford  the  necessary  information  for  the  solution  of 
all  branches  of  this  difficult  question. 

The  funeral  of  Sir  Richard  Burton  took  place  on  Monday  at 
the  church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Mortlake.  The  tomb  repre- 
sents an  Arab  tent,  with  a  crucifix  over  the  entrance.  The 
interior  is  a  small  chapel  with  altar  and  some  Oriental  lights. 

It  has  been  decided  that  a  Geographical  Society  shall  be 
formed  at  Liverpool.  A  preliminary  committee  has  been 
appointed,  and  it  has  issued  a  circular  stating  the  objects  of  the 
new  body. 

According  to  a  telegram  sent  through  Renter's  Agency  from 
Naples  on  June  16,  the  flow  of  the  lava  stream  from  Vesuvius 
had  stopped,  and  Signor  Palmieri,  the  Director  of  the  Observa- 
tory on  the  mountain,  had  expressed  his  belief  that  the  outflow 
might  be  regarded  as  at  an  end. 

Slight  but  continuous  earthquake  shocks  were  felt  at  Verona 
on  June  10 ;  and  on  the  nth,  at  8.30  a.m.,  a  very  violent  shock 
occurred  at  Tregnano  and  Badia  Calavena.  Tliis  was  plainly 
felt  in  Verona  also.  Another  violent  shock  occurred  at  Tregnano 
on  the  13th,  and  on  the  15th  shocks  were  reported  from  Castel- 
nuovo,  Peschiera,  Somma  Campagna,  and  Desenzano. 

The  first  volume  of  a  new  meteorological  Review  has  been 
published,  containing  observations  taken  in  the  south-west  of 
Russia  for  the  year  1890.  This  system  was  organized  by  Prof. 
A.  Klossovsky  in  1886,  and  now  numbers  nearly  600  observers. 
The  observations  refer  chiefly  to  temperature,  wind,  rainfall, 
&C.,  for  climatological  and  agricultural  purposes.  The  Review 
also  contains  several  articles  of  importance,  g.g.  (i)  on  pheno- 
logical  phenomena ;  (2)  on  the  harvests  in  connection  with 
meteorological  observations ;  (3)  on  the  movements  of  clouds  ; 
(4)  actinometric  observations  made  at  Kieff.  These  are  written 
in  the  Russian  language  only  ;  the  positions  of  the  stations,  and 
various  data  referred  to  in  the  text,  are  illustrated  by  maps  and 
diagrams. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  on  Tuesday,  a 
paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Noel  A.  Humphreys,  Secretary  of  the 
Census  Office,  on  the  results  of  the  recent  census  and  estimates 
of  population  in  the  largest  English  towns.  The  first  part  of 
the  paper  was  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  the  recently-issued 
results  of  the  census  in  April  last  in  the  twenty-eight  large 
English  towns  dealt  with  in  the  Registrar- General's  weekly  re- 
turns. It  was  pointed  out  that,  although  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation within  the  present  boundaries  of  these  towns  showed  an 
increase  of  nearly  a  million  in  the  last  ten  years,  the  increase 
was  less,  by  considerably  more  than  half  a  million  (605,318), 
than  would  have  been  the  case  if  the  rate  of  increase  had  been 
the  same  as  in  the  preceding  ten  years,  1871-81 ;  and  that  the 
rate  of  movement  of  population  showed  striking  variations  in 
the  different  towns.  The  rate  of  increase  in  these  twenty-eight 
towns,  it  was  stated,  has  pretty  constantly  declined  in  recent 
years,  and  has  fallen  with  scarcely  a  break  during  the  last  five 
intercensal  periods  from  24*3  per  cent,  in  1 841 -51  to  11 'o  per 
cent,  in  1 881 -91.  The  percentage  of  increase  within  the  bound- 


l62 


NA  rURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


aries  of  registration  London  (practically  those  of  the  county  of 
London)  declined  in  the  same  period  from  21*2  to  10*4.  The 
rate  of  actual  decline  of  population  in  central  London  continues 
to  increase,  and  the  rate  of  increase  of  the  other  parts  of 
the  metropolis,  including  even  the  aggregate  outer  ring  of 
suburban  districts,  continues  to  decline.  Examined  in 
detail,  the  provincial  towns  show,  with  few  exceptions, 
the  operation  of  similar  laws ;  actual  decrease  in  the  cen- 
tral portions,  and  marked  decline  in  the  rate  of  increase  in 
the  other  portions,  the  latter  being  specially  noticeable  in  those 
towns  with  comparatively  restricted  areas.  This  examination, 
while  showing  the  marked  general  decline  in  the  rates  of  increase 
in  these  towns,  discloses  striking  variations  in  the  rates  of  in- 
crease in  successive  census  periods.  Mr.  Humphreys  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  these  striking  changes  in  the  rates  of 
movement  of  population  in  the  large  towns  interpose  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  estimating,  even  approximately,  their  population  in 
intercensal  periods.  The  estimate  of  population  in  Liverpool, 
based  upon  the  rate  of  increase  between  1871  and  i88i,  ex- 
ceeded the  recently  enumerated  number  by  more  than  ioo,cxx), 
or  by  20  per  cent. ;  while  in  Salford  the  percentage  of  over- 
estimate, by  the  same  method,  was  26  per  cent.  Thus  the 
recent  birth-rates  and  death-rates  in  these  two  towns  have  been 
under-estimated  by  no  less  than  a  fifth  and  a  fourth,  respectively. 
The  various  methods  that  have  been  at  different  times  suggested 
for  estimating  the  population  of  towns  in  intercensal  years,  in 
substitution  of  Dr.  Farr's  method,  still  used  by  the  Registrar- 
General's  Department,  were  severally  considered,  and  it  was 
shown  that  no  hypothetical  method  yet  devised  affords  reason- 
able promise  of  satisfactory  results.  It  was  therefore  urged  that 
a  quinquennial  census  could  alone  supply  a  remedy  for  the 
present  difficulty,  which  threatens  to  impair  the  public  faith 
in  death-rates,  the  failure  of  which  would  most  seriously  hinder 
and  imperil  the  health  progress  of  the  country. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales, 
on  April  29,  Mr.  T.  W.  Edgeworth  Oavid  exhibited,  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  J.  E.  Came,  Mineralogist  to  the  Department  of  Mines, 
Sydney,  a  specimen  of  precious  opal  from  the  While  Cliffs 
about  fifty  miles  northerly  from  Wilcannia.  Precious  opal  an  I 
common  opal  have  lately  been  discovered  in  this  locality  in 
a  formation  corresponding  to  the  Desert  Sandstone  of  Queens- 
land. The  copal  occurs  disseminated  as  an  infiltrated  cement 
throughout  the  mass  of  the  sandstone  in  places,  and  also  re- 
placing the  calcareous  material  of  fossils.  It  also  occurs  in 
cracks  in  the  sandstone  and  in  fossil  wood,  which  is  somewhat 
plentifully  distributed  throughout  the  sandstone,  and  occasion- 
ally replaces  part  of  the  original  woody  tissues  of  the  silicified 
trees. 

Mrs.  J.  King  van  Rensselaer  contributes  to  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  U.S.  National  Museum  an  interesting  paper  on  the 
playing  cards  used  in  Japan.  They  are  more  distinctly  original, 
she  says,  than  any  others,  and  show  no  marks  of  the  common 
origin  which  the  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  French,  Hindoo,  and 
Chinese  cards  display.  Forty-nine  in  number,  they  are  divided 
into  twelve  suits  of  four  cards  in  each  suit.  One  card  is  a  trifle 
smaller  than  the  rest  of  the  pack,  and  has  a  plain  white  face  not 
embellished  with  any  distinctive  emblem,  and  this  one  is  used  as 
a  ** joker."  The  other  cards  are  covered  with  designs  that  re- 
P'-esent  the  twelve  flowers  or  other  things  a;^Dropriate  to  the 
weeks  of  the  year.  Each  card  is  distinct  and  different  from  its 
fellows,  even  if  bearing  the  same  emblem,  and  they  can  be  easily 
distinguished  and  classified,  not  only  by  the  symbolic  flowers 
they  bear,  but  also  by  a  character  or  letter  that  marks  nearly 
every  card,  and  which  seems  to  denote  the  vegetable  that  re- 
presents the  months.  The  only  month  that  has  no  floral  emblem 
is  August,  and  that  suit  is  marked  by  mountains  and  warm- 
looking  skies. 

NO.    I  I  29,  VOL.  44] 


Prof.  D'Arcy  W.  Thcmpson  has  edited  an  interesting 
volume  of  **  Studies  from  the  Museum  of  Zoology  in  University- 
College,  Dundee."  The  volume  consists  of  the  first  twelve 
numbers  of  a  journal  in  which  the  zoologists  connected  with  the 
Dundee  University  College  hope  to  find  **an  incentive  to  their 
own  diligence,  a  way  of  communication  with  the  outer  world, 
and  a  means  of  giving  direction  and  consecutive  purpose  to  al. 
their  work."  The  editor  contributes  five  pipers,  and  the  writeis 
associated  with  him  are  Miss  Mary  L.  Walker,  Prof.  H.  Le- 
boucq,  Dr.  H.  St.  John  Brooks,  Mr.  Alexander  Meek,  and 
Prof.  W.  K.  Parker. 

An  interesting  illustration  of  the  antagonistic  action  of  poisoD*^ 
is  mentioned  in  the  current  number  of  the  Pharmaeeuticai 
Journal.  Dr.  Mueller,  of  Yackandandah,  Victoria,  has  writter> 
a  letter  in  which  he  states,  says  our  contemporary,  that  in  case* 
of  snake  bite  he  is  using  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  strychnine  ir. 
240  parts  of  water  mixed  with  a  little  glycerine.  Twenty 
minims  of  this  solution  are  injected  in  the  usual  manner  of  a 
hypodermic  injection,  and  the  frequency  of  repetition  depends 
upon  the  symptoms  being  more  or  less  threatening,  say  from  10  to 
2p  minutes.  When  all  symptoms  have  disapi>eared,  the  fizs: 
independent  action  of  the  strychnine  is  shown  by  slight  muscular 
spasms,  and  then  the  injections  must  be  discontinued  unless 
after  a  time  the  snake  poison  reasserts  itself.  The  quantity 
of  strychnine  required  in  some  cases  has  amounted  to  a  grain 
or  more  within  a  few  hour?.  Both  poisons  are  thoroughly 
antagonistic,  and  no  hesitation  need  he  felt  in  pushing  the  use 
of  the  drug  to  quantities  that  would  be  fatal  in  the  absence  of 
snake  poison.  Out  of  about  100  cases  treated  by  this  method, 
some  of  them  at  the  point  of  death,  there  has  been  but  one 
failure,  and  that  arose  from  the  injections  being  discontinoec 
after  i^  grain  of  strychnine  had  been  injected.  Any  part  of  the 
body  will  do  for  the  injections,  but  Dr.  Mueller  is  in  the  habi! 
of  making  them  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  bitten  pan  or 
directly  upon  it. 

The  Rev.  J.  Hoskyns-Abrahall  writes  to  us  that  on  June  10. 
about  10.30  p.m.,  ne.ir  Woodstock,  he  saw  what  he  describes 
as  *'a  beautiful  phenomenon."  *'  Suddenly,"  he  says,  "at  the 
zenith,  east  of  the  Great  Bear,  shone  f  3rth  a  yellow  globe,  like 
Venus  at  her  brightest.  Dropping  somewhat  slowly,  it  fell 
obliquely  southward.  As  it  passed  in  its  brilliant  career,  it 
lighted  up  its  dusky  path  with  a  glorious  lustre*.  When  it  had 
descended  about  half-way  down  toward  the  horizon,  it  burst  into 
a  sparkling  host  of  glowing  fragments,  each  da^zlingly  shot 
over  with  all  the  hues  of  ihe  rainbow." 

The  Register  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  for  1890-91 
•has  been  issued.     It  contains  a  great  mass  of  well-arranged  facts 
relating  to  the  work  of  that  flourishing  institution. 

Mr.  C.  French,  Government  Entomologist  at  Melbourne,  l« 
contributing  to  the  Victoria  Naturalist  a  series  of  notes  on  the 
insectivorous  birds  of  Victoria.  In  the  first  paper,  which 
appears  in  the  May  number,  he  describes  the  Australian  Bustard 
[C/ioriotis  austraiis).  Some  months  ago  Mr.  French  made  an 
appeal  to  the  Victorian  Government  for  the  permanent  protec- 
tion of  this,  the  most  useful  insect -destroying  bird  in  the  colony. 
His  appeal  was  supported  by  the  Council  of  the  Zoological 
Society  of  Melbourne ;  and  the  Government  has  not  only 
acceded  to  the  request,  but  has  placed  the  matter  before  the 
Government  of  New  South  Wales,  who,  it  is  hoped,  will  at 
once  see  the  necessity  for  the  preservation  of  so  valuable  a  bird. 

Dr.  a.  Kcen I g  has  issued  as  a  separate  volume  the  account 
of  his  ornithological  observations  made  during  his  exploration^ 
in  Madeira  and  the  Canary  Islands.  It  is  a  notable  memoir, 
and  several  new  species  and  sub-species  of  birds  are  described. 
He  is  somewhat  severe  on  some  British  naturalists  for  having 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


163 


tried  to  forestall  him  in  the  description  of  the  Chaffinch  of 
Talma,  which  he  was  the  first  to  discover.  The  editor  of  the 
Journal fiir  Ornithologies  in  which  ihe  paper  first  appeared,  also 
adds  some  strictures  on  the  ways  of  British  naturalists.  Dr. 
Kcenig  apparently  has  some  grounds  for  his  complaint,  but  a  tu 
quoque  argument  could  be  upheld  against  him,  for  he  persists  in 
calling  a  Regulus  by  his  new  name  of  satelUs^  though  he  admits 
that  it  is  Regulus  teneriffa  of  Seebohm,  and  he  does  not  mention 
the  "  Catalogue  of  Birds,"  in  which  he  will  find  that  his  identifi- 
cations of  the  Madeiran  and  Canarian  Fringilla  were  all  published 
loDg  before  he  gave  them  to  the  world  as  new  facts.  These 
small  matters  do  not,  however,  affect  the  importance  of  the 
essay,  which  is  worked  out  with  remarkable  care,  and  is,  in 
ftict,  a  monographic  review  of  the  ornithology  of  Madeira, 
Teneriffe,  and  Palma.  Eight  coloured  plates  illustrate  the 
article. 

In  a  paper  lately  read  before  the  Scientific  Section  of  the 
Manchester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  Mr.  John 
Watson  maintains  that  the  re-development  of  lost  limbs  is  not 
unusual  among  insects.  He  himself  has  had  three  cases  in 
which  limbs  have  been  re-developed,  and  one  case  of  complete 
cicatrization.  Re-development,  he  says,  can  take  place  either 
at  the  larval  or  the  pupal  stages  of  an  insect's  metamorphosis. 

The  British  Consul  at  Hankow,  writing  of  the  varnish  exported 
from  that  city,  says  he  is  informed  that  it  is  the  gum  of  a  tree — 
the  Rhus  vemicifera.  On  this  tree,  before  daylight,  incisions  are 
made ;  the  gum  that  runs  out  is  collected  in  the  dark,  and  strained 
through  a  cotton  cloth  bag,  leaving  behind  a  large  amount  of 
dirt  and  refuse.  This  operation  can  only  be  performed  in  the 
dark,  as  light  spoils  the  gum  and  causes  it  to  cake  with  all  the 
dirt  in  it.  It  cannot  be  strained  in  wet  weather,  as  moisture 
causes  it  to  solidify.  When  the  Chinese  use  this  varnish,  they 
nib  it  on  with  a  sort  of  mop,  or  swab,  made  of  soft  waste  silk. 
It  should  only  be  used  in  wet  weather,  as,  if  the  atmosphere  is 
dry  when  it  is  nibbed  on,  it  will  always  be  sticky.  As  used  by 
the  Chinese,  the  varnish  takes  about  a  month  to  dry,  and  during 
the  time  it  is  drying  it  is  poisonous  ta  the  eyes.  The  Consul 
thinks  that  this  gum  may  have  been  one  of  the  ingredients  of  the 
celebrated  Cremona  varnish,  and  he  suggests  that  it  might  be 
worth  the  while  of  musical  instrument  makers  to  make  experi- 
ments with  it  with  a  view  to  producing  a  varnish  that  would 
give  a  mellow  instead  of  a  glassy  sound. 

The  Insect-house  in  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  is  now 
in  excellent  order,  and  well  deserves  a  visit.  In  addition  to  the 
Silk-moths  that  are  usually  present  during  the  warm  weather, 
the  Papilioninae,  or  Swallow-tail  butterflies,  afford  at  the  present 
time  the  chief  display.  The  perf«;ct  insects  of  several  specie^  of 
the  genus  Papilio  have  appeared — P.  cresphontes,  ajax,  and 
(uterias  from  North  America,  P.  alcxanor  from  the  Mediter- 
nmean  shores,  and  the  handsome  P,  maackii  from  Japan.  The 
last-named  has  been  seen  for  the  first  time  in  the  house  this 
year,  and  offers  a  striking  contrast  to  the  other  species  of  the 
^enus  that  have  previously  been  exhibited  in  the  Gardens,  it 
being  of  black  and  golden-green  colours  instead  of  the  yellows 
and  blacks  that  we  are  accustomed  to  in  our  European  Swallow- 
tails. P.  cresphonUs  has  appeared  in  large  numbers  in  the 
house,  but  no  varieties  have  been  obtained.  This  also  is  the 
first  season  for  two  other  beautiful  Papilioninae,  viz.  Doritis 
apclUna  from  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Japanese  Sericina  telamon. 
The  laiter  shows  considerable  difference  in  the  markings  of  the 
^xes.  The  North  American  Limenitis  disi/>pu5  can  be  at 
present  seen  in  all  its  stages,  and  is  well  worthy  of  attention, 
the  caterpillar  moving  along  the  leaf-stalks  with  a  peculiar 
interrupted  gait.  Of  the  Sphinx  moths,  the  South  European 
DeiUphila  alecto  has  already  appeared,  and  D.  nica  is  expected. 
These  insects  are,  however,  not  seen  to  advania:;e  in  confine- 

NO.   1129,  VOL.  44] 


ment,  as  their  superb  powers  of  flight  cannot  be  displayed  in  a 
small  compartment.  Two  examples  of  the  Orthoptera  are  alive 
in  the  house — Diaphemora  femorata^  one  of  the  Stick-  or  Twig- 
insects  from  North  America,  and  Empusa  egena  *from  Southern 
Europe.  The  former  has  been  reared  from  egg^s  laid  in  the 
Insect-house,  but  these  progeny  are  not  so  healthy  as  those 
obtained  from  freshly-imported  eggs.  The  Empusa  is  of  a  most 
bizarre  form,  and  belongs  to  the  family  Mantidse,  the  species  of 
which  feed  only  on  living  creatures.  The  public  is  indebted  to 
Mr.  S.  H.  Carver  for  the  opportunity  of  seeing  living  scorpions  ; 
he  has  sent  examples  of  two  species  of  this  group  from  Egypt, 
both  of  which  unfortunately  are  unidentified,  there  being  obvioos 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  carrying  about  live  scorpions  and  com- 
paring them  with  dried  specimens.  There  is  a  third  scorpion, 
from  South  Europe,  living  with  its  Egyptian  congeners  ;  it  has 
a  small  delicate  tail,  and  is  altogether  a  less  frightful  creature, 
though  assuming  a  menacing  attitude  with  equal  readiness.  A 
spider,  Lycosa  porlosantana^  from  Madeira,  is  healthy,  and  is 
a  fine  creature,  though  insignificant  by  the  side  of  its  neighbour, 
a  huge  My  gale  from  South  America.  The  latter,  as  well  as 
the  scorpions,  is  fed  with  mice,  which  are  given  to  it  dead, 
though  in  its  native  haunts  a  Mygale  has  been  known  to  prey 
on  living  individuals  of  these  small  mammals. 

In  the  current  number  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Journal  some 
interesting  facts  as  to  cotton  cultivation  in  Russian  Turkestan 
are  given,  on  the  authority  of  a  Russian  correspondent  of  the 
Monde  Economique.  After  the  submission  of  the  Khanates  of 
Central  Asia,  the  trade  of  the  country  was  carried  on  chiefly 
with  the  towns  of  Russia  in  Europe,  and  was  confined  at  first 
to  the  export  in  small  quantities  of  cotton  grown  from  native 
seeds,  of  rice,  raw  silk,  and  other  similar  products.  It  is  only 
during  the  last  ten  years  that  the  industry  of  the  country  has 
extended  to  any  considerable  degree,  owing  to  the  ingress  of 
speculators,  and  has  changed  its  primitive  character.  There 
have  been  established  all  kinds  of  works  and  factories,  and  in 
1884  the  cultivation  of  cotton  of  American  origin  was  essayed. 
This  trial  succeeded  so  well  that  all  classes  of  society,  including 
even  public  officials,  devoted  themselves  to  this  culture,  which  has 
become  one  of  the  chief  branches  of  industry  in  the  country.  The 
new  cotton  produced  in  Central  Asia  is  equal  to  that  of  America, 
and  finds  an  excellent  outlet  among  the  cotton  spinneries  and 
mills  of  Russia.  But  the  consumption  in  European  Russia  does 
not  suffice  for  the  ambitious  aims  of  native  producers,  and  they 
look  forward  to  the  possibility  of  opening  up  trade  in  the 
foreign  markets  of  Europe. 

The  new  number  of  the  Internationales  Archiv  fiir  Ethno- 
graphie  fully  maintains  the  reputation  of  this  excellent  periodical. 
Among  the  contents  is  a  paper  in  which  Dr.  J.  D.  E.  Schmeltz 
continues  his  elaborate  account  of  the  collections  from  Corea  in 
the  ethnographical  museum  at  Leyden.  Dr.  Heinrich  Schurtz 
has  an  interesting  article  on  the  geographical  distribution  of 
negro  costume.  As  usual,  the  plates  illustrating  the  various 
contributions  are  most  carefully  executed. 

A  FURTHER  communication  upon  the  new  peroxide  of  sulphur, 
SO4,  by  Prof.  Traube,  of  Breslau,  will  be  found  in  the  current 
number  of  the  Berickte.  This  interesting  substance  is  obtained 
when  solutions  of  sulphuric  acid  containing  at  least  40  per  cent, 
of  acid  are  subjected  to  electrolysis,  as  a  crystalline  deposit  upon 
the  anode.  The  crystals  were  first  observed  some  time  ago  by 
Berthelot,  but  were  considered  by  him  as  identical  with  the  oxide 
S2O7,  which  he  had  previously  obtained  by  the  action  of  the 
silent  electrical  discharge  upon  a  mixture  of  sulphur  dioxide  and 
oxygen.  Prof.  Traube,  however,  finds  tha(  the  substance  ob- 
tained at  the  anode  in  the  electrolysis  of  40  per  cent,  solutions  of 
sulphuric  acid  is  represented  by  the  formula  SO4,  and  is  quite  a 
different  substance  from  Beriheloi's  S-jO;.     It  is,  as  predicted  by 


1 64 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


Mendeleeff,  not  the  anhydride  of  an  acid,  but  a  neutral  oxide  of 
a  similar  chemical  character  to  hydrogen  peroxide.  It  may  be 
best  separated  from  the  excess  of  40  per  cent,  acid  by  removing 
the  latter,  after  dilution  with  three  times  its  volume  of  water,  by 
means  of  freshly  prepared  barium  phosphate.  It  cannot,  how< 
ever,  be  preserved  in  pure  water,  as  it  parts  with  oxygen  so 
readily,  becoming  reduced  thereby  to  ordinary  sulphuric  acid. 
That  it  is  not  an  anhydride  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  yields  no 
salts  of  the  type  K^SOg  with  alkalies.  Neutral  solutions  con- 
taining it,  in  which  it  appears  to  be  permanent,  may  be  readily 
prepared  by  neutralizing  the  solution  in  40  per  cent,  acid  with 
caustic  soda,  potash,  or  magnesia.  The  properties  of  SO4  in 
either  acid  or  neutral  solution  are  somewhat  remarkable.  When 
boiled  in  contact  with  platinum  wire  or  platinum  black  it  is  ener- 
getically decomposed  with  evolution  of  quantities  of  oxygen.  If 
the  neutral  solution  is  employed,  it  becomes  strongly  acid.  Indigo 
solution  is  oxidized  and  decolorized  slowly,  but  instantly  if  a 
little  ferrous  sulphate  is  added.  SO4,  however,  in  spite  of  this 
ready  decomposition  into  oxygen  and  sulphuric  anhydride,  is  but 
a  weak  oxidizing  agent,  being  incapable  even  of  oxidizing  oxalic 
add  or  carbon  monoxide.  But  under  certain  circumstances  it 
acts  as  a  powerful  reducing  agent.  For  instance,  if  an  emulsion 
of  peroxide  of  lead  in  40  per  cent,  sulphuric  acid  is  brought  in 
contact  with  a  quantity  of  similar  acid  which  has  been  subjected 
to  eIectrol3rsis  so  as  to  charge  it  with  SO4,  a  rapid  evolution  of 
oxygen  gas  occurs,  and  the  peroxide  of  lead  is  converted  into 
ordinary  sulphate  of  lead.  In  a  similar  manner  precipitated 
peroxide  of  manganese  is  rapidly  reduced  to  manganous  sulphate 
with  evolution  of  oxygen,  and  silver  peroxide  likewise  dissolves 
up  to  a  clear  solution  of  silver  sulphate  with  violent  effervescence 
due  to  the  escape  of  oxygen.  Prof.  Traube  regards  sulphur 
peroxide  as  built  up  on  the  type  %OJS>ii^  resembling  hydrogen 
peroxide,  H2O,.  He  considers  that  Berihelot*s  oxide,  S^Or,  is  a 
molecular  compound  of  SOs  and  SO^,  for  it  does  not  dissolve 
in  water  without  decomposition,  breaking  up  into  sulphuric 
anhydride  and  oxygen,  which  is  evolved.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  appears,  like  SO^,  to  be  perfectly  stable  in  a  moderately 
concentrated  solution  of  sulphuric  acid. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  (Macacus  cynomolgus  6 ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  James  B.  Leckie  ;  a  White-fronted 
Amazon  (Chrysotis  leucocephcUa)  from  Cuba,  presentel  by  Mrs. 
Lacabra;  a  Radiated  Tortoise  {Testudo  radiata)  from  Mada- 
gascar, an  Angulated  Tortoise  {Chersina  angulcUa),  three 
Smooth-bellied  Snakes  (Homolosoma  lutrix)  from  South  Africa, 
presented  by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  R.  Fisk,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  a  Green 
Lizard  {Lacerta  viridis)  from  France,  presented  by  Mrs.  Hill ; 
three  Horned  Lizards  {Phrynosoma  cornutum)  from  Texas, 
presented  by  Mr.  James  £.  Talmage  ;  five  Squirrel-like  Phal- 
angers  {Belideus  sciureus  6  6  6^^)  from  Australia,  a  Grand 
Eclectus  [Eclectus  roratus)  from  Moluccas,  deposited  ;  two  Elliot's 
Pheasants  {Phasianus  elUoti  9  9)  from  China,  two  Rufous 
Tinamous  {Rhynchotis  rufescens)  from  Brazil,  purchased ;  two 
Marbled  Newts  (Molge  marmorctta),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN, 

Newly- DISCOVERED  Markings  on  Saturn. — Edinburgh 
Circular  No.  16,  issued  by  Dr.  Copeland  on  June  10,  contains 
the  following  information  : — 

Mr.  A.  Stanley  Williams,  of  Burgess  Hill,  Sussex,  has  dis- 
covered three  delicate  but  distinct  markings  in  the  equatorial 
region  of  Saturn.  The  first  and  third  of  these  are  round  bright 
spots,  somewhat  brighter  than  the  white  equatorial  zone  in 
which  they  occur.  The  second  is  a  smaller  dark  marking  on 
the  equatorial  edge  of  the  shaded  belt  which  forms  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  white  zone.  Mr.  Williams  has  obtained  abun- 
dant proof  of  the  reality  of  these  markings,  but  points  out  that 
it  requires  patience  and  practice  to  see  them  readily.     It  is  very 


desirable  to  obtain  repeated  observations  of  their  times  of  Xxvxsi 
across  the  planet's  central  meridian.  To  facilitate  these  obser- 
vations, Mr.  Williams  has  prepared  the  following  tabic,  asinf 
loh.  14*601.  as  the  provisional  time  in  which  the  planet  rotates 
on  its  axis  : — 

Approximate  Greenwich  Mean  Time  at  which  the  Spots  mcy  k 
expected  on  Saturn* s  Central  Meridian. 


1891. 

Spot  X  (white), 
h.    m. 

Spot  a  (dark), 
h.    D. 

Spot  3  (wkkei 
h.    19. 

June  20 

7  50 

•  ■• 

8  47 

•  •• 

10      9 

21 

4  20 

■  •  • 

5  17 

■  «  • 

6  39 

22 

II    5 

•  •  • 

12    2 

•  •  • 

13  24 

23 

7  32 

■  ■  • 

8  29 

ft »  ■ 

9  51 

24 

4    2 

•  •  • 

4  59 

■  ft  • 

6  21 

25 

1047 

•  ■  • 

II  44 

•  ft  • 

13    6 

26 

7  14 

•  •  ■ 

8  II 

«•  • 

?  33 

27 

3  44 

■  •  • 

4  41 

«  ■  ft 

6     3 

28 

10  29 

« ■  • 

II  26 

*  ■  ft 

12  48 

29 

6  56 

•  •  • 

7  53 

•  •  ft 

9  15 

30 

3  26 

•  •  • 

4  23 

•  •  • 

5  45 

July    I 

10  II 

•  •  > 

II    8 

ft  •  • 

12  30 

2 

6  38 

■  ■  • 

7  35 

ft  ■  • 

857 

3 

3    8 

■  •  ■ 

4    5 

•  ft  • 

5  27 

4 

9  S3 

■  •  « 

10  50 

•  •• 

12  12 

5 

6  20 

•  •  • 

7  17 

ft  •  • 

8  39 

6 

2  50 

•  •  ■ 

3  47 

ft  •  • 

5    9 

7 

9  35 

•  •  • 

10  32 

•  •• 

11  54 

8 

6    2 

•  •  • 

6  59 

ft«* 

8  21 

9 

2  32 

•  •  « 

3  29 

•  ft  • 

4  51 

10 

•  «  • 

9  17 

•  ■  • 

10  14 

•  •  « 

11  36 

NO.    1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


The  Rotation  Period  of  Venus. — The  Bulietin  eU  I'Ata- 
d^mie  RoycUe  cU  Belgiquct  No.  4,  contains  a  paper,  by  M.  Niestov 
of  Brussels  Observatory,  apropos  the  rotation  of  the  planet  Venus. 
The  observations  and  drawings  made  by  M.  Stuy  vaert  and  the 
author  from  i88i  to  1890  do  not  appear  to  confirm  the  penia- 
ence  of  the  dark  markings  during  a  long  period,  as  found  bv 
Schiaparelli  and  others.  It  is  also  shown  that  De  Vice's  period 
of  23h.  2im.  2i*93s.  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  obserta* 
tions  than  Schiaparelli's  period  of  2247  days.  Twelve  drawiais 
of  the  planet,  and  a  map  showing  all  the  markings,  accompuj 
the  paper. 

A  New  Asteroid  (uo^ — M.  Charlois  discovered  the  3101k 
minor  planet  on  May  i6.     Its  magnitude  was  13. 

THE  ROYAL  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY. 

'T^HE  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
^  was  held  in  the  University  of  London  on  Monday  after- 
noon, the  President,  Sir  Mountstuart  Grant-Duff,  in  the  chak. 
The  first  business  was  the  award  of  the  medals  and  otho 
honours  for  the  year.  The  Founder's  Medal  was  delivered  to 
Sir  Dillon  Bell,  Agent-General  for  New  Zealand,  for  transmis- 
sion to  Sir  James  Hector,  K.C.M.G.,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  the 
New  Zealand  Geological  Survey.  The  Swedish  Minister 
received  the  Patron's  Medal  on  behalf  of  Dr.  Fridtjof  Nanseo, 
who  was  unable  to  attend.  Other  honours  were  awarded  to  Mr. 
William  Ogilvie,  for  his  explorations  of  the  Mackenzie  and  Yukon 
regions ;  Lieutenant  B.  L.  Sclater,  for  instruments  to  be  used 
in  the  exploration  of  Nyassaland  ;  Mr.  A.  £.  Pratt,  for  bis 
journeys  in  Szechuen  ;  Mr.  W.  J.  Steains,  for  his  investiga- 
tions on  the  Rio  Doce,  South  America.  Mr.  H.  J.  Mackinder 
then  introduced  the  students  of  the  Training  Colleges  who  had 
been  successful  in  obtaining  the  prizes  offered  by  the  Society 
annually  on  the  results  of  the  Christmas  examinations  in  geo- 
graphy. Mr.  Mackinder  spoke  briefly  on  the  progress  of  geo- 
graphical education,  and  on  the  results  of  the  four  years'  awards 
to  the  Training  Colleges. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  annual  report  of  the  Society,  from 
which  it  appears  that  on  May  i  last  the  total  number  of  Fellows 
was  3579,  being  a  net  increase  of  84  on  the  previous  year.  The 
total  income  up  to  the  end  of  December  1890  was  ;^953i,  and 
expenditure  ;f  82 18.'  The  estimated  value  of  the  Society's  in- 
vestments is  ;f  25,648,  and  of  its  total  assets  ;£'46,248.  During 
the  past  year,  900  books  and  pamphlets  have  been  added  to  the 
library,  and  936  sheets  of  maps  to  the  map  collection,  besides 
25  atlases,  700  photograph?,  151  lantern-slides,  and  51  views. 

The  President  then  proceeded  to  deliver  the  annual  address 
on  the  progress  of  geography  during  the  past  year,   dealing 


June  i8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


165 


mainly  with  the  exploratioDS  which  have  been  carried  on  in 
various  parts  of  the  world. 

"The  year/*  he  said,  *'  of  which  I  am  about,  with  yoar  permis- 
sion, to  give  some  account,  has  not  been,  so  far  as  geographical 
discoveries  are  concerned,  a  very  brilliant  or  sensational  one. 
Brilliant  and  sensational  years  are,  alas !  likely  to  grow  fewer 
and  fewer  as  the  globe  we  inhabit  becomes  ever  bsiter  known 
to  as.     If,  however,  the  year  has  not  been  made  mem  arable  by 
much  extensive  exploration  it   has  pat  to  its  credit  no  small 
amount  of  intensive  exploration.     A  good  many  gaps  in  our 
knowledge  have  been  6  lied  up,  and  a  great  deal  of  solid  useful 
work  accomplished.     All  this  healthy  activity  has  been  repre- 
sented in  our  Proceedings,  and  much  of  it  has  found  its  way  to 
oar  Fellows  through  the  papers  which  have  been  read  in  this 
theatre.      Many  of  these  have  been  extremely  interesting.     I 
may  mention  particularly  the  account  of  Messrs.  Jackson  and 
Gedge's  journey  to  Uganda,  Colonel  Tanner's  observations  on 
the  Himalayan  Range,  and  Mr.    Pratt's  journey  to  Szechuen. 
These  last  were  illustrated,  as  it  will  be  remembered,  by  draw- 
ings and  by  photographs  of  exceptional  merit,    which  wjere 
examined  carefully  by  laige  numbers  after  our  meetings  closed. 
As  you  will  have  learnt  from  the  report  of  the  auditors,  the 
total  assets  of  the  Society  have  considerably  increased,  and  we 
are  in  a  position  to  give  most  efficient  assistance  to  any  tho- 
roughly well  considered  schemes  which  are  laid  before  us.     I 
am  very  sure,  however,  that  the  Fellows  will  consider  that, 
although  we  are  rich,  it  is  none  the  less  our  duty  to  scrutinize 
carefully  all  proposals  which  are  made  to  us,  and  to  see  that 
the  money  which   they  ^ive  so    generously   is    applied  only 
to  really    promising   objects.      Such    we    considered    to    be 
Mr.  Ramsay's  explorations  in  Asia  Minor,  and  Mr.  Theodore 
Bent's    examination    of  the    remarkable    ruins  at    Zimbabye 
in   South   Africa.     Instruments    to  the  value  of  over  ;f6oo 
have  been  lent  during  the  past  year  to  intending  travellers, 
and   thirty-six    gentlemen    have    received    instruction    from 
Mr.    Coles,    partly    at    the    expense    of    the    Society,    for 
the  purpose    of    making  them    more    efficient    as   explorers. 
Oar  duties  dividing  themselves    into  two  great  classes — the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  and    the  diffusion  of  knowledge — I 
think  the  Society  will  hail  with  pleasure  a  considerable  increase 
of  our  expenditure  under    the  head  of  *  Scientific  Purposes/ 
which  amounted  for  last  year  to  nearly  £600.    That  sum  in- 
cluded £l^%  for  the  purpose  just  alluded  10,  ;f  120  for  the  pro- 
motion of  geographical  education  in  connection  with  the  Training 
Colleger,  the  University  Local  Etaminations,  and  the  Oxford 
Universiiy  Extension  Movement,   and  a  contribution  of  £1$^ 
towards  the  salaries  of  each  of  the  Geographical  Lecturers  at  the 
Universities  of  Oxford   and   Cambridge.      I  am  happy  to  be 
able  to   report    that    our    efforts     to     promote    geographical 
elacation    in    the    first    of   these   great    national    institutions 
are  being  crowned   with   success,  thanks   to   the  enlightened 
views  now  prevailing   there,    to   the    powerful    assistance    of 
the  Warden  of  Merton  and  other  friends  in  high  place,  and  to 
the  zeal  and  high  intelligence  of  Mr.  Mackinder,  who  is  rapidly 
winning  not  only  golden  opinions  for  himself,  but  an  excellent 
place  for  his  science  on  the  banks  of  the  Isis.     Negotiations  are 
now  in  progress  which  will,  I  hope,  result  in  the  establishment 
of  a  Travelling  Scholarship  at  the  joint  expense  of  our  S  ^ciety 
and  of  the  University  of  Oxford.     Our  Fellows  will,  no  doubt, 
have  observed  that  efforts  are  being  made  to  have  the  Ordnance 
Survey  pushed  on  more  rapidly  than  hitherto,  as  well  as  to 
make  more  generally  accessible  to  the  public  the  results  of  so 
much  well-directed  labour.     They  will  approve,  I  feel  sure,  of 
the  Society's  assisting  these  efforts  in  all  legitimate  and  reason- 
able ways." 

The  President  then  proceeded  to  review  the  exploring  work 
of  the  year,  most  of  which  has  already  been  dealt  with  in 
Nature. 


PARKA  DECIPIENSy 


'■!'» 


PHIS  very  interesting  fossil  is  derived  from  various  localities 
in  Scotland,  all  of  which  are  believed  to  be  Lower  De- 
vonian.    It  was  first  described  in  183 1  by  Dr.  Fleming,  an-l 
since  then  has  been  noticed  on  several  occasions,  and  variously 

*  "  Notes  oa  Specimens  from  the  Collections  of  Messrs.  Graham  and  Reid," 
•t  Sir  Win.  Dawson,  LL.D..  F.R.S.,  and  D.  P.  Penhallow,  B.Sc, 
F.R.S.C.  Abstract  of  a  paper  read  before  the  Koyal  Society  of  Canada, 
M\yie9i, 


NO.   1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


regarded  as  the  spawn  of  MoUusca  or  Crustaceans,  and  as  of 
vegetable  origin. 

The  material  upon  which  the  present  observations  are  based 
was  collected  by  Mr.  James  Reid  ^  and  Mr.  Walter  Graham, 
both  of  whom  have  offered  many  valuable  suggestions  as  to  the 
probable  nature  and  affinities  of  the  fossil.  As  found,  the 
Parka  decipiens  usually  consists  of  oval  masses  bearing  rounded 
impressions  or  disk-like  bodies  of  carbonaceous  matter.  Asso- 
ciated with  these  are  also  stems  and  linear  leave-:  of  two  dimen- 
sions, and  a  third  form  having  a  general  resemblance  to  Pachy- 
theca,  which  is  found  in  the  same  beds,  and  differing  f>-om  it  in 
having  a  more  discoid  form,  and  being  devoid  of  structural 
markings. 

The  authors  show  that  the  fossil  is  probably  a  rhizocarp  allied 
to  Pilulatia^  and  that  there  are  at  least  three  forms- recognizable, 
of  which  one  is  referred  to  the  species,  and  the  other  two  to 
varieties.  The  views  thus  stated  are  based  upon  differences  of 
size  and  upon  the  fact  that  certain  of  the  disk  bodies  show  spores 
of  two  kinds,  and  in  some  cases  prothalli  in  various  stages  of 
development,  all  derived  from  the  same  sporocarp. 

The  paper  is  illustrated  by  a  plate  of  figures. 

UNIVERSITY,  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — In  the  list  of  the  Mathematical  Tripos  (Part 
II.)  Mr.  Bennett,  of  St.  John's,  the  Senior  Wrangler,  Mr. 
Crawford,  of  King'-s  the  fifth  Wrangler,  and  Miss  Philippa  G. 
Fawcett,  **  above  the  Senior  Wrangler,"  are  placed  in  the  first 
division  of  the  First  Class. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

Tn^  American  Meteorological  Journal  for  May  contains  the 
following  articles :— Cold  waves,  by  Prof.  T.  Russell.  In  the 
report  of  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  for  1889,  he  expressed  the 
view  that  the  origin  of  cold  waves  was  due  to  mixture  of  upper 
and  lower  air  causing  cooling  of  the  layer  next  to  the  ground. 
On  further  examination  of  the  subject,  in  conneciion  with  the 
observations  at  mountain  station^,  he  admits  the  incorrectness  of 
those  views,  and  states  that,  while  it  is  essential  to  connect  the 
low  temperature  and  high  pressure  in  some  way,  the  cooling  of 
the  ground  by  radiation,  and  of  the  air  by  contact  and  conduc- 
tion, will  not  completely  explain  the  cause  of  cold  waves. — How 
could  the  Weather  Service  best  promote  agriculture?,  by  M.  W. 
Harrington.  The  American  Weather  Service  has  hitherto  de- 
voted itself  more  particularly  to  the  interests  of  commerce,  while 
the  State  Services  have  had  the  interests  of  farmers  more  dis- 
tinctly in  view.  What  the  farmer  wants  to  know  is,  where  and 
when  a  local  shower  will  fall.  While  the  complete  solution  of 
this  problem  may  be  impossible,  the  approximate  solution  lies 
in  the  multiplication  of  local  forecasting  stations,  and  in  the 
intelligent  use  of  the  indications  of  the  Central  Office,  combined 
with  the  indications  which  he  can  himself  observe.  The  author 
recommends  more  attention  to  climatology  as  distinct  from 
weather  changes,  and  to  the  relations  between  plants,  soil,  an<l 
meteorology. — Is  the  influenza  spread  by  the  wind  ?,  by  H.  H. 
Hildebrandsson.  This  is  a  translation,  by  the  author,  from  an 
article  in  the  Journal  of  the  Medical  Society  at  Upsala,  and  is, 
practically,  a  reply  to  an  article  in  NATUREof  December  19, 1889, 
where  it  is  stated  that  the  malady  is  probably  spread  by  the 
wind.  The  author  shows,  by  a  map  and  table,  the  places  and 
dates  at  which  influenza  occurred  in  Sweden,  from  inquiries  of 
medical  men.  The  result  of  the  research  goes  to  show  that  the 
influenza  is  propagated  by  infection,  that  it  is  conducted  from 
place  to  place  through  human  circulation,  and  that  the  time  of 
incubation  is  two  to  three  days.  The  state  of  the  weather 
seemed  to  have  no  influence  on  the  spread  of  the  malady ;  in 
fact,  it  raged  with  the  same  severity  in  countries  possessing  very 
different  climates,  and  during  very  different  weather  conditions. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 
Royal  Society,  June  4. — "  On  a  Determination  of  the  Mean 
Density  of  the  Earth  and  the  Gravitation  Constant  hy  means  of 

'  Mr.  Reid  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Langlands,  the  lessee 
of  Myreton  quarries,  whose  kind  permission  to  examine  t'lese  quarries  was 
so  freely  granted. 


io6 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


the  Common  Balance."    By  J.  H.  Poynting,  D.Sc,  F.R.S., 
Professor  of  Physics,  Mason  College,  Birmingham. 

In  a  paper  printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society, 
No.  190,  1878,  an  account  was  given  of  some  experiments 
undertaken  in  order  to  test  the  possibility  of  using  the  common 
balance  in  place  of  the  torsion  balance  in  the  Cavendish 
experiment.  The  success  obtained  seemed  to  justify  the 
continuation  of  the  work,  and  this  paper  contains  an  account  of 
an  experiment  carried  out  with  a  large  bullion  balance,  in  place 
of  the  chemical  balance  used  in  the  preliminary  trials.  The 
work  has  been  carried  out  at  the  Mason  College,  Birmingham. 

The  Principle  tif  the  Experiment. — The  immediate  object  of 
the  experiment  may  be  regarded  as  the  determination  of  the 
attraction  of  one  known  mass  on  another.  If  two  spheres,  of 
masses  M  and  M',  have  their  centres  a  distance  d  apart,  the 
attraction  is,  according  to  the  law  of  gravitation,  aGMM'/'^'f 
where  G  is  the  gravitation  constant.  Astronomy  justifies  the 
law  in  certain  cases  as  regards  M'/d-,  but  does  not  give  the 
value  of  G  or  M,  except  in  the  product  GM.  To  find  G  we 
must  measure  GMMy^^  in  some  case  in  which  both  M  and  M' 
are  known.  Having  found  G,  we  may  determine  the  mean 
density  of  the  earth,  for,  assuming  that  it  is  a  sphere  of  radius  K, 
the  weight  of  any  mass  M'  at  its  surface  is 

G  X  ^irRSAM'/Rs 
=  ^GirRAM'. 

But  if  ^  is  the  acceleration  of  gravity  the  weight  of  M'  may  be 
expressed  as  M'^.     Equating  these  values,  we  get 

-a    .^ 


A  =  J 


GirR* 


.  Method  of  Using  the  Common  Balance, — With  the  length  of 
beam  used  (about  123  cm.)  a  differential  method  was  applicable, 
in  which  the  attraction  on  the  beam  was  eli  ..inated.  Two 
spherical  masses  of  lead  and  antimony,  about  21  kilos,  each, 
were  hung  from  the  two  arms  of  the  balance,  so  that  their  centres 
in  the  first  position  were  about  30  cm.  above  the  centre  of  a 
large  attracting  mass,  a  sphere  of  lead  and  antimony  about  153 
kilos.,  placed  on  a  turntable,  so  that  it  could  be  brought  in  turn 
immediately  under  either  of  the  suspended  attracted  masses.  A 
balancing  mass  of  half  the  weight,  and  at  double  the  distance 
from  the  centre  of  the  turntable,  was  found  necessary,  so  that 
the  centre  of  gravity  should  be  in  the  axis  of  rotation.  Before 
this  was  used,  the  ground  level  was  seriously  altered  by  the 
rotation  of  the  turntable.  The  attraction  of  the  balancing  mass 
was  calculated  and  allowed  for. 

The  alteration  in  the  weights  of  the  attracted  masses,  due  to 
the  motion  of  the  attracting  masses  from  one  side  to  the  other, 
was  the  quantity  to  be  measured.  When  this  was  determined 
in  the  lower  position  of  the  attracted  masses  they  were  raised  to 
about  double  the  distance,  and  the  attraction  again  determined. 
The  difference  eliminated  the  pull  on  the  beam,  suspending 
wires,  &c.  To  lessen  the  effect  of  want  of  homogeneity  or 
sphericity  in  the  masses,  or  of  want  of  symmetry  in  the  turn- 
table, the  masses  were  all  inverted  and  changed  over  each  to  the 
other  side,  and  the  weighings  repeated. 

The  position  of  the  beam  was  determined  by  the  reflection  of 
a  scale  in  a  mirror  used  with  ''double  suspension."  The  mirror 
was  suspended  by  two  silk  threads,  one  attached  to  the  end  of 
the  ordinary  pointer  about  60  cm.  below  the  central  knife 
edge,  the  other  parallel  to  it,  being  attached  to  a  fixed  support. 
The  mirror  turned  through  an  angle  about  150  times  as  great 
as  that  through  which  the  beam  turned,  and  one  scale  division 
corresponded  to  an  angle  of  tilt  in  the  beam  of  about  2/r5ths  of 
a  second. 

The  value  of  a  scale  division  was  determined  by  the  use  of 
two  equal  riders  which  could  be  placed  on  or  taken  off  wire 
frames  representing  the  scale  pans  of  a  small  subsidiary  beam, 
2*5  cm.  long,  fixed  parallel  to  and  at  the  centre  of  the  large 
beam.  When  one  rider  was  placed  on  one  supporting  frame 
the  other  was  at  the  same  instant  lifted  off  the  other  frame. 

The  balance  was  left  free  throughout  a  series  of  weighings, 
and  no  moving  parts  of  the  apparatus  were  connected  with 
the  case. 

The  values  obtained  are  as  follows  : — 

The  gravitation  constant  G  =  ^9^4 


10' 


Mean  density  of  the  earth  A  =  5  '4934. 

In  the  paper    a   description  is    given    of   a  new  form   of 
cithetometer  used  to  measure  the  diameters  of  the  masses. 

NO.    1 1 29,  VOL.  44] 


•'Quadrant  Electrometers."  By  W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S.,  J. 
Perry,  F. R.S.,  and  W.  E.  Sumpner,  D.Sc. 

In  1886  it  was  noticed,  on  continuously  charging  up  the 
needle  of  Sir  William  Thomson's  bifilar  suspension  quadnni 
electrometer  No.  5,  made  by  Messrs.  White,  of  Glasgow,  and 
in  use  at  the  laboratories  at  the  Central  Institution,  that  the 
deflection  of  the  needle,  when  the  same  P.D.  (potential  differ- 
ence) was  maintained  between  the  quadrants,  instead  of  steadily 
increasing,  first  increased,  and  then  diminished ;  so  that,  both 
for  a  large  charge  on  the  needle  as  well  as  for  a  small,  the 
sensibility  of  the  instrument  was  smalL  A  similar  effect  had 
been  described  by  Dr.  J.  Hopkinson,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Physical  Society,  vol.  vii.  Part  I,  for  the  previous  year,  and  tht 
explanation  he  gives  of  this  curious  result  is,  that  if  the  alnminiuo! 
needle  be  below  the  centre  of  the  quadrants,  the  downward 
attraction  of  the  needle,  which  varies  with  the  square  of  the 
needle's  charge,  increases  the  pull  on  the  bifilar  suspen- 
sion, and  so  for  high  charges  more  than  compensates  for  the 
increased  deflecting  couple  due  to  electrical  action.  On  raising, 
however,  the  needle  of  our  electrometer  much  above  the  centre 
of  the  quadrants,  the  anomalous  variation  of  sensibility  of  the 
instrument  with  increase  of  charge  in  the  needle  did  not  dis- 
appear ;  and  even  when  the  needle  was  raised  so  that  it  was  vaj 
close  to  the  top  of  the  quadrants,  and  when,  if  Dr.  Hopkinson  s 
explanation  were  correct,  the  sensibility  (or  deflection  corresp<xid* 
ing  with  a  given  P.D.  between  the  quadrants)  ought  to  have 
been  very  {;reat  for  a  large  charge  on  the  needle,  it  was,  on  the 
contrary,  found  to  be  small. 

The  needle  was  carefully  weighed,  with  the  platinum  wire 
attached  and  the  weight  dipping  into  the  acid,  and  a  caJculatioa 
was  made  as  to  the  magnitude  of  the  effect  that  should  arise 
from  the  change  of  the  pull  of  the  fibres  due  to  any  upward  or 
downward  attraction  of  the  needle  by  the  quadrants.  This 
calculation  showed  that  for  a  P.D.  of  3000  volts  between  the 
needle  and  the  quadrants,  the  amount  of  such  attraction  was 
quite  unable  to  account  for  the  observed  diminution  of  sensi- 
bility with  large  charges  in  the  needle.  Dr.  Hopkinson  says 
in  his  paper,  ' '  Increased  tension  of  the  fibres  from  electricd 
attraction  does  not  therefore  account  for  the  whole  of  the  facts, 
although  it  does  play  the  principal  part."  The  ex]>eriaieat< 
that  we  made  at  the  end  of  1886  and  beginning  of  1SS7,  con- 
firmed by  the  calculation  above  referred  to,  proved  that,  at  any 
rate  in  our  specimen  of  the  quadrant  electrometer,  the  principal 
part  of  the  anomalous  action  was  not  caused  by  an  increased 
tension  of  the  fibres,  and  that  therefore  some  other  cause  most 
be  looked  for  to  explain  the  observed  results. 

We  therefore  decided  to  make  a  complete  investigation  of  the 
laws  connecting  the  variation  of  the  sensibility  of  the  instrument 
with  the  potential  of  the  needle,  the  distance  between  the  fibres, 
the  distance  between  the  quadrants,  and  the  ix>sition  of  the 
needle. 

The  results  of  the  investigation,  briefly  summed  up,  are  as 
follows : — 

(i)  The  quadrant  electrometer,  as  made  by  Messrs.  White, 
although  it  may  be  carefully  adjusted  for  symmetry,  does  not 
usually  even  approximately  obey  the  recognized  law  for  a  quad- 
rant electrometer  when  the  potential  of  the  needle  is  altered. 

(2)  The  peculiarities  in  the  behaviour  of  the  White  electn>> 
meter  are  due  mainly  to  the  electrical  action  between  the  guard 
tube  and  the  needle,  and  to  the  slight  tilting  of  the  needle  thai 
occurs  at  high  potentials. 

(3)  By  special  adjustments  of  the  quadrants  of  the  White 
electrometer,  the  sensibility  can  be  made  to  be  either  nearly  in- 
dependent of  the  potential  of  the  needle,  or  to  be  directly  pro- 
portional to  the  potential,  or  to  increase  more  rapidly  than  the 
potential  of  the  needle. 

(4)  By  altering  the  construction  of  the  instrument,  as  de- 
scribed, the  conventional  law  for  the  quadrant  electrometer  is 
obtained  without  any  special  adjustment  of  the  quadrants  beyond 
that  for  symmetry,  and  the  instrument  is  rendered  many  times  as 
sensitive  as  the  specimen  we  possess  of  the  White  pattern. 

Linnean  Society,  June  4. — Prof.  Stewart,  President,  in  the 
chair. — After  nominating  as  Vice-Presidents  Mr.  A.  W.  Bennett, 
Dr.  Braithwaite,  Mr.  K.  Crisp,  and  Dr.  St.  G.  Mivait,  the 
President  took  occasion  to  refer  to  the  loss  which  the  Society  had 
sustained  by  the  recent  death  of  a  Vice-President,  Prof.  P. 
Martin  Duncan,  F.  R.  S.  His  genial  presence  at  the  meetings,  no 
less  than  his  valued  contributions  to  the  publications  of  the 
Society,  would,  he  felt  sure,  be  missed  by  everyone. — Sir  Walter 
Sendall,  who  was  present  as  a  visitor,  eidiibited  a  curioos  cooooo 


June  i8.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


167 


of  a  moth  belongiog  to  the  genus  Tinea,  and  made  some  remarks 
on  its  construction  and  peculiar  coloration. — The  President  ex- 
hibited a  case  of  Lepidoptera  and  Coleoptera,  which  he  had 
selected  to  illustrate  some  of  the  more  notable  secondary  sexual 
characters  in  insects,  and  made  some  interesting  explanatoiy 
observations. — Dr.  John  Lowe  exhibited  some  eggs  of  Mantis 
religiosa  which  he  had  found  adhering  to  the  underside  of  stones 
on  mountain-sides  in  the  Riviera.— On  behalf   of  Mr.   F.  J. 
Hanbury,  Mr.  W.  H.  Beeby  exhibited  and  made  remarks  on  a 
sterile  form  of  Ranunculus  acris^  on  which  some  criticism  was 
offered  by  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward. — A  paper  by  Mr.  M.  C. 
Potter  was  read,  on  diseases  of  the  leaf  of  the  cocoa-nut  tree. 
The  specimens  examined  had  been  received  from  Ceylon  through 
Dir.  Trimen,  and  in  Mr.  Potter's  opinion  the  diseases  noticed 
were  referable  to  three  causes — namely,  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  to 
the  ravages  of  insect"*,  and  to  Fungi.  These  were  separately  con- 
sidered, and  descriptions  were  given  of  the  different  appearance 
which  the  leaves,  thus  variously  affected,  presented.  A  discussion 
followed,  in  which  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward  criticized  in  some 
detail  the  observations  which  had  reference  chiefly  to  Fungi. — 
Two  papers  followed  by  Dr.  P.  H.  Carpenter,  on  some  Arctic 
ConuUula  and  on  some  Crinoidea  from  Madeira,  upon  which 
Mr.  W.  Percy  Sladen  offered  critical  remarks. — The  President 
then  gave  an  abstract  of  a  paper  which  he  had  prepared  on  a 
hermaphrodite  mackerel,  and  exhibited  the  specimen  on  which 
his  observations  were  founded,  referring  also  to  the  recent  cases 
of  hermaphroditism  in  the  trout  and  cod  which  had  been  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  Society.     A  commentary  by  Prof.  G.  B. 
Howes  brought  the  proceedings  to  a  close. 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  May  i8. — The  Hon.  Lord  Maclaren,  Vice- 
President,  in  the   chair. — Dr.   Buchan   read   a  paper  on  the 
barometer  at  Ben  Nevis  Observatory,  in  relation  to  the  direction 
and  strength  of  the  wind.     In  arranging  the  results,  Dr.  Buchan 
has  referred  the  direction  of  the  wind  to  sixteen  points  of  the 
compass,   although  the  observations  are  actually  made  with 
reference    to    the    thirty-two    points.      The    readings    of   the 
barometers  at  the  high  level  and  the  low  level  stations,  when 
reduced  to  sea-level,  exhibit  marked  differences  dependent  upon 
the  direction  of  the  wind.     The  investigation  extends  over  the 
period  of  nine  months  commencing  in  August  last.      During 
that  time,  all  the  very  high  winds  have  been  from  the  east- 
south-east  and  the  south-east,  these  being  the  directions  in 
which  the  wind  blows  freely  along  the  top  of  the  mountain  to 
the  Observatory.     In  eleven  cases  the  wind  from  these  directions 
attained  a  speed  of  1 20  miles  an  hour  or  more  ;  and  the  (re- 
daced)  barometer  at  the  high  level  station  read  about  one -sixth 
of  an  inch  lower  than  the  instrument  at  the  low  level  station. 
In  no  other  direction  was  a  higher  velocity  than  70  miles  an 
hoar  noted ;  and  in  the  directions  from  west  to  north-north- 
west, east,  and  east-north-east,  the  velocity  was  never  greater 
than  30  miles  an  hour.     With  northerly  winds  the  instruments 
at  the  top  of  the  mountain  record  a  much  lower  speed  than  that 
which,  from  observations  of  the  drift  of  the  clouds,  is  seen  to  be 
reached  at  a  small  height  above  the  top  of  the  mountain.     The 
cause  of  this  comparative  calm  immediately  at  the  top  is  the 
impact  of  the  air.  upon  the  face  of  the  cliff  which  lies*  to  the 
north  of  the  Observatory.     The  stream  lines  are  thus  suddenly 
deflected  upwards.     In  such  cases  the  depression  of  the  baro- 
meter is  about  three  times  as  great  as  that  which  occurs  with  an 
equally  strong  wind  from  other  directions,  and  indicates  the  for- 
mation of  a  region  of  low  pressure  around  the  Observatory.     A 
peculiar  result  which  is  observed  with  other  directions  of  the 
wind  is  that  the  (reduced)  high  level  barometric  reading  exceeds 
the  (reduced)  low  level  reading  when  the  wind  blows  at  about 
the  rate  of  5  miles  an  hour.     The  reverse  is  always  true  when 
the  speed  of  the  wind  exceeds  that  rate,  on  the  one  hand,  or  is 
extremely  small,  on  the  other.     This  seems  to  indicate  an  in- 
crease of  pressure  in  air-currents  which  ascend  the  mountain, 
and  so  may  explain  the  fact  that  the  top  of  the  mountain  is 
frequently  clear,  while  dense  cloud  is  being  constantly  formed 
at  a  short  distance  above  it. — Dr.  J.  Berry  Haycrait  fi[ave  an 
account  of  some  experiments  which  show  (i)  that  the  displace- 
ments of  the  heart,  which  since  Harvey's  time  are  supposed  to 
take  place  with  every  contraction,  do  not  really  occur  in  the 
nnopened  chest,  and  (2)  that  the  cardiogram  has  been  misinter- 
preted by  physiologists.     It  is  usually  supposed  that,  during 
each  contraction,  the  heart  twists  towards  the  right  while  its 
apex  moves  forward,  and,  pressing  against  the  wall  of  the  chest, 

NO.    TT29,  VOL.  44] 


causes  the  "apex  beat."     Again,  it  has  been  supposed  by  some 
that,  during  expansion,  all  diameters  of  the  heart  are  not  in- 
creased, but  that,  on  the  contrary,  one  diameter  is  diminished  in 
length.     Dr.   Haycraft's  experiments  show  that  all  diameters 
are  increased  during  expansion,   and   that   all   are   diminished 
during  contraction.    They  show  also  that  the  motions,  above 
described,  do  not  occur  in  the  unopened  chest.     The  heart,  in 
order  that  it  may  be  observed  in  the  opened  chest,  is  necessarily 
separated  from  its  attachments  and  falls  towards  the  back  of  the 
chest  (the  animal  operated  upon  being  supposed  to  be  placed 
upon  its  back).     During  expansion,  the  heart  becomes  flaccid, 
and  so  is  flattened  against  the  back  of  the  chest.     The  first 
effect  of  the  stiffening  which  occurs  during  the  muscular  con- 
traction is  therefore  an  elevation  of  the  heart,  against  gravity, 
towards  the  front  of  the  chest.     Similarly,  if  the  animal   be 
turned  upon   one  side,   the  heart,  during   contraction,   moves 
towards  the  upper  side  of  the  chest ;  and  the  "beat "  can  even 
be  made  to  take  place  towards  the  back.     In  the  unopened 
chest,  the  heart  on  the  whole  remains  in  position  during  con- 
traction, and  therefore  its  boundaries  move  from  the  chest  walls. 
But  the  cardiogram,  as  usually  interpreted,  shows  that  the  chest 
wall  is  thrown  outwards  by  the  impact  of  the  heart  during  con- 
traction.    Dr.  Haycraft  asserts  that  this  is  due  to  deformation 
of  the  heart  by  pressure  of  the  chest  wall  when  the  button  of 
the  cardiograph  is  pressed  against  the  exterior  of  the  chest.     The 
first  effect  of  the  muscular  contraction  and  stiffening  of  the  heart 
is  therefore  increased  pressure  against   the  chest- wall,  which 
gives  rise  to  the  up-stroke  of  the  cardiogram.     When  the  cardio- 
graph is  made  as  light  as  possible,  the   up-stroke  is  greatly 
diminished  ;  but  it  never  entirely  vanishes,  because  the  fliccid 
heart  is  always  slightly  distorted  by  the  chest- wall  even  when 
the  cardiograph  is  not  pressed  against  it.     Dr.  Haycraft  further 
shows  that  the  sinuosities,  which  always  appear  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  on  the  cardiogram,  are  not  due  to  peculiarities  in  the 
action  of  the  heart,  but  are  instrumental  in  their  origin,  being 
caused  by  oscillations  which  result  from  the  inertia  of   the 
cardiograph. — Dr.    Hugh   Robert   Mill  read  a  paper  on  the 
physical  geography  of  the  Clyde  sea  area,  and  the  salinity  and 
chemical  composition  of  its  waters.     He  described  records,  and 
discussed  observations,  made  by  himself  and  other  members  of 
the  staff  of  the  Scottish  Marine  Station.    The  observations  dealt 
with  extend  over  a  period  of  three  years,  and  their  reduction  has 
occupied,  in  addition,  the  greater  part  of  two  years.     In  the  first 
part  of  the  paper  the  author  gives  a  detailed  description,  illus- 
trated by  a  bathymetric  chart,  of  the  configuration  of  the  Clyde 
sea  area,  with  a  special  account  of  the  various  loch  basins.     The 
area  and  volume  of  each  of  these  depressions  are  calculated,  and 
the  area  of  land  which  drains  into  each  of  them  is  measured  on 
accurate  maps.     The  rainfall  is  discussed  in  detail,  and  the  river 
discharge  is  calculated  indirectly,  tables  being  drawn  up  to  show 
the  volume  of  rain  water  which  flowed  into  each  of  the  lochs 
during  each  month  of  the  year.     The  month  of  maximum  rain- 
fall over  most  of  the  area  is  January,  that  of  minimum  rainfall 
is  May.     The  whole  sea  area  is  conveniently  divided  into  two 
parts — the  seaward,  of  great  extent,  bordered  with  compara- 
tively low  ground,  and  lying  in  a  region  whose  average  rainfall 
is  44  inches  ;  and  the  landward,  made  up  of  deep  narrow  loch 
basins,  bordered  by  lofty  mountains,  and  occupying  a  region 
whose  average  rainfall  approaches  60  inches.     In  the  latter  part 
of  the  paper  the  positions  of  thirty-four  stations  (twenty-seven  in 
the  landward,  and  seven  in  the  seaward  division),  at  which  obser- 
vations were  regularly  made,  are  described.     The  method  of 
collecting  water  samples,  and  the  method  of  determining  the 
density  by  means  of  a  ChalUngir-\y^  hydrometer,  are  given  in 
detail.     A  record  of  850  determinations  of  density  made  during 
twelve  trips,  which  extended  over  two  years,  are  given  in  an 
appendix.    Twenty  tables  are  given,  which  show  the  relations 
of  salinity  to  configuration,  tides,  and  rainfall,  and  which  exhibit 
the  relative  amounts  of  pure  sea-water  and  of  fresh-water  which 
were  present  in  each  of  the  divisions  of  the  sea  area  at  certain 
selected  times.     It  was  found  that  the  amount  of  salt  present 
in  the  water  of  the  Clyde  sea  area  varies  with  the  season,  the 
water  being,  as  a  rule,  freshest  in  February,  one  month  after 
the  maximum  rainfall,  and  saltest  in  July  or  August,  two  months 
after  the  minimum  rainfall.     The  surface  water  exhibited  the 
greatest  changes,  the  seasonal  variations  being  more  regular  at 
greater  depths.     Even  at  the  head  of  lochs  50  or  60  miles 
distant  from  the  open  sea  the  percentage  of  pure  sea-water 
present  was  rarely  less  than  88;  the  fresh  river-water  which 
poured  in  in  enormous  volume  after  heavy  rain  rapidly  mixing 


i68 


NA  TURE 


[June  i8,  1891 


with  the  sea-water,  which  was  constantly  renewed  by  the  tide. 
So  rapid  and  complete  is  this  process  of  interchange,  that  the 
amount  of  river-water  actually  present  diluting  the  water  of  the 
Clyde  sea  area  is  much  less  than  the  amount  which  passes 
through  it  every  year,  and  is  not  equal  to  half  of  the  average 
rainfall.  In  an  average  year  i  '25  cubic  miles  of  water,  97*5  per 
cent,  of  which  is  pure  sea- water,  and  2*5  per  cent,  fresh- water, 
enters  the  area  at  every  tide  ;  and  a  slightly  greater  amount  is 
withdrawn,  the  whole  bieing  freshened  a  little  so  as  to  contain 
27  per  cent,  of  its  volume  of  fresh- water.  The  great  saltness 
of  the  deep  water  of  the  sea  lochs,  on  which  their  importance  as 
fishing-grounds  depends,  appears  to  be  due  to  two  causei«. 
One  of  these  is  the  thorough  mixture  of  the  tidal  water  from 
bottom  to  surface  as  it  pours  across  the  shallow  bars  at  the 
mouths  of  the  lochs.  The  saltest  surface  water  was  always 
found  at  flood-tide,  off  Otter  Spit  in  Loch  Fyne,  where  the  salt 
water  welled  up  from  beneath  in  consequence  of  the  rapid 
shoaling  of  the  channel.  Another  cause  of  thorough  mixture 
is  the  influence  of  the  wind,  which  seems  to  set  up  a  complete 
vertical  circulation.  Thus  if  wind  is  blowing  strongly  down 
Loch  Fyne,  the  freshened  surface  water  is  driven  out  of  the 
loch,  and  very  salt  water  rises  at  the  head  of  the  loch  to  take  its 
place.  In  a  down-loch  wind  the  surface  water  is  almost  always 
saltest  at  the  head  of  the  loch,  and  diminishes  in  salinity  towards 
the  open  sea.  The  paper  concludes  with  a  summary  of  the 
chemical  composition  of  the  water. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  8.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — On  the  currents  which  give  rise  to  cyclones,  by  M. 
H.  Faye.  The  views  held  by  Dr.  Hann  and  Prof.  Ferrel 
concerning  cyclones  and  anticyclones  are  compared.  The 
author  believes  that  cyclones,  but  not  anticyclones,  are 
dynamical  phenomena,  with  which  local  circumstances  of 
temperature  have  nothing  to  do,  and  he  shows  that  they 
depend  on  the  general  movements  of  the  atmosphere  due  to 
Polar  cold  and  equatorial  heat.  On  this  point,  therefore,  M. 
Faye  agrees  with  Dr.  Hann. — Note  on  the  presence  of  the 
Kophobelemnon  in  the  waters  of  Banyuls,  by  M.  H.  de  Lacaze- 
Duthiers. — The  mastodon  of  Cherichira,  by  M.  Albert  Gaudry. 
— A  new  chemical  balance  for  rapid  weighings,  by  M.  Victor 
Serrin. — Partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  on  June  6,  observed  at  Nice, 
by  M.  Perrotin.  With  a  power  of  280,  the  time  of  first  contact 
was  observed  to  be  5h.  54m.  26s.  ;  and  of  second  contact, 
6h.  53m.  26s.  Nice  mean  time. — Observations  of  the  new  aste- 
roid discovered  at  Nice  Observatory  on  May  16,  by  M.  Charlois. 
The  observations  are  for  May  16  and  25. — Observations  of 
Brooks's  comet  (1890  II.),  made  with  the  great  equatorial 
of  Bordeaux  Observatory,  by  MM.  G.  Rayet  and  L. 
Picart.  Twenty -three  observations  for  position  were  made 
between  February  3  and  April  29.  The  comet  has  been 
followed  from  March  27,  1890,  to  April  29,  1891. — On 
the  theory  of  shooting-stars,  by  M.  Callandreau.  The  author 
develops  the  equation  of  condition  to  be  fulfilled  by  radiant- 
points  belonging  to  the  same  family  of  meteors.  According  to 
Mr.  Denning's  observations,  the  Perseid  radiant-point  moves 
towards  the  east  during  the  period  of  activity,  a  fact  indicated 
as  probable  by  Leverrier  in  1871.  This  is  in  conformity  with 
the  equation  of  condition,  which  shows  that  if  the  latitude  of  a 
radiant-point  varies  slightly  the  longitude  increases. — On  two 
systems  of  differential  equations,  of  which  the  hyperelliptic 
functions  of  the  first  order  form  the  integrals,  by  M.  F.  Caspary. 
— Determination  of  the  mechanical  equivalent  of  heat,  by  M. 
Constantin  Miculesco.  The  method  adopted  was  similar  in 
principle  to  that  used  by  Joule.  Thirty-one  experiments  made 
with  this  apparatus  gave  very  accordant  results,  and  the  mean 
of  them  all  give  426*7  as  the  mechanical  equivalent  of  a  calorie 
in  kilogram-metres. — Dielectric  properties  of  mica  at  high  tem- 
peratures, by  M.  E.  Bouty.  The  principal  result  of  the  research 
IS  that  the  dielectric  constant  is  almost  invariable  for  rapid  alterna- 
tions. — Application  of  the  principle  of  the  transmission  of  pressures 
to  widely  separated  telephone  transmitters,  by  M.  P.  Germain. — 
Action  of  ammonia  on  some  compounds  formed  with  halogen 
salts  of  mercury,  by  M.  Raoul  Varet.  The  author  has  studied 
the  action  of  ammonia  on  compounds  formed  with  mercury 
iodide  and  metallic  cyanides,  with  the  idea  of  determining  the 
rdU  of  certain  compounds  of  ammonia  in  double  decompositions. 
— On  a  new  method  of  preparing  silicon  chloro-iodides,  by 
M.  A.  Besson. — On  three  cases  of  free  development  observed 
in  Bryozoas  ectoproctse,  by  M.  Henri  Pro  nho. — On  the  locusts 

NO.   II 29,  VOL.  44] 


of  Algeria,  by  M.  Charles    Brongniart. — On  the  moi^holoj^ 

nature  of  the  phenomena  of  fecundation,  by  M.  L^n  Guigoard.  It 

results  from  the  observations  that  the  phenomenon  of  fecundatjon 

consists  not  only  in  the  copulation  of  two  nuclei  of  different  sexia) 

origin,  but  also  in  the  fusion  of  two  protoplasms,  also  of  differ* 

ent  origin,  and  represented  essentially  by  the  directing  spberei 

of  the  male  and  the  female  cell. — On  the  indosures  of  nephelinic 

syenites  found  in  the  middle  of  phonolites  from  Hohgan  and  b 

some  other  beds ;  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  them,  by  M.  A. 

Lacroix. — Observations  of  the  parallelism  of  Upper  Cretaceoo 

strata  of  the  Western  Pyrenees  (Lower  Pyrenees  and  Lande). 

by  M.  Jean  Seunes. — The  sympathetic  nerve  of  acoommodaticD 

for  the  observation  of  distant  objects,  by  MM.  J.  P.  Morat  and 

Maurice   Doyon. — Researches  on    the  existence    of  parasitic 

organisms  in  diseases  of  the  crystalline  lens  of  the  ejre  of  ms. 

and  on  the  possible  rdle  of  these  organisms  in  the  pathol<^  oi' 

certain  ocular  affections,  by  MM.  Gallippe  and  ll  Moreau.— 

)  On  the  employment  of  carbon  bisulphide  dissolved  in  water  ibr 

I  the  destruction  of  Phylloxera,  by  M.  A.  Rommier. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED 

Glimpses  of  Nature  :  Dr.  A  Wilson  (ChattoX— Revelation  of  the  TiiniiT: 
S.  B.  G.  McKiDDey  (Stock).— Jysters  and  all  about  I'hem,  3  vob. :  J.  K. 

Philpots  (RichardsonX — Die  Veranderlichkett  der  Temperator  ia  Ostemadi 
J.  Hann(Wien). — Moaograph  of  the  British  Cicadx,  vol.  ia.  Part  6:  G.  B. 
Buckton  (Macmillan).— A  Guide-book  to  Books :  edited  by  E.  B.  Supn 
and  B.  Whishaw  (Frowde).— Our  Country's  Flowert :  W.  J.  Gordon  (Day, 
— Primo  Resoconto  dei  Risuliati  della  Inchiesta  Omitologica  in  ItaU. 
Parte  Terza  ed  Ultima  Notizie  d'Indole  C^eneiale :  E.  H.  GigUoti  (Fireni 
— Chambers's  Encyclopaedia,  vol.  vii.  (Chambers). — Hand-book  of  *Jk 
London  GeoloBrical  Fiekl  Glass  :  H.  G.  Seeley  (PhihpX— Teaching  in  I^k 
Continents :  W.  C.  Grasby  (C^assell).— Bulletins  de  la  Soci^te  d'Aatkropo- 
logie  de  Paris,  4^  fasc.  (Paris,  MassonX— Journal  of  the  Chemical  Sodetr. 
June  (Gumey  and  Jackson).— Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Scieace, 
vol.  xxxii.  Part  3  (C^urchillX 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Egyptian  Irrigation 145 

Physiological  Psychology.     By  J.  S 145 

Achievements  in  Engineering.     By  N.  J.  L 147 

Geological  Excursions.     By  T.  Q.  B 149 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Meyer:  "  Across  East  African  Glaciers  *' 149 

"  Chemistry  in  Space  " 150 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

Erratic  Track  of  a  Barometric  Depression.     ( With  a 

CAari,)—Rty,  W.  Clement  Ley 150 

The  Crowing  of  the  Jungle  Cock.— B.  P.  Cross  .  .  151 
Cordylopkora  lacustris. — Thomas  Shepheard  ...  151 
Philosophical  Instrument  Makers. — A.  Hilger  ...  151 
The  Earthquake  of  June  7. — Prof.  A.  Riggenbach- 

Burckhardt 151 

Note  on  Egyptian  Irrigation.     By  Sir  Colin  Scott 

Moncrieff,  R.E.,  K.C.B 151 

The  Second  Ornithological  Congress 153 

The  Imperial  Physical  and  Technical  Institution  at 

Berlin 154 

Crystallization.  {Illustrated.)  By  Prof.  Q.  D.  Liveing, 

P.R.S 156 

The  Eruption  of  Vesuvius  of  June  7,  z8gx.     By  Dr. 

H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis 160 

Notes 161 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Newly-discovered  Markings  on  Saturn 164 

The  Rotation  Period  of  Venus 164 

A  New  Asteroid  (sio) 164 

The  Royal  Geographical  Society 154 

Parka  decipiens.     By  Sir  Wm.  Dawson,  P.R.S.   .   .    165 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 165 

Scientific  Serials 16$ 

Societies  and  Academies  ...  165 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 168 


NA  TURE 


169 


THURSDAY,  JUNE  25,  1891. 


EDUCATIONAL  ASPECTS  OF  FREE 

EDUCATION, 

A  N  innocent  outsider  would  naturally  suppose  that  the 
^^  discussion  on  a  proposal  for  free  education  would 
turn  chiefly  on  educational  and  social  considerations. 
So  long  as  the  question  was  of  merely  academic  interest, 
this  wasy  to  a  large  extent,  the  case.  It  is  true  that 
strong  Churchmen  viewed  with  distaste  a  change  which 
might  increase  the  growing  difficulty,  found  by  volun- 
tary school  managers,  of  making  both  ends  meet,  or 
might  possibly  even  sweep  them  off  the  board  altogether, 
and  that  the  enthusiasm  of  many  partisans  on  the  other 
side  for  the  remission  of  fees  was  heightened  by  the 
hope  that  such  a  measure  would  give  a  new  impetus  to 
the  formation  of  School  Boards.  But,  on  the  whole, 
the  disputants  made  at  least  an  attempt  in  public  to 
discuss  the  matter  in  its  bearings  on  the  child,  the 
teacher,  and  the  parent.  The  overburdened  parent,  the 
pauperizing  effect  of  partial  remission,  the  child  kept  from 
school  because  of  his  parents'  poverty,  the  teachers  con- 
verted into  tax-collectors — these  were  the  stage  properties 
of  the  one  party ;  while  the  stock-in-trade  of  the  other 
side  included  the  sacred  necessity  of  guarding  "  parental 
responsibiIity,''and  the  assertion  that  no  one  values  what  he 
does  not  pay  for,  and  that  to  tax  the  hard-earned  savings 
of  the  respectable  middle-class  to  free  the  education  of 
the  children  of  the  worthless  and  unthrifty  was  a  Social- 
istic proposal  of  the  crudest  kind. 

We  now  find  that  most  of  this  talk  was  pure  cant.  It 
ceased  to  be  heard  from  the  moment  when  free  education 
became  a  practical  party  question.  To  outward  appear- 
ance the  contest  over  the  Bill  has  become  a  kind  of 
Jerusalem  race — everyone  wishing  to  leave  to  someone 
else  the  unpleasant  task  of  formulating  the  criticisms 
with  which  he  secretly  sympathizes,  but  to  which  fear  of 
bis  constituents  prevents  him  from  giving  utterance. 

If  we  could  induce  the  parties  to  break  through  this 
conspiracy  of  agreement,  we  should  find  that,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  the  point  on  which  the  advocates  feel  most 
keenly  is  the  possibility  of  using  the  Act  as  a  lever  either 
to  destroy  or  to  perpetuate  for  ever  the  voluntary  school 
system.  In  spite  of  the  apparent  calm,  the  battle  between 
the  supporters  of  School  Boards  and  voluntary  schools  is 
r^ng  fiercely  below  the  surface ;  and  most  of  the  amend- 
ments put  down  for  the  Committee  stage  are  certain  to 
represent  attempts,  more  or  less  open  or  disguised,  to 
wrest  the  provisions  of  the  Act  to  suit  the  purposes  of 
one  or  the  other  party. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  is  to  a  great  extent 
natural.  The  Act  of  1870  was  a  compromise :  the  present 
Bill  virtually  reopens  the  question,  and  it  is  felt  that, 
whatever  be  the  logic  or  want  of  logic  in  the  argument 
that  Imperial  grants  should  involve  local  control,  the 
time  when  large  additional  grants  are  being  made  to 
voluntary  schools  is  the  time,  //  ever,  to  drive  home  the 
question  of  popular  management  We  do  not,  then, 
quarrel  with  diose  who  feel  that  the  opportunity  must  not 
be  lost  of  raising  this  question ;  indeed,  we  should  re- 
spea  them  more  if  they  raised  it  more  openly.  But  we  do 

NO.  II 30,  VOL.  44] 


protest  against  the  almost  total  omission  of  all  educational 
considerations  in  the  arguments  used  on  both  sides. 

It  is  time  that  the  third  party  to  the  dispute — the  real 
friends  of  education — made  themselves  heard.  Their 
one  object  is  to  see  that  the  educational  benefits  of  the 
measure  should  be  maximized,  and  the  incidental  evils 
minimized.  They  ask  what  is  to  be  demanded  in  the 
shape  of  increased  efficiency  in  return  for  a  new  grant  of 
;£2,ooo,ooo  to  school  managers.  Is  a  great  part  of  it  to 
be  allowed  to  be  absorbed  by  the  reduction  of  private 
subscriptions  and  rates,  or  is  it  to  be  used  to  improve  the 
children's  education,  and  make  it  a  better  preparation  for 
their  future  industry  ? 

In  the  rural  districts,  the  grant  in  lieu  of  fees  will 
almost  universally  be  in  excess  of  the  income  now  received 
from  fees.    There  will  therefore  be  a  surplus  in  the  hands 
of  the  managers,  or  manager — for  very  often  these  schools 
are  in  the  hands  of  one  man.    Where  will  this  surplus  go  ? 
In  our  opinion  some  method  ought,  if  possible,  to  be 
found  of  '^  ear-marking  "  it  for  education  rather  than  for 
subscribers'  pockets.     If  this  were  done,  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  rural  schools  of  England  might  be  raised  in  cha- 
racter.    It  would  be  possible,  for  example,  to  introduce, 
with  the  aid  of  the  new  surplus,  some  simple  teaching  in 
agricultural  subjects,  such  as  is  recognized  in  the  Code, 
but  is  at  present  a  dead  letter ;  for  the  increased  grant 
would  be  quite  enough  to  pay  a  competent   travelling 
teacher  to  give  such  instruction  in  a  group  of  schools. 
If  there  were  universal  county  or  district  school  authori- 
ties, it  might  be  well  to  hand  over  the  surplus  grant  into 
their  hands,  to  be  used  solely  for  the  improvement  of  the 
various  schools  on  whose  account  it  was  paid.    As,  un- 
fortunately, our  organization  is  piecemeal,  we  are  forced 
to  deal  direct  with  each  school,  and  we  can  therefore 
only  appeal  to  public-spirited  managers  to  take  care  that 
the  children  for  whose  education  they  are   responsible 
reap  the  full  advantage  of  every  penny  which  they  receive 
over  and  above  the  present  fees  charged.     It  is  to  be 
feared,  however,  that  in  many  cases  the  managers  are  at 
the  mercy  of  their  subscribers,  and  many  of  them  would 
probably  now  welcome  the  proposal  made  by  the  Bishop 
of  London,  but  foolishly  rejected  by  his  clerical  friends 
on  the  late  Royal  Commission — that  a  certain  minimum 
of  private  subscriptions  should  be  required  by  law  in  the 
case  of  every  voluntary  school.     If  such  a  provision  were 
in  force,  school  managers  in  the  country  would  be  saved 
many  anxious  forebodings  at  the  present  time. 

The  second  point  in  the  Bill  on  which  educational 
reformers  should  fix  their  attention  is  the  limitation  of 
the  benefits  to  children  between  five  and  fourteen.  The 
lower  limit  need  not  trouble  us,  and  may  be  left  to  be 
worried  by  the  ''poor  man's''  numerous  friends.  But 
the  upper  limit  should  be  resolutely  opposed.  It  is 
quite  true  that  at  the  present  time  it  is  of  comparatively 
little  importance — only  affecting  some  few  thousands  of 
children.  But  if  one  of  the  great  objects  of  educational 
policy  is  to  lengthen  the  period  of  school  life,  the  handful 
of  children  at  elementary  schools  above  fourteen  should 
certainly  not  be  fined  for  staying  there ;  if  anything,  they 
should  receive  scholarships  to  enable  them  to  do  so. 
In  our  opinion,  moreover,  ex-seventh  standard  children 
(who  are  not  for  the  most  part  touched  by  the  present 
Bill)  should  be  also  admitted  free,  or  at  least  sufficient 

I 


170 


NA  TURE 


[Juke  25.  1891 


scholarships  should  be  provided  to  enable  any  poor  child 
who  has  passed  the  standards  to  continue  his  education 
either  in  the  school  or  elsewhere.     We  do  not  say  that 
such  schblarships  should  be  universally  provided  out  of 
the  present  grant,  but  they  would  be  a  most  proper 
object  to  which  to  apply  part  of  the  surplus  which  will 
be  handed  to  many  schools  over  and  above  the  fee 
equivalent.     These  considerations  suggest  another  pos- 
sible  way  of  dealing  with    the  surplus   grants.      The 
great  object  of  those  who  arc  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment   of   higher  elementary,  technical,  and  secondary 
education  should  be  to  strengthen  instead  of  weakening 
the  connection  between  primary  and  higher  schools.     It 
is  to  be  feared  that  any  provision  for  freeing  elementary 
schools  up  to  a  certain  point  or  a  certain  age,  will  tend 
to  sever  rather  than  to  unite  the  two  grades  of  schools, 
unless  the  flow  between  them  is  at  the  same  time  stimu- 
lated by  the  establishment  of  free  scholarships  or  in  other 
ways.    A  free  (or  partly  free)  elementary  school  is  not 
the  ultimate  ideal.  We  want  a  free  road  kept  open  to  the 
University.     Is  it  too  late  to  thro\V  out  the  suggestion 
that  school  managers  receiving  a  fee-grant  in  excess  of 
the  amount  previously  received  in  fees  should  be  rcfquired 
to  use  the  surplus  for  an  object  akin  to  that  contemplated 
by  the  main  provisions  of  the  Bill — viz.  the  extension  of 
free  education  for  selected  scholars  beyond  the  narrow 
limits  of  the  primary  schools,  in  other  words  the  provision 
of  continuation  scholarships?     Up  to  a  short  time  ago 
it  would  have  been  replied  that  in  many  cases  there  were 
no  higher  institutions  accessible,  but  the  application  of 
the  Local   Taxation  grant  to   technical  and   secondary 
education  is  fast  changing  all  that,  and  a  proposal  which 
a  few  years  since  would  have  been  unfeasible  is  now  well 
within  the  range  of  practical  politics. 


DIFFERENTIAL  AND  INTEGRAL  CALCULUS. 


Differential  and  Integral  Calculus^  with  Applications. 
By  Alfred  George  Greenhill,  M.A.,  F.R,S.  Second 
Edition.     (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

PROF.  GREENHILL  is  known  to  the  academic 
world  as  an  accomplished  mathematician  who 
has  powerfully  helped  to  advance  certain  branches  of 
applied  mathematics ;  he  is  also  known  to  the  readers 
of  Natuhe  as  a  friend  (militant)  of  the  practical  man. 
We  say  at  once,  in  all  sincerity,  that  we  sympathize 
with  Prof.  Greenhill  in  both  his  capacities.  The  volume 
on  the  infinitesimal  calculus  no^v  before  us,  although 
professedly  a  second  edition,  is  in  reality  a  new  work, 
addressed  to  the  special  needs  of  the  practical  man  by 
his  mathematical  friend  Prof.  Greenhill. 

Of  many  of  the  author's  didactic  innovations  we  highly 
approve.  The  treatment  of  the  differential  and  integral 
calculus  together  from  the  very  beginning  is  a  piece  of 
sound  method,  the  introduction  of  which  has  been  delayed 
merely  by  the  bad  but  not  infrequent  practice  of  separat- 
ing the  two  as  examination  subjects.  The  introduction  of 
the  hyperbolic  functions  to  systematize  the  integrations 
which  can  be  performed  by  means  of  the  elementary  trans- 
cendents, has  been,  as  we  can  testify  from  experience,  a 
great  help  in  elementary  teaching.  The  admirable  "  chap- 
ter in  the  integral  calculus"  which  was  published  separately 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


in  an  extended  form  sjme  years  ago,  and  is  now  con- 
densed and  simplified  in  a  separate  chapter  at  the  end  of 
the  work  under  review,  is  the  most  important  addition  to 
the  teaching  material  of  the  integral  calculus  that  has 
been  made  for  a  long  time  ;  that  chapter  alone  is  worth 
the  price  of  Prof.  Greenhill's  book.     The  plan  of  drawing 
the  illustrations  of  the  subject  from  departments  of  pure 
and   applied  mathematics  with  which  the  learner  may 
afterwards  have  to  do  is  also  excellent.     Finally,  there 
blows  through  our  author^s  pages  that  inimitable  fresh- 
ness which  emanates  from  the  man  who  is  familiar  with 
much  that  is  newest  and  best  in  his  day,  who  does  n« 
merely  make  extracts  from  books,  but  who  speaks  of 
things  in  which  he  has  taken  a  part.     This  freshness  cao 
only  be  compared  to  that  agreeable  odour  which  iidaoid 
people  tell  us  comes  from  manners  and  others  who  cross 
the  sea  from  strange  lands.     Like  the>e  same  mariners, 
our   author   produces    from   his   pockets    strange   and 
puzzling  curiosities,  such  as  reciprocants,  tide  predicten, 
Schwarzian  derivatives,   Mehler's  functions,  to   ddigfat 
and  to  dazzle  the  learner.     It  is  true  he  tells  but  little  of 
these  things ;    still,  it  is  pleasant  to  look  at  them ;  and 
they  make  us  happy  under  our  present  toil  by  leading  us 
to  think  that  we  too  may  one  day  visit  the  country  where 
these  pretty  things  are  at  home  amidst  their  proper  sur- 
roundings. 

Where  there  is  so  much  to  praise  we  are  truly  sony  to 
insinuate  the  bitter  drop  of  blame ;   but,  much  as  we 
love  and  follow  Plato,  something  must  be  conceded  to 
truth.     In  the  first  place,  we  think  that  in  this  second 
edition  the  introduction  of  heterogeneous  illustration  has 
been  overdone.    The  fundamental  rules  of  the  infinitesimil 
calculus  are  really  very  few  in  number,  and  the  practical 
man's  friend  would  do  well  to  impress  that  upon  him  at 
the  outset,  instead  of  scattering  these  principles  througb 
a  large  volume,  and  overlaying  them  with  thick  masses  of 
disconnected  application,  to  such  an  extent  that  poor  Mr. 
Practical- Man  is  in  danger  of  losing  his  tools  among  the 
shavings,  or,  to  use  a  metaphor  which  Prof.  Greenhitfs 
pupils  might  prefer,  of  not  seeing  his  guns  for  smoke. 
Prof.   Greenhill  must  recollect  that  the  man  that  sits 
down  to  read  his  book  is  not  all  possible  practical  men 
rolled  into  one,  but  one  poor  practical   man — say,  afl 
engineer — who  wants  some  knowledge  of  the  infinitesimal 
calculus,  and  who  will  find  many  of  the  illustrations  more 
indigestible  than  the  principles  of  the  calculus  itselt 
Would  it  not  be  better  for  the  practical  man,  as  H'ell  as 
for  any  other  man,  to  have  the  few  leading  principles  of  the 
calculus  set  before  him  with  an  adequate  bat  moderate 
amount  of  illustration  of  a  uniform  geometrical  kind,  and 
not  to  be  dazed  by  a  fiood  of  oracular  statements  abent 
soap-bubble    films,   tide-p.edicter-s,  &c.,  in    the  course 
of  his  initiation  ?     Such  digressions  are  most  useful  aow 
and  then  in  a  lecture  ;  they  serve  to  give  picturesquenei^ 
to  the  discourse,  and  help  to  fix  the  attention  of  the 
hearer :  but  we  think  that  too  many  of  them  destroy  the 
usefulness  of  a  text-book,  the  object  of  which  is  quite 
different  from  the  purpose  of  a  lecture. 

The  matter  we  have  just  been  criticizing  may,  perhaps, 
be  held  to  be  one  of  taste  ;  and  we  cheerfully  admit  that 
much  should  be  allowed  to  a  writer  of  strong  individoafitr. 
After  all,  we  love  to  have  the  author  in  his  book.  Theie 
is  another  .matter,  of  more  importance,  on  which  we 


JUlfE  25,   1891] 


NA TURE 


171 


would  appeal  to  Prof.  GreenhilL  When  a  man,  so  able 
and  unooAvendonal  as  he,  writes  a  book  of  455  pages  on 
the  iofiniteshnal  calculus,  is  it  too  much,  to  expect  that  he 
will  everywhere  give  a  thorough  discussion  of  its  few 
fundamental  principles,  that  he  will  rigorously  prove  what 
lie  professes  to  demonstrate,  and  honestly  point  out  what 
he  assumes  without  demonstration?  We  certainly  ex- 
pect him  to  root  out  of  the  subject  every  trace  of  the 
sham  demonstration — that  wily  artifice  of  the  coaching 
aad  examining  days  of  our  dear  old  alma  m^zXfr— which 
ustd  sometimes  to  be  dignified  by  the  name  of  the 
^' short  proof.''  This  used,  to  be  employed  when  we 
had  oa  hand  the  establishment  of  some  proposition  which 
was  not  universally  true  (although  usually  so  enunciated), 
or  which  had  exceptions  too  tedious  to  enumerate  in  an 
examination.  The  method  was  to  make  a  kind  oifirids 
containing  as  few  words  of  intelligible  English  as  pos- 
sible, but  a  considerable  sprinkling  of  ingeniously  con- 
structed but  unexplained  symbols  and  formulae  ;  so  that 
an  examiner  of  average  conscience,  suspecting  that  the 
truth  was  not  there,  might  nevertheless,  without  mental 
distress,  make  believe  that  it  was  there,  and  award  the 
coveted  marks. 

We  complain  that  Prof.  Greenhill  should  countenance 
the  slipshod  exposition  of  elementary  principles  which  is 
the  bad  feature  of  so  many  of  our  English  mathematical 
text-books.  Having  started  his  furrow,  he  should  have 
ploughed  to  the  end.  He  may  retort  that  he  has  adhered 
to  the  traditional  usage  out  of  consideration  for  the  weak- 
ness of  the  practical  man,  who  abhors  sound  logic  quite 
as  much  as  his  academic  brother.  Cruel  consideration 
for  the  practical  man  !  for  what  he  wants  above  all  is  a 
firm  grasp  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  calculus ; 
he  has  rarely  any  use  for  the  analytical  house  of  cards, 
composed  of  complicated  and  curious  formulae,  which  the 
academic  tyro  builds  with  such  zest  upon  a  slippery 
foundation. 

It  would  take  up  too  much  of  the  columns  of  Nature 
to  give  all  the  examples  that  might  be  adduced  of  the 
laxity  we  complain  of.  A  few  must  suffice.  We  are  told 
in  §  I  that  the  "  calculus  to  be  developed  is  the  method 
of  reasoning  applicable  to  variable  quantities  in  a  state  of 
continuous  change ; "  yet  no  definition  or  discussion  of 
** continuity"  is  given  :  the  word,  so  far  as  we  can  find, 
does  not  occur  again  in  the  first  chapter,  although  it  is 
the  keynote  of  the  subject.  "  Newton's  microscope,'*  for 
example,  is  quoted  in  §  9,  as  a  proof  of  the  theorem 
-^chord/arc)  =■  i  ;  but  the  essential  condition,  "  in  medio 
cunraturae  continuae,"  which  makes  it  a  proof  (if  proof  be 
the  word  that  describes  its  purpose)  is  omitted.  Although 
the  difierential  calculus  is  merely  a  piece  of  machinery 
for  calculating,  and  calculating  with  limiting  values,  a 
limiting  value  is  not  defined  ;  nor  is  there  any  discussion 
of  the  algebra  of  limiting  values  —a  matter  which  has 
puzzled  beginners  in  all  ages,  and  which  has  stopped  many 
on  the  threshold  of  the  calculus.  •  It  is  true  that  we  are 
referred  to  Hall  and  Knight's  "  Algebra,"  but  what  we 
find  there  is  little  to  the  purpose,  and  certainly  could 
never  have  been  meant  by  its  authors  as  a  foundation 
for  the  differential  calculus. 

In  §  16  we  are  given  a  quantity  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion, in  the  middle  of  which  the  trigonometrical  functions 
are  inadequately  defined  ;  but  nothing  adequate  is  said 
NO.  II 30,  VOL.  44] 


regarding  the  sense  in  which  the  many-valued  functions 
smr^Xj  cos~^.r,  &c.,  are  continuous:  and  in  §  25  the 
beginner  is  led  by  implication  to  believe  that  d{svBr^x)jdx 
is  always  -j-  1/  s/{i  —  ^,  and  d{cos''^x)ld.v  always 
-  1/  V(i  -  ■*^) ;  although  this  is  not  so,  and  the  point 
is  one  that  is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  integral 
calculus,  and  is  a  standing  rock  of  offence  for  learners. 
In  §  28  we  have,  reproduced  ''  for  the  sake  of  complete- 
ness," the  time-honoured  "  short  proof"  of  the  existence 
of  the  exponential  limit,  which  proof  is  half  the  real 
proof  p/us  a  suggestio  falsi.  If  the  proper  proof  (a  very 
simple  matter)  was  thought  too  much  for  the  reader,  then 
it  would  have  been  better  simply  to  tell  him  the  fact,  and 
not  to  corrupt  his  intellectual  honesty  by  demanding  his 
assent  to  a  piece  of  reasoning  which  is  not  conclusive. 
§  31  is  no  better ;  what,  for  instance,  does  Prof.  GreenhiU 
mean,  after  proving  that  exp  n  —  e'\  where  /t  is  a  positive 
integer,  by  saying,  '^and  thence  generally  by  induction^ 
exp  X  ^e'  for  all  values  of  4:."  It  would  scarcely  be 
possible  to  write  down  a  statement  to  which  more  excep- 
tions could  be  taken  unless  "  induction  "  is  a  misprint  for 
**  assumption." 

The  chapter  on  the  expansion  of  functions  is  not  satis- 
factory. We  are  first  introduced  to  "  a  general  theorem 
called  Taylors  theorem^  by  means  of  which  any  function 
whatever  can  be  expanded  [in  ascending  powers  of  x\^ 
Prof.  Greenhill  knows  as  well  as  we  that  there  is  no  such 
theorem.  No  theorem  ever  to  be  discovered  will  expand 
in  ascending  powers  of  or,  i/:r,  sjx^  log  jt,  or  any  function 
which  has  4:  =  o  for  a  critical  point.  Why  does  our 
author  hide  his  light  from  the  reader  1  Does  it  make  the 
apprehension  of  Taylor's  theorem  any  easier  to  enunciate 
it  falsely.'^    We  are  told  in  §  114  that  ^^some  functions* 

for  instance  sec'^Jf, cannot  be  expanded  in  an 

infinite  series  in  ascending  powers  of  x,  because  x  must 
be  greater  than  unity,  and  the  expansion  by  Taylor's  or 
Maclaurin's  theorem  would  be  divergent ^  and  the  theorem 
is  then  said  to  fail.'' 

"  This  difficulty  will  be  avoided  if  we  can  make  the 
series  terminate  after  a  finite  number  of  terms." 

We  would  not  advise  the  practical  man  to  try  to  over- 
come the  difficulty  of  expanding  sec"^;r  by  the  method 
thus  indicated  (use  of  Maclaurin's  theorem  with  the 
remainder),  because  the  result  might  be  that  the  bond  of 
amity  struck  in  the  preface  between  him  and  the  author 
would  be  broken.  AH  the  king's  horses  and  all  the  king's 
men  will  not  get  over  this  difficulty.  Incidentally  we  are 
told  in  §  112  that  a  rigorous  proof  is  given  in  treatises  on 
trigonometry  of  the  resolution  into  factors  of  sin  B  and 
cos  6,  If  standard  English  treatises,  such  as  Todhunter, 
Locke,  and  Johnson,  are  meant,  this  is  not  true  :  the 
demonstrations  they  give  are  unsound.  Mr.  Hobson's 
article  on  trigonometry  in  the  "Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica"  is  the  only  separate  English  treatise  on  trigono- 
metry of  which  we  are  aware  where  a  sound  proof  can  be 
found. 

When  so  many  novelties  of  less  importance  are  noticed, 
surely  our  author  might  have  found  a  place  for  a  reference 
to  the  theorem  that  puts  the  expansibility  of  a  function 
in  ascending  powers  of  x  in  its  true  position,  viz,  Cauchy's 
theorem  that  every  function  is  so  expansible  within  a 
certain  region  surrounding  x  —  o,  provided  x  =  o  be 
not  a  critical  value.     Considering  the  great  importance 


172 


NA  TURE 


[June  25,  1891 


of  the  fact,  and  its  close  connection  with  the  applications 
of  mathematics  to  physical  problems,  some  mention 
might  have  been  made  of  the  importance  of  the  critical 
points  of  a  function  in  determining  its  value.  A  full 
discussion  of  such  things  is  doubtless  impossible  in  an 
elementary  treatise ;  but  the  reader  should  at  least  be 
warned  that  what  is  given  regarding  the  expansion  of 
functions  in  power-series  is  a  mere  fragment  of  what  is 
known  on  the  subject.  The  tendency  of  Prof.  Green- 
hill's  chapter  on  the  expansion  of  functions  certainly  will 
be  to  suggest  to  the  mind  of  a  beginner  wrong  general 
notions  on  the  subject. 
In  §  126  we  have  two  proofs  given  that 

both  of  them  insufficient ;  for  the  one  rests  on  the  assump- 
tion that  f{x  +  >4,  y  ■\-  k)  can  always  be  expanded  in 
an  integral  A-^-power-series,  the  other  on  the  assump- 
tion that 

L       L  x(^,  ^)  =  L        L    x(^,  k\ 


h^o  .  i{r  =  o 


^  =  o    h^Q 


both  of  which  propositions  are  liable  to  exception. 

In  the  discussion  of  single  and  double  integrals,  no  hint 
is  allowed  to  reach  the  reader  of  the  necessity  of  con- 
vergency  as  a  condition  of  their  having  any  meaning  at 
all,  of  the  precautions  that  must  be  observed  in  differ- 
entiating them,  or  in  altering  the  order  of  integration, 
and  so  on.  Still,  the  reader  is  given  a  proof  of  Green's 
theorem.  What  use  this  is  likely  to  be  to  one  ignorant 
of  the  fundamental  character  of  the  convergency  and  dis- 
continuities of  multiple  integrals,  upon  which  many  of 
the  most  important  applications  of  the  theorem  in  ques- 
tion depend,  it  is  not  easy  to  see.  Too  much  of  the 
work  before  us  bears,  in  fact,  the  character  of  a  hurriedly 
written  prkcis  or  syllabus  of  lectures ;  witness,  for  ex- 
ample, the  oracular  character  of  §§  146,  151,  152,  &c. 
Our  author  makes  enormous  demands  on  the  intelligence 
of  a  beginner  if  he  expects  him  to  follow  and  understand 
exposition  so  elliptical. 

One  more  example  of  the  thing  we  complain  of.  In 
§  183  we  are  introduced  to  Fourier's  series.  No  proof  is 
given  (none  was  to  be  expected  in  an  elementary  treatise) 
of  the  conditions  under  which  the  expansion  is  possible, 
but  it  ought  to  have  been  stated  that  there  are  such  con- 
ditions. Moreover,  the  method  given  for  the  determina- 
tion of  the  coefficients  is  a  mere  memoria  iechnica  for 
recollecting  them.  It  has  no  demonstrative  force,  be- 
cause, as  the  author  must  be  very  well  aware,  it  is  not 
unconditionally  allowable  to  replace  the  integral  of  an 
infinite  series  (even  if  it  be  convergent)  by  the  sum  of  the 
integrals  of  its  separate  terms.  In  order  that  this  may 
be  admissible,  the  series  must  be  uniformly  convergent. 

Seeing  that  the  world  is  very  evil,  and  not  to  be  mended 
in  a  day,  we  must  put  up  with  such  things  in  the  ordinary 
writer  of  English  text-books,  who  caters  for  the  victims 
of  our  manifold  examinations  ;  but  in  a  pillar  of  mathe- 
matical society  like  Prof  Greenhill  they  are  "most  tolerable 
and  not  to  be  endured."  A  work  with  his  name  on  its  back,  i 
and  the  impress  of  his  vigorous  personality  on  its  pages, 
will  not  remain  long  in  a  second  edition.  If  he  would 
be  at  once  the  friend  of  the  practical  man,  and  a  well- 
deserver  of  the  mathematical  republic,  let  him,  when  tlie 
third  edition  is  called  for,  reduce  his  elementary  work  to 

NO.   T  T  30,  VOL.  44] 


the  compass  of  the  first  edition  or  less,  and  replace  all 
half  demonstrations  by  honest  statements  of  fact ;  and 
let  him,  meantime,  write  a  larger  work,  to  which  he  can 
refer  the  elementary  reader  who  takes  for  his  motto. 
"  Thoroughr  G.  C  ' 

THE  GEOLOGY  OF  THE  COUNTRY  ROUND 

LI  VERPOOL. 

Geology  of  the  Country  around  Liverpool,  By  G.  H. 
Morton,  F.G.S.  Second  Edition.  (London :  Philip 
and  Son,  189 1.) 

IN  this  work  Mr.  Morton  has  entirely  re- written  the 
'^  Geology  of  the  Liverpool  District,"  first  published  in 
1863,  by  the  light  of  the  various  discoveries  made  since 
that  time,  and  especially  of  the  Geological  Survey  maps 
and  memoirs.    He  has  succeeded  in  making  a  compact 
and  well-printed  hand-book,  which  will  be  of  great  service 
to  the  students  of  the  local  geology.    The  area,  described 
extends  to  about  20  miles  from  Liverpool  on  every  side, 
excepting  the  sea  on  the  west.    The    strata  which  he 
describes  range  from  the  Upper  Silurians  of  the  Vale  of 
Clwyd  through  the  Carboniferous,  Permian,  and  Triassic 
rocks,  down  to  the  recent  alluvia.    To  a  geologist  the 
chapter  relating  to  the  Carboniferous  rocks  of    North 
Flintshire  and  the  Vale  of  Clwyd  will  be  of  great  interest, 
as  it  shows  the  thinning  off  of  the  strata  as  they  approach 
the  ancient  Carboniferous  land  of  North  Wales.    The 
Carboniferous  Limestone,  over  3000  feet  thick  in  North 
Lancashire,  is  reduced  to  1700  feet  in  North  Flint  and 
the  Vale  of  Clwyd  ;  while  the  Yoredales  and  Millstone 
Grits,  over  9000  feet  thick  between  Clitheroe  and  Burnley, 
are  represented  by  the  Cefn-y-Fedw  Sandstone,  370  feet 
The  Lower  and  Middle  Coal-measures,  too,  of  Soutii- 
West  Lancashire,  3180  feet  thick,  have  dwindled  down  to 
no  more  than  1000  feet  as  they  approached  the  Welsh 
Silurian  Hills.     It  is  therefore  obvious  that  the  Snow- 
donian  area  was  dry  land  while  the  Carboniferous  sea 
occupied    the    areas    of   Lancashire,    Derbyshire,   and 
Cheshire,  and  that  it  also  overlooked  the  forest-covered 
morasses,  now  represented  by  the  coal-seams  of  the  same 
region  in  the  Upper  Carboniferous  age.     In  the  table  of 
the  rocks  (p.  6)  Mr.  Morton  gives  300  feet  as  the  thick- 
ness of  the  Millstone  Grit  in  South- West  Lancashire.    It 
is    probably  much  more  than  this,  and  not  much  less 
than  2000  feet.     Mr.  Morton  also,  we  may  remark,  under- 
states the  thickness  of  the  Keuper  Marls,  which  he  pats 
down  at  400  feet  (p.  75).     In  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
plain  it  is  700  -f  feet,  and  is  estimated  by  Prof.  Hull  at 
3000  feet. 

Mr.  Morton,  in  dealing  with  the  deep  boring  at  Boode, 
made  in  1878,  under  the  advice  of  the  writer  of  this 
review,  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  it  was  aimed  at  the 
water  in  the  Permian  Sandstone.  It  was  intended  to 
strike  the  water  in  the  Lower  Bunter  Sandstones,  and  Xo 
draw  upon  the  enormous  area  of  water-bearing  strata  in 
the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  plain,  which  have  their 
outlet  seawards  between  Prescot  and  the  estuary  of  the 
Dee.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  Permians  are  not  repre- 
sented under  Liverpool.  We  expected  to  strike  the  Coal- 
measures  at  1000  feet.  The  boring  was  successful,  both 
from  the  geological  and  the  engineering  point  of  view.  It 
proved  that  the  Lower  Bunter  Sandstones  below  the  top 


June  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


"^12^ 


of  the  Upper  Pebble-beds  are  more  than  1300  feet  thick, 
and  that  they  are  highly  charged  with  water.  This  thick- 
ness is  altogether  without  precedent,  and  Liverpool  is  to 
be  congratulated  upon  being  built  upon  so  great  a  thick- 
ness of  water-bearing  Triassic  rocks.  Mr.  Morton,  should 
the  work  reach  another  edition,  would  do  well  to  deal  at 
greater  length  with  the  water-supply  available  from  the 
Triassic  strata.  Mr.  Boult  has  tabulated  the  well-sections, 
and  all  students  of  the  geology  of  Liverpool  would  do 
well  to  examine  his  valuable  tables. 

We  would  call  special  attention  to  Mr.  Morton's  section 
— unfortunately,  the  work  is  not  divided  into  chapters — 
on  the  origin  of  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey.    While  the 
river  has  been  draining  its  present  watershed    from  a 
period  far  more  remote  than  the  Pleistocene  age,  he  holds 
that  the  estuarine  portion  is  comparatively  modern,  dating 
probably  not  further  back  than  post- Roman  times.    It 
would  not,  he  argues,  following  Sir  James  Picton,  have 
been  neglected  by  the  Romans,  if  it  had  then  *'  presented 
the  copious  body  of  water  which  it  does  at  the  present 
day."   There  is  no  evidence  that  they  did  neglect  it.    The 
Manchester  Ship  Canal  works  have  revealed  the  exist- 
ence of  Roman  remains,  probably  the  Veratinum  of  the 
anonymous  geographe  r  of  Ravenna,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mersey  close  to  Warrington,  and  Mancunium  (Manchester) 
is  on  one  of  its  tributaries.    They  used  it,  as  they  used  all 
the  rivers  of  Britain,  for  their  own  ends.     Deva  (Chester), 
the  great  port,  and  military  centre  of  the  north-west,  was 
not  far  off,  and  amply  sufficient  for  the  western  trade  at  a 
time  when  there  were  no  ports  in  Ireland.     The  com- 
mercial importance  of  the  Mersey  is  solely  due  to  the 
trade  with  the  New  World.     There  was  no  reason  why 
the  Romans  should  have  paid  special  attention  to  the 
estuary  of  the  Mersey ;  and  it  was  outside  the  system  of 
their  roads.     Nor  can  the  date,  1279,  of  the  great  inroad 
of  the  sea  over  the    Stanlow  Marshes,  by  which  the 
Abbey  of  Stanlow,  built  upon  a  rock  only  28*5  feet  above 
O.D.,  lost  much  of  its  land,  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the 
modem  formation  of  the  estuary.    The  river  swings  to 
and  fro  at  the  present  time,  depositing  silt  here,  and 
carrying  away  its  banks  there.     In  our  opinion,  there- 
fore, the  post- Roman  origin  of  the  Mersey  is  not  proved. 
It  is  still  less  likely  that  it  is  the  result  of  a  local  sub- 
meigence,  which  has  not  affected  Warrington  and  the 
adjacent  area  of  Chester.    As  the  evidence  stands,  the 
date  of  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  belongs  to  the  same 
remote  prehistoric  period  as  the  estuary  of  the  Thames 
and  of  the  Humber — certainly  after  the  time  of  the  boulder 
clays,  and  probably  long  beifore  there  were  any  written 
records  in  Britain.    All  three  are  later  than  the  time  of 
the  submarine  forest    which,  on  the  west  of  Britain, 
afforded  shelter,  not  merely  to  our  Neolithic  ancestors, 
but  to  their  domestic  animals,  such  as  the  small  short- 
horn {jBos  longifrons\  the  goat,  and  the  dog. 

W.  Boyd  Dawkins. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Les  Microbes^  les  Ferments,  et  ses  Moisissures,  Par  le 
Dr.  £.  L.  Trouessart.  Deuxi^me  Edition.  Biblioth^que 
Scientifique  Internationale.    (Paris,  1891.) 

This  is  not  only  an  enlargement  but  a  distinct  improve- 
ment on  the  first  edition.    Chapters  i.  and  ii.,  as  in  the 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


first  edition,  give  an  excellent  though  short  account  of 
the  morphology  and  physiology  of  fungi  and  of  yeast. 
Although  chapter  iii.  (on  bacteria)  is  enlarged,  we  do  not 
think  it  is  sufficiently  up  to  date  ;  thus,  for  instance,  on 
pp.  74  and  75,  the  author  questions  the  existence  of  true 
flagella  in  bacteria,  and  states  that  their  motility  is 
essentially  different  from  that  of  flagellate  infusoria. 
Again,  in  the  section  in  which  putrid  decomposition  is 
described  no  mention  is  made  of  the  entire  tribe  of 
Proteus,  the  essential  microbe  of  putrefaction. 

Chapters  iv.  and  v.  (pathogenic  bacteria)  are  consider- 
ably enlarged,  both  as  to  text  and  illustrations.  The  rest 
of  the  book,  chapters  vi.-ix.,  does  not  differ  in  any  essential 
respect  from  its  predecessor. 

On  the  whole,  the  book  is  very  commendable  as  a  con- 
cise text-book,  well  written  and  copiously  illustrated,  and 
as  such  deserves  a  high  place  in  the  literature  of  the 
subject. 

Botanical  Wall  Diagrams.  Size  31 J  inches  by  24  inches, 
printed  in  colours.  (London :  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  1891.) 

A  FIRST  instalment  of  six  of  these  diagrams  is  now  pub- 
lished. The  plants  illustrated  so  far  are :  common  elder, 
deadly  nightshade,  scarlet  runner,  hop,  Virginia  tobacco, 
and  wild  camomile.  We  do  not  know  on  what  prin- 
ciple the  selection  has  been  made.  It  is  rather  a  pity 
that,  out  of  so  small  a  number,  two  (deadly  nightshade 
and  tobacco)  belong  to  the  same  natural  order,  and 
show  no  very  essential  structural  differences.  In  time 
we  hope  that  all  the  important  orders  will  be  re- 
presented. The  drawings  (executed  by  Engleder,  of 
Munich)  are  quite  artistic,  and  the  colouring  excellent. 
The  diagrams  are  thus  very  pleasing  as  pictures,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  botanical  details  are  correct. 

If  the  series  is  continued  as  well  as  it  has  been  begun, 
it  ought  to  be  a  very  useful  help  in  the  elementary 
systematic  teaching  of  botany.  .D.  H.  S. 

Chamber^ s  Encyclopcedia,  New  Edition.  Vol.  VII. 
(London  and  Edinburgh :  W.  and  R.  Chambers, 
Limited,  1 891.) 

No  one  who  has  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  new  edition 
of  Chambers's  "  Encyclopaedia"  can  have  failed  to  appre- 
ciate the  care  and  ability  with  which  it  is  being  prepared. 
The  editor  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  many  eminent  writers,  and  the  information 
given  in  the  various  articles,  speaking  generally,  is  well 
up  to  date  and  presented  in  the  way  most  likely  to  be 
convenient  for  students.  We  are  here  concerned  only 
with  the  papers  on  scientific  subjects,  and  these,  in  the 
present  as  in  the  preceding  volumes,  are  in  every  way 
worthy  of  the  place  which  has  been  assigned  to  them  in 
the  scheme  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait 
contributes  a  short  but  masterly  paper  on  matter,  and 
Dr.  Buchan  gives  a  clear  and  interesting  account  of 
meteorology.  The  essential  facts  about  the  Mediterra- 
nean are  compressed  into  very  small  space  by  Dr.  John 
Murray,  who  also  writes  on  the  Pacific.  Prof.  James 
Geikie  deals  with  mountains  and  palaeontology,  and  Dr. 
Alfred  Daniell  has  a  good  popular  article  on  optics,  de- 
voted mainly  to  the  history  of  optical  science.  In  an 
article  on  man,  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Thomson  states  very  well 
some  of  the  problems  relating  to  human  characteristics, 
the  origin  or  descent  of  man,  and  the  antiquity  of  the 
race  ;  and  the  same  writer  sketches  the  career  of  Pasteur, 
and  treats  of  mammals  and  parasites.  Mimicry  forms 
the  subject  of  an  excellent  paper  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Poulton. 
Of  course,  no  subject  is  treated  exhaustively,  but  the 
information  given,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  sound,  and  ample 
enough  for  the  purposes  for  which  an  encyclopaedia  is 
usually  consulted. 


174 


NATURE 


[June  25,  18. 


(Londor 


Glimpses  of  Nature.      By  Andrew  Wilson. 

Chalto  and  Windus,  1S91,) 
Mr.  Wilsox  does  not  profesE  to  present  in  this  book 
anything  strictly  new,  or  to  give  a  full  account  of  the  ' 
various  subjects  with  which  he  deals.    Nevertheless,  the 
volume  may  be  of  considerable  value,  far  on  all  the 

S roups  of  facts  in  which  be  is  interested  he  is  able  10 
iscourse  brightly  nnd  ple;isantly,  and  many  of  his  short 
papers  are  well  calculated  to  excite  in  the  mifids  of  in- 
teliigent  readers  a  desire  for  more  ample  knowledge. 
The  papers  are  reprinted  from  the  Illustrated  London 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

iTMt  Ediiar  doii  not  hold  himitlf  resfvHSibli  for  nfitiions  rr- 
fraad  by  An  lovrtspondtati.  If.ilhir  can  hi  undtrlekt 
te  return,  or  lo  lernipomi  viitA  lit  vrriteri  of.  rtjntcd 
manutcripli  inlendid  for  ikii  or  any  other  pail  of  }ii.\Vt.v.. 
No  notice  is  taien  of  .tiwnymous  commuiiicalions.} 

The  Fusing  and  Boiling  Points  of  Compounds, 

I  HBREVi-|Tn  ^cntl  you  llie  ItsnsUtion  i>(  a  note  juii  presenled 

forme  by  M.  Iivrili^lot  lo  ihc  Paris  Academy,  as  you   may  see 

in  the  CdfH//, .    .ii.iif,      I   have  added    Iwo  illnslra  lions  and  a 

few  words  in  iicilic-.  GusTAvvs  HiNKiCKS. 

Si.  Loais,  M.,y  s. 


Statement  of  . 

SoiHHf  /■ 

Himple  1 1, 


'/  L'lw  delemiinins  Ibi   Fusing  a 

y  Camfii'iind  under  any  Prennre, 
•he  Cheiiiiial  Conslilutiou  of  the  ioi. 


FmpouDd  coiuui&adn 


.«) 


J-,   JB   ^-illoC"    -    logOl) ill 

j-„  =  /-iCIog  Bj  -  li>E  ii)* (jl 

The  sjmboli  a^  and  a,  reprcccnl  certain  delinile  values  of  tk 
■tomic    weifihi  a   0/    ihe     cciin]>oun<f,   while    i^i   and  i,  nr 

For  every  value  of  ifae  atomic  weight  a  greater  than  ijiti 
formula  (1)  is  limited  10  /  =  y^,  «hich,  according  lo  (3),  k^ 
senls  the  straight  line  which  1  call  the  logaiiihmic  liiiiit,ib 
ordinate  twicg  the  boiling-point  t,  [he  ahscisu  x,  the  lc«tni>> 
of  the  atomic  weight  j  =  log  a.  For  viloes  of  a  leis  thn  Uk 
aliuve  limil  o,,  the  jjaraholic  otdinale  jj.  detcunined  ^'■■'■ 
must  be  added  li  j'l,  accoiding  lo  [1),  in  order  10  oblliB  lu  \ 
hoiling-poim. 

Accordingly,  the  boiling- point  curve  of  any  hoDialaB|>IBi>^ 
of  [jrismatic  aloin-rDim  consists  of  a  parabolic  sr«{a|lifer: 
lo  the  iDgaiithmic  limit  (I),  at  the  point  delerminedq>«  ■  i.  | 
Th>'  conolam  k^  determines  Ihe  indinaliao  of  the  IcffBilkK 
limit,   and  ^,  may  be  called  the  parameter  of   the  |linicii: 

All  compounds  derivahle by  lermtnal  subiiitntioa  AobImibI 
piuiHins  have  a  common  iDguiihrnic  limit,  detohid  Ij 
k^  —  l^l'll  and  a,  =  7278,  ihe  prEisure  beic*  fton 
Every  iDdmdual  homologous  icries  of  this  great  fainl]f'(f  era 
pounds  is  completely  drlermined  by  Ihe  tpecial  'Valttft  tf  tbi 
two  constants  d,  and  k^  For  eismple,  the  lhirl;4wr'u) 
paraffins  CiJl-,,.:  are  Jetermtotd  by  a,  =  201,  mad  jbt  pti 
meter  *.  =  :oo°.  For  the  monammes,  ibt  corratwic;  j 
values  are  o,  =  27S,  and  k^  =  125',  1  have  deteimfaM  ft»  I 
conMsnis  for  all  the  imporlant  seriea.  FunhenBiK  Ihta 
values  are  ihemselves  funclioos  of  the  atom  or  rrflwlTrfi'' 
characterizes  the  head  of  the  corretpondini;  homi  ' 
rhol  u,  J/firf/if/nraJitrs,  H^ for  mono^uHn. 

If  r^w  ihf  co-oidinalc  :  =  log,*,  where;'  is 


iubslitntion  products.     The  boiling  and  fusing  points  of  these 
obtained  from  those  of  the  former  according  to  laws 
publi-hed  by  roe  ahoul  twenty  years  ago,  partly  in 


■'Principles  of  Molecular  Mechanics,'^  li^^,  and 
of  the  Comfles  rendus  for  1873  and  187S  ;  partly  in  papers  of 
the  Proceeding!  of  the  .-Imeri^an  Association  for  the  Advun^-einenl 
of  Science  /or  1868.  It  remains,  therefore,  only  to  show  how 
these  fundamental  points  aie  determined  for  prismatic  com- 
pounds. 

NO.   I  1 30,  VOL.  44] 


the  saturated  vapours,  be  laiJ  off  on  the  third  rectai^ular  »■ 
ihe  above  given  ™ines  I  elong  to  ihe  plane  XV  determined  tf 
/-  =  760  mm.  For  the  pres,-ure  /  =  IS  mm.  the  k^stUh- 
roic  limit  is  determined  by  k^  =  517""0,  and  ■]  =  US"'- 
It  will  be  noticed  that  iis  inclination  towards  ihe  X  axis  is  les, 
and  ihat  ii  inteisects  the  same  ni  a  greater  distance  fnn  the 
orii;in.  The  logaiiihmic  limit  surface,  generated  by  the  loCj 
ariihmic  limits  for  all  pressures,  is  a  hyperbolic  paraboloid,  roliT 
determined  by  the  above  iwo  lines  for  15  and  760  mm.  prtnaa- 


June  25.  1891] 


NATURE 


175 


For  >D7  liquid,  ;he  absolute  t«inp«r>itre  T  of  ihe  boiliiig 
under  a  prcMurc  of  /  atmosphcTes  ii  deleruiiiled  by  ihe  lame 
gtoenl  law  ilighlly  specialized  as  TjIIows  :— 


Y,  =  K,Ir4+lgg/] 


^  KJlog  ■ 


-  loG/]- 


■  (6) 


The  logarithmic  limils  of  all  liquids  inlersect  in  the  same 
ibeolale  lero  point  detenDined  by  T  =  o  =  -  273°  C.  and 
log/  =  -  f4.  For  each  iadividnal  liquid  this  limil  extends 
upwards  to  the  crilical  point  of  the  liquid,  p  =  n  and  1  =  9. 
rot  many  liquids  the  critical  point  can  be  theorelicallj  calca- 
hled,  M  well  aa  the  value  of  the  parameter.     It  ii  undenrood 


Porpoisea  in  African  Rivera. 

In  reference  to  Mr.  Sclater's  letter  in  Nature  of  June  11 
(p.  IZ4),  the  following  may  be  ioleresting  to  your  readers  ; — 

The  ikuU  of  a  Detphiooid  Cetacean  from  Cameroon  has 
lately  come  into  my  hands,  through  the  kindness  of  Prof. 
Pechnel-Loeschc.  The  sender,  Mr.  Fdward  Teuai,  gave  the 
foHotirine  information  concemine  it.  The  animal  to  which  it 
belonged  was  caught  in  Kriegschiff  Bay,  afiet  very  heavy  rains, 
and  vias  being  devoured  by  sharks.  The  contents  of  the  stomach 
consisted  of  grali,  weeds,  and  mangrove  fruits,  Nooe  of  the 
natives  had  ever  se«n  the  animal  tiefore.  In  preparing  the 
skull,  Mr.  Edward  Teusi  noticed  that  the  noslriU  projected 
above  the  surface  of  the  forehead. 

\m  preparing  for  publication  a  detailed  description  of  the 
md  must  here  confine  myself  to  remaikiOB  that,  though 
iiic  Huimal  belongs  to  the  genus  Sotalia,  it  diEfcrs  in  several 
essential  points  from  all  the  species  of  that  genus  hitherto  <le- 
sctibed.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  a  new  species.  There  are 
twenty-seven  teeth  on  each  side  in  each  jaw.  Their  form,  in 
that  they  are  not  pointed,  but  worn  down,  indicates,  as  also  do 
the  contests  of  the  stomach,  that  the  animal  is  herbivorous.  It 
therefore  seems  ceriain  that  it  is  a  fresh-water  animal.  It  is 
well  known  that  other  SoiaJia  live  in  rivers. 

Jena,  June  ».  Wjllv 


skull,  u 


that  the  parabolic  curve  is  langetit  to  the  logarithmic  limit  at 
the  critic^  point. 

It  hardly  Deeds  to  he  said  that  Ihe  tention  of  dissociation,  and 
even  the  solability  of  solids,  are  subject  to  the  same  general  law. 

Tie  fiuing  pointi  are  obtained  by  simply  changing  the  sign 
in(i)to 

t^^y-yt (7) 

so  that  the  parabolic  curve  will  be  placed  below  the  tt^arhhniic 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  results  of  tbil  research  is  the 
Buchaitical  delenntsatioo  of  the  true  pcsiiion  of  the  carbon 
atoms  in  organic  serials,  and  the  complete  etplanalion  of  the 
diftrencc  in  fusing  point  between  compounda  coiilaitung  an 
even  aod  odd  number  of  carbon  atoms. 

//  should  also  be  undtnlaod  that  the  than^t  in  fus'ng  peint 
freJiued  by  change  in  pressurt  is  txpr/ssol  by  !he  iame  gtHtral 


s,  nnd  log  0  =  {,  log  ir  =  C-  'he 


J)'  .  (8) 


,    Y,  =  K,(j 

These  forrnulic  strikingly  show  the  simplicity  of  the  lavs 
stated,  and  also  determine  the  surfaces  formed  by  the  co- 
ordinate* j:,  t,  and  y  in  general. 

NO.    I  1 50,  VOL.  44] 


PHYSICAL  SCIENCE  FOR  ARTISTS} 

r. 

T  THINK  it  right  that  1  should  begin  by  explaining  how 
■'■  it  is  that  I  am  here  to-day,  to  lecture  to  you  on  a 
subject  which  tout:hes  art  as  well  as  science.  It  happens 
in  this  wise.  Some  years  ago,  while  studying  a  certain 
branch  of  optics,  it  became  important  for  me  to  try  to 
leain  something  of  the  eiact  sequence  of  colours  at 
sunrise  end  sunset ;  and  being,  like  you,  busy  all  day  in 
a  large  city,  I  thought  it  would  not  Lie  a  bad  idea,  and 
that  it  would  save  a  little  time,  if  1  studied  pictures  repre- 
sentirg  these  phenomena  en  altciitfaiii  the  happy  holiday 
lime  that  I  should  spend  in  the  country.  So  I  went  to 
the  Academy  and  other  picture  galleries,  and  endeavoured 
to  get  up  the  information  from  pictures  which  I  could 
not  at  that  time  get  from  Nature  herself.  I  then  had, 
as  I  have  still,  suti  an  extreme  respect  for  art  and  artists 
j  that  1  was  perrectly  prepared  to  take  the  pictures  as  re- 

E resenting  truthfully  what  I  wanted  to  see.  The  result, 
owever,  brought  me  face  to  face  with  a  difficulty  that  I 
was  not  long  in  findmg  ouL  I  was  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  artists  could  be  divided  into  two  distinct  classes — 
those  who  studied  Nature  and  Nature's  laws,  and  gave  us 
most  exquisite  renderings  of  this  or  that,  and  those 
who  apparently  considered  themselves  far  sujieiioT  to  any 
such  confining  conditions  as  would  be  imposed  by  any 
law  ;  and  that,  unfortunately,  made  me  a  little  doubtful  as 
to  the  results. 

My  friend,  and  your  friend,  Dr.  Russell,  happens  to 
know  this  little  bit  of  jay  experience,  and  hence  it  doubt- 
less is  that  he  requested  me  to  come  down  to-day  to  say 

.  a  few  words  to  you,  his  plea  being  that  this  College 
is  one  of  the  very  few  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the  world 

I  where  there  is  a  studio  and  a  physical  laboratory  side 
by  side. 

That,  then,  is  the  reason  I  am  here,  and  what  I  want 

I  to  impress  upon  you  to-day  is  tliat  the  highest  art  can 

I  only  be  produced  by  those  who  associate  the  study  of 
physical  science  with  the  study  of  art,  and  that  therefore 
the  possible  producers  of  the  highest  art  can  only  be 

j  looked  for  in  such  an  institution  as  this  if  training  of 
any  kind  has  anything  to  do  with  it. 


n  Ji.n=  1= 


«  Bedford  Collig.,  by  J,  ^ 


'.R.S 


176 


NA  TURE 


[June  25^  1891 


I  think  that  the  general  conditions  of  art  training  as 
they  exist  at  present  absolutely  bar  any  sufficient  know- 
ledge of  the  laws  and  conditions  of  natural  phenomena 
on  the  part  of  art  students. 

The  best  art  of  the  time  has  always  been  on  a  level  with 
the  best  science  of  the  time,  and  if  it  had  not  happened 
that  the  first  schools  and  the  first  Universities  clustered 
round  medical  schools  and  schools  of  anatomy,  I  do  not 
think  that  so  much  attention  would  be  given  to-day  to 
anatomical  science  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  branches. 

You  see,  then,  it  comes  to  this.  It  is  conceded  by  the 
art  world  that  in  a  certain  direction  the  phenomena  of 
Nature  require  to  be  studied,  otherwise  that  tremendously 
exuberant  literature  on  Anatomy  for  Artists  would  not 
have  been  written,  and  more  than  half  of  the  time  of 
students  of  art  would  be  spent  in  studying  something  else 
rather  than  those  things  which  they  do  study. 

It  is  on  that  ground  that  I  would  venture  to  say  that  in 
other  institutions,  as  in  this  one,  the  study  of  physical 
science  should  be  added  to  the  other  branches  already 
recognized  by  the  art  world. 

I  am  not  an  artist.  I  am  not  an  art  critic.  I  am  almost 
unacquainted  with  the  language  usually  employed  by 
those  who  write  on  art  subjects.  I  shall  not  deal  with 
opinions,  the  algebraical  sum  of  which  in  relation  to  the 
qualities  of  any  one  picture  I  have  often  noticed  is  zero  ; 
but  what  I  shall  try  to  do  is  to  stick  as  closely  as  I  can 
to  the  region  of  fact,  and  endeavour  to  show  you,  by  two 
or  three  individual  instances,  how  a  student  who  wishes 
to  become  a  great  artist — as  some  of  you  no  doubt  do — 
will  find  his  or  her  ambition  more  likely  to  be  realized 
if  the  study  of  physical  science  be  combined  with  that  of 
"  Art  as  she  is  taught "  to-day. 

In  looking  at  the  Academy  Catalogue  this  year  one 
finds  the  motto,  "  La  mission  de  I'art  n'est  pas  de  copier 
la  nature,  mais  de  Texprimer,"  and  this  is  a  true  motto. 
13ut  let  us  analyze  it  a  little.  To  "  express  "  suggests  a 
language  ;  a  language  suggests  a  grammar,  if  it  is  to  be 
perfect,  satisfying.  But  what  can  this  grammar  be,  in  the 
case  we  are  considering,  but  the  laws  underlying  the  phe- 
nomena the  "expression"  of  which,  in  his  own  language, 
constitutes  the  hfe-work  of  the  artist.  Should  he  be  con- 
tent to  show  himself  a  bumpkin  ?  Are  solecisms  to  be 
pardoned  in  his  expressions  because,  so  far,  scientific 
training  and  thought  are  so  limited.^  Is  he  justified  in 
relying  upon  the  ignorance  of  mankind,  and,  if  so,  is  the 
highest  art  always  to  remain  divorced  from  the  highest 
knowledge  ? 

Now  it  so  happens  that  the  branch  of  physical  science 
which  isabo\e  all  things  the  thing  to  be  studied  by  artists, 
is  the  branch  of  it  which  is  already  familiar  to  you— namely, 
optics.  There  could  be  no  art  without  light ;  no  artists 
without  light ;  and  the  whole  work  of  an  artist,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  his  life,  is  to  deal  with  light.  Now 
we  live  in  a  world  of  white  light.  We  might  live  in  a 
blue  world,  or  a  green  world,  and  then  the  condition  of 
things  would  be  different ;  but  we  can,  in  our  laboratory, 
make  our  world  red  or  green  for  the  moment ;  but  some- 
tiroes,  indeed,  when  we  do  not  seek  to  make  this  experi- 
ment, we  find  the  world  changed  for  us  by  the  means 
which  we  employ  for  producing  artificial  lights,  such  as 
candles,  gas,  or  the  electric  light ;  since  in  these,  colours 
are  not  blended  in  the  same  way  as  in  a  sunbeam. 

We  thus  come  to  the  question  of  the  radiation  of  light, 
and  the  way  in  which  this  light,  whatever  its  quality,  is  re- 
flected by  natural  objects  ;  it  is  by  this  reflection  that  we 
see  them.  Everything  that  an  artist  paints  which  is  white, 
is  painted  white  by  him  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  re- 
flects sunlight  complete.  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  any 
reflecting  surface  can  only  reflect  the  light  which  it  re- 
ceives, although  all  surfaces  do  not  reflect  all  of  it — we 
have  red  walls  and  green  trees  ;  the  direction  of  the  light 
is  not  changed,  except  in  the  way  of  reflection,  and  you 
are  already  acquainted  wiih  the  imperative  law  of  optics 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


— that  when  light  falls  upon  a  body  and  is  reflected,  the 
angle  of  reflection  is  equal  to  the  angle  of  incidence. 

To  us  this  drastic  law  is  of  the  very  highest  interest 
We  can  apply  it  to  art  in  a  great  many  Avays,  but  I  will 
only  take  two  very  simple  ones.  Oftentimes  it  is  our 
fortune  to  be  in  the  country  by  the  side  of  a  river,  or  at 
the  seaside.  In  both  cases  we  see  things  reflected  in 
water,  and  at  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  here  the 
artist  ought  to  find  perfectly  free  scope ;  but  the  worst 
of  it  is  that,  though  he  has  free  scope,  sometimes  his 
picture  becomes  very  unpleasant  to  people  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  law  I  have  stated.  I  find  here  some 
aiagrams,  prepared  by  the  kindness  of  some  of  our 
friends,  which  will  show  you  the  intimate  connectioB 
between  art  and  science  in  this  direction.  In  the  pictures 
which  you  will  see  in  the  Royal  Academy  and  the  New 
Gallery,  I  fancy  you  will  see  some  which,  if  you  care  to 
study  them  from  this  point  of  view,  will  be  found  not  to 
agree  with  the  law. 

In  the  diagrams  we  have  a  surface  of  water  and  ob- 
servers at  the  top  and  bottom  of  a  cliff.   We  have  on  the 
other  side  of  this  surface  of  water  a  tree.     Now,  what 
anyone  would  do  who  disdains  to  "  copy "  Nature,  and 
who  paints  without  thinking,  is  this :  he  would  paint  what 
he  saw  on  the  bank,  and  then  turn  it  upside  down  and 
paint  it  again.     But  you  see  that  will  not  do,  because  the 
conditions  are  as  you  see  them  here.    The  higher  spec- 
tator. No.  I,  the  angles  of  incidence  and  reflection  being 
equal,  although  he  can  see  the  upper  part  of  the  tree  and 
part  of  the  trunk,  will  not  be  able  to  see  it  all  completely  re- 
flected in  the  water.    You  see  that  the  lower  part  of  the  tree 
cannot  be  seen  in  the  reflection,  because  any  light  reflected 
by  it  first  to  the  water  and  then  to  the  eye  is  really  cut  off 
from  the  eye  of  the  spectator  by  the  bank ;  if  you  greatly 
vary  your  distance  from  the  other  side  of  the  water,  you  will 
find  the  reflection  as  represented  in  the  other  diagram. 
Now,  to  anyone  who  has  studied  optics,  if  such  a  matter 
as  this  is  represented  wrongly  in  a  picture,  it  becomes  an 
intolerable  nuisance,  and  when  you  go  away  you  feel 
sorry  that  the  artist  did  not  do  justice  to  what  he  wished 
to  represent.     A  good  example  of  truth  to   Nature  in 
this  respect  is  to  be  seen  at  the  German  Exhibition— No. 
205 — in  one  of  the  landscapes,  which  I  saw  last  night ;  it 
is  a  beautiful  instance  of  careful  study,  and    is    abso- 
lutely true  in  this  respect.     The  artist  has  shown  how  a 
mountain  side,  with  high  lights  upon  it,  reflected  on  the 
surface  of  a  lake,  appears  very  different  in  the  reflection, 
in  consequence  of  an  intervening  elevation  near  the  edge 
of  the  water.    When  you  have  thought  out  the  difference 
of  the  appearances  on  the  lake  and  on  the  hillside,  you 
will  appreciate  the  truth  and  skill  of  the  artist  enormously. 

Another  serious  fault  arising  from  the  neglect  of  this 
same  law  is  to  be  found  in  very  many  pictures  in  which 
we  get  the  reflection  of  the  sun  or  moon  in  water. 

Obviously,  if  the  water  is  disturbed,  the  reflection  upon 
the  water  must  depend  upon  the  direction  of  the  disturb- 
ance. I  need  not  say  more  than  that  to  you.  You 
will  quite  understand  what  I  mean  ;  but  if  you  look  at 
the  pictures  in  the  Royal  Academy  this  year — Nos.  677, 
107 1,  and  1 1 55 — you  can  see  how  very  admirably  this 
reflection  can  be  rendered  ;  and  if  you  look  at  165  and 
think  the  conditions  out,  you  will  wonder  how  the  artist 
should  trouble  to  paint  something  that  is  absolutely 
opposed  to  the  physical  law. 

You  know  that,  in  those  instances  where  you  get  a 
natural  reflection,  if  the  light  source  be  beyond  the  object 
which  reflects  the  light,  the  nearer  it  is  in  a  line  with  it 
the  more  light  will  be  reflected.  You  see  that  that  rule 
relates  to  almost  every  landscape  or  seascape  that  is 
painted,  for  the  reason  that  our  air  is  filled  with  particles 
which  reflect  light  If  it  were  not  so,  our  atmosphere 
would  be  absolutely  black. 

It  therefore  follows  that  the  light  of  the  sky  must  in- 
crease in  intensity  as  the  sun  or  moon  is  approached — 


June  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


177 


that  is  to  say,  in  a  sun-setting  or  moon-setttng,  if  you 
paint  an  unbroken  sky,  there  must  be  an  increase  of 
intensity  towards  the  light  source.  I  am  almost  ashamed 
to  make  such  a  statement,  because  it  is  so  obvious  to  you 
as  students  of  science,  but  to  the  artist  who  is  not  a  very 
strict  observer,  why  should  it  strike  him?  The  fact 
remains  that  it  has  not  struck  a  great  many  artists.  If 
you  study  the  pictures  Nos.  650,  989,  1144,  in  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  No.  39  in  the  New  Gallery,  you  wiU  find 
there  indications  of  a  neglect  of  this  law.  Now  the  sky  is 
far  more  luminous  than  it  ought  to  be  by  the  light  indi- 
cated by  the  landscape.  Again,  the  setting  sun  is  not  so 
bright  as  the  clouds  which  it  is  supposed  to  illuminate, 
and  in  some  cases  there  is  absolutely  no  grazing  reflec- 
tion indicated,  and,  if  anything,  the  sky  is  rather  less 
luminous  where  the  sun  is  than  further  away ! 

A  good  rule,  and  one  which  a  student  of  physical 
science  would  be  certain  to  act  upon  with  considerable 
care,  would  be  never  to  show  anything  as  reflected  which 
was  not  there. 

An  interesting  example  of  this  kind  was  exhibited  in 
the  Academy  some  years  ago.  It  so  happened  that  a 
French  man  of  science  wrote  a  book  on  physical  pheno- 
mena, beautifully  illustrated.  Among  the  illustrations 
was  a  coloured  copy  of  a  photograph  of  a  soap  bubble. 
Now  the  laboratory  in  the  College  de  France,  in  which  the 
photograph  was  taken,  was,  like  yours,  very  well  lighted 
by  many  windows,  and  the  soap  bubble  was  blown  in  the 
middle  of  it.  A  translation  of  this  book  appeared  in 
£nglish,  and  the  illustrations  were  reproduced. 

An  artist  had  a  most  excellent  idea.  He  thought  he 
would  paint  a  picture  of  a  garden,  which  he  did  admir- 
ably. The  foreground  looked  bare,  so  he  thought  he 
would  put  children  playing  in  it.  It  next  struck  him, 
apparently,  that  the  children  did  not  seem  to  be  quite 
sufficiently  occupied,  so  he  painted  one  blowing  soap 
bubbles.  But,  alas !  less  fortunate  than  you,  the  artist 
had  no  laboratory  in  which  he  could  blow  and  study  soap 
bubbles  for  himself;  so  what  did  he  do  ?  He  copied  the 
bubble  which  was  riddled  with  windows,  although  there 
were  no  windows  in  the  garden.  He  thought  that  the 
nature  of  bubbles  was  windowy. 

Then,  again,  in  the  matter  of  reflection,  it  would  not 
be  right  that  I  should  fail  to  remind  you  that,  besides 
things  terrestrial,  we  have  the  moon,  which  rules  the 
night,  and  rules  the  night  because  it  reflects  the  sunlight 
to  us.  Now,  in  a  little  talk  like  this  I  must  not  take  up 
much  time  with  astronomy,  but  it  is  fortunate  that  books 
on  astronomy  can  be  got  for  6^/.  or  \s,  which  will  tell  us, 
say,  in  half  an  hour,  the  chief  points  about  the  moon 
which  we  need  consider  in  the  present  connection.  The 
moon  is  lighted  by  the  sun.  The  sun  can  only  light  one 
half  at  a  time.  If  we  are  on  the  side  of  the  moon  which 
is  lighted  by  the  sun,  we  must  see  the  complete  lighted 
half  which  we  call  a  full  moon.  If  we  see  a  full  moon, 
we  must  have  our  back  to  the  sun.  When  the  position  of 
the  moon  with  reference  to  the  earth  is  such  that  we  can 
see  half  the  lighted  portion  of  the  moon,  we  generally  find 
that  the  part  of  the  moon  which  is  turned  to  the  sun  is 
lighted  up. 

But  none  of  these  things  are  so  in  art.  Last  year  a 
picture  in  the  Academy  was  absolutely  disfigured  by  the 
dark  part  of  the  moon  being  turned  to  the  sun.  Surely 
it  was  not  worth  the  artist's  while  to  paint  a  moon  if  he 
did  not  know  how  to  do  it.  But  the  moon  has  been 
treated,  if  possible,  worse  than  that.  Some  years  ago  a 
friend  who  knew  I  was  interested  in  astronomy  had 
another  friend  who  had  painted  a  picture,  and  he  wished 
me  to  look  at  it  to  see  if  the  moon  was  right.  I  went  and 
saw  the  picture,  and  had  to  say  that  the  moon  was 
wrong.  It  was  perfectly  clear  that  the  picture  was 
intended  to  represent  the  sun  setting  on  the  right,  beyond 
the  part  of  the  landscape  included  in  the  picture,  so  that 
the  moon  rising  on  the  left,  and  shown  in  the  picture, 

NO.  1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


must  be  full.  My  friend  said  to  me  he  knew  this, 
and  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  artist  had  painted 
a  full  moon  to  start  with,  but  he  had  altered  it  be- 
cause it  "  destroyed  the  balance  of  his  picture."  That 
you  see  was  where  art  came  in.  And  then  he  added 
that  the  painter  was  not  satisfied  with  the  moon  as  it 
stood  !  I  told  my  friend  to  say  that  I  regretted  that  the 
full  moon  destroyed  the  balance  of  the  picture,  and  that 
even  a  delicate  crescent  did  not  make  things  quite  right, 
and  I  suggested  that  the  effect  of  two  or  even  three 
moons,  of  different  sizes  if  needs  be,  should  be  tried. 
The  artist  said  that  this  was  nonsense  ;  I  replied  that 
I  did  not  consider  it  greater  nonsense  than  the  moon  as 
he  had  represented  it,  and  so  the  matter  ended. 

I  am  sure  that  the  students  of  this  College  will  know 
that  such  things  as  these  are  to  be  avoided,  even  if  there 
were  difficulties  caused  by  the  non-existence  of  a  book 
on  astronomy.  No  artist  need  paint  a  moon  in  a  picture 
if  he  be  too  ignorant  to  paint  it  properly. 

Everything  that  you  paint  in  a  picture,  which  you  paint 
because  it  reflects  light,  should  be  painted  its  proper  size 
in  relation  to  the  other  objects.  It  seems,  however,  that 
the  moment  a  body  which  reflects  light  does  not  happen 
to  be  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  you  may,  in  art,  make 
it  as  large  as  you  please.  I  do  not  think  that  the  moon's 
distance  from  the  earth  gives  us  any  right  to  treat  it  in 
this  way. 

An  eminent  American  astronomer  some  years  ago 
looked  at  the  pictures  in  the  New  York  galleries  from 
this  point  of  view.  The  moon  subtends  a  certain  angle. 
Everything  else  in  a  picture  can  be  expressed  in  this 
way  the  moment  you  put  a  moon  into  it.  This  astronomer 
took  the  trouble  to  get  out  a  statistical  table  of  the  heights 
of  the  different  mountains  and  hills  as  drawn  by  American 
artists  in  pictures  of  places  taken  from  other  places  (the 
distances  being  therefore  known)  with  a  moon  thrown  in. 
The  maximum  height  was  105  miles,  and  the  lowest  13  1 

Next,  permit  me  to  say  a  few  words  on  another  point, 
in  order  to  show  that  the  student  of  art  will  delight  more 
and  more  in  his  work  as  he  or  she  knows  more  and  more  of 
physical  science.  I  now  take  refraction.  You  know  that 
refraction  can  be  divided  into  deviation  and  dispersion. 
The  phenomena  of  deviation  teach  us  that  when  a  beam 
of  light,  whatever  its  colour,  passes  out  of  one  medium 
into  another  its  course  is  changed.  An  experiment,  which 
is  easily  performed  and  which  is  more  a  home  experiment 
than  a  laboratory  one,  is  to  put  a  coin  into  a  basin  and 
look  over  the  edge  in  such  a  direction  that  the  coin  is 
just  invisible :  then  fill  it  with  water,  the  coin  appears. 
Another  experiment  is  to  insert  a  straight  body,  such  as 
a  pencil,  into  this  bowl  of  water  :  it  appears  to  be  broken  ; 
refraction,  then,  appears  to  make  water  shallower  than  it 
really  is.  If  you  look  at  1094,  you  will  find  that  this 
deviation  has  been  made  to  act  the  wrong  way. 

It  is  rather  a  bad  thing  to  attempt  to  paint  a  nymph 
partly  in  and  partly  out  of  clear  water,  because  her  body, 
if  the  picture  be  truly  painted,  would  follow  suit  with  the 
pencil. 

Passing  from  deviation  to  dispersion  we  come  to  rain- 
bows. You  have  learned,  and  perhaps  seen  demonstrated 
by  experiment,  that  we  deal  with  a  beam  of  white  light 
coming  from  the  sun  and  refracted  at  the  front  surface  of 
a  rain-drop.  It  is  next  reflected  and  again  refracted 
down  to  the  eye,  so  that  the  eye  sees  a  bow,  with  all  the 
spectrum  colours  due  to  the  dispersion.  If  the  light  be 
strong  enough,  we  get  what  is  called  a  supplementary 
bow,  and,  in  consequence  of  internal  reflections,  the  two 
reds  are  brought  together. 

The  point  is  that  in  this  dispersion,  brought  about  by  the 
*rain-drops,  the  effect  is  produced  in  a  plane  passing 
through  the  sun,  your  eye,  and  the  rain-drop ;  your  eye 
being  in  the  centre,  so  that  if  you  see  a  rainbow  at  sdl, 
you  must  have  your  back  to  the  sun.  The  bow  is  always 
circular,  and  high  or  low  according  to  the  height  of  the 


178 


NA  TURB. 


[June  z$^  189J 


ThoM  are^  of  course,  conclusions  which  a  very  re^ 
staricted  study  of  pthysical  science  will  vo^\(,^  perfectJy 
<cle0r '  why  you  g.et  the  two  r^s  together  whep  two. 
'bews  are  visible. ;  why  the  blue,  is  inside,  and  the  red  outr 
side;  the  single  bow,  also  follows  from  a  dem.onstratioa 
whicbt  your  teacher  will  give  you,  or  which  you  caxx  geti 
^rom  a  book.  The  main  point  is  that  a  raimbow  i9 
^loducod  by  a  physical  cause  ;  so  that,  if  you  ooce  grasp 
the^  idea  of  the  cause  of  a  rainbow,  its  whole  anatomy 
will  roniain  for  ever  with  you. 

It  is  quite  impossible  for  you  to  see  a  rainbow  in  pro- 
spective, or  projected  on  the  sky  as  an  ellipse.  That  will 
be-  quite  clear,  I  think.  Still,  both  thes^  are  recog- 
nized art-objects.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  in  this 
year's  Academy  there  is  one.  case  in  which  you  will  find 
that  the  fundamental  condition  of  having  your  back  to 
the  sun  has  been  neglected  or  forgotten  by  the  artist. 
In  No.  395  a  most  exquisite  stump  of  rainbow  is  seen, 
most  beautifully  painted,  and  you  naturally  think,  of 
course,  that  you  have  your  back  to  the  sun,  but  the  artist 
has  not  been  contented  with  painting  the  rainbow,  he 
has  painted  cattle  as  well,  and  their  shadows  sweep  across 
the  picture.  Another  rainbow,  595,  is  excellently  painted. 
The  artist  not  only  knows  a  great  deal  about  rainbows, 
but  wishes  you  to  know  that  he  knows,  an  umbrella  being 
eunphatically  en  tvidence, 

( To  be  continued,) 


H  I.  I  ■  ■      . 


THE  FARADAY  CENTENARY. 

QN  Wednesday,  June  17,  at  the  Royal  Institution, 
Lord  Rayleigh  delivered  a  lecture  in  connection 
with  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  Faraday's  birth.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  presided. 

Lord  Rayleigh  said  that  the  man  whose  name  and 
work  they  were  celebrating  was  identified  in  a  re- 
markable degree  with  the  history  of  that  Institution. 
If  they  could  not  take  credit  for  his  birth,  in  other 
respects  they  could  hardly  claim  too  much.  During 
a  connection  of  fifty-four  years,  Faraday  found  there 
his  opportunity,  and  for  a  large  part  of  the  time  his 
home.  The  simple  story  of  his  life  must  be  known  to 
most  who  heard  him.  Fired  by  contact  with  the  genius 
of  Davy,  he  volunteered  his  services  in  the  laboratory  of 
the  Institution.  Davy,  struck  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
youth,  gave  him  thedesired  opportunity,  and,  as  had  been 
said,  secured  in-  Faraday  not  the  least  of  his  discoveries. 
The  eacly  promise  was  indeed  amply  fulfilled,  and  for  a 
long  period  of  years  by  his  discoveries  in  chemistry  and 
electricity  Faraday  maintained  the  renown  of-  the  Royal 
Institution' and  the  honour  of  England,  in  the  eye  of  the 
civilized  workl.  He'  should  not  attempt  in  the  time-  at 
his  disposal  to  traco'in  any  detail  the  step«  of  that  wonder- 
ful career.  The  task  had  already  been  performed  by  able 
hands.  In  their  own  Proceedings  they  bad  a  vivid 
sketch  ^m  the  pen  of  one-  whose-  absence  that  day  was 
a  matter  of  lively  regret.  Dr.  Tyndall  was  a  personal 
friend,  hail  seen*  Faraday  at  work^  had  enjoyed  oppor- 
tunittee of  Mpatching  theaction' oft  hie  mind  in  face  of  a 
new  idea.  All  that  he  could  aim  at  was  to  recall,  in  a 
fragmentary  manner,  some*  of  Faiadays  great  achieTe«> 
ments,  and  if  possible  to  estimate  the  position  they  hekl 
in-  contemporary  science. 

Whether  they  had  regard'  te  ftindamental  scientific: 
import,  or  to-  practical  results^  tho  first  place>  must  un-^ 
doubtedly  be-  assigned  to>  the  great  discovepy  of  the 
induction  of  electrical  currents.  He  proposed  first  to 
show  the- expepfoxent  in  someithing  like  its  original  form, 
aad'then  to  pass  on  to  seme  vaoriations,  with  illustrations 
froin  the  behavieup  of  a  model,  whose  mechanical  proper* 
ties  were  analogous  Me  was  afraid  that  these  elem^- 
tary  experiments  would  tax  the  patience  of  many  whO' 
heard  him,  bat  it  was  one*  of  the*  difficulties  of  his  task 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


that  Faraday's  discoveries  were  so  fundamemalaffto  have 
become  lamiliar  to  all  snrious  studei>ts.o(Fpbyaics« 

Xhe.fi«st.eifperimenit  requued  thonktoeeUblishiQ.oiit 
cpil  of  copper  wire  an  ekctKic  current  by  complfftine.  <^« 
conunnnicatioB  with. a  suitable  battery;  thai was^cidlcd 
the.  primary  circuit,  and  Faribday's  diMOvery  waa  tUa : 
That  at  the  moment  oC  the  starting  or  stopping  of  the 
prim«cy  current:  ii)  a  neighbouring  circuit,  in  thit  ordioairy 
sense  of  the  words»  then  completely  detached^ these  waa  a 
tendency  to  induce  a  current.  He  had  said  that  tteae 
two  circuits  were  perfectly  distinct,  and  they  were  dialiiict 
in  the  sense  that  there  was  no  communication,  between 
them»  but,,  of  course,  the  importance  of  cendnctiDg  the 
experiment  resided,  in  this — that  it  peeved  th»t  in  seme 
sense  the  circuits  were  not  distinct ;  that  an  elmrtric 
current  circulating  in  one  does  produce  an  eiSect  in  the 
other,  which  is  propagated  across  a  perfectly  blank  space 
occupied  by  air,  and  which  might  equally  well  have 
been  occupied  by  vacuum.  It  might  appear  that  that 
was  a  very  simple  and  easy  experiment,  and  of  covrse 
it  was  so  in  a  modern  laboratory,  but  it  was  ocherwise 
at  the  time  when  Faraday  first  made  it  With  ail  his 
skill,  Faraday  did  not  light  upon  truth  without  delay 
and  difficulty.  One  of  Faraday's  biographa:^  thus 
wrote :— "  In  December  1824,  he  had  attempted  to  obcain 
an  electric  current  by  means  of  a  magnet,  and  on  three 
occasions  he  had  made  elaborate  and  unsucressfnl  at- 
tempts to  produce  a  current  in  one  wire  by  means  of  a 
current  in  another  wire,  or  by  a  mageet^  He  stiU  per- 
severed, and  on:  August  29^  1 831— that  is  to  say,  nearly 
seven  yeara  after  his  first  attempts--he  obtained  the 
first  evidence  that  an  electric  current  induced  another  in 
a  different  circuit"  On  September  23rd,  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  R.  Phillips:  ''-I  am  busy  just  now  again  with  elec- 
tro-magnetism, and  think  I  have  got  hold  of  a  good  thipg, 
but  cannot  say  ;  it  may  be  a  weed  instead  of  a  fish  that, 
after  all  my  labour,  I  at  last  haul  up.''  We  now  know  that 
it  was  a  very  big  fish  indeed.  Lord  Rayleigh  proceeded 
to  say  that  he  now  proposed  to  illustrate  the.mechanics  of 


the  question  of  the*  induced  curvctiti  by  means,  of:  a^mod^ 
(see  figure),  the  fit^'  idea  of  which  was  dt»tc»  Maow^L 
The  one  actually  employed'  wa^.  a  oomhiMitiMi  kanvn 
as  Hnygeoe's  gear,  invented  by  him>  in^coaneftkn  snih^tlie 
winding  of  clocks;  Two  similar  pnlleya,  A^^  B,  twn^nfM 
a. piece' of  round  steel  fixed  horizontally.    Over^bese  is 


JtftlE  25,   189 1 ] 


NA  7  URE 


179 


hung  an  endless  chord,  and  the  two  bights  carry  similar 
pendant  pulleys,  c,  d,  from  which  again  hang  weights, 
£,  F.  The  weight  of  the  cord  being  negligible,  the  sys- 
tem is  devoid  of  potential  energy ;  that  is,  it  will  balance, 
whatever  may  be  the  vertical  distance  between  c  and  D. 
Since  either  pulley,  a,  b,  may  tarn  independently  of  the 
other,  the  system  is  capable  of  two  independent  motions. 
If  A,  B  turn  in  the  same  direction  and  with  the  same 
Telocity  one  of  the  pendant  pulleys,  C,  D,  rises,  and  the 
other  falls.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  motions  of  a,  b 
are  equal  and  opposite,  the  axes  of  the  pendant  pulleys 
and  the  attached  weights  remain  at  test.  In  the  electri- 
cal analogy  the  rotatory  velocity  of  a  con^ponds  to  a 
current  in  a  primary  circuit,  that  of  B  to  a  current  in  a 
secondary.  If,  when  all  is  at  rest,  the  rotation  of  a  be 
suddenly  started,  by  force  applied  at  the  handle  or  other- 
wise, the  inertia  of  the  masses  E,  F  opposes  their  isudden 
movement,  and  the  consequence  is  that  the  pulley  6  turns 
backwards^  i,  e,  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the  rotation 
imposed  upon  a.  This  is  the  current  induced  in  a  second- 
ary circuit  'when  an  electromotive  force  begins  to  act  in 
the  primary.  In  like  manner,  if  a,  having  been  for  some 
time  in  uniform  movement,  suddenly  stops,  B  enters  ittto 
motion  in  the  direction  of  the  former  movement  of  A. 
This  is  the  secondary  current  on  the  break  of  the  current 
in  the  priiaary  circuit.  It  might  perhaps  be  supposed  by 
some  that  the  model  was  a  kind  of  trick.  Nothing  could 
be  "farther  from  the  truth.  The  analogy  of  the  two 
things  was  absolutely  essential.  So  far  was  this  the  case 
that  precisely  the  same  argument  and  precisely  the  same 
mathematical  equations  proved  that  the  model  and  the 
electric  currents  behaved  in  the  way  in  which  they  had 
seen  them  behave  in  the  experiment.  That  might  be  con- 
sidered to  be  a  considerable  triumph  of  the  modern  dyna- 
mical method  of  including  under  the  same  head  pheno- 
mena the  details  of  which  might  be  so  different  as  in  this 
case.  If  they  had  a  current  which  alternately  stopped 
and  started,  and  so  on,  for  any  length  of  time,  they,  as  it 
were,  produced  in  a  permanent  manner  some  of  the 
phenomena  of  electrical  induction  ;  and  if  it  were  done 
with  sufficient  rapidity  it  would  be  evident  that  some- 
thing would  be  going  on  in  the  primary  and  in  the 
secondary  circuit.  The  particular  apparatus  by  which 
he  proposed  to  illustrate  those  effects  of  the  alter- 
nating current  was  devised  by  a  skilful  Ameri  can  elec- 
trician. Prof.  Elihu  Thompson,  and  he  had  no  doubt  it 
would  be  new  to  many.  The  alternating  current  was  led 
into  the  electro-magnet  by  a  suitable  lead  ;  if  another 
electric  circuit,  to  be  called  the  secondary  circuit,  was 
held  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that,  currents  would  be 
induced  and  might  be  made  manifest  by  suitable  means. 
Such  a  secondary  circuit  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  it  was 
connected  with  a  small  electric  glow  lamp.  If  a  current 
of  sufficient'  intensity  were  induced  in  that  secondary 
circuit  it  would  pass  through  the  lamp,  which  would  be 
rendered  incandescent.  [Illustrating.]  It  was  perfectly 
clear  there  was  no  conjuring  there ;  the  incandescent 
lamp  brightened  up.  One  of  the  first  questions  which 
presented  itself  was,  what  would  be  the  effect  of  putting 
something  between  ?  Experimenting  with  a  glass  plate, 
he  showed  there  was  no  effect,  but  when  they  tried  a 
copper  plate  the  lamp  went  completely  out,  showing  that 
the  copper  plate  was  an  absolute  screen  to  the  effect, 
whatever  it  might  be.  Experiments  of  that  kind,  of  course 
in  a  ilMch  less  developed  and  striking  form,  were  made 
by  Faraday  himself,  and  must  be  reckoned  amongst  some 
of  his  greatest  discoveries. 

Befote  going  further,  he  might  remark  on  what  strong 
evidence  they  got  in  that  way  of  the  fact  that  the  propa- 
gation t)f  the  electric  energy  which,  having  Its  source  In 
the  dynaitoo  downstairs,  eventually  illuminated  that  little 
lamp,  was  not  Aierely  along  the  whes,  but  was  capable  of 
bridghig  over  and  passing  across  a  space  free  from  all 
condudting  SHateriaJ,  and  which  might  be  air,  glass,  or, 

NO.  J  1 30,  VOL.  44] 


equally  i«ell,  vacuum.  Another  kindred  effect  of  a  striking 
nature,  devised  by  Prof.  Elihu  Thomson,  consisted  ^ 
the:iepiil6ivea<ition  whidi  occurred  betweKin  theprimetv 
cutnent  circulating  around  a  magnet  and  the  cunrettt  in- 
dulged in  a  single  hoop  of  aluminium  wire.  Iilastvu)ii|^ 
this  by  experiment,  he  showed  that  the  repulsion  'was  >iO 
strong  as  to  throw  the  wire  up  a  considerable  height. 
Those  effects  were  cbmtnonly  de^ribed  as  depenotottt 
upon  the  mtftual  induction  between  two  distinct  tiit- 
cuits,  onle  heing  that  y^rimarily  excited  by  a  battery  «r 
other  source  of  electricity,  while  the  other  occumd  hi  b. 
detached  citcuit.  Many  surprising  effects,  however,  tte- 
pended  on  the  reactions  which  took  place  at  difffenfMt 
parts  of  the  same  circuit.  One  of  these  he  iUi!ustr4ted  l$y 
the  decomposition  of  M^iter  under  the  influence  of  iflilC- 
induaion. 

About  the  time  the  experiments  of  which  he  hwd 
been  speaking  were  made,  Faraday  evidendy  felt  ttn> 
easiness  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  views  about  electYldity 
held  by  his  contemporaries,  and  to  some  e^eteftt  scared  (by 
himself,  and  he  made  elaborate  experiments  to  remcn^ettll 
doubt  from  his  mind.  He  re-proved  the  complete  identity 
of  the  electricity  of  lightning  and  of  the  electricity  of  the 
voltaic  cell.  He  evidently  was  in  terror  of  being  iviiMled 
by  words  Which  might  convey  a  meaning  beyond  that 
which  facts  justified.  Much  use  was  made  of  the  tettn 
"  poles  "  of  the  galvanic  battery.  Faraday  was  afraid  of 
the  meaning  which  might  be  attached  to  the  word 
^' pole,''  and  he  introduced  a  word  since  generally  ^sub- 
stituted, "electrode,"  which  meant  nothing  more  thcin 
the  way  or  path  by  which  the  electricity  was  led  in. 
"  Electric  fluid  "  was  a  term  which  Faraday  consideted 
dangerous,  as  meaning  more  than  they  really  kiMw  about 
the  nattire  of  electricity,  and  as  was  remarked  by  Max- 
well, Faraday  succeeded  in  banishing  the  term  '*  electric 
fluid  ^  to  the  region  of  newspaper  paragraphs 

Diamagnetism  was  a  subject  upon  which  Fatuday 
worked,  but  it  would  take  him  too  long  to  go  into  that 
subject,  though  he  must  say  a  word  or  two.  iFaiiaday 
found  that  whereas  a  ball  of  iron  or  nickel  or  cobalt, 
when  placed  near  a  magnet  or  combination  of  magnets, 
would  be  attracted  to  the  place  where  the  magnetic  force 
was  the  greatest,  the  contrary  occurred  if  for  the  iron  was 
substituted  a  corresponding  mass  of  bismuth  or  of  many 
other  substances.  The  experiments  in  diamagnetism 
were  of  a  microscopic  character,  but  he  would  like  to 
illustrate  one  position  of  Faraday's,  developed  years  after- 
wards by  Sir  Wm.  Thomson,  and  illustrated  by  him  in 
many  beautiful  experiments,  only  one  of  which  he  now 
proposed  to  bring  before  them.  Supposing  they  had  two 
magnetic  poles,  a  north  pole  and  a  south  pole,  with 
an  iron  ball  between  them,  free  to  move  along  a 
perpendicular  line,  then,  according  to  the  rule  he 
had  stated,  the  iron  ball  would  seek  an  mtermediate 
position,  the  place  at  which  the  magnetic  force  was  the 
greatest.  Consequently,  if  the  iron  ball  be  given  such  a 
position,  they  would  find  it  tended  with  considerable  force 
to  a  central  position  of  equilibrium  ;  but  if,  instead  of 
using  opposite  poles,  they  used  two  north  poles,  they 
would  find  that  the  iron  ball  did  not  tend  to  the  central 
position,  because  that  was  not  the  position  in  which  the 
magnetic  force  was  the  greatest.  At  that  position  there 
was  no  magnetic  force,  for  the  one  pole  completely 
neutralised  the  action  of  the  other.  The  greatest  fovce 
would  be  a  litde  way  out,  and  that,  according  to  Fara- 
dlay's  Observations,  systematized  and  expressed  in  Che 
form  of  mathematical  law  by  Sir  Wm.  Thomson,  was 
where  the  ball  would  go.  [This  was  iliustmted  by  experi- 
ment.] 

The  nesft  discovery  of  Faraday  to  which  he  proposed 
to  call  attention  was  one  of  immense  significaace  from  a 
scientific  point  of  view,  the  consequences  of  which  were 
not  even  yet  fully  understood  or  developed.  He  rcfcrted 
to  the  magnetization  of  a  ray  of  light,  or  what  was-calted 


i8o 


NA  TURE 


[June  25,  1891 


in  more  usual  parlance  the  rotation  of  the  ptine  of  polari- 
zation under  the  action  of  magnetic  force.  It  woald  be 
hopeless  to  attempt  to  explain  all  the  preliminaries  of  the 
experiment  to  those  who  had  not  given  some  attention 
to  those  subjects  before,  and  he  could  only  attempt  it  in 
general  terms.  It  would  be  known  to  most  of  them  that  the 
vibrations  which  constituted  light  were  executed  in  a 
direction  perpendicular  to  that  of  the  ray  of  light  By 
experiment  he  showed  that  the  polarization  which  was 
suitable  to  pass  the  first  obstacle  was  not  suitable  to  pass 
the  second,  but  if  by  means  of  any  mechanism  they 
were  able,  after  the  light  had  passed  the  first  obstacle,  to 
turn  round  the  vibration,  they  would  then  give  it  an 
opportunity  of  passing  the  second  obstacle.  That  was 
what  was  involved  in  Faraday's  discovery.  [Experiment.] 
As  he  had  said,  the  full  significance  of  the  experiment 
was  not  yet  realized.  A  large  step  towards  realizing  it, 
however,  was  contained  in  the  observation  of  Sir  William 
Thomson,  that  the  rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarization 
proved  that  something  in  the  nature  of  rotation  must  be 
going  on  within  the  medium  when  subjected  to  the 
magnetizing  force,  but  the  precise  nature  of  the  rotation 
was  a  matter  for  further  speculation,  and  perhaps  might 
not  be  known  for  some  time  to  come. 

When  first  considering  what  to  bring  before  them  he 
thought,  perhaps,  he  might  include  some  of  Faraday's 
acoustical  experiments,  which  were  of  great  interest, 
though  they  did  not  attract  so  much  attention  as  his 
fundamental  electrical  discoveries.  He  would  only  allude 
to  one  point  which,  as  far  as  he  knew,  had  never  been 
noticed,  but  which  Faraday  recorded  in  his  acoustical 
papers.  "  If  during  a  strong  steady  wind,  a  smooth  flat 
sandy  shore,  with  enough  water  on  it,  either  from  the 
receding  tide  or  from  the  shingle  above,  to  cover  it 
thoroughly,  but  not  to  form  waves,  be  observed  in  a  place 
where  the  wind  is  not  broken  by  pits  or  stones,  stationary 
undulations  will  be  seen  over  the  whole  of  the  wet  surface. 
....  These  are  not  waves  of  the  ordinary  kind,  they  are 
(and  this  is  the  remarkable  point)  accurately  parallel  to 
the  course  of  the  wind."  When  he  first  read  that  state- 
ment, many  years  ago,  he  was  a  little  doubtful  as  to 
whether  to  accept  the  apparent  meaning  of  Faraday's 
words.  He  knew  of  no  suggestion  of  an  explanation  of 
the  possibility  of  waves  of  that  kind  being  generated 
under  the  action  of  the  wind,  and  it  was,  therefore,  with 
some  curiosity  that  two  or  three  years  ago,  at  a  French 
watering-place,  he  went  out  at  low  tide,  on  a  suitable  day 
when  there  was  a  good  breeze  blowing,  to  see  if  he  could 
observe  anything  of  the  waves  described  by  Faraday. 
For  some  time  he  failed  absolutely  to  observe  the  pheno- 
menon, but  after  a  while  he  was  perfectly  well  able  to 
recognize  it.  He  mentioned  that  as  an  example  of  Fara- 
day's extraordinary  powers  of  observation,  and  even  now 
he  doubted  whether  anybody  but  himself  and  Faraday 
had  ever  seen  that  phenomenon. 

Many  matters  of  minor  theoretic  interest  were  dealt 
with  by  Faraday,  and  reprinted  by  him  in  his  collected 
works.  He  was  reminded  of  one  the  other  day  by  a 
lamentable  accident  which  occurred  owing  to  the  break- 
ing of  a  paraffin  lamp.  Faraday  called  attention  to  the 
fact,  though  he  did  not  suppose  he  was  the  first  to  notice  it, 
that,  by  a  preliminary  preparation  of  the  lungs  by  a  number 
of  deep  inspirations  and  expirations,  it  was  possible  so  to 
aerate  the  blood  as  to  allow  of  holding  the  breath  for  a 
much  longer  period  than  without  such  a  preparation 
would  be  possible.  He  remembered  some  years  ago  try- 
ing the  experiment,  and  running  up  from  the  drawing- 
room  to  the  nursery  of  a  large  house  without  drawing 
any  breath.  That  was  obviously  of  immense  importance, 
as  Faraday  pointed  out,  in  the  case  of  danger  from 
suffocation  by  fire,  and  he  thought  that  possibly  the 
accident  to  which  he  alluded  might  have  been  spared  had 
the  knowledge  of  the  fact  to  which  Faraday  drew  atten- 
tion been  more  generally  diffused. 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


The  question  had  often  been  discussed  as  to  wbat  would 
have  been  the  effect  upon  Faraday's  career  of  discovay 
had  he  been  subjected  in  early  life  to  mathematical  train- 
ing. The  first  thing  that  occurred  to  him  about  that, 
after  reading  Faraday's  works,  was  that  one  would  not 
wish  him  to  be  an3rthing  different  from  what  he  was.  If  the 
question  must  be  discussed,  he  supposed  they  would  have 
to  admit  that  he  would  have  been  saved  much  wasted 
labour,  and  would  have  been  better  en  rapport  with  his 
scientific  contemporaries  if  he  had  had  elementary  mathe- 
matical instruction.  But  mathematical  training  and 
mathematical  capacity  were  two  different  things,  and  it 
did  not  at  all  follow  that  Faraday  had  not  a  mathematical 
mind.  Indeed,  some  of  the  highest  authorities  had  held 
(and  there  could  be  no  higher  authority  on  the  subject 
than  Maxwell)  that  his  mind  was  essentially  mathematical 
in  its  qualities,  although  they  must  admit  it  was  not  de- 
veloped in  a  mathematical  direction.  With  these  words 
of  Maxwell  he  would  conclude :  "  The  way  in  whidi 
Faraday  made  use  of  his  idea  of  lines  of  force  in  co- 
ordinating the  phenomena  of  electric  induction  shows 
him  to  have  been  a  mathematician  of  high  order,  and  one 
from  whom  the  mathematicians  of  the  future  may  derive 
valuable  and  fertile  methods." 


THE  ROYAL  NAVAL  EXHIBITION. 

THE  Naval  Exhibition,  now  being  held  at  Chelsea,  is 
distinctly  a  popular  show.  The  management — re- 
cognizing that  the  ^rst  duty  of  an  Exhibition  is  not  to 
show  a  pecuniary  deficit — has  wisely  decided  to  follow 
the  lead  given  by  Sir  Philip  Cunliffe  Owen,  and  has 
devoted  the  chief  of  its  energies  to  fireworks,  waxworks, 
peep-shows,  pictures,  shooting-galleries,  mimic  sham 
fights,  and  musical  entertainments  of  a  kind  known 
to  sailors  as  "  sing-songs.''  The  end  justifies  the  means. 
Not  only  does  the  Committee  of  distinguished  Admirals 
labour  to  supply  Londoners  with  a  cheap  and  innocent 
means  of  enjoyment,  but  the  final  result  will  be  the 
establishment  of  a  substantial  fund  to  endow  a  most 
deserving  charity.  Fortuitously  there  are  features  which 
possess  a  more  serious  interest ;  and  though  there  may 
be  nothing  especially  new  in  the  Exhibition,  the  man  of 
science  who  has  not  been  brought  much  in  contact  with 
naval  matters  may  find  there  a  good  deal  that  is  worth 
consideration. 

The  Exhibition  appears  to  be  divided  into  about  half-a- 
dozen  sections,  each  under  the  direction  of  a  committee. 
Of  these  the  "Entertainments''  and  "Refreshments' 
Committees  are  of  course  the  chief ;  but  the  Models  Com- 
mittee appears  to  be  the  one  which  has  made  the  most 
serious  effort  to  present  a  distinctly  naval  subject  in 
logical  sequence.  In  the  Seppings  Gallery  there  is  a 
collection  of  models  of  warships  illustrating  the  progress 
of  naval  architecture,  from  the  Great  Harry  down  to 
the  very  latest  design  of  armour-clad  battleship.  The 
model  of  the  Great  Harry  is  of  very  doubtful  authenti- 
city, and  is  of  modem  construction,  having  been  made  by 
the  aid  of  such  pictures  of  the  great  sixteenth-century 
ship  as  exist.  No  historical  collection  of  British  war- 
ships would,  however,  be  even  approximately  complete 
without  a  representation  of  this  vessel.  Chamock,  our 
great  authority  on  the  subject,  has  styled  her  ''the 
parent  of  the  British  Navy  "  ;  and  if  it  be  true,  as  supposed, 
that  she  was  the  first  warship  to  sail  on  a  wind,  the  claim 
is  most  amply  justified  In  fact,  naval  architecture  as  a 
science  was  not  founded  until  it  was  discovered  that  ships 
could  be,  otherwise  than  by  the  aid  of  oars,  taken  to  the 
quarter  from  which  the  wind  was  blowing.  It  must  have 
seemed  a  great  feat  in  those  days— little  less  than  necro- 
mancy. Fortunately  for  the  timid  intellects  of  oar 
ancestors,  the  revelation  broke  upon  them  gently,  for  the 
rounded  hulls,  high  topsides,  and  curiously  rigged  craft 
could  not  have  sailed  more  than  a  point  or  two  to  wind- 


June  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


181 


ward.  Still,  it  was  the  Great  Harry ^  or  one  of  her  con- 
temporaries, by  means  of  which  this  new  feature  in  seaman- 
ship was  inaugurated ;  a  feature  by  which  the  great  middle 
period  in  the  world's  history  of  naval  warfiare  was  created, 
and  which  enabled  the  sailors  of  those  times  to  make  a 
distinct  advance  upon  the  lessons  taught  them  by  their  in- 
structors in  the  art  of  shipcraft,  the  Phoenicians^  Romans, 
and  Scandinavians.  It  would  have  been  well  if  we  had 
improved  on  our  predecessors  in  other  nautical  matters  as 
well;  and  we  then  should  not  have  had,  even  in  the 
present  century,  our  shipwrights  attaching  lead  sheathing 
to  ships'  bottoms  with  iron  nails.  The  Romans  used 
copper  fastenings  when  they  lead-covered  the  under-water 
part  of  their  vessels. 

There  are  but  three  models  of   seventeenth-century 
ships  in  the  Exhibition,  but  one  of  these  is  a  vessel  that 
forcibly  illustrates,   by  contrast,  the  mutability   of  the 
present  age.    The  Royal  William  was  designed  by  the 
first  great  naval   architect,  Phineas  Pett— whose  name 
might  almost  more  appropriately  have  been  given  to  the 
Models  Gallery  than  that  of  Seppings— and  was  built  at 
Chatham  in  1670.    She  was  originally  a  three-decker, 
carrying  one   hundred  guns,  but  in  1757  she  was  cut 
down  to  a  ship  of  84  guns,  and  was  jfinally  broken  up  in 
1 813 — a  fact  duly  recorded  by  the  present  Director  of 
Naval  Construction,  Mr.  W.  H.  White,  in  his  delightful 
lecture  on  "  Modern  War  Ships,"  delivered  a  few  years 
ago  at  the  Mansion  House.    The  Royal  William  must 
not,  however,  be  taken  as  an  example  of  the  endurance 
of  ancient  materials  so  much  as  of  the  slow  changes  in 
design  which  characterized  the  proceedings  of  our  an- 
cestors.  The  original  material  part  of  the  Royal  William 
only  lasted  twenty-two  years,  for  she  was  rebuilt,  we  are 
told,  in  1692,  and  again  in  1719  ;  so  that  in  this  respect 
she  compares  unfavourably  with  so  modern  a  vessel  as 
our  first  ironclad,  the  Warrior^  which  has  only  recently 
been  taken  out  of  the  Navy  after  a  service  career  of  not 
far  from  30  years.     Even  now  the  Warrior  has  not  been 
removed  from  the  Navy  list  because  she  has   become 
worn  out,  but  simply  because  she  has  become  obsolete.    If 
we  could  reach  finality  in  design — if  the  inventive  brain 
would   stagnate — there  is   no  reason  why  the  modern 
iron-built  warship  should  not  outlast  its  wooden  prede- 
cessor by  almost  as  great  an  extent  as  it  exceeds  it  in 
power  of  destruction.    It  is  true  the  natural  life  of  the  old 
ships  was  a  long  one.    The  Victory  was  forty  years  old 
when  she  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  and 
had  seen  much  active  service,  having  been  launched  at 
Chatham  in  1765 ;  but  then  she  had  been  laid  by  as  worn 
out  in  1 801,  and  it  was  only  after  extensive  repairs  that 
she  was  made  fit  for  sea.    A  year  or  two  ago,  it  will  be 
remembered,  she  was  found  to  be   so  rotten  that  she 
would  have  sunk  at  her  moorings  had  she  not  been  taken 
into  dock  and  in  part  rebuilt.     On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  no  reason  why  an  iron  ship  should  not  last,  provided 
she  were  properly  painted  and  kept  up,  perhaps  until  the 
era  when  warships  will  have  become  relics  of  a  barbarous 
past      The   expression  "properly   painted"   must    be 
here  taken  in  its  literal  sense  ;  and  with  regard  to  steel 
ships  due  steps  must  be  followed  to  remove  mill-scale,  a 
precaution  which  has  not  always  been  taken  of  late,  as 
quite  recent  mishaps  have  testified. 

Passing  from  hulls  to  motive  power,  we  find  the  same 
governing  principles  as  to  durability  of  material  and  im- 
permanence  of  design  more  strongly  emphasized  in  the 
practice  of  to-day  compared  with  that  of  the  naval  era 
which  closed  with  the  introduction  of  steam  and  iron 
hulls.  With  comparatively  small  variations  in  detail  the 
rig  of  war  ships  has  reniained  unchanged  from  the  days  of 
Pett  down  to  those  within  the  memory  of  men  still  living. 
The  Henri  Grace  d  Dieu  shows  a  distinctly  mediaeval  rig 
—although  her  fighting-tops  are  ridiculously  like  those  of 
our  very  latest  armour-clads— but  it  would  take  almost  a 
sailor's  eye  to  point  out  the  differences  in  sail  plan  between 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


Vandevelde's  beautiful  painting  of  the  Sovereign  of  the 
Seas,  *'  built  in  idyj,^*  and  the  ships  which  appear  on  the 
canvases  of  Stanfield,  Turner,  and  Cooke.  So  much  for 
permanence  of  design  with  masts  and  sails ;  with  the 
succeeding  mode  of  propulsion,  engines  and  boilers,  we 
find  as  striking  a  result  in  the  opposite  direction.  Steam 
machinery  was  first  introduced  into  the  Royal  Navy  in 
small  gun-boats,  and  later  in  the  paddle-wheel  frigates, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  screw  was  proved  to  be  the 
more  effective  instrument  that  even  the  most  sanguine 
engineers  could  hope  that  engines  and  boilers  would 
successfully  rival  masts  and  sails  as  a  means  of  propul- 
sion. We  pass  over,  therefore,  the  unimportant  era  of 
paddle-wheels,  but  even  taking  screw  engines  alone  we 
find  that  during  the  last  forty  years  far  greater  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  design  of  steam  machinery  than 
characterized  the  arrangement  of  masts  and  sails  during  the 
two  hundred  years  elapsing  between  the  time  X\i^  Sovereign 
of  the  Seas  was  built  and  the  practical  introduction  of 
steam  into  the  Navy  ;  indeed  we  might,  without  any  great 
fear  of  contradiction,  go  further  and  say  that  to  the  eye  of 
the  engineer  there  is  no  greater  affinity  between  the  screw 
engines  of  forty  years  ago  and  those  of  the  present  day, 
than  existed  between  the  rigging  of  the  ships  of  the  Norse 
sea-kings  and  those  of  almost  our  own  day,  putting  on 
one  side  only  the  element  of  size.  The  coUection  of 
engine  models  in  the  Exhibition  is  far  from  complete,  and 
is  not  to  be  compared  with  that  of  ship  models.  There 
is  a  good  reason  for  this,  as  engineers  work  to  draw- 
ings, and  models  are  seldom  made  excepting  as  records  ; 
whilst  their  cost  is  so  great  as  to  render  them  available 
only  for  very  rich  firms.  The  collection  of  models  shown 
by  Messrs.  Maudslay,  Sons,,  and  Field  constitute  the 
greater  part  of  the  historical  collection  in  the  Exhibition. 
Here  may  be  seen  representations  of  the  first  types  of 
steam-engine  introduced  into  the  Navy  ;  and  we  think  a 
comparison  of  the  early  engines  in  this  collection  with,  say, 
the  magnificent  model  of  the  Sardegnc^s  engines,  shown 
by  Messrs.  Hawthorn,  Leslie,  and  Co.,  will  bear  out  the 
remarks  we  have  made.  What  path  the  progress  of 
marine  engineering  will  follow  in  future  it  is  difficult  to 
forecast.  The  inventions  of  to-day  always  seem  to  have 
reached  finality,  but  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  any 
fundamental  change  can  be  effected  so  long  as  we  retain 
the  use  of  steam  as  a  vehicle  for  the  conversion  of  heat 
into  work.  It  may  be  that  a  little  engine  shown  in  the 
Exhibition — Priestman's  oil  engine— may  contain  the  germ 
of  a  principle  upon  which  marine  engines  may  be  de- 
signed in  future,  and  that  before  we  have  got  far  into  the 
twentieth  century  the  marine  boiler,  with  all  its  costliness 
and  complication,  may  have  become  as  much  a  relic  of 
the  past  as  the  pole  masts  and  uncouth  sails  of  the  Great 
Harry,  Before  that  time  arrives,  however,  the  four-stroke 
cycle  will  have  to  be  superseded. 

It  is,  however,  the  steam  boiler,  rather  than  the  engine, 
which  has  governed  the  design  of  ship  machinery.  Forty- 
to  forty-five  years  ago,  steam  pressures  were  not  generally 
higher  than  5  to  8  pounds  per  square  inch.  With 
the  introduction  of  tubes  in  place  of  fiues,  which  took 
place  between  1840  and  1850,  the  working  pressure  rose 
to  15  pounds  per  square  inch.  The  square  box  boiler 
was  in  use,  ana  with  that  type  the  working  pressure  was 
limited  to  about  30  pounds  per  souare  inch,  or  not  much 
beyond,  unless  the  staying  of  the  nat  surfaces  was  carried 
to  an  undesirable  extent.  With  such  a  limit  of  pressure, 
the  simple  expansion  engine  was,  properly,  the  usual  type, 
but  when  the  cylindrical  marine  boiler  was  introduced, 
the  average  steam  pressure  quickly  rose  to  60  pounds  to 
the  square  inch,  and  the  compound  engine  naturally  fol- 
lowed. The  surface  condenser  formed  a  necessary  part 
of  this  step  in  advance,  for,  with  the  higher  temperature 
due  to  the  increased  steam  pressure,  it  was  impossible  to 
pass  large  quantities  of  salt  water  through  the  boilers 
without  rapidly   scaling  them  up.     For  some  time 


l82 


MATURE 


[Joke  as,  1891 


diffiinilty  ih  gtsnerating  higher  pressure  steam  caused 
stagnation  in  marine  engineering  practice ;  until  the  sub- 
stitution bf  steel  for  iron  in  hoWtt  making,  the  advent 
of  new  types  of  furnaces,  and  improvements  in  the 
machinery  used  in  boiler  construction  have  enabled 
pressures  as  high  as  from  1 50  pounds  to  even  200  potmds 
to  the  square  inch  to  be  carried.  The  result  has  been 
that,  for  the  two-cylinder  compound  engine,  there  have 
been  substituted  two  types  of  engine,  known  respectively 
as  the  triple  expansion  engine  and  tne  quadruple  expan- 
sion engine.  The  names  are  misleading,  as  even  the 
ordinary  compound  engine  expands  its  steam  more  than 
three  or  four  times. 

The  grtwth  of  the  sciencte  of  marine  engine  design, 
which  we  have  so  briefly  sketched  out,  may  appear,  to 
those  who  are  not  engineers^  but  little  more  than  a  record 
of  increasing  steam  pressures.  Undoubtedly  a  higher 
steam  ptessure  has  been  the  fundamental  reason  for  these 
advances,  but  the  carrying  out  of  these  successive  changes 
in  pressure  has  necessitated  an  entire  reconstruction  of 
marine  engine  practice  ;  so  that  an  engine  working  at  1 5 
pounds  pressure  can  hardly  be  said  to  belong  to  the  same 
category  as  one  working  at  150  to  2oo  pounds  pressure. 
Tooth'-wheel  gearing,  which  was  first  used  with  sctew 
propellers,  has  long  ago  disappeared,  side  levers  and 
trunks  are  no  longer  introduced,  and  the  surface  conden- 
ser has  become  a  necessity.  In  the  old  days,  with  jet  con- 
densers, the  boilers  were  fed  entirely  with  salt  water,  now 
in  the  best  marine  practice  the  condensed  steam  is  all 
returned  to  the  boiler,  excepting  that  which  is  unavoidably 
lost,  and  this  quantity  is  made  up  by  special  distillers  and 
condensers,  the  manufacture  of  which  has  introduced  a 
new  branch  of  marine  engineering,  as  may  be  judged  by 
several  exhibits  by  different  firms  in  the  Exhibition.  The 
practice  of  circulation  of  refrigerating  water  through  the 
surface  condenser  by  means  of  separate  centrifugal  pump- 
ing engines  has  also  introduced  a  distinctive  type  of 
auxiliaiy  marine  engine,  upon  which  several  important 
firms  have  been  chiefly  employed.  Indeed,  the  increase 
in  auxiliary  machinery  has  been  as  marked  a  feature  in 
the  recent  progress  of  marine  engineering  as  have  been 
the  changes  in  the  main  engines  themseh^es.  A  battle- 
ship of  the  first  class  will  carry  between  seventy  and  eighty 
separate  engines,  in  addition  to  those  used  for  driving  the 
propellers.  These  include  electric  light  engines,  hydrau- 
lic machinery  in  connection  with  the  working  of  heavy 
guns,  steering  engines,  &c.  As  an  instance  of  what  is 
gained  by  the  use  of  auxiliary  machinery,  an  instance 
given  by  Mr.  White  may  be  quoted.  On  one  occasion  it 
took  78  men  ij  minutes  to  put  the  helm  of  the  Minotaur 
hard  over.  Steam  gear  was  subsequently  fitted,  by  the 
aid  of  which  two  men  were  able  to  do  the  same  thing  in 
16  seconds. 

We  do  not  propose  to  give  a  list  of  the  various  objects 
exhibited,  to  which  we  have  referred  in  penning  these 
remarks.  The  official  catalogue  performs  that  function 
far  more  completely  than  we  could  hope  to  do.  The 
collection  at  Chelsea  is  well  selected  and  fairly  complete, 
and  there  will  be  found  there  material  for  object-lessons 
in  all  we  have  advanced  in  this  brief  sketch.  W^e  may, 
however,  with  advantage,  add  a  few  figures  as  to  money 
cost,  which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest,  and  for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  the  Director  of  Naval  Construction. 
The  cost  of  a  loo-gun  line-of-battle  ship  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century  was  about  £65,000  to  ;^ 70,000,  arma- 
ment and  stores  being  excluded.  The  corresponding 
outlay  on  the  iio-gun  sailing  three-deckers  of  1840  was 
about  ;^ixo,ooo;  and  that  of  the  121-gun  screw  three- 
deckers  of  1859  about  ;£23o,ooo,  machinery  included. 
The  Warrior,  completed  in  1861,  cost  over  ^375,000 ; 
and  the  Minotemr  class  about  £480,000.  With  the  in- 
crease in  size  of  the  Dreadnought,  and  the  introduction 
of  hydrauhc  mechanism,  came  an  increase  of  cost  to 
£620,000 ;  while  the  Inflexible  cost  no  less  than  £810,000." 

NO.   II 30,  VOL.  44] 


The  Nile  and  Trafalgar,  complete  with  armament,  would 
represent  little  less  than  a  million  sterling  each.  The 
cost  of  the  armour-plating,  propelling  machinerv,  and 
hydraulic  gun  mountings  ^one,  would  have  paid  tor  five 
first-rates  of  Nelson%  time.  The  sum  paid  fdr  the 
armour  alone  on  one  of  our  latest  battleships,  suefa  as 
the  Royai  Sovereign,  would  pay  for  the  Natural  History 
Museum  at  South  Kensington ;  whilst  e\'en  a  fir^t-dass 
torpedo-boat  costs  as  tnuch  to  build  and  equip  as  a  40- 
gun  frigate  of  Nelson's  time. 

A  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION  IN  AMERICA. 

I  BEG  to  call  to  your  attention  the  following  ahmt 
account  tii  a  geological  excursion  planned  for  the 
benefit  of  foreign  geologists  who  may  attend  thte  coflifk^ 
meeting  of  the  International  Geological  Congtiess  in  fbis 
city  in  August  next.  It  will  afford  an  exceptionally 
favourable  opportunity  for  European  geologists  to  become 
personally  familiar  with  the  most  important  gCDlogical 
phenomena  of  the  United  States. 

I  venture,  therefore,  in  their  interest,  to  request  that 
you  publish  some  notice  of  it  in  your  widely  circnlated 
periodica],  with  a  request  that  those  who  desire  to  take 
part  in  it  will  kindly  advise  me  as  early  as  possible,  in 
order  that  arrangements  may  be  thoroughly  perfected 
beforehand.  A  single  train  will  carry  75  to  100  persons 
comfortably.  If  more  join,  the  party  will  be  arranged  in 
two  trains.  Arrangements  will  have  to  be  made  befbte- 
hand  at  the  various  stopping  places  along  the  road  for 
the  reception  of  the  psu-ty,  and  you  can  therefore  readily 
understand  the  importance  of  knowing  as  early  as  pos- 
sible how  many  are  to  be  accommodated. 

S.  F.  Emmons,  Secretary. 

Washington,  D.C.,  May  30. 

For  the  close  of  the  fifth  session  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Geologists,  which  is  to  be  held  at  Washing- 
ton, D.C.,  from  August  26  to  September  2,  a  grand  geo- 
logical excursion  has  been  organized,  which  presents 
unusual  attractions  and  facilities  for  the  Evnropean  geo- 
logists who  attend  the  Congress,  and  who  wish  to  see 
some  of  the  geological  wonders  which  have  become 
familiar  to  them  through  the  memoirs  of  American 
geologists.  The  excursionists  will  start  from  Washing- 
ton, on  September  3,  on  a  special  train  of  Pullman  vcs- 
tibuled  cars,  which  will  constitute  a  moving  hotel,  being 
provided  with  sleeping  and  toilet  accommodations  for 
both  ladies  and  gentlemen,  restaurant  cars,  smoking, 
reading,  and  bath  rooms,  and  barber's  shop,  and  so 
arranged  that  travellers  can  pass  freely  at  all  times  from 
car  to  car  through  covered  passages.  It  will  accompany 
the  party  wherever  the  rails  are  laid  in  the  regions 
visited,  the  hours  being  arranged  so  that  all  the  most 
interesting  portions  of  the  route  will  be  passed  over  in 
the  daytime,  and  stops  may  be  made  wherever  any  object 
of  special  interest  to  the  travellers  presents  itself.  Ame- 
rican geologists  who  have  made  special  studies  of  the 
different  regions  visited  will  accompany  the  train,  and 
explain  their  geological  structure  upon  the  groond.  The 
main  route  laid  out  is  over  6000  miles  (nearly  xo,ooo 
kilometres)  in  length,  and  extends  over  38^  of  longitude 
and  12°  of  latitude.  It  is  planned  to  occupy  25  days, 
and  the  cost  per  person  will  be  265  dollars  (1325  francs), 
which  will  cover  aU  necessary  expenses,  of  whatever  kind, 
during  the  trip. 

The  following  are  the  principal  objects  of  geological 
interest  which  will  be  seen  by  those  who  make  the 
excursion  :»**• 

Going  westward,  the  Appalachian  Mountains  are  first 
crossed,  and  an  opportunity  will  be  had  to  see  the  closdy 
appressed  Palaeozoic  rocks  which  constitute  their  typical 
structure.  The  prairie  region  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  at 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  Michigan,  its  ancieut  outlet 


JUME  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


•83 


into  the  Mississippi  River^  will  be  seea  on  the  second 
day,  and  the  Kettle  moraines  of  the  ancient  Glacial 
sheet  will  be  visited  under  the  guidance  of  Prof.  Cham- 
berlin.  On  the  third  day  the  twin  cities  of  Minneapolis 
and  St  Paul,  centres  of  the  g^eat  wheat-lowing  region 
of  the  north-west,  will  be  visited,  and  glacialists  will  have 
an  opporttmity  to  see  one  of  the  time  gauges  of  the 
Glacial  period,  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony)  on  the  Mi»> 
sissippi  River. 

Daring  the  fourth  day  the  Great  Plains  of  Dakota  will 
be  crossed,  and  toward  its  close  the  characteristic  Bad- 
land  topography  of  the  Upper  Missoiui  region  will  be 
seen.  On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day  the  travellers  will 
leave  the  train  at  the  entrance  to  the  Yellowstone  Park, 
aad  during  the  foHolring  week  will  be  transported  by 
stag-es  through  the  Park  region,  stopping  at  rustic  hotels 
established  near  points  of  special  interest  The  various 
geyw  basins,  the  hot  lakes  and  mud  volcanoes,  the 
obsidian  cliffs,  the  falls  and  canon  of  the  Yellowstone 
River,  the  Yellowstone  Lake,  and  other  objects  of  interest, 
will  be  successively  visited  under  the  guidance  of  Messrs. 
Arnold  Hague  and  Tos.  P.  Iddings. 

On  the  twelfth  day  the  railroad  journey  will  be  re- 
sinned, and,  after  crossing  the  crest  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains in  Montana,  a  stop  of  several  hours  will  be  made 
at  the  famous  mining  town  of  Butte,  whose  mines  pro- 
duced, during  1^90^  over  26  million  dollars  worth  of 
copper,  silver,  and  gold. 

The  morning  of  the  thirteenth  day  will  find  the  tra- 
vellers on  the  edge  of  the  great  lava  plains  of  the  Snake 
River.  Those  especially  interested  in  volcanic  pheno- 
mena will  have  an  opportunity  here  of  making  a  side  trip 
across  these  plains  to  Shoshone  Falls,  where  the  Snake 
river  makes  a  single  leap  of  over  200  feet,  and  cuts  a 
narrow  gorge  600  feet  deep  in  the  andesitic  and  basaltic 
lavaSb  The  main  party  meanwhile  will  proceed  south- 
ward into  Utah,  viewing  the  desert  mountalin  ranges,  the 
shore-lines  of  ancient  Lake  Bonneville,  and  skirting  the 
shores  of  its  present  relic,  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  will  reach 
Salt  Lake  Citv,  the  Mormon  capital,  in  the  afternoon.  A 
halt  of  three  days  will  be  made  in  Salt  Lake  City,  which 
win  give  the  travellers  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
Mormons,  the  desert  scenery  around  Salt  Lake  (with 
bath  in  the  lake},  and  the  magnificent  Wahsatch  Moun- 
tains. The  Pleistocene  phenomena  will  be  explained  by 
Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert,  and  the  mountain  structure  and 
Runiag  geology  by  Mr.  S.  F.  Emmons. 

On  the  sixteenth  day  the  railroad  joomeQr  will  be  con- 
tinued across  the  Wahsatch  Mountains  into  the  plateau 
re^on  of  the  Colorado  River,  crossing  that  stream  in  the 
altemom),  and  obtaining  views  of  great  monoclinal 
scarps,  and  groups  of  laccolitic  mountains  in  the  dis- 


On  the  seventeenth  day  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of 
Cokmuiii  will  be  entered,  through  its  finest  canon  gorges, 
affavdiBi^  wonderful  geological  sections.  Halts  of  a  few 
hoon^each  will  be  made  at  Glenwood  Springy  and  at  the 
fainmw  mining  town,  of  Leadville,  which  has  produced 
over  1 40  xaillioa  dcdlars  worth  of  silver  and  lead. 

On  the  eighteenth  day  the  train  will  descend  the  great 
mountain  vsuley  of  the  Arkansas  River,  between  mountain 
peaks  over  14,000  feet  hig^,  and  through  cafion  gorges 
3030  feet  deep,  debouching  upon  the  plains  through  the 
Royat  Gorge  at  Canon  City,  where  a  remarkable  geo- 
logical section  in  the  '*  Hogback"  ridges  will  be  visited. 
A  short  stop  will  be  made  at  Pueblo,  a  great  centre  of 
Bowltiag  works;  and  Manitoa  Springs,  ia  a  ^lelteied 
nook  uMer  Ftk^'a  Peak,  will  be  reache»  ia  the  evendng^ 

Tte  BAnetMath  day  win  bo  spent  at  Maoitou  Springs, 
tha  vicinity  of  which  abounds  in  objects  of  geological 
and  ouneralogical  interest^  and  those  who  wish  may 
make  the  ascent  oC  Pike's  Peak  (14,200  feet)  by  rail. 

The  twentieth  day  will  be  spent  at  Denver,  the  capital 
of    Cotorado,  a  beautiful  city  of  130,000   inhabitants, 

NO.  1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


having  a  view  of  the  whole  eastern  front  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  For  those  who  desire  it,  a  further  excursion 
of  ten  days  or  more  will  be  organized  under  the  guidance 
of  J.  W.  Powell  and  C  E.  Dutton,  to  the  Great  QiiLons  of 
the  Colorado  River  in  Arizona,  which  they  have  so  fully 
described  in  their  writings.  More  detailed  visits  to  the 
mining  districts  of  Colorado  will  be  directed  by  S.  F. 
Emmons  for  those  who  wish  to  remain  over  for  that 
purpose.  Those  who  remain  over  will  receive  tickets 
securing  them  passage  to  New  York  by  regular  trains 
when  they  are  ready  to  start. 

The  special  train  will  leave  Denver  on  the  evening  of 
September  21,  crossing  the  Great  Plains  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  reaching 
Chicago  on  the  evening  of  the  23rd.  A  day  will  be 
given  to  Chicago,  and  thence  the  train  will  skirt  the  Great 
Lakes,  Michigaa,  Huron,  and  Erie,  crossing  a  portion  of 
,  Canada,  and  reaching  Niagara  Falls  on  the  morning  of 
September  25.  Leaving  there  in  the  evening,  the  tra- 
vellers will  descend  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Hudson 
River  early  the  following  morning,  and  reach  New  York 
before  noon  of  September  26. 


NOTES. 
The  Delegates  of  the  University  Press  have  informed  Prof. 
Sylvester  that  they  will  be  prepared  to  bear  the  expense  of  pub- 
lishing in  quarto  a  complete  edition  of  his  mathematical  works. 
We  understand  that  a  memorial  recommending  this  course  was 
addressed  to  the  Delegates  of  the  Press,  numerously  signed  by 
leading  mathematicians  of  the  two  English  Universities,  and  by 
eminent  members  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Geologists  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  will  learn  with  deep 
regret  that  Captain  Dutton,  whose  admirable  memoirs  in  the 
Reports  and  Monographs  of  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey  are  so 
widely  known  and  valued,  has  been  ordered  to  take  up  military 
duty  in  Texas — a  wide  pastoral  r^ion  where  his  genius  as  a 
geological  explorer  will  find  no  scope  for  exercise.  As  a  member 
of  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  he  has  of  course  always  been  liable  to 
be  taken  away  to  mere  routine  service  of  this  kind,  for  which  any 
ordinary  officer  of  his  grade  would  be  sufficient.  But  the  authori- 
ties have  hitherto  appreciated  his  remarkable  powers,  and  have 
allowed  them,  free  exercise,  much  to  their  own  credit  and  greatly 
for  the  benefit  of  scienoe.  Whether  a  new  martinet  has  resolved 
to  apply  the  rigid  rules  of  the  service  we  do  not  know.  But 
sorely  there  ought  to  be  public  spirit  enough  in  the  United  States 
to  put  such  pressnie  on  the  Engineer  Department  as  will  make 
it  reconsider  its  arrangements.  It  has  only  one  Captain  Dotton, 
aod  should  be  proud  of  him  and  make  the  most  of  luin» 

The  Council  of  the  Royal  Meteorological  Society  has  decided 
to  anange  for  a  general  dinner,  open  to  all  Fellows  and  their 
friends,  to  be  held  in  commemoration  of  the  entmnce  of  the 
Society  on  its  new  premises.  The  dinner  will  take  place  at  the 
Holborn  Restanrant  on  Tuesday,  July  7,  at  6.3P  p.i 


The  Committee  appointed  by  the  Hebdomadal  Council, 
Oxford,  to  consider  in  what  way  the  University  could  ajuist 
in  the  establishment  of  agricultural  education,  with  a  special 
view  to  the  needs  of  the  County  Councils,  have  now  submitted 
their  report.  By  agricultural  education  the  Committee  under- 
stand instruction  in  the  sciences,  or  the  branches  of  science, 
specially  applicable  to  agriculture,  employing  the  latter  term 
with  the  laiger  meanmg  which  must  have  been  present  to  the 
mind  of  Dr.  Sibthorp  when*  he  designated  the  professorship 
founded  by  him  the  professonhip  of  *'  Rural  Economy."  Used 
m  this  sense  agricnltnre  becomes  not  merely  the  science  of  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  bnt  includes  the  knowledge  of  its  con- 
stitution and  properties,  of  its  vegetable  products,  and  of  the 
structure,  habits,  and  uses  of  the  domestic  animals  that  are 


1 84 


NA  TURE 


[June  25,  1891 


reared  npon  it ;  so  that  the  student  has  evidently  much  to  gain 
by  a  knowledge  of  such  subjects  as  botany,  chemistry,  animal 
physiology,  and  geology.  Taking  into  account  the  requirements 
of  the  County  Councils,  the  Committee  think  that  the  efforts  of 
the  University  should  in  the  first  place  be  directed  to  the  pro- 
vision of  an  adequate  supply  of  persons  qualified  to  be  lecturers  or 
teachers ;  and  those  members  who  are  most  familiar  with  the 
wants  of  the  counties  lay  stress  upon  the  importance  of  University 
teachers  possessing  credentials  of  practical  acquaintance  with  the 
details  of  farmiog  and  farm-life,  which  has  hitherto  been  only 
accidentally— if  at  all— acquired  by  such  teachers.  Other  classes 
of  persons  whose  circumstances  the  Committee  think  deserving 
of  consideration  are  young  men  who  go  to  Oxford  intending  to 
take  an  ordinary  d^ree,  and  then,  either  as  landowners  or  the 
agents  of  landowners,  to  devote  themselves  to  the  pursuit  and 
improvement  of  agriculture ;  and  young  men  who  might  go  to 
Oxford  with  a  view  to  attending  such  courses  of  instruction  as 
would  be  useful  to  them  in  agriculture,  but  without  the  intention 
of  taking  a  degree.  Dealing  with  the  means  already  at  the 
command  of  the  University  for  providing  agricultural  educa- 
tion, the  Committee  point  out  that  the  professors  to  whose  ser- 
vices resort  would  most  naturally  be  had  are  the  following  :  the 
Sibthorpian  Professor  of  Rural  Economy,  the  Sherardian  Pro- 
fessor of  Botany,  the  Waynflcte  Professor  of  Chemistry,  the 
Waynflete  Professor  of  Physiology,  and  the  Professor  of  Ex- 
perimental Philosophy  (Physics).  In  addition  to  these  Univer- 
sity Professors,  there  are  the  Lee*s  Readers  in  Chemistry  and 
Physics  at  Christ  Church,  and  the  Millard  Lecturer  in  Physics 
at  Trinity  College,  whose  courses  would  probably  be  open  to 
agricultural .  students.  The  Committee  sketch  the  proper  course 
of  study  for  each  class  of  students,  and  express  the  opinion  that 
for  the  organization  and  supervision  of  the  studies  pertaining  to 
agricultural  education  some  further  provision  is  needed  than  at 
present  exists.  In  the  Sibthorpian  Professorship  of  Rural  Eco- 
nomy, which  is  now  vacant,  they  recognize  a  foundation  capable 
of  being  rendered  the  centre  of  agricultural  education  within  the 
University  ;  and  they  strongly  recommend  that  the  duties  and 
emoluments  of  the  chair  should  be  revised. 

The  annual  dinner  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  was 
held  on  Tuesday  evening  at  the  Hotel  Metropole.  The  chair 
was  taken  by  Sir  Trevor  Lawrence,  the  President.  The  toast 
of  the  evening,  "The  Royal  Horticultural  Society,"  was  pro- 
posed by  Sir  James  Paget,  who  spoke  of  the  work  in  which  the 
Society  was  engaged  as  one  that  ministered  to  the  happiness 
and  welfare  of  the  whole  nation.  The  President  responded. 
The  Society  is  now  in  a  most  prosperous  condition,  and  is  to  be 
congratulated  on  the  progress  it  has  made  under  Sir  Trevor 
Lawrence's  leadership. 

We  print  elsewhere  a  report  of  the  lecture  delivered  by  Lord 
Rayleigh  at  the  Royal  Institution  last  week  in  connection  with 
the  Faraday  Centenary.  In  commemoration  of  this  anniversary 
the  Royal  Institution  elected  as  honorary  members  a  number  of 
foreign  men  of  science,  several  of  whom  came  to  London  to  be 
presented  with  the  diploma  of  membership  by  the  Prince  of 
Wales.  As  the  distinction  between  the  Royal  Institution  and 
the  Royal  Society  is  not  always  so  well  understood  in  foreign 
countries  as  it  is  in  England,  the  Royal  Institution  can  hardly, 
perhaps,  be  congratulated  on  this  **  new  departure."  The  follow- 
ing is  the  list  of  those  on  whom  the  honour  was  conferred  : — 
Edmond  Becquerel,  Marcellin  Berthelot,  Alfred  Comu,  E. 
Mascart,  Louis  Pasteur,  Paris ;  R.  W.  Bunsen,  Heidelberg ; 
H.  L.  F.  von  Helmholtz,  A.  W.  von  Hofmann,  Rudolph 
Virchow,  Berlin  ;  J.  P.  Cooke,  Cambridge,  U.S.  ;  J.  D wight 
Dana,  J.  Willard  Gibbs,  Newhaven,  U.S.  ;  Simon  Newcomb, 
Washington,  U.S.  ;  Stanislas  Cannizzaro,  Pietro  Tacchini, 
Rome ;  Julius  Thomscn,  Copenhagen  ;  T.  R.  Thalen,  Upsala ; 
Demetri  Mendeleef,   St.    Petersburg ;  J.   C.   G.  de  Marignac, 

NO.    I  1 30,  VOL.  44] 


Geneva ;  J.  D.  van  der  Waals,  Amsterdam ;  J.  Servais  Staiv 
Brussels. 

A  Commission  has  been  appointed  for  the  reotganizatioa  of 
the  Paris  Museum  of  Natural  History,  and  held  its  first  mcetiag 
last  week  under  the  presidency  of  the  Minister  of  Public  In- 
straction.  The  members  are  MM.  Berthelot,  Bardoux,  Bardeaa, 
Charles  Dupuy,  Darboux,  Fr^my,  Chauvean,  Milne-Edwsrds, 
and  Liard. 

A  conversazione  will  be  given  by  the  President  of  the  Institu- 
tion of  Electrical  Engineers  and  Mrs.  Crookes  in  the  galleries 
of  the  Royal  Institute  of  Painters  in  Water  Colours  on  Monday 
evening,  July  6. 

On  Monday  evening,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Sir  H. 
Roscoe  asked  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  whether  he 
had  decided  to  grant  the  application  of  the  Committee  of  the 
National-Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine  to  become  inoorpoiBted 
under  the  Companies  Act,  with  the  omission  of  the  word 
"limited"  in  view  of  the  amended  proposals  which  had  been 
placed  before  him.  Sir  M.  Hicks-Beach  replied  as  follows  : — 
''  The  amendment  of  the  proposed  memorandum  of  assoctalkn 
referred  to  by  the  hon.  member  (by  which  it  is  made  clear  that 
the  grant  of  the  licence  now  asked  for  would  not  in  any  way 
imply  approval  by  the  Board  of  Trade  of  experiments  npoo  livini 
animals,  or  of  any  application  to  the  Home  Secretary  for  a 
licence  for  that  purpose)  is,  no  doubt,  an  important  change  in 
the  proposals  of  the  Institute,  and  will  probably  meet  the 
objection  stated  to  the  deputation  which  lately  waited  upon  me. 
There  are,  however,  one  or  two  other  points  requiring  considen- 
tion,  but  I  hope  shortly  to  be  able  to  arrive  at  a  decision  on  the 
subject." 

Sir  Prescott  Gardiner  Hewett,  F.R.S.,  died  on  Friday 
night  last  at  his  residence.  Chestnut  Lodge,  Horsham,  SnsMx. 
He  was  bom  in  1812,  and  in  1836  was  admitted  a  member  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  of  which  he  was  made  President 
in  1876,  in  succession  to  Sir  James  Paget. 

With  the  approval  of  the  President,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  Council  of  the  Society  of  Arts  have  awarded  the  Albeit 
Medal  to  Sir  Frederick  Abel,  K.C.B.,  *' in  recognition  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  has  promoted  several  important  classes  of 
the  arts  and  manufactures,  by  the  application  of  chemical  science, 
and  especially  by  his  researches  in  the  manufacture  of  iroo  and 
of  steel ;  and  also  in  acknowledgment  of  the  great  services  he 
has  rendered  to  the  State  in  the  provision  of  improved  war 
materia],  and  as  chemist  to  the  War  Department." 

The  Report  of  the  Savilian  Professor  of  Astronomy  has  been 
presented  to  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  University  Observa- 
tory, and  we  learn  from  it  that  the  photographic  telescope, 
prepared  for  taking  part  in  the  International  Chart  of  the 
Heavens,  is  at  length  complete.  The  guiding  telescope  also  is 
provided  with  a  micrometer  sufficient  to  permit  the  observatioD 
of  stars  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  centre  of  the  plate, 
and  the  camera  end  of  the  telescope  is  fitted  with  the  apparatus 
devised  by  the  Astronomer- Royal,  and  executed  by  Sir  Howard 
Grubb.  The  Oxford  University  Observatory  is  also  provided 
with  two  riseaux^  supplied  through  Dr.  Voj^el,  of  the  Potsdam 
Observatory,  and  has  very  recently  added  to  its  equipment  a 
measuring  machine  of  great  delicacy  for  the  discussion  of  the 
plates  taken  in  connection  with  the  international  scheme. 
Altogether  the  equipment  of  the  Oxford  University  Observatory 
appears  to  be  in  a  very  forward  state  of  preparedness,  and  ProC 
Pritchard  congratulates  himself  and  the  University  that  this 
equipment  has  entailed  no  unusual  appeal  to  funds,  on  which 
there  are  so  many  claims,  but  has  been  supplied  by  the  boonty 
of  the  late  Dr.  De  La  Rue,  supplemented  by  strict  economy  in 
the  management  of  the  Observatory  in  former  years.  The 
astronomical  work  of  the  past  year  has  been  mainly  confined  to 
the  discussion  of  the  parallax  of  stars  of  the  second  magnitnde. 


June  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


185 


and  this  work  b  now  on  the  brink  of  accomplishment.  Seven 
complete  determinations,  indoding  that  of  j8  Aurigse,  have  been 
made  in  the  year,  and  bat  six  other  stars,  the  measures  of  which 
are  complete,  await  discussion.  Prof.  Pritchard  concludes  his 
Report  as  usual,  by  acknowledging  the  aid  he  has  received  from 
his  two  assistants,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  speaks  hopefully  of 
his  restoration  to  complete  health. 

The  President  of  the  French  Republic  inspected  the  meteoro- 
logical instruments  at  the  summit  of  the  Eiffel  Tower  on  June 
13,  and  afterwards  visited  the  Central  Meteorological  Office, 
where  he  witnessed  M«  Weyer's  experiments  on  the  formation 
of  tornadoes,  and  abo  inspected  the  instruments  which  there 
register  the  indications  of  the  meteorological  phenomena  at  the 
top  of  the  Eiffel  Tower. 

The  French  Minbter  of  Public  Instruction  has  appointed 
Dr.  Henry  de  Varigny,  assbtant  in  the  Museum  of  Natural 
Hutory,  to  report  on  the  University  Extension  movement,  and 
has  commissioned  him  to  study  the  question  in  .Edinburgh, 
London,  and  Oxford. 

The  proposed  law  on  Universities  b  exciting  a  good  deal  of 
discussion  in  France.  Many  local  jealousies  have  been  aroused 
in  connection  with  the  question.  Every  town  th^^t  boasts  the 
possession  of  a  tenth-rate  medical  school,  or  of  an  inadequate 
scientific  faculty,  wishes  to  have  a  University  ;  and  its  political 
representatives  have,  of  course,  to  do  what  they  can  to  press  its 
claim?.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Government,  which  would 
willingly  establish  five  or  at  most  six  large  Universities,  desires 
if  p:)ssible,  to  do  away  with  small  and  useless  institutions. 

A  SCIENTIFIC  expedition  which  has  been  organized  in  Maine 
is  about  to  spend  some  time  in  Labrador.  The  principal  object 
of  the  party  will  be  to  collect  ethnological  specimens.  They  will 
take  with  them  a  phonograph,  with  which  they  hope  to  obtain 
some  materials  for  the  study  of  the  language  and  songs  of  the 
Eskimo. 

In  drawing  up  schemes  for  the  appropriation  of  the  funds 
placed  at  their  dbposal  under  the  Local  Taxation  Act,  1890,  for 
the  promotion  of  technical  instruction,  the  County  Councils 
certainly  ought  not  to  overlook  the  claims  of  girls'  education. 
With  a  view  of  aiding  County  Councib  in  thb  department  of 
their  work,  the  Committee  of  the  National  Association  for  the 
Promotion  of  Technical  and  Secondary  Education  has  submitted 
to  them  a  careful  outline  of  subjects  which  are  adapted  for  girls, 
and  included  within  the  scope  of  the  Technical  Instruction  Acts. 
It  is  suggested  that  in  each  county  a  committee  of  ladies  should 
be  appointed  to  devise  and  carry  out  a  scheme  for  the  technical 
edncotion  of  girb. 

The  Sussex  Daily  News  of  June  18  records  the  birth  of  a 
sea  lion  at  the  Brighton  Aquarium. 

On  June  l8,  sixty  distinct  shocks  of  earthquake  occurred  at 
Serajgunge  and  Domar,  in  the  Bengal  Presidency.  Many  build- 
ings were  slightly  damaged.  At  Serajgunge  continuous  earth- 
quake shocks  had  been  felt  from  noon  on  the  preceding  day. 

According  to  a  telegram  from  Rome,  dated  June  22,  a  strong 
shock  of  earthquake  was  felt  that  morning  at  Avigliano  and  at 
Aquila. 

In  his  report  on  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Ceylon,  for  1890, 
Dr.  Trimen  refers  to  the  kinds  of  cacao  in  cultivation  there. 
There  b  no  reason  to  suppose,  he  says,  that  they  have  under 
cultivation  more  than  one  species  of  Theobroma^  but  every 
probability  that  all  the  varieties  trace  their  origin  to  a  common 
wild  parent*  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  which  of  the  two 
fairly  well-marked  races  recognized  in  Ceylon  b  the  nearer  to 
this  original  type,  and  the  facts  could  probably  be  ascertained 
in  Central  America.  The  names  "  Criollo "  and  **  Forastero " 
applied  to  them  simply  mean  '*  wild  and  foreign,"  and  seem  to 
have  had  their  origin  in  Trinidad,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  former 

NO.   IT 30,  VOL.  44] 


was  ever  really  a  native  plant  there.  It  was,  however,  the 
sort  at  one  time  exclusively  grown  in  that  island,  where,  having 
died  out,  its  place  was  supplied  by  the  '*  foreign"  sort,  no  doubt 
obtained  fronti  the  mainland.  As  seen  in  Ceylon,  the  "  Criollo '' 
(called  abo  there  "Caracas''  and  "Old  Ceylon  Red  Cacao'') 
presents  very  little  variety,  but  the  "Forastero"  shows  a  re- 
markable range  in  form,  size,  and  colour  of  pod  and  seed.  No 
doubt  crossing  goes  on  freely  in  plantations  even  between  the 
two  main  races,  and  it  b  well  known  in  Ceylon  that  seed  from  a 
single  tree  gives  a  very  varied  progeny  ;  but  a  curious  remark 
was  recently  made  to  Dr.  Trimen  by  a  large  grower,  who 
has  great  opportunities  for  observation,  that  the  ' '  Forastero '' 
varieties,  which  he  chiefly  cultivates,  appear  to  be  gradually 
changing  their  characters  and  becoming  more  like  the  "Old 
Ceylon  Red,"  the  seeds  losing  their  dark  colour  on  section,  and 
becoming  pale  or  nearly  white. 

In  Himmel  und  Erde  for  June,  Prof.  G.  Hellmann,  of  Berlin, 
begins  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "  Meteorologbche  Volks- 
biicher,"  being  an  inquiry  into  popular  and  typical  meteoro- 
logical works  from  the  earliest  times,  and  into  the  nature  of 
their  contents.  The  works  to  be  discussed  are  more  parti- 
cularly those  of  Germany,  although  foreign  literature  will  alsa 
find  subsidiary  consideration.  Two  worksi  are  referred  to  in 
the  present  article :— (i)  "  The  Book  of  Nature,"  by  Konrad 
von  Megenberg,  which  is  the  oldest  natural  history  in  the 
German  language,  and  was  written  abo  ut  the  year  1350 — nearly 
a  century  before  the  invention  of  pricti  ng.  It  was  first  printe(Y 
in  1475,  and  went  through  many  subsequent  editions.  Much 
attention  and  original  thought  was  given  to  meteorological 
subjects,  and  the  author  divided  the  wind-rose  into  12  points  i 
but  the  work  b  to  some  extent  based  upon  a  still  unpublbhed 
Latin  manuscript  by  Thomas  Cantimpratensis,  "  Liber  de  natura 
rerum,"  which  was  written  before  the  middle  of  the  13th  century. 
(2)  "  Elucidarius."  The  author  of  this  work  is  not  known  with 
certainty,  but  is  supposed  to  be  Jakob  Kobel.  Thb  remarkable 
work  was  first  published  in  German,  in  the  year  1470,  and  was. 
much  sought  for  in  most  European  countries  in  the  15th  and 
i6th  centuries.  It  deals  with  a  variety  of  subjects,  including 
meteorology  and  geography,  and  many  editions  were  published 
in  various  countries.  Dr.  Hellmann  gives  copious  extracts  from 
the  works  ;  and  historical  research  being  a  subject  in  which  he 
carries  great  authority,  hb  treatment  of  it  will  be  found  both 
interesting  and  instructive. 

Messrs.  Vieweg  and  Son,  of  Brunswick,  intend  publishing 
a  German  translation  of  Mr.  Denning's  new  book,  "  Telescopic. 
Work  for  Starlight  Evenings." 

A  WORK  entitled  "  Synopsis  der  Hoheren  Mathematik,"  by 
J.  G.  Hagen,  Director  of  the  Georgetown  College  Observatory, 
Washington,  D.C.,  b  to  be  publbhed  by  Felix  L.  Dames,. 
Berlin.  The  work  is  the  result  of  labour  carried  on  cx)ntinuou8ly 
during  twenty  years,  and  is  intended  to  present  a  general  view 
of  the  higher  mathematics.  It  will  consbt  of  four  volumes,  the 
first  of  which  will  be  issued  early  in  August. 

A  VALUABLE  paper  on  gum-trees,  by  Mr,  D.  McAlpine  and 
Mr.  J.  R.  Remfry,  has  been  reprinted  from  the  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Victoria  for  1890.  There  are  several  illus- 
trative plates,  the  drawings  being  principally  reproductions  of 
photographs  taken  by  Mr.  Remfry.  These  drawings  show  that 
the  transverse  section  of  the  leafstalk  of  a  Eucalypt  may  reveal 
a  pattern  useful  in  the  determination  of  species. 

Messrs.  George  Philip  and  Son  have  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  Blue  Peter,  a  monthly  sailing  Ibt  and  review.  It 
b  intended  that  the  new  journal  shall  provide  ample  information 
for  persons  who  are  about  to  set  out  by  any  one  of  the  principal 
ocean  routes.  There  will  also  be  articles  which  may  serve  ta 
remind  ships'  officers  that  "there  b  substantial  [profit  to  be 
derived  from  a  scientific  training." 


x86 


NATURE 


[June  25,  1891 


THit  third  Tolinae  of  the  Photographic  Rtcardtr  is  completed 
by  the  June  namber.  The  Tolaine  is  adinincbly  illustrated^  and 
•contains  a  valuable  record  of  all  that  has  been  d(Hie  in  connec- 
tion with  pfaotographf  during  the  past  year. 

Messrs.  W.  F.  Brovtn  and  Co.,  Montreal,  are  prtnttng 
-for  the  Government  of  Canada  '*  Contributions  to  Canadian 
Palaeontology,*'  by  J.  F.  Wfaiteares,  Palaeontologist  and  Zoologist 
to  the  Canadian  Survey.  Part  iii  of  vol.  i.  has  just  been 
issued.  It  deals  with  the  fbssik  of  the  Devonian  rocks  of  the 
Mackenzie  River  basin.    • 

A  NOTR  by  M.  Moissan  upon  the  action  of  fluorine  upon 
phosphorus  tri fluoride  is  communicated  to  the  current  num- 
ber of  the  BulUUn  de  la  SocUU  Chimiqtu,  A  short  time 
ago  M.  Moissan  described  a  mode  of  preparing  the  gaseous 
trifluoride  of  phosphorus.  The  method  consisted  in  gradually 
adding  phosphorus  tribromide  to  warm  zinc  fluoride,  wash- 
ing the  gas  first  through  water,  in  which  it  is  sparingly 
soluble,  and  afterwards  drying  by  means  of  pnm\ce  moistened 
with  sulphuric  acid  and  collecting  over  mercury.  In  order 
to  study  the  action  of  free  fluorine  gas  upon  phosphorus  tri- 
fluoride as  thus  prepared,  a  special  piece  of  apparatus  was  de- 
vised, constructed  entirely  of  platinum  and  fluor-spar.  It  consisted 
of  a  platinum  tube  fifteen  centimetres  long,  closed  at  each  end 
by  transparent  plates  of  fluor-spar,  through  which  the  phenomena 
attending  the  reaction  could  be  observed.  The  platinum  tube 
was  fitted  with  three  side  tubes,  two  of  which  were  placed  op- 
posite each  other  about  the  centre  of  the  tube,  and  served  for  the 
admission  of  the  fluorine  and  phosphorus  trifluoride  respectively  ; 
the  third  or  exit  tube  was  of  somewhat  wider  diameter  than  the 
entrance  tubes,  and  was  bent  so  as  to  serve  as  a  delivery  tube 
over  a  mercury  trough.  The  whole  apparatus  was  first  filled 
•with  phosphorus  trifluoride,  and  then  the  fluorine  entrance  tube 
was  connected  with  M.  Moissan's  now  well-known  apparatus  for 
the  preparation  of  fluorine.  As  soon  as  the  fluorine  came  in 
contact  with  the  phosphorus  trifluoride  a  yellow  flame  was  pro- 
duced and  intense  action  occurred,  with  the  production  of 
phosphorus  pentafluoride.  The  flame  appears  to  be  a  conpara- 
tively  low  temperature  one.  On  collecting  the  gaseous  product 
over  mercury,  it  was  found  to  consist  very  largely  of  phosphorus 
(pentafluoride,  readily  capable  of  absorption  by  water,  and  a  small 
proportion  of  unaltered  trifluoride  which  could  be  absorbed  by 
potash.  This  reaction  of  fluorine  with  trifluoride  of  phosphorus  , 
•is  thus  analogous  to  the  conversion  of  phosphorus  trichloride  into 
pentachlonde  by^the  action  of  gaseous  chlorine.  An  interesting 
reaction  has  also  been  observed  by  M.  Moissan  to  occur  between 
spongy  platinum  and  these  gaseous  fluorides  of  phosphorus. 
When  pentafluoride  of  phosphorus  was  passed  over  ^)ongy 
platinum  gently  heated  inapUtinxun  tube,  a  partial  decomposition 
was  found  to  occur,  aad  the  issuing  gas  was  admixed  with  tri- 
fluoride, and  also  with  free  fluorine.  The  existence  of  the  latter 
in  tiie  firee  state  was  abundantly  riiown  by  its  action  upon  crystal- 
lized silicon.  Wben,  however,  the  temperature  of  the  tube  was 
raised  to  dull  redness,  a  volatile  compound,  containing  platinun, 
phosphorus,  aatdflnodne,  was  obtained,  which  was  carried  forward 
by  the  gaseous  cunrent  and  deposited  in  crystals  in  the  cooltf 
.portion  of  the  tube.  When  this  crystalline  substance  is  heated, 
it  melts  to  a  viscous  liquid,  which  decomposes  at  a  bright  red 
heat.  Analyses  riiow  that  it  is  a  floophosphide  of  platinujB, 
probably  of  the  oompositian  aPF8.PtF4,  ajoalogous  to  one  of 
the  similar  chlorine  compounds  discovered  by  Sdmtzenbex^r, 
z2C\^.  PtCi4.  M.  Moissan  expresses  the  hope  that  by  employing 
some  such  dissociating  compound  as  this  a  purely  (^emical  iso- 
lation of  fliorioe  may  some  daj  be  achieved. 

Thjc  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  dttriag  the 
past  week  include  three  Stoats  {Musteim  erminea),  European, 
presented  by  Mr.  J.  S.  B.  Booongh ;  an  Oot\ot{Felis pardalis  6 ) 
from  South  America,  a  Red-tailed  Buzzard  {Buieo  borealis)^  a 

NO.    1130,  VOL.  44] 


Laaghing  Gull  {Lams  cUricUla)  from  North  Amerioa,  presented 
by  Sb  Henry  Blake,  K.C.M.G.  ;  a  Tawny  Eagle  {^Aqwia 
ttavioides)  loom  Afiica,  presented  by  Mr.  K.  G.  Hay ;  a 
Blue-fronted  Amazon  {ChiysoHs  asiiva)  from  South  America, 
presented  by  Mrs.  A.  G.  Mussey ;  a  Grey-breasted  Paxxakeet 
{Boldorhynckus  monachus)  from  Monte  Video*  presented  by 
Mr.  J.  R.  George  ;  four  Common  Quails  {Coiurnix  cffmmunu)^ 
British,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Gie ;  two  Chinese  Geese  {Anur 
cygtmdfs)  from  China,  presented  by  Captain  Creaghe ;  an 
Egj^tian  Gazelle  {Gazetla  dorcas)  from  Egypt,  two  Ab^rssiniaa 
Guinea  Fowls  {Numida  ptilorhyncha)  from  Abyssinia,  two 
Blossom^ headed  Parrakeets  (/'<i^(?r»7>  cydnocephalus)  from  India, 
a  Meyer's  Parrot  {Paocephalus  meyeri)  from  East  Africa,  three 
Tibetan  Crossoptilons  {Crossoptilon  tihetanum)  from  Tibet,  a 
Temminck's  Tragopan  {Ceriomis  teinmincki  <J)  from  China, 
deposited;  a  Vinaoeous  Amazon  {Chrysoiis  vinacea),  from 
Brazil,  purchased  ;  two  Heloderms  {HeloJerma  suspecium)  froa 
Arizona,  U.S.A.,  received  in  exchange  ;  a  Burrhel  Wild  Sheep 
{Ovis  burr  he  f),  two  Mule  Deer  {Cariacus  nuicrctis  (J  9 ),  a 
Bennett's  Wallaby  {Halmaturus  bennetti  S\  two  Impeyan 
Pheasants  {Lophophorus  impeytsnus),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Transit  op  Mbrcury.— The  Government  Astronomer  at 
Sydney  (Mr.  C.  Todd,  C.M.G.)  writes  as  follows  regarding  the 
transit  of  Mercury : — Good  observations  of  the  transit  of  Mer- 
cury were  secured  at  the  Observatory,  on  Sunday  the  lOth.  At  ^ 
ingress  the  conditions  were  extremely  favourable,  the  sun's  limb 
aud  the  planet  when  projected  on  the  sun's  disk  being  exceed- 
ingly well  and  sharply  defined,  but  at  the  egress  the  sun's  limb 
was  boiling  and  the  planet  was  somewhat  woolly,  rendering  it 
difficult  to  fix  the  exact  time  of  internal  contact.  I  observe' 
with  the  8-inch  equatorial  refractor,  assisted  by  Mr.  Cooke  ;  atd 
Mr.  Sells  observed  with  an  8- inch  reflector. 

The  observations  were  as  follow  :— * 


Observei^C.  Todd.     Power  125. 

Ingress. — External  Contact. 


Times, 
h.  m.      & 

9  10  II 


A.  About  one-third  on"] 

Internal  Contact, 

B.  Contact  tangential 9  13    6*5 

C.  Black  drop  still  clinging  to  limb     9  13  2210 

D.  Rupture  of  black  drop  ;  planet  clear  of  limb    9  13  49*5 

Egress — Power  80.     Internal  Contact, 

£.   Formation  of  black  drop  touching  limb    ...     2     o  I4'i 
F.  Tangential  contact 2    043*8 

External  Contact, 

Indentation  still  visible  ...  2    4  14*8 

,,        ,,      barely  noticeable ..     2    425*8 

Sun's  limb  complete       2    4  31*8 

Observer — Mr.  Sells. 

lifG9iKSS.-^lHternal  Contact. 

a.  Planet  nearly  on  disk,  but  not  quite  ...     9  12  51*3 

b.  True  contact,  momentarily  seen      91313*2 

c.  Planet  pear-shaped  ;  ^  oint  of  pear  touching 

sun's  limb 9  13  507 

Egress. — Internal  Contact, 

a.  Pear-shaped  contact 2    o  34*6 

b.  True  contact 2     i  28^ 

External  Contact. 

c.  Last  seen  ;  or  sun's  limb  judged  to  be  com- 

pieie...         ...         ■••         ..•         ..a         ...     z    4  4"-  ^ 

Observations  of  Telluric  Lines.— The  May  number  of 
the  Meniorie  delta  Societd  degli  Spettroscopiiti  liaiumi  contains  a 
paper  by  G.  B.  Rizso  on  the  telluric  lines  in  the  solar  spectram. 
Signor  Rizao  has  compared  the  intensities  of  the  lines  A,  Bi 
and  a  at  Bosco  Nero  aod  on  the  Rocciamelone  Mountain.  In 
order  to  express  the  variation  in  the  mass  of  air(e)  traversed, 
calculations  have  been  made  of  the  values  at  the  difleieat  alti- 
tudes of  P  see  (,  where  P  is  the  atmospheric  piessure,  and  (is 
the  sun's  zenith  distance.     The  following  is  a  oorapariaoB  of  the 


June  25,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


187 


values  of  ff  and  the  mean  intensities  of  the  lines  at  the  two  sta- 
tions. The  scale  of  intensity  is  sach  that  the  C  Iine.:s  lo,  and 
the  line  at  651*55  is  unity. 

Place  of  IntttnsitieA  of 

ohsen'atioiL  Altitude.  c  the  Uses 

Aa       B.         a. 

Bosco  Nero  ...  1623  metres  ...  1046*2  ...  50  28  3*2 
Rocciamelone...     3538       ,,        ...      846*2     ...    40     20     2*2 

A  comprehensive  bibliography  of  the  subject  accompanies  the 
paper. 

Similarity  of  the  Orbits  of  Certain  Asteroids. — In 
the  Publications  of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific^ 
No.  15,  1891,  Prof.  Daniel  KIrkwood  gnves  a  list  of  twenty-four 
asteroids  arraxiged  in  ten  groups,  according  to  the  similarity  of 
their  orbits.     The  following  are  the  groups : — 


(    84010. 
p.  <  115  Thyra, 

r  249  Use. 
Ij  /    19  Fortuna. 

'  1    79  Eurynome. 
IXI  /  '34  Sophrosyne. 
'  \  193  Ambrosia. 

iv  }    37  Fides. 
*^-  r66Maia. 

f  218  Bianca. 
V.  -^  204  Callisto. 
246  Asporina. 


3  Jttno. 
97  Clotho. 


VI.  j 

VII  )  ^3  Pompeia. 
•  J  200  Dynamene. 
[  278  Pauline. 
VIII.  ]ii6Sirona. 
(      I  Ceres. 
245  Vera. 

86  Semele. 
106  Dione. 
121  Hermione. 

87  Sylvia. 


IX. 


X. 


Jupiter  is  held  responsible  for  the  pertui^tions  necessary  for 
the  development  of  these  groups  of  asteroid  orbits  from  the 
primitire  solar  nebula. 

Astronomical  and  Physical  Society  of  Toronto. — 
The  first  number  of  the  Transactions  of  this  Society  (1890-91), 
with  which  is  also  included  the  first  Annual  Report,  has  recently 
been  issued.  It  contains  abstracts  of  several  interesting  papers 
read  at  the  meetings,  among  which  is  one  on  the  disappearance 
of  Saturn's  rings,  by  Dr.  Morrison,  two  by  Mr.  Shearman  on 
coronal  photography,  and  two  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Miller  on  the 
spectroscope.  A  drawing  of  a  sun-spot  observed  on  November 
30,  and  a  hydrogen  prominence  measured  on  August  3,  forms 
the  frontispiece  of  the  number. 

A  New  Asteroid  (an). — On  June  11  M.  Charlois  discovered 
the  311th  asteroid.     Its  magnitude  was  13. 


THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  CONVERSAZIONE, 

'HE  Ladies*  Soiree  of  the  Royal  Society  was 'held  on  the 
17th   instant,  and   was  very  numerously  attended.     The 
foUowiog  were  among  the  chief  objects  exhibited : — 

Finger-prints  as  a  means  of  identification,  exhibited  by  Mr. 
Francis  Galton,  F.R.S.  (i)  Specimens  showing  the  nature  and 
character  of  the  patterns  that  are  formed  by  the  papillary  ridges 
00  the  bulbs  of  the  fingers,  as  well  as  on  the  rest  of  the  inner 
surfaces  of  the  hands  and  feet.  (2)  Evidence  of  the  persistence 
of  the  patterns  in  their  essential  details,  however  mmute,  from 
io£uicy  to  age.  (3)  Method  of  indexing  a  collection  of  finger- 
prints so  that  a  determination  may  be  quickly  arrived  at,  whether 
ihe  duplicate  of  a  given  specimen  is  contained  in  it  or  not.  (4) 
Process  of  making  finger-prints,  exhibited  in  operation. 

Registration  of  colours  in  numbers,  and  apparatus  to  show  the 
greater  sensitiveness  of  the  eye  to  different  colours,  exhibited  by 
Captain  Abney,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  and  General  Festing,  F.R.S. 
The  registration  consists  in  referring  any  mixed  colour  to  a 
single  wave-length,  and  a  percentage  of  white  light.  With  the 
apparatus  to  show  the  greater  sensitiveness  to  the  eye  of  difierent 
coloaxs,  a  ooo^Muison  is  made  by  placing  two  coloazs  side  by 
side,  which  are  at  ordinary  intensity  of  equal  lumiaosity,  and  by 
then  diminishing  the  intensity  of  each  equally. 

An  optical  illusion,  exhibited  by  Prof.  Silvanas  P.  Thompson, 
F.R.S.  On  two  rotating  disks,  A  and  B,  are  spiral  patterns  in 
black  and  white,  which  seem  to  move  radially  inwaids  and  oat- 
wards  respectively.  Let  the  observer  gaze  fixedly  for  about  one 
mmute  at  the  centre  of  A,  and  then  suddenly  transfer  his  gaze 
to  any  object— say  the  face  of  a  friend — he  will  see  that  object 
apparently  enlarging  from  the  middle  outwards.  After  similarly 
gazing  for  a  minute  at  B,  and  then  looking  at  any  object,  he  will 
see  it  apparently  diminishing. 


NO.   II 30,  VOL.  44] 


Discharge  without  electrodes  through  gases,  exhibited  by  Prof. 
J.  J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.  The  discharge  tube  in  these  experi- 
ments is  made  to  form  the  secondary  of  what  is  essentialljr  an 
induction  coil,  and  the  discharge  passes  round  a  closed  current 
in  the  gas.  Experiments  a,  b^  c,  d  show  various  forms  of  the 
discharge  in  tubes  and  bulbs,  e  shows  the  residual  clow  pro- 
duced when  the  discharge  passes  through  oxygen.  /  snows  the 
action  of  a  magnetic  field  on  the  discharge  ;  along  the  lines  of 
force  the  discharge  is  facilitated,  while  at  right  angles  to  them  it 
is  retarded.  When  the  magnetic  field  is  '*  off,"  the  discharge 
takes  place  in  the  bulb,  and  not  in  the  tube ;  when  the  Md  is 
"on/*  in  the  tube,  and  not  in  the  bulb,  g  illustrates  the 
stoppage  of  the  discharge  when  a  ^as  electrically  weaker  than 
that  in  the  discharge  tube  is  placed  m  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
latter. 

A  nickel  pendulum,  illustrating  the  effect  of  heat  unon  the 
magnetic  susceptibilitv  of  nickel,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Shelford 
Bidwell,  F.R.S.  Nickel,  which  at  ordinary  temperatures  is  a 
magnetic  metal,  becomes  non-magnetizable  at  about  300^  C.  A 
copper  disk,  to  which  a  projecting  tongue  of  nickel  is  attached, 
hangs  like  the  bob  of  a  pendulum  from  a  double  thread,  and  is 
deflected  to  one  side  l^  a  magnet  which  attracts  the  nickel 
tongue.  The  heat  of  a  spirit-lamp  placed  beneath  the  tongue 
quickly  destroys  the  magnetic  quality  of  the  nickel,  so  that  the 
magnet  can  no  longer  hold  it ;  the  bob  accordingly  falls  back  and 
performs  an  oscillatioru  On  its  return  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  magnet,  however,  the  tongue  has  cooled  sufficiently  to  be 
once  more  attracted,  but  after  a  momentary  contact  it  is  again 
released,  and  the  process  is  repeated.  Thus  the  bob  can  be 
kept  swinging  like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock. 

The  meldometer,  exhibited  by  Mr.  J.  Joly.  This  instrument 
is  for  determining  the  melting-points  of  minute  quantities  of 
substances,  by  comparison  with  bodies  of  known  melting-pofait. 
The  method  consists  in  measuring  the  thermal  expansion  of  a 
ribbon  of  pure  platinum  when  a  minute  quantity  of  a  substance, 
dusted  on  its  surface  (and  observed  through  a  microscope),  is 
melting.  1  he  platinum  is  heated  by  a  current,  and  the  thermal 
value  in  degrees  Centigrade  of  its  expansion  found  by  preliminary 
observations,  using  bodies  of  known  melting-point.  The  ex- 
pansion of  the  ribbon  is  read  by  an  electric- contact  method. 
The  instrument  shown  reads  a  change  of  2°  C.  Range  up  to 
i(3KXf  C.  about.  Quartz  may  be  melted  on  the  meldometer,  and 
most  or  all  of  the  silicated  minerals. 

Facsimile  drawings  of  paintings  from  tombs  at  Beni  Hasan, 
Upper  Egypt,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Percy  E.  Newberry  (of  the 
E^ypt  Exploration  Fund).  A  series  of  facsimile  drawings  in 
colour,  executed  by  Mr.  M.  W.  Blackden,  of  some  of  the  most 
interesting  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the  tombs  of  Ameni  and 
Khnumhotep  (XII.  Dynasty,  circa  2500  B.C.),  at  Beni  Hasan, 
in  Upper  Egypt.  These  drawings  are  the  property  of  the  Egypt 
Exploration  Fund. 

Instrument  for  examining  the  strains  in  bent  glass  beams,, 
exhibited  by  Prof.  C.  A.  Carus- Wilson.  There  is  a  steel  strain- 
ing frame  in  which  the  beam  to  be  examined  is  placed ;  this 
frame  can  be  moved  in  any  direction  in  its  own  plane  between 
two  Nicol  prisms.  The  Nicol  prisms  can  be  rotated  through 
any  required  angle.  When  the  beam  has  been  supported  in 
any  given  manner,  load  is  applied  by  a  screw,  and  the  action  of 
the  strained  glass  on  the  polarized  light  enables  the  precise  state 
of  strain  all  over  the  beam  to  be  ascertained.  The  instrument 
has  been  used  to  determine  the  action  of  "  surface  loading,"  and 
to  show  to  what  extent  this  action  affects  the  state  of  strain 
in  beams  supposed  to  obey  the  Bernoulli- Eulerian  theory  of 
flexure. 

Cup- micrometer,  an  instrument  for  measuring  the  rate  of 
growth  of  a  plant,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Francis  Darwin,  F.K.S. 
A  thread  is  attached  to  the  upper  end  of  the  plant,  passes  over 
a  pulley,  and  is  fastened  to  a  weight.  The  descent  of  the 
weight  (which  is  a  measure  of  the  growth  of  the  plant)  is  esti- 
mated by  adjusting  a  micrometer  screw  carrying  a  small  cap  of 
oil,  until  a  needle  point  on  the  weight  touches  the  surface  of  the 
fluid.  The  method,  a  modification  of  that  used  by  physicists  t& 
measure  the  rise  or  fall  of  a  fluid  surface,  was  designed  by  Mr. 
H.  Darwin,  of  the  Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument  Company. 

Electrical  volatilization    of   metals,    exhibited  by  Mr.    W. 
Crookes,  F.R.S. 

Living  animals  from  the  aquarium  of  the  Marine  Biological 
Association  at  Plymouth,  exhibited  by  the  Marine  Biological 
Association. 
Art  metal  work,  from  the  factories  of  Messrs.  TlfiSuiy  and  Co.,. 


i88 


NA  TURE 


[June  25,  1891 


in  New  York,  exhibited  by  Messrs.  Tiffanv  and  Co.  Represen- 
tative articles  in  wrought  metals ;  amalgamation  of  metals ; 
enamelling  on  silver  and  gold. 

Photographs  of  living  corals  taken  in  Torres  Straits,  exhibited 
by  Mr.  W.  Savile  Kent. 

Prof.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  exhibited:— (i)  Photo- 
graphs of  a  group  of  sun-spots.  A  series  of  enlargements  of  a  group 
of  sun-spots  shown  on  the  12-inch  sun-pictures  taken  under  the 
direction  of  Lieut-Colonel  Strahan,  at  Dehra  Dun,  India,  on 
December  16,  18,  19,  20,  2i,  22,  23,  1887.  The  spots  have 
been  enlai^ed  three  times,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  great  changes 
took  place  during  the  period  of  visibility. — (2)  Photographs  of 
the  temples  at  Karnak  and  Edfou.  These  are  enlargements 
from  photographs  taken  in  Januar>'  1891,  with  reference  to  the 
orientation  of  the  temples.  The  photographs  show  that,  not- 
withstanding the  elaborate  details  of  the  architecture,  the  prin- 
cipal axes  of  the  temples  were  kept  perfectly  clear  from  one  end 
to  the  other. 

Prof.  W.  Roberts- Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  a  new, 
brilliantly  coloured  alloy  of  gold  and  aluminium,  and  facsimiles  of 
medals  asserted  to  be  of  gold  and  of  silver,  transmuted  from  base 
metal  by  the  aid  of  alchemy.  One  of  the  medals  bears  on  its 
reverse  the  statement  that  it  was  struck  in  1675,  by  J.  J.  Becher, 
in  silver  transmuted  from  lead. 

Mr.  Ludwig  Mond,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  :—(i)  Nickel- carbon- 
oxide.  (2)  Pure  nickel  extracted  from  nickel  ores  by  means  of 
carbonic  oxide.  (3)  Articles  of  pure  nickel  deposited  from  nickel- 
carbon-oxide,  and  goods  plated  with  nickel  by  exposure  to 
nickel-carbon-oxide  [Ni(CO)4].  This  unique  chemical  com- 
pound was  obtained  in  1890  by  Mond,  Langer,  and  Quincke,  by 
passing  a  current  of  carbonic  oxide  over  finely-divided  metallic 
nickel  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  and  refrigerating  the  resulting 
gas.  It  is  a  colourless  liquid,  of  high  refractory  power,  boiling  at 
43"  C,  and  solidifying  at  25"  C,  and  is  split  up  again  into  nickel 
and  carbonic  oxide  on  heating  its  vapour  to  180°  C.  It  is  highly 
poisonous ;  while  according  to  Prof.  McKendrick's  researches 
it^  has,  when  injected  subcutaneously  in  very  small  doses,  a 
remarkable  power  of  reducing  the  temperature  of  animals.  The 
properties  of  this  substance  make  it  possible  to  volatilize  nickel 
at  a  low  temperature,  and  to  extract  it  industrially  in  a  perfectly 
pure  state  from  all  other  substances  with  which  it  is  found. 
Articles  of  pure  nickel,  and  goods  plated  with  pure  nickel,  are 
produced  by  exposing  heated  moulds  or  goods  to  nickel-carbon- 
oxide  vapour,  or  to  a  solution  of  this  compound  in  suitable 
solvents. 

Specimens  of  Japanese  metal  work,  including  Ojimi^  or 
sliders,  Yanoni^  or  arrowheads,  and  Tsuba^  or  sword-guards, 
exhibited  by  Prof.  A.  H.  Church,  F.R.S. 

Prof.  A.  Newton,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  a  drawing,  the  first 
received  in  Europe,  of  Notoryctes  typhlops^  a  new  form  of 
Marsupial  of  mole-like  habit,  and  structure  accordingly,  sent  by 
Prof.  £.  C.  Stirling,  of  the  University  of  Adelaide,  South 
Australia.  The  first  specimen  of  this  remarkable  mammal,  one 
of  the  most  unexpected  discoveries  for  many  years,  was  sent 
from  the  interior  of  South  Australia  by  Mr.  A.  Molineux  to 
Prof.  Stirling,  of  Adelaide,  who  contributed  to  Nature  (vol. 
xxxviii.  pp.  588,  589)  such  a  notice  of  it  as  its  imperfect  condition 
admitted.  He  afterwards  obtained  other  examples,  which  are 
fully  described  in  a  memoir  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society 
of  Adelaide.  **  Four  or  five  of  the  cervical  vertebrae  are  fused, 
and  there  is  a  keeled  sternum.  An  enormously  thick  and  short 
first  rib,  which  ser\xs  the  purpose  of  buttressing  the  sternum  in 
lieu  of  coracoids.  Eyes  mere  pigment  spots,  underneath  the 
skin  and  temporalis  muscle.  It  has  a  remarkable  habit  of 
burrowing  for  long  distances  in  the  sand  with  great  rapidity." 
These  specimens  were  obtained  about  1500  miles  north  of 
Adelaide,  but  a  telegram  from  Prof.  Stirling,  dated  May  31. 
1891,  states  that  he  has  himself  obtained  others  in  the  course  of 
a  journey,  just  completed,  across  the  continent  from  Port 
Darwin. 

Mr.  Walter  Gardiner,  F.R.S.,  gave  demonstrations  of  certain 
important  phenomena  associated  with  the  absorption  and  the 
flow  of  the  water  taken  up  by  plants: — (i)  Root  pressure. 
Water  present  in  the  soil,  and  containing  minute  traces  of 
nutritive  salts,  is  absorbed  by  the  root-hairs  so  powerfully  and  in 
such  quantities  as  to  set  up  a  considerable  pressure  in  the 
interior  of  the  plant.  This  **root  pressure"  may  be  demon- 
strated by  attaching  to  the  cut  end  of  a  stem  a  manometer 
containing  mercury,  or  some  coloured  fluid.  Here  a  solution  of 
nigrocine  in  water  is  employed.    (2)  The  transpiration  current. 

NO.    1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


Among  thej  more  important  factors  which  determine  the  fiov 
and  ascent  of  water  from  the  root,  upwards,  b  the  sucking  fofce 
induced  by  the  modified  evaporation  or  transpiration  of  water 
from  the  general  free  surface  of  the  leaves.  Daring  transpiiatke 
the  water  escapes  as  vapour,  and  the  salts  are  retained  for  food. 
In  this  experiment  the  existence  of  a  "  transpiration  current "  ■ 
shown  by  allowing  a  cut  branch  to  suck  up  milk,  when  the 
movement  of  the  fat  globules  registers  the  flow  of  the  liquid. 
(3)  The  amount  of  water  absorb^  by  the  root.  This  may  be 
estimated  by  simple  measurement,  employing  some  such  form  of 
apparatus  as  that  exhibited. 

Engravings  to  "Travels  among  the  Great  Andes  of  the 
Equator,"  exhibited  by  Mr.  Edwai^  Whymper.  These  ithistia- 
lions  are  .«elections  from  Mr.  Edward  Whymper's  forthcoixnDg 
work  upon  the  Great  Andes  of  the  Equator  (in  which  he  gives  1 
accounts  of  the  first  ascents  of  Chimborazo,  Cayambe,  Antisunl,  , 
&c.,  &c.),  and  includes  views  on  and  about  the  equator  at  great 
elevations  ;  incidents  of  travel ;  numerous  examples  of  the  ne« 
genera  and  species  obtained  on  the  journey  ;  a  facsimile  reproduc- 
tion of  the  map  of  Don  Pedro  Maldonado  (upon  which  existing 
maps  of  Ecuador  are  based),  and  the  original  route  surrey,  i£d 
map  of  Chimborazo,  made  by  the  author.  The  work,  with  200 
illustrations  and  four  maps,  will  be  published  in  the  preseot 
year  by  Mr.  John  Murray. 

Mr.  W.  Bateson  exhibited  (4)  models  of  double  super- 
numerary legs  and  antennse  in  beetles  ;  (2)  mechanical  model 
showing  the  usual  symmetry  of  double  supernumerary  append- 
ages in  beetles.  Supernumerary  appendages  in  Veetles  nearl; 
always  spring  as  branches  from  a  normal  appendage,  and  are 
generally  double,  being  made  up  of  two  limbs  more  or  less 
compounded  together.  The  two  extra  limbs  are  always  a  com- 
plementary pair^  one  being  structurally  a  right  limb,  while 
the  other  is  left.  Commonly  the  symmetry  of  the  parts  b 
arranged  as  follows  : — (a)  The  two  extra  limbs  and  the  normal 
one  stand  in  one  plane,  one  of  the  extra  limbs  being  nearer  to 
the  normal  limb  and  one  remoter  from  it.  [Jb)  The  nearer  is  ic 
structure  and  position  an  image  of  the  normal  limb  in  a  minor 
at  right  angles  to  the  plane  in  which  the  three  limbs  stand  ;  and 
the  remoter  is  an  image  of  the  nearer  in  another  mirror  b^oi»i 
and  parallel  to  the  first.  Thus  the  relations  of  the  parts  in 
their  several  positions  may  be  represented  by  the  mechanici] 
model  exhibited,  in  which  the  extra  legs,  revolving  round  the 
normal  leg,  take  attitudes  proper  to  the  positions  which  the}' 
occupy  relatively  to  the  normal  leg. 

Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon  exhibited  the  geographical  distribution, 
and  the  progressive  and  retrogressive  evolution,  of  art  and 
ornament  in  British  New  Guinea.  The  exhibit  is  designed  tc 
show,  that  savage  art  can  be  studied  as  a  branch  of  biologyt 
and  that  it  is  only  when  so  treated  that  it  yields  its  most  valuable 
results.  Most  savage  and  barbaric  designs  have  only  a  veiy 
limited  geographical  range,  and  those  which  have  a  wide  dis- 
tribution can,  m  the  majority  of  cases,  be  proved  to  be  homo- 
])lastic  and  not  homogenetic.  The  evolution  of  a  particolar 
pattern  must  be  sought  in  the  district  in  which  it  occurs,  and  its 
developmental  history  can  only  be  safely  attempted  when  a 
comparison  is  made  of  numerous  objects  from  the  same  locality. 
The  foregoing  propositions  are  illustrated  by  means  of  spedmens, 
rubbings,  photographs,  and  sketches  of  decorated  objects  froa 
British  New  Guinea. 

At  intervals  during  the  evening,  the  Edison  loud-speaking  tele- 
phone and  Bell's  receivers  were  connected  with  the  performance 
of  "The  Gondoliers,"  at  the  Savoy  Theatre,  London;  the 
Prince's  Theatre,  Birmingham ;  and  with  vocal  and  instn- 
mental  concert  rooms  at  Liverpool  and  Birmingham. 

Photographs  of  volcanic  phenomena  were  exhibited  by  Dr. 
Tempest  Anderson  during  the  evening.  These  photographs  of 
volcanic  phenomena  were  taken  last  year  during  a  visit  to 
the  Skapia  Jokul,  and  other  volcanic  districts  in  Iceland. 
The  eruption  of  the  Skapta  Jokul,  in  1783,  was  one  of  the 
largest  on  record.  A  mass  of  lava,  estimated  to  be  equal  ia 
bulk  to  Mont  Blanc,  flowed  out  in  two  streams,  each  forty  to 
fifty  miles  long.  The  actual  craters  situated  in  the  desert  interior 
of  the  island  appear  not  to  have 'been  previously  visited. 


UNI VERSITY  AND  EDUCA TIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  following  are  the  speeches  delivered  by 
the  Public  Orator  (Dr.  Sandys,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  St  John^ 


June  25,  1891] 


NA TURE 


189 


College)  on  June  16,  in  presenting  for  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  in  Science  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  F.R.S.,  Director* 
General  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ; 
Mr.  W.  H.  Flower,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  the  Natural 
History  Museum  ;  and  Dr.  Elias  MetschnikofT,  Chef  de  Service  of 
the  Institut  Pasteur,  Paris. 

Salutamus  deioceps  virum  et  scientiarum  et  litteranim  lande 
illostrem,  in  Academia  Edinensi  quondam  Geolo^riae  Pro- 
fessorenn,  Britanniae  et  Hibemiae  exploration!  geologicae  prae- 
positum,  societatis  Regiae  socium,  societatis  geologicae  praesidem, 
societal  is  denique  Britannicae  scientiarum  terminis  prorogandis 
praesidem  designatum.  Geologiae  et  geographiae  stndiosorum 
in  manibus  sunt  scripta  eius  plurima,  scientiis  illis  aut  docendis 
ant  illostrandis  destinata.  Etiam  aliis  loquuntur  libri  eius  ele- 
gantissime  conscripti,  quorum  in  uno  Caledoniae  montes 
vaUesque  per  immensam  saeculorum  seriem  causis  cotidianis 
minutatim  exsculptas  fuisse  demonstrat ;  in  altero  vitam  et  res 
gestas  geologi  magni,  quern  Stluriae  re^em  nominaverim,  ea 
quae  par  est  dignitate  describit.  Viri  talis  laboribus  non  modo 
geologiae  fines  latios  indies  propagantur,  sed  etiam  populo 
oniverso  stadia  ilia  praedara  commendantur. 

Daco  ad  vos  geologum  illustrem,  ab  ipsa  Regina  nuper  novo 
honore  ornatum,  Archibaldum  Geikie. 

Quod  e  sapientibus  septem  anus  dixisse  fertur,  &px^  tvZ^ 
8c£{cc»  de  hoc  certe  viro,  per  honorum  cursum  satis  longum 
probato,  verum  esse  constat.  Regio  Chirurg;orum  in  Colle|;io, 
primum  Museo  conservando  praepositus,  deinde  physiologiam 
et  comparativam  quae  dicitur  anatomiam  professus,  deinceps 
Mttsei  Britannici  aedificio  novo  rerum  naturae  studiis  dedicate 
praefectus  est.  Idem  societati  et  zoologicae,  et  anthropologicae, 
et  Britannicae,  maxima  cum  laude  praefuit.  In  Museis  autem 
ordioandis  quam  perspicax ;  in  scientiarum  studiis  populo  toti 
cooamendandis  quam  disertus ;  hominum  in  diversis  ^eneribus 
capitis  mensnra  inter  sese  distinguendis  quam  subtilis ;  maris 
denique  in  monstris  immensis  describendis  quam  minutus.  Ergo, 
velnt  alter  Neptunus,  intra  regni  sui  fines  etiam  *'  immania  cete  " 
suo  sibi  iure  vindlcat :  idem,  anthropologiae  quoque  in  studiis 
versatus,  ne  barbaras  quidem  gentes  cootempsit,  sed,  velut  alter 
Chremes,  homo  est ;  humani  nil  a  se  alienum  putat. 

Daco  ad  vos  Regiae  societatis  socium,  virum  honoribus 
plarimis  merito  cumulatum,  Wilelmum  Henricum  Flower. 

Sequitor  deinceps  vir,  qui  scientiarum  in  provinciis  duabus, 
et  in  zoologia  et  in  bacteriologia  quae  dicitur,  famam  insignem 
est  adeptus.  Primum  Ponti  Euxini  in  litore  septentrional! 
zoologiam  professus,  malta  de  morphologia  animal  ium,  quae 
invertebrata  nominantur,  accuratissime  disseruit.  Deinde  Pari- 
stis  rerum  naturae  investigatori  celeberrimo  adiutor  datus,  eis 
potissimum  causis  perscrutandis  operam  dedit,  per  quas  genere 
ab  humano  morborum  impetus  hostiles  possent  propulsari. 
Nana,  velat  hominum  in  mentibus  virtutes  et  vitia  inter  sese 
oonfligant,  non  aliter  animantium  in  corporibus  contra  pestium 
exerdtus  copiae  qaaedam  sanitatis  et  salutis  ministrae  concertare 
perhibentur.  Mentis  quidem  certamen  olim  in  carmine  heroico, 
Psychomachia  nominato,  Prudentius  narravit.  Inter  eos  autem 
qui  corporis  certamen  experimentis  exquisitis  nuper  explicaverunt, 
locam  insignem  sibi  vindicat  vir  quidam  sum  ma  morum  modestia 
praediius.  qui,  velut  vates  sacer,  proelium  illud  sibi  sumpsit 
odebrandum,  in  quo  tot  cellulae  vagantes,  quasi  milites  procur- 
santes,  morborum  semina  maligna  corripiunt,  correpta  com- 
primant,  compressa  extinguunt.  Talium  virorum  auxilio  febrium 
cohortes  paulatim  profligantur,  et  generis  humani  saluti  novum 
indies  affertur  incrementum. 

Merito  igitur  titulo  nostro  hodie  coronatur  e  salutb  hamanae 
ministris  anus,  Elias  Metschnikoff. 

At  the  annual  election  at  St.  John's  College  on  June  22  the 
following  awards  in  Natural  Science  were  made  : — Foundation 
Scholarships,  continued  or  increased :  P.  Horton- Smith,  Hewitt, 
Blackman,  Woods,  MacBride,  Whipple.  Foundation  Scholar- 
ship awaided  :  Villy.  Exhibitions :  Purvis,  Trotman.  Hughes 
Prize:  MacBride.  Wright's  Prize:  Villy.  In  the  Natural 
Sjiences  Tripos,  Part  II.,  Capstick,  of  Trinity,  has  been  awarded 
''special  distinction"  in  two  subjects,  Chemistry  and  Physics. 
It  is  many  years  since  this  last  occurred.  MacBride,  of  St.  John's 
(Zoology,  Botany),  and  Krishnan,  of  Christ's  (Chemistry,  Botany), 
have  gained  first  classes  in  two  subjects.  Of  the  women  can> 
didates,  Misi  Elliot,  of  Newnham  (Zoology),  and  Miss  Tebb,  of 
Girton  (Physiology),  have  gained  first  class  honours. 

NO.   1 1  30,  VOL.  44] 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  Journal  of  Science,  June. — The  study  of  the  earth's 
figure  by  means  of  the  pendulum,  by  E.  D.  Preston.     The  author 
first  deals  with  the  history  of  the  subject,  then  states  the  quanti- 
ties involved,  and  supports  the  method  of  study  in  which  the 
figure  of  the  earth  is  considered  separately  from  its  size  as 
determined  by  measurement  of  arcs  of  meridian.    The  general 
results  of  pendulum  work  are  discussed,  and  the  effect  of  con- 
tinental  attraction  and  variations  in  latitude  referred  to.     The 
best  methods  of  determining  the  duration  of  a  pendulum  oscilla- 
tion at  a  given  temperature  and  pressure  are  also  considered. 
— On  the  post-glacial  history  of  the  Hudson  River  valley,  by 
Frederick  J.  H.  Merrill.    The  result  of  the  action  of  waves 
upon  a  shore  depends  upon  the  state  of  rest  or  movement 
of  the  shore.     If  the  land  is  subject  to  alternate  periods  of 
rest  and  elevation,  a  series  of  terraces  will  be  formed ;  if  the  land 
is  slowly  rising  or  subsiding  with  respect  to  sea-level,  an  inclined 
plane  of  erosion  may  be  produced.    Arguing  from  this  and  other 
facts,  the  author  states  provisionally  that,  alter  the  retreat  of  the 
continental  glacier  from  the  Hudson  River  valley,  the  land  stood 
for  a  long  time  at  a  lower  level  than  at  present,     A  eradual 
elevation  and  extensive  erosion  of  the  Champlain  estuary  deposits 
in  the  river  valley  then  occurred,  and  was  followed  by  a  depres- 
sion amounting  to  about  100  feet  at  New  York,  and  which  is 
apparently  continuing  at  the  present  day. — On   alunite  and 
diaspore  from  the  Rosita  Hills,  Colorado,  by  Whitman  Cross. 
— Diaspore  crystals,  by  W.   H.   Melville. — Combustion  of  gas 
jets  under  pressure,  by  R.  W.  Wood.  Anyone  who  has  watched 
a  burning  jet  of  ether  vapour  will  have  noticed  that,  as  the 
pressure  increases,  the  flame  gradually  retreats  from  the  orifice 
and  eventually  goes  out  if  the  pressure  is  carried  beyond  a 
certain  point.     The  author  has  investigated  these  phenomena, 
using  various  gases.     A  burning  jet  of  coal  gas  was  extinguished 
when  the  pressure  was  equal  to  23  centimetres  of  mercury — that 
is,  when  tne  velocity  of  the  issuing  gas  exceeded  the  speed  of 
combustion  for  the  mixture  of  gas  and  air. — Allotropic  silver  : 
Part  iii.,  blue  silver,  soluble  and  insoluble  forms,  by  M.  Carey 
Lea.     From  the  results  given  in  this  and  preceding  papers,  the 
author  is  led  to  believe  that   allotropic  and  even  soluble  silver 
may  be  formed  in  numerous  ways.     The  reducing  agents  may 
be  either  a  ferrous  or  a  stannous  salt,  or  any  one  of  a  variety  of 
origan ic  substances  of  very  different  constitutions.     From  the 
solubility  and  activity  of  this  substance,   and  the  parallelism 
which  many  of  its  reactions  show  to  those  of  silver  in  combina- 
tion, it  appears  probable  that  silver  in  solution,  like  silver  in 
combination,  exists  in  the  atomic  form. — Note  on  the  submarine 
channel  of  the  Hudson  River,  and  other  evidences  of  post-glacial 
subsidence  of  the  middle  Atlantic  coast  region,  by  A.  Linden^ 
kohl. — Are  there  glacial  records  in  the  Newark  system  ?,  by 
Israel  C.  Russell.     Facts  are  adduced  in  support  of  the  negative 
view. — A  reply  to  Prof.   Nipher  on  the  theory  of  the  solar 
corona,    by    F.    H.    Bigelow. — On    the    recent    eruption    of 
Kilauea,  by  W.  T.  Brigham.     This  is  a  report  of  the  changes 
that  took  place  in  the  crater  of  Kilauea  during  March  of  this 
year. — Turquoise  in  south-western  New  Mexico,  by  Charles  H. 
Snow. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  June  18. — ''Results  of  Hemisection  of  the 
Spinal  Cord  in  Monkeys."  By  Frederick  W.  Mott,  M.D.. 
B. S. .  M.  R.C. P.     Communicated  by  Prof.  Schafer,  F. R.  S. 

While  engaged  in  studying  experimentally  the  connections  of 
the  cells  of  Clarke's  column  with  the  ascending  tracts  of  the 
spinal  cord  in  the  monkey,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  after 
hemisection  in  the  lower  dorsal  region  the  sensory  disturbances 
produced  in  no  way  corresponded  with  those  already  obtained 
by  eminent  observers. 

I  was  therefore  led   to   continue  my  experiments,  and,  by 
the  kind  permission  of  Prof.  Schafer,  I  carried  them  out  in  the- 
Physiological  Laboratory  of  University  College.     My  thanks 
are  also  due  to  him  for  much  valuable  advice  and  assistance. 

The  subject  is  one  of  great  importance  from  a  scientific,  as 
well  as  from  a  clinical,  point  of  view.  Some  years  ago,  a  case 
occurred  in  my  practice  which  tended  to  skake  my  faith  in  the 
absolute  truth  of  the  doctrine  of  complete  and  immediate  decus- 


igo 


NA  TURB. 


[June  25,  1891 


satioQ  of  sensory  impulses  in  the  spinal  cord,  as  taught  by 
Brown-S^uard. 

The  experitneats  which  I  have  perfbnned.exfaibit  the  following 
principal  points  of  interest :— - 

(i)  Return  of  associated  morements  a&er  complete  destruction 
of  the  crossed  pyramidal  tract  below  the  lesion. 

(2)  That  all  sensory  impulses  do  not  decussate  in  the  cord — in 
fact,  they  appear  to  show  that  certain  sensory  impulses,  e.g. 
touch,  the  muscular  sense,  and  localization  in  space,  pass  chiefly 
up  the  same  side,  painful  impressions  up  both  sides.  A  peculiar 
condition  known  as  "  allochiria '*  occurs  after  hemiseetion. 

(3)  The  Taso<motor  disturbances  are  on  the  same  side  as  the 
lesion^  and  consist  of  vaso-dilation,  swellmg'  of  the  foot,  and 
redness  with  rise  of  temperature  of  the  skin  of  the  foot  (as 
compared  with  the  opposite  side),  and  fall  of  temperature  in 
the  popliteal  space  on  the  side  of  the  lesion,  due,  no  doubt,  to 
paralysis  of  the  muscles. 

(4)  The  degenerations  above  and  below  the  lesion  are  limited 
to  the  same  side  when  the  injury  is  perfectly  unilateral.  There 
are  certain  facts  connected  with  the  degenerations  which  serve  to 
show  the  origin  and  course  of  certain  long  and  short  tract  fibres. 

(5)  Stimulation  of  the  cortex  cerebri  on.both  sides  some  weeks 
or  months  after  th«  hemiseetion  had  been  performed  gave,  as  a 
rule,  results  which  showed  that  the  block  in  the  spinal  cord 
produced  by  the  hemiseetion  still  existed,  although  there  had 
been  a  very  complete  return  of  associated  movements. 

(6)  In  one  case  ablation  of  the  leg  area  on  the  same  side  as 
the  lesion  in  the  spinal  cord  was  performed  many  months  after- 
wards. 

Chemical  Society,  May ^i.— Prof.  A.  Crum  Brown,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair.  ^The  following  papers  were  read  ^ — 
Bromo-derivatives  of  betanaphthol,  by  H.  E.  Armstrong  and 
E.  C.  Rossiter.  The  authors  have  completed  the  study  of  the 
compounds  formed  on  brominating  betanaphthol,  to  which  they 
have  referred  in  two  previous  notices  (Chem.  Soc  Proceedings, 
1889,  p.  71 ;  i^*  P-  32).  In  the  present  paper  they  give 
directions  for  preparing  tri-  and  tetra-bromobetanaphthol.  and 
summarize  the  properties  of  the  bromobetanapthols.  The  entire 
product  of  the  action  of  bromine  in  excess  on  betanaphthol,  has 
been  carefully  examined  without  any  substance  having  been  dis- 
covered which  affords  1:2:  3-bromophthalic  acid  on  oxidation  ; 
the  discrepancy  between  the  authors'  observations  and  the  earlier 
experiments  of  Smith  and  Meldola,  therefore,  yet  remains  to  be 
discovered. — The  action  of  nitric  acid  on  naphthol  derivatives 
as  indicative  of  the  manner  in  which  nitration  is  effected  in  the 
case  of  benzenoid  compounds  generally :  the  formation  of 
nitro-keto-compounds,  by  II.  E.  Armstrong  and  E.  C.  Rossiter. 
Thechloro-  and  bromo-derivatives  of  betanaphthol  when  wanned 
with  nitric  acid  are  converted  into  derivatives  of  betanaphtho- 
quinone  ;  but  the  formation  of  these  compounds  is  preceded  by 
that  of  an  unstable  intermediate  compound.  These  intermediate 
compounds,  when  carefully  heated,  are  converted  into  deriva- 
tives of  betanaphthaquinone.  Thus,  when  nitric  acid  is  added 
to  dibromobetanaphthol,  suspended  in  acetic  acid,  a  clear  solu- 
tion is  obtained  which,  after  a  short  time,  deposits  a  crystalline 
substance ;  if  quickly  evaporated  by  filtration,  this  product  is 
almost  colourless,  but  it  decomposes  when  kept,  becoming  yellow. 
This  compound,  when  treated  with  alkali,  yields  brooionitro- 
naphthol.  Bromobetanaphthol,  in  like  manner,  yields  a^-nitro- 
betanaphtbol,  and  the  tri-  and  tetra- bromo-derivatives  yield  di- 
and  tri-bromonitrobetanaphthol.  The  authors  are  of  opinion 
that  the  intermediate  compounds  in  question  are  nitro-bromo- 
keto-derivatives,  and  that  their  formation  affords  evidence  that 
the  elements  of  nitric  acid  first  become  added  to  the  bromo- 
naphthol,  thus : — 

Br      NOo 
Br  \/ 


\/\/ 


\/\^ 


+  H.O. 


NO.    1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


The  theory  that  the  formation  of  such  addition-compounds  pre* 
cedes  that  of  nitro-compounds  generally,  appears  to  aSotA  a 
satisfactory  explanation  of  a  number  of  well-known  facts  wlndi 
hitherto  luive  remained  nnexpla.ined.  The  non-prodvctifn  of 
nitrorcompounds  Crom  paraffins  and  their  derivatives  appeus  is 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  inability  of  paraffins  to  ibrai 
addition-compounds.  The  theory  affords  a  simple  explaaatioB 
of  the  formation  of  nitro-derivatives  of  phenols  on  nitiatiog 
hydrocarbons,  for  ff  the  addition-compound  lose  H.NO3  instead 
of  H.OH  a  phenol  would  result,  thus — 


/\ 


H.OH 


+  HO  .  NO,  = 


I 


H.NO, 


OH 


+  HNO. 


\^ 


\/ 


An  agent  which  would  tend  to  withdraw  water  from  the  addi- 
tion-compound would  increase  the  production  of  nitro-compooBd 
and  diminish  that  of  phenol ;  and  it  is  known  that  when  a  mixtore 
of  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  is  used,  there  is  less  of  the  pheoot 
derivative  produced  than  when  nitric  acid  alone  is  employed. 
A  compound  like  the  addition-oomponnd  of  benzene,  represented 
above,  would  obviously  be  unstable,  and  prone  to  nndexgo 
oxidation  ;  hence  the  explanation  of  the  large  amount  of  nitroas 
fume  produced  on  nitrating  benzene.  The  non-production  of 
resinous  matters  when  sulpho-acids  are  treated  with  nitric  add 
to  form  the  corresponding  nitro-compound  by  displacement  of 
the  SO,H  group  by  NO2  is  also  elucidated  by  the  aathois' 
theory ;  the  addition-compound  formed  in  such  a  case  would 
very  readily  break  up  into  sulphuric  acid  and  the  nitro-deriva- 
tive. — A  new  method  of  preparing  nitro-derivatives,  and  tlie 
use  of  nitron  dioxide  as  a  nitrating  agent,  by  H.  £.  Ann- 
strong  and  £.  C.  Rossiter.  The  authors  find  that  the  unstaUe 
compounds  formed  by  the  addition  of  the  elements  of  nitric  add 
to  the  bromo-derivatives  of  betanaphthol  yield  nitro-derivatives 
of  the  naphthol  on  treatment  with  alkali,  a  bromine  atom  be- 
coming displaced  by  NO3.  On  treating  the  addition-compoucd 
with  sulphurous  add,  a  practically  theoretical  yield  of  the  nitro- 
naphthol  is  obtained  ;  this  method  appears  to  be  of  genecal 
application.  The  authors  have  been  naturally  led  to  study  the 
action  of  nitrogen-dioxide,  NO3,  on  unsaturated  compounds  of 
various  kinds,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  addition-compooDds 
which  by  loss  of  HNO^  would  pass  over  into  nitro-derivatives 
of  the  substances  treated.  They  find  that  such  addition-oora- 
pounds  are  obtained,  and  on  treatment  with  alkali  and  redadng- 
agents  yield  nitro-oompounds.  Tlius  betanaphthol  yields  75  per 
cent,  of  its  weight  of  nitro-betanaphthol ;  alphanaphtboi  be- 
haves similarly.  Phenol  yields  ortho-  and  para-mtrophenoL 
The  authors  propose  to  study  the  action  of  nitric  add  and 
nitrogen  dioxide  on  unsaturated  compounds  generally  fxoa 
the  point  of  view  indicated  in  this  and  the  previous  note.— 
Nitrification,  by  R.  Warington.  The  first  section  of  the  paper 
describes  early  experiments,  showing  the  existence  of  an  agent 
producing  only  nitrites,  and  the  means  of  separating  it  fiom 
soil.  Successive  cultivation  in  ammoniacal  solutions  made  per^ 
manently  alkaline  with  disodium  carbonate  was  found  to  be  a 
certain  method  of  obtaining  a  purely  nitrous  agent.  Pasture  soil 
yielded  the  nitrous  agent  more  readily  than  arable  soil.  The 
nitrous  organism  was  isolated  by  the  dilution  method.  Cultiva- 
tions were  made  in  an  ammonium  chloride  solution  with  caldojn 
carbonate.  The  nitrous  organism  oxidizes  ammonia  to  nitrous 
acid,  and  has  no  effect  on  nitrites.  It  produces  nitrous  add  ia 
solutions  of  asparagine,  milk,  urine,  and  urea.  Grown  in  broth 
containing  calcium  nitrate,  it  does  not  reduce  the  nitrate  to 
nitrite.  It  requires  no  organic  matter  for  its  nutrition,  and  is 
apparently  capable  of  assimilating  carbon  from  acid  carbonates. 
The  presence  of  either  calcium  or  sodium  add  carbonate  dis- 
tinctly favours  nitrification ;  neutral  sodium  carbonate  greatly 
hinders  nitrification.  The  nitrous  organism  occurs  as  nearly 
circular  corpusdes,  which  stain  deeply.  It  also  occurs  as  ovil 
cocci,  the  ends  occasionally  more  or  less  truncated.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  paper  deals  with  the  nitric  organism.  The 
results  show  that  the  nitric  organism  develops  freely  in  inorganic 
solutions  containing  potassium  nitrite,  phosphates,  &c.,  e^ie- 
dally  if  supercarbonates  are  present.  Monosodium  carbonate, 
1-4  grams  per  litre,  exerted  a  very  favourable  influence ;  6  grams 
per  litre,  a  retarding  influence.  Disodium  carbonate  greatly 
hinders  the  action.  The  nitric  organism  produces  ndther 
nitrites  nor  nitrates  in  ammoniacal  solution.     In  the  absence  of 


JUWE  25,   1891] 


NA  TURE 


191 


amntonia,  it  energetically  converts  nitrites  into  nitrates  ;  the 
presence  of  ammonia  is  apparently  a  great  hindrance  to  its 
•ctioo.  An  attempt  to  isolate  the  organism  failed.  The  nitri- 
fication perforated  by  soil  thus  appears  to  be  the  work  of  two 
organisms,  one  of  which  oxidises  ammooia  to  nitrite,  while  the 
other  oxidizes  nitrite  to  nitrate. 

Geological  Society,  June  io.-*-Sir  Archibald  GeiUe,  F.R.S., 
President,  in   the  chair. —Before   the   commencement   of  the 
geaeial  business,  Prof.  Blake  rose  on  behalf  of  those  present 
ai  the  meeting  to  congratulate  the  President  on  the  honour 
that  it  had  pleased  Her  Majesty  to  confer   upon   liiro.      No 
cue  who  knew  him  could  fail  to  appreciate  how  thoroughly  It 
was  deserved ;  and  the  Geological  Society  would  doubtless  feel 
also  the  honour  conferred  on  their  science  in  the  person  of  their 
Fmident  and  the  head  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  United 
Kingdom.— The  following  communications  were  read  : — Note  on 
some  recent  excavations  in  the  ^Wellington  College  district  T  by 
the  &ev,   A.    Irving. — Notes    on    some  post-Tertiary  mar  iie 
deposiu  on  the  south  coast  of  England,  by  Mr.  Alfred  Bell. 
Commnnicated  by  Mr.  R.   Etheridge,   F.R.S.     The  author's 
object  in  this  paper  is   to  trace  the  successive  stages  in  the 
development   of  the  present  coast   of  the   north  side  of  the 
EnglisK  Channel,  and  to  ascertain  the  sources  of  the  diversified 
faunas.     The  first  traces  of  marine  action  on  the  south  coast  in 
post-Tertiary  times,  are  found  on  the  foreshore  in  Bmcklesham 
Bay.    The  author's  reading  of  the  section  is  somewhat  different 
from  that  of  the  late  Mr.  Godwin- Austen  ;  and  he  divides  the 
diarine  series  into  (i)  an  estuarine  clay  with  Mollusca  common 
to  estuarine  flats ;  (2)  a  compact  hard  mud  ;  and  (3)  a  bed  of 
fine  sandy  silt  with  many  organisms.      These  beds  indicate  a 
change  from  estuarine  to  dee{)-water  conditions.      A  full  list  of 
the  Selaey  fossils  is  given,   including,  amongst  other  animals, 
upwards  of  200  Mollusca.     Of  35  species  of  MoUusca  not  now 
living  in  Britain,  the  majority  exist  in  Lndtanian,  Mediterra- 
nean, or  African  waters ;  furthermore,  nearly  45  per  cent,  of  the 
MoUusca  are  common  to  the  older  Crags  of  the  eastern  counties. 
The  author  considers  the  fauna  of  the  Portland  Bill  shell-beds  to 
indicate  the  further  opening  of  the  Channel  subsequent  to  the 
formation  of  the  Severn  Straits,  and  believes  that  this  fauna 
represents  the  deposits  wanting  between  the  Selsqy  mud^eposits 
and  the  erratic  blocks  which,  according  to  htm,  overlie  the 
mud;  these  Portland  shells  indicate  an  intermediate  tenipera- 
ture,  '*  rather  southern  than  northern,"  according  to  Dr.  Gwyn 
Jeffreys.     In  conclusion,  details  concerning  still  newer  beds  are 
given,  and  lists  of  fossils  found  therein  ;  and  the  author  observes 
that  there  i$  no  evidence  to  show  when  the  English  Channel 
finally  opened  up,  beyond  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Godwin- Austen 
that,  if  the  Sangatte  beds  and  the  Coombe  Rock  are  of  the 
same  period,  it  must  have  taken  place   after    their  formation. 
After  the  reading  of  this  paper  some  remarks  were  noade  by  Mr. 
Etheridge,  Mr.  C.  Reid,  Prof.  Hull,  and  the  author. 

Mathematical  Society,  June  ii.-— Prof.  Greenhill,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  communications  were 
made  :•— Systenns  of  spherical  harmonioB,  by  £.  W.  Hobson. — 
On  the  motion  of  a  liquid  ellipsoid  under  its  own  attraction,  by 
Dr.  M.J.  M.  Hill. — On  certain  properties  of  symmetric,  skew- 
symmetric,  and  orthogonal  matrices,  by  Dr.  H.  Taber. — An 
application  of  the  method  of  images  to  the  conduction  of 
«»t,  by  G.  H.  Bryan.— A  property  of  the  ctroom-cirde,  by  R. 
Tucker. 

Cambridge. 

Philoaophical  Society,  June  1.— Prof.  G.  H.  Darwin, 
President,  m  the  chain— ^ The  following  communications  were 
made : — On  the  part  of  the  parallactic  series  of  inequalities  in 
the  moon^s  motion  which  is  a  function  of  the  ratio  01  the  mean 
motions  of  the  sun  arid  moon,  by  Mr.  Ernest  W.  Brown.— On 
Pasod's  hexagram,  by'  Mr.  H.  W.  Richmond.  The  author 
applies  Cremona*s  niethod  of  deriving  the  hexagram  by  pro- 
jection of  the  lines  on  a  nodal  cubic  surface  from  the  node.  By 
we  of  a  new  form  of  the  equation  to  this  surface  the  equations 
of  the  lines  are  obtained  in  a  perfectly  symmetrical  form,  and 
their  properties  thence  developed.-^ A  linkage  for  describing 
lemnisoates  and  .other  inverses  of  conic  sections,  by  Mr.  R.  S. 
Cole.— Some  experiments  on  liquid  electrodes  in  vacuum  tubes, 
^  Mr.  C.  Chree.  '  This  paper  describes  some  experiments 
■ndertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson  on  the 
electric  discharge  through  vacuum  tubes  in  which  one  or  both  of 
^  electrodes  were  liquid  surfaces.  The  liauids  employed  were 
mercury  and  sulphuric  acid.     The  electrodes  when  solid  were 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


of  platinum  or  aluminium.  Observations  were  taken  of  the 
differences  presented  by  the  discharge  when  the  substance  of  an 
electrode  was  altered.  The  experiments  were  mostly  at  low 
gaseous  pressures,  and  included  observations  on  the  character 
of  the  phosphoreacenoe  then  accompanying  the  dischai^ge. — On 
gold- tin  alloys,  by  Mr.  A.  P.  JLaurie. — Note  on  a  problem  in 
the  linear  conduction  of  heat,  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan. 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  June  i.— Prof,  Chrystal,  Vice-President,  in 
the  chair.— Prof.  Tait  communicated  a  paper,  by  Prof.  Piazzi 
Smyth,  on  two  series  of  enlaiged  photogiaphs,  one  in  the 
visible,  the  other  in  the  invisible,  of  the  violet  of  the   solar 
spectrum.     The  paper  was  accompanied  by  the  photographs, 
llie  observations  include  part  of  the  spectrum  as  previously  ob- 
served by  Mr.  Smyth  in  the  summer  of  XS84,  and  extend  to  an 
extreme  distance  in  the  invisible  violet.     Thie  previous  observa- 
tions were  included  in  sixty  plates  ;  in  the  present  series,  twelve 
more  plates  are  added  in  the  violet  region,  and  two  independent 
photographs  of  each  part  have  been  taken.    The  photographs 
agree  with  those  of  Prof.  Rowland  in  indicating  that  the  Fraun- 
hofer  line,  'Mittle  d^*]  is  either  entirely  absent  now  from  the- 
solar  spectrum,  or  has  become  very  unimportant — Mr.  R.  Kid- 
ston  read  a  paper  on  the  fossil  plants  of  the  Kilmarnock,  Galston, 
and  Kilwinning  coalfield  in  Ayrshire.     All  the  species  whichi 
are  described  in  the  paper  belong,  with  one  exception,  to  the 
Lower  Coal-measures. — Prof.   Tait  commtroicated  the  second 
and  third  parts  of  a  paper,  by  Prof.  C.  G.  Knott,  on  some  rela- 
tions between  magnetism  and  twist  in  IroD,  nickel,  and  cobalt. 
Part  II.  contains  a  continuation  of  former  experiments  on  the 
twists  produced  in  the  magnetic  metals  when  they  are  under  the 
combined  inflnenoe  of  drcahur  and  longitudinal  magnetizations. 
A  rectangular  rod  of  cobalt  twists,  like  nickel,  left-handedly, 
when  a  current  is  passed  along  it  in  the  direction  of  magnetiza- 
tion.    Iron  twists  right-handedly,  unless  strong  fields  are  em- 
ployed.    There  is  no  reversal  of  the  twist  in  nickel  when  strong 
fields  are  used,  but  a  maximum  can  be  reached.    The  magnitude 
of  the  twist  which  is  produced  by  a  reversal  of  one  force  depends 
upon  which  force  is  reversed.    In  general,  reversal  of  the  longi- 
tudinal field  produces  the  greater  effect  \  but  iron  and  nickel,  in 
low  fields,  twist  most  when  the  current  is  reversed.    Hysteresis 
is  very  evident  in  all  the  phenomena.     Evidence  is  given  in  this 
part  in  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  an  expression,  which  was- 
given  in  Part  I.,  for  the  twist  in  terms  of  the  elongations  in  a 
thin- walled  tube  of  given  radius.     Part  UL  contains  a  discus- 
sion of  the  ma|riietic  consequences  of  twisting  a  magnetized  wire- 
— ^more   especially  a  circularly-magnetized  wire.     The  peculiar 
manner  in  which  the  magnetic  change  sometimes  lags  behind 
the  stress,  sometimes  shoots  ahead  of  it,  is  fully  investigated. 
This  effect  is  found  to  depend  upon  the  strength  of  the  current, 
on  the  amount  of  the  twist,  and  on  the  amount  of  vibration  ta 
which  the  wire  is  subjected.     The  longitudinal  polarity  which 
is  acquired  when  a  wire  carrying  a  current  is  twisted  appears 
to  be  high  in  comparison  with  the  intensity  induced  at  the 
circumference  of  die  wire.     This  seems  to  indicate  the  existence 
of  molecular  groupings  which  alter  their  configuration  when 
subjected  to  change  of  stress  or  of  magnetic  force.    The  effects 
which  are  observed  when  an  apparently  demagnetized  wire  is- 
subjected  to  twist  suggest  that  a  magnetized  wire  may  in  certain 
circumstances  consist  of  alternate  layers  of  opposite  oolarities. 
Any  stress  which  acts  diffecently  on  these  layers  will  produce 
powerful  magnetic  effects.    Tjoom  bis  own  experiments  and 
those  of  other  observers,  Dc  Knott  concludes  that  the  first 
eflfect  of  a  shearing  stress  on  the  molecular  groupings  is  not  only 
to  increase  the  average  intensity  in  the  direction  of  the  mag- 
netizing force,  but  also  to  bring  into  prominence  a  relatively  high- 
intensity  in    directions  at  right  angles  to  it — Dr.    Buchan 
communicated  a  paper  by  .Mr.  R.  T.  Omond,  Superintendent 
of  the  Ben  Nevis  Observatory,  and  by  .Mr.  A.  Rankin,  assistant 
observer,  on  the  winds  of  Ben  Nevis.    The  exact  determination 
of  northerly  winds  is  not  very  easy,  owing  to  the  shape  of 
the  hill.     The  difi^   2000  feet  in  lieight,   which   forms  the 
northern    face,    breaks  Jthese    winds    up,    and    makes    them 
squally  and  uncertain.     Some  may  be  entered  on  the  record 
as  north  when  they  should  really  have  been  entered  as  north-east 
or  north-west.     Southern  winds  are  on  the  whole  slightly  more 
frequent  than  northerly  winds    are.      At  sea-level    the   most 
firequent  wind  is  west;    and  south-west,  west,  and  north-west 
include  nearly  half  of  the  total  observations — more  than  half  if 
calms  are  excluded.     These  low -level  winds  are  in  exact  accord- 


ig2 


NA  TURE 


[June  25.  1891 


ance  with  the  distribution  of  barometric  pressure  o?er  the 
British  Isles  according  to  the  Bays  Ballot's  law,  which  asserts  that 
the  winds  blow  counter-clockwise  round  areas  of  low  pressure, 
such  an  area  Ijring  to  the  north  of  the  British  Isles.  But  the  Ben 
Nevis  winds  do  not  fit  in  with  such  a  distribution  of  pressure  at 
all,  which  indicates  that  isobars  drawn  at  the  level  of  Ben  Nevis 
(4400  feet)  have  directions  differing  entirely  from  the  directions 
of  sea-level  isobars.  In  other  woi3},  the  distribution  of  average 
barometric  pressure  which  extends  over  the  North  Atlantic  and 
North-western  Europe,  and  dominates  the  surface  wind  over  that 
area,  does  not  in  this  country  extend  to  a  vertical  height  of  one 
mile.  Precautions  were  taken  to  make  certain  that  this  difference 
was  not  due  to  a  difference  between  the  methods  of  observation 
at  Ben  Nevis  and  at  low-level  stations.  If  a  cyclonic  storm  of 
small  area  is  lying  to  the  north-eastward,  the  sea-level  winds  are 
west  or  north-west ;  but  the  Ben  Nevis  winds  may  be  north- 
east, blowing  straight  out  from  the  centre  of  the  area  of  low 
pressure.  In  larger  storms  the  Ben  Nevis  winds  are  practically 
identical  with  the  sea-level  winds,  which  indicates  that  a  storm 
has  a  vertical  extent  proportionate  in  some  way  to  the  horizontal 
area  which  it  covers.  The  outflowing  wind  seldom  or  never 
occurs  when  the  centre  is  to  the  south  or  west,  but  only  when  it 
is  to  the  north  or  east ;  and  it  is  most  strongly  marked  when  an 
anticyclone  lies  on  the  other  side.  The  outflowing  current  seems 
to  carry  the  ascending  air  of  the  cyclone  to  the  descending  anti- 
cyclonic  regions.  The  non-observation  of  the  outward  current 
when  the  centre  of  the  cyclone  lies  on  the  south  or  west  may  be 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  passes  at  a  higher  level  than  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  for  it  then  consists  of  air  passing  from  hotter  to  colder 
regions,  which  will  presumably  rise  to  a  higher  level.  The 
veering  of  the  wind  at  great  heights,  which  should  occur  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  theory  of  cyclones,  is  very  rarely  observed. — Dr. 
Crum  Brown  read  a  paper,  by  Dr. .  A.  B.  Griffiths,  on  the  blood 
of  the  Invertebrata. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  15.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — On  the  deformation  and  extinction  of  isolated  or 
periodic  aerial  waves  propagated  in  the  interior  of  delivery 
tubes  without  water  and  of  indefinite  lengthy  by  M.  T. 
Boussinesq.— On  a  volatile  compound  of  iron  and  carbonic 
oxide-iron-carbonyl,  and  on  nickel-carbon^l,  by  M.  M.  Berthe- 
lot.  The  author  finds  that  iron,  taken  m  a  particular  state, 
combines  directly  with  carbonic  oxide  at  ordinary  temperatures 
(about  45°  C.  gives  the  best  results)  to  form  a  very  volatile  com- 
pound. The  required  state  is  attained  by  reducing  precipitated 
iron  peroxide  by  hydrogen,  or  by  decomposing  ferrous  oxalate 
by  heat,  and  completing  the  reduction  with  hydrogen.  Iron- 
carbonyl  is  anaIo:*ous  to  nickel-carbonyl,  discovered  by  Mond, 
Lang,  and  Quincke  (Joum.  Chem.  Soc,  vol.  Ivii.  p.  749, 1890). 
M.  Berthelot  has  investigated  the  stability  of  the  latter  com- 
pound and  its  reactions  with  oxygen,  sulphuric  acid,  ammonia, 
and  nitrogen  dioxide. — RLumi  of  meteorological  observations 
made  at  Ecorchebceuf,  near  Dieppe,  from  1873  to  1882  by 
M.  J.  Reiset. — Observations  of  Wolfs  periodic  comet,  made  at 
Paris  Observatory  (West  Tower  equatorial),  by  M.  G.  Bigour- 
dan.  Two  observations  for  position  were  made  on  June  12. 
It  is  remarked  that  the  comet  is  a  round  nebulosity  about  2(/ 
in  diameter,  and  having  a  magnitude  13*3. — Observations  of 

the  new    asteroid  ^10)  made  at  Paris  Observatory  with  the 

East  Tower  equatorial,  by  Mdlle.  D.  Klumpke.  An  observation 
for  position  was  made  on  June  12. — Eclipse  of  the  sun  of  June 
6 ;  observations  made  at  Lyons  Observatory,  by  MM.  Gonnes- 
siat  and  Le  Cadet.  Measures  were  made  of  times  of  contact. 
— Observations  of  Wolfs  periodic  comet  (1884,  III.),  made  at 
Algiers  Observatory  with  the  Foucault  telescope  of  0*50  metres 
aperture,  by  MM.  Rambaud  and  Sy.  Eight  observations  for 
position  were  made  between  May  15  and  June  8. — Eclipse  of 
the  sun  of  June  6,  observe!  at  the  Observatory  of  the  Flam- 
marion  Scientific  Society  at  Marseilles,  by  M.  Jacques  L^olard. 
— On  the  two  forms  in  which  the  co-ordinates  of  the  surface  of 
the  fourth  degree,  described  by  the  summits  of  cones  of  the 
second  order  which  pass  through  six  given  points,  are  expressed 
by  means  of  9  functions  of  two  arguments,  by  M.  F.  Caspary. — 
On  an  electric  indicator  for  the  detection  of  small  variations  of 
pressure  in  currents  of  gas,  by  MM.  G.  and  L.  Richard. — 
Researches  on  the  application  of  the  measure  of  rotatory  power 
to  the  determination  of  compounds  formed  by  aqueous  solu- 
tions of  mannite,  with  acid  molybdates  of  soda  and  ammonium, 

NO.   1 1 30,  VOL.  44] 


by  M.  D.  Gemez.  By  measuring  the  proportions  of  salts  k 
solution  which  give  the  maximum  rotatory  effect  on  polariaed 
light,  the  author  arrives  at  the  molecular  formula  of  the  con- 
pounds  formed.—  On  qainethyline,  a  homologoos  base  d 
3uinine,  by  MM.  E.  Grimanz  and  A.  Amaud. — Oo  nreidcs 
erived  from  normal  adds,  by  M.  C.  Mattgnon. — ^Mode 
of  formation  of  methyl-campho-carbonates  of  methyl  and 
ethyl,  by  M.  J.  Minguin. — On  nitro-cyanacetic  ethers,  by 
M.  P.  Th.  Muller. — Bleaching  of  cotton  by  oxygenated 
water,  by  M.  Prud'homme.  The  addition  of  calcined  mag- 
nesia to  oxygenated  water  improves  the  bleaching  properties 
of  the  latter.  According  to  the  author,  the  superiority  of  the 
results  obtained  is  due  to  the  formation  of  a  peroxide  o  f  nu^- 
nesium. — Rdle  of  the  nucleus  in  the  formation  of  the  funda- 
mental muscular  reticulum  of  the  larva  of  Phrygane,  by  M.  G. 
Bataillon. — On  a  special  disposition  of  the  eyes  in  Puimonara 
basommalopkora^  M.  Victor  Willem. — Experimental  cootriba- 
tion'to  the  study  of  growth,  by  M.  Henry  de  Varigny. — On  a 
crypt ogamic  disease  of  the  AcHdium pertgrinum^  by  M.  L. 
Trabut. — On  the  existence  of  a  little  Miocene  vertebrate  £saai 
in  the  rocks  of  the  Saone  valley  at  Gray,  and  at  Moot  d'Or 
Lyonnais,  by  M.  Charles  Deperet — Contribution  to  the  geo- 
logical study  of  the  environs  of  Digne,  by  M.  BacheUrd. — 
Fauna  in  a  deposit  of  Quaternary  strata  at  the  environs  of 
Pouillenay,  by  Don  Jehl. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RBCBIVED. 

The  Oyster:  W.  K.  Brooks  (Wesley)  — De  TExercise  ches  I«s  Adakia: 
Dr.  F.  Legrange  (Pans.  Alcan).— Bttlledn  of  the  United  States  Fish  Cc^ 
mission,  vol.  viii.  (Washington). — Education  and  Heredity:  J.  M.  Gnyaa. 
translated  by  W.  T.  Greenstreet  (Scott). — An  Introduction  to  tbe  Mattke- 
nuitical  Theory  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism :  W.  T.  A.  Emta^e  (Oaresuioa 
Press). — Le  P£che  et  les  Poissoos  aes  Eaux  Douoes:  A.  Locard  (Paris, 
Bailli&re).-~La  Plume  des  Oiseaux:  Lacroix-Danliard  (Paris,  BailS^).— 
Les  Plantes  d'Appartement  et  les  Plantes  de  Fen£tres:  D.  Bois  (Wzis, 
B.iilli^re). — Dictionaire  d'lfelectrit^  et  de  llagnettsme :  J.  LefiSvre  (Paris. 
Bailli^e). — Bibliography  of  the  Chemical  Influence  of  Light  :  Dr.  A 
Tuckerman  (Washington).— Constance  Naden  and  Hylo-IdeaUsm  :  £^  E 
Brewer  (Bickers). — A  Summary  of  the  Darwinian  Theory  of  tbe  Oi^a  of 
Species :  F.  P.  Pascoe  (Taylor  and  Francis). — L'AnthropoIogie,  XS9X,  locse 
ii.  No.  3  (Paris,  G  Masson). — ^Journal  of  the  Ro]ral  Microscopical  Society, 
June  (Williams  and  Norgate). 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

Educational  Aspects  of  Free  Education 169 

Differential  and  Integral  Calculus.     By  Q.  C.     .    .    .  170 
The  Geology  of  the  Country  round  Liverpool.     By 

Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  P.R.S .  172 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Trouessart :    *'Les  Microbes,    les    Ferments,  et   ses 

•     Moisissures" 173 

"Botanical  Wall  Diagrams. "—D.  H.  S 173 

"  Chambers's  Encyclopaedia  " 173 

Wilson:  "Glimpses  of  Nature "    .   .   ,  , 174 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Fusing  and  Boiling  Points  of  Compounds.   ( With 

Diagrams,) — Dr.  Gustavus  Hinrichs 174 

Porpoises  in  African  Rivers. — Willy  KUkenthal  .    .  175 
Physical  Science  for   Artists.     I.     By  J.   Norman 

Lockyer,  P.R.S 175 

The  Paraday  Centenary.    (With  Diagram,)   By  Lord 

Rayleigh,  F.R.S 178 

The  Royal  Naval  Exhibition iSo 

A  Geological    Excursion  in    America.      By   S.    P. 

Emmons 182 

Notes 183 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Transit  of  Mercury    .•*.... 186 

Observations  of  Telluric  Lines 186 

Similarity  of  the  Orbits  of  Certain  Asteroids    ....  187 

Astronomical  and  Physical  Society  of  Toronto     ...  187 

•  A  New  Asteroid  (sn) 187 

The  Royal  Society  Conversazione 187 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 188 

Scientific  Serials 189 

Societies  and  Academies  ..••• 189 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 193 


NA  TURE 


193 


THURSDAY,  JULY  2,  1891. 


CR  YSTALLOGRAPHY, 

Elements  of  Crystallography  for  Students  of  Chemistry ^ 
Physics^  and  Mineralogy,  By  George  Huntingdon 
Williams,  Ph.D.,  Associate  Professor  in  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  Second  Edition,  Revised,  pp. 
246,  with  383  Woodcuts  and  2  Plates.  (London: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  189a) 

THE  position  which  crystallography  ought  to  occupy 
in  a  scheme  of  scientific  education  is  far  from  being 
generally  recognized.  Every  day  the  importance  of  this 
branch  of  science,  not  only  to  the  mineralogist  and  geo- 
logist, but  also  to  the  physicist  and  chemist,  is  becoming 
more  deeply  felt ;  and  fyet,  as  a  general  rule,  the  sys- 
tematic study  of  crystallography  is  left  quite  unprovided 
for  in  our  schools  and  Universities. 

If  we  take  any  standard  treatise  on  physics,  we  shall 
find  that  the  subject  of  the  measurement  and  calculation 
of  crystal  forms  is  almost,  if  not  entirely  ignored  ;  and 
though  it  is,  of  course,  absolutely  impossible  to  discuss 
optical  and  other  physical  phenomena  without  reference 
to  the  wonderfully  suggestive  relations  which  exist 
between  the  properties  resulting  from  internal  molecular 
structures,  and  the  crystalline  forms  which  are  the  ''  out- 
ward and  visible  sign  ^  of  such  molecular  structure,  yet 
the  references  are  usually  vague  and,  not  unfrequently, 
misleading.  In  confirmation  of  this  statement,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  in  a  very  widely-used  treatise  on  physics 
—one  that  has  passed  through  many  editions  in  this  and 
other  countries — there  is  a  hopeless  confusion  between 
the  terms  '^  hemihedrism  "  and  '^  hemimorphism"  in  the 
account  which  is  given  of  the  remarkable  phenomena  of 
pyro-electricity. 

Nor,  as  a  rule,  have  chemists  dealt  more  adequately 
with  the  subject  of  crystallography  than  their  brethren 
the  physicists.  In  many  chemical  treatises  we  find  such 
terms  as  pyramidal,  prismatic,  octahedral,  rhomboidal, 
&c.,  employed  so  loosely  as  not  to  give  the  student  the 
faintest  idea  of  the  real  symmetry  of  the  forms  which  are 
referred  to.  This  neglect  of  crystallography  by  chemists 
is  seen  to  be  the  more  serious  when  we  remember  two 
important  circumstances — first,  that  crystallization  is 
often  the  only  means  which  chemists  possess  of  isolating 
and  readily  distinguishing  many  bodies ;  and  secondly, 
that  new  substances  are  being  continually  formed  by  the 
chemist,  the  study  of  some  of  which  may  throw  new  and 
important  light  upon  crystallographic  principles. 

Mr.  Fletcher,  in  a  very  suggestive  address  to  the 
Mineralogical  Society,  has  justly  remarked : — 

'*  Hitherto,  at  least,  the  chemists  of  this  country  have 
been  too  content,  either  to  leave  the  crystalline  forms  of 
their  artificial  products  undetermined,  or  to  impose  the 
task  of  their  determination  on  the  already  sufficiently 
occupied  mineralogist.  It  seems  obvious  that  in  a  satis- 
factory system  of  education  every  chemist  should  be 
taught  how  to  measure  and  describe  the  crystalline 
characters  of  the  products  which  it  is  his  fate  to  ca  }]into 
existence.  ...  A  knowledge  of  the  elements  of  crystallo- 
graphy, including  the  mechanics  of  crystal-measurement, 
ought  to  be  made  a  sine  qud  non  for  a  degree  in  chemistry 
at  every  University." 


NO.  1 13 1,  VOL.  44] 


The  consequence  of  this  neglect  of  crystallography  by 
physicists  and  chemists  has  been  that  the  teaching  of 
crystallography  has  fallen  almost  entirely  into  the  hands 
of  mineralogists  and  geologists.  But  there  is  no  more 
reason  why  every  book  on  mineralogy  should  commence 
with  a  crystallographic  treatise,  than  that  it  should  in-r 
elude  dissertations  on  refraction  or  articles  on  chemical 
analysis.  '^  Crystallography  should  be  taught  as  a  special 
subject/'  and  the  student  who,  after  his  training  in  physics 
and  chemistry,  takes  up  the  subject  of  mineralogy,  ought 
to  know  at  least  as  much  of  the  measurement  and  sym- 
metry of  crystal  forms,  as  he  does  of  the  effects  of  various 
media  on  different  kinds  of  radiant  energy,  or  the  re- 
actions of  the  several  bases  and  acids. 

It  would  be  easy  to  show  that,  much  as  mineralogists 
have  done  for  the  study  of  crystallography,  the  latter 
science  would  have  been  developed  more  logically,  and 
perhaps  more  rapidly,  if  the  illustrations  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  crystallization  had  not  been  so  exclusively 
sought  among  natural  products.  We  find  not  a  few 
examples  in  the  terminology  of  the  science  of  the  effects 
of  this  one-sided  growth  of  crystallography. 

Crystallography  is  based  upon  purely  mathematical 
considerations,  and  the  study  of  the  principles  of  crystal- 
measurement,  the  discussion  of  crystal-symmetry,  and 
the  calculation  of  fundamental  forms,  ought  clearly  to 
be  one  of  the  first  branches  of  applied  mathematics  to 
be  taken  up  by  the  student  of  physics ;  thus  the  study  of 
crystallography  should  certainly  precede  that  of  physical 
optics.  If  this  course  were  followed,  the  student  of 
chemistry  and  mineralogy  would  come  to  the  teachers  of 
those  sciences  with  such  an  amount  of  preliminary  in- 
formation as  would  enable  him  to  profit  by  their 
instructions. 

In  the  work  now  before  us.  Dr.  Williams  fully  recog- 
nizes the  importance  of  the  principles  for  which  we  have 
been  contending,  and  has  endeavoured  to  supply  English- 
speaking  students  with  a  short  and  clear  treatise  on  the 
principles  of  crystallographic  science.  It  is  certainly 
remarkable  that  the  countrymen  of  Wollaston,  Whewell, 
and  Miller  should  have  had  to  wait  so  long  for  a  work  of 
this  character ;  though  every  student  of  the  subject  must 
gratefully  remember  the  aid  afforded  by  the  admirable 
little  primer  prepared  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  Gurney, 
and  published  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge. 

Of  Dr.  Williams's  qualifications  for  undertaking  a  work 
of  this  kind  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak.  His  numerous 
original  researches  afford  abundant  evidence  of  his  devo- 
tion to  crystallographic  study,  and  in  the  preparation  of 
the  work  he  has  had  the  advice  and  assistance  of 
one  of  the  first  crystallographers  of  the  United  States, 
Prof.  S.  L.  Penfield,  of  New  Haven. 

In  order  to  keep  the  work  within  the  smallest  possible 
limits,  it  has  been  restricted  to  geometrical  crystallo- 
graphy, but  otherwise  the  work  has  been  modelled  upon 
the  same  lines  as  Groth's  standard  work,  "  Physikalische 
Krystallographie."  The  plates  and  very  numerous  wood- 
cuts afford  the  greatest  possible  aid  to  the  reader,  and 
the  typography  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  In  looking 
through  this  revised  edition,  we  are  struck  with  the 
almost  entire  absence  of  those  typographical  errors  that 
so  easily  creep  into  a  work  of  this  kind,  and  which, 

K 


194 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


though  so  obvious  to  an  expert,  often  prove  to  be  a 
source  of  infinite  trouble  to  the  beginner. 

In  dealing  with  the  vexed  question  of  crystallographic 
notation,  we  think  Dr.  Williams  has  exercised  a  very 
wise  discretion.  The  simple  and  easily  understood 
symbols  of  Naumann  have  been  employed  in  the  first 
instance,  but  in  almost  every  case  the  corresponding 
symbol  of  Miller's  system  has  been  added  in  brackets. 
While  all  students  of  physics,  chemistry,  mineralogy, 
and  geology  ought  to  equip  themselves  with  such  an 
amount  of  crystallographic  knowledge  as  may  be  derived 
from  the  study  of  this  book,  only  a  very  small  proportion 
of  them  are  likely  to  be  called  upon  to  deal  with  the 
higher  and  more  complicated  problems  of  the  science. 
The  small  minority  of  students  who  devote  themselves  to 
purely  crystallographic  researches  may  be  fairly  recom- 
mended to  employ  from  the  first  the  beautiful  method  of 
notation  devised  by  Whewell  and  perfected  by  Miller  ; 
but  it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  the  student  with  a  smaller 
amount  of  mathematical  training  would  gain  any  real 
benefit  from  such  a  course.  In  an  appendix,  *'  on  zones, 
projection,  and  the  construction  of  crystal  figures,"  the 
author  of  this  work  has  indicated  to  such  a  beginner  the 
nature  of  some  of  the  methods  of  investigation  which  are 
pursued  by  more  advanced  students. 

In  any  future  edition  of  the  work — and  such,  we  feel 
sure,  will  certainly  be  called  for — we  think  that  the 
author  would  do  wisely  to  add  a  table  showing  the 
symbols  of  the  chief  forms  according  to  all  the  different 
systems  of  notation  commonly  employed.  The  student 
who  turns  to  the  classical  memoirs  of  Des  Cloizeaux, 
Mallard,  Bertrand,  and  others  of  the  French  school  of 
crystallography,  would  thus  be  enabled  to  avail  himself 
of  much  valuable  literature,  which,  owing  to  the  employ- 
ment of  an  unfamiliar  notation,  must  otherwise  remain  a 
sealed  book  to  him. 

We  have  spoken  regretfully  at  the  outset  of  this  notice 
of  the  general  neglect  of  crystallographical  studies  ;  but 
we  are  Compelled  to  admit  that,  for  this  neglect,  crystal- 
lographers  themselves  are  largely  to  blame.  The  con- 
fusion produced  by  numerous  rival  systems  of  notation  is 
answerable  for  much  of  that  feeling  of  despair  among 
those  who  attempt  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with 
the  subject.  If  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  when  a  uni- 
form crystallographic  language  can  be  agreed  upon,  much 
might  be  accomplished  if  the  plan  adopted  by  the  author 
of  this  work  of  giving  in  every  case  the  symbols  according 
to  two  systems  were  followed.  This  is  already  done  in 
the  Zeitschrift fiir  Krystallo^rapkie,  the  Neues  Jahrbuch 
fur  Mineralogiey  &c.,  the  Journals  of  the  English  and 
French  Mineralogical  Societies,  and  several  other  well- 
known  periodicals.  If  a  conference  of  the  leading  crys- 
tallographers  of  Germany,  France,  and  England  could  be 
held  to  decide  upon  the  order  in  which  the  axes  should 
be  taken  in  writing  symbols  and  other  similar  arrange- 
ments which  are  purely  conventional  and  arbitrary,  we 
might  hope  to  see  much  of  the  confusion  removed  that 
has  so  long  been  a  bar  to  the  progress  of  this  most  fasci- 
nating and  important  branch  of  science. 

We  feel  assured  that  the  simultaneous  publication  in 
this  country  and  in  America  of  so  simple  and  at  the  same 
time  so  accurate  a  text-book  of  the  subject  as  the  work 
we  are  now  considering  will  do  much  towards  reviving 

1^0.  II 3 1 ,  VOL.  44 


and  diffusing  a  taste  for  the  study  of  crystallography 
The  student  who  masters  the  contents  of  this  Httle 
book  will  undoubtedly  have  much  more  to  learn  before 
he  is  competent  to  deal  with  all  the  higher  problems  of 
crystallographic  science  ;  but,  however  far  his  researches 
may  be  carried  in  the  future — and  this  is,  perhaps,  the 
very  highest  praise  we  can  give  to  the  book — he  will 
certainly  have  little,  if  anything,  to  tt^leam. 

John  W.  Judd. 


PHOTOGRAPHY  IN  COLOURS. 

Photographie  des  Couleurs  par  la  MHhode  Inter/eren- 
tielle  de  M,  Lippmann,  By  Alphonse  Berget.  (Paris : 
Gauthier-Villars  et  Fils,  1891.) 

THIS  interesting  little  brochure  contains  an  account  of 
the  recent  achievements  in  colour  photography 
which  have  been  made  so  widely  known  to  the  Hnglish 
public  through  the  daily  papers.  Coming  from  the  pen 
of  an  **  attach^  au  Laboratoirc  des  Recherches  (Physique) 
I  de  la  Sorbonne,"  we  may  take  this  contribution  as  an 
authorized  exposition  of  M.  Lippmann's  work,  and  as 
such  it  will  be  found  useful  by  physicists,  chemists,  and 
photographers,  as  well  as  by  the  general  reader  who 
wishes  to  know  the  real  state  of  the  case  concerning  this 
important  departure  in  photographic  methods.  In  a 
short  historical  introduction  the  author  calls  attention 
to  the  previous  photochromatic  attempts  by  Seebeck  in 
1 8 10,  by  Herschel  in  1841,  by  Edmond  Becquerel  in 
1848,  by  Niepce  de  St.  Victor  in  185 1  to  1866,  and  by 
Poitevin  in  1865.  It  is  stated  that  these  and  all  similar 
attempts  were  based  upon  purely  chemical  methods,  the 
investigators  seeking  for  some  sensitive  compound  which 
would  give  chromatic  impressions  corresponding  to  the 
colours  impinging  on  the  film.  M.  Berget  adds  the 
important  remark  :  "  a  priori y  ce  probl6me  est  irr^alis- 
able." 

Chapters  ii.  to  v.  are  devoted  to  elementary  optical 
principles.  Chapter  ii.  deals  with  vibratory  movements 
and  their  propagation,  wave-length  and  period,  and 
sonorous  waves.  In  the  third  chapter  the  phenomenon 
of  interference  is  described  and  explained  ;  in  the  fourth 
chapter  we  have  sections  on  the  luminiferous  ether,  the 
velocity  of  light,  the  decomposition  of  white  light  by  a 
prism,  and  Fresnel's  theory  of  the  spectrum  colours. 
The  subject  of  complex  colours,  as  distinguished  from 
the  pure  colours  of  the  spectrum,  is  also  dealt  with  in 
this  chapter,  and  is  of  special  importance  in  connection 
with  the  colours  of  natural  objects,  to  which  the  author 
devotes  a  short  section.  It  is  pointed  out  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  superposition  of  vibrations  holds  good  in  optics 
as  in  acoustics,  and  that  just  in  the  same  way  that  the 
diaphragm  of  a  phonograph  can  take  up  and  faithfully 
transmit  the  extremely  complex  system  of  superimp>osed 
aerial  vibrations  produced  by  the  human  voice,  so  the 
ether  transmits  the  complex  superimposed  vibrations 
emanating  from  coloured  objects.  In  connection  with 
the  history  of  the  undulatory  theory,  the  whole  credit  is 
given  to  Fresnel ;  "  L'honneur  de  donner  la  premiere 
th^orie  rationelle  de  la  lumi^re,  en  la  considdrant  comme 
r^sultat  d'un  mouvement  ondulatoire,  ^tait  r^servd  ^  un 
savant  frangais  :  Fresnel."  We  should  like  to  have  seen 
Thomas  Young  receive  at  least  an  honourable  mention. 


July  2,  1891] 


NA TURE 


195 


The  subject  of  interference  receives  more  detailed 
treatment  in  chapter  v.,  the  interference  of  direct  and 
reflected  waves,  and  the  theory  of  Newton's  rings,  being 
specially  dealt  with.  It  is  not  till  we  come  to  the  sixth 
chapter  that  we  are  introduced  to  the  main  subject  of  the 
brochure.  The  principle  which  glided  M.  Lippmann  in 
his  experiments  is  well  and  tersely  given.  Imagine  a 
plane  metallic  mirror  with  its  reflecting  surface  coated 
with  a  transparent,  homogeneous  film  of  a  silver  haloid 
in  albumin  or  collodion.  Supposing  a  coloured  ray  of 
definite  wave-length  to  fall  on  such  a  film,  the  undulations 
would  traverse  the  transparent  sensitive  film,  and  being 
reflected  from  the  polished  surface  of  the  mirror,  and 
meeting  the  incident  waves,  would  produce  interference. 
The  space  in  front  of  the  mirror  would  thus  be  occupied 
by  parallel  planes  alternately  light  and  dark,  and  separated 
by  half  wave-lengths,  i.e,  by  spaces  of  1/4,000,000  of  a 
millimetre.  There  is  therefore  ample  space,  even  within 
the  thickness  of  the  film,  for  several  of  these  planes  of 
interference.  On  development,  the  planes  corresponding 
to  the  light  intervals  would  alone  give  films  of  metallic 
silver,  while  the  dark  intervals  would  remain  unaffected. 
On  fixing,  there  would  thus  be  left  in  the  film  a  series  of 
parallel  films  of  metallic  silver  separated  by  half  wave- 
lengths. Any  pair  of  such  films  constitute  a  thin  plate  in 
the  Newtonian  sense,  and  will  give  by  interference  a 
colour  corresponding  to  that  which  produced  the  original 
deposition  of  the  films  when  viewed  by  reflected  light 

To  realize  the  foregoing  principle  experimentally,  M. 
Lippmann  has  found  it  necessary  to  use  dry  films  of 
collodion,  or  albumin,  or  gelatine  sensitized  by  immersion, 
as  in  the  old  wet  collodion  process :  emulsions  are  granular 
and  opaque,  and  contain  particles  which  are  gross  in 
comparison  with  the  half  wave-length  of  a  spectrum 
colour,  and  cannot  be  used.  Moreover,  it  has  not 
been  found  practicable  to  coat  the  reflecting  surface  of 
the  mirror  directly  with  the  sensitive  film,  because  the 
free  iodine  tarnishes  the  silver  and  destroys  its  reflecting 
power.  This  difficulty  has  been  surmounted  by  making 
the  coated  glass  plate  one  side  of  a  shallow  trough  with 
parallel  sides  filled  with  mercury,  the  coated  side  being 
inwards,  and  in  close  contact  with  the  mercury.  The 
conditions  for  reflection  and  interference  are  thus  ful- 
filled. The  image  of  the  spectrum  is  focussed  on  a  glass 
plate  with  a  ground  surface,  which  is  temporarily  fixed  to 
the  side  of  the  cell  or  trough  in  the  same  position  as  that 
occupied  by  the  sensitive  plate,  i>.  with  the  ground 
surface  inwards.  After  focussing,  the  ground  glass  is 
removed,  and  the  sensitive  plate  substituted  for  it  in 
the  position  described. 

The  spectrum  was  produced  by  an  electric  arc  light  of 
^  candle-power,  and  the  time  of  exposure  for  the 
different  parts  of  the  spectrum  was  regulated  by  inter- 
posing cells  with  coloured  solutions,  beginning  with  a 
solution  of  helianthin  which  transmits  only  the  red  and 
yellow,  then  replacing  this  by  a  cell  of  potassium  dichro- 
mate  which  transmits  the  red,  yellow,  and  green,  and 
then  finally  exposing  for  a  few  seoonds  without  any 
screen,  so  as  to  impress  the  blue  and  violet.  The  whole 
time  of  exposure  varies,  according  to  the  sensitiveness  of 
the  film,  from  half  an  hour  to  two  hours.  The  details  of 
development  and  fixing  are  given  by  M.  Berget,  and  do 
not  differ  fundamentally  from    the   ordinary   methods. 

NO.   1 1 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


The  finished  image,  when  dry,  shows  the  spectrum 
colours  by  reflected  light  with  metallic  brilliancy,  and 
as  the  colours  are  purely  optical,  depending  only  on 
reflection  and  interference,  they  are  permanent.  As  the 
author  points  out,  it  is  certainly  a  marvellous  tribute  to 
the  fidelity  of  the  photographic  method  that  a  series  of 
laminae  of  metallic  silver  separated  by  intervals  of  only 
about  1/4,000,000  of  a  millimetre  should  retain  their 
positions  with  optical  accuracy  during  the  processes  of 
fixing  and  development. 

There  can  be  no  doubt — as  will  be  admitted  by  all  who 
have  seen  the  results — that  M.  Lippmann  is  to  be  con« 
gratulated  on  having  made  a  most  important  advance  in 
the  methods  of  photochromy.  How  far  his  experiments 
go  towards  the  realization  of  the  great  problem  of  photo- 
graphing objects  in  their  natural  colours  is  a  question 
quite  distinct  from  his  present  achievement.  M.  Berget 
tells  us  that  satisfactory  reproductions  of  coloured  glasses 
illuminated  from  behind  by  the  electric  light  have  been 
obtained,  but  this  is  only  a  very  little  step  in  the  desired 
direction. 

"  Que  reste-t-il  k  faire  pour  rendre  absolument  usuel  le 
proc^d^  photochromique  de  M.  Lippmann  ?  "  There  re- 
mains a  great  deal !  Not  the  least  of  the  requirements 
is  a  transparent  sensitive  film  equally  sensitive  to  every 
colour  of  the  spectriun,  and  sufficiently  sensitive  as  a 
whole  to  enable  the  impression  to  be  secured  with  a 
moderate  exposure,  instead  of  30  to  120  minutes.  Till 
this  is  accomplished  we  are  not  much  nearer  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  photography  in  natural  colours  than  we 
were  before.  M.  Berget  speaks  hopefully  of  the  prospects 
in  this  direction,  and  we  wish  every  success  to  his  anti- 
cipations. But  it  is  no  detraction  from  the  merit  of  M. 
Lippmann's  results  if  these  have  no  inunediate  bearing 
on  practical  photographic  processes.  As  a  triumph  of 
physical  science  these  experiments  will  live. 

^^  Cest  aussi  un  triomphe  pour  la  science  fran^aise,  car 
ce  mode  de  reproduction  des  couleurs  du  spectre  k  I'aide 
des  lames  minces  limitdes  par  des  plans  d'argent  constitue 
une  materialisation,  r^alis^e  par  un  savant  frangais,  de 
ces  ondes  lumineuses  congue  pour  le  premiere  fois  par  le 
puissant  g^nie  d'un  autre  Fran9ais  illustre :  j'ai  nommd 
Augustin  Fresnel." 

With  this  patriotic  outburst  M.  Berget  concludes  his 

pamphlet,  and  the  compatriots  of  Niepce  and  Daguerre 

may  well  be  gratified  with  this  latest  emanation  from  the 

physical  laboratory  of  the  Sorbonne. 

R.  Meldola. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Geometry  of  Position,  By  R.  H.  Graham,  Author  of 
''  Graphic  and  Analytic  Statics."  (London  and  New 
York:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  work  essays  to  fill  an  existing  want  by  providing  an 
English  text-book  on  the  important  subject  of  geometry  of 
position  in  relation  to  graphical  statics. 

The  author  gives  an  introductory  chapter  on  anharmonic 
pencils  and  ratios,  followed  by  an  interesting  chapter  on 
projective  conies,  and  devotes  the  remainder  of  the  book 
to  the  application  of  graphic  methods  to  statical  problems, 
including,  amongst  others,  the  discussion  of  Maxwell's 
theory  of  reciprocal  figures. 

The  chapter  on  anharmonic  pencils  and  ratios  would 
have  been  considerably  improved  by  the  introduction,  at 
the  beginning,  of  more  definitions  and  explanations  of  the 


t96 


NA TURE 


[July  2,  189 1 


nomenclature  adopted.  The  proofs  of  Desargue's  theorem 
and  its  converse,  given  on  p.  3,  are  unduly  compressed, 
considering  the  early  stage  at  which  they  are  introduced  ; 
and  the  student's  preliminary  difficulties  will  be  increased 
by  the  fact  that  the  enunciations  have  been  given  in  suc- 
cession, while  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  which  is  to  be 
treated  first. 

In  the  chapter  on  reciprocal  figures,  we  would  suggest 
that  the  proof  given  of  Theorem  I.,  Art.  50,  might  with 
advantage  have  been  dispensed  with.  In  Art.  52  it  is 
erroneously  assumed  that  OB'  is  equal  to  force  (i) ;  this 
assumption  mars  a  proof  which  would  be  otherwise  good. 

The  work  exhibits  evidence  of  originality,  and  it  is,  per- 
haps, to  be  regretted  that  the  proof-sheets  have  apparently 
been  revised  only  by  the  author  himself.  Their  revision 
by  one  who  had  no  part  in  compiling  them  would  probably 
have  contributed  to  a  better  arrangement,  and  to  the 
exclusion  of  much  that  is  vague. 

The  carefully  drawn  diagrams  of  different  problems 
contained  in  the  book  form  admirable  illustrations  to  the 
non-technical  reader  of  the  nature  of  the  operations  in- 
volved in  the  application  of  the  graphical  calculus,  and  of 
the  character  of  the  results  obtained  by  it.  They  are  the 
more  welcome  as  such  information  is  not  readily  available 
in  English  text-books,  while  in  foreign  treatises  it  is  often 
developed  in  such  minute  detail  as  to  make  the  foundations 
nearly  inaccessible  to  the  general  reader. 

A  word  of  praise  is  due  to  the  interesting  collections  of 
examples  at  the  ends  of  the  chapters,  which  are,  it  seems, 
mostly  original,  but  partly  drawn  from  sources  not  often 
laid  under  contribution  in  the  ordinary  text-books. 

Alex.  Larmor. 

The  Species  of  Epilobium  occurring  North  of  Mexico, 
By  Dr.  Trelease,  Director  of  the  Missouri  Botanic 
Garden.  From  the  Second  Annual  Report  of  the 
Garden,  issued  April  1891.    48  pages,  48  plates. 

Epilobium  is  not  a  very  large  genus,  but  is  spread  uni- 
versally through  the  north  temperate  zone,  both  amongst 
the  plains  and  mountains,  and  reappears  in  plenty  in 
New  Zealand.  The  species  are  very  difficult  of  delimita- 
tion and  definition,  and  great  diversity  of  opinion  has 
prevailed  as  to  their  number,  and  the  validity  of  the  charac- 
ters which  have  been  used  to  characterize  species.  It  is 
evident,  moreover,  that  many  of  them  hybridize  freely  in 
nature.  Passing  over  the  earlier  well-known  writers,  such 
as  Pursh,  Muhlenberg,  Hooker,  and  Gray,  in  1876  Barbey 
contributed  a  monograph  of  the  Californian  species  to 
Brewer,  Watson,  and  Gray's  "  Flora  of  California,"  and  later 
published  excellent  figures  of  the  new  species  which  he 
there  described.  In  1884,  Haussknecht  published  a 
monograph  of  the  whole  genus.  Of  the  38  species  dealt 
with  in  Dr.  Trelease's  paper,  13  have  been  proposed  by 
Haussknecht,  3  by  Barbey,  4  by  himself,  and  one  by 
Parish,  so  that  more  than  half  the  38  have  been  lately  de- 
scribed for  the  first  time.  Dr.  Trelease  describes  fully 
^  the  species  known  in  Temperate  North  America,  gives 
an  octavo  plate  of  each  of  them,  and  a  detailed  account 
of  their  geographical  distribution,  citing  the  numbers  of 
all  the  recent  collectors.  Of  the  38  species  only  9  extend 
their  range  beyond  the  American  continent.  The  paper 
will  be  a  very  acceptable  contribution  to  our  knowledge 
of  a  difficult  genus,  and  will  no  doubt  be  incorporated  in 
the  new  "  Flora  of  North  America,"  of  which  the  second 
volume  is  already  published,  and  the  first  and  third  of 
which  we  anxiously  wait  for.  J.  G.  B. 

A  Guide  Book  to  Books,  Edited  by  E.  B.  Sargant  and 
Bernhard  Wishaw.     (London  :  Henry  Frowde,  1891.) 

There  are  so  many  books  of  all  kinds  that  ordinary 
readers  may  be  excused  if  they  are  sometimes  at  a  loss 
as  to  the  works  which  they  ought  to  select  for  study. 
The  editors  of  the  present  volume  have  come  to  the  aid 
of  such    readers,    and    may    be    congratulated  on  the 

NO.   II 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


manner  in  which  they  have  accomplished  a  useful  but 
most  troublesome  task.  They  make  no  attempt,  in  a 
philosophical  sense,  to  classify  the  various  subjects  with 
which  authors  have  dealt ;  they  simply  take  these  subjects 
one  after  the  other,  in  alphabetical  order,  and  set  down 
what  seem  to  them  the  best  books  relating  to  each. 
Taking  into  account  the  amount  of  space  at  their  disposal, 
they  probably  could  not  have  chosen  a  plan  that  would 
have  been  more  readily  intelligible.  Of  course  opinions 
will  differ  about  the  value  of  the  works  included  in  the 
several  lists.  Everyone  who  consults  the  volume  will  be 
of  opinion  that  the  editors  have  omitted  some  things 
which  they  ought  to  have  noted,  and  that  they  have 
noted  some  things  which  they  ought  to  have  omitted. 
But  there  cannot  but  be  a  general  agreement  that,  upon 
the  whole,  the  selection  has  been  made  on  sound 
principles,  and  that  it  is  likely  to  be  of  real  service  to 
very  many  of  those  who  may  have  occasion  to  refer  to  it. 
A  large  number  of  eminent  writers  have  helped  the 
editors,  not  only  by  drawing  up  lists  of  books,  but  by 
giving  them  much  valuable  advice. 

Tasmanian  Official  Record^  1891.  By  R.  M.  Johnston, 
F.L.S.  By  Authority.  SecoiTd  Year  of  Issue.  (Tas- 
mania :  William  T.  Strutt,  Government  Printer,  Hobait, 
1891.) 

Anyone  who  may  wish  to  obtain  information  aboat 
Tasmania  will  be  hard  to  please  if  he  does  not  find  what 
he  wants  in  this  elaborate  volume.  It  begins  with  an 
account  of  the  general  physical  outline  of  the  island,  and 
then  we  come  to  Tasmanian  history,  and  to  the  Tasmanian 
constitution  and  government.  After  a  chapter  on  Crown 
lands  we  are  invited  to  consider  the  geology  and  mineral 
products  of  Tasmania,  its  flora  and  vegetable  products, 
fauna  and  animal  products,  population,  vital  statistics, 
trade  and  interchange,  accumulation,  finance,  production, 
law,  crime,  and  protection,  and  "  intellectual  and  social 
provision."  The  work  is  wound  up  with  a  view  of  the 
progress  of  Australasia,  and  a  summary  of  general 
statistics.  In  the  present  issue  some  important  additions 
have  been  made  to  the  book  as  originally  published,  and 
by  devoting  attention  to  classification  the  editor  has  tried 
to  ''obviate  any  difficulties  that  might  arise  from  the 
necessity  of  bringing  together  in  one  volume  such  a 
variety  of  subjects." 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

{The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opUtions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  refected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of 'Natc^m^ 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The  Albert  University. 

Prof.  Lanksster,  in  the  interesting  letter  published  in 
Nature  for  May  28  last  (p.  76),  expresses  hi^  desire  to  have 
*' a  genuine  professorial  University  set  on  foot  in  London,  not 
because  it  is  London,  but  because  University  and  Kill's 
Colleges  are  there,  and  respectfully  petition  Her  Majesty  to  do 
for  them  what  the  monarch  has  done  in  past  days  for  odier 
Universities." 

I  have  not  seen  the  petition  of  the  Colleges.  But  I  have 
before  me  the  draft  charter  adopted  by  their  Councils,  which  I 
presume  is  intended  to  give  effect  to  the  prayer  of  the  petitioo. 
I  can  hardly  imagine  that  Prof.  Lankester  was  acquainted  with 
its  contents  when  he  penned  the  sentence  which  I  have  quoted. 

If  the  Albert  University  is  called  into  existence — and  it  seems 
very  probable  that  its  charter  will  be  granted — it  will  be  an  in- 
stitution very  similar  to  what  the  University  of  London  was  in 
the  early  years  of  its  existence,  when  it  drew  its  candidates  only 
from  the  so-called  affiliated  Colleges. 

The  charter  commences  by  reciting  '*  that  it  is  expedient  therr 
should  be  constituted  in  and  for  the  London  district  (defined  as 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


197 


*  a  rtdins  of  fifteen  miles  from  Somerset  Hoase ')  a  University 
.  .   .  commeDding  to  its  students  systematic  courses  of  teacb- 
iogand  methods  of  study,"    Bat  **  commending  "  is  what  we 
all  do  now. 

The  new  University  is  to  be  of  the  federal  type.  Beginning 
with  University  and  King's,  '*  other  Colleges  may  from  time  to 
time  be  admitted."  This  was  inevitable,  though  my  pointing 
out  the  £act  made  my  friend  Prof.  Lankester  somewhat  angiv. 

Any  medical  school  may  be  admitted  which  is  recognized  as 
efficient  by  any  qualifying  body  under  the  Medical  Acts.  But 
while  Colleges  will  have  representatives  on  the  Council,  the 
medical  schools  will  only  have  representatives  on  the  Faculties. 

D^rees  may  be  granted  apparently  in  any  subject  the  Council 
please,  subject  to  a  regular  course  of  study  and  examination. 
This  will  apparently  admit  theology,  which  is  probably  a 
desirable  thing,  provided  it  be  unsectarian. 

The  powers  to  grant  degrees  are  rather  large,  and  deserve 
•careful  consideration.  The  London  radius  at  once,  as  has  been 
the  case  with  the  existing  University,  goes  off  into  Imperial 
infinity  in  the  provision  that  anyone  who  has  been  a  resident 
student  in  any  University  in  the  Empire  may  count  his  time  and 
examinations,  except  that  a  "final  portion  of  the  period  of 
study"  and  the  "final  examination  shall  be  passed  in  the 
Universitv. 

There  is  an  unlimited  power  to  grant  ad  eundem  degrees  as 
well  as  honorary  degrees  at  the  discretion  of  the  Council. 
Fellows  of  University  and  King's  Colleges  (a  purely  honorary 
distinction  in  itself)  are  indicated  as  fitting  recipients,  and  also 
''past  students  of  the  said  Colleges,"  a  rather  large  door  to  open 
if  m  the  future  a  degree  is  to  have  any  meaning  at  all. 

Power  is  taken  to  examine  into  the  efficiency  of  schools  or  an^ 
academic  institutions — work  already  in  the  hands  of  other  Urn- 
versities — and  apparently  the  London  radius  again  becomes 
infinite. 
Independent  University  lecturers  may  be  appointed. 
The  Council  will  consist  of  members  appointed  for  five 
years  by  (i)  the  Crown  (Lord  President) ;  (2)  Convocation ; 
(3)  Colleges;  (4)  Colleges  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons;  (5) 
Faculties.  The  Faculties  are  to  be  constituted  (i)  of  teachers 
in  the  Colleges ;  (2)  of  examiners ;  (3)  of  persons  who  are  or 
have  been  engaged  in  University  teaching  in  London.  The 
Boards  of  Studies  are  delegations  from  the  Faculties,  as  they 
should  be.  All  this  is  much  on  the  lines  sketched  out  in  my 
own  letter  in  Nature. 

A  rather  remarkable  feature  in  the  scheme  is  the  creation  of 
a  Convocation  of  graduates.  Whatever  may  be  the  function  of 
this  body  in  other  Universities,  it  is  somewhat  surprising  to 
meet  with  its  existence  in  what  professes  to  be  a  teaching 
University. 

The  examinations  are  to  be  conducted  by  examiners  who  are 
members  of  the  respective  faculties  associated  with  external 
examiners  ;  the  teacher- examiner  seems  not  to  be  insisted  upon. 
These  are  the  essential  elements  of  the  proposed  constitution. 
If  it  is  asked  what  distinctive  character  the  Albert  University 
will  possess  which  will  mark  it  off  from  the  existing  University, 
or  from  that  body  as  it  might  be  conceivably  reconstituted,  I 
must  confess  that  it  seems  to  me  to  lie  in  a  very  small  compass. 
Notwithstanding  the  use  of  the  ambiguous  word  "  commending," 
when  one  wonld  have  expected  "  prescribing,"  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  essential  feature  in  the  whole  scheme  is  the 
eofbroement  upon  candidates  for  degrees  of  attendance  upon  a 
carriculum.  But  in  the  existing  University,  this  is  already  re- 
quired in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine.  Prof.  Huxley  has  further 
Qrgc<i  it  in  the  Faculty  of  Science  ;  and  for  my  part  I  believe 
that  the  time  has  arrived  when  it  might  be  demanded  without 
difficulty.  The  prominence  given  to  practical  work  in  the 
science  examinations  has  made  it  all  but  impossible  for  a  can- 
didate to  acquit  himself  successfully  who  has  not  attended 
a  competent  course  of  instruction.  To  insist  upon  a  curri- 
culum would  be  now  scarcely  more  than  the  practical  recog- 
nition of  this  fact.  The  only  real  point  of  divergence  is  in 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  ;  about  this  I  speak  with  some  hesitation.  It 
may  be  that  the  enforcement  of  a  curriculum  is  desirable ;  I  am 
not  satisfied  that  in  this  faculty  it  is  so,  or  at  any  rate  absolutely 
«sential,  as  I  think  it  is  in  the  Faculty  of  Science.  ^  With  this 
exception  I  can  see  no  net  public  gain  in  the  new  sicheme  to 
justify  the  creation  of  the  cumbrous  machinery  of  a  new  federal 
University. 

Seeing  that  the  existing  University  is  a  State  institution  in 
actual  possession  of  the  field,  I  think  the  public  at  large  might 


have  reasonably  expected  from  the  Senate  some  statesmanlike 
criticism,  rising  above  the  petty  level  of  supposed  self-interest  in 
the  very  serious  action  which  the  Government  is  apparently  about 
to  take. 

They  content  themselves,  however,  with  a  sort  of  half-sulky 
acquiescence  in  the  scheme  ''so  far  as  it  proposes  to  confer  on 
the  petitioning  Colleges  the  power  of  granting  degrees  in  arts 
and  science  to  students  of  the  Colleges  who  have  pursued  their 
entire  academic  curriculum  within  the  Colleges."  The  Senate,  a 
little  maliciously,  proceeds  to  point  out  that  ''  the  petition  of 
the  Colleges  lays  great  stress  upon  the  paramount  importance  of 
close  association  of  students  and  teacher-examiners,  and  of 
placing  the  power  of  granting  degrees  in  the  hands  of  those 
teachers  who  have  instructed  the  candidates."  It  not  un- 
naturally insists  upon  the  inconsistency  with  this  position  of  the 
proposal  "to  accept  residence  and  examinations  at  other  Uni- 
versities," if  only  a  final  period  of  study,  "  which  might  be  a  short 
attendance  at  evening  classes,"  be  passed  at  the  new  University. 
It  also  objects  to  the  honorary  and  ad  eundem  degrees.  But 
its  criticism  is  even  more  destructive  in  regard  to  the  Medical 
Schools.  It  is  quite  obvious  that  if  the  Medical  Schools  joined 
the  Albert  University,  the  teacher-examiner  system  would  dis- 
appear, and  the  new  and  the  old  Universities  would  be  simply 
competing  agencies  for  doing  the  same  kind  of  work  in  the  same 
kind  of  way.  The  same  argument  applies  more  or  less  to  the 
other  faculties  as  soon  as  the  number  of  constituent  Colleges 
becomes  numerous. 

Yet  so  great  is  the  magic  of  a  phrase  that  the  daily  papers  in 
reporting  the  proceedings  in  the  Privy  Council  describe  the  scheme 
as  that  of  a  Teaching  University.  A  University  of  the  Scotch 
or  German  type  may  have  some  claim  to  that  title ;  but  no 
federal  University  can  ever  possess  a  valid  one,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  will  always  be  a  morphological  distinction 
between  the  Colleges  which  teach  and  the  University  which 
examines  and  grants  degrees. 

Prof.  Lankester  contended  in  his  letter  that  the  question 
whether  University  and  King's  Colleges  should  have  a  University 
Charter  was  a  son  of  private  af&ir  between  them  and  the  Govern- 
ment. But  I  do  not  think  this  view  can  be  accepted.  Whether 
we  like  degrees  or  whether  we  do  not,  they  have  a  certain  value 
in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  Personally,  I  have  no  objection  to  the 
multiplication  of  Universities,  if  each  has  a  proper  geographical 
area  assigned  to  it.  But  the  multiplication  of  Universities  in  the 
same  place  seems  to  me  a  great  evil.  It  cannot  be  assented  to 
without  the  necessity  being  shown  to  be  overwhelming.  And 
in  the  present  case  it  appears  to  me  that  it  cannot  be  so  shown. 
If  the  existing  University  is  so  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of 
the  higher  education  that  another  is  imperatively  demanded  to 
do  the  work  in  which  it  fails,  then  it  appears  to  me  that  t«ro 
obvious  points  present  themselves  : — 

(i)  The  new  University  should  be  free  from  the  defects  that 
attach  to  the  old  one.  Prof.  Lankester  speaks  of  the  *'  thraldom  " 
of  '*  the  Imperial  centralizing  institution  "  ;  but  when  the  matter 
comes  to  be  looked  into,  the  new  institution  also  proposes  to  be 
Imperial  and  centralizing,  and  will  be  found  to  exercise  the  same 
or  even  greater  thraldom  on  the  individual  teacher. 

(2)  If  the  old  University  is  really  doing  mischief,  it  is  the 
paramount  duty  of  the  supreme  Government,  whose  creature  it  is, 
to  reform  it.  The  fact  that  the  Senate  and  Convocation  are 
at  loggerheads  how  this  is  to  be  effected  b  really  beside  the 
question.  When  public  opinion  demanded  the  reform  of  the 
older  Universities,  new  ones  were  not  created  alongside  the  un- 
reformed  old  ones ;  but  a  Commission  with  executive  powers 
effected  the  changes  which  were  necessary.  And  for  a  similar 
procedure  there  is  still  time  at  Burlington  Gardens. 

W.  T.  Thiselton-Dyer. 
Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  June  30. 


NO.  1 13 1,  VOL.  44] 


The  Holarctic  Region. 

Reviewing  the  recently- published  "Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Mammals "  by  Prof.  Flower  and  Mr.  Lydekker,  Prof. 
Lankester  states  (j»/r/i,  p.  122)  that  **  The  authors  of  the  present 
work  mention  Dr.  Heilprin's  opinion  that  the  Paloearctic  and 
Nearctic  regions  should  be  united  and  called  the  Holarctic 
region.  But  they  do  not  adopt  this  opinion,  nor  refer  to 
Huxley's  proposal  to  term  this  same  area  Arctogsea,"  and  so 
on.  Now,  in  this  last  statement  m^  good  friend  the  reviewer, 
perhaps  writing  from  memory,  is  mistaken.  Had  Prof.  Huxley 
proposed  to  limit    his    ''Arctogea"  to    the  Palaearctic  and 


198 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


Nearctic  regions  of  Mr.  Sclater  and  Mr.  Wallace,  I  should 
certainly  not  have  suggested  to  Prof.  Heilprin  a  new  name  for 
that  combination.  Anyone  looking  to  the  passage  (Proc.  Zool. 
Soc,  1868,  pp.  3141  315)  in  whidi  Prof.  Huxley  defined  his 
''Arctogsea" — a  name  to  which,  let'  me  say,  \  have  not  the 
least  objection — will  see  that  it  signifies  that  part  of  the  world 
which  is  not  ''Notogsea,"  and  therefore  includes  the  Ethiopian 
and  Indian  regions  of  Mr.  Sclater,  whereas  my  "Holarctic" 
region  expressly  excludes  them,  and  is  therefore  a  very  different 
thing  from  "  Arctogsea ''  in  its  true  sense. 

Alfred  Newton. 
Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  June  12. 


Force  and  Determinism. 

In  your  issue  of  March  12  (vol.  xliii.  p.  491),  Dr.  Oliver  J. 
Lodge  characterizes  as  '*  perfectly  correct  the  statement  "  that, 
although  expenditure,  of  energy  is  needed  to  increase  the  speed 
of  matter,  none  is  needed  to  alter  its  direction."  I  have  looked 
in  vain  for  some  notice  of  this  apparently  strange  doctrine  in 
your  subsequent  issues,  with  the  exception  that  Prof.  C.  Lloyd 
Moi^an  (April  16,  p.  558)  objects  that  the  direction  of  motion 
cannot  be  changed  by  purely  metaphysical  means,  or  will-power. 
But  passing  over  this  rather  important  and  interesting  point  with 
only  the  observation  that  Sir  John  Herschel  thought  differently 
— thought,  in  fact,  that  "without  the  power  to  make  some 
materisd  disposition,  to  originate  some  movement,  or  to  change, 
at  least  temporarily,  the  amount  of  dynamical  force  appropriate 
to  one  or  more  material  molecules,  the  mechanical  results  of 
human  or  animal  volition  are  inconceivable"  {^Fortnightly 
Review,  July  i,  1865,  vol.  i.  p.  439) — I  desire  to  call  a 
moment's  attention  to  the  first  statement  alluded  to. 

Dr.  Lodge  admits  that  "  expenditure  of  energy  is  needed  to 
ncrease  the  speed  of  matter."  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  it  not 
very  difficult,  if  not  indeed  practically  impossible,  to  change  the 
direction  of  a  moving  body  without  affecting  its  speed?  '*  A 
force  at  right  angles  to  motion  does  no  work,"  says  Dr.  Lodge. 
Let  us  examine  this  statement  for  a  moment.  Let  a  body  be 
moving  in  the  direction  a  to  ^  with  a  speed  sufficient  to  traverse 
the  distance  in  one  unit  of  time.     Then  let  a  force  be  applied  to 


the  body  at  a,  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  its  motion, 
sufficient,  if  acting  alone,  to  carry  the  body  to  d  in  the  same  unit 
of  time.  By  the  composition  of  forces,  the  body,  at  the  end 
of  the  unit  of  time,  would,  therefore,  be  found  at  c.  But  the 
distance  ac  is  greater  than  ab ;  and  as,  by  the  interposition  of  a 
force  at  right  angles  to  its  motion,  the  body  has  thus  traversed  a 
greater  distance  in  the  same  time,  has  not  its  speed,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  been  increased  ?  and  is  not  this  increase  of  speed  actual 
work?  and  does  not  this  work  require  actual  energy  to 
perform  it  ?  Evan  McLennan. 

Brooklyn,  Iowa,  U.S.A.,  June  9. 


I  AM  glad  to  see  my  statement  called  in  question,  and  hoped 
that  it  would  have  aroused  more  antagonism  than  has  yet  been 
expressed  ;  because  I  do  believe  that  it  has  important  psycho- 
logical or  metaphysical  consequences,  and  should  therefore 
either  be  repudiated  by  physicists  or  after  due  discussion  be 
accepted  by  non-physicists. 

With  regard  to  the  special  objection  raised  by  Mr.  McLennan, 
it  may  be  sufficient  to  remark  that,  in  his  diagram,  ac  is  the 
line  of  motion,  ad  the  direction  of  the  force,  and  that  ad  is  not 
at  right  angles  to  ac.  His  difficulty  seems  to  be  the  one  that 
some  people  always  feel  with  regard  to  the  use  of  infinitesimals 
in  general.     He  must  remember  that  his  diagram  will  not  apply 

NO.    T  T  3  I ,  VOL.  44] 


to  the  case  of  curvilinear  motion  unless  the  impulses  contem- 
plated are  momentary  and  infinitesimal. 

Oliver  J.  Lodge. 

The  Scorpions  at  the  Zoo. 

Your  contributor  of  the  notice,  published  in  Nature  gd 
June  J  8  (p.  163),  on  the  contents  of  the  Insect-house  at  the  Zoo, 
who  laments  the  unfortunate  circumstance  that  the  soorpiois 
there  in  captivity  remain  unnamed,  may  be  glad  to  learn  that 
these  creatures  may  be  easily  identified,  and,  with  a  little  dex- 
terity, fearlessly  handled. 

During  a  recent  visit  to  this  house,  the  keeper  obligii^ly 
showed  me  the  two  Egyptian  scorpions,  one  of  which — ihic 
black  individual  with  the  thick  tail — was  easily  recognizable  a» 
Prionurus  crassicauda,  Oliv.,  a  tolerably  common  North 
African  and  Syrian  form. 

To  the  other,  however,  I  could  not  so  readily  assign  a  name  ; 
partly  owing  to  its  partial  concealment,  and  partly  to  the  fact 
that  critical  inspection  is  reonired  to  distinguish  between  die 
species  of  the  genus  to  whicn  it  belongs.  It  appeared,  never- 
theless, to  be  a  specimen  of  Buthus  europceus^  Linn.,  the  coni- 
monest  of  all  the  Mediterranean  scorpions.  But  my  attempt 
to  verify  this  point  by  closer  examination  was  immediatcdj 
frustrated  by  the  keeper ;  who,  evidently  thinking  that  I  was 
qualifying  for  incarceration  in  Bedlam,  hastily  interposed  when 
I  stretched  out  my  hand  to  pick  up  the  noxious  animal. 

The  third  scorpion  I  did  not  see ;  but  doubtless  it  is  a 
specimen  of  one  of  the  species  of  Euscorpius,  This,  too,  can 
be  easily  named,  no  doubt ;  but  it  will  be  necessaiy  to  handle 
the  specimen  in  order  to  be  certain  on  the  point. 

I  would  warn  your  contributor  not  to  be  too  sanguine  of  the 
permanence  of  the  amicable  relations  that  appear  at  present  to 
be  established  between  these  three  Arthropods.  If  the  sapply 
of  dead  mice  runs  short,  there  will,  of  a  surety,  soon  remain 
nothing  but  a  few  fragments  oi Euscorpius.  Such  thorougl^oing 
cannibals  are  not  likely  to  be  squeamish,  when  a  member  of 
another  genus  is  before  them. 

In  conclusion,  some  of  your  readers  may  be  interested  to  know 
that  the  spider  referred  to  as  Lycosa  portosantana — which,  by 
the  way,  should  be  styled  Tarantula  mcuieriana — is  a  very  near 
ally  of  the  famous  and  historical  Tarantula  of  Italy ;  and  that 
the  hairy  Brazilian  monster,  the  so-called  Mygale,  who  squats 
under  a  broken  flower-pot  in  the  next  cage,  has  no  more  claim 
to  the  title  Tarantula  than  any  other  Arachnoid  with  a  formid> 
able  aspect.  R.  I.  PococE. 

Natural  History  Museum,  June  18. 


Cetaceans  in  African  Lakes, 

With  reference  to  Mr.  Sclater's  inquiry  (Nature,  June  11, 
p.  124)  as  to  the  occurrence  of  porpoises  in  the  Victoria  Nyanza, 
the  following  extract  from  Bernier,  who  wrote  about  230  years 
ago,  will  probably  prove  of  interest. 

I  may  add  that  in  another  passage  Bernier  gives  further  in- 
formation r^arding  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 

It  would  seem  from  the  passage  quoted  that  the  occurrence  of 
a  Cetacean  in  the  Abyssinian  sources  of  the  Nile  was  probably 
known  to  early  travellers,  and,  like  the  occurrence  of  diamonds 
in  other  parts  of  Africa,  cannot  be  r^arded  as  a  new  discovery. 

Science  and  Art  Museum,  Dublin,  June  22.  V.  Baxx. 

An  Armenian  named  Murat  and  a  Mogul  who  came  as  am- 
bassadors from  the  Christian  King  of  Ethiopia  {i.e,  Abyssinia) 
to  Aurungzeb  shortly  after  his  accession  to  the  Mogul  Empire, 
in  1659,  told  the  French  physician  Bemier,  who  then  resided  at 
the  Mogul's  court,  *'  that  the  Nile  had  its  origin  in  the  countrey 
of  Agaus,  that  it  issued  out  of  the  earth  by  two  springs 
bubbling  up  near  to  one  another,  which  did  form  a  little  lake  of 
about  30  or  40  paces  long ;  that,  coming  out  of  this  lake,  it  did 
make  a  considerable  river ;  and  from  space  to  space  it  received 
small  rivers  increasing  it.  They  added  that  it  went  on  circling 
and  making  as  'twere  a  great  isle,  and  that  afterwards  it  tumbled 
down  from  steep  rocks  into  a  great  lake  in  which  there  were 
divers  fruitful  isles,  store  of  crocodiles,  and  {which  would  he  renusri- 
able  enough  if  true)  abundance  of  sea  calves,  that  have  no  other 
vent,  ^'c,  than  that  by  which  they  take  in  their  food^  this  lake 
being  in  the  country  of  Dambea,  three  small  days'  journey  from 
Gundar  and  four  or  five  days' journey  from  the  source  of  the  Nile, 
&c.,  &c."  ("The  History  of  the  Empire  of  the  Mogul,"  English 
translation  of  1684,  p.  44). 


July  2,  iSgi'] 


V. 

IT  is  imperative  to  be  perfectly  definite  and  clear  on  the 
question  of  the  amplitudes  above  26°  at  Thebes.  Any 
amplitude  within  26^  means  that  up  to  that  point  the  sun 
at  sunrise  or  sunset  could  be  observed  some  day  or  days  of 
the  year — once  only  in  the  year  if  the  amplitude  is  exactly 
at  the  maximum,  twice  if  the  maximum  is  not  reached. 
But  in  the  case  of  these  temples  with  greater  amplitudes 
than  26",  it  is  quite  clear  that  they  can  have  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  sun.  Is  there,  then,  any  additional  line  of 
evidence  that  the  Egyptians  used  these  temples  to  observe 
the  stars?  Here  a  very  interesting  question  comes  in  ; 
a  temple  built  at  one  period  to  observe  a  star  could  not 
go  on  for  ever  serving  its  purpose,  for  the  reason  that 
the  declination  of  the  star  must  change  by  precession. 
Therefore  a  temple  built  with  a  particular  amplitude  to 
observe  a  particular  star,  useful  for  one  period  would  be 
useless  for  aoother. 

We  have  here  possibly  a  means  of  testing  whether  or 
not  any  of  these  temples  were  used  to  observe  the  stars. 
Id  those  very  early  days,  3000  or  4000  years  B.C.,  we  must 
assume  that  the  people  who  observed  the  stars  had  not  the 
slightest  idea,  of  these  possible  precessional  changes ;  they 
imagined,  that  they  were  just  as  safe  in  directing  a  temple 
10  a  star  as  they  were  in  directing  a  temple  to  the  sun 
But  with  a  star  changing  its  declination  in  an  average 
way,  the  ^ama  temple  could  not  be  used  to  observe  the 
same  star  for  more  than  200  or  300  years  ;  so  that  at  the 
end  of  that  time,  if  they  still  wished  to  observe  thkt  par- 
ticular star,  thev  must  either  change  the  axis  of  the  old 
temple,  or  build  a  new  one. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  Bnd  that  the  axes  of  the  temples 
have  been  changed  and  have  been  freely  changed  ;  that 
there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  work  done  on  many  of 
these  temples  which  are  not  oriented  to  the  sun,  in  order 
to  give  them  a  twist. 

Once  a  solar  temple  a  solar  temple  for  thousands  of 
years  ;  once  a  star  temple  only  ihai  star  temple  for  some- 
thing like  300  years,  so  that  the  conditions  were  entirely 
changed. 

We  get  cases  in  which  the  axis  of  a  temple  has  had  its 
direction  changed,  and  others  In  which,  where  it  has  b^en 
diScult  or  impossible  to  make  the  change  in  a  temple, 
the  change  of  amplitude  has  been  met  by  putting  up  a 
new  temple  altogether.  We  are  justified  in  considering 
such  temples  as  a  series  in  which  instead  of  changing 
the  orientation  of  a  pre-existing  temple,  a  new  temple  has 
been  built  to  meet  the  new  condition  of  things.  That,  I 
think,  is  a  suggestion  which  we  are  justified  in  making  to 
Egyptologists  on  astronomical  grounds. 

We  cannot,  of  course,  make  it  with  absolute  certainty, 
for  the  reason  that  in  the  case  of  most  of  these  temples 
the  best  Egyptologists  cannot  give  us  the  most  precious 
piece  of  information  which  we  require  from  the  astronomi- 
cal point  of  view.  That  is  the  date  of  tbc/au/uialian  of 
the  temple.  If  in  the  case  of  these  temples  it  were  abso- 
lutely certain  that  each  temple  was  built  at  a  certain  time 
with  a  certain  orientation,  the  use  of  the  precessional 
globe  would  tell  us  at  once  whether  or  not  that  temple 
was  pointed  to  any  particular  star.  Some  other  astro- 
nomical considerations  may  here  come  to  our  help.  If 
the  north  polar  distance  of  a  star  is  increasing^ that  is, 
if  it  is  increasing  its  distance  from  the  north  pole — its  de- 
clination is  being  reduced,  and  the  orientation  of  the 
temple  would  be  gradually  becoming  more  and  more 
parallel  to  the  equator  ;  if  the  declination  of  the  star  be 
increasing,  then  tne  orientation  of  the  temple  would  have 
had  to  be  more  and  more  north  or  south.  The  change 
in  the  orientation,  therefore,  could  give  us  important 

'  Cendnucd  Tram  p.  no. 
NO.   1131,  VOL.  44] 


information,  and  ultimately  we  might  be  able  to  determine 
what  the  name  of  that  particular  star  was.  At  present  the 
matter  must  remain  more  or  less  as  a  suggestion  ;  but 
if  anything  like  approximate  dates  can  be  given,  then 
astronomy  really  may  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  Egypto- 
logist and  archxologist  generally,  and  repay  that  debt  to 
which  I  have  referred,  which  she  owes  to  so  many  other 


Although,  however,  these  matters  can  be  discussed 
in  a  way  that  will  indicate  that  the  inquiry  Is  raised, 
I  do  not  wish  for  one  moment  to  speak  of  it  as 
t)eing  settled,  because  the  observations  which  have  been 
made  already  in  Egypt  with  regard  to  the  orientation  of 
these  temples  have  not  been  made  from  such  a  very 
special  point  of  view  ;  and  further  some  alteration  in  the 
amplitude  would  be  made  by  the  presence  of  even  a  low 
range  of  hills  miles  away  from  Thebes  in  the  case  of  a 
star  rising  or  setting  pretty  nearly  north  or  south.     No 


one  would  care  to  make  the  assertion  with  absolute 
definiteness  until  it  was  known  whether  or  not  the  horizon 
in  each  case  was  interfered  with  by  hills  or  any  inter- 
vening objects— was  or  was  not  one,  in  fact,  which  might 
be  regarded  as  a  sea  horizon  from  the  point  of  observa- 
tion ;  if  there  were  impediments,  the  angular  height  of 
them  must,  of  course,  be  exactly  known. 

To  continue  this  observation  and  this  kind  of  thought 
a  little  fiirther,  we  will  go  back  to  Kamak  generally.  In 
the  first  place  we  have  the  magnificent  solar  temple. 

Next  we  have  two  parallel  temples,  one  of  them  a  late 
addition  to  the  solar  temple  itself,  and  another  one 
parallel  to  it,  each  of  them  with  an  amplitude  of  63°, 
one  N.  of  E.,  the  other  S.  of  W.  We  have  then  two 
parallel  temples  at  right  angles  to  the  solar  temple  at 
Kamak.  We  have  also  a  temple,  with  an  aiimuth  of 
63'  N,  of  E.,  and  one,  probably  older  still,  with  an  ampU- 


200 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


tude  of  70'  or  71°  N.  of  E.  ;  both  these  temples  face 
northerly,  and  nearly  in  the  same  direction.  Near 
the  last  temple  we  have  the  ruins  of  another  one 
at  right  angles  to  it,  and  this  points  to  the  westward 
amplitude  19'  N.  of  W.  We  may  assume  from  the 
plan  of  the  ruins  that  the  Naos  is  at  the  east  end  of  the 
temple,  therefore  the  chief  pylon  would  have  been  to 
the  west,  and  therefore  the  axis  will  be  in  that  direction. 
In  the  row  of  sphinxes,  a  double  row  connecting  the 
temples  of  Maut  and  Kamak,  the  line  is  absolutely  com- 
plete as  far  as  their  bases  are  concerned,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  where  there  is  a  gap,  and  that  gap  is  exactly 
in  the  axis  of  this  temple  prolonged.  Here  is  another 
instance  of  the  rights  of  the  line  of  sight  of  a  temple 
being  strictly  preserved. 

The  Egyptians  have  been  accused  of  hating  every 
regular  figure,  and  even  in  the  boundary  walls  of  the 
temple  of  Ammon  there  are  two  obtuse  angles.  Round 
the  Maut  temple  we  also  have  walls,  and  there  again  this 
hatred  of  similarity  seems  to  come  out,  for  we  have  one 
obtuse  and  one  acute  angle.  But  if  we  examine  the  thing 
a  little  carefully,  we  find  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
method  in  this  apparent  irregularity.  The  wall  of  the 
temple  of  Ammon  is  parallel  tb  the  face  of  the  temple 
or  at  right  angles  to  its  length.  One  wall  of  Maut  is 
perfectly  parallel  to  the  face  of  the  temple  or  at  right 
angles  to  the  sphinxes.  And  the  reason  that  we  do  not 
get  right  angles  at  one  end  of  the  wall  is  that  the  walls  of 
the  temple  at  Maut  are  parallel  to  the  chief  wall  of  the 
temple  of  Ammon.  Surely  it  must  be  that,  before  these 
walls  were  built,  it  was  understood  that  there  was 
a  combined  worship,  that  they  stood  or  fell  together. 
One  thing  was  not  attempted  in  one  temple  and  another 
thing  in  another,  but  the  worship  of  each  was  rejected 
in  the  other.  And  if  this  be  true  you  see  that  there  was 
no  hatred  of  symmetry,  but  a  definite  reason  why  these 
walls  should  be  built  as  they  were. 

We  can  depend,  and  no  doubt  depend  very  completely 
indeed  upon  the  labours  of  the  Egyptologists,  in  the  case 
of  the  temples  of  Rameses  and  of  Khons.  No  Egypt- 
ologist so  far,  I  believe,  has  ventured  to  tell  us  the  date 
of  the  foundation  of  Kamak,  but  what  Egyptologists  have 
stated  is  that  those  two  temples  were  built  by  the  same 
king ;  their  architecture  is  eitactly  similar,  they  are  paral- 
lel to  each  other,  and  they  altogether  bear  reference  to 
apparently  the  same  period  of  Egyptian  history.  Now 
that  king  was  Rameses  III.,  and  the  year  according  to 
Brugsch  was  1200  B.C.  Here  then  we  have  a  definite 
basis  of  work.  There  is  a  temple  with  an  amplitude 
of  63''  N.  of  E.,  built  1 200  B.C. ;  there  is  a  temple  with 
an  amplitude  of  63°  S.  of  W.,  built  1200  B.c.  From 
these  amplitudes  we  determine  as  before  the  declinations ; 
they  come  out  53°  N.  and  ^i*  S. 

Was  there  an  important  star  with  a  declination  of  53'' 
N.,  was  there  another  with  a  declination .  of  53"*  S.  in 
the  year  1200  B.c.  ?  There  were  two  important  stars, 
one  with  a  declination  of  53^  N.  and  another  of  53°  S. 
at  that  time.  The  north  star  was  y  Draconis,  the  south 
star  was  Canopus.  This  strengthens  the  view  that  there 
was  really  some  astronomical  object  in  the  plan  and 
direction  of  these  temples. 

Thus,  at  the  time  when  these  two  temples  were 
stated  to  have  been  built,  each  might  have  been  used 
to  observe  one  the  rising,  the  other  the  setting,  of  an 
important  star.  We  have  long  ago  seen  that  so  far 
the  Egyptians,  like  the  Babylonians  at  a  later  date,  only 
had  an  idea  of  observing  a  heavenly  body  and  the  posi- 
tion of  other  bodies  in  relation  to  it,  so  long  as  it  was 
rising  or  setting,  so  that  it  was  absolutely  essential  that 
the  body  which  they  were  to  observe  should  rise  and  set. 
You  know  perfectly  well  that-  in  London  there  are  many 
stars  which  neither  rise  nor  set.  The  latitude  of  London 
being  51°,  the  elevation  of  the  pole  therefore  is  51°,  and 
from  the  pole  to  the  north  point  of  the  horizon  being  51° : 

NO.   II 3 1,  VOL.  44] 


of  course  any  star  which  lies  at  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  th^  horizon  is  much  smaller,  and 
so  the  number  of  stars  which  do  not  rise  and  set  is  much 
smaller.  The  stars  which  did  not  rise  or  set  were  stars 
which  were  moving  very  slowly  and  the  stars  which  rose 
most  to  the  north  and  most  to  the  south  were  those 
bodies  which  were  moving  most  slowly  while  they  yet 
rose  or  set  Can  this  slow  rate  of  motion  have  had 
Anything  to  do  with  such  stars  being  selected  for  observa- 
tion, the  brightest  star  to  the  north,  most  slowly  movii^r 
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  evenix^ 
the  particular  position  of  y  Draconis  might  have  been 
noted  with  regard  to  the  pole  star,  if  there  were  no  other 
reason ;  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  of  the  rising  of  this  star  practicaDy 
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. 

So  much  then  for  the  possible  use  of  the  temples  built  by 
Rameses  III.  in  the  year  1200  B.C.  It  has  already  been 
pointed  out  that  although  we  have  in  one  an  amplitude 
of  63^  N.  of  E.  we  have  other  temples  with  amplitudes  of 
68°  N.  of  E.  and  71°  N.  of  E.  Everybody  agrees  that 
the  temple,  with  amplitude  63°  N.  of  E.,  was  built  1200 
years  B.C.  I  have  shown  that  that  temple  could  have 
observed  the  most  northerly  star  which  did  not  set.  May 
it  not  have  been  that  the  68°  temple  and  the  71°  temple 
were  temples  built  to  observe  the  same  star  before  this 
one  was  built,  because  we  know  thev  could  not  have 
observed  the  star  after  this  one  was  built,  since  y  Dracoois 
was  decreasing  its  declination,  therefore  in  previous  times 
its  declination  would  have  been  higher^  and  the  amplitude 
therefore  of  a  temple  to  observe  it  would  have  been 
greater. 

Looking  back  to  the  German  tables  and  other  calcula- 
tions, we  find  that  with  an  amplitude  of  68°  we  get  a 
declination  of  56°,  and  the  sam^  tables  tell  us  that  that 
declination  was  the  declination  of  the  same  star  7 
Draconis  2000  years  B.C.  It  does  look  as  if  in  all  proba- 
bility we  are  dealing  with  a  series  of  temples  not  twisted 
but  built  in  different  places. 

Can  we  consider  that  the  temple  with  an  amplitude 
of  71°  might  have  been  used  to  observe  that  same  star 
long  before  the  temples  were  built  with  amplitudes  of 
68°  and  63°  ?  The  amplitude  of  7 1°  gives  us  a  declination 
of  58°,  we  then  find  the  year  in  which  that  same  star 
y  Draconis  had  that  declination  to  have  been  about  5000 
years  B.C.  So  that  it  is  not  impossible  that  temple  was 
built  first  of  all  to  observe  y  Draconis  3000  years  B.C.,  that 
after  a  time  the  star  changed  its  declination  so  much  that 
another  temple  became  necessary,  and  1000  years  aito*- 
wards  the  change  again  became  large,  and  still  anothtf 
temple  was  built  to  observe  it.  The  three  temples  may 
form  one  series. 

The  discussion  is  a  little  difficult  because  the  orien- 
tation is  very  far  towards  the  south  and  north,  and  there- 
fore a  hill  a  few  miles  off  would  make  a  difference  <^  2~ 
or  3*^  in  the  orientation  of  the  temple,  and  as  yet  we  have 
no  observations  that  throw  light  on  this  point. 

We  have  then  at  Thebes  alone  three  conveiging  hnes 
of  evidence  which  all  go  to  strengthen  the  view  that  these 
temples  were  really— whatever  else  they  might  have  been 
— usable  as  solar  and  stellar  observatories.  The  differ- 
ence being  of  course  (hat  in  the  case  of  the  solar  temple 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


201 


no  lai^e  change  of  amplitude  was  necessary,  but  that  in  the 
case  of  every  stellar  temple  after  a  lapse  of  a  certain 
number  of  years  depending  upon  the  position  of  the  star, 
the  temple  must  be  twisted  round  if  it  were  wished  to 
continue  to  make  observations  of  the  same  star. 

That  raises  an  interesting  question  by  the  way.  Long 
after  the  temple  had  been  used  for  observation  of  a  parti- 
cular star,  long  after  that  temple  line  was  blocked  by  ex- 
tended building,  if  the  horizon  of  these  temples  was  left 
open  it  looks  very  much  as  if  when  another  bright  star 
came  along  it  was  laid  hold  of  for  a  new  set  of  observations. 
However  that  may  be,  it  is  rendered  extremely  probable, 
by  the  considerations  I  have  brought  before  you,  that  the 
Egyptians  3000  years  B.C.  had  been  rendered  practically 
conversant  with  the  result  of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes 
by  the  fact  that  they  had  to  rebuild  and  alter  their  temples 
from  time  to  time  because  the  stars  changed  their  decli- 
nation. If  that  be  confirmed  by  subsequent  investigations, 
it  will  show  that  these  Egyptians  possessed  a  very  much 
more  profound  knowledge  of  astronomy  than  they  have 
received  credit  for,  because  it  is  stated  that  the  precession 
of  the  equinoxes  was  discovered  by  Hipparchus.  It  looks 
as  if  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  was  probably 
pablished  by  Hipparchus  as  the  result  of  an  examination 
of  the  untold  w^th  of  Egyptian  astronomical  obser- 
vations which  has  been  unfortunately  lost  to  the  world. 

This  question  of  orientation  is  after  all  one  which 
survives  among  ourselves.  All  our  churches  are  more  or 
less  oriented,  which  is  a  remnant  of  old  sun  worship, 
and  the  church  is  not  always  oriented  exactly  to  the  east, 
but  so  that  the  light  of  the  sunrising  upon  the  Saint's  day 
to  whom  the  church  is  dedicated  may  be  thrown  along 
the  chancel. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  Stonehenge  is  oriented  to 
the  rising  of  the  sun  at  the  summer  solstice.  Its  ampli- 
tude mstead  of  being  26°  is  40° ;  with  a  latitude  of  51°,  the 
26°  azimuth  of  Thebes  is  represented  by  an  azimuth  of 
40"  at  Stonehenge. 

The  first  of  January  is  very  near  the  winter  solstice, 
but  is  not  quite  the  winter  solstice.  If  you  look  up  the 
old  records  of  the  races  that  lived  2000  or  3000  years 
B.C,  you  will  find  that  the  different  rades  began  their 
year  at  different  times,  and  even  that  the  same  race  at 
different  times  b^an  their  year  differently ;  the  choice 
lay  among  the  equinoxes  and  the  solstices,  and  seeing 
that  one  of  the  very  oldest  temples  at  Thebes  is  oriented 
to  sunset  at  the  summer  solstice  we  should  not  be  at  all 
surprised  if  investigation  shows  that  when  that  temple 
was  built  more  than  3000  years  B.C.,  the  Egyptian  year 
really  began  in  what  we  should  call  oar  summer.  We 
have  ample  evidence  of  this.  And  I  think  there  is  little 
doubt  that  when  Stonehenge  was  built  it  certainly  was 
buUt^  by  people  who  began  their  year  with  the  summer 
solstio^  which  you  will  remember  is  the  time  of  the  year 
in  which  in  many  countries  it  is  the  habit  still  to  light 
fires  upon  hills  and  so  on. 

The  next  point  is,  what  was  probably  the  use  made  of 
these  temples  besides  determinmg  the  length  of  the  year 
and  regulating  so  far  as  they  could  the  seasonal  changes, 
the  times  of  the  solstices,  the  times  of  the  equinoxes,  ana 
the  various  celestial  phenomena  ? 

We  understand  that  in  the  very  beginning  of  obser- 
vations in  all  countries,  the  moment  man  began  to 
observe  anvthing,  we  saw  that  he  began  to  observe  the 
stars,  and  tne  moment  men  began  to  talk  about  anything 
they  had  seen  they  must  have  started  by  in  some  way  or 
other  defining  the  particular  stars  they  meant. 

They  would  obviously  talk  first  of  the  brightest  stars, 
and  separate  them  from  the  dimmest  ones  ;  they  would 
then  discuss  the  stars  which  never  set,  and  separate 
them  from  those  which  did  rise  and  set ;  then  they  would 
take  the  most  striking  configurations,  whether  lai^e  or 
small ;  they  would  choose  out  the  constellation  of  Orion  or 
the  Great  Bear,  and  for  small  groups  the  Pleiades.  These 

NO.  1 131,  VOL.  44] 


would  attract  attention,  and  be  named  before  anything  else. 
Then  later  on  it  would  be  imperative  in  order  to  con- 
nect their  solar  with  their  stellar  observations  that  they 
should  name  the  stars  which  lay  along  the  sun's  path  in 
the  heavens.  They  would  confine  their  attention  to  a 
belt  round  the  equator  rather  than  consider  the  configu- 
ration of  stars  half-way  between  the  equator  and  north 
pole.  In  all  countries — India,  China,  Babylonia,  Chaldaea, 
Egypt — they  had  a  sort  of  girdle  round  the  heavens, 
csdled  by  different  names  in  different  countries,  and  the 
use  of  this  girdle  of  stars,  which  sometimes  consisted  of 
twenty-eight  stations,  sometimes  of  twenty-seven,  and 
sometimes  of  only  ten,  was  to  enable  them  to  define  the 
place  of  the  moon  or  of  any  of  the  planets  in  relation 
to  any  of  these  stars.  That  condition  of  things,  that 
stage  of  thought,  is  brought  well  before  us  in  the  Jewish 
Scriptures.  * 

In  the  Book  of  Job  we  read,  ^  Canst  thou  bind  the 
sweet  influences  of  Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ? 
Canst  thou  bring  forth  Mazzaroth  in  his  season  1  or  canst 
thou  guide  Arcturus  with  his  sons  .^ " 

Here  we  have  the  difficulty  which  has  met  everybody 
in  going  back  into  these  old  records,  because  there  was 
no  absolute  necessity  for  a  conmion  language  at  the  time  ; 
it  was  open  to  everyone  to  call  the  stars  any  name  they 
chose  in  any  country,  therefore  it  is  difficult  for  scholars 
to  find  out  what  particular  stars  or  constellations  were 
meant  by  any  particular  words.  In  the  revised  version, 
Arcturus  has  given  place  to  the  Bear  with  its  train,  and 
even  our  most  distinguished  scholars  do  not  know  what 
Mazzaroth  means.  I  wrote  to  Prof.  Robertson  Smith  the 
other  day  to  ask  him  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  his  great 
knowledge,  and  he  says  that  Mazzaroth  is  probably  that 
band  of  stars  round  the  ecliptic  or  round  the  equator  to 
which  I  have  referred,  but  he  will  only  commit  himself  to 
the  statement  that  it  is  a  probable  enough  conjecture ; 
other  people  believe  that  it  was  a  reference  to  the  Milky 
Way. 

I  mention  this  to  show  you  how  very  difficult  this 
inquiry  really  is.  The  '^  seven  stars  ?  undoubtedly  mean 
the  Pleiades  and  not  the  Great  Bear.  Among  the  brighter 
stars,  Arcturus,  the  Pleiades,  &c.,  are  referred  to  by  Homer 
and  still  earlier  writers.  3o  far  as  Egyptian  and  Chinese 
astronomy  goes,  practically  the  first  reference  to  a  con- 
stellation appears  in  Egypt  with  reference  to  the  equinox 
which  happened  3285  years  B.C.,  and  in  China  with 
reference  to  the  Pleiades  in  the  equinox  of  2357  B.c. 

In  observing  stars  nowadays,  we  use  a  transit  circle 
which  is  carried  round  by  the  earth  so  as  to  pick  up  the 
stars  in  different  circles  round  the  axis  of  the  earth  pro- 
longed, and  by  altering  the  inclination  of  the  telescope  of 
this  instrument  we  can  first  get  a  circle  of  one  declination 
and  then  a  circle  of  another. 

The  Egyptians  did  not  usually  employ  meridian  observa- 
tions. Did  the  Egyptians  make  star  maps  ?  They  certainly 
did.  In  the  temple  of  Dendejrah,  which  is  a  compara- 
tively modem  temple,  there  is  a  very  precious  series  of 
records  which  is  certainly  not  at  all  modern.  It  repre- 
sents a  good  many  of  the  Egyptian  constellations.  The 
central  part  was  in  all  probability  the  zenith  point  of 
Dendersdi  itself,  and  at  a  certain  distance  from  the  centre 
point  we  have  the  zodiac  represented  excentrically.  The 
constellations  round  the  edge  are  those  nearest  the 
horizon ;  the  central  ones  are  those  nearest  the  north 
pole;  instead  of  having  the  Great  Bear,  we  have  the 
constellation  of  the  Thigh,  representing  the  well-known 
seven  stars  ;  in  addition  we  have  the  constellation  Hippo-> 
potamus,  which  has  now  entirely  disappeared.  There  is 
also  a  Babylonian  zodiac,  which  will  show  you  that, 
although  Babylonia  and  Egypt  were  adjacent  countries, 
yet  that  they  had  a  perfectly  different  set  of  constella- 
tions. Our  present  constellations  came  not  from  Egyptian 
times,  but  from  much  later — from  Greek  times.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  hope  to  recover  the  names  of  the 


202 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  189 1 


constellations  used  by  people  earlier  than  the  Greeks,  but 
still  much  is  to  be  hoped  from  the  study  of  the  Babylonian 
records.  In  these  we  have  a  snail  being  drawn  along  by 
the  tail  of  a  snake  or  dragon.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
we  may  have  there  the  origin  of  our  constellation  Draco, 
which  is  the  northern  constellation,  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that  this  snail  may  indicate  that  the  stars  in  it  moved 
with  very  great  slowness.  But  it  is  impossible  at  present 
to  co-ordinate  these  different  fancies  together. 
.  A  very  important  paper  has  recently  been  published 
by  Mr.  Le  Page  Renouf  suggesting  that  before  the  year 
1500  B.C.  the  Egyptians  really  had  an  idea  of  meridional 
observations.  These  observations  are  recorded  in  several 
manuscripts  found  in  tombs  ;  they  seem  to  have  been 
given  as  a  sort  of  charm  to  the  people  who  were  buried 
in  order  to  enable  them  to  get  through  the  difficulties  of 
the  way  in  the  nether  world. 

The  hieroglyphs  state  that  a  particular  star  of  a  parti- 
cular Egyptian  constellation  is  seen  at  a  particular  hour 
of  the  night ;  we  have  twelve  lines  representing  the  twelve 
hours  of  the  night,  and  it  is  stated  that  we  have  in  these 
vertical  lines  the  equivalent  of  the  lines  in  our  transit 
instruments,  and  that  the  reference  '*in  the  middle," 
*'  over  the  right  eye,"  "  over  the  right  shoulder,"  or  "  over 
the  left  ear,"  as  the  case  may  be,  is  simply  a  reference  to 
(he  position  of  the  star. 

If  this  should  be  confirmed,  one  of  the  remarkable 
things  about  the  inquiry  will  be  that  the  Egyptians  did 
not  hesitate  to  make  a  constellation  cover  very  nearly  90'. 
In  those  days  evidently  they  wished  to  have  as  few  con- 
stellations including  as  many  stars  as  possible,  in  order 
perhaps  that  things  might  be  more  easily  remembered. 

When  the  zodiac  of  Denderah  was  mentioned,  I  pointed 
out  the  constellation  of  the  Hippopotamus  very  near  the 
ilorth  pole.  This  constellation  is  referred  to  in  the  records 
in  question. 

Such  then  are  some  of  the  ideas  which  are  suggested 
by  the  recent  work  of  the  Egyptologists.  You  sec,  I 
trust,  that  it  is  important  that  this  work  should  be  con- 
tinued as  closely  associated  as  possible  with  astronomical 
ideas,  because,  merely  taking  a  very  small  part  of  the 
area  of  which  they  have  begun  the  consideration,  we  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that,  dealing  with  the  temples 
alone,  there  seems  a  very  high  probability  that  3000,  and 
possibly  4000  B.C.  the  Egyptian^  had  among  them  men 
with  some  knowledge  of  astronomy,  and  that  6000  years 
ago  the  course  of  the  sun  through  the  year  was  practically 
very  well  known,  and  methods  had  been  invented  by 
means  of  which  it  might  in  time  be  better  known,  and 
that  not  very  long  after  that  they  not  only  considered 
questions  relating  to  the  sun,  but  began  to  take  up  other 
questions  relating  to  the  positions  and  the  movements  of 
the  stars.  It  is  quite  probable  that  1500  years  B.c. 
at  least  they  had  an  idea  of  meridional  observations. 
If  this  be  so,  and  if  more  and  more  can  be  proved,  I 
think  you  will  agree  that,  as  I  said  before,  astronomy 
will  have  a  slight  opportunity  of  repaying  some  of  the 
great  debt  which  she  owes  to  the  other  sciences. 

J.  Norman  Lockyer. 


THE    LATER    LARVAL    DEVELOPMENT    OF 

AMPHIOXUS, 

THE  memoir  by  Mr.  Arthur  Willcy,  B.Sc,  of  University 
College,  London,  on  this  subject,  in  the  Quart.  Journ, 
Microsc.  Science y  March  1891,  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice.  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  contribu- 
tions which  have  been  made  to  a  knowledge  of  this  very 
interesting  animal.  In  the  summer  of  1889,  Mr.  Willey 
was  sent  by  Prof.  Ray  Lankester  with  the  aid  of  a  Govern- 
ment grant  to  collect  the  larvas  and  embryos  of  Amphioxus 
at  Faro,  near  Messina.  He  returned  with  a  large  series, 
and  in  the  winter  1889-90  workei  out  in  the  laboratory  of 

NO.    I  I  3  I ,  VOL.  44] 


University  College,  chiefly  by  means  of  sections,  the 
history  of  the  formation  of  the  atrial  cavity  in  this  animal. 
In  a  paper  published  jointly  by  Prof.  Lankester  and  Mn 
Willey  {Quart,  Journ,  Micr,  Sa.,  August  1890),  it  was 
shown  that  the  atrial  cavity  does  not  form,  as  supposed  by 
Kowalewsky  and  by  Rolph,  as  the  result  of  a  down-gruwtfa 
of  lateral  epipleura ;  but  that  it  forms  as  a  long^tudina] 
groove  which  sinks  inwards  along  the  ventral  surface, 
becoming  floored  in  by  a  small  horizontal  growth  on  each 
side  corresponding  merely  to  that  portion  of  the  aduk 
animal's  ventral  surface  which  lies  between  the  two 
metapleura.  The  groove,  now  become  a  narrow  tube, 
expands  right  and  left,  until  it  acquires  the  proportions  of 
the  adult  atrial  chamber. 

The  preserved  material  brought  home  by  Mr.  Willey 
in  1889  did  not  enable  the  observers  to  determine  the 
mode  of  origin  of  the  second  row  of  gill-slits.  Stages 
were  noted  in  which  there  were  as  many  as  fourteen  giD- 
slits  of  the  first  series  (which  are  placed  anteriorly  on  the 
animal's  right  side),  and  stages  were  observed^  of  no 
greater  size,  in  which  two  rows  of  gill-slits  were  present — 
one  series  on  the  right  side  and  one  on  the  left  side  of  the 
pharynx  ;  whilst  the  mouth,  which  in  the  specimens  with 
a  single  series  was  completely  lateral  (on  the  left  side), 
had  now  taken  up  a  median  position. 

Mr.  Willey  again  visited  Faro  in  the  summer  of  1890, 
for  the  purpose  of  determining,  by  the  study  of  living 
transparent  larvae,  exactly  the  m6de  of  origin  of  the  second 
row  of  slits,  and  the  steps  in  the  ^^symmetrization"  of  the 
larva.  The  brief  account  and  few  unconvincing  figures 
given  by  Kowalewsky,  in  1866,  in  relation  to,  this  matter 
had  not  commanded  general  confidence,  although  it  wa& 
felt  that  so  accurate  and  accomplished  an  observer  could 
not  have  been  completely  mistaken.  Balfour  had  said, 
in  reference  to  Kowalewsky's  observations  on  this  matter, 
that  he  was  "  tempted  to  suppose  that  his  observations 
were  made  on  pathological  specimens." 

Mr.  Willey  completely  and  most  successfully  acxom- 
plished  the  object  which  he  set  before  himself  in  his 
second  visit  to  Faro,  and  the  results  obtained  are  given 
in  the  paper  under  notice,  illustrated  by  three  foldiog- 
plates.  He  confirmed  the  main  feature  of  Kowalewsky's 
observations,  viz.  that  the  first  row  of  gill-slits,  after 
having  (so  far  as  the  first  eight  are  concerned)  taken  up 
a  position  on  the  rigkt  side  of  the  pharynx,  rotate  down- 
wards across  the  median  ventral  line,  and  rise  up  into 
position  on  the  le/t  side,  whilst,  simultaneously,  a  new 
series  appears  on  the  right  side,  not  one  by  one,  but  as 
many  as  six  being  formed  at  approximately  the  same 
momenL  Mr.  Willey  corrects  Kowalewsky's  brief  ac- 
count in  one  or  two  numerical  details,  and  adds  some 
very  important  facts,  which  are  quite  new.  He  shows : 
{a)  that  the  anteriormost  slit  of  the  primary  series  closes 
up  and  disappears  during  the  process  of  rotation  ;  (^)  that 
some  of  the  hinder  slits  of  this  series,  which  are  not  far 
advanced  when  the  rotation  begins  (there  being  usually 
fourteen,  of  which  the  last  six  are  very  small,  and  lie  in 
the  median  ventral  line),  also  close  up;  so  that,  when 
the  rotation  is  complete,  and  the  second  series  of  gill-sIits 
has  advanced  in  development  to  the  number  of  eight,  a 
''  critical  phase  "  is  reached  in  which  there  are  only  ei^Jkt 
gill-slits  on  each  side  of  the  pharynx,  all  fairly  well 
developed.  From  this  time  forward  new  gill-slits  are 
formed  on  each  side  behind  the  last  formed,  and  continue 
to  increase  in  number  so  long  as  growth  continues,  which 
appears  to  be  as  long  as  the  Amphioxus  lives. 

But  the  most  important  discovery  made  by  Mr.  Willey 
is  as  to  the  origin  of  the  endostyle,  a  structure  which  has 
great  importance  from  the  fact  that  it  can  be  clearly 
identified,  on  account  of  its  minute  histological  structure, 
with  the  endostyle  of  the  Ascidians. 

In  the  anterior  region  of  the  buccal  cavity,  previous 
observers  have  described  in  very  young  Amphioxus  lar\*ae 
(with  only  one  gill- slit)  an  elongated  gland;  "  the  club- 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


203 


shaped  gland.''  It  opens  to  the  exterior  on  the  left  side, 
jast  in  front  of  the  big  laterally- placed  mouth,  whence  it 
can  be  traced,  bending  down  across  the  median  line  and 
passing  up  at  right  angles  to  the  long  axis  of  the  body 
along  the  deep  surface  of  the  right  wall  of  the  buccal 
cavity.  It  opens  at  its  apex,  as  Mr.  Willey  has  shown, 
into  the  buccal  cavity.  Its  earliest  appearance  (as  de- 
scribed by  Hatschek)  resembles  that  of  a  gill-slit,  though 
it  precedes  both  the  mouth  and  the  first  gill-slit  in  date. 
Mr.  Willey  suggests  that  it  is  a  modified  gill-slit.  By  the 
side  oi  this  club-shaped  gland  and  in  front  of  it,  imme- 
diately associated  with  it,  is  a  band-like  tract  of  modified 


but  the  <-shaped  epithelial  tract  does  not ;  it  grows 
rapidly  at  its  angle  along  the  line  or  interspace  between 
the  two  series  of  slits,  forming  a  double  tract  of  modified 
epithelium  consisting  of  parallel  extensions  of  the  two 
limbs  of  the  <.  It  is  now  the  epithelium  of  the  hypo- 
pharyngeal  ridge  or  endostyle. 

Mr.  Willey  regards  the  club-shaped  gland  so  intimately 
associated  with  the  first  stages  of  the  endostyle  as  a 
modified  gill-slit  belonging  to  the  secondary  (the  per- 
manent right-side  series).  Its  early  development  in 
front  of  the  mouth  indicates  this  ;  since,  when  the  mouth 
acquires  a  median  position  (passing  from  the  left  towards 


Mou/th 


28  h  h   lb   ^ 


n  10     9       8 


6 


4      s     a  1 


Fig.  3. 


Figs,  x,  a.  3. — Diagrams  showing  three  stages  in  the  development  of  the  ^Il-slits  and  endostyle  of  Amphioxus.  Figs,  z  and  2  are  seen 
firom  the  right  side ;  Fig.  3  from  the  ventral  asptect.  In  Fig.  i  the  position  and  shape  of  the  mouth,  which  lies  on  the  left  side  of  the 
animal,  are  indicated  by  a  dotted  oval.  The  primary  series  of  gill-slits  are  numberea  in  all  the  figures.  The  secondary  series  are  not 
numbered.  Fi^.  a  shows  the  rotation  downwards  of  the  primary  series  of  gill-slits  and  their  nearly  complete  disappearance  from  view 
on  the  right  side ;  at  the  same  time  the  secondary  scnes  have  developed  to  the  number  of  eight,  and  the  endostyle  has  become 
<'«haped,  and  is  poshini^  its  angle  between  the  two  rows  of  eill-slits.  Fig.  3  shows  the  atrophy  of  the  most  anterior  primary  gill- 
slit,  whilst  some  of  the  hindermost  have  disappeared  and  nunibers  10  and  xx  are  in  course  of  closure  and  disappearance,  a,  praeoral 
ciliated  pit,  opening  on  the  animal's  left  side,  but  seen  through  the  transparent  integument ;  3,  the  endostyle  (<:-shaped  tract  of 
modified  epithelium) ;  ^ ,  the  club-shaped  gland  ;  d,  the  edge  of  the  right  meta-pleur  (the  atrial  cavity  is  not  yet  formed  in  the  anterior 
pharyngeal  region) ;  ^,  the  six  thickenings  which  develop  the  six  anterior  gill-slits  of  Uie  secondary  (permanent  right-side)  series :  /,  the 
praeoral  tentacles. 


intra-buccai  epithelium.  When  there  are  about  eight 
gill-slits  of  the  primary  series  present,  it  is  noticeable  that 
the  apex  of  the  club-shaped  gland  is  bent  over,  so  that 
the  gland  teads  to  become  ^-shaped,  with  the  angle 
directed  backwards  ;  the  adjoining  epithelial  tract  faith- 
fully follows  the  bend.  At  first  the  upper  limb  of  the  ^ 
is  a  good  deil  smaller  than  the  lower,  but  as  the  primary 
series  of  gill-slits  move  from  the  right  side  of  the 
pharynx  to  the  left,  the  two  limbs  of  the  <^  become 
nearly  equal  in  length,  and  the  angle  takes  up  a  position 
between  the  primary  and  ithe  new  secondary  series  of 
slits.    The  club-shaped  gland-tube  now  atrophies  entirely, 

NO.   1 1 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


the  right  by  a  relative  growth,  the  reverse  of  that  which 
brings  the  primary  gill  slits  from  the  right  to  the  left !}, 
structures  just  in  front  of  it  would  be  thrown  round  to  the 
right  side,  the  side  of  the  secondary  series  of  slits.  He 
suggests  that  it  is  the  early-developed  anterior  member 
of  the  secondary  series  of  gill-slits  ;  and  points  out  that 
just  as  this  modified  gill-slit  atrophies,  so  does  its  pair  in 
the  primary  series,  viz.  the  first. 

Mr,  Willey  points  out  the  possible  importance  of  these 
facts  in  reference  to  the  views  of  Dohm  and  of  Van 
Beneden,  and  makes  an  interesting  comparison  between 
the  Ascidian  tadpole  and  the  Amphioxus  larva,  with  a 


204 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


view  to  suggesting  some  explanation  of  the  extraordinary 
asymmetry  of  the  latter.  Mr.  Willey  thinks  that  a  cause 
of  the  one-sided  position  of  the  mouth  and  of  the  primary 
series  of  gill-slits  in  the  Amphioxus  larva  may  be  found  in 
the  excessive  anterior  prolongation  of  the  notochord  at 
an  early  period  of  development,  necessitating  a  pushing 
to  either  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  mouth.  There 
appears  to  be  nothing  in  the  mode  of  life  of  the  larva — 
a  free-swimming  ciliated  creature — which  can  be  corre- 
lated with  its  asymmetry.  The  gradual  process  of  "  sym- 
metrization/'  by  which  the  Amphioxus  establishes  more  or 
less  completely  a  bilateral  symmetry  on  its  way  to  the 
adult  form,  is  exactly  the  converse  of  that  process  by 
which  the  symmetrical  larva  of  the  Pleuronectid  fishes 
becomes  one-sided  ;  but  in  the  latter  case  the  asymmetry 
is  clearly  correlated  with  a  peculiar  life  on  the  sea  bottom, 
whilst  in  the  former  case  we  can  discover  no  such  relation 
to  environment.  E.  R.  L. 


THE  CARDIFF  MEETING  OF   THE   BRITISH 

ASSOCIA  TION, 

n^O  arrange  for  the  reception  of  the  members  of  the 
-*-  British  Association  who  will  visit  Cardiff  in  August 
next,  an  influential  Local  Committee  has  been  formed, 
with  the  Most  Honourable  the  Marquis  of  Bute,  K.T., 
Mayor  of  Cardiff,  as  Chairman,  and  a  substantial  sum  has 
been  subscribed  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  cost  of 
the  meeting. 

Several  sub-committees  have  been  formed,  all  of  which 
report  to  the  Executive  Committee,  to  which  also  the 
Council  of  the  British  Association  has  assigned  the  duty 
of  electing  new  members  and  associates.  Up  to  the  pre- 
sent time  7  life  members  have  been  added,  and  over  200 
annual  members  and  associates,  and  as  the  time  for  the 
meeting  approaches  the  number  of  new  members  and 
associates  will  be  largely  increased. 

It  may  be  convenient  to  describe  what  has  been  done 
by  the  sub- committees,  so  as  to  give  a  systematic  account 
of  the  preparations  already  made  and  in  progress  to 
provide  for  the  comfort  and  entertainment  of  our  expected 
visitors. 

(i)  Hospitality  and  Lodgings, — Many  of  the  principal 
residents  in  Cardiff  and  the  neighbourhood  have  signified 
to  the  Committee  their  desire  to  entertain  members  of  the 
Association,  and  as  the  date  of  the  meeting  draws  nearer 
numerous  additional  offers  will  be  made  by  those  of  the 
townsmen  who  are  unwilling  or  unable  to  fix  their  en- 
gagements so  long  beforehand.  It  is  understood  that 
those  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  have  offered  to  invite 
guests  will  send  out  invitations  as  soon  as  it  is  known  to 
the  Committee  who  are  coming. 

The  hotel  and  lodging  accommodation  is  not  so  great 
as  in  some  other  towns,  but  the  Committee  feel  sure  that 
with  the  private  hospitality  which  will  be  offered  there 
will  be  enough  for  the  needs  of  our  visitors.  The  list 
of  hotels  and  lodgings  will  be  ready  for  distribution  about 
the  middle  of  July,  it  having  been  delayed  to  make  the 
list  as  complete  as  possible.  The  list  will  be  accom- 
panied by  a  map  of  Cardiff  taken  from  the  most  recently 
executed  ones. 

(2)  Reception  and  Section  Rooms, — The  reception  room 
will  be  at  the  Town  Hall,  practically  the  whole  of  which 
has  been  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Local  Committee 
for  the  use  of  the  Association.  The  vestibule  will  be 
devoted  to  the  sale  of  tickets,  the  distribution  of  pro- 
grammes, and  other  information,  whilst  the  Assembly 
Rooms  will  be  fitted  up  as  a  drawing-room  with  writing- 
tables,  post-office  facilities,  and  a  book-stall.  The  Council, 
Committee  of  Recommendations,  and  General  Committee 
will  meet  in  various  rooms,  and  others  will  be  set  apart 
for  the  ofjBcers  of  the  Association. 

As  the  Town  Hall  is  about  half  a  mile  from  the  Section 
room  furthest  away,  a  portion  of  the  Drill  Hall,  the  use 

NO.   II 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


of  which  has  been  kindly  granted  by  Lord  Bote,  Cokmel 
Gaskell,  and  Colonel  Page,  will  befitted  up  as  a  drawiiig- 
room,  and  the  remainder  will  be  used  as  a  luncheoD- 
room.  As  the  Drill  Hall  is  situated  within  very  easy 
distance  of  almost  all  the  Section  rooms,  the  members 
of  the  Association  will  doubtless  appreciate  the  advantage 
of  having  a  drawing-room  and  dining-room  so  close  at 
hand. 

The  majority  of  the  Section  rooms  are  very  close  to- 
gether, and  the  greatest  distance  is  not  more  than  half  a 
mile;  tramcars  and  busses,  however,  run  frequently 
between  the  extreme  points,  so  that  even  that  distance 
should  offer  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  members  ivishing 
to  attend  different  Sections. 

(3)  Entertainments, — The  usual  conversazioni  will  be 
given  on  Thursday,  August  20,  and  on  Tuesday,  the 
25th,  and  it  is  hoped  that  scientific  men  will  aid  the 
Committee  in  contributing  towards  the  fntertainment 
of  our  guests  by  the  exhibition  of  novel  experiments  or 
specimens  The  Park  Hall,  in  which  the  conversasiom 
will  be  held,  is  well  suited  to  this  purpose,  and  it  is  the 
desire  of  the  Committee  to  introduce  as  many  scientific 
novelties  as  possible. 

A  garden  party,  to  which  all  members  of  the  Associa- 
tion will  be  invited,  will  be  given  by  Lord  and  Lady  Bute, 
probably  on  the  Friday  afternoon,  though  the  date  may 
be  subject  to  alteration.  Other  social  entertainnaents 
are  projected  by  Lord  Windsor  and  others,  and  Cardif 
will  probably  in  this  respect  not  fall  behind  what  the 
members  have  been  accustomed  to  at  other  places  of 
meeting. 

(4)  Excursions. — A  considerable  variety  of  excursions 
has  been  provided  for  both  the  Saturday  and  the  following 
Thursday.  For  the  former,  arrangements  are  being  made 
by  Sir  W.  T.  Lewis  for  a  party  of  members  to  visit  the 
Cardiff  Docks ;  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of 
Directors  to  visit  the  Barr>'  Docks ;  by  the  Mayor  of 
Newport  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  a  party  to 
visit  Newport  and  Caerleon.  A  special  excursion  is  being 
arranged  by  the  Colonel  commanding  the  Severn  Valley 
division  of  submarine  miners  for  officers  of  the  British 
Army  to  inspect  the  Severn  Valley  defences.  The 
steamer  will  land  the  officers  at  the  steep  and  flat  faolnies, 
and  will  continue  with  the  civilians  on  board  to  AVestoo, 
from  which  the^  will  visit  Worlebur^  Hill  and  camp. 

Other  excursions  will  be  of  geological  and  archaeological 
interest,  and  will  include  excursions  to  Penarth  and 
Lavemock,  where  the  finest  section  of  Rhastic  beds  in 
England  is  exposed ;  to  the  interesting  dolmens  at  St 
Nicholas  and  St.  Lvthan's;  to  Llantwit-major,  where  a 
year  or  two  ago  the  remains  of  a  Roman  villa 
unearthed,  and  where  a  college  is  said  to  have 
in  the  fourth  century;   to  Tintem  Abbey  and  _ 

Castle,  the  Forest  of  Dean,  Merthyr,  Brecon,  and  to 
some  of  the  numerous  collieries  and  inm- works  in 
the  South  Wales  coal-field.  A  ptaotical  natural  faistoiy 
excursion  is  being  oi^ganized  by  the  Cardiff  NaCnralists' 
Society  to  the  Vale  of  Neath,  which  from  the  beauty  of 
the  spot  should  prove  attractive.  Several  owners  of 
works  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cardiff  have  expressed 
their  willingness  to  throw  them  open  to  the  members,  and 
arrangements  will  be  made  for  visits  to  some  of  them. 

(5)  Publications, — A  guide-book  to  Cardiff  is  being 
prepared  for  distribution  to  all  members  and  associates, 
and  the  descriptive  articles  have  been  intrusted  to  the 
gentlemen  who  were  best  fitted  to  write  them.  The 
article  on  the  history  and  archaeology  of  Glamorganshire 
has  been  written  by  the  veteran  G.  T.  Clark,  of  Dowlais, 
whilst  that  on  the  topography  of  Cardiff  was  undertaken 
by  the  late  James  A.  Corbett,  who,  unfortunately ,  died 
before  it  was  quite  complete.  Mr.  T.  Forster  Brown, 
President  of  Section  G,  has  undertaken  the  description 
of  the  mining,  geological,  and  statistical  features  of  the 
district ;  the  industrial  portion  being  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


205 


Galloway.  The  geological;  zoological,  and  botanical 
descriptions  have  li^en  written  by  Mr.  T.  H.  Thomas  and 
Prof.  W.  N.  Parker,  with  the  help  of  many  others.  The 
account  of  the  educational  arrangements  of  Cardiff  will 
be  treated  of  by  Mr.  Whitmell,  Inspector  of  Schools, 
and  Principal  J.  V.  Jones. 

The  excursions  hand-book  will  contain  a  map,  on  a 
scale  of  four  miles  to  the  inch,  of  the  whole  of  the  district 
in  which  the  excursions  will  be  held,  specially  prepared 
for  the  Committee  by  Messrs.  Bartholomew  and  Co., 
Edinburgh.  As  detailed  accounts  as  possible  of  the 
various  points  to  be  seen  in  the  excursions  will  be  given 
by  those  having  special  knowledge :  taken  together  with 
the  guide-book,  it  is  thought  that  a  very  complete  descrip- 
tion of  everything  connected  with  this  portion  of  South 
Wales  will  be  furnished  to  the  visitors. 

Other  Committees  have  been  formed  for  the  evening 
lectures  and  the  working  men*s  lecture,  but  little  more 
can  be  said  about  them  than  that  they  will  provide  to  the 
fullest  extent  for  the  wants  of  the  Association.  The 
Local  Committee  are  anxious  that  this  shall  be  the  case 
in  every  particular,  so  that  the  first  visit  to  the  metropolis 
of  Wales  will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  previous 
meetings  of  the  Association.  R.  W.  Atkinson. 


MARINE  BIOLOGICAL  ASSOCIATION  OF 
THE  UNITED  KINGDOM. 

WE  have  received  the  annual  report  of  the  Council  of 
this  Association,  presented  at  the  general  meeting 
on  June  24 — the  President,  Prof.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S., 
in  the  chair.  In  the  sea,  as  well  as  on  land,  the  severe 
winter  appears  to  have  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  fauna, 
and  there  is  also  a  complaint  of  mortality  in  the  aquarium 
attached  to  the  Laboratory  during  the  colder  months ; 
a  result  perhaps  somewhat  unexpected,  considering 
the  comparatively  high  winter  temperature  of  the  sea. 
We  are  glad  to  learn  that  a  self-sown  fauna  is  springing 
up  in  the  tanks,  the  condition  of  which  is  said  to  be 
steadily  improving,  as  is  the  case  with  all  aquaria  after 
one  or  two  years  of  use. 

Under  the  head  of  the  library  (which  ought  to  be  re- 
presented in  the  balance-sheet  by  a  larger  sum  than  is  at 
present  debited  to  it)  the  Association  is  to  be  congratu- 
late on  having  received  the  gift  of  the  late  Mr.'  Spence 
Bate^s  library,  constituting  an  exceedingly  valuable 
collection  of  the  literature  of  Crustacea. 

Some  of  the  changes  made  in  the  permanent  staff  have 
been chFOfiided  already:  Mr.  Calderwood  has  replaced 
Mr.  Bourne  as  Director,  and  has  appointed  Mr.  H. 
N.  Dickson  to  succeed  Mr.  Garstang,  who  took  up 
a  Fellowship  at  the  Owens  College  in  December  last 
Two  temporary  members  have  been  added  to  the  staff: 
Mr.  F.  Hughes,  to  carry  out  from  the  chemical  point  of 
view  an  inquiry  into  the  possibility  of  manufacturing  an 
artificial  bait  ;'Mr.  E.  W.  L.  Holt,  known  already  as  the 
author  of  some  papers  on  Teleostean  development,  to 
conduct  investigations  into  the  immature  fish  question  as 
r^^ards  the  Dogger  Bank  and  the  region  eastwards  of  it — 
the  lines  of  this  latter  inquiry  are  sketched  in  an  appendix 
to  the  report.  Among  the  fishery  investigations  of  the 
past  year  are  quoted  experiments  on  the  rate  of  growth 
and  die  age  of  sexual  maturity  in  food-fish,  oyster  and 
lobster  culture,  and  the  anchovy  fishery  which  the 
Association  desires  to  initiate.  We  are  glad  to  see  that 
systematic  physical  observations  are  to  be  taken  at  the 
Laboratory  in  future. 

Eleven  gentlemen  have  visited  the  Laboratory  during 
the  year  for  the  purposes  of  research,  some  of  them  on 
more  than  one  occasion.  This  number,  however,  is  by 
no  means  as  lai^e  as  it  should  be. 

The  balance-sheet  shows  a  satisfactory,  if  small,  in- 
crease in  receipts,  the  items  pointing  to  an  increased  use 

NO.  1 1 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


of  the  Laboratory,  both  for  research  and  for  the  purchase 
of  material  for  teaching  purposes.  A  sum  of  ;£5oo  (in 
addition  to  the  annual  grant  of  £soo)  has  been  placed  on 
the  Civil  Service  estimates  for  the  current  year,  which 
will,  if  passed,  place  the  Association  in  a  position  to 
carry  on  its  work  with  less  difficulty  than  has  hitherto 
been  the  case. 


UNIVERSITY  EXTENSION  STUDENTS  AT 

CAMBRIDGE. 

THE  work  done  by  University  Extension  students  at 
Cambridge  last-  year  was  so  satisfactory  that  the 
Syndicate  for  local  lectures  are  encouraged  to  repeat  the 
experiment  this  year.  They  will  be  prepared  to  receive 
a  larger  number  of  students,  say  from  60  to  80,  most  of 
whom  will  be  lodged  either  at  Selwyn  College  or  at 
Newnham  College.  The  period  of  study  will  l^st  from 
July  28  to  August  22,  or  nearly  a  month  in  all.  The 
Syndicate  have  just  issued  a  detailed  programme  of  the 
various  courses  of  study ;  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that 
due  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  claims  of  science  as 
well  as  to  those  of  literature  and  art.  At  the  chemical 
laboratory,  on  alternate  days,  there  will  be  a  course  of 
demonstrations  illustrating  the  methods  of  chemical 
manipulation  in  a  short  series  of  typical  experiments. 
The  pupils  will  be  first  shown  each  experiment,  ^nd  will 
then  be  expected  to  repeat  it  for  themselves.  At  the 
Cavendish  Laboratory,  on  alternate  days,  a  course  of 
short  experimental  lectures,  chiefly  on  electricity  and 
magnetism,  will  be  delivered  ;  and  most  of  the  experi- 
ments shown  in  the  lectures  will  afterwards  be  performed 
by  the  students  for  themselves.  Geology  will  be  studied, 
on  alternate  days,  at  the  Woodwardian  Museum,  where 
there  will  be  a  course  of  demonstrations  on  the  leading 
fossil  types  of  the  animal  kingdom,  from  the  specimens 
in  the  Museum.  A  course  of  demonstrations,  followed  by 
practical  work,  will  be  given,  on  alternate  days,  in  the 
physiological  laboratory ;  and  Mr.  Graham,  chief  assistant 
at  the  Observatory,  will  receive  students  and  explain  the 
uses  of  astronomical  instruments.  Arrangements  will 
also  be  made  for  taking  small  parties  of  students  to  the 
Observatory  at  night.  Single  lectures  will  be  delivered 
by  various  eminent  Cambridge  men,  and  in  this  part  of 
the  work  science  will  be  represented  by  Prof.  G.  H. 
Darwin,  who  will  lecture  on  the  history  of  the  moon  or 
some  allied  subject.  We  may  note  that  the  students  in 
science  will  be  allowed  to  read  in  the  Philosophical 
Library. 


NORMAN  R.  POGSON,  CLE. 

WE  regret  to  have  to  announce  the  death  of  Mr. 
Norman  Pogson,  for  thirty  years  the  Director  of 
the  Observatory  at  Madras.  Mr.  Pogson  has  been  so 
long  absent  from  England  that,  in  a  sense,  he  may  be 
said  to  have  outlived  his  reputation  ;  but  those  who  can 
recall  the  condition  of  astronomy  in  this  country  some 
thirty  years  since  will  remember  him  as  a  rising  astro- 
nomer of  considerable  promise,  and  as  one  of  the  most 
indefatigable  observers  at  that  time.  If  his  subsequent 
career  has  not  entirely  fulfilled  his  early  promise,  perhaps 
the  condition  of  the  Madras  Observatory  is  to  some 
extent  the  cause.  We  believe  that  its  astronomical  equip- 
ment is  very  old  and  inadequate,  and  possibly  Mr.  Pogson 
has  accomplished  all  that  could  be  done  with  his  instru- 
ments and  his  staff. 

Mr.  Pogson's  astronomical  career  commenced  at  Mr. 
Bishop's  Observatory  in  Regent's  Park,  at  that  time 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  R.  Hind,  and  he  there  took 
part  in  the  observations  for  forming  the  ecliptic  charts 
published  from  that  Observatory.   In  185 1  he  left  London 


2o6 


NATURE 


[July  2,  1891 


to  assume  an  assistantship  in  the  Radcliffe  Observatory, 
Oxford,  under  the  late  Mr.  Johnson  ;  and  there  his  zeal 
was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  several  minor  planets,  in 
days  when  the  number  of  the  known  asteroids  was  com- 
paratively small,  and  their  discovery  conferred  some  little 
distinction  upon  their  fortunate  discoverer.  Of  greater 
importance  to  astronomy  was  his  subsequent  devotion  to 
variable  stars  and  photometry,  the  latter  carried  out,  we 
believe,  with  the  apparently  inappropriate  instrumental 
means  of  the  heliometer  of  the  Radcliffe  Observatory, 
Oxford.  But  the  result  of  his  investigation  of  the  amount 
of  light  that  separates  two  consecutive  magnitudes  has 
never  been  displaced,  and  the  fortunate  employment  of 
the  number,  whose  logarithm  is  0*4,  to  express  this  ratio 
will  probably  long  connect  Mr.  Pogson's  name  with  the 
history  of  accurate  photometry. 

After  a  somewhat  short  stay  at  the  Hartwell  Observa- 
tory, Mr.  Pogson  left  England  in  1861  to  take  charge  of 
the  Madras  Observatory.  His  direction  of  that  institu- 
tion will  always  be  remembered  in  connection  with  the 
extraordinary  discovery  of  a  telescopic  comet,  effected  in 
consequence  of  the  telegraphic  communication  he  re- 
ceived from  Prof.  Klinkerfues,  who  expected  that  Biela's 
comet  might  be  seen  in  the  constellation  Centaur,  after 
the  brilliant  meteoric  shower  to  which  that  comet  had 
given  rise  in  November  1872.  Mr.  Pogson  looked  in  the 
direction  indicated,  and  by  a  remarkable  coincidence 
found  a  comet,  which  he  observed  on  two,  and  only  two, 
occasions.  The  orbit  remains,  therefore,  indeterminate, 
but  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  object  seen 
was  in  no  way  connected  with  either  of  the  two  condensa- 
tions which  together  make  up  the  lost  comet  of  Biela. 
And  thus  another  and  not  uninteresting  chapter  was 
added  to  the  history  of  this  comet.  Several  volumes  of 
observations  have  been  published  under  Mr.  Pogson's 
direction  ;  the  last  bears  the  date  of  1870,  so  that  prob- 
ably, and  as  the  Director  has  often  lamented, the  reductions 
are  considerably  in  arrear. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  watch  the  future  of  this  Obser- 
vatory. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  steps  will  be  taken 
to  place  it  more  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of 
the  present  time.  We  believe  that  its  abandonment  has 
even  been  canvassed,  but  it  cannot  be  sufficiently  re- 
gretted if  an  Observatory,  possessing  as  that  does  many 
historical  associations,  and  occupying  a  very  favourable 
position  on  the  earth's  surface,  be  allowed  to  disappear. 

W.  E.  P. 


NOTES, 

The  death  of  Wilhelm  Weber,  the  illustrious  physicist,  is 
announced.  He  died  at  Gottingen  on  June  23.  On  a  future 
occasion  we  shall  give  some  account  of  his  services  to  science. 

The  second  lecture  in  connection  with  the  Faraday  Centenary 
was  delivered  by  Prof.  Dewar,  F.R.S.,  at  the  Royal  Institution 
on  Friday  evening  last. 

On  Tuesday,  Lord  Cranbrook,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  moved 
the  second  reading  of  a  Bill  the  object  of  which  is  to  allow  the 
managers  of  science  and  art  schools  to  transfer  them  to  local 
authorities  when  they  desire  to  do  so.  Lord  Cranbrook  ex- 
plained that  at  present  there  were  considerable  difficulties  in  the 
way,  and  that  the  process  was  a  very  long  and  tedious  one.  The 
Bill  proposed  to  make  these  schools  transferable  in  the  same 
way  as  ordinary  schools  could  be  transferred  to  School  Boards. 
The  Bill  was  read  a  second  time. 

DrS.  J.  BORNMULLER  AND    P.  SiNTENIS   propose   tO  OCCUpy 

the  present  summer  with  an  investigation  of  the  flora  of  the 
islands  Samothrace  and  Thasos,  from  which  very  few  collections 
are  to  be  found  in  European  herbaria ;  also  of  Mount  Athos 

NO.    I  I  3  I ,  VOL.  44] 


and  of  the  Bitbynian  Olympus.  They  then  intend  to  take  op 
their  winter  quarters  in  Mossul,  and  to  spend  the  following 
spring  and  early  summer  in  the  comparatively  unknown  moam- 
tainous  region  of  Djebel  Hamzin  near  Bagdad,  and  the  moantaios 
to  the  north  and  east  of  Mossul. 

The  distinguished  Italian  botanist,  Prof.  O.  Penzig,  is  aboat 
to  start  on  a  botanical  expedition  to  Massowah  and  Bogos. 

Mr.  J.  T.  NicoLSON,  at  present  Prof.  Ewing's  demoostrator 
in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  has  been  appointed  to  tbe 
Chair  of  Mechanical  Engineering  in  the  McGill  University, 
Montreal 

A  STALL  for  the  sale  of  **  zoological  photographs"  has  jnst 
been  opened  in  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens.  It  is  placed 
in  the  centre  of  the  Gardens,  near  the  band-stand,  axul  has  aa 
attractive  exterior.  The  photographs  sold  are  mostly  repre- 
sentations of  animals  in  the  Society's  Gardens,  but  also  include 
some  taken  in  the  Jardin  d'Acclimatation  of  Paris,  and  in  other 
similar  establishments. 

The  marine  laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  will 
be  open  this  summer  at  Port  Antonio  on  the  north-east  coast  of 
Jamaica.  According  to  Science  of  June  19,  Prof.  Brooks  and 
some  members  of  his  party  had  already  started  for  the  station. 

There  has  been  lately  formed  in  Berlin  (we  leam  from 
Naturw,  Rdsch.)  a  "  Union  of  friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmicai 
Physics,"  with  the  view  of  organizing  practical  co-opetation  in 
these  subjects  of  research  in  Germany,  Austria,  Hnngazy, 
Switzerland,  and  neighbouring  countries,  and  also  in  the 
colonies,  and  where  membership  may  be  desired.  The  object 
is  to  be  sought  by  means  of  free  communications  of  the  meaabers 
or  groups  of  members  to  head-quarters,  whence  advice  and  results 
of  observations,  &c.,  will  be  issued.  Sections  are  formed  for 
observations  (i)  of  the  sun  ;  (2)  of  the  moon ;  (3)  of  the  io tensity 
and  colour  of  starlight  and  of  the  Milky  Way ;  (4)  of  the  zodiacal 
light  and  meteors  ;  (5)  of  polar  light,  terrestiial  magnetism,  earth 
currents,  and  atmospheric  electricity ;  and  (6)  of  clouds,  hales, 
and  thunderstorms.  Prof.  Lehman-Filhes  has  been  elected 
President  of  the  Union,  and  the  presidents  of  the  sections  aire 
Forster,  M.  W.  Meyer,  Flassmann,  Jesse,  Weinstein,  and 
Reimann, 

According  to  a  telegram  sent  through  Renter's  Agency  from 
San  Francisco  on  June  29,  a  series  of  sudden  sharp  earthquake 
shocks,  accompanied  by  subterranean  rumblings,  passed  thxxnigk 
San  Jose,  California,  that  morning.  The  first  shock  irtss  90 
violent  that  the  electric-light  tower,  two  hundred  and  forty  feet 
high,  swayed  for  at  least  ten  feet.  A  panic  prevailed  in  the 
town  ;  and  in  two  of  the  principal  hotels,  which  were  filled  with 
tourists  from  the  East,  men  and  women  rushed  half- dressed  from 
their  rooms  into  the  corridors  in  a  great  &tate  of  alarm.  The 
city  rocked  like  a  ship  in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  and  when  the 
second  shock  occurred,  baildings  rose  and  fell  with  a  slow 
undulating  motion,  one  partly  erected  brick  building  tumbling 
to  the  ground.  Many  chimneys  fell,  and  a  large  number  of 
windows  were  broken,  while  considerable  damage  was  done  to 
crockery  and  other  fragile  articles  in  the  houses. 

Germany  had  very  heavy  rains  on  November  22  to  24 
last  year,  causing  floods  at  a  rather  unusual  time  in  the  region  d 
the  Elbe,  Weser,  &c.  It  is  shown  by  Prof.  Hellmann,  that 
Middle  and  West  Germany  were  then  on  the  front  side  of  a  deep 
depression,  which  passed  very  slowly  from  north  to  south, 
taking  about  90  hours  from  the  North  Sea  to  Central  Germany, 
less  than  half  the  usual  speed  from  west  to  east.  A  re;^on  of 
high  pressure  with  cold  lay  to  the  east,  blocking  the  coarse  is 
that  direction,  and  this  afterwards  spread  over  the  flooded 
country,  covering  it  with  ice. 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


207 


The  Central  Meteorological  Observatory  at  Tokio,  Japan, 
has  begun  the  publication  of  hourly  meteorological  observations, 
commencing  with  January  1890.  The  observations  are  con- 
tained in  monthly  Bulletins,  and  include  all  the  usual  elements, 
together  with  vapour  tension,  humidity,  earth  temperature, 
bright  sunshine,  and  hourly  and  daily  means.  Meteoro- 
logical observations  have  been  made  for  some  years  in  various 
parts  of  Japan,  including  hourly  observations  at  Tokio  since 
January  i,  1886,  but  have  hitherto  only  been  published  for 
certain  hours.  The  observations  are  all  made  without  self- 
recording  instruments,  excepting  those  of  wind  and  sunshine. 
Some  years  ago  the  Director  of  the  Service,  I.  Arai,  visited 
this  country,  and  other  European  countries,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  various  meteorological  organizations,  and  we  have 
no  doubt  that  this  important  publication  will  be  very  valuable 
for  meteorological  researches  referring  to  the  North  Pacific 
Ocean,  where  information  is  comparatively  scanty. 

M.  Maspero  has  an  interesting  article  in  the  current  number 
of  La  NcUure  on  the  dog  in  ancient  Egypt.  It  is  illustrated  by 
representations  of  dogs  reproduced  from  Egyptian  monuments, 
aod  by  a  mummy  of  a  dog  recently  opened  and  sketched  by 
M.  Beckmann.  In  ancient  Egypt,  as  in  modern  Europe,  the 
dog  was  regarded  both  as  a  friend  and  as  a  useful  servant.  He 
also  received  the  honours  of  a  god,  and  there  are  cemeteries  of 
dogs  (corresponding  to  the  cemeteries  of  cats)  where  mummies 
have  been  found  by  the  thousand.  Attempts  have  been  made 
to  identify  the  various  species  of  dogs  represented  in  wall 
paintings,  but  those  naturalists  who  have  investigated  the 
subject  have  not  always  arrived  at  the  same  conclusions.  M. 
Maspero  points  out  that  mummies  supply  tnore  trustworthy 
materials  for  study,  and  urges  that  men  of  science  should  lose 
no  time  in  examining  some  of  them,  as  cemeteries  of  animals 
are  being  very  rapidly  "exploited." 

A  COMMERCIAL  company  has  for  some  time  been  working 
qoarries  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  well-known  glacial  grooves 
at  Kelley  Island,  Ohio ;  and  it  was  feared  that  these  remirk- 
able  relics  of  the  glacial  epoch  might  be  wholly  destroyed. 
Fortunately  the  president  of  the  company  understands  the 
interest  of  the  phenomena,  and  has  taken  care  to  prevent  the 
most  striking  of  them  from  being  injured.  We  learn  from  the 
Cleveland  Leader  that  some  of  the  grooves  have  now  been 
rendered  safe,  the  company  at  its  recent  annual  meeting  having 
decided  that  the  rocks  on  which  they  are  furrowed  should  be 
made  over  to  the  president,  by  whom  they  will  be  transferred  to 
a  scientific  or  historical  society,  **to  be  preserved  in  perpetuity 
for  the  benefit  of  science." 

Mr.  C.  Da  vies  Sherborn  is,  we  are  glad  to  find,  making 
satisfactory  progress  with  the  stupendous  task  he  has  undertaken 
in  the  production  of  his  "Index  Generum  et  Specieruni  Ani- 
malium."  Mr.  Sherborn  has  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to 
accept  the  year  1758,  the  date  of  the  tenth  edition  of  Linnaeus's 
"Systema,"  instead  of  the  twelfth  edition  (1766),  as  the  starting- 
point  of  binomial  nomenclature  in  zoology,  and  this  decision 
was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  advice  of  Prof.  Sven  Loven, 
Dr.  D.  Sharp,  and  others  who  had  carefully  studied  the  question. 
This  is  the  only  alteration  which  has  been  made  in  the  original 
scheme  (see  Nature,  vol.  xlii.  p.  54).  During  the  year,  five 
hundred  volumes  have  been  worked  through,  page  by  page, 
and  a  total  of  forty  thousand  species  have  been  recorded,  in 
duplicate^  involving  a  use  of  80,000  slips.  Each  species  is 
recorded  on  a  separate  slip  (5  inches  x  2i),  the  whole  of  the 
reftrence^  with  the  sole  exception  of  the  page,  being  printed  with 
india-rubber  type,  thus  insuring  perfect  accuracy  of  date  and 
parts  of  volumes :  as  the  pages  are  also  checked  during  work, 
the  chances  of  misquotation  are  reduced  to  a  minimum.  As 
the  volumes  mentioned  include  the  whole  of  the  publications  of 

NO.   1 13  I,  VOL.  44] 


Linnaeus,  many  of  Fabricius,  Thunberg,  and  other  voluminous 
authors  of  that  early  period,  it  is,  perhaps,  permissible  to  think 
that  more  rapid  progress  may  be  made  in  future  years.  The 
dates  of  publication  of  the  separate  parts  of  a  work  have  been 
carefully  attended  to,  and  much  valua  ble  information  has  been 
obtained.  Some  of  this  has  appeared  in  the  Annals  of  Natural 
History  [VzMzs^B  "  Icones  Insect.,"  "Nov.  Spec  Quad.,"  and 
White's  "  Journal "),  while  much  remains  in  manuscript  until 
the  final  completion  of  detail  admits  of  its  publication.  As  is 
well  known,  the  authorities  of  the  Natural  History  Museum 
have  rendered  every  facility  to  Mr.  Sherborn  for  the  prosecution 
of  his  work,  and  the  storage  of  the  manuscripts  within  the  walls 
of  that  institution,  reducing  the  risk  of  loss  by  fire  to  a  minimum, 
is  a  concession  highly  valued  by  the  author.  One  set  of  the  slips 
is  arranged  in  order  of  genera,  and,  on  application,  is  available 
for  reference  to  anyone  compiling  a  monograph  of  a  genus.  The 
'  manuscript  is  frequently  consulted  by  those  working  at  the 
Natural  History  Museum,  even  in  its  present  imperfect  state, 
and  will,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  method  of  recording,  prove- 
of  increasing  value  as  it  grows  to  larger  proportions. 

In  the  report  of  the  trustees  of  the  South  African  Museum  for 
1.890  it  is  stated  that  the  curator,  Mr.  R.  Trimen,  has  completed 
a  thorough  rearrangement  of  the  fine  collection  of  South  African 
Diurnal  Lepidoptera  in  accordance  with  the  monograph  of  those 
insects  recently  published  by  him,  incorporating  many  additional 
species,  and  replacing  imperfect  or  worn  examples  by  fresher 
and  more  characteristic  specimens.  He  has  also  begun  the 
rearrangement  of  the  more  numerous  and  less  known  Crepus- 
cular and  Nocturnal  Lepidoptera.  Mr.  Trimen  has  completed 
for  publication  two  papers— one  on  the  very  interesting  series 
of  butterflies  collected  in  South- West  Tropical  Africa  by  Mr.  A. 
W.  Eriksson,  and  presented  by  that  explorer  to  the  Museum  in 
1888;  and  the  other  on  some  additions  to  the  list  of  extra- 
tropical  South  African  butterflies  since  the  publication  of  the 
conclucling  volume  of  his  work. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  nest  and  eggs  of  the  cat-bird 
{Aiiura:dus  viridis^  Latham)  is  given  by  Mr.  A.  J.  North  in 
the  latest  number  of  the  Records  of  the  Australian  Museum 
(vol.  i..  No.  6).  The  habitat  of  the  cat-bird  is  the  dense  scrubs 
of  the  coastal  ranges  of  New  South  Wales.  Although  the  bird 
is  common,  authentic  specimens  of  its  nest  and  eggs  seem  to 
have  been  unknown  until  lately.  For  an  opportunity  of  examin- 
ing such  specimens,  Mr.  North  is  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  J.  Grimes, 
an  enthusiastic  oologist,  who  recently  secured  two  nests  of  this 
species  on  the  Tweed  River.  The  nest  is  a  beautiful  structure, 
being  bowl-shaped,  and  composed  exteriorly  of  long  twigs, 
entwined  around  the  large  broad  leaves  of  Piarietia  argyroden- 
dron,  and  other  broad*leaved  trees,  some  of  the  leaves  measuring 
eleven  inches  in  length  by  four  inches  in  breadth.  The  leaver 
appear  to  have  been  picked  when  green,  so  beautifully  do  they 
fit  the  rounded  form  of  the  nest,  one  side  of  which  is  almost 
hidden  by  them.  The  interior  of  the  nest  is  lined  entirely  with 
fine  twigs.  The  eggs  are  two  in  number  for  a  sitting,  oval  in 
form,  being  but  slightly  compressed  at  the  smaller  end,  of  a 
uniform  creamy  white  very  faintly  tinged  with  green,  the  shell 
being  comparatively  smooth  and  slightly  glossy.  Although  the 
cat-bird  is  usually  included  in  the  family  of  bower-building 
birds,  Mr.  North  has  never  known  or  heard  of  its  constructing 
a  bower. 

A  CATALOGUE  of  the  Australian  birds  in  the  Australian 
Museum,  at  Sydney,  by  Dr.  E.  P.  Ramsay,  is  being  published. 
Part  III.,  which  has  just  been  issued,  deals  with  PsittacL 

As  a  substance  peculiarly  fitted,  by  reason  of  its  high  dis- 
persive power,  and  transparency  for  ultra-violet  rays,  for  study 
of  the  ultra-violet  part  of  the  spectrum,  Herr  Wolter  has  recently 
recommended,   in   a   Hamburg  serial,   a-monobromnaphtalin. 


208 


NATURE 


[July  2,  1891 


With  a  prism  of  the  liqttid,  he  CDuld  trace  the  spectram  beyond 
N  on  a  flaorescein-soIatioQ.  Besides  the  above-named  proper- 
ties, the  substance  has  for  boiling-point  277**  C.  ;  it  has  no 
offensive  smell  like  carbon  sniphide,  and  its  index  of  refraction 
varies  much  less  with  temperature  than  in  the  case  of  that 
liqnid. 

The  material  resources  of  the  southern  part  of  Maryland  are 
still  so  imperfectly  known  that  a  scientific  expedition  for  the 
investigation  of  the  district  was  recently  organized.  The 
expedition  was  formed  under  the  joint  auspices  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  the  Maryland  Agricultural  College,  and 
the  U.S.  Geological  Survey.  An  interesting  report  of  the  work 
done  has  been  published  in  one  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Circulars. 

Dr.  Alfred  Tuckerman  has  compiled  an  excellent  "  Bib- 
liography of  the  Chemical  Influence  of  Light,"  which  has 
been  published  as  one  of  the  Smithsonian  miscellaneous  collec- 
tions. As  the  compiler  had  in  view  only  the  scientific  aspects 
of  the  subject,  he  has  omitted  nearly  all  the  practical  app  lications, 
including  that  of  photography.  An  index  to  the  literature  of 
photography  is  being  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  the  com- 
mittee for  indexing  chemical  literature,  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 

I'HE  Collie  of  Science,  Imperial  University,  Japan,  has 
issued  the  first  part  of  the  fourth  volnme  of  its  Journal.  It 
opens  with  a  paper  on  the  foetal  membranes  of  Chelonia,  by  K. 
Mitsttknri.  After  this  come  the  following  articles : — On  the 
development  of  Araneina,  by  Kamakichi  Kishtnoaye ;  obser- 
vations on  fresh-water  Polyzoa,  by  A.  Oka;  on  Dipl<moon 
nipponieum,  n.  sp.,  by  Seitaro  Goto;  a  new  species  of 
Hymenomycetous  Fungus  injurious  to  the  mulberry  tree,  by 
Nobujiro  Tanaka ;  notes  on  the  irritability  of  the  stigma,  by 
M.  Miyoshi ;  notes  on  the  development  of  the  suprarenal 
bodies  in  the  monse,  by  Masamaro  Inaba.  Each  of  the  papers 
is  illustrated. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Vevers,  Leeds,  has  sent  us  a  copy  of  the  fourth 
edition,  illustrated,  of  his  "  Practical  Amateur  Photography." 
The  volume  is  described  in  the  preface  as  "  a  simple  text-book 
for  the  banner,  and  a  handy  work  of  reference  for  the  advanced 
photographer."  Mr.  Vevers  has  also  published  an  illustrated 
catalogue  of  photographic  apparatus. 

The  Manchester  Microscopical  Society  has  issued  its  Trans- 
actions and  Annual  Report,  1890.  The  volume  includes  two 
Presidential  addresses  by  Prof.  Milnes  Marshall,  papers  and 
communications  read  by  the  members,  and  a  list  of  members. 

We  have  received  from  Mr.  William  F.  Clay,  Edinburgh,  a 
catalogue  of  scientific  books  which  he  offers  for  sale.  The  works 
relate  to  chemistry  and  allied  sciences. 

As  briefly  announced  in  our  report  of  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  a  new  compound  of  iron  and  carbon 
monoxide  has  been  obtained  by  M.  Bertbelot,  analogous  to  the 
nickel  compound  described  last  year  by  Messrs.  Mond,  Lang, 
and  QUmcke.  In  order  to  obtain  it,  the  iron  requires  to  be  in  a 
very  finely  divided  state,  and  free  from  admixed  oxide.  It  is 
most  suitably  obtained  by  reducing  dried  precipitated  ferric  oxide 
or  oxide  obtained  by  ignition  of  ferrous  oxalate  in  a  current  of 
pure  hydrogen.  When  carbon  monoxide  is  led  over  metallic 
iron  thus  prepared,  and  the  tube  containing  it  gently  warmed  to 
about  45*  C,  the  reaction  commences,  and  if  the  issuing  gas, 
after  being  washed  through  water,  is  ignited  at  a  jet,  the  flame  is 
observed  to  be  quite  different  from  that  of  pure  carbon  monoxide, 
being  brilliantly  luminous,  almost  white,  and  emittmg  rays 
which  fumbh  a  definite  spectrum.  Moreover,  if  a  cold  porcelain 
tile  or  evaporating  basin  is  depressed  upon  the  flame  a  deposit 
of  metallic  iron  more  or  less  admixed  with  oxide  is  obtained, 

NO.   1 131,  VOL.  44] 


indicating  the  existence  in  the  issuing  gas  of  the  vapour  of  a 
ferruginous  compound.  A  drop  of  dilute  hydrochloric  acid  at 
once  dissolves  the  stain,  and  the  solution  affords  the  ordinaiy 
reactions  of  iron,  yielding  Prussian  blue  with  potassiUB 
ferrocyanide  for  instance.  When  the  gases  are  passed  throogh  a 
strictured  tube,  such  as  is  employed  in  Marsh's  arsenic  apparatus* 
a  portion  of  which  is  heated  to  redness,  an  annular  deposit  of 
metallic  iron  is  obtained,  containing  a  slight  amount  of  admixed 
carbon.  M.  Bertbelot  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  obtainiag 
sufficient  of  the  new  compound  to  condense  it  to  the  liquid  fora, 
but  further  experiments  with  that  end  in  view  are  in  piogicsa. 
The  formation  of  this  volatile  compound  of  iron  and  caxboo 
monoxide  will  'Undoubtedly  prove  of  great  interest  from  a  metal- 
lurgical point  of  view,  as  it  may  assist  in  elucidating  several  of 
the  as  yet  little  understood  furnace  reactions.  M.  Bertbekit 
further  expresses  the  opinion  that  it  may  help  to  explain  the 
formation  of  bubble  flaws  in  manufactured  iron,  which  have  so 
frequently  led  to  such  unfortunate  re<ults.  In  addition  to  the 
preparation  of  iron-carbonyl,  M.  Bertbelot  describes  several  new 
reactions  of  nickel  carbonyl.  It  will  be  remembered  that  thii 
substance  is  a  liquid  boiling  at  46*,  so  volatile  that,  occordiiig  to 
M.  Bertbelot,  its  vapour  tension  at  16°  is  a  quarter  of  an  airao- 
sphere.  A  drop  placed  upon  a  glass  plate  rapidly  volatilises,  the 
portion  last  to  disappear  being  for  a  few  moments  cooled  down 
by  the  evaporation  of  the  first  portion  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
form  beautiful  little  crystals.  When  suddenly  heated  to  70*  it 
detonates,  the  detonating  reaction  being  expressel  by  the 
equation  Ni(C0)4  =  2CO,  +  2C  +  Ni.  When  mixed  witk 
oxygen,  simple  agitation  of  the  tube  containing  it  over  mercaiy 
brings  about  detonation.  When  oxygen  is  permitted  to  slowly 
gain  access  to  the  liquid  oxide,  a  solid  substance  is  formed,  which 
is  green  if  the  oxygen  is  moist  and  brownish-yellow  if  dry.  la 
contact  with  oil  of  vitriol  the  liquid  compound  appears  to  be 
unaffected  for  a  few  moments,  but  suddenly  explodes  with  pro- 
duction of  flame.  Nitric  oxide  reacts  in  a  most  beautiful  manner, 
either  when  passed  into  the  liquid  or  its  vapour,  bright  blue 
fumes  being  produced  of  a  complex  compound,  which  eveatoally 
subside,  forming  a  blue  solid.  These  blue  vapours  oompkCely 
fill  the  whole  vessel,  and  their  formation  affords  one  of  the 
prettiest  experiments  yet  described. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  above  work  of  M.  Bertbdot, 
Mr.  Mond  and  his  co-workers  have  also  been  condudiiig 
experiments  with  the  view  to  the  preparation  of  iron  cmifaooyi, 
which  have  been  so  successful  that  a  brief  account  of  them  was 
laid  before  the  Chemical  Society  at  their  last  meeting.  Further 
particulars  of  these  experimen  ts  will  be  given  as  soon  as  pub- 
lished. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  dmiqg  the 
past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  (Afaeaeus  rk^sms  9  )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mr.  Albert  Job ;  an  American  Red  Fox 
(Cants  ftUims)  from  North  America,  presented  by  Mr.  W. 
Reading  ;  a  Two-spotted  Paradoxure  {Nandinia  iifidata)  fron 
West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Parkinson;  a  Sinaitic 
Ibex  {Capra  sinaitic)  from  Palestine,  presented  by  Sir  James 
Anderson  ;  two  Gaimard's  Rat- Kangaroos  (Hypsiprymmus.  gai- 
mardi)  from  Australia,  presented  by  Mr.  Walter  Howker ; 
a  Cuckoo  {Cucu/us  canorus),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  Stacy 
Marks,  R.  A.,  F.Z.S. ;  two  Red-billed  Tree  Ducks  {Dendroty^a 
auiumnalis)  from  America,  presented  by  Mr.  Keswick;  two 
White-faced  Tree  Ducks  {Dendrocygna  vidua/a)  from  Bruil, 
presented  by  Captain  C.  A.  Findlay,  R.N.R.  ;  a  Common  Viper 
( Vipera  berus)^  British,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Sargeant ;  two 
White-headed  Sea- Eagles  (HaliaHus  leiuocephalus)  from  North 
America,  deposited ;  a  Burchell's  Zebra  {Equus  burchelli  6)*^ 
Derbian  Wallaby  {Halmaturus  derbiattus),  three  Common  Nigbt 
Herons  {Nycticorax  griseus\  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


209 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN, 

The  Capture  Theory  of  Comets.— The  last  three  numbers 
of  the  Bulletin  Astrottomique  (April-Jane)  have  contained  papers 
hj  M.  L.  Schnlhof,  "  Snr  ies  Grandes  Perturbations  des  Com^tes 
Periodiques,"  which  place  beyond  doubt  the  idea  that  the 
periodic  comets  of  our  system  are  captured  by  the  perturbing 
action  of  planets.  The  main  object  of  the  research  was  lo  develop 
the  relations  existing  between  the  elements  of  the  comet's  orbit 
before  and  af^er  its  entrance  within  the  sphere  of  activity  of 
the  disturbing  planet.  With  the  criteria  obtained,  and  some 
results  previously  formulated  by  M.  Tisserand,  it  is  possible  to 
decide  the  question  as  to  the  identity  of  two  comets  of  which 
the  time  of  revolution  of  one  is  known,  even  when  the  o>met  is 
believed  to  have  passed  several  times  within  Jupiter's  sphere  of 
activity  between  two  apparitions.  This  result  is  of  the  highest 
importance,  for  it  is  only  by  such  means  that  individual  comets 
cto  be  identified.  They  cannot  be  recognized  by  their  appear- 
ance»  as  they  possess  no  peculiar  characteristic  that  can  be 
telescopically  observed. 

M.  Schulhof  suggests  that,  in  the  light  of  recent  work,  periodic 
comets  should  not  now  be  classified  according  to  their  aphelion 
distances,  but  arranged  in  groups  the  mean  aphelion  distance  of 
which  approximates  to  the  length  of  the  semi-major  axis  of  one 
or  other  of  the  planets.  Su(£  a  division  has  been  made  for 
comets  having  periods  between  lo  and  io,oco  years.  From  the 
tabulated  results,  it  appears  that  four  comets  have  aphelion  dis- 
taooes  which  differ  but  little  from  the  aphelion  distance  of 
Mercury.  The  Venus  group  numbers  seven,  the  earth's  group 
ten.  Man  possesses  four  comets,  and  Jupiter  twenty-three. 
Satnin  has  a  uusily  of  nine,  Uranus  eight,  and  Neptune  five. 

Wolf's  Periodic  Comet  {h  1 891). —The  following  ephe- 
mens  is  from  one  given  by  Prof.  Berberich  in  Edinburgh  Circular 
No.  17.  From  Astronomische  Nachrichten^  No.  3042,  it  appears 
that  Dr.  Spitalier  obsepi^i  this  comet  on  May  2;  that  is,  before 
Prof.  Barniard.  The  brightness  on  the  date  (May  4)  of  re- 
discovexy  by  the  latter  observer  has  been  taken  as  unity. 


189X. 


Ephemerisfar  Berlin  Midnight, 
R.A.  Decl.  Log  A.  Log  r. 


Bright- 
neM. 


m. 


July  6 ...  I    4  34  ...  +  26  30-3  ...  01916  ...  0-2305  ...  ^xA 

„  10..   I  15    8  ...  27    I'S  ...  o'iSoo  ...  0*2270  ...  330 

„  14...  I  25  49  ...  27  28-3  ...  01683  •••  0-2237  ...  3-54 

»,  18 ...  I  36  35  ...  27  50-5  ...  0-15^  ...  0*2206  ...  3-80 

If  22  ...  I  47  24  ...  28    7*6  ...  0*1446  ...  0-2178  ...  4*06 

„  26 ...  I  58  15  ...  28  I9'3  ...  0*1326  ...  0*2152  ...  4*34 

i>  30  ...  2    9    7  ...  28  25-2  ...  0*1204  ...  0*2127  ...  4*64 

Aog.  3  ...  2  19  57  ...  28  25*1  ...  0*1081  ...  0*2105  ...  4-96 

7  ...  2  30  42  ...  28  18*6   .  o'o957  ...  0-208J  ...  5*31 

II  ...  2  41  21  ...  28    5-2  ...  0*0832  ...  o*ao68  ...  5*67 

f»  IS  —  2  51  51  ...  27  44-7  ...  0-0707  ...  0-2053  —  ^05 

>f  19  •»  3    2  10  ...  27  16*6  ...  0*0581  ...  0*2041  ...  6*44 

H  23  ...  3  12  14  ...  26  40*9  ...  0*0455  ...  0*2032  ...  6-85 

»  27  •..  3  22    o  ...  25  57-3  ...  ox>329  ...  0-2026  ...  7-28 

>»  31  ••>  3  31  26  ...  25    5'6  ...  00204  ...  0'2022  ...  7*72 

Sept.  A  ...  3  40  28  ...  24    5*6  ...  0-0080  ...  0*2021  ...  8'i8 

»>    S  ...  3  49     I  ...  +  22  57*1  ...  9*9957  ...  0*2024  •••  ^'64 

The  comet  is  now  in  Pisces,  and  in  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber will  pass  throttgh  the  Pleiades.  M.  Bigourdan,  of  Paris  Obser- 
vatory, observed  it  onjmie  12,  and  remarked  that  it  was  "une 
Debttlosite  ronde,  d'environ  20^'  de  diam^tre,  de  grandeur  13*3." 


YORUBA  AND  GAZ ALAND, 

AT  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  on 
^  Monday,  two  papers  were  read:  one  by  Mr.  Alvan 
Millson,  on  the  Yoniba  country,  West  Africa,  and  the  other 
by  Mr.  Denis  Doyle,  on  a  journey  in  Gazaland,  in  South-East 
Africa. 

The  ancient  kingdom  of  Yoraba  ma^  be  taken  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  great  tribal  divisions  of  West  Africa, 
between  the  Gold  Coast  and  the  Niger. 

Landing  at  Lagos,  the  only  natural  harbour  on  a  thousand 
miles  of  coast,  a  narrow  entrance  with  a  15-feet  bar  leads  into 
the  intricate  chain  of  waterways  which  extends,  with  few  and 
dight  intennptions,  for  500  miles  from  the  Volta  river  to  the 
Benin  branch  of  the  Niger  Delta.    From  the  east  and  west, 

NO.  1 131,  VOL.  44] 


from  the  Benin  river  and  the  waters  of  the  Dalv>mian  frontier, 
the  coast  of  the  gulf  is  backed  by  intersecting  channels  of  fresh 
water  flowing  steadily  from  either  hand  towards  the  Lagos 
outlet.     In  many  places  these  narrow  and  brimming  channels 
are  separated  from  the  onslaught  of  the  Atlantic  rollers  by  no 
more  than  five  or  six  level  yards  of  shifting  sand ;   the  spray 
from  the  ocean  drifts  over  ihem,  and  the  roar  of  the  surf  is 
heard  by  the  native  as  he  glides  over  their  calm  surface  in  his 
fragile  canoe.    These  so-called  "  lagoons  of  the  Bight  of  Benin  " 
form  but  a  small  portion  of  the  littoral  river  systems  of  West 
Africa ;  for  from  Cape  Palmas  to  Cape  Three  Points  the  long 
Kroo  coast  is  lined  by  inland  waters  lor  the  greater  part  of  300 
miles,  and  beyond  the  rocky  spurs  of  the  beautiful  Gold  Coast 
the  Dahomian  shores  have  the  same  remarkable  formation.     At 
right  angles  to  this  network  of  channels  numerous  rivers  flow 
down  from  the  uplands  of  the  interior,  carrying  in  their  rapid 
streams  vast  quantities  of  sand  and  mud  with  which  they  busily 
build  out  the  land.     At  fir^t  sight  it  seems  strange  that  so  many 
and  such  powerful  streams,  flowing  strongly  towards  the  sea 
should  suddenly  be  turned  aside  from  their  courses  by  so  narrow 
and  fragile  a  barrier  of  shifting  sand.     To  the  influence  of  the 
sheltering  headlands  which  jut  out  towards  the  south  \  to  the 
rapid  Guinea  current  which  tears  away  the  face  of  their  rocky 
shores  and  hurries  towards  the  east  a  ceaseless  stream  of  sand ; 
to  the  almost  tideless  ocean,  and  the  absence  of  high  winds,  for 
the  strength  and  duration  of  a  West  African  tornado  are  but 
slight  as  compared  with  the  hurricanes  of  the  West  Indies  or 
the  gales  of  our  stormy  coast ;  and  above  all  to  the  enormous 
growths  of  floating  papyrus  aud  water-grass  which  line  the 
inner  banks  of  the  lagoons,  and  prevent  the  swollen  waters  from 
breaking  through  into  the  ocean,  are  due  the  formatioxf  and  con- 
tinual developmlent  of  this  strange  delta'  system.     For  these 
rivers  are  in  most  instances  choked  for  many  miles  by  a  floating 
papyrus-sod  bound  together  by  wild  water-figs  and  palm-wine 
palms  (Raphia  vinifera),  and  when. the  floods  come  down  from 
the  interior  great  masses  of  this  floating  vegetation  are  torn  away 
and  carried  down  to  the  lagoons  and  onwards  towards  the  sea. 
Hundreds  of  acres  of  these  grass  islets  are  annually  carried  down 
fipom  each  of  these  rivers,  and  are  driven  against  the  banks  of 
the  littoral  lagoons,  where  they  lodge  and  grow,  and  eventually 
become  anchored  in  their  places  by  more  permanent  vegetation. 
In  this  manner  the  lagoon  aides  are  padded  for  hundreds  of 
yards,  and  even,  in  some  instances,  for  two  or  thiee  miles  in 
depth  on  either  hand,  and  their  bainks  are  protected  from  the 
wash  of  the  current  and  the  weight  of  the  accumulated  waters* 
By  this  means  the  frail  barrier  of  sea-sand  is  strengthened,  and 
the  inland  waters,  although  they  frequently  rise  to  a  height  of 
5  to  6  feet  above  the  sea-level,  are  efiectually  prevented  from 
bursting  through  their  banks.     Not  only  are  these  growths  a 

Sermanent  protection  to  the  land,  but  by  their  very  nature, 
oating  as  they  do  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  they  rise  and 
fall  with  the  floods,  and  are  always  ready  with  their  assistance 
at  the  rieht  time  and  i>lace.  Were  all  the  rivers  which  feed  the 
lagoons  freed  from  their  natural  obstructions,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  Ogun  river  near  Lagos,  the  interior  to  a  distance  of  fron» 
thirty  to  seventy  miles  would  be  thrown  open  to  commerce,  and 
the  wonderful  system  of  inland  navigation  which  fosters  the 
xx>ast  traffic  would  be  still  further  developed. 

Mr.  Millson  went  on  to  describe  a  journey  from  the  coast  to 
the  interior,  the  country  rising  from  terrace  to  terrace.  He  then 
spoke  at  some  length  of  the  Yoruba  people  and  country. 

At>out  eighty  miles  from  the  coast,  at  Oda  Ooa  Kekere, 
the  dense  forest  suddenly  gives  place  to  open  cultivated 
land,  and  a  densely  peopled  country.  Some  three  miles 
to  the  north  of  Odo  Ona  Kekere,  from  the  crest  of  a 
risine  in  die  undulating  land  the  great  city  of  Ibadan — 
the  London  of  Negroland— comes  full  in  view,  extending  for 
over  six  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  for  more  than  three  from 
north  to  south.  Surrounded  by  its  farming  villages,  163  in 
number,  Ibadan  counts  over  200,000  souls,  while  within  the 
walls  of  the  dty  itself  at  least  120,000  people  are  gathered.  Its 
sea  of  brown  roo£s  covers  an  area  of  nearly  16  square  miles,  and 
the  ditches  and  walls  of  hardened  clay  which  surround  it  are 
more  than  18  miles  in  circumference.  Its  houses  are  built  round 
courtyards  with  a  single  entrance,  and  form  in  themselves  no 
mean  defence  against  native  inroads.  Their  walls  of  thick 
"  adobe  "  are  blank  on  the  outer  face,  and  the  thatched  roofs 
are  made  of  a  light  covering  of  palm  leaves  and  grass  in  order  to 
avoid  the  danger  of  extensive  conflagrations.  In  the  winding 
rocky  streets  which  intersect  these  large  compounds  in  every 


2IO 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


direction,  are  countless  market  booths  and  occasional  market 
places,  where  the  inhabitants  can  purchase  native  produce,  food, 
and  European  luxuries.  In  the  same  way,  by  the  sides  of  the 
country  roads,  are  built  at  irregular  intervals  varying  from  one  to 
six  miles,  long  low  sheds  close  by  some  well  or  running  water,  where 
the  farm  women  sit  and  "  make  their  market."  In  the  farms 
which  extend  throughout  the  country  from  horizon  to  horizon  as 
one  journeys  through  it,  save  where  the  land  is  too  poor,  or  the 
fear  of  war  has  desolated  the  neighbourhood,  can  be  heard  the 
crowing  of  cocks,  the  barking  of  dogs,  the  shrill  laughter  of 
children,  and  the  vociferous  clamour  of  native  homestead  gossip. 
For  among  natives,  as  among  seafaring  folk  at  home,  a  hundred 
yards  or  so  is  no  impediment  to  polite  conversation.  From  this 
custom  arises  the  disadvantage  that  the  voices  of  the  people 
being  naturally  pitched  for  distant  communication  cannot  readily 
be  restrained  or  focussed  for  nearer  ranges  of  social  intercourse. 
The  consequent  turmoil  and  shrill  cries  are  apt  at  first  to  un- 
settle the  nerves  of  an  inexperienced  traveller,  but  a  few  weeks' 
residence  in  the  country  not  only  accustoms  one  to  their  manner 
of  speech,  but  inures  one's  system  to  the  sudden  shock  of  their 
sonorous  voices. 

Northward  from  Ibadan,  which  may  be  described  as  the 
centre  of  the  chief  military  and  commercial  power  in  Yoruba, 
two  days'  journey — about  40  miles — through  many  villages,  and 
a  landscape  dotted  far  and  near  with  oil-palms  {Elais guineensis) 
along  a  road  thronged  with  travellers,  brings  one  to  the  capital 
of  central  Yoruba,  Oyo  (Awyaw).  On  leaving  Ibadan,  Mr. 
Millson  passed,  in  the  course  of  a  morning's  march,  over  4700 
inen,  women,  and  children,  hurrying  into  the  great  city  from  the 
farm  villages  with  loads  of  maize,  beans,  yams,  yam  flour,  sweet 
potatoes,  fowls,  pigs,  ducks ;  or  driving  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  ; 
or  mounted  -on  small  native  horses  which  amble  quickly  along 
under  the  combined  influence  of  an  Arab  ring  bit  and  an  armed 
spar  which  leaves  its  traces  in  deep  scores  along  the  flanks  of 
the  poor  animals.  Far  and  wide  the  land  has-  for  geherations, 
and  indeed  for  centuries,  been  cultivated  by  these  industrious 
natives.  The  hatchet,  the  Are  and  the  hoe,  have  removed  all 
traces  of  the  original  forest,  save  indeed  where  a  dark  trail  of 
green  across  the  landscape  shows  where  the  valley  of  some 
narrow  watercourse  or  larger  river  is  hidden  among  trees.  For 
two  or  three  years  at  most  the  land  is  allowed  to  lie  fallow,  while 
^or  three  or  four  years  double  or  treble  crops  are  raised  with  no 
further  cultivation  than  an  occasional  scrape  with  a  hoe,  and 
during  its  fallow  time  no  further  care  is  taken  of  it  than  to  let  a 
rank  growth  of  reedy  grass  spring  up  some  6  or  8  feet  in 
height.  Among  this  g^ass  can  be  seen  the  seedlings  and  young 
plants  of  a  new  forest,  which  would  rapidly  take  possession  were 
the  land  to  be  permanently  deserted.  In  spite  of  this  careless 
and  exhausting  method  of  cultivation  the  crops  maintain  an 
excellent  average,  and  the  same  plot  of  ground  serves  for 
generations  to  support  its  owners. 

Mr.  Doyle,  who  accompanies  King  Gungunhana's  two  envoys 
to  this  country,  described  his  journey  from  the  Mashonaland 
plateau  down  through  Gazaland  to  the  mouth  of  the  Limpopo. 
At  first  the  journey  was  through  a  broken  plateau  country, 
rising  to  5000  feet  and  over,  and  well  adapted  for  farming 
operations.  After  fourteen  days'  travel,  the  country  suddenly 
drops  from  a  level  of  4000-5000  feet  to  S60  feet  above  sea-level. 
For  many  miles  the  altitude  was  no  more  than  300  feet,  and 
as  it  was  the  rainy  season  when  Mr.  Doyle  and  his  com- 
panions passed  through,  they  found  the  country  almost  entirely 
a  swamp.  The  actual  distance  travelled  was  between  700  and 
800  miles,  which  was  traversed  in  forty-six  days. 


THE  CONDITION  OF  SPACE. 

T^HE  question  of  the  condition  of  inter- planetary  space,  with 
^  special  reference  to  the  possibility  that  it.  offers  a  resist- 
ance to  the  passage  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  has  for  long  occupied 
the  attention  of  astronomers,  but  is  even  yet  far  from  receiving 
a  satisfactory  or  definite  solution.  Three  hypotheses  seem  to  be 
more  or  less  in  vogue  : — 

(I)  That  it  is  filled  with  "ether,"  differing  entirely  in  its 
properties  from  ordinary  matter,  and  offering  no  resistance  to 
the  passage  of  solid  or  gaseous  bodies.  Radiant  energy  is 
transmitted  by  the  vibratory  motion  of  the  ether,  and  possibly 
also  the  force  of  gravitation  is  transmitted  by  a  rotatory  motion, 
though,  as  Laplace  points  out,  the  velocity  of  the  gravitation 
mu-t  be  at  least  7,000,000  times  that  of  light. 

NO.    I  1 3  I ,  VOL.  44] 


(2)  That  it  is  filled  with  an  ether  more  analogous  to  ord^narr 
matter,  which  offers  resistance,  or  with  a  highly  rarefied  gaseo  J- 
medium  similar  in  constitution  to  our  atmosphere. 

(3)  That  it  is  filled  with  ether,  through  which  ionumcxahle 
solid  bodies  of  comparatively  small  size  fly  singly  or  in  swannf. 
When  they  encounter  one  another,  a  gas,  or  a  planet,  tfccy 
become  luminous,  and  present  the  appearance  of  fireballs. 
meteorites ;  shooting- stars,  meteors  ;  comets,  meteoric  awiauuB ; 
meteoric  dost  gives  rise  to  the  phenomenon  of  the  aorori 
borealis.  This  theory  has  recently  been  much  extended  !». 
admirabljr  advocated  bv  Prof.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  in  "  Tic 
Meteoritic  Hvpothesis. 

If  the  first  hypothesis  be  true,  and  space  offers  no  resistance 
to  the  passage  of  the  planets,  Laplace  has  shown  {AfJm,  Ac^. 
des  Science f,  1784)  that  any  change  in  their  orbits  will  be 
periodic,  or,  in  other  words,  that,  with  only  slight  variatioas 
from  time  to  time,  the  present  condition  of  the  solar  system  will 
continue  indefinitely. 

If  the  second  hypothesis  be  true,  the  resistaoce,  however 
slight  it  may  be,  will  tend  to  retard  the  motion  of  the  piaTi,<»t» 
In  the  case  of  the  earth  the  friction  between  the  outer  laTers  of 
the  atmosphere  and  the  medium  will  retard  the  rotation  of  the 
earth,  and  increase  the  length  of  the  day.  There  will  also  be  a 
resistance  to  the  motion  of  the  earth  in  her  orbit,  which  will  teed 
to  decrease  the  velocity,  and  therefore  to  lengthen  the  year ;  bat, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  the  tangential  velocity  be  decreased  wfaik 
the  attraction  of  the  sun  remains  the  same,  the  eanh  will  &II 
towards  the  sun,  the  mean  distance  will  decrease,  and  therefare 
the  time  of  revolution  will  be  shortened. 

If  the  thiird  hypothesis  be  true,  the  rain  of  meteorites  will 
have  no  effect  on  the  rotation  of  the  earth,  but  will  tend  to 
lessen  the  orbital  velocity. 

Laplace  has  discussed  some  consequences  of  the  second  hypo- 
thesis in  "Mecanique  Celeste,"  vii.  6,  on  secular  variations  ic 
the  movements  of  the  moon  and  earth  which  might  be  produced 
by  the  resistance  of  an  etherial  medium  spread  round  the  son. 
He  assumes  that  the  density  of  the  medium  is  a  function  of  the 
distance  from  the  sun,  and  that  the  resistance  vsines  as  the 
square  of  the  velocity.  He  concludes  that  the  accelera- 
tion produced  by  the  resistance  of  a  fluid  ether  on  the 
mean  motion  of  the  moon  is,  up  to  *'  the  present  time,'"  io- 
sensible ;  and  that  the  acceleration  produced  by  the  sasir 
ether  on  the  motion  of  the  earth  would  be  less  than  i/ioo  of 
that  caused  to  the  motiod  of  the  moon.  These  results  are  ex- 
tended to  other  planets  and  to  comets  in  x.  7,  where'  it  is  shown 
that  the  distance  at  perihelion  remains  unchanged,  and  the  only 
alteration  in  the  orbit  is  a  decrease  in  the  length  of  the  majof 
axis  and  in  the  eccentricity. 

The  question  is  discussed  from  a  mathematical  point  of  vie« 
in  several  text-books  (e,g,  Tait  and  Steele,  **  Dynamics  of  a 
Particle,"  pp.  279,  379),  but  in  all  cases  the  mathematics  are 
somewhat  difficult,  and  various  assumptions  have  to  be  made  is 
render  the  solution  possible. 

In  the  case  of  the  earth,  if  the  resistance  of  the  mediam  be 
small,  the  orbit  may  be  considered  to  be  circular,  more  espe- 
cially as  it  follows  from  Laplace's  results  that  the  error  intro- 
duced decreases  with  the  rime,  since  the  orbit  becomes  more 
nearly  circular.  The  following  brief  abstract  of  the  popular 
treatment  suggested  by  G.  A.  Hira  in  his  "  Constitniion  dr 
I'Esp^ce  Celeste,"  pp.  104-108,  with  the  substitution  of  English 
values,  and  the  extension  of  the  results  to  the  meteoric  hypo- 
thesis, may  be  not  without  interest  at  the  present  time. 

Many  of  the  data  are  so  uncertain,  that  the  rough  approxima- 
tions by  which  mathematical  difficulties  are  avoided  probably 
produce  no  great  loss  of  arithmetical  accuracy  in  the  results. 

The  vis  viva  of  the  earth  at  the  end  of  any  period  is  equal  to 
the  vis  viva  at  the  commencement  of  the  period,  less  the  vis 
viva  lost  owing  to  the  resistance  of  the  medium,  and  increascil 
by  the  vis  viva  due  to  the  fall  towards  the  sun.  TransposiDg, 
and  dividing  by  M/2 — 

Vr'  =  Vo^  +  Vs"  -   Vt', 

Writing  S  for  the  attraction  of  the  sun,  and  resolving  alorg 
the  radius  vector  A — 


After  a  time  /, 


Vo^lko  =  S,     .  •.  Vo'  =  SA, 


A.- 


l 


vrl^  =  S  ^,     .'.  v?=  SA.VA/. 
A*- 


July  2,  1891] 


NA TURE 


211 


The  acceleration  towards  the  sun  is  expressed  by 


and  integrating. 


-75-      T    ^    •    -1—      — 

<(?•  A/- 


Substituting  and  reducing, 

Hence  the  vis  viva  lost,  owing  to  the  resistance  of  the 
medium,  is  one-half  of  the  vis  viva  gained  by  falling  through 
(Atf  -  A/)  towards  the  sun,  and  the  presence  of  a  very  slightly 
resisting  miedium  increases  the  velocity  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit. 
This  increase  is  easily  expressed,  since,  by  Kepler's  third  law, 
we  may  replace  (A^/A/)3  by  (T  /T/)^  where  T^T/  are  the  periodic 
times  at  the  banning  and  end  of  the  period  ; 


••■•'—•■{©'-■  I 


But  the  vis  viva  lost  owing  to  the  resistance  is  equal  to  the 
work  done  in  forcing  the  sphere  against  the  resistance  of  the 
medium  through  the  distance  passed  over  by  the  earth  during 
the  time.  We  may  assume  for  simplicity  that  during  the  last 
acoo  years  the  length  of  the  year  has  shortened  by  five  seconds  ; 
and  since  the  change  in  the  radius  vector  would  be  very  small, 
that  A  =  23300a,  where  a  is  the  radius  of  the  earth,  and 
hence  that  the  distance  through  which  the  earth  has  passed  is 
lot  23300a  2000. 

M.  Him,  by  theory  and  experiment,  shows  considerable 
reason  for  believing  that  the  formula  of  Hut  ton,  for  the  resist- 
ance ofa  medium  in  terms  of  the  density  S,  gives  a  result  not  far 
from  the  truth.     Hence 

•0451  X  (ira»)^-^  X  5xz/^3x2ir  2330012000=^^  I  r=?j  ~l}> 

where  (yf  -  i  =fi  4-  -4-)^-  I  =-^. 

\Tr^  V        31558150/  9467445 

- '.  ^  =  (log-i  14-32278)  X  ^'Va, 
o 

where  A  is  the  absolute  mass  of  unit  volume  of  the  material  of 
the  earth. 

.*.  i  =  5*64  X  10^*  cubic  feet. 
0 

M.  Him  further  points  out  that  this  decrease  of  five  seconds 
io  the  length  of  the  year  during  a  period  of  2000  years  would 
he  accompanied  by  a  change  in  the  longitude  of  the  earth  of 
more  than  205",  an  amount  quite  inadmissible  since  the  time  of 
Hipparchus,  while  the  above  results  have  shown  that,  to  pro- 
duce an  acceleration  so  small  as  this,  the  medium  must  have  a 
rarity  such  that  one  pound  occupies  564  billions  of  cubic  feet. 
And  the  volume  occupied  by  a  pound  of  the  gas  very  nearly 
▼aries  inversely  as  the  number  of  seconds  gained  in  the  periodic 
time. 

When  we  pass  on  to  consider  the  retardation  caused  by  the 
action  of  meteorites,  we  lose  the  guidance  of  M.  Him,  but  are 
ahle  to  refer  for  data  to  Prof.  Lockyer's  treatise. 

About  30  miles,  or  158,400  feet  per  second,  may  be  taken  as 
the  average  velocity  of  meteorites  (p.  68).  Suppose  the  earth  at 
test,  and  struck  by  a  meteorite  weighing  one  pound  with  this  velo- 
city, the  vU  viva  of  the  blow  would  be  —(158400)*= 3-98  x  lo^ 

absolute  foot-pounds  (p.  64). 

Bat  the  earth  is  moving  in  its  orbit  with  a  velocity  of  18*4 
miles,  or  97,130  feet  per  second  ;  hence,  of  every  three  meteor- 
ites we  may  presume  that  two  strike  the  front,  and  one  the  back 
hemisphere.  Further,  the  velocity  of  the  earth  is,  in  the  one 
case,  to  be  added  to,  and,  in  the  other  case,  subtracted  from,  the 
Telocity  of  the  meteorites.  Again,  we  may  assume  that  the 
tartb  is  strack  about  equally  all  over  each  hemisphere,  and  that, 
owing  to  its  attraction,  the  blows  are  vertical,  and  hence  that 
the  energy  added  and  subtracted  in  each  hemisphere  in  the 
direction  of  the  motion  of  the  earth  is  one-half  of  the  total 
vis  vtva,  or  for  three  meteorites,  each  weighing  a  pound, 


2^ 


{(158400  -I-  97130)'  -  4(158400  -  97130)*} 
=  4*58  X  10®  foot-pounds.. 


NO.    1 131,  VOL.  44] 


Suppose  that  a  meteorite  weighing  one  pound  has  the  specific 
heat  0'2,  which  is  about  double  of  that  of  iron  ;  to  raise  it  from 
-  270''  C.  to  2000"  C,  454  units  of  heat  are  required,  which  are 
equivalent  to  about  454  x  44758  =  2  x  10^  absolute  foot-pounds 
of  work — a  quantity  which  may  be  neglected,  in  comparison  with 
the  total  vis  viva  of  the  meteorite. 

The  weight  of  meteorites  varies  from  tons  to  small  speci- 
mens (p.  19),  and  hence  we  must  assume  an  average  weight  of 
/i  pounds.  According  toNewcomb,  20,coo,ooo  meteorites  a  day 
enter  our  atmosphere  (p.  69).  We  may  again  assume  that  the 
action  has  continued  for  2000  years,  and  caused  a  shortening  in 
the  periodic  time  of  five  seconds. 

The  vis  viva  of  the  impacts, 

/*  X  4-58  X  io»  X  ^^^^'^^P?  X  365  X  2000, 
must  be  equal  to  the  vis  viva  lost  by  the  earth, 

4M^^^  1  f  J")'-  I  I .  ^hich  is  4^'-^J°J6jil97l30):S 

<  \ii)        r  6  X  9467445 

.  1-95  X  io«» 

I '115  X  10**  X  2000  X  9467445 

=  9240  pounds,  or  over  4  tons. 

In  this  case,  also,  the  average  mass  of  the  meteorites  varies 
inversely  as  the  shortening  of  the  periodic  time.  Thus,  if  the 
average  weight  of  meteorites  is  9  piounds,  the  shortening  would 
be  only  0*005  second — an  amount  probably  inappreciable. 

Sydney  Lupton. 


TBE    FLOWERS    OF    THE    PYRENEES  AND 
THEIR  FERTILIZA  TION  B  Y  IN  SECTS  > 

'T'HE  observations  described  in  this  work  were  made  in  the 
"*•  Vallee  de  Luz  (Hautes  Pyrenees,  France),  in  August  1889 
and  June  1890,  between  900  and  2200  metres  altitude.  The 
author  has  noticed  180 1  visits,  brought  by  507  different  insects 
to  261  different  flowers.  In  the  list  of  the  visits,  date  and 
altitude  are  always  noted,  and  in  many  cases  particulars  are 
given  about  the  special  habits  of  insects  in  visiting  flowers. 
Many  of  the  mentioned  insects  were  not  before  seen  visiting 
flowers. 

The  contrivances  by  which  the  flowers  are  fertilized  are  de- 
scribed for  the  following  species :  Merendera  Bulbocodium, 
Asphodelus  albus  (lepidopterophilous,  proterogynous),  Hyacin- 
thus  amethystinus  (proterandrous,  adapted  to  long-tongued  bees). 
Iris  pyrenaicat  Antirrhinum  sempervirens^  Linaria  origani- 
folia  (adapted  to  bees,  with  special  entrance  for  Lepidoptera  or 
Bombylidae),  Linaria  pyrenaica^  Horminum  pyrenaicttm  (gyno- 
monoecious),  Scutellaria  alpina  (adapted  to  long-tongued  bees, 
with  special  entrance  for  Lepidoptera),  Teucrium  pyrenaicum 
(adapted  to  bees,  with  entrance  for  Lepidoptera),  Dianthus 
monspessulanus  (lepidopterophilous),  Alsines^.^  Alsine  verna, 
Aconitum  pyrenaicum  (resembles  the  A,  lycoctonum).  A, 
Anthora^  AquiUgia  pyrenaica^  Brassica  montana  (lepidoptero- 
philous), Roripa  pyrenaica.  Reseda  glauca^  Geranium  cinereum 
(proterandrous,  gynodioecious),  Saxifraga  longifolia  (proter- 
androus), Potentilla  alchemii hides ^  Potentilla  fragariastrum. 

Some  details  are  given  about  the  construction  of  the  flowers  in 
the  following  species :  Cirsium  eriophorum^  C,  monspessu- 
lanum,  Carduus  medius,  C,  carlinoides^  Centaurea  Scabiosa, 
Gnaphalium  Leontopodium^  Angelica  pyrenaa.  Almost  all 
those  species  are  illustrated  (94  figures),  and  the  explanation  of 
each  figure  is  given  in  French  and  in  Dutch. 

General  conclusions : — The  relative  number  of  hcmitrope  Dip- 
tera  (Syrphidse,  Conopidse,  and  Bombylidae),  of  allot  rope 
Hymenoptera  (all  Hymenoptera  except  the  bees),  of  long- 
tongued  not-social  bees  and  of  Coleoptera  decreases  with  increas- 
ing altitude.  The  hemitrope  Diptera  (all  Diptera  except  those 
mentioned  above)  become  on  the  contrary  relatively  more 
numerous  with  increasing  altitude ;  this  seems  to  be  also  the 
case  with  the  social  long-tongued  bees  (represented  in  the 
Pyrenees  by  Bombus  and  Psitkyrus),  Mdller  came  to  the  same 
conclusions  about  the  influence  of  altitude  upon  the  same  groups 
of  insects  in  the  Alps. 

'  "  Dc  Pyreneeenbloemcn  en  hare  bevruchtiDg  door  insecten."  226  pages, 
wiih  five  plate«,  a  French  risumi^  and  the  expUnation  of  the  plates  in 
French.  In  Botanisch  Jaarboek^  iii.,  1891,  published  by  the  Botanical 
Society  Dodonaea,  in  Ghent,  Belgium). 


212 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


On  the  other  hand,  M  tiller  noticed  that  in  the  Alps  the  relative 
number  of  Lepidoptera  increases,  of  hemitrope  Hymenoptera 
•(short-tongued  bees)  decreases  in  the  higher  parts  of  the  moun- 
tains. The  influence  of  altitude  upon  those  two  groups  of  insects 
is  not  evident  in  the  Pyrenees. 

The  Lepidoptera — which  in  the  Alps,  according  to  Miiller,  are 
very  numerous — are  much  less  numerous  in  the  Pyrenees.  All 
the  allotrope  insects  (Coleoptera,  aliotrope  Diptera,  and  allotrope 
Hymenoptera)  are  relatively  more  numerous  in  the  Pyrenees 
than  in  tne  Alps.  The  hemitrope  Hymenoptera  (short-tongued 
bees)  are  somewhat  more  numerous  in  the  Pyrenees  than  in  the 
Alps ;  the  hemitrope  Diptera  (Syrphidae,Conopidse,  and  Bomby- 
lidse)  are  almost  equally  represented  in  both  the  mountains.  The 
eutrope  Hymenoptera  (long-tongued  bees)  seem  to  be  equally 
numerous  in  the  Pyrenees  and  in  the  Alps ;  in  both  countries, 
the  humble-bees  are  predominant,  and  the  not-social  long- 
tongued  bees  are  scarce. 

The  following  table  will  enable  students  to  compare  the  flora 
of  the  Pyrenees  with  that  of  the  Alps  : — 

Pyrenees.  Alps. 

Species.     Per  cent.         Species.  Per  cent. 

Pollen  flowers  (class  Po)  ...      12  (4*6)     ...       14  (3*3) 

Fl.  with  free-exposed  honey 
(class  A) 34        (13-0)     ...      42        (lO'i) 

Fl.  with- partially  concealed 
honey  (AB) 45        (17*2)     ...      61         (i4'6) 

Fl.  with  quite  concealed 
honey  (B) 37        (14-1)     ...      66        (15-3) 

Associated  flowers  with  quite 
concealed  honey  (B') 48        (18*4)     ...      84         (20*2) 

Flowers  adapted  to  bees 
(Bb) 73        (27-9)    ...     no        (26-4) 

Flowers  adapted  to  Lepi- 
doptera (Vb)    12  (4-6)     ...       39  (9*3) 

The  allotrope  flowers  (Po,  A,  AB)  are  relatively  more 
numerous,  the  lepidopteropbilous  flowers  (Vb)  are  less  numerous 
in  the  Pyrenees  than  in  the  Alps ;  we  have  seen  that  the  same 
differences  exist  for  the  corresponding  groups  of  insects. 

The  hemitrope  flowers  (B,  B')  are  a  little  more  numerous  in 
the  Alps  than  in  the  Pyrenees ;  the  contrary  occurs  with  the 
hemiirope  insects.  There  is  here  accordingly  no  concordance  in 
the  geographical  distribution  between  flowers  and  insects ;  but 
the  hemitrope  insects  are  not  so  constant  in  the  choice  of  their 
flowers  as  the  allotrope  insects  and  the  Lepidoptera ;  their  in- 
fluence upon  the  distribution  of  the  corresponding  flowers  is 
therefore  not  so  great  as  that  of  the  two  latter  groups.  The  clas« 
Bb  and  the  long-tongued  bees  are  nearly  equally  represented  in 
both  the  mountains.  The  parallelism  which  occurs  between 
the  relative  abundance  of  the  classes  Po,  A,  AB,  Bb,  and  Vb, 
and  the  relative  abundance  of  corresponding  insects,  agrees  very 
nicely  with  the  theory  of  flowers. 

It  may  be  observed  that  in  the  Pyrenees,  with  reference  to 
the  biological  floral  organization,  the  Choripetalse  are,  on  the 
whole,  on  a  lower  level  than  the  Sympetalse.  Only  a  small 
number  of  Monocotyledoneae  could  be  olM^rved. 

University,  Ghent  J.  MacLkod. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  ED UCA  TIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  Council  of  the  Senate  have  appointed 
Mr.  £.  Hill,  of  St.  John's  College,  to  be  a  governor  of  Wood- 
bri^e  School,  under  the  new  scheme. 

The  Harkness  Scholarship  in  Geolc^  and  Palaeontology  has 
been  awarded  to  Herbert  Kynaston,  of  King's  College. 

Mr.  A.  A.  Kanthack  has  been  elected  to  the  John  Lucas 
Walker  Studentship  in  Pathology,  vacated  by  the  election  of 
Mr.  J.  G.  Adami  to  a  Fellowship  at  Jesus  College.  Mr. 
Kanthack  is  at  present  in  India  as  a  member  of  the  Leprosy 
Commission. 

The  managers  of  the  John  Lucas  Walker  Fund  have  made  a 
grant  of  jf  60  to  Mr.  £.  H.  Hankin,  Fellow  of  St.  John's,  for 
the  purchase  of  bacteriological  apparatus  required  for  his 
researches. 

I.  H.  Burkill,  of  Caius  College,  has  been  appointed  Assistant 
Curator  of  the  Herbarium. 

Prof.  Ewing  advertises  for  a  demonstrator  in  mechanism,  who 
has  had  a  workshop  training  in  mechanical  engineering.  The 
salary  is  jf  150  a  year. 

NO.   1 1 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


The  annual  report  of  the  Local  Lectures  Syndicate,  pablislKd 
in  the  University  Reporter  oi  June  23,  records  a  laiige  amount  of 
useful  work  in  so-called  University  extension.  The  number  of 
courses  given  in  1890-91  was  135,  with  an  average  attendaace 
of  10,947.  The  'average  attendance  at  the  classes  held  after 
lecture  was  4916,  the  number  of  weekly  papers  sent  in  2a66, 
and  the  number  of  candidates  examined  for  certificates  1547. 
The  following  passages  refer  to  a  fresh  departure  of  coosiderabfe 
interest,  and  ot  far-reaching  possibilities  in  the  future  : — 

"The  grant  for  technical  education  which  has  been  pot  at 
the  disposal  of  the  County  Councils  has  led  to  an  extension  of 
the  work  of  the  Sjnidicate,  and  it  seems  not  improbable  that  if 
a  grant  of  this  nature  is  made  permanent  a  considerable  demand 
will  be  made  upon  their  staff  of  lecturers.  In  Devonshire  they 
have  provided  at  the  request  of  the  County  Council  a  Ledorer 
on  Chemistry  and  a  Lecturer  on  Mechanics,  in  each  case  with 
special  reference  to  applications  to  agriculture.  The  lectures 
in  chemistry  were  given  at  six  centres,  those  in  mechanics  at 
Ave.  The  average  weekly  attendance  was — ^at  lectures  aboct 
40,  at  classes  alxrat  25,  at  each  centre.  In'  all,  64  studeBts 
presented  themselves  for  examination,  of  whom  44  passed,  14 
obtaining  distinction.  The  audience  comprised  a  number  of 
boys  from  elementary  and  secondary  schools,  and  some  w^orkiiig 
men  and  farmers  and  schoolmasters,  in  addition  to  the  usaal 
mixed  audience.  The  lectures  were  of  necessity  arranged 
rather  hurriedly,  without  sufBcient  time  for  the  local  authorixies 
to  complete  their  organization,  and  they  can  only  be  regarded  as 
an  experiment.  The  Syndicate  have  reason*  to  think  that  the 
experiment  has  been  as  successful  as  under  the  circamstaDoes 
could  be  expected.  .  .  . 

*'  Having  regard  to  the  probability  of  a  considerable  demand 
for  lecturers  in  connection  with  the  County  Comicils,  the 
Syndicate  have  added  to  their  list  several  new  lecturers  whose 
attainments  mark  them  out  as  suitable  for  this  work.  And  ia 
order  that  the  lecturers  may  have  practical  acquaintance  with 
the  applications  of  their  science  to  the  uses  of  agriculture,  the 
Syndicate  have  arranged  that  they  should  pay  visits  to  farms  of 
various  characters  and  to  the  experimental  farm  at  Woboni. 
These  visits  are  paid  under  the  experienced  superintendence  of 
Mr.  li.  Robinson,  of  Downing  College,  the  assistant  to  the 
Professor  of  Chemistry.  Mr.  Robinson  conducts  also  a  ccmse 
of  laboratory  work  with  the  lecturers,  with  special  reference  10 
agricultural  investigations.  The  Syndicate  desire  to  express 
their  grateful  sense  of  the  help  which  Prof.  Liveing  ^nd  Mr. 
Robinson  have  so  liberally  given.  The  provision  of  teaching 
and  guidance  in  Cambridge  for  the  scientific  study  of  subjects 
connected  with  agriculture  appears  to  the  Syndicate  to  be  $0 
important  for  the  training  of  students  who  may  become  lectnien 
on  their  staff,  that  they  will  endeavour  to  secure  a  continnanoe 
of  this  assistance,  and  are  prepared  to  devote  a  portion  of  their 
funds  to  the  purpose." 

The  Ordo  Senioriiatis  for  the  year  shows  that  6  D.  Sc.  degrees 
have  been  conferred,  19  M.D.  degrees,  72  M.B.,  and  70  B.C 
These  6gures  bespeak  the  steady  growth  of  the  faculties  of 
science  and  medicine,  the  numbers  in  medicine  being  larger 
than  in  aay  previous  year. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  June  11. — "  On  Electrical  Evaporation."*  By 
William  Crookes,  F.R.S. 

It  is  well  known  that  when  a  vacuum  tube  is  furnished  witb 
internal  platinum  electrodes,  the  adjacent  glass,  especially  near 
the  negative  pole,  speedily  becomes  blackened,  owing  to  the 
deposition  of  metallic  platinum.  The  passage  of  the  inducdoa 
current  greatly  stimulates  the  motion  of  the  residual  gaseoos 
molecules ;  those  condensed  upon  and  in  the  immediate  ne^h- 
bourhood  of  the  negative  pole  are  shot  away  at  an  immense 
speed  in  almost  straight  lines,  the  speed  varying  with  the  degree 
of  exhaustion  and  with  the  intensity  of  the  induced  currear. 
Platinum  being  used  for  the  negative  pole,  not  only  are  the 
gaseous  molecules  shot  away  from  the  electrode,  but  the  passage 
of  the  current  so  affects  the  normal  molecular  motions  of  the 
metal  as  to  remove  some  of  the  molecules  from  the  sphere  di 
attraction  of  the  mass,  causing  them  to  ily  off  with  the  stream  of 
gaseous  molecules  proceeding  from  the  negative  pole,  and  to 
adhere  to  any  object  near  it.  This  property  was,  I  believe,  first 
pointed  out  by  Dr.  Wright,  of  Yale  College,  and  some  interest- 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


213 


ing  experiments  Are  described  by  him  in  the  American  Jtmmal 
of  Science  and  Aris,^  The  process  has  been  much  used  for  the 
prodaction  of  small  minors  for  physical  apparatus. 

This  electrical  Tolatilization  or  evaporation  is  very  similar  to 
ordinary  evaporation  by  the  agency  of  heat.     Cohesion  in  solids 
▼aiies  according  to  physical  and  chemical  constitution  ;  thus  every 
kind  of  solid  matter  requires  to  be  raised  to  a  certain  temperature 
before  the  molecules  lose  their  fixity  of  position  and  are  rendered 
liquid,  a  result  which  is  reached  at  widely  different  temperatures. 
If   we   consider  a    liquid  at   atmospheric   pressure — say,   for 
instance,  a  basin  of  water  in  an  open  room  —  at  molecular 
distances  the  boundary  surface  between  the  liquid  and  the  super- 
incambent  gas  will  not  be  a  plane,  but  turbulent  like  a  a  stormy 
ocean.     The  molecules  at  the  surface  of  the  liquid  dart  to  and 
fro,  rebound  from  their  neighbours,  and  fly  off  in  every  direction. 
Their  initial  velocity  may    be  either  accelerated  or  retarded, 
according  to  the  direction  of  impact.    The  result  of  a  collision 
may  drive  a  molecule  in  such  a  direction  that  it  remains  part  and 
parcel  of  the  liquid  ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  sent  upwards 
without  any  diminution  of  speed,  and  it  will  then  be  carried 
beyond  the  range  of  attraction  of  neighbouring  molecules  and  fly 
off  into  and  mingle  with  the  superincumbent  gas.     If  a  molecule 
of  the  liquid  has  been  driven  at  an  angle  with  a  velocity  not 
snfficient  to  carry  it  beyond  the  range  of  molecular  attraction  of 
the  liquid,  it  may  still  escape,  since,  in  its  excursion  upwards,  a 
gaseous  molecule  may  strike  it  in  the  right  direction,  and  its 
temporary  visit  may  be  converted  into  permanent  residence. 

The  intrinsic  velocity  of  the  molecules  is  intensified  by  heat 
and  diminished  by  cold.  If,  therefore,  we  raise  the  temperature 
of  the  water  without  materially  increasing  that  of  the  surround- 
ing air,  the  excursions  of  the  molecules  of  the  liquid  are  rendered 
longer  and  the  force  of  impact  greater,  and  thus  the  escape  of 
molecules  into  the  upper  region  of  gas  is  increased,  and  we  say 
that  evaporation  is  augmented. 

If  the  initial  velocities  of  the  liquid  molecules  can  be 
increased  by  any  other  means  than  by  raising  the  temperature, 
so  that  their  escape  into  the  gas  is  render^  more  rapid,  the 
result  may  be  called  *'  evaporation  **  just  as  well  as  if  heat  had 
been  applied. 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  of  a  liquid  evaporating  into  a  gas  ; 
but  the  same  reasoning  applies  equally  to  a  solid  body.  But 
whilst  a  solid  body  like  platinum  requires  an  intense  heat  to 
enable  its  upper  stratum  of  molecules  to  pass  beyond  the  sphere 
of  attraction  of  the  neighbouring  molecules,  experiment  shows 
that  a  very  moderate  amount  of  n^ative  electrification  super- 
adds sufficient  energy  to  enable  the  upper  stratum  of  metallic 
molecules  to  fly  beyond  the  attractive  power  of  the  rest  of  the 
metal. 

If  a  gaseous  medium  exists  above  the  liquid  or  solid,  it 
prevents  to  some  degree  the  molecules  from  flying  off.  Thus 
both  ordinary  and  electrical  evaporation  are  more  rapid  in  a 
vacuum  than  at  the  ordinary  atmospheric  pressure. 

I  have  recently  made  some  experiments  upon  the  evaporation 
of  different  substances  under  the  electric  stress. 

Evaporation  of  Cadmium, — A    U-shaped  tube  was   made, 

having  a  bulb  in  each  limb.      The  platinum  poles  were  at  the 

extremities  of  each  limb,  and  in  each  bulb  was  suspended  from 

a  small  platinum  hook  a  small  lump  of  cadmium,  the  metal 

having  been  cast  on  to  the  wire.     The  wires  were  each  weighed 

with  and  without  the  cadmium.     The  tube  was  exhausted,  and 

the  lower  half  of  the  tube  was  inclosed  in  a  metal  pot  containing 

paraffin  wax,  the  temperature  being  kept  at  230°  C.  during  the 

continuance  of  the  experiment.     A  deposit  around  the  negative 

pole  took  place  almost  immediately,  and  in  five  minutes  the  bulb 

soriounding  it  was  opaque  with  deposited  metal.     The  positive 

pole  with  its  surrounding  (luminosity  could  be  easily  seen  the 

whole  time.     In  thirty  minutes  the  experiment  was  stopped,  and 

after  all  was  cold  the  tube  was  opened  and  the  wires  weighed 

again.     The  results  were  as  follows  : — 

Positive  pole.     Negative  pale. 

Original  weight  of  cadmium    9'34grs*        9'38  grs. 

Weight  after  experiment 9'25   ••  i'^6 


>> 


If 


Cadmium  volatilized  in  30  mins.     ...      0*09  „  7*52  », 

Finding  that  cadmium  volatilized  so  readily  under  the  action 
of  the  induction  current,  a  large  quantity,  about  350  grs.,  of 
the  pare  metal  was  sealed  up  in  a  tube,  and  the  end  of  the  tube 
containing  the  metal  was  heated  to  a  little  above  the  melting- 

'  Third  Series,  voL    xiL  p.  49,  January  1877 ;   and  vol.   xiv.  p.   169, 
September  1877. 


point ;  the  molten  metal  being  made  the  negative  pole,  in  a  few 
nours  the  whole  quantity  had  volatilized  and  condensed  in  a 
thick  layer  on  the  far  end  of  the  tube,  near,  but  not  touching, 
the  positive  pole. 

VolatiUiotion  of  Silver.SxUtv  was  the  next  metal  experi- 
mented upon.  The  apparatus  was  similar  to  that  used  for  the 
cadmium  experiments.  Small  lumps  of  pure  silver  were  ca.st  on 
the  ends  of  platinum  wires,  and  suspended  to  the  inner  ends  of 
platinum  terminals  passing  through  the  glass  bulb.  The  platinum 
wires  were  protected  by  glass,  so  that  only  the  silver  balls  were 
exposed.  The  whole  apparatus  was  inclosed  in  a  metal  box 
lined  with  mica,  and  the  temperature  was  kept  as  high  as  the 
glass  would  allow  without  softening.  The  apparatus  was  ex- 
hausted to  a  dark  space  of  3  mm.,  and  the  current  was  kept  on 
for  I J  hours.  The  weights  of  silver,  before  and  after  the  experi- 
ment, were  as  follows  : — 

Positive  pole.        Negative  pole. 

Original  weight  of  silver        ...     1814  grs.  24  63  grs. 

Weight  after  the  experiment  ...     18*13,,  24*44,, 


Silver  volatilized  in  li  hours  ...      o'oi  „ 


o'i9 


it 


NO.   1 1 3 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


In  this  tube  it  was  not  easy  to  observe  the  spectrum  of  the 
negative  pole,  owing  to  the  rapid  manner  in  which  the  deposit 
obscured  the  glass.  A  special  tube  was  therefore  devised,  of  the 
following  character : — A  silver  rod  was  attached  to  the  platinum 
pole  at  one  end  of  the  tube,  and  the  aluminium  positive  pole  was 
at  the  side.  The  end  of  the  tube  opposite  the  silver  pole  was 
rounded,  and  the  spectroscope  was  arranged  to  observe  the  light 
of  the  volatilizing  silver  "end  on."  In  this  way  the  deposit  of 
silver  offered  no  obstruction  to  the  light,  as  none  was  deposited 
except  on  the  sides  of  the  tube  surrounding  the  silver.  At  a 
vacuum  giving  a  dark  space  of  about  3  mm.  from  the  silver,  a 
greenish-white  elow  was  seen  to  surround  the  metal.  This  glow 
gave  a  very  brilliant  spectrum.  The  spark  from  silver  poles  in 
air  was  brought  into  the  same  field  of  view  as  the  vacuum  glow, 
by  means  of  a  right-angled  prism  attached  to  the  spectroscope, 
and  the  two  spectra  were  compared.  The  two  strong  green 
lines  of  silver  were  visible  in  each  spectrum  ;  the  measurements 
taken  of  their  wave-lengths  were  3344  and  3675,  numbers  which 
are  so  close  to  Thalen's  numbers  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  they 
are  the  silver  lines.  At  a  pressure  giving  a  dark  space  of  2  mm. 
the  spectrum  was  very  bright,  and  consisted  chiefly  of  the  two 
green  lines  and  the  red  and  green  hydrogen  lines.  The  inter- 
calation of  a  Leyden'  jar  into  the  circuit  does  not  materially 
increase  the  brilliancy  of  the  lines,  but  it  brings  out  the  well- 
known  air  lines.  At  this  pressure  not  much  silver  flies  off  from 
the  pole.  At  a  higher  vacuum  the  luminosity  round  the  silver 
pole  gets  less  and  the  green  lines  vanish.  At  an  exhaustion  of 
about  one-millionth  of  an  atmosphere  the  luminosity  is  feeble, 
the  silver  pole  has  exactly  the  appearance  of  being  red-hot,  and 
the  volatilization  of  the  metal  proceeds  rapidly.^ 

If,  for  the  negative  electrode,  instead  of  a  pure  metal  such  as 
cadmium  or  silver,  an  alloy  was  used,  the  different  components 
might  be  shot  off  to  different  distances,  and  in  this  way  make  an 
electrical  separation — ^a  sort  of  fractional  distillation.  A  negative 
terminal  was  formed  of  clean  brass,  and  submitted  to  the 
electrical  discharge  in  vacuo  ;  the  deposit  obtained  was  of  the 
colour  of  brass  throughout,  and  on  treating  the  deposit  chemically 
I  could  detect  no  separation  of  its  component  metals,  copper  and. 

zinc.  r       .  v 

A  remarkable  alloy  of  gold  and  alummium,  of  a  nch  purple 
colour,  has  been  kindly  sent  me  by  Prof.  Roberts- Austen.  Gold 
being  very  volatile  in  the  vacuum  tube,  and  aluminium  almost 
fixed,  this  alloy  was  likely  to  give  different  results  from  those 
yielded  by  brass,  where  both  constituents  fly  off  with  almost 
equal  readiness.  The  Au-Al  alloy  had  been  cast  in  a  clay  tube, 
in  the  form  of  a  rod  2  cm.  long  and  about  2  mm.  in  diameter. 

*  Like  the  action  producing  volatiliation,  the  "red  heat  "is  confined  to 
the  superficial  layers  of  molecules  only.  The  metal  instantly  assumes,  or 
loses,  the  appearance  of  red  heat  the  moment  the  current  is  turned  on  or 
ofif,  showing  that,  if  the  appearance  is  really  due  to  a  rise  of  temperature,  it 
does  not  penetrate  much  below  the  surface.^  The  extra  activity  of  the 
metallic  molecules  necessary  to  volatilize  them  is,  in  these  expenments,  con- 
fined to  the  surface  only,  or  the  whole  mass  would  evaporate  at  once,  as 
when  a  metallic  wire  is  deflagrated  by  the  discharge  of  a  powerful  L^den 
jar.  When  this  extra  activity  is  produced  by  artificial  heat  one  of  the  effects 
IS  the  emission  of  red  light;  so  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  imagine^  that  when 
the  extra  activity  b  produced  by  electricity  the  emission  of  red  light  should 
also  accompany  the  separation  of  molecules  from  the  mass.  In  comparison 
with  electricity,  heat  is  a  wasteful  agent  for  promoting  volatilization,  as  the 
whole  mass  must  be  raised  to  the  requisite  temperature  to  produce  a  surface 
action  merely ;  whereas  the  action  of  electrification  does  not  appear  to  pcne- 
I  trate  much  bielow  the  surface. 


214 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


It  was  sealed  in  a  vacuum  tube  as  the  negative  pole,  an  alumi- 
nium pole  bein^  at  the  other  side.  Part  of  the  alloy,  where  it 
joined  the  platinum  wire  passinor  through  the  glass,  was  closely 
surrounded  with  a  narrow  ^lass  tube.  A.  clean  glass  plate  was 
supported  about  3  mm.  from  the  rod  of  alloy.  After  good 
exhaustion  the  induction  current  was  passed,  the  alloy  being 
kept  negative.  Volatilization  was  very  slight,  but  at  the  end  of 
half  an  hour  a  faint  purple  deposit  was  seen  both  on  the  glass 
plate  and  on  the  walls  of  the  tube.  On  removing  the  rod  from 
the  apparatus  it  was  seen  that  the  portion  which  had  been 
covered  by  the  small  glass  tube  retained  its  original  purple 
appearance,  while  the  part  that  had  been  exposed  to  electrical 
action  had  changed  to  the  dull  white  colour  of  aluminium. 
Examined  under  the  microscope,  the  whitened  surface  of  the 
Austen  alloy  was  seen  to  be  pitted  irregularly,  with  no  trace  of 
crystalline  appearance. 

This  experiment  shows  that,  from  an  alloy  of  gold  and 
aluminium,  the  gold  is  the  first  to  volatilize  under  electrical 
influence,  the  aluminium  being  left  behind.  The  purple  colour 
of  the  deposit  on  glass  is  probably  due  to  finely-divided  metallic 
gold.  The  first  deposit  from  a  negative  pole  of  pure  gold  is 
pink ;  this  changes  to  purple  a«;  the  thickness  increases.  The 
purple  then  turns  to  green,  which  gets  darker  and  darker  until 
the  metallic  lustre  of  polished  gold  appears. 

If  we  take  several  liquids  of  different  boiling-points,  put  them 
under  the  same  pressure,  and  apply  the  same  amount  of  heat  to 
each,  the  quantity  passing  from  the  liquid  to  the  gaseous  state 
will  differ  widely  in  each  case. 

It  was  interesting  to  try  a  parallel  experiment  with  metals, 
to  find  their  comparative  volatility  under  the  same  conditions 
of  temperature,  pressure,  and  electrical  influence.  It  was 
necessary  to  fix  upon  one  metal  as  a  standard  of  comparison, 
and  for  this  purpose  I  selected  gold,  its  electrical  volatility 
being  great,  and  it  being  easy  to  prepare  in  a  pure  state. 

An  apparatus  was  mi^e  that  was  practically  a  vacuum  tube 
with  four  negative  poles  at  one  end  and  one  positive  pole  at  the 
other.  By  a  revolving  commutator  I  was  abH  to  make  electrical 
connection  with  each  of  the  four  negative  poles  in  succession  for 
exactly  the  same  length  of  time  (about  six  seconds)  ;  by  this 
means  the  variations  in  the  strength  of  the  current,  the 
experiment  lasting  some  hours,  affected  each  metal  alike. 

The  exposed  surface  of  the  various  metals  used  as  negative 
poles  was  kept  uniform  by  taking  them  in  the  form  of  wires  that 
had  all  been  drawn  through  the  same  standard  hole  in  the 
drawplate,  and  cutting  them  by  gauge  to  a  uniform  length  ; 
the  actual  size  used  was  o'8  mm.  in  diameter  and  20  mm. 
long. 

The  comparison  metal,  gold,  had  to  be  used  in  each  experiment ; 
the  apparatus  thus  enabled  me  to  compare  three  different  metals 
each  time.  The  length  of  time  that  the  current  was  kept  on 
the  revolving  commutator  in  each  experiment  was  eight  hours, 
making  two  hours  of  electrification  for  each  of  the  four 
negative  electrodes ;  the  pressure  was  such  as  to  give  a  dark 
space  of  6  mm. 

The  fusible  metals,  tin,  cadmium,  and  lead,  when  put  into  the 
apparatus  in  the  form  of  wires,  very  quickly  melted.     To  avoid 
this  difficulty  a  special  form  of  pole  was  devised.     Some  small 
circular  porcelain  basins  were  made,  9  mm.  diameter  ;  through 
a  small  hole  in  the  bottom  a  short  length  of  iron  wire,  o'8  mm. 
in  diameter,  was  passed,  projecting  downwards  about  5  mm.  ; 
the   basin   was   then  filled  to  the  brim  with  the  metal  to   be 
tested,  and  was  fitted  into  the  apparatus  exactly  in  the  same  way 
as  the  wires  ;  the  internal  diameter  of  the  basins  at  the  brim 
was  7  mm.,  and  the  negative  metal  filed  flat  was  thus  formed  of 
a  circular  disk  7  mm.  diameter.     The  standard  gold  pole  being 
treated  in  the  same  way,  the  numbers  obtained  for  the  fusible 
metals  can  be  compared  with  gold,  and  take  their  place  in  the 
table. 

The  following  table  of  the  comparative    volatilities    was  in 
this  way  obtained,  taking  gold  as  =  100  : — 


Palladium 

...     loS'oo 

Platinum  ... 

44-00 

Gold 

...     100 'OO 

Copper 

40*24 

Silver 

...      8268 

Cadmium  ... 

31*99 

Lead 

...       75-04 

Nickel       ... 

1099 

Tin    

...      56*96 

Iridium     ... 

10-49 

Brass 

...       51-58 

Iron 

5-50 

In  this  experiment  equal  surfaces  of  each  metal  were  exposed 
NO.    1 1 3  1 ,  VOL.  44] 


to  the  current.     By  dividing  the  number?  so  obtained   by  tbe 
specific  gravity  of  the  metal,  the  following  order  is  fonnd  : — 

Palladium 9*00      Copper       ...     2*5^ 

Silver 7*88      Platinum    2"02 

Tin      776      Nickel        i'a9 

Lead 6'6i      Iron     o"7i 

Gold 5*i8   '  Iridium       0-47 

Cadmium    372  . 

Aluminium  and  magnesium  appear  to  be  practically  ooe- 
volatile  under  these  circumstances. 

The  order  of  metals  in  the  table  shows  at  once  that  tbs 
electrical  volatility  in  the  solid  state  does  not  correspond,  witk 
the  order  of  melting-points,  of  atomic  weights,  or  of  any  other 
well-known  constant.  The  experiment  with  some  of  tbe 
typical  metals  was  repeated,  and  the  numbers  obtained  did  not 
vary  materially  from  those  given  above,  showing  that  tbe  orders 
not  likely  to  be  far  wrong. 

It  is  seen  in  the  above  table  that  tbe  electrical  ■  volatilitj  of 
silver  is  high,  while  that  of  cadmium  is  low.  In  the  twro  eaiiikr 
experiments,  where  cadmium  and  silver  were  taken,  the  radminTii 
negative  electrode  in  30  minutes  lost  7*52  grs.,  whilst  the  silver 
negative  electrode  in  ij  hours  only  lost  0*19  gr.  This  apparent 
discrepancy  is  easily  explained  by  the  fact  (already  noted  in  the 
case  of  cadmium)  that  the  maximum  evaporation  effect,  dne  to 
electrical  disturbance,  takes  place  when  the  metal  is  at  or  Dear 
the  point  of  liquefaction.  If  it  were  possible  to  form  a  ne^tive 
pole  in  vacuo  of  molten  silver,  then  the  quantity  volatilized 
in  a  given  time  would  be  probably  more  than  that  of  cadminm. 

Gold  having  proved  to  be  readily  volatile  under  the  electric 
current,  an  experiment  was  tried  with  a  view  to  produciog  a 
larger  quantity  of  the  volatilized  metaL  A  tube  was  nude 
having  at  one  end  a  negative  pole  composed  of  a  weighed  bmsfa 
of  fine  wires  of  pure  gold,  and  an  aluminium  pole  at  the  other 
end. 

The  tube  was  exhausted  and  the  current  from  the  inductioo 
coil  put  on,  making  the  gold  brush  negative ;  the  resistance  of 
the  tube  was  found  to  increase  considerably  as  the  walls  became 
coated  with  metal,  so  much  so  that,  to  enable  the  current  to  pass 
through,  air  had  to  be  let  in  after  a  while,  depressing  the  gauge 
\  mm. 

The  weight  of  the  brush  before  experiment  was  35  '4940  grs. 
The  induction  current  was  kept  on  the  tube  for  14^  hoars  ;  at 
the  end  of  this  time  the  tube  was  opened  and  the  brush  removed. 
It  now  weighed  32 '561 3,  showing  a  loss  of  2*9327  grs.  Whea 
heated  below  redness  the  deposited  film  of  gold  was  easilj 
removed  from  the  walls  of  the  tube  in  the  form  of  very  brilltant 
foil. 

After  having  been  subjected  to  electrical  volatilization,  the 
appearance  of  the  residual  piece  of  gold  under  the  inicrosoope, 
using  a  ^-inch  object-glass,  was  very  like  that  of  electrolytScaily 
deposited  metal,  pitted  all  over  with  minute  hollows. 

This  experiment  on  the  volatilization  of  gold  having  prodooed 
good  coherent  films  of  that  metal,  a  similar  experioient  was 
tried,  using  a  brush  of  platinum  as  a  negative  electrode.  Ob 
referring  to  the  table  it  will  be  seen  that  the  electrical  volatUitj 
of  platinum  is  much  lower  than  that  of  gold,  but  it  was  thought 
that  by  taking  longer  time  a  sufficient  quantity  mig^t  be 
volatilized  to  enable  it  to  be  removed  from  the  tube. 

The  vacuum  tube  was  exhausted  to  such  a  point  as  to  give  a 
dark  space  of  6  mm.,  and  it  was  found,  as  in  the  case  of  gold, 
that  as  a  coating  of  metal  was  deposited  upon  the  ^lass  tbe 
resistance  rapidly  increased,  but  in  a  much  more  marked  degree^ 
the  residual  gas  in  the  tube  apparently  becoming  absorbed  as  the 
deposition  proceeded.  It  was  necessary  to  let  a  little  air  into 
the  tube  about  every  30  minutes,  to  reduce  the  vacuum.  This 
appears  to  show  tiiat  the  platinum  was  being  deposited  in  a 
porous  spongy  form,  with  great  power  of  occluding  the  residaal 
gas. 

Heating  the  tube  when  it  had  become  this  way  non-conducting 
liberated  sufficient  gas  to  depress  the  gauge  of  the  pump  i  mm., 
and  to  reduce  the  vacuum  so  as  to  give  a  dark  space  of  abooi 
3  mm.  This  gas  was  not  re-absor&d  on  cooling,  but  on  pass^g 
the  current  for  ten  minutes  the  tube  again  refused  to  conduct, 
owing  to  absorption.  The  tube  was  again  heated,  with  another 
liberation  of  gas,  but  much  less  than  before,  and  this  time  tbe 
whole  was  re-absorbed  on  cooling. 

The  current  was  kept  on  this  tube  for  25  hours  ;  it  was  then 
opened,  but  I  could  not  remove  the  deposited  metal  except  in 


July  2,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


215 


small  pieces,  as  it  was  brittle  and  porous.     Weighing  the  brash 
that  had  formed,  the  negative  pole  gave  the  following  results : — 

Grains. 

Weight  of  platinum  before  experiment        10*1940 

after  experiment ...       8*1570 


i> 


f» 


Loss  by  volatilization  in  25  hours  ... 


2*0370 


Another  experiment  was  made  similar  to  that  with  gold  and 
platinum,  bat  using  silver  as  the  negative  pole,  the  pure  metal 
being  formed  into  a  brush  of  fine  wires.  Less  gas  was  occluded 
daring  the  progress  of  this  experiment  than  in  the  case  of 
platinum.  The  silver  behaved  the  same  as  gold,  the  metal 
deposited  freely,  and  the  vacuum  was  easily  kept  at  a  dark  space 
of  6  mm.  by  the  very  occasional  admission  of  a  trace  of  air. 
In  20  hours  nearly  3  grs.  of  silver  were  volatilized.  The  deposit 
of  silver  was  detached  without  difficulty  from  the  glass  in  the 
fonn  of  bright  foil. 

Chemical  Society,  June  4. — Mr.  W.  Crookes,  F.R.S.,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — The 
molecular  refraction  and  dispersion  of  various  substances  in  solu- 
tion, by  Dr.  J.  H.  Gladstone,  F.  R.  S.  The  paper  is  a  continuation 
of  that  laid  before  the  Society  in  March  last,  and  deals  with  solid 
and  gaseous  substances  that  have  been  dissolved  in  water  and 
other  liquids  for  examination.     The  results  are  given  in  several 
tables.     In  the  case  of  organic  compounds,  the  theoretical  and 
experimental    numbers    are    frequently    in    close    agreement. 
Hydrogen  chloride,  bromide,  and  iodide  give  figures  for  the 
molecular  refraction  and  dispersion  much  higher  than  the  sum 
of  the  hydrogen  and  halogen  as  determined  from  the  paraffin 
compounds,  and  the  values  rise  as  the  dilution  becomes  greater. 
Selenious  and  selenic  acids  afford  optical  values  much  less  than 
what  would  be  expected  from  the  known  values  of  their  con- 
stituents.    Metaphosphoric  acid  does  the  same.    The  data  re- 
lacing  to  solutions  of  salts  and  alkalies  will  afford  material  for  a 
revision  of  the  refraction  equivalents  of  the  different  metals,  and 
of  the  electro-negative  elements  with  which  they  are  combined. 
Ammonia,  in  contrast  with  the  hydrides  of  chlorine,  bromine, 
and  iodine,  appears  to  be  uniform   in   its  optical  properties, 
whatever  the  strength  of  the  solution.     The  refraction  equiva- 
lents of  cerium,  didymium,   and  lanthanum  were  found  about 
I2'4,  i6*4,  and  15*5  respectively.     The  molecular  refraction  for 
CIO3  in  its  salts  dissolved  in  water  comes  out  at  about  18*3,  that 
for  BrO,  at  24*9,  and  for  IO3  at  33 '8. — The  nature  of  solutions 
as  elucidated  by  a  study  of  the  densities,  heat  of  dissolution, 
and  freezing-points  of  solutions  of  calcium  chloride,  by  S.   U. 
Pickering.     The  curves  representing  these  properties  were  exa- 
mined in  the  same  way  as  those  for  sulphuric  acid,  and  similar 
conclusions  are   drawn — ^namely,    that    changes    of  curvature, 
which  occur  at    certain  points  which  are  the  same  whatever 
property  is  examined  represent  the  existence   of  hydrates  in 
solution.    The  simplest  hydrates  indicated  consist  of  CaCl2  with 
6,  7,  and  8H,0  ;  more  complex  hydrates  also  exist,  as  in  the 
case  of  sulphuric  acid. — Note  on    a  recent  criticism  by  Mr. 
Sydney  Lupton  of  the  conclusions  drawn  from  a  study  of  various 
properties  of  sulphuric  acid  solutions,  by  S.  U.  Pickering.     Mr. 
Lupton  {Phil,  Mag.,  xxxi.  418)  applies  a  single  parabolic  equa- 
tion to  a  portion  of  one  of  the  author's  sulphuric  acid  density 
curves,  where  a  change  of  curvature  was  supposed  to  exist,  and 
shows  that  it  represents  the  results  accurately  if  the  experimental 
error  is  of  a  certain  magnitude.     This  magnitude  is  between 
1000  and  10,000  per  cent,  greater  than  the  ascertained  magni- 
tude, and  the  equation  represents  all  errors  of  like  signs  as 
grouped  together.     Such  a  representation  cannot  disprove  the 
cadstence  of  the  particular  change  of  curvature  under  examina- 
tion, still  less  that  of  the  loi  others  examined  by  the  author. 
The  hydrate  on  which  Mr.  Lupton  considers  that  his  investiga- 
tion throws  "  very  grave  suspicion  "  happens  to  be  the  one  which 
the  author  has  isolated  in  the  crystalline  condition.     In  the  dis- 
cussion which  followed.  Prof.  Ramsay  doubted  the  validity  of  Mr. 
Pickermg's  methods  of  differentiating  his  curves.  His  own  experi- 
ence was  that  it  was  impos^ble  to  obtain  results  nearer  than  2  or  3 
per  cent,  to  the  truth.     Dr.  Armstrong  said  that  he  was  prepared 
to  believe  in  the  existence  of  hydrates  In  solution,  but  could  not 
imagine  that  the  102  breaks  in  the  sulphuric  acid  curves,  for 
example,  could  be  interpreted  as  evidence  of  as  many  distinct 
hydrates.     He  was  inclined  to  think  that  the  breaks  might  be 
due  to  change  both  in  the  complex  water  molecules  and  the 
sulphuric  acid.     He  was  inclined  to  believe  that  the  hydrate,  to 
which  Mr.  Lupton's  conclusions  related,  did  not  begin  to  form 

NO.   TT3I,  VOL.  44] 


in  solution  until  the  temperature  sank  to  within  a  few  degrees  of 
its  point  of  fusion.  Dr.  Morley  said  that  a  break  in  the  curve 
should  indicate  that  some  new  hydrate  had  just  begun  to  form, 
but  need  not  show  what  that  hydrate  was.  Thus,  a  liquid  of 
the  composition  CaCls8H20  might  be  expected  to  contain, 
besides  the  hydrate  CaCl28H20,  also  higher  and  lower  hvdrates, 
such  as  CaCljQHjO  and  CaCl27HjO.  Prof.  Rucker  said  that, 
in  reality,  Mr.  Pickering's  results  were  obtained,  not  by  calcula- 
tion, but  by  a  method  of  observation  and  experiment  applied  to 
curves,  which  themselves  represented  the  results  of  other  experi- 
ments. It  was  admitted  that  the  curves  had  to  be  specially 
drawn,  and  the  scale  of  the  co-ordinates  carefully  chosen,  if  the 
results  were  to  be  satisfactory,  and  probably  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  depended  in  a  large  measure  on  the  details  of  this 
preliminary  adjustment.  In  the  case  of  the  more  striking 
changes  in  direction  and  curvature  which  were  clearly  visible  in  the 
original  curve,  the  various  differential  curves  did  not  add  much 
to  the  information  it  supplied.  He  thought  that  the  evidence 
afforded  by  these  secondary  curves  of  changes  of  curvature,  not 
otherwise  detected,  was  of  the  most  untrustworthy  character. 
Mr.  Pickering  said  that  Mr.  Lupton's  equation  represented  the 
rate  of  change  of  the  densities  as  a  straight  line,  while  the  figure 
which  the  actually  observed  rate  of  change  formed  was  as  dif- 
ferent from  a  straight  line  as  possible.  The  figures  here  referred 
to  were  the  first  differential  figures  (rate  of  change)  deduced 
directly  from  the  determinations  themselves ;  the  question  of 
the  accuracy  attainable  in  differentiating  a  graph,  raised  by 
Prof.  Ramsay,  did  not  apply.  He  thought  that  Prof.  Arm- 
strong was  somewhat  rash  in  holding  that  a  particular 
hydrate  did  not  exist  in  solution  at  moderately  high  tem- 
peratures, because  he  had  recognized  it  at  low  temperatures 
only,  especially  as  he  (the  speaker)  had  been  led  to  search 
for  it,  and  finally  to  isolate  it  from  results  obtained  at 
high  temperatures.  The  multiplicity  and  complexity  of  the 
hydrates  indicated  must  endanger  the  acceptance  of  his  conclu- 
sions amongst  chemists ;  and  he  was  perfectly  ready  to  accept 
any  other  explanation  of  the  changes  with  weak  solutions. — 
Ethylic  oa'-dimethyl-aa'-diacetylpimelate  and  its  decomposi- 
tion-products, by  Dr.  F.  S.  Kipping,  and  J.  £.  ^lackenzie. 
This  paper  contains  an  account  of  the  preparation  and  pro- 
perties of  the  following  compounds  :  ethylic  aa'-dimethyl- 
tto!  -  diacetylpimelate,  am  -  dimethyl  -  aa!  -  diacetylpentane,  oa'- 
dimethyl-a-acetylcaproic  acid,  aa'-dimethylpimelic  acid,  and 
ethylic-aa'-dimethvlpimelate. — Volatile  platinum  compounds,  by 
W.  Pullinger.  The  author  has  studied  the  volatile  compounds 
of  platinum  with  chlorine  and  carbon  monoxide  described  by 
Schiitzenberger.  He  describes  their  behaviour  when  heated  in 
various  gases ;  as  they  do  not  completely  volatilize,  a  deter- 
mination of  the  vapour-density  was  not  possible.  He  describes 
a  non-volatile  compound  of  the  formula  PiClg.CoOj.  and  has 
also  prepared  the  compound  PtBrgCO.  Directions  are  given 
for  the  preparation  of  platinic  bromide  and  iodide,  from  which 
it  appears  that  spongy  platinum  readily  dissolves  in  hot  solu- 
tions of  bromine  in  hydrobromic  acid  or  of  iodine  in  hydriodic 
acid. 

Mineralogical  Society,  June  16. — R.  H.  Scolt,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — On 
the  occurrence  of  sapphire  in  Scotland,  by  Prof.  M.  Forster- 
Heddle. — On  the  optical  properties  of  gyrolite,  by  Prof.  M. 
Forster-Heddle. — On  Fresnel's  wave-surface,  by  L.  Fletcher, 
F.R.S. 

Linnean  Society,  June  18. — Prof.  Stewart,  President,  in 
the  chair. — Mr.  W.  H.  Beeby  exhibited  specimens  of  Hieracium 
protractum  and  other  plants  collected  in  Shetland. — Mr.  Stuart 
Samuel  exhibited  a  dwarf  specimen  of  Acer  pcUmatum,  and 
made  some  remarks  on  the  dwarf  trees  artificially  produced  by 
the  Japanese. — Mr.  R.  V.  Sherring  showed  some  cases  of  dried 
Bananas,  and  described  a  new  method  of  preservation  adopted 
in  Jamaica  to  save  waste  of  small  parcels  of  fruit  which  would 
be  otherwise  unsaleable. — Mr.  A.  W.  Bennett  exhibited  and 
made  remarks  upon  a  specimen  of  Selagindla  Upidophylla, 
which  was  found  to  possess  remarkable  vitality,  and  upon  proper 
treatment  to  resume  its  normal  appearance  after  having  been 
gathered  some  months. — Dr.  R.  A.  Prior  exhibited  samples  of 
the  Spiked  Star  of  Bethlehem  {Omithogalum  pyrenaicum),  and 
stated  that,  although  described  in  British  floras  as  a  rare  plant,  it 
is  so  abundant  on  the  hill  pastures  around  Bath  that  it  is  brought 
to  the  market  there  in  large  quantities  under  the  name  of  French 
asparagus,  and  sold  for  a  penny  a  bunch. — Mr.   R.  A.   Rolfe 


2l6 


NA  TURE 


[July  2,  1891 


•showed  two  hybrid  Odontoglossums  with  the  parent  plants — 
namely,  O,  IVilckeanun  (produced  from  O.  crispum  and  O. 
Juteopurpureum)  and  0.  excdUns  (prodaced  from  O,  pesccUorei 
.and  O.  triumphans).  These  had  first  appeared  as  natural 
hybrids  out  of  ioiported  plants,  and  the  parentage  was  sub- 
sequently ascertained  under  cultivation. — On  behalf  of  Sir 
•George  Macpherson  Grant,  Mr.  J.  E.  Harting  exhibited  some 
curiously  abnormal  horns  of  the  Roe  Deer  (the  result  of  disease), 
•which  had  been  taken  from  an  animal  found  dead  near  Forres, 
N.6.  For  the  purpose  of  comparison  he  exhibited  some  normal 
heads  of  the  Roe  from  other  parts  of  Scotland  and  Germany, 
and  made  some  remarks  on  the  caui^es  of  variation  in  the  size 
and  form  of  the  antlers  to  which  Roe  Deer  were  peculiarly 
liable. — A  paper  was  then  read  by  Mr.  Spencer  Moore  on  the 
true  nature  of  Callus,  and  in  continuation  of  former  remarks  on  the 
•same  subject  (Linn.  Soc.  Joum.,  Bot,  vol.  xxvii.,  Nos.  187-188). 
He  showed  that  the  outer  sieve-plates  of  the  fig  are  obliterated 
by  a  substance  givrog  all  the  dye  reactions  of  CcUlus^  which 
•does  not  peptonize  and  will  not  yield  proteid  reactions.  Many 
of  the  inner  sieve-plates  he  found  to  be  stopped  up  with  a 
•proteid  Callus  resembling  in  every  way  the  substance  of  Ballia 
stoppers,  and  the  proteid  Callus  of  the  vegetable  marrow.  It 
appeared  that  true  Callus  would  dissolve  in  a  solution  of  gum- 
arabic,  but  whether  by  agency  of  a  ferment  or  of  an  acid  he 
had  not  yet  determined. — A  second  paper  by  Mr.  Spencer 
Moore  dealt  with  the  alleged  existence  of  protein  in  the  walls  of 
vegetable  cells,  and  the  microscopical  detection  of  glucosides 
•therein. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,   June  22. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Method  for  the  determination   of  the  equatorial    co- 
ordinates of  the   centres  of  the  plates  which  are  to  form  the 
photographic    map    of    the    heavens,   by  M.    Loewy. — On  a 
generalization  of  equations  rel^ng  to  the  theory  of  the  functions 
of  a  complex  variable,  by  M.  Emile  Plcard. — On  the  determina- 
ition  of  the  mechanical  equivalent  of  heat,  by  M.  Marcel  Deprez. 
At  the  meeting  of  June  8,  M.  Miculesco  described  an  apparatus 
he  had  employed  for  determining  the  mechanical  equivalent  of 
heat.     It  is  now  remarked  that  the  same  method  was  employed 
'by  Him  in  the  experiments  made  by  him  in  i860,  and  in  latter 
years  by  M.  d'Arsonval.-— On  the  formation  of  the  leave.s  of 
y£sculus  and  of  Pavia,  and  on  the  order  of  appearance  of  their 
first   vessels,  by  M.  A.  Trecul. — On  the  apparent  and  real 
glycolytic  fermentation  in  the  blood,  and  on  a  rapid  and  exact 
•method  of  estimation  of  glycogen  in  the  blood,  by  MM.  R.  Lepine 
and  Barral. — On  a  telephone  receiver  of  reduced  weight  and 
dimensions,  by  M.  £.  Mercadier. — Observations  of  the  new 
asteroid  discovered  at  Nice  Observatory  on  June  11,  by  M. 
'Charlois.     Observations  for  position  were  made  on  June  1 1  and 
12. — Observations  of  the  same  asteroid  made  at  Algiers  Obser- 
vatory with  the  telescope  of  0*5  metre  aperture,  by  MM.  Ram- 
baud  and  Sy.     Observations  for  position  were  made  on  June  12 
and  13. — Extraordinary  luminous  phenomena  observed  on  the 
sun,  by  M.  E.  L.  Trouvelot. — On  the  determination  of  spiral 
surfaces  according  to  their  linear  element,  by  M.  L.  RafTy. — On 
certain  systems  of  spherical  co-ordinates,  and  on  the  correspond- 
ing triple  orthogonal  systems,  by  M.  A.  Petot. — On  the  damp- 
ing of  Hertz  vibrations,  by  M.  V.  Bjerknes. — Transmission  of 
light   across    disturbed  media,   by  M.   A.   Hurion. — On    the 
electrolysis   of  barium  chloride,  pure  or  mixed  with  sodium 
chloride,  by  M.  C.  Limb.     With  moderate  currents  the  author 
fails  to  obtain  metallic  barium  ;  with  the  pure  salt  an  infusible 
body  of  high  resistance  is  deposited ;   with  the    mixed    salts 
chlorine  is  disengaged  at  the  anode,  and,  from  the  results  of 
.analyses  ^iven,  it  would  appear  that  among  the  products  of  the 
electrolysis  some  subchloride  must  be  formed. — The  calculation 
of  the  temperature  of  ebullition  of  any  liquid  whatever,  under 
all  pressures,  by  M.  G.  Hinrichs. — Action  of  heat  on  solutions 
of  chromium  salts:  green  salts  of  chromium,  by  M.  A.  Recoura. — 
The  constitution  of  the  green  chromium  salts  is  elucidated  by  means 
of  the  results  of  experiments  following  thermochemical  methods. 
— Researches  on  osmium,  osmiamic  acid,  and  osmiamates,  by  M. 
A.  Joly.     Taking  the  revised  atomic  weight  of  osmium,  the 
analyses  of  Fritzsche  and  Struve,  as  well  as  those  of  the  author, 
point  to  KNOsOg,    and  not  to  KgN^OsgOs,   as  the  formula 
denoting  the  composition  of  potassium  osmiamate.     Relations 
may  be  traced  between  osmiamic  acid  and  the  nitroso-compounds 
of  ruthenium,  RuNOCla  and  RuNO(OH),.     O— OsNO— OH 
may    be  viewed   as    the  first   anhydride  of  the  hypothetical 
•OsNO(OH),. — On  the  alkaline  zirconates,  by  M.  L.  Ouvrard. 

NO.   II 3 1 ,  VOL,  44] 


— On  the  bromo- iodides  of  silicium,  by  M.  A.  Besson. — Ontiie 
cyanogen  compounds  of  magnesium,  by  M.  Raoul  Varet. — Oc 
the  action  of  nitric  acid  of  different  degrees  of  conoentratigB  ; 
upon  iron  at  various  temperatures,  by  MM.  Henry  Gautier  and  | 
Creorges  Charpy.  The  writers  conclude  from  their  experimeaial  : 
results  that  ''  iron  is  always  attacked  by  nitric  acid,  Ttfhatroer  it  ^ 
concentration,'*  The  action  may  proceed  in  two  ways-Hj) 
rapid,  and  accompanied  by  the  disengagement  of  gas  ;  {2)  slo«, 
and  without  evolution  of  gas.  The  latter  correspoads  to  whai 
is  known  as  the  passive  state  of  iron. — Action  of  sodium  bea- 
zylate  upon  camphocarbonic  etKer,  by  M.  J.  Mtn^ain. — Cos- 
parative  influences  of  the  sulphates  of  iron  and  calcium  on  tiie 
preservation  of  nitrogen  in  naked  soils  and  on  nitrification,  bf 
M.  P.  Pichard. — On  the  value  of  animal  d^Ms  as  nitn^enoB 
dressing,  by  MM.  A.  Muntz  and  A.  C.  Girard. — On  the  deve- 
lopment of  blastodermic  leaves  in  Crustaceae  Isopodae  (PoralSt 
sca6er),  by  M.  Louis  Roule. — On  the  disengagement  of  oxjpi 
by  plants  at  low  temperatures,  by  M.  H.  Jumelle.  It  appeus 
that  in  plants  capable  of  resisting  excessive  humidity  or  ooid 
the  decomposition  of  carbon  dioxide  may  continue  at  very  low 
temperatures,  even  when  respiration  has  ceased.  Conifers  sacfa 
as  the  juniper- tree,  and  a  lichen  {Evernia  prunastrt),  in  light  cu 
assimilate  the  carbon  in  the  air  in  an  atmosphere  bavii^  a  len- 
perature  as  low  as  -30°  or  -40*  C. — The  parasitic  liingi  of 
Acridians,  by  MM.  J.  Kunckel  d'Herculais  and  C.  Langlois.— 
On  the  supposed  post- Secondary  granites  of  Ariege*  by  M.  A 
Lacroix. — On  the  age  of  a  porphyritic  granite  from  the  Wesen 
Pyrenees,  by  M.  Joseph  Roussel. — Experimental  researches  os 
muscular  exertions,  by  M.  Charles  Henry. — Diseases  of  :he 
bones  of  chimpanzees,  gorillas,  and  orang-outangs,  by  H 
Etienne  Rollet. 


CONTENTS-  PACT 

Crystallography.    By  Prof.  John  W.  Judd,  F.R.S.   .  193 
Photography  in    Colours.      By  Prof.  R.  Meldola, 

F.R.S 194 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Graham:  '*  Geometry  of  Position." — Alex.  Larxnor  195 
Trelease :    '*  The  Species    of   Epilobium    occiirring 

NorthofMexico.*'— J-  Q.  B .196 

Sarganc  and  Wishaw  :   ''A  Guide  Book  to  Books  **    .  196 

Johnston  :  "  Tasmanian  Official  Record,  1891  "  .    .    .  196 
Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  Albert  University.— W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer, 

C.M.G.,  F.R.S 197 

The    Holarctic    Region.— Prof.    Alfred    Newton, 

F.R.S 197 

Force  and  Determinism.     {With  Diagram,) — Bvan 

McLennan;  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.8.     .  19S 

The  Scorpions  at  the  Zoo. — R.  I.  Pocock 19S 

Cetaceans  in  African  Lakes.— V.  Ball,  F.R.S.  .    .    .  198 
On  some  Points  in  the  Early  History  of  Astronomy. 

V.     {Illustrated,)    ByJ.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.  .  199 
The   Later    Larval    Development  of   Amphioxus. 

{Illustrated,)    By  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.  .  aot 
The  Cardiff  Meeting  of  the  British  Association.    By 

R.  W.  Atkinson 204 

The  Marine  Biological  Association  of  the   United 

Kingdom 20$ 

University  Extension  Students  at  Cambridge    ...  205 

Norman  R.  Pogson,  CLE.     By  W.  E.  P 20s 

Notes 206 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Capture  Theory  of  Comets 209 

Wolf's  Periodic  Comet  {b  1891) 209 

Yoruba  and  Oazaland 209 

The  Condition  of  Space.     By  Sydney  Lupton    ...  2x0 
The  Flowers  of  the  P3rrenees  and  their  Fertilization 

by  Insects.     By  Prof.  J.  MacLeod 211 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 212 

Societies  and  Academies  .  •  •  •  • 212 


NA  TURE 


217 


THURSDAY^  JULY  9,  1891. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  ENTOMOLOGICAL 

COMMISSION. 

Fifth  Report  of  the  United  States  Entomological  Com- 
tntssion  on  Insects  Injurious  to  Forest  and  Shade  Trees, 
By  Alpheus  S.  Packard,  M.D.,  Ph.D. 

VERY  valuable  Reports  have  been  presented  by  the 
United  States  Entomological  Commission  from 
time  to  time.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  that  upon 
'*  The  Rocky  Mountain  Locust,"  prepared  by  Prof.  Riley 
in  1878,  which  is  a  most  exhaustive  record  of  the  habits 
of  this  terrible  pest,  and  of  methods  of  prevention 
and  remedies  against  its  attacks.  Later  on,  an  equally 
valuable  and  instructive  Report  was  submitted  with 
regard  to  the  cotton  worm  {Aletia  argillaced)^  very 
destructive  to  the  cotton  plant,  whose  crop  it  has  re- 
duced in  some  seasons  from  30  to  75  per  cent,  in 
the  principal  cotton-producing  States.  Both  these  ela- 
borate works,  as  might  be  expected  from  their  authors, 
Prof.  Riley  and  Dr.  Packard,  who  practically  constituted 
this  Entomological  Commission,  are  full  of  interesting 
experiments,  ingenious  contrivances,  and  subtle  devices, 
to  circumvent  the  insect  hordes  advancing  with  the 
insistance  of  invading  armies. 

This  Report  upon  "  Insects  Injurious  to  Forest  and 
Shade  Trees"  is  perhaps  not  so  exciting  or  painfully 
interesting,  as  the  harm  caused  to  trees  is  not  so  directly 
felt  as  that  occasioned  to  various  food  crops  and  other 
crops  of  the  field  by  locusts  and  caterpillars  innumerable, 
and  the  name  of  the  insects  described  therein  is  legion, 
and  their  individual  mischief  is  comparatively  small. 

As  Dr.  Packard  says,  '^  a  volume  could  be  written  on 
the  insects  living  on  any  single  kind  of  tree,  and  here- 
after it  may  be  expected  that  the  insect  population  of  the 
oak,  elm,  poplar,  pine,  and  other  trees  will  be  treated  of 
monographically."  Kaltenbach,  in  "  Die  Pflanzenfeinde, 
aus  der  Klasse  der  Insekten,"  gives  accounts  of  537 
European  species  of  insects  injurious  to  the  oak,  107  to 
the  elm,  and  396  to  the  willow.  Perris,  a  French  ob- 
server, has  recorded  no  less  than  100  species  of  insects 
found  upon  the  maritime  pine. 

The  attacks  of  insects  upon  forest  trees  and  upon 
shade  trees,  or  trees  planted  for  shade  and  ornamenta- 
tion in  parks,  streets,  and  other  public  places,  are  be- 
coming far  more  numerous  and  serious,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  all  cultivated  crops  under  the  sun.  In  the  United 
States  these  attacks  are  creating  intense  interest,  as  the 
forests  are  of  the  highest  commercial  importance,  and 
have  been  extensively  decreased  by  clearing,  by  wanton 
and  accidental  fires,  and  other  causes.  This  Report,  then, 
is  opportune,  and  must  be  of  great  service,  as  it  demon- 
strates the  sources  of  the  injuries,  and  suggests  means  of 
preventing  them  or  of  diminishing  them. 

The  French,  German,  Austrian,  and  Italian  Depart- 
ments of  Agriculture  are  giving  much  attention  to  this 
subject,  for  it  is  found  that  the  forest  trees  of  these 
countries  are  becoming  more  liable  to  harm  from  insects. 
In  Great  Britain  some  kinds  of  trees,  notably  of  the 
pine  tribe,  have  suffered  much  damage  from  insects 
hitherto  unknown,  or,  at  least,  not  reckoned  as  injurious. 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


There  are,  without  doubt,  many  others  unsuspected  in 
British  woods  and  forests,  slowly  but  surely  working 
great  mischief. 

Dr.  Packard  shows  that  trees  are  attacked  in  every 
part  and  in  every  conceivable  manner  by  insects.  Their 
roots,  leaves,  bark,  fruit,  and  twigs  are  all  more  or  less 
subject  to  their  visitations.  The  most  curious  of  those 
which  affect  the  roots  is  the  "  seventeen  year "  Cicada, 
whose  larvae  remain  for  over  sixteen  years  attached  to 
the  rootlets  of  the  oak,  other  forest  trees,  and  fruit  treesi 
as  the  pear  and  apple.  According  to  Prof.  Riley,  these 
larvae  are  found  at  a  great  depth,  sometimes  as  much  as 
10  feet  below  the  surface.  The  female,  resembling  a 
locust,  deposits  long  slender  eggs  in  an  unbroken  line 
upon  the  terminal  twigs  of  oak  and  other  trees  in  May 
and  June.  Sometimes  the  twigs  are  so  "badly  stung" 
by  this  oviposition  that  the  trees  are  seriously  injured. 
The  length  of  wood  perforated  on  each  branch  sometimes 
varies  from  one  to  two  and  a  half  feet,  averaging  probably 
eighteen  inches,  and  appearing  to  be  the  work  of  one 
female.  From  the  eggs  the  larvae  hatch  out  in  six 
weeks  and  drop  to  the  ground,  in  which  they  live,  sucking 
the  roots  of  the  trees  for  nearly  seventeen  years,  the  pupa 
state  lasting  but  a  few  days. 

A  formidable  enemy  of  the  "  live-oak  "  {Quercus  virens) 
is  an  enormous  beetle,  Mallodon  melanopus^  Linn.,  whose 
larva,  three  inches  long  and  an  inch  in  thickness,  bores 
into  the  roots  upon  which  it  lives.  As  a  result  of  the 
work  of  this  insect  in  South  Georgia  and  Florida,  "  vast 
tracts,  which  might  otherwise  have  become  forests,  en- 
riching the  ground  with  annual  deposits  of  leaves,  are 
reduced  to  comparatively  barren  scrub,  in  which  the 
scattered  oak-bushes  barely  suffice  to  cover  the  surface 
of  the  sand."  The  eggs  are  laid  by  the  beetle  in  the 
foot,  or  collar,  of  the  tree,  just  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  It  is  not  known  how  long  the  larvae  live,  but 
their  life  must  extend  over  several  years,  ''since  the 
roots  occupied  by  them  grow  to  a  large  size,  while  they 
show  an  abnormal  development,  and  become  a  tangle  of 
vegetable  knots.  In  fact,  the  entire  root  in  its  growth 
accommodates  itself  to  the  requirements  of  the  borer 
within."  The  effect  on  the  tree  is  to  kill  the  original 
stem,  which  becomes  replaced  by  a  cluster  of  insignificant 
and  straggling  suckers,  forming,  perhaps,  a  clump  of 
brushwood. 

Among  the  tree-borers,  other  than  beetles,  the  oak 
"carpenter  worm,"  the  caterpillar  of  Prionoxystus 
robinia,  Peck,  is  the  largest  and  most  destructive.  It 
is  larger  and  far  more  abundant  than  the  European 
caterpillar  of  Cossus  ligniperda^  or  goat-moth,  belonging 
to  the  same  family  of  Cossidae,  but  it  sinks  its  tunnels  deep 
in  towards  the  heart  of  the  tree,  not  confining  its  mis- 
chief to  the  limbs  and  large  branches  like  the  goat-moth 
caterpillar.  Fitch  says  of  this : — "  Of  all  the  wood-boring 
insects  in  our  land,  this  is  by  far  the  most  pernicious, 
wounding  the  trees  most  cruelly.  The  stateliest  oaks  in 
our  forests  are  ruined,  probably  in  every  instance  where 
one  of  these  borers  obtains  a  lodgment  in  their  trunks.'' 
Another  species  of  Cossus,  known  as  Cossus  centerensis^ 
bores  into  poplars.  Its  appearance  and  habits  also  resemble 
those  of  the  goat-moth,  well  known  in  this  country. 

There  are  numbers  of  boring  beetles,  of  the  families 
Buprestidae,  Cerambycidae,  and  Scolytidae,  whose  larvae 

L 


2l8 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


make  burrows,  passages,  and  galleries  in  trees,  mainly 
just  under  the  bark.  Of  these,  the  elm-tree  borer, 
Saperda  tridentatay  is  prominent,  often  killing  elm-trees 
by  wholesale,  both  in  forests  and  in  public  parks.  The 
larvae  bore  in  the  inner  bark,  making  irregular  furrows 
and  tunnels  upon  the  surface  of  the  wood,  which  '*  is,  as 
it  were,  tattooed  with  sinuous  grooves,  and  the  tree  com- 
pletely girdled  by  them  in  some  places.''  In  the  State  of 
Illinois  attention  was  attracted  to  the  gradual  decay  and 
death  of  white  elms  {Ulmus  americanus)  in  rows  in 
some  towns.  The  leaves  fell  off  in  the  summer,  and 
some  of  the  branches  died.  Finally,  the  tree  perished 
altogether.  On  peeling  off  the  bark,  half-grown  larvse 
of  Saperda  tridentata  appeared  in  considerable  numbers, 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  bark  had  been  mined  by 
the  Saperdas  gave  sufficient  evidence  of  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  the  tree.  Prof.  Forbes,  State  Entomologist  of 
Illinois,  says :  "  From  the  present  appearance  of  the 
elms  throughout  the  towns  of  Central  Illinois,  it  seems 
extremely  likely  that  this  pest  will  totally  exterminate 
this  tree,  unless  it  be  promptly  arrested  by  general 
action."  It  is  recommended  that  all  affected  trees 
should  be  removed  and  destroyed  in  autumn  and  winter, 
before  the  beetles  have  a  chance  to  emerge  from  the 
trunks.  This  beetle  is  not  quite  an  inch  long ;  its  larva 
is  rather  more  than  an  inch  in  length,  having  a  large  flat 
head. 

Fir  trees,  especially  the  white  pine  (Pinus  sirobus),  the 
yellow  pine  {Ptnus  mitis\  and  Pinus  rigida^  are  much 
injured  by  the  pine  borer  or  "  sawyer,"  Monohammus 
confusor,  "  I  have  seen,"  writes  Dr.  Packard,  "  hundreds, 
perhaps  nearly  a  thousand,  dead  firs,  whose  trunks  were 
riddled  with  the  holes  of  these  borers."  Dr.  Packard 
cites  a  correspondent  of  the  North-  Western  Lumberman 
who  reported  that  ''extensive  and  valuable  forests  of 
yellow  pine  in  the  Southern  States  are  destroyed  by  a 
worm  commonly  called  here  a  *  sawyer,'  or  fiat  head." 
White  pine  trees  are  also  much  beset  by  the  ''wood 
engraver  "  bark  beetle  {Xyleborus  xylographus,  Fitch),  so 
called  because  it  makes  beautifully  regular  and  artistic 
furrows  on  the  surface  of  the  wood  under  the  bark.  It 
is  the  most  common,  and  probably  the  most  pernicious, 
of  all  the  insects  that  infest  the  forests  of  white  pine  in 
New  York  State,  and  of  yellow  pine  in  the  States  south 
of  New  York. 

A  weevil,  the  white  pine  weevil  {Pissodes  strobi)^  fre- 
quently spoils  the  finest  white  pines  in  parts  of  America 
by  placing  numerous  egg^  in  the  bark  of  the  topmost 
shoots  of  fir  trees  ;  the  larvse  from  these  make  mines  in 
the  wood  and  pith,  causing  the  shoots  to  wither  and  die, 
thereby  occasioning  a  fork,  or  crook,  at  this  point.  This 
is  a  very  small  insect,  not  three-quarters  of  an  inch  long, 
and  the  larvae  are  not  half  an  inch  in  length. 

There  is  a  mighty  army  of  caterpillars  of  various  moths 
described  in  this  Report,  which  devour  the  foliage  of  trees 
of  all  kinds  in  American  forests  and  gardens.  Several 
species  of  Clisiocampa  and  Gasteropacha,  of  the  Bomby- 
cidae,  assail  oak,  willows,  ash,  chestnut,  apple,  and  pear 
trees.  These  are  termed  "  tent"  caterpillars,  as  they  live 
in  webs  of  a  tent-like  form,  as  the  Clisiocampa  Neustria^ 
or  lackey  moth,  in  Europe.  But  the  most  voracious  of 
caterpillars  are  the  "fall  web  worms"  of  the  moth 
Hyphantria  cunea^  Drury.     For  instance,  in  1886,  the 

NO.    II 32,  VOL.  44] 


city  of  Washington,  as  well  as  its  vicinity,  was  cntirdf 
overrun  by  them.  All  vegetation,  except  that  not  agree- 
able to  their  tastes,  suffered  greatly.  Fine  rows  of  shade 
trees,  which  grace  the  streets  and  avenues,  were  leafless 
in  midsummer,  and  covered  with  hairy  worms.  The 
pavements  were  strewn  with  moultings  of  the  caterpillais 
and  their  webs,  which  were  blown  about  unpleasantly  by 
the  wind. 

Because  they  are  hairy  they  have  comparatively  few 
enemies,  among  birds  at  all  events.  The  ''  English 
sparrow."  fast  becoming  as  great  a  nuisance  in  the  United 
States  as  the  rabbit  in  Australasia,  will  not  look  at  them, 
and  has  driven  away  by  its  pugnacity  many  birds  that 
would  eat  them.  Fortunately  there  are  insect  enemies 
which  prey  upon  them,  as  the  Mantis  Carolina^  or  "  rcir 
horse,"  an  extraordinary  insect  of  the  same  family  as  the 
"praying"  mantis,  and  the  "wheel  bug"  {Prionidus 
cristatus).  Several  parasitic  insects  also  greatly  check 
the  spread  of  this  moth.  One  fly,  Telenomus  bifiduSj 
Riley,  lays  its  ^^^'g  within  the  tiny  t%%  of  the  moth,  in 
which  all  the  transformations  of  the  fly  take  place,  and 
its  food  and  lodging  are  found.  In  due  time,  having 
cleared  out  the  t^ggy  the  fly  emerges. 

Mr.  Bates,  in  his  graphic  account  of  tropical  insects, 
has  pictured  many  that  are  made  to  closely  resemble 
their  surroundings,  for  their  preservation  and  pther 
purposes.  In  his  well-known  paper  on  mimicry,  he 
alludes  to  the  insects  known  as  Phasmidae,  or  "  spectre^ 
insects,  as  especially  typical  of  this  adaptation  to  cir- 
cumstances, preserved  and  augmented,  as  Darwin  says, 
"  through  ordinary  selection  for  the  sake  of  protection.'' 
Mr.  Wallace  brings  forward  the  Phasmidae  as  striking 
instances  of  mimicry,  remarking  that  "  it  is  often  the 
females  alone  that  so  strikingly  resemble  leaves,  while 
the  males  show  only  a  rude  approximation." 

Species  of  this  family  of  Phasmidae  are  mischievous  to 
trees  in  America,  principally  the  oak  and  the  hickory.  The 
chief  of  these  is  the  DiapheromerafemoratOy  Say.,  popularly 
called  "walking-stick,"  "walking -leaves,"  "stick-bug,' 
"  spectre,"  "  prairie  alligator,"  "  devil's  horse."  This  in- 
sect, especially  the  female,  is  so  like  the  twigs  of  trees  in 
colour  and  appearan  ce,  that  it  is  difficult  to  discover  it  It 
has  a  habit,  too,  of  stretching  out  the  front  legs  and  feelers, 
greatly  enhancing  this  re  s  emblance.  While  the  vegetation 
is  green  the  "  walking-sticks  "  are  green  ;  when  the  foliage 
changes  in  the  autumn  they  also  change  colour;  and 
when  the  trees  are  bare  of  leaves  they  closely  resemble 
the  twigs  on  which  they  rest.  The  eggs  are  dropped 
upon  the  ground  from  whatever  height  the  females  may 
be,  "  and,  during  the  latter  part  of  autumn,  where  the 
insects  are  common,  one  hears  a  constant  pattering,  not 
unlike  drops  of  rain,  that  results  from  the  abundant 
dropping  of  these  eggs,  which  in  places  lie  so  thick 
among  and  under  the  dead  leaves  that  they  may  be 
scraped  up  in  great  quantities."  Prof.  Riley  adds,  with 
regard  to  these  singular  creatures  and  their  wonderful 
resemblance  to  the  oak  vegetation  upon  which  they 
occur,  "  one  cannot  help  noticing  still  further  resem- 
blances. They  are  bom  with  the  bursting  of  the  buds  in 
the  spring ;  they  drop  their  eggs  as  the  trees  drop  their 
seeds,  and  they  commence  to  fall  and  perish  with  the 
leaves,  the  later  ones  persisting,  like  the  last  leaves,  till 
the  frost  cuts  them  off." 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


219 


There  is  not  space  enough  to  do  more  than  allude  to 
the  sawflies,  another  class  of  insects  fearfully  injurious 
to  trees  of  divers  kinds.  Many  of  these  Hymenoptera, 
as  in  Great  Britain  and  other  European  countries, 
mainly  of  the  genus  NemcUuSy  clear  off  the  leaves  of 
forest  and  fruit  trees.  Others  attack  firs,  notably  some 
species  of  Lophyrus  and  Lyda,  as  the  Lophyrus  alnetis, 
Lophyrus  pinetum^  and  Lophyrus  pim-rigiday  and  some 
of  the  Lyda.  Cameron,  in  his  monograph  of  the  British 
phytophagous  Hymenoptera,  states  that  there  are  fifteen 
species  of  Lophyrus  in  North  America,  and  that  the 
species  of  Lyda  are  common  there. 

Lophyrus  Metis  and  Lophyrus  abbotii  appear  to  do 
the  same  harm  in  America  to  firs  as  the  Lophyrus  pini 
in  Scottish  fir  plantations,  whose  larvae  not  only  eat  the 
leaves  but  the  bark  of  the  young  shoots,  frequently  occa- 
sioning great  losses. 

An  instructive  account  is  given  in  this  work  of  the  effect 
of  temperature  upon  insects.  It  is  the  fashion  in  Great 
Britain  to  say  that  insects  are  killed  by  hard  frosts.  But 
they  are  not  killed  in  countries — as  America,  for  example — 
whose  winters  are  far  more  severe.  Dr.  Packard,  quoting 
Judeich  and  Naitsche's  "  Lehrbuch  der  Mittel-Europaischen 
Forstinsektenkunde/' observes  that  "  the  influence  of  even 
very  great  cold  on  the  normal  hybernating  stages  of  our 
insects  is  not  very  great.  In  the  summer  of  1854  the 
*  nun '  moth  had  very  generally  laid  its  eggs  in  Eastern 
Prussia  uncovered  on  the  bark,  and  these  did  not  freeze 
in  the  hard  winter  of  1854-55.  According  to  the  ob- 
servations of  Regener,  openly  exposed  caterpillars  of  the 
pine  silk-worm  endured  10''  F.  The  pupa  froze  at  21"  F., 
the  moth  at  19^  F.  According  to  Duclaux,  the  eggs  of  the 
silk-worm  endure  well,  remaining  two  months  in  a  tem- 
perature of  17°  F.  Great  fluctuations  of  temperature 
during  the  winter  produce  an  abnormal  interruption  of 
the  winter's  rest  or  hibernation,  and  thus  cause  the  death 
of  many  insects "  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  all  these 
cases  the  insects  were  unprotected,  whereas  there  is 
generally  some  kind  of  protection  during  the  winter  for 
insects  in  all  stages,  provided  by  their  instinct. 

Not  the  least  useful  part  of  the  Report  is  that  treating 
of  remedies  for  insect  attacks,  and  machines  and  engines 
for  applying  them.  Arsenical  poisons,  known  as  Paris 
Green  and  London  Purple,  are  strongly  recommended  for 
spraying  or  syringing  trees  infested  with  the  larvae  of 
beetles  and  sawfiies,  or  the  caterpillars  of  moths.  These 
have  been  recently  introduced  into  England,  being  advo- 
cated by  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  but  have  not  been 
extensively  adopted  yet,  owing  to  the  natural  prejudice 
against  the  use  of  poisons.  In  America  they  are  em- 
ployed most  extensively  and  with  the  greatest  benefit.  By 
means  of  these  the  potato  beetle  {Doryphora  decern- 
lineaia)  was  circumvented,  and  the  cotton  and  boll  worms 
checked,  and  the  onslaughts  of  many  other  insects  ma- 
terially lessened.  For  Aphides,  Scale  insects,  and  other 
insects  which  suck  the  sap  of  leaves,  "  emulsions "  or 
washes  of  soft  soap,  or  **  jelly  soaps,"  made  directly  from 
'  fish  oil  and  concentrated  lye,  or  whale-oil  soap,  are  pre- 
scribed. Also  kerosine,  naphtha,  and  petroleum,  applied 
in  a  fine  spray,  or  mixed  with  soap  and  soap  jelly,  forming 
**  emulsions."  These  remedies  act  by  contact,  being 
applied  principally  to  insects  which  do  not  eat  the  leaves 
as  well  as  by  making  the  surroundings  unpleasant  and 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


unbearable.  Powdered  substances,  as  pyrethrum,  helle- 
bore, and  sulphur,  are  not  much  employed  for  forest  work, 
but  cases  frequently  arise  warranting  their  use  in  a  limited 
way.  Hellebore,  as  gooseberry  growers  in  Kent  and 
Cambridgeshire  well  know,  is  of  especial  value  against 
all  sawfiy  lar\'ae.  Sulphur  is  valuable  against  the  red 
spider  {Tetranychus  telarius),  and  is  used  alone  or  in 
connection  with  emulsions  of  kerosene. 

Numerous  machines  are  in  vogue  for  putting  on  washes 
and  powders,  from  the  small  "knapsack"  machine  carried 
on  the  back,  to  huge  tanks  on  wheels,  fitted  with  power- 
ful hand-pumps  and  long  lengths  of  hose,  through  which 
liquids  are  forced  to  great  heights ;  for  very  high  trees,  tall 
ladders  are  used,  which  are  set  near  the  trees,  upon  which 
men  mount,  and  direct  the  hose  into  the  topmost  branches. 
For  smaller  trees  and  shrubs,  a  barrel  fixed  on  wheels, 
having  a  good  force-pump  with  hose,  is  adopted.  Pumps 
are  also  fitted  into  tanks  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  and 
moved  from  place  to  place  by  hand  or  holrse-power.  To 
distribute  the  liquids  there  are  endless  nozzles  or  jets 
contrived  with  much  ingenuity  to  send  forth  fine  mists, 
or  sprays,  or  continuous  volumes.  It  will  suffice  to  say 
that  the  best  of  these  is  the  cyclone,  or  Riley  nozzle, 
which  is  just  being  introduced  into  Great  Britain. 

Foresters,  and  all  concerned  in  the  management  of 
woods  and  forests,  public  parks,  and  gardens,  would  do 
well  to  consult  this  work  for  information  as  to  the  various 
insect  enemies  of  trees,  and  the  best  means  of  dealing 
with  them.  It  is  quite  impossible  in  a  review  to  give 
anything  more  than  a  general  idea  of  its  scope  and 
nature. 


PHYSICAL  RELIGION. 

Physical  Religion.  The  Gifford  Lectures  delivered  before 
the  University  of  Glasgow  in  1890.  By  F.  Max  Miiller. 
(London:  Longmans,  1891.) 

THE  present  volume,  which  embodies  the  author's 
second  course  of  Gifford  Lectures,  with  notes  and 
appendices,  is  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  '*  Physical 
Religion,"  that  is  the  religion  which  finds  its  object  the 
Infinite  in  or  behind  the  phenomena  of  Nature.  The 
author's  previous  writings  have  made  it  clear  that  for  the 
simplest  and  most  abundant  manifestation  of  this  form 
of  religion  we  must  go  to  the  Veda,  so  his  first  task  in 
the  lectures  before  us  is  to  tell  once  more  the  familiar 
story  of  the  discovery,  the  character,  and  the  age  of  the 
Veda.  To  this  survey  four  lectures  are  devoted,  and,  in 
conclusion,  the  author — not  without  duly  considering  all 
that  in  recent  years  has  been  urged  to  the  contrary — re- 
affirms his  conviction  that  the  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda 
cannot  have  been  collected  later  than  1000  B.C. 

In  the  sixth  lecture  the  author  deals  with  the  evolution 
of  the  idea  of  God.  It  is  often  supposed— even  by  philo- 
sophers of  repute — to  be  a  sufficient  account  of  the 
earliest  form  of  religion  to  say  that  men  worshipped 
stones  and  other  fetishes  as  their  gods.  But^  as  the  pro- 
fessor well  remarks — 

"  Does  it  never  strike  these  theorizers  that  the  whole 
secret  of  the  origin  of  religion  lies  in  that  predicate,  their 
gods?  Where  did  the  human  mind  find  that  concept 
and  that  name  ?  That  is  the  problem  which  has  to  be 
solved  ;  everything  else  is  mere  child's  play." 


220 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


And  he  exhibits  the  process  by  which  Agni  (the  Vedic 
god  of  fire),  from  being  originally  nothing  but  "the 
mover,"  came  to  be  called  deva;  and  it  is  this  word  deva 
which  when  examined  yields  the  clue  to  the  development, 
and  teaches  us  a  lesson  of  the  highest  importance  : — 

"  Guided  by  language  we  can  see  as  clearly  as  possible 
how,  in  the  case  of  deva^  the  idea  of  God  grew  out  of  the 
idea  of  light,  of  active  light,  of  an  awakening,  shining, 
illuminating,  and  wanning  light.  We  are  apt  to  despise 
the  decayed  seed  when  the  majestic  oak  stands  before 
our  eyes,  and  it  may  cause  a  certain  dismay  in  the  hearts 
of  some  philosophers  that  the  voice  of  God  should  first 
have  spoken  to  man  from  out  the  fire.  Still,  as  there  is 
no  break  between  deva^  bright,  as  applied  to  Agni,  the 
fire,  and  many  other  powers  of  nature,  and  the  Deus  opti- 
mus  maximus  of  the  Romans— nay,  as  the  God  whom  the 
Greeks  ignorantly  worshipped  was  the  same  God  whom 
St.  Paul  declared  unto  them— we  must  learn  the  lesson, 
and  a  most  valuable  lesson  it  will  turn  out  to  be,  that 
the  idea  of  God  is  the  result  of  an  unbroken  historical 
evolution,  call  it  a  development,  an  unveiling,  or  a  puri- 
fication, but  not  of  a  sudden  revelation." 

The  two  following  lectures  are  devoted  to  the  detailed 
following  out  of  the  biography  of  Agni,  who  appears  in  a 
variety  of  characters  as  the  sun,  the  fire  on  the  hearth, 
lightning,  the  messenger  between  gods  and  men,  and 
priest.  Finally,  divested  of  his  material  character  alto- 
gether, he  is  raised  to  a  sublimer  level  as  creator,  ruler, 
and  judge.  The  value  of  this  inquiry,  into  the  details  of 
which  we  have  no  space  to  enter,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
involves  the  refutation  of  two  objections  which  are 
frequently  urged — with  or  without  knowledge— against 
natural  religion  by  the  professors  of  so-called  supernatural 
religion.  The  first  is  that  natural  religion,  though  it  may 
lead  men  to  a  conception  of  *'  gods,"  is  powerless  to  sug- 
gest to  them  the  conception  of  God.  This  is  directly 
contradicted  by  the  history  of  Agni,  whom  we  can  watch, 
as  it  were,  passing  through  many  stages  of  growth  until 
he  becomes  in  the  end  "  a  supreme  god,  the  Supreme 
God,  till  his  very  name  is  thrown  away,  or  is  recognized 
as  but  one  out  of  many  names  by  which  ancient  seers  in 
their  helpless  language  called  that  which  is,  the  One  and 
All.*'  Driven  from  this  position,  however,  the  orthodox 
objector  usually  takes  up  another,  and  contends  that  the 
supreme  God  of  natural  religion  lacks  some  if  not  all  of 
the  lofty  attributes  which  he  is  enabled  to  know  and  to 
predicate  of  his  own  God  by  supernatural  revelation. 
But  Prof.  Max  Miiller^s  answer  to  this  objection  is  equally 
decided  : — 

'^  Trusting  to  the  fragments  that  have  been  preserved 
to  us  in  the  Veda,  to  the  remains  of  the  most  childish  as 
well  as  the  most  exalted  thoughts,  we  may  say  that 
natural  religion,  or  the  natural  faculties  of  man  under  the 
duminion  of  the  natural  impressions  of  the  world  around 
us,  can  lead,  nay,  has  led  man  step  by  step  to  the  highest 
conception  of  deity,  a  conception  that  can  hardly  be 
surpassed  by  any  of  those  well-known  definitions  of  deity 
which  so-called  supernatural  religions  have  hitherto 
claimed  as  their  exclusive  property." 

In  the  ninth  lecture  the  Professor  leaves  for  a  while  the 
field  of  his  special  studies  to  glance  at  the  history  of 
religious  ideas  among  other  peoples  than  the  Aryas  of  the 
Veda,  And  it  is  noteworthy  that  he  fully  recognizes  the 
possibility  that  Jehovah  himself  may  originally  have  been 
a  god  of  fire.     Hut  we  must  protest  against  the  way  in 

NO.    IT 32,  VOL.  44] 


which  he  alludes  to  Abraham,  the  legendary  founder  of 
Hebrew  monotheism,  as  if  his  historical  character  had 
never  been  questioned.  It  is,  of  course,  perfectly  open  to 
any  one  to  believe  that  Abraham  was  a  real  in<!ividuai, 
who  received  a  '*  revelation,"  whatever  that  word  may  be 
defined  to  mean  (see  p.  221)  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  in  1 
course  of  lectures  addressed  to  an  academic  audience,  it 
should  surely  have  been  mentioned  that  this  is  an  hypo- 
thesis, which  Renan,  for  instance,  among  Semitic  scholars, 
does  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  discuss. 

In  the  lecture  on  the  mythological  development  of  Agni, 
we  would  call  attention  to  the  importance  assigned  to  riddlez 
as  a  cause  of  the  growth  and  preservation  of  mytholop. 
To  take  a  simple  example : — 

**  After  the  Aryas  in  India  had  once  arrived  at  the  con- 
ception that  fire  was  apt  to  consume  the  fire-sticks,  or 
that  Agni  had  eaten  his  father  and  mother,  they  seem 
to  have  amused  themselves  by  asking  such  questions 
as,  Who  eats  his  own  parents  }  The  answers  given  would 
then  enter  upon  many  details,  more  or  less  far  fetched, 
and  the  question  would  continue  to  be  asked  between 
young  and  old  people." 

And  we  think  that  this  is  a  far  more  natural  explanatioQ 
of  the  origin  and  popularity  of  such  stories  than  the  hypo- 
thesis, which  has  no  external  evidence  to  support  it,  that 
the  Aryas  were  simply  ascribing  to  Agni  the  atrocities 
which  they  practised  themselves. 

Finally  we  come  to  the  question,  What  can  a  study  of 
natural  religion  teach  us .?  "  Why,"  answers  Prof.  Max 
Miiller,  '*it  teaches  us  that  religion  is  natural,  is  real,  is 
inevitable,  is  universal,"  and  he  proceeds  to  exhibit  in 
detail  one  or  two  of  the  more  important  implications  of 
this  great  lesson.  With  regard  to  miracles,  for  instance  :— 

"  Is  it  not  clear  that  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  believe  in 
the  omnipresence  of  the  Moral  Governor  of  the  worid. 
miracles,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  haw 
become  impossible,  and  that  to  them  either  every 
event  is  miraculous  or  no  event  can  claim  that  name. 
Before  the  great  miracle  of  the  manifestation  of  God  in 
nature,  all  other  miracles  vanish.  There  is  but  00c 
eternal  miracle,  the  revelation  of  the  Infinite  in  the 
finite." 

The  Professor  then  shows  by  a  series  of  examples  that 
the  tendency  to  ascribe  a  miraculous  birth  to  the  founders 
of  religions  is  natural  and  widespread,  and  asks  by  what 
right  people  claim  a  different  character  for  the  legends  of 
the  birth  of  Jesus  than  for  the  similar  legends  told  d 
Buddha  and  Mohammed.  The  honesty  and  candour 
with  which  the  question  is  stated  are  specially  welcome 
at  the  present  time,  when  it  is  becoming  the  fashion  with 
ecclesiastical  amateurs  in  Biblical  criticism  to  blow  hot 
and  cold,  as  it  were,  with  the  same  infallible  mouth — that 
is,  to  reject  the  miracles  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  retain 
those  of  the  New.  For  instance,  in  a  recent  manifesto, 
highly  recommended  as  providing  a  temporary  shelter  for 
the  destitution  of  the  semi-reasonable,  there  is,  on  the  one 
hand,  some  tall  talk  about  the  imaginative  performances 
of  "  a  dramatizing  Jew ''  in  the  Old  Testament,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  are  gravely  informed  that  **  the  Chnrch 
can  insist  upon  the  truth  "  of  all  that  is  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament.  That  this  cheap  substitute  for  criticism  will 
eventually  be  discredited,  even  in  England,  we  have  no 
doubt  whatever.      Meanwhile  we  cordially  recommend 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


221 


the  present  volume  not  only  for  the  interest  of  its  subject- 
matter,  but  as  an  example  of  the  masterly  application  of 
the  only  method  which  in  these  inquiries  can  lead  to  sure 
results. 


THE  KARWENDEL  ALPS, 

Das  Karwendelgebirge,  Von  A.  Rothpletz.  Separat- 
Abdruck  aus  der  Zeitsckrift  des  Deutschen  und  Oesier- 
retchischen  Alpenvereins.  With  Map.  (Miinchen, 
1888.) 

nr*HE  Karwendel  Alps  are  a  mountain  mass  lying  to 
^  the  north  of  the  valley  of  the  Inn,  between  Inns- 
bruck and  Jenbach,  and  bounded  on  the  east  by  the 
Achensee,  on  the  north  and  west  by  the  upper  valley  of 
the  Isar,  and  on  the  south  roughly  by  a  line  drawn  along 
the  Hinterauthal  (the  highest  part  of  the  valley  of  that 
river)  to  Schwaz,  in  the  Innthal.  This  region  has  been 
explored  and  mapped  by  Herr  Rothpletz,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  other  workers,  and  it  is  described  as  consisting  of 
three  roughly  parallel  ranges.  Though  their  peaks  do 
not  attain  to  a  very  great  elevation,  the  higher  summits 
ranging  from  6500  feet  to  rather  over  8200  feet,  their 
grand  cliffs  of  cream-coloured  limestone  and  their  pine- 
clad  slopes  afford  very  beautiful  scenery. 

In  this  part  of  the  Alps  the  mountain  masses  are  wholly 
composed  of  sedimentary  deposits  which  range  from  the 
Trias  to  the  Neocomian.  The  oldest  are  the  Werfener 
Schichien,  a  mass  of  sandy  shales  and  sandstones,  often 
containing  numerous  flakes  of  biotite,  indicative,  in  all 
probability,  of  the  denudation  of  the  crystalline  masses 
which  form  the  floor  of  the  Mesozoic  rocks  in  the  Alpine 
region.  They  correspond  in  age  roughly  with  the  upper 
part  of  the  Bunter  in  Germany  and  England.  Then 
comes  the  remainder  of  the  Trias,  including  the  Muschel- 
kalk,  followed  by  the  representatives  of  the  Rhaetic,  the 
Lias,  and  other  Jurassic  deposits,  and  a  part  of  the  Neo- 
comian, a  marine  series  from  top  to  bottom.  Neither 
the  last  nor  the  Jurassic  system  attains  to  a  great  thick- 
ness, but  both  the  Rhaetic  and  the  Trias  are  represented 
by  great  masses  of  rock.  In  the  one,  the  Haupt-dolomit 
occasionally  attains  to  a  thickness  of  500  metres  ;  in  the 
other,  one  member,  the  Myophorienschichten^  is  said  to 
be  equally  important.  Careful  descriptions  of  each  sub- 
division, with  lists  of  the  more  characteristic  fossils,  are 
given  in  the  memoir.  Neither  Cretaceous  nor  Tertiary 
strata  occur  to  bridge  over  the  interval  between  the 
Neocomian  and  the  superficial  Glacial  or  post-Glacial 
deposits. 

The  physical  history  of  these  ranges  is  made  the  sub- 
ject of  an  elaborate  discussion.  Herr  Rothpletz  is  of 
opinion  that,  at  some  epoch  after  the  Neocomian  and 
before  the  commencement  of  the  folding  process  by 
which  the  existing  Alpine  ranges  were  upraised,  the 
region  was  affected  by  movements  which  produced  a 
system  of  faults.  In  consequence  of  these,  a  zone  of 
upheaval  was  bordered  on  either  side  by  one  of  depres- 
sion. These  caused  important  modiflcations  in  the  great 
east  and  west  folds,  to  which  the  Eastern  Alps  are  due  ; 
the  rocks  in  the  two  troughs  were  crushed  together  ;  the 
upheaved  tracts  were  upthrust.  A  folding  plate  repre- 
sents an  ideal  section  of   the  region  after  the  "pre- 

NO.   II 32,  VOL.  44] 


Alpine''  movements,  side  by  side  with  one  which  shows 
its  present  state. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  explaining  the  physical 
structure  of  the  Alps,  we  have  to  take  account  of  much 
more  than  the  later  Tertiary  foldings  to  which  the  forma- 
tion of  the  mountain-chain  is  due,  such  as  the  old  irre- 
gularities of  the  pre- Mesozoic  land-surface ;  and  any 
important  system  of  faults  could  not  fail  to  produce  very 
marked  effects.  Also,  it  seems  indubitable  that  there 
were  interruptions  to  the  downward  movement  in  parts  of 
the  Alpine  area  during  the  latef  Mesozoic  and  the  earlier 
Tertiary  times,  which  may,  very  probably,  have  caused 
faults  such  as  are  described  by  Herr  Rothpletz.  These,  it 
may  be  noticed,  appear  to  run  obliquely  to  the  general 
trend  of  the  main  folds. 

Herr  Rothpletz,  in  conclusion,  expresses  an  opinion 
adverse  to  those  geologists  who  consider  that  glaciers 
have  played  an  important  part  in  the  erosion  of  valleys, 
and  calls  especial  attention  to  the  Soiernsee,  a  small  lake 
lying  in  a  fold  of  the  Plattenkalky  which,  in  his  opinion, 
indicates  that  '*  the  movement  of  flexure  acted  in  this 
case  with  greater  rapidity  than  the  erosive  action  of 
streams  or  glacier." 

The  geological  map  is  on  a  scale  of  i  :  50,000 ;  the 
separate  memoir,  of  octavo  size,  contains  76  pages,  with 
9  plates  and  29  smaller  illustrations.  It  also  includes  a 
full  list  of  works  bearing  on  the  district.  So  far  as  we 
can  judge,  it  is  an  elaborate  and  valuable  contribution  to 
the  knowledge  of  a  region  but  little  known  to  English 
travellers,  who,  however,  occasionally  pass  very  near  to  it 
along  the  margin  of  the  beautiful  Achensee. 

T.  G.  B. 

OUR  BOOK  SHELF, 
Graphical  Statics.  Two  Treatises  on  the  Graphical  Cal- 
culus and  Reciprocal  Figures  in  Graphical  Statics.  By 
Luigi  Cremona.  Translated  by  Thomas  Hudson  Beare, 
Professor  of  Engineering  and  Applied  Mechanics, 
Heriot-Watt  College,  Edinburgh,  (Oxford  :  Clarendon 
Press,  1890.) 

Treatises  on  this  and  allied  subjects  of  the  Graphical 
Calculus  are  not  uncommon  in  our  language ;  but,  al- 
though nowadays  indispensable  for  engineering  purposes, 
the  subject  does  not  flourish  in  our  theoretical  courses  of 
instruction. 

The  theorems  of  Graphics  once  stated — that  is,  drawn 
out  carefully  on  the  drawing-board — are  obvious,  or  at 
least  do  not  lend  themselves  to  verbal  written  demonstra- 
tion, so  that  for  purposes  of  competitive  examination,  the 
controlling  influence  of  modern  education,  the  subject  of 
Graphical  Statics  and  Calculation  is  useless. 

Geometrical  drawing  is  not  taught  in  our  public  schools 
and  Universities  ;  and  the  student  in  a  technical  college 
only  requires  the  bare  minimum  of  Graphics,  sufficient 
to  enable  him  to  pass  on  to  practical  developments  ;  so 
that  we  fear  the  elegant  abstract  theorems  on  the  use  of 
signs  in  Geometry,  as  applied  to  lines  and  areas,  graphical 
multiplication,  division,  involution  and  evolution,  solution 
of  equations,  centroids,  rectification  and  graphical  ana- 
lysis generally,  will  receive  but  slight  attention. 

Th:re  is  a  note  of  defiance  in  the  Author's  Preface  to 
the  English  edition  of  "  Reciprocal  Figures  in  Graphical 
Statics  ^  (the  second  treatise) :  ''  At  a  time  when  it  was 
the  general  opinion  that  problems  in  engineering  could 
be  solved  by  mathematical  analysis  only,  Culmann's 
genius  suddenly  created  Graphical  Statics,  and  revealed 
how  many  applications  graphical  methods  and  the 
theories  of  modern  (projective)  geometry  possessed,''  &c. 


222 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


The  preface  to  "Geometry  of  Position,"  by  R.  H. 
Graham,  must  be  consulted  for  the  counterblast  in  favour 
of  Maxwell's  claim  to  the  honour  of  priority. 

A.  G.  G. 

The  History  of  Commerce  in  Europe,     By   H.  de  B. 

Gibbins.    With  Maps.     (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co., 

1891.) 
The  chief  defect  of  this  little  book  is  that  the  author 
does  not  bring  into  sufficient  prominence  the  geographical 
element  in  commercial  history.  What  are  the  geo- 
graphical conditions  which  have  favoured  the  growth  of 
particular  industries  in  special  localities  }  And  in  what 
ways  have  such  conditions  affected  the  interchange  of 
commodities  between  one  part  of  the  world  and  another  1 
Mr.  Gibbins  has  not,  of  course,  neglected  these  questions, 
but  he  scarcely  seems  to  have  realized  that  they  are  of 
vital  importance  for  the  scientific  presentation  of  his 
subject.  On  the  other  hand,  his  appreciation  of  the 
action  of  historical  causes  in  the  development  of  commerce 
is  excellent ;  and  for  a  general  view  of  commercial  pro- 
gress his  manual  will  be  of  much  service  to  students.  After 
an  introductory  chapter  he  considers  "  ancient  commerce," 
by  which  he  means  the  commerce  of  the  Phoenicians, 
the  Carthaginians,  and  the  Greek  colonies.  He  then  deals 
with  the  ancient  Greek  States  and  Rome  as  trading  com- 
munities. Next  comes  "  mediaeval  commerce,"  in  con- 
nection with  which  he  has  much  that  is  interesting  to  say 
about  the  Italian  cities,  the  Hansa  towns,  mediaeval  trade 
routes  and  fairs,  the  manufacturing  centres  of  Europe, 
and  other  topics.  Under  "  modern  commerce  "  he  treats 
of  the  commercial  empires  in  the  East,  the  commercial 
empires  in  the  West,  English  commerce  from  the  six- 
teenth to  the  eighteenth  century,  European  commerce  in 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  industrial 
revolution  in  England  and  the  Continental  wars  (1793), 
modem  English  commerce,  and  the  development  of 
commerce  in  France,  Germany,  Holland,  Russia,  and  the 
other  European  States.  The  maps  are  very  good,  and 
add  considerably  to  the  value  of  the  text.  We  may 
also  note  that  the  volume  includes  a  useful  series  of 
questions  on  the  various  chapters,  and  two  appendices, 
in  one  of  which  there  is  a  list  of  British  produce  and 
manufactures  in  1840  and  1889,  while  the  other  consists 
of  a  table  showing  the  present  colonial  empires  of 
European  Powers. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  Ndlher  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspomi  with  the  writers  of  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  pcLrt  of  ^Ki\^^it, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications,^ 

The  Albert  University. 

The  remarks  of  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  upon  the  draft  charter  of 
the  *'  Albert  University  "  have  my  fullest  concurrence.  I  have 
never  desired  to  see  such  a  University  as  is  sketched  in  that 
charter  set  up  in  London  by  the  side  of  the  existing  University. 
The  charter  and  the  general  scheme  of  its  proposals  never  ob- 
tained the  sanction  of  the  professoriate  of  University  College 
whilst  I  was  a  member  of  that  body  ;  and  manv  of  us  were  as 
active  as  circumstances  allowed  us  to  be,  in  opposing  its  federal 
principles  and  bureaucratic  tendency.  That  University  and  King's 
Colleges  should  be  united  in  some  way  to  form  a  University  is 
one  proposition  :  that  the  University  should  take  the  particular 
form  excogitated  by  Sir  George  Young  is  another.  It  is 
well  that  it  should  be  generally  known  that  the  elaborate  (and 
to  my  mind  mischievous)  constitution  sketched  in  the  draft 
charter  of  the  Albert  University  is  the  product  of  the  devotion 
and  ingenuity  of  Sir  George  Young,  an  active  member  of  the 
Council  of  University  College. 

I  was  not  aware,  when  I  wrote  in  Nature  some  weeks 
ago  on  this  subject,  that  the  Lord  President  of  the  Privy 
Council  had  determined  to  set  aside  the  recommendations  of 
the  late  Royal  Commission,  and  to  hurry  through  a  formal  | 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


inquiry  into  the  draft  charter  propounded  by  the  Conndk  erf 
University  and  King's  Collies. 

So  long  as  the  matter  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Commiaskm, 
this  charter,  put  forward  by  the  Councils  of  the  two  Colleges, 
was  merely  one  of  many  suggestions  as  to  the  proper  form  w^dk 
a  new  or  reconstituted  University  of  London  should  take.  It 
was  notorious  that  the  Councils'  support  of  Sir  George  Vomits 
scheme  did  not  represent  the  attitude  either  of  the  Pxofessois  of 
the  two  Colleges  or  of  those  throughout  the  country  who  have 
special  knowledge  of  Universities  and  of  the  best  methods  irf 
academical  organization. 

The  Royal  Commission  of  1888  was  appointed  to  inqiize 
'*  whether  any  and  what  kind  of  new  University  or  powen  is  or 
are  required  for  the  advancement  of  higher  education  in 
London."  The  Commission  took  a  large  amount  of  evidcBoe 
from  interested  parties — practically  none  from  persons  outsit 
the  London  institutions  concerned — and  recommended  that  tfae 
University  of  London  should  be  invited  to  meet  the  needs  le: 
forth  in  such  documents  as  the  draft  charter  of  the  Albeit  Uni- 
veisiiy,  by  some  modifications  of  its  constitution  and  prooedme. 
In  the  event  of  a  failure  on  the  part  of  the  University  to  do  this, 
the  Commissioners  recommended  that  the  mcUler  should  k 
referred  back  to  them. 

My  support  of  the  claim  of  University  and  King's  Colleges  to 
be  incorporated  as  some  kind  of  University  has  always  depended 
on  the  assumption  that  no  Commission  or  other  serious  authority 
could  possibly  accede  blindly,  and  without  full  consultation  of 
the  best  authorities  in  the  land,  to  the  scheme  embodied  in  the 
Albert  University  draft  charter.  The  Commissioners  took,  ii 
seems  to  me,  the  only  rational  view  of  that  charter — namely, 
that  it  might  serve  as  a  suggestion  to  the  University  in  Buiiington 
Gardens  for  a  reform  which  would  meet,  at  any  rate,  some  of 
the  objections  raised  to  the  existing  constitution  of  the  Utter 
body. 

Lord  Cranbrook,  however,  seems  anxious  to  hurry  on  the 
shelving  if  not  the  solution  of  the  University  of  London  questson. 
Instead  of  referring  the  matter  back  to  the  Commissioners,  fae 
takes  the  matter  out  of  their  hands.  The  Comrnissioneis  have 
never  reported  in  answer  to  the  question  set  before  them.  No 
one  knows  whether  they  think  any,  and,  if  so,  what  kind  of 
new  University  is  required  in  London. 

Having  failed  to  settle  the  question  for  the  time  being  by  socb 
a  reform  of  the  University  in  Burlington  Gardens  as  Mr.  Dyer 
advocates,  the  Commissioners  ought — according  to  their  own 
recommendation — to  have  been  allowed  to  proceed  further.  "It 
is  now  ascertained, '*  they  would  have  said,  **thal  the  existing 
University  of  London  will  not  reform  itself  in  the  way  we  have 
suggested  :  what  sort  of  University  shall  we  now  recommend,  if 
any  ?  **  They  might  have  suggested  the  coercion  of  the  Convo- 
cation of  Burlington  Gardens  by  an  Act  of  Parliament ;  or  they 
might  have — ^after  inquiring  from  authorities  in  Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, Dublin,  Edinburgh,  and  wherever  else  some  under- 
standing of  the  nature  and  objects  of  Universities  happens  by 
chance  to  dwell — recommended  the  formation  of  a  professoral 
University  in  London  similar  to  those  of  Scotland  and  of 
Germany. 

I  confess  that  it  has  always  been  my  hope,  though  not  my 
expectation,  that  they  would  take  the  latter  course.  I  am  sore 
that  if  they  had  proceeded  to  take  the  evidence  of  experts  ia 
University  matters,  and  had  not  attached  undue  importance  to 
the  proposals  of  competing  corporations,  they  ^ould  have  foand 
the  balance  of  unprejudiced  opinion  to  be  in  favour  of  a 
"  professorial "  rather  ihan  a  '*  federal  "  University.  The  difi- 
culty  they  would  have  had  to  contend  with  would  have  been  thit 
some  of  their  own  body,  and  nearly  every  witness  whom  they 
lately  examined,  are  very  far  from  having  a  clear  idea  as  to  wliat 
are  the  possible  forms  of  University  organization,  what  the 
merits  and  the  demerits  respectively  of  the  *'  federal  "  and  the 
'*  professorial  "  scheme  as  now  in  practice  in  Europe.  This  is 
obvious  enough  from  the  printed  **  Minutes  of  Evidence  takes 
before  the  Royal  Commissioners  appointed  to  &c.,*'  wUdi 
can  be  purchased  of  Messrs.  Eyre  and  Spottiswoode  for  aboot 
half-a-crown. 

But  whatever  else  the  late  Royal  Commission  might  have 
done,  I  cannot  believe  that  they  would  have  proposed  10  set  np 
so  extraordinary  and  useless  a  piece  of  complicated  machiocrj 
as  the  Albert  University  (of  the  draft  charter)  by  the  side  oif 
Burlington  Gardens.  The  draft  charter,  having  failed  to  reform 
the  existing  University  of  London,  onght,  one  would  have 
thought,  to  have  been  torn  up. 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


223 


I  quite  agree  with  Mr.  Dyer  that  it  is  little  short  of  monstrous 
for  toe  Government  to  set  up  in  London  two  such  organizations 
as  Burlington  Gardens  and  the  federal  Albert ;  there  is  the 
-strongest  reason  for  insisting  that  there  shall  be  only  one  of  them, 
whether  Convocation  likes  it  or  not. 

Meanwhile,  we  are  no  nearer  than  we  were  seven  years  ago 
to  the  formation  in  London  of  a  Senatus  Academicus  which  shall 
Tetain  in  the  metropolis — in  contact  with  its  statesmen,  lawyers, 
physicians,  authors,  and  the  intelligent  men  and  women  of  wealth 
and  leisure — the  strongest  and  b^t  of  our  scholars,  historians, 
phjrsicisis,  and  biologists.  Is  it  well  that  the  President  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  should  have  to  travel  from  Glasgow  to  the 
meetings  of  that  body  ?  that  its  senior  Secretary  should  spend 
his  life  in  Cambridge  ?  and  that  there  is  absolutely  no  professor- 
ship in  the  metropolitan  area  which  can,  by  virtue  of  its  dignity 
or  its  pecuniary  value,  entice  men  from  the  seclusion  of  provincial 
Universities  ?  The  draft  charter  of  the  Albert  University  does 
noC  even  attempt  to  supply  such  a  want.  It  actually  makes 
the  London  professor  more  a  creature  of  competition  and  the 
servant  of  red-tape  officialism  than  he  is  at  this  moment. 

£.  Ray  Lankbster. 


Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  has  done  good  service  in  pointing 
ont  the  nature  of  the  proposed  Albert  University,  which, 
tiD fortunately,  seems  not  unlikely  to  be  the  result  of  the  dis- 
cussions that  have  been  going  on  for  the  last  six  or  eight 
years  with  respect  to  a  ''Teaching  University  for  London." 
Should  the  charter  petitioned  for  by  the  Councils  of  University 
and  King's  Colleges  be  granted,  it  will  not  constitute  a  teaching 
University  in  any  real  sense,  but,  as  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer  says,  an 
institution  very  similar  to  what  the  present  University  of  London 
was  as  constituted  by  the  original  charter  of  1837.  There  are, 
of  course,  differences  of  organization  and  machinery,  such  as  the 
institution  of  Assemblies  of  Faculties  and  Boards  of  Studies 
(which  the  existing  University  might  institute  next  week,  if  it 
saw  fit),  but  there  is  little  or  nothing  that  can  be  looked  upon  as 
a  difference  of  principle.  The  nearest  approach  to  this  are  the 
provisions  :  (1)  that  the  Colleges  whose  students  are  to  be  eligible 
as  candidates  for  degrees  shall  have  a  certain  amount  of  repre- 
sentation on  the  governing  body  of  the  University  ;  (2)  that  the 
claim  of  additional  Colleges  to  enter  the  University  shall  be 
decided  by  the  {governing  body  of  the  University,  subject  to 
appeal  to  the  Queen  in  Council  (instead  of,  as  in  the  charter  of 
1837,  being  decided  on  directly  by  the  Crown) ;  (3)  that  *'  the 
University  may  appoint  lecturers  independently  of  a  College  or 
medical  school  to  give  instruction  in  any  subject,  whether  it  be 
or  be  not  included  in  a  Faculty. '* 

With  the  exception  of  this  last  provision,  slipped  in  at  the  end 
of  Section  V.,  ^* University  Degrees  and  Certificates ^^  as  though 
modestly  shunning  the  notice  that  a  separate  heading  might  call 
to  it,  there  is  no  allusion  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  draft 
charter  to  any  teaching  to  be  done  by  or  through  the  University 
as  such.  If  it  comes  into  existence,  it  will  be  a  mere  examining 
Univer&ity  over  again.  Such  a  scheme  can  go  no  appreciable 
way  towards  remedying  the  existing  defects  of  University  or- 
ganization in  London.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  what  public 
advantages  are  likely  to  result  from  it.  Seeing  that  it  is  put 
forward  as  representing  the  views  of  University  College,  London, 
it  does  not  seem  irrelevant  to  the  present  stage  of  the  discussion 
to  say  that  the  scheme  of  the  Albert  University  has  never  been 
submitted  to  a  general  meeting  of  the  Governors  of  the  College. 

University  College,  London.  G.  Carey  Foster. 

The  Draper  Catalogue. 

On  p.  133  of  the  current  volume  of  Nature  (June  ii)  Mr. 
Espin  gives  a  comparison  of  the  Draper  Catalogue  of  Stellar 
Spectra  with  the  catalogues  of  Vogel  and  Duner.  Vol.  xxvi.  of 
the  Harvard  Annals^  of  which  the  fir4  part  will  be  distributed 
in  a  few  days,  discusses  at  length  the  deviations  from  Vogel  and 
also  from  the  similar  catalc^ue  of  Konkoly.  A  second  examina- 
tion was  made  on  photographic  plates  having  a  long  exposure  of 
those  stars  which  appeared  discordant.  Since  spectra  of  the 
Arst  type  pass  by  insensible  degrees  into  the  second,  and  these 
in  turn  into  the  third,  no  two  observers  would  agree  on  the  exact 
points  of  distinction.  Moreover,  different  characteristics  would 
distinguish  the  photographic  and  visual  portions  of  the  spectra 
{H.  C.  Annals^  xxvi.  pp.  177,  189).  Some  discrepancies,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  three  fourth-type  stars  which  are  erroneously 
entered  in  the  Draper  Catalogue,  are  due  to  errors  of  identifica- 
tion (xxvi.  p.   192).     The  photographic  spectra  of  faint  third-  I 

NO.   TT32,  VOL.  44] 


type  stars  are  always  indistinguishable  from  those  of  the  second 
type  (xxvi.  p.  178).  See  also  remarks  following  Table  II.  of 
vol  xxvii.  The  bright  lines  cited  by  Mr.  Espin  are  probably 
portions  of  the  spectra  contained  between  dark  bands  or  lines 
(xxvii.  p.  3).  Spectra  are  difficult  to  classify  when  measured  as 
faint  as  6*5  ;  not  when  the  final  magnitude  is  brighter  than  6'$, 
as  might  be  inferred  from  Mr.  Espin's  reference  (xxvii., 
preface).  Edward  C.  Pickering. 

Cambridge,  U.S.,  June  22. 


The  Cuckoo. 

I  DO  not  know  if  the  hibernating  of  swallows  and  other 
summer  visitors  is  still  a  debated  question  or  not,  but  the 
following  account  of  a  cuckoo  may  be  of  interest  to  some  6f 
your  readers. 

In  the  month  of  August  a  young  cuckoo  was  taken  from  its 
nest  and  kept  in  the  house,  where  it  lived  and  throve — ^until  one 
day  in  November,  when  it  escaped  and  could  not  be  found.  But 
in  the  following  March,  during  the  usual  spring  cleaning,  this 
very  bird  was  discovered  on  a  shelf  in  the  back  kitchen,  hidden 
away  behind  some  old  pots  and  pans,  still  alive,  and  asleep, 
with  all  its  feathers  off,  and  clothed  only  in  down,  the  feathers 
lying  in  a  heap  round  the  body.  The  rude  awakening  which  the 
cuckoo  received  was  fatal  to  its  existence,  for  it  survived  only  for 
a  few  hours.  £.  W.  P. 


Colour-Associations  with  Numerals,  &c. 

The  following  record  of  experiments  extending  over  a  period 
of  nearly  ten  years,  under  exceptionally  good  conditions,  appears 
to  me  to  be  worthy  of  attention.  A  preliminary  note  on  the 
subject  was  printed  in  Science^  vol.  vi.  No.  137,  1885,  p.  242, 
part  of  which  is  reproduced  below. 

In  1880,  while  I  was  in  Washington,  I  read  Mr.  F.  Galton's 
note  on  '*  Visualized  Numerals,"  in  Nature,  vol.  xxi.  p.  252. 

After  I  came  to  Wisconsin — probably  late  in  1881,  or  early  in 
1882 — I  mentioned  my  own  entire  inability  to  visualize  numerals 
or  anything  else  of  the  kind  to  a  member  of  the  University 
faculty.  Prof.  Owen.  I  was  interested  to  learn  that,  when  a  boy, 
he  had  always  conceived  the  vowel  sounds  as  having  colour,  and 
that  he  still  retained  some  traces  of  this  early  habit. 

I  spoke  of  this  subject  in  my  house  shortly  after ;  and  my 
daughter  Mildred,  then  about  seven  years  old,  said  she  also  had 
colours  for  the  days  of  the  week,  as  follows :  Monday,  blue ; 
Tuesday,  pink  ;  Wednesday,  brown  or  grey  ;  Thursday,  brown 
ox  grey  ;  Friday,  white;  Saturday,  pure  white;  Sunday,  black. 
It  was  said  laughingly,  and  at  the  time  it  passed  to  my  mind  as 
a  joke — that  she  wished  in  sport  to  assume  the  idio^ncrasies  of 
elder  persons.  A  few  days  after,  I  questioned  her  on  these 
colours,  and  she  gave  the  same  replies.  It  was  again  spoken  of 
as  a  kind  of  a  joke  and  a  question  of  memory,  but  I  wrote  the 
colours  down  in  my  memorandum- book  for  1882.  A  year  later 
I  produced  this,  and  again  questioned  her — this  time  seriously — 
and  found  her  answers  the  same  as  at  first.     Again,  on  August 

5,  1885,  her  replies  were  the  same.  The  tenacity  of  a  child's 
memory  is  very  remarkable  ;  but  I  was  convinced  this  was  not 
a  case  of  memory  and  imagination,  but  a  true  phenomenon  of 
the  kind  referred  to.  I  therefore  went  farther,  and  asked  her  if 
there  were  any  other  phenomena  of  the  same  sort  (she  was  now 
ten  and  a  half  years  old).  I  found  that  each  of  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  had  a  colour  to  her,  as  follows  : — 

A,  white  ;  B,  blue  ;  C,  yellow^  cream  colour ;  D,  dark  blue ; 

E,  red;  F,  blcuk ;  G,  green  ;  H,  white ;  I,  black  ;  I', grey ^  brown  ; 

K,   grey  ;  L,  dark  blue ;   M,  N,  brown,  not  much  colour ;  O, 

yellow  ;    P,  green  ;  Q  (?) ;  R,  brown  ;    S,  yellow  ;  T,  green  ; 

Vt  yellow;  V,  white;  VI ,  brown;  X,  Y,  not  much  colour;  Z, 

greenish. 

The  prevalence  of  yellow  and  green,  and  the  scarcity  of  reds 
and  pinks,  are  noteworthy.  I  found  that  she  knew  these  colours 
instantly,  and  when  I  asked  for  them  in  anv  order.  What  is 
more  remarkable,  she  could  instantly  name  the  brown  letters  in 
a  group,  the  black  ones,  &c.  Apparently  she  did  not  require  to 
pass  the  alphabet  in  review  to  decide  this.  The  numbers  also 
had  colours  to  her,  as  follows  : — 

I,  black ;  2,  creani  colour;  3,  light  blut ;  4,  brown  ;  5,  white ; 

6,  crimson,  pink ;  7,  greenish  ;  8,  white ;  9,  greeniih  (?) ;  to, 
brown;  ii,  black;  12,  cream  colour;  13,  blue ;  14,  brown;  15, 
ivhite;  that  is,  1 1  had  the  same  colour  as  i,  12  as  2,  13  as  3,  &c. 

These  colours  were  also  named  instantly,  and  in  any  order, 
and  in  groups. 


224 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


Case  of  Miss  Mildred  Holdtt. 

^\2C     •••      •••      ••• 

zfiSa 

=  8 

=  xo* 

1 

=  '3 

=  14* 

=  x6* 

■  C2u    •••      •••      «•• 

1883 

August  1885 

December  1887 

Jnne  1889 

June  1891 

1 

Monday 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

1  Blue 

1 

1  Blue 

Blue 

Tuesday      ... 

Pink 

Pink 

Pink 

,  Pink 

Pink 

Pink 

Wednesday... 

Brown  or  grey 

Brown  ^r  grey 

Brown  or  grey 

Brownish 

Brownish 

Brownish-grey— more 
brown  than  grey 

Thursday    ... 

Brown  <>r  grey 

Brown  or  grey 

Brown  or  grey 

Brownish 

Brownish 

Friday 

White 

White 

White 

Whitish 

White 

White 

Saturday     ... 

Pure  white 

White 

White 

Cream  ;  light  yellow 

Cream  colour 

Cream  colour 

Sunday 

Black 

Black 

Black 

Black 

Black 

Black 

A         

— 

— 

White 

White 

White 

White 

B 

-^ 

>~. 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

\^  ...     •••     ... 

-^ 

— 

Yellow;  cream 

Cream  colour 

Cream 

Cream 

D 

^ 

<— 

Dark  blue 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

■IL 

-^ 

— 

Red 

Red 

Red 

Light  red 

F 

^          •••                 aaa                 aa« 

^m^  a 

Black 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

G 

— 

— 

Green 

Green 

Green 

Green 

H         

^ 

While 

White 

White 

White 

X        aaa              •••               >•> 



■— 

Black 

Black 

Black 

Black 

J 

— 

Grey ;  brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

K 



Grey 

Grey 

Grey  (?) 

Grey 

»~* 

— 

Dark  blue 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

M         



Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

N 

— 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

0 

'— 

Yellow 

Cream  colour 

Cream  (?) 

Cream 

P 

Green 

Green 

Green 

Green 

Q 



? 

Purple 

Purple 

Pnrple 

R 

— 

-— 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

0 

^_ 

Yellow 

Yellow 

Cream 

Yellow 

T 



— . 

Green 

Green 

Green 

Green 

u 

V'aa*               »■•               aaa 

— 

— 

Yellow 

Cream  colour 

Cream 

Cream 

V 

•          *  •  m                 aaa                 Saa 



— 

White 

White 

— 

White,  I  think,not  sure 

w        



^^ 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

X 

Y 

=  } 

Not  much  colour 

/Red 
\Cream  colour 

Red 
Cream 

Red 
Cream 

Z 



Greenish 

Green 

Green 

Green 

I 

— 

Black 

Black 

Black 

Black 

•         aaa                    «••                   •  •  • 



— 

Cream 

Cream 

Cream 

Cream 

J         aaa                 ••«                 aaa 



— 

Light  Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

Blue 

4 



— 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

Brown 

^         mm*                aaa                 aaa 



— 

White 

While 

White 

White 

6 



Crimson  ;  pink 

Pinkish 

Pink 

Pink 

y     ■*•         >•«         ««« 



Greenish 

Green 

Green 

Green 

0 

-^ 

White 

Cream  colour 

White 

Cream 

9 

Greenish 

Blue 

Bluish-green?^ 

Dark  blue 

10        

i 

Brown 

Brown 

Black  ? 

black  or  brown 

'If  anything. 

Note, — The  column  for  June  189 1  was  sent  to  me  in  a  letter,  as  written  in  the  table,  except  that  Wednesday  and  Tkatndar 
are  described  as  "  brownish-grey,  with  Utile  dots,"  and  Friday  as  "  white,  with  dots."  The  letter  says  : — **  Is  this  right?  I wriie 
this  out  without  giving  much  thought  to  it — writing  as  fast  as  I  can  write.  I  am  not  quite  definite  in  my  mind  as  to  the  coloon  of 
9,  10,  G,  T,  K,  O,  Q,  S,  V  ;  but  the  others  have  never  changed.  The  days  of  the  week  I  never  think  of  without  thinking  of  their 
corresponding  colours.  They  have  always  remained  the  same.  I  don't  quite  remember  if  I  have  ever  told  you  about  the  do(> 
before,  but  they  have  always  been  there,  and  are  like  minute  pencil  marks  showing  through  the  colour.   Tuesday  \s  slightly  dotted." 


The  table  gives  the  results  of  the  earlier  experiments  together 
with  others  which  have  been  subsequently  obtained.  The  later 
experiments  have  been  made  under  circumstances  which  are 
peculiarly  favourable — ^usually  by  correspondence  during  my 
daughters  absence  at  school. 

The  table  undoubtedly  represents  vivid  and  permanent  associa- 
tions of  colour  with  numerals,  letters,  &c.  If  we  collect  the 
various  signs  which  correspond  to  a  given  colour,  it  appears,  on 
the  whole  and  in  a  general  w  ay,  that  the  colour  is  associated  with 
the  sound  rather  than  with  the  form  of  a  letter.  For  example, 
G,  P,  T,  Z  Are  green  ;  A,  H,  eight,  are  white ;  V,  Friday,  five, 
9LTt  white;  C,  S,  Saturday,  are  yellow,  &c.  There  are  numerous 
exceptions  to  this,  however,  and  it  is  by  no  means  proved  that 
there  is  a  real  law  here.  I  simply  make  the  suggestion  on 
account  of  its  bearing  on  the  question  whether  or  no  we  can 
think  without  words.  It  is  clear  that  many  experiments,  such 
as  are  exhibited  in  the  table,  must  be  made  before  the  time  will 
arrive  for  definite  conclusions  to  be  drawn.  Perhaps  this  brief 
note  may  induce  others  to  print  the  results  of  similar  investiga- 
tions. Edward  ^^.  Holdbn. 

Mount  Hamilton,  June. 

NO.   II 32,  VOL.  44] 


Erratic  Barometric  Depression  of  May  23-29,  and 

Hailstorm  of  May  24. 

Tn  connection  with  the  very  interesting  letter  of  the  Re^. 
Clement  Ley  (on  p.  150),  descriptive  of  the  barometric  dcpreoioo 
which  passed  over  these  isles  towards  the  end  of  last  moDtbi 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  mine  published  in  the  loal 
press,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  further  information,  but  withoot 
success,  may  be  of  interest.  At  the  time  when  the  centre  of  iw 
depression  lay  over  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  as  mentioned  bj 
Mr.  Ley,  this  neighbourhood  was  being  visited  byathnnde^ 
storm  of  great  severity  and  lengthy  duration,  and  at  6  p. m.  the 
rain  gave  place  to  hail,  and  ''In  the  short  space  of  tw«ty 
minutes  the  ground  and  roofs  of  houses  were  covered  with  a 
compact  layer  of  frozen  rain-drops,  which  at  the  end  of  h«u  ^ 
hour  (6. 300.  m. ),  when  the  storm  nad  abated  and  given  place  aguj 
to  rain,  I  found  to  have  an  average  depth  of  075  inch,  ihoogt 
the  stones  were  then  reduced  to  about  half  their  original  sue- 
.  .  .  But  few  of  the  hailstones,  which  were  neariy  all  o^*"S 
in  form,  were  smaller  than  o'375  by  0250  inch,  and  three »»» 
I  picked  up  at  random  at  6.10  p.m.  when  the  storm  was  at  tts 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


225 


height,  measured  respectively  0*065  ^y  0*051  inch,  0437  bv 
0*562  inch,  and  a  spherical  one  had  a  diameter  of  0*5  inch. ' 
Sach  laige  hailstones  are,  I  believe,  rarely  met  with  in  storms 
near  London.  This  one  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  a  com- 
paratively small  area,  the  hail  failing  in  its  greatest  severity  at 
Leyton,  and  not  extending  much  beyond  Walthamstow,  Stratford, 
West  Ham,  and  here.  B.  J.  Hopkins. 

Forest  Gate,  £.,  June  22. 

'*  An  Alphabet  of  Motions.'* 

I  HAVE  lately  found  the  following  extract  in  Arthur  Young's 
"Travebi<i  France,  in  1787,"  which  I  fancy  is  not  generally 
known.  It  occurs  in  Betham  Edwards's  late  edition  (Bell  and 
Sons),  at  p.  96. 

"  In  the  evening  to  Mons.  Lomond.  .  .  In  electricity  he 
has  made  a  remarkable  discovery.  You  write  two  or  three 
wofds  on  a  paper  ;  he  takes  it  with  him  into  a  room  and  turns 
a  machine  inclosed  in  a  cylindrical  case,  at  the  top  of  which  is 
an  electrometer,  a  small  nne  pith  ball ;  a  wire  connects  with  a 
similar  cylinder  and  electrometer  in  a  distant  apartment ;  and 
his  wife,  by  remarking  the  corresponding  motions  of  the  ball, 
writes  down  the  words  they  indicate,  from  which  it  appears  he 
has  formed  an  alphabet  of  motions.  As  the  length  of  the  wire 
makes  no  diflference  in  the  effect,  a  correspondence  might  be 
carried  on  at  any  distance." 

J.  S.  DlSMOHR. 

Stewart  House,  Wrotham  Road,  Gravesend,  June  24. 


On  a  Cycle  in  Weather  Changes. 

It  is  known  that  Prof.  Brueckner,  of  Berne,  in  a  work  on 
"Kiimaschwankungen,"  published  a  short  time  ago,  offers  a 
large  amount  of  evidence  for  the  view  that  our  globe  b  subject 
to  a  weather-cycle  of  about  35  year?,  a  series  of  cold  and  wet 
years,  or  warm  and  dry  ones,  recurring  at  about  that  interval. 
Has  it  been  noticed  in  this  connection  that  Bacon,  in  one  of 
his  essays  (No.  Iviii.  "  Of  Vicissitude  of  Things  "),  makes  refer- 
ence to  such  a  cycle  ?  The  passage  is  as  follows  :  -  *'  There  is  a 
toy  which  I  have  heard,  and  I  would  not  have  it  given  over, 
bat  waited  upon  a  little.  They  say  it  is  observed  in  the  Low 
Countries  (I  know  not  in  what  part)  that  every  five-and-thirty 
years  the  same  kind  and  suit  of  weathers  comes  again  ;  as  great 
frosts,  great  wet,  great  droughts,  warm  winters,  summers  with 
little  heat,  and  the  like,  and  they  call  it  the  prime.  It  is  a 
thing  I  do  the  rather  mention,  because,  computing  backwards,  I 
have  found  the  same  concurrence."  A.  B.  M. 


THE  FORECAST  OF  THE  INDIAN  MONSOON 

RAINS. 

A  FTER  an  interval  of  twelve  more  or  less  prosperous 
^^  years,  following  on  the  memorable  Madras  famine 
of  1876-77,  and  the  drought  and  fearful  mortality  of 
North- Western  India  in  1877-78,  India  seems  once 
more  to  have  entered  on  one  of  those  prolonged  series 
of  adverse  seasons  which  put  a  severe  strain  on  the 
protective  powers  of  its  Government,  and,  despite  all 
human  precaution,  bring  suffering,  disease,  and  premature 
death  to  thousands  of  its  industrious  peasants,  and  to  even 
larger  numbers  of  the  impoverished  outcasts  who  form 
the  lowest  fringe  of  its  teeming  population,  fighting  the 
precarious  battle  of  their  life  at  all  times  on  the  verge  of 
destitution.  The  drought  in  Can  jam  in  the  autumn  of 
1889  l^^s  been  followed  by  the  failure  of  the  late  autumnal 
rains  over  the  central  districts  of  the  Carnatic  towards 
the  close  of  last  year,  and  the  too  familiar  machinery  of 
relief  works  for  the  able-bodied,  and  doles  of  food  to  the 
helpless  indigent,  has  been  in  active  operation  for  several 
months  past  in  the  districts  around  Madras.  Another 
monsoon,  another  season  of  those  periodical  rains  on 
which  depends  the  fate  of  millions,  is  now  due  and  over- 
due, and  there  comes  from  India  an  ominous  note  of 
warning  that  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  more  than  one 
great  province  of  the  empire,  or  certain  portions  of  them, 
may  again  this  year  lie  parched  and  barren,  their  young 
crops  withering  and  shrivelled  under  the  dry  west  wind, 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


while,  month  after  month,  men  scan  with  ever-growing 
anxiety  the  pale  dust-obscured  sky  and  scattered  ball- 
shaped  clouds  that  never  mass  themselves  to  rain-clouds, 
but  mock  their  hopes  with  the  promise  of  showers  that 
never  fall  to  moisten  the  sun-baked  soil. 

And  this  warning,  alas  !  is  no  mere  guesswork  of 
credulous  and  speculative  minds,  such  as  in  these  lati- 
tudes certain  of  our  would-be  weather  prophets  love  to 
put  forth  at  hazard,  to  furnish  the  topic  of  a  day's  gossip 
to  the  million,  or  haply  to  win  for  themselves  a  summer 
da/s  reputation  with  the  uninstructed,  in  the  event  of  a 
successful  issue.  Certainty,  indeed,  there  is  not  and  cannot 
be  till  science  shall  have  extended  its  domain  far  beyond 
its  present  limits;  but,  in  India,  the  stately  march  of 
the  seasons  is  but  little  obstructed  by  the  vicissitudes 
of  fugitive  cyclones  and  anticyclones,  that  originate  we 
know  not  how,  and  disappear  by  some  concurrence  of 
causes  equally  beyond  our  ken.  In  the  tropics,  and  in 
the  realm  of  the  monsoons,  all  weather  phenomena  are 
more  massive  and  slower  in  progress,  and  each  great 
change  of  seasons  is  heralded  by  signs  which,  if  we  can 
as  yet  but  vaguely  interpret  them,  are  at  least  recogniz- 
able as  such,  and,  with  a  certain  allowance  for  possible 
error,  must  be  accepted  as  timely  monitors  of  what  is 
likely  to  follow.  These  it  is  that,  whether  rightly  or 
wrongly  deciphered,  furnish  the  basis  for  the  present 
warning.  To  those  who,  like  the  present  writer,  have 
followed  for  many  months  past,  not  without  anxious  in- 
terest, the  telegraphic  and  other  reports  periodically 
transmitted  from  India,  it  comes  as  no  surprise,  but  as  a 
confirmation  of  misgivings  long  entertained  though  only 
now  backed  by  the  warranty  of  full  official  evidence. 
The  events  of  the  next  three  months  may  yet  belie  the 
present  indications,  and  that  they  may  do  so  is  still  our 
fervent  hope ;  but  it  would  be  folly  to  ignore  them,  and 
to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  probabilities  that  they  seem  to 
portend. 

For  the  last  eight  years  it  has  been  one  of  the  duties  of 
the  Indian  Meteorological  Department,  some  time  early 
in  June,  to  prepare,  for  the  information  of  Government 
and  the  public,  a  forecast  of  the  probable  character  of 
the  summer  monsoon,  based  on  the  reports  of  the  snow- 
fall on  the  Himalaya  and  the  western  mountains,  and  on 
the  indications  afforded  by  the  weather  of  the  previous 
winter  and  spring.  The  possibility  of  framing  such  a 
forecast  was  in  a  measure  foreseen  by  the  Famine  Com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  Home  Government  after  the 
disastrous  famines  of  1876  and  1877,  of  which  Commis- 
sion General  R.  Strachey,  the  true  founder  of  the  Meteoro- 
logical Department  of  India,  was  the  scientific  member ; 
and  it  is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  weighty  advocacy 
of  this  Commission  that  the  Department  owes  its  present 
extension  and  importance.  Mr.  Eliot's  forecast  for  the 
coming  season  is  now  before  us.  It  sets  forth  at  length 
the  general  and  special  grounds  on  which  he  bases  his 
conclusions ;  and  these,  though  duly  guarded  by  the 
reminder  of  their  essentially  empirical  character,  and  of 
the  unavoidable  imperfection  of  our  information  regarding 
certain  important  data,  are  expressed  in  terms  that  leave 
unhappily  no  doubt  of  the  adverse  character  of  the  out- 
look. 

Attention  was  first  directed  to  the  apparent  connection 
of  the  Himalayan  snowfall  with  the  prevalence  of  dry 
land  winds  in  India,  in  the  year  1877,  and  about  the  same 
time  the  late  Prof.  S.  A.  Hill  and  Mr.  Douglas  Archibald 
showed  that,  as  a  general  rule,  an  unusual  cold  weather 
rainfall  in  Northern  India  was  followed  by  a  deficient 
rainfall  in  the  ensuing  summer  monsoon.  In  a  paper 
published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
1884,  these  two  classes  of  facts  were  shown  to  be  merely 
different  phases  of  the  same  phenomenon,  and  a  summary 
was  given  of  all  the  evidence  on  the  subject  that  had 
been  accumulated  up  to  that  date.  Smce  then,  there  has 
been  but  one  year  of  heavy  Himalayan  snowfall,  viz.  1885, 


226 


NA  TURE 


[July  9.  1891 


and  in  that  year  the  rains  were  greatly  delayed  on  the 
Bombay  coast,  and  were  very  deficient  in  North- Western 
India  in  June,  July,  and  September,  commencing  late, 
and  terminating  early.  During  the  past  winter  and 
spring  the  snowfall  on  the  North- Western  Himalaya  and 
the  mountains  of  Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan  has  been 
excessive — indeed,  as  Mr.  Eliot  states,  unprecedented 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years — and  from  the  reports 
received  from  the  civil  officers  and  observatories  in  the 
mountain  districts,  he  estimates  that  an  average  fall  of 
40  feet,  if  not  considerably  more,  must  have  fallen  over 
all  the  higher  ranges,  from  Murree  eastward  to  Garhwal, 
if  not  to  Central  Nepal.  That  it  was  the  same  on  the 
less  accessible  range  of  the  Hindu  Kush  we  have  reason 
to  believe  from  the  casual  reports  that  were  received 
during  the  last  winter,  and  we  know  that  in  Southern 
Europe  and  even  in  Northern  Africa,  snow  fell  down  to 
the  sea-level,  and  was  such  as  has  hardly  been  experi- 
enced certainly  during  the  greater  part  of  the  present 
century.  The  phenomenon  has  therefore  been  one  of 
widespread  incidence,  and  indicates  some  remarkable 
and  rare  condition  of  those  higher  strata  of  the  atmo- 
sphere which,  we  have  now  reason  to  believe,  are  the  seat 
of  the  more  important  changes  that  regulate  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  weather  of  the  globe. 

Concurrently  with  this  exceptional  extension  of  the 
snowfall  to  low  latitudes  of  the  temperate  zone,  the 
Indian  registers  afford  evidence  of  certain  abnormal  fea- 
tures, which  are  such  as  have  been  noticed  on  former 
occasions  of  unusual  snowfall  on  the  North- West  Hima- 
laya, and  the  bearing  of  which  on  the  weakness  of  the 
summer  monsoon  is  more  clearly  traceable.  In  fact,  they 
tend  to  link  the  two  phenomena  together,  whether  we 
regard  them  as  the  common  effects  of  some  more  remote 
agency,  or  as  displaying  the  different  steps  of  a  physical 
sequence  of  cause  and  effect.  The  most  important  of 
these  are  :  the  unusual  rainfall  over  the  whole  of  Northern 
India  in  the  past  winter  and  spring,  amounting  to  from 
two  to  three  times  the  average  in  the  Punjab,  where  it 
was  heaviest ;  a  prevailing  low  temperature  in  Northern 
and  especially  North- Western  India,  together  with  a 
corresponding  excess  of  temperature  in  Assam,  Burma, 
and  Southern  India ;  and  finally,  a  persistent  excess  of 
atmospheric  pressure  in  the  former  region  and  a  defi- 
ciency in  the  latter.  These  anomalous  features  have 
<;haracterized  more  or  less  all  the  months  of  the  present 
year,  especially  March  and  May.  As  estimated  by 
European  standards,  the  anomalies  of  this  last  element 
may  indeed  appear  small.  For  instance,  the  mean  excess 
at  Peshawar  in  May  was  0*052  inch,  at  Mooltan  0*041, 
and  at  Quetta  0*049  inch,  while  the  deficiency  at  Calicut 
was  0*040  inch,  and  at  Sibsagar  0031  inch.  Taken  to- 
gether, they  constitute  an  anomalous  gradient  from  north- 
west to  south  and  east  of  something  under  a  tenth  of  a 
barometric  inch  in  distances  of  1300  and  1500  miles.  But 
in  India  such  differences  are  relatively  large,  and,  as 
former  experience  has  abundantly  shown,  very  significant. 
As  temporary  phenomena  they  might  indeed  be  of  little 
importance;  but,  lasting  as  they  have  done  through 
nearly  half  a  year,  they  point  to  an  anomalous  state  of 
the  atmosphere  which  is  evidently  persistent,  and  is  dis- 
tinctly adverse  to  the  northern  incursion  of  the  summer 
monsoon.  Taking  the  general  mean  of  all  parts  of  the 
empire,  the  atmospheric  pressure  has  been  above  the 
average  in  every  month  of  the  present  year.  With  respect 
to  the  winds,  Mr.  Eliot  remarks  : — "  South-easterly  winds 
have  been  unusually  prevalent  in  Bengal  and  Behar 
during  the  months  of  April  and  May,  and  north-westerly 
and  northerly  winds  on  the  west  coast  of  India  as  far 
south  as  Cochin.  The  unusual  prevalence  of  north- 
westerly winds  on  the  Bombay  coast  in  the  month  of  May 
-was  one  of  the  features  of  the  weather  in  1876,  1883,  and 
1885,  in  which  years  the  monsoon  was  greatly  retarded 
on  that  coast.*' 

NO.   II 32,  VOL.  44] 


Finally,  after  reviewing  the  chief  characteristics  of 
other  years  in  which  the  Himalayan  snowfall  has  been 
heavier  than  usual,  Mr.  Eliot  draws  the  following  con- 
clusions with  respect  to  the  probable  character  of  the 
monsoon  rains  of  the  present  year  in  the  different 
provinces  of  India : — 

"  (i)  Snowfall  conditions  on  the  Western  Himalayas, 
&c.,  and  the  pressure  conditions  in  India  are  very  un- 
favourable to  the  establishment  of  a  strong  and  eailj 
monsoon  on  the  Bombay  coast.  It  is  very  probable  that 
it  will  not  be  established  in  full  strength  on  the  Bombay 
coast  before  the  third  or  fourth  week  in  June,  and  it  is 
probable  that  it  will  be  below  its  average  strength,  and 
may  be  withdrawn  from  Upper  India  earlier  than  usn^ 
in  September. 

"  (2)  The  snowfall  conditions  in  the  Eastern  Himalayas, 
and  the  pressure  conditions  in  North-Eastem  India  and 
Burma,  are  favourable  to  the  advance  of  a  moderatdf 
strong  or  strong  monsoon  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal  eailier 
than  usual,  and  to  its  establishment  in  Burma  and 
Bengal  before  or  about  its  normal  period,"  and  Burma, 
Bengal,  and  Assam  are  expected  to  receive  an  average  or 
more  than  an  average  rainfall  ;  Behar  and  the  eastern 
districts  of  the  North-West  Provinces  about  the  usual 
amount.  In  Southern  India  it  is  thought  probable  that 
the  rains  may  be  retarded,  but  that  Malabar  and  Southern 
India  generally  are  likely  to  receive  favourable  rain  during 
the  monsoon. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  pointed  out  that  **  conditions 
are  very  unfavourable  for  Rajputana,  and  also  to  some 
extent  in  Guzerat,  the  southern  districts  of  the  Punjab, 
and  the  western  districts  of  the  North-West  Provinces.  It 
is  probable  the  lainfall  will  be  more  or  less  deficient  over 
the  whole  of  that  area,  and  possible  that  the  deficiency 
may  be  large  and  serious."  In  Northern  Bombay  and 
Berar  it  is  thought  that  "  the  rainfall  is  more  likely  to  be 
slightly  deficient  than  up  to  its  normal  amount,*'  and  that 
in  the  Central  Provinces  it  will  be  "fairly  normal-" 

From  this  abstract  it  will  be  seen  that  the  region  in 
which  drought  is  chiefly  to  be  anticipated  is  the  western 
provinces  of  Northern  India,  comprising  Rajputana,  Guze- 
rat, the  southern  districts  of  the  Punjab,  and  the  western 
districts  of  the  North-West  Provinces  ;  provinces  the 
average  rainfall  of  which  does  not  exceed  between  20 
and  30  inches,  and  which  time  after  time  have  been  the 
seat  of  disastrous  famines.  Now  there  is  one  considera- 
tion relevant  to  this  subject  of  which  no  mention  is  made 
in  Mr.  Eliot's  report,  and  which,  notwithstanding  that  its 
bearing  is  purely  empirical,  cannot,  we  think,  be  entirely 
disregarded  when  dealing  with  the  question  of  prob- 
abilities.  This  is  the  fact,  first  pointed  out  by  the 
Famine  Commissioners,  that  between  1782  and  1877,  on 
no  less  than  five  occasions,  a  drought  in  Southern  India 
was  followed  by  a  drought  in  Northern  or  rather  North- 
western India  in  the  succeeding  year.  It  does  not  seem 
possible,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  even  to 
suggest  any  physical  explanation  of  this  remarkable 
sequence,  but  it  has  been  repeated  too  often  to  allow  of 
our  regarding  it  as  purely  fortuitous,  and  unfortunately  it 
only  tends  to  strengthen  the  probability  of  the  adverse 
conditions  inferred  by  Mr.  Eliot  from  the  existing  state  of 
things. 

It  must  be  confessed,  then,  that, according  to  our  present 
means  of  judgment,  the  present  outlook  is  by  no  means 
hopeful.  The  mere  fact  of  a  retardation  of  the  monsoon 
rains  would  not  in  itself  afford  cause  for  serious  anxiety. 
According  to  the  latest  report  from  Madras,  indeed,  this 
part  of  Mr.  Eliot's  forecast  seems  to  have  been  justified 
by  the  event,  for  on  June  26  the  Governor  of  Madras 
telegraphs  that  the  south-west  monsoon  rains  have  not 
set  in  properly  in  the  interior,  and  are  very  light  even  on 
the  Malabar  coast,'  whereas  the  date  at  which  they  are 

'  We  have  uken  the  liberty  of  altering  the  punctuation  of  this  tdegnun 
to  bring  it  into  accordance  with  sense  and  fact. 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


227 


usually  expected  is  the  end  of  May  or  the  beginning  of 
June.  The  really  critical  months  in  North -Western  India 
are  August  and  September.  If  the  rainfall  is  then 
abundant  and  continuous  up  to  the  end  of  the  third 
week  in  September,  with  a  final  shower  or  two  at  the  end 
of  the  month,  all  may  yet  be  well ;  but  if  the  rainfall  of 
these  months  is  light  and  partial,  and  if  it  ceases  pre- 
maturely, the  crops  form  no  ear,  and  they  perish  and  dry 
up  in  the  warm  dry  west  winds  that  speedily  follow.  And 
it  is  these  crops  that  furnish  the  food  staples  of  the 
agricultural  classes  of  India.  H.  F.  B. 


PHYSICAL  SCIENCE  FOR  ARTISTS.^ 

II. 

AX/'E  next  come  to  the  absorption  of  light.     1  do  not 
^^     know  whether  you  have  had  any  opportunity  yet  in 
your  laboratory  course  of  observing  the  spectral  pheno- 
mena produced  when  white  light,  or  say  solar  light,  is 
absorbed   by  different  substances.      The  white  light  is 
broken  up  by  the  dispersion  of  the  prisms  into  a  rain- 
bow band  ;  while  it  is  possible,  by  one  means  or  another, 
one  substance  or  another,  to  filch  out  of  this  coloured 
band  some  of  the  constituent  colours,  now  at  one  end, 
now  at  another,  sometimes  in  different  parts  at  once ;  and 
when  this  has  been  done,  the  light  which  finally  reaches 
the  eye  may  be  of  any  colour,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
different  colours  you  see  in  a  stained  glass  window.    This 
is  what    happens  also  by  the  absorption  of  our  atmo- 
sphere, due  in  all  probability  in  great  part  to  the  contained 
aqueous  vapour.    The  sun  is  white  in  the  middle  of  the 
day  and  red  at  sunset.    The  blue  part  of  the  light,  which, 
when  all  the  colours  reach  us,  looks  white,  has  been  taken 
away,  and  practically  nothing  but  red  is  left ;  only  certain 
parts  of  the  spectrum  are  left.     It  is  easy,  after  two  or 
three  hours'  experiments  with  the  absorption  of  light  by 
different  media,  to  grasp  the  laws  which  govern  sunset 
colours  precisely,  as  it  is  easy  in  the  anatomical  school 
to  study  the  facts  relating  to  the  human  form,  particular 
muscles   and  the  like.      A  diligent    student  will  thus 
have    the    world    of    colour   at    his    feet.      This    can, 
however,   only  be  done  by  one  interested  in   physical 
science,  and  I  think  it  should  be  done  by  anyone  who 
wishes  to  deal  with  landscapes  or  seascapes,  anything,  in 
fact,  which  has  to  do  with  the  natural  world.    The  results 
obtained  in  this  way  of  course  come  to  us  pictorially, 
chiefly  in  the  colour  of  sky  and  water  and  in  the  colours 
of  clouds,  and  they  are  mixed   up  in  pictures  by  the 
knowledge,  or  want  of   knowledge,  of  the  artist  who 
paints  these  various  reflecting  surfaces.     The  reflecting 
surface,  whether  water  or  cloud,  or  what  not,  must  not 
only  be  true  in  colour,  but  perfectly  formed,  in  order  to 
give  an  absolutely  perfect  and  pleasant  picture. 

Here  I  think  it  is  that  the  need  of  physical  science  is 
greatest,  and  I  do  not  know,  in  fact,  that  there  ought  not 
to  be  some  kind  of  an  examination  in  a  College  like  this 
which  shall  insure  that  anyone  who  is  going  to  take  up 
the  study  of  art  is  not  colour-blind.  This  is  done  in  the 
case  of  sailors  and  engine-drivers,  and  1  think  it  should 
be  done  in  the  case  of  artists.  There  are  pictures  which 
have  apparently  been  painted  by  colour-blind  people  ;  and 
of  course  it  should  be  a  subject  of  great  regret  that  so 
much  skill  has  been  wasted  in  consequence  of  such  a 
malformation  as  this. 

It  may  be,  of  course,  that  in  some  cases,  where  the  thing 
may  be  charitably  supposed  to  arise  from  a  physical 
defect,  it  is  the  result  of  mere  ignorance,  or  want  of  observ- 
ing power  ;  but  if  that  be  so,  then  my  point  is  proved, 
because  it  is  clear  that  a  good  scientific  training  will  cause 
these  objectionable,  impossible,  colours  to  be  gradu- 
aUy  eliminated  from  our  exhibitions.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  we  look  at  a  gallery  of  pictures,  one  is  so  frequently 

'  Continued  from  p.  178. 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


rewarded  by  the  exquisite  truth  of  some  of  them,  that 
one  could  very  well  look  over  the  defects  of  others,  if 
all  thoughts  of  the  possible  progress  of  art  achievement 
were  banished  from  one's  mind. 

Some  of  you  may  [>erhaps  have  read  Mr.  Ruskin's 
chapter  on  clouds.  The  scientific  basis  of  the  various 
cloud  forms,  however,  you  will  not  find  there.  Now  when 
we  consider  that  in  land-  and  sea-scapes  the  sky,  and 
especially  the  clouds,  are  among  the  most  important  re- 
flectors of  light,  whether  white  or  coloured,  the  form  of 
the  cloud  is  absolutely  of  very  high  importance.  If  the 
light  is  reflected  by  an  absolutely  impossible  cloud,  your 
delight  at  the  colour,  which  may  be  true,  is  absolutely 
checked  by  the  treatment  of  the  anatomy  of  the  cloud- 
Here,  again,  we  touch  a  distinct  branch  of  physical 
science.  An  acquaintance  with  the  various  forms  of  con- 
densation assumed  by  aqueous  vapour  under  the  various 
conditions  of  the  atmosphere  would  certainly  keep  one 
right  where  one  would  be  very  apt  to  go  wrong.  I  referred^ 
also,  to  the  reflection  of  sunlight,  whether  white  or 
coloured  by  absorption,  by  water.  Here,  I  think,  is  a 
region  where  physical  science  is  also  helpful.  There  can 
be  no  question  that  the  grandest  display  of  colour  in  the 
natural  world  is  a  sunrise  or  sunset,  either  at  sea,  or  where 
there  is  a  water  surface  to  bring  in  a  second  series  of  re- 
flection phenomena.  As  a  rule,  perhaps,  if  the  water  be 
somewhat  land-locked,  or  at  all  events  not  broken  up  by 
strong  wind,  the  effect  is  finer,  and  this  perhaps  is  one  of 
the  reasons,  but  only  one,  why  the  sunsets  seen  off  the 
west  coast  of  Scotland  are  so  remarkable. 

This,  however,  does  not  always  hold.  I  have  seen  a 
sunrise  in  the  Mediterranean  when  passing  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  twenty  years  ago,  which  was  so  magnificent^ 
that  not  only  is  it  still  present  in  my  mind's  eye,  but  all 
the  sailors  who  were  swabbing  the  deck  al  the  time  ceased 
work  and  simply  gazed  at  it  entranced.  It  promised  to 
be  a  cloudy  sunrise,  but  suddenly  the  cloud  pall  melted 
into  mackerel  sky,  and  the  sun  at  rising  payed  out  different 
colours  on  the  high  and  low  patches ;  the  sea  was 
choppy,  and  every  facet  of  every  wave,  and  every  facet  of 
a  facet,  being  turned  to  different  parts  of  the  sky  ;  these 
picked  up  and  reflected  to  the  eye  different  colours,  so 
that  every  wave  looked  like  a  casket  of  gems. 

The  red  or  yellow  colours  on  the  clouds  depend  simply 
upon  the  thickness  of  the  atmosphere  which  the  sunlight 
has  traversed  to  reach  them ;  the  colour  depends  ab- 
solutely upon  the  light  received  from  the  sun,  and  it 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  apparent  angular  distance 
from  the  sun  in  your  picture ;  but  while  all  this  change 
is  going  on  in  the  clouds  the  sky  itself  will  be  zoned  above 
the  horizon  from  the  red  to  the  blue  overhead,  and  in 
addition  to  that,  you  will  get  the  greater  luminosity  nearer 
the  sun's  place.  But  further  than  that  the  sky  will  not  go, 
because  it  cannot.  At  the  same  height  above  the  horizon 
you  must  have  absolutely  the  same  sky  colour.  Now  that 
is  a  very  obvious  conclusion.  You  will  always  note  the 
greatest  possible  distinction  between  the  colour  of  the 
pure  sky  and  of  the  clouds.  A  favourite  sky  colour  in 
sunsets  is  green.  I  have  seen  no  green  clouds  except  in 
pictures. 

I  have  noted  a  few  of  those  pictures  this  year,  which,  in 
my  opinion,  and  1  only  give  it  for  what  it  is  worth,  are 
remarkable  for  their  truth,  or  for  the  absence  of  it,  in  dif- 
ferent degrees.  The  numbers  are  those  of  the  Royal 
Academy  Catalogue,  unless  otherwise  stated  : — 

Clauds. — Good  colour,  351. 

Good  form,  288,  600. 

Good  colour  and  form,  238. 
Water. — Good  colour,  630,  1029. 

Good  surface,  682,  759,  1013.      New  Gallery,  102, 
120. 

With  great  deference  I  must,  until  convinced  to  the 
contrary,  hold  that  much  of  the  colour  in  the  following 


228 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


pictures  is  impossible— ^m^  1028,  176,  192,  515  ;  it  is  bad 
in  203,  498,  586,  602,  1044,  107 1. 

The  cloud  forms  in  498,  536,  and  966  are  unlike  any- 
thing I  have  seen  in  any  quarter  of  the  world. 

But  cloud  is  not  the  only  thing  we  have  to  deal  with. 
There  is  a  still  finer  form  of  aqueous  vapour  which  shows  it- 
self as  atmosphere;  its  function  is  to  soften  distant  outlines, 
to  gradually  assimilate  colours,  laying,  so  to  speak,  its 
own  upon  them,  and  then,  again,  to  soften  even  this.  So 
that  distant  vistas  of  hills  and  vales  first  become  blue  in 
prevailing  tone,  biit  the  most  distant  ones  lose  this,  and 
fade  to  a  more  neutral  tint. 

These  things  this  year  are  admirably  rendered  in  11 30 
293  offends  by  the  impossible  hardness  of  the  hill  on  the 
right  of  the  picture. 

To  most  of  you  the  terms  selective  absorption  and 
selective  reflection  of  colour  are  familiar ;  of  the  latter  an 
admirable  study  is  to  be  found  in  1062.  For  reflection 
badly  managed,  study  145  in  the  New  Gallery.  The  artist 
seems  to  be  under  the  impression  that  some  birds  have  a 
special  capacity  for  reflecting  colour. 

Of  special  studies  of  various  natural  objects,  I  think 
the  following  in  the  German  Exhibition  are  worth  exa- 
mination :  a  glacier  (287) ;  cloudy  moonlight  (433) ; 
careful  study  of  light-grading  (but  sun  should  be  more 
luminous  in  the  latter)  (52,  343). 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  we  should  find  such 
a  close  association  between  bad  cloud  forms  and  bad 
colour.  It  was  a  true  instinct  which  led  Mr.  Ruskin  to 
treat  of  these  matters  in  his  "  Modem  Painters,"  but  why 
did  he  not  go  further  into  the  real  basis— the  real  grit  of 
it  all,  instead  of  confining  himself  to  the  mere  fringe  of 
these  great  subjects?.  It  was,  I  expect,  because  the 
possible  connection  between  science  and  art  was  less 
recognized  then  even  than  it  is  now.  But  is  it  too  late  ? 
No  one  could  touch  the  questions  still  with  more  sympathy 
than  Mr.  Ruskin. 

But  to  come  back  to  the  pictures.  Almost,  if  not  quite 
as  good  as  600,  is  No.  50  in  the  German  Exhibition  We 
find  in  630  a  careful  study  of  colour.  The  most  wonderful 
colourwhichcanbegoton  nearly  still  water  is  that  you  some- 
times see  at  sunrise  or  sunset  with  a  good  green  or  yellowish 
sky  near  the  horizon,  and  a  perfectly  blue  sky  overhead. 
In  that  case  every  unit  of  the  surf^e  (every  undulation) 
will  reflect  to  your  eye  a  certain  amount  of  horizon-light 
and  a  certain  amount  of  blue  sky,  and  the  total  result  will 
be  a  sea  of  molten  steel.  Another  point  in  this  connection 
is  this  :  if  your  surface  is  even,  you  can  get  a  reflection  of 
this  kind  from  several  surfaces  besides  water.  I  was  in 
Egypt  last  winter,  and  I  saw  a  wonderful  sunset,  looking 
out  from  the  little  quay  at  Ismailia.  The  sand  of  the 
desert  lay  beyond  and  round  the  water  in  the  fore- 
ground, which  was  more  or  less  bluish  ;  the  lake,  in  fact, 
is  bounded  by  sandbanks  of  no  great  elevation,  the  canal 
coming  in  at  one  end  and  running  out  at  the  other. 

In  the  day-time  in  full  sunshine  the  sand  is  yellow,  as 
yellow  as  it  can  be,  and  at  sunset  it  is  grey-white.  There  is 
nothing  very  remarkable  in  the  sky,  but  the  intense  blue  in 
the  sky  overhead.  There  is  no  aqueous  vapour  to  absorb, 
and  therefore  there  is  no  colour.  But  wait  for  the  after- 
glow !  when  you  get  sunlight,  reflected  from  the  clouds  or 
sky,  which  reaches  your  eye  after  two  transmissions 
through  the  lower  air  ;  then  you  can  get  colour,  and  you  do 
get  it.  What  you  see  is  the  most  exquisite  violet  halo,  and 
the  colours  with  which  we  are  familiar  here  more  or  less  ; 
but  the  striking  thing  is  the  intense  violet  halo  in  the  sky, 
and  the  warming  up  of  colour  till  the  sunset  place  is 
reached.  Well,  now,  what  is  the  effect  of  that  upon  the 
landscape?  Everything  is  turned  green,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  only  constituent  common  to  the  colour 
which  reaches,  and  is  reflected  most  readily  by,  the  sand,  is 
the  tint  of  green  :  ihe  sands  change,  as  if  by  magic,  into  a 
wonderful  chlorophyll  green.  Now,  I  venture  to  think 
that  the  artist  who  endeavours  to  work  out  problems  of 

NO.    1132,  VOL.  44] 


this  kind  will  be  more  likely  to  paint  a  beaiitiftil  picture 
than  the  one  who  copies  nature  merely,  and  this  brii^ 
me  into  strict  harmony  with  the  Academy  motto.  It 
seems  to  me  that  physical  science  may  in  this  way,  if 
associated  with  the  study  of  art,  give  us  new  possibilities 
in  the  art  future  that  will  transcend  anything  that  we 
know  of  now,  and  the  time  will  certainly  come,  ultimately, 
when  the  highest  art  will  resnlt  from  the  study  of  naturaJ 
science  and  the  science  of  the  human  form. 

Seeing  that  already  artists  spend  years  in  the  study  of 
only  one  part  of  the  field  of  observation,  they  must  surely 
in  time  Come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  better  to 
annex  other  branches. 

It  would  not  be  right  if  I  concluded  what  I  have  to  say 
without  calling  attention  to  the  important  remarks  made 
by  Mr.  Briton  Riviere,  on  science  in  relation  to  painting, 
at  the  Edinburgh  Art  Congress : — 

"  Whatever  may  have  been  done  in  other  lines  of 
human  energy  during  the  Victorian  age,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  its  most  remarkable  achievements,  both 
theoretical  and  practical,  have  been  those  of  science.  .  .  . 
The  art  of  the  painter  has  not  escaped  its  influence.  Cn 
one  side,  and  a  very  important  one — that  of  realism — the 
side  which  furnishes  the  language— 2.^.  the  signs  and 
symbols  which  express  the  idea  of  the  artist — there  is  a 
wide  front  open  to  the  influence  of  science;  and  on  that 
side  art  has  not  been  slow  or  unwilling  to  follow  the 
advice  of  science,  or  ungrateful  for  the  valuable  help  it 
has  afforded.  According  to  my  theory,  this  supremncy 
of  science  would  have  influenced  art  under  any  circum- 
stances, but  it  has  been  able  to  do  so  through  the  ven* 
method  and  language  of  art  itself. 

"Will  this  influence  help  or  retard  the  influence  of  art? 
My  answer  is,  it  may  do  either,  according  to  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  received  and  used  by  the  artist.  If  the 
painter  resolutely  holds  the  belief  that  painting  is  a 
language,  and  a  work  of  art  the  expression  of  an  idea, 
and  uses  science,  and  all  that  it  has  discovered  and 
teaches,  to  enable  him  better  to  understand  his  signs  and 
symbols,  viz.  the  material  facts  of  nature,  so  that  by 
means  ot  them  he  may  express  himself  correctly,  just  as 
a  writer  has  behind  him  the  philologist  to  busy  himself 
about  the  derivation  and  meaning  of  words,  and  the 
grammarian  to  show  him  how  to  place  these  words  so  as 
to  produce  the  meaning  he  requires — if,  I  say,  the  painter 
so  receives  and  uses  the  knowledge  and  appliances  of 
science,  then  I  think  the  cause  of  art  will  be  macb 
advanced  by  science,  and  works  produced  under  its 
influence  will  be  stronger  and  richer  than  they  could 
possibly  have  been  without  it.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
painter  allows  this  scientific  knowledge  of  the  material 
or  realistic  part  of  his  work  to  obscure  the  purely  artistic 
or  ideal  part  of  it,  to  obscure  instead  of  to  intensify  the 
idea;  and  if,  carried  away  by  the  material  wonders  of 
the  •  thing '  which  science  has  unfolded,  he  forgets  the 
'thought'  altogether,  then  assuredly,  however  true  he 
may  have  shown  himself  to  be  to  the  cause  of  science, 
that  of  art  will  suffer  at  his  hands — indeed,  may  be  lost 
altogether.  For  I  feel  sure  that  most  of  my  brother 
artists  will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  possible  for  a  picture 
to  be  scientifically  true  and  have  no  art  at  all  in  it ,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  contain  several  scientific  blunders 
and  yet  be  a  great  work  of  art." 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  I  have  ventured  to-day  to 
preach  no  new  doctrine  to  you  ;  even  my  gloss  on  the 
Academy  motto  is  endorsed  by  Mr.  Briton  Riviere. 

But  I  can  go  further  than  this,  and  quote  Prof.  Hehn- 
holtz  in  support  of  the  gloss.  You  should  all  read  his 
admirable  lecture  "  On  the  Relation  of  Optics  to  Paint- 
ing."^ In  it  he  remarks,  "The  artist  cannot  transcribe 
Nature:  he  must  translate  her;"  and  he  adds,  "This 
translation  may  give  us  an  impression,  in  the  highest 

*  "Popular  Scientific  Lectures"  Helmholtz.  2nd  S«ries,  p.  735.    (I/wg- 
mans.  1881.) 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


229 


degree  distinct  and  forcible,  not  merely  of  the  objects 
thennselves,  but  even  of  the  greatly  altered  intensities  of 
light  under  which  we  view  them.  .  .  .  Thus  the  imitation 
of  Nature  in  the  picture  is  at  the  same  time  an  ennobling 
of  the  impression  on  the  senses.'* 

Let  me  congratulate  you  on  the  fact  that  here,  at  all 
events,  the  importance  of  physical  science  in  its  relation 
to  art  is  not  forgotten.  J.  Norman  Lockyer. 


LUMINOUS  CLOUDS, 

T  N  an  article  contributed  to  Nature  on  November  20, 
-*  1890  (vol.  xliii.  p.  59),  Herr  O.  Jesse  (of  the  Royal 
Observatory  of  Berlin)  pave  an  accouot  of  his  observations 
of  luminous  clouds.  He  has  recently  submitted  to  the 
Prussian  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  a  record  of  later 
work ;  and,  as  the  subject  is  one  of  considerable  interest, 
it  may  be  worth  while  to  translate  his  paper.^ 

With  regard  to  the  results,  already  briefly  noted,  obtained 
in  the  summer  of  1S90,  I  have  now  to  report  more  pre- 
cisely, that  with  the  help  of  the  grant  made  by  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  we  were  able,  during  the  period 
when  the  phenomenon  appeared,  to  secure  a  collection  of 
photographs  which  afford  rich  material  for  study. 

On  this  as  on  previous  occasions  the  clouds  were  visible 
only  between  the  end  of  May  and  the  beginning  of  August. 
They  appeared  for  the  first  time,  in  1890,  on  May  26  ;  for 
the  last  time— and  then  there  was  only  a  feeble  trace  of 
them — at  the  beginning  of  August  The  phenomenon, 
therefore,  was  seen  within  nearly  four  weeks  of  the  sum- 
mer solstice — before  and  after  it— but  chiefly  after  it. 

Since  my  last  report,  I  have  received  confirm  ition 
of  the  statement  that  the  time  when  the  phenomenon 
appears  in  the  southern  hemisphere  has  a  corresponding 
relation  to  the  summer  solstice  there.  Unfortunately, 
however,  more  precise  facts  with  regard  to  place,  &c.,  in 
the  southern  hemisphere,  are  still  lacking. 

During  the  period  between  May  26  and  July  24,  1890, 
we  obtained  altogether  180  photographs  of  luminous 
clouds  at  Steglitz,  Rathenow,  and  Nauen,  and  at  the 
Observatory  of  Urania,  Berlin.  Of  these  photographs,  75 
iire  suitable  for  the  determination  of  height,  inasmuch 
as  they  were  secured  at  the  same  time  in  at  least  two 
different  places.  Thirty  of  the  photographs  may  be  used 
for  the  determination  of  the  speed  and  direction  of  the 
movements  of  the  clouds,  because  their  representations 
of  the  clouds  were  taken  at  proper  intervals  at  one  and 
the  same  place.  The  remaining  photographs  are  adapted 
for  investigations  relating  to  the  dimensions  of  the  clouds 
and  their  structure. 

The  phenomenon  was  again  less  bright  than  it  had 
been  in  the  preceding  year.  Only  when  the  atmosphere 
was  exceptionally  transparent  was  there  an  approach  to 
the  former  brilliancy.  The  aggregations  of  these  masses 
of  particles  are  obviously  becoming  thinner,  as  may 
also  be  perceived  from  the  more  distinct  appearance  of 
certain  relations  of  structure,  like  the  ridge  and  rib 
formations  (wave  formations)  mentioned  in  my  last 
report.  Formerly  these  were  concealed  by  superposition 
and  apparent  interference  of  a  greater  richness  of  analo- 
gous strata  :  now  the  characteristic  lines  of  the  configura- 
tions consisting  of  these  ridge  and  rib  formations  present 
themselves  more  simply  and  in  greater  isolation. 

It  has  now  been  proved  more  successfully  than  before 
that  the  ridges  or  longitudinal  strips  lie  parallel  to,  while 
the  ribs  or  cross  strips  are  almost  at  right  angles  to,  the 
direction  of  the  movement  of  the  entire  cloud.  Further, 
we  made  on  different  days  several  series  of  measurements 

<  **  Sitzungsberichte  der  KAnig*ich  Prea<«tschen  Akademie  der  Wtswn- 
jHrhaften  zu  Berlin,"  1891.  xxvi.  Si  xting  der  phy&ikalisch-nuitheinatlschen 
Clause,  vom  38  Mai.  "  Untrnuchuxgen  liber  die  sogenannten  leuchrenden 
Wolken/*  von  O.  Je^se.  Steglits. 


of  the  distances  of  the  ribs  (wave-crests)  from  one  another 
with  the  following  groups  of  results  : — 

Kilom. 

Mean  value  of  the  distances  of  9  wave-crests    ...    8*3 

10         „  ...    99 

10         ,,  ...    8*4 


»> 
>> 


If 


it 


NO.    II 32,  VOL.  44] 


Average     ...     8*9 

Especially  striking,  last  summer,  was  the  difference 
between  the  clearness  with  which  the  clouds  appeared  in 
the  morning  hours,  and  that  with  which  they  appeared  at 
the  corresponding  times  before  midnight. 

With  regard  to  the  height  of  the  luminous  clouds  in 
the  summier  of  1890  the  measurements,  so  far  as  they 
were  definitely  calculated,  gave  the  mean  value  of  82 
kilom.,  agreeing  almost  exactly  with  the  value  of  nearly 
83  kilom.,  deduced  from  my  photographs  of  1889. 

The  persistence  from  year  to  year  —now  for  the  first 
time  shown  with  sufficient  accuracy — of  the  distance, 
and  therefore  of  the  position  of  the  level  surface  of  the 
phenomenon,  would  alone  deserve  to  be  recorded  as  a 
scientific  fact  of  }<reat  importance. 

As  for  the  speed  and  directions  of  the  movements,  it 
was  again  found  that  the  chief  component  of  the  move- 
ment was  directed. from  east  to  west,  and'  amounted  to 
nearly  100  metres  in  the  second,  while  the  speed  of  the 
revolution  of  the  zone  of  the  earth  above  which  the 
clouds  were  placed  is  about  240  metres  in  the  second 
from  west  to  east. 

The  e  was  also  a  smaller  and  variable  component  in 
the  direction  of  the  meridian.  This  was  directed  from 
north  to  south  at  the  times  at  which  we  hive  hitherto 
obtained  tolerably  secure  determinations  of  movement. 

The  points  of  view  from  which  the  phenomenon  of 
luminous  clouds,  on  the  ground  of  the  observations 
hitherto  made,  is  to  be  regarded,  are  already  numerous. 
There  is  still,  however,  a  wide  field  for  research  in  con- 
nection with  the  questions.  What  are  the  forces  which 
make  the  phenomenon  appear  chiefly  in  the  morning 
hours }  and.  What  is  the  nature  of  those  forces  which 
cause  the  movement  of  the  clouds  to  be  mainly  from  the 
north-east,  and  drive  them  from  the  northern  to  the 
southern  hemisphere  and  back  again  .**  Then  the  question 
as  to  the  height  of  the  phenomenon  in  different  latitudes 
is  probably  of  greU  importance  for  the  constitution  of  our 
atmosphere ;  and  not  less  interesting  is  the  question 
relating  to  the  material  of  which  the  luminous  clouds  are 
composed.  Unfortunately  the  interest  taken  by  the 
scientific  world  in  this  remarkable  phenomenon  is  in 
general  so  small  that  during  the  short  time  the  phe- 
nomenon will  probably  present  itself  we  can  scarcely 
expect  to  obtain  for  these  questions  answers  that  shall  be 
to  any  considerable  extent  satisfactory. 


WILHELM  EDUARD   WEBER, 

THE  venerable  physicist,  Wilhelm  Eduard  Weber, 
whose  death  on  June  23  we  shortly  announced 
last  week,  was  born  at  Wittenberg  on  October  24, 
1804,  the  second  of  three  sons  of  Michael  Weber,  Pro- 
fessor of  Positive  Divinity  at  Wittenberg.  He  studied  at 
the  University  of  Halle,  where  Schweigger  was  then 
Professor  of  Physics  ;  he  took  his  Doctor's  degree  in  1826, 
became  Privatdocent  in  the  following  year,  and  Professor- 
Extraordinary  of  Physics  in  1828.  In  1831  he  was  called 
to  Gottingen  to  succeed  Jobarn  Tobias  Mayer  in  the 
Chair  of  Physics,  and  remained  there  till  1837.  Among 
other  results  of  the  death  in  this  year  of  King  William 
IV.,  there  came  about  serious  changes  in  the  University 
of  Gottingen.  Queen  Victoria  being  excluded  fro  n  the 
throne  of  Hanover,  by  the  operation  of  the  Salic  law,  her 
uncle,  Ernest  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland,  became 
King  of  Hanover.    This  prince  held  high  views  as  to  the 


230 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


powers  of  hereditary  rulers.  In  his  view  the  narrow  liberties 
enjoyed  by  his  subjects,  under  the  Constitution  reluctantly 
granted  by  William  IV.  in  1833,  were  excessive  and  intoler- 
able. He  suspended  the  Constitution,  and  thereby  called 
forth  vigorous  protests  from  Dahlmann  and  other  Pro- 
fessors of  the  Hanoverian  University.  As  a  punishment, 
sevenofthem— Dahlmann,  Weber,  the  two  Grimms  (Jacob 
and  Wilhelm),  Albrepht,  Gervinus,  and  Ewald— were 
ejected  from  their  chairs,  and  Gervinus,  Dahlmann,  and 
Jacob  Grimm  were  even  expelled  from  the  country.  From 
this  time  Weber  lived  for  some  years  in  retirement,  but 
in  1843  he  accepted  the  Professorship  of  Physics  in 
Leipzig  (in  succession  to  Fechner),  and  in  1849  ^e  returned 
to  his  former  position  in  the  University  of  Gottingen. 
He  was  in  Gottingen  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Wilhelm  Weber's  eldest  brother,  Ernst  Heinrich,  was 
the  celebrated  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  at 
Leipzig.  He  was  bom  at  Wittenberg  in  1795,  and  died 
at  Leipzig  in  1878,  having  been  elected  a  Foreign  Member 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  in  1862.  The  youngest 
of  the  three  brothers,  Eduard  Friednch,  was  also  highly 
distinguished  as  an  anatomist,  and  held  ofBce  for  many 
years  in  the  University  of  Leipzig. 

Weber's  first  contribution  to  science  at  once  took  rank 
as  a  scientific  classic,  a  position  it  is  likely  to  keep  for 
many  years  to  come.  This  was  "  Die  Wellenlehre  auf 
Experimente  gegriindet,"  a  volume  of  574  pages,  and 
18  copper  plates,  nearly  all  engraved  by  the  authors, 
published  m  1825  by  the  brothers  Ernst  and  Wil- 
helm Weber,  and  embodying  the  results  of  number- 
less original  experiments  and  observations.  One  of  the 
most  striking  results  of  these  investigations  was  the  dis- 
covery that,  when  a  regular  series  of  waves  follow  each 
other  along  the  surface  of  water,  the  particles  at  the 
surface  describe  vertical  circles  whose  plane  is  parallel  to 
the  direction  of  propagation  of  the  waves,  and  those 
lower  down  ellipses  of  which  the  vertical  axis  becomes 
smaller  and  smaller  with  increasing  depth.  As  to  the 
composition  of  this  work,  the  authors  say  that  it  grew  up 
as  the  result  of  such  constant  and  intimate  communica- 
tion between  them  with  regard  to  ail  parts,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  assign  to  either  of  them  the  separate 
authorship  of  any  distinct  portions. 

For  several  years  Weber  continued  to  occupy  himself 
mainly  with  questions  of  acoustics,  on  which  he  published 
various  papers  of  importance.  In  1833  he  published,  in 
conjunction  with  his  brother,  Eduard  Friedrich,  a  me- 
morable investigation  into  the  mechanism  of  walking 
**Mechanik  der  menschlichen  Gehwerkzeuge  "). 

But  it  is  chiefiy  by  his  magnetic  and  electrical  re- 
searches that  Weber's  place  in  the  histoiy  of  science  is 
marked.  These  are  contained  for  the  most  part  in  the 
'*  Resultate  aus  den  Beobachtungen  des  magnetischen 
Vereins,"  published  bv  Gauss  and  Weber  from  1837  to 
1843,  and  in  Weber's  "  Elektrodynamische  Maassbestim- 
mungen"  (published  in  collected  form  in  1864,  though 
the  first  paper  dates  from  1846).  In  this  series  of  papers 
Weber  showed  for  the  first  time  how  methods  of  absolute 
measurement,  analogous  to  those  which  Gauss  had  very 
shortly  before  shown  to  be  applicable  to  ms^netic 
measurements,  could  be  extended  into  the  region  of 
electricity.  Before  this  time  Ampere's  splendid  dis- 
coveries as  to  the  laws  of  the  mutual  forces  between 
magnets  and  conductors  traversed  by  electric  currents, 
or  between  two  such  conductors,  had  been  made  known, 
and  G.  S.  Ohm  had  established  once  for  all  the  relations 
between  electrical  resistance,  electromotive  force,  and 
strength  of  current ;  but,  nevertheless,  there  was  as  yet 
no  settled  system  for  the  measurement  and  statement  of 
electrical  quantities  themselves.  Until  Weber's  time 
electrical  measurements  were  merely  comparisons  be- 
tween magnitudes  of  the  same  kind  :  the  resistance  of 
one  conductor  could  be  compared  with  that  of  a  par- 
ticular piece  of  wire,    the    electromotive  force  of  one 

NO.   II 32,  VOL.  44] 


battery  could  be  compared  with  that  of  another  ;  btt 
that  the  value  of  an  electrical  quantity  could  be  stated 
without  reference  to  any  quantity  of  the  same  kind, 
and  in  terms  not  involving  any  physical  constants 
but  the  units  of  length,  time,  and  mass,  was  as 
yet  an  entirely  new  conception.  Weber,  however,  not 
only  showed  that  such  a  system  of  measurements 
was  theoretically  possible,  but  in  a  series  of  most 
masterly  experimental  investigations  he  showed  ha>w  it 
could  be  practically  carried  out.  Our  countryman  Sir 
William  Thomson  was  one  of  the  very  first  men  of 
science  to  recognize  the  fundamental  character  and  far- 
reaching  importance  of  Weber's  work ;  and  owing  mainly 
to  his  clear-sighted  advocacy  of  the  absolute  system  of 
measurement,  this  system  was  from  the  first  adopted  as 
the  basis  for  the  operations  of  the  British  Associatioii 
Committee  on  Electrical  Standards,  appointed  originally 
in  1862.  This  system  has  now  become  so  familiar  to 
electricians,  and  is  taken  so  much  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  it  requires  some  mental  effort  to  recall  the  state  of 
science  when  it  did  not  exist,  and  to  appreciate  the  intel- 
lectual greatness  of  the  man  to  whom  it  is  due.  If  ve 
consider  method  and  point  of  view,  rather  than  acquired 
results,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  idea  of  absolute 
measurements,  underlying  as  it  does  the  conception  of 
the  conservation  of  energy,  constitutes  the  most  charac- 
teristic difference  between  modern  physics  and  the 
physics  of  the  early  part  of  our  century.  And  to  no  one 
man  is  so  large  a  share  in  this  great  step  due  as  to 
Wilhelm  Eduard  Weber. 

Weber  was  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Institute 
of  France.  He  was  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of  the 
Royal  Society  in  1850-  G.  C.  F. 


A  SOUVENIR  OF  FAR  AD  A  K 

T^HE  following  letter,  written  by  an  old  friend  of 
^  Faraday's  and  of  mine,  long  since  dead,  may 
interest  your  readers,  now  that  we  are  celebrating  the 
centenary  of  Faraday's  birth:  It  came  in  reply  to  one 
in  which  I  asked  Mr.  Ward's  assistance  in  preparing 
an  obituary  notice  of  Faraday  for  the  ChemiceU  News, 

William  Crookes. 

Cornwall^  August  30,  1867. 

Dear  Crookes, — I  should  be  proud  indeed  to  be  the 
spokesman  of  the  chemical  world  in  doing  honour  to 
Faraday's  illustrious  name  on  the  occasion  of  his  acces- 
sion to  immortality. 

But  I  should  not  dare  to  meddle  with  the  laurels  on  so 
august  a  brow,  without  many  days  and  nights  of  earnest 
research  and  meditation,  to  fit  me  for  summing  up,  with- 
out omission,  the  splendid  list  of  his  imperishable 
labours. 

Only  in  this  reverential  spirit  of  earnest  solicitude  to 
do  aright,  which  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  philosophical 
counterpart  of  prayer — of  the  religious  feeling — could  so 
solemn  a  duty  be  fitly  undertaken. 

Only  with  the  aid  of  other  minds,  kindred  with  Fara- 
day's in  genius,  and  filled  with  the  light  of  his  manifold 
discoveries,  could  any  one  man's  mind  become  an  ade- 
quate mirror  to  reflect  the  gigantic  Shadow  that  has  just 
passed  to  its  place  in  futurity. 

For  the  present  it  is  my  fate  to  fulfil  much  humbler 
duties — which,  having  undertaken,  I  have  no  right  to  set 
aside.  For  duty  must  still  be  done,  even  when  such 
appeals  as  yours  set  the  wings  of  the  caged  lark  trembling, 
and  point  him  upwards  to  his  barred  out  home. 

I  must  remain,  therefore,  a  unit  among  the  millions 
whose  hearts  do  silent  homage  to  the  illustrious  dead ; 
and  can  but  watch  ftrom  afar  the  starry  coronation  of 
which  you  invite  me  to  be  minister. 

So  best,  perhaps.     For,  after  all,  the  name  and  fame  of 


July  9.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


231 


Faraday  transcend  all  pomp  of  celebration,  all  burning 
MTords  of  praise.  For  whose  the  pen  to  weave  so  bright 
a  g^lory  as  that  electric  fire  which  glows,  through  all  the 
ages,  round  his  brow,  who  first  drew  lightning  from  the 
lodestone,  as  Franklin  drew  it  from  the  sky  ? 

In  the  moment  of  separation  that  little  spark  breaks 
forth — instantaneous  yet  eternal.  It  is  but  one  vivid 
point  of  the  radiance  that  encircles  his  name,  yet  of  itself 
it  is  glory  enough. 

From  that  spark  a  new  branch  of  science  has  sprung, 
and  under  its  creator's  name,  were  it  mine  to  carve  his 
epitaph,  these  three  should  be  the  chosen  words  : — 

FULMEN  ERIPUIT  FERRO  ! 

Ever  yours  faithfully, 

F.  O.  Ward. 


NOTES. 

We  print  elsewhere  an  account  of  the  fourth  annual  meeting 
of  the  National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Technical  and 
Secondary  Education.  After  the  meeting  an  important  confer- 
ence was  held,  and  it  is  now  hoped  that  all  the  influences  which 
are  tending  towards  the  establishment  of  a  proper  system  of 
technical  instruction  in  England  may  soon  be  thoroughly  or- 
ganized. Next  week  we  shall  have  something  to  say  about  the 
work  of  the  conference  and  about  the  Association's  report. 

The  conversazione  given  by  the  President  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  Prof.  Crookes,  F.R.S.,  and  Mrs.  Crookes, 
on  Monday  evening,  was  brilliantly  successful.  It  was  held  in 
the  galleries  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  Painters  in  Water  Colours, 
Piccadilly.  There  were  about  800  guests,  among  whom  were 
many  eminent  men  of  science. 

On  Tuesday  evening  the  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Meteorological 
Society  and  their  friends  dined  together  at  the  Hoi  born 
Restaurant,  to  celebrate  the  entrance  of  the  Society  upon  its  nevy 
premises  in  Great  George  Street,  Westminster.  Mr.  B.  Latham, 
the  President,  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  A.  R.  Binnie  (Engineer 
to  the  London  County  Council)  proposed  '*  The  Royal 
Meteorological  Society,"  and  Mr.  G.  J.  Symons  responded. 
Mr.  Latham,  replying  to  the  toast  of  "  The  President,"  referred 
to  the  enormous  amount  of  records  in  ihe  possession  of  the 
Sociecy.  All  they  now  wanted  was  a  few  more  members. 
However,  they  had  gone  on  increasing,  and  were  now  in  a 
prosperous  state,  as  they  had  been  able  to  collect  from  the 
members  of  the  Society  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  which  had 
been  funded,  and  the  interest  on  which  would  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  new  establishment.  The  Society  now  possessed  one  of 
the  finest  meteorological  libraries  in  the  world,  and  one  which 
would  be  of  enormous  value  to  future  generations. 

We  are  glad  to  note  that  the  Marine  Biological  Association 
have  now  only  three  nnoccupied  tables.  Many  investigators  are 
taking  advantage  of  the  facilities  offered  them  at  Plymouth. 

The  Exhibition  Committee  of  the  Photographic  Society  of 
Great  Britain  announce  that  the  annual  exhibition  of  that 
Society  will  be  held  at  the  Gallery  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Painters  in  Water  Colours,  Pall  Mall  East,  from  Monday, 
September  28,  until  Thursday,  November  12  next.  The 
exhibition  will  be  open  daily  (Sundays  excepted)  from  10 
a.m.  to  5  p.m.,  and  on  Monday,  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and 
Saturday  evenings  from  7  p.m.  to  10  p.m.  Medals  will  be 
awarded  for  artistic,  scientific,  and  technical  excellence  of 
photographs,  for  lantern  transparencies,  and  for  apparatus. 

The  Pacific  Postal  Telegraph  Company  had  lately  a  gather- 
ing of  some  500  guests  at  the  opening  of  a  new  telegraph  office 

NO.   1132,  VOL.  44] 


in  San  Francisco.  After  shortly  describing  the  various  instru- 
ments, Mr.  Storrer,  the  superintendent,  said  he  was  often  asked 
how  long  ittook  to  telejgraph  to  different  places  and  get  a  reply. 
He  would  therefore  now  send  a  telegram  to  Portland,  New 
York,  Washington,  Seattle,  Tacoma,  Canso  (Nova  Scotia),  and 
London,  inquiring  about  the  weather.  The  first  reply  came 
from  Portland  in  3  minutes,  *'  Weather  fine  "  ;  the  next  from 
New  York  in  3  minutes  10  seconds,  "Misty  and  warm"; 
Washington  in  3  minutes  11  seconds,  "Misty  and  warm"; 
Seattle  in  3  minutes  21  seconds,  "  Misty  and  calm  "  ;  Tacoma 
in  3  minutes  28  seconds,  *'  Misty,  cool,  and  calm " ;  Canso, 
Nova  Scotia,  in  4  minutes  20  seconds,  "Cold  and  misty"  ; 
while  the  answer  "  Misty  and  cold "  came  from  London  in  6 
minutes  22  seconds. 

The  Governors  of  the  Royal  Holloway  College  have  ap- 
pointed Miss  M.  W.  Robertson  to  the  Resident  Lectureship  in^ 
Natural  Science.  Miss  Robertson,  who  is  now  a  lecturer  on 
the  staff  of  Alexandra  College,  Dublin,  has  taken  the  degrees  o 
B.A.  and  M.A.,  with  high  honours  in  chemistry  and  physics, 
at  the  Royal  University  of  Ireland,  and  has  also  gained  the 
University  Studentship  in  Experimental  Science. 

The  Education  Department  has  issued  a  memorandum,  by 
Mr.  }.  G.  Fitch,  on  the  working  of  the  free  school  system  in 
America,  France,  and  Belgiam. 

The  death  of  M.  Rodolphe  Koeppelin,  a  distinguished  chemist, 
is  announced.  He  was  born  at  Colmar  in  1810,  and  from  1828 
to  1859  held  the  Chair  of  Physics  and  Natural  History  at  the 
Collie  of  his  native  town.  For  many  years  he  was  intimatei> 
connected  with  the  Agricultural  Society  of  the  Upper  Rhine, 
and,  as  a  chemist,  he  was  able  to  render  great  services  to  the 
agriculturists  of  his  department.  After  the  Franco-German 
war,  M.  Koeppelin  quitted  Alsace,  and  settled  in  Paris,  where 
he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  members  of  ths 
Alsatian  colony. 

In  another  part  of  the  paper  we  print  a  report,  by  Herr  O. 
Jesse,  of  his  observations  of  luminous  clouds  in  the  summer  of 
1890.  We  learn  from  Herr  Jesse  that  on  the  night  of  June 
25-26  last  the  luminous  clouds  were  again  very  visible  at 
Steglitz  and  Nauen,  and  that  they  were  photographed  eight 
times  simultaneously  at  these  two  places.  Writing  to  us  from 
Sunderland  on  July  i,  Mr.  T,  W.  Backhouse  says  there  was  a 
fine  display  of  the  luminous  clouds  during  the  previous  night, 
their  motion  being,  "  as  usual,  from  a  north-easterly  direction." 
Mr.  D.  J.  Rowan  informs  us  that  on  the  same  night,  from 
11.30  p.m.  to  12.30  a.m.,  the  clouds,  as  seen  at  Kingstown,  co. 
Dublin,  "appeared  well-developed  on  a  polar  arc  of  30"*  and  at 
a  mean  altitude  of  5"."  They  had  been  faintly  visible  at  Kings- 
town on  June  3,  7,  and  9.  It  is  astonishing  that  no  observer 
seems  yet  to  have  had  energy  and  intelligence  enough  to  take 
spectroscopic  photographs  of  these  striking  phenomena. 

According  to  a  telegram  from  Melbourne,  dated  July  4,  the 
Swedish- Australian  Antarctic  Committee  of  the  Victorian  branch 
of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  which  was  formed  to  raise 
subscriptions  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  Baron  Nordenskiold's 
offer  to  equip  an  expedition  to  the  Antarctic  regions,  announces 
that  a  sum  of  ;f  3000  only  is  required  to  complete  arrangements, 
and  that  there  is  every  prospect  of  the  expedition  starting  in 
about  fifteen  months'  time,  it  is  expected  that  the  expedition, 
in  addition  to  its  geographical  and  other  scientific  discoveries, 
will  be  the  means  of  opening  up  extensive  whale  and  other 
fisheries  in  the  Antarctic  seas. 

We  learn  from  the  Botanical  Gazette  that  Lieut.  R.  E. 
Peary,  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  proposes  to  reach  the  North  Pole 
on  foot  through  Greenland,  starting  from  Whale  Sound,  and 


232 


NATURE 


[July  9,  1891 


expecting  to  be  absent  from  i}  to  2^  year'.  He  states  that  the 
region  about  Whale  Sound  is  rich  in  Arctic  plants,  Kane  having 
brought  over  io6  species  of  Phanerogams  and  42  of  Crypto- 
gams, several  of  which  were  new,  but  that  veiy  little  has  been 
done  in  its  investigation  since  that  time. 

The  danger  of  using  arsenical  preparations  for  the  poisoning 
of  plants  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  B.  L.  Robinson, 
assistant  in  the  Gray  Herbarium,  Cambridge,  U.S.A.,  has 
been  compelled  to  resign  his  position  owing  to  ill-health  result- 
ing from  this  cause.  It  is  stated  that  the  poisoning  of  plants 
has  now  been  entirely  abandoned  in  the  herbarium  ;  the  tight- 
ness of  the  cases,  •  and  constant  handling  of  the  sheets  being 
relied  on  to  preserve  the  specimens. 

Mr.  Spenser  Le  Marchant  Moore  has  been  appointed 
botanist  to  the  Matto  Grosso  Gold  and  Explorations  Concessions 
Expedition,  which  is  about  to  depart  for  Brazil. 

A  NEW  botanical  journal  has  just  been  started,  devoted  to 
the  diseases  of  plants,  ZeUschrift  fur  Pflantenkrankheiten^ 
edited  by  Dr.  Sorauer,  and  published  at  Stuttgart. 

Dr.  John  Murray  contributes  to  the  Journal  of  Botany 
for  July  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  Clyde  sea-area,  its 
physical  characters,  and  the  chief  features  of  its  natural  history. 
This  sea-area  is  a  natural  system  of  deep-sea  basins  or  lochs  in 
the  west  of  Scotland,  communicating  southward  with  the  Irish 
Channel  by  a  single  opening  between  the  Mull  of  Cantyre  and 
the  shores  of  Wigtown  and  Ayr.  It  has  a  water  surface  of 
about  12,000  square  miles  ;  its  greatest  depth  is  107,  and  its 
mean  depth  about  29  fathoms.  There  is  a  great  variety  in  the 
pelagic  fauna  and  flora  in  the  surface  and  intermediate  layers  of 
water,  the  abundance  and  the  species  of  organisms  varying  in 
the  different  layers  according  to  the  seasons,  and  even  in  dif- 
ferent years.  There  is  likewise  a  great  variety  in  the  bottom- 
living  fauna  and  flora,  which  varies  according  to  the  nature  and 
depth  of  the  bottom  in  the  different  parts  of  the  area.  In  some 
of  the  deeper  lochs  a  few  animals  are  met  with  which  do  not 
usually  occur  in  more  open  situations  around  our  coasts  till  a 
depth  of  200  or  300  fathoms  Is  reached.  Some  of  these  forms 
are  limited  to  one  loch  on  the  west  coast ;  for  instance,  Con- 
chacia  elegans^  which  is  abundant  in  Loch  Etive.  This  form 
has  never  been  taken  in  any  of  the  lochs  of  the  Clyde  sea-area, 
although  Euchata  norvegUa^  with  which  it  is  associated  in  Loch 
Etive,  occurs  abundantly  in  Upper  Loch  Fyne  and  Loch  Goil. 
Nyctiphanes  uorvegica  and  Boreopkausia  Raschii,  which  are 
abundant  in  the  upper  lochs  of  the  Clyde  sea-area,  do  not,  on 
the  other  hand,  occur  in  Loch  Etive. 

The  French  Minister  of  Public  Works  has  addressed  a  cir- 
cular letter  to  civil  engineers,  asking  them  to  use  their  influence 
to  protect  prehistoric  monuments  from  the  injury  often  done  by 
ignorant  proprietors.  It  seems  that  little  respect  is  shown  for 
such  monuments  in  some  parts  of  France.  La  Nature  speaks 
of  a  proprietor  who  sold  "a  magnificent  dolmen,"  which  was  to 
be  transformed  into  '*  a  tomb  in  a  cemetery." 

In  his  report,  for  1890,  to  the  trustees  of  the  Peabody 
Museum  of  American  Archaeology  and  Ethnology,  Prof.  F.  W. 
Putnam,  the  Curator,  records  that  in  no  former  year  had  the 
friends  of  the  Institution  been  so  generous  in  giving  aid.  Gifts 
for  current  expenses  were  received  which,  in  the  sum  total, 
exceeded  the  regular  income  from  the  funds  ;  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Copley  Thaw,  of  Pittsburg,  added  no  less  than  30,000  dollars  to 
the  amount  held  in  trust,  this  sum  being  set  apart  as  an  endow- 
ment for  a  fellowship. 

An  apparatus  has  been  recently  constructed  by  M.  Ducretet, 
for  getting  quickly  in  the  laboratory  a  fall  of  temperature  70°  to 

NO.    I  1 3  2 ,  VOL.  44] 


So**  C.  below  zero,  by  means  of  the  expansion  of  liquid  carbonc 
acid.  The  inner  of  two  concentric  vessels  contains,  in  alcobbl, 
a  serpentine  metallic  tube  communicating  through  a  tube  with 
two  stopcocks,  with  the  carbonic  acid  reservoir  ontside,  aad 
opening  below  into  the  annular  space  round  the  inner  vessel,  is 
which  are  some  pieces  of  sponge  impregnated  with  alcohol 
This  two- walled  vessel  with  coil  is  inclosed  in  a  box.  Ooe 
stopcock  being  opened  wide,  the  other  slightly,  the  carbonic  aal 
passes  through  the  coil  as  snow,  and  turns  to  gas,  with  stroi^ 
cooling  effect,  and  any  of  it  not  vaporized  in  the  coil  is  dis- 
solved in  the  alcohol  of  the  sponge.  The  gas  escapes  ihroogh  1 
tube  passing  through  the  outer  box.  The  instrument,  called  1 
cryogen^  is  represented  in  Cosmos  of  June  27. 

Experiments  have  lately  been  made  by  Herr  Regel  {B§t, 
Centralb. )  with  reference  to  the  mfluence  of  external  factors  00 
the  smell  of  plants.  In  the  front  rank  appears  the  direct  and 
indirect  influence  of  light  on  the  formation  of  etheric  oils  and 
their  evaporation.  In  the  case  of  strongly  fragrant  flowers  (as 
Reseda)  heat  and  light  intensify  the  fragrance,  which  in  dark- 
ness is  lessened  without  quite  disappearing.  When  the  wbde 
plant  was  darkened,  those  buds  only  which  were  before  preitj 
well  developed  yielded  fragrant  flowers ;  the  others  were  scent- 
less. If,  however,  only  the  flowers  were  darkened,  all  were 
fragrant.  Other  plants  open  their  flowers  and  smell  only  bjr 
night  (as  Nicotiana  longijlora  and  Nycterinia  copensis).  Wfaea 
these  plants  were  kept  continuously  in  the  dark,  they,  in  coane 
of  time,  lost  their  scent,  as  they  lost  their  starch.  On  betiig 
broaght  into  light  again,  both  starch  and  fragrance  returned. 
Besides  light,  respiration  has  a  decided  influence  on  the 
fragrance.  Nycterinia,  inclosed  in  a  bell  jar  with  oxygen, 
behaved  normally,  but  with  hydrogen  the  flowers  did  not  open, 
and  had  no  fragrance.  In  general,  the  opening  of  flowers  co- 
incides with  their  fragrance,  but  there  is  no  necessary  connectioD 
between  these  phenomena. 

A  NEW  antiseptic,  said  to  have  certain  advantages  over  those 
hitherto  in  use,  has  been  brought  before  the  French  Academy 
of  Medicine  by  Prof.  Berlioz,  of  Grenoble :  extreme  solubiliij, 
harmlessness,  efficacy,  and  rapidity  of  action  are  claimed  for  it. 
It  is  called  microcidine,  and  is  a  compound  of  naphtol  and  soda, 
is  neither  poisonous  nor  irritant,  is  twenty  times  as  active  a< 
boric  acid,  and  much  more  soluble  than  thymol,  carbolic  add, 
&C.  Microcidine  has  the  form  of  a  greyish- white  powder.  To 
a  solution  of  3  grammes  per  litre  it  is  very  slightly  coloored, 
but  it  does  not  stain  either  the  hands  or  bandages.  For  fiuoil/ 
use  it  is  said  to  be  of  great  service. 

Most  Russian  geologists  are  now  of  opinion  that  the  boolder* 
clay  which  covers  the  whole  of  Middle  Russia  is  nothing  but  the 
bottom  moraine  of  the  ice-cap  which,  during  the  Glacial  epoch, 
extended  from  Scandinavia  and  Finland  to  the  latitude  of  KidI 
and  Poltava.  A  couple  of  years  ago,  Prof.  Pavloff,  while  woiIk- 
ing  in  connection  with  the  Geological  Survey  in  Nijni  Nov- 
gorod, indicated  some  traces  of  an  inter-glacial  milder  period 
among  the  glacial  deposits  covering  the  province.  Like  indica- 
tions have  been  noticed  iii  Poltava  and  Tchemigoflfl  New  dau 
to  confirm  this  view  are  now  given  by  N.  Krischtafovitch  in  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Moscow  Naturalists  (1890,  No.  4).  Afker  a 
careful  exploration  of  the  Quaternary  deposits  at  Troitzkoye— a 
village  on  the  Moskva  River,  seven  miles  to  the  west  of  Moscow, 
the  diluvial  deposits  of  which  have  very  often  been  mendoned 
since  Prof.  Roaillier*s  and  Marchison's  timss — the  Rossian  geo- 
logist came  to  the  conclusion  that  these  deposits  are  indicative 
of  an  inter-glacial  period,  during  which  Middle  Rnssia  bad  a 
flora  and  fauna  much  like  those  which  exist  now,  but  with 
the  addition  of  the  Mammoth.  The  layers  described  by  M. 
Krischtafovitch  as  inter-glacial  are  of  lacustrine  origin  ;  they 
are  covered  with  undoubtedly  glacial  deposits,  and  they  are 


July  9,  1891] 


NA TURE 


233 


ideposited  over  glacial  sands  containing  boulders  of  northern 
Ibrigin.  Farther  research,  however,  is  wanted.  It  b  certain 
jlhftty  both  daring  the  first  invasion  of  the  ice-cap  and  its  ultimate 
ittetreat,  its  outer  limits  must  have  been  subject  to  very  great 
'Oscillations.  We  know  that,  in  Greenland,  parts  of  valleys 
which  for  hundreds  of  years  were  covered  with  vegetation,  are 
\  sometimes  invaded  again  with  ice,  and  that  lacostrine  deposits 
mast  arise  in  this  way  between  purely  morainic  deposits.  The 
tame  most  have  taken  place  in  the  ice-cap  of  Russia  ;  and  the 
!  oscillations  of  the  glaciers  on  the  outer  border  of  a  laige  ice- 
cap are  on  on  a  much  greater  scale  than  the  oscillations  of 
isolated  glaciers  in  Alpine  regions.  When  the  ice-cap  began  to 
invade  Middle  Russia,  its  advance  was  undoubtedly  accompanied 
by  many  oscillations ;  regions  invaded  by  ice  must  have  been 
let  free  of  ice  for  a  succession  of  years,  and  they  became  the 
seats  of  lakes.  The  same  oscillations  must  have  taken  place 
daring  the  retreat  of  the  ice-cap.  The  existence  of  a  warmer 
inCer-glacial  period,  therefore,  though  not  improbable  in  itself, 
can  be  proved  only  by  means  of  a  very  wide  exploration  of  the 
boolder-clay,  and  such  an  exploration  has  not  yet  been  made. 

The  sjTStem  of  meteorological  observations  in  Alsace-Lorraine 
has  now  been  centralized,  a  meteorological  service  for  the  Reichs- 
land  having  been  established.  The  control  of  the  new  service 
has  been  intrusted  to  the  geographical  seminary  in  connection 
with  the  Sirassbnrg  University,  and  has  been  definitely  onder- 
taken  by  Dr.  H.  Heigesell,  who  desires  to  organize  the  service 
in  accordance  with  the  best  modem  ideas.  A  meteorological 
record  will  be  issued  as  a  part  of  the  German  meteorological 
ydhrbuch, 

A  REMARKABLE  Series  of  three  hailstorms  which  passed  over 
Graz  on  August  21  last  year,  about  5,  6,  and  7  p.m.  re- 
spectively, has  been  carefully  studied  by  Prof.  Prohaska  {Met, 
ZeUs,)  Stones  from  i'6to  24  inches  in  diameter  fell  in  the 
towOy  forming  a  compact  ice-mass,  in  some  places  about  3  feet 
thick,  and  a  white  cloud  of  vapour  formed  over  the  ice.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  all  three  storms  took  a  nearly  quite  straight  path 
over  moantain,  valley,  and  plain  ;  no  influence  of  mountains  on 
the  direction  was  percptible.  The  advancing  strips  of  hail  were 
ID  to  14  km.  in  width  ;  the  first  went  173  km.  east-south-east ; 
the  second  and  third  almost  exactly  east ;  one  1 10  km.,  the  other 
201  km.  l*he  70  km.  stretch  of  country  from  Stiwoll  over  Graz 
to  the  Hungarian  border  lay  in  the  path  of  all  three,  so  the  ice 
deposited  by  the  first  offered  no  hindrance  to  the  others. 
Mountains  seem  to  have  affected  the  velocity,  if  not  the  direc- 
tion, of  the  storms ;  they  were  passed  more  slowly  than  plains 
or  undulating  ground  (35  km.  an  hour  against  49  km.).  A 
violent  wind  came  out  from  the  hail  column,  a  west  or  north, 
west  wind  in  front,  north  on  the  south  side.  But  further  out,  in 
front  especially,  there  was  a  well-marked  air-current  towards  the 
hailstorm  ;  and  this  was  especially  stro.ig  on  the  lee  side  of  a 
mountain.  Whirling  movements  were  not  observed,  and  there 
was  bat  little  thunder  and  lightning.  The  falls  of  temperature 
were  very  pronounced  :  e.g,  in  the  first  storm  from  26''  C.  to  5*. 
The  barometer  went  down  before  each  hailstorm,  then  suddenly 
rose. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Ltnnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales 
on  May  27,  Mr.  Henry  Deane  stated  that  in  April,  while  travel- 
ling by  night  through  the  Big  Scrub  in  the  Richmond  River  Dis- 
trict, his  interest  was  aroused  by  the  remarkable  effect  produced 
by  luminous  insects  which  abounded  by  the  roadside.  Specimens 
were  secured  and  sent  off  in  the  hope  that  they  would  arrive  in 
time  to  be  exhibited  at  the  previous  month's  meeting,  but  they 
came  a  day  too  late,  and  in  the  meanwhile  had  died.  From  their 
general  resemblance  to  the  larvae  of  CeropltUus  niastersi^  Sk., 
which  are  also  phosphorescent,  Mr.  Fletcher,  who  had  seen  the 
specimens  forwarded,  was  of  the  opinion  that  these  were  very 

NO.    1 1  32,  VOL.  44] 


probably  also  dipterous  larvse.  Mr.  David  made  some  remarks 
on  certain  luminous  organisms  which  he  had  observed  in  old  coal- 
mine workings  in  Illawarra,  the  identification  of  which  it  was 
hoped  would  not  long  be  postponed. 

Messrs.  CasselL  and  Co.  have  issued  Part  33  of  the  "  New 
Popular  Educator,'^  which  is  to  be  completed  in  forty-eight  parts. 
The  present  number  includes,  besides  the  illustrations  in  the  text, 
a  coloured  representation  of  insectivorous  plants. 

The  first  volume  of  Messrs.  Whittaker*s  new  "  Library  of 
Popular  Science  "  will  be  an  elementary  introduction  to  astro- 
nomy, by  Mr.  G.  F.  Chambers.  The  volume  will  be  ready  in 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  and  will  .shortly  be  followed  by 
others. 

An  interesting  report,  by  Mr.  Campbell,  of  the  British  Con- 
sular Service  in  China,  has  been  issued  by  the  Foreign  Office. 
It  is  the  record  of  a  journey  of  over  1300  miles  in  districts  in 
Northern  Corea,  many  of  which  have  never  before  been  visited 
by  Europeans.     Mr.  Campbell  started  from   Seoul,  the  capital, 
and  crossed  the  peninsula  to  the  treaty  port  of  Won-san  (Gensan), 
andthence  pursued  his  way  along  the  east  coast  around  Broughton 
Bay,  whence  he  turned  north*eastward,  crossing   the  Yalu  River 
to  Paik-tu-Sao,  known  to  Europeans  as  the  Long  White  Moun- 
tain, and  already  visited  by  Messrs.  James,  Fulford,  and  Young- 
husband.     The  return  journey  was  partly  over  the  same  ground, 
but  on  arriving  at  Won-san  Mr.  Campbell  recrossed  the  penin- 
sula, and  so  made  his  way  to  Seoul.     Besides  the   ordinary 
record  of  this  journey  Mr.  Campbell  gives  a  great  amount  of 
information  on  various  subjects   connected  with  Corea.     The 
chief  amongst  these  is  a  most  interesting  section  on  the  pre* 
valence  of  Buddhism  in  the  peninsula,  and  one  on  the  agriculture 
and  productions.  He  gives  a  good  deal  of  information  in  regard  to 
the  geography  of  Northern  Corea,  and  also  of  the  gold  produc- 
tion of  the  country.     That  Corea  contains  gold-bearing  strata 
.  has  long  been  known  through  the  export  of  gold-dust  from  the 
ports,  but  from  Mr.  Campbell's  report  it  appears  that  gold-^elds 
do  exist   in  considerable  numbers,  and  that  some  of  them  are 
worked  with  the  imperfect  native  methods.     There  seems  no 
doubt  that,  if  circumstances  were  favourable  to  the  proper  scien- 
tific  working  of  the    Corean  gold-fields,   the  country  would 
be  one  of  the  principal  producers  of  the  precious  metal  in  the 
world.     Education    in  the  country  seems  to  be  at  a  very  low 
ebb,  and  is  confined  to  a  knowledge  of  Chinese.     All  energy 
and  enterprise  is  crushed  out  by  an  all- pervading  tyrannical 
officialism,  and  poverty  and  squalor  are  universal. 

The  new  reports  of  the  Inspectors  of  Sea  Fisheries 
are  interesting  chiefly  for  the  observations  of  Mr.  Fryer 
on  the  oyster  fisheries.  He  mentions  the  appearance  of 
a  curious  disease  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Thames  estuary^ 
in  the  course  of  which  the  shells  become  so  rotten  that  they 
will  not  bear  the  pressure  necessary  to  open  them.  The  oysters 
themselves  were  in  good  condition,  but  their  round  shells,  which 
were  muddy,  were  completely  tunnelled  in  all  directions,  while 
the  flat  valves,  which  were  clean,  were  uninjured.  This  points 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  ravages  « ere  caused  by  some  enemy 
working  from  below.  The  borings  were  not,  Mr.  Fryer  says, 
those  of  either  Cliona  or  whelk-tingle,  and  it  seemed  probable 
that  they  were  the  work  of  a  minute  Annelid  which  was  present 
in  abundance  in  the  interstices  of  the  shells,  and  in  the  adherent 
mud.  In  a  further  example  sent  to  him  in  June  no  worms  were 
present,  although  the  oyster-shells  were  similarly  undermined ; 
but  their  place  was  taken  by  larvae  closely  resembling,  if  not 
identical  with,  those  of  the  worm  Polydora  cilitUa,  A  means  of 
guarding  against  its  ravages,  suggested  by  Mr.  Fryer,  is  the  use 
of  an  apparatus .  recently  invented  by  M.  Bouchon  Brand^ly, 
and   employed  in  some  of  the  French  oyster  pares  for  the  pur- 


234 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


pose  of  facilitating  the  growth  of  oysters.     This  consists  of  a 
series  of  shallow  flat  baskets  or  trays  of  wire-netting  on  an  iron 
frame,  about  4  inches  deep  and  2  feet  square,  placed  in  tiers, 
and  held  together  by  two  iron  bands,  the  number  depending  on 
the  depth  of  water  in  each  case.     These  are  either  fixed  to  the 
soil,  or  suspended  from  rafis  or  other  floating  bodies,  by  which 
means  depths  of  water  otherwise  inaccessible  can  be  utilized. 
The  other  advantsiges  claimed  for  the  apparatus  are  economy  of 
space  in  "planting"  oysters,  and  of  labour  in  collecting  them, 
protection  of  the  oysters  from  five-fingers,  and  from  contact 
with  unsuitable  soil,  and  their  exposure  on  all  sides  to  the  free 
circulation  of  the  water,  resulting  in  more  rapid  and  regular 
growth,  and  a  greater  tendency  to  depth  of  shell  than  under 
the  most  favourable  of  ordinary  circumstances.     In  the  case  of 
beds  infested  with  the  boring  worm  referred  to,  the  trays  in 
-question  would  in  all  probability  afford  a  ready  means  of  placing 
the  oysters  beyond  the  reach  of  these  marauders.     The  con- 
venience of  such  appliances,  especially  in  cases  where  French 
oysters  are  laid  down  temporarily  on  English  beds,  to  be  after- 
-wards  transferrel    to   other  grounds,  e.g,   during  the  winter, 
would  probably  be  found  to  be  very  great. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Chemical  Society  held  on  June  18,  a  , 
paper  was  read  by  Ludwig  Mond  and  F.  Quincke,  on  a  volatile  1 
compound  of  iron  and  carl)onic  oxide.  The  authors  describe  ' 
•experiments  from  which  they  conclude  that  iron  forms  a  volatile  ' 
•compound  with  carbonic  oxide  of  the  formula  Fe(CO)4,  cor- 
responding to  that  of  nickel.  Very  finely  divided  iron — obtained 
by  reducing  iron  oxalate  by  hydrogen  at  a  temperature  but  little 
exceeding  400**,  and  allowing  it  to  cool  to  80''  in  hydrogen — when 
heated  in  an  atmosphere  of  carbonic  oxide  gave  a  gas  which 
burnt  with  a  yellow  flame ;  and  on  passing  the  gas  through  a 
heated  tube  a  mirror  of  iron  was  formed  at  between  200°  and 
380%  while  at  higher  temperatures  black  flakes  of  iron  and 
-carbon  were  deposited.  Only  about  2  grams  of  iron,  however, 
were  volatilized  after  six  weeks'  treatment  of  12  grams  of  the 
metal ;  it  was  necessary  every  five  or  six  hours  to  interrupt  the 
operation,  and  to  re-heat  the  iron  to  400°  in  hydrogen  during 
about  twenty  minutes.  When  passing  carbonic  oxide  at  the  rate 
•of  about  2\  litres  per  hour,  not  more  thin  o'oi  gram  of  iron  was 
volatilized,  corresponding  to  less  than  2  c.c.  of  the  compound 
Fe(C0)4  in  a  litre  of  gas.  The  authors  have  effected  an  analysis 
of  the  compound  by  passing  the  mixture  of  gases  into  mineral 
oil,  boiling  between  250°  and  300°,  and  heating  the  solution  so 
obtained  to  180° ;  iron  free  from  carbon  is  then  deposited  and 
-carbonic  oxide  gas  is  evolved.  Five  analyses  are  quoted,  the 
results  of  which  give  a  ratio  of  Fe :  CO,  varying  only  from 
I  :  4*03  to  I  :  4*264.  Dr.  Armstrong  said  that  the  authors'  dis- 
-covery  was  extremely  interesting  on  account  of  the  explanation 
which  it  might  be  held  to  afford  of  the  permeability  of  iron  by 
carbonic  oxide  at  high  temperatures,  as  well  as  to  the  production 
of  steel  by  the  cementation  process,  to  which  Graham,  had  drawn 
special  attention.  Just  as  platinum  was  permeable  by  hydrogen  and 
silver  by  oxygen  at  high  temperatures,  so  iron  was  permeable  by 
-carbonic  oxide ;  it  might  be  supposed,  in  each  case,  because  a  dis- 
sociable compound  of  the  metal  wiih  the  gas  was  formed.  Prof. 
Thorpe  drew  attention  to  the  value  of  the  experiments  in  con- 
nection with  the  production  of  steel  by  the  cementation  process, 
4ind  stated  that  he  had  recently  observed  that  platinum  had  the 
property  of  causing  the  separation  of  carbon  from  carbonic 
oxide.  Mr.  Mond  said  they  had  refrained  from  discussing  the 
application  of  their  discovery  in  the  directions  indicated,  as  the 
<:ompound  was  only  obtained  at  low  temperatures.  Dr.  Arm- 
strong said  this  might  well  be  the  case  ;  but  as  Mr.  Mond  and  Dr. 
Quincke  had  established  the  all-important  fact  that  iron  had  a 
specific  affinity  for  carbonic  oxide,  the  argument  he  had  used 
would  apply,  although  the  compound  might  not  be  sufficiently 
stable  at  high  temperatures  to  exist  alone. 

NO.    I  132,  VOL.  44] 


The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  doriugtfce 
past  week  include  a  Chimpanzee  (AnthropopUhecus  tro^oc^fUs  i } 
from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Major  Al.  McDoDndl  Moore ; 
a  Duyker  Bok  (Cephahphtis  mergens  6)  from  Sooth  Africa, 
presented  by  Mr.  A.  Barsdorf;  five  West  Indian  Agoetis 
{Dasyprocta  auliliensis)  from  Jamaica,  presented  by  the  Bovd 
of  Governors  of  the  Institute  of  Jamaica ;  a  Spotted  Cavy 
(Calogenys  paca)  from  Guiana,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  Kirk ;  tm 
Slow  Loris  (Nycticebus  iardigradus),  a  Javan  Fish-Owl  {Kdmpi 
javjinensis)  from  Java,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  Dixon  ;  an  Oiaoge> 
cheeked  Waxbill  {Estrelda  melpoda),  a  Zebra  Waxbill  {Estrdh 
sub/lava)  from  West  Africa,  a  Nutmeg  Finch  {Afunia  panKtm- 
larta)  from  India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Harris  ;  a  Chattering  Loiy 
(Lorius  garrulus)  from  Moluccas,  presented  by  Miss  Aiks 
Dundas  ;  a  Common  Viper  ( Vipera  berus\  British,  presented  by 
Mr.  W.  H.  B.  Pain  ;  four  Grey  Parrots  (Psittacus  eritMecus) 
from  East  Africa,  deposited  ;  a  Thar  (Capra  jemlaica),  bon  in 
the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Luminous  Outburst  observed  on  the  Sun. — C&mpt: 
rendus  for  June  22  contains  tbe  information  that  on  June  17,  a: 
loh.  i6m.  Paris  mean  time,  M.  Trouvelot  observed  a  lumiooB 
outburst  on  the  sun,  apparently  of  the  same  ebaracter  as  iki: 
witnessed  by  Carrington  and  Hodgson  in  1859  {Monthly  N^kc 
A\A.S.,  vol.  XX.  pp.  13-16).  A  luminous  spot  subtending  aa 
angle  of  3°  appeared  near  the  western  limb  of  the  sno  (positioa- 
angle  281'').  It  had^  not  the  characteristic  white  colour  of 
faculse,  but  was  yellowish,  and  strikingly  resembled  the  light 
emitted  by  incandescent  lamps  shortly  before  they  readi  ihor 
maximum  brilliancy.  M.  Trouvelot's  first  impression  was  ibii 
an  opening  at  the  eye«piece  allowed  a  ubiquitous  sunbeam  to 
fall  upon  the  screen  upon  which  the  sun's  image  was  being 
projected,  but  an  exammation  proved  that  the  phenomenon  was 
truly  solar.  In  fact,  shortly  after  the  time  uf  the  first  observa- 
tion, a  similar  brilliant  object  subtending  an  angle  of  aboot  5' 
or  6°  ^appeared  slightly  to  the  north  of  the  first,  its  positkiO' 
angle  bemg  about  iSg".  By  means  of  spectroscopic  observa- 
tions it  was  found  that  the  first  object  consisted  of  a  oentnl 
eruption  from  which  a  species  of  incandescent  volcaoic  bomb 
were  thrown  to  heights  of  2'  or>3'  above  the  chromosphere,  when 
they  rested  as  if  suspended,  and  appeared  as  dazzling  globes  on 
the  red  background  on  which  they  were  projected.  A  fev 
minutes  later  the  .sparkling  balls  were  replaced  by  nam.eroas 
brilliant  filaments  or  jet^,  which  at  loh.  24m.  were  shot  out  to 
a  height  of  5'  24''.  In  spite  of  the  vivid  light  of  this  promincsce 
only  a  few  hues  in  the  spectrum  were  seen  to  be  reversed.  In 
addition  to  the  lines  C,  D3,  F,  and  G,  which  were  all  extremely 
bright,  the  line  at  A  6676*8,  the  b  group,  and  a  line  aboot 
X  4394*8,  were  seen  bright.  The  sodium  lines,  D^  and  D^ 
showed  no  indication  of  reversal.  Considerable  displacements 
of  the  C  line  towards  both  ends  of  the  spectrum  were  observed 
On  the  following  day  at  9h.  30m.  the  eruption  was  still  rssj 
apparent,  but  diminishing  in  activity,  and  at  2h.  45m.  all  s%ds 
of  an  eruptive  prominence  had  disappeared.  The  striking 
character  of  the  outburst  led  M.  Trouvelot  to  suggest  that  it 
might  be  accompanied  by  a  simultaneous  terrestrial  magnetic 
perturbation.  This  was  not  the  case,  however,  for  after  ex- 
amining the  records  obtained  at  Kew  Observatory,  Mr.  Whipple 
writes  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  magnetic  disturbance  oo 
the  dates  when  the  eruption  was  observed. 


LORD  HARTINGTON  ON  TECHNICAL 

EDUCATION, 

^H£  fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Association  for 
^  the  Promotion  of  Technical  and  Secondary  Education  took 
place  on  Friday  last  at  14  Dean's  Yard,  Westminster.  Lord 
Hartington,  President  of  the  Association,  occupied  the  chair. 
He  said  : — 

In  opening  the  proceedings  it  will  be,  fortunately,  unnecessary 
for  me  to  trouble  you  with  more  than  a  very  few  brief  observa- 
tions.     It  has  not   been  considered   necessary  to  make  aay 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


235 


attempts  to  obtain  a  very  large  attendance  to-day,  or  to  meet 
in  any  place  where  we  could  have  a  meeting  on  the  scale  of 
others  which  we  have  had  on  this  subject  in  previous  years,  not 
hut  that  we  have  arrived  at  a  very  important  epoch  in  the  deve- 
lopment of  the  objects  for  which  this  Association  was  founded 
four  or  five  years  ago.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  desirable  for  me, 
in  the  first  place,  to  call  your  attention  and  the  attention  of  the 
public  to  the  special  objects  for  which  this  Association  has  been 
founded,  as  I  think  there  is  in  some  quarters  some  misappre- 
hension as  to  the  practical  nature  of  the  objects  which  we  have 
in  view.  As  is  stated  in  the  report,  its  object  has  not  been  to 
interfere  with  the  teaching  of  trades  in  workshops,  or  with  the 
industrial  and  commercial  training  in  the  manufactory  and  in 
the  warehouse.  It  desires,  first  of  all,  to  develop  increased 
general  dexterity  of  hand  and  eye  among  the  young,  which  may 
be  especially  useful  to  those  who  have  to  earn  their  own  liveli- 
hood, and  at  the  same  time  improve  rather  than  hinder  their 
general  education  ;  secondly,  to  bring  about  mere  widespread 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  those  principles  of  art  and  science 
which  underlie  much  of  the  industrial  work  of  the  nation  ;  and, 
thirdly,  to  encourage  better  secondary  instruction  generally, 
which  will  include  more  effective  teaching  of  foreign  lan- 
guages and  science,  for  those  who  have  to  guide  our 
commercial  relations  abroad  and  to  develop  our  interests 
at  home.  Now,  those  are  the  objects  to  carry  out  which 
this  Association  was  founded.  At  the  time  when  it  was  first 
originated,  these  objects  were  very  little  recognized  in  any 
quarter.  They  were  not  recognized  as  in  any  degree  the  duties 
of  the  State,  except  to  a  very  limited  extent,  so  far  as  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Science  and  Art  Department  were  concerned.  But, 
nseful  and  valuable  as  has  been  the  teaching  carried  on  under 
the  guidance  and  direction  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department 
op  to  a  very  short  time  ago,  I  think  it  may  be  said  that  scarcely 
any  attempt  had  been  made  to  give  to  that  teaching  a  practical 
application,  or  to  apply  its  instruction  to  the  advancement  and 
improvement  of  the  industries  of  the  country.  Well,  the  absence 
of  any  State  recognition  was  not  to  any  large  extent  supplied  at 
that  time  by  private  efforts.  It  is  quite  true  that  a  few  manu- 
^acturera  in  diffierent  parts  of  the  country  had  set  the  very  useful 
example  of  establishing,  in  connection  with  their  works,  some 
technical  and  scientific  teaching.  There  were  also  a  few  insti- 
tutions, such  as  the  well-known  Polytechnic  Institution  here, 
othera  in  the  City  and  in  various  other  parts  of  the  country, 
which  were  making  attempts  to  give  instruction  with  the  objects 
which  I  have  just  enumerated,  but  those  efforts  were  rather  of  a 
philanthropic  than  of  a  practical  character,  and  they  had  not 
four  or  five  years  ago  attained  a  very  large  or  extensive  develop- 
ment. Well,  we  may  look  back  now  at  those  years  as  years  of 
very  great  and  very  satisfactory  progress.  I  will  not  say  all  that 
has  been  done  has  been  done  in  consequence  of  the  exertions  of 
this  Association.  Certainly  these  objects  have  been  greatly 
advanced  since  the  foundation  of  the  Association,  and,  we  flatter 
ourselves,  to  a  certain  extent  in  consequence  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Association.  But  whether  the  progress  that  has  been  made  has 
been  in  consequence  of,  or  independent  of,  any  exertion  of  ours, 
it  is  equally  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  progress  has  been 
made.  In  the  first  place,  those  objects  to  which  I  have  already 
referred  have  been  recognized  by  Parliament  as  proper  objects 
to  receive  assistance,  by  means  of  public  funds,  in  the  shape  of  the 
application  to  them  of  the  rates.  By  the  Technical  Instruction 
Act,  which  was  passed  in  1889,  mainly  at  the  instance  of  some 
active  Parliamentary  representatives  of  this  Association,  that 
principle  was  for  the  nrst  time  admitted ;  but  a  very  much 
(greater  step  was  taken  in  the  next  year,  1890,  when,  under  the 
Local  Taxation  Act,  a  sum  very  nearly  approaching  ;£'75o,ooo 
for  England  and  Wales  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  local 
authorities,  mainly  for  the  objects  which  this  Association 
has  in  view.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  application  of  that  sum 
was  to  a  large  extent  optional.  It  would  have  been  in  the 
power  of  local  authorities  in  whose  hands  it  was  placed  to  apply 
It  in  aid  of  the  rates  or  to  other  purposes,  but  the  efforts  of  the 
Association  were  directed,  as  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  show 
you,  with  very  great  success,  in  order  to  secure  the  appropriation 
of  these  large  funds  to  the  purposes  of  practical  technical  in- 
struction. You  will  recollect  that  in  the  winter  of  last  year — I 
think  in  December — an  important  conference  was  held  under 
the  direction  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  this  Association  at 
the  rooms  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  which  members  repre- 
senting County  Councils  tn  various  parts  of  the  country  entered 
into    conference    and   discussion    with    the    Executive    Com- 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


mittee  of  this  Association.  Information  was  given  as  to^ 
what  had  already  been  done  by  certain  County  Councils  which 
had  taken  the  lead,  and  suggestions  were  made  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  other  Councils  could  most  usefully  follow 
their  steps  and  devote  these  sums  to  the  purposes  for  which 
we  believe  they  were  intended  by  Parliament.  'l*he  results- 
which  have  already  been  accomplished  are  recorded  in  the 
report  of  this  Association,  which  will  be  immediately  circulated. 
Of  County  Councils  in  England,  excluding  Monmouthshire,  37 
have  already  decided  to  give  the  whole  of  this  grant  for  the 
purposes  of  technical  instruction  ;  8  have  decided  to  give  a  part 
of  this  grant  for  the  same  purposes,  and  2  only  have  decided  to 
apply  the  whole  of  it  in  aid  of  the  rates.  In  Wales  and  Mon- 
mouthshire 1 1  County  Councils  have  given  the  whole  to  educa- 
tion, and  2  have  given  a  part  to  the  same  purpose.  Of  the 
county  boroughs  in  England,  33  have  devoted  the  whole  of  the 
funds  to  educational  purposes,  and  3  have  devoted  a  part  to  the 
same  objects.  In  Wales  2  county  boroughs  have  devoted  the- 
whole  of  the  fund  to  education,  and  none  to  any  other  purposes. 
With  regard  to  23  county  boroughs,  either  we  have  n<)t  sufficient 
information,  or  they  have  not  yet  arrived  at  a  conclusion  upon> 
the  subject.  Well,  that  appears  to  us  to  be  an  extremely  en- 
couraging result  so  far  as  it  has  gone.  The  exertions  of  the 
Executive  Committee  have  not,  however,  been  entirely  confined' 
to  securing  this  appropriation  of  the  funds  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Councils  by  Parliament.  The  same  gentlemen  who  have 
taken  the  lead  in  the  matter  from  the  beginning — I  refer  chiefly 
to  my  frieild  Sir  Henrjr  Roscoe,  Mr.  Acland,  Mr.  Hobhouse,. 
and  others — have  obtamed  from  Parliament  additional  legisla* 
tion  considerably  extending  and  developing  the  principle  which 
for  the  first  time  received  the  assent  of  Parliament  in  1889.  I 
think  it  is  hardly  necessary  that  I  should  give  further  informa- 
tion as  to  the  effect  of  the  amending  Act  of  this  session.  I 
prefer  to  leave  the  gentlemen  I  have  named  to  give  that  ex- 
planation. But  I  desire,  however,  to  point  out  that  the  work 
of  this  Association,  which  has  been  so  successfully  begun,  has 
not  by  any  means  yet  ended.  The  application  of  these  grants 
in  the  various  localities  is,  of  course,  a  work  of  great  variety  and 
of  the  utmost  importance.  Fortunatelv,  I  think,  the  State  has 
not  undertaken,  except  under  very  wide  conditions,  to  exercise 
any  supervision  over  the  application  of  these  funds.  In  a 
country  possessing  industries  of  so  extremely^  varied  a  cha- 
racter as  ours,  it  would  have  been  almost  impossible,  and' 
I  think  certainly  would  have  been  most  undesirable,  that 
any  cut-and  dried  system  should  be  adopted  by  which  one 
identical,  applicatiop  of  public  money  to  purposes  of  technical 
instruction  should  be  adopted  all  over  the  countrjr.  The  appli- 
cation of  these  funds  must  vary  very  greatly  in  agricultural 
districts,  and  in  agricultural  districts  themselves  as  between 
arable  and  dairy  or  cheeseroaking  districts.  It  must  vary  in 
those  districts  which  are  chiefly  devoted  to  cotton  and  woollen 
industries,  and  those  which  are  chiefly  employed  in  the  coal- 
minmg,  metal,  or  chemical  trades  ;  and  in  almost  every  different 
county  of  England  a  different  application  of  those  resources 
would  have  been  required.  I  think  very  wide  discretion  has 
been  very  wiselv  left  by  Parliament  to  the  local  authorities 
themselves,  whicn  are  in  this  instance  County  Councils  or  county 
borough  councils.  And  these  Cooncik  have  again  adopted  the 
wise  course  of  appointing  committees  to  prepare  schemes  for  the 
approval  of  the  Councils  for  the  application  of  these  grants. 
The  work  was,  of  course,  very  new  to  a  great  many  who  bad  to 
take  it  up,  and  this  Association  has  been  able,  we  think,  to  give 
valuable  assistance- to  them,  both  by  affording  information  and 
giving  advice,  and,  above  all,  by  providing  the  means  of  com- 
munication between  those  who  are  interesting  themselves  in 
this  work  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  to  enable  them  to  know 
what  other  authorities  were  doing,  what  difficulties  were  found, 
what  means  had  been  found  of  surmounting  those  difficulties, 
and  of  generally  taking  counsel  and  acting  together  in  co-opera- 
tion. Now,  the  subject  of  agricultural  education,  ^hichup  to 
a  very  short  time  ago  had  been  almost  entirely  neglected, 
has  been  by  many  County  Councils  vigorously  taken  up.  Courses 
of  instruction  in  elementary  science  applying  to  agricultural 
pursuits  have  been  instituted,  and  also  instruction  of  a  still  more 
practical  character,  in  the  shape  of  travelling  dairies  and  other 
mstmction  of  the  same  kind,  has  been  ^iven  in  many  places.  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  the  two  great  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  have  also  turned  their  attention  to  this  important 
subject,  and  both  of  them  are  preparing  to  take  steps  by  which 
the  teachers  who  will  be  so  much  required  in  order  to  give  effect  lo- 


236 


NA  TURE 


LJULY  9,  189: 


the  desire  of  the  County  Councils  to  improve  the  agricultural  educa- 
tion of  their  districts  will  be  provided.     I  am  glad  to  say  also  that 
the  important  subject  of  the  technical  education  of  girls  as  well  as 
boys  is  receiving  almost  universal  attention  from  County  Councils. 
Su}^gesiions  have  been  maJe  by  this  Association,  which  have  in 
most  cases  received  attention,  to  provide  not  only  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  boys,  but  also  of  the  girls,  in  such  subjects  as 
cookery,  laundry- work,  and  dairy  management.     In  all  these 
matters  the  Association  has  been  able  to  give  some  assistance, 
and  we  believe  that  there  remains  a  great  deal  still  in  which 
they  will  be  able  to  afford  the  same  nature  and  description  of 
assistance.     I  need  not  say,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  for  a 
very  con>iderable  time  the  work  which  is  likely  to  be  thrown 
upon  this  Association  will  be  work  which  cannot  be  conducted 
without   considerable  financial  resources.     The  income  of  the 
Association  is  not  a  very  large  one.     We  have  made  an  appeal 
to  many  of  those  who  throughout  the  country  have  interested 
themselves  in  this  work  in  connection  with  County  Councils, 
and  we  have  received  very  liberal  assistance.     I  think,  however, 
the  time  has  come  when  we  may  hope  that  the  efforts  which 
have  been  made  will  he  ti  a  certain  extent,  still  more  than  they 
have  hitherto  been,  supplemented  by  the  assistance  of  gentlemen 
connected  with  the  great  manufacturing,  mining,  and  commercial 
indus'.ries  of  the  country,  who  are  likely,  I  think,  to  derive  at' 
leas'  a<  much  benefit  from  the  operations  of  this  Association, 
and  from  the  development  which  it  has  aided  in  giving  technical 
instruction  throughout  the  country,  as  the  agricultural  industry 
has  already  received.     Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  must  apologize 
to  you  for  the  imperfect  character  of  these  observations,  which 
I  have  been  obliged  to  condense  as  much  as  possible,  as  my 
time,  and  I  dare  say  yours,  is  extremely  limited.     I  only  hope 
that  any  omissions  which  I  have  made  will  be  supplied  by  my 
friends  who  are  on  each  side  of  me. 

Sir  H.  Roscoe,  M.  P.,  presented  the  report  of  the  work  of  the 
Association  during  the  past  year.     He  said  that  there  was  no 
doubt  that  during  the  year  a  very  great  expansion  of  the  work 
of  the  Associatiou  had  been  seen  under  both  the  Acts  of  Par- 
liament to  which  reference  had  been  made  by  the  Chairman. 
The  spread  of  technical .  education  throughout  the  country  had 
been  most  remarkable.     From  what  had  already  been  said  by 
Lord   Hartington,  it  would  be  concluded  that  practically  the 
whole  of  England  had  devoted  the  whole  of  the  money  to 
technical  instruction.      I'he  effects  of  this  could   scarcely  be 
over-estimated.     The  only  two  places  where  the  money  had 
been  devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  rates  were,  he  regretted  to  say, 
London  and  Middlesex.     But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
what  had  been  already  accomplished  was  nothing  to  what  re- 
mained to  be  done.     The  County  Councils  were  as  yet  only 
breaking  the  ground.      Their  efforts  were  merely  tentative. 
They  hs^,  as  it  were,  to  work  out  their  own  salvation  in  this 
matter  of  education,  and  there  was  certain  to  be  at  no  great 
distance  of  time  an  Intermediate  Education  Act  for  England. 
Referring  to  the  Act  of  189 1,  he  said  that  it  was  important  and 
valuable  because  it  enabled  a  County  Council  to  go  out  of  its 
own  district  if  it  thought  necessary  to.  promote  technical  educa- 
tion.    Under  that  Act,  for  instance,  the  three  Ridiogs  of  York- 
shire had   been  able  to  vote  money  to  assist  the  Yorkshire 
College  in  its  scheme    for  the    improvement   of  agricultural 
educaiion.     Many  of  the  County  Councils  had  already  appointed 
organizing  secretaries,  and  it  was  on  the<e  that  the  main  part  of 
thi  work  w  luld  fall.     To  them  they  had  to  look  for  the  special 
organization  of  each  particular  district,  and  the  importance  of 
their  work  could  scarcely  be  overrated.     Then  in  the  county 
bsroa^hs  the  work  was  being  got  into  shape.     In  Sheffield  a 
sum  uf  ;f  8495  ^^^^  ^^"^  appropriated  towards  assisting  institu- 
tions givmg  technical  and  secondary  education.     In  the  same 
way  in  Manchester  ;f  10,200  had  been  devoted  to  a  like  purpose. 
Agricultural  education  was  making  rapid  progress,  and  already 
in   Yorkshire,  Durham,  and  Wales    there  was  the  nucleus  of 
high  class  agricultural  colleges.     After  referring  to  the  necessity 
of  some  part  of  the  money  being  devoted  to  the  technical  in- 
struction of  girls,  he  concluded  by  expressing  the  hope  that  the 
Association  would  be  placed  in  a  position  hy  an  increase  of  its 
resources  to  carry  on  actively  a  work  that  was  daily  becDming 
more  important  and  more  costly. 

On  the  motion  of  Mr.  II.  Hobhouse,   M.P.,  seconded  by 
Lord  Thring>,  the  report  was  unanimously  adopted. 

Lord  tlartington  at  this  point  left  the  chair,  which  was  taken 
by  Sir  Bernhard  Samuelson. 

Lord  Montea^le  moved  the  reappointment  of  the  vice-pre- 


sident, executive  committee,  and  officers  of  the  Association,  the 
name  of  Mr.  Bryce,  MP.,  being  substituted  for  that  of  the  late 
Earl  Granville.  Dr.  Gladstone  seconded,  and  Mr.  Snape  sap- 
ported,  the  motion,  which  was  carried  unanimously. 

Mr.  Bryce,  M.P.,  proposed  the  following  resolution  : — 

"That  this  Association  heartily  congratulates  the  Coanty 
Councils  of  England  and  Wales  on  the  great  progress  they  have 
made  during  the  past  year  in  the  promotion  of  education  in 
their  districts,  and  earnestly  trusts  that  they  will  continue  to 
work  until  the  country  is  provided  with  an  organized  system  of 
secondary  and  technical  education." 

Miss  Hadland  seconded  the  resolution,  which  was  agreed  to. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  M.P.,  proposed,  and  Mr.  Rathbone,  M.P., 
seconded,  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Chairman,  and  this  having 
been  hsartiiy  accorded  was  acknowledged  by  Sir  Bernhard 
Samuelson. 

The  proceedings  then  terminated. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

In  the  Journal  of  Botany  for  May,  Prof.  R  T.  Harvey- Gib- 
son has  an  interesting  article,  illustrated,  on  the  histology  of 
Polysiphonia  fastigiata.  In  the  June  number,  Mr.  A.  W. 
Bennett  contributes  a  short  paper  on  sexuality  a  nong  the  Con- 
jugatse.  These  numbers  also  contain  continuations  of  Mr.  E.  G. 
B  iker*s  synopsis  of  the  genera  and  species  of  Malvrae,  and  of 
the  Rev.  li.  G.  Jameson's  useful  key  to  the  gen::ra  and  species 
of  British  moises. 

The  papers  in  the  Bo'anical  Gazette  for  April  and  May  are 
concerned  almost  exclusively  with  American  botany.  Mr.  D. 
M.  Mottier  has  an  interesting  note  on  the  apical  growth  of 
Hepaticae,  which  bears  such  a  striking  resemblance  to  that  of  the 
prothallium  of  ferns. 

The  number  of  the  Nuovo  GhrmU  Botanico  Italians  ix 
April  is  chiefly  occupied  by  paiier-t  of  special  interest  to  Italian 
botanists,  and  by  the  Bulletin  of  the  Italian  B  >tanical  Society. 
Among  the  articles  coming  under  the  Utter  head  i^  one  by  Sig. 
Baccarmi  on  the  secretory  system  of  the  Papilionacex,  and  one 
by  Sig.  Pichi  containing  an  account  of  e<periments  on  the 
parasitism  of  Peronospora  on  the  vine. 

The  Botanical  Magazine  of  Tokyo  still  contains  occasional 
articles  in  the  English  language.  Those  in  the  numbers  most 
recently  received,  for  March  and  April,  relate  to  the  native 
plants  of  Japan. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  June  11.— **  A  Study  of  the  Planle  Lead- 
Sulphuric  Acid — Lead  Peroxide  Cell,  from  a  Chemical  Stand- 
point. Part  I.'*  By  G.  H.  Robertson.  Communicated  by 
Prof.  Armstrong,  F.R.  S. 

The  investigation,  the  results  of  which  are  recorded  in  this 
paper,  «  as  instituted  about  a  year  ago  at  the  Central  Institntioa, 
at  Dr.  Armstrong's  suggestion,  as  McLeod's  observations  on 
the  electrolysis  of  sulphusic  acid  solutions  led  to  the  supposition 
that  the. changes  occurring  in  the  acid  were  probably  less  simple 
than  was  commonly  supposed.     This  supposition  was  verified. 

The  first  section  of  the  paper  deals  with  the  nature  of  the 
lead  salt  formed  during  discharge.  Experiments  made  on 
various  samples  of  red  lead  of  different  percentage  composition 
showed  that,  as  with  nitric,  so  with  sulphuric  acid,  it  behaved 
like  a  mixture  of  peroxide  and  monoxide,  the  sulphate  formed 
alwa3rs  corresponding  to  the  monoxide  originally  present. 

As  analysis  alone  can  give  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  a 
definite  homogeneous  sulphate  corresponding  to  red  lead: 
evidence  must  be  obtained  that  the  product  differs  in  some  of 
its  properties  from  a  mixture.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  the 
E  M.F.  of  an  oxysulphate  would  differ  from  a  corresponding 
mixture  of  sulphate  and  peroxide,  and  have  some  definite  value, 
but  experiments  made  with  mixtures  of  sulphate  and  peroxide 
in  different  proportions,  and  with  the  product  obtained  by 
'treatingred  lead  with'dilute*sulphuric  acid,  showed  that  there 
was  a  difference  of  digree  only  between  the  red  lead  pastes  aod 
the  mixtures. 

With  regard    to    Frankland's    observations    respecting   the 


NO.    1132,  VOL.  44] 


July  9,  1891]! 


NA  TURE 


n 


colour  of  the  product  formed  on  the  peroxide  plate  during 
discharge,  and  the  redncibility  of  the  sulphate,  the  author 
points  out  that  the  colour  is  due  to  the  incomplete  reduction 
of  the  peroxide ;  and  that  careful  examination  of  the  plugs  frjm 
a  dischaiged  ceil  shows  that  the  base  consists  of  practically  uo- 
altered  peroxide  of  lead,  and  that  the  surface,  which  is  rich  in 
PbS04,  IS  really  a  mass  of  partiallv  reduced  granules  of  peroxide 
of  lead  which  are  coated  with  sulphate. 

Also,  though  pure  lead  sulphate  is  very  difficult  to  reduce,  it 
is  well  known  that  mixtures  of  lead  sulphate  and  peroxide  of 
lead,  or  other  conducting  substance?,  are  reduced  with  com- 
parative ease,  and  that  it  is  very  intimate  mixtures  of  this  nature 
which  have  to  be  dealt  with  as  a  rule  in  charging  a  cell. 

Id  conclusion,  the  author  points  out — 

That  neither  chemical  nor  electrical  tests  give  any  ground  for 
supposing  that  any  other  sulphate  than  the  ordinary  white  PbSOi 
is  concerned  in  the  interactions  occurring  in  the  cell  ; 

That  were  the  sudden  lowering  of  the  E.M.F.  caused  by  a 
change  in  the  nature  of  the  chemic?!  compounds  formed  on  the 
plates,  it  is  very  difficult  to  accouiii  for  the  very  rapid  recovery 
of  the  E.M.F.  exhibited  by  an  apparently  discharged  cell. 

In  the  second  section  the  electrolyte  is  dealt  with,  and,  after 
refeiring  to  the  work  of  Berthelot,  Rldiarz,  Schdne,Traube,  and 
othen  on  the  electrolysis  of  sulphuric  acid  solutions,  the  author 
describes  experiments  made  to  test  the  effect  of  the  addition  of 
sodium  sulphate  to  the  electrolyte,  as  recommended  by  Mr. 
Barbour  Starkey,  as  it  seemed  probable  it  had  a  catalytic  action 
on  the  '*  peroxides  "  always  found  in  electroiyzed  acid  of  the 
strength  used  in  batteries. 

Mr.  Preece  most  kindly  aided  the  investigation  by  allowing 
experiments  to  be  carried  out  at  the  General  Post  Office,  where 
one-half  of  the  secondary  cells  contain  1  per  cent,  of  sodium 
salpbate,  and  the  other  half  ordinary  dilute  acid,  sp.  gr.  1 180. 
It  was  found  that  the  addition  of  sodium  sulphate  in  about  the 
proportion  of  I  per  cent,  to  freshly  electroiyzed  acid,  or  during 
elearolysis,  always  produced  a  diminution  in  the  total  quantity 
of  "  active  oxygen,  and  brought  the  amount  present  in  the  plain 
cells  down  almost  exactly  to  that  found  in  the  sodium  sulphate 
cells. 

Determinations  were  made  of  the  amounts  of  '*  active  oxygen  " 
present  as  persulphuric  acid  and  hydrogen  dioxide  respectively  ; 
and  it  was  established  that  acid  taken  from  the  cell  reduced 
peroxide  of  lead.  The  presence  of  hydrogen  dioxide  being  thus 
established  both  directly  and  indirectly,  its  effect  on  the  E.M.F. 
ofa  cell  was  tested.  It  was  found  that,  while  its  addition  to 
the  acid  in  the  case  of  a  lead  lead-peroxide  couple  in  dilute 
iulphuric  acid  produced  an  annulment,  or  reversal,  of  Che 
E.M.F.,  the  introduction  of  hydrogen  dioxide  into  the  body  of 
the  peroxide  paste  produced  an  increase  in  the  £.  M.  F.  in  the 
case  ofa  platinum  lead-peroxide  couple. 

I1ie  Post  Office  records  showed  that,  while  the  general  cha- 
racter of  the  temperature  and  specific  gravity  changes  occurring 
during  charge  and  discharge  were  the  same  in  both  types  of 
cell,  there  was  less  sulphatmg  with  the  sodium  sulphate  elec- 
trolyte. 

The  cause  of  the  pink  colour  of  the  acid,  noticed  by  Mr. 
Crompton  and  others,  was  investigated,  and  found  to  be  per- 
manganic acid,  formed  probably  from  the  manganese  present  in 
commercial  lead. 

In  conclusion,  the  author  points  out — 

That  peroxides  are  found  in  appreciable  quantities  in  the 
electrolyte  during  charge  and  discharge ; 

That  their  influence  must  not  be  n^lected  in  considering  the 
behaviour  of  the  Plant  e  cell ; 

And  that  it  is  to  the  electrolyte,  rather  than  to  the  plates, 
that  attention  must  be  directed  if  any  considerable  improvement 
is  to  be  effected. 

"Part  IT. — A  Discussion  of  the  Chemical  Changes  occurring 
m  the  Cell."  By  H.  E.  Armstrong,  F.R.S.,  and  G.  H. 
Robertson. 

The  authors  arrive  in  this  paper  at  the  following  conclusions : — 

(i)  Thatthe  cooling  observed  in  the  Plants  cell  can  only  be 
explained  as  resulting  from  the  dissociation  of  the  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid  ;  and  as  the  values  given  by  Messrs.  Ayrton,  Lamb, 
Smith,  and  Woods  are  in  practical  agreement  with  those  calcu- 
lated on  the  assumption  that  the  acid  used  is  sulphuric  acid 
itself,  H2SO4,  that  in  all  probability  •  such'  acid,  and  not  the 
dilute  acid  contained  in  the  cell,  is  operative  throughout. 

(2)  That  the  observed  loss  in  efficiency  cannot  be  due  to  tem- 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


perature  changes,  as  these  arise  through  actions  occurring  out  of 
circuit. 

(3)  That  it  is  difficult,  from  a  comparison  of  calculated  with 
observed  values  of  the  E.M.F.,  to  arrive  at  any  final  conclusion 
as  to  the  exact  nature  of  the  changes  which  take  place  in  the 
cell.  On  the  assumption  that  sulphating  occurs  at  both  plates 
in  circuit,  and  under  the  influence  of  HSSO4,  the  calculated 
value  is  considerably  too  high  ;  while,  if  sulphating  occur  only 
at  the  lead  plate,  the  value  calculated  is  far  too  low. 

(4)  That  a  counter  E.M.F.  of  about  0*5  volt  would  account 
for  the  observed  departure  from  the  highest  calculated  value. 
As  peroxides  are  always  present  in  the  electrolyte,  it  is  conceiv- 
able that  such  a  counter  E.M.F.  mav  exist ;  uioreover,  there  is 
also  the  possible  influence  of  the  leaa  support  to  be  considered. 

(5)  That  the  observed  loss  of  efficiency  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  formation  of  peroxidrs  in  the  electrolyte,  and  to  the  exces- 
sive sulphating  occurring  chiefly  at  the  peroxide  plate  in  the 
local  circuit  existing  between  the  support  and  the  paste. 

June  18. — '*  Comparison  of  Simultaneous  Magnetic  Disturb- 
ances at  several  Observatories,  and  Determination  of  the  Value 
of  the  Gaussian  Coefficients  for  those  Observatories. *'  By  )*rof. 
W.  Grylls  Adams,  D.Sc,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Natural  Philo- 
»3phy  in  King's  College,  London. 

After  drawing  attention  to  previous  investigations  on  this 
subject,  and  pointing  out  the  importance  of  adopting  the  same 
scale  values  tor  similar  instruments  at  different  Observatories, 
especially  at  new  Observatories  which  have  been  recently 
established,  the  discussion  of  special  magnetic  disturbances  is 
undertaken,  especially  the  disturbances  of  a  great  magnetic 
storm  which  occurred  on  June  24  and  25,  1885,  for  which 
photographic  records  have  been  obtained  from  17  different 
Observatories:  11  in  Europe,  i  in  Canada,  i  in  India,  i  in 
China,  I  in  Java,  i  at  Mauritius,  and  i  at  Melbourne. 

The  records  are  discussed  and  compared,  tables  are  formed  of 
the  simultaneous  disturbances,  and  the  traces  afe  reduced  to 
Greenwich  mean  time  and  brought  together  on  the  same  plates 
arranged  on  the  same  time-scale.  Plates  I.  and  1 1,  hhow  the 
remarkable  agreement  between  the  disturbances  at  the  different 
Observatories,  and  the  tables  show  that  the  amount  of  dis- 
turbance, especially  of  horizontal  magnetic  force,  is  nearly  the 
same  at  widely  distant  stations. 

An  attempt  has  also  been  made  to  apply  the  Gaussian 
analysis  to  sudden  magnetic  disturbances,  and,  with  a  view  to 
their  application  in  future  work,  the  values  of  the  Gaussian  co- 
efficients have  been  obtained  for  20  different  Observatories,  and 
the  numerical  equations  formed  for  the  elements  of  magnetic 
force  in  three  directions  mutually  at  right  angles,  and  also  the 
equation  for  the  magnetic  potential  in  terms  of  the  Gaussian 
constants  to  the  fourth  order. 

The  tables  give  the  numerical  values  to  be  multiplied  by  the 
24  Gaussian  constants  to  give  the  values  of  the  forces  X,  Y,  and 
Z  in  the  geographical  meridian  towards  the  north,  perpendicular 
to  the  meridian  towards  the  west,  and  towards  the  earth's  centre 
respectively.  The  equations  are  also  formed  and  the  values 
obtained  in  terms  of  the  24  Gaussian  constants  for  X^  Y,,  and 
Z] ;  X]  being  the  horizontal  force  in  the  magne'iic  meridian, 
Yj  the  horizontal  force  perpendicular  to  the  magnetic  meridian, 
and  Zj  the  vertical  force.  If  then  X^  Y,,  and  Z,be  the  observed 
values  of  any  simultaneous  disturbances,  they  may  be  at  once 
substituted  in  the  equations,  the  equations  giving  the  24 
Gaussian  constants  may  be  solved,  and  the  corresponding 
chaise  of  magnetic  potential  may  be  determined. 

Physical  Society,  June  12,  1891. — Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton, 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  W.  G.  Adams  took 
the  chair  whilst  Prof.  Ayrton  read  a  paper  on  alternate 
current  and  potential  difference  analogies  in  the  methods  of 
measuring  power,  by  himself  and  Dr.  Sumpner.  In  a  paper 
read  before  the  Society  in  March  last,  the  authors  pointed  out 
that,  for  every  method  of  measuring  power  in  which  readings  of 
volts  and  amperes  were  taken,  other  methods  in  which  amperes 
were  read  instead  of  volts,  and  volts  instead  of  amperes,  could  be 
devised.  More  recently,  Dr.  Fleming  had,  by  a  transformation 
of  a  formula  given  by  the  authors  in  a  communication  made  to 
the  Royal  Society  on  the  measurement  of  power  by  three  volt- 
meters, given  the  analogue  in  which  three  ammeters  were  em- 
ployed. The  two  arrangements  are  represented  in  Figs,  i  and 
2,  whilst  Fig.  3  shows  a  modification  of  Dr.  Fleming's  method 
(Fig.  2),  in  which  the  current  in  the  non-inductive  resistance  r  is 


238 


NA TURE 


July  9,  1891 


meMDred  by  the  aid  of  a  voltmeter  V  across  its  terminals.     This 
■obviates  the  necessity  of  patting  an  electro-magnetic  instrument 


Fig.  I. 


rf  6r 


Fig.  3. 

in  what  should  be  a  non-inductive  circuit.  The  formula  for  the 
mean  watts  spent  in  the  circuit  ab^  Figs,  i  and  2,  are  re- 
spectively— 

W  =  ^(V|  -  VJ  -  V;\  and  W  =  r^AJ  -  AJ  -  A|). 

Mr.  Blakesley's  method  of  measuring  power  by  a  split-dynamo- 
meter was  shown  to  be  analogous  to  the  original  electrometer 
method  in  which  the  difference  of  two  readings  was  proportional 
to  the  power,  and  Blondlot  and  Currie's  double  electrometer 
method  was  shown  to  be  the  analogue  of  the  ordinary  wattmeter. 
The  wattmeter  was  defective  in  the  fact  that  a  solenoidal  coil  was 
inserted  in  a  nominally  non-inductive  circuit.  The  error  thus 
introduced  is,  as  was  shown  by  one  of  the  authors  some  years 
ago,  expressed  by  the  formula — 

Apparent  watts  _  i-f  tan0  .  tan  ^ 
True  walls  i  +  tan'-'  ^ 

where  0  is  the  phase  angle  between  the  current  and  E.M.F.  in 
the  circuit  in  which  the  power  is  to  be  measured,  and  ^  the 
phase  angle  for  the  approximately  non-inductive  circuit.  It  is 
now  proved  that  the  same  formula  expresses  the  error  in  any  of 
the  methods  where  resistances  not  wholly  non-inductive  are  used. 
As  is  well  known,  Mr.  Blakesley  has  applied  his  split-dynamo- 
meter to  the  measurement  of  phase  differences  between  two 
currents ;  and  an  analogous  method  of  finding  the  phase  difference 
between  two  potential  differences  is  described  in  the  paper.  In 
this  method  a  high  resistance  split-dynamometer  such  as  suggested 
by  Mr.  Rimington  for  measuring  power  is  employed.  Blondlot 
and  Currie*s  double  electrometer  could  also  be  used  for  the 
same  purpose.  Numerous  diagrams  illustrating  the  various 
analogies  accompany  the  paper.  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  inquired 
whether  hot-wire  voltmeters  could  be  employed  to  measure  the 
various  potential  differences,  without  introducing  error.  In  reply, 
Prof.  Ayrton  said  that,  although  no  great  error  was  introduced 
by  the  self-induction  of  these  instruments,  yet  the  fact  that  they 
required  considerable  current  was  a  disadvantage,  and  as  these 
-currents  were  not  always  in  the  same  phase  as  those  in  other 
circuits,  troublesome  corrections  were  sometimes  necessary. 
Electrostatic  instruments  were  preferable.  Prof.  Adams  said  he  was 
glad  to  hear  that  the  inductance  of  Cardew  voltmeters  introduced 
<io  serious  error,  for  they  were  very  convenient  instruments  to 
use. — Prof.  O.  Lodge,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  and  described  a  clock 
for  pointing  out  the  direction  of  the  earth's  orbital  motion  in  the 
ether.  After  mentioning  the  various  motions  to  which  a  point 
on  the  earth's  surface  is  subjected,  he  pointed  out  that  the  orbital 
motion  was  the  largest  component,  and  its  direction  at  any  in- 
stant not  easy  to  conceive.  An  apparatus  for  pointing  out  this 
direction  was  therefore  convenient  when  dealing  with  problems 

NO.   1 132,  VOL.  44] 


requiring  a  knowledge  of  the  motion  of  a -point  throogfa  the 
ether.  In  one  of  two  clocks  shown,  one  spindle  representing^ 
earth's  polar  axis  and  another  the  axis  of  the  ecliptic  were  id- 
clined  at  an  angle  of  23}%  and  coupled  by  a  Hooke's  joint.  The 
latter  axis  was  capable  of  rotating  round  the  former.  At  itsapper 
end  the  ecliptic  axis  carried  a  tube  and  a  pointer,  both  bcs^ 
perpendicular  to  the  axis  and  to  each  other.  The  clock  keepi^ 
solar  time  rotated  both  axes,  and  when  properly  set  the  lafae 
pointed  in  the  direction  of  the  sun,  and  the  pointer  tberefoie  in- 
dicated the  direction  of  the  earth's  orbital  motion. — Some  ex- 
periments with  Leyden  jars  were  then  shown  by  Dr.  Lodge. 
The  first  one  was  with  resonant  jars,  in  which  the  dtschaige  of 
one  jar  precipitated  the  overflow  of  another,  when  the  leogibsof 
the  jar  circuits  were  properly  adjusted  or  tuned.  The  latter  jar 
was  entirely  disconnected  from  the  former,  and  was  inBoenad 
merely  by  electro- magnetic  waves  emanating  from  the  discbugiog 
circuit.  Lengthening  or  shortening  either  circuit  prevented  die 
overflow.  Correct  tuning  was,  he  said,  of  great  importance  io 
these  experiments,  for  a  dozen  or  more  oscillations  occaned 
before  the  discharge  ceased.  The  effect  could  be  shown  over 
considerable  distances.  In  connection  with  this  subject  Mr. 
Blakesley  had  called  his  attention  to  an  observation  made  bj 
Priestley  many  years  ago,  who  noticed  that,  when  several  jars  were 
being  charged  from  the  same  prime  conductor,  if  one  of  thee 
discharged  the  others'would  sometimes  also  discbarge,  althoogb 
they  were  not  fully  charged.  This  he  (Dr.  Lodge)  thoi^ 
might  be  due  to  the  same  kind  of  influence  which  he  had  JK 
shown  to  exist.  The  word  resonance^  he  said,  was  often  mk- 
understood  by  supposing  it  always  had  reference  to  sonnd,  aad 
as  a  substitute  he  thought  that  sympkoning  or  symphimic  oi%k 
be  allowable.  The  next  experiment  was  to  show  that  wirrs 
might  be  tuned  to  respond  to  the  oscillation  of  a  jar  dischaigg 
just  as  a  string  could  be  tuned  to  respond  to  a  tuning-fork.  A 
thin  stretched  wire  was  connected  to  the  knob  of  a  jar  asd 
another  parallel  one  to  its  outer  coating,  and  by  varying  the 
length  of  an  independent  discharging  circuit,  a  glow  was  caased 
to  appear  along  the  remote  halves  of  the  stretch^  wires  at  each 
discharge.  Each  of  the  wires  thus  acted  like  a  stopped  organ- 
pipe,  the  remote  ends  being  the  nodes  at  which  the  variations  of 
pressure  were  greatest.  By  using  long  wires  he  had  observed  a 
glow  on  portions  of  them  with  the  intermediate  parts  dark  ;  this 
corresponded  with  the  first  harmonic,  and  by  measaring  the 
distance  between  two  nodes  he  had  determined  the  wave-lengii 
of  the  oscillations.  The  length  so  found  did  not  agree  very 
closely  with  the  calculated  length,  and  the  discrepancy  be 
thought  due  to  the  specific  inductive  capacity  of  the  glass  nm 
being  the  same  for  such  rapidly  alternating  pressures  as  for 
steady  ones.  He  also  showed  that  the  electric  pulses  passi^ 
along  a  wire  could  be  caused  (by  tuning)  to  react  on  ihe  jar  to 
which  it  was  connected,  and  cause  it  to  overflow  even  when  the 
distance  from  the  outside  to  the  inside  coating  was  about  % 
inches.  During  this  experiment  he  pointed  out  that  the  noise  of 
the  spark  was  greatly  reduced  by  increasing  the  length  of  the 
discharging  circuit.  The  same  fact  was  also  illustrated  by  cansii^ 
two  jars  to  discharge  into  each  other,  spark  gaps  being  put  both 
between  their  inner  and  outer  coatings  so  as  to  obtain  "  A " 
sparks  and  ''B"  .sparks.  By  putting  on  a  long  "alternative 
path  "  as  a  shunt  to  the  B  spark  gap  and  increasing  that  gap,  the 
noise  of  the  A  spark  was  greatly  reduced.  He  had  reason  to 
believe  that  the  B  spark  was  a  quarter  phase  behind  the  A  spark, 
but  the  experimental  proof  had  not  been  completed.  He  next 
described  some  experiments  on  the  screening  of  electro-magnedc 
radiation,  in  which  a  Hertz  resonator  was  surrounded  by  difierec: 
materials.  He  had  found  no  trace  of  opacity  in  insulators,  b&t 
the  thinnest  film  of  metal  procurable  completely  screened  the 
resonator.  Cardboard  rubbed  with  plumbago  also  acted  like  a 
nearly  perfect  screen.  In  connection  with  resonators,  he  ex- 
hibited what  jhe  called  a  graduated  electric  eye  or  an  electric  harf— 
made  by  his  assistant,  Mr.  Robinson — in  which  strips  of  tin  foil 
of  different  lengths  are  attached  to  a  glass  plate,  and  have  spaxk 
gaps  at  each  end  which  separate  them  from  other  pieces  of 
foil.  One  or  other  of  the  strips  would  respond  according  to 
the  frequency  of  the  electro-magnetic  radiation  falling  up(» 
it.  Mr.  Blakesley  asked  whether  the  pitch  of  the  resonant 
jars  altered  when  the  distance  between  their  circuits  was 
varied,  for  according  to  theory  the  mutual  induction  should 
diminish  the  self-induction,  and  cause  the  oscillations  to  be  more 
rapid.  If  this  occurred,  the  method  might  be  used  for  gettiag 
rapid  oscillations.  He  also  inquired  whether  the  glow  would 
appear  in  the  same  position  on  the  two  stretched  wires  if  tbdi 


July  9,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


239 


ids  were  joined.  Dr.  Sampner  wished  to  know  how  the  re- 
stances,  indactances,  and  capacities  of  the  circuits  and  jars 
ere  determined,  and  whether  any  evidence  of  irregular  dis- 
ibution  of  the  charges  on  the  tin-foil  had  been  noted.  With 
iference  to  the  overflowing  of  a  jar  caused  by  using  a  certain 
figth  of  discharging  circuit,  he  asked  whether  the  overflow  did 
ot  prove  the  existence  of  a  higher  potential  than  that  which 
riginally  existed  between  the  coatings  of  the  jar,  and,  if  so, 
here  did  the  excess  energy  come  from  ?  Dr.  Thompson  asked 
'  it  would  be  possible  to  make  a  wire  circuit  analogous  to  an 
pen  oigan-pipe  by  putting  sheets  of  metal  on  the  ends  of  the 
ires.  Dr.  Lodge,  in  reply,  said  Mr.  Blakesley's  suggestion  was 
a  important  one,  but  he  had  not  observed  that  any  change  in 
le  adjustment  was  necessitated  by  varying  the  distance  between 
tie  resonating  circuits.  Neither  had  he  noticed  any  glow  on 
rires  joined  to  form  a  single  loop,  but  this  might  be  possible  if 
Ik  wires  were  long  enough  to  give  harmonics.  In  answer  to 
3r.  Sumpner  he  said  that  the  capacities  were  difficult  to  deter- 
nine,  for  with  such  rapid  oscillations  the  coatings  were  virtually 
mlaiged.  Lord  Rayleigh  had  shown  how  to  calculate  the  in- 
Inctances,  and  the  resistances  he  had  practically  measured  by 
lis  alternative  path  experiments.  The  overflow  of  jars  he 
hooght  was  caused  by  the  charges  in  some  way  concentrating 
tt  the  edges  of  the  foil,  thus  causing  a  kind  of  flood  tide,  at  which 
he  overflow  occurred.  The  President  asked  Dr.  Lodge  what 
lis  views  were  as  to  the  cause  of  the  opacity  of  ebonite  to  light. 
i\'a5  it  due  to  a  selective  absorption  which  cut  oflf  only  the  rays 
0  which  the  eye  was  sensitive,  or  was  the  ordinary  explanation, 
hat  it  contained  impurities  which  were  conducting,  and  hence 
icled  as  screens,  likely  to  be  correct?  Another  possible  ex- 
)luiation  was  that  the  motion  of  the  ether  particles  may  be  in 
hree  dimensions,  and  light  be  due  to  the  projection  of  this 
iMtion  on  a  plane  perpendicular  to  the  ray,  whilst  electro- 
nignctic  induction  might  be  due  to  the  other  component.  Dr. 
Lodge  said  he  believed  that  ebonite  was  not  opaque  because  of 
inducting  particles  being  present,  and  was  inclined  to  think 
hat  it  acted  more  like  ground  glass,  in  which  the  opacity  was 
lae  to  internal  reflections.  Such  a  substance  would  only  be 
opaque  to  vibrations  whose  wave-lengths  were  comparable  with 
the  size  of  the  particles. — A  note  on  the  construction  of  non- 
mdoctive  resistances,  by  Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr. 
T.  Mather,  was  postponed  until  next  meeting. 

Zoological  Society,  June  16.— Dr.  St.  George  Mivart, 
F.R.S.,  Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  H.  A.  Bryden 
exhibited  an  abnormal  pair  of  horns  of  a  cow  Eland  obtained  in 
the  North  Kalahari,  and  made  remarks  on  the  structure  of  the 
feet  of  the  Lechee  Antelope.— Mr.  Howard  Saunders  exhibited 
and  made  remarks  on  a  nearly  white  skin  of  a  Tiger  obtained  in 
Northern  India  by  Major  D.  Robinson. — Mr.  Saunders  also 
exhibited  specimens  of  the  eggs  of  a  Gull  {Larus  tnaculipennis) 
and  of  a  Tern  {Sterna  trudeaui)  from  Argentina. — Mr.  Sclater 
wad  an  extract  from  a  letter  received  from  Dr.  Bolau,  C.M.Z.S., 
describing  two  Sea- Eagles  living  in  the  Zoological  Garden, 
Hamburg,  and  considered  to  be  referable  to  Steller's  Sea- Eagle 
KHaliaHus  peUtgicus).  One  of  these,  received  from  Corea,  Mr. 
Sclater  pointed  out,  probably  belonged  to  the  species  described 
in  the  Society's  Proceedings  by  Taczanowski  as  Haliactus 
rrankiit.-^DT.  R.  Bowdler  Sharpe  gave  a  short  account  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  International  Ornithological  Congress  re- 
cently held  at  Budapest,  in  which  he  had  taken  part.— Mr.  G. 
A.  Boulenger  read  a  paper  entitled  "A  Contribution  to  our 
Knowledge  of  the  Races  of  /^ana  escuUnia  and  their  Geographical 
Distribution."  Mr.  Boulenger  proposed  to  recognize  four  forms 
of  this  widely-spread  species  of  Frog,  and  pointed  out  the 
daracters  upon  which  these  races  were  based  and  the  areas 
which  they  occupy.—- Mr.  Oldfield  Thomas  read  some  notes  on 
'arious  species  of  Ungulates,  which  he  had  made  during  a 
fecent  examination  of  the  specimens  of  this  group  of  Mammals 
wihc  British  Museum. — Mr.  Edgar  A.  Smith  gave  an  account 
Ola  large  collection  of  Marine  Shells  from  Aden.  To  this 
*ere  added  some  remarks  upon  the  relationship  of  the 
MoUuscan  Fauna  of  the  Red  Sea  with  that  of  the  Mediter- 
?**^«7-A  second  communication  from  Mr.  Smith  contained 
dtecripiions  of  some  new  species  of  Shells,  based  on  examples 
obtained  during  the  Challenger  Expedition.— Mr.  H.  A. 
oryden  read  some  notes  on  the  present  distribution  of  the 
wane  south  of  the  Zambesi,  and  made  some  remarks  on  the 

ocst  means  of  procuring  living  specimens  of  this  animal  for 

European  collections.— A  communication  was  read  from  Messrs. 

Mole  and  Urich  containing  notes  of  some  of  the   Reptiles  of 

NO.   1132,  VOL.  44] 


Trinidad,  of  which  they  had  transmitted  living  examples  to  the 
Society's  Menagerie. — Mr.  F.  E.  Beddard  read  some  additional 
notes  upon  the  anatomy  of  Hatalemur  griseus^  made  during  a 
recent  examination  of  two  specimens  of  this -Lemur. — Mr.  E.  B. 
Poulton  gave  an  account  of  an  interesting  example  of  protective 
mimicry  discovered  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Sclater  in  British  Guiana. 
This  was  an  immature  form  of  an  unknown  species  of  Homopter- 
ous  insect  of  the  family  Membracidse,  which  mimics  the  Cooshie 
Ant  {(Ecckloma  cepha^otes), — This  meeting  closes  the  present 
session.  The  next  session  (1891-92)  will  begin  in  November 
next. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  June  17. — Dr.  R.  Braith- 
waite.  President,  in  the  chair. — The  President  said  he  regretted 
to  announce  the  death  of  Prof.  P.  Martin  Duncan,  who  as  a 
past  President  of  the  Society,  was  well-known  to  the  Fellows. — 
A  negative  of  Atnphipleura  pellucida^  produced  with  Zeiss's 
new  ^^  of  1*6  N.A.  and  sunlight,  by  Mr.  T.  Comber,  of 
Liverpool,  was  exhibited,  and  his  letter  was  read  suggesting  that 
the  want  of  sharpness  was  due  to  the  employment  of  a  projec- 
tion eye-piece  for  a  tube-length  of  160  mm.,  whereas  the  objective 
was  made  for  a  tube-length  of  180  mm.  The  illumination  was 
axial  with  a  Zeiss  achromatic  condenser  of  1*2  N.A.  Mr. 
Comber  thought  the  resolution  showed  indications  of  so- called 
''beading,"  and  he  inferred  that  the  ultimate  resolution  would 
be  similar  to  that  of  Amphipleura  iindheimeri.  The  mounting 
medium  had  a  refractive  index  of  2 '2,  but  was  very  unstable, 
granulations  appearing  in  a  very  short  time. — Mr.  C.  L.  Curties 
exhibited  Mr.  Nelson's  apparatus  for  obtaining  monochromatic 
light.  Mr.  Mayall  said  the  apparatus  was  so  devised  that  the 
microscopist  might  employ  any  prism  or  photographic  lens  he 
possessed.  If  a  prism  was  made  specially,  one  of  light  crown- 
glass  would  probably  answer  better  than  the  dense  flint. — Mr.  T. 
T.  Johnson  exhibited  a  new  form  of  student's  microscope  which 
he  had  devised.  Mr.  Mayall  said  the  special  point  was  the  ap- 
plication of  a  screw  movement  to  raise  and  lower  the  substage, 
the  screw  being  in  the  axis  of  the  bearings  of  the  substage 
and  tailpiece ;  and  the  position  of  the  actuating  milled  head, 
which  projected  slightly  at  the  back  of  the  stage,  seemed  to  be 
most  happily  chosen. — Dr.  J.  E.  Talmage,  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,  U.S.  A.,  a  newly  elected  Fellow,  having  been  introduced 
by  the  President,  read  a  note  on  the  occurrence  of  life  in  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  exhibited  some  specimens  of  Artemia 
fertilis  from  the  lake. — Prof.  Bell  said  a  paper  was  read  at  the 
February  meeting,  in  which  Dr.  Benham  described  a  new  earth- 
worm under  the  name  of  Eminia  equatorialis.  The  name  Eminia 
having  been  already  given  to  a  bird  by  Dr.  Hartlaub,  Dr.  Benham 
proposed  tore-name  the  eaxihwoTm  Eminodrilus. — A  letter  from 
Dr.  Henri  Van  Heurck  was  read,  replying  to  the  criticisms  of  his 
microscope  delivered  at  the  previous  meeting.  A  discussion 
followed,  in  which  Mr.  Mayall,  Dr.  Dallinger,  and  Mr.  Watson 
joined. — Mr.  T.  D.  Aldous  exhibited  the  eggs  of  a  water-snail 
which  were  attacked  by  a  parasite  which  seemed  to  be  destroying 
the  gelatinous  matter  to  get  at  the  eggs. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  June  17. — Mr.  Baldwin 
Latham,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  A.  }.  Hands  gave  an. 
account  of  a  curious  case  of  damage  by  lightning  to  a  church 
at  Need  wood,  Staffordshire,  on  April  5,  189 1.  The  church  was 
provided  with  a  lightning-conductor,  but  Mr.  Hands  thinks  that 
when  the  lightning  struck  the  conductor,  a  spark  passed  from  it 
to  some  metal  which  was  close  to  it,  and  so  caused  damage  to 
the  building. — Mr.  W.  Ellis  read  a  paper  on  the  mean  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  at  the  Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich,  as  deduced 
from  the  photographic  records  for  the  forty  years  from  1849  to 
1888,  and  also  gave  some  account  of  the  way  in  which,  at  differ- 
ent times,  Greenwich  mean  temperatures  have  been  formed. — Mr. 
Ellis  also  read  a  paper  on  the  comparison  of  thermometrical 
observations  made  in  a  Stevenson  screen  with  corresponding  ob- 
servations made  on  the  revolving  stand  at  the  Royal  Observatory, 
Greenwich.  From  this  it  appears  that  the  maximum  temperature 
in  the  Stevenson  screen  is  lower  than  that  of  the  revolving  stand, 
especially  in  summer,  and  the  minimum  temperature  higher, 
whilst  the  readings  of  the  dry  and  wet  bulb  thermometers  on 
both  the  screen  and  the  stand,  as  taken  at  stated  hours,  agree 
very  closely  together. — Mr.  W.  F.  Stanley  exhibited  and  de- 
scribed his  phonometer,  which  is  really  a  new  form  of  chrono- 
graph, designed  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  distance  of  a 
gun  from  observations  of  the  flash  and  report  of  its  discharge,  by 
the  difference  of  time  that  light  and  sound  take  in  reaching  the 
observer.  The  instrument  can  also  be  used  for  measuring  the 
distance  of  lightning  by  timing  the  interval  between  the  flash 


240 


NA  TURE 


[July  9,  1891 


and  the  report  of  the  thunder. — A  paper  was  also  read  by  Mr. 
A.  B.  MacDowall,  on  some  suggestions  bearing  on  weather 
prediction. 

Geological  Society,  June  24.— Sir  Archibald  Geikie, 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  ihe  chair. — The  r>11owing  commuDica- 
tions  were  read  : — On  wells  in  West  Suffolk  boulder-clay,  by 
the  Rev.  Edwin  HilK  It  might  be  supposed  that  in  a  boulder- 
clay  district  water  could  only  be  obtained  from  above  or  from 
below  the  clay.  But  in  the  writer's  neighbourhood  the  depths 
of  the  wells  are  extremely  different,  even  within  very  short 
distances ;  and  since  the  clay  itself  is  impervious  to  water,  he 
concludes  that  it  must  include  within  its  mass  pervious  beds  or 
seams  of  some  different  material  which  c  >mmuntcate  with  the 
surface.  It  would  follow  that  this  boulder-clay  is  not  a  uniform 
or  a  homogeneous  mass.  The  visible  sections  are  only  those 
given,  at  hand  by  ditches,  and  at  a  considerable  distance  north 
and  south  by  pits  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  and  Sudbury.  The 
appearances  in  these  harmonize  with  that  conclusion.  Conclu- 
sion and  appearances  differ  from  what  we  should  expect  on  the 
theory  that  this  boulder-clay  was  the  product  of  the  attrition 
between  an  ice-sheet  and  its  bed.  The  reading  of  this  paper 
wa<;  followed  by  a  discussion  in  which  Prof.  Prestwich,  Dr. 
Evans,  Mr.  Clement  Reid,  Mr.  Charlesworth,  Mr.  Topley,  Mr. 
Goodchild,  the  President,  and  the  author  took  part. — On  the 
melaphyres  of  Caradoc,  with  notes  on  the  associated  felsites, 
by  Frank  Rutley. — Notes  on  the  geology  of  the  Tonga  Islands, 
by  J.  J.  Lister.  (Communicated  by  J.  E.  Marr,  F.R.S.) — On 
the  Inverness  earthquakes  of  November  15  to  December  14, 
1890,  by  C.  Davison.  (Communicated  by  Prof.  Chas.  Lap- 
worth,  F.R.S.)  In  this  paper  the  author  gives  reasons  for 
supposing  that  the  Inverness  earthquakes  of  last  year  were  due 
to  the  subsidence  of  a  great  wedge  of  rock  included  between  a 
main  fault  and  a  branch  one  ;  and  he  considers  that  there  is  little 
doubt  that  these  recent  earthquakes  were  the  transitory  records 
of  changes  that,  by  almost  indefinite  repetition  in  long  past 
times,  have  resulted  in  the  great  Highland  faults. — The  next 
meeting  of  the  Society  will  be  held  on  Wednesday,  November  11. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,   June  29.— M.  Dachartre  in  the 
■chair.  -—On  persulphates,  by  M.  Berthelot.     Some  new  facts  are 
stated  in  proof  of  the  existence  of  persulphuric  acid  not  merely 
as  an  anhydride,  S]07,  but  also  as  a  compound  capable  of  form- 
ing distinct  salts,  similar  as  regards  composition  to  perman- 
ganates, perch  lorates,  permolybdates,  and   pertungstates. — Ex- 
periments on  the  mechanical  actions  exercised  on  rocks  by  gas 
at  high  pressures  and  in  rapid  motion,  by  M.  Daubree.     I'he 
author  shows  that  volcanoes  of  the  same  group  have  approxi- 
mately the  same  height,  and  points  out  that  it  is  probable  that 
«ach  group  is  the  result  of  internal  action  at  one  centre.     These 
considerations  are  applied  to  old  volcanic  rocks,  which  often 
exhibit  a  marked  tendency  to  equality  of  level.     The  experi- 
ments which  throw  light  on  the  disturbances  investigated  were 
previously  described. — Action  of  sodium  alcoholates  on  camphor : 
new  method  of  preparation    of  alkyl  camphors,  by  M.    A. 
Haller.--On  a  cryptogam  parasite  of  locusts,  by  M.  Charles 
Brongniart. — On  surfaces  possessing   the  symmetry  of  plane 
systems,  by  M.  S.  Mangeot. — On  homogeneous  finite  deforma- 
tions :  energy  of  an  isotropic  body,  by  M.  Marcel  Brillouin. — 
On   the  biaxial  character  of   compressed   (jnartz,   by  M.    F. 
Beaulard. — The  photogenic  efficiency  of  different  sources  of 
light,  by  M.  A.  Witz. — On  an  electro-magnetic  bell,  by  MM. 
Guerre  and  Martin. — Contribution  to  the  study  of  atmospheric 
electricity,  by  M.  Ch.   Andre.     It  is  generally  admitted  that 
atmospheric  electricity  is  subject   to  a  diurnsd  variation.      A 
discussion  of  the  observations  made  by  M.  Mascart  at  Lyons 
since  1884  shows  that  electric  potential  varies  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  barometric  pressure  and  relative  humidity.     In  fact, 
curves  showing  the  annual  variations  of  relative  humidity  and 
electric  potential  have  precisely  the  same  form. — On  the  oxida- 
tion of  azo-compounds,  by  M.  Charles  Lauth. — On  the  forma- 
tion of  the  mesentery  and  the  intestinal  canal  in  the  embryo 
of  the  fowl,    by   M.    Dareste. — On   the  sting    of    Heterodera 
Schachtii\  by  M.  Joannes  Chatin. — On  Cladosporiae  Entomo- 
phytae,  a  new  group  of  parasitic  fungi  of  insects,  by  M.  Alfred 
Giard. — Contribution  to  the  study  of  the  differentiation  of  the 
endoderm,  by  M.  Pierre  Lesage. — On  the  destruction  of  Pero- 
nospora  Schachtii  of  the  beetroot,  by  means  of  compounds  of 
copper,  by  M.  Aim^  Girard. — Influence  of  muscular  exercise 
on  the  excretion  of  urinary  nitrogen,  by  M.  Chibret. 

NO.    1 132,  VOL.  44] 


Brussels. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  April  4. — M.  F.  Plitemii 
the  chair. — On  the  characteristic  property  of  the  common  i&i- 
face  of  two  liquids  under  their  mutnal  affinity.  Part  lii,]^ 
M.  G.  Van  der  5ff  ensbrugghe.  The  observations  given  io  tk 
first  paper  indicated  that  the  common  surface  of  two  iiqaidi 
which  act  upon  one  another  is  subjected  to  a  force  whose  fa- 
tion  is  away  from  the  centre  of  curvature.  In  the  present  nott 
the  author  gives  some  new  facts  which  appear  to  render  tb 
force  d* extension  very  manifest.  When  a  drop  of  olive  dls 
put  upon  the  surface  of  distilled  water,  it  slowly  breaks  up  m 
a  lens -shaped  drop  on  the  water  surface  and  a  spherical  dnf 
which  descends  to  the  bottom  of  the  containing  vessel.  It  b 
shown  that  a  slow  diminution  occurs  of  the  tension  of  thesniaa 
common  to  the  oil  and  water.  This  diminution  appanoL^ 
arises  from  a  slow  chemical  action  between  the  two  liquids,  sd 
which,  if  sufficiently  prolonged,  is  manifested  by  the  formatiGa 
of  a  thin  pellicle  separating  them.  Many  such  phenomena  » 
these  are  stated  and  explained  according  to  the  new  theoiy.- 
Fourth  note  on  the  structure  of  the  equatorial  bands  of  Jopiter, 
by  M.  F.  Terby.  The  author  remarks  that  he  was  the  first  » 
comment  upon  the  structure  of  Jovian  equatorial  bftodi,  aad  te 
make  known  the  fact  that  it  is  observable  in  small  instniiDeDi& 
In  a  recent  publication  Mr.  Keeler  has  overlooked  these  obec- 
vations,  and  rendered  this  rectification  necessary. — On  theoai- 
ber  of  invariant  functions  by  M.  Jacoues  Deruyts. — A  frtfc 
the  rotation  of  the  planet  Venus,  by  M.  L.  Niesten  (see  Natuu 
June  18,  p.  164). — Geometrical  calculation  of  the  distanos  i 
remarkable  points  of  triangles,  by  M.  Clement  Thiry. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Saturn's  Kingdom  :  C.  M.  Tessop  (Paul). — Collection  de  yL€maxnsvdt& 
k  la  Physique,  tomes  i.  to  iv.  (Paris,  Gauthier-Vlllars).— Charles  Danria:  C 
F.  Holder  (Putnam). — Solutions  of  Examples  in  Elementary  HydioAda: 
Dr.  W.  H.  Besaot  (Bell).— Practical  Electro-Therapeutics:  A.  Hanieind 
H.  N.  Lawrence  (Low). — Popular  Astronomy :  Sir  G.  B.  Airy  :  ncweditn 
(Macmillan  and  Co.X — The  Electrician  Primers,  9  vols.  (£/f(/r»Ma  O&ti 
— Report  on  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field :  J.  Squire  (Montgomery,  AfaL)^— A 
Vertebrate  Fauna  of  the  Orkney  Islands  :  T.  E.  Bucklev  and  JL  A  Barm- 
Brown  (Edinburgh,  Douglas). — Manuel  Pratique  d' Analyse  Bact^riokeqot 
des  Eaux :  Dr.  Miquel  (Paris,  CHuthier-Villars). — Outlines  of  Field  (jeaagr, 

ith  edition :  Sir  A.  Geikie  (Macmillan  and  Co.).— The  History  of  Haeaa 
larriage:  E.  Westemiarck  (Macmillan  and  CoX — Memorials  of  Job 
Gunn :  edited  by  H.  B.  Woodward  and  E.  T.  Newton  (Norwich,  NndA- 
Michigan  Mi ning  School  Report  1886-91  (Marquette,  Mich.)~SoaBaaiRdt 
Photosramtn^trie :  V.  Legros  (Paris).— Die  Indo-Malayis^  Strudlan: 
A.  F.  w.  Schtmper  (Tena,  Fi'^:nerX— Vorlesungen  Qber  Maxweirs  Tbeorii 
der  Elektridtit  und  des  Lichtea,  x  Theil :  Dr.  L.  Boltzmann  (Leipag,  Bndl 


CONTENTS.  PAGt 

The  United  States  Entomological  Commission   .  .  iV} 

Physical  Religion 219 

The  Karwendel  Alps.    By  T.  Q.  B 221 

Our  Book  Shelf: — 

Cremona:  ''Graphical  Statics."— A.  O.  O til 

Gibbins :  "  The  History  of  Commerce  in  Emrope  "  .  .  221 
Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  Albert  University.— Prof.  E.  Ray  Laokester, 

P.R.S.  ;  Prof.  G.  Carey  Poster,  F.R.S.    ...  222 

The  Draper  Catalogue.— Prof.  Edward  C.  Pickering  223 

ThcCuckoo.— E.  W.  P 235 

Colour-  Associations  with  Numerals,  &c  — Dr.  Edward 

S.  Holden 223 

Erratic  Barometric  Depression  of  May  23-29,  and 

Hailstorm  of  May  24.— B.J.  Hopkins 224 

*' An  Alphabet  of  Motions."— J.  S.  Dismorr    ...  225 

On  a  Cycle  in  Weather  Changes.— A.  B.  M 225 

The  Forecast  of  the  Indian  Monsoon  Rains.     Bj 

H.  P.  B 235 

Physical  Science  for  Artists.     II.     By  J.  Norman 

Lockyer,  F.R.S 227 

Luminous  Clouds.     By  O.  Jesse 229 

Wilhelm  Eduard  Weber.     By  G.  C.  P 229 

A   Souvenir  of   Faraday.      By  William    Crookes, 

F.R.S. ;  F.  O.  Ward 230 

Notes 231 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Luminous  Outburst  observed  on  the  Sun 234 

Lord  Hartington  on  Techical  Education 234 

Scientific  Serials 236 

Societies  and  Academies  ...                 236 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 240 


NA  TURE 


241 


THURSDAY,  JULY  16,  1891. 


ORGANIZERS    OF    TECHNICAL    EDUCATION 

IN  CONFERENCE. 

THE  progress  that  has  been  made  during  the  past 
year  by  English  County  Councils  in  the  application 
-of  their  grants  under  the  Local  Taxation  Act  to  purposes 
of  technical  education  is  attested  by  the  map  which 
accompanies  the  fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  National 
Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Technical  and  Second- 
ary Education,  and  which  we  reproduce.  It  will  be 
seen  from  this  map  that  the  counties  which  have  deter- 
mined to  use  the  whole  of  the  new  fund  for  education 
forai  a  large  majority  of  the  whole  number  both  in 
England  and  Wales ;  and  that  London  and  Middlesex 
enjoy  an  unenviable,  and  we  hope  temporary,  distinction, 
in  having  been  the  only  counties  to  grab  for  the  rates 
the  whole  of  the  money  which  might  have  been  used  to 
organize  the  secondary  and  technical  education  of  their 
districts. 

But  while  the  map  and  the  Report  offer  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  County  Councils, 
the  solid  progress  already  achieved  is  still  more  em- 
phatically shown  by  the  Conference  of  organizing  secre- 
taries which  followed  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Association 
on  the  3rd  of  this  month.  The  very  post  of  organizing 
secretary  is  the  creation  of  the  past  few  months.  A  year 
ago  no  county  had  dreamt  of  appointing  an  official  to 
look  after  its  education,  and  the  Technical  Instruction 
Act  was  only  in  operation  in  a  few  scattered  centres. 
Now  nearly  twenty  counties  and  county  boroughs  have 
special  educational  departments,  with  paid  organizing 
secretaries.  We  need  hardly  point  out  the  wisdom  of 
making  such  appointments,  in  view  of  the  imwonted 
•duties  cast  on  County  Councils  by  recent  legislation. 
The  task  is  one  which  needs  all  the  ability  which  is 
available,  and  this  ability  is  of  a  highly  specialized  cha- 
racter, not  to  be  expected  of  the  average  County  Coun- 
ciUor  or  Clerk  of  the  Peace,  who  besides  have  not  the 
time  for  the  necessary  detailed  work  of  organization.  To 
leave  the  work  to  clerks  would  be  to  court  failure,  for  the 
work  to  be  attempted  within  the  next  few  years  must  be 
largely  tentative,  and  the  direction  of  the  experiments 
must  be  in  the  hands  of  men  of  knowledge,  ideas,  and 
resource,  as  well  as  of  tact  and  judgment. 

The  selection  of  such  men  is  not  easy,  and  we  are  glad 
to  find  that  the  secretaries  of  the  Technical  Association 
are  prepared  to  suggest  candidates  to  County  Councils 
which  may  be  in  need  of  them.  The  appointments  made 
hitherto  have  been  of  two  kinds  :  as  temporary  organizers, 
to  inquire  into  claims  and  applications,  to  visit  every  dis- 
trict in  the  county,  and  to  draw  up  a  detailed  scheme  as 
the  result  of  such  inquiry ;  and  as  permanent  secretaries 
to  the  Technical  Instruction  Committees,  charged  with  the 
work  of  carrying  out  the  schemes  and  inspecting  the 
instruction,  either  personally  or  through  the  employment 
of  experts. 

About  two- thirds  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed up  to  the  date  of  the  Conference  accepted  the 
invitation  to  be  present,  the  districts  represented  being 
Lancashire,  Cumberland,   Surrey,   Sussex,    Derbyshire, 

NO.  II 33,  VOL.  44] 


Devonshire,  Oxfordshire,  Nottinghamshire,  and  Hamp- 
shire, besides  a  few  county  boroughs.  The  Conference 
was  private  and  informal,  its  object  being  rather  the  inter- 
change of  views  and  the  comparison  of  notes  than  the 
adoption  of  any  formal  resolution. 

The  subject  chosen  for  consideration  was  the  relation 
of  the  local  taxation  grant  to  secondary  schools — ^the 
most  difficult,  as  well  as  the  most  important,  of  the  ques- 
tions with  which  the  organizer  finds  himself  face  to  face 
when  prepanng  a  scheme.  Since  Matthew  Arnold  wrote, 
the  disgraceful  condition  of  secondary  education  in  Eng- 
land has  been  a  common-place  ;  but  how  inefficient 
many  of  these  schools  are,  and  what  tracts  of  country 
are  entirely  without  even  of  such  facilities  as  they  offer, 
is  probably  scarcely  realized  by  any  except  those  who 
have  made  a  minute  study  of  the  educational  wants  of 
an  average  county.  The  country  grammar-school,  with 
small  endowment  and  ill-paid  and  lethargic  head  master 
assisted  by  a  worse  paid  and  more  inefficient  usher,  is  all 
that  stands  for  secondary  education  in  manya  market-town. 
Many  are  without  even  the  semblance  of  a  school  above  the 
elementary  rank,  and  the  mass  of  the  inhabitants,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  hardly  feel  the  want  of  anything  more.  Here 
and  there  an  energetic  master  or  governing  body  has 
succeeded  in  building  up  a  good  school  in  despite  of  local 
apathy  and  lack  of  funds,  but  the  fee  has  to  be  pitched 
at  a  point  which  excludes  wage-earners,  and  such  schools 
are  consequently  "middle,"  not  only  in  the  character  of 
their  instruction,  but  also  in  the  class  by  which  they  are 
attended.  Meanwhile,  the  clever  boy  of  the  village 
national  school,  who  might  profit  the  nation  by  his  brains 
and  energy,  is  doomed,  for  lack  of  opportunity,  to  leave 
school  at  twelve  for  the  hopeless  rut  of  farm  labour. 

A  country-side  the  general  education  of  which  is 
as  here  described  is  not  a  promising  field  for  special 
technical  instruction.  A  stupid  set  of  uneducated  farmers, 
and  a  scarcely  less  stupid  class  of  uneducated  labourers, 
form  hardly  a  good  soil  in  which  to  plant  lectures  on 
agricultural  chemistry  or  the  natural  history  of  insect 
pests.  And  thus  thoughtful  observers  have  been  driven 
everywhere  to  the  conclusion,  no  less  in  country  than  in 
town,  that'  access  to  good  secondary  schools  is  an  even 
more  crying  need  at  the  present  day  than  the  specialized 
instruction  to  which,  indeed,  a  sound  general  education  is 
the  necessary  preliminary. 

What,  in  short,  is  wanted,  is  that  within  reach  of  every 
inhabitant  of  every  county  should  be  a  good  secondary 
school,  with  fees  such  as  may  be  reasonably  expected  to 
be  paid  by  small  farmers  and  tradesmen,  and  to  which 
all  sons  of  artisans  and  labourers  who  can  pass  a  reason- 
able examination  before  the  age  of  twelve  can  have 
access  by  means  of  scholarships. 

The  question  before  the  Conference  was  the  best  means 
of  promoting  this  object  under  the  powers  given  by  the 
Technical  Instruction  Acts.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  definition  of  technical  instruction  in  the  Act  of  1889 
is  sufficiently  wide  to  cover  most  of  the  subjects  taught  in 
a  secondary  school,  and  it  is  therefore  clear  that  aid  can 
be  given  to  such  schools,  provided  that  the  County  Council 
can  be  represented  on  the  governing  bodies,  and  that  the 
schools  are  not  conducted  for  private  profit.  As  regards 
the  erection  of  new  schools,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  whole 
work  of  building  could  be  undertaken,  even  if  Jdesired,  by 

M 


242  NA2 

the  County  Council,  but  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  con- 
tributions from  being  ina.de  towards  the  cost  of  Uboratory, 
fittings,  and  apparatus  ;  while  a  maintenance  grant  could 
be  given  to  defray  the  expense  oF  the  teaching  of  scientific 
and  technical  subjects.  It  was  stated  at  the  Conference 
that  the  Charit)'  Commissioners  had  shown  every  dis- 


[JULY   l6,  1891 


picked  scholars  from  elementary  to  secondary,  and  ftm 
secondary  to  higher  institutions,  wasunanimouslyagrecd; 
and  it  was  further  considered  that  the  scholarships  10 
secondary  schools  should  not  merely  defray  the  fee,  bm 
should  provide  something  towards  the  cost  c&  mainiaiiiiDj 
the  boy  while  at  school.    The  advant^e  of  choosing  tlw 


position  to  facilitate  the  work,  by  drafting  amending 
schemes  enabling  the  County  Council  to  be  duly  repre- 
sented on  the  governing  bodies. 

But  the  subject  which  chiefly  occupied  the  attention  of 
the   Conference  was  ihat  of  scholarships.      That   some 
scheme  of  scholarships  should  be  devised  to  carry  on 
NO.    1 133,  VOL.  44] 


scholars  as  young  as  possible,  in  order  to  give  iheo  ■''' 
full  advantage  of  secondary  training,  was  also  insiad 

The  question  whether  the  selection  of  scholars,  by  «• 
amination  or  otherwise,  should  be  undertaken  by  the 
County  Council,  or  left  to  the  governing  bodies  ot  ih 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


243 


secondary  schools,  or  to  the  discretion  of  the  teachers 
of  the  elementary  schools,  elicited  some  difference  of 
opinion ;  but  on  the  whole  the  Conference  favoured  the 
plan  of  examination  by  a  board  appointed  by  the  County 
Council,  acting  as  far  as  possible  in  co-operation  with 
the  head  masters  of  the  secondary  schools  of  the  county. 
On  one  point  all  were  agreed :  viz.  that  there  should  be 
two  examinations,  or  at  least  two  standards — one  for  the 
country  districts  and  the  other  for  the  towns— lest  the 
whole  of  the  scholarships  should  be  monopolized  by  the 
most  favoured  districts.  The  opinion  was  also  expressed 
that  it  might  be  sometimes  desirable  (as  apparently  would 
not  be  illegal  under  the  Technical  Instruction  (Amend- 
ment) Act,  1891)  to  make  scholarships  tenable  at  certain 
efficient  private  profit  schools,  where  no  public  schools  are 
available,  although  such  schools  are  debarred  from  re- 
ceiving direct  assistance.  Such  a  course,  however,  would 
have  to  be  adopted  with  the  utmost  caution. 

Finally,  the  Conference  considered  the  relations  of  the 
County  Councils  to  the  Technical  Association,  and  a 
unanimous  opinion  was  expressed  in  favour  of  a  closer 
connection,  while  a  suggestion  was  thrown  out  for  the 
establishment  of  a  quarterly  journal  registering  the  pro- 
gress made  in  the  various  counties,  a  proposal  which  we 
are  glad  to  hear  is  receiving  the  careful  consideration  of 
the  Association. 

Altogether,  the  discussion  was  felt  to  be  of  consider- 
able value  to  those  who  have  the  practical  work  of 
organization  in  hand.  We  hope  that  such  a  Confer- 
ence will  be  held  annually,  even  if  not  more  often,  for  in 
the  novel  work  which  lies  before  the  County  Councils 
points  of  difficulty  will  continually  occur,  on  which  con- 
sultation will  be  most  useful.  By  the  way,  why  should  not 
the  organizing  secretaries  form  a  permanent  Association, 
on  the  model  of  the  two  Associations  of  Head  Masters  P 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  ANIMALS, 

L Evolution  des  Formes  Animaies,  avant  V Apparition 
de  V Homme,  By  F.  Priem.  384  pages.  Illustrated. 
(Paris:  Bailli^re  et  Fils,  1891.) 

T  N  this  addition  to  the  series  of  volumes  known  as  the 
^  "  Biblioth^que  Scientifique  Contemporaine,"  we  have 
a  worthy  companion  to  Prof.  Gaudry's  "  Les  Anc^tres  de 
Nos  Animaux,"  published  three  years  ago.  To  some 
extent,  indeed,  the  ground  is  covered  by  M.  Gaudry's 
more  ambitious  "  Les  Enchainements  du  Monde  Animal," 
but  since  the  latter  is  in  three  volumes,  the  present  work 
ought  to  find  numerous  readers  who  might  be  repelled  by 
the  length  of  the  other.  Moreover,  the  work  before  us 
has  the  advantage  of  treating  each  group  of  animals 
throughout  geological  time  in  consecutive  form,  whereas 
in  the  "  Enchainements  "  the  Palaeozoic  Invertebrates  are 
described  in  one  volume,  and  those  of  the  Secondary 
period  in  another,  while  the  Tertiary  forms  are  not 
recorded  at  all.  Again,  our  author  enters  much  more 
fully  into  the  probable  origin  of  one  group  from  another 
than  is  the  case  in  Gaudry's  work.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that 
in  most  cases  these  views  are  not  original ;  but  since  they 
are  generally  taken  from  the  highest  authorities  on  the 
several  groups,  they  will  commend  themselves  the  more 
strongly  to  students.     In  most  works  on  palaeontology 

NO.  II 33,  VOL.  44] 


too  little  attention  is,  in  our  opinion,  generally  given  to 
the  evolution  of  the  various  groups  of  the  Invertebrata 
from  one  another,  and  we  can,  therefore,  give  a  hearty 
welcome  to  a  volume  like  the  present  which  is  mainly 
devoted  to  this  fascinating  subject. 

We  need  hardly  say  that  Prof.  Priem  is  an  out-and-out 
evolutionist ;  and  we  trust  that  we  shall  not  disparage 
his  work  by  observing  that  in  some  cases — apparently 
carried  away  by  the  very  natural  desire  to  make  the  most 
of  his  subject — he  appears  to  have  gone  rather  too  far, 
stating  as  facts  what  are  at  best  but  probable  hypotheses. 
For  instance,  we  find  it  definitely  stated  on  p.  273  that 
the  Stegocephalous  (Labyrinthodont)  Amphibians  had  a 
functional  parietal  eye,  whereas  there  is,  of  course,  no 
actual  proof  that  this  was  the  case. 

The  work  is  rendered  attractive  by  the  large  number 
of  woodcuts  with  which  it  is  illustrated.  We  regret, 
however,  that  in  some  cases — and  more  especially  among 
the  Vertebrates — the  execution  of  these  figures  is  by  no 
means  satisfactory.  Moreover,  in  the  chapters  devoted 
to  the  Vertebrates  (some  of  which  are  the  weakest  portions 
of  the  work)  there  are  figures  which  are  not  only  bad, 
but  are  utterly  untrue  to  nature.  Thus  on  p.  266  the 
old  figure  of  Coccosteus^  with  the  maxillary  bone  doing 
duty  for  the  mandible,  once  more  reappears ;  while  on 
p.  301  we  have  the  reproduction  of  Goldfuss's  erroneous 
restoration  of  Pterodactylus  crassirostris^  which  is  un- 
fortunately given  as  an  illustration  of  the  short-tailed 
genus  Pterodactylus^  whereas  that  particular  species 
belongs  to  the  long-tailed  genus  Scaphognathus, 

We  notice  that  in  many  instances  M.  Priem  gives  his 
authority  for  his  statements  as  to  the  phylogeny  of  parti- 
cular groups,  whereas  in  other  cases  such  references  are 
omitted.  This  is  to  be  regretted,  since  it  is  often  some- 
what difficult  to  find  out  whether  the  author  is  promul- 
gating his  own  views,  or  quoting  those  of  others. 

The  volume  commences  with  an  introductory  chapter 
on  palaeontological  evolution,  in  which  the  phylogeny  of 
the  horse,  and  the  well-known  passage  of  Paludina 
neumayri  into  P,  hcernesi  are  instanced  as  the  best 
examples  we  have  of  the  derivation  of  one  form  from 
another.  Following  this  chapter,  we  have  the  various 
groups  of  animals  treated  in  detail,  commencing  from 
the  lowest.  In  the  main  the  classification  adopted  is 
fairly  well  up  to  date,  although  we  shall  note  some  in- 
stances where  the  author  departs  from  the  more  usual 
modem  arrangements. 

For  example,  in  treating  of  the  classification  of  the 
Sponges  on  p.  36,  the  author  disregards  Prof.  Sollas's 
separation  of  the  Calcareous  Sponges  (Calcispongiae)  as 
a  group  of  equal  value  with  all  the  others  (Plethospongiae), 
so  that  we  find  the  Soft,  Homy,  Flinty,  and  Calcareous 
Sponges  ranked  as  equivalent  groups.  Again,  in  the 
Coelenterates  (or,  as  we  prefer  to  call  them,  Zoophytes), 
the  Palaeozoic  Corals  are  still  classed  under  the  primary 
divisions  of  Tabulata  and  Rugosa;  the  former  group 
including  such  different  forms  as  Favosites  (belonging  to 
the  Zoantharia)  and  \HelioliteSy  Holy  sites  and  Chatetes 
(usually  referred  to  the  Alcyonaria).  Later  on,  however, 
pp.  62-64,  t^c  author  recognizes  Heliolites  and  its  allies 
as  the  ancestors  of  the  modern  coral-like  Alcyonarians, 
such  as  the  Organ-pipe  Coral  {Tubipora),  and  we  there- 


244 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


fore  fail  to  see  his  reasons  for  adopting  the  antiquated 
classification. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  volume 
are  those  devoted  to  the  evolution  of  the  Echinoderms, 
the  author  adopting  Neumayr's  view  that  the  Palaeozoic 
BlastoidSy  as  well  as  Crinoids,  Sea-Urchins,  and  Star- 
fishes, are  all  separate  branches  springing  from  the 
Cystoids  of  the  Palaeozoic.  The  figures  illustrating  the 
gradual  specialization  of  the  Sea-urchins  from  the  old 
Palaeoechinoids,  with  their  numerous  rows  of  interam- 
bulacral  plates,  through  the  Triassic  Tiarechinus,  and 
thence  to  the  Neocomian  TetracidartSy  with  its  two  rows 
of  apical  interambulacrals  splitting  into  four  near  its 
equator,  and  thence  to  the  modern  *•  regular"  Urchins, 
strike  us  as  particularly  well  selected.  Equally  instruc- 
tive is  the  transition  from  the  "  regular  "  modem  Urchins 
(Neoechinoids)  to  the  "irregular"  forms — at  first  with  the 
retention  of  the  masticating  apparatus,  and  subsequently 
with  its  loss. 

Merely  noticing  that  full  justice  is  done  to  Neumayr's 
views  regarding  the  phylogeny  of  the  Brachiopods,  we 
pass  to  the  Mollusca,  which  we  find  treated  in  consider- 
able detail  and  well  illustrated.     The  author  adopts  the 
modem  view  of  separating  Dentalium  as  a  distinct  order 
(Scaphopods)  from  the  Gastropods,  and  considers  that 
both  Pelecypods  (Bivalves)  and  Scaphopods  are  derived 
from  the  latter.     Nothing  is  ^said  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
Gastropods  themselves,  or,  indeed,  of  the  Cephalopods — 
probably  for  the  very  sufficient  reason  that  nothing  definite 
is  yet  known.     In  regard  to  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
various  groups  of  Cephalopods,  the  author  comes  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Ammonites  should  form  a  distinct 
order,  "  Ammonoidea,"  to  be  placed  between  the  Tetra- 
branchiates   (Nautilus)    and   Dibranchiates   (Cuttlefish). 
Since,  however,  he  adopts  the   view   that   their  shells 
were  really  external,  and  that  they  are  probably  de- 
scended from  Nautiloids,  there  seems  but  little  necessity  for 
this  third  order.    The  gradual  increasing  complexity  in  the 
sutures  as  we  pass  from  Goniatites  to  Ceratites,  and  from 
the  latter  to  true  Ammonites,  is  held  sufficient  to  prove 
the  descent  of  the  latter  from  the  former  ;  while  Goniatites 
are  considered  to  be  the  direct  offshoots  froni  Nautiloids, 
which  are  themselves  derived  from  straight  forms  like 
Orthoceras,     It  would  require  too  much  space  to  enter 
on  the  consideration  of  the  relations  of  the  various  genera 
of  Ammonites  to  one  another  ;  but  we  may  mention  that 
the  author  fully  adopts  the  modern  views,  such  as  the 
evolution  of  the  keeled  Amaltheus  of  the  Jurassic  from 
Ptychites  of  the  Trias,  and  also  tha  t  the  uncoiled  forms 
{flamites,  Scaphites^  &c.)  have  had  several  distinct  points 
of  origin  from  true  Ammonites.    And  here  we  may  take 
the  opportunity  of  mentioning  that  the  terms  ^goceras 
and  Hapioceras  applied  to  genera  of  Ammonites,  are 
preoccupied  by  two  well-known  genera  of  Mammals,  and 
therefore  require  changing.  In  regard  to  the  Dibranchiate 
Cephalopods,  it  is  considered  that  Belemnites  have  been 
derived  from  forms  allied  to  Goniatites,  and  have  them- 
selves given  origin  to  the  modern  Cuttle-fish.     If  this  be 
the  true  phylogeny  of  the  Cephalopods,  it  indicates  a 
gradual  increase  in  the  complexity  of  the  shell  of  the 
Tetrabranchiates,  till  it  attained   its  maximum  in  the 
Jurassic  and  Cretaceous.    Then  the  total  disappearance 

NO.   1 133,  VOL.  44] 


of  all  the  external- shelled  forms  with  the  exception  of  the 
Nautilus;  while  al  the  same  time  the  Dibranchiates 
were  gradually  tending  to  develop  less  and  less  complex 
internal  shells,  till  these  culminated  in  the  simple  ^  pens  ^ 
and  ^'bones''  of  the  modern  cuttles  and  squids. 

Coming  to  that  portion  of  the  work  devoted  to  the 
Vertebrates,  we  find,  as  already  mentioned,  that  the 
author  has  been  in  some  places  less  successful  than  in 
the  earlier  chapters.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the 
misleading  nature  of  one  of  the  figures  in  the  chapter  on 
fishes,  and  we  have  to  add  that  several  of  the  few  others 
with  which  that  chapter  is  illustrated  are  highly  unsatis- 
factory. It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  the  author  had  na 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  second  volume  of  the  "  British 
Museum  Catalogue  of  Fossil  Fishes"  before  passing  his 
proofs,  as  otherwise  he  would  doubtless  have  modified 
some  of  his  statements. 

In  his  remarks  on  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  be- 
tween Dipnoid  and  Ganoid  fishes  (p.  265),  the  author 
seems  to  be  totally  unaware  of  the  difference  between 
the  "  autosty  lie  "  skulls  of  the  former  and  the  "  hyostylic  ^ 
of  the  latter  ;  and  when,  on  p.  267,  he  states  that  the  Dip- 
noids  are  a  lateral  branch  of  the  Crossopterygian  Ganoids, 
he  is  directly  at  issue  with  the  writer  of  the  Museum 
Catalogue,  who  states  (p.  xx.)  that,  "concerning  the 
evolution  of  the  Dipnoi,  palaeontology  as  yet  affords  no 
information.''  Again,  although  Prof.  Cope's  observations 
as  to  the  primitive  structure  of  Pteraspis  and  its  allies 
are  referred  to,  we  doubt  whether  the  suggestion  that  the 
opening  on  the  dorsal  side  of  the  head-shield  corresponds 
to  the  aperture  of  a  parietal  eye  will  commend  itself  to 
the  students  of  ichthyology.  The  chapter  on  the  Batn- 
chians  is  all  too  short ;  and,  bearing  in  mind  their  resem- 
blance to  the  Dipnoids  in  the  autostylic  structure  of  the 
skull,  it  is  scarcely  safe  to  make  the  statement  (p.  282) 
that  they  are  derived  directly  from  Ganoids. 

From  his  treatment  of  reptiles  we  fear  that  the  author 
has  but  a  very  faint  conception  of  the  nature  of  a  Therio- 
dont  or  a  Dicynodont,  or  else  he  would  surely  have 
made  more  of  their  affinity  to  the  Batrachians  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  Mammals  on  the  other ;  while  he  would 
have  also  omitted  any  reference  to  the  purely  adaptive 
resemblance  existing  between  the  skull  of  Udettodoti  and 
that  of  a  turtle.  M.  Priem  might  also  have  informed  his 
readers  that  Dicynodonts  are  not  confined  to  Africa.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  are  pleased  to  see  that  M.  Priem  re- 
jects the  heresy  propounded  by  some  of  his  countrymen, 
that  Ichthyosaurs  were  derived  primitively  from  marine 
reptiles,  in  favour  of  the  more  rational  view  of  their  near 
relationship  to  the  Rhynchocephalians.  In  stating  that 
the  Plesiosaurs  are  likewise  related  to  the  Rhyncho- 
cephalians, the  author  is  in  accord  with  modem  views, 
although  he  should  also  have  referred  to  the  many  in- 
dications of  affinity  presented  by  these  reptiles  to  the 
Chelonians.  When,  however,  it  is  stated,  on  pp.  295,  296, 
that  the  latter  were  probably  derived  from  the  toothless 
Dicynodonts  {Udenodon)^  the  author  at  once  proclaims 
his  ignorance  of  some  of  the  leading  features  of  reptilian 
osteology.  The  statement  on  p.  297,  that  the  gigantic 
Siwalik  tortoise  had  a  shell  measuring  four  metres  in 
length,  leads  us  to  wonder  when  this  fiction  will  finally 
disappear  from  text-books.     The  author's  treatment  of 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


245 


the  Pterodactyles  and  Dinosaurs  calls  for  no  separate 
mention,  although  we  are  led  to  wonder  why  the  Croco- 
diles are  so  widely  separated  from  these  groups. 

The  whole  chapter  on  birds  is  decidedly  feeble ;  and 
we  must  certainly  take  exception  to  the  statement  that 
Hesperomis  and  Ickthyomis  respectively  connect  Archao- 
fteryx  with  the  Ratitae  and  Carinatae. 

Turning  to  the  last  chapters,  on  the  Mammals,  we  find 
the  author  adopting  the  view  that  the  M onotremes  have 
liad  an  origin  totally  separate  from  the  other  two  sub- 
<das5es.  We  then  have  a  notice  of  the  Secondary  Mam- 
mals, in  which  we  observe  a  lamentable  lack  of  attention 
to  recent  work  on  their  affinities,  and  also  to  the 
synonymy  of  the  various  genera.  We  also  notice  that  the 
Jurassic  Plagiaulax  and  its  allies  are  still  referred  to  the 
Diprotodont  Marsupials  (p.  327) ;  so  that  on  these  points 
the  author's  evolutionary  views  are  totally  out  of  date. 
Following  the  Marsupials,  we  have  a  very  fair,  although 
brief,  account  of  the  most  recent  conclusions  on  Mam- 
malian phylogeny,  which  needs  but  few  remarks.  We 
notice,  however,  that  the  author  adopts  M.  Boule's  views 
as  to  the  dual  origin  of  the  CanidcB^  according  to  which 
the  Foxes  (Alopecoids)  are  considered  to  have  originated 
from  CynodictiSf  while  the  Wolves,  Jackals,  and  Dogs 
(Thooids)  trace  their  descent  to  Amphicyon.  To  our- 
selves, indeed,  it  has  always  appeared  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  these  two  groups  of  Canida  have  become  so 
much  alike  if  they  had  this  dual  origin  ;  and  this  diffi- 
culty is  increased  by  the  author's  statement  that  those 
Thooids  known  as  Cyon  differ  from  the  other  members  of 
that  group  in  having  originated  from  Cynodictis. 

On  p.  343  the  author  makes  a  slip  in  stating  that  the 
Hydracoidea  are  now  represented  only  by  a  single  genus  ; 
vrhile  later  on  he  appears  to  be  uncertain  whether  the 
Siwalik  beds  should  be  regarded  as  Upper  Miocene  (pp. 
349,  350)  or  Upper  Pliocene  (p.  366).  Again,  we  notice 
on  p.  353  some  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  recent 
literature  relating  to  the  ancestry  of  the  horse,  Orohippus 
being  identified  with  Pliolopkus^  whereas  the  latter  is 
reaUy  the  same  as  Hyracotherium,  while  the  former  is 
identical  with  Pachynohphus.  We  are  in  full  accord 
with  the  author  when  he  states,  on  p.  361,  that  Chalico- 
Jkerium  (with  which  the  supposed  Edentate  Macro- 
iherium  is  now  known  to  be  identical)  is  an  aberrant 
Ungulate,  although  we  must  be  permitted  to  differ  from 
him  when  he  adds  that  it  shows  signs  of  affinity  with  the 
Edentates. 

We  must  likewise  take  exception  to  the  statement,  on 
p.  370,  that  the  Indian  Nilgai  is  in  any  sense  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  Oxen ;  while  the  view  expressed  on  the 
same  page,  that  the  Buffaloes,  Bisons,  and  true  Oxen  have 
severally  originated  from  three  distinct  groups  of  Ante- 
lopes, can  be  only  regarded  as  another  instance  of  the 
author*  s  partiality  for  multiple  phylogenies.  Although 
M.  Priem  is  careful  not  to  commit  himself  to  the  view 
that  the  Cetaceans  have  been  derived  from  the  extinct 
Fnaliosaurian  reptiles,  yet  the  prominence  which  he 
^ves  to  the  statement  of  that  view  may  be  taken  as  a 
sign  that  he  has  not  thoroughly  purged  himself  from  that 
heresy. 

Finally,  although  we  have  felt  bound  to  call  attention 
to  a  certain  amount  of  imperfection  in  the  later  chapters, 
yet,  as  a  whole,  we  can  conscientiously  recommend  the 

NO.   1133,  VOL.  44] 


work  before  us  to  those  readers  who  are  desirous  ot 
obtaining  in  a  compact  form  a  summary  of  the  evidence 
afforded  by  palaeontology  of  the  progressive  evolution  of 
animal  forms.  R.  Lydekker. 

METALLURGY, 

Leqons  sur  les  Mitaux,  Par  Prof.  Alfred  Ditte.  (Paris : 
Dunod,  1 891.) 

Traite  pratique  de  Chimie  Metallurgique,  Par  le  Baron 
Hans  Juptner  von  Jonstorff.  Translated  from  the 
German  by  M.  Ernest  Vlasto.  (Paris :  Gauthier- 
Villars,  1891.) 

THESE  two  volumes,  recently  published,  are  both  of 
unusual  interest.  The  first,  by  Prof.  Ditte,  who 
is  well  known  to  English  readers  by  his  "  Expos^  de 
quelques  Propri^t^s  gdn^rales  des  Corps,"  may  be  said 
to  mark  a  new  departure  in  teaching  the  chemistry  of 
metals.  He  points  out  that  the  principles  of  thermo- 
chemistry do  not  merely  enable  reactions  to  be  explained, 
but  to  be  predicted,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  when  two 
sets  of  reactions  are  simultaneously  possible,  the  laws  of 
dissociation  render  it  possible  to  rigorously  define  the 
conditions  of  equilibrium  which  are  established  in  the 
chemical  "systems"  under  consideration.  It  is  often 
possible,  with  the  guidance  afforded  by  these  laws, 
to  say,  in  the  absence  of  direct  experiment,  why  one 
reaction  is  impossible  and  another  certain  to  occur  ;  or 
why  a  certain  reaction  begins  without  difficulty,  and  is 
arrested  at  a  definite  stage ;  or  why  a  reaction  which 
takes  place  readily  under  certain  conditions  cannot  be 
effected  under  others  that  do  not  appear  to  differ  greatly 
from  those  which  were  favourable  to  it.  As  a  pupil  of 
Deville,  the  author  might  have  been  expected  to  develop, 
in  a  treatise  such  as  this,  the  teaching  of  his  great  master, 
and  he  has  admirably  performed  his  task.  The  classi- 
fication of  the  work  is  excellent,  the  metals  being  first 
considered  collectively,  and  then  in  detail  with  numerous 
tables  of  the  data  and  constants  which  are  so  frequently 
required  by  metallurgists. 

The  work  begins  with  a  very  clear  account  of  Berthelot's 
labours  in  tnicanique  chimique^  special  care  being  de- 
voted to  the  description  of  the  calorimetric  investiga- 
tions, and  to  the  appliances  adopted  in  these  important 
researches. 

It  appears  to  be  a  great  advance  for  us  in  this  country 
to  read  a  chemical  treatise  in  which  the  thermal  values 
of  the  equations  are  stated  in  calories,  side  by  side 
with  the  formulae.  As  the  book  is  too  long  to  review 
in  detail,  it  may  be  well  to  indicate  the  nature  of  one 
section  only,  as  showing  the  author's  care  and  thorough- 
ness in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  mate- 
rials. Take,  for  instance,  the  few  pages  devoted  to 
carbides.  The  author  points  out  that  carbon  in  uniting 
with  metals  sometimes  gives  rise  to  the  formation  of  true 
compounds,  and  at  others  to  solutions  of  carbon  in  the 
metal.  He  then  describes  the  orange-yellow  product 
obtained  by  the  action  of  carbon  on  metallic  copper,  and 
passes  to  the  association  of  carbon  with  nickel,  which 
does  not  confer  upon  nickel  the  property  of  being 
hardened  by  rapid  cooling.  The  definite  carbides  of 
manganese,  as  well  as  the  indefinite  associations  of 
carbon  with  iron  and  manganese,  receive  due  attention. 


246 


NA  TURE 


[July  16,  1891 


and  the  author  [proceeds  to  deal  with  the  carbides  of 
iron,  and  finally  with  the  well-defined  carbides  of  nio- 
bium and  tantalium,  which  have  respectively  the  formulae 
Nb,C,  and  TajCj. 

A  terse  description  is  then  given  of  the  work  of  Troost 
and  Hautefeuille  on  the  heat  of  formation  of  carbides  of 
iron  and  manganese,  which  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
union  of  carbon  and  iron  is  attended  with  absorption  of 
heat,  while  in  the  case  of  the  union  of  carbon  and  man- 
ganese heat  is  evolved,  the  evidence  leading  to  the 
belief  that  MngC  is  a  true  compound  possessing  con- 
siderable stability.  The  action  of  heat  on  carbides  is 
then  dealt  with,  and  a  brief,  but  sufficient,  reference  is 
made  to  Forquignon's  work  on  the  action  at  a  high  tem- 
perature of  hydrogen  on  cast-iron.  The  section  concludes 
with  a  description  of  the  modes  of  preparing  carbides, 
and  with  a  sketch  of  the  formation  and  properties  of 
the  nitrocarbides,  more  especially  those  of  niobium  and 
titanium. 

The  sections  of  the  work  devoted  to  the  consideration 
of  tellurides,  arsenides,  and  antimonides,  are  equally 
good.  With  regard  to  individual  metals,  in  the  portions 
of  the  work  as  yet  published,  only  potassium,  rubidium, 
caesium,  ammonium,  thallium,  sodium,  lithium  and  the 
metals  of  the  alkaline  earths,  barium,  strontium,  and 
calcium  are  dealt  with,  but  sufficient  evidence  of  the 
merits  of  the  book  has  been  given  in  this  brief  review 
to  show  that  the  rest  of  it  will  be  gladly  welcomed,  for 
Prof.  Ditte  has  earned  his  place  among  the  great  metal- 
lurgists of  France. 

We  should  be  grateful  for  curves  indicating  the  effect 
of  definite  elements  on  the  physical  constants  of  metals. 

Baron  Jonstorff's  book  is  of  an  entirely  different  cha- 
racter, though  it  is  not,  in  its  way,  less  excellent  or  useful. 
He  says  that  it  issues  from  an  ironworks,  and  is  addressed 
to  practical  metallurgists.  Its  aim  is,  however,  somewhat 
different  from  that  of  most  treatises  on  analytical  che- 
mistry, the  author's  intention  being  not  merely  to  guide 
the  chemist  in  his  analytical  methods,  but  to  enable  a 
blast-furnace  manager  or  an  iron-master  to  realize  what 
kind  of  services  the  laboratory  can  render,  what  questions 
relating  to  the  routine  of  work  the  analyst  can  solve,  and, 
above  all,  in  what  way  the  questions  should  be  put. 

The  author  deals  with  the  more  important  special 
methods  of  analysis,  and  of  assaying  iron  and  steel,  and 
he  gives  due  attention  to  the  examination  of  refractory 
materials — slags,  fuel,  and  gaseous  products — and  his 
method  is  singularly  clear  and  precise.  An  appendix 
gives  tabular  statements  which  will  be  useful  in  daily  work. 

The  book,  as  a  whole,  shows  incidentally  the  great 
difference  between  the  works-laboratory  of  the  present 
day  and  that  of  twenty  years  ago.  There  is  still  much 
room  for  improvement,  no  doubt,  but  the  laboratory  of  an 
ironworks  has,  in  many  cases,  ceased  to  be  little  better 
than  a  shed,  erected,  say,  behind  the  boiler-house,  with  an 
analyst  and  a  few  boys  as  the  scientific  staff. 

Those  who  have  visited  the  author  in  his  beautifully 
situated  Styrian  works,  and  have  seen  his  manipulation, 
as  the  reviewer  has,  will  appreciate  the  excellence  of  his 
labours,  and  will  be  glad  that  a  good  translation  into 
French  will  make  their  results  more  generally  known. 

W.  C.  Roberts-Austen. 

NO.  1133,  VOL.  44] 


BACTERIA  AND  THEIR  PRODUCTS. 

Bacteria  and  their  Products.  By  Sims  Woodhead,  M.D. 
Published  in  the  "  Contemporary  Science  Series/ 
(London:  Walter  Scott,  1891.) 

SCARCELY  a  year  passes  in  England,  France,  or  in 
Germany,  without  the  publication  of  one  or  more 
treatises  on  the  fascinating  subject  of  bacteriology. 
Many  of  the  more  recent  of  these  works  have  beoi 
written  for  the  general  reader  rather  than  for  the  student. 
and  have  shown  a  considerable  want  of  accuracy  and 
lucidity,  a  circumstance  which  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  accomplished  bacteriologists  have 
not  been  their  authors. 

We  have  now  before  us  "  Bacteria  and  their  Products,® 
a  work  which  we  might  infer  from  a  glance  at  the  cover, 
and  general  arrangement,  to  be  certainly  intended  for  the 
general  reader.  This  view  is  strengthened  by  the  several 
object-lessons  and  homely  similes  scattered  throughout 
the  text,  with  the  fitness  of  which  we  totally  disagree ; 
witness,  for  example,  the  extraordinary  comparison  of  a 
nodule  of  Actinomyces  with  two  daisy  heads  placed 
base  to  base,  '^  the  sterile  flowers  in  the  centre "  then 
corresponding  to  the  club-shaped  rays.  The  comparison 
is  bad,  but  the  botany  is  worse.  Then  there  is  the  not 
very  abstruse  mathematical  problem  on  p.  24,  and  the 
guide-like  description  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  all  in- 
tended, we  must  conclude,  for  the  general  reader  rather 
than  for  the  student. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  very  large  collection  of 
facts,  much  information  about  fermentation  and  che- 
mistry (although  the  interesting  and  oft-quoted  experi- 
ments of  Raulin  are  omitted),  numerous  references,  and 
a  very  plentiful  supply  of  formulae,  the  whole  requiring, 
in  order  to  understand  and  appreciate  them,  a  reader 
equipped  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  sciences 
bearing  on  the  subject. 

Putting  this  question  aside,  however,  we  candidly  con- 
fess that  we  do  not  admire  the  style  or  arrangement  of 
the  book.  There  is  a  conspicuous  want  of  lucidity,  and 
of  that  accuracy  of  observation  which  one  would  have 
expected  of  the  author.  For  instance,  "  What  are  Bac- 
teria .'* "  is  the  question  propounded  in  chapter  ii.  ;  but 
the  answer  to  this  key-stone  question  is  left  in  much 
doubt,  as  the  description  of  the  protoplasm,  cell  mem- 
brane, mode  of  division  and  reproduction  of  the  "  specks," 
is  exceedingly  confused.  We  should  not  choose  Gram's 
method  to  demonstrate  the  capsules  of  Actinomyces, 
nor,  indeed,  any  other  capsules ;  and  we  have  reason  to 
doubt,  after  the  beautiful  monograph  on  Cladothrix  by 
Billet,  that  the  brown  colour  of  that  organism  is  due  to 
iron.  Again,  what  does  the  author  mean  when,  speaking 
of  cilia,  he  says,  they  "  appear  to  develop  only  in  those 
organisms  that  have  special  affinity  for  oxygen,  for,  as 
soon  as  the  ciliated  forms  reach  the  surface  of  a  fluid, 
they  lose  their  cilia  or  they  become  much  less  active,** 
&c.  ?  Tables  of  classification  are  heaped  in  with  scarcely 
any  attempt  to  sift  and  reduce  them  to  a  form  compatible 
with  the  scope  of  the  book.  Is  this  done  because,  as  the 
author  says  (p.  47),  **  to  the  pathologist,  however,  these 
classifications  are  of  comparatively  little  value''?  We 
maintain  that  for  a  work  of  this  kind  the  author  has  no 
right  to  take  a  one-sided  view,  and  that  to  the  science  of 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


247 


bacteriology  the  study  of  morphology  is  as  important  as 
any  other  side  of  the  subject. 

Turning  to  the  description  of  actinomycosis  and 
anthrax,  we  are  surprised  to  find  McFadyean  taken  as  the 
guide  in  the  former.  Why  is  not  the  author  his  own  guide  ? 
Or  why  does  he  not,  at  least,  use  the  recent  results  of 
Bostrdm  ?  Then  in  "  anthrax  "  it  is  stated  "  that  at  the 
point  of  inoculation  in  animals  there  is  usually  no  evidence 
at  all  that  it  has  been  the  point  of  entrance  of  the  bacilli.'' 
This  is  scarcely  compatible  with  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  this  familiar  organism. 

Again,  in  the  opening  chapter,  a  number  of  bacterio- 
logists' names  are  mentioned.  We  think  the  author 
hardly  does  justice  to  those  of  our  own  country,  for 
amongst  the  four  names  placed  by  the  author  in  honour- 
able association  with  the  great  name  of  Sir  Joseph 
Lister,  neither  Lankester,  nor  Tyndall,  nor  Lawes  and 
Gilbert,  nor  Wooldridge,  nor  Lingard,  finds  a  place. 
And  yet  not  only  are  these  amongst  our  highest  authori- 
ties, but  the  observations  of  Lankester  and  the  experi- 
ments of  Wooldridge  constitute  cardinal  points  in  the 
history  of  bacteriology. 

Lastly,  the  question  of  illustrations  is  a  difficult  one. 
There  are  very  many  photographic  processes  to  choose 
from,  and  considering  that  there  are  only  20  illustrations, 
the  author  might  have  employed  collotypes  (compare 
Frankel's  atlas)  or  copper  blocks ;  or,  having  used 
zinc  blocks,  should  have  had  them  printed  on  separate 
sheets,  for  it  ought  to  be  more  generally  known  that  it  is 
oi  no  use  expecting  a  good  impression  from  blocks  of 
this  description  when  printed  on  ordinary  paper  and  in 
the  texL 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Our  Country's  Flowers.     By  W.  J.  Gordon.     (London  : 
Day  and  Son,  1891.) 

This  volume  is  intended  to  aid  beginners  to  ascertain 
the  botanical  name  of  any  British  wild  flower  or  fern  with 
which  they  may  meet.  After  a  list  of  local  English  plant- 
names,  the  serious  work  of  the  book  begins  with  an  ex- 
planation of  how  plants  are  classified,  inter  woven  with  which 
are  a  sufficient  number  of  the  terms  used  indescribingplants 
to  make  the  book  "  not  too  technical,  but  just  technical 
enough  "  for  the  reader  who  desires  to  have  a  "  nodding 
acquaintance  "  with  the  wild  flowers  of  his  own  country. 
This  is  given  first  in  a  chatty  style,  and  then  repeated  in 
a  convenient  tabular  form.  Next,  the  essential  characters 
of  the  natural  orders  are  given,  after  which  the  buttercup 
order,  or  Ranunculaceac,  is  treated  of  at  some  length  as  a 
pattern  of  how  identifications  can  be  made.  This  is 
followed  by  a  glossary  of  botanical  terms,  in  some  of 
which,  in  attempting  a  condensed  and  popular  style,  the 
writer  has  somewhat  distorted  the  meaning.  "  Cambium  " 
is  erroneously  described  as  a  layer  of  mucilage,  instead 
of  a  tissue.  The  characters  of  the  natural  orders  are 
again  stated,  this  time  in  alphabetical  sequence,  followed 
by  a  chapter  on  the  genera,  each  of  which  is  accompanied 
by  a  woodcut,  intended  to  show  its  diagnostic  character, 
but  it  is  doubtful  whether  (at  least  in  some  of  the  orders) 
this  is  accomplished,  as  is  also  the  case  with  some  of  the 
specific  diagnoses  with  which  the  volume  closes. 

In  the  33  coloured  plates  509  species  are  depicted. 
This  crowding  is  unsatisfactory,  and  tends  to  obscure 
what  might  otherwise  be  very  useful.  The  figure  on 
plate  23,  numbered  388,  may  possibly  be  intended  for 
368,  the  stinging-nettle,  or   it  may  be  some  abnormal 


NO.   1 133,  VOL.  44] 


state  of  the  inflorescence  of  a  grape-vine.  Centranikus 
ruber  (204)  and  Plantago  lanceolata  (346)  are  also  won- 
derful specimens  of  those  plants.  The  artist,  apparently, 
is  amongst  those  who  do  not  regard  colour  (unless  it  be 
the  quantity  thereof)  as  of  value  in  discriminating  species. 
The  volume  will,  nevertheless,  be  a  pleasant  and  useful 
companion  to  many  during  a  country  holiday,  and,  with 
the  author,  we  hope  will  lead  on  to  deeper  study. 

C.  H.  W. 

A  Summary  of  the  Darwinian  Theory  of  the  Origin  of 
Species,     By  Francis  P.  Pascoe,  F.L.S.,&c.     (London  : 
Taylor  and  Francis,  1891.) 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  the  author  of  this 
pamphlet  should  think  it  worth  while  to  remind  his 
readers  periodically  that  he  is  an  opponent  of  Darwinism. 
Some  space  was  recently  devoted  in  these  columns  to 
the  consideration  of  a  book  on  the  same  subject  by  Mr. 
Pascoe,  and  the  present  production  is  nothing  more  than 
an  abstract  of  this  work,  delivered  in  the  form  of  an 
address  to  the  Western  Microscopical  Club.  We  have 
no  new  facts  nor  arguments  ;  there  is  the  same  lament- 
able display  of  misconception,  and  the  author  has  simply 
strung  together  some  sixteen  pages  of  excerpts  from  the 
writings  of  Darwin  and  others,  without  any  attempt  at 
connected  reasoning  either  for  or  against  the  Darwinian 
theory.  The  author's  position  is  practically  this  :  here  is 
the  whole  animal  kingdom,  consisting  of  about  600,000 
species  ;  you  must  explain  every  detail  of  specific  struc- 
ture, down  to  the  most  insignificant,  by  the  theory  of 
natural  selection ;  if  you  cannot  do  this,  the  theory  is 
untenable.  The  whole  of  Mr.  Pascoe's  writings  in  con- 
nection with  Darwinism  amount  to  this,  and  nothing 
more ;  he  has  reiterated  this  statement,  if  not  literally, 
at  any  rate  in  spirit,  on  every  available  opportunity  for 
the  last  twenty  years.  The  present  pamphlet  will, 
let  us  hope,  for  the  sake  of  the  author's  reputation, 
be  the  last  declaration  to  the  same  effect,  for  there  is 
surely  nothing  gained  either  by  Darwinism  or  anti-Dar- 
winism by  squandering  the  systematic  powers  which  he 
is  known  to  possess  in  picking  out  scraps  of  sentences 
from  the  '*  Origin  of  Species,"  &c.,  and  publishing  these 
things  ^^  of  shreds  and  patches  "  under  grandiloquent  and 
misleading  titles.  R.  M. 

The  Business  of  Travel :  a  Fifty  Year^  Record  of  Pro- 
gress. By  W.  Fraser  Rae.  (London:  Thomas. Cook 
and  Son,  1891.) 

This  year  the  well-known  firm  of  Thomas  Cook  and  Son 
celebrate  their  fiftieth  anniversary,  and  Mr.  Fraser  Rae 
has  taken  the  trouble  to  write  the  present  work  in  order 
to  mark  the  occasion.  The  firm,  it  seems,  had  very 
small  beginnings.  Its  history  may  be  said  to  date  from 
the  day  when,  in  1841,  Mr.  Thomas  Cook,  walking  along 
a  country  road,  suddenly  reflected  that  a  certain  temper- 
ance meeting  at  Loughborough  would  probably  be  a 
brilliant  success  if  a  special  excursion  train  could  be  run 
between  that  place  and  Leicester.  Apparently,  no  such 
thing  as  a  special  excursion  train  had  ever  before  been 
heard  of.  The  idea  was  carried  out,  and  attracted  so 
much  attention  that  Mr.  Cook — who  was  at  that  time  a 
wood-turner — was  often  asked  afterwards  for  advice  in 
the  organizing  of  railway  excursions ;  and  by  and  by  he 
devoted  himself  wholly  to  the  task  of  developing  "  the 
business  of  travel."  His  son  has  been  for  many  years 
the  sole  managing  partner,  but  to  the  elder  Mr.  Cook 
belongs  the  credit  of  having  conceived  the  system  with 
which  his  name  is  now  associated.  To  what  vast  pro- 
portions the  system  has  grown  everyone  knows ;  but 
there  are  probably  few  who  know  much  about  the  various 
stages  through  which  it  has  advanced  to  its  present  posi- 
tion. Mr.  Fraser  Rae  tells  the  story  clearly  and  effec- 
tively, and  most  readers,  when  they  have  finished  his 
narrative,  will  be  disposed  to  agree  with  him  in  thinking 


248 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


that  the  jubilee  of  a  firm  which  has  plajred  so  prominent 
a  part  is  an  event  of  interest  in  the  social  history  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Messrs.  Cook,  by  their  energy  and 
enthusiasm,  have  given  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the 
popular  love  of  travel ;  and  they  may  fairly  claim  that 
their  establishment  ranks  to  some  extent  among  the  in- 
fluences which  are  tending  to  break  down  international 
prejudices. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opimons  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  Naturb. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications, '\ 

The  Albert  University. 

I  DESIRE  to  associate  myself  with  Prof.  Carey  Foster  and,  to 
a  great  extent,  with  Prof.  Ray  Lankester  in  the  statements 
msde  and  the  opinions  expressed  by  them  in  your  last  issue. 
Present  circumstances  force  me  to  do  so  as  briefly  as  possible  ; 
but  I  should  be  the  less  satisfied  to  keep  altogether  silent  be- 
cause I  had  something  to  do  with  the  drafting  oT  the  "  Albert '' 
charter  io  1887. 

For  my  part,  that  draft  was  never  regarded  as  an  effective 
solution  of  the  problem  of  a  University y^r  London.  I  thought 
of  it  only  as  a  handy  weapon  for  forcing  the  appointment  of 
a  Royal  Commission,  and  for  shaking  the  London  University 
Senate  out  of  its  happiness  in  the  steady  increase  of  untaught 
candidates  for  degrees. 

A  Commission  was  extorted ;  and  it  had  the  impartiality,  at 
least,  of  ignorance.  Its  inquiry  was  shore  and  hurried,  yet  it 
learned  enough  of  what  had  been  done  for  academic  organization 
by  the  London  Colleges,  daring  sixty  years,  to  condemn  the 
sufficiency  and  self-suf!iciency  of  the  London  University.  That 
the  Commission,  notwithstanding,  should  first  give  the  London 
University  an  opportunity  of  transforming  itself  for  London's 
good,  was  natural  and  proper  in  all  the  circumstances. 

We  know  what  followed.  The  London  University  Senate 
was  slow,  very  slow,  to  move  at  all  towards  meeting  the  London 
Colleges.  But  at  last  it  woke  up,  and  then  after  a  time  began 
to  display  a  novel  spirit  of  conciliation.  Fifteen  months  ago,  a 
real  accommodation  seemed  to  have  been  attained  between  the 
Councils  of  the  Colleges  on  the  one  hand  and  the  University 
Senate  on  the  other.  Even  when  the  Senate  thereafter,  yielding 
to  an  irrelevant  clamour  from  Provincial  Colleges,  decided  to 
give  these  also  a  direct  representation  (in  the  teeth  of  the  Com- 
mission's instruction  and  without  warning  to  the  London 
Colleges),  I  was  one  of  those  who  here  were  still  willing  to  try 
what  could  be  made  of  the  top-heavy  and  lumbering  scheme. 
But  trial  there  was  never  to  be  ;  for  Convocation,  which  prob- 
ably would  reject  any  measure  of  reform,  gathered  itself  up  and 
made  swift  end  of  this  one. 

It  looks  now  as  if  the  "Albert  University"  were  straight- 
way to  be  upon  us  instead.  I  will  not  inquire  into  the 
agencies  that  have  brought  this  result  into  such  near  view.  Nor 
will  I  in  your  columns  follow  up  my  present  and  my  late  col- 
league's arguments  against  the  prospective  creation  with  others 
that  seem  to  me  of  serious  import.  But  I  may  be  allowed 
to  endorse  emphatically  what  Prof.  Lankester  has  said  as  to  the 
absence  of  sanction  by  the  professorial  body  here  to  the 
"Albert"  draft  charter.  And  nothing  could  be  more  to  the 
point  than  Prof.  Foster's  observation  that  the  "Albert" 
scheme  has  never  been  submitted  to  a  meeting  of  the  Governors 
of  the  College — which  means,  to  the  College  as  a  corporate  body. 

Prof.  Lankester  is  clearly  right  in  contending  that  the  whole 
question  should  now  have  been,  or  should  still  he,  referred  back 
to  the  Commission.  I  must,  however,  as  a  Scot,  remark  upon 
his  assumption  that  the  Northern  Universities  are  professorially 
governed — free  especially  (as  he  urged  in  a  former  letter)  from 
the  mischievous  lay  influence  of  mere  graduates.  The  fact  is, 
that,  ever  since  i860,  graduates,  in  "  General  Council "  and 
also  by  direct  representation  in  the  "  University  Court,"  have 
not  been  without  voice  or  influence ;  while,  by  the  later  reform 
of  the  other  year,  not  only  is  graduate  and  other  lay  influence 
increased,  but  also  the  professorial  powers  of  general  manage- 
ment are  largely  diminished  or  even  (as  respects  finance,  &c.) 

NO.   II 33,  VOL.  44] 


abolished.  There  were  more  reasons  than  evidently  ProC 
Lankester  knows  of  for  cartailing  the  old  professorial  suprenracy 
in  Scotland.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  in  England,  and  moie 
especially  in  London,  there  should  not  be  a  much  franker  re- 
cognition of  professorial  (that  is,  expert)  knowledge  of  edu- 
cational ends  and  means  than  appears  in  the  "  Albert "  dralr 
charter.  G.  Croom  Robsktson. 

University  College,  London. 

P.S. — Since  these  remarks  were  put  in  print,  a  decition  of 
the  Privy  Council  has  been  announced  infavour  of  an  "Albert" 
(or  "  Metropolitan ")  University.  They  lose,  therefore,  most 
of  whatever  interest  they  may  have  had;  but  they  may  sdll 
appear,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  if  the  Editor  pleases.  I  regret 
the  decision,  and  think  the  promoters  of  it  may  yet  have  reason 
to  wish  that  their  action  had  been  less  hurried.  At  the  same 
time,  one  may  acknowledge  the  remarkable  energy  and  fertility 
of  resource  with  which  the  enterprise  has  been  conducted  to  its 
thus  far  successful  issue. — G.  C.  R. 


If  I  may  be  allowed  another  word  on  this  subject,  I  shoaki 
like  to  say  that,  having  been  all  along  a  keen  advocate  of  the 
establishing  of  a  strong  professorial  University  in  London,  not 
necessarily  in  slavish  imitation  of  the  German  system  (of  which 
I  happen  to  know  something),  but  combining  the  main  features 
of  its  professoriate  (of  which  I  think  I  showed  my  appreciation 
in  a  paper  read  at  Bath  in  1888,  before  Section  B  of  the  British 
Association)  with  the  essential  elements  of  the  present  University 
of  London,  and  believing  that  the  draft  charter  of  the  Senate, 
which  was  presented  to  Convocation,  contained  in  it  the  poten- 
tialities, out  of  which  (with  the  exercise  of  a  little  common-sense 
to  soften  down  such  asperities  as  might  cause  friction  in  its 
initiatory  working,  together  with  a  little  patience  to  allow  for 
the  time  necessary  in  all  evolutionary  changes)  a  strong  pro- 
fessorial University  could  be  developed,  I  voted  for  the  Senate's 
scheme,  and  still  think  the  adverse  vote  of  Convocation  the 
greatest  disaster  that  has  befallen  the  University  in  the  half- 
century  of  its  existence. 

Of  all  the  bitter  things  said  by  Prof.  Lankester  in  his  former 
letter,  nothing  was  more  to  the  point  than  his  sarcastic  challenge 
to  the  existing  University  to  reform  itself,  if  it  can,  with  the 
"dead  weight  of  graduates  tied  round  its  neck,  and  called 
Convocation."  But  must  an  institution,  which  has  admittedly 
done  so  much  good,  be  swamped  because  of  the  accident  of  a 
flaw  in  its  constitution  ?  Is  there  no  power  to  remove  thb  mill- 
stone from  its  neck  ?  If  anything  can  exceed  one's  admiration 
for  Prof.  Lankester's  candour  m  penning  the  letter,  which 
appears  in  Nature  this  week  (July  9,  p.  222),  it  is  the 
satisfaction  one  must  feel  at  finding  that  the  projected  repetition 
of  "  federal  futility  "  which  is  at  present  in  a  state  of  incubatioa 
at  the  Council  Office,  has  no  attraction  for  him.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  main  question  will  be  referred  back  to  the  Royal 
Commission,  and  that  the  Commissioners  will  give  such  advice 
to  the  "powers  that  be,"  that  the  shortsighted  decision  of 
Convocation  may  be  overruled,  as  Prof.  Lankester  has  suggested 
twice  over,  and  that  (to  use  the  words  spoken  to  me,  the 
morning  after  the  vote,  by  a  distinguished  Oxfonf  man,  whose 
academical  experience  no  one  could  challenge)  "the  Govern* 
ment  will  take  up  the  matter,  and  pass  an  Act  doing  what 
sensible  people  wish  to  see  done,"  by  co-ordinating  and  har- 
monizing, instead  of  segregating,  the  present  machinery  for  higher 
education  in  the  metropolis,  including  the  great  medical  schools. 

Prof.  Kari  Pearson's  idea  of  the  "  fusion  "  of  the  two  Colleges 
(see  Nature,  June  4,  p.  102),  as  distinct  from  "federation," 
is  splendid  in  theory ;  but  will  it  work  ?  Can  the  fluxii^ 
material  be  found,  which  shall  make  the  iron  and  the  clay  inter- 
fuse without  either  Gower  Street  or  Somerset  House,  or  both, 
sacrificing  those  traditions  which  are  the  strongest  element  in 
that  individuality  which  each  values  so  highly  and  both  seem  so 
anxious  to  conserve  ?  A.  Irving. 

Wellington  College,  July  10. 


Name  for  Resonance. 

Although  inadvisable  as  a  rule  to  correct  errors  in  a  report 
for  which  one  is  not  responsible,  there  is  one  little  mistake  00 
p.  238  this  week,  which,  uncorrected,  may  lead  to  the  extinction 
of  a  useful  suggestion. 

In  discussing  the  subject  of  "electric  resonance"  recently  at 
Cambridge,  I  found  that  the  term  conveyed  no  correct  meaning 


July  i6,  1891] 


NATURE 


249 


to  the  untecfanicallj  instructed.  Its  natural  meaning  implies 
echo  or  reverberation,  and  has  a  definite  relation  to  sound. 
Now,  although  a  sort  of  reverberation  or  repetition  is  part  of  the 
effect  intendra  to  be  denoted  bv  the  phrase  resonance,  yet  the 
most  essential  feature  of  that  phenomenon,  and  the  one  most  to 
be  emphadzed  in  the  recent  extensions  of  the  term,  viz.  the 
accord  of  frequency  or  similar  tuning  between  two  vibrators,  is 
not  connoted  at  all.  Hence,  even  in  acoustics  the  term  is  hardly 
satisiactoiT,  while  its  extension  to  other  departments  of  physics 
mav  be  misleading. 

It  was  suggested,  however,  by  Dr.  Arthur  Myers,  that  the 
^t'giafing  woxd  vinnwos  has  almost  exactly  the  right  connotation, 
and  has  no  special  limitation  to  sound ;  while  the  derivatives 
syntimy,  syntonu,  and  syntonise  may  readily  become  English 
without  exciting  repulsion. 

The  adjective  **  symphonic,"  suggested  by  the  reporter  of  the 
Physical  Society,  does  not  strike  me  as  so  good,  because  it 
specially  refers  to  sound  again,  and  because  the  word  "  sym- 
phony    has  already  another  definite  meaning. 

Oliver  J.  Lodge. 


July  la 


Force  and  Determinism. 


I  DO  not  think  there  are  many  non-physicists  who  will  attempt 
to  gainsay  the  fact  that,  under  physical  constraint,  the  direction 
of  motion  may  be  determined  without  affecting  the  quantity  of 
the  energy  concerned,  and  without  expenditure  of  energy. 
This  is  seen  when  the  earth  and  sun  revolve  around  their  com- 
mon centre  of  gravity,  or  when  I  twirl  my  stick  around  my 
finger  and  thumb  ;  the  earth  and  sun  in  the  one  case,  and  the 
ferrule  and  knob  of  my  stick  in  the  other  case,  being  bound 
into  one  system  physically.  But  I  do  think  that  an  able  and 
clear-headed  physicist  like  Dr.  Oliver  Lodge  would  be  doing  a 
great  service  to  non-pbysiciSvS  if  he  would,  in  your  widely- 
circulated  column^,  explain  and  solve,  shortly  and  in  non-tech- 
nical language,  the  difficulties  which  trouble  some  of  them  ; 
aiding  them,  for  example,  to  comprehend  the  exact  force  of  the 
words  expenditure  of  energy,  and  helping  them  to  see  that  in 
all  known  cases  of  change  of  direction  of  motion  such  change  is 
effected  under  physical  constraint.  It  is  when  they  are  told  by 
a  certain  class  of  metaphysicians,  who  quote,  or  misquote,  physics 
in  support  of  their  assumptions,  that  physical  motion  is  con- 
trolled by  will-power  or  volition,  always  acting  at  right  angles 
to  direction  of  motion,  and  therefore  leaving  the  amount  of 
energy  unchanged ;  it  is  ihen^  I  say,  that  they  begin  to  grow 
restive,  and  to  demand  definite  and  verifiable  evidence  that 
sach  metaphysical  constraint  is  (pace  Sir  John  Herschel)  a  neces- 
sary or  philosophical  conception,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to 
explain  tne  phenomena  without  having  recourse  to  ir.  If  Dr. 
Lodge  would  consent  to  help  non- physicists  in  this  way,  and 
would  indicate  what  are  the  "important  psychological  con- 
sequences "  to  which  he  alludes,  he  would  be  doing  some  of  us 
a  good  turn.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan. 

University  College,  Bristol. 


As  Prof.  Lodge  says  he  is  glad  to  see  that  his  statement, 
*' although  expenditure  of  energy  is  needed  to  increase  the  speed 
of  matter  none  is  required  to  alter  its  direction,"  called  in  ques- 
tlon*  and  as  he  has  so  kindly  answered  one  letter  on  the  subject, 
may  I  ask  him  to  criticize  the  following  remarks? 

The  theory  of  kinematics  is  based  on  certain  geometrical  con- 
cepts, which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  term  space,  and  on  the 
concept  of  time.  The  laws  of  motion,  together  with  the  asser- 
tion that  mass  is  not  a  function  of  space  or  time,  may  logically 
be  regarded  as  implicitly  defining  mass  and  force.  Enetgy  may 
similarly  be  defined,  in  terms  of  these  kinematic  concepts,  as 
"X^mv,  For  I  think  the  progress  of  science  is  tending  to  show 
that  the  term  "  potential  energy  "  is  only  a  cloak  to  cover  our 
ignorance  of  the  kinetic  energies  which  for  the  moment  have 
escaped  our  ken.  But  in  any  case  the  statement  quoted  is 
logically  only  a  truism,  deduced  from  the  definitions  of  its 
terms,  and  is  therefore  indisputable  in  all  mechanical  theorems. 
But  if  it  is  to  be  applied  outside  the  sphere  of  pure  mechanics, 
the  moral  will  lie  m  the  application  of  it — that  is,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  examine,  before  applying  it  to  any  new  subject- 
matter,  whether  the  definitions  from  which  it  was  deduced  apply 
to  that  subject-matter  or  not. 

For  example,  by  the  third  law  of  motion,  mechanical  force 
only  acts  between  two  masses^  the  momenta  generated  in  them 
being  equal  and  opposite.      If,  therefore,  psychic  force  is  to 

NO.   1 133,  VOL.  44] 


come  under  the  definition  of  mechanical  force,  it  can  only  act 
between  two  particles.  And,  therefore,  if  psydiic  force  is  to  do 
no  work,  bv  reason  of  its  always  acting  in  a  direction  normal  to 
the  path  of  a  particle,  it  can  only  act  between  two  particles 
whose  paths  happen  to  have  a  common  normal — an  occurrence 
which  must  be  infinitely  rare.  Edward  T.  Dixon. 

12  Barkston  Mansions,  South  Kensington,  July  4. 


Magnetic  Anomalies. 

The  discovery  of  very  strong  magnetic  anomalies  between 
Charkov  and  Kuisk  in  Russia,  to  whidi  A.  de  Tillo  has  lately 
referred  in  the  Comptes  rendus  and  in  Nature,  raises  the 
question  whether  the  values  there  observed  are  strictly  local, 
or  extend  over  a  relatively  wide  area.  Thus,  it  would  be  of 
great  interest  to  know  if,  on  moving,  say,  some  metres  away 
from  a  station,  the  declination  and  inclination  hold  the  same 
value.  If  not,  there  is  clearly  some  cause  which  acts  at  a  short 
distance ;  but  if  constancy  is  observed,  a  great  step  would  be 
taken  towards  the  settlement  of  the  question  as  to  the  existence 
of  strong  variations  common  to  a  wide  area. 

When  magnetic  anomalies  are  observed,  the  first  thing  to  be 
done  is  to  ascertain  whether  the  values  found  in  a  given  locality 
have  a  definite  meaning — that  is,  whether  they  do  not  change 
for  slight  displacements ;  otherwise,  the  determination  of  the 
magnetic  elements  has  no  meaning,  as  it  is  impossible  to  refer 
them  to  geographical  co-ordinates. 

The  overlooking  of  this  precaution  has  often  led  to  serious 
mistakes.  Alfonso  Sella. 

Biella,  July  4. 

Physical  Religion. 

As  a  constant  reader  of  Nature  from  its  commencement, 
and  the  possessor  of  its  forty-three  and  a  half  volumes,  I  venture 
(after  reading  the  review  of  "  Physical  Religion  "  in  this  week's 
number)  to  ask  if  it  is  intended  to  develop  it  into  a  theological 
journal.  Because,  however  smart  it  may  be  to  abolish  Abraham 
without  "even  taking  the  trouble  to  discuss"  him,  or  to  dispose 
of  Lux  Mundi  in  a  contemptuous  sentence,  it  is  hardly  in 
accordance  with  scientific  methods. 

It  is  curious  that  many  "  Agnostics,"  though  by  their  own 
showing  (if  they  would  talk  Latin  instead  of  Greek)  they  are 
Ignoramuses  at  best,  should  be  so  certainly  sure  of  everything, 
when  a  little  reflection  and  modesty  might  satisfy  them  that  as 
^* Know-nothings*^  (in  plain  English)  they  have  no  more  right  to 
deny  than  to  assert, 

'rhe  standing  motto  of  your  title  might  be  improved  by  the 
addition  of  "  Ne  supra  crepidam  sutor." 

Hampstead  Heath,  July  11.  B.  Woodd  Smith. 


SOME  APPLICATIONS  OF  PHOTOGRAPHY} 

ONE  of  the  subjects  to  which  I  propose  to  invite  your 
attention  this  evening  is  the  application  of  instan- 
taneous photography  to  the  illustration  of  certain  me- 
chanical phenomena  which  pass  so  quickly  as  to  elude 
ordinary  means  of  observation.  The  expression  "  instan- 
taneous photography "  is  perhaps  not  quite  a  defensible 
one,  because  no  photography  can  be  really  instantaneous 
— some  time  must  always  be  occupied.  One  of  the  sim- 
plest and  most  commonly  used  methods  of  obtaining  very 
short  exposures  is  by  the  use  of  movable  shutters,  for 
which  purpose  many  ingenious  mechanical  devices  have 
been  invented.  About  two  years  ago  we  had  a  lecture 
from  Prof.  Muybridge,  in  which  he  showed  us  the  appli- 
cation of  this  method — and  a  remarkably  interesting- 
application  it  was — to  the  examination  of  the  various 
positions  assumed  by  a  horse  in  his  several  gaits.  Other 
means,  however,  may  be  employed  to  the  same  end,  and 
one  of  them  depends  upon  the  production  of  an  instan- 
taneous light.  It  will  obviously  come  to  the  same  thing 
whether  the  light  to  which  we  expose  the  plates  be 
instantaneous,  or  whether  by  a  mechanical  device  we 
allow  the  plate  to  be  submitted  to  a  continuous  light  for 

'  Friday  Evening  Discourse,  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great 
Briuin,  on  February  6,   1 891,  by  Lord  Rayleigh,   F.R.S.,   Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy,  R.I. 


250 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


only  a  very  short  time.  A  good  deal  of  use  has  been  made 
in  this  way  of  what  is  known  as  the  magnesium  flash 
light  A  cloud  of  magnesium  powder  is  ignited,  and 
blazes  up  quickly  with  a  bright  light  of  very  short  dura- 
tion. Now  I  want  to  compare  that  mode  of  illumination 
with  another,  in  order  to  be  able  to  judge  of  the  relative 
degree  of  instantaneity,  if  1  may  use  such  an  expression. 
We  will  illumine  for  a  short  time  a  revolving  disk,  com- 
posed of  black  and  white  sectors;  and  the  result  will 
depend  upon  how  quick  the  motion  is  as  compared  with 
the  duration  of  the  light.  If  the  light  could  be  truly 
instantaneous,  it  would  of  necessity  show  the  disk  ap- 
parently stationary.  I  believe  that  the  duration  of  this 
light  is  variously  estimated  at  from  one-tenth  to  one- 
fiftieth  of  a  second ;  and  as  the  arrangement  that  I  have 
here  is  one  of  the  slowest,  we  may  assume  that  the  time  oc- 
cupied will  be  about  a  tenth  of  a  second.  I  will  say  the  words 
one,  two,  three,  and  at  the  word  three  Mr.  Gordon  will  pro- 
ject the  powder  into  the  flame  of  a  spirit  lamp,  and  the  flash 
will  be  produced.  Please  give  your  attention  to  the  disk,  for 
the  question  is  whether  the  present  uniform  grey  will  be 
displaced  by  a  perception  of  the  individual  black  and 
white  sectors.  [Experiment]  You  see  the  flash  was 
not  instantaneous  enough  to  resolve  the  grey  into  its 
components. 

I  want  now  to  contrast  with  that  mode  of  illumination 
one  obtained  by  means  of  an  electric  spark.  We  have 
here  an  arrangement  by  which  we  can  charge  Leyden 
jars  from  a  Wimshurst  machine.  When  the  charge  is 
sufficient,  a  spark  will  pass  inside  a  lantern,  and  the  light 
proceeding  from  it  will  be  condensed  and  thrown  upon 
the  same  revolving  disk  as  before.  The  test  will  be  very 
much  more  severe  ;  but,  severe  as  it  is,  I  think  we  shall 
And  that  the  electric  flash  will  bear  it.  The  teeth  on  the 
outside  of  the  disk  are  very  numerous,  and  we  will  make 
them  revolve  as  fast  as  we  can,  but  we  shall  find  that 
under  the  electric  light  they  will  appear  to  be  absolutely 
stationary.  [Experiment.]  You  will  agree  that  the  out- 
lines of  the  black  and  white  sectors  are  seen  perfectly 
sharp. 

Now,  by  means  of  this  arrangement  we  might  investi- 
gate a  limit  to  the  duration  of  the  spark,  because  with  a 
little  care  we  could  determine  how  fast  the  teeth  are  tra- 
velling—-what  space  they  pass  through  in  a  second  of 
time.  For  this  purpose  it  would  not  be  safe  to  calculate 
from  the  multiplying  gear  on  the  assumption  of  no  slip. 
A  better  way  would  be  to  direct  a  current  of  air  upon  the 
teeth  themselves,  and  make  them  give  rise  to  a  musical 
note,  as  in  the  so-called  siren.  From  the  appearance  of 
the  disk  under  the  spark  we  might  safely  say,  I  think, 
that  the  duration  of  the  light  is  less  than  a  tenth  of  the 
time  occupied  by  a  single  tooth  in  passing.  But  the  spark 
is  in  reality  much  more  instantaneous  than  can  be  proved 
by  the  means  at  present  at  our  command.  In  order  to 
determine  its  duration,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  re- 
course to  that  powerful  weapon  the  revolving  mirror ;  and 
I  do  not,  therefore,  propose  to  go  further  into  the  matter 
to-night 

Experiments  of  this  kind  were  made  some  twenty  years 
ago  by  Prof.  Rood,  of  New  York,  both  on  the  duration  of 
the  discharge  of  a  Leyden  jar,  and  also  on  that  of  light- 
ning. Prof.  Rood  found  that  the  result  depended  some- 
what upon  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  discharge 
of  a  small  jar  being  generally  more  instantaneous  than 
that  of  a  larger  one.  He  proved  that  in  certain  cases  the 
duration  of  the  principal  part  of  the  light  was  as  low  as 
one  twenty-flve-millionth  part  of  a  second  of  time.  That 
is  a  statement  which  probably  conveys  very  little  of  its 
real  meaning.  A  million  seconds  is  about  twelve  days 
and  nights.  Twenty-  five  million  seconds  is  nearly  a  year. 
So  that  the  time  occupied  by  the  spark  in  Prof.  Rood's 
experiment  is  about  the  same  fraction  of  one  second  that 
one  second  is  of  a  year.  In  many  other  cases  the  dura- 
tion was  somewhat  greater ;  but  in  all  his  experiments 

NO.   1 133,  VOL.  44] 


it  was  well  under  the  one-millionth  part  of  a  second* 
In  certain  cases  you  may  have  multiple  sparks.  I  do  not 
refer  to  the  oscillating  discharges  of  which  Prof.  Lodge  gate 
us  so  interesting  an  account  last  year ;  Prof.  Rood's 
multiple  discharge  was  not  of  that  character.  It  con- 
sisted of  several  detached  overflows  of  his  Leyden  jar 
when  charged  by  the  Rhumkorff  coil.  One  number 
mentioned  for  the  total  duration  was  one  six-thousandtfa 
part  of  a  second ;  but  the  individual  discharges  had  tke 
degree  of  instantaneity  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  adapt  the  electrical  spaik 
to  instantaneous  photography.  We  will  put  the  lantern 
into  its  proper  position,  excite  the  electric  sparks  within 
it,  causing  them  to  be  condensed  by  the  condenser  of  the 
lantern  on  to  the  photographic  lens.  We  will  then  put  the 
object  in  front  of  the  lantern-condenser,  remove  the  cap 
from  the  lens,  expose  the  plate  to  the  spark  when  it 
comes,  and  thus  obtain  an  instantaneous  view  of  whatever 
may  be  going  on.  I  propose  to  go  through  the  opera- 
tion of  taking  such  a  photograph  presently.  I  will  not 
attempt  any  of  the  more  difficult  things  of  which  I  shaU 
speak,  but  will  take  a  comparatively  easy  subject— a 
stream  of  bubbles  of  gas  passing  up  through  a  liquii 
In  order  that  you  may  see  what  this  looks  like  when 
observed  in  the  ordinary  way,  we  have  arranged  it  here 
for  projection  upon  the  screen.  [Experiment!]  The  gas 
issues  from  the  nozzle,  and  comes  up  in  a  stream,  but  so 
fast  that  you  cannot  fairly  see  the  bubbles.  If,  however, 
we  take  an  instantaneous  picture,  we  shall  find  that  the 
stream  is  decomposed  into  its  constituent  parts.  We 
arrange  the  trough  of  liquid  in  front  of  the  lantern  which 
contains  the  spark-making  apparatus — [Experiment]— 
and  we  will  expose  a  plate,  though  I  hardly  expect  a  good 
result  in  a  lecture.  A  photographers  lamp  provides 
some  yellow  light  to  enable  us  to  see  when  other  light 
is  excluded.  There  goes  the  spark ;  the  plate  is  exposed, 
and  the  thing  is  done.  We  will  develop  the  plate,  and 
see  what  it  is  good  for ;  and  if  it  turns  out  fit  to  show, 
we  will  have  it  on  the  screen  within  the  hour. 

In  the  meantime,  we  will  project  on  the  screen  some 
slides  taken  in  the  same  way  and  with  the  same  subject 
[Photograph  shown.]  That  is  an  instantaneous  photo- 
graph of  a  stream  of  bubbles.  You  see  that  the  bubbles 
form  at  the  nozzle  from  the  very  first  moment,  contrasting 
in  that  respect  with  the  behaviour  of  jets  of  water  pro- 
jected into  air  (Fig.  i). 


*• 


FlU.  I. 

The  latter  is  our  next  subject.  This  is  the  reservoir 
from  which  the  water  is  suppHed.  It  issues  from  a  nozzle 
of  drawn-out  glass,  and  at  the  moment  of  issue  it  consists 
of  a  cylindrical  body  of  water.  The  cylindrical  fonn  is 
unstable,  however,  and  the  water  rapidly  breaks  up  into 
drops,  which  succeed  one  another  so  rapidly  that  they 
can  hardly  be  detected  by  ordinary  vision.      But  by 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


251 


means  of  instantaneous  photogn^phy  the  individual  drops 
can  be  made  evident  I  will  first  project  the  jet  itself  on 
the  screen,  in  order  that  you  may  appreciate  the  subject 
which  we  shall  see  presently  represented  by  photography. 
[Experiment.]  Along  the  first  part  of  its  length  the  jet 
of  water  is  continuous.  After  a  certain  point  it  breaks 
into  drops,  but  you  cannot  see  them  because  of  their 
rapidity.  If  we  act  on  the  jet  with  a  vibrating  body, 
such  as  a  tuning-fork,  the  breaking  into  drops  occurs 
still  earlier,  the  drops  are  more  regular,  and  assume  a 
curious  periodic  appearance,  investigated  by  Savart.  I 
have  some  photographs  of  jets  of  that  nature.  Taken  as 
described,  they  do  not  difier  much  in  appearance  from 
those  obtained  by  Chichester  Bell,  and  by  Mr.  Boys.  AVc 
get  what  we  may  regard  as  simply  shadows  of  the  jet 
obtained  by  instantaneous  illumination ;  so  that  these 
photographs  show  little  more  than  the  outlines  of  the 
subject.  They  show  a  little  more,  on  account  of  the  lens- 
like action  of  the  cylinder  and  of  the  drops.  Here  we 
have  an  instantaneous  view  of  a  jet  similar  to  the  one  we 
were  looking  at  just  now  (Fig.  2).  This  is  the  con- 
tinuous part ;  it  gradually  ripples  itself  as  it  comes 
along ;  the  ripples  increase  ;  then  the  contraction  be- 
comes a  kind  of  ligament  connecting  consecutive  drops  ; 


Fig.  2. 

the  ligament  next  gives  way,  and  we  have  the  individual 
drops  completely  formed.  The  small  points  of  light  are 
the  result  of  the  lens-like  action  of  the  drops.  [Other 
instantaneous  views  also  shown.] 

The  pictures  can  usually  be  improved  by  diffusing 
somewhat  the  light  of  the  spark  with  which  they  are 
taken.  In  front  of  the  ordinary  condensing  lens  of  the 
magic  lantern  we  slide  in  a  piece  of  ground  glass, 
slightly  oiledy  and  we  then  get  better  pictures  showing 
more  shading.  [Photograph  shown.]  Here  is  one  done 
in  that  way  ;  you  would  hardly  believe  it  to  be  water 
resolved  into  drops  under  the  action  of  a  tremor.  It 
looks  more  like  mercury.  You  will  notice  the  long  liga- 
ment trying  to  break  up  into  drops  on  its  own  account, 
but  not  succeeding  (Fig.  3). 

There  is  another,  with  the  ligament  extremely  pro- 
longed. In  this  case  it  sometimes  gathers  itself  into  two 
drops  (Fig.  4). 

[A  number  of  photographs  showing  slight  variations 
were  exhibited.] 

The  mechanical  cause  of  this  breaking  into  drops  is,  I 
need  hardly  remind  you,  the  surface  tension  or  capillary 
force  of  the  liquid  surface.  The  elongated  cylinder  is  an 
unstable  form,  and  tends  to  become  alternately  swollen 
and  contracted.  In  speaking  on  this  subject  I  have  often 
been  embarrassed  for  want  of  an  appropriate  word  to 
describe  the  condition  in  question.  But  a  few  days  ago, 
during  a  biological  discussion,  I  found  that  there  is  a 
recognized,  if  not  a  very  pleasant,  word.  The  cylindrical 
jet  may  be  said  to  become  varicose^  and  the  varicosity 
goes  on  increasing  with  time,  until  eventually  it  leads  to 
absolute  disruption. 

There  is  another  class  of  unstable  jets  presenting  many 
points  of  analogy  with  the  capillary  ones,  and  yet  in 
many  respects  quite  distinct  from  them.  I  refer  to  the 
phenomena  of  sensitive  flames.  The  flame,  however,  is 
not  the  essential  part  of  the  matter,  but  rather  an  in- 
dicator of  what  has  happened.    Any  jet  of  fluid  playing 

NO.   II 33,  VOL.  44] 


into  a  stationary  environment  is  sensitive,  and  the  most 
convenient  form  for  our  present  purpose  is  a  jet  of 
coloured  in  uncoloured  water.  In  this  case  we  shall 
use  a  solution  of  permanganate  of  potash  playing  into 
an  atmosphere  of  other  water  containing  acid  and  sulphate 
of  iron,  which  exercises  a  decolourising  effect  on  the 
permanganate,  and  so  retards  the  general  clouding  up  of 
the  whole  mass  by  accumulation  of  colour.  [Experi- 
ment.] Mr.  Gordon  will  release  the  clip,  and  we 
shall  get  a  jet  of  permanganate  playing  into  the 
liquid.  If  everything  were  pefectly  steady,  we 
might  see  a  line  of  purple  liquid  extending  to  the 
bottom  of  the  trough  ;  but  in  this  theatre  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  get  anything  steady.  The  instability  to  which 
the  jet  is  subject  now  manifests  itself,  and  we  get  a  break- 
ing away  into  clouds  something  like  smoke  from  chimneys. 
A  heavy  tuning-fork  vibrating  at  ten  to  the  second  acts 
upon  it  with  great  advantage,  and  regularizes  the  disrup- 
tion. A  little  more  pressure  will  increase  the'  instability, 
and  the  jet  goes  suddenly  into  confusion,  although  at  first, 
near  the  nozzle,  it  is  pretty  regular. 

It  may  now  be  asked  "  What  is  the  jet  doing  ?  "    That 
is  just  the  question  which  the  instantaneous  method 


I 

Fic.  ^. 


Fig.  4. 


enables  us  to  answer.  For  this  purpose  the  permanganate 
which  we  have  used  to  make  the  jet  visible  is  not  of  much 
service.  It  is  too  transparent  to  the  photographic  rays, 
and  so  it  was  replaced  by  bichromate  of  potash.  Here 
the  opposite  difficulty  arises  ;  for  the  bichromate  is  invi- 
sible by  the  yellow  light  in  which  the  adjustments  have  to 
be  made.  1  was  eventually  reduced  to  mixing  the  two 
materials  together,  the  one  serving  to  render  the  jet 
visible  to  the  eye  and  the  other  to  the  photographic  plate. 
Here  is  an  instantaneous  picture  of  such  a  jet  as  was 
before  you  a  moment  ago,  only  under  the  action  of  a 
regular  vibrator.  It  is  sinuous^  turning  first  in  one  direc- 
tion and  then  in  the  other.  The  original  cylinder,  which 
is  the  natural  form  of  the  jet  as  it  issues  from  the  nozzle, 
curves  itself  gently  as  it  passes  along  through  the  water. 
It  thus  becomes  sinuous,  and  the  amount  of  the  sinuosity 
increases,  until  in  some  cases  the  consecutive  folds  come 
into  collision  with  one  another.  [Several  photographs  of 
sinuous  jets  were  shown,  two  of  which  are  reproduced  in 
Figs.  5  and  6.] 

The  comparison  of  the  two  classes  of  jets  is  of  great 
interest.  There  is  an  analogy  as  regards  the  instability, 
the  vibrations  caused  by  disturbance  gradually  increasing 
as  the  distance  from  the  nozzle  increases ;   but  there  is  a 


252 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


great  difference  as  to  the  nature  of  the  deviation  from  the 

auilibrium  cooditlon,  ajid  as  to  the  kind  of  force  best 
apted  to  bring  it  about.  The  one  gives  way  by  becoming 
varicose ;  the  other  by  becoming  sinuous.  The  only 
forces  capable  of  producing  varicosity  are  symmetrical 
forces,  which  act  alike  all  round.  To  produce  sinuosity, 
we  want  exactly  the  reverse — a  force  which  acts  upon  the 
jet  transversely  and  unsymmetricaliy. 

I  will  DOW  pass  on  to  another  subject  for  instantaneous 
photography— namely,  the  soap  film.  Everybody  knows 
that  if  you  blow  a  soap  bubble  it  will  break — generally 
before  you  wish.  The  process  of  breaking  is  exceedingly 
rapid,  and  difficult  to  trace  by  the  unaided  eye.  If  we 
can  get  a  soap  film  on  this  ring,  we  will  project  it  upon 
the  screen  and  then  break  it  before  your  eyes,  so  as  to 
enable  you  to  form  your  own  impressions  as  to  the 
rapidity  of  the  operation.  For  some  time  it  has  been  my 
ambition  to  photograph  a  soap  bubble  in  the  act  of 
breaking.  I  was  prepared  for  difficulty,  believing  that  the 
time  occupied  was  less  than  the  twentieth  of  a  second. 
But  it  turns  out  to  be  a  good  deal  less  even  than  that. 
Accordingly  the  subject  is  far  more  difficult  to  deal  with 
than  arc  those  jets  of  water  or  coloured  liquids  which  one 


Fic.  6. 


breaking  soap  film  will  of  necessity  be  more  com[dicatcd 
than  b«ore,  because  we  have  to  time  the  spark  encd; 
with  the  breaking  of  the  61m.  The  device  I  hare 
used  is  to  drop  two  balls  simultaneously,  so  Iha 
one  should  determine  the  spark  and  the  other 
rupture  the  film.  The  most  obvious  plan  wis  to 
hang  iron  balls  to  two  electro  magnets,  and  cause  Ihem 
to  drop  by  breaking  the  circuit,  so  that  both  were  let  jc 
at  the  same  moment.  The  method  was  not  quite  a  sot- 
cess,  however,  because  there  was  apt  to  be  a  little  hesiiatioe 
in  letting  go  the  balls.  So  we  adopted  another  plio. 
The  balls  were  not  held  by  electro-magnetism,  but  bj 
springs  (Fig.  S)  pressing  laterally,  and  these  were  pulkd 
off  by  electro-magnets.  The  proper  moment  for  putting 
down  the  key  and  so  liberating  the  balls,  is  indicated  bf 
the  tapof  thebeamof  an  attracted  disk  electrometer  as  it 
strikes  against  the  upper  stop.  One  falling  ball  deter- 
mines the  spark,  by  filling  up  most  of  the  interval  betweea 
two  fixed  ones  submitted  to  the  necessary  electric 
pressure.  Another  ball,  or  rather  shot,  wetted  iritL 
alcohol,  is  let  go  at  the  same  moment,  and  breaks  the  fihn 
on  its  passage  through  it.  By  varying  the  distance 
dropped  through,  the  occurrence  of  one  event  may  be 
adjusted  relatively  to  the  other.  The  spark  whichpasse 
to  the  falling  ball  is,  however,  nor  the  one  whicJi  illunii- 
nates  the  photographic  plate.  The  latter  occurs  witlnD 
the  lantern,  and  forms  part  of  a  circuit  ii 
with    the    ouUr     coatings     of    the     Lcyden    jars," 


can  photograph  at  any  moment  that  the  spark  happens  to 
come. 

There  is  the  film,  seen  by  relleaed  light.  One  of  the 
first  difficulties  we  have  to  contend  with  is  that  it  is  not 
easy  to  break  the  film  exactly  when  we  wish.  We  will 
drop  a  shot  through  it.  The  shot  has  gone  through,  as 
you  see,  but  it  has  not  broken  the  film  ;  and  when  the 
film  is  a  thick  one,  you  may  drop  a  shot  through  almost 
any  number  of  times  from  a  moderate  height  without  pro- 
ducing any  effect.  You  would  suppose  that  the  shot  in 
going  through  would  necessarily  make  a  hole,  and  end  the 
life  of  the  film.  The  shot  goes  through,  however,  without 
making  a  hole.  The  operation  can  be  traced,  not  very 
well  with  a  shot,  but  with  a  ball  of  cork  stuck  on  the  end 
of  a  pin,  and  pushed  through.  A  dry  shot  does  not 
readily  break  the  film  ;  and  as  it  was  necessary  for 
our  purpose  to  effect  the  rupture  in  a  well-defined  manner, 
here  was  a  difficulty  which  we  had  to  overcome.  We 
found,  after  a  few  trials,  that  we  could  get  over  it  by 
wetting  the  shot  with  alcohol. 

We  will  try  again  with  dry  shot.  Three  shots  have 
gone  through  and  nothing  has  happened.  Now  we  will 
try  one  wetted  with  alcohol,  and  I  expect  it  will  break  the 
film  at  once.    There  \  it  has  gone  \ 

The  apparatus  for  executing  the  photography  of  a 
NO.  1 133,  VOL.  44] 


whole  arrangement  being  similar  to  that  adoplol 
by  Prof.  Lodge  in  his  experiments  upon  alierM- 
tive  paths  of  discharge.  Fig.  8  will  give  a  general  id» 
of  the  disposition  of  the  apparatus.  [Several  photo- 
graphs of  breaking  films  were  shown  upon  the  satoi; 
one  of  these  is  reproduced  in  Fig,  7.]' 

This  work  proved  more  difficult  than  I  had  expected; 
and  the  evidence  of  our  photographs  supplies  thecipUn»- 
tion— namely,  that  the  rupture  of  the  film  is  an  extra- 
ordinarily rapid  operation.  It  was  found  that  the  wbok 
difference  between  being  too  early  and  too  late  « 
represented  by  a  displacement  of  the  falling  ball  ihroogt 
less  than  a  diameter,  vii.  \  inch  nearly.  The  drop  wliii 
we  gave  was  about  a  fool.  The  speed  of  the  ball  •onM 
thus  be  about  100  inches  per  second  ;  therefore  the  whok 
difference  between  being  loo  soon  and  too  late  is  repre- 
sented by  71  Jo  second.  Success  is  impossible,  unless  the 
spark  can  be  got  to  occur  within  the  limits  of  this  short 

Prof.  Dewar  has  directed  my  attention  to  the  fact  thK 
Dupr^,  a  good  many  years  ago,  calculated  the  speed  d 
rupture  of  a  film.  We  know  that  the  energy  of  the  film 
is  in  proportion  to  its  area.  When  a  film  is  paitiaDf 
broken,  some  of  the  area  is  gone,  and  the  corresponding 
potential  energy  Is  expended  in  generating  the  velocity™ 


'  Ttie  appejvancc 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


253 


the  thickened  edge,  which  bounds  the  still  unbroken  por- 
tion. The  speed,  then,  at  which  the  edge  will  go  de]>ends 
upon  the  thickness  of  the  film.  Dupr^  took  a  rather 
extreme  case,  ai\d  calculated  a  velocity  of  32  metres  per 
second.  Here,  with  a  greater  thickness,  our  velocity  was, 
perhaps,  16  yards  a  second,  agreeing  fairly  well  with 
Dupr^s  theory. 

I  now  pass  on  to  another  subject  with  which  I  have 
lately  bc«n  engaged— namely,  the  connection  between 
aperture  and  the  definition  of  optical  images.  It  has  long 
been  known  to  astronomers  and  to  those  who  study 
optics  that  the  definition  of  an  optical  instrument  is  pro- 
portional to  the  aperture  employed  ;  but  I  do  not  think 
that  the  theory  is  as  widely  appreciated  as  it  should  be. 
I  do  not  know  whether,  in  the  presence  of  my  colleague, 
I  may  venture  to  say  that  I  fear  the  spectroscopists  are 


lenses  may  be.  In  accordance  with  the  historical  deve- 
lopment of  the  science  of  optics,  the  student  is  told  that 
the  lens  collects  the  rays  from  one  point  to  a  focus  at 
another ;  but  when  he  has  made  further  advance  in  the 
science  he  finds  that  this  is  not  so.  The  truth  is  that  we 
are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  this  subject  in  a  distorted 
manner.  The  difficulty  is,  not  to  explain  why  optical 
images  are  imperfect,  no  matter  how  good  the  lens  em- 
ployed, but  rather  how  it  is  that  they  manage  to  be  as 
good  as  they  are.  In  reality  the  optical  image  of  even  a 
mathematical  point  has  a  considerable  extension ;  light 
coming  from  one  point  cannot  be  concentrated  into 
another  point  by  any  arrangement  There  must  be 
diffusion,  and  the  reason  is  not  hard  to  see  in  a  general 
way.  Consider  what  happens  at  the  mathematical  focus, 
where,  if  anywhere,  the  light  should  all  be  concentrated. 
At  that  point  all  the  rays  coming  from  the  original  radiant 


A,  B,  Electxodes  of  Wimahurst  machine. 

c,  D,  Terminab  of  interior  coatings  of  Leyden  jars. 

e>  P,  Balls  on  insulating  supports  between  which  the  discharge  is  taken. 

c,  AttTMrted  disk  of  electrometer. 

H,  Knife  ed^e.  i»  Scale  pan. 

Ji  Scops  limiting  movement  of  beam. 


K,  Sparking  balls  in  connection  with  exterior  coatings  of  jars.     [The 
exterior  coatmgs  are  to  be  joined  by  an  imperfect  conductor,  such  as  a 
Ubie.] 

L,  Lantern  condenser.  m,  Soap  film. 

N,  Photographic  camera.  o.  Darnell  cell. 

p,  Key.  Q,  Electro-magnets.  R,  Balls. 


among  the  worst  sinners  in  this  respect  They  constantly 
speak  of  the  dispersion  of  their  instruments  as  if  that  by 
itself  could  give  any  idea  of  the  power  employed.  You 
may  have  a  spectroscope  of  any  degree  of  dispersion,  and 
yet  of  resolving  power  insufficient  to  separate  even  the 
D  lines.  What  is  the  reason  of  this  ?  Why  is  it  that  we 
cannot  get  as  high  a  definition  as  we  please  with  a  limited 
aperture  ?  Some  people  say  that  the  reason  why  large 
telescopes  are  necessary  is,  because  it  is  only  by  their 
means  that  we  can  get  enough  light.  That  may  be  in 
some  cases  a  sufficient  reason,  but  that  it  is  inadequate 
in  others  will  be  apparent,  if  we  consider  the  case  of  the 
sun.  Here  we  do  not  want  more  light,  but  rather  are 
anxious  to  get  rid  of  a  light  already  excessive.  The  prin- 
cipal raison  d'Ure  of  large  telescopes  is,  that  without  a 
large  aperture  definition  is  bad,  however  perfect   the 

NO.  1 133,  VOL.  44] 


point  arrive  in  the  same  phase.  The  different  paths  of 
the  rays  are  all  rendered  optically  equal,  the  greater 
actual  distance  that  some  of  them  have  to  travel  being 
compensated  for  in  the  case  of  those  which  come  through 
the  centre  by  an  optical  retardation  due  to  the  substitu- 
tion of  glass  for  air ;  so  that  all  the  rays  arrive  at  the 
same  time.^  If  we  take  a  point  not  quite  at  the  mathe- 
matical focus  but  near  it,  it  is  obvious  that  there  must  be 
a  good  deal  of  light  there  also.  The  only  reason  for  any 
diminution  at  the  second  point  lies  in  the  discrepancies 
of  phase  which  now  occur ;  and  these  can  only  enter  by 
degrees.  Once  grant  that  the  image  of  a  mathematical 
point  is  a  diffused  patch  of  light,  and  it  follows  that  there 
must  be  a  limit  to  definition.    The  images  of  the  com- 

*  On  this  principle  we  may  readily  calculate  the  focal  lengths  of  lenses 
without  use  of  the  law  of  sines  (see  PniL  Mag.^  December  1879). 


254 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


ponents  of  a  close  double  point  will  overlap  ;  and  if  the 
distance  between  the  centres  do  not  exceed  the  diameter 
of  the  representative  patches  of  light,  there  can  be  no 
distinct  resolution.  Now  their  diameter  varies  inversely 
as  the  aperture  ;  and  thus  the  resolving  power  is  directly 
as  the  aperture. 

My  object  to-night  is  to  show  you  by  actual  examples 
that  this  is  so.  I  have  prepared  a  series  of  photographs 
of  a  grating  consisting  of  parallel  copper  wires  separated 
by  intervals  equal  to  their  own  diameter,  and  such  that 
the  distance  from  centre  to  centre  is  ^^  inch.  The  grating 
was  backed  by  a  paraffin  lamp  and  large  condensing  lens  ; 
and  the  photographs  were  taken  in  the  usual  way,  except 
that  the  lens  employed  was  a  telescopic  object-glass,  and 
was  stopped  by  a  screen  perforated  with  a  narrow  adjust- 
able slit,  parallel  to  the  wires.^  In  each  case  the  exposure 
was  inversely  as  the  aperture  employed.  The  first  [thrown 
upon  the  screen]  is  a  picture  done  by  an  aperture  of 
eight  hundredths  of  an  inch,  and  the  definition  is  toler- 
ably good.  The  next,  with  six  hundredths,  is  rather 
worse.  In  the  third  case,  I  think  that  everyone  can  see 
that  the  definition  is  deteriorating ;  that  was  done  by  an 
aperture  of  four  hundredths  of  an  inch.  The  next  is  one 
done  by  an  aperture  of  three  hundredths  of  an  inch,  and 
you  can  see  that  the  lines  are  getting  washed  out.  In 
focussing  the  plate  for  this  photograph  I  saw  that  the 
lines  had  entirely  disappeared,  and  I  was  surprised,  on 
developing  the  plate,  to  find  them  still  visible.  That  was 
in  virtue  of  the  shorter  wave-length  of  the  light  operative 
in  photography  as  compared  with  vision.  In  the  last 
example,  the  aperture  was  only  two-and-a-half  hundredths 
of  an  inch,  and  the  effect  of  the  contraction  has  been 
to  wash  away  the  image  altogether,  although,  so  far  as 
ordinary  optical  imperfections  are  concerned,  the  lens 
was  acting  more  favourably  with  the  smaller  aperture 
than  with  the  larger  ones. 

This  experiment  may  be  easily  made  with  very  simple 
apparatus ;  and  I  have  arranged  that  each  one  of  my 
audience  may  be  able  to  repeat  it  by  means  of  the  piece 
of  gauze  and  perforated  card  which  have  been  distri- 
buted. The  piece  of  gauze  should  be  placed  against  the 
window  so  as  to  be  backed  by  the  sky,  or  in  front  of  a 
lamp  provided  with  a  ground-glass  or  opal  globe.  You 
then  look  at  the  gauze  through  the  pin-holes.  Using  the 
smaller  hole,  and  gradually  drawing  back  from  the  gauze, 
you  will  find  that  you  lose  definition  and  ultimately  all 
sight  of  the  wires.  That  will  happen  at  a  distance  of 
about  4i  feet  from  the  gauze.  If,  when  looking  through 
the  smaller  hole,  you  have  just  lost  the  wires,  you  shift 
the  card  so  as  to  bring  the  larger  hole  into  operation, 
you  will  see  the  wires  again  perfectly. 

That  is  one  side  of  the  question.  However  perfect 
your  lens  may  be,  you  cannot  get  good  definition  if  the 
aperture  is  too  much  restricted.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  aperture  is  much  restricted,  then  the  lens  is  of  no 
use,  and  you  will  get  as  good  an  image  without  it  as 
with  it. 

I  have  not  time  to  deal  with  this  matter  as  I  could 
wish,  but  I  will  illustrate  it  by  projecting  on  the  screen 
the  image  of  a  piece  of  gauze  as  formed  by  a  narrow 
aperture  parallel  to  one  set  of  wires.  There  is  no  lens 
whatever  between  the  gauze  and  the  screen.  [Experi- 
ment.] There  is  the  image— if  we  can  dignify  it  by  such 
a  name — of  the  gauze  as  formed  by  an  aperture  which  is 
somewhat  large.  Now,  as  the  aperture  is  gradually 
narrowed,  we  will  trace  the  effect  upon  the  definition  of 
the  wires  parallel  to  it.  The  definition  is  improving ; 
and  now  it  looks  tolerably  good.  But  I  will  go  on,  and 
you  will  see  that  the  definition  will  get  bad  again.  Now, 
the  aperture  has  been  further  narrowed,  and  the  lines  are 
getting  washed  out  Again,  a  little  more,  and  they  are 
gone.     Perhaps  you  may  think  that  the  explanation  lies 

'  The  distance  between  the  grating  and  the  telescope  lens  was  12  feet 
3  inches. 

NO.    1 1  33,  VOL.  44] 


in  the  faintness  of  the  light  We  cannot  avoid  the  loss 
of  light  which  accompanies  the  contraction  of  aperture, 
but  to  prove  that  the  result  is  not  so  to  be  explained,  t 
will  now  put  in  a  lens.  This  will  bring  the  other  set  of 
wires  into  view,  and  prove  that  there  was  plenty  of  light 
to  enable  us  to  see  the  first  set  if  the  definition  had  bea 
good  enough.  Too  small  an  aperture,  then,  is  as  bad  as 
one  which  is  too  large ;  and  if  the  aperture  is  suffi- 
ciently small,  the  image  is  no  worse  without  a  lens  than 
with  one. 

What,  then,  is  the  best  size  of  the  aperture  ?  That  is 
the  important  question  in  dealing  with  pin-hole  photo- 
graphy. It  was  first  considered  by  Prof.  Petzval,  of 
Vienna,  and  he  arrived  at  the  result  indicated  by  the 
formula,  2r^  —  /X,  where  2r  is  the  diameter  of  the 
aperture,  X  the  wave-length  of  light,  and  f  the  focal 
length,  or  rather  simply  the  distance  between  the  aper- 
ture and  the  screen  upon  which  the  image  is  formed. 

His  reasoning,  however,  though  ingenious,  is  not  somid, 
regarded  as  an  attempt  at  an  accurate  solution  of  the 
question.  In  fact  it  is  only  lately  that  the  math^ 
matical  problem  of  the  diffraction  of  light  by  a  circular 
hole  has  been  sufficiently  worked  out  to  enable  the  ques- 
tion to  be  solved.  The  mathematician  to  whom  we  o«e 
this  achievement  is  Prof.  Lommel.  I  have  adapted  his 
results  to  the  problem  of  pin-hole  photography.  \K 
series  of  curves  {PhtlosophiccU  Magazine y  February  1891), 
were  shown,  exhibiting  to  the  eye  the  distribution  of 
illumination  in  the  images  obtainable  with  various  aper- 
tures.] The  general  conclusion  is  that  the  hole  may 
advantageously  be  enlarged  beyond  that  given  by  Petzval's 
rule.     A  suitable  radius  is  r  =   y/{/X). 

I  will  not  detain  you  further  than  just  to  show  you  one 
application  of  pin-hole  photography  on  a  different  scak 
from  the  usual.  The  definition  improves  as  the  aper- 
ture increases ;  but  in  the  absence  of  a  lens  the 
augmented  aperture  entails  a  greatly  extended  focal 
length.  The  limits  of  an  ordinary  portable  camera  aie 
thus  soon  passed.  The  original  of  the  transparency  hoy 
to  be  thrown  upon  the  screen  was  taken  in  an  ordinary 
room,  carefully  darkened.  The  aperture  (in  the  shutter) 
was  0*07  inch,  and  the  distance  of  the  12  x  lo  plate  fiom 
the  aperture  was  7  feet.  The  resulting  picture  of  a  group 
of  cedars  shows  nearly  as  much  detail  as  could  be  seeo 
direct  from  the  place  in  question. 


TBE  SMITHSONIAN  ASTRO-PHYSICAL 

OBSERVATORY. 

THE  Smithsonian  Institution,  as  we  have  already 
announced,  has  established  as  one  of  its  depart- 
ments a  Physical  Observatory  which,  with  the  instni- 
ments,  has  been  supplied  from  the  Smithsonian  Fund 
It  occupies  at  present  a  temporary  structure,  though 
funds  have  been  subscribed  for  a  permanent  building 
when  Congress  shall  provide  a  suitable  site.  For  the 
maintenance  of  the  Observatory  an  appropriation  has 
been  made  by  Congress  which  became  available  on 
July  I.  The  actual  instrumental  work  of  the  new 
Observatory  will  necessarily  devolve  largely  upon  a 
senior  and  a  junior  assistant,  who  can  devote  their 
entire  time  to  research,  and  it  is  hoped  that  with  the 
improved  apparatus  it  will  be  possible  to  prosecute  ad- 
vantageously investigations  in  telluric  and  astro-physics, 
and  particularly  those  with  the  bolometer  in  raidiant 
energy. 

In  accepting  the  position  of  assistant  secretary  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  in  1887,  Mr.  Langley  retained 
the  Directorship  of  the  Observatory  at  Allegheny  for  the 
purpose  of  completing  the  researches  begun  there,  and 
after  his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  the  Institution,  be 
still  continued  the  titular  Directorship,  though  but  a 
limited  amount  of  time  could  be  spared  from  his  official 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


255 


duties  at  the  capital.  With  the  completion  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  little  Observatory  at  Washington,  he,  how- 
everi  formally  resigned,  on  April  30,  the  Directorship  at 
Allegheny,  which  he  had  held  since  1887  ;  and  he  will, 
so  far  as  his  administrative  occupations  permit,  give 
personal  attention  to  the  general  direction  of  the  in- 
vestigations. 

The  class  of  work  which  is  referred  to  does  not  ordin- 
arily involve  the  use  of  the  telescope,  and  that  which  is 
contemplated  is  quite  distinct  from  what  is  carried  on  at 
present  at  any  other  Observatory  in  the  United  States. 
The  work  for  which  the  older  Government  Observatories 
at  Greenwich,  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Washington  were 
founded,  and  in  which  they  are  now  chiefly  engaged, 
is  the  determination  of  relative  positions  of  heavenly 
bodies,  and  our  own  place  with  reference  to  them. 
Within  the  past  twenty  years  all  these  Governments, 
except  that  of  the  United  States,  have  established  astro- 
physicai  Observatories,  as  they  are  called,  which  are,  as 
IS  well  known,  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
as  distinct  from  their  positions— in  determining,  for  in- 
stance, not  where,  but  what,  the  sun  is,  how  it  affects 
terrestrial  climate  and  life,  and  how  it  may  best  be 
studied  for  the  purposes  of  the  meteorologist,  and  for 
other  uses  of  an  immediately  practical  nature. 

The  new  Observatory  is  established  for  similar  pur- 
poses. Its  outfit  includes  a  very  large  siderostat  (recently 
«)mpleted  by  Grubb),  which  is  mounted  in  such  a  way  as 
to  throw  a  beam  of  light  horizontally  in  the  meridian.  It 
is  intended  to  carry  a  mirror  of  20  inches  diameter,  and 
is  perhaps  the  most  massive  and  powerful  instrument 
of  its  kind  ever  constructed  Within  the  dark  room  is 
mounted  another  large  instrument — the  spectrobolometer 
—which  is,  in  efTect,  a  large  spectroscope  with  20-inch 
circle  reading  to  5  seconds  of  arc,  specially  designed  for 
use  with  the  bolometer.  It  was  made  by  William  Grunow 
and  Son,  of  New  York,  as  the  outcome  of  Mr.  Langley's 
experience  with  smaller  apparatus  during  his  earlier  in- 
vestigations. The  most  important  part  of  the  instru- 
mental equipment  is  completed  by  specially  designed 
galvanometers,  scales,  and  a  peculiar  resistance  box; 
and  these  three  instruments,  used  in  conjunction  with 
the  bolometer,  and  perhaps  with  the  aid  of  photography, 
will  be  employed  in  the  investigations  upon  light,  heat, 
and  radiant  energy  in  general,  for  which  the  Observatory 
is  primarily  intended,  though  some  departments  of  ter- 
restrial physics  may  also  receive  attention. 


THE  NEW  GALLERY  OF  BRITISH  ART. 

\X7E  believe  that  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
'' ''  Corporation  to  consider  the  question  of  the  grant 
of  a  site  on  the  Embankment  for  the  new  gallery  will 
soon  make  its  report.  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  of  Tuesday 
says:— "There  is  a  vacant  piece  of  just  one  acre  at  Black- 
friars,  on  the  land  acquired  some  years  ago  and  cleared 
of  the  old  City  gas-works  by  the  Corporation.  This  land 
originally  cost  some  ;^26o,ooo;  and  on  portions  of  it 
have  been  erected  the  City  of  London  School  and  Sion 
College.  The  value  of  the  entire  holding  has  increased 
to  at  least  ;f  550,000 ;  so  that  if  the  proposed  piece,  which 
IS  valued  at  about  ;f  120,000,  were  made  over  by  the 
Corporation  for  the  Art  Gallery,  the  City  would  still  be  a 
gfainer  of  some  ^170,000  by  the  transaction.'' 

In  the  meantime,  public  opinion  is  rapidly  growing,  not 
Wily  in  favour  of  some  of  our  national  buildings  devoted 
to  art  finding  a  home  in  the  City,  but  also  against  the 
site  at  South  Kensington — bought  for  scientific  purposes, 
wd  required  to  meet  existing  needs— being  diverted 
from  its  proper  and  natural  use. 

Both  these  views  are  expressed  in  the  following 
Memorial,  which,  although    circulated   chiefly    among 

NO.  1 133,  VOL.  44] 


men  of  science  during  the  last  few  days,  contains  the 
names  of  many  representative  men  in  other  branches. 
It  has  been  transmitted  to  the  Lord  Mayor  during  the 
present  week. 

Memorial  to  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lord  Mayor  of 

London. 

We,  the  undersigned,  having  heard  that  there  is  a 
possibility  of  the  City  of  London  finding  a  site  on 
the  Embankment  for  the  National  Gallery  of  British  Art, 
which  a  munificent  donor  has  proposed  to  build,  venture 
to  approach  Your  Lordship  with  our  earnest  request  that 
you  will  yourself  support,  and  use  your  best  endeavours 
to  lurge  upon  the  City  authorities,  the  very  great  import- 
ance of  giving  effect  to  this  proposal. 

The  memorial  already  presented  to  the  Prime  Minister 
will  have  made  Your  Lordship  aware  of  the  many  strong 
objections,  from  the  scientific  point  of  view,  to  the  site 
which  was  suggested  for  the  gallery  in  the  first  instance. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  us,  therefore,  to  say  more  on  this 
subject,  except  to  remark  that  the  greatest  city  in  the 
world  must  be  the  first  to  suffer  if,  from  any  cause,  the 
proper  presentation  of  science  and  means  for  its  study  by 
its  citizens  are  in  any  way  crippled. 

By  affording  a  site  on  the  Embankment,  Your  Lordship 
and  the  authorities  you  represent  will  be  the  means 
of  preventing  the  lamentable  result  to  which  we  have 
referred,  and  you  and  they  will  earn  the  gratitude  of  all 
interested  in  scientific  progress,  as  well  as  confer  a  great 
boon  on  the  art-loving  public. 

Among  the  signatories  of  the  Memorial  are  the  fol- 
lowing : — 

Sir  William  Thomson,   D.C.L.,   LL.D.,   President  Royal 
Society,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy,  Glasgow. 

Dr.  John  Evans,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Treasurer  Royal  Society. 

Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  Secretary  Royal  Society. 

M.  Foster,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Secretary  Royal  Society. 

Thomas  H.  Huxley,  F.R.S.,  Dean  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Science,  London. 

Lieut. -General  R.  Strachey,  F.R.S.,  CLE.,  Chairman 
Meteorological  Council. 

Nevil  Story  Maskelyne,  F.R.S.,  M.P.,  Professor  of  Mine- 
ralogy, University  of  Oxford. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  M.P.,  F.R.S.,  Chairman  London 
County  Council,  Past- President  British  Association. 

Sir  Richard  Quain,  Bart.,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 

Sir  William  Roberts,  F.R.S.,  M.D. 

William  Crookes,   F.R.S.,    President   Institute    Electrical 
Engineers. 

William  Summers,  M.P. 

J.  W.  L.  Glaisher,  M.A.,  F.R.S. 

Alfred  Newton,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Zoology,  University 
of  Cambridge. 

T.  E.  Thorpe,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Royal  College 
of  Science,  Treasurer  Chemical  Society. 

John  W.  Judd,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Geology,  Royal  College 
of  Science. 

William  Huggins,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  President-Elect  of  the 
British  Association. 

Sir  G.  G.  Stokes,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Past-President  Royal  Society, 
Lucasiat)  Professor,  University  of  Cambridge. 

Sir  Henry  E.  Roscoe,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  M.P.,  Past-President 
British  Association. 

W.  Grylls  Adams,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physics,  King's  Col- 
lege, Past- President  Physical  Society. 

J.  Fletcher  Moulton,  Q.C,  F.R.S. 

E.  A.  ScHAFER,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physiology,   University 
College,  London. 

Herbert  McLeod,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Cooper's 
HilL 

Hugo  Muller,  F.R.S.,  Past-President  Chemical  Society. 

Arthur  W.  Rucker,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physics,  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Science,  London,  Treasurer  Physical  Society. 

William  Cawthorne  Unwin,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Engin- 
eering, City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute. 

W.    E.    Ayrton,  F.R.S.,    Professor   of  Physics,    City    and 
Guilds  of  London  Institute,  President  Physical  Society. 


256 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


O.  Henrici,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Mathematics,  City  and  Guilds 
of  London  Institate. 

Henry  £.  Armstrong,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  City 
and  Guilds  of  London  Institate,  Secretary  Chemical 
Society. 

R.  B.  Clifton,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
University  of  Oxford. 

J.  BuRDON  Sanderson,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physiology, 
Oxford. 

William  Odling,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Chembtry,  Oxford. 

William  Esson,  F.R.S.,  Oxford. 

Edward  B.  Poulton,  F.R.S.,  Oxford. 

E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  Deputy  Professor  of  Anatomy, 
Oxford. 

G.  Carey  Foster,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physics,  University 
College,  London ;  Past  President  Physical  Society. 

J.  Hofkinson,  F.R.S.,  Wheatstone  Professor  of  Electricity, 
King's  College,  London. 

Captain  Abney,  C,B.,  F.R.S. 

The  Very  Rev.  G.  G.  Bradley,  D.D.,  C.B.,  Dean  of  West- 
minster. 

William  Black. 

Lewis  Morris. 

W.  H.  M.  Christie,  F.R.S.,  Astronomer-Royal. 

William  Morris. 

Walter  Crane. 

W.  J.  Russell,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital,  Past- President  Chemical  Society. 

The  Lord  Tennyson,  F.R.S.,  Poet  Laureate. 

Hallam  Tennyson. 


CARDINAL  HA  YNALD. 


THE  death  of  Cardinal  Haynald,  Archbishop  of  Kal- 
ocsa,  is  announced  in  the  daily  papers  as  having 
taken  place  on  Saturday,  the  4th  inst.  It  was  not  an 
unexpected  event,  as  his  health  had  been  gradually 
getting  worse  for  some  two  or  three  years.  Last  year  he 
celebrated  the  jubilee  of  his  priesthood,  and  Dr.  A. 
Kanitz,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Klausen- 
burg,  made  it  the  occasion  of  publishing  a  eulogy  on 
him  as  a  botanist.  This  was  translated  into  French  by 
Prof.  E.  Martens,  of  Louvain.  Although  an  excellent 
botanist,  Cardinal  Haynald  was  better  known  as  a  patron 
of  botany  than  as  a  contributor  to  botanical  literature. 
For  the  following  particulars  of  his  life  and  work  we  are 
mainly  indebted  to  Dr.  Kanitz's  memoir. 

Cardinal  Haynald  was  bom  about  1816.  His  taste 
for  botany  was  inherited  from  his  father,  who  himself 
possessed  a  fine  herbarium.  During  his  stay  at  Vienna, 
m  the  Augustinaeum,  a  theological  college,  he  became 
acquainted  with  Edward  Fenzl,  then  assistant  curator  of  the 
botanical  department  of  the  Court,  under  whose  tuition 
his  botanical  studies  took  a  more  practical  shape.  His 
priestly  duties,  however,  did  not  allow  him  to  follow  his 
favourite  study  until  he  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Transyl- 
vania, when  he  began  to  investigate  the  flora  of  this 
country  with  indefatigable  zeal.  He  became  Arch- 
bishop of  Karthago,  and  afterwards  of  Kalocsa,  and 
after  the  accession  of  Leo  the  Tenth  to  the  Papal 
chair,  a  Cardinal.  He  was  a  long  time  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Hungarian  House  of  Magnates,  and 
from  1873  also  a  member  of  the  Royal  Hungarian 
Academy  of  Science.  Although  always  overburdened 
by  the  sacerdotal,  political,  and  social  duties  of  his  high 
position,  he  found  time  to  continue  his  botanical  studies. 
He  published  only  a  few  botanical  papers,  partly  on 
Hungarian  plants,  and  partly  biographical  sketches  of 
botanists  with  whom  he  was  more  intimately  acquainted, 
as  Fenzl,  Parlatore,  and  Boissier.  His  greatest  merit, 
however,  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  was  the  assist- 
ance which  he  gave  to  botanical  studies  in  Hungary 
by  establishing  a  great  private  herbarium,  which  he 
placed  in  the  most  liberal  way  at  anybody's  disposal, 
and  by    the  magnanimous   generosity  with  which    he 

NO.   1 133,  VOL.  44] 


always  supported  botanical  enterprise,  both  in  Hun- 
gary and  abroad.  The  herbarium  at  his  residence 
at  Kalocsa  was  not  only  the  richest  in  Hungary,  bnt  ose 
of  the  largest  private  collections  on  the  Continent  It 
was  largely  formed  by  the  purchase  of  the  herbaria  oC 
Heuffel,  Schott,  Kotschy,  and  Sodiro.  Besides  these  and 
the  plants  collected  by  himself,  he  acquired  most  of  the 
collections  which  have  been  distributed  by  subscriptioQ. 

Hungary  loses  in  Cardinal  Haynald  one  of  her  greatest 
patriots,  who  was  an  honour  to  his  profession,  as  «d 
as  to  science,  of  which  he  was  always  a  generous  bme- 
factor.  Schur  named  after  him  a  genus  of  grasses, 
founded  on  Secale  villosum^  Linn.,  which  is  reduced  bf 
Bentham  and  Hooker  to  Agropyrum,  and  Kanitz  a  genus 
of  Lobeliaceae. 


OXFORD  SUMMER  MEETING  OF  UNIVERSITY 
EXTENSION  STUDENTS, 

THE  process  by  which  University  Extension  is  carried 
throughout  the  country  and  made  a  vehicle  for  the 
further  education  of  the  adult  student  is  well  known,  and 
is  gradually  becoming  more  and  more  appreciated  in 
proportion  as  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  method 
improve  the  lines  on  which  it  is  carried  out.  The 
machiner)'  employed  embraces  lectures,  classes,  travelling 
libraries,  &c.,  but  one  element  vitally  necessary  to  the 
University  student  is  not  supplied  by  these  aids.  This 
element  is  that  of  residence,  and  it  was  a  happy  sug- 
gestion on  the  part  of  the  originators  to  propose  that,  for 
one  month  in  the  Long  Vacation,  arrangements  should  be 
made  by  which  those  who  have  profited  by  being  brought 
into  contact  with  a  University  lecturer  should  enjoy  the 
additional  advantage  of  being  brought  under  the  charm 
that  haunts  the  colleges  and  cloisters  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge. 

The  Oxford  summer  meeting  commences  on  July  31, 
and  is  continued  throughout  the  month  of  August;  but,  isa 
the  benefit  of  students  who  are  unable  to  be  present 
during  so  long  a  period,  the  course  is  divided  into  two 
sections,  the  second  commencing  on  August  12.  It  has 
been  found  desirable  to  remove  as  far  as  possible  the 
fragmentary  and  isolated  character  of  the  lectures  given 
at  these  meetings,  and  therefore,  while  the  course  will  be 
complete  and  independent  in  itself,  it  will  also  form  the 
first  part  of  a  cycle  of  study  which  for  its  full  development 
will  embrace  a  period  of  four  summers. 

That  these  lectures  propose  something  more  than  to 
add  piquancy  to  an  agreeable  picnic  will  be  shown  from 
the  following  slight  sketch  of  the  subjects  treated — and 
treated  by  authorities  of  acknowledged  reputation.  To 
take  the  lectures  on  natural  science  first :  in  physiology, 
Mr.  Poulton  will  discuss  the  recent  criticisms  of  Weis- 
mann*s  theory  of  heredity,  and  Mr.  Gotch  will  lecture 
on  the  functions  of  the  heart.  In  chemistry.  Prof. 
Odling  lectures  on  the  benzene  ring^  and  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  Marsh  a  course  of  practical  chemistry 
will  be  conducted  in  the  laboratory  of  the  University 
Museum.  In  geology,  a  course  of  practical  instruction 
will  be  given  by  Prof.  Green  and  Mr.  Badger,  to  in- 
clude excursions  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Oxford.  A 
class  in  practical  astronomy  will  be  welcomed  at  the 
University  Observatory ;  while  electricity  finds  an  able 
exponent  in  Mr.  G.  J.  Burch.  But  the  distinguishing 
feature  of  this  meeting  is  the  attention  given  to  agri- 
cultural science  'designed  for  agricultural  audiences 
under  County  Council  schemes."  This  designation  seems 
somewhat  vague,  and  it  will  be  very  interesting  to  see  the 
character  of  the  audience  attracted  by  this  tide.  Four 
lectures  are  offered  :  the  first  is  entitled, ''  The  application 
of  Science  to  the  art  of  Agriculture."  This  description  is 
sufficiently  wide,  but  does  not  indicate  whether  the  lecture 
is  intended  as  a  sample  of  those  which  State-aided  Board 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


257 


ichools  in  agricultural  districts  might  weU  offer  to  lads 
vho  have  passed  through  the  successive  standards,  or  as 
me  addressed  to  the  sons  of  farmers,  and  supplying  that 
bnn  of  instruction  which  it  is  the  duty  of  agricidtural 
:olleges  to  impart.  Another  lecture  is  offered  on  the 
nanagement  ot  poultry.  This  is  more  definite  and  more 
lopeful ;  and  when  we  remember  that  the  students  who 
x>me  up  for  these  summer  meetings  are,  for  the  most 
nrt,  ladies,  who  can  well  be  supposed  to  take  an  intelli- 
j[ent  interest  in  this  part  of  farming  operations,  we  must 
idmit  that  the  subject  is  well  chosen.  Manures  of  various 
:haracters  form  the  subject  of  the  other  two  lectures,  and 
irill  be  doubtless  of  a  sufficiently  technical  character. 

The  literature  and  history  lectures  are  of  special 
interest,  and  by  the  combination  of  many  lecturers  are 
made  to  cover  with  great  completeness  the  mediaeval 
period.  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison  gives,  as  an  inaugural 
lecture,  a  survey  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  strikes  the 
keynote  of  this  section  ;  while  in  the  entire  course,  which 
embraces  some  sixty  lectures,  we  meet  the  names  of  Prof. 
Dicey,  of  Mr.  York  Powell,  of  Mr.  Boas,  and  a  host  of 
Dthers,  affording  alike  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the 
excellence  of  the  work,  and  a  happy  augury  for  the 
success  of  the  meeting. 


THE  PROPOSED  TEACHING  UNIVERSITY 

FOR  LONDON. 

ON  Monday,  at  the  Council  Office  in  Downing  Street 
the  Universities  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council, 
consisting  of  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council  (Viscount 
Cranbrook),  the  Earl  of  Selborne,  Lord  Monk  Bretton, 
Lord  Basing,  and  Lord  Sandford,  reassembled  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  their  decision  on  the  petition  of  King's 
and  University  Colleges  for  the  grant  of  a  charter  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Teaching  University  for  London. 

The  Earl  of  Selborne,  in  giving  the  opinion  of  their 
Lordships  upon  the  draft  charter  of  the  proposed  Uni- 
versity, said,  with  regard  to  the  opposition  of  the  existing 
University  of  London,  that  some  of  the  objections  made 
might  be  treated  as  disallowed.  It  had  been  understood 
by  their  Lordships  that  a  minimum  course  of  two  years' 
study  at  the  new  University  would  be  required.  If  that 
was  so,  their  Lordships  were  satisfied,  and  would  say  no 
more  upon  the  point.  The  objections  put  forward  by  the 
medical  faculty  were  generally  disallowed.  The  word 
^  London "  would  have  to  be  omitted  from  the  charter, 
but  the  University  might  be  called  either  "the  Albert 
University*'  or  "the  Metropolitan  University."  With 
regard  to  the  suggestion  that  ten  members  of  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine  should  be  elected  to  the  Council, 
their  Lordships  were  of  opinion  that  the  medical  schools 
should  fill  five  places  upon  that  body,  or,  if  it  were  pre- 
ferred, that  each  school  should  elect  one  member  for  the 
Medical  Board  of  Study.  If  the  Royal  Colleges  and  the 
medical  schools  agreed  to  come  in  together,  however,  the 
number  of  members  on  the  Council  might  be  raised. 
Their  Lordships  did  not  approve  of  the  proposed  strength 
of  the  Council,  and  thought  that  four  of  the  places  might 
be  accorded  to  the  Faculty  of  Law.  Teachers  in  any 
branch  of  science,  their  Lordships  considered,  should  be 
admitted  as  members  of  the  Science  Faculty,  and  the 
six  places  on  the  Council  which  it  was  proposed  to  give 
to  the  Royal  Colleges  should  be  supplied  according  to  the 
39th  paragraph  of  the  Royal  Commissioners'  Report.  I  f  the 
medical  schools  and  colleges  declined  to  come  in  at  first, 
provision  ought  to  be  made  to  allow  them  to  do  so  in  the 
liiture.  Their  Lordships  thought  that  a  place  upon  the 
Council  might  be  given  to  the  Apothecaries'  Society,  but 
they  were  not  disposed  to  insist  upon  that  being  done 
The  view  of  their  Lordships  upon  the  question  of 
honorary  degrees  was  that  no  such  degrees  should  be 
granted  in  medicine,  and  that  the  holding  of  an  honorary 

NO.  1133,  VOL.  44] 


degree  should  be  no  qualification  for  election  to  the 
CounciL  The  ordinary  degree  in  medicine  should  nor 
be  granted  until  the  whole  of  the  prescribed  conditions^ 
had  been  fulfilled. 


NOTES. 

The  decision  of  the  Universities  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  with  regard  to  the  proposed  new  University  for 
London  is  one  that  might  have  been  expected  from  a  body 
of  non-experts.  It  is  hasty,  and  will  give  satisfaction  to  no 
one  by  whom  the  subject  has  been  seriously  considered.  It 
may  throw  back  the  higher  teaching  in  London  for  half  a 
century. 

Mr.  Walter  Besant,  in  an  imaginary  ''Page  from  the 
Kaiser's  Diary,"  notes  that  there  ar«  not  to  be  seen  at  Court 
any  of  "  the  people  who  make  the  real  greatness  of  the  country 
— its  traders,  its  manufacturers,  its  men  of  science,  art,  and 
literature."  It  has  been  remarked  that  in  this  respect  the  City 
Corporation,  last  Friday,  followed  the  example  of  the  Court,  no 
representative  of  science,  or  liteititure,  or  art,  as  such,  having 
been  invited  to  the  Guildhall  banquet.  It  would  have  been 
better  to  follow  the  precedent  set  at  the  time  of  the  Czar's  visitr 
when  a  large  number  of  the  leading  scientific  men  were  asked 
to  the  reception  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  were  personally 
presented. 

At  the  ensuing  British  Association  meeting  at  Cardiff,  it  is 
proposed  to  hold  in  Section  A,  if  possible  in  conjunction  with 
Section  G,  a  discussion  on  ''Units  and  their  Nomenclature," 
having  special  regard  to  the  new  electrical  and  magnetic  units 
now  becoming  necessary  for  practical  purposes. 

The  Secretary  of  State  for  India  in  Council  has  appointed,  on 
the  nomination  of  the  Government  of  India,  the  following 
persons  to  represent  it  on  the  permanent  governing  body  of 
the  Imperial  Institute,  for  the  year  ending  April  30,  1892 : — 
W.  T.  Thiselton-Dyer,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S.,  Director,  Royal 
Gardens,  Kew;  General  James  T.  Walker,  R.E.,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,. 
late  Surveyor-General  of  India;  John  W.  P.  Muir-Mackenzie, 
Under-Secretary  to  the  Government  of  India  Revenue  and 
Agricultural  Department. 

Sir  J.  D.  Hooker  has  been  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  Buda-Pesth. 

The  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  has  appointed, 
on  the  nomination  of  Kew,  Mr.  C.  A.  Barber,  late  Scholar 
of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  and  University  Demonstrator 
in  Botany,  to  be  Superintendent  of  the  recently  created  Agri- 
cultural Department  of  the  Leeward  Islands.  The  Superin- 
tendent will  reside  in  Antigua,  and  will  have  the  general 
supervision  of  the  botanical  stations  at  Antigua,  Dominica, 
Montserrat,  and  St.  Kitts-Nevis. 

The  Council  of  University  College,  Liverpool,  have  appointed 
Mr.  Francis  Gotch,  of  Oxford,  to  their  new  Chair  of  Physiology. 

The  Foreign  Office  has  expressed  the  wish  that  the  "  Flonu 
of  Tropical  Africa,"  prepared  at  Kew  under  the  editorship  of 
Prof.  Oliver,  and  of  which  three  volumes  have  appeared,  should 
be  continued  and  completed.  It  is  calculated  that  four  more 
volumes  will  be  required,  and  the  Treasury  has  sanctioned  a 
scheme  by  which  the  necessary  funds  will  be  provided. 

The  Accademia  dei  Lincci  of  Rome  has  awarded  to  Prof 
Saccardo,   of   Padua,   in  acknowledgment  of  his  labours  in 
mycology,  the  Royal  prize  of  10,000  francs  intended  for  the 
encouragement  of  morphological  researches. 


258 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  1891 


The  Government  has  appointed  the  Council  of  the  Society  of 
Arts  as  a  Rojral  Commission  to  direct  the  formation  of  the 
British  Section  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition.  If  we  may  jadge 
from  the  preparations  which  are  being  made  in  America,  the 
Exhibition  is  likely  to  be  one  of  great  splendour.  One  of  its 
attractions  will  be  a  collection  of  objects  relating  to  ethnology 
and  archaeology.     This  is  being  organized  by  Prof.  Putnam. 

A  Committee,  as  we  recently  stated,  has  been  appointed  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  Natural  History  Museum  in  Paris.  By 
some  who  interest  themselves  in  the  question  it  is  proposed  that 
the  Museum  should  be  made  the  only  institution  in  Paris  for 
the  study  of  natural  history.  According  to  this  scheme,  all 
natural  history  chairs  in  the  Sorbonne  and  elsewhere  would  be 
suppressed,  while  all  chairs  in  the  Museum  which  do  not  belong 
to  natural  history  proper  would  also  disappear.  The  professors 
would  have  to  examine  all  candidates  in  natural  science. 

A  Committee  appointed  by  the  Photographic  Society  of 
Great  Britain  has  presented  a  report  on  the  proposal  that  the 
photographic  societies  of  the  United  Kingdom  should  unite 
more  closely  for  the  better  promotion  of  their  common  interests. 
The  Committee  advises  that  it  should  be  open  to  photographic 
societies  to  af&Iiate  themselves  to  the  Photographic  Society  of 
Great  Britain  ;  and  suggestions  are  made  as  to  the  way  in  which 
affiliation  should  be  effected. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  Edinburgh  Vacation  Courses  will 
begin  on  August  3.  M.  Espinas,  Professor  of  Philosophy  and 
Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Letters  in  the  University  of  Bordeaux, 
has  been  charged  by  his  Government  to  report  upon  the  educa- 
tional scheme  and  methods  of  these  courses,  and  also  desires  to 
inquire  into  Scottish  higher  education  generally.  Dr.  H.  de 
Varigny,  who  will  deliver  a  series  of  lectures  on  general  biology, 
is  also  to  report  to  the  French  Government  on  the  University 
Extension  movement.  The  expected  presence  of  these  and  other 
foreigners  has  suggested  the  idea  that  it  might  be  well  to  hold, 
at  Edinburgh,  a  small  informal  Congress,  or  rather  a  short  series 
of  meetings,  fur  the  discussion  of  curricula,  higher  educational 
methods,  and  other  questions  of  immediate  interest.  Particulars 
on  this  subject  will  shortly  be  announced. 

The  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland  hold  their 
general  meeting  in  the  Town  Hall,  Killamey,  on  August  11. 
Excursions  are  planned  for  every  day,  except  Sunday,  from 
August  II  to  20. 

The  Royal  Archaeological  Institute  will  hold  its  annual  meet* 
ing  at  Edinburgh  from  August  11  to  18.  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell 
will  preside. 

The  German  Anthropological  Society  will  hold  its  twenty- 
second  annual  meeting  at  Danzig,  from  August  3  to  5. 

Her  Majesty's  Commissioners  for  the  Exhibition  of  185 1, 
assisted  by  a  committee  of  gentlemen  experienced  in  scientific 
education,  have  made  the  following  appointments  to  Science 
Scholarships  for  the  year  1891.  The  scholars  have  been  bond- 
fide  students  of  science  for  at  least  three  years,  and  were  nomin- 
ated for  the  Scholarships  by  the  authorities  of  their  respective 
Universities  or  Colleges.  The  Scholarships  are  of  the  value  of 
;f  150  a  year,  and  are  tenable  for  two  years  (subject  to  a  satis- 
factory report  at  the  end  of  the  first  year)  in  any  University  at 
home  or  abroad,  or  in  some  other  institution  to  be  approved  of 
by  the  Commissioners.  The  scholars  are  to  devote  themselves 
exclusively  to  study  and  research  in  some  branch  of  science  the 
extension  of  which  is  important  to  the  industries  of  the  country. 
A  Scholarship  was  offered  to  the  University  of  Sydney,  but  the 
Council  found  themselves  unable  to  nominate  a  suitable  can- 
didate. Nominating  institution — University  of  Edinburgh, 
scholar — John  Shields,  institution  to  which  scholar  pro- 
poses   to    attach    himself —  University    of    Edinburgh    and 

NO.    11^3,  VOL.  44] 


a  Continental  University,  probably  Leipzig  ;  Univeishj 
of  Glasgow,  James  H.  Gray  (a),  University  of  Glas- 
gow; University  of  St.  Andrews,  William  Frew,  Unifer- 
sity  of  Munich  ;  Mason  Science  College,  Birmingham,  John 
Joseph  Sudborough,  University  of  Heidelberg;  Univeisitj 
College,  Bristol,  Frederick  Benjamin  Fawcett  (a),  Univenity 
College,  Bristol ;  Durham  College  of  Science,  Newcastle-oo- 
Tyne,  William  M'Connell,  jun.  (a),  Durham  College  of  Scienoe ; 
Yorkshire  College,  Leeds,  Harry  Ingle,  a  German  Univenity, 
probably  Wurzburg ;  University  College,  Liverpool,  Robot 
Holt  (a),  University  College,  Liverpool ;  Owens  College,  Man- 
chester, Thomas  Ewan,  Owens  College,  first  year ;  Univenity 
College,  Nottingham,  Edwin  H.  Barton  {fi\  South  Ken- 
sington ;  Firth  College,  Sheffield,  Annie  J.  Hoyles  (a), 
Firth  College,  Sheffield  ;  University  College  of  South  Wales 
and  Monmouthshire,  Franke  Herbert  Parker,  first  year  same 
College,  second  year  a  German  University ;  Queen's  Col- 
lege, Belfast,  Benjamin  Moore,  University  of  Leipzig ;  Royal 
College  of  Science  for  Ireland,  Frederick  William  Dunn,  fiist 
year  University  of  Glasgow,  second  year  Berlin  ;  M'GiU  Uni- 
versity, Montreal,  Percy  Norton  Evans,  University  of  Berlin, 
and  probably  other  German  Universities ;  University  of  Mel- 
bourne,  William  Huey  Steele  (a).  University  of  Melboane. 
(a)  These  scholars  have  been  recommended  to  spend  part  of  the 
term  of  scholarship  at  some  other  institution,  {b)  This  appoint- 
ment is  conditional  on*  the  candidate  passing  examination  for 
B.Sc.  London. 

Those  who  require  power  for  electric  lighting  may  be 
interested  to  know  that  Messrs.  Priestman  Brothers  have  a  good 
account  to  give  of  the  success  of  their  oil-engine.  Many  orders 
have  been  received  for  engines  varying  in  size  from  i  to  25  actual 
h.p.  for  electric  lighting,  and  Messrs.  Priestman,  in  order  to 
meet  the  growing  demand,  have  largely  extended  their  works. 

According  to  a  telegram  sent  through  Renter's  Agency  from 
San  Francisco,  July  1 1,  an  enormous  cavern  in  Josephine  County, 
Oregon,  at  a  point  twelve  miles  north  of  California  and  forty 
from  the  coast,  has  been  discovered.  It  has  two  openings,  and 
contains  many  passages  of  great  beauty.  There  are  numbers  of 
semi-transparent  stalactites,  several  giant  milk-white  pillars,  and 
a  number  of  pools  and  streams  of  clear,  cool  water.  A  week 
was  spent  in  exploring  the  cavern,  and  innumerable  passages 
and  chambers  were  discovered.  On  penetrating  one  of  these 
passages  for  a  distance  of  several  miles,  the  exploring  party 
came  across  a  lake  of  clear  water  and  a  waterfall  thirty  feet 
high.  All  kinds  of  grotesque  figures  were  found  in  the  various 
chambers ;  but  the  only  signs  of  animal  life  were  dis  covered  a 
short  distance  from  the  entrance,  where  a  few  bones  were  foond, 
indicating  that  bears  had  carried  their  prey  there.  The  cavern 
appears  to  be  fully  as  large  as  the  Mammoth  Cave  in  Kentucky. 

Dr.  D.  Prain,  Curator  of  the  Calcutta  Herbarium,  has  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  and 
separately,  a  memoir  on  new  Indian  Labiata.  Nearly  fifty 
species,  belonging  to  upwards  of  twenty  genera,  are  added  to 
those  described  in  the  **  Flora  of  British  India."  They  a« 
mostly  from  frontier  extensions  of  the  Empire,  some  from  the 
east,  some  from  the  west ;  and  nearly  half  of  the  species  are 
new  to  science.  Specially  interesting  among  these  is  Prain's 
new  genus  Microtcena,  founded  upon  the  Plectranthus  Patchouli^ 
Clarke — a  plant  cultivated  in  Assam;  and  a  second  species, 
collected  by  Griffith,  probably  in  Assam.  The  first  has  since 
been  found  wild  in  Muneypore,  Burma,  Tonkin,  and  South- 
Eastern  China.  Two  very  distinct  species  of  the  same  genus 
have  also  been  recently  discovered  by  Dr.  A.  Henry,  in  Central 
China. 

The  new  "Flora  of  France,"  which  is  being  prepared  by 
Prof.  G.  Bonnier,  with  the  assistance  of  a  number  of  botanists, 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


259 


will  be  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  of  France. 

The  annual  publication  of  the  very  useful  "  Correspondance 
botanique  "  ceased  with  the  death  of  its  editor,  Prof.  £.  Morren, 
of  Liege.  With  the  aim  of  supplying  its  place,  the  Interna- 
tional Library,  4  Rue  de  la  Sorbonue,  Paris,  has  now  issued  a 
"  Nonvelle  Correspondance  botanique :  liste  des  botanistes  de 
tous  les  pays,  et  des  etablissements,  societes,  et  journaux  de 
botanique." 

Prince  Roland  Bonaparte  has  issued,  at  his  own  expense, 
a  handsome  book  on  Corsica,  recording  his  travels  and  the 
history  of  the  island.  He  also  gives  a  full  bibliography  relating 
to  the  subject. 

A  NEW  quarterly  scientific  journal  has  made  its  first  appear- 
ance in  Paris,  under  the  title  Revue  des  Sciences  naiurelles  de 
rOuest,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  zoology,  botany,  geology, 
mineralogy,  anthropology,  embryology,  and  teratology. 

A  MONTHLY  journal  of  natural  science,  which  may  have  many 
opportunities  of  doing  good  work,  has  just  been  started  in  Malta. 
It  is  called  The  Mediterranean  Naturalist^  and  is  edited  by  Mr. 
John  H.  Cooke,  F.G.S. 

The  **  Dictionnaire  d' Agriculture,"  by  J.  A.  Barral  and  H. 
Sagnier,  will  soon  be  completed.  Vol.  iv.  is  nearly  ready,  and 
will  be  quickly  followed  by  Vol.  v. 

A  NEW  edition  of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  Company's 
•*  Tourist  Guide  to  the  Continent,"  edited  by  Mr.  Percy  Lindley, 
has  been  published.  New  editions  of  Mr.  Lindley's  **  Walks 
in  the  Ardennes"  and  "Walks  in  Epping  Forest "  have  also 
been  published  ;  and  he  has  compiled  two  other  useful  little 
hand-books,  "  Walks  in  HoUand  "  and  <'  Holidays  in  Belgium." 

Messrs.  Guy  and  Co.,  Cork,  send  us  "Guy's  South  of 
Ireland  Pictorial  Guide,"  in  which  are  described  and  illustrated 
much  fine  scenery  and  various  things  interesting  to  students  of 
natural  history  and  archaeology. 

Messrs.  Dulau  and  Co.  have  issued  a  catalogue  of  the 
works  on  geology  which  they  are  ofi*ering  for  sale. 

The  results  of  an  investigation  concerning  the  cause  of  the 
insolubility  of  pure  metals  in  acids  are  contributed  by  Dr.  Weeren 
to  the  current  number  of  the  Berichte,  De  la  Rive,  so  long  ago  as 
the  year  1830,  pointed  out  that  chemically  pure  zinc  is  almost 
perfectly  insoluble  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  Hitherto,  however, 
the  hypotheses  put  forward  attempting  to  account  for  this  singular 
fact  have  been  anything  but  satisfactory.  The  theory  of  Dr. 
Weeren  is  extremely  simple,  and  is  fully  supported  by  the  most 
varied  experiments,  physical  and  chemical.  It  may  be  stated  as 
follows  :  "  Chemically  pure  zinc  and  also  many  other  metals  in  a 
state  of  purity  are  insoluble  or  only  very  slightly  soluble  in  acids, 
because,  at  the  moment  of  their  introduction  into  the  acid,  they 
become  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  condensed  hydrogen, 
which  under  normal  circumstances  effectually  protects  the  metal 
from  farther  attack  on  the  part  of  the  acid."  It  is  found  that 
when  a  piece  of  pure  rinc  is  immersed  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  a 
slight  action  does  occur  during  the  first  few  succeeding  moments, 
zinc  sulphate  and  free  hydrogen  being  formed  in  minute  quantity. 
The  free  hydrogen,  however,  instead  of  escaping,  becomes  con- 
densed by  the  molecular  action  of  the  zinc  upon  the  surface  of 
the  latter,  and  is  retained  there  with  great  tenacity  as  a  thin 
mantle  of  highly  compressed  hydrogen  gas,  capable  of  affording 
perfect  protection  against  further  inroad  of  the  acid.  The 
experiments  from  which  this  simple  and  very  probable  explana- 
tion has  been  derived  were  briefly  as  follows.  The  amount  of 
chemically  pure  zinc  dissolved  by  the  acid  was  first  determined. 
It  was,  of  course,  an  exceedingly  minute  quantity.  Considering 
this  amount  as  unity,  it  was  next  sought  to  determine  what 

NO.    1 133,  VOL.  44] 


I 


difference  would  be  effected  by  performing  the  experiment  in 
vacuo^  when  of  course  the  escape  of  the  hydrogen  would  be 
greatly  facilitated.  The  solubility  was  found  under  these 
circumstances  to  be  increased  sevenfold.  Next  the  experiment 
was  performed  at  the  boiling  temperature  of  the  dilute  acid,  first 
when  ebullition  was  prevented  by  increasing  the  pressure,  and 
secondly  when  ebullition  was  unhindered,  thus  again  facilitating 
the  removal  of  the  hydrogen  film.  In  the  first  case,  when  ebullition 
was  prevented,  the  solubility  was  practically  the  same  as  in  the 
cold  ;  while  in  the  second  case,  with  uninterrupted  ebullition,  the 
solubility  was  increased  tweniy-four  times.  Finally,  experiments 
were  made  to  ascertain  the  effect  of  introducing  into  the  acid  a 
small  quantity  of  an  oxidizing  agent  capable  of  converting  the 
hydrogen  film  to  water.  When  a  little  chromic  acid  was  thus 
introduced  the  solubility  was  increased  175  times,  and  when 
hydrogen  peroxide  was  employed  the  solubility  was  increased 
three-hundred-fold.  The  explanation  of  the  ease  with  which  the 
metal  becomes  attacked  when  the  ordinary  impurities  are  present 
is  that  the  hydrogen  is  not  then  liberated  upon  the  surface 
of  the  zinc,  but  rather  upon  the  more  electro-negative  impurities, 
leaving  the  pure  zinc  itself  open  to  the  continued  attack  of  the 
acid.  The  same  of  course  occurs  when  a  plate  of  platinum  is 
placed  in  contact  with  a  plate  of  pure  zinc  in  the  acid.  The 
action  of  nitric  acid,  the  only  common  acid  which  does  attack 
pure  metals,  is  evidently  due  to  the  oxidation  of  the  hydrogen 
film  by  further  quantities  of  the  acid,  with  formation  of  water  and 
production  of  the  lower  oxides  of  nitrogen,  and  even  under  certain 
circumstances  of  ammonia. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  {Aiacacus  cynomolgus) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  Armstrong ;  two  Senegal 
Touracous  {Corytkaix  persa)  from  West  Africa,  presented  by 
Sir  Brandforth  Griffith,  Bart.  ;  two  Rock  Thrushes  {Moniicola 
saxatilis)  from  Italy,  presented  by  the  Rev.  Hubert  D.  Astley ; 
two  Larger  Hill-Mynahs  {Gracula  intertnedia)  from  China, 
deposited  ;  two  Mule  Deer  {Cariacus  macrotis),  three  Summer 
Ducks  {/£x  sponsa),  seven  Mandarin  Ducks  {/Ex  galericulata\ 
five  Chilian  Pintails  {Dafila  spinicauda)^  two  Australian  Wild 
Ducks  {Anast.  superciliosa),  a  Spotted* billed  Duck  {Anas 
p<xcilorhyncha\  three  Night  Herons  {Nycticorax  griseus),  bred 
in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Stellar  Cluster  x  Persel — Mr.  O.  A.  L.  Pihl  has 
completed  a  micrometric  examination,  begun  in  1870,  of  the 
group  X  of  ^^  gi^cat  star  cluster  iu  Perseus,  and  the  results  are 
published  by  Grondahl  and  Son,  Christiania.  His  survey  in- 
cludes all  stars  down  to*  io'6  magnitude,  and  a  number  of 
fainter  ones  down  to  117  magnitude,  the  total  number  of  stars 
measured  being  236.  I'he  positions  obtained,  joined  to  those 
determined  in  the  b  gruup  by  Prof.  Kriiger,  with  the  Bonn 
heliometer,  form  one  continuous  survey  of  both  components  of 
the  cluster.  Prof.  Vogel  has  determined  the  positions  of  178 
stars  in  the  central  part  of  the  x  group,  but  Mr.  Pihl's  investi- 
gation covers  more  than  four  tinier  the  area.  A  comparison  of 
the  right  ascensions  of  the  stars  measured  by  these  two  obser- 
vers brought  to  light  differences  ot  a  systematic  character  which 
appeared  to  be  neither  the  result  of  observational  errors  nor  of 
calculation.  Upon  closely  inspecting  the  measures,  Mr.  Pihl 
found  that  his  value  for  right  ascension  was  less  than  Prof. 
Vogel's  in  the  case  of  those  stars  w  hich  were  brighter  than  the 
star  to  which  positions  were  referred  ;  whereas  for  all  stars 
fainter  than  this  his  value  was  larger,  and  the  fainter  the  star 
the  greater  the  difference. 

A  ring  and  a  bar  micrometer  were  used  in  the  observations, 
and  the  reductions  were  made  b;^  the  ordinary  method  of  taking 
half  the  sum  of  the  moments  of  ingress  and  egress  in  the  cal- 
culation— a  mode  of  proceeding  which  depends  upon  the  sup- 
position that  the  half  sum  denotes  the  instant  of  the  passage  of 


[JuLV  i6,  iSgr 


tlie  star  through  the  midille  of  the  ring  or  bar.  Thi)  suppaii- 
tioD,  however,  it  ahown  to  be  erroQeous,  For  stars  of  a  less 
maf^iinde  than  55  there  is  always  a  detention  in  the  apparent 
time  of  emersioD,  which  increases  with  the  laintness  of  the  stars 
observed.  The  cause  of  the  error,  therefore,  is  ph7siolo2ic«'> 
and  due  to  the  occaltiii$r  micrometers  employed.  The  law  regu- 
lating it  haling  been  found,  the  necessary  coTreclions  have  been 
applied  to  the  measures,  thus  rendering  the  worli  of  greater 

The  memoir  represents  the  work  of  a  business  man  over  a 
period  of  twenty  years,  and  with  an  instrument  having  an  aper- 
ture of  3I  inches.  It  contains  much  of  interest,  and  will  doubt- 
less be  appreciated  as  an  important  contribation  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  stars  in  a  cluster  which  is  certainly  one  of  the 
grandest  of  telescopic  objects. 


ON  THE  VEGETATION  OF  TIBET. 
TM  the  May  nurabecoflheyourjia/ A  £iVan(;H<r  MM.  Bureau 
and  Franchet  describe'a  nnmbei  of  new  plants  from  the  col- 
lections recently  brought  home  by  M.  Bonvalol  and  Prince 
Henrjj  of  Orleans,  and  give  a  gsneral  summary  of  their  character, 
of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract ; — 

The  collection  was  made  almost  entirely  in  a  narrow  band  of 
territory  reaching  from  Lhassa  eastward  near  the  30th  parallel 
of  north  latitude  by  way  of  Batang  and  Sitang  to  Tatsienlow,  in 
the  province  of  Szechwan,  in  West  China,  from  which  place 
their  route  was  deflected  at  a  right  angle  to  Yunnan. 

Considered  in  its  general  aspect,  the  flora  of  this  region,  as 
shown  in  the  collection,  is  marked  by  the  stunted  form  of  the 
shrubs  and  dwarf  character  of  the  herbaceous  vegetation.  Of 
the  forest  trees.  Conifers  and  others,  no  specimens  were 
brought.  It  is  characteristically  a  vegetation  of  high  peaks, 
where  drought  and  strong  winds  are  the  main  climatic  features. 
The  PapaveraccE  are  represented  especially  by  dwarf,  large- 
flowered  kinds  of  Afecsnofsis.  The  greater  number  of  the 
species  of  CorydalU  are  not  more  than  two  or  three  inches  high. 
The  Ciucifene,  such  as  Parrya  cUiaris,  in  ihe  same  way  are 
dwarf  and  large- floweied.  Siiine  cmpUosa  may  be  compared 
with  the  most  dwarf  slates  of  S.  ataulis  of  our  own'  high  moun- 
tains. The  honeysuckle  of  Tibet  constitutes  only  a  small  bush 
about  a  foot  high,  with  intertangled  branches.  But  it  is 
especially  in  the  Rhododendrons  and  Primulas  that  this  dwarf 
character  is  remarkable.  All  the  Rhododendrons  and  Primulas 
found  between  Lhassa  and  Sitang — R.  priniipis,  R.  primuln- 
.florum,  R.  uigropunclaium.  Primula  It^Bpoda.  P.  diantha,  and 
P.  Htnrici  may  be  ranged  amongst  the  dwaxTest  types  of  the 
eenera  to  which  ibcy  belong.  It  is  the  same  with  InearvilUa. 
The  Tilietan  species  belong  Id  a  group  found  also  in  Kansu  and 
Central  Yunnan,  with  stem  almost  obliterated  and  corolla  very 
large. 

Passing  eastward  in  Szechwan  the  flora  puts  on  a  dilTereot 
character.  The  leaves  become  larger,  the  number  of  flowers 
to  each  plant  increases.  There  are  many  Rosacex,  Orchids, 
and  species  of  Pedicularis  ;  amongst  the  Compositx  the  genus 
Senecio  is  particularly  well  represented,  and  there  are  several 
Everlastings  that  approach  Ihe  Edelweiss  of  the  Swiss  Alps. 

The  flora  •f  this  eastern  part  of  Tibet  and  western  region  of 
Siechwan  has  a  strong  affinity  both  with  that  of  the  Sikkim 
Himalaya  and  that  of  Central  Yunoin.  Meconefus  ffcnrici 
represents  the  Himalayan  At.  sinplici/blia.  Hook,  et  Thorns.  ; 
Aslragalui  iilargtnsis,  A.  acaiUii,  Benlh.,  A'jiim  xanlhoearpui, 
R.  sikkinunsis  ;  Braihyaclis  chitunsis.  B.  minlbodera;  Gnapha- 
liuat  eorymitnum  answers  to  G.  nubiginum  ;  Androsace  bisuica 
10  A.  micropkylla  ;  and  there  are  many  other  similar  parallels 
between  the  plants  of  Tibet  and  Sikkim,  and  in  the  same  many 
parallels  may_  be  found  between  the  new  species  found  by  our 
travellers  in  Tibet  and  those  gathered  by  Delavay  in  Yunnan. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

LONIMN. 

Royal  Society,  June  18.— "An  Apparatus  for  testing  the 
Sensilireness  of  Safety- lamps."  By  Frank  Clowes,  D.Sc, 
Lond.,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  University  College,  Nottingham. 
Communicated  by  Prof,  Armstrong,  F.R.S, 

The  following  apparatus  has  been  devised  to  render  easy  the 
NO.    II 33,  VOL.  44] 


tests  to  be  made  in  the  laboratory,  : 
(l)  the  easy  and  rapid  production  of  mixtures  of  firedanip  and 
air  in  known  proportions ;  [2}  to  insure  economy  of  the 
aitifidally  prepared  methane,  which  represented  firedamp  :  and 
(3)  to  eiamine  the  flame  of  the  lamp  under  conditicms  ■ 
satisfactory  as  those  existing  in  the  mine. 

A  wooden  cubical  box  of  about  100  litres  capacity  wu 
constructed  so  as  to  be  as  nearly  gas-tight  as  possible;  It  wu 
then  made  absolnlely  gas-light  by  painting  it  over  with  mdled 
panfEn  wax,  which  was  afterwards  caused  to  penetiate  iiKn 
perfectly  by  passing  an  ordinary  hot  flat-iron  over  the  surbce. 


TE^a~^ 


This  testing  chamber  was  furnished  with  a  small  inlet  tube  it 
the  top,  and  with  a  similar  outlet  tube  below.  It  had  a  platE- 
glass  window  in  front  for  observing  the  lamp  in  the  interior,  and 
a  flanged  opening  below  for  introducing  the  safety-tamp.  This 
opening  was  dosed  by  a  watei-seal  consisting  of  a  small  nnc 
tray  supported  by  buttons,  and  containing  about  2  inches  depth 
of  water,  Into  which  the  flange  dipped.  A  mixer  was  arranged, 
which  consisted  of  a  light  flat  board,  nearly  equal  in  dimensiobs 
to  the  section  of  the  chamber,  and  suspended  by  an  axis  from 
the  upper  comer  of  the  chamber.  The  mixer  was  moved 
rapidly  backwards  and  forwards  from  the  side  to  the  lop  of  the 
interior  of  Ihe  chamber,  by  grasping  a  handle  projecting  ihroogfa 
the  front  of  the  chamber. 
When  a  mixture  of  air  with  a  certain  definite  prec«ntage  of 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


261 


firedamp  was  reanired,  the  methane,  prepared  and  purified  by 
ordinary  chemical  methods,  was  introduced  into  the  chamber  in 
the  requisite  quantity  by  the  top  inlet.  It  displaced  an  equal 
volume  of  air,  which  escaped  through  the  lower  outlet,  the  exit 
end  of  which  was  sealed  by  being  immersed  just  beneath  a  water 
surface.  A  vigorous  use  of  the  mixer  secured  a  uniform  mixture 
of  gas  and  air  throughout  the  interior  of  the  chamber  in  the 
course  of  a  few  seconds.  The  lamp  was  then  introduced  into 
the  chamber,  and  placed  in  position  behind  the  glass  window. 
The  simplicity  of  arrangement  of  the  water-seal  rendered  the 
neces«ary  opening  of  the  chamber  very  brief,  and  the  introduc- 
tion and  removal  of  the  lamp  many  times  in  succession  was  not 
found  to  produce  any  appreciable  effect  upon  the  composition  of 
the  atmosphere  inside  the  chamber.  The  appearance  and 
dimensions  of  the  '*cap*'  over  the  flame  were  noted  as  soon 
as  the  cap  underwent  no  further  change.  A  lamp  was  left 
burning  in  the  chamber  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  and 
hs  indications  underwent  no  change,  owing  to  the  large  capacity 
of  the  chamber  and  the  very  limited  amount  of  air  required  to 
support  the  combustion  of  the  small  flame  always  used  in  gas- 
testing.  The  whole  interior  of  the  chamber  and  mixer  were 
painted  dead-black,  so  as  to  render  visible  pale  and  small  caps 
against  a  black  ground. 

The  methane  was  introduced  from  an  ordinary  gas-holder. 
A  volume  of  water,  equal  to  that  of  the  methane  to  be  displaced, 
was  poured  into  the  top  of  the  gas-holder.  The  gas-tap  of  the 
holder  was  then  momentarily  opened,  so  as  to  produce  equi- 
librium of  pressure  between  the  methane  and  the  atmosphere. 
The  gas-tap  having  then  been  placed  in  connection  with  the 
upper  inlet  of  the  chamber,  the  water-tap  was  opened,  and  the 
measured  volume  of  water  was  allowed  to  flow  down  and  drive  the 
methane  into  the  chamber.  As  soon  as  bubbles  of  air  ceased  to 
appear  through  the  water  at  the  outlet,  the  chamber  was  closed  ; 
the  mixer  was  then  vigorously  worked  for  a  few  seconds,  and 
the  mixture  of  gas  and  air  was  ready  for  the  introduction  of  the 
lamp.  Before  introducing  the  methane  for  a  fresh  mixture,  the 
atmosphere  of  the  chamber  was  replaced  by  fresh  air  by  re- 
moving the  water-tray  from  beneath  the  opening  at  the  bottom 
of  the  chamber,  and  blowing  in  a  powerful  stream  of  air  from  a 
bellows  to  the  top  of  the  chamber. 

The  chamber  was  supported  on  legs,  which  were  arranged  so 
as  to  place  it  at  a  convenient  height  for  observations  through  the 
window,  and  also  for  the  introduction  and  removal  of  the  safety- 
lamp. 

The  observations  were  usually  made  in  a  darkened  room,  but 
the  flame-caps  were  easily  seen  in  a  lighted  room,  provided  direct 
light  falling  on  the  eye  or  chamber  was  avoided. 

The  capacity  of  the  chamber  was  95,220  c.c. ;  accordingly, 
the  following  volumes  of  methane  were  introduced  :  for  \  per 
cent,  mixture  476  cc,  for  i  per  cent.  952  c.c,  for  2  per  cent. 
1904  c.c,  for  3  per  cent.  2856  c.c.,  for  4  per  cent.  3808  cc, 
and  for  5  per  cent.  4760  c.c.  It  will  be  seen  that  a  series  of 
tests,  in  which  the  above-mentioned  percentage  mixtures  were 
employed,  involves  an  expenditure  of  only  15  litres  of  methane,  a 
quantity  far  smaller  than  that  required  by  any  other  method  of 
testing  as  yet  described. 

of  many  forms  of  safety-lamp  tested  in  the  above  apparatus, 
the  one  which  most  satisfactorily  fulfilled  the  two  purposes  of 
efficient  illumination  and  delicacy  in  gas-testing  was  Ashworth's 
improved  Ilepple white- Gray  lamp.  This  lamp  is  of  special 
construction,  bums  benzoline  from  a  sponge  reservoir,  and  its 
flame  is  surrounded  with  a  glass  cylinder,  which  is  ground  rough 
at  the  hinder  part ;  this  latter  device  prevents  the  numerous 
reflected  images  of  the  flame,  and  the  generally  diffused  reflec- 
tions which  are  seen  from  a  smooth  glass  surface,  and  which 
render  the  observation  of  a  smaU  pale  flame- cap  very  difficult, 
if  not  impossible. 

The  wick  of  this  lamp,  when  at  a  normal  height,  furnishes  a 
flame  of  great  illuminating  power.  When  lowered  by  a  flne 
screw  adjustment  the  flame  becomes  blue  and  non-luminous, 
and  does  not  interfere  therefore  with  the  easy  observation  of  a 
pale  cap.  The  following  heights  of  flame-cap  were  observed, 
which  fully  bear  out  the  unusual  sensitiveness  of  this  flame. 
With  o'5  per  cent,  of  methane  7  mm.  ;  with  i  per  cent.  10 
mm.  ;  with  2  per  cent.  14  mm.  ;  with  3  per  cent.  20  mm.  ;  with 
4  per  cent.  25  mm. ;  and  with  5  per  cent.  30  mm.  The  cap, 
which  with  the  lower  proportions  was  somewhat  ill-defined, 
became  remarkably  sharp  and  definite  when  3  per  cent,  and  up- 
wards of  methane  was  present.  But  even  the  lowest  percentage 
gave  a  cap  easily  seen  by  an  inexperienced  observer. 

NO.   1 1 33,  VOL.  44] 


It  appears  from  the  above  record  of  tests  that  the  problem  of 
producing  a  lamp  which  shall  serve  both  for  efficient  illuminating 
and  for  delicate  gas- testing  purposes  has  been  solved.  The  solu- 
tion is  in  some  measure  due  to  the  substitution  of  benzoline  for 
oil,  since  the  flame  of  an  oil-lamp  cannot  be  altogether  deprived 
of  its  yellow  luminous  tip,  without  serious  risk  of  total  extinc- 
tion ;  and  this  faint  luminosity  is  sufficient  to  prevent  pale  caps 
from  being  seen. 

From  further  experiments  made  in  the  above  testing-chamber 
with  flames  produced  by  alcohol  and  by  hydrogen,  it  was  found 
to  be  true  in  practice,  as  might  be  inferred  from  theory,  that,  if 
the  flame  was  pale  and  practically  non-luminous,  the  size  and 
definition  of  the  flame-cap  was  augmented  by  increasing  either 
the  size  or  the  temperature  of  the  flame.  It  is  quite  possible  by 
attending  to  these  conditions  to  obtain  a  flame  which,  although 
it  is  very  sensitive  for  low  percentages  of  gas,  becomes  unsuit- 
able for  the  measurement  of  any  proportion  of  gas  exceeding  3 
per  cent.  This  must,  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  miner,  be 
looked  upon  as  a  defect ;  but  it  is  not  a  fault  of  the  lamp  already 
referred  to.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  with  the  Pieler  spirit- 
lamp  a  flame-cap  an  inch  in  height  was  seen  in  air  contaming 
only  0*5  per  cent,  of  methane. 

Physical  Society,  June  26.— Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  communications  were 
made : — The  consti-uction  of  non-inductive  resistances,  by  Prof. 
W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  T.  Mather.  In  making  some' 
transformer  tests  about  three  years  ago,  the  authors  had  occasion 
to  consider  the  construction  of  electric  conductors  the  imped- 
ances of  which  should  be  practically  equal  to  their  resistances. 
This  condition  could  only  be  fulfilled  by  making  the  inductance 
small  in  comparison  with  the  resistance ;  and,  as  the  former 
does  not  depend  on  the  material  employed  (excepting  iron)  it 
was  important  to  use  substances  of  high  specinc  resistance. 
Carbon  or  platinoid  being  available,  the  latter  was  chosen  on 
account  of  its  low  temperature  coefiicient.  One  form  of  resist- 
ance exhibited  consisted  of  strips  of  thin  sheet  platinoid 
about  6  metres  long  and  4  centimetres  wide.  Each  was  bent 
at  the  middle  and  doubled  back  on  itself,  thin  silk  being 
placed  between  the  contiguous  parts  and  narrow  ribbon  used  to 
bind  the  parts  together.  Twelve  such  strips  arranged  in  series 
had  a  resistance  of  2*95  ohms,  and  would  carry  a  current  of  15 
amperes  without  changing  its  resistance  more  than  iV  P^r  cent. 
This  strip-resistance  was  made  by  Messrs.  C.  G.  Lamb  and  £. 
W.  Smith,  who  at  that  time  (1888)  were  students  in  the  Central 
Institution,  and  to  whom  the  author's  best  thanks  are  due  for 
the  praiseworthy  manner  in  which  they  surmounted  the  difii- 
culties  which  presented  themselves.  Another  form  of  resistance 
designed  for  portability  consisted  of  bare-wire  spirals,  each 
length  bavins  a  left-handed  spiral  placed  within  a  right-handed 
one  of  slightly  larger  diameter,  and  the  two  being  connected  in 
parallel.  This  device  was  found  to  reduce  the  inductance  ^to 
^ir  or  ^  of  that  of  a  single  spiral  according  as  the  diameters  of 
the  spirals  approach  towards  equality.  Where  the  spirals  are 
made  of  platmoid  wire,  the  ratio  of  mductance  to  resistance  is 
very  small,  averaging  about  inroVffo' — On  the  influence  of  surface 
loading  on  the  flexure  of  beams,  by  Prof.  C.  A.  Cams- Wilson. 
Referring  to  the  practical  treatment  of  problems  on  beam  flexure 
as  based  on  Bernoulli's  hypothesis  that  the  bending  moment 
is  proportional  to  the  curvature,  the  author  pointed  out  that  this 
assumes  that  the  cross-sections  remain  plane  after  flexure,  and 
neglects  the  surface  loading  effect.  The  present  paper  describes 
experiments  made  to  determine  the  actual  state  of  strain  in  a 
beam  doubly  supported,  and  carrying  a  single  load  at  the  centre, 
the  eflect  of  surface  loading  being  taken  into  account.  The 
method  of  investigation  assumes  that  (i)  the  true  state  of  strain 
at  the  centre  of  a  beam  may  be  found  by  superposing  on  the 
state  of  strain  due  to  bending  only,  that  due  to  surface  loading 
without  bending ;  (2)  the  state  of  strain  due  to  surface  loading 
only,  may  be  found  with  close  approximation  to  truth  by  resting 
the  beam  on  a  flat  plane  instead  of  on  two  supports; 
(3)  the  strain  due  to  bending  alone,  may  be  obtained  from  the 
Bernoulli- Saint- Venant  results.  Before  proceeding  to  describe 
the  experiments,  a  short  account  of  the  mathematical  work  pre- 
viously done  on  the  subject  was  given.  The  nearest  approach 
to  the  particular  case  here  dealt  with  h?d  been  worked  out  by 
Prof.  Boussinesq,  who  had  shown  that  for  an  infinite  elastic 
solid  bounded  on  one  side  by  a  plane  surface  and  loaded  along  a 
line  on  that  surface,  the  stress  (y)  on  an  element  on  the  normal 
through  the  middle  point  of  the  line  varies  inversely  as  its  dis- 


262 


NA  TURE 


[July  i6,  189  i 


tance  [pe)  from  the  surface.     The  formula  thus  arrived  at  was 

p 
y  =  o'64— ,   whilst  for    a    finite    beam    centrally  loaded  the 

X 

p 
author's    experiments     gave  ^  =  0726 —     The  experiments 

were  made  on  glass  beams  mounted  in  a  steel  straining  frame, 
and  placed  between  the  crossed  Nicols  of  a  polariscope.     Steel 
rollers  2  mm.  in  diameter  served  as  supports,  and  the  central 
load  was  applied  by  a  screw  acting  on  a  roller  of  similar  diameter. 
Deflections  of  the  beam  were  measured  by  a  micrometer  screw 
at  a  point  opposite  the  central  load,  and  traversing  screws  enabled 
the  whole  frame  to  be  moved  so  as  to  bring  any  portion  of  the 
beam  in  the  field  of  view.     Circularly  polarized  light  was  some- 
times used,  and  a  micrometer  e^e-piece  served  to  measare  the 
distances  between  interference  fringes  produced  by  loading.  ^  By 
carefully  chosen  experiments  the  author  had  shown  that  if  a 
beam  of  glass  be  laid  on  a  flat  surface  and  loaded  across  its 
upper  surface,  the  shear  at  any  point  on  the  normal  at  the  point 
of  contact  of  the  load  is  inversely  proportional  to  the  distance 
from  the  point  of  contact.     In  the  first  experiment  the  crossed 
Nicols  were  set  at  45"*  to  the  axis  of  the  loaded  bar ;  a  quarter- 
wave  plate  was  then  placed  between  the  bar  and  the  analyzer,  and 
the  position  of  the  black  spot  at  the  point  where  the  efTect  of  the 
shear  on  the  polarized  light  was  equal  and  opposite  to  that  pro- 
duced by  the  quarter-wave  plate  was  noted.     A  second  quarter- 
wave  plate  was  then  superposed  on  the  first ;  the  black  spot 
moved  upwards  to  a  point  where  the  shear  was  double  that  at 
the    first   position.     This    position   having   been  determined, 
one  quarter-wave  plate  was  removed,  and  the  load  diminished 
until  the  original  spot  moved  up  to  the  second  position,  and 
the  processes  repeated.     By  this  means  a  series  of  positions  at 
which  the  shears  were  in  the  proportions  i,  2,  4,  8,  &c. ,  were 
determined.     Plotting  the  results  showed  the  curve  connecting 
the  shear  and  the  distance  from  the  point  of  contact  to  be  hyper- 
bolic.    Other  experiments  showed  that  the  shear  at  any  point 
was  proportional  to  the  load.     By  maintaining  a  constant  load 
and  measuring  the  distances  between  the  interference  fringes 
below  the  point  of  contact  the  hyperbolic  law  was  confirmed. 
The  effect  of  bending  a  beam  is,  according  to  hypothesis,  to  put 
the  upper  portion  in  longitudinal  compression,  and  the  shear 
(vertical  stretch)  varies  as  the  distance  from  the  centre  of  the 
beam  ;  the  shear  due  to  surface  loading  is  a  vertical  squeeze, 
and,   as  shown  above,   varies  hyperbolically.     When,    there- 
fore, the  beam  is  subjected  to  both  actions,  the  straight  line 
representing    the    bending    strain    may    intersect    the   hyper- 
bola  representing   the  shear  due  to  surface  loading   in  two 
points,  and  since,   at  the  corresponding  points  in  the  central 
section,  the  shears  are  equal  and  opposite,  the  elements  are 
only  subjected  to  voluminal  compression,  and  will  exert  no 
bi-refringent  action.      Hence,    when  viewed  through  crossed 
Nicols,  black  spots  will  be  seen  on  a  white  field.     Keeping  the 
lead  constant  and  diminishing  the  span  should  cause  the  spots 
to  approach  each  other,  and  when  the  line  is  tangential  to  the 
hyperbola,  the  spots  coincide.      These  deductions  were  con- 
firmed by  experiment,  and  it  was  found  that  for  a  span  of  less 
than  four  depths,  no  point  of  zero  shear  exists  on  the  central 
.cection.     The  strains  in  beams  subjected  to  surface  loading  were 
thus  shown  to  be  of  a  character  different  from  those  usually 
assumed,  the  neutral  axis  instead  of  coinciding  with  the  axis  of 
the  beam,  being  lifted  up  in  the  centre,  and  its  shape  depending 
on  the  load  and  span.     Other  ingenious  and  interesting  experi- 
ments on  beams  were  described,  in  some  of  which  the  lines  of 
principal  stress  were  mapped  out.     Remarkable  results  were 
obtained,   showing  that  although  the  tension  lines  given  by 
Rankine  and  Airy  are  nearly  correct,  the  curves  of  compression 
may  be  very  different,  and  have  very  curious  shapes.     Prof. 
Perry  thought  the  local  loading  effect  would  not  be  so  important 
in  long  beams,  and  inquired  whether  in  ordinary  test  pieces  local 
loading  would  affect   the  breaking  strength.     He  also  asked 
what  effect  the  fact  of  the  load  making  contact  over  a  surface 
instead  of  along  a  line  would  have  on  the  results,  and  in  reply 
Prof.  Cams- Wilson  said  the  effect  was  to  raise  the  as3rmptote  of 
the  hyperbola  representing  the  surface  loading  stress  above  the 
surface  of  the  beam. — On  pocket  electrometers,  by  C.  V.  Boys, 
F.  R.S.     This  communication  described  modifications  of  electro- 
meters adapted  for  portability.     As  quartz  fibres  increase  the 
delicacy  and  diminish  the  disturbing  influences  affecting  instru- 
ments, much  smaller  controlling  forces  can  be  employed  than 
when  silk  is  used  for  suspensions.     He  had,  he  said,  pointed 
out  some  time  ago  the  great  advantages  arising  from  making 

NO.   1 133,  VOL.44] 


galvanometers  small.  Applying  similar  reasoning  to  electro- 
meters, he  remarked  that  making  an  instrument  one-tenth  the 
size  of  an  existing  one  reduced  the  moment  of  inertia  of  the 

needle  to  ^,  whilst  the  deflecting  couple  for  given  potentials 

would  only  be  iV  of  its  former  value.     The  small  instznmeot 
would  for  the  same  periodic  time  be  10,000  times  more  sensitife 
than  the  large  one,  provided  the  disturbing  influence  could  be 
reduced    in  the  same  proportion.      This,   however,   was  not 
ordinarily  possible,  for  any  method  of  making  contact  with  the 
needle,  such  as  by  a  fine  wire  dipping  into  acid  or  mercaxy, 
prevented  very  small  controlling  forces  being  used.     Still,  bj 
suitable  devices  a  large  proportion  of  the  full  advantage  could 
be  obtained ;   a  freely  suspended  needle  without  liquid  con- 
tacts was  essential  to  success.     The  first  instrument  described 
was  one  in  which  the  needle  was  cylindrical,  contiguous  quarteis 
being  insulated  and  connected  to  the  opposite  ends  of  a  minate 
dry  pile  placed  within  the  needle ;  opposite  quarters  were  thus 
at  the  same  potential,  and  at  a  diff^erent  potential  to  the  other 
pair  of  quarter  cylinders.     This  was  suspended  within  a  glass 
tube  silvered  on  the  inside  and  divided  into  four  parts  by  fine 
longitudinal  lines.      In  such    an  instrument  the  needle  and 
quadrants     are    reciprocal,    and   the    deflection    depends    on 
Uie    product     of   the     difference     of    potential    between    the 
quadrants  and  that  between  the  parts  of  the  needle.     Owing 
to  the  dry  pile  not  being  constant,  the  instrument  was  found 
untrustworthy,  but  when  working  at  its  best  a  Grove  cell  would 
give  30  or  40  millimetres  deflection.    The  next  step  was  10 
make  a  cross-shaped  needle  of  zinc  and  platinum,  and  rely  on 
contact  electricity  to  keep  the  parts  of  the  needle  at  different 
potentials.     This  bold  experiment  proved  remarkably  sacoessfnl, 
for  the  instrument  was  very  sensitive.     A  disk-shaped  needle 
with  quadrants,  alternately  zinc  and  platinum,  was  then  em- 
ployed!, and  by  this  a  small  fraction  of  a  volt  could  be  measured. 
The  weight  of  the  disk  was  only  ^\>  of  a  gramme,  and  the  in- 
strument could  be  turned  upside  down  or  carried  about  in  the 
pocket  with   impunity.      Another  small  instrument  with  the 
stationary  quadrants  of  zinc  and  copper  was  exhibited,  and  by 
rotating   them    through    an    angle   of    90°,   so  as    to    bring 
them    in   a    different    position    relative    to    the    parts  of  the 
needle,  a  deflection  of^  several  degrees  of  arc  was  produced. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks  Mr.  Boys  made  several  sugges- 
tions  relating     to     ballistic    electrometers     and     electrostatic 
Siemens    dynanometers,    and    pointed  out  the    possibility  of 
instruments  such  as  he  had  exhibited  being  of  use  in  elucidating 
the  obscure  points  in  connection  with  so-called  ''contact  electri- 
city."   The  President  complimented  Mr.  Boys  on  the  beautifully 
simple  and  remarkably  sensitive  electrometers  exhibited.     He 
remembered   that  some  years   ago  Mr.  Gordon  made  a  very 
small  electrometer,  but  its  insulation  was  insufiicient  for  electro- 
static work.     He  agreed  with  Mr.  Boys  as  to  the  advantages  of 
small  instruments,  providing  sparking  across  or  tilting  of  the 
needle  could  be  prevented.     On  the  other  hand,  he  thought  the 
use  of  small  potential  differences  on  the  needle  was  a  step  in  the 
wrong  direction,   when  great  sensibility   was  required.     Pro£ 
Perry  asked  if  the  needle   could    not    be   kept  charged  by 
occasional  contacts  with  a  charged  acid  cup.     Mr.  Boys  said  he 
had  originally  intended  using  a  fairly  highly  charged  needle,  but 
had  not  yet  done  so.     He  also  suggested  that  an  electrometer  of 
very  small  capacity  might  be  made  by  reducing  the  quadrants 
surrounding  a  disk-needle,  until  they  became  like  small  tuning- 
forks. — A  paper  on  electrification  due  to  the  contact  of  gases 
with  liquids,  by  Mr.  J.  Enright,  and  one  on  the  expansion  of 
chlorine  by  heat,  by  Dr.  Arthur  Richardson,   were  taken  as 
read. 

Entomological  Society,  July  i.— Mr.  Frederick  DuCane- 
Godman,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  Jacoby  exhibited 
a  specimen  of  a  species  of  Coleoptera  belonging  to  the  family 
Galerucidcx^  with  the  maxillary  palpi  extraordinarily  developed. 
— Canon  Fowler,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Wroughton,  Conservator  of 
Forests,  Poona,  exhibited  specimens  of  a  bug  imitating  an  ant, 
Polyrachis  spiniger^  and  of  a  spider  imitating   a  species  (^ 
Mutillay  and  read  the  following  notes  : — "  I  have  taken  a  good 
many  specimens  of   a    bug  which  has  achieved   a  very  fiiir 
imitation   of  Polyrachis  spiniger  (under  the  same  stone   with 
which  it  may  be  found),  even  to  the  extent  of  evolving  a  pedicle 
and  spines  in  what,  were  it  an  ant,  would  be  its  metanotnm. 
Curiously  enough,  however,  these  spines  are  apparently  not 
alike  in  any  two  specimens.     Is  it  that  this  bug  is  still  waiting 
for  one  of  its  race  to  accidentally  sport  spines  more  like  those  of 


July  i6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


263 


P,  spimger^  and  thus  to  set  the  ball  of  evolution  rolling  afresh  ? 
or  is  it  that  the  present  rough  copy  of  spinigir's  spines  is  found 
sufficient  to  deceive?  The  bug  has  also  been  found  in  the 
Nilgherrie&  Mr.  Rothney  remarks  on  the  above  species  : — '  I 
have  not  found  the  species  mimicking  Mutilla ;  but  in  Calcutta 
and  Barrackpore,  where  P.  spiniger  b  a  tree  ant,  forming  its 
net  by  spinning  tc^ether  the  twigs  of  a  shrub,  the  mimicking 
bog  also  assumes  arboreal  habits,  and  may  be  found  on  the 
trunks  of  trees  with  the  ants.'" — Mr.  Porritt  exhibited  living 
specimens  of  Eupithecia  extensaria  and  Gtometra  smaragdaria : 
the  position  assumed  by  the  former  proved  conclusively  that  it 
had  rightly  been  placed  in  the  genus  Eupithecia, — Mr.  Crowley 
exhibited  two  specimens  of  a  Papilio  from  the  Khasia  Hills, 
belonging  to  an  undescribed  species  allied  to  P,  papone,  sub- 
generic  section  Chilades.  Colonel  Swinhoe  remarked  that  he 
possessed  a  specimen  from  Northern  Burmah.  Mr.  Moore  and 
others  took  part  in  the  discussion  which  followed.  ^-Mr.  Dallas 
Beeching  exnibited  a  specimen  of  Plusia  moneta,  recently  taken 
by  himself  at  High  Woods,  Tonbrid^e,  and  specimens  of 
Gorupieryx  cleopcUra,  lent  him  for  exhibition,  which  were  alleged 
to  have  come  from  the  same  locality. — Dr.  Algernon  Chapman 
exhibited  the  larva  of  Micropteryx  caltJulla^  and  read  notes  on 
hem. — Colonel  Swinhoe  read  a  paper  entitled  "  On  New  Species 
of  Heterocera  from  the  Khasia  Hills." — Mr.  Crowley  read  a 
paper  entitled  "On  a  New  Species  of  Prothoe^—Mu  C.  J. 
Gahan  read  a  paper  entitled  '*  On  the  South  American  species 
of  Diabroticat  Part  2,"  being  a  continuation  of  Dr.  Baly's  paper 
on  the  same  genus  published  in  the  Society's  Transactions  for 
1890,  Part  I. — Mr.  W.  F.  Kirby  communicated  a  paper  entitled 
"Notes  on  the  Orthopterous  family  Meeopodida" — Prof.  West- 
wood  communicated  a  paper  entitled  "Notes  on  Siphonophora 
artocarpL** 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  June  15.— Mr.  T.  B.  Sprague  in  the  chair.— 
£>r.  Johnson  Symington  and  Dr.  H.  A.  Thomson  communicated 
a  paper  on  a  case  of  defective  endochondral  ossification  in  a 
human  foetus.— -Dr.  J.  Berry  Haycraft  read  a  paper  on  the 
alkaline  and  acid  salts  of  the  blood  and  urine,  and  especially 
those  of  phosphoric  acid. — Dr.  J.  M.  Macfarlane  presented  the 
second  part  of  a  paper  on  the  structure,  division,  and  history 
of  vegetable  and  animal  cells,  in  which  he  stated  that  as  a 
result  of  extended  observation  he  still  adhered  to  the  view  that 
a  typical  cell  consists  of  protoplasm,  nucleus,  nucleolus,  and 
endonocleolus,  the  whole  usually  surrounded  by  a  cell  wall ; 
that  the  nucleolus  is  the  important  part  equally  in  division  and 
in  sexoal  union  of  cells ;  that  after  division  had  ceased,  successive 
fragmentation  of  endonudeolus,  nucleolus,  and  nucleus  occurred, 
though  to  a  varying  degree  in  dift'erent  cells  ;  that  thus  a  multi- 
endonucleolar  was  followed  by  a  multinucleolar,  and  this  by  a 
multinuclear  state.  He  regarded  the  nucleolus  of  every  cell  as 
the  sexual  centre  directly  derived  from  union  of  the  chromatic 
substance  of  the  male  and  female  pronuclei  of  the  ovum,  and 
that  from  the  nucleolus  extremely  fine  radiating  threads  of 
diromatic  substance  passed  out  along  the  achromatic  fibrils, 
which  last  he  viewed  as  a  finely  differentiated  reticulum  of  the 
ground  protoplasm.  By  union  of  the  radiating  chromatic 
direads,  the  author  considered  that  the  nuclear  membrane 
was  formed,  while  continuations  radiated  outwards  from  this 
through  the  cell-protoplasm  to  convey  stimuli  to  and  from  the 
sex-centre  or  nucleolus.  He  further  stated  that  many  facts  and 
direct  observations  made  tended  to  show  that  the  radiating 
threads  from  the  nucleus,  and  ultimately  therefore  from  the 
nucleolus,  of  one  cell  are  connected  with  corresponding 
ones  from  other  cells,  and  this,  if  fully  veriBed,  would 
cause  us  to  regard  an  organism  as  a  sexual  whole,  and  the  male 
and  female  reproductive  cells  as  being  specially  set  aside  to  hand 
down  hereditary  and  acquired  conditions.  He  showed  that  this 
bad  a  special  bearing  on  the  next  communication  submitted-— a 
compaxison  of  the  minute  structure  of  plant  hybrids  with  that 
of  their  parents,  and  its  bearing  on  biological  problems.  At  a 
previous  meeting  of  the  Society  (May  4)  he  directly,  demon- 
strated, by  three  parallel  lantern  exhibitions  of  micro- photo- 
graphs, that  the  tissues  of  root,  stem,  leaf,  and  flower  parts  in 
the  hybrid  named  by  Dr.  Masters  Pkilageria  Veitchii,  are  exactly 
intermediate,  when  of  corresponding  age,  between  those  of  the 
parents  ;  and  further,  that  when  a  structure  is  developed  in  one 
parent,  but  is  absent  in  the  other— ^.^.  the  sepal  honey  gland 
of  Lapageria — the  hybrid  shows  it  of  half  the  size.  He  now 
referred  to  eleven  other  hybrids  whose  tissues  he  had  worked 
over  in  detail,  and  selected  points  from    about   sixty  others, 

NO,   1 133,  VOU  44.1 


examined  more  or  less  minutely.  By  triplets  of  micro-photo- 
graphs the  author  not  only  demonstrated  tnat  a  hybrid  is,  to  its 
minutest  details,  a  blended  reproduction  of  both  parents,  but 
that  where  the  parents  show  diverse  morphological  details, 
these  may  t)e  handed  down  to  the  hybrid  of  half  the  size,  or  one 
only  may  be  inherited.  He  advanced  a  theory  to  explain  this, 
and  then  compared  the  tissues  of  Cytisus  Adami  (see  also  Card, 
Chron,^  July  1890,  p.  94),  which  he  regarded  as  a  true  graft 
hybrid.  He  concluded  by  referring  to  the  colour,  flowering 
period,  and  constitutional  vigour  of  plant  hybrids,  and  to  the 
light  shed  by  these  inquiries  on  the  effects  of  environment,  on 
the  influence  of  sex,  and  on  heredity. — Prof.  Tait  communicated 
paper,  by  Prof.  Stokes,  on  an  optical  proof  of  the  existence  of 
suspended  matter  in  flames.  The  method  consists  in  con- 
densing sunlight  on  the  flame.  The  light  is  scattered  by  the 
solid  particles  in  an  extremely  thin  layer  both  where  the  beam 
enters  the  flame  and  where  it  leaves  it.  It  is  polarized  in  the 
plane  of  reflection.  The  effect  is  not  found  in  some  flames — 
such  as  a  Bunsen  flame  tinged  with  burning  sodium.  In  the 
latter  case  this  seems  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  sodium  is  in 
the  form  of  vapour — not  of  solid  particles. 

Sydney, 

Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  May  6. — Annua 
Meeting. — Dr.  A.  Leibius,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  Report 
stated  that  25  new  members  had  been  elected  during  the  year, 
and  the  total  number  on  the  roll  on  April  30  was  457.  During 
the  year  the  Society  held  eight  meetings,  at  which  the  following 
papers  were  read : — Presidential  address,  by  Prof.  Liversidge, 
F.R.S. — On  a  compressed-air  flying  machine,  by  L.  Hargrave. 
— On  the  treatment  of  slips  on  the  Illawarra  Railway  at  Stanwell 
Park,  by  W.  Shellshear.  — On  native  names  of  some  of  the  runs, 
&c,  in  the  Lachlan  district,  by  F.  B.  W.  Woolrych. — Remarks 
on  a  new  plant  rich  in  tannin,  by  Charles  Moore. — Record  of 
hitherto  undescribed  plants  from  Arnheim's  Land,  by  Baron 
Ferd.  von  Mueller,  F.R.S. — The  theory  of  the  repetition  of 
angular  measures  with  theodolites,  by  G.  H.  Knibbs. — On  some 
photc^raphs  of  the  Milky  Way  recently  taken  at  Sydney  Ob- 
servatory, by  H.  C.  Russell,  F.R.S. — Australian  aborigines: 
varieties  of  food  and  methods  of  obtaining  it,  by  W.  T.  Wyndham. 
— On  the  application  of  the  results  of  testing  Australian  timbers 
to  the  design  and  construction  of  timber  structures,  by  Prof. 
Warren. — Geological  notes  on  the  Barrier  Ranges  silver-field, 
by  C.  W.  Marsh. — Some  folk-songs  and  myths  from  Samoa,  by 
the  Rev.  T.  Powell  and  Rev.  G.  Pratt,  with  an  introduction  and 
notes  by  Dr.  John  Fraser. — The  coal-fields  of  New  South 
Wales  and  their  associated  eruptive  rocks,  by  T.  W.  £.  David. 
— Some  remarks  on  the  Australian  languages,  by  Dr.  John 
Fraser. — On  the  74-ounce  compressed-air  flying  machine,  by  L. 
Haxgrave. — The  Medical  Section  held  seven  meetings,  at  which 
nine  papers  were  read  ;  the  Microscopical  Section  held  seven 
meetings,  at  which  interesting  exhibits  were  shown. — The  Clarke 
Medal  for  the  year  1891  had  been  awarded  to  Prof.  F.  W. 
Hutton,  Canterbury  College,  Christ  Church,  New  Zealand. — The 
Council  had  issued  the  following  list  of  subjects  with  the  offer  of 
the  Society's  bronze  medal  and  a  prize  of  £1^  for  each  of  the 
best  researches  if  of  suflicient  merit : — (To  be  sent  in  not  later 
than  May  i,  1892)  On  the  iron-ore  deposits  of  New  South 
Wales ;  on  the  effect  which  settlement  in  Australia  has  produced 
upon  indigenous  vegetation,  especially  the  depasturing  of  sheep 
and  cattle  ;  on  the  coals  and  coal  measures  of  Australasia.  (To 
be  sent  in  not  later  than  May  i,  1893)  Upon  the  weapons, 
utensils,  and  manufactures  of  the  aborigines  of  Australia  and 
Tasmania ;  on  the  effect  of  the  Australian  climate  upon  the 
physical  development  of  the  Australian-bom  population ;  on  the 
injuries  occasioned  by  insect  pests  upon  introduced  trees. — A  most 
successful  conversazione  had  been  held  in  the  Great  Hall  of  the 
University  on  December  10,  at  which  800  guests  were  present. 
— The  Chairman  read  the  Presidential  Address,  and  the. officers 
and  Council  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year,  Mr.  H.  C. 
Russell,  F.R.S.,  Government  Astronomer,  being  President. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  6. — M.  Duchartre  in  the  chair. 
— On  the  lunar  inequality  of  long  period  due  to  the  action  of 
Venus,  and  dependmg  upon  the  argument  I  +  16/'  -  8/",  by  M. 
F.  Tisserand.  According  to  Delaunay,  in  calculations  of  this 
inequality  it  is  possible  to  neglect  powers  of  the  inclination  of 
the  orbit  of  Venus  higher  than  the  second.  M.  Tisserand  shows, 
however,  that  terms  which  contain  the  fourth  power   of  the 


264 


NA  TURE 


[July  16,  1891 


inclination  may  have  a  sensible  influence,  and  diminish  the  co- 
«flficient  of  the  inequality  in  question  by  a  tenth  of  its  value — 
that  is,  by  about  1**6. — On  the  manner  in  which  the  velocities 
are  distributed  from  tiie  entrance  of  a  cylindrical  tube  of  circular 
section  widened  at  the  mouth  up  to  the  points  where  uniformity 
is  established,  by  M.  J.  Boussinesa.— The  flight  of  insects 
studied  by  photochronography,  by  M.  Marey.  The  author 
describes  an  apparatus  which  he  has  used  to  obtain  photographs 
of  fljring  insects.  It  allows  exposures  to  be  made  so  short  as 
ag}py  of  a  second.  His  observations  indicate  that  the  wings  of 
insects  in  flight,  by  meeting  obliquely  the  resistance  of  the  air  in 
to-and-fro  movements,  act  in  a  very  similar  manner  to  the 
sculls  used  to  propel  rowing-boats. — Study  of  the  tetra-iodide 
of  carbon,  by  M.  Henri  Moissan.  By  acting  on  carbon  tetra- 
•chloride  with  boron  tri-iodide,  the  trichloride  of  boron  and  the 
tetra-iodide  of  carbon  are  obtained  by  double  decomposition.  A 
detailed  account  is  given  of  this  reaction.  The  carbon  tetra- 
iodide  thus  prepared  forms  comparatively  large  crystals  of  a 
1)eautiful  red  colour,  very  similar  to  the  rubies  synthetically  pre- 
pared by  MM.  Fremy  and  Vemeuil.  Several  new  reactions 
with  this  compound  are  described. — Compounds  of  camphors 
with  the  aldehydes :  on  a  new  mode  of  formation  of  alkyl 
camphors,  by  M.  A.  Haller. — The  Eocene  formations  of 
Algeria,  by  MM.  Pomel  and  Ficheur.  It  has  been  previously 
shown  that  the  Eocene  formations  of  Algeria  may  be  divided 
into  the  three  groups,  lower,  middle,  and  upper.  The  observa- 
tions now  stated  mdicate  that  the  Middle  Eocene  formations 
only  extend  over  a  narrow  zone,  and  that  they  are  characterized 
by  Nummulites  of  the  groups  Numm,  lavigcUa  and  Numm.  per- 
forata. The  Lower  Eocenes  are  defined  from  a  nummulitic 
point  of  view  by  Numm,  planulata^  Numm,  biarritzensis^  and 
Numm,  giuhensis, — Method  of  ready  transformation  of  the 
tubercular  products  of  joints  and  certain  other  parts  of  the 
buman  body,  by  M.  Lannelongue. — On  the  determination  of 
the  constants  and  coefficients  of  elasticity  of  nickel-steel,  by  M. 
E.  Mercadier.     Experiments  have  been  made  to  determine  the 

relation  -  for  solid  sonorous  bodies,  and,  therefore,  the  coefficient 

of  dynamical  elasticity,  by  a  method  founded  on  KirchhofF's 
theory  of  vibration  of  circular  dbks.  From  the  results  obtained 
it  appears  that  the  incorporation  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  nickel 
with  steel  tends  to  male  the  alloy  isotropic.  The  mean  co- 
efficient of  dynamical  elasticity  for  alloys  containing  about  5  per 
cent  and  25  per  cent  of  nickel  is  18,600,  whereas  that  of  pure 
•steel  is  20,700. — Calculation  of  molecular  volume,  by  M.  G. 
Hinrichs. — On  an  explosive  compound  which  results  from  the 
action  of  baryta  water  on  chromic  acid  in  the  presence  of  oxv- 
genated  water,  by  M.  E.  Pechard.  By  adding  baryta  water  m 
the  presence  of  an  excess  of  oxygenated  water,  a  precipitate  is 
produced,  which,  after  desiccation,  explodes  violently  by  heat 
or  percussion.  The  compound  has  the  formula  BaO,  .  QxO^. — 
On  the  detection  of  small  quantities  of  boric  acid,  by  M.  F. 
Parmentier. — On  the  structure  of  the  ocellates  of  Lithobius  for- 
ficatusy  by  M.  Victor  Willem. — Comparative  study  of  the 
development  and  morphology  of  the  parapodia  of  Syllidise,  by 
M.  A.  Malaquin. 

GOTTINOEN. 

Royal  Society  of  Sciences. — The  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  February,  March,  and  May  1 891  contain  the 
following  papers  of  scientific  interest : — 

No.  I. — W.  Nernst :  on  Henry's  law  of  chemical  equilibrium 
in  solutions. — F.  Meyer :  on  discriminants  and  resultants  of 
singularity-equations. — O,  Venske  :  contribution  to  the  integra- 
tion of  the  equation  A-;/  =  o  for  certain  plane  figures  (the  disk, 
the  annulus,  the  rectilineal  angle,  the  rectilinear  strip  with 
parallel  sides,  the  annular  sector). 

No.  2. — W.  Voigt :  contributions  to  hydrodynamics  (pul- 
sating sphere  or  cylinder  in  an  infinite  liquid ;  stationary 
waves  in  a  stream  as  an  example  of  KirchhofT's  theory  of  liquid 
stream-rays  ;  successive  approximation  to  the  irrotational  motion 
of  a  heavy  liquid  with  free  surface  ;  stationary  combined  motions 
depending  on  two  co-ordinates  in  a  liquid  uader  a  conservative 
system  of  forces  ;  non- stationary  current- motion,  partly  rotational, 
partly  irroiational,  within  an  ellipsoidal  shell  at  rest). — O. 
Venske  :  integration  of  a  special  system  of  linear  homogeneous 
differential  equations,  with  doubly  periodic  functions  as  coeffi- 
cients.— F.  Meyer  :  on  real  properties  of  curves  in  space. 

No.  3. — G.  Tammann  :  on  conduction  through  membrane- 
like precipitates. — O.  Venske :  a  new  apparatus  for  the  deter- 

NO.   1 1 33,  VOL.  44] 


mination  in  absolute  measure  of  the  internal  thermal  oondnctivitj 
of  badly  conducting  bodies. 

Stockholm. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  June  la — On  the  treatment 
of  cancer  through  injections,  by  Prof.  Rossander. — Analysis  of 
a  pyrite,  which  seems  to  contain  a  new  element,  by  Herr  L  J. 
Igelstrom. — A  letter  from  Baron  Ferd.  von  Mueller  on  the  Aus- 
tralian contributions  towards  a  South  Polar  expedition  planned 
in  Sweden,  communicated  by  Baron  Nordenskiold. — ^The  inten- 
sity of  the  radiation  of  gaseous  bodies  under  the  inflnence  of  m 
electric  discharge,  by  Dr.  K.  Angstrom. — On  derivates  of  snlpfanr 
urates,  iii.,  by  Dr.  Hector. — A  solution  of  a  mechanical  problem 
which  leads  to  the  functions  of  Rosenhain,  by  Dr.  Olsson.— 
Some  experiments  on  the  respiration  of  the  Algae,  by  Miss  H. 
Loven. — The  African  genera  of  the  Calandrides  related  to  the 
Oxypisthens,  by  Prof.  Chr.  Aurivillius. — A  comparison  between 
the  methods  of  Angstrom  and  Neumann  for  determining  the  cod- 
ductibility  of  heat  in  bodies.  Part  iii.,  by  Dr.  Hagstrom. — On 
1-6  dibrom-naphthaline,  by  Herr  Forsling. — Triazol  combina- 
tions produced  from  aldehydes  and  dicyan-phenyl-hydrazine,  by 
Herr  Holmqvist. — On  the  ammoniacal  combinations  of  iridina, 
by  Dr.  Palmser.  —On  the  formulas  for  calculating  the  mortality 
during  the  first  year  of  human  life,  as  derived  from  the  statistics 
of  the  population,  by  Dr.  G.  Enestrom. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Among  the  Butterflies:  B.  G.Johns  (Isbister).— The  Bunaess  of  Travel, 
W.  F.  Rae  (CookX— The  Melanesians :  Dr.  R.  H.  Codrington  (Clareadoi 
Press). — Verlags-Catalog  von  R.  Friedlinder  und  Sohn,  18^0-90  (Beria, 
FriedLl.nder). — The  Geology  of  Nova  Scotia,  &c..  or  Acadian  Geology, 
4th  edition :  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  (Macmillan  and  Co.). — British  Cage  Bir^ 
Part  15:  R.  L.  Wallace  (U.  GUI).— North  Midland  School  Cookay 
Book  (Raithby).— Der  Peloponnes  Versuch  einer  Landeskunde  auf  Gech 
logischer  Grundlage,  Abtg.  z :  Dr.  A.  Philoppson  (Berlin,  FriedULnder).— 
Darknctss  and  Light  m  the  Land  of  Egypt :  Colonel  Praser  (SuttonX— Die 
organischen  Elemente  und  ihre  Stellungim  System :  W.  Preyer  (Vyjembaden, 
Bergmann). —Destructive  Locusts:  C.  V.  Riley  (Washtn|!:ton). — ^U.S. 
Department  of  Agriculture — Reports    of  Observations   and  Expenmeics 

g Washington). — Insect  Life,  vol.  iii.,  Nos.  9  and  zo  (Washingtool— 
tonyhnrst  College  Observatory-— Results  of  Meteorological  and  Mag- 
netical  Observations,  zSSg-oa:  Rev.  W.  Sidgreaves  (Market  Weiahtoc). 
— Simple  Recipes  for  Sick-Room  Cookery :  Mn.  Buck  (Raithby).— Jooraal 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  yoL  iL  Part  ii.  No.  6  (Murray).— Jovraal 
of  the  College  of  Science^  Imperial  University  of  Japan,  vol.  iv.  Paxt  z 
(Tokio).— Mind,  July  (Williams  and  Norgate). — The  Pedagogical  Seminary, 
voL  i.  No.  a  (Worcester,  Mass.). — The  Economic  Journal,  No.  a  (Marrailba 
and  Co.). —  London  and  Middlesex  Note-Book,  No.  a  (E.  StockX 


CONTENTS-  PAGE 

Organizers  of  Technical  Education  in  Conference. 

{With  Map) 241 

The  Evolution  of  Animals.     By  R.  Lydekker     ...    243 
Metallurgy.  By  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts -Austen,  F.R.S.    245 

Bacteria  and  their  Products •    ....    246 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Gordon:  "Our  Country's  Flowers."— C.  H.  W.  .   .    247 
Pascoe :  ''A  Summary  of  the  Darwinian  Theory  of 

the  Origin  of  Species." — R,  M 247 

Rae:  **  The  Business  of  Travel" 247 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  Albert  University.— Prof.  C.  Croom  Robert- 
son ;  Rev.  A.  Irving 24S 

Name  for  Resonance. — Prof.    Oliver   J.    Lodge, 

F.R.S 24S 

Force  and  Determinism. — Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan; 

Edward  T.  Dixon 249 

Magnetic  Anomalies. — Alfonso  Sella 249 

Physical  Religion. — B.  Woodd  Smith 249 

Some  Applications  of   Photography.     {Illustrated,) 

By  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S 249 

The  Smithsonian  Astro-physical  Observatory  ...    254 

The  New  Gallery  of  British  Art 255 

Cardinal  Haynald 256 

Oxford  Summer  Meeting  of  University  Extension 

Students  .   .   .   .  • 256 

The  Proposed  Teaching  University  for  London  .   .    257 

Notes 257 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

The  Stellar  Cluster  %  Persei 259 

On  the  Vegetation  of  Tibet 260 

Societies  and  Academies 260 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 264 

•  »  • 


NA  TURE 


265 


THURSDAY,  JULY  23,  1891. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  FORESTRY > 

m 

A  Manual  of  Forestry,  By  William  Schlich,  CLE., 
PI1.D.  Vol.  II.  (London:  Bradbury,  Agnew,  and  Co., 
1889.) 

IN  a  loop  of  the  Main  river  in  Lower  Franconia,  east  of 
Aschaffenburg,  rises  an  extensive  mountainous  coun- 
try, clothed  with  almost  unbroken  forest  of  singular  beauty 
and  of  enormous  value.  It  is  the  Spessart,  in  old  times 
known  as  the  home  and  haunt  of  great  highway  robbers, 
but  also  known  from  time  immemorial  as  the  home  of  the 
best  oak  timber  in  Germany.  The  red  sandstone  of  the 
Trias,  which  everywhere  is  the  underlying  rock  in  this 
extensive  forest  country,  makes  a  light  sandy  loam,  which, 
where  deep,  is  capable  of  producing  tall,  cylindrical,  well- 
shaped  stems.  Having  grown  up,  while  young,  in  a 
densely  crowded  wood,  the  oak  here  has  cleared  itself  of 
side  branches  at  an  early  age.  Hence  these  clean  straight 
stems,  which  in  the  case  of  spruce,  silver  fir,  and  other 
forest  treesy  may  justly  be  said  to  be  the  rule,  but  which 
the  oak  does  not  produce,  save  under  these  and  similarly 
favourable  circumstances.  The  species  here  is  Quercus 
sessiUflara  s  this  species  does  not  form  pure  forests,  but  is 
always  found  mixed  with  other  trees,  the  hornbeam,  the 
beech,  and  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  western  Schwarz- 
wald,  the  silver  fir.  In  the  Spessart,  the  beech  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  oak,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  bamboo 
is  the  chief  associate  of  the  teak  tree  in  Burma. 

In  publishing  his  manual  of  forestry,  the  author 
wished  in  the  first  instance  to  place  in  the  hands  of 
the  students  at  the  Coopers  Hill  Forest  School  a  hand- 
book to  facilitate  their  studies.  That  Forest  School  was, 
it  may  be  remembered,  established  in  1885,  in  connection 
with  the  Royal  Indian  Engineering  College  at  the  same 
place,  in  order  to  give  the  needful  professional  training  to 
young  Englishmen  who  desired  to  enter  the  Indian  Forest 
Department.  Accordingly,  when  the  first  volume  of  that 
manual  appeared  in  1889,  it  was  natural  that  some,  who 
took  a  strong  interest  in  the  progress  of  forest  manage- 
ment in  the  British  Indian  Empire,  were  surprised  that 
the  book  did  not  deal  with  Indian  trees,  and  that  its 
teaching  related  to  the  oak,  the  beech,  the  Scotch  pine, 
and  other  trees  of  Europe.  By  some  of  these  zealous 
friends  of  Indian  forestry  the  book  was  pronounced  a 
failure,  because  it  did  not  treat  of  Indian  forest  trees. 

The  principles  which  guide  the  forester  in  the  proper 
treatment  of  his  woods  are  the  same  all  over  the  world, 
in  India  as  well  as  in  Europe.  But  while  the  application 
of  these  principles  to  the  treatment  of  Indian  forests  is 
not  more  than  thirty-five  years  old,  the  methodical  and 
systematic  treatment  of  European  forests  is  of  old  stand- 
ing, and  has  stood  the  test  of  experience.  In  the  teak 
forests  of  Burma,  the  bamboo  has  a  position  similar  to  that 
of  the  beech  in  the  oak  forests  of  the  Spessart.  Oak  and 
teak  are  both  trees  with  comparatively  light  foliage.  Pure 
woods  of  these  species,  while  young,  are  sufiiciently  dense 
to  shade  the  ground,  whereas  at  an  advanced  age  the 
wood  gets  thin,  the  canopy  light,  and  the  result  is  that 


'  See  Nature,  vol.  xli.  p.  121. 

NO.  II 34,  VOL.  44] 


grass  and  weeds  appear,  and  that  by  the  action  of  sun  and 
wind  the  soil  hardens  and  is  less  fertile  than  the  loose 
porous  soil,  which  is  shaded  by  dense  masses  of  foliage. 
Hence  the  advantage  of  associates,  which,  like  the  beech 
in  Europe  and  the  bamboo  in  Burma,  shade  the  ground 
with  their  dense  foliage  and  enrich  it  by  the  abundant 
fall  of  their  leaves.  But  it  is  not  only  the  condition  of  the 
ground  which  is  improved  by  these  useful  associates.  Teak 
and  oak  have  this  specialty  also  in  common,  that,  when 
growing  up  alone,  their  stems,  instead  of  running  up  inta 
clean  cylindrical  boles,  are  apt  to  throw  out  side  branches,, 
which  greatly  impair  the  market  value  of  the  log.  But 
when  growing  up  in  dense  masses  with  their  natural 
associates,  these  latter,  crowding  in  as  they  do  on  all 
sides,  around  the  oak  in  the  Spessart  and  the  teak  in 
Burma,  prevent  the  development  of  side  branches  and 
thus  produce  clean  and  regularly  shaped  stems. 

In  these  and  many  other  ways  are  the  associates  of  the 
teak  and  of  the  oak  useful  friends,  so  to  speak.  Under 
certain  circumstances,  however,  and  at  certain  periods  of 
their  life,  they  are  dangerous  enemies  to  their  more 
valuable  companions.  On  the  sandstone  of  the  Spessart 
and  elsewhere,  the  beech,  as  a  rule,  has  a  more  vigorous 
growth  than  the  oak  ;  it  gets  the  upper  hand,  and,  unless 
it  is  cut  back  or  thinned  out  in  time,  the  oak,  if  both  are 
growing  up  in  an  even  mixture,  has  no  chance.  The 
bamboo  is  even  more  formidable  as  an  enemy  of  the 
young  teak  tree.  Though  the  teak  may  have  had  a  long 
start ;  if  a  crop  of  bamboos— either  the  shoots  of  old 
rhizomes,  or  perhaps  the  result  of  general  seeding  of  the 
old  bamboo  forest,  cleared  away  to  make  room  for  the 
teak— springs  up  among  it,  the  teak  is  doomed.  As 
soon  as  the  rhizomes  of  the  bamboo  have  acquired 
sufficient  strength,  they  produce,  within  a  few  weeks, 
during  the  rains,  such  a  profusion  of  full-sized  shoots, 
say  20  to  30  feet  high,  that  the  young  teak  trees  among 
them  are  throttled  and  extinguished. 

The  similarity  in  the  relations  of  teak  and  bamboo  in 
Burma,  and  of  oak  and  beech  in  the  Spessart,  has  led 
foresters  in  both  countries  to  devise  similar  arrangements 
for  the  regeneration  of  these  forests.  In  the  Spessart,  when 
the  old  timber  in  a  compartment  of  the  forest  is  cut,  the 
best  places  for  the  growth  of  the  oak  are  selected,  and  the 
oak,  which  here  sells  at  the  rate  of  from  2s,  to  3^.  a  cubic 
foot  for  sound  and  well-shaped  pieces,  is  sown  on  soil 
most  suitable  for  its  development ;  while  the  beech,  the 
timber  of  which  only  fetches  about  one-fifth  of  that  amount,, 
is  allowed  to  reproduce  naturally  from  self-sown  seedlings 
over  the  rest  of  the  area.  Among  the  oak  also  a  certain 
but  small  proportion  of  beech  springs  up,  and  even  where 
pure  oak  woods  may  be  the  result  of  these  proceedings,  it 
will  not  be  difficult,  when  they  are  sufficiently  advanced, 
to  introduce  such  a  proportion  of  beech  as  will  secure 
their  satisfactory  development.  In  the  same  way  in 
Burma,  selected  areas  are  cleared  for  the  growth  of  teak 
in  the  original  forest,  the  clearance  being  effected  and 
the  teak  planted  with  the  aid  of  that  rude  mode  of  shifting 
cultivation,  known  as  the  Toungya  system. 

Many  other  instances  might  be  quoted,  in  which  similar 
practices  have  developed  in  the  rearing  and  tending  of 
woods  in  Europe  and  in  India.  The  principles  of  sylvi- 
culture are  the  same  everywhere,  and  the  application 
of  these  principles  to  the  treatment  of  woods  in  different 

N 


266 


NA  TURE 


QuLY  23,  1891 


parts  of  the  globe  has,  in  many  instances,  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  similar  methods  ;  hence  Dr.  Schlich  was  right  in 
selecting  the  timber  trees  of  Europe  to  illustrate  the 
application  of  these  principles  in  the  manual  before  us. 

Sylviculture,  the  author  explains,  is  the  formation  and 
tending  of  woods,  and  he  divides  his  subject  into  four 
chapters.  The  first  of  these  chapters  treats  of  preliminary 
works,  such  as  choice  of  species,  fencing  and  reclamation 
of  the  soil  by  draining,  the  fixation  of  shifting  sands,  the 
breaking  through  of  an  impermeable  substratum  (pan) 
and  the  like.  In  regard  to  the  fixation  of  shifting  sands, 
an  interesting  account  is  given  on  p.  33  of  the  methods 
which  have  been  most  successfully  practised  on  the  west 
coast  of  France,  in  order  to  stop  the  progress  inland  of 
the  coast  dunes,  and  to  clothe  these  ridges  of  rolling  sand 
with  a  productive  forest  of  the  cluster  pin  e(/'/Wi^  Pinaster). 
A  belt,  in  many  places  five  miles  wide,  along  the  coast  of 
Gascony,  and  considerably  further  north,  has  in  this 
manner  been  reclaimed,  and  the  steady  progress  of  the 
9and,which  had  covered  large  areas  of  fields  and  meadows, 
and  which  had  destroyed  numerous  villages,  has  thus  been 
arrested. 

Chapter  ii.  deals  with  the  formation  of  woods  by 
artificial  and  natural  means.  The  Spessart,  which  has 
been  mentioned  above,  is  an  instance  in  which  both 
artificial  and  natural  means  are  used  in  order  to  effect 
itie  regeneration  of  the  forest,  so  as  to  insure  the  pro- 
duction of  timber  of  the  highest  possible  commercial 
Talue.  In  most  large  forest  districts  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  both  the  natural  and  artificial  nwthod  are 
employed.  As  the  author  says  on  p.  178,  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  system  "  is  the  best  at  all  times  and  under 
any  circumstances  ;  only  a  consideration  of  the  local 
conditions  can  lead  to  a  sound  decision  as  to  which  is 
preferable  in  a  given  case."  In  France,  for  instance,  a 
country  highly  favoured  by  a  climate  uniformly  moist 
and  mild,  where  most  forest  trees  produce  seed  more 
frequently  than  in  Germany,  natural  reproduction  may, 
broadly  speaking,  be  said  to  be  the  rule  and  planting  the 
exception.  But  in  France,  also,  planting  operations  on  a 
large  scale  have  been  carried  out  on  the  dunes  of  the 
^rest  coast  as  well  as  on  bare  mountain-sides  of  the  Alps, 
die  Cevennes,  and  the  Pyrenees,  and,  wherever  neces- 
sary, planting  is  resorted  to,  to  supplement  the  natural 
regeneration  of  the  forests. 

An  instance  in  which  over  a  large  extent  of  country  the 
forests  are  regenerated  artificially  may  be  found  in  the 
State  forests  of  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  together  with  most 
of  the  communal  and  many  of  the  private  forests  in  that 
country.  The  State  forests  of  Saxony  cover  an  area  of 
432,000  acres,  and  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  this  area  is 
stocked  with  pure  spruce  forest  treated  on  a  short  rotation 
of  eighty  years,  and  regenerated  artificially  by  planting. 
The  high  prices  realized  in  this  industrious  and  thickly 
populated  country,  even  for  timber  of  small  sizes,  have 
gradually  led  to  the  adoption  of  this  system ;  and  the 
State  forests  of  the  kingdom  of  Saxony  are  a  pattern  of 
methodical  and  most  successful  management.  The  forest 
ranges,  all  in  charge  of  highly  trained  superior  forest 
ofiicers,  are  small,  containing  not  more  than  2000  to  3000 
acres  each,  and  many  of  these  ranges  have  a  steady  regu- 
lar annual  yield  of  140  cubic  feet  of  timber  per  acre,  and 
Aimish  a  net  revenue,  after  deducting  all  charges,  general 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


and  local,  of  100  marks  per  hectare,  which  corresponds 
to  forty  shillings  an  acre. 

But  in  Great  Britain  also,  and  in  Scotland  especially,  is 
the  system  of  rearing  forests  by  planting  well  understood, 
and  it  is  practised  over  large  areas  economically  and  suc- 
cessfully. French  as  well  as  German  foresters  of  great 
practical  experience  have  repeatedly  expressed  their  high 
sense  of  the  skill  and  ability  with  which  large  plantations 
are  formed  in  Great  Britain  at  a  comparatively  moderate 
cost.  But  even  foresters  and  wood-managers  in  Great 
Britain  may  learn  a  good  deal  from  this  portion  of  Dr. 
Schlich's  book.  Their  attention  might  specially  be 
directed  to  the  author's  remarks  on  p.  113,  r^^ding 
transplants  which  have  developed  a  lopsided  root  system, 
"  because  the  trenches,  into  which  the  pricked  out  seed- 
lings are  placed,  are  often  made  so  shallow,  that  the  root 
system  of  the  plants,  instead  of  assuming  a  natural  posi- 
tion in  the  ground,  is  altogether  bent  to  one  side." 

That  section  of  the  second  chapter  which  deals  with  the 
natural  regeneration  of  woods,  necessarily  divides  itself 
into  two  portions :  first,  natural  regeneration  by  seed  ;  and 
second,  by  shoots  and  suckers  (pollards  and  coppice). 
Concise  brevity  is  one  of  the  great  merits  of  Dr.  Schlich's 
manual,  and  it  doubtless  was  necessary  to  curtail,  and  to 
make  a  rigid  selection  of  the  most  important  matters.  But 
the  treatment  of  coppice  woods  and  of  coppice  under 
standards  might  perhaps  have  been  a  little  less  brief. 

As  regards  natural  regeneration  by  seed,  the  Black 
Forest  in  South- Western  Germany  may  be  quoted  as  an 
instance  where,  over  extensive  areas,  the  forest  is  chiefly 
regenerated  by  natural  means.  The  splendid  logs  of  spruce 
and  silver  fir,  which  are  floated  down  the  Rhine  in  num- 
berless huge  rafts,  have  all  grown  from  self-sown  seedlings, 
and  most  of  the  young  timber  now  growing  up  has  had  the 
same  origin.  The  timber  which  is  brought  to  market  from 
these  forests  is  much  older  and  heavier  than  that  sold  in  the 
forests  of  Saxony,  but  the  results  of  man^^ement  are  to 
some  extent  similar.  There  are  some  forest  ranges  in  the 
Schwarzwald,  both  in  the  grand-duchy  of  Baden  and  in 
the  kingdom  of  Wurttemberg,  which  yield  the  same 
annual  quantity  of  timber  per  acre,  and  furnish  the  same 
rate  of  net  revenue  to  their  proprietors,  as  those  of  Saxony. 
The  term  of  rotation,  of  course,  is  much  longer,  and  the 
system  of  natural  reproduction  takes  time,  hence  the 
money  value  of  the  growing  stock  of  old  timber  is  very 
large,  much  larger  per  acre  than  in  Saxony.  The  interest, 
therefore,  on  the  capital  invested  (value  of  land  plus  grow- 
ing crop)  is  less  in  this  case.  The  discussion  of  these 
matters,  however,  does  not  appertain  to  sylviculture,  bat  to 
forest  management,  with  which  the  author  will  deal  in  a 
subsequent  volume  of  his  work. 

As  already  mentioned,  in  France  the  natural  regenera- 
tion of  forests  is  the  rule,  chiefly  owing  to  its  wonderfully 
favourable  climate.  Large  areas,  mainly  of  private  and 
communal  forest,  are  managed  in  admirable  style,  as  cop- 
pice woods  and  as  coppice  under  standards.  The  treat- 
ment of  high  timber  forests  also,  and  their  regeneration 
from  self-sown  seedlings,  by  means  of  a  regular  system  of 
successive  cuttings,  has  in  France  been  brought  to  a  high 
state  of  perfection.  This  circumstance  renders  the 
French  forests  specially  valuable  as  a  field  of  instruction 
for  foresters  proceeding  to  India.  For  in  that  lai^ 
country,  though  planting  has  been  commenced  and  must 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


267 


necessarily ;  be  carried  on  in  some  instances  on  a  large 
scale,  yet  every  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  develop  good 
systems  of  natural  regeneration  in  the  different  provinces. 

On  pp.  132-64  the  author  gives  a  clear  account  of 
the  different  systems  which  have  in  course  of  time  been 
devised,  in  order  to  effect  the  natural  regeneration  of 
woods  by  seed  Under  the  more  favourable  climate  of 
France  the  desired  object  is  generally  effected  by  a 
simple  and  to  some  extent  uniform  system  of  successive 
cuttings.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  where  droughts 
are  frequent,  frosts  severe,  and  where  good  seed  years 
generally  are  of  rare  occurrence,  the  system  of  regular 
successive  cuttings,  which  originated  in  Germany,  in 
many  cases  was  found  to  fail,  and  accordingly,  some  sixty 
or  seventy  years  ago,  the  tide  set  in  in  favour  of  artificial 
reproduction.  A  reaction,  however,  has  for  good  reasons 
taken  place  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  during  the 
last  thirty  years  German  foresters  have  been  busy  in 
adapting  the  system  of  natural  regeneration  to  the 
peculiar  conditions  of  each  forest  district.  Indian  forest 
students  should  go  to  France,  in  order  to  become  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  under  favourable  circumstances 
natural  regeneration  of  high  forests  may  be  effected  by 
a  simple  and  easy  system  of  treatment.  In  German 
forests,  on  the  other  hand,  they  should  learn  how  the 
difficulties  of  a  climate  frequently  unfavourable  have 
been  successfully  overcome  by  devising  systems  of 
treittment  suitable  to  the  requirements  of  each  locality, 
and  the  knowledge  here  acquired  will  be  most  useful,  nay, 
necessary,  to  them  in  India,  where  the  conditions  of 
climate  by  no  means  always  favour  the  natural  regenera- 
tion of  the  more  valuable  forest  trees. 

Space  forbids  a  full  discussion  of  this  most  important 
and  interesting  subject.  This  portion  of  Dr.  Schlich's 
book,  if  supplemented  by  the  study  of  forests  on  a  large 
scale,  particularly  in  Germany,  will  be  most  useful  to 
foresters  who  may  be  called  upon  to  devise  methods  of 
forest  treatment  in  other  parts  of  the  globe,  be  it  India, 
Australia,  South  Africa,  or  North  America. 

Closely  allied  to  the  subject  just  adverted  to  is  what  the 
author  says  in  the  fourth  section  of  the  same  chapter 
iegar4ing  the  formation  of  mixed  woods.  Pure  woods, 
consisting  of  one  species  only,  are  exposed  to  various 
risks,  from  which  mixed  woods  are  exempt.  Hence,  in 
most  Continental  forests,  there  has  of  late  years  been  a 
strong  tendency  in  the  direction  of  favouring  the  growth 
of  mixed  woods,  such  as  oak  and  beech,  oak  and  horn- 
beam, oak  and  silver  fir,  Scotch  pine  and  beech,  and 
the  like.  It  goes  without  saying,  that  operations  in  this 
direction,  in  order  to  be  successful,  must  be  guided  by 
careful  study  of  the  mode  of  growth  and  of  the  peculiar 
requirements  of  the  different  species  in  different  places 
and  under  different  conditions.  Something  has  been  said 
above  regarding  the  treatment  of  mixed  woods  of  oak 
and  beech  in  the  Spessart  But  it  does  not  follow  that 
oak  and  beech  behave  in  the  same  manner  everywhere. 
On  certain  kinds  of  shale,  bdonging  to  the  Devonian 
formation,  for  instance,  the  oak  rather  than  the  beech 
has  the  tendency  to  take  the  lead,  and  here  mixed  woods 
of  oak  and  beech  can  be  produced  from  self-sown  seed- 
lings much  more  easily  than  would  be  possible  on  the 
sandstone  of  the  Spessart  Again,  along  the  foot  of  the 
Western  Schwarzwald,  where,   as    already    stated,    the 

NO.  1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


silver  fir  is  associated  with  the  oak,  this  tree,  though  a 
shade-bearer  like  the  beech,  renders  it  much  easier  for 
the  oak  to  hold  its  own  in  an  even-aged  mixed  wood, 
because  in  its  early  youth  it  grows  very  slowly,  thus 
giving  the  oak  a  good  start  in  life. 

Chapter  iii.  teaches  how  woods  should  be  tended  during 
early  youth  and  afterwards.  Passing  over  what  the  author 
says  regarding  cleaning  of  young  woods  and  pruning,  we 
come  to  thinning  operations.  On  p.  209  an  interesting 
statement  is  given  showing  the  number  of  trees  per  acre 
in  certain  mixed  woods  of  the  Schwarzwald.  The  figures 
are  as  follows  : — 


A^e  of  wood 

ID  years. 

20 

40 

60 

So 
100 


Number  of  trees 
per  acre. 
3960 
IOI3 

449 
346 
262 


Thus,  during  the  life  of  a  wood,  and  this  holds  good  in 
all  cases,  the  number  of  trees  per  acre  decreases  gradually 
from  several  thousand  to  a  comparatively  small  number 
at  maturity.  When,  as  usual,  the  object  is  to  produce 
high  class  timber,  with  cleaa  well-shapen  stems,  the  rule 
is,  as  the  author  correctly  states  it :  '*  The  wood  should  be 
thinned  lightly  until  towards  the  end  of  the  principal 
height  growth ;  then  the  thinnings  should  gradually 
become  heavier,  so  as  to  assist  a  selected  number  of 
trees  by  the  gradual  removal  of  all  those  which  are 
inferior  and  diseased."  In  its  youth  the  wood  is  crowded, 
the  young  trees  maintaining  a  severe  struggle  for 
existence.  The  weaker  trees  are  suppressed  and  some 
are  actually  killed,  while  the  rest  are  either  dominant 
trees,  with  their  head  well  above  the  others,  or  dominated, 
though  not  suppressed.  Formerly  thinnings  were  generally 
done  by  rule  of  thumb,  the  dead,  oppressed,  and  a  portion 
of  the  dominated  trees  being  removed.  But  it  is  obvious 
that,  when  the  object  is  to  produce  valuable  timber, 
thii^nings  must  so  be  managed,  that  the  trees  which  are 
destined  to  attain  the  term  of  rotation,  and  which  will 
form  the  final  crop  to  be  cut  down,  in  the  example  here 
given,  262  trees  per  acre  100  years  old,  shall  be  sound 
and  regularly  shaped.  It  is  obvious  that  to  attain  this 
object  dominant  trees  also  may  occasionally  have  to  be 
removed,  if  unsound,  spreading,  or  irregular  shaped,  and 
this  is  properly  recognized  by  the  author.  He  justly  adds 
that  in  such  cases  dominated  and  even  suppressed  trees 
may  have  to  be  spared  in  order  to  keep  the  ground  well 
under  cover.  Such  would  be  the  practice  in  the  case  of 
woods  consisting  of  one  species  only,  or  of  several  species 
of  equal  value.  Where  one  species,  such  as  oak  or  teak, 
is  of  much  greater  value  than  the  others,  all  thinnings 
must,  as  a  matter  of  course,  be  so  arranged  as  to  favour 
this  species  at  the  expense  of  the  rest. 

So  far  concerning  the  thinning  of  crowded  woods.  The 
last  section  of  the  same  chapter  deals  with  the  tending  of 
open  woods  for  the  production  of  large  timber.  Into  this 
subject,  which  is  one  of  some  difficulty,  though  of  great 
importance,  it  would  lead  too  far  to  enter  on  the  present 
occasion. 

Chapter  iv.  contains  sylvicultural  notes  on  British 
forest  trees,  with  notes  (by  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward)  on 
botanical  characters  serving  to  distinguish  the  principal 
British  forest  trees.    The  two  species  of  oak  dealt  with  in 


268 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


the  sylvicultural  notes  are    Quercus  pedunculata  and 
Quercus  sessiliflora.     Botanists  are  well  aware  that  the 
maintenance    of  distinctive    characters    between    these 
two    and   others  of  the  European  species  of  Quercus 
is  difficult;    so  much  so,  that  the  best  authorities  on 
English  trees    have    decided    to    re-establish    the    old 
species  of  Linnseus,  Quercus  Robur^  and  to  regard  the 
two  species  named  merely  as  forms  or  varieties.    The 
forester  has  a  different  task,  and  for  him  the  mode  of 
growth  and  the  requirements  of  these  two  oaks  are  so 
different  that  he  must  keep  them  separate.    ,It  will  suffice 
to  mention  one  point,  which  has  not  perhaps  been  brought 
out    sufficiently    by    the    author.     The    mixed    woods 
in    which    Quercus    sessiliflora  is  associated  with    the 
beech,  the    hornbeam,  and    the    silver   fir   have  been 
mentioned  above.     In  natural  high  forests  this  species  is 
only  found  in  company  with  other  trees,  and  particularly 
with  the  three  kinds  named.    The  pure  or  nearly  pure 
coppice   woods   of   Quercus  sessiliflora  in  France  and 
Western  Germany  are  an  exception ;    these,  however, 
have   been   converted    into    pure  woods  by  the  long- 
continued    cutting  out   of  beech,  hornbeam,  and    soft 
woods.     Quercus  pedunculata^  on  the  other  hand,  does 
form  pure  high  timber  forests  of  considerable  extent. 
Such  are  found  both  in  Northern  and  Southern  Europe, 
not  on  hilly  ground,  but  always  on  deep  alluvial  soil. 
Instances  are  the  forests  on  low  ground  along  the  Elbe 
and  other  rivers  of  North  Germany,  the  magnificent  pure 
forests  of  that  tree  on  the  banks  of  the  Adour  river  near 
Dax  in  Gascony,  and  similar  ones  in  the  peninsula  of 
Istria,  south   of  Trieste.    There  is  underwood  on  the 
ground  in  the  forests  named,  but  it  merely  consists  of 
thorns  and  low  shrubs.     The  two  species,  Quercus  sessili- 
flora and  pedunculata  have  different  requirements  and 
require  somewhat  different  treatment.    This,  however,  is 
a  small   matter.    These   sylvicultural  notes    are   most 
valuable,  and    it    is    satisfactory  that    the    Weymouth 
pine  and  the  Douglas  fir  have  been  included  among 
them. 

The  second  volume  of  Dr.  Schlich's  manual,  like  the 
first,  will  be  an  immense  help  to  the  students  who  are 
trained  at  the  Coopers  Hill  College  for  forest  service  in 
India.  It  will  be  a  great  boon  to  all  who  are  charged 
with  the  management  of  forests  in  India,  in  the  colonies, 
and  in  the  United  States  of  North  America.  And  it  may 
perhaps  be  hoped  that  in  Great  Britain  also  this  excellent 
book  will  in  course  of  time  tend  to  awaken  a  more  general 
interest  in  the  good  management  of  its  woodlands,  which 
are  very  extensive,  and  which  some  day  may  be  of 
<:onsiderab1e  importance  and  of  great  value  to  their 
proprietors.  D.  Brandis. 


THE  APPLICATIONS  OF  MODERN 
CHEMISTRY. 

Dictionary  of  Applied  Chemistry.    Vol.  II.  (Eau-Nux). 
(London :  Longmans,  1891.) 

THE  editor  of  a  dictionary  of  applied  science,  such  as 
the  volume  before  me,  has  in  these  days  no  enviable 
task  to  perform :  much  is  required  of  him,  and  the  diffi- 
culties with  which  he  has  to  contend  are  great    Prof. 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


Thorpe  has  acquitted  himself  well,  for  though  there  may 
be,  indeed  there  are,  many  points  with  which  the  expert 
can  find  fault,  yet  these  are  generally  matters  of  detail, 
and  on  the  whole  the  work  has  been  satisfactorily  done, 
so  that  the  second  voluxhe  will  be  found  to  be  quite  up  to 
the  high  level  of  the  first.    The  industries  which  owe 
their  foundation  to  the  science  of  chemistry  now  progress 
with  such  giant  strides,  that  processes  which  last  year 
were  the  newest  and  best  may  this  year  be  so  improved 
as  to  be  rendered  obsolete,  so  that  an  article  printed 
at  the  commenceiftent  of  a  volume  may  become  aih 
tiquated  before  the  last  article  is  in  type,  whilst  data 
unattainable  when  the  article  was  written  are  super- 
seded by  some  more  recently  published.    As  an  example 
of  this,    I    may  Uke   that   upon  "gas    coal,"  written 
by  a    most  competent   authority,    Mr.    Lewis  Wright 
On  p.  177  will  be  found  a  table  giving  the  weight  of  coal 
carbonized  by  all  the  authorized  gas  undertakings  in  the 
kingdom,  exclusive  of  those  of  local  authorities,  for  the 
year  ending  March  25,  1886.    Since  these  tables  were 
printed,  a  Bokrd  of  Trade  return  for  1890  has  been  pub- 
lished.    In  1886,  8,378,904  tons  of  coal  were  carbonized; 
in  1890  the  figure  rose  to  9,663,011.     In  1886  the  mileage 
of  mains  was  18,967  ;  in  1890  it  had  increased  to  21,584. 
These  numbers  point  out  the  enormous  extent  of  the 
coal-gas  industry  in  this  country,  and  show  clearly  that  it 
is  not  suffering  from  the  competition  of  electric  lighting; 
indeed,  this  competition  is  favourable  to  the  sale  of  gas, 
for  we  see  that  our  streets  are  now  better  lighted  than 
formerly,  and  the  consumption  of  gas  in  many  shops  is 
increased,  in  order  to  vie  with  the   splendour  of  their 
neighbours'  electric  light. 

As  a  critic  is  bound  to  criticize,  I  may  point  out  some 
few  faults  of  commission  and  omission  which  have 
struck  me  in  reading  through  this  generally  excellent 

article. 

The  important  steps  which  have  recently  been  taken 
in  many  large  works  for  charging  and  drawing  the  gas 
retorts  by  mechanical   means   are   barely  referred  ta 
Great  economy  is  doubtless  effected  where  such  labour- 
saving  mechanical  appliances  have  been  adopted,  and  a 
description  of  these  would  have  been  of  interest,  as  the 
labour  agitation  in  our  gas-works  has  brought  engineers 
face  to  face  with  this  question.    Another  point  upon 
which  a  statement  would  have  been  of  value  is  the  most 
improved  arrangements  of  the  purifying  house,  and  the 
methods  adopted  for  charging  and  discharging  the  puri- 
fiers.    That  "  the  whole  of  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  car- 
bonic acid,  and  carbon   disulphide  can  be  easily  and 
economically  removed"  (p.  200)  by  a  combined  system 
of  oxide  and  lime,  and  with  a  proper  arrangement  of 
purifiers,  is  a  statement  to  which  many  gas  engineers 
will  demur.     The   London  companies,  especially,  who 
have  a  legal  standard  limit  for  sulphur  compounds,  find  it 
both  difficult  and  expensive  to  keep  down  the  impurities 
to  the  necessary  point.    The  illustrations  given  in  this 
article  are  scarcely  worthy  of  the  letter-press.    Figs,  22 
and  23  do  not  give  an  idea  of  the  construction  of  a 
modem  gas-holder,  some  of  which  now  have  the  enormous 
capacity  of  ten  million  cubic  feet,  and  are  marvels  of  en- 
gineering skill.    A  description  of  the  latest  improvemcnU 
would  have  added  interest  to  the  article. 


July  23,  1891] 


NATURE 


269 


As  an  instance  of  the  rapid  progress  of  an  industry 
interfering  with  an  adequate  account  being  published  in 
the  early  pages  of  such  a  volume,  I  may  refer  to  the 
articJe  on  electro-plating,  by  Prof.  W.  C.  Williams,  which, 
although  giving  a  clear  account  of  the  older  processes* 
scarcely  represents  the  position  of  to-day.  Thus  no 
reference  is  found  to  recent  methods  of  the  electro- 
deposition  of  metals,  as,  for  example,  the  Elmore  copper 
process,  or  to  that  of  plating  by  aluminium ;  nor  does 
any  mention  occur  of  the  electric  power  suitable  or  used 
for  depositing  metals. 

To  justify  the  opinion  that  this  volume  is  no  unworthy 
successor  to  that  published  last  year,  I  would  refer  to  a 
few  articles  which  are  certainly  the  best  I  know  on  their 
several  subjects.     First,  **  Explosives,"  by  W.  H.  Deering, 
coming  from  the  pen  of  one  who  has  had  long  experience 
in  the  Chemical  Department  of  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Wool- 
wich, is,  as  we  should  expect,  up  to  the  level  of  the  time, 
and  in  every  respect  excellent.      Second  comes  Prof. 
Percy  Frankland's  article  on  fermentation.     No  one  is 
more  competent  than  he  to  write  on  this  most  fascinating 
subject,  and  his  article  reads  like  a  novel,  and  even  better, 
for  "  truth  is   stranger  than  fiction  "  ;  and  Percy  Frank- 
land  tells  his  story  so  clearly   and  well  that  I  will  not 
spoil  the  pleasure  of  his  readers — and  they  ought  to  be 
many— by  any  attempt  to  abstract  its  results.     Thirdly, 
the  article  on  '*  Matches,"  by  Mr.  Clayton,  may  be  cited 
as  an  admirable  treatise  on   this  important   branch  of 
chemical  manufacture,  condensed  into  24  pages.     Not 
the  least  important  contribution  are  the  nine  tables  giving, 
in  chronological  order,  lists  of  the  numerous  patented  and 
other  inventions  in  thisdepartment  of  chemical  technology. 
Lastly,  I  will  select  Mr.  Wynne's  exhaustive  article  on 
naphthalene  as  perhaps  the  most  able  and  valuable  in 
the  whole  volume.     When  we  learn   that,  although  it 
occupies  65     pages    of   the    dictionary,    it   treats    ex- 
clusively of  the  derivatives  of  one  hydrocarbon,  and 
only  of  those  of  them  which  are  now  used  in  the  arts, 
and  valuable  for  industrial  purposes,  we  begin  to  form  an 
idea  of  the  extent  and  importance   of  the  results  of 
modem  organic  research,  which  has  opened  out  regions 
inimitable,  leading   to    practical    results    such    as   the 
chemists  of   the   last  generation   would   have  deemed 
impossible. 

Id  a  dictionary  of  applied  science  the  question  of  selec- 
tion is  even  more  difficult  than  in  a  similar  work  of  pure 
science.  Here  the  knowledge  and  tact  of  the  editor  are 
especially  called  into  play.  Prof.  Thorpe  has,  I  think, 
chosen  well,  but  here  and  there  some  pages  are  taken  up 
with  matters  of  which  I  should  be  glad  to  learn  the 
present  industrial  value — for  in  the  future  all  may  have  a 
use.  Thus  I  find  close  together  the  following:  elaidic 
acid,  ericolin,  enicic  acid,  erythrol — all,  doubtless,  com- 
pounds of  scientific  interest,  but  hardly,  I  would  venture 
to  suggest,  of  industrial  importance. 

As  I  said  of  the  first  volume,  so  1  may  say  of  the 
second— that  it  does  credit  to  the  authors  of  the  articles, 
to  the  editor,  and  to  the  public-spirited  publishers.  It  is 
good  that  English  scientific  literature  keeps  up  its 
prestige  for  thoroughness,  clearness,  and  conciseness, 
and  that  in  this  volume  of  the  dictionary  no  falling  off 
from  this  standard  is  visible.  H.  E.  RoscOE. 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


THE  FISHES  OF  SWITZERLAND, 

Faune  des  VerUMs  de  la  Suisse,  Par  Victor  Fatio. 
Vol.  V.  "  Histoire  naturelle  des  Poissons."  2me  partie, 
avec  4  planches,  pp.  576.  Suppl^mens,  pp.  13.  (Geneve 
et  Bale  :  H.  Georg,  1890.) 

AS  more  than  eight  years  have  elapsed  since  the  pub> 
lication  of  the  last  volume  of  the  "  Faune  des 
Vertdbr^s  de  la  Suisse,"  I  may  preface  this  notice  with  a 
few  words  as  to  the  general  scope  and  progress  of  this 
important  work.  The  first  volume,  published  in  the  year 
1869,  was  devoted  to  a  detailed  account  of  the  Mammals 
of  Switzerland  ;  the  third  (1872)  to  the  Reptiles  and 
Batrachians  ;  and  the  fourth  (1882)  to  a  part  of  the 
Fishes  (Acanthopterygians  and  Cyprinoids)  ;  the  second 
volume,  which  will  contain  the  Birds,  being  still  in  course 
of  preparation. 

The  part  now  published,  which  is  the  fifth  of  the  series, 
treats  of  the  remaining  half  of  the  fishes,  notably  the  Sal- 
monoids,  which  take  up  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  volume, 
and  whose  study  has  probably  occupied  the  author  by 
far  the  better  half  of  the  eight  years  which  he  has  devoted 
to  its  preparation. 

As  regards  the  plan  of  the  work,  the  thoroughness  and 
originality  with  which  the  author  treats  his  subject,  and  the 
fairness  of  his  criticism  of  his  predecessors,  I  may  be 
allowed  to  refer  to  what  I  have  said  in  my  notice  of  the 
first  volume  of  the  Swiss  ichthyology  (Nature,  vol.  xxvii. 
p.  220) ;  stating  again  that  "  this  work  rises  far  above  the 
level  of  a  local  publication,  and  is  of  as  great  value  to  the 
student  of  European  freshwater  fishes  as  to  the  Swiss 
naturalist." 

The  species  treated  of  in  the  present  volume  are  the 
following :  3  loaches,  2  shad,  8  Coregoni,  i  grayling,  i 
salmon,  i  trout,  i  char,  i  pike,  i  Silurus,  i  eel,  i  burbot^ 
I  sturgeon,  3  lampreys.  These  bring  the  total  number  of 
Swiss  freshwater  fishes  to  51. 

The  hydrographic  system  of  Switzerland  comprises 
the  head-waters  of  four  rivers,  viz.  the  Rhine,  Rhone,  Po, 
and  Danube.  The  first  contributes  the  largest  contingent 
to  the  Swiss  fish  fauna,  viz.  42  species ;  however,  this 
number  is  reduced  to  28  in  the  upper  course  of  the  river^ 
above  the  falls  of  Schaffhausen.  At  an  altitude  of  between 
600  and  900  m.  the  majority  of  the  Cyprinoids,  and 
between  1000  and  iioom.  the  perch,  salmon,  eel,  and 
burbot  disappear.  Only  fiw^  species  remain  at  that  altitude^ 
viz.  the  miller's  thumb,  minnow,  loach  (M  barbatulus)^ 
grayling,  and  trout — species  which  likewise  have  the 
greatest  horizontal  range  in  a  northward  direction. 
Between  1800  and  1900  m.,  first  the  grayling  and  the 
loach  are  lost,  and  then  successively  the  trout,  miller's 
thumb,  and  minnow.  The  trout,  however,  can  still  sub- 
sist in  lakes  up  to  2630  m.,  into  which  this  fish  has  been 
introduced.  The  Rhine  contributes  five  types  of  fishes  to 
the  Swiss  fauna  which  are  not  found  in  the  other  hydro- 
graphic  systems,  viz.  Acerina  (the  pope),  Rhodeus^  the 
salmon,  the  sea  lamprey,  and  the  stickleback.  The 
absence  in  the  southern  and  eastern  waters  of  the  four 
first  is  readily  accounted  for  by  their  distribution  gener- 
ally ;  but  it  seems  very  singular  that  a  fish  like  the 
stickleback,  which  in  the  west  of  Europe  extends  far 
southwards,  and    reaches  even   Algeria,  and  which  is 


^^o 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


supposed  to  be  capable  of  easy  transportation  by  aquatic 
birds,  should  not  have  made  its  way  into  the  other  river- 
systems. 

The  fishes  contributed  by  the  Rhone  fall  into  two 
categories — one  comprising  those  of  the  part  of  the  River 
Doubs  which  is  within  the  political  boundaries  of  Switzer- 
land; the  other  including  the  species  of  the  Rhone 
proper  above  the  "  Perte."  The  latter  are  computed  to 
be  20  in  number,  and  do  not  call  for  special  remarks. 

The  fishes  of  the  Po  show  a  marked  difference  from 
those  of  the  Rhine  and  Rhone.  This  system  is  repre- 
sented in  Switzerland  by  the  tributary  Ticino,  into  which 
23  species  enter,  out  of  a  total  number  of  44.  Po  species. 
Although  there  is  no  mechanical  obstacle  to  their  ascent, 
the  fishes  of  the  Po,  used  to  a  warmer  climate,  avoid 
ascending  into  the  cold  waters  from  the  Alps ;  and  M. 
Fatio  observes,  also,  that  generally  these  southern  fish 
do  not  ascend  to  the  same  high  altitudes  as  those  of  the 
Rhine.  Eight  of  the  Ticino  species  are  strangers  to  the 
rest  of  Switzerland,  viz.  a  goby  {fiobius)^  which  has  as- 
cended from  the  sea ;  five  Cyprinoids,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  southern  representatives  of  northern  forms; 
Cobitis  tania  and  Alosafinta, 

Of  the  68  species  belonging  to  the  fauna  of  the  Danube, 
only  four  find  their  way  into  Switzerland  through  the 
River  Inn,  viz.  the  miller's  thumb,  minnow,  grayling,  and 
trout  This  is  owing  to  the  great  elevation  of  this  river 
at  its  entrance  into  the  country  (1000  metres). 

Ichthyologists  will  turn  with  particular  interest  to  that 
part  of  the  volume  which  contains    Dr.   Fatio's  views 
on,  and  his  treatment  of^  the  Salmonids ;  for  my  own 
part,  I  could  not  help  feeling  some  surprise  at  what  ap- 
pears to  me  a  somewhat  inconsistent  mode  of  dealing 
with  this  subject.    Whilst  the  author  distinguishes  not 
less  than  eight  Swiss  forms  worthy  of  binominal  designa- 
tion in  the  genus  Coregonus^  he  admits,  besides  one 
species  of  char  {Salmo  umbla),  two  equivalent  forms  only 
in  the  genus  SalmOy  viz.  the  salmon  and  the  trout,  for 
which  latter  the  collective  term  Salmo  lacustris  is  chosen. 
If  a  student  of  the  European  fauna,  or  any  part  of  it, 
arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  various  forms  of  river, 
lake,  and  sea  trout  cannot,  and  should  not,  be  held  to  be 
deserving  of  specific  distinction,  no  one  will  deny  that 
there  are  very  strong  arguments  in  favour  of  this  view. 
In  my  own  experience  it  does  not  seem  to  be  desirable 
to  adopt  that  course — first,  because  there  are  certain  well 
characterized  and  well  localized  forms  which  the  practical 
fisherman   will  always   distinguish,  and   of   which   the 
naturalist  has,  somehow,  to  take  notice ;  and,  secondly, 
because  the  ichthyologist  who  goes  beyond  the  narrow 
limits  of  a  fauna,  and  has  to  deal  with  the  trout  of  the 
whole  northern  hemisphere,  is  compelled  by  technical 
considerations  to  admit  those  distinctions.     I  myself  go 
a  step  further,  and  consider  it  a  mistake  not  to  separate, 
specifically,  from  the  extremely  variable  Salmo  fario^ 
such  strongly  differentiated  forms  as  Salmo  lemanus,  S, 
marstlii,  S,  venernensis,  or  the  Loch  Leven  trout  of  the 
older  authors.     But  if,  as  is  Dr.  Fatio's  opinion,  no  taxo- 
nomic  value  is  to  be  assigned  to  the  characters  by  which 
those  forms  of  trout  are  differentiate  J,  then  I  cannot  see 
why  in  Coregonus^  a  closely  related  genus  of  the  same 
geological  age  and  distribution,  similar  organic  modifica- 
tions should  be  considered  to  have  a  different  bearing. 

NO.  1 134,  VOL.  44] 


As  is  well  known,  there  are  some  very  obscure  facts 
in  the  life-history  of  Salmonoids  which  greatly  contribute 
to  the  difficulties  of  their  study.  Dr.  Fatio  discusses 
them  very  fully,  but  we  must  pass  over  the  deductions  he 
draws  from  them,  with  the  exception  of  the  phenomeooii 
of  sterility  as  a  cause  of  change  in  the  outward  appear- 
ance of  a  fish.  Sterility  among  Salmonoids  is  apparently 
much  more  common  in  Switzerland  than  in  British  waters ; 
but  ever  since  Siebold  has  drawn  attention  to  it,  its 
effects  seem  to  me  to  have  been  exaggerated.  At  any 
rate,  I  have  received  specimens  as,  and,  indeed,  with  all 
the  outward  characters  of,  the  so-called  sterile  trout  of 
Lake  Constance,  which  had  fully  matured  ova. 

Like  errata,  appendices  of  works  are  only  too  often 
overlooked  ;  I  would  therefore  mention  that  the  present 
volume  concludes  with  important  supplements  to  those 
which  contain  the  Mammalia  and  Reptilia. 

The  volume  is  illustrated  with  four  plates — one  repre- 
senting the  Bondelle  of  the  Lake  of  Neufchatel,  the  others 
various  details  of  structure,  chiefly  of  Salmonoids. 

I  trust  that  before  many  years  Dr.  Fatio  will  be  able 
to  complete  his  work,  for  which,  not  only  his  countrymen, 
but  every  student  of  the  European  fauna,  owe  him  a  debt 
of  gratitude.  Albert  GDnther. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  MARRIAGE. 
The  History  of  Human  Marriage,     By  Edward  Wester- 
marck.    (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

BY  "history"  our   author  means  "natural  history" 
(p.  19),  and  his  reason  for  using  the  odd  term 
"human  marriage"  is  that  "marriage,  in  the  natural 
history  sense  of  the  term,  does  not  belong  exclusively  to 
our  species "  (p.  6).    According  to  him,  "  marriage  is 
nothing  else  than  a  more  or  less  durable  connection  b^ 
tween  male  and  female,  lasting  beyond  the  mere  act  of 
propagation  till  after  the  birth  of  the  offspring."    In  this 
sense  marriage  is  "  an  almost  universal  institution  among 
birds,"  and  "  occurs  as  a  rule  among  the  monkeys,  espe 
cially  the  anthropomorphous  apes,  as  well  as  in  the  races 
of  men  "  (p.  20).    Among  mankind  it  is  universal,  and  in 
all  probability  is  ''  an  inheritance  from  some  ape-like 
progenitor"  (p.  538).    In  this  book,  therefore,  marriage 
is  taken  to  mean  what  ordinary  people  call  "  pairing," 
and  the  professed  subject  of  the  volume  is  the  natural 
history  of  the  habit  of  pairing  in  the  human  race.    But 
surely,  on  any  proper  use  of  terms,  marriage  is  not  simple 
pairing,  but  such  pairing  as  is  protected  and  regulated  by 
law,  or  by  the  public  opinion  which  in  rude  societies 
stands  for  law.    And  the  history  of  an  institution  whidi 
is  controlled  by  public  opinion  and  regulated  by  law  is 
not  natural  history.    The  true  history  of  marriage  begins 
where  the  natural  history  of  pairing  ends. 

Mr.  Westermarck's  definition  leads  him  to  go  at  length 
into  various  topics  that  really  belong  to  natural  history, 
but  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  history  of 
marriage  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word;  such  as 
sexual  selection,  and  the  means  used  by  one  sex  to  attract 
the  other.  But  he  also  deals  with  polyandry,  kinship 
through  females  only,  infanticide,  exogamy— all  of  which 
belong  to  the  sphere  of  law  and  custom,  within  which  his 
definition  of  marriage  is  totally  inapplicable.  To  treat 
these  topics  as  essentially  a  part  of  the  natural  histor)'  of 


July  23,  1891I 


NA  TURE 


271 


pairing  involves  a  tacit  assumption  that  the  laws  of 
society  are  at  bottom  mere  formulated  instincts ;  and  this 
assumption  really  underlies  all  our  author's  theories.  His 
fandamental  position  compels  him,  if  he  will  be  con- 
sistent with  himself,  to  hold  that  every  institution  con- 
nected with  marriage  that  has  universal  validity,  or  forms 
an  integral  part  of  the  main  line  of  development,  is 
rooted  in  instinct,  and  that  institutions  which  are  not 
based  on  instinct  are  necessarily  exceptional,  and  unim- 
portant for  scientific  history.  One  does  not  expect  a 
tacit  assumption  to  be  carried  out  with  perfect  consist- 
ency; but,  oa  the  whole,  Mr.  Westermarck's  results 
correspond  with  his  assumption,  and  have  no  evidence  to 
satisfy  anyone  that  is  not  prepared  to  share  the  assump- 
tion with  him. 

To  show  this  at  length  would  exceed  the  limits  of  a 
short  review  ;  let  us,  however,  take,  as  a  crucial  test,  Mr. 
Westermarck's  explanation  of  the  origin  of  exogamy.  He 
believes  that  exogamy  and  all  laws  of  incest  originate  in 
an  instinctive  aversion  to  sexual  intercourse  between 
persons  living  closely  together  from  early  youth  (p.  320), 
and  the  origin  of  this  instinct  he  explains  as  follows.  He 
diinks  it  can  be  proved  that  consanguineous  marriages 
are  detrimental  to  the  species.    Now, 

"among  the  ancestors  of  man,  as  among  other  animals, 
there  was,  no  doubt,  a  time  when  blood-relationship  was 
no  bar  to  sexual  intercourse.  But  variations,  here  as 
elsewhere,  would  naturally  present  themselves ;  and 
those  of  our  ancestors  who  avoided  in-and-in  breeding 
would  survive,  while  the  others  would  gradually  decay 
and  ultimately  perish.  Thus  an  instinct  would  be  deve- 
loped which  would  be  powerful  enough,  as  a  rule,  to  pre- 
vent injurious  unions.  Of  course,  it  would  display  itself 
simply  as  an  aversion  on  the  part  of  individuals  to  union 
with  others  with  whom  they  lived ;  but  these,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  would  be  blood  relations,  so  that  the  result  would 
be  survival  of  the  fittest "  (p.  352). 

The  obvious  and  fatal  objection  to  this  theory  is  that  it 
postulates  the  existence  of  groups  which  through  many 
generations  (for  the  survival  of  the  fittest  implies  this) 
avoided  wiving  within  the  group.  And  this  is,  in  fact,  a 
well-established  custom  of  exogamy,  so  that  the  theory 
begins  by  postulating  the  very  custom  that  it  professes 
to  explain.  Moreover,  it  is  questionable  whether  Mr. 
Westermarck's  theory  even  helps  to  explain  the  wide 
diffusion  of  exogamy.  For  where  wiving  outside  the 
local  group  is  the  rule,  all  neighbouring  groups  mingle 
their  bloods,  and  consanguineous  marriages  are  not 
escaped. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Mr.  Westermarck,  with  his 
habit  of  looking  at  the  whole  subject  from  a  biological 
point  of  view,  should  have  little  sympathy  with  the  specu- 
lations of  a  man  like  McLennan,  to  whom  marriage  is 
not  a  mere  fact  of  natural  history,  but  a  relationship 
resting  on  contract  and  approved  by  custom  or  law  ;  and 
who  in  all  his  investigations  gives  weight  to  the  action  of 
human  intelligence  as  the  decisive  factor  in  social  pro- 
gress. But  it  is  a  pity  that  this  lack  of  sympathy  has 
sometimes  prevented  our  author  from  appreciating  the 
full  scope  of  McLennan's  methods  and  arguments.  What 
is  said  about  the  Levirate  at  pp.  510-14  could  not  have 
been  written  if  Mr.  Westermarck  had  carefully  read  the 
discussion  of  the  subject  in  **  The  Patriarchal  Theory"  ; 
nor,  to  mention  9,  trivial  matter,  would  he  in  that  case 

NO.  1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


have  made  the  error  of  confounding  the  Hindu  Levirate 
with  the  Nyoga  (p.  514,;^?/^).  And  here  I  may  also  note 
that  the  criticism  of  McLennan's  views  of  exogamy  does 
not  ta'<e  account  of  the  posthumous  and  very  important 
paper  published  in  the  English  Historical  Review  for 
January  1888. 

These  are  details :  what  is  more  to  be  regretted 
is  that  Mr.  Westermarck  has  not  learned,  as  he  might 
have  done  from  McLennan,  a  sounder  method  of  handling 
the  evidence  drawn  from  the  usages  of  rude  societies. 
The  very  possibility  of  reconstructing  the  history  of 
human  progress  rests  on  the  fact  that  all  over  the  world 
mankind  has  been  moving  in  the  same  general  direction, 
but  at  very  various  rates,  and  that  careful  reasoning, 
aided  especially  by  the  observation  of  cases  which  exhibit 
a  state  of  transition  {e.g.  from  one  type  of  kinship  to 
another),  enables  us  to  bring  out  the  order  in  which  the 
various  observed  types  of  social  structure  succeed  one 
another.  Of  all  this,  Mr.  Westermarck  does  not  seem  to 
have  the  leist  idea.  He  collects  facts  about  the  prevalence 
of  kinship  through  males  or  through  females,  about  for- 
bidden degrees,  and  so  forth,  without  ever  rising  to  the 
conception  that  the  evidence  is  good  for  anything  more 
thaji  2ca  induciio  per  enumerationem  simplicem.  This  is 
not  the  way  in  which  real  progress  can  l)e  made. 

W.  Robertson  Smith. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Geological  Map  of  Monte  Somma  and  Vesuvius,  Con- 
structed by  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis,  M.D.,  M.R.C.S., 
B.-^s-Sc.,  F.G.S.,  &c.,  during  the  Years  1880-88.  Scale, 
I  :  10,000  (6*33  inches  =  i  mile).  In  Six  Sheets,  with 
a  Pamphlet  entitled  *'  A  Short  and  Concise  Account 
of  the  Eruptive  Phenomena  and  Geology  of  Monte 
Somma  and  Vesuvius.^'  (London  :  George  Philip  and 
Son,  1 89 1.) 

During  the  latter  half  of  last  century,  the  changes 
taking  place  in  Vesuvius  were  carefully  studied  and  faith- 
fully chronicled  by  an  English  diplomatist— Sir  William 
Hamilton ;  in  the  closing  years  of  the  present  century, 
the  famous  volcano  has  found  an  equally  indefatigable 
investigator  and  historian  in  the  person  of  an  English 
medical  man  resident  in  Naples — Dr.  Johnston-Lavis. 
In  1884,  Dr.  Johnston-Lavis  laid  before  the  Geological 
Society  an  elaborate  memoir,  in  which  he  detailed  the 
theoretical  conclusions  at  which  he  had  arrived  after  long 
and  patient  study  of  the  various  sections  exposed  on  the 
flanks  of  Somma  and  Vesuvius.  He  has  now  published 
a  very  valuable  addition  to  this  work,  in  the  form  of  a 
map  constructed  on  the  basis  of  the  topographical  sur- 
veys of  the  Italian  Government,  and  coloured  in  accord- 
ance with  the  views  to  which  he  has  been  led  by  his  long 
and  painstaking  geological  labours. 

In  his  general  memoir  on  the  geology  of  Somma 
and  Vesuvius,  the  author  has  divided  the  time  covered 
by  the  history  of  the  volcano  into  four  "  eras,"  and  these 
again  into  eight  '*  phases,"  while  some  of  the  latter  are 
subdivided  into  '^periods."  In  colouring  the  map,  it  has, 
of  course,  not  been  found  possible  to  give  expression  to 
anything  like  such  a  minute  classification  of  the  rocks 
composing  the  mountain  as  is  implied  in  such  a  scheme. 
The  legend  on  the  map  recognizes  as  the  great  landmarks 
in  the  past  history  of  die  volcano  the  paroxysm  of  79  A.D. 
and  the  great  eruption  of  1631.  The  pamphlet  accom- 
panying the  map,  however,  gives  a  very  useful  and  read- 
able abstract  of  the  earlier  memoir ;  and  the  map  and 
descriptive  pamphlet  together  cannot  fail  to  prove  of  the 
greatest  service  to  all  students  of  vulcanology.    By  their 


272 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


publication,  Dr.  Johnston-Lavis  has  added  one  more  to 
the  long  list  of  valuable  services  which  he  has  rendered 
to  geological  science. 

Les  Sciences  Nature  lies  et  Vtiducation.  Par  T.  H.  Huxley. 
]&dition  Franqaise.     (Paris  :  Bailli6re  et  Fils,  1891.) 

This  is  a  translation  of  various  essays  with  which  all 
English  students  of  Prof.  Huxley's  writings  have  long 
been  familiar.  Most  of  them  deal  with  various  aspects 
of  the  question  as  to  the  true  place  of  science  in  a  proper 
system  of  education  ;  and  no  one  who  has  read  them  in 
their  original  form  is  likely  to  have  forgotten  the  philo- 
sophical power  with  which  the  subject  is  discussed,  or  the 
admirable  lucidity,  strength,  and  grace  of  the  writer's  style. 
With  his  educational  papers  Prof.  Huxley  has  associated 
his  well-known  essays  on  Descartes  and  Auguste  Comte, 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest  to  French  readers.  He 
contributes  to  the  volume  a  short  preface,  in  which  he  refers 
with  satisfaction  to  the  astonishing  advance  that  has  been 
made  in  the  recognition  of  science  as  an  instrument  of 
education.  He  warns  men  of  the  younger  generation, 
however,  that  the  battle  has  only  been  half  won,  and  that 
much  serious  work  will  have  to  be  done  to  secure  the 
triumph  of  the  principles  for  which  he  has  contended  Of 
the  translation  it  may  be  enough  to  say  that  Prof.  Huxley 
cordially  commends  it  as  a  faithful  rendering  of  his 
thought. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

{The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  Ndther  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  pariof"SAT\J  rk. 
No  notice  is  tahen  of  anonymous  communications,] 

W.  E.  Weber. 

In  the  article  on  Wilhelm  Weber  (Nature,  July  9,  p.  229)  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  Weber  and  Gauss  in  1833 
invented  and  constructed  a  telegraph  connecting  the  Physical 
Laboratory  of  the  University  in  Gottingen  wiih  the  Observatory. 
In  Germany  they  are  for  this  rea.son  said  to  be  the  inventors  of 
telegraphy.  This  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  somewhat  sweeping 
statement,  as  the  possibility  of  communicating  by  electricity  was 
known  long  before  that  time.  However,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
'Weber  and  Gauss  pla)  ed  some  part  in  introducing  telegraphy 
into  practice.  For  my  part  1  consider  the  purely  scientific  work 
of  either  of  the  two  men  more  glorious.  For  the  enormous 
practrcal  consequences  of  telegraphy  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  scientific  merit  of  the  invention.  Nevertheless  I  think 
that  an  article  on  Wilhelm  Weber  would  not  be  complete 
without  entering  into  this  subject.  C.  Rukge. 

Hanover,  Tecbnische  Hochschule,  July  13. 

[Conducting  wires  were  erected  between  the  Gottingen 
Observatory  and  the  Physical  Cabinet  of  the  University,  distant 
about  three-quarters  of  an  English  mile,  in  order  to  obtain 
accurate  comparisons  of  the  clocks.  But,  in  addition  to  system- 
atic daily  transmission  of  time,  the  wires  were  from  the  first 
frequently  used  for  telegraphic  purposes,  though,  with  the  first 
arrangements,  only  two  letters  could  be  sent  in  a  minute. — 
G.  C.  F.] 

Earthquake  Shocks  in  Italy  and  Australia. 

By  a  telegram  from  London,  which  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers here  on  the  12th  and  13th  inst.,  information  is  given  of 
a  severe  earthquake  in  Italy  (about  Vesuvius)  on  June  7  (Sun- 
day).  On  that  day,  several  distinct  and  well-maiked  shocks 
were  felt  over  parts  of  the  south  of  Australia,  and  as  there  may 
be  some  connection  between  these  seismic  disturbances  in  both 
hemispheres,  I  give  below  the  times  and  other  information  of 
the  disturbances  experienced  htre. 

None  of  the  disturbances  reported  in  Australia  seem  to  have 
been  more  than  a  "shake  "  or  sharp  tremor  sufficient  to  shake 
windows  and  rattle  crockery,  &c.,  but  they  were  enough,  in  some 
instance;:,  to  produce  feelings  of  nausea. 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


June  7,  at  2.5  p.m.,  the  first  disturbance  occurred,  and  was 
felt  all  around  Melbourne  and  over  a  surrounding  area  of  360 
square  miles. 

June  7,  at  2.45,  another  shake  (not  so  great  as  the  first)  was 
also  felt ;  in  this  case  it  was  felt  most  severely  to  the  east  of 
Melbourne. 

{une  7,  at  7.20,  smart  shock  felt  at  Kapunda,  South  Australia, 
une  7,  at  6.45,  .<ilight  shock  felt  at  Stockport,  South 
Australia  The  direction  of  motion  b  variously  given  as  from 
north-west  to  south-east,  south-ease  to  north-west,  and  south- 
west to  north-east,  north  to  south,  south  to  north,  &c  The 
conclusion  arrived  at  is  that  the  wave  was  from  south  to  north 
nearly.  The  approximate  geographical  positions  of  the  several 
localities  where  these  disturbances  occurred  are  as  follows  :— 


Lat. 


Stockport 

Kapunda  

Melbourne 

Melbourne,  June  15. 


34  21  S. 
34  21  S. 
37  50  S. 


Long. 

138  57  E. 
138  46  E. 
144  58  E. 

R.  L.  J.  Ellery. 


P.S. — It  is  quite  probable  the  shocks  felt  at  Kapunda  and 
Stockport  were  one  and  the  same,  as  time  is  not  very  strictly 
kept  in  districts  distant  from  large  towns  in  Australia. 


Force  and  Determinism. 

I  SEE  nothing  to  criticize  in  Mr.  Dixon's  middle  paragraph, 
wherein  he  accurately  summarizes  some  of  the  definitions  ojf 
mechanics,  except  that  I  should  prefer  to  express  the  meaning  of 
his  last  sentence  by  saying  that,  if  in  any  department  something 
simulated  the  functions  of,  say,  energy,  without  obeying  its  pre- 
cise mechanical  laws,  then  the  distinction  between  energy  and 
that  something  should  be  clearly  recognized,  and  another  name 
be  given  to  it. 

I  find  it  rather  common  for  ''life"  to  be  thought  of  and 
classed  imder  the  head  energy,  either  by  the  use  of  a  phrase  sach 
as  "vital  energy,'*  or  in  a  more  direct  way;  the  reason  being 
apparently  that  organisms  while  living  simulate  some  of  the 
functions  of  energy,  and  cease  to  do  so  when  dead.  It  was 
against  this  confusion  that  I  wrote  on  p.  491  (vol.  xliii.). 

Life  has  not  yet  been  included  in  the  domain  of  physics 
neither  has  it,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  been  much  studied  under 
the  head  biology. 

And  yet  the  disturbing  action  of  live  animals  will  have  to  be 
formulated  and  attended  to  some  day,  even  in  physics ;  for, 
though  they  generate  no  energy  nor  affect  its  amount  in  the 
slightest  degree,  they  certainly  control  it  and  direct  it  in  channeli 
it  would  not  otherwise  have  taken.  The  question  is.  How  do  they 
manage  this  ?  And  one  answer  that  may  be  given  is.  By  exerting 
directive  or  guiding  forces  on  matter. 

Of  course  they  are  not  limited  to  ihis,  but  in  so  far  as  ihey  do 
work  their  action  is  fairly  understood  :  the  energy  displayed  by  a 
gang  of  navvies  is  known  to  be  derived  from  the  little  tin  caoi 
they  bring  with  them  :  the  energy  is  not  theirs  but  their  victuals', 
they  simply  direct  it.  But  how  comes  it  that  they  can  direct 
the  energy  of  victuals  and  atmosphere  into  the  erection  of  the 
precise  bridge  or  other  structure  which  has  been  planned  ?  What 
determines  the  direction  of  the  transfer  of  energy  ? 

The  same  question  may  doubtless  be  asked  in  connection  with 
inanimate  activity  :  I  would  not  be  understood  as  assuming  for 
certain  any  clear  or  essential  difference  between  the  two  cases  ; 
but  in  neither  case  do  I  know  the  answer. 

The  action  of  force  in  doing  work,  i.e.  transferring  and  trans- 
forming quantities  of  energy,  has  been  thoroughly  attended  to. 

The  action  of  force  in  directing  and  guiding  the  transfer  of 
matter  and  eneigy  does  not  seem  to  me  to  have  been  seriously 
contemplated. 

In  his  most  recent  book  ("The  Philosophical  Basis  of  Evoln- 
tion  ")  Dr.  Croll  attacks  the  problem,  and  says  that  guidance  is 
effected  by ''determinism"  not  by  force.  But  that  cannot  be 
admitted  ;  for  without  force  the  motion  of  matter  cannot  be 
changed  in  direction  any  more  than  in  speed.  Force  is  certainly 
necessary  to  direct  the  motion  of  matter,  it  is  energy  only  whidi 
is  unnecessaiy  ;  for  any  transfer  of  energy  that  may  occur  is  as 
accidental,  not  an  essential,  concomitant. 

I  determine  to  move  an  object  :  it  may  be  only  my  finger,  or  it 
may  be  a  wheelbarrow.  In  so  far  as  I  do  any  work  in  the  action 
I  do  so  at  the  expense  of  my  food,  and  there  is  nothing  but  a 
chemical  difficulty  about  that.     The  mystery  begins  when  one 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


273 


asks  how  I  manage  to  direct  that  energy  along  a  definite  path  so, 
as  to  produce  a  willed  result.     The  only  answer  I  know  is,  "  By 
a  nervous  impulse  liberated  from  brain  centres."    But  what  is  it 
that  is  thus  liberated ?  and  what  pulls  the  trigger  to  liberate  it? 

By  mechanical  analogy  one  would  say  that  energy  can  only  be 
guided  by  force,  and  that  force  must  therefore  be  exerted  in  the 
brain  cells ;  but,  if  so,  the  relation  between  force,  which  is  a 
mechanical  thing,  and  will  or  life,  or  whatever  it  is,  which  is  a 
psychological  thing,  demands  investigation. 

I  trust  that  Mr.  Lloyd  Morgan  will  help  me  to  get  my  ideas 
on  these  subjects  straighter,  and  will  point  out  if  I  have  made 
any  assertions  which  are  obviously  erroneous  or  grotesque.  The 
borderland  of  psychology  and  physics  is  the  last  place  in  which 
I  would  like  to  dogmatize ;  and  in  a  letter  like  ihis  I  see  no  harm 
in  airing  confessedly  immature  and  groping  notions,  in  the  hope 
that  ventilation  may  clear  the  air.  So  far  as  physics  only  is  con> 
cemed,  I  have  stated  how  I  regard  the  phrase  ''expenditure  of 
cncigy"  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine  for  June  1885 

With  regard  to  the  crux  raised  in  Mr.  Dixon's  last  paragraph, 
that  nothing  but  matter  can  exert  force,  because  the  acting  matter 
most  receive  an  equal  opposite  momentum,  it  may  perhaps  be 
jast  worth  noticing  that  an  infinite  mass  can  absorb  any  amount 
of  momentum  without  receiving  a  trace  of  energy  or  being  itself 
in  any  way  affected.  Oliver  J.  Lodge. 


Liquid  Prisms. 

I  OBSERVE  in  Nature  of  July  2  (p.  207),  that  it  is  stated  Herr 
Welter  has  recently  recommended  a-monobromnaphthalene  as  a 
substance  pecaliarly  fitted  for  study  of  the  ultra-violet  part  of 
the  spectrum,  by  reason  of  its  high  dispersive  power  and  trans- 
(ttrency  for  the  ultra-violet  rays. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  state  that  Mr.  Madan  pub- 
lished an  account  of  its  dispersion  and  refractive  power  in  the 
Phil.  Mag, ,  and  recommended  its  use  in  liquid  prisms.  Having 
inade  use  of  many  other  substances,  including  methyl  salicylate, 
I  gave  this  a  trial.  For  ordinary  work  it  would  be  excellent  if 
coloarless  ;  but  unfortunately,  no  matter  how  free  from  colour  it 
may  be  when  freshly  prepared,  long-continued  use  causes  it  to 
hecome  yellow,  and  in  considerable  thicknesses  even  dark  brown. 
For  the  ultra-violet  rays  it  is  undoubtedly  better  than  carbon 
disulphide,  but  nevertheless  practically  useless,  as  the  line  N, 
which  it  is  said  to  transmit,  has  a  wave-length  of  3580,  so  that 
only  about  one-half  of  the  ultra-violet  solar  rays  are  observable 
with  it.  In  metallic  spectra  almost  all  lines  of  interest  lie 
between  3580  and  2000.  A  liquid  which  I  considered  to  possess 
rnach  superior  optical  properties  is  mercuric  methide ;  it  is  per- 
fectly colourless,  and  of  such  density  that  flint  glass  will  float 
4ipon  it.  When  the  glass  is  immersed  it  becomes  invisible, 
consequently  the  refraction  and  dispersion  of  the  liquid  are 
probably  exceptionally  high.  As  far  as  I  can  recollect,  being 
without  access  to  my  notes,  a  thickness  of  50  millimetres  freely 
transmitted  all  rays  to  about  A  2900 — that  is  to  say,  the  entire 
solar  spectrum.  Unfortunately,  it  has  its  drawbacks,  in  being 
somewhat  volatile,  and  its  vapour  highly  poisonous. 

Stonehaven,  N.B.  W.  N.  Hartley. 


The  Identification  of  Templeton's  British  Earthworms. 

Between  the  years  1829  and  1836  the  first  series  of  Loudon's 
Magazine  of  Natural  History  appeared  in  nine  volumes.  In  the 
last  volume  we  find  some  notes  on  earthworms  by  Templeton, 
which  have  proved  somewhat  puzzling  to  students  of  more  recent 
times.  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  follow  Templeton  in 
some  of  his  researches,  and  am  able  to  correct  and  verify  certain 
of  his  statements. 

The  Lumbricus  xanthurus,  Temp.  (op.  cit,,  ix.  235),  is  the 
angler's  gilt  tail,  and  as  such  is  synonymous  with  Lumbricus 
P^cTy  Ho£fm.,  and  Dendrobana  Boeckii^  Eisen.  Lumbricus 
gordianuSf  Temp.  [loc.  cil.),  is  undoubtedly  the  mucous  worm 
[Alhlobophora  mucosa,  Eisen),  or  one  of  its  near  allies,  all  of 
which  are  to  be  found  of  a  pale  rosy  colour  coiled  up  into  a  knot 
^t  certain  times  of  the  year. 

It  is  to  Lumbricus omilurus  ( =  Omilurus  rubescens.  Temp.,  loc. 
Wa),  however,  that  I  wish  to  direct  special  attention.  Grube,  in 
1851  ("  Familien  der  Anneliden,"p.  loi),  placed  it,  with  Temple- 
ton's  other  worms,  in  a  list  of  species  which  were  insufficiently 
^characterized  for  systematic  purposes.  Vejdovsky,  in  1884 
{"  System  und  Morph.  der  Oligochssten,"  p.  62),  places  it  among 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


the  questionable  species  without  note  or  comment,  and,  so  far  as 
I  can  gather,  no  one  has  been  able  to  throw  light  upon  it  since. 

Templeton  says  the  worm  is  never  larger  than  half  the  size  of 
L.  terrestris,  L.,  U  of  a  bright  reddish -brown,  with  the  tail  very 
flat,  and  the  body  unfurnished  with  a  belt  at  the  position  of  the 
sexual  organs.  It  would  be  very  easy  to  suppjse  from  this 
somewhat  vague  account  that  the  writer  had  only  seen  immature 
specimens ;  but  a  little  careful  study  of  his  words  shows  that  he 
knew  what  he  was  writing,  and  that  his  worms  were  mature. 
Now  a  mature  species  of  Lumbricus  without  a  clitellnm  is 
certainly  an  anomaly,  and  needs  investigation. 

While  collecting  Annelids  recently,  I  came  across  half-a-dozen 
specimens  which  at  first  sight  exactly  resembled  Lumbricus  rubel- 
lus,  HofTm.  I  took  them  home  for  verification,  and  immediately 
observed  the  difference.  I  had  obtained  with  them  typical 
specimens  of  rubellus,  which  enabled  me  to  make  a  careful  com- 
parison of  the  two  species  in  a  living  state. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  worm  as  I  wrote  it  down 
before  observing  Templeton's  account. 

Colour  dark  brown,  iridescent  on  the  dorsal  surface  anteriorly, 
becoming  lighter  towards  the  posterior  extremity,  which  is  flesh- 
coloured  or  light  red,  pink  ventrally.  Prostomium  dovetailing 
completely  into  the  peristomium,  and  posses- ing  a  transverse 
groove  in  the  middle,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  sketch. 


Lumbricits  rubeicens.     Segments  i  to  3  with  prostomium  entirely  cutting 

the  first  segment  or  peristomium. 

Segments  not  annulated  (or  divided  by  transverse  rings). 
Length  about  3  inches,  total  number  of  segments  about  120. 
Setae  in  couples  as  in  typical  Lumbricus.  Male  or  spermiducal 
pores  on  segment  15  with  papillae,  which,  however,  do  not 
extend  over  the  neighbouring  segments.  Body  cylindriod  in 
front,  flattened  posteriorly.  The  dorsal  pore  between  5  and 
6.  It  appeared  at  first  between  7  and  8,  but  by  using 
polarized  light  on  the  cuticle  when  spread  on  a  glass  slip  the 
whole  series  of  pores  in  one  or  two  specimens  became  clearly 
visible  from  the  nfth  segment  backwards. 

On  the  ventral  surface  prominent  papillae  appeared  on  seg- 
ments 28  and  29,  £.uch  as  are  often  seen  on  typical  Z.  agricola, 
Hoffm.  Now  came  the  crucial  question,  Is  there  no  clitellum  ? 
By  studying  all  the  examples  carefully,  I  found  that  they  agreed 
in  one  particular.  The  segments  34  to  39  differed  in  structure 
from  the  rest  on  the  dorsal  surface.  On  the  under  surface  from 
33  to  40  w  ere  differentiated,  and  showed  a  glandular  structure, 
while  the  band  representing  the  tubercula  pubertatis  extended 
distinctly  along  the  ventral  surface  of  35,  36,  37,  38. 

This  description  of  the  external  characters  shows  the  worm  to 
be  a  decided  Lumbricus,  tested  by  Dr.  Benham's  definition  in 
*'  An  Attempt  to  Classify  Earthworms "  ;  but  it  differs  from 
every  one  of  our  British  species,  especially  in  the  backward 
position  and  inconspicuous  nature  of  the  clitellum.  I  am  unable 
to  refer  it  definitely  to  any  of  the  European  specie.^,  and  propose 
that  for  the  present  it  should  be  known  as  Lumbricus  rubescens 
(Temp.)>  thus  retaining  the  two  names  from  Templeton's 
synonyms  which  are  most  appropriate  to  what  I  regard  as  the 
species  intended  by  him. 

I  may  add  that  I  have  recently  found  one  or  two  other  earth- 
worms in  Yorkshire  which  have  not  yet  been  recorded  as  British, 
and  will  form  interesting  additions  to  our  Annelid  fauna. 

Idle,  near  Bradford,  July  15.  Hilderic  Friend. 


Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food. 

During  recent  years  a  good  deal  has  been  said  amongst 
marine  zoologists  of  the  use,  as  a  food  supply,  that  might  be 
made  of  the  enormous  numbers  of  Copepoda  that  swarm  in  the 
surface-waters  of  the  sea,  and  the  Prince  of  Monaco  has  pointed 
out  the  value  this  widely-distributed  nutritious  matter  might 
have  to  shipwrecked  sailors  ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that  anyone 
has  yet  actually  made  the  experiment  of  cooking  and  eating 
Copepoda,  so  the  following  record  may  be  of  some  interest. 


274 


NA  TURE 


[July  23.  1891 


While  townetting  during  the  last  few  days  about  the  North 
Cape,  we  have  had  some  large  hauls  of  Copepoda ;  and  it 
occurred  to  us  last  night,  while  watching  the  midnight  sun  off 
the  entrance  to  the  Lyngen  Fjord,  that  one  gathering  might  be 
spared  from  the  preserving  bottle  and  devoted  to  the  saucepan. 
We  put  oat  one  of  the  smaller  townets  (3}  feet  long,  mouth 
I  foot  in  diameter)  from  11.40  p.m.  to  midnight,  the  shif)  going 
dead  slow,  and  traversing  in  all,  say,  a  mile  and  a  half  during  the 
20  minutes.  The  net  when  hauled  in  contained  about  three 
tablespoonfuls  of  a  large  red  Copepod  {Calanus  finmarckicus, 
I  think),  apparently  a  pure  gathering— what  Haeckel  would  call 
a  monotonic  plankton.  We  conveyed  our  material  at  once  to 
the  galley,  washed  it  in  a  fine  colander,  boiled  it  for  a  few 
minutes  with  butter,  salt,  and  pepper,  poured  it  into  a  dish, 
covered  it  with  a  thin  layer  of  melted  butter,  set  it  in  ice  to 
cool  and  stiffen,  had  it  this  morning  for  breakfast  on  thin  bread- 
and-butter,  and  found  it  most  excellent.  The  taste  is  less  pro- 
nounced than  that  of  shrimps,  and  has  more  the  flavour  of 
lobster.  Our  20  minutes'  haul  of  the  small  net  through  a  mile 
or  two  of  sea  made,  when  cooked  in  butter,  a  dishful  which 
was  shared  by  eight  people,  and  would  probably  have  formed, 
with  biscuit  or  bread,  a  nourishing  meal  for  one  person.  It 
would  apparently,  in  these  sea^,  he  easy  to  gather  very  large 
quantities,  which  might  be  preserved  in  tins  or  dishes,  like 
potted  shrimps.  W.  A.  Herdman. 

S.Y.  ArgOf  Tromso,  Norway,  July  13. 


Are  Seedlings  of  Hemerocallis  fulva  specially  Variable  ? 

I  SHALL  be  grateful  to  any  of  your  readers  who  will  write  and 
let  me  know  their  experiences  as  to  the  variability  of  seedlings  of 
Hemerocallis  fulva^  or  who  will  raise  it  from  seed  in  fair  quantity, 
and  kindly  communicate  to  me  their  results,  which  shall  be  duly 
acknowledged. 

My  reason  is  this  :  there  is  in  the  formation  of  the  pollen  in 
this  plant  a  peculiarity  which,  according  to  Weismann's  views, 
should  lead  to  exceptional  variability  in  the  seedlings  ;  but,  so 
far  as  I  know,  we  have  no  evidence  on  the  subject. 

Marcus  M.  Hartog. 

Royal  University,  Dublin,  July  9. 


The  Green  Sandpiper. 

On  Sunday  last,  July  12,  I  saw  flying  round  a  large  pool  in 
Essex,  a  specimen  of  the  green  sandpiper.  It  flew  leisurely 
round  the  pool,  and  seemed  as  if  it  were  not  far  from  its  summer 
home.  I  think,  therefore,  that  the  bird  must  be  nesting  in  the 
county,  and  probably  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Can  any  of  your  correspondents  inform  me  whether  the  nest 
has  been  found  anywhere,  in  recent  years,  in  England  ? 

Argyll. 

Argyll  Lodge,  Kensington,  July  17. 


LIQUIDS  AND  GASES> 

ALMOST  exactly  twenty  years  ago,  on  June  2,  1871, 
Dr.  Andrews,  of  Belfast,  delivered  a  lecture  to  the 
members  of  the  Royal  Institution  in  this  hall,  on  ''  The 
Continuity  of  the  Gaseous  and  the  Liquid  States  of 
Matter.''  He  showed  in  that  lecture  an  experiment 
which  I  had  best  describe  in  his  own  words: — 

"  Take,  for  example,  a  given  volume  of  carbonic  acid 
at  50°  C,  or  at  a  higher  temperature,  and  expose  it  to 
increasing  pressure  till  150  atmospheres  have  been 
reached.  In  the  process,  its  volume  will  steadily  diminish 
as  the  pressure  augments  ;  and  no  sudden  diminution  of 
volume,  without  the  application  of  external  pressure,  will 
occur  at  any  stage  of  it.  When  the  full  pressure  has 
been  applied,  let  the  temperature  be  allowed  to  fall,  until 
the  carbonic  acid  has  reached  the  ordinary  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere.  During  the  whole  of  this  operation, 
no  break  of  continuity  has  occurred.  It  begins  with  a 
gas,  and  by  a  series  of  gradual  changes,  presenting  no- 
where any  abrupt  alteration  of  volume,  or  sudden  evolution 
of  heat,  it  ends  with  a  liquid. 

'  Lecture  delivered  by  Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  at  the  Rv^yul  Institution, 
on  Friday,  May  8. 


NO.  II 34,  VOL.  44] 


^  For  convenience,  the  process  has  been  divided  into 
two  stages — the  compression  of  the  carbonic  add,  and 
its  subsequent  cooling.  But  these  operations  might  have 
been  performed  simultaneously,  if  care  were  taken  so  to 
arrange  the  application  of  the  pressure  and  the  rate  of 
cooling,  that  the  pressure  should  not  be  less  than  76 
atmospheres  when  the  carbonic  acid  had  cooled  to  31^." 

I  am  able,  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Letts,  Dr. 
Andrews'  successor  at  Belfast,  to  show  you  this  experi- 
ment, with  the  identical  piece  of  apparatus  used  on  the 
occasion  of  the  lecture  twenty  years  ago. 

I  must  ask  you  to  spend  some  time  to-night  in  con- 
sidering this  remarkable  behaviour  ;  and,  in  order  to 
obtain  a  correct  idea  of  what  occurs,  it  is  well  to  b^in 
with  a  study  of  gases,  not,  as  in  the  case  you  have  just 
seen,  exposed  to  high  pressures,  but  under  pressures  not 
differing  greatly  from  that  of  the  atmosphere,  and  at 
temperatures  which  Ctin  be  exactly  regulated  and  mea- 
sured. To  many  here  to-night,  such  a  study  is  unneces- 
sary, owing  to  its  familiarity  ;  but  I  will  ask  such  of  my 
audience  to  excuse  me,  in  order  that  I  may  tell  my  story 
from  the  beginning. 

Generally  speaking,  a  gas,  when  compressed,  decreases 
in  volume  to  an  amount  equal  to  that  by  which  its  pres- 
sure IS  raised,  provided  its  temperature  be  kept  constant 
This  was  discovered  by  Robert  Boyle  in  1660 ;  in  1 661  be 
presented  to  the  Royal  Society  a  Latin  translation  of  his 
book,  "  Touching  the  Spring  of  the  Air  and  its  Effects.'^ 
His  words  are  : — 

'^'Tis  evident,  that  as  common  air,  when  reduced  to 
half  its  natural  extent,  obtained  a  spring  about  twice  as 
forcible  as  it  had  before ;  so  the  air,  being  thus  com- 
pressed, being  further  crowded  into  half  this  narrow 
room,  obtained  a  spring  as  strong  again  as  that  it  last 
had,  and  consequently  four  times  as  strong  as  that  of 
common  air.'* 

To  illustrate  this,  and  to  show  how  such  relations  may  be 
expressed  by  a  curve,  I  will  ask  your  attention  to  this  model. 
We  have  a  piston,  fitting  a  long  horizontal  glass  tube.  It 
confines  air  under  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere — that  is, 
some  1 5  pounds  on  each  square  inch  of  area  of  the  piston. 
The  pressure  is  supposed  to  be  registered  by  the  height  of 
the  liquid  in  the  vertical  tube.  On  increasing  the  volume 
of  the  air,  so  as  to  double  it,  the  pressure  is  decreased  to 
half  its  original  amount.  On  decreasing  the  volume  to 
half  its  original  amount,  the  pressure  is  doubled.  On 
again  halving,  the  pressure  is  again  doubled.  Thus  you 
see  a  curve  may  be  traced,  in  which  the  relation  of  volume 
to  pressure  is  exhibited.  Such  a  curve,  it  may  be  remarked 
incidentally,  is  termed  an  hyperbola. 

We  can  repeat  Boyle's  experiment  by  pouring  mercury 
into  the  open  limb  of  this  tube  containing  a  measured 
amount  of  air  ;  on  causing  the  level  of  the  mercury  in 
the  open  limb  to  stand  30  inches  (that  is,  the  height  oi 
the  barometer)  higher  in  the  open  limb  than  the  closed 
limb,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  doubled,  and  the 
volume  is  halved.  And  on  trebling  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  the  volume  is  reduced  to  one-third  of  its 
original  amount ;  and,  on  adding  other  30  inches  of  mer- 
cury, the  volume  of  the  air  is  now  one-quarter  of  that 
which  it  originally  occupied. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  here  the  temperature  is 
kept  constant ;  that  it  is  the  temperature  of  the  surround- 
ing atmosphere. 

Let  us  next  examine  the  behaviour  of  a  gas  when  its 
temperature  is  altered,  when  it  becomes  hotter.  This  tube 
contains  a  gas— air — confined  at  atmospheric  pressure  by 
mercury,  in  a  tube  surrounded  by  a  jacket  or  mantle  of 
glass,  and  the  vapour  of  boiling  water  can  be  blown  into 
the  space  between  the  mantle  and  the  tube  containing  the 
air,  so  as  to  beat  the  tube  to  loo*^,  the  temperature  of  the 
steam.  The  temperature  of  the  room  is  17^  C,  and  the  gas 
occupies  390  divisions  of  the  scale.  On  blowing  in  steam, 
the  gas  expands^  and  on  again  equalizing  pressure^  it 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURB 


275 


Stands  at  373  divisions  of  the  scale.  The  gas  has  thus 
expanded  from  290  to  373  divisions,  i,e,  its  volume  has 
increased  by  83  divisions ;  and  the  temperature  has  risen 
from  17°  to  100°,  i.tf.  through  83°.  This  law  of  the  ex- 
pansion of  gases  was  discovered  almost  simultaneously 
by  Dalton  and  Gay-Lussac  in  1801  ;  it  usually  goes  by 
the  name  of  Gay-Lussac's  law.  Now,  if  we  do  not  allow 
the  volume  of  the  gas  to  increase,  we  shall  find  that  the 
pressure  will  increase,  in  the  same  proportion  that  the 
volume  would  have  increased  had  the  gas  been  allowed 
to  expand,  the  pressure  having  been  kept  constant.  To 
-decrease  the  volume  of  the  gas,  then,  according  to  Boyle's 
iaWy  will  require  a  higher  initial  pressure  ;  and  if  we  were 
to  represent  the  results  by  a  curve,  we  should  get  an 
byperbola,  as  before,  but  one  lying  higher  as  regards 
pressures.  And  so  we  should  get  a  set  of  hyperbolas 
for  higher  and  higher  temperatures. 

We  have  experimented  up  to  the  present  with  air — a 
mixture  of  two  gases,  oxygen  and  nitrogen ;  and  the 
boiling-points  of  both  of  these  elements  lie  at  very  low 
temperatures  :  ~  184°  and  -  I93°*i  respectively.  The 
ordinary  atmospheric  temperature  lies  a  long  way  above 
the  boiling-points  of  liquid  oxygen  and  liquid  nitrogen  at 
the  ordinary  atmospheric  pressure.  But  it  is  open  to  us  to 
study  a  gas,  which,  at  the  ordinary  atmospheric  temperature 
and  pressure,  exists  in  the  liquid  state;  and  for  this  purpose 
I  shall  choose  water-gas.  In  order  that  it  may  be  a  gas  at 
ordinary  atmospheric  pressure,  however,  we  must  heat  it 
to  a  temperature  above  100^  C.,  its  boiling-point.  This 
tube  contains  water-gas  at  a  temperature  of  105°  C.  ;  it 
is  under  ordinary  pressure,  for  the  mercury  columns  are 
at  the  same  level  in  both  the  tubes  and  in  this  reservoir, 
which  communicates  with  the  lower  end  of  the  tube  by 
means  of  the  india-rubber  tubing.  The  temperature 
105°  is  maintained  by  the  vapour  of  chlorobenzene,  boiling 
in  the  bulb  sealed  to  the  jacket,  at  a  pressure  lower  than 
that  of  the  atmosphere. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  effect  of  increasing  pressure.  On 
raising  the  reservoir,  the  volume  of  the  gas  is  diminished, 
as  usual ;  and  nearly  in  the  ratio  given  by  Boyle's  law  ; 
that  is,  the  volume  decreases  in  the  same  proportion  as 
the  pressure  increases.  But  a  change  is  soon  observed  ; 
the  pressure  soon  ceases  to  rise ;  the  distance  between 
the  mercury  in  the  reservoir  and  that  in  the  tube  remains 
constant,  and  the  gas  is  now  condensing  to  liquid.  The 
pressure  continues  constant  during  this  change ;  and  it  is 
only  when  all  the  water-gas  has  condensed  to  liquid 
water  that  the  pressure  again  rises.  After  all  gas  is  con- 
densed, an  enormous  increase  of  pressure  is  necessary  to 
cause  any  measurable  decrease  in  volume,  for  liquid 
water  scarcely  yields  to  pressure,  and  in  such  a  tube  as 
this,  no  measurements  could  be  attempted  with  success. 

Representing  this  diagrammatically,  the  right-hand 
part  of  the  curve  represents  the  compression  of  the  gas  ; 
and  the  curve  is,  as  before,  nearly  a  hyperbola.  Then 
comes  a  break,  and  great  decrease  in  volume  occurs 
without  rise  of  pressure,  represented  by  a  horizontal 
line ;  the  substance  in  the  tube  here  consists  of  water- 
gas  in  presence  of  water ;  the  vertical,  or  nearly 
vertical  line  represents  the  sudden  and  great  rise 
of  pressure,  where  liquid  water  is  being  slightly  com- 
pressed. The  pressure  registered  by  the  horizontal 
tine  is  termed  the  **  vapour-pressure  "  of  water.  If,  now, 
the  temperature  were  raised  to  1 10'',  we  should  have  a 
greater  initial  volume  for  the  water-gas ;  it  is  compres- 
sible by  rise  of  the  mercury  as  before,  the  relation  of 
pressure  to  volume  being,  as  before,  represented  on  the 
diagram  as  an  approximate  hyperbola ;  and  as  before, 
condensation  occurs  when  volume  is  sufficiently  reduced, 
but  this  time  at  a  higher  pressure.  We  have  again  a 
horizontal  portion,  representing  the  pressure  of  water-gas 
Jit  no*  in  contact  with  liquid  water ;  again,  a  sharp  angle 
where  all  gaseous  water  is  condensed,  and  again  a  very 
steep  curve,  almost  a  straight    line,  representing    the 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


slight  decrease  of  volume  of  water  produced  by  a  great 
increase  of  pressure.  And  we  should  have  similar  lines 
for  120°,  130°,  140°,  150°,  and  for  aP  temperatures  within 
certain  limits.  Such  lines  are  called  isothermal  lines, 
or  shortly  "  isothermals,'"  or  lines  of  equal  temperature, 
and  represent  the  relations  of  pressure  to  volume  for 
different  temperatures. 

Dr.  Andrews  made  similar  measurements  of  the  rela- 
tions between  the  pressures  and  volumes  of  carbon 
dioxide,  at  pressures  much  higher  than  those  I  have 
shown  you  for  water.  But  I  prefer  to  speak  to  you 
about  similar  results  obtained  by  Prof.  Sydney  Young 
and  mvself  with  ether,  because  Dr.  Andrews  was  unable 
to  work  with  carbon  dioxide  free  from  air,  and  that  in- 
fluenced his  results.  For  example,  you  see  that  the 
meetinp-points  of  his  hyperbolic  curves  with  the  straieHt 
lines  of  vapour-pressures  are  curves,  and  not  angles ;  that 
is  caused  by  the  presence  of  about  i  part  of  air  in  500 
parts  of  carbon  dioxide ;  also  the  condensation  of  gas 
was  not  perfect,  for  he  obtained  curves  at  the  points  of 
change  from  a  mi.xture  of  liquid  and  gas  to  liquid.  W^, 
however,  were  more  easily  able  to  fill  a  tube  with  ethdr 
free  from  air,  and  you  will  notice  that  the  points  I  havic 
referred  to  are  angles,  not  curves. 

Let  me  first  direct  your  attention  to  the  shapes  of  thfe 
curves  in  the  diagram.  As  the  temperature  rises,thevapout- 
pressure  lines  lie  at  higher  and  higher  pressures,  and  this 
lines  themselves  become  shorter  and  shorter.  And 
finally,  at  the  temperature  31°  for  carbon  dioxide,  and  at 
195°  for  ether,  there  ceases  to  be  a  horizontal  portion  at 
all ;  or  rather,  the  curve  touches  the  horizontal  at  onjs 
point  in  its  course.  That  point  corresponds  to  a  definite 
temperature,  195"  for  ether ;  to  a  definite  pressure,  27 
metres  of  mercury,  or  35  6  atmospheres  ;  and  to  a  definite 
volume,  4*o6  cubic  centimetres  per  gram  of  ether.  At 
that  point  the  ether  is  not  liquid,  and  it  is  not  gas ;  it  is  i 
homogeneous  substance.  At  that  temperature  ether  has 
the  appearance  of  a  blue  mist ;  the  striae  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Andrews,  and  by  other  observers,  are  the  result  of 
unequal  heating,  one  portion  of  the  substance  bein^ 
liquid,  and  another  gas.  You  see  the  appearance  of  this 
state  on  the  screen. 

When  a  gas  is  compressed,  it  is  heated.  Work  is  done 
on  the  gas,  and  its  temperature  rises.  If  I  compress  th^ 
air  in  this  syringe  forcibly,  its  temperature  rises  so  high 
that  I  can  set  a  piece  of  tinder  on  fire,  and  by  its  help 
explode  a  little  gunpowder.  If  the  ether  at  its  critical 
point  be  compressed  by  screwing  in  the  screw,  it  is  some^ 
what  warmed,  and  the  blue  cloud  disappears.  Conversely*, 
if  it  is  expanded  a  little  by  unscrewing  the  screw,  and 
increasing  its  volume,  it  is  cooled,  and  a  dense  mist  i^ 
seen,  accompanied  by  a  shower  of  ether  rain.  This  \i 
seen  as  a  black  fog  on  the  screen. 

I  wish  also  to  direct  your  attention  to  what  happens  if 
the  volume  given  to  the  ether  is  greater  than  the  critical 
volume — on  increasing  the  volume,  you  see  that  it  boiU 
away  and  evaporates  completely ;  and  also  what  happeni 
if  the  volume  be  somewhat  less  than  the  critical  vohime— ^ 
it  then  expands  as  liquid,  and  completely  fills  the  tube. 
It  is  only  at  the  critical  volume  and  temperature  that  the 
ether  exists  in  the  state  of  blue  cloud,  and  has  its  critical 
pressure.  If  the  volume  be  too  great,  the  pressure  is 
below  the  critical  pressure ;  if  too  small,  the  pressure  is 
higher  than  the  critical  pressure. 

Still  one  more  point  before  we  dismiss  this  experiment. 
At  a  temperature  some  degrees  below  the  critical  tem- 
perature, the  meniscus,  ue,  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  is 
curved.  It  has  a  skin  on  its  surface  ;  its  molecules,  as  Lord 
Rayleigh  has  recently  explained  in  this  room,  attract  one 
another,  and  it  exhibits  surface-tension.  Raise  the  tem- 
perature, and  the  meniscus  grows  flatter  ;  raise  it  further, 
and  it  is  nearly  flat,  and  almost  invisible  ;  at  the  critical 
temperature  it  disappears,  having  first  become  quite  flat. 
Surnice-tension,  therefore,  disappears  at  the  critical  point. 


876 


NATURE 


[July  23,  1S91 


A  liquid  would  no  longer  ri»e  in  a  narrow  capillary  tube  ; 
it  would  stand  at  the  same  level  outside  and  inside. 

It  was  suggested  by  Prof  James  Thomson,  and  by  Prof. 
Clausius  about  the  sanie  time,  that  if  the  ideal  state  or 
things  were  to  exist,  the  passage  from  the  liquid  to  the 
gaseous  state  should  be  a  continuous  one,  not  merely  at 
and  above  the  critical  point,  but  below  that  temperature. 
And  it  was  suggested  that  the  curves,  shown  in  the  figure, 
instead  of  breaking  into  the  straight  line  of  vapour- 
pressure,  should  continue  sinuously.  Let  us  see  what 
this  conception  would  involve. 

On  decreasing  the  volume  of  a  gas,  it  should  not 
liquefy  at  the  point  marlced  li  on  the  diagram,  but  should 


still  decrease  in  volume  on  increase  of  pressure.  This 
decrease  should  continue  until  the  point  E  is  reached. 
The  anomalous  stale  of  matters  should  then  occur,  that  a 
decrease  in  volume  should  be  accompanied  by  a  decrease 
of  pressure.  In  order  to  lessen  volume,  the  gas  must  he 
exposed  to  a  continually  diminishing  pressure.  But  such 
a  condition  of  matter  is  of  its  nature  unstable,  and  has 
never  been  realized.  After  volume  has  been  decreased  to 
a  certain  point,  f,  decrease  of  volume  is  again  attended 
by  increase  of  pressure,  and  the  last  part  of  the  curve  is 
continuous  with  the  realizable  curve  representing  the 
compression  of  the  liquid,  above  D, 

Dr.  Syilney  Young  and  I  succeeded,  by  a  method  which 
1  shall  briefly  describe,  in  mapping  the  actual  position 
of  the  unrealizable  portions  of  the  curve.     They  have  the 
NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


foim  pictured  in  this  figure.  The  rise  from  the  gaseous 
state  IS  a  gradual  one  \  but  the  fall  from  the  liquid  staleis 
abrupt. 

Consider  the  volume  14.  cubic  centimetres  per  gram  on 
the  figure.  The  equi-volume  vertical  hne  cuts  the  iso- 
thermal linesfor  the  tanperaiures  175°,  180°,  185°,  190°,  and 
so  on,  at  certain  definite  pressures,  which  may  be  read 
from  a  properly-constructed  diagram.  We  can  mnp  the 
course  of  lines  of  equal  volume,  of  which  the  instance 
given  is  one,  using  temperatures  as  ordinates  and 
pressures  as  abscissae.  We  can  thus  find  the  rela- 
tions of  temperature  to  pressure  for  certain  definite 
volumes,  which  we  may  select  to  suit  our  convenience — 
say,  2  ac.  per  gram  ;  3,  4,  5,  6, 4nd  so  on.  Now,  all  such 
lines  are  straight — that  is,  the  relation  of  pressure  to 
temperature,  at  constant  volume,  is  one  of  the  simplest ; 
pressure  is  a  linear  function  of  temperature.  Expressed 
maihematically^ 

p  =  bt-a, 

where  b  and  a  are  constants,  depending  on  the  volume 
chosen,  and  varying  with  each  volume.  But  a  straight 
hne  may  be  extrapolated  without  error  ;  and  so,  bai-ing 
found  values  for  a  and  b  for  such  a  volume  as  6  c.c  per 
gram,  by  help  of  experiments  at  temperatures  higher 
than  195°,  it  is  possible  by  extrapolation  to  obtain  the 
pressures  corresponding  to  temperatures  below  the  critical 
point  195°  by  simple  means.  Butbelowthat  temperaiurc 
the  substance  at  volume  6  is  in  practice  partly  liquid  and 
partly  gas.  Yet  it  is  possible  by  such  means  to  ascertain 
the  relations  of  pressure  to  temperature  for  the  unrealiz- 
able portion  of  the  stale  of  a  liquid— that  is,  we  can 
deduce  the  pressure  and  temperature  corresponding  to  a 
continuous  change  from  liquid  to  gas.  And  in  this 
manner  the  sinuous  lines  on  the  figure  have  been 
constructed. 

It  is  possible  to  realise  expeiimentally  certain  portions 
of  such  continuous  curves.  If  we  condense  all  gaseous 
elher,  and,  when  the  tube  is  completely  filled  with  liquid, 
carefully  reduce  pressure,  the  pressure  maybe  lowered 
considerably  below  the  vapour- pressure  corresponding  to 
the  temperature  of  ebullition,  without  any  change  further 
than  the  slight  expansion  of  the  liquid  resulting  from  the 
reduction  of  pressure — an  expansion  too  small  to  be  seen 
with  this  apparatus.  But  on  still  further  reducing 
pressure,  sudden  ebuUition  occurs,  and  a  portion  of  the 
liquid  suddenly  changes  into  gas,  while  the  pressure  rises 
quickly  to  the  vapour-pressure  corresponding  to  the  tem- 
perature. If  we  are  successful  in  expelling  all  air  or  gas 
irom  the  ether  in  tilling  the  tube,  a  considerable  portion 
of  this  curve  can  he  experimentally  realized. 

The  first  notice  of  this  appearance,  or  rather  of  one 
owing  its  existence  to  a  precisely  similar  cause,  is  due  to 
Hooke,  the  celebrated  contemporary  of  Boyle.  It  is  noted 
in  the  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society 
on  November  6,  1673,  that  "  Mr.  Hooke  read  a  discourse 
of  his,  containing  his  thoughts  of  the  experiment  of  the 
quicksilver's  standing  top-full,  and  far  above  the  height  of 
29  inches  ;  together  with  some  experiments  made  by  him, 
in  order  to  determine  the  cause  of  this  strange  pheno- 
menon. He  was  ordered  to  prepare  those  expenments 
for  the  view  of  the  Society."  And  on  November  13  "  the 
experiment  for  the  high  suspension  of  quicksilver  being 
called  for,  it  was  found  that  it  bad  failed.  It  was  orderM 
that  thicker  glasses  should  be  provided  for  the  next 
meeting." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  behaviour  is  caused 
by  the  attraction  of  the  molecules  of  the  liquid  for  each 
other.  And  if  the  temperature  be  sufficiently  low,  the 
pressure  may  be  so  reduced  that  it  becomes  negative — 
that  is,  until  ihe  liquid  is  exposed  to  a  strain  or  pull,  as  is 
the  mercury.  This  has  been  experimentally  realized  by 
M,  Berthelot  and  by  Mr.  Worthington,  the  latter  of  whom 
has  succeeded  in  straining  alcohol  at  the  ordinary  tem- 


July  23.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


277 


perature  with  a  pull  equivalent  to  a  negative  pressure  of 
25  atmospheres,  by  completely  filling  a  bulb  with 
alcohol,  and  then  cooling  it.  The  alcohol  in  con- 
tracting strains  the  bulb  inwards  ;  and  finally,  when  the 
tension  becomes  very  great,  parts  from  the  glass  with  a 
sharp  "  click.'* 

To  realize  a  portion  of  the  other  bend  of  the  curve,  an 
experiment  has  been  devised  by  Mr.  John  Aitken.  It  is 
as  follows: — If  air — that  is,  space,  for  the  air  plays  a 
secondary  part — saturated  with  moisture  be  cooled,  the 
moisture  will  not  deposit  unless  there  are  dust-particles 
on  which  condensation  can  take  place.  It  is  not  at  first 
evident  how  this  corresponds  to  the  compressing  of  a  gas 
without  condensation.  But  a  glance  at  the  figure  will 
render  the  matter  plain.  Consider  the  isothermal  175*  for 
ether,  at  the  point  marked  a.  If  it  were  possible  to  lower 
the  temperature  to  160°,  without  condensation,  keeping 
volume  constant,  pressure  would  fall,  and  the  gas  would 
then  be  in  the  state  represented  on  the  isothermal  line 
160°,  at  G :  that  is,  it  would  be  in  the  same  condition  as 
if  it  had  been  compressed  without  condensation. 

You  saw  that  a  gas,  or  a  liquid,  is  heated  by  com- 
pression ;  a  piece  of  tinder  was  set  on  fire  by  the  heat 
evolved  on  compressing  air.  You  saw  that  condensation 
of  ether  was  brought  about  by  diminution  of  pressure — 
that  is,  it  was  cooled.  Now,  if  air  be  suddenly  expanded, 
it  will  do  work  against  atmospheric  pressure,  and  will 
cool  itself.  This  globe  contains  air ;  but  the  air  has 
been  filtered  carefully  through  cotton-wool,  with  the 
object  of  excluding  dust-particles.  It  is  saturated  with 
moisture.  On  taking  a  stroke  of  the  pump,  so  as  to 
exhaust  the  air  in  the  globe,  no  change  is  evident ;  no 
condensation  has  occurred,  although  the  air  has  been  so 
cooled  that  the  moisture  should  condense,  were  it  possible. 
On  repeating  the  operation  with  the  same  globe,  after 
admitting  dusty  air — ordinary  air  from  this  room — a 
slight  fog  is  produced,  and,  owing  to  the  light  behind, 
a  circular  rainbow  is  seen ;  a  slight  shower  of  rain  has 
taken  place.  There  are  comparatively  few  dust  particles, 
because  only  a  little  dusty  air  has  been  admitted.  On 
again  repeating,  the  fog  is  denser  ;  there  are  more  particles 
on  which  moisture  may  condense. 

One  point  more,  and  I  have  done.  Work  is  measured 
by  the  distance  or  height  through  which  a  weight  can  be 
raised  against  the  force  of  gravity.  The  British  unit  of 
work  is  a  foot-pound — that  is,  a  pound  raised  through  one 
foot ;  that  of  the  metric  system  is  one  gram  raised  through 
one  centimetre.  If  a  pound  be  raised  through  two  feet, 
twice  as  much  work  is  done  as  that  of  raising  a  pound 
through  one  foot,  and  an  amount  equal  to  that  of  raising 
two  pounds  through  one  foot.  The  measure  of  work  is 
therefore  the  weight  multiplied  by  the  distance  through 
which  it  is  raised.  When  a  gas  expands  against  pressure, 
it  does  work.  The  gas  may  be  supposed  to  be  confined 
in  a  vertical  tube,  and  to  propel  a  piston  upwards,  against 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  If  such  a  tube  has  a 
sectional  area  of  one  square  centimetre,  the  gas  in  expand- 
ing a  centimetre  up  the  tube  lifts  a  weight  of  nearly 
1000  grams  through  one  centimetre;  for  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere  on  a  square  centimetre  of  surface  is 
nearly  1000  grams— that  is,  it  does  1000  units  of  work,  or 
eigs.  So  the  work  done  by  a  gas  in  expanding  is  measured 
by  the  change  of  volume  multiplied  by  the  pressure.  On 
the  figure,  the  change  of  volume  is  measured  horizontally, 
the  change  of  pressure  vertically.  Hence  the  work  done 
is  equivaJent  to  the  area  abcd  on  the  figure. 

If  liquid,  as  it  exists  at  A,  change  to  gas  as  it  exists  at 
B,  the  substance  changes  its  volume,  and  may  be  made 
to  do  work.  This  is  familiar  in  the  steam-engine,  where 
work  is  done  by  water,  expanding  to  steam  and  so  in- 
creasing its  volume.  The  pressure  does  not  alter  during 
this  change  of  volume,  if  sufficient  heat  be  supplied,  hence 
the  work  done  during  such  a  change  is  given  by  the 
rectangular  area. 

NO.  1 134,  VOL.  44] 


Suppose  that  a  man  is  conveying  a  trunk  up  to  the 
first  story  of  a  house,  he  may  do  it  in  two  (or,  perhaps,  a 
greater  number  of)  ways.  He  may  put  a  ladder  up  to 
the  drawing-room  window,  shoulder  his  trunk,  and  deposit 
it  directly  on  the  first  floor.  Or  he  may  go  down  the 
area  stairs,  pass  through  the  kitchen,  up  the  kitchen 
stairs,  up  the  first  flight,  up  the  second  flight,  and  down 
again  to  the  first  story.  The  end  result  is  the  same  ;  and 
he  does  the  same  amount  of  work  in  both  cases,  so  far  as 
conveying  the  weight  to  a  given  height  is  concerned ; 
because  in  going  down-stairs  he  has  actually  allowed 
work  to  be  done  on  him,  by  the  descent  of  the  weight. 

Now,  the  liquid  in  expanding  to  gas  begins  at  a  definite 
volume;  it  evaporates  gradually  to  gas  without  altering 
pressure,  heat  being,  of  course,  communicated  to  it 
during  the  change,  else  it  would  cool  itself ;  and  it  finally 
ends  as  gas.  It  increases  its  volume  by  a  definite  amount 
at  a  definite  pressure,  and  so  does  a  definite  amount  of 
work ;  this  work  might  be  utilized  in  driving  an  engine. 

But  if  it  pass  continuously  from  liquid  to  gas,  the 
starting-point  and  the  end  point  are  both  the  same  as 
before.  An  equal  amount  of  work  has  been  done.  But 
it  has  been  done  by  going  down  the  area  stair,  as  it 
were,  and  over  the  round  I  described  before. 

It  is  clear  that  a  less  amount  of  work  has  been  done  on 
the  left-hand  side  of  the  figure  than  was  done  before ; 
and  a  greater  amount  on  the  right-hand  side ;  and  if  I 
have  made  my  meaning  clear,  you  will  see  that  as  much 
less  has  been  done  on  the  one  side  as  more  has  been 
done  on  the  other — that  is,  that  the  area  of  the  figure 
BEH  must  be  equal  to  that  of  the  figure  afh.  Dr. 
Young  and  I  have  tried  this  experimentally — that  is,  by 
measuring  the  calculated  areas ;  and  we  found  them  to  be 
equal. 

This  can  be  shown  to  you  easily  by  a  simple  device — 
namely,  taking  them  out  and  weighing  them.  As  this 
diagram  is  an  exact  representation  of  the  results  of  our 
experiments  with  ether,  the  device  can  be  put  in  practice. 
We  can  detach  these  areas  which  are  cut  out  in  tin,  and 
place  one  in  each  of  this  pair  of  scales,  and  they  balance. 
The  fact  that  a  number  of  areas  thus  measured  gave  the 
theoretical  results  of  itself  furnishes  a  strong  support  of 
the  justice  of  the  conclusions  we  drew  as  regards  the 
forms  of  these  curves. 

To  attempt  to  explain  the  reasons  of  this  behaviour 
would  take  more  time  than  can  be  given  to-night ;  more- 
over, to  tell  the  truth,  we  do  not  know  them.  But  we 
have  at  least  partial  knowledge ;  and  we  may  hope  that 
investigations  at  present  being  carried  out  by  Prof.  Tait 
may  give  us  a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  matter,  and 
of  the  forces  which  act  on  it,  and  with  which  it  acts,, 
during  the  continuous  change  from  gas  to  liquid. 


EXPERIMENTAL  RESEARCHES  ON 
MECHANICAL  FLIGHT. 

n^HE  following  is  a  translation  of  a  communication 
-*•      made  by  Prof.  S.  P.  Langley  to  the  Paris  Academy 
of  Sciences  on  July  13  ; — 

I  have  been  carrying  out  some  researches  intimately 
connected  with  the  subject  of  mechanical  flight,  the 
results  of  which  appear  to  me  to  be  worthy  of  attention. 
They  will  be  published  shortly  in  detail  in  a  memoir. 
Meanwhile  I  wish  to  state  the  principal  conclusions- 
arrived  at 

In  this  memoir  I  do  not  pretend  to  develop  an  art  of 
mechanical  flight ;  but  I  demonstrate  that,  with  motors 
having  the  same  weights  as  those  actually  constmcted, 
we  possess  at  present  the  necessary  force  for  sustaining, 
with  very  rapid  motion,  heavy  bodies  in  the  air;  for 
example,  inclined  planes  more  than  a  thousand  times- 
denser  tnan  the  medium  in  which  they  move. 

Further,  from  the  point  of  view  of  these  experiments  and 


278 


NATURE 


[July  23.  1891 


also  of  the  theory  underlying  them,  it  appears  to  be  demon- 
strated that  if,  in  an  atrial  movement,  we  have  a  plane 
of  determined  dimensions  and  weight,  inclined  at  such 
angles  and  moving  with  such  velocities  that  it  is  always 
exactly  sustained  in  horizontal  flight,  the  more  the 
velocity  is  augmented  the  greater  is  the  force  necessary 
to  diminish  the  sustaining  power.  It  follows  that  there 
will  be  increasing  economy  of  force  for  each  augmentation 
of  velocity,  up  to  a  certain  limit  which  the  experiments 
have  not  yet  determined.  This  assertion,  which  I  make 
here  with  the  brevity  necessary  in  this  rksunUy  calls  for  a 
more  ample  demonstration,  and  receives  it  in  the  memoir 
that  I  have  mentioned. 

The  experiments  which  I  have  made  during  the  last 
four  years  have  been  executed  with  an  apparatus  having 
revolving  arms  about  20  metres  in  diameter,  put  in 
movement  by  a  10  horse-power  steam-engine.  They  are 
chiefly  as  follows  : — 

(i)  To  compare  the  movements  of  planes  or  systems 
of  planes,  the  weights,  surface,  form,  and  variable  arrange- 
ments, the  whole  being  always  in  a  horizontal  position, 
but  disposed  in  such  a  manner  that  it  could  fall  freely. 

(2)  To  determine  the  work  necessary  to  move  such 
planes  or  systems  of  planes,  when  they  are  inclined,  and 
possess  velocities  sufficient  for  them  to  be  sustained  by 
the  reaction  of  the  air  in  all  the  conditions  of  free  hori- 
■zontal  flight 

(3)  To  examine  the  motions  of  aerostats  provided  with 
their  own  motors,  and  various  other  analogous  questions 
that  I  shall  not  mention  here. 

As  a  specific  example  of  the  first  category  of  experi- 
ments which  have  been  carried  out,  let  us  take  a  hori- 
zontal plane,  loaded  (by  its  own  weight)  with  464  g^'a^ms, 
having  a  length  0*914  metre,  a  width  0*102  metre,  a 
thickness  2  mm.,  and  a  density  about  1900  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  surrounding  air,  acted  on  in  the  direction 
of  its  length  by  a  horizontal  force,  but  able  to  fall  freely. 

The  first  line  below  gives  the  horizontal  velocities  in 
metres  per  second ;  the  second  the  time  that  the  body 
took  to  fall  in  air  from  a  constant  height  of  1*22  metres, 
the  time  of  fall  in  a  vacuum  being  0*50  second. 

Horizontal  velocities      ...      om.,     5m.,     lom.,    1501.,     20m. 

Time  taken  to  fall  from  a  ) 
constant  height  of  i'22^0'53s.,  o'6i8.,  o'75s.,  1*053.,  2'oos. 
metres  . . . 


■  •  •         •  • « 


When  the  experiment  is  made  under  the  best  condi- 
tions it  is  striking,  because,  the  plane  having  no  inclina- 
tion, there  is  no  vertical  component  of  apparent  pressure 
to  prolong  the  time  of  fall  ;  and  yet,  although  the  specific 
gravity  is  in  this  more  than  1900  times  that  of  the  air, 
and  although  the  body  is  quite  free  to  fall,  it  descends 
Tery  slowly,  as  if  its  weight  were  diminished  a  great 
number  of  times.  What  is  more,  the  increase  in  the 
time  of  fall  is  even  greater  than  the  acceleration  of 
the  lateral  movement. 

The  same  plane,  under  the  same  conditions,  except 
that  it  was  moved  in  the  direction  of  its  length,  gave 
analogous  but  much  more  marked  results ;  and  some  ob- 
servations of  the  same  kind  have  been  made  in  numerous 
experiments  with  other  planes,  and  under  more  varied 
-conditions. 

From  that  which  precedes,  the  general  conclusion  may 
be  deduced  that  the  time  of  fall  of  a  given  body  in  air, 
whatever  may  be  its  weight,  may  be  indefinitely  pro- 
longed by  lateral  motion,  and  this  result  indicates  the 
account  that  ought  to  be  taken  of  the  inertia  of  air,  in 
aerial  locomotion,  a  property  which,  if  it  has  not  been 
•neglected  in  this  case,  has  certainly  not  received  up  to 
the  present  the  attention  that  is  due  to  it.  By  this  (and 
also  in  consequence  of  that  which  follows)  we  have 
•established  the  necessity  of  examining  more  attentively 
the  practical  possibility  of  an  art  very  admissible  in  theory 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


— that  of  causing  heavy  and  conveniently  disposed  bodies 
to  slide  or,  if  I  may  say  so,  to  travel  in  air. 

In  order  to  indicate  by  another  specific  example  the 
nature  of  the  data  obtained  in  the  second  category  of  my 
experiments,  I  will  cite  the  results  found  with  the  same 
plane,  but  carrying  a  weight  of  500  grams,  that  is  5380 
grams  per  square  metre,  inclined  at  different  anjg^les,  and 
moving  in  the  direction  of  its  length.  It  is  entirely  free 
to  rise  under  the  pressure  of  die  air,  as  in  the  first 
example  it  was  free  to  fall ;  but  when  it  has  left  its  sup- 
port, the  velocity  is  regulated  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
will  always  be  subjected  to  a  horizontal  motion. 

The  first  column  of  the  following  table  gives  the  angle 
(a)  with  the  horizon  ;  the  second  the  corresponding 
velocity  (V)  oi  planemefU-^xkssX  is,  the  velocity  which  is 
exactly  sufficient  to  sustain  the  plane  in  horizontal  move- 
ment, when  the  reaction  of  the  air  causes  it  to  rise  from 
its  support ;  the  third  column  indicates  in  grams  the 
resistances  to  the  movement  forward  for  the  correspond- 
ing velocities  —a  resistance  that  is  shown  by  a  dynamo- 
meter. These  three  columns  only  contain  the  data  of 
the  same  experiment  The  fourth  column  shows  the 
product  of  the  values  indicated  in  the  second  and  third— 
that  is  to  say,  the  work  T,  in  kilogram-metres  per  second, 
which  has  overcome  the  resistance.  Finally,  the  fifth 
column,  P,  designates  the  weight  in  kilograms  of  a  system 
of  such  planes  that  a  i  horse- power  engine  ought  to 
cause  to  advance  horizontally  with  the  velocity  V  and  at 
the  angle  of  inclination  a. 


T  = 


VR 


7003 


p  ^      500  X  4554 
T  X  6<>  X  1000 


45 
30 

IS 
10 

5 

2 


11*2 

10 '6 

II '2 
12*4 
15-2 
20*0 


500 
128 

88 

45 
20 


5-6 
29 

1*4 
n 

07 
o*4 


X  6<>  X 
6-8 
130 
26-5 
34-8 

55  5 
95  o 


As  to  the  values  given  in  the  last  column,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  add  that  my  experiments  demonstrate  that,  in 
rapid  flight,  one  may  suppose  such  planes  to  have  very 
small  interstices,  without  diminishing  sensibly  the  power 
of  support  of  any  of  thenL 

It  is  also  necessary  to  remark  that  the  considerable 
weights  given  here  to  the  planes  have  only  the  object 
of  facilitating  the  quantitative  experiments.  I  have 
found  that  surfaces  approximately  plane,  and  weighing 
ten  times  less,  are  sufficiently  strong  to  be  employed  in 
flight,  such  as  has  been  actually  obtained,  so  that  in  the 
last  case  more  than  85  kilograms  are  disposable  for 
motors  and  other  accessories.  As  a  matter  of  £act, 
complete  motors  weighing  less  than  ^v^  kilograms  per 
horse-power  have  recently  been  constructed. 

Although  I  have  made  use  of  planes  for  my  quantitative 
experiments,  I  do  not  regard  this  form  of  surface  as  that 
which  gives  the  best  results.  I  think,  therefore,  that  the 
weights  I  have  given  in  the  last  column  may  be  considered 
as  less  than  those  that  could  be  transported  with  the 
corresponding  velocities,  if  in  free  flight  one  is  able  to 
guide  the  movement  in  such  a  manner  as  to  assure 
horizontal  locomotion — an  essential  condition  to  the 
economical  employment  of  the  power  at  our  disposal 

The  execution  of  these  conditions,  as  of  those  that 
impose  the  practical  necessity  of  ascending  and  descend- 
ing with  safety,  belongs  more  to  the  art  of  which  I  have 
spoken  than  to  my  subject. 

The  points  that  I  have  endeavoured  to  demonstrate  in 
the  memoir  in  question  are : — 

(i)  That  the  force  requisite  to  sustain  inclined  planes  in 
horizontal  aerial  locomotion  diminishes,  instead  of  in- 
creasing, when  the  velocity  is  augmented ;  and  that  up 
to  very  high  velocities — a  proposition  the  complete  ex- 
perimental demonstration  of  which  will  be  given  in  my 
memoir;   but  I  hope  that    its   apparent  improbability 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


279 


will  be  diminished  by  the  examination  of  the  preceding 
examples. 

(2)  That  the  work  necessary  to  sustain  in  high  velocity 
the  weights  of  an  apparatus  composed  of  planes  and  a 
motor  may  be  produced  by  motors  so  light  as  those  that 
have  actually  been  constructed,  provided  that  care  is 
taken  to  conveniently  direct  the  apparatus  in  free  flight  ; 
with  other  conclusions  of  an  analogous  character. 

I  hope  soon  to  have  the  honour  of  submitting  a  more 
complete  account  of  the  experiments  to  the  Academy. 


ON  THE  SOLID  AND  LIQUID  PARTICLES 

IN  CLOUDS} 

IN  this  paper  are  given  the  results  of  some  observations 
made  while  on  the  Rigi  in  May  last,  on  the  solid  and 
liquid  particles  in  clouds.  It  was  noticed,  when  making 
observations  on  the  number  of  dust  particles  in  the  atmo- 
sphere, that  when  the  top  of  the  mountain  was  in  cloud, 
the  number  of  particles  varied  greatly  in  short  intervals  ; 
while  previous  experience  had  shown  that  at  elevated  sta- 
tions the  number  was  fairly  constant  for  long  periods.  In 
order  to  investigate  the  case  of  this  want  of  uniformity  in  the 
impurity  of  clouded  air,  extreme  conditions  were  selected, 
and  the  air  tested  in  cloud  and  in  the  clear  air  outside  of 
it  When  this  was  done  the  clouded  air  was  found  to 
have  always  more  dust  in  it  than  the  air  outside.  Its 
humidity  was  of  course  also  greater.  The  relative  amount 
of  dust  in  pure  and  in  clouded  air  varied  greatly.  Some 
parts  of  the  cloud  had  only  about  double  the  number  of 
particles  there  were  in  the  clear  air,  while  in  other  parts 
the  proportion  was  much  greater.  The  best  example 
tested  occurred  on  the  25th  of  the  month,  when  there  were 
observed  700  particles  per  c.c.  in  the  clear  air,  while  the 
number  in  cloud  went  up  to  over  3000,  and  in  one  cloud 
to  4200  particles  per  c.c.  These  observations  were  taken 
on  the  top  of  the  mountain  while  the  clouds  were  passing 
over  it ;  the  readings  being  taken  in  the  cloud  and 
again  when  it  had  passed  and  was  replaced  by  clear  air. 

These  observations  at  once  showed  the  cause  of  the 
variability  in  the  number  of  dust-particles  in  the  clouds. 
The  dust  acted  as  a  kind  of  ear-mark,  and  showed  that 
the  air  forming  the  clouds  was  impure  valley  air,  which 
had  forced  its  way  up  into  the  purer  air  above.  This 
impure  air  had  become  more  or  less  mixed  with  the  purer 
upper  air.  Where  little  of  the  impure  air  had  mixed  with 
the  upper  air,  the  number  of  particles  was  not  large,  and 
the  clouding  slight ;  but  where  the  valley  air  was  greatly  in 
excess,  the  number  of  particles  was  great,  and  the  cloud- 
ing dense.  It  should  be  noted  here  that  all  the  clouds 
tested  were  cumulus.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  con- 
ditions in  stratus  and  other  clouds  may  be  different. 

During  this  visit  to  the  Rigi  there  were  a  number  of 
opportunities  of  investigating  the  water  particles  in  clouds. 
The  apparatus  used  was  the  small  instrument  described 
to  the  Society  in  May  last.  With  this  instrument  the 
water  particles  in  clouds  can  be  easily  seen,  and  the 
number  falling  on  a  given  area  counted.  The  results 
are  similar  to  those  already  communicated  to  the  Society 
from  observations  made  in  fogs  during  last  winter.  On 
observing  with  this  instrument  in  clouds,  the  water  par- 
ticles were  distinctly  seen  showering  down,  and  the  number 
falling  on  the  micrometer  easily  counted.  The  number 
of  drops  falling  was  observed  to  vary  greatly  from  time 
to  time.  At  times  so  quickly  did  they  fall  that  it  was 
impossible  to  count  the  number  that  fell  on  only 
I  sq.  mm.  The  greatest  rate  actually  counted  was 
60  ^drops    per    sq.    mm.    in    30    seconds,    but    for    a 

'  Abstract  of  Paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society,  Edtnburg^h,  on  Tuly  6, 
by  John  Aiiken,  F.R.S.  Communicated  by  permission  of  the  Cjiincil  of  the 
fecicty. 

NO.  1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


few  seconds  the  rate  was  much  quicker.  Though  the 
quick  falls  seldom  lasted  long,  yet  30  drops  per  sq. 
mm.  per  minute  were  frequently  observed  for  a  consider- 
able lime.  The  maximum  rate  of  60  per  sq.  mm.  per  half 
minute  gives  12,000  drops  per  square  centimetre  per 
minute,  or  77, 400  drops  per  square  inch  per  minute. 
This  does  seem  to  be  an  enormous  number  of  drops  to 
fall  on  so  small  an  area  in  the  time.  These  drops,  how- 
ever, are  so  extremely  small  they  rapidly  evaporate,, 
more  than  two  or  three  being  seldom  visible  at  the  same 
time  on  one  square  of  the  micrometer.  The  denser  the 
cloud  the  quicker  was  the  rate  of  fall,  and  as  the  cloud 
thinned  away  the  drops  fell  at  longer  intervals,  and  they 
diminished  in  size  at  the  same  time. 

It  was  frequently  observed  when  the  mountain- top  was 
in  clouds,  particularly  if  they  were  not  very  dense  over- 
head, that  the  surfaces  of  all  exposed  objects  were  quite 
dry ;  not  only  the  stones  on  the  ground,  which  might 
have  received  heat  from  the  earth,  but  also  wooden  seats,, 
posts,  &c.,  were  all  perfectly  dry,  and  if  wetted  they  soon 
dried.  While  everything  was  dry,  the  fog-counter  showed 
that  fine  rain-drops  were  falling  in  immense  numbers. 
From  the  fact  that  the  air  was  packed  full  of  these  small 
drops  of  water,  it  might  have  been  assumed  that  the  air 
was  saturated,  and  tests  with  properly- protected  wet  and 
dry  bulb  thermometers  showed  that  it  was  saturated.  A 
few  observations  were  therefore  made  to  explain  this- 
apparent  contradiction  of  surfaces  remaining  dry  while 
exposed  to  a  continued  shower  of  fine  rain  and  sur- 
rounded by  saturated  air.  The  explanation  was  found  to 
be,  simply,  radiant  heat.  Though  the  cloud  may  be  so 
dense,  it  is  impossible  to  see  the  sun  or  even  a  pre- 
ponderance of  light  in  one  direction  to  indicate  its 
position  ;  yet,  as  a  good  deal  of  light  penetrates  under 
these  conditions,  it  therefore  seemed  possible  some  heat 
might  do  so  also.  A  thermometer  with  black  bulb  in 
vacuo  showed  that  a  considerable  amount  of  heat  pene- 
trated the  clouds  under  the  conditions,  as  it  rose  40°  to 
50°  above  the  temperature  of  the  air  while  the  observa- 
tions were  being  made.  This  radiant  heat  is  absorbed 
by  all  exposed  surfaces  and  heats  them,  while  they  in 
turn  heat  the  air  in  contact  with  them,  and  the  fine  drops 
of  water  are  either  evaporated  in  this  hot  layer  of  air  or 
after  they  come  in  contact  with  the  heated  surfaces. 
Other  observations  made  on  Pilatus  pointed  to  the  same 
conclusion.  All  large  objects,  such  as  seats,  posts,  &c., 
were  quite  dry  in  cloud  when  there  was  any  radiation  ; 
while  small  objects,  such  as  pins,  fine  threads,  &c.,  were 
covered  with  beads  of  water.  The  large  surfaces  being 
more  heated  by  radiation  than  small  ones,  when  sur- 
rounded by  air,  these  surfaces  evaporate  the  drops  falling 
on  them,  while  the  small  ones,  being  kept  cool  by  the 
passing  air,  are  unable  to  keep  themselves  dry. 

The  observations  made  with  the  fog-counter  point  ta 
the  conclusion  that  the  density  or  thickness  of  a  cloud 
depends  more  on  the  number  of  water  particles  than 
on  the  number  of  dust  particles  in  it.  The  number 
of  the  dust  particles  in  the  clouds  varied  too  much 
and  too  quickly  to  enable  any  conclusion  to  be  drawn 
from  observations  made  in  clouds  themselves.  How- 
ever, on  comparing  the  thickness  of  a  cloud  on  the 
Rigi  and  a  fog  at  low  level,  when  the  number  of  water- 
drops  was  about  the  same,  it  is  found  that  the  fog,  though 
thicker,  was  not  greatly  so,  although  there  were  only  a  few 
thousand  dust-particles  per  c.c.  in  the  cloud,  while  there 
were  about  50,000  in  the  fog- 

The  observations  with  the  fog-counter  show  that,, 
whenever  a  cloud  is  formed,  it  at  once  begins  to  rain,  and 
the  small  drops  fall  into  the  drier  air  underneath,  where 
they  are  evaporated,  the  distance  to  which  they  will  falk 
depending  on  their  size  and  the  dryness  of  the  air.  It  is 
thought  that  much  of  the  dissolving  of  clouds  is  brought 
about  in  this  way. 


28o 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


OLD  STANDARDS, 

BY  a  curious  accident  it  has  just  been  discovered  that 
the  standard  yard  and  certain  other  measures  and 
-weights  which  were  supposed  to  have  been  lost  when  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1834  are 
-still  in  existence.  The  following  account  of  the  matter  is 
condensed  from  a  statement  in  the  Times.  A  reference 
to  the  contemporary  records  shows  that  after  the  fire  the 
standard  bars  of  1758  and  1760  were  both  found  among 
the  ruins,  *'  but  they  were  too  much  injured  to  indicate 
the  measure  of  a  yard  which  had  been  marked  upon 
them."  The  principal  injury  to  both  of  the  standards  was 
the  loss  of  the  left-hand  gold  stud,  but  whether  this  was 
•caused  by  the  action  of  the  fiames  or  otherwise  is  not 
known.  When  the  Palace  of  Westminster  was  re- 
built the  two  bars  were  deposited  in  the  Journal  Office, 
.and  from  that  time,  until  the  other  day,  they  seem 
to  have  been  wholly  lost  sight  of.  About  a  fortnight 
ago  it  happened  to  be  stated  in  the  lobby  that  one 
^f  the  duties  of  the  Speaker  w^as  to  inspect  once 
m  every  twenty  years  the  standards  immured  in  the  sill 
of  the  Lower  Waiting  Hall.  Inquiries  at  the  Standards 
Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  elicited  the  fact  that, 
50  far  from  any  statutory  requirement  being  imposed 
upon  the  Speaker  in  the  direction  indicated.  Section  35 
of  the  Weights  and  Measures  Act,  1878,  which  provides 
for  the  care  and  restoration  of  the  Parliamentary  copies 
of  the  Imperial  standards,  specially  exempts  the  walled- 
up  copy  from  periodical  inspection  and  comparison.  It 
was  found,  however,  that  in  1871  Speaker  Denison  took 
cognizance  of  the  standards  ;  and  this  fact  was  brought 
to  the  Speaker's  notice.  While  inquiries  were  being  made 
as  to  Speaker  Denison's  inspection,  an  official  in  the 
Journal  Office  mentioned  that  when  the  contents  of  that 
office  were  recently  being  transferred  to  the  new  wing 
he  had  observed  among  the  lumber  some  old  weights  and 
measures.  These  proved  to  be  the  missing  standards. 
■On  Tuesday  last  they  were  examined  by  Mr.  Chaney,the 
Superintendent  of  Weights  and  Measures ;  and  on 
Wednesday  the  Speaker  was  to  visit  the  Journal  Office 
for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  them. 

The  most  important  of  the  standards  thus  rescued 
from  oblivion  are  the  yard  measures  constructed  by 
Bird  in  1758  and  1760.  The  former  was  copied  from 
a  bar  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal  Society,  which 
was  itself  a  copy  of  a  standard  preserved  in  the 
Tower;  and  the  second  was  constructed  unier  the 
directions  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
from  the  1758  standard.  "Each  of  these  two  standard 
yards  consisted  of  a  solid  brass  bar  1*05  in.  square  in 
section  and  3973  in.  long.  Near  each  end  of  the  upper 
surface  gold  pins  or  studs  o'l  in.  in  diameter  were  in- 
serted, and  points  or  dots  were  marked  upon  the  gold  to 
determine  the  length  of  the  yard."  The  other  standards 
in  the  custody  of  the  Journal  Office  are  two  brass  rods 
answering  the  description  of  the  old  Exchequer  yard,  and 
four  weights  supposed  to  be  certain  of  the  "copies, 
.model,  patterns,  and  multiples  "  ordered  by  the  House  on 
May  21,  1760,  "  to  be  locked  up  by  the  clerk  and  kept  by 
hinL"  The  most  important  weight — the  standard  troy 
pound — is  not  amongst  those  now  brought  to  light. 


NOTES, 

At  some  little  distance  to  the  north  and  north-east  of  Cardiff 
lies  a  beautiful  piece  of  hilly  country,  much  frequented  by 
pedestrians,  and  known  as  the  Black  Mountain  or  Black  Forest 
district.  It  has  not  been  found  practicable  by  the  Local  Com- 
fnittee  to  arrange  an  official  excursion  to  this  district  on  the 
occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  British  Association  to  Cardiff;  but  a 
project  is  now  being  unofficially  forwarded  for  conducting  small 
(parties  of  not  exceeding  six  visitors  each  to  some  of  the  choicest 

NO.    1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


parts  of  this  country,  at  a  time  so  arranged  as  not  to  interfere 
with  the  sittings  of  the  various  Sections.  Several  local  gentle- 
men, thoroughly  familiar  with  the  district,  have  offered  to  act  as 
guides,  and  with  fair  weather  most  enjoyable  excursions  are  to 
be  ant  icipated.  The  country  being  essentially  one  for  pedestrians, 
the  excursions  would  take  the  form  of  an  afternoon  walk  of  from 
eigh  t  to  twelve  miles,  with  a  further  walk  on  the  following  day 
of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles.  Any  member  of  the  Britidi 
Association  desirous  of  taking  part  in  one  of  these  excursions 
can  obtain  full  particulars  by  applying  to  the  Local  Secretaries, 
9  Bank  Buildings,  Cardiff,  who  will  forward  the  applicatioDs 
to  the  promoters. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  French  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  the  Sciences  will  be  held  at  Marseilles,  com- 
mencing on  September  17.  The  special  subject  chosen  for 
discussion  in  the  Botanical  Section  is  the  best  mode  of  arrange- 
ment and  exhibition  for  different  kinds  of  botanical  collections, 
with  the  double  purpose  of  the  preservation  of  the  specimens 
and  the  facilitating  of  study. 

The  Technical  and  Recreative  Institute  established  by  the 
Goldsmiths'  Company  at  New  Cross  was  opened  by  the  Prince 
of  Wales  on  Wednesday.  In  addition  to  this  Institute  there  are 
to  be  two  Poljrtechnics  south  of  the  Thames,  one  in  Battersea 
Park  Road,  the  other  in  the  Borough  Road.  The  memorial 
stone  of  the  one  in  Battersea  was  laid  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  on 
Monday. 

PROFr  M.  W.  Harrington,  the  founder  of  the  Armricam 
Meteorological  ydurnal,  has  been  appointed  Chief  of  the  United 
States  Weather  Bureau,  under  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
in  Washington.  Prof.  Harrington  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1S4&, 
and  graduated  at  Michigan  in  1868.  In  1879  he  was  made 
Professor  of  Astronomy  and  Director  of  the  Astronomical  Ob- 
servatory at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan.  From  a  recent  article  by 
him,  entitled  *'  How  could  the  Weather  Service  best  promote 
Agriculture  ? "  it  appears  likely  that  the  energies  of  the  new 
service  will  be  devoted  more  to  the  interests  of  agriculture  than 
to  commerce,  and  that  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  issue  special 
weather  predictions  for  the  farmer,  by  means  of  the  multiplica 
tion  of  local  forecasting  stations.  There  can  be  little  doubt — 
seeing  the  large  amount  of  funds  under  his  control — that  he 
will  also  still  further  advance  the  important  work  of  inter- 
national meteorology  which  has  been  so  ably  conducted  by  his 
predecessors. 

The  half-yearly  general  meeting  of  the  Scottish  Meteorological 
Society  was  held  in  Edinburgh  on  Wednesday.  The  report 
from  the  Council  of  the  Society  was  presented ;  and  papers  were 
read  on  certain  relations  of  wind,  pressure,  and  temperature  at 
the  Ben  Nevis  Observatories,  by  Dr.  Bnchan,  and  on  influenza 
and  weather  of  London  in  1891,  by  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell  and 
Dr.  Buchan. 

From  the  official  record  of  the  work  done  in  the  British 
Museum  during  1890  it  seems  that  there  has  been  a  serious 
decrease  in  the  number  of  visitors.  Special  departments,  however, 
have  been  used  more  than  ever  by  students ;  and  it  is  satisfactory 
to  find  that  the  zoological  and  geological  collections  in  the 
Natural  History  Museum  are  being  more  generally  appreciated. 

German  scientific  papers  record  the  death,  on  June  18,  of  Dr. 
Otto  Tisdiler,  well  known  as  an  archaeologist  of  wide  learning 
and  sound  judgment.  He  especially  distinguished  himself  by 
his  investigation  of  the  burial-mounds  of  East  Prussia.  Dr. 
Tischler  was  forty-eight  years  of  age. 

Prof.  A.  Ricc6,  Director  of  the  Catania  Observatory,  who 
has  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  volcano  Stromboli,  sends  us 
the  following  notice  of  a  recent  eruption : — **  On  June  24,  45 


July  23.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


281 


minutes  after  noon  (Rome  mean  time),  the  inhabitants  of  the 
i^olian  Isles  were  alarmed  by  two  strong  shocks  of  earthquake, 
followed  by  two  tremendous  explo  ions  of  the  volcano,  which 
sent  forth  from  four  mouths  a  great  quantity  of  smoke,  cinders, 
incandescent  blocks,  and  currents  of  lava  that  descended  the 
mountain  slopes  to  the  sea.  The  sea,  at  the  points  where  the 
lava  entered  it,  steamed  up,  producing  great  noisy  masses  of 
vapour.  The  phenomena  continued  till  July  i.  Stromboli  has 
now  returned  to  its  habitual  state  of  moderate  activity." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  the 
Monuments  of  Ancient  Egypt  was  held  last  week  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  at  Burlington  House.    Lord  Wham- 
cliife,  President,  occupied  the  chair.     The  report  stated  that 
there  was  little  to  report  of  success  attending  the  proceedings  of 
the  Society  for  the  past  year.     Its  energies  had  been  directed 
principally  to  two  points — the  necessity  for  an  official  inspector 
or  superintendent  in  Egypt,  whose  duty  should  be  the  care  of  the 
ancient  monuments,  and  an  endeavour  to  do  something  towards 
arresting  the  gradual  destruction  of  the  Great  Temple  at  Kamak. 
Reports  conceming  a  proposed  scheme  for  barring  the   Nile 
below  Philse,  to  make  a  vast  reservoir  for  purposes  of  irrigation, 
had  appeared  in  the  public   papers  from  lime  to  time,  and 
fecently  various  more  definite  communications  had  been  received 
by  the  committee  on  the  same  subject.     The  result  would  be,  it 
was  acknowledged,  to  completely  cover  this  beautiful  island  and 
temple  with  water.    There  had  been  some  correspondence  on 
this  subject  with  the  authorities  in  Egypt ;  hut  as  nothing  had 
as  jtK  been  decided  as  to  any  scheme  of  irrigation,  and  as  a 
committee  would  be  appointed  to  consider  the  whole  question, 
it  might  be  considered  as  suspended  for  the  present,  and  the 
committee  had  thought  it  best  to  wait  before  taking  any  further 
action ;  but  they  would  not  lose  sight  of  this  important  matter, 
and  would  oppose  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  any  engineering 
scheme  «  hich  would  involve  injury  or  destruction  to  this  world- 
renowned  spot.     General  Donnelly  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
report ;  and  the  motion  was  seconded  by  Sir  Edmund  Henderson, 
and  agreed  to.     The  committee  for  the  coming  year  was  then 
elected,  and  a  discussion  subsequently  tODk   place  as  to  the 
proposed  scheme  for  barring  the  Nile  below  Philae,  the  opinion 
of  the  meeting  being  evidently  strongly  opposed  to  the  adoption 
ofany  system  of  irrigation  which  should  involve  damage  to  the 
temple.    Mr.  J.  Bryce,  M.P.,  spoke  of  the  wanton  injury  which 
was  often  inflicted  on  monuments  in  Egypt,  and  said  that  he 
thought  it  would  be  necessary,  in  dealing  with  that  matter,  to 
bring  the  question  of  jurisdiction  to  the  attention  of  those  from 
whom  any  system  of  inspection  or  care  was  to  emanate.     We 
may  note  that  in  answer  to  a  question  put  by  Mr.  Bryce  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  July  15,   Sir  J.  Fergusson  said  that 
nothing  definite  had  been  settled  as  to  the  preservation  of 
ancient  monuments  in  Egypt ;  ;f  Eio,oo3  had  been  allotted  in 
the  Budget  for  the  current  year. 

The  Pilot  Chart  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean  for  July 
contains  a  special  account  of  a  hurricane  that  moved  along  a 
tnck  almost  due  north,  about  500  miles  east  of  Newfoundland 
on  Jane  9  and  10,  together  with  a  chart  of  the  conditions 
of  barometer  and  wind  between  Newfoundland  and  Ire- 
tuid,  showing  that  the  abnormal  track  was  due  to  the  approach 
<>f  an  anticyclone  west  of  the  British  Isles.  A  supplement 
«wed  with  the  Pilot  Chart  illustrates  the  drift  of  every 
bottle  paper  returned  to  the  United  States  Hydrographic  Office 
since  April  1889.  There  are  113  papers  that  contain  the  date 
of  commencement  and  end  of  journey  ;  the  average  number  of 
miles  that  each  bottle  drifted  is  869,  and  the  average  daily  drift 
w  5*8  miles.  This  figure  is  rather  below  the  true  average  rate 
P«r  day,  as  any  time  the  bottle  lay  upon  the  shore  before 
<J»covery  added  to  ite  time  of  drift. 

NO.  1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


M.  PATOUILLA.RD  has  just  returned  from  a  scientific  mission 
with  which  he  was  intrusted  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion in  France,  an  investigation  of  the  mycological  flora  of  Tunis, 
Carthage,  and  the  adjacent  regions. 

In  one  of  the  principal  at  tides  of  the  Meteorologische  Zelts- 
chrift  for  May,  HerrR.  Bornstein  discusses  the  question  of  a  con- 
nect ion  between  air-pressure  and  the  hour  angle  of  the  moon,  using 
as  a  basis  the  hourly  observations  of  four  German  and  Austrian 
stations.  This  investigation  differs  from  the  usual  mode  of 
treatment,  as  it  takes  no  account  of  the  moon's  phases,  or  of  its 
declination  or  distance  from  the  earth,  but  only  of  the  lunar 
day,  and  deals  solely  with  atmospheric  pressure.  The  results 
arrived  at  are :  (i)  that  the  existence  of  atmospheric  tides  is  not 
plainly  recognizable  in  the  range  of  pressure  ;  (2)  at  three  of  the 
stations  the  pressure  exhibits  a  single  oscillation  during  the  lunar 
day.  The  maximum  occurs  at  Hamburg  and  Berlin  shortly 
before  the  setting  of  the  moon,  and  at  Vienna  about  the  time 
of  the  lower  culmination,  while  the  minimum  occurs  at  all 
stations  near  the  time  of  the  moon's  rising. 

We  have  received  vol.  viii.  of  the  Anales  de  la  Oficina 
Meteorologica  Argentina,  It  contains  a  summation  of  the 
records  obtained  at  five  diffisrent  stations  in  the  Republic  during 
the  years  1877-89.  The  organization  of  the  Department 
appears  to  be  now  very  complete,  there  being  no  less  than 
twenty- eight  stations  fully  equipped  with  ordinary  and  self- 
registering  instruments. 

Referring  to  a  statement  which  has  been  publicly  made, 
that  the  adoption  of  electric  lighting  in  place  of  gas  at  the  office 
of  the  Savings  Bank  Department  of  the  General  Post  Office  has 
been  followed  by  a  marked  reduction  in  the  amount  of  sick 
leave,  the  Lancet  says  it  has  good  authority  for  believing  that 
the  statement  in  question  is  substantially  correct.  Although 
the  time  which  has  as  yet  elapsed — two  years — since  the  intro- 
duction of  the  new  illuminant  has  been  insufficient  for  the  col- 
lection of  trustworthy  statistics,  our  contemporary  thinks  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  electric  lighting  will  prove  to  be 
much  more  wholesome  than  ordinary  gas  flames.  An  electric 
lamp  does  not  compete  for  the  oxygen  of  the  apartment  in  which 
it  is  placed,  and  this  circumstance  gives  it  a  marked  advantage 
over  any  open  flame.  It  cannot,  like  some  forms  of  gas-burner, 
be  used  to  promote  ventilation  ;  but  in  ordinary  situations  its 
harmlessness  is  a  much  more  important  property. 

Meteorological  observatories  are  generally  ill  adapted,  by 
reason  of  dust  and  s  noke,  for  observation's  on  atmospheric  elec- 
tricity ;  and,  with  the  view  of  inciting  private  individuals  to 
such  work,  Herren  Elster  and  Geitel,  of  Wolfenbiittel,  have 
lately  issued  a  brochure  in  which  they  indicate  the  ends  to  be 
sought  and  the  instrumental  means.  Three  things  demand 
attention :  first,  systematic  observation  and  measurement  of 
electricity  in  the  open  air  at  different  times  in  the  day  and  in 
the  seasons,  humidity  and  air-temperature  being  determined  at 
the  same  time ;  second,  measurement  of  the  fall  of  potential 
with  a  clear  sky  ;  and  third,  measurement  of  the  fall  of  potential 
and  its  change  of  sign  during  rain,  &c.  The  instruments  and 
methods  recommended  are  such  as  present  little  difficulty  for 
private  persons. 

The  American  National  Geographic  Society  prints  in  the 
current  number  of  its  magazine  a  full  and  interesting  account, 
by  Israel  C.  Russell,  of  an  expedition  to  Mount  St.  Elias, 
Alaska.  The  paper  is  illustrated  by  various  excellent  maps 
and  diagrams. 

The  Winchester  College  Natural  History  Society  has  just 
issued,  under  the  title  of  "Geological  Notes"  (J.  Wells,  Win- 
chester), a  list  of  all  the  fossils  as  yet  known  from  the  chalk 
in  the  anticlinal  of  Winchester.  The  exact  localities  and  zones 
are  given  ;  and,  since  the  names  appear  not  only  to  have  been 


282 


NATURE 


[July  23,  iSgi 


carefully  determined,  but  to  be  well  up  to  date,  this  very  modest 
pamphlet  will  prove  as  useful  a  guide  to  the  collector  as  it  is 
valuable  to  the  stratigraphical  geologist. 

Messrs.  Woodall,  Minshall,  and  Co.,  Oswestry,  have 
issued  "  A  Flora  of  Oswestry  and  District,"  by  T.  P.  Diamond, 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Offa  Field  Club.  It  contains  a  list 
of  plants  in  the  neighbourhoo  I  of  Oswestry,  arranged  according 
to  their  natural  orders  ;  and  at  the  end  there  is  an  index,  in  which 
both  the  English  and  the  Welsh  names  of  the  plants  are  given. 
Mr.  Diamond  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  his  "list  of  over 
700  plants  includes  representatives  of  90  out  of  the  lOi  natural 
orders  in  the  flora  of  the  United  Kingdom." 

The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  is  printing — in 
the  series  entitled  "Contributions  from  the  United  States 
National  Herbarium  " — what  promises  to  be  a  valuable  manual 
of  the  plants  of  Western  Texas,  by  John  M.  Coulter.  This 
district  is  described  as  "one  of  the  richest  regions  in  plant  dis- 
play, containint;  a  flora  particularly  interesting  on  account  of 
the  intermingling  of  Mexican  species."  The  manual  is  being 
published  in  parts  because  the  author  hopes  that  their  succes<(ive 
appearanc*:  may  call  forth  additional  information  that  may  be 
embodied  in  a  final  supplement. 

A  SHEET  dealing  with  the  potato  disease  will  shortly  be  issued 
by  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England.  It  was  originally 
published  by  the  Irish  Land  Commission,  by  whose  permission 
it  is  being  reproduced.  In  the  text,  by  Mr.  William  Camithers, 
F.R.S.,  all  necessary  information  is  given,  and  this  is  accom- 
panied by  coloured  drawings  illustrating  various  phases  of  the 
potato  disease. 

In  the  July  number  of  the  London  and  Middlesex  Note-Book^ 
Mr.  G.  F.  Lawrence  says  he  recently  obtained  a  drift  implement 
of  unusual  form  from  the  site  of  Mr.  Peter  Robinson's  new 
premises  in  Oxford  Street.  The  peculiarity  consists  of  the 
carious  curvature  of  one  face  of  the  implement  compared  with 
the  flatness  of  the  other  side.  He  does  not  know  of  another 
like  it,  but  suggests  that,  as  attention  is  called  to  what  may  be  a 
mere  variation  of  an  ordinary  type,  examples  may  be  found  in 
other  collections.  This  specimen  is  of  a  somewhat  ochreous 
colour,  is  lustrous  and  but  slightly  abraded  or  rolled,  and  it 
measures  5^  inches  long  by  3  inches  wide.  The  occurrence  of 
drift-implements  in  Central  London  is  rather  unusual.  Mr. 
Lawrence  thinks  twelve  would  be  rather  over  than  under  the 
number  known. 

In  the  current  number  of  the  Scientific  Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Dublin  Society  (vol.  vii.  Part  2)  Mr.  E.  W.  L.  Holt 
publishes  a  preliminary  note  on  the  fish  obtained  during  the 
cruise  of  the  s.s.  Fingal^  1890,  on  the  Society's  survey  of  fishing 
grounds  on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland.  Amongst  the  shore  fishes, 
Apkia  pelliuida,  Nardo,  and  Crystallogobius  nihsonii^  Diib.  and 
Kor.,  are  for  the  first  time  recorded  from  Irish  waters.  The 
second  British  specimen  o{  Arnogiossus  grohmanni^  Bonap.,  is 
also  recorded.  From  depths  between  100  and  500  fathoms  off 
Achill  Head,  Pomatomus  teiescopium,  Risso,  Moramediin-ranea, 
Risso,  aiid  Macntrus  aqualis,  Gihr.,  are  added  to  the  British 
fauna';  and  a  description  is  given  of  a  new  deep*sea  eel,  inter- 
mediate  between  Saurenchelys  and  Nettastoma,  which  has  been 
named  Nettophichthys  retropinncUus^  n.  g.  et  sp.  Gcuius 
esmarkiif  Nilsson,  and  Macrurus  rupestris^  Gunner,  are  added 
to  the  Irish  fauna  from  similar  depths,  and  Argentina  sphyreenay 
Linn. ,  from  52  to  80  fathoms.  Amongst  other  fish  recorded  from 
depths  exceeding  100  fathoms  are  Chinutra  monstrosa,  Linn., 
■Trigla  lyra^  Linn.,  Gadus  argntteus^  Guich.,  Phycis  bUnnioides^ 
Briinn.,  Haloporphyrus  equesy  Gthr.,  Macrunis  ccelorhynchus^ 
Risso,  M.  lavisy  Lowe,  &c.  A  young  Phycis  is  also  recorded 
from  26  fathoms,  and  mention  is  made  of  the  occurrence  at  the 

NO.    1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


surface  of  a  shoal  of  young  Gadus  poutassou^   Risso,  34  miks 
from  land. 

Hardness  is  one  of  the  most  important  properties  of  solid 
bodies ;  yet  the  measurement  of  it  has  not  been  very  satisfiK- 
torily  effected  hitherto.  Prof.  Auerbach,  of  Jena,  has  recently 
described  {Repertoriuni  fiir  Physik)  an  apparatus  for  ihc  p»- 
pose,  designed  for  transparent  bodies.  In  it  the  spherical  sar- 
face  of  a  lens  is  pressed  up  by  the  short  arm  of  a  weighted  lever 
against  a  small  thick  plate,  on  which  the  observer  looks  dowa 
through  a  microscope  furnished  with  a  micrometer,  watching 
the  effects  of  increasing  pressure.  Glass  and  rock  crystal  were 
observed.  The  author  offers  a  theory  of  the  subject,  &nd  tests 
it.  A  comparison  of  hardnesses  with  moduli  of  elasticity  shows 
that,  while  the  more  elastic  of  those  substances  were  also  the 
harder,  the  hardness  increases  less  than  the  elasticity. 

From  recent  accounts  it  appears  that  the  consumption  of  gis 
in  Paris  in  1890  exceeded  that  in  18S0  by  26*2  per  cent.,  while 
the  number  of  consumers  increased  56*8  per  cent.  The  amoont 
per  consumer  diminished  19*5  per  cent.,  from  1642  to  1322 
cubic  metres.  Electricity  has  evidently  withdrawn  many  lai^ 
consumeis  of  gas.  The  same  account  states  that  in  three  years 
the  number  of  arc  and  glow  lamps  has  increased  140  and  170 per 
cent,  respectively.  The  consumption  of  petroleum  in  France 
has  increased  47  per  cent  in  those  ten  years,  while  that  of  |;ai, 
in  the  whole  of  France,  has  grown  62  per  cent. 

A  SERIES  of  addition  compounds  of  aldehydes  with  hypo- 
phosphorous  acid  are  described  by  M.  Ville  in  the  current  nnmber 
of  the  AnnaJes  de  Chitnie  et  de  Physique.  As  is  well  known, 
aldehydes  exhibit  the  characteristic  property  of  uniting  directly 
with  many  other  substances,  such  as  ammonia,  hydrocyanic 
acid,  acid  sulphites,  and  hydroxylamine.  Some  time  ago,  it 
was  shown  by  Fossek  that  trichloride  of  phosphorus  was  likewise 
capable  of  uniting  directly  with  many  aldehydes  with  production 
of  liquid  compounds  decomposable  by  water.  M.  Ville  now 
shows  that  a  similar  series  of  additive  compounds  are  formed 
with  hypophosphorous  acid,  and  these  compounds  are  of  con- 
siderable importance  as  throwing  more  light  upon  the  nature  of 
this  lower  acid  of  phosphorus.  Hypophosphorous  acid,  H,PO^ 
the  acid  derived  from  the  as  yet  unisolated  oxide  P,0,  may  be 

H 

I 
regarded  as  possessing  the  structure  PO — OH.     By  the  du^ct 

H 

action  of  aldehydes  under  the  influence  of  a  slight  rise  of  tem> 
perature,  two  distinct  classes  of  new  compounds  are  obtained. 
When  the  aldehyde  and  hypophosphorous  acid  are  allowed  to 
react  in  the  proportion  of  equal  molecales,  compounds  of  the 
R— CH— OH 


type 


I 


PO — OH  are  obtained,  where  R  may  represent  the 

I 
H 

radicle  of  any  aldehyde.     If,  however,  two  molecular  proportions 

R— CH— Oil 

of  aldehyde  are  employed,  compounds  of  the  type         PO — OH 

R— CH— OH 

are  formed.  The  aldehydes  of  the  aromatic  series  lend  them- 
selves best  to  the  formation  of  these  compounds,  those  of  the 
fatty  series  exhibiting  a  great  tendency  to  the  production  of  con- 
densation products.     The  compound  of  the  second  type  with 

CeHg— CH— OH 


benzoic  aldehyde, 


I 
PO— OH,  is  obtained  by  digesting  to- 


C.Hk- CH-OH 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


283 


gether  for  seTeral  hoars  upon  a  water-bath  benzaldehyde  aad 
hjpophosphorotts  acid  in  an  atmosphere  of  carbon  dioxide. 
Crystals  of  the  new  compound  soon  commence  to  separate,  and 
rapidly  permeate  the  whole  liquid.  On  draining  and  washing, 
they  are  found  to  consist  of  colourless  radiating  groups  of 
buBellae.  They  are  not  very  soluble  in  water,  but  dissolve  more 
readily  in  organic  solvents,  best  in  methyl  alcohol.  The  aqueous 
soliitioa  is  strongly  acid,  decomposing  carbonates  readily,  and 
foraing  crystall  ine  salts  with  bases.  C  uriously,  though,  it  exerts  no 
redadng  action  upon  solutions  of  copper  sulphate  or  silver  salts. 

CaHj— CH— OH 

lo  order  to  obtain  the  acid  of  the  first  type,    .         P0-— OH, 

H 
it  a  best  to  employ  an  excess  of  hypophosphorous  acid.  In  this 
case,  instead  of  crystals  of  the  acid  of  the  second  type  separating, 
the  whole  forms  a  homogeneous  liquid  which  remains  unpre- 
dpitatei  by  water.  It  contains  the  acid  of  the  first  type,  and 
thb  latter  is  best  isolated  by  precipitating  the  lead  salt  by  the 
addition  of  lead  acetate  and  decomposing  the  salt,  suspended  in 
water,  by  means  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  On  concentration 
of  the  filtered  solution,  a  syrup  is  obtained  which  eventually 
yields  deliquescent  crystals  of  the  pure  acid.  The  solution  of 
thtt  acid  does  not  reduce  copper  sulphate,  but  readily  precipitates 
metallic  silver  from  silver  nitrate.  Many  similar  compounds 
with  other  aldehydes  have  a!so  been  prepared,  and  found  to 
present  analogous  properties  more  or  less  modifisd  by  the  specific 
oature  of  the  particular  aldehyde  employed. 

Thb  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  daring  the 
put  week  include  two  Ruddy-headed  Geese  {Bernicta  rubidU 
(fpt  6  i)  from  the  Falkland  Islands,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  £• 
Blaauw,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  a  Smooth  Snake  (Coronella  Ugvis),  British, 
ptesented  by  Mr.  W.  H.  B.  Pain  ;  two  great  Eagle  Owls  {Bubo 
maximus\  European,  deposited ;  six  Eyed  Lizards  {Lactrta 
oedlata\  two  Four-lined  Snakes  {Coluber  quadrilintatus),  a 
Back-marked  Snake  {Rhinechis  scaiaris).  South  European, 
porchased  ;  a  Burrhel  Wild  Sheep  {Ovis  burrhel  <$ ),  a  Japanese 
Deer  {Cervus  sika  9 ),  a  Bennett's  Wallaby  {Halmaturus 
hmnetH  9 ),  two  Night  Herons  (Nyciicorax  griseus),  bred  in 
the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

A  Cause  of  Lunar  Libration.— A  paper  by  Mr.  S.  E. 
Peal,  "  On  a  Possible  Cause  for  Lunar  Libration  other  than  an 
£ltip8oida]  Figure,  and  on  Lunar  Snow  Mountains,*'  has  recently 
been  publish^  by  Messrs.  Dulau  and  Co.  It  is  shown  that 
eridence  of  several  kinds  points  to  the  existence  of  a  vast  shoal, 
or  submerged  continent,  some  1500  miles  long  by  400  across 
along  the  prime  meridian.  This  is  presumed  to  be  of  greater 
specific  gravity  than  the  refrigerated  maria  east  and  west  of  it, 
aad  to  have  been  at  one  time  situated  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere. The  difference  of  attraction  upon  the  shoal  and  the 
surrounding  maria  is  shown  to  be  sufficient  both  to  cause  and 
jnaintain  libration.  Since  libration  began,  the  shoal  has  placed 
itself  geocentrically,  in  which  case  the  south  pole  must  have  been 
drawn  forward  about  30^  The  possibilities  of  the  case  seem  to 
be  as  follows.  The  moon  formerly  had  a  physical  constitution 
the  same  as  that  of  the  earth  at  the  present  time.  The  lunar 
ocean  beds  were  then  steadily  subsiding,  the  lines  of  upheaval 
snd  weakness  being  on  the  continents,  and  causing  a  series  of 
fMon-volcanic  orifices.  Whilst  tidal  friction  was  reducing  the 
nlocity  of  rotation,  polar  snow-caps  were  formed,  and  the 
Atmosphere  became  rarer.  The  extension  of  the  snow-cap  to 
the  equator  was  for  aces  prevented  by  the  incidence  of  solar 
heat.  This  struggle  between  steadily- increasing  refrigeration 
•nd  solar  heat  should  therefore  be  evidenced  by  the  existence  of 
u  irregular  belt  about  the  (then)  ecjuator.  Such  a  belt  is  found 
in  the  circular  maria  Smythii,  Cnsium,  Serenitatis  Imbrium, 
aad  part  of  Oceanus  Procellarum.     If  the  axis  of  rotation  be 


NO.   II 34,  VOL.  44] 


shifted  about  30°,  so  that  the  south  pole  occurs  near  Nach  or 
Maginus,  all  these  irregular  maria  form  a  chain  of  seas  along 
the  equator,  which  may  represent  the  belt  of  solar  influence 
referred  to.  Eventually  these  maria  were  refrigerated,  and  the 
meridional  shoal,  acting  as  a  fixed  tide  during  libration,  caused 
the  change  in  the  direction  of  the  axis  of  rotation,  which  shifted 
the  belt  of  seas  from  their  equatorial  position  to  that  at  present 
occupied  by  them. 

DoUBLB-STAR  OBSERVATIONS. — In  AitroHomischi  Nach' 
richten^  Nos.  3047  and  3048,  Mr.  S.  W.  Bumham  gives  the 
results  of  his  double-star  observations  made  in  1890  with  the 
36- inch  equatorial  of  the  Lick  Obser*/atory.  The  stars  which 
have  been  re-observed  are  mainly  those  which  cannot  easily  be 
measured  on  account  of  their  being  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
but  the  most  powerful  telescopes.  Mr.  Burnham  also  notes  that 
his  purpose  has  not  been  to  find  as  many  pairs  as  possible  with- 
out reference  to  their  character,  but  to  make  several  measure- 
ments of  interesting  ones.  The  present  catalogue  of  new  stars 
contains  70  pairs,  of  which  39  have  distances  less  than  l'',  with 
an  averai>e  distance  of  0*^45. 

The  following  naked-eye  stars  are  included  in  the  list  of  new 
binaries  :— B.A.C.  230,  48  Cephei  (H),  5  Camelopavdus, 
r  Herculis,  Ceti  199,  34  Persei,  v  Geaiinorum,  24  Aquarii, 
95  Piscium,  B.A.C.  1 142,  36  Geminonim,  ifr^  Aquarii,  x  Persei, 
Tauri  148,  65  Geminonim  ;  and  the  following  pairs,  previously 
known,  have  been  found  to  be  more  clo  ely  double : — H  19S1, 
S  409,  5  809,  OS  (app.)  77,  3  2476,  OS  425,  3  12  (app.  IL). 

Observations  op  the  Zodiacal  Counter-glovt. — An 
account  of  observations  of  the  zodiacal  coanterglow,  or  Gigin- 
sckein,  made  at  Mount  Hamilton  from  1888  to  1 891,  is  con- 
tributed to  the  Astronomical  /ourtutl^  No.  243,  by  Mr.  £.  £. 
Barnard.  The  changes  of  form  previously  noted  have  been 
confirmed.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  the  Gegenschiin  appears 
large  and  roundish.  It  afterwards  becomes  elongated,  and  con- 
nected with  the  zodiacal  light  by  a  narrow  zodiaod  band.  The 
observations  prove  that  the  Gegenschein  does  not  lie  in  the 
ecliptic,  although  very  nearly  so.  Neither  is  it  exactly  180^ 
from  the  sun.  The  mean  of  sixteen  observations  assign  the 
following  longitude  and  latitude  to  the  phenomenon  : — 

©  -  A  =  i8o'-6 ;  3  =  +  i^^y 

The  Observatory  of  Yale  University. — The  Report  for 
the  year  1890-91  of  the  Observatory  of  Yale  University  contains 
a  report  from  Dr.  Elkin,  from  which  we  make  the  following 
extracts : — 

"  In  observational  work  with  the  heliometer  I  have  been 
engaged  almost  wholly  in  the  continuation  of  the  series  on  the 
parallaxes  of  the  first  magnitude-  stars  in  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere. The  scheme  originally  laid  out  has  now  been  com- 
pleted, and  furnishes  for  each  of  the  ten  stars  three  (for  Arcturus 
five)  independent  results. 

' '  The  triangulation  of  the  comparison  stars  for  Victoria  acoof  d- 
ing  to  the  plan  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Gill  has  been  carried  out  by 
Mr.  F.  L.  Chase,  who  secured  some  450  measures  of  these  stars 
during  the  months  of  June  to  October  1890.  Mr.  Chase  has 
also  reduced  the  observations  as  far  as  it  was  advisable  for  us  to 
do  so  here,  and  the  results  have  been  communicated  to  Dr.  Gill, 
along  with  the  reduced  results  of  our  observations  of  Victoria 
and  Sappho  in  1889.  Since  February  1891,  Mr.  Chase  has 
been  engaged  in  a  triangulation  of  the  principal  stars  in  Coma 
Berenices^  and  up  to  date  about  one-half  of  the  proposed 
measures  have  been  obtained. 

"  It  is  proposed  during  the  ensuing  season  to  devote  the  hello- 
meter  to  a  series  of  measures  on  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  for  the 
determination  of  their  orbits  and  the  mass  of  the  planet,  com- 
paring; them  inter  se^  as  has  been  done  with  such  success  by 
Hermann  Struve  at  Pulkova  with  those  of  Saturn." 


THE  RECENT  EPIDEMIC  OF  INFLUENZA. 

'T'HE  mortality  in  London  from  influenza  shows  a  steady 
-^  '  decline  week  by  week  ;  and,  althoush  the  number  of 
deaths  is  still  in  excess -of  the  average,  there  are  good  rea- 
sons for  hoping  that  the  epidemic  will  shortly  disappear  from 
our  midst.  The  severity  of  the  recent  visitation,  as  compared 
with  that  which  prevailed  last  year,  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
accompanying  diagram,  in  which  the  effects  of  the  two  epidemics 
are  displayed  side  by  side.  The  weekly  mortality  from  influenzii 
alone  is  represented  by  the  thick  curve,  the  number  of  deaths 


384 


NATURE 


[July  23,  1891 


Irom  diseases  of  the  lespiratoiy  syateni  by  tbe  lighler  curve,  (ltd 
the»*erageiiuinberof  dtalhsfrom  disordera  of  ihs  latler  class  by 
a  dotted  line.  The  avenge  mortality  from  infiueoia  is  too 
small  10  permit  of  any  turve  being  drawn  upon  the  scale  sbowo 
in  the  diagram. 

Talcing  ioio  consideialion,  firstly,  the  monalit^  from  in- 
flaeaia  alone,  we  find  tbat  not  only  was  the  daratioD  of  last 
year's  epidetnic  far  less  than  that  of  the  present  year,  bat  that 
the  number  of  deaths  in  the  earlier  period  was  very  much  smaller 
than  in  (he  lallrr.  The  epidemic  of  1890  set  in  with  great 
teveiity  and  suddenness  at  the  beginning  of  lanuary.  During 
Die  week  ending  December  2%,   1889,  there  were  no  deaths  b 


I  average  of  74  per  week. 

Thevisiiaiionoflhepi 


present  year  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced at  ihc  beginning  of  May.  During  the  whole  of  April 
there  were  a  few  deaths  from  inHuenza,  the  numbers  in  the  fonr 
weeks  embraced  by  the  Regittiar- General's  returns  being  re- 
spectively 7,  3,  9,  and  10.  By  the  week  ending  May  s,  bow- 
ever,  the  number  had  risen  to  37,  and  from  this  time  onward 
the  disease  continued  to  spread  with  alarming  rapidity,  ibe 
Qumbeis  in  the  three  successive  weeks  being  148,  l66,  and  i 
maximum  during  the  week  ending  May  23  of  319.     In  the  two 


I     Epidei^icof   1890  Epidemic     of     1891 


Week    Ending 

N|jAN|FEBlFEB'FEi 
^   1^    I  ZS\\  8        15 


Week      Ending 


fl^^HQQQ^^^HH 


London  rom  this  disease,  and  in  the  following  week  only  4. 
In  the  week  ending  January  ii,  1890,  however,  the  number 
had  risen  to  67,  while  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  seven  days  a 
maximum  of  127  was  reached.  Tbe  mortality  then  declined 
steadily,  the  numbers  in  the  four  succeeding  weeks  being  re- 
ipectively,  105.  75,  38,  and  30.  As  a  senoos  epidemic  the 
vuilation  may  then  be  r^arded  a<  having  spent  itself,  and  in 
preparing  the  diagram  I  have  not  consider«l  it  advisable  to 
include  any  period  in  which  the  weekly  number  of  deaths  fell 
below  25,  It  may,  however,  be  remarked  that,  for  three  weeki 
subsequent  to  that  shown  by  the  curve,  the  mortality  exceeded 
ao,  white  in  the  four  succeeding  weeks  it  ranged  between  10 
and  17.  Taking  as  a  whole  the  period  of  sii  weeks  in  which 
NO.    I  1 34,  VOL.  44] 


ollowing  weeks  the  mortality  again  exceeded  300,  after  which  it 
declined  steadily  to  249,  182,  117,  and  56,  while  in  the  last 
period  shown  by  the  diagram  the  nnmber  had  fallen  to  40. 
Taking  the  period  as  a  whole,  it  appears  that  during  Ibe  elereo 
weeks  ending  July  11  the  total  number  of  deaths  in  Londco 
from  influenza,  irrespective  of  cases  io  which  it  was  known 
to  have  been  present  in  the  course  of  other  diseases,  ms  3017, 
giving  an  average  of  184  per  week,  or  about  two  and  a  half 
times  as  much  as  tbe  average  mortality  in  1S90.  In  DO  fewer 
than  seven  weeks  out  of  the  eleven  the  number  of  deaths 
eiceedcd  the  maximum  attained  during  the  epidemic  of  last 


a  examination  of  the 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


285 


paper  read  before  the  Scottish  Meteorological  Society  on  March 
31,  1890,  by  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell  and  Dr.  Bucban  (an  abstract 
of  which  appeared  in  Nature,  vol.  xli.  p.  596),  it  is  quite 
evident  that  the  recent  epidemic  of  influenza  has  been  the  most 
severe  we  have  had  in  London  since  the  first  publication  of  weekly 
records  of  mortality  some  forty-five  years  ago.  As  the  figures 
are  of  great  interest,  we  make  no  apology  for  reproducing  the 
brief  table  given  in  that  paper,  showing  the  number  of  deaths 
which  occurred  in  the  five  principal  epidemics  experienced  since 
the  year  1847.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  number  given  for 
last  year  is  considerably  in  excess  of  that  quoted  above,  the 
period  selected  by  the  authors  of  the  paper  comprising  the  whole 
of  the  three  months  January  to  March.  In  the  month  last  men- 
tioned,  the  epidemic  was  certainly  not  of  any  great  severity,  but 
as  the  figures  do  not  clash  in  any  way  with  the  general  argu- 
mei&t,  I  have  not  thought  it  advisable  to  alter  the  results.  An 
addition  has,  however,  been  made  to  the  table,  by  including  the 
figures  of  mortality  reached  during  the  epidemic  of  the  present 
year. 

Deaths. 

December  1S47  to  April  1848 1631 

:March  to  May  1851         258 

January  to  March  1855 130 

November  1857  to  January  1858  123 

January  to  March  1890 545 

May  to  July  1891 2027 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  table  that  the  mortality  recently 
experienced  has  been  far  greater  than  at  any  other  period  during 
the  forty- five  years,  the  nearest  approach  to  so  severe  an  epidemic 
being  in  1847-48,  when  the  deaths  amounted  to  about  400  less. 
Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  population  of  London 
45  years  ago  was  very  much  smaller  than  it  is  now,  it  may  at 
the  first  blush  appear  that,  as  regards  severity,  there  was 
not  very  much  to  choose  between  the  two  visitations.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  in  the  earlier  period  the  ravages 
of  the  disease  extended  over  five  months,  while  in  the  latter 
they  were  confined  to  about  two  and  a  half. 

A  very  striking  feature  in  the  disease  to  which  the  somewhat 
misleading  name  of  influenza  has  been  given,  is  its  peculiarly 
weakening  efiect  upon  the  lungs  and  brondiial  tubes  ;  and  as  the 
epidemic  is  invariably  attended  by  a  high  mortality  from  respira- 
tory diseases,  I  have  included  in  the  diagram  a  series  of  curves - 
showing  the  number  of  deaths  from  these  attendant  disorders. , 
As  regards  the  epidemic  of  1890,  it  may  at  once  be  confessed  that 
the  cnrve  is  somewhat  misleading.  During  the  last  few  days  of 
1889  and  the  opening  of  the  following  year  a  sharp  touch  of 
anticyclonic  cold  was  experienced  over  England  ;  and  in  the 
metropolis  this  was  accompanied,  as  is  so  commonly  the  case,  by 
thick  fog.  Under  such  circumstances  a  high  mortality  from 
respiratory  diseases  followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  so  that  when 
we  examine  the  curve  we  find  that,  at  the  time  when  the  epidemic 
of  influenza  was  only  just  appearing,  the  deaths  from  lung  dis- 
orders were  at  their  maximum.  After  the  first  week  in  January, 
however,  the  weather  became  unusually  mild  for  the  time  of  year, 
a  long  period  of  south-westerly  winds  setting  in,  with  abnormally 
high  temperatures.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  in  fact,  that  at  the 
time  the  influenza  epidemic  of  1890  was  raging  the  effects  of  tem- 
perature and  weather  were  so  strong  as  to  obliterate  the  influences 
of  the  miasmatic  disorder  upon  diseases  of  the  respiratory 
system.  This  year,  however,  the  meteorological  element  may 
almost  be  eliminated  from  account,  for,  although  cold  winds  were 
very  frequent  in  May  and  the  early  part  of  June,  the  severity  of 
the  weather  was  not  such  as  to  lead  to  any  material  increase  of 
mortality  from  the  class  of  diseases  in  question.  The  spread  of 
influenza  was,  however,  soon  followed  by  a  serious  rise  in  the 
death-rate,  and  in  the  course  of  the  fortnight  ending  June  6  the 
mortality  from  respiratory  complaints  amounted  to  more  than 
twice  the  average,  the  large  excess  being  due  chiefly  to  deaths 
from  pneumonia  and  bronchitis.  The  subsequent  decline  of  in- 
fluenza was  accompanied,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  curve,  by  a 
corresponding  decline  of  fatalities  from  respiratory  diseases,  but 
it  was  not  until  the  last  week  of  the  period  that  the  deaths  fell 
short  of  the  average.  Taking  the  eleven  weeks  as  a  whole,  it 
appears  that  the  total  mortality  from  respiratory  disorders 
amounted  to  5138,  or  about  75  per  cent,  more  than  the  average. 
During  the  epidemic  of  1890  the  actual  number  was  far  larger, 
but  in  the  winter  months  the  average  is  also  very  much  higher, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  excess  above  the  normal  only  amounted 
last  year  to  26  per  cent. 

NO.  II 34,  VOL.  44] 


The  influence  of  the  weather  upon  the  two  epidemics  seems  to 
have  been  exerted  in  entirely  opposite  directions.  During  the 
epidemic  of  1890  temperature  was,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
for  the  most  part  very  high  for  the  time  of  year,  and  the  pre- 
valence of  a  strong  current  of  south-westerly  winds  in  January 
doubtless  aided  in  the  dispersal  of  the  miasmatic  germs.  The 
weather  was,  in  fact,  as  favourable  as  could  have  been  desired,  and 
the  ravages  of  the  epidemic,  severe  though  they  were,  were 
doubtless  much  milder  than  they  would  have  been  had  the  winter 
been  cold  and  foggy.  The  recent  epidemic  has  not  had  so  many 
foes  to  contend  with,  for  in  the  earlier  stages  of  its  career  the 
weather  was  not  only  cold  for  the  time  of  year  but  also  calm  and 
quiet.  The  eerm  was  therefore  able  to  settle  in  our  midst  without 
serious  opposition,  and  the  nngenial  nature  of  the  atmosphere  has 
doubtless  been  responsible  for  much  of  the  lung  and  bronchial 
disease  which  has  followed  in  its  train.  Deluded  by  the  know- 
ledge that  the  spring  season  was  upon  us,  and  forgetful  of  the 
fact  that  it  had  come  in  an  unkindly  guise,  many  a  weakly  con- 
valescent has  been  emboldened  to  venture  out  into  the  chilly  air, 
and  has  contracted  a  serious  cold,  from  which  in  too  many  cases 
he  has  been  unable  to  recover.  Fredk.  J.  Brodib. 


THE  MUSEUMS  ASSOCIATION, 

'T'HE  Museums  Association  held  its  second  annual  meeting  in 
-^  Cambridge  on  July  7,  8,  and  9,  under  the  presidency  of 
Mr.  John  Willis  Clark,  Superintendent  of  the  Museum  of 
Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy,  Cambridge,  and  Registrary 
of  the  Univereity. 

The  following  representatives  of  Museums  (outside  Cambridge) 
and  associates  were  present : — The  Rev.  H.  H.  Higgins,  Mr. 
R.  Paden  (Liverpool) ;  Mr.  R.  Cameron,  Mr.  J.  M.  E.  Bowley 
(Sunderiand) ;  Mr.  G.  B.  Rothera,  Mr.  J.  W.  Carr  (Notting- 
ham) ;  Mr.  Councillor  P.  Burt,  Mr.  J.  Paton  (Glasgow) ;  Mr. 
T.  W.  Shore  (Southampton) ;  Lieut. -Colonel  Turner,  Mr.  J.  Tym 
(Stockport)  ;  Alderman  W.  H.  Brittain,  Mr.  E.  Howarth 
(Sheffield) ;  Mr.  Joseph  Clarke,  Mr.  G.  N.  Maynard  (Saffron 
Walden)  ;  Mr.  J.  Storrie  (Cardiff);  Mr.  Butler  Wood  (Brad- 
ford); Mr.  C.  Madeley  (Warrington);  Mr.  I.  Lyon,  Mr.  J.  T. 
Ogle  (Bootle) ;  Mr.  W.  E.  Hoyle  (Owens  College,  Manchester) ; 
Mr.  H.  M.  Platnauer  (York) ;  Mr.  F.  W.  Rudler,  Mr.  F.  A. 
Bather,  Mr.  A.  Smith  Woodward. 

The  proceedings  were  opened  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Higgins 
(Past- President),  who.  introduced  the  President,  Mr.  J.  Willis 
Clark.  The  President  then  read  his  address,  and  gave  a  short 
and  very  interesting  account  of  the  early  history  of  Cambridge 
and  of  the  foundation  of  a  few  of  the  older  Collies.  On  the 
8th  and  9th  the  following  papers  and  reports  were  read  and 
discussed  : — 

"  On  some  old  Museums,"  by  Prof.  A.  Newton,  F.R.S. 

*'  On  the  desirability  of  exhibiting,  in  Museums,  unmount^ 
skins  of  birds,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Higgins. 

"On  difficulties  incidental  to  Museum  demonstrations,"  by 
F.  W.  Rudler. 

**On  the  Dresden  Museum  cases,**  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer. 

**  On  the  registration  and  cataloguing  of  Specimens,"  by 

W.  E.  Hoyle. 

*'  Some  recent  Museum  legislation,"  by  E.  Howarth. 

"On  the  arrangement  of  Rock  Collections,"  by  H.  M. 
Platnauer. 

**  Fossil  Crinoidea  in  the  British  Museum  "  (an  attempt  to 
put  into  practice  modem  ideas  of  Museum  arrangement),  by  F. 
A.  Bather. 

"  On  Tables  and  Chairs,"  by  F.  A.  Bather. 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  consider  the 
question  of  securing  the  aid  of  specialists. 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  consider  the 
question otlabelling  in  Museums. 

The  meeting  was  eminently  pleasant  and  successful,  thanks  to 
the  untiring  eneigy  and  exertions  of  the  President  and  of  Mr.  S. 
F.  Harmer  (Fellow  of  King's  College),  the  Local  Secretary  and 
Treasurer.  Under  their  guidance  several  colleges,  libraries,  and 
laboratories  were  visited.  Prof.  Middleton  conducted  a  party 
over  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  and,  through  the  kindness  of 
Prof.  Newton,  a  few  of  the  members  visited  the  Pepysian 
Library. 


286 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  IN  INDIA, 

CIR  AUCKLAND  COLVIN.  the  Governor  of  the  North- 
^  Western  Provinces  of  India,  has  issaed  an  exhaustive 
minute  on  technical  education  in  that  country,  in  which  the 
various  steps  towards  the  introduction  of  this  system  of  instruc- 
tion are  summarized.  The  minute  naturally  refers  chiefly  to  the 
North- Western  Provinces,  but  is  in  fact  a  summary  of  what  has 
been  done  elsewhere.  It  seems  that  the  idea  of  introducing 
technical  education  in  the  North-West  Provinces,  where  there 
has  hitherto  always  been  a  steadily  increasing  demand  for  Uni- 
versity education,  was  first  mooted  in  September  1885,  when 
the  attention  of  the  local  Government  was  called  to  the  Madras 
scheme,  which  aimed  at  promoting  instruction  in  industrial  arts 
and  manufactures  by  offering  grants-in-aid  to  encourage  the 
teaching,  in  schools  so  aided,  of  technical  science,  arts,  and 
handicrafts,  and  by  testing  that  teaching  by  a  system  tA  public 
examinations.  Nearly  a  year  later  the  Home  Secretary  to  the 
Government  of  India  drew  up  a  note  on  the  subject  generally, 
pointing  out  that  there  was  room  for  improvement  in  this  branch 
of  education  in  the  great  north-west,  and  inquiring  what  was 
being  done.  The  Director  of  Public  Instruction  replied  that 
the  question  of  establishing  Faculties  of  Medicine  and  Engineer- 
ing was  under  consideration  in  the  Allahabad  University,  and 
also  certain  preparatory  courses  of  study,  while  it  was  proposed 
to  refer  the  question  of  agricultural  and  veterinary  schools  to  the 
Local  Records  Department.  In  January  1888,  Colonel  Forbes, 
repl^ring  to  questions  addressed  to  him  regarding  instruction  in 
engineering,   said  he  considered  that  the  practical  instruction 

E lined  by  natives  in  the  large  railway  workshops  at  Allahabad, 
ucknow,  and  Lahore,  and  at  the  Government  workshops  at 
Roorkee,  was  decidedly  bearing  fruit  in  the  direction  of  enabling 
natives  to  take  intelligent  and  independent  control  in  these 
branches  of  technical  industry.  The  railway  and  Crovernment 
workshops  he  considered  were  the  real  technical  schools  so  far  as 
thb  branch  of  instruction  was  concerned,  and  there  was  no 
need,  therefore,  for  the  Government  to  establish  technical 
engineering  schools.  Facilities  might  be  given  to  selected 
students  at  the  middle  and  high  schools  to  go  through  a  four  or 
five  years'  course  at  these  vrorkshops,  but  more  than  that  he 
held  was  unnecessary.  Colonel  Brandreth,  the  Principal  of 
the  Thomason  College,  was  unfavourable  to  any  school  for 
technical  education  for  the  youthful  masses,  but  would 
provide  special  opportunities  for  exceptional  young  men, 
though  such  opportunities  need  only  be  limited  in  number. 
*'  For  the  higher  grades  of  engineering,  I  think  the  ordinary 
liberal  education  with  a  scientific  knowledge  is  most  suited, 
until  a  man  is  of  an  age  to  know  his  mmd,  and  elect  for 
the  profession,  when  there  should  be  a  strictlv  technical  educa- 
tion for  a  limited  time,  two  or  three  years,  followed  by  a  careful 
apprenticeship  on  works."  The  late  Colonel  Ward  Contended 
that  facilities  should  be  given  at  the  Roorkee  College  for 
practical  instruction,  in  addition  to  the  present  theoretical 
course.  "  If  such  a  technical  practical  class  were  formed  at 
Roorkee,  students  from  the  schoob  might  be  allowed  to  attend 
it  without  going  through  the  College  theoretical  course."  Later 
on,  the  Director  of  Land  Records  and  Agriculture  sent  in  an 
opinion  on  the  subjects  immediately  referred  to  him,  and  advo- 
cated nothing  more  than  the  creation  of  a  normal  school  for 
survey  only,  at  Cawnpore  or  Lucknow,  suggesting  also  the 
establishment  of  small  scholarships  for  the  mamtenance  of  boys 
in  training  at  the  various  workshops  in  the  provinces  ;  of  an  art 
school  at  Lucknow  ;  and  of  agricultural  and  veterinary  schools 
or  classes  in  high  schools  ;  and  he  proposed  that  drawing  should 
be  made  compulsory,  competency  to  teach  drawing  being  pre- 
scribed as  an  essential  qualification  in  all  teachers  in  middle  and 
high  class  schools.  And  finally,  the  Inspector-General  of  Civil 
Hospitals  reported  against  the  proposal  to  teach  up  to  a  higher 
standard  than  that  of  the  hospital  assistant  class.  Then,  in 
March  1888,  the  Director  of  Public  Instruction  forwarded  a 
second  report  adverse  to  the  establishment  of  a  school  of  art  at 
Lucknow,  and  pointing  out  further  that,  however  desirable  was 
the  proposal  to  introduce  drawing  into  public  schools,  there  were 
no  funds  available  for  the  purpose.  At  the  close  of  the  year  the 
Director  forwarded  a  resolution,  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  of  the 
Allahabad  University,  to  the  effect  that  any  steps  to  establish  a 
College  for  training  medical  practitioners  would  at  present  be 
premature.  At  this  point,  says  the  Times  of  India,  in  discussing 
Sir  Auckland  Colvin's  minute,  the  cold  water  current  ceased. 
In  the  February  of  last  year  the  Director  of  Public  Instruction 

NO.   1 1 34,  VOL.  44] 


forwarded  a  minute  by  the  Allahabad  Senate,  it  which  it 
decided  to  establish  a  Faculty  of  Engineering,  degrees  beii^  con- 
ferred on  men  who  had  passed  at  least  a  three  years*  theoretical 
course  at  a  properly  constituted  Engineering  College  or  ichooL 
On  this  subject  Sir  Auckland  Colvin  no^  reports  that,  so  far  as 
he  is  able  to  gather,  the  only  place  at  which  engineering  caa  be 
studied  in  the  North- West  Provinces  is  Roorkee.  The  Pnbfic 
Works  Department,  he  adds,  is  of  opinion  that  if  degrees  are  to 
be  conferred  by  the  Allahabad  University  the  Roorkee  certificate 
must  be  abolished,  and  the  Department  prefers  Roorkee  certi- 
ficates. In  ihU  dilemma  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  has  not  jet 
been  forwarded  to  the  Government.  Then  the  establishment  bj 
the  University  of  a  special  examination  of  '*  a  commercia]  and 
practical  character,  aiming  apparently  at  forming  a  sort  of 
training  class  for  technical  education,  still  remains  under  oqk^ 
sideration.  The  general  conclusion,  Sir  A.  Colvin  thinks, 
is  th  It,  on  the  whole,  opinion  points  to  nothing  more  ui^ent  or 
pronounced  than  the  expediency  of  giving  greater  facilities  lor 
obtaining  instruction  in  the  subordinate  grades  of  practice 
engineering,  and  in  the  handicraft  of  the  artisan.  Sir  Auckland 
Colvin  then  sums  up  the  subsequent  papers  on  the  sabiect»  relat- 
ing to  the  offer  of  the  British  Indian  Association,  in  July  1887, 
to  establish  and  maintain,  at  a  cost  to  the  Association  of  Rs.  500 
per  month,  a  school  of  industry  in  one  of  the  Wingfield  Mandl 
buildmgs  ;  the  announcement  of  Munsbi  Imtiaz  Ali  of  additional 
individual  subscriptions,  reaching  Rs.  1 7*440  per  annum  ;  to  the 
speeches  of  Sir  Alfred  Lyall  on  the  subject ;  ani  to  the  draft  mks 
forwarded  by  the  British  Indian  Association. 

Sir  Auckland  next  devotes  himself  to  a  consideratioa  of  the 
systems  of  technical  instruction  at  work  in  Bombay  and  Bengal 
From  a  careful  study  of  the  facts  and  the  more  or  less  volamingu 
papers  in  which  they  were  originsdly  enshrined,  he  proceeds 
to  define  what  is  meant  by  technical  education  so  far  as  it  is 
applicable  to  the  North- West  Provinces.  Technical  edocation 
in  Europe  he  illustrates  by  Mr.  Scott  Russell's  words :  "  It  » 
necessary  that  each  individual  shall,  in  his  own  special  profession, 
trade,  or  calling,  know  more  thoroughly  its  fundamental  principles, 
wield  more  adroitly  its  special  weapons,  be  able  to  apply  moie 
skilfully  its  refined  artinces,  and  to  achieve  more  quickly  and 
economically  the  aim  of  his  Ufe,  whether  it  be  coaunerce,  manu- 
factures, public  works,  agriculture,  navigation,  or  architecture  ;'** 
and  by  an  extract  from  Mr.  Kirkham's  report,  in  February  188^ 
to  the  Bombay  Government :  **  The  general  principles  that  the 
real  technical  school  is  the  actual  workshop— that  actual  work- 
shops are  only  called  into  existence  by  capital  operating  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  own  law — ^that  this  training,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
given  in  schools  or  collies,  must  be,  in  the  main,  preparatory 
and  disciplinary,  and  that  the  improvement  of  science  teaching 
all  round,  and  the  spread  of  a  practical  knowledge  of  drawii^ 
are  the  indispensable  preliminaries  of  any  form  of  practical 
training."  But  however  unanimous  the  authorities  may  be  so 
far  as  ue  principle  of  the  matter  is  concerned,  directly  they  come 
to  the  practical  details  there  is,  as  Mr.  Kirkham  admits,  evoy 
degree  of  diversity  of  opinion,  and  every  system  is  of  course  bound 
in  a  way  to  differ  from  every  other  system,  just  as  the  leading 
industries  of  different  districts  differ.  Apart  from  this,  however, 
the  Bombay  system  was  found  to  be  far  too  elaborate  for  the 
North-West  Provinces.  From  Bengal  Sir  Alfred  Croft  wrote  a 
very  practical  and  sensible  letter,  condemning  the  abolition  of 
the  Seebpore  workshops,  and  urging  that  the  primary  point, 
so  far  as  engineer  students  were  concerned,  was  to  learn  how 
to  use  their  hands.  He  also  quoted  Mr.  Spiing,  who  says  there 
can  be  no  question  as  to  their  superiority  for  public  works  employ- 
ment if  the  men  have  gone  through  the  course  of  manual  training. 
*'  An  engineer  who  has  learned  to  use  his  hands  is,  other  thiz^ 
being  equal,  an  all-round  better  and  more  useful  man  than  one 
who  has  not. "  Sir  A.  Croft  goes  on  to  further  condemn  the 
removal  of  the  Seebpore  shops  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
need  of  the  mechanic  class.  "It  may  be  fretly  admitted  and 
taken  as  proved  that  the  maintenance  of  the  shops  is  undesir- 
able from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Public  Works  DepartmenL 
But  it  is  no  less  clear  to  me  that  the  interests  of  that  Depart- 
ment are  in  this  matter  antagonistic  to  those  of  technical  educa- 
tion ;  and  that  the  deliberations  of  the  Committee  have  been 
chiefly  governed  by  regard  to  the  former."  The  Government, 
however,  remained  in  principle  unmoved  ;  but  happily  in  practice 
they  agreed  with  the  Director  of  Public  Instruction,  and  the 
Government  of  India  followed  suit ;  thus  establishing  a  very 
important  principle  in  regard  to  technical  education.  Armed 
with  all  this  experience,  and  conceding  for  the  moment  the 


July  23,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


287 


acbtenoe  of  a  demand  for  men  competent  to  deal  with  machinery 
and  familiar  with  all  the  lower  forms  of  engineering,  Sir  A. 
Colvin  proceeds  to  discuss  what  course  the  training  should  take, 
how  best  to  secore  it,  and  the  sources  from  which  the  necessary 
(QDds  could  be  obtained.  With  regard  to  the  first  point,  he 
thinks  that  what  would  mostly  be  required  are  facilities  for  gain- 
ing a  competent  theoretical  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  more 
subordinate  grades  of  mechanical  engineering,  such  as  is  neces- 
sary to  a  foreman  mechanic,  more  especially  in  connection  with 
(be  steam-engine,  the  railway  workshops,  and  the  iron-foundry  ; 
and  also  of  the  processes  of  cotton-spinning  as  employed  in  the 
mills  established  in  the  North- West  Provinces.  *' These  are 
the  two  great  branches  of  industry  which  in  Bombay  have  been 
recognized  as  fields  for  native  labour :  which,  though  in  a  lesser 
degree,  exist  here  (in  the  North- West  Provinces),  and  in  regard  to 
which,  at  present,  specialized  means  of  instruction  are  unques- 
tionably, in  these  provinces,  wanting."  With  regard  to  the 
second  point,  there  exists  at  Roorkee  a  Government  Engineering 
College  and  Government  workshops,  and  it  seems  probable  that 
these  will  form  the  nucleus  of  the  instruction^necessary.  As  to  the 
third  point,  Sir  Auckland  Colvin  thinks  it  would  be  premature 
to  enter  into  the  question  of  funds  until  the  dimensions  of  the 
scheme  are  definitely  decided  upon.  Finally,  to  see  how  far  all 
these  views  meet  the  industrial  needs  of  the  province,  Sir  Auck- 
land has  decided  to  seek  the  aid  of  a  strong  Committee,  which 
will  obtain  from  all  available  Quarters  information  on  the  points 
indicated  in  the  minute,  deputing  members  to  Calcutta,  Bombay, 
and  Madras,  and  subsequently  reporting  to  Government  the 
result  of  its  inquiries,  with  its  own  recommendati  >ns,  and  with 
fall  details  of  any  scheme  which  it  may  desire  to  see  carried 
into  e£fect. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford. — The  judges  for  the  Johnson  Memorial  Prize,  1891, 
ht?e  awarded  the  prize  to  Mr.  M.  S.  Pembrey,  B.A.,  Christ 
Church.  The  judges  also  select  the  essays  of  the  following  as 
worthy  of  mention :  Mr.  T.  I.  Pocock,  Scholar  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  and  Mr.  F.  T.  Howard,  B.A.,  Bailiol  College.  The 
}<iteson  Prize  consists  of  a  gold  medal  of  the  value  of  ten 
guineas,  together  with  the  surplus  dividends  on  the  money  in- 
vested. The  prize  is  awarded  every  fourth  year  to  the  candi- 
d^e  who  produces  the  best  essay  on  some  subject  connected 
vUl  astronomy  or  meteorology.  The  selection  of  a  subject 
is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  candidates.  This  year  there  were 
9k  candidates. 

Mr.  Pembrey  was  a  Fell  Exhibitioner  of  Christ  Church, 
gained  a  first  class  in  the  final  honour  school  of  natural  science 
in  1889  (physiology),  and  obtained  the  Radcliffe  Travelling 
Fellowship  in  1890.  Mr.  Pocock  was  placed  in  the  first  class 
of  nathematical  moderations  and  also  in  the  final  mathematical 
tcfaools,  Trinity  term  1891.  Mr.  floward  was  placed  in  the 
KOond  class  (tf  the  final  honour  school  in  natural  science 
(ff^losy))  and  obtained  the  Burdett-Coutts  Scholarship  in 
189a 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Chemical  Society,  June  18.— Prof.  A.  Crum-Brown, 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were 
w«l : — A  note  on  some  new  reactions  of  defaydracetic  add,  by 
pr.  J.  Norman  Collie.  In  preparing  dehydracetic  acid,  by  pass- 
iig  ethyl  aceto-acetate  through  a  red-hot  tube,  it  is  stated  that 
alcohol  is  formed;  the  author  finds  that  large  quantities  of 
ethylene  gas  and  acetone  are  also  produced.  Dehydracetic  acid  is 
•iso  volatile  to  a  considerable  extent  with  steam,  and  is  decom- 
posed by  boiling  with  water  to  a  small  extent  into  carbon 
dioxide  and  dimethylpyrone.  This  latter  decomposition  is 
iDore  readily  effected  by  boiling  the  acid  with  strong  hydro- 
^oric  acid.  If  50  grams  are  boiled  wiih  ordinary  fuming 
hydrochloric  acid,  the  whole  is  converted  into  carbon  dioxide 
iod  a  soluble  compound  of  dimethylpyrone  with  hydrochloric 
■cid.  The  barium  salt  of  dehydracetic  acid,  (C8H905)2Ba, 
■eems  to  be  not  a  salt  of  the  compound  CgHgO^,  but  of  the  true 
tetracetic  acid,  CgHioOj.  A  very  stable  copper  salt  of  the 
■armula  C^H^OjNjCu  is  obtained  if  dehydracetic  acid  be 
•dded  to  a  solution  of  copper  acetate  in  a  large  excess  of 

NO.   1 134,  VOL.  44] 


ammonia. — The  lactone  of  iriaceiic  acid,  by  Dr.  J.  Norman 
Collie.  In  a  former  paper  on  the  constitution  of  dehydracetic 
acid  (Trans.  Chem.  Soc,  1890,  189)  the  author  pointed  out  that 
if  the  formula  which  he  proposed  for  dehydracetic  acid  was 
correct,  it  would  be  the  8- lactone  of  tetracetic  acid.  And  the 
follo\fting  list  was  given  showing  the  connection  between 
the  condensed  acids  formed  from  acetic  acid :  CH3CO.  (CHjCO)j. 
CHjCOOH,  tetracetic  acid;  CHjCO.CHaCO.CHjCOOH, 
triacetic acid  ;  CHjCOCHjCGOH,  diacetic  acid  ;  CH,COOH, 
acetic  acid.  At  that  time  no  acid  corresponding  to  the  triacetic 
acid  was  known.  Since  then  the  author  has  obtained  the 
lactone  of  this  acid  by  the  action  of  90  per  cent,  sulphuric  acid 
on  dehydracetic  acid  at  a  temperature  of  i3o'*-i35*'.  The 
properties  and  reactions  of  the  new  compound  are  described. — 
The  refractive  power  of  certain  organic  compounds  at  different 
temperatures,  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Perkin,  F.R.S.  The  magnetic 
relations  of  substances  when  examined  at  temperatures  wide 
apart  show  that  certain  variations  take  place  after  allowing  for 
change  of  density.  Experiments  have  been  made  by  the 
author  in  reference  to  the  refractive  power  of  liquids 
under  simitar  circumstances.  The  results  show  that  the 
specific  refractive  power  is  not  con  tant  for  all  tem- 
peratures. By  comparing  the  lines  A  and  F  it  was  found 
that  the  dispersion  was  slightly  diminished  by  rise  of  tempera- 

When 


ture. 


The  results  were  calculated  by  the  formula  ^  — — . 

a 


calculated  by  Lorentz*s  formula  the  numbers  gave  higher  results 
for  high  temperatures  than  for  lower  ones. — Note  on  a  volatile 
compound  of  iron  and  carbonic  oxide,  by  Ludwig  Mond, 
F.  R.S.,  and  Dr.  F.  Quincke  (see  Nature,  July  9,  p.  234).— 
The  formation  of  salts,  a  contribution  to  the  theory  of  electro- 
lysis and  of  the  nature  of  chemical  change  in  the  case  of  non- 
elecirolytes,  by  H.  El.  Armstrong.  The  author  draws  attention 
to  the  recent  researches  of  Claisen,  W.  Wislicenus,  and  others, 
which  clearly  show  that  ethereal  salts  form  compounds  with 
sodium  ethylate,  and  to  the  bearing  which  these  results  have  on 
the  theory  of  the  formation  of  salts  generally.  It  may  be  sup- 
posed that  the  acid  and  the  "base*'  in  the  first  instance  com- 
bine, and  that  the  salt  is  formed  by  subsequent  interactions 
•within  the  molecule.  In  like  manner,  acids  form  dissociable 
compounds  with  water,  and  by  the  occurrence  of  change  within 
such  systems,  under  the  influence  of  electromotive  force,  electro- 
lysis is  effected.  When  the  compound  is  highly  unstable,  the 
opportunity  for  change  within  its  system  is  slight,  the  acid  is  a 
weak  one,  and  its  solution  of  relatively  low  conducting  power. 
In  the  case  of  non-electrolytes,  the  occurrence  of  change  may  be 
supposed  to  occur  within  complex  systems  formed  by  the  union 
of  the  interacting  substances. — Dibenzyl  ketone,  by  Dr.  S. 
Young.  The  author  finds  that,  in  preparing  the  ketone  by 
heating  calcium  phenyl  acetate  in  a  combustion  furnace,  only 
27  per  cent,  of  the  theoretical  yield  is  obtained.  However,  if 
the  calcium  salt  be  heated  by  means  of  the  vapour  of  boiling 
sulphur,  the  yield  of  pure  ketone  amounts  to  76 '6  per  cent.^^ 
The  vapour  pressures  of  dibenzyl  ketone,  by  L)r.  S.  Young. — 
The  vapour- pressures  of  mercury,  by  Dr.  S.  Young,  'i'wo 
additional  observations  of  the  vapour- pressures  of  mercury  at 
183'*  75  and  236''  9  have  been  made,  and,  from  the  previous 
results  of  Ramsay  and  Young,  the  boiling-point  and  the  vapour- 
pressures  of  mercury  have  been  recalculated. 

June  25. — Extraordinary  General  Meeting. — At  the  request  of 
certain  Fellows  to  the  President,  an  extraordinary  general 
meeting  was  summoned  to  consider  a  proposal  for  amending  and 
altering  the  by-laws.  The  proposal  was  moved  by  Mr.  James 
Wilson  and  seconded  by  Dr.  Teed.  Mr.  Cartrighe  moved  the 
following  amendment :  *'  That  this  meeting  declines  to  pledge 
itself  to  any  amendment  or  modification  of  the  by-laws  which 
has  not  been  approved  and  recommended  to  the  Fellows  for 
adoption  by  the  Council."  Sir  F.  A.  Abel  seconded  the  amend- 
ment. Mr.  Cassell,  Mr.  Lloyd,  and  Dr.  Newton  spoke  in 
favour  of  the  original  motion.  Prof.  Tilden,  Mr.  Warington, 
Mr.  Page,  Dr.  Odling,  and  Mr.  Friswell  spoke  in  favour  of  the 
amendment.  The  amendment  was  carried  by  137  votes  to  47 
votes. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  13. — M.  Dnchartre  in  the  chair. 
—Calculation  of  the  mean  length  that  a  circular  tube  widened  at 
one  end  should  have  in  order  that  a  sensibly  uniform  r/gime 
might  be  established,  and  on  the  expenditure  of  the  charge  that 
entails  the  establishment  of  this  regime,  by  M.  J.  Boussinesq. — 
I  Contribution  to  the  study  of  what  are  called  »<x/Mra/ prairies, by  M. 


288 


NA  TURE 


[July  23,  1891 


A.  Cbatin. — Onalkyl  cyanides,  cyanobenzeae,  an^l  orthocyano- 
toluene,  by  M.  A.  Haller. — Experimental  aerodynamic  researches 
and  experimental  data,  by  Prof.  S.  P.  Lmgley  (see  p.  277). — 
Observations  of  solar  spots  and  facalae,  made  with  the  Brunner 
equatorial  of  Lyons  Observatory,  daring  the  first  six  months  of 
this  year,  by  M.   Em.  Marchand. — On  a  modification  of  the 
method  of  supporting  railway  and  tramway  vehicles,  by  M. 
Feraud. — On  the  measurement  of  capacity,  self-induction,  and 
mutual  induction  by  experiments  on  aerial  wires,  by  M.  Massin. 
— On  a  new  copper  hydride  and  the  preparation  of  pure  nitrogen, 
by  M.  A.  Leduc.     The  new  body  was  discovered  in  the  course 
of  some  experiments  on  the  preparation  of  pure  nitrogen  by 
passing  undried  air  deprived  of  COj  over  copper  turnings  in 
a  glass  tube  heated  to  redness  and  then  reducing  the  resulting 
oxide  by  hydrogen.      The  composition  and  properties  of  this 
hydride  have  not  yet  been  studied,  but  from  the  fact  that  it  is 
formed  at  red  heat  it  appears  to  differ  from  the  body  discovered 
by  Wurtz,  which  is  broken  up  at  about  60**  C.  — Action  of  light 
on  silver  chloride,  by  M.  Guntz.     The  experiments  indicate  that 
when  a  layer  of  silver  chloride  is  exposed  to  light  it  becomes 
divided  into  three  superficial  layers,  the  first  of  which  is  metallic 
silver;  the  second  silver  subchloride ;  and  the  third  unaltered  silver 
chloride.     These  three  layers  have  a  thickness  which  is  a  function 
of  the  duration  of  exposure,  and  of  the  primitive  thickness  of  the 
layer  of  silver  chloride  experimented  upon. — On  a  new  gaseous 
compound,  phosphorus  pentafluochloride,  by  M.   C.   Poulenc. 
The  formation  of  thb  compound  is  expressed  by  the  formula 
PF,  +  CI]  =  PFXl^  which  also  indicates  that  a  contraction  of 
volume  occurs.    This  has  been  proved  experimentally.    The  gas 
is  colourless,  and  has  an  irritatmg  odour.     Its  density  is  5*40, 
and  it  may  be  liquefied  at  ordinary  pressures  by  reduction  to  a 
temperature    of  -  8^      Reactions  with  sulphur,    phosphorus, 
sodium,   magnesium,  mercury,  and  various  other  substances, 
are   describ«l.     It  appears  to   be  a   much  less  stable  body 
than     Prof.  Thorpe's    phosphorus    pentafluoride. — Compound 
of  boron  bromide  with   phosphoretted  hydrogen ;   phosphide 
of   boron,   by  M.    A.    Besson.      Bromide  of   boron    absorb) 
phosphoretted   hydrogen  at    ordinary    temperatures,  and    the 
result    of    the    combination    is    a    white,    amorphous,    very 
light  solid.      The    composition    of  this    product    appears   to 
be  represented  by  the  formula  BBrgPH,.     At  about  300*  it 
chan^colour,  and  hydiobromic  acid  is  disengaged.     'Ilie  dark 
brown  body  that  remains  is  found  to  contain  only  phosphorus 
a  (I  itoron,  the  action  that  takes  place  being  expressed  thus — 
BBr,PH,  =   PB    +   3HBr.     Boron  phosphide  has  a  density 
about  the  same  as  water,  in  which  it  is  insoluble.     Reactions  with 
various  substances  have  been  investigated. — Researches  on  the 
zirconates  of  the  alkaline  earths,  by  M.  L.  Ouvrard.  One  interest- 
ing point  brought  out  by  the  experiments  is  that  an  analogy  exists 
between  zirconium,  tin,  and  titanium. — Artificial  production  of 
datolite,  by  M.  A.  de  Gramont.     By  the  action  of  a  solution  of 
borate  of  sodium  on  silicate  of  calcium  (formed  by  the  precipitation 
of  calcium  chloride  bv  sodium  silicate)  at  a  high  temperature 
and  under  pressure,  a  hydrated  silico-borate  of  calcium  has  been 
obtained,  which  in  composition  and  physical  properties  appears 
to  be  identical  with  datolite.      This  is  the   first  silico-borate 
of  definite  composition,  and  corresponding  to  a  natural  product, 
which  has  yet  been  obtained. — Action  of  boron  fluoride  on  nitriles, 
by  M.  G.  Patein. — On  the  acid  sulphate  waters  containing  iron 
and  aluminium  of  the  environs  of  Rennes-les- Bains  (Aude),  by 
M.  Ed.  Willm. — On  the  formation  and  oxidation  of  nitrites  during 
nitrification,    by  M.  S.  Winogradski. — On  the  larva  form  of 
Parmophori,   by  M.    Louis  Boutan. — On  the    circulatory  and 
respiratory  apparatus  of  some  Arthropods,  by  M.  A.  Schneider. — 
On  the  genus  Euclea  (Ebenaceae),  by  M.  Paul  Parmentier. — 
On  the  structure  of  the  primary  libero-ligneous  system,  and  on 
the  disposition  of  foliary  traces  in  the  branches  of  Lepidodendron 
selaginaides,  by  M.  Maurice  Hovelacque. — On  a  fall  of  small 
calcareous  stones  which  recently  occurred  in  the  Department  of 
the  Aude,  by  M.  Stanislas  Meunier. 

Amsterdam. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciencea,  June  27.— Prof,  van  de 
Sande  Bakhuyzen  in  the  chair. — Mr.  Pekelharing  communicated 
that  magnesium-sulphate-plasma  or  kalium-oxakte-plasma  con- 
tains a  substance  which  has  no  active  power  on  pure  fibrin9gen, 
but  ac(juircs  by  a  combination  with  lime-salts  all  the  properties 
of  fibrin  ferment  prepared  from  washed  blood-clot  This  sub- 
stance is  precipitated  incompletely  by  dialysis,  and  completely 
by  saturation  with  magnesium-sulphate.     Its  combination  with 

NO.   1 134,  VOL.  44] 


lime  is  active  also  in  the  presence  of  ammoniam-oxalate.  In 
the  formation  of  fibrin,  lime  is  transferred  from  the  ferment  to 
the  fibrinogen.  Pepton  prepared  by  neutralizing  the  hydro- 
chloric acid  of  the  digesting  fluid  with  calcium- carbonate, 
injected  in  the  jugular  vein  of  the  dog,  does  n  >t  prevent  the 
clotting  of  the  blood.  Wooldridge's  "tissue-fibrinogen,"  pre- 
pared from  the  thymus  of  the  calf,  causes  coagulation  of  a  pore 
solution  of  Hammarsten's  fibrinogen  when  lime-salts  are  present. 
— Mr.  van  Bemmelen  communicared  a  research  of  Nf  r.  SchreiQ^ 
maker's  on  the  equilibriuois  which  are  possible  between  the 
double  salt  Pbl.zKl  and  water,  in  the  presence  or  the  absence 
of  an  excess  01  one  of  the  components,  or  of  the  doubU-salt 
itself,  or  of  both.  The  results  are  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
vestigations of  Dr.  Bakhuts  Rooseboom. — Mr.  Saringar  pre- 
sent^ to  the  Academy  a  new  (third)  contribution  to  our  knov- 
iedge  of  the  Melocacti  of  the  West  Indies. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Life  of  Thomas  Sopwith,  F.R.S. :  B.  W.  Richardson^Loosuuuit).— Plane 
Trigonometry  :  Todhunter  and  Hogg  (Macmillan).— Science  or  Ronuaoe?: 

Rev.  J.  Gerard  (London). —  Les  Science  Na'urelles  et  I'Educatioa:  T.  H. 
Huxlev  (BailUire).— Glasgow  and  West  Seotland  Technical  Collqse  CalcD- 
dar,  1891-92  (Glasgow,  Anderson). — Dicuonary  of  Political  Econikny,  Put 
z  ;  edited  by  R.  H.  I.  Palgrave  (  4acmllUto).  —  The  Total  Ecltpae  of 
the  Son,  January  x,  1889  ;  Report  of  Washington  University  Edipie 
Party  (Camb.,  Mass.,  Wilson). — Contents  and  Index  of  the  firtt  tweotf 
volumes  of  the  Records  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  India,  xB86  to  zSS; 
(Calcutta!  —Natural  Religion  in  India :  Sir  A.  Lyall  (Cambridge  Univcrskf 
PressX — Journal  oF  Anatomy  and  Phy^ology,  new  series,  v..  Part  4  (Wil- 
liams and  Norgate). — Photographic  Quarterly,  vol.  ii.  No.  8  (Hazdl).— 
Photographic  Reporter  (Hazell). — Memoirs  01  the  Geological  Survey  of 
India,  vol.  xxiv.,  rart  3  (Calcutta).— Records  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
India,  vol.  xxiv.,  Parts  x  and  3  (Calcutta). 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

The  Teaching  of  Forestry.     By  Sir  D.  Brandia, 

P.R.S a65 

The  Applications  of  Modem  Chemistry.    By  Sir  H. 

E.  Roscoe,  M.P.,  P.R.S 268 

The  Fishes  of  Switzerland.  By  Dr.  Albert  Gttnther, 

P.R.S 269 

The  History  of  Marriage.    By  Prof.  W.  Robertson 

Smith 27D 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Johnston- Lavis :  "  Geological  Map  of  Monte  Somma 

and  Vesavius  " , 271 

Haxley :  '*  Les  Sciences  Naturelles  et  rEducation  *'  .    272 
Letters  to  the  Editor  :— 

W.  E.  Weber.— C.  Runge 272 

Earthquake  Shocks  in  Italy  and  Australia. — R.  L.  J. 

EUery,  P.R.S 272 

Force  and  Determinism. — Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 

P.R.S 272 

Liquid  Prisms.— Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.  .       273 
The  Identification  of  Templeton's  British  Earthworms. 

(///icx/m/^i/.)— Rev.  Hilderic  Friend 273 

Copepoda  as  an   Article   of  Food. — Prof.  W.  A. 

Herdman 275 

Are  Seedlings  oiffemerocaliis  fulvat^cMWy  Variable  ? 

— Prof.  Marcus  M.  Hartog 274. 

The    Green    Sandpiper. —The    Duke    of   Argyll, 

F.R.S 274 

Liquids  and  Oases.     {With  Diagram,)    By  Prof.  W. 

Ramsay,  F.R.S. 274 

Experimental  Researches   on    Mechanical  Flight. 

By  Prof.  S.  P.  Langley 277 

On  the  Solid  and  Liquid  Particles  in  Clouds.    By 

JohnAitken,  F.R.S 279 

Old  Standards 280 

Notes 280 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

A  Cause  of  Lunar  Li  brat  ion 2S3 

Double-star  observations 283 

Observations  of  the  Zodiacal  Counter-glow 283 

The  Observatory  of  Yale  University 2S3 

The  Recent  Epidemic  of  Influenza.   ( With  Diagram.) 

By  Fredk.  J.  Brodie 283 

The  Museums  Association 285 

Technical  Education  in  India 286 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence    .....   287 

Societies  and  Academies  ...  287 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 2S8 


NA  TURE 


289 


THURSDAY,  JULY  30,  1891. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY, 

A  History  of  Chemistry  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the 
Present  Day,  By  Ernst  von  Meyer,  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Leipzig.  Translated 
by  George  McGowan.  (London :  Macmillan  and  Co., 
1891.) 

OF  all  branches  of  natural  science,  none  has  a  history 
more  profoundly  interesting  or  more  fascinating 
than  chemistry.    And  yet,  strange  to  say,  none  has  re- 
ceived less  adequate  treatment  from  the  historian.     The 
reason  for  this  comparative  neglect  is  not  far  to  seek. 
The  historian  of  science  must  have  qualifications  which 
are  rarely  united  in  one  man :  not  only  must  he  possess 
the  attributes  of  the  successful  writer  on  social,  political, 
or  economic  history,  but  he  must  also  be  a  past-master  in 
the  special  branch  with  which  he  deals,  and  be  well  in- 
formed on  all  its  cognate  branches.     Germany  has  given 
us  the  classical  volumes  of  Kopp ;  from  France  comes 
the  learned  work  of  Hoefer  ;  whilst  in  England  we  have 
had,  until  quite  recently,  to  be  content  with  the  some- 
what trivial,  disjointed,  and  partial  narration  of  Thomas 
Thomson.     In  addition  we  have  had  a  number  of  mono- 
graphs, es(>ecially  within  recent  .years,  on  the  labours  of 
particular    individuals:    many    of   these,    like    Henry's 
"  Dalton,"  Wilson's  "  Life  of  Cavendish,"  Bence  Jones's 
''  Life  and  Letters  of  Faraday,"  and  the  remarkable  series 
of  biographical  sketches  which  we  owe  to  the  facile  pen 
of  Hofmann,  are  delightful  works  ;  but  these,  after  all,  are 
only  mhnoires  pour  servir.    As  a  rule,  the  more  formal 
and  general  histories  which    deal    with    the  organized 
growth  of  the   science  are  not  very  attractive ;    either 
their  authors  lack  literary  grace   and   charm,  or  they 
are  superficial,  ill-informed,  and,  in  some  cases,  so  ob. 
viously  biassed  as  to  render  them  altogether  untrust- 
worthy.   And,  moreover,  not  one  of  them  has  sought  to 
grapple  with  the  splendid  achievements  of  the  last  half- 
century  in    any  truly  philosophic   manner.      Kopp  and 
Hoefer  have,  between  them,  told  us  all  that  is  known,  or, 
in  all  probability,  ever  will  be  known,  or  need  be  known, 
respecting  the  beginnings  of  chemistry,  and  of  its  growth 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  and  down  to  the  end  of  the 
last  century.    We  now  require  somebody  to  set  about 
doing  for  this  nineteenth  century  what  the  German  and 
French  historians  have  done  for  those  that  precede  it. 
The  labour  would  be  stupendous,  but  the  result  might  be 
magnificent.    At  no  period  in  the  history  of  the  science 
have  its  generalizations  been    more    brilliant,  and    its 
theories  more  comprehensive,  more  prolific,  and,  it  may 
be  added,  more  securely  established.     The  birth  of  the 
century  saw  the  extension  of  the  atomic  hypothesis  to 
the  explanation  of  the  fundamental  facts  of  chemical 
combination,  and  it  has  been  the  chief  and   most  cha- 
racteristic work  of  the  century  to  place  that  theory  on  a 
foundation  as  sound  and  as  firm  as  that  on  which  the 
immortal  conception  of  Newton  is  based.    The  historian 
of  the  chemistry  of  the  nineteenth  century  need  have  no 
other  text  than  that  of  the  atomic  theory ;  for  round  this 
•dominant  conception  all  other  present-day  theories  are 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


ranged ;  it  is  the  centre  of  a  system  which  it  vivifies  and 
feeds,  and  by  which  it  itself  is  fed  and  strengthened  in 
return. 

Some  attempt  at  what  is  here  foreshadowed  has  been 
made  in  the  book  before  us,  but,  excellent  as  the  work  is 
in  many  respects,  it  is  even  more  suggestive  of  what  re- 
mains to  be  accomplished.  The  book  is  divided  into  six 
chapters,  of  which  the  fifth  and  sixth  are  devoted  to  the 
history  of  chemistry  from  the  death  of  Lavoisier  to  the 
present  time,  and  these  two  chapters  occupy  nearly  three- 
fourths  of  the  volume.  This  portion  is  not  only  the 
larger,  but  is  confessedly  the  most  difficult  of  the  whole. 
In  weighing  and  criticizing  current  chemical  doctrine, 
and  in  discussing  the  theories  of  the  present,  even  the 
most  conscientious  historian  is  apt  to  be  unconsciously 
biassed  by  the  predilections  and  prejudices  of  his  train- 
ing and  environment.  Prof,  von  Meyer  has  not  been 
unmindful  of  this  possible  danger,  but  after  carefully 
reading  his  work  we  can  heartily  congratulate  him  on 
the  success  with  which  he  has  preserved  the  "  objective 
attitude  "  which  is  essential  to  the  true  historian.  As  he 
tells  us,  it  has  been  his  earnest  desire  to  shed  a  clear 
light  upon  the  conflicting  views  respecting  the  develop- 
ment and  importance  of  the  chemical  doctrines  of  to-day, 
and  to  endeavour  to  apply  a  calmer  and  juster  criticism 
to  the  services  of  eminent  investigators  of  quite  recent 
years  than  has  hitherto,  in  many  cases,  been  meted  out  to 
them.  It  is  possible  that  we  apprehend  Prof,  von  Meyer's 
meaning  the  more  fully  when  we  state  that  such  a  catho- 
licity of  sentiment  and  so  judicial  a  temperament  have 
not  always  characterized  the  occupant  of  the  Chair  of 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Leipzig. 

For  the  two  chapters  which  treat  of  modern  chemistry 
we  have  nothing  but  unqualified  praise,  and  we  earnestly 
commend  them  to  the  attention  of  those  students  who 
desire  to  have  a  coup  d'ceil  at  once  comprehensive  and 
accurate  of  the  meaning  and  tendency  of  present-day 
doctrine.  When  we  have  regard  to  the  enormous  mass 
of  material  which  has  to  be  systematized,  and,  as  it  were, 
brought  within  focus,  some  errors  and  omissions  are  in- 
evitable. And  it  is  possible  that  here  and  there  a  slight 
lack  of  balance  and  due  proportion  may  be  discerned  : 
some  matters  have  been  treated  at  comparatively  great 
length,  whilst  others  have  been  but  scantily  noticed.  On 
this  point  differences  of  opinion  are  sure  to  arise :  tot 
homines,  tot  sententice.  But  no  candid  reader  can  fail  to  be 
impressed  with  the  singularly  fair  and  impartial  manner 
with  which  Prof,  von  Meyer  has  dealt  with  the  labours 
of  contemporary  workers.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  read  a  work 
in  which  the  writer  has  been  superior  to  the  petty  Chau- 
vinism which  has  disfigured  certain  historical  productions 
of  the  last  twenty  years.  We  would  specially  indicate 
the  critical  notices  of  the  labours  and  services  of  La- 
voisier, Berzelius,  Davy,  Dumas,  Liebig,  and  Wohler,  as 
models  of  historical  acumen,  sound  judgment,  and  rigid 
candour.  On  the  time-honoured  question,  "  With  whom 
should  rest  the  merit  of  the  discovery  of  the  composition 
of  water  ?  "  Prof,  von  Meyer  is  scrupulously  just  and  im- 
partial. He  shows  that  Lavoisier  was  so  far  dominated 
by  his  principe  oxygine  ou  acicUfiant  that,  in  burning 
hydrogen,  '*  he  expected  to  find  an  acid  as  the  product  of 
its  combustion,  and  therefore  looked  for  one.  It  is  the 
undisputed  merit  of  the  phlogistonist  Cavendish  to  have 

O 


290 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


proved  that  water  alone  is  produced  by  the  combustion 
of  hydrogen  "  (pp.  157-58). 

Although  he  devotes  only  two  chapters  to  it,  it  is 
obvious  that  it  is  the  main  purpose  of  Prof  von  Meyer's 
work  to  trace  the  development  of  chemistry  from  the 
downfall  of  phlogistonism  onwards,  and  he  has  there- 
fore only  dealt  with  the  earlier  periods  in  order  to  give 
the  reader  a  connected  view  of  the  growth  of  the  science. 
This  portion  of  the  work  is  touched  with  a  comparatively 
light  hand,  and  in  some  respects  compares  unfavourably 
with  the  rest.  Although  at  times  there  are  graphic 
sketches — as,  for  example,  in  the  account  of  Palissy*s 
work,  and  in  the  estimate  of  Bergmann's  services  to  ana- 
lytical chemistry,  and  in  the  story  of  that  strange  com- 
pound of  truculent  charlatanry,  gross  mysticism,  and 
strong  common-sense,  who  called  himself  Philippus 
Aureolus  Paracelsus  Theophrastus  Bombastus  —  the 
general  impression  is  not  wholly  satisfactory,  and  to 
trace  the  historical  connection  of  the  several  epochs 
presupposes  more  knowledge  than  Prof,  von  Meyer  im- 
parts. It  is  hardly  possible  to  do  justice  to  the  age  of 
alchemy  in  40  pages,  or  to  the  history  of  the  iatro-che- 
mical  period,  which  includes  the  work  not  only  of  Para- 
celsus and  his  school,  but  also  that  of  Van  Helmont, 
George  Agricola,  Palissy,  and  Glauber,  in  30  pages.  But 
with  the  **  Geschichte  der  Chemie  "  before  him.  Prof,  von 
Meyer  may  well  have  hesitated  to  plough  with  the  patient 
heifer  of  Hermann  Kopp. 

In  his  fourth  chapter,  where  he  deals  with  the  period 
of  the  phlogiston  theory,  the  author  begins  to  expand 
somewhat,  but  occasionally,  we  venture  to  think,  at  the 
expense  of  strict  historical  accuracy.  Thus  it  is  not 
strictly  true  to  say  that  Kunkel  laboured  "  for  years  "  to 
discover  the  secret  of  the  preparation  of  phosphorus 
(p.  141),  or  that  Cavendish  defended  the  phlogistic  theory 
"with  all  his  might  "(p.  118).  That  singularly  austere 
and  passionless  person — that  "  cold  clear  Intelligence," 
as  Wilson  calls  him — was  utterly  incapable  of  entering 
the  lists  as  the  champion  of  any  theory.  He  let  his  Irish 
friend  Kirwan,  to  whom  it  was  more  congenial,  do  all  the 
fighting.  It  is  hardly  correct  to  describe  the  calm  and 
philosophic  Priestley  as  "eccentric  and  of  a  restless 
fiery  nature."  N  o  man  gave  and  got  harder  knocks  in 
his  time  than  did  the  kind-hearted,  even-tempered  old 
philosopher  ;  he,  too,  did  his  fighting  "  all  in  the  way  of 
business,"  hitting  straight  and  above  belt,  and  with  no 
malice  in  his  blow;  but  to  call  him  "eccentric,"  or 
"  restless  and  fiery,"  reveals  an  entire  misconception  of 
his  disposition  and  character.  The  occasion  of  Lavoisier's 
admission  into  the  French  Academy  is  only  partially 
stated,  and  it  is  not  wholly  true  to  say  that  amongst 
all  his  numerous  friends  and  admirers  only  one  chemist, 
Loysel,  had  the  courage  to  protest  against  his  execution 

(p.  153). 

A  word  in  conclusion  as  to  the  manner  in  which  Dr. 
McGowan  has  done  the  work  of  translation.  His  aim,  he 
tells  us,  has  been  to  reproduce  clearly  the  sense  of  the 
German  original,  and  in  this  he  has,  no  doubt,  succeeded 
admirably.  But  a  purist  might  object  that,  in  his  efforts 
to  preserve  the  sense,  he  has  too  carefully  retained  the 
idiom.  To  say  that  "the  absorption  of  medicine  in 
chemistry,  the  fusion  of  both  together,  was  the  watch- 
word which  emanated  from  Paracelsus  "  (p.  3)  is  scarcely 

NO.   II 35,  VOL.  44] 


a  happy  method  of  expression.     Nor  is  this  paragiapb 
much  better : — 

"  Spirit  of  wine— the  aqua  vitce  of  the  alchemists— con- 
tinued to  grow  in  importance  during  the  iatro-chemical 
age,  as  it  had  done  in  the  alchemistic  This  applied  to 
it  not  merely  from  a  theoretical  point  of  view,  as  being  a 
product  of  various  fermentation  processes  to  which  much 
attention  was  paid,  but  also  from  a  practical,  since  Para- 
celsus and  his  disciples  used  it  largely  in  the  preparation 
of  essences  and  tinctures  '*  (p.  95). 

On  p.  loi,  Boyle*s  manor  in  Dorsetshire  is  erroneously 
called  "  Stolbridge,"  and  on  p.  185  "Dalton"  is  in- 
correctly printed  for  "  Davy."  Such  terms  as  "  centre- 
point"  and  "fire-stuff"  are  not  current  English.  Dr. 
McGowan's  duty  as  a  translator  doubtless  required  him 
to  say  that  "  the  nobility  and  poetry  of  his  [Davy's] 
nature  are  shown  both  in  the  journals  which  be  kept 
during  his  extensive  travels  in  France,  Germany,  and 
Italy,  and  in  his  beautiful  relations  to  Faraday  "  (p.  187) ; 
but  the  veracious  historian,  familiar  with  the  annals  of 
the  Royal  Institution,  would  probably  have  expressed 
himself  differently.  T.  E.  Thorpe. 


PROGRESS  IN  ELEMENTARY  BIOLOGY. 

Lessons  in  Elementary  Biology,  By  T.  Jeffery  Parker, 
B.Sc,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Biology  in  the  University 
of  Otago,  New  Zealand.  (London  :  Macmillan  and 
Co.,  1 891.) 

PROF.  JEFFERY  PARKER  is  to  be  congratulated 
on  having  produced  an  extremely  well-writteo, 
well-considered,  and  original  class-book.  The  teaching 
of  so-called  "elementary  biology''  has,  in  cons^ 
quence  of  the  coercion  of  examination  schedules  and  the 
multiplication  of  little  cram-books  dealing  with  the 
selected  and  protected  "  types,"  become  in  this  country 
a  very  poor  thing.  The  practical  work  in  the  laborator)' 
with  frog,  fern,  rabbit,  and  worm,  which  was,  when  first 
introduced,  a  step  in  advance,  has  become,  like  so  many 
other  things  which  were  good  in  their  origiir,  a  tyranny 
and  an  impediment  to  knowledge.  Students  have  reso- 
lutely shut  their  eyes  to  all  facts  but  those  presented  by 
the  schedule  types,  and  teachers  of  a  certain  class  have 
seen  the  easiest  way  to  secure  "  examination  results  "in 
ignoring  the  generalizations  of  biology,  and  in  plying  their 
pupils  with  the  regulation  details  as  to  the  few  animals 
and  plants  scheduled  for  dissection.  Prof.  Parker's  book 
should  help  to  remedy  this  state  of  things.  His  aim  has 
been,  he  states,  to  supply  the  connected  narrative  which 
would  be  out  of  place  in  a  practical  hand-book.  I 
agree  with  him  that  the  main  object  of  teaching  biolog)' 
as  part  of  a  liberal  education  is  to  familiarize  the  student 
not  so  much  with  the  facts  as  with  the  ideas  of  science. 
In  this  little  book  the  student  will  find  many  of  the  most 
important  conceptions  of  biological  science  set  forth  and 
illustrated,  not  by  reference  merely  to  the  types  which  he 
dissects  or  examines  with  greatest  ease  in  the  elementary 
course  in  a  laboratory,  but  by  the  use  of  a  larger  area  of 
well-chosen  examples,  both  of  plants  and  animals. 
Original  woodcuts,  often  of  exceptional  merit,  are  freely 
introduced  in  the  text. 

Whilst  the  plan  of  Prof.  Parker's  book  is  excellent,  I 
cannot  help  feeling  some  regret  that  he  has  not  earned 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


291 


I 


it  out  on  a  somewhat  larger  scale,  so  as  to  make  his 
volume  represent  for  the  biology  of  to-day  what  the 
classical  ^  Comparative  Physiology ''  of  Dr.  Carpenter  did 
for  the  biology  of  forty  years  ago.  The  defect  just 
alluded  to — if  it  be  a  defect — is  one  which  can  very 
well  be  remedied  hereafter,  since  the  author  will  un- 
doubtedly have  an  opportunity  of  expanding  his  book  in 
every  direction  in  a  later  edition. 

Nearly  half  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  consideration  of 
the  phenomena  of  life  as  exhibited  by  unicellular  organ- 
isms— the  Protozoa  and  Protophyta.  There  can  hardly 
be  any  doubt  that  this  is  by  no  means  an  undue  propor- 
tion, since  it  is  unquestionable  that  in  these  simplest  forms 
the  fundamental  problems  of  biology  present  themselves 
in  the  clearest  light.  We  have  well-illustrated  chapters 
on  Amoeba,  on  Haematococcus,  on  Heteromita,  on 
Euglena,  on  the  Mycetozoa,  and  then  a  comparison  of 
the  foregoing  organisms  with  certain  constituent  parts  of 
the  higher  animals  and  plants,  viz.  cells.  The  minute 
structure  and  division  of  cells  and  nuclei  are  fully  treated 
and  well  illustrated.  Then  follow  separate  chapters  on 
yeast,  on  bacteria,  on  biogenesis  and  abiogenesis,  and 
on  the  more  complicated  unicellular  animals — the  Ciliata, 
from  among  which  are  chosen  Paramoecium,  Stylo- 
nichia,  Oxytricha,  Opalina,  Vorticella,  and  Zoothamnium. 
A  chapter  on  species  and  their  origin,  and  the  principles 
of  classification,  comes  next,  the  illustrative  examples 
being  chosen  from  among  the  Protozoa  already  described. 
The  Foraminifera,  Radiolaria,  and  the  Diatomacese  are 
then  brought  under  consideration.  In  every  chapter  the 
organism  or  group  of  organisms  treated  is  made  to  serve 
as  the  concrete  basis  of  a  gradually  expanding  and  con- 
nected narrative.  Thus,  in  passing  to  the  consideration 
of  such  forms  as  Mucor,  Vaucheria,  and  Caulerpa,  the 
author  says : — 

"  The  five  preceding  lessons  have  shown  us  how  com- 
plex a  cell  may  become,  either  by  internal  differentiation 
of  its  protoplasm  or  by  differentiation  of  its  cell- wall.  In 
this  and  the  following  lessons  we  shall  see  how  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  specialization  may  be  attained  by  the 
elongation  of  cells  into  filaments." 

A  pause  is  now  made,  and  a  brief  but  thoroughly  up- 
to-date  chapter  is  inserted  on  "  the  distinctive  characters 
of  animals  and  plants."  Prof.  Parker  thinks  there  is  a 
great  deal  to  be  said  in  favour  of  HaeckePs  third  organic 
kingdom — the  Protista.  I  do  not  agree  with  him  in 
thinking  that  it  is  probable  that  the  earliest  organisms 
were  ''  protists,"  and  that  from  them  animals  and  plants 
were  evolved  along  divergent  lines  of  descent. 

If  we  approach  this  question,  not  with  the  attempt  to 
define  plants  and  animals  verbally,  but  with  the  object  of 
indicating  probable  lines  of  descent,  the  groups  some- 
times considered  as  doubtful,  and  therefore  '^protist," 
take  rank  with  great  probability  either  in  the  animal  or 
the  vegetable  series.  The  Mycetozoa  and  the  Volvo- 
cineae  fit  quite  naturally  in  the  animal  series  ;  they 
would  be  isolated  among  the  Protophyta,  and,  conversely, 
the  Bacteriaceae  are  inseparable  from  the  Oscillatoriae 
and  other  filamentous  green  plants. 

Prof.  Parker  next  proceeds  to  deal  with  plants  of  in- 
creasing complexity  of  structure  and  function — Penicil- 
lium.  Agaric  us,  Ulva,  Laminaria,  and  Nitella  ;  and,  as  a 
parallel  to  these  in  the  animal  series,  we  have  two  chap- 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


ters,  with  excellent  woodcuts,  on  Hydra  and  on  the 
Hydroid  polyps,  their  colony-building  and  their  alterna- 
tion of  generations.    The  extremely  important  facts  and 
theories  of  spermatogenesis  and  oogenesis  and  of  fer- 
tilization are  next  set  forth,  briefly  but  clearly,  and  in 
sufficient  detail  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  book.    In 
connection  with  the  early  development  of  the  fertilized 
egg-cell  of  the  Metazoon  from  its  unicellular  phase  to  the 
condition  of  the  diblastula,  the  question  is  considered  as 
to  how  we  are  to  suppose  that  the  passage  took  place 
historically  from    Protozoa  to   Metazoa  or  Enterozoa. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  there  is  a  break  here  in  the  series 
of  living  animals  known  to  us,  whilst  there  is  no  corre- 
sponding break  in  the  series  of  plants  :  there  we  pass  by 
insensible  gradations  from  unicellular  forms  to  linear 
aggregates  of  cells,  and  from  these  to  superficial  and  to 
solid  aggregates. 

The  Magosphcera  platmla  described  by  Haeckel  in 
1870  is  cited  as  an  animal  tending  to  bridge  over  the 
gap  in  the  animal  series,  but  a  footnote  informs  the 
reader  that  ''unfortunately  nobody  has  since  seen  this 
organism."  Prof.  Parker  probably  is  aware  that  this 
is  also  true  of  Haeckel's  Protomyxa  aurantiaca,  which 
he  figures  and  describes  in  an  earlier  chapter.  It  cer- 
tainly is  to  be  regretted  that  neither  of  these  interesting 
organisms  has  been  observed  again  since  they  were  de 
scribed  by  Haeckel.  However,  Volvox globcUor  is  always 
with  us,  and  Prof.  Parker  gives  an  excellent  set  of  figures 
and  a  description  of  it,  and  proceeds  to  show  how  a  two- 
cell-layered  sac — the  ancestral  gastrula  or  diblastula — 
might  have  been  derived  from  such  a  colony.  He  also 
shows  how  a  primitive  diploblastic  form  might  have  deve- 
loped from  a  multi-nucleate  Protozoon,  such  as  Opalina 
or  Oxytricha. 

In  the  laboratory  it  is  convenient  to  take  the  Earth- 
worm as  an  example  of  that  central  type  of  structure 
which  is  found  under  various  modifications  in  all  the 
Coelomate  animals.  Prof.  Parker,  rightly  separating 
himself  from  the  ties  of  laboratory  work,  prefers  the 
marine  worm  Polygordius  for  his  illustration  of  this 
grade  of  structure,  choosing  it  partly  on  account  of  its 
greater  simplicity,  partly  on  account  of  its  extremely 
interesting  and  well-studied  developmental  history.  As 
the  author  contends,  a  student  who  reads  the  two  chapters 
here  devoted  to  the  anatomy,  physiology,  and  develop- 
ment of  Polygordius,  will  have  an  immense  advantage 
either  in  his  subsequent  study  of  the  Earthworm,  or  in 
reverting  to  his  notes  of  a  previous  dissection  of  that 
worthy  beast.  The  principle  of  the  comparative  method 
will  be  revealed  to  him,  and  he  will  learn  to  distinguish 
things  essential  from  things  non-essential. 

Next,  with  a  rush,  having.scaled  the  long  ladder  leading 
to  Polygordius,  Prof.  Parker  takes  his  reader  in  one 
chapter  of  seventeen  pages  through  the  anatomy  and 
morphology  of  the  starfish,  the  crayfish,  the  mussel,  and 
the  dogfish.  This  seems  and  is  rather  rapid,  but  the 
rapidity  is  intentional  and  justifiable.  By  the  aid  of  this 
book  the  student  is  intended  only  to  gain  a  general  view 
of  the  structure  of  those  animals  as  comparable  to  that 
of  Polygordius.  For  further  details  he  must  go  on  to  the 
special  study  of  animal  morphology,  physiology,  and 
embryology ;  or  having  studied  these  subjects  more 
or  less,  he  may,  by  aid  of  Prof.  Parker's  clever  sche- 


292 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


matic  woodcuts,  gain  a  vivid  impression  of  the  unity 
of  organization  and  the  divergence  in  minor  points  of 
structure  of  the  higher  animals  when  compared  one  with 
another.  Perhaps,  however,  in  that  enlarged  edition  of  this 
book  which  will  at  no  distant  date  appear,  Prof.  Parker  will 
treat  the  higher  animals  less  unceremoniously ;  this  he 
might  do,  and  yet  retain  that  conciseness  and  regard  for 
the  essential  which  form  an  admirable  characteristic  of 
his  method. 

.Mosses  and  Ferns  are  treated  as  the  parallel  among 
plants  of  Polygordius  in  the  animal  series  ;  and  in  a  single 
chapter  Equisetum,  Salvinia,  Selaginella,  Gymnosperms, 
and  Angiosperms  are  surveyed  (and  excellently  illustrated 
by  finished  woodcuts)  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the 
student  an  accurate  and  highly  effective  survey  of  the 
great  features  of  vegetable  morphology  and  physiology. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  these  "  Lessons.''  Their  merit, 
however,  consists  not  merely  in  the  general  plan,  but  in 
the  fact  that  the  author  is  an  experienced  teacher  and 
an  accomplished  investigator,  who  has  developed  to  a 
high  degree  the  art  of  lucid  statement— one  who  is  tho- 
roughly familiar  with  the  latest  researches  in  the  wide 
field  of  which  he  treats,  and  is  able,  whilst  setting  before 
his  reader  the  most  important  generalizations  of  his 
science,  to  avoid  redundancy,  and  to  give  a  fresh  and 
original  handling  to  the  oft- told  story  of  the  structure 
and  functions  of  living  things. 

E.  Ray  Lankester. 


CEREBRAL  LOCALIZATION. 

The  Croonian  Lectures  on  Cerebral  Localization.  By 
David  Ferrier,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c.  With  Illus- 
trations.    (London:  Smith,  Elder, and  Co.,  1890.) 

IN  these  valuable  lectures,  Dr.  Ferrier  reviews  the  sub- 
ject of  cerebral  localization,  so  far  as  the  representa- 
tion of  movement  and  of  special  sense  is  concerned.  After 
referring  categorically,  in  the  first  of  the  series,  to  the 
historical  experiments  on  the  subject,  arranged  in  order 
of  chronological  sequence,  he  points  out  the  fundamental 
principles  embodied  in  the  term  cerebral  localization. 
Leaving  the  discussion  of  motor  representation,  he  devotes 
the  remaining  five  lectures  to  the  consideration  of  the 
cortical  representation  of  the  special  senses,  beginning  ' 
with  that  of  sight. 

The  representation  of  sight  is,  according  to  all  obser- 
vers, mainly  restricted  to  a  definite  area  of  the  cortex. 
The  differentiation  of  that  area  and  its  topographical 
subdivision  are  points  of  the  highest  interest,  and  naturally 
do  not  escape  discussion.  We  are  rather  surprised,  how- 
ever, to  find  that  Dr.  Ferrier  is  not  prepared  to  admit 
that  Munk  and  Schafer's  experiments,  besides  those  of 
other  observers,  establish  visual  representation  to  be 
situated  in  the  occipital  lobe,  but  is  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  angular  g^rus  is  the  centre  for  clear  vision 
mainly  for  the  eye  of  the  opposite  side.  Upon  this  we 
would  only  remark  that  it  does  not  appear  to  us  that  the 
mass  of  evidence  relating  to  crossed  hemianopsia,  whether 
of  experimental  or  clinical  nature,  can  be  put  aside  as 
easily  as  Dr.  Ferrier  would  seem  to  consider  possible, 
but  those  interested  in  the  subject  will  find  many  of  the 
facts  bearing  on  this  question  referred  to  in  his  treatment 
of  the  points  at  issue. 

NO.    II 35,  VOL.  44] 


So,  too,  with  the  representation  of  audition,  while  al! 
(save  Schafer's  and  Sanger  Brown's)  observations  support 
Dr.  Ferrier's  views  of  the  seat  of  representation  of  hearing, 
it  would  undoubtedly  have  been  better  that  the  rebutting 
evidence  brought  against  the  exceptional  facts  referred  to 
should  have  consisted  of  a  number  of  experiments,  and 
not  of  a  single  one,  even  although  that  seents  to  have 
been  a  very  conclusive  observation. 

After  disposing  of  the  centre  of  audition,  the  tactile 
centre  receives  attention,  and  is  preceded  by  a  discus^ 
sion  of  the  paths  along  which  afferent  impressions 
travel  in  the  spinal  cord  to  the  higher  centres.  Of 
course,  this  subject  has  been  very  actively  investigated 
by  various  observers  for  many  years,  but  it  has  always 
appeared  to  us  that  sufficient  attention  has  never  been 
given  to  the  simple  consideration  whether  or  not  the 
tmver  centres  are  engaged  in  the  transmission  of  such 
impulses.  In  the  limited  space  at  Dr.  Ferrier's  disposal 
he  has  evidently  not  been  able  to  give  this  matter  full 
discussion,  and  is  therefore  led  to  assume  that  Brown 
S^quard's  dictum  respecting  the  passage  of  afferent 
(tactile,  not  painful)  impulses  up  the  opposite  side  of  the 
cord  holds  good.  This  question  is  now  being  reinvesti- 
gated, and  the  preliminary  observations  published  by 
Mott  and  others  throw  very  grave  doubt  on  the  validity 
of  this  assumption,  which  has  so  long  been  accepted  as 
final. 

As  regards  the  representation  of  common  tactile  sensa- 
tion in  the  cortex  cerebri,  Dr.  Ferrier  discovered  that  it 
was  probably  represented  in  the  hippocampal  region, 
and  he  reviews  the  results  of  his  experiments,  as  well  as 
those  of  Schafer  and  Horsley,  which  tended  to  show  that 
the  gyrus  fomicatus,  as  well  as  the  hippocampus,  were  the 
seat  of  tactile  perception,  and  he  concludes  that  possibly 
the  whole  limbic  lobe  is  concerned  with  this  represen- 
tation. 

As  regards,  however,  the  representation  of  sensation  in 
the  excitable  or  motor  part  of  the  cortex,  he  will  "  have 
none  of  it."  Here,  again,  wc  are  afraid  that  the  con- 
siderations of  time  and  space,  which  always  handicap 
subjects  treated  in  lecture  form,  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  critical  examination  of  this  question  is  not  so  com- 
plete as  perhaps  it  might  have  been  made. 

On  the  whole,  these  lectures  well  maintain  the  author's 
high  reputation  as  a  keen  observer,  and  an  indefatigable 
student,  gifted  with  singular  clearness  and  distinctness  of 
expression,  and  they  will  well  repay  perusal  by  all  i»^ 
wish  to  follow  the  progress  of  knowledge  of  cerebral 
localization  and  its  most  important  bearings. 


^67?  BOO/C  SHELF. 

Education  and  Heredity.     By  J.  M.  Guyau.     (London : 
Walter  Scott,  1891.) 

This  small  and  excellently-translated  work  is  a  posthu- 
mous publication,  written  by  a  Frenchman  who  died  four 
years  ago  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-three.  He  was  a 
fiuent  and  prolific  writer,  the  author  of  no  less  than 
fourteen  other  publications,  and  is  described  in  the  intro- 
duction as  a  philosopher  and  poet.  It  would  seem  from 
this  book  that  the  latter  temperament  was  his  prevalent 
characteristic.  Its  prevalent  literary  style  and  the  origin- 
ality both  of  metaphor  and  of  handling  will  conunend 
itself,  and   so   will  the  account  of  recent  hypnotic  in- 


July  30,  1891] 


A  A  TURE 


293 


vestigations,  and  the  use  made  of  them  in  the  argument. 
Interesting  and  appropriate  quotations  are  inserted  from 
numerous  authors  of  fame  and  notoriety,  as  from  Plato, 
Descartes,  Leibnitz,  and  Spencer,  down  to  Tolstoi.  But 
when,  after  reading  right  through  the  book,  one  asks 
oneself  what  has  been  the  net  gain,  what  new  ideas  it 
has  given,  or  what  valuable  facts  it  has  brought  together, 
and  what  are  its  solid  and  original  arguments,  it  is  rather 
difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory  reply.  The  book  chiefly 
consists  of  well-phrased  "  talkee-talkee,"  so  that  some 
readers  may  feel  a  little  grateful  to  so  fluent  and  prolific 
a  writer  that  he  stopped  his  nimble  pen  even  as  soon  as 
fae  did.  One  has  become  nowadays  rather  satiated  with 
a  priori  deductions. 

As  for  the  "  Heredity'*  in  the  title,  it  is  nowhere  in  the 
book,  except  at  the  end  of  one  chapter,  where  neither  the 
author  in  the  text  nor  the  translator  in  the  footnotes  has 
shown  any  misgiving  concerning  the  truth  of  the  old 
supposition  of  the  free  inheritance  of  acquired  faculties, 
which  greatly  affects  the  argument  of  the  work.  Un- 
doubtedly some  few  men  of  high  authority  still  entertain 
the  older  view,  but  the  majority  of  students  of  heredity 
now  regard  it  as  unproved,  and  at  the  best,  that  the 
inheritance  is  very  slightly  efficient. 

The  following  paragraph  will  serve  as  an  example  of 
what  is  least  good  in  the  author's  style  and  method : — 

"  Why  then  should  not  the  representation  of  man,  by 
hereditary  tendency,  excite  in  man  himself  a  peculiar 
pleasure,  and  an  inclination  no  longer  of  flight,  but  to 
approach,  speak,  be  helped,  to  put  others  in  his  place  ? 
When  a  child  falls  under  the  wheels  of  a  carriage,  we 
precipitate  ourselves  to  its  rescue  by  an  almost  instinctive 
movement,  just  as  we  should  start  aside  from  a  precipice. 
The  image  of  others  is  thus  substituted  for  the  image  of 
ourselves.  In  the  scales  of  the  inner  balance,  /,  thou^  are 
constantly  interchanged.  This  delicate  mechanism  is 
partly  produced  by  heredity.  Man  is  thus  domesticated, 
made  gentler,  and  more  civilized ;  now  he  is  partially 
savage,  partisilly  civilized  or  civilizable.  The  result  of 
education  through  the  ages  is  thus  fixed  in  heredity 
itself,  and  this  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  power  possessed 
by  education,  if  not  always  for  the  present,  at  least  for  the 
future." 

Life  is  short,  there  is  much  to  learn,  and  economy  of 
time  is  important.  It  is  questionable  whether  it  is  worth 
the  while  of  a  person  who  has  some  acquaintance  with 
the  subject  of  this  book  to  spend  half  a  working  day  in 
reading  it,  for  he  might  not  find  it  as  nourishing  as  he 
would  wish.  Still  it  is  not  unlikely  that  those  to  whom 
the  subject  is  unfamiliar  would  gain  instruction  from  the 
book  and  would  consider  it  throughout  to  be  interesting. 

F.  G. 

The   Soul  of  Man :  an  Investigation  of  the  Facts  of 
Physiological  and  Experimental  Psychology.     By  Dr. 
Paul  Carus.    (London,  Edward  Arnold.) 

It  is  in  vain  that  a  puzzled  reader  seeks  to  discover  the 
aim  of  this  book.  It  is  entitled  "  The  Soul  of  Man,"  but 
DO  explanation  is  given  as  to  what  is  meant  by  the  title ; 
and  at  the  end  of  forty-six  rambling  and  discursive 
chapters  on  things  in  general,  the  reader  finds  himself  no 
wiser.  It  is  called  "an  Investigation  of  the  Facts  of 
Physiological  and  Experimental  Psychology,"  but  there  is 
fio  investigation  of  facts  in  the  book.  The  rudiments  of 
anatonoy,  of  embryology,  of  neurology,  &c,  are  set  forth, 
much  in  the  form  in  which  they  can  be  found  in  ele- 
mentary text-books  on  the  subjects,  but  the  facts  thus 
presented  are  not  investigated  ;  they  are  presented  in  no 
new  light,  no  new  conclusions  are  drawn  ft-om  them,  and 
the  object  of  their  presentation  does  not  appear.  Here 
and  there,  indeed,  the  author  states  a  belief  for  which  in 
the  preface  he  claims  originality ;  he  considers,  for  in- 
stance, that  consciousness  (which  he  calls  a  concentrated 
or  intensified  feeling— an  additional  element  that  some- 

NO.  II 3 5,  VOL.  44] 


times  is,  and  sometimes  is  not,  attached  to  mental 
operations)  is  "  produced "  in  the  corpus  striatum.  It 
does  not  appear,  however,  that  this  hypothesis  leads  to 
anything,  or  has  any  appreciable  bearing  on  the  '*  problem 
of  the  human  soul,"  whatever  that  may  be.  Dr.  Carus 
thinks,  too,  that  man  has  two  souls,  a  central  soul  and  a 
peripheral  soul ;  and  it  is  thus  that  he  explains  the 
familiar  fact  that  certain  purposive  actions  are  unattended 
with  consciousness  ;  but  we  cannot  say  that  this  explana- 
tion makes  the  matter  any  clearer.  As  a  contribution  to 
science,  the  book  cannot  be  commended.  Whether  it 
has  a  theological  value,  we  must  leave  to  others  to  say. 

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  Recent  Earthquakes  in  Italy. 

With  reference  to  the  letter  which  appears  in  your  issue  of 
July  23  (p.  272),  on  the  earthquakes  having  occurred  at  Vesuvius 
on  June  7,  and  on  the  same  day  in  Southern  Australia,  I  would 
ask  leave  to  point  out  that  the  localities  mentioned  lie  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  great  circle  which  I  call  the  '*  south-west  coast 
of  Australia  great  circle  "  (that  is,  the  coast-line  between  Cape 
Hamlin  and  Cape  Chatham).  Melbourne  would  be  about  370 
miles  north  of  its  direction,  and  it  cuts  Italy  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Catanzaro,  leaving  Vesuvius  about  65  miles  to  the  north. 
This  great  circle  is  one  of  maximum  compression  on  the  earth's 
surface — that  is,  it  lies  for  the  most  part  on  the  ocean  surface, 
its  greatest  extent  on  land  being  in  traversing  Arabia,  which  it 
crosses  in  a  north-west,  south-east  direction. 

It  is  also  worth  noting  that,  while  you  cite  in  the  same  issue 
two  shocks  as  having  occurred  in  the  i^olian  Islands  on  June  24 
(of  these,  Stromboli  lies  about  40  miles  south  of  the  direction 
of  this  great  circle),  there  was  recorded  on  that  day,  in  the 
newspapers,  an  earthquake  shock  as  having  taken  place  on  the 
23rd  (midnight)  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  which  lies  about 
650  miles  to  the  north-west  of  the  direction  of  the  great  circle 
in  question  at  this  point,  and  therefore  approximatively  in  the 
vicinity.  J.  P.  O'Reilly. 

Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland, 
Stephen's  Green,  Dublin,  July  24. 


The  Great  Comet  of  1882. 

In  your  issue  of  May  28  (p.  82)  is  a  communication  about  the 
comet  of  1882  as  seen  in  the  act  of  passing  close  to  the  sun.  As 
attention  has  thus  been  called  to  that  comet,  I  desire  to  report  a 
remarkable  peculiarity  of  the  tail  as  observed  by  myself,  October 
3,  1882,  about  daybreak.  It  was  my  first  view  of  this  glorious 
comet.  Other  persons  on  the  east  sides  of  the  islands  had  seen 
it  several  days  earlier.  The  peculiarity  noted  was  the  abrupt 
aiding  of  the  tail,  which  was  cut  off  sharply  at  an  oblique  angle, 
on  an  incurved  line.     The  following  representation  is  copied 


/  e  / 


from  one  in  my  note-book  made  at  the  time.  A  A  represents 
the  eastern  ridge  of  the  Kahakuloa  canyon  on  the  north  end  of 
Maui,  where  I  was  sleeping.  B  is  the  brilliant  end  of  the  vast 
tail  like  a  scimitar  blside,  fully  as  bright  as  the  moon.     C  is 


294 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


copied  from  my  Dote-book.  It  was  evidently  meant  to  indicate 
the  continuation  of  the  tail  towards  the  nucleus,  as  seen  on 
Subsequent  mornings,  when  farther  from  the  sun.  D  is  the  ter- 
minal edge  of  the  tail,  as  sharp  as  the  outer  limb  of  the  moon, 
and  of  fullest  strength  of  lustre.  Altogether  it  formed  a  rather 
appalling  apparition.  Clouds  soon  obscured  it.  No  farther  view 
was  obtained  for  two  or  three  days,  when  the  end  of  the  tail  had 
assumed  the  usual  misty,  indefinite  outline. 

The  conclusion  forced  upon  my  mind  was  that  the  comet, 
having  parted  with  its  tail  in  its  rapid  turn  at  the  perihelion,  was 
seen  in  the  act  of  forcing  out  a  new  one  ahead  of  itself,  in  a  solid 
bank  of  vapour,  the  front  of  which  might  be  compared  to  the 
wall  of  water  that  heads  a  freshet  in  a  stream.  Another  re- 
semblance suggested  was  that  of  the  solid-looking  outline  of  an 
up-rolling  cumulus  cloud. 

I  will  add  hereto  a  statement  made  to  me  at  the  time  by  the 
Rev.  Hiram  Bingham,  a  distinguished  pioneer  missionary  to  the 
Gilbert  Islands.  He  saw  the  comet  about  a  week  earlier  than 
myself,  from  Kaneohe,  on  the  east  side  of  Oahu.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  observed  waves  of  prismatic  colours  running  outward 
along  the  brilliant  tail.  Mr.  Bingham  is  a  highly  cultivated 
person,  and  having  commanded  the  missionary  ship  for  part  of 
two  years,  is  accustomed  to  lunar  and  stellar  observation.  I  was 
led  at  the  time  to  believe  that  there  was  no  optical  illusion  in 
what  he  saw.  Sereno  E.  Bishop. 

Honolulu,  June  30. 


Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food. 

Prof.  Herdman's  practical  demonstration  at  the  North 
Cape  confirms  a  theory  I  have  long  held,  that  V  e  Copepoda, 
which  abound  in  every  ocean,  sea,  and  lake,  mighi  be  largely 
and  advantageously  made  available  for  human  food.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  species  Calanus  finmarchicus^  so  abundant  in 
our  northern  seas,  forms  the  chief  food  of  the  Greenland  whale. 
Our  own  immediate  coasts  abound  in  this  and  other  equally 
edible  species.  During  a  recent  dredging  cruise  round  the  Isle 
of  Man,  each  pull  of  the  tow-net  contained  thousands  of 
another  and  larger  species  of  Copepod,  Anomalocera  patersonii  ; 
and  Dr.  John  Murray  has  found  that  a  still  larger  species,  EucJiata 
norvegica^  is  plentiful  in  the  lower  depths  of  several  Scotch  lochs. 

A  number  of  finely-meshed  trawls,  used  off  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland,  would,  I  am  convinced,  furnish  excellent  food  for 
starving  multitudes  in  time  of  need. 

A  propos  of  the  distribution  of  Copepoda,  my  attention  was 
called  a  few  days  ago  by  the  Mayor  of  Bootle  to  the  filter-beds 
of  the  town  salt-water  baths,  which  be  said  were  swarming  with 
Entomostraca.  The  water  is  supplied  direct  from  the  river, 
and  examination  showed  the  presence  of  Copepoda  in  enormous 
quantities,  the  bulk  of  them  being  Eurytemora  hirundo,  a  species 
only  once  before  taken  in  Britain,  and  then  in  near  proximity  to 
Bootle.  Probably  other  filter-beds  are  equally  prolific,  and  may 
prove  valuable  hunting-grounds,  the  Copepoda  undoubtedly 
acting  as  scavengers  in  keeping  the  water  pure  from  putrefac- 
tion. I.  C.  Thompson. 

Liverpool,  July  24. 


Meteorological  Phenomenon. 

I  HAVE  received  in  a  letter  from  a  friend  residing  in  Boraston, 
Shropshire,  the  following  account  of  a  remarkably  interesting 
meteorological  phenomenon,  which  is  well  worth  putting  on 
record  : — 

**  We  had  a  curious  sight  from  this  house  yesterday  (July  26]. 
It  was  a  dead  calm,  but  in  a  field  just  below  the  garden,  with 
only  one  hedge  between  us  and  it,  the  hay  was  whirled  up  high 
into  the  sky,  a  column  connecting  above  and  below,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  evening  we  found  great  patches  of  hay  raining 
down  all  over  the  surrounding  meadows  and  our  garden.  It 
kept  falling  quite  four  hours  after  the  afiair.  There  was  not  a 
breath  of  air  stirring  as  far  as  we  could  see,  except  in  that  one 


spot 


II 


Francis  Galton. 


Refraction  through  a  Prism. 

In  such  elementary  text-books  on  geometrical  optics  as  I  have 
consulted  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  writers  have 
found  a  difficulty  in  presenting  a  precise  direct  proof  of  the 
theorem  that  when  a  ray  is  turned  out  of  its  course  by  direct 

NO.    II 35,  VOL.  44] 


passage  through  a  prism,  its  deviation  is  least  when  its  path  is 
symmetrical  with  regard  to  the  prism. 

May  I  ask  you  to  consider  the  simple  proof  which  I  inclose, 
and  may  I  leave  it  to  your  judgment  whether  it  is  worth  while 
that  it  should  be  presented  to  the  notice  of  teachers  in  the  pages 
of  Nature  ?  My  knowledge  of  text-books  I  cannot  suppose  to 
be  exhaustive,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  proof  which  I  inclose 
of  course  may  not  be  any  novelty. 

John  H.  Kirkby. 

Radley  College,  Abingdon,  June  ii. 

Minimum  Deviation. 

The  problem  is  to  find  two  rays  which,  passing  directly 
through  a  prism  near  together,  have  their  directions  changed 
by  the  prism  to  the  same  amount — for  in  the  limit,  these,  when 
brought  into  coincidence  by  change  of  position  of  ihe  prism,  will 
mark  the  course  of  that  ray  which  suffers  minimum  deviation 
(experiment  may  be  appealed  to,   to  show  that  it  is  minimom 


and  not  maximum).  Let  ABCD  be  the  course  of  a  ray  of 
light  through  the  prism  whose  vertex  is  V.  At  B  make  the 
^  VBC  =  ^  VCB,  then  if  the  ray  BC  is  continued  oiit  of  the 
prism  on  both  sides,  it  is  evident  that  its  completion  D'C'BA' 
meets  and  leaves  the  faces  of  the  prism  at  exactly  the  same 
angles  as  the  original  ray  ABCD,  only  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. Thus  the  two  rays  ABCD,  A'BC'D'  suffer  equal  deviation, 
and  because  the  A's  VBC,  VC'B  are  similar, 

.-.  VB^  =  VC  .  VC; 

and  when  the  rays  are  so  close  as  to  practically  render  C,  C  co- 
incident, we  have  VB*  =  VC-,  or  VB  =  VC  when  the  devia- 
tion is  a  minimum,  i.e,  the  deviation  is  a  minimum  when  the 
course  of  the  ray  makes  equal  angles  with  the  sides  of  the 
prism. 

[Oxford  men  will  remember  that  more  than  twenty  years  ago 
Prof.  Clifton  gave  a  somewhat  similar  proof  as  follows  : — 

Since  the  paths  ABCD  and  D'C'BN  are  similar,  if  one  is  a 
path  of  minimum  deviation  the  other  must  have  the  same 
property  also.  Hence,  since  light  can  always  travel  in  the 
reverse  direction  along  a  path,  the  paths 

ABCD  and  NBC'O 

are  both  paths  of  minimum  deviation. 

But  the  existence  of  two  such  minima  is  contrary  to  experi- 
ment. Hc^nce  the  paths  must  be  identical,  which  can  only  be 
the  case  of  the  angle  VBC  =  VBC  =  VCB.— Ed.] 


Further  Notes  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Heloderma. 

Since  I  published  in  Nature  (vol.  xliii.  p.  514),  "The  Povsod 
Apparatus  of  the  Heloderma,"  there  has  appeared  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Boulenger  another  notable  contribution  to  the 
anatomy  of  that  genus  of  reptiles,  entitled  "Notes  on  the 
Osteology  of  Heloderma  horridum  and  H.  suspectum^  with 
Remarks  on  the  Systematic  Position  of  the  Helodermatida:  and  on 
the  Vertebrae  of  the  Lacertilia,"  (P.Z.S.,  January  20,  1891).  Thai 
paper  is  especially  useful,  inasmuch  as  it  critically  compares  the 
vertebral  columns  of  the  two  species  of  Lizards  under  consider- 
ation— a  comparison  which,  up  to  the  time  of  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Boulenger's  paper,  had  not  been  made.  To  briefly 
recapitulate  his  points,  Boulenger  finds  differences  in  the  form 
of  the  premaxillaries  of  the  two  species,  and  in  the  number  of 
teeth  supported  by  those  bones.  He  finds  palatine  and  pterygoid 
teeth  constantly  absent  in  H.  suspectum  but  present  in  H, 
horridum — a  very  remarkable  fact.  A  small  azygous  ossification 
was  found  in  the  cartilage  of  the  mandibular  symphysis  of 
H.  horridum,  '*  apparently  the  homologue  of  the  symphjsial 
(mento-meckelian)  bones  of  most  tailless  Batrachians."     This 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


295 


last  discovery  has  impohant  bearings  in  other  directions.  In  the 
vertebral  column  there  appear  to  be  a  total  of  76  vertebrae  in  the 
case  of  H,  korridum  to  but  63  or  65  in  the  spine  of  H,  suspecium. 
And,  in  conclusion,  this  distinguished  herpetologist  remarks  that 
"A  short  rib  is  present  on  the  third  cervical  in  H,  horridum^ 
which  is  absent  in  H.  suspectum ;  the  neural  spines  are  more 
elevated  in  the  middle  and  posterior  portion  of  the  dorsal  region 
in  //.  horridum,  specimens  of  the  same  sex,  of  course,  being 
compared.  The  neural  spines  are  much  more  developed  in  the 
male"  (p.  1 16).  Boulenger  still  thinks  the  place  of  the 
Hehdermatida  between  the  Anguida  and  the  Varanida,  which 
he  assigned  to  them  in  1884. 

In  concluding  this  notice  I  am  led  to  pass  some  observations 
apon  certain  strictures  Mr.   Boulenger  has  made  in  his  paper 
upon  my  memoir   on   the  anatomy    of  H,   suspectum  which 
appeared  in  the  Proc.  of  the  Zool.  Soc.  of  London  lor  1890.    His 
criticism  of  my  description  of  the  atlas  of  H.  suspectum  is  well 
taken,  as  I  have  satisfied  myself  of  by  an  examination  of  better 
material  since.     That  bone  is  found  to  be  in  three  pieces,  and 
not  mjive  as  stated  by  me.     He  is  also  quite  correct  when  he 
comes  to  point  out  certain  errors  in  my  figures  of  manus  and  pes 
of  that  reptile,  and  I  thank  him  for  having  called  my  attention 
to  them.     With  respect,  however,  to  the  error  he  believes  me  to 
be  guilty  of  in  my  description  of  the  teeth  in  the  premaxillary 
bones  of  H,  suspectum^  I  can  in  no  way  agree  with  him.     He 
observes  :  *'  Eight  or  nine  prsemaxillary  teeth  are  present  in  H, 
horridum,  and  only  six  in  H.  suspectum.    Dr.  Shufeldt,  however, 
represents  eight  teeth  in  the  latter  species  ;  but  his  figure,  showing 
all  the  teeth  as  of  the  same  size,  looks  very  diagrammatic."    In 
his  figures  illustrating  these  remarks  Mr.  Boulenger  gives  H, 
horridum  but  six  teeth,  and  H,  suspectum  but  four,  and  the 
drawings  of  the  bones  look,  indeed,    very  diagrammatic.      I 
cannot  conceive  of  any  lizard  normally  having  but  '*nine  "  teeth 
in  its  premaxillary  bone  ;  it  should  at  least  be  an  even  number. 
Now  the  mounted  specimen  of  H.  suspectum  in  the  collections  of 
the  U.S.  National  Museum,  has  eight  teeth  in  its  premaxillary, 
and  it  was  from  that  specimen  that  I  drew  my  figure  which 
appeated  in  the  Proceedings.    Normally,  that  is  the  number,  but 
those  teeth  are  often  broken  out  in  the  Heloderms,  and  they 
become  irregular  by  subsequent  growth.     The  outer  ones  are 
always  the  longer,  when  the  skull  is  perfect.     In  so  far  as  the 
formol  the  premaxillary  is  concerned,  as  touched  upon  by  Mr. 
Boulenger,    I    believe  no  little  allowance  must  be  made  for 
ittdividucU  variation,  which  is  often  quite  considerable  among 
lizards  as<it  is  among  Vertebrates  higher  in  tbe  scale.     Other 
figures   illustrating    the    work    under    consideration    are    ex- 
cellent. 

It  would  appear  that  it  is  to  be  the  fate  of  the  Helodermatoidea 
to  have  their  morphology  more  thoroughly  worked  out  than  most, 
or  even  any  other,  lizards  up  to  the  present  time  ;  and  I  am 
given  to  understand  that  Prof.  Garman,  of  Harvard  College, 
has  it  in  mind  to  review,  in  the  near  future,  the  entire  structure 
of  H.  suspectum.  R.  W.  Shufeldt. 

Smithsonian  Institution,  July  8. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  STANDARDS 

OF  1738. 

HTHE  discovery  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Journals  of  the 
^  House  of  Commons,  referred  to  in  Nature  last 
week  (p.  280),  of  the  original  standards  of  length,  which 
were  in  1758  deposited  in  the  custody  of  the  Clerk  of 
the  House,  has  attracted  some  attention  to  the  history 
of  these  Parliamentary  standards.  As  some  misappre- 
hension as  to  the  effect  of  such  discovery  appears  to 
have  arisen,  and  as  it  is  to  eminent  men  of  science  that 
we  are  mainly  indebted  for  our  standards  of  length,  the 
following  explanatory  notes  may  interest  many  of  our 
readers. 

The  standards  of  length  above  referred  to  were  made 
under  the  directions  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  of  which  Lord  Carysfort  was  Chairman, 
appointed  on  May  26,  1758,  "to  inquire  into  the  original 
standards  of  weights  and  measures  in  this  kingdom." 
The  Committee  reported  that  in  1742  several  members  of 
the  Royal  Society  were  at  great  pains  in  taking  an  exact 
measure  of  the  ancient  Exchequer  standards  of  length  (of 

NO.    1135,  VOL.  44] 


Henry  VII.  and  Queen  Elizabeth),  then  condemned  by  the 
Committee  as  being  coarsely  made  and  "bad  standards  "  ; 
that  such  measure  was  made  by  "  very  curious  instruments 
prepared  by  the  late  ingenious  Mr.  Graham" ;  and  that  the 
Royal  Society  had  lent  to  the  Committee  a  brass  rod  made 
pursuant  to  these  experiments,  which  rod  had  been  com- 
pared by  Mr.  Harris,  of  the  Royal  Mint,  with  the  Exchequer 
standards.  Mr.  Harris  advised  the  Committee  that  the 
Royal  Society's  standard  was  made  so  accurately,  and  by 
persons  so  skilful  and  exact,  that  he  did  not  think  it  easy 
to  obtain  a  better  standard ;  and  accordingly  the  Com- 
mittee then  had  two  rods  made  by  Mr.  Bird,  an  optician, 
according  to  Mr.  Harris's  proposal ;  which  "  rods  "  were 
laid  before  the  House.  The  rod  marked  "  Standard  Yard, 
1758,''  was  to  be  taken  as  the  proper  standard ;  it  was 
stated  by  the  Committee  to  be  made  of  brass,  to  be  about 
38  or  39  inches  in  length  and  about  one  inch  thick  ;  near 
to  each  end  of  the  rod  a  fine  point  and  line  being  drawn 
on  a  gold  stud,  the  distance  between  tbe  points  on  the 
gold  studs  being  the  **  true  standard  length  of  a  yard,''  or 
36  inches.  The  second  rod  was  made  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  first  rod,  excepting  that  it  had  "  two  upright  cheeks '' 
instead  of  points  or  lines  ;  so  that  any  other  yard  rod  might 
be  measured  by  being  placed  between  the  cheeks.  Both 
these  rods  (together  with  three  standard  troy  pounds 
lb 

marked  **  T  ,"  with  a  crown  and  "  G.2,"  and  a  setx)t  troy 

1758 
standards  from  2  pounds  to  32  pounds,  made  and  adjusted 

by  Mr.  Harris  "  with  very  curious  and  exact  scales  of  his 

at  the  Mint ")  were  stated  by  the  Committee  to  be  then 

deposited  with  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

In  1838  the  attention  of  the  Government  was  directed 
to  the  necessity  of  determining  a  new  standard  weight 
and  measure  to  replace  the  above  standards  of  1758, 
which  were  stated  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer^-in 
a  letter  to  Mr.  G.  Airy,  the  Astronomer- Royal — to  have 
been  "  destroyed  by  the  burning  of  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment," and  a  Commission  was  appointed  to  restore  the 
standards.  The  Commission  included  F.  Baily,  J.  E. 
D.  Bethune,  Davies  Gilbert,  J.  S.  Lcfevre,  J.  W.  Lubbock, 
Geo.  Peacock,  R.  Sheepshanks,  J.  Herschel,  and  G.  B. 
Airy.  Their  report  of  1841  gives  a  precise  description  of 
the  condition  of  the  standards  at  the  Journal  Office  im- 
mediately after  the  fire.  The  Committee  reported  that 
the  legal  standard  of  one  yard  was  "  so  far  injured  that  it 
was  impossible  to  ascertain  from  it  with  the  most  moderate 
accuracy  the  statutable  length  of  one  yard  "  ;  and  also 
that  the  "  legal  standard  of  one  troy  pound  was  missing." 
New  Parliamentary  standards  of  length  and  weight  were 
accordingly  made  under  the  directions  of  the  Committee, 
and  were  legalized  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1855. 
These  new  Imperial  standards  are  now  deposited  with 
the  Board  of  Trade,  but  legal  "  Parliamentary  copies  "  of 
them  are  stated  to  have  been  immured,  in  1853,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  further  copies  were  then  de- 
posited at  the  Royal  Mint,  the  Royal  Observatory,  and 
with  the  Royal  Society.  These  latter  Parliamentary 
copies  are  legally  required  to  be  compared  with  each 
other  once  in  every  ten  years,  but  those  deposited  at  the 
House  of  Commons  are  excepted  from  any  such  com- 
parison. It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  House  of 
Commons  standards  are  sometimes  examined,  as  is  shown 
by  some  printed  correspondence  on  this  subject  which 
was  laid  before  the  House  of  Lords  in  1872,  in  which 
year  the  standards  were  examined,  and  after  their  ex- 
amination were  again  immured  in  a  wall  near  the  lower 
waiting  hall  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  a  certificate  of 
the  deposit  of  the  standards  being  given  as  follows  : — 

"  It  is  hereby  certified  that  this  day,  in  the  presence  of 
the  undersigned,  the  oaken  box  containing  the  Par- 
liamentary Copy  No.  4  of  the  Imperial  Standard  Yard, 
and  the  Imperial  Copy  No.  4  of  the  Imperial  Standard 
Pound,"  .   .    .   has  been  "  deposited  within  the  wall  on 


296 


NATURE 


[July  30,  1891 


the  right-hand  side  of  the  second  landing  of  the  public 
staircase  leading  from  the  lower  waiting  hall  up  to  the 
Commons  Committee  Rooms,  a  brass  plate  having  been 
fixed  upon  the  wall  bearing  the  following  inscription  in 
Elizabethan  or  church  text  : — Within  this  wall  are  de- 
posited standards  of  the  British  Yard  Measure  and  the 
British  Pound  Weight,  1853."  The  certificate  is  signed 
by  G.  B.  Airy  (Astronomer- Royal),  John  George  Shaw 
Lefevre  (Clerk  of  the  Parliaments),  W.  H.  Miller,  C.  P. 
Fortescue  (President  of  the  Board  of  Trade),  H.  W. 
Chisholm,  and  H.  J.  Chaney;  and  is  dated  March  7, 
1872. 

It  hardly  appears,  therefore,  that  the  old  standards 
of  1758,  which  appear  to  have  remained  unnoticed  for 
the  past  fifty  years,  are  now  of  any  importance  for  the 
purposes  of  measurement. 


MAXWELLS  ELECTRO-MAGNETIC 

THEORIES} 

A  N  account  of  Maxwell's  electric  theories  from  the  pen 
-^~*-  of  Prof.  Poincard  could  not  but  be  full  of  interest. 
The  volume  before  us  is  the  first  of  two  on  the  views  and 
conclusions  set  forth  in  the  ''  Electricity  and  Magnetism  " 
regarding  electro- static  and  electro -magnetic  action,  and 
their  verification  by  Hertz  and  others ;  and  we  must  of 
course  wait  for  the  completion  of  the  work  before  we 
can  form  any  adequate  idea  of  its  scope  and  character, 
and  fully  understand  the  results  of  the  critical  analysis 
which  it  contains.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  treatise 
is  in  the  somewhat  disadvantageous  form  of  an  edited 
course  of  lectures,  it  is  a  contribution  of  great  value  to 
the  literature  of  the  subject.  Whether  or  not  it  is  pos- 
sible always  to  agree  with  the  physical  views  expressed 
.  regarding  matters  which  are  not  yet  outside  the  region 
of  speculation,  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  its  style 
and  methods.  Here  are  to  be  found  exemplified  that 
order  and  harmony  which  render  the  work  of  the  best 
French  mathematical  writers  so  exquisitely  clear,  and 
that  artistic  charm  which  is  so  seldom  seen  in  the  writings 
of  scientific  men  of  other  nationalities.  It  has  been  re- 
marked by  competent  critics  that  MaxwelPs  work,  though 
essentially  that  of  an  artist  and  man  of  genius,  is  obscured 
here  and  there  by  a  certain  vagueness  and  want  of  logical 
coherence  and  completeness,  which  has  tried  the  patience 
and  strength  of  many  a  devoted  disciple.  This  was  of 
course  to  a  great  extent  inevitable.  He  sought  out  new 
fields  of  speculation  for  himself,  and  his  greatest  and 
most  successful  generalizations  were,  one  cannot  help 
feeling,  the  results  rather  of  unerring  intuition  than  of  any 
completely  systematic  process  of  reasoning.  Those  who 
follow  in  his  footsteps  therefore  are  glad  of  the  help  of 
any  friendly  guide  who  is  able  by  his  experience  and 
strength  to  point  out  the  dangers  and  diminish  the  diffi- 
culties which  attend  their  progress. 

In  his  introduction  Prof.  Poincar^  gives  a  critical 
estimate  of  Maxwell's  theories  which  strikes  one  at  first 
sight  as  somewhat  inappreciative.     Thus  he  says  : — 

"  La  premiere  fois  qu'un  lecteur  frangais  ouvrc  le  livre 
de  Maxwell,  un  sentiment  de  malaise,  et  souvent  meme 
de  defiance  se  m61e  d'abord  k  son  admiration.  Ce  n'est 
qu'apr^s  un  commerce  prolong^  et  au  prix  de  beaucoup 
d'efiorts,  que  ce  sentiment  se  dissipe.  Quelques  esprits 
^minents  le  conservent  m^me  toujour s.  .  .  .  Ainsi  en 
ouvrant  Maxwell  un  Frangais  s*  attend  k  y  trouver  un 
ensemble  th^orique  aussi  logique  et  aussi  precis  que 
I'optique  physique  fondle  sur  I'hypoth^se  de  Tdther  ;  il  se 
prepare  ainsi  une  deception  que  je  voudrais  ^viter  au 
lecteur  en  Tavertissant  tout  de  suite  de  ce  qu'il  doit 
chercher  dans  Maxwell  et  de  ce  qu'il  n'y  saurait  trouver. 

.'  "Electricity  et  Optique."  I.  Les  Theories  de  Maxwell  et  la  Th6orie 
Electromagntftique  de  la  Lumi&re.  Par  H.  Poincartf,  Membre  de  I'lnstiiut 
(Paris :  Georges  Carr^,  1890.) 


NO.    II  35,  VOL.  44] 


''  Maxwell  ne  donne  pas  une  explication  mecanique 
de  r^lectricit^  et  du  magn^tisme ;  11  se  borne  k  d^ontrer 
que  cette  explication  est  possible. 

*'  II  montre  ^galement  que  les  ph^nom^nes  optiques  ne 
sont  qu'un  cas  particulier  des  ph^nom^nes  ^lectromag- 
n^tiques.  De  toute  th^orie  de  I'dlectricit^  on  pourra  done 
d^duire  imm^diatement  une  th^orie  de  la  lumi^re. 

"  La  r^ciproque  n'est  malheureusement  pas  vraie ; 
d'une  explication  complete  de  la  lumi^re,  il  n*est  pas  tou- 
jours  aisd  de  tirer  une  explication  complete  d  es  pheno- 
m^nes  ^lectriques." 

The  author,  however,  shows  throughout  his  exposition 
that  he  is  not  only  impressed  with  the  extraordinary  im- 
portance of  Maxwell's  work,  but  also  thoroughly  ap- 
preciates and  admires,  if  occasionally  under  protest  and 
with  longing  after  the  more  ancient  classic  models,  its 
somewhat  wild  and  native  beauty. 

An  important  part  of  the  introduction  is  an  exposition 
of  the  theoretical  basis  of  what  Prof.  Poincard  rightly 
regards  as  the  fundamental  idea  of  Maxwell's  treatment 
of  electro-magnetism — that  is,  the  application  of  the 
general  processes  of  dynamics  to  any  system  of  current- 
cairying  conductors.  No  doubt  almost  all  the  work 
which  had  been  done  previously  had  been  more  or  less 
of  this  nature,  but  we  refer  here  to  the  attempt  which 
Maxwell  made  with  very  considerable  success  to  correlate 
electro-magnetic  phenomena  by  means  of  Lagrange's 
general  dynamical  equations. 

In  the  Lagrangian  method  the  physical  state  of  a 
system  is  defined  by  means  of  certain  parameters  q^^  q^ 
.  .  .  ^„, »  in  number  ;  and  a  dynamical  explanation  is 
obtained,  or  proved  to  be  possible,  when  the  values  of 
these  parameters  are  found  in  terms  of,  or  proved  to  be 
related  to  the  positions  and  motions  of  a  system  of  con- 
nected particles,  either  of  ordinary  matter,  or  of  some 
hypothetical  fiuid. 

If  m^y  m^,  ,  .  ,  m/  be  the  masses  of  these  particles, 
^h  yh  ^i  the  Cartesian  co-ordinates  of  the  particle  of  mass 
nii,  and  if  the  system  have  potential  energy  V,  a  function 
of  the  3/>  co-ordinates  of  type  xt,  yt^  jsr,,  there  are  3^  equa- 
tions of  motion  of  the  form 


ffii  Xi  +  dVjdxi  =  o 
&c. 


&c. 
The  kinetic  energy  T  is 


} 


(0 


and    the    principle    of   conservation    of   energy    gives 
T  +  V  =  constant. 

Now  we  know  V,  and  can  express  the  co-ordinates  of 
each  particle  or  molecule  in  terms  of  the  n  parameters 
^t)  ^2)  <  •  •  ^«*  ^^^  celebrated  Lagrangian  equations  in 
terms  of  the  parameters  can  then  be  obtained  by  direct 
transformation  of  (i),  and  are  of  the  type 

d  dT      dT 


dt  dgjb 


dq^t"^  dqji 


Here  T  and  V  are  homogeneous  quadratic  functions, 
the  first  of  the  quantities  of  type  ^,  with  coefficients  which 
are  functions  of  the  parameters  themselves,  the  latter  of 
the  parameters  only. 

If  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  system  we  are 
dealing  with  is  a  dynamical  system,  for  which  the  values 
of  T  and  V  (or,  more  properly,  those  parts  of  the  total 
kinetic  and  potential  energies  which  are  concerned  in 
the  special  phenomenon  treated),  can  be  obtained  by 
observation  of  parameters  of  type  q,  we  can  use  these 
equations  in  our  discussions  of  results,  whether  or  not  we 
can  actually  express  the  parameters  in  terms  of  co- 
ordinates of  particles  of  the  system.  The  justification 
of  this  process  is  the  agreement  of  the  results  with 
experiment. 

If  now  we  imagine  a  system  oi  particles  Cwhetiier  ot 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


297 


actual  or  hypothetical  matter)  say  p  in  number,  which 
has  the  required  values  of  T  and  V,  and  which  further 
gives  the  same  relations  of  the  parameters  q^  we  have 
obtained  a  dynamical  explanation  of  the  phenomenon. 
Prof.  Poincar^  remarks  with  respect  to  this  process  that 
no  dynamical  solution  of  the  problem  obtained  in  this 
way  can  be  unique,  and  that  in  fact  it  must  be  possible  to 
obtain  in  this  way  an  infinite  number  of  different  solu- 
tions, or  to  quote  his  own  words : — 

'^  If  any  phenomenon  admits  of  a  complete  mechanical 
explanation  it  will  admit  of  an  infinite  number  of  others 
which  equally  well  account  for  all  the  results  of  experi- 
ment" 

This,  as  he  reminds  us,  is  confirmed  by  the  history 
of  physical  inquiry.  Theories  inconsistent  with  one 
another  are  elaborated  by  different  persons,  and  explain 
the  known  facts  so  well  that  there  is  hardly  anything  left 
to  decide  which  is  right.  For  example,  according  to 
Fresnel  the  direction  of  vibration  in  a  ray  of  plane  polar- 
ized light  is  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  polarization, 
according  to  Neumann  and  MacCullagh  it  is  in  the 
plane  of  polarization.  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  any 
perfectly  absolute  experimentum  crucis  has  yet  been 
found  to  decide  between  these  two  theories,  although 
the  balance  of  evidence  seems  decidedly  in  favour  of  the 
view  of  Fresnel. 

It  is,  however,  to  be  remembered  that  while  we  can 
find  different  mechanical  theories  to  explain  the  facts,  the 
theories  are  not  necessarily  distinct;  the  mechanism 
proposed  performs  functions  which  must  be  performed 
by  the  actual  mechanism  whatever  that  may  be.  There 
always  is,  as  the  above  cited  case  well  illustrates,  a  unity 
connecting  the  different  explanations  and  a  consequent 
element  of  similarity  among  them ;  and  each  satisfactory 
theory  elaborated  must  tend  to  progress  by  suggesting 
modes  of  deciding  in  what  respects  it  is  redundant  or 
inadequate. 

The  difficulty  then  as  to  real  mechanical  explanations 
of  phenomena  does  not  prevent  us  from  making  progress 
in  our  knowledge  of  matter.  The  Lagrangian  method, 
and  this  is  its  remarkable  merit,  enables  us  to  use  the 
parameters  instead  of  the  co-ordinates  of  actual  particles, 
and  thereby  to  predict  the  existence  of  further  properties 
of  matter  capable  of  throwing  light  on  those  already 
observed.  In  this  way  may  be  lightened  the  task,  hap- 
pily not  likely  to  be  soon  relinquished  by  the  human 
intellect,  of  inquiring  into  the  actual  constitution  of 
matter  and  the  mutual  actions  of  its  parts. 

There  seems,  however,  no  doubt  that  Prof.  Poincar^ 
is  correct  in  his  view  that  the  central  idea  of  Maxwell's 
treatise  is  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  mechanical  explana- 
tion of  electrical  phenomena,  not  indeed  actually  finding 
it,  but  by  showing  that  the  Lagrangian  method,  which 
presupposes  such  an  explanation,  is  applicable,  and  leads 
to  consistent  results. 

Coming  now  to  the  detailed  exposition  of  Maxwell's 
theories,  the  first  thing  that  calls  for  notice  is  the  theory 
of  electric  displacement.  This  has  always  been  a  subject 
of  considerable  difficulty.  What  is  electricity  ?  is  it  the 
ether  or  something  in  the  ether  ?  in  what  consists  its  dis- 
placement.^ are  questions  which  the  anxious  inquirer  is 
continually  putting,  and  putting  in  vain.  Maxwell's  elec- 
tric displacement  and  electric  force  remain  simply  ana- 
logies to  the  strain  and  stress  in  an  elastic  solid,  and  it  can 
hardly  be  said  that  anyone  has  yet  brought  them  out  of 
the  category  of  abstractions.  No  doubt  the  mechanical 
analogues  suggested  by  Maxwell  himself  and  by  others 
are  helpful  in  fixing  the  ideas  and  enabling  the  mind  to 
form  some  concrete  conception  of  what  takes  place  in  the 
medium  ;  but  they  may  easily  be  carried  too  far,  and  prove 
the  means  of  leading  to  error.  It  is  almost  better  in 
some  respects  to  remain  content,  if  possible,  with  abstrac- 
tions, until  further  light  as  to  the  properties  of  the  ether 
is  obtained  by  experiment  and  observation  ;  and  perhaps 

NO.   II 35,  VOL.  44] 


it  is  on  this  account  that  Maxwell  has  abstained  from 
giving  such  illustrations  in  his  treatise.  On  the  other 
hand,  some  notion  corresponding  to  that  of  electric  dis- 
placement is  necessary  for  any  theory  of  electrical  action 
regarded  as  propagated  through  a  medium  surrounding 
the  electrified  bodies,  whose  charges  become  thus  the 
surface  manifestation  of  the  state  of  constraint  set  up  in 
the  dielectric  by  the  electrification. 

Prof.  Poincar^  distinguishes  between  two  fluids— one 
which  he  calls  electricity y  and  the  other  the  fluicU  indue- 
teur.  Both  fluids  are  incompressible,  the  latter  fills  all 
dielectric  space,  the  former  is  capable  of  being  produced 
at  or  placed  at  any  given  place  or  on  any  given  surface. 
If,  then,  within  a  closed  space  a  quantity  of  electricity  is 
introduced,  as,  for  example,  when  a  charge  is  placed  on 
the  surface  of  a  conductor,  an  equal  quantity  of  the  Jiuide 
inducteur  is  forced  out  across  the  bounding  surface. 
When  all  the  conductors  of  a  system  are  in  the  neutral 
state,  the  fluide  inducteur  is  in  normal  equilibrium  ;  when, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  conductors  are  electrified,  the 
equilibrium  ceases  to  be  normal  and  the  state  becomes 
one  of  constraint. 

There  is  some  advantage  in  thus  distinguishing  between 
the  fluid  constituting  the  electrification  and  that  filling 
the  surrounding  space,  as  it«  avoids  some  difficulties  of 
explanation  and  treatment  which  arise  when  only  one 
fluid  is  considered  as  producing  the  phenomena. 

After  a  rather  lengthy  but  in  many  points  critical 
exposition  of  the  theory  of  dielectrics,  founded  on  Poisson's 
notion  of  couches  de  glisscfnenty  we  come  to  an  interest- 
ing discussion  of  Maxwell's  theory  of  stresses  in  a  dielec- 
tric field.  By  a  somewhat  different  process  from  that 
used  by  Maxwell,  the  stresses  are  found  for  an  isotropic 
field  to  be  a  tension  along  and  a  pressure  across  the  lines 
of  force  of  numerical  amount  KF-ZSir,  where  K  is  the 
specific  inductive  capacity,  and  F  is  the  electric  force 
at  the  point  considered. 

On  this  result  Prof.  Poincard  remarks  that,  although  it 
agrees  very  well  with  the  observed  attractions  and  repul- 
sions between  electrified  bodies,  yet  if  these  attractions  and 
repulsions  are  to  be  considered  as  due  to  the  existence  of 
such  stresses  in  an  elastic  medium,  the  laws  of  elasticity 
for  that  medium  must  be  very  diflerent  from  those  for 
ordinary  substances.  The  ideas  of  electric  displacement 
and  electromotive  force  at  a  point  correspond  to  the 
strain  and  stress  in  an  Elastic  solid  ;  but,  for  correspond- 
ence to  stresses  of  the  value  F'VStt,  it  is  necessary  to  find 
some  different  forms  of  displacement  or  strain  than  any 
that  have  yet  been  imagined. 

A  difficulty  here  arises  to  which  Poincard  attaches 
considerable  importance.  The  potential  energy  in  the 
medium  is,  if^  J*,  h  be  the  component  electric  displace- 
ments, given  by  the  equation 

W  =  /■'^(/«  +  g^  +  h'')dv, 

where  dv  is  an  element  of  volume  and  the  integral  is 
extended  through  all  space.  According  to  Maxwell's 
hypothesis  as  to  the  localization  of  the  energy  of  the 
field,  the  amount  contained  in  an  element  dv  at  which 
the  displacements  ^xef^g^  h^  is 


2»r 
K 


(Z'+^'  +  ZO^^, 


or  KFV7//8ir.  Consequently,  if  F  be  increased  to  F  +  dY^ 
there  will  be  an  increase  in  the  potential  energy  of 
amount  2KTdFdvl^ir.  If  now  the  stresses  act  in  the 
medium  as  ordinary  stresses,  they  must  produce  corre- 
sponding strains  in  each  element  of  volume.  Hence  if 
the  element  dv  be  a  rectangular  parallelepiped  of  edges 
djr,  dy,  bs  when  the  field  is  free  from  electric  stress^ 
these  dimensions  will  become,  when  an  electromotive 
force  F  is  produced  at  the  element,  respectively 
bx  \i  +  e^,hy  {i  +  e^f  bz  (i  +  e^.     Hence,  if  when  F 


298 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


is  increased  to  F  +  ^j  ^i>  ^s>  ^3  become  e^  +  de^^ 
ex  +  ^<?s,  ^3  +  ^^3,  the  work  done  by  the  stresses  will, 
neglecting  small  quantities  of  the  second  order,  be 

KF- 

and  if  the  increase  of  potential  energy  in  the  element 
take  place  in  consequence  of  the  work  done  against  the 
stresses  we  get  the  equation 

^^dv{de,^dex-de^  =  -^dv, 


or 


dei-de^-de^^^-^, 
which  gives  by  integration 

tfi— ^s-^3«2  log  F  +  const. 

This  result  is  inadmissible,  since  when  F  is  zero,  we 
must  have  ^j  =  ^g  =  ^3  =  o,  while  if  this  equation  holds 
either  e^  or  e^  is  infinite. 

A  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  simply  that  the  energy  i  s 
not  really  potential  but  kinetic  It  is  certainly  not  easy 
to  see  why  the  electro-magnetic  energy  should  be  regarded 
as  kinetic  and  the  electro-static  as  potential,  and  it  seems 
more  natural  to  conclude,  as  all  progress  in  knowledge 
of  matter  seems  to  indicate,  that  the  properties  of  the 
medium  are  wholly  due  to  motion. 

After  a  short  sketch  of  purely  magnetic  theory,  Poin- 
car^  proceeds  to  what  must  be  regarded  as  the  most 
important  part  of  his  account  of  Maxwell's  work — the 
theory  of  electro-magnetism.  His  investigation  of  the 
magnetic  potentials  of  circuits  is  somewhat  different 
from  that  usually  given.  Maxwell  takes  as  his  starting 
point  here  the  equivalence  of  a  current- carrying  circuit 
of  small  dimensions  and  a  magnet.  Poincard  bases  his 
method  directly  on  the  following  three  results  of  experi- 
ment :  (i)  that  two  parallel  currents  of  equal  intensity 
and  of  opposite  directions  in  two  close  conductors  exert 
no  action  on  a  magnetic  pole  at  some  distance  ;  (2)  if  one 
of  these  currents  have  small  sinuosities,  its  action  on  the 
magnetic  pole  is  still  equal  and  opposite  to  that  of  the 
straight  current ;  and  (3)  that  the  magnetic  action  is  pro- 
portional to  the  quantity  of  electricity  which  traverses  a 
cross-section  of  the  conductor  in  the  unit  of  time. 

With  the  assumption  that  the  components  of  the  force 
acting  on  a  magnetic  pole  are  obtained  by  partial  differen- 
tiation of  a  function  which  depends  only  on  the  relative 
positions  of  the  pole  and  the  circuit,  the  usual  theorems 
are  obtained  in  the  following  elegant  manner.  First  of 
all  it  is  shown  that  the  potential  of  a  closed  plane  circuit 
at  any  point  in  its  plane  is  zero.  This  is  first  proved  for 
a  circuit  symmetrical  about  a  line  on  its  own  plane  and  a 
point  on  the  axis  of  symmetry.  Then  by  using  the  first 
fundamental  proposition  to  introduce  across  the  circuit 
straight  conductors  each  carrying  two  equal  and  opposite 
currents  equal  to  the  current  in  the  circuit,  a  circuit  of  any 
form  is  divided  into  narrow  portions  each  bounded  at  the 
ends  by  elements  of  the  circuit,  and  at  its  sides  by  radial 
lines  passing  through  the  point  in  question.  By  using 
then  the  second  proposition  to  replace  each  end-element 
of  the  circuit  by  a  circular  arc  passing  through  the  centre 
of  the  element  and  described  from  the  given  point  as 
centre,  each  strip  is  turned  into  a  complete  circuit,  sym- 
metrical about  a  line  through  the  given  point.  Since, 
then,  the  theorem  is  true  for  every  such  circuit,  it  is  true 
for  the  whole  given  circuit  which  they  build  up.  Next  it 
is  easily  shown  that  when  a  circuit  is  situated  on  the 
surface  of  a  cone  but  does  not  surround  the  axis— that  is, 
is  such  that  a  generating  line  meets  the  circuit  in  an  even 
number  of  points — the  potential  of  the  circuit  at  the  vertex 
of  the  cone  is  zero.  For,  by  means  of  conductors  intro- 
duced along  generating  lines,  and  carrying  equal  and 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


opposite  currents  as  before,  it  is  possible  with  the  aid  of 
the  second  result  stated  above  to  replace  the  circuit  by  a 
number  of  narrow  plane  circuits  each  carrying  the  given 
current,  and  symmetrical  about  a  generating  line  of  the 
cone.  Hence  each  element  produces  zero  potential  at  the 
vertex,  and  therefore  so  also  does  the  given  circuit 

Then  it  is  proved  that  two  circuits  on  the  surface  of  a 
cone,  each  passing  round  the  axis,  produce  equal  and 
opposite  potentials  at  the  vertex,  if  the  currents  are 
equal  and  flow  in  opposite  directions  round  the  cone. 
For  by  means  of  hypothetical  conductors  introduced  as 
before  along  the  generating  lines,  and  the  second  funda- 
mental result,  these  circuits  can  be  converted  into  narrow 
plane  circuits,  each  carrying  a  current  and  symmetrical 
about  a  generating  line.  Thus  the  arrangement  of  two 
circuits  produces  no  potential  at  the  vertex.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  two  circuits  subtend  equal  solid  angles 
at  the  vertex  of  the  cone,  and  that  the  potentials  most 
still  be  equal  and  opposite  if  the  circuits  surround 
distinct  superposable  cones. 

Considering  now  any  closed  circuit,  we  can  draw  a 
cone  from  any  chosen  point  as  vertex,  so  that  the  genera- 
tors pass  through  the  circuit  Then  this  cone  can  be 
divided  into  an  infinite  number  of  infinitely  small  super- 
posable cones  of  equal  solid  angle,  each  having  a 
current  flowing  round  it  in  the  same  direction  as  that 
round  the  given  circuit,  and  the  total  potential  at  the 
common  vertex  is  the  sum  of  the  equal  potentials  pro* 
duced  by  three  small  circuits — that  is,  the  potential  is 
proportional  to  the  solid  angle  subtended  at  the  point  by 
the  circuit. 

The  equations  connecting  the  components  «,  %  w, 
of  currents  with  the  components  of  magnetic  force  and 
magnetic  induction,  the  relations  connecting  the  mag- 
netic force  and  magnetic  induction,  those  connecting  the 
magnetic  force  with  the  vector  potential  (which  Poincard 
calls  the  moment  ilectromagnktiqui)^  and  the  value  of  the 
components  of  the  latter  quantity  for  a  linear  circuit  with 
their  application  to  the  proof  of  Neumann's  expression 
for  the  "  electrodynamic  potential "  (the  mutual  intrinsic 
energy)  of  two  linear  current-carrying  circuits,  and  the 
corresponding  expressions  for  the  "  electrodynamic  poten- 
tials ''  (electrokinetic  energies)  of  the  circuits  themselves, 
are  dealt  with  in  the  next  two  chapters. 

In  chapter  ix.  we  come  to  the  most  important  part  of 
the  book,  the  theory  of  induction,  and  the  treatment 
of  this  part  of  the  subject  is  instructive.  It  is  a  result  of 
experiment  that  if  the  currents  yj,  y^  in  two  fixed  cir- 
cuits C^,  Cg,  respectively,  are  varied,  electromotive  forces 
Adyildt  +  \idy2ldt,  BdyJdt-\-  Cdy^dtBi^  produced,  where 
B  is  a  coefficient  depending  on  the  relative  positions  of  the 
circuits,  A  a  coefficient  depending  on  Q  alone,  and  C  a  co- 
efficient depending  on  Cj  alone.  Thus  if  the  circuits  are 
deformed  or  relatively  displaced,  electromotive  forces  of 
amounts  yidAldt  -}-  y,^^jdt,  y^d^Jdt  +  y^Qjdt^  are  pro- 
duced in  Ci  and  C2,  so  that  the  total  electromotive  forces  are 
respectively  //(Ayj  -j-  "^y^jdi,  and  difiy^  -f  Cy^di.  Now 
by  the  circuits,  in  which  are  supposed  to  act  impressed 
electromotive  forces  £1,  £2,  the  energy  furnished  in  time 
dt  is  £iyi^/  +  £272^/.  This  must  be  expended  in  heating 
the  conductors,  and  in  doing  all  the  work  which  is  done 
in  the  displacement  or  deformation  of  the  conductors. 
This  latter  work  is  of  two  parts,  (i)  that  which  is  done 
in  consequence  of  the  geometrical  alteration  of  the 
circuits,  (2)  that  which  is  done  in  virtue  of  the  change  of 
the  current  strengths.  But  the  "  electrodynamic  poten- 
tial "  of  the  system  (Maxwell's  electrokinetic  energy)  is 

T  =  i(Lm«  +  2Myiy2  +  Uyt% 

so  that  the  former  work  is 

9T  =  J(7iVLi  -f  2yiy^M  +  y,'^Lj). 

Thus  the  work  ^W  done  in  virtue  of  the  changes  of  the 
currents  is  the  difference  between  this  and  the  excess  of 


July  30,  1891] 


NATURE 


299 


the  energy  given  out  by  the  batteries  over  that  spent  in 
heat.    Thus 

^W  =  EiYi///  +  Eay,^/  -  Riyi*^/  -  R«y,'^  -  ^T  ; 

and  this  is  the  work  done  in  virtue  of  changes  of  the 
currents.  This  quantity  must  be  a  perfect  differential, 
since  its  integral  vanishes  for  a  closed  cycle  of  changes. 
The  condition  which  must  hold  for  this  enables  the 
values  of  A,  B,  C  to  be  identified  with  -  Li,  -  M,  —  L,. 

Maxwell's  introduction  of  Lagrange's  dynamical  method 
into  electro-magnetism  is,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
regarded  by  Pomcar^  as  of  great  importance,  and  as  he 
says  "  nous  touchons  ici  k  la  vraie  pens^e  de  Maxwell.'' 
After  finding  by  this  method  the  inductive  electromotive 
forces,  and  the  electro-magnetic  forces,  he  proceeds  to 
discuss  Maxwell's  theorems  of  the  electro-magnetic  field, 
and  their  crowning  generalization,  the  electro-magnetic 
theory  of  light.  Except  here  and  there,  the  treatment 
differs  only  in  points  of  detail  from  that  of  Maxwell. 

With  regard  to  the  equations  of  currents. 


«  =  CP-f 
&c., 


K  ap 

47r  a/' 
&c., 


a  difficulty  is  pointed  out  as  to  the  specific  inductive 
capacity  of  a  conducting  substance.  For  such  a  sub- 
stance the  first  term  must  preponderate,  and  so  K  must 
be  small ;  whereas  K  is  generally  regarded  as  very  great 
in  the  case  of  a  conductor.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  this 
is  really  only  a  conventional  means  of  explaining  the 
impossibility  of  charging  a  condenser  the  space  between 
the  plates  of  which  is  filled  with  conducting  substance  ; 
the  true  explanation  is,  no  doubt,  very  different. 

The  discussion  of  the  experimental  verifications  of  the 
electro-magnetic  theory  of  light  contains  references  to 
several  lately-established  experimental  facts  (apart  from 
Hertz's  experiments,  which  are  reserved  for  special 
treatment)  which  bear  on  the  theory.  For  example,  it 
has  been  shown  by  Curie  that  dielectrics,  when  tabulated 
in  the  order  of  increasing  conductivity,  are  on  the  whole 
arranged  (as  obviously  they  should  be)  in  the  order  of 
diminishing  diathermancy.  Further,  ebonite,  which  is 
opaque  to  light,  is  very  permeable  to  dark  radiations  of 
longer  period,  which  agrees  with  its  high  transparency  to 
electrical  waves. 

Again,  it  is  remarked  that  the  results  of  the  electro- 
magnetic theory  with  regard  to  reflections  from  the  sur- 
feice  of  glass  and  of  metals  lend  a  general  support  to  the 
theory,  while  the  disagreement  in  the  values  of  the 
numerical  constants  as  regards  the  want  of  magnetic 
permeability  is  referred  to  the  frequency  of  the  vibrations 
and  the  fact  that  the  magnetization  of  the  medium  is  not 
instantaneously  produced. 

A  marked  feature  of  M.  Poincard's  treatise  is  the 
chapter  on  rotatory  polarization,  in  which  he  discusses 
the  phenomena  of  rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarized  light 
by  the  action  of  a  magnetic  field.  Although  the  essential 
difference  between  this  effect  and  the  apparently  similar 
action  of  quartz,  sugar  solutions,  &c.,  is  pointed  out, 
the  author  does  not  appear  to  lay  stress  on  it  as 
throwing  light  on  the  difference  between  their  causes. 
For  example,  after  giving  Airy's  differential  equations,  for 
the  propagation  of  the  two  rectangular  component  displace- 
ments, f ,  17,  of  a  circularly  polarized  wave  travelling  along 
the  axis  of  z^  in  the  form 


from  which  a  formula  for  the  rotation  of  the  plane  of 
polarization  of  plane-polarized  light  in  a  magnetic  field 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


can  be  obtained,  which  agrees  with  experiment ;  and  after 
comparing  the  results  of  these  equations  with  those  of 
other  proposed  equations,  he  says  : — 

*'  Mais  si  le  concordance  de  la  formuleavec  I'experience 
justifie  I'introduction  des  derivdes  -j-  Q^/dz^d/f  —  d^^ldz^dt 
dans  les  secondes  membres  des  Equations  du  mouvement 
d'une  molecule  d'^iher,  aucune  consideration  thdorique 
ne  prdside  au  choix  de  ces  ddrivdes  k  I'exclusion  des 
autres  ;  on  ne  possddait  done  pas  encore  de  thdorie  de  la 
polarisation  rotatoire  magndtique." 

This  certainly  seems  rather  too  strong  a  statement  in 
the  face  of  Thomson's  dynamical  theory  outlined  in  his 
*'  Electrostatics  and  Magnetism,"  and  further  elaborated 
in  Maxwell's  treatise. 

Thomson's  views  on  this  subject  are  of  the  most 
fundamental  importance,  as  they  point  to  motion  of,  or 
in,  the  medium  occupying  the  magnetic  field  as  the 
cause  of  the  magneto-optic  effect  discovered  by  Faraday, 
and  to  a  certain  structure  of  the  substance  as  producing 
the  phenomena  shown  by  quartz,  syrup,  &c.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  passages  of  his  lectures  on  molecular 
dynamics,  delivered  at  Baltimore  in  1885,  is  that  in  which 
he  accounts  for  the  observed  results  by  the  presence  of 
rotatmg  particles,  "  gyrostatic  molecules,"  in  the  medium. 

It  is  obviously  suggested  by  the  gyrostatic  investigation 
that  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  explain  the  magneto-optic 
rotation  in  the  electro-magnetic  theory  of  light  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  presence  of  small  magnets  embedded  in 
the  vibrating  medium  with  their  axes  m  the  direction  of 
the  ray ;  and  therefore  producing  a  component  of  mag- 
netization in  that  direction.  It  is  stated  by  M.  Poincard 
that  a  theory  of  this  kind  has  been  proposed  by  M.  Potier, 
and  published  in  the  Comptes  Rendus.  The  theory  itself 
is  not  given,  but  the  differential  equations  obtained  are 
quoted,  and  are  of  the  required  form,  and  lead  to  the 
known  experimental  result.^ 

Maxwell's  molecular  vortices  theory  is,  however,  given, 
and  certain  difficulties  which  it  involves  discussed.  The 
theoretical  results  of  Hall's  experiment  are  also  given  in 
this  connection,  and  Kerr's  experiment  proving  the  pro- 
duction of  elliptic  polarization  by  the  reflection  of  plane- 
polarized  light  from  the  pole  of  a  magnet  is  cited,  but 
without  any  statement  of  the  theory  of  the  effect  which 
has  been  worked  out,  principally  by  Fitzgerald.  With 
regard  to  the  explanation  of  the  Hall  effect  by  strain  of 
the  conducting  film  produced  by  the  magnetic  field,  it 
has  always  seemed  to  me  that  it  ought  to  be  possible 
with  proper  appliances  to  decide  the  question,  by  experi- 
mentmg  with  a  sufficiently  powerful  and  uniform  magnetic 
field. 

The  work,  it  ought  to  be  stated,  concludes  with  an 
interesting  chapter  by  the  editor,  M.  Blondin,  on  experi- 
mental verifications  of  the  theories  of  Maxwell.  This 
comprises  the  chief  determinations  of  specific  inductive 
capacity,  Kerr's  classical  researches,  and  lastly,  the 
interesting  investigation  made  by  M.  Rontgen  of  the 
electro-magnetic  action  of  currents  of  displacement. 

Of  Prof.  Poincar^S's  second  treatise  on  the  experiments 
of  Hertz,  &c.,  I  hope  shortly  to  give  an  account  as  a 
sequel  to  the  present  article.  A.  Gray. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  FLORA  OF  GREENLAND, 

HOW  the  present  flora  of  Greenland  originated,  is 
a  question  of  great  interest  to  British  botanists  and 
geologists,  for  the  answer  will  probably  help  to  solve  the 
difficult  problem,  What  was  the  origin  of  the  recent  flora 
of  Britain  ?  The  flora  of  Greenland  is  so  poor  in  species 
and  has  been  so  well  studied  that  its  relationship  to  the 
floras  of  Europe  and  America  ought  not  to  admit  of  much 

*  M.  Poincar^s  reference  has  suggested  to  me  a  mode  of  investigating 
the  action  of  these  magnets  on  the  elcctro-magneiic  theory.  This  is 
discussed  in  a  separate  article,  which  contains  fcr  the  sake  of  comparison  an 
account  of  the  gyrostatic  theory. 


300 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


debate;  yet  we  find  that  an  active  discussion  is  now 
going  on  among  Scandinavian  botanists  as  to  its  eastern 
or  western  affinities.  Sir  J.  D.  Hooker,  in  his  "  Outlines 
of  the  Distribution  of  Arctic  Plants/'  ^  made  a  careful 
analysis  of  the  species  found  in  Greenland,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  relationship  was  more  European 
than  American,  and  this  view  seems  to  have  been  gener- 
ally adopted  by  botanists.  In  a  recent  official  report, 
contained  in  the  valuable  series  of  memoirs  published  by 
the  Commission  for  the  Exploration  of  Greenland,*  Prof. 
E.  Warming,  however,  has  tried  to  show  that  the  flora  is 
American  ;  and  as  this  author  has  had  access  to  fuller 
materials  than  were  formerly  available,  his  opinion  will 
carry  considerable  weight.  Prof.  A.  G.  Nathorst,  a 
botanist  especially  competent  to  speak  on  questions 
relating  to  the  botany  of  the  Arctic  regions  and  on  the 
relation  of  the  recent  Arctic  flora  to  the  Glacial  epoch, 
objects  altogether  to  Prof.  Warming's  conclusions,  and, 
although  dealing  with  the  same  materials,  maintains 
the  accuracy  of  the  generally  accepted  view  as  to  the 
European  relationship  of  the  vegetation.'  He  also  criti- 
cally examines  the  flora  in  a  way  that  has  never  been 
done  before,  and  points  to  its  dependence  on  bygone 
conditions.  To  certain  of  Prof  Nathorst's  observations 
and  conclusions  I  should  like  to  draw  attention. 

The  principal  result  arrived  at  by  Prof.  Warming  was 
that  the  boundary  between  the  American  and  the 
European  provinces  is  formed  by  the  Denmark  Strait  (the 
strait  between  Greenland  and  America),  and  not  by  Davis 
Strait  as  botanists  have  generally  thought.  This  conclu- 
sion Prof.  Nathorst  critically  examines,  and  so  many 
curious  and  suggestive  facts  relating  to  geographical 
distribution  come  out  in  this  examination  that  I  may  be 
excused  for  referring  to  certain  of  them  somewhat  in 
detail.  The  flowering  plants  of  Greenland  include  386 
species,  none  of  which  are  confined  to  that  country. 
Leaving  out  of  account  circumpolar  forms,  Prof  Warming 
finds  in  the  list  36  characteristic  western  against  42 
eastern  species,  but  suggests  that  when  the  flora  of  Arctic 
America  is  better  known  the  balance  will  probably  be  in 
favour  of  the  western  forms.  Prof  Warming,  however, 
includes  among  the  eastern  plants  only  those  now  living 
in  Europe,  the  Asiatic-American  species  being  classed  as 
western  on  the  ground  that  they  must  have  entered  Green- 
land from  the  west  rather  than  from  the  east— a  somewhat 
unsafe  line  of  reasoning  when  we  take  into  account 
former  changes  of  climate  and  the  local  extinction  of 
many  plants. 

Prof.  Nathorst  analyzes  the  list  differently,  and  gives 
most  suggestive  tables  and  a  map  of  the  local  distribution 
of  the  eastern  and  western  plants  in  Greenland.  From 
these  we  find  that  the  coast  nearest  to  Iceland  contains 
European  forms  alone,  the  southern  extremity  contains 
European  forms  in  a  majority,  while  the  part  of  the  west 
coast  nearest  to  America  yields  principally  western 
species ;  but  taking  Greenland  as  a  whole  the  flora  is 
more  European  than  American.  Another  curious  fact 
noticed  by  Prof  Nathorst  is  that  the  American  element 
of  the  flora  of  Greenland  is  not  entirely  cut  off"  by  the 
Denmark  Strait,  but  extends  eastward  as  far  as  Iceland. 

Prof.  Warming  considers  that  the  nucleus  of  the  present 
flora  of  Greenland  represents  part  of  the  original  flora, 
which  was  able  to  live  through  the  Glacial  epoch  on  the 
non-glaciated  areas ;  but  Prof  Nathorst  points  out  that 
the  few  non-glaciated  mountain-tops  must  have  been  far 
too  high  for  any  phanerogams  to  exist  on  them,  and  all 
the  lowlands  were  then  covered  with  ice  and  snow.  We 
must  therefore  consider  that  both  eastern  and  western 
elements  of  the  present  flora  of  Greenland  entered  the 
country  in  post-glacial  limes.     The  tables  of  distribution 

»  Trans.  Unn.  Soc.  vol.  xxiii.,  pp.  25»-348  (1861)  ;  partly  reprinted  (with 
addiiirns)  in  the  •'Manual  of  the  Natural  History  ...  of  Greenland," 
&c.  (1875). 
'^  *'  Om  Gri^nlands  Vegetation  :  Meddelelser  om  Gr«frnland,"  Part  12  (1888). 
3  EngUf^s  botanischcn  Jakrhiich^  1891,  p.  183. 

NO.   II  35,  VOL.44] 


THE  SUPPS  CORONA, 

SOME  little  time  ago  Dr.  Schaeberle,  of  the  Lick  Obser- 
vatory, was  good  enough  to   send  me  the  following 
letter : — 

Allow  me  to  call  your  special  attention  to  a  note  of  mine  ia 
the  forthcoming  number  of  the  A.S.P.  Publications,  entitled 
"  Some  Physical  Phenomena  involved  in  the  Mechanical  Theory 
of  the  Corona.''  I  wish  to  say  that,  as  far  as  the  connection  of 
this  theory  with  the  sun-spot  period  is  concerned,  there  was  not, 
at  any  time,  any  effort  on  my  part  to  make  an  agreement  with 
other  theories,  but  the  conclusions  reached  are  the  legitimate 
and  inevitable  results  of  tracing  certain  observed  phenomena  to 
unexpected  explanations.     As  you  will  see,  the  logical  outcome 


show  at  what  points  a  large  number  of  the  plants  entered 
— they  came  from  the  nearest  land,  whether  European  or 
American.  Whether  in  post-glacial  times  there  was  any 
complete  land-connection  between  Greenland  and  either 
North  America  or  Iceland  is  very  doubtful,  but  the  straits 
may  well  have  been  narrower.  The  ice-foot,  also,  whidi 
collects  in  winter  beneath  the  sea-cliffs  is  placed  in  the 
best  possible  position  to  receive  any  seeds  or  masses  o: 
soil  which  may  fall  during  the  winter.  This  shore^ce  is 
drifted  away  in  the  spring,  and  may  easily  discharge  its 
burden  on  some  far-distant  shore  uninjured,  and  the  seeds 
just  ready  to  germinate.  Winds,  migrating  birds,  an4 
migrating  mammals  would  all  help  to  transport  seeds 
across  the  straits. 

Turning  now  to  the  British  Isles,  we  know  that  a  prc- 
lific  temperate  flora  inhabited  this  country  in  pre-glacid 
times.  We  know  also  that  this  flora  disappeared  and  was 
replaced  by  a  thoroughly  Arctic  one,  at  least  as  far  south 
as  Norfolk,  where  its  relics  are  found  beneath  the 
moraines.  Then  came  a  period  when  Britain  north  of  the 
Thames  was  covered  with  ice  and  snow,  and  only  an 
occasional  hill-top— or  ^^  nunatak^**  as  it  would  be  called 
in  Greenland — rose  above.  When  the  ice  retreated,  the 
Arctic  phanerogams  again  spread  over  the  country,  for  w< 
find  Salix  Polaris,  S.  herbacea,  S,  reticulata^  Betula  nana, 
and  Loiseleuria  procumbens  in  lacustrine  deposits  im- 
mediately above  the  boulder  clay  near  Edinburgh ;  we 
have  also  a  similar  flora,  with  Salix polaris,  S.  myrsinites, 
and  Betula  nana,  in  Suffolk  ;  and  even  in  Devonshire 
the  dwarf  birch  has  been  found.  This  stage,  though  its  i 
flora  is  still  imperfectly  known,  apparently  corresponds  I 
closely  with  the  present  condition  of  Greenland. 

In  Britain,  however,  we  have  now  reached  a  later  stage 
in  the  amelioration  of  the  climate  and  re-seitlement  of  ihj 
country,  for  the  Arctic  plants  have  either  disappeared 
entirely  or  have  retreated  to  our  mountain-tops,  and  ia  ! 
their  place  on  the  lowlands  we  find  a  temperate  flora  nov 
living.  The  British  flora,  like  that  of  Greenland,  varies 
according  to  the  botanical  character  of  the  nearest  lacd, 
though,  as  with  Greenland,  there  is  no  reason,  except  the 
supposed  impossibility  of  the  migration  of  the  animals 
and  plants  without  a  bridge,  to  imagine  that  during  post- 
glacial times  there  has  been  any  direct  connection  iHth 
the  Continent,  save  perhaps  at  the  Straits  of  Dover.  The 
distribution  of  plants  in  Britain  is  so  peculiar  that  I  may 
be  forgiven  for  pointing  out  to  non-botanical  readers  that 
we  have  a  southern  flora  opposite  France,  a  Geraianic 
flora  on  the  east  coast,  a  Lusitanian  flora  in  the  south-west, 
and  on  the  extreme  west  there  are  two  American  plants 
unknown  elsewhere  in  Europe.  In  the  Britain  of  the 
present  day  I  believe  that  we  may  study  the  re-peopling 
of  a  country  over  which  everything  has  been  exterminated ; 
and  until  we  have  fuller  direct  evidence  of  the  stages  of 
the  process,  we  may  safely  accept  Greenland  and  Britain 
as  illustrating  the  way  in  which  Nature  works  to  fill  gaps 
in  the  fauna  and  flora,  whether  these  are  caused  by  changes 
of  climate,  by  volcanic  agency,  or  the  submergence  and 
reappearance  of  islands.  Clement  Reid. 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


301 


of  the  whole  matter  is  that,  unconsciously,  I  have  actually 
furnished  important  evidence  in  favour  of  your  meteoric  hypo- 
thesis. 

Sincerely  yours, 

J.  M.  SCHAEBERLE. 

Some  time  after  the  arrival  of  the  letter  I  received  the 
number  of  the  Publications  of  the  Astronomical  Society 
of  the  Pacific  which  contained  the  article  referred  to, 
which  I  have  read  with  the  greatest  interest.  It  has  been 
known  for  some  time  that  Dr.  Schaeberle  has  been  able 
to  reproduce  the  general  appearance  presented  by  the 
corona  by  means  of  mechanical  contrivances,  and  that 
«ven  the  polar  rays,  which  were  such  a  noticeable  feature 
of  the  eclipse  of  1878,  as  I  saw  it  at  Separation,  can  be, 
in  this  way,  satisfactorily  accounted  for. 

The  point  of  newest  interest,  however,  is  that  referred 
to  in  Dr.  Schaeberle's  letter. 

Assuming  eruptions  most  active  in  the  sun-spot  zones, 
and  an  initial  velocity  of  380  miles  a  second,  he  obtains 
the  following  results  : — 

(i)  All  parts  of  a  given  unperturbed  stream  will  be  in  a 
iieliocentric  latitude  nearly  equal  to  the  latitude  of  the 
point  of  ejection. 

(2)  For  a  constant  ejective  force  the  periodic  time  / 
will  be  the  same  for  all  parts  of  the  stream. 

(3)  The  chance  of  collision  of  a  returning  with  an 
outgoing  stream  varies  inversely  as  the  square  of  the 
distance  of  the  point  of  collision  from  the  sun. 

(4)  Near  the  sun,  therefore,  collisions  must  occur 
which  tend  to  retard  or  stop  the  outgoing  streams,  result- 
ing in  a  temporary  increase  in  the  heat  of  the  combined 
colliding  masses  (causing  a  consequent  increase  in  the 
brightness  of  the  corona  at  such  places,  and  at  the  same 
time  rendering  the  coronal  detail  more  confused).  This 
heat  will  tend  to  be  largely  dissipated  before  such  masses 
fall  back  into  the  sun,  which  they  will  then  reach  with 
comparatively  small  velocity  and  low  temperature. 
Unretarded  returning  streams  on  striking  the  sun  will 
tend  to  greatly  raise  the  temperature  at  the  points  of 
impact :  perturbed  returning  streams  could,  of  course, 
strike  all  parts  of  the  sun's  surface.  Unperturbed  re- 
turning streams  will  always  fall  within  the  limits  of  the 
sun-spot  zones. 

(5)  So  long  as  the  incoming  streams  are  very  numerous, 
the  outgoing  ones  will,  in  a  great  measure,  be  stopped,  so 
that,  after  the  interval  /,  there  will  be  comparatively  few 
returning  streams  :  a  direct  result  of  this  state  of  things 
is  to  allow  free  passage  for  the  outgoing  streams,  which, 
since  there  are  now  but  few  collisions,  results  in  (i)  an 
apparent  diminution  in  the  brightness  of  the  corona,  (2) 
more  regular  and  sharply  defined  detail,  and  (3)  in  general 
a  more  uniformly  illuminated  solar  surface  might  be 
expected,  when  there  are  but  few  or  no  returning  streams. 
The  periodic  character  of  this  intermittent  motion  can  be 
-well  illustrated  by  means  of  a  fine  vertical  jet  of  water. 
The  vertical  vibratory  motion  of  a  light  ball,  often  to  be 
seen  in  water  fountains,  is  also  a  good  illustration. 

(6)  If  the  ejective  force  is  such  as  to  make  /  about 
£ve  years,  a  complete  cycle  of  changes  will  take  place  in 
the  time  2/,  and  after  the  same  manner  as  is  observed  in 
the  sun-spot  cycle.  It  is  rather  remarkable  that  the 
aphelion  distance  of  the  streams  corresponding  to  this 
value  of  /  is  nearly  the  same  as  Jupiter's  distance  from  the 
^un  ;  so  that  the  perturbations  produced  by  this  planet 
jnay  have  more  to  do  with  the  regularity  of  the  period 
than  the  assumed  constant  force  of  ejection.  The  initial 
velocity  required  to  just  carry  a  particle  from  the  sun  to 
Jupiter  is  but  little  less  than  a  parabolic  velocity.  For 
an  initial  parabolic  velocity,  Saturn,  alone  considered, 
would,  on  the  same  hypothesis,  cause  a  complete  cycle  of 
less  marked  changes  in  twenty  years,  Uranus  in  sixty 
years,  and  Neptune  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  years. 
The   comparatively  insignificant   planets  inside  of  the 

NO.   II 35,  VOL.  44] 


orbit  of  Jupiter  would  cause  minor  variations,  corre- 
sponding to  cycles,  which,  even  for  Mars,  would  be  of  less 
than  two  years'  duration. 

(7)  The  chance  of  the  earth  passing  through  one  of 
these  outgoing  streams,  which  have  a  mean  latitude 
of  15°,  is  less  than  it  is  for  an  incoming  perturbed 
stream. 

(8)  A  phenomenon  similar  to  the  observed  zodiacal 
light  would  result  from  the  projection  of  many  such 
streams  in  space,  and  the  observed  extent  of  this  light 
proves  that  the  matter  which  causes  this  illumination  ex- 
tends to  greater  distances  from  the  sun  than  the  earth's 
distance. 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  complete  state- 
ment which  is  to  appear  shortly  will  be  looked  forward  to 
with  interest. 

For  myself,  I  am  glad  to  think  that  the  views  I  put  for- 
ward in  the  concluding  chapter  of  my  "  Chemistry  of  the 
Sun  "  will  now  be  looked  at  from  a  new  point  of  view.  Time 
will  show  what  the  **  falls"  which  take  the  first  place  in  my 
scheme,  and  the  second  in  Dr.  Schaeberle's,  really  are. 
Certainly  I  have  seen  no  cause  lately  to  alter  the  view  I 
expressed  in  1887,  that  the  primary  cause  of  solar  disturb- 
ance is  the  descent  of  matter  on  to  the  photosphere. 

J.  Norman  Lockyer. 


NOTES. 

On  Monday  the  Prince  of  Wales  presented  the  Albert  Medal 
of  the  Society  of  Arts  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Perkin,  "for  his  discovery 
of  the  method  of  obtaining  colouring  matter  from  cjal  tar,  a 
discovery  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  and  import- 
ant industry,  and  to  the  utilization  of  large  quantities  of  a 
previously  worthless  material "  ;  and  to  Sir  Frederick  Abel, 
*'  in  recognition  of  the  manner  in  which  he  has  promoted  several 
important  classes  of  the  arts  and  manufactures  by  the  applica- 
tion of  chemical  science,  and  especially  by  his  researches  in  the 
manufacture  of  iron  and  steel,  and  also  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  great  services  he  has  rendered  to  the  State  in  the  provision 
of  improved  war  material  and  as  Chemist  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment." The  medal  awarded  to  Mr.  Perkin  was  for  the  year 
1890;  that  to  Sir  Frederick  Abel  was  for  the  present  year. 

We  are  glad  to  hear  that  in  consequence  of  the  deputation 
which  waited  upon  Sir  Michael  Hicks- Beach  on  June  5,  the 
Board  of  Trade  have  registered  the  British  Institute  of  Pre- 
ventive Medicine  as  a  limited  liability  company,  with  the 
omission  of  the  word  "limited." 

It  seems  as  if  the  introduction  of  large  engineering  views 
may  soon  produce  a';Very  marked  effect  upon  the  future  of  Egypt. 
Mr.  Willcocks,  one  of  the  Inspectors  of  Irrif^ation,  has  com- 
municated an  interesting  letter  to  the  Times,  from  which  we 
select  the  following  remarks  on  the  engineering  importance  of 
Dongola : — "  The  summer  supply  of  the  Nile  is  lamentably 
deficient  for  the  existing  cotton  and  sugar-cane  crops  of  Egypt, 
so  that  all  extensions  of  these  valuable  crops  are  out  of  the 
question  under  existing  conditions.  The  Nile  Valley  in  Nubia  is 
eminently  suited  for  storage  of  water,  but  up  to  the  present  all 
projects  for  storing  the  muddy  flood  waters  of  the  Nile  below  the 
junctions  of  the  Blue  Nile  and  the  Atbara  have  been  condemned, 
as  the  construction  of  solid  dams  would  have  resulted  in  the 
silting  up  of  the  reservoirs  themselves.  This  difficulty  has  dis- 
appeared now  that  it  has  been  discovered  that  open  dams  can  be 
constructed  which  will  allow  the  muddy  flood  waters  to  flow 
through,  and  store  the  clear  winter  supply  for  use  in  summer. 
The  construction  of  these  dams  has  been  rendered  possible  by 
the  great  success  of  Stoney's  patent  roller-gates,  which  can  be 
worked  under  heads  of  70  feet  of  water  on  a  scale  sufficient  to 
pass  the  fall  flood  supply  of  the  Nile.     At  any  time  now  Egypt 


302 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


can  construct  a  reservoir  in  its  own  territory  by  building  an  open 
dam  at  the  head  of  the  Assouan  Cataract.  If,  however,  Egypt 
were  allowed  to  occupy  the  Nile  Valley  as.  far  as  Dongola,  the 
reach  of  the  river  above  the  Wady  Haifa  Cataract  would  provide 
the  necessary  reservoir,  and  the  Phi lae  immersion  difficulty  would 
be  at  an  end.  So  far  the  summer  supply  needed  for  Egypt 
proper.  If  the  Soudan  itself  is  to  be  developed,  it  will  only  be 
necessary  to  construct  solid  dams  at  the  heads  of  the  Ripon  Falls 
and  Fola  Rapids,  and  thus  secure  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
Nyanza  Lakes  as  magnificent  reservoirs.  These  reservoirs  would 
not  only  secure  Egypt  and  the  Soudan  from  drought,  but  would 
also,  if  provided  with  open  dams,  secure  Egypt  from  excessive 
floods.  The  White  Nile  as  it  leaves  the  two  lakes  is  a  clear 
stream,  so  thai  the  silting  up  of  the  reservoirs  would  be  out  of  the 
question,  leaving  alone  their  great  size." 

We  very  cordially  congratulate  Sir  G.  B.  Airy  (the  ex- 
Astronomer- Royal),  on  the  completion  of  his  ninetieth 
year.  A  distinguished  company  assembled  at  the  White 
House,  Greenwich  Park,  on  Saturday  last,  in  honour  of  the 
occasion. 

Prof.  Adalbert  Krueger,  Director  of  the  Observatory  of 
Kiel,  has  been  appointed  Prof.  Schonfeld's  successor  at  Bonn. 

Dr.  Felix  has  been  appointed  professor  in  the  University  of 
Leipzig. 

The  Council  of  the  Yorkshire  College,  Leeds,  have  ap- 
pointed Mr.  V.  Perronet  Sells,  New  College,  Oxford,  to  be 
Extension  Lecturer  in  Science. 

A  project  is  in  the  air  for  the  erection  of  an  Observatory  on 
Mont  Blanc.  M.  Janssen  made  an  appeal  last  year  for  support 
^u  this  undertaking,  and  on  Monday  at  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
he  announced  that  his  appeal  had  been  heard.  He  has  obtained 
the  support  of  M.  Bischoffsheim,  Prince  Roland  Bonaparte, 
Baron  Alfred  de  Rothschild,  member  of  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts,  and  M.  Eiffel. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers was  opened  on  Tuesday  at  Liverpool. 

Sanitary  science  has,  during  the  last  month,  lost  one  of  its 
pioneers,  in  the  person  of  Dr.  John  Sutherland,  whose  record  of 
work  in  the  domain  of  sanitation  since  1848  has  been  of  a 
marvellous  character.  In  1848  he  entered  the  public  service 
under  the  first  Board  of  Health,  and  continued  to  be  employed 
under  the  Home  and  Foreign  Offices  till  the  year  1855.  During 
this  time  he  conducted  several  special  inquiries — notably  one 
into  the  cholera  epidemic  '<of  1848-49,  which  is  even  now 
frequently  referred  to.  Hs  was  the  head  of  a  commission  sent 
to  various  foreign  countries  to  inquire  into  the  law  and  practice 
of  burial.  He  represented  the  Foreign  Office  at  the  Inter- 
national Conference,  held  at  Paris  in  1851-52,  for  regulating 
quarantine  law.  In  1855  he  was  engaged  at  the  Home  Office 
in  bringing  into  operation  the  Act  for  abolishing  intramural 
interments,  a  task  which  he  had  undertaken  at  the  request  of 
Mr.  Walpole.  He  was  also  doing  duty  in  the  reorganized 
General  Board  of  Health,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir  Benjamin 
Hall,  when,  at  the  request  of  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord 
Panmure,  he  became  the  head  of  the  commission  sent  out  to 
inquire  into  the  sanitary  condition  of  our  troops  engaged  in  the 
Crimean  War.  He  found  in  Miss  Florence  Nightingale  a 
devoted  coadjutor  in  regard  to  the  hospitals.  Dr.  Sutherland 
took  an  active  part  in  the  preparation  of  the  report  of  the  Royal 
Commission  (of  which  he  was  a  member)  on  the  sanitary  state 
of  the  Army,  dated  1858,  and  also  of  the  report  of  the  Royal 
Commission  on  the  sanitary  state  of  the  Army  in  India,  dated 
May  19,  1863.  Both  of  these  were  of  vast  importance  to  the 
welfare  of  our  soldiers,  and  most  of  the  recommendations  con- 

NO.    II 35,  VOL.  44] 


tained  therein  have  been  carried  out.  One  of  these  was  the 
appointment  of  the  Barrack  and  Hospital  Improvement  Com- 
mission, with  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert,  M.P.,  as  President,  and 
Captain  (now  Sir  Douglas)  Gal  ton,  Dr.  BurrelU  of  the  Army 
Medical  Department,  and  Dr.  Sutherland  as  members.  By  this 
committee  every  barrack  and  hospital  in  the  United  Kingdom 
was  visited,  and  its  sanitary  condition  reported  upon.  Defects 
were  brought  to  light  and  remedied,  and  the  health  of  the  troops 
consequently  much  improved.  Subsequently  Dr.  Sutherland 
and  Captain  Galton  visited  and  made  similar  reports  on  the 
Mediterranean  Stations,  which  at  that  time  included  the  loniaa 
Islands.  All  these  reports  were  presented  to  Parliament,  and  a 
reference  to  them  will  show  the  vastness  of  the  work  undertaken. 
In  1862  the  Barrack  and  Hospital  Improvement  Commissioo 
was  reconstituted,  and  all  sanitary  reports  were  submitted  to  the 
committee  and  reviewed  by  them,  and  suggestions  for  improving 
Indian  stations  prepared.  This  continued  up  to  the  time  of  Dr. 
Sutherland's  retirement,  on  June  30,  1888.  In  1865  he  agam 
visited  Gibraltar  and  Malta,  and  made  an  independent  and 
special  report  on  the  outbreak  of  epidemic  cholera  at  those 
places.  In  1866,  Dr.  Sutherland,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  R.  S. 
Ellis,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  Dr.  Joshua  Paynter,  of  the 
Army  Medical  Department,  and  Major  (now  Lieutenant-General, 
C.B.)  Ewart,  R.E.,  visited  Algeria,  and  reported  on  the  causes 
of  reduced  mortality  in  the  French  army  serving  in  that  country, 
with  a  view  to  seeing  what  of  the  conditions  in  force  there  would 
be  applicable  to  Her  Majesty's  troops  serving  in  India  and  other 
warm  climates.  The  value  of  the  recommendations  made  by 
him  and  his  colleagues  will  be  better  understood  by  a  com- 
parison between  the  vital  statistics  of  the  army  prior  to  the 
time  of  the  Crimean  War  and  those  of  the  present  date  than  in 
any  other  way. 

Mr.  Willoughby  Smith,  who  had  played  an  important 
part  in  connection  with  submarine  telegraphy,  died  on  July  17. 
He  was  born  in  1828,  and  in  1848  entered  the  service  of  the 
Gutta-Percha  Company,  and  superintended  the  manufacture  and 
laying  of  the  first  submarine  cable.  The  Times  gives  the 
following  account  of  his  subsequent  career.  In  1864.  the  Gutta- 
Percha  Company  became  merged  in  the  Telegraph  Construction 
and  Maintenance  Company,  and  Mr.  Smith  remained  with  the 
company  as  chief  electrician  and  manager  of  the  gutta-perdia 
works  until  his  retirement  through  failing  health  in  1887.  In 
1866  he  was  elect rician-in-charge,  being  on  board  the  Grea 
Eastern  during  the  laying  of  the  iirst  successful  Atlantic  cable, 
and  the  recovery  and  completion  of  the  cable  that  had  been  lost 
the  year  before.  Mr.  Smith  was  President  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers  in  1883,  before  which  Society,  as  well  as 
before  the  Royal  Institution,  he  read  many  interesting  and 
valuable  papers.  Amongst  these  was  one  on  his  discovery  of  the 
effect  of  light  on  the  electrical  quality  of  selenium,  and  anothe^ 
on  his  researches  in  volta  and  magneto-electric  induction. 

Mr.  Daniel  Mackintosh,  F.G.S.,  died  at  Birkenhead  las 
week  at  an  advanced  age.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  oa 
''The  Scenery  and  Geology  of  England  and  Wales,"  and  his 
researches  on  certain  traces  of  the  glacial  epoch  were  well 
known  to  geologists.  In  recognition  of  his  services  to  geological 
science,  the  Geological  Society  presented  him  in  1886  with  a 
grant  from  the  Lyell  Fund. 

Mr.  Edward  Stanford  has  published  a  pamphlet  on  "The 
Spread  of  Influenza :  its  Supposed  Relations  to  Atmospheric 
Conditions,"  by  the  Hon.  R.  Russell.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  author's  conclusions  as  to  the  conditions  which  give  rise  to 
influenza,  and  permit  it  to  be  spread.  Influenza  is  a  disease 
caused  by  exceedingly  minute  microbes,  arising  from  extensive 
areas  of  marsh  or  sodden  land  in  Central  Asia,  China,  or  Siberian. 
The  minuteness  of  the  microbes  or  their  spores  is  shown  by  their 


July  30, 


1891] 


NA TURE 


303 


«tsy  transmissibility,  and  the  large  number  of  persons  capable  of 
being  infected  by  a  single  case  in  a  laige  room,  most  persons 
probably  requiring  many  virulent  organisms  to  be  inhaled  in  a 
short  time  before  the  resistant  power  of  the  blood  is  overcome. 
This  microbe,  like  that  of  cholera,  multiplies  with  great  rapidity, 
and  probably  soon  produces  sufficient  poison  to  terminate  its 
career  in  the  body,  but  not  before  multitudes  of  spores  or 
microbes  have  been  given  off  by  the  breath.  Given  the  original 
conditions  of  rainfall,  soil,  and  high  temperature,  the  certain 
result  is  the  development  of  inconceivable  multitudes  of  microbes 
and  spores ;  one  species  of  these  is  capable  of  planting  itself  and 
living  in  the  tissue  and  blood  of  man,  of  which  the  temperature 
is  probably  near  that  to  which  it  has  been  accustomed  under  the 
summer  sun  in  wet  and  drying  ground.  The  somewhat  rare  and 
occasional  visitations  of  influenza  may  be  due  to  at  least  two  or 
three  causes — first,  the  occurrence  of  unusual  rainfall  and  favour- 
able summers ;  second,  the  prevalence  of  air-currents  from  the 
drying  area  towards  inhabited  places ;  third,  adequate  com- 
manication  between  these  infected  places  and  the  towns  of 
Russia,  whence  progress  is  rapid  towards  Western  Europe.  The 
wind  has  no  influence  that  can  be  verified  in  the  transportation 
of  influenza.  As  for  the  means  of  prevention,  Mr.  Russell 
thinks  that  measures  of  disinfection  and  isolation  of  the  earliest 
cases,  and  rules  at  ports  and  landing  places  similar  to  those  em- 
ployed against  cholera,  would  probably  prove  of  the  greatest 
service.  Inland,  every  locality  should  isolate  and  disinfect  its 
first 


Prof.  Langley,  the  Director  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
is  now  in  this  country.  A  prnpos  of  his  recent  researches,  re- 
ferred to  in  our  last  number,  we  learn  that  Mr.  Maxim  is 
building  a  "  flying  machine,"  with  which  a  series  of  experiments 
is  contemplated ;  it  is  now  being  constructed  at  Crayford,  and  is 
nearly  ready  for  launching.  It  will  be  propelled  by  a  light  screw 
making  2503  revolutions  a  minute.  The  motive  power  (it  is  re- 
ported) is  supplied  by  a  petroleum  condensing  engine  weighing 
eighteen  hundred  pounds,  and  capable  of  rai<:ing  a  forty  thousand 
pound  load.  The  real  suspending  power  will  lie  in  an  enormous 
kite  measuring  1 10  feet  long  and  40  feet  wide. 

The  following  passage  occurs  in  the  Report  of  the  Medical 
Officer  of  Health  of  the  parish  of  St.  George,  Hanover 
Square,  for  the  five  weeks  ending  July  4,  1891  : — "I  have 
calculated  the  death-rate  of  the  parish  for  the  past  month  on 
the  census  population  of  1881,  and  not  on  that  of  1891,  for 
the  following  reasons  : — The  census  population  of  the  parish  in 
1871  was  89,758,  and  that  in  1881  was  89,573  ;  I  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  there  was  any  serious  inaccuracy  in  either  of 
these  enumerations,  so  that  the  population  of  the  parish  was 
practically  stationary  during  the  ten  years  from  1871  to  1881. 
The  enumerated  population  in  1891  was  only  78,362,  showing 
an  apparent  decrease  of  11,211  (or  one-eighth  of  the  population) 
since  i88i.  I  know  of  no  reason  whatever  for  any  such  de- 
crease, and  do  not  believe  it  has  taken  place.  The  census  was 
Uken  of  the  persons  sleeping  in  the  parish  on  the  night  of  Sun- 
day, April  5,  a  day  which  had  two  serious  disadvantages,  the 
first  being  that  it  wai  a  Sunday,  a  day  on  which  many  people 
in  this  parish  are  out  of  town,  and  the  second  that  it  was  the 
Sunday  after  Easter,  and  that  large  numbers  of  people  had  not 
returned  to  town  from  their  Easter  holidays.  /  tJurefore  con- 
sider that  the  entitneration  of  the  population  of  the  parish  this 
year  is  of  HO  value  for  statistical  purposes,  and  in  estimating  the 
birth*rates  and  death-rates,  shall  continue  to  use  the  census 
population  of  1881,  until  a  fresh  and  more  correct  enumeration 
shall  have  been  made,  which  will,  I  hope,  be  in  1896."  This 
is  rather  serious.  What  have  our  census  authorities  to  say  on 
the  matter  ? 

NO.    II 35,  VOL.  44] 


An  earthquake  was  experienced  at  Evans ville,  Indiana,  on 
the  26th  inst.  The  shock  was  so  great  as  to  create  a  panic  in 
several  places  of  worship.  Considerable  damage  was  done  to 
property.  The  direction  of  the  oscillations  was  from  north  to 
south. 

The  weather  prospects  in  the  North-West  Provinces  seem 
to  be  improving.  Beneficial  rains  have  commenced  to  fall, 
and  a  famine  is  therefore  less  probable  than  it  was.  The  dis- 
tress among  the  ryots  is,  however,  great,  and  the  Government  of 
India  has  voted  a  grant  of  ;^  10,000  for  their  relief.  The  follow- 
ing telegram  was  read  by  Sir  J.  Gorst,  on  Tuesday  night,  in  the 
House  of  Commons: — "There  is, an  improvement  in  agricul- 
tural prospects  and  development  of  monsoon  season.  There 
has  been  good  general  rainfall  throughout  the  country,  except 
in  part  of  Madras,  the  Camatic,  and  Upper  Burmah,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  there  is  no  present  cause  of  anxiety  in  North- 
ern India.  Strong  monsoon  blowing  West  Coast.  More  rain 
imminent  in  Punjab  and  Rajpootana,  where  fodder  famine  has 
been  arrested  by  rain.  Crop  operations  in  Northern  India 
generally  progressing  satisfactorily,  and  there  is  no  present 
cause  for  anxiety  in  North-West  Provinces  and  Oude." 

The  Technical  Education  Committee  of  the  Kent  County 
Council  has  placed  ;f  3000  at  the  disposal  of  the  South-Eastern 
Counties  Association  for  the  Extension  of  University  Teaching, 
for  courses  of  lectures  suited  to  agricultural  and  rural  populations 
in  small  towns  and  villages  throughout  the  country. 

The  Accademia  delle  Scienze  deir  Istituto  di  Bologna  offers  a 
gold  medal  of  1000  lire  value  (about  £,^o\  the  Aldini  Prize,  "to 
the  author  of  a  memoir  which,  based  on  certain  data  of  che- 
mistry, or  physics,  or  applied  mechanics,  shall  indicate  new  and 
really  practical  systems  or  new  apparatus  for  prevention  or 
extinction  of  fires."  The  memoirs  may  be  manuscripts  in  Italian, 
Latin,  or  French  (with  inclosed  name  and  motto),  or  printed 
matter  published  between  May  11,  1890,  and  May  10,  1892. 
In  the  latter  case,  the  memoir  may  be  in  another  language  than 
those  named,  but  an  Italian  translation  must  be  added.  The 
date-limit  is  May  10,  1892. 

The  most  recent  addition  to  Prof.  Flower's  excellent  series 
of  specimens  illustrative  of  zoological  structure  placed  in  the 
entrance-hall  of  the  Natural  History  Museum  is  a  set  of  nine- 
teen dissections  prepared  by  Mr.  G.  Ride  wood  to  illustrate  the 
variations  in  the  deep  plantar  tendons  of  the  bird's  foot.  With 
the  help  of  these  preparations,  the  student  will  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  understanding  the  mysteries  of  the  Jlexor  longus  hallucis 
and  the  flexor perforans  digitorum,  upon  which  two  muscles,  as  has 
been  shown  by  Sundeval,  Garrod,  and  Forbes,  so  much  depends 
in  the  classification  of  birds. 

It  would  seem  that  the  present  interest  in  agricultural  in- 
struction comes  none  too  soon.  The  •  Agricultural  Gazette  ol 
New  South  Wales  gives  an  account  of  a  new  industry — the 
export  of  butter  to  this  country,  and  adds  that  the  Minister  of 
Mines  and  Agriculture  has  approved  of  the  establishment  of  a 
travelling  dairy  to  impart  instruction  to  the  settlers  in  relation 
to  it. 

The  same  number  contains  articles  on  the  grasses  and  weeds 
of  the  colony,  and  notes  on  economic  plants  and  weeds,  besides 
information  of  what  some  people  consider  as  of  a  more  *'  practi- 
cal "  character,  touching  profitable  cows  and  pigs. 

The  utilization  of  waste  products  is  the  order  of  the  day. 
An  interesting  article  on  this  subject,  in  relation  to  breweries, 
in  the  Brewers*  Guardian^  calls  attention  to  the  utilization  of 
the  carbonic  acid  gas  produced  in  the  fermentation  of  sugar. 
"On  an  average,  English  beer  may  be  considered  to  contain 
5  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and  as,  in  the  fermentation  of  sugar,  the 


304 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


weight  of  carbonic  acid  produced  is  almost  the  same  as  that  of 
alcohol  (the  exact  proportions  being  48*9  of  carbonic  acid  to 
51 'I  of  alcohol),  there  must  have  been  500,000,000  pounds  of 
carbonic  acid  produced  in  our  breweries.  The  specific  gravity 
of  carbonic  acid  is  0*1524,  and  therefore  a  simple  calculation 
shows  that  the  above  weight  is  equal  to  25,000,000,000  gallons 
— a  volume  it  is  almost  impossible  to  realize ;  such  a  volume 
would  require  a  space  one  mile  square  and  forty  yards  high  to 
contain  it.  It  is  now  proposed  to  utilize  the  greater  portion  of 
this  laige  quantity  of  carbonic  acid.  The  process  by  which  this 
is  to  be  done  has  been  tried  for  some  little  time  past  in  St. 
James's  Gate  (Guinness's)  Brewery,  Dublin  ;  and  Sir  Charles  A. 
Cameron  has  reported  very  favourably  on  it.  The  following 
are  the  conclusions  at  which  he  arrives  after  a  most  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  process  : — (i)  An  immense  quantity  of  carbonic 
acid  is  produced  in  breweries,  and  is  at  present  wasted  ;  (2)  a 
large  proportion  of  this  gas  could  be  condensed  to  liquid  at  a 
cost  not  exceeding  \d.  per  pound,  but  probably  less  than  \d. 
per  pound  ;  (3)  the  process  of  liquefying  the  gas  is  successfully 
carried  on  at  Guinnesses  Brewery,  Dublin  ;  (4)  the  liquefied  gas 
prepared  at  Guinness's  Brewery  is  perfectly  free  from  any  pecu- 
liarity of  flavour  or  odour ;  (5)  the  carbonic  acid  produced  at 
soda-water  works  costs  about  ^.  per  pound  ;  (6)  it  is  safer,  and 
in  every  way  more  desirable,  to  use  in  beverages  carbonic  acid 
derived  from  a  food  substance,  such  as  grain,  than  from  mineral 
sources ;  (7)  the  uses  of  liquid  carbonic  acid  are  numerous, 
important,  and  increasing.'* 

Among  the  plants  shown  at  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Botanic 
Society  on  Saturday  last  was  a  museum  specimen  of  one  which 
had  lately  died  in  the  Gardens — a  victim  to  the  late  severe 
winter.  This  was  one  of  several  specimens  of  the  East  Indian 
or  white  mangrove,  Avicennia  nivea,  sent  to  the  Gardens  by  the 
late  Duke  of  Buckingham  when  Governor  of  Madras.  For  some 
years  past  these  plants  had  flourished  amazingly,  thanks  to  the 
near  approximation  to  their  natural  condition  attained  by 
keeping  them  in  a  very  wet  state  and  watering  only  with  sea- 
water.  Under  these  circumstances  they  threw  up  from  the 
roots  a  number  of  ofisets,  or  upright  adventitious  roots,  of  from 
10  inches  to  12  inches  high,  and  half  an  inch  thick.  In  a  space 
of  2  feet  square  as  many  as  eighty  appeared,  looking  like  so 
many  rakes  standing  up  out  of  the  water,  and  keeping  as  near  as 
possible  the  same  height  above  the  surface.  The  only  explana- 
tion, so  far,  has  been  that  offered  by  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
Sowerby.  In  its  native  state  the  trees  form  a  fringe  along  the 
sea-shore  and  estuaries  of  great  tropical  rivers,  lining  the  banks 
with  a  dense  and  impenetrable  mass  of  vegetation,  pushing  itself 
further  and  further  into  the  river  or  sea,  and  leaving  behind  the  dry 
land  it  has  reclaimed.  In  such  a  position  these  curious  rootlets 
must  be  an  immense  advantage  to  the  plant,  enabling  it  to 
retain  all  the  debris  washed  to  the  sides,  and  at  the  same  time 
preventing  the  soil  between  the  roots  from  being  carried  away  by 
floods,  &c.  The  plants  of  this  species  now  growing  in  the 
Gardens  are  the  only  ones  alive  in  this  country. 

A  MOST  interesting  report  of  a  journey  taken  along  the  fron- 
tier of  the  British  Protectorate  of  Nyassaland  by  Mr.  J. 
Buchanan,  C.M.G.,  Acting  Consul  at  Nyassa,  appears  in  the 
Ke7v  Bulletin  for  July. 

From  the  Meteorological  Observations  at  Sydney  for  January 
189 1,  just  received,  we  learn  that  the  temperature  was  2°  higher, 
the  humidity  2*4  less,  and  the  rainfall  0*87  inch  greater  than 
that  of  the  same  month  on  an  average  of  the  preceding  thirty- 
two  years. 

The  Indian  Government  has  just  issued  a  "  Contents  and 
Index  of  the  first  twenty  volumes  of  the  Records  of  the  Geologi- 
cal Survey  of  India,  1868-87."  Considering  the  important  work 
done  by  this  Survey,  the  index  will  be  of  great  value  to  geologbts. 
It  consists  of  1 18  pages. 

NO.    1 135,  VOL.  44] 


The  pamphlet  entitled  "A  Summary  of  the  Darwinian 
Theory,"  which  was  noticed  in  a  recent  issue  (July  16,  p.  247), 
has  been  printed  for  private  distribution.  The  author,  Mr. 
Pascoe,  will  supply  a  copy  to  any  person  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject on  application  to  him  at  i  Burlington  Road,  W. 

A  NEW  and  cheaper  edition  of  the  translation  of  vol.  L  of 
Weismann's  "Essays  upon  Heredity  and  Kindred  Biological 
Problems"  is  announced  for  immediate  publication  by  the 
Clarendon  Press ;  and  we  understand  that  vol.  ii.  is  in  the  press^ 
and  will  consist  of  four  additional  essays,  and  a  preface  by  Prof. 
Weismann. 

Petermann^s  Miiteilungen  for  July  contains  an  article  on 
Zante,  with  an  original  map,  based  on  the  English  Admiralty 
chart,  by  Prof.  Partsch. 

An  official  notice  has  been  issued  concerning  the  charitable 
foundation  instituted  by  the  Sisters  Froelich  at  Vienna  for  sub- 
sidizing « persons  distinguished  in  science,  art,  or  literature. 
Pensions  and  donations  are  to  be  granted  to  duly  approved  ap- 
plicants. Applications  should  be  addressed  to  the  Trustees  (das 
Curatorium),  and  transmitted  to  the  President's  office  of  the 
Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Vienna  (an  das  PnLsidial bureau 
des  Wiener  Gemeinderathes  Neues  Kathaus)  before  August  31, 
1 891,  through  the  I.  and  K.  Austro-Hungarian  Embassy  in 
London,  18  Belgrave  Square,  S.W.,  where  particulars  of  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  the  foundation  deeds,  &c.,  can  be 
obtained. 

Further  details  concerning  the  new  volatile  compound,  iron 
carbonyl,  Fe(C0)4,  are  published  by  Messrs.  Mond  and  Qaincke 
in  the  current  number  of  the  Berichte.  It  appears  that  as  early 
as  November  last  year  they  succeeded  in  volatilizing  small 
quantities  of  iron  in  a  stream  of  carbon  monoxide,  and  recovering 
it  again  in  the  form  of  a  metallic  mirror  by  passing  the  gaseous 
product  thro  heated  tube.    The  best  results  are  given  when 

the  iron  is  obtained  by  reduction  of  ferrous  oxalate  in  a  stream  of 
hydn^en  at  as  low  a  temperature  as  possible,  very  little  exceed- 
ing 400"  C,  and  allowing  to  cool  in  the  stream  of  hydrogen  to  80*. 
When  carbon  monoxide  is  led  over  the  finely  divided  iron  ihns 
obtained,  the  issuing  vapours  are  found  to  colour  a  Bunsen  burner 
pale  yellov^  ;  and  if  they  are  passed  through  a  glass  tube  heated 
to  a  temperature  between  200^  and  350^  a  mirror  of  metallic  iron 
is  deposited.  If  the  tube  is  heated  to  a  temperature  superior  to 
350°,  instead  of  a  mirror  a  black  flocculent  deposit  U  obtained, 
containing  carbon  in  addition  to  iron.  The  metallic  nairror 
dissolves  readily  in  dilute  acids,  and  the  solutions  give  all  the 
reactions  of  iron.  A  quantitative  analysis  was  made  of  one  <acb 
mirror,  and  yielded  almost  theoretical  numbers  for  pure  iron. 
The  black  flocculent  deposit  was  found  in  two  cases  to  contain 
79*30  and  52*78  per  cent,  of  carbon  respectively.  The  reactioD, 
however,  proceeds  only  very  slowly.  To  give  some  idea  of  this, 
Messrs.  Mond  and  Quincke  state  that  after  six  weeks  continued 
treatment  of  twelve  grams  of  iron  with  carbon  monoxide  only 
about  two  grams  had  been  volatilized.  As  the  action  becomes  reiy 
slight  indeed  after  treatment  for  some  hours,  the  operation  was 
interrupted  at  the  end  of  every  five  or  six  hours,  and  the  iron  re- 
heated to  400''  in  a- stream  of  hydrogen,  after  which  the  reaction 
proceeded  again  as  at  first.  It  is  calculated  that  the  average 
amount  volatilized  was  about  two  cubic  centimetres  per  litre  of 
carbon  monoxide.  This  great  dilution  has  of  course  rendered  it 
very  difficult  to  ascertain  the  composition  and  properties  of  the 
substance.  Its  composition  has,  however,  been  determined  by 
absorbing  the  vapour  obtained  during  eight  to  sixteen  hours  in 
mineral  oil  of  boiling-point  25o°-3oo^,  which  after  numerous 
experiments  has  been  found  to  be  the  best  solvent  for  it»  and 
heating  the  solution  thus  obtained  to  180**,  when  It  becomes  black 
owing  to  the  separation  of  metallic  iron,  and  carbon  monoxide  is 
evolved.     Determinations  of  the  amount  of  separated  iron  and 


July  30,  1891] 


NA TURE 


305 


the  volume  of  carbon  monoxide  obtained  in  five  such  experiments 
Save  for  the  proportion  of  molecules  of  CO  to  one  atom  of  iron 
the  numbers  4*14,  4-03, 4*15, 4*26,  and  4*04  respectively.  Hence 
there  can  be  very  little  doubt  that  the  compound  is  represented  by 
the  formula  Fe(CO)4,  analogous  to  the  nickel  compound  obtained 
last  year,  Ni(C0)4.  As  regards  the  relation  of  the  compound  to 
the  processes  of  iron  and  cementation  steel  manufacture,  the 
authors  are  of  opinion  that,  although  they  have  been  unable  to 
prepare  it  at  temperatures  between  150°  and  750*,  still  it  is  quite 
possible  that  it  maybe  momentarily  formed  at  such  temperatures, 
but  again  immediately  dissociated. 

Thb  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
post  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  {Macacus  cynomolgus) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  G.  Stevenson  Macfarlane;  a 
White-fronted  Capuchin  {Cebus  albifrons)  from  South  America, 
presented  by  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon ;  a  Silver-backed  Fox 
\Canis  chama  S)  from  South  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  Max 
Michaelis;  a  Ring-tailed  Coatl  {Nasua  rufa)  from  South 
America,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Smalman  Smith  ;  two  Rough 
Foxes  {Cam's  rudis)  from  British  Guiana,  presented  by  Mr. 
G.  H.  Hawtayne,C.M.Z.S. ;  two  Pennsylvanian  Buzzards  (^«/«> 
pennsylvanicus)  from  North  America,  presented  by  Sir  Walter 
Hcly  Hutchinson ;  a  Barn  Owl  {Strix  fiammea\  British,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  E.  Hart,  F.Z.S.  ;  a  Tigrine  Cat  {Felis  tigrina), 
two  Spotted  Cavies  {Calogenys  paca\  a  White-lipped  Peccary 
{Dicotylis  labiatus),  a  Red  and  Yellow  Macaw  {Arachloroptera)^ 
a  Blue  and  Yellow  Macaw  (Ara  ararauna),  two  Orange-winged 
Amazons  {Chry soils  amazcnua),  two  West  Indian  Rails  (Ara- 
mida  caycnnensis)^  a  Martinique  Gallinule  (lonornis  martinicus) 
from  South  America,  a  Golden  Agouti  {Dasyprocta  aguti\ 
three  Crested  Curassows  [Crax  alector)  from  Guiana,  a  Hawk- 
headed  Parrot  {Deroptyus  acclpilrinus)^  a  Common  Trumpeter 
(Psophia  crepitans)  fro  in  Demerara,  deposited ;  an  Azara's 
Agouti  {Dasyprocta  azarie)  from  South  Brazil,  purchased. 


OUJi  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN, 

Observations  of  Sun-spots  and  YKCULm.—Comptes 
rendus  for  July  13  contains  the  results  of  observations  of  sun- 
spots  and  faculse,  made  bv  M.  Marchand,  at  Lyons  Observatory, 
during  the  first  six  months  of  this  year.  The  following  table 
expresses,  in  millionths  of  the  sun's  visible  hemisphere,  the 
surface  covered  by  spots  and  faculae  during  this  period. 

1891. 

January 

February 

March 

April 

May 


June 


Surface  covered 

Surface  covered 

by  spots. 

by  faculae. 

125 

503 

207 

265 

159 

726 

254 

670 

22*1 

968 

297 

Total 


3517 


126*3 


These  figures  demonstrate  the  increase  in  solar  activity  which 
most  have  l)een  noted  by  all  observers.  The  total  spotted  area 
of  3517  millionths  is  made  up  by  65  groups.  During  the  whole 
of  ,1890  the  spotted  area  given  by  43  groups  was  only  3760 
millionths.  Since  the  end  of  March  not  a  single  day  has  passed 
without  a  spot  being  seen  on  the  sun.  With  regard  to  distribu- 
tion, 40  groups  have  appeared  in  the  northern  hemisphere  as 
against  25  in  the  south.  These  occurred  most  frequently  between 
the  latitudes  d:  20"  and  ±  30^  At  the  same  time  22  groups 
have  had  latitudes  between  lo""  and  20*"  (with  four  groups  below 
I5^)»  ^))^  indicating  an  approach  to  the  equator. 

The  measures  of  faculae  give  similar  results.  The  two  zones 
from  20^  to  30**  are  the  richest,  and  those  from  0°  to  10''  the 
poorest.  The  total  numbers  are  sensibly  the  same  in  both 
hemispheres.  There  is,  however,  a  slight  superiority  in  relative 
number  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  but  less  marked  than  during 
1890.  The  total  surface  covered  by  faculae  in  1890  was  103*3 
millionths  of  the  sun's  visible  disk,  so  that  the  figures  now  given 


NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


indicate  a  considerable  augmentation.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note 
that  the  results  obtained  for  spots  and  faculae  show  a  certain 
parallelism,  secondary  minima  in  March  and  in  May  occurring 
m  each  case. 

Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra. — In  a  communication  to 
AstronomiscJu  Nackrichten,  No.  3049,  Prof.  Pickering  notes 
that  a  Group  II.  star  situated  in  Sagittarius  (R.A.  I9h.  51 'Sm., 
Decl.  -  42*  7',  1900),  having  exhibited  bright  hydrogen  lines  in 
its  photographic  spectrum,  was  suspected  of  the  variability  of 
which  this  appearance  is  a  characteristic.  Measures  of  photo- 
graphs of  the  star  taken  on  different  dates  proved  that  the 
supposition  was  a  correct  one,  and  indicated  a  variation  between 
the  magnitudes  9*1  and  13*1. 

The  photographic  spectrum  of  the  star  S.D.  -  I2*'ii72  (R.A. 
5h,  22'9m.,  Decl.  -  12"  46'),  mag.  9*2,  appears  to  be  the  same 
as  that  of  a  planetary  nebula  as  regards  the  positions  of  lines, 
but  it  differs  in  the  interesting  fact  that  the  H^  hydrogen  line  (F) 
isr  unusually  strong  in  comparison  with  the  nebula  line  at  A  500. 

Two  more  stars  having  spectra  mainly  consisting  of  bright 
lines,  like  the  three  stars  in  Cygnus  discovered  by  Wolf  and 
Rayet,  have  been  discovered.  They  are  Cord.  G.  C,  I5*934»i- 
(R.A.  I5h.  i5-9m.,  Decl.  -62**  20',  1900),  and  a  faint  star  in  tht 
position  R.  A.  I3h.  36-3m.,  Decl.  ~  66**  55'  (1900)-  The  num- 
ber of  stars  of  the  WoU- Rayet  type  is  thus  brought  up  to  thirty- 
five. 


THE  INSTITUTION  OF  NA  VAL  ARCHITECTS 

'T^HE  first  Lx>ndon  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Navd 
■*•  Architects  was  held  on  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday 
of  last  week.  During  the  thirty-one  years  that  the  Institu- 
tion has  existed,  it  has  only  held  five  summer  meetings. 
The  first  of  these  was  in  Glasgow,  and  was  highly  suc- 
cessful, but  it  was  not  followed  by  another  summer  meeting 
until  the  jear  1886,  when  the  attractions  of  the  Liverpool  Ex- 
hibition were  sufficient  to  cause  the  Council  to  arrange  a  second 
meeting  for  that  year  in  the  second  city  of  the  kincrdom.  The 
Newcastle  and  Glasgow  Exhibitions  followed  in  tne  two  suc- 
ceeding years,  and  the  members  accordingly  were  summoned  to 
the  banks  of  the  Tyne  and  Clyde.  All  these  meetings  were 
successful  in  every  respect,  not  only  in  adding  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  Institution,  but  in  the  valuable  papers  contributed  to 
the  Transactions,  and  the  interest  of  the  various  excursions.  In 
spite  of  this,  no  summer  meeting  was  held  either  in  1889  or 
1890,  in  which  years  there  were  but  the  single  three  days' 
meeting  lin  the  spring.  That  has  been  conclusively  proved 
not  to  be  sufficient  time  for  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the 
year  ;  and  at  the  last  spring  meeting  it  was  announced  that  in 
future  two  meetings  would  be  held  every  year — the  first  to  be 
the  usual  spring  meeting,  which  always  takes  place  in  London, 
and  the  second  to  be  held  in  the  summer,  either  in  London  or 
elsewhere.  The  success  of  the  meeting  just  held  strongly  sup- 
ports the  wisdom  of  this  decision. 

There  was  naturally  not  so  long  a  list  of  papers  on  the  pro- 
gramme as  there  is  at  the  spring  meeting,  for  allowance  had  to 
be  made  for  the  excursions.  With  the  latter  we  are  compelled 
to  deal  very  briefly  on  account  of  pressure  on  our  space,  and 
we  will  therefore  say  a  few  words  upon  them  at  once,  before  pro- 
ceeding to  notice  the  papers.  On  the  first  day,  Thursday,  the 
23rd  inst.,  the  afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  Royal  Naval  Ex- 
hibition, and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  dinner,  at  which  Lord 
Brassey  presided,  the  absence  of  the  President,  Ix>rd  Ravens- 
worth,  being  caused  by  a  domestic  sorrow.  On  the  Friday 
afternoon  the  excursion  was  to  the  shipyard  of  Samuda  Brothers, 
at  Poplar,  and  to  the  Thames  Ironworks  at  Blackwall.  The 
P.  and  O.  Company  also  gave  a  luncheon,  in  the  Albert  Docks, 
on  board  the  Carthage.  At  Samudas*  the  two  second-class 
cruisers  H.M.SS.  Sappho  and  Scylla  are  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, and  give  quite  a  welcome  air  of  bustle  and  activity  to  the 
Poplar  yard,  not  long  since  a  scene  of  what  many  thought  to 
be  permanent  stagnation.  These  ships  are  3400  tons  each,  and 
9000  indicated  horse-power.  A  large  amount  of  armour-plate 
bending  and  machinery  is  now  going  on  in  this  yard,  and  the 
machine  tools  were  examined  with  much  interest  by  many  of 
those  members  to  whom  such  work  was  new.  At  the  Thames 
Ironworks  there  are  also  two  ships  in  progress  for  the  Royal 
Navy.  These  are  the  cruisers  Grafton  and  Theseus.  The 
latter  name  brings  up  stirring  memories  of  another  noble  ship 
built  in  years  past  at  Blackwall.     The  new  steel  Theseus  is,. 


3o6 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


however,  a  very  different  craft  from  Nelson's  old  flag-ship.  She 
and  her  sister-vessel  the  Grafton  are  each  of  73SO  tof^s  dis- 
placement, and  have  engines  which  will  develop  1 2, 000  indicated 
horse- power.  Saturday  was  devoted  wholly  to  a  single  excur- 
sion, the  members  travelling  down  to  Chatham  by  train,  and  going 
over  the  Dockyard.  Mr.  Yarrow  had  kindly  arranged  to  send 
one  of  his  first-class  torpedo  boats  down  to  Chatham,  so  that 
those  who  wished  to  return  to  London  by  water  were  enabled  to 
do  so.  The  three  great  engineering  firms,  Penns,  Maudslays, 
and  Humphrys,  also  threw  open  their  works  to  the  inspection 
of  members  during  the  meeting. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  deal  briefly  with  the  proceeding*;  at 
the  two  morning  sittings  of  Thursday  and  Friday,  during  which 
six  papers  were  read  and  discussed,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
list: — Ships  of  war,  by  Sir  Nathaniel  Bamaby,  K.C.B.  ;  on 
the  alterations  in  the  types  and  proportions  of  mercantile 
vessels,  together  with  recent  improvements  in  their  construction 
and  depth  of  loading,  as  alTecting  their  safety  at  sea,  by  B. 
Martell,  Chief  Surveyor  of  Lloyd's  Register  of  Shipping; 
centre  and  wing  ballast  tank  suctions  in  double-bottom  vessels, 
by  G.  R.  Brace  ;  some  notes  on  the  history,  progress,  and 
recent  practice  in  marine  engineering,  by  A.  J.  Durston, 
£ngineer-in-Chief  to  the  Royal  Navy  ;  progress  in  engineering 
in  the  mercantile  marine,  by  A.  E.  Seaton  ;  on  the  weak  points 
of  steamers  carrying  oil  in  bulk,  and  the  type  which  experience 
has  shown  most  suitable  for  this  purpose,  by  George  Eld  ridge. 

On  the  meeting  being  opened,  Lord  Ravensworth,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Institution,  who  occupied  the  chair,  proceeded  to 
deliver  a  short  address,  and  then  presented  the  gold  medal  of  the 
Institution  to  Prof. Lewes  for  his  paper  on  *' Boiler  Deposits," 
read  at  the  last  meeting.  The  gold  medal  is  not  given  to 
members  of  Council,  so  that  some  of  the  papers  read  at  the 
spring  meeting  were  out  of  the  competition.  Sir  Nathaniel 
Barnaby's  paper  brought  forward  some  of  the  most  salient  fea- 
tures  in  the  history  of  war-ship  design  during  the  thirty-one 
years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  Institution  was  founded.  An 
interesting  fact  noticed  was  that  our  earliest  armour-clad,  the 
Warrior^  and  our  latest,  the  Ramillies^  were  of  exactly  the  same 
length — 380  feet.  There,  however,  the  likeness  ends,  for  the 
modern  ship  is  14,150  tons  displacement  as  compared  with 
9210  tons  of  the  Warrior.  Her  horse-power  is  13,000  in- 
dicated, ihe  Warrior^ s  being  5270 ;  her  speed  is  seventeen  and 
a  half  knots  against  the  Warrior's  fourteen  and  a  half  knots ; 
her  armour  is  18  inches  thick,  whilst  the  ^f^mVr'j  was  4^  inches 
thick  ;  her  coal  endurance  is  5000  knots  as  against  the  Warrior's 
1 2 10  knots ;  her  weight  of  broadside  is  5500  pounds,  as  against 
the  Warrior's  19 18  pounds.  These  figures  well  illustrate  the 
progress  made  in  the  science  of  war-ship  construction,  and  the 
advance  also  extends  to  less  desirable  elements  ;  for  the  cost  of 
the  hull  and  engines  alune  of  the  eight  first-class  battle-ships  of 
the  RamiUies  class,  now  in  course  of  completion,  is  ;f 875,000 
apiece,  whilst  the  Warrior  cost  ;f  357,000.  It  may  be  of  interest 
to  our  readers  if  we  add  that  the  cost  of  a  first-class  battle-ship 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century  was  about  ;f  70,000.  The  addi- 
tion of  machinery  and  other  improvements  brought  the  cost  of 
the  1 21 -gun  screw  three-deckers,  which  followed  the  Crimean 
War,  up  to  close  upon  a  quarter  of  a  million.  The  armour  alone 
of  the  RamiUies  has  cost  exactly  the  same  amount  as  the  Natural 
History  Museum  at  South  Kensington.  Bearing  these  facts  in 
mind,  it  will  be  interesting  to  remember  that  Lord  Brassey 
has  laid  down,  in  the  programme  of  shipbuilding  he 
would  propo.se  for  the  next  five  years,  the  number  of  first 
class  battle-ships  as  ten ;  in  addition  to  six  armoured  coast 
defence  vessels,  six  armoured  rams,  forty  cruisers  of  the  first 
clasj:,  thirty  look-out  ships,  and  fifty  torpedo  gun-vessels. 
Nothing  is  said  about  the  smaller  torpedo  boats^  although  a 
first-class  torpedo  beat  costs  nearly  as  much  as  a  forty-gun 
frigate  of  Nelson's  day.  Some  of  our  best  naval  authorities 
are,  however,  not  so  moderate  as  Lord  Brassey ;  and  Admiral 
Sir  John  Hay  said,  during  the  discussion  on  Sir  Nathaniel 
Barnaby's  paper,  that  he  would  have  fourteen  line-of-battle 
ships  in  place  of  Lord  Brassey's  ten.  Vast  as  are  the  sums 
involved  in  the  carrying  out  of  such  a  programme  as  this,  they 
are  not  so  great,  compared  to  the  corresponding  expenditure  of 
foreign  Powers  in  terms  of  the  value  of  the  commerce  which  the 
ships  produced  would  have  to  protect.  Admiral  Sir  Edward  Free- 
mantle,  Lord  Brassey,  Sir  John  Hay,  Mr.  Wigham  Richardson, 
the  Director  of  Naval  Construction  (Mr.  W.  H.  White),  Sir 
Edward  Reed,  and  others,  spoke  in  the  discussion,  which  was  of 
a  long  and  interesting  description. 

NO.    II 35,  VOL.  44l 


Mr.  Martell's  paper  described  the  progress  of  that  part  of 
naval  architectural  design  which  bears  more  particularly  on  the 
construction  of  cargo  steamers.  The  author  traced  the  process 
of  evolution  by  which  the  early  steamers,  naturally  modelled 
after  the  sailing  ships  which  they  succeeded,  gave  place  to  later 
types,  which  in  their  turn  were  displaced  by  others  found  to  be 
more  suitable  to  the  needs  of  the  time.  Mr.  Martell  dealt  lai^gely 
with  the  well-decked  type  upon  which  so  many  of  the  modem 
'*  ocean  tramps"  are  modelled.  The  working  of  the  Load-line 
Act  was  also  considered  by  the  author.  One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing parts  of  the  paper  is  the  few  paragraphs  the  author  devotes 
to  sailing  ships.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  freely  prophesied  that 
the  days  of  masts  and  sails  were  past ;  that,  so  soon  as  the 
then  existing  vessels  were  worn  out,  wind-propelled  craft  would 
be  confined  to  the  yachtsman's  sport.  From  the  number  of 
handsome  sailing  ships  that  were  lying  idle  in  nearly  every  poit, 
the  prognostication  seemed  warranted.  Even  the  fishing  boats 
seemed  doomed  by  the  multiplication  of  steam  irawlecs. 
Happily  for  the  picturesque  aspect  of  the  mariner's  craft,  these 
forecasts  have  not  been  fulfilled.  ''Notwithstanding  the  great 
economy  introduced  by  the  triple-expansion  engine,"  3f(r. 
Martell  tells  us,  "the  tonnage  of  sailing  vessels  built  has  jet 
been  well  maintained  in  both  1889  and  1890."  Vessels  carrying 
6000  tons  of  dead  weight,  with  four  masts,  both  ship  and  b2uxiae 
rigged,  have  recently  been  built ;  and  arrangements  hare  re- 
cently been  made  for  the  construction  of  a  sailing  ship,  with 
five  masts,  to  carry  7000  tons  dead  weight.  This  vessel  is,  how- 
ever, to  have  a  propelling  engine  fitted  aft,  but  this  engine  is  to  be 
strictly  auxiliary,  to  be  used  only  in  case  of  calms,  and  to  enable 
the  ship  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  tugs.  If  such  an  arrangement 
can  be  conveniently  made,  and  we  see  no  insuperable  difficulties, 
probably  there  will  be  a  great  future  for  vessels  of  this  class 
pending  the  development  of  coal  supplies  in  various  parts  of  the 
world.  Probably  the  boiler  will  take  the  form  of  some  water 
tube  type  yet  to  be  perfected,  as  quickness  in  raising  steam  is  a 
great  desideratum  for  such  purposes.  An  elaborate  table  of 
vessels  lost  during  the  last  ten  years  is  added  as  an  appendix  to 
the  paper.     A  short  discussion  followed  the  reading. 

Mr.  Brace's  paper  dealt  exclusively  with  the  detail  of  ship  con- 
st ruction  set  forth  in  the  title.  As  it  took  exception  to  Lloyd's 
rule?,  Mr.  Martell  naturally  criticized  it  with  considerable 
severity. 

The    sitting    of  Friday,   the    24th   inst.,  commenced    with 
Mr.  Durston's  paper,  which   afforded  a  most  interesting  con- 
tribution to  the  history  of  the  marine  engine.     The   author 
takes  the  engine  models  in  the  Naval  Exhibition  for  his  text, 
and  on  them  founds  a  monograph  on  the  evolution  of  the 
marine  engine  as  applied  to  war-sbips  from  the  days  of  the 
Monkey^  the  first  steam-propelled   vessel  in   the    Navy.     The 
Monkey  was  built  at  Koiherhithe  in  1820,  and  was  210  tons.   She 
was  engined  in  the  same  year  by  Boulton  and  Watt  with  paddle- 
wheel  engines  of  80  nominal  horse-power.     It  would  take  too 
much  space  to  follow  Mr.  Durston  in  his  description  of  the  sub- 
sequent development  of  the  branch  of  the  naval  service  of  which 
he  is  now  the  chief ;  and  with  which  the  names  of  Penn,  Maud^laj, 
Rennie,  Seaward'  Napier,  Elder,  and  others  are  so  intimatdy 
woven  in  the  early,  and  most  of  them,  happily,  in  later  days. 
There  is  added  to  the  paper  a  table  giving  particulars  of  52  ships 
of  the   Royal  Navy,  commencing  with  the   Acheron — having 
beam,   paddle-wheel  engines,  and  fiue  boilers,  pressed  to  4*5 
pounds  per  square  inch,  the  machinery  being  by  Seaward — and 
coming  down  to  the  present  day.     The  table  is  of  the  greatest 
value,  and  we  cannot  refrain  from  giving  s^ome  details  from  it, 
even  at  the  risk  of  extending  this  notice  to  undue  length.     The 
Achtron^  of  293  actual  horse-power,  gave  2*2  units  of  power* 
per  ton  weight  of  machinery,  the  piston  speed  being  198  feet  per 
minute.  It  required  10  74  cubic  feet  of  boiler  to  give  one  indicated 
horse-power.   The  heating  surface  per  indicated  horse-power  was 
5  '25  square  feet,  and  the  horse-power  per  square  foot  of  grate  was 
3*1.     The  coal  consumption  is  unknown.     We   will   make  a 
jump  of  31  years,  because  that  brings  us  to  the  first  ship  in  the 
table  of  which  the  coal  consumption  is  recorded.     The  ship  we 
select  is  the  Hercules^  built  in  1869,  and  engined  by  Penn  with 
trunk  engines  of  8529  indicated  horse-power,  and,  of  course,  ascrew 
propeller.     The  boilers  here  were  of  the  old  rectangular  or  box 
tubular  type,  pressed  to  30  pounds  per  square  inch.     The  piston 
speed  had  then  steadily  risen  in  somewhat  the  same  ratio  as  the 
boiler  pressure,  so  that  with  the  Hercules  it  had   reached  to 
the  respectable  figure  643  feet  per   minute.     The    indicated 

'  Unit  of  power  =  i  indicated  horse  power. 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


307 


horse-power  per  ton  of  machinery  had  also  reached  7*5.  The 
capacity  of  boilers  per  indicated  horse-power  was  2*17  cubic 
feet,  the  heating  surface  per  indicated  horse-power  2*6  square 
feety  the  horse-power  per  square  foot  of  grate  9*41  units,  and 
the  coal  consumption  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour  2 '8 11 
pounds.  Looking  back  over  the  twenty-two  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  Hercules  was  tried,  and  remembering  the 
stringent  and  limiting  conditions  under  which  war-ship  engines 
were  then  designed,  one  cannot  but  be  struck  by  the  remarkably 
successful  results  attained  with  the  engines  of  the  Hercules.  No 
doubt  this  was  due  to  the  extraordinary  pains  taken  in  the  design 
aod  manufacture  of  the  engines  of  Her  Maj  esty's  shi  ps  i  n  those  days. 
The  introduction  of  more  complex  machine  tools  in  the  work- 
shop has  enabled  much  of  this  minute  care  and  finish  to  be  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  advances  in  metallurgical  science  have  put 
improved  materials  at  the  command  of  the  engineer  ;  but  nothing 
has  yet  exceeded,  or,  we  believe,  ever  will  exceed,  the  beauty 
aod  accuracy  of  the  noble  examples  of  the  mechanic's  art  con- 
structed at  the  Greenwich  shops  under  the  direction  of  that 
prince  of  engineers,  the  late  John  Penn.  At  the  same  time  we 
gladly  acknowledge  that  the  general  average  of  all  engines  has  im- 
mensely advanced,  and  is  still  advancing,  ^th  in  design,  material, 
and  finish.  The  whole  of  these  three  qualities  are  due  to  a  wider 
spread  of.  that  knowledge  of  scientific  principles  upon  which  the 
mechanical  arts  are  founded.  The  manual  skill  of  the  handi- 
craftsman has  not  increased  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  deteriorated 
as  mechanical  contrivances  have  superseded  the  old  hand  opera- 
tions. 

From  this  digression  we  will  return  to  the  table  in  Mr. 
Durston's  paper,  and  take  one  more  example.  This  shall  be  the 
Royal  Oak,  a  sister  of  the  Ramillies  befire  mentioned,  and  one 
of  the  eight  monster  line-of-battle  ships  now  in  progress — 
the  biggest  war-ships  ever  yet  designed.  Laird  Brothers,  of 
Birkenhead,  are  the  contractors  for  the  Royal  Oak.  She  has  the 
vertical  triple  compound  engines  and  ordinary  return  tube  boilers 
of  the  present  day.  The  indicated  horse-power  is  put  down  at 
13,000,*  but  will  doubtless  be  much  more,  the  steam  pressure 
t>cing  155  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  the  piston  speed  918  feet 
per  minute.  The  indicated  horse-power  per  ton  of  machinery 
IS  11*75  units,  the  capacity  of  boilers  per  indicated  horse- 
power I  *o6  cubic  feet,  the  heating  surface  per  indicated  horse- 
power I  '55  square  feet,  and  the  horse- power  per  square  foot  of 
grate  18*31  units.  The  coal  consumption  remains,  until  the  trials 
are  made,  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  there  is  every  reason  to 
anticipate  it  will  approximate  to  that  of  the  best  performances 
recorded  for  Her  Majesty's  ships — namely,  about  2  pounds  of  fuel 
per  hour  per  indicated  horse- power  developed  with  natural  draught. 
In  taking  this  figure,  however,  we  are  somewhat  unfair  to  the  earlier 
engines,  for  we  have  taken  the  other  performances  of  the  Royal 
Oak^s  engines  on  forced-tdraught,  a  condition  under  which  the 
fuel  consumption  would  be  much  higher.  What  may  be  the 
fuel  consumption  of  Her  Majesty's  ships  under  forced  draught 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  It  should  be  remembered  that, 
in  the  Royal  Navy,  the  steam  generated  in  the  main  boilers  is 
used  for  the  many  auxiliary  engines  also,  but  the  indicated  horse- 
power of  the  main  engines  only  is  taken.  This  manifestly  puts  the 
engines  of  Her  Majesty's  ships  at  a  considerable  dissulvantage 
in  the  matter  of  fuel  economy  when  comparison  is  made  with 
mercantile  engines.  If  we  had  to  summarize  the  lessons  taught 
by  Mr.  Durston's  tables  in  few  words,  we  should  say  the  stepping- 
stones  to  advance  in  marine  engineering  have  been  multi-tube 
boilers,  compound  surface- condensing  engines,  and  forced  draught. 
The  latter  is  still  in  that  state  of  popular  disfavour  which  seems 
to  be  the  natural  condition  of  all  innovations  on  established 
practice;  but  it  will  yet  make  its  mark,  and  lead  engine-designers 
to  higher  results,  whilst  it  will  drive  them  to  more  perfect  work. 

Mr.  Seaton  is  well  known  as  one  of  our  best  marine  en- 
gineers, and  is,  moreover,  a  skilled  writer,  with  a  special  talent 
for  communicating  his  ideas  through  the  medium  of  the  pen. 
That  is  well  proved  by  his  contributions  both  in  the  shape  of 
memoirs  to  technical  Societies  and  also  by  his  well-known  work 
on  the  marine  engine.  Unfortunately  for  the  literary  side  of  his 
reputation  he  is  the  manager  of  one  of  the  largest  shipbuilding  and 
engineering  establishments  in  the  country,  and  there  are  evidences 
of  this  in  the  paper  he  contributed  to  the  meeting.  It  was 
intended  to  be  a  counterpart,  from  the  mercantile  point  of  view, 
of  Mr.   Durston's    naval    paper.     Mr.    Seaton    was  doubtless 

*  The  indicated  horse-power  of  the  Sardegnea^  the  big  Italian  war- vessel, 
is  estimated  to  be  za.ooo.  This  is  the  largest  power  yet  designed  for  any 
ship.     There  are  four  sets  of  engines,  two  for  each  propeller. 


NO.   1135,  VOL.  44] 


anxious  to  fulfil  his  promse  to  contribute  to  the  proceedings,  and 
has  evidently  done  the  best  time  would  allow.  His  paper  is  a 
good  illustration  that  '*  there  is  always  plenty  of  room  at  the  top," 
in  the  engineering,  as  in  all  other  professions ;  but  it  does  not  call 
for  any  extended  notice  here.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  Mr. 
Eldridge's  paper,  which  dealt  minutely  with  technical  details. 
It  is,  however,  a  distinctly  valuable  contribution  to  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Institution,  and  may  be  studied  with  advantage 
by  all  naval  architects  who  may  have  to  design  steamers  for 
carrying  petroleum  in  bulk — vessels  that  are  fast  growing  in 
importance  and  numbers. 

The  meeting  terminated  with  the  usual  votes  of  thanks. 


SEVENTH  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF 
HYGIENE  AND  DEMOGRAPHY, 

'T'HE  arrangements  for  this  Congress — which  will  be  opened 
*  by  the  President,  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  on  Mon- 
day, August  10,  at  the  first  general  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall, 
when  short  addresses  will  be  given  by  some  eminent  foreign 
hygienists — are  now  in  a  very  complete  state. 

We  may  mention  that  the  previous  Congresses  were  held  in 
Brussels,  Paris,  Turin,  Geneva,  The  Hague,  and  Vienna,  at  the 
last  of  which  it  was  resolved,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Sanitary 
Institute  and  the  Society  of  Medical  Officers  of  Health,  that 
the  next  Congress  of  the  series  should  be  held  in  London  in  the 
present  year. 

Besides  the  Permanent  International  Committee,  to  which  a 
number  of  additional  members  have  been  attached  for  the  pur- 
pose of  this  Congress,  the  executive  consists  of  an  Organizing 
Committee,  with  Sir  Douglas  Gallon  as  Chairman  ;  a  Recep- 
tion Committee,  with  Sir  Spencer  Wells  as  Chairman,  and  Mr. 
Malcolm  Morris  as  Honorary  Secretary  ;  and  a  Finance  Com- 
mittee, with  Surgeon-General  Cornish  as  Chairman,  and  Dr. 
Moline  as  Secretary.  There  is  also  a  numerous  Indian  Com- 
mittee, with  Mr.  S.  Digby  as  Honorary  Secretary ;  and  an 
Editing  Committee.  Prof.  Corfield,  whose  address  at  The 
Hague  Congress  in  1884  was  the  origin  of  the  present  one  (see 
Nature,  vol.  xliii.  p.  511)  is  the  Honorary  Foreign  Secre- 
tary of  the  Congress,  and  Dr.  G.  V.  Poore  the  Honorary 
Secretary- General* 

The  Congress  is  divided  into  nine  Sections  under  Hygiene, 
and  one  under  Demography,  which  includes  Industrial  Hygiene, 
and  deals  with  the  life  conditions  of  communities  from  statis- 
tical points  of  view.  The  Hygienic  Sections  will  meet  in 
Burlington  House  and  in  the  University  of  London.  They 
are  as  follows : — 

(i)  Preventive    Medicine.       President,    Sir  Joseph   Fayrer, 

(2)  Bacteriology.     President,  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  Bart. 

(3)  The  Relations  of  the  Diseases  of  Animals  to  those  of 
Man.     President,  Sir  Nigel  Kingscote,  K.C.'B. 

(4)  Infancy,  Childhood,  and  School  Life.  President,  Mr.  J. 
R.  Diggle,  Chairman  of  the  London  School  Board 

(5)  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  Relation  to  Hygiene.  Pre- 
sident, Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  M.P. 

(6)  Architecture  in  Relation  to  Hygiene.  President,  Sir 
Arthur  W.   Blomfield. 

(7)  Engineering  in  Relation  to  Hygiene.  President,  Sir 
John  Coode,  K.C.M.G. 

(8)  Naval  and  Military  Hygiene.  President,  Lord  Wantage, 
K.C.B. ,  V.  C. 

(9)  State  Hygiene.     President,  Lord  Basing. 

The  Demographic  Division  will  meet  in  the  theatre  of  the 
Royal  School  of  Mines  in  Jermyn  Street,  under  the  presidency 
of  Mr.  Francis  Galton. 

A  large  number  of  papers  are  promied,  some  on  subjects 
selected  by  the  officers  of  the  Sections,  and  some  on  other  sub- 
jects ;  indeed,  there  is  such  a  profusion  of  papers  that  it  seems 
very  doubtful  whether  it  will  be  possible  to  deal  with  them  all 
during  the  four  days  available  for  the  purpose,  especially  as  we 
are  informed  that  most  if  not  all  of  the  Sections  will  only  sit 
from  10  a.m.  to  2  p.m. 

A  vast  number  of  delegates  have  been  appointed  from  insti- 
tutions and  public  bodies  in  ihis  country.  Delegates  have  been 
appointed  by  the  Governments  of  all  the  European  and  several 
other  countries,  and  also  by  many  foreign  Universities,  cities, 
public  institutions,  and  scientific  societies.  There  are  also  a 
number  of  delegates  from  India  and  the  colonies. 


3o8 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


An  Honorary  Foreign  Council,  including  the  names  of  most  of 
the  best  known  foreign  hygienists,  has  been  appointed,  and  also 
an  Honorary  Council  of  the  British  Empire,  with  representatives 
from  India  and  the  colonies. 

A  Bacteriological  Museum  and  Laboratory  will  be  a  special 
feature  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  second  Section  ;  and 
an  exhibition  of  drawings  of  sanitary  construction,  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  the  sixth  Section,  will  be  arranged  in  the 
Library  of  the  University  of  London,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Thomas  W.  Cutler. 

As  is  usual  in  gatherings  of  this  kind,  a  considerable  number 
-of  entertainments,  excursions,  &c.,  have  been  arranged  for, 
including  an  entertainment  at  the  Guildhall,  conversaziones  at 
the  Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  and  of  Surgeons,  and  a  dinner 
9xAfUe  at  the  Crystal  Palace. 

A  Ladies'  Committee,  under  the  presidency  of  Mrs.  Priestley, 
has  also  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  holding  receptions  and 
of  organizing  visits  to  various  places  of  interest  for  the  benefit  of 
the  ladies  who  may  take  this  opportunity  of  visiting  London. 

A  daily  programme  will  be  issued,  giving  the  titles  of  the 
papers  to  be  read,  and  the  list  of  excursions,  entertainments, 
&c.,  for  each  day  ;  and  besides  this,  Public  Healthy  the  journal 
of  the  Society  of  Medical  Officers  of  Health  (under  the  editor- 
ship of  Mr.  A.  Wynter  BIyth)  will  issue  a  special  daily  number 
during  the  Congress,  giving  abstracts  of  the  more  important 
papers  in  each  Section. 

A  volume  of  abstracts  of  papers  will  also  be  issued,  and 
a  special  hand- bock  for  London  is  being  prepared  by 
Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.  in  French  and  English  ;  this  will 
contain  several  maps  and  plans,  and  will  be  mainly  devoted  to 
those  matters  which  have  a  special  interest  for  members  of  a 
Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography. 

After  the  Congress  a  volume  of  Transactions  will  be  pub- 
lished, to  a  copy  of  which  each  member  will  be  entitled.  The 
subscription  is  ;^i,  and  the  offices  are  at  20  Hanover  Square. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  CERTAIN  MARBLES,^ 

A  MONGST  the  interesting  collection  of  rocks  brought  home 
•^*'  by  Prof.  Haddon  from  Torres  Straits  are  some  fragments 
of  wind-blown  coral-sand  rock  from  Thursday  Island.  They 
have  a  deceptively  oolitic  appearance,  and  the  majority  of  the 
grains  being  of  a  red  colour  give  a  prevailing  warm  tint  to  the 
stone,  and  thus  render  more  conspicuous  by  contrast  a  number  of 
dark  green,  worn,  and  rounded  crystals  of  augite,  which  are 
scattered  irregularly  through  it.  The  appearance  of  this  hand- 
some rock  is  sufficiently  striking,  but  it  gains  greatly  in  interest 
from  its  suggestive  resemblance  to  the  famous  Tiree  marble, 
wherein  likewise  green  grains  of  pyroxene  are  set  in  a  flesh- 
coloured  matrix  of  altered  limestone.  The  comparison  is  con- 
firmed and  enhanced  by  an  examination  of  thin  slices ;  in  the 
recent  limestone  the  calcareous  grains  are  found,  as  so  commonly 
happens  with  these  coral-sand  rocks,  to  consist  of  rounded  frag- 
ments of  calcareous  Algae,  and  worn  tests  of  various  species  of 
Foraminifera ;  mingled  with  these  are  more  or  less  rounded 
crystals,  not  only  of  green  augite,  but  also  of  olivine,  felspar,  and 
a  finely  crystalline  glassy  basalt ;  in  the  Tiree  marble  the  green 
grains  of  pyroxene  (salite)  show  beautifully  rounded  outlines,  and 
are  sharply  separated  from  the  surrounding  matrix,  into  which 
they  show  no  tendency  to  pass  ;  crystals  of  felspar  are  also  pre- 
sent— some  fairly  fresh,  others,  and  these  are  the  majority, 
corroded  and  almost  entirely  replaced  by  calcite,  only  the  thm 
outer  skin  of  the  felspar  preserving  a  fresh  appearance  ;  in  some 
few  cases,  fragments  of  felspar  partially  penetrated  by  salite  are 
met  with.  The  calcareous  matrix  is  finely  granular,  possibly 
dolomitic,  but  blotched  and  spotted  by  badly  defined  larger 
crystalline  individuals  of  calcite,  the  outlines  of  which  are  some- 
times obscurely  rounded,  so  that  although  no  trace  of  organic 
structure  can  now  be  recognized,  yet  on  the  whole  the  appearances 
are  such  as  might  be  expected  to  be  presented  by  a  coral-sand 
rock,  which  had  suffered  metamorphic  changes.  Macculloch,  in 
his  detailed  account  of  this  rock,  refers  to  its  occurrence  as  an 
irregular  mass,  completely  surrounded  by  gneiss  ;  another  white 
limestone  occurs  in  the  island,  similarly  disposed. 

It  is  interesting  to  speculate  on  the  final  result  of  pressure 
metamorphism,  acting  on  volcanic  islands  surrounded  by  their 
reefs.  Thus,  were  the  ancient  granite  masses  of  Queensland  and 
New  Guinea  to  approach  one  another,  moving  towards  the  line 

'  A  Suggestion :  by  Profs.  SoUas  and  Cole. 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


of  weakness  which  now  forms  Torres  Straits,  we  may  oodcotc 
that  basic  schists  in  great  variety  would  arise  from  the  rolling 
out  of  the  cores  and  superficial  deposits  of  the  intervening 
volcanoes  ;  while  the  associated  coral  reefs  would  be  converted 
into  irregular  masses  of  structureless  limestone,  and  becoming 
involved  in  the  surrounding  schists  would  be  irregularly  dispersed 
through  them,  so  as  to  occur  in  unexpected  and  anomaloo 
positions. 

In  conclusion  we  would  call  attention  to  an  important  paper, 
read  in  1876,  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Green,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affiun 
to  the  King  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  (footnote,  Joum.  Roy. 
Geol.  Soc.  Ireland,  vol.  iv.  p.  140,  1877).  Inter  alia,  he 
says: — 

"  The  Hawaiian  Islands  are  more  or  less  surrounded  by  cocal 
reefs,  the  island  of  Hawaii  less  so  than  the  others,  for  one  reason, 
because  the  lava  has  kept  pouring  into  the  sea  along  most  puts 
of  the  coast  during  past  centuries,  and  has  not  given  the  conlan 
opportunity  to  form  to  so  large  an  extent  as  in  the  other  islands. 
Now  it  is  a  fact  that  wherever  the  lava  runs  into  the  sea,  or 
wherever  the  waves  have  an  opportunity  of  breaking  against  [it], 
...  a  large  quantity  of  olivine  sand  is  formed.  The  felspar, 
the  other  material  of  which  this  lava  is  mainly  composed,  g^ 
ground  up  to  powder  and  disappears — indeed,  it  is  almost  alwa]rs 
in  the  minutest  grains  to  begin  with  ;  whilst  the  olivine,  a  modi 
heavier  mineral,  and  in  grains  from  the  size  of  a  bean  to  a  pea 
downwards,  forms  the  main  component  of  the  sand  of  the  sea- 
shore wherever  the  sea  meets  the  'lava,  or  else  the  olivine-sand 
gets  more  or  less  mixed  up  with  the  coral -sand,  where  the  two 
classes  of  rock  are  in  close  proximity.  A  great  deal  of  the 
olivine-sand  is  of  the  finest  possible  quality  ;  indeed,  it  is  often 
so  fine  that  although  a  much  heavier  mineral  than  carbonate  of 
lime,  it  will  often,  where  both  are  washed  by  the  waves,  settle 
on  the  top  of  the  coral-sand,  and  I  have  often  scraped  the  almost 
pure  fine  olivine-sand  from  the  top  of  a  coral-sand  beach.  Tbis 
mixture  of  the  two  sands  is  common  over  the  group,  extending 
400  miles  from  Hawaii  to  Bird  Island."  Again,  "  .  .  there 
is  every  grade  of  mixture  from  all  coral  to  all  olivine.  Veiy 
often  the  olivine-sand  rock  will  be  found  to  run  in  streaks 
amongst  the  coral-sand  rock,  so  that  in  the  course  of  time,  when 
the  coral- sand  rock  comes  to  be  metamorphosed  into  a  limestone 
or  a  marble,  the  olivine-sand  rock  would  probably  suffer  the 
change  which  that  mineral  is  well  known  to  experience — namely, 
into  serpentine." 

These  views  will  certainly  commend  themselves  to  many  of 
those  who  have  come  to  regard  Eossoon  as  a  mineral  stroctore. 
With  the  presumption  in  its  calcareous  composition  of  an  organic 
origin,  there  has  always  existed  a  suspicion  that  some  such  ex* 
planation  as  this  might  eventually  be  found.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  streakiness  which  Mr.  Green  expressly  mentions 
as  characterizing  the  interlamination  of  the  olivine  and  cocal 
sand,  is  so  frequently  an  accompaniment  of  '*Eozoonal*'aDd 
serpentinous  limestone. 


IS   THE  MARINER'S  COMPASS  A    CHINESE 

INVENTION  f 

A  WRITER  in  the  North  China  HeraU  of  Shanghai  detoles 
"^^  a  learned  article  to  detailing  and  discussing  the  farts  re- 
garding the  claim  of  the  Chinese  to  have  invented  the  mariner's 
compass.  They  did  not  learn  the  properties  of  the  magneli«d 
needle  from  any  other  country.  They  found  it  out  for  themselves, 
though  it  is  impossible  to  point  to  the  man  by  name  who  fint 
observed  that  a  magnetized  needle  points  north  and  south.  He 
suggests  that  it  came  about  in  this  way.  The  Chinese  have  in 
their  country  boundless  tracts  of  ironstone,  and  among  these  no 
small  portion  is  magnetic.  Every  woman  needs  a  needle,  and 
iron  early  took  the  place  of  the  old  stone  needles,  and  woe 
commonly  used  before  the  time  of  ChHn  Shih-huang— that  is, 
more  than  twenty-one  centuries  ago.  Whenever  a  needle  hap- 
pened to  be  made  of  magnetic  iron,  it  might  reveal  its  quality 
by  falling  into  a  cup  of  water,  when  it  happened  to  be  attached 
to  a  splinter  of  wood,  for  example.  It  came  in  some  such  way 
to  be  known  commonly  that  certain  needles  had  this  quality. 
The  great  producing  centre  for  magnetic  iron  is  T'szchon,  in 
Southern  Chihli.  This  city  was  very  early  called  the  City  of  Mercyi 
and  the  magnetic  stone  produced  there  came  to  be  known  as 
the  stone  of  Tszchou,  and  so  fszshih  became  the  ordinary  name 
for  a  magnet.  Later,  the  Chinese  began  to  speak  of  the  City 
I  as  the  " City  of  the  Magnet,"  instead  of  calling  it  the  "City of 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


309- 


Mercy."  The  polarity  qF  the  magnetic  needle  would  become 
known  to  the  Chinese  of  that  city  and  its  neighbourhood  first. 
The  first  who  noticed  the  polarity  would  be  some  intelligent 
peison  who  communicated  the  fact  as  an  unaccountable  pecu- 
liarity in  an  age  when  omens  and  portents  were  diligently 
sought  for  in  every  natural  object  and  phenomenon. 

The  earliest  author  who  mentions  the  **  south-pointing 
needle"  tived  in  the  fourth  century  B.a  There  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  the  polarity  of  the  needle  was  known 
at  that  time.  The  discovery  of  the  fact  must  have  preceded  the 
invention  of  any  myth  embracing  it.  As  to  the  discovery,  there 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  it  was  in  any  way  foreign,  because  the 
Chinese  use  an  enormous  number  of  needles,  and  have  an 
inexhaastible  supply  of  ironstone.  But  though  the  polarity 
was  known,  it  was  not  turned  to  a  practical  use  till  the  Tsin 
dynasty,  when  landscapes  began  to  be  studied  by  the  professors 
oi  fengskuiy  or  geomancy.  There  was  at  that  time  a  general 
belief  in  the  magical  powers  of  natural  objects.  This  was  a 
Buddhist  doctrine,  and  it  took  firm  hold  on  the  Chinese  mind 
of  that  age.  The  Chinese  philosophers  of  those  times  taught 
that  indications  of  good  and  ill  luck  are  to  be  seen  all  through 
Nature.  The  pobmty  of  the  needle  would  take  its  place  in 
this  category  of  thought.  Though  it  is  not  distinctly  mentioned 
by  writers  of  the  fourth  century,  yet  to  their  disciples  it  became 
an  essential  part  of  the  landscape  compass  which  the  professors 
oifengshui  all  use.  Kwo  Pu,  the  founder  of  this  system,  died 
A.D.  324,  and  it  was  not  till  four  centuries  later  that  the 
fengshui  compass  began  to  assume  its  present  form.  The 
compass  used  by  the  professors  of  geomancy  for  marking 
landscape  indications  was  first  made  about  the  eighth  century. 
It  was  of  hard  wood  about  a  foot  wide,  and  it  had  in  the  centre 
a  small  well  in  which  a  magnetized  needle  floated  on  water. 
On  the  compass  were  inscribed  several  concentric  circles,  as  on 
the  wooden  horizon  of  our  globes.  They  embrace  the  twelve 
doable  hours,  the  ten  denary  symbols,  eight  diagrams,  and 
other  marks.  This  compass  was  used  in  preparing  a  geomantic 
report  of  any  spot  where  a  house  or  tomb  was  to  be  constructed, 
so  that  the  construction  might  not  be  upon  an  unlucky  site  or 
planned  in  an  unlucky  manner.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
Uving  a  Chinese  who  had  studied  Hindoo  astronomy,  and  was  the 
Imperial  astronomer,  and  also  a  Buddhist  priest.  He  noticed 
that  the  needle  did  not  point  exactly  north,  and  that  there  was 
a  variation  of  2°  95'.  This  variation  went  on  increasing  till  a 
centnry  later— that  is,  till  the  ninth  century.  A  professor  of 
geomancy  then  added  a  new  circle  to  the  compass.  On  this 
improved  compass  the  first  of  the  twelve  hours  begins  on  the 
new  circle  at  7^°  east  of  north. 

The  compass,  it  will  be  observed,  grew  out  of  the  old  astro- 
logical report  or  nativity  paper,  calculated  from  the  position  of 
the  staiB,  and  prepared  in  the  Han  dynasty  by  astrologers  as  a 
regular  part  of  social  life,  especially  when  marriages  were  about 
to  be  solemnized.  Some  of  the  old  astronomical  circles  are 
preserved  in  the  new  geomantic  chart.  This  was  the  compass 
used  when  Shen-kwa  wrote  on  the  south-pointing  needle  in  the 
eleventh  century.  This  author  mentions  that  any  iron  needle 
acquires  polarity  by  rubbing  it  on  a  piece  of  loadstone.  He 
alludes  to  the  variation  as  a  ^ct  which  he  himself  had  observed, 
and  speaks  of  the  south-pointing  needle  as  an  implement  used 
by  the  professors  of  geomancy.  By  them  it  was  employed  in 
the  form  of  a  float  upon  water.  After  this,  in  1 1 22,  an  ambas- 
sador to  Corea  describes  the  use  of  the  floating  needle  on  board 
ship  while  he  made  the  voyage.  This  is  the  first  instance,  the 
earliest  by  more  than  a  century,  of  the  use  of  the  mariner's 
compass  on  board  ship,  found  as  yet  in  any  book,  native  or 
foreign.  The  existence  of  the  book  in  which  this  is  recorded 
settles  the  question  of  the  first  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  at 
sea  in  favour  of  the  Chinese.  At  that  time  the  needle  floated  on 
water  supported  on  a  piece  of  wood,  but  in  the  Ming  dynasty 
some  Japanese  junks  engaged  in  piracy  were  captured  by  the 
Chinese,  and  the  compass  in  use  on  board  was  found  to  have 
the  needle  dry  and  raised  on  a  pivot,  while  still  pointing  south- 
ward. The  Japanese  had  learned  from  the  Po^tugue^e  navi- 
gators to  make  a  compass  of  this  kind,  and  probably  the  needles 
ihcy  used  were  brought  from  Europe.  From  this  time,  the 
Chinese  adopted  the  principle  of  a  pivot,  and  made  their  com- 
passes without  a  well  of  water  in  the  middle  to  float  the  needle  in. 
Charts  were  probably  used  of  a  very  rough  kind,  but  how  far 
is  not  known.  What  is  known  is  that  the  junk-master  was 
aware  of  the  direction  in  which  the  needle  must  point  to  reach 
the  port  to  which  he  was  going.     In  the  Sung  dynasty,  em- 

NO.   1 135,  VOL.  44] 


bracing  part  of  the  tenth,  as  well  as  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and 
part  of  the  thirteenth  centuries,  Chinese  junks  went  to  Persia, 
and  India.  The  Arabs  trading  to  China  directly  would  learn. 
at  that  time  the  use  of  the  compass,  and  would  apply  it  on  board 
their  dhows.  From  them  the  Europeans  learned  this  useful 
invention. 

The  credit  of  the  discovery,  both  of  the  polarity  of  a  mag-- 
netized  needle  and  its  suitability  for  use  by  mariners  at  sea  must 
therefore,  according  to  this  writer,  be  given  to  the  Chinese.     It 
was  China  also  that  has  the  credit  of  having  first  noticed  that 
any  iron  needle  may  be  polarized  by  rubbing  it  with  a  magnet,. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Arabs  used  a  floating  compass  on 
their  dhows.     The  needle  was  made  to  float  on  the  water  by 
attaching  it  crosswise  to  a  cornstick  or  splinter  of  wood.     A, 
magnet  applied  to  it  drew  it  into  a  north  and  south  direction. 
They  would  use  Western  notation  to  mark  the  quarters  and* 
intermediate  points  on  the  horizon.  When  therefore  the  mariner's, 
compass  was  adopted  from  them,  the  Chinese  24  points  were 
not  communicated.     In  the  European  compass  the  notation  of 
32  points  is  Western,  and  rests  on  the  winds  and  the  sun.     In. 
the  Chinese  primitive  mariner's  compass  the  notation  is  that  of 
the  professors  of  geomancy,  and  rests  on  the  old  astrological 
division  of  the  horizon  into  twelve  double  hours.     From  the 
Arab  account  we  learn,  what  the  Chinese  accounts  do  not  tell 
us,  that  the  Chinese  floated  the  needle  by  inserting  it  in  a^ 
splinter  of  wood. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELUGENCE. 

Royal  College  of  Science. — The  following  scholarships, 
prizes,  and  Associateships  have  been  awarded  for  the  session 
1890-91  : — First  year's  scholarships  to  William  Allan,  Thomas 
T.  Bedford,  Edwin  Edser,  and  Herbert  A.  Clark  ;  second  year's, 
scholarships  to  John  W.  Pickles  and  Sydney  Whalley  ;  the. 
Edward  Forbes  Medal  and  prize  of  books  for  biology  to  Arthur 
G.  Butler  ;  the  Murchison  Medal  and  prize  of  books  for  geology 
to  Charles  G.  CuUis ;  a  Tyndall  prize  of  books  for  physics. 
Course  I.,  to  William  Allan  ;  the  De  la  Beche  Medal  for  mining 
to  James  G.  Lawn  ;  the  Bessemer  Medal  and  prize  of  hooks  for 
metallurgy  to  Joseph  Jefferson  ;  the  Frank  Hatton  prizes  of 
books  for  chemistry  to  Herbert  Grime  and  Lionel  M.  Jones. 
Prizes  of  books  have  been  given  by  the  Department  of  Science 
and  Art  in  the  following  subjects  :  — Mechanics — Charles  H. 
Kilby,  Charles  P.  Butler,  Herbert  A.  Clark.  Astronomical 
Physics — Lawrence  Parry  and  Samuel  S.  Richardson.  Prac- 
tical Chemistry — William  A.  C.  Rogers.  Mining — James  G. 
Lawn.  Principles  of  Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Chemistry — 
Henry  Wilkinson.  Associateships  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Science  have  been  awarded  as  follows  : — Mechanics — 1st  class, 
Harold  Busbridge  and  Ernest  W.  Rees ;  2nd  class,  Angus 
Leitch.  Physics — ist  class,  Sidney  Wood  ;  2nd  class,  William 
Shackleton  and  Alfred  B.  Lishman.  Chemistry — ist  class, 
Herbert  Grime,  Lionel  M.  Jones,  Alfred  Greeves,  William  A. 
C.  Rogers,  and  Morton  Ware ;  2nd  class,  John  G.  Saltmarsh. 
Biology  (Zoology) — ist  class,  Arthur  G.  Butler  and  James 
Harrison.  Geology — 1st  class,  William  J.  Smeeth.  The 
following  Associateships,  Royal  School  of  Mines,  have  also  beea 
awarded: — Metallurgy — 1st  class,  Joseph  Jeflerson,  Alfred 
Stansfield,  John  Eustice,  and  William  F.  P.  Tindall ;  2nd  class, 
John  D.  Crabtree,  Thomas  S.  Fraser,  Henry  T.  Bolton,  Ben- 
jamin Young,  Hugh  F.  Kirkpalrick-Picard,  George  J.  Snelus, 
James  R.  Crum,  and  Stanley  H.  Ford.  Mining—ist  class, 
James  G.  Lawn,  John  Yates,  Robert  Pill,  Theodore  G.  Cham- 
bers, Algernon  P.  Del  Mar,  Nono  Kit  to,  and  George  R. 
Thompson  ;  2nd  class,  Reginald  Pawie,  Charles  C.  Scott,  Henry 
Cavendish,  Gustave  Busch,  George  H.  Gough,  and  Ben  Howe. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

The  American  A f e/eoro/ogical  yourna/  for  J  vine  contains  : — An 
account  of  the  meeting  of  the  New  England  Meteorological 
Society  on  April  18  last.  The  subject  of  discussion  was  weather 
predicting.  The  general  methods  of  predicting  in  the  United 
States  and  Europe  were  first  described,  and  afterwards  local  and 
long-range  predictions  were  considered.  Papers  were  read  by 
J.  Warren  Smith,  on  the  Signal  Service  weather  forecasts  ;  W. 
M.  Davis,  on  European  weather  predictions ;  •  A.  L.  Rotch,  on. 


3IO 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


the  local  weather  predictioDs  of  the  Blue  Hill  Observatory ; 
M.  W.  Harrington,  on  weather  prediction  in  the  States  and  its 
improve  nent,  together  with  several  other  similar  papers.  — The 
zodiacal  light  as  related  to  the  aurora,  by  O.  T.  Sherman.  The 
author  gives  tablei  and  carves  constructed  from  a  large  number 
of  observations,  showing  (i)  the  relative  elongation  of  the 
zodiacal  light,  from  observations  taken  in  March,  from  1801-86  ; 
(2)  corrections  to  the  earth's  calculated  longitude,  being  that  part 
of  the  amount  by  which  the  observed  position  varied  from  the 
calculated,  which  is  probably  due  to  zodiacal  light ;  (3)  Fritz's 
a.aroral  numbers  for  Europe  south  of  the  polar  circle  ;  and  (4) 
his  relative  numbers  for  Europe.  The  conclusions  drawn  from 
the  tables  are  that  from  1806-27  there  was  no  observation  of  the 
zodiacal  light,  slight  and  irregular  variation  of  the  earth's  motion, 
and  slight  and  irregular  auroras.  For  the  next  fifty  years  each 
period  of  elongation  of  the  zodiacal  light  corresponded  with  a 
maximum  acceleration  of  the  earth's  motion,  and  a  minimum  in 
the  aurora.  And  further,  that  at  the  time  when  the  zodiacal 
light  was  beyond  the  earth's  orbit,  the  auroras  were  few  and 
diminished  in  number.  — Farwell's  rainfall  scheme.  This  article 
(which  is  unsigned)  states  that  Senator  Farwell  carried  a  Bill 
through  the  last  session  of  Congress,  for  testing  the  possibility  of 
the  artificial  production  of  rain  by  means  of  explosions.  The 
experiments,  which  are  soon  to  be  tried,  are  intrusted  to  the 
Agricultural  Department  ;  the  officials,  however,  are  said  to  have 
little  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  experiment.  Mr.  Femow, 
Chief  of  the  Division  of  Forestry,  gives  a  long  report  upon  the 
proposal,  together  with  a  summary  of  the  literature  of  the  subject. 

American  Taumal  of  Science,  July. — The  solar  corona,  an 
instance  of  the  Newtonian  potential  function  in  the  case  of 
repulsion,  by  Prof.  Frank  H.  Bigelow.  This  is  a  continuation 
of  the  author's  researches  into  the  laws  which  regulate  the 
development  of  the  various  coronal  forms. — Newtonite  and 
rectorite,  two  new  minerals  of  the  kaolinite  group,  by  R. 
N.  Brackett  and  J.  Francis  VVilliams.  Taking  the  composition 
of  kaolin  as  Al,0„2Si02,2H,0,  the  following  series  of  hydrous 
silicates  of  alumina  may  be  derived  by  eliminating  or  introducing 
a  molecule  of  water : — 

Percentage  Composition. 

(1)  Al,0„  2SiO„    H,0  . 

(2)  Al,0„  2SiO„  2H,0  . 

(3)  AljOg,  2SiOj,  3H,0  . 

(4)  Al,0„  2SiOj,  4H2O  . 

From  the  facts  and  considerations  stated  in  the  present  paper  it 
appears  probable  that  three  members  are  known  out  of  the  four 
in  the  above  series,  viz.  (i)  rectorite,  (2)  kaolin  and  members 
of  the  kaolinite  group,  and  (4)  newtonite. — On  the  intensity  of 
sound  ;  ii.  the  energy  used  by  organ-pipes,  by  Charles  K. 
Wead.  From  the  results  of  experiments  with  different  organ-stops 
out,  it  appears  that  no  exact  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the 
loudness  of  the  sound  as  to  the  relative  quantity  of  wind 
required  to  blow  pipes  of  different  construction  ;  thus,  the  soft 
Dulciana  stop  of  the  organ  upon  which  the  experiments  were 
performed  took  more  than  half  as  much  wind  as  the  comparatively 
loud  Open  Diapason,  whilst  the  pipes  of  the  Trumpet  stop 
required  less  energy  than  any  others  sounding  the  same  note. 
The  results  obtained  in  the  case  of  difTerent  pipes  of  the  same  stop 
indicate  that  the  volume  of  air  used  per  second,  and  therefore 
the  energy  expended  per  second,  varies  as  the  j-power  of  the 
wave-length  of  the  note,  or  inversely  as  the  J -power  of  the 
vibration -ratio. — New  analyses  of  astrophyllite  and  tschefFkinite, 
by  L.  E.  Eakins.  The  analyses  give  R"4R'4Si(Si04)4  as  the 
general  formula  for  astrophyllite.  This  agrees  with  that  found 
by  Urogger  from  a  discussion  of  analyses  by  Backstrom  and 
Konig.  TschefJkinite  does  not  appear  to  be  a  mineral  in  any 
strict  construction  of  the  word,  but  merely  a  mixture. — The 
minerals  in  hollow  spherulites  of  rhyolite  from  Glade  Creek, 
Wyoming,  by  J.  P.  Iddings  and  S.  L.  Penfield.  The  authors 
find  that  in  the  rhyolite  investigated  fayalite  occurs  in  association 
with  abundant  quartz  of  a  peculiar  development,  as  the  result  of 
the  mineralizing  action  of  vapours  in  the  cooling  acid  lava.  In 
certain  hollow  spherulites  the  fayalite  is  replaced  by  hornblende 
and  biotite. — Bernardinite :  is  it  a  mineral  or  a  fungus  ?,  by 
Joseph  Stanley  Brown.  From  Mr.  Brown's  examination  it 
appears  that  the  mineral  resin  from  San  Bernardino  County, 
California,  described  by  Prof.  Stillman  in  the  Amencan  Journal 
twelve  years  ago,  is  the  fungus  Polyporus  officinalis^  Fries. — 
Development   of    Bilobites,    by    Dr.     Charles    E.    Beecher.— 

NO.    1 1 35,  VOL.  44] 


'A1203 

SiOo 

HaO 

4252 

...  49*99  ... 

7  49 

39*57 

...  4656  ... 

13-93 

36-98 

...  43*47  ... 

1955 

3472 

...  40*82  ... 

2446 

Gmelinite  from  Nova  Scotia,  by  Loais  V.  Pirsson.  The  optical 
characters,  cleavage,  and  chemical  composition  of  this  mio«cal 
have  been  studied.  The  result  of  the  aystallographic  work  potobs 
to  a  distinct  difference  between  it  and  chabazite,  but  with  regard 
to  twinning  and  chemical  constitution  the  two  appear  to  be 
identical.  Indeed,  gmelinite  seems  to  bear  much  the  same 
relation  to  chabazite  that  enstatite  does  to  hypersthene. — Analyses 
of  kamacite,  tcenite,  and  plessite  from  the  Wellaod  meteoric 
iron,  by  John  M.  Davidson.  The  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that 
in  the  Welland  siderolite  only  two  distinct  nickel -iron  alloys 
occur,  viz.  kamacite  and  tceniie,  and  that  the  so-called  plessite 
is  merely  thin  alternating  lamellae  of  the  two. 

American  Journal  of  Mathematics,^  vol,  xiii.,  No.  4. — Im 
this  number  J.  Perrott's  "  Remarque  au  sujet  da  theoreme 
d'Euclide  sur  I'infiniie  du  nombre  des  nombres  premiers"  is 
continued  from  No.  3,  and  concluded  ;  the  author  promising  a 
further  article  on  "  L'ap plication  du  procede  du  g^metre  grec  % 
d'autres  cas  de  la  proposition  de  Lejeune  Dirichlet." — lite 
following  papers  also  appear  : — Ether  squirts,  b^  Karl  Pearsoii, 
an  attempt  to  specialize  the  form  of  ether  motion  which  forms 
an  atom.  The  main  portion  of  the  paper  is  devoted  to  an 
investigation  of  inter-atomic  and  inter-molecular  forces.  — On  the 
matrix  which  represents  a  vector,  by  C.  H.  Chapman.  The 
fundamental  idea  is  that  the  linear  and  vector  function  of  a  vector 
is  simply  the  matrix  of  the  third  order. — Sur  une  forme  nouvelle 
de  r^quation  modulaire  du  huitieme  degre,  par  F.  Brioschi. — The 
index  to  vol.  xiii.  is  appended  to  this  number,  which  concludes  it. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  July  6. — The  Hon.  Lord  McLaren,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  John  Aitken  read  a  paper  on  the 
solid  and  liquid  particles  in  clouds  (see  p.  279,  July  23). — Prof.Tait 
communicated  a  paper  by  Prof.  Chrystal  on  a  demonstration  of 
Lagrange's  rule  for  the  solution  of  the  linear  partial  difiereatial 
equation,  with  some  historical  remarks  on  defective  demonstra- 
tions hitherto  current.  Prof.  Chrystal 's  proof  is  purely  analytical 
Prof.  Tait  remarked  that,  on  quaternionic  principles,  the  problem 
may  be  regarded  as  follows.     Let  the  equation  be 

P/  +  Q17  =  R, 

where  P,  Q,  and  R,  are  given  functions  of  x,  y,  and  «,  and/,  q, 
represent  respectively  the  quantities  dzjiix,  dzfdy.  By  the  in- 
troduction of  a  new  variable,  u,  this  may  be  put  into  the  form 

dx  ay  dz 

But  dujcbc,  dujdy,  du/dz^  are  proportional  to  the  direction 
cosines  of  the  normal  to  the  surface  u  =  c,  and  therefore  P,  Q,  R 
are  proportional  to  the  direction  cosines  of  a  tangent  line  to 
u  =  c.  Hence  we  deduce,  as  the  equations  of  a  curve  which 
lies  wholly  on  the  surface, 

dx   _  dy   _  dz 

y  ~  Q    ~   R ' 

The  integrals  of  these  equations  are  known  to  have  the  form 
V  =  a,  7v  =  0,  where  a  and  $  are  arbitrary  constants.  The 
intersections  of  these  surfaces  fill  space  with  a  set  of  lines,  and 
the  problem  is  to  find  a  single  general  set  of  surfaces  upon  which 
these  lines  will  lie.  Their  equation  is  v  =f{io),  where  y  is  an 
arbitrary  function.  It  is  therefore  the  integral  of  the  given 
differential  equation. — Prof.  Tait  read  the  fifth  part  of  his 
paper  on  the  foundations  of  the  kinetic  theory  of  ga«.es.  He 
has  applied  his  expression  for  the  isothermals  of  a  liquid  and  its 
vapour  to  the  case  of  ethyl  oxide.  The  results  are  in  remarkable 
accordance  with  the  direct  observations  of  Drs.  Ramsay  and 
Young.  He  has  also  applied  the  virial  method  to  systems  of 
doublets,  triplets,  &c.  The  close  correspondence  of  the  results 
calculated  from  his  formula  with  Andrews's  and  Amagat's  ob- 
servations on  carbonic  acid  was  somewhat  surprising  ^'hen  it 
was  considered  that  the  theoretical  results  were  deduced  on  the 
assumption  of  smooth,  hard,  spherical  molecules,  while  the 
molecule  of  carbonic  acid  is  ver>'  complex.  In  the  present  pan 
of  his  paper,  Prof.  Tait  shows  that,  from  the  manner  in  which 
the  (approximate)  virial  equation  is  formed,  no  term  depending 
on  internal  actions  in  molecules  themselves  can  appear  in  it 
when  the  number  of  molecules  is  sufficiently  large.  He  also 
discusses  the  mechanism  of  equilibrium    between   liquid   and 


July  30,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


311 


saturated  vapour.  He  has  reduced  the  difficulties  of  the  prob- 
Jem  to  the  evaluation  of  certain  definite  integrals. — Dr.  John 
Murray  commuDicated  a  paper  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Gregory,  of  the 
British  Museum,  on  the  Maltese  fossil  Echinoidea,  and  their 
evidence  on  the  correlation  of  the  Maltese  rocks.  In  this 
paper  the  fossil  Echinoidea  of  Malta  are  revised,  and  many 
additions  to  the  fauna  made  by  the  description  of  material 
recently  collected.  Several  genera  new  to  Malta  are  recorded, 
and  also  some  species  previously  known  only  in  Italy.  Some 
changes  in  nomenclature  are  advocated :  thus,  as  the  author 
accepts  the  zoological  use  of  the  generic  name  Echinantkus^  a 
new  one — Breynella—v^  proposed  for  the  genus  known  to 
palaeontologists  by  the  former  term.  In  regard  to  the  age  of  the 
Maltese  beds,  the  author  agrees  with  Fuchs  as  to  the  Lower 
Coralline  limestone  beini^  clearly  Oligocene  ;  the  overlying 
Globigerina  limestone  is  assigned  partly  to  the  A^uitanian  and 
partly  to  the  Langhien :  as  no  sharp  line  of  division  can  be 
drawn  between  these  two  series,  the  exact  limits  of  the  Oligo- 
cene and  the  Miocene  in  Malta  cannot  be  precisely  determined. 
The  blue  clay  appears  also  to  belong  to  the  Langhien,  and  to  be 
hardly  entitled  to  separation  from  the  underlying  Globigerina 
limestone ;  the  greensand  is  referred  to  the  Helvetian,  and  the 
Upper  Coralline  limestone  to  the  Tortonian.  The  relations  of 
Echinoid  faunas  of  the  different  horizons  to  those  of  the  corre- 
sponding beds  in  other  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  are  considered, 
and  it  is  argued  that  deep-sea  conditions  prevailed  in  different 
areas  at  different  times :  hence  they  show  merely  a  series  of 
local  subsidences,  instead  of  one  great  regional  depression. — 
Prof.  Ewart  communicated  the  first  part  of  a  paper  on  the 
lateral  sense-organs  of  Lamargus  and  Acanthias^  in  which  he 
dealt  specially  with  the  sensory  canals. — Prof.  Tait  communi- 
cated a  paper,  by  Prof.  C.  G.  Knott,  on  the  electric  resistance  of 
cobalt  at  high  temperatures.  The  cobalt  on  which  Prof.  Knott 
experimented  was  m  the  form  of  a  thin  strip  cut  from  a  sheet  in 
the  possession  of  Prof.  Tait.  The  metal  was  very  pure — con- 
taining possibly  I  per  cent,  of  carbon,  o'i5  per  cent,  of 
silicon,  073  per  cent,  of  iron,  a  very  small  percentage  of  man- 
ganese, and  perhaps  0*1  percent,  of  an  undetermined  metal. 
The  formula  r  =  ac^',  where  r  is  the  resistance  and  /  is  the 
temperature,  closely  represents  the  results  at  temperatures  above 
100  C.  This  law  is  identical  with  that  which  holds  in  the  case 
of  nickel,  but  the  rate  of  variation  is  not  so  great  in  cobalt  as  it 
is  in  nickel.  When  first  heated  to  a  very  high  temperature, 
profound  changes  take  place  in  the  metal  as  regards  its  change 
of  resistance  with  temperature.  The  metal  resembles  nickel  and 
iron  in  that  the  rate  of  variation  of  its  resistance  increases  rapidly 
as  the  temperature  rises.  But,  in  nickel  and  iron,  at  a  still 
higher  temperature,  this  is  followed  by  a  distinct  decrease.  No 
soch  effect  is  observed  in  cobalt. — Prof.  Tait  also  read  a  paper, 
by  the  same  author,  on  the  thermo-electric  positions  of  cobalt 
and  bismuth.  A  triple  junction  of  cobalt,  bismuth,  and  palla- 
diam  was  used.  A  rod  of  bismuth  was  formed  by  breaking 
the  metal  into  small  pieces,  and  packing  them  into  a  siphon- 
shaped  glass  tube.  Gentle  heating  fused  the  pieces,  and  so  a 
solid  rod  was  formed.  The  other  wires  were  fused  into  its  ends. 
The  line  of  this  specimen  of  cobalt,  on  the  thermo-electric 
diagram,  lay,  at  ordinary  temperatures,  above  that  of  the 
specimen  of  nickel  which  Prof.  Tait  used  in  the  construction  of 
the  diagram,  but  a  neutral  point  existed  at  100%  because  of  the 
greater  steepness  of  the  cobalt  line.  The  slope  of  the  line  is  the 
greatest  which  has  yet  been  observed,  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  the  upwardly-sloping  portion  of  the  line  of  nickel.  The 
thermo-electric  power  of  bismuth  does  not  alter  in  strong  mag- 
netic fields,  although  Righi  has  shown  that  its  resistance  alters 
in  such  fields. 

Sydney. 

Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  May  13.— Civil 
Engineering  Section  Meeting. — Mr.  C.  W.  Darley  in  the  chair. 
—The  inaugural  address  was  delivered  by  the  Chairman  ;  and  a 
paper  read  on  researches  in  iron  and  steel,  and  working  stresses 
in  structures,  by  Prof.  Warren. 

June  3. — Mr.  W.  A.  Dixon,  Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — 
Six  new  members  were  elected. — The  following  paper  was 
read : — Notes  on  the  large  death-rate  among  Australian  sheep  in 
country  ^  affected  with  Cumberland  disease  or  splenic  fever,  by 
M.  Adrien  Loir,  Director  of  the  Pasteur  Institute  of  Australia. — 
Prof.  Anderson- Stuart  exhibited  his  new  instrument  for  demon- 
strating the  manner  in  which  sound-waves  are  propagated  ;  and 
Lovibond's  tintometer  was  shown  by  the  Chairman. 

NO.   II35,  VOL.  44] 


Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  20. — M.  Duchartre  in  the  chair. 
— The  life  and  works  of  tne  late  Prof.  W.  Weber,  by  M. 
Mascart. — Observations  of  minor  planets,  made  with  the  great 
meridian  instrument  of  Paris  Observatory  during  the  second 
half  of  1890  and  the  first  quarter  of  1891,  by  Admiral  Mouchez. 
The  asteroids  which  have  been  observed  for  position  are : 

0,  ©,  ©,  ®.  0.  ®.  ©,  ®.  ©,  0.  ®. 

®.  ©• 

— The  third  meeting  of  the  International  Committee  of  the  map> 
of  the  heavens  :  presentation  of  the  Proceedings,  by  the  same 
author. — Elements  of  the  elliptic  comets  Swift  (1889  V^O  ^^^ 
Spitalier  (1890  VIL),  by  Dr.  J.  R.  Hind.— Evidences  that 
Europe  and  America  have  been  united  during  recent  times,  by 
M.  Emile  Blanchard.  The  evidences  given  in  the  author's 
memoir  are  derived  from  a  discussion  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of 
the  two  continents. — On  the  glycolysis  of  circulating  blood  in 
living  tissues,  by  MM.  R.  Lepine  and  Barral.  The  authors' 
method  of  studying  the  glycolysis  of  blood  in  circulation  in  an 
isolated  member  appears  to  be  more  exact  than  that  of  studying 
it  in  vitro.  They  have  used  it  to  prove  the  diminution  of 
hiematic  glycolysis  that  occurs  in  experimental  diabetes.  — 
Apparent  total  disappearance  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  by  M.  C. 
Flammarion.  On  July  15,  M.  Flammarion  observed  Jupiter 
when  three  of  his  satellites  were  passing  across  his  disk 
and  one  behind  it.  This  rare  phenomenon  occurs  every 
twenty-three  years,  a  period  which  contains  523  revolu- 
tions of  the  fourth  satellite,  1220  of  the  third,  2488  of  the 
second,  and  4934  of  the  first.  It  was  first  put  on  record 
by  Galileo  in  161 1,  and  M.  Flammarion  gives  a  list  of  seven 
other  observers  who  have  noted  it. — Experiments  on  weirs,  by 
M.  H.  Bazin. — Vibration  of  a  wire  along  which  an  electric  cur- 
rent is  passing,  by  M.  D.  Hurmuzescu.  A  metallic  wire 
stretched  between  two  supports  and  traversed  by  an  electric 
current  sets  itself  in  vibration.  The  amplitude  of  the  vibrations 
steadily  increases  and  reaches  a  maximum,  which  is  maintained 
so  long  as  the  current  is  passing  and  no  changes  occur  in  the 
conditions  of  the  surrounding  medium.  For  a  given  tension, 
the  amplitude  appears  to  depend  on  the  difference  of  tempera- 
ture of  the  wire  and  the  medium  in  which  it  vibrates  ;  hence  it 
varies  as  the  intensity  of  the  current. — The  absorption  and 
photography  of  colours,  by  M.  Labatut.  Using  M.  Lippmann's 
method  for  the  photography  of  the  spectrum  in  its  colours,  the 
author  has  investigated  the  absorbing  action  of  screens  coloured 
with  dyes,  such  as  cyanin,  &c. ,  in  relation  to  the  parts  of  the 
spectrum  impressed  on  the  prepared  plate  and  the  interference 
colours  produced. — On  the  composition  of  atmospheric  air : 
new  gravimetric  method,  by  M.  A.  Leduc.  The  following 
represents  the  results  obtained  in  two  experiments : — 

Grms.  Gnns. 

Weight  of  air  analysed     3*4237  ...     3 '5551 

Weight  of  oxygen  which  combined  with 

phosphorus      0*7958  ...     0*8249 

Percentage  proportion  of  oxygen    23*244  ...  23*203 

The  mean  of  these  values  is  23*224,  or,  roughly,  23*23,  which 
may  therefore  be  taken  to  represent  the  percentage  of  oxygen  in 
purified  air.  The  composition  by  volume  is  stated  as  :  nitrogen 
78*98  per  cent.,  and  oxygen  2 1*02  per  cent. — On  silicon  selenide, 
by  M.  Paul  Sabatier.  "This  body  has  been  prepared  by  passing 
a  current  of  dry  hydrogen  selenide  over  crystallized  silicon  at  a 
red  heat.  The  selenide  obtained  is  a  hard  substance,  having  a 
semi  metallic  appearance,  and  apparently  not  volatile  at  the 
temperature  of  the  experiment.  Its  composition,  verified  by 
several  analyses,  is  represented  by  the  formula  SiSe,. — Melting- 
point  of  certain  organic  binary  systems  (hydrocarbons),  by  M. 
Leo  Vignon. — Study  of  the  solid  products  resulting  from  the 
oxidation  of  drying  oils,  by  M.  A.  Livache. — On  a  new 
method  of  testing  for  phenol,  by  M.  L.  Carre. — On  ozone  con- 
sidered from  a  physiological  and  therapeutical  point  of  view,  by 
MM.  D.  Labb^  and  Oudin.— On  the  mode  of  action  of  the 
butyric  ferment  in  the  transformation  of  starch  into  dextrine, 
by  M.  A.  Villiers. — On  a  toxalbumin  secreted  by  a  microbe 
from  blennorhagic  pus,  by  MM.  Hugounenq  and  Eraud. — Oscil- 
lations of  the  retina,  by  M.  A.  Charpentier.  The  author  has 
studied  experimentally  certain  phenomena  'which  appear  to 
demonstrate  the  production  of  oscillations  in  the  visual  organ 


312 


NA  TURE 


[July  30,  1891 


under  the  iDflueDce  of  lumiDous  excitations.  These  movements 
are  apparently  due  to  a  reaction  of  the  retina  at  the  moment 
when  light  strikes  it. — On  the  innervation  of  the  stomach  of 
Batrachians,  by  M.  Ch.  Contejean. — On  the  development  of 
the  mesoderm  of  Crustacese,  and  on  that  of  its  derived  organs, 
by  M.  Louis  Roule.—On  the  homology  of  the  pedal  and 
cephalic  appendices  of  Annelidas,  by  M.  A.  Malaquin. — On 
the  muscardine  of  the  white  worm,  by  MM.  Prillieux  and 
Delacroix. 

Brussels. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  5.— M.  Plateau  in  the  chair. 
— Linamarine^  a  new  glucoside  from  Linum  Usitatissimum, 
yielding  hydrogen  cyanide  on  hydrolysis,  by  A.  Jorissen  and  E. 
Hairs.  The  method  of  preparation  found  to  give  the  best  yield 
is  described.  This  glucoside  presents  some  points  of  resemblance 
with  amygdalin,  but  the  table  of  properties  dbcloses  many  im- 
portant differences,  notably  the  solubility  of  the  new  body  in 
cold  water,  its  melting  at  134**  without  decomposition^  and  the 
absence  of  benzaldehyde  from  the  products  of  its  hydrolysis. 
The  elementary  analysis  of  the  new  glucoside  gives  the  following 
figures:  C,  4788;  H,  6*68;  N,  5-55;  O,  39-89.— On  the 
pinacone  of  desoxybenzoin,  by  M.  Delacre.  The  author  shows 
that  there  are  two  bodies  of  the  formula  CjgH^O)  obtained  by 
the  reduction  of  desoxybenzoin,  one  consisting  of  glassy  needles 
melting  at  210°,  and  the  other  obtained  in  large  crystals  melting 
at  163°.  He  explains  the  discordance  of  the  results  of  MM. 
Limpricht  and  Schwanert  and  M.  Zagumenny  as  being  due  to 
the  former  having  obtained  the  mixed  bodies,  and  hence  deter- 
mined the  melting  point  at  I56^ — On  the  constitution  of  a- 
benzopinacoline,  by  M.  Delacre.  The  author  gives  a  complete 
•chemical  and  physical  study  of  the  properties  of  this  body  ;  he 
concludes  that  a-benzopinacoline  Ls  not  a  pinacoline  but  the  ether 
of  benzopinacone,  and  that  its  constitution  would  be  expressed 
by  the  formula 

(CeH5)j  :  C-O-C  :  (CeH,)^ 

(CeH5)2  :  C-O-C  :  (CeH^)/ 

*thus  making  its  molecular  weight  double  that  he  previously  as- 
signed to  i8-benzopinacoline.  The  data  given  in  the  paper  for 
the  determination  of  the  molecular  weight  of  the  a-benzopina- 
.coline  by  the  cryoscopic  and  vapour  tension  methods  would  lead 
to  the  adoption  of  the  same  molecular  weight  as  in  the  case  of  the 
iS-benzopinacoIine. — On  the  rate  of  formation  of  compound 
ethers,  by  N.  Menschutkin.  A  study  of  the  velocity  of  etheri- 
fication  of  some  thirty-two  alcoholic  derivatives,  comprising 
primary  and  secondary  saturated  alcohols,  tertiary  alcohols, 
primary  unsaturated  alcohols,  alkyl  chlorides,  alkyl  cyanides, 
and  ethers.  Acetic  anhydride  was  employed  as  etherifjdng 
agent,  as  by  its  use  no  water  was  produced,  and  thus  the  com- 
plication of  the  problem  by  the  mtroduction  of  reversible  re- 
actions was  avoided.  The  velocity  of  etherification  of  methyl 
alcohol  is  the  greatest ;  the  substitution  of  any  element  or  group 
of  elements  for  hydrogen  in  the  molecule  CH3OH  invariably 
decreases  the  velocity  of  the  reaction. — Theorems  on  the  cur- 
vature of  algebraical  curves,  by  Prof.  CI.  Servais. — On  the 
'* attractive  spheres"  in  some  vegetable  cells,  by  £.  de  Wilde- 
man. — Crystallographic  note  on  albite  from  Revin,  by  M.  A. 
Franck. 

Cracow. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May. — On  the  expansion  and  com- 
pressibility of  atmospheric  air,  by  A.  W.  Witkowski.  The 
author  has  made  experiments  with  air  between  the  temperatures 
ioo**  and  -  145"  C,  and  at  pressures  up  to  130  atmospheres.  The 
coefficient  of  expansion  (a)  has  been  found  at  the  constant  tem- 
peratures 100°,  i6^  -  35',  -  78'-5,  -  io3'*-5,  -  130°,  -  135°,  - 140", 
and- 145**,  by  varying  the  pressure.  The  values  obtained  for 
'these  nine  isothermals  are  tabulated  and  represented  graphically. 
From  the  isothermal  curves  it  appears  that  the  coefficient  of 
expansion  increases  up  to  a  maximum  in  each  case,  and  then 
diminishes.  The  increase  is  most  rapid  near  the  liquefaction 
points.  All  the  curves  tend  towards  a  point  the  co-ordinates 
of  which  are  /  =  i  atmosphere,  and  a  =  0*00367.  The  values 
expressing  the  compressibility  of  air  have  been  calculated  from 
the  expansion  coefficient. — An  electrical  thermometer  for  low 
temperatures,  by  the  same  author.  The  fact  utilized  in  the 
^construction  of  the  instrument  is  the  variation  of  the  resistance 


NO.    1 135,  VOL.  44] 


of  a  platinum  wire  at  different  temperatures.  From  the  expoi- 
ments  it  appears  that  this  is  about  2  ohms  per  degree.  It  is 
therefore  easy  to  obtain  a  sensibility  of  -gV  of  aCentigrade|degTee. 
The  relation  between  the  temperature  and  the  electrical  resistaoa 
is  subject  to  slight  variations  if  the  thermometer  is  em'ployed  Vm 
widely  different  temperatures.  This  fact  has  been  noted  by 
previous  experimenters. — On  derivatives  of  m-methyl-^-aramido- 
benzoyls,  by  S.  Niementowski. — On  the  critical  pressore  of 
hydrogens,  by  K.  Olszewski. — Mathematical  notions  and  method.*, 
by  S.  Dickstein. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Reunion  du  Comitd  International  Permanent  pour  I'Ex&rution  de  la  Cans 
Photographique  du  Ciel  (Paris,  Gauthier-VillarsX — Solutioiis  of  the  Ex- 
amples in  Charles  Smith's  Elementary  Alcebra :  A.  G.  Crackocll  (Maciailji 
and  Co.y— The  Right  Hand  :  Left- Handedness :  Sir  D.  Wilsoa  (MacmJUai 
and  Co.).— The  Positive  Theory  of  Capital :  E.  V.  B5hm-Bawerk.  tnoMlnd 
bv  W.  Smart  (Macmillan  and  Ca). — Outside  the  Class-room  :  Thooghtsfar 
Yottn^  £n{^ineers :  W.  H.  Bailey  (Manchester,  Cornish). — The  Skoetoaof 
the  Irish  Giant,  Cornelius  Magrath  ;  D.  J.  Cunningham  (Williams  and  Not* 

?;ate). — Die  J&hrliche  Parallaxe  des  Stems  Oeltzen  11677  :  Dr.  J.  fnst 
KOnigsbergX — The  Photochronograph  and  its  Application  to  StarTnaats 
(Washington), — The  C^eological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minnesoti, 
Eighteenth  Annual  Report,  1889:  N.  H.  Winchell(Minn.). — The  Iron  Ore 
of  Minnesota:  N.  H.  Wmchell  and  H.  V.  Winchell  (Minn.X— Thirty-cigU: 
Report  of  the  Department  of  Science  and  Art  (Eyre  and  Spottiswoodei- 
Aboildungen  zur  Deutschen  Flora :  H.  Karsten's  (Berlin,  Fricdlander).- 
Anatomie  des  Hundes :  Dr.  W.  EUenberger  and  Dr.  H.  Baum  (Boifi.P. 
Pare^). — The  Telescope :  J.  W.  Williams  (Sonnenscheip). — Les  Easnis 
Chimiques  :  Tome  Premier,  Les  Prindpes  et  la  Theorie :  M.  G.  Vile 
(Paris).— An  Explanation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Ether,  of  the  C^omda- 
tion  of  Matter,  and  of  the  Cause  of  Universal  Gravitation :  J.  («.  Viae 
(Reeves).  — Peabody  I  nstitute  of  the  City  of  Baltimore,  Twenty-  Foorth  Afinoi 
Report,  June  4,  X891  (Baltimore.)— Proceedings  of  the  Boston  Sodety  af 
Natural  History,  vol.  xxv.,  Part  z  (Boston). — Notes  from  the  Levda 
Museum,  vol.  xiii..  No.  a  (Leyden,  Bnll). — Contributions  from  the  U.S. 
National  Herbarium,  vol.  i.,  No.  4  (Washington). 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

The  History  of  Chemistry.     By  Prof.  T.  E.  Thorpe, 

P.R.S 289 

Progress  in  Elementary  Biology.      By  Prof.  E.  Ray 

Lankester,  F.R.S 290 

Cerebral  Localization 292 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Guyau:  "Education  and  Heredity.**— P.  G 291 

Cams:  " The  Soul  of  Man " 293 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The   Recent    Earthquakes    in    Italy.— Prof.  J.    P. 

O'Reilly 293 

The  Great  Comet  of  1882.  {With  Diagram.)Seteno 

E.  Bishop 293 

Copepoda  as  an  Article  of  Food. — I.  C.  Thompson    294 
Meteorological      Phenomenon. — Francis      Galton,  294 

F.R.S 294 

Refraction  through  a  Prism.  (  With  Diagram.) — Rev. 

John  H.  Kirkby  .       294 

Further  Notes  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Heloderma. — 

Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt 294 

The  Discovery  of  the  Standards  of  1758  ....  295 

Maxwell's  Electro-magnetic    Theories.      By  Pro! 

A.  Gray 296 

The  Origin  of  the  Flora  of  Greenland.     By  Clement 

Reid 299 

The  Sun's  Corona.    By  Dr.  J.  M.  Schaeberle ;  J. 

Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S joo 

Notes 301 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Observations  of  Sun-spots  and  Faculae 305 

Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra 305 

The  Institution  of  Naval  Architects  .   . 305 

Seventh    International    Congress  of  Hygiene  and 

Demography 307 

The  Origin  of  Certain  Marbles.    By  Profs.  Sollas, 

F.R.S.,  and  Cole    . 308 

Is  the  Mariner's  Compass  a  Chinese  Invention  ? .   •    jo8 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 309 

Scientific  Serials 3^ 

Societies  and  Academies 310 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 311 


NA  TURE 


Z'^Z 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST  6,  1891. 


A  PHYSICIST  ON  COLOUR-VISION, 

Colout'Measurement  and  Mixture.  By  Captain  Abney. 
(London  :  The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian 
Knowledge,  1891). 

THIS  interesting  little  book  extends  over  only  200 
pages,  but  is  full  of  careful  and  important  observa- 
tions. It  is,  in  fact,  a  summary  of  the  results  arrived  at 
by  the  author  during  his  careful  and  laborious  investiga- 
tion  of  the  properties  of  the  spectrum.  It  forms  one  of  the 
"Romance  of  Science"  series  published  by  the  S.P.C.K., 
a  series  intended ''  to  show  that  science  has  for  the  masses 
as  great  an  interest  as,  and  more  edification  than,  the 
romances  of  the  day."  Now,  though  the  earlier  portion  of 
this  book  could  be  understood  by  anyone,  we  venture  to 
think  that  the  second  half  is  for  the  most  part  so  tech- 
nical that  the  full  meaning  and  value  could  only  be 
appreciated  by  those  who  are  more  or  less  conversant 
with  the  methods  of  experimenting  on  colour.  To  those 
who  are  familiar  to  even  a  slight  extent  with  the  techni- 
calities of  colour  experiments,  the  characteristic  of  the 
book  is  its  extreme  lucidity.  We  are  carried  on  from 
point  to  point,  until,  when  we  look  back  on  the  closed 
book,  we  find  we  have  travelled  over  the  greater  number 
of  the  problenns  of  colour-vision  almost  without  effort.  It 
is  a  book  which  will  not  appeal  to  the  masses,  but  should 
be  read  by  every  physiologist  ahd  physicist  interested  in 
colour-vision. 

There  is  yet  another  reason  for  the  interest  which 
attaches  to  this  work,  necessitating  a  fuller  notice  than  if 
\i  vere  simply  a  popular  disquisition  on  colour.  It  is  the 
record  of  a  careful  series  of  experiments  by  an  eminent 
physicist,  firmly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  Young- 
Helmholtz  theory  of  colour- vision.  The  voluminous  work 
of  Hering  and  his  pupils  is  not  once  mentioned  through- 
out the  whole  book,  although  Konig's  later  publications 
receive  due  notice.  In  fact,  if  space  permitted,  we  can- 
not imagine  a  book  more  calculated  to  form  the  basis  of 
a  fruitful  discussion  on  the  merits  of  the  rival  theories 
than  that  now  before  us.  For  both  the  problems  of  colour- 
vision,  and  their  solution  according  to  the  Young- Helm- 
holtz  theory,  are  definitely  and  clearly  stated. 

The  book  opens  with  a  description  of  the  methods  used 
to  obtain  a  spectrum,  and  a  consideration  of  its  properties 
with  especial  reference  to  the  ultra-red  and  ultra-violet 
rays.  The  apparatus  used  by  the  author  to  investigate 
the  three  fundamental  properties  of  colour — hue,  lumino- 
sity, and  purity — are  described  in  detail.  Absorption 
and  interference  are  then  touched  upon  in  their  relation 
to  colour,  and  experiments  are  given  to  show  that  the 
colour  of  a  body  is  due  to  its  refusal  to  transmit  or  reflect 
certain  rays  of  the  spectrum.  This  is  followed  by  an 
interesting  chapter  on  scattered  light,  with  especial 
reference  to  atmospheric  effects,  and  a  pretty  lecture- 
room  experiment  is  described  to  show  that  the  change 
in  the  colour  of  the  sun  when  on  the  horizon  is  produced 
by  small  particles  in  the  air. 

The  author  then  passes  on  to  consider  the  second 
property  of  colour — luminosity  ;  and  the  luminosity  of  the 
spectral  colours  is  measured  as  follows.     The  light  from  a 

NO.   1 136,  VOL.  44] 


certain  portion  of  the  spectrum  passes  through  a  slit 
which  cuts  off  the  remainder  of  the  spectrum.  A  portion 
of  the  same  white  beam  which  was  decomposed  by  the 
prisms  is  reflected  on  to  the  same  screen  as  the  mono- 
chromatic beam,  and  an  upright  rod  is  interposed.  This 
rod  throws  two  shadows,  whose  intensity  is  compared 
after  the  manner  of  a  photometer.  The  luminosity  of 
the  whole  reflected  beam  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
coloured  beam,  and  a  rotating  diaphragm,  with  variable 
sectors,  is  therefore  interposed  in  its  course.  By  altering 
the  size  of  the  sectors,  the  intensity  of  the  white  light  is 
diminished,  until  the  luminosity  of  the  shadow  it  casts  is 
equal  to  that  cast  by  the  monochromatic  beam.  The 
luminosity  is  then  read  off  in  terms  of  the  segment  of 
the  circular  diaphragm  which  remains  open  when  the 
luminosity  of  the  two  shadows  is  equalized.  The  lumino- 
sity of  all  the  principal  points  in  the  spectrum  is  measured 
oh  this  plan.  Subsequently  the  luminosity  of  a  combina- 
tion of  red  and  g^een  is  shown  to  be  equal  to  the  sum  of 
the  luminosities  of  the  same  red  and  green  determined 
separately.  Three  colours,  A,  B,  and  C,  are  chosen, 
which,  when  combined,  make  white  of  a  certain  intensity, 
W ;  and  the  author  shows  that  if  the  luminosity  of  the 
combined  light  A  -|-  B  be  subtracted  from  the  luminosity 
of  the  white  light,  W,  the  remainder  exactly  equals  the 
luminosity  of  the  third  factor,  C. 

A  curve  of  luminosity  can  be  constructed  in  this 
manner  for  the  whole  spectrum,  and  its  maximum  is 
found  to  lie  on  the  yellow  side  of  the  D  line.  A  similar 
luminosity  curve  is  given  for  an  observer  who  was  what 
is  ordinarily  called  red-blind.  On  this  cyirve  the  red  end 
of  the  spectrum  is  shortened,  and  the  maximum  lumino- 
sity falls  nearer  the  green  than  on  the  curve  constructed 
for  a  person  with  normal  colour-vision.  These  facts  are 
explained  as  follows.  To  the  red-blind  observer  red  is 
invisible,  and  therefore  the  luminosity  of  red  is  abolished ; 
the  luminosity  of  yellow,  which  is  composed  of  red  and 
green,  is  also  diminished,  and  thus  the  maximum  of  the 
curve  moves  towards  the  green. 

This  question  of  luminosity  is  intimately  associated 
with  the  theory  of  the  value  of  white  in  the  system  of 
colour.  The  author  discusses  later  on  in  the  book  the 
abolition  of  colour  by  white  light,  and  examines  the 
extent  to  which  white  light  can  be  added  to  a  colour 
without  being  perceived.  He  finds  that  both  depend  on 
the  luminosity  of  the  colour,  and  formulates  the  law  that 
"  the  extinction  of  every  colour  is  effected  by  white  light 
that  is  75  times  brighter  than  the  colour."  Again,  he 
finds  that  a  large  proportion  of  white  light  can  be  mixed 
with  yellow  without  being  perceived,  whilst  a  very  small 
proportion  of  white  added  to  blue  is  at  once  apparent. 

An  attempt  is  made  to  explain  these  facts  on  the 
Young- Helmholtz  theory ;  but  the  work  done  by  Hille- 
brand,^  under  Bering's  guidance,  makes  the  explanation 
offered  very  improbable.  Hillebrand  used  an  apparatus 
in  which  one  half  of  the  field  could  be  illuminated  by  a 
monochromatic  spectral  colour,  whilst  the  other  half  was 
illuminated  by  white  light.  The  observer  shielded  one 
eye  from  the  light  for  a  considerable  time,  so  that  it  was 
ultimately  brought  into  a  condition  of  complete  rest. 
Now  if  he  looked  at  a  field  filled  with  monochromatic 

'  "Ueberdie  specifische  Hclligkcit  der  Farbcn,"  6'/7«*.  d.  k,   Akad.  d, 
Wissenschaft.  in  WitHt  February  1889. 


3H 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


light  of  moderate  intensity  with  the  rested  eye,  it  appeared 
to  him  colourless ;  and  by  suitable  adjustment  he  could 
make  an  absolute  match  between  the  half  of  the  field 
illuminated  by  monochromatic  light  and  the  other  half 
illuminated  by  white  light  from  the  same  source.  Thus, 
as  the  whole  spectrum  appeared  colourless,  he  was  able 
to  construct  a  curve  of  luminosity  for  the  spectrum  by 
matching  it  with  the  white  light  in  the  other  half  of  the 
field.  The  maximum  of  this  curve  lay  in  the  green.  A 
glance  with  the  unshaded  eye  at  once  brought  the  colour 
into  view,  although  the  field  was  unaltered.  But  as  soon 
as  the  colour  came  into  view,  he  noticed  that  the  lumino- 
sity of  the  coloured  half  no  longer  matched  that  of  the 
colourless  half  of  the  field.  If  yellow  or  red  were  the 
colour  chosen,  the  luminosity  of  the  coloured  half  of  the 
field  appeared  to  exceed  that  of  the  colourless  half,  whilst 
if  green  or  blue  were  selected  the  exact  opposite  was 
observed.  Moreover,  as  soon  as  the  colours  of  the  spec- 
trum were  appreciated,  the  maximum  luminosity  shifted 
into  the  yellow,  and  the  curve  he  then  obtained  closely 
resembled  that  constructed  by  Captain  Abney  and  other 
observers-  Thus  we  must  conclude  that  every  part  of 
the  spectrum  is  capable  of  exciting  the  sensation  of  white 
apart  from  its  specific  colour,  and  that  the  maximum 
sensation  is  produced  by  a  certain  point  in  the  green.  As 
soon,  however,  as  the  colour  becomes  apparent,  this 
sensation  of  white  is  either  increased  or  decreased  by  the 
specific  luminosity  of  the  colour.  The  luminosity  of  the 
spectrum,  as  determined  'by  Captain  Abney,  is  the  alge- 
braic sum  of  two  factors.  Firstly,  the  power  which  every 
part  of  the  spectrum  possesses  of  exciting  the  sensation 
of  white ;  and  secondly,  the  specific  luminosity  of  the 
colour  sensation  itself,  which  is  a  positive  quantity  on  the 
red  and  yellow  side  and  a  negative  quantity  in  the  blue 
and  green. 

If  this  explanation  for  the  difference  in  the  two  curves 
be  correct,  a  person  who  was  completely  deficient  in 
colour-sense  would  construct  a  luminosity  curve  for  the 
spectrum  differing  considerably  in  the  position  of  its 
maximum  from  that  given  by  Captain  Abney  in  his  book. 
The  curve  obtained  by  Konig*  from  a  man  to  whom 
yellow,  blue,  green,  and  red  were  invisible,  to  whom  the 
whole  spectrum  appeared  in  varying  shades  of  white, 
shows  that  this  is  the  case.  The  maximum  luminosity 
lies  in  the  green,  over  the  line  b.  A  comparison  of  this 
curve  with  that  given  by  Hillebrand  for  the  normal  eye  at 
rest  reveals  their  almost  absolute  identity.  The  existence 
of  this  form  of  colour-blindness  can  only  be  explained 
with  extreme  difficulty  on  the  Young-Helmholtz  theory  ; 
whereas  Hering's  hypothesis,  that  white  and  black  form  a 
colour  pair  analogous  to  red  and  green,  yellow  and  blue, 
not  only  renders  the  existence  of  such  a  condition  prob- 
able, but  also  easily  explains  Hillebrand's  results. 

The  author  passes  on  to  show  that  white  can  be  pro- 
duced from  the  mixture  of  three  spectral  colours,  and 
ultimately  defines  a  primary  colour  as  one  which  cannot 
be  formed  by  the  mixture  of  any  other  colours.  The 
three  primary  colours  he   selects  are  red,  green,  and 

^  *'  Die  GrundempftnduDgen  u.  ihre  IntensiiSts-Vertheilung  im  Spec- 
trum," Sitzb.  d.  k.  preus.  Akad.  d.  IVissenicha/t.  zu  Beriin,  xxxix  ,  t886. 
Hering  has  since  shown,  by  investigating  a  similar  case  of  total  cjlour- 
blJndness,  how  closely  the  curve  ot  luminosity  agrees  with  that  given 
by  Hillebrand.  I'he  account  of  this  interesting  case  has  not  yet  been 
published. 

NO.   II 36,  VOL.  44] 


violet ;  for  yellow  is  formed  by  a  mixture  of  red  and 
green,  blue  by  a  mixture  of  g^een  and  violet.  But  he 
warns  us  from  assuming  that  the  three  primary  colour 
sensations  "  are  of  necessity  the  same  sensations  as  are 
given  by  the  three  primary  colours  "  (p.  138).  On  p.  150, 
red  (between  C  and  the  lithium  line),  violet  (close  to  G), 
are  selected  as  furnishing  two  primary  sensations,  whilst 
"all  three  fundamental  sensations"  are  excited  by  the 
green,  except  at  a  point  where  the  green  is  mixed  with 
white  only. 

Now,  to  say  that  spectral  green  excites  the  sensations 
of  red  and  violet  seems  to  us  radically  false.  For  when 
speaking  of  sensations  we  leave  the  realm  of  physics,  and 
the  sole  test  of  the  sensations  excited  by  a  portion  of  the 
spectrum  is  the  colour  which  we  perceive  when  light  from 
that  part  impinges  on  the  retina.  No  one  who  examines 
spectral  green  will  say  that  it  gives  him  the  sensation  of 
red  or  violet,  but  rather  that  the  greater  part  of  spec- 
tral green  appears  to  be  mixed  with  either  yellow  or  blue. 
Again,  a  primary  sensation  must  be  one  which  gives  ns 
the  sensation  of  one  colour  only.  Now  every  eye  sees  in 
violet  both  blue  and  red.  Thus,  whether  violet  be  a  pri- 
mary colour  from  the  physical  point  of  view,  physiologic- 
ally speaking  it  is  anything  but  a  primary  sensation. 

Though  violet  fails  to  answer  the  test  of  a  primary 
colour  sensation,  a  point  can  be  found  both  in  the  yellow 
and  the  blue  of  the  spectrum,  from  which  the  sensation 
of  one  colour  only  is  obtained.  But  throughout  the 
book  we  find  repeated  mention  of  the  formation  of  yellow 
by  the  mixture  of  spectral  red  and  spectral  g^een.  How 
can  this  be  reconciled  with  the  acceptance  of  yellow  as  a 
primary  sensation  ? 

To  most  eyes,  the  red  of  the  spectrum  yields  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  the  secondary  sensation  of  yellow.  Take 
such  a  red,  and  gradually  add  minute  quantities  of  spec- 
tral blue.  The  yellow  will  gradually  disappear,  and  a 
red  will  be  produced,  which  yields  the  sensation  of  red 
only,  untinged  with  either  yellow  or  blue.  Take  a  spec- 
tral green,  which  is  also  slightly  yellow,  and  treat  it  in  the 
same  way.  If  we  now  mix  the  absolutely  pure  red  with 
the  absolutely  pure  green,  white  is  produced,  not  yellow. 
And  now  we  can  understand  why  spectral  red  and  spectral 
green  can  be  made  to  form  yellow.  For  both  the  red  and 
the  green,  which,  when  mixed,  form  yellow,  when  separate 
give  the  secondary  sensation  of  yellow  in  addition  to  that 
of  their  principal  colour.  Thus,  when  mixed,  the  pure 
red  annihilates  the  pure  green,  and  yellow  only  remains. 
Measured  by  this  standard,  the  primary  colour  sensations 
fall  into  two  groups,  in  which  each  colour  is  complement- 
ary to  the  other.  Firstly,  red  and  green,  from  which  all 
secondary  sensations  of  yellow  and  blue  are  absent ;  and 
secondly,  yellow  and  blue,  which  do  not  give  the  second- 
ary sensations  of  either  red  or  green. 

Colour-blindness  is  brought  in  to  support  the  Young- 
Helmholtz  theory,  but  the  author  has  obviously  not  had 
the  opportunity  of  investigating  many  cases  of  this  affec- 
tion. He  speaks  of  green-blindness,  in  which  the  sensa- 
tions of  red  and  violet  are  present,  but  not  that  of  green ; 
and  of  red-blindness,  in  which  the  sensations  of  green  and 
violet  are  present,  but  not  that  of  red ;  and  gives  measure- 
ments to  show  that  in  the  latter  class  of  cases  the  spectrum 
is  shortened. 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


315 


Now,  Hering^  has  particularly,  investigated  this  portion 
of  the  subject,  and  explains  the  existence  of  two  forms  of 
colour-blindness  as  follows.     He  finds  that  persons  with 
a  normal  colour-vision  can  be  divided  into  two  groups. 
The  one  class  perceive  yellow,  the  other  blue,  with  ex- 
ceptional ease,  probably  owing  to  a  difference  in  the  pig- 
mentation of  the  media    of   the    eye.      The    difference 
between  the  two  groups  is  best  seen  with  spectral  green  ; 
for  a  green  can  be  found  which  appears  at  the  same  time 
yellow-green  to  the  one,  blue-green  to  the  other.    To  an 
observer  with  strong  yellow  vision,  almost  the  whole  of 
spectral  red  appears  to  be  tinged  with  yellow,  whilst  a 
member  of  the  second  group,  whose  strong  sense  of  blue 
prevents  his  seeing  the  yellow,  pronounces  the  greater 
part  to  be  pure  red.     Thus,  the  pure  red  and  the  pure 
blue  are  radically  different  colours  for  the  two  groups. 
Now,  it  is  found  that  the  pure  red  and  the  pure  green 
formed  for  an  observer  with  a  strong  sense   of  yellow 
appear  grey  to  one  who  is  what  is  called  green-blind  ; 
whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pure  red  or  the  pure  green 
of  the  observer  with  a  strong  blue  sense  appears  colourless 
to  one  who  is  red-blind.     A  red  which  is  invisible  to  one 
who  is  "red-blind"  is  evidently  coloured  to  a  patient 
who  is  green  blind,  and  he  speaks  of  the  colour  he  sees 
as  red.    But  if  a  minute  proportion  of  blue  is  added,  the 
red  gradually  becomes  purer  until  it  becomes  free  from 
yellow  to  those  of  us  who  have  a  strong  yellow  sense. 
As  the  red  becomes  purer,  our  green-blind  patient  com- 
plains that  the  "  red  "  is  fading,  and  when  finally  the  red 
is  quite  pure  he  matches  the  colour  he  sees  with  a  grey, 
and  says  that  the  colour  has  gone.     Thus,  there  is  no 
fundamental  difference  between  the  red-  and  the  green- 
blind.    Neither  group  can  perceive  red  or  green.     The 
only  difference  between  them    is    one    which  we  find 
amongst    normal-sighted    persons — namely,  a  different 
visual  acuity  for  yellow    and  blue.     The  "  red "  of  the 
green-blind  is  in  reality  the  secondary  sensation  of  yellow 
yielded  by  almost  all  the  reds  in  nature,  differing  from 
the  ordinary  yellow  in  its  limited  power  of  exciting  white. 
This  peculiar  yellow  he  has  learnt  to  associate  with  what 
others  around  him  call  red,  and  he  only  betrays  his  afflic- 
tion when  all  yellow  is  eliminated  from  the  colour  he  calls 
red.     Thus,  a  consideration  of  colour-blindness  again 
leads  us  to  throw  red    and    green,    blue    and  yellow, 
together  into  two  groups  as  primary  colour  sensations. 

Simultaneous  contrast  is  touched  on  very  superficially, 
and  successive  contrast  is  scarcely  mentioned,  yet  the 
author  again  grasps  at  the  three-colour  theory  to  explain 
the  few  phenomena  he  mentions.  Yet  it  is  notorious 
that  the  Young- Helmholtz  theory  fails  to  afford  any 
^equate  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  contrast.  It 
was  by  an  ingenious  contrast  experiment  that  Hering 
produced  such  a  striking  confirmation  of  his  views  before 
the  Physiological  Congress  at  Basle,  and  placed  the 
three-colour  theory  in  a  dilemma  from  which  its  ablest 
exponents  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  extracting  it. 

In  conclusion,  the  book  before  us  is  an  admirable 
summary  of  a  valuable  series  of  experiments.  We  can 
scarcely  imagine  that  it  will  appeal  to  the  public  in 

/  "Zur  Erklftmng  d.  FarbenbUndheit "  (Prag,  1880);  "Ueber  Indi- 
viduelle  Venchiedenheiten  des  Farbensinnes "  (Prai^,  XB85) ;  "  Eine 
Vomchtun;  z.  diagnose  d.  FarbenbliDdheit,"  "  Ueber  d.  Erkl&rung  d. 
periphSrea  Farbenblindheit/'  "  Einseitige  StOruogea  d.  Farbeosinnes/' 
Arckivf.  Ophthaltnologie,  xxxvL 

NO.   1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


general.  But  it  should  be  read  by  those  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  phenomenon  of  colour-vision,  and  the  fact 
that  the  author  frankly  accepts  the  three-colour  theory 
and  ignores  the  work  of  Hering  does  not,  in  our  opinion, 
detract  from  its  value.  For  the  book  thus  becomes  an 
admirable  statement  of  the  strongest  portion  of  the  physi- 
cal theory  of  colour  by  one  of  the  ablest  of  English 
physicists.  H.  H. 


POSITIVE  SCIENCE  AND  THE  SPHINX, 

Riddles  of  the  Sphinx,  A  Study  in  the  Philosophy  of 
Evolution.  By  a  Troglodyte.  (London:  Swan 
Sonnenschein,  1891.) 

THESE  be  old  old  riddles  that  the  Sphinx  propounds 
and  the  Troglodyte  attempts  to  guess,  in  the  volume 
before  us  ;  none  other,  indeed,  than  the  What,  Whence, 
and  Whither  of  man  and  of  the  world.  There  have  been 
other  guesses  in  the  past,  there  will  be  other  guesses 
while  time  lasts ;  each  guesser  thinks  his  own  guess 
nearer  the  true  answer  than  any  other ;  his  neighbours 
mostly  smile,  unless  his  guess  chances  to  be  something 
like  their  own  ;  and  the  Sphinx  looks  on  with  stony  stare, 
imperturbable,  giving  no  hints. 

So  soon  as  man,  as  man,  looked  out  upon  the  world, 
and  began  dimly  to  realize  the  first  personal  pronoun,  the 
nascent  reason,  or,  if  the  phrase  be  preferred,  intellectual 
faculty,  demanded,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
development  of  consciousness,  an  explanation.  Man, 
then  as  now  the  chief  centre  of  interest  to  man,  must 
thenceforward  not  only  live  and  act,  but  must  seek  to 
explain  his  life,  and  his  activity.  Yesterday  the  tribe- 
chief  went  forth  a  living  man,  feared  by  all :  to-day  his 
body  is  brought  back,  helpless,  lifeless,  and  a  hog  spurns 
it  with  his  snout.  How  account  for  this  ?  How  explain 
this  change?  Something  there  was  about  the  man 
yesterday  which  made  him  totally  different  from  the 
mere  mass  of  clay  that  to-day  already  needs  hustling  out 
of  sight.  That  something,  call  it  soul,  spirit,  energy,  life, 
what  you  will,  has  departed.     Whither  has  it  gone  ? 

This  question,  eminently  natural,  almost  inevitable, 
opened  the  way  for  reason's  first  blunder  to  enter  and  to 
become  a  fruitful  mother  of  children.  Reason,  in  the 
exercise  of  the  new-born  analytic  faculty,  distinguished 
between  the  mere  body  and  the  informing  something 
through  which  it  was  a  living  body ;  between  the  material 
substance  and  the  spirit-energy  which  was  associated 
with  that  substance  during  life.  But  reason  also  jumped 
to  the  conclusion  that  what  were  distinguishable  in 
thought  were  also  capable  of  separate  existence  in  fact. 
The  matter  remains  in  the  corpse,  but  the  something, 
the  spirit-energy,  has  escaped,  to  lead  a  distinct  and  in- 
dependent existence.  In  justification  of  this  conclusion 
the  phenomena  of  dreams  were  no  doubt  adduced  as 
evidence.  While  the  chiefs  body  was  lying  stark  and 
stiff,  his  true  self,  his  spirit-energy,  appeared  by  night  to 
more  than  one  of  his  chosen  followers.  Thus  the  dream 
seemed  to  support  the  false  conclusion  of  the  nascent 
reason,  which  had  not  yet  learnt  to  distinguish  without 
dividing. 

It  has  cost  positive  science  much  labour,  and  not  a 
few  hard  blows,  to  establish,  by  detailed  work  in  physical 
science,  biology,  neurology,   and  psychology,  the   ille- 


3i6 


NA  TURE 


\  [August  6,  1891 


gitimacy  of  this  conclusion.  Now  we  distinguish  further, 
but  no  longer  divide.  We  distinguish  between  the  mate- 
rial substance  of  the  body  and  the  energy  of  molecular 
motion  during  life  ;  and,  further,  between  the  molecular 
motion  of  the  grey  matter  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres 
and  the  concomitant  manifestation  of  consciousness. 
But  although  consciousness  is  distinguishable  from  mole- 
cular energy  (and  the  distinction  is  absolute),  it  is  not,  so 
far  as  positive  science  can  say,  divisible  therefrom.  No 
physicist  holds  that  the  special  modes  of  energy — we 
mean  the  particular  groupings  and  interactions  of  energy 
— which  characterize  the  functioning  of  a  man's  brain, 
escape  from  the  molecules  at  death,  and  henceforward 
persist  divorced  from  matter.  We  cannot,  however,  add 
that  no  psychologist  holds  an  analogous  doctrine  con- 
cerning consciousness.  But  we  contend  that  no  psycho- 
logist is  justified  on  positive  grounds  in  holding  such  a 
view.  That  something  called  soul  or  spirit  escapes  from  a 
man's  body  at  death,  and  henceforward  persists,  divorced 
alike  from  matter  and  energy,  is  a  view  to  which  positive 
science  as  such  gives  no  support.  It  is  held  by  those 
who  hold  it  on  quite  other  grounds.  The  conclusion  to 
which  positive  science  points  (and  we  include  among 
positive  sciences  psychology,  which  deals  with  conscious- 
ness as  existent)  is  that  consciousness,  though  distin- 
guishable from  energy,  is  known  only  in  association  with 
certain  forms  of  energy  in  organic  tissues. 

But  this  is  a  conclusion  which  is  ignored  by  the  Trog- 
lodyte. He  professes  to  give  us  a  "  philosophy  of  evolu- 
tion "  which  he  himself  describes  as  "  the  first  perhaps 
which  accepts  without  reserve  the  data  of  modern 
science."  His  theory  of  a  Transcendental  Ego  ;  his  sug- 
gestion that ''  matter  is  an  admirably  calculated  machinery 
for  regulating,  limiting,  and  restraining  the  conscious- 
ness which  it  encases  "  ;  his  conception  of  a  graduated 
immortality,  from  that  of  an  amoeba  up  to  that  of  man  ; 
his  attempted  rehabilitation  of  the  view  that  force-atoms 
are  monads  "  endowed  with  something  like  intelligence, 
and  thus  enabled  to  keep  their  positions  with  respect  to 
one  another";  all  this,  and  much  besides,  seems  to  us 
completely  off  the  lines  of  modern  scientific  advance. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  such  conceptions,  though  un- 
necessary for  positive  science,  may  be  necessary  for  a 
philosophy  which  endeavours  to  go  beyond  and  get 
behind  science.  In  reply  to  this  we  can  only  say  that 
we  regard  such  conceptions  as  not  only  unnecessary  to 
positive  science,  but  unwarrantable  intrusions  into  her 
domain.  They  form  part  of  a  diflferent  scheme  of 
thought.  The  muddling  together  of  positive  and  meta- 
physical conceptions  is  provocative  of  nothing  but 
confusion  and  bad  temper. 

The  introductory  chapters  of  his  first  book,  in  which 
the  author  attempts  to  hound  on  positive  science  from 
agnosticism,  through  universal  scepticism,  to  a  gloomy 
pessimism,  seem  to  us  laboured  and  inconclusive,  though 
there  are  incidental  positions  here  and  elsewhere  with  which 
we  are  in  complete  accord.  With  dogmatic  Agnosticism 
and  the  Cult  of  the  Unknowable  (capital  letters  indis- 
pensable) we  have  but  little  sympathy.  But  this  is  no 
necessary  part  of  the  attitude  of  positive  science,  which 
seems  to  us  briefly  as  follows.  In  the  first  place  its  fol- 
lowers take  their  start  from  the  measurable  and  verifiable 
base-line   of   perceptual  experience,  from  the   ordinary 

NO.   1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


facts  of  daily  observation  ;  and  they  utterly  refuse,  at  this 
stage  of  the  inquiry,  to  listen  to  the  metaphysicians  who 
hoot  from  their  cloud-land,  "  But  you  haven't  yet  proved 
the  existence  of  matter,  or  explained  how  it  is  possible  to 
perceive  or  know  anything  at  all."  Starting,  then,  from 
the  base-line  of  perceptual  experience,  they  analyze 
phenomena,  digging  down  by  wise  abstraction  and  the 
ignoring  of  unessentials,  to  deeper  and  deeper  concepts, 
until  they  arrive  at  those  universal  abstracts  which  can- 
not be  got  rid  of  in  thought  without  reaching  nonentity. 
Happy  they  who  in  this  procedure  escape  the  analyst's 
fallacy — the  supposition  that  the  results  of  abstraction 
have  a  fuller  reality  than  the  phenomena  with  which  they 
started.  The  analyst  needs  often  to  be  reminded  that 
the  perceptual  rose,  with  its  delicate  scent,  its  rich  colour, 
its  soft  petals,  is  certainly  not  less  real  than  the  vibrating 
molecules  which  remain  to  his  thought  when,  as  physicist, 
he  has  stripped  it  of  all  its  own  peculiar  charms. 

Thus  positive  science  in  its  deepest  analysis  brings  us 
down  to  matter,  and  energy,  and  consciousness.  If  a 
number  of  metaphysical  questions  are  intruded  at  all 
sorts  of  stages  during  this  process,  the  result  will  be  such 
confusion  as  the  Troglodyte  unconsciously  exemplifies  in 
his  chapter  on  scepticism,  a  chapter  in  which  some 
stress  is  laid  on,  and  some  capital  made  out  of,  the  false 
psychological  conclusion  that  conceptions  cannot  be  de- 
rived from  experience.  Should  the  author  ever  come  to 
grasp  that  the  law  of  psychogenesis  is  one  and  indivi- 
sible, and  sweeps  through  perceptual  and  conceptual  pro- 
cesses alike,  he  will  have  to  rewrite  much  of  the  "  Riddles 
of  the  Sphinx."  But,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  "the  minds 
of  most  men  are  fortresses  impenetrable  to  the  most 
obvious  fact,  unless  it  can  open  up  a  correspondence  with 
some  of  the  prejudices  within.'* 

When  positive  science  has  dug  down  to  basal  concep- 
tions, then,  and  not  till  then,  in  logical  order  (but,  of 
course,  far  earlier  in  historical  order)  arises  the  question, 
"  But  how  does  it  all  come  about  ?  What  is  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  it  ? "  We  quite  agree  with  the  Troglo- 
dyte that  this  question  must  arise  in  the  mind  of  every 
man  in  so  far  as  he  is  a  thinking  man.  The  question, 
"  How  does  it  all  come  about  .^"  however,  presents  two 
faces.  It  may  mean,  "  How  can  we  explain  the  fact  of 
knowing?^*  And  the  solution  of  this  problem  is,  we 
agree  with  Mr.  Shadworth  Hodgson  in  maintaining,  the 
true  business  of  philosophy.  But  even  supposing  that 
philosophy  explains  in  some  sense  the  process  of  know- 
ing, there  still  remains  the  question  in  its  further  aspect, 
"But  how  does  it  all  come  about.'*"  To  this  question, 
positive  science  as  such  answers,  or  should  answer, 
humbly,  and  with  no  parade  of  capital  letters,  "  I  do 
not  know." 

And  is  that  the  end  of  the  matter  t  So  far  as  positiw 
science  at  present  goes.  Yes.  But  man,  the  questioner, 
still  remains  ;  and  Reason,  true  to  her  first  impulse,  still 
demands  an  explanation.  Of  the  explanation  afforded 
by  revelation  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  But,  quite 
apart  from  the  fact  of  revelation,  the  explanation  said  to 
be  revealed  still  stands  as  a  product  of  the  human  mind. 
And  he  is  a  bold  man,  if  not  a  foolish,  who,  having  re- 
gard to  the  past  history  of  human  thought  on  the  ques- 
tion, lightly  sets  aside  the  conception  of  a  Causa  causarun 
to  whom  we  may  attribute  symbolically  all  the  higher 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


I'i-l 


attributes  of  man  ;  not  because  personality,  wisdom,  love 
{the  symbols  we  employ),  can  truly  describe  or  define  that 
which  passes  man's  comprehension,  but  because  being 
man  we  can  no  other.  Man  alone  in  the  organic  world 
is  capable  of  ideals,  and  for  generations  the  name  of  God 
has  stood  for  man's  central  ideal  of  power  and  perfection. 
And  it  seems  to  us  that  the  sum  and  substance  of  positive 
criticism  as  applied  to  man's  conceptions  of  that  which 
admittedly  lies  beyond  the  reach  of  positive  science 
comes  to  this:  "You  must  frankly  acknowledge  and 
confess  that  such  conceptions  are  symbolic  and  ideal." 
But  if  symbolic  and  ideal  we  must  expect  the  symbolism 
to  be  variable  in  different  ages,  among  different  peoples, 
and  even  in  diflferent  individuals.  Hence  (apart  from  reve- 
lation) the  only  indefensible  attitude  is  that  of  inelastic 
dogmatism,  positive  or  negative. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  the  **  Riddles  of  the 
Sphinx"  are  in  this  work  treated  with  considerable, 
though  frequently  misguided,  power.  The  conception  of 
evolution  as  a  tendency  towards  an  ideal  of  perfect 
individuals  in  a  perfect  society  is  good,  and  is  in  parts 
well  worked  out.  That  many  will  be  found  to  acquiesce 
in  the  author's  solutions  of  the  old  problems  of  life  we 
think  exceedingly  doubtful.  Nor  do  we  think  that  the 
solutions  will  prove  of  lasting  value.  It  is  futile  to 
attempt  to  preserve  the  new  wine  of  positive  science  in 
the  old  bottles  of  prescientific  metaphysics.  The  new 
wine  must  be  preserved  in  new  bottles.  In  other  words, 
a  new  metaphysics  must  be  and  is  being  elaborated,  in 
special  relation  to  the  newer  aspects  of  scientific  thought. 

C.  Ll.  M. 


ANALYTICAL  METHODS  OF  AGRICULTURAL 

CHEMISTS. 

Proceedings  of  the  Association  of  Official  Agricultural 
Chemists^  1890.  (Washington  :  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.) 

THIS  is  a  Report  of  the  Seventh  Annual  Convention 
of  the  Association,  under  the  Presidentship  of  Mr. 
M.  A.  Scovell,  and  with  Mr.  H.  W.  Wiley  as  Secretary. 
The  objects  of  the  Association  are  to  secure  uniformity 
and  accuracy  of  methods,  results,  and  modes  of  statements 
of  analyses  of  manures,  soils,  cattle  foods,  dairy  products, 
and  other  materials  connected  with  agricultural  industry; 
and  to  afford  opportunity  for  the  discussion  of  matters  of 
interest  to  agricultural  chemists.  In  the  words  of  a  past 
President,  it  aims  at  laying  "  a  foundation  so  solid,  that 
every  Court  in  this  land  must  respect  its  conclusions, 
and  every  analytical  chemist,  whether  he  lives  in  this 
country  or  elsewhere,  must  be  forced  either  to  practice  or 
admit  the  advantages  and  correctness  of  our  system  of 
analyses."  A  study  of  the  programme  and  of  the  pro- 
ceedings shows  that  the  objects  have  been  most  carefully 
and  conscientiously  kept  in  view,  and  that  all  the  working 
members  have  been  most  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Association. 

The  reports  submitted  for  the  consideration  of  the  meet- 
ings, all  drawn  up  by  experts,  and  incorporating  the  work 
of  many  members,  were  as  follows  :  on  the  determination 
of  nitrogen  ;  on  analysis  of  dairy  products  ;  on  analysis 
of  potash ;  on  analysis  of  cattle  Jfoods  ;  on  analysis  of 

NO.    I  136,  VOL.  44] 


sugar ;  on  analysis  of  phosphoric  acid  ;  on  analysis  of 
fermented  liquors  ;  and  a  report  of  a  Committee  on  foods 
and  feeding-stuffs. 

As  an  example  :  for  the  report  on  the  determination  of 
nitrogen  in  manures,  three  samples,  containing  nitrogen 
in  different  states  of  combination,  were  prepared,  and 
sent  to  the  members  for  analysis  by  various  official 
methods.  Twenty-two  reported  the  results  obtained  by 
Kjeldahl's  method  on  one  sample,  the  same  number  the 
results  of  Kjeldahl's  method  modified  for  nitrates  on  two 
samples,  and  a  less  number  gave  results  by  the  Ruffle 
method,  the  soda-lime  method,  and  Dumas's  method  on 
one  or  more  of  the  samples.  The  whole  of  the  results 
are  collated,  with  the  remarks  of  the  analysts  thereon, 
so  that  data  are  obtained  for  testing  the  accuracy  of  the 
methods  under  various  conditions,  and  eliminating  per- 
sonal factors.  Various  suggestions  for  the  improvement 
or  simplification  of  the  processes  are  made  and  discussed, 
and  some  of  them  recommended  for  systematic  trial 
during  next  year.  Similar  good  work  is  done  for  the 
other  Committees. 

The  remarks  of  the  Committee  on  ways  and  means 
for  securing  more  thorough  chemical  study  of  foods  and 
feeding-stuffs,  are  particularly  worthy  of  attention,  point- 
ing out,  as  they  do,  the  deficiencies  in  present  methods 
of  analysis,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  more  exact 
methods  and  more  accurate  study  of  the  proximate  prin- 
ciples contained  in  foods,  and  of  their  physiological 
value.  As  a  contribution  towards  this  knowledge,  Mr. 
W.  E.  Stone  sends  a  paper  on  the  occurrences  and  esti- 
mation of  the  pentaglucoses  in  feeding-stuffs,  in  which 
he  shows  that  bodies  yielding  furfurol,  and  therefore 
presumably  pentaglucoses,  are  present  in  grass,  straw, 
linseed  meal,  and  a  great  many  other  feeding-stuffs. 
Among  the  points  which  are  noticed,  and  which  should 
be  known  to  all  analysts,  is  the  fact  that  cotton-seed  meal, 
often  used  in  mixed  manures  in  the  Southern  States,  is 
completely  soluble  in  nitric  acid  with  a  little  hydrochloric 
acid,  but  that  the  solution  does  not  yield  all  its  phosphoric 
acid  to  ammonium  molybdate. 

Should  such  a  Bill  as  that  introduced  by  Mr.  Channing, 
for  the  better  prevention  of  the  adulteration  of  manures 
and  feeding-stuffs  in  this  country,  ever  become  law— and 
the  Government  has  promised  to  take  up  the  matter— the 
formation  of  such  an  Association  of  Official  Agricultural 
and  Analytical  Chemists  in  this  country  would  be  almost 
a  necessity,  and  it  seems  that  the  Institute  of  Chemistry 
is  the  proper  body  to  arrange  the  organization  of  such  an 
Association. 


GEOLOGICAL  RAMBLES  ROUND  ABOUT 

LONDON, 

Hand-book  of  the  London  Geological  Field  Class.  By 
Prof.  H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.  (London:  G.  Philip  and 
Son,  1 89 1.) 

THIS  little  book  is  a  record  of  excursions  similar  in 
some  respects  to  those  collected  in  the  volume  of 
Geological  Excursions  which  was  noticed  in  these  columns 
on  June  18  (p.  149).  But  there  are  points  of  difference. 
This  hand-book  deals  with  a  more  limited  area,  being 
practically  restricted  to  the  south-east  of  England ;  it  has 
a  purpose  more  definitely  educational.    The  latter  may 


3i8 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


be  described  in   a  few  sentences   extracted   from   the 
preface ;  — 

"  This  Society  exists  to  teach  the  elements  of  Physical 
Geography  and  Geology  direct  from  Nature  without  pre- 
liminary study  from  books.  .  .  .  The  field  work  has  been 
led  up  to  by  short  courses  of  winter  lectures  given  in 
London y  designed  to  connect  together  the  observations 
to  be  made  in  the  succeeding  summer,  and  to  connect 
the  geology  of  the  district  to  be  examined  with  that  of 
other  areas." 

The  excursions  are  described  in  the  notes  written  by 
students  in  the  field ;  the  lectures  are  reported  (from 
shorthand  notes)  by  Mr.  White,  one  of  the  class.  As 
regards  the  former,  Prof.  Seeley  states  that  "  students 
have  been  free  to  report  what  they  saw  and  what  they 
heard,  and  they  have  severally  written  in  their  own  ways 
both  as  to  length  and  language  used."  The  lectures  also 
"  were  not  constructed  with  a  view  to  being  reported,  nor  were 
the  reports  written  out  with  a  view  to  being  printed."  Prof.  I 
Seeley  has,  however, "  read  the  proof  to  remove  serious  in- 
accuracies." The  lectures  need  no  apology,  for  they  are  ' 
excellent  examples  of  that  clear  and  suggestive  method 
of  teaching  of  which  Prof.  Seeley  is  a  master.  The 
reports  of  the  excursions  also  acquire  a  certain  freshness 
as  recording  the  impressions  of  novices,  and  may  on  that 
account  be  even  more  helpful  to  beginners  than  if  they 
had  been  written  by  more  experienced  observers.  One 
or  two  inaccuracies,  however,  appear  to  have  escaped  the 
Professor's  watchful  eye.  Is  not  the  statement  on  p. 
18,  relating  to  the  presence  of  PalucUna  and  Unio  in  such 
Wealden  Limestones  as  the  Petworth  Marble,  a  little  mis- 
leading ?  for  it  implies  that  the  latter  genus  is  common  in 
these  deposits,  which,  we  believe,  is  not  the  case.  A 
sentence  on  p.  29  suggests  that  "  enormous  pressure " 
is  requisite  to  convert  a  sandstone  into  a  quartzite. 
Very  probably  this  would  be  the  result,  but  there 
are  not  a  few  quartzites  which  show  no  signs  of  having 
been  specially  subjected  to  pressure.  Also,  it  is  hardly 
correct  to  call  Lydian  stone  an  altered  sandstone. 
Again,  more  than  once  it  is  intimated  that  gneiss  and 
crystalline  schists  occur  in  Belgium.  This,  if  the  terms 
be  used  in  their  ordinary  sense,  is  incorrect ;  and  even 
the  porphyroids  and  amphibolites,  and  the  abnormal 
rocks  of  the  Bastogne  district,  the  vague  descriptions  of 
which  may  have  given  rise  to  this  misconception,  are 
of  extremely  limited  extent.  But  these  are  very  trifling 
blemishes,  which  can  be  readily  removed  in  a  second 
edition.  The  book  will  be  of  great  use  to  all  students, 
living  in  or  about  London,  in  helping  them  to  use  their 
eyes ;  and  most  of  all  because,  to  quote  Prof.  Seele/s 
words,  "  I  there  and  there  touches  upon  problems  which 
are  not  usually  presented  to  beginners."  But,  as  he 
rightly  urges,  these  problems — namely,  the  application 
of  stratigraphy  to  the  elucidation  of  the  physical  geo- 
logy of  past  epochs — "  should  never  be  absent  from  the 
mind  of  anyone  who  considers  geological  facts  in  the 
field."  T.  G.  B. 

OUR  BOOK  SHELF, 

KcUalog   der  Bibliothek  der    Deutschen    Seewarte    zu 
Hamburg,     (Hamburg,  1890.) 

Various  notices  have  from  time  to  time  appeared  in 
Nature  relating  to  the  German  Naval  Observatory  at 

NO.   1 136,  VOL.  44] 


Hamburg,  describing  the  building,  its  equipment  of 
instruments,  and  the  important  work  which  is  carried  on 
there  chiefly  in  the  interests  of  the  German  Imperial  and 
mercantile  navies. 

As  this  institution  is  possessed  of  a  library  containing 
some  10,660  works,  it  has  for  some  time  past  been  a 
matter  of  urgent  necessity  that  an  accurate  and  well- 
considered  form  of  Catalogue  should  be  printed  and 
published.  The  required  book  was  completed  last  year, 
and  is  now  available. 

This  Catalogue  shows  that  the  library  contains  a  laige 
proportion  of  works  either  directly  of  a  naval  character, 
or  bearing  upon  naval  matters,  whilst  several  other 
branches  of  science  are  fairly  represented. 

As  might  be  expected,  meteorology  holds  the  first  place 
of  importance,  and  amongst  the  2769  works  on  this  subject 
are  a  large  proportion  of  Dove's  writings.  Indeed,  it 
seems  worthy  of  note  that  Dove*s  library,  which  occupied 
him  many  years  in  collecting,  may  now  be  found  at  the 
German  Naval  Observatory.  Turning  to  the  division  of 
the  Catalogue  on  physics,  16 17  works  will  be  found  ;  on 
magnetism  and  electricity,  974  ;  whilst  other  subjects,  such 
as  navigation,  hydrography,  and  construction  of  ships 
are  well  cared  for. 

Although  the  books  and  papers  mentioned  in  this  Cata- 
logue are  generally  printed  in  the  language  adopted  by 
their  authors,  a  translation  into  German  of  scveri 
works  of  interest  is  also  placed  side  by  side  with  the 
original. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  remarked  that  although  there 
is  nothing  specially  new  in  the  arrangement  of  this  book, 
it  is  well  worthy  of  the  time  and  energy  which  have 
evidently  been  spent  in  bringing  the  work  to  its  present 
state. 

Scientific  Results  of  the  Second  Yarkand  Mission;  based 
upon  the  Collections  and  Notes  of  the  late  Ferdinand 
Stoliczka,  iP//.Z?.— Coleoptera.  By  H.  W.  Bates,  F.RS., 
J.  B.  Baly,  D.  Sharp,  F.R.S.,  O.  Janson,  and  K  Bates. 
Pp.  1-79  and  2  Plates.  (Calcutta  :  Published  by  order 
of  the  Government  of  India,  1890.) 

This,  the  twelfth  part  issued,  all  but  one  of  which  deal 
with  zoology,  contains  an  enumeration  of  207  species  of 
Coleoptera.  These  species  belong  to  the  following 
families  : — Cicindelidae  (4),  Carabidae  (60),  Longicomia 
(5),  Phytophaga  (25),  Haliplidae  (i),  Dytiscidae  (8), 
Gyrinidae  (i),  Hydrophilidae  (3),  Staphylinidae  (9),  Scara- 
baeidae  (38),  Cetoniidae  (3),  and  Heteromera  (50). 
Diagnoses  or  descriptions  of  all  the  new  genera 
and  species  were  published  more  than  ten  years 
ago,  and  the  only  additional  information  contained 
in  this  part  is  a  list  of  species,  in  addition  to,  in  some 
cases,  fuller  descriptions  of  the  novelties.  In  the  portions 
contributed  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Bates  and  Dr.  Baly,  both  of 
whom,  however,  give  some  particulars  regarding  geo- 
graphical distribution,  the  references  to  the  published 
diagnoses  are  given  ;  but  in  Dr.  Sharp's  and  Mr.  F. 
Bates's  contributions,  many  of  the  genera  and  species  are 
mentioned  as  new,  though  diagnoses  of  the  whole  of  them 
were  published  in  1878  or  1879 — the  former  in  the  Joumal 
of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  xlvii.  Part  2  (1878),  the 
latter  in  Cistula  Eniomologica,  ii.  (February  1879).  The 
two  plates  include  44  figures — Carabidae  (17),  Longicomia 
(5),  and  Heteromera  (22).  On  the  cover,  and  also  on 
p.  37,  the  name  **  Hydrophilidae"  is  misprinted  "  Hydro- 
ptilidae."  The  Hydroptilidae  do  not  belong  to  the  order 
Coleoptera  at  all,  but  to  the  Neuroptera  !  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  a  delay,  the  cause  of  which  is  not  ex- 
plained, of  more  than  ten  years,  has  occurred  in  the 
publication  of  the  "  Part "  dealing  with  the  Coleoptera,  as 
works  of  this  kind  upon  the  beetle  fauna  of  little-known 
districts  are  always  of  the  highest  value,  more  particu- 
larly in  the  matter  of  geographical  distribution.  No  sys- 
tematic work  upon  the  Coleopterous  fauna  of  India  has 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


19 


yet  been  published,  and  even  a  fragment  like  the  present, 
containing  a  list  of  the  species  of  a  neighbouring  region, 
is  a  welcome  addition  to  our  knowledge.  Four  other 
** Parts"  have  been  issued  on  the  Insecta — the  "  Neuro- 
ptera"  and  "  Hymen optera "  (both  in  1878),  and  the 
**  Lepidoptera "  and  "Rhynchota"  (both  in  1879);  the 
last  Part  of  the  whole  series  being   the   "Araneidea" 

(1885). 

Popular  Astronomy,  By  Sir  George  B.  Airy,  K.C.B. 
Seventh  Edition.  Revised  by  H.  H.  Turner,  M.  A.,  B.Sc. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

Although  our  astronomical  knowledge  has  been  enor- 
mously extended  since  the  lectures  forming  the  basis  of 
this  well-known  book  were  delivered  (1848),  Mr.  Turner 
has  not  found  it  necessary  to  make  any  very  considerable 
revision,  for  the  reason  that  the  advances  have  been 
chiefly  on  the  chemical  and  physical  sides.  Still,  in  the 
lapse  of  time,  methods  of  observation  have  been  im- 
proved, and  accounts  of  these  find  a  place  in  Mr.  Turner's 
notes.  Among  these  are  short  descriptions  of  the  chrono- 
graph and  the  new  "  electrical  controls  "  for  the  driving- 
clocks  of  equatorials.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy 
points  brought  out  in  the  new  edition,  however,  is  the 
modern  estimate  of  the  value  of  observations  of  the 
transit  of  Venus  as  a  means  of  determining  the  solar 
parallax.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that  this  would  be 
one  of  the  best  methods,  but  the  difficulties  encountered 
in  1874  and  1882  prevented  observations  of  the  necessary 
degree  of  accuracy ;  and  now  most  astronomers  are  of 
opinion  that  this  method  can  never  give  more  than  an 
approximation  to  the  truth.  Numerous  minor  additions 
have  also  been  judiciously  made. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

\The  Editor  does  not  hotd  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  qf^  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
No  notice  is  tahen  of  anonymous  communications.^ 

Force  and  Determinism. 

"The relation  between  force,  which  is  a  mechanical  thing, 
and  will  or  life,  or  whatever  it  is,  which  is  a  psychological 
thing  "—a  relation  which,  as  Dr.  Lodge  rightly  says,  **  demands 
investigation  " — presents  itself  to  some  of  us  as  follows. 

When  a  stimulus  received  by  an  organism  gives  rise  to  a 
response,  however  particular  to  the  individual  respondent,  there 
are  (x)  a  number  of  complex  but  determinate  molecular  changes 
in  the  organic  tissues ;  and  (2),  accompanying  some  of  these 
changes,  certain  psychological  states.  Are  these  psychological 
stales  produced  by  the  molecular  changes?  or  are  the  molecular 
changes  produced  or  in  any  way  guided  by  the  psycholc^ical 
states  ?  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  The  molecular  changes 
and  the  psychological  states  are  different  aspects  of  the  same 
occurrences.  In  other  words,  they  are  distinguishable  (and  the 
distinction  is  absolute),  but  not  divisible. 

"The  «nergy  displayed  by  a  gang  of  navvies  is  not  theirs, 
hut  their  victuals' ;  they  simply  direct  it."  In  physiological 
language  it  is  the  outcome  of  the  proper  functioning  of  their 
cerebral  control -centre*.  Now  we  believe  that,  although  we 
can  at  present  by  no  means  adequately  explain  them,  all  the 
molecular  occurrences  within  the  organism,  forming,  as  we 
lielieve  they  do,  an  otderly  and  determinate  sequence  between 
stimulus  and  response,  whether  they  involve  force  or  energy, 
are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  explicable  in  physical  and  physio- 
logical terms.  The  fact  that  certain  phases  of  the  sequence  have 
also  a  subjective  or  psychological  aspect  does  not,  it  is  held, 
justify  OS  in  changing  our  point  of  view,  and  ignoring  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  psychology  and  the  physiology  of  the  process. 

Now  to  say  that  mind,  or  will,  or  consciousness  directs  the 
organic  energy  along  a  definite  path  we  regard  as  incorrect, 
because  it  ignores  a  distinction  which  we  hold  to  be  valid  and 
valuable,  and  conducive  to  clear  thinking  on  these  difficult 
subjects.     But  we  have  no  such  objection  to  the  statement  that 

NO.    II 36,  VOL.  44] 


the  energy  is  guided  by  molecular  forces  which  have  for  their 
subjective  aspect  certain  states  of  consciousness.  To  unscien- 
tific folk  this  may  sound  mere  quibbling  ;  but  to  physicists,  who 
have  done  so  much  to  teach  us  the  vital  importance  of  accurate 
language  for  clear  thinking,  we  look  for  support  in  drawing  this 
distinction,  unless  the  distinction  can  be  shown  to  be  either 
invalid  or  useless. 

This  distinction  between  force,  energy,  and  the  physical  series 
(what  I  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  as  kinesis)  on  the  one  hand, 
and  thought,  consciousness,  and  the  psychical  series  (what  I 
have  elsewhere  spoken  of  as  metakinesis)  on  the  other  hand,  we 
hold  to  be  absolute  ;  while  at  the  same  time  we  hold  that  con- 
sciousness is  indivisible  from  particular  (neural)  modes  of  kinesis. 
And  this  distinction  we  hold  to  be  especially  valuable  when 
questions  of  the  origin  and  development  of  consciousness  are 
under  consideration.  This  may,  perhaps,  best  be  expressed  by  a 
diagram. 


NCUROSIB 


PSYCHOSIS. 


SIMPLE  FORMS  OF  KINESIS 


SIMPLE  FORMS  OF  ME1M(INE6I8 


Now,  looked  at  from  above,  this  wriggle  is  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  development,  from  simple  forms  of  molecular  transac- 
tions, of  that  complex  form  of  Icinesis  which  we  call  neurosis. 
From  this  point  o(  view,  all  is  force  and  energy  or  kinesis,  and 
can  become  nothin<i^  else.  Looked  at  from  below,  we  have  the 
development  of  consciousness.  From  what  ?  We  must  not  say 
from  lower  forms  of  energy  or  kinesis,  because  that  involves 
jumping  across  the  line,  or,  in  other  words,  ignoring  the  dis- 
tinction. From  what,  then?  From  those  lower  forms  of 
•  *  something- which-is-not-yet  -  consciousness-  but- which  -  may-de- 
velop-into-consciousness,"  for  which  I  have  ventured  to  coin  the 
term  metakinesis. 

I  have  elsewhere  endeavoured  to  show  that  this  view  is  not 
open  to  the  objection  that,  since  the  kinetic  sequence  is  a  con- 
tinuous and  determinate  one,  consciousness  is  merely  a  by- 
product, and  that  an  unconscious  Darwin  might  have  written 
and  influenced  the  conduct  of  unconscious  Englishmen.  For 
consciousness,  though  it  is  distinguishable  from,  is,  according  to 
the  hypothesis,  no  less  inseparable  from,  certain  complex  modes 
of  the  kinetic  process.  As  the  world  is  constituted,  such 
supposed  kineses,  separated  from  their  metakinetic  aspect,  would 
not  be  the  same  kineses  but  something  altogether  different.  In 
other  words,  it  is  with  certain  molecular  transactions  which  have 
also  a  conscious  aspect  that,  in  the  world  of  living  beings  of 
which  we  have  practical  knowledge,  we  have  to  deal. 

It  is  essential  that  physicists  and  psychologists  should  work 
hand  in  hand.  Both  are  endeavouring  to  explain  the  phenomena 
on  positive  lines.  And  if  there  is  anything  in  the  views  that  I 
have  briefly  sketched  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  which  runs 
counter  to  the  conclusions  of  physics,  it  must  go  by  the  board, 
and  give  place  to  a  more  widely-consistent  conclusion,  to  which 
physics,  speaking  with  the  voice  of  authority  in  its  own  special 
province,  can  give  a  cordial  assent.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan. 


I  AM  afraid  that,  as  Prof.  Lodge  has  accepted  my  "middle 
paragraph  "  so  easily,  he  has  failed  to  appreciate  its  point.  For, 
if  that  paragraph  is  correct,  the  Professor's  assertion,  "  Force 
is  certainly  necessary  to  direct  the  motion  of  matter,"  is  only  a 
truism,  similar  to  the  important  geometrical  theorem,  **  In  any 
right-angled  triangle,  one  angle  is  equal  to  90**."  On  the  other 
hand.  Dr.  CroU's  assertion,  to  the  effect  that  guidance  is  effected 
by  **  determinism,"  and  not  by  force,  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  For,  by  definition,  that  which  changes  motion  is  force. 
If,  therefore,  Prof  Lodge's  assertion  has  any  real  meaning,  he 
must  have  some  independent  definition  of  "  force,"  and  I  should 
very  much  like  to  know  what  that  is. 

Again,  Prof.  Lodge  in  no  way  answers  '*  the  crux  in  my  last 
paragraph."  Prof.  Lloyd  Morgan  implies  in  his  last  letter  that, 
in  the  case  of  the  sun  altering  the  direction  of  motion  of  the 
earth,  no  energy  is  expend^.  This  is,  of  course,  only  ap- 
proximately true  ;  and  even  in  the  case  of  his  twirling  his  stick 
round  his  finger  and  thumb,  as  the  stick  is  elastic,  its  forces  of 
cohesion  in  reality  do  some  small  amount  of  work.  It  is  indeed 
true  that,  if  two  particles  were  once  connected  by  an  absolutely 
inextensible  string,  the  cohesion  of  the  string  would  do  no 
work.     But  what  I  pointed  out  was  that,  in  order  to  bring  such 


320 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


a  string  into  action,  it  would  be  necessary  to  wait  till  two  par- 
ticles were  moving  on  paths  with  a  common  normal — ^an  occur- 
rence which  must  be  mfinitely  rare.  When  Prof.  Lodge  says 
"an  infinite  mass  can  absorb  any  amount  of  momentum,  with- 
out receiving  a  trace  of  energy,  &c,"  he  forgets  that  the  term 
"  infinite"  is  only  relative,  *'  an  infinite  mass  "  being  one  whose 
change  of  velocity  (or  kinetic  energy)  consequent  on  a  given 
change  of  momentum  is  uc^\g\b\Q for  the  furposf  in  hand.  It 
would  not,  I  imagine,  suit  Prof.  Lodge's  purpose  to  suppose 
psychic  forces  might  do  a  liUU  work,  so  long  as  it  was  only  a 
very  littU  ? 

May  I  remind  him  of  the  old  paradox,  "  What  would  happen 
if  an  irresistible  force  were  brought  to  bear  against  an  immov- 
able post  ?"  Edward  T.  Dixon. 

12  Barkston  Mansions,  South  Kensington,  July  24. 


The  discussion  on  this  topic  has  gained  in  clearness  by  Prof. 
Lodge's  conceding  that  **  the  same  question — What  determines 
the  direction  of  the  transfer  of  energy  ? — may  doubtless  be  asked 
in  connection  with  inanimate  activity ;  .  .  .  but  in  neither  case 
do  I  know  the  answer." 

Perhaps  some  more  precision  may  be  attained  by  expressing 
the  question  in  other  words. 

The  principle  of  conservation  of  energy  reigns  over  the 
quantitative  relations  of  all  processes  in  nature,  but  it  does  not 
give  any  explanation  of  the  qualitative  changes  of  those  processes. 
These  changes  and  their  conditions  must  in  every  case  be 
found  out  by  special  experience.  But,  nevertheless,  they  are, 
in  every  accessible  case,  found  to  be  subjected  to  fixed  laws. 
A  given  substance  undergoes  evaporation  or  chemical  transform- 
ation— dependent  on  or  necessarily  bound  up  with  changes  of 
heat  into  energy  of  molecular  motion,  or  into  chemical  eneigy, 
or  vice  versd — at  a  distinct  degree  of  temperature,  or  under 
distinct  conditions  of  electrical  action.  Inexplicable  as  these 
transformations  of  quality  or  form  of  energy  remain  for  us, 
there  is  nothing  undetermined  in  them,  neither  have  we  any 
right  to  such  a  supposition  for  the  qualitative  changes  going  on 
in  plants  and  animals — their  quantitative  relations  being  like- 
wise governed  by  the  principle  of  conservation  of  energy. 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  the  question.  Some  unknown 
material  changes  in  the  brain  are  connected  with  phenomena  of 
consciousness.  Nothing  can  be  more  fallacious  than  to  consider 
consciousness  as  a  form  of  energy,  and  to  suppose  it  in  a  relation 
of  equivalence  to  such  forms.  How  it  is,  that  what  to  our 
physical  conception,  or  outer  sense,  are  processes  in  the  brain 
(which,  as  such,  may  be  more  clearly  understood  in  future),  are, 
at  the  same  time,  to  our  psychical  conception,  or  inner  sense, 
phenomena  of  consciousness,  or  acts  of  will,  is  a  question 
beyond  the  domain  of  physical  science,  and  capable  of  elucidation 
only  by  transcendental  philosophy.  Whoever  wishes  for  more 
light  here,  must  study  the  "Kritik  der  reinen  Vernunft,"  espe- 
cially the  chapters  *'Von  den  Paralogismen "  and  "Die 
Antinomien." 

Schopenhauer,  and  others  after  him,  have  considered  our 
power  of  will,  or  our  conscious  directing  of  motion,  as  the  key 
lor  all  qualitative  processes  in  nature,  these  being  considered 
as,  in  their  essence,  acts  of  will.  But  this  is  cutting  the  knot  by 
means  of  a  metaphysical  assumption.  D.  Wetterhan. 

Freiburg,  Badenia,  July  27. 


come  from  some  other  source.  We  know  of  no  other  soarce 
but  mind.  To  talk  of  mind  affecting  matter  denies  the  essence 
of  mind  by  which  it  is  distinct  from  matter,  and  makes  it  a 
mechanical  ab  exird.  But  try  to  banish  it  and  it  will  come  in 
somewhere.     "  Tamen  usque  recurret." 

Dr.  Croll's  position  seems  to  me  to  affect  the  first  law  of 
motion.  Uniform  motion  in  a  straight  line  is  in  no  way  con- 
nected essentially  with  force,  if  his  view  is  correct. 

Dr.  Lodge's  principle  appears  to  affect  the  second  law  of 
motion,  and  also  the  doctrine  of  impact  and  transference  of 
force. 

Further,  it  affects  gravity.  Gravity  is  always  at  right  angles 
to  the  first  law  of  motion,  and  therefore  gravity  is  not  a  force ; 
for  that  can  not  be  a  force  which  never  exercises  force. 

T.  Travers  Sherlock. 

Congregational  Church,  Smethwick,  July  25. 


In  reading  over  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Lodge  and  Prof.  Morgan 
upon  Dr.  Croll's  views  as  to  the  direction  of  force,  it  appears  to 
me  that  both  have  missed  the  point.  Dr.  CroH  did  not  mean 
that  a  force  at  right  angles  to  another  does  no  work,  but  simply 
alters  the  direction.  His  view  is  that  the  change  of  direction  is 
not  caused  by  a  force.  Dr.  Lodge  says  it  is,  although  he  ac- 
knowledges that  the  second  force  does  no  work.  Further,  Dr. 
Croll  says,  with  regard  to  the  first  force,  that  its  direction  is 
quite  apart  from  the  force.  The  force  cannot  direct  itself. 
This  is  the  crucial  point  before  we  get  to  a  second  force  or  to  a 
right  angle.  I  fully  acknowledge  the  importance  of  Dr. 
Lodge's  principle,  but  it  is  not  simply  the  indorsement  of 
Dr.  Croll  s  idea. 

Prof.  Morgan  thinks  Dr.  Croll's  view  no  argument  in  favour 
of  theism.  It  does  not  prove  that  mind  can  or  does  affect 
matter.  Perhaps  it  does  not  directly  prove  this,  but,  within  its 
range,  it  seems  to  me  an  effective  reply  to  mechanical  atheism. 
We  sec  direction,  and  if  this  does  not  come  from  force  it  must 

NO.    1 1  36,  VOL.  44] 


Technical  Education  for  Farmers,  Farriers,  and 

Engine- Drivers. 

Knowing  that  you  take  very  great  interest  in  the  various 
questions  relating  to  technical  education,  I  may  give  you  a  few 
particulars  of  an  experiment  which  the  Devon  County  .Agri- 
cultural Society  recently  made  at  its  Exmouth  meeting.  Being 
desirous  of  giving  farmer^:,  farriers,  and  those  generally  interested 
in  the  welfare  of  horses,  some  information  on  the  scientific  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  a  proper  performance  of  the  duties  of  the 
farrier,  and  the  correct  form  and  mode  of  attachment  of  horses' 
shoes  ;  and  also  of  giving  farmers  .ind  engine-drivers  some 
practical  and  scientific  instructions  on  the  working  and  care  of 
steam-engines,  the  Society  approached  the  County  Council  with 
a  view  to  a  grant  in  aid  of  their  object.  The  proposal  was  ytq 
warmly  taken  up  by  Mr.  Lethbridge  and  other  gentlemen  who 
are  well  known  for  their  active  interest  in  education  and  other 
matters  important  to  the  welfare  of  the  county,  and  a  grant  was 
obtained. 

The  Society  secured  the  services  of  Prof.  F.  Smith,  head  of 
the  Army  Veterinary  School,  Aldershot,  and  of  Mr.  W.  Worby 
Beaumont,  and  by  these  gentlemen  lectures  were  given  on  each 
of  the  three  days  of  the  Society's  meeting  at  Exmouth.  The 
weather  was  very  unfavourable  on  two  days,  but  notwithstanding 
this  the  attendance  at  the  lectures  was  large,  and  on  the  second 
and  third  days  was  larger  than  was  expected,  and  was  fully  up 
to  the  accommodation  provided .  The  audiences  were  remarkablj 
attentive  and  appreciative,  and  in  every  respect  the  experiment 
proved  successful.  Many  who  were  sceptical  before  the  lecinres 
of  their  value  to  working  men,  became  convinced  that  not  odIj 
is  it  possible  to  give  working  men  information  which  is  useful  in 
an  important  degree  in  their  daily  work,  but  that  the  men  are 
themselves  quick  to  appreciate  its  value.  I  may  mention  that 
on  one  of  the  days  nearly  two  hundred  shoeing-smiths  and  a 
large  number  of  farmers  attended  the  horse-shoeing  lectures, 
and  on  one  day  seventy-eight  engine-drivers  entered  for  the 
lecture  on  the  steam-engine,  and  there  were  also  in  attendance  a 
large  number  of  working  and  gentlemen  farmers. 

Toines,  July  29.  John  L.  Winter. 


THE  ERUPTION  OF  VESUVIUS  OF  JUNE  7, 

1 891. 

THE  suggestion  that  I  published  in  several  newspapers 
has  been  fully  confirmed — namely,  that  the  second 
alternative  type  of  eruptive  character  would  be  pursued 
by  the  volcano.  Now  for  a  period  of  over  a  month  lava 
has  continued  to  dribble  forth,  activity  has  returned  to 
the  central  vent,  and  no  great  changes  have  occurred. 

The  throat  of  the  volcano  commenced  to  be  cleared  on 
June  9,  the  vapour  forcing  its  way  up  from  the  crater 
bottom  through  the  choke  of  loose  materials,  and  rose 
above  as  a  column  carrying  with  it  much  dust ;  at  the 
same  time  the  powerful  vapour  blast  issuing  from  the 
upper  extremity  of  the  lateral  rift,  of  which  mention  is 
made  in  my  first  letter,  soon  stopped.  Each  day  I  was 
kept  informed  of  the  state  of  the  volcano  by  the  kindness 
of  Messrs.  Ferber  and  Treiber,  the  director  and  engineer 
respectively  of  the  Vesuvian  Railway. 

On  June   15  I  considered  it  right  to  again  visit  the 


August  6,  1891] 


321 


1,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  accompanied 
by  Messrs.  H.  Elliot,  A.  Green,  Linden,  Newstead,  and 
Tieiber,  several  of  whom  are  excellent  photographers, 
so  diat  with  two  of  my  own  cameras  we  were  able  to 
make  an  extensive  pictorial  record  of  some  very  unique 
fbrmaCions. 

Ai  the  point  of  issue  of  the  lava,  at  the  junction  of 
the  foot  of  the  great  Vesuvian  cone  and  the  Atrio  del 
CavaUo,  the  first  iava  had  cooled  sufficiently  to  walk  over 
it,  but  beneath  our  feet  could  still  be  seen  in  a  few  holes 
the  HowinK  lava.  At  the  foot  of  the  great  cone,  and 
extending  foT  half  way  across  the  Atrio  along  the  radius 
of  the  eruptive  rent,  as  if  this  had  continued  so  far,  were 
a  series  of  driblet  cane  fumaroles.  We  counted  seven 
complete  and  well-formed  examples,  besides  numerous 
abortive  ones.  Most  were  giving  out  intensely  heated 
vapour,  which  was  liberated  from  the  lava  flowing 
beneath,  and  which  soon  carbonized  a  piece  of  wood 
placed  in  it  Around  the  lips  of  the  upper  opening, 
hxmatite  with  fused  chlorides    of   potash,  soda,  iron, 


of  scoria  from  the  vapour  that  otherwise  would  escape 
after  its  exit.  Leucite  I  have  also  demonstrated  to  be 
formed  while  the  magma  is  simmering  under  low  pressure 
with  free  escape  for  vapour  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
volcanic  chimney.' 

At  the  summit  of  the  great  cone  the  crumbling  in  of  the 
edges  was  constantly  going  on,  but  the  upper  extremity 
of  the  lateral  rift  at  the  foot  of  the  cone  of  eruption  and 
at  the  summit  of  the  great  Vesuvian  cone  had  nearly 
ceased  to  give  forth  vapour.  Along  the  line  of  rent  on 
the  mountain  side  no  fumaroks  or  other  signs  of  activity 
were  visible  except  quite  at  the  foot,  where  those  com- 
mence of  which   I  have  spoken. 

Up  till  June  26  there  was  a  struggle  to  clear  the  upper 
part  of  the  volcanic  chimney  of  the  impeding  materials, 
which  were  constantly  being  added  to  by  the  slips  from 
the  crater's  edge  ;  but  on  that  evening  a  dull  red  glow  was 
visible  in  the  crater  bottom,  showing  that  a  fairly  clear 
passage  had  been  temporarily  made  for  the  continuous 
escape  of  vapour,  and  also  that  the  lava  was  at  no  very 


copper,  &c.,  were  being  condensed  from  the  vapour, 
and  trickling  down  the  outer  surface  of  the  fumarole, 
consolidated  as  curious  vari-coloured  stalactites  of  very 
deliquescent  nature. 

The  lava  had  first  flowed  towards  the  escarpment  of 
Monte  Somma  in  a  fan-like  manner,  so  that  the  eastern 
ertremity  reached  that  great  natural  section  just  beneath 
the  Punta  del  Nasone.  Still  following  the  natural  in- 
clination of  the  ground,  it  turned  to  the  west,  and  on 
Jime  IS  was  opposite  dyke  16  (as  marked  on  my  large 
geological  map  just  published,  and  on  the  dykes  them- 
selves), advancing  at  a  very  slow  rate. 

The  lava  is  a  vilreous  and  coarse-grained  rock,  especially 
in  regard  to  the  included  leucite  crystals,  whilst  the  sur- 
face is,  with  one  exceptional  tongue,  of  the  corded  or 

pahoehoe"  type.  This  is  due  to  the  magma  being  one 
tlut  has  been  simmering  since  January  in  the  chimney  of 
the  volcano,  so  that  most  of  its  dissolved  HjO  has  been 
boded  off,  and  so  allowing  it  to  cool  without  the  formation 
NO.   1 1  36,  VOL.  44] 


great  depth  from  the  summit  of  the  volcano.  This 
of  course  indicates  that  the  lateral  opening  was  in- 
suflicient  to  drain  off  much  of  the  lava  which  occupies 
the  chimney  above  the  level  of  the  lateral  outlet.  Mad 
such  evacuation  really  taken  place,  the  eruption  would 
have  assumed  enormous  proportions,  from  the  actual 
amount  of  lava  above  the  tap,  but  more  from  frothing  up 
of  that  below  that  level  in  consequence  of  the  relief  of 
pressure  that  in  that  case  would  occur.  Cf  course,  during 
all  these  days  the  ejection  of  dust  with  the  smoke 
occurred,  giving  the  latter  that  peculiar  dark  grey  colour. 
Further  destruction  of  the  crater  edge  took  place,  so  as  to 
partly  block  the  outlet,  and  it  was  not  till  our  next  visit 
that  it  again  cleared. 

On  June  30  I  again  visited  the  crater,  in  company  of  my 
friend  Mr.  A.  Green.      Alt  the  summit  of  the  great  cone 

'  Ste  H.  J.  J.  L., 

and"Rc]iiioiiihmol 
Lhvir  Fomution,    Sc 


'  GcdI.  M.  Somma 


a.  Somma  andVeHiTiiiK,"  Q.I.G.S..  •ol.  x[.  : 
..  .  iclure  of  IgiKDUi  RocktlolbaCaDdilionior 
1.  Prontd.  R.  tlublio  S«.,  vol.  v.,  N.S. 


322 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


was  covered  by  a  thick  coating  of  dust  and  saad,  upon 
the  surface  of  which  were  the  usual  white  and  yellowish- 
green  chloride  crusts  seen  on  such  occasions,  so  rich  in 
copper  as  to  plate  with  that  metal  the  iron  nails  of  our  boots. 
The  crater  had  considerably  enlarged,  the  edges  were  in 
an  extremely  unstable  state,  with  often  considerable 
strips  marked  off  by  cracks  parallel  to  the  free  edge,  so 
that,  with  a  slight  push  by  a  stick,  it  was  possible  to 
detach  large  masses  of  the  materials  which  form  the  sides 
of  the  crater  in  the  recent  cone  of  eruption.  So  danger- 
ous were  the  edges,  that  it  was  but  in  two  places  that  my 
experience  indicated  as  being  safe  to  approach  and  look 
over,  and  that  even  with  several  precautions  ;  so  that  the 
fatal  accident  to  Sefior  Silva  Jardim,  who  lost  his  life 
here  but  a  few  hours  after  our  departure,  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at. 

On  looking  down  some  45  to  50  m.  beneath  us,  we 
could  see  the  glow  from  a  mouth  some  2  or  3  m.  in 
diameter.  The  walls  of  the  crater  were  concave,  so  that 
although  overhanging  at  the  top,  yet  a  plumb-line  let  fall 
from  the  edge  would  strike  the  bottom  of  the  cliff.  The 
crater  bottom  was  roughly  plain,  due  to  the  combination 
of  a  talus  all  round,  and  an  attempt  at  a  cone  encircling 
the  main  vent.  It  will  be  thus  seen  that  the  crater  cavity 
was  of  the  form  of  a  convex-sided  cylinder,  or  more  simply 
barrel-shaped,  with  its  upper  diameter  some  50  to  55  m. 

With  much  difficulty  we  made  our  way  around  to  the 
north  side  of  the  cone  of  eruption,  which  had  now  lost  its 
usual  loose  scoria  surface,  which  was  buried  beneath  a  thick 
coat  of  sand  and  dust,  covered  with  a  thin  saline  crust  on 
its  surface.  The  upper  limit  of  the  radial  rift,  which  we 
were  prevented  from  examining  three  weeks  previously, 
on  account  of  its  giving  out  so  much  vapour  as  to  consti- 
tute the  temporary  escape  aperture  of  the  volcano,  had 
now  become  quiescent,  so  that  we  could  fully  examine  it. 
Only  a  current  of  hot  air  was  now  issuing  from  it,  but  I 
was  able  to  collect  some  fine  masses  of  crystallized 
molysite  and  kremersite  from  its  edges.  Its  average 
breadth  was  about  o'5o  m.,  where  it  traversed  old  com- 
pact lava,  but  of  course  it  disappeared  as  soon  as  it 
reached  the  looser  materials.  The  real  azimuth  of  its 
orientation,  which  we  could  now  determine  with  greater 
accuracy  than  when  we  were  walking  over  hot  rock  and 
enveloped  in  hot  irritating  vapours,  proves  to  be,  as  it 
radiates  away  from  the  axis  of  Vesuvius,  about  15°  west 
of  north.  It  curves  then  a  little  to  the  north,  and  near 
the  foot  of  the  great  cone  it  again  assumes  nearly  the 
same  azimuth  as  at  starting,  an  arrangement  which  is 
quite  evident  when  the  Vesuvian  cone  is  regarded  from 
the  Punta  del  Nasone.  From  that,  the  highest  point  of 
Somma,  the  lower  extremity  of  the  rift  lies  a  little  to  the 
right  or  west,  and  faces  that  part  of  the  Somma  ridge 
which  corresponds  to  the  upper  extremity  of  the  Vallone 
Cancherone. 

In  the  forenoon  of  June  30  much  dust  had  fallen  at  the 
lower  railway  station,  of  which  we  collected  some  bags- 
ful.  It  is  the  usual  fine  sandy  material  of  these  erup- 
tions, and  consists  of  the  pulverized  materials  of  the  cone 
of  eruption. 

Having  passed  the  night  at  the  lower  railway  station, 
the  next  day  we  crossed  the  Atrio,  ascended  to  the  western 
extremity  of  the  ridge  of  Somma,  and  followed  it  along 
so  as  to  get  a  general  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole  scene 
of  the  eruption,  and  take  photographs  of  the  more  im- 
portant points.  As  one  stands  on  the  Punta  del  Nasone 
and  embraces  that  magnificent  view  of  Vesuvius  and 
the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  one  sees  at  their  feet  the  new 
lava-stream  in  the  form  of  the  letter  ^,  the  hori- 
zontal portion  of  which  is  still  being  prolonged  down 
the  Atrio  towards  the  Fossa  della  Vetrana.  In  the 
middle  of  the  ridge  we  found  a  thin  coating  of 
fine  red  dust  which  had  reached  thus  far  from  the 
crater.  Much  of  the  Atrio  was  also  covered  by  the  same 
material.     Scaling  the  cliff  face  just  beyond  the  Cognulo 

NO.   1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


di  Ottajano  to  the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  we  again  visited  the 
lower  point  of  the  outburst.  Most  of  the  beautiful  foma- 
roles  were  in  a  state  of  ruin,  and  lined  by  good-sized 
crystals  of  haematite  and  mixed  chloride  crusts.  Here 
the  lava  was  quite  solid,  though  at  one  point  was  a  hole, 
some  50  ro.  from  the  base  of  the  great  cone,  where  we 
could  see  the  molten  rock  flowing  lazily  along  about 
a  metre  beneath  our  feet.  The  lava  at  the  end  of  the 
flow  was  making  considerable  progress  to  the  westwards, 
and  stood  opposite  dyke  13. 

Since  then,  few  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  moun- 
tain :  the  crater  still  gets  larger,  dust  is  thrown  out,  and 
the  lava  descends.  These  phenomena  are  capable  of 
continuing  for  months  if  the  drainage  opening  does  oot 
enlarge. 

As  the  eruption  progresses,  I  will  send  you  further 
details.  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis. 


THE  PRODUCTION  OF  MUSICAL  NOTES 
FROM  NON-MUSICAL  SANDS. 

THAT  I  have  succeeded  in  producing  musical  notes 
from  sand  that  was  never  before  musical,  and  am  also 
able  toproduce  similar  results  from  certain  mute  or"killed'' 
musical  sands  which  have  been  temporarily  deprived  of 
their  musical  properties,  has  already  been  announced  in 
the  Chemical  News  (vol.  Ixiv.  No.  1650). 

It  is  not  necessary  now  to  give  the  details  of  the 
numerous  experiments  which  led  up  to  this  discovery; 
it  will  be,  perhaps,  sufficient  for  present  purposes,  to 
state  that  in  November  1888  I  published  a  paperMn 
which  I  propounded  a  theor}'  to  account  for  the  cause  of 
musical  sounds  issuing  from  certain  sands.  After  giving 
various  reasons  for  my  conclusions,  I  said  : — "  Itoccurrto 
to  me,  then,  that  the  music  from  sand  was  simply  the 
result  of  the  rubbing  together  of  the  surfaces  of  millions 
of  perfectly  clean  grains  of  quartz,  free  from  angularities, 
roughness,  or  adherent  matter,  in  the  form  of  clinging 
fragments  investing  the  grains,  and  that  these  microlithic 
emissions  of  sound,  though  individually  inaudible,  might 
in  combination  produce  a  note  sufficiently  powerful  to  be 
sensible  to  us." 

Having  described  numerous  experiments,  and  drawn 
attention  to  the  hopeful  results  obtained  from  the  "millet- 
seed  "sand,  my  paper  concluded  with  the  following:- 
"  From  what  1  have  now  told  you,  I  think  we  may  con- 
clude that  music  may  be  produced  from  sand  if  (i)  the 
grains  are  rounded,  polished,  and  free  from  fine  frag- 
ments;  (2)  if  they  have  a  sufficient  amount  of*  play 'to 
enable  them  to  slide  one  against  the  other ;  (3)  if  the 
grains  are  perfectly  clean  ;  and  (4)  if  they  possess  a 
certain  degree  of  uniformity  in  size,  and  are  within  a 
certain  range  of  size." 

On  June  20  last  I  visited  Studland  Bay  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  some  new  experiments.  I  found  that  the 
musical  patch  emitted  tones  louder  and  more  pronounced 
than  I  had  ever  heard  them  there  before.  The  bc5i 
results  were  obtained  by  drawing  a  thick  deal  rod,  on  to 
the  end  of  which  I  had  fixed  a  resonator,  over  the  surface 
of  the  sand  ;  sounds  produced  in  this  way  were  beard 
unmistakably  for  a  considerable  distance.  The  patd» 
averaged  7^  yards  in  width,  and  ran  parallel  with  the 
trend  of  the  shore  for  some  hundreds  of  yards.  The 
sand  on  the  sea  side  of  the  patch  was  fine,  and  emitted 
notes  of  a  high  pitch  ;  that  on  the  land  side  was  coarse, 
and  emitted  notes  of  a  lower  pitch.  The  rod  dra« 
across  the  patch  gave,  therefore,  a  great  variety  of 
pitch.  Many  other  interesting  facts  cannot  now  be 
referred  to,  but  it  is  important  to  state  that  some  of 
this  sand,  when  taken  off  the  patch,  and  struck  in  1 
box,  gave  out  notes  as  it  did  in  situ.  On  trying  ibis 
sand  subsequently  at  home,  the  coarse  emitted  distinct 

'  Read  before  the  Bouraemoath  Society  of  Natural  Scieace. 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


323 


notes  of  a  low  pitch,  but  the  fine  was  mute.  This 
was,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  first  time  that  the  Studland 
sand  bad  been  musical  off  the  patch. 

According  to  my  theory,  if  the  number  of  grains  with 
polished  surfaces  could  be  increased  in  this  fine  sand, 
the  number  of  vibrations  would  increase  also,  and  so 
intensify  the  note,  and  cause  it  to  become  audible  ;  this 
could  only  be  done,  however,  by  introducing  a  certain 
percentage  of  grains  fulfilling  the  required  conditions. 
To  obtain  such  grains  and  to  introduce  them  gradually 
until  the  necessary  number  should  have  been  added, 
would  have  been  a  tedious  process ;  and  it  occurred  to 
me  then  that  the  same  result  might  be  obtained  if  the 
sand  were  struck  in  a  vessel  with  a  hard  and  polished 
interior.  I  placed,  therefore,  this  fine  sand  in  a  teacup, 
and  on  striking  it,  found  that  it  emitted  a  high,  shrill 
note  (A  in  alttssttno\  which  was  far  more  intense  than 
that  given  when  it  formed  a  part  of  the  patch. 

When  polished  grains  of  sand  are  in  contact  with  the 
sides  and  bottom  of  a  glazed  porcelain  vessel,  it  is  obvious 
that  there  are  numerous  points  of  contact  between  two 
polished  surfaces — the  sand  grains  and  the  vessel — and 
that  on  striking  the  surface  of  the  sand,  the  friction 
necessary  to  produce  the  vibrations  of  a  musical  note  is 
induced  between  these  points. 

This  I  proved  by  placing  the  same  sand  in  various 
vessels  with  rough  interiors,  and  by  lining  these  glazed 
or  polished  vessels  with  silk,  &c.,  but  in  no  case  would 
this  sand  emit  notes  unless  the  grains  were  in  direct 
contact  with  the  glazed  or  polished  surfaces.  This  pecu- 
liarity is  not  in  any  way  dependent  upon  the  sonorous 
properties  of  the  vessel  used,  for  it  may  be  "  deadened  " 
with  impunity,  and  the  note  will  remain  unaltered. 

The  results  of  numerous  experiments  show  that  musical 
sand  of  the  Eigg  type — ue,  sand  possessing  in  great  per- 
fection the  physical  conditions  necessary  for  the  produc- 
tion of  music — will  be  musical  in  receptacles  of  whatever 
composition  or  form,  though  in  some  of  these  it  emits 
notes  "  under  protest "  only.* 

Those  sands  which  are  of  the  Studland  Bay  type — i.e, 
having  the  necessary  physical  conditions  less  perfectly 
developed,  and  are  usually  mute  except  in  situ — will  emit 
music  only  in  vessels  possessing  hard  and  glazed  interiors, 
and,  as  a  rule,  of  a  certain  form  ;  while  some  of  the  more 
"snlky  "  types  of  sand  not  only  need  a  vessel  of  hard  and 
glazed  interior,  and  definite  form,  but  also  require  a  box, 
or  small  pedestal  of  wood  (which  I  call  a  "coaxer"),  on 
which  this  vessel  must  stand  before  the  notes  emitted 
become  audible.  A  ** sulky"  sand  was  rendered  far 
more  musical  by  being  sifted,  washed,  and  boiled,  giving 
ont,  after  this  treatment,  notes  without  the  aid  of  the 
"coaxer."' 

After  discovering  what  could  be  done  with  such  simple 
apparatus,  it  occurred  to  me  to  try,  under  similar  condi- 
tions, some  of  my  abandoned  sands — those  unmusical 
sands  that  had  been,  during  a  period  of  four  or  five  years, 
treated  unsuccessfully  for  music. 

One  sand  (an  iron-sand  composed  of  more  or  less 
polished  grains,  quartz,  and  much  dust  formed  of  denser 
minerals)  gave  a  very  hopeful  "  swish  "  (explained  in  my 
paper  of  1888)  in  a  certain  porcelain  vessel,  and  from 
this— by  (i)  sifting  in  sieves,  to  eliminate  the  fine  material, 
and  to  insure  uniformity  in  size  of  grain  ;  (2)  rolling  down 
an  inclined  plane  of  frosted  glass,  to  separate  the  rounded 
grains  from  the  angular  quartz  ;  and  (3)  boiling  in  dilute 
hydrochloric  acid,  to  cleanse  the  surfaces — I  succeeded  in 
JM'oducing  a  sand  that,  in  certain  glazed  vessels,  emits 
musical  notes  as  clear  as  those  emitted  from  any  of  my 

*  When  musical  »ands  M>und  **  under  protest "  they  give  out  high,  shrill 
notes.  The  smallest  quantity  of  musical  sand  from  which  I  can  obtain  a 
tnte  note  is  a  thimbleful  of  the  Eigg  sand.  Small  quantitiet  emit  notes  of  a 
usii  pitch. 

Many  musical  sands  are  quickly  **  killed  "  by  constant  striking,  bscause 
Jie  harder  minerals  present  abrade  the  softer  as  ihey  rub  together,  and  this 
lOnns  a  fine  dust. 

NO.   1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


musical  sands  but  that  of  Eigg.  This  sand  gives  F  in 
altissimo^  but  it  very  soon  becomes  ** killed"  because  of 
the  fine  dust  and  loss  of  polish  that  is  the  inevitable 
result  of  the  attrition  of  the  grains.  There  remains  but 
one  thing  to  be  done,  and  that  is  to  produce  a  sand  which, 
like  that  of  Eigg,  will  be  musical  in  almost  any  receptacle, 
and  I  have  reason  now  to  think  that  this  will  not  be  very 
difHcult. 

It  has  not  been  possible  here  to  record  more  than  the 
merest  outline  of  what  has  been  done,  or  to  give  instances 
of  the  interesting  capriciousness  of  these  sands  ;  it  should 
be  understood,  however,  that  no  ordinary  beach  or  cliff 
sand  has  the  slightest  inclination  to  "  sing"  under  any  of 
the  *' coaxing"  methods  at  present  known  to  me. 

Cecil  Carus- Wilson. 


NOTES, 

Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach,  \\ho  previously  gave  a  negative 
answer  to  the  request  made  by  the  Executive  Commiitee  of  the 
British  Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  having  reconsidered  his 
decision,  has  now  granted  the  required  license  to  register  the 
Institution  as  a  Limited  Liability  Company,  with  the  oatission  of 
the  word  "Limited."  The  license,  however,  is  not  to  be  con- 
strued as  expressing  approval  by  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  of  experiments  on  animals,  or  in  any  way  affecting  the 
exercise  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  his  discretionary  p3wers 
to  grant  a  vivisection  license  to  the  proposed  Institute.  The 
articles  of  association  have  been  signed,  and  the  Institute  is 
now  duly  registered.  The  following  gentlemen  have  already 
expressed  their  willingness  to  serve  on  the  Council  :  Sir  Joseph 
Lister,  Chairman,  Sir  Charles  A.  Cameron,  Mr.  Watson 
Cheyne,  Prof.  Michael  Foster,  Prof.  Greenfield,  Prof.  Victor 
Horsley,  Sir  William  Roberts,  Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  Prof.  Roy, 
Prof.  liurdon-Sanderson,  Dr.  Pye-Smith.  Dr.  Armand  Ruffer, 
of  19  Iddesleigh  Mansions,  Westminster,  S.W.,  will  act  as 
honorary  secretary  until  the  first  meeting  of  the  Council. 

The  graduation  ceremony  at  the  close  of  the  summer  session 
of  the  University  of  Edinburgh  was  held  on  Monday.  Principal 
Sir  William  Muir,  Vice-Chancellor,  presided.  Prof.  Kirk- 
patrick  presented  for  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
Colonel  Sir  Colin  Campbell  Scott  Moncrieff,  K.C.M.G.,  C.S.I., 
R.E.,  remarking  that,  through  his  work  as  chief  officer  of  the 
irrigaiion  works  of  the  Nile,  it  could  be  said  that  Sir  Colin  had 
created  a  greater  and  an  infinitely  freer,  happier,  and  more 
prosperous  Egypt  than  it  was  before.  As  a  gallant  officer,  a 
distinguished  roan  of  science,  a  statesman  of  high  merit,  and, 
above  all,  as  a  benefactor  of  his  fellow-creatures,  Sir  Colin  was 
pre-eminently  worthy  of  the  highest  of  their  academic  honours. 
The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Law  was  then  conferred  in 
obsenliA  on  Prof.  Simon  Newcomb,  Washington. 

Sir  Joseph  Fayrer  has  been  elected  a  Corresponding  Mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Italian  Society  of  Hygiene.  Sir  Joseph  has 
also  been  promoted  from  the  grade  of  Foreign  Corresponding 
Member  to  that  of  Foreign  Associate  of  the  French  Academy  of 
Medicine. 

Prof,  du  Bois-Reymond,  the  distinguished  physiologist  of 
Berlin,  has  been  awarded  the  Gold  Medal  for  Science. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Keeler  has  been  elected  Professor  of  Astro- 
physics in  the  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Director 
of  the  Allegheny  Observatory.  Mr.  F.  W.  Very  is  associated 
with  him  as  Adjunct  Professor  of  Astronomy.  It  is  expected 
that  the  Observatory  will  continue  its  researches  on  important 
problems  in  the  domain  of  astro- physics. 

It  is  stated  that  Siam,  following  the  example  of  Japan,  is 
commencing  to  Europeanize  her  institutions.     The  founding  of 


324 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


a  University  has  been  decided  upon^  and  Prof.  Haase,  of 
Konigsberg  (GernuiDy),  has  accepted  the  appointment  to  the 
Chair  of  Physics. 

The  last  namber  of  the  Rendiconti  of  the  Reale  Accademia 
dei  Lined  contains  an  account  of  the  annual  meeting  held  on 
June  9,  at  which  the  King  of  Italy  was  present.  After  the 
opening  speech  of  the  President,  Brioschi,  one  of  the  chief 
features  was  on  admirable  address  by  Prof.  Messedaglia  on  the 
Homeric  uranology,  with  special  reference  to  precession. 

La  Hevue  Scientifique  of  the  1st  instant  contains  the  address 
by  M.  Villemin,  the  President  of  the  Tuberculosis  Congress. 
It  deals  with  recent  researches.  The  results  of  the  first  Congress 
are  also  detailed  by  M.  Petit,  the  General  Secretary. 

A  FINAL  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  the  Virchow  Testi- 
monial Fund  took  place  on  July  1 6,  Sir  James  Paget,  Bart., 
F.R.S.,  in  the  chair.  The  Treasurer  gave  an  account  of  the 
moneys  received,  which  amounted  to  about  £\^S'  It  was 
resolved  to  send  this  sum  to  the  General  Treasurer  of  the  Fund, 
and  to  present  Prof.  Virchow  on  the  occasion  of  his  birthday 
Mrith  an  illuminated  address,  conveying  to  him  the  congratula- 
tions of  the  Committee  and  subscribers.  This  the  Honorary 
Secretaries,  Dr.  Semon  and  Mr.  Horsley,  were  directed  person- 
ally to  transmit  to  Berlin  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration. 

The  Essex  County   Council  has   appointed  an   Organizing 

Joint  Committee,  consisting  of  six  members  of  their  own  body 

and  six  members  of  the  Essex  Field  Club,  to  form  a  centre  for 

supplying  lecturers  and  teachers  (with  apparatus  and  materials), 

conducting  examinations,  and  affording  help  and  guidance  to 

local  bodies,   in  connection   with   the   recent  grants   towards 

technical  instruction.     A  grant  of  ;£'900  has  been  made  for  these 

purposes.     The  members  of  the  Committee  are  :  (representing 

the  County  Council)  Mr.  E.  N.  Buxton,  Mr.  E.  A.  Fitch,  Mr. 

J.  H.  Burrows,  Mr.  S.  W.  Squier,  Mr.  F.  West,  and  Mr.  W. 

B.  Whittingham  ;  (for  the  Essex  Field  Club)  Prof.  Boulger,  Mr. 

F,  Chancellor,  ProC  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.,  Sir  Henry  E.  Roscoe, 

M.P.,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  F.  W.  Rudler,  and  Mr.  J.  C.   Shenstone. 

The  Organizing  Secretary  to  the  Committee  is  Mr.  W.  Cole, 

35  New  Broad  Street,  E.C. 

The  idea  of  '*  a  British  Museum  of  Portraits,"  to  be  executed 
by  photography,  was  conceived  as  long  ago  as  1864  by  Mr. 
James  Glaisher,  F.R.S.,  and  brought  before  a  meeting  of  the 
Council  of  the  Amateur  Photographic  Association,  of  which  the 
Prince  of  Wales  is  the  President.  The  suggestion  was  cordially 
approved  by  the  meeting,  and  photographs  were  taken  in  carte 
dc  visile  size  and  deposited  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum. 
At  first,  however,  only  fading  silver  prints  were  made,  and  these 
were  so  unsatisfactory  that  for  some  years  the  undertaking  was 
held  in  abeyance.  By  the  discovery  and  perfection  of  the  pro- 
cess of  permanent  carbon  printing,  an  opportunity  has  at  length 
been  afforded  of  resuming  the  prosecution  of  the  work  under 
infinitely  more  favourable  conditions  ;  and,  as  a  result,  a  collec- 
tion of  excellent  portraits  is  now  being  made  by  the  Amateur 
Photographic  Association.  Already  there  are  nearly  200  large 
permanent  carbon  portraits  deposited  in  the  Art  Department  at 
the  South  Kensington  Museum,  and  about  as  many  more  are 
ready  to  be  sent.  These  latter  were  on  exhibition  at  a  private 
view  on  Saturday  last  at  58  Pall  Mall,  S.W.,  the  studio  of  Mr. 
Arthur  J.  Melhuish  (Photographer  Royal).  They  embrace  some 
photc^raphs  of  men  of  distinction  in  science,  and  are  excellent 
both  as  likenesses  and  as  specimens  of  photographic  art.  Ttie 
conditions  under  which  they  are  taken  are,  in  fact,  sufficiently 
exacting  to  insure  the  production  of  a  faithful  portrait,  inasmuch 
as  every  portrait  must  be  approved  by  the  sitter  and  by  the 
Standing  Committee  previous  to  its  being  placed  in  the  South 
Kensington  Museum.     The  undertaking  is  on  a  non-commercial 

NO.    1  1  36,  VOL.  44] 


basis,  the  photographs  being  taken  for  the  purposes  of  this  ool- 
lection  only,  and  not  for  publication,  and  no  expense  of  any 
kind  being  incurred  by  the  sitter.  The  invitations  to  sitten  are 
issued  under  the  authority  of  the  Council. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Indian  Museum,  Calcutta,  have  jost 
issued  the  second  and  concluding  portion  of  a  Catalogue  of  the 
specimens  of  Mammals  contained  in  that  Institution.  The  first 
volume  of  the  Catalogue,  compiled  by  Dr.  John  Anderson,  the 
late  Superintendent,  was  published  in  1881.  The  present  volume, 
which  commences  with  the  Rodents,  has  been  prepared  by  Va, 
W.  L.  Sclaler,  the  present  Deputy- Superintendent.  The  total 
number  of  specimens  of  Mammals  contained  in  the  Inditn 
Museum,  as  is  shown  in  the  Catalogue,  is  4872.  These  are 
referred  to  590  species,  of  which,  276  are  found  within  the  limits 
of  the  Indian  Empire,  and  the  remainder  are  from  elsewhere. 
As  the  Indian  Museum  contains  many  types  of  Blyth,  Jerdon, 
and  the  older  Indian  authorities,  the  collection  is  one  of  con- 
siderable importance,  and  the  Catalogue  will  be  of  much  use  to 
students  of  the  group  of  Mammals. 

For  the  first  time  for  many  years  ^^Jourttal  fUr  Ormihokgie 
has  actually  appeared  within  the  month  imprinted  on  the  cover 
bearing  the  date  of  publication.     English  ornithologists  have 
this  year  received  in  July  the  Heft  bearing  the  date  *  Juli,  1891.' 
Gote  set    dank.      The  articles  published  in  the  present  yev 
appear  also  to  be  of  a  higher  class  than  many  of  those  formerly 
issued    in    the  Journal,  and   some  very  important  papers  by      | 
Dr.   Reichenow,  Dr.   A.   B.   Meyer,  Herren   Schalow,  Hartert, 
&& ,  have  been  published.     The  chief  interest  centres  roiund  the 
collections  which  that  greatest  of  modern  naturalist-explorers, 
Emin  Pacha,  has  sent  to  Berlin  ;  and  the  birds  obtained  by  him 
during  his  journey  from  Bagamoyo  to  Lake  Tanganyika  are 
fully  described  by  Dr.  Reichenow.     The  novelties  are  not  many, 
but  are  sufficient  to  show  that  there  is  much  to  be  done  ia 
German  East  Africa  before  our  knowledge  of  its  omitbology 
approaches    completion.      English   naturalists  will   await  with 
eagerness  the  zoological  work  of  our  Consul  in  Mozambique, 
Mr.  H.  H.  Johnston,  C.B.,  for  the  whole  of  the  district  in  his 
sphere  of  influence  is  practically  unexplored  as  far  as  oatnial 
history  is  concerned,  and  at  present  our  knowledge  is  alnaost  a 
blank.     To    Mr.    Johnston    and    his    companions,     therefore, 
English  zoologists  are  now  looking  for  information  which  shsU 
connect  the  work  of  Bohm  and  Emin  with  that  of  Kiik  and 
Livingstone. 

In  a  recent  paper  to  the  Soci^t^  des  Ing^nieurs  CiviU,  M. 
Haubtmann  states  that  in  London  the  cost  of  the  electric  "  bose 
hour"  is  o'375  francs,  that  is  three  times  the  cost  of  gas.  In 
Paris  it  is  0*90  francs,  and  at  Saint  Brieuc,  the  town  wheie, 
since  June  i  last,  it  is  cheapest  in  France,  it  is  still  0*52  francs. 
At  Fribourg  it  has  the  lowest  cost  in  Europe,  0*15  francs,  and 
0*10  francs  for  a  consumption  over  20  horse- power.  Such 
differences,  he  points  out,  do  not  arise  from  difference  in  cost  of 
motor  force,  for,  deducting  that,  the  horse-hour  still  remains 
in  Paris  at  075  francs,  while  in  Fribourg  it  is  0*125  francs. 
They  arise  from  differences  in  the  amounts  of  capital  engaged, 
and  in  the  systems  adopted. 

It  is  stated  that  a  memorial  is  about  to  be  presented  to  the 
United  States  Congress  asking  for  the  creation  of  a  GovemmeDt 
Department  of  Public  Health,  with  a  Cabinet  officer  at  its  bead, 
to  be  known  as  the  Medical  Secretary  of  Public  Health. 

The  Danish  Academy  of  Sciences  has  recently  offered  the 
following  among  other  prizes  : — A  gold  medal,  worth  abont 
£\T^  for  an  exposition  of  the  theory  of  electric  vibrations  id 
limited  and  resting  bodies  in  general,  with  a  special  application 
to  simple  forms  of  perfect  conductors,  so  that  for  these  case?,  the 
mathematical  problem  may  be  explained,  and  if  possible  solved. 
A  prize  of  about  £12^  for  an  investigation  showing  in  the 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


325 


of  our  four  principal  cereals,  the  nature,  and  as  far  as  possible 
the  proportional  quantities,  of  the  chief  carbohydrates  found  at 
different  stages  of  ripeness.  Memoirs  to  be  accompanied  with 
preparations.  A  prize  of  about  ^27  for  a  complete  account, 
accompanied  with  preparations,  of  the  Phytoptacidia  found  in 
Denmark,  and  a  monographic  exposition  of  the  species  of  the 
genus  Phytoptus  (in  its  old  and  wider  sense),  which  inhabit  the 
various  galls,  found  on  a  particular  plant,  with  the  view  espe- 
daJIy  of  showing  whether  several  usually  different  galls  of  the 
same  plant  species  arise  from  the  same  Phytoptus  in  different 
phases  of  its  development.  In  choosing  a  plant,  preference 
should  be  given  for  one  in  which  these  galls  have  an  economic 
yalue,  as  is  the  case,  e.g,^  with  some  occurring  on  the  beech. 
Farther,  the  Academy  desires  an  exposition,  as  complete  as 
possible,  of  the  development  of  a  particular  species  of 
Phytoptus,  The  date  for  the  first  is  October  31,  1S92  ;  for  the 
two  others  October  31,  1893.  Memoirs  may  be  written  in 
Danish,  Swedish,  English,  German,  French,  or  Latin. 

The  furstlich  Jablonowsky  Gesellschaft,  recognizing  the  fact 
that  the  determinations  of  the  secular  perturbations  of  the  orbits 
of  the  interior  planets,  in  the  form  in  which  they  have  been 
left  by  Le  Verrier,  are  not  satisfactory,  and  that  probably  the 
anomaly  in  the  motion  of  the  perihelion  of  Mercury  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  differential  equations  have  been 
treated  linearally,  offers  a  prize  of  1000  marks  for  a  new  deter- 
mination of  the  secular  perturbations  of  the  orbits  of  Mercury, 
Venns,  the  Earth,  and  Mars,  in  which  the  terms  of  a  higher 
order  are  taken  into  account.  Competitors  are  to  send  in  the 
results  of  their  investigations  before  November  1894,  observing 
the  usual  rules  to  secure  the  anonymity  of  their  papers. 

Ths  EduccUional  Times  states  that  the  Supreme  Council  of 
Hygiene  of  Austria  has  been  engaged  in  discussing  the  ad- 
vantages of  erect  as  compared  With  slanting  writing,  and  the 
official  Report  of  Drs.  von  Reuss  and  Lorenz  points  strongly  in 
bvour  of  the  former.  They  point  out  that  the  direction  of  the 
written  characters  has  a  marked  influence  on  the  position  of  the 
body.  In  "  straight "  writing  the  scholar  faces  his  work,  and 
is  spared  the  twist  of  the  body  and  neck,  which  is  always  ob- 
servable in  those  who  write  slantwise,  and  one  common  cause 
of  spinal  curvature  is  thus  obviated.  The  erect  method  is, 
therefore,  expressly  recommended  for  use  in  schools,  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  ordinary  sloping  lines. 

We  have  received  the  eighteenth  Annual  Report  of  the 
Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minnesota.  It 
consists  of  a  summary  statement  for  1889,  report  of  field  obser- 
vations made  in  1888  and  1889,  by  N.  H.  Winchell ;  American 
opinion  on  the  older  rocks,  by  A.  Winchell ;  additions  to  the 
libnury  of  the  Survey  since  1884,  ^^nd  a  list  of  publications  of 
the  Survey. 

V&lectriciti  points  out  that  the  new  electric  photophone, 
which  consists  of  a  small  glow  lamp  at  the  end  of  an  elastic 
tube  used  for  throwing  a  strong  light  for  surgical  purposes  into 
the  mouth,  ear,  &c.,  was  really  suggested  by  the  action  of  the 
water  jet  in  the  luminous  fountains  now  so  common,  and  that 
these  really  owe  their  origin  to  a  laboratory  experiment  by 
M.  Becqnerel  in  1876. 

Herr  Klenzb,  we  learn  from  a  German  source,  has  been 
making  inquiry  into  the  digestibility  of  different  kinds  of  cheese. 
The  most  easily  digested,  he  found,  were  Cheshire  and  Roque- 
fort ;  while  others  are  ranked  as  follows,  in  ascending  order 
of  difficult  digestion :  Emmenthal,  Gorgonzola,  Neuchitel, 
Ramadour,  Rotenbuig,  Mainz,  fromage  de  Brie,  and  (most 
indigestible  of  all)  Swiss  cheese. 

In  recent  numbers  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science 
(February  1891)  and  Ciel  et  Terre  (July  i  and  16,  1891)  atten- 
tion b  drawn  to  the  remarkable  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Dr. 

NO.    1 136,  VOL.  44] 


Briickner  in  his  work  entitled  '*Klimaschwankungen*' — the 
most  complete  work  extant  upon  the  question  of  the  variation  of 
climate — in  which  he  shows  that  the  climate  has  not  undergone 
any  continuous  variation  from  the  earliest  historic  time,  but  that 
it  oscillates,  and  presents  alternately  periods  of  heat  and  cold, 
and  of  dryness  and  humidity,  the  period  being  about  35  years, 
which,  it  will  be  observed,  is  a  multiple  of  the  period  of  frequency 
of  sun-spots  (II  to  12  years).  M.  Penck,  the  eminent  German 
geographer,  has  drawn  some  interesting  conclusions  as  to  the 
probable  effects  upon  the  harvests  of  the  world. 

Part  34  of  Cassell's  '*  New  Popular  Educator  "  has  just  been 
issued,  and  contains  articles  on  applied  mechanics,  algebra, 
botany,  electricity,  and  comparative  anatomy. 

Mr.  G.  C.  Hoffmann,  of  the  Geological  and  Natural  His- 
tory Survey  of  Canada,  has  made  a  microscopical  and  chemical 
examination  of  a  peculiar  form  of  metallic  iron  found  on  St* 
Joseph  Island,  Lake  Huron.  It  appeared  in  the  form  of 
spherules  disseminated  through  a  thin  deposit  of  dark  reddish- 
brown  limonite  which  cdated  certain  faces  of  some  surface 
specimens  of  quartz.  These  metallic-looking  spherules  were 
found  to  consist  of  nuclei  of  silicon  coated  with  a  humus -like 
substance,  which  in  turn  was  overlain  by  a  metallic  layer  con- 
taining all  the  elements  most  frequently  met  with  in  meteoric 
iron.  But  the  small  proportion  of  nickel  present  (o'lT  per 
cent.),  and  the  relatively  large  amount  of  phosphorus  (I'oy  per 
cent.),  as  also  the  fact  that  the  spherules  contain  nuclei  ap- 
parently of  a  concrete  character,  leads  Mr.  Hoffmann  to  suggest 
the  possibility  of  a  terrestrial  source  for  the  material,  upon  the 
assumption  that  it  has  resulted  from  the  reduction  of  an  iron- 
sail  by  organic  matter.  The  paper,  which  is  accompanied  by 
four  coloured  plates,  appears  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Canada,  1890. 

The  preliminary  results  of  some  investigations  upon  the 
growth  of  the  face  are  stated  by  Prof.  G.  M.  West  in  Science 
for  July  3.  The  values  obtained  in  the  case  of  measurements  of 
the  female  face  point  to  the  existence  of  three  distinct  periods 
of  growth,  the  first  ending  at  about  the  seventh  year,  and  the 
third  beginning  at  about  the  age  of  fifteen.  The  abrupt  transi- 
tion from  one  period  to  the  next  is  indicated  by  the  very  slow 
growth  of  some  children  until  the  ages  of  eight  or  fourteen, 
when  a  rapid  development  often  occurs.  From  the  fifth  to  the 
tenth  year  the  average  growth  appears  to  be  about  6 '5  mm. 
During  the  next  four  years  it  is  6 '2  mm.,  and  from  this  time 
little  advance  is  made,  the  maximum  of  128  mm.  being  reached 
at  about  the  age  of  twenty.  The  male  face  is  larger  than  the 
female  face  at  all  ages.  Its  growth  is  also  more  rapid,  and  con- 
tinues later  in  life.  The  measurements  have  been  on  2500 
persons,  including  both  sexes. 

Prof.  Tito  Martini,  of  Venice,  contributes  to  the  issue  of 
the  Rivista  Scientifico-lndustriale  for  the  end  of  June,  the  re- 
sults of  some  experiments  on  the  crystallization  of  thin  liquid 
films.  He  finds  that  a  strong  solution  of  sodium  sulphate,  when 
cooled  to  near  its  saturation  point,  possesses  a  viscous  character 
which  enables  it  to  form  a  thin  film  on  a  metallic  ring,  as  in 
Mr.  Boys's  experiments  with  soap-bubbles.  On  rapid  evapora- 
tion such  a  film  crystallizes  to  an  extremely  beautiful  open 
lattice-work  of  minute  crystals,  which  preserve  their  transparency 
for  some  time,  and  then  effloresce  and  crumble  to  powder.  The 
experiments  succeeded  with  rings  up  to  thirty-six  millimetres 
diameter.  Similar  experiments  with  ammonium  chloride  and 
sodium  hyposulphite  have  hitherto  proved  unsuccessful.  With 
a  transparent  film  of  liquid  sulphur,  however,  even  more  beauti- 
ful results  have  been  obtained.  The  author  regards  such  ex- 
periments, besides  being  eminently  suitable  for  lecture 
demonstration,  as  likely  to  throw  light  on  the  nature  of 
molecular  arrangement  in  relation  to  crystallization.  . 


326 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


The  same  number  of  the  Kimsta  summarizes  a  somswhat 
important  communication  to  the  Naples  Royal  Academy  of 
Physical  and  Mathematical  Sciences,  in  which  Prof.  Dino 
Padelletti  urges  that  the  usual  investigation  for  the  movement 
of  the  plane  of  oscillation  of  Foucault's  pendulum  in  relation  to 
the  earth's  rotation  is  insufficient.  The  author  contends  that  the 
problem  for  latitudes  between  the  pole  and  equator  is  more 
difficult  than  would  appear  from  the  usual  simple  solution,  and 
cannot  be  solved  by  the  principle  of  inertia.  He  proposes  an 
equation  derived  from  the  principle  of  composition  of  the  rota- 
tional forces. 

A  METEOROLOGICAL  journal  in  the  Russian  language,  the 
Meteorologitscheskij  Wcstnik  (Messenger),  has  lately  appeared 
under  the  competent  editorship  of  Woeikof,  RykatFchew,  and 
Spindler ;  its  general  p'an  seems  to  be  like  that  of  the  German 
Zeitschrift.  The  idea  of  starting  it  arose  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Russian  Naturalists  and  Ph>sicians  at  St.  Petersburg  in  the  end 
of  1889.  Four  graphic  tables  are  given  in  this  journal,  showing 
the  course  of  the  meteorological  elements  during  1889  at  the 
agricultural  experimental  station  of  Sapolje,  also  measurements 
of  ground  temperature,  &c. 

The  Selbome  Society s  Magazine  for  July  contains  the  first  of 
a  series  of  articles  on  the  Kew  Museums  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Jackson  ; 
others  on  the  effiscts  of  environment  on  plants,  and  other  in- 
teresting matter.  Among  the  correspondence  are  complaints 
from  Warwickshire  that  the  Wild  Birds  Preservation  Act  is  a 
dead  letter  there,  as  the  *' authorities,"  whoever  th^y  maybe, 
take  no  trouble  in  the  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  the  in- 
habitants of  Shetland  are  fully  alive  to  it. 

The  last  volume  (xxii.,  6)  of  the  Trudy  of  the  Society  of 
Naturalists  of  Kazan  contains  the  second  part  of  Mr.  Korz- 
chinsky's  valuable  researches  into  the  northern  limits  of  the 
black-earth  steppe  region  of  East  Russia.  In  the  first  part- 
published  in  1888,  the  author  gave  the  results  of  his  explorations 
in  the  province  of  Kazan.  He  now  confirms  his  conclusions  by 
further  exploration  in  Samara,  Simbirsk,  Perm,  and  Ufa.  He 
gives  the  northern  limits  of  the  black- earth  steppe  vegetation, 
and  sho^s  that  they  depend  neither  upon  climate  nor  upon  the 
altitudes,  but  chiefly  upon  the  courses  of  the  rivers. 

According  to  La  Nature^  the  telephonic  service  of  Paris, 
rapidly  developing  of  late,  will  soon  include  an  immense  central 
telephonic  office  in  tbe  Rue  Gutenberg,  capable  of  serving 
directly  30,000  subscribers,  without  connection  with  the  other 
offices  of  the  quarter.  The  work  is  being  actively  pushed  for- 
ward. Cables  are  being  laid  in  the  sewers,  an  enlargement  of 
which,  at  certain  points,  is  rendered  necessary.  There  were 
7800  subscribers  in  Paris  last  October.  Paris  has  now  tele- 
phonic communication  with  Brussels,  Marseilles,  Lyons  (which 
also  communicates  with  Marseilles),  Lille,  Havre,  Rouen,  and 
London.  Twenty-eight  towns  in  France  have  a  telephonic 
system.  There  are  two  in  Algeria,  in  Algiers  and  Oran.  Lille 
and  Roubaix,  Lille  and  Dunkirk  are  connected  by  telephone ; 
and.  ere  long,  connection  will  be  formed  between  Lille,  Valen- 
ciennes, Calais,  and  Fourmies,  between  Lyons  and  Saint 
Etienne,  between  Dieppe  and  Rouen,  between  Marseilles  and 
Nice. 

The  climate  of  the  Greek  island  Cephalonia  has  been  lately 
described  by  Dr.  Partsch  (Petermann' s  Mitt.),  We  note  the 
following  features.  At  Argostoli  temperature  reaches  a  maximum 
in  July  (2  j**  "3  C),  whereasin  Corfu  and  Patras  it  does  so  in  August. 
With  several  days' calm  and  bright  sunshine,  in  the  bay,  the  air, 
laden  with  moisture,  becomes  unbearably  hot  and  close.  Yet 
the  natives  go  but  little  to  the  wooded  hills  behind,  where  the 
temperature  goes  down  sometimes  to  IS^'S  C.  or  lower.  Mules 
bring  down  snow  nightly,  in  summer,  from  covered  pits  in  the 

NO.    1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


hills,  for  supply  of  restaurants,  &c.  As  to  rain,  there  is  a  sharp 
contrast  between  the  wet  winter-half  and  the  dry  summer-half 
of  the  year.  The  annual  rainfall  (3^  years)  was  about  35  inches. 
The  autumn  rains  are  ushered  in  by  severe  thunderstormi 
November  and  December  are  the  wettest  months,  bat  abont 
Christmas  there  is  usually  a  short  time  of  fine  weather.  Manb 
is  extremely  variable,  and  often  very  cold.  With  May  begin  the 
rainless  months,  and  the  drought  is  sometimes  considerably  over 
100  days.  Five  months  have  sometimes  passed  with  hut  a  few 
slight  showers.  On  this  greatly  depends  the  currant  cuUiration : 
a  brief  downpour  may  spoil  the  crop.  Snow  falls  seldom  in 
Argosroli,  but  often  on  the  hills.  Dew  is  plentiful  in  summer, 
but  its  salt  precipitate  is  feared.  Wind  is  greatest  in  winter, 
southerly  winds  prevailing,  especially  south-east.  A  hot  south 
wind  (the  lambadittd)  blows,  rarely,  in  early  summer,  and  with 
evil  effects  to  vegetation.  The  fresh  north-west  wind  {maestn) 
brings  cumulus  clouds  on  the  hills. 

Mr.  F.  Howard  Collins,  the  author  of  a  useful  epitome 
of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  system  of  philosophy,  has  writteo  x 
pamphlet  in  which  he  discusses  the  causes  of  the  diminution  of 
the  jaw  in  the  civilized  races.  In  opposition  to  the  views  of 
Weismann,  he  contends  that  the  phenomenon  is  due  to  "dis- 
use"; and  the  argument,  as  he  presents  it,  deserves  to  be 
seriously  considered.  Some  time  ago  Mr.  Collins  sent  to 
Nature  a  letter  in  which  he  gave  some  account  of  the  ideas 
which  he  now  expounds  more  fully.  In  the  preface  to  his 
pamphlet  he  seems  to  imply  that  the  letter  was  not  inserted 
because,  according  to  a  belief  said  to  be  current  among  certain 
biologists,  the  editor  of  Natijre  is  **more  willing  to  publish 
letters  contending  that  acquired  faculties  are  not  inherited  than 
those  contending  that  they  are."  Mr.  Collins  has  too  readilj 
allowed  himself  to  be  influenced  by  the  belief  of  **  certain 
biologists."  If  he  supposes  that  it  is  possible  for  the  editor  of 
Nature  to  print  all  the  letters  sent  to  the  paper  for  publication, 
he  must  have  a  very  inadequate  conception  of  an  editor^s 
functions. 

To  throw  light  on  some  ph)rsiological  processes,  Herr  Hof- 
meister  recently  experimented  {Archiv  fur  experim.  Pathol.)  on 
the  swelling  of  plates  of  gelatine  in  various  solutions  ;  the  plates 
being  taken  out  from  time  to  time,  dried,  and  weighed.  With 
salt  solutions  of  various  concentration,  the  gain  of  weight  was 
large  in  the  first  days,  then  gradually  fell  off,  as  in  former  ex- 
periments with  pure  water.  The  effect  varied  with  the  nature 
of  the  salt ;  and  even  with  solutions  holding  the  same  namber 
of  molecules  in  1000  parts  water,  the  swelling  varied  as  mnch 
as  five-fold.  This  difference,  it  is  {pointed  out,  is  related  to 
attraction  of  the  salt  for  water  ;  the  greater  the  attraction,  the 
more  difficult  the  entrance  of  water  into  the  plate.  Bat  that 
this  is  not  the  only  factor  is  proved  by  the  swelling  in  pore 
water  being  always  much  less  than  that  in  the  solutions.  Expeii* 
menting  with  ordinary  salt,  the  gain  of  weight  proved  to  con- 
sist both  of  water  and  salt,  both  dependent  (but  differently)  on 
concentration.  With  increase  of  the  latter,  the  gain  of  water 
rises  to  a  maximum  (about  13  per  cent.),  then  declines  ;  but  the 
gain  of  salt  goes  on  always  increasing  proportionally  to  the  con- 
centration. The  remarkable  property  salts  have  of  increasing 
the  gain  of  water  beyond  what  occurs  in  pure  water  is  also 
shown  by  indifferent  organic  substances,  as  cane-sugar  and 
alcohol.  Experiments  were  further  made  on  swelling  of  gela- 
tine plates  in  methyl-violet  solutions,  and  with  the  result  that 
the  concentration  of  the  solution  in  the  plates  was  always  mnch 
greater  (over  30  times)  than  that  in  the  solution  presented.  The 
colouring-matter  is  taken  up  in  relatively  much  greater  quantity 
than  the  water.  Further,  gelatine  takes  up  somewhat  more 
colouring-matter  relatively  from  a  dilute  than  from  a  concen- 
trated solution.     The  forces  concerned  in  these  phenomena,  and 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


327 


which  are  neither  purely  mechaQical  nor  chemical,  Herr  Hof 
meister  brings  into  analogy  with  those  occurring  in  absorption 
of  gases  by  liquids,  the  recipro(ial  solution  of  liquids,  adsorption 
of  gases  on  solid  bodies,  &c. 

Tnz Photographic  News  quotes  the  following  from  the  Scientific 
American,  December  9,  1848  : — **  Ne7v  Electrical  Light. — The 
inventors  of  a  new  electrical  light,  exhibited  at  the  Western 
Literary  In^ititution,  Leicester  Square,  London,  on  its  recent 
reopening  under  the  new  auspices,  expect,  it  is  said,  to  apply  it 
generally  to  shop  and  street  illumination,  and  they  state  that, 
while  th:  conveying  will  cost  no  more  than  gas,  the  expense  of 
illamination  will  be  one-twelfth  the  price  of  the  latter  light. 
The  current  of  electricity,  in  passing  through  the  two  pieces  of 
charcoal  which  form  the  poles  of  the  circuit,  and  are  excluded 
firom  all  access  of  air,  gives,  in  this  case,  it  is  said,  an  intense 
and  beautiful  white  light,  with  the  effect  of  daylight,  to  a  much 
greater  extent  than  the  lime  does,  and  having  this  advantage, 
that  it  is  sustained  and  continuous.  If  Messrs.  Staite  and 
Petrie  can  thus  produce  a  steady  and  sustained  light  they  have 
accomplished  what  has  hitherto  been  the  sole  preventive  to  the 
sabstitution  of  galvanism  for  gas.  The  Mechanics'  Magazine 
states  that  this  one  light  completely  eclipsed  ten  gas  lights  and 
an  oxyhydrog^en.  The  gas  companies  had  better  look  out. 
The  dissatisfaction  of  the  public  with  their  mismanagement  may 
have  begotten  a  rival  destined  to  eclipse  many  more  than  merely 
ten  of  their  gas  lights." 

With  the  view  of  certifying  to  the  efficiency  of  teachers  of 
pablic  elementary  schools  to  give  instruction  in  woodwork  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Code  (1890),  the  City  and 
Goilds  of  London  Institute  is  prepared  to  issue  certificates  to 
qaalified  teachers  of  public  elementary  schools  on  the  following 
conditions  : — The  candidates  will  be  required  to  give  evidence 
of  having  regularly  attended  during  each  of  two  sessions,  a 
coarse  of  at  least  twenty  practical  wood-working  lessons  in  a 
school  or  class  certified  by,  and  under  an  instructor  approved  by, 
(be  Institute.  The  candidates  will  further  be  required  to  pass 
a>i  examination  at  the  end  of  each  year's  course,  to  be  conducted 
by  examiners  appointed  by  the  Institute,  and  to  pay  a  fee  of 
6ve  shillings  for  each  examination.  For  the  first  year,  candi- 
dates who  have  attended  an  advanced  course  of  instruction  will 
be  exceptionally  admitted  to  the  second  year's  examination  with- 
out having  passed  the  first,  and  will  be  eligible  for  the  teacher's 
certificate.  The  examination  fee  for  such  candidates  will  be  ten 
shillings.  The  written  examination  will  include  questions 
founded  on  such  subjects  as  the  following  : —  Woods. — Places  from 
which  some  of  the  commoner  woods  are  obtained.  Their 
characteristic  properties  and  uses.  The  general  structure  of 
cone-bearing  and  leafy  timber  trees.  The  meaning  of  seasoning 
timber.  Effects  of  shrinkage  and  warping.  Identification  of 
specimens  of  wood.  The  questions  will  be  limited  to  oak,  ash, 
elm,  beech,  mahogany,  sycamore,  basswood,  white  deal  (spruce), 
red  pine  (Scotch  fir),  yellow  pine. 

Das  Wetter  for  July  reports  a  curious  case  of  globular 
lightning  which  occurred  at  Herga,  near  Schlieben,  in  Germany, 
between  3  and  4  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  i.  The 
lightning  entered  the  chimney  and  split  into  two  parts,  one 
portion  ran  along  the  rafters  of  the  roof,  and  the  other  entered 
a  bed-room  occupied  by  a  man  with  his  wife  and  three  children. 
The  man,  who  was  up,  on  account  of  the  violence  of  the  storm, 
saw  the  ball  jump  on  to  the  bedstead,  which  it  broke,  and  from 
there  it  slowly  travelled  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  and 
disappeared,  with  a  loud  crash,  through  the  wall.  None  of  the 
occupants  were  injured,  further  than  being  deafened  for  a  short 
time. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Banded  Ichneumon  {Herpestes  fasciatus) 

NO.   1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Dr.  Arthur  Williams  ;  a  Black 
Stork  (Ciconia  nigra),  European,  presented  by  Lord  Lilford, 
F.Z.S.  ;  two  Nilotic  Crocodiles  {Crocodilus  vulgaris)  from 
Africa,  presented  by  Dr.  Lester ;  two  Black  Storks  {Ciconia 
nigra),  European,  two  King  Parrakeets  {Aprosmictus  scapu- 
latus)  from  New  South  Wales,  purchased  ;  a  Laughing  King- 
fisher {Dacelo  gigantea)  from  Australia,  deposited. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN 

Researches  on  the  Mean  Density  of  the  Earth. — 
The  Monthly  Notices  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  for  June 
contain  a  brief  account  by  Prof.  A.  Cornu  of  the  experiments 
M.  Bailie  and  himself  have  been  making  for  some  years  to  deter- 
mine the  mean  density  of  the  earth.  Ttie  apparatus  employed  is 
fundamentally  the  same  as  that  used  by  Cavendish.  It  consists 
of  a  horizontal  aluminium  rod,  suspended  by  a  torsion  thread 
4  metres  long,  carrying  at  each  end  a  ball  of  copper,  bismuth, 
iron,  or  platinum,  and  at  its  centre  a  vertical  mirror  reflecting 
the  divisions  on  a  millimetre-scale  5  metres  away.  Two  globes 
of  mercury  are  used  to  produce  the  torsion  couple.  The  dis- 
placements of  the  scale-divisions  are  observed  with  a  telescope, 
and  indicate  the  angular  displacements  of  the  rod.  The  chief 
improvements  which  have  been  made  upon  the  apparatus  used 
by  Cavendish,  Baily,  and  Reich,  are  as  follows  :— (i)  The  length 
of  rod  coniiecting  the  suspended  balls  has  been  reduced  to  0*50 
metre,  i.e.  to  a  quarter  the  length  adopted  by  the  above-named 
observers.  (2)  The  attracting  masses  have  been  reduced  to  10  kilo- 
grammes. Cavendish  used  masses  weighing  more  than  140 
pounds.  And  the  method  of  using  fixed  globes  which  can  be 
quickly  filled  with  mercury  has  been  advantageously  substituted 
for  the  movable  lead  weights.  (3)  The  complete  oscillation  of 
the  balance  arm  is  registered  on  a  chronograph  by  observing  and 
recording  the  transits  of  the  reflected  scale  divisions.  (4)  The 
use  of  an  annealed  glass  fibre  to  eliminate  errors  due  to  dis- 
placements of  the  zero  point.  (5)  The  screening  from  variations 
of  electric  potential  by  putting  all  parts  of  the  apparatus  in 
metallic  connection  with  the  earth.  (6)  The  copper  case  pro- 
tect ing  the  balance  arm  is  a  good  conductor  of  heat,  and  of 
sufficient  thickness  to  eliminate  the  disturbances  due  to  variations 
in  temperature.  The  authors  hope  soon  to  obtain  an  estimation 
of  the  probable  error  of  their  measures,  and  to  arrive  at  a  definite 
result  lor  the  constant  they  are  determining. 

Parallax  of  P  Urs^  Majorls. — Vol.  xxxviii.  of  the 
"Astronomical  Observations  of  the  University  Observatory  of 
Konigsberg"  contains  the  heliometer  observations  of  P  Ursae 
Majoris  (Arg.-Oeltzen  1 1677)  made  by  Dr.  lulius  Franz,  from 
which  he  deduces  the  parallax  o"-ioo2  db  o"'Oo65,  or  approxi- 
mately o"-io  db  o"'oi. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  MEDICINE. 


nrilE  Bournemouth  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  Association 
-^  has  been  a  great  success,  and  a  great  deal  of  useful  work 
and  discussion  has  been  recorded.  Among  the  addresses  we 
may  refer  to  the  President's  (Dr.  J.  R.  Thomson),  on  the  present 
position  of  medical  officers  of  health ;  of  Dr.  Lauder  Brunton, 
on  twenty-five  years  of  medical  progress  ;  of  Dr.  J.  Chiene,  on 
rest  as  a  therapeutic  agent  in  surgery ;  and  others  on  lunacy 
legislation,  the  uses  and  prospects  of  pathology,  &c. 

We  make  the  following  extracts  from  Dr.  Bninton*s  address, 
which  presents  us  with  a  most  admirable  and  masterly  analysis 
of  recent  progress  : — 

.  .  .  Perhaps  there  is  no  period  in  the  whole  history  of  medicine 
in  which  such  rapid  changes  have  taken  place  as  in  the  last 
five-and-twenty  years.  It  is  impossible  to  give  anything  like  a 
complete  account  of  these  in  the  brief  space  of  one  hour,  and  I 
shall  therefore  restrict  myself  to  a  few  of  the  more  prominent 
points,  and  especially  those  that  have  come  directly  under  my 
personal  cognizance  ;  for,  like  the  man  who  made  one-half  of 
his  fortune  by  attending  to  his  own  affairs  and  the  other  half  by 
leaving  other  people's  alone,  I  may  probably  utilize  the  time  at 
my  disposal  best  by  speaking  of  what  I  know  myself  and  leaving 
other  things  out. 

Advances  in  Knowledge  and  Teaching  due  to  Experimental 
Method. — These  changes  have  occurred  both  in  the  profession 


328 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


itself  and  also  to  some  extent — in  this  country  at  least — in  the 
education  and  training  of  the  men  who  enter  it.  We  notice, 
first,  that  a  very  great  increase  has  occurred  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  nature,  causation,  and  treatment  of  diseases  possessed  by 
the  profession  as  a  whole,  but  perhaps  a  still  greater  gain  is  the 
general  adoption  of  the  experimental  method  by  which  most  of 
our  recent  knowledge  has  been  acquired,  and  from  which  we 
may  hope  for  even  greater  advantages  in  the  future.  In  corre- 
spondence with  the  acquirement  of  knowledge,  we  notice  also  a 
great  alteration  in  the  teaching  of  medicine,  and  especially 
prominent  is  the  tendency  to  make  such  teaching  practical 
instead  of  theoretical  by  training  men  to  place  their  dependence 
upon  objective  facts,  and  not  to  receive  without  experimental 
data  the  theories  or  speculations  of  any  master,  however  great 
he  may  be.  .  .  . 

Direction  of  Advance.— The  greatest  advance  made  in  the 
last  twenty-five  years  has  been  in  the  direction  of  the  accumula- 
tion, co-ordination,  and  teaching  of  facts  instead  of  theories,  of 
the  phenomena  of  Nature  as  opposed  to  the  fancies  of  the  human 
mind. 

Co-ordination  of  Facts. — But  the  mere  accumulation  of  facts 
is  of  little  use  unless  they  can  be  so  arranged,  compared,  and 
grouped  as  to  bring  them  into  relationship  with  some  general 
law,  and  this  we  find  in  the  world's  history  has  been  done  from 
time  to  time  by  some  master-mind.  .  .   . 

Influence  of  Darwin. — Medicine,  both  in  its  principles  and 
practice,  is  really  a  subdivision  of  biology,  and  this,  like  all 
other  branches  of  knowledge,  has  been  most  profoundly  modi- 
fied by  the  general  acceptance  of  Darwin's  great  thoughts — the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  Wherever  we  turn  we  find  that  Darwin's  influence 
has  modified  the  direction  of  thought,  and  whether  the  study 
concerns  the  evolution  of  the  elements,  the  evolution  of  the  planet- 
ary systems,  of  living  beings,  of  communities,  of  customs,  of  laws, 
of  literature,  science,  or  art,  in  every  department  of  human  know- 
ledge we  find  that  men,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  are  influenced 
by  Darwin's  work.  It  is  with  shame  I  confess  that  five-and-twenty 
years  ago,  although  I  had  taken  a  University  degree  not  only  in 
medicine  but  in  science,  and  might  therefore  be  supposed  to  be 
acquainted  with  his  work,  I  did  not  even  know  of  the  existence 
of  his  **  Origin  of  Species,"  and  1  first  heard  its  name  in  Vienna 
from  the  lips  of  an  Austrian  who  was  speaking  of  it  in  terms  of 
the  highest  praise.  *'  What  is  it?"  I  asked,  and  my  question 
then  seemed  to  cause  my  foreign  friend  as  much  astonishment  as 
it  causes  myself  now,  when  the  possibility  of  such  ignorance 
seems  to  me,  as  it  must  to  you,  almost  incredible,  and  yet  such 
was  the  fact.  The  publication  of  Darwin's  *'  Origin  of  Species," 
in  1859,  has  done  more  to  change  the  current  of  human  thought 
than  anything  else  for  centuries,  but  while  its  influence  is  every- 
where felt,  biology  and  all  its  subdivisions  have  been  more 
especially  affected. 

Changes  in  Medical  Students. — But  great  as  the  changes  have 
been  during  the  last  five-and-twenty  years  in  the  profession 
itself,  they  are  perhaps  quite  as  great  in  the  men  who  enter 
it.  .  .  . 

Long  ago  the  doctor's  means  of  diagnosis  consisted  in  inspect- 
ing the  tongue,  feeling  the  skin,  counting  the  pulse,  shaking  the 
unne,  and  looking  at  the  motions  and  the  sputum.  But  now,  in 
addition  to  a  thorough  training  in  auscultation  and  percussion, 
students  have  to  learn  the  use  of  the  laryngoscope,  ophthalmo- 
scope, and  otoscope,  and  the  application  of  electricity.  They 
have  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  the  urine  and 
its  alterations  in  disease,  and,  what  takes  still  more  time,  they 
have  to  learn  the  microscopical  appearances,  not  only  of  the 
tissues  and  excretions  in  health,  but  their  alterations  in  disease, 
and  must  be  acquainted  with  the  methods  of  staining  so  as  to 
detect  tubercle  bacilli  and  other  disease  germs.  .  .   . 

Departments  of  Greatest  Advance. — Five-and-twenty  years 
ago  we  knew  only  too  well  that  typhus  was  infectious,  and  that 
pyaemia  and  erysipelas  were  likely  to  spread  in  a  ward  when 
once  they  got  into  it,  but  we  did  not  know  then  the  causes  of 
these  diseases  as  we  do  now,  nor  had  we  the  same  means  at  our 
dispDsal  wherewith  to  combat  them.  The  departments  in  which 
the  greatest  advances  have  been  made  within  the  last  five-and- 
twenty  years  are  in  those  of  fevers  and  diseases  of  the  nervous 
S3rstem.  A  new  era  in  the  study  of  the  latter  was  foreshadowed 
by  the  experiments  of  Fritsch  and  Hitzig  on  the  brain  of  the 
dog,  but  it  can  only  be  said  to  have  fairly  begun  with  Ferrier's 
localization  of  the  cortical  centres,  both  motor  and  sensory,  in 
the  brain  of  monkeys.     For  the  brain  of  the  dog  was  too  unlike 


that  of  man  for  experiments  upon  it  to  be  of  much  practical  ue 
in  the  diagnosis  of  human  ailments,  while  the  likeness  in  the 
brain  of  the  monkey  to  that  of  man  at  once  allowed  condosioiis 
drawn  from  the  experiments  upon  the  former  to  be  transferred 
upon  the  latter.  Yet  if  we  try  to  describe  in  one  word  the  de- 
partment in  which  medicine  has  made  the  greatest  progress 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  that  word  must  be 
"fevers";  for  during  this  time  we  have  learned  to  recognixe 
fever  by  the  use  of  the  thermometer  in  a  way  we  never  dad 
before  ;  we  have  learned  the  dependence  of  the  febrile  process 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  upon  the  presence  of  microbes  in 
the  organism,  and  we  have  become  acquainted  with  an  immense 
number  of  chemical  substances  which  have  the  power  both  to 
destroy  the  microbes  and  to  regulate  the  febrile  process. 

Introduction  of  the  Thermometer. — It  is  true  that  the  ther- 
mometer was  used  by  Danielssen,  in  leprosy,  before  the  year 
1848,  and  its  more  general  use  began  with  Wunderlich's  ob- 
servations nearly  thirty  years  ago,  but  it  is  only  within  the 
last  five-and-twenty  years  that  its  use  has  become  at  all 
general.  .  .  . 

Nature  of  Fever. — The  thermometer  has  not  only  enabled  us 
to  detect  the  onset  and  to  watch  the  progress  of  fever,  but  in 
conjunction  with  microscopical  research,  physiological  experi- 
ment, and  chemical  analysis  it  has  enabled  us  to  gain  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  febrile  process  itself.  We 
know  that  during  it  the  organism  is  consuming  rapidly,  or, 
as  Dr.  Donald  MacAlister  graphically  says,  it  is  like  "a  candle 
burning  at  both  ends,"  and  we  have  learned  scientifically  the 
reasons  for  the  practical  treatment,  of  which  Graves  was  so 
proud  that  he  wrote  as  his  own  epitaph,  "  He  fed  fevers^"  We 
have  learned  also,  to  a  great  extent,  the  necessity  for  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  waste  products,  or  ashes  as  we  may  term  them^ 
which  the  excessive  combustion  produces,  and  thus  we  know 
why  the  surgeon  is  so  anxious  regarding  the  result  of  an 
operation  when  the  kidneys  of  his  patient  are  inadequate. 
For  if  any  febrile  attack  following  the  operation  should  lead 
to  increased  demands  upon  these  secreting  powers,  they 
might  fail  to  meet  it,  and  the  retained  excreta  would  potsoa 
the  patient. 

New  Methods. — The  rapid  increase  in  our  knowledge  has 
been  due  not  merely  to  the  constant  use  of  old  methods,  but 
to  the  introduction  of  new  ones,  and  more  especially  to  the 
general  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  same  strategy  which  has 
often  proved  so  successful  in  war  is  to  be  applied  in  attacking 
complex  problems.  They  are  to  be  separated  as  far  as  possible 
into  their  several  components,  and  each  of  these  is  to  be  over- 
come in  detail.  As  presented  to  us  by  observation  at  the  bed- 
side, the  problems  of  disease  are  too  complex  for  us  to  solve, 
and  we  are  only  succeeding  in  doing  it  by  examining  the 
various  factors  one  by  one  in  the  laboratory.  The  greatly  in- 
creased powers  of  the  microscope  and  the  better  methods  of 
illumination  have  been  of  the  greatest  service,  but  their  utility 
would  be  very  much  less  than  it  is  had  it  not  been  for  the 
general  introduction  of  the  microtome  and  the  invention  of  nev 
methods  of  stainiog.  When  I  was  a  student  the  microtome  was 
only  used  for  cutting  sections  of  wood  in  the  class  of  practical 
botany.  About  that  time  it  was  employed  by  Mr.  Stirling, 
Prof.  Goodsir's  assistant,  in  the  preparation  of  animal  tissues, 
but  I  believe  that  we  owe  its  general  introduction  to  Prof. 
Rutherford.  The  facility  with  which  sections  are  made  by  it 
has  made  microscopical  research  much  less  tedious,  and  has 
enabled  trained  histologists  to  do  more  work  in  a  given  time, 
and  medical  students  to  acquire  knowledge  more  rapidly.  Bat 
without  the  method  of  staining  introduced  by  Weigert  and 
Ehrlich,  we  should,  even  with  the  best  microscopes,  be  unable 
to  recognize  most  of  the  microbes  which  are  so  important  in  the 
causation  of  disease. 

Good  Out  of  Evil. — It  is  very  interesting  to  see  how  good 
may  come  out  of  evil,  and  a  striking  illustration  of  this  is 
afforded  by  the  history  of  medicine  in  the  period  we  are  now 
considering.  For  it  seems  to  me  that  we  can  trace  a  great 
part  of  our  knowledge  of  disease  germs  and  of  the  antiseptic 
remedies  we  use  in  treatment  to  the  cupidity  and  stupidity 
of  the  Spaniards  of  the  Cordilleras.  Their  cupidity  led  them 
to  cut  down  the  cinchona  trees  of  the  Andes  in  order  to  fill 
their  pockets  with  the  gold  they  received  in  exchange  for  the 
precious  bark,  while  their  stupidity  prevented  them  from 
planting  new  trees  to  replace  those  which  they  felled.  The 
consequence  of  this  was  that  quinine  became  so  dear  that  it 
was  evident  that    anyone    who    could    produce  it  artificially 


NO.    I  136    VOL.  44] 


August  6,  1891] 


NA TURE 


29 


woold  make  his  fortune.  Amongst  others,  Perkins  tried  to  do 
this,  and,  although  he  failed,  yet  in  the  attempt  he  discovered 
the  aoilin  dyes,  whose  staining  powers  have  not  only  helped 
ns  so  mudi  in  ordinary  histological  research,  but  have  made  it 
possible  to  distinguish  disease  germs  which  without  them  would 
have  been  invisible.  But  the  discovery  of  the  anilin  colours 
was  only  one  outcome  of  the  attempt  to  make  quinine  syntheti- 
cally, for  the  impulse  which  it  gave  to  the  study  of  aromatic 
compounds  has  led  to  the  production  of  salicylic  acid  and 
acetanilide,  antipyrin,  phenacetin,  and  all  the  other  antipyretic 
remedies  whose  number  is  probably  legion,  and  whose  names 
already  have  become  so  numerous  as  to  be  troublesome.  Here 
we  see  good  has  arisen  out  of  evil ;  for  if  the  price  of  quinine 
had  not  been  so  high,  the  researches  which  have  proved  so  useful 
might  not  have  been  begun  even  yet. 

Small  and  Great,  Foolish  and  Wise, — In  looking  at  another  of 
the  greatest  advances  which  medicine  has  made — namely,  the 
knowledge  of  infective  disease — we  can  see  how  enormous  re- 
sults can  arise  out  of  very  small  beginnings,  and  the  safety  of 
nations  may  be  consequent  upon  a  researdi  which  many  men 
would  have  termed  useless  or  even  frivolous.  I  can  hardly 
&ncy  any  better  illustration  of  St.  Paul's  observation  about 
the  foolish  things  of  this  world  confounding  the  wise  than 
Pasteur's  researches  on  tartaric  acid  ;  for  what  could  seem 
more  foolish  to  the  so-called  practical  man  than  the  question, 
"Why  does  a  crystal  of  tartaric  acid  sometimes  take  one 
&hape  and  sometimes  another  ? "  Yet  from  an  attempt  to 
answer  this  question  has  arisen  the  whole  of  Pasteur's  work 
on  fennentation  in  general,  and  on  that  of  wine,  beer,  and 
vinegar  in  particular,  whereby  he  has  been  able  to  save  millions 
to  his  country  by  accelerating  the  production  of  vinegar  and  pre- 
venting the  souring  of  wine  and  beer.  His  observation  that 
tartaric  add  sometimes  turned  the  ray  of  polarization  to  the 
right,  sometimes  to  the  left;  that,  indeed,  there  were  two 
crystals  apparently  alike,  but  really  different ;  and  that  these 
could  t>e  combined  so  as  to  form  a  symmetrical  crystal  having 
no  power  of  rotation,  led  him  to  look  to  life  and  living  beings 
as  the  source  of  asymmetry.  He  tried  to  produce  this  asym- 
metry in  sails  of  tartaric  acid  by  fermentation,  and  found  that 
during  the  process  an  organism  developed  which  eats  up  the 
dextro-tartaric  acid,  and  leaves  the  Isevo-tartaric  acid  behind. 
This  led  him  to  jnvestigate  such  minute  organisms,  and,  by 
simplifying  the  suil  in  which  they  grew,  and  separating  the 
organisms  one  from  another,  he  learned  the  conditions  of  their 
growth,  and  showed  that  most  processes  of  fermentation  were 
due  to  the  presence  of  living  organisms.  It  is  true  that  while 
Pasieur  was  still  a  t)oy  at  school,  Feyen  and  Persoz  had  shown 
that  the  liquefaction  of  starch  and  its  conversion  into  sugar  was 
due  to  diastase,  and  that  Dumas  in  a  report  on  a  paper  by 
Guerin-Varry  had  pointed  out  that,  although  unlike  diastase, 
the  active  principle  of  the  gastric  juice  had  not  been  isolated,  it 
was  probably  a  ferment  of  a  somewhat  similar  kind.  Dumas 
dassed  yeast  as  a  ferment  along  with  diastase,  and  the  fact  that 
such  a  process  as  conversion  of  starch  into  sugar  could  be  effected 
without  a  living  organism  naturally  rendered  it  all  the  more 
difficult  for  Pasteur  to  prove  his  thesis  that  most  fermentations 
were  due  to  living  organisms. 

Chemical  and  Biological  Views  of  Fermentation. — The  two 
views  of  the  action  of  ferments — namely,  the  chemical  and  the 
biological — may,  I  think,  fitly  be  likened  to  Pasteur's  two  kinds 
of  tartaric  acid,  each  by  itself  being  lopsided  and  incomplete, 
forming  a  symmetrical  whole  only  when  united.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  chemical  view  that  diastase  is  not  a 
living  organism,  and  yet  converts  starch  into  sugar.  There  can 
be  as  little  doubt  of  the  biological  view  that  yeast  and  other 
organisms  which  cause  fermentation  are  living  bodies,  and  that 
without  the  presence  of  these  living  bodies  alcoholic,  acetic,  and 
other  forms  of  fermentation  would  not  exist. 

Microbes  and  Enzymes, — But  recently  we  have  come  to  re- 
cognize that  these  living  organisms  may  produce  their  effect 
by  manufacturing  chemical  ferments,  and  that  these  ferments 
may  occatiionally  do  the  work,  although  the  organisms  which 
form  them  may  be  absent.  It  is  quite  true  that  it  is  difficult 
—perhaps  impossible — to  get  fermentation  from  the  dead 
yeast  plant,  but  we  may  find  a  parallel  for  this  in  the  fact 
that  the  pancreas  of  the  higher  animals  sometimes  yields  an 
active  ferment  and  sometimes  not.  Nor  need  we  wonder  that 
the  ferments  produced  by  microbes  have  but  a  slight  action  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  microbes  themselves,  if  we  remember 
how  very  little  power  of  digestion  a  dead  pig's  stomach  has  as 

NO.    II 36,  VOL.  44] 


compared  with  the  amount  which  can  be  digested  not  by  the  live 
animal  itself  only,  but  by  the  herds  of  swine  consisting  of  its 
'*  fathers  and  mothers,  its  brothers  and  sisters,  its  cousins  and 
its  aunts,"  during  all  the  term  of  their  natural  lives  ;  for  in  the 
process  of  fermentation  microbes  are  growing,  fermenting,  and 
dying  with  great  rapidity,  and  many  generations  occur  in  a 
fermenting  fluid  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  so  that  the  total 
effect  they  produce  will  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  any  which 
can  be  got  from  the  microbes  themselves  at  a  single  instant. 

Microbes  and  Disease, — From  organisms  as  a  cause  of  fer- 
mentation and  of  the  diseases  of  wine  and  beer,  Pasteur  went 
on  to  investigate  their  action  as  causes  of  disease  in  living  beings 
— first  in  the  silkworm,  next  in  the  lower  animals,  and,  lastly, 
in  man.  He  established  the  dependence  of  the  silkworm  disease 
and  of  anthrax  upon  the  presence  of  specific  microbes  which 
could  be  transmitted  and  communicate  the  disease,  and  by 
destroying  the  infected  eggs  of  the  silkworm  he  eradicated  the 
disease  and  restored  the  silk  industry  to  France. 

Weakening  of  Disecue  Germs, — But  while  this  investigation  is 
interesting  to  us  as  illustrating  the  probable  cause  of  the  dis- 
appearance of  typhus  fever,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,^ 
Pasteur's  researches  on  anthrax  are  still  more  important  as 
bearing  upon  the  question  of  protective  inoculation  ;  for  he 
found  that  the  disease  germ  could  be  cultivated  outside  the  living 
body  and  grown  in  flasks  under  varying  conditions,  some  of 
which  were  favourable  and  others  unfavourable  to  its  growth. 
High  temperature  enfeebled  the  virus,  so  that  it  no  longer  killed 
an  animal  with  the  same  certainty,  and  by  inoculating  first  with 
a  weak  virus  and  then  with  one  successively  stronger  and  stronger,, 
he  found  that  animals  could  be  completely  protected  either  from 
inoculation  by  the  strongest  virus  or  by  infection  from  other 
animals  suffering  from  the  actual  disease. 

Increase  in  Virulence  of  Disease  Germs, — Another  extra- 
ordinary fact  which  he  made  out  was  that  the  virus  thus  weak- 
ened, so  that  it  will  not  kill  a  guinea-pig  a  )ear  old,  and  still  less 
a  sheep  or  ox,  may  again  be  rendered  most  potent  by  inoculating 
a  feeble  animal,  such  as  a  guinea-pig  a  day  or  two  old,  from 
this  older  and  stronger  guinea-pig's,  the  strength  of  the  disease 
germs  increasing  with  every  inoculation,  until  finally  sheep  and 
cows  may  be  killed  by  it.  We  can  thus  see  how  an  epidemic  of 
disease  beginning  sporadically,  and  attacking  weak  individuals, 
may  gradually  acquire  such  strength  as  to  attack  and  carry  ofl 
the  strongest. 

Pure  Cultures, — Pasteur's  plan  of  growing  disease  germs  out- 
side the  body  in  broth,  although  of  the  utmost  value,  did  not 
allow  a  convenient  separation  of  different  germs  ;  but  this  can 
now  readily  be  done  by  Koch's  plan  of  sowing  them,  not  in  a 
liquid  medium,  but  on  solid  gelatine  spread  on  glass  plates,  so 
that  the  growth  of  the  germs  can  be  daily  watched  under  the 
microscope,  and  inoculations  made  from  single  colonies  on  other 
plates  until  pure  cultures  have  been  obtained.  By  thus  isolating 
the  different  microbes,  we  learn  their  life-history,  the  mode  in 
which  their  growth  is  influenced  by  differences  of  soil,  of  tem- 
perature, of  moisture,  by  the  addition  of  various  substances 
which  either  favour  or  retard  their  growth,  and,  last  but  not 
least,  the  effect  which  one  microbe  has  upon  another  when  they 
are  grown  together  at  the  same  time. 

Struggle  for  Existence  amongst  Microbes, —■¥ or  even  amongst 
these  minute  organisms  the  struggle  for  existence  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  exists,  like  that  which  Darwin  pointed  out 
so  clearly  in  the  case  of  higher  plants  and  animals.  •  .   •  , 

Struggle  for  Existence  between  Microbes  and  the  Organism. — 
But  it  is  not  merely  between  different  species  of  microbes 
or  different  cells  in  an  organism  that  this  struggle  occurs. 
It  takes  place  also  between  the  disease  germs  and  the  cells 
of  the  organism  which  they  invade,  and  the  result  of  the 
struggle  may  be  determined,  not  by  some  powerful  agency 
which  weakens  or  destroys  either  the  organism  or  the  mi- 
crobe, but  by  some  little  thing  which  simply  inclines  the 
scale  in  favour  of  one  or  the  other.  Thus,  in  the  potato 
disease,  the  victory  of  the  invading  microbe  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  potato,  or  the  death  of  the  microbe  and  the  health 
of  the  tuber,  may  depend  upon  some  condition  of  moisture  or 
possibly  of  electrical  change  in  the  atmosphere  which  aids  the 
growth  of  the  microbe  disproportionately  to  that  of  the  potato. 
These  atmospheric  conditions  need  not  necessarily  be  antagonistic 
to  the  potato,  they  may  even  in  themselves  be  advantageous  to 
it ;  but  if  they  help  the  microbe  more  than  the  plant,  the  microbe 
will  gain  the  victory  and  the  plant  be  destroyed. 

Fight  between  Cells  in  Higher  Organisms.-— lYit  fight  between 


330 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1 89 1 


the  organs  which  iEsop  describes  in  his  fables  actually  occurs 
between  the  cells  in  some  vertebrate  animals,  and  the  schism 
predicted  by  St.  Paul  as  the  result  of  such  a  fight  actually  takes 
place.  For  in  the  tadpole,  at  one  stage  of  its  existence  some  of 
the  cells  at  the  base  of  the  tail  begin  to  eat  up  others,  with  the 
result  that  schism  occurs  and  the  tail  falls  off. 

Phagocytosis, — ^This  struggle  for  existence  bet w sen  the  cells 
of  an  organism  and  microbes  has  been  beautifully  shown  by 
Metschnikoff  in  the  Daphne  or  water  flea,  where  the  process 
of  the  cells  eating  up  the  microbes  or  the  microbes  destroying 
the  cells  can  be  actually  observed  under  the  microscope. 
This  process  of  phagocytosis  is  now  r^arded  by  many  as  only 
a  small  part  of  the  struggle  between  an  organism  and  a 
microbe,  but  it  is  impossible  to  see  one  part  of  a  microbe  half 
digested  by  the  cell  in  which  it  is  embedded,  while  the 
part  outside  remains  unaltered,  without  believing  that  the 
process  is  one  of  great  importance.  At  the  same  time,  it 
seems  that  the  process  of  phagocytosis,  where  the  microbe 
and  the  cells  meet  in  close  conflict,  bears  about  the  same  re- 
lationship to  the  total  struggle  that  a  bayonet  charge  bears  to 
a  modem  battle.  The  main  part  of  the  fight  is  really  carried 
on  at  some  distance  by  deadly  weapons — by  bullets  in  the  case 
of  the  soldier,  and  by  ferments,  poisonous  albumoses,  and 
alkaloids  on  the  part  of  the  cells  and  the  microbes.  In  some 
of  Metschnikoffs  observations  we  can  almost  see  this  process, 
for  he  has  figured  leucocytes  dead,  and  apparently  burst  by  the 
action  of  conidia,  lying  close  to  but  yet  outside  them,  as  if  these 
conidia,  1  ke  the  dragons  of  fable,  had  spit  out  some  venom 
which  had  destroyed  them. 

Venom  of  Microbes, — Within  the  last  few  years  attention  has 
been  gradually  becoming  directed  less  to  microscopical  ex- 
amination of  the  microbes  themselves  and  more  to  chemical 
investigation  of  the  ferments  and  poisons  which  they  produce  ; 
yet,  strangely  enough,  the  very  moment  when  chemistry  is 
becoming  more  important  than  ever  has  been  chosen  to  mini- 
mize the  teaching  of  it  in  medical  schools,  and  examination  in 
it  by  licensing  bodies.  It  is  now  possible  to  separate  the  albu- 
moses and  poisons  from  the  microbes  which  produce  them  either 
by  filtration,  or  by  destroying  the  microbes  by  graduated  heat ; 
for,  as  a  rule,  they  are  destroyed  by  a  lower  temperature  than 
the  albumose  or  poisons  which  they  form. 

Microbes  and  Enzymes. — As  the  albumoses  produced  by 
microbes  are  nearly  allied,  chemically  and  physiologically,  to 
those  formed  in  the  alimentary  canal  of  the  higher  animals  by 
digestive  ferments,  ir  is  natural  to  suppose  that  microbes,  like 
the  higher  animals,  split  up  proteids,  starches,  and  sugars  by 
enzymes,  which  they  secrete,  and  which  in  both  cases  may  be 
obtained  apart  from  the  living  organisms  which  produce  them  ; 
that,  in  fact,  we  should  be  able  to  isolate  from  microbes  bodies 
which  correspond  to  pepsin  or  trypsin,  just  as  we  can  isolate 
these  from  the  stomach  or  pancreas  of  an  animal.  In  some, 
although  not  in  all  cases,  this  attempt  has  succeeded.^ 

Poisonous  Albumoses, — The  albumoses  produced  by  microbes 
resemble  those  formed  during  normal  digestion  in  being  poison- 
ous when  injected  directly  into  the  circulation,  although  they 
may  not  be  so  greatly  absorbed  from  the  intestinal  canal.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  discoveries  in  regard  to  albuminous 
bodies  is  the  fact  that  some  of  them  which  are  perfectly  innocuous, 
and,  indeed,  probably  advantageous  to  the  organism  in  their 
own  place,  become  most  deadly  pobons  when  they  get  out  of 
it.  Thus,  the  thyroid  and  thymus  glands,  which  are  perfectly 
harmless  and  probably  useful,  were  found  by  Wooldridge,  when 
broken  up  in  water,  to  yield  a  proteid  which  instantaneously 
coagulated  the  blood  if  injected  into  a  vein,  so  that  the  animal 
died  as  if  struck  by  lightning  ;  while  Schmidt- Miihlheim,  under 
Ludwig's  direction,  found  that  peptones  had  an  exactly  opposite 
effect,  and  prevented  coagulation  altogether. 

Neutral izcUion  of  Poisonous  Albumoses. — Perhaps  the  analogy 
is  too  vague,  but  we  seem  to  find  here  something  very  like 
Pasteur's  two  kinds  of  tartaric  acid,  one  rotating  polarized  light 
to  the  right,  the  other  to  the  left ;  but,  when  united  together, 
having  no  action  at  all,  for  here  we  have  two  bodies,  one  of 
which  destroys  coagulability  entirely,  the  other  increases  it 
enormously  ;  while  many  albuminous  bodies  have  no  action 
upon  coagulation  whatever.  This  view  would  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose that  one  form  of  albumose  may  neutralize  the  action  of 
another,  thus  rendering  them  both  completely  innocuous,  whilst 

"" »  Vide  Brunton  and  Maclayden,  Croonian  Lectures  on  *'  Chemical  Struc- 
ture and  Physiological  Action/*  British  Medical  Journal^  June  15,  1889, 
p.  1336. 


NO.   1 136,  VOL.  44] 


either  one  or  other  alone  might  be  a  deadly  poisoo.  Tbe 
albumoses  formed  by  microbes  appear  frequently,  if  not  a1i»af», 
to  have  a  double  action,  destructive  and  protective,  on  the  higher 
animals.  Pasteur's  treatment  of  hydrophobia  is  based  on  tlie 
idea  that  the  spinal  cord  of  rabid  animals  contains  a  vims,  aitd 
its  antidote — KLoch's  tuberculin — may  be  similar  in  this  respect, 
and  may  yet,  by  suitable  alterations,  fulfil  the  hopes  of  its  able 
and  single* minded  discoverer. 

Zymogens  and  Enzymes, — Perhaps  a  similar  process  of  spiii- 
ting  up  and  recombination  may  explain  the  formation  ud 
disappearance  of  the  enzymes,  such  as  pepsin  and.  trypsio, 
by  which  digestion  is  carried  on.  l*he  pancreas  of  a  fasting 
animal  will  not  digest  albuminou^^  bodies  like  fi^^rin,  while 
the  pancreas  of  an  animal  killed  during  full  digestion  will  do 
so  rapidly.  Yet  the  fasting  pancreas  contains  the  zymogen, 
or  mother  substance,  which  yields  the  digestive  ferment,  and, 
as  Kiihne  has  shown,  by  treating  it  first  with  acid  and  then 
with  alkali,  it  becomes  active,  /^ain,  to  recur  to  the  analogy 
of  Pasteur's  tartaric  acid,  we  seem  to  find  that  the  inactive, 
and  possibly  symmetrical,  albuminous  substance  of  the  fast- 
ing pancreas  is  split  up  by  this  treatment  after  death  or 
during  the  process  of  digestion  in  life,  and  yields  the  lopoded 
and  active  pancreatic  ferment.  But,  if  this  be  so,  w^hat  be- 
comes of  the  other  half  which  has  been  split  off?  We  do  nci 
at  present  know,  but  curiously  enough  Lepme  has  latelr 
shown  that  while  the  pancreas  is  pouring  into  the  digestive 
canal  a  ferment  which  will  form  sugar,  it  is  at  the  same  tice 
pouring  into  the  circulation  another  ferment  which  wiU 
destroy  sugar. 

Immunity, — We  must  be  very  careful  in  our  SF^ecnlatiooE, 
and  test  them  by  experiment,  but  such  observations  as  these 
may  tend  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  nature  of  immunitj. 
Immunity  is  probably  a  very  complex  condition,  and  is  not 
dependent  altogether  upon  any  single  factor,  but  we  can  ncv 
understand  that  if  a  microbe  has  gained  an  entrance  into  an 
organism,  and  produces  a  proteid  or  an  albunio<ie  poisonous 
to  the  organism  which  it  enters,  it  may  grow,  thrive,  aa^ 
destroy  that  organism,  while  the  injection  of  some  other  pro- 
teid which  would  neutralize  the  poison  might  save  the  animal 
while  the  microbe  would  perish. 

Cure  of  Anthrax. — Thus  Hank  in  has  found  that,  while  a 
mouse  inoculated  with  anthrax  will  die  within  twenty-foaT 
hours,  a  rat  resists  the  poison  altogether  ;  but  if  the  mouse 
after  being  inoculated  with  the  disease  has  a  few  drops  of 
rat's  serum  injected  into  it,  instead  of  dying,  as  it  would  other- 
wise certainly  do,  it  survives  just  like  the  rat,  and  from  the 
spleen  of  the  rat  Hankin  has  isolated  a  proteid  which  has  t 
similar  protective  action  to  that  of  the  serum. 

Cure  for  Tubercle, — Working  on  similar  lines,  Bernheim  aad 
Lepine  used  the  injection  of  goat's  blood  in  phthisis  so  as  to 
stop,  if  possible,  the  progress  of  tubercle,  and  Richet  has  a^ii 
the  serum  of  dog's  blood,  for  the  goat  is  quite  immnne. 
and  the  dog  is  to  a  great  extent,  though  not  entirely,  im- 
mune from  attacks  of  tuberculosis.  The  injection  of  goat's 
blood  in  somewhat  large  quantities  has  been  given  up,  while 
dog's  and  goat's  serum  in  small  quantities  of  15  to  20  minims 
at  intervals  of  several  days  is  still  under  trial. 

Action  of  Blisters.  — But  if  immunity  can  be  insured  hy  sach 
slight  changes  in  the  organism  as  a  few  drops  of  semm  froa 
a  rat  will  produce  in  the  body  of  a  mouse,  it  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  a  similar  change  might  possibly  be  efiRected  hnr 
removing  the  albuminous  substance  from  one  part  of  the 
body,  and  intioducing  it,  perhaps  after  it  has  undergone  sBght 
change,  into  another.  As  I  have  already  mentioned,  the 
albumoses  of  ordinary  digestion  are  poisonous  when  they  are 
injected  into  the  circulation,  and  s )  are  the  proteid  sah- 
stances  obtained  from  the  thyroid  and  thymus  glands.  Why, 
then,  may  not  the  serum  of  one's  own  blood,  withdrawn  £ram 
the  vessels  by  a  blister  and  reabsorbed  again,  not  be  as 
good  as  the  serum  obtained  from  the  blood  of  an  animal  ?  .  .   . 

Bleeding. — It  is  quite  possible,  too,  that  the  good  effects  of 
bleeding  may  be  due  to  a  similar  cause.  . 

Speculation  and  Experiment. — The  human  body  is  a  most 
complex  piece  of  mechanism.  We  learn  its  action  bit  by  bk 
very  slowly  indeed,  and  we  are  only  too  apt  to  regard  the  tittle 
piece  which  attracts  attention  at  the  moment  as  all-impoi 
and  to  leave  the  other  parts  out  of  sight.  But  this  is 
true  of  our  study  of  the  body  only,  for  the  same 
manifests  itself  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  of  all  kinds, 
it  is  in  medicine  more  especially  that  this  tendency  comes   10 


August  6,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


Zl"^ 


be  a  matter  of  life  or  death,  for  upon  the  medical  view  pre- 
vailing at  the  moment  medical  practice  is  apt  to  depend,  and 
errooeoos  views  may  lead  to  the  death  of  manv  patients.  So 
long  as  practice  depends  upon  theories,  unchecked  by  experi- 
ment, so  long  will  medical  practice  prove  fluctuating,  un- 
certain, and  dangerous.  One  of  the  greatest  gains  of  the  last 
five-and-twenty  years  is  the  general  introduction  of  the  ex- 
perimental method,  and  the  habit  which  has  been  growing  up 
daring  it  of  accepting  no  statement  unless  based  upon  experi- 
mental data.  Speculations  such  as  those  in  which  I  have 
been  indulging  in  regard  to  blisters  and  blood-letting  are  use- 
ful as  indicating  lines  of  experimental  research,  but  until 
these  have  been  thus  tested  it  is  foolish  and  may  be  danger- 
ous either  to  accept  and  act  upon  them  as  true  or  to  scout  them 
entirely  as  false  and  absurd.  Imperfect  knowledge  is  almost 
sore  to  lead  to  one-sided  practice,  and  thus,  diverging  further 
and  further  irom  the  truth,  ends  at  last  in  falsehood  and 
folly. 

Antisepsis, — Perhaps  no  better  example  0/  this  can  be  found 
than  antiseptic  surgery,  from  the  time  of  the  good  Samaritan 
down  to  Ambroise  Pare  and  Sir  Joseph  Lister.  The  good 
Samaritan  bound  up  the  wounds  of  the  poor  traveller,  pour- 
ing in  oil  and  wine,  which,  only  a  few  years  ago,  was  recom- 
mended in  an  Italian  journal  as  an  excellent  antiseptic.  Am- 
broise Pare,  when  his  ointments  ran  out,  could  not  sleep  for 
thinking  of  the  miserable  soldiers  to  whom  they  had  not  been 
applied,  and  was  greatly  astonished  to  find  in  the  morning 
that  these  wretched  neglected  ones  were  better  and  happier 
than  their  comrades  who  had  been  treated  secundum  artem, 
I  have  DO  doubt  that  Pare's  predecessors,  in  trving  to  improve 
upon  the  methods  of  the  good  Samaritan  and  upon  the  still 
useful  friars'  balsam,  which  is  a  powerful  antiseptic  but 
stings  the  wound  or  sore,  had  tried  to  make  their  applications 
more  and  more  irritating,  not  knowing  that  it  was  the  anti- 
septic power  and  not  the  irritant  qualities  which  were  desired. 
Pare  abolished  the  ointments  with  the  irrritation  they  caused, 
and  thus  did  great  service  to  surgery.  But  a  greater  one  yet 
was  rendered  by  Lister  when  he  recognized  that  the  danger 
of  operations  was  due  to  the  entrance  of  germs,  and  by  pre- 
venting this  has  completely  revolutionized  surgical  practice ; 
aay,  more,  he  bas  to  a  |[reat  extent  revolutionized  medicine, 
for  the  diseases  of  the  internal  organs,  which  were  formerly 
entirely  under  the  physician's  care,  are  now  becoming  amen- 
able to  sui^ical  treatment,  and  diseases  of  the  stomach,  in- 
testine, liver,  kidney,  and  lungs,  and  even  of  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord,  are  now  successfully  treated  by  surgery  when 
medicines  are  powerless  to  help.  The  most  remarkable  of  all 
the  recent  triumphs  of  surgical  operations  upon  the  brain  in 
which  Mr.  Horsley  has  gained  such  well  deserved  fame,  would 
have  been  impossible  without  Ferrier's  localization  of  cortical 
centres,  and  would  have  been  equally  impossible  but  for 
Lkter's  antiseptic  method. 

Disinfection. — But  it  is  not  only  in  surgery  that  recognition 
af  diseased  germs  as  a  source  of  danger  to  the  oi^ganism  has 
led  to  their  destruction  outside  the  body,  and  insured  safety 
Irom  their  attack.  This  occurs  in  all  infective  diseases,  and 
this  term  now  includes  many  which  were  not  formerly  regarded 
IS  such,  for  neither  consumption  nor  pneumonia  was  formerly 
vgarded  in  this  light;  but  just  about  twenty-five  years  ago 
ttbercle  was  shown  to  be  inoculable,  and  since  then  the  dis^ 
»very  of  the  bacillus  of  tubercle  by  Koch,  and  of  pneumonia 
>y  Friedlander,  has  caused  us  to  class  both  these  diseases  as 
lot  only  infective,  but  as  caused  by  definite  organisms. 

Prevention  of  Epidemic  Diseases, — So  long  as  people  were 
gnorant  of  the  causes  of  epidemic  diseases,  they  were  utterly 
loabie  to  combat  them,  and  they  either  in  fury  slew  defenceless 
People  for  poisoning  the  wells,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  or 
|>pointed  days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  as  in  our  own  times.  But 
Dce  an  epidemic  is  known  to  depend  upon  the  presence  of  a 
ertain  organism,  precautions  can  be  taken  for  destroying  the 
rganism  outside  the  body  by  means  of  disinfectants,  or  for 
issening  the  susceptibility  of  the  organism  to  its  ravages  inside 
be  body  by  inoculation,  or  combating  its  effects  by  means  of 
Dlipyretics.  A  knowledge  of  the  life-history  of  microbes  has 
Babied  us  to  ascertain  the  power  of  diflierent  substances, 
ither  to  destroy  them  completely  or  to  arrest  or  retard  their 
Mmination  and  growth,  and  in  this  way  to  prevent  the  occur- 
tDce  of  the  diseases  which  these  microbes  might  otherwise 
podnce.  .  .  . 
Antivivisection, — Every  now  and  again  a  loud  outcry  is  raised 

NO.  r  1 36.  VOL.  44] 


against  this  method,  partly  from  ignorance  and  partly  from  pre- 
judice. Many — probably  most — of  the  opponents  of  experiments 
on  animals  are  good,  honest,  kind-hearted  people,  who  mean 
well,  bnt  either  forget  that  man  has  rights  against  animals  as 
well  as  animals  against  man,  or  are  misled  by  the  false  state- 
ments of  the  other  class.  These  are  persons  who,  blinded  by 
prejudice,  regard  human  life  and  human  suffering  as  of  small 
importance  compared  with  those  of  animals,  who  deny  that  a 
man  is  better  than  many  sparrows,  and  who,  to  the  question 
that  was  put  of  old,  *'  How  much,  then,  is  a  man  better  than  a 
sheep?"  would  return  the  reply,  "He  is  no  better  at  all.*' 
Such  people  bring  unfounded  charges  of  cruelty  against  those 
who  are  striving,  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  to  lessen  the 
pains  of  disease  both  in  man  and  also  in  animals,  for  they,  like 
us,  are  liable  to  disease,  and,  like  us,  they  suffer  from  it.  I 
may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  quote  two  sentences  from  a  paper 
which  I  wrote  twenty-four  years  ago,  and  therefore  a  consider- 
able time  before  any  antivivisection  agitation  had  arisen,  for 
they  expressed  then,  and  they  express  now,  the  objects  of  ex- 
perimental pharmacology  : — "  Few  things  are  more  distressing 
to  a  physician  than  to  stand  beside  a  suffering  patient  who  is 
anxiously  looking  to  him  for  that  relief  from  pain  u  hich  he  feels 
himself  utterly  unable  to  afford.  His  sympathy  for  the  sufferer, 
and  the  regret  he  feels  for  the  impotence  of  his  art,  engrave  the 
picture  indelibly  on  his  mind,  and  serve  as  a  constant  and 
ui^ent  stimulus  in  his  search  after  the  causes  of  the  pain,  and 
the  means  by  which  it  may  be  alleviated"  {Lancet,  July  27, 
1867). 

Gains  by  Experiment  on  Animals. — It  is  said  that  our  mouths 
are  full  of  promises,  but  our  hands  are  empty  of  results.  The 
answer  to  this  is,  that  anyone  who  doubts  the  utility  of  experi* 
mentation  upon  animals  should  compare  the  Pharmacopoeia  of 
1867  with  our  present  one.  To  it  we  owe,  in  great  measure, 
our  power  to  lower  temperature,  for  to  it  is  due  not  only  the 
introduction  of  new  antipyretics,  such  as  salicylate  of  soda, 
antipyrin,  antifebrin,  and  phenacetin,  but  the  extension  of 
the  use  of  quinine  from  a  particular  kind  of  fever — ^malaria — 
to  other  febrile  conditions.  To  it  also  we  owe  our  greatly 
increased  power  to  lessen  pain  by  the  substances  just  men- 
tioned, which  have  not  only  an  antipyretic  but  an  analgesic 
action,  and  give  relief  in  the  torturing  pains  of  neuralgia  and 
locomotor  ataxy  when  even  morphine  fails  to  ease,  unless 
pushed  to  complete  narcosis.  The  sleeplessness,  too,  which 
is  such  a  frightful  complication  in  some  fevers,  can  now  be 
combated  by  other  remedies  than  opium  and  antimony ;  and 
we  have  the  bromides,  chloral,  sulphonal,  paraldehyde, 
urethane,  chloralamide,  and  others,  which,  either  by  them- 
selves or  added  to  opium,  enable  us  to  quiet  the  brain 
instead  of  exciting  it  to  further  action,  as  opium  alone  so  fre- 
quently does.  Our  whole  ideas  regarding  cardiac  tonics  also 
have  undergone  a  complete  revolution  within  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century,  for  I  was  told,  when  a  student,  that  digitalis  was 
a  cardiac  sedative,  and  was  apt  to  depress  the  heart,  whereas 
now  we  know  that  it  and  its  congeners — strophanthus  and 
erythrophloeum  and  spartein — increase  the  heart's  strength, 
raise  the  vascular  tension,  and  are  useful  not  only  in  sustain- 
ing the  circulation,  but  in  aiding  elimination.  This  view  of 
the  action  of  cardiac  tonics,  which  has  revolutionized  the 
treatment  of  heart  disease,  we  owe  chiefly  to  the  experiments 
of  Traube,  although  my  own  experiments,  made  in  the  labora- 
tory of  Sir  Douglas  Maclagan  under  the  direction  and  by  the 
help  of  my  teacher  and  friend.  Dr.  Arthur  Gamgee,  may  have 
helped  towards  its  general  acceptance  in  this  country. 

Future  of  Pharmacology. — But  perhaps  the  most  promising 
thing  about  pharmacology  is  that  we  are  now  just  beginning 
to  gain  such  a  knowledge  of  the  relationship  between  chemical 
structure  and  physiological  action  that  we  can,  to  a  certain 
extent,  predict  the  action  of  a  drug  from  its  chemical  structure, 
and  are  able  to  produce  new  chemical  compounds  having  a 
general  action  such  as  we  desire ;  for  example,  anaesthetics, 
soporiBcs,  antipyretics,  analgesics,  although  we  have  not  yec 
arrived  at  the  point  of  giving  to  each  one  the  precise  action 
which  would  make  it  most  suitable  in  any  particular  case. 
Even  when  we  do  not  know  the  chemical  structure  of  a  drug, 
we  may  be  able,  from  noticing  one  of  its  actions,  to  infer  that 
it  possesses  others.  We  are,  indeed,  getting  a  knowledge  of 
the  action  of  drugs  both  of  known  and  unknown  chemical  struc- 
ture, and  a  power  of  making  new  remedies  which  will,  I  believe, 
enable  us  within  the  next  five-and-twenty  years  to  cure  our 
patients  in  a  way  that  at  present  we  hardly  think.   .    .    . 


332 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1S91 


THE  INSTITUTION  OF  MECHANICAL 

ENGINEERS. 

HTHE  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
-^  neers  was  held  at  Liverpool  last  week,  commencing  on 
Tuesday,  the  28th  ult.,  and  concluding  on  Friday,  the  31st  ult. 
The  President  of  the  Institution,  Mr.  Joseph  Tomlinson,  pre- 
sided throughout,  and  the  meeting  was  highly  successful,  the 
long  and  varied  programme  being  carried  out  with  regularity 
and  precision.  The  sittings  for  reading  papers  were  held  on 
the  mornings  of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  ;  the  afternoons  of 
those  days  and  also  the  Thursday  and  Friday  being  devoted  to 
excursions.      We  will  first  deal  with  the  papers  and  discussions. 

The  sittings  were  held  in  the  concert-room  of  St.  George's 
Hall,  and  the  following  list  of  papers  was  on  the  agenda : — A 
review  of  marine  engineering  during  the  past  decade,  by  Alfred 
Blechynden,  of  Batrow-in-Furness ;  description  of  the  ware- 
house and  machineiy  for  the  storage  and  transit  of  grain  at  the 
Alexandra  Dock,  Liverpool,  by  William  Shapton,  of  London  ; 
on  the  experimental  engine  and  the  alternative  testing  machine 
in  the  Walker  Engineering  Latxiratories  of  University  College, 
Liverpool,  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Hele  Shaw,  of  Liverpool ;  on  the 
mechanical  appliances  employed  in  the  construction  of  the 
Manchester  Ship  Canal,  by  E.  Leader  Williams,  £ngineer-in- 
Chief  to  the  Canal  Company.  There  was  also  a  paper  on  the 
Liverpool  water-works,  but  this  was  adjourned  to  the  next 
meeting. 

The  Institution  having  been  welcomed  to  Liverpool  by  the 
Mayor,  Mr.  J.  B.  Morgan,  and  the  formal  business  having  been 
transacted,  Mr.  Blechynden's  paper  was  read.    Mr.  Blechynden 
has  taken  up  the  work  commenced  by  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell 
at  the  Liverpool  meeting  of  1872,  when  the  latter  presented  an 
historical  paper  giving  a  review  of  marine  engineering  up  to  that 
time.     In  1881,  the  Institution  met  at  Newcastle,  when  Mr.  F. 
C.   Marshall,  a  well-known  Tyneside  engineer,  read  a  paper 
which  consisted   of  a   retrospect   of  the  nine  years  since  Sir 
Frederick    Bramwell's  paper  had  been  read.     We  now  have 
Mr.  Blechynden  carrying  on  the  work.     These  periodical  re- 
views are  instructive.     They  cause  the  engineer  to  take  stock  of 
progress  made,  and  enable  him  to  see  the  lines  upon  which  im- 
provement may  be  expected  to  travel  in  the  immediate  future. 
Mr.  Blechynden  has  been  fortunate  in  the  period  which  has 
fallen   to  his   lot  to    review,   for  during  the   ten   years  past 
the    triple    compound    engine    has    been   developed.      When 
Mr.   Marshall  read  his  paper,  the  ordinary  compound  engine 
with  two  cylinders  was  all  but  universal  for  steamships.      Boiler 
pressures  averaged  77*45  pounds  per  square  inch,  the  average 
piston  speed  was  467  feet  per  minute,  and  the  heating  surface 
per  indicated  horse-power  was  3*99  square  feet.     The  consump- 
tion of  coal  per  indicated  horse- power  was  i  '828  pounds  per  hour. 
As  a  contrast  to  this,  Mr.  Blechynden  tells  us  that  at  the  present 
time  the  three-stage  expansion    engine   has   become  the  rule, 
and  the  boiler  pressure  has  been  increased  to    160  pounds, 
and  even  as  high   as    200    pounds  per   square    inch.      Four- 
stage    expansion     engines     of     various     forms     have    also 
been   adopted.     Forced    draught     has    come   to   the    front — 
largely,  it  would   seem  for  the  purpose  of  being  abused — tbe 
piston   speed  has   risen  to  529  feet  per  minute,  the  heating 
surface  per  indicated  horse-power  is  3*274  square  feet,  and  the 
coal  consumption  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour  is  I  '522 
pounds.  By  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  during  the  last  ten  years 
the  working  pressure  has  about  doubled,  and  that  fuel  economy 
has  been  improved    by   about   20  per  cent.      We    may  say 
that  we  do  not  always  place  full  reliance  in  the  details  given 
with   regard  to  fuel  economy   in   connection   with   mercantile 
marine  engines.     We  think  that  the  power  is  apt  to  be  taken  on 
the  best  performance  of  the  engines,  so  that  they  are  credited 
with  a  duty   they  cannot  maintain  continuously  throughout  a 
voyage.     Probably,  however,  the  figures  given  by  the  author  are 
accurate  for  comparative  purposes,   and  they  are  not,  as  are 
some  results  claimed  by  marine  engineers,  altogether  too  good 
to  be  true.     We  would  here  draw  attention  to  the  author's 
expressions  '*  three-stage  "and  "  four-stage  "compound  engines. 
Engineers  have  been  in  the  habit  of  referring  to  these  types  as 
triple  expansion  and  quadruple  expansion  engines.     This  no- 
menclature is  inaccurate  and  misleading  for  an  ordinary  two- 
cylinder  compound,  and  even  the  simple  non-compound  engine 
expands  the  steam  more  than  three  or  four  times.     Some  engi- 
neers, recognizing  this,  have  used  the  terms  **  triple  compound" 
or  "quadruple compound," but  Mr.  Blechynden's  expression  has 

NO.    XX 36.  VOL.  44] 


the  merit  of  greater  accuracy  and  simplicity.    We  hope  ths^  en- 
gineers, who  are  apt  to  be  somewhat  loose  in  the  naming  of  objects, 
will  adopt  Mr.   Blechynden's  terms.      Added  to  the  paper  are 
tables  giving  details  of  construction  and  performance  of  repre- 
sentative steamers  of  the  present  day.  A  long  discussion  followed 
the  reading  of  this  paper.     It  turned  chiefly  upon  tbe  quesdon 
of  forced  draught,  corrugated  flues,  and  the  rules  with  regard  to 
boiler  testing  which  Mr.  Sennett  introduced  when  he  was  at  the 
Admiralty.     With  regard  to  the  forced  draught  question,  the 
very  sensible  opinion  seemed  to  have  been  arrived  at  that  forced 
draught,  though  a  good  thing  in  itself,  may  prove  a  great  ill 
if  overdone.     It  is  in  the  Navy  chiefly  that  forced  draught  has 
gained    an  evil    reputation,  and  naval  officers  are    largely  to 
blame  for  this,  although  the  engineers  must  take  their  share  of 
the  responsibility.     When  it  was  found  how  great  an  accession 
of  power  could   be   obtained   by  forcing  combustion    with  a 
fan,   naval   officers   thought   they  had  a  royal  road  to  speed. 
Boilers  which  had  been  designed  on  principles  that  bad  grows 
up  under  a  simple  chimney  draught  regime,  were  urged  hy  fan- 
blast  to  duties  beyond  their  powers  of  endurance  ;  and  then, 
when  tube  plates  buckled  and  tubes  leaked,  forced  draught  was 
said  by  gallant  admirals  to  be  **  the  invention  of  the  Evil  One." 
'l*he  engineers,  as  we   have   said,  were  also  to   blame.     The 
boiler    has    always     been     the     Ishmael    of    the    machiDery- 
designer,  nearly  all  the  attention  having  been  lavished  on  the 
engine.      As  a  consequence  boiler  construction  has    been  a 
matter  of  rule  of  thumb,  and,  when  the  empirical  rules  upon 
which  it  was  based  have  no  longer  applied,  the  engineer  has 
been  nonplussed  through  want  of  a  basis  of  scientific  knowledge 
upon  which  to  build  anew.     The  torpedo-boat  builders  ha.ve  no 
trouble  with  forced  draught,  though  they  blow  far  harder  thaa 
in  any  other  vessels  ;    but  then  the  torpedo-boat  builders  are 
good  engineers — not    mere    blind  followers  of   "practice**— 
as  was  proved  by  the  paper  read  last  spring  on   this  subject 
by   Mr.   Yarrow   before   the   Institution  of  Naval  Architects. 
In  speaking  upon  corrugated  flues  Mr.  Macfarlane  Gray  made 
a  remark   on   the  subject  which   might   have   received    more 
attention.     It  has  long  been  claimed  by  the  makers  of  this  type 
of  furnace  that  additional  heating  surface,  and  that  of  a  most 
valuable  kind,  was  obtained  by  the  corrugations.      This  Mr. 
Gray  said  was  a  fallacy,  for  the  heat  from  the  furnace  proceeded 
only  in  radial  lines,  and  therefore  no  greater  effective   area  of 
heating   surface  could  be  obtained  than  that  due  to  a  plais 
cylinder. 

Mr.  Shapton's  paper  was  an  interesting  description  of 
the  building  and  machinery  referred  to  in  the  title,  by 
which  grain  is  transported  and  stored.  The  warehouse  m 
question  consists  chiefly  of  a  vast  cellular  structure  which  migfa: 
be  described  as  a  brick  and  mortar  honeycomb,  filled  with  graia 
in  place  of  honey.  There  are  250  hexagonal  bins  or  silos,  each 
measuring  12  feet  across  the  angles  and  80  feet  deep.  Tbe 
storage  capacity  is  2,240,000  bushels.  The  grain  is  lifted  froai 
vessels  by  elevators,  and  carried  to  the  top  of  the  building,  from 
whence  vertical  movement  is  supplied  by  gravity.  Horizontal 
travel  is  carried  on  by  continuous  moving  bells  or  bands  which 
run  over  wheel  pulleys.  The  way  in  which  streams  of  grain  can 
be  diverted  into  any  required  direction  is  very  curious  to  watdL 
A  good  part  of  the  discussion  on  the  paper  turned  on  the 
best  form  of  bin  or  silo.  At  first  one  would  think  that  the 
bin  designer  could  not  do  better  than  follow  the  bee,  but 
it  was  shown  that  cylindrical  chambers  made  of  sheet 
iron  would  give  a  lai^e  saving  of  space  over  the  hexagonal 
brick  bins.  The  advantage  is  due  of  course  to  the  thinner  waDs 
of  sheet  iron,  the  cylinder  being  a  form  by  which  advantage  can 
best  be  taken  of  the  high  tensile  strength  of  iron.  In  America. 
where  the  silo  system  was  in  common  use  long  before  it  made 
its  appearance  in  this  country,  the  bins  are  made  wholly  of  wood, 
but  this  is  subject  to  rot,  and  harbours  weevils.  Sheet*iit3Q 
rusts  and  brick  retains  moisture,  so  that  with  brick  the  grain 
heats  unless  well  looked  after  and  ventilated.  On  the  whole, 
however,  brick  has  the  preference  in  this  country.  Sir  James 
Douglass  made  a  suggestion  which  will,  we  should  think,  receive 
attention  at  the  hands  of  future  silo  designers.  The  represen- 
tation of  the  Eddystone  Lighthouse  at  the  Royal  Naval  Exhibitian 
is  a  building  not  altogether  dissimilar  from  a  silo.  It  has  voy 
thin  walls,  which  are  constructed  of  expanded  sheet  steel,  or 
sheared  lattice  work,  which  forms  the  bond  for  a  crust  of  Port- 
land cement.  The  result  is  a  wall  of  great  tenacity  and  rigidity, 
and  one  which  would  not  have  the  same  defect  as  brickwork  with 
regard  to  harbouring  damp.     The  problem  of  ventilating  grain  i« 


August  6,  1891] 


NA TURE 


333 


one  of  difficulty ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  it  has  not  yet  been  solved. 
The  most  serious  effort  yet  made  was  the  building  of  a  granary 
on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  known,  we  believe,  as  the  Patent 
Ventilating  Granary.  This  granary  was  referred  to  during  the 
discussion  by  Mr.  Percy  Wcstmacott,  so  long  the  chief  of  the 
hydraulic  department  at  Armstrong's.  The  patent  ventilating 
trraogement  consisted  of  a  perforated  tube  running  down  the 
centre  of  each  bin.  This  was  provided  with  a  movable  stop  or 
plug,  and,  by  adjusting  the  height  of  the  stop,  a  blast  of  air  could 
be  directed  through  the  perforations  of  the  tube  into  any  part  of 
the  grain.  The  idea  was  of  French  origin,  and,  Mr.  Wcst- 
macott said,  more  ingenious  than  practical,  so  that  the  granary 
was  polled  down  after  a  time.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that 
those  parts  of  the  grain  which  required  most  ventilation  would 
form  into  hard  lumps,  into  which  the  air  would  not  penetrate. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  it  b  found  more  advantageous  to  air  the 
grain  by  giving  it  a  constitutional  over  the  carrying  bands. 

Prof.  Hele  Shaw's  paper  on  his  experimental  engine  and 
alternative  centre-testing   machine  was  one  of  great  interest. 
The  engine  in  question,  which  is  described  as  a  marine  engine, 
though  it  has  a   large    fly-wheel,   is,   we    believe,   the    most 
elaborate  from    an    experimental    point    of   view,    yet   made. 
The  question  has  been  raised  whether  it  is  not  too  elaborate, 
so  that  satisfactory  results  will  not  be  reached  on  any  one 
point.     That  is  a  problem  which  remains  to  be  proved    by 
acts ;  for  the  engine  has  only  just  been  erected.    It  is  150  horse- 
power, and  is  of  the  ordinary  vertical  three-cylinder  three-stage 
compound  type.     The  high-pressure  and  intermediate  cylinders 
have  cylindrical  valves,    and    the   low    pressure    has    a    flat 
valve.      Each     valve    is    worked     by     a     different    type    of 
motion — namely,  ordinary  Stephenson  link  motion,  Joy  gear, 
and  Hackworth   gear.      The   cylinders   are  jacketed  at  sides 
and   ends,    and    there    are    provisions    in    the    way  of   con- 
nections   for     working     in     every     possible      manner,     i,e. 
cylinders  all  jacketed,  not  jacketed  at  all,  or  any  one  or  two 
jacketed.      Any  combination  of  cylinders  can  be  worked,  or 
anv  one  cylinder  alone.     In  addition   to   this  the  cranks  are 
adjustable  on  their  shaft,  so  that  any  combination  can  be  got  in 
this  way ;    in  short,  the  number  of  different  combinations  that 
are  at  command  would  require  years  to  work  through.     There 
are  the  usual  measuring  tanks  and  other  apparatus  for  quantita- 
tive tests.     An  excellent  suggestion  was  made  by  Prof.  Good- 
man during  the  discussion.      He  proposed  that  arrangements 
should  be  made  for  testing  the  students'  knowledge  by  putting 
the  engine  into  conditions  not  in  accordance  with  proper  design. 
For  instance,  he  would  have  valve-rods  or  excentric  rods  of 
improper  length,  valves  ill-set  with  improper  lap  or  lead,  leaky 
valves  and  pistons,  and  various  other  ills,  to  which  engines  are 
subject,  purposely  introduced.     He  would  also  provide  a  means 
of  passing  water  into  the  cylinders.     He  would  then  have  the 
student  take  diagrams  from  the  engine,  and  leave  him  to  deter- 
mine the  cause  of  the  defect  by  the  appearance  of  the  cards. 
We  hope  Prof.  Goodman  will  be  able  to  follow  up  this  useful 
suggestion  in  his  own   laboratory  at  Leeds.     The  alternative 
testing   machine   is    a    100- ton    single- lever    machine    of  the 
Wicksteed  tyi>e.     The   alteration  in  power  is    got  by  substi- 
tuting one  fulcrum   for  another  a  few   inches  distant.     The 
mechanism  by  which  this  is  done  is  ingenious,  but  the  details 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  without  the  aid  of  diagrams. 

The  last  paper  read  at  the  meeting  was  that  of  Mr.  Leader 
Williams.  The  author  commenced  by  saying  that  46^  million 
cubic  yards  had  to  be  excavated  in  making  the  Manchester  Ship 
Canal,  and  as  only  17,000  men  and  200  horses  have  been  used 
there  was  evidently  required  a  large  power  in  the  shape  of 
mechanical  appliances  in  order  to  get  the  work  done  in  anything 
like  reasonable  time.  Ninety-seven  steam  excavators  and  eight 
steam  dredgers  of  large  power  have  been  employed ;  and  the  spoil 
has  in  most  cases  been  taken  a  distance  of  several  miles.  For  this 
work,  and  for  the  general  purposes  of  construction,  173  locomo- 
tives and  6300  trucks  and  waggons  have  been  used.  The  railways 
laid  for  the  purpose  amount  to  228  miles  of  single  line.  The  rate  of 
excavation  has  varied  from  three-quarters  of  a  million  to  i^ 
million  cubic  yards  per  month.  There  are  also  employed  on  the 
works  124  steam* cranes,  192  portable  and  other  steam-engines, 
and  212  steam-pumps.  The  coal  consumed  by  the  engines  is 
about  10,000  tons  a  month.  These  figures  will  give  some  idea 
of  the  heroic  proportions  upon  which  large  constructive  works 
are  carried  out,  and  the  capital  required  to  start  them.  The 
whole  plant  of  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal  has  cost,  we  believe, 
close  on  a  million  sterling.     The  machines  described  in  the 

NO.    1 136,  VOL.  44] 


paper  which  were   of  greatest    interest  were  the  excavators. 
The  chief  of  these  is  the  now  well-known  "steam  navvy," 
made  by  Ruston  and  Proctor,  of  Lincoln.     It  first  came  pro- 
minently   into  notice  during  the  construction  of   the   Albert 
Docks,  and  is  looked  on  as  a  standard   tool  wherever  large 
excavating  work  is  undertaken.       It  has   the    immense    ad- 
vantage   of  being  able   to  work  in  any    kind  of  soil,  even 
including  sandstone  rock,  if  not  very  hard.       It   is  only  in 
hard  rock  that  blasting    has    to    be    done    as    an    auxiliary. 
The     most     interesting,     or,    perhaps,    we     should    say    the 
most  novel  machines  are  the  French  and  German  excavators, 
or  land  dredgers,  which  have  been  introduced  into  this  country 
for  the  first  time  in  connection  with  this  work.     These  are  on 
the  same  general  principle  as  a  floating  ladder  and  bucket 
dredger  of  the  common  type.      In  place  of  the  ladder  and 
motive  machinery  being  held  by  a  floating  hull,  there  is  a  small 
house  mounted  on  wheels,  and  this  runs  on  a  line  of  rails  on  the 
summit  of  a  bank.     The  ladder  slopes  outward  from  the  side, 
reclining  on  the  bank,  which  the  buckets  scrape  away  as  they 
traverse,  and  deposit  the  spoil  in  waggons  on  the  bank  above. 
There  are  differences  in  detail  between  the  French  and  German 
types,   but  in  general  principle  they  are  alike.     The  German 
machine  appears  to  us  the  better  designed,  but  Mr.    Leader 
Williams  says  the    French    excavator  is  of  more  substantial 
construction.      The   weight  of  these   machines   is  from  70  to 
80   tons,    and   under    favourable   conditions   they   have  been 
known  to  excavate  the  enormous  bulk  of  2400  cubic  yards  in  one 
working  day.     Mr.  Williams's  paper  was  not  discussed,  which 
is  a  fact  to  be  regretted  by  engineers,  as  the  subject  is  one  which 
requires  ventilation  ;  but  time  was  running  short.      After  the 
usual  votes  of  thanks,  the  sittings  of  the  meeting  were  brought 
to  a  close. 

We  can  only  add  a  few  words  about  the  excursions.  On  the 
Tuesday  there  was  a  lunch  on  board  the  big  White  Star  liner 
the  Majestic^  for  one  section  of  the  members  ;  whilst  others 
visited  the  grain  warehouse,  described  by  Mr.  Shapton  in  his 
paper,  and  the  new  overhead  railway,  which  has  been  designed 
by  Mr.  Greathead,  the  Engineer  of  the  City  and  South  London 
Railway,  and  which  runs  along  the  line  of  docks.  This  railway 
is  of  steel  and  iron  throughout,  and  possesses  the  novel  ad- 
vantage of  forming  a  water-tight  roof,  under  which  the  people 
of  Liverpool  will  be  able  to  walk  on  rainy  days  without  getting 
wet.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  conversazione ^  which,  of  course, 
was  the  social  feature  of  the  meeting.  On  Wednesday  afternoon 
the  members  visited  the  new  engineering  laboratories  which  have 
been  added  to  University  College,  Liverpool,  where  the  engine 
and  testing  machine  described  in  Prof.  Hele- Shaw's  paper  were 
examined.  On  Thursday  one  party  visited  the  Mersey  Docks, 
the  Mersey  Tunnel,  and  Laird  Bros.'  ship-yard  and  engine  works. 
At  the  latter  there  are  several  interesting  vessels  in  progress,  in- 
cluding the  big  battle  ship  Royai  Oak,  of  14,000  tons.  Another 
party  went  to  Horwich,  and  saw  the  fine  locomotive  works  which 
have  just  been  completed  there  by  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire 
Railway.  These  works  have  been  beautifully  planned  and  laid 
out  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Aspinall.  Although  not  so 
large  as  some  other  establishments  of  a  similar  kind,  they  may 
be  taken  as  a  model  of  design.  Mr.  Aspinall  naturally  had  a 
unique  opportunity  with  a  clear  field  to  work  upon,  and  an 
accumulated  experience  at  his  command.  Friday,  the  last  day, 
was  devoted  wholly  to  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal,  the  members 
being  carried  down  the  line  of  works  in  a  special  train,  under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Leader  Williams. 


THE  NEW  GAS,  CHLORO FLUORIDE  OF 

PHOSPHORUS. 

AS  briefly  announced  in  the  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
French  Academy  of  Sciences,  a  note  upon  a  new  gaseous 
compound,  containing  phosphorus,  fluorine,  and  chlorine,  has 
just  been  presented  by  M.  Moissan,  on  behalf  of  M.  Poulenc. 
During  the  course  of  his  work  upon  the  fluorides  of  phosphorus, 
M.  Moissan  observed  that,  when  phosphorus  trifluoride  was 
brought  in  contact  with  chlorine,  the  green  colour  of  the  latter 
at  once  disappeared,  and  there  appeared  to  be  formed  a  new 
and  colourless  gas.  The  gas  thus  formed  has  been  prepared  in 
considerable  quantity  by  M.  Poulenc,  and  its  properties  inves- 
tigated. It  appears  to  be  directly  formed  by  addition,  according 
to  the  simple  equation — 

PF,  -f  CI,  =  PFjCl, ; 


334 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1891 


for  the  trifluoride  of  phosphonis  and  chlorine  are  found  to  react 
■n  equal  volumes,  and  the  combination  is  attended  by  a  con- 
traction of  one-half.  The  new  gas  may  therefore  be  considered 
as  phosph  3rus  chlorofluoride,  PCljF,,  the  chlorine  derivatiye  of 
phosphoryl  and  thiophosphoryl  fluoride,  POF,  and  PSF3. 

The  most  convenient  mode  of  preparation  is  described  as  fol- 
lows. Two  flasks  of  equal  capacity  (about  500  c.c.)  are  taken, 
and  filled  respectively  with  phosphorus  trifluoride  and  chlorine. 
They  are  connected  together  b^  a  beat  tube  passing  through  the 
stoppers,  and  the  flask  containing  the  phosphorus  trifluoride  is 
further  connected  with  a  reservoir  of  mercury  in  such  a  manner 
that  a  gentle  pressure  may  be  placed  upon  the  trifluoride,  so  as 
to  gradually  displace  it  over  into  the  chlorine.  The  two  flasks 
being  of  equal  capacity,  it  is  evident  that,  when  the  whole  of 
the  trifluoride  has  thus  been  transferred,  the  reaction  is  com- 
pleted, the  green  colour  of  the  contents  of  the  other  flask  dis- 
appears, and  the  remaining  gas  is  almost  pure  chlorofluoride. 
After  allowing  to  stand  a  few  days  in  contact  with  the  mercury, 
in  order  to  remove  the  last  traces  of  chlorine,  the  gas  is  ready 
for  examination. 

Phosphorus  chlorofluoride  is  a  colourless  incombustible  gas, 
possessing  a  powerfully  irritating  odour.  It  is  instantly  ab- 
sorbed ai.d  decomposed  by  water  and  by  solutions  of  alkaline 
or  alkaline  earthy  hydrates.  A  determination  of  its  vapour- 
density  gave  the  number  5*40,  sufficiently  near  the  theoretical 
density  uf  a  substanc:  PCl^F,  (5 '46).  It  is  comparatively  easily 
liquefied,  a  temperature  of  -  8  C.  being  .<iufficient  at  ordinary 
pressures.  It  is  dissociated  at  a  temperature  of  250**  C.  into 
gaseous  pentafluoride  and  solid  pentachloride  of  phosphorus. 
The  induction  spark  effects  the  same  decomposition. 

Sulphur  reacts  with  phosphorus  chlorofluoride  in  a  most  in- 
teresting manner.  The  reaction  commences  about  the  melting- 
point  of  sulphur,  1 15°  C. ,  and  the  products  are  chloride  of  sulphur 
and  gaseous  thiophosphoryl  fluoride,  PSF,.  And  here  a  most 
emphatic  protest  must  be  made  against  the  manner  in  which 
many  French  chemists  persistently  ignore  the  work  of  the 
chemists  of  other  countries.  Thiophosphoryl  fluoride,  PSFg, 
was  discovered  and  prepared  three  years  ago  in  the  Research 
Laboratory  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  South  Kensington, 
by  Prof.  Thorpe  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Rodger ;  and  a  detailed 
account,  illustrated  by  experiments,  of  the  mode  of  preparation 
and  properties  of  this  remarkable  gas,  was  laid  before  the 
Chemical  Society  and  published  in  their  Journal.^  And  yet, 
in  the  memoir  just  presented  by  M.  Moissan,  we  find  this 
compound,  a  description  of  which  long  ago  found  its  way  into 
the  abstracts  or  referate  of  most  foreign  journals,  described  as 
"  un  nouveau  compose  gaseux.''  Indeed,  a  considerable  amount 
of  unnecessary  trouble  appears  to  have  been  taken  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  composition  of  this  *'  new  gas" — trouble  which,  as 
the  compound  is  so  readily  recognizable  by  its  extraordinary 
properties,  might  have  been  saved,  if  the  author  had  taken  the 
pains  to  look  up  the  literature  of  the  subject.  It  is  high  time 
that  French  chemists  should  look  to  their  "prestige "in  this 
respect,  for,  unfortunately,  the  present  is  by  no  means  the  only 
case  which  has  within  the  last  few  months  come  before  the  notice 
of  the  writer  of  this  note,  in  which  compounds  fully  described 
and  worked  out  by  English  chemists  have  been  rediscovered 
and  described  as  new  by  French  authors. 

When  phosphorus  chlorofluoride  is  passed  over  free  phos- 
phorus heated  to  120",  it  is  decomposed  with  formation  of 
phosphorus  trifluoride,  which  passes  away  as  gas,  and  phos- 
phorus trichloride,  which  condenses  in  liquid  drops.  Metallic 
sodium,  when  slightly  heated,  appears  to  absorb  the  chloro- 
fluoride entirely,  while  magnesium,  aluminium,  iron,  nickel, 
lead,  and  tin,  when  heated  to  about  180**,  attack  the  gas  with 
formation  oS  anhydrous  chlorides  and  liberation  of  phosphorus 
trifluoride.  Mercury  attacks  it  very  slowly  at  the  onlinary 
temperature,  but  very  rapidly  at  180%  with  formation  likewise 
of  a  chloride  of  the  metal  and  gaseous  trifluoride  of  phosphorus. 
Hence,  when  purifying  the  gas  from  the  last  traces  of  chlorine, 
the  mercury  should  not  be  agitated,  but  allowed  to  remain  at 
rest,  as  agitation  brings  about  a  perceptible  amount  of  decom- 
position. 

Water  reacts  in  two  stages  with  phosphorus  chlorofluoride. 
When  a  little  aqueous  vapour  is  admitted  into  the  vessel  inclosing 
the  gas,  phosphoryl  fluoride  and  hydrochloric  acid  are  formed  in 
accordance  with  the  equation — 

PCljF,  +  H,0  =  POF,  +  2HCI. 

When  passed  into  water,  however,    the  gas    is   completely 

*  Joum.  Chem.  Soc.  Trans,  1889,  vol.  Iv.  p.  306. 

NO.   1 1 36.  VOL.  44] 


i 


decomposed   into  phosphoric,   hydrochloric,   and  hydroflaorie 
adds — 

PCIjFs  +  4H,0  =  H,P04  -f-  2HCI  +3HF. 

Ammonia  gas  reacts  at  the  ordinary  temperature  with  pro- 
duction of  a  white  solid  compound,  readily  soluble  in  water, 
which  appears  to  be  fluophosphamide,  PF,(NH2)t. 

PCIjPg  +  4NHs  =  PF,(NHg),  -H2NH4CI. 

Phosphorus  chlorofluoride  is  absorbed  by  absolute  alcohol  with 
production  of  a  compound  possessing  a  penetrating  odour,  and 
which  burns  with  a  bright  fliime  bordered  with  green,  and  letves 
a  white  residue  of  phosphoric  acid.  The  nature  of  this  compooDd 
has  not  yet  been  fully  ascertained. 

These  properties  of  phosphorus  chlorofluoride  indicate  that  tbe 
gas  is  much  less  stable  than  the  pentafluoride,  and  that  tbe  two 
atoms  of  chlorine  possess  a  mobility  which  renders  their  remoiai 
a  matter  of  considerable  ease.  A.  £.  Tutton. 


PROF,  MENDELEEFF  ON  THE  VARIA  TION  OF 
THE  DENSITY  OF  WA  TER  A  T  DIFFERENT 
TEMPERA  TURES. 

HTHE  last  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Russian  Physical  and 
-^  Chemical  Society  (1891,  No.  5)  contains  an  importaat 
paper,  by  Prof.  Mendeleeff,  upon  the  variation  of  tbe  density  of 
water  at  different  temperatures.  In  a  work,  published  in  18S4 
and  translated  into  English  in  the  Journal  of  the  Chemi- 
cal Society,  the  Russian  Professor  proposed  tbe  foiiDBk 
S/  =  S0(i  -  kt)  as  a  first  approximation  to  a  mode  of  expresuog 
the  expansion  of  liquids  at  a  certain  distance  from  the  tempen* 
tures  at  which  they  change  their  state,  and  within  the  limits  of 
accuracy  attained  in  the  present  determinations.  But  he  I^ 
marked  that  the  expansion  of  water  would  require  a  separate 
formula,  and  he  now  proposes  the  formula 

S.  =  i-  <^  -  4)' 

tA  +  /KB  -  i)C* 

which  embodies,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  all  that  is  jet 
known  about  changes  in  the  density  of  water  (S/)  within 
the  limits  of  from  -  lO^  to  +  200°.  For  alU  liqnids 
save   water,    the    increase    of   density    with    the    increase  of 

temperature,  that  is,  the  derived  --^,  varies  but  little  ;  it  hot 
slightly  increases  or  slightly  decreases  with  considerable  changes 
of  temperature  ;  while  for  water,  —  not  only  changes  its  sign 

at  +  4°,  but  very  rapidly  varies  even  at  temperatures  reooote 
from  zero,  and  even  superior  to  IOO^  After  confirming  the 
above  by  a  few  examples,  Prof.  Mendeleeff  indicates  the  faint 
relations  between  his  new  formula  for  water  and  the  general  lav 
of  the  expansion  of  liquids,  by  explaining  the  way  in  which  be 
arrived  at  his  new  formula.  He  points  out,  moreover,  that 
under  the  present  state  of  the  determinations  of  the  density  of 
water  at  various  temperatures,  it  would  be  impossible  to  find 
exact  figures  for  the  constants  A,  B,  and  C,  in  the  above  for* 
mula,  and  that  provisionally,  and  especially  for  temperatures 
between  0°  and  40^  they  may  be  taken  as  follows : — A  =  94*10, 
B  =  703*51,  and  C  =  1*90. 

Prof.  Mendeleeff  then  goes  on  briefly  to  analyze  the  vaiioos 
corrections  which  ought  to  be  taken  into  account  in  the  deter- 
minations of  the  density  of  water;  namely,  the  influence  of 
pressure,  the  expansion  of  solids,  and  the  measurements  of  tem- 
perature. All  these  being  taken  into  account,  it  appears  that 
the  errors  of  the  best  determinations  of  densities  attain  several 
units  in  the  fifth  decimals,  even  at  common  temperatures.  After 
many  unsuccessful  attempts  at  improving  the  current  figures  of 
densities  by  introducing  into  them  several  corrections.  Prof. 
Mendeleeff  abandoned  the  idea,  and  he  now  gives  the  authentic 
figrures,  as  they  were  published  by  the  investigators  themselves, 
simply  expressing  all  determinations  in  volumes  for  the  sake  of 
facilitating  comparison.  The  figures  published  by  Hallstrom 
(1823),  Muncke  (1828),  Stampfer  (1831),  Despretz  (1S37), 
Pierre  (1847),  Kopp  (1847),  Pliicker  and  Geissler  (1852),  Hagen 
(1855),  Henrici  (1864),  Jolly  (1864),  Matthissen  (1865),  Weidner 
(1866),  and  Rosetti  (1869),  are  thus  given  in  a  first  table.  The 
figures,  as  they  were  corrected  by  Biot  in  181 1,  Hallstrom  in 
1835,  Miller  in  1856,  Rosetti  in  1871,  Volkmann  in  i88f,  Men- 
deleeff in  1884,  and  Makarofif  in  1891,  are  given  in  a  seoood 

I  table. 

I      The  averages  of  the  volumes  of  water  derived  from  the  original 


August  6,  1891] 


JV  A  TURE 


335 


figures  (Table  I.)i  at  temperatures  from  -5*  to  +  loo'*,  taking 
the  volume  at  4"  equal  to  1,000,000,  and  the  pressure  being 
equal  to  one  atmosphere,  appear  as  follows  in  the  siec  ^nd  column 
;V/)  of  the  subjoined  table.  They  are  followed,  in  the  third 
column,  by  the  volumes  as  calculated  from  Prof.  Mendeleeffs 
Dcw  formula : — 


calculated  from 
'     the  formula. 


I 


1000662 
I  000  122 
1000008 
1000263 
1000847 

1 001  733 

1 002  871 
30  '  1004248 
40  1 007  700 

I  on  933 
1 016  915 
1 022  513 
1 028  849 
1035719 
1 043  180 


0 

+S 

10 

»5 

90 
25 


50 
60 

70 

fo 

00 


1000676 
1 000 127 
I  000008 
I  000262 
I  000849 
I  001  731 
1002880 
I  004276 
I  007  725 
I  on  967 
I  016926 
I  022  549 
I  028  81 1 
I  035  692 
I  043  194 


di 
fori' 


-157 
-  65 
+  15 

+  85 
+  148 
+  204 

+  254 
+  302 
+  3^6 
+  461 
+  530 

+  595 
+  656 

+  719 
+  781 


dv 
-dp 

for  X  at  mo 
sphere. 


52 
50 

48 

47 
46 

45 

44 

43 

41 
40 

39 
40 

41 
42 

44 


Possible 
errors  of  the 
present  deter- 
minations. 


29 
12 

3 

15 
26 

3S 
43 
49 
59 
67 

75 
85 


± 

± 

± 

± 

ifc  98 

±n8 

±145 


Finally,  a  third  table  is  given,  being  the  result  of  the  calcula- 
00  made  by  taking 


Bd 


IOOC0(/)' 

0(0  =  12878  +  1-158/  -  00019/^, 

iooo<^(/)  =  1-90  (94*10  -h  /)  (70351  -  ^)» 


Ml  extending  the  calculation  to  +  200**  and  -  10**.      The  most 

ds 
oportant  values  of  --  are  given  in  the  fourth  column  of  the 

tbjoined  table  ;  so,  also,  the  approximate  values  of  — ,  which 

re  "bat  a  first  rough  approximation,"  to  show  the  importance 
"  pressure  in  the  determinations  of  volumes  of  water : — 


>c. 

Calculated 
densitie<,  S/. 

Possible  error  of 
present  meastirements 
(in  z,ooo,oooth  parts). 

Derived  dsjdt  for 
X  C.  (in  x,ooo,ocoth 
parts). 

Derived  dsldp  for 

X  atmosphere 

Cm  z, 000,000th  parts). 

Numerical 

values  of 

^(0. 

Calculated 

•10 

0*998  281 

=F   49 

+    264 

+  54 

114*01 

I'ooi  722 

5 

999325 

=F   29 

+    157 

52 

119*94 

000676 

0 

999  873 

7    12 

+      65 

50 

12578 

000  127 

•  5 

999992 

=*=     3 

-       15 

48 

131-52 

000008 

10 

999738     ±   15 

-      85 

47 

137-17 

000  262 

'5 

999152 

±  26 

-    148 

46 

142*72 

000849 

20 

998  272 

t  35 

-    203 

45 

148*18  , 

001  731 

25 

997  128 

±  43 

-    254 

44 

153-54 

002880 

30-   995  743 

±  49 

-     299 

43 

158-81  , 

004  276 

40 

992  334 

±  53 

-    380 

+41 

169-06 

I  -007  725 

50 

988174 

65 

-    450 

40 

178-93  : 

on  967 

60 

983  356 

72 

-   512 

39 

188-42 

016  926 

70      977  948 

80 

-    569 

39 

197-5^ 

022  549 

80 

971  996 

92 

-    621 

40 

206*26 

028  811 

90 

965  537 

109 

-    670 

41 

2x4*61 

035  692 

00 

958  595 

133 

-  718 

42 

222-58  ' 

043  194 

20 

943  314 

±600 

-   810 

+43 

237-38 

1*060093 

40 

926  211 

650 

-    901 

48 

250*66 

079  667 

60  f    907  263 

700 

-   995 

55 

262*42 

102  216 

fto 

886  393 

750 

-1093 

64 

272*66 

128  167 

30 

863473 

800 

- 1200 

73 

281*38 

158  114 

In  conclusion.  Prof.  MendeleefT  repeats  that  he  proposes  as 
soon  as  possible  to  make  anew  the  determinations  of  the  densi- 
ties of  water,  because  the  former  determinations  were  made  on 
assumptions  (permanency  of  the  coefficient  of  the  expansion  of 
glass  and  mercuiy,  and  no  notice  being  taken  of  press-ure) 
which  can  no  longer  be  maintained.  If  new  measurements  con* 
firm  the  formula,  or  lead  to  a  more  correct  one,  we  shall  be 
better  able  to  understand  the  laws  of  the  expansion  of  all  liquids, 
and  therefore  of  gases  as  well.  *'  In  the  case  of  water,"  he 
says,  **  we  have  begun  to  understand  more  clearly  the  influence 
of  heat  upon  densities  and  volumes,  and  I  believe  that  with  the 
help  of  water  we  may  expect  some  further  progress  in  the  study 
of  the  influence  of  heating  upon  matter." 


UNI  VERSITY  A  ND  ED  UCA  TIONA  L 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford. — The  examiners  in  the  Final  Classical  Schools 
issued  the  Class  List  on  Wednesday  week,  completing  the  results 
of  the  examinations  held  in  Trinity  Term. 

The  summer  meeting  of  Extension  students  commenced  on 
Friday  last,  when  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  M.A.  Wadbam 
College,  delivered  the  inaugural  lecture.  The  popularity  of  the 
movement  is  proved  not  only  by  the  continual  increase  in  the 
number  of  students  who  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages 
offered  by  this  system  of  education,  but  by  the  interest  which 
foreign  Governments  are  taking  in  the  development  of  the  plan. 
The  French  Government  have  sent  two  special  commissioners  to 
report  on  the  prospects  and  condition  of  the  University  Exten- 
sion movement,  and  a  large  number  of  the  representatives  of  the 
American  Universiry  Extensionists  are  now  in  Oxford. 

The  number  of  students  attending  the  various  lectures  is 
greater  than  on  any  previous  occasion,  more  than  1 100  having 
subscribed,  while  last  year  the  number  did  not  greatly  exceed 
900.  A  more  rapid  growth  and  a  still  greater  measure  of  success 
attending  the  work  may  be  anticipated  from  the  fact  that  various 
County  Councils,  finding  themselves  in  possession  of  funds 
arising  from  the  operation  of  the  Local  Taxation  Act,  and 
which  they  propose  to  devote  to  the  purposes  of  technical 
instruction,  are  availing  themselves  of  the  machinery  of  the 
University  Extension  system  to  accomplish  this  desirable  end. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

In  the  Botanical  Gazette  for  June,  Mr.  T.  Holm  contributes  a 
study  of  some  anatomical  characters  of  North  American  grasses. 
In  a  paper  entitled  "  On  the  Relation  between  Insects  and  the 
Forms  and  Characters  of  Flowers,"  Mr.  T.  Meehan  epitomizes 
his  views  on  fertilization  opposed  to  the  current  theory,  viz. 
that  the  part  played  by  insects  in  the  fertilization  of  flowers  has 
been  greatly  exaggerated  ;  that  flowers  do  not  abhor  cross- 
pollen  ;  and  that  all  annuals  can  self-fertilize  when  cross- 
fertilization  fails,  annuals  in  almost  all  cases  having  every 
flower  fertile. 

The  most  important  paper  in  ih^  Journal  of  Botany  for  July 
is  the  commencement  of  a  detailed  account  of  the  Algae  of  the 
Clyde  sea-area,  by  Mr.  George  Murray,  Secretary  to  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Exploration  of  the  Marine  Flora  of  the  West  of 
Scotland.  This  is  prefaced  by  an  account  of  the  physical 
features  of  the  Clyde  sea-area,  by  Dr.  John  Murray.  Following 
this  is  the  commencement  of  a  hand- list  of  the  Algse,  by  Mr.  E. 
A.  L.  Batters.  The  Rev.  H.  G.  Jameson  concludes  his  key  to 
the  genera  and  species  of  British  mosses,  which  it  is  hoped  may 
be  published  in  a  separate  form  ;  and  Mr.  Geoige  Murray  sinks 
Hooker's  genus  of  sea- weeds  Cladothele  in  Stictyos'phon, 


NO.    1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


I 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  27.— M.  Duchartre  in  the  chair. 
—  Proofs  that  Asia  and  America  have  been  connected  in  recent 
times,  by  M.  Emile  Blanchard.  In  this  paper  the  author  points 
out  certain  species  of  Asiatic  fauna  and  flora  which  are  found  in 
North  America,  as,  in  the  preceding  one,  he  indicated  the  repre- 
sentatives of  European  fauna  and  flora  which  occur  in  the  same 
continent.     Without  making  an  extensive  enumeration  of  the 


336 


NA  TURE 


[August  6,  1S91 


•different  species,  the  facts  brought  forward  give  considerable 
support  to  the  idea  that  Europe,  Asia,  and  America  have  been 
•connected  by  land  in  comparatively  recent  times. — The  Ichthyo- 
saurus from  St.  Columbe,  by  M.  Albert  Gaudry.  This  is  a 
description  of  an  Ichthyosaurus  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exhibition 
of  1889.  It  is  proposed  to  name  the  fossil  Ichthyosaurus  bur- 
gunduE. — Examination  of  samples  of  native  iron  of  terrestrial 
origin  discovered  in  gold  washings  from  the  environs  of  Bere- 
zowsk,  by  MM.  Daubree  and  Stanislas  Meunier.  The  specimens 
examined  weighed  respectively  ii'5  grams  and  72  grams,  and 
were  discovered  near  the  Berezowsk  gold  mines,  Persia.  The 
metal  is  very  magnetic,  but  manifests  no  polarity.  Its  density 
is  7*59.  When  treated  with  an  acid  it  is  i>ensibly  attacked, 
but  does  not  show  the  Widmanstatten  figures  as  is  the  case 
when  acid  is  applied  to  a  clean  face  of  meteoritic  iron.  This 
fact  and  the  absence  of  nickel  leads  the  authors  to  conclude  that 
the  iron  is  truly  native.  About  one  per  cent,  of  platinum  is 
present. — On  the  volatility  of  nickel  under  the  influence  of 
hydrochloric  acid,  by  M.  P.  Schiitzenberger.  When  dry 
iiydrogen  is  passed  over  pure  anhydrous  nickel  chloride  at  a  red 
heat,  it  may  be  shown  that  the  hydrochloric  acid  gas  which 
•comes  off  from  the  tube  in  which  the  reduction  occurs  contains 
a  sensible  amount  of  metal  in  the  form  of  a  volatile  product, 
llie  same  result  is  obtained  if,  instead  of  reducing  nickel  chloride 
by  hydrogen,  finely  divided  nickel  is  acted  on  by  dry  hydro- 
chloric acid  gas.  M.  Schiitzenberger  has  not  yet  been  able  to 
isolate  this  body  for  the  purpose  of  determining  its  constitution. 
— Note  on  a  proposed  Observatory  on  Mont  Blanc,  by  M.  J. 
Janssen. — On  the  retardation  of  luminous  impressions,  by  M. 
Mascart. — Works  of  applied  zoology  effected  at  the  Endoume 
maritime  station  during  1890,  by  M.  A.  F.  Marion. — On  a 
geometrical  representation  and  formula  expressing  the  law  of 
the  passage  of  perfect  gases  through  orifices,  by  M.  Henri 
Parenty. — On  the  densities  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  nitrogen, 
by  M.  A.  Leduc.  The  values  obtained  are  :  hydrogen  o"o695, 
oxygen  0'io50,  nitrogen  4*9720.  From  the  densities  of  oxygen 
and  nitrogen  the  percentage  proportion  of  the  former  element  in 
air  is  found  to  be  23*235  by  weight  and  21*026  by  volume.  The 
atomic  weight  of  nitrogen  deduced  from  these  results  is  I3'99»  and 
that  of  oxygen  1 5  "905. — Remarks  on  the  transport  of  metallic  iron 
and  nickel  by  carbon  monoxide,  by  M.Jules  Gamier.  Some 
observations  of  the  character  of  the  flames  issuing  from  furnaces 
in  which  these  metals  are  being  reduced  are  shown  to  be  easily 
explained  in  the  light  of  recent  work  on  iron  and  nickel 
carbonyls. — Action  of  water  on  the  basic  salts  of  copper,  by 
MM.  G.  Rousseau  and  G.  Tite.  Certain  borates  and  oxy- 
chloride  of  antimony  are  transformed  to  oxides  by  the  prolonged 
action  of  water  at  a  sufficiently  high  temperature.  Similarly,  by 
heating  copper  nitrate,  brochantite,  and  atacamite  with  water  in 
sealed  tubes  they  have  been  reduced  to  oxides.  Libethenite 
has  been  experimented  upon,  but  has  resisted  the  transformation 
even  when  kept  in  the  presence  of  water  for  three  days  at  a 
temperature  of  273'  C. — On  an  actual  mode  of  formation  of 
mineral  sulphides,  byM.  E.  Chuard. — Researches  on  thallium, 
by  MM.  C.  Lepicrre  and  M.  Lachaud.  Thallium  chromate 
has  been  prepared  by  acting  on  thallium  sulphate  with  potassium 
chromate.  Reactions  with  various  bodies  are  described.— 
On  parabanic  and  oxaluric  acids,  by  M.  W.  C.  Matignon.  The 
heat  of  combustion  of  parahanic  acid  is  found  to  be  2127  cal., 
of  oxaluric  acid  211  cal.  Hence  the  heats  of  formation  have 
been  calculated,  139*2  cal.  and  209*9  cal.  The  heat  of  solution 
of  parabanic  acid  at  20**  and  with  a  concentration  of  jV  rool.  per 
litre  is  -  5*1  cal.  The  formation  from  oxalic  acid  ot  its  ureide, 
parabanic  acid,  gives  -f  22  cal.  and  of  its  uramicacid,  oxaluric 
acid,  +2*5  cal.  The  formation  of  the  ureides  thus  gives  only  a 
feeble  heat- liberation.  Each  of  these  acids  dissolved  in  a  lai^e 
excess  of  potash  yields  the  neutral  potassium  oxalate.  Potassium 
oxalurate  has  been  prepared  by  dissolving  the  acid  in  its  equi- 
valent of  potash  and  evaporating.  Fine  prismatic  needles  are 
obtained,  differing  from  the  salts  of  Menschutkin  and  Streckcr. 
The  heat  of  neutralization  of  oxaluric  acid  is  30*2  cal.,  as  against 
34*2  cal.  for  oxalic  acid. — ^The  transformation  of  gallic  acid  and 
tannin  into  benzoic  acid,  by  M.  Ch.-Er.  Guignet. — On  the 
polymeric  acids  of  ricinoleic  acid,  by  M.  Scheurer-Kestner. — 
On  the  fermentation  of  bread,  by  M.  Leon  Boutroux.  During 
an  examination  of  the  conditions  essential  for  the  fermentation 
of  bread,  the  author  has  isolated  five  species  of  yeast  and  three 
species  of  bacteria.  The  parts  played  by  each  of  these  organisms 
are  described,  and  the  conclusion  is  finally  drawn  that  the  fer- 
mentation of  bread  consists  essentially  of  a  normal  alcoholic 

NO.    1 1 36,  VOL.  44] 


fermentation  of  sugar  pre-existing  in  the  flour,  and  that  only 
the  yeasts  producing  alcoholic  fermentations  are  necessary  ;  the 
ordinarily  co-existing  alteration  of  gluten  is  a  subsidiary  and 
unessential  action  due  to  some  of  the  bacteria  present. — On  a 
thermogenic  substance  in  urine,  by  M.  Paul  Binet. — On  the 
transformation  of  carboxy-haemoglobin  into  methaemoglobin,  and 
a  new  process  of  examination  for  carbon  monoxide  in  the  blood, 
by  MM.  H.  Bertin-Sans  and  J.  Moitessier. — On  a  new  apparatus 
for  measuring  muscular  power,  by  M.  N.  Grehant. — Measure  of 
the  muscular  power  of  animals  under  the  action  of  oertais 
poisons,  by  MM.  Grehant  and  C.  Quinquaud. — On  the  con- 
cordance of  Prof.  S.  P.  Langley's  experimental  results  00  the 
resistance  of  the  air  (see  Nature  of  July  23,  p.  277)  with  the 
values  obtained  by  calculation,  by  M.Drzewiecki. — Analysis  by 
means  of  chrono- photography  of  the  movements  of  the  lips  dar- 
ing speech,  by  M.  G.  Demeny.  Using  M.  Marey's  method  for 
phot(^raphing  objects  in  rapid  motion,  the  author  has  succeeded 
in  portraying  the  movements  of  the  lips  during  speei^,  aiui 
finds  that  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  the  letters  of  the  ali^bet 
when  the  photographic  results  are  spun  in  a  zootrope. — RelatioD 
between  oscillations  of  the  retina  and  certain  entoptic  phenomena, 
by  M.  A.  Charpenlier. — The  nanny-goat  is  not  refractory  to 
tuberculosis,  by  M.  G.  Colin. — Researches  on  the  pathogenic 
microbes  in  muds  from  the  Dead  Sea,  by  M.  L.  Lortet. — On 
the  excretory  apparatus  of  Carididae,  and  on  the  renal  secretioa 
of  Crustaceae,  by  M.  P.  Marchal. — On  the  nervous  system  of 
Monocotylidae,  by  M.  G.  Saint-Remy. — Contribution  to  the 
natural  history  of  a  cochineal,  Rhizacus  faicifert  Kiinck,  dis- 
covered in  the  greenhouses  of  the  Museum  and  living  on  the 
roots  of  the  vine  in  Algeria,  by  MM.  Kunckel  d'Herculais  and 
Frederic  Saliba. — On  specific  assimilation  in  Umbelliferae,  by 
M.  Genean  de  Lamarli^re. — Document  relative  to  the  trajcciOTy 
of  the  Ensishein  meteorite  of  1492,  by  Prof.  H.  A.  New  too. — 
On  the  erosion  and  transport  by  torrential  rivers  having  glacier 
affluents,  by  MM.  L.  Duparc  and  B.  Baeff. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Cosmical  Evolution :  E.  McLennan  (Chicago,  Donohuc). — The  AmDerT 
of  the  Future  and  the  New  PoMrders :  J.  A.  Longridge  (SponX — Bfk^ 
Rainfall,  1890 :  G.  J.  Symons  and  H.  S.  Wallis  (Stanford). — EptdoMc 
Influenza,  Notes  on  its  Origin  and  Method  of  Spread  :  Dr.  R.  Sisley  (Las%- 
mans). — Essays  upon  Heredity  and  Kindred  Biological  Problems ;  aatbcr- 
ized  translation,  vol.  i.,  and  edition:  Dr.  A  Weismann,  edited  by  £.  B. 
Poulton,  S.  SchOnland,  and  A.  £.  Shipley  (Oxford,  Clarendon  Press>. 

CONTENTS.  PAG« 

A  Physicist  on  Colour- Vision.     By  H.  H 313 

Positive  Science  and  the  Sphinx.     By  C.  LI.  M.   .    .  315 

Analytical  Methods  of  Agricultural  Chemists  .  .  .  317 
Geological    Rambles    round    about    London.      By 

Our  Book  Shelf :~ 

**Katalog  der  Bibliothek  der  Deutschen  Seewarte  zu 

Hamburg** 21S 

*'  Scientific  Results  of  the  Second  Yarkand  Mission"  ,    318 

Airy:  **  Popular  Astronomy" 319 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

Force  and  Determinism. — Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan; 
Edward  T.   Dixon;  D.  Wetterhan ;  Rev.   T. 

Travcrs  Sherlock 319 

Technical    Education    for    Farmers,    Farriers,    and 

Engine- Drivers. — John  L.  Winter 3*0 

The  Eruption  of  Vesuvius  of  June  7,  1891.     (lllus' 

trated.)     By  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis 330 

The    Production    of    Musical    Notes    from    Non- 
Musical  Sands.     By  Cecil  Carus- Wilson    ....    322 

Notes 323 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Researches  on  the  Mean  Density  of  the  Earth  ....     327 

Parallax  of  P  Ursae  Majoris 327 

The   Progress    of    Medicine.      By  Dr.    T.   Lauder 

Brunton,  F.R.S 327 

The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 332 

The  New  Gas,  Chlorofiuoride  of  Phosphorus.    By 

A.  E.  Tutton 333 

Prof.  Mendeleeff  on  the  Variation  of  the  Density  of 

Water  at  Different  Temperatures 334 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence    .....     335 

Scientific  Serials ,     335 

Societies  and  Academies  ... 335 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 336 


NA  TURE 


337 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST  13,  1891. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF 
HYGIENE  AND  DEMOGRAPHY, 

THIS  Congress,  the  work  of  which  we  refer  to  in 
another  column,  which  is  now  in  full  swing,  pro- 
mises to  be  one  of  the  most  important  meetings  of  the 
kind  that  has  ever  been  held,  not  only  in  point  of 
nambers,  but  also  on  account  of  the  far-reaching  results 
likely  to  accrue  from  it. 

A  remarkable  combination  of  circumstances  has  con- 
tributed to  its  success.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  held  in  the 
country  which  has  been  the  pioneer  of  sanitary  work ; 
and  then  it  has  the  patronage  of  Her  Majesty  the 
Queen,  who,  it  is  well  known,  takes  a  deep  personal 
interest  in  its  success  ;  and  has  as  its  President,  not 
merely  in  an  honorary  sense.  His  Royal  Highness  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  who  presided  and  gave  an  admirable 
address  of  welcome  at  the  splendid  opening  meeting  on 
Monday  in  St.  James's  Hall. 

This  is  the  seventh  of  a  series  of  similar  Congresses 
which  have  been    held   in    various    parts    of   Europe, 
and  one    is    tempted    to    ask    what    they   have    ac- 
complished.      An     answer    is    at    once    forthcoming. 
The   all-important    question    of    quarantine    has    been 
discussed  at    several  of  these  Congresses.    Not  to  go 
ferther  back    than    the  Congress  at  The   Hague,  held 
in  1884,  we    find,    from    the    excellent   reporcs    issued 
by  the  editors  of  the  Lancei,  that  then  the  feeling  in 
Europe  was  so  strongly  opposed  to  the  English  views  as 
to  the  inutility  of  quarantine  and  the  superiority  of  our 
method  of  medical  inspection,  that  the  English  delegate 
was  not  even  allowed  to  explain  the  English  position  in 
the  matter,  but  the  discussion  was  peremptorily  closed, 
on  the  ground  that  the  subject  had  been  sufficiently  dis- 
cussed on  the  previous  diy.    At  the  Vienna  Congress,  in 
1887,  quarantine  was  again  discussed  under  the  subject 
of  cholera  ;  and  the  veteran  PettenkofTer  told  the  mem- 
bers of  various  countries  present  that  they  had  only  to 
follow  the  example  of  England,  in  looking  after  their 
systems  of  water-supply  and  sewerage,  and  in  isolating 
cases  of  infectious  disease,  and  they  would  be  no  more 
afraid  of  cholera  than  the  English  were,  even  with  their 
continual  communication  with  India,  the   home  of  that 
disease,  and  would  have  no  need  of  quarantine,  with  all 
its  vexatious  and  ineffective  restrictions,  and  all  its  un- 
necessary interference  with  commerce.    Now,  Continental 
opinion  is  almost  entirely  on  our  side,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  there  will   be  any   serious  discussion   on   the 
matter. 

But  there  are  many  other  subjects  with  which  the 
Congress  will  interest  itself,  and  about  which  such  an  in- 
terchange of  views  as  can  only  be  obtained  at  an  Inter- 
national Congress  must  be  of  the  greatest  benefit.  The 
whole  subject  of  bacteriology  has  grown  up  within  the 
last  few  years,  and  one  of  the  most  important  and  best 
attended  Sections  of  the  Congress  is  devoted  to  it,  many 
of  the  highest  authorities  on  this  subject  having  been 
attracted  here  to  take  part  in  the  discussion  under  the 
presidency  of  Sir  Joseph  Lister.  The  abnormal  pre- 
valence of  diphtheria,  not  only  in  our  own  large  towns, 

NO.   1 137,  VOL.  44] 


but  also  in  those  of  other  parts  of  Europe  and  in  America, 
in  many  cities  of  which,  especially  in  the  Western  States 
of  North  America,  it  has  become  a-  veritable  plague,  is 
likely  to  occasion  an  important  discussion  in  Section  I., 
under  the  presidency  of  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer.  The  mention 
of  his  name  leads  us  to  observe  that  India  is  well  to  the 
front  in  this  Congress,  for  not  only  have  a  number  of 
delegates  been  sent  by  her  Provinces  and  Native  States, 
but  they  have  also  largely  contributed  to  the  funds  of  the 
Congress. 

Influenza,  too,  our  new  plague,  about  which  we  seem 
to  know  so  little,  might  be  discussed,  as  to  its  mode  of 
spread  and  methods  of  prevention,  with  great  advantage 
at  a  meeting  where  so  much  experience  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  is  focussed. 

An  especial  feature  in  this  Congress  is,  as  might  be 
expected  in  England,  the  prominence  which  is  given  to 
engineering  and  architecture  in  connection  with  hygiene, 
there  being  two  separate  Sections  devoted  to  these 
branches  of  the  subject. 

The  division  of  demography,  too,  which  has  been  so 
much  talked  about  on  account  of  its  name,  which  was  up 
to  the  present  time  unfamiliar  to  English  ears,  and  which 
has  been  defined  by  some  wag  as  "  the  art  of  drawing  the 
public,''  has  attracted,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Francis 
Galton,  many  of  the  most  eminent  statisticians  of  Europe, 
whose  discussions  cannot  fail  to  promote  the  attainment 
of  more  uniformity  in  the  methods  of  statistical  inquiries. 

This  is  an  age  of  Congresses,  and  if  they  are,  as  it  is 
universally  agreed  that  they  are,  of  any  us ^  at  all,  it  is 
self-evident  that  the  most  useful  and  the  most  important 
are  the  international  ones. 


A  LIFE  OF  DARWIN, 

Charles  Darwin:  His  Life  and  Work.  By  Charles 
Frederick  Holder.  (New  York  and  London:  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  1891.) 

BETWEEN  the  voluminous  **  Life  and  Letters"  of 
his  father,  by  Prof.  Francis  Darwin,  and  the  brief 
epitome  of  Darwin's  work,  by  Mr.  G.  T.  Bettany,  pub- 
lished in  1887  in  the  "Great  Writers"  series,  there  has 
hitherto  been  a  gap  which  has  only  been  partially  filled 
by  such  books  as  Grant  Allen's  "Charles  Darwin" 
in  the  series  of  *'  English  Worthies."  In  the  first  of 
the  works  mentioned,  our  great  nituralist  is  chiefly 
allowed  to  speak  for  himself,  while  in  the  second  we 
have  a  digest  of  his  scientific  achievements.  Although 
it  has  been  generally  considered  that  the  life  of  Darwin 
from  the  time  of  the  return  of  the  Beai^ie  was  too  un- 
eventful to  make  an  interesting  biography,  we  have  always 
been  of  opinion  that  there  existed  sufficient  material  for  a 
popular  "  Life  "  of  the  very  greatest  interest  provided  that 
this  material  could  be  skilfully  and  judiciously  worked 
up.  The  work  under  notice  supplies  this  want,  and 
American  and  English  readers  are  now  provided  with  a 
biography  which  is  both  entertaining  and  accurate. 

Of  course  the  material  out  of  which  Mr.  Holder  has 
woven  his  story  is  for  the  most  part  to  be  found  in 
Darwin's  own  writings,  or  in  the  '*  Life  and  Letters,"  and 
readers  who  turn  to  the  pages  of  this  book  with  the  hope 
of  finding  new  matter  may  be  disappointed.  But  the 
very  circumstance  that  out  of  the  familiar  records  of  the 

Q 


338 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


voyage  of  the  Beagle,  and  the  later  writings  of  Darwin, 
the  author  has  been  enabled  to  construct  such  a  very 
readable  volume,  is  the  best  tribute  to  his  skill. 

The  task  which  Mr.  Holder  took  up  was  by  no  means 
an  easy  one ;  the  difficulty  which  he  had  to  confront  did 
not  arise  from  paucity  of  material,  but  from  a  super- 
abundance of  records,  owing  to  the  very  complete  account 
of  his  own  travels  and  observations  which  Darwin  has 
bequeathed  to  us.  To  extract  the  salient  points  from 
these  records,  and  to  dress  them  up  in  the  writer's  own 
language,  was  a  labour  requiring  considerable  literary 
ability.  Mr.  Holder  has  shown  that  he  was  well  quali- 
fied for  the  undertaking,  and  it  is  refreshing — after  the 
"Summary  of  the  Darwinian  Theory,"  and  similar 
productions  to  which  we  have  recently  been  treated  in 
this  country — to  find  that  an  American  naturalist  is  able 
to  write  an  account  of  Darwin  and  his  work  in  language 
expressing  his  own  ideas  on  the  subject,  instead  of  string- 
ing together  a  lot  of  disconnected  quotations  from 
Darwin's  writings.  Not  the  least  praiseworthy  feature 
of  the  book  is  the  comparatively  small  number  of 
extracts  from  the  writings  of  his  hero ;  the  author  is 
.  wise  enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  most  reading 
naturalists  may  be  supposed  to  be  familiar  with  the 
text  of  the  "Naturalist's  Voyage,"  the  **  Origin  of  Species," 
and  other  Darwinian  classics. 

The  present  volume  is  one  of  the  "  Leaders  in  Science  " 
series,  published  by  the  firm  of  Putnam's  Sons.  The 
author  says  in  the  preface  :  — 

"  When  the  publishers  proposed  to  me  the  subject  of 
the  present  volume,  a  life  of  Charles  Darwin  for  American 
and  English  readers,  I  was  particularly  gratified  with  the 
suggestion  that  the  work  should  be  adapted  to  young 
readers  as  well  as  old.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
the  life  of  Charles  Darwin  was  one  eminently  fitted  to  be 
held  up  as  an  example  to  the  youth  of  all  lands.  He 
stood  as  the  central  figure  in  the  field  of  natural  science 
in  this  century,  and  while  it  is  yet  too  early  to  present 
his  life  with  any  approximation  of  its  results  upon  the 
thought  of  the  future,  it  is  apparent  to  everyone  that  his 
influence  upon  the  intellectual  growth  of  the  country,  and 
upon  biological  science  in  particular,  has  been  marked 
and  epoch-making. 

.  "  In  the  preparation  of  the  work  I  have  not  attempted 
an  analytical  dissertation  upon  Darwin's  life-work,  neither 
have  I  discussed  his  theories  or  their  possible  effect  upon 
the  scientific  world,  but  have  simply  presented  the  story 
of  his  life,  that  of  one  of  the  greatest  naturalists  of  the 
age  ;  a  life  of  singular  purity  ;  the  life  of  a  man  who,  in 
loftiness  of  purpose  and  the  accomplishment  of  grand 
results,  was  the  centre  of  observation  in  his  time ;  re- 
vered and  honoured,  yet  maligned  and  attacked  as  few 
have  been." 

Having  thus  defined  his  object,  the  author  proceeds  to 
narrate  his  story,  beginning  with  the  boy  Darwin,  passing 
on  to  his  Cambridge  career,  and  then  leading  us  through 
the  scenes  of  his  wanderings  as  naturalist  to  the  Beagle. 
The  major  portion  of  the  volume  (twelve  out  of  the 
twenty  chapters)  is  thus  pleasantly  filled  up  ;  all  the 
little  personal  incidents  which  give  colour  to  the  in- 
dividuality of  the  man  are  skilfully  brought  in,  and  here 
and  there  the  author  interposes  observations  of  his  own 
which  help  to  throw  light  on  the  questions  discussed  and 
the  facts  recorded  by  Darwin.  Having  in  view  the  taste 
of  his  younger  readers,  a  number  of  full-page  illustra- 
tions have  been  introduced,  some  being  reproduced  from 

NO.  II 37,  VOL.  44] 


S  pry's  "  Voyage  of  the  Challenger  J*  others  from  Gosse's 
'*  Romance  of  Natural  History,"  others  from  Brchm's 
"  Natural  History,"  from  -Figuier's  works,  and  from  the 
Century  Magazine,  Many  of  the  illustrations  are 
new,  the  frontispiece,  representing  Darwin  in  his  gardeD 
with  the  squirrels  running  up  him,  being  well  worthy  of 
notice. 

The  working  period  of  Darwin's  life  from  the  return  of 
the  Beagle  to  his  death  is  dealt  with  in  three  chapters,  in 
the  course  of  which  the  author  relates  the  histor)*  of  the 
''  Origin  of  Species,"  and  the  impetus  given  to  the 
publication  of  that  work  by  the  independent  discovery 
of  the  principle  of  natural  selection  by  "Alfred  Russel 
Wallace,  a  young  Welsh  naturalist,  who  was  then 
travelling  in  the  Malay  country."  This  incident  is  of 
course  familiar  to  aU,  but  as  an  old  story  retold  by  a 
transatlantic  admirer  of  Darwin  it  reads  even  now  with 
the  charm  of  freshness.  The  later  works  are  referred  to 
in  chronological  order,  and  in  a  succeeding  chapter  we 
have  a  catalogue  of  the  honours  conferred  upon  Darwin 
during  his  life.  The  seventeenth  chapter  contains  an 
account  of  the  Darwin  family,  beginning  wit'i  William 
Darwin,  of  Marton,  near  Gainsborough,  in  1500,  and 
concluding  with  Erasmus,  elder  brother  of  Charles 
Darwin,  the  friend  of  Carlyle,  who  was  described  by 
the  latter  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  and  whose  amiable 
character  was  more  fully  portrayed  by  Miss  Julia 
Wedgwood  in  the  Spectator  in  1881.  The  latter 
description  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Wedgwood  is  given 
by  Mr.  Holder  in  extenso. 

The  narrative,  as  such,  ends  with  the  deaih  of  Dar^-in 
in  1882,  and  the  reader  will  turn  with  renewed  interest  to 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  chapters,  containing  Mr. 
Holder's  account  of  the  Darwinian  theory.  The  prin- 
ciples of  this  theory  are  fairly  well  expounded,  considering 
the  small  amount  of  space  which  has  been  devoted  to 
them.  Natural  selection  is  illustrated  by  a  happily  chosen 
and  original  example  from  the  animal  kingdom,  viz.  the 
adaptive  coloration  of  the  fauna  of  the  Sargasso  Sea. 
Another  illustration  of  the  principle  is  drawn  from  die 
vegetable  world,  viz.  the  evolution  of  a  hairy  seed  adapted 
for  aerial  transport.  The  questions  of  geological  time 
and  the  palaeontological  evidences  of  organic  evolution 
are  also  touched  upon,  and  here  we  think  the  author 
might  have  used  more  judgment.  The  formation  of  the 
chalk,  for  example,  is  not  quite  satisfactorily  given,  and 
the  statement  that  the  chalk  cliffs  of  Dover  have  been 
elevated  **by  some  convulsion  of  nature  "  (p.  185)  will  jar 
upon  the  geological  susceptibilities  of  his  readers.  In 
a  work  intended  for  popular  reading  it  would  also  have 
been  safer  to  avoid  any  estimate  of  the  time  required  for 
the  denudation  of  the  Weald,  the  more  especially  as 
Darwin  himself  admitted  the  unsoundness  of  such  esti- 
mates by  omitting  this  section  in  the  later  editions  of 
the  **  Origin."  The  ancestry  of  the  horse,  and  Prof 
Marsh's  discovery  of  the  Odontomithes,  are  well  brought 
in  in  connection  with  the  palaeontological  evidence.  We 
may  point  out  in  passing  that  the  diagram  illustrating  the 
evolution  of  the  horse,  which  fronts  p.  62,  is  referred  to 
both  on  pp.  189  and  i9oas  *'  the  accompanying  diagram,'' 
which  is  obviously  an  oversight. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  pre-Darwinian  evolution,  the 
author  mentions  the  views  of  Bonnet,  the  doctrines  of 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURB 


339 


Thales  and  Anaxagoras,  the  speculations  of  Leibnitz, 
De  Maillet,  Wright,  Lambert,  Herschel,  and  La  Place. 
Of  Buffon  he  says  : — 

"  Buffon  was  the  naturalist  of  the  day  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XV.  and  Louis  XVL, — a  period  somewhat  famous 
for  the  restrictions  which  were  placed  upon  men,  and  the 
denunciations  with  which  new  and  advanced  ideas  were 
recciyed.  Thus  advanced  thinkers  found  that  their 
theories  in  many  instances,  instead  of  leading  them  on  to 
fame,  but  opened  the  doors  of  the  Bastile. 

"  It  is  not  improbable  that  Buffon  was  in  accord  with 
the  feeling  of  the  time,  as  while  his  great  discursive  work — 
*HistoireNaturelle,'of  1749-88— fully  outlines  the  theory 
of  evolution,  in  which  he  was  a  believer,  it  is  done  in  an 
ironical,  partly  satirical  manner,  so  that  he  could,  if  at- 
tacked, retreat  by  claiming  that  it  was  a  satire  on  the 
advanced  scientific  thought  of  the  time ; ...  he  was  ready 
to  believe  that  from  a  single  unit  in  the  beginning  might 
have  descended  all  the  various  forms  *  of  existing  animal 
and  plant  life.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  this  pioneer 
evolutionist  suddenly  corrects  himself  and  says:  'But 
no ;  it  is  certain  from  revelation  that  every  species  was 
directly  created  by  a  separate  fiat.'  We  may  suspect  that 
this  secession  from  a  position  so  broadly  taken  was  forced 
upon  the  evolutionist.  Perhaps  the  clerg^y  gave  him 
close  and  suggestive  attention,  and  he  was  offered  the 
choice  between  the  Bastile,  the  Sorbonne,  and  apology  to 
offended  orthodoxy.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Buffon  was  one 
of  the  early  delineators  of  the  modern  theory  of  evolution, 
and  despite  his  peculiar  altitude,  history  accords  him  this 
recognition." 

The  works  of  Wolff,  of  Goethe,  Geoffroy  St.  Hilaire 
Oken,  Pander,  Von  Baer,  Schleiden  and  Schwann,  Von 
Mohl  and  Max  Schultze,  Lord  Monboddo  and  Erasmus 
Darwin,  are  all  referred  to  in  due  order ;  and  a  well- 
bestowed  paragraph  of  praise  is  given  to  Lamarck. 
Uter writers,  such  as  Robert  Chambers,  Von  Humboldt, 
Owen,  Asa  Gray,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Youmans,  bring 
us  down  to  the  birth  of  modern  Darwinism. 

To  English  readers  the  last  (twentieth,  but  erroneously 
headed  eighteenth)  chapter  will  be  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting. It  is  entitled  "The  Darwin  Memorial,"  and 
contains  a  series  of  addresses  by  American  men  of 
science,  delivered  at  a  special  memorial  meeting  of  the 
Biological  Society  of  Washington  soon  after  the  death  of 
the  illustrious  naturalist  in  1882.  The  address  of  Dr. 
Theodore  Gill,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  is  a  master- 
piece of  eloquence,  treating  of  "  The  Doctrine  of 
Darwin,"  and  contrasting  the  doctrines  of  special  crea- 
tion and  evolution.  The  address  by  William  Dall,  of  the 
United  States  National  Museum,  is  equally  eloquent,  and 
treats  of  Darwin  in  the  form  of  a  biographical  sketch. 
Dr.  John  Powell,  the  Director  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  follows  with  an  admirable  address  on 
"Darwin's  Contributions  to  Philosophy."  We  cannot 
refrain  from  transcribing  some  of  his  remarks : — 

^  But  Darwin's  investigations  have  not  ended  research 
or  completed  philosophy.  He  brought  scientific  men  to 
the  frontiers  of  truth,  and  showed  them  a  path  across  the 
border.  Yet  more  than  this  he  did.  He  pointed  out  one 
of  the  fundamental  methods  of  research.  Before  his 
time  philosophers  talked  about  deductive  methods  and 
inductive  methods.  Darwin  has  taught  us  that  both  are 
fruitless.  ...  By  inductive  methods,  men  are  to  collect 
facts,  unbiased  by  opinions  or  preconceived  theories. 
They  are  to  gather  the  facts,  put  them  together,  arrange 
and  combine  them  to  find  higher  and  still  higher  gene- 
ralizations.    But  there  are  facts  and  facts — facts  with 

NO.   1 137,  VOL.  44] 


value,  and  facts  without  value.  The  indiscriminate 
gathering  of  facts  leads  to  no  important  discoveries.  Men 
might  devote  themselves  to  counting  the  leaves  on  the 
trees,  the  blades  of  grass  in  the  meadows,  the  grains  of 
sand  on  the  sea-shore  ;  they  might  weigh  each  one  and 
measure  each  one,  and  go  on  collecting  such  facts  until 
libraries  were  filled  and  the  minds  of  men  buried  under 
their  weight,  and  no  addition  would  be  made  to  philo- 
sophy thereby.  There  must  be  some  method  of  selecting, 
some  method  of  determining  what  facts  are  valuable  and 
what  facts  are  trivial.  The  fool  collects  facts  ;  the  wise 
man  selects  them.  Amid  the  multiplicity  of  facts  in  the 
universe,  how  does  the  wise  man  choose  for  his  use?  The 
true  scientific  man  walks  not  at  random  through  the 
world,  making  notes  of  what  he  sees  ;  he  chooses  some 
narrow  field  of  investigation  ;  ...  his  investigations  are 
always  suggested  by  some  hypothesis — some  supposition 
of  what  he  may  discover.  He  may  find  that  his  hypo- 
thesis is  wrong,  and  discover  something  else  ;  but  without 
an  hypothesis  he  discovers  nothing.  .  .  .  Working  hypo- 
theses are  the  instruments  with  which  scientific  men 
select  facts.  By  them,  reason  and  imagination  are  con- 
joined, and  all  the  powers  of  the  mind  employed  in 
research." 

The  succeeding  address,  by  Dr.  C.  V.  Riley,  gives  an 
account  of  Darwin's  entomological  work,  and  comprises  a 
graphic  description  of  the  naturalist  in  his  home,  drawn 
from  personal  reminiscences  of  a  visit  to  Down.  Dr. 
Lester  Ward  follows  with  his  address  on  '^  Darwin  as  a 
Botanist,"  in  the  course  of  which  he  discusses,  among 
other  points,  the  bearing  of  Darwin' s  researches  on  the 
power  of  movement  in  plants  on  the  great  question 
wrapped  up  in  the  expression  "  tendency  to  vary."  Dr. 
Frank  Baker  contributes  the  next  address,  on  the  expres- 
sion of  the  emotions,  and  in  this  we  again  meet  with  a 
spirited  advocacy  of  the  Darwinian  method  ; — 

"  But  not  as  a  fact-gatherer  do  we  find  him  greatest. 
Many  others  have  struggled  with  ant-like  toil  to  amass 
piles  of  facts,  which,  like  the  ant-heap,  remain  but  sand 
after  all.  Darwin  brings  to  his  work  an  informing  spirit, 
the  genius  of  scientific  hypothesis.  Breathed  upon  by 
this  spirit,  the  dry  bones  of  fact  come  together  '  bone  to 
his  bone,'  the  sinews  and  the  fiesh  come  upon  them,  they 
become  alive  and  stand  upon  their  feet,  ^  an  exceeding 
great  army.'  He  searches  always  for  the  principles  which 
underlie  the  facts  and  make  them  possible,  realizing  that 
iYit  phenomena,  the  things  which  are  seen,  are  temporal 
and  transitory ;  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  the 
cosmical  forces  which  govern  and  control,  are  eternal." 

A  Darwinian  bibliographyj  by  Frederick  W.  True,  the 
Librarian  of  the  United  States  National  Museum,  and  an 
appendix  giving  a  list  of  Darwin's  works,  conclude  a 
volume  of  which  enough  has  been  said  to  commend  it  to 
all  readers,  whether  youthful  or  adult,  and  which  we  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  cannot  but  appreciate  as  a  most 
inspiriting  picture  of  the  life  and  work  of  the  man  who,  of 
all  others,  has  helped  to  emblazon  our  country's  fame  on 
the  scientific  scroll  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

R.  Meldola. 

PINES  AND  FIRS  OF  JAPAN. 
Monographie  der  Abietineen   des  Japanischen  Retches, 
Bearbeitet  von  Dr.  Heinrich  Mayr.     Mit  7  Colorirten 
Tafeln.       (Munchen :     M.    Nieger'sche    Universitats 
Buchhandlung,  1890.) 

FROM  the  time  of  Kaempfer  and  that  of  Thunberg  to 
our  own  day,  the  Japanese  Conifers  have  been  the 
objects  of  special  predilection  on  the  part  of  botanists. 


340 


NATURE 


[August  13,  1891 


Zuccarini  figured  and  described  several  that  had  been 
collected  by  Siebold,  Lindley,  Andrew  Murray,  Maxi- 
mowicz,  Franchet,  and  others,  contributed  greatly  to  the 
elucidation  and  delimitation  of  the  several  species. 
Robert  Fortune,  John  Gould  Veitch,  and  Charles  Maries 
introduced  many  to  our  gardens.  Horticulture  has,  in- 
deed, rendered  great  service  in  this  matter.  The  trees 
in  question  are  valuable  for  ornamental  purposes,  and 
potentially  as  timber  trees.  The  consequence  of  this  is 
that  collectors  have  accumulated  specimens  in  large 
numbers  and  in  different  stages  of  growth.  They  have, 
moreover,  supplied  our  nurserymen  with  seed,  so  that 
young  plants  are  now  numerous  in  our  nurseries  and 
plantations. 

The  study  of  the  seedling  plants,  in  their  progress  from 
the  seed-bed  towards  maturity,  has  afforded  valuable 
evidence  concerning  the  morphology  of  the  group  and 
its  probable  genealogy,  its  filiation  and  classification. 
Cultivation  has,  for  instance,  shown  that  many  of  the 
very  curious  forms  known  under  the  name  of  Retino- 
spora  are,  in  reality^  stages  of  growth  of  one,  or  at  least 
of  a  few,  species  of  Thuya,  of  Cupressus,  or  of  Juniperus, 
so  that  the  so-called  genus  is  purely  fictitious.  In  like 
manner  Abies  bifida  and  Abies  firma  have  been  proved 
to  belong  to  one  and  the  same  species. 

To  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  knowledge,  and  to  correct 
errors  arising  from  inadequate  or  imperfect  material,  it 
was  necessary  that  the  trees  should  be  studied  by  a 
trained  observer  in  the  forests  themselves.  This  was  the 
more  necessary  as,  to  a  large  extent,  our  knowledge  has 
been  derived  from  plants  cultivated  by  the  Japanese  and, 
in  some  cases,  not  a  little  distorted  in  the  process.  The 
earlier  botanists  had  little  or  no  opportunities  of  study- 
ing the  native  flora  for  themselves.  Even  Fortune  was 
largely  dependent  on  the  Japanese  nurserymen.  John 
Veitch  collected  for  himself  on  Fusi-yama,  and  Maries 
penetrated  even  to  the  forests  of  Yesso.  Dr.  Miyr,  the 
latest  writer  on  thes2  plants,  has  enjoyed  opportunities 
denied  to  his  predecessors.  After  a  distinguished  career 
in  Munich,  Dr.  Mayr  proceeded  to  the  United  States, 
visiting  the  forests  in  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  producing, 
as  a  result,  a  work  which  the  best  judges  speak  of  in 
terms  of  high  appreciation.  Subsequently,  our  author 
visited  Japan  to  organize  the  Forest  Department,  and  fill 
the  office  of  Professor  of  Forestry  in  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity of  Tokio.  In  the  execution  of  his  duties  Dr. 
Mayr  travelled  through  the  various  provinces,  and  derived 
much  information  from  the  native  foresters.  One  result 
is  before  us  in  the  shape  of  a  volume,  printed  in  Germm 
at  Tokio,  and  illustrated  with  seven  coloured  plates. 
The  group  specially  studied  by  Dr.  Mayr  is  remarkable 
for  the  relatively  large  number  of  endemic  species. 
Thus,  Dr.  Mayr  enumerates  six  species  of  Abies,  all  of 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Japanese  islands.  Five  species 
of  Picea  are  nearly  as  much  restricted  in  geographical 
are.\.  Tsuga,  a  genus  represented  in  both  the  North- 
eastern and  the  North-western  States  of  America,  as  well 
as  in  the  Himalayas,  has  two  species  peculiar  to  Japan. 
The  genus  Larix,  which  also  has  a  wide  distribution  in 
the  northern  hemisphere,  has  two  species  native  to  Japan, 
and  not  extending  far  beyond  its  limits.  Six  species  of 
Pinus  are  enumerated  by  Dr.  Mayr,  and  these  also  are 

NO.    1137,  VOL.  44] 


almost  exclusively  Japanese,  though  some  are  found  on 
the  mainland  adjoining. 

The  Japanese  islands,  then,  form  a  centre  of  distriba- 
tion  of  a  group  of  species  of  a  distinct  character,  dififering 
markedly  from  a  similar  group  of  Chinese  nativity,  but 
approximating  to  the  Californian  and  to  the  East  Ame- 
rican coniferous  floras,  and  having  representatives  in 
other  parts  of  Northern  Asia  and  of  Europe.  The  dis- 
tinct character  of  the  Japanese  Coniferae  and  their  re- 
lationships are  even  more  prominently  brought  into  view 
when  the  other  tribes  of  Conifers  are  considered.  Dr. 
Mayr  confines  himself,  however,  to  the  Abietinese,  and 
we  must  here  follow  his  example,  in  the  hope  that  on 
another  occasion  we  may  be  able  to  accompany  him  also 
through  the  other  tribes. 

In  speaking  of  the  distribution  of  these  plants.  Dr. 
Mayr  alludes  (i)  to  the  tropical  zone  in  which  the  genus 
Podocarpus  is  represented,  but  which  does  not  specially 
concern  us  now  ;  (2)  to  a  sub-tropical  zone  in  which  are 
other  two  species  of  Podocarpus,  as  well  as  Pinus  Thun- 
bergii^  which  extends  round  the  coast  of  all  the  islands, 
and  less  frequently  Pinus  densiflora;  (3)  a  region  of 
deciduous  trees,  such  as  chestnuts  in  the  south  or  at  the 
base  of  the  mountains,  or  beeches  and  birches  to  the 
northward  or  at  higher  altitudes.  Here  grow  especially 
the  Cryptomeria,  the  various  species  of  Chamaecyparis, 
Thuyopsis,  and  Sciadopitys.  (4)  The  fourth  zone,  that 
of  firs  and  spruces,  occupies  the  high  mountains  in  the 
centre  of  the  island.  Here  are  found  Abies  Veitchii^ 
Picea  bicolor^  P,  Hondoensis^  and  Larix  leptolepis^  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  main  island,  together  with  A.  \fariest^ 
A,  sachalinensis^  Picea  ajanensis^  and  P:  Glehni^  which 
extend  northward,  some  even  as  far  as  the  Sachalin  and 
Kurile  Islands.  Tsuga  diversifolia  occurs  from  the 
region  of  the  beech  upwards  to  the  Alpine  zone.  ($)  The 
fifth,  or  Alpine  region,  also  designated  that  of  the  Al- 
pine pines,  includes  forms  such  as  Pinus  pumila^  which 
is  allied  to  the  Swiss  P.  Cembra.  We  can  only  indicate 
these  regions,  as  the  dis:ussion  of  their  climatal  features 
and  plant  population  turns  mainly  upon  plants  different 
from  those  which  form  the  staple  of  Dr.  Mayr's  present 
treatise. 

Passing  into  detail,  Dr.  Mayr  proceeds  to  describe 
each  species  separately,  devoting  much  space  to  literary- 
references,  Japanese  as  well  as  European,  and  giving  a 
description  of  the  main  peculiarities  of  the  tree  from  an 
economic  as  well  as  from  a  botanical  aspect. 

A  few  new  species  are  indicated,  of  the  value  of  which 
we  can  hardly  form  a  trustworthy  opinion  in  the  absence 
of  authentic  specimens.  We  venture,  however,  to  doubt 
whether  Abies  homolepis  is,  as,  however,  others  besides 
Dr.  Mayr  think,  identical  with  A,  brachyphyiia.  The  leaf 
structure  of  the  two  is  certainly  different,  and  cuUivation 
may  yet  reveal  other  differences.  The  names  bicoUn-^ 
Alcockiana,  ajanensisy  jessoensis,  japomcay  microsperma^ 
as  applied  to  one  or  more  species  of  Picea,  have  been  so 
variously  understood  by  botanists,  owing  partly  to  acci- 
dental misplacement  of  labels,  admixture  of  seeds,  and  to 
imperfect  information,  that  it  is  very  important  to  hiv« 
an  authoritative  statement  from  such  an  observer  as  I>r. 
Mayr.  If  allowances  be  made  for  a  large  amount  of 
variability  within  the  conventional  specific  limitations^  ii 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


341 


would  seem  from  the  figure  as  if  Dr.  Mayr's  Pinus  pumila 
might  be  referred  to  P.  Cembra^  whilst  P.  pentaphylla  is 
obviously  a  near  ally  of  the  East  American  P.  strobus. 

Dr.  Mayr's  "diagnose,"  however,  is  really  a  rather 
diffuse  description  in  German,  not  conveniently  adapted 
for  the  comparison  of  one  form  with  another.  In  this 
absence  of  concise  comparisons  in  Latin,  modern 
botanists,  especially  German  ones,  compare  unfavour- 
ably with  their  predecessors.  On  the  other  hand.  Dr. 
Mayr  establishes  some  sectional  characters  which  may 
prove  useful,  such  as  the  three  sections  into  which  he 
divides  the  genus  Picea,  viz.  Morinda,  Casieta,  and 
Omorica,  the  last,  indeed,  having  been  already  proposed 
by  Willkomm. 

Hybrid  forms  between  Pinus  Ihunbergii  and  P,  densi- 
fora  are  mentioned,  as  well  as  a  whole  series  of  garden 
varieties  which  have  either  originated  in  Japanese  gardens 
or  have  occurred  as  "  sports  "  on  the  wild  trees,  and  which 
have  been  propagated  by  grafting  by  the  Japanese  gar- 
deners. These  are  likely  to  prove  of  scientific  interest, 
and  will  be  specially  interesting  for  garden  purposes. 

Seven  quarto  coloured  lithographic  plates  accompany 
the  volume,  giving  details  of  the  foliage  and  cones.  We 
could  have  wished  that  representations  of  the  trees  them- 
selves could  have  been  supplied,  and  that  an  alphabetical 
index  of  species  and  varieties  had  been  added  to  the 
classified  table  of  contents.  When  we  have  so  much 
that  is  valuable  and  interesting  presented  to  us,  it  may 
seem  ungracious  to  hint  at  deficiencies,  but  really  in  this 
case  to  ask  for  more  shows  how  greatly  we  appreciate 
what  we  have,  and  is  about  the  greatest  compliment  we 
can  pay  to  the  author.  Maxwell  T.  Masters. 


EL  EMENTAR  Y  H  YDROSTA  TICS. 

Solutions  of  Examples  in  Elementary  Hydrostatics, 
By  W.  H.  Besant,  ScD.,  F.R.S.,  Fellow  of  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge.  (Cambridge :  Deighton,  Bell,  and 
Co.,  1 89 1.) 

THIS  is  a  collection  of  solutions,  or  a  crib^  to  the 
author's  well-known  "Elementary  Hydrostatics,** 
which  has  held  the  ground  in  elementary  instruction 
unchallenged  since  1863. 

It  was  cruel,  though,  as  Dr.  Besant  apologetically  ex- 
plains, unavoidable,  to  keep  the  world  of  instructors 
waiting  so  long  for  these  much-needed  solutions  and 
explanations  of  the  questions  in  his  Hydrostatics. 

The  Solutions  are  stated  to  be  almost  entirely  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Flux,  who  has  found  it  necessary  to 
explain  that  the  equation  p  =  gpz  must  be  interpreted  as 
giving  the  pressure  p  in  poundals  per  square  foot  (or  in' 
CG.S.  baradsy  might  well  have  been  added) ;  but  he  has 
not  explained  that  the  effect  of  this  reverential  interpre- 
tation is  to  make  p  and  w  signify  the  same  thing ;  so  that 
two  symbols  are  used  to  denote  the  same  quantity, 
although  one,  p,  is  called  the  density,  and  the  other,  a/, 
the  intrifisic  weight. 

But  in  1863  the  word  poundal  was  not  known,  nor 
was  any  mode  of  measuring  force  and  pressure  in  use, 
except  in  terms  of  gravitation  units. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  recount  the  despair  of  the  in- 
structor and  the  confusion  of  the  stu  !ent  at  the  different 

NO.   Wy^T,  VOL.  44] 


modes  of  reconciliation  of  the  equations  p  =  gps  and 
p  ■-  wz,  variously  used  as  measuring  the  pressure  at  a 
depth  of  z  feet. 

Because  thirty  and  more  years  ago  it  was  thought  con 
venient  in  dynamical  equations  to  replace  W/^by  a  single 
letter  M,  merely  for  purposes  of  convenience  in  writing 
and  printing,  it  was  and  is  still  taught  in  our  theoretical 
treatises  that  the  equation  W  =  Mg  is  the  expression  of 
a  subtle  and  fundamental  law  of  Nature,  to  be  introduced 
even  into  a  treatise  on  Elementary  Hydrostatics,  pre- 
sumably taken  up  before  a  student  has  commenced 
Dynamics,  and  before  he  can  understand  what  accelera- 
tion in  genera],  and  the  particular  acceleration  g,  can 
mean. 

What  must,  for  instance,  be  the  feeling  of  Tommy 
Atkins,  when  the  Musketry  Instructor  begins  on  p.  i 
of  the  official  **  Treatise  on  Military  Small  Arms,**  1888, 
with  this  definition  of  Mass,  taken  in  a  garbled  form  from 
chapter  ii.  of  the  Hydrostatics  and  elsewhere. 

"  Mass  :  The  quantity  of  matter  in  any  body,  the  sum 
of  all  the  particles  of  the  body  ;  it  is  proportional  to  the 
weight,  whatever  be  the  figure,  or  whether  the  bulk  or 
magnitude  be  great  or  small ;  for  the  weight  is  equal  to 
the  mass  multiplied  by  the  force  of  gravity,  or  W  =  Mj^, 
and  the  letters  M  and  W  are  usually  employed  to  denote 
the  mass  and  weight  respectively." 

In  short,  this  definition  amounts  to  saying  that  mass  is 
something  we  denote  by  the  letter  M,  while  weight  is 
something  we  denote  by  the  letter  W ;  but  we  must 
always  remember  that  W  =  M^,  where  g  is  something 
unexplained,  even  when  we  measure  mass  in  pounds  and 
weight  also  in  pounds  ;  so  that  if  g  appears  in  one  place, 
it  will  cancel  again  somewhere  else,  and  not  affect  the 
ultimate  numerical  result 

But  if,  according  to  former  instructions,  we  calculate  the 
pressure  from  the  equation  p  =  gpz,  we  must  notice  that 
p,  the  density  as  defined  in  chapter  ii.,  "  Elementary 
Hydrostatics,*'  is  the  weight  in  pounds  of  one-^th  part  of 
a  cubic  foot  of  the  liquid,  or  gp  is  the  weight  in  paunds 
of  one  cubic  foot  of  the  liquid,  so  that  g,)  and  w  now 
measure  the  same  quantity. 

The  unfortunate  instructor  was  formerly  called  upon  to 
reconcile  these  opposing  statements,  that  w  is  sometimes 
the  same  as  p,  and  sometimes  as  gp  ;  now,  however,  he 
can  take  refuge  behind  the  definite  statements  of  this 
authorized  collection  of  solutions. 

But  what  is  most  wanted  is  a  mathematical  Censorship, 
to  go  through  our  hydrostatical  treatises,  expunging  all 
the  ^s. 

As  to  the  mere  mathematical  geometrical  part  of  the 
solutions,  this  is  doubtless  carried  out  with  true  Cam- 
bridge elegance,  of  which  Dr.  Besant  is  so  well  known  an 
exponent ;  a  trifle  however,  in  comparison  with  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  interpretation  of  the  units  in  some  extra- 
ordinary questions  relating  to  the  equations  W  =  sV  and 
W  =  gpVf  questions  at  one  time  considered  a  valuable 
test  of  clear  thinking  on  the  part  of  the  student. 

We  counsel  everyone  who  values  his  peace  of  mind 
to  procure  a  copy  of  these  Solutions,  if  called  upon 
to  interpret  and  expound  the  numerical  results  of  the 
original  "Elementary  Hydrostatics.*' 

A.  G.  Greenhill. 


342 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  189 1 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Plane  Trigonometry  for  the  Use  of  Colleges  and  Schools, 
With  numerous  Examples.  By  I.  Todhunter,  F.R.S. 
Revised  by  R.  W.  Hogg.  (London :  Macmillan  and 
Co.,  1 891.) 

Todhunter's  "  Trigonometry  "  is  a  very  familiar  friend 
of  oilrs,  and  we  have  now  before  us  a  bundle  of  letters 
which  we  received  from  the  author  in  1861  and  1862,  in 
reply  to  our  criticisms  and  corrections  of  the  early  edi- 
tions. The  Orst  edition  swarmed  with  small  errata^  for 
the  pointing  out  of  which  we  received  warm  thanks.  It 
was  a  good  book  for  some  years,  on  account  of  the 
excellent  collection  of  problems,  but  of  late  it  sadly 
wanted  bringing  up  to  date.  Mr.  Hogg  has  done  his 
work  well,  but  possibly  he  would  have  produced  a  better 
independent  book.  The  first  200  pages  have  undergone 
very  little  change,  and  we  have  only  noted  here  and  there 
an  interpolated  article.  Chapter  xviii.,  '^  Miscellaneous 
Propositions,"  contains  several  novelties  (as  contrasted 
with  the  last  edition  we  have  of  the  original  work),  such  as 
geometrical  proofs  of  familiar  formulae  and  graphs  of 
the  trigonometrical  functions.  There  are  numerous 
important  additions  in  chapters  xxi.-xxiv.,  which  bring 
this  part  of  the  work  more  en  rapport  with  present  day 
requirements,  notably  Schlomilch's  resolution  of  sin  6 
into  factors,  and  a  too  brief  account  of  hyperbolic  func- 
tions. The  prime  feature  is  the  addition  of  a  very  great 
number  of  excellent  recent  exercises  in  all  parts  of  the 
subject.  The  work  forms  a  good  school-book,  and  will 
meet  the  requirements  of  a  large  number  of  students. 

Lessons  in  Astronomy  By  C.  A.  Young,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
(Boston,  U.S.A.,  and  London  :  Ginn  and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  is  the  third  of  a  series  of  text-books  recently  pre- 
pared by  Prof.  Young  for  use  in  schools  and  colleges  of 
different  grades.  The  two  previous  ones  have  already  been 
noticed  in  Nature  (vol.  xxxix  p.  386,  and  vol.  xli.  p.  485). 
The  present  work  is  described  on  the  title  page  as  "  a 
brief  introductory  course  without  mathematics,  for  use  in 
schools  and  seminaries.''  The  three  books  have  much  in 
common,  and  each  one  has  many  good  points.  We 
cannot  help  feeling,  however,  that  the  steps  between  them 
are  too  small.  Almost  exactly  the  same  ground  is 
covered  by  each,  and  they  differ  chiefly  in  the  amount  of 
previous  knowledge  assumed.  But  the  acquaintance  with 
mathematics  required  for  a  thorough  comprehension  of 
the  "General  Astronomy"  is  by  no  means  great,  and  even 
for  the  "Lessons"  a  certain  knowledge  of  geometrical 
principles  is  essential.  If  we  must  needs  have  three 
books,  the  "  General  Astronomy  "  contains  too  little,  and 
the  "  Lessons  " — a  book  of  some  350  pages— contains  too 
much. 

The  chief  variation  calling  for  notice  is  in  the  portion 
dealing  with  uranography.  This  now  forms  chapter  ii., 
and,  with  the  aid  of  the  maps,  forms  a  fairly  complete 
and  easy  guide  to  the  constellations.  The  notes  on  the 
legendary  mythology  of  the  constellations,  which  have 
been  added  for  the  benefit  of  students  not  acquainted 
with  classical  literature,  gives  this  chapter  an  additional 
interest. 

The  book  is  brought  well  up  to  date,  and  is  a  model  of 
good  printing. 

Cosmical  Evolution  :  a  New  Theory  of  the  Mechanism 
of  Nature.  By  Evan  McLennan.  (Chicago  :  Dono- 
hue,  Henneberry,  and  Co.,  1890.) 

The  author  states  that  the  essential  principle  of  the  new 
theory  is  "  that  every  known  heavenly  body  is  connected 
with  its  neighbouring  heavenly  bodies  by  means  of  real, 
material  bonds,  and  that  every  phenomenon  of  the  uni- 
verse, without  exception,  is  due  solely  to  the  action  of 
bodies  upon  one  another  through,  and  by  m*ans  of,  these 
bonds  which  join  them  together  "  (p.  48). 

NO.   Ii37,  VOL.  44] 


Among  the  principal  evidences  in  favour  of  the  exist- 
ence of  this  material  planetary  connection  is  that  '^we 
actually  see  them  with  the  naked  eye"  in  the  zodiacal 
light  and  in  the  streamers  of  the  solar  corona. 

The  theory  is  of  a  very  general  nature,  and  includes 
not  only  cosmical  but  terrestrial  phenomena,  such  as 
aerial  and  aqueous  tides,  terrestrial  electricity  and 
magnetism.  The  author  is  of  opinion  that  "  the  greater 
tidal  wave  is  due  to  the  sun,  and  the  lesser  to  the  moon* 
(p.  291). 

The  conditions  of  prelunar  and  other  races  of  mankind 
are  also  discussed  (p.  360).  The  work  consists  of  399 
pages.     There  is  no  index. 

The  Telescope:  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Heavens.  By  J.  W.  Williams.  (London  :  Swan 
Sonnenschein  and  Co.,  1891.) 

The  writer  of  this  book  is  author  of  "  British  Fossils, 
and  where  to  Seek  Them,"  and  "  Land  and  Water 
Shells,  &c."  In  his  preface  he  quotes  with  approval 
the  adage,  "  Ground  your  knowledge  of  any  special  £^oup 
on  a  general  knowledge  of  nature  as  a  whole."  This 
is  perhaps  why  he  now  turns  his  attention  from  sheik 
to  astronomy.  However  this  may  be,  the  work  has  been 
carefully  compiled,  and  is  to  be  recommended  as  a  safe 
guide.     Some  of  the  illustrations  are  excellent. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

\Thi  Editor  does  not  hold  Himself  responsible  for  opinioMS  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  leather  can  he  undertake 
10  returuy  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  re^eeUd 
manuscripts  intended  fir  this  or  any  other  part  of  ^ATUti^ 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communiceUions.'\ 

Silver  Lodes  and  Salt  Lakes. 

Since  the  discovery,  some  five  or  six  years  ago,  of  the  extra- 
ordinary Broken  Hill  lode  of  silver- bearing  ores,  the  pnblic  ex< 
citement  on  the  subject  in  this  part  of  ihe  world  has  been 
attended  with  comparatively  little  scientific  interest  in  regard  to 
the  geological  features  of  the  argentiferous  country  and  the 
probable  origin  of  deposits  so  vast  and  so  remarkable  in  cha- 
racter ;  yet  I  believe  that  an  examination  of  the  main  topo- 
graphical and  geological  features  of  the  eastern  parts  of  South 
Australia  and  the  western  parts  of  New  South  Wales  will 
probably  throw  more  light  upon  the  interesting  subject  of  the 
origin  of  argentiferous  lodes  than  the  study  of  any  other  now 
known  part  of  the  globe ;  and,  as  I  have  had  an  opportanity  of 
going  closely  into  the  matter  during  a  recent  visit  to  Broken 
Hill,  I  propose  to  lay  briefly  before  your  readers  a  few  facts 
which  seem  to  afford  presumptive  evidence  in  favour  of  the  sup- 
position that  salt  lakes  and  silver  lodes  are  causally  connected. 

An  examination  of  the  ores  in  situ  at  Broken  Hill,  and 
especially  in  the  portions  of  the  lode  which  are  known  as  blo(^ 
10  and  II,  reveals  the  fact  that  stratification  almost  exactly 
similar  to  that  of  an  ordinary  alluvial  deposit  is  practically  uni- 
versal throughout  the  lode.  So  obvious  has  this  been  from  the 
very  beginning  of  the  working,  that  almost  every  mining  man  who 
has  had  anything  to  do  with  Broken  Hill  has  remarked  up»on  the 
very  obvious  fact  that  the  ores  are  to  be  ascribed  to  an  aqneoos 
origin.  The  fissure  in  which  the  lode  occurs  varies  from  a  few 
feet  to  seventy  or  eighty  yards  in  width,  and  has  almost  vertical 
walls.  Within  these  boundaries  the  stratified  deposits  of  car- 
bonates and  chlorides  are  intermingled  with  immense  bodies  of 
kaolin  and  sulphides,  with  a  considerable  amount  of  an  interest- 
ing silicate  of  zinc  also  carrying  silver  and  lead.  The  Barrier 
District  is  one  of  the  driest  in  the  whole  of  this  very  dry  con- 
tinent, and  there  is  no  river  within  about  seventy  or  eighty 
miles.  The  few  intermittent  watercourses  which  exist  in  the 
locality  do  not  suggest  anything  but  a  dry  and  arid  climate. 
In  fact,  the  greatest  difficulty  now  met  by  the  mines  and 
by  the  town  of  Broken  Hill,  which  contams  about  27,000 
inhabitants,  is  the  scarcity  of  water,  and  the  doubtful  nature 
of  any  catching  grounds  that  have  been  suggested.  If, 
therefore,   water  was    the    agency  by  which  the  deposits  of 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


343 


•oie  took  place,  it  is  evident  that  the  conditions  at  the  time 
must  have  been  very  different  from  what  they  are  at  present. 

The  key  to  the  whole  situation  seems  to  lie  in  the  fact,  which 
has  been  so  well  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace 
and  others,  that  the  whole  of  the  regions  of  Central  Australia 
have  emerged  from  the  ocean  at  a  period  which,  from  a  geo- 
logical point  of  view,  is  comparatively  recent.  The  axial  lines 
of  the  watershed  ranges  appear  to  be  rising  at  a  more  rapid 
rate  than  the  neighbouring  plains,  and  couFequently  some  strange 
and  interesting  changes  are  taking  place  in  the  relations  of  the 
catchment  areas  of  flood  waters  and  their  outlets.  In  the  locality 
of  Innamincka,  almost  due  north  from  Broken  Hill,  there  occurs 
a  phenomenon  which  is  obviously  due  to  some  such  change  of 
relations.  The  Strezlecki  Creek  runs  to  the  south-west  from 
Innamincka.  Its  bed  holds  immense  deposits  of  drift- sand,  and 
in  the  adjoining  plains  are  to  be  seen  many  curious  parallel 
ridges  of  sand-hills,  all  strongly  suggestive  of  the  action  of  drift 
water,  such  as  at  times  passes  across  the  surface  of  these  vast 
interior  plains  at  flood  time.  The  Strezlecki  Creek  was  ap- 
parently the  outlet  for  most  if  not  all  of  the  water  of  Cooper's 
Creek  at  some  period  of  time  not  at  all  remote.  But  at  the 
present  day  it  is  only  once  in  every  four  or  five  years  that  the 
stream  nins  at  all.  When  a  very  high  flood  fills  the  bed  of  the 
Cooper  to  overflowing,  the  waters  find  their  way  over  the  low 
ridge  of  land  which  separates  the  present  bed  of  the  Cooper 
from  that  of  the  Strezlecki,  and  so  on  to  Laices  Blanche  and 
Gregory — those  large  salt  evaporation  pans  which  can  scarcely 
with  propriety  be  dignified  with  the  name  of  lakes.  The  gradual 
elevation  of  the  low  ridge  would  appear  to  be  the  most  probable 
explanation  of  this  interesting  phenomenon.  Now,  to  the  south 
of  Broken  Hill,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  River  Darling,  there 
is  to  be  found  ample  evidence  of  a  somewhat  similar  occurrence. 
Vast  accumulations  of  sand  in  parallel  ridges  are  still  to  be  seen 
crossing  the  plains,  and  a  lara^e  river  bed  extends,  from  a  place 
quite  close  to  the  junction  of  the  Darling  and  Murray,  northwards 
m  the  direction  of  Broken  Hill.  Whether  this  *'  Anabranch," 
as  it  is  called,  is  really  an  old  bed  of  the  River  Darling  or  not,  I 
will  not  stay  to  inquire.  It  would,  however,  appear  practically 
certain  that  some  slight  alteration  in  the  level  of  the  land  has 
been  responsible  for  the  change  in  the  direction  of  the  flow  of 
water. 

The  case  is  not  an  ordinary  one  of  the  diversion  of  a 
river  owing  to  the  accumulation  of  its  own  alluvium  ;  and  the 
sand  ridges,  which  in  places  extend  right  down  to  the  bed  of  the 
present  river,  suggest  the  action  of  water  on  a  scale  of  magnitude 
very  different  from  that  which  is  at  present  to  be  seen.  Here, 
then,  we  have  both  to  the  north  and  to  the  south  of  Broken 
Hill  evidences  of  the  existence  in  former  times  of  floods  of 
water,  which  at  the  present  day  are  never  at  all  to  be  seen  on 
the  southern  side,  and  only  once  in  every  four  or  five  years  on 
the  northern  side.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  both  of  these 
localities  are  within  the  line  of  country  formed  by  the  parallel 
mountain  systems  of  the  Flinders  Range  on  one  side  and  the 
Grey  and  Barrier  Ranges  on  the  other  side.  Between  these  two 
ridges  the  land  slopes  gradually  to  the  west,  and  three  salt  lakes, 
of  which  the  largest  is  Lake  Frome,  attest  the  fact  that  in  all 
probability  at  one  time  vast  quantities  of  sea-water  were  im- 

erisoned  by  the  rising  of  the  land  from  the  level  of  the  ocean. 
lat  in  South  Australia  these  two  ridges  are  joined  by  a  band  of 
high  land,  on  which  the  present  railway  to  Broken  Hill  has  been 
laid.  This  band  of  country  forms,  along  with  the  ranges  at  each 
side,  a  sort  of  cul  de  sac^  from  which  at  present  the  waters  could 
have  no  escape  to  the  southwards  unless  they  ^se  to  a  higher 
level  than  is  ever  noticeable  under  existing  conditions. 

But  this  has  not  been  the  case  in  times  gone  by.  The  evi- 
dences of  the  action  of  water  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
**  Anabranch  "  make  it  to  appear  practically  certain  that  at  one 
time  the  flood  waters,  which  swept  through  the  salt  lakes,  must 
have  poured  over  the  ridge  towards  the  River  Darling,  and 
found  an  outlet  by  that  means.  This,  then,  brings  me  to  the  most 
significant  fact  to  which  I  wish  to  direct  attention.  The  locality 
ot  Broken  Hill  is  the  lowest  point  in  the  axis  of  the  line  of 
country  which  forms  what  I  have  alluded  to  as  the  cul  de  tac. 
In  the  absence  of  any  survey  from  which  full  data  could  be 
deduced,  it  is  sufficient  to  take  the  levels  of  all  the  railway 
stations  from  the  Flinders  Range  to  Tarrawingie — a  point  forty- 
two  miles  north-east  of  Broken  Hill.  These  show  that  the 
railway  (which  happens  to  follow  the  line  of  the  ridge)  dips 
gradually  to  Broken  Hill,  and  then  rises  again  towards  Tarra- 
wingie.    The  conclusion  is  therefore  inevitable,  from  the  data 


NO.   IT 37,  VOL.  44] 


to  which  I  have  already  referred,  that  Broken  Hill  is  the  locality 
at  which  the  accumulations  of  flood- water  from  the  great  region 
of  the  salt  lakes  must  have  found  their  way  across  the  connect- 
ing  ridge  and  on  towards  the  River  Darling.  I  believe,  if  the 
localities  of  the  silver  lodes  of  Potosi  and  Comstock  are  ex- 
amined, they  will  be  found  to  bear  somewhat  the  same  relation  to 
the  extensive  salt  marshes  south  of  Lake  Titicaca,  and  to  the  salt, 
mud,  and  alkaline  lakes  respectively,  that  Broken  Hill  does  to 
Lakes  Frome,  Blanche,  and  Gregory ;  but,  in  the  case  of  the 
last-named,  the  time  at  which  the  action  took  place  b  apparently 
much  more  recent,  and  the  evidences  which  it  has  left  are, 
therefore,  all  the  more  evident.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the 
whole  of  the  horseshoe-shaped  line  of  country,  of  which,  as  I 
have  said.  Broken  Hill  is  the  lowest  point,  is  highly  mineralized, 
and  contains  mines  for  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  lead ;  but  of 
all  these  mines,  the  Broken  Hill  lode  is  reallv  an  epitome,  con- 
taining, as  it  does,  nearly  every  metal  whicn  is  known  to  the 
practical  miner,  and  some  also  of  those  which  are  more  of 
scientific  than  of  practical  interest.  In  view  of  the  existence, 
among  other  things,  of  large  lateral  shoots  from  this  gigantic 
lode  containing  the  largest  specimens  of  native  silver  yet  dis- 
covered in  any  part  of  the  globe,  it  seems  difficult  to  account 
for  some  of  the  phenomena  present  at  Broken  Hill  without  pre- 
mising the  agency  of  electro-deposition.  Several  of  the  aigu 
ments  which  were  adduced  by  me  in  Nature  of  March  20, 
1890,  in  regard  to  the  occurrence  of  gold,  would  appear  to 
furnish  equally  strong  presumptive  evidence  that  earth-currents 
acting  along  the  axis  of  the  range  have  had  something  to  do 
with  the  deposition  of  metals  from  their  solutions  during  their 
passage  across  the  ridge.  My  present  purpose,  however,  goes 
no  further  than  to  call  attention  to  the  probable  origin  of  the 
lode,  which  I  believe  is  to  be  found  in  the  minerals  held  in 
solution  in  the  waters  of  some  of  the  vast  Australian  Inkes  and 
evaporation  pans.  George  Sutherland. 

Adelaide,  South  Australia. 


A  Magnificent  Meteor. 

At  1. 15  a.m.,  on  July  31,  I  observed  a  most  magnificent 
meteor — a  veritable  Andromedes.  It  was  much  larger  than 
Jupiter,  which  was  on  my  right,  in  the  constellation  Pisces, 
shining  to  the  best  advantage  on  a  dark  blue  sky.  After  the 
retina  of  my  eye  got  clear  of  the  dazzling  light  of  the  meteor,  I 
turned  to  Jupiter,  which  was  in  a  favourable  condition  for  com- 
parison, the  clouds  being  opportunely  absent,  but  it  looked  at  least 
three  times  smaller  than  the  meteor,  which,  indeed,  was  entitled 
to  be  called  a  fire-ball.  It  illuminated  the  whole  district  with  the 
brilliancy  of  the  noonday  sun.  I  traced  it  back  through  Mira 
Ceti,  and  to  the  ri^t  of  Mesartum  Arietis,  into  the  direction  of 
\  Andromedae.  This  magnificent  meteor  exploded  near  the 
earth,  without  any  detonation.  The  light  was  perfectly  white. 
There  was  a  very  peculiar  feature  in  the  apparition  of  this 
meteor :  it  appeared  to  be  very  near  to  me,  and  between  its 
body  and  ttfe  horizon  behind  it  there  seemed  to  be  a  vast  dis- 
tance. In  its  explosion  it  assumed  very  large  dimensions,  and 
the  effulgence  lasted  for  three  seconds  with  undiminished  splen- 
dour. In  reality  there  were  two  explosions.  The  trail  of  light 
was  dim,  except  immediately  behind,  where  it  wp.3  thick  and 
bright,  but  of  short  duration. 

On  the  night  of  July  31,  and  on  the  morning  of  August 
I,  there  was  a  brilliant  display  of  stars  for  this  time  of 
the  year;  the  Milky  Way  was  well  defined  from  horizon  to 
horizon,  denoting  a  certain  degree  of  frost.  At  present,  Jupiter 
is  the  most  conspicuous  and  most  brilliant  ornament  in  the 
nocturnal  heavens ;  here  in  Scotland  its  glory  is  enhanced  by 
the  somewhat  frosty  nights  which  occasionally  visit  us  about 
this  season.  Donald  Cameron. 

Paisley,  August  3. 

Bees  and  Honey-dew. 

Near  here  is  an  avenue  of  alternate  beech  and  oak  trees,  and,  in 
walking  through  it,  my  attention  has  lately  been  drawn  to  a  loud 
humming  in  the  beeches,  similar  to  that  heard  in  lime  trees  when 
in  flower,  while  the  oaks  are  silent.  The  sound  is,  I  find,  pro- 
duced from  bees  in  search  of  the  Aphis  secretions  on  the  leaves 
of  the  beeches,  the  under  sides  of  which  are  sticky  with  the  sub- 
stance. The  bees  appear  to  be  all  of  one  type — a  small  size  of 
the  larore  humble-bee — with  a  white  tail.  They  never  settle  on 
the  under  sides  of  the  leaves  direct,  but  just  on  the  mirglns. 


344 


NATURE 


[August  13,  1891 


and  then  creep  underneath,  when,  afier  running  about  and  ex- 
hausting the  supply,  they  fly  off  to  another  leaf,  excctly  as  if 
th^y  were  visiting  flowers.  The  leaves  of  the  oaks  are  clean, 
and  have  no  **  honey -dew  "  on  them.  F.  M.  Burton. 

Highfield,  Gainsborough,  August  5. 


Dredging  Products. 

Amongst  the  products  of  the  dredgings  which  my  friend  the 
Rev.  J.  H.  Cra\%ford  and  I  are  procuring  from  the  Voe  here,  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  record  the  presence  of  Actinotrocha.  We 
only  got  two  or  three  specimens  at  first,  but  to-day  a  large 
number  was  procured  from  the  surface  net.  One  or  two  have 
attained  to  the  Phoronis  condition  since  being  brought  in.  They 
answer  in  all  respects  to  Actinotrocha  branchicUa^  but  seem  to 
be  as  a  rule  less  pigmented  than  the  specimen  found  in  St. 
Andrews  Bay. 

Actinotrocha  branchiaia  has  now  been  found  on  both  sides  of 
Scotland  and  England,  and  also  at  Heligoland  ;  but,  besides 
being  got  in  the  North  Sea  and  on  the  west  coast  of  Britain 
{vide  Nature,  vol.  xxxiv.),  it  seems  also  to  be  found  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Atlantic,  for  Wilson  records  it  from 
Che:iapeake  Bay.  It  is  thus  distinctly  a  northern  form,  but  has 
a  wider  distribution  than  has  hitherto  been  supposed. 

Alexr.  Meek. 

Sullom,  Northmavine,  Shetland,  August  4. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF 
HYGIENE  AND  DEMOGRAPHY. 

NEVER  before,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  science  has 
there  been  assembled  together  such  a  numerous 
gathering  of  eminent  men  of  science  of  different  nation- 
alities, or  representing  so  many  countries,  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  scientific  problems. 

Although  it  is  little  to  the  national  credit  that  the 
imporance  of  international  Conferences  on  Health  was 
suggested  by  the  Belgians  and  not  by  ourselves,  the  con- 
ditions we  are  under  here  must  not  be  forgotten.  All 
other  civilized  countries  have  strongly  represented  among 
their  Ministers,  and  among  administrators,  men  of  know- 
ledge and  competence ;  and  elsewhere  such  Congresses 
are  treated  as  of  national  concern. 

Here,  even  in  the  matter  of  health,  such  powerful  and 
economical  methods  of  obtaining  and  distributing  know- 
ledge, such  as  Congresses  like  the  present  afford,  are 
absolutely  ignored  by  the  party  politicians  to  whom  we 
commit  our  national  welfare. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  most  of  the  good  which 
is  certain  to  arise  Horn  the  deliberations  now  going  on 
must  be  ascribed  to  the  Queen  and  Prince  of  Wales,  who 
came  forward  as  Patron  and  President  of  a  Congress 
ignored,  as  we  have  said,  by  our  party  rulers.  This  has 
been  pointed  out  by  the  St.  James's  Gazette : — **  The 
Prince  of  Wales  has  rendered  a  not  inconsiderable 
service  to  his  country  by  good-naturedly  pulling  the  Con- 
gress out  of  the  fire,  and  rendering  a  partial  success  of 
what  came  near  to  being  a  sad  fiasco.  But  for  his  com- 
plaisance in  sacrificing  his  holiday  in  coming  up  to 
London  to  take  the  chair,  no  public  personage  would 
have  been  present  to  welcome  the  two  or  three  thousand 
guests  bidden  to  the  metropolis,  or  to  give  attraction  and 
dignity  to  the  opening  meeting.  .  .  .  There  are  three 
Ministers  whose  departments  have  relation  to  the  sub- 
jects treated  by  the  Congress  :  Mr.  Ritchie,  who  is  our 
quasi'M\n\s\tr  of  public  health  and  relief;  Mr.  Chaplin, 
whose  department  deals  with  the  hygiene  and  prevention 
of  disease  of  animals;  and  Lord  Cranbrook,  who  con- 
trols medical  education.  Not  one  of  these  Ministers  was 
present  yesterday.  Not  even  the  Registrar-General,  the 
head  of  the  department  of  vital  statistics,  or  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Home  Secretary,  took  part  in  yesterday's 
meeting.    The  Prince,  however,  saved  the  position." 

The  devoted  and  unpaid  labours  of  many  eminent  men 
have,  however,  with  this  slight  touch  of  rational  feeling 

NO.   1137,  VOL.  44] 


in  high  quarters,  already  rendered  the  success  of  the 
Congress  unparalleled,  and  it  is  really  wonderful  to  see 
what  they  have  done,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  difficulty 
of  arranging  for  a  large  number  of  people  in  such  a 
city  as  London.  Even  the  facilities  afforded  by  Burling- 
ton House  and  the  University  of  London  buildings  do 
not  include  a  hall  large  enough  for  an  adequate  reception 
room  ;  at  first,  therefore,  there  were  difficulties,  largely 
owing  to  its  absence.  This  will  hardly  be  wondered  at, 
when  we  state  that  the  numbers  enrolled  already  are  about 
3000,  and  that  there  are  40  delegates  from  the  German 
Empire  and  70  from  India,  only  to  give  two  insunces. 

In  anticipation  of  the  meeting,  among  other  official  docu- 
ments too  numerous  to  mention,  was  prepared  a  Hand-book 
to  London,  with  special  reference  to  the  needs  of  the  mem- 
bers. This  is  a  volume  of  250  pages,  in  French  and 
English,  with  eight  plates  showing  the  position  of  hospitals, 
cemeteries,  markets,  and  the  like.  This  has  been  published 
by  Messrs.  Cassell.  There  is  another  volume  of  233 
pages,  containing  abstracts  of  the  more  important  papers 
to  be  read.  Nor  have  the  English  Committee  been  the 
only  workers.  We  have  "  Denmark :  its  Medical  Or- 
ganization, Hygiene,  and  Demography,"  with  numerous 
illustrations  and  maps,  published  in  English  by  authority 
of  the  Danish  Government  in  time  for  the  International 
Congress.  This  has  been  published  by  Messrs.  ChurchilL 

In  spite  of  the  abstentation  of  any  notice  on  behalf 
of  the  Government,  it  is  pleasant  to  note  the  way  in 
which  the  Lord  Mayor  and  the  Corporation,  the  Royal 
Colleges  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  numerous  other 
public  bodies  and  private  individuals  have  kept  up  the 
credit  of  the  nation  for  hospitality.  Among  the  conver- 
sazioni must  be  specially  mentioned  that  at  the  Guildhall 
on  Tuesday  evening,  when  the  Lord  Mayor  received  the 
members  of  the  Congress.  It  was  a  brilliant  and  impres- 
sive sight,  enhanced  by  the  uniforms  of  foreign  officers, 
and  the  unfamiliar  garbs  of  members  of  our  own  distant 
dependencies.  The  various  social  arrangements  laade  by 
the  organizing  committee  are  recorded  in  a  special 
pamphlet  of  fourteen  pages. 

The  proceedings  began  on  Monday  by  a  meeting  in  St 
James's  Hall,  presided  over  by  the  Prince  of  Wales-  Sir 
Douglas  Galton  first  presented  the  Report  of  the  Per- 
manent International  Committee,  and  inter  alia  gave  the 
following  account  of  the  general  organization : — 

"  The  work  of  the  Congress  has  been  arranged  in  two 
divisions,  viz.  hygiene  and  demography,  and  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  divide  the  former  into  nine  sections, 
each  under  a  separate  president,  and  with  separate  ©io- 
nization. Committees  have  been  organized  in  foreign 
countries  to  further  the  interests  of  the  Congress  in  a 
more  direct  manner  than  could  be  done  from  England. 
Delegates  have  been  appointed  by  all  the  Governmeots 
of  Europe,  and  also  by  the  United  States,  Mexico,  Vene- 
zuela, Japan,  Persia,  Egypt,  by  the  provinces  and  native 
states  of  the  Empire  of  India,  by  the  most  important 
colonies,  and  also  by  numerous  municipal  authorities, 
universities,  scientific  and  medical  societies,  and  other 
institutions  throughout  the  world,  and  large  numbers  of 
the  most  important  authorities  on  the  subjects  to  be 
treated  of  have  sent  communications  to  be  laid  before  the 
Congress." 

After  the  reading  of  this  Report,  the  Prince  of  Wales 
opened  the  proceedings  by  a  careful  and  sympathetic 
address.  One  part  of  it  referred  to  the  dangers  to  health 
inevitable  to  the  conditions  under  which  we  live.  He 
remarked  in  relation  to  these  dangers  : — 

"It  will  be  no  trivial  work  if  their  sources  and  probable 
remedies  can  be  clearly  pointed  out,  and  especially  if 
this  can  be  done,  as  in  a  Congress  such  as  this  it  should 
be,  in  a  strictly  scientific  manner,  calmly  and  dispassion- 
ately, without  any  reference  to  either  general  or  municipal 
politics,  or  for  any  other  purpose  than  the  promotion  of 
health.     It  is  only  on  conviction  such  as  may  thus  be  pro- 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


345 


duced  that  the  appointed  sanitary  authorities  can  compel 
the  changes  necessary  to  be  made  ;  for  such  changes  are 
almost  sdways  inconvenient  or  injurious  to  some,  and 
might  even  seem  unjust  to  them,  unless  it  be  made  quite 
clear  that  they  would  be  very  beneficial  to  the  community. 
But  my  hope  is  that  the  work  of  this  Congress  may  not 
be  limited  to  the  influence  which  it  may  exercise  on  sani- 
tary authorities.  It  will  have  a  still  better  influence  if  it 
will  teach  all  people  in  all  classes  of  society  how  much 
everyone  may  do  for  the  improvement  of  the  sanitary 
conditions  among  which  he  has  to  live.     I  say  distinctly 

*  all  classes/  for  although  the  heaviest  penalties  of  insani- 
tary arrangements  fall  on  the  poor,  who  are  themselves 
least  able  to  prevent  or  bear  them,  yet  no  class  is  free 
froin  their  dangers  or  sufficiently  careful  to  avert  them. 
Where  could  one  find  a  family  which  has  not  in  some  of 
its  members  suffered  from  typhoid  fever  or  diphtheria, 
or  others  of  those  illnesses  which  are  especially  called 

*  preventable  diseases '  ?  Where  is  there  a  family  m  which 
it  might  not  be  asked,  *  If  preventable,  why  not  pre- 
vented.?* I  would  add  that  the  questions  before  the 
Congress,  and  in  which  all  should  take  a  personal  interest, 
do  not  relate  only  to  the  prevention  of  death  or  of  serious 
diseases,  but  to  the  maintenance  of  the  conditions  in 
which  the  greatest  working  power  may  be  sustained." 

The  TtmeSj  in  a  leading  article  on  the  Prince's  address, 
points  out  one  very  important  practical  matter  in  which 
we  lag  far  behind  many  foreign  countries,  and  which  may 
serve  as  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  Prince's  words 
about  inconvenience  or  apparent  injustice  to  individuals. 
•*  The  weak  point  of  English  sanitary  law  is  in  respect  of 
regulations  for  the  slaughter  of  animals.     In  London,  for 
example,  slaughterhouses   are   small    private   establish- 
ments, often  situate  up  little  alleys  or  courts,  surrounded 
by  dwelling-houses,  and  not  only  destitute  of  many  con- 
veniences which  they  should  possess,  but  also  affording 
great  facilities  for  the  slaughter  of  diseased  animals,  and 
for  the  distribution  of  their  flesh  as  food.      In    many 
Continental  cities  public  abattoirs  have  been  established 
upon  a  large  scale,  and  all  private  slaughtering  is  for- 
bidden.   At  these  abattoirs  there  is  an  abundance  of 
space,  of  air,  of  light ;  there  is  an  excellent  water  supply  ; 
and  the  slaughtering  is  conducted  under  the  supervision 
of  officials,  governed  by  rules  which  not  only  protect 
cattle  against  unnecessary  cruelty  or  ill-usage,  but  which 
provide  for  the  systematic  inspection  of  meat  before  it  is 
permitted  to  be  sold.     We  shall  certainly  hear  a  good 
deal,  during  the  sitting  of  the  Congress,  as  to  the  import- 
ance of  preventing  the  consumption  of  the  flesh  of  tuber- 
culous animals  ;  but  this,  however  important  it  may  be, 
can  never  be  done  while  the  innumerable  small  private 
slaughterhouses  are  suffered  to  remain." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Prince's  address,  speeches 
were  delivered  by  representatives  of  France,  Italy, 
Austria-Hungary,  Saxony,  and  Prussia.  It  is  pleasing 
to  record  that  all  bore  high  tribute  to  the  part  which  has 
been  played  by  England  in  the  promotion  of  measures 
calculated  to  preserve  and  improve  the  public  health. 
On  this  point,  Dr.  Brouardel  (France)  was  indeed  specially 
emphatic : — 

"  In  the  year  1837,  the  year  of  the  coronation 
of  Her  Gracious  Majesty,  appeared  the  Act  which 
rendered  obligatory  the  registration  of  deaths.  This 
Act  inaugurated  the  era  of  administrative  reforms  con- 
cerning the  public  health  which  our  valued  colleague  of 
the  Local  Government  Board  has  rightly  called  'the 
Victorian  era/  This  Act  did  not  long  remain  alone. 
Under  the  impulse  given  by  two  of  your  most  illustrious 
patriots,  William  Farr  and  Edwin  Chadwtck,  you  have 
or^ganized  a  system  of  registration  of  the  causes  of 
diseases  and  of  deaths. ,  Certain  important  cities,  before 
the  law  made  it  obligatory,  obtained  supplies  of  water 
beyond  all  suspicion  of  pollution,  and  adopted  systems 
of  removal  of  foul  water  and  waste  matters.     In  these 

NO.   II 3 7,  VOL.  44] 


cities,  whose  action  cannot  be  too  much  praised,  the  sick- 
ness and  death  rates  diminished  rapidly  ;  this  furnished 
the  necessary  proof  it  was  time  for  reform.  Twenty 
years  ago  the  Local  Government  Board  was  established, 
and  in  1875  had  submitted  to  Parliament  a  Bill  for  the 
protection  of  the  public  health.  During  its  discussion  in 
Parliament  one  of  your  greatest  Ministers  (Disraeli)  pro- 
nounced in  the  House  of  Commons  these  memorable 
words,  which  should  be  repeated  in  all  countries  and  in 
all  Parliaments  :  *  The  public  heahh  is  the  foundation  on 
which  repose  the  happiness  of  the  people  and  the  power  of 
a  country.  The  care  of  the  public  health  is  the  first  duty  of  a 
statesman.'  Since  this,  each  year  you  have  made  fresh 
improvements  in  your  sanitary  laws  ;  if  in  your  eyes  they 
are  not  perfect,  in  the  eyes  of  the  nations  who  surround 
you  they  are  an  ideal  towards  which  all  their  most  ardent 
aspirations  tend.  It  is  your  example  they  invoke  when 
they  claim  from  the  public  authorities  the  powers  neces- 
sary to  oppose  epidemics,  to  combat  the  scourges  which 
decimate  their  populations.  You  have  taken  the  first 
rank  in  the  art  for  formulating  laws  for  the  protection  of 
health  ;  this  is  not  all  that  you  have  done  in  the  domain 
of  hygiene.  Among  the  diseases  which  one  can  properly 
term  pestilential,  there  are,  thanks  to  the  work  of  the 
hygienists  of  all  countries,  certain  ones  which  from  the 
present  time  may  be  considered  as  preventable  :  such  are 
small- pox,  typhoid  fever,  dysentery,  and  cholera.  For 
one  of  these,  the  most  terrible,  the  immunity  conferred  by 
vaccination  is  absolute.  The  person  upon  whom  this 
immunity  is  conferred  can  pass  through  the  most  severe 
epidemics,  and  expose  himself  to  all  sources  of  contagion 
without  being  aflected.  Who  is  it  who  thus  preserves 
from  death,  from  blindness,  from  infirmity,  millions  of 
human  beings  of  all  countries  and  of  all  races.'  On  May 
18,  1796,  a  date  which  might  well  be  the  date  of  a  great 
battle,  Jenner  inoculated  with  vaccine  matter  by  means 
of  two  superficial  incisions,  the  youth  James  Phipps. 
Protection  against  small- pox  belongs  to  you ;  the  world  will 
be  to  you  for  ever  obliged.  Let  us  consider  two  other 
epidemic  diseases.  I  s  it  possible  to  establish  the  conditions 
of  propagation  of  typhoid  fever  without  quoting  the  names  of 
Budd  or  of  Murchison  ?  I  am  aware  that  in  1855  Dr. 
Michel  de  Cbaumont  had  for  the  town  in  which  he  lived 
experimentally  established  the  rSie  played  by  drinking- 
water  in  the  propagation  of  this  disease.  Unhappily, 
public  opinion  was  not  prepared,  and  his  discovery  was 
not  listened  to.  In  the  work  which  we  are  considering, 
the  efforts  of  the  English  school  were  most  fruitful.  May 
I  recall  the  fact  that  it  was  the  epidemic  of  cholera  in 
1866  in  England,  which  gave  birth  to  the  theory  of  its 
propagation  by  drinking-water?  Was  it  not  at  that  date 
that,  under  the  influence  of  your  hygienists,  the  Lords  of 
the  Privy  Council  issued  an  order  formulating  the  laws  of 
prevention  which  we  adopt  to-day.'^  Certain  it  is  that 
even  in  England  these  discoveries  have  not  immediately 
borne  all  their  fruit.  The  anti- vaccination  leagues  are 
not  yet  dead.  Proofs  accumulated  during  a  century  have 
not  sufficed  to  cure  that  mental  blindness  which  is  con- 
genial. .  .  .  Can  France  be  represented  in  a  Con- 
gress of  Hygiene  without  recalling  the  name  of  M. 
Pasteur.?  For  centuries  we  have  asserted  that  epi- 
demic diseases  were  propagated  by  means  of  contact, 
by  the  air,  by  the  effiuvia,  by  miasmata.  The  idea 
of  morbific  germs,  if  not  the  name,  is  even  found  in 
the  works  of  Hippocrates,  but  in  what  an  uncertain  sense. 
The  theory  of  contagion  has  passed  from  century  to 
century  with  strange  modifications  ;  the  uncertainty  of 
the  methods  of  research  and  the  difficulties  of  observation 
bound  up  together  truth  and  error.  It  remained  for 
Pasteur  to  prove  the  existence  of  these  germs,  their  form, 
their  life,  their  mode  of  action,  and  by  their  attenuation 
to  solve  the  problem  of  immunity.  Thanks  to  his  work,  and 
thanks  to  those  of  his  pupils,  realities  have  succeeded  to 
contingent  possibilities.     We  know  some  of  our  enf'mies. 


346 


NA  TUR£ 


[August  13,  1891 


^heir  habits,  and  their  mode  of  penetrating  the  body  ;  up  to 
this  time  man  was  conquered  by  these  infinitesimal  beings, 
•but,  thanks  to  recent  discoveries,  he  will  be  their  conqueror. 
"When,  at  the  beginning  of  a  century,  one  can  inscribe  the 
-name  of  Jenner,  and  at  its  end  that  of  Pasteur,  the  human 
race  may  rejoice.  More  has  been  done  for  it  against  misery, 
disease,  and  death  than  in  any  one  of  the  centuries  which 
have  preceded  it.  You,  gentlemen,  you  have  been  the 
initiators;  this  title  will  never  be  disputed  with  you. 
When  a  great  people  has  given  such  an  example  ;  when, 
by  her  gracious  patronage.  Her  Majesty  the  Queen, 
and  when,  by  his  presence.  His  Royal  Highness  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  testify  that  for  them  this  era  of  reforms 
is  not  closed,  it  is  only  right  that  those  who  try  to  imitate 
them,  and  to  give  their  country  similar  institutions, 
should  come  to  bring  to  that  people,  and  to  their  Sove- 
reign, the  homage  of  their  profound  respect" 

fir.  Van  Coler,  the  Medical  Director-General  of  the 
Prussian  Army,  the  representative  of  the  German  Go- 
vernment, followed  suit,  and  showed  the  aid  rendered  to 
armies  by  the  improvements  in  sanitary  science.  We 
give  the  following  short  extracts  from  his  speech  : — 

*Mt  is  indeed  with  a  feeling  of  joyous  pride  that  from  this 
place  and  in  this  country,  where  we  have  to  trace  the 
very  cradle  of  all  modern  science  of  public  health,  I  am 
permitted  to  point  out  how  the  many  efforts  made  in  the 
direction  of  hygiene  radiating  from  England  were,  espe- 
cially in  Germany,  hailed  with  much  delight ;  where  they 
received  the  most  careful  attention,  and  where  they  ever 
since  have  been  most  actively  promoted.  .  .  .  If  from  our 
army,  diseases  like  malaria,  small-pox,  dysentery,  have 
completely,  or  almost  completely,  disappeared  ;  if  typhus 
fever  and  diphtheria  become  more  and  more  diseases  of 
the  past,  we  have  to  be  thankful  for  these  attainments  to 
the  development  and  application  of  hygiene. ...  It  is  now 
an  established  fact  that  infectious  diseases  are  by  no  means 
a  necessary  evil  in  the  army.  They  are  simply  diseases 
which  can  be  avoided,  which  can  be  powerfully  opposed, 
and  against  which  the  science  of  our  days  battles  vic- 
toriously with  ever- increasing  success." 

Dr.  Korosi's  address  will  be  welcome  to  many,  as  he 
exactly  defined  demography — which  is  a  puzzle  to  many 
outsiders — and  pointed  out  the  early  work  done  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Royal  Society ; — 

"  This  branch  of  science,  the  very  nucleus  of  statistical 
work,  which,  in  fact,  is  quite  a  science  in  its  own  right, 
has  chosen  the  task  to  investigate  the  laws  which  regulate 
the  life,  increase,  and  decrease  of  nations.  Its  work, 
therefore,  comprises  three  main  parts :  statistics  of 
natality,  of  mortality  (this  part  including  biometry,  the 
science  of  measuring  the  duration  of  human  life),  and  of 
the  increase  of  population.  And  when  inquiring  now 
'who  were  the  founders  of  this  new  science,  we  shall  hear 
unanimously  quoted  the  names  of  England's  sons— 
Graunt,  Petty,  Halley,  Malthus.  Gentlemen,  to-morrow, 
when  we  are  to  begin  our  work,  we  shall  meet  within  the 
venerable  hall  of  the  Royal  Society.  The  representatives 
of  demography  must  feel  a  deep  emotion  when  entering 
those  rooms,  which  are  so  intimately  connected  with  the 
history  of  their  science,  for  this  is  the  place  where,  220 
years  ago,  demography  was  created.  It  was  in  those 
halls,  in  their  very  first  youth  then,  but  soon  conspicuous 
to  the  whole  world  by  the  genius  of  Newton,  that 
appeared  the  work  of  Graunt  which  forms  the  starting- 
point  of  demography  ;  and  here  the  King  himself,  admir- 
ably appreciating  the  work  done,  recommended  the 
author  to  be  received  as  a  member  of  the  learned 
Society.  It  was  there  that  shortly  afterwards  Sir  William 
Petty,  by  his  eminent  power,  raised  the  new  science  to 
pohtical  importance  and  to  popularity,  and  in  the  same 
place,  again,  in  1693,  the  famous  Halley  became  the 
founder  of  the  most  important  part  of  demography,  of 
biometry,  by  working  out  the  first  table  of  mortality.  And 
now  the  young  science,  which  two  centuries  ago  left  those 

NO.   II 37,  VOL.  44] 


halls  shy  and  even  without  a  name,  has  found  its  way  over 
the  whole  globe.  Having  been  worked  out  in  Germany, 
having  received  a  name  and  new  ideas  in  France,  and  hav- 
ing been  enlarged  and  imbued  with  a  more  scientl6c  cha- 
racter by  Quetelet,  having  got  its  well -equipped  office  in 
every  country  of  the  civilized  world,  we  are  proud  to  see 
now  its  numerous  representatives  meet  at  the  same  place 
where  two  centuries  ago  this  science  was  born.  After  a 
triumphant  career  of  220  years,  it  returns  to  its  home,  to 
the  old  rooms  in  which  it  awoke  to  light,  and  again  the 
Throne  of  England  receives  it  with  favour  and  benevolent 
interest.  For  demography  not  less  than  for  all  statistical 
work,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  its  represeota- 
tives,  scattered  as  they  are  over  the  whole  globe,  should 
fully  understand  each  other,  for  only  so  we  can  accom- 
plish our  aim,  that  our  observations  comprise  equally  all 
countries  of  the  world,  that  our  researches  are  conducted 
and  worked  out  on  the  same  principles  everywhere,  and 
that  we  may  unite  the  incomplete  and  often  discrepant 
descriptions  of  the  single  nations  to  a  full  descriptive 
history  of  the  whole  of  civilized  mankind.  This  great  aim 
fuliy  deserves  the  praise  the  illustrious  Prince  Consort 
bestowed  upon  it  from  this  very  place  thirty  years  aga 
He  said,  '  The  importance  of  the  Congresses  cannot  be 
over-rated  ;  they  not  only  awaken  public  attention  to  the 
value  of  these  pursuits,  bring  together  men  of  all  coun- 
tries who  devote  their  lives  to  them,  and  who  are  thus 
enabled  to  exchange  their  thoughts  and  varied  experi- 
ences, but  they  pave  the  way  to  an  agreement  among 
different  Governments  and  nations  to  follow  up  these 
common  inquiries  in  a  common  spirit  by  a  common 
method  and  for  a  common  end.' '' 

The  meeting  was  subsequently  addressed  by  Sir  James 
Paget,  Dr.  G.  Buchanan  (of  the  Local  Govenuneat 
Board),  and  others. 

The  Sectional  work  of  the  Congress  began  on  Tues- 
day.    The  Divisions  and  Sections  are  as  follow  : — 

Division  I. — Section  i.  Preventive  Medicine.  President, 
Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  K.C.S  I.— Section  2.  Bacteriology. 
President,  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  Bart. — Section  3.  The 
Relation  of  the  Diseases  of  Animals  to  those  of  Maa 
— Section  4.  Infancy,  Childhood,  and  School  Life- 
Section  5.  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  Relation  to  Hygiene. 
President,  Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  M.P. — Section  6.  Archi- 
tecture in  Relation  to  Hygiene.  President,  Sir  Arthur 
W.  Blomfield,  A. R. A.— Section  7.  Engineering  in  Relation 
to  Hygiene.  President,  Sir  John  Coode,  K.C.M.G.— 
Section  8.  Naval  and  Military  Hygiene.  President, 
Lord  Wantage,  K.C.B.,  V.C— Section  9.  State  Hygiene 
President,  Lord  Basing. 

Division  11. — Demography.  President,  Mr.  Francis 
Galton. 

We  shall  endeavour  next  week  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
results  of  the  many  important  discussions  which  niay  be 
anticipated,  but  it  is  already  clear  that  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  us  to  give  anything  like  a  full  report,  for  the 
programme  of  work  to  be  gone  through  is  enormous. 
The  addresses  of  the  various  presidents  on  the  opening 
day  were  in  themselves  important  communications,  and 
well  fitted  to  give  tone  to  the  subsequent  discussions. 


PROGRAMME  OF  TECHNOLOGICAL 
EXAMINA  TIONS, 

A  SIGN  of  the  general  advance  in  technical  education 
is  shown  in  the  new  Programme  of  Technological 
Examinations  just  published  by  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
London  Institute.  The  Programme  contains  37  pages  of 
additional  matter,  and  the  number  of  different  subjects  of 
examination  has  now  reached  sixty.  The  Council  appear 
to  be  genuinely  desirous  of  adapting  the  examinations  to 
the  conditions  of  the  more  important  trades  as  practised 
in  the  principal  centres  of  industry.     To  this  end,  many 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


347 


of  the  sixty  subjects  are  divided  into  different  sections, 
corresponding  to  the  separate  branches  of  the  same 
trade,  or  to  the  practice  of  the  trade  in  separate 
localities. 

Id  the  new  Programme  we  notice  many  important 
additions.  A  practical  test,  which  is  the  surest  preventive 
of  cram,  and  excludes  those  who  are  not  engaged  in  the 
trade  from  presenting  themselves  for  examination,  has 
been  added  to  the  syllabus  of  nearly  all  the  subjects. 
Thus,  next  year,  for  the  first  time,  there  will  be  practical 
examinations  in  such  widely  different  subjects  as  photo- 
graphy and  boot  and  shoe  manufacture.  In  many  sub- 
jects dealing  largely  with  the  practical  applications  of 
science  the  syllabus  has  been  entirely  re-written.  This 
is  the  case  with  "  Electrical  Engineering,"  which  is  now 
divided  into  two  main  subjects — "  Telegraphy  "  and  "  The 
Transmission  of  Power  " — the  former  being  again  sub- 
divided, in  the  honours  grade,  into  "Telegraphy"  and 
** Telephony,"  and  the  latter  into  "Electrical  Instru- 
ments," **  Electric  Lighting,"  and  "  Dynamos,  Motors, 
&c."  The  subject  of  "  Mechanical  Engineering''  is  simi- 
larly divided  into  different  sections.  The  Programme 
has  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  a  syllabus  of  in- 
struction in  *•  Goldsmiths'  Work,"  in  which  subject  a  large 
class  has  been  already  established  in  Birmingham,  and 
of  a  syllabus  in  "  Ship  Carpentry  a.nd  Joinery,  which  is 
intended  to  meet  the  requirements  of  artisans  engaged  in 
the  different  shipbuilding  yards  throughout  the  country. 

The  continuous  increase  in  the  number  of  candidates 
for  these  examinations,  and  in  the  number  of  students 
receiving  instruction  in  the  different  centres  throughout 
the  country,  shows  that  there  is  a  genuine  demand  among 
artisans  for  practical  and  concrete  instruction  dealing,  in 
the  first  place,  with  the  facts  with  which  they  are  familiar 
in  their  every-day  work,  and,  afterwards,  with  the  scientific 
principles  explanatory  of  those  facts.  From  the  table 
found  on  p.  17  of  the  Programme,  it  appears  that  this 
year  7322  candidates  presented  themselves,  as  against 
6667  in  the  previous  year,  and  that  the  number  of 
students    under    instruction    increased  from   12,022    to 

I3f202. 

The  memorandum  issued  to  County  Councils,  to  which 
we  have  already  referred  in  these  columns,  is  republished 
in  the  Programme.  It  draws  the  attention  of  County  and 
Borough  Councils  to  the  fact  that,  after  the  examination 
in  May  1892,  the  grants  hitherto  paid  on  the  results 
of  the  examination  will  be  withdrawn,  and  that  a  sub- 
stantial portion  of  the  funds  thus  set  free  will  be 
devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  machinery  of  the 
examinations.  Indications  of  the  direction  in  which 
these  improvements  will  be  made  will  be  found  in  the 
new  Programme.  It  is  important  that  the  managers  of 
technical  classes  should  fully  understand  that,  in  future, 
the  maintenance  of  such  classes  will  depend  entirely  on 
local  support.  The  large  sums  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
County  Councils  clearly  render  it  no  longer  necessary 
that  the  City  Guilds  Institute  should  continue  to  make 
grants  on  results,  which,  although  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  a  large  sum  of  money,  proved  to  be  quite 
inadequate  to  properly  support  the  classes.  It  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  feared  that  the  grant-earning  tendency  of  the 
teachers  and  managers  of  local  schools  may  cause  the 
distinctly  technological  subjects  of  instruction  to  be  neg- 
lected for  the  sake  of  science  subjects  by  which  grants 
.nay  still  be  obtained  from  South  Kensington.  To  prevent 
this,  it  is  necessary  that  County  Councils  should  realize 
the  full  importance  of  the  work  which  Parliament  has 
thrown  upon  them,  and  should  recognize  that  in  future 
they  will  be  the  authorities  responsible  for  the  conduct  of 
the  technical  and,  indeed,  the  secondary  education  also 
of  the  county.  In  the  competition  for  money  grants, 
technical  subjects  will  be  placed  at  a  distinct  disadvantage 
as  compared  with  ordinary  science  subjects,  and  it  is  the 
more  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  teaching  of  these 

NO.  1137,  VOL.  44] 


subjects   should    receive  adequate    support    from  local 
authorities. 

In  order  that  the  teaching  in  different  localities  may  be 
duly  adapted  to  the  trades  practised  in  those  localities,, 
and  may  be  regulated  by  these  requirements,  and  not  by 
the  grant-earning  capacity  of  the  subjects  of  instruction,, 
it  is  very  desirable  that  County  Councils  should  organize,, 
independently,  or  in  connection  with  the  City  Guilds 
Institute,  a  system  of  inspection  of  local  classes.  The 
value  of  examinations  is  immeasurably  increased  when 
they  are  supplemented  by  inspection  by  competent  ex- 
perts, and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  system  of  inspec- 
tion of  technical  schools,  which  shall  include  the  methods 
of  instruction  adopted,  will  soon  be  organized. 

The  Institute's  Programme  offers  to  different  localities 
a  wide  choice  of  trade  subjects,  ranging  from  simple 
handicrafts  to  industries  involving  some  of  the  most 
dif!icult  applications  of  physical  and  chemical  science. 
To  the  syllabus  of  each  subject  is  added  a  valuable  list 
of  works  of  reference,  which  forms  by  itself  a  very  com- 
plete guide  to  books  in  technology.  The  list  of  examiners^ 
many  of  whom  have  this  year  been  newly  appointed,  in- 
cludes well-known  experts  in  each  branch  of  trade,  and 
is  a  guarantee  of  the  efficiency  of  the  examinations. 
The  future  development  of  technical  education  is  now 
very  largely  under  the  control  of  County  Councils.  They 
possess  the  funds  without  which  no  real  progress  can  be 
made.  But,  besides  funds,  experience  and  organization 
are  needed,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  members 
of  County  and  Borough  Councils  will  derive  much  valu- 
able information,  and  many  serviceable  suggestions,  from 
the  new  edition  of  the  City  Guilds  Institute's  Programme 
of  Technological  Examinations. 


BOTANICAL  SURVEY  OF  INDIA. 

THE  organization  of  a  Botanical  Survey  of  India, 
which  has  been  under  consideration  since  1885,  has 
been  finally  settled  by  the  following  resolution  of  the 
Government  of  India,  dated  Calcutta,  February  26, 
1891  :  — 

(i)  The  scheme  for  carrying  out  the  botanical  survey 
of  India,  which  has  been  under  consideration  for  some 
time,  was  finally  completed  a  year  ago,  and  His  Excel- 
lency the  Governor- General  in  Council  considers  that  it 
is  now  desirable  to  publish  the  details  for  the  general 
information  of  local  Governments  and  Administrations. 

(2)  In  February  1885,  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer,  Director  of 
the  Royal  Gardens  at  Kew,  prepared  for  the  Government 
of  Madras  a  Memorandum  on  the  constitution  of  a 
Botanical  Department  for  the  Madras  Presidency,  one 
result  of  which  was  the  eventual  establishment  of  a 
Botanical  Department  for  that  Presidency.  In  sanction- 
ing the  Madras  Department,  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
India  look  the  opportunity  to  suggest  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Government  of  India  whether,  without  inter- 
fering with  the  control  exercised  by  the  Provincial 
Governments,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  bring  into  com- 
munication the  various  Botanical  Departments  of  the 
different  Provinces,  the  desirability  of  such  an  association 
having  been  prominently  noticed  by  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer 
in  his  Memorandum  of  February  1885.  The  wider 
scheme  thus  suggested  by  the  Secretary  of  State  was 
accordingly  considered  ;  and  the  first  step  taken  for  the 
organization  of  a  Botanical  Survey  for  all  India,  which 
was  to  have  its  centre  in  the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens  at 
Seebpur,  Calcutta,  was  the  transfer  from  the  control  of 
the  Government  of  the  North-Western  Provinces  and 
Oudh,  to  that  of  the  Government  of  India,  of  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  Botanical  Gardens  at  Saharanpur.  This 
measure  was  demanded  by  the  need  for  botanical  survey 
in  the  Punjab,  Rajputana,  Central  India,  and  the  Central 
Provinces,  which  had  hitherto  been  unrepresented  by  any 


348 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


botanical  officer,  as  well  as  by  the  necessity  for  having  a 
botanical  officer  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  of  India 
to  accompany  military  expeditions  beyond  the  frontier. 

Arrangements  were  then  made,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the  local  Governments  concerned,  under  which  the  follow- 
ing territorial  division  of  India  was  prescribed  for  the 
purposes  of  botanical  survey  : — 

Under  the  Superintendent^  Royal  Botanical  Gardens^ 
Calcutta. — The  Provinces  of  Bengal,  Assam,  and  Burma, 
the  Andamans  and  Nicobars,  North-East  Frontier  Expe- 
ditions. 

Under  the  Government  Botanist^  Madras, — The  Presi- 
dency of  Madras,  the  State  of  Hyderabad,  the  State  of 
Mysore. 

Under  the  Principal^  College  of  Science^  Poona, — The 
Presidency  of  Bombay,  including  Sind. 

Under  the  Director,  Botanical  Department,  Northern 
India. — The  North- Western  Provinces  and  Oudh,  the 
Punjab,  the  Central  Provinces,  Central  India,  Rajputana, 
North- West  Frontier  Expeditions. 

The  distribution  above  stated  was  reported  to  Her 
Majesty's  Secretary  of  State,  and  his  Lordship  has  been 
pleased  to  express  his  satisfaction  with  these  arrange- 
ments. 

(3)  The  Government  of  India  now  desire  to  communi- 
cate the  following  observations  as  to  the  central  position 
which,  in  conformity  with  the  suggestions  of  the  Director 
of  the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens  at  Kew,  the  officer  at 
Seebpur  will  occupy  in  the  scheme  for  the  botanical  sur- 
vey of  India,  and  as  to  the  sphere  and  nature  of  duties 
of  each  botanical  officer,  so  far  as  they  are  connected 
with  botanical  survey. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  Seebpur  Institution — which,  as 
remarked  by  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer,  "  though  technically 
Provincial,  must,  at  any  rate  in  external  estimation,  from 
its  age  (it  has  passed  its  centenary),  from  its  scientific 
traditions,  and  from  the  splendour  of  its  maintenance, 
rank    as    Imperial  *' — should,   without  any   interference 
with  the  Provincial  control  over  the  Royal  Botanical  Gar- 
dens, be  officially  recognized  as  the  acknowledged  centre 
of  the  Botanical  Survey  of  India,  and  that  to  it  should  be 
referred  the  solution  of  all  problems  rising  out  of  the 
practical  or  scientific  study  of  Indian  botany.     In  view 
of  the  important  position  which  the  Superintendent  of 
the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens,  Calcutta,  will  thus  occupy 
as  the  central  authority  in  the  Botanical  Survey  of  India, 
the  Government  of  India  have,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the   Secretary  of  State,  added  to   Dr.    King's  present 
designation  the  official  title  of  "  Director  of  the  Botanical 
Survey  of  India,"  and  it  is  requested  that  in  all  corre- 
spondence dealing  with  subjects  relating  to  general  bota- 
nical exploration  the  latter  title  should  be  employed.  The 
more   effective  botanical  survey  of  Burma  and  Assam 
has  also  been  intrusted  to  the  Director,  who  will  arrange 
a  definite  programme  each  year  for  the  purpose  in  com- 
munication with  the  Chief  Commissioners  of  those  Pro- 
vinces.    He  will  also  submit  a  separate  Annual  Report 
on   the  botanical  exploration    and    researches  efifected 
during  the  year.     The  Government  of  India  record  with 
satisfaction   that   the  local  Administrations    of    Burma 
and  Assam  have  each  contributed  an  annual  grant  from 
Provincial  revenues  as  an  addition  to  the  Imperial  grant 
for  the  botanical  survey  of  their  provinces. 

The  investigation  of  the  flora  of  the  Madras  Presidency 
and  of  the  Hyderabad  and  Mysore  States  has  been  in- 
trusted to  Mr.  M.  A.  Lawson,  the  Government  Botanist 
and  Director  of  Cinchona  Plantations,  who  has  expressed 
his  opinion  that  the  whole  survey  of  the  territories  in 
question  might,  if  diligently  prosecuted,  be  completed  in 
three  or  four  years. 

In  Bombay,  a  scheme  involving  an  annual  expenditure 
of  Rs.  4500  per  annum  on  botanical  work  has  been 
sanctioned,  and  Dr.  Cooke,  Principal  of  the  College  of 
Science,  Poona,  is  officially  recognized  as  in  charge  of 

NO.    1 137,  VOL.  44] 


botanical  research  in  that  Presidency.  A  herbarium 
exists  at  the  College  of  Science,  and  a  botanical  collec- 
tion is  in  course  of  formation  at  the  Victoria  Gardens, 
Bombay.  The  former  place  is  to  be  the  head-quarters  of 
botanical  research  and  collections,  and  the  existing 
herbarium  there  is  to  be  developed. 

By  the  transfer  of  the  services  of  the  Superintendent  of 
the  Government  Botanical  Gardens,  Saharanpur— who 
now  bears  the  designation  of  Director  of  the  Botanical 
Department,  Northern  India — the  services  of  this  officer 
are,  as  already  explained,  available  for  scientific  investiga- 
tion in  all  Provinces  and  States  in  Northern  and  Central 
India,  as  well  as  on  expeditions  beyond  the  north-west 
frontier.  Mr.  Duthie,  the  officer  now  holding  the  appoint- 
ment, was  thus  in  1888,  by  his  deputation  to  accompany 
the  Black  Mountain  Expedition,  enabled  to  acquire  in- 
formation concerning  the  flora  of  a  country  which  had 
not  hitherto  been  botanically  explored.  During  the  last 
threeyears,  Mr.  Duthie  has  also  been  deputed  to  Simla 
in  the  hot  weather  to  assist  in  the  preparation  of  the 
*'  Dictionary  of  the  Economic  Products  of  India,"  and 
during  the  same  period  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
botanical  exploration  of  Rajputana  and  of  the  Central 
Provinces. 


M,  F AYE'S  THEORY  OF  CYCLONES. 

IN  his  admirable  work  on  "  The  Principles  of  Science,'" 
the  late  Prof.  Jevons  thus  sums  up  the  characteristic 
mental  attributes  of  the  gieat  scientific  discoverer:— 

^*  He  must  be  fertile  in  theories  and  hypotheses,  and 
yet  full  of  facts  and  precise  results  of  experience.  He 
must  entertain  the  feeblest  analogies  and  the  merest 
guesses  at  truth,  and  yet  he  must  hold  them  as  worthless 
till  they  are  verified  in  experiment.  Where  there  arc 
any  grounds  of  probabiHty,  he  must  hold  tenaciously  to 
an  old  opinion,  and  yet  he  must  be  prepared  at  any 
moment  to  relinquish  it  when  a  single  clearly  contra- 
dictory fact  is  encountered." 

In  his  theory  of  cyclones,  M.  Faye  has  abundantly 
proved  himself  to  possess  those  attributes  that  are  de- 
fined in  the  first  phrase  of  each  of  these  sentences,  and 
particularly  the  final  one.  Whether,  however,  in  his  trat- 
ment  of  this  subject,  the  manifestation  of  the  remaining 
and  qualifying  attributes  is  equally  recognizable ;  whether 
he  has  fairly  grasped  and  duly  weighed  all  the  established 
facts  that  are  relevant  and  even  essential  to  his  hypothesis; 
and  whether,  among  those  that  he  has  overlooked,  there 
are  not  some  that  are  "  clearly  contradictory  *'  to  the  ^^ 
quirements  of  his  theory,  and  therefore  fatal  to  it— these 
are  the  questions  that  I  propose  to  inquire  into  in  the 
present  article. 

A  true  theory  of  cyclonic  storms  has  not  merely  a 
scientific  interest,  it  has  also  practical  bearings  of  ver>' 
high  importance.  When  a  ship  is  involved  in  the  outer 
circle  of  a  tropical  cyclone,  the  vital  problem  which  the 
seaman  has  to  solve  is,  how  to  escape  the  fearful  squalls 
of  the  inner  vortex  and  the  tremendous  cross-seas  of  the 
central  calm.  In  order  to  do  this  he  must  be  able  to 
judge  of  the  bearing  of  the  storm-centre  from  the  actual 
position  of  his  ship,  and,  to  determine  this  point  with 
even  approximate  accuracy,  his  sole  guide  is  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind.  It  may  well  be,  then,  that  the  safety 
of  his  ship,  his  own  life  and  those  of  his  fellow-seamen, 
are  involved  in  the  right  answering  of  this  question, 
"  Does  the  storm-centre  bear  at  right  angles  to  the  local 
direction  of  the  wind,  or  is  it  from  two  to  four  points  in 
advance  of  this  position?'*  M.  Faye's  theory  assumes 
and  inculcates  the  former ;  the  latter  is  consistent  only 
with  the  hypothesis  of  an  indraught  from  all  sides,  and 
an  ascending  current  over  the  storm,  the  existence  of 
which  M.  Faye  persistently  denies. 

M.  Fayc's  views  on  the  nature  of  cyclonic  storms  arc 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


349 


too  well  known  to  render  necessary  any  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  theuL  An  account  given  by  Mr.  Archibald  in 
vol.  xxxviiL  of  this  journal  (p.  149)  is  quoted  without  dis- 
approval by  M.  Faye  in  his  latest  publication  in  the 
Comptes  rendus,  and  may  therefore  be  accepted  as  just. 
Its  essentia]  points  are  that  cyclones  are  generated  as 
great  eddies  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  that  there  is  a  downrush  of  air  in  the  vortex.  **  Dans 
ces  tourbillons,  tout  semblables  k  ceux  qui  se  forment 
dans  les  cours  d'eau,  les  spires,  d'abord  tr^s  larges, 
iront  en  se  r^tr^cissant  par  en  bas,  et  leur  girations  pro- 
gressivement  accdldr^es,  en  vertu  d*une  loi  bien  connue 
de  m^canique,  am^nent  au  contact  du  sol,  et  y  concen- 
trent  sous  une  aire  bien  plus  ^troite  que  celle  de  leur 
embouchure  les  Energies  continuellement  renouvelldes  du 
fleuve  adrien  jusqu'^  ce  que  son  dlargissement  croissant 
aboutisse  k  la  decomposition  du  cyclone.'' 

Further  on,  with  respect  to  the  descending  current  in 
the  vortex,  he  remarks :  "  L'air  envoy^  en  bas  sera  en 
petite  quantity  mais  anim^  d'une  vitesse  de  rotation 
ifnorme." 

I  leave  aside  for  the  present  any  criticism  of  the  phy- 
sical and  mechanical  actions  which  M.  Faye  conceives 
to  take  place  in  these  unfortunately  inaccessible  vortices 
of  the  higher  atmosphere,  and  which  I,  for  one,  am  unable 
to  reconcile  either  with  the  results  of  direct  observation 
or  with  well-established  physical  laws.  For  the  moment 
I  wish  to  concentrate  attention  on  the  question  of  fact, 
whether  there  is  an  indraught  of  air  to  the  cyclone  vor- 
tex at  the  earth's  surface,  and  therefore  necessarily  an 
ascending  current  over  it,  or,  on  the  contrary,  an  outflow 
from  a  descending  current.  This  is  the  crucial  point  of 
the  controversy,  and  by  the  answer  M.  Faye^s  theory 
must  stand  or  fall.  Indeed,  M.  Faye  seems  to  recognize 
this,  since  he  says  : — 

"  L'argument  le  plus  solide,  celui  qu*on  m'opposait 
toujours  pour  prouver  que  I'air  ^tait  ascendant  dans  les 
cyclones,  k  savoir  le  fait  que  les  isobares  ^taient  partout 
et  toujours  coupds  sous  un  angle  assez  notable  par  les 
fldches  des  vents,  de  mani^re  k  accuser  une  tendance 
nettement  centrip^te,  &c." 

He  admits,  too,  that  in  certain  cases  there  is  really  an 
indraught  and  ascent  of  air ;  only,  on  his  view,  these  are 
not  cyclones. 

In  order  to  forestall  any  objection  on  this  score,  I  will 
take  as  the  subject  of  inquiry  the  cyclones  of  the  Bay 
of  Bengal,  the  typical  cyclones  to  which  Mr.  Piddington 
first  applied  the  name,  however  etymologically  incorrect. 
I  trust,  by  this  restriction,  to  escape  ignominious  dismissal 
froai  court  on  the  plea  that  my  witnesses  are  impostors 
— merely  "  pr^tendus  cyclones  "—and  that  their  evidence 
is  consequently  irrelevant. 

My  first  experience  of  a  great  tropical  cyclone  was  the 
memorable  storm  that  devastated  the  port  and  city  of 
Calcutta  on  October  5,  1864.  Up  to  that  time,  my 
acquaintance  with  cyclones  was,  like  M.  Faye's, "  aca- 
demic"; and  under  the  impression  that  Reid's  and  Pid- 
dington's  description  of  the  winds,  as  blowing  in  circles 
or  at  right  angles  to  the  radius  vector  of  the  vortex,  was 
an  established  scientific  fact,  on  the  evening  of  that  day 
I  sketched  out,  for  the  information  of  some  friends,  the 
probable  course  of  the  storm  that  was  then  passing  away, 
having  swept  the  port  of  its  shipping,  and  left  half  the 
houses  around  us  more  or  less  wrecks.  Having  no  other 
guide  at  the  moment  than  the  changing  directions  of  the 
hurricane  as  experienced  at  Calcutta,  on  the  supposition 
that  the  centre  lay  at  right  angles  to  these  directions,  I 
inferred  that  the  storm  had  reached  us  from  the  north- 
east comer  of  the  bay,  and  had  followed  a  north-west  or 
west-north-west  course  past  Calcutta.  What  was  my  sur- 
prise, then,  when  accounts  began  to  come  in  from  other 
places  in  Bengal,  showing  that  the  course  of  the  storm 
had  been  almost  due  north  ;  and  when,  further,  on  plot- 
ting down  the  wind  directions  reported  from  other  sta- 

NO.   II 37.  VOL.  44] 


tions  according  to  the  hours  at  which  they  had  been 
observed,  I  found  that,  instead  of  being  at  right  angles 
to  the  radius  vector,  they  were  strongly  inclined  inwards  ; 
and  such  as,  after  making  all  allowances  for  their  being 
only  estimated  directions  and  perhaps,  therefore,  a  point 
or  two  in  error,  could  be  reconciled  only  with  a 
sharp  spiral  indraught  to  and  up  to  the  central  calm. 
Later  on,  when  I  obtained  copies  of  the  logs  of  ships 
that  had  been  involved  in  the  storm  in  its  passage  up  the 
bay,  I  found  that  their  wind  observations,  equally,  were 
compatible  only  with  spiral  directions.  Unlike  M.  Faye, 
I  had  no  theory  to  support,  and  1  submissively  accepted 
the  teaching  of  the  evidence  which  lay  so  plainly  before 
me. 

This  evidence  is  set  forth  on  Plates  L  and  II.  of  the 
Report  drawn  up  by  Colonel  Gastrell  and  myself,  which 
was  widely  distributed  at  the  time  to  scientific  bodies,  so 
that,  in  all  probability,  a  copy  must  exist  in  the  library  of 
the  Acaddmie  des  Sciences. 

Since  then,  many  oiher  storms  in  the  Ray  of  Bengal 
have  been  carefully  investigated,  and  their  full  details 
embodied  in  Reports  drawn  up  by  Messrs.  Wilson,  Eliot, 
Pedler,  and  myself.  Without  a  single  exception,  the 
evidence  thus  accumulated  has  been  to  the  same  effect 
as  that  of  the  cyclone  of  1864,  and  these  gentlemen  have 
all  arrived  at  conclusions  similar  to  mine.  Thus,  Mr. 
Wilson  says  ^ : — "  The  following  rule  may  be  used  to 
determine  the  approximate  bearing  of  the  centre  with  as 
much  accuracy  as  it  seems  to  be  possible  to  arrive  at : 
In  the  northern  hemispherey  with  the  face  to  the  windy 
the  direction  of  the  centre  is  from  ten  to  eleven  points  to 
the  right-hand  side " ;  and,  to  quote  only  one  of  Mr. 
Eliot's  numerous  references  to  this  subject,*  "  The  air  is 
drawn  into  the  centre  [of  a  cyclone],  but  is  not  drawn 
directly  to  it  The  particles  move  by  a  kind  of  spiral 
path  to  the  centre.''  And  he  gives  a  diagram,  followed 
by  charts  of  the  Balasore  cyclone  of  May  1886  and  the 
Madras  cyclone  of  November  of  the  same  year,  as  illus- 
trative examples.  And  Mr.  Pedler,  in  summing  up  the 
evidence  of  the  False  Point  cyclone  of  September  1885, 
says ' : — 

'*  It  is  therefore  clear,  from  these  autographic  records, 
that  there  was  a  very  strong  indraught  towards  the 
storm-centre,  and  that  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
time,  even  when  the  storm-centre  was  comparatively  close 
to  Hazaribagh,  the  winds  were  part  of  a  well-defined 
spiral  system.  In  fact,  for  a  large  part  of  the  lime  they 
subtended  an  angle  of  less  than  45"  with  the  radius  of 
the  storm.  .  .  .  The  records  of  five  anemographs  within 
the  influence  of  the  storm  r  .  .  show  that  the  theory  of 
the  circular  movement  of  winds  in  a  cyclone,  which  was 
advanced  by  Reid  and  Piddington,  and  has  been  sup- 
ported by  some  later  writers,  is  utterly  untenable.  At 
considerable  distances  from  the  storm-centre  the  winds 
approach  more  to  the  radial  direction  of  indraught  to- 
wards the  centre,  as  advocated  by  Espy,  than  to  any 
circular  movement.  As  the  centre  of  the  storm  is 
approached,  the  circulation  appears  to  become  more 
defined  ;  but  even  just  outside  the  storm-centre  there  is 
no  evidence  to  show  that  the  direction  is  tangential." 

The  reports  here  quoted  and  many  others,  all  leading 
to  the  same  conclusions,  have  been  corimunicated 
officially  to  a  large  number  of  scienlitic  bodies  in  Europe 
and  elsewhere,  and  taken  together  they  probably  furnish 
the  most  copious  and  complete  body  of  existing  evidence 
relative  to  the  cyclones  of  a  tropical  sea.  Not  long  since 
I  examined  the  whole  of  the  charts  given  in  these  reports, 
in  order  to  verify  Mr.  Wilson's  rule  (quoted  above)  for 
ascertaining  the  bearing  of  the  storm-centre  when  th 

'  "Report on  the  Midnapore  and  Burdwan  Cyclone  of  October  15  and 
z6.  1874,    P*  86'    '^l^^  italics  are  as  in  the  original  Report. 

^  "  Hand'book  of  Cjrclonic  Storms  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal/'  p.  14  (1890). 

3  "Indian  Meteorological  Memoirs,"  voL  iv.,  Part  3.  p.  137.  'Hie  baro- 
metric reading  recorded  when  the  centre  of  this  storm  was  p.i«sing  False 
Point  Lighthouse  is  the  lowest  that  has  ever  been  observed  at  ihe  sea-level. 


350 


JSIA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


local  wind  direction  is  the  only  datum  available,  and  I 
found  that  in  the  north  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  as  the  mean 
result  of  132  measurements,  the  angle  included  between 
the  wind  arrow  and  the  radius  vector  of  the  vortex  was 
122"  (or  32*  greater  than  a  right  angle),  and  that  of  twelve 
positions  within  50  miles  of  the  storm-centre,  that  is  to 
say,  in  the  inner  circle  of  the  hurricane,  123°.  In  the 
south  of  the  bay  it  was  7'  greater.  Prof.  Loomis,  taking 
into  account  the  land  as  well  as  the  marine  obser- 
vations, and  all  barometric  depressions,  whether  storms 
or  otherwise,  obtained  an  angle  25**  greater,  and  dif- 
fering only  by  33**  from  the  radial  direction.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  refer  to  Prof.  Loomis's  results  of 
his  examination  of  the  Manilla  cyclone  of  October  1882, 
which  gave  an  angle  of  118°,  or  to  Mr.  Meldrum's  work 
on  the  cyclones  of  the  South  Indian  Ocean,  which  has 
already  been  quoted  by  Mr.  Archibald  in  his  article  in 
Nature,  mentioned  above.  All  testify  uniformly  and  in 
the  strongest  manner  to  the  sharp  spiral  indraught  of  the 
winds  in  tropical  cyclones,  so  that,  as  Prof.  Loomis  has 
truly  remarked,  **  we  thus  see  that  tropical  storms  are 
spouts  and  not  cyclones,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  the 
term  cyclone  should  have  been  ever  adopted. *'  In  this 
view  I  fully  agree,  and  I  make  M.  Faye  a  present  of  the 
admission^  that  in  an  etymological  sense,  if  in  no  other, 
Mr.  Piddington's  typical  cyclones  are  not  cyclones  at  all. 

With  all  these  results  of  a  quarter  of  a  century's  ex- 
perience present  to  my  mind,  when  a  gentleman  holding 
the  high  position  of  M.  Faye  reiterates  the  assertion  that 
the  winds  of  tropical  cyclones  blow  in  circles,  and  that  if 
ever  they  are  found  to  blow  spirally  inwards  such  in- 
stances are  not  true  cyclones  (in  the  ordinarily  accepted,  i.e, 
denotative,  meaning  of  the  term),  the  impression  I  receive 
is  somewhat  such  as  M.  Faye  would  probably  experience 
were  some  equally  eminent  scientific  authority  to  assert  in 
his  presence  that  the  Ptolemaic  system  truly  represents 
the  relative  movements  of  the  sun  and  planets,  and  that 
the  heliocentric  scheme  of  Copernicus  is  a  "pr^tendu 
syst^me."  If,  indeed,  M.  Faye  prefers  to  avail  himself  of 
the  admission  made  above,  to  relegate  Mr.  Piddington's 
typical  cyclones  to  the  category  of  **pr^tendus  cyclones," 
and  therefore  to  exclude  them  from  his  theory,  my  present 
argument  falls  to  the  ground  ;  but  in  that  case  his  cyclone 
becomes  the  mere  abstract  definition  of  a  term,  and  it 
remains  to  be  shown  that  there  is  anything  corresponding 
to  it  in  Nature.  That,  however,  in  his  latest  communica- 
tion to  the  Comptes  rendusy  he  intended  his  assertions  to 
apply  to  these  tropical  cyclones  is  abundantly  apparent. 

Can  it  be  that  M.  Faye  is  unacquainted  with  the  mass 
of  original  evidence  embodied  in  the  Indian  cyclone  re- 
ports, in  Mr.  Meldrum's  writings  on  the  cyclones  of  the 
South  Indian  Ocean,  and  with  Prof.  Loomis*s  work,  in 
which  these  and  many  others  are  discussed  1  It  would 
indeed  seem  so,  since  in  none  of  his  writings  have  I  ever 
seen  any  reference  to  any  other  Indian  author  than  Mr. 
Piddington,  and  even  in  his  case  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  M.  Faye  has  done  more  than  simply  accept  Mr. 
Piddington's  conclusions,  without  attempting  to  verify 
them  by  an  examination  of  the  original  data.  But  if  this 
be  really  the  case — if  he  has  taken  so  little  pains  to 
ascertain  the  fundamental  facts,  and  to  test  the  soundness 
of  his  speculations  by  an  appeal  to  the  evidence  of  the 
last  twenty-five  years — it  is  indeed  strange  that  he  can  put 
forward  confident  assertions  on  a  matter  with  which  his 
acquaintance  is  so  imperfect,  and  that  he  can  disseminate 
statements  that  are  demonstrably  erroneous,  and  may  be 
fraught  with  danger  to  the  lives  and  property  of  those  who 
accept  him  as  their  guide,  backed  with  the  high  authority 
that  must  necessarily  attach  to  his  name. 

It  is  a  far  from  edifying  spectacle  to  see  such  a  man,  in 
his  latest  communications  to  the  Comptes  rendus,  quoting 
with  complacency  any  isolated  passage  in  the  writings  of 
leading  meteorologists  which  seems  to  promise  some 
support  to  his   tottering  theory,  and  ignoring   all   that 

NO.   1 137,  VOL.  44] 


would  tell  against  it.     That  such  cyclones  as  originate 
beyond  the  tropics  are,  in  the  first  instance,  movements 
of   the    higher    atmosphere,   has   been    rendered  very 
probable  by  Dr.  Hann's  demonstration  of  the  tempera- 
ture relations  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones  ;  but  nothing 
that  Dr.  Hann  has  ever  written  has  shown  that  he  is  in 
the  least  inclined  to  accept  M.  Faye's  strange  hypothesis 
of  a  descending  current  as  the  leading  feature  ot  cyclones 
and  tornadoes.     That  the  clearing  of  the  skies  in  the 
central  calm  of  a  tropical  cyclone  may  be  due  to  the 
descent  of  a  certain  amount  of  air,  although  not  de- 
cisively proved,  is  yet  not  improbable ;  but  what  would 
be  thought  of  a  man  who,  standing  on  a  river  bank,  and 
seeing  an  upward  current  in  the  back-water  immediately 
below  him,  should  shut  his  eyes  to  the  broad  stream 
beyond,  and  assert,  on  the  strength  of  his  observation,  that 
rivers  flow  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains  ?    Yet  such,  and 
no  other,  is  the  relation  of  this  descending  current  to  the 
great  body  of  the  cyclone.   All  may  admit,  with  Prof  von 
Bezold,  that  there  is  much  in  the  views  hitherto  prevalent 
as  to  the  origin  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones  that  requires 
modification,  and  it  may  yet  be  long  before  these  pheno- 
mena are  fully  and  satisfactorily  explained.     There  are 
many  points  of  difference   between  the  storms  of  the 
tropics  and  those  of  the  temperate  zone  which  seem  to 
show  that  the  forces  that  are  principally  active  in  the 
former  play  but  a  secondary  part  in   the  latter.     But 
certainly  there  is  no  apparent  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
leading  meteorologists  of  Europe  and  America  to  accept 
M.  Faye's  idolon  specus  as  a  true  theory  of  cyclones  and 
tornadoes,  nor  is  it  in  the  least  likely  that  such  will  e\tr 
be  witnessed.  Henry  F.  Blanford. 


NOTES. 

The  arrangements  for  the  meeting  of  the  British  Associatioa 
are  now  nearly  complete.  In  a  former  note  we  referred  amoog 
other  matters  to  the  excursions.  We  now  learn  that  among 
ihem  the  organization  of  the  pedestrian  excursions  to  the  Blidc 
Mountains  is  so  far  advanced  that  the  detailed  programme  is  now 
ready,  and  can  be  obtained  by  application  to  the  Local  Scoe- 
taries. 

The  Royal  Archaeological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  aod 
Ireland  opened  their  annual  meeting  in  Edinbaigh  on  Taesdaj. 
At  noon  there  was  a  reception  of  the  members  in  the  Nttiooil 
Portrait  Gallery  by  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland.  The  inaugural  meeting  took  place  in 
the  lecture-hall  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.  Sir 
Herbert  Maxwell,  on  taking  the  chair,  remarked  that  the  closing 
years  of  a  century  naturally  suggested  the  process  of  stock- 
taking, and  as  they  had  arrived  at  the  last  decade  of  a  centmy 
which  claimed  to  have  witnessed  beyond  all  precedent  the 
accumulation  of  scientific  knowledge,  it  was  not  unnataial 
that  they  should  direct  inquiry  into  the  standing  obtained 
by  that  particular  branch  of  science  in  which  they 
were  all  concerned.  After  a  brief  summary  he  stated  that  oac 
of  the  problems  which  was  pressing  upon  antiquaries  at  the 
present  time  was  that  relating  to  those  mysterious  rock  scolpturts 
which  from  time  to  time  were  found  in  increasing  numbers  all 
over  Scotland.  They  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  similar 
rock  sculptures  found  not  only  in  Scandinavia  and  Ccntnl 
Europe,  bat  in  such  remote  parts  of  the  earth  as  Asia,  tnd 
Northern,  Central,  and  Southern  America.  They  could  haiani 
no  guess  even  at  the  race  by  whom  they  were  made,  still  less  si 
the  object  of  their  authors.  All  they  could  do  was  to  record  lh« 
discovery  of  them  with  careful  drawings,  and  wait  till  perhaps 
light  would  flash  upon  them  from  the  habit  of  some  undviliad 
tribe  or  from   a  passage   in   some  hitherto   unnoticed  writer. 


AUQUST  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


-1 


51 


III  the  evening  Dr.  John  Evans  opened  the  Antiqaarian 
Section  with  an  address  on  the  progress  of  archaeology.  The 
address  covers  the  whole  ground  from  Christy  and  Lartet's 
le^earches  on  the  Dordogne  to  the  Assyrian  tablets. 

By  an  Imperial  Decree  of  June  8,  the  Gold  Medal  for  Art 
and  Science  was  bestowed  by  H.I.M.  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
on  Dr.  R.  Bowdler  Sharpe,  of  the  British  Museum. 

At  the  graduation  ceremony  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
held  on  the  ist  inst.,  the  Cameron  prize  was  presented  to  Dr. 
Fcnrier,  F.R.S.,  by  Prof.  Eraser.  Prof.  Fiaser  said  that  Dr. 
Ferrier's  researches  had  gained  for  hitn  a  well- merited  fame 
throughout  the  whole  civilized  world.  He  had  contributed  to 
the  alleviation  of  suffering  in  some  of  its  most  distressing  and 
painful  manifestations,  and  therefore  the  Senatus  had  thought 
that  they  were  fully  justified  in  awarding  to  him  the  prize, 
which  had  been  founded  for  the  recognition  of  important  and 
valuable  contributio  ns  to  practical  therapeutics.  lie  had  much 
pleasure  in  announcing  further  that  Y^{»  Ferrier  would,  early 
next  session,  communicate  to  the  University  a  paper  describing 
some  portion  of  bis  researches  into  this  important  subject.  Prof. 
Ferrier,  on  appearing  upon  the  platform  to  receive  the  prize, 
was  received  with  most  enthusiastic  cheers. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine  of  Paris  on  the 
28th  ultimo.  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  of  London,  and  Dr.  Bateman,  of 
Norwich,  were  elected  Associates  of  the  Academy.  These 
gentlemen  had  both  been  for  some  years  Corresponding  Members 
of  the  Academy,  but  they  shared  the  Membership  with  only  six 
other  members  of  the  profession  in  this  country,  viz.  Sir  James 
Paget,  Bart.,  Sir  Richard  Owen,  Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  Sir 
Thomas  Longmore,  Dr.  West,  and  Sir  Spencer  Wells,  Bart. 

Dr.  Thorns  Thorne,  F.R.S.,  has  been  elected  a  Corre- 
sponding Member  of  the  Royal  Italian  Society  of  Hygiene, 

Prof,  du  Bois-R&ymond  has  been  elected  Dean  of  the 
Medical  Faculty  of  the  Berlin  University  for  this  year.  He  has 
already  more  than  once  filled  this  post.  Prof.  Foerster,  the 
astronomer,  has  been  chosen  Rector  of  the  University. 

Her  Majesty's  Commisaoners  for  the  Exhibition  of  1851 
have  offered  nomination  to  Science  Scholarships  for  the  year 
1892 to  the  following  Universities  and  Colleges.  The  Scholar- 
ships are  of  the  value  of  ;f  150  a  year,  and  arc  tenable  for  two 
years.  The  scholars  are  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to 
study  and  research  in  some  branch  of  science  the  extension  of 
which  is  important  to  the  industries  of  the  country  : — University 
of  Edinburgh,  University  of  Glasgow,  University  of  Aberdeen ; 
Mason  College  of  Science,  Birmingham  ;  University  College, 
Bristol ;  Durham  College  of  Science,  Newcastle ;  Yorkshire 
College.  Leeds ;  University  College,  Liverpool ;  Owens  Col- 
lege, Manchester ;  University  College,  Nottingham ;  Firth 
College,  Sheffield  ;  University  College  of  North  Wales, 
Bangor ;  Queen's  College,  Cork ;  Queen's  College,  Galway ; 
University  of  Toronto,  University  of  Adelaide,  University  of 
New  Zealand. 

It  has  been  decided  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  connec- 
tion of  Dr.  Leidy  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  by  raising 
a  fond  to  endow  the  Chair  of  Anatomy  and  to  found  a  memorial 
masenm.  Dr.  Leidy  was  Professor  of  Anatomy  for  thirty-nine 
yean,  and  his  devoted  services  will  be  suitably  recognized  by 
ooanecting  his  name  with  the  chair  which  he  so  long  adorned. 

The  arrangements  tor  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  seem  to 
be  advancing  quickly.  Seeing  that  so  much  ben2fit  to  science 
may  be  anticipated  from  the  comparison  of  the  best  instruments 
and  methods  of  working  in  use  in  different  countries,  which 

NO.  II 3 7,  VOL.  44] 


such  exhibitions  render  possible,  it  seems  a  pity  that  political 
questions  may  render  them  less  representative  than  might  be 
wished.  The  New  York  Nation  refers  to  the  reluctance  of 
French  manufacturers  to  take  part  in  the  World's  Fair,  due  to 
the  bad  feeling  created  by  the  McKinley  Bill,  and  to  the  belief 
entertained  that  any  expense  incurred  in  exhibiting  goods  would 
be  lost  by  reason  of  the  commercial  restrictions  which  that 
measure  was  intended  to  create  and  has  created.  '' Nobody 
cares  to  spend  his  money  for  mere  purposes  of  show.  Unless 
trade  follows  as  a  consequence  of  the  exhibition,   the  money 

will  be  sunk It  does  not  advance  matters,  or  help 

on  the  Fair,  to  show  that  both  countries  are  wedded  to  a  false 
system.  It  should  serve,  however,  to  open  the  eyes  of  people 
on  both  sides  to  the  absurdity  of  inviting  each  other  to  show 
their  goods,  and  then  creating  barriers  to  prevent  each  other 
from  buying  and  selling.  Imagine  an  American  McKlnleyite 
meeting  his  French  brother  at  a  World's  Fair  in  Paris  or  ifi 
Chicago,  and  exhibiting  to  the  latter  a  choice  lot  of  provisions 
put  up  in  Mr.  Armour's  most  approved  style,  while  the  latter 
exhibits  a  fine  assortment  of  woollens,  silks,  gloves,  &c.  If 
they  could  look  in  each  other's  faces  without  laughing,  they 
must  have  a  gravity  exceeding  that  of  two  Roman  augurs. 
Ordinary  self-respect  ought  to  teach  the  commercial  classes  of 
both  countries  to  keep  away  from  World's  Fairs  until  they  learn 
the  A  B  C*s  of  trade." 

E  pur  si  muov.  Technical  instruction  in  the'  provinces  is 
growing  apace,  small  thanks  to  our  statesmen  and  legislators,  for 
we  owe  to  an  accident  the  possibility  of  meeting  the  mj^t 
crying  needs  of  the  time.  We  may  refer  to  what  is  going 
on  in  Lancashire  as  an  indication  of  the  general  awakenment. 
The  total  sum  available  for  technical  instruction  is  ^^40,391,  and, 
after  the  sums  already  guaranteed  by  the  County  Council  and  some 
special  amounts  now  in  question  are  taken  into  account,  there  is  a 
balance  of  about  ;f  29,000  to  be  dealt  with,  which  the  C3mmittee 
of  the  Council  recommend  should  be  apportioned  between  the 
urban  and  rural  districts  of  the  administrative  county  on  the 
dual  basis  of  rateable  value  and  population.  The  committee 
recommend  that  a  director  of  technical  instruction  be  appointed 
at  ;^5oo  per  annum,  with  travelling  expenses  ;  that  ;^36oo  beset 
apart  to  provide  twenty  scholarships  not  exceeding  £60  each  for 
a  term  not  exceeding  three  years,  apportioned  as  follows— eight 
for  science  (tenable  at  Owens  College,  Liverpool  University 
College,  or  other  approved  public  institution),  two  for  art,  four 
for  commercial  subjects,  and  six  for  the  science  of  agriculture, 
including  horticulture ;  that  ;f  1200  be  set  apart  for  pro- 
viding eighty  exhibitions  of  £1$,  tenable  for  one  year  at  Owens 
College  and  Liverpool  University  College  evening  classes,  or  at 
some  approved  technical,  commercial,  or  intermediate  school,  to 
be  apportioned  as  follows — thirty-two  exhibitions  for  science, 
eight  for  art,  sixteen  for  commercial  subjects,  and  twenty-four 
for  agriculture  ;  that  ;^2OO0  be  set  apart  for  founding  travelling 
scholarships  and  free  studentships  of  £i  to  ;f  10  to  assist  stu- 
dents in  attending  technical  schools  ;  that  the  various  urban  and 
rural  sanitary  authorities,  through  or  in  conjunction  with  any 
district  committees  that  may  be  appointed,  be  permitted  to  nomi- 
nate candidates  for  the  above,  two- thirds  of  whom  shall  be 
children  of  parents  whose  incomes  do  not  exceed  £yx)  per 
annum ;  that  all  the  scholarships  and  exhibitions  be  opened  to 
students  of  both  sexes  resident  in  the  county  ;  that  a  sum  not 
exceeding  £1000  be  granted  for  the  purpos:  of  aiding  University 
Extension  lectures  ;  that  a  sum  not  exceeding  £s^^  he  granted  to 
carry  out  the  arrangements  with  the  council  of  the  Harris  Institute 
in  Preston  for  the  promotion  of  technical  instruction  in  agricul- 
ture ;  and  that  a  sum  not  exceeding  ;£"  1000  be  granted  for  staff  and 
office  expenses.  The  migratory  dairy  school  having  been  much 
appreciated,  arrangements  have  been  made  to  start  a  second 
school  at  Ulverston  on  August  1 1.      A  scheme  for  agricultural 


352 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


iotstructioQ  IS  also  being  arranged  (estimated  t)  cost  ;f500  per 
annum),  but  the  details  have  not  yet  been  finally  settled. 

The  managers  of  the  New  Gallery  announce  a  "Victorian 
Exhibition/'  covering  the  fifty  years  of  Her  Majesty's  reign  from 
1837  to  1887.  As  in  the  case  of  the  preceding  exhibitions,  it 
will  contain  pictures  and  other  rec3rds  of  events  illustrating  the 
history  of  the  Royal  Family  and  of  the  nation  ;  and  it  will  con- 
tain, above  all,  a  series  of  portraits  of  the  illustrious  men  and 
women  who,  in  so  many  different  way<«,  have  made  their  mark 
upon  the  age.  We  gather  from  an  article  in  the  Tinus  that 
science,  in  this  of  all  reigns,  is  not  likely  to  fall  behind.  We 
are  promised  pictures  of  Charles  Dartirin,  Faraday,  and  Sir  John 
Herschel,  of  Lyell  and  Murchison,  of  the  two  Stephensons,  of 
Fox  Talbot,  one  of  the  inventors  of  photography,  and  of  Wheat- 
stone,  one  of  the  inventors  of  the  telegraph.  The  article  adds 
that  "it  would  be  easy  to  quadruple  this  list,  supposing  the 
eminent  men  of  science  to  have  had  the  time  and  the  vanity  to 
sit  for  their  portraits."     We  agree. 

The  Pall  Mall  returns  to  the  charge  on  the  subject  of  the 
imagined  unpopularity  of  the  British  Museum,  and  states  that 
although  the  evening  openings  have  so  far  been  a  failure,  and  a 
very  costly  failure,  the  first  installation  of  the  electric  light  cost- 
ing over  ;{^i 7,000,  the  problem  is  being  carefully  considered. 
1 1  is  also  stated  that  it  is  an  open  secret  that  for  some  years  past 
the  Trustees  have  been  unanimous  in  favour  of  Sunday  opening, 
which,  as  they  have  more  than  once  pointed  out,  would  entail 
little  or  no  extia  work  on  the  officials,  but  merely  change  of 
w.irk  for  a  few  policemen.  Among  the  things  that  are  wanted 
are  certainly  continuity  in  the  hours  during  which  the  Museum 
is  open  on  any  one  day,  and  the  possibility  of  obtaining  some 
decent  refreshment.  If  in  these  matters  the  Trustees  will  imitate 
he  arrangements  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  we  believe 
the  attendance  will  btf  increased — the  attendance  of  workers 
certainly  will. 

We  are  requested  to  state  that  the  designs  submitted  in  com- 
petition for  the  completion  of  the  buildings  of  the  South  Ken- 
sington Museum  are  now  on  view  at  that  Museum  from  lo  till  6. 

During  the  whole  month  of  July  little  variation  in  the  state 
of  Vesuvius  was  observable ;  the  lava  flowed  steadily  on, 
and  had  at  one  time  extended  down  the  Fossa  della  Vetrana, 
nearly  opposite  the  lodge  and  gate  of  Messrs.  Cook's  private 
road  to  the  Vesuvian  railway,  but  immediately  cooled,  and 
again  started  flowing  much  nearer  its  source.  At  the 
summit  of  Vesuvius  the  vapour  appeared  to  issue  almost 
as  in  the  normal  state  of  the  mountain,  except  for  mo- 
mentary interruptions  and  occasional  ejection  of  dust  and 
sand.  Dr.  Johnston- Lavis,  who  has  recently  visited  the 
scene,  send^  us  the  following  details  : — '*0n  July  30,  I  again 
visited  the  top  of  the  great  cone.  The  central  crater  has  con- 
siderably enlarged,  and  has  now  an  elliptical  plan,  with  the  major 
axis  directed  north-west  to  south-east,  but  this  form  has  been  de- 
rived from  its  original  circular  shape  by  the  greater  destruction 
of  the  lips  towards  the  south-east.  The  edges  were  in  a  most 
unstable  state,  and  attempts  at  photographing  the  interior  were 
accompanied  by  considerable  danger,  and  required  many  pre- 
cautions. On  the  inner  walls  I  was,  however,  able  to  make  out 
several  dykes  besides  the  hollow  one  that  has  supplied  the  great 
eastern  rift  for  its  several  eruptions  from  1881-82  to  1890.  These 
may  be  enumerated  as  directed  uorth-east ;  north-north-west, 
probably  the  dyke  formed  at  the  commencement  of  this  eruption  ; 
north-west ;  south-west,  probably  the  cooled  upper  extremity  of 
the  lava  sheet  filling  the  south-west  fissure  which  I  have  so  often 
mentioned  ;  and  lastly,  the  hollow  dyke  to  the  soith-south-east, 
which  supplied  the  lava  of  May  1885,  i?  a^ain  exposed.  There 
may  be  other  dykes,  but  the  large  amiant  of  vapour  filling  the 
ciater,  an  I  the  d.\n<jer   an  I  impowibility  of  approacliiuT;  the 

NO.    H37,  VOL.  44] 


edges  in  most  parts,  prevent  a  very  detailed  examination.    So 
far  as  I  could  make  out,  the  situation  of  the  vent  is  quite  to  the 
south-east  of  the  crater  bottom,  so  that  this  fact,  combined  with 
the  prolongation  of  the  crater  in  that  direction  and  the  existence 
of  numerous  radial   fissures,  would  indicate  that    the  general 
tendency  is  for  the  next  lateral  disruption  to  take  place  towards 
Pompeii,  or  Torre  Anunziata.    On  July  30  the  lava  was  Bowing 
very  slowly  just  at  the  junction  of  the  Atrio  del  Cavallo  and  the 
Fossa  Vetrana.     To  an  experienced  observer  the  whole  state  of 
the  mountain  is  still  very  unstable,  and  a  fresh  outburst  nught 
occur  at  any  moment,  although  the  volcano  may  gradually  quiet 
down.     But  a  few  days  before  my  visit,  four  strong  earthqaakes 
were  felt  at  the  lower  railway  station,  showing  that  importsDt 
fra:turing,  injection,  or  other  dynamic  .disturbances  were  taking 
place  in  the  great  cone." 

We  have  received  from  Mr.  C.  Mostyn  an  interesting  letter 
on  the  well-known  appearance  of  the  green  ray  at  sunrise  or 
sunset  caused  by  the  refraction  of  the  air.  He  states  : — "  This 
'green  ray'  is  seen  to  best  advantage  at  sun-m/,  owing  I 
imagine  to  the  eye  not  being  wearied  with  watching  the  previous 
glare,  as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  at  sunset.  At  the  same  time,  I  had 
many  very  satisfactory  observations  at  sunset,  one  in  particular, 
when  we  were  running  before  a  very  heavy  sea  in  the  Southent 
Ocean,  and  the  '  green  ray'  was  seen  no  less  than  three  times  in 
as  many  seconds,  as  the  ship  rose  and  fell  on  the  huge  waves 
causing  as  it  were  two  sunsets,  with  a  sunrise  between  theo. 
The  best  displays  took  place  when  the  refraction  near  the  horizoo 
was  of  such  a  character  that  the  sun  assumed  a  balloon,  or  vase, 
shape  as  he  came  close  to  the  sea-line.  When,  on  the  contrary, 
the  sun  appeared  flattened  out  in  its  horizontal  diameter,  the 
*  green  ray  *  was  either  entirely  absent,  or  was  seen  only  in  an 
indistinct  and  uncertain  manner." 

Sir  Edward  Watkin  having  now,  we  presume,  cured  un- 
punctuality  on  the  many  lines  of  railway  which  be  is  highly  paid 
to  manage,  is  again  turning  his  attention  to  Snowdon.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  he  proposed  in  the  first  instance  to  erect  an 
astronomical  observatory  there.  This,  of  course,  was  ridiculoos. 
We  are  now  told  that  the  authorities  of  the  Trinity  House  have 
expressed  warm  approval  of  his  more  recent  proposal  to  place 
an  electric  light  on  the  summit.  The  Elder  Brethren  consider 
that  the  light  should  prove  an  invaluable  addition  to  those 
already  erected  round  the  North  Wales  coast  for  the  guidance  of 
mariners.  Sir  Edward  hopes  to  have  the  light  burning  before 
Christmas. 

The  Directors  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  in  deference  to  the  wish 
of  the  Electrical  Trade  Section  of  the  London  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  have  decided  to  postpone  the  opening  of  the  £le^ 
trical  Exhibition  from  November  189 1  till  January  X,  1892,  00 
which  date  the  Exhibition  will  be  formally  opened. 

We  learn  from  the  Photographic  News  that  the  great  progress 
that  has  been  made  in  the  methods  by  which  rapid  movements 
can  be  analyzed  is  well  seen  in  a  series  of  photograph's  lately 
taken  by  Anschiitz,  of  Liisa,  who  has  already  given  to  the 
world  some  of  the  best  instantaneous  pictures  ever  taken.  The 
subject  of  the  pictures  at  present  under  consideration  is  a  dog 
jumping  over  a  small  bush.  In  the  act  of  making  one  jump  the 
animal  has  been  photographed  twenty-four  separate  times,  and 
each  picture  is  not  a  mere  silhouette,  as  was  the  case  with 
Muybridge's  first  attempts  of  this  kind,  but  a  little  picture  show- 
ing half-tone  and  detail.  Some  of  the  attitudes  are,  of  coarse, 
comic  in  appearance,  for  they  represent  phases  of  a  movement 
which  the  eye  is  unaccustomed  to,  and  cannot  possibly  appreciate. 
Notably  is  this  the  case  in  the  commencement  of  the  jumpi 
when  the  dog's  hind  toes  only  touch  the  ground  ;  and  again  at 
the  finish  of  the  jump,  when  his  legs  are  gathered  together  in  a 
heap. 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


353 


A  German  specialist,  Dr.  Cold,  has  receatly  pleaded  for  giving 
yooDg  people  more  sleep.  A  healthy  infant  sleeps  most  of  the 
time  during  the  first  weeks  ;  and,  in  the  early  years,  people  are 
disposed  to  let  children  sleep  as  much  as  they  will.  But  from 
six  or  seven,  when  school  begins,  there  is  a  complete  change. 
At  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven,  the  child  sleeps  only  eight  or  nine 
hours,  when  he  needs  at  least  ten  or  eleven,  and  as  he  grows 
older  the  time  of  rest  is  shortened.  Dr.  Cold  believes  that,  up 
to  twenty,  a  youth  needs  nine  hours'  sleep,  and  an  adult  should 
have  eight  or  nine.  With  insufficient  sleep,  the  nervous  system, 
and  brain  especially,  not  resting  enough,  and  ceasing  to  work 
normally,  we  find  exhaustion,  excitability,  and  intellectual  dis- 
orders gradually  taking  the  place  of  love  of  work,  general 
well-being,  and  the  spirit  of  initiative. 

The  Entomologisfs  Monthly  Magazine^  among  much  interest- 
ing matter,  refers  to  the  possibility  of  the  destruction  of  some  of 
the  inclosures  in  the  New  Forest  which  have  proved  themselves 
to  be  among  the  happiest  hunting-grounds  of  the  entomologist. 

A  RECENT  number  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  contains  a  paper  on  Echino- 
derms  and  Arthropods  from  Japan,  by  Mr.  J.  £.  Ives.  The 
specimens  described  were  collected  by  Mr.  Frederick  Stearns, 
of  Detroit.  The  new  species  of  Echinoderms  and  Crustacea 
are  enumerated.  A  new  Ophurian,  a  new  crab,  and  a  new 
Pycnogonoid  are  described,  and  several  species  of  star-fishes 
hitherto  unfigured  are  illustrated.     The  plates  are  admirable. 

Bulletin  No.  lo  of  the  University  College  of  Agriculture  at 
Tokyo  contains  an  account  of  some  manuring  experiments  with 
paddy  rice  (second  year)  by  Dr.  O.  Kellner,  Y.  Kozai,  Y.  Mori, 
and  M.  Nagaoka.  The  principal  purpose  of  the  researches 
carried  out  in  1889,  and  reported  in  Bulletin  No.  8,  was  to 
ascertain  how  much  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash  can 
be  consumed  by  rice  from  the  stock  of  nutrients  in  the  unmanured 
soil,  and  how  much  of  them  is  needed  in  the  manure  for  the 
production  of  a  maximum  crop  if  the  three  nutrients  are  applied 
in  the  most  assimilable  form.  On  the  basis  of  the  results  then 
obtained,  the  present  experiments  were  tried  with  the  object  of 
getting  information  on  the  following  questions  : — (i)  How  much 
nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  pota»h  is  taken  up  from  those 
plots  which  had  not  received  the  respective  nutrients  in  the 
preceding  year  ?  (2)  What  is  the  effect  of  unrecovered  phosphatic 
manure  on  the  succeeding  crop  ?  (3)  How  much  nitrogen  can  be 
(applied  to  rice  by  the  preceding  cultivation  of  a  leguminous 
plant  {Astragalus  lotoides.  Lam.)  for  green  manuring  ?  (4)  What 
h  the  effect  of  various  phosphatic  fertilizers  on  rice  ?  (5)  What 
is  the  effect  of  various  nitrogenous  manures  on  rice  ?  The  work 
seems  to  have  been  carefully  done,  and  affords  a  good  instance  of 
the  way  in  which  scientific  questions  are  now  being  treated  in 
Japan. 

The  July  number  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  has  reached  us,  and  contains  the  following 
contributions: — "On  Alleged  Movements  of  Objects,  without 
Contact,  occurring  not  in  the  Piesence  of  a  Paid  Medium,"  by 
Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  ;  "  Experiments  in  Clairvoyance,"  by  Dr. 
A.  Backman  ;  and  "A  Case  of  Double  Consciousness,"  by 
Mr.  R.  Hodgson. 

At  the  Bournemouth  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  Associa- 
tion, a  disaission  on  the  subject  of  alcohol  was  initiated  by  a 
paper  by  Dr.  Samuel  Wilks.  In  the  course  of  his  paper  he 
stated  that  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  any  organic  changes  attri- 
butable to  alcohol  in  the  lungs  and  kidneys,  but  it  seemed  that 
the  digestive  and  nervous  systems  suffered.  Physiologists  had 
failed  to  demonstrate  the  chemical  changes  which  it  underwent 
in  the  body,  and  consequently  it  was  impossible  to  say  whether 
t  was  of  the  nature  of  a  food  or  not.     No  one  had  yet  seen  a 

NO.    1137,  VO^  44] 


person  who  lived  on  alcohol,  although  there  was  evidence  of 
persons  taking  large  quantities  of  alcohol  who  yet  preserved 
their  weight  with  a  minimum  of  food  ;  and  that  supported  the 
theory  that,  although  alcohol  was  not  nutritive  in  itself,  it  pre* 
vented  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  body.  The  opposite  theory  also 
existed,  that  alcohol  acted  as  a  spur  to  the  nervous  system  and 
quickly  wore  it  out  He  could  not  disapprove  of  the  use  of  wine 
and  beer,  if  taken  in  moderation,  by  the  masses  of  the  people  ; 
but  as  to  spirits  or  spirits  and  water,  he  had  not  made  up  his 
mind  that  they  were  in  any  way  useful,  and  he  seldom  recom- 
mended them.  Dr.  Bucknill  thought  that  the  wise  use  of  wine 
might  cure  some  cases  and  be  useful  in  others.  Dr.  Norman 
Kerr  said  that  alcohol  was  a  poison,  analogous  in  many  respects 
to  other  poisons.  Sir  Risdon  Bennett  agreed  with  Dr.  Wilk 
in  not  approving  of  spirits  as  a  beverage.  He  believed  it  to  be 
useful  in  fever  and  in  some  nervous  diseases,  but  he  did  not 
think  it  desirable  at  the  present  time  to  lay  down  any  broad 
principles  with  regard  to  alcohol  with  reference  to  the  whole 
community. 

The  Philadelphia  SattlliU  states  that,  during  the  abortive 
attempt  to  cut  a  canal  through  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  as  much 
as  2co,030  ounces  of  quinine  were  used  annually  in  combating 
malarial  fever. 

According  to  the  Pharmaceutical  yournal  of  Australia,  the 
practice  has  been  introduced  into  Victoria,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Baron  von  Mueller,  of  placing  green  branches  of  euca- 
lyptus in  sick  rooms  as  a  disinfectant.  Dr.  Curgenven  states, 
after  twelve  months'  trial,  that  in  cases  of  scarlet  fever,  if  the 
branches  be  placed  under  the  bed,  the  bedding  undergoes 
thorough  disinfection,  the  volatile  vapour  penetrating  and 
saturating  the  mattress  and  every  other  article  in  the  room.  Its 
vapour  is  also  said  to  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon  phthisical 
patien:s,  acting  not  only  as  an  antiseptic,  but  as  a  sedative  and 
to  some  extent  as  a  hypnotic. 

The  Bulletin  of  the  (American)  Essex  Institute  just  re- 
ceived contains  an  account  of  the  annual  meeting  held  la&t 
May,  and  a  retrospect  of  the  year,  from  which  we  learn 
that  Mr.  Periey,  in  a  lecture  on  "Old-time  Winters  ii> 
Essex  County,"  gave  interesting  particulars  on  many  sub- 
jects, including  weather.  We  give  the  following  extract  :— 
**  The  lecturer  spoke  of  the  watch,  church  services,  dress, 
food,  and  schools  of  the  early  winter  seasons ;  how  the 
people  spent  their  evenings,  the  winter  employment  of  the  people 
in  cutting  off  the  forests,  sledding  timber  and  wood,  making 
pipe  staves  and  barrel  hoops,  and,  most  interesting  of  all,  the 
institution  of  the  old-fashioned  shoemakers*  shops,  of  which 
nearly  every  farm  had  one  a  century  ago.  Women  in  those  days 
engaged  in  spinning  and  weaving.  The  holidays  were  referred 
to— Thanksgiving,  Christmas,  and  New  Year's  ;  and  the  winter 
pleasures,  such  as  sleigh-rides,  dancing,  spinning  and  quilting 
parties,  and  games,  shuffle-board,  coasting,  skating,  trapping, 
gunning,  fishing,  singing-schools,  and  giris'  samplers.  He  also 
spoke  of  the  old  modes  of  travel,  snow-shoes,  &c.  Nearly  all 
the  heavy  teaming  was  done  on  sleds,  and  he  mentioned  the 
winter  of  1768-69,  when  the  travelling  was  so  bad  that  the 
farmers  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  could  not  get  their  grain 
and  provisions  to  the  coast  to  market.  Snow  remained  on  the 
roads  as  it  fell  until  about  a  century  ago.  Mr.  Periey  then  spoke 
of  particular  winters :  that  of  1641-42,  when  the  Indians  said 
they  had  not  seen  the  ocean  so  much  frozen  for  forty  years  ;  of 
1646-47,  when  there  was  no  snow  to  lay  ;  of  1696-97,  said  to  be 
the  coldest  winter  since  the  first  settlement  of  New  England  ;  of 
1701-2,  which  was  'turned  into  summer' ;  of  1717-18,  when 
the  snow  was  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep  and  the  drifts  twenty- 
five  feet,  many  one-story  houses  being  buried  ;  of  1740-41,  said 


354 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


^o  be  the  severest  winter  known  by  the  settlers,  Salem  Harbour 
being  frozen  over  as  esurly  as  October ;  of  1774-751  a  wonderfully 
mild  winter  ;  of  1779-80,  when  for  forty  day.«,  including  March, 
there  was  no  perceptible  thaw,  and  the  snow  was  so  hard  and 
deep  that  loaded  teams  passed  over  the  fences  in  any  direction, 
arches  being  dug  under  the  snow  so  that  men  on  horseback 
could  ride  under  them,  and  which  was  long  remembered  as  the 
hard  winter  ;  of  1784-85,  when,  as  late  as  April  15,  snow  was 
2  feet  deep,  and  frozen  hard  enough  to  bear  cattle  ;  of  1785-86, 
when  in  the  remarkable  storm  of  November  25,  the  snow  blew 
into  balls,  one  of  which  had  rolled  76  feet,  measuring  I7i  by  22 
inches  ;  of  1794-95,  when  the  Betsey  was  launched  in  Salem  on 
Christmas  Day,  the  thermometer  indicating  83°  above  zero  at 
noon,  and  men  and  boys  went  in  swimming  ;  of  1 801-2,  when 
th£  Ulysses,^  Brutus^  and  Volutia^  three  Salem  v.essels,  which 
sailed  out  of  the  harbour  on  a  summer-like  morning  in  February, 
were  all  cast  away  at  night  on  Cape  Cod,  in  a  terrible  snow- 
storm, which  continued  a  week.  He  also  referred  to  more  re- 
•citTiX  seasons,  and  of  the  cold  winter  of  1856-57,  when  in  one 
week  in  January  was  the  coldest  day  by  the  thermometer  ever 
recorded  of  late  years,  mercury  in  Salem  20**  below  zero  ;  travel 
on  the  railroad  between  Boston  and  Salem  entirely  suspended 
•from  Tuesday  morning  to  Thursday  afternoon.  The  recent  mild 
winters  were  also  alluded  to." 

In  the  volume  of  Bavarian  meteorological  observations  for 
1890,  Dr.  C.  Lang  (the  Director  of  the  Service)  contributes  an 
article  on  the  '*  Secular  Variations  of  Damage  by  Lightning  and 
Hail."  He  points  out  that  in  almost  all  recent  investigations 
the  conclusions  come  to  are  that  during  the  last  50  years  damage 
by  lightning  has  much  increased,  but  this  is  not  borne  out  by 
•his  inquiry,  but  is  probably  owing  to  more  attention  having 
been  paid  to  the  subject  recently.  The  numerous  impurities 
introduced  into  the  air  of  towns  from  fire-places,  &c.,  would 
make  it  probable  that  they  would  be  more  liable  to  damage 
than  country  places,  but  exactly  the  opposite  is  the  case,  the 
ratio  of  damage  to  buildings  in  towns  to  that  in  the  country 
being  i  :  2.  This  result  is  possibly  to  some  extent  due  to  the 
•more  numerous  lightning-conductors,  and  to  railway  lines  in  the 
towns.  He  finds  that  the  damage  from  hail  shows  a  very 
probable  connection  with  the  period  of  sun-spot  frequency,  but 
the  secular  range  of  the  former  points  more  particularly  to  the 
influence  of  temperature,  so  that  the  curve  of  hail- frequency 
shows,  not  only  a  minimum  occurring  with  the  ii-year  sun-spot 
maximum,  but  also  a  period  of  about  35  years.  The  damage 
from  lightning,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  show  any  connec- 
tion  with  a  secular  range  of  temperature,  but  the  minimum 
occurs  with  the  maximum  of  sun-spot  frequency.  In  other  words, 
damage  from  hail  seems  to  be  more  decidedly  connected  with 
terrestrial,  and  damage  from  lightning  more  with  cosmical 
influence. 

The  application  of  science  in  the  direction  of  domestic  comfort 
seems  to  be  advancing  with  great  strides  in  the  United  States. 
The  Nation^  in  reference  to  ihe  announcements  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Kansas  City  are  about  to  be  supplied  with  cool  air  in 
summer  and  warm  air  in  winter  through  a  system  of  pipes  laid 
in  the  streets  ;  and  that  the  people  of  Framingham,  Mass.,  are 
to  be  furnished  with  gas  for  heating  purposes  at  the  price  of  50 
cents  a  thousand  feet,  thus  writes  : — **  Thus  the  ends  of  the  land 
are  advancing  in  the  art  of  living  while  the  metropolis  remains 
stationary,  and  is  kept  from  falling  behind  only  by  incessant 
grumbling.  And  yet  the  possibilities  of  comfort,  of  health,  and 
■  even  of  cheapness  revealed  in  these  schemes  are  wonderfully 
alluring,  and  their  realization  would  be  prevented  by  no  physical 
obstacles.  If  we  consider  that  wonderful  work  of  human  hands, 
the  kitchen  range,  under  the  management  of  the  regular  cook, 
who  knows  how  to  put  on  all  the  draught  at  once  and  keep  it  on, 

NO.    IT  37,  VOL.  44] 


what  a  devourer  of  fuel  it  is  !  We  need  a  cup  of  tea  or  a  chop 
in  summer,  and  a  fire  is  kindled  that  would  generate  itan 
enough  to  drive  an  ocean  racer  a  mile  upon  her  course,  the 
kitchen  is  turned  into  a  Tophet,  the  miserable  servants  swelter 
in  the  apartments  which  their  own  stupidity  and  that  of  man- 
kind have  rendered  uninhabitable,  and  their  employers  are 
rendered  uncomfortable  above.  The  extravagance  of  the 
Chinese,  who,  as  related  by  Charles  Lamb,  at  first  thought  it 
nece^siry  to  burn  down  a  house  whenever  they  wanted  to  roast 
^  pigi  is  nothing  to  ours."  Has  anybody  ever  calculated  the 
annual  waste  caused  by  the  above  described  "  use "  of  the 
ordinary  "kitchen  range"? 

An  interesting  paper  upon  the  slow  combustion  of  explosiTe 
gas  mixtures  is  contributed  to  the  current  number  of  lAchigi 
Aftftaien  by  Dr.  Krause  and  Prof.  Victor  Meyer.     The  ezpai- 
ments  described  were  made  with  electrolytic  mixtures  of  hydrogen 
and  oxygen,  and  detonating  mixtures  of  carbon  monoxide  and 
oxygen.     The  first  experiment  consisted  in  heating  in  a  bath  of 
vapour  of  diphenylamine  (305*')  a  detonating  mixture  of  hydrogen 
and  oxygen  contained  in  a  U-shaped  tube  closed  by  mercsiy. 
The  heating  was  continued  without  intermission  for  a  fortnight, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  very  little  gas  remained,  almost  the 
whole  having  slowly  combined  to  form  water.     The  experiment 
was  then  repeated  in  an  apparatus  constructed  entirely  of  glas, 
and  in  which  the  use  of  mercury  was  avoided,  except  in  a  small 
manometer  used  to  indicate  the  pressure.     It  was  then  foond 
that  no  trace  of  water  was  formed  at  the  temperature  of  di- 
phenylamine vapour  (305**  C.) ;  at  the  temperature  of  boilirg 
sulphur  (448^)  the  amount  of  combination  was  exceedingly  snull : 
while  at  518*,  the  boiling-point  of  phosphorus  pentasulphide,  ^ 
considerable  amount  of  combination  occurred,  but  no  qaanti- 
tative    rule    could    be    deduced.       In    all   these    experiments 
the    gases    employed    were    moist,    and    no    particular   caie 
had  been  taken   to   remove   the  last   traces   of  admixed  air. 
Now  Bunsen  and  Roscoe,  in  their  celebrated  work  on  deto&at* 
ing  mixtures  of  hydrogen  and  chlorine,  showed  that  regnhr 
results  were  only  obtained  when  the  film  of  air  condensed  npoo 
the  surfaces  of  the  glass  vessels  employed  was  removed  by  allow- 
ing the  gas  to  stream  through  the  apparatus  for  several  days 
previous  to  the  experiment.     A  fresh  series  of  experiments  woe 
therefore  made,  in  which  these  precautions  were  most  rigidly 
observed  ;  most  complicated  pieces  of  apparatus  were  constructed 
of  glass  throughout,  which  admitted  of  the  drying  of  the  gases 
prepared  (in  case  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen)  by  the  electroljss 
of  hot  water,  so  as  to  exclude  ozone  and  hydrogen  peroxide;  aad 
the  pure  gases  thus  obtained  were  allowed  to  stream  through  the 
series  of  bulbs  united  by  capillary  tubes  for  a  fortnight,  oight 
and  day,  before  the  bulbs  were  sealed  off  at  the  capillaries.    It 
was  found  that,  with  pure  dry  gases,  scarcely  a  trace  of  cfxar 
bination  occurred  by  the  fusion  of  the  very  fine  capillaries.    As 
regards  the  temperature  of  ignition  of  electrolytic  hydrogen  sod 
oxygen,  or  detonating  carbon  monoxide  and  oxygen,  it  was 
found  that  bulbs  containing  them  do  not  explode  when  placed 
in  boiling  pentasulphide  of  phosphorus  (5x8**),  but  do  explodeia 
vapour  of  stannous  chloride  (606^).    The  temperature  of  ignilk* 
lies,  therefore,  between  518"*  and  606**  C.    The  mode  of  explosioB 
differs  considerably  under  different  circumstances.     In  case  of 
explosion  in  vapour  of  stannous  chloride,  the  bulb  was  never 
shattered,  but  a  sudden  appearance  of  flame  within  the  bulb 
occurred,  accompanied  by  a  slight  detonation,  and  in  some  cases 
the  point  of  the  capillary  was  blown  off.     It  is  also  astonishing 
how  long  one  requires  to  hold  such  a  bulb  in  a  Bunsen  flaaK 
before  explosion  occurs ;  it  never  occurs  until  the  flame  beoomei 
coloured  yellow,  and  the  glass  begins  to  soften,  and  frequent)! 
only  causes  a  swelling  out  of  the  glass  at  the  heated  spoL   This- 
walled  bulbs,  however,  are  sometimes  shattered.     In  two  cases 
it  was  noticed  that  the  glass  at  the  softened  part  was  violeatlf 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


355 


forced  in,  owiog  to  the  previous  heftting  having  caused  a  large 
percentage  of  combination,  and  hence  the  production  of  a  partial 
vacuum.  Even  afier  taking  the  rigid  precautions  to  insure 
purity  above  described,  no  definite  quantitative  rule  connecting 
the  time  and  percentage  of  combination  has  been  discovered, 
experiments  performed  simultaneously  upon  similarly  treated 
mixtores  yielding  widely  different  results ;  showing  that  the 
irregtilarities  of  glass  surfaces,  even  after  removal  of  their  air- 
films,  are  quite  sufficient  to  modify  very  sensibly  the  conditions 
nnder  which  combination  occurs. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  an  Egyptian  Gazelle  {Gazella  dorcas)  from 
North  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  S.  C.  Saunders  ;  a  King-tailed 
Coati  {Nasua  rufa)  from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr. 
Edward  J.  Brown  ;  two  Herring  Gulls  {Larus  argenlatus\ 
British,  presented  by  Mr.  T.  A.  Cotton  ;  two  White-bellied  Sea 
Eagles  (HalieUftus  leticogasUr)  from  Australia,  presented  by  Mr. 
Hugh  Nevill,  F.Z.S.  ;  a  Lesser  Sulphur-crested  Cockatoo 
[CaceUuasulphurea)  from  Moluccas,  presented  by  Miss  Partridge  ; 
three  Barbary  Turtle  Doves  ( Turtur  risorius)  from  North  Africa, 
presented  by  Miss  D.  Bason  ;  an  Indian  Cobra  (^aia  tripudians) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  H.   E.   Lindsay  ;  two  Harnessed 

Antelopes  ( Tvagdaphus  scriptus    <J     9  )  from   Gambia,  a  

Paradoxure  {Paradoxurus  aureus)  from  Ceylon,  two  Grey 
Ichneumon  {fferpesies  griseus)  from  India,  four  grey  Parrots 
[Psittacus  erithacus)  from  West  Africa,  deposited. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUiXfA. 

The  Spectrum  of  fi  Lyr.«. — A  study  of  twenty-nine  photo- 
graphs of  the  spectrum  of  /3  Lyrx  has  led  to  some  interesting 
results,  noted  by  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering  in  Astronomische  Nach- 
ruhUn,  No.    3051.     The  spectrum   of  this  star  contains,   in 
addition  to  the  absorption  lines,  several  bright  lines,  the  most 
conspicuous  of  which  are  about  AA  486,  443,  434,  410,  403,  and 
389,  to  use  a  three- figure  reference.     The  lines  near  \  443  and 
*  403*  are  two  of  the  most  prominent  lines  in  the  spectra  of  the 
Orion  stars,  and  the  remaining  four  coincide  with  the  hydrogen 
Imes  F,  G,  /;,  and  a.     From  the  investigation  it  appears  that 
these  bright  lines  change  their  positions,  so  that  sometimes  they 
have  a  greater  wave-length  than  the  corresponding  dark  lines, 
whilst  at  other  times  the  reverse  is  the  case.     In  some  of  the 
photographs  several  bright  lines  are  double,  and  the  dark  lines 
are  also  not  free  from  changes.     This  naturally  led  to  the  in- 
quiry as  to  whether  the  changes  were  connected  with  the  varia- 
tions of  the  star's  brightness.     Starting  from   a  minimum   of 
brightness  there  is  a  maximum  at  3d.  5h.,  a  secondary  minimum 
at6d.  iih.,  another  maximum  at  9d.   x6h.,  and  then  the  prin- 
opal  minimum  is  again  reached  after  a  total  period  of  1 2d.  22h. 
The  point  of  interest  is  that  the  fourteen  plates  in  which  the 
wave-length  of  the  bright  lines  was  increased  were  taken  during 
the  first  half  of  this  period  of  variation — that  is,  before  the 
iecondary  minimum  ;  whilst  on  the  eleven  plates  taken  during 
the  second  half  of  the  period  the  displacement  was  towards  the 
blue  end  of  the  spectrum.     And  since  the  photographs  extend 
wcr  more  than  four  years,  there  can  be  litile  doubt  that  the 
iisplacements  are  intimately  connected  with  the  variations  of 
the  star's  brightness.     One  of  the  explanations  suggested  by 
Prof.  Pickering  to  account  for  the  observed  phenomena  is  that 
he  bright  lines  are  emitted  by  an  object  revolving  in  a  circular 
vbit  round  the  principal  star,  with  a  maximum  velocity  of  about 
|00  miles  per  second,  and  completing  its  circuit  in  a  period  of 
'2d.  22h.     The  corresponding    periastron  distance  is  about 
(0,000,000  miles.     If  this  be  so,  B  Lyrac  is  a  binary  of  the  /3 
^origae  type,  but  diflfering  from  it  in  the  fact  that  the  component 
tars  have  unlike  spectra.     The  phenomena  could  also  be  pro- 
Inced  by  a  meteor  stream,  or  by  an  object  like  the  sun,  rotating 
A 1 2d.  22h.,  and  having  a  large  protuberance  on  it  extending 
ver  more  than  180**  of  longitude.     The  study  of  the  additional 
botographs  which  are  being  ti|ken  will  doubtless  elucidate  the 
latter. 

The  Polarization  Theory  of  the  Solar  Corona.— In 
le  Publications  of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific,  J 

NO.   II 37,  VOL.  44] 


vol.  iii.  No.  16,  1891,  Prof.  Frank  H.  Bigelow  gives  some 
further  results  of  his  investigations  of  coronal  forms,  and  arrives 
at  some  new  results.  It  can  be  shown  that  in  the  case  of 
repulsion  of  matter  in  a  spherical  rotating  body  like  the  sun, 
two  poles  of  repulsion  are  formed,  and  the  body  is  polarized 
about  an  axis.  Within  the  body  the  lines  of  force  are  parallel 
to  the  axis  of  polarization,  and  their  curvature  outside  the  surface 
may  be  calculated.  Applying  these  considerations  to  the  similar 
coronal  forms  exhibited  in  the  eclipse  photographs  of  July  187S 
and  January  and  December  1889,  Prof.  Bigelow  finds  that  the 
axis  of  polarization  is  at  the  surface  of  the  sun  about  4l°  from 
the  axis  of  rotation,  and  taking  the  radius  of  the  sun  as  866,500 
miles,  the  length  of  the  axis  to  which  the  lines  of  force  are 
parallel  is  1,729,700  miles.  Its  direction  is  fixed,  and  in  1878 
the  north  and  south  coronal  poles  had  the  positions,  north  pole 
=  201  "'2,  south  pole  =  301  '6,  when  referred  to  the  ascending- 
node  of  the  sun's  equator  on  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic.  If 
138  +  349'''8s.  151  +  3ii°'40,  and  12  +  312°- 55  be  taken  as 
the  number  of  revolutions  and  the  angular  excess  during  the 
three  intervals  between  the  dates  of  the  above  eclipses,  the  mean 
daily  motion  in  longitude  at  the  latitude  of  the  coronal  pole, 
85°  5,  i-i  found  to  be  I3'''i3307.  From  this  the  following  periods 
of  the  sun's  rotation  in  latitude  85'' '5  is  deduced — 

Sidereal  period  27*4117 id.  =  27d.    9h.  S2m.  52s. 
Synodic  period  29*6358od.  =  29d.  i$\i.  15m,  33s. 

The  formula  proposed  to  express  the  rotation-period  in  different 
solar  latitudes  is  X  =  862'  -  76'  sin  /,  where  X  is  the  mean 
daily  motion  in  minutes,  and  /  the  latitude.  With  these  ele- 
ments it  is  possible  to  predict  the  positions  of  the  coronal  poles 
at  any  epoch,  and  in  consequence  the  relative  form  of  the  corona 
at  the  time,  as  seen  from  the  earth.  A  comparison  of  the  calcu- 
lated results  and  photographs,  obtained  during  some  recent  eclipses,- 
displays  a  striking  concordance.  The  investigation  '*  also  serves 
to  strengthen  the  conviction  that  the  sun-spots  are  proba')ly 
formed  by  the  descent  of  material  from  the  extremities  of  the 
coronal  streamers,  in  a  vertical  direction  upon  the  sun." 

Observations  of  the  Motion  of  Sirius. — At  the  Berlin 
Academy  of  Sciences  on  June  4,  Prof.  Vogel  communicated 
some  observations  of  the  motion  of  Sirius  in  the  line  of  sight. 
Using  the  iron  spectrum  as  the  term  of  comparison  with  the 
spectrum  of  the  star,  it  was  found  that  the  velocity  of  approach 
on  March  22  was  1*96  geographical  miles  per  second  wiih 
respect  to  the  sun.  With  hydrogen  comparison  lines  the  velocity 
found  was  I '73  miles  per  second. 

Return  of  Encke's  Comet. — A  telegram  from  the  Lick 
Observatory  to  Prof.  Kriiger,  announces  that  Encke's  periodic 
comet  has  been  observed  on  its  return  by  Mr.  Barnard  on 
August  1*9958  G.M.T.,in  the  position  R.A.  3h.  55m.  2065., 
Decl.  29"  59' I  N. 


ON  SOME  TEST  CASES  FOR  THE  MAXWELL- 
BOLTZMANN  DOCTRINE  REGARDING  DIS- 
TRIBUTION OF  ENERGY} 

(I)  jyTAXWELL,  in  his  article  {Phil.  Mag,,  i860)  **On  the 
Collision  of  Elastic  Spheres,'*  enunciates  a  very  re- 
markable theorem,  of  primary  importance  in  the  kinetic  theory 
of  gases,  to  the  effect  that,  in  an  assemblage  of  large  numbers  of 
mutually-colliding  spheres  of  two  or  of  several  different  magni- 
tudes, the  mean  kinetic  energy  is  the  same  for  equal  numbers  of 
the  spheres  irrespectively  of  their  masses  and  diameters  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  the  time-averages  of  the  squares  of  the  velocities  of 
individual  spheres  are  inversely  as  their  masses.  The  mathe- 
matical investigation  given  as  a  proof  of  this  theorem  in  that  first 
article  on  the  subject  is  quite  unsatisfactory  ;  but  the  mere  enun- 
ciation of  it,  even  if  without  proof,  was  a  very  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  science.  In  a  subsequent  paper  ("Dynamical  Theory  of 
Gases,"  Phil.  Trans,  for  May  1866)  Maxwell  finds  in  his  equa- 
tion (34)  (**  Collected  Works,"  p.  47),  as  a  result  of  a  thorough 
mathematical  investigation,  the  same  theorem  extended  to  in- 
clude collisions  between  Boscovich  points  with  mutual  forces 
according  to  any  law  of  distance,  provided  only  that  not  more 
than  two  points  are  in  collision  (that  is  to  say,  within  the  dis- 
tances of  iheir  mutual  influence)  simultaneously.  Tait  confirms- 
Maxwell's  original  theorem  for  colliding  spheres  of  different 

'  Paper  read  at  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir  William  Thomson,  D.C.L.,. 
P.R.S.,  on  June  11,  1891. 


356 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


magnitudes  in  an  interesting  and  important  examination  of  the 
subject  in  §§  19,  20,  21  of  his  paper  "On  the  Foundations  of 
the  Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases  "(Trans.  R.S.E.  for  May  1866). 

(2)  Boltzmann,  in  his  "Studien  Uber  das  Gleichgewicht  der 
lebendigen  Kraft  zwischen  bewe^ten  materiellen  Punkten " 
{Sittb,  K.  Akad.  VVien^  October  8,  1868),  enunciated  a  large 
extension  of  this  theorem,  and  Maxwell  a  still  wider  generaliza- 
tion in  his  paper  "  On  Boltzmann's  Theorem  on  the  Average 
Distribution  of  Energy  in  a  System  of  Material  Points  *'  (Cam- 
bridge Phil.  Soc.  Trans. »  May  6,  1878,  republished  in  vol.  ii.  of 
Maxwell's  **  Scientific  Papers,"  pp.  713-41),  to  the  following 
effect  (p.  716) : — 

"In  the  ultimate  state  of  the  system,  the  average  kinetic 
energy  of  two  given  portions  of  the  system  must  be  in  the  ratio 
of  the  number  t.f  degrees  of  freedom  of  those  portions." 

Much  disbelief  and  doubt  has  been  felt  as  to  the  complete 
tnuh,  or  the  extent  of  cases  for  which  there  is  truth,  of  this 
proposition. 

(3)  For  a  test  case,  differing  as  little  as  possible  from  Max- 
well's original  case  of  solid  elastic  spheres,  consider  a  hollow 
spherical  shell  and  a  solid  sphere — globule  we  shall  call  it  for 
brevity — within  the  shell.  I  must  first  digress  to  remark  that 
what  has  hitherto  by  Maxwell  and  Clausius  and  others  before 
and  after  them  been  called  for  brevity  an  "elastic  sphere,"  is 
not  an  elastic  solid,  capable  of  rotation  and  of  elastic  deforma- 
tion ;  and  therefore  capable  of  an  infinite  number  of  modes  of 
steady  vibration,  into  which,  of  finer  and  finer  degrees  of  nodal 
subdivision  and  shorter  and  shorter  periods,  all  translational 
energy  would,  if  the  Boltzmann-Maxwell  generalized  proposition 
were  true,  be  ultimately  transformed  by  collisions.  The 
"smooth  elastic  spheres"  are  really  Boscovich  point-atoms, 
with  their  translational  inertia,  and  with,  for  law  of  force,  zero 
force  at  every  distance  between  two  points  exceeding  the  sum  of 
the  radii  of  the  two  balls,  and  infinite  repulsion  at  exactly  this 
distance.  We  may  use  Boscovich  similarly  for  the  hollow  shell 
with  globule  in  its  interior,  and  so  do  away  with  all  question  as 
to  vibrations  due  to  elasticity  of  material,  whether  of  the  shell  or 
of  the  globule.  Let  us  simply  suppose  the  mutual  action 
between  the  shell  and  the  globule  to  be  nothing  except  at  an 
instant  of  collision,  and  then  to  be  such  that  their  relative  com- 
ponent velocity  along  the  radius  through  the  point  of  contact  is 
reversed  by  the  collision,  while  the  motion  of  their  centre  of 
inertia  remains  unchanged. 

(4)  For  brevity,  we  shall  call  the  shell  and  interior  globule  of 
§  3,  a  double  molecule,  or  sometimes,  for  more  brevity,  a 
doublet.  The  "smooth  elastic  sphere"  of  §  3  will  be  called 
simply  an  atom,  or  a  single  atom ;  and  the  radius  or  diameter 
or  surface  of  the  atom  will  mean  the  radius  or  diameter  or 
surface  of  the  corresponding  sphere.  (This  explanation  is 
necessary  to  avoid  an  ambiguity  which  might  occur  with  re- 
ference to  the  common  expression  "sphere  of  action"  of  a 
Boscovich  atom.) 

(5)  Consider  now  a  vast  number  of  atoms  and  doublets, 
inclosed  in  a  perfectly  rigid  fixed  surface,  having  the  property 
of  reversing  the  normal  component  velocity  of  approach  of  any 
atom  or  shell  or  doublet  at  the  instant  of  contact  of  surfaces, 
while  leaving  unchanged  the  absolute  velocity  of  the  centre  of 
inertia  of  the  two.  Let  any  velocity  or  velocities  in  any  direc- 
tion or  directions  be  given  to  any  one  or  more  of  the  atoms  or 
of  the  shells  or  globules  constituting  the  doublets.  According 
to  the  Boltzmann-Maxwell  doctrine,  the  motion  will  become 
distributed  through  the  system,  so  that  ultimately  the  time- 
average  kinetic  energy  of  each  atom,  each  shell,  and  each 
globule  shall  be  equal  ;  and  therefore  that  of  each  doublet 
double  that  of  each  atom.  This  is  certainly  a  very  marvellous 
conclusion ;  but  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  it  on  that  account. 
After  all,  it  is  not  obviously  more  marvellous  than  the  seemingly 
well-proved  conclusion  that  in  a  mixed  assemblage  of  colliding 
single  atoms,  some  of  which  have  a  million  million  times  the 
mass  of  others,  the  smaller  masses  will  ultimately  average  a 
million  times  the  velocity  of  the  larger.  But  it  is  not  included  in 
Maxwell's  proof  for  single  atoms  of  different  masses  [(34)  of  his 
*^  Dynamical  Theory  of  Gases  "  referred  to  above]  ;  and  the 
condition  that  the  globules  inclosed  in  the  shells  are  prevented 
by  the  shells  from  collbions  with  one  another  violates  Tait's 
condition  [(C)  of  §  18  of  "  Foundations  of  K.  T.  Gases  "],  "that 
there  is  perfectly  free  access  for  collision  between  each  pair  of 
particles  whether  of  the  same  or  of  different  systems."  An 
independent  investigation  of  such  a  simple  and  definite  case  as 
that  of  the  atoms  and  doublets  defined  in  §§  3-5  is  desirable  as  a 

NO.    1137,  VOL.  44] 


test,  or  would  be  interesting  as  an  illustration  were  test  not 
needed,  for  the  exceedingly  wide  generalization  set  forth  in  the 
Boltzmann-Maxwell  doctrine. 

(6)  Next,  instead  of  only  a  single  globule  within  the  shell  of 
§  4,  let  there  be  a  vast  number.  To  fix  ideas  let  the  mass  of  the 
shell  be  equal  to  a  hundred  times  the  sum  of  the  masses  of  the 
globules,  and  let  the  number  of  the  globules  be  a  hundred 
million  million.  Let  two  such  shells  be  connected  by  a  posh- 
and-puU  massless  spring.  Let  all  be  given  at  rest,  with  the 
spring  stretched  to  any  extent ;  and  then  left  free.  According 
to  the  Boltzmann-Maxwell  doctrine,  the  motion  produced 
initially  by  the  spring  will  become  distributed  through  the 
system,  so  that  ultimately  the  sum  of  the  kinetic  energies  of  the 
globules  within  each  shell  will  be  a  hundred  million  miliioo 
times  the  average  kinetic  energy  of  the  shell.  The  average 
velocity '  of  the  shell  will  ultimately  be  a  hundred-miUionth  of 
the  average  velocity  of  the  globules.  A  corresponding  proposi- 
tion in  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases  is  that,  if  two  rigid  shells,  eidi 
weighing  i  gram,  and  containing  a  centigram  of  monatomic  gai, 
be  attached  to  the  two  prongs  of  a  massless  perfectly  elastic 
tuning-fork,  and  set  to  vibrate,  the  gas  will  become  heated  in 
virtue  of  its  viscous  resistance  to  the  vibration  excited  in  it  bj 
the  vibration  of  the  shell,  until  nearly  all  the  initial  energy  of 
the  tuning-fork  is  thus  spent. 

(7)  Going  back  to  the  double  molecules  of  §  5,  suppose  the 
internal  globule  to  be  so  connected  by  massless  springs  with  the 
shell  that  the  globule  is  urged  towards  the  centre  of  the  shell 
with  a  force  simply  proportional  to  the  distance  between  the 
centres  of  the  two.  This  arrangement,  which  I  gave  in  my 
Baltimore  Lectures,  in  1884,  as  an  illustration  for  vibratory 
molecules  embedded  in  ether,  would  be  equivalent  to  two  masses 
connected  by  a  massless  spring,  if  we  had  only  motions  in  one 
line  to  consider ;  but  it  has  the  advantage  of  being  perfecdy  fio- 
tropic,  and  giving  for  all  motions  parallel  to  any  fixed  Hse 
exactly  the  same  result  as  if  there  were  no  motion  perpendicular 
to  it.  When  a  pair  of  masses  connected  by  a  sparing  strikes  a 
fixed  obstacle  or  a  movable  body,  with  the  line  of  their  centres 
not  exactly  perpendicular  to  the  tangent  plane  of  contact,  it  is 
caused  to  rotate.  No  such  complication  affects  our  isotropic 
doublet.  An  assemblage  of  such  doublets  being  given  moving 
about  within  a  rigid  inclosing  surface,  will  the  ultimate  sta- 
tistics be,  for  each  doublet,*  equal  average  kinetic  energies  of 
motion  of  centre  of  inertia,  and  of  relative  motion  of  the  two 
constituents  ? 

(8)  If  we  try  to  answer  this  question  synthetically,  we  find  a 
complex  and  troublesome  problem  in  the  dt^tails  of  all  bnt  the 
very  simplest  case  of  collision  which  can  occur,  which  is  direct 
collision  between  two  not  previously  vibrating  doublets,  or  any 
collision  of  one  not  previously  vibrating  doublet  against  a  fixed 
plane.  In  this  case,  if  the  masses  of  globule  and  shell  art 
equal,  a  complete  collision  consists  of  two  impacts  at  an  interval 
of  time  equal  to  half  the  period  of  free  vibration  of  the  doublet, 
and  after  the  second  Impact  there  is  separation  without  vibration, 
just  as  if  we  had  had  single  spheres  instead  of  the  doublets. 

'  The  •*  average  velocity  of  a  particle,"  irrespcciively  of  direction,  i*  fffl 
the  kinetic  theory  of  gases)  a  convenieat  expression  for  the  square  root  « 
the  time-nverage  of  the  square  of  its  velocity.  ^ 

'  Thit  ioiplies  equal  average  kinetic  enetitieitof  the  two  coastituents ;  aad. 
conversely,  equal  average  kinetic  energies  of  the  two  constituents,  etcepia 
the  case  of  their  masses  being  equal,  impliej«  the  equality  stated  in  the  rat- 
Let  ttf  u'  be  absolute  component  velocities  of  two  masses,  m,  «',  P^ 
pendicular  to  a  fixed  plane;  U  the  corresponding  component  velodtroi 
their  centre  of  inertia ;  and  r  that  of  their  mutual  relative  motxm.  ^' 
have 

«'  =  U+    T    ,; (0 


«  =  U- 


wf  r 


whence 


m  +  m'* 


m  +  m' 


^  'L  (w  +  /«')2J        m  -T  m 

Now  suppose  the  time-average  of  XJr  to  be  zero.    In  every  ca  e  in  «hict 
this  is  so,  we  have,  by  (2), 

Time-av.  \mffl  -  m'u2]  =  (tn  -  m)  X  Timeav.  {  U^  -  _^!!i?LrL  }.  (3) 

Hence  in  any  case  in  which 

Time-av.  mu^  =  Time-av.  w'«'2 (4) 

we  have 

(w  -  m')  X  Time-av.  (  U9  -    J""!'^-  )  =0 (5) 

and  therefore,  except  when  m  =  m\  we  mu^t  have 


Time-av.  (w  -I-  m)V^ t=. T.me^v ''"^''* 


(fi) 


»f  -i-  ««' 

which  proves  the  proposition,  because,  as  we  readily  see  from  ^V 
\mm' i^l{m  ^  m' )  is,  in  every  case,  the  kinetic  cnc-gy  of  the  relatm- 
motions,  »  —  U,  and  U  —  »'. 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


357 


But  in  oblique  collision  between  two  not  previously  vibrating 
doublets,  even  if  the  masses  of  shell  and  globule  are  equal,  we 
have  a  somewhat  troublesome  problem  to  find  the  interval  be- 
tween the  two  impacts,  when  there  are  twOy  and  to  find  the  final 
resulting  vibration.  When  the  component  relative  motion 
parallel  to  the  tangent  plane  of  the  first  impact  exceeds  a  certain 
value  depending  on  the  radius  of  the  outer  surface  of  the  shell, 
the  period  of  free  vibration  of  the  doublets,  and  the  relative 
velocity  of  approach  ;  there  is  no  second  impact,  and  the 
doublets  separate  with  no  relative^  velocity  perpendicular  to 
the  tangent  plane,  but  each  with  the  energy  of  that  component 
of  its  previous  motion  converted  into  vibrational  energy.  When 
the  mass  of  the  shell  is  much  smaller  than  the  mass  of  the 
interior  globule,  almost  every  collision  will  consist  of  a  large 
number  of  impacts.  It  seems  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  how  to 
calculate  true  statistics  of  these  chattering  collisions,  and  arrive 
at  sound  conclusions  as  to  the  ultimate  distribution  of  energy  in 
any  of  the  very  simplest  cases  other  than  Maxwell's  original 
case  of  i860  ;  but,  if^  the  Boltzmann- Maxwell  generalized  doc- 
trine is  true,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  see  its  truth  as  essential, 
with  special  clearness  in  the  simplest  cases,  even  without  going 
through  the  full  problem  presented  by  the  details.  I  can  find 
nothing  in  Maxwell's  latest  article  on  the  subject  (Camb.  Phil. 
Trans.,  May  6,  1878),  or  in  any  of  his  previous  papers,  proving 
an  affirmative  answer  to  the  question  of  §  7. 

{9)  Going  back  to  §  6,  let  the  globules  be  initially  distributed 
as  nearly  as  may  be  homogeneously  through  the  hollow ;  let 
each  globule  be  connected  uith  neighbours  by  massless  springs  ; 
and  let  all  the  globules  which  are  near  the  inner  surface  of  the 
shell  be  connected  with  it  also  by  ma<isless  springs.  Or  let 
any  number  of  smaller  shells  be  inclosed  within  our  outer 
shell,  and  connected  by  massless  springs,  as  represented  by 
the  accompanying  diagram,  taken  from  a  reprint  of  my  Bal* 
timore  Lectures  now  in  progress.     Let  two  such  outer  shells, 


given  at  rest  with  their  systems  of  globules  in  equilibrium  within 
them,  be  connected  by  massless  springs,  and  be  started  in 
motion,  as  were  the  shells  of  §  6.  There  will  not  now  be  the 
great  loss  of  energy  from  the  vibration  of  the  shells  which  there 
was  in  §  6.  On  the  contrary,  the  ultimate  average  kinetic 
energy  of  the  vrhole  two  hundred  million  million  globules  will  be 
certainly  small  in  comparison  with  the  ultimate  average  kinetic 
energy  of  the  single  shell.  It  may  be  because  each  globule  of 
§  6  is  free  to  wander  that  the  energy  is  lost  from  the  shell  in 
that  case,  and  distributed  among  them.  There  is  nothing  vague 
in  their  motion  allowing  them  to  take  more  and  more  energy, 
now  when  they  are  connected  by  the  massless  springs.  If  we 
suppose  the  motions  infinitesimal,  or  ir,  whatever  their  ranges 
may  be,  all  forces  are  in  simple  proportion  to  displacements,  the 
elementary  dynamical  theorem  oi fundamental  modes  shows  how 
to  find  deterroinately  each  of  the  600  million  million  and  six 
simple  harmonic  vibrations,  of  which  the  motion  resulting  from 
the  prescribed  initial  circumstances  is  constituted.  It  tells  us 
that  the  sum  of  the  potential  and  kinetic  energies  of  each  mode 
remains  always  of  constant  value,  and  that  the  time-average  of 
the  changing  kinetic  energy  during  its  period  is  half  of  this 
constant  value.  Without  fully  solving  the  problem  for  the  600 
million  million  and  six  co-ordinates,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
gravest  fundamental  mode  of  the  motion  actually  produced  in 
the  prescribed  circumstances  dififers  but  little  in  period  and 
energy  from  the  single  simple  harmonic  vibration  which  the  two 
shells  would  lake  if  the  globules  were  rigidly  connected  to  them, 
or  were  removed  from  within  them,  and  the  other  initial 
circumstances  were  those  of  §  6.  But  this  conclusion  de- 
pends on  the  forces  being  rigorously  in  simple  proportion  to 
displacements. 

lio)*  In  no  real  case  could  they  be  so,  and  if  there  is  any 
deviation  from  the  simple  proportionality  of  force  to  displace- 

'  Sections  10  (o  17  added  July  10,  1891. 

NO.    1137.  VOL.  44] 


ment,  the  independent  superposition  of  motions  does  not  hold 
good.  We  have  still  a  theorem  of  fundamental  modes  although, 
so  far  a&  I  know,  this  theory  has  not  yet  been  investigated.  For 
any  stable  system  moving  with  a  given  sum,  £,  of  potential  and 
kinetic  energies,  there  m'ast  in  general  le  ai  least  as  many 
fundamental  mcdes  of  rigorously  periodic  motion  as  there  are 
freedoms  (or  independent  variables).  But  the  configuration  of 
each  fundamental  mode  is  now  not  generally  similar  for  different 
values  of  £  ;  and  superposition  of  different  fundamental  modes, 
whether  with  the  same  or  with  different  values  of  £,  has  now 
no  meaning.  It  seems  to  me  probable  that  every  fundamental 
mode  is  essentially  unstable.  It  is  so  if  Maxwell's  fundamental 
assumption^  "  that  the  system,  if  left  to  itself  in  its  actual  state 
of  motion,  will,  sooner  or  later,  pass  through  every  phase  which 
is  consistent  with  the  equation  of  energy  "  is  true.  It  seems  to 
me  quite  probable  that  this  assumption  is  true,  provided  the 
''actual  state  of  motion"  is  not  exactly,  as  to  position  and 
velocity,  a  configuration  of  some  one  of  the  fundamental  modes 
of  rigorously  periodic  motion,  and  provided  also  that  the 
<< system"  has  not  any  exceptional  character,  such  as  those  in- 
dicated by  Maxwell  for  cases  in  which  he  warns '  us  that  his 
assumption  does  not  hold  good. 

(11)  But,  conceding  Maxwell's. fundamental  assumption,  I  do 
not  see  in  the  mathematical  workings  of  his  paper  ^  any  proof 
of  his  conclusion  **  that  the  average  kinetic  energy  correspond- 
ing to  any  one  of  the  variables  is  the  same  for  every  one  of  the 
variables  of  the  system."  Indeed,  as  a  general  proposition  its 
meaning  is  not  explained,  and  seems  to  me  inexplicable.  The 
reduction  of  the  kinetic  energy  to  a  sum  of  squares  ^  leaves  the 
several  parts  of  the  whole  with  no  correspondence  to  any  de- 
fined or  definable  set  of  independent  variables.  What,  for 
example,  can  the  meaning  of  the  conclusion  '  be  for  the  case  of 
a  jointed  pendulu^i  ?  (a  system  of  two  rigid  bodies,  one  sup- 
ported on  a  fixed  horizontal  axis  and  the  other  on  a  parallel  axis 
fixed  relatively  to  the  first  bod^,  and  both  acted  on  only  by 
gravity).  The  conclusion  is  quite  intelligible,  however  (but  is 
it  true?),  when  the  kinetic  energy  is  expressible  as  a  sum  of 
squares  of  rates  of  change  of  single  co-ordinates  each  multiplied 
by  a  function  of  all,  or  of  some,  of  the  co-ordinates.^  Con- 
sider, for  example,  the  still  easier  case  of  these  coefficients 
constant. 

(12)  Consider  more  particularly  the  easiest  case  of  all,  motion 
of  a  single  particle  in  a  plane  ;  that  is,  the  case  of  just  two  in- 
dependent variable.*:,  say  .r,  y\  and  kinetic  energy  equal  to 
J(ir-  -f-  y^).    The  equations  of  motion  are 


d^ 
df^ 


dV 
dx 


d^y  _^_dV 
d{^  dy ' 


where  V  is  the  potential  energy,  which  may  be  any  function  of 
.r,  yy  subject  only  to  the  condition  (required  for  stability)  that  it 
is  essentially  positive  (its  least  value  being,  for  brevity,  taken  as 
zero).  It  is  easily  proved  that,  with  any  given  value,  £,  for  the 
sum  of  kinetic  and  potential  energies,  there  are  two  determinate 
modes  of  periodic  motion  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  two  finite 
closed  curves  such  that,  if  m  be  projected  from  any  point  of 
either  with  velocity  equal  to  /^/[2(E- V)]  in  the  direction,  either- 
wards,  of  the  tangent  to  the  curve,  its  path  will  be  exactly  that 
curve.  In  a  very  special  class  of  cases  there  are  only  two  such 
periodic  motions,  but  it  is  obvious  that  there  are  more  than  two 
in  other  cases. 

(13)  Take,  for  example, 

V  =  4(o2x2  +  iSy  +  cx^iy^Y 

For  all  values  of  £  we  have 


jr  =  a  cos  (0/  - 
y  =.  o 


^H  and  -^  ==  °  \ 

/  *°^  ^  =  /I  cos  (i3/ -/)  J 


as  two  fundamental  modes.  When  £  is  infinitely  small  we  have 
only  these  two  ;  but  for  any  finite  value  of  £  we  have  clearly 
an  infinite  number  of  fundamental  modes,  and  every  mode  differs 
infinitely  little  from  being  a  fundamental  mode.  To  see  this, 
let  ni  be  projected  from  any  point  N  in  OX,  in  a  direction  per- 
pendicular to  OX,  with  a  velocity  equal  to  x/(2£-tt'0N*). 


*  *'Sciendfic  Papers,"  vol.  ii.  p.  7x4. 
3  [bid.^  pp.  716-726. 


»  Ibid.^  pp.  714,  715. 
*  Ibid,^  p.  722. 


I 


5  Or  of  Maxwell's  "  ^,"  in  p.  723. 

6  [It  may  be  untrue  for  one  set  of  co-ordinates,  though  true  for  others. 
Consider,  for  example,  uniform  motion  in  a  circle.  For  all  systems  of  recti' 
lineal  rectangular  co-ordinates  (.r,  y\  time-av.  Jt^  =  ume-av.  ^^ ;  but  for 
polar  co-ordinates  (r,  H)  we  have  not  time-av.  r^  equal  to  time-av.  9^,^ 
W.  T.,  July  21,  1891.] 


358 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


After  a  sufficiently  great  number  of  crossings  and  re-crossings 
across  the  line  X'OX,  the  particle  will  cross  this  line  veiy  nearly 
at  right  angles,  at  some  point,  N'.  Vary  the  position  of  N  very 
slightly  in  one  direction  or  other,  and  re-project  m  from  it  per- 
pendicularly and  with  proper  velocity ;  till  (by  proper  **  trial 
and  error  "  method)  a  path  is  found,  which,  after  still  the  same 
number  of  crossings  and  re- crossings,  crosses  exactly  at  right 
angles  at  a  point  N",  very  near  the  point  N'.  Let  m  continue 
its  journey  along  this  path,  and,  after  just  as  many  more  cross- 
ings and  re-crossings,  it  will  return  exactly  to  N,  and  cross  OX 
there,  exactly  at  right  angles.  Thus  the  path  from  N  to  N"  is 
exactly  half  an  orbit,  and  from  N"  to  N  the  remaining  half. 

(14)  When  cE/{aPff^)  is  a  small  numeric,  the  part  otthe kinetic 
energy  expressed  by  icx'^j^  is  very  small  in  comparison  with 
the  total  energy,  E.  Hence  the  path  is  at  every  time  very 
nearly  the  resultant  of  the  two  primary  fundamental  modes 
formulated  in  §  13  ;  and  an  interesting  problem  is  presented,  to 
find  (by  the  method  of  the  "variation  of  parameters")  a,  e,  i,/, 
slowly  varying  functions  of/,  such  that 


X  =  a   sin  (a/  -  e), 
X  =  aa  cos  {at  -  e), 


y  -  d    sla  i&t  -/), 
y  =  i$  cos  (fit  -/), 


shall  be  the  rigorous  solution,  or  a  practical  approximation  to 
it.  Careful  consideration  of  possibilities  in  respect  to  this  case 
{cE/{tt^0^)  very  small]  seems  thoroughly  to  confirm  Maxwell's 
fundamental  assumption  quoted  in  §  1 1  ;  and  that  it  is  correct 
whether  cE/{a^&^)  be  small  or  liirge  seems  exceedingly  probable, 
or  quite  certain. 

(15)  But  it  seems  also  probable  that  Maxwell's  conclusion, 
which  for  the  case  of  a  material  point  moving  in  a  plane  is 

Time-av.  Jt^  =  Time-av.  j>', (i) 

is  not  true  when  a^  differs  from  fi\  It  is  certainly  not  proved. 
No  dynamical  principle  except  the  equation  of  energy, 

4(^^  +r')  =  E-y, (2) 

is  brought  into  the  mathematical  work  of  pp.  722-25,  which  is 
given  byjJMaxwell  as  proof  for  it.  Hence  any  arbitrarily  drawn 
curve  might  be  assumed  for  the  path  without  violating  the 
dynamics  which  enters  into  Maxwell's  investigation  ;  and  we 
may  draw  curves  for  the  path  such  as  to  satisfy  (i),  and  curves 
not  satisfying  (i),  but  all  traversing  the  whole  space  within  the 
bounding  curve 

J(a»^2  +  ^y  ^  ,^y)  =  E,    ......  (3) 

and  all  satisfying  Maxwell's  fundamental  assumption  (§  11). 

(16)  The  meaning  of  the  question  is  illustrated  by  reducing  it 
to  a  purely  geometrical  question  regarding  the  path,  thus : — 
Calling  $  the  inclination  to  x  of  the  tangent  to  the  path  at  any 
point  xy,  and  ^  the  velocity  in  the  path,  we  have 


^  =  ^  sin  0, 


(4) 

(s) 


i:  s  ^  cos  0, 

and  therefore,  by  (2), 

g  =  V{2(E  -  V)} 

Hence,  if  we  call  s  the  total  length  of  curve  travelled, 

/"i-V/  =    /  q  cos'  eqdt  =    f  ^{2(E  -  V;}  cos*  0  ds  ;     .  (6) 

and  the  question  of  §  15  becomes,  Is  or  is  not 


i/>^' 


a(E  -  V)!  cos'  e 


=  -^  j  ^s  ^{2(E  -  V)}  sin'  e?  .   .    ,(7) 

where  S  denotes  so  great  a  length  of  path  that  it  has  passed  a 
^rreat  number  of  times  very  near  to  every  point  within  the 
boundary  (3),  very  nearly  in  every  direction. 

(17)  Consider  now  separately  the  parts  of  the  two  members  of 
{7)  derived  from  portions  of  the  path  which  cross  an  infinitesimal 
area  dtr  having  its  centre  at  (jc,  y).     They  are  respectively 


and 


^/{2(E  -  V)!^<r   f'f^cfe  cos'  e 

J  0 

^/{2(E  -  V)}  da-  /"'N^ff  sin'  0 

J  0 


.(8) 


where  'SdB  denotes  the  number  of  portions  of  the  path,  per  unit 
distance  in  the  direction  inclined  ^t  +  0  to  x,  which  pass  either- 
wards  across  the  area  in  directions  inclined  to  x  at  angles  between 

NO.    1 137,  VOL.  44] 


the  values  e  -  IdS  and  $  +  ^dB,     The  most  general  possible 
expression  for  N  is,  according  to  Fourier, 


N  =  Aq  +  Aj  cos  2$  +  A2  cos  4.6  +  &c.  \ 


(9) 


+  B,  sin  2$  +  Bj  sin  46  +  &c 
Hence  the  two  members  of  (8)  become  respectively 

Vl2(E  -  V)}dtTix{\,  +  k^l)  ] 

and  ]-  .    .    .  .  (10) 

^/12(E  -  V)Ja^^J<Ao  -  iAi)    J 

Remarking  that  A^  and  Aj  are  functions  of  x,  y,  and  taking 
d<r  =  dxdy,  we  find,  from  (10),  for  the  two  lotals  of  (7)  re- 
spectively 

iwf  fdxdyiA,  +  iAi)V[2(E  -  V)]^ 

V^  ....  (II) 

iwjjdxdyiA,  -  4Ai)v/[2(E  -  V)]j 

where    /  idxdy  denotes  integration  over  the  whole  space  in- 
closed   by   (3).      These  quantities  are  equal   if   and    only  if 
dxdyKi  vanishes ;    it  does  so,    clearly,  if  a  =  iS ;     bat  it 


and 


/i 


seems  improbable  that,  except  when  a  =  8,  it  can  vanish  gener- 
ally  ;  and  unless  it  does  so,  our  present  test  case  would  disprove 
the  Boltzmann.  Maxwell  general  doctrine. 


T 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  GEOGRAPHICAL 
CONGRESS  A  T  BERNE. 

HIS  Congress  began  its  proceedings  on  Monday.  Fourteen 
countries  and  forty-six  Geographical  Societies  are  officially 
represented.  France  has  sent  73  delegates,  Germany  33,  Aus- 
tria-Hungary 21,  Switzerland  87,  Italy  21,  Russia  13,  Great 
Britain  8,  and  Spain,  America,  and  the  Netherlands  two  each. 
Egypt,  Portugal,  Rnumania,  Greece,  Norway,  and  Sweden  are 
also  represented.  There  are,  in  addition,  150  Members  and 
Associates  who  have  not  yet  given  in  their  names. 

M.  Numa  Droz,  Swiss  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  bade  the 
delegates  heartily  welcome  to  Berne. 

Dr.  Gobat,  Regierungsrath,  Berne,  President  of  the  Congress, 
then  delivered  his  inaugural  address.  In  the  name  of  the 
Geographical  Societies  of  Switzerland  he  thanked  the  sai'tinis 
present  for  responding  so  cordially  to  their  invitation. 

Among  the  good  work  already  done.  Prof.  Penck,  of  Vienna, 
has  proposed  the  following  resolution  : — '*  Thb  Congress  on  the 
geographical  sciences,  held  at  Berne,  resolves  to  take  the  initia- 
tive in  the  preparation  of  a  large  map  of  the  earth  on  a  scale 
of  one  to  a  million ,  of  which  the  various  sections  shall  be  de- 
limited by  latitudes  and  longitudes  ;  and,  with  this  object,  it 
appoints  an  international  committee  to  determine  the  principles 
upon  which  the  preparation  of  such  map  shall  proceed.  The 
members  of  this  committee  shall  arrange  that  the  various  Stales 
engaged  in  preparing  maps,  the  societies  and  periodicals  pub* 
lishing  original  maps,  and  all  private  geographical  establishmeots 
working  in  this  Beld  shall  prepare  detached  sections  of  the  said 
map,  the  sale  of  which  shall  also  be  r^ulated  and  arranged  for 
by  the  committee." 

In  the  course  of  his  address  on  the  subject  Prof.  Peock 
paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Stanley  to 
the  cause  of  geographical  science,  directing  special  attention  to 
the  fact  that  each  of  the  explorer's  expeditions  across  Africa  had 
led  to  the  preparation  of  from  20  to  30  maps. 

I'he  proposal  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  Congress, 
which  will  report  upon  it. 

The  subjects  of  an  initial  meridian  and  universal  time,  geo- 
graphical education,  orthography  of  geographical  names,  lakes 
and  glaciers,  cartography,  bibliography,  meteorology,  com- 
mercial geography,  and  voyages  and  travels  are  all  to  be 
touched  upon  in  the  deliberations. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

Journal  of  the  Russian  Chemical  and  Physical  Society,  vol. 
xxiii..  No.  I. — The  chief  papers  are  : — On  the  molecular  weight 
of  albumen,  by  A.  Sabaneeff  and  N.  Alexandroff.  Several 
determinations  were  made  on  the  method  of  Raoult,  and  gare 
an  average  of  14,276,  the  molecular  weight  thus  appearing  to  be 
nearly  threentimes  as  great  as  that  deduced  from  the  formula  of 


August  13,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


59 


Hanuck  (4730),  and  nearly  nine  times  as  high  as  that  given  in 
Lieberkithn's  formula  (161 2).  The  molecule  contains  nine 
atoms  of  sulphur,  of  which  two  are  easily  separated.  Sub- 
mitted to  a  temperature  of  40°,  the  solution  of  albumen  changes 
its  properties,  and  its  temperature  of  freezing  is  lowered. — On 
the  measurement  of  density  of  sea-water,  by  Vice-Admiral 
MakaroC  This  elaborate  work  gives  the  results  of  measure- 
ments made  on  board  the  corvette  Viiyaz.  The  value  of 
yariotts  instruments  used  during  the  cruise  is  discussed  in  de- 
tail, and  the  following  formulse  are  given  as  expressing  the 
resultsof  the  observations  between  the  temperatures  of  o^  and 
30'.    For  distilled  water,  the  density  is — 

S.  =  0-9998795 
=  S/(i  -o  00006 1 398/  -}-  o' 0000080021/^  -  o  00000004586/'), 

maximum  density  at  3'''972.  For  sea- water,  the  density  of  which 
at  15°  compared  with  that  of  distilled  water  at  4°  is  =  I  '019, 
the  formula  is — 

S,=  1-0207769 
=  S/(i  +0-000022268/  +  0*000006980 1/*  -  0*00000004761/'), 

maximum  density  at  -  i''-5  70.  For  sea- water,  the  density  of  which, 
also  at  15",  is  =  i  026,  the  formula  is — 

8^=10280936 
=S<(i  +  0-000050453/  +  0*0000062833/-  -  0*00000003852/'), 

maximum  density  at  -3" "876.  The  last  two  formulae  gave 
excellent  results  for  temperatures  down  to  -  5'.  A  comparison 
between  the  figures  obtained  by  the  Vityaz  and  those  obtained 
by  the  Challenger  proved  very  satisfactory.  Finally,  the  author 
gives  six  most  valuable  tables  of  corrections.     Tables  I.  and 

II.  coDtain  the  corrections  to  be  applied  to  S--  for  obtaining 

4 

S~>  and  vice    versA,  from   -  5"  to  -f  36°,    for  both  distilled 
4 

and  sea-water.  Detailed  interpolation  tables  are  also  given. 
Table  III.  contains  the  corrections  due  to  the  coefficient  of 
dilatation  of  glass  of  the  areometer  being  not  equal  to  the 
Dormal  coefficient  0-000028.     The  three  other  tables  are  for 

transferring  densities  S-^^  into  densities  S  -^. 

17*5  4 

BtdUtin  de  la  SociiU  des  Naturalist es  de  Moscou,  1890, 
No.  3. — On  the  Protopirata  centrodon,  Trd.,  by  H.  Trautschold 
(in  German).  The  two  Ichthyodornlithes  from  the  Carboniferous 
of  North  America,  described  in  J.  S.  Newberry's  capital  work 
upon  the  **  Palaeozoic  Fishes  of  North  America,"  Table  xxxix., 
are  very  much  like  the  Moscow  fossils  described  by  the  author  in 
the  above  periodical  (1884  and  1886)  under  the  names  of 
Edectus  protopirata^  and  later  on,  of  Protopirata  centrodon, — 
Geo-botanical  notes  about  the  flora  of  European  Russia,  by  D. 
I.  Litvinoff  (in  Russian).  The  common  Scotch  fir  (Unus 
^Iveslris)  grows,  as  known,  chiefly  on  a  sandy  soil.  However, 
it  also  appears  in  the  hilly  tracts  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  there 
it  grows  upon  a  rocky  soil^  chiefly  limestone.  In  the  lowlands 
of  Germany  and  Russia,  the  appearance  of  fir  upon  a  rocky 
groand  is  extremely  rare  ;  but  there  are  some  exceptions  to  this 
mle— namely,  on  the  chalk  hills  of  the  Donets,  the  Volga 
mountains,  the  Middle  Russian  plateau,  and  the  Silurian  lime- 
stones of  the  Baltic  provinces  ;  in  all  those  places  the  fir  appears 
in  company  with  a  number  of  sub-Alpine  and  Alpine  plants 
which  are  not  met  with  elsewhere  in  Ihe  Russian  plains,  and 
« ith  a  number  of  endemic  plants  very  rare  in  Russia  as  a  whole. 
The  author  considers  these  rocky  islands  of  fir-growths  as 
survivals  from  the  pre-Glacial  period.  The  paper  is  full  of  most 
interesting  botanical  data  and  valuable  remarks  upon  the  con- 
nection of  the  glaciation  of  Russia  with  its  present  flora. — The 
influence  of  friction  upon  the  rotatory  motion  of  celestial  bodies, 
by  Th.  Sloudsky  (in  French).  The  auxiliary  theorems,  upon 
which  the  principal  theorem  relative  to  the  effects  of  friction  is 
based,  are  demonstrated,  the  sun  being  taken  as  an  illustration. 
—On  the  origin  of  endosperm  in  the  embryo-pouch  of  certain 
Gymnosperms,  by  Miss  C.  Sokolowa  (in  French,  with  three 
plates).  Slrassburger's  researches  have  proved  the  similarity 
between  the  formation  of  endosperm  and  of  multicellular  albu- 
men, and  the  partition  of  cells,  especially  as  regards  the  Angio- 
sperms.  The  same  researches  are  pursued  by  Miss  Sokolowa  as 
regards  the  Gymnosperms,  attention  being  paid  to  the  part 
played  by  the  nucleus  in  the  formation  of  partition  walls. — 

NO.    1 137,  VOL.  44] 


Contribution  to  the  morphology  and  classification  of  the 
Cblamydomonads,  by  Prof.  Goroschankin  (in  German,  wi  th 
two  plates). — Preliminary  note  upon  inter-glacial  layers  about 
Moscow,  by  N.  Krichtaibvitch. 

No.  4. — Traces  of  an  inter-glacial  period  in  Central  Russia,  by 
N.  Krichtafovitch  (in  German  ;  already  analyzed  in  Nature). 
— Remarks  upon  the  function  of  the  nucleus  in  cells,  by  J.  Ger- 
assimoff  (in  German),  being  observations  upon  cells  without  a 
nucleus  in  Spirogyra  and  Sirogonium. — On  the  molecular  weight 
of  the  albumen  of  the  egg,  by  N.  Alexandroff  (Russian). — Why 
the  relative  masses  of  the  brain  decrease  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
crease of  the  weight  of  the  body,  in  the  same  type  of  Verte- 
brata,  by  Femand  Lataste  (in  French).  —  Tarentula  (Lycosa} 
opiphex^  new  species,  by  W.  A.  Wagner  (French,  with  a  plate). 
This  trap-spider  inhabits  Middle  Russia,  and  is  especially 
numerous  in  the  fields  of  Orel.  Its  thin  trap,  made  of  one 
sheet  of  web  with  some  mould,  is  even  more  ingenious,  for 
its  shape,  than  that  of  the  Ctemiza, 

The  Nuovo  Giornale  Botanico  Italinno  for  July  contains  two 
articles  of  interest  to  lichenologists  :  an  account  of  the  lichens 
of  Brisbane  gathered  by  Mr.  F.  M.  Bailey,  by  Herr  J.  Mueller  ; 
and  contributions  to  the  lichen-flora  of  Tuscany,  by  Signor  E. 
Baroni.  Signor  £.  Tanfani  has  an  important  paper  on  the  mor- 
phology and  histology  of  the  fruit  of  the  Apiacese  (Umbelliferse), 
and  Prof.  C.  Massalongo  an  account  of  the  galls  made  by  Acari 
on  45  species  of  trees,  shrubs,  and  herbaceous  plants,  as  well  a& 
of  the  insects  which  produce  them. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Entomological  Society,  August  5. — Mr.  Frederick  Dit 
Cane  Godman,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  President 
announced  the  death  of  Mr.  Ferdinand  Grut,  the  Hon.  Librarian 
of  the  Society,  and  commented  on  the  valuable  services  which 
the  deceased  gentleman  had  rendered  the  Society  for  many  years- 
past. — Dr.  D.  Sharp,  F.R.S.,  exhWAitdJapyx  soli/ugus^  from  the 
Eastern  Pyrenees,  and  stated  that  in  his  opinion  it  was  a  connecting 
link  between  the  Thysanura  and  Dertuaptera,  He  also  exhibited 
pupae  of  Dytiscus  marginalis  ;  one  of  these  was  perfectly  deve- 
loped, with  the  exception  that  it  retained  the  larval  head  :  this 
was  owing  to  the  larva  having  received  a  slight  injury  to  the 
head.  Dr.  Sharp  also  exhibited  specimens  of  Ophontis  pufuti- 
collis  and  allied  species,  and  said  that  Thomson's  characters  of 
the  three  Swedish  species,  O.  puncticollist  O,  brevicollis,  and 
O,  rcctanguluSf  applied  well  to  our  British  examples,  and  separ* 
ated  them  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  Thomson's  nomenclature, 
however,  would,  he  thought,  prove  untenable,  as  the  distinguished 
Swede  described  our  common  puncticollis  as  a  new  species  under 
the  name  of  rectangulus. — Mr.  F.  W.  Frohawk  exhibited  a 
bleached  s'^tcimtnoi EpinepheUjanirat  having  the  right  fore- wing" 
of  a  creamy  white,  blending  into  pale  smoky  brown  at  the  ba^e  ; 
also  a  long  and  varied  series  of  E.  kyperanthuSy  from  the  New 
Forest  and  Dorking.  The  specimens  from  the  former  locality 
were  considerably  darker  and  more  strongly  marked  than  those 
from  the  chalk.  Amongst  the  specimens  was  a  variety  of  the 
female  with  large  lanceolate  markings  on  the  under  side,  taken 
in  the  New  Forest,  and  a  female  from  Dorking  with  large,  clearly 
defined  white-pupil  led  spots  on  the  upper  side.  Mr.  Frohawk 
fiirther  exhibited  drawings  of  varieties  of  the  pupae  of  E,  hyper- 
anthuSf  and  also  a  large  specimen  of  a  variety  of  the  female  of 
EuchloS  cardamines,  bred  from  ova  obtained  in  South  Cork, 
with  the  hind  wings  of  an  ochreous-yellow  colour.  Coloured 
drawings  illustrating  the  life-history  of  the  specimen  in  all  its 
stages  were  also  exhibited. — M«  Serge  Alpheraky  communicated 
a  paper  entitled  '*  On  some  cases  of  Dimorphism  and  Poly- 
morphism among  Palaearctic  Lepidoptera." 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  July  15. — Sir  Douglas  Maclagan,  President,, 
in  the  chair. — The  Prince  of  Monaco  gave  an  account  of  the 
new  yacht  which  he  has  had  fitted  out  for  the  study  of  the  sea. 
He  also  described  the  investigations  which  he  has  conducted 
since  i886,  first  in  the  Bay  of  Gascony,  and  then  around  the 
Azores  and  off  Newfoundland.  The  latter  investigations  ex- 
tended over  three  years,  and  had  as  their  object  the  investigation 
of  the  direction  and  speed  of  the  surface  currents  in  the  North 


36o 


NA  TURE 


[August  13,  1891 


Atlantic.  Special  floats  were  thrown  into  the  sea  in  three 
difTerent  places,  and  their  progress  was  traced  from  place  to 
place.  As  a  preliminary  trial  i6o  floats  were  thrown  into  the 
sea  between  the  Azores  and  the  Canary  Islands.  Some  of  these 
arrived  at  the  Bermudas  eighteen  months  later.  In  all  1703 
floats  were  despatched,  and  the  result  was  that  the  great  ocean 
currents  of  the  North  Atlantic  were  now  fairly  well  known. 
The  Prince's  new  yacht  is  provided  with  an  electric  search-light 
of  lOyCOO  candle-power  for  illuminating  the  surface  of  the  sea 
when  investigations  are  being  carried  on  at  night.  Soundings 
can  be  made  to  a  depth  of  8ooo  metres  without  much  difBculty. 
— M.  le  Baron  Jules  de  Guerne,  President  of  the  Zoological 
Society  of  France,  read  a  paper  on  the  zoological  results  of  the 
voyages  of  the  Ilirondelle  (the  Prince  of  Monaco's  former  yacht). 
He  described  tlie  work  of  exploration  among  the  Oceanic  Is- 
lands, and  alluded  specially  to  the  new  species  which  had  been 
found. — Mr.  J.  Y.  Buchanan  des^cribed  a  cartographic  device 
which  is  of  great  use  in  the  treatment  of  some  geographical 
and  telluric  problems. — Mr.  VV.  E.  Hoyle  described  a  deep-sea 
tow-net,  which,  by  means  of  an  electrical  device,  can  be  opened 
and  closed  at  definite  (arbitrary)  instants. — Dr.  H.  R.  Mill 
exhibited  an  improved  form  of  his  self-locking  water-bottle. 

July  20. — The  Hon.  Lord  McLaren  in  the  chair. — Some 
additional  observations,  by  Prof.  Mcintosh,  on  the  development 
and  life-histories  of  the  marine  food-fishes  and  the  distribution 
of  their  ova,  were  communicated.  By  means  of  various  kinds 
of  tow-nets,  an  endeavour  has  been  made  to  ascertain  the 
distribution  of  the  eggs  of  the  food- fishes  on  our  shores.  They 
are  found  at  all  depths,  at  the  surface,  and  at  the  bottom.  The 
floating  eggs  of  the  pilchard  and  mackerel  are  chiefly  found  on 
the  south  and  south-we.>t  shores.  On  the  east  coast  of  Scotland 
the  ova  of  the  cod,  whiting,  and  haddock  are  abundant.  On 
I  he  west  coast,  those  of  the  sole,  &c.,  abound. — The  Astronomer- 
koyal  for  Scotland  read  a  pa|>er  on  the  bright  streaks  on  the 
moon.  When  the  moon  is  half  full  its  brilliancy  is  not  nearly 
one-half  so  great  as  its  brilliancy  when  it  is  quite  full.  Now  at 
full  moon  the  surface  is  observed  to  be  c  ivered  by  bright  streaks 
which  originate  at  the  craters.  The  author  believes  that  the 
great  brightness  of  the  full  moon  is  due  to  these  streaks.  He 
considers  them  to  be  convex  or  concave,  and  so  to  be  largely 
invisible  under  cross  light,  while  they  are  brilliantly  illuminated 
when  the  sun  shines  full  upon  them.  The  paper  was  illus- 
trated by  a  model  in  plaster  of  Paris,  with  glass  beads  attached 
to  its  surface.—  A  paper,  by  Prof.  C.  G.  Knott,  on  the  effect  of 
longitudinal  magnetization  on  the  interior  volume  of  iron  and 
nickel  tubes,  was  communicated. — Dr.  H.  R.  Mill  read  an 
obituary  notice  of  Prof.  C.  I.  Burton. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  3.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Experimental  researches  on  the  probable  r6le  of  gases  at 
high  temperatures  and  pressures,  and  in  rapid  m'^veooent,  in 
various  geological  phenomena,  by  M.  Daubree.  The  experi- 
ments show  how  gases  at  high  pre^^sure,  and  contained  in  a 
closed  reservoir,  may,  by  a  sort  of  latent  action,  violently  push 
out  rocks  into  conical  or  bell- shaped  formations  without  any 
noise  or  escape  of  gas  occurring  to  indicate  their  gaseous  nature. 
— Heats  of  combustion  and  formation  of  nilrobenzenes,  by 
MM.  Berthelot  and  Matignon.  The  heats  of  combustion  of 
ortho-,  meta-,  and  para-dinitrobenzenes  are  found  to  be  respect- 
tively  704*6,  698*1,  and  696*5  calories  ;  and  the  heats  of  forma- 
tion o'5,  6*8,  and  8*4  calories.  The  heals  of  combustion  of  the 
two  isomeric  trinitrobenzenes  examined  are  665*9  and  680 '6 
calories  ;  and  the  heats  of  formation  -f-5*5  and  -9*2  calories. — 
On  the  oldest  European  Dicotyledons  observed  in  strata  at 
Cereal,  Portugal,  by  M.  G.  de  Saporta. — On  some  improve- 
ments carried  out  in  the  manufacture  of  artificial  Seltzer  water : 
the  siphon  arrangement,  by  M.  de  Pietra  Santa. — On  a  new 
and  improved  construction  of  the  thermo-cautery  of  1876,  by 
M.  Paquelin. — Periodic  variations  of  the  latitudes  of  solar  pro- 
minences, by  M.  A.  Ricco.  The  author's  observations  de- 
monstrate that  solar  prominences,  like  spots,  approach  the 
equator  up  to  the  minimum  period  of  activity,  and  afterwards  begin 
again  to  appear  more  numerous  in  high  latitudes. — On  induc- 
tion inclination  needles,  by  M.  Ernest  Schering.  'l*his  is  a 
brief  description  of  a  new  magnetic  inclination  needle  con- 
structed by  the  author,  and  with  which  it  is  said  to  be 
possible  to  determine  inclination  with  a  probable  error 
of  4""2. — On  the  expansion  of  phosphorus,  and  its  change 
of  volume   at    the    melting-point,    by    M.    A.    L-duc.     The 


coefficient  of  expansion  for  solid  phosphorus  between  0*  aod 
44*** I  is  found  (o  be  0*000372,  whilst  for  liquid  phosphonu 
between  26**  and  50*  the  coefficient  is  0*000560.  The  expansioo 
is  regular  up  to  the  melting-point,  but  an  abrupt  change  of 
volume  then  occurs.  The  relation  between  the  volanae  of 
phosphorus  in  the  liquid  and  solid  state  is  ix>345. — Study  of  the 
chemical  neutralization  of  acids  and  bases,  by  means  of  their 
electric  conductivities,  by  M.  Daniel  Berthelot..  From  the 
investigation  it  appears  that,  when  potash  is  acted  on  by  hydro- 
chloric acid,  acetic  acid,  and  phenic  acid,  compounds  are  formed 
having  approximately  equal  electric  conductivities.  Ammonli, 
with  the  first  two  acids,  gives  similar  stable  salts,  but  with  the 
last  acid  an  unstable  compound  having  a  less  electric  condnc- 
tivity  is  produced.  Aniline  forms  with  hydrochloric  acid  a 
stable  compound  having  good  electrical  conductivity;  andvith 
acetic  acid,  an  unstable  body  whose  conductivity  is  said  to  be 
mediocre. — Action  of  phenyl  hydrazine  on  phenols,  by  M. 
Alphonse  Seyewetz. — On  the  development  of  sponges  {Sponplk 
fluviaUlis\  by  M.  Yves  Delage. — On  Isaria  densa^  Link,  a 
parasite  of  the  white  worm,  by  M.  Alfred  Giard. — ^The  ptnsite 
of  the  cockchafer,  by  M.  Le  Moult. — Action  of  poisons  00  the 
germination  of  the  seeds  of  the  plants  which  furnish  them,  bj 
M.  Ch.  Cornevin. — On  the  resistance  of  the  rabic  virus  to  the 
action  of  prolonged  cold,  by  M.  Jobert.— ChromoscopicsDiljsis 
of  white  light,  by  M.  A.  Charpentier. 

Erratum.— OvL  line  ^fi^  p.  336,  instead  of  0*1050  and4^72C> 
read  1*1050  and  0*9720. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Elementary  Science  Lessons,  Standard  IIL  :  W.  Hewitt  (Longnaos).- 
Elementarv  Geometry  of  Conies.  7ih  edition:  Dr.  C  Taylor  (BellX -In- 
structions M^ttforologiques,  ^me  Edition  :  A.  Angot  (Paris.  Gauihier-Vilhnl 
—Bush  Friends  in  Tumania  :  L.  A.  Meiedith  (Macmillan).— Illnstimt»e« 
of  the  CG.S.  System  of  Units:  J.  D.  Evrrett  (Macmillan).— Elemcnis of 
the  Differential  and  Integral  Calculus :  A.  Hamack  :  translation  (WtflEaas 
and  Norgate).  -  Denmanc  :  its  Medical  Organization,  Hygiene,  and  p^ 
mogmphy  (Churchill). — Statistical  Investigations  concerning  the  Irabedks 
in  Denmark,  1888-18^9  (Churchill). 


CONTENTS. 


PAGI 


fi 


The  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demo- 
graphy  

A  Life  of  Darwin.     By  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.  .  . 
Pines   and  Firs    of  Japan.     By    Dr.    Maxwell   T. 

Masters,  F.R.S 

Elementary  Hydrostatics.      By  Prof.  A.  G.  Green- 
Hill,  F.R.S 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Todhunter :    **  Plane   Trigonometry  for   the  Use  of 

Colleges  and  Schools  "     .    . 
Young  :  **  Lessens  in  Astronomy 
McLennan  :  **Cosmical  Evolution  :  a  New  Theory  of 

the  Mechanism  of  Nature  " 

Williams:  "  The  Telescope :  an  Introduction  to  the 

Study  of  the  Heavens  " 

Letters  to  the  Editor  :— 

Silver  Lodes  and  Salt  Lakes. — George  Sutherland 
A  Magnificent  Meteor. — Donald  Cameron    .... 

Bees  and  Honjy-dew.— F.  M.  Burton 

Dredging  Products.— Alcxr.  Meek 

The  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demo- 
graphy        

Programme  of  Technological  Examinations  .... 

Botanical  Survey  of  India 

M.  Faye's  Theory  of  Cyclones.     By  Henry  P.  Blan- 

ford,  F.R.S 

Notes 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

The  Spectrum  of  &  Lyne 

The  Polarization  Theory  of  the  Solar  Corona  .... 

Observations  of  the  Motion  of  Sirius 

Return  of  Enclte's  Comet 

On  some  Test  Cases  for  the  Max  well -Holtzmann 
Doctrine  regarding  Distribution  of  Energy.    {lUm- 

trated.)     By  Sir  William  Thomson,  P.R.S 

The  International  Geographical  Congress  at  Berne  . 

Scientific  Serials 

Societies  and  Academies 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 


337 
337 

339 


342 

34^ 

342 

342 
343 
343 
344 

34^ 

347 

34S 
350 

3SS 
355 
355 

35S 


35» 

35^ 
360 


NO.    1 137,  VOL.  44] 


NA TURE 


30^ 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST  20,  1891. 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  HYGIENE. 

THE  proceedings  of  this  Congress  were  brought  to  a 
close  on  Monday,  it  being  generally  conceded  that 
the  importance  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  and  of  the 
discussions  on  the  more  important  topics  were  on  a 
level  with  the  numbers  and  eminence  of  the  men  of 
science  taking  part  in  the  deliberations. 

So  far  ks  space  permits,  we  shall  endeavour  to  give  an 
account  of  some  of  the  most  salient  subjects  touched  in 
the  different  Sections.  To  get  a  general  idea  of  the 
enormous  area  of  the  ground  covered,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  glance  at  the  resolutions  adopted.  It  will  be  generally 
conceded  that  the  members  of  the  Congress  are  by  these 
resolutions  supplied  with  much  food  for  thought  in  the 
iDterim  which  will  elapse  till  the  next  meeting,  which 
has  been  fixed  at  Budapest  and  for  1894. 

We  note  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  Her  Majesty 
and  the  University  of  Cambridge  have  shown  their 
appreciation  of  the  honour  done  to  the  nation  by  [the 
presence  of  so  many  foreigners ;  and  that  other  bodies 
and  individuals  have  not  been  lacking  to  render  possible 
gatherings  of  a  less  severely  scientific  character  than 
the  Sectional  meetings. 

Her  Majesty's  action  in  inviting  many  of  the  most 
eminent  representatives  of  different  nationalities  to  Os- 
borne— an  action,  we  believe,  suggested  by  the  Prince  of 
Wales — has  been  so  well  received,  that  one  regrets  that 
the  nation  has  had  to  wait  so  long  for  such  a  precedent. 
We  regret  it,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  men  of  science, 
but  because  the  result  has  been  that  Royalty  here  has 
always  lived  apart  not  only  from  science  but  from  national 
culture  generally.  The  Queen,  indeed,  on  the  present 
system,  never  need  know  anything,  except  by  some  happy 
accident,  of  Britain's  greatest  men. 

The  party  which  went  to  Osborne  left  early  by  a  special 
train,  and  were  taken  over  from  Portsmouth  in  the  Queen's 
yacht  They  were  accompanied  by  Sir  D.  Galton,  Dr. 
Poore,  Prof.  Corfield,  and  Mr.  S.  Digby.  Luncheon  was 
provided  at  2,  and  Her  Majesty  later  on  received  the 
visitors,  of  whom  the  following  is  an  official  list : — 

Austria-Hungary. — Dr.  Emil  Kusy,  Ministerialrath,  Sanitats 
referent,  delegated  by  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  Hofrath  Franz 
Ritter  von  Gruber,  Professor  of  Architecture,  elegated  by 
Imperial  Council  of  Health ;  Dr.  Ernst  Hofrath  Ludwig,  Pro- 
fessor of  Applied  Chemistry  at  Pathological  Institute,  delegated 
bjr  Minister  of  Finance ;  Dr.  J.  Fodor,  Professor  of  Hygiene, 
University  of  Budapest,  delegated  by  Minister  of  Pablic 
Worship  and  Education. 

Belgium. — M.  E.  Beco,  Secretary- General  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture,  Industry,  and  Public  Works,  delegated  by 
Minister  of  Agriculture  and  Public  Works;  D.  E.  Janssens, 
Inspecteur  en  chef  de  THygieoe  k  Bruxelles,  Membre  de  la 
Commission  Centrale  de  Statistique  de  Belgiqae,  de  I'Academie 
Royale  de  M^ecine  et  da  Conseil  Snperieur  d' Hygiene. 

Denmark. — Dr.  T.  Lehmann,  Dean  of  the  Royal  Sanitary 
Council,  delegated  by  the  Danish  Government ;  Hans  V.  Berg, 
Medical  Director  of  the  Navy,  delegated  by  Danish  Naval 
Department ;  Snr.-Col.  Laub,  delegated  by  the  Danish  Army 
Department. 

Egypt. — Dr.  Hassan  Pasha  Ibrahim,  Inspector  Sanitary 
Department,  and  Prjfessor  of  Hygiene. 

France. — Dr.  Etienne  Jules  Bergeron,  Secretaire  perpetuel  de 
TAcademie  de  Melecine,  Vice-President  du  Comite  Consultatif 


NO.    1 1 38,  VOL.  44] 


d' Hygiene  Publique,  delegated  by  Ministry  of  Public  lostruction  ; 
M.  le  Dr.  Brouardel,  Doyen  de  la  Faculty  de  M^ecine 
de  Paris,  President  du  Comit^  Consultatif  d'Hygi^ne  Pub- 
lique, delegated  by  French  Government ;  M.  le  Dr.  Auguste 
Chauveau,  Membre  de  I'lnstitut,  delegated  by  the  Ministry  of 
the  Interior,  of  Public  Instruction,  and  of  Agriculture ;  M. 
le  Dr.  Beranger  F^raud,  President  du  Conseil  Superieur  de  la 
Marine,  delegated  by  the  French  Government ;  Dr.  Levraud, 
President  du  Conseil  Municipal  de  la  Ville  de  Paris,  delegate  of 
City  of  Paris  ;  M.  Roux,  Pasteur  Institute,  Paris. 

Germany. — Dr.  Biichner,  Professor  at  Munich  University, 
delegated  by  the  Bavarian  Government ;  Dr.  von  Coler,  dele- 
gated by  the  Army  Medical  Department,  Prussian  Army ;  Prof. 
Sell,  Geheimrath,  delegated  by  the  German  Empire ;  Dr. 
Pistor,  Geheim  Medicinalrath,  delegated  by  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment ;  Prof.  Dr.  W.  Roth,  President  of  German  Committee  of 
the  International  Congress,  Generalarzt  des  XII.  K.  S.  Armee 
Corps,  delegated  by  War  Ministry  of  Saxony ;  Prof,  von  Koch, 
delegate  of  Government  of  Wurtemberg. 

Italy. — Dr.  Angelo  Mosso,  Professor  at  Royal  University, 
Turin,  delegated  by  Italian  Government ;  Dr.  A.  Corradi, 
Professor  at  Royal  University,  Pavia,  delegated  by  Italian 
Government. 

Japan. — Dr.  Shimpei  Gotoh,  Official  Expert  in  Ministry  of 
Interior^  Tokio,  delegated  by  the  Government  of  Japan. 

Tfu  Netherlands. — Dr.  G.  van  Overbeek  de  Meyer,  Professor 
of  State  University,  Utrecht,  delegate  of  Government ;  Dr.  W. 
P.  Ruysch,  Conseillier  pour  le  Service  Sanitaire,  Department  de 
rinterieur,  delegated  by  Government  of  the  Netherlands. 

Roumama.^-i>T.  J.  Felix,  Professeur  Universite  de  Bucarest, 
Membre  du  Conseil  Sanitaire  Snperieure  de  Roumanie,  Membre 
en  chef  de  la  Ville  de  Bucarest,  delegated  by  Government  of 
Roumania  and  City  of  Bucharest. 

Russia. — Prof.   Constantin  Kowalkowski,   Professeur  d'Hy- 

fieneiirUniversite  Imperiale  de  Varsovie,  delegated  by  Imperial 
Jniversity,  Warsaw. 

Spain.^~Don  Juan  Vilanova  y  Piera,  President  of  Health 
Section  of  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine,  delegated  by  Spanish 
Government. 

Sweden  and  Norway. — Dr.  Linroth,  Chief  Medical  Officer, 
Stockholm,  delegated  by  Swedish  Government  and  by  City  of 
Stockholm ;  Dr.  Gotfried  E.  Bentzen,  Director  of  the  Civil 
Medical  Service,  Christiana,  delegated  by  Government  of  Sweden 
and  Norway. 

Servia. — Dr.  Georgevitch,  delegated  by  Servian  Government. 

Switzerland. — Dr.  Guillaume,  Director  of  the  Federal  Bureau 
of  Statistics,  delegate  of  the  Swiss  Government ;  Col.  Dr. 
Goldlin  de  Tiefenau,  Instructeur  en  chef  des  Troupes  Sani* 
taires  Suisses,  delegate  of  the  Swiss  Government 

United  States  of  North  America. — Major  Alfred  Woodhull, 
Medical  Department,  United  States  Army,  delegated  by  United 
States  Government  Army  Department ;  Lieut -Col.  Philip  S. 
Wales,  Medical  Director  United  States  Navy,  delegated  by 
United  States  Government  Naval  Department ;  Dr.  Salmon, 
Chief  of  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  in  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  delegated  by  Department  of 
Agriculture. 

India. — Dr.  Simpson,  Sanitary  Officer  of  Calcutta ;  Mancher- 
jee  Bhownaggree,  C.I.S.,  member  of  the  Bhavnagar  Judicial 
Council,  delegate  of  Maharajah  of  Bhavnagar ;  Dr.  Prasanna 
Kimar  Ray,  Professor  at  Presidency  College,  del^ated  by 
Chancellor  and  Sjmdicate  of  Calcutta  University. 

Ceylon. — Dr.  Solomon  Fernando,  delegate  of  Government  of 
Ceylon,  and  of  Medical  College. 

Canada. — Dr.  Covemton,  delegated  by  Ontario,  Canada. 

New  South  Wales. — Dr.  J.  Ashburton  Thompson,  delegated 
by  Government  of  New  South  Wales. 

Victoria, — Dr.  Aubrey  Bowen,  delegated  by  Government  of 
Victoria. 

The  visit  to  Cambridge  took  place  on  Saturday.  The 
University  authorities  did  all  in  their  power  to  make  it 
an  agreeable  one.  Not  only  did  hospitality  abound,  but 
even  in  the  Long  Vacation  degrees  were  conferred  (this, 
unfortunately,  is  impossible  at  Oxford)  on  Drs.  Brouardel^ 
Corradi,  and  Fodor. 

The  speeches  made  by  the  Public  Orator  were  as 
follows : — 

R 


362 


MA TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


DiGNissiME  domine,  domine  Procanceliarie,  et  tota 
Academia : — 

Nescio  quopotissimum  exordio  hospites  nostros,  qui  de 
salute  publica  nuper  deliberaverunt,  senatus  nomine 
salutare  debeam.  Ad  ipsos  con  versus,  illud  unum 
dixerim  : — qui  aliorum  saluti  tarn  praeclare  consuluistis, 
vosmetrpsos  omnes  iubemus  salvare.  Ea  vero  studia, 
quae  vobis  cordi  sunt,  gloriamur  in  Britannia  certe 
Academiam-  nostram  primam  omnium  adtUvisse.  In 
salutis  publicae  ministris  nominandis  valent  plurimum 
diplomata  nostra,  valent  etiam  aliarum  Academiarum, 
quae,  exemplo  nostro  incitatae,  laudis  cursum  eundem  sunt 
ingressae.  Hodie  vero  colleganim  vestrorum  nonnullos, 
qui  gentium  exterarum  inter  lumina  numerantur,  diplo- 
mate  nostro  honorifico  decorare  volumus.  Nemini  autem 
roirum  sit,  quod  viros  medicinae  in  scientia  illustres  iuris 
potissimum  doctores  hodie  nominamus.  Etenim  Tullium 
ipsum  in  libris  quos  de  Legibus  composuit,  scripsisse 
I'ecordamini  populi  salutem  siipremam  esse  legem. 

(i)  Primum  omnium  vobis  praesento  gentis  vicinae, 
gentis  nobiscum  libertatis  bene  temperatae  amore  con- 
iunctaecivemegregium,Parisiorum  in  Academia  medicinae 
forensis  professorem  praeclarum,  facultatis  medicae  de- 
canum  dignissimum,  salutis  denique  publicae  annalium 
editorem  indefessum.  Olim  Caesar  omnes  medicinam 
Romae  profes3os  civitate  donavit ;  nos  non  omnes  certe, 
sed,  habito  delectu  aliquo,  unum  e  reipublicae  Gallicae 
medicis  illustrissimis,  qui  admirabilem  in  niodum  medi- 
cinae et  iuris  studia  consociavit,  corona  nostra  ob  cives 
etiam  in  pace  servatos  libenter  coronamus. 

Duco  ad  vos  Paulum  Camillum  Hippolytum 
Brouardel. 

(2)  Qyo  raaiore  dolore  Austriaeet  Germaniae  legatos  illus- 
tres absentesdesideramus,  eomaioregaudio  Italiae  legatum 
insignem  praesentem  salutamus.  Salutamus  Academiae 
Bononiensis,  nobiscum  vetere  hospitii  iure  coniunctae, 
alumnum,  tribus  deinceps  in  Academiis,  primum  Mutinae, 
deinde  Panormi,  denique  Ticini  in^'ripa  professorem,  qui 
medicinae  scientiam  cum  rerum  antiquitus  gestarum 
studiis  feliciler  consociavit,  quique  in  Italiae  scriptoribus 
eximiis,  non  modo  in  Boccaccio  sed  etiam  in  Torquato 
Tasso,  artis  suae  argumenta  non  indigna  invenit.  Quon- 
dam imperator  quidam  Romanus  Roma  in  ipsa  augurium 
salutis  per  annos  complures  omissum  repeti  ac  deinde 
continuari  iussit.  Quod  autem  salutis  publicae  concilio 
Londinensi  etiam  Italia  interfuit,  velut  augurii  felicis 
omen  accipimus.  Recordamur  denique  poetam  antiquum 
urbis  aeternae  de  nomine  his  fere  verbis  non  inept e  esse 
gloriatum  : — 

Roma  ante  Romulum  fait  ; 
non  iile  nomen  indidit, 
*'sed  diva  flava  et  Candida, 
Roma,  Aesciilapi  filia."  ^ 

Duco  ad  vos  Aesculapi  ministrum  fidelissimum, 
Alphonsum  Corradi. 

(3)  Quis  nescit  urbem  florentissimam  quod  Hungariae 
caput  est,  nomine  bilingui  nuncupatam,  fluminis  Danubii 
in  utraque  ripa  esse  positam.  Quis  non  inde  nobis  feliciter 
advectum  esse  gaudet  salutis  publicae  professorem  in- 
signem, virum  tituHs  plurimis  cumulatum,  qui  etiam  de 
Angliae  salubritate  opus  egregium  conscripsit.  Idem, 
velut  alter  Hippocrates,  de  aere,  aquis  et  locis  praeclare 
disseruit.  Olim  Hippocrates  ipse  corona  aurea  Athenien- 
sium  in  theatro  donatus  est :  nos  Hippocratis  aemulum 
illustrem  laurea  nostra  qualicunque  in  hoc  templo  honoris 
libenter  omamus. 

Duco    ad    vos    bacteriologiae    cultorem    acerrimum, 

lOSEPHUM    DE   FODOR. 

The  final  general  meeting  of  the  Congress  was  held  on 
Monday,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir  Douglas  Galton. 

'  Mariani  Luptrtalia^  p.  3P4  of  Baehrens,  Frag.  poet.  Rom. 
NO.    I  138,  VOL.  44] 


There  was  a  large  attendance,  and  among  those  present 
were  nearly  all  the  foreign  delegates. 

The  Chainntn,  in  opening  the  proceedings,  after  some  pre- 
Uminary  remarks,  said : — The  success  of  the  Congress,  as  an  inter- 
national  gathering,    is  due   to  the  fact  that  we   as    a   nation 
have  many  matters  of  interest  to  show  to  foreigners.     I  think  I 
may  say  tbat  the  chief  difference  between  our  hygienic  pragres 
and  that  of  our  Continental  neighbours  is  that*  whilst  they  aie 
especially  fortunate  in  being  able  to  pursue  the  theories  apon 
which  much  of  modem  hygienic  progress  is  based,  with  as  public 
opinion  has  hindered  the  study  of  many  physiological  Questions,  the 
solution  of  which  depends  upon  the  examination  of  living  tissue. 
Hence,  we  at  present  are  in  this  respect  somewhat  behind  the 
Continental  sdiools,  and  we  largely  turn  oar  attention  to  apply 
their  theories  to  alleviate  the  wants  of  life.     Hence  we  can  sIk>w 
much  of  interest  in  practical  hygiene  in  matters  both  of  constmc- 
tion  and  administration.     Our  methods  of  water  supply  and 
drainage,  our  various  pjans  for  refuse  disposal  or  utilization,  our 
isolation  hospitals  and  ambulance  systems  present  many  inter 
esting  features.      The    arrangements    which  are  being  made 
to  introduce  sanitary  knowledge   and  efficiency  of  workman- 
ship in  trades  (such  as  the  plumbery,  upon  whom  the  prac> 
tical    sanitation     of    parts     of   our    houses   largely    depends, 
are    deserving   of   consideration  ;    and    the    health    adminis- 
trations   of    the    large    cities    of   Glasgow    and    Manchester 
is  especially  worthy  of  the  study  of  our  visitors.     The  oiigaaiza- 
tion   of  this  Congress  has  differed  from  that  of  former  Con- 
gresses in  the  increased  number  of  Secdons  into  which   it  was 
divided.     In  proportion  as  the  study  of  hygiene  and  demography 
becomes  more  elaborate,  the  classification  must  necessarily  be 
more  detailed,  and  the  number  of  Sections  must  either  gradoallf 
increase  or  the  Sections  must  subdivide.     Independently  of  the 
increased  number  of  Sections,  it  was  found  necessary  to  give  two 
afternoons  to  the  discussion  of  questions  connected  with  the 
sanitation  of  our  Indian  Empire,  which,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  these  Congresse*;,  was  repre«enied   by  a  large  number 
of  delegates.     The    native    Princes    of     India   evinced    deep 
sympathy  with  the  Congress,  and  I  trust  that  the  interest  which 
has  been  evoked  in  its  object  may  lead  to  beneficial  results  in 
that  great  country.     .     .     .     A  principal  object  of  the  Congfea 
is,  without  doubt,  to  afford  to  scientific  men  in  different  countries 
the  opportunity  of  conferring  together.     But  it  has  another  and 
most  important  object — viz.  to  excite  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity at  large  in  the  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  health.      Your 
President  the  other  day  asked  the  pertinent  question — Why,  if 
diseases    are    preventable,    are    they    not    prevented?       The 
answer     to     that     question     is    that,    whilst    an     instructed 
minority  may  understand  the  importance  of  observing  hygienic 
laws,   a  very  large   section  of   the    community  is  careless  of 
and    indiffierent    to  their  observance,   and    consequently    the 
portions  of  those  laws  which  are  individual  and   personal  in 
their  application  are  left  a  dead  letter.     Acts  of  Parliament  axe 
of  little  avail  so  long;  as  the  people  they  are  framed  to  guide  do 
not  realize  their  value  or  importance,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that 
the  only  way  to  stamp  out  preventable  disease  is  to    edocite 
every  member  of  the  community  to  feel  the  importance  of  the 
laws  of  health.     A  great  international  Congress  like  this  brings 
the  subject  prominently  before  the  public  and  has  a  valuable 
influence  on  the  country  in  which  it  is  held.     I  have  already 
detained  you  too  long.     But  I  mast  add,  as  chairman  of  thie 
organizing  committee,  that  we  have  endeavoured  to  make  the 
Congress  useful  and  agreeable  to  those  who  have   honoured  us 
with  their  presence.     The  success  which  we  have  had  is  mainly 
due  to  our  secretary-general  ( Dr.  Poore),  our  foreign   secretary 
(Dr.  Corfield),  and,  as  far  as  India  is  concerneH,  to  the  energr 
of  Mr.   Digby.     The  excellence  of  the  social  arrangements  is 
entirely  due  to  the  organizing  power  and  tact  of  the  secretary  of 
the  reception  committee,  Mr.  Malcolm  Morris.     But  you  will 
have  an  opportunity  of  thanking  the  executive  before  the  end  of 
this  meeting.     If  there  have  been  shortcomings,  the  organizii^ 
committee  much  regret  them.     The  only  apology  we  can  ofe 
is  that  a  voluntary  organization  suddenly  created  to  fulfil  the 
requirements  of  the  moment  may  have  been  somewhat  strained 
at  first  by  the  number  who  appeared  on  Monday  morning — « 
number  far  in  excess  of  that  which  former  experience  led  us  to  J 
anticipate,  and  I  would  say  in  conclusion,  in  the  words  of  our 
poet  Prior — 

"  Be  10  our  virtues  very  kind. 
Be  to  our  faults  a  little  blind." 


AuousT  20,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


303 


The  meeting  next  discussed  the  place  of  the  next  Congress  ; 
we  have  already  stated  that  Budapest  was  fixed  upon. 

Vote^  of  thanks  completed  the  business      Among  these,  Dr. 
Sell  (Germwy)  m'>ved  the  following  resolution : — 

*'  That  His  Royal  Hi|;hness  the  President  be  respectfully  re- 
quested to  convey  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  the  dutiful  thanks 
0/  this  Congress  for  Her  Majesty's  gracious  act  in  becoming 
Patron  of  the  Congress,  and  for  tl^  magnificent  hospitality 
shown  by  Her  Majesty  to  members  of  the  Congress  during  their 
sojonrn  in  England." 
Prof.  Ku<«y  (Austria)  seconded  the  resolution. 
Colonel  Woodhall  (United  States)  said  that  all  members  of 
the  Congress  must  desire  to  express  their  gratitude  for  the  way 
in  which  they  had  been  received  by  that  gracious  lady  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen,  whose  purity  and  dignity  of  life  had  enabled 
her  to  extend  her  empire  of  love  and  respect  over  even  American 
ciiiiens. 
The  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to. 
His    Excellency  M.   Gennadius,   the    Minister  for  Greece, 
moved  the  following  resolution  : — "  That  the  best  thanks  of  the 
Congress  be  dutifully  tendered  to  His  Royal   Highness,  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  the  President  of  the  Congress,  for  the  untiring 
interest  which  His  Royal  Highness  has  manifested  in  the  Con- 
gress, and  to  which  the  success  of  the  Congress  is  to  be  largely 
attributed.'' 

Finally,  the  Chairman  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  officers 
of  the  Association,  whose  unsparing  work  and  indefatigable  ener^gy 
had  so  lai^gely  conduced  to  the  success  of  the  undertaking.  He 
coapled  with  the  vote  the  names  of  Dr.  G.  V.  Poore,  the  hon. 
secretary-general.  Prof.  W.  H.  Corfield,  the  hon.  foreign  secre- 
tary, and  Mr.  Malcolm  Morris,  the  hon.  secretary  of  the  reception 
committee. 
The  vote  was  warmly  received,  and  was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  Permanent  International  Committee  have  ap- 
pointed the  following  International  Sub-Committee  to 
prepare  a  scheme  for  the  organization  of  future  Con- 
gresses. The  Sub-Committee  consists  of  Prof.  Dr. 
Brouardel,  Hon.  LL.D.  Cantab.  (France),  Prof.  Dr. 
Fodor,  Hon.  LL.D.  Cantab.  (Hungary),  and  Prof.  Cor- 
Aeld  (Engiand)^  to  represent  Hygiene ;  and  M.  Korosi 
(Hungary)  and  Dr.  Janssens  (Belgium)  to  represent 
Demography. 

It  is  understood  that  the  Sub-Committee  will  consider 
the  advisability  of  forming  Permanent  Committees  in 
various  country,  the  plan  of  having  Committees  outside 
the  country  in  which  the  Congress  is  held  having  proved 
so  successful  in  obtaining  Foreign  Members  for  the 
London  Congress,  at  which  it  was  adopted  for  the  first 
time. 

This  week  we  give  an  account  of  the  work  done  in  the 
Section  of  Preventive  Medicine. 

In  this  Section  the  President,  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer 
K.CS.I ,  F.R.S.,  commenced  the  proceedings  by  de- 
livering the  following  inaugural  address: — 

« 

My  first  duty  on  occupying  this  seat  is  to  make  fitting 
icknowledgment  of  the  honour  which  has  been  conferred  on  me, 
ind  to  assure  those  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  it  that,  as  I  ap- 
jwvdate  the  distinction  highly,  so,  with  the  aid  of  my  colleagues 
n  this  Section,  and  the  support  of  the  many  eminent  men  of 
cience  who  will  take  part  in  its  work,  I  hope  to  discharge 
aithfully  the  important  trust  reposeil  in  me.  My  next  and 
aost  agreeable  duty  is  to  offer  to  all  who  honour  us  with  their 
iresence,  or  who  propose  by  co-operation  to  forward  the  ob- 
sets  of  the  Congress,  a  most  hearty  welcome  and  cordial  re- 
ognition  of  the  interest  in  it  manifested  by  their  presence  ;  to 

3>ress  a  hope  that  the  deliberations  and  conclusions  whidi  re- 
t  fironi  their  wisdom  and  experience  may  advance  our  know- 
idge,  and  tend  to  enhance  the  welfare  of  the  human  race.  This 
ope  is  based  upon  the  universal  recognition  of  the  need  of,  and 
ipactty  ioTf  improvement  in  the  conditions  upon  which  physical 
ell-being,  inmnunity  from  disease,  and  prolongation  of  life 
epend  ;    and  this   is  evinced  by  the  assembling   together  in 

NO-    1138,  VOL.  44] 


this  Congress  of  men  of  science  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  who 
have  devoted  themselves  to  the  great  international,  humani- 
tarian purpose  of  ameliorating  the  conditions  of  mankind  every- 
where,  so  far  at  least  as  the  application  of  the  laws  of  health, 
and  to  some  extent  those  of  sociology,  can  affect  this  consumma- 
tion. To  all,  then,  we  in  this  great  city,  who  are  interested  in 
the  progress  of  hygiene  and  demography,  offer  our  cordial  greet- 
ing, and  express  an  earnest  desire  that  our  visitors  may  derive 
pleasure  and  benefit  from  their  sojourn  in  London,  and  from  the 
proceedings  of  the  great  assembly  of  which  they  form  so  im- 
portant a  part. 

Before  I  invite  Dr.  Cuningham  to  open  the  first  subject  for 
discussion,  it  is  right  that  I  should  make  a  few  preliminary 
remarks  on  the  general  scope  and  objects  of  the  work 
comprised  in  this  section.  I  do  not  intend  to  occupy  much 
of  the  short  and  valuable  time  at  our  disposal  by  discussing 
any  special  subject,  or  by  anticipating  that  which  those  who 
follow  me  may  have  to  say,  but  shall  confine  myself  to  a  brief 
notice  of  the  present  aspects  of  preventive  medicine,  its  recent 
development,  how  much  it  has  operated  and  is  now  operating  for 
the  public  good,  how  slowly  but  surely  it  is  dispelling  the  cloud 
of  ignorance  and  prejudice  which  has  overshadowed  and  im- 
peded the  progress  of  sanitation,  and  how  it  is  gradually  imbuing 
the  public  mind  with  the  conviction  thit  prevention  is  better  and 
often  easier  than  cure,  that  health  may  be  preserved,  disease 
avoided,  and  life  prolonged  by  the  study  and  observance  of  cer- 
tain well-known  laws,  which,  correlating  the  individual  with  his 
surroundings,  determine  his  well-being  when  conformed  to, 
deteriorate  or  prevent  it  when  neglected,  and  should  en- 
force the  maxim,  "Venienti  occurite  morbo."  Unprece- 
dented progress  in  human  knowledge  characterizes  the 
present  century,  and  has  not  been  wanting  in  preventive 
medicine.  It  is,  however,  during  the  last  half  of  it  that  advance 
has  been  most  re  narkable,  whilst  it  is  in  a  later  part  of  that 
period,  that  it  has  so  established  itself  in  the  popular  mind  as  to 
have  passed  from  the  region  of  doubt  and  speculation  into  that 
of  certainty.  It  is  now  pretty  generally  understood  that  about 
one-fourth  of  all  the  mortality  in  England  is  caused  by  prevent- 
able disease,  that  the  death-rate  of  large  communities  may  be 
reduced  much  below  that  at  which  it  has  been  wont  to  stand, 
the  average  duration  of  life  may  be  made  to  approximate  nearer 
to  the  allotted  fourscore,  and  that  the  conditions  of  living  may 
be  greatly  ameliorated.  The  chief  obstacles  to  improvement 
have  been  ignorance  and  want  of  belief;  a  better  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  life  and  health,  a  more  rational  comprehension 
of  the  nature  and  causes  of  disease,  are  gradually  but  surely 
entailing  improvement  in  the  conditions  of  living  and  in 
the  value  of  life,  and  the  diminution  and  mitigation,  if  not 
extinction,  of  morbid  conditions  which  have  in  past  times  proved 
so  injurious  or  destructive  to  life.     In  short,  as  Dante  says  : 

"  Se'  1  mondo  lageiu  ponesse  mente 
At  fonddi-nento  che  natura  pon«, 
Seguendo  lui  avria  buoaa  la  gente." 

"  Paradiso,'*  vili.,  143. 

Such  are  the  subjects  contemplated  in  the  work  of  this  Section, 
and  as  far  as  time  permits  the  most  interesting  of  them  will  be 
discussed.  Those  selected  are  of  great  importance  in  their 
relations  to  public  health ;  let  us  hope  that  observers  who  have 
formed  their  opinions  from  experience  in  other  countries  and 
under  different  circumstances  may  throw  new  light  on  them. 

In  the  brief  space  of  time  at  my  disposal  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  give  a  continuous  outline  of  the  progress  of 
preventive  medicine  during  the  past,  or  to  trace  its  growth 
and  development  out  of  ignorance  and  superstition  to  its 
present  well-established  foundation  on  a  scientific  basis.  It 
is  of  happy  augury  for  mankind  that  the  subject  of  public 
health  is  now  fairly  grasped  by  popular  sentiment,  and 
that,  though  ignorance,  opposition,  and  vested  interests 
still  conte>t  the  ground,  progress  is  sure,  and  the  light  of 
science  is  illuminating  the  dark  places.  It  is  now  better  appre- 
ciated than  it  ever  has  been,  that  the  causes  which  induce  disease 
and  shorten  life  are  greatly  under  our  own  control,  and  that  we 
have  it  in  our  power  to  restrain  and  diminish  them,  and  to 
remove  that  which  has  been  called  '*  the  self-imposed  curse  of 
dying  before  the  prime  of  life."  It  is,  indeed,  only  recently 
that  the  resources  of  medical  science  have  been  specially  devoted 
to  the  prevention  as  distinguished  from  the  cure  of  disease,  and 
how  far  successfully  I  hope  in  a  few  words  to  show,  whilst  I 
trust  the  proceedings  of  the  various  Sections  of  this  Congress 


364 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


will  indicate  how  much  remains  to  be  done.  Did  time  permit, 
I  might  illustrate  the  progress  of  preventive  medicine  by  con- 
trasting the  state  of  England  with  its  population  of  more  than 
29,000,000  during  the  Victorian  with  the  England  of  the 
Elizabethan  age  with  its  4,000,000.  I  might  remind  you  of  the 
frightful  epidemics  which  had  devastated  the  land,  in  the  forms 
of  black  death,  sweating  sickness,  plague,  petechial  typhus, 
eruptive  fevers,  small-pox,  influenza,  and  other  diseases,  such 
as  leprosy,  scurvy,  malarial  fever,  dysentery,  &c.,  of  the 
wretched  mode  of  living,  bad  and  insufficient  food,  filthy 
dwellings,  and  ill- built  towns  and  villages,  with  a  country  un- 
cultivated and  covered  with  marshes  and  stagnant  water  (ac- 
cording to  Defoe,  one-fifteenth  part  of  England  consisted  of 
standing  lakes,  stagnant  water,  and  moist  places,  the  land  unre- 
d'aimed,  and  with  the  chill  damp  of  marsh  fever  pervading  all). 
7*be  homes  of  the  people  were  wooden  or  mud  houses,  small 
and  dirty,  without  drainage  or  ventilation,  the  floors  of  earth 
covered  with  straw  or  rushes,  which  remained  saturated  with 
filth  and  emitting  noxious  miasmata.  The  streets  were  narrow 
and  unpaved,  with  no  drains  but  stagnant  gutters  and  open  cess- 
pools, while  the  food  was  principally  salted  meat  with  little  or 
no  vegetable.  To  this  may  be  added  a  large  amount  of  intem- 
perance and  debauchery.  As  it  is,  I  can  only  just  allude  to 
them.  In  such  conditions  disease  found  a  congenial  nidus,  and 
by  a  process  of  evolution  assumed  the  various  epidemic  forms 
which  proved  so  destructive  to  life.  Some  of  these  have  gone, 
let  us  hope  never  to  return,  and  the  conditions  which  fostered  if 
they  did  not  cause  them  have  gone  also.  Can  we  venture  to 
hope  that  it  will  be  the  same  with  those  that  remain  ?  Our  im- 
munity during  the  last  diffusion  of  cholera  gives  some  ground  for 
thinking  it  may  be  so,  if,  indeed,  the  Legislature  and  popular 
intelligence  should  be  of  accord  on  the  subject 

Ifweturnto  the  present,  we  find  that  great  improvements 
have  gradually  been  made  in  the  mode  of  living  ;  the  houses  are 
better  constructed,  the  drainage  and  ventilation  are  more  com- 
plete, the  land  is  better  cultivated,  and  the  subsoil  better 
drained ;  marsh  fever  and  dysentery,  at  one  period  so  rife,  are 
unknown,  and  leprosy  hns  long  since  disappeared.  The  death- 
rate  is  considerably  reduced,  and  the  expectancy  of  life  enhanced. 
Water  is  purer,  food  is  more  varied  and  nutritious,  clothing  is 
better  adapted  to  the  climate,  the  noxious  character  of  many 
occupations  has  been  mitigated,  and  the  mental,  moral,  and 
physical  aspects  of  the  people  altogether  improved  ;  education  is 
general,  a  better  form  of  government  prevails,  and  the  social 
conditions  are  far  in  advance  of  what  they  have  been  ;  but  still 
the  state  of  our  cities  shows  that  improvement  is  demanded, 
and  one  object  of  this  Congress  is  to  point  out  why  and  how 
this  may  be  effected,  not  only  in  this  country  but  throughout  the 
world. 

If  we  inquh-e  into  the  effects  of  certain  well-known  diseases, 
we  find  that  they  are  less  severe  in  their  incidence,  if  not  less 
frequent  in  their  recurrence.     With  r^ard  to  small-pox,  since 
the  passing  of  the  first  Vaccination  Act  in  1840,    the  death- 
rate  has  diminished  from  57*2  to  6*5  per  100,000  for  1880-84, 
though  for  the  five  years  1870-74  it  was  427,  thus  showing  that 
there  was  still  much  to  be  learnt  about  vaccination.     Enteric 
fever  was  not  separated  from  typhus  fever  before  1869,  but  since 
then  the  death-rate  has  decreased  from  0*39  to  0*17  per  1000, 
and   it  has  been   shown  that  this  improvement   was  synchro- 
nous in  different  parts  of  England  with  the  construction  of  proper 
drains.     The  diminution  in  the  death-rate  from  typhus  fever  is 
quite  as  striking,  and  this  also  is  shown  to  have  run  parallel  with 
improved  sanitation  in  more  than  one  large  town.     The  death- 
rate  from  scarlatina  fluctuated   between  97  and  72  per  100,000 
between    the    years    185 1    and     1880,     and     though     it    has 
diminished    considerably    of   late    years   (17    per   100,000  in 
1886),    a    corresponding     increase     in     the    death-rate    from 
diphtheria   has   taken   place ;   this   may   be   due   in    part    to 
a    better    differentiation    of    the    two    diseases.       In     1858 
it  was  reported  that  phthisis  killed  annually  more  than  50,000 
people  ;  the  death-rate  from  this  disease  has  not  decreased  very 
much  for  England  and  Wales,  but  it  has  done  so  in  some  large 
towns,  notably  in  Liverpool ;  and  Dr.  Buchanan  and  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch   of   Massachusetts   both    showed  a  striking  parallelism 
between  the  diminution  of  the  death-rate  from  this  cause  and 
the  drying  of  the  soil  resulting  from  the  construction  of  sewerage 
works.     Cholera  first  appeared  in  England  in  183 1,  and  there 
were  epidemics  of  it  in  1848-49,  1853-54,  and  1865-66,  but  the 
number  of  deaths  diminished  each  time  it  appeared,  and  though 
it  has  been  present  since,  it  has  never  reached  the  height  of  an 

NO.    I  138,  VOL.  44] 


epidemic.     This  is  fairly  attributable  to  local  sanitary  rather 
than  to  coercive  measures.     Preventable  disei^e  still  kills  yearly 
about  125,000,  and,  considering  the  large  number  of  cases  for 
every  death,  it  has  been  calculated  that  78^  millions  of  days  of 
labour  are  lost  annually,  which  means  ;^7>  750,000  per  annum  ; 
this  does  not  include  the  days  lost  by  the  exhaustion  so  often 
induced  by  the  still  too  numerous  unhealthy  houses  of  the  poor. 
Towns,  villages,  and  houses  are  still  built  in  an  insanitary  way ; 
the  death-rate  is  still  higher  and  the  expectancy  of  life  lower 
than  it  should  be,  and  though  we  have  got  rid  of  the  terrible 
plagues  of  the  middle  ages,  yet  in  this  century,  now  closing. 
other  epidemics  have  made  their  appearance :  cholera  has  four 
times   visited  us  ;    fevers,    eruptive  disease,    and    diphtheria 
have  prevailed ;   influenza  has   appeared   several  times,  even 
recently,  and  after  leaving  us  last  year,  only  to  return  with 
renewed  virulence,  caused  in    the   United   States  a    mortality 
almost  equa  to  that  of  the    plague.     Much   has  been  done, 
and  a  great  deal  of  it  in  what  is  called  the  pre-sanitarj  age^ 
but   much   remains   to    be  effected.      Let  us  hope   that   the 
future  may  be  more  prolific   of  improvement   than  the  past ; 
international  philanthropy  seems  to  say  it  shall  be  so.      That 
we  can   exterminate  zymotic   disease  altogether  is  nQ|t  to  be 
expected,  but  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  we  may  diminish  its 
incidence,  and  though  we  may  never  be  able  to  reach  the  •*  foo* 
et  origo  mali,"  yet  we  can  make  the  soil  upon  which  its  seed  i< 
sown  so  inhospitable  as  to  render  it  sterile.   The  scope  and  objects 
of  preventive  medicine  are  not  limited  to  the  removing  of  condi- 
tions which  give  rise  to  zymotic  disease,  nor  even  of  those  which 
compromise  otherwise  the  physical  welfare  of  mankind,  bat  should 
extend  as  well  to  a  consideration  of  the  best  means  of  contxolUiig 
or  obviating   those  which,  attending   the   strain   and  stmgg^ 
for   existence,    involve    over-competition    in    various    occupa* 
tions,  whether  political,  professional,  or  mercantile,  by   whidi 
wealth  or  fame  is  acquired  or  even  a  bare  livelihood  is  obtained, 
and  under  the  pressure  of  which  so  many  succumb,  if  not  from 
complete  mental  alienation,  from  breakdown  and  exhaustion  of 
the  nervous  system,  which  give  rise  to  many  forms  of  neurotic 
disease  and  add  largely  to  the  numbers  of  those  laid  aside  and 
rendered  unfitted  to  take  their  due  share  in  the  natural  and  in- 
qvitable    struggle    for    existence.     Or    I    might  point    to  the 
recrudescence  of    those  psychical   phenomena  manifested^  by 
the  so-called  hypnotism  or  Braidism,  morbid  conditions  axisin^ 
out  of  the  influence  of  one  mind  upon  another ;  this  is  a  subject 
which  demands  not  only  further  investigation,  but  great  precaa- 
tion  as  to  its  application,  and  claims"  the  watchful  notice  of 
preventive  medicine  on  account  of  the  dangerous  consequences 
which  may  ensue  from  it. 

Again,  the  abuse  of  alcohol,  opium,  chloral,  and  other 
stimulants  and  narcotics,  and  the  evil  consequences  which  may 
result  therefrom,  is  also  a  subject  worthy  of  consideration,  and 
will,  no  doubt,  receive  it  in  a  communication  which  is  to  be 
brought  before  this -Section. 

The-  possible  deleterious  influence  of  mistaken  notions  of 
education,  as  evinced  in  the  over-pressure  which  is  exercised 
upon  the  young,  the  predominance  of  examinations,  their  in- 
creasing multiplication  and  severity,  and  the  encouragement  of 
the  idea  that  they  are  the  best  test  of  knowledge,  whilst  true 
mental  culture  is  in  danger  of  being  neglected,  and  physical 
training,  if  not  ignored,  left  so  much  to  individual  inclination — 
this  is  another  subject  which  demands  the  jealous  scmtiny  of 
preventive  medicine,  whose  duty  it  is  to  safeguard  the  homan 
race  from  all  avoidable  causes  of  either  ph3rsical  or  mental 
disease. 

Though    preventive    medicine     in    some    form    has    been 
practised  since  the  days  of  Moses,   yet  it  has  received    but 
little  recognition  until  a  comparatively  recent  period  ;    when 
science  developed  and    observation    extended,    medical    men 
and   others   became  impressed   with   the  influence  of    oeitmin 
conditions   in    producing    disease,    and    thus    it    was     forced 
upon  the  public   conscience  that   something   must  be    dooe ; 
and    when    philanthropists    like    John   Howard   devoted    life 
and  property  to  the  amelioration  of  such  awful  conditions  as 
existed — e.g,  in  our  gaols,  where  the  prisoners  not  only  died  of 
putrid  fever,  the  result  of  ochletic  causes,  but  actually  infected 
the  judges  before  whom  they  came  reeking  with  the  conts^on  €l 
the  prisons — rude  sanitary  measures  gradually  came  into  opera- 
tion and  partially  obviated  these  evil  conditions,  but  it   w^as  pos 
before  the  middle  of  this  century  that  any  scientific  progress  was 
made ;  it  was  when  Chadwick,  Parkes,  and  others  initiated  the 
work  by  which  they  have  earned  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the 


August  20.  1891] 


NA  TURE 


365 


bnmao  race  that  preventive  medicine  became  a  distinct  branch 
of  medical  science.  The  sanitary  condition  of  towns  and  com- 
munities is  not  dependent  on  the  views  or  exertions  of  indi- 
viduals alone,  for  they  are  and  have  been  for  the  last  fifty  years 
largely  cared  for  by  the  Legislature,  and  a  variety  of  Acts  have 
been  passed  which  deal  with  questions  concerning  the  public 
health ;  indeed,  were  all  the  provisions  enforced,  little  would 
remain  to  be  desired  on  the  part  of  the  executive  Government, 
but  as  many  of  them  are  permissive,  not  compulsory,  the 
benefit  is  less  complete  than  it  might  be.  The  old  difficulty 
of  prejudice  combined  with  ignorance  still  too  often  stands 
in  the  way,  and,  despite  evidence  which  on  any  other 
subject  would  be  conclusive,  the  most  obvious  sanitary  re- 
quirements are  often  ignored  or  neglected.  Many  thousands 
of  lives  have  been  sav^  by  the  Sanitary  Acts  now  in  force  ; 
bat  there  is  little  doubt  that  more  thorough  organization  under 
State  control,  as  under  a  Minister  of  Public  Health,  would 
have  most  beneficial  results,  and  would  save  a  great  many 
more.  We  must  acknowledge,  however,  that  we  are  much 
indebted  to  the  action  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  under 
whose  able  administration  the  most  crying  evils  are  gradually 
being  rectified.  Through  the  wise  precautions  enacted  by  it 
against  the  importation  and  diffusion  of  epidemic  disease,  when 
other  parts  of  Europe  were  affected  by  cholera,  this  country 
escaped,  or  so  nearly  so  as  to  suggest  that  it  was  to  sanitary 
measures  we  owed  our  immunity.  That  there  is  something  in 
the  nature  of  epidemics  which  brings  them  under  the  dominion 
of  a  common  law  as  to  their  extension  seems  certain  ;  that  there 
is  much  about  them  we  do  not  yet  grasp  is  ec^ually  true,  but  it 
is  as  surely  the  case  that  local  sanitation  is  the  preventive 
remedy  as  it  is  that  coercive  measures  to  arrest  their  progress 
are  unavailing. 

Under  the  improved  system  of  sanitary  administration  which 
now  obtains,  and  is  gradually  developing  to  a  greater  state  of 
perfection,  the  sanitary  administration  of  every  district  in  the 
country  is  intrusted  to  the  care  of  duly  qualified  heahh  officers — 
a  system  from  which  excellent  results  have  already  accrued, 
and  from  which  better  still  may  be  anticipated.  The  records  of 
the  past  fifty  years  prove  the  influence  exerted  by  sanitary  mea- 
sures on  vital  statistics.  The  first  reliable  tables  from  which  the 
expectancy  of  life  may  be  derived  show  that  in  1838  to  1854  it 
was  for  males  39 '91  years,  for  females  41  '85  years  ;  by  the  tables 
of  1871  to  1880  it  had  increased  to  41*35  for  males  and  44*66 
for  females.  It  is  shown  also  that  the  expectation  of  life  in- 
creases every  year  up  to  the  fourth  year,  and  decreases  after  that 
age.  For  males  up  to  nineteen  years  it  is  higher  by  the  last 
tables,  but  after  that  age  it  is  higher  by  the  old  table ;  for 
females  it  is  greater  by  the  new  table  up  to  forty-five,  but  after 
that  age  it  is  less.  The  improved  sanitation  saves  more 
children's  lives,  but  the  conditions  of  gaining  a  living  are  harder 
than  they  were  at  the  time  of  the  first  table,  which  accounts  for 
the  expectancy  of  life  for  adult  men  being  less.  Women  remain 
more  at  home,  where  the  better  sanitation  tells,  and  are  not 
subject  to  quite  the  same  conditions  as  men,  so  that  their 
expectancy  of  life  is  greater  than  by  the  old  tables  up  to  the  age 
of  forty-five.  A  further  proof  of  the  effects  of  sanitary  work  is 
a  decreased  death-rate.  Let  us  compare  the  death-rates  of 
England  during  past  times  with  the  present ;  whether  they  be 
equally  significant  for  other  countries  I  cannot  say,  but  these, 
at  all  events,  sufficiently  prove  the  point  in  question  : — 


1660-79 
1681-90 

1746-55 

184^55 
1866-70 


Death-rate. 

80     per  1000 
42*1 

35*5 
249 

22*4 


ft 


>» 


1870-75 
1875-80 
1880-85 
1885-88 
1889 


20  9  per  1000 
20 'o 

ig'3 
187 

17-85 


>» 
»». 


>> 


In  some  parts  of  England,  where  the  main  object  is  the  re 
covery  or  maintenance  of  health,  the  death-rate  is  down  to  9  per 
1000,  while  in  others,  where  the  main  object  is  manufacture  and 
money-making,  it  is  as  high  as  30  i>er  1000.  Nowhere,  I  think, 
have  the  beneficial  results  of  sanitary  work  been  better  illustrated 
than  in  India  during  the  past  thirty  years.  A  Royal  Commission 
was  appointed  after  the  Crimean  war  to  inquire  into  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  British  Army,  and  this  in  1859  was  extended  tq 
India.  The  European  army  was  the  special  subject  of  it,  but  the 
native  troops  were  referred  to  incidentally.  Here  the  inquiry  had 
to  deal  with  a  large  body  of  men,  concerning  whom,  their  con- 
ditions of  existence  beii^  well  known,  reliable  information  was 


NO.    1 1 38,  VOL.  44] 


accessible.  It  was  ascertained  that  up  to  that  time  the  annual 
death-rate  over  a  long  period  had  stood  at  69  per  1000.  The 
inquiry  resulted  in  certain  changes  and  improvements  in  the 
housing,  clothing,  food,  and  occupation  of  the  soldier.  Since 
those  have  been  carried  out  there  has  been  a  steady  decline  in 
the  death-rate,  and  the  annual  reports  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 
missioners to  the  Government  of  India  give  the  rates  as :  in 
1886,  15*18  per  1000;  1887,  14*20  per  1000;  1888,  14-84  per 
1000.  During  some  years  it  has  been  even  lower,  down  to 
10  per  1000,  whilst  the  general  efficiency  of  the  troops  has  in- 
creased.  Tt  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the  money  equivalent  of  this, 
but  if  we  take  the  rough  standard  which  values  each  soldier  at 
;f  100,  a  simple  calculation  will  show  how  great  is  the  gain,  and 
who  can  estimate  the  value  of  lives  saved  and  suffering  avoided  ? 
As  to  native  soldiers  with  whom  the  European  troops  may  be 
compared,  I  find  that  the  death-rate  was:  in  1886,  13*27  per 
1000;  1887,  11*68  per  1000;  1S88,  12*84  P^r  xooo.  Famine, 
cholera,  and  other  epidemic  visitations  in  some  years  disturb  the 
regularity  of  the  death-rate  ;  under  less  favourable  conditions  of 
living,  as  in  the  case  of  prisoners  in  the  gaols,  it  is  somewhat 
higher.  In  the  Indian  gaols,  for  example,  it  was  :  in  1886, 
31  85  per  1000;  1887,  34*15  per  1000;  1888,  35*57  per  1000. 

On  the  whole,  all  this  indicates  improvement,^  and  as  regards 
the  civil  population  progress  also  is  being  made  ;  but  here,  from 
so  many  disturbing  causes,  the  figures  are  neither  so  easily  ob*> 
tained  nor  so  reliable.  The  comparatively  large  mortality  is 
due  to  neglect  of  the  common  sanitary  laws  added  to  extremes 
of  climate,  which  favour  the  incidence  and  diffiision  of  epidemic 
disease,  and  intensify  it  when  it  has  once  appeared.  A  Sanitary 
Department  has  existed  in  India  since  1866,  and  every  effort  is 
made  by  Government,  at  no  small  cost,  to  give  effect  to  sanitary 
laws  ;  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  results,  so  far,  are  good, 
that  disease  generally  is  diminishing,,  and  that  life  is  of  longer 
duration.  An  important  result  of  the  observations  of  the  able 
medical  officers  of  the  Sanitary  Service  of  India  has  been  to 
show  that  cholera  is  to  be  prevented  or  diminished  by  sanitary 
proceedings  alone,  and  that  all  coercive  measures  of  quarantine  or 
forcible  isolation  are  futile  and  hurtful  Here  I  may  say  that,  large 
as  may  appear  the  death-rate  from  cholera  in  India  {ii,e.  in  1888, 
1  '99  per  1000  for  the  European  army  and  1*35  for  the  civil  popula- 
tion), it  issmall  compared  with  that  of  fevers,  which  caused  in  1889 
4*48  per  1000  in  the  European  army  and  17*09  in  the  civil  popu- 
lation ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  these  also  are 
becoming  less  fatal  under  the  influence  of  sanitary  measures.  In 
preventive  as  in  curative  medicine,  knowledge  of  causation  is 
essential.  It  is  obvious  that  any  rational  system  of  proceeding 
must  have  this  for  its  basis.  A  certain  empirical  knowledge  may 
be  useful  as  a  guide,  but  no  real  advance  can  be  expected  with- 
out the  exactitude  which  results  from  careful  scientific  observation 
and  induction  ;  the  spirit  of  experimental  research,  however,  is 
now  dominant,  and  progress  is  inevitable.  How  much  we  owe 
to  it  is  already  well  known,  whilst  under  its  guidance  the  reproach 
of  uncertainty  which  attaches  to  medicine  as  a  science  is  dis- 
appearing. Recent  advances  in  physiology,  chemistry,  histology, 
and  pharmacology,  have  done  much  to  throw  light  on  the  nature 
and  causes  of,  and  also  on  the  means  of  preventing  or  of  dealing 
with,  disease.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  the 
scientific  researches  which  have  led  to  antiseptic  methods  of 
preventing  the  morbific  action  of  micro  organic  life,  whether  the 
toxic  effects  produced  by  them,  or  those  induced  autogenetically 
in  the  individual.  Theory  has  here  been  closely  followed  by  its 
practical  application  in  prevention  and  treatment  of  disease, 
whilst  the  study  of  bacteriology,  which  is  of  such  remarkable 
pre-eminence  at  the  present  time,  is  opening  out  sources  from 
which  may  flow  results  of  incalculable  importance  in  their 
bearing  on  life  and  health.  That  the  conclusi  )ns  arrived  at  are 
always  to  be  depended  on  I  doubt,  and  it  seem;:  that  scientific 
zeal  may  perhaps  sometimes  outrun  discretion.  That  it  might 
be  wiser  to  postpone  generalization  has,  I  think,  been  more  than 
once  apparent,  whilst  the  expediency  of  further  investigation 
before  arriving  at  conclusions  which  may  subsec^uently  prove  to 
be  erroneous  should  not  be  lost  sight  of ;  but  it  has  probably 

'  "It  is  to  be  noticed  with  regret  that  during  the  last  five  years  there  has 
been  a  tendency  to  revert  to  a  higher  death-rate  and  percentage  of  sickness. 
Let  us  hope  this  will  prove  only  transitory  :  the  attention  of  sanitary  au- 
thorities both  at  home  and  in  India  is  anxiously  directed  towards  the  re- 
moval of  whntever  may  be  the  cause  of  it.  It  is  shown  both  by  the  vital 
statiiitics  and  the  history  of  the  cluef  diseases  that  there  is  in  India  an 
enormous  amount  of  preventable  sickness  and  death,"  but  "that  the  local 
insanitary  conditions  or  local  disease  causes  are  well  known  and  widespread." 
—A.  S.  C.'s  Reports  for  1889. 


366 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


ever  been  so  in  the  course  of  scientific  progress,  that  in  the 
enthusiasm  of  research,  which  is  rewarded  by  such  brilliant 
results,  early  generalization  has  too  often  been  followed  by 
disappointment,  and  it  may  be  by  temporary  discouragement  of 
hopes  which  seemed  so  promising. 

It  would  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  a  caution  recently  given  by 
the  Duke  of  Argyll,  "  that  we  should  be  awake  to  the  retarding 
effect  of  a  superstitious  dependence  on  the  authority  of  great 
men,  and  to  the  constant  liability  of  even  the  greatest  observers 
to  found  fallacious  generalizations  on  a  few  selected  facts" 
{Nineteenth  Century^  April  1 891).  Still,  it  is  in  the  region  of 
scientific  research  by  experiment  that  we  look  for  real  progress, 
and  we  can  only  deplore  the  mistaken  sentiment,  the  false  esti- 
mate, and  the  misconstruction  of  its  aspirations  and  purposes, 
which  have  placed  an  embargo  on  experiment  on  living  animals, 
rendering  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in  this  direction  well  nigh  im- 
possible, if  not  criminal ;  whilst  for  any  other  purpose,  whether 
of  food,  clothing,  ornament,  or  sport,  a  thousandfold  the  pain 
may  be  inflicted  without  question.  The  inconsistency  of  the 
sentiment  which  finds  unwarrantable  suffering  in  an  operation 
performed  on  a  rabbit,  when  the  object  is  to  preserve  human  or 
animal  life  or  prevent  fufiering,  but  which  raises  no  objection  to 
the  same  animal  being  slowly  tortured  to  death  in  a  trap,  or 
hunted  or  worried  by  a  dog,  needs  no  comment ;  whilst  the 
spirit  which  withholds  from  the  man  of  science  what  it  readily 
concedes  to  the  hunter  is,  to  say  the  least,  as  much  to  be 
reeretted  as  it  is  to  be  deprecated. 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  important  as  su-e  the  researches 
into  microbiology,  there  are  other  factors  to  reckon  with  before 
we  can  hope  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  the  ultimate  causation  of 
disease.  It  is  not  by  any  one  path,  however  cloj^ely  or  carefully 
it  may  be  followed,  that  we  shall  arrive  at  a  full  comprehension 
of  all  that  is  concerned  in  its  etiology  and  prevention,  for  there 
are  many  conditions,  dynamical  and  material,  around  and  within 
us  which  have  to  be  considered  in  their  mutual  relations  and 
bearings  before  we  can  hope  to  do  so  ;  still,  I  believe  we  may 
feel  satisfied  that  the  causes  of  disease  are  now  being  more 
thoroughly  sought  out  than  they  ever  have  been — all  honour  to 
those  who  are  prosecuting  the  research  so  vigorously — and  that 
though  individual  predilection  may  seem  sometimes  to  dwell  too 
exclusively  on  specific  objects,  yet  the  tendency  is  to  investigate 
everything  that  bears  upon  the  subject,  and  to  emphasize  all 
that  is  implied  in  the  aphorism,  ScUus  populiy  suprema  lex. 

The  morning  sitting  of  the  Section  and  most  of  the  afternoon 
sitting  was  devoted  to  papers  and  a  discussion  on  *'  The  Mode  of 
preventing  the  Spread  oi  Epidemic  Disease  from  one  Country  to 
another." 

The  chair  was  occupied  successively  by  the  President,  Pro- 
fesseur  Brouardel  of  Paris,  and  Prof,  da  Silva  Amado  of  Lisbon. 

Surgeon-General  Cuningham,   of  London,   cpened  the  dis- 
cussion, and  said  the  u^odes  of  prevention  of  spread  of  disease 
from  one  country  to  another  were  three  in  number,  (i)  quaran- 
tine, (2)  medical  inspection,  (3)  sanitary  improvements.     In  his 
remarks  he  dealt  chiefly  with  cholera,  and  he  held  that  the  chief 
factor  of  cholera,  being  carried  by  atmospheric  currents,  cannot 
be  excluded  from  any  country,  and  where  it  has  been  distributed 
over  any  area  it  excites  the  disease  directly  in  many  persons 
who  are  predisposed  to  it,  and  forms  foci  of  it  whenever  it  finds 
localities    suitable    for  its    increase ;     these    are    often    very 
limited  in  extent,    not  embracing  more  than  a    single  house, 
or  even  a   portion   of  a  house,  or  ship  ;  the  mortality  among 
the    steerage    passengers    in    the    latter   is  often   very  grtfat^ 
while   the  cabin   passengers  and   all  the  crew   have    scarcely 
a  case.      Such    foci    are    always    badly  ventilated,    and    the 
emanations  arising    in    them    acquire    much   greater   density 
than  in  the  open  air;    as  a   natural   consequence  the  cloth- 
ing of  those  who  reside  in  them  absorbs  an  amount   of  the 
emanation  sufficient  to  produce  cholera  in  susceptible  persons 
outside  until  it   has   1  een    dissipated  by  exposure ;    those  so 
affected,  however,  and  the  others  who  have  contracted  the  com- 
plaint apart  from  such  foci,  do  not   seem   to   have  any  such 
influence,   it  being  not  the  body  but  the  emanations  from  the 
locality  which  generate  the  disease.     Cholera,  therefore,  cannot 
be  excluded  f'om  any  country  by  general  quarantine.      All  that 
can  be  done  is  by  hygienic  measures  to  improve  the  health  of 
the  population,  and   10  remove  the  conditions  which  favour  the 
formation  of  foci.     The  placing  ships  which  arrive  with  cholera 
on  board  under  observation,  removing  their  crews  and  passen- 
gers to  suitable  localities  on  shore  until  the  disease  ceases  among 


them,  are  very  proper  precautions,  and  may  prevent  a  small 
amount  of  the  disease  among  the  surrounding  population,  but 
can  never  prevent  an  epidemic  if  the  necessary  factors  be  m 
progress. 

Inspector-General  Lawson  then  followed  with  a  paper 
on  "The  Communicability  of  Cholera  from  one  Conntiy  to 
another." 

To  draw  up  a  plan  to  prevent  the  extension  of  a  disease,  say 
cholera,  from  one  country  to  another,  with  any  prospect  of 
success,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  general  acquaintance  at  least 
with  the  different  factors  which  contribute  to  the  result,  and  of 
their  mode  of  operation.  The  existing*  information  on  these 
points  falls  far  short  of  these  requirements,  and  its  increase  has 
been  enormously  impeded  by  the  belief  that  man  himself  is  the 
chief  agent  in  diffusing  the  disease ;  and  by  interpretii^  the 
evidence  obtained  from  various  sources  with  an  undue  bias_  in 
favour  of  the  theory.  There  has  been,  in  short,  and  still  reniaiiis, 
a  most  serious  error  in  assuming  that  personal  communicatioQ  is 
the  principal  factor  ;  and  a  no  less  extensive  error  in  the  methods 
and  reasoning  by  which  the  central  idea  of  diffusion  by  man  was 
advocated. 

The  character  and  causes  of  cholera  must  be  derived  from  a 
critical  examination  of  all  the  evidence  Nature  presents,  and  from 
a  study  of  the  methods  she  herself  adopts,  instead  of  from  oar 
a  priori  deductions.  Cholera  occurs  in  two  different  forms  r 
simple  cholera  or  cholera  nostras,  of  little  severity,'and  attributed 
to  local  causes  ;  and  Asiatic  epidemic,  or  malignant  cholera, 
always  a  serious  disease,  and  by  many  attributed  to  a  poison 
given  off  by  those  lalx)uring  under  it  to  others,  and  so  difinsed 
until  it  becomes  epidemic. 

Since  1832,  when  cholera  visited  Europe  in  the  epidemic 
form,  cholera  nostras  has  been  observed  to  fluctuate  every  few 
years,  and  with  the  milder  cases  occur  a  certain  number  present- 
ing all  the  characteis  of  the  malignant  disease  ;  these  cases  occur 
singly  or  in  small  groups,  but  in  every  instance  they  accompany 
epidemics  of  varying  severity,  at  no  very  great  distance  off,  and 
are  under  the  same  "epidemic  influence." 

Those  who  support  the  theory  that  man  diffuses  cholera  are, 
necessarily,  required   to  show  that   persons  under  the  disease 
must  arrive  at  points  where  it  has  not  yet  appeared,  before  it 
commences  in  these  latter,  and  that  the  first  attacks  in  the  new 
locality  have  been  in  persons  exposed  to  the  imported    cases : 
but  there  are  now  a  good  many  instances  of  epidemics  springing 
up   in    localities   at    a   distance  from  where  the  disease  was 
already  prevailipg,    and    without   any    trace    of    importation, 
and  where  those  first  attacked  had  resided  in  the  country  for 
many  months  in  succession  without  communication  with  any 
previous  case.     Such  were  the  outbreaks  at  Southampton  in 
1865,  at  New  Orleans  in  1873,  and  at  Toulon  and  the  south  of 
France  in   1884,  all  of  which  were  most  carefully  investigated 
on  the  spot.      The  only  other  conclusion  open  was  that    the 
necessary  factors  were  supplied  by  epidemic  influence  ;  and  if 
supplied  in  one  instance,  supplied  in  all :  where  there  appeared 
to  have  been  importation  at  the  commencement  of  the  outbreak, 
it  must  not  be  assumed  that  the  disease  was  communicated  by  man 
unless  the  epidemic  influence  could  be  excluded,  as  at  present  it 
could  not.     It  seemed  probable  that  the  exciting  factors  were 
conveyed  by  the  air,  whether  fully  or  only  partially  developed* 
and  consequently  it  was  not  in  our  power  to  exclude  them  ;  bat 
much  might  be  done  by  hygienic  and  other  local  means  to  limit 
their  development  in  the  localities  they  reached,  and  so  to  avoid 
excessive  mortality. 

Dr.  Ashburton  Thompson,  official  delegate  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  New  South  Wales,  followed  with  a  paper  entitled 
"  Quarantine  in  Australasia  :  Theory  and  Practice."  He  said 
that  the  amount  of  trafllic  which  had  to  be  dealt  with  was  an 
important  consideration  in  all  questions  of  practical  quarantine. 
The  Australasian  Sanitary  Conference  of  Sydney,  N.S.W., 
1884,  was  attended  by  delegates  of  each  of  the  six  Goyemments, 
and  by  the  speaker.  Their  resolutions  were  unanimous,  ac- 
cepted by  each  Government,  and  presented  to  each  Parliament. 
They  bad  not  been  modified  since  1884,  and  were  therefore 
those  received  in  Australasia  at  the  present  day.  Limited  quaran- 
tine, medical  inspection,  the  outcome  of  England's  local  condi- 
tions, was  exactly  suited  to  them,  but  not  necessarily  suitable, 
therefore,  where  local  conditions  differed  from  England's.  The 
first  proposition  of  the  Conference  was  that  the  degree  of  protic- 
tion  ivhich  quarantine  measures  can  afford  varies  inversely  ttnth 
the  ease  of  communication  betrveefi  the  infected  country  and  tkt 
country  to  be  defended.     The  difference  between  English  and 


NO.    1 1 38,  VOL,  44] 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


^ 
O 


67 


Australasian  conditions  was  described.    The  Conference  rejected 
ancient  quarantine  as  a  principle  of  action,  and  on  account  of 
easy  and   daily   interchange   of  population    between  the  six 
territories  decided  to  regard   Anstralaua  as  constituting  one 
epidemiological    tract,    and    consequently    to    relinquish    all 
quarantine  as  against  each    other.      Then,   before    adopting 
resolntions  which    would   affect    others,   they  put  themselves 
in  order  by  declaring  in  a  second  proposition  that  quarantine 
can  yidd protection  commen^rcUe  with  its  costs  only  to  countries 
whose  internal  sanitation  is  good  ;  and  they  recognized  defects 
inherent  in  all   quarantine  measures   by  declaring,  in  a  third 
proposition,  that  the  function  of  quarantine  is  not  to  exclude  in- 
fection^ but  to  lessen  the  entering  number  of  foci  of  infection^  and 
thus  made  it  clear  that  exclusive  reliance  was  not  placed  by  them 
00  quarantine  as  a  defence  against  imported  disease.     Having 
thus  indicated  what  ihould  be  refrained  from,  it  proceeded  to 
say  what  should  be  done.     Nations  whose  internal  sanitary 
OTf^nization  was  not  perfect  cannot  afford  to  refer  the  observation 
of  suspects  to  the  country  cU  large.     It  was  decided  consequently 
that  limited  quarantine  should  be  employed  against  ships  actually 
carrying  cases  of  exotic  disease — that  was,  that  vessels  and 
equipment  should  be  cleansed  forthwith  and  held  for  delivery  to 
owners  at  earliest  possible  date,  but  that  the  ship's  company 
should  be  detained  in  isolation  for  periods  slightly  in  excess  of 
recognized  clinical  incubation  periods.     Medical  inspection  was 
thus  rejected  as  a  principle  of  action  not  less  than  ancient 
quarantine,  but  still  not  inconsiderately  ;  when  imported  disease 
was  one  already  familiar  ashore,  the  circumstances  were  seen  to 
resemble  England's,    and  then  medical  inspection  must    (not 
might  or  could)  be  used.     Accordingly,  in  case  of  scarlatina  or 
the  like,  patients  were  removed  to  ordinary  isolation  hospital 
{not  quarantine),  the  quarters  cleansed,  and  the  ship  discharged 
in  the  usual   way  after  five  or  six   hours'   detention.     These 
principles  were  strictly  adhered  to  by  the  Government  of  New 
South  Wales  since  18^84.     If  not  quite  so  closely  by  the  other 
five  Governments,  the  reason  was  probably  political  rather  than 
commercial  or  scientific. 

Dr.  Rochard,  of  Paris  (whose  communication  was  read  by  Dr. 
Jules  Bergeron^,  said  that  the  means  of  preventing  the  transmis- 
sion of  epidemic  diseases,  such  as  the  plague,  yellow  fever,  and 
cholera,  were  threefold — namely,  isolation,  disinfection — and 
sanitation.  The  first  was  the  simplest  and  the  most  radical. 
It  was  also  the  most  difficult  to  use,  because  it  required  the 
intervention  of  public  enactments,  and  the  existence  of  an  entente 
intemationa/e.  It  was  the  system  of  quarantine  and  of  the 
sanitary  cordons.  The  second  was  more  modern,  and  was  the 
result  of  the  development  of  contemporary  science.  The  third 
rested  on  the  progress  of  urban  hygiene.  It  was  probable 
that  when  we  had  sanitary  towns  we  could  brave  epidemics. 
England  had  spent  five  millions  since  the  commencement  of  the 
century,  and  it  did  not  fear  cholera  during  the  last  epidemic. 
Some  of  England's  resistance  to  the  cholera  must  be  ascribed  to 
its  great  distance  from  the  source  of  cholera.  M.  Rochard  next 
proceeded  to  detail  the  means  taken  at  the  frontier  by  the  French 
authorities  during  the  last  cholera  epidemic  in  Spain,  and 
expressed  the  belief  that  it  was  necessary  to  persevere  in  the 
employment  of  those  measures  which  responded  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  moment  and  to  our  present  knowledge,  until  the 
future  developed  some  better  remedy. 

Or.  St^konlis,  of  Constantinople^  after  mentioning  the  methods 
quarantine  and  inspection,  detailed  by  previous  speakers,  said 
that  Turkey  was  like  numerous  other  countries,  one  in  which 
sanitary  organization  had  yet  to  l>e  carried  out.  If  cholera  has 
entered  Turkey  in  these  last  years  Ky  Basjorah  (Persian  Gulf) 
and  by  Camaran  (Red  Sea)  it  v^as  that  the  lazarets  are  not  in 
accord  with  the  progress  of  sanitary  science.  The  pilgrimage  of 
the  Mussulmans  to  Mecca  is  also  a  great  source  of  danger  to  the 
country.  The  lazarets  of  Turkey  ought  to  be  made  sanitary, 
and  there  would  l>e  a  great  danger  removed. 

Dr.  Hewitt,  of  Minnesota,  U.S.A.,  said  they  had  very  little  to 
do  in  his  State  with  disease  properly  called  epidemic  except  that 
of  small-pox.  Cholera  had  but  once  obtained  something  of  a 
lodgment,  and  then  it  came  directly  from  the  port  of  New  York. 
Small-pox  came  to  them  directly  through  emigration  from  the 
ports  of  England,  and  most  of  it  came  through  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lavnrence.  Only  the  other  day  cases  came  from  Liverpool  to 
Minnesota.  He  mentioned  one  case  in  which  infection  was 
•carried  in  the  clothing  of  a  woman  who  did  not  have  the  disease 
herself,  but  had  been  exposed  on  shipboard  to  it.  The  epidemic 
resulted  in  300  deaths.     For  interior  States  like  Minnesota  the 

NO.    1138,  VOL.   44] 


demand  was  that  there  should  be  complete  sanitary  central  oigan- 
iiation,  with  local  organization  in  direct  relation  thereto,  and 
that  this  organization  should  stand  in  direct  relation  to  the 
quarantine  service,  which  should  be  bound  to  give  notice  to  the 
interior  authorities  of  the  presence  of  disease  or  infection, 
and  that  they  should  all  co-operate  for  its  controL 

Dr.  Simpson,  of  Calcutta,  stated  that  the  real  source  of  cholera 
epidemics  in  Europe  was,  in  his  opinion,  from  emigrants  and 
pilgrims  coming  over  land  and  in  ships  to  Mecca,  where  there 
was  a  focus  2000  miles  nearer  Europe  than  any  Indian  port. 

Dr.  Leduc,  of  Nantes,  agreed  with  Dr.  Cuningham  as  to  the 
need  of  improved  sanitary  conditions  in  our  towns,  but  he 
strongly  disagreed  with  him  when  he  proposed  the  suppression 
of  quarantine.  Modern  science  teaches  us  that  contagious  dis- 
eases are  spread  by  wandering  germs  :  isolation  must  therefore 
be  a  preventive  to  the  spread  of  the  disease,  and  quarantine 
presents  us  with  the  best  means  of  isolation,  so  that  to  propose 
the  suppression  of  quarantine  was  to  propose  a  measure  at  once 
irrational  and  contrary  to  the  principles  of  modem  science. 

Dr.  Thorne  Thome,  of  London,  spoke  of  the  need  of  sanitary 
reform  in  towns,  and  deprecated  the  so-called  protection  of  a 
country  by  means  of  cordons,  (quarantine,  &c.  The  sixteen  days' 
quarantine  decided  at  Constantmople  in  1866  failed,  the  ten  days' 
quarantine  decided  at  Vienna  failed,  and  yet  the  five  days'  sug- 
gested at  Rome  is  to  succeed.  The  contention  is  altogether 
illogical. 

Prof.  Stokvis,  of  Amsterdam,  said  that  at  the  International 
Medical  Congress  at  Amsterdam  there  was  a  discussion  on 
quarantine,  in  which  the  same  arguments  for  and  against  were 
used  as  now.  He  then  had  no  steadfast  conviction.  Now  he 
had,  and  it  was,  that  the  only  way  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
epidemic  diseases,  and  especially  of  cholera,  was  to  make  sanitary 
improvements.  He  had  arrived  at  this  conclusion  by  the  study 
of  the  history  of  cholera  in  India,  where  cholera  diminishes  as 
sanitation  improves.  In  the  Dutch  Indian  Archipelago,  where 
quarantine  is  of  no  consequence,  the  following  figures  show  the 
great  diminution  in  the  death-rate  which  ensued  on  sanitary 
improvement.  From  1864-78  the  death-rate  in  the  European 
army  was  15  per  1000.  In  1878  artesian  wells,  &c.,were  made. 
In  1879-83  the  death-rate  fell  to  6*4  per  1000  ;  and  in  1884-88 
to  3 '5  per  1000.  These  figures  are  very  striking,  and  lead  one 
to  hope  that  the  saying  of  the  late  Prof.  De  Chaumont  will  come 
true,  that  the  time  will  arrive  when  cholera  will  only  be  an 
historical  curiosity. 

The  following  gentlemen  also  took  part  in  the  discussion: 
Dr.  Felkin  of  Edinburgh,  Prof.  Brouardel  of  Paris,  Sir  Joseph 
Fayrer,  Surgeon  Major  Pringle,  Surgeon-General  Cook,  Dr. 
Robert  Grieve  of  British  Guiana,  Dr.  Ruijsch  of  the  Hague, 
Brigade- Surgeon  Staples,  Surgeon- Generals  Cayley,  Ewart,  and 
Beatson,  Sefior  Vicente  Cabello,  and  Brigade- Surgeon  McGann. 

In  the  aftemoon.  Sir  John  Banks,  K.C.B.,  in  the  chair,  Dr. 
Manson  read  an  elaborate  paper  on  "  The  Geographical  Distri- 
bution, Pathological  Relations,  and  Life-history  of  Fifaria 
sanguinis  hominis  diurna  and  Filaria  sanguinis  hominis 
Persians  in  connection  with  Preventive  Medicine."  The  paper 
was  illustrated  by  numerous  microscopical  specimens. 

Dr.  Manson  said  that  the  discovery  of  the  blood-worms  herein 
named  Filaria  safiguinis  hominis  diurtia  and  Filaria  sanguinis 
hominis  perstans  suggests  an  investigation  into  their  possible 
pathological  relations,  and  into  their  life-histories,  with  the  view 
to  intervention  in  respect  to  them  of  preventive  medicine. 

The  facts  that  these  parasites  and  the  disease  known  as  negro 
lethargy,  or  sleeping  sickness  of  the  Congo,  are  endemic  in  the 
same  region,  the  West  Coast  of  Africa ;  that  neither  can  be 
acquired  unless  in  this  particular  region  ;  and  that  sleeping  sick- 
ness may  declare  itself  many  years  after  the  endemic  region  has 
been  quitted,  and  that  these  filariae  continue  to  live  lor  many 
years  after  the  negro  has  left  Africa ;  suggest  a  possible  relation- 
ship between  these  parasites  and  this  disease. 

A  papulo-vesicular  skin  disease  called  craw-craw  is  endemic  in 
the  sleeping  sickness  region,  and  sleeping  sickness  is  often  ac- 
companied by  a  similar  papulo-vesicular  skin  disease,  probably 
the  same.  O'Neil  found  a  filaria- like  parasite  in  the  vesicles  of 
craw-craw.  Nielly  considers  a  disease  he  calls  dermatose 
parasitairCf  which  he  found  in  a  lad  in  France,  the  same  as  the 
African  craw -craw  ;  he  discovered  in  the  vesicles  of  the  skin  in 
this  case  the  same  or  a  similar  parasite  to  O'Neil's.  Nielly,  at 
the  same  time,  found  an  embryo  filaria  in  his  patient's  blood 
which  was  undoubtedly  an  earlier  form  of  the  skin  worm.    From 


368 


NATURE 


[August  20,  1891 


this  the  infereDce  may  be  drawn  that,  in  certain  cases,  at  all 
events,  of  sleeping  sickness  a  Blaria  embryo  is  present  in  the 
blood. 

Filaria  s.  A.  diuma  and  Filatia  t.  h,  Persians  have  both 
been  found  in  a  case  of  sleeping  sickness: 

These  facts  taken  together  amount  to  a  presumptive  case  against 
one  or  other  of  these  parasites  as  the  cause  of  sleeping  sickness. 

The  probable  life-histories  of  these  worms  is  then  indicated, 
the  Filaria  loa  being  considered  the  parental  form,  and  an  in- 
sect, called  the  mangrove  fly,  the  intermediary  host  of  Filaria 
s.  h,  diuma.  The  parental  form  of  Filaria  s.  k,  Persians  is  not 
known,  but,  assuming  that  the  worm  of  craw-craw,  sleeping 
sickness,  and  dermatose  parasitaire  is  the  same,  and  that  the 
skin  form  is  an  advanced  stage  of  the  embryo  filaria  found  in  the 
blood,  then,  arguing  from  the  analogy  to  what  happens  in  the 
case  of  the  embryo  of  Filaria  medinensis,  which  closely 
resembles  this  skin  parasite,  the  probable  intermediary  host  of 
Filaria  s,  k,  Persians  is  a  freshwater  animal,  possibly  a  cyclops. 

Provided  the  hypotheses  as  regards  these  parasites  and  the 
diseases  they  produce  are  correct,  both  disease  and  parasites 
may  be  avoided  by  securing  a  pure  water  supply  to  which  the 
intermediary  hosts  of  the  parasites  do  not  get  access. 

Travellers,  missionaries,  and  others  in  Africa  are  appealed  to 
for  assistance  in  clearing  up  the  subject,  and  for  further  in- 
formation. 

An  appendix  to  the  paper  contains  directions  for  demonstrating 
in  the  surest,  most  rapid,  and  most  eflective  way  the  presence  or 
absence  of  filaria  embryos  in  blood,  and  of  making  collections  of 
slides  of  blood  for  storage  and  future  examination. 

Dr.  Sonsino,  of  Pisa,  made  a  few  remarks  on  Dr.  Manson's 
paper.     The  meeting  then  adjourned. 

On  Wednesday,  August  12,  the  chair  was  occupied  suc- 
cessively by  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  Dr.  Pistor  of  Berlin,  and 
Surgeon-General  Roth  of  the  Saxon  Army. 

Discussion  on  Diphtheria. 

Dr.  Edward  Seaton,  of  London,  opened  a  discussion  on 
''Diphtheria,  with  special  reference  to  its  distribution  and  to 
the  need  for  comprehensive  and  systematic  inquiry  into  the 
causes  of  its  prevalence  in  certain  countries  and  parts  of 
countries,  with  a  view  to  its  prevention." 

Dr.  Seaton  said  that  he  should  confine  himself  in  introducing 
this  subject  to  leading  statements,  showing  the  necessity  for  com- 
prehensive and  systematic  inquiry  to  be  promoted  by  Govern- 
ment into  the  causes  of  the  prevalence  of  diphtheria  in  certain 
countries  and  parts  of  countries,  with  a  view  to  its  prevention. 
He  first  of  all  pointed  to  the  special  prevalence  of  the  disease,  as 
shown  by  Dr.  LongstafT,  in  Norfolk  and  Wales,  and  the  com- 
parative freedom  of  Devonshire,  Cornwall,  and  the  Midlands. 
He  then  dwelt  on  the  facts  that  the  disease  prevailed  more  in 
rural  than  urban  districts,  although  it  has  shown  of  late  years  an 
increasing  preference  for  urban  populations,  especially  that  of 
London.  He  showed  the  independence  of  the  disease  of  what 
are  ordinarily  called  sanitary  conditions,  and  illustrated  this  by  a 
table  taken  from  Dr.  Thome  Thome's  recent  lectures  at  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  showing  the  fall  in  enteric  fever 
mortality  in  England  and  Wales  which  had  synchronized 
with  a  rise  in  the  mortality  from  diphtheria.  He  further 
illustrated  the  independence  of  diphtheria  prevalence  of 
what  are  usually  termed  sanitary  conditions  by  experiences 
gathered  from  a  large  manufacturing  town  in  the  Midlands,  and 
from  certain  parts  of  the  metropolis  in  which  he  had  special 
opportunities  for  observation  as  a  medical  officer  of  health,  as 
well  as  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums 
Board,  into  whose  hospitals  cases  of  diphtheria  had  been  re- 
ceived during  the  last  three  years.  He  also  gave  a  recent 
experience  of  a  Surrey  village,  in  which  the  disease  had  pre- 
vailed in  an  epidemic  form,  shortly  after  the  replacement  of  the 
old  Insanitary  cesspool  system  by  a  new  and  elaborately  con- 
structed sewerage  system.  The  occurrence  of  the  disease  under 
these  circumstances  gave  rise  to  the  suspicion  that  there  might  be  a 
connection  betweendiphtheria  and  conditions  of  soil,  which  needed 
to  be  investigated  in  a  comprehensive  and  systematic  manner. 
In  conclusion,  he  pointed  out  the  importance  of  these  main  con- 
siderations, viz. :  (i)  the  prevalence  of  the  disease  in  strikingly 
different  degree  in  countries  in  the  same  latitude  and  with  similar 
climaticconditions  and  also  in  parts  of  countries  close  to  each  other, 
(2)  the  fact  that  it  has  not  apparently  been  influenced  favourably 
by  the  adoption  of  sanitary  measures  which  have  been  generally 


NO.    1 138,  VOL.  44] 


found  eflective  in  reducing  the  death-rate,  prove  the  neceatj 
for  a  comprehensive  inquiry  by  our  own  Government  as  well  a» 
those  of  other  countries,  into  the  causes  which  determine  the 
prevalence  of  diphtheria.  Such  an  inquiry  should  take  into 
account  what  has  already  been  ascertained  with  regard  to  the 
occasional  causation  and  spread  of  the  disease  by  milk,  and 
the  influence  which  schools  have  on  its  production  and  spread, 
and  also  the  subsidiary  influence  of  dampness,  dirt,  overcrowd- 
ing, &C.  ;  but  its  mam  object  would  be  to  ascertain  the  lool 
conditions  and  circumstances  which  account  for  the  growth  of  the 
disease.  To  ascertain  these  the  inquiries  must,  of  coarse,  be 
made  in  countries  marked  by  freedom  from  the  disease  as  well 
as  in  those  which  sufler  from  it  specially. 

Dr.  Schrevens,  of  Toumai,  followed  with  a  paper  entitled 
"  Contribution  it  Tetude  des  causes  favorisant  les  endemies 
diphtheritiques,"  of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract. 

By  investigating  carefully  how  the  ravages  committed  bf 
diphtheria  are  distributed  over  the  different  districts,  one  can 
attain  more  easily  to  a  precise  knowledge  of  the  external  con- 
ditions which  favour  the  harbouring  of  diphtheritic  germs,  and 
which  result  in  such  germs  being  brought  into  a  looility.  In> 
vestigations  were  made  by  the  author  in  Belgium  with  this  object 
Thanks  to  the  figures  kindly  furnished  by  Dr.  Kubora,  the 
distribution  of  diphtheria  throughout  the  different  provinces  of 
Belgium  for  the  ten  years  from  187 1  to  1880  has  been  deter- 
mined. The  same  having  been  done  for  typhoid  fever,  it  was 
noticed  that  where  this  latter  disease  committed  the  greatest 
ravages  the  same  fact  was  observable  in  the  case  of  diphtheria ; 
and  that  where  diphtheria  secured  its  smallest  number  of 
victims  the  number  of  deaths  caused  by  typhoid  fever  dimin- 
ished equally.  Tliis  parallel  rise  and  fall  of  the  mortality 
caused  by  typhoid  fever  and  diphtheria  is  shown  in  two 
diagrams  placed  near  each  other  on  the  same  sheet ;  in  the 
first,  the  parallelism  is  less  evident,  because  one  province,  East 
Flanders,  forms  an  exception  to  the  mle  I  have  just  laid  down ; 
in  the  second  diagram  this  province  is  omitted,  and  the  pardld 
march  of  diphtheria  and  typhoid  fever  stands  out  clearly.  On 
what  does  this  relation,  this  agreement  rest  ?  On  this  fact,  that 
these  two  diseases  must  be  conf^idered  as  fcecal  diseases,  as  B. 
Russell,  of  Glasgow,  has  remarked.  The  bacilli  of  LofBer,  like 
the  bacilli  of  Eberth,  develop  admirably,  prosper,  and  extend 
wherever  filth  and  mbbish  of  all  kinds  are  stored  up  or  spread 
out ;  there  exists,  however,  this  slight  difference  between  the 
conditions  which  are  severally  favourable  to  them :  impurities 
on  the  surface  of  the  soil  suit  the  bacilli  of  LofHer  in  a  spedal 
degree,  while  impurities  of  the  subsoil  please  the  badUli  of 
Eberth  better. 

Even  the  exception  formed  by  East  Flanders  tends  to  confira 
this  rule,  inasmuch  as  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  its  surface  ooght 
to  be  more  easily  cleared  of  all  impurities  by  reason  of  the 
numerous  watercourses  which  furrow  :it.  A  further  proof  thst 
it  is,  in  a  special  degree,  impurities  of  the  surface  which  sene 
to  harbour  diphtheritic  germs  in  certain  localities,  is  the  ex- 
aggeration of  mortality  from  diphtheria  in  country  districts  com- 
pared to  what  obtains  in  towns  ;  density  of  the  population  is 
not  of  the  least  influence  on  the  increase  of  the  mortality  doe  to 
diphtheria  ;  but  the  surface  of  the  soil  is  much  better  protected 
in  towns  against  impurities  of  all  kinds. 

Another  circumstance  which  may  foster  diphtheria  in  a  localitf 
is  the  breeding  of  certain  species  of  animals  presenting  a  gieit 
receptivity  for  diphtherogenic  germs :  for  example,  ItaliiA 
fowls  and  g^me-cocks.  The  transmission  of  diphtheria  to  man 
by  these  animals  is  so  well  established  by  the  observations  col- 
lected by  the  author  for  several  years  past  that  he  feels  per- 
suaded of  the  need  of  further  attention  being  paid  to  this 
subject.  Finally,  a  third  condition  which  necessarily  fosters  diph- 
theria in  a  locality  is  the  negligence  exercised  in  the  application 
of  measures  of  disinfection  and  isolation. 

Every  case  of  diphtheria  must  be  notified  to  the  local 
authority,  who  will  see  to  it  immediately  that  all  the  children 
of  the  sick  person's  family  be  kept  away  from  school  as  long  ts 
any  danger  of  contagion  exists.  In  every  case  disinfection 
must  be  rigorously  attended  to  and  performed  by  special  agents. 
Notification  and  disinfection  ought  to  be  obligatory. 

The  altitude  of  the  locality  does  not  probably  exercise  107 
very  great  influence.  One  would  suppose  that  diphtheria  would 
be  specially  prevalent  in  low,  damp  places.  Recent  obser 
vations  by  the  author  on  the  progress  of  diphtheria  in  three 
contiguous  parishes  of  the  district  of  Ath  (CEudeghien,  Osticfaes, 
and  Mainvault),  show  that  in  each  of  these  parishes  there  wis  a 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


369 


principal  seat  of  the  malady,  aad  that  in  the  three  parishes  this 
seat  was  in  precisely  the  most  elevated  hamlet  of  all,  a  fact 
which  from  the  first  appears  somewhat  strange.  One  may, 
perhaps,  conclude  that  Loffler's  bacillus  does  not  like  too  much 
damp,  and  that  it  is  in  this  respect  that  its  character  differs  from 
the  bacillus  of  Eberth. 

Dr.  Hewitt,  Secretary  and  Executive  Officer  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health  of  Minnesota,  U.S.A.,  said  that  his  experience 
oovoed  eighteen  years  of  sanitary  service  with  the  disease  in  an 
interior  State  of  the  American  Union  with  a  very  complete 
public  health  service,  consisting  of  1575  local  boards  of  health, 
with  a  State  Board.      Notification  of  infectious   disease   by 
physicians,  householders,  hotel  and  inn  keepers,  has  been  obli- 
gatory since  1883  with  penalty,  as  is  also  isolation  and  dis- 
infection by  the  local  boards  of  health.     The  facts  believed  to 
be  proven  in  Minnesota  were  that  the  disease  is  very  infectious, 
that  it  is  communicable  by  persons  and  things,  that  the  infec- 
tion lives  and  grows  outside  the  body  and  below  the  body 
temperature,  that  it  is  very  tenacious  of  life  as  against  measures 
of  disinfection,  and  lives  for  long  periods  in  clothing  and  bedding 
and  on  floors  and  walls.     Isolation  and  systematic  disinfection, 
with  the  most  perfect  sanitary  regulation,  are  most  efficient  at 
present  in  the  control  of  the  disease.     Since  these  had  been  in 
efficient  use  the  prevalence  had  assumed  a  family  character, 
limiting  itself  to  one  or  more  associated  families,  and  rarely 
going  beyond,  except  by  evasion  of  the  law  on  the  part  of  an 
infected  person.       What  was  needed  now   was  more  careful 
collection  of  the  facts  of  each  outbreak  with  a  view  to  a  more 
accorate  knowledge  of  the  disease,  not  neglecting  the  preventive 
and  controlling  measures  now  found  to  be  most  efficient,  as  above. 
Dr.  Jules  Bergeron,  of  Paris,  followed  with  a  paper  entitled 
"  Note  sur  la  Prophylaxie  de  la  Diphtherie. "    Dr.  Bergeron  said 
that  (he  measures  to  be  taken  against  diphtheria  were  disinfec- 
tion and  isolation  :  disinfection  of  all  clothing,  &c.,   contami- 
nated with  secretions  from  the  affected  parts ;  isolation  of  all 
cases  and  of  all  doubtful  cases,  such  as  those  of  a  herpetic 
character,  which  are  difficult  to  distinguish  from  diphtheria  in 
the  early  stage  of  the  disease.      An  important  question   to  be 
answered  is.  How  long  ought  isolation  to  continue  ;  how  long,  in 
fact,  does  contagion  last  ?    Dr.  Bergeron  sa]rs  that  he  adopts  six 
weeks'  isolation  as  the  maximum,  and  that  he  has  never  observed 
a  case  of  transmission  of  the  disease  when  a  case  has  been  isolated 
for  this  period. 

Dr.  Gibert,  of  Havre,  spoke  of  diphtheria  in  Havre.  He 
said  that  diphtheria  appeared  in  Havre  about  i860,  and  was 
limited  to  the  Graville  Quartier.  In  1864,  there  was  an 
epidemic  close  to  Eryonville.  From  this  date-  the  number  of 
deaths  constantly  increased,  and  the  disease,  which  at  first  was 
confined  to  only  a  few  localities,  spread  throughout  the  town. 
The  severity  of  the  disease  increased  until  1885,  when  a 
^a^f  d€  salubrUi  was  formed  as  an  annexe  to  the  Bureau 
d*Hygiine.  The  dwellings  occupied  by  diphtheritic  patients 
having  been  regularly  disinfected,  the  mortality  curve  has  since 
decreased  to  such  an  extent  as  to  justify  the  hope  of  its  total 
extinction,  provided  all  the  medical  men  of  the  town  furnish 
accurate  information  to  the  Bureau  d'Hygiene. 

Dr.  S.  W.  Abbott,  of  Boston,  U.S.A.,  read  a  paper  on 
"  Diphtheria  in  Massachusetts  from  1871-88."  From  his  observa- 
tions he  concludes  that  diphtheria  is  an  eminently  contafi^ious 
disease,  that  it  is  infectious,  not  only  by  direct  exposure  of  the 
sick  to  the  well,  but  also  through  indirect  media,  such  as  cloth- 
ing and  other  articles  that  have  come  in  contact  with  the  sick  ; 
that  the  infection  is  not  so  great  as  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
other  infectious  diseases,  notably  small-pox  and  scarlet  fever.  Dr. 
Abbott  also  concludes  that  overcrowding,  &c.,  favours  the  spread 
of  the  disease  ;  but  that  its  transmission  through  the  water  supply 
IS  not  proved.  Its  transmission  is  favoured  by  soil-moisture  and 
damp  houses ;  and  the  poison  may  remain  infective  in  houses  for 
a  long  period. 

Mr.  Matthew  A.  Adams,  of  Maidstone,  read  a  paper  on 
"The  Relationship  between  the  Occurrence  of  Diphrheria  and 
the  Movement  of  the  Subsoil  Water."  The  conclusions  he 
arrived  at  were  that  the  organism  of  diphtheria  inhabits  organic- 
ally polluted  surface-soil,  and  that,  subject  to  suitable  conditions 
of  environment,  especially  as  respects  moisture,  temperature,  and 
food,  it  thrives  and  multiplies  in  the  soil,  the  micro-organism 
^hns  produced  being  liable  to  displacement  from  the  interstices 
>f  the  polluted  surface-soil,  and  to  dispersal  into  the  superin- 
:umbent  air ;  in  this  manner  determining  outbreaks  of  the  disease. 
^  that,  given  the  existence  of  the  pathogenic  organisn^  two  sets 

NO.    1138,  VOL.  44] 


of  factors  at  least  are  engaged  in  the  production  of  a  state  of 
affiiirs  that  culminate  in  an  outbreak  of  diphtheria.  First,  those 
that  promote  and  support  the  growth  of  the  germ  in  the  soU, 
such,  for  instance,  as  moisture,  temperature,  air,  food,  and  so 
on.  Secondly,  agents  of  dispersal,  by  which  the  germs  already 
existing  in  the  soil  are  driven  out  and  distributed  into  the  atmo- . 
sphere,  and  so  come  to  be  breathed  by  man  and  animals  ;  for 
example,  sudden  Srainfall,  rise  of  sul»oil  water,  lowering  of 
barometric  pressure. 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Paget,  of  Salford,  followed  with  a  paper  on 
"A  Local  Examination  of  the  Difference  in  Susceptibility 
between  Old  and  New  Residents.'' 

The  general  conclusion  at  which  he  arrived  as  the  result  of  an 
examination  of  the  statistics  of  Salford  was,  that  a  shorter 
average  period  of  residence  before  an  attack  of  diphtheria  was 
observed  where  the  general  mortality  rate  was  highest  and  vice 
versd  ;  that,  in  fact,  the  relative  incidence  of  diphtheria  during 
an  epidemic  period,  in  respect  of  length  of  residence,  was  de- 
pendent to  no  small  extent  on  general  sanitary  circumstances. 

Prof.  D'Espine,  of  Geneva,  followed  in  the  discussion.  He 
drew  attention  to  the  great  value  in  the  prophylaxis  of  diphtheria 
in  the  systematic  washing  out  of  the  mouth  and  pharynx  by 
antiseptic  solutions,  corrosive  sublimate  (i  in  10,000),  salicylic 
acid  ( I  in  2000),  and  lime-juice.  In  his  practice  he  used  salicylic 
acid  in  the  strength  of  i}  to  2  per  1000. 

Dr.  Tripe,  of  Hackney,  who  followed,  said  he  had  had  large 
experience  of  this  disease,  as  he  had  been  35  years  Medi^ 
Officer  of  Health  in  Hackney.  During  that  time  all  deaths  had 
been  investigated,  and  lately  all  cases,  with  the  result  that  there 
was  no  evidence  that  insanitary  conditions  of  houses  caused  the 
disease,  although  thev  might  predispose  to  it.  He  believed  that 
closing  playgrounds  m  schools  is  as  effectual  in  checking  the 
disease  as  closing  the  schools  ;  that  prompt  removal  to  hospital 
and  4isinfection  of  clothing  and  rooms,  burning  of  infected  rags, 
&c,  are  the  best  methods  for  checking  the  disease. 

Dr.  Thursfield,  of  Shrewsbury,  agreed  with  Dr.  Hewitt  that 
dampness  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  etiology  of  diphtheria; 
he  had  himself  stated  so  thirteen  years  ago  in  a  series  of  papers 
on  the  subject.  He  thought  Dr.  Adamas  conclusion  regarding 
the  connection  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  subsoil  water  with  out- 
breaks of  diphtheria  a  somewhat  hasty  generalization. 

Dr.  GUnther  of  Dresden,  Dr.  Jansseris  of  Brussels,  Dr. 
Hubert  of  Louvain,  Dr.  Escherich  of  Graz,  Dr.  Jules  Felix  of 
Brussels,  and  Dr.  P.  Sonsino  of  Pisa,  also  took  part  in  the  dis- 
cussion ;  many  of  the  speakers  emphasizing  the  need  of  local 
antiseptic  measures  in  the  prophylaxis  of  diphtheria. 

At  the  end  of  the  discussion,  the  following  recommendation 
was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Section  : — 

"That  this  Section  urges  the  European  Governments  to 
make  a  comprehensive  and  systemative  inquiry  into  the  causes 
of  diphtheria." 

On  Tuesday  afternoon.  Sir  John  Banks,  K.C.B.,  and 
Overlaege  Bentzen,  Christiania,  occupied  the  chair. 

Discussion  of  the  Preventability  of  Phthisis. 

Dr.  Arthur  Ransome,  F.R.S.,  read  a  paper  *'  On  the  Need  of 
Special  Measures  for  the  Prevention  of  Consumption."  He  said^ 
that  consumption  is  both  curable  and  preventable  will  be 
acknowledged  at  once  by  all  medical  men  who  have  had  any 
experience  of  modem  methods  of  dealing  with  the  disease. 

Its  curability  is  attested  (i)  by  the  reports  of  many  pathologists 
as  to  the  presence  of  evidence  of  healed  phthisis  in  a  large  pro- 
portion of  bodies  examined  in  public  institutions.  Many 
thousands  of  such  examinations  have  now  been  made,  and  the 
results  show  that  from  25  to  50  per  cent,  of  persons  dying  from 
other  diseases  than  phthisis  give  signs  of  spontaneous  cure  of 
tubercular  disease.  (2)  The  testimony  of  all  the  most  eminent 
modern  physicians  is  to  the  &ame  effect,  that  consumption  is 
distinctly  curable. 

With  regard  to  the  preventability  of  the  disease  we  have  also 
a  strong  basis  for  our  faith. 

(i)  In  the  marvellous  results  that  followed  the  improved 
drainage  and  ventilation  of  the  barracks  of  the  British  army  in 
all  parts  of  the  world.  Before  the  year  1854,  the  mortality  trom 
lung  disease  amongst  the  picked  population  of  these  dwellings 
was  a  scandal  to  the  nation,  and  was  enormously  greater  than 
that  of  the  ordinary  inhabitants  of  our  towns,  especially  in  the 
battalions  sent  to  warm  climates,  such  as  those  of  India,  Ceylon^ 
the  West  Indies,  the  Mediterranean,  &c. 


370 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


Thanks  to  the  above-mentioned  measures,  it  now  stands  at 
from  one-third  to  one-tenth  of  its  former  rates. 

(2)  The  influence  of  improved  drainage  has  been  shown  by 
Dr.  Buchanan,  in  his  table  of  towns,  contrasting  the  mortality 
by  phthisis  and  other  diseases  before  and  after  the  introduction 
of  improvements  in  this  direction  ;  and  lastly,  by  the  reduction 
of  the  general  phthisis  rate  of  the  country  from  2500  per 
1,000,000  in  1867,  to  1500  per  1,000,000  in  1889. 

My  own  observation  in  Manchester  and  Salford,  and  those 
of  Dr.  Irwin  in  Oldham,  and  of  Dr.  Flick  in  Philadelphia, 
point  to  the  existence  in  towns  of  tubercular  areas  and  infected 
houses. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  seems  to  me  that  the  duty  of 
sanitary  authorities  is  clear.  They  should  regard  phthisis  as  a 
disease  to  be  dealt  with  on  precisely  the  same  lines  as  the 
analogous  diseases,  typhoid  fever,  cholera,  and  leprosy — diseases, 
namely,  which  are  slightly,  if  at  all,  directly  contagious,  but 
which  spread  by  material  thrown  off  from  the  bodies  of  the 
patients.  The  means  to  be  employed  to  this  end  would  also  be 
very  similar :  (i)  notification  of  cases;  (2)  disinfection;  (3) 
hospital  accommodation ;  and  (4)  general  sanitary  measures, 
such  as  ventilation,  drainage,  and  reconstruction  of  unhealthy 
areas. 

(i)  Notification. — At  first  it  may  sound  somewhat  novel  to 
demand  that  a  slowly  progressing  ailment  like  phthisis  should 
be  notified  as  if  it  were  liable  to  become  an  epidemic  disease ; 
but,  after  all,  we  may  fairly  inquire  whether  the  purpose  of 
notification  is  not  the  prevention  of  any  disease  that  could  be 
arrested  by  early  intelligence  of  its  existence  being  sent  to  the 
health  officer,  nor  would  there  be  much  difficulty  in  obtaining 
the  notification  of  phthisis.  Although  phthisis  is  not  directly 
contagious,  there  >KOuld  be  nothing  unreasonable  in  classing  it 
with  other  diseases  that  need  special  mea&ures  to  prevent  its 
spread. 

{2)  Disinfection^ — After  receiving  notice  of  a  case  of  tubercu- 
losis, the  next  step  to  be  taken  by  a  local  authority  would  be  to 
ascertain  whether  proper  care  is  or  can  be  taken  to  prevent 
injury  to  the  public  health.  In  the  case  of  well-to-do  persons 
the  information  given  by  the  medical  attendant  would  be  suf- 
ficient, but  where  the  case  is  that  of  a  poor  person  it  should  be 
visited,  and  the  local,  authority  should  see  to  the  regular  cleans- 
ing and  whitewashing  of  the  premises,  and  to  the  disposal  of 
excretions,  especially  of  the  expectorated  matter.  If  necessary, 
disinfection  by  sulphur  and  the  steaming  of  clothes  should  be 
carried  out.  Paper  spittoons  that  can  be  burnt  should  be  in- 
sisted upon.  After  death,  also,  measures  should  be  taken  for 
the  cleansing  and  disinfection  of  house,  bedding,  and  clothes. 

(3)  Hospital  Accommodation. — Theie  would  next  come  the 
question  of  the  propriety  or  possibility  of  removing  the  sick 

J  person  to  hospital.  So  long  as  he  (or  she)  could  work,  and  so 
ong  as  he  would  consent  to  use  the  necessary  means  for  destroy- 
ing the  infective  material,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  do  more 
than  I  have  already  indicated ;  but  when  the  patient  becomes 
unable  to  follow  his  emploj^ment,  and  the  family  are  obliged  to 
seek  for  assistance  from  the  parish,  he  has  a  claim  to  be  received 
into  the  workhouse  hospital,  and  such  an  asylum  should  be 
offered  him,  and  should  be  made  as  little  humiliating  and  as  free 
from  Ignominy  as  possible. 

(4)  But  it  is  probably  to  general  sanitary  measures  that  we 
must  look  for  any  large  reduction  in  the  rate  of  mortality  from 
tubercle.  It  has  been  found  that  deep  and  thorough  drainage 
of  the  subsoil  will  greatly  diminish  this  mortality.  In  the  case 
of  Salisbury,  as  you  are  probably  aware,  it  was  reduced  by  one- 
half,  and  similar  reports  have  come  from  other  towns  ;  and 
though  the  same  result  has  not  always  been  obtained  elsewhere, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  importance  both  of  draining 
and  concreting  the  foundations  of  dwelling-houses,  so  as  to 
prevent  organic  vapours  from  rising  along  with  the  ground  air 
into  living-rooms. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  ventured  to  suggest  that  where 
consumption  is  prevalent  there  must  exist  some  special  nutri- 
ment which  either  (i)  serves  to  prolong  the  life  of  the  bacillus 
of  tubercle,  or  (2)  which  may  even  increase  its  virulent  proper- 
ties, this  special  element  in  foul  air  being  either  the  organic 
matter  exhaled  from  human  bodies,  or  the  emanations  from 
polluted  ground  air  from  badly  drained  subsoils.  I  should 
imagine  that  either  of  these  hypotheses  might  account  for  the 
result,  and  certainly  in  the  few  experiments  which  I  have 
carried  out  to  find  the  conditions  that  modify  the  virulence  of 
the  bacillus  it  was  proved  that  foul  air  caused  the  organism  to 


NO.   II 38,  VOL.  44] 


retain  its  power  for  evil  much  longer  than  when  it  was  exposed 
to  some  fresh  air  and  light. 

It  is  possible  that  these  may  be  regarded  as  somewhat  strong 
proposals,  but  at  least  they  have  the  merit  that  they  may  all  be 
pat  in  force  without  any  material  increase  in  the  powers  now 
possessed  by  local  authorities.  The  only  thing  needed  to  enable 
them  to  be  carried  out  in  their  entirety  is  a  powerful  public 
opinion  to  back  them  up.  When  people  generally,  and  espe- 
cially the  working  classes,  realize  that  a  large  part  of  their  side- 
ness  and  consequent  loss  of  time  and  money  is  dne  to  their 
neglect,  they  wiU  unquestionably  be  on  our  side.  The  under- 
taking possesses,  moreover,  the  further  merit  that  not  only 
will  all  this  sanitary  improvement  prevent  consumption  and 
other  tul>ercular  disease*;  by  doing  away  with  the  sources 
of  infection,  but  it  will  also  prevent  them  by  raising  the 
general  standard  of  health  amongst  town  dwellers.  It 
will  so  strengthen  those  who  are  already  predisposed  to 
the  disease  that  they  will  more  readily  throw  off  any  stray  germs 
of  tubercle  that  may  find  an  entrance  into  their  bodies.  It  will 
conduce  to  spontaneous  cure,  will  prevent  recurrence  of  the 
disease,  and  will  ward  off  attacks  from  those  who  are  nov 
healthy. 

Prof.  Finkelnburg,  of  Bonn,  read  a  paper  "On  the  Influence 
of  Soil  on  the  Spread  of  Tuberculous  Diseases." 

He  showed  on  a  large  map  of  Germany  that  the  localities  where 
phthisis  was  most  prevalent  were  those  in  which  there  was  a 
moory  soil  with  stagnatiig  and  high-standing  ground  water ; 
such  as  some  districts  in  the  north-western  provinces,  in  the 
Rhenish  province,  in  Upper  Bavaria,  and  in  some  parts  of 
Silesia.  These  facts  agrte  with  the  conclusions  of  Bowditch 
and  Buchanan.  Overcrowding  did  not  appear  to  have  much 
influence  on  the  spread  of  phthisis. 

Dr.  J.  Edward  Squire,  of  London,  read  a  paper  entitled, 
"To  what  extent  can  Legislation  assist  in  diminishing  the 
Prevalence  of  Consumption  and  other  Tubercular  Diseases." 

Dr.  Squire  considered  that  the  danger  of  infection  increased 
with  the  close  crowding  of  the  sick  and  healthy,  and  with  defi- 
cient ventilation  ;  and  that  by  sanitary  improvements  this  danger 
might  be  obviated.  There  ought  also  to  he  a  proper  .<(upervision 
of  food  (meat  and  milk)  obtained  from  tuberculous  cattle.  Trades 
in  relation  to  phthisis  were  also  discussed. 

Dr.  Gibert,  of  Havre,  followed  with  a  paper  entitled  **  De  la 
distribution  geographique  de  la  Phthisie  pulmonaire  dans  U 
ville  de  Havre  :  Rapports  de  la  Phthisie  avec  la  densite  de  la 
population,  avec  I'alcoolisme,  et  avec  la  misere."  Dr.  Giben 
thought  from  his  observations  that  overcrowding  was  a  great 
factor  in  the  etiology  of  phthisis  :  but  that  alcoholism  played  a 
much  greater  part,  and  poverty  was  also  a  factor.  He  showed 
on  a  map  the  distribution  of  phthisis  in  Havre. 

Sir  John  Banks,  of  Dublin,  \^ho  spoke  in  the  discussion, 
mentioned  that  the  sanitary  improvements  undertaken  in  Dublin 
had  produced  a  great  diminution  of  disease.  Practice  both  in 
hospital  and  private  had  demonstrated  this  to  him. 

Mr.  Weaver,  of  London,  and  Dr.  B.  0*Connor  also  took 
part  in  the  discussion. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

{The  Editor  aoes  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  tx- 
pressed  by  his  correspondents,  Ntither  can  he  undertakt 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  refected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  Natvilz. 
Ho  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications^l 

Aerial  Roots  of  the  Mangrove. 

In  your  note  on  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Socieiy 
(July  30,  p.  304),  it  is  slated  that  the  only  explanation  yet  offered 
of  the  erect  aeiial  roots  of  Aviccmtia  nivca  is  that  ol  detaining 
the  dibris  and  preventing  the  soil  from  being  washed  away. 
Without  in  any  way  detracting  from  the  ingenuity  and  prob- 
ability of  Mr.  Sowerby's  explanation,  it  can  hardly  be  admitted 
that  this  is  the  only  explanation  that  has  as  yet  been  proposed. 
The  peculiarities,  both  structural  and  physiological,  of  the  man- 
grove-vegetation of  the  swamps  of  the  Malayan  Archipelago 
have  been,  during  recent  years,  a  special  subject  of  investigation 
by  botanists  located  at  the  Botanical  Laboratory  at  Bnitenzoig  ; 
the  most  recent  and  most  important  addition  to  its  literature 
being  comprised  in  the  22nd  Heft  of  Luerssen  and  HaenlciB's 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


n 
O 


71 


"Bibliotheca  Botanica,"  illastrated  by  eleven  fine  plates,  by 
Herr  G.  Karsten.  Herr  Karsten  points  out  that,  in  addition  to 
the  obvious  mechanical  function  of  these  roots,  serving  as  a 
ittpporting  organ  to  attach  the  trees  more  firmly  to  the  very 
loose  soil  in  which  they  grow— this  is  especially  observable  in 
Rkmphora  mangle —xYitre  is  another  important  function  per- 
formed by  them,  at  least  in  a  large  namber  of  the  trees  which 
mtke  np  the  mangrove- vegetation,  though  I  do  not  recollect 
tbat  AvUennia  nivea  is  especially  mentioned.  In  the  species 
examined  by  Karsten,  these  aerial  roots  possess  very  large  inter- 
oellttlar  spaces,  which  serve  to  promote  the  interchange  of  gases ; 
and  be  considers  it  unquestionable  that  their  chief  function  is  to 
assist  respiration.  He  therefore  proposes  for  them  the  term 
"pneumatophores."  It  would  be  interesting  to  examine  the 
itrocluie  of  the  trees  at  the  Botanic  Garden  in  this  respect. 
All  mangrove-trees  also  contain  large  quantities  of  tannin,  which 
is  probably  serviceable  in  preventing  rotting. 
August  I.  Alfred  W.  Bennett. 

The  Tasnian  Sea. 

I  SEND  you  the  inclosed  copy  of  a  letter  from  the  Secretary 
of  the  Admiralty,  in  case  you  should  consider  the  matter  of 
sufficient  interest  for  notice  in  your  columns. 

A.  LivERSiDGE,  Permanent  Hon.  Sec. 
Australasian  Association  for  the  Advancement 

of  Science. 
The  University,  Sydney,  July  4. 

Admiralty^  May  19,  189 1. 

Sir, — With  reference  to  your  letter  of  March  17,  forwarding 
copy  of  a  resolution  passed  by  the  Australasian  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  the  meeting  held  at  Christchurch, 
New  Zealand,  that  the  name  of  Tasman  Sea  should  be  given  to 
the  sea  between  New  Zealand  and  the  blands  of  the  north-wen 
of  New  Zealand  on  the  one  hand  and  Australia  and  Tasmania 
on  the  other,  I  am  commanded  by  my  Lords  Commissioners  of 
the  Admiralty  to  acquaint  you  that  the  name  will  be  inserted  in 
Admiralty  charts  and  other  publications. 

I  am.  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Evan  MacGregor. 
To  Prof.  Liversidge,  M.A.,  F.R.S., 
The  University,  Sydney. 

Reduplication  of  Seasonal  Growth. 

Last  summer  I  sent  you  a  note  on  the  occurrence  of  apple- 
blossoms  and  the  blossoms  of  the  mountain  ash  in  July.  Before 
me  now,  as  I  write,  is  a  simple  but  elegant  bouquet  containing 
a  beautiful  and  fragrant  corymb  of  the  latter  tree  in  full  flower, 
side  by  side  with  one  of  the  ripe  scarlet  fruit,  which  the  black- 
birds have  begun  to  devour.  These  were  cut  from  one  and  the 
self-same  tree  this  morning  at  the  top  of  my  garden  ;  while  from 
an  adjoining  tree  was  gathered  a  twig  carrying  four  pinnate 
leaves  from  which  all  the  chlorophyll  has  disappeared ;  the 
phenomena  which  mark  the  beginnmg  and  the  end  of  the  season 
thus  appearing  side  by  side.  These  trees  grows  on  the  Upper 
Bagshot  Sands,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  reduplication  of 
seasonal  growth  is  due  to  the  later  rains  developing  some  centres 
of  flowering  energy  in  the  plant,  which  had  remained  dormant 
during  the  spring  owing  to  deficiency  of  moisture  and  warmth. 

Wellington  College,  Berks,  August  17.  A.  Irving. 

Rain-gauges. 

I  HAVE  been  using  the  ordinary  Symonds  pattern  rain-gauge, 
but  find  that  the  percentage  of  rain  collected  varies  in  propor- 
tion to  the  strength  of  the  wind ;  when  this  is  moderately 
strong,  almost  the  whole  of  the  rain  passes  across  the  top, 
striking  and  being  retained  by  vertical  surfaces  only. 

The  present  method  of  estimating  the  rainfall  is  far  from 
being  either  correct  or  uniform,  and  I  should  like  to  ascertain  if 
any  gauge  has  been  made  with  a  correctly-proportioned  inverted 
cone,  which  will  collect  and  compensate  tor  side  drive ;  and,  if 
so,  what^  are  the  correct  proportions.  It  would  appear  that 
either  this,  or  a  funnel  mounted  on  gimbals  and  balanced  to  face 
the  wind  at  the  correct  angle,  must  be  the  only  correct  method 
to  ascertain  the  actual  rainfall.  The  present  apparatus  would 
appear  to  be  crude,  untrustworthy,  and  incapable  under  any 


conditions  in  practice  of  giving  results  which  are  at  all  trust- 
worthy. Thos.  Fletcher. 
Grappenhall  House,  Grappenhall,  near  Warrington, 

August  17. 

THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION, 

(from  our  correspondent.) 

Cardiff,  Wednesday  Morning. 
TTHE  preparations  of  the  Local  Committee  are  now  in 
-''      an  advanced  state,  and  members  of  the  Association 
are  beginning  to  arrive  in  considerable  numbers. 

A  change  has  been  made  in  th^  position  of  the  Recep- 
tion Room,  which  is  now  located  entirely  in  the  Drill 
Hall,  the  Town  Hall  having  had  to  be  abandoned  for  that 
purf>ose  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  making  adequate 
provision  for  the  accommodation  of  the  large  number  of 
guests  expected  The  Drill  Hall  is  a  large  building,  and 
has  been  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  screen,  which  also 
serves  the  purpose  of  a  notice-board.  On  the  entrance 
side  are  the  offices  for  various  purposes,  post  and  excur- 
sions ;  and  at  a  central  oval  counter,  all  other  requirements 
relating  to  tickets,  reserved  seats,  publications,  and  lodg- 
ings are  attended  to  by  a  numerous  stafT  of  clerks. 

Beyond  the  screen  the  hall  has  been  fitted  up  as  a 
drawing-room,  and  from  this  lead  off  smaller  rooms  for 
ladies,  the  press,  and  smokers.  Separated  from  the 
drawing-room  by  a  passage  is  the  gun-room,  from  which 
everything  has  been  removed,  and  tables  laid  down  so  as 
to  convert  it  into  a  dining-room. 

The  President's  address  will  be  given  in  the  Park 
Hall,  this  evening,  and  for  the  half-hour  of  waiting 
before  the  business  commences  Mr.  T.  £.  Aylward  will 
give  a  recital  upon  the  fine  organ  in  that  hall.  It  is 
understood  that  Lord  Bute,  as  Mayor  of  Cardiff,  will  at 
the  outset  welcome  the  Association  in  the  name  of  the 
town  of  Cardiff. 

The  conversazioni  will  also  be  g^ven  in  the  same 
hall,  and  from  8.30  to  9  p  m.,  Lord  Bute,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Local  Committee,  accompanied  by  Lady  Bute, 
will  receive  the  guests.  At  9.30  p.m.  an  exhibition  of 
views  will  be  given  by  the  lime-light,  amongst  them  some 
fine  ones,  by  Mr.  M.  Stirrup,  of  the  limestone  region  of 
Languedoc.  Amongst  other  attractions  will  be  taking 
impressions  of  finger-tips,  by  Sergeant  Randall  (Mr.  F. 
Gallon's  assistant) ;  a  model  of  the  moon,  sh  own  by  the 
Astronomer-Royal  of  Scotland ;  drawings  in  black  and 
white  of  the  Himalayas,  by  Col.  Tanner  ;  a  collection  of 
old  local  maps  and  atlases,  by  Mr.  O.  H.  Jones;  the 
Eisteddfod  concert  given  at  Swansea  transmitted  by 
telephone,  by  Mr.  Gavey ;  and  numerous  other  objects 
of  interest. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  for  military  and  vocal 
music. 

No  alteration  has  been  made  in  the  Section  rooms 
from  that  mentioned  in  our  former  article. 

The  publications  of  the  Local  Committee  are  ready  for 
distribution,  and  comprise  the  local  hand-book  of  240 
pages  dealing  with  the  archaeology  of  the  land  of  Moigan, 
the  education,  botany,  geology,  industries,  and  topo- 
graphy of  Cardiff ;  the  excursions-guide  containing  a  map 
of  the  district  on  a  scale  of  four  miles  to  the  inch,  and 
two  maps  on  a  larger  scale,  one  of  the  Bute  Docks,  and 
the  other  of  the  Barry  Dock.  The  excursions  number 
twenty  in  all  —twelve  are  arranged  for  Saturday,  the  22nd, 
and  eight  for  Thursday,  the  27th  ;  and  moderately  detailed 
descriptions  of  each  are  given  in  the  guide  to  the 
excursions. 

The  local  programme,  and  the  list  of  lodgings  and 
hotels,  are  the  remaining  publications  of  the  Committee. 
The  total  number  of  members  of  all  classes  who  have 
taken  out  tickets  for  the  meeting  was,  at  6  p.m.  yesterday^ 
over  900. 
The  President's  address  is  as  follows  : — 


NO.   1 1 38,  VOL.  44] 


372 


NA  TURE 


[August  20.  1891 


Inaugural  Address  by  William  Huggins,  Esq.,  D.C.L. 
(OxoN.),  LL.D.  (Cantab.,  Edin.,  et  Dubl.),  Ph.D. 
(LuGD.  Bat.),  F.R.S.,  F.R.A.S.,  Hon.  F.R.S.E.,  &c., 
Correspondantde  l'Institutde  France,  President. 

It  is  DOW  many  years  since  this  Association  has  done  honour 
to  the  science  of  Astronomy  in  the  selection  of  its  President. 

Since  Sir  George  Airy  occupied  the  chair  in  185 1,  and  the 
late  Lord  Wrottesley  nine  years  later,  in  i860,  other  sciences 
have  been  represented  by  the  distinguished  men  who  have 
presided  over  your  meetings. 

The  very  remarkable  discoveries  in  our  knowledge  of  the 
heavens  which  have  taken  place  during  this  period  of  thirty 
years — one  of  amazing  and  ever-increasing  activity  in  all 
branches  of  science — have  not  passed  unnotic^  in  the  addresses 
of  your  successive  Presidents  ;  still  it  seems  to  me  fitting  that  I 
should  speak  to  you  to-night  chiefly  of  those  newer  methods  of 
astronomical  research  which  have  led  to  those  discoveries,  and 
which  have  become  possible  by  the  introduction  since  i860  into 
the  observatory  of  the  spectroscope  and  the  modem  photographic 
plate. 

In  1866  I  had  the  honour  of  bringing  before  this  Association, 
at  one  of  the  evening  lectures,  an  account  of  the  first-fruits  of 
the  novel  and  unexpected  advances  in  our  knowledge  of  the 
celestial  bodies  which  followed  rapidly  upon  Kirchhoff^  original 
work  on  the  solar  spectrum  and  the  interpretation  of  its  lines. 

Since  that  time  a  great  harvest  has  been  gathered  in  the  same 
field  by  many  reapers.  Spectroscopic  astronomy  has  become  a 
distinct  and  acknowledged  branch  of  the  science,  possessing  a 
large  literature  of  its  own  and  observatories  specially  devoted  to 
it.  The  more  recent  discovery  of  the  gelatine  dry  plate  has 
given  a  further  great  impetus  to  this  modem  side  of  astronomy, 
and  has  opened  a  pathway  into  the  unknown  of  which  even  an 
enthusiast  thirty  years  ago  would  scarcely  have  dared  to  dream. 

In  no  science,  perhaps,  does  the  sober  statement  of  the  results 
which  have  been  achieved  appeal  so  strongly  to  the  imagination, 
and  make  so  evident  the  almost  boundless  powers  of  the  mind  of 
man.  By  means  of  its  light  alone  to  analyze  the  chemical 
nature  of  a  far  distant  body  ;  to  be  able  to  reason  about  its 
present  state  in  relation  to  the  past  and  future;  to  measure 
within  an  English  mile  or  less  per  second  the  otherwise  invisible 
motion  which  it  may  have  towards  or  from  us  ;  to  do  more,  to 
make  even  that  which  is  darkness  to  our  eyes  light,  and  from 
vibrations  which  our  organs  of  sight  are  powerless  to  perceive 
to  evolve  a  revelation  in  which  we  see  mirrored  some  of  the 
stages  through  which  the  stars  may  pass  in  their  slow  evolutional 
progress — surely  the  record  of  such  achievements,  however  poor 
the  form  of  words  in  which  they  may  be  described,  is  worthy  to 
be  regarded  as  the  scientific  epic  of  the  present  century. 

I  do  not  purpose  to  attempt  a  survey  of  the  progress  of  spec- 
troscopic astronomy  from  its  birth  at  Heidelberg  in  1859,  but  to 
point  out  what  we  do  know  at  present,  as  distinguished  from 
what  we  do  not  know,  of  a  few  only  of  its  more  important  prob- 
lems, giving  a  prominent  place,  in  accordance  with  the  traditions 
of  this  chair,  to  the  work  of  the  last  year  or  two. 

In  the  spectroscope  itself  advances  have  been  made  by  Lord 
Rayleigh  by  his  discussion  of  the  theory  of  the  instrument,  and 
by  Prof.  Rowland  in  the  construction  of  concave  gratings. 

Lord  Rayleigh  has  shown  that  theie  is  not  the  necessary  con- 
nection, sometimes  supposed,  between  dispersion  and  resolving 
power,  as  besides  the  prism  or  grating  other  details  of  construc- 
tion and  of  adjustment  of  a  spectroscope  must  be  taken  into 
account. 

The  resolving  power  of  the  prismatic  spectroscope  is  propor- 
tional to  the  length  of  path  in  the  dispersive  medium.  For  the 
heavy  flint  glass  used  in  Lord  Rayleigh's  experiments,  the  thick- 
ness necessary  to  resolve  the  sodium  lines,  came  out  i  *02  cm. 
If  this  be  taken  as  a  unit,  the  resolving  power  of  a  prism  of 
similar  glass  will  be  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  sodium  lines 
equal  to  the  number  of  centimetres  of  its  thickness.  In  other 
parts  of  the  spectrum  the  resolving  power  will  vary  inversely  as 
the  third  power  of  the  wave-length,  so  that  it  will  be  eight 
times  as  great  in  the  violet  as  in  the  red.  The  resolving  power 
of  a  spectroscope  is  therefore  proportional  to  the  total  thickness 
of  the  dispersive  material  in  use,  irrespective  of  the  number,  the 
angles,  or  the  setting  of  the  separate  prisms  into  which,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience,  it  may  be  distributed. 

The  resolving  power  of  a  grating  depends  upon  the  total 
number  of  lines  on  its  surface,  and  the  order  of  spectrum  in 

NO.    II 38,  VOL.  44] 


use ;  about  looo  lines  being  necessary  to  resolve  the  sodinm 
lines  in  the  first  spectrum. 

As  it  is  often  of  importance  in  the  record  of  observations  to 
state  the  efficiency  of  the  spectroscope  with  which  they  were 
made,  Prof.  Schuster  has  proposed  the  use  of  a  unit  of  purity 
as  well  as  of  resolving  power,  for  the  full  resolving  power  of  a 
spectroscope  is  realized  in  practice  only  when  a  sufficiently  nainnr 
slit  is  used.  The  unit  of  purity  also  is  to  stand  for  the  separa- 
tion of  two  lines  differing  by  one-thousandth  of  their  own  wave- 
length ;  about  the  separation  of  the  sodium  pair  at  D. 

A  further  limitation  may  come  in  from  the  physiological  £act 
that,  as  Lord  Rayleigh  has  pointed  out,  the  eye,  when  its  fall 
aperture  is  used,  is  not  a  perfect  instrament.  If  we  wish  to 
realize  the  full  resolving  power  of  a  spectroscope,  therefore,  tie 
emergent  beam  must  not  be  larger  than  about  one-third  of  the 
opening  of  the  pupil. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  standard  of  reference  for  nearly  all 

spectroscopic  work  continues  to  be  Angstrom's  map  of  the 
solar  spectrum,  and  his  scale  based  upon  his  original  determina- 
tions of  absolute  wave-length.  It  is  well  known,  as  was  pointed 
out  by  Thalen  in  his  work  on  the  spectrum  of  iron,  in  1S84,  that 

Angstrom's  figures  are  slightly  too  small,  in  consequence  of  aa 
error  existing  in  a  standard  metre  used  by  him.  The  corrections 
for  this  have  been  introduced  into  the  tables  of  the  wave-lengths 
of  terrestrial  spectra  collected  and  revised  by  a  Committee  of 
this  Association  from  1885  to  1887.  Last  year  the  Committee 
adedd  a  table  of  corrections  to  Rowland's  scale. 

The  inconvenience  caused  by  a  change  of  standard  scale  is, 
for  a  time  at  least,  considerable  ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that 
in  the  near  future  Rowland's  photographic  map  of  the  solar 
spectrum,  «ind  his  scale  based  on  the  deter mination^  of  absolute 
wave-length  by  Pierce  and  Bell,  or  the  Potsdam  scale  based  on 
original  determinations  by  Miiller  and  Kempf,  which  difiEeis 
very  slightly  from  it,  will  come  to  be  exclusively  adopted. 

The  great  accuracy  of  Rowland's  photographic  map  is  doc 
chiefly  to  the  introduction  by  him  of  concave  gratings,  and  of  a 
method  for  their  use  by  which  the  problem  of  the  determina- 
tion of  relative  wave-lengths  is  simplified  to  measures  of  coia- 
cidences  of  the  lines  in  different  spectra  by  a  micrometer. 

The  concave  grating  and  its  peculiar  mounting,  in  which  no 
lenses  or  telescope  are  needed,  and  in  which  all  the  spectra  are 
in  focus  together,  formed  a  new  departure  of  great  importance 
in  the  measurement  of  specrral  lines.  The  valuable  method  of 
photographic  sensitizers  for  different  parts  of  the  spectmm  has 
enabled  Prof.  Rowland  to  include  in  his  map  the  whole  visible 
solar  spectrum,  as  well  as  the  ultra-violet  portion  as  far  as  it  can 
get  through  our  atmosphere.  Some  recent  photographs  of  the 
solar  spectrum,  which  [include  A,  by  Mr.  George  Higgs,  are  of 
great  technical  beauty. 

During  the  past  year  the  results  of  three  independent  re- 
searches have  appeared,  in  which  the  special  object  of  the  ob- 
servers has  been  to  distinguish  the  lines  which  are  due  to  our 
atmosphere  from  those  which  are  truly  solar — ^the  maps  of  M. 
ThoUon,  which,  owing  to  his  lamented  death  just  before  theff 
final  completion,  have  assumed  the  character  of  a  memorial  of 
him  ;  maps  by  Dr.  Becker ;  and  sets  of  photographs  of  a  h%fa 
and  a  low  sun  by  Mr.  McClean. 

At  the  meeting  of  this  Association  in  Bath,  M.  Janssen  ^ve 
an  account  of  his  own  researches  on  the  terrestrial  lines  of  the 
solar  spectrum  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  oxygen  of  oar 
atmosphere.  He  discovered  the  remarkable  fact  that,  while  ooe 
class  of  bands  varies  as  the  density  of  the  gas,  other  difilBse 
bands  vary  as  the  square  of  the  density.  These  observations 
are  in  accordance  with  the  work  of  Egoroff  and  of  Olssewski, 
and  of  Liveing  and  Dewar  on  condensed  oxygen.  In  some 
recent  experiments  Olszewski,  with  a  layer  of  liauid  oxygen 
30  millimetres  thick,  saw,  as  well  as  four  other  bands,  the  band 
coincident  with  Fraunhofer's  A ;  a  remarkable  instance  of  iIk 
persistence  of  absorption  through  a  great  range  of  tempeialiire. 
The  light  which  passed  through  the  liquid  oxygen  had  a  light 
blue  colour  resembling  that  of  the  sky. 

Of  not  less  interest  are  the  experiments  of  Knut  Angstrom, 
which  show  that  the  carbonic  acid  and  aqueous  vapour  of  the 
atmosphere  reveal  their  presence  by  dark  bands  in  the  invisible 
infra-red  region,  at  the  positions  of  bands  of  emission  of  these 
substances. 

It  is  now  some  thirty  years  since  the  spectroscope  gave  ns  ixs 
the  first  time  certain  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  revealed  the  fundamental  fact  that  terrestrial  matter 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


373 


is  not  peculiar  to  the  solar  system,  but  is  common  to  all  the  stars 
which  are  visible  to  us. 

In  the  case  of  a  star  such  as  Capella,  which  has  a  spectrum 
almost  identical  with  that  of  the  sun,  we  feel  justified  in  con- 
clading  that  the  matter  of  which  it  is  built  up  is  similar,  and 
that  its  temperature  is  also  high,  and  not  very  different  from  the 
solar  temperature.  The  task  of  analyzing  the  stars  and  nebulae 
becomes,  however,  one  of  very  ereat  difficulty  when  we  have  to 
do  with  spectra  diffenng  from  the  solar  type.  We  are  thrown 
back  upon  the  laboratory  for  the  information  necessary  to  enable 
OS  to  interpret  the  indications  of  the  spectroscope  as  to  the 
chemical  nature,  the  density  and  pressure,  and  the  temperature 
of  the  celestial  masses. 

What  the  spectroscope  immediately  reveals  to  us  are  the 
waves  which  were  set  up  in  the  ether  filling  all  interstellar  space, 
jears  or  hundreds  of  years  ago,  by  the  motions  of  the  molecules 
of  the  celestial  substances.     As  a  rule,  it  is  only  when  a  body 
is  gaseous  and  sufficiently  hot  that  the  motions  within  its  mole- 
cules can  produce  bright  lines  and  a  corresponding  absorption. 
The  spectra  of  the  heavenly  bodies  are,  indeed,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent absorption  spectra,  but  we  have  usually  to  study  them 
through  the  corresponding  emission  spectra  of  bodies  brought 
into  the  gaseous  form  and  rendered  luminous  by  means  of  flames 
or  of  electric  discharges.     In  both  cases,  unfortunately,  as  has 
been  shown  recently  by  Profs.  Liveing  and  Dewar,  Wullner, 
£.  Wiedemann,  and  others,  there  appears  to  be  no  certain  direct 
relation  between  the  luminous  radiation  as  shown  in  the  spectro- 
scope and  the  temperature  of  the  flame,  or  of  the  gaseous 
contents  of  the  vacuum  tube — that  is,  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
term  as  applied  to  the  mean  motion  of  all  the  molecules.     In 
both  cases,  the  vibratory  motions  within  the  molecules  to  which 
their  luminosity  is  due  are  almost  always  much  greater  than 
would  be  produced  by  encounters  of  molecules  having  motions 
of  translation   no   greater  than    the    average    motions    which 
characterize  the  temperature  of  the  gases  as  a  whole.     The 
temperature  of  a  vacuum  tube  through  which  an  electric  dis- 
charge is  taking  place  may  be  low,  as  shown  by  a  thermometer, 
quite  apart  from  the  consideration  of  the  extreme  smallness  of 
the  mass  of  gas,  but  the  vibrations  of  the  luminous  molecules 
roost  be  violent  in  whatever  way  we  suppose  them  to  be  set  up 
by  the  discharge  ;  if  we  take  Schuster's  view  that  comparatively 
few  molecules  are  carrying  the   discharge,  and  that  it  is  to  the 
fierce  encounters  of  these  alone  that  the  luminosity  is  due,  then 
if  all  the  molecules  had  similar  motions,  the  temperature  of  the 
gas  would  be  very  high. 

So  in  flames  where  chemical  changes  are  in  progress,  the 
vibratory  motions  of  the  molecules  which  are  luminous  may  be, 
in  connection  with  the  energy  set  free  in  these  changes,  very 
different  from  those  corresponding  to  the  mean  temperature  of 
the  flame. 

Under  the  ordinary  conditions  of  terrestrial  experiments, 
therefore,  the  temperature  or  the  mean  -vis  viva  of  the  molecules 
may  have  no  direct  relation  to  the  total  radiation,  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  the  sum  of  the  radiation  due  to  each  luminous 
molecule. 

These  phenomena  have  recently  been  discussed  by  Ebert  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  electro-magnetic  theory  of  light. 

Very  great  caution  is  therefore  called  for  when  we  attempt  to 
reason  by  the  nid  of  laboratory  experiments  to  the  temperature 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  from  their  radiation,  especially  on  the 
reasonable  assumption  that  in  them  the  luminosity  is  not  ordin- 
arily associated  with  chemical  changes  or  with  electrical  dis- 
charges ;  but  is  due  to  a  simple  glowing  from  the  ultimate  con- 
version into  molecular  moiion  of  the  gravitational  energy  of 
shrinkage. 

In  a  recent  paper  Stas  maintains  that  electric  spectra  are 
to  be  regarded  as  distinct  from  flame  spectra,  and  from 
researdies  of  his  own,  that  the  pairs  of  lines  of  the  sodium  spec- 
trum other  than  D  are  produced  only  by  disruptive  electric  dis- 
charges. As  these  pairs  of  lines  are  found  reversed  in  the  solar 
spectrum,  he  concludes  that  the  sun's  radiation  is  due  mainly  to 
electric  discharges.  But  Wolf  and  Diacon,  and  later.  Watts, 
observed  the  other  pairs  of  lines  of  the  sodium  spectrum  when 
the  vapour  was  raised  above  the  ordinary  temperature  of  the 
Bunsen  flame.  Recently,  Liveing  and  Dewar  saw  easily,  be- 
sides D,  the  citron  and  green  pairs,  and  sometimes  the  blue  pair 
and  the  orange  pair,  when  hydrogen  charged  with  sodium  vapour 
was  burning  at  different  pressures  in  oxygen.  In  the  case  of 
lodium  vapour,  therefore,  and  presumably  in  all  other  vapours 
and  gases,  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  the  necessary 


NO.    II 38,  VOL.  44] 


vibratory  motion  of  the  molecules  is  produced  by  electric  dis- 
cbarges or  by  flames.  The  presence  of  lines  in  the  solar  spec- 
trum which  we  can  only  produce  electrically,  is  an  indication, 
however,  as  Stas  points  out,  of  the  high  temperature  of  the 
sun. 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  light  from  the  heavenly  bodies 
may  consist  of  the  combined  radiations  of  different  layers  of  gas 
at  different  temperatures,  and  possibly  be  further  complicated  to 
an  unknown  extent  by  the  absorption  of  cooler  portions  of  gas 
outside. 

Not  less  caution  is  needed  if  we  endeavour  to  argue  from  the 
broadening  of  lines  and  the  coming  in  of  a  continuous  spectrum 
as  to  the  relative  pressure  of  the  gas  in  the  celestial  atmospheres. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  in  the  laboratory 
the  widening  of  the  lines  in  a  Plucker's  tube  follows  upon  in- 
creasing the  density  of  the  residue  of  hydrogen  in  the  tube,  when 
the  vibrations  are  more  frequently  disturbed  by  fresh  encounters, 
and  that  a  broadening  of  the  sodium  lines  in  a  flame  at  ordinary 
pressure  is  produced  by  an  increase  of  the  quantity  of  sodium  in 
the  flame  ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  pressure,  as  distinguished  from 
quantity,  does  produce  an  increase  of  the  breadth  of  the  lines. 
An  individual  molecule  of  sodium  will  be  sensibly  in  the  same 
condition,  considering  the  relatively  enormous  number  of  the 
molecules  of  the  other  gases,  whether  the  flame  is  scantily  or 
copiously  fed  with  the  f odium  salt.  With  a  small  quantity  of 
sodium  vapour  the  intensity  will  be  feeble  except  near  the 
maximum  of  the  lines ;  when,  however,  the  quantity  is  increased, 
the  comparative  transparency  on  the  sides  of  the  maximum  will 
allow  the  light  from  the  additional  molecules  met  with  in  the 
path  of  the  visual  ray  to  strengthen  the  radiation  of  the  mole- 
cules farther  back,  and  so  increase  the  breadth  of  the  lines. 

In  a  gaseous  mixture  it  is  found,  as  a  rule,  that  at  the  same 
pressure  or  temperature,  as  the  encounters  with  similar  molecules 
become  fewer,  the  spectral  lines  will  be  affected  as  if  the  body 
were  observed  under  conditions  of  reduced  quantity  or  tem- 
perature. 

In  their  recent  investigation  of  the  spectroscopic  behaviour  of 
flames  under  various  pressures  up  to  forty  atmospheres,  Profs.  Live- 
ing and  Dewar  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  though  the  pro- 
minent feature  of  the  light  emitted  by  flames  at  high  pressure 
appears  to  be  a  strong  continuous  spectrum,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  indication  that  this  continuous  spectrum  is  produced  by 
the  broadening  of  the  lines  of  the  same  gases  at  low  pressure. 
On  the  contrary,  photometric  observations  of  the  brightness  of 
the  continuous  spectrum,  as  the  pressure  is  varied,  show  that  it 
is  mainly  produced  by  the  mutual  action  of  the  molecules  of  a 
gas.  Experiments  on  the  sodium  spectrum  were  carried  up  to  a 
pressure  of  forty  atmospheres  without  producing  any  definite 
effect  on  the  width  of  the  lines  which  could  be  ascribed  to  the 
pressure.  In  a  similar  way  the  lines  of  the  spectrum  of  water 
showed  no  signs  of  expansion  up  to  twelve  atmospheres  ;  though 
more  intense  than  at  ordinary  pressure,  they  remained  narrow 
and  clearly  defined. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  a  continuous  spectrum  cannot  be 
considered,  when  taken  alone,  as  a  sure  indication  of  matter  in 
the  liquid  or  the  solid  state.  Not  only,  as  in  the  experiments 
already  mentioned,  such  a  spectrum  may  be  due  to  gas  when 
under  pressure,  but,  as  Maxwell  pointed  out,  if  the  thickness  of 
a  medium,  such  as  sodium  vapour,  which  radiates  and  absorbs 
different  kinds  of  light,  be  very  great,  and  the  temperature  high, 
the  light  emitted  will  be  of  exactly  the  same  composition  as  that 
emitted  by  lamp-black  at  the  same  temperature,  for  the  radia- 
tions which  are  feebly  emitted  will  be  also  feebly  absorbed,  and 
can  reach  the  surface  from  immense  depths.  Schuster  has  shown 
that  oxygen,  even  in  a  partially  exhausted  tube,  can  give  a  con- 
tinuous spectrum  when  excited  by  a  feeble  electric  discharge. 

Compound  bodies  are  usually  distinguished  by  a  banded  spec- 
trum ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  such  a  spectrum  does  not  neces- 
sarily show  the  presence  of  compounds — ^that  is,  of  molecules 
containing  different  kinds  of  atoms — but  simply  of  a  more  com- 
plex molecule,  which  may  be  made  up  of  similar  atoms,  and  be, 
therefore,  an  allotropic  condition  of  the  same  body.  In  some 
cases — for  example,  in  the  diffuse  bands  of  the  absorption  spec- 
trum of  oxygen — the  bands  may  have  an  intensity  proportional 
to  the  square  of  the  density  of  the  gas,  and  may  be  due  either 
to  the  formation  of  more  complex  molecules  of  the  gas  with  in- 
crease of  pressure,  or  it  may  be  to  the  constraint  to  which  the 
molecules  are  subject  during  their  encounter  with  one  another. 

It  may  be  thought  that  at  least  in  the  coincidences  of  bright 
lines  we  are  on  the  solid  ground  of  certainty,  Fince  the  length  of 

K  2 


374 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


the  waves  set  up  io  the  ether  by  a  molecule,  say  of  hydrogen,  is 
the  most  fixed  and  absolutely  permanent  quantity  in  nature, 
and  b  so  of  physical  necessity,  for  with  any  alteration  the  mole- 
cule would  cease  to  be  hydrogen. 

Such  would  be  the  case  if  the  coincidence  were  certain  ;  but 
an  absolute  coincidence  can  be  only  a  matter  of  greater  or  less 
probability,  dep>ending  on  the  resolving  power  employed,  on  the 
number  of  the  lines  which  correspond,  and  on  their  characters. 
When  the  coincidences  are  very  numerous,  as  in  the  case  of  iron 
and  the  solar  spectrum,  or  the  lines  are  characteristically 
grouped,  as  in  the  case  of  hydrogen  and  the  solar  spectrum,  we 
may  regard  the  coincidence  as  certain  ;  but  the  progress  of 
science  has  been  greatly  retarded  by  resting  important  conclu- 
sions upon  the  apparent  coincidence  of  single  lines,  in  spectro- 
scopes of  very  small  resolving  power.  In  such  cases,  unless 
other  reasons  supporting  the  coincidence  are  present,  the  prob- 
ability of  a  real  coincidence  is  alTost  too  small  to  be  of  any 
importance,  especially  in  the  case  of  a  heavenly  body  which  may 
have  a  motion  of  approach  or  of  recession  of  unknown  amount. 

But  even  here  we  are  met  by  the  confusion  introduced  by 
multiple  spectra,  corresponding  to  different  molecular  groupings 
of  the  same  substance  ;  and,  further,  to  the  influence  of  sub- 
stances in  vapour  upon  each  other  ;  for  when  several  gases  are 
present  together,  the  phenomena  cf  radiation  and  reversal  by 
absorption  are  by  no  means  the  same  as  if  the  gases  were  free 
from  each  other's  influence,  and  especially  is  this  the  case  when 
they  are  illuminated  by  an  electric  discharge. 

I  have  said  as  much  as  time  will  permit,  and  I  think  indeed 
suflicient,  to  show  that  it  is  only  by  the  laborious  and  slow  pro- 
cess of  most  cautious  observation  that  the  foundations  of  the 
science  of  celestial  physics  can  be  surely  laid.  We  are  at  pre- 
sent in  a  time  of  transition,  when  the  earlier,  and,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  less  precise,  observations  are  giving  place  to  work  of 
an  order  of  accuracy  much  greater  than  was  formerly  considered 
attainable  with  objects  of  such  small  brightness  as  the  stars. 

The  accuracy  of  the  earlier  determinations  of  the  spectra  of 
the  terrestrial  elements  are  in  most  cases  insufficient  for  modern 
work  on  the  stars  as  well  as  on  the  sun.  They  fall  much  below 
the  scale  adopted  in  Rowland's  map  of  the  sun,  as  well  as  below 
the  decree  of  accuracy  attained  at  Potsdam  by  photography  in  a 
part  of  the  spectrum  for  the  brighter  stars.  Increase  of  resolv- 
ing power  very  frequently  breaks  up  into  groups,  in  the  spectra 
of  the  sun  and  stars,  the  lines  which  had  been  regarded  as 
single,  and  their  supposed  coincidences  with  terrestrial  lines  fall 
to  the  ground.  For  this  reason  many  of  the  early  conclusions, 
based  on  observation  as  good  as  it  was  possible  to  make  at  the 
time  with  the  less  powerful  spectroscopes  then  in  use,  may  not 
be  found  to  be  maintained  under  the  much  greater  resolving 
power  of  modem  instruments. 

The  spectroscope  has  failed  as  yet  to  interpret  for  us  the  re- 
markable spectrum  of  the  Aurora  Borealis.  Undoubtedly  in 
this  i>henomenon  portions  of  our  atmosphere  are  lighted  up  by 
electric  discharges :  we  should  expect,  therefore,  to  recognize 
the  spectra  of  the  gases  known  to  be  present  in  it.  As  yet  we 
have  not  been  able  to  obtain  similar  spectra  from  these  gases 
artificially,  and  especially  we  do  not  know  the  origin  of  the 
principal  line  in  the  green,  which  often  appears  alone,  and  may 
have,  therefore,  an  origin  independent  of  that  of  the  other  lines. 
Recently  the  suggestion  has  been  made  that  the  aurora  is  a  phe- 
nomenon produced  by  the  dust  of  meteors  and  falling  stars,  and 
that  near  positions  of  certain  auroral  lines  or  flutings  of  man- 
ganese, lead,  barium,  thallium,  iron,  &c.,  are  sufficient  to  justify 
us  in  regarding  meteoric  dust  in  the  atmosphere  as  the  origin  of 
the  auroral  spectrum.  Liveing  and  Dewar  have  made  a  con- 
clusive research  on  this  point,  by  availing  themselves  of  the 
dust  of  excessive  minuteness  thrown  oiF  from  the  surface  of 
electrodes  of  various  metals  and  meteorites  by  a  disruptive  dis- 
charge, and  carried  forward  into  the  tube  of  observation  by  a 
more  or  less  rapid  current  of  air  or  other  gas.  These  experiments 
prove  that  metallic  dust,  however  fine,  suspended  in  a  gas  will 
not  act  like  gaseous  matter  in  becoming  luminous  with  its 
characteristic  spectrum  in  an  electric  dischai^e  similar  to  that  of 
the  aurora.  Prof.  Schuster  has  suggested  that  the  principal 
line  may  be  due  to  some  very  light  gas  which  is  present  in  too 
small  a  proportion  to  be  detected  by  chemical  analysis  or  even 
by  the  spectroscope  in  the  presence  of  the  other  gases  near  the 
earth,  but  which  at  the  height  of  the  auroral  discharges  is  in 
a  sufficiently  greater  relative  proportioi  to  give  a  spectrum. 
X.emstrom,  indeed,  states  that  he  saw  thb  line  in  the  silent  dis- 

NO.    1  I  38,  VOL.  44] 


charge  of  a  Holtz  machine  on  a  mountain  in  Lapland.  The  lines 
may  not  have  been  obtained  in  our  laboratories  from  the  atmo- 
spheric gases  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  reproducing  in  tubes 
with  sufncient  nearness  the  conditions  under  which  the  aorotal 
discharges  take  place. 

In  the  spectra  of  comets  the  spectroscope  has  shown  the 
presence  of  carbon  presumably  in  combination  with  hydrogen, 
and  also  sometimes  with  nitrogen  ;  and  in  the  case  of  comets 
approaching  very  near  the  sun,  the  lines  of  sodium,  and  other 
lines  which  have  been  supposed  to  belong  to  iron.  Though  the 
researches  of  Prof  II.  A.  Newton  and  of  Prof  Schiaparelli 
leave  no  doubt  of  the  close  connection  of  comets  with  corre- 
sponding periodic  meteor  swarms,  and  therefore  of  the  probable 
identity  of  cometary  matter  with  that  of  meteorites,  with  which 
the  spectroscopic  evidence  agrees,  it  would  be  perhaps  unwise 
at  present  to  attempt  to  define  too  precisely  the  exact  conditioD 
of  the  matter  which  forms  the  nucleus  of  the  comet.  In  any  case 
the  part  of  the  light  of  the  comet  which  is  not  reflected  solar 
light  can  scarcely  be  attributed  to  a  high  temperature  produced 
by  the  clashing  of  separate  meteoric  stones  set  up  within  the 
nucleus  by  the  sun's  disturbing  force.  We  must  look  rather  ti 
disruptive  electric  discharges,  produced  probably  by  processes  oi 
evaporation  due  to  increased  solar  heat,  which  would  be  amply 
sufficient  to  set  free  portions  of  the  occluded  gases  into  the 
vacuum  of  space.  May  it  be  that  these  discharges  are  assuted, 
and  indeed  possibly  increased,  by  the  recently  discovered  acti«)Q 
of  the  ultra-violet  part  of  the  sun's  light  ?  Lenard  and  Wolfe 
have  shown  that  ultra-violet  light  can  produce  a  discharge  from 
a  negatively  electrified  piece  of  metal,  while  Hallwachs  and 
Righi  have  shown  further  that  ultra-violet  light  can  even  cbaige 
positively  an  unelectrified  piece  of  metal.  Similar  actions  on 
cometary  matter,  unscreened  as  it  is  by  an  absorptive  atmo- 
sphere, at  least  of  any  noticeable  extent,  may  well  be  powcrfol 
when  a  comet  approaches  the  sun,  and  help  to  explain  an 
electrified  condition  of  the  evaporated  matter  which  voakl 
possibly  bring  it  under  the  sun  s  repulsive  action.  We  shall 
have  to  return  to  this  point  in  speaking  of  the  solar  corona. 

A  very  great  advance  has  been  made  in  our  knowledge  of  the 
constitution  of  the  sun  by  the  recent  work  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  by  means  of  photography  and  concave  gratings,  in 
comparing  the  solar  spectrum,  under  great  resolving  power, 
directly  with  the  spectra  of  the  terrestrial  elements.  Prof. 
Rowland  has  shown  that  the  lines  of  thirty-six  terrestrial 
elements  at  lea^t  are  certainly  present  in  the  solar  spectrum, 
while  eight  others  are  doubtful.  Fifteen  elements,  indadiog 
nitrogen  as  it  shows  itself  under  an  electric  discharge  in  a 
vacuum  tube,  have  not  been  found  in  the  solar  spectrum. 
Some  ten  other  elements,  inclusive  of  oxygen,  have  not  yet  beea 
compared  with  the  sun's  spectrum. 

Rowland  remarks  that  of  the  fifteen  elements  named  as  not 
found  in  the  sun,  many  are  so  classed  because  they  have  fev 
strong  lines,  or  none  at  all,  in  the  limit  of  the  solar  spectmm  as 
compared  by  him  with  the  arc.  Boron  has  only  two  strong  lines. 
The  lines  of  bismuth  are  compound  and  too  diffuse.  Therefore 
even  in  the  case  of  these  fifteen  elements  there  is  little  evideooe 
that  they  are  really  absent  from  the  sun. 

It  follows  that  if  the  whole  earth  were  heated  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  sun,  its  spectrum  would  resemble  very  closely  the 
solar  spectrum. 

Rowland  has  not  found  any  lines  common  to  several  elements, 
and  in  the  case  of  some  accidental  coincidences,  more  accoraie 
investigation  reveals  some  slight  difference  of  wave-length  or  a 
common  impurity.  Further,  the  relative  strength  of  the  lines  is 
the  solar  spectrum  is  generally,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  sane 
as  that  in  the  electric  arc,  so  that  Rowland  considers  that  his 
experiments  show  "very  little  evidence"  of  the  breaking  ap  of 
the  terrestrial  elements  in  the  sun. 

Stas  in  a  recent  paper  gives  the  final  results  of  eleven  years  ot 
research  on  the  chemical  elements  in  a  state  of  purity,  and  oc 
the  possibility  of  decomposing  them  by  the  ph3rsical  and  chemica! 
forces  at  our  disposal.  His  experiments  on  calcium,  stFOotios. 
lithium,  magnesium,  silver,  sodium,  and  thallium,  show  that  these 
substances  retain  their  individuality  under  all  conditions,  and  aie 
unalterable  by  any  forces  that  we  can  bring  to  bear  opoa 
them. 

Prof  Rowland  looks  to  the  solar  lines  which  are  unaccounted 
for  as  a  means  of  enabling  him  to  discover  such  new  tecrestria' 
elements  as  still  lurk  in  rare  minerals  and  earths,  by  confroo'is^ 
their  spectra  directly  with  that  of  the  sun.  He  has  alread) 
resolved  yttrium  spectroscopically  into  three  components. 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


375 


actually  into  two.  The  comparison  of  the  results  of  this  iade- 
pendent  analytical  method  with  the  remarkable  but  different 
conclusions  to  which  M.  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran  and  Mr.  Croakes 
have  been  led  respectively,  from  spectroscopic  observation  of 
these  bodies  when  glowing  under  molecular  bombardment  in  a 
vacuum  tube,  will  be  awatted  with  much  interest.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark  that,  as  our  knowledge  of  the  spectrum  of  hydrogen  in 
its  complete  form  came  to  us  from  the  stars,  it  is  now  from  the 
sun  that  chemistry  is  probably  about  to  be  enriched  by  the  dis- 
covery of  new  elements. 

In  a  discussion  in  the  Bakerian  Lecture  for  1885  of  what  we 
knew  up  to  that  time  of  the  sun's  corona,  I  was  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  corona  is  essentially  a  phenomenon  similar  in 
the  cause  of  its  formation  to  the  tails  of  comets — namely,  that  it 
consists  for  the  most*  part  probably  of  matter  going  from  the  sun 
under  the  action  of  a  force,  possibly  electrical,  which  varies  as 
ihe  surface,  and  can  therefore  in  the  case  of  highly  attenuated 
matter  easily  master  the  force  of  gravity  even  near  the  sun. 
Though  many  of  the  coronal  particles  may  return  to  the  sun, 
those  which  form  the  long  rays  or  streamers  do  not  return  ;  they 
separate  and  soon  become  too  difiused  to  be  any  longer  visible, 
and  may  well  go  to  furnish  the  matter  of  the  zodiacal  light,  which 
otherwise  has  not  received  a  satisfactory  explanation.  And 
further,  if  such  a  force  exist  at  the  sun,  the  changes  of  terrestrial 
magnetism  may  be  due  to  direct  electric  action,  as  the  earth 
moves  through  lines  of  inductive  force. 

These  conclusions  appear  to  be  in  accordance  broadly  with 
the  lines  along  which  thought  has  been  directed  by  the  results  of 
subsequent  eclipses.     ProL  Schuster  takes  an  essentially  similar 
view,  and  suggests  that  there  may  be  a  direct  electric  connection 
between  the  sun  and  the  planets.     He  asks  further  whether  the 
sun  ma^  not  act  h'ke  a  magnet  in  consequence  of  its  revolution 
about  Its  axis.     Prof.  Bigelow  has  recently  treated  the  coronal 
fonns  by  the  theory  of  spherical  harmonics,  on  the  sup(>osition 
that  we  see  phenomena  similar  to  those  of  free  electricity,  the 
rays  being  lines  of  force,  and  the  coronal  matter  discharged  from 
the  SQO,  or  at  least  arranged  or  controlled  by  these  forces.     At 
the  extremities   of  the  streams  for  some  reasons  the  repulsive 
power  may  be  lost,  and  gravitation  set  in,  bringing  the  matter 
back  to  the  sun.     The  matter  which  does  leave  the  sun  is  per* 
sbtently  transported  to  the  equatorial  plane  of  the  corona  ;  in 
fact,  the  zodiacal  light  may  be  the  accumulation  at  great  dis- 
tances from  the  sun  along  this  equator  of  such  like  material. 
Photographs  on  a  larger  scale   will  be  desirable  for  the  full 
development  of  the  conclusions  which  may  follow  from  this  study 
of  the  curved  forms  of  the  coronal  structure.     Prof.  Schaeberle, 
however,  considers  that  the  coronal  phenomena  may  be  satisfac- 
torily accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the  corona  is  formed 
of  streams  of  matter  ejected  mainly  from  the  spot  zones  with 
great  initial  velocities,  but  smaller  than  382  miles  per  second. 
Further  that  the  different  types  of  the  corona  are  due  to  the 
effects  of  perspective  on  the  streams  from  the  earth's  place  at  the 
time  relatively  to  the  plane  of  the  solar  equator. 

Of  the  physical  and  the  chemical  nature  of  the  coronal  matter 
we  know  very  little.  Schuster  conclndes,  from  an  examination 
of  the  eclipses  of  1S82,  1883,  and  1886,  that  the  continuous 
spectrum  of  the  corona  has  the  maximum  of  actinic  intensity  dis- 
placed considerably  towards  the  red  when  compared  with  the 
spectrum  of  the  sun,  which  shows  that  it  can  only  be  due  in 
small  part  to  solar  light  scattered  by  small  particles.  The  lines 
of  calcium  and  of  hydrogen  do  not  appear  to  form  part  of  the 
normal  spectrum  of  the  corona.  The  green  coronal  line  has  no 
Icnown  representative  in  terrestrial  substances,  nor  has  Schuster 
been  able  to  recognize  any  of  our  elements  in  the  other  lines  of 
the  corona. 

The  spectra  of  the  stars  are  almost  infinitely  diversified,  yet 
they  can  be  arranged  with  some  exceptions  in  a  series  in  which 
the  adjacent  spectra,  especially  in  the  photographic  region,  are 
scarcely  distinguishable,  passing  from  the  bluish-white  stars  like 
Sirius,  through  stars  more  or  less  solar  in  character,  to  stars  with 
banded  spectra,  which  divide  themselves  into  two  apparently 
independent  groups,  according  as  the  stronger  edge  of  the  bands 
is  towards  the  red  or  the  blue.  In  such  an  arrangement  the 
son's  place  is  towards  the  middle  of  the  series. 

At  present  a  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  direction  in 
the  series  in  which  evolution  is  proceeding,  whether  by  further 
condensation  white  stars  pass  into  the  orange  and  red  stages,  or 
whether  these  more  coloured  stars  are  younger  and  will  become 
white  by  increasing  age.  The  latter  view  was  suggested  by 
fohnstone  Stoncy  in  1867. 

NO.    I  138,  VOL.  44] 


About  ten  years  ago  Ritter  in  a  series  of  papers  discussed 
the  behaviour  of  gaseous  masses  during  condensation,  and  the 
probable  resulting  constitution  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Accord- 
ing  to  him,  a  star  passes  through  the  orange  and  red  stages 
twice :  first  during  a  comparatively  short  period  of  increasing 
temperature,  which  culminates  in  the  white  stage,  and  a  second 
time  during  a  more  prolonged  stage  of  gradual  cooling.  He 
suggested  that  the  two  groups  of  banded  stars  may  correspond 
to  these  diiTerent  periods  :  the  young  stars  being  those  in  which 
the  stronger  edge  of  the  dark  band  is  towards  the  blue,  the  other 
banded  stars,  which  are  relatively  less  luminous  and  few  in 
number,  being  those  which  are  approaching  extinction  through 
age. 

Recently  a  similar  evolutional  order  has  been  suggested,  which 
is  based  upon  the  hypothesis  that  the  nebulae  and  stars  consist 
of  colliding  meteoric  stones  in  different  stages  of  condensation. 

More  recently  the  view  has  been  put  forward  that  the  diversi- 
fied spectra  of  the  stars  do  not  represent  the  stages  of  an 
evolutional  progress,  but  are  due  for  the  most  part  to  differences 
of  original  constitution. 

The  few  minutes  which  can  be  given  to  this  part  of  the 
address  are  insufficient  for  a  discussion  of  these  different  views. 
I  purpose,  therefore,  to  state  briefly,  and  with  reserve,  as  the 
subject  is  obscure,  some  of  the  considerations  from  the  characters 
of  their  spectra  which  appeared  to  me  to  be  in  favour  of  the 
evolutional  order  in  which  I  arranged  the  stars  from  their  photo- 
graphic spectra  in  1879.  This  order  is  essentially  the  same  as 
Vogel  had  previously  proposed  in  his  classification  of  Jthe  stars 
in  1874,  in  which  the  white  stars,  which  are  most  numerous, 
represent  the  early  adult  and  most  persistent  stage  of  stellar  life  ; 
the  solar  condition  that  of  full  maturity  and  of  commencing  age ; 
while  in  the  orange  and  red  stars  with  banded  spectra  we  see  the 
setting  in  and  advance  of  old  age.  But  this  statement  must  be 
taken  broadly,  and  not  as  asserting  that  all  stars,  however 
different  in  mass  and  possibly  to  some  small  extent  in  original 
constitution,  exhibit  one  invariable  succession  of  spectra. 

In  the  spectra  of  the  white  stars  the  dark  metallic  lines  are 
relatively  inconspicuous,  and  occasionally  absent,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  dark  lines  of  hydrogen  are  usually  strong,  and  more 
or  less  broad,  upon  a  continuous  spectrumj  which  is  remarkable 
for  its  brilliancy  at  the  blue  end.  In  some  of  these  stars  the 
hydrogen  and  some  other  lines  are  bright,  and  sometimes 
variable. 

As  the  greater  or  less  prominence  of  the  hydrogen  lines,  dark 
or  bright,  is  characteristic  of  the  white  stars  as  a  class,  and 
diminishes  gradually  w  ith  the  incoming  and  increase  in  strength 
of  the  other  lines,  we  are  probably  justified  in  regarding  it  as 
due  to  some  conditions  which  occur  naturally  during  the  pro- 
gress of  stellar  life,  and  not  to  a  peculiarity  of  original  consti- 
tution. 

To  produce  a  strong  absorption* spectrum  a  substance  must  be 
at  the  particular  temperature  at  which  it  is  notably  absorptive  ; 
and,  further,  this  temperature  most  be  sufficiently  below  that  of 
the  region  behind  from  which  the  light  comes  for  the  gas  to 
appear,  so  far  as  its  special  rays  are  concerned,  as  darkness  upon 
it.  Considering  the  high  temperature  to  which  hydrogen  must 
be  raised  before  it  can  show  its  characteristic  emission  and  ab- 
sorption, we  shall  probably  be  right  in  attributing  the  relative 
feebleness  or  absence  of  the  other  lines,  not  to  the  paucity  of  the 
metallic  vapours,  hot  rather  to  their  being  so  hot  relatively  to  the 
substances  oehind  them  as  to  show  feebly,  if  at  all,  by  reversion. 
Such  a  state  of  things  would  more  probably  be  found,  it  seems 
to  me,  in  conditions  anterior  to  the  solar  stage.  A  considerable 
cooling  of  the  sun  would  probably  give  ri^e  to  banded  spectra 
due  to  compounds,  or  to  more  complex  molecules,  which  might 
form  near  the  condensing  points  of  the  vapours. 

The  sun  and  stars  are  generally  regarded  as  consisting  of  glow- 
ing vapours  surrounded  by  a  photosphere  where  condensation  is 
taking  place,  the  temperature  of  the  photospheric  layer  from 
which  the  greater  part  of  the  radiation  comes  being  constantly 
renewed  from  the  hotter  matter  within. 

At  the  surface  the  convection  currents  would  be  strong,  pro- 
ducing a  considerable  commotion,  by  which  the  different  gases 
would  be  mixed  and  not  allowed  to  retain  the  inequality  of  pro- 
portions at  different  levels  due  to  their  vapour  densities. 

Now  the  conditions  of  the  radiating  photosphere  and  those  of 
the  gases  above  it,  on  which  the  character  of  the  spectrum  of  a 
star  depends,  will  be  determined,  not  alone  by  temperature,  but 
also  by  the  force  of  gravity  in  these  regions  ;  this  force  will  be 
6xed  by  the  star's  mass  and  its  stage  of  condensation,  and  will 
become  greater  as  the  star  continues  to  condense. 


376 


NATURE 


[August  20,  1891 


In  the  case  of  the  sun  the  force  of  grayity  has  ahieady  become 
so  great  at  the  surface  that  the  decrease  of  the  density  of  the 
gases  must  be  extremely  rapid,  passing  in  the  space  of  a  few 
miles  from  atmospheric  pressure  to  a  density  infinitesimally 
small ;  consequently  the  temperature-gradient  at  the  surface,  if 
determined  solely  by  expansion,  must  be  extremely  rapid.  The 
gases  here,  however,  are  exposed  to  the  fierce  radiation  of  the 
sun,  and  unless  wholly  transparent  would  take  up  heat,  especially 
if  any  solid  or  liquid  particles  were  present  from  condensation  or 
convection  currents. 

From  these  causes,  within  a  very  small  extent  of  space  at  the 
surface  of  the  sun,  all  bodies  with  which  we  are  acquainted 
should  fall  to  a  condition  in  which  the  extremely  tenuous  gas 
could  no  longer  give  a  visible  spectrum.  The  insignificance  of 
the  angle  subtended  by  this  space  as  seen  from  the  earth  should 
cause  the  boundary  of  the  solar  atmosphere  to  appear  defined. 
If  the  boundary  which  we  see  be  that  of  the  sun  proper,  the 
matter  above  it  will  have  to  be  regarded  as  in  an  eisentially  dy- 
namical condition— an  assemblage,  so  to  speak,  of  gaseous  pro- 
jectiles for  the  most  part  falling  back  upon  the  sun  after  a 
greater  or  less  range  of  flight.  Bat  in  any  case  it  is  within 
a  space  of  relatively  small  extent  in  the  sun,  and  probably  in  the 
other  solar  stars,  that  the  reversion  which  is  manifested  by  dark 
lines  is  to  be  regarded  as  taking  place. 

Passing  backward  in  the  star's  life,  we  should  find  a  gradual 
weakening  of  gravity  at  the  surface,  a  reduction  of  the  tempera- 
ture-gradient so  far  as  it  was  determined  by  expansion,  and  con- 
vection currents  of  less  violence  producing  less  interference  with 
the  proportional  quantities  of  gases  due  to  their  vapour  densities, 
while  the  effects  of  eruptions  would  be  more  extensive. 

At  last  we  might  come  to  a  state  of  things  in  which,  if  the 
star  were  hot  enough,  only  hydrogen  might  be  sufficiently  cool 
relatively  to  the  radiation  behind  to  produce  a  strong  absorption. 
The  lower  vapours  would  be  protected,  and  might  continue  to 
be  relatively  too  hot  for  their  lines  to  appear  very  dark  upon  the 
continuous  spectrum  ;  besides,  their  lines  might  be  posnbly  to 
some  extent  effaced  by  the  coning  in  under  such  conditions  in 
the  vapours  themselves  of  a  continuous  spectrum. 

In  such  a  star  the  light  radiated  towards  the  upper  part  of  the 
atmosphere  may  have  come  from  portions  lower  down  of  the 
atmosphere  itself,  or  at  least  from  parts  not  greatly  hotter. 
There  may  be  no  such  great  difference  of  temperature  of  the  low 
and  less  low  portions  of  the  star's  atmosphere  as  to  make  the 
darkening  effect  of  absorption  of  the  protected  metallic  vapours 
to  prevail  over  the  illummating  effect  of  their  emission. 

It  is  only  by  a  vibratory  motion  corresponding  to  a  very  high 
temperature  that  the  bright  lines  of  the  first  spectrum  of  hydro- 
gen can  be  brought  out,  and  by  the  equivalence  of  absorbing  and 
emitting  power  that  the  corresponding  spectrum  of  absorption 
should  be  produced  ;  yet  for  a  strong  absorption  to  show  itself, 
the  hydrogen  must  be  cool  relatively  to  the  source  of  radiation 
behind  it,  whether  this  be  condensed  particles  or  gas.  Such 
conditions,  it  seems  to  me,  should  occur  in  the  earlier  rather 
than  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  ccndensation. 

I'he  subject  is  obscure,  and  we  may  go  wrong  in  our  mode  of 
conceiving  of  the  probable  progress  of  events,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  in  one  remarkable  instance  the  white-star  spec- 
trum is  associated  with  an  early  stage  of  condensation. 

Sirius  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  examples  of  one  type  of 
this  class  of  stars.  Photometric  ob-ervations  combined  with  its 
ascertained  parallax  show  that  this  star  emits  from  forty  to  sixty 
times  the  light  of  our  sun,  even  to  the  eye,  which  is  insensible  to 
nltra-violet  light,  in  which  Sirius  is  very  rich,  while  we  learn 
from  the  motion  of  its  companion  that  its  mass  is  not  much 
more  than  double  that  of  our  sun.  It  follows  that,  unless  we 
attribute  to  this  star  an  improbably  great  emissive  power,  it 
must  be  of  immense  size,  and  in  a  much  more  diffuse  and  there- 
fore an  earlier  condition  than  our  sun  ;  though  probably  at  a 
later  stage  than  those  white  stars  in  which  the  hydrogen  lines  are 
bright. 

A  direct  determination  of  the  relative  temperature  of  the 
photospheres  of  the  stars  might  possibly  be  obtained  in  some 
cases  from  the  relative  position  of  maximum  radiation  of  their 
continuous  spectra.  Langle^  has  shown  that  through  the  whole 
range  of  temperature  on  which  we  can  experiment,  and  presum- 
ably at  temperatures  beyond,  the  maximum  of  radiation-power 
in  solid  bodies  gradually  shifts  upwards  in  the  spectrum  from 
the  infra-red  through  the  red  and  orange,  and  that  in  the  sun  it 
has  reached  the  blue. 

The  defined  character,  as  a  rule,  of  the  stellar  lines  ofabsorp- 

NO.    I  138,  VOL.  44] 


cion  suggests  that  the  vapours  producing  them  do  not  at  the 
;ome  time  exerl  any  strong  power  of  general  absorption.  Con- 
sequently, we  should  probably  not  go  far  wrong,  when  the  pho- 
tosphere consists  of  liquid  or  solid  particles,  if  we  conld  compare 
select  parts  of  the  continuous  spectrum  between  the  stroller 
lines,  or  where  they  are  fewest.  It  is  obvious  that,  if  extended 
portions  of  different  stellar  spectra  were  compared,  their  true 
relation  would  be  obscured  by  the  line-absorption. 

The  increase  of  temperature,  as  shown  by  the  rise  in  the 
spectrum  of  the  maximum  of  radiation,  may  not  always  be  ac- 
companied by  a  corresponding  greater  brightness  of  a  star  as 
estimated  by  the  eye,  which  is  an  extremely  imperfect  photo- 
netric  instrument.  Not  only  is  the  eye  blind  to  large  r^oo? 
of  radiation,  but  even  for  the  small  range  of  light  that  we  cio 
see  the  visual  effect  varies  enormously  with  its  colour.  Accord- 
ing to  Prof.  Langley,  the  same  amount  of  energy  which  jost 
enables  us  to  perceive  light  in  the  crimson  at  A  would  in  the 
green  produce  a  visual  effect  iod.ooo  times  greater.  In  the 
violet  the  proportional  effect  would  be  l6oo,  in  the  blue  62,000, 
in  the  yellow  28,000,  in  the  orange  14,000,  and  in  the  rei  1200. 
Captain  Abney's  recent  experiments  make  the  sensitiveness  of  the 
eye  for  the  green  near  F  to  be  750  times  greater  than  for  the  red 
about  C.  It  is  for  this  reason,  at  least  in  part,  that  I  suggested 
in  1864,  and  have  since  shown  by  direct  observation,  that  the 
spectrum  of  the  nebula  in  Andromeda,  and  presumably  of 
similar  nebulae,  is,  in  appearance,  only  wanting  in  the  red. 

The  stage  at  which  the  maximum  radiation  is  ia  the  green, 
corresponding  to  the  eye's  greatest  sensitiveness,  would  bi  that 
in  which  it  could  be  most  favourably  measured  by  e/e-photome- 
try.  As  the  maximum  rose  into  the  violet  and  beyond,  the  star 
would  increase  in  visual  brightness,  but  not  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  energy  radiated  by  it. 

The  brightness  of  a  star  would  be  affected  by  the  nature  d 
the  substance  by  which  the  light  was  chiefly  emitted.  In  the 
laboratory,  solid  carbon  exhibits  the  highest  emissive  power.  A 
stellar  stage  in  which  radiation  comes,  to  a  large  extent,  from  a 
photosphere  of  the  solid  particles  of  this  substance,  would  be 
favourable  for  great  brilliancy.  Though  the  stars  are  built  up 
of  matter  essentially  similar  to  that  of  the  sun,  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  proportion  of  the  different  elements  is  everywhere  the 
same.  It  may  be  that  the  substances  condensed  in  the  photo- 
spheres of  different  stars  may  differ  in  their  emissive  powers,  bat 
probably  not  to  a  great  extent. 

All  the  heavenly  bodies  are  seen  by  us  through  the  tinted 
medium  of  our  atmosphere.  According  to  Langley,  the  solar 
stage  of  stars  is  not  really  yellow,  but,  even  as  gauged  by  oar 
imperfect  eyes,  would  appear  bluish* white  if  we  could  free  oar- 
selves  from  the  deceptive  influences  of  our  surroundings. 

From  these  considerations  it  follows  that  we  can  scarcely 
infer  the  evolutional  stages  of  the  stars  from  a  simple  comparison 
of  their  eye  magnitudes.  We  should  expect  the  white  stars  to 
be,  as  a  class,  less  dense  than  the  stars  in  the  solar  sta^e.  As 
great  mass  might  bring  in  the  solar  type  of  spectrum  at  a  rela- 
tively earlier  time,  some  of  the  brightest  of  these  stars  may  b: 
very  massive,  and  brighter  than  the  sun — for  example,  the  bril- 
liant star  Arcturus.  For  these  reasons  the  solar  stars  should 
not  only  be  dense  than  the  white  stars,  but  perhaps,  as  a  ^a&s 
surpass  them  in  mass  and  eye-brightness. 

It  has  been  shown  by  Lane  that,  so  long  as  a  condenaog 
gaseous  mass  remains  subject  to  the  laws  of  a  purely  gaseous 
body,  its  temperature  will  continue  to  rise. 

The  greater  or  less  breadth  of  the  lines  of  absorption  of 
hydrogen  in  the  white  stars  may  be  due  to  variations  of  tbe 
depth  of  the  hydrogen  in  the  line  of  sight,  arising  from  tbe 
causes  which  have  been  discussed.  At  the  sides  of  the  lines 
the  absorption  and  emission  are  feebler  than  in  the  middle,  and 
would  come  out  more  strongly  with  a  greater  thickness  of  gas. 

The  diversities  among  the  white  stars  are  nearly  as  nnmeroai 
as  the  individuals  of  the  class.  Time  does  not  permit  me  to 
do  more  than  to  record  that,  in  addition  to  the  three  sub-classes 
into  which  they  have  been  divided  by  Vogel,  Scheiner  has  re- 
cently investigated  minor  differences  as  suggested  by  the  charac- 
ter of  the  third  line  of  hydrogen  near  G.  He  has  pointed  out, 
too,  that  so  far  as  his  observations  go  the  white  stars  in  the 
constellation  of  Orion  stand  alone,  with  the  exception  of  Algol, 
in  possessing  a  dark  line  in  the  blue  which  has  apparently  the 
same  position  as  a  bright  line  in  the  great  nebula  of  the  same 
constellation ;  and  Pickering  finds  in  his  photographs  of  tbe 
spectra  of  these  stars  dark  lines  corresponding  to  the  principal 
lines  of  the  bright-line  stars,  and  the  planetary  nebulae  with  tlK 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


377 


exception  of  the  chief  nebalar  line.  The  association  of  white 
stars  with  nebular  matter  in  Orion,  in  the  Pleiades,  in  the  region 
of  the  Milky  Way,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  heavens,  may  be 
regarded  as  falling  in  with  the  view  that  I  have  taken. 

In  the  stars  possibly  further  removed  from  the  white  class  than 
our  sun,  belonging  to  the  first  division  of  Vogel's  third  class, 
which  are  distinguished  by  absorption  bands  with  their  stronger 
edge  towards  the  blue,  the  hydrogen  lines  are  narrower  than  in 
the  solar  spectrum.  In  these  stars  the  density-gradient  is 
probably  still  more  rapid,  the  depth  of  hydrogen  may  be  less, 
and  possibly  the  hydrogen  molecules  may  be  affected  by  a  larger 
number  of  encounters  with  dissimilar  molecules.  In  some  red 
stars  with  dark  hydrocarbon  bands,  the  hydrogen  lines  have  not 
been  certainly  observed ;  if  they  are  really  absent,  it  may  be 
because  the  temperature  has  fallen  below  the  point  at  which 
hydrogen  can  exert  its  characteristic  absorption  ;  besides,  some 
hydn^en  will  have  united  with  the  carbon.  The  coming  in  of 
the  hydrocarbon  bands  may  indicate  a  later  evolutional  stage, 
bat  the  temperature  may  still  be  high,  as  acetylene  can  exist  in 
the  electric  arc. 

A  number  of  small  stars  more  or  less  si  nilar  to  those  which 
are  known  by  the  names  of  their  discoverers,  Wolf  and  Rayet, 
have  been  found  by  Pickering  in  his  photographs.  These  are 
remarkable  for  several  brilliant  groups  of  bright  lines,  including 
frequently  the  hydrogen  lines  and  the  line  D,,  upon  a  continuous 
spectrum  strong  in  blue  and  violet  rays,  in  which  are  also  dark 
lines  of  absorption.  As  some  of  the  bright  groups  appear  in 
his  photographs  to  agree  in  position  with  corresponding  bright 
lines  in  the  planetary  nebulae,  Pickering  suggests  that  these  stars 
should  be  placed  m  one  class  with  them,  but  the  brightest 
nebular  line  is  absent  from  these  stars.  The  simplest  concep- 
tion of  their  nature  would  be  that  each  star  is  surrounded  by  a 
nebula,  the  bright  groups  being  due  to  the  gaseous  matter  out- 
side the  star.  Mr.  Roberts,  however,  has  not  been  able  to 
bring  out  any  indication  of  nebulosity  by  prolonged  exposure. 
The  remarkable  star  ij  Argds  may  belong  to  this  class  of  the 
heavenly  bodies. 

In  the  nebulas,  the  elder  Herschel  saw  portions  of  the  fierv 
mist  or  "shining  fluid  "  out  of  which  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
had  been  slowly  fashioned.  For  a  time  this  view  of  the  nebulae 
gave  place  to  that  which  regarded  them  as  external  galaxies, 
cosmical  "sand-heaps,"  too  remote  to  be  resolved  into  separate 
stars ;  though  indeed,  in  1858,  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  showed  that 
the  observations  of  nebulae  up  to  that  time  were  really  in  favour 
of  an  evolutional  progress. 

In  1864,  I  brought  the  spectroscope  to  bear  upon  them ;  the 
bright  lines  which  flashed  upon  the  eye  showed  the  source  of  the 
light  to  be  glowing  gas,  and  so  restored  these  bodies  to  what 
is  probably  their  true  place,  as  an  early  stage  of  sidereal  life. 

At  that  early  time  our  knowledge  of  stellar  spectra  was  small. 
For  this  reason  partly,  and  probably  also  unaer  the  undue  in- 
fluence of  theological  opinions  then  widely  prevalent,  I  unwisely 
wrote  in  my  original  paper  in  1864,  ''that  in  these  objects  we 
no  longer  have  to  do  with  a  special  modification  of  our  own  type 
of  sun,  but  find  ourselves  in  presence  of  objects  possessing  a 
distinct  and  peculiar  plan  of  structure."  Two  years  later,  how- 
ever, in  a  lecture  before  this  Association,  I  took  a  truer  posi- 
tion. "  Our  views  of  the  universe,"  I  said,  "are  undergoing 
important  changes ;  let  us  wait  for  more  facts,  with  minds  un- 
fettered by  any  dogmatic  theory,  and  therefore  free  to  receive 
the  teaching,  whatever  it  may  be,  of  new  observations." 

Let  us  turn  aside  for  a  moment  from  the  nebulae  in  the  sky  to 
the  conclusions  to  which  philosophers  had  been  irresistibly  led 
by  a  consideration  of  the  features  of  the  solar  system.  We  have 
before  us  in  the  sun  and  planets  obviously  not  a  haphazard 
aggregation  of  bodies,  but  a  system  resting  upon  a  multitude  of 
relations  pointing  to  a  common  physical  cause.  From  these 
considerations  Kant  and  Laplace  formulated  the  nebular  hypo- 
thesis, resting  it  on  gravitation  alone,  for  at  that  time  the  science 
of  the  conservation  of  energy  was  practically  unknown.  These 
philosophers  showed  how,  on  the  supposition  that  the  space  now 
occupied  by  the  solar  sjrstem  was  once  filled  by  a  vaporous  mass, 
the  formation  of  the  sun  and  planets  could  be  reasonably  ac- 
counted for. 

By  a  totally  different  method  of  reasoning,  modern  science 
traces  the  solar  system  backward  step  by  step  to  a  similar  state 
of  things  at  the  beginning.  According  to  Helmholtz,  the  sun's 
heat  is  maintained  by  the  contraction  of  his  mass,  at  the  rate  of 
about  220  feet  a  year.     Whether  at  the  present  time  the  sun  is 

NO.   1138,  VOL.  44] 


getting  hotter  or  colder  we  do  not  certainly  know.  We  can 
reason  back  to  the  time  when  the  sun  was  sufficiently  expanded 
to  fill  the  whole  space  occupied  by  the  solar  system,  and  was 
reduced  to  a  great  gbwing  nebula.  Though  man's  life,  the  life 
of  the  race  perhaps,  is  too  short  to  give  us  direct  evidence  of  any 
distinct  stages  of  so  august  a  process,  still  the  probability  is 
ereat  that  the  nebular  hypothesis,  especially  in  the  more  precise 
form  given  to  it  by  Roche,  does  represent  broadly,  notwithstand- 
ing some  difficulties,  the  succession  of  events  through  which  the 
sun  and  planets  have  passed . 

The  nebular  hypothesis  of  Laplace  requires  a  rotating  mass  of 
fluid  which  at  successive  epochs  became  unstable  from  excesj  of 
motion,  and  left  behind  rin^-?,  or  more  probxbly  perhaps  lumps, 
of  matter  from  the  equxtorial  regions.  . 

The  difficulties  to  ^which  I  have  referred  have  sug-^ested  to 
some  thinkers  a  diflferent  view  of  things,  according  to  which  it 
is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  one  part  of  the  system  gravita- 
tionally  supports  another.  The  whole  m  ly  consist  of  a  congeries 
of  discrete  bodies  even  if  these  bodies  be  the  ultimate  molecules 
of  matter.  The  planets  may  have  been  formed  by  the  gradual 
accretion  of  such  discrete  bodies.  On  the  view  that  the  material 
of  the  condensing  solar  system  consisted  of  separate  particles  or 
masses,  we  have  no  longer  the  fluid  pressure  which  is  an  essential 
part  of  Laplace's  theory.  Faye,  in  his  theory  of  evolution  fro  11 
meteorites,  has  to  throw  over  Uiis  fundamental  idea  of  the  nebular 
hypothesis,  and  he  formulates  instead  a  different  succession  of 
events,  in  which  the  outer  planets  were  formed  last ;  a  theory 
which  has  difficulties  of  its  own. 

Prof.  George  Darwin  has  recently  shown,  from  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  mechanical  conditions  of  a  swarm  of  meteorites,  that 
on  certain  assumptions  a  meteoric  swarm  might  behave  as  a 
coarse  gas,  and  in  this  way  bring  back  the  fluid  pressure  exercised 
by  one  part  of  the  system  on  the  other,  which  is  req  lireJ  by 
Laplace's  theo'-y.  One  chief  assumption  consists  in  supposing 
that  such  inelastic  bodies  as  meteoric  stones  might  attain  the 
effective  elasticity  of  a  high  order  which  is  necessary  to  the 
theory  through  the  sudden  volaliliza'.ion  of  a  part  of  their  mass 
at  an  encounter,  by  which  what  is  virtually  a  violent  explosive  is 
introduced  between  the  two  colliding  stones.  Prof.  Darwin  is 
careful  to  point  out  that  it  must  necessarily  be  obscure  as  to  how 
a  small  mass  of  solid  matter  can  take  up  a  very  large  amount  of 
energy  in  a  small  fraction  of  a  second. 

Any  direct  indications  from  the  heavens  themselves,  however 
slight,  are  of  so  great  value,  that  I  should  perhaps  in  this  con- 
nection call  attention  to  a  recent  remarkable  photograph,  by  Mr. 
Roberts,  of  the  great  nebula  in  Andromeda.  On  this  plate  we 
seem  to  have  presented  to  us  some  stage  of  cosmical  evolution 
on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  photograph  shows  a  sort  of  whirlpool 
disturbance  of  the  luminous  matter  which  is  distributed  in  a  plane 
inclined  to  the  line  of  sight,  in  which  a  series  of  rings  of  bright 
matter  separated  by  dark  spaces,  greatly  foreshortened  by  per- 
spective, surround  a  large  undefined  central  mass.  We  are 
ignorant  of  the  parallax  of  this  nebula,  but  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  we  are  looking  upon  a  system  very  remote,  and  there- 
fore of  a  magnitude  great  beyond  our  power  of  adequate  com- 
prehension. The  matter  of  this  nebula,  in  whatever  state  it 
may  be,  appears  to  be  distributed,  as  in  so  many  other  nebula?, 
in  rings  or  spiral  streams,  and  to  suggest  a  stage  in  a  succession 
of  evolutional  events  not  inconsistent  with  that  which  the  nebular 
hypothesis  requires.  To  liken  this  object  more  directly  to  any 
particular  stage  in  the  formation  of  the  solar  system  would  be 
*'  to  compare  things  great  with  small,"  and  might  be  indeed  to 
introduce  a  false  analogy ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  should 
err  through  an  excess  of  caution  if  we  did  not  accept  the  remark- 
able features  brought  to  light  by  this  photograph  as  a  presump- 
tive indication  of  a  progress  of  events  in  cosmical  nistory  following 
broadly  upon  the  lines  of  Laplace's  theory. 

The  old  view  of  the  original  matter  of  the  nebulae,  that  it  con- 

sbted  of  a  **  fiery  mist," 

"a  tumultuous  cloud 
Instinct  with  fire  and  nitre/' 

fell  at  once  with  the  rise  of  the  science  of  thermodynamics.  In 
1854,  Helmholtz  showed  that  the  supposition  of  an  original  fiery 
condition  of  the  nebulous  stuff  was  unnecessary,  since  in  the 
mutual  gravitation  of  widely  separated  matter  we  have  a  store  of 
potential  energy  sufficient  to  generate  the  high  temperature  of 
the  sun  and  stars.  We  can  scarcely  go  wrong  in  attributing  the 
light  of  the  nebulae  to  the  conversion  of  the  gravitational  energy 
of  shrinkage  into  molecular  motion. 
The  idea  that  the  light  of  comets  and  of  nebulae  may  be  due 


378 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


to  a  succession  of  ignited  flashes  of  gas  from  the  encoanters  of 
meteoric  stones  was  suggested  by  Prof.  Tait,  and  was  brought  to 
the  notice  of  this  Association  in  1871  by  Sir  William  Thomson 
in  his  Presidential  Address. 

The  spectrum  of  the  bright-line  nebulae  is  certainly  not  such  a 
spectrum  as  we  should  expect  from  the  flashing  by  collisions  of 
meteorites  similar  to  those  which  have  been  analyzed  in  our 
laboratories.  The  strongest  lines  of  the  substances  which  in  the 
case  of  such  meteorites  would  first  show  themselves,  iron, 
sodium,  magnesium,  nickel,  &c.,  are  not  those  which  distinguish 
the  nebular  spectrum.  On  the  contrary,  this  spectrum  is  chiefly 
remarkable  for  a  few  brilliant  lines,  very  narrow  and  defined, 
upon  a  background  of  a  faint  continuous  spectrum,  which 
contains  numerous  bright  lines,  and  probably  some  lines  of 
absorption.  * 

The  two  most  conspicuous  lines  have  not  been  interpreted  ; 
for  though  the  second  line  falls  near,  it  is  not  coincident  with  a 
strong  double  line  of  iron.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
though  the  near  position  of  the  brightest  line  to  the  bright 
double  line  of  nitrogen,  as  seen  in  a  small  spectroscope  in  1864, 
naturally  suggested  at  that  early  time  the  possibility  of  the  pre- 
sence ol  this  element  in  the  nebulae,  1  have  been  careful  to  point 
out,  to  prevent  misapprehension,  that  in  more  recent  years  the 
nitrogen  line  and  subsequently  a  lead  line  have  been  employed 
by  me  solely  as  fiducial  points  of  reference  in  the  spectrum. 

The  third  line  we  know  to  be  the  second  line  of  the  first  spec- 
trum of  hydrogen.  Mr.  Keeler  has  seen  the  first  hydrogen  line 
in  the  red,  and  photographs  show  that  this  hydrogen  spectrum 
is  probably  present  in  its  complete  form,  or  nearly  so,  as  we 
first  learnt  to  know  it  in  the  absorption  spectrum  of  the  white 
stars. 

We  are  not  surprised  to  find  associated  with  it  the  line  D,, 
near  the  position  of  the  absent  sodium  lines,  probably  due  to  the 
atom  of  some  unknown  gas,  which  in  the  sun  can  only  show 
itself  in  the  outbursts  of  highest  temperature,  and  for  this  reason 
does  not  reveal  itself  by  absorption  in  the  solar  spectrum. 

It  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  the  two  brightest  lines, 
vihich  are  of  the  same  order,  are  produced  by  substances  of  a 
similar  nature,  in  which  a  vibratory  motion  corresponding  to  a 
very  high  temperature  is  also  necessary.  These  substances,  as 
well  as  that  represented  by  the  line  Dg,  may  be  possibly  some  of 
the  unknox^n  elements  which  are  wanting  in  our  terrestrial 
chemistry  between  hydrogen  and  lithium,  unless  indeed  D3  be 
on  the  lighter  side  of  hydrogen. 

In  the  laboratory  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  electric  dis- 
charge to  bring  9Ut  the  spectrum  of  hydrogen  ;  but  in  a  vacuum- 
tube,  though  the  radiation  may  be  great,  from  the  relative  few- 
ness of  the  luminous  atoms  or  moleailes  or  from  some  other 
cause,  the  temperature  of  the  gas  as  a  whole  may  be  low. 

On  account  of  the  large  extent  of  the  nebulae,  a  comparatively 
small  number  of  luminous  molecules  or  atoms  would  probably  be 
sufficient  to  make  the  nebulae  as  bright  as  they  appear  to  us.  On 
such  an  assumption  the  average  temperature  may  be  low,  but  the 
individual  particles,  which  by  their  encounters  are  luminous, 
must  have  motions  corresponding  to  a  very  high  temperature, 
and  in  this  sense  be  extremely  hot. 

In  such  diffuse  masses,  from  the  great  mean  length  of  free 
path,  the  encounters  would  b'  -are  but  correspondingly  violent, 
and  tend  to  bring  about  vibrations  of  comparatively  short 
period,  as  appears  to  be  the  case  if  we  may  judge  by  the  great 
relative  brightness  of  the  more  refrangible  lines  of  the  nebular 
spectnim. 

Such  a  view  may  perhaps  reconcile  the  high  temperature  which 
the  nebular  spectrum  undoubtedly  suggests  with  the  much  lower 
mean  temperature  of  the  gaseous  mass,  which  we  should  expect 
at  so  early  a  stage  of  condensation,  unless  we  assume  a  very 
enormous  mass ;  or  that  the  matter  coming  together  had  pre- 
viously considerable  motion,  or  considerable  molecular  agitation. 

The  inquisitiveness  of  the  human  mind  does  not  allow  us  to 
remain  content  with  the  interpretation  of  the  present  stale  of  the 
cosmical  masses,  but  suggests  the  question — 

**  What  sce'st  thou  else 
In  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time?" 

What  was  the  original  state  of  things?  how  has  it  come  about 
that  by  the  side  of  ageing  worlds  we  have  nebulae  in  a  relatively 
younger  stage  ?  Have  any  of  them  received  their  birth  from 
dark  suns,  which  have  collided  into  new  life,  and  so  belong  to  a 
second  or  later  generation  of  the  heavenly  bodies? 

During  the  short  historic  period,  indeed,  there  is  no  record  of 


NO.    1 138,  VOL.  44J 


such  an  event ;  still  it  would  seem  to  be  only  through  the  collision 
of  dark  suns,  of  which  the  number  must  be  increasing,  that  a 
temporary  rejuvenescence  of  the  heavens  is  possible,  and  by  such 
ebbmgs  and  flowings  of  stellar  life  that  the  inevitable  aid  to 
which  evolution  in  its  apparently  uncomp>ensated  progress  is 
carrying  us  can,  even  for  a  little,  be  delayed. 

We  cannot  refuse  to  admit  as  possible  such  an  origin  for 
nebula?. 

In  considering,  however,  the  formation  of  the  existing  nebulx 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that,  in  the  part  of  the  heavens  within 
our  ken,  the  stars  still  in  the  early  and  middle  stages  of  evolution 
exceed  greatly  in  number  those  which  appear  to  be  in  an 
advanced  condition  of  condensation.  Indeed,  we  find  some 
stars  which  may  be  regarded  as  not  far  advanced  beyond  the 
nebular  condition. 

It  may  be  that  the  cosmical  bodies  which  are  still  nebulous 
owe  their  later  development  to  some  conditions  of  the  part  of 
space  where  they  occur,  such  as,  conceivably,  a  greater  original 
homogeneity,  in  consequence  of  which  condensation  began  less 
early.  In  other  parts  of  space  condensation  may  have  been  still 
further  delayed,  or  even  have  not  yet  begun.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  that  these  nebulae  group  themselves  about  the  Milky  Way, 
where  we  find  a  preponderance  of  the  white-star  type  of  stars, 
and  almost  exclusively  the  bright-line  stars  which  Pickering  asso- 
ciates with  the  planetary  nebulae.  Further,  Dr.  Gill  concludes, 
from  the  rapidity  with  which  they  impress  themselves  upon  the 
plate,  that  the  fainter  stars  of  the  Milky  Way  also,  to  a  large 
extent,  belong  to  this  early  type  of  stars.  At  the  same  time 
other  types  of  stars  occur  also  over  this  region,  and  the  red 
hydrocarbon  stars  are  found  in  certain  parts  ;  but  possibly  these 
stars  may  be  before  or  behind  the  Milky  Way,  and  not  physically 
connected  with  it. 

If  light  matter  be  suggested  by  the  spectrum  of  these  nebula?, 
it  may  be  asked  further,  as  a  pure  speculation,  whether  in  them 
we  are  witnessing  possibly  a  later  condensation  of  the  light 
matter  which  had  been  left  behind,  at  least  in  a  relatively 
greater  proportion,  after  the  first  growth  of  worlds  into  which 
the  heavier  matter  condensed,  though  not  without  some  entangle- 
ment of  the  lighter  substances.  The  wide  extent  and  great 
diffuseness  of  this  bright-line  nebulosity  over  a  large  part  of  the 
constellation  of  Orion  may  be  regarded  perhaps  as  pointing  in 
this  direction.  The  diffuse  nebulous  matter  streaming  round  the 
Pleiades  may  possibly  be  another  instance,  though  the  character 
of  its  spectrum  has  not  yet  been  ascertained. 

In  the  planetary  nebulae,  as  a  rule,  there  is  a  sensible  increase 
of  the  faint  continuous  spectrum,  as  well  as  a  slight  thickening 
of  the  bright  lines  towards  the  centre  of  the  nebula,  appearances 
which  are  in  favour  of  the  view  that  these  bodies  are  condensing 
gaseous  masses. 

Prof.  G.  Darwin,  in  his  investigation  of  the  equilibrium  of  a 
rotating  mass  of  fluid,  found,  in  accordance  with  the  independent 
researches  of  Poincare,  that  when  a  portion  of  the  centnd  body 
becomes  detached  through  increasing  angular  velocity,  the 
portion  should  bear  a  far  larger  ratio  to  the  remainder  than  is 
observed  in  the  planets  and  satellites  of  the  solar  system,  even 
taking  into  account  heterogeneity  from  the  condensation  of  the 
parent  mass. 

Now  this  state  of  things,  in  which  the  masses  though  not 
equal  are  of  the  same  order,  does  seem  to  prevail  in  many 
nebulae,  and  to  have  given  birth  to  a  large  class  of  binary  stars. 
Mr.  See  has  recently  investigated  the  evolution  of  bodies  of  this 
class,  and  points  out  their  radical  difTerences  from  the  solar 
system  in  the  relatively  large  mass-ratios  of  the  component 
bodies,  as  well  as  in  the  high  eccentricities  of  their  orbits 
brought  about  by  tidal  friction,  which  would  play  a  more  im- 
portant part  in  the  evolution  of  such  systems. 

Considering  the  large  number  of  these  bodies,  he  suggests 
that  the  solar  system  should  perhaps  no  longer  be  regarded  as 
representing  celestial  evolution  in  its  normal  form — 

"  A  goodly  Paterae  to  whose  perfect  mould 
He  fashioned  them  .  .  ." — 

but  rather  as  modified  by  conditions  which  are  exceptional. 

It  may  well  be  that  in  the  very  early  stages  condensing  mases 
are  subject  to  very  different  conditions,  and  that  condensation 
may  not  always  begin  at  one  or  two  centres,  but  sometimes  set 
in  at  a  large  number  of  points,  and  proceed  in  the  different  cases 
along  very  different  lines  of  evolution. 

Besides  its  more  direct  use  in  the  chemical  analysis  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  the  spectroscope  has  given  to  us  a  great  and 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


379 


unexpected  power  of  advance  along  the  lines  of  the  older 
astronomy.  In  the  fature,  a  higher  value  may,  indeed,  be  placed 
upon  this  indirect  use  of  the  spectroscope  than  upon  its  chemical 
revelations. 

By  no  direct  astronomical  methods  could  motions  of  approach 
or  of  recession  of  the  stars  be  even  detected,  much  less  could 
Ihey  be  measured.  A  body  coming  directly  towards  us  or  going 
directly  from  us  appears  to  stand  still.  In  the  case  of  the  stars 
we  can  receive  no  assistance  from  change  of  size  or  of  brightness. 
The  stars  show  no  true  disks  in  our  instruments,  and  the  nearest 
of  them  is  so  far  off  that  if  it  were  approaching  us  at  the  rate  of 
a  hundred  miles  in  a  second  of  time,  a  whole  century  of  such 
rapid  approach  would  not  do  more  than  increase  its  brightness 
by  the  one-fortieth  part. 

Still  it  was  only  too  clear  that,  so  long  as  we  were  unable  to 
ascertain  directly  those  components  of  the  stars'  motions  which 
lie  in  the  lire  of  sight,  the  speed  and  direction  of  the  solar 
'motion  in  space,  and  many  of  the  great  problems  of  the  consti- 
tution of  the  heavens,  must  remain  more  or  less  imperfectly 
known.  Now  the  spectroscope  has  placed  in  our  hands  this 
power,  which,  though  so  essential,  appeared  almost  in  the  nature 
of  things  to  lie  for  ever  beyond  our  grasp ;  it  enables  us  to 
measure  directly,  and  under  favourable  circumstances  to  within 
a  mile  per  second,  or  even  less,  the  speed  of  approach  or  of 
recession  of  a  heavenly  body.  This  method  of  observation  has 
the  great  advantage  for  the  astronomer  of  being  independent  of 
the  distance  of  the  moving  body,  and  is  therek>re  as  applicable 
and  as  certain  in  the  case  of  a  body  on  the  extreme  confines  of 
the  visible  universe,  so  long  as  it  is  bright  enough,  as  in  the  case 
of  a  neighbouring  planet. 

Doppler  had  suggested  as  far  back  as  1841  that  the  same 
principle,  on  which  he  had  shown  that  a  sound  should  become 
sharper  or  flatter  if  there  were  an  approach  or  a  recession 
between  the  ear  and  the  source  of  the  sound,  would  apply 
equally  to  light ;  and  he  went  on  to  say  that  the  difference  of 
colour  of  some  of  the  binary  stars  might  be  produced  in  this 
way  by  their  motions.  Doppler  was  right  in  that  the  principle 
is  true  in  the  case  of  light,  but  he  was  wrong  in  the  particular 
conclusion  which  he  drew  from  it.  Even  if  we  suppose  a  star 
to  b;  moving  with  a  sufHciently  enormous  velocity  to  alter 
sensibly  its  colour  to  the  eye,  no  such  change  would  actually  be 
seen,  for  the  reason  that  the  store  of  invisible  light  beyond  both 
1  mits  of  the  visible  spectrum,  the  blue  and  the  red,  would  be 
drawn  upon,  and  light-waves  invi>ible  to  us  would  be  exalted  or 
degraded  so  as  to  take  the  place  of  those  raised  or  lowered  in 
the  visible  region,  and  the  colour  of  the  star  would  remain 
unchanged.  About  eight  years  later  Fizeau  pointed  out  the 
importance  of  considering  the  individual  wave-lengths  of  which 
white  light  is  composed.  As  soon,  however,  as  we  had  learned 
to  recognize  the  lines  of  known  substances  in  the  spectra  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  Doppler's  principle  became  applicable  as  the 
basis  of  a  new  and  most  fruitful  method  of  investigation.  The 
measurement  of  the  small  shift  of  the  celestial  lines  from  their 
true  positions,  as  shown  by  the  same  lines  in  the  spectrum 
of  a  terrestrial  substance,  gives  to  us  the  means  of  ascertaining 
directly  in  miles  per  second  the  speed  of  approach  or  of  reces- 
sion of  the  heavenly  body  from  which  the  light  has  come. 

An  account  of  the  first  application  of  this  method  of  research 
to  the  stars,  which  was  made  in  my  observatory  in  1S68,  was 
given  by  Sir  Gabriel  Stokes  from  this  chair  at  the  meeting  at 
Kxeter  in  1869.  The  stellar  motions  determined  by  me  were 
shortly  after  confirmed  by  Prof.  Vogel  in  the  case  of  Sirius, 
and  in  the  case  of  other  stars  by  Mr.  Christie,  now  Astronomer- 
Royal,  at  Greenwich ;  but,  necessarily,  in  consequence  of  the 
inadequacy  of  the  instruments  then  in  use  for  so  delicate  an 
ioouiry,  the  amounts  of  these  motions  were  but  approximate. 

The  method  was  shortly  afterwards  taken  up  systematically  at 
Greenwich  and  at  the  Rugby  Observatory.  It  is  to  be  greatly 
regretted  that,  for  some  reasons,  the  results  have  not  been  suffi- 
ciently accordant  and  accurate  for  a  research  of  such  exceptional 
delicacy.  On  this  account  probably,  as  well  as  that  the  spectro- 
scope at  that  early  time  had  scarcely  become  a  familiar  instru- 
ment in  the  observatory,  astronomers  were  slow  in  availing 
themselves  of  this  new  and  remarkable  power  of  investigation. 
That  this  comparative  neglect  of  so  truly  wonderful  a  method  of 
ascertaining  what  was  otherwise  outside  our  powers  of  observa- 
tion has  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  astronomy  during  the 
last  fifteen  years,  is  but  too  clearly  shown  by  the  brilliant  results 
which  within  the  last  couple  of  years  have  followed  fast  upon  ! 
the  recent  masterly  application  of  this  method  by  photography  ) 

NO.    1138,  VOL.  44] 


at  Potsdam,  and  by  eye  with  the  needful  accuracy  at  the  Lick 
Observatory.  At  last  this  use  of  the  spectroscope  has  taken  its 
true  place  as  one  of  the  most  potent  methods  of  astronomical 
research.  It  gives  us  the  motions  of  approach  and  of  recession, 
not  in  angular  measures,  which  depend  for  their  translation  into 
actual  velocities  upon  separate  determinations  of  parallactic  dis- 
placements, but  at  once  in  terrestrial  units  of  distance. 

This  method  of  work  will  doubtless  be  very  prominent  in  the 
astronomy  of  the  near  future,  and  to  it  probably  we  shall  have 
to  look  for  the  more  important  discoveries  in  sidereal  astronomy 
which  will  be  made  during  the  coming  century. 

In  his  recent  application  of  photography  to  this  method  of 
determining  celestial  motions.  Prof.  Vogel,  assisted  by  Dr. 
Scheiner,  considering  the  importance  of  obtaining  the  spectrum 
of  as  many  stars  as  possible  on  an  extended  scale  without  an 
exposure  inconveniently  long,  wisely  determined  to  limit  the 
part  of  the  spectrum  on  the  plate  to  the  region  for  which  the 
ordinary  silver- bromide  gelatine  plates  are  most  sensitive — 
namely,  to  a  small  distance  on  each  side  of  G — and  to  employ  as 
the  line  of  comparison  the  hydrogen  line  near  G,  and  recently 
also  certain  lines  of  iron.  The  most  minute  and  complete 
mechanical  arrangements  were  provided  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  absolute  rigidity  of  the  comparison  spectrum  rela- 
tively to  that  of  the  star,  and  for  permitting  temperature 
adjustments  and  other  necessary  ones  to  be  made. 

The  perfection  of  these  spectra  is  shown  by  the  large  number 
of  lines,  no  fewer  than  250  in  the  case  of  Capella,  within  the 
small  region  of  the  spectrum  on  the  plate.  Already  the  motions 
of  about  fifty  stars  have  been  measured  with  an  accuracy,  in 
the  case  of  the  larger  number  of  them,  of  about  an  English  mile 
p>er  second. 

At  the  Lick  Observatory  it  has  been  shown  that  observations 
can  be  made  directly  by  eye  with  an  accuracy  equally  great. 
Mr.  Keeler's  brilliant  success  has  followed  in  great  measure  from 
the  use  of  the  third  and  fourth  spectra  of  a  grating  14,438  lines 
to  the  inch.  The  marvellous  accuracy  attainable  in  his  hands 
on  a  suitable  star  is  shown  by  observations  on  three  nights  of  the 
star  Arcturus,  the  largest  divergence  of  his  measures  being  not 
greater  than  six  tenths  of  a  mile  per  second,  while  the  mean  of 
the  three  ntghls'  work  agreed  with  the  mean  of  five  photographic 
determinations  of  the  same  star  at  Potsdam  to  within  one-tenth 
of  an  English  mile.  These  are  determinations  of  the  motions  of 
a  sun  so  stupendously  remote  that  even  the  method  of  parallax 
practically  fails  to  fathom  the  depth  of  intervening  space,  and  by 
means  of  light-waves  which  have  been  according  to  Elktn  s 
nominal  parallax,  nearly  2CX)  years  upon  their  journey. 

Mr.  Keeler,  with  his  magnificent  means,  has  accomplished  a 
task  which  I  attempted  in  vain  in  1874,  with  the  comparatively 
poor  appliances  at  my  disposal,  of  measuring  the  motions  in  the 
line  of  sight  of  some  of  the  planetary  nebulae.  As  the  stars  have 
considerable  motions  in  space,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  nebulae 
should  possess  similar  motions,  for  the  stellar  motions  must  have 
belonged  to  the  nebulae  out  of  which  they  have  been  evolved. 
My  instrumental  means,  limiting  my  power  of  detection  to 
motions  greater  than  twenty-five  miles  per  second,  were  in- 
sufficient. Mr.  Keeler  has  found  in  the  examination  of  ten 
nebulae  motions  varying  from  two  miles  to  twenty- seven  miie<, 
with  one  exceptional  motion  of  nearly  forty  miles. 

For  the  nebula  of  Orion,  Mr.  Keeler  finds  a  motion  of  re- 
cession of  about  ten  miles  a  second.  Now  this  motion  agrees 
closely  with  what  it  should  appear  to  have  from  the  drift  of  the 
solar  system  itself,  so  far  as  it  has  been  possible  at  present  to 
ascertain  the  probable  velocity  of  the  sun  in  space.  This  grand 
nebula,  of  vast  extent  and  of  extreme  tenuity,  is  probably  more 
nearly  at  rest  relatively  to  the  stars  of  our  system  than  any  other 
celestial  object  we  know  ;  still  it  would  seem  more  likely  that 
even  here  we  have  some  motion,  small  though  it  may  be,  than 
that  the  motions  of  the  matter  of  which  it  is  formed  were  so 
absolutely  balanced  as  to  leave  this  nebula  in  the  unique  position 
of  absolute  immobility  in  the  midst  of  whirling  and  drifting  suns 
and  systems  of  suns. 

The  spectroscopic  method  of  determining  celestial  motions  i  1 
the  line  of  sight  has  recentlv  become  fruitful  in  a  new  but  nai 
altogether  unforeseen  direction,  for  it  has,  so  to  speak,  given  us 
a  separating  power  far  beyond  that  of  any  telescope  the  glass- 
maker  and  the  optician  could  construct,  and  so  enabled  us  to 
penetrate  into  mysteries  hidden  in  stars  apparently  single,  and 
altogether  unsuspected  of  being  binary  systems.  The  spectro- 
scope has  not  simply  added  to  the  list  of  the  known  binary  stars. 
but  has  given  to  us  for  the  first  time  a  knowledge  of  a  new  clas 


38o 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


of  stellar  systems,  in  which  the  compoDents  are  in  some  cases  of 
nearly  equal  magnitude,  and  in  close  proximity,  and  are  re- 
volving with  velocities  greatly  exceeding  the  planetary  velocities 
of  our  system. 

The  K  line  in  the  photographs  of  Mizar,  taken  at  the  Harvard 
Collie  Observatory,  was  found  to  be  double  at  intervals  of 
fifty-two  days.  The  spectrum  was  therefore  not  due  to  a  single 
source  of  light,  but  to  the  combined  effect  of  two  stars  moving 
periodically  in  opposite  directions  in  the  line  of  sight.  Ii  is 
obvious  that  if  two  stars  revolve  round  their  common  centre  of 
gravity  in  a  plane  not  perpendicular  to  the  line  of  sight,  all  the 
lines  in  a  spectrum  common  to  the  two  stars  will  appear  alter- 
nately single  or  double. 

In  the  case  of  Mizar  and  the  other  stars  to  be  mentioned,  the 
spectroscopic  observations  are  not  as  yet  extended  enough  to 
furnish  more  than  an  approximate  determination  of  the  elements 
of  their  orbits. 

Mizar  especially,  on  account  of  its  relatively  long  period— 
about  105  days — needs  further  observations.  The  two  stars  are 
moving  each  with  a  velocity  of  about  fifty  miles  a  second,  prob 
ably  in  elliptical  orbits,  and  are  about  143  millions  of  miles 
apart.  The  stars,  of  about  equal  brightness,  have  together  a 
mass  about  forty  times  as  great  as  that  of  our  sun. 

A  similar  doubling  of  the  lines  showed  itself  in  the  Harvard 
photographs  of  ^  Aurigse  at  the  remarkably  close  interval  of 
almost  exactly  two  days,  indicating  a  period  of  revolution  of 
about  four  day.«.  According  to  Vogel's  later  observations,  each 
star  has  a  velocity  of  nearly  seventy  miles  a  second,  the  distance 
between  the  stars  being  little  more  than  seven  and  a  half  mil- 
lions of  miles,  and  the  mass  of  the  system  4*7  times  that  of  the 
sun.  The  system  is  approaching  us  at  the  speed  of  about  sixteen 
miles  a  second. 

The  telescope  could  never  have  revealed  to  us  double  stars  of 
this  order.  In  the  case  of  iS  Auriga;,  combining  Vogers  distance 
with  Pritchard's  recent  determination  of  the  star's  parallax,  the 
greatest  angular  separation  of  the  stars  as  seen  from  the  earlli 
would  be  1/200  part  of  a  second  of  arc,  and  therefore  very  far 
too  small  for  the  highest  powers  of  the  largest  telescopes.  If 
we  take  the  relation  of  aperture  to  separating  power  usually 
accepted,  an  object-glass  of  about  80  feet  in  diameter  would  be 
needed  to  resolve  this  binary  star.  The  spectroscope,  which 
takes  no  note  of  distance,  magnifies,  so  to  speak,  this  minute 
angular  separation  4000  times  ;  in  other  words,  the  doubling  of 
the  lines,  which  is  the  phenomenon  that  we  have  to  observe, 
amounts  to  the  easily  measurable  quantity  of  twenty  seconds  of 
arc. 

There  were  known,  indeed,  variable  stars  of  short  period, 
which  it  had  been  suggested  might  be  explained  on  the  hypo- 
thesis of  a  dark  body  revolving  about  a  bright  sun  in  a  few  days, 
but  this  theory  was  met  by  the  objection  that  no  such  systems  of 
closely  revolving  suns  were  known  to  exist. 

The  Harvard  photographs  of  which  we  have  been  speaking, 
were  taken  with  a  slitless  form  of  spectroscope,  the  prisms  being 
placed,  as  originally  by  Fraunhofer,  before  the  object-glass  of 
the  telescope.  This  method,  though  it  possesses  some  advant- 
ages, has  tne  serious  drawback  of  not  permitting  a  direct  com- 
parison of  the  star's  spectrum  with  terrestrial  spectra.  It'  is 
obviously  nnsuited  to  a  variable  star  like  Algol,  where  one  star 
only  is  bright,  for  in  such  a  case  there  would  be  no  doubling  of 
1I1C  lines,  but  only  a  small  shift  to  and  fro  of  the  lines  of  the 
blight  star  as  it  moved  in  its  orbit  alternately  towards  and  from 
our  system,  which  would  need  for  its  detection  the  fiducial 
positions  of  terrestrial  lines  compared  directly  with  them. 

For  such  observations  the  Potsdam  spectrograph  was  well 
adapted.  Prof.  Vogel  found  that  the  bright  star  of  Algol  did 
pulsate  backwaids  crd  forwards  in  the  visual  direction  in  a 
period  corres ]'oi  ding  to  the  known  variation  of  its  light.  The 
explanation  ^liidi  Ind  been  suggested  for  the  star's  van'nbilily, 
that  it  was  partially  eclipsed  at  regular  intervals  of  68*8  hours 
by  a  dark  companion  large  enough  to  cut  o£f  nearly  five-sixths 
of  its  light,  was  therefore  the  true  one.  The  dark  companion, 
no  longer  able  to  hide  itself  by  its  obscureness,  was  brought  out 
into  the  light  of  direct  observation  by  means  of  its  gravitational 
effects. 

Seventeen  hours  before  minimum,  Algol  is  receding  at  the 
rate  of  about  24}  miles  a  second,  while  seventeen  hours  after 
minimum  it  is  found  to  be  approaching  with  a  speed  of  about 
281  miles.  From  these  data,  together  with  those  of  the  varia- 
tion of  its  light,  Vogcl  found,  on  the  assumption  that  both 
stars  have  the  same  density,  that  the  companion,  nearly  as  large 


as  the  sun,  but  with  about  one-fourth  his  mass,  revolves  with  a 
velocity  of  about  fifty-five  miles  a  second.  The  bright  star,  of 
about  twice  the  size  and  mass,  moves  about  the  common  centre 
of  gravity  with  the  speed  of  about  twenty-six  miles  a  second. 
The  system  of  the  two  stars,  which  are  about  3I  millions  of 
miles  apart,  considered  as  a  whole,  is  approaching  us  with  a 
velocity  of  2*4  miles  a  second.  The  great  difference  in  lumin- 
osity of  the  two  stars,  not  less  than  fifty  limes,  suggests  rather 
that  they  are  in  different  stages  of  condensation,  and  dissimilar 
in  density. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  the  orbit  of  a  star  with  an  obscure  com- 
panion is  inclined  to  the  line  of  sight,  the  companion  will  pass 
above  or  below  the  bright  star,  and  produce  no  variation  of  its 
light.     Such  systems  may  be  numerous  in  the  heavens.    In 
Vogel's  photographs,  Spica,  which  is  not  variable,  by  a^  small 
shifting  of  its  lines  reveals  a  backward  and  forward  periodica] 
pulsation  due  to  orbital  motion.     As  the  p>air  whirl  round  their 
common  centre  of  gravity,  the  bright  star  Ls  sometimes  ad- 
vancing,  at  others  receding.     They  revolve  in  about  four  days, 
each  star  moving  with  a  velocity  of  about  fifty-six  miles  a  second 
in  an  orbit  probably  nearly  circular,  and  possess  a  combined 
mass  of  rather  more  than  two  and  a  half  times  that  of  the  sun. 
Taking  the  most  probable  value  for  the  star's  parallax,  the 
greatest  angular  separation  of  the  stars  would  be  far  too  small  to 
be  detected  with  the  most  powerful  telescopes. 

If  in  a  close  double  star  the  fainter  compManion  is  of  the  white- 
star  type,  while  the  bright  star  is  solar  in  character,  the  com- 
posite spectrum  would  be  solar  with  the  hydrogen  lines  unusually 
strong.  Such  a  spectrum  would  in  itself  affoiti  some  probability 
of  a  double  origin,  and  suggest  the  existence  of  a  companion 
star. 

In  the  case  of  a  true  binary  star  the  orbital  motions  of  the 
pair  would  reveal  themselves  in  a  small  periodical  swaying  of 
the  hydrogen  lines  relatively  to  the  solar  ones. 

Prof.  Pickering  considers  that  his  photographs  show  ten  stars 
with  composite  spectra  ;  of  these,  five  are  known  to  be  double. 
The  others  are  :  t  Persei,  C  Aurigse,  8  Sagittarii,  31  Celi,  and 
/3  Capricorni.     Perhaps  /9  Lyrae  should  be  added  to  this  list. 

In  his  recent  classical  work  on  the  rotation  of  the  sun,  Hhiner 
has  not  only  determined  the  solar  rotation  for  the  equator  but 
for  different  parallels  of  latitude  up  to  75^  The  close  accord- 
ance of  his  results  shows  that  these  observations  are  sufficiently 
accurate  to  be  discussed  with  the  variation  of  the  solar  rotation 
for  different  latitudes  which  had  been  determined  by  the  older 
astronomical  methods  from  the  observations  of  the  solar  spots. 

Though  I  have  already  spoken  incidentally  of  the  invaluable 
aid  which  is  furnished  by  photography  in  some  of  the  applica- 
tions of  the  spectroscope  to  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  new  power 
which  modem  photography  has  put  into  the  hands  of  tne  as- 
tronomer is  so  great,  and  has  led  already,  within  the  last  few 
years,  to  new  acquisitions  of  knowledge  of  such  vast  importance, 
that  it  is  fitting  that  a  few  sentences  should  be  specially  devoted 
to  this  subject. 

Photography  is  no  new  discovery,  being  about  half  a  century 
old ;  it  may  excite  surprise,  and  indeed  possibly  suggest  some 
apathy  on  the  part  of  astronomers,  that  though  the  suggestion 
of  the  application  of  photography  to  the  heavenly  bodies  dates 
from  the  memorable  occasion  when,  in  1839,  Arago,  announcinp 
to  the  Academic  des  Sciences  the  great  discovery  of  Niepce  and 
Daguerre,  spoke  of  the  possibility  of  taking  pictures  of  the  suo 
and  moon  by  the  new  process,  yet  that  it  is  only  within  a  few 
years  that  notable  advances  in  astronomical  methods  and  db- 
covery  have  t)een  made  by  its  aid. 

The  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  comparative  unsuitability 
of  the  earlier  photographic  methods  for  use  in  the  observatory. 
In  justice  to  the  earlier  workers  in  astronomical  photography, 
among  whom  Bond,  De  la  Rue,  J.  W.  Draper,  Rutherfurd, 
Gould,  hold  a  foremost  place,  it  is  needful  to  state  clearly  that 
the  recent  great  successes  in  astronomical  photography  are  not 
due  to  greater  skill,  nor,  to  any  great  extent,  to  superior  instru- 
ments, but  to  the  very  great  advantages  which  the  modem 
gelatine  dry  plate  possesses  for  use  in  the  observatory  over  the 
methods  of  Daguerre,  and  even  over  the  wet  collodion  film  on 
glass,  which,  though  a  great  advance  on  the  silver  plate»  went 
but  a  little  way  towards  putting  into  the  hands  of  the  astronomer 
a  photographic  surface  adapted  fully  to  his  wants. 

The  modem  silver- bromide  gelatine  plate,  except  for  its 
grained  texture,  meets  the  needs  of  the  astronomer  at  all  points. 
It  possesses  extreme  sensitiveness  ;  it  is  always  ready  for  use; 


NO.    1138,  VOL.  44] 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


381 


it  can  be  placed  in  any  position  ;  it  can  be  exposed  for  hours ; 
lastly,  it  does  not  need  immediate  development,  and  for  this 
reason  can  be  exposed  again  to  the  same  object  on  succeeding 
nights,  so  as  to  make  up  by  several  instalments,  as  the  weather 
may  permit,  the  total  time  of  exposure  which  is  deemed 
neces»ry. 

Without  the  assistance  of  photography,  however  greatly  the 
resources  of  genius  might  overcome  the  optical  and  mechanical 
difficulties  of  constructing  large  telescopes,  the  astronomer  would 
have  to  depend  in  the  last  resource  upon  his  eye.  Now  we  can- 
not by  the  force  of  continued  looking  bring  into  view  an  object 
too  feebly  luminous  to  be  seen  at  the  first  and  keenest  moment 
of  vision.  But  the  feeblest  light  which  falls  upon  the  plate  is 
not  lost,  but  is  taken  in  and  stored  up  continuously.  E^ch  bour 
the  plate  gathers  up  3600  times  the  light-enere^  which  it  received 
during  the  first  second.  It  is  by  this  power  of  accumulation  that 
the  photographic  plate  may  be  said  to  increase,  almost  without 
limit,  though  not  in  separating  power,  the  optical  means  at  the 
disposal  of  the  astronomer  for  the  discovery  or  the  observation 
of  taint  objects. 

Two  principal  directions  may  be  pointed  out  in  whichlphoto- 
graphy  is  of  great  service  to  the  astronomer.  It  enables  him 
within  the  comparatively  short  time  of  a  single  exposure  to 
secure  permanently  with  great  exactness  the  relative  positions  of 
hundreds  or  even  of  thousands  of  stars,  or  the  minute  features  of 
nebulae  or  other  objects,  or  the  phenomena  of  a  passing  eclipse, 
a  task  which  by  means  of  the  eye  and  hand  could  only  be  ac- 
complished, if  done  at  all,  after  a  very  great  expenditure  of  time 
and  labour.  Photography  puts  it  in  the  power  of  the  astronomer 
to  accomplish  in  the  short  span  of  his  own  life,  and  so  enter 
into  their  fruition,  great  works  which  otherwise  must  have  been 
passed  on  by  him  as  a  heritage  of  labour  to  succeeding  genera- 
dons. 

The  second  great  service  which  photography  renders  is  not 
simply  an  aid  to  the  powers  the  astronomer  already  possesses. 
On  the  contrary,  the  plate,  by  recording  light- waves  which  are 
both  too  small  and  too  large  to  excite  vision  in  the  eye,  brings 
him  into  a  new  region  of  knowledge,  such  as  the  infra-red  and 
the  ultra-violet  parts  of  the  spectrum,  which  must  have  remained 
for  ever  unknown  but  for  artificial  help. 

The  present  year  will  be  memorable  in  astronomical  history 
for  the  practical  beginning  of  the  Photographic  Chart  and 
Catalogue  of  the  Heavens,  which  took  their  origin  in  an  Inter- 
national Conference  Mhich  met  in  Paris  in  1887,  by  the  invita- 
tion of  M.  TAmiral  Mouchez,  Director  of  the  Paris  Observatory. 

The  richness  in  stars  down  to  the  ninth  magnitude  of  the 
photographs  of  the  comet  of  1882  taken  at  the  Cape  Observatory 
under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  Gill,  and  the  remarkable  star 
charts  of  the  Brothers  Henry  which  followed  two  years  later, 
astonished  the  astronomical  world.  The  great  excellence  of 
these  photographs,  which  was  due  mainly  to  the  superiority  of 
the  gelatine  plate,  suggested  to  these  astronomers  a  complete 
map  of  the  sky,  and  a  little  later  gave  birth  in  the  minds  of 
the  Paris  astronomers  to  the  grand  enterprise  of  an  Inter- 
national Chart  of  the  Heavens.  The  actual  beginning  of 
the  work  this  year  is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  great 
energy  and  tact  with  which  the  Director  of  the  Paris 
Observatory  has  conducted  the  initial  steps,  through  the  many 
delicate  and  difficult  questions  which  have  unavoidably  pre- 
sented themselves  in  an  undertaking  which  depends  upon  the 
harmonious  working  in  common  of  many'  nationalities,  and  of 
no  fewer  than  eighteen  observatories  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
The  three  years  since  1887  have  not  been  too  long  for  the  de- 
tailed organization  of  this  work,  which  has  called  for  several 
elaborate  preliminary  investi^rations  on  special  points  in  which 
our  knowledge  was  insufficient,  and  which  have  been  ably 
carried  out  by  Profs.  Vogel  and  Bakhuyzen,  Dr.  Tripled,  Dr. 
Scheiner,  Dr.  Gill,  the  Astronomer- Koyal,  and  others.  Time 
also  was  required  for  the  construction  of  the  new  and  special 
instruments. 

The  decisions  of  the  Conference  in  their  final  form  provide 
for  the  construction  of  a  great  photographic  chart  of  the  heavens 
with  exposures  corresponding  to  forty  minutes'  exposure  at 
Paris,  which  it  is  expected  will  reach  down  to  stars  of  about  the 
fourteenth  magnitude.  As  each  plate  is  to  be  limited  to  four 
square  degrees,  and  as  each  star,  to  avoid  possible  errors,  is  to 
appear  on  two  plates,  over  22,000  photographs  will  be  required. 
For  the  more  accurate  determination  of  the  positions  of  the  stars, 
a  riseau  with  lines  at  distances  of  5  mm.  apart  is  to  be 
previously  impressed  by  a  faint  light  upon  the  plate,  so  that  the 

NO.   IT 38,  VOL.  44] 


image  of  the  riseau  will  appear  together  with  the  images  of  the 
stars  when  the  plate  is  developed.  This  great  work  will  be 
divided,  according  to  their  latitudes,  among  eighteen  observatories 
provided  with  similar  instruments,  though  not  necessarily  con- 
structed by  the  same  maker.  Those  in  the  British  dominions 
and  at  Tacubaya  have  been  constructed  by  Sir  Howard  Grubb. 

Besides  the  plates  to  form  the  great  chart,  a  second  set  of 
plates  for  a  catalogue  is  to  be  taken,  with  a  shorter  exposure, 
which  will  give  stars  to  the  eleventh  magnitude  only.  These 
plates,  by  a  recent  decision  of  the  Permanent  Committee,  are  to 
be  pushed  on  as  actively  as  possible,  though  as  far  as  may  be 
practicable  plates  for  the  chart  are  to  be  taken  concurrently. 
Photographing  the  plates  for  the  catalogue  is  but  the  first  step 
in  this  work,  and  only  supplies  the  data  for  the  elaborate 
measurements  which  have  to  be  made,  which  are,  however,  less 
laborious  than  would  be  required  for  a  similar  catalogue  without 
the  aid  of  photography. 

Already  Dr.  Gill  has  nearly  brought  to  conclusion,  with  the 
assistance  of  Prof.  Kapteyn,  a  preliminary  photographic  survey 
of  the  southern  heavens. 

With  an  exposure  sufficiently  long  for  the  faintest  stars  to  im- 
press themselves  upon  the  plate,  the  accumulating  action  still 
goes  on  for  the  brighter  stars,  producing  a  great  enlargement  of 
their  images  from  optical  and  photographic  causes.  The  question 
has  occupied  the  attention  of  many  astronomers,  whether  it  is 
possible  to  find  a  law  connecting  the  diameters  of  these  more  or 
less  over-exposed  images  with  the  relative  brightness  of  the 
stars  themselves.  The  answer  will  come  out  undoubtedly  in 
the  affirmative,  though  at  present  the  empirical  formulae  which 
have  been  suggested  for  this  purpose  diner  from  each  other. 
Captain  Abney  proposes  to  measure  the  total  photographic 
action,  including  density  as  well  as  size,  by  the  obstruction 
which  the  stellar  image  offers  to  light. 

A  further  question  follows  as  to  the  relation  which  the  photo- 
graphic magnitudes  of  stars  bear  to  those  determined  by  eye. 
Visual  magnitudes  are  the  phjrsiological  expression  of  the  eye's 
integration  of  that  part  of  the  star's  light  which  extends  from  the 
red  to  the  blue.  Photographic  magnitudes  represent  the  plate's 
integration  of  another  part  of  the  star's  light — namely,  from  a 
little  below  where  the  power  of  the  eye  leaves  off  in  the  blue  to 
where  the  light  is  cut  off  by  the  glass,  or  is  greatly  reduced  by 
want  of  proper  corrections  when  a  refracting  telescope  is  used. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  two  records  are  taken  by  different  methods 
in  dissimilar  units  of  different  parts  of  the  star's  light.  In  the 
case  of  certain  coloured  stars  the  photographic  brightness  is  very 
different  from  the  visual  brightness ;  but  in  all  stars,  changes, 
especially  of  a  temporary  character,  may.  occur  in  the  photo- 
graphic or  the  visual  region,  unaccompanied  by  a  similar  change 
in  the  other  part  of  the  spectrum.  For  these  reasons  it  would 
seem  desirable  that  the  two  sets  of  magnitudes  should  be  tabu- 
lated independently,  and  be  regarded  as  supplementary  of  each 

other. 

The  determination  of  the  distances  of  the  fixed  stars  from  the 
small  apparent  shift  of  their  positions  when  viewed  from  widely 
separated  positions  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit  is  one  of  the  most 
refined  operations  of  the  observatory.  The  great  precision  with 
which  this  minute  angular  quantity — a  fraction  of  a  second  only — 
has  to  be  measured,  is  so  delicate  an  operation  with  the 
ordinary  micrometer,  though,  indeed,  it  was  with  this  instrument 
that  the  classical  observations  of  Sir  Robert  Ball  were  made, 
that  a  special  instrument,  in  which  the  measures  are  made  by 
moving  the  two  halves  of  a  divided  object-glass,  known  as  a 
heliometer,  has  been  pressed  into  this  service,  and  quite  recently, 
in  the  skilful  hands  of  Dr.  Gill  and  Dr.  Elkin,  has  laigely  in- 
creased our  knowledge  in  this  direction. 

It  is  obvious  that  photography  might  be  here  of  great  service, 
if  we  could  rely  upon  measurements  of  photographs  of  the 
same  stars  taken  at  suitable  intervals  of  time.  Prof.  Pritchard, 
to  whom  is  due  the  honour  of  having  opened  this  new  path, 
aided  by  his  assistants,  has  proved  by  elaborate  investigations 
that  measures  for  parallax  may  be  safely  made  upon  photo- 
graphic plates,  with,  of  course,  the  advantages  of  leisure  and 
repetition ;  and  he  has  already  by  this  method  determined  the 
parallax  for  twenty-one  stars  with  an  accuracy  not  inferior  to 
that  of  values  previously  obtained  by  purely  astronomical 
methods. 

The  remarkable  successes  of  astronomical  photography,  which 
depend  upon  the  plate's  power  of  accumulation  of  a  very  feeble 
light  acting  continuously  through  an  exposure  of  several  hours, 
are  worthy  to  be  regarded  as  a  new  revelation.   The  first  chapter 


382 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


opened  when,  in  1880,  Dr.  Henry  Draper  obtained  a  picture 
of  the  nebula  of  Orion ;  but  a  more  important  advance  was 
made  in  1883,  when  Dr.  Common,  by  his  photographs,  brought 
to  our  knowledge  details  and  extensions  of  this  nebula  hitherto 
unknown.  A  further  disclosure  took  place  in  1885,  when  the 
Brothers  Henr^  showed  for  the  first  time  in  great  detail  the 
spiral  nebulosity  issuing  from  the  bright  star  Maia  of  the 
Pleiades,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  nebulous  streams  about  the 
other  stars  of  this  eroup.  In  1886,  Mr.  Roberts,  by  means  of 
a  photograph  to  which  three  hours'  exposure  had  been  given, 
showed  the  whole  background  of  this  group  to  be  nebulous. 
In  the  following  year  Mr.  Roberts  more  than  doubled  for  us  the 
great  extension  of  the  nebular  region  which  surrounds  the  trape- 
zium in  the  constellation  of  Orion.  By  his  photographs  of  the 
great  nebula  in  Andromeda  he  has  shown  the  true  significance 
of  the  dark  canals  which  had  been  seen  by  the  eye.  They  are 
in  reality  spaces  between  successive  rings  of  bright  matter, 
which  appeared  nearly  straight  owing  to  the  inclination  in  which 
they  lie  relatively  to  us.  These  bright  rings  surround  an  unde- 
fined central  luminous  mass.  I  have  already  spoken  of  this 
photograph. 

Some  recent  photographs  by  Mr.  Russell  show  that  the  great 
rift  in  the  Milky  Way  in  Argus,  which  to  the  e)  e  is  void  of 
stars,  b  in  reality  uniformly  covered  with  them.  Also,  quite 
recently,  Mr.  George  Hale  has  photographed  the  prominences 
by  means  of  a  grating,  making  use  of  the  lines  H  and  K. 

The  heavens  are  richly  but  very  irregularly  inwrought  with 
stars,  the  brighter  stars  cluster  into  well  known  groups  upon  a 
background  formed  of  an  enlacement  of  streams  and  convoluted 
windings  and  intertwined  spirals  of  fainter  stars,  which  becomes 
richer  and  more  intricate  in  the  irregularly  rifted  zone  of  the 
Milky  Way. 

We,  who  form  part  of  the  emblazonry,  can  only  see  the  design 
distorted  and  confused ;  here  crowded,  there  scattered,  at 
another  place  superposed.  The  groupings  due  to  our  position 
are  mixed  up  with  those  which  are  real. 

Can  we  suppose  that  each  luminous  point  has  no  relation  to 
the  others  near  it  than  the  accidental  neighbourship  of  grains  of 
sand  upon  the  shore,  or  of  particles  of  tbe  wind-blown  dust  of 
the  desert  ?  Surely  every  star,  from  Sinus  and  Vega  down  to 
each  grain  of  the  light-dust  of  the  Milky  Way,  has  its  present 
place  in  the  heavenly  pattern  from  the  slow  evolving  of  its  past. 
We  see  a  system  of  systems,  for  thfe  broad  features  of  clusters 
and  streams  and  spiral  windings  which  mark  the  general  design 
are  reproduced  in  every  part.  The  whole  is  in  motion,  each 
point  shifting  its  position  by  miles  every  second,  though  from  the 
august  magnitude  of  their  distances  from  us  and  from  each  other, 
it  is  ooly  by  the  accumulated  movemrnts  of  years  or  of  genera- 
tions that  some  small  changes  of  relative  position  reveal 
themselves. 

The  deciphering  of  this  wonderfully  intricate  constitution  of 
the  heavens  will  be  undoubtedly  one  of  the  chief  astronomical 
i»orks  of  the  coming  century.  The  primary  task  of  the  sun's 
motion  in  space,  together  with  the  motions  of  the  brighter 
stars,  has  been  already  put  well  within  our  reach  by  the  spec- 
troscopic method  of  the  measurement  of  star-motions  in  the  line 
of  sight. 

From  other  directions  information  is  accumulating :  from 
photographs  of  clusters  and  parts  of  the  Milky  Way,  by  Roberts 
in  thb  country,  Barnard  at  the  Lick  Observatory,  and  Russell  at 
Sydney  ;  from  the  counting  of  stars,  and  the  aetection  of  their 
configurations,  by  Holden  and  by  Backhouse  ;  from  the  map- 
ping of  the  Milky  Way  by  eye,  at  Parsonstown  ;  from  photo- 
graphs of  the  spectra  of  stars,  by  Pickering  at  Harvard  and 
in  Peru  ;  and  from  the  exact  portraiture  of  the  heavens  in  the 
great  international  star  chart  which  begins  this  year. 

I  have  but  touched  some  only  of  the  problems  of  the  newer 
side  of  astronomy.  There  are  many  others  which  would  claim 
our  attention  if  time  permitted.  The  researches  of  the  Earl  of 
Rosse  on  lunar  radiation,  and  the  work  on  the  same  subject  and 
on  the  sun,  by  Langley.  Observations  of  lunar  heat  with  an 
instrument  of  his  own  invention  by  Mr.  Boys  ;  and  observations 
of  the  variation  of  the  moon's  heat  with  its  phase  by  Mr.  Frank 
Very.  The  discovery  of  the  ultra-violet  part  of  the  hydrogen 
spectrum,  not  in  the  laboratory,  but  from  the  stars.  The  con- 
firmation of  this  spectrum  by  terrestrial  hydrogen  in  part  by  H. 
W.  Vogel,  and  in  its  all  but  complete  form  by  Cornu,  who 
found  similar  series  in  the  ultra-violet  spectra  of  aluminium  and 
thallium.     The  discovery  of  a  simple  formula  for  the  hydrogen 

NO.    II 38,  VOL.  44] 


series  by  Balmer.  The  important  question  as  to  tbe  nnmericil 
spectral  relationship  of  different  substances,  especially  in  connec- 
tion with  their  chemical  properties ;  and  the  further  question  a» 
to  the  origin  of  the  harmonic  and  other  relations  between  the 
lines  and  the  ^oupings  of  lines  of  spectra  ;  on  these  points  ood- 
tributions  dunng  the  past  year  have  been  made  by  Rudolf  v. 
Kovesligethy,  Ames,  Hartley,  Deslandres,  Rydberg,  Griinwald, 
Kayser  and  Runge,  Johnstone  Stoney,  and  others.  The  remark- 
able employment  of  interference  phenomena  bv  Prof.  Michelson 
for  the  determination  of  the  size,  and  distribution  of  light  within 
them,  of  the  images  of  objects  which  when  viewed  in  a  telescope 
subtend  an  angle  less  than  that  subtended  by  the  light-wave  at  1 
distance  equal  to  the  diameter  of  the  objective.  A  method 
applicable  not  alone  to  celestial  objects,  but  also  to  spectn) 
lines,  and  other  questions  of  molecular  physics. 

Along  the  older  lines  there  has  not  been  less  activity  ;  bf 
newer  methods,  by  the  aid  of  larger  or  more  accurately  con- 
structed instruments,  by  greater  refinement  of  analysis,  knowledge 
has  been  increased,  especially  in  precision  and  minute  exmctnen. 

Astronomy,  the  oldest  of  the  sciences,  has  more  than  renewed 
her  youth.  At  no  time  in  the  past  has  she  been  so  bright  with 
unbounded  aspirations  and  hopes.  Never  were  her  temples  so 
numerous,  nor  the  crowd  of  her  votaries  so  great.  The  British 
Astronomical  Association  formed  within  the  year  nombers 
already  about  600  members.  Happy  is  the  lot  of  those  who  sie 
still  on  the  eastern  side  of  life's  meridian  ! 

Already,  alas  2  the  original  founders  of  the  newer  methods  art 

falling  out — KirchhofT,  Angstrom,  D' Arrest,  Secchi,  Draper, 
Becquerd  ;  but  their  places  are  more  than  filled ;  the  pace  ot  the 
race  is  gaining,  but  the  goal  is  not  and  never  will  be  in  sight. 

Since  the  time  of  Newton  our  knowledge  of  the  phenomena 
of  Nature  has  wonderfully  increased,  but  man  asks,  perhaps 
more  earnestly  now  than  in  his  days.  What  is  the  ultimate  reality 
behind  the  reidity  of  the  perceptions?  Are  they  only  the 
pebbles  of  the  beach  with  which  we  have  been  playing  ?  Does 
not  the  ocean  of  ultimate  reality  and  truth  lie  beyond  ? 


SECTION  A. 


MATHEMATICS  AND  PHYSICS. 


Opening.  Address   by  Prof.  Oliver  J.   Lodge,  D.Sc., 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Section. 

During  the  past  year  three  or  four  events  call  for  special 
mention  in  an  annual  deliverance  of  this  kind  by  a  phjrsidst. 

One  is  the  Faraday  centenary,  which  was  kept  in  a  happy  and 
simple  manner  by  a  cosmopolitan  gathering  in  the  place  so  long 
associated  wiih  his  work,  and  by  discourses  calling  attention  to 
the  modern  development  of  discoveries  made  by  him. 

Another  is  the  decease  of  the  veteran  Wilhelm  Weber,  one  of 
the  originators  of  that  absolute  system  of  measurement  which, 
though  still  ungrasped  in  its  simplicity  and  completeness  by  the 
majority  of  men  engaged  in  practice,  nor  even,  I  fear,  wholly 
understood  by  some  of  those  engaged  in  University  teaching,  has 
yet  done  so  much,  and  is  destined  to  do  |still  more,  for  the  uni- 
fication of  physical  science,  and  for  a  thorough  comprehension 
of  its  range  and  its  limitations. 

A  third  event  of  importance  during  the  year  is  the  discovery 
in  America  of  a  binary  system  of  stars,  revolving  round  ead) 
other  with  grotesque  haste,  and  with  a  proximity  to  each  other 
such  as  to  render  their  ordinary  optical  separation  quite  impos- 
sible. Ideas  concerning  the  future  of  such  systems,  if,  as  seems 
probable,  their  revolution  period  is  shorter  than  their  axial  period, 
will  readily  sugs^est  themselves,  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
elaborated  by  Prof.  George  Darwin.  The  subject  more  properly 
belongs  to  our  President,  but  I  may  parenthetically  exdaim  at 
the  singular  absurdity  of  the  notion  which  was  once  propounded 
by  a  philosopher,  that  motion  of  stars  in  our  line  of  sight  must 
for  ever  remain  unknown  to  us  ;  when  the  mere  time  of 
revolution  of  a  satellite,  compared  with  its  distance  from  its 
central  body,  is  theoretically  sufficient  to  give  us  infor- 
mation on  this  head.  As  a  matter  of  pedagogy  it  is 
convenient  to  observe  that  the  principle  oiled  Doppler's, 
which  is  generally  known  to  apply  to  the  periodic  disturbances 
called  Light  and  Sound,  applies  equally  to  all  periodic  occur- 
rences  ;  and  that  the  explanation  of  anomalies  ol  Jupiter's  first 
satellite  by  Roemer  may  be  regarded  as  an  instance  of  Dopplers 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


383 


principle.^  Any  discrepancy  between  the  observed  and  the  cal 
caJated  times  of  reTolalion  of  stars  round  each  other  can  possibly 
be  explained  by  a  relative  motion  between  us  and  the  pair  of 
bodies  along  the  line  of  sight. 

If  our  text-books  clearly  recognized  this,  we  should  not  so 
often  find  examination  candidates  asserting  that  the  apparent 
time  of  revolution  of  a  satellite  of  Jupiter  depends  on  the  dis- 
taoce  of  the  earth  from  that  planet,  instead  of  on  the  speed.  I 
shoold  indeed  be  sorry  to  be  judged  by  the  performance  of  my 
own  students,  but  I  fear  that  many  of  the  less  obvious  mistakes 
made  by  reasonably  drained  examination  candidates  are  more 
directly  traceable  to  their  teachers  than  some  of  us  as  teachers 
would  like  to  admit. 

The  change  in  the  lefrangibility  of  light  by  reason  of  the 
motion  of  its  source,  though  commonplace  enough  now,  was  at 
first  regarded  as  too  sn  all  to  be  observed,  and  one  or  two  at- 
tempts directed  to  detecting  the  effect  of  this  principle  on  the 
spectra  of  the  stars,  or  sometimes  on  sunlight  reflected  by  a 
45"  mirror  into  the  line  of  the  earth's  motion  (which  is  not  a 
possible  method),  wholly  failed.  I  take  pleasure  in  remember- 
ing that  this  effect  was  rlearly  observed  for  the  first  time  by  the 
gentleman  we  this  year  honour  as  our  President ;  and  that  it  is 
by  this  very  means  that  the  latest  sensational  discovery  in  astro- 
nomy of  the  rapidly  revolving  twin  star  /S-Aurigee,  by  Prof.  Picker- 
ing and  the  staff  connected  with  the  Draper  Memorial,  was  made. 
The  funds  for  the  investigation  that  led  to  this  result  were 
provided  by  Mrs.  Draper,  as  a  meinorial  to  her  late  husband  ; 
and  if  jS-Aurigse  does  not  constitute  a  satisfactory  memorial,  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  conceive  the  kind  of  tombstone  which  the 
relations  of  a  man  of  science  would  prefer. 

The  fourth  event  to  which  it  behoves  me  to  refer  is  the  practical 
discovery  of  a  physical  method  for  colour  photography.  When 
I  .*ay  practical  I  do  not  mean  commercial,  nor  do  I  know  that  it 
will  ever  become  applicable  to  the  ordinary  business  of  the 
photographer.  Whether  it  does  or  not,  it  is  a  sound  achieve- 
ment by  physical  means  of  a  result  which  the  chemical  means 
hitherto  tried  failed,  some  think  necessarily  failed,  to  produce. 
I  say  practical,  because  already  it  had  been  suggested  as  possible 
tiieoretically ;  and  a  step  toward  it,  indeed  very  near  it,  had 
been  actually  made.  The  first  suggestion  of  the  method,  so  far 
as  I  know,  was  made  by  Lord  Rayleigh  in  the  course  of  a 
mathematical  paper  on  the  reflection  of  light,  and  with  reference 
to  some  results  of  Becquerel  obtained  on  a  totally  different  plan. 
He  said  in  a  note  that  if  by  normal  reflection  waves  of  light 
were  converted  into  stationary  waves,  they  could  shake  out  silver 
in  strata  half  a  wave  length  apart,  and  that  such  strata  would 
give  selective  reflection  and  show  iridescence. 

The  colour  of  certain  crystals  of  chlorate  of  potash,  described 
in  a  precise  manner  by  Sir  George  Stokes  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc, 
February  1885),  and  also  the  colours  of  opal  and  ancient  glass, 
had  been  elaborately  and  completely  explained  by  Lord  Rayleigh 
on  this  theory  of  aperiodic  structure  (the  laminated  structure  in  the 
case  of  chlorate  of  potash  being  caused  by  twinning)  (Phil.  Mag., 
September  1888,  pp.  256  and  241) ;  and  he  subsequently  illus- 
trated it  with  sound  and  a  series  of  muslin  disks  one  behind  the 
other  OD  a  set  of  lazy-tongs.  Each  membrane  reflected  an  in- 
appreciable amount,  but  successive  equidistant  membranes 
reinforced  each  other's  action,  and  the  entire  set  reflected 
distinctly  one  definite  note,  of  wave-length  twice  the  distance 
between  adjacent  muslins.  So  also  with  any  series  of  equidistant 
strata  each  very  slightly  reflecting.  They  should  give  selective 
reflection,  and  the  spectrum  of  their  reflected  beam  should  show 
a  single  line  or  narrow  band,  corresponding  to  a  wave-length 
twice  the  distance  of  the  strata  apart.' 

'  Dr.  Huggins  bas  just  pointed  out  to  me  a  perfectly  clear  statement  to 
the  above  effect  in  Piofessor  Tait's  little  book  on  Light. 

'  The  footnote  of  Lord  Rayleigh  on  page  158,  Phil.  Mag,^  1887,  vol.  xxiv., 
is  bnef  and  forcible  enough  to  ({uote  in  full  .* — "  A  detailed  experimental 
examination  of  the  various  cases  in  which  a  laminated  structure  leads  to  a 
powerful  bat  highly  selected  reflection  would  be  of  value.  1  he  most  frequent 
examples  are  iLet  with  in  the  organic  world.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that 
Becquerel's  ra>roduction  of  the  spectrum  in  natural  colours  upon  silver 
plates  may  perhaps  be  explicable  in  this  manner.  The  various  parts  of  the 
olm  of  suDcnloricfe  of  silver  with  which  the  metal  is  coated  may  be  conceived 
to  be  subjected  during  exxx>sure  to  stationary  luminous  waves  of  nearly 
definite  wave-Iensth,  the  effect  of  which  might  be  to  impress  upon  the 
rahstann  a  periodic  structure  occurring  at  intervals  equal  to  kalfUbit  wave- 
length of  light;  just  as  a  sensitive  flame  exposed  to  stationary  sonorous 
waves  is  influenced  at  the  loops,  but  not  at  the  n  ides  {Phil.  Mag.^  March 
'879<  p.  X53X  In  <bis  '^f^X  the  operation  of  any  kind  of  light  would  be  10  pro- 
duce just  such  a  modification  of  the  fllm  as  would  cause  it  to  reflect  copiously 
ibat  paiticuiar  kind  of  light.  I  abstain  at  present  from  developing  this 
suggesti«m,  in  the  hope  of  soon  finding  an  opportunity  of  making  myself 
experimentally  acquainted  with  the  subject." 


NO.   1 138,  VOL.  44] 


Independently  of  all  this,  Herr  Otto  Wiener,  imitating  Hertz's 
experiments  with  ordinary  light,  in  1889  reflected  a  beam 
directly  back  on  itself,  and,  by  interposing  a  very  thin  collodion 
film  at  extraordinarily  oblique  incidence,  succeeded  in  the  difficult 
experiment  of  so  magnifying  by  the  cosine  of  inclination  the  half 
wave-length,  as  to  get  the  silver  deposited  in  strata  of  visible 
width,  and  thus  to  photograph  the  interference  nodes  themselves 
at  the  places  where  they  were  cut  by  the  plane  of  the  film 
{^Wiedtmanf^s  AnnaUnt  vol.  xl.,  1890). 

Then  M.  Lippmann,  using  a  thicker  film,  not  put  obliquely  but 
normal  to  the  light,  obtain^  the  strata  within  the  thickness  of 
the  film  itself — hundreds  of  layers ;  and  so,  employing  incidence 
light  of  definite  wave-length,  was  able  to  produce  a  stratified 
deposit,  which  reflected  back  at  appropriate  incidences  the  same 
wave-length  as  produced  it ;  thus  reproducing,  of  course,  the 
definite  colour. 

It  is  probable  that  the  silver  is  first  shaken  out  at  the  ventral 
segments,  but  that  the  strata  so  formed  are  thick  and  blurry.  I 
conjecture  that  by  over-exposure  this  deposit  is  nearly  all  mopped 
up  again,  traces  being  left  only  at  the  nodes,  where  the  action  is 
very  feeble  and  takes  a  long  time  to  occur  ;  but  that  these  residual 
strata,  being  fairly  sharp  and  definite,  will  be  likely  to  give  much 
better  effects.  And  so  I  suppose  that  these  are  what  are  actually 
effective  in  obtaining  M.  Lippmann*s  very  interesting,  though 
not  yet  practically  useful,  result. 

I  now  leave  the  retrospect  of  what  has  been  done,  although 
many  other  topics  might  usefully  detain  us,  and  I  proceed  to 
glance  forward  at  the  progress  ahead  and  at  the  means  we  have 
for  effectively  grappling  with  our  due  share  of  it. 

There  is  a  subject  which  has  long  been  in  my  mind,  and 
which  I  determined  to  bring  forward  whenever  I  had  a  cathedral 
opportunity  of  doing  so  ;  and  now,  if  ever,  is  a  suitable  occasion. 
It  is  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  further  progress  of 
physical  science  in  the  somewhat  haphazard  and  amateur  fashion 
in  which  it  has  been  hitherto  pursued  in  this  country  is  becoming 
increasingly  difficult,  and  that  the  quantitative  portion  especially 
should  be  undertaken  in  a  permanent  and  publicly -supported 
physical  laboratory  on  a  large  scale.  If  such  an  establishment 
were  to  weaken  the  sinews  of  private  enterprise  and  individual 
research  it  should  be  strenuously  opposed  ;  hut,  in  my  opinion, 
it  would  have  the  opposite  effect,  by  relieving  the  private  worker 
of  much  which  he  can  only  with  great  difficulty,  sacrifice,  and 
expense,  undertake.  To  illustrate  more  precisely  what  I  mean, 
it  is  sufficient  to  recall  the  case  of  astronomy.  The  amateur  as- 
tronomer has  much  work  lying  ready  to  his  hand,  aud  he  grapples 
uith  it  manfully.  To  him  is  left  the  striking  out  of  new  lines 
and  the  guerilla  warfare  of  science.  Skirmishing  and  brilliant 
cavalry  evolutions  are  his  natural  field,  he  should  not  be  called  upon 
to  take  part  in  the  general  infantry  advance.  It  is  wasting  his 
energies,  and  he  could  not  do  it  in  the  long  run  well.  What, 
for  instance,  would  have  been  the  state  of  aslronometry— the 
nautical  almanac  department  of  astronomy — without  the  con- 
secutive  and  systematic  work  of  the  National  Observatory  at 
Greenwich  ?  It  may  be  that  some  enthusiastic  amateurs  would 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  this  routine  kind  of  work,  and  here 
at  one  time  and  there  at  another  a  series  of  accurate  observations 
would  have  been  kept  for  several  years.  Purued  in  that  way, 
however,  not  only  would  the  effort  be  spasmodic  and  temporary, 
but  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  those  amateurs  would  have 
been  diverted  from  the  pioneering  more  suited  to  them,  and 
have  been  cramped  in  the  groove  of  routine,  eminently  adapted 
to  a  permanent  official  staff,  but  not  wholesome  for  an  individual. 

Long-continued  consecutive  observations  may  be  made  by  a 
leader  uf  science,  as  functions  may  be  tabulated  by  an  eminent 
mathematician  ;  hut  if  the  work  can  be  done  almost  equally 
well  (some  would  say  better)  by  a  professional  observer  or  com* 
putator,  how  great  an  economy  results. 

Now  all  this  applies  equally  to  physics.  The  ohm  has  been 
determined  with  4-figure,  perhaps  with  5-figure,  accuracy  ;  but 
think  of  the  list  of  eminent  men  to  whose  severe  personal  labour 
we  owe  this  result,  and  ask  if  the  spoil  is  worth  the  co>t.  Per- 
haps in  this  case  it  is,  as  a  specimen  of  a  well-conducted 
determination.  We  must  have  a  few  specimens,  and  our  leaders 
must  show  us  the  way  to  do  things,  but  let  us  not  continue  to 
use  them  for  such  purposes  much  longer.  The  quest  of  the  fifth 
or  sixth  decimal  is  a  very  legitimate,  and  may  become  a  very 
absorbing,  quest,  but  there  are  plenty  of  the  rank  and  file  who 
can  undertake  it  if  properly  general  led  and  led  :  not  as  isolated 
individuals,  but  as  workers  in  a  National  Laboratory  under  a  com- 
petent head  and  a  governing  committee.    By  this  means  work  far 


384 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


greater  in  quantity,  and  in  the  long  run  more  exact  in  quality,  can 
be  turned  out,  by  patient  and  conscientious  labour  without  much 
genius,  by  the  gradual  improvement  of  instrumental  means,  by 
the  skill  acquired  by  practice,  and  by  the  steady  drudgery  of 
routine.     Paris  has  long  had  one  form  of  such  an  institution,  in 
the  Conseryatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  and  has  been  able  to  im- 
pose the  metric  system  on  the  civilised  world  in  consequence. 
It  can  also  point  to  the  classical  determinations  of  Regnault  as 
the  fruits  of  just  such  a  system.     Berlin  is  now  starting  a  similar 
or  a  more  ambitious  scheme  for  a  permanent  national  physical 
institute.     Is  it  not  time  that  England,  who  in  physical  science, 
I  venture  to  think,  may  in  some  sort  claim  a  leading  place, 
should  be  thinking  of  starting  the  same  movement  ? 

The  Meteorological  and  Magnetic  Observatory  at  Kew  (in  the 
inauguration  of  which  this  Association  took  so  large  a  part)  is  a 
step,  and  much  iiseful  quantitative  work  is  done  there.  The  new 
Electric  Standardizing  Laboratory  of  the  Board  of  Trade  is 
another  and,  in  some  respects  perhaps,  a  still  closer  appproxi- 
mation  to  the  kind  of  thing  I  advocate.  But  what  I  want  to  see 
is  a  much  larger  establishment  erected  on  the  most  suitable  site, 
limited  by  no  speciality  of  aim  nor  by  the  demands  of  the  commer- 
cial world,  furnished  with  all  appropriate  appliances,  to  be  amended 
and  added  to  as  time  goes  on  and  experience  grows,  and  invested 
with  all  the  dignity  and  permanence  of  a  national  institution  :  a 
Physical  Observatory,  in  fact,  prerisely  comparable  to  the  Green- 
wich Observatory,  and  aiming  at  the  very  highest  quantitative 
work  in  all  departments  of  physical  science.  That  the  arts  would 
be  benefited  may  be  assumed  without  proof.  It  is  largely  the 
necessity  of  engineers  that  has  inspired  the  amount  of  accuracy 
in  electrical  matters  already  attained.  The  work  and  appliances 
of  the  mechanical  engineer  eclipse  the  present  achievements  of 
the  physicist  in  point  of  accuracy,  and  it  is  by  the  aid  of  the 
mechanician  and  optician  that  precision  even  in  astronomy  has 
reached  so  high  a  stage.  There  is  no  reason  why  physical  deter- 
minations should  be  conducted  in  an  amateur  fashion,  with  com- 
paratively imperfect  instruments,  as  at  pre>ent  they  mostly  are. 
Discoveries  lie  along  the  path  of  extreme  accuracy,  and  they  will 
turn  up  in  the  most  unexpected  way.  The  aberration  of  light 
would  not  have  been  discovered  had  not  Bradley  been  able  to 
measure  to  less  than  i  part  in  10,000 ;  and  what  a  brilliant  and  mo- 
mentous discovery  it  was !  He  was  aiming  at  the  detection  of  stellar 
parallax,  but  the  finite  velocity  of  light  was  a  bigger  discovery  than 
any  parallax.  This  is  the  tjrpe  of  result  which  sometimes  lurks  in 
the  fifth  decimal,  and  which  confers  upon  it  an  importance 
beside  which  the  demands  of  men  who  wish  to  serve  the  taste 
and  the  ]X)cket  of  the  British  public  sink  into  insignificance. 

In  a  National  Observatory  accuracy  should  be  the  one  great 
end  :  the  utmost  accuracy  in  every  determinalion  that  is  decided 
on  and  made.  Only  one  thing  should  be  more  thought  of  than 
the  fifth  significant  figure,  and  that  is  the  sixth.  The  con- 
sequences flowing  from  the  results  may  safely  be  left ;  such  as 
are  not  obvious  at  once  will  distil  themselves  out  in  time.  And 
the  great  army  of  outside  physicists,  assured  of  the  good  work 
being  done  at  headquarters,  will  (to  speak  again  in  astronomical 
parable)  cease  from  peddling  with  taking  transits  or  altitudes, 
and  will  be  free  to  discover  comets,  to  invent  the  spectroscope, 
to  watch  solar  phenomena,  to  cliemically  analyse  the  stars,  to 
devise  celestial  photography,  and  to  elaborate  still  more  celestial 
theories  ;  all  of  which  novelties  in  their  maturity  may  be 
handed  over  to  the  National  Observatory,  to  be  hencerorth  incor- 
porated with,  and  made  part  of,  its  routine  life  ;  leaving  the  ad- 
vance guard  and  skirmishers  free  to  explore  fresh  territory, 
secure  in  the  knowledge  that  what  they  have  acquired  will  be 
properly  surveyed,  mapped,  and  utilised,  without  further  atten- 
tion from  them.  As  to  the  practical  applications,  they  may  in 
any  case  be  left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The  instinct  of 
humanity  in  this  direction,  and  the  so-called  solid  gains  asso- 
ciated with  practical  achievements,  will  always  secure  a  sufficient 
number  of  acute  and  enei^etic  workers  to  turn  the  new  territory 
into  arable  land  and  pasture  adapted  to  the  demands  of  the 
average  man.  The  labour  of  the  agriculturist  in  rendering  soil 
fertile  is,  of  course,  beyond  praise ;  but  it  is  not  the 
work  of  the  pioneer.  As  Mr.  Huxley  eloquently  put  it, 
when  contrasting  the  application  of  science  with  the  ad- 
vance of  science  itself,  speaking  of  the  things  of  com- 
mercial value  which  the  physical  philosopher  sometimes  dis- 
covers: — "Great  is  the  rejoicing  of  those  who  are  benefited 
thereby,  and,  for  the  moment,  science  is  the  Diana  of  all  the 
craftsmen.  But  even  while  the  cries  of  jubilation  resound,  and 
this  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  tide  of  investigation  is  being 

NO.    1 138,  VOL.  44] 


turned  into  the  wages  of  workmen  and  the  wealth  of  capitalist^ 
the  crest  of  the  wave  of  scientific  investigation  is  far  away  on  its 
course  over  the  illimitable  ocean  of  the  unknown." 

I  have  spoken  of  the  work  of  the  National  Laboratory  as 
devoted  to  accuracy.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  it  will 
be  also  the  natural  custodian  of  our  standards,  in  a  state  fit  for 
use  and  for  comparison  with  copies  sent  to  be  certified.  £]se 
perhaps  some  day  our  standard  ohm  may  be  buried  in  a  brick 
wall  at  Westminster,  and  no  one  living  may  be  able  to  recall 
precisely  where  it  is. 

But,  in  addition  to  these  main  functions,  there  is  another, 
equally  important  with  them,  to  which  I  must  briefly  refer. 
There  are  many  experiments  which  cannot  possibly  be  oondocted 
by  an  individual,  because  forty  or  fifty  years  is  not  long  enongh 
for  them.  Secular  experiments  on  the  properties  of  material^ 
the  elasticity  of  metals,  for  instance  ;  the  effect  of  time  on  mole- 
cular arrangement ;  the  influence  of  long  exposure  to  light,  or  ta 
heat,  or  to  mechanical  vibration,  or  to  other  physical  agents. 

Does  the  permeability  of  soft  iron  decay  with  age,  by  reason 
of  the  gradual  cessation  of  its  Amperian  currents?  Do  gases 
cool  themselves  when  adiabatically  preserved,  by  reason  ot  im- 
perfect elasticity  or  too  many  degrees  of  freedom  of  their  mole- 
cules? Unlikely,  but  not  impossible.  Do  thermo-electric  pro* 
perties  alter  with  time  ?  And  a  multitude  of  other  experiments 
which  appear  specially  applicable  to  substances  in  the  solid 
state — a  state  which  is  more  complicated,  and  has  been  less  in- 
vestigated, than  either  the  liquid  or  the  gaseous  :  a  state  in 
which  time  and  past  history  play  an  important  part. 

Whichever  of  these  long  researches  requires  to  be  entered  on, 
a  national  laboratory,  with  permanent  traditions  and  a  00a- 
tinuous  life,  is  undoubtedly  the  only  appropriate  place.  At  socb 
a  place  as  Glasgow  the  exceptional  magnitude  of  a  present 
occupant  may  indeed  inspire  sufficient  piety  in  a  successor  to 
secure  the  continuance  of  what  has  been  there  be^n ;  but  in 
most  college  laboratories,  under  conditions  of  migration,  m- 
terregnum,  and  a  new  riginu,  continuity  of  investigation  is 
hopeless. 

I  have  at  any  rate  said  enough  to  indicate  the  kind  of  work 
for  which  the  establishment  of  a  well-furnished  laboratory  with 
fully  equipped  staff  is  desirable,  and  I  do  not  think  that  we,  as 
a  nation,  shall  be  taking  our  proper  share  of  the  highest  scien- 
tific work  of  the  world  until  such  an  institution  is  started  on  its 
career. 

There  is  only  one  evil  which,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  is  to  be 
feared  from  it :  if  ever  it  were  allowed  to  impose  on  outside 
workers  as  a  central  authority,  from  which  infallible  dicta  were 
issued,  it  would  be  an  evil  so  great  that  no  amount  of  good 
work  carried  on  by  it  could  be  pleaded  as  sufficient  mitigt- 
tion. 

If  ever  by  evil  chance  such  an  attitude  were  attempted,  it 
must  rest  with  the  workers  of  the  future  to  see  that  they  permit 
no  such  shackles  ;  for  if  they  are  not  competent  to  be  inde- 
pendent, and  to  contemn  the  voice  of  authority  speaking  as  mere 
authority,  if  their  only  safeguard  lies  in  the  absence  of  necessty 
for  struggle  and  eflbrt,  they  cannot  long  hope  to  escape  from  the 
futility  which  surely  awaits  them  in  other  directions. 

I  am  thus  led  to  take  a  wider  range,  and,  leaving  temporary 
and  special  considerations,  to  speak  of  a  topic  which  is  as  ya 
beyond  the  pale  of  scientific  orthodoxy,  and  which  I  might,  matt 
wisely,  leave  lying  by  the  roadside.  I  will,  however,  take  the 
risk  of  introducing  a  rather  ill-favoured  and  disreputable  looking 
stranger  to'  your  consideration,  in  the  belief— I  might  say,  io 
the  assured  conviction — that  he  is  not  all  scamp,  and  that  his 
present  condition  is  as  much  due  to  our  long-continued  neglect 
as  to  any  inherent  incapacity  for  improvement  in  the  subject 

I  wish,  however,  strenuously  to  guard  against  its  being  sop- 
posed  that  this  Association,  in  its  corporate  capacity,  lends'its 
countenance  to,  or  looks  with  any  favour  on,  the  outcast.  What 
I  have  to  say— and  after  all,  it  will  not  be  much— must  rest  00 
my  own  responsibility.  I  should  be  very  sorry  for  any  adven- 
titious weight  to  attach  to  my  observations  on  forbidden  topics 
from  the  accident  of  their  being  delivered  from  this  chair.  The 
objection  at  which  I  have  now  hinted  is  the  only  one  that  seems 
to  me  to  have  any  just  weight,  and  on  all  other  counts  I  am  will- 
ing to  incur  such  amount  of  opprobrium  as  naturally  attaches  to 
those  who  enter  on  a  region  where  the  fires  of  controversy  are 
not  extinct,  and  in  which  it  is  quite  impossible,  as  well  as  un- 
desirable, for  everyone  to  think  alike. 

It  b  but  a  platitude  to  say  that  our  clear  and  oonsdoos  aim 
should  always  be  truth,  and  that  no  lower  or  meaner  standard 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


385 


shonld  ever  be  allowed  to  obtrude  itself  before  us.  Oar  ancestors 
fought  hard  and  suffered  much  for  the  privilege  of  free  and  open 
inquiry,  for  the  right  of  conducting  investigation  nntrammelled 
by  prejudice  and  foregone  conclusions,  and  they  were  ready  to 
eximine  into  any  phenomenon  which  presented  itself.  This 
attitude  of  mind  is  perhaps  necessarily  less  prominent  now, 
when  so  much  knowledge  has  been  gained,  and  when  the 
labours  of  many  individiuds  may  be  rightly  directed  entirely 
to  its  systematization  and  a  study  of  its  inner  ramifications  ;  but 
it  would  be  a  great  pity  if  a  too  absorbed  attention  to  what  has 
already  been  acquired,  and  to  the  fringe  of  territory  lying  im- 
mediately adjacent  thereto,  were  to  end  in  our  losing  the  power 
of  raising  our  eyes  and  receiving  evidence  of  a  totally  fresh 
kind,  of  perceiving  the  existence  of  regions  into  which  the  same 
processes  of  inquiry  as  had  proved  so  fruitful  might  be  extended, 
with  results  at  present  incalculable  and  perhaps  wholly  unex- 
pected. I  myself  think  that  the  ordinary  processes  of  observa- 
tion and  experiment  are  establishing  the  existence  of  such  a 
region  ;  that,  in  fact,  they  have  already  established  the  truth  of 
some  phenomena  not  at  present  contemplated  by  science,  and 
to  which  the  orthodox  man  shuts  his  ears. 

For  instance,  there  is  the  question  whether  it  has  or  has  not 
been  es^blished  by  direct  experiment  that  a  method  of  com- 
munication exists  between  mind  and  mind  irrespective  of  the 
ordinary  channels  of  consciousness  and  the  known  organs  of 
sense,  and,  if  so,  what  is  the  process.  It  can  hardly  be  through 
some  unknown  sense  organ,  but  it  may  be  by  some  direct  phy- 
sical influence{on  the  ether,  or  it  mav  fa«  in  some  still  more  subtle 
manner.  Of  the  process  I  as  yet  know  nothing.  For  brevity 
it  may  be  styled  '*  thought-transference,"  though  the  name  may 
torn  out  to  be  an  unsuitable  one  after  further  investigation. 
Farther  investigation  is  just  what  is  wanted.  No  one  can  expect 
others  to  accept  his  word  for  an  entirely  new  fact,  except  as 
establishing  a  prima  jacie  case  for  investigation. 

Bat  I  am  only  now  taking  this  as  an  instance  of  what  I  mean  ; 
whether  it  be  a  truth  or  a  hction,  there  is  not,  I  suppose,  one  of 
the  recc^ized  scientific  societies  who  would  receive  a  paper  on 
the  subject.^  There  are  individual  scientific  men  who  have 
investigated  these  matters  for  themselves  ;  there  are  others  who 
are  willing  to  receive  evidence,  who  hold  their  minds  open  and 
Ibeir  judgment  in  suspense  ;  but  these  are  only  individuals.  The 
great  majority,  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying,  feel  active  hostility 
to  these  researches  and  a  determined  opposition  to  the  reception 
or  discussion  of  evidence.  And  they  feel  this  confirmed 
scepticism,  as  they  call  it,  not  after  prolonged  investigation,  for 
then  it  might  be  justified,  but  sometimes  ^ter  no  investigation 
at  all.  A  few  tricks  at  a  public  performance,  or  the  artifices  of 
some  im^stor,  and  they  decline  to  consider  the  matter  further. 

That  individuals  should  take  this  line  is,  however,  natural 
enough  ;  they  may  be  otherwise  occupied  and  interested.  Every- 
body is  by  no  means  bound  to  investigate  everything ;  though, 
indeed,  it  is  customary  in  most  fields  of  knowledge  for  those  who 
have  kept  aloof  from  a  particular  inquiry  to  defer  in  moderation  to 
those  who  have  conducted  it,  without  feeling  themselves  called 
npon  to  express  an  opinion.  Some  there  are,  no  doubt,  who 
consider  that  they  have  given  sufficient  time  and  attention  to  the 
wbject  with  only  negative  results.  Their  evidence  is,  of  course, 
jmportant ;  but  plainly,  negative  evidence  should  be  of  immense 
bulk  and  weight  before  it  can  outweigh  even  a  moderate  amount 
of  positive  evidence.  However,  it  is  not  of  the  action  of 
mdiriduals  that  I  wish  to  speak,  it  is  of  the  attitude  to  be 
adopted  by  scientific  bodies  in  their  corporate  capacity  ;  and  for 
a  corporate  body  of  men  of  science,  inheritors  of  the  hard -won 
tradition  of  free  and  fearless  inquiry  into  the  facts  of  nature 
unirammelled  by  prejudice,  for  any  such  body  to  decline  to 
f^Jvc  evidence  laboriously  attained  and  discreetly  and  in- 
offensively presented  by  observers  of  accepted  competency  in 
other  branches,  would  be,  if  ever  actually  done  and  persisted 
Jn,  a  terrible  throwing  away  of  their  prerogative,  and  an  imita- 
tion of  the  errors  of  a  school  of  tliought  against  which  the 
struggle  was  at  one  time  severe. 

In  the  early  dajrs  of  the  Copemican  theory,  Galileo  for  some 
years  refrained  from  teaching  it,  though  fully  believing  its  truth, 
bcMuse  he  considered  that  he  had  better  get  more  fully  settled 
w\  ^'^^^^'^^^y  chair  before  evoking  the  storm  of  controversy 
which  the  abandonment  of  the  Ptolemaic  system  would  arouse. 
1  he  same  thing  in  yexy  minor  degree  is  going  on  to-day.  I  know 
of  men  who  hesitate  to  avow  interest  in  these  new  investigations 

bas  hHm  ^^F*^^  "  ™*'*  conjecture.    I  am  not  aware  that  the  experimeat 

NO.   1 138,  VOL.  44] 


(I  do  not  mean  credence — the  time  is  too  early  for  avowing 
credence  in  any  but  the  most  rudimentary  and  definitely  ascer- 
tained facts — but  hesitate  to  avow  interest)  until  they  have  settled 
down  more  securely  and  made  a  name  for  themselves  in  other 
lines.  Caution  and  slow  progress  are  extremely  necessary ;  fear 
of  avowing  interest  or  of  examining  into  unorthodox  facts  is,  I 
venture  to  say,  not  in  accordance  with  the  highest  traditions  of 
the  scientific  attitude. 

We  are,  I  suppose,  to  some  extent  afraid  of  each  other,  but 
we  are  still  more  afraid  of  ourselves.  We  have  great  respeot  for 
the  opinions  of  our  elders  and  superiors ;  we  find  the  matter 
distasteful  to  them,  so  we  are  silent.  "We  have,  moreover,  a 
righteous  mistrust  of  our  own  powers  and  knowledge  ;  we  perceive 
that  it  is  a  wide  region  extending  into  several  already  cultivated 
branches  of  science,  that  a  many-sided  and  bighly-tiained  mind 
b  necessary  adequately  to  cope  with  all  its  ramifications,  that 
in  the  absence  of  strict  inquiry  imposture  has  been  rampant  in 
some  portions  of  it  for  centuries,  and  that  unless  we  are  pre- 
ternaturally  careful  we  may  get  led  into  quagmires  if  we  venture 
on  it  at  all. 

Now  let  me  be  more  definite,  and  try  to  state  what  this  field 
is,  the  exploration  of  which  is  regarded  as  so  dangerous.  I 
might  call  it  the  borderland  of  physics  and  psychology.  I  might 
call  it  the  connection  between  life  and  energy  ;  or  the  connection 
between  mind  and  matter.  It  is  an  intermediate  r^ion, 
bounded  on  the  north  by  psychology,  on  the  south  by  physics, 
on  the  east  by  physiolo^,  and  on  the  west  by  pathology 
and  medicine.  An  occasional  psychologist  has  groped  down 
into  it  and  become  a  metaphysician.  An  occasional  physicist 
has  wandered  up  into  it  and  lost  his  base,  to  the  horror 
of  his  quondam  brethren.  Biologists  mostly  look  at  it 
askance,  or  deny  its  existence.  A  few  medical  practi* 
tioners,  after  long  maintenance  of  a  similar  attitude,  have  begun 
to  annex  a  portion  of  its  western  frontier.  The  whole  r^on 
seems  to  be  inhabited  mainly  by  savages,  many  of  them,  so  far 
as  we  can  judge  from  a  distance,  given  to  gross  superstition.  It 
may,  for  all  I  know,  have  been  hastily  traversed,  and  rudely 
surveyed  by  a  few  clear-eyed  travellers ;  but  their  legends  con- 
cerning it  are  not  very  credible,  certainly  are  not  believed. 

Why  not  leave  it  to  the  metaphysicians  ?  I  say  it  has  been  left 
to  them  long  enough.  They  have  explored  it  with  insufficient 
equipment.  The  physical  knowledge  of  the  great  philosophers 
has  been  necessarily  scanty.  Men  of  genius  they  were,  and  their 
writings  may,  when  interpreted,  mean  much.  But  to  us,  as 
physicists,  they  are  unsatisfactory ;  their  methods  are  not  our 
methods.  They  may  be  said  to  have  floated  a  balloon  over  the 
region  with  a  looking-glass  attached,  in  which  they  have  caught 
queer  and  fragmentary  glimpses.  They  may  have  seen  more 
than  we  give  Uiem  credit  for,  but  they  appear  to  have  gnessed 
far  more  than  they  saw. 

Our  method  is  different.  We  prefer  to  creep  slowly  from  our 
base  of  physical  knowledge,  to  engineer  carefully  as  we  go, 
establishing  forts,  making  roads,  and  thoroughly  exploring  the 
country  ;  making  a  progress  very  slow,  but  very  lasting.  The 
psychologists  from  their  side  may  meet  us.  I  hope  they  will ; 
but  one  or  other  of  us  ought  to  begin. 

A  vulnerable  spot  on  our  side  seems  to  be  the  connection 
between  life  and  energy.  The  conservation  of  energy  has  been  sa 
long  established  as  to  have  become  a  commonplace.  The  relation 
of  life  to  energy  is  not  understood.  Life  is  not  energy,  and  the 
death  of  an  animal  affects  the  amount  of  energy  no  whit ;  yet 
a  live  animal  exerts  control  over  energy  which  a  dead  one 
cannot.  Life  is  a  guiding  or  directing  principle,  disturbing 
to  the  physical  world  but  not  yet  given  a  place  in  the  scheme 
of  physics.  The  transfer  of  energy  is  accounted  for  by  the 
performance  of  work ;  the  guidance  of  energy  needs  no 
work,  but  demands  force  only.  What  is  force  ?  and  how 
can  living  beings  exert  it  in  the  way  they  do  ?  An  automaton 
worked  by  preceding  conditions — that  is,  by  the  past — say  the 
materialists.  Are  we  so  sure  that  they  are  not  worked  by  the 
future  too?  In  other  words,  that  the  totality  of  things,  by  which 
every  one  must  admit  that  actions  are  guided,  includes  the  future 
as  well  as  the  past,  and  that  to  attempt  to  deduce  those  actions 
from  the  past  only  will  prove  impossible.'  In  some  way  matter 
can  be  moved,  guided,  disturbed,  by  the  agency  of  living  beings  ; 
in  some  way  there  is  a  control,  a  directing-agency  active,  and 
events  are  caused  at  its  choice  and  will  that  would  not  otherwise 
happen. 

^  ^  The  expression  '* controlled  by  the  future"  I  first  heard  in  a conversa 
tion  with  G.   F.   Fitzgerald,  who  seemed  to  consider  it  applicable  to  alt 
events,  without  exception. 


386 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


A  laminoos  and  helpful  idea  is  that  time  is  but  a  relative  mode 
of  regarding  things  ;  we  progress  through  phenomena  at  a  certain 
deBn  te  pace,  and  this  subjective  advance  we  interpret  in  an 
objective  manner,  as  if  events  necessarily  happened  in  this  order 
and  at  this  precise  rate.  But  that  may  be  only  one  mode  of 
regarding  them.  The  events  may  be  in  some  sense  existent 
always,  both  past  and  futuie,  and  it  may  be  we  who  are  arriving 
at  them,  not  they  which  are  happening.  The  analogy  of  a 
traveller  in  a  railway  train  is  useful.  If  he  could  never  leave 
the  train  n)r  alter  its  pace,  he  would  probably  consider  the 
landscapes  as  necessarily  successive,  and  be  unable  to  conceive 
their  co- existence. 

The  analogy  of  a  solid  cut  into  sections  is  closer.  We  recog- 
nise the  universe  in  sections,  and  each  section  we  call  the  pre2>ent. 
It  is  like  the  string  of  slices  cut  by  a  microtome  ;  it  is  our  way 
of  studying  the  whole.  But  we  may  err  in  supposing  that  the 
body  only  exists  in  the  slices  which  pass  before  our  microscope 
in  regular  order  and  succession. 

We  perceive,  therefore,  a  possible  fourth  dimensional  aspect 
about  time,  the  inexorableness  of  whose  flow  may  be  a  natural 
part  of  oir  present  limitations.  And  if  once  we  grasp  the  idea 
that  past  and  future  may  be  actually  existing,  we  can  recognise 
that  they  may  have  a  controlling  influence  on  all  present  action, 
and  the  two  tojjether  miy  constitute  *'  the  higher  plane,"  or  the 
totality  of  things,  after  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  we  are  impelled 
to  seek,  in  connection  with  the  directing  of  force  or  determinisu, 
and  the  action  of  living  beings  consciously  directed  to  a  definite 
and  preconceived  end. 

Inanimate  matter  is  controlled  by  the  vis  a  t^^go ;  it  is 
operated  on  solely  by  the  past.*  Given  certain  conditions,  and 
the  effect  in  due  time  follows.  Attempts  have  been  made  to 
apply  the  same  principle  to  living  and  conscious  beings,  but 
without  much  succe  s.  These  seem  to  work  for  an  object,  even 
if  it  be  the  mere  seeking  for  food  ;  they  are  controlled  by  the 
idea  of  something  not  yet  palpable.  Given  certain  conditions, 
and  their  action  cannot  certainly  be  predicted  ;  they  have  a  sense 
of  option  and  free  will.  Either  their  actions  are  really  arbitrary 
and  indeterminate — which  is  highly  improbable — or  they  are  con- 
trolled by  the  future  as  well  as  by  the  past.  Imagine  beings 
thus  controlled :  automata  you  may  still  call  them,  but 
they  will  be  living  autom^ita,  and  will  exhibit  all  the  character- 
istics of  live  creatures.  Moreover,  if  they  have  a  merely  experi- 
ential knowledge,  necessarily  limited  by  memory  and  bounded  by 
the  past,  they  will  be  unable  to  predict  each  other's  actions 
with  any  certainty,  because  the  whole  of  the  data  are  not  before 
them.  May  not  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  meaning  of  life 
and  will  and  determinism  be  gradually  reached  in  some  such 
direction  as  this  ? 

By  what  means  is  force  exerted,  and  what,  definitely,  is 
force  ?  I  can  hardly  put  the  question  here  and  now  so  as  to  be 
intelligible,  except  to  those  who  have  approached  and  thought 
over  the  same  difficulties  j  but  I  venture  to  say  that  there  is  here 
something  not  provided  for  in  the  orthodox  scheme  of  physics  ; 
that  modern  physics  is  not  complete,  and  that  a  line  of  possible 
advance  lies  in  thi:»  direction. 

I  might  go  further.  Given  that  force  can  be  exerted  by  an  act  of 
will,  do  we  understand  the  mechanism  by  which  this  is  done  ?  And 
if  there  is  a  gap  in  our  knowledge  between  the  conscious  idea  of  a 
motion  and  the  liberation  of  muscular  energy  needed  to  accom- 
plish it,  how  do  we  know  that  a  body  may  not  be  moved  without 
ordinary  material  contact  by  an  act  of  will  ?  I  have  no  evidence 
that  such  a  thing  is  p>ossihle.  I  have  tried  once  or  twice  to  ob- 
serve its  asserted  occurrence,  and  failed  to  get  anything  that 
satisfied  me.  Others  may  have  been  more  fortunate.  In  any 
case,  I  hold  that  we  require  more  knowledge  before  we  can 
deny  the  possibility.  If  the  conservation  of  energy  were  upset 
by  the  process,  we  should  have  grounds  for  denying  it  ;  but 
nothing  that  we  know  is  upset  by  the  discovery  of  a  novel 
medium  of  communication,  perhaps  some  more  immediate  action 
through  the  ether.  It  is  no  use  theorising  ;  it  is  unwise  to  de- 
cline to  examine  phenomena  because  we  feel  too  sure  of  their 
impossibility.  We  ought  to  know  the  universe  very  thoroughly 
and  completely  before  we  take  up  that  attitude. 

Again,  it  is  familiar  that  a  thought  may  be  excited  in  the 
brain  of  another  person,  transferred  thither  from  our  brain, 
by  pulling  a  suitable  trigger;  by  liberating  energy  in  the 
form    of   sound,   for    instance,    or   by   the  mechanical   act   of 

*  This  is,  of  course,  not  astertion,  but  suggestion.     It  may  be  erroneous 
to  draw  any  such  distinction  between  animate  and  inanimate. 


NO.    II 38,  VOL.  44] 


writing,  or  in  other  ways.  A  prearranged  code  called 
language,  and  a  material  medium  of  communication,  are  the 
recognised  methods.  May  there  not  also  be  an  immaterial 
(perhaps  an  ethereal)  medium  of  communication  ?  Is  it 
possible  that  an  idea  can  be  transferred  from  one  peraon  to 
another  by  a  process  such  as  we  have  not  yet  grown  accastomd 
to,  and  know  practically  nothing  about?  In  this  case  I  have 
evidence.  I  assert  that  I  have  seen  it  done  ;  and  am  perfealy 
convinced  of  the  fact.  Many  others  are  satisfied  of  the  tmih  of 
it  too.  Why  must  we  speak  of  it  with  bated  breath*  as  of  a 
thing  of  which  we  are  ashamed  ?  What  right  have  we  to  be 
ashamed  of  a  truth  ? 

And  after  all,  when  we  have  grown  accustomed  to  it,  it  will 
not  seem  altogether  strange.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  naiuial  coo- 
sequence  of  the  community  of  life  or  family  relationship  mnniAg 
through  all  living  beings.  The  transmission  of  life  may  be 
likened  in  some  ways  to  the  transmission  of  magnetism,  and  all 
magnets  are  sympathetically  connected,  so  that  if  suitably  sns- 
pended  a  vibration  from  one  disturbs  others,  even  though  they 
t>e  distant  ninety-two  million  miles. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that,  granting  thought- transfereooe 
or  telepathy  to  be  a  fact,  it  belongs  more  especially  to  lowo 
forms  of  life,  and  that  as  the  cerebral  hemispheres  develop  we 
become  independent  of  it ;  that  what  we  notice  is  the  relic  of  a 
decaying  faculty,  not  the  germ  of  a  new  and  fruitful  sense  ;  and 
that  progress  is  not  to  be  made  by  stud)ing  or  attending  to  it. 
It  may  be  that  it  fVan  immature  mode  of  communication,  adapted 
to  lower  stages  of  consciousness  than  ours,  but  how  much  can 
we  not  learn  by  studying  immature  stages  ?  As  well  might  the 
objection  be  urged  against  a  study  of  embryology.  It  may,  on 
the  other  hand,  be  an  indication  of  a  higher  mode  of  commum- 
cation,  which  shall  survive  our  temporary  connection  with 
ordinary  matter. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  apparently  direct  action  of  mind  on 
mind,  and  of  a  possible  action  of  mind  on  matter.  But  the 
whole  region  is  unexplored  territory,  and  it  is  conceivable  that 
matter  may  react  on  mind  in  a  way  we  can  at  present  only  diml]f 
imagine.  In  fact,  the  barrier  between  the  two  may  gradually 
melt  away,  as  so  many  other  barriers  have  done,  and  we  may 
end  in  a  wider  p>erception  of  the  unity  of  nature,  such  as 
philosophers  have  already  dreamt  of. 

I  care  not  what  the  end  may  be.  I  do  care  that  the  inqoiry 
shall  be  conducted  by  us,  and  that  we  shall  be  free  from  the 
disgrace  of  jogging  along  accustomed  roads,  leaving  to  out- 
siders the  work,  the  ridicule,  and  the  grat ideation,  of  unfolding 
a  new  region  to  unwilling  eyes. 

It  may  be  held  that  such  investigations  are  not  physical  and 
do  not  concern  us.  We  cannot  tell  without  trying.  In  that  I 
trust  my  instinct :  I  believe  there  is  something  in  this  region 
which  does  concern  us  as  physicists.  It  may  concern  other 
sciences  too.  It  must,  one  would  suppose,  some  day  concern 
biology  ;  but  with  that  I  have  nothing  to  do.  Biologists  have 
their  region,  we  have  ours,  and  there  is  no  need  for  us  to  hang 
back  from  an  investigation  because  they  do.  Our  own  science, 
of  Physics  or  Natural  Philosophy  in  its  widest  sense,  is  ihe 
King  of  the  Sciences,  and  it  is  for  us  to  lead,  not  to  follow. 

And  I  say,  have  faith  in  the  Intelligibility  of  the  universe. 
Intelligibility  has  been  the  great  creed  in  the  strength  of  whidi 
all  intellectual  advance  has  been  attempted,  and  all  scientific 
progress  made. 

At  first  things  always  look  mysterious.  A  comet,  lightning,  the 
aurora,  the  rainbow — all  strange  anomalous  mysterious  appari- 
tions. But  scrutinized  in  the  dry  light  of  science,  iheir 
relationship  with  other  better-known  things  becomes  apparent 
They  cease  to  be  anomalous  ;  and  though  a  certain  mysteiy 
necessarily  remains,  it  is  no  more  a  property  peculiar  to  them,  t: 
is  shared  by  the  commonest  objects  of  daily  life. 

The  operations  of  a  chemist,  again,  if  conducted  in  a  hap- 
hazard manner,  would  be  an  indescribable  medley  of  efierves- 
cences,  precipitations,  changes  in  colour  and  in  substance ;  bat, 
guided  by  a  thread  of  theory  running  through  them  the  processes 
fall  into  a  series,  they  all  become  fairly  intelligible,  and  any 
explosion  or  catastrophe  that  may  occur  is  capable  of  explanaiioo 
too. 

Now  I  say  that  the  doctrine  of  ultimate  intelligibility  should 
be  pressed  into  other  departments  also.  At  present  we  bang 
back  from  whole  regions  of  inquiry,  and  say  they  are  not  for  U5. 
A  few  we  are  b^inning  to  grapple  with.  The  nature  of  disca-e 
is  yielding  to  scrutiny  with  &uitful  result  ;  the  mental  aberrations 
and  abnormalities  of  hypnotism,  duplex  personality,  and  allied 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


387 


phenomena,  are  now  at  last  being  taken  under  the  wing  of 
science  after  long  ridicule  and  contempt.  The  phenomenon  of 
crime,  the  scientific  meaning  and  justification  of  altruism,  and 
other  matters  relating  to  life  and  conduct,  are  beginning,  or 
perhaps  are  barely  yet  beginning,  to  show  a  vulnerable  front 
over  which  the  forces  of  science  may  pour. 

Facts  so  strange  that  they  have  been  called  miraculous  are 
now  no  longer  regarded  as  entirely  incredible.  All  occurrences 
seem  reasonable  when  contemplated  from  the  right  point 
of  view,  and  some  are  believed  in  which  in  their  essence  are  still 
quite  marvellouF.  Apply  warmth  for  a  given  period  to  a 
sparrow's  egg,  and  what  result  could  be  more  incredible  or 
magicaJ  if  now  discovered  for  the  first  time.  The  possibilities 
of  the  universe  are  as  infinite  as  is  its  physical  extent.  Why 
should  we  grope  with  our  eyes  always  downward,  and  deny  the 
possibility  of  everything  out  of  our  accustomed  beat. 

If  there  is  a  puzzle  about  free-will,  let  it  be  attacked  ;  puzzles 
mean  a  state  of  half-knowledge;  by  the  time  we  can  giasp 
something  more  approximating  to  the  totality  of  things  the 
paradoxity  of  paradoxes  drops  away  and  becomes  unrecognizable. 
I  seem  to  myself  to  catch  glimpses  of  clues  to  many  of  these  old 
questions,  and  I  urge  that  we  should  trust  consciousness,  which 
has  led  us  thus  far  ;  should  shrink  from  no  problem  when  the 
time  seems  ripe  for  an  attack  upon  it,  and  should  not  hesitate  to 
press  investigation,  and  ascertain  the  laws  of  even  the  most 
recondite  problems  of  life  and  mind. 

What  we  know  is  as  nothing  to  that  which  remains  to  be 
known.  This  is  sometimes  said  as  a  truism  ;  sometimes  it  is 
half  doubted.  To  me  it  seems  the  roost  literal  truth,  and  that 
if  we  narrow  our  view  to  already  half-conquered  territory  only, 
we  shall  he  false  to  the  men  who  won  our  freedom,  and  treason- 
able to  the  highest  claims  of  science. 

I  must  now  return  to  the  work  of  this  Section,  from  which  I 
have  apparently  wandered  rather  far  afield,  further  than  is 
customary — ^perhaps  further  than  is  desirable.  But  I  hold  that 
occasionally  a  wide  outlook  is  wholesome,  and  that  without  such 
occasional  survey,  the  rigid  attention  to  detail  and  minute 
scrutiny  of  every  little  fact,  which  are  so  entirely  admirable  and 
are  >o  rightly  here  fostered,  are  apt  to  become  unhealthily  dull 
and  monotonous.  Our  Iife-work<is  concerned  with  the  rigid 
framework  of  facts,  the  skeleton  or  outline  map  of  the  universe : 
and,  though  it  is  well  for  us  occasionally  to  remember  that  the 
texture  and  colour  and  beauty  which  wehabhually  ignore  are  not 
therefore  in  the  slightest  degree  non-existent,  vet  it  is  safest 
speedily  to  return  to  our  base  and  continue  the  slow  and  labori- 
ous march  with  which  we  are  familiar  and  which  experience  has 
justified.  It  is  because  I  imagine  that  such  sy.stematic  advance 
is  now  beginning  to  he  possible  in  a  fresh  and  unexpected 
direction  that  I  have  attempted  to  direct  )our  attention  to  a 
subject  which,  if  my  prognostications  are  correct,  may  turn  out 
to  be  one  of  spedal  and  peculiar  interest  to  humanity. 


THE  LATE  PROF.  MARTIN  DUNCAN,  KR.S. 

'Il/'E  have  already  announced  the  death  of  this  well- 
•  *      known  geologist ;  and  now  give  a  brief  account 
of  his  services  to  science. 

As  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal,  Linnean,  Geological,  and 
Microscopical  Societies,  and  for  some  time  President  of 
the  two  last-named  of  these,  it  goes  without  saying  that 
his  attainments  were  of  no  mean  order.  Educated  for 
the  medical  profession  at  King's  College,  London,  he 
matriculated  at  the  London  University  in  1841,  taking 
honours  in  anatomy  and  physiology  in  1844,  and  the 
d^ree  of  Bachelor  of  Medicine  in  1846,  in  which  year 
also  he  qualified  as  a  Member  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons.  His  early  life  was  passed  at  Rochester  with 
Dr.  Martin,  and  at  Colchester,  where  he  was  in  practice 
for  some  years,  and  where  he  so  won  the  esteem  of  all 
who  knew  him  that  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  that  city. 
Fascinated  with  the  study  of  geology,  and  impressed  with 
the  idea  that  to  make  any  mark  in  the  scientific  world  a 
man  should  take  up  some  spicialite,  he  not  only  obtained 
a  broad  grasp  of  his  favourite  subject,  but  devoted  him- 
self especially  to  a  study  of  fossil  corals  and  echinoderms, 
on  which  subjects  at  intervals  he  published  numerous 
wiluable  memoirs.     Indeed,  for  many  years,  and  up  to 

NO.    1138,  VOL.  44] 


within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  his  death,  he  con- 
tinued to  work  at  his  special  subject,  and  contributed 
many  important  papers  to  the  Annals  and  Magazine  of 
Natural  History^  the  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society^ 
the  Geological  Magazine,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Micro- 
scopical Science,  the  Philosophical  Transactions  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royal  Society,  the  Proceedings  and 
Transactions  of  the  Zoological  Society,  and  the  Journal 
of  the  Linnean  Society. 

He  soon  found  that  residence  out  of  London,  away 
from  scientific  societies  and  important  works  of  reference, 
was  a  great  obstacle  to  work,  and  that  if  he  was  to  make 
any  real  progress  with  his  special  studies  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  him  to  seek  some  appointment  in  the  metro- 
polis. Fortunately  for  him,  as  it  happened,  the  Chair  of 
Geology  at  King's  College  became  vacant,  and  he  was 
appointed  to  fill  it.  This  at  once  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity he  had  so  long  hoped  for,  and  the  preparation  of 
his  lectures  proceeded  side  by  side  with  much  useful  work, 
which,  by  degrees,  he  found  time  to  publish.  Such,  for 
example,  was  his  account  of  the  Madreporaria  collected 
during  the  expedition  of  H.M.S.  Porcupine,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  Transactions  of  the  Zoological  Society 
(Part  1,  vol.  viii.  p.  303,  &c.,  and  Part  2,  vol.  x.  p.  235, 
&c.) ;  his  description  of  deep-sea  and^litoral  corals  from 
the  Atlantic  and  Indian  Oceans  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc,  1876, 
p.  428,  &c.) ;  and  his  important  revision  of  the  Echinoidea, 
printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  Linnean  Society,  of  which  it 
occupied  four  numbers. 

This  was  all  strictly  scientific  work,  but  by  no  means 
represented  all  that  he  accomplished.  As  a  popular  ex- 
ponent of  the  teaching  of  geology  and  zoology,  especially 
in  regard  to  the  lower  forms  of  life,  he  published  many 
excellent  articles  which  were  designed  to  awaken  an  in- 
terest in  subjects  little  investigated,  though  well  worthy 
of  attention. 

Lucidly  written  and  full  of  facts,  these  articles  were  at 
once  instructive  and  suggestive,  and  from  a  teachers' 
point  of  view  did  more  to  educate  youthful  naturalists 
and  encourage  research  than  any  of  his  more  scientific 
papers,  which,  being  of  a  more  technical  character,  were 
less  acceptable  to  the  majority  of  readers  because  less 
intelligible  to  them. 

Of  this  class  were  his  articles  on  '^  Corals  and  their 
Polypes"  {Intellectual Observer^  1869,  pp.  81-91,  241-50^ 
with  two  coloured  plates) ;  '*  Studies  amongst  Amoebae  " 
{Popular  Science  Review,  1877,  with  two  plates),  and 
"  Notes  on  the  Ophiurans,  or  the  Sand  and  Brittle  Stars '' 
{Popular  Science  Review,  1878,  with  a  plate). 

His  attention,  however,  was  not  confined  to  inverte- 
brate zoology  or  geology.  In  1878  he  commenced  the 
publication,  in  six  volumes  quarto,  of  a  popular  '*  Natural 
History,"  which  had  the  merit  of  being  written  by  a 
number  of  able  specialists  upon  a  comprehensive  plan 
under  his  direction,  and,  while  taking  upon  himself  the 
laborious  duties  of  editor-in-chief,  he  contributed  many 
of  the  sections  himself.  Thus,  while  securing  the  co- 
operation of  such  well-known  zoologists  as  the  late  Prof. 
W.  K.  Parker,  the  late  Mr.  Dallas,  Prof.  Seeley,  Prof. 
Boyd  Dawkins,  Dr.  H.  Woodward,  Dr.  Murie,  Mr.  H. 
W.  Bates,  and  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe,  he  himself  undertook 
the  preparation  of  the  articles  on  Apes  and  Monkeys, 
Lemurs  (part),  Edentata,  Marsupialia,  Reptilia,  and  Am- 
phibia.  He  also  wrote  the  introduction  to  the  Inverte- 
brata,  and  the  articles  Vermes,  Zoophytes,  and  Infusoria 
which  appeared  in  the  last  volume,  published  in  1883. 

For  an  excellent  summary  of  marine  zoology,  in  which 
the  appearance,  structure,  and  habits  of  such  animals 
and  plants  as  may  be  found  upon  our  coasts  are  well 
described,  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  a  little  volume 
by  Dr.  Duncan,  entitled  "  The  Sea- shore."  It  forms  one 
of  a  series  of  "  Natural  History  Rambles,"  issued  a  few 
years  since  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  ar.d,  for  the  amount  of  informaiion  which  it 


388 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


contains,  as  well  as  for  its  lucid  expression,  deserves  to 
be  better  known. 

Dr.  Martin  Duncan  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  work- 
ing bees  in  the  great  hive  of  science ;  and  in  his  own 
quiet,  unostentatious  way  has  stored  up  a  considerable 
amount  of  material  the  value  of  which  will  be  more  and 
more  appreciated  as  those  for  whose  benefit  it  was  accu- 
mulated come  to  examine  and  understand  it. 

In  his  ardent  devotion  to  science,  and  patient  industry 
in  spite  of  trials  and  troubles  which  would  have  deterred 
many  less  earnest  workers,  he  set  a  bright  example, 
which  those  of  a  younger  generation  of  naturalists  would 
do  well  to  follow. 


NOTES. 

It  seems  that  those  members  of  the  Government,  whichever 
they  may  be,  who  are  responsible  for  buildings  for  science  and 
art,  have  determined  to  erect  new  galleries  for  the  Art  Museum 
at  South  Kensington  ;  practically  to  cover  all  the  ground  which  is 
supposed  to  be  applicable  for  art  purposes  there.  These  build- 
ings are  to  cost  some  ;^400,ooo,  and,  when  this  money  is  spent, 
we  suppose  the  South  Kensington  Art  Museum  will  be  6nished. 
We  suppose,  also,  that  the  building  of  a  Science  Museum  will, 
by  this  action,  be  delayed  for .  another  twenty  years.  This  will 
be  a  great  victory  for  art,  and  will  aflford  another  interesting 
example  of  the  results  of  the  way  in  which  matters  scientific  are 
managed  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Edgar  Thurston,  Curator  of  the  Qovemment  Museum 
at  Madras,  has  been  appointed  to  officiate  for  two  years  for  Dr. 
Watt,  at  Calcutta,  in  reporting  on  economic  products  and  or- 
ganizing collections  of  products  and  manufactures  for  the  Calcutta 
and  other  Indian  Museums  ;  his  duties  at  Madras  being  in  the 
meantime  discharged  by  Dr.  Warth,  of  the  Geological  Depart- 
ment. 

Prop.  Goebel,  of  Marbuig,  has  been  appointed  to  the  Chair 
of  Botany  at  Munich  in  succession  to  the  late  Prof.  Naegeli. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Dr.  Weiss,  the  Professor 
of  Botany  and  Director  of  the  Plant- Physiological  Institute  of 
the  University  of  Prague. 

The  late  Cardinal  Haynald's  important  herbarium  and 
botanical  library  has  been  placed  in  the  National  MuseuoCi  at 
Budapest. 

We  learn  from  Madras  that  the  observations  made  under  the 
direction  of  the  late  Mr.  Pogson  are  in  a  forward  state  of 
reduction,  and  that  the  real  activity  of  the  Observatory  is  not  to 
be  measured  by  the  fact  that  the  last  published  volume  of 
observations  contains  the  record  of  those  made  in  1870.  The 
fimds  at  the  disposal  of  the  Madras  Observatory  have  not  per- 
mitted the  regular  and  early  publication  of  the  masses  of 
observations  which  the  industry  of  Mr.  Pogson  and  his  assistants 
has  accumulated,  and  the  scheme  which  the  Director  proposed 
to  himself  did  not  permit  him  to  give,  from  time  to  time,  an 
abstract  of  his  work  through  the  ordinary  and  recognized 
channels  open  for  the  dissemination  of  astronomical  results. 
Mr.  Michie  Smith  writes  that  the  "  Variable  Star  Atlas  "  alone 
contains  the  observations  of  about  60,000  stars,  made  and 
reduced  by  Mr.  Pogson.  We  may  express  an  earnest  wish  that 
no  long  time  may  be  suffered  to  elapse  before  astronomers  have 
an  opportunity  of  judging  the  value  of  this  mass  of  material  in 
an  interesting  branch  of  astronomical  inquiry. 

Under  the  McKinley  rigimc  it  seems  to  be  a  very  generous 
thing  for  an  American  savant  to  communicate  a  paper  to  a 
British  society.  One  of  them  writes  as  follows  to  the  Nation : — 
''A  learned  society  of  Scotland,  in  pursuance  of  its  liberal 
policy,  mailed  to  me  fifty  author's  copies  of  a  paper  which  had 
been  honoured  by  admission  to  its  Transactions.     The  bundle 

NO-    1 138,  VOL.  44] 


came  to  the  local  post-office  this  week  opened,  and  aocompanied 
by  a  slip  giving  the  package  a  *  commercial  value  *  of  twelve 
dollars,  and  assessing  a  duty  of  25  per  cent.  The  local  collector 
of  customs  thinks  that  I  am  resisting  the  just  claims  of  a  hard- 
working Government  in  delaying  payment ;  but  curiosity  as  to 
how  they  discover  the  commercial  value  of  a  paper  whose  real 
audience  might,  I  think,  be  numbered  on  the  fingers  of  the  two 
hands,  has  led  me  to  appeal  the  case." 

Science  states  that  the  executors  of  the  estate  of  the  lateWilliam 
B.  Ogden,  the  first  Mayor  of  Chicago,  have  selected  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  as  one  of  the  beneficiaries,  giving  it  a  seien* 
tific  school.     The  gift,  which  will  amount  to  from  three  hundred 
thousand*ito  half  a  million  dollars,  will  endow  a  separate  depart- 
ment of  the   University,   to  be  called   the  Ogden   Scientific 
School,  its  purpose  being  to  furnish  graduate  students  with  the 
best  facilities  possible  for  scientific  investigation  by  courses  of 
lectures  and  laboratory  practice.     The  income  of  the  money 
appropriated  is  to  be  devoted  to  and  used  for  the  payment  of 
salaries  and  fellowships,  and  the  maintenance  of  laboratories  in 
physics,  chemistry,  biology,  geology,  and  astronomy,  with  the 
subdivisions  of  these  departments.     A  large  share  of  the  time  of 
the  professors  in  the  school  is  to  be  given  to  original  investigi- 
tion,  and  encouragement  of  various  kinds   is  to  be  famished 
them  to  publish  the  results  of  their  investigations,  a  portion  oi 
jhe  funds  being  set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  such  publication. 

It  seems  as  if  in  time  the  publishers  of  sea-side  guides  may 
realize  that  some  people  who  require  a  holiday  are  intelligent, 
possess  eyes,  and  perchance  even  some  acquaintance  with  natoial 
history.  We  have  just  received  a  copy  of  Johnson's  iltostrstcd 
**  Visitors'  Companion"  to  Eastbourne  and  its  vicinity,  which 
contains,  besides  the  matter  usually  supplied,  an  account  of  the 
flora,  consisting  of  291  varieties  of  wild  flowers,  9  orchids,  iS 
ferns,  12  mosses  and  their  allies,  34  varieties  of  sea- weeds  (with 
directions  for  collecting  and  preserving  them) ;  particulars  are 
also  given  of  56  varieties  of  butterflies  (with  time  of  appearance), 
45  varieties  of  moths  (with  time  of  appearance,  and  how  to  catdi 
them  by  the  electric  light),  29  varieties  of  wild  bees,  pebbles, 
fossils,  land  and  freshwater  moUusca,  a  brief  geological  smrvtj 
of  the  district,  and  an  extensive  list  of  wild  birds  which  fre- 
quent the  neighbourhood,  together  with  a  guide  to  fresh  and 
salt  water  fishing.  Have  we  to  thank  Prof.  Huxley's  local 
influence  for  this  ? 

An  exhibition  of  the  successes  in  acclimatization  achieved  in 
Russia  will  be  opened  at  Moscow,  in  connection  with  the  Inter- 
national Congresses  of  Zoology  and  Prehistoric  Archaeology  and 
Anthropology  which  will  be  held  in  the  Russian  capital  in 
August  1892.  The  results  of  the  numerous  experiments  ia 
acclimatization  of  a  great  variety  of  plants  which  have  been 
made  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  especially  in  the  Asiatic 
dominions  of  the  Empire,  will  be  exhibited. 

In  a  Vice-Presidential  Report  to  the  U.S.  National  Geo- 
graphic Society,  on  the  "Geography  of  the  Air,"  Lieut.  A, 
W.  Greely  reviews  the  progress  of  meteorological  science  during 
the  past  year,  chiefly  with  reference  to  the  work  of  Amerkaa 
meteorologists.  Referring  to  the  recent  controversy  on  the 
causes  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones,  he  says : — "  The  status  of  the 
meteorological  discussion  which  has  been  going  on  for  some  time 
seems  to  be  this.  A  number  of  men,  applying  themselves  to  in- 
vestigation in  separate  branches  or  stages  of  the  same  science, 
are  attempting  to  reconcile  their  views,  which,  based  as  th«y 
are  upon  entirely  different  processes  of  investigation,  are  not 
entirely  accordant.  Some  at  least  of  these  writers  are  still 
apparently  groping  in  the  preliminary,  the  'natural  history'  stage 
of  the  science  of  meteorology,  while  one  alone  stands  as  the  ex- 
ponent of  the  *  natural  philosophy'  of  meteorology."  This  vi«« 
seems  somewhat  inappreciative,  and  the  account  given  of  1> 


August  20,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


389 


Hann's  work  inadequate  and  not  quite  correct.  Dr.  Hann's 
memoir  demonstrated  that  the  temperature  conditions  of  anti- 
cyclones, and  probably  extra-tropical  cyclones,  are  inconsistent  with 
the  convectiooal  hypothesis  as  worked  out  by  Prof.  Ferrel,  and  he 
suggested  as  an  alternative  that  their  cause  is  to  be  sought  in  the 
general  circulation  of  the  atmosphere.  But  he  did  not  originate 
this  view,  which  had  been  put  forward  long  before  by  Werner 
Siemens;  nor  did  he  attempt  to  develop  it.  It  is  incorrect, 
therefore,  to  represent  this  hypothesis  as  the  miin  object  of 
his  memoir.  In  connection  with  the  work  of  the  Weather 
Barean,  of  which  Lieut.  Greely  is  Director,  he  notices  the  experi- 
ments of  Prof<  Marvin  on  wind  pressures  and  velocities,  which 
confirm  the  results  of  some  previous  experimenters  in  proving  that 
the  indications  of  the  Robinson  anemometer  are  too  high  ;  also 
that  pressures  computed  from  velocities  by  the  usual  formula  are. 
much  in  excess  of  the  truth  ;  the  result  being  that  the  pressure 
computed  from  the  readings  of  the  Robinson  anemometer,  when 
the  actual  velocity  is  sixty  miles  per  hour,  is  50  per  cent,  too 
high.  Other  subjects  briefly  noticed  are  Finley  and  Hazen's 
work  in  connection  with  tornadoes,  and  Prof.  Russell's  on  cold 
waves. 

In  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Physical  and  Geological  Traces  of 
Permanent  Cyclone  Belts,''  Mr.  Marsden  Manson  treats  of  a 
somewhat  large  subject  in  the  small  space  of  ten  pages.  Starting 
with  the  assumption  that  the  main  features  of  the  barometric 
lones  of  the  earth  have  been  the  same  throughout  past  ages  as 
they  are  at  the  present  day,  and  that  there  has  always  been  a 
belt  in  the  north  temperate  zone,  between  50**  and  60*^  N.  lat., 
which  is  the  mean  track  of  maximum  cyclone  frequency  and 
low  mean  pressure,  he  infers  that,  owing  to  the  diminished 
pressure,  this  has  always  been  an  axis  of  upheaval,  and  at  the 
same  time,  oving  to  excessive  precipitation,  a  zone  of  maximum 
deoadation.  His  ideas  are  apparently  suggested  by  the  geo- 
logical structure,  the  orographic  and  meteorological  features  of 
North  America,  and  little  or  no  attempt  is  made  to  verify  his 
inferences  by  the  geological  and  meteorological  conditions  of 
Earope  and  Asia,  which  hardly  seem  to  bear  out  his  hypothesis. 
Thus  he  instances  the  Archaean  axis  of  Canada  as  the  secular 
leittlt  of  upheaval  and  denudation  along  an  axis  roughly  coincid* 
ing  with  the  average  storm  track  ;  but  he  omits  to  show  any 
similar  relations  between  the  Archaean  rocks  of  Bohemia  or  the 
Alpine  chain  and  the  average  course  of  storms  in  Europe.  It  is, 
however,  altogether  premature  to  criticize  a  theory  put  forward  in 
80  crude  a  stage  of  development,  and  it  is  hard  to  see  what 
service  can  be  rendered  to  science  by  such  premature  publica* 
tion. 

Dr.  W.  Doberck  has  published  the  observations  made  at 
the  Hong  Kong  Observatory  in  the  year  1889.  Returns  were 
received  from  forty  land  stations,  and  extracts  from  logs  of 
ninety-three  ships  which  visited  Chinese  waters  were  collected 
daring  the  year,  and  will  be  utilized  in  investigations  of  the 
meteorology  and  typhoons  of  the  Eastern  seas.  The  station$ 
in  connection  with  maritime  meteorology  extend  to  the  Island  of 
Luzon,  and  a  roost  valuable  station  has  been  established  on  the 
Island  of  Formosa,  by  the  Chinese  Maritime  Customs.  The 
observations  of  the  rain-band  have  been  regularly  continued, 
and  have  been  found  of  use  both  in  prediction  oi  fine  weather 
and  of  heavy  thunderstorms.  An  advance  Report  issued  for 
1890  shows  that  considerable  improvement  in  the  storm-warning 
service  ha?  been  effected  by  the  connection  of  the  Observatory 
with  the  telegraph  offices.  A  committee  of  inquiry  which  sat  in 
the  early  part  of  1890,  has  recommended  that  more  financial 
and  other  assistance  be  given  to  Dr.  Doberck  in  carrying  out 
his  work. 

The  Central  Meteorological  Office    of   Paris  has  recently 
pnblished  its  Annales  for  the  year  1888,   consisting  of  three 

NO.   II 38,  VOL.  44] 


large  quarto  volumes.  Vol.  i.  contains  :— A  discussion  by  M. 
Fronon  the  character  of  the  thunderstorms  of  the  years  1887  and 
1888,  with  charts  for  each  day  on  which  such  storms  occurred  ; 
a  review  by  M.  Moureaux  of  the  magnetic  observations  at  Park 
of  Saint  Maur,  together  with  facsimile  curves  of  the  most  in- 
teresting disturbances.  Owing  to  an  agreement  with  Green- 
wich Observatory,  the  curves  published  in  this  country  and  in 
France  will  generally  correspond  to  the  same  disturbances,  and 
will  therefore  allow  of  interesting  comparisons.  Risumis  of  the 
magnetic  observations  made  at  53  other  stations  in  France  are 
also  published.  A  discussion  by  M.  Angot  of  the  phenological 
and  other  periodical  phenomena  during  the  years  1886  and  1887. 
These  observations  have  now  been  continued  for  eight  years. 
M.  Angot  has  also  studied  the  effect  of  the  amount  of  cloud  on 
the  daily  variation  of  temperature  at  Paris.  A  paper  by  M. 
Raulin  on  the  seasonal  rainfall  of  various  countries  in  Europe, 
in  which  he  shows  that  when  a  number  of  years  are  taken  into 
consideration  the  condensation  of  vapour  follows  a  regular 
seasonal  range,  with  a  minimum  in  winter  and  a  maximum  in 
summer,  where  the  range  is  not  interfered  with  by  secondary 
causes,  such  as  proximity  to  the  sea,  &c.  M.  Teisserenc  de 
Bort  presents  a  paper  on  the  mode  of  formation  of  types  of 
isobars,  and  on  the  theory  of  the  general  circulation  of  the 
atmosphere,  illustrated  by  diagrams.  Vol.  ii.  contains  the 
observations  made  at  various  stations  and  mountain  observa- 
tories, including  also  several  stations  in  Algeria,  Egypt, 
Panama,  &c.  Vol.  iii.  contains  values  of  rainfall  at  a  laige 
number  of  stations,  with  monthly,  seasonal,  and  annual  charts. 
The  actual  number  of  stations  reaches  nearly  1800,  and  daily 
values  are  published  for  925  stations. 

A  REMARKABLE  weather  change  is  reported  to  have  occurred 
at  Orenburg  on  November  19,  1890.  After  a  temperature  of 
3°  C,  with  heavy  rain,  there  was  a  fall  to  -  30'  C.  in  20 
minutes.  Some  thirty  Kirghises,  who  were  returning  to  Oren- 
burg, were  drenched  with  the  rain,  then  frozen  on  their  horses. 
Ten  of  them  had  been  found,  and  the  others  were  being  sought 
for.     Many  horses  and  other  animals  succumbed  to  the  cold. 

Snow-drifts  are  found  a  serious  disturbance  of  the  Russian 
railway  system.  With  a  view  to  forecasting  such  occurrences, 
M.  Sresnewskij  has  lately  collected  information  about  snow- 
drifts on  the  Russian  lines  during  1879-89  ^Rep.  fUr  Met.),  The 
drifts  occur  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  Governments,  chiefly 
with  south-west  wind,  but  in  Southern  Russia  with  north-east. 
In  the  north,  greater  gradients  are  required  than  in  the  south. 
The  maximum  of  the  drifting  is  in  mid-winter,  but  there  is  more 
in  the  second  half  of  winter  than  in  the  first,  that  having  more 
snow.  In  course  of  winter  the  snow  grows  in  thickness,  so  that 
in  March  there  is  more  to  drift  than  in  December.  The  marked 
diminution  of  drifting  in  February  is  due  to  the  less  wind  in  that 
month  (a  fact  not  yet  explained,  as  the  number  of  cyclones 
shows  no  decrease).  Two  kinds  of  drifting  are  distinguished  ; 
it  may  be  only  or  chiefly  snow  lying  on  the  ground  that  is 
whirled  and  carried  along,  or  the  wind  may  drive  falling  snow. 
There  are  most  drifts  in  the  months  that  have  least  snowfall 
and  the  smallest  number  of  days  of  snow.  The  snow-drifts  in 
South  Russia  with  north-east  wind  are  chiefly  connected  wit 
anticyclones  in  the  central  region,  or  cyclones  on  the  southern 
border ;  those  in  the  east  and  north  with  cyclones  in  European 
Russia.  In  Central  Russia  they  occur  with  cyclonic  winds  of 
various  direction,  seldom  with  anticyclones. 

An  investigation  (more  comprehensive  than  the  previous  ones 
by  Forel,  Fritz,  and  others)  of  the  variations  of  Alpine  glaciers, 
has  been  recently  made  by  Herr  Richter,  of  the  German  and 
Austrian  Alpine  Club.  To  six  advances  of  glaciers,  previously 
known,  he  adds  three,  and  his  account  of  the  six  differs  some- 
what from  previous  ones.     The  dates  of  commencement  of  the 


390 


NA  TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


nine  advance**  are  1592,  1630,  1675,  1712,  1735,  17^7>  '^'4* 
1835,  1875  (?).  The  following  are  some  of  Richter*s  con- 
clusions : — Glacier  advances  recur  in  periods  varying  between 
twenty  and  forty*five  years  ;  on  the  average  of  three  centuries, 
thirty-five  years.  The  advances  are  not  all  of  equal  intensity, 
nor  alike  in  their  progress.  Nor  is  the  intensity  in  a  given 
advance-period  the  same  in  all  glaciers.  In  the  case  of  sime 
glaciers,  a  period  is  occasionally  skipped,  the  advance  or  retire- 
ment being  very  weak,  so  that  the  thirty- five  years  period  gives 
place  to  one  of  seventy  years.  The  glacier  variations  corre- 
spond, in  general,  with  Bruckner's  climate  variations.  The 
glacier  advance  generally  begins  a  few  years  after  the  moist  and 
cool  period  has  set  in.  There  is  no  good  reason  to  suppose 
that,  in  historic  time,  before  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Alpine 
glaciers  were  smaller  than  now,  or  that  variations  occurred  of 
different  order  and  period  from  those  of  the  last  300  years. 
About  1880,  the  earth  was  passing  through  a  moist  and  cold 
period,  which  should  have  resulted  in  a  general  advance  ;  but 
the  advance  has  been  but  slight  hitherto,  and,  in  the  Eastern 
Alps,  mostly  absent.  The  cause  of  this  is  not  at  present  clear, 
but  the  mild  nature  of  this  last  cold  period  may  have  something 
to  do  with  it. 

The  bacillus  of  tuberculosis,  it  is  known,  is  often  to  be  found 
in  places  lived  in  by  consumptives.  Herr  Prausnitz  has  lately 
collected  the  dust  in  various  compartments  of  trains  which  often 
convey  patients  from  Berlin  to  Meran,  and  inoculated  a  number 
of  guinea-pigs  with  it.  Two,  out  of  five  compartments  so 
examined,  were  found  to  contain  the  bacillus  ;  the  dust  of  one 
rendered  three  out  of  four  guinea-pigs  tuberculous  ;  that  of  the 
other,  two.  The  animals  were  killed  after  ten  to  twelve  weeks, 
but  in  no  ca^e  was  the  disease  very  advanced  ;  the  author 
supposes  the  number  of  bacilli  to  have  been  but  small.  The 
facts,  however,  seem  to  point  to  the  necessity  of  disinfection  of 
sach  railway  carriages,  especially  the  carpets  or  mats. 

To  the  usual  well-known  ways  of  stimulating  muscles  to  con* 
raction,  viz.  electrical,  thermal,  mechanical,  and  chemical,  M. 
D' Arson val  has  recently  added  that  by  means  of  light.  He 
could  not,  indeed,  get  any  contraction  in  a  fresh  frog-muscle> 
when  he  suddenly  threw  bright  light  on  it  in  a  dark  chamber  ; 
but  having  first  in  darkness  stimulated  a  muscle  with  induction 
currents  too  weak  to  give  a  visible  effect,  and  then  suddenly 
illuminated  the  muscle  with  an  arc  light,  the  muscle  showed 
slight  tremulation.  Not  thinking  this  conclusive,  however,  M. 
D*Arsonval  attached  a  muscle  to  the  middle  of  a  piece  of  skin 
stretched  on  a  funnel,  and  connected  the  tube  of  the  funnel  by 
means  of  a  piece  of  india-rubber  tube  with  the  ear.  The  muscle 
being  now  subjected  to  intense  intermittent  light,  he  heard  a 
tone  corresponding  to  the  period  of  illumination,  and  this 
•ceased  when  the  muscle  was  killed  with  heat.  Arc  light  was 
used,  which  was  concentrated  by  a  lens  and  passed  through  an 
alum-solution  to  stop  the  heat  rays. 

For  nearly  two  years  there  has  been  at  work  in  Denver,  Colo., 
an  automatic  refrigerator  system,  which  seems  to  be  thoroughly 
successful.  Ammoniacal  liquor  in  the  proportion  of  29  parts 
pure  ammonia  to  71  parts  water,  is  forced  through  a  main  to  the 
point  where  refrigeration  is  desired  ;  a  sudden  increase  of  space  is 
afforded  there  for  quick  vaporization,  and  after  absorption  by 
water,  the  liquid  returns  by  suction  to  the  central  station.  There 
are  two  miles  of  mains  having  connection  with  twenty-nine 
boxes,  each  containing  a  grill  near  (he  top  to  which  the  liquor  is 
admitted.  The  space  formerly  devoted  to  ice  is  a  clear  gain ; 
and  the  temperature,  instead  of  being  a  varying  quantity, 
dependent  on  the  arrival  of  the  ice  man,  and  never  below  40°  F., 
-can  be  reduced  to  any  degree  above  25*^  F.  in  a  few  minutes, 
and  kept  within  2°  of  the  same.     The  air  is  dry,  sweet,  and 

NO.   1 1 38,  VOL.  44] 


clean  ;  the  moisture  collects  on  the  grill  as  frost.  In  one  experi- 
ment a  piece  of  meat  was  kept  six  months  and  then  cooked  aod 
eaten,  and  it  seemed  no  way  different  from  fresh  meat. 

The  French  Societe  de  TEncottragement  lately  offered  a  priee 
of  1000  francs  for  conservation  of  potatoes  and  other  vegetables. 
Four  of  the  five  applicants  used  some  isolating  substance  (wood- 
ash,  sawdust,  rye-straw  with  sand).  M.  Schribauz,  who  gained 
the  prize,  puts  potatoes  for  ten  hours  in  a  i}  ]>er  cent,  solation 
of  commercial  sulphuric  acid  to  kill  the  buds  (a  2  per  cent,  sola- 
tion for  thick  skins).  The  potatoes  are  taken  out  and  thoroqgUy 
dried,  and  they  will  keep  without  alteration  more  than  a  year. 
The  same  solution  serves  for  repeated  immersions,  the  con- 
centration remaining  constant.  The  process  is  not  applicable  to 
onions.  Another  prize  by  the  same  Society  (3000  francs)  is 
awarded  to  M.  Candlot  for  a  memoir  treating  of  the  action  of 
sea-water  on  cements.  He  shows  that  the  sulphate  of  lioe 
resulting  from  decomposition  of  sulphate  of  magnesia  by  lime- 
salts  of  the  cement  combines  with  aluminate  of  lime  to  give  a 
double  crystalline  salt  containing  half  its  weight  of  water.  The 
crystallization  of  a  salt  so  greatly  hydrated  involves  considerable 
swelling,  and  this  accounts  for  the  disaggregation  of  cements  in 
marine  work.  M.  Candlot  has  observed  the  curious  £act  that 
over-baked  lime,  which  takes  several  days  to  extinguish  in 
water,  is  extinguished  in  a  few  minutes  in  a  3  per  cent,  solation 
of  chloride  of  calcium.  This  is  thought  to  have  important 
practical  bearings. 

M.  Raspail  has  lately  called  attention,  in  the  Zoological 
Society  of  France,  to  the  serious  diminution  of  birds  in  that 
country  through  destraction  of  their  nests.  Some  insectivorous 
species  are  becoming  very  rare,  while  the  ravages  of  parasites  00 
useful  plants  are  extending.  Boys,  of  course,  do  a  great  deal  of 
the  mischief;  and  of  the  various  animals  which  attack  nests 
(the  squirrel,  the  hedgehog,  the  dormouse,  the  magpie,  &c} 
M.  Raspail  regards  the  cat  as  the  worst  offender.  On  a  recently - 
wooded  property  of  about  7  acres  he  observed  last  year  as 
follows  : — Out  of  37  nests,  carefully  watched,  only  8  succeeded ; 
29  were  destroyed,  14  of  these  by  the  cat,  though  effort  had 
been  made  to  ward  off  this  insatiable  marauder.  On  a  laige 
property  in  the  centre  of  a  village  the  owner  had  about  80  cats 
annually  caught  in  traps.  The  place  having  lately  changed 
hands,  the  gardeners  estimate  that  more  than  100  nests  were 
destroyed  last  year,  three-fourths  of  these  by  cats.  M.  Ra^wil 
advocates  a  rigorous  application  of  the  law  for  protection  of 
insectivorous  species,  the  disqualification  of  the  cat  as  a  domestic 
animal,  and  the  giving  of  prizes  to  foresters  and  others  for  de- 
struction of  all  animals  which  prey  on  eggs  and  young  in  the 
nest. 

Tobacco  fermentation,  a  very  essential  process,  is  brought 
about  by  firmly  packing  ripe  tobacco  in  large  quantities.  It  had 
been  generally  supposed  that  the  fermentation  is  of  purely 
chemical  nature,  but  Herr  Suchsland,  of  the  German  Botanical 
Society,  finds  that  a  fungus  is  concerned  in  iL  In  all  the 
tobaccos  he  examined,  he  found  large  quantities  of  fungi,  though 
of  only  two  or  three  species.  Bacteriaceae  were  predominant, 
but  Coccaceae  also  occurred.  When  they  were  taken  and  in- 
creased by  pure  cultivation,  and  added  to  other  kinds  of 
tobacco,  they  produced  changes  of  taste  and  smell  which  re- 
called those  of  their  original  ziutritive  base.  In  cultivation  of 
tobacco  in  Germany  it  has  been  sought  to  get  a  good  quality, 
chiefly  by  ground  cultivation,  and  introduction  of  the  l>est  kinds 
of  tobacco.  But  it  is  pointed  out  that  failure  of  the  best 
success  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  more  active  fermenting 
fungi  of  the  original  country  are  not  brought  with  the  seeds,  and 
the  ferments  here  cannot  give  such  good  results.  Experiments 
made  with  a  view  to  improvement  on  the  lines  suggested  have 
apparently  proved  successful. 


August  20,  1891] 


NATURE 


391 


A  FEOFiTABLi  indnatrr,  1JI(1«  hnrd  of,  i«  cftrri«d  oo  unong 
t  hilb  of  Cnnnecticnt  (iVi.  Am.'s.  It  is  the  manufactare  o 
idi  oil,  which  is  med  lugel;  for  coDfectionery,  and  gi*e<  > 
vfcd  wioie^mn  fliToai'.  There  are  eijtbt  mills  in  the  State 
■(Ik  Gnt  bailt  only  ten  Tears  ago.  Birch  bnllh,  without 
JiagCaBdnotoTer  2^  inches  !□  diameter,  from  the  black,  monD~ 
ia  ortngar  birch  (not  the  yellow  or  while),  is  chopped  op  and 
liled  •rith  water  in  tanks.  Tbe  steam,  passing  thr>iugh  an 
u  pipe  near  the  top,  is  condeoud  in  a  coil  immersed  in 
imiDg  water,  and  drops  into  a  glass  jar.  The  oil  is  much 
xtin  thin  water,  and  in  the  cnide  state  is  of  copper  hue. 
Ik  mills  work  onl)'  from  October  lo  April.  A  good  deal  of 
lilinaled  birch  oil  is  used  io  tanning;  leather  (o  imitate  Kussia 
illMt. 

We  hive  just  received  the  Report  for  1890  of  the  Boianical 
ntuige  Ctitb  of  Che  British  Isles.  There  are  about  Sftj 
cnbers  and  a  list  of  the  plants  that  are  wanted  is  sent  out 
wy  spring.  The  Secretary  is  Mr.^Charles  Bailey,  Ashfield 
idltge  Road,  Whalley  Range,  Msnchesler.  The  distributor 
ilut  jear  was  the  Rev.  E.  T.  Linton,  one  of  oar  most  pains- 
king  British  botanists,  &nd  the  Report  is  edited  by  him.  The 
imber  of  specimens  received  was  4100,  from  twenty-six  con- 
ibalois.  The  most  interesting  novelty  of  the  year  is  an 
jnaria  found  at  the  bead  of  Rlbblesdale,  in  Yorkshire,  which 

Dtarly  allied  to,  but  nol  quite  identical  with,  A.  norvigUa, 
UKD  only  within  the  British  area  in  the  Shetland  Islands  and 
rkaej,  and  A.  liiiala,  known  only  in  County  Sligo.  Mr. 
iiloTi  treats  it  as  A.  ^Ihica,  Fries.,  but  thai  plant  is  an 
tnoal,  whilst  the  Ribblesdale  plant  is  a  perennial.  It  is,  in 
n,  a  form  about  half-way  between  norvigica  and  golhica. 
igt  ahhiiiy-eij^ht  pages  of  ihe  Report,  eleven  ate  occupied  by 
.dIx.  a  new  general  working  up  of  the  British  Rubi  i*  much 
uLcd,  and  it  is  evident  the  diFTerent  referees  to  whom  the 
Kciincn!  have  been  sent  do  not  use  some  of  the  names  with 
K  nme  application  or  ran  ;e  of  significance.  What  beginners 
iDl  arc  good  typical  specimens  of  the  most  distinct  rotm<:.  To 
ire  them  the  iniermedtale  connecting  links  before  ihey  know 
nroughly  the  typical  sub*species  only  bewilders  them.  In 
isei  the  difliciilly  is  thai  it  it  often  Impossible  to  determines 
im  plant  positively  without  seeing  it  in  three  stages — flower, 
Hi^  fiuil,  and  mature  fruil — and  nearly  all  the  specimens  sent 
)  (he  Club  arrive  in  a  single  stage.  The  above  remark  applies 
1  R.  mollis  and  lit'nenlosa,  concerning  which  there  are  eleven 
irtgraphs  in  the  Report,  none  of  which  tend  to  any  real  en- 
[titenment.  To  Hieracia  the  same  remark  applies  as  lo  Rnbi  ; 
■t  Mr.  F.  A.  Hanbury's  elaborate  monograph,  now  fairly  started 
r,  willpnt  ibis  right.  Three  other  sets  of  plants  are  at  present 
xcLting  much  allenlion  from  the  memtiers,  i.t.  hybrid  willows, 
jbrid  Epikibia,  and  Potamogeloos.  At  the  end  of  the  Report 
icre  it  a  long  tisl  of  new  county  records. 

The  additions  lo  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
ul  neek  include  n  Brown  Capuchin  [Cibus  faltteUus  9  )  from 
BiijDB,  presented  by  Miss  Phyllis  Duncan ;  a  Red-bellied 
■qairrtl  (5ciB™ir'arrefS/(ii)  from  Trinidad,  a  Gulden  Agouti 
DasypTKla  aguli)  from  Guiann,  a  West  Indian  Agouli  [Dasy- 
tela  crislaix)  from  the  West  Indies,  two  Violet  Tanagers 
Euphania  violacca)  from  Brazil,  presented  by  Mr,  R.  J.  L. 
iappy,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  a  Common  Otter  (Lutra  vulgaris],  British, 
felenled  by  Mr.  D.  E.  Cardinal!  ;  a  Marbled  Polecat  {Puioriui 
vnalitus)  from  Quetlah,  presented  by  Colonel  C.   Shepherd  ; 

Vulpine  Squirrel  (Stiurus  vulfinus)  from  North  Amc 
<e$eD(ed  by  Miss  Pickford  ;  seven  Lemmings  \_.Myedes  limmus) 
rom  Norway,  presented  by  Mr.  T.  T.  Somerville  ;  two  Sparrow. 
Iiolii  {Accipller  m'sus),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  Digby  F.  W, 
ficholl,  F.Z.S.  ;  a  Grey  Parrot  {Piitlatus  irilliocus)  from 
Vest  Africa,  presented  by  Mrs.  Hale )  a  Golden  Eagle  {Aquila 
NO.    1138,  VOL.  44] 


ckrysaitui),  European,  presented  by  Captain  Taylor ;  aCommon 
Chameleon  (C(om*/<»«  vulga>is)  from  North  Africa,  a  Dwarf 
Chameleon  [Chamaltan  pumilai)  from  South  Africa,  presented 
by  Captain  Wood ;  l«o  Common  Chameleons  {Chanialteit  vml- 
garis)  from  North  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  E.  Palmer  ;  an 
Egyptian  Ichneumon  {Herpiita  ukneuniaii)  from  Spain,  a  Black- 
heeded  Caique  (Caica  mtlanocephala's  from  Demerara,  deposited  ; 
Yak  {Peifhagu!  grunnieni),  bom  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
Pektodic  Variations  in  thb  Latltude  of  Solar 
Prominences, — From  a  paper  by  Prof.  Ricco,  in  Coalpits 
rendus  for  August  3,  it  appears  that  (he  mean  lalitode  of  solar 
prominences  varies  periodically  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  spats. 
During  the  last  eleven  years  observations  of  the  form,  posiiinn, 
and  dimension  of  solar  prominences  have  been  made  at  Palernto 
on  ai07  days,  with  thesame  refractor  and  spectroscope.  In  this 
period  7663  prominenees  have  been  observed,  having  a  height 
equal  to  or  greater  than  30".  Neglecting  a  few  irregularities, 
the  observalioDS  show  that  about  Ihe  lime  of  maximum  solar 
activity  prominences  occur  nearest  Ihe  sun's  equator  ;  tbe  mean 
latitude  for  both  hemispheres  in  the  second  year  after  the  last 
maximum  being  -if'^.  There  is  then  a  rapid  general  increase 
in  ihe  latiiude  of  most  frequent  occurrence  up  to  the  minimum 
epoch,  the  mean  latitude  for  both  hemispheres  in  the  year  follow- 
ing Ihe  last  minimum— that  is,  in  1890— being  4t°-3.  In  olher 
word*,  up  to  Ihe  commencement  of  ihe  minimum  period  pro- 
minences approach  the  equator.  They  then  appear  in  high 
lalitudes,  10  descend  again  to  ihe  equator  in  an  eleven-year  cycle. 
The  inlimale  relation  thai  exists  between  this  variation  and  ihat 
observed  in  the  distribution  of  spots  is  evident  from  an  in  spec  I  it 
of  the  accompanying  figure,  which  represents  the  rr— "  i.i;!"-!. 


n  lalitudes 


of  SpOIB  according  10  Prof.  Sporer's  observations,  and  those 
found  for  prominences  by  Prof.  Ricco,  The  pairs  of  like  curves 
run  almost  parallel  to  each  olher,  and  are  separated  by  an 
approximately  equal  number  of  d^rees  at  all  points.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  ihe  photographs  of  the  solar  corona 
recently  investigated  by  Prof.  Bjgelow  exhibit  a  movement  in 
latiiude  which  is  most  probably  connected  wilh  the  latiiude 
variations  of  sun-spols  and  prommences. 

PJIOTOCKAPHV  OF  SOLAK  PROMINENCES  AND  THEIR 
SpECTKA,— In  the  American  yournal  of  Scitnci  for  Augnsi,  and 
Ailronomisfht  Naihriihun.  No.  3053.  Prof.  G.  H.  Hale  gives 
some  resulls  which  he  has  obtained  in  solar  prominence  photo- 
graphy, nliliiing  the  methods  noted  in  Nature,  vol.  iliii. 
p.  133,  Wilh  the  fourth-order  spectrum  of  a  grating  having 
14,438  lines  to  Ihe  inch,  and  both  radial  and  tangeniial  slits,  tbe 
broad  H  and  K  lines  invariably  have  bright  lines  running  through 
them,  apparently  to  the  lop  of  every  prominence.  This  is  an 
imporlant  fad,  for  the  position  of  H  and  K  in  the  speclrum 
makes  it  unnecessary  lo  slain  the  pholographic  plates,  or  prolong 
the  exposure,  as  would  be  the  case  if  the  C  line  were  employed  ;- 
and  their  characteristic  banded  appearance  renders  them  pecu- 


3  92 


NA TURE 


[August  20,  1891 


Jv. 


liarly  useful  as  backgroands  for  the  bright  prohiinence  lines,  and 
allows  the  u  ^e  of  a  wide  slit  Working  with  a  tangential  slit, 
Prof.  Hale  has  obtained  excellent  photographs  of  reversals  of 
H  and  K.  The  former  line  is  found  to  be  double,  the  com- 
panion being  about  I  '5  tenth-metres  less  refrangible,  and  pos- 
sibly coincident  with  a  line  of  hydrogen  at  \  3970*25.  The 
photographs  also  show  three  bright  lines,  which  appear  to  be 
<x>incident  with  the  lines  a,  j3,  and  7  of  the  hydrogen  series. 
The  first  of  these  is  seen  as  a  double  line,  the  components  of 
which  are  separated  by  a  fraction  of  a  tenth-metre. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  a  large  number  of  prominences 
cannot  be  made  out  by  the  ordinary  method  of  observing  the 
C  line.  These  invisible  or  "  white  "  prominences  must  therefore 
be  detected  photographically.  But  as  it  would  be  an  extremely 
troublesome  process  to  take  a  set  of  photc^raphs  with  the  slit 
tangential  to  various  points  on  the  limb,  and  as  prominences 
having  a  considerable  elevation  could  not  be  easily  photographed 
by  this  method,  another  arrangement  has  been  devised  which 
nullifies  these  objections,  and  allows  eye  observations  of  C  to 
be  made  while  the  exposure  to  the  H  and  K  region  is  going  on. 
Certainly,  if  Prof.  Hale  should  be  able  to  do  for  invisible  pro- 
minences what  has  been  done  at  Palermo  for  those  visually 
observable,  our  knowledge  of  the  relation  between  the  two 
classes  of  phenomena  and  their  connection  with  sun-spots 
would  be  considerably  extended. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE, 

The  following  is  the  list  of  candidates  successful  in  the  compe- 
tition for  the  Whitworth  Scholarships  and  Exhibitions,  1891  : — 
<i)  Scholarships,  ;f  125  a  year  each  (tenable  for  three  years) : — 
Robert  W.  Weekes,  electrical  engineer ;  William  G.  Rennie, 
engineering  student ;  Thomas  G.  Jones,  engineer  ;  William  H. 
Prettv,  mechanical  engineer.     (2)  Exhibitions,  £^0  a  year  each 
(tenable  for  one  year): — ^Julian  J.  King-Salter,  student;  Louis 
Martineau,  engineer ;  Harold  R.  CuUen,  engineer  apprentice ; 
Frederick  Hossack,  mechanical  engineer  ;  William  A.  Leiean, 
engineering  draughtsman;  William  F.  Nixon,  engineer;  John 
Chambers,  draughtsman  ;  Joseph  W.  Kershaw,  student ;  Charles 
H.  Gadsby,  engineer's  draughtsman  ;  Frederick  Charles  Lea, 
apprentice    millwright ;    George    Thomas    White,    mechanic ; 
Joseph  H.  Gibson,  marine  engineer ;  Henry  Fowler,  engineer 
apprentice  ;  Arthur  £.  Mai  pas,  engine  fitter  apprentice  ;  James 
Hall,  student ;  Walter  £.  Lilly,  engineer ;  Charles  Jefcoat,  Jun., 
turner ;  Percy  V.  Vernon,  filter ;  Geoi^e  E.  Armstrong,  engi- 
neer student ;    Martin  DeVille,    draughtsman ;    Richard    H. 
Cabena,  marine  engineer's  draughtsman  ;  Frederick  Dodridge, 
engine  fitter ;  Alfred  J.  Ward,  mechanical  engineer ;  William 
£.  Tubbs,  coachmaker ;  Alexander  Norwell,  mechanical  engi- 
neer ;  Richard  Baxendale,  draughtsman  ;  Walter  Amor,  fitter  ; 
Thomas  Bouts,  engineer ;  Alfred  Meyer,  draughtsman ;  John 
W.  Anderson,  draughtsman. 

The  list  of  succe'»ful  candidates  for  Royal  Exhibitions,  National 
Scholarships,  and  Free  Studentships,  1891,  is  as  follows : — 
National  Scholarship  for  Biological  Subjects — George  S.  West, 
student.  National  Scholarship  for  Chemistry  and  Physics — 
James  Bruce,  student.  National  Scholarship  for  Mechanics — 
Sydney  G.  Starling,  student.  National  Scholarships — Charles 
H.  Sidebotham,  student ;  Bernard  E.  Spencer,  student ;  James 
H.  Smith,  pattern  maker  ;  John  Ball,  engineer ;  Charles  Ilarold 
Robinson,  tobacconist ;  George  ^y.  Feamley,  student ;  Charles 
J.  Gray,  student ;  Francis  Carroll,  student ;  Ralph  M.  Archer, 
teacher ;  Harry  Vemey,  fitter ;  James  Thompson,  teacher. 
Royal  Exhibitions — Hubert  Cartwright,  student ;  Walter  H. 
Watson,  laboratory  assistant ;  Sidney  G.  Horsley,  student ; 
Charlie  R.  Cross,  student ;  Watson  Crossley,  cotton  weaver ; 
Samuel  D.  Crothers,  farmer  ;  Peter  Pinkerton,  student.  Free 
Studentships — David  Baxandall,  student;  Herbert  C.  Robin- 
son, student ;  William  G.  Freeman,  student ;  Charles  H. 
Gadsby,  engineer's  draughtsman  ;  Stephen  Pace,  none  ;  William 
H.  Dolman,  teacher. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  lo. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Artificial  production  of  a  micaceous  trachyte,  by  MM. 


F.  Fouque  and  Michel  Levy.     This  trachyte  was  obtained  bj 
the  action  of  water  under  pressure  on  a  glass  resulting  from  the 
fusion  of  Vire  granite,  and  at  a  bright  red  heat.     The  rock  was 
homogeneous,   and  its  sections  exhibited  beautiful  octahedral 
crystals  of  a  variety  of  spinel  in  connection  with  orthodase  and 
black  mica. — Note  on  an  experiment  on  ostricoltare  that  has  been 
carried  out  in  the  fish-pond  of  the  Roscoff  Laboratory, by  M.  H. 
de^  Lacaze-Duthiers. — Physiological  research  on  carbon  moo- 
oxide  in  a  medium  containing  it  in  the  proportion  of  one  ten- 
thousandth,    by  M.    N.    Grihant.     After    passing   a  miitnre 
containing  a  ten-thousandth  part  of  carbon  monoxide  throogh 
blood  for  half  an  hour,  it  was  found  that  the  respiratory  capacity 
of  the  blood  was  diminished  from  237  to  23*0  per  cent.    The 
difference  (07)  represents  the  amount  of  oxygen  replaced  by 
carbon  monoxide.    When  the  gas  was  passed  through  under  a 
pressure  of  five  atmospheres,  it  was  found  that  the  respiratoiy 
capacity  had  diminished  from  237  to  1 7 'a.    This  result  maybe 
applied  to  the  detection  of  small  quantities  of  carbon  moooKide 
in  confined  air,  and  it  also  indicates  that  it  is  not  only  the  per- 
centage proportion  of  the  gas  which  must  be   considered  in 
questions  relating  to  the  absorption  of  it  by  haemoglobin,  fortius 
remained  the  same  in  both  experiments,  viz.  ririmrth.— On  the 
refraction  and  dispersion  of  crystallized  chlorate  of  soda,  by  M. 
Frantz  Dussaud.     The  author  has  measured  with  five  diffoeat 
instruments  the  refractive  index  of  chlorate  of  soda  at  tempera- 
tures between  o"  and  30',  and  for  twelve  lines  in  the  spectrum. 
For  the  sodium  line  (D)  and  a  temperature  of    20"  the  vahie 
obtained  is  1-51510.  The  result  for  a  is  1*50197,  and  for  Cd  (18) 
1*58500.— On  the  habits  of  Gobius  mintUus,  by  M.  Frcdoic 
Guitel. — On  the  pathological  types  of  the  curve  of  muscdar 
actioD,  by  M.   Maurice  Mendelssohn. — On  the  preventive  in- 
oculations of  yellow  fever,  by  M.  Domingos  Freire.    The  author 
has  inoculated   10,881   persons    with    cultures  of  Micmeeau 
amaril.     The  mortality  of  those  so  vaccinated  was  0*4  per  cent , 
although  the  patients  lived  in  districts  infected  with  yellow  fever, 
whilst  the  death-rate  of  the  uninoculated  during  the  same  period 
was  from  30  to  40  per  cent.    These  results  have  led  iheGofcra- 
ment  of  the  Brazilian  States  to  found  an  institute  for  the  coltore 
of  the  virus  of  yellow  fever  and  other  infectious  diseases,  and  to 
appoint  M.  Freire  the  director. — On  a  new  incandescent  light, 
by  M.  Bay. 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

The  Congress  of  Hygiene 361 

Letters  to  the  Editor :— 

Aerial     Roots     of    the    Mangrove.  —  Alfred    W. 

Bennett 370 

The  Tasman  Sea.— Prof.  A.  Liversidge,  F.R.S.  .  371 
Reduplication  of  Seasonal  Growth. — Dr.  A.  Irving  .  371 

Rain-gauges. — Thos.  Fletcher 371 

The  British  Association :— 

Inaugural  Address  by  William  Huggins,  Esq., 
D.C.L.  (Ozon.),  LL.D.  (Cantab.,  Edin.,  et 
Dubl.),  Ph.D.  (Lugd.  Bat.),F.R.S.,  F.R.A,S., 
Hon.   F.R.S.E.,  &c.,  Correspondant  de  Tlnstitut 

de  France,  President 371 

Section  A  (Mathematics  and  Physics). — Opening 
Address  by  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  D.Sc, 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Section  .   .   .   .   3& 

The  Late  Prof.  Martin  Duncan,  F.R.S 387 

Notes 3S8 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Periodic  Variations  in  the  Latitude  of  Solar  Promin- 
ences.   {IVUh  Diagram,) 39' 

Photography  of  Solar  Prominences  and  their  Spectra    39' 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 39^ 

Societies  and  Academies 392 


NO.   1 1 38,  VOL.  44] 


NA  TURE 


393 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST  27,  1891. 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  HYGIENE, 

WE  continue  this  week  our  account  of  the  work  done 
at  this  Congress.  It  will  be  clear  that  with  the 
space  at  our  disposal  it  is  only  possible  to  refer  to 
few  among  the  many  subjects  discussed.  Among  these 
we  have  selected  those  which  have  the  closest 
connection  with  those  researches  now  attracting  special 
attention. 

In  regard  to  the  subject  of  tuberculosis  it  was  cer- 
tainly a  happy  inspiration  of  the  officials  of  the  Bac- 
teriological (11.)  and  Comparative  Pathological  (III.) 
Sections  of  the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and 
Demography,  to  call  a  joint  meeting  in  order  that  a  full 
discussion  of  the  scientific  and  practical  bearings  of  the 
questions  relating  to  "the  transmission  of  tuberculosisfrom 
animals  to  man  by  means  of  flesh  and  milk  derived  from 
tuberculous  animals ''  might  be  possible  ;  and  it  was  also 
fortunate,  as  far  as  its  success  was  concerned,  that  the 
discussion  was  opened  by  Profs.  Burdon  Sanderson  and 
Bang,  each  of  whom  in  his  own  sphere  is  singularly  well 
fitted  to  lay  before  the  members  of  the  Sections  what 
is  at  present  known  in  the  medical  and  veterinary  scientific 
worlds  concerning  this  important  subject.  Prof.  Sander- 
son's early  researches  on  tuberculosis  have  opeied  up 
the  way  for  much  of  our  present  knowledge  on  the  sub- 
ject, in  addition  to  which  he  has  watched  the  question 
most  carefully  through  its  various  stages  of  evolution  ; 
whilst  Prof.  Bang,  by  his  numerous  practical  observations 
and  scientific  experiments,  has  given  a  completeness  to  our 
knowledge  which  has  not  been  attained  as  the  outcome  of 
the  work  of  any  other  observer. 

The  discussion  on  this  question  afforded  another 
instance  of  the  intimate  connection  between  the  purest 
research  and  the  most  practical  affairs  of  every-day 
life. 

Thus  from  the  tenor  of  the  discussion  it  may  be  gathered 
that  the  danger  arising  from  the  ingestion  of  tuberculous 
milk  and  meat  has  probably  been  exaggerated. 

Some  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion,  for 
example,  seemed  to  doubt  whether  primary  tuberculosis 
of  the  alimentary  canal — i.e.  tuberculosis  confined  to  this 
region  and  evidently  the  result  of  infection  through  the 
mucous  membrane— -was  ever  met  with  in  adults,  and  even 
whether  it  was  of  very  frequent  occurrence  in  the  child  ; 
whilst  other  speakers  were  able  to  instance  out  of  their 
own  experience  certain  cases  of  the  former  and  many  of 
the  latter,  strongly  accentuating  the  fact  that  such  primary 
disease  of  the  intestinal  canal  does  exist.  Then,  again, 
one  speaker  was  convinced  that  Koch's  bacillus  had  little 
or  nothing  to  do  with  the  production  of  tubercular  disease  ; 
but  the  contention  had  been  met  by  so  many  accurate 
observations  and  experiments  that  he  may  be  said  to 
have  been  ruled  out  of  court,  though  it  was  on  all  hands 
agreed  that  the  bacillus  might  be  helped  in  its  work  by 
various  predisposing  causes,  many  of  which  were  brought 
into  full  prominence  during  the  discussion.  It  was  also 
accepted  that  the  tuberculosis  of  cattle  is  similar,  as  re- 

NO.  1 1 39,  VOL.  44] 


gards  its  causal  agent,  to  the  tuberculosis  of  the  human 
subject,  and  that  the  disease  is  merely  apparently  modified 
owing  to  the  different  conditions,  and  perhaps  delicate 
tissue  modifications,  offered  by  the  different  hosts  of  the 
parasitic  bacillus  ;  and  from  the  most  careful  and  detailed 
experiments,  of  which  a  large  number  were  described, 

I  there  seems  to  be  no  question  that  tuberculosis  is  com- 

I  municable  from   animals  to  man,  and  certainly  there 
appears  to  be  none  that  it  is  communicable  in  the  opposite 
direction. 
There  was  a  general  expression  of  opinion  as  the  outcome 

'  of  the  discussion  that  legislation  of  some  kind  or  other 
is  necessary,  but,  as  pointed  out  by  Burdon  Sanderson,  if 

'  laws  were  made  to  -morrow  there  is  absolutely  no  staff  of 
inpectors  capable  of  giving  effect  to  any  that  might  be 
drafted.  It  is  probable  that  this  will  draw  attention, 
first,  to  the  necessity  for  conferring  powers  of  inspection 
of  dairy  and  store  cattle  on  some  central  authority  ;  and 
second,  to  the  necessity  there  is  that  our  veterinary 
surgeons  should  undergo  a  thorough  scientific  and 
practical  training,  such  as  would  fit  them  to  fill  the  posts 
from  which  unfortunately  they  are  necessarily  now  in 
many  instances  excluded. 

When  all  is  said  and  done,  it  appears  that  the  danger 
arising  from  the  consumption  of  tuberculous  meat  is  far 

,  less  serious  than  that  involved  in  the  consumption  of  milk 
from  tuberculous  animals,  as  meat,  if  thoroughly  cooked, 
appears  to  be  perfectly  innocuous,  the  tubercle  bacilli  being 
readily  destroyed  by  heat,  whilst  the  nutrient  properties 
of  the  meat  itself  are  little,  if  at  all,  interfered  with  by 
judicious  cooking.  In  the  case  of  milk,  however,  in 
which  the  presence  of  tubercle  bacilli  has  been  so  often 
demonstrated,  it  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  boiling  so 
alters  the  constituents  of  the  milk,  especially  the  pro- 
teids,  that  it  is  rendered  very  much  less  digestible  ;  and 
its  nutritive  value  is  greatly  interfered  with. 
We  now  pass  to  the  discussion. 

TUHERCULOSIS   IN  ALL  ITS   RELATIONS. 

I  Prof.  Bardon  Sanderson  said  the  subject  which  he  had  under- 
'  taken  to  bring  before  the  notice  of  the  conjoint  Sections  for 
'  discussion  was  one  of  the  gravest  importance,  for  there  was  no 
disease,  acute  or  chronic,  which  wa?  so  productive  of  human 
suffering  or  so  destructive  of  human  life.  In  a  Congress  of 
Hygiene  the  subject  of  tuberculosis  could  only  be  considered  in 
relation  to  its  causes,  the  aim  of  hygiene  being  to  prevent  dis- 
ease, not  to  cure  it.  He  wished  specially  to  direct  attention  to 
those  questions  which  relate  to  the  dangers  which  are  alleged  to 
arise  from  the  use  of  tuberculous  food,  (i)  Does  general  tuber- 
culosis in  man  originate  from  intestinal  infection?  (2)  If  it 
does,  is  it  possible  to  guard  against  so  fearful  a  dangcsr  ?  For 
the  purpose  of  avoiding  useless  discussion  on  subjects  on  which 
there  ought  to  be  perfect  agreement  of  opinion,  he  asked  that 
certain  fundamental  propositions  should  be  accepted  as  settled  ; 
such  as,  for  example,  the  existence  of  a  mcUeries  morbi  in  the 
•  form  of  the  tubercle  bacillus,  its  constant  association  with  the 
I  tuberculous  process,  and  the  identity  of  human  with  bovine 
tubercle  ;  and  also  that  it  be  assumed  that  any  part  of  the 
body  of  a  tuberculous  animal  or  any  secretion  of  such  an  animal 
would,  if  it  contained  tubercle  bacilli,  be  a  source  of  danger,  and 
that  the  use  of  such  liquid  or  part  ought  to  be  prohibited  or 
avoided.  This  being  understood,  we  were  in  a  position  to  enter 
on  the  questions  which  require  answers,  some  of  which  are  patho- 
logical or  etiological,  the  others  practical  or  administrative.  The 
etiological  questions  might  be  said  to  relate  to  the  three  possible 
ways  in  which  a  human  being  may  be  infected  by  tubercle — 
namely,  inheritance,  pulmonary  inhalation  (atmospheric  infec- 
tion), and  food  (enteric  infection).     The  practical  issues  Were-~ 


394 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


(i)  Is  the  risk  to  ihe  individual  consumer  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  can  be  detected  and  estimated  ? 

(2)  Is  it  of  such  a  nature  that  it  can  be  counteracted  ? 

(3)  Is  the  collective  risk  to  which  the  community  is  exposed 
sufficient  to  demand  the  interference  of  the  State  ?    and 

(4)  If  it  is,  How  can  the  State  interfere  with  effect? 

Of  the  two  practical  questions  which  relate  respectively  to  in- 
fection by  milk  and  to  infection  by  meat,  the  latter  was  very 
largely  discussed  at  a  Congress  on  the  subject  of  tuberculosis 
held  in  Paris  in  1888,  and  has  again  been  discussed  very  re- 
cently. In  the  first  of  these  debates  the  medical  profession  did 
not  take  a  very  prominent  part.  The  question  whether  the 
flesh  of  tuberculous  animals  is  dangerous  or  not  was  regarded 
chiefly  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  veterinarian. 

In  1888,  M.  Arluing,  following  out  the  principles  enunciated 
by  another  gified  pathologist,  the  late  M.  Toussaint,  that 
tubercle  is  a  disease  totius  substantia  corporis^  maintained  that 
the  time  had  come  to  act  *' conformant  a  la  logique."  One  out 
of  every  six  carcasses  had  been  shown,  he  said,  to  be  infective, 
when  tested  by  administering  it  to  test  animals  as  food.  He 
calculated  that  over  one  thousand  persons  joined  in  the  con- 
sumption of  every  such  carcass,  and  consequently  that  one-sixth 
of  this  number — that  is,  about  170  persons — must  be  subjected 
to  the  risk  of  infection  for  every  animal  sent  to  the  shambles. 
If  this  reasoning  were  true,  if  we  could  measure  the  danger  to 
the  human  consumer  by  the  presence  of  tuberculosis  among 
animals  used  for  food  irrespectively  of  other  considerations,  then 
M.  Arloing  was  right  in  his  practical  deduction  from  it  that 
whatever  interests  conflict  with  public  health  they  must  give  way. 
It  was  our  duty  to  insist  on  the  right  of  science  to  dictate  ;  but  in 
doing  so  it  was  necessary  to  be  careful  not  to  do  so  until  the 
question  bad  been  looked  at  from  all  sides  and  the  whole  evidence 
had  been  heard. 

In  some  of  these  discussions  it  had  not  been  sufficiently  con- 
sidered that  the  question  was  not  whether  the  consumption  of 
tuberculous  meat  was  in  itself  attended  with  risk,  but  whether 
the  presence  of  tuberculous  diseases  among  ourselves  was  in  any 
way  due  to  the  fact  that  we  occasionally  eat  meat  which  contained 
bacilli.  It  was  not  sufficient  to  show  that  on  the  one  hand  there 
was  a  fearful  mortality  fiom  tuberculous  diseases,  and  that  on 
the  other  there  existed  a  cause  to  which  this  calamity  might  be 
attributed.  It  must  also  be  shown  that  the  effect  was  actually 
produced  by  the  cause,  in  such  sense  that  if  the  cause  were  re- 
moved we  might  hope  that  the  effect  would  disappear. 

Twenty-three  years  ago  Chauveau  fed  three  heifers  with 
tuberculous  material  from  the  body  of  a  cow  and  obtained  posi- 
tive results.  At  that  time  the  idea  that  tuberculosis  was  a  virulent 
disease  was  new.  M.  Villemin  had  made  his  great  discovery,  but 
it  had  not  yet  been  accepted,  and  consequently  Chauveau's  results 
were  severely  criticized,  and  were  the  subject  of  much  discussion, 
which  extended  over  several  years  (1868-74),  during  which  he 
repeated  his  observations,  effectually  silenced  his  opponents, 
and  determined  with  the  greatest  exactitude  all  the  conditions 
which  are  required  to  insure  success  in  the  experimental  pro- 
duction of  tuberculosis  by  feeding.  Qerlach  about  the  same 
time  made  similar  experiments  in  Germany  which  led  him  to 
advocate  in  the  most  energetic  manner  the  restriction  of  the  sale 
of  tuberculous  meat. 

These  two  initial  investigations  were  followed  by  many 
others.  In  1884,  Baumgarten  showed  that  a  couple  of  ounces  of 
milk  to  which  a  pure  culture  of  tubercle  bacillus  bad  been  added 
were  sufficient  to  produce  characteristic  tuberculosis  in  the  in- 
testines of  a  rabbit ;  and  that  the  effect  of  such  feeding  was  so 
constant  that  by  examining  the  animals  so  fed  at  successive 
periods  all  the  stages  of  the  process  could  be  thoroughly  investi- 
gated, the  most  important  result  being  that  after  a  period  of 
latency  of  a  fortnight,  during  which  no  traces  of  infection  were 
visible,  the  lymphatic  follicles  of  the  mucous  membrane  and  the 
mesenteric  glands  began  to  enlarge  simultaneously  without  any 
change  whatever  in  the  intestinal  epithelium. 

It  was  thus  shown  with  a  precision  which  was  not  before  ob- 
tainable that  the  initial  phenomenon  of  tuberculosis  was  primarily 
a  proliferation  of  the  adenoid  tissue  of  the  lymphatic  system,  and 
that  the  bacillus  was  capable  of  finding  its  way  into  the  lym* 
phatic  system  without  leaving  behind  it  any  appreciable  traces  of 
its  presence  at  the  portals  by  which  it  had  gained  admission. 
Since  1884  our  knowledge  of  the  subject  had  been  still  further 
advanced  by  Comil,  under  whose  direction  two  very  important 
researches,  confirming  and  extending  Baumgarten's  results,  have 
been  recently  published,  from  which  it  was  evident  that  when 


NO,   II 39,  VOL.  44] 


the  tubercle  bacillus  is  absorbed  from  the  intestine  it  follows  the 
course  of  the  lacteals,  and  that  the  lesions  which  it  prodaoes 
correspond  closely  with  those  which  present  themselves  in  those 
rare  instances  in  which  it  is  possible  to  observe  the  first  begin- 
nings of  enteric  tubercle  in  the  human  subject. 

Much,  however,  has  still  to  be  learned  by  the  experimental 
method — information  which  could  only  be  gained  by  observations 
on  animals.  According  to  those  who  regard  tubercalosis  as 
necessarily  a  disease,  totius  substantia  corporis^  in  which  every 
part  of  the  body  is  contaminated,  all  meat  derived  fron  the 
l3ody  of  a  tuberculous  animal  ought  to  be  condemned,  whether  it 
appears  healthy  or  not,  for  they  argue  that  in  every  such 
animal,  however  localized  the  disease  may  be,  bacilli  circolatc 
in  the  blood,  and  are  so  universally  distributed. 

Prof.  Sanderson  believed  that  this  was  not  true,  and  that 
we  are  not  entitled  to  assume  that  the  flesh  of  every  tabercolons 
animal  is  infectious  unless  it  be  proved  to  be  so.  As  against  the 
probability  of  its  being  so,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  tabercu- 
losis  of  cattle,  although  the  product  of  the  same  bacillus  as  the 
tuberculosis  of  man,  is  a  disease  of  comparatively  slow  progress. 
It  localizes  itself  in  structures  which  are  not  essential  to  life,  and 
nutrition  might  be  so  little  interfered  with  that  the  animal  could 
be  readily  fattened  for  the  market.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
the  flesh  of  such  animals  might  be  to  all  appearances  in  good 
condition,  and  might  be  offered  for  sale  as  meat  of  prime  quality, 
and  as  yet  we  have  no  evidence  that  it  is  infective. 

Turning  from  the  souice  of  infection  to  its  effects,  froa  the 
bacillus  to  its  field  of  disease  and  death- producing  action. 
Prof.  Sanderson  said  that  tuberculous  diseases  contribute 
something  like  14  per  cent,  to  the  total  of  deaths  from  all  causes, 
and  that  during  childhood,  as  distinguished  from  adult  life  on 
the  one  hand  and  from  infancy  on  the  other,  tuberculous  mor- 
talityjscarcely  amounts  to  a  quarter  of  this  percentage,  whereas 
in  infancy  it  only  falls  a  little  short  of  it,  and  in  early  adult  life, 
it  very  far  exceeds  it. 

There  was  evidence  that  under  certain  conditions  the  vims  of 
tubercle  was  absorbed  by  the  lymphatic  system  from  the  small 
intestine  in  man,  and  that  when  this  happens  it  may  give  rise  to 
lesions  of  the  same  nature  as  those  produced  in  animals  by  the 
injection  of  liquids  in  which  bacilli  are  suspended — that  is,  to 
lesions  which  originate  in  the  lymphatic  system.  Tubercoloos 
disease  of  the  intestinal  mucous  membrane,  although  very  com- 
mon, never  occurred  in  the  adult  and  very  rarely  in  infancy  as  a 
primary  disease.  In  the  adult  it  might  occur  as  an  ulteri  or  con- 
sequence of  pulmonary  consumption,  the  way  in  which  it  oc- 
curred being  very  evident.  In  the  advanced  stages  of  that 
disease  muco-purulent  liquid  was  discharged  in  quantity  frooi 
the  softened  parts.  This  material  charged  with  virulent  badDi 
might  infect  the  mucous  membrane  along  which  it  passed  so  that 
it  is  easy  to  distinguish  bronchi  which  lead  from  vomicae  bj  the 
tuberculous  nodules  with  which  they  are  more  or  less  beset.  In 
advanced  phthisis  the  sputum  is  so  abundant  that  a  certain  |>ro- 
portion  of  it  is  from  time  to  time  swallowed.  No  effect  is  pr> 
duced  in  the  oesophagus  or  stomach,  for  along  the  former  it 
passes  too  rapidly,  while  in  the  latter  the  mucous  membrane  is 
effectually  protected  by  the  gastric  juice,  which,  although  incap- 
able of  devitalizing  the  bacillus  of  tubercle,  arrests  its  develop- 
ment. In  the  alkaline  contents  of  the  small  intestine  a  conditioo 
more  favourable  to  its  development  was  found,  and  from 
there  it  was  absorbed,  just  as  any  other  particle  of  similar  size 
might  be,  by  the  lymphatic  follicles.  Tuberculous  disease  of  the 
small  intestine  in  the  adult  thus  occurred.  It  was  always  a 
secondary  result  of  pulmonary  phthsis. 

In  childhood  the  case  is  different.  Tuberculosis  does  not 
begin  to  assert  itself  as  a  cause  of  death  until  the  third  ooonth 
of  extra  uterine  life,  but  after  this  there  was  good  reason  for  sup- 
posing that  the  bacillus  plays  an  important  part  as  a  cause  of 
mortality. 

To  the  pathologist  the  question  of  how  latent  tuberculosis  of 
the  lymphatic  system  or  of  bone  originates,  />.  how  the  bacilli 
which  produce  them  are  introduced  into  the  blood  stream  vas 
one  of  great  interest.  Prof.  Sanderson  confessed  it  to  be  his 
belief  that  in  a  certain  proportion  of  cases  the  cryptogenctic 
tuberculoses  were  due  to  causes  which  operate  before  birth. 
From  Dr.  Muller's  Munich  statistics  it  might  be  gathered  thai 
in  less  than  half  of  the  cases  in  which  the  lymphatic  glands  aze 
found  to  be  tuberculous  the  affection  has  its  seat  in  the  mesenteiy, 
and  that  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  intestine  is  tut>erciiloiis  is 
a  still  smaller  proportion — less  than  a  quarter.  In  many  of 
these  cases  the  mucous  membrane  wan  no  doubt  affected  sabse- 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


395 


aneotly  on  tuberculous  disease  of  the  lungs,  but  in  the  remainder 
be  disease  seemed  to  be  primary.  If  it  could  be  proved  that 
such  cases  were  primary,  the  fact  would  afford  clearer  evidence 
than  any  we  now  possess  of  the  enteric  origin  of  tuberculosis. 

In  the  absence  of  such  proof,  human  pathology  had  very  little 
indeed  to  say  in  favour  of  the  belief  that  human  tuberculosis 
could  owe  its  origin  to  the  consumption  of  tuberculous  food,  and 
even  if  it  were  proved  that  the  absorbents  afforded  a  channel  of 
oitry  for  the  tuberculous  virus  in  children  it  would  have  little 
significance  as  regards  the  consumption  of  meat. 

The  author  held,  therefore,  that  we  are  not  as  yet  in  a  position 
to  demand  the  interference  of  the  State  on  the  ground  that  the 
community  actually  suffers  from  the  consumption  of  tuberculous 
meat,  the  evidence  that  it  is  so  being  too  weak  to  be  insisted  on  ; 
but  he  maintained  that  the  consumption  of  tuberculous  meat 
was  attended  with  some  danger,  and  that  on  that  ground  its 
consumption  ought  to  be  prevented  by  the  State  and  avoided  by 
the  individual. 

As  regards  the  administrative  question,  he  held  that  if  we  had, 
to-morrow,  a  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  any  meat  containing  the 
bacillus  of  tubercle,  it  could  not  be  carried  out  unless  those 
charged  with  its  administration  were  able  to  distinguish  such 
contaminated  meat  from  healthy  meat,  so  that  the  efficiency  of 
the  law  would  depend  on  the  question  whether  the  art   of 
discriminating  between  infecting  and  non-infecting  meat  had 
attained  to  such  perfection  as  to  enable  an  adequately  trained 
inspector  to  exercise  his  function  with  effect.      The  practical 
result   to  which  we  have  come  was  this.     Everything  must 
turn  on  diagnosis.    Hie  Legislature  might  direct  that  all  meat 
intended  for  consumption  should  be  subjected  to  inspection, 
might  appoint  inspectors,  impose  penalties,  and  provide  just  and 
adequate  compensation,  but  all  this  would  be  of  no  use  unless 
the  principles  on  which  the  discrimination  of  infecting  from  non- 
infecting  meat  is  to  be  founded  could  be  laid  down,  and  the 
services  of  skilled  persons  of  sufficient  intelligence  to  apply 
them  could  be  secured.     We  might  consider  it  quite  certain 
that  in  this  country  at  least  it  would  at  present  be  extremely 
difficult  to  find  such  persons.    Not  that  the  veterinarian  was  less 
capable  than  the  doctor  of  making  a  scientific  investigation,  but 
that  he  does  not  possess,  and  has,  as  yet,  had  no  opportunity  of 
acquiring,  the  sort  of  skill  which  is  necessary  for  making  what 
the  French  call  the  diagnose  prkoce  of  tuberculosis.   Two  things 
in  short  are  required,  neither  of  which  we  have  at  our  disposal — 
special  scientific  knowledge  and  technical  skill,  and  the  former 
of  these  must  be  acquired  first.     Science  must  determine,  much 
more  definitely  than  has  been  Hone  as  yet,  what  are  the  earliest 
changes  which  have  their  seat  in  the  parts  of  animals  used  for 
food,  and  which  of  these  might  indicate  danger  to  the  consumer. 
This  knowledge  could  only  be  acquired  by  experiments  specially 
made  for  the  purpose,  and  having  been  attained  it  could  only  be 
applied  by  technically  trained  persons.     He  illustrated  the  sort 
of  skill  required  by  comparing  it  to  that  possessed  by  the  pro- 
fessional tea  taster  as  regards  the  commercial  value  of  tea.    Why 
was  the  judgment  of  the  expert  reliable?     Because  he  was 
responsible  for  it  and  was  paid  for  it.     It  would  be  the  same  as 
regards  the  early  recognition  of  tubercle  in  cattle,  if  skill  and 
discrimination  were  paid  for ;  and  the  same  moment  that  this 
skill  was  required  it  would  come  into  existence.     What  would 
be  wanted  in  the  inspector  was  not  that  he  should  be  a  patho- 
logist or  even  a  bacteriologist,  but  a  trained  expert ;  for  although 
the  rules  unconsciously  used  by  him  might  be  based  on  scientific 
principlesp  it  is  not  by  these  principles  he  is  guided  in  each  case, 
but  by  practical  skill 

T>T.  Sanderson  then  submitted  the  following  propositions  to 
the  meeting  of  the  combined  Sections  : — 

(i)  That  tuberculosis  must  be  added  to  the  list  of  diseases 
r^arded  by  the  law  as  contagious.  There  is  no  sufficient  reason 
for  supposing  that  in  the  human  adult  the  introduction  of  the 
bacilli  of  tubercle  by  enteric  absorption  is  the  efficient  cause  of 
tuberculosis.  In  infancy  a  large  proportion  of  the  apparently 
idiopathic  tuberculous  diseases  of  the  lymphatic  system  are 
probably  due  to  the  penetration  of  bacilli  into  the  organism 
from  the  intestine  ;  but  the  evidence  which  we  at  present  possess 
on  this  subject  is  not  sufficiently  precise  or  extended  to  serve  as 
a  basis  for  prophylactic  action.  For  this  reason  the  origin  of 
tuberculosis  in  infancy  is  a  sabject  which  urgently  requires 
investigation. 

(2)  It  has  been  proved  that  the  ingestion  of  any  material 
which  contains  the  bacilli  of  tubercle  is  a  source  of  risk  to  the 
consumer,  but  the  conditions  which  limit  this  risk  are  insuffi- 

NO.   1 139,  VOL.  44] 


ciently  known.  It  would,  therefore,  be  unjust  to  enforce  the 
destruction  of  any  specimen  of  meat  apparently  healthy,  even 
though  it  were  known  to  be  derived  from  a  tuberculous  animal, 
excepting  on  evidence  given  as  regards  the  particular  case  that 
it  would  be  infecting  if  administered  to  test  animals. 

(3)  As  regards  the  duty  of  the  State  in  relation  to  the  pre- 
vention of  tuberculosis,  what  is  immediately  required  is  that  an 
efficient  system  of  skilled  inspection  should  be  created.  This  is 
desirable,  not  merely  as  a  first  step  towards  a  prevention  of  the  sale 
and  consumption  of  tuberculous  meat,  but  as  an  indispensable 
means  of  acquiring  better  information  than  now  exists.  To  be 
of  use  it  must  be  carried  out  on  the  principles  I  have  already 
set  forth.  It  must  be  conducted  by  men  of  technical  skill 
acting  under  scientific  guidance. 

"In  conclusion,"  said  Dr.  Sanderson,  "I  would  beg  you 
to  notice  that  I  have  limited  myself  to  the  question  of  the 
consumption  of  meat.  Although  I  have  purposely  left  the 
milk  question  out  of  consideration,  I  have  referred  to  facts 
which  hear  upon  it.  We  have  seen  it  to  be  exceedingly 
probable  that  about  40  per  cent,  of  the  children  that  die 
m  hospital,  die  tuberculous.  I  have  already  expressed  my 
belief  that  in  some  of  these  cases  the  disease  is  congenital — that 
is,  dependent  on  causes  which  have  operated  before  birth. 
Some  are  probably  infected  by  inhalation  of  the  tubercle  bacillus 
from  the  atmosphere,  notwithstanding  that  pathology  affords  so 
little  evidence  of  it ;  but  for  the  rest,  notwithstanding  the  lack  of 
satisfactory  evidence,  I  cannot  resist  the  conviction  that  the  con- 
sumption of  unboiled  milk  during  the  years  which  follow  weaning 
must  have  its  share  in  bringing  about  the  fatal  prevalence  of 
tuberculous  disease  at  that  pericKl  of  life.  This  being  the  case,  I 
feel  that,  whatever  course  may  be  taken  as  regards  meat,  I  can 
join  heartily  with  those  who  think  that  the  sale  of  contaminated 
milk  ought  to  be  put  a  stop  to  by  all  possible  means,  and  I  trust 
that  on  this  subject  there  will  be  no  difference  of  opinion,  and 
that  this  Congress  will  take  such  action  as  may  promote  the 
progress  of  legislation. " 

Dr.  Bang,  Lecturer  in  the  Royal  Veterinary  College,  Copen- 
hagen, in  a  paper  on  "  The  Alleged  Danger  of  consuming  the 
apparently  Healthy  Meat  and  Milk  of  Tuberculous  Animals," 
stated  that  the  great  majority  of  investigators  are  agreed  that 
the  essential  source  of  tuberculosis  iu  man  is  found  in  man 
himself ;  but  almost  all  admit  that  he  may  contract  the  disease 
through  the  ingestion  of  milk  derived  ftrom  animals  affected 
with  tuberculosis. 

It  is  always  agreed  that  such  a  danger  exists,  but  as  to  the 
extent  of  the  danger  there  is  little  unanimity. 

Of  course,  it  might  be  said  that  there  would  be  no  danger  if 
the  use  of  meat  and  milk  from  the  tuberculous  animals  were 
entirely  interdicted ;  but  it  must  not  be  ignored  that  the  applica- 
tion of  such  a  stringent  measure  would  entail  enormous  loss 
from  an  economical  point  of  view,  especially  in  those  countries 
where  the  disease  ha^  a  very  wide  distribution  amongst  bovine 
animals.  He  looked  upon  the  general  application  of  the  French 
regulations  as  out  of  the  question,  at  least  for  the  present, 
whilst  such  a  course  appeared  on  the  whole  to  be  unnecessary. 
As  regards  milk,  the  question  of  prophylaxis  was  comparatively 
easily  settled  if  it  was  resolved  that  it  should  never  be  employed 
without  first  being  boiled.  But  then  the  question  comes  to  be, 
How  can  we  protect  ourselves  against  the  products  of  milk? 

The  experiments  made  by  Galtier,  the  author.  Hum,  and  others 
have  proved  that  the  various  products  derived  from  milk,  butter, 
cream  cheese,  cheese,  and  butter-milk  ma^  all  contain  tubercle 
bacilli,  and  that  these  retain  their  vitality  m  such  products  for  a 
period  of  from  fourteen  to  thirty  days.  It  was  true  the  majority 
of  these  bacilli  may  be  separated  from  milk  if  the  cream  be  re- 
moved by  means  of  a  centrifugal  machine,  as  is  generally  done 
in  Denmark,  but  if  the  milk  is  very  rich  in  bacilli  a  few  usually 
remain  in  the  milk,  and  even  in  the  cream.  In  order  to  do  away 
with  this  danger  it  is  necessary  to  expose  the  milk  or  the  cream 
before  churning  to  a  temperature  high  enough  to  kill  the  tubercle 
bacilli  (85"  C.  for  about  five  minutes);  a  temperature  of  from  60** 
to  75"*  C.,  however,  being  quite  sufficient  to  attenuate  the  organic 
virus,  so  far  as  to  render  it  incapable  of  setting  up  infection  of 
the  alimentary  canal.  This  method  is  coming  more  and  more 
into  use  in  Denmark,  as  by  it  several  other  sources  of  infection  in 
the  butter  are  also  neutralized.  As,  however,  many  people  object 
to  the  taste  of  boiled  milk,  it  became  an  important  question  to 
determine  whether  the  milk  of  phthisical  cows  is  really  a  source 
of  danger  in  the    majority   of   cases.      He   had    determined 


3 


96 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


that  when  the  udder  is  affected  with  tuberculosis  there  are 
usually  numerous  bacilli  in  the  m.lk,  which  is  consequently  ex- 
tremely dangerous.  But  he  also  finds  that  mammary  tubercu- 
losis is  not  so  common  as  was  at  one  time  supposed.  At  the 
abattoir  of  Copenhagen,  for  example,  it  has  been  found  that 
only  in  i  per  cent,  of  tuberculous  cattle  was  there  disease  of 
the  udder.  From  twenty-eight  tuberculous  cows,  in  which,  how- 
ever, there  was  no  disease  of  the  udder,  the  milk  was  injected 
into  forty-eight  rabbits,  and  in  only  two  was  there  any  positive 
result.  He  then  inoculated  forty  guinea-pigs  with  milk  from 
twenty-one  tuberculous  cows,  in  this  case  with  four  positive 
results.  Recently  he  had  carried  on  a  new  series  of  ex- 
periments with  the  milk  from  fourteen  extremely  phthisical  co.vs. 
In  this  series  the  milk  was  virulent  in  three  cases,  so  that  fiom 
sixty-three  tuberculous  cows  the  milk  contained  virulent  tubercle 
bacilli  in  nine  cases  only.  All  these  cows  were  affected  in  a 
vrry  high  degree,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  some  at  any  rate  the 
u  ider  was  affected  ;  though  this  could  not  be  demonstrated  in 
the  living  animal,  as  it  was  in  three  out  of  the  four  cases  of  the 
second  series.  Others  were  affected  with  miliary  tuberculosis  in 
the  different  organs,  a  condition  which  one  rarely  finds  in  an 
animal  that  is  still  giving  milk,  and  in  one  case  the  supra- 
mammary  lymphatic  glands  were  affected  with  tuberculosis, 
although  no  lesions  in  the  udder  itself  could  be  demonstrated. 

In  several  of  the  positive  cases  the  number  of  bacilli  in  the 
milk  must  have  been  very  small,  as  one  only  of  the  two  guinea- 
pigs  experimented  upon  succumbed  to  the  disease,  this  happen- 
in^  in  three  instances. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  quantity  of  milk  injected  in  the 
later  series  was  larger  than  iu  the  earlier  series.  In  the  two 
first  series  i  to  3  c.c.  was  injected,  in  the  third  5  to  10  c.c.  He 
maintained  that,  although  in  many  cases  the  milk  from  phthisical 
cows  is  not  virulent  when  the  mammary  gland  is  unaffected,  it 
is  in  a  certain  proportion  of  cases,  and  should  always  be  looked 
upon  with  suspicion,  and  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  take 
prophylactic  measures  against  the  use  of  such  milk,  although 
the  danger  should  no  doubt  not  be  exaggerated. 

Affat.  —  Flesh  itself  very  seldom  contams  any  tubercle.  Never- 
theless it  had  been  proved  by  a  number  of  experiments  that  the 
muscle  juice  may  contain  tubercle  bacilli,  but  such  cases,  accord- 
ing to  the  observations  of  Chauveau,  of  Arloing,  Peuch,  Galtier, 
Xocard,  Kastner,  and  oiher^,  are  absolutely  in  a  minority. 
Amongst  seventy-three  phthisical  cows  these  observers  have 
found  only  ten  in  which  the  muscle  juice  gave  evidence  of  viru- 
I  nee  on  injection  into  rabbits  or  guinea-pigs,  and  sometimes 
the  juice  inoculated  only  produced  the  disease  in  one  of  several 
animals  inoculated. 

M.  Nocard's  experiments  in  this  connection  are  very  interest- 
ing. He  found  that  when  a  culture  very  rich  in  bacilli  was 
injected  into  the  vein  of  the  ear  of  a  rabbit,  the  muscle  juice  of 
the  animal  was  virulent  only  when  it  was  killed  within  five  days 
after  the  inoculation,  from  which  he  argued  that  the  bacilli 
carried  by  the  vessels  to  the  muscles  only  preserve  their  vitality 
for  five  days.  If  to  this  experimental  result  be  added. the  ob 
servation  that  tubercle  is  very  seldom  developed  in  the  muscles, 
even  during  the  development  of  a  condition  of  general  tubercu- 
losis, it  must  be  concluded  that  muscular  tissue  is  a  soil  so  un- 
favourable for  the  growth  of  tubercle  bacilli  that  they  are  not 
able  to  multiply.  The  number  of  bacilli,  then,  that  can  be 
found  in  the  flesh  of  tuberculous  animals  is  always  extremely 
limited.  It  is  of  course  true,  as  M.  Arloing  has  objected  to 
M.  Nocard's  conclusions,  that  the  circulatory  system  of  a  tuber- 
culous animal  can  continually  receive  into  it  fresh  bacilli,  and 
therefore  until  within  only  a  few  minutes  before  the  animal  is 
slaughtereJ.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  it  is  only  in  the  case  of  the  development  of  an  acute  miliary 
tuberculosis  that  one  can  suppost  that  the  number  of  bacilli  in- 
troduced into  the  vessels  can  be  considerable.  In  ordinary  cases 
in  which  the  tubercular  process  is  developed  slowly  the  bacilli 
would  without  doubt  escape  into  the  blood  in  very  small  quanti- 
ties, and  the  number  of  bacilli  that  could  be  found  at  any  given 
moment  in  the  meat  would  be  very  small.  Moreover,  the  experi- 
ments carried  out  by  Galtier,  Gebhardl,  and  others,  render  it  very 
probable  that  the  number  of  bacilli  introduced  into  the  alimentary 
canal,  by  which  infection  does  not  readily  occur,  plays  a  not 
unimportant  part  in  the  result  obtained. 

Prof.  Bang  stated  that  he  had  recently  completed  a  series  of 
experiments  on  the  virulence  of  the  blood  of  cows  in  an  advanced 
stage  of  tuberculosis.  From  twenty  tuberculous  cows  he  inoculated 
thirty-eight  rabbits  and  two  guinea-pigs  with  defibrinated  blood, 


rnjecting  from  10  to  18  c.c.  (in  four  cases  only  5  to  9  cc).  In 
eighteen  cases  the  results  were  negative,  in  two  positive,  and  one 
of  these  in  which  the  lesion  was  small  was  one  of  two  rabbits  in- 
jected with  blood  from  the  same  cow.  The  cow  that  supplied  the 
blood  with  which  the  other  positive  result  was  obtained  had 
developed  acute  miliary  tuberculosis  after  an  injection  of  tuber- 
culin. Three  weeks  previously  blood  from  the  same  cow  had  givea 
negative  results.  Even  amongst  those  cases  in  which  the 
results  were  negative  there  were  several  cases  of  acute  miliar}' 
tuberculosis. 

He  concluded  from  the  foregoing  that  the  seizure  of  all  tuber- 

,  culous  animals  is  too  stringent  a  measure.  So  long  as  the 
tuberculosis  is  strictly  localized,  the  meat  is  not  a  source  of 
danger  ;  where  the  malady  is  generalized,  the  consumption  of  the 
meat  may  be  dangerous,   although  it  is  not  always  so.      The 

I  eating  of  uncooked  meat  should  be  discournged,  but  the  bes: 
means  of  avoiding  danger  to  the  health  of  man  is  to  take  all 
possi  ^le  measures  for  preventing  the  propagation  of  tuberculosis 

:  amongst  our  domestic  animals. 

Prof.  Arloing,  of  Lyons,  contended  that  the  question  of  trans- 

:  missibiliiy  of  tut>erculosis  from  animals  to  man  was  one  of  very 

i  great  importance,  but  he  admitted  that  the  diastase  pricoce  was 

very  difhculr.     The  danger  to  children  of  drmking  milk  from 

;  tuberculous  cows  was  great,  and  he  thought  could  scarcely  be 

exaggerated.      Moreover,  he    held  very  strongly   that,    cxcci-i 

under  certain  special  circumstances,  the  total  condemnation  of 

tuberculous  meat  was  necessary,  and  on  grounds  of  public  health 

he  dissented  entirely  from  Dr.  Bang's  position. 

The  flesh  of  all  tuberculous  animals  should  be  suspected  as 
dangerous  to  health,  the  more  so  as  meat  was  very  often  in- 
sufficiently  cooked,  the  bacilli  present  under  these  conditton? 
remaining  pathogenic.  From  statistics  he  had  gathered,  he  feh 
no  doubt  on  this  subject,  and  although  it  might  be  possible,  by 
first  carefully  cooking  under  public  supervision,  to  allow  the 
flesh  from  animals  in  which  the  tuberculosis  was  localized  to 
be  sold,  he  still  maintained  his  position  that  total  confiscation  of 
tuberculous  meat  was  the  safest  method  to  be  adopted.  It  v-as 
necessary,  however,  that  in  the  first  instance  we  should  hav<;  a 
system  of  strict  inspection,  not  only  in  our  large  towns,  but  aUo 
in  all  the  smaller  centres  of  population. 

A  paper  was  then  given  by   Prof.  M'Fadyean  (Edinburgh 
and  Dr.  Woodhead  (London),  on  the  transmission  of  tubercuIosi» 
from  animals  to  roan,  by  means  of  flesh  and  milk  derived  frL>m 
tuberculous  animals.    They  maintained  that  the  evidence  as  to  the 
transmission  through  the  flesh  or  milk  of  tuberculous  animals  «vas 
very  conflicting,  apparently  in  great  part  because  the   methu.i> 
used  were  different,  and  the  conditions  were  not  uniform.     They 
had  a^empted  to  follow  the  line  of  infection  of  tuberculosis  in  a 
number  of  children,  and  had  found  that  in  127  cases  anaU'zed 
tubercle  of  the  intestine  was  present  in  43  ;  24  of  these  case^ 
occurring  between  one  and  five  and  a  half  years  ;  tubercle  of  the 
mesenteric  glands  was  found  in   100  cases,  or  in  nearly  79  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  ;  here,  again,  62  of  these  occurring  beiwce:: 
one  and  five  and  a  half  years ;    and  of  14  cases  in  which  i&e 
1  mesenteric   glands    were    primarily   affected — i,e.    no   trace  of 
I  tubercle  could  be  found  in  any  other  part  of  the  body — 9  were 
'  referred  to  the  same  period.     It  was  noticeable  that  of  these  100 
cases  only  20  were  diagnosed  during  life  as  suffering  from  abdo- 
'  minal  tubercle.    From  all  that  could  be  learned  from  these  cases 
I  (and  reference  could  be  made  to  a  large  number  of  other  sets  cf 
{  statistics  practically  proving  the  same  point),  it  was  evident  that 
intestinal  and  mesenteric  tubercle  are  most  frequently  met  with 
I  in   children  during  the  period  after  they  are  weaned,  at  which 
I  time  cow's  milk  has  been  subi^iituted   for  mother's  milk.     T.'ie 
.  p  lint  of  entrance  appeared  in  these  cases  to  be  by  the  intestine. 
I  They  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in  some  cases  at  least  (h<r 
tubercle  bacilli  had  passed  from  the  intestine  into  the  niesenter.c 
I  glands  without  leaving  any  trace  of  lesion  to  indicate  their  po.n. 
of  entrance.     There  could  now  be  no  doubt  that  tubercle  bac.lii 
were  sometimes  present    in  the  milk  from  tuberculous  cattle, 
especially  where  the  udder  was  affected,  and  they  had  been  able 
to  obtain  such  bacilli  embedded  in  the  epithelium  of  the  nulk 
ducts,  or  lying  free  in  the  ducts  after  the  death  of  the   aniaiaL 
They  concluded  that  wherever  the  presence  of  a   tuberculous 
condition  of  the  udder  could  be  demonstrated  clinically  it  wocid 
be  little  less  than  criminal  to  give  the  milk  to  delicate  children, 
or  even  to  children  suffering  from  any  catarrhal  derangement  o:~ 
the  intestine,  a  condition  that  is  specially  frequent  amongst  the 


NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


397 


poor  classes,  where  the  standard  of  health  is  exceedingly  low 
and  the  liability  to  catarrhal  conditions  very  great.     From  a 
series  of  inoculations   with  tuberculous  udder,  and  with  milk 
from  tuberculous  udders,  14  out  of  19,  or  over  70  per  cent.,  had 
given  positive  results  ;   with  non-tubercular  udders,  and  with 
Diilk  from  otherwise  tuberculous  cows,  only  2  cases  out  of  13,  or 
a  little  under  16  per  cent.,  gave  positive  results.     Where  the 
failure  to  produce  tuberculosis  occurred  in  the  first  series,  the 
number  ot  bacilli  was  invariably  small,  and  inoculations  were 
asaally  into  the  subcutansus  tissue,  though    negative  results 
were  also    obtained  whew    other    methods  of   infection  were 
employed.    They  thought    that  in    relation    to  the  danger  of 
taking  tuberculous  milk  by  the  human  subject,  the  site  of  the 
infection,  and  the  relation  of  the  number  of  bacilli  introduced, 
played   an    imp'>rlant  part   in    determining    the    severity  and 
rapidity  of  the  course  of  the  disease,  and  they  stated  that  their 
experience  accorded  with  that  of  other  observers,  that  inocula- 
tion  into    the    peritoneal  cavity  is    much  more    certain  than 
inoculation  into  the  subcutaneous  tissue,   especially  where  the 
number  of  bacilli  introduced  is  comparatively  small.     They  are 
also  led  to  believe,  from  a  number  of  feeding  experiments,  that 
the  production  of  tuberculosis  through  the  introduction  of  bacilli 
into  the  alimentary  canal  is  of  still  less  frequent    occurrence 
than  when  inoculation  is  made  into  the  connective  tissue.     As 
regards  the  possibility  of  the  flesh  of  tuberculous  animals  setting 
up  tuberculosis, (a)  when  introduced  en  muscy  {b)  when  expressed 
juice  only  was  exhibited,  their  experiments  went  to  prove  that 
the  juice  only  did  not  in  most  cases  contain  a  sufficient  number 
of  bacilli  to  set  up  tubercle,  even  when  inoculated    into  small 
rodents,  but  from   the  fact  that  they  have  observed  tubercular 
masses  in  the  muscles  of  the  buttock  of  tuberculous  cattle,  it  must 
be  accepted  that  tubercle  bacilli  may  sometimes,  though  perhaps 
rarely,  be  present  in  considerable  numbers  in  this  position.     Of 
three  cows  .^slaughtered  in  one  day  at  one  slaughter- house,  well- 
defin»i  tubercle  was  found  in  the  muscles  of  the  buttock  of  two 
animals ;  in  one  of  tlfese  there  was  tuberculosis  in  every  or^^an 
and  part  of  the  body  ;   in  the  other  there  were  only  a  few 
nodules  and  in  some  of  the  glands  ;   there  was  certainly  no 
pleural  or  peritoneal  tubercle,  and  all  the  other  organs  were 
unaffected.     They  concluded  that  there  was  great  necessity  for 
a  thorough  inspection  of  both  dairy  cattle  and  of  animals  that 
were  slaughtered  for  food  purposes,  but  it  might  be  accepted  that 
the  danger  of  contracting  tubercle  from  milk  was  greater  than 
that  of  contracting    it  from  meat,  and  that  only  in  a  certain 

Eroponion  of  cattle  affected  with  tuberculosis  did  there  seem  to 
e  any  danger  to  be  anticipated  from  the  ingestion  of  the  flesh. 
In  the  main  they  agreed  with  Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson  and  Dr. 
Bang  that  there  was  not  yet  sufficient  evidence  on  which  to 
decide  that  the  total  seizure  of  meat  from  tuberculous  animals 
should  be  resorted  to. 

Prof.  Hamilton,  of  Aberdeen,  said  that  there  were  two  prin- 
cipal channels  of  infection,  (i)  the  gastro-intestinal  tract,  (2)  the 
lungs ;  but  in  addition  to  these  we  had  what  might  be  spoken  of 
as  localized  tubercle,  which  seemed  to  be  shut  off  entirely  from 
all  communication  with  the  external  world,      (i)  In  the  body 
the  affection  might  take  place  by  the  air  channels,  as  in  the  case 
of  tubercular  pneumonia,  where  the  virus  was  probably  inhaled 
and  the  air  vesicles  were  the  primary  seat  of  infection.     (2)  By 
the  blood  vessels,  as  in  cases  of  eruption  of  miliary  tuberculosis. 
(3)  By  the  lymphatic  vessels,  as  in  the  more  chronic  forms  of 
iuberculosi<<.     In  the  gastro-intestinal  canal  a  tubercular  lesion 
might  accompany  an  ordinary  phthisis  ;   it  was  often  seen  in 
children  as  a  primary  condition,  and  he  should  not  be  inclmed 
to  agree  with  Dr.  Burdon  Sanderson  that  it  was  not  also  primary 
in  adults,  as  he  himself  had  seen  several  cases,  one  quite  recently. 
Previous  catarrh  was  not  always  met  with  in  the  lung,  but  it 
was  certainly  a  predisposing  cause  of  tubercle,  as  it  interfered 
with  the  protective  epithelial  covering.     When  tubercle  followed 
whooping-cough,  measles,  and  so  on,  it  was  probably  the  result  of 
the  spread  of  infection  from  pre-existing  caseous  spots,  or  it  might 
be  that  the  glands,  weakened  by  the  disease,  fell  an  easy  prey  to 
the  tubercle  bacillus.     He  could  not  underst.md  the  comparative 
immunity  from  tubercle  enjoyed  by  the  pericardium  and  the 
stomach. 

Prof.  Nocard,  of  Paris,  did  not  think  that  sufficient  proof 
had  as  yet  been  accumulated  that  ingestion  of  tuberculous  meat 
oould  give  rise  to  tuberculosis  in  any  large  proportion  of  cases  ; 
the  greater  number  of  experimental  cases  had  given  negative 
results,  and  he  should,  to  convince  himself,  require  to  see  more 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


positive  results  obtained  in  which  all  possible  sources  of  failure 
could  bs  eliminated.  Whilst  saying  this,  he  must  admit  that  in 
the  case  of  children  tuberculous  material,  whether  in  meat 
or  milk,  would  always  prove  a  very  important  source  of 
danger.  He  would  draw  attention  to  the  disease  as  it  occurred 
in  cats,  on  which  animals  he  had  made  many  experiments. 

Dr.  Hime,  of  Bradford,  was  glad  to  find  that  our  foreign 
friends,  who  ere  not  hampered  as  we  are  in  making  experiments, 
agree  with  us  in  the  main.  He  thought  that  we  were  likely  to 
run  wild  on  the  subject  of  the  total  seizure  of  tubercular  meat, 
and  he  would  point  out  that  in  no  country  does  a  total  seizure 
law  exist  such  as  it  is  proposed  to  adopt  heie  iii  England.  In 
England  he  would  point  out  that  the  inspection  is  worse  than  in 
any  other  country.  He  referred  to  Prof.  Lingard's  experiments 
given  in  an  official  report,  which,  he  pointed  out,  spoke  only  of 
tubercle  being  transmitted  by  caseous  material,  and  not  by  meat 
from  a  tuberculous  cow,  as  was  usually  assumed.  We  had  the 
authority  of  Koch  himself,  said  Dr.  Hime,  that  there  is  danger 
only  when  tubercular  material  itself  is  ingested.  Infection  by 
milk  he  looked  upon  as  proved,  but  he  would  also  insist  very 
strongly  that  the  majority  of  infection  in  cases  of  phthisis  was 
directly  between  man  and  man,  and  it  was  far  more  important 
that  we  should  eliminate  possible  sources  of  contagion  between 
human  subjects  than  that  we  should  pay  so  much  attention  to  the 
minor  possibilities  of  infection  from  animals  to  man. 

Dr.  Barlow  (London),  speaking  from  a  clinical  point  of 
view,  was  scarcely  able  to  indorse  the  results  of  experimental 
researches,  and  he  maintained  that  as  regards  tuberculosis  in 
children  we  must  for  the  present  keep  our  minds  open.  There 
was  no  doubt  that  the  post-mortems  in  children's  hospitals  gave 
evidence  of  the  enormous  frequency  of  tuberculosis,  but  the 
evidence  that  such  disease  was  the  result  of  the  ingestion  of  milk 
and  meat  was  comparatively  slight.  Other  sanitary  precautions, 
which  he  looked  upon  as  of  primary  importance,  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  in  our  discussion  of  the  subject.  He  would,  how- 
ever, enter  a  protest  against  the  use  of  the  raw  meat  juice  in  the 
case  of  delicate  children,  as  from  what  we  had  heard  it  was 
evident  that  such  aliment  might  prove  a  source  of  considerable 
danger. 

Prof.  Perroncito,  of  Turin,  referred  to  a  number  of  experiments 
that  he  had  carried  out  with  meat,  milk,  and  the  products  of 
the  latter,  and  then  pointed  out  that  spontaneous  tubercle  very 
rarely  occurred  in  the  pig,  though  it  might  frequently  be  met  with 
as  the  result  of  infection.  The  same  might  be  said  of  sheep. 
Here,  also,  it  might  occur,  though  rarely,  as  the  result  of  direct 
infection. 

Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson,  in  reply,  said  he  was  pleased  to  find 
that  the  difference  of  opinion  amongst  so  many  authorities  was 
so  slight.  It  was  evident  that  all  were  agreed  that  in<;pection 
was  necessary,  and  there  was  also  a  general  consensus  of  opinion 
as  regards  the  difficulty  of  diagnosis.  He  wa<«  glad  to  find  that 
although  M.  Arloing  still  retained  his  opinion  as  to  the  necessity 
for  total  seizure,  except  under  very  well-defined  conditions,  he 
had  so  far  given  way  as  to  acknowledge  that  such  meat  might  after 
careful  cooking  be  retailed  under  special  restrictions.  In  order 
that  something  definite  might  come  out  of  this  discussion,  he 
proposed  that  it  be  minuted  that  "the  etiology  of  tubercular 
disease  of  early  infancy  (between  three  months  and  five  years) " 
be  referred  for  discussion  at  the  next  Congress. 

This  was  seconded  by  Dr.  Septimus  Gibbon,  and  was  carried 
unanimously. 

The  President  said  that  he  had  been  greatly  interested  in  the 
discussion,  and  he  hoped  that  much  good  should  arise  therefrom. 
He  was  glad  to  find  that  there  were  soaie  animals,  such  as  the 
sheep  and  pig,  in  which  spontaneous  tubercle  was  never  met 
with,  and  he  hoped  that  we  might  eat  these  in  safety.  Sheep 
especially  appeared  to  have  a  great  immunity  as  regards  tubercle, 
but  pigs  were  not  so  safe,  as  they  were  apparently  frequently  the 
subject  of  tuberculosis. 

Dr.  Metschnikoff  and  Dr.  Roux  gave  a  joint  paper  on  the 
changes  that  took  place  in  the  tissues  around  tubercle  bacilli. 
It  was  read  by  the  former,  who  illustrated  his  remarks  by  means 
of  drawings  on  the  black-board,  and  by  microscopic  specimens. 
They  indicated  the  difference  in  the  reaction  of  our  tissues  to  the 
tubercle  bacilli  when  the  disease  is  going  to  run  a  favourable 
course,  and  when  the  animal  is  about  to  succumb  rapidly  to  the 
disease.  The  process  of  recovery  was  indicated  by  the  presence 
of  concentric  rings  of  hard  and  inflammatory  tissue  around  the 
bacilli,  which  eventually  lead  to  their  absorption,  the  inflam- 
matory tissue  itself  finally  undergoing  a  process  of  calcification. 


398 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


Prof.  Ehrlich  proceeded  to  give  Koch's  present  views  re- 
garding tuberculin.  He  said  that  the  results  that  had  been 
obtained  were  exceedingly  favourable,  and  most  of  those  who 
had  failed  to  obtain  equally  good  results  had  failed  because 
they  had  used  too  large  doses  of  the  remedy.  The  principle  of 
cure  rested  in  the  local  effects  which  tuberculin  exercises  on 
the  specifically  affected  tissues  ;  the  inflammatory  reaction  pass- 
ing to  necrosis  was  neither  desirable  nor  necessary,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  slight  and  even  repeated  stimuli  would  so  act 
as  to  give  rise  to  cicatrization  of  the  tuberculous  centres,  so 
that  the  essence  of  this  method  of  treatment  was  to  retain  as 
long  as  possible  the  specific  excitation  of  the  tissues,  and  not  to 
do  away  with  this,  as  was  the  case  where  large  doses  were 
used.  Wherever  successful  results  had  been  obtained  they  had 
all  been  by  the  use  of  repeated  minute  doses  of  tuberculin,  which 
were  only  very  gradually  increased  in  strength,  and  it  should  be 
specially  noted  that  the  pathological  signs  found  as  the  result 
of  the  action  of  tuberculin  were  always  produced  by  large  doses. 

Prof.  Cornil,  Dr.  Bardach,  Dr.  Ponfinck,  and  Prof.  Hueppe 
were  agreed  that  tuberculin  was  an  heroic  and  dangerous  remedy 
about  which  we  as  yet  knew  little,  and  which  was  therefore  to 
be  looked  upon  as  still  being  experimented  with.  It  also  seemed 
to  be  the  general  opinion  that  where  it  was  in  use  there  existed 
a  danger  of  setting  up  generalization  of  a  tuberculosis  that  had 
hitherto  been  localized. 

Dr.  Hunter  gave  the  results  of  his  own  experiments  (described 
in  the  British  Medical  Joumal)^  from  which  he  had  been  able 
to  show  the  nal  ure  of  the  active  principle  of  tuberculin.  He  had 
succeeded  in  isolating  principles  quite  different  from  those  men- 
tioned by  Koch,  or  even  reported  by  Dr.  Ehrlich  that  morning 
as  having  been  obtained  by  Koch.  They  were  three — (i)  those 
which  produced  fever,  but  set  up  no  local  reaction  ;  (2)  those 
which  gave  a  local  reaction,  but  no  fever  ;  and  (3)  those  which 
set  up  neither  fever  nor  local  reaction,  vhich  had  a  distinctly 
remedial  effect. 

The  President,  summing  up,  hoped  that  in  time  we  should  all 
be  able  to  obtain  the  wonderfully  satisfactory  results  that  had 
been  so  fully  described  by  Prof.  Ehrlich  on  Dr.  Koch's  behalf. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  Niither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of '^kim'Bjl, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Rain-gauges. 

I  DO  not  think  that  valuable  space  in  your  columns  should  be 
occupied  by  rediscussing  old  questions.  I  do  not  wish  to  say  a 
word  in  any  respect  discourteous  to  Mr.  Fletcher,  whose  ability 
in  other  subjects  has,  I  understand,  been  already  recognized, 
but  it  really  would  have  been  better  had  he  read  up  the  subject 
before  writing  the  remarkable  letter  which  appears  in  Nature 
of  the  20th  inst.  (p.  371). 

For  experimental  work,  spherical,  conical,  inclined,  horizon- 
tal, vertical,  and  tipping  funnels  have  been  used  ;  but  until  the 
soil  of  the  British  Isles  can  be  made  to  tilt  in  altitude  and  rotate 
in  azimuth,  so  as  to  meet  the  path  of  falling  rain,  I  think  that 
we  must  adhere  to  gauges  with  horizontal  mouths  as  the  best 
representatives  of  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

G.  J.  Symons. 

British  Association  Reception  Room,  Cardiff,  August  21. 


Cloud  Heights— Kinematic  Method. 

In  Nature  of  April  16  (p.  563),  and  possibly  elsewhere,  I 
am  made  to  speak  of  the  method  of  determining  the  heights  of 
clouds  at  sea  used  by  Finemann  and  myself  as  the  "aberration 
method.'*  This  was  a  misnomer  that  I  supposed  had  been  cor- 
rected. The  more  proper  term  is  the  "kinematic  method," 
since  in  it  we  discuss  the  apparent  motions  of  the  clouds  con- 
sidered as  the  resultant  of  the  true  motions  of  the  cloud  and  the 
observer.  This  is  the  term  that  I  have  used  since  May  1890, 
and  would  commend  to  others.  Cleveland  Abbe. 

Weather  Bureau,  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington,  August  8. 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIA  TION, 

THE  Cardiff  meeting,  if  it  was  not  made  remark- 
able by  any  incident  of  very  special  importance, 
was,  upon  the  whole,  successful.  Several  of  the  ad- 
dresses delivered  by  the  Presidents  of  Sections  were 
of  exceptional  interest,  but  some  were  very  long,  and 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  print  all  of  them. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  General  Committee,  held  on 
Wednesday,  August  19,  the  report  of  the  Council  for 
1890--91  was  read  by  Sir  Douglas  Galton.  Dr.  Gladstone 
moved  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Prof.  Williamson  for  his  long 
and  valuable  services  as  general  treasurer,  paying  a 
tribute  to  the  manner  in  which  that  gentleman  had 
fulfilled  his  duties.  Sir  Douglas  Galton  seconded,  and 
the  resolution  was  cordially  agreed  to.  Mr.  Vernon 
Harcourt  moved,  and  Sir  J.  Douglass  seconded,  the 
appointment  of  Prof.  Arthur  Riicker  as  general  trea- 
surer. This  motion  was  also  agreed  to.  At  the  meeting 
of  the  General  Committee  on  Monday,  a  deputation 
from  Nottingham  was  introduced.  The  Association  was 
invited  by  the  Mayor  and  town  authorities  to  visit  Not- 
tingham in  1893.  It  was  stated  that  it  was  twenty-five 
years  since  the  Association  had  visited  Nottingham.  The 
invitation  was  accepted  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Preecc.  It 
was  also  unanimously  agreed,  oh  the  motion  of  Canon 
Tristram,  to  elect  Sir  A.  Geikie  as  President  of  the 
Association,  which  meets  at  Edinburgh  next  year.  The 
Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  the  Marquis  of  Lothian,  the 
Earl  of  Rosebery,  Lord  Kingsburgh,  Principal  Sir  WiUiam 
Muir,  Prof.  Sir  Douglas  Maclagan,  Sir  William  Turner, 
Prof.  Tait,  and  Prof.  Crum  Brown  were  elected  Vice- 
Presidents,  for  the  Edinburgh  meeting.  Prof.  G.  F. 
Armstrong,  Principal  F.  Grant  Cgilvie,  and  Mr.  John 
Harrison  were  elected  Local  Secretaries  for  the  meeting 
at  Edinburgh,  and  Mr.  A.  Gillies  Smith  Local  Treasurer. 
A  deputation  from  Edinburgh  also  attended  with  refer- 
ence to  the  fixing  of  a  date  for  the  Edinburgh  meeting. 
It  was  stated  on  behalf  of  the  Town  Council  that  Sept- 
ember 28  was  favoured  as  the  opening  date  of  the  meet- 
ing, though  August  3  and  September  21  were  also  men 
tioned  as  alternative  dates.  A  motion  was  made  to  fix 
August  3,  while  an  amendment  was  moved  for  Septem- 
ber 12  ;  but  as  only  thirteen  voted  for  the  amendment,  the 
original  motion  was  agreed  to — that  is,  the  Association 
will  meet  at  Edinburgh  next  year  on  August  3.  The 
general  officers  were  re-elected,  and  the  following  gentle- 
men were  elected  Members  of  Council  for  the  ensuing: 
year : — Dr.  W.  Anderson,  Prof  Ayrton,  Sir  B.  Baker, 
Mr.  H.  W.  Bates,  Prof.  Darwin,  Sir  J.  N.  Douglass,  Prol. 
Edge  worth,  Dr.  J.  Evans,  Prof  Fitzgerald,  Sir  Archibald 
Geikie,  Mr.  R.  T.  Glazebrook,  Profs.  J.  W.  Judd,  Livcing, 
Lodge,  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece,  Profs.  W.  Ramsay,  Reinold, 
Roberts- Austen,  Schafer,  Schuster,  Sidgwick,  Mr.  G.  J. 
Symons,  Profs.  T.  E.  Thorpe,  Marshall  Ward,  Mr.  \V. 
Whitaker,  Dr.  H.Woodward.  The  following  impressions 
have  been  recorded  by  a  correspondent : — 

Cardiff,  Tuesday  Evemng. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  Cardiff 
meeting  has  undoubtedly  been  the  prevailing  bad 
weather.  Rain  and  cold  have  had  their  usual  depressing 
results,  and  may  to  some  extent  account  for  the  disap- 
pointment which  exists  among  many  of  those  in  attend- 
ance. The  Local  Committee  have  done  their  best  to 
render  the  meeting  a  social  success,  but  the  entertain- 
ments by  the  Municipality  and  the  citizens  of  Cardiff 
have  been  of  a  somewhat  restricted  character.  Notwith- 
standing the  unpromising  state  of  the  weather,  the  ex- 
cursions on  Saturday  and  Sunday  were  largely  taken  ad- 
vantage  of,  and  the  reception  given  by  Lord  Windsor 
on  the  latter  day  was  specially  appreciated.  The  total 
attendance  has  been  about  1 500,  within  200  of  the  Leeds 
meeting,  while  the  amount  of  money  available  for  grants 
is  within  a  few  pounds  of  last  year.  ••  Naturally  there  has 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


399 


been  considerable  talk  with  reference  to  the  address  of 
the  President  of  Section  A,  and  opinion  is  divided  as  to 
the  propriety  of  introducing  the  metaphysical  into  a 
Section  which  has  emphatically  to  do  with  the  *'  solid 
ground  of  Nature."  On  the  other  hand,  Prof.  Lodge's 
experiment  to  test  whether  the  ether  is  disturbed  in  the 
presence  of  a  rapidly-moving  body  has  excited  the 
greatest  interest  and  admiration. 

The  soirees  at  the  present  meeting  can  hardly  be  com- 
pared in  attractiveness  and  brilliancy  with  those  held  last 
year  in  Leeds.  Wealthy  and  populous  as  Cardiff  is,  she 
has  not  command,  apparently,  of  the  scientific  and  artistic 
collections  which  are  so  creditable  to  the  intelligence  and 
taste  of  the  dingy  Yorkshire  city.  However,  the  dance 
into  which  to-night's  conversazione  developed  evidently 
atoned  for  a  multitude  of  shortcomings.  The  lectures 
have  been  fairly  well  attended.  Prof.  Riicker's  beautiful 
experiments  evidently  fascinating  his  audience,  in  spite 
of  a  serious  hitch  caused  by  the  failure  of  a  steam-engine 
to  do  its  duty  when  called  upon.  The  discussion,  in 
Section  D,  as  to  the  relations  between  animal  and  plant 
life  was  well  sustained,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  arrangements 
bad  not  been  made  to  have  it  fully  reported.  This  can 
be  done  at  very  small  cost,  and  the  publication  of  detailed 
reports  of  such  discussions  could  not  but  greatly  increase 
the  good  they  are  calculated  to  do.  There  is  a  general 
belief  that  inter- Sectional  discussions  would  be  of  immense 
advantage  in  showing  the  intimate  relations  which  exist 
between  thedifferentbranches  of  science,  and  in  stimulating 
research  in  profitable  directions.  It  is  probable  that  several 
such  discussions  may  be  arranged  for  the  next  meeting. 

As  usual,  Section  £  had  its  sensation.  A  very  large 
audience  attended  to  hear  Mrs.  French  Sheldon  describe 
her  journey  to  Lake  Chala,  at  the  base  of  Kilimanjaro. 
Mrs.  Sheldon  was  evidently  suffering  greatly  from  her 
serious  accident ;  and  although  her  address  was  some- 
what disjointed,  it  contained  a  good  deal  of  fresh  in- 
formation, especially  on  the  natives,  which  male  travellers 
have  hitherto  overlooked.  Mrs.  Bishop  (Miss  Isabella 
L  Bird)  proved  equally  attractive  in  describing  her  visit 
to  the  Bakhtiari  country  and  the  Karun  River,  and,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  was  somewhat  more  solid 
than  her  less-experienced  fellow  traveller. 

The  Ordnance  Survey  formed  the  subject  of  an  im- 
portant discussion  in  Section  £,  and  the  Association  as 
a  body  has  resolved  to  do  its  utmost  to  induce  Govern- 
ment to  introduce  reforms.  It  is  fortunate  that  by  the 
combined  action  of  Sections  A,  E,  and  G,  a  grant  of  £ji 
has  been  obtained  for  supplying  instruments  for  climato- 
Io{?ical  observations  in  Central  Africa. 

There  was  considerable  discussion  at  the  general  com- 
mittee meeting  yesterday  as  to  the  date  of  the  Edinburgh 
meeting  next  year.  In  certain  quarters  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember was  advocated,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  great  majority  of  the  working  members  of  the  Associa- 
tion preferred  the  beginning  of  August,  a  date  which  will 
suit  those  connected  with  the  Universities  and  will  catch 
the  citizens  of  Edinburgh  before  they  leave  for  their  holi- 
days. It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  August  3  has 
been  fixed  upon  for  the  Edinburgh  meeting,  the  President 
of  which  will  be  Sir  Archibald  Geikie.  Nottingham  has 
been  selected  as  the  place  of  meeting  for  1893. 

It  is  evident  that  the  people  of  Cardiff  are  somewhat 
at  a  loss  what  to  make  of  the  Association  and  of  the 
hundreds  who  are  crowding  the  streets  of  the  town  and 
rushing  from  one  Section  room  to  another.  The  Sectional 
secretaries  especially,  seem  to  be  a  puzzle.  In  the  hotel 
in  which  they  are  housed  a  commercial  stock-room  has 
been  set  apart  for  their  use,  with  a  long  baize-covered 
table  down  the  centre  ;  while  to  discourage  all  tendencies 
to  loafing,  they  have  been  provided  with  nothing  else  but 
hard  kitchen  chairs  to  sit  upon. 

Altogether,  from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  the  Cardiff 
meeting  may  be  said  to  have  come  up  to  a  fair  average. 

NO.   II 3Q.  VOL.  44] 


SECTION  B. 

chemistry. 

Opening   Address    by    Prof.    W.    C.    Robbrts-Austen, 
C.B.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Section. 

The  selection  of  Cardiff  as  a  place  of  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  led  to  the  presidency  of  Section  B  being  intrusted 
to  a  metallurgist.  It  will  be  well,  therefore,  to  deal  in  this 
address  mainly  with  considerations  connected  with  the  subject 
to  which  my  life  has  been  devoted,  and  I  hope  that  it  may  be 
possible  for  me  to  show  that  this  practical  art  has  both  pro- 
moted the  advancement  of  science  and  has  received  splendid 
gifts  in  return. 

It  is  an  art  for  which  in  this  country  we  have  traditional  love  ; 
nevertheless  the  modes  of  teaching  it,  and  its  influence  on  science, 
are  but  imperfectly  understoo<l  and  appreciated.  Practical 
metallurgists  are  far  too  apt  to  think  that  improvements  in  their 
processes  are  mainly  the  result  of  their  own  experience  and 
observation,  unaided  by  pure  science.  On  the  other  hand,  those 
who  teach  metallaigy  often  forget  that  for  the  present  they  have 
not  only  to  give  instruction  in  the  method  of  conducting  techni- 
cal operations,  but  have  truly  to  educate,  by  teaching  the 
chemistry  of  high  temperatures,  at  which  ordinary  reactions 
are  modified  or  even  reversed,  while  they  have  further  to  deal 
with  many  phenomena  of  much  importance,  which  cannot,  as 
yet,  be  traced  to  the  action  of  elements  in  flxed  atomic  propor- 
tions, or  in  which  the  direct  influence  of  the  atom  is  only 
beginning  to  be  recognized. 

'i'he  development  of  a  particular  art,  like  that  of  an  organism, 
proceeds  from  its  internal  activity ;  it  is  work  which  promotes 
its  growth  and  not  the  external  influence  of  the  environment. 
In  the  early  stage  of  the  development  of  an  industry  the  crafts- 
men gather  a  store  of  facts  which  afford  a  basis  for  the  labours 
of  the  investigator,  who  penetrates  the  circle  of  the  **  mystery" 
and  renders  knowledge  scientific.  Browning,  inspired  by  thr 
labours  of  a  chemist,  finely  tells  us  in  his  **  Paracelsus  "  : — 

_  To  know 
Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendour  may  escape, 
Than  in  eflfecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supp  -sed  to  be  without. 

If  it  be  asked  who  did  most  in  gaining  the  industrial  treasure 
and  in  revealing  the  light  of  chemical  knowledge,  the  answer  is 
certainly  the  metallurgists,  whose  labours  in  this  respect  differ 
materially  from  others  which  have  ministered  to  the  welfare  of 
mankind.  First  it  may  be  urged  that  in  no  other  art  have  the 
relations  between  theory  and  practice  been  so  close  and  enduring. 
Bacon,  who  never  undervalued  research,  tells  us  that  in  the 
division  of  the  labour  of  investigation  in  the  New  Atlantis  there 
are  some  "that  raise  the  former  discoveries  by  experiment  into 
greater  observations,  axioms,  and  aphorisms  :  these  we  call  the 
interpietcrs  of  nature,^*  There  are  also  others  "that  bend 
themselves,  looking  into  the  experiments  of  their  fellows  and 
casting  about  h  )w  to  draw  out  of  them  things  of  use  and  practice 
for  man*s  life  and  knowledge  :  .  .  .  these  we  call  the  dortvry  men 
or  b€tufactor$y  In  reviewing  the  history  of  metallurgy,  especially 
in  our  islands,  it  would  seem  that  the  two  classes  of  workers,  the 
interpreters  of  nature  and  the  practical  men,  have  for  centuries 
sat  in  joint  committee,  and,  by  brin^^ing  theoretical  speculati-  n 
into  close  connection  with  hard  industrial  facts,  have  "carried 
us  nearer  the  essence  of  truth." 

The  main  theme  of  this  address  will  therefore  be  the  relation 
between  theory  and  practice  in  metallurgy  with  special  reference 
to  the  indebtedness  of  the  practical  man  to  the  scientific  investi- 
gator. 

We  will  then  consider — 

(i)  Certain  facts  connected  with  "oxidation"  and  "reduc- 
tion," upon  which  depend  operations  of  special  importance  to 
the  metallurgist. 

(2)  The  influence  in  metallurgical  practice  of  reactions  which 
are  either  limited  or  reversible. 

(3)  The  means  by  which  i  rogress  in  the  metallurgic  art  may 
be  effected,  and  the  special  need  for  studying  the  molecular 
constitution  of  metals  and  alloys. 

(i)  The  present  year  is  a  memorable  one  for  chemists,  being 
the  centenary  of  the  birth  of  Faraday  and  the  bi-ceiitenary  of 
the  deatji  of  Robert  Boyle.  The  work  of  the  former  has  re- 
cently been  lovingly  and  fittingly  dealt  with  in  the  Royal  Insti- 
tution, where  he  laboured  so  long.     I  would,  in  turn,  briefly 


400 


NATURE 


[August  27,  1891 


recall  the  services  of  Boyle,  not,  however,  on  account  of  the 
coincidence  of  date,  but  because  with  him  a  new  era  in  chemistry 
began.  He  knew  too  much  about  the  marvellous  action  of 
"traces"  of  elements  on  masses  of  metal  to  feel  justified  in 
pronouncing  absolutely  against  the  possibilities  of  transmutation, 
but  he  did  splendid  service  by  sweeping  away  the  firm  belief 
that  metals  consist  of  sulphur,  salt,  and  mercury,  and  by  giving 
us  the  definition  of  an  element.  He  recognized  the  prepon- 
derating influence  of  metallurgy  in  the  early  history  of  science, 
and  quaintly  tells  us  that  "those  addicted  to  chemistry  have 
scarce  any  views  but  to  the  preparation  of  medicines  or  to  the 
improvement  of  metals,"  a  statement  which  was  perfectly  cor- 
rect, for  chemistry  was  built  up  on  a  therapeutic  as  well  as  a 
metallurgic  basis.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  neither  the  prepa- 
ration of  materials  to  be  employed  in  healing,  nor  the  study  of 
their  action,  had  anything  like  the  influence  on  the  growth  of 
theoretical  chemistry  which  was  exerted  by  a  few  simple  metal- 
lurgical processes.  Again,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  theoretical 
chemistry  was  more  directly  advanced  by  observations  made  in 
connection  with  methods  of  purifying  the  precious  metals,  and 
by  the  recognition  of  the  quantitative  significance  of  the  results, 
than  by  the  acquisition  of  facts  incidentally  gathered  in  the 
search  for  a  transmuting  agent.  The  belief  that  chemistry 
"grew  out  of  alchemy"  nevertheless  prevails,  and  has  found 
expression  in  this  Section  of  the  British  Association.  As  a  fact, 
however,  the  great  metallurgists  treated  the  search  for  a  trans- 
muting agent  with  contempt,  and  taught  the  necessity  of  investi- 
gation for  its  own  sake.  George  Agricola,  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  sixteenth  century  metallurgists,  in  his  work  *'De  Orlu  ct 
Causis  Subterraneorum "  (lib.  v.),  written  about  the  year  1539, 
disdainfully  rejects  both  the  view  of  the  alchemists  that  metals 
consist  of  sulphur  and  mercury,  and  their  pretended  ability  to 
change  silver  into  gold  by  the  addition  of  foreign  matter. 

Biringuccio  (1540)  says,  "  I  am  one  of  those  who  ignore  the 
art  of  the  alchemists  entirely.  They  mock  nature  when  they 
say  that  with  their  medicines  they  correct  its  defects,  and 
render  imperfect  metals  perfect."  "The  art,"  he  adds,  **  was 
not  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  wise  ancients  who  strove 
to  obtain  possible  things."  In  his  time,  reaction  between 
elements  meant  their  destruction  and  reconstitution  ;  neverthe- 
less, his  sentence  "transmutation  is  impossible,  because  in 
order  to  transmute  a  body  you  must  begin  by  destroying  it 
altogether,"  suggests  that  he  realized  the  great  principle  of  the 
conservation  of  mass  upon  which  the  science  of  chemistry  is 
based.  We  have  also  the  testimony  of  the  German  metallurgist, 
Becher,  who  improved  our  tin-smelting  in  Cornwall.  He  is 
said  to  have  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck  in  1675,  which  bore 
the  legend,  "Hanc  unciam  argenti  finissimi  ex  plumbo  arte 
alchymica  transmutavi,"  though  he  should  have  been  aware  that 
he  had  only  extracted  the  precious  metal  from  the  lead,  and  had 
not  transmuted  the  base  one.  This  is  a  lapse  which  must  be 
forgiven  him,  for  his  terra  pinguis  was  the  basis  of  the  theory  of 
phlogiston,  which  exerted  so  profound  an  influence  for  a  century 
after  his  death,  and  he  wrote,  "  I  wist  that  I  have  got  hold  of 
my  pitcher  by  the  right  handle,  for  the  pseudo-chemists  seek 
gold,  but  I  have  the  true  philosophy,  science,  which  is  more 
precious." 

At  this  critical  period  what  was  Boyle  doing  when  the  theory 
of  phlogiston  dawned  in  the  mind  of  the  metallurgist  Becher  ? 
In  1672  Boyle  wrote  his  paper  on  "  Fire  and  Flame  weighed  in 
the  Balance,"  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  **  ponderous 
parts  of  flame"  could  pass  through  glass  to  get  at  melted  lead 
contained  in  a  closed  vessel.  It  has  been  considered  strange 
that  he  did  not  interpret  the  experiment  correctly,  but  he,  like 
the  phlogistic  chemists,  tried  to  show  that  the  subtilii  ignis,  the 
material  of  fire  or  phlogiston,  would  penetrate  all  things,  and 
could  be  gained  or  lost  by  them.  Moreover,  his  later  experi- 
ments showed  him  that  glass  was  powerless  to  screen  iron  from 
the  "  eflluvium  of  a  loadstone."  His  experiment  with  lead  heated 
in  a  closed  glass  vessel  was  a  fundamental  one,  to  which  his 
mind  would  naturally  revert  if  he  could  come  back  now  and 
review  the  present  stale  of  our  knowledge  in  the  light  of  the  in- 
vestigations which  have  been  made  in  the  two  centuries  that  have 
passed  since  his  own  work  ceased.  If  he  turned  to  the  end  of 
the  first  century  after  his  death  he  would  see  that  the  failure 
to  appreciate  the  work  of  predecessors  was  as  prevalent  in  the 
eighteenth  century  as  in  the  sixteenth.  The  spirit  of  intolerance 
which  lead  Paracelsus  to  publicly  burn,  in  his  inaugural  lecture 
at  Basle,  the  works  of  Galen,  Hippocrates,  and  Xvicenna, 
urvived  in  the   eighteenth   century,  when  Madame   Lavoisier 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


burnt  the  woiks  of  Stahl,  but  it  was  reserved  for  the  nineteeoib 
century  to  reverently  gather  the  ashes,  recognizing  that  when  the 
writers  of  the  school  of  Becher  spoke  of  phlogiston  they  meant 
what  we  understand  by  potential  energy. 

If  Boyle,  finding  that  the  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society  bad 
not   carried  out  their  intention   to  build  a  "  Repository  and 
Laborator)',"  sought  the  School  of  Mines  and  came  to  the  Royal 
College  of  Science,  he  would  surely  thank  my  colleague,  Pro^. 
Thorpe,  for  his  vigorous  defence  Ia*t  year,  as  President  of  this 
Section,  of  the  originality  of  the  work  of  Priestley  and  Caven- 
dish, to  which  Boyle's  own  researches  had  directly  led.    We  00 
our  part,   remembering  Berzelius's  view   that  "oxygen  is  the 
centre  point  round  which  chemistry  revolves,"  would  hope  to 
interest  him  most  by  selecting  the  experiments  which  arose  oat 
of  the  old  metallurgical  operation  of  separating  the  predous 
metals  from  lead  by  "  cupellation."     When,  in  conducting  this 
operation,  lead  is  heated  in  the  presence  of  air,  it  becomes  con- 
verted into  a  very  fluid  dross.     Boyle  had,  in  166 1,  taken  this 
operation  as  the  very  first  illustration  in  his"  Sceptical  Chemist" 
in  proof  of  his  argument  as  to  the  elemental  nature  of  metals. 
He  would  remember  the  quantitative  work   of  Gcbcr  in  the 
eighth  centur}%  who  stated  that  the  lead  so  heated  in  air  ac- 
quired a  "  new  weight,"  and  he  would  appreciate  the  constant 
reference  to  the  operation  of  cupellation  from  the  close  of  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,    when  the  prophet  Jeremiah  wrote,  to  the 
work  of  Jean  Rey  in  1629,  whose  conclusions  he  would  wish  he 
had  examined  more  closely.     Lord  Brouncker,  as  first  Pre>ideni 
of  the  Royal  Society,  had  called  attention  to  the  increase  in 
weight  of  the  lead  in  the  "  coppels"  in  the  Assay  Office  in  the 
Mint  in  the  Tower,  and  Ma)o  had  shown  that  the  increase  in 
weight  comes  from  a  distinct  '  *  spiritus  "  in  the  air.     Boyle  woold 
incidentally  see  that  Newton  had  accepted  office  in  the  Mint, 
where  he  doubtless  continued  his  experiments  on  caldnatMn, 
begun  some  time  before,  and,  as  if  to  mark  his  interest  id  the 
operation  of  asfcying,  figures  are  represented  on  a  bas-relief  on 
his  tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey  as  conducting  cupellation  in  a 
muflle.  1  he  old  work  merges  wonderfully  into  the  new.  Chevreai. 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  confirms  Otto  Tachens's  view  in  the 
seventeenth,  as  to  the  saponifying  action  of  litharge.    DcTille 
employs  molten  litharge  to  absorb  oxygen  dissociated  from  its 
compounds,  and  Graham,  by  extracting  occluded  gases  from  iion 
and  other  metals,  proves  the  accuracy  of  the  old  belief  that  elastic 
fluids  can  freely  permeate  even  solid  metals. 

We  may  imagine  with  what  vivid  interest  Boyle  would 
turn,  not  merely  to  the  results  of  Pries^tley's  work,  but  to  his 
methods.  Priestley  had  decomposed  litharge  with  the  electric 
fpark,  and  had  satisfied  himself  in  1774  by  healing  red  lead 
that  the  gas  he  obtained  in  his  earlier  experiments  was  reallyibc 
one  now  called  oxygen. 

Boyle  would  see,  that  in  the  period  1774-77  Lavoisier,  bcmg  at- 
tracted by  the  "sceptical  chemist's"  own  experiment  on  the  heat- 
ing of  lead  in  closed  vessels,  overthrew  the  phlogistic  theory,  and 
placed  chemistry  on  a  firm  basis  by  showing  that  the  increase  m 
weight  of  lead  and  tin,  when  heated  in  air,  represents  exactly 
the  weight  of  the  gaseous  body  added  ;  and,  finally,  Daltofl 
having  developed  the  atomic  theory  and  applied  it  to  chemisliy, 
Berzelius  made  lead  memorable  by  selecting  it  for  the  first  deter- 
mination of  an  atomic  weight. 

Without  diverting  his  attention  from  the  phenomena  of  oxida- 
tion, Boyle  would  find  questions  the  interest  of  which  is  only 
equalled  by  their  present  obscurity.  He  would  contemplate  the 
most  interesting  phase  of  the  history  of  chemical  science,  de- 
scribed by  Van  't  Hoff  as  that  of  its  evolution  from  the  descripiw 
to  the  rational  period,  in  the  eariy  days  of  which  the  impossi- 
bility of  separating  physics  and  chemistry  became  evident,  and 
Boyle  would  find  that  chemistry  is  now  r^arded  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  mechanics  of  the  atoms. 

Deville's  experiments  on  dissociation  have  rendered  it  possible 
to  extend  to  the  groups  of  atoms  in  chemical  systems  the  1a« 
which  govern  the  fusion  and  vaporization  of  masses  of  matter, 
and  this  has  produced  a  revolution  comparable  in  its  importance 
to  that  which  followed  the  discovery  of  the  law  of  definite  pro- 
portions, for  dissociation  has  shown  us  that  true  cau-esofchtfn- 
cal  change  are  variations  of  pressure  and  of  temperature,  for 
instance,  oxygen  may  be  prepared  on  an  industrial  scale  froo 
air  by  the  intervention  of  oxide  of  barium  heated  to  a  constant 
temperature  of  700*',  provided  air  be  admitted  to  the  healjd 
oxide  of  barium,  under  a  pressure  of  l^  atmospheres,  while  i» 
oxygen,  thus  absorbed,  is  evolved  if  the  containing  vessel  K 
rendered  partially  vacuous.     It  will  be  evident,  therefore,  iW 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


401 


at  a  certain  critical  temperatare  and  pressure  the  slightest  varia- 
tion of  either  will  destroy  the  equilibrium  of  the  system  and 
indace  chemical  change. 

The  aim  of  Boyle's  chemical  writings  was  to  show  that  no 
barrier  exists  between  physics  and  chemistry,  and  to  ''serve  the 
commonwealth  of  learning  by  begetting  a  gnod  understanding 
betwixt  the  chemists  and  the  mechanical  philosophers/'  who 
bad,  as  he  said,  "been  too  great  strangers  to  each  other's  dis- 
coveries." In  view  of  the  dominant  lines  of  research  which 
occupy  chemists  at  the  present  time,  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
investigations  of  ''osmotic  pressure"  and  of  the  application  of 
Boyle's  own  law  to  salts  in  solution,  he  would  feel  that  his  hope 
had  been  realized,  and  that,  though  he  lived  a  century  too  soon 
to  take  part  in  Berthollet's  discussion  with  Proust,  he  never- 
theless shares  Berthollet's  triumph  in  the  long- delayed  but 
now  rapid  development  of  chemistry  as  a  branch  of  applied 
mechanics. 

We  need,  however,  no  longer  look  at  these  questions  from 
the  point  of  view  of  Boyle,  for  our  own  interest  in  the  application 
of  chemical  mechanics  to  metallurgy  is  sufficiently  vivid,  as 
instances  to  be  given  subsequently  will  show. 

Hitherto  I  have  mainly  dwelt  on  questions  relating  to  oxida- 
tion, but  not  less  interesting  is  the  history  of  the  steps  by  which 
an  accurate  knowledge  was  acquired  of  the  other  great  process 
practised  by  the  metallurgist,  the  one  to  which  Paracelsus  was 
the  first  to  apply  the  name  of  "reduction.''  Its  explanation 
followed  naturally  from  the  elucidation  of  the  phenomena  of 
combustion  by  Lavoisier,  who  in  continuation  of  Macquer's 
experiments  of  1771  proved,  in  conjunction  with  other  woricers, 
that  carbonic  anhydride  is  produced  when  the  diamond  is  burnt 
in  air  or  oxygen.  Carbon  has  been  known  for  ages  as  the  most 
important  of  the  reducing  agents,  but  when,  in  1772,  Lavoisier 
heated  oxide  of  lead,  and  carbon  together,  he  did  not  at  first 
recognize  that  carbonic  anhydride  had  been  produced,  simply 
because  the  volume  of  the  gas  set  free  was  the  same  as  if  oxygen 
merely  had  been  liberated.  He  soon,  however,  saw  that  neither 
the  carbon  alone,  nor  the  oxide  of  lead  alone,  gave  rise  to 
the  evolution  of  carbonic  anhydride,  which  resulted  from  the 
mutual  action  of  carbon  and  a  constituent  of  the  litharge.  "  This 
last  observatioik  leads  us  insensibly,"  he  adds,  "  to  very  import- 
ant reflections  on  the  use  of  carbon  in  the  reduction  of  metals." 
It  most  certainly  did,  and  by  1815  an  accurate,  if  incomplete, 
view  of  reduction  had  passed  into  the  encyclopaedias.  It  was  seen 
that  the  removal  of  oxygen  from  burnt  metals,  by  carbon,  "  gives 
the  metals,"  as  Fourcroy  and  Vauquelin  put  it,  "a  new  exist- 
ence." Some  ten  years  later  Le  Play  attempted  to  show  that 
redaction  is  always  effected  by  the  intervention  of  carbonic 
oxide,  which  elicited  the  classical  rejoinder  from  Gay-Lussac, 
who  pointed  out  that  "  carbon  alone,  and  at  very  moderate 
temperatures,  will  reduce  certain  metallic  oxides  without  the 
intervention  of  carbonic  oxide  or  of  any  other  elastic  fluid." 
I  mention  these  facts  because  metallurgists  are  slow  to  recognize 
their  indebtedness  to  investigators,  and  too  often  ignore  the 
extreme  pains  with  which  an  accurate  knowledge  has  been 
acquired  of  the  principles  upon  which  their  processes  have  been 
3ased. 

The  importance  of  a  coherent  explanation  of  reduction  in 
imelting  pig-iron  is  enormous.  The  largest  blast-furnaces  in 
fSl5  hardly  exceeded  those  in  use  in  the  previous  century,  and 
rere  at  most  only  40  feet  high,  with  a  capacity  of  5000  cubic 
eet.  At  the  present  day  their  gigantic  successors  are  sometimes 
o  feet  high,  with  a  capacity  of  25,000  cubic  feet.  This  develop- 
nent  of  the  blast-furnace  is  due  to  the  researches  of  a  number 
•f  investigators,  among  whom  von  Tunner,  Lowthian  Bell,  and 
rriincr  deserve  special  mention.  We  are,  however,  forcibly 
eminded  of  the  present  incompleteness  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
lechanism  of  reduction,  when  we  remember  that  the  experiments 
f  H.  P.  Baker  have  led  us  to  believe  that  pure  carbon  cannot 
e  burnt  in  perfectly  dry  and  pure  oxygen,  and  therefore  that 
>e  reducing  agent,  carbonic  oxide,  cannot  be  produced  at  all 
nless  moisture  be  present. 

Ludwig  Mond,  Langer,  and  Quincke,  teach  us  not  only  that 
ickel  can  separate  carbon  from  carbonic  oxide,  but  the  wholly 
nexpected  fact  that  dry  carbonic  oxide  can  at  a  temperature  of 
so"*  take  up  nickel,  which  it  again  deposi.s  if  heated  to  150°. 
lond  and  Quincke,  and,  independently,  Berthelot,  have  since 
roved  the  existence  of  the  corresponding  compound  of  iron  and 
irbonic  oxide,  and  it  may  safely  be  concluded  that  in  the  blast- 
irnace  smelting  iron  this  peculiar  action  of  carbonic  oxide  plays 
Q  important  part,  and  it  doubtless  aids  the  carburization  of  iron 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


by  cementation.  It  is  truly  remarkable  that  the  past  year  should 
have  brought  us  so  great  an  increase  in  our  knowledge  of  what 
takes  place  in  the  reduction  of  an  oxide  of  iron,  and  in  the  car' 
burization  of  the  liberated  metal.  My  own  experiments  have,  I 
trust,  made  it  clear  that  iron  can,  at  an  elevated  temperature,  be 
carburized  by  the  diamond  in  vacuo ;  that  is,  in  the  absence  of 
anything  more  than  "a  trace  "  of  an  elastic  fluid  or  of  any  third 
element.  Osmond  has  further  shown  within  the  last  few  months 
that  the  action  between  iron  and  carbon  is  a  mutual  one,  for 
though  carbon  in  the  pure  diamond  form  carburizes  iron,  the 
metal  in  its  turn,  at  a  temperature  of  1050%  attacks  the  diamond, 
invests  it  with  a  black  layer,  and  truly  unites  with  it. 

The  question  of  the  direct  carburization  of  iron  (Darby's 
process)  by  filtering  the  molten  mefal  through  carbon,  promises 
to  be  of  much  importance,  for  at  present,  as  is  well  known,  two 
millions  of  tons  of  steel  which  are  made  in  the  Bessemer  con- 
verter in  this  country  alone,  are  re-carbarized  after  "  the  blow" 
by  the  addition  of  spiegelei^en. 

Carbonic  oxide,  moreover,  would  appear  to  be  more  chemically 
active  than  had  been  supposed ;  for  during  the  present  year 
Berthelot  has  shown  that  the  perfectly  pure  gas  heated  to  500*^ 
or  550°  produces  carbonic  anhydride  with  the  deposition  of 
carbon  at  red  heat,  not  by  ordinary  dissociation,  but  by  decom- 
position preceded  by  polymerization.  He  further  shows  that 
carbonic  oxide  will  decompose  ammoniacal  nitrate  of  silver,  and 
thus  brings  it  into  close  connection  with  the  aldehydes. 

(2)  In  turning  to  the  modern  aspects  of  metallurgical  practice, 
we  shall  see  that  the  whole  range  of  the  metallurgist's  field  of 
study  is  changing.  It  is  no  longer  possible  for  him  to  devise  a 
series  of  operations  on  the  evidence  afforded  by  a  set  of  equations 
which  indicate  the  completion  of  an  operation  ;  he  has,  as  I 
have  already  suggested,  to  consider  the  complicated  problems 
which  have  been  introduced  into  chemistry  from  the  sciences  of 
physics  and  mechanics.  He  has,  in  fact,  no  longer  to  deal 
merely  with  atoms  and  molecules,  but  with  the  influence  of  mass. 
As  Ostwald  points  out,  we  are  reminded  that  many  chemical 
processes  are  reciprocating  so  that  the  original  products  may  be 
obtained  from  the  product  of  the  reaction.  The  result  of  such 
opposed  processes  is  a  state  of  chemical  equilibrium,  in 
which  both  the  original  and  the  newly-formed  substances  are 
present  in  definite  quantities  that  remain  the  same  so  long  as  the 
conditions,  more  especially  temperature  and  pressure,  do  not 
undergo  further  change.  Again,  in  very  many  metallurgical 
processes,  reactions  are  rendered  incomple'e  by  the  limitations 
imposed  by  the  presence  of  bodies  which  cannot  be  speedily 
eliminated  from  the  system,  and  the  result  may  be  to  greatly 
retard  the  completion  of  an  operation.  The  time  has  come  when 
the  principles  of  dynamic  chemistry  must  be  applied  to  the  study  of 
metallurgical  problems  if  they  are  to  be  correctly  understood,  and 
it  is,  moreover,  necessary  to  remember  the  part  played  by  the 
surface  separating  the  different  aggregates  in  contact  with  one 
another.  When,  for  instance,  a  reaction  has  to  take  place  accom- 
panied by  the  evolution  of  gas,  there  must  be  space  into  which 
the  gas  can  pass.  The  rate,  therefore,  at  which  change  takes 
place  will  obviously  depend  on  the  state  of  division  of  the  mass. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  points  in  the  whole  range  of 
chemistry  is  the  action  engendered  between  two  elements  capable 
of  reacting  by  the  presence  of  a  third  body.  It  may  be,  and 
this  is  the  most  wonderful  fact  of  all,  that  merely  a  trace  of  a 
third  body  is  necessary  to  induce  reaction,  or  to  profoundly 
modify  the  structure  of  a  metal.  H.  Le  Chatelier  and  Mouret 
have  pointed  out  that  in  certain  cases  it  is  inaccurate  to  say  that 
the  third  body  causes  the  reaction  to  take  place,  because,  after 
it  has  destroyed  the  inter-molecular  resistances  which  prevented 
the  reaction  taking  place,  the  third  body  ceases  to  intervene. 
This  is  apparently  the  case  when  platinum  sponge  effects  the 
union  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  or,  conversely,  when  very  hot 
platinum  spliis  up  water  vapour  into  its  constituent  gases. 
Future  investigation  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  show  whether  the 
platinum  does  not  exert  some  direct  action  in  both  cases.  We 
can  no  longer  neglect  the  study  of  such  questions  from  the  point 
of  view  of  their  practical  application.  The  manufacture  of  red 
lead  presents  a  case  in  point.  In  "  dressing"  molten  lead,  the 
oxidation  of  the  lead  is  greatly  promoted  by  the  presence  of  a 
trace  of  antimony ;  and  conversely,  in  the  separation  of  silver 
from  molten  lead,  by  the  aid  of  zinc,  H.  Roessler  and 
Endelmann  have  recently  shown  that  aluminium  has  a  remark- 
able effect  in  protecting  the  zinc  from  loss  by  oxidation,  and 
further,  the  presence  of  one -thousandth  part  of  aluminium   in 


402 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


the  zinc  is  sufficient  to  exert  this  protecting  action  on  that  metal. 
I  am  satisfied  that  if  our  metallurgists  are  to  advance  their 
industrial  practice,  they  must,  if  I  may  use  such  an  expression, 
persistently  think  in  calories,  and  not  merely  employ  the  ordinary 
atomic  "tools  of  thought."  They  will  then  be  able  to  state 
what  reactions  can,  under  given  conditions,  take  place  ;  to  indi- 
cate those  which  will  be  completed ;  and  to  avoid  those  that  are 
impracticable. 

In  France,  the  country  of  so  many  great  metallurgists,  men 
like  Le  Chatelier  and  Ditte  are  doing  admirable  service,  by 
bringing  the  results  of  the  labours  and  teaching  of  St.  Claire 
Deville  within  the  range  of  practical  men.  And  if  I  do  not 
refer  more  specifically  to  their  work  it  is  for  want  of  space  and 
not  of  appreciation,  but  a  few  simple  cases  of  reversible  actions 
will  perhaps  make  the  subject  clear.  In  the  blast-furnace  the 
main  reducing  agent,  carbonic  oxide,  is  produced  from  the  solid 
fuel  by  the  reaction  CO,  +  C  =  2CO,  a  reaction  which  is 
theoretically  impossible  because  it  is  endothermic,  and  would  be 
attended  by  absorption  of  heat.  But  heat  external  to  the  system 
intervenes,  and  acts  either  by  depolymerizing  the  carbon  into  a 
simpler  form  which  can  combine  with  oxygen  of  the  CO,  with 
evolution  of  heat,  or  by  dissociating  carbonic  anhydride  sets 
oxygen  free  which  combines  with  the  carbon.  Reduction  of 
oxide  of  iron  in  the  blast-furnace  is  mainly  effected  by  carbonic 
oxide  according  to  the  well-known  reaction 

F^sOa  +  3CO  =  2Fe  -I-  3CO,. 

But  the  gas  issuing  from  a  blast-furnace  contains  car- 
bonic oxide,  an  important  source  of  heat.  The  view 
that  this  loss  of  carbonic  oxide  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  contact  of  the  ore  and  the  reducing  gas  was  not  sufficiently 
prolonged,  led  to  a  great  increase  in  the  height  of  blast-furnaces, 
but  without,  as  Griincr  showed,  diminishing  the  proportion 
of  carbonic  oxide  escaping  from  the  throat.  The  reduction  of 
an  iron  ore  by  carbonic  oxide  only  takes  place  within  certain 
well-defined  limits,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  chemical 
equilibrium  would  have  saved  thousands  and  thousands  of 
pounds  which  have  been  wasted  in  building  unduly  high  furnaces. 
I  would  add  that  large  sums  have  also  been  sacrihced  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  smelt  oxide  of  zinc  in  the  blast-furnace,  for  which 
operation  patents  have  frequently  been  sought,  in  ignorance  or 
defiance  of  the  readiness  with  which  the  inverse  action  occurs, 
Fo  that  the  reducing  action  of  carbon  on  oxide  of  zinc  may  be 
balanced  by  the  re-oxidation  of  the  reduced  zinc  by  carbonic 
anhydride,  which  is  the  product  of  the  reduction.  A  further  in- 
stance may  be  borrowed  from  an  electro-chemical  process  which 
has  been  adopted  for  obtaining  alloys  of  aluminium.  As  is  well 
known,  all  attempts  to  effect  the  direct  reduction  of  alumina  by 
carbon  have  failed,  because  the  reaction 

2{AljO,)-l-3C  =  4Al-f3CO, 

requires  783 '2  calories,  while  only  291  calories  would  result 
from  the  conversion  of  carbon  into  carbonic  anhydride,  there- 
foie  the  reaction  cannot  be  effected  ;  but  in  Cowles's  process 
aluminium  is  nevertheless  liberated  when  alumina  is  mixed  with 
charcoal  and  strongly  heated  by  the  passage  of  an  electric  cur- 
rent. This  result  is  due,  not  to  a  simple  reduction  of  alumina, 
but  to  its  dis^ociation  at  the  high  temperature  produced  by  the 
passage  of  a  current  of  1600  amperes  between  carbon  poles,  the 
liberated  aluminium  being  at  once  removed  from  the  system  by 
metallic  copper,  which  is  simultaneously  present  and  may  not  be 
w  iihout  action  itself. 

An  instance  of  the  importance  of  these  considerations  is  pre- 
sented in  the  manufacture  of  steel  by  the  basic  process.  Much 
care  is  devoted  to  obtaining  conditions  which  will  insure,  not 
only  the  elimination,  but  the  order  of  the  disappearance  of  the 
impurities  from  the  molten  pig-iron.  In  the  basic  process  as 
conducted  in  the  closed  converter,  the  phosphorus  does  not  dis- 
appear until  the  carbon  has  left  the  fluid  bath,  whilst,  when 
the  open-hearth  furnace  is  used,  the  elimination  of  the 
phosphorus  may  be  effected  befoie  that  of  the  carbon, 
and  it  is  asserted  that,  if  the  carbon  goes  before  the 
phosphorus  is  got  rid  of,  a  further  addition  of  carbon  is 
necessary.  A  curious  and  subtle  case  of  chemical  equilibrium 
is  here  presented.  In  the  open-hearth  furnace  and  Bessemer 
converter  respectively,  the  temperatures  and  pressures  are 
different,  and  the  conditions  as  to  the  presentation  of  oxygen 
to  the  fluid  bath  are  not  the  same.  The  result  is  that  the 
relative  rates  of  oxidation  of  the  phosphorus  and  carbon  are 
different  in  the  two  cases,  although  m  either  case,  with  a  given 

NO.    1 1  39,  VOL.  44] 


method  of  w 01  king,  there  must  be  a  ratio  between  the  plus- 
phorns  and  carbon  in  which  they  disappear  simultaoeoudy. 
The  industrial  bearing  of  the  question  is  very  remaikable.  In 
the  basic  Bessemer  process  the  tendency  of  the  phospb(»us  to 
linger  in  the  bath  renders  an  '*  after-blow"  necessary;  it  may  be 
only  of  a  few  seconds'  duration,  but  much  iron  is  neratfaeks 
burnt  and  wasted,  and  Mr.  Gilchrist  tells  me  that,  if  this  after- 
blow  could  be  avoided,  a  saving  of  some  6  per  cent,  of  the  yield 
of  steel  would  be  effected  annually,  the  value  of  which,  at  the 
present  rate  of  output  and  price  of  steel,  is  no  less  than  a  quaiur 
of  a  million  sterling. 

The  volatilization  of  sulphur  in  the  converter  while  it  is  re> 
tained  by  the  steel  in  the  open-hearth  furnace,  and  the  increase 
in  the  percentage  of  manganese  which  leaves  the  slag  and 
returns  to  the  bath  of  metal  in  the  converter  at  the  end  of  ihc 
''blow,*'  will  probably  be  traced  to  the  disturbance  of  eqaili- 
brium  which  attends  very  slight  variations  in  the  ooDditk>os» 
especially  as  regards  temperature  and  pressure,  under  which  the 
operations  are  conducted. 

In  the  blast-furnace  the  reducing  action  must  be  greatly  de- 
pendent on  the  rate  at  which  alkaline  cyanides  are  formed,  and 
Hempel  has  recently  shown,  by  the  aid  of  well-devised  experi- 
ments, that  the  quantity  of  cyanides  which  may  be  obtained  at 
a  high  temperature  from  carbon,  nitrogen,  and  alkaline  oxides 
increases  as  the  pressure  becomes  greater. 

Metallurgical  chemistry  is,  in  fact,  a  special  branch  of  chemical 
science  which  does  not  come  within  the  ordinary  sphere  of 
the  academic  teaching  of  chemistry.  It  is  often  urged  that 
metallurgical  practice  depends  upon  the  application  of  cbbmical 
principles  which  are  well  taught  in  every  large  centre  of  instruc- 
tion in  this  country,  but  a  long  series  of  chemical  reactions  exist 
which  are  of  vital  importance  to  the  metallurgist,  though  thcj 
are  not  set  forth  in  any  British  manual  of  chemistry,  nor  are 
dealt  with  in  courses  of  purely  chemical  lectures.  I  fciel  boimd 
to  insist  upon  this  point,  because,  as  Examiner  in  Metallurgy  for 
the  Science  and  An  Department,  I  find  that  purely  analytical 
and  laboratory  methods  are  so  often  given  in  the  belief  that  they 
are  applicable  to  processes  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  and  at 
high  temperatures. 

We  are  told  that  technical  instruction  should  be  kept  apart 
from  scientific  education,  which  consists  in  preparing  the  student 
to  apply  the  results  of  past  experience  in  dealing  with  entirely 
new  sets  of  conditions,  but  it  can  be  shown  that  there  is  a  whole 
hide  of  metallurgical  teaching  which  is  truly  educational,  and 
leads  students  to  acquire  the  habit  of  scientific  thought  as  surely 
as  the  investigation  of  any  other  branch  of  knowledge. 

It  is,  in  fact,  hardly  possible  in  a  course  of  theoretical 
chemistry  to  devote  much  attention  to  specific  cases  of  industrial 
practice  in  which  reactions  are  incon^plete,  because  they  are 
limited  by  the  presence  of  bodies  that  cannot  be  directly 
eliminated  from  the  chemical  system.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
long  series  of  reactions  studied  by  Plattner,  who  published  the 
results  of  his  investigations  in  his  celebrated  treatise,  "Die 
Metallurgische  Rbstprozesse,"  Freiberg,  1856,  whose  work  I 
have  chosen  as  a  starting-point  on  account  of  our  presence  m. 
South  Wales  near  the  great  copper-smelting  district  of  Swansea. 
A  complex  sulphide,  of  which  copper  is  the  main  metallic  con- 
stituent, contams  some  fifty  ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton.  The 
problem  may  be  supposed  for  the  present  to  be  limited  to  the 
extraction  of  the  precious  metal  from  the  noass  in  which  it  is 
hidden,  and  the  student  deriving  his  knowledge  from  an  ex- 
cellent modem  chemical  treatise  would  find  the  case  thus 
stated  : — 

"Ziervogel's  process  depends  upon  the  fact  that  when  nxjgenti- 
ferous  copper  pyrites  is  roa:>ted,  the  copper  and  iron  sulphides 
are  converted  into  insoluble  oxides,  whilst  the  silver  is  convened 
into  a  soluble  sulphate,  which  is  dissolved  out  by  lixivimdng  ihe 
roasted  ore  with  hot  water,  the  silver  being  readily  precipitated 
from  this  solution  in  the  metallic  state." 

It  is  certain  that  if  an  observant,  chemically- trained  sindcBC 
visited  a  silver  extraction  works,  and  possessed  sufficient  aaa* 
lytical  skill  to  enable  him  to  secure  evidence  as  to  the  Ganges 
that  occur,  he  would  find  a  set  of  facts  which  his  training  & 
not  enabled  him  to  predict,  and  he  would  establish  the  mriOffice 
of  a  set  of  reactions  to  the  nature  of  which  his  chemical  readir$ 
had  hardly  given  him  a  clue.  The  process  to  be  considered  ii 
a  simple  one,  but  it  is  typical,  and  applies  to  a  large  proponkfi 
of  the  7,000,000  ounces  of  silver  annually  obtained  in  the  world 
from  cupriferous  compounds.  He  would  be  confronted  with  s 
ton  or  more  of  finely- divided  material  spread  in  a  thin  *  ~ 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


403 


the  bed  of  a  reyerberatory  furnace.  Suppose  the  material  is 
what  is  known  as  a  complex  regulus,  as  imported  into  Swansea 
or  produced  at  Freibergi  to  which  are  added  rich  native  sul- 
phides. The  mixture  then  consists  of  sulphides  mainly  of  iron 
and  copper,  with  some  sulphide  of  lead,  and  contains  fifty  or 
sixty  ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton,  and  a  few  grains  of  gold.  It  may 
also  contain  small  quantities  of  arsenic  and  antimony  as  arsenides, 
antimonides,  and  sulpho-salts,  usually  uiih  copper  as  a  base. 

The  temperature  of  the  furnace  in  which  the  operation  is  to 
be  performed  is  gradually  raised,  the  atmosphere  being  an  oxi- 
dizing one.    The  first  effect  of  the  elevation  of  the  tempera- 
tare  is  to  distil  off  sulphur,  reducing  the  sulphides  to  a  lower 
stage  of  sulphurization.     This  sulphur  burns  in  the  furnace 
atmosphere  to  sulphurous  anhydride  (SOj)!  and,  coming  in  con- 
tact with  the  material   undergoing  oxidation,  is  converted  into 
salphnric   anhydride    (SO3).       It  should    be  noted    that  the 
material  of    the   brickwork   does    not    intervene    in    the    re- 
actions, except  by  its  presence  as  a  hot  porous  mass,  but  its 
influence  is,  nevertheless,  considerable.     The  roasting  of  these 
sniphides  presents  a  good  case  for  the  study  of  chemical  equili- 
briam.    As  soon  as  the  sulphurous  anhydride  reaches  a  certain 
tension,  the  oxidation  of  the  sulphide  is  arrested,  even  though 
an  excess  of  oxygen  be  present,  and  the  oxidation  is  not  resumed 
until  the  action  of  the  draught  changes  the  conditions  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  furnace,  when  the  lower  sulphides  remaining 
are  slowly  oxidized,  the  copper  sulphide  being  converted  into 
copper  sulphate   mainly  by  the  intervention  of  the  sulphuric 
annydride  formed  as  indicated.     Probably  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  iron  sulphide  only  becomes  sulphate  for  a  very  brief 
period,  being  decomposed  into  the  oxides  of  iron,  mainly  ferric 
oxide,  the  sulphur  passing  off.      Any  silver  sulphide   that  is 
present  would  have  been  converted  into  metallic  silver  at  the 
ootset  were  it  not  for  the  simultaneous  presence  of  other  sul- 
phides, notably  those  of  copper  and  of  iron,  which  enables  the 
silver  sulphide  to  become  converted  into  sulphate.     The  lead 
sulphide  is  also  converted  into  sulphate  at  this  low  temperature. 
The  heat  is  now  raised  still  further  with  a  view  to  split  up  the 
sulphate  of  copper,  the  decomposition  of  which  leaves  oxide  of 
copper.    If,  as  in  this  case,  the  bases  are  weak,  the  sulphuric 
anhydride  escapes  mainly  as  such  ;  but  when  the  sulphates  of 
stronger  bases  ure  decomposed,  the  sulphuric  anhydride  is  to  a 
great  extent  decomposed  into  a  mixture  of  sulphurous  anhydride 
and  oxygen.     The  sulphuric  anhydride,  resulting  from  the  de- 
composition of  this  copper  sulphate,  converts  the  silver  into 
snlphate,  and  maintains  it  as  such,  just  as,  in  turn,  at  a  lower 
temperature,  the  copper  itself  had  been  maintained  in  the  form 
of  sulphate  by  the  sulphuric  anhydride  eliminated  from  the  iron 
sulphide.     'N^  hen  only  a  little  of  the  copper  sulphate  remains 
sndecomposed,  the  silver  sulphate  begins  to  split  up,  and  the 
furnace  charge  must  therefore  be  immediately  withdrawn,  or  the 
whole  of  the  silver  sulphate  would  be  converted  into  metallic 
silver,  partly  by  the  direct  action  of  heat  alone  and  partly  by 
reactions  such  as  those  shown  in  the  following  equations  : — 

AgsS04  +  4Fex04  =  2Ag  +  6Fe203  +  SOg, 
Ag,S04  +    Cu,0    =  2Ag  +  CuSO^  +  CuO. 

If  the  charge  were  not  withdrawn,  the  silver  would  thus  be 
eflectually  removed  from  the  solvent  action  of  water,  and  the 
wielier's  efforts  would  have  failed  entirely.  The  charge  still  l 
contains  lead  sulphate,  which  cannot  be  completely  decomposed 
it  any  temperature  attainable  in  the  roasting  furnace,  except  in 
^he  presence  of  silica,  and  it  is  well  to  leave  it  where  it  is  if  the 
widue  has  subsequently  to  be  smelted  with  a  view  to  the 
extraction  of  the  gold.  The  elimination  of  arsenic  and  antimony 
p'ves  rise  to  problems  of  much  interest,  and  again  confronts  the 
melter  with  a  case  of  chemical  equilibrium.  For  the  sake  of 
)revity  it  will  be  well  for  the  present  to  limit  the  consideration 

0  the  removal  of  antimony,  which  may  be  supposed  to  be  pre- 
ent  as  sulphide.  Some  sulphide  of  antimony  is  distilled  off, 
Qt  this  is  not  its  only  mode  of  escape.  An  attempt  to  remove 
ntimony  by  rapid  oxidation  would  be  attended  with  the  danger 
f  converting  it  into  insoluble  antimoniates  of  the  metals  present 

1  the  charge.  In  the  early  stages  of  the  roasting  it  is  therefore 
ecessary  to  employ  a  very  low  temperature,  and  the  presence 
r  steam  is  found  to  be  useful  as  a  source  of  hydrogen,  which 
amoves  sulphur  as  hydrogen  sulphide,  the  gas  being  freely 
rolved.    The  reaction 

ShjSj  -I-  3Hj  =  sHjS  +  2Sb 

stween  hydrogen  and  sulphide  of  antimony  is,  however,  endo- 
lermic,  and  could  not,  therefore,  take  place  without  the  aid 

NO.    I  I  39,  VOL.  44] 


which  is  afforded  by  external  heat.  The  facts  appear  to  be  as 
follows  :  sulphide  of  antimony,  when  heated,  dissociates,  and 
the  tension  of  the  sulphur  vapour  would  produce  a  state  of 
equilibrium  if  the  sulphur  thus  liberated  were  not  seized  by  the 
hydrogen  and  removed  from  the  system.  The  equilibrium  is 
thus  destroyed,  and  fresh  sulphide  is  dissociated  ;  the  general 
result  being  that  the  equilibrium  of  the  system  is  continually 
restored  and  destroyed  until  the  sulphide  is  decomposed.  The 
antimony  combines  with  oxygen,  and  escapes  as  volatile  oxide, 
as  does  also  the  arsenic,  a  portion  of  which  is  volatilized  as 
sulphide. 

The  main  object  of  the  process  which  has  been  con«idered  is 
the  formation  of  soluble  sulphate  of  silver.  If  arsenic  and  anti- 
mony have  not  been  eliminated,  their  presence  at  the  end  of  the 
operation  would  be  specially  inconvenient,  as  they  give  rise  to 
the  formation  of  arseniate  and  antimoniate  of  silver,  insoluble 
in  water,  which  may  necessitate  the  treatment  of  the  residues 
by  an  entirely  different  process  from  that  which  has  hitherto 
been  considered. 

It  will  have  been  evident  that  effecting  this  series  of  changes 
demands  the  exercise  of  the  utmost  skill,  care,  and  patience. 
The  operations  beginning  at  a  dull  red  heat,  or  a  temperature  of 
some  500°,  are  completed  at  700%  within  a  range,  that  is,  of  200^ 
Judicious  stirring  has  been  necessary  to  prevent  the  formation 
of  crusts  of  sulphates,  which  would  impede  the  reactions,  and, 
as  has  been  shown,  an  undue  elevation  of  temperature  within  a 
very  limited  range  would,  at  any  stage,  have  been  fatal  to  the 
success  of  the  operation.     It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  too  highly 
the  delicacy  of  sight  and  touch  which  enables  an  operator  to 
judge  by  the  aid  of  rough  tests,  but  mainly  from  the  tint  of  the 
streak  revealed  when  the  mass  is  rabbled,  whether  any  particu- 
lar stage  has  or  has  not  been  reached,  and  it  will  be  obvious 
that  the  requisite  skill  is  acquired  solely  by  observation  and  ex- 
periment.    The  technical  instructor  may  impart  information  as 
to  the  routine  to  be  followed,  and  the  appearances  to  be  ob- 
served, but  scientific  knowledge  of  a  high  order  can  alone  enable 
the  operator  to  contend  with  the  disturbing  influences  introduced 
by  the  presence  of  unexpected  elements  or  by  untoward  varia- 
tions in  temperature.     In  the  training  of  a  metallurgist  it  is  im- 
possible to  separate  education  from  instruction,  and  the  above 
description  of  a  very  ordinary  operation  will  show  the  intimate 
relations  between  science  and  practice  which  are  characteristic 
of  metallurgical  operations.     Practice  is  dependent  on  science 
for  its  advancemement,  but  scientific  workers  too  often  hesitate 
to  attack  metallurgical  problems,  and  to  devote  the  resources  of 
modern  investigation  to  their  solution,  because  they  are  not 
aware  of  the  great  interest  of  the  physical  and  chemical  prob- 
lems which  are  connected  with  many  very  simple  metallurgical 
processes,   especially  with   those   that  are  conducted  at  high 
temperatures. 

Proceeding  yet  one  step  further,  suppose  that  the  copper- 
smelter  takes  possession  of  the  residual  mass,  consisting  mainly 
of  oxide  of  copper,  he  would  smelt  it  with  fresh  sulphide  ores, 
and  obtain,  as  a  slag  from  the  earthy  matters  of  the  ore,  a 
ferrous  silicate  containing  some  small  proportion  of  copper.  The 
displacement  of  the  copper  from  this  silicate  may  be  effected  by 
fusing  ii  with  sulphide  of  iron,  a  fusible  sulphide  of  iron  and 
copper  being  formed,  which  readily  separates  from  the  slag. 
13y  this  reaction  some   twenty  thousand  tons  of  copper  are 
added  to  the  world's  annual  production.      Proceeding   yet   a 
step  further,  suppose  the  smelter  to  have  reduced  his  copper  to 
the  metallic  state.     If  arsenic  had  been  originally  present  in  the 
ore,  and  had  not  been  eliminated  entirely  in  the  roasting,  extra- 
ordinary difficulties  will  be  met  with  in  the  later  stages  of  the 
process,  in  extracting  small  quantities  of  arsenic  which  resist  the 
smelter's  efforts.      Copper,  moreover,  containing  arsenic  cannjt 
be  ''overpoled,"  as  the  presence  of  arsenic  hinders  the  reducing 
action  of  gases  on  the  copper.     The  amount  of  arsenic  which 
the  copper-smelter  has  to  remove  may  vary  from  mere  traces  up 
to  I  per  cent. ,  and  if  the  copper  is  destined  for  the  use  of  the 
electrical  engineer,  he  will  insist  on  its  being  as  pure  as  pos- 
sible, for  the  presence  of  a  trace  of  arsenic  would  materially 
increase  the  electrical  resistance  of  the  copper,  and  would  be 
fatal  to  its  use  in  submarine  telegraphy.     If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  copper  is  intended  for  the  maker  of  locomotive  fire-boxes, 
he  will  encourage  the  retention  of  small  quantities  of  arsenic,  as 
it  is  found  to  actually  increase  the  endurance  of  the  copper,  and 
the  smelter  will  in  such  a  case  have  no  inducement  to  employ 
the  basic  furnace  lining  which  Mr.  Gilchrist  has  offered  him,  nor 
will  he  care  to  use  the  special  methods  for  the  removal  of  arsenic 


404 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


with  which  he  is  familiar.  It  may  all  seem  simple  enough,  but 
the  modem  process  of  copper-smehing  has  been  laboriously 
built  up,  and  has  a  long  and  interesting  pedigree  which  may  be 
traced  to  at  least  the  eighth  century,  when  Geber  described  the 
regulus,  **  coarse  metal,"  as  being  **  black  mixed  with  livid,"  and 
our  familiar  "blue  metal"  as  being  "of  a  most  clean  and  plea- 
sant violet  colour,"  and  indicated  the  reason  for  the  difference.* 

(3)  The  foregoing  instances  have  been  given  to  indicate  the 
general  nature  of  metallurgical  chemistry.  It  will  be  well  now 
to  show  how  the  great  advances  in  metallurgical  practice  have 
been  made  in  the  past,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  what  principles 
should  guide  us  in  the  future. 

It  is  a  grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  in  industry,  any  more 
than  in  art,  national  advance  takes  place  always  under  the 
guidance  of  a  msister  possessed  of  some  new  gift  of  invention  ; 
yet  we  have  been  reminded  that  we  are  apt  to  be  reverent  to 
these  alone,  as  if  the  nation  had  been  unprc^ressive  and  sud- 
denly awakened  by  the  genius  of  one  man.  The  way  for  any 
great  technical  advance  is  prepared  by  the  patient  acquisition  of 
facts  by  investigators  of  pure  science.  Whether  the  investi- 
gators are  few  or  many,  and  consequently  whether  progress  is 
slow  or  rapid,  will  depend  in  no  small  measure  on  the  spirit  of 
the  nation  as  a  whole.  A  genius  whose  practical  order  of  mind 
enables  him  to  make  some  great  invention  suddenly  arises, 
apparently  by  chance,  but  his  coming  will,  in  most  cases,  be 
found  to  have  "followed  hard  upon"  the  discovery  by  some 
scientific  worker  of  an  important  fact,  or  even  the  accurate 
determination  of  a  set  of  physical  constants.  No  elaborate 
monograph  need  have  reached  the  practical  man — a  newspaper 
paragraph,  or  a  lecture  at  a  Mechanics'  Institute  may  have  been 
sufficient  to  give  him  the  necessary  impulse  ;  but  the  possessors 
of  minds  which  are  essentially  practical  often  forget  how  valu- 
able to  them  have  been  the  fragments  of  knowledge  they  have 
so  insensibly  acquired  that  they  are  almost  unconscious  of 
having  received  any  external  aid. 

The  investigating  and  the  industrial  faculty  are  sometimes, 
though  rarely,  united  in  one  individual.  Rapid  advance  is 
often  made  by  those  who  are  untrammelled  by  a  burden  of 
precedent,  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  though  the  few 
successes,  which  have  been  attained  in  the  course  of  ignorant 
practice,  may  come  into  prominence,  none  of  the  countless 
failures  are  seen. 

I  would  briefly  direct  attention  to  certain  processes  which  have 
been  adopted  since  the  year  1849,  when  Dr.  Percy  presided  over 
this  Section  at  Birmingham,  a  great  metallurgical  centre.  In 
that  year  the  President  of  the  Association  made  a  reference  to 
metallurgy,  a  very  brief  one,  for  Dr.  Robinson  only  said  "the 
manufacture  of  iron  has  been  augmented  six-fold  by  the  use  of 
the  puddling-furnace  and  the  hot-blast,  both  gifts  of  theory"; 
and  so,  it  may  be  added,  are  most  of  the  important  processes 
which  have  since  been  devised.  Take  the  greatest  metallurgical 
advance  of  all,  the  Bessemer  process,  which  has  probably  done 
more  than  any  other  to  promote  the  material  advance  of  all 
countries.  It  was  first  communicated  to  the  world  at  the 
Cheltenham  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  1856.  Its 
nature  is  well  known,  and  I  need  only  say  that  it  depends  on 
the  fact  that  when  air  is  blown  through  a  bath  of  impure  molten 
iron,  sufficient  heat  is  evolved  by  the  rapid  combustion  of 
silicon,  manganese,  and  carbon,  to  maintain  the  bath  fluid  after 
these  elements  have  been  eliminated,  there  being  no  external 
source  of  heat,  as  there  is  in  the  puddling  furnace  or  the  refinery 
hearth.  We  have  recently  been  told  that,  at  an  early  and 
perilous  stage  of  the  Bessemer  process,  confidence  in  the  experi- 
ments was  restored  by  the  observation  that  the  temperature  of 
the  "  blown "  metal  contained  in  a  cnicible  was  higher  than 
that  of  the  furnace  in  which  it  was  placed.  The  historian  of  the 
future  will  not   fail  to  record  that  the  way  for  the  Bessemer 

'  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  when  commercially  pure  copper  lies  on  the 
furnace  bed,  ready  to  be  transferred  to  ipoulds,  that  its  turbulent  career  of 
reactions  is  over.  It  might  be  thought  that  the  few  icnth<;  per  cent,  of  im> 
I)urity,  dissolved  oxide,  and  occluded  gas,  are  so  far  attenuated  by  distribu- 
tion that  their  interactions  must  be  insignificant.  This  is  far  from  being  the 
case.  I  believe  the  bath  of  metal  is  seething  from  its  reactions  until  the 
copper  i«  solid,  and  then  polymerizati  »n  proceeds.  There  may  not  be  a 
sharply-defined,  critical  range  of  temperature  within  which  the  metal  can 
alone  be  successfully  worked,  and  which  varies,  as  regards  its  starting-point, 
with  the  kind  of  impurity  present,  as  is  the  ca.«e  w.th  steel ;  but  evidence  of 
molecular  change  in  the  solid  metal  i'«  afforded  bv  the  pyrometric  curves  of 
cooling  referred  to  on  p.  405,  and  by  the  s'ngular  behaviour  as  regards  elec- 
trical resistance,  of  various  sa'nples  of  copper,  in  which  chemical  analysis 
hardly  reveals  a  difference. 

NO.    1139,  VOL.  44] 


process  had  been  prepared  by  the  theoretical  work  of  Andrewi, 
1848,  and  of  Favre  and  Silbermann,  1852,  whose  work  od  the 
calorific  power  of  various  elements  showed  that  silicon  and  phos- 
phorus might  be  utilized  as  fuel,  because  great  heat  bengendeird 
by  their  combustion. 

The  basic  process  for  removing  phosphorus,  a  process  of  great 
national  importance,  the  development  of  which  we  owe  to 
Thomas  and  Gilchrist,  is  entirely  the  outcome  of  purely  theo- 
retical teaching,  in  connection  with  which  the  names  of  Griioer 
and  Percy  deserve  special  mention.  In  the  other  great  grocp 
of  processes  for  the  production  of  steel,  those  in  which  Siemens's 
regenerative  furnace  is  employed,  we  have  the  direct  infloeDce 
of  a  highly  trained  theorist,  who  concluded  his  address  as  Pre- 
sident of  this  Association  in  1882  by  reminding  us  that  "  io  the 
great  workshop  of  Nature  there  is  no  line  of  demarcation  to  be 
drawn  between  the  mo>t  exalted  speculation  and  commoD|^ace 
practice."  The  recent  introduction  of  the  method  of  heaiirtg  by 
radiation  is,  of  course,  the  result  of  purely  theoretical  coo- 
siderations. 

The  progress  in  the  methods  of  extracting  the  precious  metals 
has  been  very  great,  both  on  the  chemical  and  engiieeriDg  sides, 
but  it  is  curious  that  in  the  metallurgy  of  gold  and  silver,  many 
ancient  processes  survived  which  were  arrived  at  empirically— 
a  noteworthy  exception  being  presented  by  the  chlorine  process 
for  refining  gold,  by  the  aid  of  which  many  millions  sterling  of 
gold  have  b^n  purified.  The  late  Mr.  H.  B.  Miller  based  this 
process  for  separating  silver  from  gold  on  the  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  chloride  of  gold  cannot  exist  at  a  bright  red  heat.  The 
tension  of  dissociation  of  chloride  of  gold  is  high,  but  the  predous 
metal  is  not  carried  forward  by  the  gaseous  stream,  at  least  cot 
while  chloride  of  silver  is  being  formed. 

The  influence  of  scientific  investigation  is,  however,  more 
evident  in  that  portion  of  the  metallurgic  art  wh.ch  deals  with 
the  adaptation  of  metals  for  use,  rather  than  wih  their  actual 
extraction  from  the  ores. 

Only  sixteen  years  ago  Sir  Nathaniel  Barnaby,  then  Director 
of  Naval  Construction,  wrote,  "  Our  distrust  of  it  eel  is  so  great 
that  the  material  may  be  said  to  be  altogether  unxsed  by  private 
ship-builders,  .  and  marine  engineers  appear  to  be  equally 

afraid  of  it."  He  adds,  "  The  question  we  hav;  to  put  to  the 
steel  makers  is,  What  are  our  prospects  of  obtaning  a  material 
which  we  can  use  without  such  delicate  manipulation  and  so 
much  fear  and  trembling?"  All  this  is  changed,  for,  as  Mr. 
Elgar  informs  me,  in  the  year  ending  on  June  }o  last,  no  less 
than  401  fhips,  of  three* quarters  of  a  million  gross  tonnage, 
were  being  built  of  steel  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  steel  has  become  the  material  on  which 
we  rely  for  our  ships  and  for  our  national  defence,  and  of  which 
such  a  splendid  structure  as  the  Forth  Bridge  is  constructed? 
It  is  because,  side  by  side  with  great  improvement  in  the  quality 
of  certain  varieties  of  steel,  which  is  the  result  of  using  the  opeo- 
hearth  process,  elaborate  researches  have  shown  uixat  is  ibe 
most  suitable  mechanical  and  thermal  treatment  for  the  meial ; 
but  the  adaptation  of  steel  for  industrial  use  is  only  typical,  as 
the  interest  in  this  branch  of  metallurgy  generally  a]>pears  for 
the  moment  to  be  centred  in  the  question  whether  metals  caa, 
like  many  meulloids,  pass  under  the  application  of  heat  or 
mechanical  stress  from  a  normal  state  to  an  allotropic  one,  or 
whether  metals  may  even  exist  in  numerous  isomeric  states. 

It  is  impossible  to  deal  historically  with  the  subject  now,  funber 
than  by  stating  that  the  belief  of  more  than  one  "  modificaiioc" 
is  old  and  widespread,  and  was  expressed  by  Paracelsus,  wbc 
thought  that  copper  "contains  in  itself  its  female/'  which cooid 
be  isolated  so  as  to  give  '*  two  metals  "  .  .  .  "  different  in  ibeir 
fusion  and  malleability  "  as  steel  and  iron  differ.  Within  ihs 
last  few  years  Schiitzenberger  has  shown  that  two  modificatioas 
of  CO)  per  can  exist,  the  normal  one  having  a  density  of  8  95> 
while  that  of  the  allotropic  modification  is  only  80,  and  i> 
moreover  rapidly  attacked  by  dilute  nitric  add,  which  is  witboot 
action  on  ordinary  copper.  It  may  be  added  that  Lord  Kay> 
Icigh's  plea  for  the  investigation  of  the  simpler  chemical  reactions 
has  been  partly  met,  in  the  case  of  copper,  by  the  experinieo) 
conducted  hy  V.  H.  Veley  on  the  conditions  of  chemical  change 
between  nitric  acid  and  certain  metals. 

Bergmann,  1781,  actually  calls  iron  polymorphons^  and  says 
that  it  plays  the  part  of  many  metals,  "  Adeo  ut  jure  dici  q^eii 
pol)  morphum  ferrum  plurium  simul  metallorum  vices  susfxoere. ' 
Osmond  has  recently  demonstrated  the  fact  that  at  lea:t  t*J 
modifications  of  iron  must  exist. 

Prof.   Spring,   of  Liege,  has  given  evidence  that  in  cooting 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


405 


lead- tin  alloys  polymerization  may  take  place  after  the  alloys 
bave  become  solid,  and  it  seems  to  be  admitted  that  the  same 
cause  underlies  both  polymerization  and  allotropy.  The  pheno- 
menon of  allotropy  is  dependent  upon  the  number  of  the  atoms 
in  each  molecule,  bat  u  e  are  at  present  far  from  being  able  to 
say  what  degree  of  importance  is  to  be  attached  to  the  relative 
distance  between  the  atoms  of  a  metal  or  to  the  "  position  of  one 
and  the  same  atom  "  in  a  metallic  molecule,  whether  the  metal  be 
alloyed  or  free,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  this  respect  organic 
chemistry  is  far  in  advance  of  metallurgic  chemistry.  1  cannot, 
as  ytt,  state  what  is  the  atomic  grouping  in  the  brilliantly- 
coloored  gold-aluminium  alloy,  AuAI^.  which  I  have  had  the 
|;ood  fortune  to  discover,  but,  in  it,  the  gold  is  probably  present 
in  the  same  state  as  that  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  purple  of 
cassius. 

Much  valuable  information  on  the  important  question  of  allotropy 
in  metals  has  already  been  gathered  by  Pionchon,  Ditte,  Moissan, 
Le  Chatelier,  and  Osmo;id,  but  reference  can  only  be  made  to 
the  work  of  the  two  letter.  Le  Chatelier  concludes  that  in 
metals  which  do  not  undergo  molecular  transformation  the 
electrical  resistance  increases  proportionally  to  the  temperature. 
The  same  law  holds  good  for  other  metals  at  temperatures  above 
that  at  which  their  last  change  takes  place  ;  for  example,  in  the 
case  of  nickel  above  340'',  and  in  that  of  iron  above  850^ 

It  is  probable  that  minute  quantities  of  foreign  matter,  which 
profoundly  modify  the  structure  of  masses  of  metal,  also  induce 
ailotropic  changes.  In  the  case  of  the  remarkable  action  of  im- 
purities upon  pure  gold  I  have  suggested  that  the  modifications 
which  are  produced  may  have  direct  connection  with  the  periodic 
law  of  Mexideleeff,  and  that  the  causes  of  the  specific  variations 
in  the  properties  of  iron  and  steel  may  thus  be  explained.  The 
question  is  of  great  industrial  importance,  especially  in  the  case 
of  iron  ;  and  Osmond,  whose  excellent  work  I  have  already 
brought  before  the  members  of  this  Association  in  a  lecture 
delivered  at  Newcastle  in  1889,  has  especially  studied  the  in- 
fluence upon  iron  exerted  by  certain  elements.  He  shows  that 
elements  whose  atomic  volumes  are  smaller  than  that  of  iron 
delay,  during  the  cooling  of  a  mass  of  iron  from  a  red  heat,  the 
change  of  the  jS,  or  hard  variety  of  iron,  to  the  o,  or  soft  variety. 
On  the  other  hand,  elements  whose  atomic  volumes  are  greater 
than  that  of  iron  tend  to  hasten  the  change  of  jS  to  a  iron.  It 
is  however,  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  this  subject,  as  it  was 
dealt  with  last  year  in  the  address  of  the  President  of  the 
Association. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  recent  use  of  nickel-steel  for  armour- 
plate,  and  the  advocacy  of  the  use  of  copper-steel  for  certain 
purposes,  is  the  industrial  justification  of  ray  own  views  as  to 
(he  influence  of  the  atomic  volume  of  an  added  element  on  the 
mechanical  properties  of  iron,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  two 
txxlies,  silicon  and  aluminium,  the  properties  of  which  when  in 
a  free  state  are  so  totally  different,  should,  nevertheless,  when 
ihey  are  alloyed  with  iron,  affect  it  in  the  same  way.  Silicon 
and  aluminium  have  almost  the  fame  atomic  volumes. 

The  consequences  of  ailotropic  changes  which  result  in 
alteration  of  structure  are  very  great.  The  case  of  the  tin 
regimental  buttons  which  fell  into  a  shapeless  heap  when  ex- 
posed to  the  rigorous  winter  at  St.  Petersburg,  is  well  known. 
The  recent  remarkable  discovery  by  Hopkinson  of  the  changes 
ill  the  density  of  nickel-steel  (containing  22  per  cent,  of  nickel) 
which  are  produced  by  cooling  to  -  30^  affords  another  instance. 
This  variety  of  steel,  after  being  frozen,  is  readily  magnetizable, 
although  it  was  not  so  before ;  its  density,  moreover,  is  per- 
manently reduced  by  no  less  than  2  per  cent,  by  the  exposure  to 
cold  ;  and  it  is  startling  to  contemplate  the  effect  which  would 
l)e  produced  by  a  visit  to  the  Arctic  regions  of  a  ship  of  war 
built  in  a  temperate  climate  of  ordinary  steel,  and  clad  with  some 
(hree  thousand  tons  of  such  nickel-steel  armour ;  the  shearing 
which  would  result  from  the  expansion  of  the  armour  by  ex- 
posure to  cold  would  destroy  the  ship.  Experimental  compound 
armour-plates  have  been  made,  faced  with  25  per  cent,  nickel- 
steel,  but  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  a  similar  though  lessened 
effect  would  be  produced  on  the  steel  containing  5  to  7  per  cent, 
of  nickel,  specially  studied  by  J.  Riley,  the  use  of  which  is 
warmly  advocated  for  defensive  purposes.  Further  information 
as  to  the  molecular  condition  of  nickel-steel  has  within  the  last 
few  weeks  been  given  by  Mercadier,  who  has  shown  that 
alloying  iron  with  25  per  cent,  of  nickel  renders  the  metal 
isotropic 

The  molecular  behaviour  of  alloys  is  indeed  most  interesting. 
W.  Spring  has  shown,  in  a  long  series  of  investigations,  that 


NO.    II 39  VOL.  44] 


alloys  may  be  formed  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  provided  that 
minute  particles  of  the  constituent  metals  are  submitted  to  great 
pressure.  W.  Hallock  has  recently  given  strong  evidence  in 
favour  of  the  view  that  an  alloy  can  be  produced  from  its  con- 
stituent metals  with  but  slight  pressure  if  the  temperature  to 
which  the  mass  is  submitted  be  above  the  melting-point  of  the 
alloy,  even  though  it  be  far  below  the  melting-point  of  the  most 
easily  fusible  constituent.  A  further  instance  is  thus  afforded  of 
the  fact  that  a  variation  of  either  temperature  or  pressure  will 
effect  the  union  of  solids.  It  may  be  added  that  B.  C.  Damien 
is  attempting  to  determine  what  variation  in  the  melting-point  of 
alloys  is  produced  by  fusing  them  under  a  pressure  of  two 
hundred  atmospheres.  Italian  physicists  are  also  working  on 
the  compressibility  of  metals,  and  F.  Boggio-Lera  has  recently 
established  the  existence  of  an  interesting  relation  between  the 
coefficient  of  cubic  c  impressibility,  the  specific  gravity,  and  the 
atomic  weight  of  metals. 

Few  questions  are  more  important  than  the  measurement  of 
very  high  temperatures.  Within  the  last  few  years  H.  Le  Cha- 
telier has  given  us  a  thermocouple  of  platinum  with  platinum 
containing  10  per  cent,  of  rhodium,  by  the  aid  of  which  the 
problem  of  the  measurement  of  high  temperatures  has  been 
greatly  simplified.  A  trustworthy  pyrometer  is  now  at  hand  for 
daily  use  in  works,  and  the  liberality  of  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  has  enabled  me  to  conduct  an  investiga- 
tion which  has  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  simple  appliance 
for  obtaining,  in  the  form  of  curves,  photographic  records  of  the 
cooling  of  masses  of  metal.  A  report  on  the  subject  has  already 
been  submitted  to  a  Committee,  of  which  the  Director-General 
of  Ordnance  Factories  is  the  Chairman  ;  and  Dr.  Anderson,  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  valuable  assistance  and  advice,  intends 
to  add  this  new  method  for  obtaining  autographic  curves  of  pyro- 
metric  measurements  to  the  numerous  self-recording  appliances 
used  in  the  Government  factories  which  he  controls.  It  has 
proved  to  be  easy  to  ascertain,  by  the  aid  of  this  pyrometer,  what 
thermal  changes  take  place  during  the  cooling  of  molten  ma-ses 
of  alloys,  and  it  is  possible  to  compare  the  rate  of  cooling  of  a 
white-hot  steel  ingot  at  definite  positions  situated  respectively 
near  its  surface  and  at  its  centre,  and  thus  to  solve  a  problem 
which  has  hitherto  been  considered  to  be  beyond  the  range  of 
ordinary  experimental  methods.  Some  of  the  curves  already 
obtained  are  of  much  interest,  and  will  be  submitted  to  the 
Section.  It  is  probable  that  the  form  of  the  curve  which  repre- 
sents the  solidification  and  cooling  of  a  mass  of  molten  metal 
affords  an  exceedingly  delicate  indication  as  to  its  purity. 

Prof.  H.  £.  Armstrong  holds  that  the  molecules  of  a  metal 
can  unite  to  form  complexes  with  powers  of  coherence  which 
vary  with  the  presence  of  impurity.  Crookes,  by  a  recent 
beautiful  investigation,  has  taught  us  how  electrical  evaporation 
of  solid  metals  may  be  set  up  in  vacuo^  and  has  shown  that  even 
an  alloy  may  be  decomposed  by  such  means.  We  may  hope 
that  such  work  will  enable  us  to  understand  the  principles  on 
which  the  strength  of  materials  depends. 

Before  leaving  the  consideration  of  questions  connected  with 
the  molecular  constitution  of  metals,  I  would  specially  refer  to 
the  excellent  work  of  Heycock  and  Neville,  who  have  extended 
to  certain  metals  with  low  melting-point  Raoult's  investigations 
on  the  effect  of  impurity  on  the  lowering  of  the  freezing-point  of 
solids.  With  the  aid  of  one  of  my  own  students,  H.  C.  Jenkins, 
I  have  further  extended  the  experiments  by  studying  the  effect 
of  impurity  on  the  freezing-point  of  gold.  Ramsay,  by  adopting 
Raouli's  vapour-pressure  method,  has  been  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  when  in  solution  in  mercury  the  atom  of  a  metal  is,  as  a 
rule,  identical  with  its  molecule.  The  important  research  on 
the  liquation  of  alloys  has  been  extended  by  £.  Matthey  to  the 
platinum-gold  and  palladium-gold  series,  in  which  the  manipula- 
tion presented  many  difficulties ;  and  £.  J.  Ball  has  studied  the 
cases  presented  by  the  antimony  copper-lead  series.  Dr.  Alder 
Wright  has  continued  his  own  important  investigation  upon 
ternary  alloys;  and. A.  P.  Laurie  has  worked  on  the  electro- 
motive force  of  the  copper-zinc  and  copper-tin  and  gold-tin  series, 
a  field  of  research  which  promises  fruitful  results. 

In  no  direction  is  advance  more  marked  than  in  the  mechani' 
cal  testing  of  metals,  in  which  branch  of  investigation  this 
country,  guided  by  Kirkaldy,  undoubtedly  took  the  leading 
part,  and  in  connection  with  which  Kennedy  and  Unwin  have 
established  world-wide  reputations.  I  would  also  specially 
mention  the  work  which  has  been  carried  on  at  the  Government 
testing  works  at  Berlin  under  Dr.  Wedding,  and  the  elaborate 


4o6 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


investigations  conducted  at  the  Waiertown  Arsenal,  Massa- 
chusetts, not  to  mention  the  numerous  Continental  testing  labora- 
tories directed  by  such  men  as  Bauschinger,  Jenny,  and  Tetmajer. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  recent  work  is  that  described  by 
Prof.  Martens,  of  Berlin,  on  the  influence  of  heat  on  the  strength 
of  iron. 

I  might  have  dwelt  at  length  on  all  these  matters  without 
doing  half  the  service  to  meUdlui^y  that  I  hope  to  render  by 
earnestly  pleading  for  the  more  extended  teaching  of  the  subject 
throughout  the  country,  and  for  better  laboratories,  arranged  on 
the  model  of  engineering  laboratories,  in  which  the  teaching  is 
conducted  with  the  aid  of  complete,  though  small,  "  plant." 
The  Science  and  Art  Department  has  done  great  and  lasting 
service  by  directing  that  metallurgy  shall  be  taught  practically, 
but  much  remains  to  be  done.  With  regard  to  laboratories  in 
works,  which  are  too  often  mere  sheds,  placed,  say,  behind  the 
boiler-house,  when  may  we  hope  to  rival  the  German  chemical 
firm  which  has  recently  spent  / 19,000  upon  its  laboratories,  in 
which  research  will  be  vigorously  conducted  ?  There  is  hardly 
any  branch  of  inorganic  chemistry  which  the  metallurgist  can 
afford  to  neglect,  while  many  branches  both  of  physics  and 
mechanics  are  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him. 

The  wide  range  of  study  upon  which  a  metallurgical  student 
is  rightly  expected  to  enter  is  leading,  it  is  to  be  feared,  to 
diminution  in  the  time  devoted  to  analytical  chemistry,  and  this 
most  serious  question  should  be  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  all 
who  are  responsible  for  the  training  of  our  future  chemists. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  sufficient  importance  is  not 
attached  to  the  estimation  of  "traces,"  an  analysis  being  con- 
sidered to  be  satisfactory  if  the  constituents  found  add  up  to  99*9, 
although  a  knowledge  as  to  what  elements  represent  the  missing 
O'l  may  be  more  useful  in  affording  an  explanation  of  the  defects 
in  a  materia]  than  all  the  rest  of  the  analysis.  This  matter  is  of 
growing  interest  to  practical  men,  and  may  explain  their  marked 
preference  for  chemists  who  have  been  trained  in  works,  to  those 
who  have  been  educated  in  a  college  laboratory. 

The  necessity  for  affording  public  in&truction  in  mining  and 
metallurgy,  with  a  view  to  the  full  development  of  the  mineral 
wealth  of  a  nation,  is  well  known.  The  issues  at  stake  are  so 
vast,  that  in  this  country  it  was  considered  desirable  to  provide 
a  centre  of  instruction  in  which  the  teaching  of  mining  and 
metallurgy  should  not  be  left  to  private  enterprise  or  even 
intrusted  10  a  corporation,  but  should  be  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  Government.  With  this  end  in  view,  the  Royal  School 
of  Mines  was  founded  in  185 1,  and  has  supplied  a  body  of  well- 
trained  men  who  have  done  excellent  service  for  the  country 
and  her  colonies.  The  Government  has  recently  taken  a  step  in 
advance,  and  has  further  recognized  the  national  importance  of 
the  teaching  of  mining  and  metallurgy  by  directing  that  the 
School  of  Mines  shall  be  incorporated  with  the  Royal  College  of 
Science,  which  is,  I  believe,  destined  to  lead  the  scientific  educa- 
tion of  the  nation. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  as  regards  metalliferous  mining  our 
country  has  seen  its  best  days,  but  the  extraordinary  mineral 
wealth  of  our  colonies  has  recently  been  admirably  described  by 
my  colleague,  Prof.  Le  Neve  Foster,  in  the  inaugural  lecture  he 
delivered  early  in  the  present  year  on  his  appointment  to  the 
chair  so  long  held  by  Sir  Warington  Smyth  {Engineering, 
vol.  li.,  p.  2CO  et  seq,).  We  shall,  however,  be  able  to  rightly 
estimate  the  value  of  our  birthright  when  the  Imperial  Institute 
is  opened  next  year,  and  the  nation  will  have  reason  to  be 
grateful  to  Sir  Frederick  Abel  for  the  care  he  is  devoting  to  the 
development  of  this  great  institution,  which  will  become  the 
visible  exponent  of  the  splendours  of  our  Indian  and  colonial 
resources,  as  well  as  a  centre  of  information. 

The  rapid  growth  of  technical  literature  renders  it  unneces- 
sary for  a  President  of  a  Section  to  devote  his  address  to 
recording  the  progress  of  the  subject  he  represents.  As  regards 
the  most  important  part  of  our  national  metallurgy,  this  has, 
moreover,  been  admirably  done  by  successive  Presidents  of  the 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  but  it  may  have  been  expected  that 
references  would  have  been  made  to  the  main  processes  which 
have  been  adopted  since  Percy  occupied  this  chair  in  1849.  I 
have  not  done  so,  because  an  enumeration  of  the  processes 
would  have  been  wholly  inadequate,  and  a  description  of  them 
impossible  in  the  time  at  my  disposal.  Nevertheless,  it 
may  be  well  to  remind  the  Section  of  a  few  of  the  more  prominent 
additions  the  art  has  received  in  the  last  half-century,  and  to  ofler 
a  few  statements  to  show  the  magnitude  on  which  operations  are 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


conducted.  As  regards  iron,  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  the 
price  of  steel  has  been  reduced  from  £$$  per  too  to  £$  per  too ; 
but,  after  giving  the  world  the  inestimable  boon  of  cheap  steel  by 
the  labours  of  Bessemer  and  of  Siemens,  we  were  somewhat  slow 
to  accept  the  teaching  of  experiment  as  to  the  best  method  ojf 
treating  the  new  material ;  on  the  other  hand,  Hadfield  has 
brought  manganese  steel  and  aluminium  steel  within  the  reach 
of  the  manufacturer,  and  J.  Riley  has  done  much  to  develop  the 
use  of  nickel-steel. 

In  the  case  of  copper,  we  have  mainly  contributed  to  the  ex- 
traordinary development  of  wet  processes  for  its  extraction  from 
poor  sulphides,  and  have  met  the  great  demands  for  pure  metal 
by  the  wide  adoption  of  electrolytic  processes. 

As  regards  the  precious  metals,  this  country  is  well  to  the  front, 
for  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  produce  about  38  per  cent,  of 
the  gold  supply  of  the  world  ;  and  it  may  be  well  to  add,  as  an 
indication  ot  the  scale  on  which  operations  are  conducted,  that 
in  London  alone  one  ton  of  gold  and  five  tons  of  silver  bullion 
can  easily  be  refined  in  a  day.  No  pains  have  been  spared  in 
perfecting  the  method  of  assay  by  which  the  value  of  gold  and 
silver  is  ascertained,  and  during  my  twenty  years'  connectioo 
with  the  Royal  Mint  I  have  been  responsible  for  the  accoracy 
of  the  standard  fineness  of  no  less  than  five  hundred  and  fifty-five 
tons  of  gold  coin,  of  an  aggregate  value  of  seventy  millions  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  In  the  case  of  the  platinum 
industry  we  owe  its  extraordinary  development  to  the  skill  and 
enterprise  of  successive  members  of  the  firm  of  Johnson,  Mattbey, 
and  Co.,  who  in  later  years  have  based  their  operations  upon 
the  results  of  the  investigations  of  Deville  and  Debray.  Some 
indication  of  the  value  of  the  material  dealt  with  may  be 
gathered  from  the  statement  that  two  and  a  half  hundred- 
weight of  platinum  may  easily  be  melted  in  a  single  charge, 
and  that  the  firm,  in  one  operation,  extracted  a  mass  of  jmJ- 
ladium  valued  at  ;^3p,ooo  from  gold-platinum  ore  actually 
worth  more  than  a  million  sterling. 

I  wish  it  were  possible  to  record  the  services  of  those  who 
have  advanced  metallnigy  in  connection  with  this  Association, 
but  the  limitations  of  time  render  it  difficult  to  do  more  than  to 
refer  to  some  honoured  names  of  past  presidents  of  this  Seciion. 
Michael  Faraday,  President  of  this  Section  in  1837  and  1846, 
prepared  the  first  specimen  of  nickel-steel,  an  alloy  which  seems 
to  have  so  promising  a  future,  but  we  may  hardly  claim  him  as 
a  metallurgist ;  nor  should  I  be  justified  in  referring,  in  connec- 
tion with  metallurgical  research,  to  my  own  master,  Graham, 
President  of  thi;»  Section  in  1839,  and  again  in  1844,  were  it  noc 
that  his  experiments  on  the  occlusion  of  gases  t>y  metals  have 
proved  to  be  of  such  extraordinary  practical  importance  in  con- 
nection with  the  metallurgy  of  iron.  Sir  Lyon  Playfair  presided 
over  this  Section  in  1855,  and  again  in  1859.  His  work  in  con- 
nection with  Bunsen  on  the  composition  of  blact-fumace  gases 
was  published  in  the  Report  of  this  Association  in  1S47,  ^°^ 
formed  the  earliest  of  a  group  of  researches,  amongst  which  those 
of  Sir  Lowthian  Bell  proved  to  be  of  so  much  importance.  The 
latter  was  President  of  this  Section  in  1889.  Sir  F.  Abel, 
President  of  this  Section  in  1877,  rendered  enduring  service  to 
the  Government  by  his  elaborate  metallurgical  investigations  in 
connection  with  materials  used  for  guns  and  projectiles,  as  well 
as  for  defensive  purposes.  I  will  conclude  this  section  of  the 
address  by  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Percy.  He  may  be  said  to 
have  created  the  Englbh  literature  of  metallurgy,  to  hare 
enriched  it  with  the  records  of  his  own  observations,  and  to  have 
revived  the  love  of  our  countrymen  for  metallurgical  investiga- 
tion. His  valuable  collection  of  specimens,  made  while 
Professor  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  is  now  appropriately 
lodged  at  South  Kensington,  and  will  form  a  lasting  memorial 
of  his  labours  as  a  teacher.  He  exerted  very  noteworthy 
influence  in  guiding  the  public  to  a  just  appreciation  of  the 
labours  of  scientific  men,  and  he  lived  to  see  an  entire  change  in 
the  tone  of  the  public  press  in  this  respect.  In  the  year  of 
Percy's  presidency  over  this  Section  the  Times  gave  only  one- 
tenth  of  a  column  to  a  summary  of  the  results  of  the  last  day  but 
one  of  the  meeting,  although  the  usual  discourse  delivered 
on  the  previous  evening  had  been  devoted  to  a  question  of 
great  importance — ''The  Application  of  Iron  to  Railway 
Purposes.  Space  was,  however,  found  for  the  interesting  state- 
ment that  the  '*  number  of  Quakeresses  who  attended  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Sections  was  not  a  little  remarkable."  Compare 
the  slender  record  of  the  Times  of  1849  with  its  careful 
chronicle  of  the  proceedings  at  any  recent  meeting  of  the 
Association. 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


407 


In  drawiog  this  address  to  a  close,  I  would  point  to  the  great 
importance  of  extending  the  use  of  the  less  known  metals. 
Attention  is  at  present  concentrated  on  the  production  of  alu- 
mininm,  and  reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  Cowles 
process,  in  which,  as  in  that  of  H^roult,  the  reduction  of  alumina 
IS  effected  by  carbon,  at  the  very  high  temperature  of  the  electric 
arc ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  Kleiner  and  similar  pro- 
cesses, the  electric  current  acts  less  as  a  source  of  heat  than  by 
decomposing  a  fluid  bath,  the  aluminium  being  isolated  by  elec- 
trolytic action  ;  and  doubtless  in  the  immediate  future,  there  will 
be  a  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  metallurgical  processes  that 
depend  on* reactions  which  are  set  up  by  submitting  chemical 
systems  to  electric  stress.     Incidental  reference  should  be  made 
to  the  growing  4mportance  of  sodium,  not  only  in  cheapening 
the  production  of  aluminium,  but  as  a  powerful  weapon  of  re- 
search.   In  1849,  when  Percy  was  President  of  this  Section, 
magnesium  was  a  curiosity ;    now  its  production  constitutes  a 
considerable  industry.  We  may  confidently  expect  to  see  barium 
and  calcium  produced  on  a  large  scale,  as  soon  as  their  utility  has 
been  demonstrated  by  research.  Minerals  containing  molybdenum 
are  not  rare  ;  and  the  metal  could  probably  be  produced  as 
cheaply  as  tin  if  a  use  were  to  be  found  for  it.     The  quantities 
of  vanadium  and  thallium  which  are  available  are  also  far  from 
inconsiderable  ;  but  we  as  yet  know  little  of  the  action  of  any  of 
these  metals  when  alloyed  with  others  which  are  in  daily  use. 
The  field  for  investigation  is  vast  indeed,  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  valuable  qualities  may  be  conferred  on  a  mass  of  metal 
by  a  very  small  quantity  of  another  element.     The  useful  qualities 
imparted  to    platinum  by  iridium  are  well  known.     A  small 
quantity  of  tellurium  obliterates  the  crystalline  structure  of  bis* 
math ;  but  we  have  lost  an  ancient  art,  which  enabled  brittle 
antimony  to  be  cast  into  useful  vessels.     Two-tenths  percent,  of 
zirconium  increases  the  strength  of  gold  enormously,  while  the 
same  amount  of  bismuth  reduces  the  tenacity  to  a  very  low 
point.     Chromium,  cobalt,  tungsten,  titanium,  cadmium,  zir- 
conium, and  lithium  are  already  well  known  in  the  arts,  and  the 
valuable  properties  which  metallic  chromium  and  tungsten  con- 
fer upon  steel  are  beginning  to  be  generally  recognized,  as  the 
last  Exhibition  at  Paris  abundantly  showed ;  but  as  isolated 
metals  we  know  but  little  of  them.     Is  the  development  of  the 
rarer  metals  to  be  left  to  other  countries  ?    Means  for  the  prose- 
cution of  research  are  forthcominp;,  and  a  rich  reward  awaits  the 
labours  of  chemists  who  could  brmg  themselves  to  divert  their 
attention,    for  even  a  brief  period,  from    the  investigation  of 
organic  compounds,  in  order  to  raise  alloys  from  the  obscurity 
in  which  they  are  at  present  left. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  metallurgical  enterprise  rests  on 
(i) scientific  knowledge,  (2)  capital,  and  (3)  labour;  and  that, 
if  the  results  of  industrial  operations  are  to  prove  remunerative, 
much  must  depend  on  the  relation  of  these  three  elements, 
though  it  is  difficult  to  determine  accurately  their  relative  im- 
portance. A  modern  ironworks  may  have  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  workmen,  and  commercial  success  or  failure  will  de- 
pend in  no  small  measure  on  the  method  adopted  in  organizing 
the  labour.  The  relations  between  capital  and  labour  are  of  so 
much  interest  at  the  present  time  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  offer 
a  few  words  on  the  subject. 

Many  examples  might  be  borrowed  from  metallurgical  enter- 
prises in  this  and  other  countries  to  show  that  their  nature  is 
often  precarious,  and  that  failure  is  easily  induced  by  what 
i^pear  to  be  comparatively  slight  causes.  Capitalists  might 
consequently  tend  to  select  Government  securities  for  investment 
in  preierence  to  metallurgical  works,  and  the  labouring  popula- 
tion would  then  severely  suffer.  It  is  only  reasonable,  there- 
fore, that  if  capitalists  are  exposed  to  great  risks,  they  should, 
in  the  event  of  success,  receive  the  greater  part  of  the  profits. 
There  is  a  widespread  feeling  -  that  the  interests  of  capital  and 
labour  most  be  antagonistic,  and  as  it  is  impossible  to  ignore 
the  fact  that  the  conflict  between  them  is  giving  rise  to  grave 
apprehension,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  all  who  possess  influence 
to  strive  not  merely  for  peace,  but  to  range  themselves  on  the 
side  of  justice  and  humanity.  The  great  labour  question  can- 
not be  solved  except  by  assuming  as  a  principle  that  private 
ownership  must  be  held  inviolable  ;  but  it  must  be  admitted  that 
there  was  a  time  when  capital  had  become  arbitrary,  and  sooae 
kind  of  united  action  on  the  part  of  workmen  was  needed  in 
self-defence.  If,  however,  we  turn  to  the  action  of  the  leaders 
of  trades  unions  in  the  recent  lamentable  strikes,  we  are  pre- 
sented with  a  picture  which  many  of  us  can  only  view  as  that  of 

NO.    1139,  VOL.  44] 


tyranny  of  the  most  close  and  oppressive  kind,  in  which  indi- 
vidual freedom  cannot  even  be  recognized.  There  are  hundreds 
of  owners  of  works  who  long  to  devote  themselves  to  the  true 
welfare  of  those  they  employ,  but  who  can  do  little  against  the 
influence  of  the  professional  agitator,  and  are  merely  saddened 
by  contact  with  prejudice  and  ignorance.  I  believe  the  view  to 
be  correct  that  some  system  by  which  the  workman  participates 
in  the  profits  of  enterprise  will  afford  the  most  hope  of  putting 
an  end  to  labour  disputes,  and  we  are  told  that  profit-sharing 
tends  to  destroy  the  workmen's  sense  of  social  exclusion  from 
the  capitalistic  board,  and  contents  him  by  elevating  him  from 
the  precarious  position  of  a  hired  labourer.  No  pains  should, 
therefore,  be  spared  in  perfecting  a  system  of  profit-sharing. 

Pensions  for  long  service  are  great  aids  to  patience  and  fidelity, 
and  very  much  may  be  hoped  from  the  fact  that  strenuous  efforts 
are  being  made  by  men  really  competent  to  lead.  The  Report 
of  the  Labour  Commission  which  is  now  sitting  will  be  looked 
for  with  keen  interest.  Watchful  care  over  the  health,  interests, 
and  instruction  of  the  employed  is  exercised  by  many  owners  of 
works  ;  and  in  this  respect  the  Dowlais  Works,  which  are  being 
transplanted  into  your  midst  at  Cardiff,  have  long  presented  a 
noteworthy  example.  Workmen  must  not  forget  that  the 
choice  of  their  own  leaders  is  in  their  own  hands,  and  on  this 
tbe  future  mainly  depends.  *'  We  may  lay  it  down  as  a  per- 
petual law  that  workmen's  associations  should  be  so  organized 
and  governed  as  to  furnish  the  best  and  most  suitable  means  for 
attaining  what  b  aimed  at — that  is  to  say,  for  helping  each  indi- 
vidual member  to  better  his  condition  to  the  utmost  in  body, 
mind,  and  property."  These  words  will  be  found  in  the  Ency- 
clical Letter  which  Pope  Leo  XIII.  has  recently  issued  on  the 
"  Condition  of  Labour."  To  me  it  is  specially  interesting  that 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  his  forcible  appeal  again  and  again  cites 
the  opinion  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  who  was  a  learned  chemist 
as  well  as  a  theologian. 

Those  of  us  who  realize  that  "the  higher  mysteries  of  being, 
if  penetrable  at  all  by  human  intellect,  require  other  weapons 
than  those  of  calculation  and  experiment,"  should  be  fully 
sensible  of  our  individual  responsibility.  Seeing  that  the  study 
of  the  relations  between  capital  and  labour  involve:;  the  con- 
sideration of  the  complex  problems  of  existence,  the  solution  of 
which  is  at  present  hidden  from  us,  we  shall  feel  with  Andrew 
Lang  that  '*  where,  as  matter  of  science,  we  know  nothing,  we 
can  only  utter  the  message  of  our  temperament."  My  own 
leads  me  to  hope  that  the  patriotism  of  the  workmen  will  pre- 
vent them  from  driving  our  national  industries  from  these  shores  ; 
and  I  would  ask  those  to  whom  the  direction  of  the  metallurgical 
works  of  this  country  is  confided  to  remember  that  we  have  to 
deal  both  with  metals  and  with  men,  and  have  reason  to  be 
grateful  to  all  who  extend  the  boundaries,  not  only  of  our 
knowledge,  but  also  of  our  sympathy. 


SECTION  D. 


BIOLOGY. 


Opening  Address  by  Francis  Darwin,  M.A.,  M.B., 
F.k.S.,  Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge, 
President  of  the  Section. 

On  Growth -curvatures  in  Plants. 

A  seedling  plant,  such  as  a  young  sunflower,  when  growing 
in  a  state  of  nature,  grows  straight  up  towards  the  open  sky, 
while  its  main  root  grows  straight  down  towards  the  centre  of 
the  earth.  When  it  is  artificially  displaced,  for  instance  by 
laying  the  flower-pot  on  its  side,  both  root  and  stem  execute 
certain  curvatures  by  which  they  reach  the  vertical  once  naore. 
Curvatures  such  as  these,  whether  executed  in  relation  to  light, 
gravitation,  or  oiher  influences,  may  be  grouped  together  as 
growth-curvatures,  and  it  is  with  the  history  of  our  knowledge 
on  this  subject  that  I  shall  be  occupied  to-day.  I  shall  princi- 
pally deal  with  geotropic  curvatures,  or  those  executed  in 
relation  to  gravitation,  but  the  phenomena  in  question  form  a 
natural  group,  and  it  will  be  necessary  to  refer  to  heliotropism, 
and,  indeed,  to  other  growth-curvatures.  The  history  of  the 
subject  divides  into  two  branches,  which  it  will  be  convenient  to 
study  sepaiately. 

When  a  displaced  apogeotropic  organ  curves  so  as  to  become 
once  more  vertical,  two  distinct  questions  arise,  which  may  be 
briefly  expressed  thus : — 


4o8 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


(1)  How  does  the  plant  recognize  the  yertical  line  ;  how  does 
it  know  where  the  centre  of  the  earth  is  ? 

(2)  In  what  way  are  the  curvatures  which  bring  it  into  the 
vertical  line  executed  ? 

The  first  is  a  question  of  irritability,  the  second  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  movement.  Sachs  has  well  pointed  out  that  these  two 
very  different  questions  have  been  confused  together  {Arbeitm^ 
ii.  p.  282,  1879).  They  should  be  kept  as  distinct  as  the 
kindred  questions,  How,  by  what  nervous  apparatus,  does  an 
animal  perceive  changes  in  the  external  world ;  and  how,  by 
what  muscular  machinery,  does  it  move  in  relation  to  such 
changes  ? 

The  history  of  our  modem  knowledge  of  geotropism  may  con- 
veniently begin  with  Hofmeisler*s  researches,  because  in  an 
account  of  his  work  some  of  the  points  which  re-occur  in  recent 
controversy  are  touched,  and  also  because  in  studying  his 
work  the  necessity  of  dividing  the  subject  into  the  two  above- 
named  headings,  Irritability  and  Mechanism,  will  be  more 
clearly  perceived. 

In  1859  {Btrichte  d.  k.  Sachs.  Ges.  d.  IViss.),  Hofmeister 
published  his  researches  on  the  effect  of  disturbance,  such  as 
shaking  or  striking  a  lurgescent  shoot.  This  appears  at  first  sight 
sufficiently  remote  from  the  study  of  geotropism,  but  the  facts 
published  in  this  work  were  the  basis  of  the  theory  of  geo- 
tropism formed  by  Hofmeister  and  accepted  with  some  modi- 
fication by  Sachs.  When  an  upright,  vigorously-growing, 
tui^escent  shoot  is  struck  at  its  base  the  upper  end  is  made  to 
curve  violently  towards  the  side  from  which  the  blow  came. 
When  the  shoot  comes  to  rest  it  is  found  to  be  no  longer  straight, 
but  to  have  acquired  a  permanent  bend  towards  the  side  on 
which  it  was  struck.  In  explaining  this  phenomenon 
Hofmei.-tcr  described  those  conditions  of  growth  which  give 
rise  to  what  is  known  as  the  tension  of  tissues  ;  these  facts  are 
still  an  important  part  of  botanical  study,  though  they  hold 
quite  a  different  position  from  that  assigned  to  them  by 
Hofmeister.  The  classification  into  active  or  erectile  tis.ue  and 
passively  extended  tissue  was  then  first  made.  The  pith,  which 
is  compressed,  and  strives  to  becjme  longer,  is  the  active  or 
erectile  part,  the  cortical  and  vascular  constituents  bein^< 
passively  extended  by  the  active  tissue.  Hofmeister  showed 
that  when  the  shoot  is  violently  bent  the  elasticity  of  the  pasive 
tissues  on  the  convex  side  is  injured  by  overstretching.  The 
system  must  assume  a  new  position  of  equilibrium  ;  the  passive 
tissues  are  now  no  longer  equally  resisting  on  the  two  sides,  and 
the  shoot  must  necessarily  assume  a  curvature  towards  that  side 
on  which  passive  tissues  are  most  resisting. 

In  a  second  paper,  in  i860,  Hofme'ster  {Btrichte  d.  k.  Sacks. 
Ges.  d.  IViss.)  applied  these  principles  to  the  explanation  of 
geotropism.  It  is  true  that  in  his  second  paper  he  does  not 
refer  to  the  former  one,  but  I  think  that  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  knowledge  which  supplied  the  material  for  his 
paper  of  1859  suggested  the  theory  set  forth  in  i860.  He  had 
shown  that  m  the  system  of  tensions  existing  in  a  turgescent 
shoot  lay  the  power  of  producing  artificial  curvatures,  and  he 
applied  the  same  principle  to  the  natural  curvatures.  When  an 
apogeotropic  organ  is  placed  in  a  horizontal  position,  Hofmeister  ^ 
supposed  that  the  resisting  tissues  on  the  lower  side  became  less 
resisting,  so  that  they  yielded  more  readily  than  those  on  the 
upper  side  to  the  longitudinal  pressure  of  the  turgescent  pith. 
The  system  in  such  a  case  comes  to  rest  in  a  new  position,  the 
shoot  curving  upwards  ;  the  passive  tissues  on  the  upper  and 
lower  sides  once  more  resist  the  expansion  of  the  pith  in  equal 
degrees.  In  this  way  Hofmeister  hit  on  an  explanation  which, 
as  far  as  mechanism  is  concerned,  is  in  rough  outline  practically 
the  same  as  certain  modern  theories,  which  will  be  discussed  in 
the  sequel. 

His  views  resembled  more  modem  theories  in  this,  too  :  he 
clearly  recognized  that  they  were,  mutatis  mutandis^  applicable 
to  acellular  -  organs.  The  manner  in  which  Hofmeister  com- 
pared the  mechanics  of  multicellular  and  acellular  parts  was 
curious  ;  nowadays  we  compare  the  turgescent  pith  of  a  growing 
shoot  with  the  hydrostatic  pressure  inside  the  acellular  organ. 
Just  as  the  pressure  inside  a  single  cell  stretches  the  cell-walls, 
so  in  a  growing  shoot  the  turgescent  pith  stretches  the  cortex. 

'  Kn  ght  had  previously  suggested  an  explanation  (Philosophical 
Tran-iactions  1806 »,  which  is  so  far  similar,  that  the  sinking  downwards  by 
gravitation  of  the  juices  of  the  plant  is  supposed  to  be  the  primary  cause  of 
apogeotr  )pism.  Knight's  explanation  of  positive  geotropism  is  practically 
the  same  as  Hofmeister's. 

a  Sachs's  term  acellular  b,  in  the  present  connection,  equivalent  to 
unicillnlar. 

NO.   II 39,  VOL.  44] 


As  pith  is  to  cortex,  so  is  cell- pressure  to  cell-membrane.  Bat 
Honneister  would  not  have  accepted  any  such  comparison.  In 
the  case  of  acellular  organs  he  localized  both  the  erectile  and 
passive  tissues  in  the  membrane.  The  cuticle  was  said  to  be 
passively  extended  by  the  active  growth  of  the  inner  layers  of 
the  cell- wall. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  obvious  source  of  power  which  the 
pressure  of  the  cell-sap  against  the  cell- walls  supplies  should 
have  been  so  much  neglected.  This  may  perhaps  be  accounted 
for  as  a  revulsion  against  the  excessive  prominence  given  to 
osmosis  in  the  works  of  Dutrochet. 

The  great  fault  of  Hofmeister's  views  was  the  purely 
mechanical  manner  in  which  he  believed  changes  in  extensibility 
in  the  passive  tissues  to  be  brought  about.  V^hen  an  apogeo- 
tropic shoot  is  placed  horizontal  there  would  be  a  tendency, 
according  to  Hofmeister,  for  the  resisting  passive  tissues  along 
the  lower  side  of  the  shoot  to  become  waterlogged  owing  to  the 
fluid  in  the  shoot  gravitating  towards  that  side.  They  would 
thus  be  rendered  more  extensible,  and  the  shoot  would  bend  up, 
since  its  lower  parts  would  yield  to  the  erectile  tissues  in  the 
centre.  Such  a  conception  excludes  the  idea  of  gravitation 
acting  as  a  stimulus,  and  tends  to  keep  geotropism  out  of  the 
category  in  which  it  now  takes  its  place  along  with  such 
obvious  cases  of  response  to  stimulation  as  the  moveuients  of 
Mimosa.  In  this  respect  it  was  a  retrogression  from  the  views 
of  some  earlier  writers.  Dutrochet's  cl?ar  statement  (1824)  as 
to  growth-curvatures  being  an  affair  of  stimulus  and  response 
will  be  quoted  lower  down.  Treviranu  ,  in  his  *'  Physiologic*' 
(1838),  speaks  of  geotropism  as  a  Trieb^  or  impulse,  and  adds 
that  though  there  is  no  question  of  desire  or  sensation,  as  in  the 
impulses  of  animals,  yet  geotropism  must  be  thought  of  as  some- 
thing higher  than  a  merely  mechanical  or  chemical  action. 

In  taking  such  a  view  Hofmeister  naturally  n^lected  the 
biological  side  of  the  study  of  geotropism.  Now,  we  think  of 
gravitation  as  a  stimulus,  which  the  plant  translates  according 
to  its  needs.  The  plant,  so  to  speak,  knows  where  the  centre 
of  the  earth  is,  and  either  grows  away  from  it,  or  towards  \', 
according  as  either  direction  suits  its  mode  of  existence. 

We  have  seen  how  Hofmeister's  view  enabled  him  to  apply  a 
common  explanation  to  acellular  and  multicellular  organisms. 
But  it  led  him  into  an  error  which  more  than  counterbalances 
the  credit  due  to  such  a  generalization — namely,  into  separating 
what  are  now  universally  considered  parts  of  a  single  pheno- 
menon—viz.  negative  and  positive  geotropism.  He  gaw 
totally  different  explanations  of  the  bending  down  of  a  root  and 
the  bending  up  a  stem.  It  is  well  known  that  he  supposed  a 
root  to  be  plastic,  and  to  bend  over  by  its  own  weight,  like  a 
tallow  candle  on  a  hot  day  or  a  piece  of  heated  sealiug-wax. 

The  development  of  a  unified  view  of  heliotropism,  geotropism, 
and  other  similar  curvatures  is  a  part  of  my  subject,  and  for  that 
reason  the  curious  want  of  unity  in  Hofmeister's  views  is  in- 
tereMing. 

In  i&S,  Sachs  published  his  **  Experimental -Physiologie." 
He  here  accepts  Hofmeister's  views  with  certain  modi ftcai ion''. 

Irritability. 

When  by  a  touch  on  a  trigger  the  explosion  of  a  pistol  is 
caused,  we  do  not  say  that  the  pistol  is  irritable,  but  when  in  ao 
organism  a  similar  release  of  stored-up  energy  occurs,  we  apple 
the  term  irritability  to  the  phenomenon,  and  we  call  the  in  fluency 
which  produced  the  change  a  stimulus.  At  this  time  (1865; 
there  was,  as  far  as  I  can  discover,  no  idea  that  growth -curva- 
tures were  produced  by  external  influences  acting  as  siimali. 
Gravitation  and  light  were  supposed  to  act  directly,  and  not  as 
releasing  forces.  This  is  all  the  more  remarkable,  because 
Dutrochet^  had  expressed  with  great  clearness  the  concept  ion 
which  we  now  hold.  He  wrote : — "  La  cause  inconnue  de 
I'attraction  n'est  que  la  cause  occasionelle  du  mouvement  de- 
scendant des  racines  et  de  Tascension  des  tiges ;  elle  n'cn  est 
point  la  cause  immediate;  elle  agit  dans  cette  circmstance 
com  me  agent  ncrvimoteur.  Nous  verrons  plus  bas  de  nouvellcs 
preuves  de  la  generalite  de  ce  fait  important  en  physiologie, 
savoir  que  les  mouvements  visibles  des  vegetaux  s  nt  tou-i  des 
mouvements  spontanis^  executes  a  Toccasion  de  I'influencc  d'nn 
agent  exterieur  et  non  des  mouvements  imprimes  par  cet  agent.'* 
Nothing  could  be  more  to  the  purpose  than  this,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  most  curious  points  in  the  history  of  the  subject  that  the 

'  "  Recherches  anat.  sur  la  Structure  inttme.  &c."  (1824),  p.  107.  Dutro- 
chet, however,  was  not  consistent  in  this  matter,  and  later  on  gave  explaat- 
tions  as  mechanical  as  Hofmeister's. 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


409 


botanical  mind  should  have  taken   more  than    fifty  years  to 
assimilate  Dntrochet's  view. 

In  1868  Albert  Bemhard  Frank  published  his  valuable 
"Beitragezur  Pflanzenphysiologie,"  which  was  of  importance 
in  more  than  one  way.  In  this  work  the  term  "geotropism" 
was  first  suggested  in  imitation  of  the  existing  expression 
*'heliotropism.**  This  uniformity  of  nomenclature  had  an 
advantage  beyond  mere  convenience,  for  it  served  to  emphasize 
the  view  that  the  curvatures  were  allied  in  character.  His  criti- 
cisms of  Uofmeister  and  Sachs  were  directed  against  the  follow- 
ing views: — 

(i.)  That  roots  and  other  positively  geotropic  organs 
bend  owing  to  plasticity.  By  repeating  and  varying  certain 
older  experiments,  Frank  helped  materially  to  establish  the  now 
universally  accepted  view  that  positive  geotropism  is  an  active, 
not  a  passive,  curvature,  and  that  it  depends,  like  apogeotropism, 
on  unequal  distribution  of  longitudinal  growth.  Here,  again,  he 
Introduced  unity,  bringing  what  had  been  considered  different 
phenomena  under  a  common  heading.  By  studying  the  dis- 
tribution of  growth  and  of  tension  in  a  variety  of  curvatures  he 
helped  still  more  to  unite  them  under  a  common  point  of  view. 

(li,)  He  showed  that  Hofmeister's  classification  of  organs  into 
those  (i)  which  have  and  (2)  which  have  not  tension,  was  value- 
less in  connection  uiih  growth-curvatures  ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
apc^eotropism  is  not  necessarily  connected  with  the  form  of 
longitudinal  tension  found  in  growing  shoots,  and  that  the  dis- 
tinct kind  of  tension  existing  in  roots  has  no  connection  with 
their  positive  geotropism.  His  work  thus  served  to  bring  the 
subject  into  a  more  purely  physiological  condition,  not  only  by 
his  downright  opposition  to  a  mechanical  theory  backed  by  the 
great  name  of  Hofmeister,  but  also  by  giving  importance  to 
physiological  individuality. 

In  1870,  Frank  published  a  more  important  work,  **  Die  natiir- 
liche  vagerechte  Richtung  der  Pflanzenthcilen."  This  paper 
not  only  tended  to  unite  geotropism  and  heliotropism  by  proving 
the  phenomena  described  to  be  common  to  both  categories,  but 
it  more  especially  widened  the  field  of  view  by  showing  that 
horizontal  growth  must  be  considered  as  kindred  to  vertical 
growth,  and  thus  introduced  a  new  conception  of  the  reaction 
of  plants  to  light  and  gravitation  which  has  been  most  fruitful. 

Frank  showed  that  certain  parts  of  plants,  for  instance  the 
runners  of  the  strawberries,  even  when  kept  in  the  dark,  grow 
horizontally,  and  when  displaced  from  the  horizontal  re- 
turned to  it.  Here,  said  Frank,  is  a  new  type  of  geotropism, 
neither  positive  nor  negative,  but  transverse.  Ten  years  later 
Elfving  (Sachs  s  Arbeiten,  1880),  working  in  Sachs's  laboratory, 
i^t  similar  results  with  rhizomes  of  Scirpus,  &c.  These  experi- 
ments are  more  conclusive  than  Frank's  in  one  way,  because  the 
strawberry  runners  when  darkened  were  in  abnormal  conditions:, 
whereas  the  rhizomes  used  by  Elfving  were  normally  freed  from 
light-effects.  When  a  rhizome  which  has  been  placed  so  as  to 
point  obliquely  upwards,  moves  down  towards  the  horizontal 
position  it  is,  according  to  the  old  nomenclature,  positively 
geotropic,  and,  vice  V£rsd,  when  it  reaches  the  horizontal  from 
below  it  is  negatively  geotropic  But  it  cannot  be  both  posi- 
tively and  negatively  geotropic.  We  are  bound  to  assume  that  it 
is  so  organized  that  it  can  only  assume  a  position  of  rest,  and 
continue  to  grow  in  a  straight  line  when  it  is  horizontal,  just  as 
an  ordinary  geotropic  organ  cannot  devote  itself  to  rectilinear 
growth  unless  it  is  vertical.  In  this  way  Frank's  conception  of 
transverse  geotropism  paved  the  way  for  the  theory  that  there 
?'c  a  variety  of  different  organizations  (or,  as  we  may  now  say, 
irritobilities)  in  growing  plants;  and  that,  whether  a  plant 
grows  vertically  upwards  or  downwards  or  horizontally,  depends 
on  the  individual  and  highly  sensitive  constitution  of  the  plant 
in  question.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  those  who  seek  for 
mechanical  explanations  of  growth  curvatures  might  be  able  to 
find  such  a  one  for  transverse  geotropism.  But  when  Frank's 
conception  has  once  been  seized  such  views  are  less  and  less 
acceptable ;  and,  judging  from  my  own  experience,  I  cannot 
doubt  that  Frank's  work  deserved  to  have  a  powerful  effect  in  pre- 
paring the  minds  of  physiologists  for  a  just  view  of  irritability. 

The  belief  in  transverse  geotropism  received  interesting  sup- 
port from  Vochting's  work  ("Die  Bewegung  der  Bliithen  und 
Frvichte,"  1882)  on  the  movement  of  certain  flowers  which 
retain  a  horizontal  position  under  the  influence  of  gravitation. 

Frank's  views,  it  may  be  added,  were  accepted  by  my  father 
and  myself  in  our  **  Power  of  Movement,"  in  which  the  term 
aiageoiropism  was  proposed,  and  has  been  generally  accepted, 
lor  transverse  geotropism.     Nevertheless,   though   Frank  was 

NO.   1 1 39,  VOL.  44] 


undoubtedly  right,  his  views  were  stronglv  opposed  at  the  time. 
He  held  similar  views  on  the  effect  of  light,  believing  that  the 
power  possessed  by  leaves  of  placing  themselves  at  right  angles 
to  the  direction  of  incident  light  must  be  considered  as  a  new 
type  of  heliotropic  movement,  transverse  or  diaheliotropism. 
Frank's  views  were  criticized  and  opposed  by  De  Vrips  (Sachs's 
Arbeitetty  1872),  who,  by  means  01  experiments  carried  out  in 
the  Wiirzburg  Laboratory,  tried  to  show  that  Frank's  results 
can  be  explained  without  having  resort  to  new  types  of  geo-  or 
heliotropism.  De  Vries  believed,  for  instance,  that  a  leaf  may 
be  apheliotropic  and  apogeotropic,  and  that  its  horizontal  posi- 
tion under  vertical  illumination  is  due  to  a  balance  struck  between 
the  opposing  tendencies,  one  of  which  calls  forth  an  upwan),  the 
other  a  dowcward  curvature. 

The  same  point  of  view  occurs  again  in  Sachs's  paper  on 
**Orthotrope  and  Plagiotrope  Plant -mem  hers"  ( Sachs's  ^r^«V^w, 
1879).  Sachs  holds  to  the  opinion  that  Frank's  theory  is  un- 
tenable, that  it  is  upset  by  De  Vries,  and  that  the  oblique  or 
horizontal  position  is  to  be  explained  as  the  result  of  a  balance 
between  opposing  tendencies. 

In  a  paper  published  the  following  year,  1880  (Journal  Linn. 
Soc.),  I  attempted  to  decide  between  the  opposing  views.  My 
experiments  proved  that  at  least  certain  leaves  can  place 
themselves  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  incident  light 
when  there  is  no  possibility  of  a  balance  being  struck.  The 
outcome  of  my  experiments  was  to  convince  me  that  Frank's 
views  are  correct — namely,  that  the  quality  of  growth  called 
transverse  heliotropism  does  exist. 

This  view  was  accepted  by  my  father  in  the  **  Power  of  Move- 
ment." The  conclusions  of  Vochting,  in  the  Bot.  Zeitung,  1888, 
and  Krabbe  in  Pringsheim's  yahrbiichcr,  1889,  vol.  xx.,  are  on 
the  same  side  of  the  question. 

The  general  result  of  these  confirmations  of  Frank's  concep- 
tion has  been  to  bring  to  the  front  a  belief  in  the  individuality 
of  the  plant  in  deciding  what  shall  be  the  effect  of  external 
conditions.  Such  a  view  does  not  necessarily  imply  irritability 
in  a  strict  sense,  for  Frank  himself  explained  the  facts,  as  we 
shall  see,  in  a  different  way.  But  it  could  not  fail  to  open  our 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  in  growth-curvatures,  as  in  other  relations 
to  environment,  external  changes  are  effective  as  guides  or  sign- 
posts, not  as  direct  causes. 

Frank  saw  clearly  that  plants  may  gain  such  various  aptitudes 
for  reacting  to  light  and  gravitation  as  best  suit  their  modes  of 
life. 

In  stating  this  view,  he  refers  to  the  influence  of  the  "  Origin 
of  Species,  which  had  shown  how  any  qualities  u-eful  to  living 
things  might  be  developed  by  natural  selection.  Frank  described 
the  qualities  thus  gained  under  the  term  polarity.  He  supposed 
that  the  cell -membranes  of  a  transversely  heliotropic  leaf  (for 
instance)  were  so  endowed  that  a  ray  of  light  striking  it  ob- 
liquely from  base  to  apex  produced  an  increase  of  growth  on 
the  side  away  from  the  light  ;  while  a  ray  oblique  from  apex  to 
base  caused  a  reverse  movement.  The  polarity-assumption  of 
Frank  is  a  purely  g-atuitous  one,  and,  if  strictly  interpreted, 
hardly  tends  to  bring  growth-curvatures  into  harmony  with  what 
we  know  of  the  relation  of  life  to  environment. 

It  will  no  doubt  appear  to  be  a  forcing  of  evidence  if,  after 
such  a  statement  as  the  last,  I  still  claim  for  Frank  that  he  led 
the  way  to  our  modern  view  of  irritability.  I  can,  of  course, 
only  judge  of  the  effect  of  his  writings  on  myself,  and  I  feel  sure 
that  they  prepared  me  to  accept  the  modern  views.  It  must 
also  be  insisted  that  Frank,  inspiteof  his  assumption  of  polarity, 
seems  to  have  looked  at  the  phenomena  in  a  manner  not  very 
different  from  ours  of  the  present  day.  Thus,  he  compares  the 
action  of  gravitation  on  plants  to  the  influence  of  the  perception 
of  food  on  a  chicken.  He  speaks,  too,  of  custom  (Journal  Linn. 
Soc,  1880,  p.  91),  or  use,  building  up  the  specialized  *Mnstinct  " 
for  certain  curvatures.  These  are  expressions  consistent  with 
our  present  views,  and  I  think  that  Vines  ("Physiology")  is 
perfectly  just  in  speaking  of  Frank's  belief  in  different  kinds  of 
irritability,  although  in  so  judging  he  may  perhaps  have  followed 
equity  rather  than  law. 

One  of  the  chief  bars  to  the  development  of  our  present  views 
on  irritability  was  the  fact  that  simple  growth  in  length  is  in- 
fluenced, and  markedly  influenced,  by  differences  in  illumina- 
tion. Plants  grow  more  quickly,  cateris  paribus^  in  darkness 
than  in  light.  With  this  fact  to  go  on,  it  was  perfectlv  natural 
that  simple  mechanical  explanations  of  heliotropism  should  be 
made.  De  Candolle,  as  is  well  known,  explained  such  curva- 
tures by  the  more  rapid  growth  of  the  shaded  side.     Thus  it 


4IO 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


■came  about  that  heliotropism  was  discassed,  for  instance*  in 
Sachs's  *' Text-book,"  edit.  4,  1874,  under  the  same  heading 
as  the  influence  of  light  on  rectilinear  groA^th. 

Shortly  afterwards,  in  1876,  a  pupil  of  Sachs — Miiller-Thurgau 
— published  (**  Flora")  a  research  carried  out  in  the  Wiirzburg 
Laboratory,  which  is  of  some  importance.  In  the  introductory 
remarks  he  wrote  : — "  It  has  been  hitherto  supposed  that  helio- 
tropic  curvatures  depend  on  a  difference  in  intensity  of  illumina- 
tion on  the  two  sides.  Sachs  came  to  a  different  opinion  in  his 
work  on  geotropism  :  he  found  himself  compelled  to  believe 
that  in  hsliotropic,  just  as  in  geotropic  curvatures,  it  is  not  a 
question  of  different  intensities  on  opp3site  sides,  but  rather  that 
heliotropic  effect  depends  on  the  direction  of  the  light."' 

Miiller's  research  gave  weight  to  this  union  of  geo-  and  helio- 
tropic effects  by  showing  a  number  of  resemblances  in  the 
manner  and  form  of  the  two  curvatures.  Again,  when  it  was 
found  '  that  apheliolropic  organs  are  influenced  by  light  and 
darkness  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  positively  heliotropic 
ones,  it  became  clear  that  the  mechanical  explanation  of  De  Can- 
doUe  was  untenable  for  negatively  heliotropic  organs,  it  might 
still  no  doubt  l^e  upheld  for  positively  heliotropic  organs,  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  not  so  upheld.  There  was  a  tendency 
to  unify  our  view  of  growth -curvatures,  and  the  union  of  the 
two  forms  of  heliotropism  gave  strength  to  the  movement.  Nor 
was  this  all ;  when  it  became  clear  that  light  did  not  produce 
heliotropic  curvatures  by  direct  mechanical  effect,  it  was  natural 
to  remember  that  gravitation  has  none  either  ;  we  cannot  point 
to  any  reason  (except  the  crudest  ones)  why  the  lower  side  of  a 
horizontal  stem,  or  the  upper  side  of  a  horizontal  root,  should 
grow  the  faster  for  the  direct  effects  of  gravitation.  That  being 
so,  light  and  gravitation  could  be  clashed  together  as  external 
agencies  acting,  not  directly,  but  in  some  unknown  indirect 
manner.  I  do  not  imply  that  such  a  result  followed  immediately, 
but  that  the  line  of  research  above  alluded  to  helped  in  some 
degree  to  lead  the  \^ay  to  a  belief  in  growth-curvatures  as 
phenomena  of  irritability. 

When  my  father  was  writing  our  book,  **  The  Power  of 
Movement  in  Plants"  (1880),  in  which  he  adopted  to  the  fullest 
extent  a  belief  that  growth-curvatures  are  phenomena  of  irrita- 
bility, the  only  modern  statement  of  such  a  view  which  he 
could  find  was  in  a  passage  by  Sachs  {Arbeiten^  ii.,  1879,  p. 
282),  where  he  writes  that  "The  living  material  of  plants  is 
internally  differentiated  in  such  a  way  that  different  parts  are 
supplied  with  specific  energies  resembling  those  of  the  sensory- 
nerves  {Sinnesnerven)  of  animals.  Anisotropy  in  plants  fulfils 
the  same  purpose  as  do  sense-perceptions  in  animals. " 

The  idea  of  irritability  as  applied  to  growth-curvatures  is 
expressed  with  sufficient  clearness  in  "  The  Power  of  Move- 
ment." Thus,  for  the  case  of  geotropi>m  we  wrote  (p.  521) : — 
*'  Different  parts  or  organs  on  the  same  plant,  and  the  same 
part  in  different  species,  are  thus  excited  to  act  in  a  widely 
different  manner.  We  can  see  no  reason  why  the  attraction  of 
gravity  should  directly  modify  the  state  of  turgescence  and  sub- 
sequent growth  of  one  part  on  the  upper  side,  and  of  another 
part  on  the  lower  side.  We  are  therefore  led  to  infer  that  both 
geotropic,  apogeotropic,  and  diageotropic  movements,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  we  can  generally  understand,  have  been  acquired 
for  the  advantage  of  the  plant  by  the  modification  of  the  ever- 
present  movement  of  circumnutalion.  This,  however,  implies 
that  gravitation  produces  some  effect  on  the  young  tissues  suf- 
ficient to  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  plant."  •  A  similar  view  is  given 
for  heliotropism.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  essence  of  the 
view — namely,  that  light  and  gravitation  act  as  guides  or  land- 
marks by  which  the  plant  can  direct  itself — can  be  held  without 
a  belief  in  circumnutation. 

In  Pfeffer's  admirable  "  Pflanzenphy&iologie,"  1881,  the  con- 
ception of  stimulus  and  reaction  is  fully  given,  and  is  applied, 
among  other  cases,  to  that  of  heliotropism  and  geotropism. 
Pfeffer  states  clearly,  and  without  reserve  or  obscuriiy,  the  view 
that  light  and  gravitation  act  as  stimuli  or  releasing  forces,  in 
manners  decided  by  the  organization  of  the  plant.  Pfeffer 
seems  to  mc  to  be  the  first  writer  who  has  treated  the  subject 
fully  and  consistently. 

Ill  Sachs's  **  Vorlesungen"  (1882),  a  view  similar  to  that 
briefly  sketched  in  his  paper  of  1879  is  upheld.     Geotropism 

'  In  his  ''Vorlesungen,"  p.  854,  Sachs  suites  that  he  wrote  Muller- 
Thurgau's  introduction. 

'*  Schmitz,  Linnaa,  x8^?;  MuIIer-Thurgau  ("Flora,"  1876);  F.  Darwin, 
Sachs's  Arheiten^  1880.  fhc  two  latter  researches  were  carried  out  under 
the  direction  of  Sachs  in  his  laboratory. 

NO.    1139,  VOL.   44] 


and  heliotropism  are  described  as  Reiursckeinungen^  i.e.  phe* 
nomena  of  stimulation.  The  phenomena  in  qoestion  are  de- 
scribed under  the  heading  Anisotropy,  a  word  which  expresses, 
according  to  Sachs  (p.  855),  "the  fact  that  different  organs  of 
a  plant  under  the  influence  of  the  same  external  forces  assume 
the  most  varied  directions  of  growth."  In  another  passage 
(p.  859)  he  states  that  the  anisotropy  of  the  different  organs  "is 
nothing  else  than  the  expression  of  their  different  irritability  to 
the  influence  of  gravity  [and]  light,  &c" 

Vines  (**  Physiolc^y  of  Plants"),  who  has  recently  (1886) 
summarized  the  evidence  on  growth-curvatures,  and  whost 
researches  on  kindred  subjects  entitle  his  opinion  to  respect, 
accepts  fully  the  view  that  gravitation,  light,  &c,  act  as  stimuli 
It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  the  subject  further,  the  views 
under  discussion  lieing  now  well-recognized  canons  of  vegetable 
physiology. 

I  cannot,  however,  omit  to  mention  Pfeffer's  {Tu^ing.n, 
Untersuchungen,  vol.  i. )  brilliant  researches  on  the  chemotaiis 
(irritabilitv  to  certain  reagents)  of  low  organisms,  such  as 
anlherozoids  and  bacteria.  To  take  a  single  instance,  Pfeffer 
showed  that  the  antherozoids,  in  responding  to  the  effect  of 
malic  acid,  follow  precisely  the  same  law  that  in  animals  corre- 
!  latei  the  strength  of  stimulus  and  amount  of  effect.  This  result, 
I  although  it  has  no  direct  connection  with  growth-curvatures,  >t 
nevertheless  of  the  highest  importance  in  connection  with  the 
general  question  of  vegetable  irritability. 
I  Nor  can  I  omit  to  mention  the  ingenious  reasoning  by  which 
Noll  (Sachs's  ArdetUn,  vol.  ii.  p.  466)  localized  the  seat  of  irri- 
tability in  a  vegetable  cell.  He  points  out  how  in  acelloiar 
plants,  such  as  Caulerpa  or  Derbcsia,  the  flowing  protoplasm 
may  travel  from  positively  geotropic  root  to  apogeotropic  stem, 
and  he  argues  from  this  that  the  motile  endoplasm  cannot  be 
ihe  seat  of  specific  irritability.  The  flowing  plasma,  which  i« 
always  changing  its  position  with  regard  to  external  forces,  mast 
be  as  fully  mcapacitaied  from  responding  to  them  as  though 
the  plant  were  turning  on  a  klinostat.  It  follows  from  this  that 
it  must  be  the  stationary  ectoplasm  which  perceives  externa! 
change.  From  a  different  point  of  view,  this  is  what  we  should 
expect — we  should  naturally  suppose  that  the  part  which  regu- 
lates the  giOAth  of  the  membrane,  and  therefore  the  curvature 
of  the  cell,  should  be  the  irritable  constituent  of  the  cell 
contents. 

In  attempting  to  trace  the  history  of  the  establishment  of 
growth- curvatures  as  phenomena  of  irritability,  I  have  been 
forced  to  confine  myself  to  a  slight  sketch.  I  have  found  it  im- 
possible to  give  a  full  account  ot  the  course  of  research  on  the 
subject.  I  have  given  an  account  of  some  of  the  halting-places 
in  the  journey  of  thought,  but  not  to  the  manner  in  which  belief 
has  travelled  from  stage  to  stage.  P'ar  greater  knowledge  than 
mine  would  be  required  to  compile  such  an  itinerary. 

The  first  step  in  advance  of  Hofmeister*s  views  was  the  esta- 
blishment that  the  curvatures  under  consideration  are  due  to 
unequal  growth — that  is  to  say,  to  an  excess  of  longitudinal 
growth  on  the  convex  than  the  concave  side.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, easy  to  say  how  far  Hofmeister  had  this  idea,  for  it,  in 
fact,  depends  on  how  we  define  *'  growth."  Hofmeister  knew, 
of  course,  that  the  convex  side  of  a  curved  shoot  was  longer 
than  it  had  been  before  the  curvature  occurred  ;  this  is  a 
mathematical  necessity.  But  he  also  made  out  the  important 
point  that  the  concave  side  increases  in  length  during  the  curva- 
ture. These  permanent  elongations  he  must  have  known  to  be 
growth,  but  his  attention  was  directed  to  what  i?,  after  all,  the 
more  important  point — namely,  7vAy  it  was  that  unequal  elonga- 
tion took  place. 

Sachs,  in  his  **  Experimental  Physiologie,"  held  that  growth- 
curvatures  aredueto  unequal  growth.  In  his  *  *  Text-book  "  (1874), 
English  translation,  1882,  p.  853,  the  author,  refening  to  Hof- 
meister's  work,  says  : — "I  pointed  out  that  the  growth  of  the 
under  surface  of  an  organ  capable  of  curving  upwards  was 
accelerated,  and  that  of  the  upper  surface  retarded  ;  I  did  not 
at  the  time  express  an  opinion  as  to  whether  these  modifications 
of  growth  were  due  to  an  altered  distribution  of  plastic  material 
or  to  a  change  in  the  extensibility  of  the  passive  layers  of  tissue." 
Frank's  already- quoted  paper  made  valuable  contributions  to 
the  subject.  He  showed  that  the  epidermic  cells  on  the  convex 
side  of  the  root  are  longer  than  those  on  the  concave  side — that 
is,  they  have  grown  more  ;  he  explained  apogeotropic  corvatures 
in  precisely  the  same  way.     He  showed,  moreover,    that  the 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


411 


shtrp  curve  close  to  the  tip  of  a  geotrcpic  root,  and  the  loDg 
gradual  cunre  of  ao  apogeotropic  shoot,  are  necessary  conse- 
quences from  the  manner  m  which  growth  is  distributed  in  these 
parts.  He  demonstrated  that  rectilinear  growth  and  geotropic 
curvature  require  the  same  external  conditions ;  that,  for  in- 
staoce,  a  temperature  low  enough  to  check  growth  also  puts  a 
stop  to  geotropism. 

The  distribution  of  longitudinal  growth,  which  produces  geo- 
tropism, was  afterwards  studied  by  Sachs  {Arbtiien,  i.  p.  193, 
Jnne  187 1),  who  thoroughly  established  the  fact  that  the  convex 
side  grows  faster,  while  the  concave  side  grows  slower,  than  if 
the  organ  had  remained  vertical  and  uncurved. 

These  facts  are  of  interest  in  themselves,  but  they  do  not, 
any  more  than  Frank's  results,  touch  the  root  of  the  matter. 
Until  we  know  something  of  the  mechanics  of  rectilinear 
growth,  we  cannot  expect  to  understand  curves  produced  by 
growth.  The  next  advance  in  our  knowledge  did,  in  fact, 
accompany  advancing  knowledge  of  rectilinear  growth.  It 
began  to  be  established,  through  Sachs's  work,  that  turgescence 
is  a  necessary  condition  of  growth.  A  turge^cent  cell  is  one 
which  is,  as  it  were,  over-611ed  with  cell  sap  ;  its  cell- walls  are 
stretched  by  the  hydrostatic  pressure  existing  within.  In 
osmosis,  which  gives  the  forre  by  which  the  cells  are  stretched, 
a  force  was  at  hand  by  which  growth  could  be  conceived  to  be 
caused.  The  first  clear  definition  of  turgor,  and  a  statement  of 
it.s  importance  for  growth,  occurs  in  Sachs's  classical  paper  on 
growth  {Arbeitittf  p.  104,  August  1871). 

As  soon  as  the  importance  of  turgor  in  relation  to  growth 
was  clearly  put  forward,  it  was  natural  that  its  equal  importance 
wiih  regard  to  growth- curvatures  should  come  to  the  fore,  and 
that  increased  growth  on  the  convex  side  (leading  to  curvature) 
should  be  put  down  to  increased  internal  cell- pressure  in  those 
tissues.  In  the  fourth  edition  of  Sachs's  "Lehrbuch  "  (1874), 
£ng.  trans.,  1882,  p.  834,  such  a  view  is  tentatively  given,  but  the 
author  saw  very  clearly  that  much  more  evidence  was  needed 
before  anything  like  a  conclusion  as  to  the  mechanism  of  move- 
ment could  be  arrived  at.  I'he  difficulty  which  faced  him  was 
not  a  new  one — in  a  slightly  different  form  it  had  occurred  to 
Hofmeister— ihe  question,  namely,  whether  the  curvatures  of 
acellular  an  I  molticellular  organs  depend  on  the  same  or  on 
different  causes.  If  one  explanation  is  applicable  to  both,  then 
we  must  give  up  as  a  primary  cause  any  changes  in  the  osmotic 
force  of  the  cells.  For  no  change  in  the  pressure  inside  a  cell 
«il]  produce  a  curvature  in  that  cell,  whereas,  in  a  multicellular 
organ,  if  in  the  cells  in  one  longitudinal  half  an  increase  of 
osmotic  substances  takes  place,  so  that  the  cell-walls  are  subject 
to  gi eater  stretching  force,  curvature  will  take  place. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  cause  of  bending  of  acellular  and 
multicellular  organs  is  the  same,  we  must  believe  that  the  curva- 
ture takes  its  origin  in  changes  in  the  cell-walls.  In  an  acellular 
organ,  if  the  cell- membranes  yield  symmetrically  to  internal 
pressure,  growth  will  be  in  a  straight  line ;  if  it  yields  asym- 
metrically it  will  curve.  Thus,  if  the  membrane  along  one  side 
of  a  cell  becomes  more  or  less  resisting  than  the  rest  of  the 
membrane,  a  curvature  will  result. 

If  we  are  to  apply  strictly  the  same  principle  to  acellular  and 
multicellular  organs,  we  must  suppose  that  the  whole  organ 
curves,  because  each  individual  cell  behaves  like  one  of  the 
above-described  free  cells,  the  curvature  of  the  whole  resulting 
from  the  sum  of  the  curves  of  the  separate  cells.  This  was 
Frank's  view,  and  it  also  occurs  in  Sachs  s  "Text-book  "  (1874), 
Eng.  trans.,  1882,  p.  842. 

Are  we  bound  to  believe  that  the  mechanism  of  acellular  and 
multicellular  curvatures  is  so  strictly  identical  as  Frank  sup- 
posed ?  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  clear  why  there  should  be 
identity  of  mechanism  in  the  movements  of  organs  or  plants  of 
completely  different  types  of  structure.  The  upholders  of  the 
identity  chiefly  confine  themselves  to  asseveration  that  a  common 
explanation  must  apply  to  both  cases.  I  believe  that  light  may 
be  thrown  on  the  matter  by  considering  turgescence,  not  in 
relation  to  growth,  but  in  regard  to  stability  of  structure. 

An  acellular  organ,  such  as  the  stalk  of  the  sporangium  of 
Mucor,  owes  its  strength  and  stiffness  to  the  tension  between  the 
ceil  contents  and  the  elastic  cell-wall,  but  it  does  not  follow  from 
this  that  in  multicellular  organs  strength  and  stiffness  are  due  to 
the  sum  of  the  strength  of  its  individual  cells.  Indeed,  we  know 
that  it  is  not  so  :  the  strength  of  a  multicellular  organ  depends 
on  the  tension  between  pith  and  cortex.  It  is,  in  facr,  a  model 
of  the  single  cell ;  the  pith  represents  the  cell-sap,  the  cortex 
the  cell-wall.    .Here,  then,  it  is  clear  that  the  function  performed 

NO.    II 39,  VOL.  44] 


by  the  cell-wnll  in  one  case  is  carried  out  by  cortical  tissues  in 
the  other.  If  this  is  the  case  for  one  function,  there  is  no 
reason  why  ii  should  not  hold  gocd  in  another,  viz.  the  machinery 
of  movement. 

If  we  hold  this  view  that  the  cortex  in  one  case  is  analogous 
with  a  simple  membrane  in  the  other,  we  shall  not  translate  the 
unity  of  acellular  and  multicellular  organs  so  strictly  as  did 
Frank.  Indeed,  we  may  fairly  consider  it  harmonious  with  our 
knowledge  in  other  departments  to  find  similar  functions  per- 
formed by  morphologically  different  parts.  The  cortex  of  a 
geotropic  shoot  would  thus  be  analogous  with  the  membrane  of 
a  geotropic  cell  in  regard  to  movement,  just  as  we  know  that 
these  parts  are  analogous  in  regard  to  stability. 

In  spite  of  the  difficulties  sketched  above,  one  writer  of  the 
first  rank,  namely,  H.  de  Vries,  has  upheld  the  view  that  growth- 
curvatures  in  multicellular  organs  {Bot,  Zeitungy  1879,  p.  835), 
are  due  to  increased  cell-pressure  on  the  convex  side  ;  the  rise  in 
hydrostatic  pressure  being  put  down  to  increase  of  osmotic  sub- 
stances in  the  cell-sap  of  the  tissues  in  question.  Such  a  theory 
flowed  naturally  from  De  Viies's  interesting  plasmolytic  work 
{ibid.  1877,  p.  i).  He  had  shown  that  those  sections  of  a 
turgescent  shoot  which  were  in  most  rapid  growth  show  the 
greatest  amount  of  shortening  when  turgescence  is  removed  by  plas- 
molysis.  This  was  supposed  to  show  that  growth  is  proportional  10 
the  stretching  or  elongation  of  the  cell-walls  by  turgor.  Growth, 
according  to  this  view,  consists  of  two  processes  :  (i)  of  a  icm- 
porary  elongation  due  to  turgescence,  and  (2)  of  a  fixing  process 
by  which  the  elongation  is  rendered  permanent.  De  X'ries 
assumed  that  where  the  elongation  occurred,  its  amount  must  be 
proportional  to  the  osmotic  activity  of  the  cell  contents ;  thus 
neglecting  the  other  factor  in  the  problem — ^namely,  the  vari- 
ability in  the  resistance  of  the  membranes.  He  applied  the 
plasmolytic  method  to  growth-curvatures,  and  made  the  same 
deductions.  He  found  that  a  curved  organ  shows  a  flatter 
curve  *  after  being  plasmolyzed.  This,  according  to  his  previous 
argument,  shows  that  the  cell-sap  on  the  convex  is  more  power- 
fully osmotic  than  that  on  the  concave  side.  This  again  leads  to 
increased  cell-stretching,  and  finally  to  increased  growth. 

The  most  serious  objection  to  De  Vrics's  views  is  that  the 
convex  half  of  a  curving  organ  does  not  contain  a  greater  amount 
of  osmotically  active  substance. ^  It  must,  however,  be  noted  in 
the  heliotropic  and  geotropic  curvature  of  pulvini,  there  is  an 
osmotic  difleience  between  the  two  halves'* — so  that,  if  the 
argument  Irom  uniformity  is  used  against  De  Vries  (in  the 
matter  of  acellular  and  multicellular  organs),  it  may  fairly  be 
used  in  his  favour  as  regards  the  comparison  of  curvatures  pro- 
duced with  and  without  pulvini. 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  extent  to  which  De  Vries's  views 
on  the  mechanics  of  growth-curvature  were  accepted.  The 
point,  however,  is  of  no  great  importance,  for  the  current  of 
conviction  soon  began  to  run  in  an  opposite  direction.^ 

Sachs  ("  Lehrbuch,"  ed.  4,  Eng.  trans,  p.  835)  had  already 
pointed  out  that  attention  should  be  directed  to  changes  in 
exteni-ibiliiy  of  cell-walls  as  an  important  factor  in  the  problem. 

Wiesner,  in  his  **  Heliotropische  Erscheinungen "  {H  tetter 
Siizttttgsb,,  vol.  Ixxxi.,  1880,  p.  7  ;  also  in  the  DenkschnJUn, 
1882),  held  that  the  curvature  of  multicellular  organs  is  due  boih 
to  an  increase  of  osmotic  force  on  the  convex  side,  and  to  in- 
creased ductility*  of  the  membranes  of  the  same  part.  He 
repeated  De  Vries's  plasmolytic  experiments,  and  made  out  the 
curious  fact  that  in  many  cases  the  curvature  is  increased  instead 
of  being  diminished.  He  attributed  the  result  to  the  concave 
tissues  being  more  perfectly  elastic  than  ductile  convex  tissues, 
so  that  when  turgescence  is  removed,  the  more  elastic  tissues 
shorten  most,  and,  by  diminishing  the  length  of  the  concave  side, 
increase  the  curvature. 

Strasburger,  in  his  *'  Zellhiiute"  (1882),  suggested  that  growth- 
curvatures  are  due  to  increased  ductility  ol  the  convex  mem- 
branes, and  gave  a  number  of  instances  to  prove  that  a  chanije 
to  a  ductile  condition  does  occur  in  other  physiological  proccisej, 
such  as  the  stretching  of  the  cellulose  ring  in  CK  logonium  to  a 

*  Frank  made  similar  experimenis,  but  fiiiled  to  find  any  dimioutJon  cf 
curvature. 

a  Kraus,  Abhand.  jVaL  Gfscll  zu  HalU,  xv.,  i88a.  See  also  a  difterent 
proof  by  Wortmann,  Deutsch   Bot.  Gestu'i.,  1887.  p.  459. 

S  Hilburgin  Pfeffer's  Tubingen.  Untfrsuch.,  vol.  1.,  z88i,  p.  31. 

^  An  opportunity  will  occur  later  o.n  for  referring  to  some  details  of  De 
Vries's  work  not  yet  n  ^ticed. 

5  Weinzierl,  Sitzungsb  IVien..  1877,  showed  that  strips  of  epidermis  taken 
iff  the  convex  side  of  heliorop-.cally  curved  flower-stalks  of  tulip  and 
hyacinth  w«.re  about  twice  as  extensible  when  stretched  by  a  small  weight. 
7*5  grammes,  as  approximately  c  )rre«pondmg  htnps  for  the  concave  side. 


412 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


uniform  thin  membrane,  the  branching  of  Cladophora,  and  the 
escape  of  sexual  products  in  certain  Algse. 

We  now  pass  on  to  the  work  of  two  observers,  Wortmann  and 
Noll,  who  have  devoted  special  attention  to  mechanism  of  curva- 
tures. Wortmann  {Bot.  Zeitt  1887,  p.  785)  started  on  the 
a«^umption,  already  several  times  mentioned,  that  the  growth- 
curvature  of  acellular  and  multicellular  oi^ans  must  have  a 
common  cause.  He  began  by  testing  Kohl's  statement  {Bot. 
HeftCf  Marburg,  Heft  v.  [I  have  not  seen  Kohl's  paper])  that  when 
the  sporangiferous  hypha  of  a  Phycomyces  curves  apogeotropically 
or  heliotropically,  &c.,  there  is  a  collection  of  protoplasm  on  the 
concave  wall.  Wortmann  principally  investigated  the  curvature 
discovered  in  Phycomyces  by  Errera  {Bot.  Zeitung^  1884)  which 
can  be  produced  by  contact.  When  the  hypha  is  touched  with 
a  glass  filament  or  with  a  platinum  wire,  or  by  allowing  a  speck 
of  indian  ink  to  dry  on  it,  it  curves  over  towards  the  touched 
side.  The  hypha  is  so  highly  sensitive  to  contact  that  it  curves 
in  from  three  to  six  minutes  ;  it  is  clearly  a  growth-curvature, 
for  it  only  occurs  in  the  part  of  the  hypha  which  is  growing.  In 
curvatures  thus  produced,  as  well  as  in  apogeotropic  and  helio- 
tropic  curvatures,  the  accumulation  of  protoplasm  on  the 
concave  side  is,  according  to  Wortmann,  clearly  visible,  and, 
what  is  more  important,  the  membrane  becomes  thicker  on  the 
concave  side,  sometimes  twice  as  thick  as  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  cell.  In  consequence  of  the  unequal  thickening  of  the 
membranes,  the  cell  is  supposed  to  yield  asymmetrically  cell- 
pressure,  and  the  necessary  consequence  is  that  the  cell  grows 
into  a  curved  form. 

In  applying  the  same  method  of  investigation  to  multicellular 
parts,  Wortmann  f>llowed  Ciesielski  (Cohn's  **Beitrage,"  1872, 
p.  i),  who  noticed  that  in  geotropically  curved  roots  the  cells  of 
the  concave  (lower)  side  of  the  organ  are  much  more  densely 
filled  with  protoplasm  than  are  the  convex  cells.  Sachs 
("  Vorlesuugen,"  p.  842)  describes  a  similar  state  of  things  in 
the  halms  of  grasses,  and  Kohl,  again,  in  tendrils  and  the  stems 
of  climbing  plants. 

Wortmann  first  of  all  made  sure  that  no  redistribution  of  proto- 
plasm could  be  observed  in  the  individual  cells  of  curving  multi- 
cellular organs.  If  each  cell  behaved  independently  like  a  free 
cell,  we  might  expect  to  find  a  collection  of  protoplasm  on  the 
concave  wall  of  all  the  constituent  cells  of  a  curving  shoot. 
But  this  is  not  the  case.  Nor  at  first  could  any  microscopic 
differences  be  made  out  between  the  concave  and  convex  tissues 
of  a  curving  shoot.  But  when  the  stimulus  was  made  to  act  for 
a  long  time,  differences  were  apparent.  A  young  Phaseolus 
plant  was  placed  so  that  the  epicotyl  was  horizontal  and  was 
forced  to  grow  in  the  horizontal  direction  by  a  thread  attached 
to  the  end  of  the  stem,  passing  over  a  pulley  and  fastened  to 
a  weight.  Here  the  geotropic  stimulus  could  continue  to  act 
for  24-36  hours,  and  under  such  conditions  a  marked  change  in 
the  tissues  was  visible.  The  cells  of  the  cortex  on  the  upper 
side  became  densely  filled  with  protoplasm,  while  the  lower  cor- 
tical cells  were  relatively  poor  in  protoplasmic  contents.  The 
same  changes  in  the  membranes  occur  as  those  noticed  in  Phy- 
comyces—that  is  to  say,  the  walls  of  the  cortex  on  the  upper  side 
are  very  much  thicker  than  those  on  the  lower  side.^ 

Since  the  walls  of  the  cortical  cells  have  become  more  resisting 
on  the  upper  than  on  the  lower  side,  then  (assuming  the  osmotic 
expanding  force  to  be  the  same  in  both  cases)  the  growth  will 
be  quicker  on  the  lower  side,  and  the  shoot  will  curve  upwards. 
Wortmann  states  that  his  observations  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  convex  side  grows  quicker,  not  merely  than  the  concave,  but 
than  a  normal  unbent  shoot.  But  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
compared  the  thickness  of  the  convex  cell-walls  with  the  normal, 
although  he  states  that  they  are  poorer  in  protoplasm  than  is 
usual,  and  from  this  it  may,  according  to  his  views,  be  perhaps 
assumed  that  the  membranes  are  abnormally  thin. 

Wortmann  points  out  that  his  views  account  for  two  well- 
known  features  in  growth-curvatures,  viz.  the  latent  period  2Si^ 
the  after-effect.  If  a  curvature  can  only  occur  when  a  difference 
in  structure  of  cell-walls  has  arisen,  it  is  certainly  natural  that 
some  time  should  occur  before  the  curvature  is  apparent.  I  do 
not  lay  much  stress  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  as  I  feel  sure  the 
whole  question  of  latent  period  needs  further  investigation. 
With  regard  to  after-effect  it  is  true  that  Wortmann's  views  ac- 
count for  the  continuance  of  curvature  after  the  stimulus  has 
ceased  to  act. 

Wortmann  attaches  great  importance  to  another  point  in  his 

'  Both  protoplasmic  change  and  thickeniog  of  cell-walls  occur  to  some  ex- 
«ot  in  the  pith. 


NO.    I  1  39,  VOL.  44] 


theory,  which,  could  it  be  established,  would  be  of  the  greatest 
interest,  and  would  unite  under  a  common  ix>iDt  of  view,  not 
only  acellular  and  multicellular  organs,  but  also  naked  proto- 
plasm, e,g.  the  Plasmodia  of  myxomycetes.  The  view  in  ques- 
tion was  tentatively  suggested  by  Sachs  ("  Lehrbucb/'  1874; 
£ng.  trans..  1882,  p.  841),  and  mentioned  by  Pfeffer  ('*  Pfianzen- 
physiologie,"  ii.  p.  331)  in  a  ^imiIar  spirit.  The  apogeotropic 
curvature  of  a  Phycomyces-hypha  is  suppose*!  to  be  due  to  the 
unequal  thickening  of  the  membrane  on  the  upper  and  lower 
sides,  and  this  to  t}e  due  to  the  migration  of  protoplasm  from 
the  lower  to  the  upper  side  of  the  cell.  In  the  same  way  in  a 
multicellular  organ  the  p-otoplasm  is  supposed  to  migrate  from 
the  lower  cortex  and  pith  to  the  upper  cortex  and  pith,  sach 
migration  being  rendered  possible  by  the  now  generally  ad- 
mitted intercellular  protoplasmic  communication.  Thus  the 
apogeotropism  of  a  cell  or  a  multicellular  part  would  be  doe  :o 
the  apogeotropism  or  tendency  to  migrate  vertically  upwards  of 
the  protoplasm.  There  are  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  ac- 
cepting this  attractive  theory. 

Noll  (Sachs's  Arbeiten,  1888,  p.  530)  states  that  when  a 
curved  Phycomyces-hypha,  in  which  protoplasm  has  accamulated 
in  the  upper  (concave)  side,  is  reversed  so  that  the  mass  of  proto- 
plasm is  below,  it  does  not  migrate  upward  again,  as  might  be 
expected.  Moreover,  he  points  ont  that  in  Nitella  and  in  Brjop- 
sis  the  circulating  protoplasm  continues  in  movement,  and  does 
not  accumulate  in  any  part  of  the  cell.  Lastly,  there  seems,  z% 
Noll  points  out,  a  difficulty  in  believing  in  the  migration  of  proto- 
plasm through  the  very  minute  pores  by  which  the  plasma 
strands  pass  from  cell  to  cell.  There  seems  much  probability 
in  Noll's  view  that  the  plasmic  strands  only  serve  for  the  pasr 
sage  of  impulses,  or  molecular  changes,  and  that  they  consist  of 
ectoplasm  alone,  not  of  the  endoplasm  which  Wortmann  de- 
scribes as  the  migratory  constituent  of  the  cell. 

Wortmann's  theory  has  been  criticized  by  Elfving  {Fimka 
Vet.  Soc.  ForAand.,  Helsingfors,  Bd.  xxx.,  1888).  The  essence 
of  Elfving's  paper  is  that  appearances  similar  to  those  described 
by  Wortmann  can  he  produced  by  curvatures  not  due  to  stimu- 
lation. Thus,  when  Phycomyces  is  made  to  grow  against  a 
glass  plate  it  is  mechanically  forced  to  bend.  Yet  here,  where 
there  is  no  question  of  stimulation,  the  plasma  collects  along  the 
concave  side  of  the  cell.  Elfving  concludes  that  the  visible 
changes  are  the  result  and  nut  the  cause  of  the  curvature.  Elf- 
ving also  produced  curvature  in  Phaseolus  by  bending  the  apex 
of  the  plant  towards  its  base  and  tying  in  that  position.  Under 
these  conditions  the  convex  side  of  the  shoot  showed  the  change 
described  by  Wortmann  in  geotropic  plants.  Here  again  Elf- 
ving gives  reason  to  believe  that  the  thickening  of  the  cell-wails 
is  a  result,  not  of  curvature,  but  of  strain  mechanically  produced. 
When  a  plant  is  prevented  from  executing  an  apogeotropic 
movement  it  is  clear  that  a  longitudinal  strain  is  put  on  the 
upper  (concave)  side.  But  the  longitudinal  strain  in  Elfviog's 
plants  is  on  the  convex  side.  Therefore,  if,  as  Elfving  believes, 
the  visible  changes  are  due  to  strain,  they  should,  as  they  do, 
occur  on  the  convex  side  in  his  experiments,  on  the  concave  in 
Wortmann's. 

Wortmann  replied  in  the  Bot.  Zeitung,  1888,  p.  469,  and  at- 
tempted to  explain  how  Elfving's  results  might  be  explained  and 
yet  nis  own  theory  hold  good.  The  reply  is  by  no  means  so 
strong  as  the  criticism,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  Elfving  has 
seriously  shaken  Wortmann's  argument. 

Somewhat  similar  criticisms  have  been  made  by  Noll  (Sachs's 
Arbeiten,  1 888,  p.  496).  In  the  acellular  plants,  Derbesia 
and  Bryopsis,  Noll  studied  growth-curvatures,  and  was  quite  on- 
able  to  detect  any  thickening  of  the  concave  cell-walls,  except 
when  the  curvatures  were  very  sudden,  and  in  these  cases  the 
result  could  equally  well  be  produced  by  mechanical  bending. 

Noll  further  points  out  what  is  undoubtedly  a  fault  in  Wort- 
mann's theory — namely,  that  he  explains  the  retardation  on  t)K 
concave  rather  than  acceleration  on  the  convex  side.  This  ciiii' 
cism  is  only  partially  just,  for  though  Wortmann's  description 
only  shows  a  relative  thinness  of  the  walls  on  the  convex  side, 
yet  it  is  clear  he  believed  there  to  be  an  absolute  diminution  of 
resisting  power  on  that  side. 

Noll's  experiments  with  grass  halms  show  clearly  that  accelera* 
tion  of  growth  on  the  convex  side  is  the  primary  change,  rather 
than  retardation  along  the  concave  half.  When  the  halms  are 
fixed  in  horizontal  glass  tubes,  so  that  they  are  stimulated  bn: 
unable  to  bend,  the  lower  half  of  the  pulvinus  forms  an  irregular 
out-growth,  increasing  radially  since  it  is  not  able  to  increase 
longitudinally. 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


41 


A  similar  argument  may  be  drawn  from  Elfving's  experiments. 
He  foand  that  the  pulvini  of  grass  halms  placed  on  the  klinostat 
increase  in  length.  This  experiment  shows  incidentally  that  the 
klinostat  does  not  remove  but  merely  distribute  equally  the  geo- 
tropic  stimulus :  also  that  geotropic  stimulus  leads  to  increased, 
not  to  diminished  growth.  The  same  thing  is  proved  by  the 
simple  fact  that  a  grass  halm  shows  no  growth  in  its  pulvinus 
while  it  is  vertical,  so  that  when  curvature  begins  (on  its  being 
placed  horizontal)  it  must  be  due  to  acceleration  on  the  convex, 
since  there  is  no  growth  on  the  concave  side  in  which  retardation 
could  occur.  Noll's  view  is  that  the  primary  change  is  an  in- 
crease in  extensibility  of  the  tissues  on  the  convex  side.  This 
view  he  proceeded  to  test  experimentally.  A  growing  shoot  was 
fixed  in  a  vertical  position,  and  a  certain  bending  force  was  ap- 
plied to  make  it  curve  out  of  the  vertical,  first  to  the  right  and 
then  to  the  left.  If  the  cortical  tissues  are,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  experiment,  equally  resisting  all  round,  it  is  clear  that  the 
excursions  from  the  vertical  to  the  right  and  left  will  be  equal. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  excursions  to  the  right  and  left  were 
nearly  the  same,  and  the  difference  was  applied  as  a  correction 
to  I  he  subsequent  result.  The  shoot  was  then  placed  horizon- 
tally until  geotropic  or  other  curvature  was  just  beginning,  when 
the  above  bending  experiment  was  repeated.  It  was  then  found 
that  when  it  was  bent  so  that  the  lower  side  was  made  convex, 
the  excursion  was  greater  than  it  had  been.  In  the  few  experi- 
ments given  by  Noll  the  excursion  in  the  opposite  direction 
(stretching  of  the  concave  side)  was  less  than  it  had  been,  and 
he  states  that  all  the  other  experiments  showed  a  similar  result 
The  increased  extensibility  of  the  convex  side  is  clearly  the  most 
striking  part  of  the  phenomenon,  but  I  fail  to  see  why  Noll  takes 
so  little  notice  of  the  diminution  in  the  extensibility  of  the  con- 
cave side,  which  is  only  mentioned  towards  the  end  of  his  paper 
{loc.  cit,  p.  529).  Yet  such  a  diminution  is  a  necessary  factor 
in  the  mechanism  of  curvature.  It  should  be  noted  that 
results  like  Noll's  might  be  obtained  under  other  conditions 
of  growth  curvatures.  Thus  if  De  Vries's  view  were  the  true  one, 
and  the  curvature  were  due  to  difference  in  osmotic  force  on  the 
convex  and  concave  sides,  the  shoot  would  react  differently  in 
the  two  directions  ;  for  instance,  the  concave  side  would  be  the 
more  easily  compresseJ.  Noll  and  Wortmann's  explanations 
differ  in  this :  the  former  lays  the  greater  stress  on  the  increased 
extensibility  of  the  convex  side,  the  latter  on  the  diminution  of 
that  of  the  concave  side.  Again,  Wortmann  explains  the  dif- 
ference in  extensibility  as  due  to  differences  in  thickness  of  the 
cell-walls.  Noll  gives  no  mechanical  explanation,  but  assumes 
that  the  ectoplasm  has  the  power  of  producing  changes  in  the 
quality  of  the  cell-wall  in  some  unknown  way. 

In  the  early  stages  of  curvature,  a  phenomenon  takes  place  to 
which  Noll  attaches  great  importance  as  supporting  his  view. 
When  a  curved  organ  is  plasmolyzed,  it  suffers  a  diminution  of 
curvature,  as  De  Vries  showed,  but  Noll  ^  has  proved  that  in  the 
early  stages  of  curvature  a  contrary  movement  occurs — that  is  to 
say,  the  curvature  is  increased.  This  seems  to  show  that  the 
yielding  of  the  convex  side  is  owing  to  a  ductility,  which  pre- 
vents its  holding  its  own  against  the  more  perfect  elasticity  of 
the  concave  side.  But  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  phe- 
nomenon ;  as  the  plasmolyzing  agent  continues  to  act,  a  reverse 
movement  takes  place,  the  well-known  flattening  of  the  curva- 
ture described  by  De  Vries.  It  is  to  me  incomprehensible  how 
in  a  given  condition  of  cell- walls  these  results  can  occur  in  dif- 
ferent stages  of  plasmolysis.  I  can  understand  one  occurring 
when  the  curvature  is  recent,  and  the  other,  the  flattening  of  the 
curve,  occurring  when  the  ductile  convex  parts  have  reacquired 
elasticity.  The  fact  undoubtedly  is  as  Noll  describes  it :  his 
explanation  seems  to  me  inadequate. 

We  have  n  >w  seen  that  the  most  acceptable  theory  of  the 
machinery  of  these  curvatures  is  in  its  main  features  akin  to 
Hofmeister's,  the  power  of  elongation  supplying  the  motive  force, 
while  the  varying  extensibility  of  the  membranes  determines  the 
nature  and  direction  of  the  bend. 

The  question  now  arises :  Is  it  possible  by  these  means  to 
account  for  all  the  facts  that  must  be  explained  ?  Taking  the 
theory  for  which  there  is  most  to  be  said  on  experimental 
grounds — viz.  Noll's — it  will  be  noted  that  it  is  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  doctrine  of  growth  by  apposition.  The  question, 
therefore,  whether  the  apposition-theory  is  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  phenomena  of  ordinary  growth,  may  be  applied  mutatis 
mutaftdis  to  growth- curvature.  This  doctrine  in  its  original 
purity  absolutely  requires  turgescence  to  account  for  the  elonga- 

'  The  similar  results  obtained  by  Wiesn?r  are  noticed  aSove. 
NO.   1 1 39,  VOL.  44] 


tion  of  growth.  The  older  layers,  separated  from  the  ecloplasm 
by  the  younger  layers  of  cell-wall,  can  only  be  elongated  by 
traction.  Growth  by  intussusception  does  not  absolutely  re- 
quire this  force  ;  the  theory  that  the  micellae  are  separated  by 
traction,  and  thus  allow  intercalation  of  fresh  micellae,  i^  a  view 
for  which  Sachs  is  chiefly  responsible. 

Since  surface- growth  by  apposition  is  absolutely  dependent  on 
the  traction  exercised  by  cell-pressure,  it  is  a  fair  question — how 
far  growth  is  influenced  by  forcible  elongation.  Baranetzky 
(Mefn.  Acad.  St.  JPt't.,  v.  vol  xxvii.  p.  20)  states  that  when  a 
plant  is  subject  to  traction,  as  by  even  a  small  weight  attached 
to  the  free  end,  the  rate  of  growth  is  lowered.  Ambronn 
(Pringsheim's  ^a^r^.,  xii.),  as  Zimmermaim  points  out  in  the 
same  connection,  found  no  increased  elongation  of  collenchyma 
when  stretched  for  some  days  by  means  of  a  weight.  A  greater 
difficulty  is  that  growth  may  be  absolutely  and  at  once  stopped 
by  placing  the  growing  organ  in  an  atmosphere  free  from  oxygen 
(Wieler,  Pfeffer's  Uniersuch.^  Bd.  i.  p.  189).  Such  treatment 
apparently  does  not  dimini^h  turgescence,  yet  growth  stops. 
If  the  cell-walls  are  increasing  in  length  by  mechanical  stretch- 
ing, and  if  the  turgor  is  not  intetfrred  with,  increase  in  length 
ought  to  continue.  The  same  thing  applies  to  curvatures. 
Wortmann  has  shown  {Bot.  Zeit.^  1884,  p.  705)  that  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  pure  hydrogen  a  geotropic  curvature  which  has  begun 
in  ordinary  air  cannot  continue ;  in  other  words,  after-effect 
ceases.  '1  his  seems  to  me  inexplicable  on  Noll's  or  Wortmann's 
theories;  the  convex  side  has  become  more  extensible  than  the 
concave,  turgescence,  as  far  as  we  know,  cmtinues,  yet  no  after- 
effect is  observed.  The  same  result  may  be  gathered  from 
Askenasy's^  interesting  experiments  on  the  growth  of  roots. 
He  showed  that  lowering  the  temperature  has  an  almost  instan- 
taneous inhibitive  effect  on  growth.  Thus  maize  roots  (at  a 
temperature  of  26®'6)  growing  at  the  rate  of  33  divisions  of  the 
micrometer  per  hour,  were  placed  in  water  at  5°,  and  absolutely 
no  growth  occurred  during  the  following  ten  minutes,  in  which 
the  thermometer  rose  to  6*"5.  This  result  is  all  the  more  valuable 
because  we  know  from  Askenasy's  ^  other  results  that  the  turgor, 
as  estimated  by  plasmolytic  shortening,  is  about  the  same 
whether  the  root  is  in  full  growth  or  not  growing  at  all.  This  is 
not  conclusive,  for  if  the  growing  cell-walls  were  ductile  they 
might  shorten  but  little  although  under  great  pressure,  whereas 
the  non-growing  cells  might  shorten  a  good  deal,  owing  to  their 
more  perfect  elasticity  ;  *  therefore  Askenasy's  plasmolytic 
results  are  not  in  this  particular  connection  of  great  impK)rtance, 
except  as  showing  that  the  non-growing  roots  were  certainly  to 
some  extent  turgescent. 

There  are  other  facts  which  make  it  extremely  difficult  to 
understand  how  surface-growth  can  depend  on  cell- pressure. 
Nageli  (*'  Starkekorner,"  p.  279)  pointed  out  that  the  growth  of 
cylindrical  cells  which  elongate  enormously  without  bulging  out- 
wards laterally,  is  not  explicable  by  simple  internal  pressure. 
An  internodal  cell  of  Nitella  increases  to  2000  times  its  original 
length,  while  it  only  becomes  ten  times  as  wide  as  it  was  at 
first.  The  filaments  of  Spirogyra  become  very  long,  and  keep 
their  original  width.  Nageli  found  that  in  Spirogyra  the 
shortening  produced  by  plasmolysis  was  practically  the  same  in 
the  longitudinal  and  in  the  transverse  direction.  He  therefore 
concluded  that  the  growth  of  Spirogyra  cannot  be  accounted  for 
by  the  cell-wall  being  differently  extensible  along  different  axes. 
But  it  must  once  more  be  pointed  out  that  this  type  of  plasmo- 
lytic experiment  has  not  the  force  which  Nageli  ascribes  to  it. 
If  the  cell-wall  stretched  like  putty  in  one  direction  and  like 
india-rubber  in  the  other,  there  might  be  no  plasmolytic  shorten- 
ing in  the  line  of  greatest  growth.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of 
this  flaw  in  N.-igeli's  argument,  great  elongation  in  a  single  direc- 
tion remains  a  problem  for  those  who  believe  in  surface-growth 
by  apposition. 

The  point  of  special  interest  is  that  differences  in  extensibility 
in  different  directions  cannot  be  supposed  to  exist  in  a  homo- 
geneous membrane.  If  any  purely  physical  characters  can 
explain  the  facts,  they  must  be  architectural  characters.  That 
is  to  say,  we  must  be  able  to  appeal  to  remarkable  structural 
differences  along  different  axes  if  we  are  to  explain  the  facts. 

*  Deutsch.  Bot.  Gtrs.,  1890,  p.  61.  This  paper  contains  an  excellent  dis- 
cussion on  the  mechanics  of  growth,  to  which  I  am  much  Indebted. 

'  Loc,  cit.  p.  71. 

3  Wicsner  \Sitz.  li^ien.  Akcul.,  1884,  vol.  Ixxxix.-xc,  Abth.  L  p.  223) 
showed  that  under  certain  conditions  decapitated  roots  grow  much  more 

Quickly  than  normal  ones,  yet  the  amount  of  plasmolytic  shortening  is  less, 
decapitated:   growth  79  per  cent.;  {ilasnolytic  shortening,  8  per  cent.; 
normal :  gr.>wth,  39  per  cent. ;  shortening,  13  per  cent. 


414 


NA  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


Such  structural  differences  do,  of  course,  exist,  but  whether  they 
are  sufficient  to  account  for  the  phenomena  is  a  different  question. 
Strasburger("  Zellhautc,"  p.  194)  supposes  that  the  elasticity  of 
a  cell-wall  depends  on  the  last-formed  layers,  and  as  in  these 
the  microsomes  are  seen  arranging  themselves  in  lines  or  pat- 
terns, we  have  a  heterogeneity  of  structure  which  may  or  may 
not  be  sufficient. 

We  have  now  seen  that  it  is  difficult  to  believe,  although  it  is 
not  inconceivable,  that  the  extending  force  of  cell-turgor,  com- 
bined with  differences  in  extensibility  of  the  membranes 
{depending  on  structural  characters),  may  account  for  the 
phenomena  of  rectilinear  growth.  But,  even  if  we  allow  that 
this  is  so,  how  are  we  to  apply  the  same  explanation  to  growth- 
curvatures  ?  How  are  we  to  account  for  the  rapid  changes  in 
extensibility  necessary  to  produce  geotropic  or  heliotropic  curva- 
tures? The  influences  which  Strasburger  and  Noll  suppose  to 
act  on  the  cell-walls  and  render  them  ductile  cannot  account  for 
extensibility  in  one  direction  only.  Nor  does  Wortmann's  theory, 
that  difference  in  extensibility  depends  on  difference  in  thick- 
ness, meet  the  case  completely.  What  we  need  is  an  increase 
in  longitudinal,  not  in  general  extensibility.  I  presume  that 
these  writers  mi;^ht  say  that  the  excess  in  longitudinal  extensi- 
bility is  always  present  whether  general  extensibility  is  greater 
or  less.  In  the  meanwhile  we  must  pass  on  to  more  recent 
researches  on  surface-growth  by  apposition. 

In  Strasburger's  later  work  ("Histol<^sche  Beitriige,"  1889), 
his  views  on  growth  have  undergone  cinsiderable  modification. 
The  study  of  certain  epidermic  cells,  of  the  folds  in  membranes, 
and  the  repetitioi^  of  Krabbe's  work  on  certain  bast  fibres,  have 
•convinced  him  that  apposition  does  nor  account  for  all  forms  of 

?;rowth.  Krabbe  (Pringsheim's  ya^r^.,  xviii.)  showed  that  in 
ull-grown  sclerenchyma  {jt.g.  in  Oleander)  local  widenings  occur 
without  any  such  amount  of  thinning  in  the  membrane  as  would 
occur  if  the  bulging  were  due  to  stretching.  The  only  possible 
explanation  seems  to  be  that  there  is  a  migration  of  new 
material  into  the  cell-wall.  Such  intussusception  might  be, 
as  Nageli  supposed,  a  flow  of  fluid  out  of  which  new  micellae 
ctystallize ;  but  it  is  now  established  that  cellulose  arises  as  a 
modification  of  protoplasm,  so  that  it  would  harmonize  with  our 
knowledge  of  the  origin  of  cellulose  if  we  assume  that  intussus- 
ception was  preceded  by  a  wandering  of  protoplasm  into  the 
cell-wall.  Such  a  state  of  things  would  render  possible  the 
regjulation  of  longitudinal  growth  in  the  case  of  Nitella  and 
Spirogyra,  already  alluded  to,  as  well  as  in  growth- curvatures. 
This  view  might  also  harmonize  with  Wiesner's  theory  {Sit%. 
Wien.  Akad.y  1886,  vol.  xciii.  p.  17)  that  the  cell- wall  contains 
protoplasm  as  long  as  it  continues  to  grow. 

For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  content  myself  with  the  above 
■examples  :  I  think  it  will  be  allowed  that  there  is  a  focussing  of 
speculation  from  many  sides  in  favour  of  "  active  "  surface-growth 
— or,  what  is  perhaps  a  better  way  of  putting  it,  in  favour  of  a 
belief  that  the  extension  of  cell  membranes  depends  on  physio- 
logical rather  than  physical  properties,  that  it  is  in  some  way 
-under  the  immediate  control  of  the  protoplasm.  We  may  take 
our  choice  between  Wiesner's  wall-protoplasm  (dermatoplasm), 
protoplasmic  intussusception  as  conceived  by  Strasburger,  or  the 
action  of  the  ectoplasm  in  the  manner  suggested  by  Vines, ^  who 
supposes  that  the  crucial  point  is  a  change  in  the  motility  of  the 
•protoplasm,  not  of  the  cell  membrane.  The  latter  theory  would 
undoubtedly  meet  the  difficulties — if  we  could  believe  that  so 
yield  i  ig  a  substance  as  protoplasm  could  resist  the  force  of 
•turgor. 

The  great  difficulty  is,  as  it  seems  tc  me,  that  since,  e.g.  in 
Caulerpa,  surface-growth  is  clearly  due  to  stretching,  as  Noll  has 
demonstrated,  and  since  in  osmotic  cell-pressure  a  stretching 
force  does  exist,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  turgor,  and  ordinary 
physical  extensibility  are  conditions  of  the  problem.  This 
remains  true  in  spite  of  Klebs's  {Tubingen.  Unlersuchungen,  ii.  p. 
489)  curious  observations  on  the  growth  of  plasmolyzed  Algae,  or 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  pollen  tubes  may  grow  without  turgor, 
in  spite  of  the  same  being  perhaps  true  of  young  cells  filled  with 
protoplasm  (see  Noll,  J'Viirzburg.  Arbeiten,  iii.  p.  530).  In  the 
face  of  all  these  facts,  osmotic  pressure  in  the  cell  must  remain  a 
vera  causa  tending  to  surface-growth. 

If  we  accept  some  form  of  '*  active"  surface- growth,  we  must 

'  Sachs's  Arbeiten,  1878,  and  "  Physiology,"  1886.     See  also  Gardiner,  on 

protoplasmic  contractility,  in  the  Annals  0/  Botany,  i  p.  366.     Pfeffer  has. 

I  think,  shown  that  Vines's  and  Gardiner's  theories  assume  the  existence  of 

<oo  Rrcat  strength  in  the  ectoplasm.     See  Pfeffer  in  Abhandl.  der  k.  Sdchs. 

.GcselUch.  xvi.  1890,  p.  329. 

NO.    1 1 39,  VOL.  44] 


deal  with  turgor  in  another  way,  although  to  do  so  may  require 
a  violent  exercise  of  the  imagination.  Are  we  to  believe,  for 
instance,  that  the  function  of  turgescence  is  the  attainii^  of 
mechanical  strength  ?  If  we  hold  that  cell-walls  increase  in  area 
independently  of  turgor,  we  shall  be  forced  to  invent  a  hypothcas 
such  as  the  following — which  I  am  far  from  intending  to  uphold. 
It  is  possible  to  imagine  that  the  function  of  the  force  of  turgor  is 
merely  to  spread  out  the  growing  membrane  to  its  full  extent, 
and,  as  it  were,  to  make  the  most  of  it.  Turgor  would  in  this 
respect  play  the  part  occupied  by  the  frame  used  in  embroidery, 
making  it  easier  to  carry  on  the  work  satisfactorily,  bat  not 
being  absolutely  necessary.  When  mechanical  strength  is  gained 
by  turgor  (as  in  Mucor),  instead  of  by  brute  strength  of  material, 
as  in  a  tree-trunk,  a  great  economy  in  cellulose  is  effected.  If 
turgor  played  our  hypothetical  part  of  smoothing  out  the  mem- 
brane and  insuring  that  it  shall  occupy  as  large  a  space  as 
possible,  it  would  effect  the  same  kind  of  economy. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  inquire  how  far  this  hypothesis  accords 
with  our  knovi  ledge  of  cell  mechanics.  It  is  only  put  forth  as 
an  example  of  the  difficulties  in  which  we  Isuid  if  we  seek  for  a 
new  function  for  turgor.  We  are,  indeed,  surronoded  by 
difficulties  ;  for,  though  the  theories  which  are  classed  together 
as  protoplasmic  have  much  in  their  favour,  they,  too,  lead  us 
into  an  impasse, 

CircumnutcUion, 

I  shall  conclude  by  saying  a  few  words  about  the  theory  o 
growth- curvatures  put  forward  in  the  ''  Power  of  Moveraent  in 
Plants."  I  can  here  do  no  more  than  discuss  the  relation  of 
drcumnutalion  to  curvature,  which  is  the  thesis  of  the  book  in 
question,  without  attempting  to  enter  the  arena  with  r^arrl  to 
the  many  objections  which  have  been  raised  to  other  parts  of  onr 
work. 

A  distinguished  botanist.  Prof.  Wiesner,  of  Vienna,  published 
in    1881   a  book.    '*  Das  Bewegungsvermogen  der  Pflanzen," 
entirely  devoted  to  a  criticism  of  the  "  Power  of  Movement " 
(p.  8).     It  is  founded   on  a  long  series  of  experiments,  and  ii 
written  throughout  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  and  candour  whidi 
gives  it  value,  apart  from  its  scientific  excellence,  as  a  model  of 
scientific  criticism.     The  words  written  on  the  title-page  of  the 
copy  presented  to  my  father  are  characteristic  of  the  tone  of 
the  book  :    ' '  In  getreuer  Opposition,  aber  in   unwandelbarer 
Verehrung."   A  letter  printed  among  my  father's  correspondence 
shows  how  warmly  he  appreciated  his  opponent's  attack  both  is 
to  matter  and  manner.     Wiesner's  opposition  is  far-reaching, 
and  includes  the    chief    theoretical    conclusion  of  the  book- 
namely,  that  movements  such  as  heliotropism  and  geotropism 
are  modifications  of  circumnutation.     Neitner  will  he  allow  that 
this  revolving  nutation    is    the  widely-spread  phenomenon  we 
held  it  to  be.     According    to  Wiesner,  many  parts    of  plants 
which  do  not  circumnutate  are  capable  of  curving  geotropically, 
&c.  ;  he  is,  therefore,  perfectly  justified,  from  his  own  p>oint  of 
view,  in  refusing  to  believe  that  such  curvatures  are  derivations 
from  circumnutation.     He  points  out  that  our  method  of  observ- 
ing circumnutation  is  inaccurate,  inasmuch  as  the  movement  is 
recorded  in  oblique  projection.     This  we  were  aware  of,  and  I 
cannot  but  think  that  Wiesner  has  unintentionally  exa^erated 
its  inaccuracy  ;  and  that,  if  used  with  reasonable  discretion,  it 
cannot  lead    to  anything    like  such  faulty  records    as    in   the 
supposititious  cases  given  by  our  critic.     However  this  may  he, 
Wiesner's  results  are  perhaps  more  trustworthy  than  ours,  and 
should  receive  the  most  careful  consideration. 

Wiesner's  conclusions,  taken  from  his  own  summaries,  are  as 
follows : — 

The  movement  described  as  circumnutation  is  not  a  wide- 
spread phenomen>n  in  plants.  Stems,  leaves,  and  aceUular 
fungi  are  to  be  found  which  grow  in  a  perfectly  straight  line. 
Some  roots  grow  for  considerable  periods  of  time  without 
deviating  from  the  vertical.  When  circumnutation  does  occor, 
it  cannot  be  considered  to  have  the  significance  given  to  it  in  the 
"  Power  of  Movement."  The  movements  observed  by  Wiesner 
are  explained  by  him  in  three  different  ways : — 

i.  As  the  expression  of  a  certain  irregularity  in  growth 
depending  on  the  want  of  absolute  symmetry  in  structure,  and  on 
the  fact  that  the  component  cells  of  the  organ  have  not 
absolutely  similar  powers  of  growth. 

ii.  As  the  expression  of  opposing  growth-tendencies.  Thus 
certain  organs  have  inherent  tendencies  to  curve  in  definite 
planes — for  instance,  the  bending  of  the  hypocotyl  in  the  plane 
of  the  cotyledons.  Wiesner  believes  that  such  tendencies,  whes 
combined  with    others — heliotropic,    geotropic,    &c. — lead  to 


August  27,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


415 


alternate  bendiogs  in  opposite  directions,  according  as  one  or 
other  of  the  components  is  temporarily  the  stronger. 

iiL  Wiesner  allows  that  circumnutation  does  exist  in  some 
cases.  This  last  class  he  considers  a  small  one ;  he  states, 
indeed,  that  '^  nearly  all,  especially  the  clearly  perceptible 
circamnntations,"  are  combined  movements  belonging  to  the 
second  of  the  above  categories. 

Although  I  have  perhaps  no  right  to  such  an  opinion  without 
repeating  Wiesner's  work,  yet  I  must  confess  that  I  cannot  give 
up  the  belief  that  circumnutation  is  a  widely-spread  phenomenon, 
even  though  it  may  not  be  so  general  as  we  supposed. 

If,  then,  circumnutation  is  of  any  importance,  we  are  forced  to 
ask  what  is  its  relation  to  growth- curvatures.  It  was  considered 
by  my  father  to  be  "the  basis  or  groundwork  for  the  acquire- 
ment, according  to  the  requirements  of  the  plant,  of  the  most 
diversified  movements''  ("Power  of  Movement,"  p.  3).  He 
also  wrote  {loc.  cit,,  p.  4)  : — **  A  considerable  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  evolution  is  in  part' removed,  for  it  might  be  asked  how 
did  all  these  diversified  movements  ....  first  arise?  As  the 
case  stands,  we  know  that  there  is  always  movement  in  progress, 
and  its  amplitude,  direction,  or  both,  have  only  to  be  modified 
for  the  good  of  the  plant  in  relation  to  internal  or  external 
stimuli." 

Those  who  have  no  belief  in  the  importance  of  circumnutation, 
and  wh9  hold  that  movements  may  have  arisen  without  any  such 
basis,  may  doubtless  be  justified  in  their  position.  I  quite  agree 
that  movement  might  be  developed  without  circumnutation 
having  anything  to  do  with  the  matter.  But  in  seeking  the 
origin  of  growth -curvatures  it  is  surely  rational  to  look  for  a 
widely-spread  movement  existing  in  varying  degree?.  This,  as 
[  believe,  we  have  in  circumnutation  :  and  here  comes  in  what 
seems  to  me  to  be  characteristic  of  the  evolution  of  a  quality 
such  as  movement.  In  the  evolution  of  structure,  each  indi- 
vidual represents  merely  a  single  one  of  the  units  on  which 
selection  acts.  But  an  individual  which  executes  a  number  of 
movements  (which  may  be  purposeless)  supplies  in  itself  the 
material  out  of  which  various  adapted  movements  may  arise. 
I  do  not  wish  to  imply  that  tentative  movements  are  of  the  same 
order  of  importance  as  variations,  but  they  are  undoubtedly  of 
importance  as  indication  of  variability. 

The  problem  may  be  taken  back  a  stage  further  ;  we  may  ask 
why  circumnutation  should  exist.  In  the  "  Power  of  Move- 
pacnt "  (p.  546)  we  wrote  : — **  Why  every  part  of  a  plant  whilst 
it  is  growing,  and  in  some  cases  after  growth  has  ceased,  should 
have  its  cells  rendered  more  turgescent  and  its  cell-walls  more 
extensile  first  on  one  side  then  on  another  ...  is  not  known. 
It  would  appear  as  if  the  changes  in  the  cells  required  periods 
of  rest."  Such  periods  of  comparative  rest  are  fairly  harmonious 
with  any  theory  of  growth  ;  it  is  quite  conceivable  by  intussus- 
ceptionists  and  appositionists  alike  that  the  two  stages  of  elonga- 
tion and  fixation  should  go  on  alternately,  ^  but  this  would  not 
necessarily  lead  to  circumnutation.  It  might  simply  result  in  a 
confused  struggle  of  cells,  in  some  of  which  extension,  in  others 
elongation,  was  in  the  ascendant ;  but  such  a  plan  would  be  an 
awkward  arrangement,  since  each  cell  would  hinder  or  be 
hindered  by  its  neighbour.  Perfection  of  growth  could  only  be 
attained  when  groups  of  contiguous  cells  agreed  to  work 
together  in  gangs — that  is,  to  pass  through  similar  stages  of 
growth  synchronously.  Then,  if  the  different  gangs  were  in 
harmony,  each  cell  would  have  fair  play,  elongation  would 
proceed  equally  all  round,  and  the  result  would  be  circumnuta- 
tion.* Whether  or  no  any  such  origin  of  circumnutation  as  is 
here  sketched  may  be  conceived,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it 
had  its  origin  in  the  lau  s  of  growth  apart  from  its  possible 
utilization  as  a  basis  for  growth- curvature. 

It  is,  however,  possible  to  look  at  it  from  a  somewhat  different 
point  of  view — namely,  in  connection  with  what  Vbchting  has 
called  recHpetality  ("Die  Bcwegung  der  Blulhen  und  Fruchte," 
1882).  He  made  out  the  fact  th.it  when  an  organ  has  been 
allowed  to  curve  geotropically,  hcliotropicall^,  &c.,  and  is  then 
removed  from  further  stimulation  by  bemg  placed  on  the 
klinostat,  it  becomes  straight  again.  This  tact  suggested  to 
Vochting  his  conception  of  rectipetality,  a  regulating  power 
leading  to  growth  in  a  straight  line.     It  may  be  objected  that 

*  Strasbuncer,  "  Histolo^  BeitrSge,"  p.  195,  speaks  of  the  pause  that 
must  occur  after  the  formation  of  a  cellulose  lamella.  Hofmeister,  WUrtUm- 
o^rg.  JakreskefUy  1874,  describes  the  Rrowth  in  length  of  Sptrv^gyra  as  made 
up  of  short  intervals  of  rapid  growth  alternating  with  long  pauses  of  slow 
growth. 

'  I  paiposely  omit  the  drcnmnutation  of  pulvlni. 


NO.   1 1 39,  VOL.  44] 


such  a  power  is  nothing  more  than  the  heredity,  which  moulds 
the  embryo  into  the  likeness  of  its  parent,  and  by  a  similar 
power  insists  that  the  shoot  or  root  shall  take  on  the  straight 
form  necessary  to  its  specific  character.  But  the  two  cases  are 
not  identical.  The  essence  of  rectipetality  is  the  power  of 
recovering  from  disturbance  caused  by  external  circumstances. 
When  an  organ  has  been  growing  more  quickly  on  one  side  than 
another,  the  regulating  power  reverses  this  state  of  things  and 
brings  the  curving  organ  back  towards  the  starting-point.  We 
have  no  means  of  knowing  how  this  regulating  power  acts  in 
undisturbed  growth.  It  is  possible  to  imagine  a  type  of  irrit- 
ability which  would  insure  growth  being  absolutely  straight, 
but  it  is  far  more  easy  to  conceive  growth  as  normally  made  up 
of  slight  departures  from  a  straight  line,  constantly  corrected. 
In  drawing  a  line  with  a  pencil,  or  in  walking  towards  a  given 
point,  we  execute  an  approximately  straight  line  by  a  series  of 
corrections.  If  we  may  judge  in  such  a  manner  by  our  own 
experience,  it  is  far  more  conceivable  that  the  plant  should 
perceive  the  fact  that  it  is  not  growing  absolutely  straight,  and 
correct  itself,  than  that  it  should  have  a  mysterious  power  of 
growing  as  if  its  free  end  were  guided  by  an  external  force 
along  a  straight-edge.  The  essence  of  the  matter  is  this  :  we 
know  from  experiments  that  a  power  exists  of  correcting  exces- 
sive unilateral  growth  artificially  produced ;  is  it  not  probable 
that  normal  growth  is  similarly  kept  in  an  approximately  straight, 
line  by  a  series  of  aberrations  and  corrections  ?  If  this  is  so, 
circumnutation  and  rectipetality  would  be  different  aspects  of 
the  same  thing. 

This  would  have  one  interesting  corollary  :  if  we  fix  our 
attention  on  the  regulating  power  instead  of  on  the  visible 
departures  from  the  straight  line,  it  is  clear  that  we  can  imagine 
an  irritability  to  internal  growth-changes  existing  in  varying 
intensities.  With  great  irritability  very  small  departures  from 
the  straight  line  would  be  corrected.  With  a  lower  irritability 
the  aberrations  would  be  greater  before  they  are  corrected.  In 
one  case  the  visible  movement  of  circumnutation  would  be  very 
small,  in  the  other  case  large,  but  the  two  processes  would  be 
the  same.  The  small  irregular  lateral  curvatures  which  Wiesner 
allows  to  exist  would  therefore  be  practically  of  the  same  value 
as  regular  circumnutation,  which  he  considers  comparatively 
rare. 

The  relation  between  rectipetality  and  circumnutation  may  be 
exemplified  by  an  illustration  which  I  have  sometimes  made  use 
of  in  lecturing  on  this  point.  A  skilful  bicycle-rider  runs  very 
straight,  the  deviations  from  the  desired  course  are  comparatively 
small  ;  whereas  a  beginner  "wobbles"  or  deviates  much.  But 
the  deviations  are  of  the  same  nature  ;  both  are  symptoms  of 
the  regulating  power  of  the  rider. 

We  may  carry  the  analogy  one  step  further:  just  as  growth- 
curvature  is  the  continuance  or  exaggeration  of  a  nutation  in  a 
definite  direction,  so  when  the  rider  curves  in  his  course  he  does 
so  by  wilful  exaggeration  of  a  **  wobble." 

It  may  be  said  that  circumnutation  is  here  reduced  to  the  rank 
of  an  accidental  deviation  from  the  right  line.  But  this  does 
not  seem  necessarily  the  case.  A  bicycle  cannot  be  ridden  at 
all  unless  it  can  '*  wobble,"  as  every  rider  knows  who  has 
allowed  his  wheel  to  run  into  a  frozen  rut.  In  the  same  way  it 
is  possible  that  some  degree  of  circumnutation  is  correlated  with 
growth  in  the  manner  suggested  above,  owing  to  the  need  of 
regular  pauses  in  growth.  Rectipetality  would  thus  be  a  power 
by  which  irregularities,  inherent  m  growth,  are  reduced  to  order 
and  made  subservient  to  rectilinear  growth.  Circumnutation 
would  be  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  the  process. 

I  feel  that  some  apology  is  due  from  me  to  my  hearers  for  the 
introduction  of  so  much  speculative  matter.  It  may,  however, 
have  one  good  result,  for  it  shows  how  difficult  is  the  problem 
of  growth- curvature,  and  how  much  room  there  still  is  for  work 
in  this  field  of  research. 


NOTES. 

The  German  Leopold-Caroline  Academy  at  Halle  has  con- 
ferred the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  on  the  Director  of  the 
Royal  Gardens,  Kew. 

Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co.  hope  to  publish  before  Christ- 
mas a  series  of  popular  sketches  in  the  history  of  astronomy 
from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day,  in   the  form  of  a 


4i6 


I^A  TURE 


[August  27,  1891 


volume  containing  three  courses  of  lectures  on  astronomical  bio- 
graphy by  Prof.  Oliver  Lodge,  F.R.S.  The  work  will  be  fully 
illustrated,  and  will  bear  the  title  **  Pioneers  of  Science." 

At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Field  Naturalists*  Club  of 
Victoria,  held  on  July  13  last,  as  we  learn  from  the  Melbourne 
Argus  of  July  14,  Messrs.  Luehman  and  French  read  a  note 
and  exhibited  the  skin  of  a  tree-climbing  kangaroo  from 
Northern  Queensland,  new  to  science,  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  of  Dendrolagus  muelUri.  This  remarkable  marsupial 
has  a  body  about  two  feet  in  length,  with  a  tail  somewhat  ex- 
ceeding two  feet.  The  disproportion  between  the  fore  legs  and 
the  hind  legs  is  not  nearly  so  great  as  that  of  the  ordinary 
kangaroo  and  wallaby  ;  the  toes  are  strong  and  curved,  to  enable 
it  to  climb  tall  and  straight  trees,  on  the  leaves  of  which  it 
exists.  This  tree-kangaroo  is  more  nearly  allied  to  the  species 
which  was  discovered  a  few  years  ago  in  Queensland  than  to 
the  two  species  from  New  Guinea.  The  specimen  described 
was  got  from  a  straight  tree,  about  ninety  feet  above  the  ground. 

In  his  letter  on  "  Dredging  Products  "  (Nature,  August  13, 
p.  344),  Mr.  Alex.  Meek,  writing  from  Shetland,  gave  a 
short  rhumioi  localities  where  Actinotrocha  has  been  found. 
As  the  south  coast  of  England  was  not  mentioned,  Mr.  W.  L. 
Calderwood  writes  to  call  attention  to  a  paper  by  his  predecessor 
at  the  M.B.A.  Laboratory,  Plymouth,  Mr.  G.  C.  Bourne, 
published  In  the  Journal  of  the  Marine  Biological  Association, 
vol.  i.,  No.  I.  After  mentioning  the  occurrence  of  Tomaria, 
Mr.  Bourne  goes  on  to  say: — "Actinotrocha,  the  larva  of 
Phoronis,  is  common.  .  .  .  Several  specimens  of  larval  Amphi- 
oxus  were  taken  in  the  tow-net  towards  the  end  of  October." 
In  vol.  ii.  No.  I,  Mr.  Garstang  also  has  a  note  on  the  occurrence 
of  the  adult  Phoronis.  Actinotrocha  has  again  appeared  several 
times  during  the  present  summer. 

M.  Imfeld,  the  Swiss  engineer,  who  has  been  engaged  to 
examine  the  nature  of  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc  for  the  con- 
struction there  of  M.  Janssen's  proposed  Observatory,  recounts 
in  a  Zurich  journal  the  difficulties  he  is  experiencing  in  his  pre- 
liminary survey.  M.  Imfeld  is  staying  with  eight  workmen  and  two 
doctors  at  M.  Vallot's  Observatory,  which  has  an  altitude  of 
4400  metres,  and  thence  they  proceed  daily  to  the  summit, 
where  they  work  for  several  hours  a  day  in  the  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  depth  of  the  snow  for  the  purpose  of  gett  ing  the 
necessary  foundation  for  the  building.  M.  Eiffel  has  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  construction  of  an  Observatory  will  only  be 
possible  if  the  snow  does  not  exceed  a  depth  of  12  metres.  M. 
Imfeld  states  that  they  have  encountered  traces  of  a  ridge  of 
rock  18  to  20  metres  below  the  summit,  and  covered  with  about 
I  metre  of  snow.  They  have  therefore  commenced  to  make  a 
series  of  lateral  tunnels  on  three  sides,  at  a  distance  equal  to 
12  metres  below  the  summit,  to  ascertain  if  the  ridge  extends 
to  that  height.  Progress  is  necessarily  slow.  Most  of  the  men 
are  suffering  from  mal  de  montagm.  Some,  however,  who 
are  engaged  at  M.  Vallot's  cabin  are  able  to  work  almost  as 
long  as  in  the  valley,  and  they  also  eat  and  sleep  well.  In  spite 
of  two  coke  stoves,  the  thermometer  of  the  cabin  never  rises 
above  zero  ;  even  ink  freezes,  and  water  boils  at  83**,  and  they 
cannot  properly  cook  meat.  For  a  day  or  two  they  were  dis- 
turbed by  violent  storms. 

Martinique  has  been  visited  by  a  terrible  cyclone,  the  most 
violent  that  has  been  known  in  the  island  since  181 7.  It  lasted 
four  hours,  and  wasffollowed  by  an  earthquake  ;  and  many  lives 
were  lost  According  to  the  latest  information  received  in  Paris 
from  Martinique  on  Monday  last,  the  number  of  persons  known 
to  have  perished  was  340 ;  but  that  did  not  include  the  sailors 
lost  m  numerous  shipwrecks  along  the  coast  and  at  sea.  Besides 
the  persons  killed,  very  many  were  injured  by  the  falling 
buildings,  trees,  and  stones.     All  along  the  coast  houses  were 

NO.   II 39,  VOL.  44] 


completely  demolished.  The  town  of  Mome  Rouge  is  said  to 
be  a  total  wreck,  and  Fort  de  France  is  almost  entirely  destroyed. 
Much  suffering  prevails  among  the  population. 

Messrs.  L.  Reeve  and  Co.  have  in  preparation  a  new  work 
on  the  Bntish  Fungi,  Phycomycetes,  and  Ustilagineje,  by 
George  Massee,  Lecturer  on  Botany  for  the  London  Society  for 
the  Extension  of  University  Teaching ;  a  work  on  the  British 
Hemiptera  Heteroptera,  by  Edward  Saunders  ;  a  new  work  on 
the  Lepidoptera  of  the  British  Islands,  by  Charles  G.  Barrett ; 
and  a  new  work  on  the  physiology  of  the  Invertebrata,  by  Dr. 
A.  B.  Griffiths. 

Messrs.  Whittaker  and  Co.  are  about  to  publish  "A  First 
Book  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  by  W.  Perren  Maycock. 
The  work  is  intended  for  the  use  of  elementary  science  and  a.i 
and  engineering  students,  and  general  readers. 

Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.  are  issuing,  in  monthly  parts,  a 
new  and  revised  edition  of  Sir  R.  Stawell  Ball's  well-known 
**  Story  of  the  Heavens."   The  first  part  has  just  been  published. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  tbe 
past  week  include  a  Common  Fox  {Canis  vulp€s)^  British,  pre- 
sented by  Captain  H.  S.  Tunnard  ;  five  White-eared  Conares 
{CoHums  leucotis)  from  Brazil,  presented  by  Mrs.  Arthnr 
Smithers  ;  four  Leopard  Tortoises  ( Testttdo  pardalis),  three 
Angulated  Tortoises  {Chersina  angiilala)^  a  Galeated  Pentonjx 
{Peiomcdusa  gaUa(a),  a  Hoary  Snake  {Coronclla  cana\  aRobbea 
Island  Snake  {Coronella phocaruni)  from  South  Africa,  presented 
by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  R.  Fisk,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  two  Alligators  {Alligator 
mississippirnsis)  from  Carolina,  presented  by  Mr.  Charles 
Downs ;  a  Gold  Pheasant  ( Thaumalea  picta  9 )  from  China, 
presented  by  Mr.  R.  Hudson ;  a  Pig-tailed  Monkey  {Ma^acus 
nemesirinus  <J )  from  Java,  two  Water  Vipers  (Cemhris  piscivara' 
from  North  America,  deposited. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  17.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — On  a  new  blow-pipe,  by  M.  Paquelin. — On  "cydic 
systems,"  by  M.  A.  Ribaucour. — New  researches  on  the  solar  at- 
mosphere, by  M.  H.  Deslandres.  (See  Our  Astronomical  Column. . 
— On  the  enormous  velocity  of  a  solar  prominence  observed  rn 
June  17,  1891,  by  M.  Jules  Fenyi.  M.  Trouvelot  has  prerioosly 
recorded  a  remarkable  luminous  outburst  that  occurred  on  tlie 
sun  on  June  1 7.  The  position-angle  of  the  group  of  promioeoces 
observed  by  M.  Fenyi  was  about  282°.  At  one  time  the  veloci:j 
of  one  portion  of  the  group  reached  the  high  value  of  about  $50 
kilometres  per  second.  And  another  portion  was  elevaie>i 
through  about  72'  2"  in  210  seconds — the  mean  velocity  bdn^  a: 
least  4S5  kilometres  per  second.  It  is  therefore  concluded  from 
the  observations  that  matter  can  be  projected  from  the  sun  iatu 
space  with  a  velocity  sufficient  to  prevent  its  falling  back  again. 
— Mechanical  determination  of  tbe  series  of  atoms  of  carbon  in 
organic  compounds,  by  M.  G.  Hinrichs. — On  the  anerial 
system  of  Isopods,  by  M.  A.  Schneider. — On  the  growth  of  the 
shell  of  Helix  aspersa^  by  M.  Moynier  de  Vil/epoix. 


CONTENTS.  PAG£ 

The  Congress  of  Hygiene 393 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

Rain-gauges. — G.J.  Symons,  F.R.S 39S 

Cloud  Heights — Kinematic  Method. — Prof.  Cleve- 
land Abbe 3»jS 

The  British  Association 59^ 

Section  B  (Chemistry)— Opening  Address  by  Prof. 
W.  C.  Roberts-Austen,'  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Section 399 

Section  D  (Biology) — Opening  Address  by  Francis 
Darwin,  M.A.,  M.B.,  F.R.S.,  Fellow  of  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge,  President  of  the  Section  .   .  .    407 

Notes 415 

Societies  and  AcAdemies  •••.•.......•    41& 


NA  TURE 


417 


THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  3,  1891. 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE 
COMMITTEE  ON  ELECTRICAL  STANDARDS, 

TARDILY^   and  in   a    somewhat    piecemeal   if  not 
grudging  fashion,  some  small  provision  has  been 
made  by  Her  Majesty's  Government  for  the  regulation, 
under  the  Board  of  Trade,  of  the  new  but  vigorous  and 
rapidly-extending  industry  which  recent  developments  of 
electrical  science  have  brought   into  existence.     In  no 
previously-existing  branch  of  trade  has  the  problem  of 
settling  standards  of  measurement  been  so  difficult  of 
solution,  and  in  no  other  has  the  problem  been  so  com- 
pletely solved  without  trouble,  expense,  or  intervention 
on  the  part  of  the   Government  itself.      For  the  last 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  a  Committee  of  the  British 
Association  has  laboured  at  the  gigantic  task  of  building 
up  a  system  of  units,  which  involved  as  a  mere  pre- 
liminary the  revision  of  the  conceptions  and   units  of 
dynamics  in  order  that  these  might  form  a  basis  for  the 
definition  of  units  for  the  far  more  complex  physical  quanti- 
ties concerned  in  electricity   and  magnetism,  quantities 
many  of  which  had  previously  been  by  no  means  clearly 
apprehended,  and  which  then  received  for  the  first  time 
precise  statement  and  definition. 

Much  of  the  work  of  the  British  Association  Commit- 
tee has  been  thankless,  tedious,  and,  from  its  very  nature, 
of  a  kind  fitted  to  excite  the  cheap  scorn  of  the  self-styled 
''practical  man,"  but  it    has  made  applied  electricity 
possible,  and  has  reacted  in  no  slight  degree  on  the  pro- 
gress of  theory  itself.    The  problem  of  the  determination 
of  the  ohm — in  other  words,  the  process  of  realizing  a 
standard  of  resistance  according  to  the  theoretical  defini- 
tion— has  suggested  problems  to  the  theorist  in  the  solu- 
tion of  which  the  theoretical  investigator  has  been  led  to 
both  direct  and  side-results   of  the  very  greatest  value  to 
\ht  progress  of  science,  and,  in  an  unexpected  manner,  to 
the  facilitation  of  practical  applications.     In  no  science 
have  theory  and  practice  been  so  closely  connected  during 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  in  none  has  the  union 
been  so  markedly  productive  of  good.    By  far  the  most 
interesting  chapters  of  the  history  of  electricity  during 
the  nineteenth  century  will    be   those  that  refer  to  its 
last  three  decades  ;   may  they  chronicle   a   still  closer 
alliance  of  the  engineer  and  the  experimenter,  the  elec- 
trical man  of  action  and  the  mathematician  !    Here  union 
is  strength  and  dominion  over  the  forces  of  Nature  ;  dis- 
union is  waste  of  energy  and  slow  progress  in  all  that 
relates  to  the  material,  and  therefore  also  to  the  social, 
advancement  of  the  human  race  by  means  of  electrical 
invention. 

The  establishment  of  the  nucleus  of  an  electrical 
standardizing  laboratory  in  London,  and  the  appoint- 
ment towards  the  end  of  last  year  of  a  Committee  to 
decide  upon  and  recommend  for  adoption  electrical 
standards  for  use  in  trade,  testify  to  the  great  import- 
ance which  the  electrical  industries  have  attained  in  this 
country  in  spite  of  the  mistakes  which  attended  their  in- 
ception, and  the  general  discouragement  and  disfavour 
svith  which  they  were  received  by  the  various  interests 
they  threatened. 

NO.    I  1 40,  VOL.  44] 


The  proceedings  and  report  of  the  Committee  have 
just  been  published  in  a  blue-book,  which  contains  matter 
of  great  interest  to  all  engaged  in  electrical  work.  The 
vista  which  it  opens  up  as  regards  the  future  operations 
of  the  standardizing  laboratory  may  well  dismay  Her 
Majesty's  Government ;  although  no  doubt  due  provision 
will  ultimately  be  made  for  all  its  work.  But  of  this  at 
another  time  ;  at  present  we  wish  to  direct  attention  to 
the  resolutions  of  the  Committee,  which  will  be  found  in 
another  page. 

In  the  first  place  the  Committee  signify  their  ad- 
herence to  the  units  of  length,  mass,  and  time  as  funda- 
mental units,  and  adopt  the  C.G.S.  system.  This  was 
only  to  be  expected,  for,  after  all,  though  some  people 
may  think  that  a  better  system  could  be  devised  if  the 
work  had  to  be  done  afresh,  and  they  had  a  share  in  it* 
still  collectively  the  body  of  scientific  opinion  is  distinctly 
conservative,  and  there  is  little  danger  that  any  ill-advised 
attempt  to  disarrange  the  accepted  system  of  theoretical 
and  practical  units  will  succeed. 

Their  third  resolution,  that  the  standard  of  electrical 
resistance  should  be  called  the  ohm  and  should  have  the 
value  1,000,000,000  in  terms  of  the  centimetre  and  second 
in  the  ordinary  electromagpietic  system,  is  of  great  im- 
portance. .It  seems  to  settle  once  for  all  the  question 
which  has  been  debated  over  and  over  again,  whether 
after  a  standard  ohm  has  been  realized,  it  will,  like  the 
standard  yard  or  metre,  be  ever  after  the  standard  ;  or 
whether,  if  in  case  of  variations  in  the  physical  properties 
of  the  substance,  it  shows  an  unexpectedly  large  diver- 
gence from  the  definition,  a  new  standard  ought  to  be 
constructed.  Those  who  have  assumed  the  former  al- 
ternative have  forgotten  that  the  ohm  is  a  derived  unit, 
depending  on  the  already  fixed  units  of  length,  mass,  and 
time,  and  that,  therefore,  its  derivation  ought  to  be  as 
exact  as  the  ever-widening  resources  of  science  can  make 
it.  For  practical  purposes  of  trade  the  standard  fixed 
upon  now  and  its  copies  are  likely  to  remain  undisturbed 
for  a  long  time,  and  will  probably  only  be  corrected  if 
there  is  serious  alteration  with  time  in  their  resistances. 
But  the  ohm  will  still  be  defined  as  lo'*  C.G.S.  in  the 
ordinary  electromagnetic  system  of  measurement,  in 
which  the  magnetic  permeability  of  air  is  assumed  to  be 
unity. 

The  fourth  and  fifth  resolutions  provide  the  definition 
of  a  practical  realized  ohm  (i)  by  means  of  a  column  of 
mercury,  (2)  by  comparison  with  the  British  Association 
unit,  which  it  is  stated  may  be  taken  as  -9866  of  the 
ohm. 

The  wording  of  Resolution  4  strikes  one  as  curious. 
The  mercury  column  is  to  have  a  "  constant  cross-sec- 
tional area  of  i  square  millimetre."  If  "  constant "  has 
its  ordinary  sense  of  in  variableness  with  time,  the  specifi- 
cation of  I  square  millimetre  renders  it  unnecessary.  It 
has  here  apparently  the  usual  sense  of  "  uniform,"  that  is, 
the  section  is  the  same  at  every  part  of  the  tube. 

We  are  glad  to  see  that  the  length  adopted  for  the 
tube  is  106*3  centimetres,  instead  of  106  centimetres,  the 
round  number  adopted  at  the  Paris  Conference,  and  pro- 
posed, by  the  British  Association  Committee  in  1886,  to 
be  legalized  for  a  period  of  ten  \ears.  All  the  latest  and 
best  determinations  of  the  ohm  point  to  io6'3  as  a  con- 
venient number  very  closely  agreeing  with  the  true  value, 

T 


4i8 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


and  its  adoption  now  is  probably  only  an  anticipation  of 
the  decision  which  will  be  arrived  at  in  a  few  years  when 
the  resolutions  of  that  Conference  are  reconsidered. 

In  the  adoption  of  a  metallic  working  standard  (an- 
nounced in  Resolution  5)  the  Committee  only  endorse  an 
opinion  long  ago  expressed  by  working  electricians,  that 
the  mercury  standards  constructed  in  straight  or  spiral 
glass  tubes  are  not  practical  instruments ;  they  are  diffi- 
cult to  handle,  liable  to  breakage,  and  the  only  argument 
for  their  retention,  the  possible  variability  of  metallic 
standards,  has  been  shown  to  be  almost  baseless  by  the 
results  of  the  continued  and  careful  observation  of  the 
various  metallic  resistance  coils  deposited  at  Cambridge. 

Passing  over  the  resolutions  which  provide  for  copies, 
and  multiples  and  submultiples  of  the  ohm,  with  the 
remark  that  the  long-felt  want  of  trustworthy  standards  of 
low  resistance  will  now  at  last  be  supplied,  we  come  to  the 
definition  of  the  unit  of  current.  Here  again  a  theoretical 
definition  corresponding  to  that  of  the  ohm  is  given  first ; 
then  for  practical  purposes  it  is  stated  **  that  an  unvarying 
current  which,  when  passed  through  a  solution  of  nitrate 
of  silver  in  water,  in  accordance  with  the  specification 
attached  to  this  report,  deposits  silver  at  the  rate  of 
0001 1 18  of  a  gramme  per  second,  may  be  taken  as  a 
current  of  i  ampere."  This  is  the  most  reasonable  course 
that  could  have  been  adopted.  The  specification  is  prac- 
tically one  of  the  procedure  adopted  by  Lord  Rayleigh  in 
his  experiments  on  the  electro-chemical  equivalent  of 
silver,  and  as  Lord  Rayleigh's  absolute  result  was  to  be 
made  the  practical  standard,  it  was  right  to  recommend 
the  same  mode  of  experimenting. 

Resolution  i  ^  which  defines  the  ampere  in  the  case  of 
an  alternating  current,  was  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of 
discussion,  and  of  some  adverse  comment  by  one  of  the 
witnesses  examined  on  behalf  of  the  electrical  trades. 
The  resolution  states  ''  that  an  alternating  current  of  i 
ampere  shall  mean  a  current  such  that  the  square  root  of 
of  the  time-average  of  the  square  of  its  strength  at  each 
instant  in  amperes  is  unity."  It  was  objected  by  the 
witness  referred  to,  and  by  at  least  one  member  of  the 
Committee,  that  this  was  giving  a  very  special  meaning 
to  the  term,  which  was  inconsistent  with  the  obvious 
definition,  that  of  the  simple  time-average  of  the  current. 
This  latter  average  would,  in  the  case  of  most  periodic 
machines,  be  simply  zero,  unless  the  currents  in  the 
alternate  half-periods  were  commutated  so  as  to  agree  in 
sign  with  those  in  the  other  h-.lves.  But  in  the  case  of 
such  a  machine  as  the  Brush,  used  for  lighting  incandes- 
cent lamps,  the  definition  given  in  the  resolution  would 
have  to  be  used  ;  whereas  if  the  machine  were  used  for 
electro-plating,  the  simple  time-average  would  have  to  be 
employed.  This  would  give  for  the  same  current  passing 
through  the  machine,  from  instant  to  instant,  two  differ- 
ent average  values.  The  electric  lighting  application  of 
periodic  machines  is,  however,  by  far  the  most  important, 
and  the  Committee  did  well,  perhaps,  to  retain  what  is 
already  the  generally  understood  sense  of  the  word 
ampere  in  connection  with  alternating  currents.  It  ought 
to  be,  however,  clearly  understood  that  the  main  applica- 
tion of  the  definition  will  be  to  the  measurements  of  cur- 
rents in  electric  lighting,  and  that  generally  in  other  cases 
another  definition  will  have  to  be  employed. 

Another  important  discussion  took    place    over    the 

NO.    1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


definition  of  the  standard  unit  of  "  pressure."      In  the 
first  place,  we  should  like  to  say  here  that  we  object 
entirely  to  the  use  of  the  term  "  pressure  "  in  this  connec- 
tion.    It  has  come  as  a  sort  of  analogue  of  hydraulic 
pressure,  and  it  has  certainly  led   to  very    erroneous 
notions  in  the  minds  of  the  general  public  as  to  the  func- 
tions of  electric  supply-mains,  and  also  as  to  electricity 
itself.     It  is  a  pity  that  so  many  of  the  present  pioneers 
of  electricity,  who  are  also  leaders  of  physical  science, 
should  have  countenanced  by  their  example  this  misuse 
of  a  scientific  term.    We  all  know  how  strenuously  some 
of  these  gentlemen  have  objected  to  the  term  "tension**  as 
in  "  high-tension  electricity  " ;  surely  "  high-pressure  in- 
struments "  and  "  electricity  supplied  at  high  pressure" 
are  as  objectionable,  if  not  even  more  misleading.    The 
use  of  the  term  voltage^  or  some  such  word,  in  the  present 
Report,  would  have  avoided  the  endorsement  which  it 
seems  to  give  to  what  we  think  is  a  most  unfortunate 
name  for  a  physical  quantity  which  is  not  a  pressure  at 
all ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  British  Association 
Committee  (who,  by  the  way,  were  represented  on  the 
Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trade)  may  be  able  to  pre- 
vent this  phrase  from  being  added  to  the  many  other, 
though  generally  less  objectionable  terms  which  infest 
the  hterature  of  electricity. 

A  discussion  arose  as  to  whether  the  definition  of  the 
volt  as  the  "  pressure  which,  if  steadily  applied  to  a  con- 
ductor whose  resistance  is  one  ohm,  will  produce  a 
current  of  one  ampere,''  was  sufficiently  definite.  There 
might,  it  was  argued,  be  an  internal  electromotive  force 
in  the  conductor,  and  the  "  pressure"  applied  to  the  con- 
ductor might  be  regarded  as  that  applied  from  the  outside, 
or  actually  existent  between  its  terminals,  as  shown  by 
an  electrometer.  For  example,  the  conductor  might  be 
the  armature  of  a  dynamo  ;  the  difference  of  potential 
might  be  considerable  and  the  resistance  only  a  small 
fraction  of  an  ohm.  In  such  a  case  it  is,  of  course,  well 
known  that  the  electromotive  force  producing  the  current 
through  any  part  of  the  armature  resistance,  according  to 
Ohm's  law,  is  the  total  internal  electromotive  force  of 
that  part,  minus  the  difference  of  potential  existing 
between  its  terminals,  and  it  is  this  difference  that  is  to 
be  regarded  as  the  applied  "pressure"  of  the  definition. 
In  the  same  way  in  a  voltameter,  the  electromotive  force 
causing  the  current,  according  to  Ohm's  law,  would  be 
the  existent  or  applied  difference  of  potential,  minus 
the  internal  back  electromotive  force  developed  by  the 
chemical  action.  There  were  other  difficulties  about  the 
specification  of  the  ends  of  the  conductor  and  the  canaliz- 
ation of  the  current,  and  it  was  therefore  thought  desirable 
to  adhere  to  the  simple  form  of  definition  given  in  the 
report.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  definition  leaves 
room  for  legal  disputes  in  practice,  and  we  think  that  it 
would  have  been  perhaps  better  to  have  introduced  on 
these  points  some  kind  of  note  or  specification  referred  to 
in  the  resolution,  so  as  to  be  taken  along  with  it  in  the 
event  of  any  dispute  about  the  meaning  of  the  definition. 

A  further  question  arose  as  to  the  provision  of  a  prac- 
tical standard  of  electromotive  force  in  the  form  of  a 
constant  cell ;  and  it  was  decided,  partly  in  deference  to 
the  expressed  wish  of  practical  electricians,  that  tbe 
Clark  cell  should  be  adopted  for  this  purpose.  Its  clcctro- 
I  motive  force,  within  certain  limits  of  error  to  be  deter 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  tURE 


419 


mined  by  a  sub-committee  appointed  for  tbe  purpose  of 

preparing  a  specification  for  the  construction  and  use  of 

the  cell,  is  stated  to  be  1*433  ^^l^s  at  the  temperature 

62°  F.    By  means  of  this  cell  and  known  resistances,  it 

will  be  possible  to  calibrate  instruments  without  the  use 

iA  electrolysis,  and  this  to  many  persons  would  be  the 

readiest  and  most  easily  carried  out  method.    Of  course, 

logically  speaking,  the  standard  of  electromotive  force  is 

settled  when  those  of  resistance  and  current  are  fixed, 

and  thus,  if  the  order  of  de6nition  is  adhered  to,  the  cell 

does  not  come  in.     But  its  electromotive  force  having 

been  determined  by  careful  measurement,  and  found  to 

be  so  constant  as  it  is,  and  so  consistently  the  same  in 

different  specimens  when  the  mode  of  construction  is 

carefully  attended  to,  it  is  too  valuable  a  standard  of 

reference  to  be  set  aside. 

A  very  interesting  discussion  took  place  as  to  the  mode 
of  preparing  these  cells,  and  on  the  experience  of  different 
investigators  as  to  their  behaviour.  Some  of  the  di- 
vei^ences  stated  in  the  discussion  were  probably  due  to 
the  different  degrees  of  manipulative  skill  possessed  by 
the  various  observers.  A  few  careful  experiments  with 
different  batches  of  cells  carried  out  personally  by  the 
members  of  the  committee  interested  in  the  matter 
would  set  the  question  at  rest,  and  probably  entirely 
confirm  Lord  RayleigVs  marvellously  consistent  results. 

A  side-point  which  came  out  in  discussion  is  worthy  of 
notice.     We  have  not  in  this  country  any  legal  definition 
of  temperature,  whether  Centigrade  or  Fahrenheit.     In 
the  definition    of  the  standard  yard  62°  Fahrenheit   is 
specified,  but  there  is  nothing  to  tell  how  that  tempera- 
ture is  to  be  determined.     It  is  well  known  (though  ap- 
parently not  to  some  of  the  text-book  writers  on  heat) 
that  mercurial  thermometers,  made  with  different  kinds 
of  glass,  while  agreeing  at  the  freezing  and  boiling  points, 
agree  nowhere  else,  and  all  differ  more  or  less  from  the 
air-thermometer.     In  very  accurate  work  these  discre- 
pancies become  very  important,  and  thermometers  must 
be  calibrated  by  means  of  standards,  if  their  indications 
are  to  be  of  any  use  for  comparison.     Some  legal  defini- 
tion of  temperature  will,  ere  long,  have  to  be  given,  and 
it  seems  rather  a  pity  that  the  Committee  did  not  prac- 
tically settle   this  by  saying  what  they  meant  by  62° 
Fahrenheit. 

The  definition  of  the  volt  for  alternating  currents, 
unbodied  in  Resolution  15,  is,  of  course,  a  mere  con- 
sequence of  Resolution  11,  and  these  two  definitions 
aken  together  are  specially  applicable  to  the  measure- 
nent  of  the  power  spent  in  lighting  incandescent  lamps. 

We  have  only  to  note  that  the  Committee,  in  Resolu- 
ions  12  and  16,  adopted  instruments  on  the  principle  of 
he  balance  for  the  measurement  of  currents,  and  on  the 
Principle  of  Sir  William  Thomson's  quadrant  electro- 
neter,  used  idiostatically,  for  the  measurement  of  differ- 
nces  of  potential,  except  for  large  differences,  when  an 
lectrometer  on  the  principle  of  the  balance  is  to  be  em- 
Joyed.  Thus  the  beautiful  electrometers  invented  long 
go  by  Sir  William  Thomson  are  likely  to  become  at 
ist,  in  a  modified  form.  Board  of  Trade  standards  of 
xact  measurement  in  industrial  electricity.  This  is  by 
o  means  the  only  striking  example  which  could  be  cited 
f  the  thoroughly  practical,  because  thoroughly  theo- 
itlcal,  character  of  the  instruments  invented  by  one 

NO.    I  140,  VOL.  44] 


who  understands  all  sides  of  the  difficult  problem 
involved  in  the  invention  and  construction  of  such 
apparatus. 

No  resolutions  were  framed  by  the  Committee  on  the 
very  important  subject  of  the  measurement  of  power  and 
energy.  This  must,  however,  come  to  the  front  before 
very  long,  and  will  tax  the  resources  of  the  standardizing 
laboratory  and  its  officials,  assisted,  as  no  doubt  they  will 
be,  by  Committees  such  as  this  which  has  just  reported. 
We  congratulate  the  Committee  on  the  results  of  its 
labours,  and  trust  that  the  requisite  Order  in  Council  will 
be  passed  before  long  confirming  its  resolutions.  The 
laboratory  will  then  be  able  to  get  to  work,  the  necessary 
standards  which  have  been  asked  for  so  long  will  be  made 
accessible  to  those  engaged  in  the  electrical  industries, 
and  some  serious  difficulties  under  which  they  have 
laboured,  in  supplying  electric  light  and  power  to  the 
public,  will  be  at  last  removed. 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  HYGIENE, 

\17'£  print  to-day  a  report  of  the  important  discussion 
^"      in  Section  II.  (Bacteriology)  of  the  Congress  of 
Hygiene,  on  "  Immunity,  Natural  and  Acquired" : — 

Dr.  Rouxy  of  the  Institut  Pasteur,  in  an  introductory  address, 
indicated  the  scope  of  the  discussion.  He  began  by  saying  that, 
in  inviting  a  pupil  of  M.  Pasteur  to  open  the  discussion  on  this 
subject,  the  Organizing  Committee  had  reminded  the  Section 
that  the  great  amount  of  interesting  work  which  had  recently 
been  done  on  the  subject  had  one  point  in  common — namely, 
the  attenuation  of  virus,  and  preventive  inoculation,  the  two 
subjects  with  which  M.  Pasteur's  name  would  for  all  time  be 
honourably  associated.  With  the  single  notable  exception  of 
vaccination,  the  only  way  of  conferring  immunity  against  any 
disease  was  the  inoculation  of  the  virus  of  the  disease.  To  the 
old  dangerous  method  of  producing  immunity  by  inoculation, 
Pasteur  had  added  the  less  dangerous. one  of  preventive  inocula- 
tion by  means  of  an  attenuated  virus,  to  which  he  had  applied 
the  term  vaccination.  The  designation  *' attenuated"  virus 
ought  to  be  reserved  for  virus  weakened  without  being  attenuated 
— for  example,  by  artificially  lowering  the  vitality  of  the  organisms 
for  producing  it. 

MetJiods  of  Attenuation, — Two  methods  of  attenuation  had  been 
described  by  M.  Pasteur — namely,  the  prolonged  exposure  of  a 
culture  to  air  at  a  suitable  temperature,  and  the  passage  of  the 
micro-organisms  through  the  bodies  of  different  species  of 
animals.  Other  methods  had  also  been  employed — for  example, 
the  action  of  heat,  the  use  of  antiseptics,  of  compressed  oxygen 
and  light. 

In  all  cases,  whatever  the  method  employed,  it  was  found  to 
be  necessary  that  the  attenuation  should  be  effected  slowly  and 
gradually ;  rapid  attenuation  rendered  a  virus  altogether  inactive 
without  impressing  on  it  any  hereditary  weakness.  In  whatever 
way  the  virus  was  prepared,  it  must,  in  order  to  confer  immunity, 
be  brought  into  direct  contact  with  the  tissues  of  the  animal.  In 
the  early  experiments  the  virus  employed  was  always  living  ;  the 
living  microbe,  itself  attenuated  as  to  its  virulence,  was  used. 
Another  possible  method  of  conferring  immunity  was  the  inocula- 
tion of  the  chemical  substances  produced  by  the  micro-organisms. 

Phagocytosis, — Dr.  Roux  next  dealt  with  the  doctrine  of  pha- 
gocytosis associated  with  the  name  of  Dr.  Metchnikofi*.  This 
observer  had  proved,  by  the  study  of  the  amoeboid  movement  of 
certain  cells  that  they  possessed  ihe  power  of  including  other 
cells  and  bodies  in  their  substance.  The  phagocyte  cells  origin- 
ated in  the  mesoderm.  They  possessed,  nirther,  the  property  of 
being  able  to  digest  the  bodies  which  they  had  ingested.  They 
were,  in  fact,  the  only  cells  which  manifested  in  the  human  body 
any  intracellular  digestion.  If  the  history  of  a  bacterium  in  the 
interior  of  a  phagocyte  were  followed,  it  would  be  seen  that  it 
underwent  a  peculiar  series  of  alterations,  very  different  from  what 
took  place  when  a  microbe  died  in  cultivating  fluids.  Whether 
a  virulent  virus  was  introduced  into  the  bodies  of  animals  which 
resisted  inoculation,  or  whether  attenuated  microbes  were  injected 


'  ^ 


420 


NA  TURB 


[September  3,  1891 


into  sensitive  animals,  the  greater  the  degree  of  refractoriness 
shown  by  the  animal,  the  more  rapidly  the  microbes  were  con- 
sumed by  the  leacocytes.  In  a  non-resistant  animal  the  microbes 
remained  free  ;  no  such  phenomenon  as  phagocytosb  could  be  ob- 
served. It  seemed ,  therefore,  that  the  phagocytes  were  charged 
with  the  defence  of  the  human  organism,  and  entered  into  con- 
flict with  the  parasites  which  infected  the  human  frame.  It 
might  be  said  that  there  were  diseases  in  which  the  microbes 
were  to  be  met  witli  in  the  cells  specially,  and  that  these  microbes 
nevertheless  proved  fatal  to  the  animal.  In  tuberculosis  and  in 
leprosy  the  bacilli  were  to  be  found  in  the  cells,  and  the  results 
were  of  the  most  serious  kind,  in  spite  of  the  intense  phagocytosis 
induced  by  the  microbes  of  these  diseases.  This  fact  proved  that 
the  phagocytes  and  all  the  other  means  of  defence  were,  under 
certain  conditions,  and  at  certain  times,  powerless  to  effect  any 
good  results  ;  they  had  done  their  best  to  take  up  the  microbes, 
but  these  had  adapted  themselves  to  the  interior  of  the  cells,  and 
had  conquered.  It  was  not  sufficient  that  the  microbes  should 
be  eaten  up,  it  was  essential  that  they  should  also  be  digested 
by  the  phagocytes.  Even  in  those  cases  where  the  struggle  was 
going  against  the  human  organism,  these  cells  still  were  the 
aggressors.  It  had  been  frequently  observed  in  tuberculosis 
and  leprosy  that .  the  bacilli  had  been  killed  in  the  interior  of 
certain  of  these  cells.  The  theory  asserted  that  a  struggle  oc- 
curred between  the  microbes  and  the  cells,  but  it  did  not  imply 
that  the  bacilli  always  won  the  day.  Phagocytosis  only  occurred 
in  immune  animals  ;  in  animals  susceptible  to  the  disease  it  was 
either  not  to  be  observed,  or  it  was  incomplete. 

He  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  questions  whether  immunity 
was  the  consequence  of  this  power  of  the  cells  to  digest  the 
virulent  microbes.  As  had  been  said,  the  cells  of  a  refractory 
animal  took  up  the  microbes,  which,  it  would  appear,  under 
favourable  circumstances  remained  inert  in  the  interior  of  the  cells. 

Numerous  facts  had  been  alleged  to  show  that  the  microbes 
at  the  time  they  were  taken  up  by  the  phagocytes  were 
not  degenerated,  but  were,  on  the  contrary,  in  a  condition  of 
full  activity.  Thu9,  to  take  only  one  example,  it  had  been 
found  that  in  frogs  the  bacilli  which  had  been  taken  up  by  the 
lecocytes  remained  alive  within  the  protoplasm  of  the  cell ;  this 
was  apparent  from  their  movements.  In  lymph  taken  from  the 
body  of  a  pigeon,  numerous  bacilli  were  to  be  seen  imprisoned 
in  the  leucocytes,  and  these  bacilli  could  be  watched  growing, 
actually  under  the  eye  of  the  observer,  within  the  interior  of 
dead  phagocytes  ;  they  could  be  seen  to  elongate,  to  push  out 
the  protoplasm,  distort  the  form  of  the  cell,  and  finally  to  make 
their  escape.  Another  demonstration  of  the  importance  of  the 
action  of  the  phagocytes  was  afforded  by  the  fact  that  even  in 
immune  animals  the  microbes  were  found  to  increase  when 
kept  out  of  the  reach  of  the  leucocytes  ;  thus,  if  a  rabbit  were 
inoculated  in  the  anterior  chamber  of  the  eye,  where  there  were 
no  cells,  the  bacteria  grew  freely,  and  their  development  was  only 
checked  when  the  leucocytes  had  after  a  time  migrated  in  large 
numbers,  and  began  to  take  the  microbes  into  their  interior.  It 
thus  appeared  that  phagocytosis  was  a  very  general  pheno- 
menon, and  one  which  was  very  efficacious  in  checking  the 
advance  of  the  organisms ;  when  it  failed,  the  individual 
succumbed  to  the  virulence  of  the  bacteria.  The  question 
remained.  What  was  the  mysterious  force  which  attracted  the 
cells  towards  the  microbes  ?  Why  were  the  leucocytes,  which 
in  immune  animals  destroyed  the  microbes,  incapable  of  seizing 
upon  them  in  non-immune  animals  ? 

In  1883,  Metchnikoff  propounded  his  theory  of  phagocytosis. 
This  theory  rested  on  two  assumptions  :  first,  that  the  cells  were 
attracted  to  the  microbes  in  virtue  of  a  special  sensibility 
manifested  towards  all  foreign  bodies  introduced  into  the 
tissues ;  the  second  was  that  this  power  of  seizing  upon 
the  virulent  microbes  in  immune  animals  originated  in  a  habit 
formed  during  the  earlier  struggle  with  the  attenuated  virus  with 
which  the  animal  had  been  previously  inoculated.  The  be- 
haviour of  the  leucocytes  might  be  more  readily  explained  by 
assuming  that  leucocytes  had  the  property,  analogous  to  that 
possessed  by  the  zoosperms  of  the  myxomycetes — namely,  that 
of  being  attracted  by  certain  bodies  and  repelled  by  others. 
MM.  Massart  and  Bordet  had  proved  that  the  products  of  the 
microbes  exerted  a  very  marked  chemical  action  on  the  phago- 
cytes. When  a  virus  was  introduced  into  the  body,  it  pro- 
liferated, and  secreted  a  substance  which  attracted  the  leuco- 
cytes ;  the  more  active  the  virus,  the  more  energetic  were  the 
poisons  elaborated  by  it,  and  the  cells  which  penetrated  to  the 
point  of  inoculation  were  paralyzed  in  their  action,  and  rendered 


NO.    I  140.  VOL.  44] 


incapable  of  taking  up  the  microbes^  which  therefore  proliferated 
without  hindrance.      Further,  in  certain  diseases  the  vims  pro- 
duced a  substance  which  was  still  more  poisonous.     In  chicken 
cholera,    for  instance,  the  poison  secreted    by  the    microbes 
repelled  the  leucocytes  from    the    point   of  inocnlation ;    it 
thus  came  about  that  phagocytes  were  never  found  in  this 
particular  affection.      This,  however,  was  not   the  case  with 
animals  which  had  been  rendered  immune  either  by  inoculation 
of  the  attenuated  virus,  or  by  the  injection  of  a  suitable  dose  of 
bacterial  products.     If  the  animal  were  given  a  strong  vims, 
phagocytes  were  attracted  to  the  point   of  inoculation,  and 
these  possessed  the  power  of  taking  up  the  microbes  before  tbej 
had  time  to  elaborate  effective  doses  of  their  toxic  material. 
It  was,  therefore,  at  the  commencement  of  the  disease  that 
the  critical  struggle  took  place.     If  the  leucocytes  could  not 
accomplish  this  at  the  beginning  of  the  malady,  their  action 
at  a  later  period  would  be  useless,  since  the  microbes  would 
have  produced  enough  poison  to  paralyze  their  activity.     Eveiy 
cause,  therefore,  that  prevented  the  access  of  leucocsrtes  to  the 
point  of  inoculation  facilitated  infection.      The  theory  of  im« 
munity  propounded  by  M.  Metchnikoff  did  not  exdude  the 
possibility  of  there  being  other  means  of  protecting  the  organ- 
ism, but  it  simply  proved  that  phagocytosis  had  a  wider  sphere 
of  action,  and  was  more  efficacious,  than  any  other  means  of 
protecting  the  organism.     It  seemed  to  explain  all  the  £acts, 
and  was,  moreover,  eminently  suggestive.     It  was  in  this  way 
that  the  knowledge  of  microbic  poisons  and  chemical  inocolatioo 
had  thrown  light  on  what  would  otherwise  have  been  obscure. 
Far  from  being  shaken  by  the  theories  which  were   oppo^ 
to  it,  this  theory  of  Metchnikoff 's  had  gained  by  the  opposition 
which  it  has  met,  and  that  was  a  guarantee  of  its  soundness. 

Dr.  Buchner,  of  Munich,  after  giving  a  general  account  of 
the  various  theories  of  immunity,  criticized  freely  Metchnikoff's 
views.  The  main  objections  he  brought  forward  were  as 
follows: — 

(i)  Many  observers  failed  to  notice  any  destruction  of  bscilli 
by  phagocytes,  when  naturally  immune  animals,  such  as  white 
rats  or  pigeons,  were  inoculated  with  anthrax. 

(2)  In  disi'ases  ending  fatally,  such  as  tuberculosis,  noioe- 
septicaemia,  &c.,  the  micro-organisms  were  frequently  found  in 
the  interior  of  phagocytes. 

(3)  The  experiments  of  Petruchky,  Baumgarten,  Pekelhaiizig, 
and  others  seemed  to  show  that  the  bacilli  of  anthrax  perished 
in  the  living  fluids  of  immune  animals  even  when  the  bacilli 
were  protected  against  the  attacks  of  white  corpuscles. 

Metchnikoff,  however,  denied  this,  and  proved  that  the 
living  fluids  of  immune  white  rats  form  a  most  excellent  coltivat- 
ing  medium  for  the  bacilli  of  anthrax.  These  observations  of 
Metchnikoff,  according  to  Buchner,  might  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  Metchniko^  in  his  experiments  introduced  move 
bacilli  than  could  be  destroyed  by  the  living  fluids  of  white  rats, 
as  a  certain  quantity  of  serum  was  able  to  destroy  only  a  very 
small  quantity  of  micro-organisms.  Speaking  of  the  experiments 
made  by  his  pupils  Ibener  and  Roeder,  he  stated  that,  when  a 
certain  kind  of  micro-organisms  were  placed  into  a  given  quan- 
tity of  serum,  the  micro-organisms  might  either  be  destroyed  in 
ioto,  or  reproduce  themselves  in  large  numbers  according  to  the 
number  of  micro-organisms  introduced  in  the  first  place  into  the 
serum.  When,  instead  of  placing  the  micro-organisms  directly 
in  contact  with  the  serum,  the  micro-organisms  were  wrapped 
up  in  sterilised  cotton -wool,  it  was  found  that  the  badlU,  so 
protected  against  the  temporary  harmful  influence  of  semm, 
began  to  grow  luxuriantly  at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours.  The 
bactericidal  power  of  serum  disappeared,  therefore,  shortly  after 
death. 

Massart,  Bordet,  and  Gabritchewsky  had  previously  proved 
that  the  emigration  of  leucocytes  to  the  spot  where  the  vims  was 
introduced  was  due  to  the  attracting  influence  (positive  chemo^ 
taxis)  of  the  chemical  poisons  secreted  by  micro-organisms,  bdt 
he  (Buchner)  was  of  opinion  that  the  substances  dissolved  in  the 
cultures  have  hardly  any  action  on  leucocytes,  but  that  this 
attracting  influence  on  leucocytes  was  due  to  the  protein 
present  in  bacterial  cells  themselves.  Whereas  the  products  d 
the  metsU)olism  of  micro-organisms  had  little  or  no  attracting  m- 
fluence  on  the  leucocytes,  the  proteins  themselves  attracted  tlie 
cells  most  powerfully. 

As  long  as  the  bacterial  cells  were  active  and  capable  of  repro- 
ducing themselves  actively,  the  proteins  were  contained  in  the 
cells,   and  these    poisons  only  left  the  cells  when  the  latter 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


421 


became  diseased  or  old.  Hence  these  proteins  were  chiefly  found 
in  old  cnltares,  the  filtered  and  sterilised  extracts  of  which  alwajrs 
poss^sed  a  strong  attracting  inflaence  on  leucocytes.  Hence  it 
followed  that,  "  The  more  a  given  micro-organism  is  harmfully 
influenced  by  the  living  fluids  of  a  given  species  of  animals, 
the  more  proteins  will  be  excreted.  This,  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, is  followed  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  number  of 
cells  which  emigrate  to  the  point  of  inoculation."  In  every  case 
the  living  fluids  of  the  body  exert  a  harmful  influence  on  micro- 
ozganisms,  and  then,  when  in  consequence  of  this  the  excretion 
of  proteins  takes  place,  the  amoeboid  celts  emigrate  to  the  spot. 
Tumiog  now  to  the  characteristics  of  this  germicidal  sub- 
stance present  in  serum,  he  thought  that  this  germicidal  power 
gradually  disappeared,  so  that  after  a  few  days  the  serum  had 
no  bactericidal  power.  This  germicidal  action  was  destroyed  by 
the  micro-organisms  themselves,  for,  unless  the  latter  were  com- 
pletely destroyed,  they  soon  began  to  grow  freely  in  Ferum.  This 
germicidal  substance  was  easily  destroyed  by  heat.  Serum 
which  bad  been  maintained  at  55°  C.  during  half  an  hour,  or  at 
52°  C.  during  six  hours,  lost  its  bactericidal  power  completely. 
A  moderate  degree  of  warmth  (37°  C. )  intensified  the  germicidal 
action  of  the  blood  or  serum. 

Turning  now  to  the  question  as  to  whether  this  bactericidal 
action  of  the  blood  had  any  share  in  the  production  of  immunity, 
he  gave  the  f  >llowing  facts  as  proving  that  there  was  some  con- 
nection between  the  immunity  of  a  given  animal  against  a  given 
infectious  disease,  and  the  bactericidal  action  of  its  blood  on  the 
micro-organism  producing  the  disease : — 

(a)  The  blood  and  serum  of  animals,  such  as  mice  and  guinea- 
pigs,  which  readily  succumbed  to  anthrax  had  no  bactericidal 
power  on  anthrax-bacilli. 

{b)  The  serum  of  animals  which  took  anthrax  readily  never 
possessed  such  a  strong  bactericidal  action  as  the  serum  of  white 
rats,  which  were  immune  against  anthrax. 

[c]  The  blood  and  serum  of  animals  rendered  artiflcially 
immune  possessed  stronger  bactericidal  powers  than  the  blood 
and  serum  of  normal  animals. 

{d)  The  blood  and  serum  of  ani.nals  rendered  artiflcially 
immune  against  a  given  micro-organism  le-tsened  the  virulence  of 
the  specific  micro-organism  causing  the  disease. 

if)  Whenever  blood  and  serum  possessed  no  bactericidal 
action  on  micro-organisms,  this  absence  of  bactericidal  action 
might  be  due  to  the  fact  that,  owing  to  the  necessary  manipu- 
lations, this  bactericidal  substance  had  been  altered  or  even 
destroyed. 

As  further  proving  that  the  immunity  of  animals  depended  on 
some  substance  present  in  the  serum,  he  mentioned  the  facts 
described  by  Behring,  Kitasato,  Ogata,  and  Emmerich,  in  which 
the  injection  of  blood  or  serum  of  an  animal  immune  against 
a  given  bacillu«,  cured  another  animal  afllicted  with  the  same 
disease.  This  curative  power  he  attributed  to  the  presence  in 
the  blood  of  immune  animals  of  a  protective  substance,  probably 
proteid  in  its  nature,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  "  alexine 
(from  &Xc|c?i',  to  protect).  These  alexines  were  not  ordinary 
oxidation  products  of  the  tissues,  as  they  were  quite  specific  in 
their  action.  They  were  not  simply  enzymes,  as  they  had  no 
faydrolytic  properties,  but  they  were  most  probably  proteid  sub- 
stances. These  alexines  were  probably  formed  in  the  cells  ;  but, 
when  formed,  their  action  was  quite  independent  from  that  of 
cells,  and  they  were  probably  always  present  in  immune  animals. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Hankin,  of  Cambridge,  after  giving  a  r/fKw/ of  the 
work  done  by  various  observers,  said  that  theoretical  considera- 
tions led  him  to  suspect  that  a  particular  ferment-like  proteid, 
known  as  cell  globulin  B,  was  a  substance  possessing  bacteri* 
cidal  power.  He  tested  its  action  on  anthrax  bacilli,  and  found 
that  it  had  the  power  of  destroying  these  microbes. 

He  further  found  that  similar  substances  were  present,  not 
only  in  animals  that  were  naturally  immune  agaiuNt  anthrax,  but 
also  in  those  that  were  susceptible  to  this  disease.  To  these  sub- 
stances he  had  given  the  name  of  defensive  proteids.  In  his  pub- 
lished papers  on  this  subject  he  had  noted  various  similarities  in 
the  bactericidal  action  of  these  substances,  and  that  possessed  by 
blood-serum,  and  these  resemblances  were  such  as  to  leave  little 
room  for  doubt  that  the  bactericidal  action  of  blood-serum  was 
due  to  the  presence  of  these  defensive  proteids. 

The  serum  of  white  rats  contained  a  proteid  body  possessing 
a  well-marked  alkaline  reaction,  and  a  power  of  destroying  an- 
thrax bacilli.  Further,  when  injected  into  mice  along  with  fully 
virulent  anthrax  spores,  it  would  prevent  the  development  of  the 

NO.    II 40,  VOL.  44] 


disease.  On  the  other  hand,  defensive  proteids  of  animals  sus- 
ceptible to  anthrax  did  not  exert  such  protejtive  power,  and 
consequently  these  experiments  indicated  a  diff^ercnce  in  the 
mode  of  action  of  defensive  proteids  of  immune  and  non-im- 
mune animals  respectively.  Further,  the  amount  of  defensive 
proteid  present  in  a  rat  could  be  diminished  by  the  causes  which 
were  known  to  be  capable  of  lowering  the  animal's  power  of 
resisting  anthrax.  For  instance,  Feser  stated  that  rats  become 
susceptible  to  anthrax  when  fed  on  a  vegetarian  diet.  Mr.  Hankin 
obtained  similar  results  with  wild  rats.  The  ordinary  white 
rat  he  found  to  be  generally  refractory  to  anthrax  on  any 
diet,  and  the  defensive  proteid  could  always  be  obtained  from 
its  spleen  and  blood-serum.  This  was  not  the  case  with  wild 
rats.  In  one  experiment  eight  wild  rats  were  used  ;  of  these,  four 
were  fed  on  bread  and  meat,  the  others  on  plain  bread,  for  about 
six  weeks.  Then  one  rat  of  each  lot  was  inoculated  with  an- 
thrax ;  of  these,  the  one  that  had  been  subjected  to  a  bread  diet 
succumbed.  The  remaining  rats  were  killed,  and  it  was  found 
that  while  the  spleens  of  the  flesh-fed  rats  contained  abundance 
of  the  defensive  proteid,  only  traces  of  this  substance  could  be 
obtained  from  the  spleens  of  the  rats  that  had  been  fed  on  bread 
alone.     A  similar  result  was  obtained  in  other  experiments. 

Very  young  rats  were  known  to  be  susceptible  to  anthrax, 
and  so  far  as  could  be  judged  from  the  litmus  test  (after  dialysis 
and  addition  of  NaCl),  their  serum  appeared  to  contain  less  of 
the  defensive  proteid  than  did  that  of  the  adult  rat.  Further, 
Mr.  Hankin  found  that  a  young  rat  could  be  preserved  from 
anthrax  by  an  injection  of  its  parent's  blood-senim.. 

These  facts  appeared  to  prove  that  the  defensive  proteid  of 
the  rat  deserved  its  name,  in  that  it  preserves  the  animal  from 
the  attack  of  the  anthrax  microbe  ;  in  other  words,  that  this 
substance  was  at  any  rate  a  part  cause  of  the  rat's  immunity 
against  anthrax. 

Defensive  proteids  appeared  to  be  ferment  like,  albuminous 
bodies,  and  it  was  extremely  unlikely  that  we  should  for  a  con- 
siderable time  be  able  to  classify  them  by  any  other  than 
physiological  tests.  From  this  point  of  view  it  was  possible  to 
divide  them  into  two  classes ;  first,  those  occurring  naturally  in 
normal  animals,  and  secondly,  those  occurring  in  animals  that 
have  artificially  been  made  immune.  For  these  two  classes  Mr. 
Hankin  proposed  the  names  of  sozins  and  phylaxins.  A  **  sozin  " 
was  a  defensive  proteid  that  occurred  naturally  in  a  normal 
animal.  They  had  been  found  in  all  animals  yet  examined, 
and  appear  to  act  on  numerous  kinds  of  microbes  or  on  their 
products.  A  "phylaxin"  was  a  defensive  proteid  which  was 
only  found  in  an  animal  that  had  been  artificially  made  immune 
against  a  disease,  and  which  (so  far  as  is  yet  knoMn)  only  acted 
on  one  kind  of  microbe  or  on  its  products. 

Each  of  these  classes  of  defensive  proteids  could  obviously  be 
further  subdivided  into  those  that  acted  on  the  microbe  itself, 
and  those  that  acted  on  the  poisons  it  generated.  These  sub- 
classes he  proposed  to  denote  by  adding  the  prefixes  myco-  and 
toxo-  to  the  class  name,  l^hus  myco-sozins  were  defensive 
proteids  occurring  in  the  normal  animal,  which  had  the  power 
of  acting  on  various  species  of  microbe.  Toxo-sozins  were 
defensive  proteids,  also  occurring  in  the  normal  animal, 
having  the  power  of  destroying  poisons  produced  by  various 
microbes.  Myco- phylaxins  and  toxo- phylaxins  similarly  would 
denote  the  two  sub-classes  of  the  phylaxin  group. 

The  classification  might  be  represented  by  the  following 
scheme : — 


*•*  mi 

•a  rt't  1 

2  -r  * 

CI  '■^•-> 
«         X    ' 

X     *{ 


Sozins  :— 
Defensive  proteids   present 
the  normal  animal. 


/  Myco-sozins  :— 
I  Alkaline  gLbulins 
I  kin),  destroying 
I      lus. 


from  rat  (Han- 
anthrax  bacil- 


in\ 


Toxo-sozins: —  ^ 
Of  rabbit,  destroying  V.  tnetchni- 
koi'i  poison  (Gamaleia). 


^ 


Phylaxins  :— 
Defensive  proteids    present    in 
the  animal  after  it  has  been  ^ 
made  artificially  immune.         ^ 


Myco-phylaxins  :—    ^ 
or  rabbit,  destroying  pig  typhoid 
bacillus  (Emtnerich). 


Toxo-phylaxins  ; — 
Of  rabbu,  &c.,  destroying  diph- 
theria   and     tetanus     poisons 
.     (Behring     and   Kitasato.    aoti. 
)     toxin  of  Tizzoni  and  CattaniX 

Prof.  Emmerich,  of  Munich,  read  a  paper  on  "The  Artificial 
Production  of  Immunity  against  Croupous  Pneumonia  and  the 


422 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


Cure  of  this  Disease."  He  stated  that  his  previous  experiments 
on  swine  fever  had  proved  that  in  immune  animals  the  bacilli  of 
swine  fever  were  destroyed,  not  by  the  cells  of  the  animal,  but  by 
a  bactericidal  substance  present  in  the  blood.  It  had  been 
clearly  proved  by  his  experiments  that  the  bacilli  of  swine  fever 
were  destroyed  almost  immediately  after  their  introduction 
under  an  immune  animal's  skin.  Applying  these  researches  to 
the  disease  produced  in  rabbits  by  the  inoculation  of  the  Diplo^ 
coccus  fnetimonio!  of  Fraenkel,  he  showed  that  non-immune 
rabbils  died  within  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours  after  the 
introduction  of  the  virus.  But  if  such  animals  had  been  pre- 
viously treated  with  the  blood  or  serum  of  animals  rendered 
artificially  immune  against  the  diplococcus  of  Fraenkel,  such 
animals  did  not  die,  but  recovered  after  the  introduction  of  ex- 
tremely virulent  diplococci.  Moreover,  when  the  Diplococcus 
pneumonia  was  inoculated  into  an  animal,  it  was  possible  to 
cure  it  by  injecting  shortly  afterwards  some  of  the  serum  of  an 
animal  rendered  artificially  immune.  In  the  blood  of  animals 
rendered  artificially  immune  against  pneumonia  we  possessed  an 
excellent  cure  for  the  disease.  Not  only  would  it  be  possible  to 
cure  men  afflicted  with  pneumonia  by  these  injections,  but  we 
could,  by  preventive  inoculations  applied  in  time,  put  a  stop  to 
the  spread  of  an  epidemic  in  a  school  or  a  prison  for  instance. 
His  experiment.*,  together  with  Dr.  Doenissen's,  had  a  great 
practical  as  well  as  a  theoretical  value. 

Dr.  Ehrlich,  of  Berlin,  stated  that  he  had  lately  made  a 
number  of  experiments  with  ricin  which  threw  great  light  on 
the  question  of  immunity.  According  to  Kobert  and  Stillmark, 
ricin  was  an  extremely  poisonous  body,  for  it  acted  fatally  when 
such  small  doses  as  o  03  mg.  were  injected  into  an  animal's 
veins.  When  absorbed  through  the  alimentary  canal,  a  dose 
100  times  larger  could  be  easily  tolerated.  Nevertheless,  even 
then,  it  was  so  toxic  that,  according  to  Kobert's  reckoning,  a 
dose  of  0'i8  gr.  would  prove  fatal  to  a  full-grown  man.  It  had 
a  harmful  influence  on  the  blood,  producing  coagulation  of  the 
red  blood-corpuscles,  and  thromboses,  more  especially  of  the 
vessels  of  the  alimentary  canal. 

In  his  opinion  the  toxicity  of  ricin  greatly  depended  on  the 
species  of  animals  used  for  experiments,  the  animals  most  sus- 
ceptible  to  its  action  being  guinea-pigs.  Thus,  a  guinea-pig 
weighing  385  grammes  died  eleven  days  after  the  inoculation  of 
0*7  cc.  of  a  1  in  150,000  solution  of  ricin,  the  post-morUm 
examination  showing  characteristic  haemorrhages  in  the  ali- 
mentary tract.  One  gramme  of  this  substance  might  therefore 
prove  fatal  to  1,500,000  guinea-pigs.  White  mice,  on  the  other 
hand,  did  not  die  after  much  larger  doses,  and  this  immunity  of 
mice  against  this  poison  might  t>e  increased  by  subcutaneous 
injections  of  ricin.  The  same  result  might  be  obtained,  how- 
ever, far  more  easily  and  without  any  chances  of  failure,  by 
feeding  mice  with  ricin.  It  was  best  to  begin  with  ^malI, 
harmless  doses,  gradually  increasing  the  amount  until  the  or- 
ganism was  accustomed  to  the  poisonous  substance.  In  ten 
days  a  mouse  might  then  be  inoculated  with  a  deadly  or  even 
larger  dose  without  suflfering  any  evil  effects.  Thus,  whilst 
doses  of  1/200C00  gramme  was  absolutely  fatal  in  normal 
animals,  mice  fed  daily  and  in  increasing  quantities  with  ricin 
suffered  no  harm  after  the  injection  of  i/iooo  gr.  or  1/500  gr., 
or,  occasionally,  of  I/250  gr. 

Whilst  a  0*5  or  i  per  cent,  solution  of  ricin  applied  to  the 
eye  of  a  normal  animal  produced  severe  inflammation  and 
panophthalmitis,  the  application  of  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of 
ricin  produced  no  effect  on  the  eye  of  an  animal  previously  fed 
with  ricin.  In  other  words,  this  was  distinct  proof  of  the 
existence  of  a  local  as  well  as  of  a  general  immunity  against  the 
poison.  Strangely  enough  it  was  almost  impossible  to  render  the 
subcutaneous  tissue  immune  against  ricin,  and  even  in  exceed- 
ingly immune  animals  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  ricin  pro- 
duced distinct  necrosis  of  the  subcutaneous  tissue. 

It  was  a  remarkable  fact  that  this  immunity  appeared  quite 
suddenly  on  the  sixth  day,  and  then  increased  slowly,  so  that  on 
the  twenty-first  day  the  animal  could  stand  a  dose  which  was 
400  times  higher  than  that  fatal  to  a  normal  animal. 

This  immunity  against  ricin  appeared  to  be  permanent,  for  it 
was  still  present  in  immune  mice  which  had  not  taken  ricin  for 
a  period  of  six  months  previously. 

He  had  been  able  to  extract  from  the  blood  of  animals 
rendered  immune  against  ricin  a  body  which  had  the  power  of 
counteracting  the  toxic  action  of  ricin,  so  that  a  powerful  solu- 
tion of  ricin  was  rendered  harmless  by  admixture  with  the  blood 

NO.    I  140,  VOL.   44] 


of  immune  mice.      It   was   also  possible  to  render  ammils 
immune  against  ricin  by  injecting  the  blood  of  immune  animals. 
He  had  obtained  similar  results  with  abrin,  which  wonld  be 
shortly  published. 

Dr.  Kitasato,  of  Tokio,  shortly  summarized  the  results  which 
he  and  Dr.  Behring  had  obtained  with  the  viras  of  tetanus. 
According  to  these  observers,  the  blood  of  a  normal  rabbit  has 
no  influence  on  the  toxines  secreted  by  the  bacillus  of  tetanus. 
But  when  a  rabbit  had  been  rendered  artificially  immune  s^[iin5t 
that  disease,  its  blood  had  the  power  of  destroying  the  toxines 
secreted  by  the  specific  bacillus.  Nay,  more,  the  blood  of  rab- 
bits made  artificially  immune  against  tetanus  with  trichloride  of 
iodine,  rendered  mice  not  only  refractory  to  tetanus  bat  also 
cured  the  disease  when  already  in  progress.  The  blood,  how- 
ever, did  not  appear  to  act  on  the  tetanus  bacillus  itself,  but  on 
the  toxines  secreted  by  the  bacillus. 

Dr.  Adami,  of  Cambridge,  thought  that  it  was  impossible  to 
doubt  that  in  a  large  number  of  infectious  diseases  the  process 
of  phagocytosis  was  extremely  marked.  He  was  of  opinion  that 
it  was  quite  possible  to  accept  both  views  of  the  question.  The 
controversy  had  taken  place  chiefly  as  to  the  phenomena  observed 
in  the  rat ;  in  that  animal  phagocytosis  was  only  to  be  observed 
with  difficulty,  and  the  serum  of  rat's  blood  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed bacteria-killing  properties  to  a  high  degree. 

Dr.  Klein,  of  London,  stated  that  frogs  and  rats  were  insus- 
ceptible to  anthrax,  but  that  these  animals  could  be  made 
susceptible  to  the  disease  by  a  variety  of  means,  indicating  that 
their  normal  power  of  resistance  was  due  to  certain  chemical 
conditions  of  the  blood.  If  the  bacillus  of  anthrax  wxs  introdaced 
into  the  lymph-sac  of  a  chloroformed  frog,  this  animal  always 
died  of  anthrax.  Rats  inoculated  with  anthrax  and  kept  under 
the  influence  of  an  ansesthetic  also  died  of  anthrax.  He  had  been 
unable  to  find  any  evidence  to  show  that  in  these  cases  the 
leucocytes  had  lost  their  power  of  swallowing  up  bacteria,  and 
therefore  the  susceptibility  of  chloroformed  animals  to  anthrax 
could  only  be  explained  by  some  chemical  changes  taking  place 
in  the  serum  of  the  chloroformed  rat  or  frog. 

Dr.  Metchnikoff,  of  Paris,  who  was  greeted  with  loud  and  pro- 
longed cheering,  said  that,  of  all  the  objections  which  have  been 
raised  against  the  theory  of  phagocytes,  doubtless  by  far  the 
most  important  was  that  formulated  by  Behring  and  Nisen  : 
namely,  the  fact  that  the  serum  of  guinea-pigs  vaccinated  agauosl 
the  vibrio  of  Metchnikoff  had  bactericidal  powers  on  the  same 
vibrio.  Whilst  the  serum  of  normal  guinea-pigs  allowed  the  free 
development  of  a  large  number  of  these  microbes,  the  senun  of 
vaccinated  animals  killed  the  micro  organisms  at  the  end  of  a 
few  hours.  MM.  Behring  and  Nissen  were  convinced  that  this 
fact  formed  a  complete  explanation  of  the  acquired  immunity  of 
guinea-pigs  against  the  Vibrio  MeUhnikofi^  and  that  it  might 
serve  as  a  model  for  a  theory  of  immunity.  His  own  researches, 
however,  proved  the  contrary.  If  one  studied  the  phenomena  as 
they  occurred  in  the  living  animal,  one  noticed  at  once  that  the 
bacilli  inoculated  into  immune  guinea-pigs  remained  alive  for  a 
very  long  lime.  Some  vibrios  were  taken  into  the  interior  of 
leucocytes  at  the  point  of  inoculation,  whiUt  others  developed 
perfectly  in  the  liquid  exudation.  To  show  this,  one  had  only 
to  take  a  drop  of  the  latter,  and  place  it  in  the  warm  chamber; 
the  leucocytes  perished  when  taken  out  of  the  organism,  and 
allowed  the  bacilli  contained  in  their  interior  to  develop  freely. 
The  vibrions  thus  multiplied  and  filled  the  leucocytes,  which 
swelled  and  eventually  burst,  allowing  the  microbes  to  pa» 
freely  into  the  liquid  part  of  the  exudation.  Here  the  develop- 
ment continued,  and  one  obtained  very  abundant  cultures  from 
the  liquid  exudation  of  the  immune  guinea-pig.  If  one  ex- 
tracted a  small  quantity  of  such  a  culture,  and  introduced  il  into 
the  dead  serum  of  an  immune  guinea-pig,  this  serum  not  only 
did  not  kill  the  bacilli,  but  also  gave  a  more  abundant  develop- 
ment than  the  serum  of  a  non-immune  animal  could  do.  The 
study  of  the  phenomena  in  living  animals  made  artificially  im- 
mune against  the  vibrio  of  Metchnikoff,  instead  of  overthrowing 
the  theory  of  phagocytosis,  furnished  on  the  contrary  an  evident 
proof  in  its  favour.  The  theories  of  the  attenuation  of  vims  in 
the  bodies  of  immune  animals,  and  of  the  neutralization  of  the 
toxines,  could  not  be  applied  to  his  case,  as  the  vibrios  re- 
mained very  virulent,  and  because  the  immune  guinea-pigs  art 
as  sensitive  to  the  toxine  of  the  bacillus  as  the  non-immone 
animal. 

This  example  showed  yet  once  more  that  one  must  not   be 
content  with  studying  the  phenomena  of  immunity  outside  the 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


423 


organism.  This  criticism  also  applied  to  M.  Buchner's  expen- 
mentSy  which  he  had  communicated  to  this  meeting  ;  he  insisted 
on  the  fact  that,  in  order  to  assure  one's  self  thoroughly  of  the 
bactericidal  property  of  the  serum,  it  was  necessary  to  take  a 
small  quantity  of  the  culture,  and  spread  it  in  a  tube  filled  with 
serum.  If,  according  to  Dr.  Buchner,  one  introduced  a  little  of 
the  culture  wrapped  in  cotton-wool,  the  serum  could  no  longer 
exercise  its  bactericidal  power,  and  the  microbe  developed 
freely.  Now,  when  one  inoculated  the  bacillus  under  the  skin 
of  an  animal,  one  introduced  at  the  same  time  a  small  mass 
which  did  not  spread  freely  in  the  blood  or  exudation,  but  re- 
mained localized  at  one  spot.  The  experiments  of  Mr.  Buch- 
ner, instead  of  furnishing  an  objection  to  the  phagocyte  theory, 
rsther  supported  it. 

Referring  to  the  curative  properties  of  the  serum  of  white  rats 
against  anthrax,  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  whereas  the 
living  serum  of  white  rats  had  no  bactericidal  action  on  anthrax, 
thedeadserumof  the  same  animals  had  marked  bactericidal  powers 
on  the  same  micro-organism.  When  a  mouse  was  inoculated 
with  a  mixture  of  the  dead  serum  of  a  rat  and  anthrax  bacilli,  it 
nearly  always  died,  although  the  disease  lasted  somewhat  longer 
than  usual.  On  examination  of  the  point  of  inoculation  it  was 
found  that  the  bacilli  of  anthrax  did  not  grow  quite  so  readily, 
and  that  an  enormous  number  of  leucocytes  emigrated  to  the 
point  of  inoculation  and  took  the  bacilli  into  their  interior  and 
digested  them.  In  tetanus,  again,  the  leucocytes  ate  up  con- 
siderable quantities  of  tetanus- spores  and  bacilli.  Summing  up 
his  researches,  he  stated  that  whenever  an  animal  recovered 
from  an  infections  disease  this  recovery  was  accompanied  by 
a  process  of  phagocytosis ;  whenever  an  animal  died  of  an  in- 
fectious  disease  the  process  of  phagocytosis  was  absent  or  insuf- 
ficient. The  theory  of  phagocytes  was  strictly  based  on  the 
principles  of  evolution  as  laid  down  by  Darwin  and  Wallace. 

After  some  remarks  by  Dr.  Fodor,  Dr.  Cartwright  Wood, 
Prof.  Babes,  Dr.  Wright,  and  Dr.  Arloing, 

Dr.  Roux,  answering  some  remarks  made  by  Prof.  Emmerich, 
stated  that,  far  from  the  preventive  inoculations  against  anthrax 
and  swine  fever  having  been  proved  to  be  unsuccessful,  agricul- 
tarists  in  France  and  other  countries  were  making  use  of  them 
daily,  and  the  u  e  of  the  various  vaccins  manufactured  at  the 
Institui  Pasteur  was  increa<»ing  day  by  day. 

Dr.  Buchner  congratulated  Dr.  Metchnikoff  on  his  most 
important  paper.  He  was  of  opinion,  however,  that  the  time 
for  framing  a  complete  theory  of  immunity  had  not  come  yet. 

Sir  Joseph  Lister  then  stated  that  if  anything  were  required 
to  justify  the  existence  of  this  Congress  it  would  have  been  their 
sitting  that  day.  The  immense  amount  of  valuable  material 
which  they  had  had  on  this  most  important  subject  had  been  such 
as  to  make  all  the  members  exceedingly  grateful  to  those  who 
had  brought  these  matters  before  them. 


THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIA  TION, 

T^HE  following  is  a  list  of  the  grants  of  money  appro- 
■■'  priated  to  scientific  purposes  by  the  General  Com- 
mittee at  the  Cardiff  meeting,  August  1891.  The  names 
of  the  members  entitled  to  call  on  the  General  Treasurer 
for  the  respective  grants  are  prefixed  : 

A. — Mathematics  and  Physics. 

*Fo8ter,  Prof.  Carfey — Electrical  Standards  (partly      £    s.   d. 
renewed) 27    4    6 

*McLaren,  Lord — Meteorological  Observations  on 

Ben  Nevis  50    o    o 

*Symons,    Mr.   G.    J. — Photographs  of   Meteoro- 

logicsd  Phenomena  15    o    o 

*Cayley,    Prof. — Pellian   Equation  Tables  (partly 

renewed)    ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...       15    o    o 

'Rayleigh,  Lord — Tables  of  Mathematical   Func- 
tions ...         ..         ...        ...  ...         ...       15    o    o 

•Fitzgerald,  Prof.  G.  F. — Electrolysis       500 

•Lodge,     Prof. — Discharge    of    Electricity    from 

Points         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...       50    o    o 

•Thomson,   Sir  W. — Seismological  Phenomena  of 

Japan  ...  ...         ...         ...         ...       10    o    o 


B. — Chemist ty  and  Mineralogy^ 

•Roberts- Austen,  Prof.— Analysis  of  Iron  and  Steel 
(renewed) 

•Armstrong,  Prof.  H.  E.— Formation  of  Haloids 
from  Pure  Materials  (partly  renewed) 

•Tilden,  Prof.  W.  A.— Properties  of  Solutions     ... 

•Thorpe,  Prof. — Action  of  Light  upon  Dyed 
Colours  (partly  renewed)  

C. — Geology. 

•Prestwich,  Prof.— Erratic  Blocks  (partly  renewed) 

•Wiltshire,  Rev.  T.— Fossil  Phyllopoda  (renewed) 

•Gcikie,     Prof.    J.— Photographs    of    Geological 

■^uicrcsi        ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ... 

•Woodward,  Dr.  H.— Registration  of  Type  Speci- 
mens of  British  Fossils  (renewed)  

•  Hull,  Prof.  E.  —  Underground  Waters      

•Davis,  Mr.  J.  W.— Investigation  of  Elbolton  Cave 
Jones,    Prof.    R.  — Faunal  Contents  of  Sowerbyi 

^^\MmM,^  ••,  ■••  •■•  •«•  ••«  ■•• 

•Evans,  Dr.  J.— Excavations  at  Oldbury  Hill 
•Woodward,  Dr.  H.— Cretaceous  Polyzoa 

D. — Biology. 

•Sclater,  Dr.  P.  L.— Table  at  the  Naples  Zoological 
oiaiion       ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         .a. 

•Lankester,  Mr.  E.  R.— Table  at  Plymouth  Bio- 
logical Laboratory  (renewed)      

•Haddon,  Prof.  A.  C. — Improving  a  Deep-sea 
Tow-net  (partly  renewed)  

•Newton,  Prof.— Fauna  of  Sandwich  Islands  (re- 

'•*»"  cu^  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ... 

•Sclater,  Dr.  P.  L.— Zoology  and  Botany  of  the 
West  India  Islands  (renewed) 

E . — Geography. 

Ravenstein,  Mr.  E.  G. — Climatology  and  Hydro- 
graphy of  Tropical  Africa  

H .  — A  nthropology. 

•Flower,  Prof. — Anthropometric  Laboratory 
Garson,    Dr.    J.    G.  —  Prehistoric    Remains    in 

Mashonaland 
•Tylor,    Dr.    E.    B.  —  North-western    Tribes    of 

^anaoa       ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ... 

•Turner,  Sir  W. — Habits,  Customs,  &c.,  of  Natives 

of  India  (renewed) 
•Floweij  Prof. — New  Edition  of  Anthropological 

Notes  and  Queries  


8  16  o 

25    5  o 

10    o  o 

10     o  o 


15  o  o 

10  o  o 

20  o  o 

500 

10  o  o 

25  o  o 

10  o  o 

25  o  o 

10  o  o 


100    o  o 

17  10  o 

40    o  o 

100    o  o 

100     o  o 


•Symons,    Mr.    G.    J. — Corresponding   Societies* 
Committee... 


*  Rrappointed. 


75    o  o 

500 

50    o  o 

100    o  o 

10    o  o 

20    o  o 

25    o  o 

;f  1013  15  6 


SECTION    E. 

GEOGRAPHY. 


NO.    1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


Opening  Address  by  E.  G.  Ravenstein,  F.R.G.S.,  F.S.S., 

President  of  the  Section. 

The  Field  of  Geography.^ 

It  behoves  every  man  from  time  to  lime  to  survey  the  field  of 
his  labours,  and  to  render  an  account  unto  himself  of  the  work 
he  has  accomplished,  and  of  the  tasks  which  still  await  him,  in 
order  that  he  may  perceive  whether  the  means  employed  hitherto 
are  commensurate  with  the  magnitude  of  his  undertaking,  and 
likely  to  lead  up  to  the  desired  results.  Such  a  survey  of  the 
**  Field  of  Geography  "  I  propose  to  make  the  subject  of  my 
address  to-day.     .     .     . 

Whatever  changes  may  have  taken  place  respecting  the 
aims  of  the  geographer,  it  is  very  generally  acknowledged  that 
the  portraiture  of  the  earth's  surface  in  the  shape  of  a  map  lies 
within  his  proper  and  immediate  domain.  And  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  a  map  possesses  unique  facilities  for  recording  the 
fundamental  facts  of  geographical  knowledge,  and  that  with  a 

'  Pressure  on  our  space  comi>cIs  us  to  omit  some  parU  of  this  address. 


424 


NATURE 


[September  3,  1891 


clearness  and  perspicuity  not  attainable  by  any  other  metho  1. 
You  will  not,  therefore,  think  it  strange  if  I  deal  at  considerable 
length  with  the  development  of  cartography,  more  especially  as 
my  own  labours  have  in  a  large  measure  been  devoted  to  that 
department  of  geographical  work.  An  inspection  of  the  interest- 
ing collection  of  maps  of  all  ages  which  I  am  able  to  place 
before  you  will  serve  to  illustrate  what  I  am  about  to  say  on  this 
subject.     .     .     . 

Ptolemy,  like  all  great  reformers,  stood  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  men  who  had  preceded  him,  for  before  a  map  like  his  could 
be  produced  much  preliminary  work  had  been  accomplished. 
Parmenides  of  Elea  (460  B.C.)  had  demonstrated  that  our  earth 
was  a  globe,  and  E'-atostbenes  (276-196  B  c.)  had  approxi- 
mately determined  its  size.  Hipparchus  (190-120),  the  greatest 
astronomer  of  antiquity,  the  discoverer  of  the  precession  of  the 
equinoxes,  and  the  author  of  a  catalogue  of  stars,  had  transferred 
to  our  earth  the  auxiliary  lines  drai^n  by  him  across  the  heavens. 
He  had  taught  cartographers  to  lay  down  places  according  to 
their  latitude  and  longitude,  and  how  to  project  a  sphere  upon  a 
plane.  It  is  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  the  stereographic  and 
orthographic  projections  of  the  sphere.  Ptolemy  himself  in- 
vented the  tangential  conical  projection. 

The  gnomon  or  sun-dial,  an  instrument  known  to  the  Chinese 
600  years  before  Christ,  had  long  been  used  for  the  determina- 
tion of  latitudes,  and  the  results  were  relatively  correct,  although 
uniformly  subject  to  an  error  of  16  minutes,  which  was  due  to 
the  observers  taking  the  altitude  of  the  upper  limb  of  the  sun, 
when  measuring  the  shadow  cast  by  their  dial,  instead  of  that  of 
the  sun*s  centre. 

It  was  known,  likewise,  that  differences  of  longitude  could  be 
determined  by  the  simultaneous  observation  of  eclipses  of  the 
sun  or  moon,  orof  occultations  of  stars,  and  Hipparchus  actually 
calculated  ephemerides  for  six  years  in  advance  to  facilitate 
computations.  Ptolemy  himself  suggested  the  use  of  lunar 
distances.  But  so  imperfect  were  the  astrolabes  and  other 
instruments  used  by  the  ancient  astronomers,  and  especially 
their  time-keepers,  that  precise  results  are  quite  out  of  the 
question. 

Ptolemy,  in  fact,  contented  himself  with  accepting  eight  lati- 
tudes determined  by  actual  observation,  of  which  four  were  in 
Egypt,  whilst  of  the  three  longitudes  known  to  him  he  only 
utilized  one  in  the  construction  of  his  map.  Unfortunately,  the 
one  selected  proved  the  least  accurate,  being  erroneous  to  the 
extent  of  32  per  cent.,  whilst  the  error  of  the  two  which  he 
rejected  did  not  exceed  13  per  cent.^  This  want  of  judgment — 
pardonable,  no  doubt,  under  the  circumstances — vitiated 
Ptolemy's  delineation  of  the  Mediterranean  to  a  most  deplorable 
extent,  far  more  so  than  did  his  assumption  that  a  degree 
only  measured  five  hundred  stades,  when  in  reality  it  measures 
six  hundred.  For  whilst  the  breadth  of  hb  Mediterranean, 
being  dependent  upon  the  relatively  correct  latitudes  of  Alex- 
andria, Rhodes,  Rome,  and  Massilia,  fairly  approximates  the 
truth,  its  length  is  ex<iggerated  to  the  extent  of  nearly  50  per 
cent.,  measuring  62""  instead  of  41°  40^.  This  capital  error  of 
Ptolemy  is  due  therefore  to  the  unfortunate  acceptance  of  an 
incorrect  longitude,  quite  as  much  as  to  an  exagi^eration  of 
itinerary  distances.  It  is  probable  that  Ptolemy  would  have 
presented  us  with  a  fairer  likeness  of  our  great  inland  sea  had  he 
rejected  observed  latitudes  and  longitudes  altogether,  and 
trusted  exclusively  to  itineraries  and  to  such  bearings  as  the 
mariners  of  the  period  could  have  supplied  him  with. 

No  copy  of  Ptolemy's  original  set  of  maps  has  reached  us,  for 
the  maps  drawn  by  Agathodaemon  in  the  fifth  century  are,  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances,  merely  reductions  of  Ptolemy's 
originals,  or  they  are  compiled  from  Ptolemy's  "Geography," 
which,  apart  from  a  few  explanatory  chapters,  consists  almost 
wholly  of  lists  of  places,  with  their  latitudes  and  longitudes.  I 
am  almost  inclined  to  adopt  the  latter  view — firstly,  because  of 
the  very  crude  delineation  of  Egypt,  for  which  country  an  accu- 
rate cadastral  survey  wa<;  available ;  and  secondly,  on  account 
of  the  cylindrical  projection  on  which  these  maps  are  drawn, 
although  from  Ptolemy's  own  statements  we  are  justified  in 
believing  that  he  made  use  of  a  conical  projection  in  the  con- 
struction of  his  maps. 


*  The  three  longitudes  arc  the  fullowi  g  :  — 

Result  of  ancient  Adopted  by 

observations.  Ptilemy. 

Arbela      ...     45"  E.  of  Carthage  ...     45' 

Babylon  ...     1330  K.  ot  Alexandria  ...      18  30' 
Rome      ...     ao'  E.  of  Alexandria        ...       23'  50' 

NO.    I  140,   VOL.  44] 


Actual  difTcr- 
ence  of  longitude. 

34' 

14   iS' 
\f  24' 


An  examination  of  Ptolemy's  maps  shows  very  clearly  that 
they  were  almost  wholly  compiled  from  itineraries,  the  greatet 
number  of  which  their  author  borrowed  from  his  predeceseor 
Marinus.  It  shows,  too,  that  Ptolemy's  critical  acumen  as  a 
compiler  cannot  be  rated  very  high,  and  that  he  failed  to  utilize 
much  information  of  a  geographical  nature  which  was  available 
in  his  day.  His  great  merit  consisted  in  having  taught  carto- 
graphers to  construct  their  maps  according  to  a  scientificmethoi 
This  lesson,  however,  they  were  slow  to  learn,  and  ccaturici 
elapsed  before  they  once  more  advanced  along  the  only  correct 
path,  which  Ptolemy  had  been  the  first  to  tread. 

During  the  "Dark  Ages"  which  followed  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  Roman  Empire  there  was  no  lack  of  maps,  bat  they 
were  utterly  worthless  from  a  scientific  point  of  view.  The 
achievements  of  the  ancients  were  ignored,  and  the  principal 
aim  of  the  map-makers  of  the  period  appears  to  have  been  to 
reconcile  their  handiwork  with  the  orthodox  interpretation  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Hence  those  numerous  "  wbeel  maps," 
upon  which  Jerusalem  is  made  to  represent  the  hub,  whilst  the 
western  half  of  the  disk  is  assigned  to  Europe  and  Africa,  and 
the  eastern  to  A.sia. 

As  it  is  not  my  intention  to  introduce  you  to  the  arcbxo- 
logical  curiosities  of  an  uncritical  age,  but  to  give  yon  some 
idea  of  the  progress  of  cartography,  I  at  once  pass  00  to  the 
Arabs. 

The  Arabs  were  great  as  travellers,  greater  still  as  astronomeis, 
but  contemptible  as  cartographers.  Their  astronomers,  fully 
possessed  of  the  knowledge  of  Ptolemy,  discovered  the  error  of 
the  gnomon  ;  they  improved  the  instruments  which  they  had  in- 
herited from  the  ancients,  and  carefully  fixed  the  latitudes  of 
quite  a  number  of  places.  Zarkala,  the  Director  of  the  Observa- 
tory of  Toledo,  even  attempted  to  determine  the  difference  of 
longitude  between  that  place  and  Bagdad  ,*  and  if  bis  result 
differed  to  the  extent  of  3°  from  the  truth,  it  neveitheles 
proved  a  great  advance  upon  Ptolemy,  whose  map  exhibits 
an  error  amounting  to  i8^  Had  there  existed  a  scientific 
cartographer  among  the  Arabs,  he  would  have  been  able, 
with  the  aid  of  these  observations,  and  of  the  estimates  of 
distances  made  by  careful  ob^ervers  like  Abul  Hasan,  to  effect 
most  material  corrections  in  the  map  of  the  known  world. 
If  Edrisi's  map  (1154)  is  better  than  that  of  others  of  his 
Arab  contemporaries,  this  is  simply  due  to  his  residence  at 
Palermo,  where  he  was  able  to  avail  himself  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Italians. 

Quite  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  cart<^aphy  begins  with 
the  introduction  of  the  magnetic  needle  into  Europe.  Hitherto 
the  seaman  had  governed  his  course  by  the  observation  of  the 
heavens  ;  thenceforth  an  instrument  was  placed  in  his  hands 
which  made  him  independent  of  the  state  of  the  sky.  The 
property  of  the  magnet  or  * 'loadstone"  to  point  to  the  north 
first  became  known  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  Neckam  (1185)  it  was  already  poised  upon  a  pivot. 
It  was,  however,  only  after  Flavio  Giojaof  Amalfi  (1302)  had 
attached  to  it  a  compass-card,  exhibiting  the  direction  of  the 
winds,  that  it  became  of  such  immediate  importance  to  the 
mariner.  It  is  only  natural  that  the  Italians,  who  were  the 
foremost  seamen  of  that  age,  should  have  been  the  first  to  avail 
themselves  of  this  new  help  to  navigation.  At  quite  an  eaxly 
date,  as  early  probably  as  the  twelfth  century,  they  made  use  « 
it  for  their  maritime  surveys,  and  in  course  of  time  they  pro- 
duced a  series  of  charts  upon  which  the  coasts  frequented  by 
them,  from  the  recesses  of  the  Black  Sea  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Rhine,  are  delineated  for  the  first  time  with  suprising  fidelity  to 
nature.  The  appearance  of  these  so-called  compass-charts, 
with  gaily  coloured  roses  of  the  winds  and  a  bewildering  number 
of  rhumb-lines,  is  quite  unmistakable.  A  little  consideratioD  wiB 
show  you  that  if  the  variation  of  the  compass  had  been  taken  into 
account  in  the  construction  of  these  charts,  they  would  actually 
have  developed  into  a  picture  of  the  world  on  M  creator's  projec- 
tion. But  to  deny  them  all  scientific  value  because  ibey  do  not 
fulfil  this  condition,  is  going  too  far.  As  correct  delineations  of 
the  contours  of  the  land  they  were  a  great  advance  upon  Ptolemy's 
maps,  and  it  redounds  little  to  the  credit  of  the  ''learned^ 
geographers  of  a  later  time  that  they  rejected  the  information  so 
laboriously  collected  and  skilfully  combined  by  the  chart  makers 
and  returned  to  the  deformities  of  Ptolemy.  The  adjustment  of 
these  charts  to  positions  ascertained  by  astronomical  observatiocs 
could  have  been  easily  effected.     An  inspection  of  my  diagnats 


SEPTfiMBER  3,   1891] 


NA  TURE 


425 


will  prove  this  to  you.  The  delineation  of  Italy,  on  the  so-called 
Catakn  map,  is  surprisingly  correct ;  whilst  Gastaldo,  whose 
map  of  Italy  is  nearly  two  hundred  years  younger,  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  emancipate  himself  from  the  overpowering  authority 
of  Ptolemy.  And  in  this  he  did  not  sin  alone,  for  Italian  and 
other  cartographers  of  a  much  later  time  still  clung  pertina- 
ciously to  the  same  error. 

There  were  others,  however,  who  recognized  the  value  of 
these  charts,  and  embodied  them  in  maps  of  the  entire  world. 
Among  such  were  Marino  Sanuto  (1320)  and  Fra  Mauro  (1453), 
both  of  whom  made  their  maps  the  repository  of  much  informa- 
tion  gathered  from  the  Arabs  or  from  their  own  countrymen  who 
had  seen  foreign  parts.  Fra  Mauro,  more  especially  has  trans- 
mitted to  us  a  picture  of  Abyssinia  marvellously  correct  in  its 
details,  though  grossly  exaggerated  in  its  dimensions. 

Another  step  in  the  right  direction  was  taken  when  the 
cartographers  and  pilots  of  Portugal  and  Spain  returned  to  the 
crude  projection  of  DicdE^arch,  Eratosthenes,  and  Marinus, 
which  enabled  them  to  lay  down  places  according  to  latitude 
and  longitude  upon  their  "  plane  charts. '' 

Germany,  debarred  from  taking  a  share  in  the  great  maritime 
discoveries  of  the  age,  indirectly  contributed  to  their  success  by 
improvements  in  mathemiatical  geography  and  the  introduction 
of  superior  instruments.     The  navigators  of  the  early  middle 


Lalande  formed  the  basis  of  all  astronomical  calculations  during  a 
century,  that  more  exact  results  were  obtained.  The  suggestion 
to  determine  longitude  by  means  of  lunar  distances  or  occultations 
of  stars  bore  no  fruit  at  that  time,  as  the  knowledge  of  the  com- 
plicated motion  of  the  moon  was  still  very  imperfect  Still  less 
was  known  about  the  movements  of  the  satellites  of  Jupiter, 
which  Galileo  had  6rst  espied  in  1610  when  looking  at  that 
planet  through  his  telescope.  They  became  available  only  after 
tables  of  their  revolutions  and  eclipses  had  been  published  by 
Cassini  in  1668. 

Another  suggestion  for  the  determination  of  longitude  was 
made  by  Gemma  Frisius  in  1530 — namely,  that  a  clock  or  time- 
keeper should  be  employed  for  the  purpose.  One  of  Huygens's 
pendulum  clocks  was  actually  carried  by  Holmes  to  the  Gulf  of 
Guinea,  but  the  results  obtained  were  far  from  encouraging. 

The  difficulties  which  still  attended  the  determination  of 
longitude  in  the  sixteenth  century  are  conspicuously  illustrated 
by  the  abortive  attempts  of  a  Congress  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
navigators  who  met  at  Badajoz  and  Yelves  in  1524  for  the  purpose 
of  laying  down  the  boundary  line,  which  Pope  Alexander  VI. 
had  drawn  at  a  distance  of  370  Spanish  leagues  to  the  west  of 
Cape  Verde  Islands,  to  separate  the  dominions  of  Spain  from 
those  of  Portugal.  Not  being  able  to  agree  either  as  to  the 
length  of  a  degree,  nor  even  as  to  that  of  a  league,  they  separated 
without  settling  the  question  placed  before  them. 


1-. 


ages  still  made  use  of  an  astrolabe  when  they  desired  to  deter- 
mine a  latitude,  but  this  instrument,  which  in  the  hands  of  an 
expert  observer  furnished  excellent  results  on  land,  was  of  little 
use  to  a  pilot  stationed  on  the  unsteady  deck  of  a  vessel. 
R^omontanus  consequently  conferred  an  immense  service  upon 
the  mariners  of  his  time  when,  in  147 1,  he  adapted  to  their  use 
an  instrument  already  known  to  the  ordinary  surveyors.  It 
was  this  cross-stafif  which  Martin  Behaim  introduced  into  the 
Portuguese  navy,  and  which  quickly  made  its  way  among  the 
navigators  of  all  countries.  Most  observations  at  sea  were 
made  with  this  simple  instrument,  variously  modified  in  the 
course  of  ages,  until  it  was  superseded  by  Hadley's  sextant.  In 
the  hands  of  the  more  skilful  navigators  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  such  as  Baffin,  James,  and  Tasman,  the  results  obtained 
with  the  cross-stafif  were  correct  within  two  or  three  minutes. 

Far  greater  difficulties  were  experienced  in  the  observations  of 
longitudes.  Lunar  eclipses  were  most  generally  made  use  of, 
but  neither  the  ephemerides  of  Regiomontanus,  for  the  years 
1474  ^^  1506,  which  Columbus  carried  with  him  on  his  voyages, 
nor  those  of  Peter  Apianus,  for  1521-70,  were  sufficiently  ac- 
curate to  admit  of  satisfactory  results,  even  though  the  actual 
observation  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  Errors  of  30"  in  longi- 
tude were  by  no  means  rare,  and  it  was  only  when  Kepler  had 
published  his  ''Rudolphine  Tables''  (1626),  which  according  to 


So  uncertain  were  the  results  of  observations  for  longitude 
made  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  that  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  trust  to  the  results  of  dead-reckoning  rather 
than  to  those  of  celestial  observations.  But  the  method  of  dead- 
reckoning  is  available  only  when  we  have  a  knowledge  of  the 
size  of  the  earth,  and  this  knowledge  was  still  very  imperfect, 
notwithstanding  the  renewed  measurement  of  an  arc  of  the 
meridian  by  Snellius,  the  Dutch  mathematician  (1615).  This 
measurement,  however,  is  remarkable  on  account  of  its  having 
for  the  first  time  applied  the  exact  method  of  triangulation  to  a 
survey. 

The  problem  of  measuring  the  ship's  way  had  been  attempted 
by  the  Romans,  who  dragged  paddle*wheels  behind  their  ships, 
the  revolutions  of  which  enabled  them  to  estimate  the  distance 
which  the  ship  had  travelled.  But  time,  the  strength  of  the 
wind,  and  the  pilot's  knowledge  of  the  qualities  of  his  ship,  still 
constituted  the  principal  elements  for  calculations  of  this  kind, 
for  the  "catena  a  poppa"  [which  Magellan  attached  to  the 
stem  of  his  ship  was  merely  intended  to  indicate  the  ship's 
leeway,  and  not  the  distance  which  it  had  travelled.  The 
log,  which  for  the  first  time  enabled  the  mariner  to  carry 
out  his  dead- reckoning  with  confidence,  is  first  described  in 
Bourne's  "Regiment  for  the  Sea,"  which  was  published  in 

1577. 


NO.   1 140,  VOL.  44] 


426 


NA  rURE 


[September  3,  1891 


The  eminent  position  which  Italian  cartographers  occupied 
during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  had  to  be  sur- 
v^ndered  by  them,  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth,  to  their 
pupils,  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards,  upon  whom  extensive 
"Voyages  and  discoveries  had  conferred  exceptional  advantages. 
These,  in  turn,  had  to  yield  to  the  Geimans,  and  later  on  to  the 
Dutch,  who  were  specially  qualified  to  become  the  reformers 
tX  cartography  by  their  study  of  mathematics  and  of  the  ancient 
geographers,  as  also  by  the  high  degree  of  perfection  which  the 
arts  of  engraving  on  wood  and  copper  had  attained  among  them. 
German  mathematicians  first  ventured  to  introduce  the  long* 
neglected  geographical  projections  of  Hipparchus  and  Ptolemy, 
and  devised  others  of  their  own.  Werner  of  Niirnberg  (1514) 
invented  an  equivalent  heart-shaped  projection,  whilst  both 
Apianus  and  Staben  (1520  and  1522)  suggested  equivalent  pro- 
jections. Still  greater  were  the  services  of  Gerhard  Cremer,  or 
Mercat or  (1512-94),  the  Ptolemy  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who 
not  only  introduced  the  secant  conical  projection,  but  also  in- 
vented that  still  known  by  his  name,  which  was  calculated  to 
render  such  great  service  to  the  navigator,  but  was  nevertheless 
not  universally  accepted  until  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  the  mediaeval  compass  and  plane  charts  finally  dis- 
appeared. 

The  German  cartographers  of  that  age  are  to  be  commended, 
not  because  they  copied  Ptolemy's  maps — for  in  this  they  had 
been  preceded  by  others — but  because  they  adopted  his  scientific 
methods  in  producing  maps  of  their  own.  Their  reforms  began 
at  home,  as  all  reforms  should.  They  were  amply  supported  in 
their  efforts  by  the  many  astronomers  of  note  of  whom  Germany 
then  boasted,  and  by  quite  a  staff  of  local  "geographers,"  of 
whom  nearly  every  district  of  the  empire  boasted  the  possession 
of  one.  Among  these  local  maps>,  that  of  Bavaria,  by  Philipp 
Bienewitz,  or  Apianus  (1566),  holds  a  distinguished  rank,  fur  it 
is  the  first  map  on  a  large  scale  (i  :  144,000)  ba<:ed  upon  a 
regular  survey.  Its  errors  in  latitude  do  not  exceed  i',  and 
those  in  longitude  3',  which  is  marvellously  correct  considering 
the  age  of  its  production.  Like  most  maps  of  the  period,  it  is 
engraved  on  wood,  for  though  the  art  of  engraving  on  copper 
was  invented  in  Germany  before  1446,  and  the  first  map  was 
engraved  there  in  1450,  copper  engraving  only  became  general 
at  a  much  later  date. 

Perhaps  the  earliest  general  map  of  Germany,  and  certainly 
one  of  the  most  interesting,  was  that  which  the  famous  Cardinal 
Nicolas  of  Cues  or  Cusa  completed  in  1464,  the  only  existing 
copy  of  which  is  to  be  found  m  the  British  Museum,  where  it 
was  "discovered"  by  Baron  Nordenskiold.  Mercator's  map  of 
Germanv,  published  more  than  a  century  after  that  of  the  learned 
Cardinal  (in  1585),  w  as  naturally  far  more  complete  in  all  re- 
spects, and  was  certainly  far  superior  to  the  maps  of  any  other 
country  existing  at  that  time.  This  fact  is  brought  home  to  us 
by  an  inspection  of  a  collection  of  maps  to  be  found  in  the  well- 
known  *'  Theatrum  Orbis"  of  Ortelius  (first  published  in  1570), 
where  we  may  see  that  the  maps  supplied  by  Humphrey  Lloyd 
and  other  British  cartographers  are  still  without  degree  lines. 

But  when  we  follow  Mercator,  or,  in  fact,  any  other  carto- 
grapher of  the  period,  into  regions  the  successful  delineation  of 
which  depended  upon  an  intelligent  interpretation  of  itineraries 
and  of  other  information  collect^  by  travellers,  they  are  found  to 
fail  utterly.  Nowhere  is  this  utter  absence  of  the  critical  faculty 
more  glaringly  exhibited  than  in  the  maps  of  Africa  of  that 
period. 

Among  the  Dutch  cartographers  of  that  age  one  of  the  fore- 
most places  must  be  accorded  to  Waghenaer  of  Enkhuisen, 
whose  "Mirror  of  the  Sea,"  a  collection  of  charts  published  in 
1583,  enjoyed  a  considerable  reputation  among  British  seamen. 
Other  famous  Dutch  publishers  of  charts  were  Ortelius,  Janssen, 
Blaeuw,  and  Vischer,  who  accumulated  large  stocks  of  copper 
plates,  which  constituted  valuable  heirlooms,  and,  not  unlike 
the  plates  of  certain  modern  map-publishers,  supplied  edition 
after  edition  without  undergoing  any  change,  except  perhaps 
that  of  the  date. 

The  age  of  great  discoveries  was  past.  All  blanks  upon  our 
maps  had  not  yet  been  filled  up,  but  the  contours  of  the  great 
continents  stood  out  distinctly,  and  in  the  main  correctly.  Dis- 
coveries on  a  large  scale  had  become  impossible,  except  in  the 
Polar  regions  and  in  the  interior  of  some  of  the  continents ;  but 
greater  preciseness  had  to  be  given  ito  the  work  already  done, 
and  many  details  remained  to  be  filled  in.  In  this  "age  of 
measurements,"  as  Peschel  significantly  calls  it,  better  instni- 

NO.    I  1 40,  VOL.  44] 


rocnts,  and  methods  of  obseivation  superior  to  those  which  had 
sufficed  hitherto,  veie  needed,  and  were  readily  forihcoaing. 

Picard,  by  making  use  of  the  telescope  in  measuring  angles 
(1667),  obtained  results  of  a  degne  of  accuracy  formerly  quite 
unattainable,  even  v^  iih  instruments  of  liuge  proportions.  For 
the  theodolite,  that  moi^t  generally  useful  surveying  instrument, 
we  are  indebted  to  Jonathan  Sission  (1737  or  earlier).  More 
important  still,  at  all  events  to  the  mariner,  was  the  invention  of 
the  sextant,  generally  ascribed  to  Had  ley  (1731),  but  in  reality 
due  to  the  genius  of  Newton.  Equally  important  was  the  pro- 
di'ction  of  a  trustworthy  chronometer  by  John  Harrison  (1761X 
v^hich  first  made  possible  the  determination  of  meridian  distances, 
and  is  invaluable  whenever  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  time  is 
required.  One  other  instrument,  quite  recently  added  to  the 
apparatus  of  the  surveyor,  is  the  photographic  camera,  converted 
for  his  especial  benefit  into  a  photogram meter.  This  instmment 
has  not  as  yet  been  utilized  for  ascertaining  the  relative  positions 
of  celestial  bodies,  but  has  already  done  excellent  service  in 
ordinary  surveying,  especially  when  it  is  required  to  portray  the 
sides  of  inaccessible  mountains. 

But  the  full  fruits  of  these  inventions  could  be  enjoyed  only 
after  Bradley  had  discovered  the  aberration  of  light  (1728)  and 
the  nutation  of  the  earth's  axis  (1747)  ;  Domeniqae  Cassini  had 
furnished  trustworthy  tables  of  the  refraction  of  light  ;  and  the 
complicated  movement  of  the  moon  had  been  computed  by  Euler 
(1746),  Tobias  Mayer  (1753),  Bradley  (1770),  and,  more  recently, 
by  Hansen. 

Positively  novel  methods  for  determining  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude of  a  place  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  been  proposed 
during  thi-;  period,  but  many  of  the  older  methods  only  liecame 
really  available  after  the  improvements  in  the  instruments  indi- 
cated above  had  taken  place,  and  the  computations  had  been 
freed  from  the  errors  which  vitiated  them  formeily. 

Real  progress,  however,  has  been  made  in  the  determination 
of  altitudes.  Formerly  they  could  be  ascertained  only  by  trigono- 
metrical measurement,  or  by  a  laborious  process  of  levelling, 
but  since  physicists  have  shown  how  the  decrease  of  atmospheric 
pressure  with  the  altitude,  and  the  boiling-point  of  water  depend- 
ing upon  this  decrease,  afforded  a  ready  means  of  determining 
heights,  the  barometer,  aneroid,  and  boiling-point  thermometer 
have  become  the  indi<pensable  companions  of  the  explorer,  and 
our  knowledge  of  the  relief  of  the  land  bas  advanced  rapidly. 

Equally  rapid  have  been  the  improvements  in  our  instruments 
for  measuring  the  depth  of  the  ocean,  since  a  knowledge  of  the 
configuration  of  its  bed  was  demanded  by  the  practical  require- 
ments of  the  telegraph  engineers. 

And  in  proportion  as  the  labours  of  the  surveyors  and  ex- 
plorers gained  in  preciseness,  so  did  the  cartographer  of  the  age 
succeed  in  presenting  the  results  achieved  in  a  manner  far  moie 
satisfactory  than  had  been  done  by  his  predecessor^:.  His  ta-^k 
was  comparatively  easy  so  long  as  he  only  dealt  with  horizontal 
dimensions,  though  even  in  the  represfntation  of  these  a  certain 
amount  of  skill  and  judgment  are  required  to  make  each  feature 
tell  in  proportion  to  its  relative  importance.  The  delineation  of 
the  inequalities  of  the  earth's  surface,  however,  presented  fir 
greater  difficulties.  The  mole-hills  or  serrated  ridges,  which 
had  not  yet  quite  disappeared  from  our  maps  in  the  b^inning  of 
this  century,  failed  altogether  in  doing  justice  to  our  actual 
knowledge.  The  first  timid  attempt  to  represent  hilU  as  seen 
from  a  bird's-eye  view,  and  of  shading  them  according  to  the 
steepness  of  their  s-lopes,  appear  on  a  map  of  the  Rrei-gau,  pab- 
lished  by  Homann  in  1718.  We  find  this  system  fully  developed 
on  La  Condamioe's  map  of  Quito,  published  in  1751,  and  it  was 
subsequently  popularized  by  Arrowsmitb.  In  this  crude  system 
of  hill  shading,  however,  everything  was  left  to  the  judgment  of 
the  draughtsman,  and  only  after  Lehmann  (1783)  had  super- 
imposed it  upon  a  groundwork  of  contours,  and  had  regulaied 
the  strength  of  the  hatching  in  accordance  with  the  degree  of 
declivity  to  be  represented  did  it  become  capable  of  conveying  a 
correct  idea  of  the  configuration  of  the  ground. 

The  first  to  fully  recognize  the  great  importance  of  contonis 
was  Philip  Buache,  who  had  prepared  a  contoured  map  of  the 
Channel  in  1737,  and  suggested  that  the  same  system  might 
profitably  be  extended  to  a  delineation  of  the  relief  of  the  ]a»i ; 
and  this  idea,  subsequently  taken  up  by  Ducarla  of  Vabres^  was 
for  the  first  time  carried  into  practice  by  Dupain-Triel,  who  pub- 
lished a  contoured  map  of  France  in  1 791.  Up  to  the  present 
time  more  than  eighty  methods  of  showing  the  hills  have  been 
advocated,  but  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  none  of  these 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


427 


methods  can  be  mathemitically  correct  uoless  it  is  based  upon 
horizoDtal  coDtours. 

The  credit  of  having  done  most  towards  the  promotion  of 
cartography  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century  belongs  to 
France.  It  was  France  which  first  equipped  expeditions  to 
determine  the  size  of  the  earth  ;  France  which  produced  the  first 
topographical  map  based  upon  scientific  survey — a  work  begun 
by  Cesar  FraD9Dis  Cassint  in  1744,  and  completed  by  his  son 
fire  years  after  his  father's  death  ;  it  was  France,  again,  which 
gave  birth  to  D' Anvil  I  e,  the  first  critical  cartographer  whom  the 
world  had  ever  seen. 

Delble  (1675-1726),  a  pupil  of  Cassini*s,  had  already  been 
tbie  to  rectify  the  maps  of  the  period  by  utilizing  the  many 
astronomical  observations  which  French  travellers  had  brought 
home  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  This  work  of  reform  was 
carried  farther  by  D'Anville  (1697-1782),  who  swept  away  the 
fanciful  lakes  from  off  the  face  of  Africa,  thus  forcibly  bringing 
home  to  us  the  poverty  of  our  knowledge  ;  who  boldly  refused 
to  believe  in  the  existence  of  an  Antarctic  continent  covering 
half  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  always  brought  sound  judg- 
ment to  bear  upon  the  materials  which  the  ever-increasing 
number  of  travellers  placed  at  his  disposal.  And  whilst  France 
led  the  way,  England  did  not  lag  far  behind. 

In  that  coantry  the  discoveries  of  Cook  and  of  other  famous 
navigators,  and  the  spread  of  British  power  in  India,  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  a  more  diligent  cultivation  of  the  art  of  represent- 
ing the  surface  of  the  earth  on  maps.    There,  to  a  greater  extent 
than  on  the  Continent,  the  necessities  of  the  navigator  called 
into  existence  a  vast  number  of  charts,  amongst  which  are  many 
handredsof  sheets  published  by  Dalrymple  and  Joseph  Desbarres 
(1776).    Faden,  one  of  the  most  prolific  publishers  of  maps, 
won  distinction,  especially  for  his  county  maps,  several  of  which, 
like   that  of    Surrey  by  Lin  ley  and  Gardner,  are  based  upon 
trigonometrical    surveys    carried     on    by   private    individuals. 
England  was  the  first   to  follow  the  lead  of  France  in  under- 
taking a  regular  topographical  survey  (1785).     Nor  did  she  lack 
critical  cartographers.     James  Rennell  (born  1742)  sagaciously 
arranged  the  vast  mass  of  important  information  collected  by 
British  travellers  in  India  and  Africa  ;  but  it  is  chiefly  the  name 
of  Aaron  Arrowsmith  (died  1823)  with  which  the  glory  of  the 
older  school  of  Ettglish  cartographers  is  most  intimately  con- 
nected.    Arrowsmith    became     the    founder    of    a    family  of 
geographers,  whose  representative  in  the  third  generation,  up  to 
the  date  of  his  death  in  1873,  worthily  upheld  the  ancient  re- 
patation  of   the  family.     Another  name  which  deserves  to  be 
gratefully  remembered  is  that  of  John  Walker,  to  whom   the 
charts  published  by  our  Admiralty  are  indebted  for  that  per- 
spicnous,   firm,    and   yet    artistic    execution   which,    whilst  it 
enhances  their  scientific  value,  also  facilitates  their  use  by  the 
mariner. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Germany  has  once 
more  become  the  head- quarters  of  scientific  cartography  ;  and 
this  is  due  as  much  to  the  inspiriting  teachings  of  a  Ritter  and  a 
Humboldt  as  to  the  general  culture  and  scientific  training,  com- 
bined with  technical  skill,  commanded  by  the  men  who  more 
especially  devoted  themselves  to  this  branch  of  geography,  which 
elsewhere  was   too  frequently  allowed  to  fall  into   the  hands 
of  mere  mechanics.     Men  like  Berghaus,  Henry  Kiepert,  and 
Petermann,  the  best  known  pupil  of  the  first  of  these,   must 
always  occupy  a  foremost  place  in  the  history  of  our  department 
of  knowledge.     Berghaus,  who  may  be  truly  described  as  the 
founder  of  the  modern  school  of  cartography,  and  who  worked 
under  the  immediate  inspiration  of  a  Ritter  and  a  Humboldt, 
presented  as  with  the  first  comprehensive  collection  of  physical 
maps  (1837).     Single  maps  of  this  kind  had,  no  doubt,  been 
published  before — Kircher  (1665)  had  produced  a  map  of  the 
ocean  currents,  Edmund  Halley  (1686)  had  embodied  the  results 
of  his  own  researches  in  maps  of  the  winds  and  of  the  variation 
of  the  compass  (1686),  whilst  Ritter  himself  had  compiled  a  set 
of  physical  maps  (1866)— but   no   work  of  the  magnitude  of 
Berghaus's  famous  "  Physical  Atlas  "  had  seen  the  light  before. 
Nor  could  it  have  been  published  even  then  had  it  not  been  for 
the  unstinted  support  of  a   firm  like  that  of  Justus  Perthes, 
already  the  publisher  of  Slider's  "  Atlas  "  (1817-23),  and  sub- 
sequently of  many  other  works  whicb  have  carried  its  fame  into 
every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

And  now,  at  the  close  of  this  nineteenth  century,  we  may 
fairly  boast  that  the  combined  science  and  skill  of  surveyors  and 
cartographers,  aided  as  they  are  by  the  great  advance  of  the 

NO.    1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


graphic  arts,  are  fully  equal  to  the  production  of  a  map  which 
shall  be  a  faithful  image  of  the  earth's  surface.  Let  us  imagine 
for  one  moment  that  an  ideal  map  of  this  kind  were  before  ixs»  a 
map  exhibiting  not  merely  the  features  of  the  land  and  the  depth 
of  the  sea,  but  also  the  extent  of  forests  and  of  pasture-lands, 
the  distribution  of  human  habitations,  and  all  those  features  the 
representation  of  which  has  become  familiar  to  us  through 
physical  and  statistical  atlases.  Let  us  then  analyze  the  vast  mass 
of  facts  thus  placed  before  us,  and  we  shall  hi  id  that  they  fora» 
quite  naturally  two  well-defined  divisions — namely,  those  of 
physical  and  political  geography— whilst  the  third  department  of 
our  science,  mathematical  geography,  deals  with  the  measure- 
ment and  survey  of  our  earth,  the  ultimate  outcome  of  which  is 
the  production  of  a  perfect  map. 

I  shall  abstain  from  giving  a  laboured  definition  of  what  I 
consider  geography  should  embrace,  for  definitions  of  this  kind 
help  practical  workers  but  little,  and  will  never  deter  anyone 
who  feels  disposed  and  capable  from  straying  into  fields  which 
an  abuse  of  logic  has  clearly  demonstrated  to  lie  outside  his 
proper  domain.  But  I  wish  to  enforce  the  fact  that  topography 
and  chorography,  the  description  of  particular  places  or  of  entire 
countries,  should  always  be  looked  upon  as  integral  portions  of 
geographical  research.  It  is  they  which  furnish  many  of  the 
blocks  needed  to  rear  our  geographical  edifice,  and  which  con- 
stitute the  best  training  school  for  the  education  of  practical 
geographers,  as  distinguished  from  mere  theorists. 

That  our  maps,  however  elaborate,  should  be  supplemented 
by  descriptions  will  not  even  be  gainsaid  by  those  who  are  most 
reluctant  to  grant  us  our  independent  existence  among  the 
sciences  which  deal  with  the  earth  and  man  who  inhabits  it. 
This  concession,  however,  can  never  content  us.  We  cannot 
allow  ourselves  to  be  reduced  to  the  posit'on  of  collectors  of 
facts.  We  claim  the  right  to  discuss  ourselves  the  facts  we  have 
collected,  to  analyze  them,  to  generalize  from  them,  and  to  trace 
the  correlations  between  cause  and  effect.  It  is  thus  that 
geography  becomes  comparative  ;  and  whilst  comparative 
physical  geography,  or  morphology,  seeks  to  explain  the  origin  of 
the  existing  surface  features  of  our  earth,  comparative  political 
geography,  or  an thropo -geography,  as  it  is  called  by  Dr.  Ratzel, 
one  of  the  most  gifted  representatives  of  geographical  science  in 
Germany,  deals  with  man  in  relation  to  the  geographical  con- 
ditions which  influence  him.  It  is  this  department  of  geography 
which  was  so  fruitfully  cultivated  by  Karl  Ritter. 

Man  is  indeed  in  a  large  measure  "  the  creature  of  his  envi- 
ronment,'^  for  who  can  £)ubt  for  a  moment  that  geographical 
conditions  have  largely  influenced  the  destinies  of  nations,  have 
directed  the  builders  of  our  towns,  determined  the  paths  of 
migrations  and  the  march  of  armies,  and  have  impressed  their 
stamp  even  upon  the  character  of  those  who  have  been  subjected 
to  them  for  a  sufficiently  extended  period  ?    .     .     .     . 

It  must  not,  however,  be  assumed  for  one  moment  that 
the  dependence  of  man  upon  Nature  is  absolute.  The  natural 
resources  of  a  country  require  for  their  full  development  a 
people  of  energy  and  capacity ;  and  instances  in  which  they 
have  been  allowed  to  lie  dormant,  or  have  been  wasted,  are 
numerous.     .     .     . 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  instructive  illustrations  of  the  complex 
human  agencies  which  tend  to  modify  the  relative  importance  of 
geographical  conditions  is  presented  to  us  by  the  Mediterranean. 
The  time  when  this  inland  sea  was  the  centre  of  civilization  and 
of  the  world's  commerce,  whilst  the  shores  of  Western  Europe 
were  only  occasionally  visited  by  venturesome  navigators  or 
conquering  Roman  hosts,  does  not  lie  so  very  far  behind  us. 
England,  at  that  period,  turned  her  face  towards  Continental 
Europe,  of  which  it  was  a  mere  dependency.  The  prosperity 
of  the  Mediterranean  countries  survived  far  into  the  middle 
ages,  and  Italy  at  one  time  enjoyed  the  enviable  position  of 
being  the  great  distributor  of  the  products  of  the  East,  which 
found  their  way  across  the  Alps  into  Germany,  and  through  the 
gates  of  Gibraltar  to  the  exterior  ocean.  But  a  change  was 
brought  about,  partly  through  the  closing  of  the  old  Oriental 
trade  routes,  consequent  upon  the  conquests  of  the  Turks,  partly 
through  the  discovery  of  a  new  world  and  of  a  maritime  highway 
to  India.  When  Columbus,  himself  an  Italian,  returned  from 
the  West  Indies  in  1493,  and  Vasco  da  Gama  brought  the  first 
cargo  of  spices  from  India  in  I499>  ^^  ^1^^  ^^  \\sXy  began  to 
fade.  And  whilst  the  spices  of  the  Indies  and  the  |;old  of 
Guinea  poured  wealth  into  the  lap  of  Portugal,  and  Spam  grew 
opulent  on  the  silver  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  Venice  was 


428 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


vaiDly  beseeching  the  Sultan  to  reopen  the  old  trade  route 
through  the  Red  Sea.  The  dominion  of  the  sea  had  passed 
from  Italy  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  passed  later  on  to  the 
t>utch  and  English.  But  mark  how  the  great  geographical 
discoveries  of  that  age  affected  the  relative  geographical 
position  of  England !  England  no  longer  lay  on  the 
skirts  of  the  habitable  world,  it  had  become  its  very 
centre.  And  this  natural  advantage  was  enhanced  by  the 
colonial  policies  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  who  exhausted 
^heir  strength  in  a  task  far  beyond  their  powers,  took  possession 
&f  tropical  countries  only,  and  abandoned  to  England  the  less 
attractive  but  in  reality  far  more  valuable  regions  of  North 
America.  England  was  thus  enabled  to  become  the  founder  of 
real  colonies,  the  mother  of  nations  :  and  her  language,  customs, 
and  political  institutions  found  a  home  in  a  new  world. 

And  now,  when  the  old  highway  through  the  Red  Sea  has 
been  reopened,  when  the  wealth  flowing  through  the  Canal  of 
Suez  is  beginning  to  revivify  the  commerce  of  Italy,  England 
may  comfort  herself  with  the  thought  that  in  her  own  colonies 
and  in  the  States  which  have  sprung  up  across  the  Atlantic  she 
may  find  ample  compensation  for  any  possible  loss  that  may 
accrue  to  her  through  geographical  advantages  being  once  more 
allowed  to  have  full  play. 

I  am  afraid  I  have  unduly  tried  your  patience.  I  believe  you 
will  agree  with  me  that  no  single  individual  can  be  expected  to 
master  all  those  departments  which  are  embraced  within  the 
wide  field  of  geography.  Even  the  master-mind  of  a  Humboldt 
fell  short  of  this,  and  facts  have  accumulated  since  his  time  at 
an  appalling  rate.  All  that  can  be  expected  of  our  modern 
geographer  is  that  he  should  command  a  comprehensive  general 
view  of  his  field,  and  that  he  should  devote  his  energies  and 
capacities  to  the  thorough  cultivation  of  one  or  more  depart- 
ments that  lie  within  it. 


SECTION     H. 

ANT!IR0P0L0GY. 

Opening  Address  by  Prof.  F.  Max  Muller,  President 

OF  THE  Section. 

It  was  forty- four  years  ago  that  for  the  first  and  for  the  last 
time  I  was  able  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  meetings  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  It  was  at 
Oxford,  in  1847,  when  I  read  a  paper  on  the  *'  Relation  of  Ben- 
gali to  the  Aryan  and  Aboriginal  Languages  of  India,"  which 
received  the  honour  of  being  published  in  full  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Association  for  that  year.  I  have  often  regretted 
that  absence  from  England  and  pressure  of  work  have  prevented 
me  year  after  year  from  participating  in  the  meetings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. But,  being  a  citizen  of  two  countries — of  Germany  by 
birth,  of  England  by  adoption — my  long  vacations  have  gener- 
ally drawn  me  away  to  the  Continent,  so  that  to  my  great  regret 
I  found  myself  precluded  from  sharing  either  in  your  labours  or 
in  your  delightful  social  gatherings. 

I  wonder  whether  any  of  those  who  were  present  at  that  bril- 
liant meeting  at  Oxford  in  1847  are  present  here  to-day,  I  almost 
doubt  it.  Our  President  then  was  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  who  will 
always  be  known  in  the  annals  of  English  history  as  having 
been  preferred  to  Sir  Robert  Peel  as  Member  of  Parliament  for 
the  University  of  Oxford.  Among  other  celebrities  of  the  day 
I  remember  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  Sir  David  Brewster,  Dean 
Buckland,  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  Prof.  Sedgwick,  Prof.  Owen,  and 
many  more — a  galaxy  of  stars,  all  set  or  setting.  Young 
Mr.  Ruskin  acted  as  Secretary  to  the  Geological  Section.  Our 
Section  was  then  not  even  recognized  as  yet  as  a  Section.  We 
ranked  as  a  sub> Section  only  of  Section  D,  Zoology  and  Botany. 
We  remained  in  that  subordinate  position  till  1851,  when  we 
became  Section  E,  under  the  name  of  Geography  and  Ethnology. 
From  1869,  however,  Ethnology  seems  almost  to  have  dis- 
appeared again,  being  absorbed  in  Geography,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  year  1884  that  we  emerged  once  more  as  what  we  are 
to-day.  Section  H,  or  Anthropology, 

In  the  year  1847  our  sub-Section  was  presided  over  by  Prof. 
Wilson,  the  famous  Sanskrit  scholar.  The  most  active  debaters, 
so  far  as  I  remember,  were  Dr.  Prichard,  Dr.  Latham,  and  Mr. 
Crawfurd,  well  known  then  under  the  name  of  the  Objector- 
General.  I  was  invited  to  join  the  meeting  by  Bunsen,  then 
Prussian  Minister  in  London,  who  also  brought  with  him  his 
friend  Dr.  Karl  Meyer,  the  Celtic  scholar.     Prince  Albert  was 


NO;  1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


present  at  our  debates,  so  was  Prince  Louis  Lucien  Bonipatte. 
Oar  Ethnolc^ical  sub-Section  was  then  most  popular,  and 
attracted  very  large  audiences. 

When  looking  once  more  through  the  debates  carried  on  in 
our  Section  in  1S47,  I  was  very  much  surprised  when  I  saw  hov 
very  like  the  questions  which  occupy  us  to-day  are  to  those 
which  we  discussed  in  1847.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  theie 
has  been  no  advance  in  our  science.  Far  from  it.  The  advance 
of  linguistic,  ethnological,  anthropological,  and  biological 
studies,  all  of  which  claim  a  hearing  in  our.  Section,  has  been 
most  rapid.  Still  that  advance  has  been  steady  and  sustained ; 
there  has  been  no  cataclysm,  no  deluge,  no  break  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  our  science,  and  nothing  seems  to  me  to  prove  its 
healthy  growth  more  clearly  than  this  uninterrupted  continuity, 
which  unites  the  past  v^ith  the  present,  and  will,  I  hope,  unite 
the  present  with  the  future. 

No  paper  is  in  that  respect  more  interesting  to  read  than  the 
address  which  Bunsen  prepared  for  the  meeting  in  1847,  and 
which  you  will  find  in  the  Transactions  of  that  year.  Its 
title  is  "On  the  Results  of  the  recent  Egyptian  Researches  in 
reference  to  Asiatic  and  African  Ethnology,  and  the  Classifica- 
tion of  Languages."  But  you  will  find  in  it  a  great  deal  moce 
than  what  this  title  would  lead  you  to  expect. 

Th,ere  are  passages  in  it  which  are  truly  prophetic,  and  whidi 
show  that,  if  prophecy  is  possible  anywhere,  it  is  possible,  oaj, 
it  ought  to  be  possible,  in  the  temple  of  Science,  and  under  the 
inspiring  influence  of  knowledge  and  love  of  truth. 

Allow  me  to  dwell  for  a  little  while  on  this  remarkable  paper. 
It  is  true,  we  have  travelled  so  fast  that  Bunsen  seems  almost  to 
belong  to  ancient  history.  This  very  year  is  the  hundredth  an- 
niversary of  his  birth,  and  this  very  day  the  centenary  of  hb 
birth  is  being  celebrated  in  several  towns  of  Germany.  In  Eng- 
land also  his  memory  should  not  be  forgotten.  No  one,  not 
being  an  Englishman  by  birth,  could,  I  believe,  have  loved  this 
countiy  more  warmly,  and  could  have  worked  more  heartilj 
than  Bunsen  did  to  bring  about  that  friendship  between  Eng- 
land and  Germany  which  must  for  ever  remain  the  comer-stooe 
of  the  peace  of  EuropCi  and  the  sine  qud  non  of  that  advance- 
ment of  science  to  which  our  Association  is  devoted.  His 
house  in  Carlton  Terrace  was  a  true  international  academy, 
open  to  all  who  had  something  to  say,  something  worth  listen- 
ing to,  a  kind  of  sanctuary  against  vulgarity  in  high  places,  a 
neutral  ground  where  the  best  representatives  of  all  countries 
were  welcome  and  felt  at  home.  But  this  also  belongs  to 
ancient  history.  And  yet,  when  we  read  Bunsen^s  paper,  de- 
livered in  1847,  it  does  not  read  like  ancient  history.  It  d»ls 
with  the  problems  which  are  still  in  the  foreground,  and  if  it 
could  be  delivered  again  to-day  by  that  genial  representative  of 
German  learning,  it  would  rouse  the  same  interest,  provoke  the 
same  applause,  and  possibly  the  same  opposition  also,  which  it 
roused  nearly  half  a  century  ago.  Let  me  give  you  a  few  in- 
stances of  what  I  mean. 

We  must  remember  that  Darwin's  "Origin  of  Specics"w«s 
published  in  1859,  his  ''  Descent  of  Man  "in  1871.  But  here  is 
the  year  1847  one  of  the  burning  questions  which  Bunsen  disr 
cusses  is  the  question  of  the  possible  descent  of  man  from  some 
unknown  animal.  He  traces  the  history  of  that  question  hick 
to  Frederick  the  Great,  and  quotes  his  memorable  answer  to 
D'Alembert.  Frederick  the  Great,  you  know,  was  not  dis- 
turbed by  any  qualms  of  orthodoxy.  *'  In  my  kingdom,"  be  used 
to  say,  "everybody  may  save  his  soul  according  to  his  ova 
fashion."  But  when  D'Alembert  wished  him  to  make  what  be 
called  the  salto  mortale  from  monkey  to  man,  Frederick  the 
Great  protested.  He  saw  what  many  have  seen  since,  that  there 
is  no  possible  transition  from  reasonlessness  to  reason,  and  thai 
with  all  the  likeness  of  their  bodily  organs  there  is  a  barrio 
which  no  animal  can  clear,  or  which,  at  all  events,  no  animal  has 
as  yet  cleared.  And  what  does  Bunsen  himself  consider  the 
real  barrier  between  man  and  beast  ?  "  It  is  language,"  he  sajs^ 
"  which  is  unattainable,  or,  at  least,  unattained,  by  any  aninil 
except  man."  In  answer  to  the  argument  that,  given  only  a 
sufficient  number  of  years,  a  transition  by  imperceptible  degrees 
from  animal  cries  to  articulate  language  is  at  least  conc^vabk, 
he  says : — *'  Those  who  hold  that  opinion  have  never  been  aUe  to 
show  the  possibility  of  the  first  step.  They  attempt  to  veil  their 
inability  by  the  easy  but  fruitless  assumption  of  an  infinite  space 
of  time,  destined  to  explain  the  gradual  development  of  animak 
into  men  ;  as  if  millions  of  years  could  supply  the  want  of  tbe 
agent  necessary  for  the  first  movement,  for  the  first  step,  in  tk 
line  of  progress  !    No  numbers  can  effect  a  logical  impossilMhtj. 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


429 


How,  indeed,  could  reason  spring  out  ot  a  state  which  is 
destitute  of  reason  ?  How  can  speech,  the  expression  of  thought, 
develop  itself,  in  a  year,  or  in  millions  of  years,  out  of  inarti- 
culate sounds,  which  express  feelings  of  pleasure,  pain,  and 
appetite?" 

He  then  appeals  to  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  whom  he  truly 
calls  the  greatest  and  most  acute  anatomist  of  almost  all 
human  speech.  Humboldt  goes  so  far  as  to  say  : —  "  Rather  than 
assign  to  all  language  a  uniform  and  mechanical  march  that 
would  lead  them  step  by  step  from  the  grossest  beginnings  to 
their  highest  perfection,  I  should  embrace  the  opinion  of  those 
who  ascribe  the  origin  of  language  to  an  immediate  revela- 
tion of  the  Deity.  They  recognize  at  least  that  divine  spark 
which  shines  through  all  idioms,  even  the  most  imperfect  and 
the  least  cultivated." 

Bunsen  then  sums  up  by  saying  :  "  To  reproduce  Monboddo's 
theory  in  our  days,  after  Kant  and  his  followers,  is  a  sorry  ana- 
chronism, and  I  therefore  regret  that  so  low  a  view  should  have 
been  taken  of  the  subject  lately  in  an  English  work  of  much 
correct  and  comprehensive  reflection  and  research  respecting 
natural  science."  This  remark  refers,  of  course,  to  the  "Ves- 
tiges of  Creation  "  (see  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review^  July, 
i^5)t  which  was  then  producing  the  same  commotion  which 
Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species  "  produced  in  1859. 

Bunsen  was  by  no  means  unaware  that  in  the  vocal  expression 
of  feelings,  whether  of  joy  or  pain,  and  in  the  imitation  of  ex- 
ternal sounds,  animals  are  on  a  level  with  man.  *'  I  believe 
with  Kant,"  he  says,  **that  the  formation  of  ideas  or  notions, 
embodied  in  words,  presupposes  the  action  of  the  senses  and 
impressions  made  by  outward  objects  on  the  mind.  But,"  he 
adds,  '*  what  enables  us  to  see  the  genus  in  the  individual,  the 
whole  in  the  many,  and  to  form  a  word  by  connecting  a  subject 
with  a  predicate,  is  the  power  of  the  mind,  and  of  this  the  brute 
creation  exhibits  no  trace." 

You  know  how  for  a  time,  and  chiefly  owing  to  Darwin's  pre- 
dominating influence,  every  conceivable  effort  was  made  to 
reduce  the  distance  which  language  places  between  man  and 
beast,  and  to  treat  language  as  a  vanishing  line  in  the  mental 
evolution  of  animal  and  man.  It  required  some  courage  at  times 
to  stand  up  against  the  authority  of  Darwin,  but  at  present 
all  serious  thinkers  agree,  I  believe,  with  Bunsen,  that  no 
animal  has  developed  what  we  mean  by  rational  language,  as 
distinct  from  mere  utterances  of  pleasure  or  pain,  from  imitation 
of  sounds  and  from  communication  by  means  of  various  signs,  a 
subject  that  has  lately  been  treated  with  great  fullness  by  my 
learned  friend  Prof.  Romanes  in  his  '*  Mental  Evolution  of 
Man."  Still,  if  all  true  science  is  based  on  facts,  the  fact 
remains  that  no  animal  has  ever  formed  what  we  mean  by 
a  language;  and  we  are  fully  justified,  therefore,  in  holding 
with  Bunsen  and  Humboldt,  as  against  Darwin  and  Pro^ 
Romanes,  that  there  is  a  specific  difference  between  the  human 
animal  and  all  other  animals,  and  that  that  difference  consists  in 
language  as  the  outward  manifestation  of  what  the  Greeks  meant 
by  Logos, 

Another  question  which  occupies  the  attention  of  our  leading 
anthropologists  is  the  proper  use  to  be  made  of  the  languages, 
customs,  laws,  and  religious  ideas  of  so-called  savages.  Some, 
as  you  know,  look  upon  these  modern  savages  as  representing 
human  nature  in  its  most  primitive  state,  while  others  treat  them 
as  representing  the  lowest  degeneracy  into  which  human  nature 
may  sink.  Here,  too,  we  have  learnt  to  distinguish.  We  know 
that  cerf^n  races  have  had  a  very  slow  development,  and  may, 
therefore,  have  preserved  some  traces  of  those  simple  institutions 
which  are  supposed  to  be  characteristic  of  primitive  life.  But 
we  also  know  that  other  races  have  degenerated  and  are  degenerat- 
ing even  now.  If  we* hold  that  the  human  race  forms  but  one 
species,  we  cannnot,  of  course,  admit  that  the  ancestors  even  of 
the  most  savage  tribes,  say  of  the  Australians,  came  into  the 
world  one  day  later  than  the  ancestors  of  the  Greeks,  or  that 
they  passed  through  fevi  er  evolutions  than  their  more  favoured 
brethren.  The  whole  of  humanity  would  be  of  exactly  the 
same  age.  But  we  know  its  history  from  a  time  only  when  it 
had  probably  passed  already  through  many  ups  and  downs.  To 
suppose,  therefore,  that  the  modern  savage  is  the  nearest 
approach  to  primitive  man  would  be  against  all  the  rules  of 
reasoning.  Because  in  some  countries,  and  under  stress  of 
unfavourable  influences,  some  human  tribes  have  learnt  to  feed 
on  human  flesh,  it  does  not  follow  that  our  first  ancestors  were 
cannibals.  And  here,  too,  Bunsen's  words  have  become  so 
strikingly  true  that  I  may  be  allowed  to  quote  them:    "The 

NO.   1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


savage  is  justly  disclaimed  as  the  prototype  of  natural,  original 
man  ;  for  linguistic  inquiry  shows  that  the  languages  of  savages 
are  degraded  and  decaying  fragments  of  nobler  formations.'' 

I  know  well  that  in  unreservedly  adopting  Bunsen's  opinion 
on  this  point  also  I  run  counter  to  the  teaching  of  such  well- 
known  writers  as  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Reclus,  and  others.  It 
might  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  also  looked  upon 
savages  as  representing  the  primitive  state  of  mankind.  But  if 
he  ever  did  so,  he  certainly  does  so  no  longer,  and  there  is 
nothing  I  admire  so  much  in  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  as  this  simple 
love  of  truth,  which  makes  him  confess  openly  whenever  he  has 
seen  occasion  to  change  his  views.  **  What  terms  and  what 
conceptions  are  truly  primitive,"  he  writes,  "would  be  easy  if 
we  had  an  account  of  truly  primitive  men.  But  there  are  sundry 
reasons  for  suspecting  that  existing  men  of  the  lowest  type  form- 
ing social  groups  of  the  simplest  kind  do  not  exemplify  men  as 
they  originally  were.  Probably  most  of  them,  if  not  all,  had 
ancestors  in  a  higher  state"  {Open  Courts  No.  205,  p.  2896). 

Most  important  also  is  a  hint  which  Bunsen  gives  that  the 
students  of  language  should  follow  the  same  method  which  has 
been  followed  with  so  much  success  in  geology  ;  that  they  should 
begin  with  studying  the  modem  strata  of  speech,  and  then  ai)ply 
the  principles,  discovered  there,  to  the  lower  or  less  accessible 
strata.  It  is  true  that  the  same  suggestion  had  been  made  by 
Leibniz,  but  many  suggestions  are  made  and  are  forgotten  again, 
and  the  merit  of  rediscovering  an  old  truth  is  often  as  great  as 
the  discovery  of  a  new  truth.  This  is  what  Bunsen  said  :  **In 
order  to  arrive  at  the  law  which  we  are  endeavouring  to  find 
(the  law  of  the  development  of  language)  let  us  first  assume,  as 
geology  does,  that  the  same  principles  which  we  see  working  in 
the  (recent)  development  were  also  at  work  at  the  very  beginning, 
modified  in  degree  and  in  form,  but  essentially  the  same  in  kind." 
We  know  how  fruitful  this  suggestion  has  proved,  and  how 
much  light  an  accurate  study  of  modern  languages  and  of  spoken 
dialects  j^has  thrown  on  some  of  the  darkest  problems  of  the 
science  of  language.  But  fifty  years  ago  it  was  Sanskrit  only, 
or  Hebrew,  or  Chinese,  that  seemed  to  deserve  the  attention 
of  the  students  of  comparative  philology.  Still  more  important 
is  Bunsen's  next  remark,  that  language  begins  with  the  sentence, 
and  that  in  the  beginning  each  word  was  a  sentence  in  itself. 
This  view  also  has  found  strong  supporters  at  a  later  time — for 
instance,  my  friend  Prof.  Sayce — though  at  the  time  we  are 
speaking  of  it  was  hardly  thought  of.  1  must  here  once  more 
quote  Bunsen's  own  words :  **  The  supreme  law  of  progress  in 
all  language  shows  itself  to  be  the  progress  from  the  substantial 
isolated  word,  as  an  undeveloped  expression  of  a  whole  sentence, 
towards  such  a  construction  of  language  as  makes  every  single 
word  subservient  to  the  general  idea  of  a  sentence,  and  shapes, 
modifies,  and  dissolves  it.accordingly." 

And  again  :  **  Every  sound  in  language  must  originally  have 
been  significative  of  something.  The  unity  of  sound  (the 
syllable,  pure  or  consonantised)  must  therefore  originally  have 
corresponded  to  a  unity  of  conscious  plastic  thought,  and  every 
thought  must  have  had  a  real  or  substantial  object  of  percep- 
tion. .  .  .  Every  single  word  implies  necessarily  a  complete 
proposition,  consisting  of  subject,  predicate,  and  copula." 

This  is  a  most  pregnant  remark.  It  shows  as  clearly  as  day- 
light the  enormous  difference  there  is  between  the  mere  utterance 
of  the  sound  Pah  and  Mah^  as  a  cry  of  pleasure  or  distress,  and 
the  pronunciation  of  the  same  syllable  as  a  sentence,  when  Pah 
and  Mah  are  meant  for  "This  U  Pah^'  "This  is  ilfoA";  or, 
after  a  still  more  characteristic  advance  of  the  human  intellect, 
"  This  is  a  Pah,**  "  This  is  a  Mah,"  which  is  not  very  far  from 
saying,  "  This  man  belongs  to  the  class  or  genus  of  fathers." 

Equally  important  is  Bunsen's  cat^orical  statement  that 
everything  in  language  must  have  been  originally  significant, 
that  everything  formal  must  originally  have  been  sutjstantial. 
You  know  what  a  bone  of  contention  this  has  been  of  late 
between  what  is  called  the  old  school  and  the  new  school  of 
comparative  philology.  The  old  school  maintained  that  every 
word  consisted  of  a  root  and  of  certain  derivative  suffixes,  pre- 
fixes, and  infixes.  The  modem  school  maintained  that  there 
existed  neither  roots  by  themselves  nor  suffixes,  prefixes,  and 
infixes  by  themselves,  and  that  the  theory  of  agglutination — 
of  gluing  suffixes  to  roots — was  absurd.  The  old  school  looked 
upon  these  suffixes  as  originally  independent  and  significative 
words ;  the  modern  school  declined  to  accept  this  view  except 
in  a  few  irrefragable  instances.  I  think  the  more  accurate 
reasoners  are  coming  back  to  the  opinion  held  by  the  old  school, 
that  all  formal  elements  of  language  were  originally  substantial, 


430 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


and  therefore  significative ;  that  they  are  the  remnants  of  pre- 
dicative or  demonstrative  words.  It  is  true  we  cannot  always 
prove  this  as  clearly  as  in  the  case  of  such  words  as  hardships 
wis-dom,  manhoody  where  hood  can  be  traced  back  to  hady 
which  in  Anglo-Saxon  exists  as  an  independent  word,  meaning 
state  or  qualtiy.  Nor  do  we  often  find  that  a  suffix  like  mente^ 
in  claramentey  clairematty  continues  to  exist  by  itself,  as  when 
we  say  in  Spanish  claray  concisa  y  eUgantemente,  It  is  perfectly 
true  that  the  French,  when  they  say  that  a  hammer  falls  lourde- 
menty  or  heavily,  do  not  deliberately  take  the  suffix  ment — 
originally  the  Latin  mentty  "with  a  mind" — and  glue  it  to 
their  adjective  lourd.  Here  the  new  school  has  done  good 
service  in  showing  the  working  of  that  instinct  of  analogy  which 
is  a  most  important  element  in  the  historical  development  of 
human  speech.  One  compound  was  formed  in  which  mente 
retained  its  own  meaning ;  for  instance,  forti  mentty  **  with  a 
brave  mind."  But  when  this  had  come  to  mean  bravely y  and  no 
more,  the  working  of  analogy  began  ;  and  lifortementy  ivomfort^ 
could  mean  "bravely,"  then  why  not  lour  dement  y  from  lourdy 
"heavily?"  But  in  the  end  there  is  no  escape  from  Bunsen's 
fundamental  principle  that  everything  in  language  was  originally 
language — that  is,  was  significative,  was  substantial,  was  material 
— before  it  became  purely  formal. 

But  it  is  not  only  with  regard  to  these  general  problems  that 
Bunsen  has  anticipated  the  verdict  of  our  own  time.  Some  of 
his  answers  to  more  special  questions  also  show  that  he  was 
right  when  many  of  his  contemporaries,  and  even  successors, 
were  wrong.  It  has  long  been  a  question,  for  instance,  whether 
the  Armenian  language  belonged  to  the  Iranic  branch  of  the 
Aryan  family,  or  whether  it  formed  an  independent  branch,  like 
Sanskrit,  Persian,  or  Greek.  Bunsen,  in  1847,  treated  Armenian 
as  a  separate  branch  of  Aryan  speech ;  and  that  it  is  so  was 
proved  by  Prof.  Hiibschmann  in  1883. 

Again,  there  has  been  a  long  controversy  whether  the  language 
of  the  Afghans  belonged  to  the  Indie  or  the  Iranic  branch. 
Dr.  Trumpp  tried  to  show  that  it  belonged,  by  certain  peculiari- 
ties, to  the  Indie  or  Sanskritic  branch.  Prof.  Darmesteter  has 
proved  but  lately  that  it  shares  its  most  essential  characteristics 
in  common  with  Persian.  Here,  too,  Bunsen  guessed  rightly — 
for  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  it  was  more  than  a  guess — when 
he  stated  that  "Pushtu,  the  language  of  the  Afghans,  belongs 
to  the  Persian  branch." 

X  hope  you  will  forgive  me  for  having  detained  you  so  long 
with  a  mere  retraspect.  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  satisfaction 
of  paying  this  tribute  of  gratitude  and  respect  to  my  departed 
friend.  Baron  Bunsen.  To  have  known  him  belongs  to  the 
most  cherished  I  ecollections  of  my  life.  But  though  I  am  myself 
an  old  man — much  older  than  Bunsen  was  at  our  meeting  in 
1847 — do  not  suppose  that  I  came  here  as  a  mere  laudator 
temporis  acti.  Certainly  not.  If  one  tries  to  recall  what 
anthropology  was  in  1847,  and  then  considers  what  it  is  now, 
its  progress  seems  most  marvellous.  I  do  not  think  so  much 
of  the  new  materials  which  have  been  collected  from  all  parts 
of  the  world.  These  last  fifty  years  have  been  an  age  of  dis- 
covery in  Africa,  in  Central  Asia,  in  America,  in  Polynesia, 
and  in  Australia,  such  as  can  hardly  be  matched  in  any  previous 
century. 

But  what  seems  to  me  even  more  important  than  the  mere 
increase  of  material  is  the  new  spirit  in  which  anthropology 
has  been  studied  during  the  last  generation.  I  do  not  mean 
to  depreciate  the  labours  of  so-called  dilettanti.  After  all, 
dilettanti  are  lovers  of  knowledge,  and  in  a  study  such  as  the 
study  of  anthropology  the  labours  of  these  volunteers,  or 
franc-tireursy  have  often  proved  most  valuable.  But  the  study 
of  man  in  every  part  of  the  world  has  ceased  to  be  a  subject  for 
curiosity  only.  It  has  been  raised  to  the  dignity,  but  also  to 
the  responsibility,  of  a  real  science,  and  it  is  now  guided  by 
principles  as  strict  and  as  rigorous  as  any  other  science — such 
as  zoology,  botany,  mineralogy,  and  all  the  rest.  Many  theories 
which  were  very  popular  fifty  years  ago  are  now  completely 
exploded  ;  nay,  some  of  the  very  principles  by  which  our  science 
was  then  guided  have  been  discarded.  Let  me  give  you  one 
instance — perhaps  the  most  important  one— as  determining  the 
right  direction  of  anthropological  studies. 

At  our  meeting  in  1847  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  study 
of  comparative  philology  would  be  in  future  the  only  safe 
foundation  for  the  study  of  anthropology.  Linguistic  ethnology 
was  a  very  favourite  term  used  by  Bunsen,  Prichard,  Latham, 
and  others.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  chief  purpose  of  Bunsen's  paper 
to  show  that  the  whole  of  mankind  could  be  classified  according 

NO.    I  1 40,  VOL.  44] 


to  laneuage.  I  protested  against  this  view  at  the  time,  and  m 
1853  I  published  my  formal  protest  in  a  letter  to  Bunsen,  "On 
the  Turanian  Languages."  In  a  chapter  called  •*  Ethnology 
versus  Phonology "  I  called,  if  not  for  a  complete  divorce,  at 
least  for  a  judicial  separation  between  the  study  of  philology 
and  the  study  of  ethnology.  "Ethnological  race,"  I  said, 
"and  phonological  race  are  not  commensurate,  except  in  ante- 
historical  times,  or,  perhaps,  at  the  very  dawn  of  historv.  With 
the  migration  of  tribes,  their  wars,  their  colonies,  their  con- 
quests and  alliances,  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  their  effects, 
must  have  been  much  more  violent  in  the  ethnic  than  ever  in  the 
political  periods  of  history,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  race 
and  language  should  continue  to  run  parallel.  The  ph3^iologist 
should  pursue  his  own  science,  unconcerned  about  language. 
Let  him  see  how  far  the  skulls,  or  the  hair,  or  the  colour,  or  the 
skin  of  different  tribes  admit  of  classification  ;  but  to  the  sound 
of  their  words  his  ear  should  be  as  deaf  as  that  of  the  ornitho- 
logist's to  the  notes  of  caged  birds.  If  his  Caucasian  dass 
includes  nations  or  individuals  speaking  Aryan  (Greek),  Toranian 
(Turkish),  and  Semitic  (Hebrew)  languages,  it  is  not  his  fault 
His  system  must  not  be  altered  to  suit  another  system.  There 
Is  a  better  solution  both  for  his  difficulties  and  for  those  of  the 
phonologist  than  mutual  compromise.  The  phonologist  should 
collect  his  evidence,  arrange  his  classes,  divide  and  combine  as 
if  no  Blumenbach  had  ever  looked  at  skulls,  as  if  no  Camper 
had  ever  measured  facial  angles,  as  if  no  Owen  had  ever 
examined  the  basis  of  a  cranium.  His  evidence  is  the  evidence 
of  language,  and  nothing  else  ;  this  he  must  follow,  even  thoogh 
in  the  teeth  of  history,  physical  or  political.  .  .  .  There  ought 
to  be  no  compromise  between  ethnological  and  phonological 
science.  It  is  only  by  stating  the  glaring  contradictions  between 
the  two  that  truth  can  be  elicited. 

At  first  my  protest  met  with  no  response  ;  nay,  curiously 
enough,  I  have  often  been  supposed  to  be  the  strongest  advocate 
of  the  theory  which  I  so  fiercely  attacked.  Perhaps  I  was 
not  entirely  without  blame,  for,  having  once  delivered  my  soul, 
I  allowed  myself  occasionally  the  freedom  to  speak  of  the  Aryan 
or  the  Semitic  race,  meaning  thereby  no  more  than  the  people, 
whoever  and  whatever  they  were,  who  spoke  Aryan  or  Semitic 
languages.  I  wish  we  could  distinguish  in  English  as  in 
Hebrew  between  nations  and  languages.  Thus  in  the  Book  of 
Daniel,  iii.  4,  "  the  herald  cried  aloud,  .  .  .  O  people,  nations, 
and  languages. "  Why  then  should  we  not  distinguish  between 
nations  and  languages  ?  But  to  put  an  end  to  every  possible 
misunderstanding,  I  declared  at  last  that  to  speak  of  "  an  Aryan 
skull  would  be  as  great  a  monstrosity  as  to  speak  of  a  dolicho- 
cephalic language. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  old  heresy,  which  went  by  the 
name  of  linguistic  ethnology,  is  at  present  entirely  extinct. 
But  among  all  serious  students,  whether  physiologists  or 
philologists,  it  is  by  this  time  recognized  that  the  divorce 
between  ethnology  and  philology,  granted  if  only  for  incoai- 
patibility  of  temper,  has  been  productive  of  nothing  but  good. 

Instead  of  attempting  to  classify  mankind  as  a  whole,  students 
are  now  engaged  in  classing  skulls,  in  classing  hair,  and  teeth, 
and  skin.  Many  solid  results  have  been  secured  by  these  spcdal 
researchts  ;  but,  as  yet,  no  two  classifications,  based  on  these 
characteristics,  have  been  made  to  run  parallel. 

The  most  natural  classification  is,  no  doubt,  that  according 
to  the  colour  of  the  skin.  This  gives  us  a  black,  a  brown,  a 
yellow,  a  red,  and  a  white  race,  with  several  subdivision*. 
This  classification  has  often  been  despised  as  unscientific;  bat 
it  may  still  turn  out  far  more  valuable  than  is  at  present  sap- 
posed. 

The  next  classification  is  that  by  the  colour  of  the  eyes,  » 
black,  brown,  hazel,  grey,  and  blue.  This  subject  also  has 
attracted  much  attention  of  late,  and,  within  certain  limits,  the 
results  have  proved  very  valuable. 

The  most  favourite  classification,  however,  has  always  been 
that  according  to  the  skulls.  The  skull,  as  the  shell  of  the  btain, 
has  by  many  students  been  supposed  to  betray  something  of 
the  spiritual  essence  of  man ;  and  who  can  doubt  that  the 
general  features  of  the  skull,  if  taken  in  large  averages,  <k> 
correspond  to  the  general  features  of  human  character?  We 
have  only  to  look  round  to  see  men  with  heads  like  a  cannoa- 
ball  and  others  with  heads  like  a  hawk.  This  distinction  has 
formed  the  foundation  for  a  more  scientific  classification  into 
brae hy cephalic y  dolichiKcphaliCy  and  mesocephalic  sknlls.  The 
proportion  of  80  :  100  between  the  transverse  and  longitudisal 
diameter  gives  us  the  ordinary  or  mesocephalic  type,  the  pro- 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


431 


portion  of  75 :  100  the  dolichocephalic,  the  proportioD  of 
S5 :  100  the  brachycephalic  type.  The  extremes  are  70  :  100 
and  90 :  100. 

If  we  examine  any  large  collection  of  skulls,  we  have  not 
iDQcfa  difficulty  in  arranging  them  under  these  three  classes ;  but 
if,  af^er  we  have  done  this,  we  look  at  the  nationality  of  each 
skull,  we  find  the  most  hopeless  confusion.  Pruner  Bey,  as 
Peschel  tells  us  in  his  "  Volkerkunde,"  has  observed  brachy- 
cephalic and  dolichocephalic  skulls  in  children  bom  of  the  same 
mother  ;  and  if  we  consider  how  many  women  have  been  carried 
away  into  captivity  by  Mongolians  in  their  inroads  into  China, 
India,  and  Germany,  we  cannot  feel  surprised  if  we  find  some 
longheads  among  the  roundheads  of  those  Central  Asiatic 
hordes. 

Only  we    must  not    adopt    the   easy  expedient    of   certain 
anthropologists    who,    when    they    find     dolichocephalic    and 
brachycephalic  skulls  in  the  same  tomb,  at  once  jump  to  the 
coaclasion  that  they  must  have  belonged  to  two  different  races. 
When,  for   instance,  two    dolichocephalic  and  three    brachy- 
cephalic skulls  were  discovered  in  the  same  tomb  at  Alexanderpol, 
we  were   told    at    once    that    this    proved  nothing  as  to  the 
simultaneous  occurrence  of  different  skulls  in  the  same  family ; 
nay,  that  it  proved  the  very  contrary  of  what  it  might  seem  to 
prove.    It  was  clear,  we  were  assured,  that  the  two  dolicho- 
cephalic skulls  belonged  to  Aryan  chiefs  and  the  three  brachy- 
cephalic skulls  to  their  non -Aryan  slaves,  who  were  killed  and 
buried  with  their  masters,  according  to  a  custom  well  known  to 
Herodotus.     This  sounds  very  learned,  but  is  it  really  quite 
straightforward  ? 

Besides  the  general  division  of  skulls  into  dolichocephalic, 
brachycephalic,  and  mesocephalic,  other  divisions  have  been 
undertaken,  according  to  the  height  of  the  skull,  and,  again, 
according  to  the  maxillary  and  the  facial  angles.  This  latter 
division  gives  us  orthognathic ^  prognathic^  and  niesognathic 
skulls. 

Lastly,  according  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  hair,  we  may 
distinguish  two  great  divisions,  the  people  with  woolly  hair 
iUUtrichcs)  z.nd  people  with  smooth  hair  {Lissolriches).  The 
former  are  subdivided  into  Lophocomi^  people  with  tufts  of  hair, 
and  Eriocomi^  or  people  with  fleecy  hair.  The  latter  are  divided 
ivio  Euthycomi,  straight-haired,  and  Euplocatni  (not  Euplocomic^ 
wavy-haired,  as  Brinton  gives  it),  wavy-haired.  It  has  been 
5hown  that  these  peculiarities  of  the  hair  depend  on  the  peculiar 
form  of  the  hair-tubes,  which,  in  cross-sections,  are  found  to  be 
either  round  or  elongated  in  different  ways. 

Now  all  these  classifications,  to  which  several  more  might  be 
added,  those  according  to  the  orbits  of  the  eyes,  the  outlines  of 
the  nose,  the  width  of  the  pelvis,  are  by  themselves  extremely 
useful.  But  few  of  them  only,  if  any,  run  strictly  parallel.  It 
has  been  said  that  all  dolichocephalic  races  are  prognathic,  and 
have  woolly  hair.  I  doubt  whether  this  is  true  without  excep- 
tk>n ;  but,  even  if  it  were,  it  would  not  allow  us  to  draw  any 
genealogical  conclusions  from  it,  because  there  are  certainly 
many  dolichocephalic  people  who  are  not  wholly-haired,  as,  for 
instance,  the  Eskimos  (Brinton's  **  Races  of  People,"  p.  249). 

Now,  let  us  consider  whether  there  can  be  any  organic  con- 
nection between  the  shape  of  the  skull,  the  facial  angle,  the 
conformation  of  the  hair,  or  the  colour  of  the  skin  on  one  side, 
and  what  we  call  the  great  families  of  language  on  the  other. 
That  we  speak  at  all  may  rightly  be  called  a  work  of  nature,  opera 
naiurale,  as  Dante  said  long  ago ;  but  that  we  speak  thus  or  thus, 
cost  o  cost,  that,  as  the  same  Dante  said,  depends  on  our  pleasure 
— ^that  is  oar  work.  To  imagine,  therefore,  that  as  a  matter  of 
necessity,  or  as  a  matter  of  fact,  dolichocephalic  skulls  have 
anything  to  do  with  Aryan,  mesocephalic  wiih  Semitic,  or  brachy- 
cephalic with  Turanian  speech,  is  nothing  but  the  wildest 
random  thought ;  it  can  convey  no  rational  meaning  whatever. 
We  mi^ht  as  well  say  that  all  painters  are  dolichocephalic,  and 
all  musicians  brachycephalic,  or  that  all  lophocomic  tribes  work 
in  gold,  and  all  lissocomic  tribes  in  silver. 

^  If  anything  must  be  ascribed  to  prehistoric  times,  surely  the 
differentiation  of  the  human  skull,  the  human  hair,  and  the 
hnman  skin,  would  have  to  be  ascribed  to  that  distant  period. 
No  one,  I  believe,  has  ever  maintained  that  a  mesocephalic 
skull  was  split  or  differentiated  into  a  dolichocephalic  and  a 
brachycephalic  variety  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  history. 

But  let  lis,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  assume  that  in  prehistoric 
times  all  dolichocephalic  people  spoke  Aryan,  all  mesocephalic, 
Semitic,  all  brachycephalic,  Turanian  languages :  how  would 
that  help  us  ? 

NO.    1140,  VOL.  44] 


So  long  as  we  know  anything  of  the  ancient  Aryan,  Semitic* 
and  Turanian  languages,  we  find  foreign  words  in  each  of  them. 
This  proves  a  very  close  and  historical  contact  between  them. 
For  instance,  in  Babylonian  texts  of  3000  R.c.  there  is  the  word 
sindhu  for  cloth  made  of  vegetable  fibres,  linen.  That  can  only 
be  the  Sk.  sindhu^  the  Indus,  or  saindhava  what  comes  from 
the  Indus.  It  would  be  the  same  word  as  the  Homeric  trtvi^y, 
fine  cloth  (**  Physical  Religion,"  p.  87).  In  Egyptian  we  find 
so  many  Semitic  words  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  they 
were  borrowed  or  derived  from  a  common  source.  I  confess  I 
am  not  convinced,  but  Egyptologists  of  high  authority  assure  us 
that  the  names  of  several  Aryan  peoples,  such  as  the  Sicilians 
and  Sardinians,  occur  in  the  fourteenth  century  B.C.,  in  the 
inscriptions  of  the  time  of  Menephthah  I.  Again,  as  soon  as 
we  know  anything  of  the  Turanian  languages — Finnish,  for 
instance — we  find  them  full  of  Aryan  words.  All  this,  it  may 
be  said,  applies  to  a  very  recent  periixl  in  the  ancient  history  of 
humanity.  Still,  we  have  no  access  to  earlier  documents  and 
we  may  fairly  say  that  this  close  contact  which  existed  then 
existed,  probably,  at  an  earlier  time  also. 

If,  then,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  ancestors  of  the 
people  speaking  Aryan,  Semitic,  and  Turanian  languages,  lived 
m  close  proximity,  would  there  not  have  been  marriages  between 
them  so  long  as  they  lived  in  peice,  and  would  ihey  not  have 
killed  the  men  and  carried  off  the  women  in  time  of  war  ? 
What,  then,  would  have  been  the  effect  of  a  marriage  between  a 
dolichocephalic  mother  and  a  brachycephalic  father?  The 
materials  for  studying  this  question  of  mctissagf,  as  the  French 
call  it,  are  too  scanty  as  yet  to  enable  us  to  speak  with  confi- 
dence. But  whether  the  paternal  or  the  maternal  type  prevailed, 
or  whether  their  union  gave  rise  to  a  new  permanent  variety, 
still  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  children  of  a  dolichocephalic 
captive  woman  might  be  found,  after  fifty  or  sixty  years,  spea*<- 
ing  the  language  of  the  brachycephalic  conquerors. 

It  has  been  the  custom  to  speak  of  the  early  Aryan,  Semitic, 
and  Turanian  races  as  large  swarms — as  millions  pouring  from 
one  country  into  another.  It  has  been  calculated  that  these 
early  nomads  would  have  required  immense  tracts  of  meadow 
land  to  keep  their  flocks,  and  that  it  was  the  search  for  new 
pa  tures  that  drove  them,  by  an  irresistible  force,  over  the  whole 
mhabitable  earth. 

This  may  have  been  so,  but  it  may  also  have  not  been  so. 
Anyhow,  we  have  a  right  to  suppose  that,  before  there  were 
millions  of  human  beings,  there  were  at  first  a  few  only.  We 
have  been  told  of  late  that  there  never  was  a  first  man  ;  but  we 
may  be  allowed  to  suppose,  at  all  events,  that  there  were  at  one 
time  a  few  first  men  and  a  few  first  women.  If,  then,  the 
mixture  of  blood  by  marriage  and  the  mixture  of  language  in 
peace  or  war  took  place  at  that  early  time,  when  the  world  was 
peopled  by  some  individuals,  or  by  some  hundreds,  or  by  some 
thousands  only,  think  what  the  necessary  result  would  have 
been.  It  has  been  calculated  that  it  would  only  require  600 
years  to  populate  the  whole  earth  with  the  descendants  of  one 
couple,  the  first  father  being  dolichocephalic  and  the  first  mother 
brachycephalic.  They  might,  after  a  time,  all  choose  to  speak 
an  Aryan  language,  but  they  could  not  choose  their  skulls,  but 
would  have  to  accept  them  from  nature,  whether  dolichocephalic 
or  brachycephalic. 

Who,  then,  would  dare  at  present  to  lift  up  a  skull  and  say 
this  skull  must  have  spoken  an  Aryan  language,  or  lift  up  a 
language  and  say  this  language  must  have  been  spoken  by  a 
dolichocephalic  skull  ?  Yet,  though  no  serious  student  would 
any  longer  listen  to  such  arguments,  it  takes  a  long  time  before 
theories  that  were  maintained  for  a  time  by  serious  students, 
and  were  then  surrendered  by  them,  can  be  completely  eradi- 
cated. I  shall  not  touch  to-day  on  the  hackneyed  question  of 
the  **  home  of  the  Aryans  "  except  as  a  warning.  There  are 
two  quite  distinct  questions  concerning  the  home  of  the  Aryans. 
^  When  students  of  philology  speak  of  Aryans,  they  mean  by 
Aryas  nothing  but  people  speaking  an  Aryan  language.  They 
affirm  nothing  about  skulls,  skins,  hair,  and  all  the  rest.  Arya 
with  them  means  speakers  of  an  Aryan  language.  When,  on 
the  contrary,  students  of  physiology  speak  of  dolichocephalic, 
orthognathic,  euthycomic  people,  they  speak  of  their  physio- 
logicsd  characteristics  only,  and  affirm  nothing  whatever  about 
language. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  home  of  the  Aryas,  in  the  proper 
sense  of  that  word,  can  be  determined  by  linguistic  evidence 
only,  while  the  home  of  a  blue-eyed,  blond-haired,  long-skulled, 
fair-skinned  people  can  be  determined  by  physiological  evidence 


432 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


only.  Any  kind  of  concession  or  compromise  on  either  side  is 
simply  fatal,  and  has  led  to  nothing  but  a  promiscuous  slaughter 
of  innocents.  Separate  the  two  armies,  and  the  whole  physio- 
logical evidence  collected  by  D'Omalius  d'Halloy,  Latham,  and 
their  foUow&rs  will  not  fill  more  than  an  octavo  page ;  while  the 
linguistic  evidence  collected  by  Benfey  and  his  followers  will 
not  amount  to  more  than  a  few  words.  Everything  else  is  mere 
rhetoric. 

The  physiologist  is  grateful,  no  doubt,  for  any  additional  skull 
whose  historicsd  antecedents  can  be  firmly  established ;  the 
philologist  is  grateful  for  any  additional  word  that  can  help  to 
indicate  the  historical  or  geographical  whereabouts  of  the  un- 
known speakers  of  Aryan  speech.  On  these  points  it  is  possible 
to  argue.  They  alone  have  a  really  scientific  value  in  the  eyes 
of  a  scholar,  because,  if  there  is  any  difference  of  opinion  on 
them,  it  is  possible  to  come  to  an  agreement.  As  soon,  how- 
ever, as  we  go  beyond  these  mere  matters  of  fact,  which  have 
been  collected  by  real  students,  everything  becomes  at  once 
mere  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  I  know  the  appeals  that 
have  been  made  for  concessions  and  some  kind  of  compromise 
between  physiology  and  philology  ;  but  honest  students  know 
that  on  scientific  subjects  no  ^compromise  is  admissible.  With 
regard  to  the  home  of  the  Aryas,  no  honest  philologist  will 
allow  himself  to  be  driven  one  step  beyond  the  statement  that 
the  unknown  people  who  spoke  Aryan  languages  were,  at  one 
time,  and  before  their  final  separation,  settled  somewhere  in 
Asia.  That  may  seem  very  small  comfort,  but  for  the  present 
it  is  all  that  we  have  a  right  to  say.  Even  this  must  be  taken 
with  the  limitations  which,  as  all  true  scholars  know,  apply  to 
speculations  concerning  what  may  have  happened,  say,  five 
thousand  or  ten  thousand  years  ago.  As  to  the  colour  of  the  skin, 
the  hair,  the  eyes  of  those  unknown  speakers  of  Aryan  speech, 
the  scholar  says  nothing  ;  and  when  he  speaks  of  their  blood 
he  knows  that  such  a  word  can  be  taken  in  a  metaphorical  sense 
only.  If  we  once  step  from  the  narrow  domain  of  science  into 
^he  vast  wilderness  of  mere  assertion,  then  it  does  not  matter 
what  we  say.  We  may  say,  with  Penka,  that  all  Aryas  are 
dolichocephalic,  blue^eyed,  and  blond,  or  we  inay  say,  with 
Pietrcment,  that  all  Aryas  are  brachycephalic,  with  brown  eyes 
and  black  hair  (V.  d.  Gheyn,  1889,  p.  26).  There  is  no  differ- 
ence between  the  two  assertions.  They  are  both  perfectly 
unmeaning.     They  are  vox  et  praterea  nihil. 

My  experiences  during  the  last  forty  years  have  only  served  to 
confirm  the  opinion  which  I  expressed  forty  years  ago,  that 
there  ought  to  be  a  complete  separation  between  philology  and 
physiology.  And  yet,  if  I  were  asked  whether  such  a  divorce 
should  now  be  made  absolute,  I  should  say.  No.  There  have 
been  so  many  unexpected  discoveries  of  new  facts,  and  so  many 
surprising  combinations  of  old  facts,  that  we  must  always  be  pre- 

J>ared  to  hear  some  new  evidence,  if  only  that  evidence  is  brought 
brward  according  to  the  rules  which  govern  the  court  of  (rue 
science.  It  may  be  that  in  time  the  classification  of  skulls,  hair, 
eyes,  and  skin  may  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  classifica- 
tion of  language.  We  may  even  go  so  far  as  to  admit,  as  a 
postulate,  that  the  two  must  have  run  parallel,  at  least  in  the 
beginning  of  all  things.  But  with  the  evidence  before  us  at 
present,  mere  wrangling,  mere  iteration  of  exploded  assertions, 
mere  contradictions,  will  produce  no  effect  on  the  true  jury, 
which  hardly  ever  consists  of  more  than  twelve  trusty  men,  but 
with  whom  the  final  verdict  rests.  The  very  thinors  that  most 
catch  the  popular  ear  will  by  them  be  ruled  out  of  court.  But 
every  single  new  word,  common  to  all  the  Aryan  languages,  and 
telling  of  some  climatic,  geographical,  historical,  or  physio- 
logical circumstance  in  the  earliest  life  of  the  speakers  of  Aryan 
speech,  will  be  truly  welcome  to  philologists  quite  as  much  as  a 
skull  from  an  early  geological  stratum  is  to  the  physiologist,  and 
both  to  the  anthropologist,  in  the  widest  sense  of  that  name. 

But,  if  all  this  is  so,  if  the  alliance  between  philology  and 
physiology  has  hitheito  done  nothing  but  mischief,  what  right, 
it  may  be  asked,  had  I  to  accept  the  honour  of  presiding  over 
this  Section  of  Anthropology  ?  If  you  will  allow  me  to  occupy 
your  valuable  time  a  little  longer,  I  shall  explain,  as  shortly  as 
possible,  why  I  thought  that  I,  as  a  philologist,  might  do  some 
small  amount  of  go.d  as  President  of  the  Anthropological 
Section. 

In  spite  of  all  that  I  have  said  against  the  unholy  alliance 
between  physiology  and  philology,  I  have  felt  for  years — and  I 
believe  I  am  now  supported  in  my  opinion  by  all  competent 
anthropologists — that  a  knowledge  of  languages  must  be  con- 
sidered in  future  as  a  sine  qiiA  non  for  every  anthropologist. 


NO.    II 40,  VOL.  44] 


Anthropology,  as  you  know,  has  increased  so  rapidly  that  it 
seems  to  say  now,  "  Nihil  humani  a  nu  alienum  puto.^^  So  long 
as  anthropology  treated  only  of  the  anatomy  of  the  human  body, 
any  suTgeon  might  have  become  an  excellent  anthropologist 
But  now,  when  anthropology  includes  the  study  of  the  eariiest 
thoughts  of  man,  his  customs,  his  laws,  his  traditions,  his  legends, 
his  religions,  ay,  even  his  early  philosophies,  a  student  of  an- 
thropology without  an  accurate  knowledge  of  languages,  witboat 
the  conscience  of  a  scholar,  is  like  a  sailor  without  a  compass. 

No  one  disputes  this  with  regard  to  nations  who  posses  a 
literature.  No  one  would  listen  to  a  man  describing  the  peca- 
liarities  of  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Jew,  the  Arab,  the 
Chinese,  without  knowing  their  languages,  and  being  capable 
of  reading  the  master-works  of  their  literature.  We  know  hov 
often  men  who  have  devoted  the  whole  of  their  life  to  the  study, 
for  instance,  of  Hebrew,  differ,  not  only  as  to  the  meaning  of 
certain  words  and  passages,  but  as  to  the  very  character  of  the 
Jews.  One  authority  states  that  the  Jews,  and  not  only  the 
Jews,  but  all  Semitic  nations,  were  possessed  of  a  monotheistic 
instinct.  Another  authority  shows  that  all  Semitic  nations,  not 
excluding  the  Jews,  were  polytheistic  in  their  religion,  and  that 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews  was  not  conceived  at  first  as  the  Supreme 
Deity,  but  as  a  national  god  only,  as  the  God  of  the  Jews,  who, 
according  to  the  latest  view,  was  originally  a  fetish  or  a  totem, 
like  all  other  gods. 

You  know  how  widely  classical  scholars  differ  on  the  character 
of  Greeks  and  Romans,  on  the  meaning  of  their  customs,  the 
purpose  of  their  religious  ceremonies — nay,  the  very  essence  of 
their  gods.  And  yet  there  was  a  time,  not  very  long  ago,  when 
anthropologists  would  rely  on  the  descriptions  of  casual  travel- 
lers, who,  after  spending  a  few  weeks,  or  even  a  few  yeais, 
among  tribes  whose  language  was  utterly  unknown  to  them, 
gave  the  most  marvellous  accounts  of  their  customs,  their  laws, 
and  even  of  their  religion.  It  may  be  said  that  anybody  can 
describe  what  he  sees,  even  though  unable  to  converse  with  the 
people.  I  say,  Decidedly  no;  and  I  am  supported  in  this 
opinion  by  the  most  competent  judges.  Dr.  Codrington,  who 
has  just  published  his  excellent  book  on  the  "  Melanesiaos : 
their  Anthropology  and  Folk-lore,"  spent  twenty-four  yeais 
among  the  Melanesians,  learning  their  dialects,  collecting  their 
legends,  and  making  a  systematic  study  of  their  laws,  customs, 
and  superstitions.  But  what  does  he  say  in  his  preface?  "  I  have 
felt  the  truth,*'  he  says,  **  of  what  Mr.  Fison,  late  missionaiy  in 
Fiji,  has  written :  *  When  a  European  has  been  living  for  two 
or  three  years  among  savages,  he  is  sure  to  be  fully  convinced 
that  he  knows  all  about  them  ;  when  he  has  been  ten  years  or 
so  amongst  them,  if  he  be  an  observant  man,  he  knows  that  he 
knows  very  little  about  them,  and  so  begins  to  learn.'  *' 

How  few  of  the  books  in  which  we  trust  with  regard  to  the 
characteristic  peculiarities  of  savage  races  have  been  written  by 
men  who  have  lived  among  them  for  ten  or  twenty  yeazs,  inid 
who  have  learnt  their  languages  till  they  could  speak  them  as 
well  as  the  natives  themselves. 

It  is  no  excuse  to  say  that  any  traveller  who  has  eyes  to  see 
and  ears  to  hear  can  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  doii^  and 
sayings  of  savage  tribes.  It  is  not  so,  and  anthropologists  knov 
from  sad  experience  that  it  is  not  so.  Suppose  a  traveller  came 
to  a  camp  where  he  saw  thousands  of  men  and  women  dandng 
round  the  image  of  a  young  bull.  Suppose  that  the  danoexs 
were  all  stark  naked,  that  after  a  time  they  began  to  fight,  and 
that  at  the  end  of  their  orgies  there  were  three  thousand  corpses 
lying  about  weltering  in  their  blood.  Would  not  a  casual  tn- 
veller  have  described  such  savages  as  worse  than  the  Negroes 
of  Dahomey?  Yet  these  savages  were  really  the  Jews,  the 
chosen  people  of  God.  The  image  was  the  golden  calf,  the 
priest  was  Aaron,  and  the  chief  who  ordered  the  massacre  was 
Moses.  We  may  read  the  32nd  chapter  of  Exodus  in  a  very 
different  sense.  A  traveller  who  could  have  conversed  with 
Aaron  and  Moses  might  have  understood  the  causes  of  the  revolt 
and  the  necessity  of  the  massacre.  But  without  this  power  of 
interrogation  and  mutual  explanation,  no  travellers,  howew 
graphic  and  amusing  their  stories  may  be,  can  be  trusted ;  no 
statements  of  theirs  can  be  used  by  the  anthropologist  for  truly 
scientific  purposes. 

From  the  day  when  this  fact  was  recognized  by  the  highest 
authorities  in  anthropology,  and  was  sanctioned  by  some  at  least 
of  our  Anthropological,  Ethnological,  and  Folk-lore  Societies,  a 
new  epoch  began,  and  philology  received  its  right  place  as  the 
handmaid  of  anthropology.  The  most  important  paragraph  is 
our  new  charter  was  this,  that  in  future  no  one  is  to  be  qsoced 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


433 


or  relied  od  as  an  authority  on  the  customs,  traditions,  and  more 
particularly  on  the  religious  ideas  of  uncivilized  races  who  has 
not  acquired  an  acquaintance  with  their  langua(;e,  sufficient  to 
enable  him.to  converse  with  them  freely  on  these  difficult  subjects. 
No  one  would  object  to  this  rule  when  we  have  to  deal  with 
civilized  and  literary  nations.  But  the  languages  of  Africa, 
America,  Polynesia,  and  even  Australia,  are  now  being  studied 
as  formerly  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  and  Sanskrit  only  were 
studied.  You  have  only  to  compare  the  promiscuous  descrip- 
tions of  the  Hottentots  in  the  works  of  the  best  ethnologists 
with  the  researches  of  a  real  Hottentot  scholar  like  Dr.  Hahn  to 
see  the  advance  that  has  been  made.  When  we  read  the  books 
of  Bishop  Callaway  on  the  Zulu,  of  William  Gill  and  Edward 
Tregear  on  the  Polynesians,  of  Horatio  Hale  on  some  of  the 
North  American  races,  we  feel  at  once  that  we  are  in  safe  hands, 
in  the  hands  of  real  scholars.  Even  then  we  must,  of  course, 
remember  that  their  knowledge  of  the  languages  cannot  compare 
with  that  of  Bentley,  or  Hermann,  or  Bumouf,  or  Ewald.  Yet 
we  feel  that  we  cannot  go  altogether  wrong  in  trusting  to  their 
guidance. 

I  venture  to  go  even  a  step  further,  and  I  believe  the  time 
will  come  when  no  anthropologist  will  venture  to  write  on  any- 
thing concerning  the  inner  life  of  man  without  having  himself 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  language  in  which  that  inner  life 
finds  its  truest  expression. 

This  may  seem  to  be  exacting  too  much,  but  you  have  only 
to  look,  for  instance,  at  the  description  given  of  the  customs, 
the  laws,  the  legends,  and  the  religious  convictions  of  the  people 
of  India  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  before  Sanskrit  began  to 
be  studied,  and  you  will  be  amazed  at  the  utter  caricature  that  is 
often  given  there  of  the  intellectual  state  of  the  Brahmans  com- 
pared with  what  we  know  of  it  now  from  their  own  literature. 

And  if  that  is  the  case  with  a  people  like  the  Indians,  who 
are  a  civilized  race,  possessed  of  an  ancient  literature,  and  well 
within  the  focus  of  history  for  the  last  two  thousand  years,  what 
can  be  expected  in  the  case  of  really  savage  races  ?  One  can 
hardly  trust  one's  eyes  when  one  sees  the  evidence  placed  before 
us  by  men  whose  good  faith  cannot  be  questioned,  and  who 
nevertheless  contradict  each  other  flatly  on  the  most  ordinary 
subjects.  We  owe  to  one  of  our  Secretaries,  Mr.  Roth,  a  most 
careful  collection  of  all  that  has  been  said  on  the  Tasmanians  b^ 
eye-witnesses.  Not  the  least  valuable  part  of  this  collection  is 
that  it  opens  our  eyes  to  the  utter  untrust worthiness  of  the  evi- 
dence on  which  the  anthropologist  has  so  often  had  to  rely.  In 
an  article  on  Mr.  Roth's  book  in  Nature,  I  tried  to  show  that 
there  is  not  one  essential  feature  in  the  religion  of  the  Tas- 
manians on  which  different  authorities  have  not  made  assertions 
diametrically  opposed  to  each  other.  Some  say  that  the  Tas- 
manians have  no  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  no  rites  or  cere- 
monies ;  others  call  their  religion  Dualism,  a  worship  of  good 
and  evil  spirits.  Some  maintain  that  they  had  deiBed  the 
powers  of  Nature,  others  that  they  were  Devil-worshippers. 
Some  declare  their  religion  to  be  pure  monotheism,  combined 
with  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  efficacy  of  prayers 
and  charms.  Nav,  even  the  most  recent  article  of  faith — the 
descent  of  man  from  some  kind  of  animal — has  received  a 
religious  sanction  among  the  Tasmanians.  For  Mr.  Horton, 
who  is  not  given  to  joking,  tells  us  that  they  believed  ''they 
were  originally  formed  with  tail.<:,  and  without  knee-joints,  by  a 
benevolent  being,  and  that  another  descended  from  heaven,  and, 
compassionating  the  sufferers,  cut  off  their  tails,  and  with  grease 
softened  their  knees.** 

I  would  undertake  to  show  that  what  applies  to  the  descrip- 
tions given  us  of  the  now  extinct  race  of  the  Tasmanians  applies 
with  equal  force  to  the  descriptions  of  almost  all  the  savage 
races  with  whom  anthropologists  have  to  deal.  In  the  case  of 
large  tribes,  such  as  the  inhabitants  of  Australia,  the  contra- 
dictory evidence  may,  no  doubt,  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact 
that  the  observations  were  made  in  different  localities.  But  the 
chief  reason  is  always  the  same — ignorance  of  the  language,  and 
therefore  want  of  sympathy  and  impossibility  of  mutual  explana- 
tion and  correction. 

Let  me,  in  conclusion,  give  you  one  of  the  most  flagrant  in- 
stances of  how  a  whole  race  can  be  totally  misrepresented  by 
men  ignorant  of  their  language,  and  how  these  misrepresenta- 
tions are  at  once  removed  if  travellers  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
the  language,  and  thus  have  not  only  eyes  to  see,  but  ears  to 
hear,  tongues  to  speak,  and  hearts  to  feel. 

No  race  has  been  so  cruelly  maligned  for  centuries  as  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Andaman  Islands.    An  Arab  writer  of  the  ninth 

NO.    1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


century  states  that  their  complexion  was  frightful,  their  haii 
frizzled,  their  countenance  and  eyes  terrible,  their  feet  very  large, 
and  almost  a  cubit  in  length,  and  that  they  go  quite  naked. 
Marco  Polo  (about  1285)  declared  that  the  inhabitants  are  na 
better  than  wild  beasts,  and  he  goes  on  to  say :  "I  assure  you 
all  the  men  of  this  island  of  Angamanain  have  heads  like  dogs, 
and  teeth  and  eyes  likewise ;  in  fact,  in  the  face  they  are  just 
like  big  mastiff  dogs.*' 

So  long  as  no  one  could  be  found  to  study  their  language, 
there  was  no  appeal  from  these  libels.  But  when,  after  the 
Sepoy  mutiny  in  1857,  it  was  necessary  to  find  a  habitation  foF 
a  large  number  of  convicts,  the  Andaman  Islands,  which  had 
already  served  as  a  penal  settlement  on  a  smaller  scale,  became 
a  large  penal  colony  under  English  officers.  The  havoc  that 
was  wrought  by  this  sudden  contact  between  the  Andaman 
Islanders  and  these  civilized  Indian  convicts  was  terrible,  and 
the  end  will  probably  be  the  same  as  in  Tasmania — the  native 
population  will  die  out.  Fortunately  one  of  the  English  officers- 
(Mr.  Edward  Horace  Man)  did  not  shrink  from  the  trouble  of 
learning  the  language  spoken  by  these  islanders,  and,  being  a* 
careful  observer  and  perfectly  trustworthy,  he  has  given  us  some 
accounts  of  the  Andaman  aborigines  which  are  real  masterpieces 
of  anthropological  research.  If  these  islanders  must  be  swept 
away  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  they  will  now,  at  all  events, 
leave  a  good  name  behind  them.  Even  their  outward  appear- 
ance seems  to  become  different  in  the  eyes  of  a  sympathizing 
observer  from  what  it  was  to  casual  travellers.  They  are,  no- 
doubt,  a  very  small  race,  their  average  height  being  4  feet 
lof  inches.  But  this  is  almost  the  only  charge  brought  against 
them  which  Mr.  Man  has  not  been  able  to  rebut.  Their  hair, 
he  says,  is  fine,  very  closely  curled,  and  frizzly.  Their  colour  is 
dark,  but  not  absolutely  black.  Their  features  possess  little  of 
the  most  marked  and  coarser  peculiarities  of  the  Negro  type. 
The  projecting  jaws,  the  prominent  thick  lips,  the  broad  and 
flattened  nose  of  the  genuine  Negro,  are  so  softened  down  as 
scarcely  to  be  recognized. 

But  let  us  hear  now  what  Mr.  Man  has  to  tell  us  about  the 
social,  moral,  and  intellectual  qualities  of  these  so-called 
savages,  who  had  been  repiesented  to  us  as  cannibals  ;  as 
ignorant  of  the  existence  of  a  deity  ;  as  knowing  no  marriage  ;. 
except  what  by  a  bold  euphemism  has  been  called  communal 
marriage  ;  as  unacquainted  with  fire ;  as  no  better  than  wild 
beasts,  having  heads,  teeth,  and  eyes  like  dogs — being,  in  fact,, 
like  big  mastiffs. 

"Before  the  introduction  into  the  blands  of  what  is  called 
European  civilization,  the  inhabitants,**  Mr.  Man  writes^ 
'*  lived  in  small  villages,  their  dwellings  built  of  branches  and 
leaves  of  trees.  They  were  ignorant  of  agriculture,  and  kept 
no  poultry  or  domestic  animals.  Their  pottery  was  hand- made, 
their  clothing  very  scanty.  They  were  expert  swimmers  and 
divers,  and  able  to  manufacture  well-made  dug-out  canoes  and 
outriggers.  They  were  ignorant  of  metals,  ignorant,  we  are 
told,  of  producing  fire,  though  they  kept  a  constant  supply  of 
burning  and  smouldering  wood.  They  made  use  of  shells  for 
their  tools,  had  stone  hammers  and  anvils,  bows  and  arrows, 
harpoons  for  killing  tuitle  and  fi^h.  Such  is  the  fertility  of  the 
island  that  they  have  abundance  and  variety  of  food  all  the  year 
round.  Their  food  was  invariably  cooked,  they  drank  nothing 
but  water,  and  they  did  not  smoke.  People  may  call  this  a 
savage  life.  I  know  many  a  starving  labourer  who  would 
gladly  exchange  the  benefits  of  European  civilization  for  the 
blessings  of  such  savagery.** 

These  small  islanders,  who  have  always  been  represented  by  ai 
certain  class  of  anthropologists  as  the  lowest  stratum  of  humanity^ 
need  not  fear  comparison,  so  far  as  their  social  life  is  concerned, 
with  races  who  are  called  civilized.     So  far  from  being  addicted* 
to  what  is  called  by  the  self-contradictory  name  of  communal 
marriage,  Mr.  Man  tells  us  that  bigamy,  polygamy,  polyandry, 
and  divorce  are  unknown  to  them,  and  that  the  marriage  con- 
tract, so  far  from  being  regarded  as  a  merely  temporary  contract, 
to  be  set  aside  on  account  of  incompatibility  of  temper  or  other 
such  causes,  is  never  dissolved.     Conjugal  fidelity  till  death  is 
not  the  exception  but  the  rule,  and  matrimonial  differences, 
whidi  occur  but  rarely,  are  easily  settled  with  or  without  the 
intervention  of  friends.     One  of  the  most  strikii^  features  ot 
their  social  relations  is  the  marked  equality  and  affection  which 
exist  between  husband  and  wife,  and  the  considerati  )n  and  re- 
spect with  which  women  are  treated  might,  with  advantage,  be 
emulated  by  certain  classes  in  our  own  land.     As  to  cannibalism^ 
or  infanticide,  they  are  never  practised  by  them. 


434 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


It  is  easy  to  say  that  Mr.  Man  may  be  prejadiced  in  favour  of 
these  little  savages,  whose  language  he  has  been  at  so  much  pains 
'to  learn.  Fortunately,  however,  all  his  statements  have  lately 
been  confirmed  by  another  authority.  Colonel  Cadell — the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  these  islands.  He  is  a  Victoria  Cross  man, 
and  not  likely  to  be  given  to  over-much  sentimentality.  Well, 
this  is  what  he  says  of  these  fierce  mastiffs,  with  feet  a  cubit  in 
length  : — 

**They  are  merry  little  people,"  he  says.  **  One  could  not 
imagine  how  taking  they  were.  Everyone  who  had  to  do  with 
them  fell  in  love  with  them  [these  fierce  mastiffs].  Contact 
with  civilization  had  not  improved  the  morality  of  the  natives, 
but  in  their  natural  state  they  were  truthful  and  honest,  generous 
and  self-denying.  He  had  watched  them  sitting  over  their  fires 
cooking  their  evening  meal,  and  it  was  quite  pleasant  to  notice 
the  absence  of  greed  and  the  politenes*;  with  which  they  picked 
off  the  tit-bits  and  thrust  them  into  each  other's  mouths.  The 
forest  and  sea  abundantly  supplied  their  wants,  and  it  was  there- 
fore not  surprising  that  the  attempts  to  induce  them  to  take  to 
cultivation  had  been  quite  unsuccessful,  highly  though  they 
appreciated  the  rice  and  Indian  corn  which  were  occasionally 
supplied  to  them.  All  was  grist  that  came  to  their  mill  in  the 
shape  of  food.  The  forest  supplied  them  with  edible  roots  and 
fruits.  Bats,  rats,  flying  foxes,  iguanas,  sea-snakes,  mollusks, 
wild  pig,  fish,  turtle,  and  last,  though  not  least,  the  larvae  of 
beetles,  formed  welcome  additions  to  their  larder.  He  remem- 
bered one  morning  landing  by  chance  at  an  encampment  of 
I  heirs,  under  the  shade  of  a  gigantic  forest  tree.  On  one  fire 
was  the  shell  of  a  turtle,  acting  as  its  own  pot,  in  which  was 
simmering  the  green  fat  delicious  to  more  educated  palates  ;  on 
another  its  Hesh  was  being  broiled,  together  with  some  splendid 
fish ;  on  a  third  a  wild  pig  was  being  roasted,  its  drippings 
falling  on  wild  yams,  and  a  jar  of  honey  stood  close  by,  all 
delicacies  fit  for  an  alderman's  table.** 

These  are  things  which  we  might  suppose  anybody  who  has 
eyes  to  see,  and  who  is  not  wilfully  blind,  might  have  observed. 
But  when  we  come  to  traditions,  laws,  and  particularly  to  re- 
ligion, no  one  ought  to  be  listened  to  as  an  authority  who  cannot 
converse  with  the  natives.  For  a  long  tims  the  Mincopies  have 
been  represented  as  without  any  religion,  without  even  an  idea 
of  the  Godhead.  This  opinion  received  the  support  of  Sir 
John  Lubbock,  and  has  been  often  repeated  without  ever  having 
been  re-examined.  As  soon,  however,  as  these  Mincopies 
began  to  be  studied  more  carefully — more  particularly  as  soon 
as  some  persons  resident  among  them  had  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  their  language,  and  thereby  a  means  of  real  communication— 
their  religion  came  out  as  clear  as  daylight.  According  to  Mr. 
E.  H.  Man,  they  have  a  name  for  Gcxl — Piiluga,  And  how 
can  a  race  be  said  to  be  without  a  knowledge  of  God  if  they 
have  a  name  for  God  ?  Piiluga  has  a  very  mythological  cha- 
racter. He  has  a  stone  house  in  the  sky  ;  he  has  a  wife,  whom 
he  created  himself,  and  from  whom  he  has  a  large  family,  all, 
except  the  eldest,  being  girls.  The  mother  is  supp3sed  to  be 
green  (the  earth  ?),  the  daughters  black  ;  they  are  the  spirits, 
called  Morowin  ;  his  son  is  called  Ptjchor.  He  alone  is  per- 
mitted to  live  with  his  father,  and  to  convey  his  orders  to  the 
MSrounn.  But  Piiluga  was  a  moral  character  also.  His  ap- 
pearance is  like  fire,  though  nowadays  he  has  become  invisible. 
He  was  never  bom,  and  is  immortal.  The  whole  world  was 
created  by  him,  except  only  the  powers  of  evil.  He  is  omni- 
scient, knowing  even  the  thoughts  of  the  heart.  He  is  angered 
by  the  commission  of  certain  sins — some  very  trivial,  at  least  to 
our  mind — but  he  is  pitiful  to  all  who  are  in  distress.  He  is  the 
judge  from  whom  each  soul  receives  its  sentence  after  death. 

According  to  other  authorities,  some  Andaman ese  look  on 
the  sun  as  the  fountain  of  all  that  js  good,  the  moon  as  a  minor 
power ;  and  they  believe  in  a  number  of  inferior  spirits,  the 
spirits  of  the  forest,  the  water,  and  the  mountain,  as  agents  of 
the  two  higher  powers.  They  believe  in  an  evil  spirit  also, 
who  seems  to  have  been  originally  the  spirit  of  the  storm.  Him 
they  try  to  pacify  by  songs,  or  to  frighten  away  with  their 
arrows. 

I  suppose  I  need  say  no  more  to  show  how  indispensable  a 
study  of  language  is  to  twtrj  student  of  anthropology.  If  an- 
thropology is  to  maintain  its  high  position  as  a  real  science,  its 
alliance  with  linguistic  studies  cannot  be  too  close.  Its  weakest 
points  have  always  been  those  where  it  trusted  to  the  statements 
of  authorities  ignorant  of  language  and  of  the  science  of  language. 
Its  greatest  triumphs  have  been  achieved  by  men  such  as  Dr. 


Hahn,  Bishops  Callaway  aod  Colenso,  Dr.  W.  Gill,  and  litf, 
not  least,  Mr.  Man,  who  have  combined  the  minute  acconcy  of 
the  scholar  with  the  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  anthropolcgist, 
and  were  thus  enabled  to  use  the  key  of  language  to  unlock  the 
perplexities  of  savage  customs,  savage  laws  and  legends,  aod, 
particularly,  of  savage  religions  and  mythologies.  I f  this  alUinoe 
between  anthropology  and  philology  becomes  real,  then,  and 
then  only,  may  we  hope  to  see  Bunsen's  prophecy  fulfilled,  that 
anthropology  will  become  the  highest  branch  of  that  science  ibr 
which  this  British  Association  is  insti;uted. 

Allow  me  in  conclusion  once  more  to  quote  some  prophetic 
words  from  the  address  which  Bunsen  delivered  before  oor 
Section  in  1847  : — 

"  If  man  is  the  apex  of  the  creation,  it  seems  right,  on  the  one 
side,  that  a  historical  inquiry  into  his  origin  and  developmeot 
should  never  be  allowed  to  sever  itself  from  the  general  body  of 
natural  science,  and  in  particular  from  physiology.  But,  on  the 
other  side,  if  man  is  the  apex  of  the  creation,  if  he  is  the  end  to 
which  all  organic  formations  tend  from  the  very  beginning,  if 
man  is  at  once  the  mystery  and  the  key  of  natural  science,  if 
that  is  the  only  view  of  natural  science  worthy  of  our  age,  then 
ethnological  philology  (I  should  prefer  to  say  anthropology), 
once  established  on  principles  as  clear  as  the  physiological  are, 
is  the  highest  branch  of  that  science  for  the  advancement  of 
which  this  Association  is  instituted.  It  is  not  an  appendix  to 
physiology  or  to  anything  ehe  ;  but  its  object  is,  on  the  contrar)', 
capable  of  becoming  the  end  and  goal  of  the  labours  and  trans- 
actions of  a  scientific  Association." 

Much  has  been  achieved  by  anthropology  to  justify  these 
hopes  and  fulfil  the  prophecies  of  my  old  friend  Bunsen.  Few 
men  live  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  their  own  prophecies,  but  they 
leave  disciples  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  their  memory  alive,  and 
thus  to  preserve  that  vital  continuity  of  human  knowledge  which 
alone  enables  us  to  see  in  the  advancement  of  ail  science  the 
historical  evolution  of  eternal  truth. 


ELECTRICAL  STANDARDS. 

THE  Queen's  Printers  are  now  issuing  the  Repc^ 
(dated  July  23,  1891)  to  the  President  of  the  Boazd 
of  Trade,  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  consider  the 
question  of  constructing  standards  for  the  measurement 
of  electricity.  The  Committee  included  Mr.  Courtenay 
Boyle,  C.B.,  Major  P.  Cardew,  R.E.,  Mr.  E.  Graves,  Mr. 
W.  H.  Preece,  F.R.S.,  Sir  W.  Thomson,  F.R.S.Lord 
Rayhigh,  F.R  S.,  Prof.  G.  Carey  Foster,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  R. 
T.  Glazebrook,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  John  Hopkinson,  F.R.S, 
Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton,  F.R.S. 

In  response  to  an  invitation,  the  following  gentle- 
men attended  and  gave  evidence:— On  behalf  of  the 
Association  of  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Mr.  Thomas 
Parker  and  Mr.  Hugh  Erat  Harrison  ;  on  behalf  of  the 
London  Council,  Prof.  Silvanus  Thompson  ;  on  behalf 
of  the  London  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mr.  R  E. 
Crompton.  The  Committee  were  indebted  to  Dr.  J.  A. 
Fleming  and  Dr.  A.  Muirhead  for  valuable  information 
and  assistance  ;  and  they  state  that  they  had  the  advant- 
age of  the  experience  and  advice  of  Mr.  H.  J.  Chaney, 
the  Superintendent  of  Weights  and  Measures.  The 
Secretary  to  the  Committee  was  Sir  T.  W.  P.  Blomeficld, 
Bart. 

The  following  are  the  resolutions  of  the  Committee  :— 

Resolutions, 

(i)  That  it  is  desirable  that  new  denominations  of  standards 
for  the  measurement  of  electricity  should  be  made  and  approved 
by  Her  Majesty  in  Council  as  Board  of  Trade  standards. 

(2)  That  the  magnitudes  of  these  standards  should  be  deter- 
mined on  the  electro-magnetic  system  of  measurement  with 
reference  to  the  centimetre  as  unit  of  length,  the  gramme  as 
unit  of  mass,  and  the  second  as  unit  of  time,  and  that  by  the 
terms  centimetre  and  gramme  are  meant  the  standards  of  those 
denominations  deposited  with  the  Board  of  Trade. 

(3)  That  the  standard  of  electrical  resistance  should  be  de- 
nominated the  ohm,  and  should  have  the  value  1,000,000,000  io 
terms  of  the  centimetre  and  second. 

(4)  That  the  resistance  offered  to  an  unvarying  electric  caireat 


NO.    I  1 40,  VOL.  44] 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


435 


by  a  column  of  mercury  of  a  constant  cross  sectional  area  of 
I  square  millimetre,  and  of  a  length  of  106*3  centimetres  at  the 
temperature  of  melting  ice  may  t^  adopted  as  i  ohm. 

(5)  That  the  value  of  the  standard  of  resistance  constructed 
by  a  committee  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science  in  the  years  1863  and  1864,  and  known  as  the  British 
Association  unit,  may  be  taken  as  '9866  of  the  ohm. 

(6)  That  a  material  standard,  constructed  in  solid  metal,  a'^d 
verified  by  comparison  with  the  British  Association  unit,  should 
be  adopted  as  the  standard  ohm. 

(7)  That  for  the  purpose  of  replacing  the  standard,  if  lost, 
destroyed,  or  damaged,  and  for  ordinary  use,  a  limited  number 
of  copies  should  be  constructed,  which  should  be  periodically 
compared  with  the  standard  ohm  and  with  the  British  Association 
anit. 

(8)  That  resistances  constructed  in  solid  metal  should  be 
odof^ed  as  Board  of  Trade  standards  for  multiples  and  sub- 
multiples  of  the  ohm. 

(9)  That  the  standard  of  electrical  current  should  be  de- 
nominated the  ampere,  and  should  have  the  value  one-tenth 
(o'l)  in  terms  of  the  centimetre,  gramme,  and  second. 

(10)  That  an  unvarying  current  which,  when  passed  through 
a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver  in  water,  in  accordance  with  the 
specification  attached  to  this  rei)ort,  deposits  silver  at  the  rate  of 
o'ooiii8  of  a  gramme  per  second,  may  be  taken  as  a  current  of 
I  ampere. 

(11)  That  an  alternating  current  of  I  ampere  shall  mean  a 
current  such  that  the  square  root  of  the  time-average  of  the  square 
of  its  strength  at  each  instant  in  amperes  is  unity. 

(12)  That  instruments  constructed  on  the  principle  of  the 
balance,  in  which  by  the  proper  disi)osition  of  the  conductors, 
forces  of  attraction  and  repulsion  are  produced,  which  depend 
upon  the  amount  of  current  passing,  and  are  balanced  by  known 
weights,  should  be  adopted  as  the  Board  of  Trade  standards  for 
the  measurement  of  current,  whether  unvarying  or  alternating. 

(13)  That  the  standard  of  electrical  pressure  should  be  de- 
nominated the  volt,  being  the  pressure  which,  if  steadily  applied 
to  a  conductor  whose  resistance  is  i  ohm,  will  produce  a  current 
of  I  aoipere. 

(14)  That  the  electrical  pressure  at  a  temperature  of  62°  F. 
between  the  poles  or  electrodes  of  the  voltaic  cell  known  as 
Clark's  cell,  may  be  taken  as  not  differing  from  a  pressure  of 
1*433  volts,  by  more  than  an  amount  which  will  be  determined 
by  a  sub-committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  question,  who 
will  prepare  a  specification  for  the  construction  and  use  of  the  cell. 

(15)  That  an  alternating  pressure  of  i  volt  shall  mean  a  pres- 
sure such  that  the  square  root  of  the  time- average  of  the  square 
of  its  value  at  each  instant  in  volts  is  unity. 

(16)  That  instruments  constructed  on  the  principle  of  Sir  W. 
Thomson's  quadrant  electrometer  used  idiostatically,  and  for 
high-pressure  instruments  on  the  principle  of  the  balance, 
electrostatic  forces  being  balanced  against  a  known  weight, 
should  be  adopted  as  Board  of  Trade  standards  for  the  meaj^ure- 
ment  of  pressure,  whether  unvarying  or  alternating. 

We  have  adopted  the  system  of  electrical  units  originally 
defined  by  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  and  we  have  found  in  its  recent  researches,  as  well  as  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  International  Congress  on  Electrical 
Units,  held  in  Paris,  valuable  guidance  for  determining  the 
exact  magnitudes  of  the  several  units  of  electrical  measurement, 
as  well  as  for  the  verification  of  the  material  standards. 

We  have  stated  the  relation  between  the  proposed  standard 
ohm  and  ihe  unit  of  resistance  originally  determined  by  the 
British  Association,  and  have  also  stated  its  relation  to  the 
mercurial  standard  adopted  by  the  International  Conference. 

We  find  that  considerations  of  practical  importance  make 
it  undesirable  to  adopt  a  mercurial  standard,  we  have,  therefore, 
preferred  to  adopt  a  material  standard  constructed  in  solid 
metal. 

It  appears  to  us  to  be  necessary  that  in  transactions  be- 
tween buyer  and  seller,  a  legal  character  should  henceforth  be 
assigned  to  the  units  of  electrical  measurement  now  suggested, 
and  with  this  view,  that  the  issue  of  an  Order  in  C<3uncii  should 
be  recommended,  under  the  Weights  and  Measures  Act,  in  the 
form  annexed  to  this  report. 

Specification  referred  to  in  Resolution  10. 

In  the  following  specification  the  term  silver  voltameter  means 
the  arrangement  of  apparatus  by  means  of  which  an  electric 

NO.    1140,  VOL.  44] 


current  is  passed  through  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver  in  water.. 
The  silver  voltameter  measures  the  total  electrical  quantity  which* 
has  passed  during  the  time  of  the  experiment,  and  by  noting 
this  time  the  time-average  of  the  current,  or  if  the  current  has- 
been  kept  constant,  the  current  itself,  can  be  deduced. 

In  employing  the  silver  voltameter  to  measure  currents  of 
about  I  amf>ere,  the  following  arrangements  should  be  adopted. 
The  kathode  on  which  the  silver  is  to  be  deposited  should  take 
the  form  of  a  platinum  bowl  not  less  than  10  cm.  in  diameter, 
and  from  4  to  5  cm.  in  depth. 

The  anode  should  be  a  plate  of  pure  silver  some  30  square  cm. 
in  area  and  2  or  3  millimetres  in  thickness. 

This  is  supported  horizontally  in  the  liquid  near  the  top  of  the 
solution  by  a  platinum  wire  passed  through  holes  in  the  plate  at 
opposite  corners.  To  prevent  the  disintegrated  silver  which  is 
formed  on  the  anode  from  falling  on  to  the  kathode,  the  anode 
should  be  wrapped  round  with  pure  filter  paper,  secured  at  the 
back  with  sealing-wax. 

The  liquid  should  consist  of  a  neutral  solution  of  pure  silver 
nitrate,  containing  about  15  parts  by  weight  of  the  nitrate  to  85, 
parts  of  water. 

The  resistance  of  the  voltameter  changes  somewhat  as  the 
current  passes.  To  prevent  these  changes  having  too  great  an 
effect  on  the  current,  some  resistance  besides  that  of  the  volta- 
meter should  be  inserted  in  the  circuit.  The  total  metallic 
resistance  of  the  circuit  should  not  be  less  than  10  ohms. 

Method  of  making  a  Measurement. — The  platinum  bowl  is 
washed  with  nitric  acid  and  distilled  water,  dried  by  heat,  and 
then  left  to  cool  in  a  desiccator.     When  thoroughly  dry,  it  is- 
weighed  carefully. 

It  is  nearly  filled  with  the  solution,  and  connected  to  the  rest 
of  the  circuit  by  being  placed  on  a  clean  copper  support,  to 
which  a  binding  screw  is  attached.  This  copper  support  must 
be  insulated. 

The  anode  is  then  immer-ed  in  the  solution,  so  as  to  be  weU 
covered  by  it,  and  supported  in  that  position  ;  the  connections 
to  the  rest  of  the  circuit  are  made. 

Contact  is  made  at  the  key,  noting  the  time  of  contact.  The 
current  is  allowed  to  pass  for  not  less  than  half  an  hour,  and  the 
time  at  which  contact  is  broken  is  observed.  Care  must  be 
taken  that  the  clock  used  is  keeping  correct  time  during  this- 
interval. 

The  solution  is  now  removed  from  the  bowl,  ard  the  deposit 
is  washed  with  distilled  water  and  left  to  soak  for  at  least  six 
hours.  It  is  then  rinsed  successively  with  distilled  water  and 
absolute  alcohol,  and  dried  in  a  hot-air  bath  at  a  temperature 
of  about  160"  C.  After  cooling  in  a  desiccator,  it  is  weighed' 
again.     The  gain  in  weight  gives  the  silver  deposited. 

To  find  the  current  in  amperes,  this  weight,  expressed  in- 
grammes,  must  be  divided  by  the  number  of  seconds  during 
which  the  current  has  been  passed,  and  by  o  go  11 18. 

The  result  will  be  the  time-average  of  the  current,  if  during 
the  interval  the  current  has  varied. 

Tn  determining  by  this  method  the  constant  of  an  instrument 
the  current  should  be  kept  as  nearly  constant  as  possible,  and 
the  readings  of  the  instrument  taken  at  frequent  observed  inter- 
vals of  time.  These  observations  give  a  curve  from  which  the 
reading  corresponding  to  the  mean  current  (time-average  of  the 
current)  can  be  found.  The  current,  as  calculated  by  the 
voltameter,  corresponds  to  this  reading. 


NOTES. 

The  International  Meteorological  Conference  at  Munich  was 
opened  on  August  26.  Dr.  C.  Lang,  Director  of  the  Bavarian 
Meteorological  Service,  was  unanimously  elected  President. 
Prof.  M.  W.  Harrington  (Chief  of  the  United  States  Weather 
Bureau)  and  Prof.  E.  Mascart  (Director  of  the  French  Meteoro- 
logical Service)  were  elected  Vice-Presidents.  Mr.  R.  H.  Scott 
(Secretary  of  the  Meteorological  Office),  Dr.  F.  Erk  (Munich), 
and  M.  L.  Teisserenc  de  Bort  (Paris)  were  elected  Secretaries. 
Thirty  meml)ers  were  present,  including  representatives  from 
Brazil,  Queensland,  and  the  United  States.  We  hope  in  a 
future  number  to  give  some  account  of  the  proceedings. 

Dr.  Barclay,  whose  death  at  Simla  has  been  announced, 
was  working  on   the  Leprosy  Commission,    and  his  loss  is 


436 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


described  by  the  Indian  press  as  not  only  a  severe  one  to 
India,  but  for  the  whole  scientific  world.  His  special  study 
was  cryptogamic  botany.  He  made  important  researches  in 
diseases  of  Indian  plants,  and  hal  gained  a  contioental  repu- 
tation. Several  of  his  papers  were  published  in  the  Linnean 
Society's  Transactions.  His  great  ambition  was  to  solve 
Indian  wheat  disease,  and  he  was  to  have  studied  coffee  disease 
in  Southern  India  next  winter. 

Tartly  owing  to  Dr.  Barclay's  death,  the  Indian  Leprosy 
Report  will  be  delayed  a  short  time.  The  practical  work  is 
virtually  completed,  and  the  Draft  Report  for  the  Government 
of  India  is  in  type.  The  chief  work  now  consists  in  correcting 
the  proofs  and  the  preparation  of  the  plates,  maps,  and  sta- 
tistics. On  the  two  main  questions  with  which  they  were  to 
deal,  viz.  the  contagiousness  and  hereditary  transmission  of  the 
disease,  the  Commission  have  come  to  a  unanimous  decision, 
but  their  conclusions  will  not  be  known  till  the  Report  is  pub- 
lished by  the  National  Leprosy  Fund. 

The  statutory  ninth  meeting  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Orientalists  began  in  the  hall  of  the  Inner  Temple  on  Tuesday, 
when  an  address  was  delivered  by  the  Master  of  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge. 

An  election  to  the  Coutts  Trotter  Studentship,  at  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  will  take  place  next  month.  Applications 
from  candidates  must  be  sent  in  to  the  College  office,  addressed 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Coutts  Trotter  Studentship  Committee, 
on  or  before  October  1$.  The  studentship  is  tenable  for  two 
years,  and  is  for  original  research  in  physiology  or  in  physics. 

We  are  glad  to  learn  that  a  number  of  the  friends  of  the  late 
Mr.  N.  R.  Pogson  are  thinking  of  raising  a  memorial  to  him 
in  Madrcis. 

With  reference  to  a  recent  note,  we  learn  from  New  South 
Wales  that  the  Minister  for  Mines  and  Agriculture  (the  Hon. 
Sydney  Smith)'  has  appointed  Mr.  Niel  Harper,  formerly  a  dairy 
farmer  of  excellent  repute  in  the  South  Coast  District,  to  take 
■charge  of  the  travelling  dairy,  which  is  to  be  sent  to  the  different 
districts  of  the  colony  under  the  control  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.     It  will  be  necessary  for  the  Agricultural  Society, 
or  a  local  Committee,  to  provide  the  requirements  of  the  dairy 
such  as  a  building  suitable  for  its  operations,  and  giving  accom- 
modation sufficient  for  ten  pupils,  who  will  be  thoroughly  in- 
structed in  all  dairying  operations.     Also,  for  the  carriage  o^ 
the  plant  to  and  from  the  nearest  railway  station  or  wharf  to 
the  scene  of  operations,  together  with  the  necessary  labour  to 
assist  in  the  rough  work  of  cleaning  up,  &c.     The  Society,  or 
Committee,  will  need  to  provide  also  a  sufficient  supply  of  milk, 
say  about  fifty  gallons  daily,  for  the  operations  of  the  dairy,  and 
plenty  of  clean  water  for  washing  butter  and  cleaning  up.    Each 
Society,  or  Committee,  undertaking  to  fuinish  these  require- 
>ments  will  be  entitled  to  nominate  at  least  ten  pupils  (either 
male  or  female)  for  the  full  course  of  instruction  in  dairy  opera- 
tions, who  will  afterwards  be  examined  with  a  view  to  receiving 
a  dairy  certificate  in  the  event  of  their  showing  a  satisfactory 
knowledge  of  the  course  of  instruction.     Of  course  the  general 
public  will  be  admitted  to  see  all  the  operations  of  the  dairy, 
which  will  work  for  ten  days  at  each  place  where  set  up.     All 
district  Societies  and  Committees  desiring  to  have  the  benefit  of 
'this  course  of  instruction  for  their  localities  should  make  early 
application  to  the  Director  of  Agriculture,  from  whom  regula- 
•tions  and  instructions  can  be  obtained.      Is  our  Minister  of 
Agricalture  doing  anything  similar? 

At  the  request  of  the  Russian  Ambassador  in  London,  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  India  has  asked  the  Government  of  India 
to  afford  facilities  to  Prof.  Tichomiroff,  who  is  about  to  visit 

NO.    II 40,  VOL.  44] 


certain  parts  of  India,  Ceylon,  and  China,  with  the  view  of 
studying  the  administration  of  botanical  gardens  and  cindMoa 
plantations,  and  to  M.  Gondatti,  who  is  about  to  study  teaaad 
silkworm  cultivation  in  India,  Ceylon,  and  China. 

Captain  Wahab,  R.E.,  will  have  charge  of  a  party  wliich 
is  to  make  a  survey  of  the  country  round  Aden  during  the 
coming  winter. 

Mr.  Griesbach,  of  the  Geologicar Survey  of  India,  haspro- 
ceeded  with  a  survey  party  to  Upper  Burmah,  where  he  will 
remain  about  two  years  to  examine  thoroughly  the  geological 
condition  of  the  country. 

An  important  resolution  of  the  Government  of  India  oo  the 
reorganization  of  the  superior  staff  of  the  Indian  Forest  Depeit* 
ment  has  been  issued.  At  an  extra  yearly  cost  of  three  lakhs  of 
rupees,  the  Imperial  and  Provincial  Services  are  to  be  separated. 
The  Imperial  is  to  be  recruited  solely  under  covenant  with  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  the  average  pay  raised  6  per  cent.  The 
Provincial  Service  gives  126  appointments,  up  to  600  rupees  a 
month,  to  natives  of  India.  The  Forest  Department  is  the  fint 
to  introduce  a  complete  scheme  under  the  Public  Service  Com* 
mission. 

Nine  members  of  the  Kite  Arctic  Expedition  arrived  at 
Halifax,  N.S.,  on  August  30.  The  Expedition  reached  77*43' 
N.,  and  70*  20'  W.  They  have  brought  with  them  immense 
collections  of  flowers,  herbs,  and  butterflies,  some  of  which  were 
previously  unknown.  It  is  stated  that  "  they  found  all  the 
published  charts  of  Greenland  to  be  incorrect." 

Experiments  for  the  production  of  artificial  rain  are  now 
being  made  in  Texas.  They  are  conducted  by  members  of  the 
Signal  Corps,  acting  under  the  direction  of  the  Minister  of 
Agriculture,  and  have  been  undertaken  in  accordance  with  a 
vote  of  the  United  States  Congress.  Adequate  reports  on  the 
subject  have  not  yet  reached  this  country,  but  it  is  claimed  that 
the  experiments  have  been  attended  by  remarkable  success. 

Mr.  George  Forbes,  writing  to  the  Times  on  Aogost  31, 
gave  the  following  account  of  a  meteor  which  he  had  seen  at 
Maidenhead  on  the  previous  evening  at  8h.  22m.  : — "  It  was 
brighter  than  Jupiter  when  I  first  saw  it ;  it  lasted  three 
seconds  from  the  time  I  first  saw  it,  steadily  increasing  id 
size  and  brightness,  becoming  pear-shaped,  and  blue  showing  in 
its  rear  part  when  at  its  brightest — i,e.  just  before  extinction. 
There  was  no  train,  the  luminosity  not  extending  more  than  i' 
behind  it.  At  the  end  it  became  intensely  bright,  and  then  dis- 
appeared suddenly.  It  passed  a  little  south  of  a  Cassiopeia,  and 
also  a  little  south  of  7  Andromedae.  I  first  saw  it  at  ih.  45id> 
R.A.  and  50^  N.  Decl,  and  it  ended  at  2h.  cm.  R.A.  and  39' 
N.  Decl." 

In  the  Meteorolo^ische  Zeitschrift  for  July,  Prof.  H.  Mobn 
discusses  the  present  methods  of  reduction  of  meteorologial 
observations  ;  after  the  completion* of  twenty-five  years  of  ob9e^ 
vations  at  the  Norwegian  stations,  he  has  decided  npon  making 
certain  more  or  less  important  alterations,  commencing  froa 
January  i  last,  (i)  As  regards  pressure,  to  introduce  the  cor- 
rection for  standard  gravity  at  sea-level,  in  latitude  45*,  which 
amounts  to  0*16  inch  between  the  equator  and  the  Poles,  and 
to  as  much  as  0*03  inch  between  two  extreme  stations  of  the 
Norwegian  system.  And  to  apply  a  correction  due  to  dinziol 
range  (to  be  determined  from  hourly  observations)  to  the 
monthly  means  obtained  and  published  from  two  or  three  ob- 
servations daily.  (2)  Similarly,  for  temperature  and  hamidity, 
to  apply  corrections  to  the  published  monthly  values  obtained 
from  two  or  three  daily  observations.  He  fully  explains  the 
methods  he  has  adopted  for  obtaining  the  corrections  to  be 
applied,  ani  we  thin'c  the  master  is  worthy  of  the  atteotiooof 


._J 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


437 


meteorologists  who  publish  their  results.  Prof.  W.  von  Bezold 
gives  an  interesting  summary  of  his  paper  on  the  theory  of 
cyclones,  which  he  laid  before  the  Berlin  Academy  in  December 
last,  and  in  which  he  treated  of  the  more  recent  views  regarding 
the  laws  of  atmospheric  circulation  ;  he  also  refers  to  various 
points  which  have  to  be  dealt  with  for  the  further  advancement 
of  the  science. 

M.  Lancaster  has  recently  indicated  in  Ciel  et  Terre  the 
divergences  from  normal  temperature  in  Europe  in  the  five 
years  1886-90.  It  appears  (and  is  shown  in  a  map)  that  the 
centre  of  the  "island  of  cold"  lies  over  the  north  of  France, 
the  south  of  Belgium,  and  the  most  western  parts  of  Germany. 
From  this  centre  the  cold  decreases  pretty  regularly  outwards 
on  all  sides  to  a  nearly  circular  line  of  nil  divergence,  which, 
embracing  the  whole  of  Great  Britain,  crosses  the  south  of 
Sweden,  then  goes  along  the  German- Russian  frontier,  through 
Hungary,  the  south  of  Italy,  the  north  of  Africa,  and  across 
Spain.  Throughout  this  inclosed  region  abnormally  low  tem- 
peratures have  prevailed.  Siberia,  too,  shows  thermal  depres- 
sion, which  M.  Lancaster  thinks  may  be  connected  with  that  in 
Western  Europe. 

Sr.  H.  Morize,  astronomer  at  the  Observatory  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  has  just  published  a  "Sketch  of>the  Climatology  of 
Brazil,"  which  will  be  welcome  to  meteorologists,  as  hitherto 
systematic  observations  have  only  been  published  for  a  very  few 
points  of  that  immense  country,  covering  39**  of  latitude.  The 
present  sketch  has  been  drawn  up  mainly  from  the  observations  of 
travellers  and  private  observers.  We  can  only  extract  a  few 
•  brief  notes.  Thunderstorms  are  very  frequent  all  along  the  coast , 
and  are  mostly  harmless ;  regular  cyclones  are  very  rare — the 
most  dangerous  winds  are  the  pamperos,  which  blow  from  the 
south-west,  and  have  been  fully  described  by  the  late  Adjiiral 
Fitz-Roy,  and  a  still  more  rare  and  dangerous  wind  which  blows 
from  the  south-east.  As  regards  temperature,  the  author  has 
divided  the  country  into  three  zones,  and  some  valuable  data  are 
given  for  various  localities.  Parts  of  the  country  are  subject  to 
prolonged  drought ;  it  is  said  that  at  Pernambuco  no  rain  fell 
during  the  whole  year  1792,  and  a  third  of  the  population  died 
froon  its  eflfects  ;  droughts  have  recurred  during  the  present 
century  with  some  regularity,  the  last  being  in  the  year  1888-89. 
The  most  complete  series  of  observations  is  that  for  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  which  dates  from  1781,  with  occasional  interruptions. 
The  highest  shade  temperature  was  99**'5  in  November  1883, 
and  the  lowest  50** '4  in  September  1882.  There  are  also  good 
series  of  observations  for  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  and  S^o- Paulo. 

One  of  the  most  important  contributions  made  of  late  years  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  embryology  of  flowering  plants  is  to  be 
found  in  a  paper  by  a  lady,  Mdlle.  C.  Sokolowa,  in  the  Bulletin 
of  the  Imperial  S>ciety  of  Naturalists  of  Moscow.  It  relates 
especially  to  the  formatioi  of  the  endosperm  within  the  embryo- 
sac  of  Gymnosperm^,  the  particulars  of  which  are  described  in 
great  detail.  The  process  is  somewhat  intermediate  between 
that  of  ordinary  cell-division  and  that  known  as  free  cell-forma- 
tion. It  is  a  group  of  short  cells  belonging  to  the  parietal  layer 
of  this  endosperm  that  ultimately  develop  into  the  corpuscles  or 
secondary  embryo-sacs,  the  homolognes  of  the  archegones  of 
Vascular  Cryptogams.  In  the  tendency  displayed  by  Pinus  and 
Cephaloiaxus  towards  the  early  differentiation  of  these  cells, 
Mdlle.  Sokolowa  sees  the  foreshadowing  of  the  process  which  is 
universal  in  Angiosperms,  the  formation  of  the  embryonic 
vesicles  before  that  of  the  endosperm.  Ephedra  exhibits  a  still 
closer  approximation  in  this  respect  to  Angiosperms  than  to  the 
Conifers.  In  the  same  number  of  the  Bulletin  is  an  interesting 
and  important  paper  by  Prof.  G>roschankin  on  the  "Structure 
and  Reproduction  of  ChlamydomonasJ**  The  former  paper  is 
written  in  French,  the  latter  in  German. 

NO.   1 140,  VOL.  44] 


The  survey  of  ihe  cafion  of  the  Colorado  has  now  been  com- 
pleted, and  Mr.  R.  B.  Stanton  has  given  a  full  account  of  it  in 
the  American  Engineering  Ntios,  In  spite  of  the  great  depths 
of  the  cafion  and  the  cliffs  of  sandstone,  marble,  and  granite 
composing  it,  a  railway  can  in  his  opinion  be  built  through  it 
without  much  tunnelling,  thus  opening  up  some  of  the  grandest 
scenery  of  the  world.  In  many  places  the  canon  expands  into 
wide  valleys,  and  even  where  it  narrows  there  are  terraces  along 
the  sides  like  the  "parallel  roads"  of  Glen  Roy  in  Scotland, 
which  seem  designed  by  nature  for  track  and  rail.  The  tribu- 
taries which  enter  the  cafion  laterally  are  as  a  rule  small,  and  can 
be  easily  bridged.  The  distance  of  1019  miles  through  the 
caHon  district  will  only  comprise  20  miles  of  tunnelling  and  99 
miles  of  granite  cutting. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales, 
on  June  24,  Mr.  C.  Darley  exhibited  some  very  large  examples 
of  the  shells  of  the  mud  oyster  {Ostnea  edulist  var.  angasi)  ob- 
tained during  dredging  operations  in  Rozelle  Bay,  Sydney  Har- 
bour. They  occur  in  great  numbers  at  a  depth  of  10  to  12  feet 
below  low  water- mark  beneath  a  layer  of  black  mud  3  to  4  feet 
thick,  and  are  much  larger  than  specimens  now  to  be  found 
living  in  the  harbour.  The  two  valves  of  one  pair  weigh 
3  pounds  12  ounces,  and  measure  about  8x6  inches. 

In  Nature  Notes  for  August  Mr.  R.  T.  Lewis,  on  the 
authority  of  a  correspondent  in  whose  trustworthiness  he  has 
entire  confidence,  gives  a  curious  account  of  the  appreciation 
wiih  which  the  song  of  the  Cicada  is  heard  by  insects  other 
than  those  of  its  own  genus.  The  correspondent  has  frequently 
observed  in  Natal  that  when  the  Cicada  is  singing  at  its  loudest, 
in  the  hottest  portion  of  the  day,  it  is  attended  by  a  number  of 
other  insects  with  lovely,  gauze-like,  iridescent  wings,  whose 
demeanour  has  left  no  doubt  on  his  mind  that  the  music  is  the 
attraction.  The  Cicada,  when  singing,  usually  stations  itself 
upon  the  trunk  of  a  tree  with  its  head  uppermost,  and  the  in- 
sects in  question,  to  the  number  sometimes  of  fifteen  or  sixteen, 
form  themselves  into  a  rough  semicircle  at  a  short  distance  around 
its  head.  During  a  performance  one  of  the  insects  was  observed 
occasionally  to  approach  the  Cicada  and  to  touch  it  upon  its 
front  leg  or  antennae,  which  proceeding  was  resented  by  a 
vigorous  stroke  of  the  foot  by  the  Cicada,  without,  however, 
any  cessation  of  its  song.  The  insects  composing  the  audience 
are  extremely  active;  and  so  wary  that  they  take  flight  at  the 
least  alarm  on  the  too  near  approach  of  any  intruder.  Some  of 
them,  however,  have  been  captured  ;  and  on  examination  these 
**  proved  to  belong  to  the  same  family  as  that  most  beautiful  of 
British  insects — the  lace-wing  fly,  which,  indeed,  they  closely 
resemble  except  as  to  size,  their  measurement  across  the  ex- 
panded wings  being  a  little  over  two  inches ;  they  have  since 
been  identified  by  Mr.  Kirby  at  the  British  Museum  as  Notho- 
chrysa  gigantea" 

AccoHDiNG  to  a  telegram  through  Dalziel's  agency  from 
Vancouver,  the  Canadian  Pacific  steamer  Japan^  which  arrived 
therefrom  Hong  Kong  and  Yokohama  on  August  30,  has  reported 
a  terrific  typhoon  at  Kobe  on  the  i6th  inst.  All  the  steamers 
in  the  harbour  dragged  their  anchors,  and  many  native  boats 
were  cast  ashore  and  their  crews  were  drowned.  A  German 
steamship  was  driven  ashore  and  eight  of  the  crew  were  drowned, 
and  an  Indian  barque  Singlas  was  wrecked,  and  all  on  board 
were  lost.  Her  Majesty's  gunboat  Tweed  sank.  Altogether 
among  natives  and  foreigners  it  is  believed  that  250  lives  were 
lost.  The  wind  did  much  damage  inshore.  In  one  coast  town 
forty-five  persons  were  killed  by  falling  houses. 

The  Science  and  Art  Department  has  issued  its  Directory 
(revised  to  June  1891),  with  regulations  for  establishing  and  con- 
ducting science  acd  art  schools  and  classes. 


43» 


NA  TURE 


[September  3,  1891 


The  University  College,  Bristol,  has  issued  its  Calendar  for 
the  session  1891-92.  While  the  CoU^e  supplies  for  persons  of 
•either  sex  above  the  ordinary  school  age  the  means  of  continuing 
their  studies  in  science,  languages,  history,  and  literature,  it 
-claims  especially  to  afford  appropriate  and  systematic  instruction 
in  those  branches  of  applied  science  which  are  more  nearly  con- 
nected with  the  arts  and  manufactures. 

Sir  William  MacGregor,  Governor  of  British  New 
-Guinea,  recently  ascended  Mount  Yule,  or  Kovio,  as  he  prefers 
to  call  it.  The  Kovio  range  is  volcanic  and  isolated  from  the 
main  chain,  of  which  Mount  Owen  Stanley  is  the  culmination. 
The  Kovio  range  b  under  11,000  feet  high,  and  is  wooded  to 
the  very  summit.  Native  tracks  lead  through  the  forest  to  the 
top  of  Mount  Yule,  on  the  south-west  front  of  which  there  is  a 
magnificent  series  of  cascades,  having  a  height  of  4000  feet  in 
all.  A  new  river  and  a  new  lake  were  also  discovered  ;  but  the 
animal  life  of  the  region  was  far  from  abundant. 

The  last  Bulletin  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  the  United 
States  contains  an  interesting  paper  on  the  curious  discovery  of 
human  remains  under  the  Tuolumne  Table  Mountain  of  Cali- 
fornia. Bones  of  men  and  grinding  instruments  were  there 
foand  by  Prof.  Whitney,  embedded  in  auriferous  gravel  under 
lava  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Reoiains  of  plants  belonging 
10  the  Tertiary  age,  and  the  bones  of  extinct  Mammalia,  such 
as  the  rhinoceros  of  the  West  and  the  American  mastodon,  are 
also  met  with  in  the  same  strata.  Pestles,  mortars,  and  broken 
spear-heads  are  the  most  remarkable  of  the  implements  dis- 
covered. 

From  the  last  Report  of  the  Council  of  the  North  ;China 
Asiatic  Society  of  Shanghai  we  learn  that  the  printers  have  now 
in  hand  a  most  valuable  work  by  Dr.  Bretfchneider  on  the 
**  Botany  of  the  Chinese  Classics,"  the  publimtion  of  which,  on 
account  of  its  length  and  technical  difficulties,  has  been  much 
delayed.  Some  time,  however,  must  yet  elapse  before  it  can 
be  issued.  Mr.  Faber  has  undertaken  the  difficult  task  of  cor- 
recting the  printer's  proofs  and  adding  many  notes,  which  will 
render  the  work  the  most  comprehensive  and  useful  book  which 
has  yet  appeared  on  Chinese  botany. 

The  new  number  of  the  Internationales  Archh  fiir  Ethno- 
jgra/^*f  (Band  iv..  Heft  4)  opens  with  an  interesting  paper  by 
Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon,  on  the  Tugeri  head-hunters  of  New 
Guinea.  Mr.  J.  J.  M.  de  Groot  has  an  article  on  the  wedding 
garments  of  a  Chinese  woman,  and  Dr.  Julius  Jacobs  discusses 
(in  Dutch)  the  ideas  of  Dr.  Ploss  on  the  origin  of  circumcision. 

Messrs.  West,  Newman,  AaNd  Co.,  have  reprinted  from 
the  Journal  of  Botany  for  189 1,  a  *'Key  to  the  Genera  and 
Species  of  British  Mosses,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Jameson.  The 
author  explains  that  his  work  is  not  intended  to  take  the  place 
of  a  more  detailed  text-book,  but  merely  to  serve  as  a  clue  by 
which  the  student  may  ascertain  in  what  part  of  his  book  he 
should  look  for  the  description  of  any  unknown  specimen. 

We  have  received  a  Report  on  Astronomical  Oliservations 
for  1886,  by  George  H.  Boehmer.  Directors  of  observatories, 
and  astronomers  generally,  are  earnestly  requested  by  Mr. 
Boehmer  to  criticize  his  work  freely,  and  to  send  him  such 
corrections  and  additions  as  may  seem  to  them  necessary  or 
desirable. 

Messrs.  W.  Wesley  and  Son  have  published  a  catalogue 
of  botanical  books  which  they  are  offering  for  sale. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  {Macacus  eynomolgus  9  ) 
from  India,  a  Piuche  Monkey  (Midas  otdipus  <J)  from  New 
•Granada,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  Wather ;  a  Roseate  Cockatoo 

NO.   1 140,  VOL.  44] 


iCacatua  roseicapilla)  from  Australia,  presented  by  Mrs.  Any 
Jones,  F.Z.S.  ;  a  Slender-billed  Cockatoo  {Licmetis  temuires^ 
Iris)  from  South  Australia,  presented  by  Miss  Caplen ;  t 
Marbled  Polychrus  {Polychrus  marmoratus)^  a  Thick-necked 
Tree- Boa  {Epicrates  cemhris)    from    Trinidad,    presented  by 

Messrs   R.    R.   Mole   and  F.  W.   Urich  ;  a  Salamander 

{Ambly stoma  punctatum)  from  North  America,  presented  by 
Mr.  J.  H.  Thomson;  a  Smooth  Snake  {Coronella  Javis\ 
European,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Adams ;  a  Great  Kangaroo 
{Macropus  giganteus)^  a  Greater  Sulphur- crested  Cockatoo 
[Cacatua galerita)  from  Australia,  deposited. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra. — From  a  commnnka- 
tion  by  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering  to  AstronomiscJu  NachricfUtn^ 
No.  30S4)  it  appears  that  the  hydrogen  lines  G  and  h  are 
bright  in  a  photograph  of  the  spectrum  of  a  third-type  star, 
D.M.  +  39*4851  (R.A.  22h.  24.7m.,  Decl.  +  39"  4^,  1900), 
taken  on  July  6.  And  an  examination  of  the  photographs  of 
this  region  taken  on  different  dates  has  confirmed  the  long- 
period  variability  of  which  this  spectroscopic  appearance  is  nov 
recognized  as  a  distinctive  feature.  The  seventh  magaitnde  star 
D.M.  -  lo**  5057,  whose  approximate  position  for  IQCX)  is 
R.A.  I9h.  177m.,  Decl.  -  10'  54',  has  been  previously  an- 
nounced as  having  a  spectrum  of  the  fourth  type,  but  later 
photographs  show  that  the  lines  in  the  spectrum  are  not  those  dne 
to  hydrogen,  but  are  sometimes  seen  to  be  broad  bands,  and  at 
other  times  as  doubles.  These  peculiarities,  however,  cannot 
be  made  out  in  the  visible  spectrum  of  the  star. 

Photography  of  Solar  Prominences.— At  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  on  August  17,  M.  Des- 
landres  exhibited  some  of  the  results  he  has  obtained  since  May 
in  the  photography  of  bright  lines  in  solar  prominence  spectra. 
The  negatives  exhibit  good  reversals  of  H  and  K,  and  the  first  two 
lines  of  the  ultra-violet  hydrogen  series.  And  M.  Deslaodres 
finds  from  a  direct  comparison  with  a  Giessler  tube  that  the 
bright  line  a  little  less  refrangible  than  H  is  really  doe  to 
hydrogen.  It  is  proposed  to  construct  an  apparatus  by  means 
of  which  the  prominences  at  all  points  on  the  sun's  limb  may 
be  photographed  and  their  velocities  determined.  That  two 
observers.  Prof.  Hale  and  M.  Deslandres,  should  have  been 
simultaneously  working  to  attain  the  same  object  is  somewhat 
remarkable.  From  the  various  papers  published  by  the  former 
gentleman,  it  appears  that  he  obtained  the  first  reversals  of  H 
and  K  in  prominence  spectra  about  the  middle  of  April,  and  the 
first  photograph  showing  the  form  of  a  prominence  on  May  7. 

Encke's  Comet  {c  1891). — The  following  ephemeris  is  from 
one  given  by  Dr.  Backlund  in  the  Bulletin  Astronomique  for 
August : — 

Ephemeris  for  Berlin  Midnight. 

1891.  R.A.  Decl.  Log  r.  Log  .^ 

h.   m.     s.  o      '        M 

Aug.  28  ...  5  2  29  ...  +35  8  o  ...  0-0563  ...  0'O454 
Sept.  I  ...  6  31  22  ...  35  9  5  ...  0*0316  ...  0*0229 
5  ...     7     2  24     ...      34  43     5     ...     0*0045  ...  0*0025 

9  ...  7  35  36  ..  33  40  9  ••  9*9749  ...  9*9850 

13  ...  8  10  25  ...  31  58  4  ...  99424  ...  9'97i9 

„  17   ..  8  45  49  ...  29  29  7  ...  99060  ...  9  9638 

„  21  ...  9  20  59  ...  26  16  9  ...  9-8655  ..  9-9626 

i»  25  ...  9  55    o  ...  22  25  7  ...  9  8200  ...  9-9677 

„  29  ...  10  27  27  ...  18    4  7  ...  97689  ...  9-9727 

Oct.  3  ...  10  58  18  ...  13  22  6  ...  97120  ...  9  9983 

„  7  ...  II  27  55  ...  8  27  2  ...  9-6503  ...  010223 

„  II  ...  II  57    2  ...  +  3  23  2  ...  9-5897  ...  OXH^ 

„  15  ...  12  26  30  ..."   1  44  4  ..  9-5744  ...  ox>783 

,,  19  ...  12  56  53  ...  6  46  I  .  .  9  5^36  ...  0-1050 

,,  23  ...  13  27  41  ...  II  24  3  ...  9-5634  ...  0-1278 

f»  27  ...  13  58    6  ...  15  26  8  ...  9-6187  ...  0-1472 

„  31  ...  14  27  27  ...  -18  49  3  ...  96809  ...  0-1646 

The  comet  is  now  in  Auriga,  which  is  in  the  north-east  about 
10  p.m.     On  September  8  it  passes  about  2°  north  of  Castor. 

A  New  Asteroid  (sia).— On  August  12,  Dr.  Palisa  observed 
what  may  be  a  new  asteroid,  or,  according  to  Dr.  Berberich,  it 
may  turn  out  to  be  identical  with  ^^  or  (mi). 


It 


ff 


»i 


September  3,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


439 


JUPITER  AND  HIS  MARKINGS. 

TOURING  the  last  few  years,  Jupiter  has  beea  situated  so  far 
^  south  of  the  equator  that  telescopic  observations  have 
had  to  be  pursued  under  all  the  disadvantages  inseparable  from 
vieviJig  an  object  at  a  low  altitude.  But  the  conditions  are 
DOW  much  improved  ;  the  planet,  though  still  in  south  declina- 
tioD,  will  be  some  ii"*  north  of  his  position  in  1890,  and  will 
therefore  remain  much  longer  above  the  horizon,  and  present  a 
better  defined  and  larger  disk  than  during  the  few  preceding 
oppositions,  so  that  the  study  of  his  surface-markings  may  be 
resumed  under  very  encouraging  circumstances. 

The  great  red  spot  has  been  visible  and  its  appearance  and 
movements  closely  watched  during  thirteen  years,  for  it  was  in 
July  1878  that  it  was  first  announced  as  a  striking  object.  But 
it  probably  existed  long  before  this,  for  the  drawings  of  previous 
observers  include  forms  which  have  a  very  suggestive  resem- 
blance to  the  red  spot,  though  they  are  under  a  less  conspicuous 
aspect.  There  is,  in  fact,  little  doubt  that  this  marking  is  an 
old  feature,  but  it  is  liable  to  considerable  variations  of  tint, 
inducing  obvious  changes  in  its  general  appearance  as  presented 
to  telescopic  observers.  Layers  of  cloud,  moving  with  unequal 
velocities  and  at  different  elevations  above  the  surface  of  the 
planet,  probably  overlap  the  spot  and  partially  obliterate  it  at 
times,  bat  its  definite  elliptical  outline  has  been  always  pre- 
serred,  and  its  dimensions  have  not  varied  materially.  It  is 
the  colouring  of  the  spot  that  has  exhibited  inconstancy,  and 
especially  that  of  the  central  region,  which  changed  from  a  brick- 
red  in  1878-81  to  a  very  light  tint,  differing  little,  if  at  all,  from 
the  other  parts  of  the  planet's  disk  in  the  same  latitude.  But 
the  margm  of  the  spot  has  been  more  durable,  and  it  was 
visible  for  several  years  as  a  pink  ellipse,  offering  a  great 
similarity  to  the  ellipse  seen  by  Gledhill  in  1869-70. 

After  a  somewhat  precarious  existence,  the  spot  appears  to  be 
recovering  prominence,  though  its  present  aspect  will  not  bear 
comparison  with  the  features  it  presented  about  twelve  years 
ago.  Still  it  is  now  a  fairly  conspicuous  marking,  with  a  depth 
of  tint  far  more  pronounced  than  in  the  years  1884-85.  The 
central  part  of  the  spot  appears  to  have  regained  the  reddish 
hue,  and  the  general  appearance  of  the  object  is  sufficiently 
marked  to  recall  the  grand  views  it  afforded  at  the  period  of  its 
best  display. 

The  variable  motion  of  the  spot  has  formed  one  of  its  most 
interesting  attributes,  and  I  give  below  a  table  of  the  mean 
rotation-period  deduced  from  observations  daring  the  last  eleven 
oppositions  of  Jupiter : — 

Limiting  dates. 

1879  July   10— 1 880  Feb.     7 

1880  Sep.  27—1881  Mar.  17 
i88ijuly     8— 1 882  Mar.  30 

1882  July   29— 1883  May    4 

1883  Aug.  23 — 1884  June  12 

1884  Sep.  21—1885  July     8 

1885  Oct.   24— 1886  July   24 
1S86  Nov.  23—1887  Aug.    2 

1888  Feb.  12— 1888  Aug.  22 

1889  May  28—1889  Nov.  26 

1890  May  22 — 1890  Nov.  25 

On  August  7,  1891,  I  re-observed  the  spot  with  a  10  inch 
reflector,  power  252,  and  found  it  well-defined  and  fairly  con- 
spicuous. It  passed  the  central  meridian  of  the  planet  at 
iih.  32m.,  so  that  it  followed  Marth's  zero  meridian  (System 
II.)  only  3  minutes.  This  nearly  agrees  with  two  observa- 
tions by  Mr.  A.  S.  William's  in  May  last,  which  placed  the 
spot  4  minutes  behind  the  zero  meridian.  Mr.  Marth's  com- 
putations are  to  be  found  in  the  Monthly  Notices  for  March 
1891,  and  they  supply  a  valuable  guide  to  all  students  of  Jovian 
phenomena. 

Apart  from  the  red  spot,  it  is  desirable  that  the  white  spots 
near  the  planet's  equator,  and  the  similar  markings  which  vei^e 
the  northern  side  of  the  north  equatorial  belt,  should  be  assidu- 
ously followed,  and  their  individual  rotation  periods  ascertained 
from  a  number  of  fresh  observations.  These  markings  are 
severally  controlled  by  proper  motions  of  very  irregular  cha- 
racter, and  some  singular  alternations  of  visibility  also  affect 
them.  Mr.  Williams  finds  that  the  equatorial  white  spots  have 
exhibited  a  great  slackening  of  speed  in  recent  years.     This 


Rotations. 

Period. 

h. 

m. 

s. 

512       ... 

9 

55 

34*2 

413        .-. 

9 

55 

35-6 

640 

9 

55 

382 

674       ... 

9 

55 

39*1 

710 

9 

55 

39*1 

700 

9 

55 

392 

659       ... 

9 

55 

411 

609 

9 

55 

40-5 

462 

9 

55 

40 '2 

439      ... 

9 

55 

400 

451       ... 

9 

55 

40*2 

variation  apparently  affects  the  entire  equatorial  zone,  and  it 
will  be  important  to  determine  the  exact  extent  of  it,  and 
whether  it  is  sustained  in  the  present  year.  The  changes  of 
velocity  alluded  to  are  scarcely  progressive  in  the  same  direc- 
tion ;  we  may  expect  to  find  an  acceleration  sooner  or  later  to 
compensate  for  the  relatively  slow  movement  of  the  spots  in  the 
few  past  years.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  various  markings 
show  oscillations  of  speed  recurring  at  uniform  intervals. 

Students  of  this  interesting  planet .  will  find  abundance  of 
materials  to  collate  and  discuss.  There  is  ample  evidence  of 
the  reappearance  of  certain  features  after  periods  of  non- visi- 
bility. Some  of  the  more  durable  markings  apparently  suffer 
temporary  obscuration  by  vaporous  masses  suspended  above 
them  in  the  Jovian  atmosphere.  The  disposition  of  the  belts  is 
also  liable  to  changes,  though  not  so  rapidly  as  is  generally 
supposed,  for  many  of  the  alleged  variations  have  been  due  to 
differences  in  telescopic  definition  or  to  the  rapid  rotation  of  the 
planet  ;  circumstances  which  have  not  always  been  adequately 
allowed  for.  W.  F.  Denning. 


NO.    II 40.  VOL.  44] 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

American  yournal  of  Science,  August. — Some  of  the 
features  of  non*  volcanic  igneous  ejections,  as  illustrated  in  the 
four  "  Rocks  "  of  the  New  Haven  region,  West  Rock,  Pine 
Rock,  Mile  Rock,  and  East  Rock,  by  James  D.  Dana.  A  few 
of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  from  the  observations  recorded  In. 
this  paper  are  that  igneous  eruptions  occurred  in  the  New 
Haven  region  after  the  sandstone  had  been  upturned.  The  liquid 
rock  forced  its  way  between  layers  of  the  sandstone,  and  lifted 
it  up  where  the  pressure  of  the  rock  was  not  too  great  to  prevent 
the  upheaval.  This  intrusive  action  was  favoured  by  the  fact 
that  the  fissure  supplying  the  lava  was  inclined  in  the  same 
direction  as  the  layers  of  the  uplifted  sandstone.  And  the  folia- 
tion of  the  underlying  schists  did  not  determine  the  course 
and  dip  of  the  supply  fissures.  The  paper  is  illustrated  by 
several  excellent  photographs  of  the  formations  investigated. — 
Note  on  a  reconnaissance  of  the  Ouachita  mountain  system  in 
Indian  territory,  by  Robert  T.  Hill. — The  continuity  of  solid 
and  liquid,  by  Carl  Barus.  By  means  of  the  simple  arrangement 
described  in  this  paper,  the  author  is  able  to  obtain  at  once  the 
isothermals  and  isopiestics,  and  therefore  the  isometrics,  both 
for  the  solid  and  liquid  states  of  the  substances  experimented 
upon.  The  relation  of  solidification  and  fusion  to  pressure  and 
the  pressure  changes  of  the  isothermal  specific  volumes  of  solid 
and  liquid  at  the  solidifying  and  melting  points  can  also  be- 
determined.  And  from  such  results  the  character  of  fusion  and 
the  probable  position  of  critical  and  transitional  points  can  be 
found.  The  author  has  as  yet  only  investigated  the  behaviour 
of  naphthalene  by  his  method,  but  the  whole  work  throws  con- 
siderable light  upon  the  relation  of  pressure  to  phenomena  of 
fusion  and  solution. — Note  on  the  asphaltum  of  Utah  and 
Colorado,  by  George  H.  Stone.  The  author  has  visited  all  the 
known  asphahe  fields  of  Western  Colorado  and  North- Eastern 
Utah.  The  observations  he  has  made  bear  upon  the  origin  of 
petroleum,  asphalte,  natural  gas,  and  other  subterranean  hydro- 
carbons, but  the  facts  arc  hardly  sufficient  to  lead  to  definite- 
conclusions. — Photographic  investigation  of  prominences  and 
their  spectra,  by  George  £.  I^Iale.  Account  is  given  of  the 
methods  employed  by  the  author  for  the  photography  of  invisible 
solar  prominences.  Special  attention  has  been  directed  to  the 
photography  of  the  bright  prominence  lines  running  through  H 
and  K,  with  a  slit  tangential  to  the  sun's  limb.  Four  reproduc- 
tions of  negatives  showing  prominences  illustrate  the  paper. — A 
gold-bearing  hot  spring  deposit,  by  Walter  Harvey  Weed.  A 
microscopioil  and  chemical  examination  of  some  specimens  of 
ore  from  the  Mount  Morgan  Gold  Mine,  Queensland,  demon- 
strates that  the  mine  is  a  deposit  of  a  hot  spring,  the  ore  being 
a  siliceous  sinter  impregnated  with  auriferous  haematite.  This 
is  the  only  hot  spring  deposit  that  has  been  found  to  contain 
gold  in  commercially  valuable  quantities,  and  although  the 
sinter  deposits  from  the  hot  springs  of  Yellowstone  Park 
resemble  those  from  Mount  Morgan,  no  trace  of  the  precious 
metals  has  been  found  in  them. — Restoration  of  Stegosaurus, 
by  O.  C.  Marsh.  The  species  restored  is  Stegosaurus  ungulcUus^ 
from  the  Upper  Jurassic  of  Wyoming.  A  plate,  representing 
the  reptile  one- thirtieth  its  natural  size,  accompanies  the  paper. 


440 


NA  rURE 


[September  3,  1891 


'Y^^  American  AFeUorologlcal  Journal  for  July  contains  the 
following  articles  : — Franklin's  kite  experiment,  by  A.  McAdie. 
After  giving  various  details  respecting  Franklin's  experiments, 
the  author  describes  similar  experiments  recently  carried  on  at 
the  Blue  Hill  Observatory,  near  Boston,  U.S.,  the  chief  advance 
being  that  at  every  step  the  electrical  potential  of  the  atmosphere 
was  measured  by  an  electrometer.     The  kite  was  sent  up  on 
several  days,  and  at  a  height  of  rocx)  feet  sparks  over  4  inch  in 
length  were  obtained  ;  while  abnormal  movements  of  the  stream 
of  water  fr.)m   the  electrometer  during  electrical  disturbance 
always  foretold  when  a  flash  of  lightning  was  about  to  occur. — 
Cloud  heights  and  velocities  at  Blue  Hill  Observatory,  by  H.  H. 
Clayton.     This  paper  contains  the  results  of  cloud  observations 
made  at  Mr.  A.  L.  Rotch*s  Observatoiy  during  the  last  five 
years.     The  average  heights  of  some  of  the  principal  clouds 
were  :  nimbus  412  metres,  cumulus  (base)  1558  m.,  false  cirrus 
6500    m.,    cirro-stratus    9652    m.,    cirrus    10,135    m.      The 
cumulus  is  highest  at  Blue  Hill  during  the  middle  of  the  day. 
The  Upsala  observations  show  that  the  base  of  the  cumulus,   as 
well  as  the  cirrus,  increases  in  height  until  evening,  but  neither 
of  these  conclusions  apply  to  the  observations  at  Blue  Hill.     The 
average  velocity  found  for  the  cirrus  (82  miles  an  hour)  is  twice 
as  great  as  that  fonnd  at  Upsala.     The  extreme  velocity  was 
found  to  be  133  miles  an  hour.     A  comparison  between  wind 
and  cloud  velocity  shows  that  below  500  metres  the  wind 
velocity  is  less  than  the  cloud  velocity.     Above  that,  the  excess 
of  the  cloud  velocity  increases  up  to  1 000  metres,   and  then 
decreases  again  till  about  1700  metres,  after  which  it  steadily 
increases.     This  decrease  between  1000  and  1700  metres  is  very 
probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  clouds  between  700  and  iocx> 
metres  were  mostly  ol>served  during  the  morning,    when  the 
cumulus  moves  most  rapidly,  and  that  the  clouds  between  icxx> 
and  1700  metres  were  mostly  observed  during  the  afternoon, 
when  the  cumulus  moves  slowest. — Meteorological  kite-flying, 
by  W.  A.  Eddy.     This  is  an  account  of  some  experiments  made 
at  Bergen  Point,  New  Jersey,  to  determine  the  vertical  extension 
of  warm  air  currents  by  means  of  self-recording  thermometers 
carried  by  a  kite  string.     Experiments  showed  that  an  altitude 
of  1800  feet  could  be  obtained  by  using  one  kite,  and  that  many 
hundred  feet  could  be  added  to  the  altitude  by  lifting  the  weight 
of  slack  string  by  fastening  on  larger  kites.     It  is  estimated  that 
by  this  means  an  altitude  of  4000  feet  was  obtained.      The 
minimum  temperature  at  an  altitude  of  about   1500  feet,   on 
February  14  last,  was  only  ^  lower  than  at  the  surface. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES, 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  24. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Remarks  on  the  dynamic  conditions  of  the  development 
of  cometary  tails,  by  Dom  Et.  SifTert. — A*/j«w«f  of  solar  observa- 
tions made  at  the  Observatory  of  the  Roman  College  during  the 
second  quarter  of  1891,  by  M.  Tacchini. — On  cyclic  systems,  by 
A.  Ribaucour. — A  property  of  involution,  common  to  a  group 
of  five  right  lines  and  a  system  of  nine  planes,  by  M.  P.  Serret. 
— On  the  tension  of  water-vapour  up  to  200  atmospheres,  by  M. 

Ch.  Antoine.     From  the  expression  /  =  —  ,    ^  ^  -  225, 

^  5 -0402- log  P  ^ 

deduced  from  the  experimental  results  of  MM.  Cailletet  and 

Colardeau,  the  author  deduces  formulae  for  the  calculation  of  P 

to  a  first  approximation,  by  the  aid  of  the  general  formula 

P  =  G^  -^ — J  ,  given  by  J.  Bertrand  to  express  the  tension 


given  that  the  liver  takes  out  bile  constituents  from  the  blood, 
and  passes  them  into  the  alimentary  canal  unaltered. 

Brussels. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  4.--M.  Plateau  in  the  chair. 
— On  hoar  frosts,  by  M.  Folic.  Some  observations  of  the 
ravages  caused  by  frosts  which  occurred  on  June  12  and 
13  indicate  that,  if  the  cultures  of  the  Ardennes  are  to  be 
preserved  from  such  disastrous  effects,  the  plateau  must  be 
again  planted  with  trees.  The  frosts  appear  to  have  had 
more  effect  near  the  soil  than  at  some  metres  above  iL — 
On  one  of  M.  Servais's  theorems,  by  M.  £.  Catalan.— On  ao 
extension  of  M.  Hermite's  law  of  reciprocity,  by  M.  Jacques 
Deruyts. — On  two  new  Lemeopodians,  one  of  which  is  found 
at  the  Azores,  and  the  other  on  the  coast  of  Sen^^,  by  M. 
P.  J.  Van  Beneden.  Description  is  given  of  male  and  female 
Brachiella  chavuii  found  at  the  Azores,  and  of  male  and  female 
Brachiella  chevreuxii  from  the  coast  of  Senegal.  The  descrip- 
tion is  accompanied  by  a  plate. — On  a  method  of  generation  of 
the  cubic  surface,  by  M.  F.  Deruyts. 

Sydney. 

Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  July  i.— H.  C. 
Russell,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Eighteen  nerw 
members  were  elected,  and  the  following  papers  were  read  : — 
On  Nos.  13  and  14  compressed-air  flying  machines,  by  Lawrence 
Hargrave. — Some  folk-songs  and  myths  from  Samoa,  translated 
by  the  Rev.  G.  Pratt,  with  introductions  and  notes  by  Dr.  John 
Eraser. — On  a  cyclonic  storm  in  the  Gwydir  district,  and  Pre- 
parations now  being  made  in  Sydney  Observatory  for  the  photo- 
graphic chart  of  the  heavens  (illustrated  by  photographs),  by  H. 
C.  Russell,  F.  R.S..  Government  Astronomer. 


of  vapours.     The  formulae  given  are  : — 


Pi 
Pi 
P» 


0°-IOO° 


[0-0058824  (/  -I-  7o)]«"o  applicable  from      _     _  _  _ 
[0*0064516  (/  +  55 )P*^  applicable  from    5o''-200" ; 
[0-0071069  (/  -H  41)]*''^  applicable  from  220°-365°. 


The  value  P'  is  then  used  in  Cailletet's  formula  to  calculate  P, 
of  which  tabulated  values  are  given. — On  the  rejection,  by  the 
liver,  of  bile  introduced  into  the  blood,  by  M.  E.  Wertheimer. 
The  author  has  examined  the  bile  of  dogs  before  and  after  the 
injection  under  varying  conditions  of  sheep's  bile.  The  cha- 
racteristic absorption  spectrum  of  cholohsematine,  a  colouring 
matter  not  present  in  the  bile  of  the  dog,  but  always  a  con- 
stituent of  sheep's  bile,  was  invariably  found  in  bile  secreted  by 
the  dog's  liver  after  injection ;   thus  an  indisputable  proof  is 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

British  Cicadae,  Part  7:  G.  B.  Buckton  (Macmillan). — Bibltoeheca 
Botanica  (Wesley). — British  Olig^ocene  and  Eocene  Mollusca  in  the  Britxdk 
Museum  (Natural  History):  R.  B.  Newton ( London). — Fossil  Botany:  H. 
Graf  zu  Solms-Laubach ;  translated  by  H.  E.  F.  Garnsey,  revised  by  I.  B. 
BaiLur  (Oxfjrd,  Clarendon  Press). — Synopsis  der  Hoeheren  Matbematik, 
Erster  Band  :  J.  G.  Hagen  (Berlin,  Dames). — Missouri  Botanical  Garden 
Second  Annual  Report  (St.  Louis,  Mo.).— Blackie's  Science  Readers,  No«. 
2,  4,  and  5  (Blackie). — Free  Land  :  Dr.  T.  Hertzka,  translated  by  A.  Ransoia 
(Chatto  and  Windus). — A  Sketch  of  ihe  Vegetation  of  British  Balacbtsoa  : 
J.  H.  Lace  and  \V.  B.  Hemsley  (London^— Bulletins  de  la  SodA< 
d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  January  and  February,  March  and  April  (Piari«, 
Masson). — Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Tasuaaiaibr 
1890  (Hobart). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Committee  on 

Electrical  Standards 417 

The  Congress  of  Hygiene 419 

The  British  Association  : — 

Section  E  (Geography) — Opening  Address  by  E.  G. 
Ravenstein,    F.R.G.S.,    F.S.S.,   President    of 

the  Section 423 

Section    H    (Anthropology) — Opening    Address    by 
Prof.  P.  Max  Miiller,  President  of  the  Section    .    42S 

Electrical  Standards 434 

Notes 435 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Stars  having  Peculiar  Spectra 43S 

Photography  of  Solar  Prominences 43S 

Encke's  Comet  {c  1891) 4^ 

A  New  Asteroid  (aa) 43S 

Jupiter  and  his  Markings.     By  W.  P.  Denning     .    .   439 

Scientific  Serials 439 

Societies  and  Academies 4^ 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 440 


NO.   1 1 40,  VOL.  44] 


NA TURE 


441 


THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  10,  1891. 


AN  EVOLUTIONARY  CAS  TIG  A  TION. 

Science  or  Romance?     By  the  Rev.  John  Gerard,  SJ. 
(London:  Catholic  Truth  Society,  1891.) 

THAT  the  doctrine  of  evolution  should  not  be  as 
sweet  savour  in  the  nostrils  of  the  writer  of  this 
little  book  is  in  no  way  surprising,  but  that  he  should 
attack  evolutionists  and  their  ways  with  the  weapons  of 
flippancy  and  ridicule  is  an  encouraging  indication  that 
the  said  doctrine  has  penetrated  into  quarters  from  which 
the  author  evidently  thinks  it  high  time  to  eject  this 
modem  heresy.      Having    seized    the  scourge.   Father 
Gerard  accordingly  proceeds  to  lay  out  all  round,  de- 
livering his  blows  with  vigour,  if  not  with  discrimination, 
and  occasionally  throwing  such  force  into  his  strokes  that 
the  lash  recoils  and  strikes  the  striker.     In  happy  un- 
consciousness that  he  hits  himself  quite  as  often  as  he 
does  his  adversaries,  the  author  goes  on  with  his  flagella- 
tion through  six  essays  occupying  136  pages  of  somewhat 
close  print    Although,  as  we  have  said,  the  attitude 
taken  by  the  author  will  cause  no  astonishment,  it  is  very 
much  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  so  far  put  himself  out  of 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  modem  biological  thought  as 
to  confuse  the  opinions,  speculations,  and  working  hypo- 
theses of  individual  exponents  of  evolution  with  the  broad 
principles  of  that  doctrine.     For,  however  distasteful  it 
may  be  to  Father  Gerard,  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that 
the  acceptance  of  that  doctrine  is  well-nigh  universal, 
and  the  question  whether  evolution  is  or  is  not  a  modus 
operandi  in  nature,  has  passed  beyond  the  phase  of  dis- 
cussion among  scientific  thinkers  and  workers.     So  far 
as  the  author's  attacks  are  directed  against  evolution  as 
a  principle,  his  weapon  is  as  a  bladder  of  air  against  the 
hide  of  a  hippopotamus.     It  is  satisfactory  to  find,  how- 
ever, that  amidst  the  whizzing  of  hisjlagellum  the  author 
discerns  the  still  small  voice  of  reason  : — 

"  The  one  fact  given  us,  is  the  existence  of  evidence  to 
show  that  various  species  of  plants  and  animals  have 
probably,  or  possibly,  been  developed  one  from  another. 
This,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  matter  for  scientific  treatment ; 
and  die  theory  of  evolution,  within  the  limits  thus  afforded, 
has  a  right  to  be  called  a  scientific  hypothesis." 

We  are  grateful  for  small  mercies,  and  it  would  be 
ungracious  to  inquire  too  closely  into  the  origin  of  this 
concession,  but  to  those  who  read  between  the  lines  it 
will  be  apparent  that  the  thirty  years'  campaign  carried 
on  by  evolutionists  has  not  been  without  result,  even  in 
the  most  unpromising  fields. 

The  antagonist  whom  evolutionists  in  general  and 
Darwinians  in  particular  have  found  in  the  author  of  the 
work  under  consideration  is  a  foeman  not  altogether  un- 
worthy of  their  steel.  He  brings  into  the  arena  a  certain 
amount  of  knowledge  of  living  things  which  indicates 
that  he  is  an  observer  of  nature  in  the  field.  Moreover, 
he  shows  some  understanding  of  his  subject,  and  does 
not  fall  into  the  error  of  substituting  blundering  miscon- 
ceptions for  the  statements  of  fact  or  theory  which  he  is 
combating.  Added  to  this  there  is  a  certain  keenness  of 
satire  running  through  his  essays  which  adds  to  their 
piquancy.     The  name  of  Father  Gerard  on  the  title-page 

NO.   114 1,  VOL.  44] 


is  a  sufficient  indication  that  evolutionists  will  find  death 
and  no  quarter  in  his  pages,  and  the  reader  will  not  be 
disappointed  if  he  turns  to  these  essays  with  the  special 
object  of  finding  the  weaknesses  of  the  modern  school 
exposed.  But  while  the  purely  destructive  attacks  of  the 
reverend  critic  may  give  satisfaction  to  those  who  belong 
to  his  school,  the  impartial  reader  will  derive  only  amuse- 
ment, and  the  man  of  science  will  soon  perceive  that  the 
weapons  of  attack  are  not  the  legitimate  implements  of 
scientific  warfare,  but  the  tricks  of  disputation  concealed 
under  a  somewhat  alluring  literary  cloak,  embellished  here 
and  there  with  a  few  Rowers  of  the  author's  own  culling. 

Having  arrived  at  this  general  estimate  of  the  work, 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  do  more  than  take  a  passing 
glance  at  its  contents.  The  first  essay,  entitled  ''A 
Tangled  Tale,"  opens  with  an  attack  on  natural  selection  ; 
the  author  will  have  none  of  it ;  he  objects  to  the  term 
and  he  denies  its  efficiency  : — 

"  It  would,  in  fact,  be  vastly  more  likely  that  we  should 
cast  aces  three  hundred  times  running,  with  a  pair  ot 
unloaded  dice,  or  toss  '  tails '  two  thousand  times  with  an 
honest  coin,  than  that  a  development  should  be  handed 
down  by  natural  selection  through  ten  generations,  even 
if  we  start  with  'so  favourable  a  supposition  as  that 
one-half  of  the  offspring  tend  to  vary  in  the  required 
direction." 

This  conclusion  is  based  on  a  calculation  in  which  the 
whole  principle  of  selection  is  ignored ! 

The  central  idea  of  this  essay  is,  that  evolutionists 
have  reduced  the  operations  of  Nature  to  '*  chance," 
*' accident,"  and  so  forth.  We  are  told,  at  the  very 
outset : — 

"  The  cardinal  point  of  the  doctrine  they  proclaim  is, 
that  no  purpose  operates  in  Nature,  and  that  the  ex- 
planation of  everything  we  see  is  to  be  found  in  the 
mechanical  forces  of  matter." 

In  order  that  there  may  be  no  misunderstanding  as  to 
what  the  author  means  by  chance,  he  defines  it  as  "  the 
coincidence  of  independent  phenomena — that  is,  of  phe- 
nomena not  co-ordinated  to  an  end."  By  what  criterion* 
may  we  ask,  are  "  chance  "  phenomena,  as  thus  defined, 
to  be  distinguished  from  *'  pre-determined  "  phenomena  ? 
Prof.  Huxley's  example,  quoted  from  Darwin's  "  Life  and 
Letters,"  is  critically  dealt  with,  and  the  author  tells  us 
that  this  is  "  utterly  wide  of  the  mark.  The  phenomena 
here  described  [a  storm  at  sea]  end  with  themselves,  they 
lead  to  nothing  else  ;  nothing  follows  from  them.  They 
are  mere  effects,  and  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  a  means  to 
obtain  a  result  beyond."  The  insight  which  the  author 
appears  to  have  gained  into  the  motive,  or  want  of  motive, 
in  nature  is  really  most  enviable  ;  the  man  of  science 
who  must  perforce  arrive  at  his  conclusions  by  the  cir- 
cuitous roads  of  observation  and  experiment  can  only 
look  with  admiring  wonder  upon  a  method  which  is  so 
completely  foreign  to  his  philosophy. 

This  same  dummy,  chance,  is  well  belaboured  through- 
out ;  among  the  slain,  after  this  first  tilt,  we  find  not  only 
Prof.  Huxley,  but  Andrew  Wilson,  Oscar  Schmidt,  and, 
above  all,  Mr.  Grant  Allen,  whose  form  is  so  terribly 
hacked  that  he  appears  to  have  been  in  the  very  centre 
of  the  fray,  if  not  the  chief  object  of  attack. 

Tilt  the  second  is  headed  ''  Missing  Links,"  and  the 
onslaught  begins  upon   Mr.  Wallace,  whose  work   on 

U 


442 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


'^  Darwinism "  appears  to  have  been  published  in  the 
interval  between  the  first  and  second  essays.  And  here 
— perhaps  not  altogether  disconnected  with  the  appear- 
ance of  Mr.  Wallace's  book— we  find  that  the  author  has 
executed  a  series  of  mental  evolutions  with  such  skill 
that  we  have  to  rub  our  eyes  in  order  to  make  sure  that 
we  have  not  deceived  ourselves  as  to  the  position  which 
he  has  actually  taken.  For  natural  selection,  which,  in 
the  first  essay,  was  considered  to  be  so  feeble  as  to  be 
incapable  of  carrying  on  development  through  ten  gene- 
rations, even  with  the  most  favourable  assumptions  to 
start  with,  is  now  considered  to  be  ''  as  yet  but  hypothesis, 
and  hypothesis  which  needs  confirmation  from  fuller  in- 
quiry into  the  facts  of  the  case,  just  as  much  as  the  other 
hypothesis  of  the  continuity  of  forms  between  one  species 
and  another."  At  any  rate,  we  seem  to  be  justified  in 
concluding  from  this  that,  as  a  scientific  hypothesis, 
natural  selection  ranks  with  evolution,  which,  we  were 
told  in  the  first  essay,  had  a  right  to  be  so  called.  The 
change  of  front  has  been  very  skilfully  made,  but  that 
there^has  been  a  change  is  evident  from  the  foregoing 
extracts. 

The  way  in  which  evidence,  which  has  been  hitherto 
considered  as  fairly  good  from  the  evolutionist's  point  of 
view,  can  be  manipulated  so  as  to  bear  the  quite  opposite 
interpretation,  is  a  study  in  intellectual  jugglery  which 
might  be  worthy  of  serious  attention  by  certain  classes  of 
politicians.  The  second  essay  furnishes  several  examples 
of  such  feats.  More  especially  may  attention  be  csdled 
to  the  remarkable  way  in  which  the  palaeontological  evi- 
dence is  thus  disposed  of,  and  still  more  remarkable  is 
the  author's  Podsnappian  dismissal  of  the  embryological 
evidence.  Wallace's  later  treatment  of  natural  variation 
is  accepted: — 

''The  variations  of  form  and  structure  which  occur 
among  wild  animals — and  the  same  is  to  be  said  for 
plants — are  not  occasional  and  minute,  but  incessant  and 
important.  There  is  clearly  an  end  of  the  objection 
.  .  .  based  on  the  supposed  infinitesimal  character  of 
variations." 

But  if  the  reader  fondly  imagines  that  this  admission 
brings  the  author  any  nearer  to  Darwinism  he  will  be 
grievously  mistaken.  For  in  this  larger  and  more  widely 
divergent  variability  Father  Gerard  sees  a  "  centrifugal 
tendency  "  by  which  "  every  varying  climate  and  soil  and 
circumstance  on  the  face  of  the  globe  should  make  its 
own  species ;  or  rather  there  should  be  no  species  at  all, 
but  a  fieeting  and  evanescent  succession  of  individual 
forms,  like  the  shapes  of  clouds  in  a  windy  sky."  Of 
course,  evidence  has  to  be  adduced  in  disproof  of  this 
astonishing  result,  to  which  the  later  study  of  variability 
has  led  us,  or  rather  should  have  led  us.  But  there  is  no 
difficulty  at  all  about  this :  the  house  sparrow  and  the 
water-crowfoot,  we  are  told,  are  widely  distributed  over 
the  face  of  the  globe,  and  yet  retain  their  specific  forms 
and  characters.  True  ;  but  the  instances  of  cosmopolitan 
species  retaining  their  distinctness  are  few  and  exceptional ; 
we  are  not  told  anything  about  local  forms  and  races,  or 
about  "  representative  species  "  ;  we  hear  nothing  about 
widely  distributed  species  which  merge  imperceptibly 
into  each  other  to  the  utter  confusion  of  those  who  make 
species  their  particular  study.  Can  it  be  that  these  facts 
are  inconvenient  and  "  not  to  be  endured "  "i  or  has  the 

NO.   1 141,  VOL.  44] 


author  discovered  some  absolute  criterion  of  species  ?  If 
the  latter  \%  the  case,  he  can  hardly  be  congratulated  on 
his  definition : — 

"  It  would  seem  to  be  simpler  and  plainer  to  say  that  a 
species  is  a  permanent  group  [italics  mine]  of  plants  or 
animals  framed  in  all  particulars  after  a  single  type." 

Enough  has  been  said  about  thi^  work  to  indicate  its 
general  tendency  :  its  tone,  on  the  whole,  is  antagonistic 
to  evolution,  but  with  respect  to  the  special  Darwinian 
form  of  this  theory  antagonism  but  feebly  expresses  the 
author's  attitude.  In  each  essay,  the  attack  generally 
centres  upon  one  or  two  representative  writers ;  e.g.  the 
third  essay  (**  The  Game  of  Speculation  ")  dealing  iivith 
Mr.  Wallace,  the  fourth  ("  The  Empire  of  Man ")  with 
Prof.  Huxley,  the  fifth  ("The  New  Genesis")  with 
Messrs.  Grant  Allen  and  Edward  Clodd,  and  the  sixth 
(**  The  Voices  of  Babel ")  with  a  number  of  miscellaneous 
authorities,  such  as  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  Mr.  Frederic 
Harrison,  the  late  Prof.  W.  K.  Clifford,  and  Sir  James 
Stephen,  of  whom  the  author  makes  horrid  examples  by 
the  very  simple  expedient  of  pitting  their  opinions  against 
each  other.  From  this  general  view,  it  will  be  seen  that^ 
so  far  as  science  is  concerned,  the  effect  of  Fatho* 
Gerard's  last  production  will  be  practically  nzL  Among 
certain  classes  of  general  readers  it  may  be  mischievous, 
but  we  do  not  imagine  that  the  mischief  will  spread  very 
far.  As  the  criticisms  are  for  the  most  part  destructive 
it  is  impossible  to  attempt  to  deal  with  them  in  detail 
in  these  columns.  Where  it  is  possible  to  glean  a  vestige 
of  a  constructive  idea,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  main 
point  towards  which  the  author  appears  to  be  driving  is 
that  the  doctrine  of  evolution — especially  in  its  Darwinian 
form — is  destructive  of  the  notion  of  preconceived  and 
determinate  "  plan,"  e.g. : — 

"  Intrinsic  forces  working  definitely  towards  one  play 
not  indeterminate  forces  swept  hither  and  thither  by 
external  agencies  like  a  cloud  of  dust,  are  suggested  b^* 
the  phenomena  of  nature." 

We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  this  style  of  criti- 
cism from  all  kinds  of  anti-evolutionary  writers  that  it  is 
almost  superfluous  to  attempt  to  deal  with  it  again.     But 
it  may  really  be  asked  whether  those  who  are  so  con- 
stantly dinning  this  idea  of  a  '^  plan  "  in  nature  will  now 
condescend  to  give  us  some  idea  what  that  plan  is.     If 
"  intrinsic  forces  are  working    definitely  towards    one 
plan,"  surely  the  author  to  whom  has  been  permitted  this 
glimpse  into  the  inner  sanctuary  might    enhghten  the 
outer  darkness  a  little  by  telling  us  something  about  the 
general  scheme,  or,  at  any  rate,  by  giving  us  a  notion  as  to 
the  method  by  which  he  has  arrived  at  such  an  important 
conclusion.     On  the  other  hand,  if  the  author  is  satisfied 
that  there  is  such  a  pre-arranged  plan— whether  he  re- 
veals that  plan  to  the  uninitiated  or  not— I,  for  one,  fafl 
to  see  how  evolution.  Darwinian  or  otherwise,  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  matter.     If  Father  Gerard  has 
managed  to  extract  from  the  writings  of  popular  authors, 
this  notion  of  antagonism  between  ideas  which  are  not 
necessarily  antagonistic,  with  these  authors  must  rest  Ae 
responsibility.      It  cannot  be  said  that   the   castigatioc 
which  he  has  inflicted  is  altogether  unmerited  ;  there  has 
been  a  great  deal  of  crude  and  hasty  speculation  perpe- 
trated in  the  name  of  evolution,  and  the  blows  aimed  do 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


443 


occasionally  tell  in  the  right  direction.  Had  Father 
Gerard  not  sacrificed  his  position  by  aiming  so  much 
at  smart  writing — ^had  he  favoured  us  with  more  solid 
thought  instead  of  endeavouring  "to  split  the  ears  of 
the  groundlings  " — his  lucubrations  would  have  received 
more  respectful  attention.  But  satire  and  cynicism, 
interspersed  with  ridicule,  are  not  the  best  methods  for 
securing  consideration  from  men  of  science,  and  it  is  sur- 
prising that  the  author  should  have  resorted  so  largely  to 
their  use.  R.  Meldola. 


THE  LAWS  OF  FORCE  AND  MOTION. 

The  Laws  of  Force  and  Motion,  By  John  Harris 
(Kuklos).  (London :  Wertheimcr,  Lea,  and  Co., 
1890.) 

IN  his  preface  the  author,  very  rightly,  sounds  a  warning 
note  against  the  arrogance  of  Conventional  Science, 
in  its  tendency  to  become  ultra-conservative,  intolerant^ 
and  extremely  dogmatic. 

But  Real  Science  will  always  welcome  and  encourage 
attack  and  contradiction,  feeling  sure  that  Truth  will 
ultimately  prevail  in  the  consensus  of  the  majority  who 
have  devoted  themselves  dispassionately  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  facts  in  dispute.  "  Transibunt  multi  et 
augebit  Scientia." 

We  presume  the  author  would  not  ask  to  be  judged 
with  more  leniency  than  he  has  displayed  for  the  oppo- 
nents he  has  singled  out ;  so  we  may  say  at  once  that, 
after  careful  winnowing,  we  have  not  secured  those  grains 
of  fact  and  truth  which  we  were  led  to  expect. 

The  experimental  apparatus  described  seems  carefully 
constructed  and  suitable  for  exact  measurements;  but 
does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  employed  by  Smeaton 
more  than  loo  years  ago.  However,  the  author  assumes 
the  true  scientific  sceptical  spirit,  in  refusing  to  accept  im- 
plicitly the  statement  of  theoretical  laws  without  putting 
them  to  the  test  of  practical  experimental  verification. 

Mathematicians  will  understand  the  nature  of  the 
author's  attacks  on  Conventional  Science  from  the  speci- 
men on  p.  31 : — 

'*  It  would  seem  that,  some  time  ago,  a  highly  influen- 
tial party  of  natural  philosophers  (Leibnitz,  the  two  Ber- 
noullis,  &c.)  entertained  and  supported  the  idea  that  the 
momentum  of  a  moving  body  varies  as  the  square  of  the 
velocity.  This  idea  or  conclusion  was  probably  based  on 
an  inference,  that,  since  a  double  velocity  of  the  resistance 
required  four  times  the  force  to  produce  it,  four  times  the 
momentum  must  have  been  imparted  to  the  resistance.'' 

After  this  wavering  as  to  the  meaning  of  momentum, 
wc  are  quite  prepared  to  find  (p.  60)  that  the  author  is  of 
the  school  who  declare  that  the  moon  does  not  rotate. 

The  author  cannot  decide  between  i6'i  or  32*2  for  the 
value  of  g  (p.  24)  ;  and  cannot  settle  in  consequence 
whether  the  normal  acceleration  in  a  circle  is  the  squared 
velocity  divided  by  the  radius  or  by  the  diameter  (p.  19). 

"  Tangential  force  *'  is,  in  the  author's  opinion,  a  more 
correct  scientific  term  to  use  than  "centrifugal  force,** 
although  he  allows  that  the  latter  is  hallowed  by  long 
usage ;  but  in  his  treatment  he  enunciates  a  theorem  on 
p.  2iy  "  The  actual  lineal  ratio  of  the  sine  to  the  arc,  when 
the  arc  is  an  octant,  is  9  to  10,"  quoted  from  his  own 
***  Treatise  on  the  Circle  and  Straight  Line";  this  makes 

NO.   II 4. 1 ,  VOL.  44I 


TT  =  2  >^2  -r-  o'9,  a  result  worth  recording  by  collectors  of 
mathematical  curiosities. 

We  hoped  to  find  something  combative  in  the  articles 
on  the  Tidal  Effect  of  Lunar  Gravitation  (p.  57),  and  on 
the  Moon's  Gravitative  Influence  at  the  Equatorial 
Surface  of  the  Earth  measured  by  Pendulum  Oscillations 
(p.  76),  considering  that  even  the  great  Abel  went  astray 
in  his  theory  at  this  point ;  but  our  author  confines  him- 
self to  vague  generalities. 

He  would  perform  a  valuable  service  to  Science  if  he 
employed  his  experimental  skill  in  observing  the  effect  of 
Lunar  Gravity  on  the  Seconds  Pendulum,  as  Conventional 
Science  asserts  that  this  effect  does  not  amount  to  more 
than  a  rate  of  one  200th  of  a  second  in  the  day,  although 
so  noticeable  in  the  Tides. 

"  Some  Propositions  in  Geometry,"  by  the  same  author, 
is  advertised  at  the  end  of  the  book,  whereof  the  Tri- 
section  of  the  Angle,  the  Duplication  of  the  Cube,  and 
the  Quadrature  and  Rectification  of  the  Circle,  occupy 
the  chief  part ;  but  we  wonder  whether  the  author  has 
quite  settled  in  his  Geometry  that  the  versed  sine  (or 
vertical  height)  is  proportional  to  the  chord,  in  a  circle 
(p.  71).  This  might  have  been  a  misprint,  but  that  the 
author  adds  immediately  a  numerical  illustration,  by 
saying  that,  if  the  chord  is  duplicated,  the  versed  sine  is 
also  duplicated. 

And  this  homely  mode  of  verifying  a  law  of  com- 
parison, by  halving  or  doubling  some  quantity,  and  then 
observing  the  consequent  change  in  the  phenomena,  is 
the  single  idea  we  consider  worth  lifting  from  the  book, 
for  general  purposes  of  convincing  argument  and  illustra- 
tion of  a  mathematical  law.  A.  G.  G. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

« 

An  Introduction  to  the  Mathematical  Theory  of  Electric 
city  and  Magnetism.  By  W.  T.  A.  Emtage,  M.A. 
(Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1891.} 

The  want  of  a  text-book  especially  designed  for  the 
use  of  candidates  for  examinations  in  which  a  know- 
ledge of  the  more  elementary  portions  of  the  mathema- 
tical theory  of  electricity  and  magnetism  is  demanded 
has  been  felt  for  some  time.  Though  the  absence  of 
such  a  book  has  caused  some  inconvenience,  we  are 
not  at  all  sure  that  it  has  been  detrimentsd  to  the 
study  of  electricity,  for  hitherto  the  candidate  for  a 
mathematical  examination  in  electricity  has  been  com- 
pelled to  learn  the  subject  from  books  such  as  those 
of  Maxwell,  or  of  Mascart  and  Joubert,  in  which  elec- 
tricity is  treated  as  what  it  really  is  outside  the  ex- 
amination-room— a  subject  in  which  mathematics  and 
experiment  are  closely  mixed  and  mutually  helpful :  it  is 
to  this  that,  we  think,  is  to  be  ascribed  a  good  deal  of 
that  interest  which  electricity,  above  all  other  subjects^ 
seems  to  excite  in  its  students.  When,  however,  the 
analytical  parts  of  the  subject  are  divorced  from  the 
experimental,  we  do  not  believe  they  will  be  found  to 
excite  any  special  enthusiasm,  or  that  the  result  will  be 
much  more  interesting  than  an  ordinary  text-book  for  the 
Mathematical  Tripos  on,  say,  hydrostatics. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  there  is  a  demand  for 
a  text-book  suitable  for  examination  purposes,  and  this 
demand  will,  we  think,  be  well  met  by  the  book  before 
us.  The  scope  of  the  work  may  be  described  by  saying 
that  it  includes  nearly  all  the  analytical  parts  of  Ma^^well's 
larger  treatise  which  do  not  involve  analysis  higher  than 
the  simpler  parts  of  the  differential  and  integral  calculus; 


444 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


it  thus  covers  the  portions  of  electricity  and  magnetism 
which,  under,  the  new  regulations,  are  selected  for  ex- 
amination in  Part  I.  of  the  Mathematical  Tripos,  and  we 
have  no  doubt  it  will  be  found  useful  for  that  examina- 
tion.   The  book  is  very  well  arranged,  and  the  explana- 
tions  are  generally  clear  and  concise.  Among  some  minor 
points  which,  we  think,  might  with  advantage  be  altered 
m  subsequent  editions  are  the  following.     When  discuss- 
ing the  rapidly  alternating  currents   produced    by  dis- 
charging a  Leyden  jar,  the  amhor  says:  "We  do  not 
know,  for  instance,  whether  we  are  right  in  supposing  the 
.currents  to  be  the  same  throughout  the  conducting  wire." 
This  seems  an  unnecessary  affectation  of  ignorance,  for 
we  do  know  that  such  a  supposition  is  certainly  wrong. 
The  method  of  determining  "  z/ "  by  repeatedly  charging 
and  discharging  a  condenser  placed  on  one  arm  of  a 
Wheatstone's  bridge  is  not  given,  though  several  other 
.  less  accurate  methods  are  described.    This  is  the  more 
.  singular  as  the  method  itself  is  given  in  another  part  of 
the  book  as  one  for  determining  the  capacity  of  a  con- 
denser, but  no  hint  is  given  of  its  most  important  ap- 
plication.   The  method  of  measuring  the  self-induction 
of  a  coil,  which  is  ascribed  to  Lord  Rayleigh,  is  really 
due  to  Maxwell,  and,  though  not  in  the  treatise  on  "  Elec- 
tricity and  Magnetism,"  is  given  in  the   paper  on  the 
"  Dynamical  Theory  of  the  Electro-magnetic  Field." 

Le  Sommeil  et  le  Systlme  Nerveux :  Physiologie  de  la 
Veiile  et  du  Sommeil.  Par  S.  Sergu^ycff.  (Paris: 
Felix  Alcan,  1890.) 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  a  writer  upon  the  higher 
branches  or  outlying  districts  of  neurology  should  assume 
that  his  readers  are  totally  ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of 
that  science,  and  should  occupy  nine- tenths  of  his  book 
with  a  description  of  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the 
nervous  system.  If,  indeed,  for  the  purpose  of  throwing 
new  light  upon  his  subject,  he  presented  his  facts  in  a  new 
form,  or  taught  them  from  a  novel  point  of  view,  or 
arranged  them  so  as  to  bring  out  some  new  principle,  then 
there  might  be  an  excuse  for  restating  the  facts  ;  but  even 
then  a  brief  summary  would  be  enough  for  the  pur- 
pose, there  would  be  no  need  for  the  rediscussion .  of - 
settled  theories  and  the  requotation  of  trite  authorities. 
Scarcely  ever  do  we  find  a  writer  on  neurology  who  is 
content  to  assume  that  his  readers  are  acquainted  with  the 
alphabet  of  his  subject,  or  who  will  refrain  from  inflicting 
upon  them  the  wearisome  account  of  cells  and  fibres,  of 
corona  and  cortex,  illustrated  by  the  familiar  engravings 
that  have  done  duty  in  so  many  previous  books.  The 
vicious  habit  is  common  enough  and  bad  enough,  but  very' 
rarely  is  it  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  in  the  book  before 
us,  in  which  only  about  three  hundred  out  of  the  seventeen 
hundred  pages  of  which  it  is  composed  are  devoted  to  the 
subject  of  which  it  is  said  to  treat ;  the  great  bulk  of  the 
book  being  occupied  by  anatomical  and  physiological 
descriptions  which  are  not  in  this  case  even  relieved  by 
illustration.  So  far  is  this  system  of  padding  carried,  that 
the  author  has  even  inserted,  in  his  book  on  waking  and 
sleeping,  descriptions  of  the  minute  structure  of  the  retina, 
of  the  internal  ear  and  the  organ  of  Corti.  When  we  have 
at  last  waded  through  his  pages  of  preliminary  matter, 
we  do  not  find  that  he  presents  any  fresh  theory  of  sleep 
that  is  worth  considering,  or  that  he  has  any  new  facts 
to  bring  under  our  notice.  It  is  a  shame  that  a  student 
should  be  trapped  by  an  enticing  title  into  spending  his. 
time  in  reading  such  stuff. 

Elementary    Science    Lessons.      By    W.    Hewitt,    B.Sc. 
(London:    Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.,  iSqt.) 

The  thirty-six  object-lessons  contained  in  the  present 
volume  form  the  third  part  of  a  scheme  of  lessons  drawn 
up  by  the  author  at  the  request  of  the  Liverpool  School 
Board.  They  are  designed  for  children  of  Standard  III., 
and  are  in  continuation  of  others  given  in  previously  pub- 

NO.   II 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


lished  volumes  suitable  for  Standards  I.  and  II.  The 
author's  long  experience  in  teaching  science  to  children 
in  elementary  schools  gives  him  Sie  ability  which  is 
necessary  properly  to  draw  up  such  a  course  as  the  ooe 
before  us.  For  the  most  part  the  facts  and  principles 
dealt  with  relate  to  the  classification  of  bodies  into  solids^ 
liquids,  and  gases,  and  with'  the  changes  from  one  of 
these  states  to  another.  The  experiments  described  may 
be  performed  with  the  simplest  of  apparatus,,  and  the  in- 
ferences  to  be  drawn  from  them  must  be  manifest  to  al> 
children  for  whom  the  work  is  intended.  Whenever  pos- 
sible, the  principles  considered  in  the  lessons  are  applied 
to  explain  physiographical  phenomena,  thus  aiding  the 
development  of  that  intelligent  observation  which  is  the 
soul  of  science.  The  arrangement  of  the  matter  is 
generally  good,  and  elementary  school  teachers  wiO 
find  in  the  work  exactly  what  they  require  for  tiieir 
pupils. 

Solutions  of  the  Examples  in  Charles  Smith's  ^''Ele- 
mentary Algebra.^'  By  A.  G.  Cracknel  1.  (LondoD  : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

Mr.  Smith's  small  *'  Algebra  "  has  deservedly  obtained 
high  favour  in  our  schools  for  its  lucidity.  The 
work  before  us  aims  at  presenting  the  solutions,  not 
always  necessarily  in  the  shortest  way,  but  rightly  so  as 
to  *'  follow  naturally  from  the  formulae  and  theorems  with 
which  the  student  is  acquainted  at  that  stage."  It  has 
Mr.  Smith's  imprimatur^  for  he  has  revised  the  sheets  ; 
and  from  our  own  examination  of  it  we  can  commend  it 
to  teachers  and  students. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  dees  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opini/ms  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  ef^  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  fir  this  or  any  other  part  43^  Nature. 
No  notice  is  tahen  of  anonymous  communications,} 

The  Anatom^y  of  Heloderma. 

The  number  of  Nature  for  July  30,  which  I  have  only  just 
seen,  contains  (p.  295)  a  criticism  of  a  statement  of  mioe,  to- 
which  I  have  to  answer.  It  is  stated  in  my  paper  on  the 
osteology  of  Heloderma  that  there  are  eight  or  nine  pre- 
maxillary  teeth  in  N.  horridum,  and  only  six  in  ZT.  stespectnm^ 
because  such  is  the  number  in  the  specimens  examined  by  me. 
As  Dr.  Shufeldt  has,  on  re-examination,  found  eight  teeth  in  a 
specimen  of  the  latter  species,  I  admit  that  the  distioctxon,  as 
a  specific  character,  does  not  hc^d  good.  It  is  just  because  tny 
figures  are  not  diagrammatic  that  they  represent  fewer  Xteah 
than  are  mentioned  in  the  text ;  to  anyone  familiar  with  th« 
dentition  of  lizards  and  snakes,  it  is  clear  enough  that  some  of  the 
teeth  have  been  lost,  and  they  were  therefore  not  represented 
in  the  figures,  which  are  faithful  representations  (in  oatline)  cf 
the  objects  from  which  they  are  drawn.  I  am  much  surprised 
at  Dr.  Shufeldt's  statement,  that  he  ''cannot  conceive  of  any 
lizard  normally  having  but  nine  teeth  in  its  premaxillary  \xme  ; 
it  should  at  least  be  an  even  number."  I  could  refer  him  to  n:» 
end  of  examples  of  premaxillary  teeth  normally  in  odd  aucber 
among  lizards  with  single  premaxillary  ;  perhaps  the  best  knows 
is  afforded  by  the  family  Amdhishtznida.  I  must  again  UHieg 
Dr.  Shufeldt  on  a  matter  ot  fact :  my  figure  of  JI.  hi^rridnm 
shows  sevat  teeth,  not  six^  as  ho  states  in  his  letter  ;  and  that  or 
H,  suspectum  five^  noX  four,  G.  A.  Boulekgek.. 

British  Museum  (Nat.  Hist.),  August  28. 


A  Straight  Hand. 

Although  my  writing  master,  who  was  ao  Engii 
taught  me  slanting  letters  which  old  habit  still  clings  to,  1 
approve  highly  what  you  say  against  it  (Nature,  Km^bsl  d 
p.  325).  Allow  me  to  add  some  remarks  on  another  si^  or 
that  question.  For  many  years  past  I  have  had  in  soccessiai 
several  amanuenses,  and  my  first  care  has  always  been  to  -Kspst 
a  straight  hand  without  any  distinction  between  up  and  (k4FZ 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


4.45 


Strokes.  These  precepts  and  a  fewmioor  ones  have  been  easily 
followed  in  dl  cases.  I  inclose  a  few  lines  copied  from  your 
interesting  journal  by  a  youth  who  does  not  understand  English  : 
he  would  nave  done  this  work  with  more  care  had  he  known 
that  I  wanted  merely  a  sample.  At  all  events  it  is  most  easy 
to  read. 

Straight  letters  without  hair  lines  give  the  reader  a  comfortable 
facility  which  is  a  far  greater  compliment  to  a  correspondent  than 
the  "  dear  Sir  "  imported  from  England  to  France  during  the 
last  fifty  years.  We  suppose  that  slant  writing  has  been 
invented  on  your  side  of  the  Channel,  and  we  call  it  therefore 
kriture  anglaise.  However,  experience  seems  to  show  that  it  is 
more  easily  deformed  than  a  straight  one,  and  that  it  degenerates 
often  into  an  illegible  scrawl,  causing  much  loss  of  time,  or  even, 
what  is  worse,  a  tiresome  amount  of  perplexity  and  worry.  We 
are  told  that  the  schoolmaster  is  abroad,  but  I  am  afraid  that 
he  leads  our  children  on  a  false  trail  far  away  from  the  main 
aim  of  writing,  which  is  legibility.  Is  the  invention  of  type- 
writers the  antidote  or  the  outcome  of  illegible  slants  ?  Some 
of  your  philosophers  may  answer  this  question  while  giving  a 
wholesome  lesson  to  the  schoolmaster. 

A.  d'Abbadie  (de  Tlnstltut). 

Abba'dia,  Hendaye,  France,  August  1 6. 


Cordylophora  lacustris. 

In  Nature  for  June  4  (p.  106)  Mr.  John  Bidgood  recorded 
the  presence  of  this  Hydrozoon  in  vast  numbers  on  submerged 
roots  and  stems  in  the  Ant,  Bure,  and  Thnrne.  Till  then  its 
only  known  Norfolk  locality  was  that  given  in  Allman — "  an 
agricultural  drain  near  Lynn  Regis.  *'  This  summer  innumerable 
colonies  were  to  be  seen  on  weed  floating  on  the  surface  on  both 
sides  of  the  Thume  from  Ludham  Bridge  right  up  to  Hickling 
Broad.  A  boatman  told  me  he  had  seen  "  them  insecs"  every 
summer  for  many  years  past.  Mr.  Edward  Corder,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Norwich  Natural  History  Society,  took  some  early  in 
June,  and  some,  which  he  was  good  enough  to  send  me,  is  still 
living  in  a  4-ounce  bottle.  All  the  authorities  state  that  Cor- 
dylophora is  a  "light-shunning  animal,"  and  the  localities  hitherto 
recorded  certainly  warranted  such  a  conclusion.  *But  the 
colonies  taken  from  the  surface  of  the  water  by  Mr.  Corder,  and 
those  I  took  some  time  later,  were  stronger  and  cleaner  than 
those  obtained  from  below  the  surface.  I  distributed  some 
of  the  gathering  which  I  brought  back  to  London,  and  learn 
that  it  is  all  doing  well  in  ordinary  aquaria.  Some  that  I  sent 
to  Mr.  Bolton  for  distribution  unfortunately  died  in  transit.  One 
large  colony,  some  eight  inches  long,  on  the  stem  of  a  Potamo* 
geton,  was  kept  in  the  shade  for  a  fortnight ;  the  tubes  became 
flaccid,  and  the  hydranths  pendent,  but  they  revived  within 
twenty-four  hours  when  exposed  on  the  ledge  of  a  window  with 
a.  western  aspect.  This  seems  to  point  to  a  change  of  habit. 
All  the  colonies  were  doubtless  founded  below  the  surface  of 
the  water,  and  the  weeds,  when  cut  to  clear  the  fairway  for 
wherries,  were  floated  up  towards  Hickling  Broad  by  the  tide. 
But  if  reproduction  takes  place — as  it  certainly  does — under 
these  conditions,  is  it  not  probable  that  we  shall  have  a  race 
tolerant  of  direct  light,  if  not  as  sensitive  thereto  as  Hydra 
'vulgaris!  Henry  Scherren. 

5  Osborne  Road,  Stroud  Green,  N.,  September  3. 


Absolute  and  Gravitation  Systems. 

The  present  condition  of  things  is  such  that  students  of  engi« 
neering  need  familiarity  with,  and  ability  to  use,  both  systems  o 
measuring  force  and  related  quantities.  It  seems  necessary, 
therefore,  that  the  transition  from  one  system  to  the  other 
should  be  kept  clear  of  complications,  and  be  presented  as  the 
simple  matter  which  it  really  is.  But  in  two  text-books  which 
have  come  to  my  notice,  each  offering  points  of  excellence,  and 
both  evidently  written  by  competent  hands,  a  change  in  the 
-unit  of  mass  occurs  in  passing  from  the  absolute  to  the  gravita- 
tion system.  The  unit-mass  is  defined  as  the  mass  in  which 
■unit-acceleration  is  produced  by  unit  force,  which,  of  course, 
^ives  about  32  pounds  as  the  mass-unit  for  the  British  gravita- 
-tion  system. 

There  is,  in  my  opinion,  much  that  is  undesirable  about  this 
«aetfaod  of  statement ;  the  new  mass-unit  appears  quite  arti- 
■iicially  in  this  one  only  of  the  many  uses  of  the  conception  of 
«nass;  for  the  purpose,  I  suppose,  of  making  it  po>sible  to  put  in 

NO.    I  141,  VOL.  44] 


generally  applicable  form  such  statements  as :  "  Force  is  mea- 
sured by  change  per  second  in  momentum."  Mv  particular 
objection  to  it,  however  is  that  it  locates  the  point  .of  divergence 
among  the  fundamental  units  instead  of  among  those  derived 
from  them.  Does  it  not  seem  preferable  to  begin  with  units  of 
mass,  length,  and  time  ;  to  construct  derived  units,  and  to  make 
common  use  of  these  as  far  as  possible,  postponing  the  differ- 
entiation of  the  two  systems  till  the  moment  when  it  actually 
occurs  ?  Surely  it  has  been  pointed  out  often,  since  the  days  of 
early  exposition  of  these  matters  by  Maxwell,  Tait,  and  others, 
that  the  force-unit  is  the  first  cardinal  point  of  difference,  and 
that  the  absolute  system  simplifies  here,  while  the. gravitation 
system  adopts  another  convention,  which  may  be  called  arbitrary 
as  opposed  to  the  simpler  one  fixed  upon  by  its  rival. 

In  the  hope  of  hastening  the  day  of  agreement  in  presenting 
the  connection  of  ideas  which  underlie  so  much  of  modem 
physics  and  its  applications,  I  have  thought  it  permissible  to 
state  in  summary,  and  for  British  units,  the  scheme  used  in  my 
own  teaching  of  mechanics.  The  claim  is  not  advanced  that 
the  numericad  work  becomes  different;  indeed,  the  appended 
table  is  equally  valid  whichever  basis  be  chosen  ;  but  there  does 
seem  to  be  a  gain  in  logical  clearness,  as  well  as  in  what  we 
may  call  historical  accuracy. 

Absolute  System, — Fundamental  units  :  foot,  pound,  second. 
Units  of  force,  work,  impulse  derived  in  the  usual  way,  so  as  to 
make  proportional  factors  unity. 

Gravitation  System, — Fundamental  units  as  before.  Unit  of 
force,  the  weight  of  one  pound  under  circumstances  specified  to 
the  required  degree  for  scientific  definiteness  (locality,  vacuum). 
Units  of  work  and  impulse  connected  with  the  force-unit,  so  as 
to  make  proportional  factors  unity. 

The  table  shows  the  matter  at  a  glance,  g^  is  the  value  of  ^ 
for  the  standard  circumstances,  and  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  divisor 
in  each  case  affecting  the  product  of  the  other  factors.  The 
other  symbols  explain  themselves. 

Absolute, 
V^mp, 
(work)  (Vds  =  (change  in)  ^, 

(impulse)  /  Vdt  =  (change  in) 
Gravitation. 


mv. 


r  —       -, 


mv* 


(work)  j'Pds  =  (change  in) 

(impulse)  /  Pdt  =  (change  in)  — . 
J  g\ 

The  choice  of  force-unit  here  affects  what  is  logioiUy  subse- 
quent to  it,  as  it  must ;  but  leaves  unaffected  what  is  logically 
antecedent,  as  it  ought. 

So  small  a  change  as  that  of  regarding  ^x  ^  ^  divisor  of  m 
alone  changes  the  basis  of  presentation  ;  but  there  is  an  important 
difference  of  thought  involved.  Frederick  Slate. 

University  of  California. 

Eucalyptus  as  a  Disinfectant. 

In  a  patagraph  on  the  use  of  Eucalyptus  branches  for  disin- 
fection, as  recommended  by  Baron  von  Mueller,  you  have  un- 
intentionally stated  that  to  be  the  manner  in  which  I  have  used 
Eucalyptus. 

For  the  last  two  years  I  have  used  "  Tucker's  Eucalyptus  Dis- 
infectant "  (a  solution  of  antiseptics  in  the  essential  oil)  in  all 
cases  of  scarlet  fever  and  diphtheria,  and  have  not  had  one  case 
of  infection.  In  the  former  disease  I  have  not  used  any  isola- 
tion, and  in  most  cases  have  not  excluded  the  other  children  of 
the  family  from  the  sick-room.  None  of  the  cases,  except  two  or 
three  that  were  severe,  were  kept  to  their  bed-room  more  than 
ten  days  ;  the  isolation  of  six  or  eight  weeks  being  unnecessary, 
as  the  cuticle  is  perfectly  disinfected.  This  is  accomplished  by 
robbing  the  disinfectant  over  the  whole  body  twice  and  then 
once  a  day  for  ten  days. 

Baron  von  Mueller,  in  a  letter  I  received  from  him,  quite 
I  approves  of  my  method  of  disinfecting  by  inunction.     I  read  a 


446 


NA  rURE 


[September  io,  1891 


paper  before  the  Epidemiological  Society  last  year  on  the  subject. 
It  is  published  in  the  Society's  Transactions,  and  in  a  separate 
form  by  Mr.  Lewis,  of  Gower  Street.  I  also  read  a  paper 
before  the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  on  antiseptic 
inunction.  In  this  I  have  related  the  experience  of  other 
medical  men  in  conBrmation  of  my  own.  One,  whose  child 
had  scarlet  fever,  placed  his  two  other  children  in  the  same 
room,  and  kept  them  there  for  eight  days,  and  they  did  not  take 
the  disease.  This  will  be  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Congress,  and  any  one  interested  in  the  disinfection  of  infectious 
diseases,  may  obtain  all  the  information  they  require  from  those 
two  papers.  J.  Brendon  Curgenv£N. 

Teddington  Hall,  S.W.,  August  17. 


Alum  Solution. 

Onb  frequently  reads,  in  accounts  of  experiments  on  the 
physical  or  chemical  action  of  luminous  rays,  that  a  solution  of 
tUum  has  been  used  to  absorb  obscure  heat  radiations.  An 
instance  of  this  occurs  in  your  description  of  the  investigation  by 
M.  D'Arsonval  (Nature,  vol.  xliv.  p.  390).  I  should  like  to 
be  informed  if  this  practice  is  based  upon  actual  evidence,  or 
merely  upon  the  supposition  that,  because  alum  itself  cuts  off  a 
larger  proportion  of  heat  rays  than  any  other  easily  available 
solid,  its  solution  should  be  more  effective  than  any  other  liquid. 
The  only  figures  bearing  on  the  question  with  which  I  am 
acquainted  are  those  of  Melloni,  and  he,  as  cited  by  Ganot, 
states  the  percentage  of  heat  rays  transmitted  by  alum  solution 
as  12,  and  that  by  distilled  water  as  11.  Why,  then,  not  use 
distilled  water  ?  Harry  Napier  Draper. 

Dublin,  August  27. 


A  NEW  KEYED  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENT 
FOR  JUST  INTONATION, 

ONE  of  those  subjects  which  periodically  turn  up  for 
discussion,  and  then  vanish  for  an  interval  of 
neglect,  is  the  possibility  of  obtaining  just  intonation  in 
the  performance  of  music.  Those  who  have  studied 
theory,  properly  so-called,  know  very  well  that  the  series 
of  musical  sounds  commonly  used,  as  expressed  on  the 
pianoforte,  do  not  give  the  true  harmonic  combinations 
on  which  the  art  is  based,  and  many  zealous  attempts 
have  been  made  to  cure  the  evil.  One  of  these,  showing 
some  novelty  and  much  merit,  is  now  exciting  the  atten- 
tion of  eminent  musicians  on  the  Continent ;  it  was  men- 
tioned briefly  in  Nature  of  April  2  last  (p.  521),  and  it 
may  be  interesting  to  many  readers  to  give  some  further 
account  of  its  general  features.  We  may,  however,  pre- 
face this  with  a  few  words  on  the  state  of  the  question 
generally. 

Although  the  equal  division  of  the  octave  has  now 
taken  such  a  firm  hold  on  modem  musicians,  it  is  only 
within  a  comparatively  recent  period  that  its  use  has 
become  common.  It  was  well  known  at  an  early  date, 
but  its  defects  checked  its  use  until  the  general  introduc- 
tion of  the  class  of  instruments  which  have  culminated 
in  the  pianoforte  ;  the  reason  of  its  adoption  then  being 
that  the  want  of  sustaining  power  in  the  clavecin  and  the 
harpsichord  so  diminished  the  discordant  effect  as  to 
make  the  faulty  tuning  endurable.  People  then  b^^ 
to  get  accustomed  to  it,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  the 
system  gave  such  extraordinary  facilities  for  chromatic 
music,  that  the  cultivation  of  this  style  became  enor- 
mously developed.  Hence  the  chromatic  style  and  the 
equal  temperament  have  become  closely  allied,  and  it  is 
almost  a  matter  of  doctrine  that  the  pianoforte  division 
of  the  octave  is  a  necessary  element  for  the  proper  per- 
formance, or  proper  understanding,  of  the  compositions 
of  modem  days. 

For  organs,  the  application  of  the  equal  temperament 
came  much  later.  Down  to  about  the  middle  of  this 
century  they  were  tuned  on  a  system  which  gave  the 
most  usual  keys  fairly  in  tune,  at  the  cost  of  an  occasional 
harsh  chord,  which,  for  church  purposes,  was  considered 

NO.  II 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


but  a  small  price  to  pay  for  the  general  smooth  and  har- 
monious effect.  But  when  highly  skilled  players  began 
to  increase,  they  required  the  organ  to  be  more  used  for 
exhibition,  and  for  this  purpose  the  introduction  of  the 
equal  temperament  was  deemed  desirable.  And  so,  as  it 
thus  commanded  the  two  most  powerful  sources  of  music, 
it  crept  into  use  also  by  stringed  instruments,  orchestras, 
and  voices,  and  so  it  has  become  general. 

The  consequence  is  that,  now,  practical  musicians  are 
in  the  habit  of  accepting  the  equal-tempered  intonation 
as  genuine  and  true  music  ;  and  as  the  study  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  musical  structure  is  by  no  means  highly  en- 
couraged in  this  country,  efforts  are  seldom  made  to 
undeceive  them.  Students  are  authoritatively  told  that 
questions  about  just  intonation  may  be  interesting  to 
physicists  and  mathematicians  as  recondite  problems  in 
acoustical  science,  but  that  they  have  no  bearing  on 
"  practical "  music,  and  that,  therefore,  musicians  need 
not  trouble  themselves  about  them.  Some  years  ago, 
at  a  meeting  of  one  of  our  musical  educational  establish- 
ments, it  was  said,  *'  We  do  not  here  make  music  an 
affair  of  vibrations  "—a  sentiment  which  was  received 
with  loud  applause. 

No  doubt  some  enthusiasts  have  carried  the  investiga- 
tions on  this  subject  to  a  degree  of  refinement  which  £ar 
outruns  practical  utility;  and  one  can  have  little  sympathy 
with  those  who  delight  in  reviling  and  despising  the  duo- 
decimal scale  ;  sieeing  that  it  has  been  the  means  of 
materially  advancing  the  art,  and  that  the  modem  enhar- 
monic system,  founded  upon  it,  has  been  so  thoroughly 
incorporated  into  modem  music  that  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  it  could  be  now  ignored. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  one  must,  if  one  is  to  exercise 
reason  and  common-sense  in  musical  matters,  be  equally 
at  variance  with  the  party  who,  arrogating  to  themselves 
the  title  of  "  practical"  musicians,  force  on  us  the  equal 
temperament  to  an  extent  which  really  means  the  extmc- 
tion  of  true  intonation  altogether.  We  now,  indeed, 
never  hear  it,  and  in  fact  only  know  by  imagination  what 
a  true  '^  common  chord  "  means. 

The  principal  objection  to  this  state  of  things  is  that 
the  ears  of  musicians  become  permanently  vitiated,  and 
lose  the  sense  of  accurate  intonation,  or  the  desire  to 
approach  it,  which  is  tantamount  to  abandoning  the 
most  precious  feature  that  modem  music  possesses — 
namely,  beauty  of  harmony.  A  chord  of  well  selected 
sounds,  exactly  in  tune,  is  a  very  charming  thing  ;  but  it 
is  a  thing  unknown  to  ears  of  the  present  day.  I  can 
recollect  the  time  when  singers  and  violin-players  strove 
to  sing  and  play  in  good  tune,  and  the  effect  of  such  un- 
accompanied part-singing,  and  such  violin-playing,  was 
very  delightful.  But  now,  music  not  being  made  **  an 
affair  of  vibrations,"  one  is  often  ashamed  of  the  quality 
of  what  one  hears  ;  nobody  seems  to  think  purity  of  har- 
mony, either  with  voices  or  violins  or  orchestras,  to  be  a 
matter  worth  striving  after. 

It  is  surely  a  reasonable  wish  that  this  should  be 
checked,  but  one  must  be  reasonable  in  one's  expecta- 
tions. The  pianoforte  must  certainly  be  let  alone,  and 
so  must  the  organ  when  used  for  exhibitional  purposes 
though  its  cacophony  under  the  present  tuning  detracts 
much  from  the  pleasure  of  hearing  such  fine  playing  as  is 
now  common.  But  vocalists  and  violin-players  ought  to 
be  encouraged,  as  of  old,  to  sing  and  play  in  tune,  and 
for  this  purpose  what  is  wanted  is  an  instrument  which 
will  keep  up  and  circulate  the  tradition  of  what  true 
music  means.  To  attain  this,  therefore — />.  to  construa 
an  instrument  which  shall  enable  a  player,  with  moderate 
ease,  to  play  polyphonic  music,  of  moderately  chromatic 
character,  in  strict  tune — has  been  the  aim  of  many  in- 
genious musicians  and  mechanics. 

I  need  not  go  into  history.  Everybody  may  see  at 
South  Kensington  the  wonderful  enharmonic  organ,  built 
half  a  century  ago  by  General  Thompson,  and  may  read  of 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


447 


the  instruments  described  by  He1mho]tz,and  his  voluminous 
commentator,  the  late  Dr.  Ellis ;  and  the  efforts  in  the 
same  direction  of  Mr.  Colin  Brown,  and  of  Mr.  Bosanquet, 
who  has  devoted  much   attention  to   the  matter,  are 
worthy  of  all  praise.     But  my  object  now  is  to  describe 
the  latest  attempt  of  the  kind,  by  a  native  of  Japan, 
Dr.  Shoh^  Tanaka.     Persons  who  have  lately  had  to  do 
with  that  country  have  been  well  aware,  not  only  of  the 
natural  ingenuity  of  the  Japanese,  but  of  the  high  stand- 
ing which  many  of  their  youth  have  taken  in  scientific 
studies.    Dr.  Tanaka  combines  these  two  qualifications. 
After  an  industrious  preliminary  education  in  his  own 
country,  he  went  to  Berlin,  where  he  has  been  for  five 
years  studying  physical  and  mechanical  science  und^r 
the  best  professors,  and  with  these  he  has  combined  also 
a  study  of  music.     He  has  published,  in  the   Viertel- 
jakrsschrift  fur  Musikwissenschaft  iox  1890,  a  long  essay 
on  the  subject  generally,  which  fully  demonstrates  his 
knowledge  of  it ;  and  he  appears  to  have  made  a  very 
favourable  impression  in  Germany.     He  exhibited  his 
'^  Enharmonium,"  as  it  was  called,  to  the  Emperor  and 
Empress,  and    he    produces    testimonials    from    many 
musicians  of  the  highest  rank,  among  whom  are  Joachim, 
Von  Billow,  Reinecke,  Richter,  Fuchs,  Moszkowski,  the 
whole  staff  of  the  Leipzig  Conservatoire  of  Music,  and 
many  others.    These  not  only  speak  highly  of  the  instru- 
ment, but  (in  strong  contrast  to  the  English  authorities) 
earnestly  support  and  recommend  the  object  it  is  pro- 
posed to  serve.     Indeed,  some  of  the  testimonials  are 
essays  on  the  advantage  of  the  cultivation  of  pure  intona- 
tion.   Von  Billow  especially  says : — 

''I  have  requested  the  maker  to  make  me  such  an 
enharmonium  for  my  personal  use  at  home.  I  am 
earnestly  desirous  to  protect  myself  during  the  few  re- 
maining years  of  the  exercise  of  my  art  against  constantly 
possible  relapses  into  already  conquered  errors.  In  order 
to  make  pure  music  it  is  necessary  to  think  in  pure  tones. 
It  is  de  facto  the  practically  insuppressible  conventional 
pianoforte-lie  to  which  nearly  all  corruptions  of  hearing 
may  be  traced.*' 

With  these  credentials  the  inventor  has  brought  a 
sample  of  his  instrument  for  examination  in  England, 
and  I  may  proceed  to  give  some  idea  of  what  it  is  like. 

The  great  object  to  be  aimed  at  is  facility  of  perform- 
ance. It  is  in  this  respect  that  most  of  the  former  instru- 
ments have  failed  ;  the  multitude  of  notes  has  generally 
required  a  new  kind  of  clavier,  or  the  manner  of  manipu- 
lating them  has  been  so  complicated  and  difficult  as  to 
require  a  special  learning  attended  with  much  trouble.  The 
present  instrument  is  a  harmonium  of  five  octaves,  having  a 
key-board  modelled  precisely  on  the  usual  pattern  and  size. 
Dr.  Tanaka  has  greatly  simplified  the  problem  by  adopt- 
ing the  transposing  system,  often  adopted  with  pianofortes. 
Whatever  key  the  music  is  in,  it  is  played  in  the  simplest 
of  all  keys,  the  key  of  C,  and  by  means  of  a  bodily  shifting 
of  the  key-board  to  the  right  or  left,  it  is  set  so  as  to  act  in 
the  key  required.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  principle  used  in  the 
horn  tribe  ;  the  horn  or  trumpet  player  reads  and  plays  his 
music  in  the  key  of  C,  and  the  transposition  of  this  to 
the  key  required  is  previously  arranged  as  a  part  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  instrument ;  or,  rather,  as  the  author 
puts  it,  the  music  may  be  read  and  played  on  the  tonic 
sol-fa  system,  and  he  might  have  adopted  its  symbols 
if  he  had  not  feared  it  would  be  too  startling  a  change. 

The  points  in  which  the  new  key-board  differs  from  the 
ordinary  one  are,  that  the  black  keys  are  divided,  some 
into  two  and  some  into  three  parts,  and  one  additional 
shorter  and  narrower  black  key  is  introduced  between 
the  E  and  F  white  keys.  This  arrangement  gives  twenty 
notes,  which  suffice  for  modulating  into  a  reasonable 
number  of  keys  with  sharp  signatures. 

To  provide  for  modulations  into  keys  with  fiat  sig- 
natures, since  these  and  the  sharp  modulations  are  not 


both  wanted  at  the  same  time,  six  of  the  notes  can  be 
instantaneously  changed  for  the  purpose,  at  any  time,  in 
a  manner  hereafter  explained. 

The  whole  of  the  keys  are  well  under  the  hand,  and, 
if  the  performer  knows  which  note  he  ought  to  use,  he 
can  take  it  in  any  usual  chord  without  difficulty. 

Fig.  I  represents  one  octave  of  the  key-board  as 
arranged  for  the  key  of  C,  with  provision  for  modulating 
into  keys  with  sharps. 


C| 

Dt 

H 

u 

G| 

J4 

• 

r: 

•'      y  ' 

1 

' 

•:, 

9 

cm 

•<*■ 

/ 

^^ 

'4      ''■ 

r 
y 

-■ 

* 

' 

c# 

.\ 

s\ 

' 

u 

•■^ 

'^y^\ 

: 

.   , 

' 

r.;         ..  c 

'/   '^    ;, 

T) 

E 

a 

A 

Bb 

;  •>,■■;  ■ 

c 

D 

E 

F 

G 

A 

B 

Fig.  X. — Kx  arranged  for  modulation  into  keys  with  sbari-s. 

In  order  to  explain  the  exact  intonation  or  musical 
position  of  the  notes,  the  author  adopts  a  notation  al- 
ready pretty  well  known — namely,  when  the  letter  indicat- 
ing a  note  has  no  line  above  or  below  it,  it  is  intended  to 
correspond  with  what  may  be  called  the  "  Pythagorean  " 
position  of  that  note,  which  is  given  by  a  succession  of 
fifths  upwards  from  C  as  a  base.  If  the  letter  has  a 
stroke  below  it — thus,  E — it  is  a  comma  below  that  posi- 
tion ;  and  if  the  stroke  is  above — thus,  Eb — it  is  a  comma 
above  that  position.      Two  strokes  below — thus,  Cj — 

indicate  two  commas  below. 

Now,  in  the  first  place  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ordinary 
seven  white  keys  indicate  the  seven  ordinary  notes  of  the 
major  scale  of  C,  according  to  the  intonation  usually 
understood,  i.e.  the  major  triads  on  the  tonic,  dominant, 
and  subdominant,  being  perfectly  in  tune. 

But  as,  for  certain  harmonies,  variations  of  some 
of  these  notes  are  required,  there  are  four  alternative 
small  white  notes,  D,  E,  G,  and  A,  placed  at  the  near  ex- 
tremity of  four  of  the  black  ones.  For"  example,  the  note 
D  is  the  one  required    to  make  the  true  minor  third 


or  the  true  fifth 


m 


The  position  of  the  keys  for  the  sharp  notes,  and  also 
their  intonations,  will  be  seen  in  the  figure.  F|  and  C| 
each  require  alternative  values,  a  comma  distant  from 
each  other,  and  these  are  obtained  by  dividing  the  black 
keys  in  the  manner  formerly  practised  with  some  organs 
in  this  country. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  in  all  twenty  effective 
finger  keys,  each  sounding  a  separate  note. 

When  it  is  requisite  to  modulate  into  keys  with  flats, 
the  above  arrangement  will  not  answer ;  and  the  neces- 
sary change  is  made  by  a  lever  placed  conveniently 
for  being  worked  by  the  knee  of  the  player,  hke  the  swell 
of  a  harmonium. 


NO.   II 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


448 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


When  this  is  pushed  over,  the  six  hindmost  black 
keys  are  altered  from  sharps  to  flats,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2. 
C|  and  F^  still  remain,  and  an  alternative  Bb  and  an 

alternative  F  are  added.  This  change  gives  six  new 
notes,  so  that  the  total  number  of  sounds  used  in  the 
octave,  for  the  key  of  C  with  its  modulations,  is  twenty-six. 


m 

eB 

F 

Gb 

Ab 

Bb 

'//-  <■% 

./ 

' 

'''-     >/'. 

^ 

/  ' 

<; 

:.     '< 

-"-- 

' 

.' 

/ 

, 

, 

■ 

'\ 

'■-T'' 

'                 ; 

'; 

■ '/ 

'/ 

1: 

'"'' 

c» 

<•,   .'.  '•' 

F# 

1-^- 

■^ 

:   \ 

,~    >  ■■  •?< 

'■■/ 

D 

D 

E 

G 

A 

Bb 

c 

E 

F 

G 

A 

B 

Fig.  9. — As  altered  for  modulation  into  keys  with  flats. 

As  a  further  indication  of  the  exact  musical  positions 
of  these  twenty-six  notes,  their  ratios  of  vibration  with 
the  keynote  C,  may  also  be  given.  And  the  logarithms 
of  these  (here  limited,  for  simplicity,  to  three  places)  will 
represent  approximately  the  height  of  each  note  above  C. 
In  this  scale,  an  octave  is  represented  by  301,  a  mean 
semitone  by  25,  and  a  comma  by  5. 

Table  of  the  Positions  of  the  various  Notes  used  for  the  Key  of  C, 
Ratio.       Logarithm.  Ratio.       Logarithm. 

C  =  I   ...   o 


D  = 


9 

8 


n  = 


5 
4 
4 
3 

3 

2 

5 
3 

15 

8 

-  15 
32 


E  =  5 

F 
G 
A 
B 


__tf   128 

Ei  =  ^75 
^   5'2 

NOt  1 141,  VOL.  44] 


•  51 

.  97 
.  125 

.  176 

.  222 

•  273 

148 

23 

194 

69 

245 
120 


D 
E 
F 
G 
A 


10 

9" 
81 
64 
27 
20 

40 

27 
27 
16 


46 
102 
130 
171 
227 


^3 


25 
"18 

25 
24 


'43 
18 


Ratio. 

n-b  =  1^ 

45 


Logarithm. 
..•    255 

...  79 
...  204 
..    28 


Ratio. 


Logarithm. 
..     250 


153 


This  information  will  enable  any  student  of  musical 
theory  to  judge  of  the  capability  of  the  instrument  to 
play  modem  music  with  just  intonation.  The  great 
object  is,  of  course,  to  play  the  consonant  triads,  major 
and  minor,  in  strict  tune,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the 
instrument,  as  above  arranged,  will  play  the  following 

Major  Triads  on — 

C,  D,  E.  F,  G,  A,  B, 

F#,  Bb,  Eb,  Ab,  Db,  Gb, 

Mifwr  Triads  on — 
C,  D,  E.  F,  G,  A,  B, 

F#.  C%  Gt.  Dfr  Ajl.  Bi,. 

and  some  of  each  in  duplicate  with  a  comma  variation. 
These  would  certainly  seem  sufficient  for  all  ordinary 
music  in  C  major  or  A  minor. 

By  means  of  the  transposing  movement,  the  key-board 
can  be  set  upon  either  of  the  eleven  other  keys,  for  which 
a  similar  modulating  power  is  obtained,  except  in  some 
very  remote  cases.  In  order,  however,  to  effect  this,  ten 
additional  notes  are  used,  making  thirty-six  in  all.  Bat 
the  adaptation  of  them  is  entirely  automatic,  and  the 
mechanism  for  this  purpose  constitutes  one  of  the  chief 
novelties  of  the  invention. 

This  is  the  provision  for  the  purpose  by  the  manu- 
facturer.    Now,  let  us  see  what  th^  performer  has  to  do. 

In  the  first  place,  whatever  key  the  original  composi- 
tion is  in,  it  must  be  played  in  the  key  of  C.  In  these 
days  of  strict  examinations  by  the  College  of  Organists, 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  players  who  can  transpose  at 
first  sight  from  any  key  into  any  other.  For  players  who 
cannot  do  this  the  piece  will  have  to  be  re-copied,  but  this 
is  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  great  gain  in  simplicity 
of  the  key-board. 

Secondly,  the  performer  has  not  only  to  play  the  music 
in  the  ordinary  way,  but  he  has  another  problem  before 
him — namely,  where  certain  notes  are  in  duplicate,  he 
has  to  decide  which  of  the  two  to  use.  Now  this,  although 
by  no  means  a  difficult  matter,  requires  some  knowledge 
of  the  theory  of  music,  in  a  sense  beyond  what  is  ordi- 
narily taught.  To  explain  it  would  lead  us  into  more 
technical  detail  than  would  be  proper  here  ;  but  X>t, 
Tanaka,  in  compassion  for  those  unfortunates  with  whom 
music  '^  has  not  been  made  an  affair  of  vibrations,''  has 
shown  that  the  printed  music  can  have  certain  vei>' 
simple  symbols  prefixed  to  the  notes,  which  will  easily 
guide  the  purely  *'  practical "  player  what  to  do. 

In  this  way  any  competent  organist,  though  he  may 
never  have  heard  of  the  system  before,  may,  after  a 
few  minutes'  explanation,  and  a  quarter  of  an  hour's 
practice,  play  any  piece  of  music  correctly  in  the  true 
musical  intonation,  a  result  which,  I  believe,  has  never 
been  attained  by  any  former  instrument,  and  which  says 
much  for  the  ingenuity  of  the  whole  contrivance. 

It  is  recorded  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany  expressed 
a  wish  to  see  the  experiment  tried  on  a  large  organ,  and 
the  inventor  is  now  engaged  in  constructing  one  witli 
eight  stops,  and  a  simplified  enharmonic  pedal-cla\ier, 
for  the  Prussian  Goverment.  William  Pole. 


September  10,1891] 


NATURE 


449 


THENEW  AUSTRALIAN  MARSUPIAL  MOLE^ 
NOTORYCTES  TYPHLOPS. 

OUR  Corresponding  Member,  Prof.  E.  C.  Stirling,  of 
the  University  of  Adelaide,  has  most  kindly  sent  to 
us  an  original  water-coloured  drawing  of  the  newly- 
discovered  Australian  Marsupial,  prepared  from  a  pencil 
sketch  taken  from  life.  The  animal  is  represented  upon 
the  surface  of  one  of  the  red  sandhills  in  which  it  passes 
the  greater  part  of  its  life,  among  some  tussocks  of 
Ariodia  im'/anSf  the  "porcupine  grass"  of  the  interior 
of  Australia,  and  is  figured  of  the  natural  size.  The 
drawing  will  be  exhibited  at  the  first  scientific  meeting  of 
this  Society  in  November  next,  but  in  the  meanwhile  can 
be  inspected  in  our  library  by  any  naturalist  who  may 
wish  to  see  it. 

Prof.  Stirling  has  also  sent  us  a  copy  of  his  paper  in 
the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  South  Australia 
(read  February  3  of  the  present  year),  in  which  this 
extraordinary  animal  is  fully  described.  The  subjoined 
particulars  as  to  its  habits,  extracted  from  Dr.  Stirling's 
article,  will  be  interesting  to  the  readers  of  Nature  : — 

*^  It  appears  that  the  first  specimen  was  captured  by  Mr. 
Wm.  Coulthard,  manager  of  the  Frew  River  Station  and 
other  northern  runs  belonging  to  the  Willowie  Pastoral 
Company.    Attracted  by  some  peculiar  tracks,  on  reach- 
ing his  camp  one  evening  on  the  Finke   River,  while 
traversing  the  Idracoura  Station  with  cattle,  he  followed 
them  up,  and  found  the  animal  lying  under  a  tussock  of 
spinifex  or  porcupine  grass  (7rzW/«  irritans).    Though 
he  is  an  old  bush  hand,  with  all  the  watchful  alertness 
and  powers  of  observation  usually  acquired  by  those 
who  live  lives  of  difficulty  and  danger,  this  was  the  first 
and  only  specimen  of  the  animal  he  ever  saw.    As  pre- 
viously stated,  this  found  its  way  to  the  Museum  through 
the  agency  of  Messrs.  Benham  and  Molineux.     The  three 
subsequently  received  shortly  afterwards,  as  well  as  the 
last  lot    recently   secured  by  Mr.    Bishop   during   our 
journey  through  the   country,  were  also  found  on  the 
Idracoura  Station.     This  is  a  large  cattle-run  comprising 
several  hundred  square  miles  of  country  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  Northern  Territory  of  South  Australia,  which 
lies  immediately  to  the  west  of  the  telegraph  line  between 
the  Charlotte  Waters  and  Alice  Springs  Stations.     The 
great  dry  water-course  of  the  Finke  River,  which  runs 
from  north-west  to  south-east,  bounds  the  run  for  some 
eighty  miles  on  the  north  and  north-east.     Its  distance 
from  Adelaide   is,  roughly  speaking,  a  thousand  miles. 
Flats  and  sandhills  of  red  sand,  more  or  less  well  covered 
with  spinifex  and  acacias  constitute  a  large  portion  of  the 
country,  and   the  rainfall  is  inconsiderable.     Curiously 
enough,  all  the  specimens  of  Notoryctes  hitherto  received 
by  me  have  been  found  within  a  circumscribed  area,  four 
miles  from  the  Idracoura  Head  Station,  which  is  situated 
on  the  Finke  watercourse  itself,  and  almost  invariably 
amongst  the  sandhills.     I  have  it,  however,  on  very  fair 
authority,  that  the  animal  has  been  seen  on  the  Undoolya 
Station,  which  lies  immediately  south  of  the  McDonnell 
Ranges,  and  that  one  also  was  found  drowned  after  heavy 
rain  at  Tempe  Downs,  a  station  situated  about  120  miles 
west-south-west  of  Alice  Springs.    These  points  will  suffi- 
ciently define  its  range,  so  far  as  is  known  at  present. 
They  do  not  appear  to  be  very  numerous.     Very  few  of  the 
white  men  in  the  district  had  ever  seen  it,  even  though 
constantly  travelling ;  and  not  many  of  the  natives  whom 
I  came  across  recognized  the  well-executed  drawing  I 
carried  with  me.     It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
I  did  not  pass  through    the    exact   spot  which  so  far 
appears  to  be  its  focus  of  distribution.     Nor  did  a  very 
considerable  reward,  which    I    offered,  cause  any  speci- 
mens to  be  forthcoming  between  the  first  lot  received, 
over  two  years  ago,  and  that  recently  secured  during  my 
trans- continental  trip.     With  a  few  exceptions,  the  ani- 
mals have  been  captured  by  the  aboriginals,  who,  with 

NO.    II4I,  VOL.  44] 


their  phenomenal  powers  of  tracking,  follow  up  their 
traces  until  they  are  caught  For  this  reason  they  can 
only  be  found  with  certainty  after  rain,  which  sets  the 
surface  of  the  sand,  and  enables  it  to  retain  tracks  that 
would  immediately  be  obliterated  when  it  is  dry  and 
loose.  Nor  are  they  found  except  during  warm  weather, 
so  that  the  short  period  of  semi-tropical  summer  rains 
appears  to  be  the  favourable  period  for  their  capture. 
For  this  suitable  combination  of  wet  and  warmth,  Mr. 
Bishop  had  to  wait  three  months  before  he  was  able  to 
get  them,  and  in  all  cases  they  were  found  during  the 
day-time.  Perpetual  burrowing  seems  to  be  the  charac- 
teristic feature  of  its  life.  Both  Mr.  Bishop  and  Mr. 
Benham,  who  have  seen  the  animal  in  its  native  state, 
report  that,  emerging  from  the  sand,  it  travels  on  the 
surface  for  a  few  feet  at  a  slowish  pace,  with  a  peculiar 
sinuous  -motion,  the  belly  much  flattened  against  the 
ground,  while  it  rests  on  the  outsides  of  its  fore-paws, 
which  are  thus  doubled  in  under  it.  It  leaves  behind  it 
a  peculiar  sinuous  triple  track,  the  outer  impressions, 
more  or  less  interrupted,  being  caused  by  the  feet,  and 
the  central  continuous  line  by  the  tail,  which  seems  to  be 
pressed  down  in  the  rear.  Constantly  on  the  look-out 
for  its  tracks,  I  was  often  deceived  by  those  of  numerous 
lizards,  which  are  somewhat  similar  in  these  respects. 

"It  enters  the  sand  obliquely,  and  travels  under 
ground  either  for  a  few  feet  or  for  many  yards,  not 
apparently  reaching  a  depth  of  more  than  two  or  three 
inches,  for  whilst  underground  its  progress  can  often  be 
detected  by  a  slight  cracking  or  moving  of  the  sur- 
face over  its  position.  In  penetrating  the  soil,  free 
use  as  a  borer  is  made  of  the  conical  snout  with  its 
horny  protecting  shield,  and  the  powerful  scoop-like 
claws  (fore)  are  also  early  brought  into  play.  As  it 
disappears  from  sight,  the  hind-limbs,  as  well,  are  used 
to  throw  the  sand  backwards,  which  falls  in  again  behind 
it  as  it  goes,  so  that  no  permanent  tunnel  is  left  to  mark 
its  course.  Again  emerging,  at  some  distance,  it  travels 
for  a  few  feet  upon  the  surface,  and  then  descends  as 
before.  I  could  hear  nothing  of  its  making,  or  occupying 
at  any  time,  permanent  burrows.  Both  my  informants 
laid  great  stress  on  the  phenomenal  rapidity  with  which 
it  can  burrow,  as  observed  in  both  a  state  of  nature  and 
captivity." 

To  these  notes  of  Prof.  Stirling  I  may  add  the  remark 
that  this  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  dis- 
coveries in  zoology  made  of  late  years.  Notoryctes 
typhlops^  as  shown  by  Prof.  Stirling's  full  and  elaborate 
description  and  figures,  is  unquestionably  a  new  and 
perfectly  isolated  form  of  Marsupial  life,  and  must  be 
referred  to  a  new  section  of  the  order  Marsupialia.  We 
must  all  congratulate  Prof.  Stirling  on  his  success  in 
bringing  before  the  world  such  an  important  novelty. 

P.  L.  SCLATER. 

Zoological  Society  of  London,  3  Hanover  Square,  W., 

August  20. 


FRANCIS  BRUNNOW,  PH,D,,  KR.A.S. 

WE  regret  to  have  to  announce  the  death  of  Francis 
Briinnow,  whose  fortune  it  was  to  earn  in  two 
continents  a  reputation  as  an  ardent  astronomer  and  an 
indefatigable  observer  and  computer.  He  was  not  less 
distinguished  as  a  Professor  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan^ 
than  when  he  filled  the  Chair  of  Astronomy  at  Dublin,  and 
occupied  the  position  there  of  Astronomer- Royal.  He 
was  fortunate  in  his  early  career.  Nearly  fifty  years  ago 
he  was  one  of  the  band  of  earnest  astronomers  that 
Encke  summoned  round  himself  at  Berlin,  and  thus  he 
became  the  friend  and  companion  of  Galle,  of  Bremiker, 
and  of  D'Arrest.  The  time,  too,  was  interesting.  Adams 
and  Leverrier  had  traced  the  existence  ol  a  Neptune, 
and  the  issue  of  that  well-known  drama  was  worked  out 


4S0 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


under  the  eyes  of  the  late  Dr.  Briinnow.  He  was  pre- 
sent in  the  Berlin  Observatory  when  Neptune  was  first 
recognized  as  a  planet,  and  an  early,  if  not  the  earliest, 
notification  of  its  discovery,  that  reached  this  country, 
came  from  his  hand. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  recall  all  the  results  that  his 
untiring  industry  wrought  in  the  department  of  cometary 
astronomy.  His  greatest  and  best-known  work  is  his 
classical  investigation  of  the  motion  of  De  Vico's  comet 
of  short  period.  The  close  and  eager  search  that  was 
made  for  this  comet,  particularly  in  1855,  was  not  success- 
ful, and  its  ultimate  career  is  unknown  ;  but  this  fact  does 
not  detract  from  the  merit  of  Dr.  Briinnow's  memoir,  on 
which  a  lesser  reputation  might  rest.  As  a  calculator  of 
a  high  order,  he  will,  however,  be  remembered  for  his 
work  on  the  theory  of  some  of  the  minor  planets,  as 
Flora,  Victoria,  and  Iris— a  work  which  to  some  extent  was 
carried  out  during  his  Directorship  of  the  Observatory  of 
Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1854. 
Here,  too,  he  published  for  a  short  time  a  periodical 
under  the  title  of  Astronomical  Notices,  This  journal 
had  but  a  short  life,  and  judging  from  its  rarity  must 
have  had  but  a  small  circulation.  A  very  different  fate 
attended  the  publication  of  his  "  Lehrbuch  der  spharischen 
Astronomic,''  first  issued  in  1851,  and  which  has  passed 
through  several  editions,  been  more  than  once  translated, 
and  is  everywhere  recognized  as  an  authoritative  text- book. 

In  1865,  on  the  death  of  Sir  W.  Hamilton,  Dr. 
Briinnow  was  appointed  Andrews  Professor  of  Astronomy 
in  the  University  of  Dublin  and  Director  of  the  Dunsink 
Observatory.  The  important  and  original  mathematical 
researches  in  which  his  illustrious  predecessor  had  been 
engaged  had  not  left  him  sufficient  leisure  to  superintend 
with  activity  the  affairs  of  the  Observatory  ;  and  the  work 
of  organizing  and  of  placing  it  on  a  modern  footing, 
adequately  equipped,  fell  to  the  lot  of  Dr.  Briinnow,  who 
proved  himself  admirably  fitted  for  the  task.  The  South 
object-glass,  which  had  remained  unmounted,  was,  under 
Dr.  Briinnow's  auspices,  provided  with  an  equatorial 
movement,  and  with  it  he  carried  out  the  researches  in 
stellar  parallax  which  marked  alike  his  assiduity  and  his 
competence  as  an  observer.  This  line  of  research,  thus 
connected  with  the  Observatory,  his  successor.  Sir  Robert 
Ball,  has  recognized  and  pursued  with  vigour  and  success. 
In  1874,  Dr.  Briinnow  retired  from  the  Directorship  on  ac- 
count of  failing  health  and  eyesight,  and  he  has  since  lived 
privately,  principally  abroad.  He  died  at  Heidelberg,  in 
his  sixty-seventh  year,  to  the  deep  regret,  not  only  of  his 
numerous  private  friends,  but  of  all  those  who  have  profited 
by  his  teaching,  whether  as  members  of  his  class  or 
students  of  his  valuable  contributions  to  astronomy. 


NOTES. 

The  Australasian  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
will  hold  its  fourth  annual  meeting  at  Hobart  in  January  1892. 
The  first  general  meeting  will  take  place  on  January  7,  when 
Sir  James  Hector  will  resign  the  chair,  and  Sir  Robert  G.  C. 
Hamilton,  Governor  of  Tasmania  and  President  of  the 
Tasmanian  Royal  Society,  will  assume  the  Presidency,  and 
deliver  an  address.  Visits  to  places  of  interest  in  the  im- 
mediate neighbourhood  of  Hobart  will  be  made  during  the  time 
when  the  meeting  is  being  held,  and  afterwards  there  will  be 
excursions  to  different  places  in  Tasmania.  Application  has 
been  made  to  the  New  Zealand  Shipping  Company,  and  to 
Shaw,  Savill,  and  Albion  Company,  for  passages  at  reduced 
rates  to  members  of  the  British  Association  visiting  Tasmania  to 
attend  the  meeting  at  Hobart,  and  it  is  expected  that  this  will 
be  granted. 

The  International  Electro-Technical  Congress  was  opened 
at  Frankfort*on-the-Main  on  Tuesday.      An  address  was  de- 

NO.    I  141,  VOL.  44] 


livered  bj  Dr.  Stephan,  Imperial  Minister  of  Post  and  Tefe- 
graphs.  Some  650  members,  of  whom  198  were  forcignen, 
attended  the  proceedings.  After  the  usual  compUmeotaiy 
speeches,  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  Presidents  of 
the  various  Sections  of  the  Congress  : — Herr  Siemens,  of  Ber- 
lin Mr.  Preece,  of  London ;  M.  Hospitalier,  of  Paris ;  Signor 
Ferrares,  of  Turin ;  Herr  Waltenhofen,  of  Vienna ;  and  Hen 
Kohlrausch,  of  Hanover.  It  was  decided  that  a  special  Sectioa 
should  be  formed  to  consider  the  principles  of  legisUtioa  dealing 
with  electro-technical  matters. 

The  Crystal  Palace  Electrical  Exhibition,  to  be  opened  oa 
January  I  next,  has  received  the  sanction  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
and  is  duly  certified  as  an  International  Exhibition,  nnder  tbe 
provisions  of  the  Patents,  Designs,  and  Trade  Marks  Act,  XS83. 
The  exhibits  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  will  include  hbr 
torical  telegraphic  and  electrical  apparatus,  instruments^  and 
appliances,  as  well  as  the  modem  apparatus  and  instruments 
now  in  use  in  the  Postal  Tel^^^ph  Department.  This  exhibit 
will  be  arranged  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece^ 
F.R.S. 

It  has  been  suggested  in  America  that  steps  should  be  tiken 
to  secure  an  International  Conference  of  Electricians  at  the 
"Columbian  World's  Fair."  "The  time  and  place,"  says  the 
new  Chicago  journal,  Electridan^  "are  certainly  anspidoos, 
and  as  there  are  many  questions  in  electrical  science  that  are 
now  awaiting  adjudication  it  would  seem  that  it  were  onlj 
necessary  that  the  invitation  be  made  by  the  properly  consti- 
tuted bodies  to  have  it  meet  with  the  hearty  approbation  of 
scientific  men  everywhere.  Could  such  a  Convention  be  as- 
sembled it  would  do  more  than  any  other  agency  to  bring 
together  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  the  most  complete  and 
varied  display  of  electrical  apparatus  the  world  ever  saw.' 


>t 


The  International  Agricultural  Congress  was  opened  oe 
Monday  at  the  Hague  by  M.  M^line,  the  President,  who  briedj 
reviewed  the  labours  of  the  Paris  Congress,  dwelliiig  npon  its 
great  importance  to  agriculture  in  general,  and  pointing  oit 
that  the  results  obtained  by  that  meeting  would  assist  the 
various  Governments  in  the  legislative,  administrative,  and 
financial  problems  requiring  solution.  The  conclusions  arrived 
at  in  Paris  were,  however,  not  final,  and  would  be  more  pre- 
cisely defined  by  the  present  assembly. 

We  have  received  an  intimation  of  the  sudden  death,  froB 
apoplexy,  of  Dr.  L.  Just,  Professor  of  Botany  at  the  Polytech- 
nikum,  Carlsruhe,  and  Director  of  the  Botanic  Garden  belongiog 
to  the  same  institution.  Dr.  Just  was  best  known  to  tbe 
botanical  world  through  the  Botanischer  yahresherickij  whidi 
has  appeared  under  his  name  since  its  foundation  in  1874  up  to 
the  present  time,  though  he  resigned  the  editorship  in  1885. 

Mr.  Charles  Jamrach,  well  known  as  an  importer*  breeder, 
and  exporter  of  all  kinds  of  animals,  died  last  Sunday  at  Im 
residence  in  Bow.  He  was  of  German  parentage,  and  inherited 
from  his  father  the  business  which  he  conducted  with  so  mitfk 
energy  and  intelligence.  Many  scientific  collections,  as  weQ  as 
travelling  menageries,  have  been  enriched  by  him  with  Talaable 
specimens.  He  showed  particular  interest  in  the  breeding  of 
long-coated  Persian  greyhounds,  Japanese  pugs,  and  Madagascv 
cats.  The  collection  he  had  last  formed  includes,  the  Time 
says,  young  lions,  tigers,  and  dwarf  cattle  from  Bunnah. 


The  number  of  visitors  to  the  South  Kensington 
during  the  last  month  exceeded  120,000.  This  is  the  laiftit 
number  in  any  one  month  since  1883,  in  which  year  the  Fisheries 
Exhibition  was  held  opposite  to  the  Museum,  on  the  gitivd 
formerly  occupied  by  tbe  Royal  Horticultural  Society. 


Septbmber  lo,  1 891] 


NA  TURE 


45  < 


The  Staffordshire  County  Coancil  have  appointed  Prof.  D. 
E.  Jones,  B.Sc.  (of  the  University  College  of  Wales,  Aberyst- 
wyth), as  Director  of  Technical  Instruction  for  Staffordshire. 

The  Oxford  Del^ates  responsible  for  the  University  Extension 
work  have  just  published  their  Annual  Report  for  the  year  ending 
July  3I1  1S91.      No  fewer  than  192  courses  of  lectures  were 
delivered.     Of  these,  90  were  on  historical  subjects,  64  on 
nataial  science,  33  on  literature  and  art,  and  5  on  political 
economy.    These  figures  show  a  small  increase  in  the  number  of 
courses  on  history  and  literature,  and  evidence  a  marked  in- 
crease in  the  attention  that  is  being  paid  throughout  the  country 
to  natural  science.     On  the  other  band,  political  economy  does 
not  appear  to  be  popular  with  those  who  are  responsible  for  the 
arrangement  of  the  lectures,  and  this  circumstance  the  Delegates 
regret.    At  several  centres  in  the  North  of  England  the  courses 
have  been  regularly  attended  by  many  hundreds  of  artisans,  and 
the  funds  to  defray  the  expenses  of  these  lectures  have  been  pro- 
vided by  working  men  societies.     The  results  of  the  examinations 
have  in  many  cases  been  most  satisfactory.     In  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  York  Powell  '*  The  paper  classed  as  distinguished  would 
have  been  accepted  in  Oxford  as  distinctly  belonging  to  the 
honour  class  ;    the    '  pass '  standard  is  that  which  would  be 
adopted  in  the  Oxford  pass  school."     Mr.  Lodge  and  Mr.  A.  H. 
Johnson  bear  similar  testimony  to  the  efficiency  and  capacity  of 
the  students. 

The  Times  has  been  printing  an  interesting  correspondence 
on  county  museums,  and  we  may  hope  that  the  discussion  will 
lead  to  some  practical  results.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
the  need  for  such  institutions.  Properly  organized,  they  might 
be  of  high  educational  value,  and  they  would  preserve  for 
posterity  many  objects  of  archaeological  interest  which  are  now 
in  danger  of  being  either  destroyed  or  lost.  The  aim  of  the 
proposed  museums  ought,  however,  as  Prof.  Flower  has  urged, 
to  be  very  clearly  defined,  and  it  would  be  necessary  that  arrange- 
ments should  be  made  for  the  preparation  of  good  catalogues  and 
labels. 

Everyone  interested  in  the  scientific  aspects  of  agriculture 
was  sorry  to  hear  that  Miss  Ormerod  had  felt  it  necessary  to 
resign  her  position  as  consulting  entomologist  to  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  mis- 
anderstandings  should  have  led  to  the  severance  of  her  connec- 
tion with  the  Society  with  which  she  has  so  long  been  honourably 
associated.  Fortunately  her  work  as  an  entomol(^tst  is  not  to 
be  interrupted,  and  she  will  continue  to  place  her  knowledge  at 
the  service  of  agriculturists. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  in  New  South  Wales  is  not 
likely  to  complain  of  lack  of  work.  During  the  first  three 
months  of  the  Department's  existence — March  to  May  1890 — 
1200  letters  were  received  from  farmers  and  others  on  matters 
of  agricultural  interest ;  during  the  same  months  of  this  year,  2300 
were  received  and  fully  answered.  During  the  first  five  months 
of  the  current  year,  over  1000  letters  were  written  by  the  De- 
partment, giving  specific  advice  on  manures,  analysis  of  soils, 
insect  pests,  and  parasitic  diseases,  and  were  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged ;  18,000  Gazettes  and  Bulletins  were  distributed, 
and  7000  circulars  sent  out. 

In  the  official  statement  relating  to  the  work  of  the  British 
Museum  (Natural  History)  during  1890,  reference  is  made  to 
two  new  cases  which  have  been  placed  in  the  central  hall. 
One  of  them  illustrates  external  variation  according  to  age,  sex, 
and  season,  as  exeniplified  in  the  well-known  bird  the  Ruff 
(Machetes  pugnax).  The  other  case  is  intended  to  illustrate  the 
tttbject  of  protective  resemblance  and  mimicry.  The  lower  part 
of  the  case  is  occupied  by  a  group  showing  the  simplest  form  of 
such  resemblance,  /./.  general  conformation  of  colour  to  habitual 

NO.    114 1,  VOL.  44] 


surroundings.  Various  species  of  mammals,  birds,  and  reptiles, 
from  the  Egyptian  desert,  are  arranged  upon  a  ground  consisting 
of  the  actual  rocks  and  sand  among  which  they  were  living. 
These  specimens  were  collected  in  February  1890,  and  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  F.  S.  Worthington.  In  the  upper  part  of  the 
case  specimens  are  exhibited,  chiefly  from  the  class  of  iixsects  in 
which  the  imitation  both  of  the  form  and  colour  of  external 
objects  is  carried  to  various  degrees  of  perfection  and  com- 
plexity. Among  these  is  a  group  of  Indian  butterflies  (Kallima 
inackis)f  which,  when  at  rest  with  their  wings  closed,  present 
a  marvellous  resemblance  to  dead  leaves.  Still  further  stages 
of  complexity  of  Imitation  are  shown  in  insects  which  closely 
resemble,  externally,  others  belonging  to  different  families  or 
even  orders,  apparently  for  purposes  of  protection. 

M.  E.  Hbckel,  of  Marseilles,  has  recently  described  an  in- 
teresting case  of  mimicry  which  may  be  frequently  seen  in  the 
south  of  France.  The  mimic  is  a  spider,  Thomisus  onustus, 
which  is  often  found  in  the  flowers  of  Convolvulus  arvensiSf 
where  it  hides  itself  for  the  purpose  of  snaring  two  Diptera, 
Nomioides'  minuiissimus  and  Melithreptus  origani^  on  which  it. 
feeds.  Convolvulus  is  abundant,  and  three  principal  colour- 
variations  are  met  with  :  there  is  a  white  form,  a  pink  one  with 
deep  pink  spots,  and  a  light  pink  form  with  a  slight  greeni.^h- 
ness  on  the  external  wall  of  the  corolla.  Each  of  these  forms 
is  particularly  visited  by  one  of  three  varieties  of  Thomisus, 
The  variety  which  visits  the  greenish  form  has  a  green  hue,  and 
keeps  on  the  greener  part  of  the  corolla ;  that  which  lives  in 
the  white  form  is  white,  with  a  faint  blue  cross  on  the  abdomen, 
and  some  blue  at  the  end  of  the  legs  ;  the  variety  which  lives  in 
the  pink  form  is  pink  itself  on  the  prominent  parts  of  the 
abdomen  and  legs.  If  the  animal  happens  to  live  on  Dahlia 
versicolor^  the  pink  turns  to  red,  and  if  it  lives  in  a  yellow 
flower — Antirrhinum  majus,  for  instance — it  becomes  yellow. 
At  first  Prof.  Heckel  supposed  the  three  varieties  of  Thomisus 
to  be  permanent,  but  he  discovered  accidentally  that  any  one  of 
these  peculiarly  coloured  spiders,  when  transferred  to  a  difler- 
ently  coloured  flower,  assumes  the  hue  of  the  latter  in  the  course 
of  a  few  days  ;  and  when  the  pink,  white,  green,  and  yellow 
varieties  are  confined  together  in  a  box,  they  all  become  nearly 
white. 

Mr.  Theodore  Bent,  according  to  a  telegram  received 
from  him  at  Cape  Town,  has  good  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  results  of  his  investigation  of  the  Zimbabye  ruins.  He  is  of 
opinion  that  the  *'  finds  ''  unmistakably  indicate  the  form  of 
worship,  the  manner  of  decoration,  and  the  system  of  gold 
smelting  practised  by  the  vanished  people  who  inhabited  the 
buildings.     He  is  now  visiting  other  ruins. 

The  series  of  *'One  Man"  photographic  exhibitions  at  the 
Camera  Club  is  to  be  continued  during  the  coming  winter. 
According  to  the  Journal  of  the  Club,  there  will  first  be  an  ex- 
hibition of  photographs  by  Mr.  Ralph  W.  Robinson.  This 
will  be  followed  by  an  exhibition  of  the  work  of  Mr.  J.  P. 
Gibson,  of  Hexham. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Meteorological  Society  of  Mauritius  on 
July  30,  it  was  stated  that,  on  June  13  and  14  last,  thunder- 
storms occurred  in  that  island.  This,  so  far  as  was  known, 
was  the  first  instance  of  a  thunder-storm  having  taken  place 
since  the  year  180 1.  There  was  a  considerable  increase  of  sun- 
spots  at  about  this  time,  and  on  June  14  a  remarkable  magnetic 
disturbance  took  place.  Photographs  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
transit  of  Venus,  on  May  10  last,  were  exhibited.  At  sunrise 
the  planet  had  already  traversed  about  one-half  of  iu  apparent 
path,  and  its  appearance  was  perfectly  round  and  intensely 
black.  The  time  of  tangential  contact  (at  egress)  was,  as  nearly 
as  ceuld  be  ascertained,  8h.  36m.  36s.     A  number  of  charts 


< 


45.2 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


showing  the  winds  and  weather  experienced  by  several  vessels 
which  encountered  cyclones  in  December,  January,  and  Febmary 
last  were  submitted ;  the  greatest  of  the  disturbances  which  had 
been  experienced  of  late  occurred  from  February  3-13.  At  the 
Observatory  the  barometer  fell  from  29*962  inches,  at  9h.  a.m. 
on  the  1st,  to  29*409  inches,  at  3h.  25m.  a.m.  on  the  6th.  Full 
details  of  these  cyclones  will  be  published.  With  reference  to 
the  '*  Atlas  of  Cyclone  Tracks,"  lately  published  by  the  Meteoro- 
logical Council,  Dr.  Meldrum  stated  that  the  preparation  of  an 
appendix  was  under  consideration. 

The  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Commission  of  Cape 
Colony  for  the  year  1890  contains  the  results  of  observations 
taken  at  45  principal  stations,  and  monthly  and  yearly  rainfall 
values  at  ab3ut  300  stations  in  the  colony  and  neighbouring 
States.  The  observations  are  made  chiefly  by  public  officials, 
and  by  private  gentlemen  who  lend  their  aid.  Summaries  from 
a  selected  number  of  rainfall  stations  are  also  published  monthly 
in  the  Government  Gazette  and  in  the  Agricultural  youmal. 
The  expenditure  for  the  year  was  only  ;f  378,  so  that,  considering 
the  smallness  of  the  fuads  available,  the  results  obtained  are 
highly  satisfactory ;  and  the  cost  of  instruments,  which  become 
the  property  of  the  observers  after  5  years'  continuous  observa  • 
tions,  is  not  inconsiderable.  The  Commission  express  the  hope 
that  their  labours  may  lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  laws  which 
govern  the  weather  in  those  parts,  and  ultimately  result  in  the 
issuing  of  trustworthy  storm  warnings.  With  this  view  simul- 
taneous observations  from  various  stations  are  telegraphed  to 
various  ports,  where  they  are  entered  on  sketch  maps  for  the 
information  of  mariners  and  others. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  informs  us  that  Dr.  Sleich,  of  Berlin, 
has  found  that  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  distilled  water 
produces  sufficient  local  anaesthesia  at  the  point  of  insertion  to 
allow  small  operations,  such  as  opening  a  boil,  to  be  made 
without  pain. 

The  following  are  some  results  of  Herren  Elsterand  GeiteFs 
recent  electric  observations  on  the  Sonnblick,  described  to  the 
Vienna  Academy : — The  intensity  of  the  most  refrangible  solar 
rays,  measured  by  their  discharging  effect  on  a  negatively 
electrified  surface  of  amalgamated  zinc  is  about  doubled  on  rising 
3100  m.  from  the  lowland.  The  authors  were  unable  to  find 
other  actino-electrically  active  substances ;  even  pure  fresh  snow 
and  dry  Sonnblick  rock  were  not  perceptibly  discharged  by 
light  Waterfalls  may  produce  in  a  valley  a  negative  fall  of 
potential,  and  to  considerable  heights  (500  m. ).  The  morning 
maximum  in  fall  of  potential,  observed  regularly  between  7  and 
9  a.m.  in  the  plain  and  in  Alpine  valleys,  was  absent  at  3100  m. 
Before  thunderstorms  in  July,  the  positive  fall  of  potential  sank 
gradually,  in  light  showers,  to  »{/,  at  which  it  remained  some- 
times two  or  three  hours  till  completion  of  the  electrical  process 
in  the  cloud.  In  thunder-clouds,  or  on  low  ground,  during  a 
thunderstorm,  the  atmospheric  electricity  usually  changes  sign 
after  a  discharge.  St.  Elmo's  fire  (negative  as  often  as  positive) 
always  accompanied  thunderstorms.  The  observation  that 
negative  St.  Elmo's  fire  bums  with  blue  flame,  positive  with  red, 
was  repeatedly  confirmed. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  fox  possesses  an  excellent  "  head 
for  country."  Referring  to  this  subject  in  an  interesting  article 
in  the  current  number  of  the  Zoologist^  Mr.  Harting  says  a  fox 
has  been  known  to  return  seventy  miles  to  his  "earth,"  and 
this  not  once,  but  three  times.  He  was  caught  in  Yorkshire, 
and  sent  into  Lancashire  to  be  hunted  by  the  hounds  of  the  late 
Mr.  Fitzherbert  Brockholes,  of  Claugbton  Hall,  Garstang,  and 
his  identity  was  established  by  his  having  been  marked  in  the 
ear  by  the  fox- catcher.  This  story  Mr.  Harting  had  from  his 
friend  Captain  F.  H.  Salvin,  who  was  living  in  Yorkshire  at  the 

NO.    114 1,  VOL.  44] 


time,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr.   Brockholes,  who  gave 
him  all  the  details. 

During  the  nesting  season  the  male  ostrich  seems  to  be  any- 
thing but  an  agreeable  creature.  In  a  paper  lately  read  befotc 
the  Royal  Society  of  Tasmania,  Mr.  James  Andrew  says  that  at 
that  period  the  bird  is  most  pugnadons,  and  may  only  be  ap- 
proached in  safety  with  great  precaution.  He  resents  the  in- 
trusion of  any  visitors  on  his  domain,  and  proves  a  mott 
formidable  opponent.  His  mode  of  attack  is  by  a  series  of 
kicks.  The  leg  is  thrown  forwards  and  outwards,  until  the  foot, 
armed  with  a  most  formidable  nail,  is  high  in  the  air  ;  it  is  then 
brought  down  with  terrific  force,  serious  enough  to  the  nnhappy 
human  being  or  animal  struck  with  the  flat  of  the  foot,  but  miodi 
worse  if  the  victim  be  caught  and  ripped  by  the  toe.  Instances 
are  known  of  men  being  killed  outright  by  a  single  kick,  and 
Mr.  Andrew  remembers,  whilst  on  a  visit  in  the  neighbourhood, 
that  on  a  farm  near  Graaff  Reinet  a  horse's  back  was  broken  by 
one  such  blow  aimed  at  its  rider.  If  attacked,  a  man  should 
never  seek  safety  in  flight ;  a  few  yards  and  the  bird  is  within 
striking  distance,  and  the  worst  consequences  may  result.  The 
alternative  is  to  lie  flat  on  the  ground,  and  submit  with  as  moch 
resignation  as  possible  to  the  inevitable  and  severe  pummelling 
which  it  may  be  expected  will  be  repeated  at  intervals  until  a 
means  of  escape  presents  itself,  or  the  bird  aflfords  an  oppor- 
tunity of  being  caught  by  the  neck,  which,  if  tightly  held  and 
kept  down,  prevents  much  further  mischief.  Under  such  ctr> 
cumstances,  however,  Mr.  Andrew  has  known  a  bird,  with  a 
badly-calculated  kick,  strike  the  back  of  its  own  head,  scatter- 
ing the  brains — '*a  serious  loss  of  valuable  property  to  the 
farmer." 

We  learn  from  the  Ttflis  paper  Caucasus  that  during  an 
excursion  to  the  sources  of  the  Jiagdon,  which  was  made  recently 
by  several  explorers,  no  fewer  than  eight  glaciers  were  dis- 
covered, six  of  which  are  not  marked  on  the  5  versts  to  the  inch 
map  of  Caucasus.  They  have  been  viewed  now  and  sketched 
from  Styr-khokh  Pass.  The  southern  slope  of  the  branch- 
ridge  of  the  main  chain,  between  the  Kazbek  and  the  Syrkha- 
barzon  peak,  has  also  been  sketched  from  the  TrussoflTs  Pas, 
and  it  appears  that  several  of  the  glaciers  of  this  part  of  the 
chain  are  not  represented  on  the  great  map,  while  perpetual 
snow  is  shown  where  there  is  none.  The  glaciers  visited  by  the 
party  proved  to  have  very  much  changed  their  aspect  since  18S2. 
Several  sulphur  and  iron  carbonate  springs  were  visited  in  the 
Trussofi's  valley,  and  several  interesting  Alpine  flowers  in  blooai 
were  collected  on  the  passes. 

A  SKETCH  of  the  vegetation  of  British  Baluchistan,  with  de- 
scriptions of  new  species,  published  originally  in  the  Linneaa 
Society's  Journal,  has  now  been  issued  separately.  The  author 
is  Mr.  I.  H.  Lace,  who  has  had  the  advantage  of  Mr.  W.  B. 
Hemsley's  aid. 

In  the  Bulletins  de  la  Sociiti  d' Antkropologie  de  Paris  (fourth 
series,  vol.  ii.  Parts  i  and  2)  the  subject  most  prominently  deaft 
with  is  the  slow  rate  at  which  the  population  of  France  in- 
creases. According  to  the  report  of  a  prolonged  discussion  oa 
this  question,  there  is  much  difTerence  of  opinion  as  to  the 
causes  to  which  the  phenomenon  must  be  attributed.  The 
Bulletins  also  include  interesting  contributions  on  the  Koahoii% 
a  native  tribe  of  Sumatra,  by  M.  Zelle ;  a  series  of  spoons  (^ 
various  epochs,  by  M.  CapiUn ;  the  pre-Columbian  ethno- 
graphy of  Venezuela,  by  Dr.  G.  Marcano ;  justice  in  Aodeat 
Egypt,  by  M.  Ollivier- Beauregard ;  and  religious  evolntioa  in 
the  region  of  the  Congo,  by  M.  Clement  Rubbens. 

The  second  part  of  the  Catalogue  of  Mammalia  in  the  Im&a 
Museum,  Calcutta,  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Sclater,  has  just  been  issKd. 
The  first  part  was  compiled  by  Dr.  Anderson,  the  late  Super- 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


453 


intendent.  The  total  number  of  species  included  in  the  Cata- 
logue amounts  to  590,  of  which  276  are  found  within  the  Indian 
Empire,  and  314  are  exotic. 

The  Smithsonian  Institution  has  issued  a  set  of  useful  direc- 
tions, by  Leonhard  Stejneger,  for  the  use  of  colle:tors,  who, 
without  being  herpetological  experts,  desire  to  procure  for  the 
U.S.  National  Museum  specimens  of  the  reptiles  and  batra- 
ohians  which  they  may  be  able  to  gather  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  their  residence  or  while  travelling.  The  same  Institution 
publishes  directions  for  collecting  recent  and  fossil  plants,  by 
F.  H.  Knowlton  ;  and  notes  on  the  preparation  ot  rough  skele- 
tons, by  F.  A.  Lucas. 

Students  will  be  glad  to  welcome  the  fourth  edition  of  Prof. 
Milnes  Marshairs  well-known  work  on  **  The  Frog  :  an  Intro- 
duction to  Anatomy,  Histology,  and  Embryology."  The 
author  explains  that*  the  chapter  on  embryology  has  been  in 
great  part  rewritten,  and  that  some  new  figures  have  been  added. 
The  entire  book  has  been  carefully  revised. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  daring  the 
past  week  include  a  Dorsal  Hyrax  {Hyrax  dorseUis)  from  Sierra 
Leone,  presented  by  Mr.  Reginald  Brett ;  a  Common  Polecat 
{Mustela  putorius)^  British,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  D.  Lea  Smith  ; 
a  Ring-necked  Panakeet  {Palaomis  torqiuUus)  from  India,  pre- 
sented by  Mrs.  Bowen ;  an  Australian  Thicknee  ( CEdicntmus 
graUaritu)  from  Australia,  'presented  by  Sir  Ferdinand  von 
Mueller,  C.M.Z.S.  ;  a  Manx  Shearwater  (Puffinus  anglorun^ 
British,  presented  by  Master  Riviere. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Solar  Observations. — In  Comptes  rendus  for  August  24. 
Prof.  Tacchini  gives  a  risumi  of  the  solar  observations  made  at 
the  Observatory  of  the  Roman  College  during  the  second 
qoarter  of  this  year.  Spots  and  faculse  have  been  observed 
on  73  days,  viz.  25  in  April,  23  in  May,  and  25  in  June, 
The  following  are  the  results  obtained: — 


Relative  frequency 


Relative  magnitude 


1891. 

April 

May 

Jane 


of  days 


ofspote.  without  s^pot,. 

9*24  0*00 

14*35  ^'^^ 

i6'88         o'oo 


of  spots,     of  faculae. 


24-56 
4814 
47-00 


5560 
51*82 
8938 


Number 
of  groups 
per  day. 

.      236 
.     409 

.      380 


The  distribution  and  magnitude  of  the  prominences  observed 
are  as  follow  :— 


189X. 

April 

May 

June 


Number 
of  days  of 
observation. 

18 
21 

19 


Mean 
number. 

750 
4*62 

5*53 


Mean 

height. 

u 

42'3 
37-3 
39*4 


Mean 

extension. 

o 

1*5 
1*4 
1-8 


This  interesting  identification  of  the  magnetic  and  light  action. of 
solar  radiations  is  in  harmony  with  the  results  of  the  investiga* 
tions  of  Maxwell  and  Hertz.  And  Prof.  Bigelow  believes  that, 
by  the  application  of  similar  considerations  to  Mercury,  he  will 
be  able  to  satisfactorily  account  for  the  outstanding  motion  of 
this  planet's  perihelion. 

Two  New  Asteroids. — On  August  28,  Charlois  discovered 
the  313th  minor  planet  ;  and  Palisa  found  the  314th  two  days 
later. 


It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  there  was  a  secondary  maximum 
in  May  in  the  case  of  spots,  whilst  a  secondary  minimum  is 
indicated  by  the  observations  of  prominences. 

Connection  between  Terrestrial  Magnetism  and 
Radiant  SUNUGHT.—Prof.  Frank  H.  Bigelow  contributes  a 
note  to  the  AmerUan  J(ntmal  of  Science  for  September,  on  the 
causes  of  the  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle.  He  finds, 
fronn  a  discussion  of  magnetic  observations  made  at  thirteen 
stations  during  the  month  of  June  1883,  that  ''the  permanent 
magnetic  condition  of  the  earth  may  be  principally  due  to  the 
orbital  motion  of  the  earth  through  the  radiant  neld  of  sunlight. 
The  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis  causes  a  modification  of  the 
direction  of  the  axis  of  polarization,  by  diminishing  the  augle 
between  the  two  axes,  and  as  the  result  of  the  annual  motion 
may  cause  it  to  rotate  in  a  secular  period  about  the  axis  of  figure, 
or  if  the  magnetization  has  already  become  set  in  the  body  of  the 
earth,  may  cause  a  succession  of  secular  waves  to  sweep  over  it 
fiom  east  to  west,  as  is  shown  to  be  the  case  in  the  history  of 
the  isogonic  lines  and  the  long-period  deflections  of  the  needle. " 

NO.   1 141,  VOL.  44] 


PHYSICS  AT  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION 

'T'HIS  Section,  as  is  unfortunatelv  the  custom,  was  housed  in 
-'-  an  ecclesiastical  edifice  in  which  no  provision  had  been 
made  for  the  exhibition  of  apparatus  or  lantern  slides  by  the 
readers  of  papers.  No  doubt,  it  is  impossible  alwajrs  to  provide 
accommodation  equal  to  that  furnished  two  years  ago  at  New- 
castle, when  the  Physical  Lecture  Theatre  of  the  Durham 
College  of  Science,  with  its  appliances,  was  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Section.  Still,  it  should  be  possible  to  provide 
lantern  and  screen,  and  provision  shoula  be  made,  when 
necessary,  for  partially  darlcening  the  room.  If  there  were  a 
guarantee  that  lantern  slides  could  always  be  exhibited,  many 
readers  of  paper&  would  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to 
illustrate  their  communications  much  more  adequately  than  is 
possible  at  present,  when  the  only  appliances  are  a  piece  of  chalk 
and  a  dimmutive  blackboard ;  eg,  on  Monday  morning  the 
beautiful  photographs  of  Mr.  Clayden  and  Dr.  Copeland  had  to 
be  passed  round  from  hand  to  hand  instead  of  being  exhibited  in 
a  manner  which  would  have  done  justice  to  their  merits.  The 
contents  of  many  of  the  papers,  too,  would  be  much  more  easily 
and  pleasantly  grasped  if  such  a  course  were  adopted. 

Unfortunately,  some  of  the  leading  physicists,  notably  Sir 
William  Thomson,  Lord  Rayleigh,  and  Prof.  Fitzgerald,  were 
unable  to  be  present.  Prof.  Lodge,  however,  admirably  filled 
the  chair,  and  spared  no  exertion  in  the  endeavour  to  clear  up 
points  of  obscurity  or  difficulty  that  arose  during  the  discussion. 

In  all,  some  fifty  papers  and  reports  were  read.  In  the 
limited  space  at  our  disposal,  we  regret  that  it  is  only  possible  to 
refer  to  communications  of  general  rather  than  of  special  scientific 
interest. 

After  the  President's  address  on  Thursday  m)ming,  Prof. 
Newton  communicated  a  most  interesting  account  of  the  action 
of  Jupiter  on  small  bodies  passing  near  the  planet,  in  which  he 
showed  that  if  a  comet  pass  in  front  of  Jupiter,  owing  to  the 
gravitational  attraction  between  the  two  bodies  the  kinetic 
energy  of  Jupiter  will  be  increased,  while  that  of  the  comet 
will  be  diminished,  and  may  be  diminished  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  cause  it  to  form  (though  possibly  only  tem- 
porarily) a  member  of  the  solar  system.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  a  comet,  already  a  member  of  the  solar  system,  pass  behind 
Jupiter,  the  kinetic  energy  of  the  planet  will  be  diminished 
and  that  of  the  comet  will  be  increased,  and  may  con- 
ceivably be  increased  under  favourable  circumstances  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  comet  may  no  longer  remain  as  a  member  of 
the  system.  Prof.  Newton  had  calculated  that  of  1,000,000,000 
comets  from  space  crossii^,  in  all  directions,  a  sphere  equal  in 
diameter  to  that  of  Jupiter's  orbit,  about  1,200  would  come  near 
enough  to  Jupiter  to  have  their  period  so  much  diminished  as  to 
be  less  than  t  nat  of  the  planet. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Wilson  read  a  paper  on  the  absorption  of  heat 
in  the  solar  atmospheie,  and  exhibited  some  of  the  apparatus 
he  had  used  in  the  investigation.  The  method  of  observation 
employed  consisted  in  allowing  the  sun's  image  to  transit 
across  the  thermo-electric  junction  of  a  Boys  radio-micrometer. 
He  finds  that  the  solar  radiation  from  the  extreme  peri- 
pheral portion  of  the  disk  is  distinctly  less  than  that  from 
the  central  portions.  In  this  respect  the  sun's  radiation  differs 
entirely  from  that  of  the  moon,  in  which  there  is  little  or  no 
such  difference  in  the  illumination  of  different  parts  of  the  sur- 
face. This  difference  is  attributable  to  the  absorption  of  heat  in 
the  solar  atmosphere,  which  will  necessarily  be  much  more 
marked  for  the  peripheral  than  for  the  central  portions  of  the 
disk. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan  presented  an  elaborate  report  on  researches 
relative  to  the  second  law  of  thermodjmamics,  in  which  is 
described  an  exceedingly  simple  mechanical  representation  of 
Camot's  reversible  cycle. 


454 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


Friday  was  devoted  to  papers  on  electrical  subjects.  Prof. 
Andrew  Gray  read  a  paper  on  the  electro-magnetic  the<n7  of  the 
rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarized  light.  Sir  William  Thomson's 
explanation  of  the  phenomenon  rests  on  the  supposition  that  the 
ether  has  embedded  in  it  a  large  number  of  small  gyrostats. 
Prof.  Gray  showed  that  the  ordinary  Maxwellian  equations  for 
the  phenomenon  were  obtainable  on  the  supposition  of  the 
existence  of  a  closed  chain  of  small  magnets  embedded  in  the 
undisturbed  medium,  which  set  themselves  with  their  axes  in  the 
direction  of  propagation  of  the  ray  as  soon  as  the  medium  was 
magnetized  in  that  direction. 

This  paper  was  followed  by  a  most  interesting  communication 
from  the  President,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  preliminary 
experiments  to  ascertain  if  the  ether  is  disturbed  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  a  rapidly  moving  body — in  other  words,  to  ascertain 
whether  the  ether  behaves  as  a  viscous  fluid.  Allusion  was 
first  of  all  made  to  the  experiments  of  Arago,  in  which  he 
endeavoured  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  ether  was  stagnant 
with  respect  to  the  earth  by  measuring  the  refractive  index  of  a 
glass  prism  at  different  times  of  the  day,  when  the  ether  stream 
(if  it  exist)  will  flow  in  one  direction  or  the  opposite  through 
the  prism.  Arago  found  no  such  shift,  indicating  that  the  ether 
was  stagnant  with  reference  to  the  earth.  Fresnel,  Fizeau,  and 
Michelson  had  ako  studied  theoretically  or  experimentally  the 
ratio  of  so-called  "bound"  ether  to  "free"  ether.  The 
problem  which  Prof.  Lodge  set  himself  to  determine  was 
whether  a  disk  moving  with  great  rapidity  would  or  would  not 
drag  after  it  the  ether  in  its  immediate  neighbourhood.  Two 
parallel  co-axial  disks  of  steel  were  arranged  to  spin  at  an 
enormous  rate.  Rays  of  light  from  a  single  source  were  allowed 
to  fall  on  a  glass  plate  feebly  silvered  so  that  about  half  the 
light  was  transmitted  and  half  reflected.  By  means  of  additional 
reflectors  the  two  beams  passed  in  opposite  directions  several 
times  round  in  the  space  between  the  two  disks,  and  were  then 
observed  in  a  common  telescope  and  made  to  give  interference 
bands.  In  this  way,  assuming  viscosity  of  the  ether,  the  one 
beam  would  have  its  velocity  increased,  the  other  would  have  its 
velocity  retarded,  with  the  result  that  a  shift  of  the  interference 
bands  would  be  produced.  So  far,  however,  no  such  shift  has 
been  observed. 

Prof.  D.  £.  Jones  gave  an  account  of  some  experiments 
made  by  him  at  Bonn  on  electric  waves  in  wires.  Measure- 
ments of  the  electrical  disturbance  at  different  points  of  a  wire, 
in  which  stationary  waves  are  set  up,  were  made  quantitatively 
by  putting  a  thermo-electric  junction  in  the  circuit  at  different 
points,  and  noting  the  defleaion  of  the  galvanometer  in  its 
circuit.  Several  curious  results  were  recorded  for  which  no 
explanations  were  forthcoming. 

A  communication  was  read  from  Lord  Rayleigh,  relating  to 
the  reflection  of  polarized  light  from  liquid  surfaces.  He  finds 
that  the  light  reflected  at  the  polarizing  angle,  from  clean  liquid 
surfaces,  is  only  very  slightly  elliptically  polarized  ;  if,  however, 
the  surface  be  ever  so  slightly  contaminated,  the  amount  of 
elliptically  polarized  light  in  the  reflected  beam  is  enormously 
increased. 

Saturday  was  devoted  principally  to  the  consideration  of 
papers  on  electrolysis.  Mr.  Shaw's  report  on  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge  in  electrolysis  and  electro-chemistry  included 
a  tabular  compilation  by  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  of  the  electrical  pro- 
perties of  soluble  salts  at  different  temperatures,  and  for  different 
concentrations. 

Mr.  J.  Brown  read  a  paper  on  Clausius's  theory  of  electro- 
lytic conduction,  and  on  some  recent  evidence  for  the  dissocia- 
tion theory  of  electrolysis,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of 
experiments  with  so-called  semi-permeable  membranes.  The 
explanation  of  their  filtering  qualities  simply  depends  on  the 
membrane  acting  as  a  conductor. 

Mr.  Chattock  gave  an  account  of  some  important  ouantitative 
experiments  which  be  had  made  on  the  discharge  of  electricity 
from  points  from  which  he  finds  that  it  is  the  air  round  the  point 
rather  than  the  metal  surface  itself  which  offers  resistance  to  the 
discharge. 

On  Monday  the  meteorological  and  allied  subjects  were  taken. 
The  Reports  of  various  Committees  appointed  to  deal  with 
meteorological  subjects  were  read. 

Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney  read  an  interesting  paper  on  the  cause 
of  double  lines  in  the  spectra  of  gases.  He  assumes  that  the 
molecules  are  vibrating  in  more  or  less  complex  harmonic  curves, 
and  he  illustrated  the  simple  case  of  sodium  vapour  by  means 
of  a  pendulum  oscillating  to  and  fro,  but  with  an  apsidal  motion. 

NO.    1 141,  VOL.   44] 


He  stated  that  the  application  of  astronomical  methods  of 
calculation  to  molecular  motioas  of  sodium  vapour  gives  rise 
to  a  double  D  line  instead  of  to  a  broadening  of  the  line 
as  might  at  first  sight  be  imagined.  In  the  discussion  which 
followed,  Mr.  Webster  stated  that  ProC  Michelson,  who  was 
endeavouring  to  determine  the  metre  in  terms  of  the  wave- 
length of  light  emitted  by  a  vibrating  atom,  had  found  by 
the  interference  method  that  all  the  mercury  lines  are 
double. 

Dr.  Copeland  exhibited  a  model  to  explain  the  probable 
nature  of  the  bright  streaks  on  the  moon.  He  attributes  the 
appearance  of  the  streaks  to  the  existence  of  transparent  spheres 
on  the  moon's  surface,  which  reflect  the  light  from  the  posterior 
surface  so  as  to  be  only  visible  in  the  line  of  light. 

During  the  morning  the  President  interpolated  some  obserra- 
tions  dealing  with  the  effect  of  light  in  modifying  the  eflect  of 
the  gravitational  attraction  of  the  sun  on  small  particles.  'When 
sunlight  falls  upon  a  body,  a  very  small  repulsive  effect  is  prodttced, 
amounting  to  about  67  dynes  per  squsu«  metre.  Thus,  Ibr 
example,  during  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  about  1000  tons  are 
suddenly  applied,  but  this  small  force  is  incapable  of  prodacing 
any  observable  effect  on  the  motion  of  our  satellite.  The 
smaller  the  body,  the  larger,  of  course,  the  surface  exposed 
relatively  to  the  mass,  and  therefore  the  greater  should  be  the 
effect  produced.  For  a  certain  size  of  particle  (about  that  of  a 
grain  of  dust]  the  gravitational  attraction  and  light  repulsion 
should  balance  one  another.  The  effect  is  clearly  independent 
of  distance. 

On  Tuesday,  after  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Electrical 
Standards,  read  by  Prof.  Carey- Foster,  and  an  account  of  an 
elaborate  research  by  Mr.  Swinburne  on  the  causes  of  -raria- 
tion  of  Clark  cells,  there  was  arranged  a  joint  discussion  with 
Section  G,  on  "  Units  and  their  Nomenclature,"  which  was 
opened  by  the  President,  who  suggested  that  the  discussion 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  confined  to  electrical  units,  and 
that  the  mechaniod  units  should  be  left  to  a  later  period.  He 
discussed  at  some  length  the  relative  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages  of  the  various  names  for  the  unit  of  self-induction,  seoohm, 
quadrant,  henry,  &c.,  and  expressed  himself  as  of  opinion  that 
the  quadrant,  which  was  really  an  angular  measure,  but  which 
was  frequently  used  as  a  linear  measure,  was  very  objectionable 
in  that  it  indicated  that  the  unit  of  self-induction  was  a  length, 
when  it  was  perfectly  well  known  not  to  be  a  lexigth.  He 
was,  therefore,  of  opinion  that  some  name  with  a  less 
obvious  meaning,  such  as  that  of  a  person,  was  very  desirable. 
He  thought  also  that  the  secohm  was  too  large  for  practical 
purposes,  and  that  some  sub-multiple  such  as  xo\»  would  be 
preferable. 

The  President  was  followed  by  Mr.  Preece,  who  referred  to 
the  work  of  the  British  Association  Committee  on  Electrical 
Standards,  which  had  lasted  now  for  thirty  years,  and  expressed 
the  opinion  that  it  would  be  undesirable  to  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  old  standards  now  about  to  be  legalized  by  the  fioard 
of  Trade. 

Prof.  Stroud  read  a  paper  on  some  revolutionary  suggestions 
on  the  nomenclature  of  electrical  and  mechanical  units,  in  which 
he  advocated  selecting  lo'  cm.  as  the  unit  of  length,  io~*  gm. 
as  the  unit  of  mass,  and  I  sec  as  the  unit  of  time  to  form  the 
basis  of  a  new  practical  system  of  units.  He  also  explained  the 
details  of  a  system  of  automatic  nomenclature  for  C.G.S.  and 
other  units,  which  he  thought  should  be  taken  into  oonsideratioo 
before  any  fresh  names  were  authorized.  The  special  feature  ot 
the  system  is  that  every  label  is  self-explanatory. 

Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney  thought  the  old  S3rstem  should  remain 
intact,  and  that  the  proper  way  to  deal  with  the  subject  of 
nomenclature  was  to  indicate  sub-multiples  by  nnmerioal  pie- 
fixes  ;  i.g,  he  would  call  a  microfarad  a  sixth  faiad,  and  the 
capacity  of  a  Leyden  jar  would  be  about  a  tenth  farad.  He 
snggested  that  the  name  for  the  unit  of  magnetism  should  be  a 
Gilbert,  and  that  of  the  unit  magnetic  field  a  Gauss. 

Prof.  Carey  Foster  thought  that  if  the  volt  and  ampere  were 
made  ten  times  as  great,  fresh  names,  such  /.^.  as  **gal," 
from  Galvani,  should  be  introduced. 

Prof.  Rucker  laid  stress  on  the  importance  of  recognizing  the 
fact    that    we   possessed  at    present    no   definite   hnowled^ 
as  to   the  absolute  dimensions  of  any  electrical  or  n 
unit,   and  therefore  it  was   undesirable    to    introduce 
(such    e.g.    as    quadrant)    implying    the    possession    of 
knowledge. 

Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  drew  attention  to  the  desirability  of 


Skptember  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


455 


dbtniguishing  between  scalar  and  vector  quantities  in  our  di- 
mensions. 

Prof.  Gray  disapproved  of  the  term  electromotive  force,  but 
thought  it  was  a  term  which  could  scarcely  be  eradicated  now. 

Each  speaker,  in  fact,  discussed  the  subject  from  his  own  point 
of  view,  with  the  result,  as  the  President  remarked,  that  the  time 
allotted  had  only  served  to  open  the  discussion,  but  he  hoped 
that  it  would  be  continued  in  the  technical  journals  during  the 
year,  so  that  some  definite  conclusions  might  be  arrived  at  in 
1S92. 
Wednesday  morning  was  devoted  to  clearing  off  arrears. 
Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  read  two  optical  papers,  one  on  the 
measurement  of  lenses,  and  a  second  on  a  new  polarizer.  In 
this  instrumenf  the  polarization  is  effected  by  reflection  from 
black  glass,  but  to  avoid  the  angling  of  the  beam  a  reflecting 
prism  is  used  in  addition.  This  arrangement  has  the  dis- 
advantage that  the  axis  of  the  beam  undergoes  a  translational 
shift,  so  that  rotation  of  the  polarizer  is  out  of  the  question.  To 
get  over  this  difficulty  two  more  reflectors  are  introduced,  or 
tiro  quarter*wave  plates  may  be  used,  one  of  whieh  converts  the 
plane  polarized  light  into  circularly  polarized  light,  while  the 
other  reconverts  it  into  light  plane  polarized  in  any  azimuth. 

Dr.  Webster  then  gave  an  account  of  some  experiments  on  a 
new  method  for  determining  v.  The  method  is  similar  in  some 
respects  to  Ayrton  and  Perry's,  and  gave  as  a  result  in  the  pre- 
liminary experiments  2*987  x  lo^^ 

Prof.  Riicker  then  gave  an  account  of  some  experiments  made 
by  Prof.  Ayrton  and  himself,  on  the  magnetic  field  near  the 
South  London  Electrical  Railway.  The  experiments  were 
made  in  a  house  in  Kennington  Park  Road  with  ordinary 
galvanometers,  and  showed  conclusively  that  the  magnetic 
disturbances  on  delicately  suspended  needles  would  be  per- 
ceptible at  considerable  distances. 

Pirof.  J.  V.  Jones,  in  describing  some  experiments  on  the 
periodic  time  of  tuning-forks,  maintained  in  vibration  electrically, 
stated  that  dry  platinum-platinum  contacts  do  not  work  satis- 
fiictorily,  whereas  the  results  obtained  with  mercury  contacts 
are  much  better,  at  all  events  when  changes  of  temperature  are 
carefully  guarded  against. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Trouton  described  some  interesting  experiments  to 
determine  the  rate  of  propagation  of  magnetization  in  iron.  A 
large  coil  of  iron  wire,  from  8  to  12  feet  in  diameter,  was 
supplied  with  one  fixed  coil  wound  on  it,  and  through  which 
the  alternating  current  passed.  A  second  exploring  coil  was 
connected  up  with  a  telephone,  and  one  experiment  consisted 
in  endeavouring  to  find  out  the  positions  of  nodes  and  inter- 
nodes  in  the  magnetized  material  from  which  it  might  have  been 
possible  to  have  determined  the  length  of  the  wave  of  magnetiza- 
tion for  a  definite  period  of  alternation.  Nodes  were  observed  in 
the  half  of  the  ring  remote  from  the  magnetizing  coil,  but  these 
were  easily  ascertained  not  to  be  the  ones  sought  for,  because 
their  position  was  not  found  to  depend  on  the  period  of  alterna- 
tion. 

The  President  attributed  the  effects  to  mechanical  vibrations 
excited  by  magnetization. 


CHEMISTRY  AT    THE    BRITISH 
ASSOCIA  TION. 

'HE  proceedings  of  Section  B  at  Cardiff  were  not  felt  to  be 
as  interesting  as  on  some  previous  occasions.  Several  well- 
known  chemists  were  not  present,  and  no  set  discussions  on 
subjects  of  general  chemical  interest,  which  have  been  special 
features  at  other  times,  took  place.  Still,  in  the  course  of  the 
meeting  several  papers  of  very  considerable  importance  were 
read,  and  provoked  valuable  comments.  The  President's  Ad- 
dress was  listened  to  by  an  enthusiastic  audience,  and  his  remarks, 
together  with  several  of  the  papers  contributed  during  the  meet- 
ing, should  give  a  fresh  impetus  to  the  study  of  the  metals. 

Prof.  Dunstan  read  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Formatioo  of  Haloid  Salts.  It  has  been  found  by  Mr.  Shen- 
stone  that  chlorine,  prepared  by  the  action  of  hydrogen  chloride 
on  manganese  dioxide,  attacks  mercury  readily,  even  when  both 
ftibstances  are  pure  and  dry,  while  that  obtained  by  heating 
platinous  chloride  only  attacks  mercury  extremely  slowly.  In- 
cidentally it  has  been  discovered  that  pure  platinous  chloride  is 
a  very  difficult  substance  to  prepare,  an  oxychloride  being  formed 

NO.   I  1 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


at  the  same  time.    The  results  so  far  obtsdned  are  to  be  regarded 
as  preliminary. 

Prof.  Vivian  B.  Lewes  read  a  paper  on  the  spontaneous 
ignition  of  coal.  His  experiments  lc»d  him  to  reject  the  expla- 
nation of  Berzelius,  which  attributes  spontaneous  ignition  to  the 
oxidation  of  pyrites  contained  in  the  coal.  The  heat  given  off 
by  the  combustion  of  the  pyrites  present  in  the  most  dangerous 
kind  of  coal,  even  if  localized,  would  not  be  sufficient  to  raise 
the  temperature  of  the  adjacent  coal  to  the  ignition  point.  The 
cause  of  spontaneous  ignition  of  coal  is  to  be  found,  rather,  in 
its  power,  especially  when  finely  divided,  of  absorbing  oxygen, 
which  causes  the  slow  combustion  of  some  of  the  hydrocarbon 
constituents  even  at  the  ordinary  temperature.  The  action  may 
increase  under  favourable  conditions  until  ignition  of  the  coal 
results.  The  risk  is  greatest  with  large  masses  of  coal,  and  with 
the  ordinary  air  supply  on  board  ships.  The  oxidation  increases 
rapidly  with  the  initial  temperature  of  the  coal,  so  that  c  >al 
fires  are  found  to  occur  most  often  on  ships  frequenting  tropical 
climates.  It  may  be  roughly  estimated  that  the  absorbing  power 
of  a  coal  for  oxygen  is  proportional  to  its  power  of  taking  up 
moisture. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed,  Prof.  Bedson  mentioned 
his  experiments  on  the  heating  of  coal-dust  at  various  tempera- 
tures up  to  140*^  C.  He  had  noticed  that  in  some  c^es  com- 
bustible gases  were  given  off  by  the  coal. 

A  feature  of  special  interest  was  the  exhibition  by  Ludwie 
Mond  of  specimens  of  nickel-carbon-oxide  and  metallic  nickel 
obtained  therefrom.  In  the  paper  read  in  conjunction  with 
this  exhibit  an  account  was  given  of  the  discovery  and  proper- 
ties of  the  above  compound.  The  physical  properties  have 
been  described  in  the  yournal  fur  physikuliscfu  Chtmie, 
Chemically,  nickel  carbonyl  is  most  inactive,  numerous  experi- 
ments made  to  introduce  the  carbonyl  group  into  organic 
substances  by  its  means  having  been  uniformly  unsuccessful. 
Experiments  were  described  having  for  their  object  the  direct 
extraction  of  nickel  from  its  ores  by  means  of  carbon  monoxide. 
It  was  found  that,  as  long  as  the  nickel  is  combined  with  arsenic 
or  sulphur,  the  process  is  entirely  successful  on  a  laboratory 
scale.  Such  ore,  or  matte,  or  speiss,  is  calcined,  reduced  by 
water  gas  at  450**,  cooled  down  to  a  suitable  temperature,  and 
treated  with  carbon  monoxide  in  a  suitable  apparatus.  On  ex- 
posing a  heated  surface  to  the  gas  containing  ntckel-carbon- 
oxide,  it  is  possible  to  produce,  direct  from  such  gas,  articles  of 
solid  nickel,  or  goods  plated  with  nickel,  resembling  in  every 
way  those  obtained  by  galvanic  deposition  of  metals,  and  repro- 
ducing with  the  same  exactitude  and  fineness  any  design  upon 
such  articles.  This  result  can  also  be  obtained  by  immersing 
heated  articles  in  a  solution  of  nickel- carbon- oxide  in  such 
solvents  as  benzole,  petroleum,  tar  oils,  &c.,  or  by  applying  such 
solution  to  the  heated  articles  with  a  brush  or  otherwise. 

A  specimen  of  iron-carbon-oxide  was  exhibited,  which  Messrs. 
Mond  and  Langer  have  obtained  as  an  amber-coloured  liquid, 
which,  on  standing,  deposits  tabular  crystals  of  a  darker  colour, 
and  solidifies  entirely  below  -  21**  C.  to  a  mass  of  needle- 
shaped  crystals.  It  boils  at  102**  C,  but  leaves  a  small  quantity 
of  green-coloured  oil  behind.  Several  analyses  and  vapour- 
density  determinations  have  been  made,  but  it  is  not  yet  certain 
whether  a  pure  substance  has  been  obtained  or  a  mixture  of 
seveiil  iron  carbonyls.  The  authors  hope  shortly  to  publish  a 
full  account  of  this  interesting  substance,  which  differs  consider- 
ably in  its  chemical  behaviour  from  nickel-carbon-oxide. 

Mr.  Crookes  described  his  experiments  on  the  electrical 
evaporation  of  metals  and  alloys.  If  a  brush  of  gold  is  placed 
in  a  vacuum  tube  and  connected  with  the  negative  pole  of  an 
induction  coil  at  ordinary  temperature,  and  if  a  piece  of  glass  be 
placed  underneath  the  gold  in  the  tube,  on  passing  the  current 
a  metallic  mirror  appears  on  the  glass,  increasing  in  thickness  to 
a  leaf,  which  can  be  peeled  off,  and  which  is  perfectly  homo- 
geneous. Films  of  silver  and  platinum  can  also  be  obtained. 
It  is  found  that  different  metals  thus  treated  evaporate  at  different 
rates,  one  or  two,  such  as  aluminium  and  magne&ium,  being 
apparently  non-volatile.  It  is  thus  possible,  in  the  case  of  the 
aluminium-gold  alloy  discovered  by  Prof.  Roberts- Austen,  to 
separate  a  large  portion  of  the  gold  from  the  aluminium  by 
electrical  evaporation. 

T.  Turner  gave  an  account  of  experiments  which  he  had  made 
to  discover  the  cause  of  the  red  blotches  which  often  appear  on 
the  surface  of  brass  sheets  on  rolling,  and  which  are  a  great 
source  of  annoyance  to  Birmingham  manufacturers.     They  are 


1 


456 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


due  to  the  erosion  of  the  zinc  by  the  chlorides  present  in  the 
solution  in  which  the  brass  has  been  pickled,  and  in  the  water 
in  which  it  is  afterwards  washed,  care  not  being  always  taken  to 
prevent  such  chlorides  from  drying  on  before  rolling. 

A.  P.  Laurie  described  the  experiments  he  has  made  to  deter- 
mine the  electromotive  forces  of  various  alloys  with  a  view  to 
establishing  the  existence  of  definite  compounds  among  them. 
His  earlier  experiments  will  be  found  in  the  Joum.  Chem.  Soc., 
1888,  p.  104.  His  recent  work  leads  him  to  conclude  that  a 
compound  of  gold  and  tin  of  the  formula  AuSn  exists,  a  sudden 
rise  of  electromotive  force  being  observed  when  the  proportion 
of  tin  in  the  alloy  exceeds  that  required  by  the  above  formula. 
Compounds  do  not  appear  to  exist  among  the  alloys  of  zinc, 
cadmium,  lead,  and  tin. 

Prof.  Roberts- Austen  exhibited  and  described  his  self-re- 
cording pyrometer.  In  this  instmment,  thermal  junctions  of 
platinum  and  platinum  containing  lo  per  cent,  of  rhodium  are 
connected  with  a  galvanometer.  The  spot  of  light  from  the 
mirror  of  this  is  caused  to  fall  on  a  slit  before  which  a  photo- 
graphic plate  passes  at  a  given  rate,  by  which  means  a  curve  is 
traced,  corresponding  to  the  variations  in  temperature  of  the 
heated  thermal  junction.  The  other  junction  is  kept  at  a  con- 
stant temperature  by  immersion  in  water.  Temperatures  up 
to  the  melting-point  of  platinum  can  be  determined  with  an 
accuracy  of  lo  .  The  curves  of  cooling  of  several  alloys  have 
been  determined.  The  alloy  of  gold  and  aluminium  differs 
from  others,  such  as  that  of  platinum  and  lead,  in  that  there  is 
no  break  in  the  curve  at  the  point  of  solidification  of  the  alloy. 

A  paper  by  A.  Vernon- Harcourt  and  F.  W.  Humphery  was 
entitled  **  The  Relation  between  the  Composition  of  a  Double- 
Salt  and  the  Composition  and  Temperature  of  the  Liquid  in 
which  it  is  formed.  The  authors  have  obtained  a  large  number 
of  double  chlorides  of  ammonium  and  iron  by  crystallizing  from 
solutions  containing  varying  amounts  of  ferrous  and  ammonium 
chlorides,  and  maintained  at  different  temperatures.  The  com- 
position of  the  salts  varied,  according  to  conditions,  from  two  to 
twenty-one  molecules  of  ammonium  chloride  combined  with  one 
of  ferrous  chloride.  The  salts  could  be  obtained  well  crystal- 
lized, and  varied  considerably  from  each  other  in  their  crystalline 
habit.  The  authors  suggest  that  similar  complex  compounds 
may  exist  in  other  cases. 

Prof.  Dunstan,  in  the  discussion  which  followed,  described 
a  series  of  double  cyanides  of  zinc  and  mercury,  of  complex 
composition,  which  he  had  obtained  by  precipitation. 

In  a  preliminary  account  of  some  experiments  he  is  making 
on  the  action  of  oxide  of  cobalt  in  causing  the  evolution  of 
oxygen  from  hypochlorites,  Prof.  M'Leod  showed  that,  on 
boiling  an  alkaline  solution  of  a  hypochlorite  alone,  some  oxy- 
gen is  evolved  and  chlorate  formed,  so  that  the  action  is  probably 
somewhat  complex  in  presence  of  oxide  of  cobalt. 

In  the  absence  of  Prof.  Armstrong,  Dr.  Morley  read  the 
Report  on  the  Isomeric  Naphthalene  Derivatives.  The  study  of 
the  dichloronaphthalenes  has  been  completed.  Of  the  twelve 
reported  to  exist,  only  ten  could  be  obtamed.  This  number  is 
that  required  by  theory.  Of  the  fourteen  theoretically  possible 
trichloronaphthalenes,  thirteen  have  been  obtained.  The  com- 
pound containing  the  chlorine  atoms  in  the  positions  i  :  2  :  i'  is 
missing.  These  results  put  it  beyond  question  that  naphthalene 
has  a  symmetrical  structure.  Its  exact  inner  configuration  has 
yet  to  be  dealt  with.  Experiments  have  been  made  with  a  view 
to  determine  the  manner  in  which  substitution  takes  place. 
It  appears  probable  that  an  addition  product  is  always  first 
formed. 

Prof.  RUcker  gave  an  account  of  the  experiments  made  by 
Prof.  Roberts -Austen  and  himself  to  determine  the  specific  heat 
of  basalt.  The  experiments  were  performed  with  the  aid  of  the 
self-recording  pyrometer  above-mentioned.  The  results  obtained 
when  the  substance  was  heated  in  a  platinum  crucible  in  a  gas 
furnace  agreed  well  together.  The  specific  heat  increases  regu- 
larly up  to  the  melting-point,  which  is  not  very  definite.  About 
this  point  there  is  considerable  absorption  of  latent  heat.  The 
mean  specific  heat  between  20**  and  470**  was  found  to  be  '199  ; 
between  470**  and  750°,  '244  ;  between  750*  and  880*,  '626  ; 
and  between  880"  and  1190",  -323. 

Prof.  F.  Clowes  described  an  apparatus  for  testing  safety- 
lamps  which  permitted  economy  in  the  marsh-gas  used.  It  con- 
sisted essentially  of  a  large  wooden  box,  rendered  gas-tight  by 
paraffin,  in  which  the  mixture  of  fire-damp  and  air  could  be 
made,  the  safety-lamp  being  afterwards  introduced.      A  lamp 


NO.    1 141,  VOL.  44] 


was  exhibited  which  would  indicate  in  this  apparatos  "25  pe^* 
cent,  of  fire-damp. 

Prof.  C.  M.  Thompson  described  the  results  he  has  obtained 
on  repeating  the  experiments  of  Kriiss  and  his  colleagues  00  the 
rare  earths,  which  caused  them  to  announce  the  probable  exist- 
ence of  about  twenty  new  elements.  Although  he  has  worked 
on  materia]  from  the  same  locality  and  of  the  same  appearance 
as  that  used  by  the  above-named  workers,  he  has  entirely  failed 
to  confirm  their  results,  at  any  rate  with  regard  to  the  didymiom 
fraction.  He  considers  that  the  absence  of  certain  lines  noticed 
by  them  in  the  didymium  spectrum  may  be  due  simply  to  dilu- 
tion, and  do  not  indicate  a  splitting  up  of  that  elemenL  On 
making  his  solutions  sufficiently  strong,  he  was  able  in  all  cases 
to  obtain  the  lines. 

Prof.  Ramsay  drew  attention  to  the  remarkable  properties 
which  are  exhibited  by  the  liquids  obtained  by  passing  excess  of 
hydrogen  sulphide  into  solutions  of  certain  metals,  and  after- 
wards expelling  the  excess  of  hydrogen  sulphide  by  hydrogen. 
Mercuric  sulphide  treated  in  this  wav  dissolves  to  a  dark-brown 
solution.  Antimony  and  arsenic  sulphides  also  dissolve.  On 
examining  the  mercury  solution  under  the  microscope,  brown 
particles  are  seen  in  a  state  of  rapid  motion.  With  antimony 
solution,  particles  are  not  visible,  but  a  sort  of  granular  move- 
ment is  to  be  seen.  With  arsenic  solution,  nothing  is  visible. 
On  dialysis  of  the  solution,  none  of  the  metal  diffuses  if  the 
solution  is  pure ;  in  the  case  of  the  antimony,  diffusion  takes 
place  if  tartaric  acid  is  present.  These  solutions  are  readily 
precipitated  by  the  addition  of  certain  salts,  but,  although  the 
antimony  solution  becomes  nearly  solid  on  precipitation,  no 
accompanying  rise  of  temperature  can  be  noticed.  Also,  no 
depression  of  the  freezing-point  is  observed  with  such  a  solntion. 
The  specific  gravity  of  the  solution,  however,  is  higher  than  that 
of  water.  The  experiments  show  the  power  of  the  solvent  to 
bring  about  extremely  fine  mechanical  division  of  a  substance, 
and  suggest  the  possibility  of  further  atomic  or  ionic  sepaiadon. 
The  particles  of  quasi-dissolved  substance  are  believed  to  be  in 
a  state  of  rapid  but  circumscribed  motion. 
'  One  of  the  few  papers  on  organic  chemistry  was  read  by  J.  J. 
Sudborough,  on  the  action  of  nitrosyl  chloride  on  unsaturated 
carbon  compounds.  He  has  examined  the  action  of  nitrosyl 
chloride  on  ethylene,  propylene,  amylene,  and  cinnamene, 
crotonic,  oleic,  erucic,  and  cinnamic  acids.  Of  these,  ethy- 
lene is  chlorinated,  and  forms  the  dichloride  C^H^Cls ;  pro- 
pylene is  practically  unacted  upon ;  amylene  forms  a  nitroso 
chloride,  CsHjoNOCl,  melting  at  152" ;  and  cinnamene  a 
similar  compound.CgHgNOCl,  melting  at  97*.  Crotonic  add 
is  unacted  upon,  even  when  heated  to  90",  while  oleic  and  emdc 
acids  readily  form  definite  nitrosochlorides,  the  former  melting 
at  86°  and  the  latter  at  92^  Cinnamic  acid  is  unacted  upon 
when  cooled,  but  forms  the  dichloride  CoHgOsCl,  when  heated 
to  IOo^  Up  to  the  present  the  author  can  find  no  laws 
regulating  the  action  of  nitrosyl  chloride  on  various  carbon 
compounds. 

A  paper  was  read  by  C.  G.  Moor,  on  a  new  method  for  the 
disposal  of  sewage.  This  consists  in  the  application  of  a  method 
invented  by  Mr.  Rees  Reece  for  obtaining  tar,  ammonia,  &c, 
from  peat, -to  the  recovery  of  similar  products  from  sludge  cake. 
A  kind  of  lime-kiln  is  employed,  with  a  forced  draught,  con- 
nected to  a  series  of  condensers.  The  operation  is  conducted  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  material  in  the  lower  part  of  the  furnace 
is  kept  in  active  combustion  ;  its  heat  distils  the  material  directly 
above,  and  this  in  its  turn  gradually  descends  to  serve  as  fuel 
for  the  succeeding  charge.  Eighty  per  cent,  of  the  theoreticil 
yield  of  ammonia  has  been  obtained.  In  order  for  the  prooos 
to  be  commercially  successful,  it  seems  that  the  use  of  lime  in 
pressing  the  sludge  should  be  avoided  at  all  costs,  as,  if  much 
lime  is  present,  the  ash  obtained  in  the  furnace  has  a  very  low 
value,  and  clinker  is  apt  to  be  produced.  The  author  suggests 
the  use  of  carbonized  sludge  in  powder,  mixed  with  salts  of 
alumina  and  iron,  in  place  of  lime. 

A.  H.  Allen  described  a  curious  reaction  he  had  noticed  on 
treating  glycerides  with  alcoholic  potash.  If  the  quantity  of 
potash  or  soda  present  is  insufficient  to  completely  saponify  the 
glyceride,  an  ethyl  salt  of  the  acid  is  obtained.  Thus  in  the 
case  of  butyrin  large  quantities  of  ethyl  butyrate  pass  over  ob 
distillation.  In  the  case  of  acetin  it  was  found  that  no  action 
took  place  on  boiling  sodium  acetate,  acetin,  and  alcohol  to- 
gether ;  but,  on  the  addition  of  a  trace  of  potash,  So  per  ccnL 
of  the  theoretical  yield  of  ethyl  acetate  was  obtained. 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


457 


SOME  DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  LIFE  OF 
AQUATIC  INSECTS} 


W 


^E  uoderstand  insects  to  be  animals  of  small  size,  famished 
with  a  hard  skin  and  six  legs,  breathing  by  branched  air- 
tnbes,  and  commonly  provided  in  the  adult  condition  with 
wiogs.  The  animals  thns  organized  are  pre-eminently  a 
dominant  group,  as  is  shown  by  the  vast  number  of  the  species 
and  individuals,  their  universal  distribution,  and  their  various 
habitat. 

The  insect  type,  like  some  fruitful  inventions  of  man — paper 
or  lithography,  for  instance — has  proved  so  successful  that  it  has 
been  found  profitable  to  adapt  it  to  countless  distinct  purposes. 
I  propose  to  consider  one  only  of  its  infinitely  varied  adapta- 
tions, viz.  its  adaptation  to  aquatic  life. 

There  are  insects  which  run  upon  the  earth,  insects  which  fly 
in  the  air,  and  insects  which  swim  in  the  water.  The  same 
might  be  said  of  three  other  classes  of  animals — the  three 
highest — viz.  mammals,  birds,  and  reptiles.  But  insects  surpass 
all  other  classes  of  animals  in  the  variety  of  their  modes  of  exist- 
ence. Owing  to  their  small  size  and  hard  skin,  they  can  burrow 
into  the  earth,  into  the  wood  of  trees,  or  into  the  bodies  of  other 
animals.  There  are  some  insects  which  can  live  in  the  water, 
not  as  the  mammal,  bird,  or  reptile  does,  coming  up  from  time 
to  time  to  breathe,  but  constantly  immersed,  like  a  fish.  This 
is  the  more  remarkable  because  insects  are,  as  a  class,  air- 
breathers.  A  if- tubes  or  tracheae,  branching  tubes,  whose  walls 
are  stiffened  by  spiral  threads,  supply  all  the  tissues  of  the  body 
with  air.  That  such  an  animal  should  be  hatched  in  water,  and 
live  almost  the  whole  of  its  life  immersed,  a  thing  which 
actually  happens  to  many  insects,  is  a  matter  for  surprise,  and 
implies  many  modifications  of  structure,  affecting  all  parts  of  the 
body. 

liie  adaptation  of  insects  to  aquatic  conditions  seems  to  have 
been  brought  about  at  different  times,  and  for  a  variety  of  dis- 
tinct purposes.  Many  Dipterous  larvae  burrow  in  the  earth. 
Some  of  thesp  frequent  the  damp  earth  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
streams ;  otht>is  are  found  in  earth  so  soaked  with  water  that  it 
might  almost  be  called  mud,  though  they  breathe  by  occasionally 
taking  in  atmospheric  air.  In  yet  more  specialized  members  of 
the  same  order  we  find  that  the  larva  inhabits  the  mud  at  the 
bottom  of  the  stream,  and  depends  for  its  respiration  entirely 
Qpon  oxygen  dissolvcrti  in  the  water.  The  motive  is  usually  that 
the  larva  may  get  acce^^s  to  the  decaying  vegetable  matter  found 
in  slow  streams,  but  so  ne  of  these  larvae  have  carnivorous  pro- 
pensities. 

Other  insects  merely  dive  into  the  water,  coming  up  from 
time  to  time  to  breathe,  or  skate  upon  the  surface. 

Nearly  every  order  of  insects  contains  aquatic  forms,  and  the 
total  number  of  such  forms  is  very  large.  I  believe  that  all  are 
modifications  of  terrestrial  types,  and  it  is  probable  that 
members  of  different  families  have  often  betaken  themselves  to 
the  water  independently  of  one  another. 

The  difficulties  which  aquatic  insects  have  to  encounter  begin 
with  the  egg.     It  is  in  most  cases  convenient  that  the  egg  should 
be  laid  in  water,   though  this  is  not  indispensable,   and  the 
winged,  air-breathing  ffy  is,  as  a  rule,   ill -fitted  for  entering 
water.      Some  insect- eggs  hatch  if  they  are  merely  scattered, 
like  grains  of  sand,  over  the  bottom  of  a  stream,  but  others  must 
be  laid  at  the  surface  of  the  water,   where  they  can   gain  a 
sufficient  supply  of  oxygen.     If  the  water  is  stagnant,  it  will 
suffice  if  the  eggs  are  buoyant,  like  those  which  compose  the 
egg-raft  of   the  gnat,   but   this  plan  would  hardly  answer  in 
running  streams,  which  would  carry  light,  floating  eggs  to  great 
distances,  or  even  sweep  them  out  to  sea.     Moreover,  floating 
eggs  are  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  hungry  creatures  of  various 
kinds,  such  as  birds  or  predatory  insect  larvae.    These  difficulties 
have  been  met  in  the  cases  of  a  number  of  insects  by  laying  the 
eggs  in  chains  or  strings,  and  mooring  them  at  the  surface  of 
the  water.     The  eggs  are  invested  by  a  gelatinous  envelope, 
which  swells  out,  the  moment  it  reaches  the  water,  into  an 
abundant,  transparent  mucilage.     This  mucilage  answers  more 
than  one  purpose.      In  the  first  place  it  makes  the  eggs  so 
slippery  that  birds  or  insects  cannot  grasp  them.  It  also  spaces 
the  eggs,  and  enables  each  to  get  its  fair  share  of  air  and  sun- 
light.    The  gelatinous  substance  appears  to  possess  some  anti- 
septic property,  which  prevents  water-moulds  from  attacking  the 

*  Evening  Discourse,  delivered  before  the  British  Association,  .CardifT, 
i^x,  by  L.  C.  Miall,  Professor  of  Biology  io  the  Ycrkshire  College. ' 

NO.   II4I,  VOL.  44] 


eggs  ;  for,  long  after  the  eggs  have  hatched  out,  the  transparent 
envelope  remains  unchanged.  The  eggs  of  the  frog,  which  are 
laid  in  the  stagnant  water  of  ditches  or  ponds,  float  free  at  the 
surface,  and  do  not  require  to  be  moored.  The  eggs  of  many 
snails  are  laid  in  the  form  of  [an  adhesive  band,  which  holds 
firmly  to  the  stem  or  leaf  of  an  aquatic  plant.  Sotne  insects, 
too,  lay  their  eggs  in  the  form  of  an  adhesive  band.  In  other 
cases  the  egg-chain  is  moored  to  the  bank  by  a  slender  cord. 

The  common  two-winged  fly,  Chironomus,  lays  its  eggs  in 
transparent  cylindrical  ropes,  which  float  on  the  surface  of  the 
water.  During  the  summer  months  these  egg-ropes,  which  are 
nearly  an  inch  in  length,  may  readily  be  found  on  the  edges  of 
a  stone  fountain  in  a  garden,  or  in  a  water-trough  by  the  side 
of  the  road.  The  ^gs  are  arranged  upon  the  outside  of  the 
rope  in  loops,  which  bend  to  right  and  left  alternately,  forming 
sinuous  lines  upon  the  surface.  Each  egg-rope  is  moored  to  the 
bank  by  a  thread,  which  passes  through  the  middle  of  the  rope 
in  a  series  of  loops,  and  then  returns  in  as  many  reversed  and 
overlapping  loops,  so  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  a  lock-stitch. 
The  thread  :s  so  tough  that  it  can  be  drawn  out  straight  with  a 
needle  without  breaking.  If  the  egi^-rope  is  dipped  into  boil- 
ing water,  the  threads  become  apparent,  but  in  the  natural 
state  they  are  invisible,  owing  to  their  transparency.  The 
mucilage  is  held  together  by  the  threads  interwoven  with  the 
mucilage.  The  loops  can  be  straightened  without  injury  until 
the  length  of  the  rope  is  almost  doubled.  If  stretched  beyond 
this  point  the  threads  become  strained,  and  do  not  recover  their 
original  shape  when  released.  By  means  of  these  threads, 
firmly  interwoven  with  the  mucilage  of  the  egg-rope,  the  whole 
mass  of  many  hundreds  of  eggs  is  firmly  moored,  yet  so  moored 
that  it  floats  without  strain,  and  rises  or  falls  with  the  stream. 
The  eggs  get  all  the  sun  and  air  which  they  require,  and  neither 
predatory  insects,  nor  birds,  nor  water-moulds,  nor  rushing 
currents  of  water,  can  injure  them. 

The  eggs  of  the  caddis- fly  are  laid  in  larger  ropes,  which,  in 
some  species,  are  very  beautiful  objects,  owing  to  the  grass- 
green  colour  of  the  eggs.  The  egi^-raft  of  the  gnat,  whi<£  has 
often  been  described,  is  well  suited  to  flotation  in  stagnant 
water,  and  is  freely  exposed  to  the  air,  a  point  of  unusual  im- 
portance in  the  case  of  an  insect  which  in  all  stages  of  growth 
seems  to  need  the  most  efficient  means  of  respiration,  and  whose 
eggs  are  usually  laid  in  water  of  very  doubtful  purity.  The 
lower  or  submerged  end  of  each  egg  opens  by  a  lid,  and  through 
this  opening  the  larva  at  length  escapes. 

The  eggs  of  water-haunting  insects  are  in  many  ways  particu- 
larly well  suited  for  the  study  of  development.  The  eggs  of 
Chironomus,  for  instance,  can  always  be  procured  during  the 
summer  months.  They  are  so  transparent  as  to  admit  of  ex- 
amination under  high  powers  of  the  microscope  as  living  objects, 
and  as  they  require  no  sort  of  preparation,  they  may  be  replaced 
in  the  water  alter  each  examination  to  continue  their  develop- 
ment. This  saves  all  trouble  in  determining  the  succession  of 
the  different  stages— a  point  which  usually  presents  difficulties 
to  the  embryolc^st.  The  whole  development  of  the  egg  of 
Chironomus  is  completed  in  a  few  days  (three  to  six,  according 
to  temperature),  and  it  is  therefore  an  easy  matter  to  follow  the 
process  throughout  with  the  help  of  three  or  four  chains  of  eggs. 

When  the  larvae  are  hatched,  and  escape  into  the  water,  new 
difficulties  arise.  Some  have  to  seek  their  food  at  the  surface 
of  the  water,  and  must  yet  be  always  immersed,  others  live  upon 
food  which  is  only  to  be  found  in  rapid  streams,  and  these  run 
serious  risk  of  being  swept  away  by  the  rush  of  water.  All  need 
at  least  a  moderate  supply  of  oxygen,  which  has  either  to  be 
drawn  from  the  air  at  the  surface,  or  extracted  from  the  water 
by  special  organs.  The  difficulty  of  breathing  is,  of  course, 
greatly  increased  when  the  larva  seeks  its  food  at  the  bottom  of 
foul  streams,  as  is  the  case  with  certain  Diptera.  The  larva  of 
Chironomus,  for  example,  feeds  upon  vegetable  matter,  often  in 
a  state  of  decay,  which  is  obtained  from  the  mud  at  the  bottom 
of  slow  streams,  and  in  this  mud  the  larva  makes  burrows  for 
itself,  cementing  together  all  sorts  of  materials  by  the  secretion 
of  its  salivary  glands,  drawn  out  into  fine  silken  threads.  The 
burrows  in  which  the  larva  lives  furnish  an  important  defence 
against  fishes  and  other  enemies,  but  they  still  further  increase 
the  difficulty  of  procuring  a  supply  of  air.  Hence,  the  larva 
frequently  quits  its  burrow,  especially  by  night,  and  swims 
towards  the  surface.  At  these  times  it  loops  its  body  to  and 
fro  with  a  kind  of  lashing  movement,  and  is  thus  enabled  to 
advance  and  rise  in  the  water.  From  the  well-aerated  water  at 
the  surface  of  the  stream  it  procures  a  free  supply  of  oxygen. 


458 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


which  becomes  dissolved  in  the  abandant  blood  of  the  larva. 
Four  delicate  tubes  filled  with  blood,  which  are  carried  upon 
the  last  segment  of  the  body,  are  believed  to  be  especially 
intended  for  the  taking  up  of  dissolved  oxygen.  The  tracheal 
system  is  rudimentary  and  completely  closed,  and  hence  gaseous 
air  cannot  be  taken  into  the  body.  The  dissolved  oxygen,  pro- 
cured with  much  exertion  and  some  risk,  must  be  stored  up 
within  the  body  of  the  larva,  and  used  with  the  greatest 
economy.  It  is  apparently  for  this  reason  that  the  larva  of 
Chironomus  contains  a  blood-red  pigment,  which  is  identical 
with  the  haemoglobin  of  vertebrate  animals.  The  haemoglobin 
acts  in  the  Chironomus  larva  as  it  does  in  our  own  bodies, 
as  an  oxygen- carrier,  readily  taking  up  dissolved  oxygen,  and 
parting  with  it  gradually  to  the  tissues  of  the  body. 

It  is  instructive  to  notice  that  only  such  Chironomus  larvae  as 
live  at  the  bottom  and  barrow  in  the  mud  possess  the  red 
haemoglobin.  Those  which  live  at  or  near  the  surface  have 
colourless  blood,  and  a  more  complete,  though  still  closed,  tra- 
cheal system.  The  larva  of  the  carnivorous  Tanypus,  which  is 
found  m  the  same  streams,  but  does  not  burrow,  has  a  much 
more  complete  tracheal  system,  and  only  enough  haemoglobin  to 
give  a  pale  red  tint  to  the  body.  The  larva  of  the  gnat  again, 
which  has  a  large  and  open  tracheal  system,  and  in  all  stages  of 
growth  inhales  gaseous  air,  has  no  haemoglobin  at  all.  A  list 
of  the  many  animals  of  all  kinds  which  contain  haemoglobin, 
shows  that  for  some  reason  or  another  each  of  them  requires  to 
use  oxygen  economically.  Either  the  skin  is  thick,  and  the 
respiratory  surface  limited,  or  they  are  inclosed  in  a  shell,  or 
they  burrow  in  earth  or  mud.  We  might  expect  to  find  that 
haemoglobin  would  always  be  developed  in  the  blood  of  animals 
whose  respiration  is  rendered  difficult  in  any  of  these  ways,  but 
any  such  expectation  would  prove  to  be  unfounded,  and  there 
are  many  animals  whose  mode  of  life  renders  it  necessary  that 
oxygen  should  be  stored  and  economically  used,  which  contain 
no  haemoglobin  in  their  blood.  Hence,  while  we  have  a  toler- 
ably satisfactory  reason  for  the  occurrence  of  haemoglobin  in  a 
number  of  animals  whose  respiratory  surface  is  limited,  and 
whose  surroundings  make  it  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  procure  a 
sufficient  supply  of  oxygen,  we  have  to  admit  that  many  similar 
animals  under  the  same  conditions  manage  perfectly  well  without 
haemoglobin.  Such  admission  is  not  a  logical  refutation  of  the 
explanation.  I  might  fairly  put  forward  the  baldness  of  man- 
kind as  at  least  the  principal  reason  for  wearing  wigs,  and  this 
explanation  would  not  be  impaired  by  any  number  of  cases  of 
bald  men  who  do  not  wear  wigs.  The  fact  is  that  the  respiratory 
needs,  even  of  closely  allied  animals,  vary  greatly,  and  further, 
there  are  more  ways  than  one  of  acquiring  and  storing  up  oxygen 
in  their  bodies. 

Either  the  storage-capacity  for  oxygen  of  the  Chironomus 
larva  is  considerable,  or  it  must  be  used  very  carefully,  for  the 
animal  can  subsist  long  without  a  fresh  supply.  I  took  a  flask 
of  distilled  water,  boiled  it  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  closed 
it  tight  with  an  india-rubber  bung,  and  left  it  to  cool.  Then 
six  larvae  were  introduced,  the  small  space  above  the  water 
being  at  the  same  time  filled  up  with  carbonic  acid.  The  bung 
was  replaced,  and  the  larvae  were  watched  from  day  to  day. 
Four  of  the  larvae  survived  for  forty-eight  hours,  and  one  till  the 
fifth  day.  Two  of  them  changed  to  pupae.  Nevertheless,  the 
water  was  from  the  first  exhausted  of  oxygen,  or  nearly  so. 

The  Chironomus  larva  is  provided  with  implements  suited  to 
its  mode  of  life.  The  head,  which  is  extremely  small  and  hard, 
carries  a  pair  of  stout  jaws,  besides  a  most  complicated  array  of 
hooks,  some  fixed,  some  movable.  The  use  of  these  minute 
api>endages  cannot  always  be  assigned,  but  some  of  them  are 
apparently  employed  to  guide  the  silky  threads  which  issue 
from  the  salivary  glands.  The  first  segment  behind  the  head 
carries  a  pair  of  stumpy  legs,  which  are  set  with  many  hooks. 
These  are  mainly  used  in  progression,  and  help  the  larva  to 
hitch  itself  to  and  fro  in  its  burrow.  A  similar,  but  longer  pair 
of  hooked  feet  is  found  at  the  end  of  the  body.  This  hinder 
pair  serves  to  attach  the  animal  to  its  burrow  when  it  stretches 
forth  in  search  of  food. 

Creeping  aquatic  larvae,  such  as  Ephydra,  possess  several  pairs 
of  legs  in  front  of  the  last  pair,  but  the  burrowing  species,  such 
as  caddis-worms,  agree  with  Chironomus,  not  only  in  their  mode 
of  life,  but  also  in  the  reduction  of  the  abdominal  legs  to  a  single 
pair,  which  are  conspicuously  hooked. 

The  larval  head  in  this,  as  in  many  other  aquatic  insects,  is 
far  smaller  and  simpler  than  that  of  the  fly.  The  larval  head  is 
little  more  than  an  implement  for  biting  and  spinning,  by  no 


means  such  a  seat  of  intelligence  as  it  is  in  higher  aninuUs.  la 
Chironomus  it  contains  no  brain  ;  the  eyes  are  mere  specks  of 
pigment,  and  the  antennae  are  insignificant.  But  the  bead  of 
the  fiy  incloses  the  brain«  and  bears  elaborate  oqgaas  of  special 
sense — many-facetted  eyes,  and  in  the  male  beautiful  plumed 
antennae.  This  difference  in  size  and  complexity  prohably 
explains  the  fact  that  the  head  of  the  fly  is  not  developed  within 
the  larval  head,  but  in  the  thorax.  It  is  only  at  the  time  of 
pupation  that  it  becomes  everted,  and  its  appendages  assume 
the  position  which  they  are  ultimately  intended  to  occupy. 

At  length  the  Chironomus  wriggles  out  of  the  larval  skin,  and 
is  transformed  into  a  pupa.  It  no  longer  requires  to  feed,  and 
the  mouth  is  completely  closed.  It  is  equally  unable  to  barrow, 
and  usually  lies  on  the  surface  of  the  mud.  Two  tufts  of  silvery 
respiratory  filaments  project  from  the  fore-end  of  the  body  just 
behind  the  future  head,  and  these  wave  to  and  fro  in  the  water, 
as  the  animal  alternately  flexes  and  extends  its  body.  At  the 
tail-end  are  two  flaps,  frmged  with  stout  bristles,  which  form  a 
kind  of  fan.  The  pupa  virtually  consists  of  the  body  of  the 
fly,  inclosed  within  a  transparent  skin.  The  organs  of  the  fly  are 
already  complete  externally,  and  even  in  microscopic  detail  they 
very  closely  resemble  those  of  the  perfect  animal.  These  pa.Tts 
are,  however,  as  yet  very  imperfectly  displayed.  The  wings 
and  legs  are  folded  up  along  the  sides  of  the  body,  and  are 
incapable  of  independent  movement.  For  two  or  three  days 
there  is  no  outward  change,  except  that  the  pupa,  which  origin- 
ally had  the  blood-red  colour  of  the  larva,  gradually  assumes  a 
darker  tint.  The  tracheal  system,  which  was  quite  rudimentary 
in  the  larva,  but  is  now  greatly  enlarged,  becomes  filled  with 
air,  secreted  from  the  water  by  the  help  of  the  respiratory  tnfts. 
and  the  pupa  floats  at  the  surface.  At  last  the  skin  of  the  back 
splits,  the  fly  extricates  its  limbs  and  other  appendages,  pauses 
for  a  moment  upon  the  floating  pupa-case,  as  if  to  dry  its  wtngs^ 
and  then  flies  away. 

This  fly  is  a  common  object  on  our  window  panes,  and  would 
be  called  a  gnat  by  most  people.  It  can  be  easily  distinguished 
from  a  true  gnat  by  its  habit  of  raising  the  fore-legs  from  the 
ground  when  at  rest.  It  is  entirely  harmless,  and  the  mouth- 
parts  can  neither  pierce  nor  suck.  Like  many  other  Dipiera, 
the  flies  of  Chironomus  associate  in  swarms,  which  are  believed 
in  this  case  to  consist  entirely  of  males.  The  male  fiy  has 
plumed  antennae  with  dilated  basal  joints.  In  the  female  flj 
the  antennae  are  smaller  and  simpler,  as  well  as  more  widely 
separated. 

In  brisk  and  lively  streams  another  Dipterous  larva  may  often 
be  found  in  great  numbers.  This  is  the  larva  of  Simnlium, 
known  in  the  winged  state  as  the  sand-fly.  The  Simuliom  larva 
is  much  smaller  than  that  of  Chironomus,  and  its  blood  is  not 
tinged  with  red.  The  head  is  provided  with  a  pair  of  ciliary 
organs,  fan-like  in  shape,  consisting  of  many  longish  filaments, 
and  borne  upon  a  sort  of  stem.  The  fringed  filaments  are  used 
to  sweep  the  food  into  the  mouth.  The  larva  of  Simalisin 
subsists  entirely  upon  microscopic  plants  and  animals.  Amoog 
these  are  great  numbers  of  Diatoms,  and  the  stomach  is  asnally 
found  half  full  of  the  flinty  valves  of  these  microscopic  plants. 
The  Simulium  larva  seeks  its  food  in  rapid  currents  of  water, 
and  a  brisk  flow  of  well-aerated  water  has  apparently  become  a 
necessity  to  it.  If  the  larvae  are  taken  out  of  a  stream  and 
placed  in  a  vessel  of  clear  water,  they  soon  become  sloggisfa, 
and  in  warm  weather  do  not  survive  very  long.  It  matters 
little,  however,  to  the  larvae  whether  the  water  in  which  they 
live  is  pure  or  impure  ;  and  streams  which  are  contaminated 
with  sewage  often  contain  them  in  great  abundance.  There  are 
no  externally  visible  organs  of  respiration,  but  the  skin  is  sup- 
plied by  an  abundant  network  of  fine  tradieal  branches,  which, 
no  doubt,  take  up  oxygen  from  the  well-aerated  water  in  which 
the  animal  lives.  From  this  network  at  the  surface,  branches 
pass  to  supply  all  the  internal  organs.  The  Simulium  larva  is 
found  upon  aquatic  weeds,  and  the  pair  of  hind- feet,  which  ia 
Chironomus  were  shaped  so  as  to  enable  the  larva  to  hold  on 
to  its  burrow,  here  become  altered,  so  as  to  furnish  a  new  means 
of  attachment.  The  two  feet  are  completely  united  into  one. 
The  two  clusters  of  hooks  found  in  the  Chironomus  larva  fona 
now  a  circular  coronet,  and  the  centre  of  the  inclosed  space 
becomes  capable  of  being  retracted  by  means  of  muscles  whidb 
are  inserted  into  it  from  within.  The  larva  is  thus  enabled  to 
adhere  to  the  smooth  surface  of  a  leaf,  holding  on  by  its  socket, 
which  is,  no  doubt,  aided  by  the  circle  of  sharp  hooks.  EBBcicst 
as  this  adhesive  organ  undoubtedly  is,  it  must  be  liable  to  de- 
rangement by  occasional  accidents,  as,  for  instance,   if  there 


NO.    1 141,  VOL.  44] 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


459 


should  be  a  sudden  rush  of  water  of  unusual  violence,  or  if  the 
lanra  should  be  obliged  to  quit  its  hold  in  order  to  avoid  some 
dangerous  enem^.  In  the  case  of  such  an  accident  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  it  will  ever  recover  its  footing.  Swept  along  in 
a  rapid  current,  we  might  suppose  that  there  would  be  but  a 
slender  probability  of  its  ever  finding  itself  &vourably  placed 
for  the  application  of  its  sucker  and  hooks.  But  such  emer- 
gendes  have  been  carefully  provided  for.  The  salivary  glands, 
or  silk-organs,  which  the  Chironomus  larva  uses  in  weaving  the 
wall  of  its  burrow,  furnish  to  the  Simulium  larva  long  mooring- 
threads,  by  means  of  which  it  is  anchored  to  the  leaf  upon  which 
it  lives.  Even  if  the  larva  is  dislodged,  it  is  not  swept  far  by  the 
stream,  and  can  haul  itself  in  along  the  mooring-thread  in  the 
same  way  that  a  spider  or  a  Geometer  larva  climl^  up  the  thread 
by  which,  when  alarmed,  it  descended  to  the  ground. 

When  the  time  for  pupation  comes,  special  provision  has  to 
be  made  for  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  the  whole  of 
the  aquatic  life  of  the  Simulium  is  passed.  An  inactive  and 
exposed  pupa,  like  that  of  Chironomus,  may  fare  well  enough 
on  the  soft  muddy  bottom  of  a  slow  stream,  but  such  a  pupa 
would  be  swept  away  in  a  moment  by  the  currents  in  which 
Simulium  is  most  at  home.  When  the  time  of  pupation  draws 
near,  the  insect  constructs  for  itself  a  kind  of  nest,  not  unlike  in 
shape  the  nest  of  some  swallows.  This  nest  is  glued  fast  to  the 
surface  of  a  water-weed.  The  salivary  glands,  which  furnished 
the  mooring-threads,  supply  the  material  of  which  the  nest  is 
composed.  Sheltered  within  this  smooth  and  tapering  case, 
whose  pointed  tip  is  directed  up-stream,  while  the  open  mouth 
is  turned  down-stream,  the  pupa  rests  securely  during  the  time 
of  its  transformation. 

When  the  pupa- case  is  first  formed,  it  is  completely  closed 
and  egg-shaped,  but,  when  the  insect  has  cast  the  larval  skin, 
one  end  of  the  case  is  knocked  off,  and  the  pupa  now  thrusts 
the  fore-part  of  its  body  into  the  current  of  water.     The  respira- 
tory  filaments,  which  project  immediately  behind  the  future 
head,  just  as  in  Chironomus,  draw  a  sufficient  supply  of  air 
from  the  continually  changed  water  around.    The  nngs  of  the 
abdomen  are  furnished  with  a  number  of  projecting  hooks, 
which  are  able  to  grasp  such  objects  as  fine  threads.     The  in- 
terior of  the  cocoon  is  felted  by  a  number  of  silken  threads, 
and  by  means  of  these  the  pupa  gets  an  additional  grip  of  its 
case.     If  it  is  forcibly  dislodged,  a  number  of  the  silken  threads 
are  drawn  out  from  the  felted  lining  of  the  case.     The  fly 
emerges  into  the  running  water,  and  I  do  not  know  how  it 
manages  to  do  so  without  being  entangled  in  the  current  of 
water,  and  swept  down  the  stream.     The  pupa-skin  splits  open 
jnst   as  it  does  in  Chironomus,  but  remains  attached  to  the 
cocoon. 

The  larva  of  the  gnat  is  perhaps  more  familiar  to  naturalists 
of  all  kinds  than  any  other  aquatic  Dipterous  insect.  The 
interesting  description,  and,  above  all,  the  admirable  engravings, 
of  Swammerdam,  now  more  than  two  hundred  years  old,  are 
familiar  to  every  student  of  Nature. 

The  larva,  when  at  rest,  floats  at  the  surface  of  stagnant 
water.  Its  head,  which  is  provided  with  vibratile  organs  suit- 
able for  sweeping  minute  particles  into  the  mouth,  is  directed 
downwards,  and,  when  examined  by  a  lens  in  a  good  light, 
appears  to  be  bordered  below  by  a  gleaming  band.  There  are 
no  thoracic  limbs.  The  hind-limbs,  which  were  long  and  hooked 
in  the  burrowing  Chironomus  larva,  and  reduced  to  a  hook- 
bearing  sucker  in  Simulium,  now  disappear  altogether.  A  new 
and  i>eculiar  orpan  is  developed  from  the  eighth  segment  of  the 
abdomen.  This  is  a  cylindrical  respiratory  siphon,  traversed  by 
two  large  air-tubes,  which  are  continued  along  the  entire  length 
of  the  body,  and  supply  every  part  with  air.  The  larva  ordin- 
arily rests  in  such  a  position  that  the  tip  of  the  respiratory 
siphon  is  flush  with  the  surface  of  the  water,  and,  thus  sus- 
pended, it  feeds  incessantly,  breathing  uninterruptedly  at  the 
same  time.  When  disturbed,  it  leaves  the  surface  by  the  scull- 
ing action  of  its  broad  tail.  Once  below  the  surface,  it  sinks 
slowly  to  the  bottom  by  gravity  albne,  which  shows  that  the 
body  is  denser  than  the  water.  We  have,  therefore,  to  explain 
how  it  is  enabled  to  float  at  the  surface  when  at  rest.  The  larva 
does  not  willingly  remain  below  for  any  length  of  time.  It  rises 
by  a  jerking  movement,  striking  rapid  blows  with  its  tail,  and 
advancing  tail  foremost.  When  it  reaches  the  top,  it  hangs  as 
before,  head  downwards,  and  resumes  its  feeding  operations. 

In  order  to  explain  how  the  larva  hangs  from  the  surface 
against  gravity,  I  must  trouble  you  with  some  account  of  the 
properties  of  the  surface-film  of  water.  You  will  readily  believe 

NO.   114 1,  VOL.  44] 


that  I  have  nothing  new  to  communicate  on  this  subject,  and  I 
venture  to  show  you  a  few  very  simple  experiments,  merely 
because  they  are  essential  to  the  comprehension  of  what  takes 
place  in  the  gnat.  ^ 

In  any  vessel  of  pure  water,  the  particles  at  the  surface,  though 
not  differing  in  composition  from  those  beneath,  are  neverthe- 
less in  a  peculiar  state.  I  will  not  travel  so  far  from  the  region 
of  natunil  history  as  to  offer  any  theoretical  explanation  of  this 
state,  but  will  merely  show  you  experimentally  that  there  is  a 
surface-film  which  resists  the  passage  of  a  solid  body  from 
beneath.  [Mensbrugghe's  float  shown.]  You  see  (1)  that  the 
float  is  sufficiently  buoyant  to  rise  well  out  of  the  water ;  (2)  that, 
when  forcibly  submerged,  it  rises  with  ease  through  the  water 
as  far  as  the  surface-film  ;  (3)  that  it  is  detained  by  the  surface- 
film,  and  cannot  penetrate  it.  The  wire  pulls  at  the  surface* 
film  and  distorts  it,  but  is  unable  to  free  itself.  In  the  same 
way  the  surface-film  resists  the  passage  of  a  solid  body  which 
attempts  to  penetrate  it  from  above.  This  will  be  readily  seen 
if  we  throw  a  loop  of  aluminium  wire  upon  the  surface  of 
water.  [Experiment  shown.]  The  loop  of  wire  floats  about 
like  a  stick  of  wood.  Aluminium  is,  of  course,  much  lighter 
than  iron,  but  the  floating  of  this  little  bar  does  not  mean  that 
it  has  a  lower  density  than  that  of  water.  If  the  bar  is  once 
wetted,  it  sinks  to  the  bottom  and  remains  there.  Even  a 
needle  may,  with  a  little  care,  be  made  to  float  upon  the  surface 
of  perfectly  pure  water.  Still  more  readily  can  a  piece  of  metallic 
gauze  be  made  to  float  on  water.  [Experiment  shown.]  Air 
can  pass  through  the  meshes  with  perfect  ease  ;  water  also  can 
pass  through  the  meshes  with  no  visible  obstruction.  Bat  the 
surface-film,  bounding  the  air  and  water,  is  entirely  unable  to 
traverse  even  meshes  of  appreciable  size.  These  simple  experi- 
mental results  will  enable  us  to  appreciate  certain  facts  of  struc- 
ture, which  would  otherwise  be  hard  to  understand,  and  which 
have  been  wrongly  explained  by  naturalists  of  the  greatest 
eminence,  to  whom  th:  physical  discoveries  of  this  century 
were  unknown. 

We  may  now  try  to  answer  three  questions  about  the  larva  of 
the  gnat,  viz.  : — 

(i)  How  is  it  able  to  break  the  surface-film  when  it  swims 
upwards  ? 

(2)  How  is  it  able  to  remain  at  the  surface  without  muscular 
effort,  though  denser  than  water? 

(3)  How  is  it  able  to  leave  the  surface  quickly  and  easily 
when  alarmed  ? 

The  tip  of  the  respiratory  siphon  is  provided  with  three  flaps, 
two  large  and  similar  to  one  another,  the  third  smaller  and 
differently  shaped.  These  flaps  can  be  opened  or  closed  by 
attached  muscles.  When  open,  they  form  a  minute  basin, 
which,  though  not  completely  closed,  does  not  allow  the  surface- 
film  of  water  to  enter.  When  closed,  the  air  within  the  siphon 
is  unable  to  escape.  At  the  time  when  the  larva  rises  to  the 
surface,  the  pointed  tips  of  the  flaps  first  meet  the  surface-film, 
and  adhere  to  it.  The  attached  muscles  then  separate  the  flaps, 
and  in  a  moment  the  basin  is  expanded  and  filled  with  air.  The 
surface-film  is  now  pulling  at  the  edges  of  the  basin,  and  the 
pull  is  more  than  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  greater  density 
of  the  body  of  the  larva,  which  accordingly  hangs  trom  the  sur- 
face without  effort.  When  the  larva  is  alarm^,  and  wishes  to 
descend,  the  valves  close,  their  tips  are  brought  to  a  pointy  and 
the  resisting  pull  of  the  surface-film  is  reduced  to  an  unimportant 
amount.     [Living  larvae  shown  by  the  lantern.] 

Swammerdam  found  it  nceessary,  in  explaining  the  flotation  of 
the  larva  of  the  gnat  to  suppose  that  the  extremity  of  its  siphon 
was  supplied  with  an  oily  secretion  which  repelled  the  water. 
No  oil-gland  can  be  discovered  here  or  elsewhere  in  the  body  of 
the  larva,  and  indeed  no  oil-gland  is  necessary.  The  peculiar 
properties  of  the  surface-film  explain  all  the  phenomena.  The 
surface-film  is  unable  to  penetrate  the  fine  spaces  between  the 
flaps  for  precisely  the  same  reason  that  it  is  unable  to  pass 
through  the  meshes  in  a  piece  of  gauze. 

After  three  or  four  moults  the  larva  is  ready  for  pupation.  By 
this  time  the  organs  of  the  future  fly  are  almost  completely 
formed,  and  the  pupa  assumes  a  strange  shape,  very  unlike  that 
of  the  larva. 

At  the  head-end  is  a  great  rounded  mass,  which  incloses  the 
wings  and  legs  of  the  fly,  beside  the  compound  eyes,  the  mouth- 
parts,  and  other  oigans  of  the  head.     At  the  tail-end  is  a  pair 

X  A  number  of  other  experiments,  illustrating  the  properties  of  the  surface- 
film  of  water,  are  described  by  Prof.  Bo\'S  in  his  delightful  book  on  "  Soap 
Bubbles." 


46o 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


of  flaps,  which  form  an  eflficient  swimming-fan.  The  body  of 
the  pupa,  like  that  of  the  larva,  is  abundantly  supplied  with  air- 
tubei,  and  a  communication  with  the  outer  air  is  still  maintained, 
though  in  an  entirely  different  way.  The  air-tubes  no  longer 
open  towards  the  tail,  as  in  the  larva,  but  towards  the  head. 
Just  behind  the  head  of  the  future  fly  is  a  pair  of  trumpets,  so 
placed  that  in  a  position  of  rest  the  margins  of  the  trumpets 
come  flush  with  the  surface  of  the  water.  Floating  in  this  posi- 
tion, the  pupa  remains  still,  so  long  as  it  is  undisturbed,  but  if 
attacked  by  any  of  the  predatory  animals  which  abound  in  fresh 
waters,  it  is  able  to  descend  by  the  powerful  swimming  move- 
ments of  its  tail  fin. 

Not  that  the  descent  is  without  its  difficulties.  The  pupa  is 
not  like  the  larva,  denser  than  water,  but  buoyant.  There  are 
two  respiratory  tubes  in  the  pupa,  whereas  there  is  only  one  in 
the  larva,  and  to  these  two  tub^  the  surface*  film  clings  with  a 
tenacity  of  which  only  experiment  can  give  an  adequate  idea. 
Will  you  allow  me  to  give  you  a  little  more  borrowed  physics  ? 

If  we  take  a  solid  body,  capable  of  being  wetted  by  vater, 
and  place  it  in  water,  the  surlace-fllm  will  adhere  to  the  solid. 
If  the  solid  is  less  dense  than  the  water,  it  will  float  with  part  of 
its  surface  out  of  the  water.  Under  such  circumstances  the  sur- 
face-film will  be  drawn  upwards  around  the  solid,  and  will 
therefore  pull  the  solid  downwards.  But  if  the  solid  is  denser 
than  the  water,  the  surface- film  around  the  solid  will  be  pulled 
downwards,  and  will  pull  the  solid  upwards.  Suppose  that  a 
solid  of  the  same  density  as  water  floats  with  part  of  its  surface 
in  contact  with  air,  and  that  weights  are  gradually  added  to  it. 
The  result  will  be  that  the  surface  of  the  water  around  the 
upper  edge  of  the  solid  will  become  more  and  more  depressed. 
The  sides  of  the  depression  will  take  a  more  vertical  position, 
until  at  last  the  upward  pull  of  the  film  becomes  unable  to  with- 
stand further  increase  of  weight.  If  this  point  is  passed,  the 
solid  will  sink.  Before  this  point  is  attained,  we  shall  have  the 
solid,  though  denser  than  water,  kept  at  the  surface  by  the  pull 
of  the  surface- film. 

This  state  of  things  may  be  illustrated  by. a  model.  [Float 
with  glass  tube  attached  to  its  upper  surface.]  -You  will  readily 
see  that  the  float  has  to  be  weighted  appreciably  in  order  to 
break  the  connection  of  the  tube  with  the  surface-film.  Now 
the  pupa  of  the  gnat  has  a  pair  of  tubes  which  are  in  like 
manner  attached  to  the  surface  of  the  water.  When  it  requires 
to  descend,  the  pull  of  the  surface-film  would  undoubtedly  be 
considerable.  Adding  weight  to  the  body  is,  of  course,  im- 
possible, and  a  great  exertion  of  muscular  force  would  be  waste- 
ful of  energy,  even  if  it  could  be  put  forth.  The  gnat  deals 
with  its  difficulty  in  a  neater  way  than  this,  and  saves  its  muscular 
power  for  other  occasions.  Let  me  show  you. a  method  of  free- 
mg  the  float  from  the  surface,  which  was  suggested  by  observa- 
tion of  what  was  seen  in  the  pupa  of  the  gnat.  A  thread  wetted 
with  water  is  drawn  over  the  mouth  of  each  tube.  It  cuts  the 
connection  with  the  surface,  and  the  float,  loaded  so  as  to  be 
denser  than  water,  goes  down  at  once.  Meinert  has  described 
a  pencil  of  hairs  which  appear  to  perform  the  same  office  for  the 
pupa  of  the  gnat.  The  hairs  draw  a  film  of  water  over  the  open 
mouth  of  each  respiratory  tube,  and  muscular  contraction,  used 
moderately  and  economically,  does  the  rest.  When  the  pupa 
again  comes  to  the  surface  the  tubes  are  overspread  by  a  glisten- 
ing film  of  water.  This  is  partially  withdrawn  by  a  movement 
of  the  hairs,  so  that  a  chink  appears  by  which  air  can  be  slowly 
renewed.  When  the  insect  is  completely  tranquil,  the  hairs 
appear  to  withdraw  more  completely,  and  the  tube  suddenly 
becomes  free  of  all  film.  The  act  of  opening  or  closing  the  film 
is  so  rapid —like  the  wink  of  an  eye — that  I  cannot  pretend  to 
have  observed  more  than  the  closed  tube,  the  slightly  open  tube, 
and  then  the  sudden  change  to  a  completely  open  condition. 
[Living  pupse  shown  by  the  lantern.] 

Another  Dipterous  larva  described  and  admirably  figured  by 
Swammerdam  is  the  larva  of  Stratiomys,  a  larva  which,  as  the 
structure  of  the  fly  shows,  belongs  to  an  altogether  different 
group  from  Chironomus,  Simulium,  or  the  gnat.  Though  only 
remotely  connected  with  the  gnat  in  the  systems  of  zoologists, 
the  Stratiomys  larva  has  learned  the  same  lesson,  and  is  equally 
well  fitted  to  take  advantage  of  the  peculiar  properties  of  the 
surface-film.  The  tail-end  of  the  Stratiomys  larva  is  provided 
with  a  beautiful  coronet  of  branched  filaments.  When  this 
coronet  is  extended,  it  forms  a  basin  open  to  the  air  and  im- 
pervious to  water,  by  reason  of  the  fineness  of  the  meshes 
between  the  component  filaments.  Were  the  larva  provided 
with  a  basin  of  the  same  proportions  foimed  out  of  continuous 

NO.    I  1 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


membrane,  it  might  float  and  breathe  perfectly  well,  bot  the 
old  difiiculty  would  come  back,  viz.  that  of  freeing  itself 
neatly  and  quickly  when  some  sudden  emergency  required  the 
animal  to  leave  the  surface.  As  it  is,  the  plumed  filaments 
collapse  and  their  points  approach  ;  the  side-branches  are  folded 
in,  and  the  basin  is  in  a  moment  reduced  to  a  pear-shaped  body, 
filled  with  a  globule  of  air,  and  reaching  the  surface  of  the  water 
only  by  its  pointed  extremity.  Down  goes  the  Stratiomys  larva 
at  the  first  hint  of  danger,  swimming  through  the  water  with 
swaying  and  looping  movements,  somewhat  like  those  of  Chiro- 
nomus. When  the  danger  is  past,  it  ceases  to  struggle,  and 
floats  again  to  the  surface.  The  pointed  tip  of  its  tail-fringe 
pierces  the  surface-film,  the  filaments  separate  once  more,  and 
the  floating  basin  is  restored. 

The  larva  of  Stratiomys  is  extremely  elongate.  The  length 
of  its  body  has  evidently  some  relation  to  the  mode  of  life  of 
the  larva,  but  none  at  all  to  that  of  the  fly  which  is  formed 
within  it.  The  pupa  is  so  much  smaller  than  the  larva  as  to 
occupy  only  the  fore-part  of  the  space  within  the  larval  skin.^ 
The  interval  becomes  filled  with  air,  and  during  the  pupal  stage 
the  animal  floats  at  the  surface  within  the  empty  larval  skin. 

Stratiomys,  both  in  its  larval  and  pupal  states,  floats  at  the 
surface  of  the  water.  The  larva  can  descend  into  the  water 
when  attacked,  but  the  pupa  is  too  buojrant,  and  too  mach  en- 
cumbered by  its  outer  case,  to  execute  any  such  manoeavre. 
Provision  has  accordingly  to  be  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
helpless  pupa  against  its  many  enemies.  It  is  probable  that 
hungry  insects  and  birds  mistake  ths  shapeless  larval  skin»  float- 
ing passively  at  the  surface,  for  a  dead  object.  The  considerable 
space  between  the  outer  envelope,  or  larval  skin,  and  the  body 
of  the  pupa  may  keep  off  others,  for  the  first  bite  of  a  Dy  tiscus 
or  dragon-fly  larva  would  be  disappointing.  Still  further  security 
is  gained  by  the  texture  of  the  larval  skin  itself.  The  cotide 
consists  of  two  layers.  The  inner  is  comparatively  soft  and 
laminated,  while  the  outer  layer  is  impregnated  with  calcareoas 
salts,  and  extremely  hard.  The  -needful  flexibility  is  obtained 
by  the  subdivision  of  the  hard  outer  layer.  Seen  from  the 
surface,  it  is  broken  up  into  a  multitude  of  hexagonal  fields,  each 
of  which  forms  the  base  of  a  conical  projection,  reaching  far 
into  the  softer  layer  beneath.  The  conical  shape  of  these  cal- 
careous nails  allows  a  certain  amount  of  bending  of  the  cntide, 
while  the  whole  exposed  surface  is  protected  by  an  annonr,  in 
which  even  the  pointed  mandibles  of  a  Dytiscus  larva  can  find 
no  efiective  chink. 

The  larva  and  pupa  of  the  Dipterous  fly,  Ptyckoptera  paltidsie, 
exhibit  some  interesting  adaptations  of  the  tracheal  system  to 
unusual  conditions.  The  larva  is  found  in  muddy  ditches,  where 
it  buries  itself  in  the  black  ooze  to  a  depth  of  an  inch  or  twa 
Here,  of  course,  it  can  procure  no  oxygen,  either  gaseous  or  dis- 
solved.  When  it  requires  a  fresh  supply,  it  must  reach  the  sur- 
face with  part  of  its  body,  and  to  enable  it  to  do  so  with  the 
least  possible  exertion,  the  tail-end  of  the  body  is  made  tele- 
scopic, like  that  of  another  .and  still  more  familiar  DipCenas 
larva,  Eristalis.  The  last  segments  are  drawn  out  very  fine, 
and  are  capable  of  a  very  great  amount  of  retraction  or  expan- 
sion. No  visible  opening  for  the  admission  of  air  has  been  dis- 
covered, nor  do  the  hairs  form  a  floating  basin,  as  in  the  Stratio- 
mys larva.  The  larva  may  be  often  seen  lying  just  beneath  the 
surface,  which  is  broken  by  the  tip  of  the  tail.  Whether  air 
can  be  admitted  here  by  some  very  minute  orifice,  or  whetho-  it 
is  renewed  by  the  exchange  of  gases  through  a  thin  membrane, 
I  cannot  as  yet  venture  to  say.  .  In  shallow  water  the  larva  may 
be  occasionally  found  lying  on  or  in  the  mud,  and  strettdkiog  oat 
its  long  tail  to  the  surface.  In  deeper  water,  it  often  floats  at 
the  surface. 

Two  tracheal  trunks  run  along  the  whole  length  of  the  body, 
including  the  slender  tail,  where  they  are  extremely  convohited 
and  unbranched.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  body  the  tradiex 
become  greatly  enlarged  in  the  centre  of  each  segment,  the  inter- 
vening portions,  from  which  many  branches  are  given  ofL,  being 
comparatively  narrow.  .  Each  tube^  therefore,  resembles  a  row 
of  bladders  connected  by  small  necks.  A  cross-section  shows 
that  the  tubes  are  not  cylindrical,  but  flattened,  and  that,  while 
the  lower  surface  is  stifiened  by  the  usual  parallel  thickeniogs, 
the  upper  surface  is  thrown  into  two  deep,  longitudinal  fuiraws, 
so  that  it  is  readily  inflated,  becoming  circular  in  section,  sad 
readily  collapsesr  again  when  the  air  is  expelled.     It  seems  tikdr 

'  So  singular  is  the  disproportion  between  Xht  larva  and  die  papa  ^ 
some  naturalists  have  actually  described  the  latter  as  a  parasite  (Wesiw:^  * 
**  Mod.  ClassificatioD  of  Insects,"  vol.  ii.  p.  533). 


September  io,  1891] 


NATURE 


461 


that  the  baovancy  of  the  larva  can  thus  be  regulated,  and  a 
larger  or  smaller  quantity  of  air  taken  in  as  desired. 

The  pupa  has  a  pair  of  respiratory  tubes,  which  are  carried, 
not  on  the  tail,  but  on  the  thorax,  close  behind  the  head.  One 
of  these  tubes  is  very  long,  the  other  very  short.  The  long 
tube  is  twice  as  long  as  the  body,  and  tapers  very  gradually  to 
its  free  tip.  Here  we  find  a  curious  radiate  structure,  rather  like 
the  teeth  of  a  moss-capsule,  which  seems  adapted  for  opening 
■and  closiDg.  There  is,  however,  no  orifice  which  the  most  care- 
fnl  scrutiny  has  succeeeded  in  discovering.  A  delicate  membrane 
extends  between  the  teeth,  and  prevents  any  passage  inwards  or 
outwards  of  air  in  mass.  The  tube  incloses  a  large  trachea,  the 
continuation  of  one  of  the  main  tracheal  trunks.  This  is 
stiffened  by  a  spiral  coil,  but  at  intervals  we  find  the  coil  de- 
ficient, while  the  wall  of  the  tube  swells  out  into  a  thin  bladder. 
However  the  tube  is  turned,  a  number  of  these  bladders  come 
to  the  surface.  As  the  pupa  lies  on  the  surface  of  the  mud,  the 
filament  floats  on  the  top  of  the  water,  and.  the  air  is  renewed 
withoat  effort  through  the  thin- walled  bladders. 

Why  should  the.  position  of  the  respiratory  organs  be  changed 
from  the  tail-end  in  the  larva  to  the  head-end  in  the  pupa? 
Chironomus,  the  gn.at,  Corethra,  and  many  other  aquatic  in- 
sects exhibit  the  same  phenomenon.  Evidently  there  must  be 
some  reason  why  it  is  more  convenient  for  the  larva  to  take  in 
air  by  the  tail,  and  for  the  pupa  to  take  in  air  by  the  head.  Let 
us  consider  the  case  of  the  larva  first.  Where  it  floats  from  the 
.  surface,  or  poshes  some  part  of  its  body  to  the  surface,  it  is  plain 
that  the  tail  noust  come  to  the  top  and  bear  the  respiratory  out- 
let, for  the  head  bears  the  mouth  and  mouth-oi^ans,  and  must 
.  sweep  to  and  fro  in  all  directions,  or  even  bury  itself  in  the  mud 
in  quest  of  food. ' .  To  divide  the  work  of  breathing  and  feeding 
between  the  opposite  ends  of  the  body  is  of  obvious  advantage, 
for  the  breathing  can  be  done  best  at  the  top  of  the  water,  and 
the  feeding  at  the  bottom,  or  at  least  beneath  the  surface.  Such 
considerations  seem,  to  have  fixed  the  respiratory  organs  at  the 
tail  of  the  larva.  Why,  then,  need  this  arrangement  be  reversed 
when  the  insect  enters  the  pupal  stage  ?  There  is  now  no  feed- 
ing to  be  done,  and  it  surely  does  not  signify  bow  the  head  is 
carried.  Why  should  not  the  pupa  continue  to  breathe  like  the 
larva,  by  its  tail,  instead  of  developing  a  new  apparatus  at  the 
opposite  end  of  its  body,  as  if  for  change's  sake?  Well,  it  does 
not  appear  that,  so  far  as  the  pupa  itself  is  concerned,  any  good 
reason  can  be  given  why  the  larval  arrangement  should  not  con- 
tinue. But  a  time  comes  when  the  fly  has  to  escape  from  the 
pupa-case.  The  skin  splits  along  the  back  of  the  thorax,  and 
here  the  fly  emerges,  extricating  its  legs,  wings,  head,  and 
abdomen  from  their  close-fitting  envelopes.  The  mouth- parts 
must  be  drawn  backwards  out  of  their  larval  sheaths,  the  legs 
upwards,  and  the  abdomen  forwards,  so  that  there  is  only  one 
possible  place  of  escape,  viz.  by  the  back  of  the  thorak,  where 
ail  these  lines  of  movement  converge.  If,  then,  the  fly  must 
escape  by  the  back  of  the  thorax,  the  back  of  the  thorax  must 
float  uppermost  during  at  least  the  latter  part  of  the  pupal  stage. 
Otherwbe  the  fly  would  emerge  into  the  water  instead  of  into 
the  air.  Granting  that  the  back  of  the  thorax  must  float  upper- 
most in  the  pupal  condition,  it  is  clear  that  here  the  respiratory 
tubes  must  be  set. 

I  need  hardly  speak  of  the  many  insects  which  run  and  skate 
on  the  surface  of  the  water  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  pro- 
perties of  the  surface-film.  They  are  able  to  do  so,  first,  by 
reason  of  their  small  size  ;  secondly,  because  of  the  great  spread 
of  their  legs ;  and  thirdly,  on  account  of  the  fine  hairs  with 
which  their  legs  are  provided.  The  adhesion  of  the  surface- 
film  is  measured  by  the  length  of  the  line  of  contact,  and 
accordingly  the  multiplication  of  points  of  contact  may  in- 
definitely increase  the  support  afforded  by  the  surface  of  the 
water. 

In  the  case  of  very  small  insects,  it  becomes  possible,  not  only 
to  run  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  even  to  leap  upon  it,  as 
upon  a  table.  This  is  particularly  well  seen  in  one  of  the 
smallest  and  simplest  of  all  insects — the  little  black  Podura, 
which  abounds  in  sheets  of  still  water.  The  minute  and  hairy 
body  of  the  Podura  is  incapable  of  being  wetted,  and  the  insect 
frisks  about  on  the  silvery  surface  of  a  pond,  just  as  a  house-fly 
might  do  on  the  surface  of  quicksilver.  This  is  all  very  well  so 
long  as  the  Podura  is  anxious  only  to  amuse  itself,  or  move  from 
place  to  place,  but  it  has  to  seek  its  food  in  the  water,  and, 
mdeed,  the  attractiveness  of  a  sheet  of  water  to  the  Podura  lies 
mainly  in  the  decaying  vegetation  far  below  the  surface.  But  if 
the  insect  is  thus  incapable  of  sinking  below  the  surface,  how 

NO.  114 1,  VOL.  44] 


does  it  ever  get  access  to  its  submerged  food  ?  I  have  endea* 
voured  to  arrive  at  the- explanation  of  this  difficulty  by  observa- 
tion of  Poduras  in  captivity.  If  you  place  a  number  of  Poduras 
in  a  beaker  half  full  of  water,  they  are  wholly  unable  to  sink. 
They  run  about  and  leap  upon  the  surface,  as  if  trying  to  escape 
from  their  prison,  but  sink  they  cannot.  I  have  chased  them 
about  with  a  small  rod  until  they  became  excited  and  much 
alarmed,  but  they  were  wholly  unable  to  descend.  Even  when 
large  quantities  of  alcohol  were  added  to  the  water,  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  Podura  are  seen  floating  at  the  top,  almost  as  dry 
as  before.  It  is  only  when  they  are  placed  upon  the  surface  of 
strong  alcohol  that  the  dead  bodies  become  wetted,  and  after 
a  considerable  time  are  seen  to  sink.  How,  then,  does  the 
Podura  ever  descend  to  the  depths  where  its  food  is  found  ? 

I  found  it  an  easy  matter  to  make  a  ladder,  by  which  the 
Podurae  could  leave  the  upper  air.  A  few  plants  of  duck-weed 
introduced  into  the  beaker  enabled  them  at  pleasure  to  pull 
themselves  forcibly  through  the  surface-film,  and  climb  down 
the  long  root  hanging  into  the  water  like  a  rope.  Once  below 
the  surrace,  the  Podura,  though  buoyant,  is  enabled,  by  muscular 
exertion,  to  swim  downwards  to  any  depth. 

Other  aquatic  insects,  not  quite  so  minute  as  the  Podura,. 
experience  something  of  the  same  difficulty.  A  Gyrinus,  or  a 
small  Hydrophilus,  finds  it  no  easy  matter  to  quit  the  surface  of 
the  water,  and  is  glad  of  a  stem  or  root  to  descend  by. 

To  leave  our  aquatic  insects  for  a  moment,  we  may  notice  Ae 
habit  of  creeping  on  the  under-side  of  the  surface-film,  which  is 
so  often  practised  by  leeches,  snails,  cyclas,  &c.     I  find  this  is 
often  described  as  creeping  on  the  at'r,  and  some  naturalists  of 
the  greatest  eminence,  speak  of  fresh-water  snails  as  creeping 
*'  on  the  stratum  of  air  in  contact  with  the  surface  of  the  water. ^'^ 
The  body  of  the  animal  is,  nevertheless,  wholly  immersed  during 
this  exercise,  as  may  be  shown  by  a  simple  experiment.     If 
Lycopodium  powder  is  sprinkled  over  the  water,  the  light 
particles  are  not  displaced  by   the  animal  as  it  travels  be- 
neath.     The  possibility  of  creeping  in  this  manner  depends,, 
not  upon  any  **  repulsion  between  the  water  and  the  dr^  surface 
of  the  body,"  to  quote  an  explanation  which  is  often  given,  but 
upon  the  tenacity  of  the  surface- film,  which  serves  as  a  kind  of 
ceiling  to  the  water-chamber  below.     The  body  of  the  leech  is 
distinctly  of  higher  specific  gravity  than  the  water,  and  falls 
quickly  to  the  bottom,  if  the  animal  loses  its  hold  of  the  surface^ 
film.     The  pond-snails,  however,  actually  float  at  the  surface,, 
and  if  disturbed,  or  made  to  retract  their  foot,  they  merely  turn 
over  in  the  water. 

What  is  the  result  of  all  the  expedients  which  have  enabled 
air-breathing  insects  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  living  in 
water  ?  They  have  been  successful,  we  might  almost  say  too 
successful,  in  gaining  access  to  a  new  and  ample  store  of  food. 
Aquatic  plants,  minute  animals,  and  dead  organic  matter  of  all 
kinds  abound  in  our  fresh  waters.  Accordingly  the  species  of 
aquatic  insects  have  multiplied  exceedingly,  and  the  number  of 
individuals  in  a  species  is  sometimes  surprisingly  high.  The 
supply  of  food  thus  opened  out  is  not  only  ample,  but  in  many 
cases  very  easy  to  appropriate.  Accordingly  the  head  of  the 
larva  degenerates,  becomes  small  and  of  simple  structure,  and 
may  be  in  extreme  cases  reduced  to  a  mere  shell,  not  inclosing 
the  brain,  and  devoid  of  eyes,  antennae,  and  jaw.s.  The  organs 
of  locomotion  also  commonly  afford  some  indications  of  de- 
generation. Where  the  insect  has  to  find  a  mate,  and  discover 
suitable  sites  for  egg-laying,  the  fly  at  least  niusl  possess  some 
degree  of  intelligence,  keen  sense-organs,  and  means  of  rapid 
locomotion.  But  some  few  aquatic  insects,  as  well  as  some  non^ 
aquatic  species  which  have  found  out  an  unlimited  store  of  food, 
manage  to  produce  offspring  from  unfertilized  eggs,  and  to  have 
these  eggs  laid  by  wingless  pupae  or  hatched  within  the  bodies  of 
wingless  larvae.  The  development  of  the  winged  fly,  the  whole 
business  of  mating,  and  even  the  development  of  the  embryo 
within  the  egg,  have  thus,  in  particular  insects,  been  abbreviated 
to  the  point  of  suppression.  This  is  what  I  mean  by  saying 
that  the  pursuit  of  a  new  supply  of  food  has  in  the  case  of 
certain  aquatic  insects  proved  even  too  successful.  Abundant 
food,  needing  no  exertidu  to  discover  or  appropriate  it,  has  led 
in  a  few  instances  to  the  almost  complete  atrophy  of  those  higher 
organs  and  functions  which  alone  make  life  interesting. 

The  degeneration  of  aquatic  insects,  however,  very  rarely 
reaches  this  extreme.  In  nearly  all  cases  the  pupa  is  succeeded 
by  a  fly,  whose  activity  is  in  striking  contrast  to  ths  sluggishness 

'  Semper's  "Animal  Life,"  Eng.  trans,,  p.  205,  and  note  97. 


462 


NA  TURE 


[September  10,  1891 


of  the  larva.     They  diflfer,  to  the  eye  at  least,  almost  as  much 
as  atr  differs  from  water. 

Of  the  friends  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  help,  I  must  specially 
name  my  fellow-worker,  Mr.  Arthur  Hammond,  who  has  com- 
municated to  me  many  results  of  his  own  observations,  and  has 
drawn  most  of  the  illustrations  shown  this  evening.  My  col- 
league, Dr.  Stroud,  has  very  kindly  arranged,  and  in  some  cases 
devised,  the  physical  experiments  which  have  been  so  helpful 
to  us. 


FORTHCOMING  SCIENTIFIC  BOOKS. 

"H^HE  following  announcements  are  made  by  Messrs.  Macmillan 
-*■     ami  Co. : — *  *  Essays  on  some  Controverted  Questions,"  by  T. 
H.  Huxley,  F.R.S.  ;  "Dr.  Schliemann's  Excavations  at  Troy, 
Tiryns,  Mycenae,  Orchomenos,  Ithaca,  presented  in  the  light  of 
recent  knowledge,"  by  Dr.  Carl  Shuchhardt,  authorized  trans- 
lation by  Miss  Eugenie  Sellers,  with  appendix  on  latest  researches 
by  Drs.  Schliemann  and  Dorpfeld,  and  introduction  by  Walter 
Leaf,    illustrated  with  two  portraits,    maps,  plans,    and    290 
woodcuts ;    "  Beast  and  Man  in   India,"  by  J.   L.    Kipling, 
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"  Electricity    and    Magnetism :     a    Popular    Treatise,"    by 
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and  notes,  by  Prof.   Silvanus  P.  Thompson,  author  of  "  Ele- 
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-"  A  Complete  Treatise  on  Inorganic  and  Organic  Chemistry," 
by  Sir  Henry  E.  Roscoe,  F.R.S.,  and  Prof.  C.   Schorlemmer, 
F.R.S.,Vol.  IIL  "Organic  Chemistry ;  the  Chemistiy  of  the 
Hydrocarbons  and  their  derivatives,  or  organic  chemistry, "six 
parts,    Part  VI.  ;  "A  Text-book   of  Physiology,"  illustrated, 
fifth  edition,  revised.  Part  IV.   comprising  the  remainder  of 
Book    III.    "  The     Senses      and     Some     Special     Muscular 
Mechanisms,"   and  Book  IV.  "  The  Tissues  and  Mechanisms 
of  Reproduction,"  by  Michael   Foster,    F.R.S.,    Professor  of 
Physiology  in  the  University  of  Cambridge;  "Text-book  of 
Comparative  Anatomy,"  by  Dr.  Arnold  Lang,  Professor  of  Zoo- 
logy in  the  Univeisity  of  Zurich,  formerlv  Ritter  Professor  of 
Phylogeny  in  the  University  of  Jena,  issued  as  the  ninth  edition 
of    Edward    Oscar   Schmidt's    "Hand-book  of   Comparative 
Anatomy,"   translated   into   English   by  Henry  M.     Bernard 
and   Matilda  Bernard,   with  preface  by  Prof.    Ernst  Haeckel, 
2  vols.,  illustrated  (Vol.  I.  in   Octobo*)  ;  "Materials  for  the 
Study  of  Variation  in  Animals  "  (Part  I.  Discontinuous  Varia- 
tion), by  William  Bateson,  Balfour  Student  and  Fellow  of  St. 
John's  College,    Cambridge,  illustrated ;    "  The    Diseases    of 
Modem    Life,"  by  Dr.  B.   W.  Richardson,  new  and  cheaper 
edition  ;  "  Ligation  in  Continuity,"  by  Drs.  C.  A.  Ballance  and 
Walter  Edmunds,  with  illustrations  and  plates ;  "  The  Dietetic 
Value  of  Bread,"  by  John  Goodfellow  ;  "  On  Colour  Blindness," 
by  Thomas  H.    Bicicerton,   illustrated  (Nature  Series)  ;  "  The 
Geography  of  the  British  Colonies  " — "  Canada,"  by  George 
M.    Dawson,    "  Australia  and  New  Zealand,"  by   Alexander 
Sutherland  ;     "  The  Algebra  of  Co-Planar  Vectors  and  Trigo- 
nometry," by  R.  B.  Hayward,  F.R.S.,  Assistant    Master    at 
Harrow ;     "  The    Elements    of   Trigonometry,"  by    Rawdon 
Levett  and  A.  F.  Davison,  Masters  in  King  Edward's  School, 
Birmingham  ;  "  Progressive  Mathematical  Exercises  for  Home 
Work  "  (in  two  parts),  by  A.  T.   Richardson,  Senior  Mathe- 
matical Master  at  the  Isle   of  Wight  College   formerly  Scholar 
of  Hertford  College,  Oxford  ;  "  The  Geometry  of  the  Circle," 
by  W.  J.  McClelland,   Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Head  Master 
of    Santry   School,  illustrated  ;    "  Mechanics   for  Beginners," 
by  the   Rev.  J.  B.  Lock,  author  of  "  Arithmetic  for  Schools," 
&c.,  Part  I.  Mechanics  of  Solids,  Part  II.  Mechanics  of  Fluids ; 
"  A  Graduated  Course  of  Natural  Science  for  Elementary  and 
Technical  Schools  and  Colleges,"  by  B.  Loewy,  Examiner  in 
Experimental    Physics  to  the  College  of  Preceptors,  Part  II. 
Second  Year's  Course  ;  "  Methods  of  Gas  Analysis,"  by  Walter 


NO.    1 1 4 1 ,  VOL.  44] 


Hempel,  Ph.D.,  translated  bv  Dr.  L.  M.  Dennis;    "Xatore's 
Story  Books,"  I.  "  Sunshine,'^  by  Amy  Johnson,  illustrated. 

The  Cambridge  University  Press  announces  : — "  Catalogne  of 
Scientific  Papers  Compiled  by  the  Royal  Society  of  Loodoa," 
new  series  for  the  years  1874-1883 ;  "The  Collected  Mtthe- 
ipatical  Papers  of  Arthur  Cayley,  ScD.,   F.K.S.,  Sadleriaa 
Professor  of  Pure  Mathematics  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,** 
Vol.  IV.  (to  be  completed  in  ten  volumes) ;  "  A  Histonr  of  the 
Theoiy  of  Elasticity  and  of  the  Strength  of  Materials,''^  by  the 
late  I.  Todhunter,  F.R.S.,  edited  and  completed  by  Kari  Pear- 
son, Professor  of  Applied  Mathematics,  University  College, 
London— Vol.  II.  "  Saint  Venant  to  Sir  William  Thomson"  ; 
"A  Treatise  on   Elementary  Dynamics,"  new  and  enUiged 
edition,  by  S.  L.  Loney,  Fellow  of  Sidney  Sussex  College; 
"Solutions   of  the  Examples  in  a  Treatise  on   Elementary 
Dynamics,"  by  the  same  author;  "A  Treatise  on   Thermo- 
dynamics," by  J.  Parker,  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Ca« 
bridge  ;  "A  History  of  Epidemics  in  Britain,"  Vol.  I.,  fron 
A.D.   664  to  the  extinction  of  Plague  in   1666,   by  Charics 
Creighton,  M.D.,  formerly  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy  in  the 
University  of  Cambridge  ;  "  Catalogue  of  Type  Fossils  in  the 
Woodwanlian  Museum,  Cambridge,"  by  H.    Woods,  of  St. 
John's  College,  with  preface  by  Prof.  T.  McKenoy  Hughes ; 
"  Examination  Papers  for  Entianoe  and  Minor  Scholmnhips  and 
Exhibitions  in  the  Colleges  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  " — 
Part  I.   Mathematics  and  Science,  Part  II.  Classics,  Mediaeval 
and  Modem  Languages,  and  History  (Michaelmas  Term,  1890), 
Part  III.  Mathematics  and  Science,  Part  IV.  Classics,  Lav, 
and  History  (Lent  Term,  1891) ;  and  three  volumes  in  the  Pitt 
Press  Mathematical  Series—"  An  Elementary  Treatise  on  Plane 
Trigonomentry  for  the  Use  of  Schools,"  by  E.  W.  Hobsoi, 
Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  and  University  Lecturer 
in  Mathematics,  and  C.  M.  Jessop,  Fellow  of  Clare  College ; 
"  Arithmetic    for   Schools,"  by  C.  Smith,  Master  of  Sidney 
Sussex  College,  Cambridge ;   "  Solutions  to  the  Exercises  in 
Euclid,  Books  I.— IV.,"  by  W.  W.  Taylor. 

The  Clarendon  Press  promises  "  Geography  of  Africa  Soath 
of  the  Zambesi,"  bv  W.  Parr  Greswell ;  "  Matheomtical  Papas 
of  the  late  Henry  J.  S.  Smith,  Savilian  Professor  of  Geometry 
in  the  University  of  Oxford,"  with  portrait  and  memoir.  2  voU. ; 
"Plane  Trigonometry,  without  Imaginaries,"  by  R.  C.  T. 
Nixon;  "A  Treatise  on  Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  by  J. 
Clerk  Maxwell,  new  edition  ;  "  A  Manual  of  Crystallogpiphy,'^ 
by  M.  H.  N.  Story-Maskelvne ;  "  ElemenUry  MechaDics,"  by 
A.  L.  Selby;  **Weismann*s  Lectures  on  Heredity,"  Vol.  IL, 
edited  by  E.  B.  Poulton,  F.R.S. 

During  the  coming  winter  Mr.  Edward  Arnold  pvopos^s  to 
issue  a  series  of  popular  papers  on  Animals,  by  Prof.  C. 
Lloyd  Morgan,  the  well-known  author  of  "Animal  Life  and 
Intelligence " ;  "A  Treatise  on  the  Standard  Course  of  He- 
mentary  Chembtry,"  by  E,  J.  Cox,  Head  Master  of  the 
Technical  School,  Birmingham  ;  and  a  series  of  scientific 
works,  by  Doctor  Wormell  (the  series  will  embrace  text- 
books of  Mechanics,  Sound,  Light,  Heat,  Magnetism  and 
Electricity). 

Messrs.  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.  announce  a  new  volume 
of  "Fragments  of  Science:  being  Detached  Essays,  Ad- 
dresses, and  Reviews,"  by  John  Tyndall,  F.R.S,  "About 
Ceylon  and  Borneo:  being  an  Account  of  Two  Mats 
to  Ceylon,  One  Visit  to  Borneo,  and  how  I  Came  Home 
and  was  Rocked  to  Sleep  on  the  Bosom  of— well,  'The 
Suez  Canal,'"  by  Walter  J.  Clutterbuck,  author  of  "The 
Skipper  in  the  Arctic  Seas,"  and  joint  author  of  **  Three 
in  Norway,"  and  "B.C.  1887,"  with  illustrations;  "Anthro- 
pological Religion,"  the  Gifford  Lectures  delivered  bcfbie 
the  University  of  Glasgow  in  1891,  by  F.  MaxMiiller;  "•An 
Introduction  to  Human  Physiology,"  being  the  substance  of  lec- 
tures delivered  at  the  Sr.  Mary's  Hospital  Medical  School  froo 
1885  to  1890,  by  Augustus  D.  Waller  ;  "  Elements  of  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics,"  with  numerous  illustrations  bf  C. 
E.  Armand  Semple,  M.R.C.P.  Lond.,  Member  of  the  Coortof 
Examiners,  and  late  Senior  Examiner  in  Arts  at  ApotheGaries' 
Hall,  &c.  ;  "  Outlines  of  Theoretical  Chemistry,"  by  Loihir 
Meyer,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  TiibiDges. 
translated  by  Profs.  P.  Phillips  Bedson  and  W.  Carleton  Wil- 
liams (this  book,  of  about  200  pages,  gives  a  concise  aucoooat 
of  the  theories  of  modern  chemistry,  which,  it  is  expected,  «il 
not  only  be  of  use  to  advanced  students,  but  will  also  enable 
those  who  take  a  general  interest  in  science,  but  are  nnfamiiar 
with  the  details  of  chemical  investigation,  to  gain  a 


September  io,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


463 


of  the  development  of  theoretical  chemistry)  ;  **  The  Dynamics 
of  Rotation/  by  A.  M.  Worthington,  Professor  of  Physics,  and 
Head  Master  of  the  Dockyard  School,  Portsmouth;  "The 
Princijjles  of  Chemistry,"  by  D.  Mendeleeff,  Professor  of  Che- 
mistry in  the  University  of  St.  Petersburg,  translated  by  Geoige 
Kameosky,  A.R.S.M.  of  the  Imperial  Mint,  St.  Petersburg, 
aod  edited  by  A.  J.  Greenaway,  Sub-Editor  of  the  Journal  of 
the  Chemical  Society,  2  vols. ;  *'  A  Manual  of  the  Science  of 
Religion,"  by  Prof.  Chantepie  de  la  Saussaye,  translated  by 
Mrs.  Colyer  Fergnsson  {nie  Max  Miiller),  revised  by  the  author ; 
"  Solutions :  being  an  English  Translation  (by  M.  M.  Pattison 
Mnir)  oi  Book  IV.  Vol.  I.  of  the  Second  Edition  of  Prof. 
Ostwald's  'Lehrbuch  der  allgemcinen  Chemic.'" 

Messrs.  Smith,  Elder,  and  Co.  have  in  preparation  *'Ver- 
teb.-ate  Emb-yology,*'  by  A.  Milnes  Marshall,  F.R.S.,  Professor 
in  the  Victoria  University,  Beyer  Professor  of  Zoology  in  Owens 


edition  of  Part  I.  of  MacCormac's  "  Surgical  Operations." 

Messrs.  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  and  Co.  announce  :  "Theory 
and  Analysis  of  Ornament,"  applied  to  the  work  of  elementary 
aod  technical  schools,  by  Fran9ois  Louis  Schauermann,  for  eight 
years  Head  Master  of  the  Wood  and  Carving   Department, 
Royal  Polytechnic,    Regent    Street,    with    263    illustrations; 
"Answers  to  the  Questions  on  Elementary  Chemistry,"  theo- 
retical and  practical  (ordinary  course),  set  at  the  examinations 
of  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  South  Kensington,  1887- 
91,  by  John  Mills,  formerly  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science, 
London,  author  of  *' Alternative  Elementary  Chemistry,"  fully 
niostFBted  ;  '<  Chemistry  for  Students,"  consisting  of  a  series  of 
lessons  based  on  the  Syllabus  of  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment, and    specially  designed  to  facilitate  the  experimental 
teaching  of  elementary  chemistry  in  schools  and  evening  classes, 
by  John  Mills,  author  of  **  Alternative  Elementary  Chemistry," 
&€.,    numerous     illustrations ;     ''A    Complete    Treatise    on 
the  Electro-Deposition  of  Metals,"  composing  electro-plating 
and  galvanoplastic  operations,  the  deposition  of  metals  by  the 
contact  and  immersion  processes,  the  colouring  of  metals,  the 
methods  of  grinding  and  polishing,  &c.,  translated  from  the 
German  of  Dr.  George  Lan^bein,  with  additions  by  William 
T.Brannt,  editor  of  "The  Techno-Chemical  Receipt  Book," 
&c,  illustrated  by   125  engravings;  "Handwriting  in  Relation 
to  Hygiene,"  being  a  paper  read  at  the  Seventh  International 
Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography,  London,  1891,  by  John 
fackson,  and  the   Report  of  the  Commission   of    Specialists 
^pointed  by  the  Imperial  and   Royal    Supreme  Council  of 
Health,  Vienna,  189 1. 

The  next  volume  of  the  Contemporary  Science  Series,  pub- 
ished  by  Mr.  Walter  Scott,  will  be  "  The  Man  of  Genius,^*  by 
^ot  Lombroso ;  this  volume,  which  will  be  issued  on  Sept- 
mber  25,  will  be  copiously  illustrated. 

Messrs.  Blackie  and  Son  have  in  the  press  a  "Text-book  of 
Agriculture,"  under  the  editorship  of  Prof.  R.  P .  Wright,  of 
lie  Glasgow  and  West  of  Scotland  Technical  College ;    they 
ave  also  in  preparation  a  series  of  "  Guides  to  the  Science  Ex- 
Diinations  "  (the  first  number,  which  is  nearly  ready,  is  by  Mr. 
erome  Harrison,  of  Birmingham,  and  deals  with  tne  examina- 
ODsinphysiographv) ;  Pinkerton's  "  Mechanics,"  in  their  series 
r  Science  Text-books,  is  about  to  enter  a  second  edition,  and 
«  opportunity  is  being  taken  to  adapt  it  to  the  revised  require- 
lents  of  the  189 1  Syllabus  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department. 
Messrs.  A.  and  C.  Black  have  in  preparation  :  "Manual  of 
hcmistry,"by  Dr.  Alexr.  Scott,  Durham  ;  "  Manual  of  Botany," 
r  Dr.  Scott,  Bickley ;  "  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  by  Prof.  Alfred 
ewton  and  Dr.  Gadow. 

Messrs.  Whittaker  and  Co.  announce  the  following  books  : —  ' 
I  Whitlaker's  Library  of  Popular  Science— "  Light,"  by  Sir  ; 
.  Trueman  Wood,  Secretary  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  86  illus- 
aions,  containing  chapters  on  the  Nature  of  Light,  Reflec-  j 
»n.    Refraction,  Colour  and   the   Spectrum,  Lenses,  Optical 
stmments,  &c.  ;  "The  Plant  World:  its  Past,  Present,  and 
iture,"  by  George  Massee,  with  numerous  illustrations.     In 
hittaker's    Specialist's   Series — Prof.    Oliver  Lodge's    work 
on  "  Lightning  Conductors  and  Lightning  Guards  "  ;  "  The 
kali    Maker's    Hand-book,"   by    Prof.    Dr.  George   Lunge 
d  Dr.    F.    Hurter,   a  new,   revised,  and  enlarged  edition ; 
Slectric  Light  Cables  and  the  Distribution  of  Electricity," 
Stuart  A.    Russell;  "The  Artificial  Production  of  Cold," 
H.  G.  Harris ;  "  The  Dynamo,"  by  C.  C.  Hawkins  and  J. 

NO.    114 1,  VOL.  44] 


Wallis;  "The  Drainage  of  Habitable  Build ing5,"  by  W.  Lee 
Beardroore,    Member  of  the   Council  and    Hon.  Sec.  of  the 
Civil  and  Mechanical  Engineers'  Society  ;  a  fourth  revised  and 
enlarged  edition   of  "The  Working  and  Management  of  an 
English  Railway,"  by  G.    Findlay,   General   Manager  of  the 
London  and   North- Western   Railway;    "The  Working  and 
Management  of  an  Atlantic  Liner ;  with  a  Retrospect  of  the 
Trade,"  by  A.  J.  Maginnis,  recently  Assistant  Superintendent 
of  the   White   Star  Line.     In   Whittaker's   Library   of  Arte, 
Sciences,   Manufactures,   and   Industries— "A  First  Book  of 
Electricity  and   Magnetism,"  by  W.   Perrcn   May  cock  ;    "The 
Practical  Telephone  Hand-book  and  Guide  to  Telephonic  Ex- 
change," by  J.    Poole,    Whitworth  Scholar,   1875,  late  Chief 
Electrician  to  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Telephone  Exchange 
Co.,  with  227  illustrations  ;  "The  Optics  of  Photography  and 
Photographic  Lenses,"  by  J.  Traill  Taylor,  editor  of  the  British 
Journal  of  Photography ;    "The  Art  and  Craft   of  Cabinet- 
making,"  by  D.  Denning,  with  upwards  of  200  illustrations. 

Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.  announce  : — "  Geometrical  Drawing 
for  Army  Candidates,"  by  H.  T.  Lilley,  new  and  enlarged 
edition  ;  "  A  First  Book  of  Mechanics  for  Young  Beginners," 
with  numerous  easy  examples  and  answers,  by  the  Rev.  J.  G. 
Easton,  late  Scholar  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  formerly 
Head  Master  of  the  Grammar  School,  Great  Yarmouth ; 
"  Work,"  yearly  volume,  an  illustrated  magazine  of  practice 
and  theory  for  all  workmen,  professional  and  amateur;  "The 
Principles  of  Perspective  as  Applied  to  Model-Drawing  and 
Sketching  from  Nature,"  with  32  plates  and  other  illustrations,, 
by  George  Trobridge,  Head  Master  Government  School  of  Art, 
Belfast,  second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  JoumaloJ  Science^  September. — On  the  capture  of 
comets  by  planets,   especially    their   capture    by   Jupiter,  by 
H.  A.  Newton.     The  full  paper  is  not  now  given.     The  com- 
pleted results  will  be  noted   in  Our  Astronomical  Column  as 
soon  as    they    are    published. — Pleistocene  fluvial  planes    of 
Western  Pennsylvania,  by  Frank  Leverett.      Some  facts   are 
stated  which  clash  with  certain  conclusions  drawn  by  Mr.  P. 
Max  Foshay  in  a  paper  entitled  "  Pre-Gladal  Drainage  and 
Recent  Geological  History  of  Western  Pennsylvania,"  which 
appeared  in  the  November  number  of  the  youmal.     From  these 
it  appears  that  the  obstacles  to  a  northward  discharge  of  the 
Shenango,  Mahoning,  and  Beaver  are,  on  the  whole,  greater 
than  those  in   the  way  of  a  southward   discharge.      In   the 
Monongahela,  Lower  Alleghany,  and  the    Ohio  valleys,  the 
available  evidence  all  indicates  southward  discharge  along  the 
present  course  of  the  Ohio  from  the  inter-Glacial  period  to  the 
present  time. — A  method  for  the  determination  of  antimony  and 
ite  condition  of  oxidation,  by  F.  A.  Gooch  and  H.  W.  Gruener. 
— A  method  for  the  estimation  of  chlorates,  by  F.  A.  Gooch 
and  C.  G.  Smith. — Dampening  of  electrical  oscillations  on  iron 
wires,  by  John  Trowbridge.     The  experiments  lead  to  the  con- 
clusions that  (i)  The  magnetic  permeability  of  iron  wires  exer- 
cises an  important    influence    upon    the    decay  of  electrical 
oscillations  of   high   frequency.     This  influence    is   so    great 
that  the  oscillations  may  be  reduced  to  a  half-oscillation  on  a 
circuit  of  suitable  self-induction  and  capacity  for  producing  them. 
(2)  It  is  probable  that  the  time  of  oscillation  on  iron  wires  may 
be  changed.     Only  a  half-oscillation  has  been  obtained  on  iron 
wires,  so  this  law  cannot  be  stated  definitely.     (3)  Currents  of 
high  frequency,  such  as  are  produced  in  Leyden  jar  discharges, 
therefore  magnetize  the  iron. — Genesis  of  iron  ores  by  iso- 
morphous  and  pseudomorphous  replacement  of  limestone,  &c„ 
by  James   P.    Kimball.     The  author  adduces  a  considerable 
amount  of  evidence  showing  that  such  producte  of  epigenesis  as 
siderite  and  ferro-calcite  are,  as  a  rule,  producte  of  direct  pseudo- 
morphous replacement  of  isomorphous  calcic  carbonate,  like 
limestone,  calcite,  calc-sinter,  calcareous  sediments,  &c.     And 
the  general  proposition  is  therefore  advanced  that  deposits  of 
concentrated  iron  ores  occur  far  more  extensively  as  pseudomor- 
phous replacements  than  is  usually  supposed. — On  the  constitu- 
tion of  certain  micas,  vermiculites,  and  chlorites,  by  F.  W. 
Clarke  and  E.    A   Schneider.     Chemical  analyses  of  several 
specimens  are  given. — A  further  note  on  the  age  of  the  Orange 
Sands,  by  R.  D.  Salisbury.     Some  new  facte  are  stated  in  sup- 
port of  the  view  that  the  Orange  Sand  series  of  sands  and 


464 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1891 


gravels  are  of  the  pre- Pleistocene  age. — Note  on  the  causes  of 
the  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle,  by  Prof.  Frank  H. 
Bigelow.  (See  Our  Astronomical  Column.) — Notice  of  new 
vertebrate  fossils,  by  O.  C.  Marsh. 

The  American  Meteorological  yournal  for  August  contains 
the  following  articles : — Mountain  meteorology,  by  A.  L.  Rotch. 
The  author  points  out  the  advantages  of  mountain  stations  at 
which  regular  and  continuous  observations  can  be  made  as  com- 
pared with  fragmentary  observations  in  balloons.  The  chief 
x:haracteristic  of  the  pressure  at  high  altitudes  in  temperate  and 
northern  regions  is  a  higher  pressure  in  summer  and  a  lower 
pressure  in  winter ;  thus  the  barometer  varies  inversely  at  high 
and  low  levels.  With  elevation  above  the  sea,  the  absorption 
of  aqueous  vapour  diminishes,  or  inversely,  solar  radiation  in- 
creases. In  the  Himalayas  a  black  bulb  thermometer  in  vacuo 
has  registered  25°  above  the  boiling  point  of  water,  while  the 
shade  temperature  was  only  75".  In  general,  the  annual  range 
of  temperature  diminishes  with  height,  so  that  at  an  elevation 
of  about  39,000  feet,  which  is  the  height  of  the  cirrus  clouds, 
probably  the  temperature  is  constant  throughout  the  year.  The 
hygrometric  conditions  at  high  altitudes  are  subject  to  rapid 
changes,  from  complete  saturation  to  extreme  dryness,  and  are 
accompanied  by  analogous  thermal  changes.  In  all  mountainous 
regions,  where  there  is  no  prevailing  wind  there  is  a  wind  blow- 
ing into  the  valleys  during  the  day,  and  out  from  the  valleys 
<lunng  the  night.  On  calm,  clear,  winter  nights  the  air  in  the 
valleys  is  often  colder  than  on  the  mountain  slopes.  The  author 
considers  that  much  of  the  progress  made  in  recent  years  in 
meteorological  science  is  due  to  the  establishment  of  mountain- 
stations,  and  that  in  comparing  the  work  done  by  various 
nations  to  advance  mountain  meteorology,  France  stands  un- 
rivalled. The  German  and  Austrian  stations  are  frequently 
badly  placed,  being  located  in  inns  below  the  summits.  Among 
the  best  stations  (in  addition  to  the  French)  he  mentions  the 
Sonnblick,  Hoch  Obir,  Santis,  Ben  Nevis,  and  Mount  Washing- 
ion. — On  the  various  kinds  of  gradients,  by  L.  Teisserenc  de 
Bort.  This  is  a  translation  from  the  memoirs  of  the  Meteoro- 
logical Congress  held  at  Paris  in  1889,  in  connection  with  the 
International  Exhibition.  The  air  being  put  in  motion  by  dif- 
ferences of  pres<(ure,  there  ought  evidently  to  be  a  relation 
between  the  gradient  and  the  wind  velocity,  but  although  the 
«rind  increases  with  the  gradient,  there  is  no  exact  ratio,  nor  a 
constant  relation  from  day  to  day.  The  author  reviews  the 
subject  in  connection  with  changes  produced  by  temperature  and 
adynamic  effects  upon  the  rectilinear  movements  of  the  atmo- 
sphere, and  the  movements  caused  by  the  earth's  rotation,  and 
be  draws  attention  to  the  "  dragging  "  of  the  air  by  the  friction 
-of  the  superincumbent  layers,  the  effect  of  which  ought  to  be  re- 
vealed by  observation. — The  climatic  history  of  Lake  Bonneville, 
by  R.  de  C.  Ward.  This  is  an  abstract  of  a  monograph  by  J. 
R.  Gilbert,  published  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
The  paper  is  chiefly  geological,  but  has  an  important  bearing 
•upon  the  secular  changes  in  climate.  Lake  Bonneville  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  great  Salt  Lake  of  Utah,  which  has  frequently 
altered  its  level,  even  in  recent  years.  At  the  time  of  the  glacial 
epoch  its  level  was  about  300  metres  higher,  and  it  occupied 
about  ten  times  its  present  area.  The  cause  of  the  drying  up 
of  a  large  part  of  the  former  area  is  found  in  the  prevailing 
winds  which,  on  their  way  from  the  Pacific  and  in  their  passage 
over  the  Sierra  Nevada,  have  precipitated  much  of  their  mois- 
ture, and  pass  over  this  region  as  drying  winds. — The  other 
articles  are  :  observations  at  a  distance  (by  means  of  electricity), 
by  T.  P.  Hall ;  ocean  fog  (the  causes  which  produce  it),  by  E. 
P.  Garriott ;  and  water-spouts  (observed  on  a  voyage),  by  Prof. 
C  Abbe. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES, 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  31. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
•chair. — Comparative  amatomy  of  plants,  by  M.  A.  Chat  in. 
In  presenting  this  recently  published  work  to  the  Academy,  the 
author  summarizes  the  results  of  his  researches  on  Phanerogamic 
plants  contained  in  it  and  former  volumes. — Studies  relative  to 
the  comparison  of  the  international  metre  with  the  prototype  of 
the  Archives^  by  M.  Bosscha.  It  has  been  experimentally  found 
that,  after  existence  for  a  century,  the  metre  of  the  Archives 
<nay  still  be  used  in  the  production  of  a  unit  of  length,  with  all 


the  precision  requisite  in  the  measures  of  a  prototype,  and  that 
the  international  metre  and  national  standards  defined  by  the 
equations  sanctioned  by  the  General  Conference  of  Weights  and 
Measures  represent  a  unit  of  length  sensibly  different  from  the 
Archives  metre.  They  are  shorter  by  about  2 '6  fu — On  a  pro- 
perty of  involution  common  to  a  plane  group  having  five  right 
angles  and  a  system  of  nine  planes,  by  M.  Paul  Serret. — On  the 
laws  of  hardening  and  permanent  deformations,  by  M.  G.  Faorie. 
— Observation  of  Wolfs  comet,  by  M.  J.  Leotard.  The  comet 
was  observed  on  August  27  as  a  feeble  nebulosity  about  3'  in 
diameter. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Lessons  in  Art :  Hume  Nisbet  (Chatto).— The  ElectroHnasnet  ud 
Electro-magnetic  Mechanism:  S.  P.  Thompson  (Spon). — Hand-book  of 
Jamaica,  1891-92  (Stanronl)  —The  South  Italian  Volcanoes,  edited  by  Dr. 
Johnston-Lavis  (Naples). —The  Frog,  4th  edition.— A.  M.  Marshall  (Mas- 
chester,  CornishX — Publications  of  West  Hendon  House  Obseratflcy. 
Sunderland  ;  No.  z.  Structure  of  the  Sidereal  Universe:  T.  W.  Backbcase 
(Sunderland,  Hills). — Telegraphic  Determinations  of  Longitudes  on  the 
Weit  Coast  of  Africa:  PuUen  and  Finlay  (Admiralty).— Electric^  is 
Mining  :  S.  P.  Thompson  (SponX — Prize  Essay  on  the  L>istriback»  of  tk 
Moon's  Heat  and  its  Variation  with  the  Phase  :  F.  W.  Very  (The  Hacae, 
Nijhoff). — Return,  British  Museum  (Eyre  and  Spottiswoode). — Ueber  drs 
Beweis  des  Prinzips  von  der  Erhaltung  der  Energie  :  T.  Gross  (Beslii, 
Ma]rer  and  Mulier).  -Geological  Magazine,  September  (K.  Paul).— Zdh 
schrift  fQr  Wissenschafcliche  Zoologie,  52  Band,  3  Heft  (L«p«ig.  Ei^l- 
m&nn). — Morphologisches  Jahrbuch,  17  Band,  3  Heft  (Leipng,  KngelinaBi). 
— Gncyklopaedie  der  Naturwissenschaften.  Dritte  Abtl^.,  to  Lief  (Bzesiaa, 
Trewendt).— Notes  from  the  Leyden  Museum,  vol.  xiii.  Na  3  (Lcydec 
Brill).— Erg&nzungsheft  zum  68  Jahrest.  der  Schlesischen  GeMlscfaaftftr 
Vaterlfindische  Cultur  (Breslau,  AderholzX— Journal  of  the  Cheaicai 
Society,  September  (Gumey  and  Jackson). — The  Asclepiad,  No.  31, 
vol.  8 :  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson  (Longmans). 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

An  Evolutionary  Castigation.    By  Prof.  R.  Meldola, 

P.R.S 441 

The  Laws  of  Force  and  Motion.     By  A.  G.  G.   .  .  443 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Emtage :    ''An  Introduction    to   the   Mathematical 

Theory  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism  " 4^3 

Sergueyeff:  "  Le  Sommeil  et  le  Systeme  Nerreai : 

Physiologic  de  la  Veille  et  da  Sommeil  " 444 

Hewitt :  "  Elementary  Science  Lessons  " 444 

Cracknel! :  "  Solutions  of  the  Examples  in  Cbarics 

Smith's  *  Elementary  Algebra  *  *' 444 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Anatomy  of  Heloderma. — G.  A.  Boulenger  .  .  444 
A  Straight  Hand.— A.  d'Abbadie  (de  Tlnstitat)  .  .  444 
CordyUphora  lacustris, — Henry  Scherren  ....  445 
Absolute  and  Gravitation  Systems.  —Frederick  Slate  44S 
Eucalyptus  as  a  Disinfectant.— J.  Brandon  Curg^en- 

ven 445 

Alum  Solution.  —Harry  Napier  Draper 446 

A    New   Keyed   Instrument    for   Just    Intonation. 

{Illustrated,)     By  Dr.  William  Pole,  P.R.S.     ...   44^ 
The   New   Australian    Marsupial   Mole — Notoryctes 

typhlops.     By  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S 449 

Francis  BrUnnow,  Ph.D.,  F.R.A.S *  449 

Notes 45^ 

Our  Astronomical  Colamn  :— 

Solar  Observations 453 

Connection    between    Terrestrial     Magnetism     and 

Radiant  Sunlight -453 

Two  New  Asteroids 453 

Physics  at  the  British  Association 453 

Chemistry  at  the  British  Association 455 

Some  Difficulties  in  the  Life  of  Aquatic  Insects.   By 

Prof.  L.  C.  MiaU 457 

Forthcoming  Scientific  Books 4^ 

Scientific  Serials 4^3 

Societies  and  Academies 4^ 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received  ....      ik 


NO.   1 141,  VOL.  44] 


NA  TURE 


465 


THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  17,  1891. 


ANIMAL  CHLOROPHYLL, 

Die  Organisation  der  Turbellaria  Acosla.    Von  Dr.  Lud- 
wig  von  Graff.     (Engelmann,  1891.) 

EIGHT  years  ago  Dr.  von  Graff  published  his  great 
monograph  of  the  Rhabdgccel  Turbellaria ns.  The 
improved  methods  of  histological  research  have  enabled 
him  to  add  some  essential  facts  since  that  date  to  our 
knowledge  of  one  of  the  ntDst  curious  groups  of  the 
Rhabdocoela — namely,  those  known  as  Acoela.  In  1885 
he  passed  his  Easter  holidays  at  the  Franciscan  convent 
on  the  Dalmatic  island  of  Lesina,  and  on  the  sea-shore 
of  the  garden  of  the  convent  found  Convoluta  Schultzii 
and  cinerea  in  abundance. 

Prof.  Delage  in  1886  published  his  valuable  researches 
on  Convoluta  Roscoffensis^  the  green  species  of  Roscoff, 
in  which  he  made  use  of  a  method  of  gold- impregnation 
for  demonstrating  the  nervous  system.  Dr.  von  Graff 
visited  Roscoff  in  the  same  year,  and  in  1889  studied  the 
Acoela  at  the  Naples  Station  by  means  of  Delage's  and 
other  methods  of  gold-impregnation.  The  present  volume 
deals  with  Proporus  venenosus^  O.  Schm.  ;  Monoporus 
rubnpunctatus,  O.  Schm.  ;  Aphanostoma  diversicolor^ 
Oerst ;  and  several  species  of  Convoluta  j  it  being  shown 
amongst  other  facts  that  the  Roscoff  species  studied  by 
Geddes  and  Delage  is  distinct  from  the  Mediterranean 
C  Schultziiy  and  that  C.  cinerea^  Graff,  must  be  placed  in 
a  new  genus,  Amphichasrus. 

The  work  is  illustrated  by  ten  quarto  plates,  coloured. 
A  variety  of  important  anatomical  and  histological  details 
are  given,  and  a  systematic  discussion  of  genera  and 
species.  Dr.  von  Graff  discusses  the  relationship  of 
Trichoplax  to  the  Acoela,  having  received  living  speci- 
mens of  this  curious  form  from  the  aquarium  of  the 
Zoological  Institute  of  Vienna,  but  he  does  not  allude  to 
the  Hapiodiscus  piger  of  Weldon  (Quarterly  Journal  of 
Microscopical  Science^  vol.  xxix.),  a  floating  form,  taken 
off  the  Bahamas,  which  seems  to  be  certainly  a  member 
of  the  group. 

The  chief  matter  of  interest  in  Dr..  von  Graff's  volume, 
which  we  propose  to  notice  at  greater  length,  is  the 
chapter  by  Dr.  G.  Haberlandt,  on  ''the  structure  and 
significance  of  the  chlorophyll-cells  of  Convoluta  Ros- 
coffensis!^  Dr.  Haberlandt  states  that  the  description  by 
Geddes  of  the  chlorophyll  of  this  form,  as  diffused  in  the 
general  plasma-body  of  certain  cells,  is  erroneous.  The 
green-coloured  cells  lie  well  below  the  cuticle,  embedded 
amongst  the  cells  of  the  superficial  parenchyma.  Accord- 
ing to  Haberlandt  they  are  highly  compressible  and  elastic, 
and  devoid  of  anything  like  a  cellulose  envelope  or  even 
a  membranous  envelope.  They  are  not  uniformly  green, 
but  there  is  as  a  rule  a  single  large  chloroplast  which 
forms  a  more  or  less  complete  shell  to  the  protoplasm  of 
the  cell-body.  In  some  of  the  cells  Haberlandt  could 
detect  several  peripheral  plate-like  chloroplasts.  The 
crust-like  chloroplast  contains  as  a  rule  a  single  centrally 
placed  pyrenoid  of  spherical  form.  As  an  exception  two 
or  even  three  pyrenoids  are  present.  The  pyrenoid  is 
colourless  ;  it  is  stained  by  hematoxylin  or  by  borax 
carmine,  but  by  no  means  so  strongly  as  is  the  nucleus  of 

NO.    II 42,  VOL.  44] 


the  cell  in  which  the  chloroplast  occurs.  Starch  granules 
in  the  form  of  small  curved  rods  are  grouped  around  the 
pyrenoid  (sometimes  within  it),  and  are  detected  by  a 
violet-brown  reaction  on  addition  of  iodine  solution.  The 
colourless  protoplasm  of  the  cell  is  small  in  amount  as 
compared  with  the  enveloping  chloroplast :  its  nucleus  is 
only  rendered  visible  by  staining.  The  colourless  proto- 
plasm sometimes  contains  a  group  of  granules  of 
doubtful  nature,  erroneously  taken  by  Geddes  for  starch 
granules. 

The  resemblance  of  these  cells,  especially  in  respect  of 
the  structure  of  their  chloroplasts  and  pyrenoids,  to  cer- 
tain cells  which  constitute  the  unicellular  bodies  of  Volvo- 
cineae,  Tetrasporeae,  and  Pleurococcaceae,  is  insisted  upon 
by  Haberlandt  He  raises  the  question  as  to  whether 
they  are  to  be  regarded  as  parasitic  Algae  in  the  sense  of 
the  theory  of  Entz  and  Brandt ;  and  suggests  another 
hypothesis — namely,  that,  whilst  phylogenetically  they 
must  be  regarded  as  Algae  (that  is  to  say,  have  descended 
from  Algae),  yet  at  the  present  time  they  have  by  pro- 
found adaptation  to  life  in  and  with  the  Convoluta^  alto- 
gether lost  their  character  as  independent  algal  organisms, 
and  have  become  an  integral  histological  element  of  the 
worm,  and  in  fact  constitute  its  assimilation  tissue. 

To  test  this  hypothesis  he  asks :  (i)  How  do  the  green 
cells  get  into  the  body  of  the  worm  t  and  (2)  What  be- 
comes of  them  when  the  worm  dies  ?  Can  they  live  in 
an  isolated  condition  ?  To  the  first  question  he  is  unable 
to  give  an  answer,  but  suggests  that  they  may  be  handed 
on  from  generation  to  generation  of  the  Convoluta,  enter- 
ing the  egg-cell  as  a  colourless  minute  cell  which  later 
develops  its  chloroplast  just  as  the  "  leucoplasts '*  of 
higher  plants  are  found  in  the  egg-cell,  and  later  become 
chloroplasts.  As  to  the  second  question,  Haberlandt  has 
no  doubt.  The  green  cells  die  when  they  are  removed 
from  the  worm's  body  or  when  the  worm  dies.  He  notes 
in  this  connection  their  membraneless  character,  and 
regards  the  loss  of  a  cellulose  envelope  as  one  of  the 
modifications  which  the  ancestral  parasitic  Alga  has 
undergone,  rendering  it  incapable  of  living  an  inde- 
pendent life  away  from  the  tissues  of  its  host.  Lastly, 
Haberlandt  justly  remarks  that  similarity  to  an  Alga  is 
no  proof  that  the  green  cells  are  really  Algae  in  nature. 
Haberlandt  is  inclined  to  place  his  theory  as  to  the  green 
cells  of  Convoluta  alongside  the  suggestion  of  Schimper 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  chlorophyll  corpuscles  of  higher 
plants — namely,  that  these  are  due  to  the  union  in  the 
remote  past  of  a  green-coloured  with  a  colourless 
organism.  In  this  case  and  in  that  of  Convoluta  the 
highest  phase  of  symbiotic  association  is  attained,  for  the 
green  organism  can  no  longer  be  separated  and  cultivated 
apart,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Lichens,  but  has,  in  fact, 
become  an  organ  of  the  colourless  organism,  multiplying 
with  it  and  forming  an  integral  as  well  as  a  necessary  part 
of  its  mechanism,  and  so  greatly  modified  by  ages  of 
association  as  to  be  now  barely  recognizable  as  derived 
from  an  independent  source.  We  can  well  suppose  it 
possible  that  the  green  cells  of  .Convoluta  might  proceed 
further  in  their  modification,  so  as  to  lose  the  colourless 
protoplasm  and  the  cell-nucleus  ;  they  would  then  become 
simple  chlorophyll  corpuscles  like  those  of  higher  green 
plants. 

The  suggestion  thus  put  forward  by  Haberlandt  is  in 

X 


466 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


complete  accord  with  the  view  which  I  have  several 
times  expressed  in  regard  to  the  chlorophyll  corpuscles  of 
Hydra  viridis  and  of  Spongilla  viridis  (see  Quart,  Joum, 
After,  Sci.y  vol.  xxii.  p.  229),  viz.  that  there  is  no  more 
reason  for  regarding  them  as  symbiotic  Algae  than  there 
is  for  so  regarding  the  chlorophyll-corpuscles  of  a  butter- 
cup. Whether  there  is  sufficient  reason  for  so  regarding 
the  chlorophyll-corpuscles  of  a  buttercup  is  another  ques- 
tion, and  one  which  certainly  is  not  yet  decided  in  the 
affirmative,  though  there  are  considerations  which  render 
such  a  hypothesis  one  not  lightly  to  be  dismissed. 

A  difficulty  in  the  matter  seems  to  be  this — viz.  that  if 
the  chloroplasts  of  the  cells  of  multicellular  organisms  are 
to  be  regarded  as  parasitic,  why  should  not  those  of  uni- 
cellular Algae  also  be  regarded  as  parasitic  ?  and  if  "  Zoo- 
chlorella,"  or  whatever  the  hypothetic  Alga  may  be  called 
in  the  case  of  Convoluta,  can  form  chloroplasts,  why  should 
not  the  tissue-cells  of  Convoluta  themselves,  or  of  Hydra, 
or  of  Spongilla  form  chloroplasts  ? 

It  is  obviously  necessary  to  distinguish  for  the  present 
(though  possibly y  as  Haberlandt  suggests,  the  one  may  be 
derived  from  the  other)  the  strongly-marked  unicellular 
parasites  of  Radiolaria  and  Anthozoa  (the  "  yellow  cells  ") 
from  the  green  cells  of  Convoluta,  and  the  chloroplasts  of 
Hydra  viridis^  of  Spongilla  JluviatiliSy  and  of  many 
Ciliata.  The  statement  which  is  current  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  nucleus  in  the  chloroplasts  of  Hydra  is  simply 
erroneous,  and  that  as  to  the  independent  multiplication 
of  the  chloroplasts  of  Ciliate  Infusoria  when  removed 
from  the  cell  in  which  they  occur  is  possibly  a  misinter- 
pretation of  a  graft-phenomenon.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
Dr.  Haberlandt  will  spare  the  time  to  study  for  himself— 
as  he  has  the  green  cells  of  Convoluta— the  more  readily 
obtainable  chloroplasts  of  Hydra,  Spongilla,  and  Stentor. 

Some  extremely  interesting  and  suggestive  remarks  on 
the  physiological  and  biological  phenomena  connected 
with  the  green  cells  of  Convoluta  conclude  Dr.  Haber- 
landt*s  chapter.  E.  Ray  Lankester. 


STREATFEILiyS  PRACTICAL  ORGANIC 

CHEMISTRY. 

Practical  Work  in  Organic  Chemistry,  By  Fredk.  Wm. 
Streatfeild,  F.I.C.,  &c.,  Demonstrator  of  Chemistry  at 
the  City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute's  Technical 
College,  Finsbury.  With  a  Prefatory  Notice  by  Prof 
R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.  "  Finsbury  Technical  Manuals." 
(London:  E.  and  F.  N.  Spon,  1891.) 

'T^HE  numerous  manuals  of  practical  organic  chemistry 
J-  which  have  been  published  of  late  years  testify  to 
a  re-awakened  interest  in  an  important  subject.  Some 
of  these  deal  with  the  preparation  of  various  typical 
organic  compounds  ;  others  restrict  themselves  to  de- 
scribing methods  of  analysis.  The  present  work  com- 
bines both  methods  of  teaching,  and,  as  a  special  feature, 
divides  the  subject  into  "programmes  of  instruction" 
designed  to  meet  the  varied  wants  of  the  students  attend- 
ing the  evening  classes  of  chemical  technology  at  the 
Finsbury  College,  taking  into  account  the  special  nature 
of  their  daily  avocations  and  the  purpose  to  which  they 
NO.   1 142,  VOL.  44] 


wish  to  apply  their  chemistry.      Thus,   after  working 
through  the  introductory  courses  of  "operations"  and 
'*  analysis,"    and   thus    familiarizing   himself    with   the 
general  methods  of  the  subject,  the  student  would  begin 
to  specialize.    The  brewer  would  select  the  programme 
"ethyl  alcohol  and  its  reactions,"  which  includes  fer- 
mentation and  the  purification  and  estimation  of  alcohol^ 
and  touches  on  allied  subjects,  such  as  the  preparation  of 
aldehyde,  acetic  acid,  and  chloroform.    The  soap-maker 
would  devote  himself  to  the  programme,  "  a  study  of  the 
preparation  and  decomposition  of  ethyl  acetate,  and  of 
the  composition  and  reactions  of  some  of  the  natural 
fats  and  oils " ;  thus  passing  from  the  simplest  case  of 
saponification  (hydrolysis)  of  an  ethereal  salt  in  ethyl 
acetate  to  the  more  complex  cases  in  the  fats.  This  latter 
programme  also  includes  the  isolation  and  estimation  of 
glycerol,  and  its  properties  ;  palmitic,  stearic,  oleic,  and 
elaidic  acids  ;  drying  and  non-drying  oils  ;  bromine  and 
iodine  absorption  of  oils ;  and  other  matters  of  interest  in 
this  connection.     The  tar-distiller  would  carry  out  tbe 
experiments    given   under  "coal-tar  and   coal-tar   pro- 
ducts"—a  very  full  and  satisfactory  chapter. 

This  restriction  of  the  field  of  study  is  amply  justified 
by  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  only  an  irreclaim- 
able scientific  purist  would  object  to  it.  Even  the 
ordinary  day-student  of  chemistry,  who  can  devote  his 
whole  time  and  energies  to  the  subject,  must  work  under 
some  similar  limitation  when  he  comes  to  deal  with  the 
inexhaustible  material  of  organic  chemistry. 

The  experiments  given  under  the  various  programmes 
are  well  selected,  and  the  accompanying  descriptions  are 
evidently  the  outcome  of  a  thorough  practical  knowledge  of 
the  subject.  We  may  make  an  exception,  however,  in  the 
case  of  the  preparation  of  anhydrous  formic  acid  (p.  66) 
by  passing  sulphuretted  hydrogen  over  dry  copper  for- 
mate. The  method  is  quite  obsolete :  Lorin's  improved 
process  of  preparing  the  pure  acid  from  anhydrous 
glycerol  and  anhydrous  oxalic  acid,  drying  the  95-9$ 
per  cent,  acid  thus  obtained  with  boric  anhydride,  is  now 
employed.  Worst  of  all,  the  author  recommends  in  this 
experiment  that  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  should  be 
dried  by  passing  it  through  concentrated  sulphuric  add 
— a  blunder  which  would  go  far  to  justify  the  prevailing 
impression  that  organic  chemists  are  not  always  suffi- 
ciently conversant  with  the  facts  of  inorganic  chemistry. 

In  spite  of  this  and  one  or  two  other  trifling  in- 
accuracies, we  cordially  recommend  the  book  as  a 
valuable  aid  to  both  teacher  and  student.  What  it 
deals  with  really  is  practical  organic  chemistry,  and  not 
the  spurious  substitute  which,  in  the  shape  of  "  the  detec- 
tion of  not  more  than  one  organic  acid  and  one  organic 
base,"  usurps  the  name  in  this  country—thanks  to  the 
authority  of  examining  boards,  the  industry  of  the  writers 
of  cram-books,  and  the  credulity  of  the  public 

Prof.  Meldola,  in  his  prefatory  notice,  referring  to  the 
evening  classes  in  chemistry  at  the  Finsbury  College,  says 
that  they  "  cater  for  no  examination  " ;  and  it  is  perhaps 
owing  to  this  important  circumstance  that  Mr.  Streatfeild, 
on  whom  a  considerable  share  of  the  laboratory  teaching 
of  these  classes  devolves,  has  been  in  a  position  to  write 
a  real  manual  of  practical  organic  chemistry,  and  not  a 
mere  cram-book  of  tests— written  up  to  syllabus^    | 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


467 


TELESCOPIC  WORK, 

Telescopic  Work  for  Starlight  Evenings.  By  W.  F. 
Denning,  F.R.A.S.  (London:  Taylor  and  Francis, 
1891.) 

AS  might  be  expected  from  such  an  experienced  and 
enthusiastic  observer  as  Mr.  Denning,  this  book  is 
thoroughly  practical.  He  is  not  contented  with  describing 
the  beauties  of  the  skies,  but  gives  invaluable  informa- 
tion as  to  how  to  see  them  best.  The  opening  chapters 
give  a  very  complete  history  of  the  invention  and  deve- 
lopment of  the  powers  of  the  telescope  and  its  acces- 
sories. These  are  followed  by  chapters  on  the  sun, 
moon,  planets,  stars,  nebulae,  and  clusters ;  the  sun  being 
introduced  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  although  not 
comprehended  in  the  title.  The  question  of  the  relative 
advantages  of  large  and  small  telescopes  is  discussed  at 
considerable  length,  and  one  almost  gets  the  impression 
that  large  telescopes,  except  under  very  favourable  condi- 
tions, are  not  desirable  possessions.  It  is  very  gratifying 
to  note  the  encouragement  given  to  observers  of  limited 
means.  To  them  the  book  will  be  of  the  greatest  assist- 
ance, both  in  the  selection  and  use  of  their  instruments. 

The  author*s  style  is  such  as  to  make  the  book  very 
entertaining  as  well  as  instructive.  Some  of  his  remarks 
are  well  worth  quoting,  as,  for  example,  his  opinion  of 
controversy  in  scientific  matters. 

"Competition  and  rivalry  in  good  spirit  increase 
enthusiasm,  but  there  is  little  occasion  for  the  bitter- 
ness and  spleen  sometimes  exhibited  in  scientific  journals. 
There  are  some  men  whose  reputations  do  not  rest  upon 
good  or  original  work  performed  by  themselves,  but 
rather  upon  the  alacrity  with  which  they  discover  griev- 
ances, and  upon  the  care  they  will  bestow  in  exposing 
trifling  errors  in  the  writings  of  their  not-infallible  con- 
temporaries. Such  critics  would  earn  a  more  honourable 
title  to  regard  were  they  to  devote  their  time  to  some 
better  method  of  serving  the  cause  of  science  "  (p.  56). 

Mr.  Denning  is  very  emphatic  in  his  opinion  that  an 
observer's  time  is  too  valuable  to  be  spent  in  acting  the 
showman  to  his  friends  and  acquaintances.  If  all  ob- 
servers were  so  disposed,  there  might  be  reasonable  hope 
for  the  establishment  in  this  country  of  some  such  in- 
stitution as  the  Gesellschaft  Urania  in  Berlin,  for  the 
special  gratification  of  persons  desiring  passing  glimpses 
of  celestial  wonders. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  chapter  on 
meteoric  observations  is  as  good  as  can  be.  More  ob- 
servers are  undoubtedly  needed  in  this  branch  of  astro- 
nomy, and  volunteers  will  find  very  full  instructions  in 
the  pages  of  this  book.  In  addition  to  the  notes  on 
trariable  stars  given  by  the  author,  we  would  suggest  the 
tracing  of  the  light-curves  of  a  small  number  of  stars  by 
each  observer.  Anyone  at  present  attempting  to  deter- 
mine the  laws  governing  variability  will  find  such  in- 
formation lamentably  deficient. 

The  book  is  full  of  important  practical  details,  and  an 
appendix  gives'the  chief  new  facts  up  to  March  5,  1891. 

The  book  does  not  attempt  to  deal  with  spectroscopic 
natters,  but  occasional  references  are  made,  and  it  is 
lere,  if  anywhere,  that  fault  may  be  found.  Thus,  re- 
erring  to  the  nebula  of  Orion,  it  is  stated  (p.  334)  that 

'the  spectroscopic  researches  of  Huggins  have  shown 
his  nebula  to  be  composed  of  incandescent  gases,  so 

NO.   II 42,  VOL.  44] 


that  the  stars  telescopically  observed  in  it  are  probably 
in  the  foreground  and  entirely  disconnected  from  the 
nebulous  mass." 

In  1888,  however,  it  was  shown  by  the  spectroscope 
that  the  stars  of  the  trapezium,  at  all  events,  are  simply 
condensations  of  the  matter  composing  the  nebula. 

Everyone  who  uses  a  telescope,  or  who  intends  to  use 
one,  of  whatever  dimensions,  should  read  Mr.  Denning's 
book. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF, 

Abbildungen  zur  Deutschen  Flora  H.  KarstetCs^  nebst  den 
ausldndischen  medic inischen  Pflanzen  und  Ergdntung- 
en  fUr  das  Studium  der  Morphologie  und  System- 
kunde.  With  Woodcuts  of  709  Species.  (Berlin : 
Friedlander  und  Sohn,  1891.) 

This  is  a  wonderfully  cheap  book,  for  the  price  of  it  is 
only  three  marks,  and  it  contains  figures  with  dissections 
of  upwards  of  700  plants,  illustrating  all  the  natural  orders 
both  of  Cryptogamic  and  Phanerogamic  plants  which 
make  up  the  European  flora  or  are  used  medicinally. 
The  text  is  confined  to  the  preliminary  table  of  the  orders 
and  families,  an  explanation  of  the  details,  and  a  final 
index. 

The  Thallophytas  are  divided  into  17  families,  classed 
under  3  orders,  Lichenes  being  maintained  as  on  a  par 
with  Algae  and  Fungi.  In  Cormophytae  there  are  16 
families  under  6  orders,  the  orders  of  Spori ferae  being 
Filices,  Selagines,  Rhizocarpeae,  and  Calamarias.  In 
Northocarpae  (Gymnosperms)  there  are  7  families  under 
5  orders,  Balanophoraceae  and  Lorantheae  being  placed 
here.  Under  Teleocarpae  (Angiosperms)  there  are  159 
families  classed  under  48  orders.  Dicotyledons  being 
divided  into  Monochlamydeae  and  Dichlamydeae,  and  the 
latter  into  Petalantheae  (Polypetalae)  and  Corollanthae 
(Gamopetalae).  The  **  families  "  correspond  substantially 
to  Bentham  and  Hooker's  orders.  To  have  such  a  good 
and  cheap  book  in  English  (the  text  in  the  original,  of 
course,  is  German)  would  be  a  great  boon  to  students. 

Elementary  Text- book  of  Botany  for  the  Use  of  Schools, 
By  Edith  Aitkin.  248  pp.  (London :  Longmans,  Green, 
and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  volume  has  been  written  to  serve  as  an  adjunct  to 
the  teaching  of  Botany  in  girls'  schools,  and  is  the  out- 
come of  the  author's  own  experience  as  a  teacher.  Miss 
Aitkin  arranges  the  subject-matter  in  three  parts.  In  the 
first  are  given  the  general  characters  of  a  number  of 
selected  types  of  Flowering  plants  treated  in  a  manner 
suitable  for  young  girls  beginning  the  study.  In  the 
second  part  the  details  of  Cryptogamic  plants  are  given, 
commencing  with  Protococcus  and  Yeast,  and  so  on,  up 
to  the  Fern.  In  the  third  part  we  return  to  Flowering 
plants  again  from  a  more  comprehensive  point  of  view. 
This  last  section  concludes  with  a  number  of  chapters  on 
the  leading  physiological  processes  of  plants.  We  think 
the  book  will  be  found  of  service  by  those  for  whom  it  is 
intended,  especially  from  the  fact  that  Part  I.  is  written, 
generally  speaking,  on  the  lines  of  the  Lower  Schedule 
laid  down  by  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Schools  Exa- 
mination Board.  The  only  criticism  we  have  to  make  on 
this  section  is  that  perhaps  the  style  is  a  little  wanting  in 
vitality  and  interest  Part  II.  is  treated  along  sufficiently 
familiar  lines,  but  in  Part  III.,  by  the  introduction  of 
physiological  work,  with  careful  instructions  as  to  simple 
experiments  which  can  easily  be  performed  to  illustrate 
class  teaching,  we  think  that  the  author  will  have  opened 
up  fresh  fields  of  interest  in  botanical  study.  The  volume 
is  profusely  illustrated,  many  of  the  figures  being  new. 


468 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

[The  Ediior  aoes  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  Ntither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  "SatuRK, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.} 

A  New  Mammal  from  Sumatra. 

A  FEW  years  ago  a  new  and  interesting  mammal,  which  U 
exceedingly  rare  even  in  its  native  haunts,  was  brought  to  the 
then  President  of  Palembang — Mr.  A.  Pruys  van  der  Hoeven. 
This  gentleman,  who  is  not  only  an  eager  sportsman,  but  also 
well  versed  in  natural  history,  recognized  it  to  be  new  to  science, 
and  to  be  more  closely  allied  to  certain  representatives  of  the 
Edentata  than  to  any  other  order  of  mammals. 

The  type-specimen  was  preserved  in  captivity  for  several 
weeks,  was  fed  on  ants,  and  afterwards  on  cooked  rice,  and  was 
sent  alive  to  Europe  in  order  to  be  examined,  described,  and 
ultimately  preserved  in  the  Royal  Museum  at  Leyden.  It  un- 
fortunately died  on  board  the  vessel  on  its  way  to  Holland,  and, 
by  an  unaccountable  blunder  on  the  part  of  one  of  those  in 
charge,  its  remains  were  not  preserved,  but  thrown  over- 
board. 

During  my  own  stay  in  Sumatra,  from  February  till  May  189 1, 
I  took  particular  trouble  to  obtain  further  information  concern- 
ing this  animal,  and  have  found  the  fact  of  its  existence— though, 
at  the  same  time,  of  its  exceeding  rarity — confirmed  in  a  way 
which  does  not  allow  me  to  doubt  that,  ere  long,  further  spe- 
cimens will  be  available  for  a  thorough  examination,  also  with 
respect  to  anatomical  detail.  My  own  attempts  to  secure  a 
second  specimen  have  not  as  yet  been  successful,  but  as  they 
have  drawn  the  attention  of  many  persons  to  this  animal, 
I  feel  bound,  in  deference  to  the  claims  to  priority  of  its  original 
discoverer,  who  has  put  his  preliminary  description  as  well  as 
sketches  of  the  animal  at  my  disposal,  to  introduce  this  peculiar 
mammal  into  science,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  type- 
specimen  has  been  lost  The  generic  name  has  been  selected, 
not  with  a  view  of  indicating  any  closer  anatomical  relations 
with  the  genus  Afanis,  but  only  to  indicate  that  a  hairy  anteater 
is  meant. 

Trichomanis  Hoevenii^  gen.  et  sp.  no  v. — **  Animal  of  the  size 
of  a  very  large  cat.  Fur  grey,  with  a  black  longitudinal  band 
along  the  middle  of  the  back.  Snout  elongated  and  more  or 
less  conical,  with  a  small  mouth  at  the  extremity.  A  long 
cylindrical  tongue,  which  is  thrust  out,  serves  the  animal  in  the 
collection  of  ants,  which  are  its  natural  food.  A  more  or  less 
bushy  tail.  Ears  not  conspicuous.  Legs  higher  than  those  of 
ManiSf  strong  claws  to  the  feet." 

I  have  no  doubt  that  this  description — however  superficial — 
is  more  than  sufficient  for  the  recognition  of  the  animal  as  soon 
as  it  will  have  been  reobtained.  The  type-specimen  was  caught 
in  the  mountainous  districts  that  separate  the  Residencies  of 
Palembang  and  Bencoolen  in  Sumatra. 

A.  A.  W.  HUBRECHT. 

Utrecht,  September  7. 


An  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus. 

Pcripatus  leuckartii  has  proved  to  be  by  no  means  uncommon 
in  Victoria,  being  now  recorded  from  a  good  many  distinct 
localities,  and  forming  a  very  characteristic  constituent  of  our 
cryptozoic  fauna.  Hitherto,  however,  little  has  been  known  of 
its  habits,  and  nothing  of  its  mode  of  reproduction.  The  only 
observer,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  who  has  recorded  anything  con- 
cerning its  life  history,  is  Mr.  Fletcher,  who  has  described  (Proc. 
Linn.  See.  N.S.W.,  October  31,  1888)  four  very  young  indi- 
viduals, the  progeny  of  a  female  kept  by  him  in  captivity  in 
damp  mess  and  leaves  for  four  months  (July  to  October  in- 
clusive). Mr.  Fletcher  did  not  observe  the  birth  of  the  young, 
but  found  them  in  company  with  the  mother  when  apparently 
only  a  few  days  old.  He  assumes,  naturally  enough,  that  they 
were  bom  alive,  as  in  all  other  species  of  Peripatus  whose  life- 
history  is  known  ;  this  viviparous  habit  being,  indeed,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  characters  of  the  genus. 

In  May  last  I  secured  a  few  good  specimens  of  Peripatus 
leuckartii^  uhich  I  have  since  kept  alive  in  .1  small  vivarium 
specially  arranged  for  the  purpose.  The  vivarium  consists  of 
a  large  glass  jar,  with  a  flat  glass  cover  supported  above  the  rim 


of  the  jar  on  two  thin  slips  of  glass,  so  as  to  admit  of  free 
ventilation.  I  keep  a  small  open  jar  full  of  water  inside  the 
large  one,  and  the  floor  of  the  vivarium  is  covered  with  a  thick 
layer  of  very  rotten  wood,  kept  moist  by  the  evaporation  of 
the  water. 

Under  these  conditions  Peripatus  flourishes  well,  and  the 
specimens  may  be  inspected  when  desired,  by  turning  over  (he 
bits  of  rotten  wood.  On  making  such  an  inspection  to-day,  I 
found  that  some  twelve  or  fifteen  eggs  had  been  deposited 
beneath  some  of  the  pieces  of  rotten  wood,  and  in  crevices  of 
the  same.  Careful  examination  showed  that  these  eggs  were 
undoubtedly  those  of  Peripatus  leuckartii.  -I  collected  all  1 
could  find,  and  removed  them,  with  some  of  the  rotten  wood,  to 
a  separate  receptacle,  and  then  carefully  turned  out  the  vivarium 
and  examined  its  contents.  I  found  that  there  were  present  four 
specimens  of  Peripatus^  one  male  and  three  females,  all  ap- 
parently in  good  health,  and  that  there  was  nothing  else  which 
could  have  laid  the  eggs ;  a  very  small  ant  being  about  the 
largest  living  thing  present  except  the  PeripcUus.  It  is  now 
some  ten  weeks  since  the  vivarium  was  stocked,  and  as  I  have 
carefully  examined  it  several  times  during  that  period,  I  am 
sure  that  the  eggs  must  have  been  recently  deposited. 

The  view  that  Peripatus  leuckartii  is  really  oviparous  receives 
strong  confirmation  from  anatomical  examination  of  adult 
females.  In  these  I  have  nearly  always  found  eggs  in  the  uterus, 
but,  although  I  have  dissected  specimens  taken  in  December. 
May,  and  July,  I  have  never  found  any  embryos.  The  single 
July  specimen  which  I  have  yet  dissected  was  captured  at  the 
end  of  the  month  and  given  to  me  by  Prof.  Spencer  ;  it  con- 
tained neither  eggs  nor  embryos  ;  as  it  appeared  to  be  adult,  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  the  eggs  had  been  laid.  Moreover,  the 
structure  of  the  ^gs  in  uiero  is  very  characteristic,  and  argues 
strongly  against  the  probability  of  intra-uterine  development. 
They  are  very  large,  oval  in  shape,  and  consist  of  a  very  tongb, 
thick,  elastic  membrane  inclosing  a  quantity  of  thick  milky  fluid 
full  of  yolk  granules. 

I  have  examined  microscopically  only  one  egg  after  laying, 
as  I  wish,  if  possible,  to  observe  the  development ;  but  this  ooe 
agrees  so  closely  with  those  found  in  uiero  that  there  can  be  bo 
doubt  of  its  identity.  It  was  of  just  about  the  same  shape  and 
size  (^  inch  long  by  -g^  inch  broad),  of  a  very  pale  yellow 
colour,  with  a  very  tough,  elastic  membrane,  and  a  milky  fhiid 
contents  containing  very  many  yolk  granules.  The  only  diflkr- 
ence  concerns  the  almost  chitinous-looking  membrane,  whidi. 
instead  of  having  a  smooth  surface,  or  nearly  so,  as  when  i« 
uterOf  is  exquisitely  sculptured  or  embossed  in  a  beautiful  aad 
regular  design.  The  design  consists  of  curious  Utile  papillae, 
somewhat  resembling  worm  casts,  arranged  at  fairlj  regnlar 
intervals  over  the  surface  of  the  egg,  with  much  finer,  dose-set, 
meandering  ridges  occupying  the  spaces  between  them.  Socfa 
sculpturing  is,  as  is  well  known,  characteristic  of  many  insect 
eggs,  and  it  renders  those  of  Peripatus  especially  interestir^  io 
view  of  the  relationships  of  that  animal.  As  it  is  not  prescai 
in  intra-uterine  eggs,  it  must  be  formed  as  the  egg  passes  throogh 
the  vagina,  which  is  large  and  thick-walled. 

It  thus  appears  that  Peripatus  leuckartii  lays  eggs  in  July,  ani 
it  appears  also,  from  Mr.  Fletcher's  observations,  that  the  yoani: 
are  hatched  at  the  end  of  October.  As,  however,  I  have  £l»o 
found  large  eggs  in  the  uterus  of  a  si>ecimen  captured  in  De 
cember,  I  think  it  not  improbable  that  the  animal  may  be 
double-brooded.  (I  have  used  the  term  "uterus"  in  acowd- 
ance  with  the  customary  nomenclature ;  it  would  be  better, 
perhaps,  to  speak  only  of  **  oviducts  "  in  P.  leuckartii.) 

The  mode  of  reproduction  of  Peripatus  leuckartii  seems  th3» 
to  differ  widely  from  that  known  in  all  other  species,  and  t<> 
conform  rather  to  the  insect  type  ;  and,  considering  the  immease 
quantity  of  food-yolk  present,  it  is  probable  that  the  developiaer: 
also  diflers  in  a  similar  way.  This  I  hope  to  be  able  to  work  oe^ 
but  the  presence  of  so  much  fluid  and  granular  yolk  will,  I  fear. 
render  the  task  very  difficult.  Arthur  Dendy. 

University,  Melbourne,  July  31. 


The  Sun's  Radiation  of  Heat. 

A  FEW  months  ago  1  sent  to  the  National  Reviciv  a  paper, 
which  the  editors  kindly  inserted,  on  the  sun's  radiatioa  :• 
heat.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  my  theory  has  been  compkte'r 
ignored   by  those  best  competent  to  form  an  opinion  upon  tis^ 


NO.    I  142,  VOL.   44] 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


469 


subject.  My  contention  seems  so  plausible  that  I  venture  to 
appeal  to  you  to  allow  me  to  give  the  following  brief  exposition 
of  my  view,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  be  able  to  elicit  some 
aQthoritatiye  reply. 

The  amount  of  solar  radiation  is  at  present,  for  all  intents 
and  purposes,  expressed  in  terms  of  melting  ice.  In  other 
words,  toe  sun  is  supposed  to  be  giving  forth  as  much  heat  as 
be  would  do  were  he  surrounded,  close  to  the  photosphere,  by 
a  constantly  renewed  shell  of  ice,  or  never-failing  ocean  of 
water.  My  conception  is,  that,  judging  from  what  we  know  of 
hot  bodies  cooling  upon  the  earth,  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  the  sun  could  be  pouring  forth  so  much  heat  under  existing 
conditions,  as  he  would  do  were  he  continually  to  radiate  to  ice 
or  water  close  to  all  parts  of  his  surface. 

The  velocity,  and  the  rapidity  of  vibration  of  the  waves  of 
light  and  heat  can  be  accurately  measured.     This  is  the  sum  of 
motion— known  as  radiant  heat — which  the  sun  imparts  to  his 
surrounding  medium.     Absorbed  heat  is  a  very  different  thing 
(Balfour  Stewart),  and  could  not  exist  without  the  particles  of 
matter.    Now  I  fail  to  perceive  what  grounds  the  authorities 
have  for  calculating,  as  they  do,  that  the  sun's  radiation  amounts 
to  something  over  a  million  calories  per  minute  for  each  square 
metre  of  his  surface.     This  means  a  million  times  the  quantity 
of  heat  which  will  raise  the  temperature  of  a  kilogramme  of 
water  1°  C.     No  doubt  if  the  sun  were  surrounded  by  water  the 
above  would  represent  a  correct  estimate  of  the  outflow  of  heat. 
But  the  men  of  science  ignore,  it  appears  to  me,  the  marvellous 
virtue  of  the  "if"  in  this  case.     The  communication  of  heat 
consists  in  forcing  the  molecules  and  atoms  of  matter  asunder 
against  the  attractions  of  cohesion  and  affinity,  and  causing  the 
particles  to  vibrate  ;  and  there  is  no  proof,  but  the  evidence  is 
all  the  other  way,  that  the  sum  of  motion  imparted  by  the  sun 
to  the  ether  of  space  would  represent  anything  like  the  expendi- 
ture of  energy  as  would  do  the  raising  of  water  to  an  enormous 
temperature.     If  a  red-hot  globe  of  iron  or  copper  were  caused 
dose  to  the  ^u^face  to  radiate  to  ice,  the  metal  would  cool  much 
more  quickly  than  if  it  were  merely  exposed  to  a  very  dry  atmo- 
sphere—that is  to  say,  the  metal's  radiant  heat  would  constitute 
a  less  expenditure  of  energy  than  its  emission  of  abs:>rbed  heat. 
I  do  not  see,  therefore,  why  we  should  not  conclude  that  exactly 
the  same  result,  only  of  course  on  a  very  vast  time-scale,  would 
happen  in  the  case  of  the  sun. 

The  enormously  long  periods  demanded  for  the  sun's  past 
life-lime  by   the  geologist  and   biologist    furnish  strong   ante- 
cedent support  in  favour  of  my  contention.  W.  GoFF. 
New  University  Club,  S.  W.,  August  15. 


Morley  Memorial  College. 

Your  readers  may  be  interested  in  hearing  of  a  successful 
attempt  to  add  another  round  to  the  ladder,  described  by  Prof. 
Huxley,  extending  *'from  the  gutter  to  the  University."  Some 
supporters  of  the  Morley  Memorial  College  for  Working  Men 
and  Women,  in  the  Waterloo  Road,  last  year  read  an  account 
in  your  pages  of  the  arrangements  made  by  the  University  Ex- 
tension Society  for  some  of  its  students  to  spend  a  month  at 
Cambridge  during  the  vacation.  They  resolved  to  offer  scholar- 
ships to  those  who  took  the  best  places  in  the  Christmas  and 
Easter  examinations  in  connection  with  Mr.  McClure*s  astronomy 
class,  whereby  they  might  avail  themselves  of  these  arrange- 
ments. This,  thanks  to  Dr.  Roberts's  kind  co-operation,  was 
successfully  accomplished.  Three  students  went  to  Cambridge, 
the  roost  successful  in  a  class  all  of  whom  did  well.  A  plumber 
and  a  printer's  reader  went  to  Selwyn  College,  an  elementary 
schoolmistress  to  Newnham.  Two  were  able  to  take  advantage 
of  the  whole  month  ;  the  third  (being  a  family  man)  could  only 
spare  a  fortnight  from  his  work,  but  all  speak  warmly  of  the 
pleasure  and  profit  they  have  derived.  The  following  are  some 
extracts  from  their  letters. 

One  ^ays  : — '*  I  took  chemistry  and  geology  on  alternate  days, 
be>ides  attending  the  majority  of  the  single  lectures.  The  work 
being  mostly  of  a  practical  kind,  has  been  intensely  interesting." 
Another,  after  an  enthusiastic  description  of  the  place,  the 
architecture,  and  the  College  gardens,  goes  on  : — *•  Everybody 
was  mot  kind,  cordial,  and  sociable,  without  the  slightest  sus- 
picion of  stiffness  or  formality,  of  condescension  or  patronage. 
More  than  this,  everybody  we  met  seemed  to  be  studying  our 
interests  especially,  and  doing  all  in  their  power  to  make  our 
stay  as  enjoyable  as  possible.    ...   In  science,  geology  was 

NO.    I  142,  VOL.  44] 


the  only  subject  I  was  permitted  to  take  up.  In  literature  and 
art  I  attended  courses  on  Browning  and  Tennyson,  and  on 
Greek  art,  Greek  history,  and  Herodotus,  also  single  lectures  on 
*  Leopold  Ranke,'  .  .  .  and  'College  Life  Past  and  Present.' 
I  hope  to  continue  these  studies  as  far  as  possible  in  my  home 
reading.  .  .  Beyond  the  actual  instruction  received  in  the 
lectures,  there  has  been  given  an  impetus  to  further  study,  from 
which  a  continuous  benefit  must  be  reaped,  and  I  have  obtained 
a  clear  idea  of  what  a  student's  life  in  a  University  town  is  like." 

Cambridge  opens  its  doors  in  this  way  only  to  members  of 
University  Extension  classes,  but  at  Oxford  anyone  may  attend 
the  classes  who  pays  the  fee.  The  authorities  of  our  College 
accordingly  offered  scholarships  to  those  of  their  students  who 
passed  highest  in  the  Science  and  Art  examinations  for  electricity, 
chemistry,  and  mechanical  drawing.  The  results  of  these  were 
not  known  early  enough  for  the  first  half  of  the  vacation  classes, 
but  the  second  fortnight  in  August  was  so  much  enjoyed  that 
those  who  made  the  arrangements  considered  themselves  well 
repaid  for  their  trouble,  though  this  was  not  small,  for  working 
men  do  not  find  it  easy  to  get  leave  of  absence  for  even  a  fort- 
night at  a  certain  specified  time.  "  One  of  the  most  enjoyable 
holidays  I  ever  spent,"  writes  one  ;  '*  I  have  quite  a  collection 
of  geological  specimens  collected  on  the  excursion." 

No  wonder  they  enjoyed  it !  They  come  from  surroundings 
generally  dreary,  sometimes  squalid.  They  have  scrambled  for 
their  education,  and  gained  it  under  difficulties.  They  find 
themselves  in  a  picturesque  town,  full  of  interesting  associations, 
and  meet  with  kindness  without  patronage  from  cultured  men 
and  women.  Will  not  the  school  teacher^  work  have  an  added 
interest  and  dignity  now  she  has  seen  (if  only  by  a  passing 
glimpse)  what  education  is  in  its  higher  branches  ?  Will  not  all 
of  them  feel  that  life  contains  something  besides  manual  drudgery 
for  weekly  wages,  and  that  those  whose  lot  is  exempt  from 
drudgery  of  this  kind  are  willing  and  anxious  to  share  with  them 
the  results  of  culture  and  leisure  ?  We  live  in  times  of  a  difficult 
transition  from  the  old  feudal  loyalty  to  self-respecting  friend- 
ship between  free  men,  who  can  be  mutually  helpful  to  each 
other  just  because  their  circumstances  and  advantages  are 
different.  Feudalism  was  good  in  its  day,  but  it  has  outlasted 
the  conditions  which  made  it  so,  and  the  "ladder  from  the 
gutter  to  the  University  "  is  an  important  instrument  in  effecting 
the  transition  safely  to  something  better. 

May  I  add  that,  unless  the  College  and  the  scholarships  receive 
wider  support  from  the  public  than  they  have  done,  it  will  be 
difficult  it  not  impossii)le  to  carry  them  on  efficiently  ?  Our  fees 
are  necessarily  so  low  that  the  institution  can  never  be  self- 
supporting.  We  charge  is.  entrance  fee,  and  is.  dd,  a  term 
for  the  first  class  ;  td.  for  each  additional  class.  Larger  fees 
would  exclude  some  of  our  best  students  (one  who  had  a  perfect 
passion  for  knowledge  was  a  rag-sorter  till  abetter  situa'ionwas 
found  for  him  by  one  of  our  Council).  The  public  imagine  that 
we  have  already  received  a  sufficient  endowment  from  the  City 
Parochial  Charities  fund.  We  hope  shortly  to  have  a  grant 
from  that  fund,  but  we  have  lived  on  this  hope  for  the  last  two 
years,  and  find  it  a  sadly  insufficient  resource  to  provide  intel- 
lectual food  for  800  students.  At  this  beginning  of  a  fre.-h 
session  we  should  gratefully  welcome  either  personal  help,  or  a 
subscription  to  general  expenses  or  to  the  Scholarship  Fund. 
A  month  at  Cambridge  costs  about  £1^  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  (if  the  money  were  forthcoming)  we  should  be  able  to 
arrange  for  scholarships  to  Cambridge  from  the  University  Exten- 
sion Class  on  Physiography  which  Mr.  A.  W.  Clayden  is  about 
to  conduct.  A  fortnight  at  Oxford  costs  £^^  and  we  hope  this 
winter  to  have  ten  classes  in  connection  with  the  Science  and 
Art  Department,  to  which  we  should  like  to  offer  this  advantage. 

September  9.  Emma  Cons  (Hon.  Sec). 


AMERICAN    ASSOCIATION 

FOR' THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  SCIENCE: 

WASHINGION  MEETING, 

THE  month  of  August  1891  was  distinguished  by  the 
most  notable  array  at  Washington  of  scientific 
meetings  ever  held  in  America.  The  series  began  with 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Society  of  Microscopists  on 
August  1 1,  and  afterwards, consecutively  or  simultaneously, 
came  those  of  the  Association  of  American  Agricultural 
Colleges  and  Experiment   Stations  ;  the  Association  of 


470 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


Official  Agricultural  Chemists  ;  the  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Agricultural  Science  ;  the  American  Chemical 
Society  ;  the  Conference  of  American  Chemists ;  the 
Association  of  Economic  Entomologists  ;  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  ;  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  America ;  and  the  International  Geo- 
logical Congress. 

The  fortieth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science  was  held  from 
August  19-25,  President  Albert  B.  Prescott,  Professor  of 
Chemistry  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  in  the  chair. 
The  attendance  of  members  was  large ;  about  one-third 
of  all  attending  were  residents  of  Washington,  most  of 
them  employed  in  the  various  scientific  Bureaus  of  the 
Government.  227  papers  were  read  before  the  Sections, 
and  these  together  with  the  addresses  of  the  President 
and  Vice-Presidents,  Reports  of  Committees,  and  other 
documents,  brought  up  the  entire  number  to  291. 

Prof.  George  L.  Goodale,  of  Harvard  University,  deli- 
vered the  annual  address  as  retiring  President :  subject — 
"  Some  of  the  Possibilities  of  Economic  Botany." 

After  giving  an  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  Austral- 
asian Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  held 
at  Chri.stchurch,  New  Zealand,  in  January  last,  which 
he  attended  as  delegate  from  the  American  Association, 
he  proceeded  to  consider  the  subject  above  mentioned. 
An  abstract  of  the  address  follows. 

There  is  an  enormous  disproportion  between  the  num- 
ber of  species  of  plants  known  to  botanical  science  and 
the  number  of  those  which  are  used  by  man.  The 
species  of  flowering  plants  already  described  and  named 
number  about  107,000,  but  the  number  of  species  used 
on  a  fairly  large  scale  by  civilized  man  does  not 
exceed  i  per  cent.  The  useful  plants  which  are 
cultivated  by  man  do  not  exceed  one-third  of  this. 
Can  the  short  list  of  useful  plants  be  increased  to 
advantage?  After  calling  attention  to  the  influence 
which  synthetic  chemistry  exerts  by  the  production  of 
artificial  vegetable  products  which  can  replace  the  natural 
products,  he  took  up  the  cereal  grains  as  illustrations  of 
the  history  and  improvement  of  cultivated  plants.  If  all 
the  cereals,  like  wheat,  maize,  rye,  barley,  oats,  and  rice, 
were  now  to  be  swept  out  of  existence,  we  should  not 
know  positively  where  to  turn  for  new  species  of  grasses 
with  which  to  begin  again.  He  drew  a  picture  of  the 
condition  of  civilized  man  if  all  the  known  varieties  of 
the  cereal  grasses  should  become  extinct,  and  then 
pointed  out  the  probable  manner  in  which  our  experiment 
stations  would  have  to  choose  and  improve  the  grains  of 
certain  grasses  which  are  not  used  to-day.  He  expressed 
the  belief  that  our  well-equipped  stations  would  give  us 
satisfactory  substitutes  for  our  cereals  within  a  period  not 
exceeding  that  of  two  generations  of  our  race.  But  why 
do  not  experimenters  attempt  to  improve  our  present 
neglected  resources  of  this  character  ?  Because  we  all 
prefer  to  move  in  lines  of  least  resistance,  letting  well 
enough  alone.  Plants  which  have  been  long  cultivated 
are  more  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  changes  in 
surroundings,  and  hence  of  improvement,  than  those 
which  are  just  removed  from  the  field  to  the  garden. 
Tracing  the  recent  history  of  our  cereals,  he  expressed 
his  conviction  that  there  is  no  probability  that  any  new 
cereals  will  be  added  to  our  present  list,  but  improvements 
will  continue  to  be  made  in  those  which  we  have. 

He  included  under  the  term  vegetables  all  plants  em- 
ployed for  table  use,  such  as  salads  and  relishes.  The 
potato  and  sweet  potato,  the  pumpkin  and  squash,  the 
red  or  capsicum  peppers,  and  the  tomato,  are  of  American 
origin.  All  the  others  are,  most  probably,  natives  of  the 
Old  World.  Only  one  plant  coming  in  this  class  has  been 
derived  from  Australasia — New  Zealand  spinach  (Tetra- 
gonicL). 

Among  the  vegetables  and  salad  plants  longest  in  culti- 
vation are  turnip,  onion,  cabbage,  purslane,  the  large 

NO.   1  142,  VOL.  44] 


bean  (F<z^<«),chick-pea,lentil,  and  garden  pea — ^whichhave 
an  antiquity  of  at  least  4000  years.  Next  in  age  are  radish, 
carrot,  beet,  garlic,  garden-cress  and  celery,  lettuce, 
asparagus  and  the  leek,  three  or  four  legumes,  and  the 
black  peppers.  The  most  prominent  recent  ones  are 
parsnip,  parsley,  oyster-plant,  artichoke,  endive,  and 
spinach.  A  few  tropical  plants,  such  as  yams,  are  oniitted 
from  the  list. 

There  is  an  astonishing  number  of  varieties,  which 
represent  an  enormous  amount  of  horticultural  work,  each 
race  (that  is,  a  variety  which  comes  true  to  seed)  having 
been  envolved  by  patient  care  and  waiting. 

For  future  development  he  reconmiends  (1)  Arracacka 
esculentay  of  the  parsley  family,  which  is  now  cultivated 
in  South  America,  near  the  Isthmus ;  (2)  Ullucus  or 
Oliucus^  of  the  beet  or  spinach  family  ;  (3)  the  so-called 
Chinese  artichoke  from  Japan. 

He  recommends  a  more  thorough  examination  of 
Japanese  vegetables,  owing  to  the  similarity  of  Japanese 
and  Eastern  North  American  flora. 

Attention  was  called  to  the  extraordinary  changes 
produced  in  the  commercial  relations  of  fruits  by  canning 
and  swift  transportation,  and  the  opinion  was  expressed 
that  before  long  it  would  be  possible  to  place  many  more 
of  the  delicious  fruits  of  the  tropics  in  northern  markets ; 
and  even,  with  increasing  knowledge  of  microbes,  to 
preserve  fruit  for  almost  any  reasonable  time.  Such 
discoveries  would  diminish  zeal  in  the  search  for  new  fruits. 

The  improvement  of  fruits  within  historic  times  has 
been  such  that  fruits  which  would  once  have  been  highly 
esteemed  would  to-day  be  passed  by  as  unworthy  of 
notice. 

The  list  of  seedless  fruits  may  probably  be  materially 
lengthened.  The  common  seedless  fruits  are  banana  and 
pineapple.  Darwin  mentions  also  bread-fruit,  pom^ia- 
nate,  azarole,  and  date-palms ;  and  says  that  their  size  and 
development  are  usually  regarded  as  the  cause  of  their 
sterility,  whereas  he  regards  sterility  as  rather  the  resalt 
than  the  cause  of  increased  development. 

Prof.  Goodale  expressed  the  conviction  that  there  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  have  seedless  strawberries, 
blackberries,  raspberries,  and  grapes,  coreless  apples  and 
pears,  and  stoneless  plums,  cherries,  and  peaches, 
propagated  by  bud-division. 

Promising  timbers  and  cabinet  woods,  fibres,  tanning 
materials,  rubbers,  and  similar  products  were  discussed  in 
turn  ;  the  last  class  to  be  considered  being  fragrant 
flowers  and  plants  for  the  florist.  The  necessity  for 
caution  in  the  introduction  of  new  plants,  lest  they  should 
prove  pests  by  their  wide  dispersion  through  arable  lands, 
as  sweetbriar  has  in  some  parts  of  New  Zealand,  was 
fully  illustrated.  The  agencies  for  examining  useful  plants 
were  botanic  gardens,  museums  of  economic  botany,  and 
experiment  stations. 

Section  A — Mathematics  and  Astronomy^ 

The  address  by  Prof.  £.  W.  Hyde,  of  Cincinatti,  the  Presi- 
dent of  this  Section,  was  on  the  evolution  of  algebra,  in  which 
he  traced  the  historical  development  of  this  brandi  of  jsftxhc- 
matics,  beginning  with  the  almost  prehistoric  Egyptian  AhiDCS  ; 
then  giving  a  very  full  account  ot  the  Greek  Diophantos,  and 
explaining  his  use  of  syncopated  methods.  He  had  only 
one  character  to  represent  the  unknown  quantity ;  still  be 
achieved  great  results.  The  Hindoos,  Arya  Bhatta  aboot 
600  B.C.,  and  Brahma  Gupta,  700  A.D.,  were  discussed  *  and 
were  presented  as  the  source  of  Arabian  algebra,  and  thus  of  the 
knowledge  of  that  science  in  modem  Europe. 

Papers  read  before  this  Section  include  one  on  the  latitode  ct 
the  Sayre  Observatory,  by  C.  L.  Doolittle,  and  on  the  aecvhr 
variation  of  terrestrial  latitudes,  by  George  C.  Comstock.  The 
results  of  the  investi);ations  appear  to  be  proof  of  a  secular  vanr 
tion  of  the- North  Pole  amounting  to  about  4^  seconds  in  i 
century. 

Fraiik   H.    Bigelow  exhibited  and  described  a  new  avron- 
inclinometer  which  will  be  sent  to  Alaska  this  aatumn, 
valuable  results  are  expected  in  the  study  of  the  aurora. 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


471 


One  entire  session  of  this  and  the  Physical  Section  jointly 
was  devoted  to  an  elaborate  monograph  by  A.  Macfarlane,  on 
principles  of  the  algebra  of  physics. 

Section  B — Physics, 

Prof.  F.  E.  Nipher,  President  of  Section  B,  opened  the  pro- 
ceedings with  an  address  on  the  functions  and  nature  of  the 
ether  of  space.     Many  reasons  formerly  given  for  the  existence 
of  such  an  ether,  he  said,  no  longer  exist.     For  twenty-five 
years  it  was  taught  that  light  is  an  elastic  pulsation  in  an 
iocoropressible  jelly-like  medium.     In  1865,  Maxwell  proposed 
the  theory  that  light  is  an  electric  displacement  in  a  plane  at 
right  angles  to  Uie  line  of  propagation.     In   1888,  Thomson 
showed  that  the  compression  wave  required  by  the  elastic  theory, 
bat  absent  in  fact,  might  be  dispensed  with  in  the  theory  by 
making  its  velocity  zero;  and  that  this  does  not  involve  an 
unstable  condition  of  the  medium,  and  is  therefore  admissible. 
The  showing  up  of  light  in  space  occupied  by  matter  shows  that 
the  ether  within  must  either  be  more  dense  (as  Fresnel  believed) 
or  less  elastic  than  that  existing  in  free  space.     It  is  certainly 
very  difficult  to  understand  what  there  can  be  in  the  molecules 
of  matter  which  can  increase  the  density  of  an  incompressible 
medium.    The  beautiful  experiment  of  Michelson  and  Morley 
shows  apparently  that  the  ether  at  the  surface  of  the  earth  moves 
with  it.     It  is  dragged  along  as  if  it  were  a  vivid  liquid.     The 
field  of  a  steel  magnet  is,  however,  a  rotational  phenomenon. 
It  is  a  spin  which  is  maintained  permanently  without  the  ex- 
penditure of  energy.     It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  resistance  to 
shear  which   shows  itself  in  the  adhesion  of  the  ether  to  the 
moving  earth  must  be  a  rigidity  due  in  some  way  to  motion. 
Other  experiments  of  Michelson  and  Morley  on  the  motion  of 
light  in  moving  columns  of  water  have  been  taken  as  proof  that 
ibe  ether  in  water  is  condensed  to  nine-sixteenths  of  its  volume 
in  air.    The  ether  in  water  certainly  behaves  as  if  it  were  more 
dense,  but  it  is  another  matter  to  say  that  it  is  so.     It  seems  im- 
probable.    It  is  still  a  mathematical  fiction  which  covers  a  gap 
m  our  knowledge  of  the  ether.     The  speaker  thought  that  the 
experiment  should  be  repeated  with  water  at  rest  within  a  tube 
which  should  be  mounted  on  elastic  supports  in  a  moving  rail- 
way car.     The  water  tube  and  observer's  seat  should  be  rigidly 
connected  and  swung  on  dampened  spring  supports  from  the  top 
and  sides  of  the  car.     The  question  to  be  settled  is  whether  the 
ether  or  any  .part  of  it  is  at  rest  in  space,  and  does  it  sweep 
through  the  interior  of  bodies  which  move  through  it  as  wind 
sweeps  through  the  leaves  and  branches  of  a  tree.    This  form  of 
the  experiment  is  the  one  contemplated  by  Eisenlohr's  analysis 
leading  to  Fresnel's  formula,  and  it  is  capable  of  great  variations  in 
the  conditions  of  experiment.     It  is,  however,  more  difficult  and 
more  expensive  than  the  one  so  well  executed  by  Michelson  and 
Morley.     Whatever  its  results  may  be,  it  promises  to  add  greatly 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  physics  of  the  ether. 

Prof.  E.  W.  Morley,  who  has  for  several  years  been  conduct- 
ing researches  under  the  auspices  of,  and  with  funds  supplied 
by,  the  Association,  read  papers  describing  his  method  of  de- 
termining the  coefficient  of  expansion  by  means  of  interference 
fringes.  He  is  able  to  determine  the  expansion  of  bars  of  any 
length  as  accurately  as  Fizeau  did  that  of  half-inch  bars. 

C.  B.  Thwing  read  a  paper  on  colour  photography  by  Lipp- 
mann's  process,  and  exhibited  samples  which  show  a  tinge  of 
colour  when  looked  at  in  the  right  light. 

H.  A.  Hazen,  of  the  U.S.  Signal  Service,  discussed  the 
question  "  Do  tornadoes  whirl?",  and  gave  results  of  elaborate 
and  careful  study  of  tornadoes  and  of  the  dibris  left  by  them, 
from  which  he  concludes  that  the  common  notion  of  a  whirl  in 
tornadoes  is  unfounded. 

Section  Q— Chemistry, 

Prof.  R.  C.  Kedzie,  of  the  Agricultural  College,  Michigan, 
chose  the  subject  of  alchemy  for  his  annual  address. 

Thirty-three  papers  were  read  before  this  Section,  and  the 
meeting  was  characterized  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Section  as 
the  most  valuable  ever  held. 

Mr.  Morley  contributed  valuable  material  to  this  Section  also, 
in  regard  to  the  synthesis  of  weighed  quantities  of  water  from 
weighed  quantities  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  His  determination 
of  the  ratio  of  atomic  weights  is  :  oxygen  15*888,  hydrogen  i. 

The  Committee  on  Spelling  and  Pronunciation  of  Chemical 
Terms,  which  has  been  engaged  in  this  work  for  several  years, 
made  their  final  Report,  which  will  be  printed  and  widely  dis- 
tributed, in  order  to  secure  uniformity  if  possible. 

NO.    1 142,  VOL.  44] 


"  Biological  Functions  of  the  I^cithines  "  was  the  title  of  a 
paper  by  Walter  Maxwell  In  a  paper  presented  by  Mr.  Max- 
well at  the  1890  meeting  of  the  Association,  he  showed  that  a 
vegetable  organism,  during  the  initial  stages  of  growth  and 
under  the  action  of  the  ferments  operating  in  germination, 
possesses  the  power  of  taking  the  phosphorus  present  in  seeds 
or  in  soils,  as  mineral  phosphates,  separating  the  phosphorus 
from  the  inorganic  combination,  and  causing  it  to  reappear  in 
the  young  planflet  in  an  organic  form  as  a  lecithine.  In  brief, 
it  was  shown  that  the  lecithine  bodies  are  a  medium  through 
which  the  phosphorus  of  the  mineral  kingdom  passes  over  into 
the  vegetable  kmgdom.  In  the  second  part  of  Mr.  Maxwell's 
paper  he  went  on  to  show  that  the  lecithine  bodies,  on  the 
other  hand,  present  in  the  animal  kingdom  revert  to  the  mineral 
form  under  the  action  of  the  ferments  present  in  the  animal 
organism.  The  investigations  were  conducted  with  the  egg  of. 
a  hen.  The  phosphorus  contained  in  the  egg,  in  the  respective 
forms  of  mineral  phosphates  and  organic  phosphorus  compounds 
as  lecithines,  was  determined.  In  the  next  place,  the  eggs  were 
incubated,  and  the  products  of  incubation  were  studied.  It 
was  found  that  the  pnosphorus  contained  in  the  natural  egg  as  a 
lecithine  reappeared  in  the  incubation  product  as  calcium  phos- 
phate, and  forming  the  bone  of  the  chicken. 

In  a  paper  by  Dr.  Gustav  Hinrichs,  facts  were  adduced  to 
show  that  the  logarithms  of  the  molecular  weights  of  the  hydro- 
carbons have  a  direct  relation  to  the  fusing  and  boiling  points  of 
these  substances.  This  is  believed  to  be  the  instance  discovered 
where  logarithms  exist  between  changes  in  physical  or  chemical 
condition. 

Section  D — Mechanical  Science  aftd  Engineering, 

The  President  of  this  Section,  and  ex-officio  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Association,  is  Prof.  Thomas  Gray,  of  Terre 
Haute,  Ind.,  the  inventor  of  a  great  variety  of  ingenious 
apparatus,  including  the  seismoscope  and  seismograph  shown 
to  the  Association  on  their  excursion  to  Terre  Haute  last  year. 
His  address  was  a  carefully  prepared  discourse  on  problems  in 
mathematical  science.  It  was  technical  in  character,  and  dealt 
with  the  teachings  of  mathematics  and  physics  in  their  applica- 
tion to  engineering. 

Among  the  papers  before  this  Section  was  one  on  Government 
timber  tests,  by  B.  E.  Fermor,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Forestry. 
He  said  there  had  been  inaugurated  in  the  forestry  division 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  a  comprehensive  series  of 
tests  and  examinations  of  American  timbers,  the  ultimate  object 
of  which  is  the  solution  of  a  biological  problem —namely,  to 
establish  the  relation  of  technical  and  physical  qualities  to  each 
other  and  to  conditions  of  growth.  In  the  pursuit  of  this  in- 
vestigation, naturally,  many  questions  of  immediate  practical 
value  in  the  uSe  of  wood  for  engineering  purposes  will  be  solved. 
The  novelty  in  this  enterprise  lies  mainly  in  its  comprehensive- 
ness and  scope.  A  very  large  number  of  tests  alone  on  material 
of  known  origin  and  condition,  and  an  exhaustive  exaniination 
of  the  same  will  permit  generalization  and  the  recognition  of 
laws  of  inter-relation.  The  work  requires  the  organization  of 
four  distinct  departments.  First,  the  selection  of  test  material 
from  as  many  essentially  different  climatic  and  soil  conditions  as 
the  species  may  occupy,  five  fully-matured  and  two  young  trees 
being  carefully  selected  on  each  site  and  cut  up  for  test  material ; 
secondly,  the  examination  of  the  structure  and  physical  condition 
of  the  test  material,  requiring  the  minutest  detail ;  thirdly,  the 
usual  testing  with  special  care ;  and,  lastly,  the  compilation  and 
comparative  discussion  of  the  results  of  the  tests  in  connection 
with  the  physical  examination  and  the  known  conditions  of 
growth.  Besides  more  trustworthy  data  than  hitherto  attainable 
of  ihe  qualities  of  our  principal  timbers,  there  is  to  be  gained 
from  this  investigation  a  knowledge  of  conditions  under  which 
desirable  qualities  can  be  produced  by  the  forest  grower. 

Prof.  J.  B.  Johnson  read  a  paper  on  the  United  States  tests 
of  strength  of  American  woods,  made  at  the  Washington  Uni- 
versity Testing  Laboratory,  St.  Louis. 

Section  IL^Geology  and  Geography. 
Prof.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  of  New  York,  presided.  His  address  was 
on  the  relations  of  the  Chemung  and  Catskill  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Appalachian  Basin.  He  traced  the  groups  along  the 
eastern  outcrop  from  Tennessee  into  New  York,  across  Southern 
and  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  eastward  through  Northern 
Pennsylvania  again  into  New  York,  usin^  the  work  of  Prof. 
While  and  Messrs.  Carill  and  Ashburnc  m  Pennsylvania,  and 


472 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


of  Prof.  St«vensoD  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  incidentally 
referring  to  the  work  of  Profs.  Hall  and  Williams  in  New  York. 
In  this  way  the  continuity  of  the  section  was  shown,  and  the 
insignificance  of  the  variations  was  insisted  upon  strongly.  An 
area  in  South-eastern  New  York  and  North-eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  which  the  Chemung  group  is  almost  without  trace  of 
animal  or  vegetable  life  through  the  greater  part  of  the  thickness 
was  described.  The  absence  of  life  was  thought  to  be  due,  not 
to  fresh  water,  but  to  turbidity  of  the  water  in  a  shallow  basin 
near  the  land.  The  facts  that  the  horizons  of  fish- remains  are 
much  lower  in  the  column  than  had  been  supposed,  and  that 
the  plant-remains  come  in  like  manner  from  the  home  group, 
were  thought  to  be  of  especial  interest  and  importance.  The 
conclusions  to  which  the  speaker  was  led  were  : — (i)  That  the 
series  from  the  beginning  of  the  Portage  to  the  end  of  the 
Catskill  form  but  one  period,  the  Chemung,  which  should  be 
divided  into  three  epochs — ^Ihe  Portage,  the  Chemung,  and  the 
Catskill.  (2)  That  the  disappearance  of  animal  and  veget- 
able life  on  so  great  a  part  of  this  area  toward  the  close  of 
the  period  was  due  simply  to  gradual  extension  of  conditions 
existing,  perhaps,  as  early  as  the  Hamilton  period  in  South- 
eastern New  York.  (3)  That  the  deposits  were  not  made  in  a 
closed  sea,  but  that  the  influx  of  great  rivers  with  their  load  of 
dibris  made  conditions  in  the  shallow  basin  such  that  animal 
life  could  not  exist.  (4)  That  in  the  present  state  of  our  know- 
ledge we  are  not  justified  in  including  the  Chemung  period  in 
the  Carboniferous  age. 

Notwithstanding  the  impending  meetings  of  national  and 
international  Geological  Societies,  this  Section  was  fully  occu- 
pied with  papers  and  discussion,  mainly  on  the  Glacial  epoch, 
drift,  &c.  Mr.  William  Hallock  read  a  paper  entitled  '*  A 
Preliminary  Report  of  Observations  at  the  Deep  Well,  Wheel- 
ing, W.  Va."  The  question  as  to  the  conditions  which  exist  in 
the  interior  of  the  earth,  said  Mr.  Hallock,  has  always  attracted 
much  attention.  The  most  important  factor  in  the  solution  of 
this  riddle  is  the  determination  or  estimation  of  the  temperatures 
there  existing.  The  British  Association  has  for  years  seized 
every  opportunity  to  obtain  data  as  to  the  rate  at  which  the 
temperature  increases  as  the  earth  crust  is  penetrated.  The 
most  recent  and  trustworthy  contributions  on  this  subject  are  by 
Mr.  E.  Dunker,  of  Halle,  Germany,  and  were  obtained  from  a 
41 70- foot  well  at  Spcrenberg,  not  far  from  Berlin,  and  a  5740- 
foot  well  at  Schladabach,  near  Leipzig.  These  wells  are  both 
full  of  water,  the  circulation  of  which  vitiates  results  or  renders 
elaborate  apparatus  indispensable,  and  the  thermometers  must 
be  protected  from  the  pressure.  The  Wheeling  deep  well,  sunk 
by  the  Wheeling  Development  Company,  and  by  them  gener- 
ously dedicated  to  science,  is  4500  feet  deep,  4^  inches  diameter, 
and  dry  ;  cased  only  to  1570  feet.  The  strata  there  are  nearly 
in  situ,  undistorted  and  dipping  only  50  feet  to  the  mile.  More 
satisfactory  geological  conditions  can  scarcely  be  imagined. 
Being  dry,  ordinary  United  States  Signal  Service  maximum 
thermometers  were  used,  and  no  especial  precaution  needed  to  be 
taken  to  prevent  circulation  of  the  air.  The  thermometers  were 
lowered  and  raised,  and  depths  measured  by  a  steel  wire. 
Results : — 

Table  I. 

Depth. 

Feet. 

1350 
I591 
1592 

1745 

1835 
2125 

2236 

2375 
2486 

2625 

2740 

2875 

2990 


Temperature, 
Fahrenheit. 

Depth. 

Temperature, 

Fahrenheit. 

Degrees. 

Feet. 

Degrees. 

6875 

3125 

8840 

70-15 

3232 

8975 

70-25 

3375 

92*10 

7170 

3482 

9360 

72  80 

3625 

9610 

76-25 

3730 

97*55 

77-40 

3875 

100-05 

79-20 

3980 

..       IOI-75 

80-50 

4125 

10410 

82-20 

4200 

•..       105-55 

83-65 

4375 

108*40 

8545 

4462 

110-15 

86 -60 

1 



100 


51  30 


These  observations,  when  plotted,  show  a  slow  increase  for 
the  upper  half  of  the  uncased  portion,  about  1"  F.  for 
80  to  90  feet,  whereas  the  lower  part  sbows  a  more  rapid 
: ncrea.se— about  I**  F.  for  60  feet;  the  whole  series  giving 
a  Hell-defined  and  regular  curve,   wi»h  a   defleciion    at   2900 

NO.    I  142,  VOL.  44] 


to  3000  feet,  where  an  oil  sand  occurs.  Practically  all  the 
rest  of  the  uncased  well  is  in  shale.  The  increase  in  the  rate  at 
H  hich  the  temperature  rises  as  the  bottom  is  approached  cslo 
only  be  temporary,  or  we  should  have  an  inconceivable  or  im- 
probable state  of  temperature  at  comparatively  slight  depths. 
The  two  distinct  series  of  observations  combined  in  Table  1. 
nowhere  disagree  more  than  o*'*5  F.,  and  hence  are  very 
trustworthy  and  accurate.  Table  II.  gives  a  coDQparison  of  the 
results  at  the  three  great  wells  : — 


Table  II. 


Name  of  well  and 
location. 

Sperenbcrg,  near 
Berlin        

Schladabach,  near 
Leipzig      

Wheeling  Develop- 
ment Company 

Top  and  greatest 
depths       

Meau  of  lower  3000 
feet 

Mean  of  above  two 


Feet  for 
x°F. 
Feet. 

59-2 

650 


74*3 

75*4 
74  9 


Total 

Depth. 

Feet. 

4170 

5740 

4500 

4500 

4500 
4500 


Temperature  Tempentnre 
at  top.  at  boit«Bu 


Degrees. 

47-8 
51-9 

5i"3 


Degrees 
IlS-6 

135-5 
1 10-3 


Inasmuch  as  the  bottom  of  the  well  is  some  3700  feet  below 
sea-level,  it  seemed  worth  while  to  attempt  barometer  readings 
in  it.  The  instruments  used  proved  ill  adapted  to  the  work, 
and  the  results  were  unsatisfactory.  Samples  of  air  were  taken 
at  the  bottom,  but  could  not  be  analyzed  in  time  for  use.  A 
series  of  observations  in  a  coal  mine  near  the  well  gave  as  a  veiy 
probable  value  of  the  temperature  of  the  top  invariable  stratam 
5[*'-3  F.  From  the  mean  annual  temperature  of  Marietta  and 
Steubenville  it  might  be  taken  at  52''*2  F.  Drilling  is  tempo- 
rarily stopped,  but  it  is  hoped  that  a  depth  of  5500  or  6000  feet 
may  be  reached.  Mr.  Anton  Reyman,  of  the  Development 
Company,  has  generously  guaranteed  half  the  expenses,  and 
what  is  wanted  is  that  some  one  shall  furnish  the  other  3000 
dollars,  and  enable  the  Wheeling  well  to  be  lifted  from  the 
second  to  the  first  place  among  the  deep  wells  of  the  uorld. 

Section  T— Biology, 

Prof.  John  M.  Coulter,  President  of  Indiana  State  Universiiy, 
gave  the  annual  address,  as  President  of  Section  F,  on  the 
future  of  sy>tematic  botany.  He  contended  that  for  the  system- 
atists  of  to-day  and  of  the  future  there  must  be  three  distinct 
lines  of  work,  related  to  each  other  in  natural  sequence  in  the 
order  presented,  and  each  turning  over  its  completed  product  to 
the  next.  (i)  The  Collection  and  Description  of  P!amts.'-Yit 
expressed  great  gratitude  to  the  noble  army  of  self-denying 
pioneer  collectors,  but  claimed  that  the  time  had  now  come 
when  the  same  amount  of  labour  could  be  expended  to  better 
advantage,  and  that  a  race  of  field  workers  must  be  trained  vbc 
shall  follow  their  profession  as  distinctly  and  scientifically  as  tbe 
race  of  topographers.  In  reference  to  the  work  of  descrip- 
tion he  read  an  unpublished  note  of  Prof.  Asa  Gray,  in  which 
that  distinguished  botanist  lamented  the  work  of  those  who 
were  incompetent.  The  speaker  also  expressed  the  opinic-a 
that  the  exclusive  use  of  gross  organs  in  the  descriptioo  of 
higher  plants  would  be  given  up,  and  that  the  more  stabk 
minute  characters  would  prove  valuable  aids  in  steadying  di^- 
nosis.  A  danger  in  the  use  of  these  minute  characters  was 
pointed  out,  viz.  the  tendency  to  use  a  single  set  of  minoJe 
characters  too  far,  and  to  make  the  fabric  of  a  whole  group  CM- 
form  to  it.  The  character  of  a  species  is  an  extremely  compoaiJe 
affair,  and  it  must  stand  or  fall  by  the  sum  total  of  its  peculiari- 
ties, and  not  by  a  single  one.  There  is  nothing  that  involves  a 
broader  grasp  of  facts — the  use  of  an  inspiration  rather  than  ^ 
rule — than  the  proper  discrimination  of  species.  (2)  7^e  Stmsy 
of  Life-histories.-Th&  work  of  searching  for  the  affinities  of 
great  groups  is  the  crying  need  of  systematic  botany  to-day 
The  speaker  called  attention  to  the  danger  of  magDifying  tbf 
importance  of  certain  periods  or  organs  in  indicating  sifiiiiities, 
and  summed  up  what  was  said  under  this  general  head  as  fel- 
lows : — *'I  have  thus  spoken  of  the  study  of  life-histories  to 
indicate  that  its  chief  function  lies  in  the  field  of  systemaac 
botany ;  to  suggest  that  it  take  into  account  developmeoi  &-' 
every  period  and  of  every  organ,  and  so  obtain  a  mass  of  cn©^- 
lative  evidence  for  safe  generalization ;  and  to  uige  upon  ihx€ 


September  17,  1891 J 


NA  TURE 


473 


not  thoroughly  equipped  great  caution  in  publication."  (3)  The 
Construction  of  a  Natural  Sy>iem,-T\A  speaker  spoke  of  the 
necessity  of  constructing  a  natural  system  with  easy  advance  in 
the  knowledge  of  affinities,  as  a  convenient  summary  of  informa- 
tion, a  sort  of  mile-post,  to  tell  of  progress  and  to  direct  future 
eifort.  The  concluding  summary  was  as  follows  : — **  The  points 
presented  in  this  consideration  of  the  third  phase  of  systematic 
botany  are  that  the  last  and  highest  expression  of  systematic 
work  is  the  construction  of  a  natural  system,  based  upon  the 
accumulations  of  those  who  collect  and  describe,  and  those  who 
study  life-histories ;  that  this  work  involves  the  completest  com- 
mand of  literature  and  the  highest  powers  of  generalization ; 
that  it  is  essential  to  progress  for  a  natural  system  to  be  at- 
tempted with  every  advance  in  knowledge  ;  and  that  all  the 
known  facts  of  affinity,  thus  brought  wiUiin  reach,  should  be 
expressed  in  all  systematic  literature/' 

This  Section,  as  usual,  was  the  most  crowded  of  all,  forty- 
seven  papers  having  been  read  before  the  Section  itself,  and 
many  more  before  its  two  offshoots,  the  Botanical  and  the 
Entomological  Club.  This  was  another  of  the  Sections  which 
its  Secretary  considered  to  have  had  the  most  successful  meeting 
on  record.  A  feature  now  at  every  annual  session  is  the  report 
of  members  appointed  the  year  before  to  study  certain  assigned 
questions.  This  year  four  such  reports  were  presented  : — Trans- 
piration, or  the  loss  of  water  in  plants,  was  treated  by  Chas.  E. 
Bessey  and  Albert  F.  Woods.  **  Movements  of  fluids  in  plants  " 
was  read  by  Prof.  Wm.  J.  Beal,  of  Michigan.  Dr.  J.  C. 
Arthur,  of  Purdue  University,  Lafayette,  Ind.,  read  a  paper 
entitled  "Gases  in  Plants."  A  paper  was  read  by  Prof.  L.  H. 
Pammel,  of  Ames,  Iowa,  on  the  absorption  of  fluids  by  plants. 

Section  H — Anthropology. 

The  youngest  VicePresident  at  this  session,  if  not  the  youngest 
man  who  ever  held  a  Vice- Presidential  office  in  the  American 
Association,  is  Prof.  Joseph  Jastrow,  whose  age  is  28  years. 
His  address  was  entitled  "The  Natural  History  of  Analogy." 

Major  J.  W.  Powell,  Chief  of  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey, 
exhibited  and  explained  his  linguistic  map  of  North  America, 
on  which  he  showed  the  classification  of  languages  of  the 
aborigines. 

Mr.  Cushing  read  a  paper  on  the  Zufli  Indians,  and  danced 
the  Messiah  dance,  which  a  few  months  ago  was  so  much  talked 
about,  and  almost  involved  a  war  with  the  Government. 

Section  I — Economic  Science  and  Statistics.. 

Of  all  the  Vice-Presi'lential  addresses,  that  of  Prof.  Edmund 
J.  James,  of  Philadelphia,  before  this  Section,  aroused  the  most 
widespread  popular  interest  and  attention,  on  account  of  the 
vital  practical  importance  of  the  theme  presented,  which  was 
"The  American  Farmer :  his  present  economic  condition  and 
future  prospects." 

The  silver  question  was  carefully  considered,  and  all  who 
took  part  in  the  discussion  agreed  in  opposing  the  free  coinage 
schemes  which  are  now  so  vehemently  urged  upon  Congress. 

The  general  business  of  the  Association  included  a  change  in 
the  constitution,  so  as  to  admit  fifty  foreign  honorary  members, 
and  many  recommendations  to  Congress  as  to  forestry,  water 
supply  and  management,  and  other  topics.  Preliminary  arange- 
ments  were  made  to  participate  in  the  Columbian  World's  Fair 
in  1893.  ^  Committee  was  appointed  to  solicit  donations  for  ihe 
endowment  of  the  Association  with  a  fund  of  at  least  $100,000. 
Three  hundred  and  seventy-one  ne>v  members  were  elected, 
bringing  the  total  membership  up  to  about  2300,  which  is  high- 
water  mark  in  the  history  of  the  Association. 

Prof.  Joseph  Le  Conte,  of  California,  was  elected  President ; 
and  the  Association  adjourned,  to  meet  at  Rochester,  N.Y.,  on 
the  third  Wednesday  of  August  1892. 


RAIN-MAKING  IN  TEXAS. 

'T^HE  announcement  in  the  Standard  about  a  fortnight 
-'-  since,  that  rain  had  been  artificially  produced  in 
Texas  by  exploding  oxy hydrogen  balloons  and  dynamite, 
was  probably  received  by  most  scientific  men  with  a  sus- 
pension of  judgment.  The  somewhat  sensational  form 
of  the  report,  the  emphasis  with  which  it  dwelt  on  the 
unfavourable  antecedent  conditions,  and  the  omission  of 

NO.    1 142,  VOL.  44] 


all  details  that  might  enable  us  to  form  some  rough  esti- 
mate of  the  forces  employed  and  of  the  resulting  effects, 
seemed  calculated  to  appeal  to  the  barren  emotions  of 
astonishment  and  love  of  the  marvellous  rather  than  to 
the  sober  judgment  of  well-balanced  minds  ;  and  but  for 
the  fact  that  the  experiments  were  stated  to  have  been 
made  by  the  officers  of  the  U.S.  Signal  Service,  which, 
on  the  hypothesis  of  a  hoax,  would  have  been  a  needless 
challenge  to  speedy  denial,  one  might  have  been  disposed 
to  regard  the  story  as  only  an  additional  instance  of  a 
kind  of  produce  for  which  the  Western  States  are  some- 
what notorious.  The  further  accounts  that  have  now 
reached  us  prove,  however,  that  this  is  not  one  of 
Jonathan's  amusing  attempts  to  play  off  on  the  cre- 
dulity of  his  simple-minded  cousins  across  the  Atlantic. 
Not  only  have  experiments  of  the  kind  described  been 
actually  made,  but  they  have  been  apparently  successful,, 
and  they  seem  to  have  been  repeated  sufficiently  often  to- 
render  it  at  least  improbable  that  this  success  has  been 
entirely  fortuitous.  The  improbable  features  of  the 
Standard's  report  are,  indeed,  somewhat  toned  down ;: 
the  dryness  of  the  local  atmosphere  was  by  no  means  so- 
great  as  was  to  be  inferred  from  the  vague  language  of 
the  Standard's  informant ;  but,  as  far  as  can  be  judged 
from  the  notices  now  before  us,  it  seems  unlikely  that  the 
rain  which  followed  General  Dyrenfurth's  experiments 
would  have  occurred  in  the  undisturbed  course  of  natural 
events. 

The  experiments  were  made  at  a  place  known  as 
Ranch  C.  One  writer  states  that  an  intermittent  series 
of  experiments  had  been  carried  out  for  three  weeks,  and 
that  "  not  in  a  single  instance  has  rain  failed  to  fall  within 
ten  or  twelve  hours  after  the  explosion.'*  But  the  number 
of  trials  is  not  stated — an  omission  the  more  to  be  re- 
gretted, because  the  improbability  that  the  results  are 
fortuitous  increases  in  a  certain  geometric  ratio  of  the 
number  of  successful  repetitions.  We  have  definite  ac- 
counts of  those  made  on  August  i8,  26,  and  apparently 
the  morning  of  the  27th,  and  it  is  by  no  means  clear 
that  the  evidence  is  not  limited  to  these,  although  the 
expression  quoted  above  would  seem  to  imply  otherwise. 
The  first,  that  of  August  18,  was  made  about  3  p.m. 
There  were  at  the  time  a  few  scattered  clouds,  but  no 
indication  of  rain.  The  reading  of  the  barometer  is  not 
reported,  but  the  relative  humidity  of  the  air  immediately 
before  the  experiments  (presumably  at  the  earth's  surface) 
was  not  more  than  60  per  cent,  of  saturation.  An  oxy- 
hydrogen  balloon,  the  capacity  of  which  is  not  stated, 
was  exploded  by  electricity  at  an  altitude  of  a  mile  and 
a  quarter.  Several  kites,  with  packets  of  dynamite  at- 
tached, were  sent  up  immediately  after  the  balloon,  and 
the  charges  exploded  by  similar  means,  and  *'  rendrock 
powder  was  distributed  for  a  distance  of  two  and  three- 
quarter  miles  from  head-quarters,  and  fired  by  igniting 
dynamos."  These  explosions  "  sent  up  great  volumes  of 
white  smoke,  which  rose  only  a  short  distance,  and  was 
then  beaten  down  by  heavy  rain,  which  at  once  began 
falling  and  continued  for  four  hours  and  twenty  minutes." 
Prof.  Curtis,  the  meteorologist  of  the  expedition,  esti- 
mates that  the  rain  covered  an  area  of  not  less  than  1000 
miles. 

On  August  26  it  is  stated  that  *'  balloons  containing 
several  thousand  feet  of  oxyhydrogen  gas  were  sent  up 
and  exploded  at  heights  varying  from  1000  to  10,000  feet, 
and  at  sundown  batteries  on  the  ground  began  their 
work,  and  until  10.30  p.m.  a  constant  cannonade  was 
carried  on  under  a  sky  of  perfect  clearness,  lit  by  count- 
less stars  of  a  brilliancy  seldom  seen  in  the  north.  The 
barometer  promised  fair,  and  the  hygrometer  stood 
between  dry  and  very  dry,"  whatever  these  expressions 
may  mean.  The  account  continues  : — "  At  1 1  p.m.  General 
Dyrenfurth  withdrew  his  forces,  and  all  retired  for  the 
night.  Sleep,  however,  was  soon  interrupted,  for  at 
3  a.m.  the  first  return  fire  flashed  from  the  heavens,  when 


474 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


the  rain-makers  were  roused  by  a  crashing  peal  of 
thunder,  and  the  rain  was  soon  beating  on  the  roof.  At 
sunrise  a  magnificent  double  bow  arched  the  heavens, 
and  the  downfall  of  rain  did  not  cease  till  8  o'clock  a  m. 
A  number  of  heavy  charges  of  dynamite  were  then  made, 
and  after  every  one  the  drops  again  poured  down,  till  at 
last  the  clouds  were  entirely  expended." 

In  these  quotations  is  given  all  that  is  essential  in  the 
newspaper  reports  now  before  us.  Although  deficient  in 
many  details  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  know,  they  are 
written  by  one  who  witnessed  what  he  described,  and 
there  seems  no  reason  whatever  to  doubt  their  genuine- 
ness and  good  faith ;  we  may  therefore,  discuss  the 
information  they  afford,  without  misgivings  of  its  sub- 
stantial trustworthiness. 

It  is  not  antecedently  improbable  that,  in  certain  states 
of  the  atmosphere,  the  liberation  of  a  large  amount  of 
heated  gas  consisting  wholly  or  in  great  part  of 
water  vapour,  at  an  elevation  where  aerial  move- 
ments are  but  little  retarded  by  terrestrial  friction, 
may  suffice  to  generate  an  ascending  current ;  and 
elementary  physical  considerations  teach  us  that  a 
mass  of  air  that  would  be  called  relatively  dry  at 
the  lower  level,  will  in  ascending  speedily  become 
saturated  and  condense  its  surplus  vapour,  first  as 
cloud,  and  eventually  as  rain,  not  indeed  by  acquiring 
more  vapour,  but  in  virtue  of  dynamic  cooling  as  it 
progressively  expands  under  the  diminished  pressure 
of  greater  altitudes.  But  unless  the  atmospheric  strata 
thus  immediately  affected  be  already  in  a  condition 
of  unstable  equilibrium,  unless  the  vertical  decrease  of 
temperature  in  these  strata  is  already  somewhat  greater 
than  the  adiabatic  rate  of  decrement,  so  that  the  ascending 
movement  once  started  can  be  maintained  by  the  store  of 
energy  already  present  in  the  form  of  sensible  temperature 
and  the  latent  heat  of  the  included  vapour,  the  effect  must 
of  necessity  be  temporary  and  local — more  of  the  nature  of 
a  small  thunder-storm,  or  cloud-burst,  than  of  the  widely 
extended  or  sporadic  rainfall  that  accompanies  a  baro- 
metric depression. 

In  fact,  the  possibility  of  rainfall  production  depends 
on  the  possibility  of  producing  and  maintaining  an  up- 
ward movement  in  the  atmosphere.  There  is  always 
some  vapour  present  in  the  air,  generally  sufficient  to 
form  clouds  when  dynamically  cooled  by  an  ascent 
through  two  or  three  thousand  feet ;  although  such  air, 
while  resting  on  the  ground  and  warmed  by  its  contact, 
may  be  very  dry  as  judged  by  our  feelings  and  by  the 
evidence  of  the  hygrometer.  The  amount  of  energy 
yielded  by  any  moderate  provision  of  oxyhydrogen  bal- 
loons and  dynamite  is  but  infinitesimal  in  comparison 
with  that  already  locked  up  in  the  atmosphere  and  its 
vapour,  and  which,  under  the  circumstances  above  spe- 
cified, viz.  a  vertical  decrease  of  temperature  exceeding  a 
certain  fixed  rate,  is  available  for  maintaining  a  move- 
ment once  set  up  ;  and  the  part  played  by  the  heated 
gases  of  such  experiments  as  those  now  described  can 
be  little  more  than  that  of  a  trigger  that  releases  a 
detent. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  on  August  i8  the  atmo- 
sphere was  in  this  unstable  condition.  Even  in  the 
warm  stratum  resting  on  the  ground,  the  humidity  was 
60  per  cent  of  saturation,  clouds  (indicating  saturation) 
existed  at  some  height,  and  rain  began  to  fall  almost  im- 
mediately on  the  conclusion  of  the  explosions.  It  may  be 
noticed,  too,  that  the  time  of  day  was  that  at  which  the 
barometer  is  lowest  and  the  humidity  highest  in  the  cloud- 
forming  stratum,  although,  in  fine  weather,  lowest  at  the 
ground  surface.  In  the  absence,  then,  of  any  observa- 
tions of  the  temperature  and  humidity  of  the  strata  pri- 
marily stirred  up  by  the  exploding  balloons  and  dynamite, 
it  seems  likely  that  they  were  in  a  condition  to  maintain 
ascending  currents  once  started,  and  even  to  communicate 
the  disturbance  to  regions  around. 

NO.   1 142,  VOL.  44] 


On  the  26th,  the  atmosphere  was  evidently  in  a  much 
more  inert  condition,  and  four  hours  elapsed  before  rain 
fell,  the  disturbance  being  then  apparently  more  local,  and 
of  the  nature  of  a  thunder-storm.  However,  with  the 
meagre  data  as  yet  before  us,  it  would  be  premature  to 
attempt  any  critical  discussion  of  the  processes  in  opera- 
tion. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  popular  theorizing,  on  this  as 
on  most  other  physical  phenomena,  concerns  itself  chiefly 
with  the  things  that  are  most  obvious  to  the  senses,  hot 
often  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  process.  Thus 
we  find  that  attention  has  been  fixed  on  the  explosion ; 
and  we  are  told  that  the  idea  of  breaking  clouds  by  pro- 
ducing a  motion  in  the  air,  and  so  destroying  the  equi- 
librium of  the  suspended  globules  of  moisture,  which  in 
coalescence  fonn  rain,  is  not  a  new  one  ;  that  it  was  the 
custom  to  keep  a  cannon  in  French  villages,  with  which 
to  fire  at  passing  clouds  and  thus  hasten  the  downpour ; 
that  at  the  battles  of  Dresden  and  Waterloo  the  con- 
cussion of  the  air  by  the  cannonade  led  to  the  descent  of 
torrential  showers  ;  and  we  are  reminded  that  ^  in  the 
same  way  "  rain  follows  a  peal  of  thunder  caused  by  the 
passage  of  a  lightning-flash  through  a  moisture-laden 
atmosphere,  &c.  Now,  all  this  noise  and  disturbance 
have  no  more  to  do  with  the  production  of  rainfall  than 
has  the  thrashing  which  the  village  rain-maker  of  Cental 
India  receives  from  his  fellow  villagers  to  stimulate  him 
to  fresh  exertions  when  he  is  thought  to  have  neglected 
the  performance  of  his  official  duties,  or  the  London 
street-boy*s  whistle,  with  which  Sir  Samuel  Baker  startled 
a  rain-making  king  in  the  Southern  Soudan,  and  which 
was  followed  by  such  a  deluge  that  even  the  rain- 
making  potentate  implored  him  to  arrest  the  working  of 
the  spell.^  The  effect  of  a  concussion,  as  such,  is  to  pro- 
duce an  instantaneous  compression  of  the  air,  and  a 
momentary  heating  in  a  wave  which  travels  away  at  the 
rate  of  about  1000  feet  per  second,  and  is  incapable  of 
generating  any  translational  movement  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  certainly  of  promoting  condensation.  Nor  do  wc 
know  of  any  recorded  observations  in  support  of  the  idea 
that  it  can  cause  the  coalescence  of  cloud  corpuscles  into 
raindrops.  Neither  does  the  concussion  of  the  air  by  a 
thunder-clap  stand  to  the  downpour  that  follows  it  in  the 
physical  relation  of  cause  to  effect.  In  this  case  Sir  John 
Herschel  adopts  the  opinion  originally  put  forward  by 
Eeles,  that  the  order  of  succession  is  the  reverse  of  that 
here  assumed,  that  the  formation  of  the  rain-drop  is  the 
antecedent  phenomenon,  and  the  lightning-flash  (and 
ergo  the  thunder)  the  consequent ;  the  electrical  dischaige 
being  determined  by  the  sudden  concentration  of  the 
electricity  of  (say)  one  thousand  corpuscles  on  the 
surface  of  the  single  resulting  rain- drop,  in  which 
case  its  intensity  would  be  increased  ten-fold.  MiTiat 
causes  the  coalescence  is  still  a  matter  of  much  ob- 
scurity, though  some  light  has  been  thrown  upon 
it  by  the  ingenious  experiment  exhibited  by  Mr.  Shel 
ford  Bid  well  at  the  Royal  Society's  con7/ersa2umi  on 
May  14,  1890,  and  described  in  vol.  xlii.  (p.  91)  of  this 
journal.  When  the  shadow  of  a  small  (condensing) 
steam  jet  was  thrown  upon  a  white  screen,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  it  was  of  feeble  intensity  and  of  a  neutral  tint; 
but  when  the  jet  was  electrified,  the  density  of  the  shadw 
was  at  once  greatly  increased,  and  it  assumed  a  peculiar 
orange- brown  tint.  It  appeared  that  electrification  pro- 
moted the  coalescence  of  the  exceedingly  minute  particks 
of  water  contained  in  the  jet,  thus  forming  drops  laige 
enough  to  obstruct  the  more  refrangible  rays  of  light  Ob 
this  view,  then,  electrification  would  appear  to  be  the 
cause  of  coalescence,  and  the  electrical  discharge  the 
ulterior  result ;   but  as  yet  we  know  too  little  of  the 


works 

events, 

Simla  dinner-table. 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


475 


molecular  processes  concerned  in  the  formation  of  a  rain- 
drop to  attempt  anything  like  a  complete  theory. 

In  conclusion,  while  we  cannot  but  recc^ize  the 
high  interest  of  General  Dyrenfurth's  results,  with 
the  imperfect  information  at  present  before  us  we 
cannot  regard  them  as  conclusive.  It  is  the  cha- 
racteristic weakness  of  all  experiments  of  the  kind 
that  many  of  the  essential  circumstances  are  scarcely 
ever  recorded,  or  perhaps  even  capable  of  being  broujght 
within  the  limits  of  ooservation :  and  thus  the  logical 
conditions  of  a  proved  conclusion  cannot  be  fulfilled. 
For  instance,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  anything  is  known 
of  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  in  respect  of  its  humidity 
and  its  vertical  temperature  decrement  at  the  elevation 
at  which  the  balloons  were  exploded,  and  yet,  as  we  have 
leen,  these  data  lie  at  the  very  root  of  the  whole  matter. 
However,  arrangements  are  being  made  for  further 
operations  at  £1  Paso  and  in  Western  Kansas,  so  that 
it  will  not  be  long  before  the  highly  interesting  and  prac- 
tically important  problem  of  stimulating  the  precipitation 
of  rain  will  receive  a  more  satisfactory  solution. 

H.  F.  B. 


NOTES, 

The  Permanent  Committee  of  the  International  Committee 
of  Weights  and  Measures  is  now  holding  its  meeting  at  Sevres, 
near  Paris.  The  Committee  inclndes :  Dr.  Foerster  (Germany) ; 
M.  J.  Bertrand  (France) ;  Dr.  Benott,  Director  of  the  Bureau 
at  S^yres;  Mr.  H.  J.  Chaney  (Great  Britain);  Prof.  Govi 
(Italy) ;  Prof.  Krusper  (Hungary) ;  Prof.  Lang  (Austria) ;  Mr. 
H.  de  Macedo  (Portogal) ;  M.  Staa  (Belgium) ;  Prof.  Thalen 
(Sweden);  Dr.  Wild  (Russia).  The  Committee  has  recently 
lost  its  President  (General  Ibailez) ;  and  one  of  the  objects  of 
the  present  meeting  is  to  elect  a  new  President ;  an  election 
which  will  doubtless  fall  on  the  senior  member  of  the  Committee, 
Dr.  Foerster. 

Ths  members  of  the  Heilprin  Expedition,  who  have  lately 
returned  from  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  give  an  extremely 
unfavourable  account  of  the  position  in  which  they  were  obliged 
to  leave  Lieutenant  Peary.     His  leg  was  broken  in  Melrille 
Bay  on  July  ii.     Dr.  Hughes,  who  has  recorded  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Press  the  adventures  of  the  Expedition,  describes  how 
the  accident  happened.     *'  While  we  were  going  astern  for  the 
last  time,"  he  says,  "  to  make  the  butt  that  forced  us  through  a 
barrier  of  ice  into  comparatively  clear  water,  Lieutenant  Peary 
stepped  behind  the  wheel-bouse  to  see  how  things  were  going. 
With  a  crash  the  rudder  struck  a  piece  of  ice,  and  the  next 
instant  his  leg  was  crushed  between  the  rudder  gearing  and  the 
side  of  the  wheel-house.     He  was  carried  below  into  the  cabin, 
when  an  examination  showed  that  his  right  leg  was  broken  square 
across  just  above  the  knee.  Everything  possible  was  done  for  him." 
When  he  had  recovered  from  the  shock,  and  had  thonght  the 
matter  over,  he  decided  to  go  on  to  Whale  Sound,  trusting  that 
by  next  spring  his  leg  would  be  so  far  mended  that  he  would  be 
able  to  accomplish  the  object  of  his  expedition.     His  friends 
thought  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  return,  but  they  could  not 
help  admiring  his  spirit,  and  resolved  to  do  everything  in  their 
power  to  further  his  aim.     The  shores  of  Whale  Sound  proved 
to  be  completely  blocked  with  ice,  so  the  Kite  steamed  north  to 
McCormick  Bay,  on  the  northern  shore  of  Murchison  Sound, 
which  they  reached  on  July  25.     Here  a  space  of  about  two 
miles  was  comparatively  clear;  and  Lieutenant  Peary's  men 
went  ashore,  and  reported  that  the  place  was  well  suited  for 
their  head-quarters.       A  site  was  selected  on  the  south  shore 
of  McCormick  Bay,  in  latitude  77**  43',  and  a  wooden  house 
erected,   which  Lieutenant  Peary  declared  to  be  "substantial 

NO.   1 142,  VOL.  44] 


and  warm  enough/'  On  July  30  the  Heilprin  party  bad 
to  leave  him,  which  they  did  with  sad  forebodings.  Mrs. 
Peary  bravely  insisted  on  remaining  with  her  husband,  and 
they  have  six  companions.  The  Lieutenant  hopes  to  start 
in  the  spring  for  the  unexplored  interior  of  Greenland,  but  Dr. 
Hughes  says :  "  It  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  all  our  party — 
and  this  opinion  is  indorsed  fnlly  by  all  the  officers  of  the  KUe^— 
that  unless  a  relief  expedition  be  sent  to  Lieutenant  Peary  next 
summer,  he  and  his  party  will  never  be  seen  again  alive."  It  is 
doubtful  whether  the  food  supply  is  sufficient ;  and  it  is  thought 
most  improbable  that  whalers  will  take  them  away  next  summer. 
In  that  case  their  only  resource  would  be  the  whale  boats,  in 
which  they  would  have  to  traverse  500  miles  of  ocean  *'  filled 
with  floes  and  bergs,  and  often  shrouded  with  fog  or  swept  by 
terrible  storms." 

An  earthquake  of  great  violence  caused  immense  damage  in 
the  Republic  of  San  Salvador  on  September  9.  According  to 
reports  sent  from  the  capital  of  the  country  to  the  Niw  York 
Herald,  there  had  been  indications  for  several  days  that  a  seismic 
disturbance  of  more  than  usual  power  might  be  expected.  The 
volcanoes  of  San  Salvador,  San  Miguel,  and  Izalco  had  been  un- 
usually active,  and  deep  subterranean  rumblings  with  slight 
earth  tremors  had  been  felt.  At  1.55  a.m.,  on  September  9, 
the  earthquake  b^an  in  the  city  of  San  Salvador  with  a  slight 
tremor,  which  gradually  augmented.  The  duration  of  the  first 
shock  was  ten  seconds,  during  which  time  a  frightful  subter- 
ranean noise  was  audible  in  every  part  of  the  city.  While  the 
shock  lasted,  the  earth  rose  and  fell  in  long  waves,  and  even 
strong  men  were  unable  to  keep  their  feet.  The  walls  of  houses 
cracked,  and  then  tottered  and  felL  In  the  capital  alone  40 
persons  were  killed,  and  50  or  60  seriously  injured.  The  ex- 
perience of  towns  in  the  country  seems  to  have  been  still  worse. 
Of  330  houses  at  Comasagua  only  eight  remain  standing,  and 
the  loas  of  life  there  was  great.  Analquito  has  also  been  almost 
completely  destroyed,  and  Cojutepeqae,  Santa  Teda,  San 
Pedro,  and  Masahnet  were  so  badly  shaken  as  to  be  practically 
ruined.  It  is  feared  that  the  earthquake  has  been  even  more 
disastrous  than  those  of  1854  and  1873. 

In  the  Isle  of  Fayal,  among  the  Azores,  several  shocks  of 
earthquake  were  felt  on  August  27  and  28. 

Mr.  TtJCKWELL  writes  to  us  from  Loughrigg,  Ambleside, 
that  an  aurora  was  seen  there  on  Friday  night,  September  11. 
The  arch  spanned  the  heavens  from  south-west  to  north-east, 
passing  nearly  through  the  zenith.  It  was  white,  with  slight 
coruscations  at  its  south-west  base.  It  was  first  seen  at  9  p.m. : 
it  had  faded  by  10  o'clock. 

A  NEW  department  of  physics  and  electrical  engineering 
will  be  begun  this  session  at  the  new  branch  of  the  Manchester 
Technical  School  in  Whitworth  Street,  where  a  large  well- 
lighted  warehouse  is  being  fitted  up  for  the  purpose.  The 
building  will  be  lighted  by  electricity,  the  installation  bemg 
fitted  up  with  especial  regard  to  instruction.  For  the  latter 
purpose,  the  electric  light  installation  in  the  Central  School  in 
Princess  Street  will  also  be  available. 

The  Library  Association  is  holding  its  annual  meeting  this 
week  at  Nottingham.  Mr.  Robert  Harrison,  of  the  London 
Library,  presides.  The  meeting  began  yesterday  in  the  large 
theatre  of  the  Nottingham  University  College. 

The  Industrial  Society  of  Mulhouse  has  issued  a  programme 
of  prizes  which  it  proposes  to  give  for  work  done  in  the  year 
1891-92.  A  copy  will  be  sent  to  anyone  who  applies  for  it  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Society.     The  prizes  are  very  numerous,. 


476 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


and  are  to  be  granted  for  work  of  many  different  kinds  in  con- 
nection with  the  application  of  scientific  methods  to  industry. 

A  Conference  on  Conifers  will  be  held  at  Chiswick,  in 
connection  with  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  in  October. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  Conference  will  not  only  draw  attention  to 
the  best  of  these  trees  and  shrubs  from  a  garden  or  landscape 
point  of  view,  but  show  what  are  the  best  varieties  to  plant  for 
English-grown  timber,  as  well  as  the  different  uses  and  suitabili- 
ties of  the  various  foreign-grown  timbers.  The  co-operation  of 
landowners  and  others  who  may  have  planted  these  trees  or 
shrubs  in  years  past,  or  who  take  a  present  interest  in  them,  is 
specially  invited. 

Dredgers  working  in  the  Tiber  to  prepare  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  new  embankment  brought  up  on  September  12  a 
magnificent  ancient  Roman  bronze  helmet.  It  is  perfectly  pre- 
served, and  is  decorated  with  bas-reliefs.  Signor  Rossi,  the 
Italian  archaeologist,  assigns  it  to  the  second  century  before  the 
Christian  era. 

According  to  the  Calcutta  correspondent  of  the  Timei^  it  is 
understood  that  the  Ameer  of  Cabul  is  taking  steps  to  obtain 
from  England  a  geologist,  a  chemist,  two  miners,  and  a  number 
of  mechanics. 

The  Royal  Meteorological  Institute  of  the  Netherlands  has 
just  issued  another  useful  work  in  maritime  meteorology,  viz. 
^'  Routes  for  Steamships  between  Aden  and  the  Straits  of  Sunda." 
A  previous  edition  appeared  in  1881,  but  since  that  time  steam 
navigation  to  the  Dutch  Indies  has  greatly  increased,  and  con- 
sequently the  number  of  logs  received  has  afforded  sufficient 
materials  to  allow  of  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  outward  and 
homeward  routes  for  each  month.  Although  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  regularity  both  as  regards  the  monsoons  and  currents, 
yet  there  are  considerable  differences  both  in  force  and  direction 
in  the  same  months  of  different  years,  which  cannot  be  taken 
into  account  in  laying  down  general  routes ;  but  tracks  laid 
down  with  great  care  from  the  most  complete  data  available  will 
give  the  best  chance  of  successful  pass«iges.  We  cannot  enter 
here  into  the  details  of  the  results,  but  we  ntay  mention  that  the 
tables  and  charts  contained  in  the  work  show  for  each  10°  of 
longitude  the  number  of  vessels  which  have  cut  those  meridians 
in  different  latitudes,  and  the  means  of  the  number  of  hours 
taken.  The  tracks  show  that  a  very  considerable  divergence 
from  the  most  direct  routes  is  recommended  in  certain  months, 
according  as  the  east  or  west  monsoon  may  be  blowing.  The 
usefulness  of  the  work  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  copies  have 
been  ordered  for  their  vessels  by  the  French,  Russian,  and 
Italian  Governments. 

It  is  expected  that  in  no  other  department  of  the  "  World's 
Columbian  Exposition"  will  there  be  a  greater  diversity  of 
exhibits  than  in  that  of  mines  and  mining.  Not  only  will  there 
be  a  magnificent  array  of  diamonds,  opals,  emeralds,  and  other 
gems,  and  of  the  precious  metals,  but  a  most  extensive  collection 
of  iron,  copper,  lead,  and  other  ores,  and  of  their  products ;  of 
coal,  granite,  marble,  sandstone,  and  other  building  stone ;  of 
soils,  salt,  and  petroleum.  A  sub-department  will  take  special 
charge  of  the  coal  and  iron  exhibit,  and  later  of  that  of  copper 
and  lead. 

Mr.  O.  Chanute,  a  well-known  engineer  of  Chicago,  has 
been  studying  the  methods  of  preparing  wood  chemically  to 
resist  decay,  and  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  great  economies 
might  be  realized  in  America  by  the  general  adoption  of  these 
methods  on  railways.     Science  says  he  recently  examined  some 

NO.    I  142,  VOL.  44] 


experimental  railroad  ties  of  the  most  perishable  kinds  of  wood 
prepared  by  what  is  known  as  the  zinc-tannin  (Wellhoose) 
process,  in  St.  Louis,  in  188 1  and  1882,  and  laid  in  the  tracks 
of  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  Railroad,  at  Topeka, 
Kan. ,  and  La  Junta,  Col.     After  nine  or  ten  years'  exposure  the) 
show  excellent  results,  whereas  they  would  have  lasted  bat  from 
one  to  four  years  if  unprepared.    Unprepared  ties  of  the  same  kind 
of  timber,  laid  at  the  same  time,  adjoining  to  the  prepared  ties, 
have  all  decayed  and  been  taken  up,  while  present  appiearances 
indicate  that  the  prepared  ties  (red  oak,  black  oak,  and  Colorado 
pine)  are  likely  to  show  an  average  life  of  ten  to  fifteen  years  or 
moie.     Mr.  Chanute  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  zinc- 
tannin  process  not  only  preserves  ties  against  decay,  bat  hardens 
them  as  well.     It  is  found  on  one  railroad  that  after  three  years' 
exposure  treated  hemlock  ties  hold  the  spike  as  well,  and  cat 
less  under  the  rail  than  untreated  white  oak. 

Some  time  ago  the  Field  Naturalists*  Club  of  Victoria  org^- 
ized  an  excursion  to  the  Kent  group  of  islands,  the  object  being 
to  collect  specimens,  and  to  determine  whether  the  group  is 
most  nearly  related  with  Victoria,  to  which  it  is  closest  geo- 
graphically, or  with  Tasmania.  At  the  annual  coftversaxione  of 
the  Club,  held  recently,  Mr.  C.  A.  Topp,  the  retiring  President, 
referred  to  the  results  of  the  expedition.  The  bulk  of  the  fanna 
and  flora  was  found  to  be  common  to  Victoria  and  Tasmania, 
but  there  were  six  or  seven  varieties  of  birds  peculiar  to  Tas- 
mania to  two  peculiar  to  Victoria.  The  conclusion  was  that 
the  islands  had  been  separated  from  Tasmania  after  that  island 
was  disjoined  from  the  mainland.  Among  the  plants,  several 
forms  were  found  varying  somewhat  from  the  typical  forms  of 
the  same  species  on  the  mainland  ;  while  it  was  interesting  to 
find  that  the  arboreal  short-eared  opossum  had  changed  his 
habits  so  far  as  not  to  feed  on  the  leaves  of  the  eucalypt,  and  to 
keep  to  the  ground. 

In  a  paper  in  the  American  Engitteering  Magasitu^  on  ven- 
tilation, Mr.  Laurence  Allen  contends  that  in  very  many  schools 
the  quantity  of  pure  air  admitted  is  not  sufficient  to  expel  the 
foul  air.  To  maintain  the  air  in  a  good  sanitary  condition  in  a 
properly  constructed  schoolroom,  his  experience  confirms  the 
amount  required  as  stated  by  Billings,  to  wit,  60  cubic  feet  of 
air  for  each  occupant  per  minute.  For  100  pupils  this  amounts 
to  360,000  cubic  feet  per  hour.  How  many  schools  come  up  to 
this  requirement  ?  In  the  United  States,  says  Mr.  Allen,  there 
are  many  schools  that  contain  100  pupils  and  do  not  introduce 
more  than  25,000  feet  of  pure  air  per  hour,  and  even  that  is 
rendered  in  a  measure  ineffective,  because  the  air  is  not  properly 
admitted.  *'  The  pupils  do  not  die  in  the  poisoned  atmosphere  ; 
many  of  them  will  appear  reasonably  healthy.  So  do  many 
persons  who  visit  and  tarry  in  malarial  districts.  Bat  though 
the  effects  are  not  immediate  and  striking,  they  are  sure,  per- 
manent, and  easy  to  be  traced  to  their  causes  in  after  years,  by 
those  who  make  a  study  of  disease  and  its  causes.  It  is  scarcdy 
less  humane  to  kill  a  child  than,  by  wilfully  ignoring  sanitary 
requirements,  to  cripple  it  for  life,  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally,  as  children  are  being  crippled  to-day  in  the  vile  atmo- 
sphere of  many  schools." 

In  a  paper  published  in  the  current  number  of  the  Journal  of 
the  Anthropological  Society,  Mr.  J.  J.  Lister  refers  to  the  grea: 
development  of  the  arms  and  chests  of  the  natives  of  Fakaofu 
(Bowditch  Island,  Union  Group).  He  thinks  it  may  be  doe  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  obliged  to  go  about  so  much  in  canoes. 
Sir  Joseph  Lister,  who  took  part  in  the  discussion  which  followed 
the  reading  of  this  paper,  remarked  that  he  would  »not  have 
expected  the  frequently  repeated  action  of  paddling  to  produce 
lengthening  of  the  arms,  although  he  could  understand  its 
resulting  in  increased  size  of  chest.  He  pointed  out  that  the 
natives  of  Tonga  were  also  accustomed  to  use  canoes,  and  hence 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


477 


it  was  not  clear  that  the  phenomenon  could  be  traced  to  the 
cause  assigned.  Mr.  Lister  replied  that,  although  the  Tongan^ 
ate  canoes,  canoe  work  is  not  so  essential  a  part  of  their  lives  as 
it  is  in  the  case  of  the  natives  of  Fakaofu.  The  natives  of  the 
island  of  Tongatabu  have  many  avocations  quite  apart  from  the 
sea,  for  they  live  on  an  island  twenty-two  miles  long,  and  many 
villages  are  situated  some  distance  from  the  water.  The  natives 
of  Fakaofu,  on  the  other  hand,  live  crowded  together  on  a  small 
islet  situated  on  a  ring  of  r^efs,  and  to  meet  almost  every  need 
of  their  lives  they  must  do  more  or  less  paddling. 

Mr.  Ivan  Petroff,  the  United  States  special  census  agent, 
has  been  engaged  in  taking  the  census  of  the  natives  of  Nuni- 
vak  Island,  in  Behring  Sea,  in  60**  N.  lat.  He  found  the  popu- 
lation to  consist  of  over  600  natives.  It  was  previously  supposed 
that  over  300  people  occupied  the  island.  There  are  no  white 
men  there,  and  the  natives  live  in  a  most  primitive  style.  Their 
only  food  is  the  flesh  of  the  walrus,  and  their  only  wealth  con- 
sists of  ivory  obtained  from  the  tusks  of  that  animal.  There 
are  few  land  otter,  but,  apart  from  these,  the  natives  catch  no 
far-bearing  animals. 

Dr.  L.  Webster  Fox  is  of  opinion  that  savage  races  possess 
the  perception  of  colour  to  a  greater  degree  than  do  civilized 
races.  In  a  lecture  lately  delivered  before  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute, Philadelphia,  he  stated  that  he  had  just  concluded  an 
examination  of  250  Indian  children,  of  whom  100  were  boys. 
Had  he  selected  100  white  boys  from  various  parts  of  the  United 
States,  he  would  have  found  at  least  five  of  them  colour*  blind  : 
among  the  Indian  boys  he  did  not  discover  a  single  case  of 
colour-blindness.  Some  years  ago  he  examined  250  Indian 
boys,  and  found  two  colour-blind,  a  very  low  percentage  when 
compared  with  the  whites.  Among  the  Indian  girls  he  did  not 
find  any.  Considering  that  only  two  females  in  every  1000 
among  whites  are  colour-blind,  he  does  not  think  it  surprising 
that  he  did  not  fitid  any  examples  among  the  Indian  girls. 

Dr.  J.  Frank  lately  reported  to  the  Chicago  Medical  Society 
the  case  of  a  man  who  periodically  sheds  his  skin.  The  shed- 
ding began  in  his  first  year,  and  has  since  then  occurred  regularly 
every  July.  He  is  taken  with  feverish  tremors,  increasing  almost 
to  paroxysms.  He  undresses,  lies  down,  and  within  a  few 
minutes  the  skin  of  the  chest  begins  to  turn*  red.  The  redness 
rapidly  extends  over  the  en*  ire  skin,  and  the  feverish  tremors 
continue  uninterrupted  for  about  twelve  hours.  Then  he  rises, 
dresses,  and  walks  about  in  perfect  health.  The  skin  now  begins 
to  peel,  and  ten  hours  later  it  comes  off  in  great  patches.  From 
the  arms  and  legs  it  can  be  peeled  off  exactly  like  gloves  or 
stockings.  As  the  old  skin  comes  away,  a  new  epidermis,  as 
soft  and  pink  as  a  baby's,  is  revealed.  This  new  skin  is  very 
sensitive  ;  the  patient  has  to  wear  softened  gloves  and  moccasins 
for  about  a  week.  After  the  old  cuticle  has  been  entirely  re- 
moved, the  finger  and  toe  nail-;  begin  to  drop  off— new  nails 
literally  crowding  them  out.  Finally,  the  change  is  complete, 
the  man  has  a  new  skin  and  a  new  outfit  of  nails,  and  is  ready 
to  return  to  the  mines.  A  lady  in  Washington  County,  Ne- 
braska, who  is  thirty-nine  years  old,  has  written  to  Dr.  Frank 
that  since  1876  she  has  had  a  like  experience  every  second  or 
third  year. 

The  Orcutt  Seed  and  Plant  Company,  San  Diego,  California, 
have  issued  an  interesting  descriptive  list  of  Californian  trees 
and  flowers.  The  writer  thinks  that  there  is  perhaps  no  country 
in  the  world  where  the  early  spring  flowers  so  change  the  face  of 
the  earth  from  a  desolate  waste  to  a  beautiful  garden  as  on  the 
Pacific  coa&t — hills,  mesns,  mountains  and  valleys,  and  the  arid 
plains  of  the  de  ert,  alike  quickly  responding  to  the  vivifying 
rain.     "California,"  he  say,  **has  probably  already  furnished 

NO.   I  142,  VOL.  44] 


to  the  horticulturist  a  greater  variety  of  beautiful  flowers  and 
stately  trees  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  Yet  many 
others  are  awaiting  the  appreciation  of  man,  or  wasting  their 
sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

A  paper  on  malformations  of  the  bill  in  birds,  by  Mr.  W.  P. 
Pycraft,  has  been  reprinted  from  the  Transactions  of  the 
Leicester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society.  The  most 
common  kinds  of  malformation  are  those  resulting  from  over- 
growth of  the  homy  sheath,  and  those  arising  from  injury.  Mr. 
Pycrafl  discusses  these  first,  and  then  considers  malformation 
due  to  embryonic  disturbance. 

*'  Symons's  British  Rainfall,  1890,"  which  has  lately  been 
published,  contains,  we  need  scarcely  say,  an  enormous  mass  of 
information  as  to  the  distribution  of  rain  over  the  British  Isles 
during  the  year  to  which  the  volume  relates.  Mr.  Symons 
points  out  that  the  only  important  alteration  in  this  issue  is  that 
due  to  the  completion  of  the  decade  1880-89,  which  has  en- 
abled him  to  use  the  average  for  that  period  as  a  basis  of  com- 
parison. He  also  calls  attention  to  an  article  on  the  evaporation 
from  soil,  and  to  the  details  given  as  to  the  great  rain  of  July  17. 

The  operatives*  lecture  delivered  at  the  Cardiff  meeting  of 
the  British  Association  by  Prof.  Silvanns  P.  Thompson  has  been 
published  by  Messrs.  E.  and  F.  N.   Spon.      The  subject  is 

Electricity  in  Mining.'* 


«( 


''  The  Hand-book  of  Jamaica  for  1891-92  '*  has  just  been 
issued.  This  is  the  eleventh  year  of  publication.  Mr.  S.  P. 
Musson  and  Mr.  T.  Laurence  Roxburgh  have  done  their  best  to 
present  the  fullest  and  latest  information  obtainable  ;  and  every* 
one  who  has  occasion  to  consult  the  book  will  appreciate  the 
care  and  thoroughness  with  which  their  task  has  been  fulfilled. 

A  NEW  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  of  the  "  Alkali  Makers' 
Pocket-book,"  by  Prof.  Dr.  Lunge  and  Dr.  Hurter,  will  be 
issued  in  a  few  days  in  Messrs.  Whittaker's  Specialists*  Series. 
As  the  size  of  the  page  has  been  somewhat  increased,  the 
designation  "Hand-book**  has  been  substituted  for  "  Pocket- 
book."  The  same  publishers  are  about  to  issue  "A  Practical 
Hand*book  on  the  Telephone,"  dealing  specially  with  telephonic 
exchanges,  by  Mr.  Joseph  Poole. 

Messrs.  Raithby,  Lawrence,  and  Co.  have  issued  a 
second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  of  "Simple  Recipes  for 
Sick-room  Cookery,**  by  Mrs.  Buck.  The  writer  produces  an 
excellent  impression  at  once  by  the  sensible  tone  of  the  preface, 
in  which  she  gives  some  general  counsels  as  to  the  proper  way 
of  dealing  with  the  food  of  the  sick. 

The  new  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  contains,  besides  extracts  of  proceedings,  a  number 
of  interesting  papers.  Mr.  W.  Warren  writes  on  Persian 
cyclamen ;  the  Rev.  W.  Wilks  on  hardy  cyclamen ;  Dr. 
M.  T.  Masters,  F.R.S.,  on  germination  of  cyclamen.  Snow- 
drops form  the  subject  of  papers  by  Mr.  J.  Allen,  Mr. 
D.  Melville,  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Burbidge.  There  are  also 
papers  on  the  cultivation  of  hardy  bulbs  and  plants,  by 
Herr  Max  Leichtlin  ;  Lachenalias,  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Moore  ;  Cape 
bulbs,  by  Mr.  J.  0*Brien  ;  and  hybrid  Rhododendrons,  by  Prof. 
Henslow. 

The  volume  containing  the  Proceedings  and  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Canada  for  1890  includes  papers  on  the 
American  bison,  by  Charles  Mair ;  the  Vinland  of  the  North- 
men, by  Sir  Daniel  Wilson  ;  unit  measure  of  time,  by  Sandford 
Fleming  ;  a  peculiar  form  of  metallic  iron  found  in  Huronian 
quartzite  on  the  north  shore  of  St  Joseph  Island,  Lake  Huron, 


478 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


Ontario,  by  G.  C.  HofFmann ;  san-spots  obserTed  at  McGill 
Observatory,  by  C.  H.  McLeod ;  a  test  of  Ewing  and  Mac- 
Gr^or's  method  of  measuring  the  electric  resistance  of  electro- 
lytes, by  J.  G.  McGregor  ;  the  later  physi(^raphical  geology  of 
the  Rocky  Mountain  r^on  in  Canada,  by  G.  M.  Dawson; 
fossil  plants  from  the  Similkameen  Valley  and  other  places  in 
the  soathem  interior  of  British  Columbia,  by  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson. 

Messrs.  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.  will  issue  the  fol- 
lowing books  during  the  autumn  season: — "The  Colours  of 
Animals,"  by  Prof.  Beddard,  with  coloured  and  other  plates 
and  woodcuts  ;  "  Text-book  of  Embryology  ;  Man  and  Mam- 
mals," by  Dr.  Oscar  Hertwig,  Professor  of  Comparative 
Anatomy  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  translated  and  edited 
from  the  third  German  edition  (with  the  assistance  of  the 
author)  by  Dr.  E.  L.  Mark,  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  Har- 
vard University,  with  389  illustrations  and  2  coloured 
plates  ;  "Text-book  of  Embryology  :  Invertebrates,"  by  Drs. 
Korschelt  and  Heider,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  translated 
and  edited  by  Dr.  E.  L.  Mark,  with  several  hundred  illustra- 
tions ;  "  Text-book  of  Animal  Palaeontology,"  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Roberts,  designed  as  a  supplement  to  Claus  and  Sedgwick's 
"Text  book  of  Zoology,"  illustrated;  "  Text-book  of  Geology," 
adapted  from  the  work  of  Dr.  Emanuel  Kayser,  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Marburg,  by  Philip  Lake,  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege,  Cambridge,  with  illustrations;  "Text-book  of  Zoology," 
by  Dr.  C.  Claus,  of  the  University  of  Vienna,  and  Adam  Sedg- 
wick, F.R.S.,  Vol.  II.  "Mollusca  to  Man,"  third  edition; 
"The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Disease  in  England  and 
Wales,"  by  Alfred  Haviland,  M.D.,  with  several  coloured 
maps;  "Introductory  Science  Text-books  "—-Additions :  In- 
troductions to  the  study  of  "  Physiography,"  by  H.  M.  Hutchin- 
son ;  "Zoology,"  by  B.  Lindsay;  "Amphioxus,"  by  Dr.  B. 
Hatschek,  of  the  University  of  Vienna,  and  James  Tuckey ; 
"Geology,"  by  Dr.  Edward  Aveling ;  "Physiological  Psycho- 
1<^/'  by  1^>^-  Th.  Ziehen,  of  the  University  of  Jena,  adapted  by 
Dr.  Otto  Beyer,  with  21  figures.  "  Young  Collector  Series"— 
Additions :  "  The  Telescope,"  by  J.  W.  Williams ;  "  BritUh 
Birds,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Macpherson  ;  "  Flowering  Plants," 
by  James  Britten  ;  "Grasses,"  by  W.  Hutchmson  ;  "Fishes," 
by  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Macpherson ;  "  Mammalia,"  by  the  Rev. 
H.  C.  Macpherson. 

An  instrument  for  optical  comparison  of  transparent  liquids, 
named  a  liquoscope^  has  been  recently  devised  by  M.  Sonden,  of 
Stockholm.  Two  hollow  prisms  holding  the  liquids  are  sepa- 
rated by  a  partition  at  right  angles  to  the  refracting  angle. 
The  whole  is  placed  in  a  vessel  filled  with  glycerine,  and  which 
allows  of  vision  in  a  horizontal  direction  through  plane  glass 
plates.  The  deflection  of  the  light  rays  through  the  prisms  is 
thus  compensated.  So  long  as  the  two  liquids  have  the  same 
optical  action,  one  sees  a  distant  mark  (say  a  black  paper  strip 
on  a  window)  as  a  straight  connected  line ;  but  its  halves  are 
relatively  displaced  if  the  liquids  have  different  refractive  power. 
The  amount  of  displacement  gives  a  measure  of  the  difference, 
the  positive  or  negative  nature  of  which  also  appears  from  the 
direction  of  displacement.  The  author  recommends  his  appa- 
ratus for  chemical  purposes,  especially  comparison  and  testing  of 
fats  and  oils,  analysis  of  glycerine,  &c.,  and  detection  of  mar- 
garine in  butter,  margarine  greatly  lowering  the  index  of 
refraction. 

Herr  Hufner  has  lately  pointed  out  some  of  the  biological 
beariogj  of  the  fact  (observed  in  experiment  along  with  Herr 
Albrecht)  that  long  light-waves  are  much  more  strongly  absorbed 
by  water  than  short  ones.  If  the  lo^er  marine  animals  had, 
like  man,  the  liveliest  light  psrception  with  yell>w  rays,  and  a 
certain  intensity  of  light  were  necessary  to  them,  they  must  live 
at  a  less  depth  than  if  their  visual  organs  were  most  strongly 

NO.    1 1  42,  VOL.  44] 


a6fected  by  short- waved  rays.  Thus,  cg.^  if  they  needed  as 
much  yellow  light  as  that  of  the  fall  mo3n,  they  could  not  live 
deeper  than  177  metres  (say,  593  feet).  Yet  they  «re  foonda^ 
all  depths  where  food,  oxygen,  and  a  suitable  temperature  exist. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  existence  of  plants  having  dilocophyll 
depends  on  light,  and  we  might  expsct  that  the  dbtrilmtioa  of 
non-parasitic  plants  would  be  very  limited ;  which  U  the  case, 
no  plant-oiganisms  bein^  found  under  200  fathomi.  Greeo 
plants  assimilate  best  in  yellow  light ;  and  supposing  plants  to 
assimilate  in  moonlight  they  would  find  their  limit  at  the  ab  we 
depth  (177  metres).  But  while  yellow  is  here  weakened  to 
0x1000016  of  its  brightness,  indigo  blue  has  still  0*007829  of  its 
original  strength,  and  the  assimilation  with  blue  rays  will  be 
660  times  as  strong  as  with  yellow.  Different  colonied  marine 
plants  react  differently  according  to  the  colour  of  light,  and 
they  have  accordingly  different  distribution  in  depth. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Pinche  Monkeys  {Midas  cedipus  S  9) 
from  Granada,  presented  by  Mr.  A.  Aitken ;  a  Fallow  Deer 
{Dama  tndgaris  6 ),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Johnston ;  a 
Persian  Gazelle  {Gasella  subgutturosa  9  )  from  Persia,  presented 
by  Baron  Ferdinand  de  Rothschild  ;  a  Comnran  Cormount 
(Phalacrocorax  car6o),  British,  two  Yellow-browed  Bnntingji 
{Emberifta  chrysophrys),  two  Red-backed  Buntings  {EmBerua 
nUila),  a Buntii^  (Emberiza  ciaides),  two  Japanese  Green- 
finches {Fringilla  kamaroAidi,  var.)  from  Japan,  purchased; 
a  Yellow -footed  Rock  Kangaroo  {Petrogale  xanthopus  9  ),  bora 
in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Linear  Arrangement  op  Stars. — Although  the 
arrangement  of  stars  in  curves  has  often  been  noted  and  studied, 
little  attention  has  been  paid  to  what  is  apparently  a  more 
striking  and  prevalent  feature,  viz.  straight  lines  and  parallel 
arrangement  of  pairs,  lines,  and  bands  of  stars,  and  of  irresolv- 
able wisps.  Our  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  sidereal 
universe  is  therefore  extended  in  the  required  direction  by  some 
results  obtained  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Backhouse  from  observations 
which  he  has  mule  during  the  last  nine  years  in  Sunder- 
land.  The  area  of  the  sky  selected  for  scrutiny  is  that  poitkn 
of  the  Milky  Way  included  between  15,  13,  8  Monoceroti^ 
a  Orionis,  C  Tauri,  and  5,  m>  (  Geminorum  ;  and  the  configura- 
tions in  this  portion  have  been  examined  chiefly  with  a  binocular 
field-glass  of  2*05  inches  aperture.  The  observations  have  been 
divided  into  sections,  referring  respectively  to  lines  and  parallel 
arrangements  of  stars,  to  those  in  clusters,  to  nebulous  wisps,  to 
nebulae,  and  to  miscellaneous  lines.  In  these  are  given  the 
detailed  structure  in  different  parts  of  the  area  showing  varices 
systems  of  parallel  lines  and  wisps,  together  with  their  position- 
angles  referred  to  that  portion  ot  Gould's  galactic  eouator  which 
runs  through  the  middle  of  the  area  in  question.  The  parallel 
arrangement  of  the  stars,  and  an  arrangement  in  straight  lines, 
is  strikingly  obvious  from  the  maps  which  illustrate  the  tabulated 
results  of  the  observations.  Besides  the  maps,  sixteen  figures 
have  been  drawn  to  show  the  various  angles  of  position  ^  the 
lines  and  streams  with  reference  to  the  central  line  or  axis  of  the 
Milky  Way.  From  these  figures  it  is  apparent  that  the  angles 
of  position  are  grouped  more  numerously  in  certain  directioos 
than  in  others,  the  principal  directions  being  nearly  paralld  to 
the  galactic  equator.  Also,  there  is  a  great  deficiency  of  position- 
angles  at  right  angles  to  this  equator.  A  wonderful  case  of 
radiation  of  stars  and  wisps  in  a  fan-shaped  group  has  bees 
found,  68  Orionis  being  approximately  the  centre.  One  con- 
clusion derived  from  the  investigation  is,  that  the  stars  and  wisps 
in  parallel  lines  are  probably  in  the  same  region  of  space  ;  and 
therefore  that  the  majority  of  the  stars  in  extensive  tracts  of  the 
area  examined  are  really  near  one  another. 

Wolf's  Periodic  Comet. — Thb  object  can  now  be  fiiiriy 
seen  by  means  of  a  small  telescope.  It  wUl  pass  throngfa  the 
Hyades  about  September  25,  and  be  3°  south  of  Aldebaran  on 
October  2.     The  following  ephemeris,  from  one  given  by  Hen' 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


479 


Tbiaen  in  Astronomische  Nachrichten,  No.  3054,  shows  that 
the  comet  crosses  the  equator  near  the  end  of  October  : — 

Epkemtrisfor  Berlin  Midnight, 


I89X. 

Right  Ascension, 
h.    m.     s. 

Declination. 

0       /         u 

Brightness. 

Sept.  19 

•  •  • 

4    9  50*40 

19    5  590 

9*1 

n       21 

•  •  • 

13    7*99 

18  17  29*3 

»      23 

•  •  • 

16  i6'09 

17  27    4*4 

.,       25 

■  •  • 

19  14-09 

16  34  487 

M         27 

•  «  • 

22      I  '58 

15  40  443 

>.         29 

•  «  • 

24  38*50 

14  44  57*2 

Oct.     I 

•  •  • 

27      425 

13  47  32*4 

...      11*2 

1*      3 

•  •  • 

29   19*10 

12  48  36*5 

»      5 

•  •  • 

31   22-56 

II  48  i6'6 

,,       7 

«  •• 

33  14*86 

10  46  39*8 

u      9 

•  •  • 

34  55*42 

9  43  57*5 

»     II 

•  •• 

36  2469 

8  40  16 '9 

».     13 

•  •  • 

37  42-51 

7  35  490 

...      I2*0 

»     15 

•  •• 

38  49*17 

6  30  45*1 
5  25  18*0 

n       17 

•  «  • 

39  44*06 

.,       19 

•  •  • 

40  27*92 

4  19  38*1 

...      12*1 

M       21 

•  •  • 

41    0-53 

3  13  587 

M       23 

•  ■  • 

41  22*25 

2    8  33*2 

»       25 

■  •  « 

41  33*30 

+  I    3  35*1 

...      I2'0 

M       27 

•  •  • 

41  33*97 

-  0    0  47*0 

If       29 

«  a  • 

41  24*46 

1  3  57*7 

2  6    8'o 

.r"        31 

•  •  • 

41     5*38 

Nov.    2 

•  •  • 

40  37*33 

3    6  51*3 

n          4 

•  •  • 

40    0*67 

4    5  54*6 

„       6 

•  •  • 

39  16*50 

5    3    7'o 
5  58  14*5 

...      11*2 

n          8 

•  •  • 

38  25*07 

„       10 

•  •  • 

37  27*44 

6  51    6*6 

1,       12 

•  •  ■ 

36  2407 

7  41  33*4 

...     io*4 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  comet  is  now  nine  times  brighter  than 
at  the  date  of  discovery  (May  4) .  The  maximum  brightness  will 
be  reached  about  October  19. 


GEOLOGY  AT  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

'THE  Address  of  the  President  of  the  Geological  Section 
having  been  devoted  to  the  general  questions  involved  in 
the  origin,  association,  and  working  of  coal,  it  was  natural  that 
other  papers  on  the  economic  side  of  the  science  should  claim 
considerable  interest.  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  stated  that  the 
Channel  Tunnel  boring  had  been  carried  to  a  depth  of  1500  feet, 
with  the  result  of  penetrating  coal-measures  dipping  gently  to 
the  south  at  1113  feet.  Six  seams,  containing  10  feet  of  work- 
able coal,  had  been  pierced  between  that  depth  and  the  present 
ix>ttom  of  the  boring.  The  author  endeavoured  to  show  the 
probability  that  a  thick  series  of  coal-measures,  with  workable 
coals  like  those  of  Liege  on  one  side  and  Somerset  on  the  other, 
would  be  met  with  if  the  boring  were  continued,  and  pointed 
out  the  advantage  possessed  by  the  south-eastern  coal-field  in  its 
moderate  depth  and  the  comparatively  uncrushed  character  of 
the  coal. 

In  an  exhaustive  paper  Mr.  Topley  summarized  the  chief 
facts  bearing  on  the  origin  of  petroleum.  He  pointed  out  that, 
while  the  American  oil  was  mainly  derived  from  Palaeozoic 
rocks,  that  in  Europe  and  Asia  came  largely  from  Secondary 
beds,  and  the  lai^e  Caucasian  supply  was  drawn  from  rocks 
of  Miocene  age.  The  essential  conditions  for  the  supply  of  oil 
appeared  to  be,  a  porous  rock,  generally  of  sandstone  or  lime- 
stone, which  served  as  a  reservoir  and  was  underlain  by  or 
contained  beds  laigely  consisting  of  organic  remains,  with  an 
impervious  cover  of  shale.  In  many  cases  the  limestone  had 
been  dolomitized  and  transformed  into  a  cavernous  rock  which 
was  capable  of  storing  the  gas  and  oil.  Such  rocks  can  contain 
from  one-eighth  to  one-tenth  of  their  bulk  of  oil.  The  oil  was 
driven  to  the  surface  by  artesian  pressure,  and  so  gas  was 
f^enerally  met  with  on  the  summits  of  anticlines  and  oil  on  their 
flanks.  ^  Where  the  rocks  were  very  highly  disturbed  oil  occurred, 
but  not  in  very  great  abundance,  while  gas  was  rarely  found. 

Mr.  Ross,  in  a  paper  on  the  same  subject,  endeavoured 
to  prove  that  the  oil  was  mainly  generated  by  the  action  of 
solfataric  volcanic  energy  upon  beds  of  limestone,  basing  his  con- 
clusion on  the  occurrence  of  hydrocarbon  and  sulphurous  vapours 
in  solfataras,  and  the  constant  association  of  rock  salt,  dolomite, 

NO.   114  2,  VOL.  44] 


and  gypsum  with  the  rocks  yielding  petroleum.  He  exhibited 
equations  to  show  that  the  action  of  sulphur  dioxide  and  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen  on  carbonate  of  lime,  with  or  without  water 
and  peroxide  of  hydrogen,  was  capable  of  producing  the  ethylene 
and  marsh  gas  derivatives,  and  he  quoted  experiments  of  Bischof 
to  show  that  sulphur  was  formed  by  similar  reactions,  arguing 
that  the  hydrocarbons  must  be  necessary  by-products. 

Sir  Archibald  Geikie  communicated  two  most  important 
papers  on  the  results  of  Geological  Survey  work  in  the  North- 
western Higlands.  One  of  these  papers,  relating  to  the  discovery 
of  the  Olenellus  zone  in  the  North-west  Highlands,  was  as  fol- 
lows : — "  Ever  since  the  Geological  Survey  began  the  detailed 
investigation  of  the  structure  of  the  North-west  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  the  attention  of  its  officers  has  been  continuously 
given  to  the  detection  of  any  fossil  evidence  that  would  more 
clearly  fix  the  geological  horizons  of  the  various  sedimentary 
formations  which  overlie  the  Lewisian  gneiss.  A  large  collec- 
tion of  organic  remains  has  been  made  from  the  Durness  lime- 
stone, but  it  has  not  yet  yielded  materials  for  a  satisfactory 
stratigraphical  correlation.  The  study  of  this  collection,  how- 
ever, has  confirmed  and  extended  Salter's  original  sagacious 
inference  that  the  fauna  of  the  Durness  limestone  shows  a 
marked  North  American  facies,  though,  according  to  our  present 
terminology,  we  place  this  fauna  in  the  Cambrian  rather  than  in 
the  Silurian  system.  Below  the  Durness  limestone  lies  the 
dolomitic  and  calcareous  shaly  group  known  as  the  'Fucoid 
beds,'  which,  though  crowded  with  worm-castings,  has  hitherto 
proved  singularly  devoid  of  other  recognizable  organic  remains. 
In  following  this  group  southwards  through  the  Dundonnell 
Forest,  in  the  west  of  Rosshire,  my  colleague,  Mr.  John  Home, 
found  that,  a  few  feet  below  where  its  upper  limit  is  marked  by 
the  persistent  band  of  '  Serpulite  grit,  it  includes  a  zone  of 
blue  or  almost  black  shales.  During  a  recent  visit  to  him  on 
his  ground,  when  he  pointed  out  to  me  this  remarkable  zone, 
I  was  struck  with  the  singularly  unaltered  character  of  these 
shales,  and  agreed  with  him  that  if  fossils  were  to  be  looked  for 
anywhere  among  these  ancient  rocks,  they  should  be  found 
here,  and  that  the  fossil- collector,  Mr.  Arthur  Macconochie, 
should  be  directed  to  search  the  locality  with  great  care.  The 
following  week  this  exhaustive  search  was  undertaken,  and  Mr. 
Macconochie  was  soon  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  a  number 
of  fragmentary  fossils,  among  which  Mr.  B.  N.  Peach,  who  was 
also  stationed  in  the  district,  recognized  what  appeared  to  him 
to  be  undoubtedly  portions  of  Olenellus,  The  importance 
of  this  discovery  being  obvious,  the  search  was  prosecuted 
vigorously,  until  the  fossiliferous  band  could  not  be  followed 
further  without  quarrying  operations,  which  in  that  remote 
and  sparsely  inhabited  region  could  not  be  at  that  time 
undertaken.  The  specimens  were  at  once  forwarded  to  me, 
and  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Sharman  and 
Newton,  Palaeontologists  of  the  Geological  Survey,  who  con- 
firmed the  reference  to  Olenellus,  More  recently  Mr.  Peach 
and  Mr.  Home,  in  a  renewed  examination  of  the  ground, 
have  found,  in  another  thin  seam  of  black  shale  mterleaved  in 
the  '  Serpulite  grit,'  additional  pieces  of  Olenellus ^  including  a 
fine  head-shield  with  eyes  complete.  There  may  be  more  than  one 
species  of  this  trilobite  in  these  Rosshire  shales.  The  specific  de- 
terminations and  descriptions  will  shortly  be  given  by  Mr.  Peach. 
The  detection  of  Olenellus  among  the  rocks  of  the  North-west 
Highlands,  and  its  association  with  the  abundant  Salterella  of 
the  'Serpulite  grit,'  afford  valuable  materials  for  comparison 
with  the  oldest  Palaeozoic  rocks  of  other  regions,  particularly 
of  North  America.  The  '  Fucoid  beds '  and  '  Serpulite  grit,' 
which  intervene  between  the  quartzite  below  and  the  Dumess 
limestone  above,  are  now  demonstrated  to  belong  to  the  lowest 
part  of  the  Cambrian  system.  The  qaartzites  are  shown  to 
form  the  arenaceous  base  of  that  system,  while  the  Dumess 
limestones  may  be  Middle  or  Upper  Cambrian.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Torridon  sandstone,  which  Murchison  placed  in  the 
Cambrian  series,  can  now  be  proved  to  be  of  still  higher  anti- 
quity. The  marked  unconformability  which  intervenes  between 
it  and  the  overlying  quartzite  points  to  a  long  interval  having 
elapsed  between  the  deposition  of  the  two  discordant  formations. 
The  Torridon  sandstone  must  therefore  be  pre-Cambrian. 
Among  the  8000  or  10,000  feet  of  strata  in  this  group  of  sand- 
stones and  conglomerates,  there  occur,  especially  towards  the 
base  and  the  top,  bands  of  grey  and  dark  shales,  so  little  altered 
that  they  may  be  confidently  expected  somewhere  to  yield  re- 
cognizable fossils.  Already  my  colleagues  have  detected  traces 
of  annelids  and  some  more  obscure  remains  of  other  organisms 


48o 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


in  these  strata.  These,  the  oldest  relics  of  life  yet  known,  have 
excited  a  vivid  desire  in  the  Geological  Survey  to  discover 
farther  and  more  determinable  fossils  associated  with  them  in 
the  same  primxval  resting-place.  We  shall  spare  no  pains  to 
bring  to  light  all  that  can  be  recovered  in  the  North  west  High- 
lands of  a  pre-Cambrian  fauna." 

In  the  other  paper  the  Director- General  dealt  with  some 
recent  work  of  the  Geological  Survey  in  the  Archaean  gneiss 
of  the  North-west  Highlands.  "  For  some  years  past," 
he  remarked,  "the  officers  of  the  Geological  Survey  have 
spent  much  time  and  labour  upon  the  investigation  of  the 
old  or  fundamental  gneiss  of  the  North  west  Highlands. 
They  have  succeeded  in  showing  that  it  consists  mainly  of 
materials  which  were  originally  of  the  nature  of  eruptive 
igneous  rocks,  but  which  by  a  long  succession  of  processes 
have  acquired  the  complicated  structures  which  they  now 
present.  No  evidence  of  anything  but  such  eruptive  rocks  had 
been  met  with  until  the  mapping  was  carried  into  the  west  of 
Rosshire.  In  that  area  it  had  long  been  known  that  the  gneiss 
includes  some  mica-schists  and  limestones  which  were  generally 
believed  to  be  integral  parts  of  its  mass.  Wiih  the  accumulated 
experience  of  their  work  farther  north,  my  colleagues  were 
naturally  pre-disposed  to  accept  this  view,  and  to  look  on  even 
the  limestones  as  the  result  of  some  crushing  down  and  re- 
formation of  basic  igneous  rocks  containing  lime-silicates.  But 
as  they  proceeded  in  their  work  they  encountered  various  diffi- 
culties in  the  acceptation  of  such  a  theoretical  explanation.  In  par- 
ticular, they  found  that  with  the  mica-schist  were  assodated  quartz- 
schists  and  graphitic  schists,  and  that  ihe  limestone  occurred  in 
thick  and  persistent  bands  with  included  minerals  like  those  found  in 
the  Eastern  Highlands  in  districts  of  contact-metamorphism.  The 
microscopic  examination  of  some  of  these  rocks  showed  them 
to  present  close  affinities  to  certain  members  of  the  crystalline 
series  of  the  Eastern  and  Central  Highlands,  which  can  be 
recognized  as  consisting  mainly  of  altered  sedimentary  strata 
(Dalradian  series).  Yet  the  officers  of  the  Survey  could  not 
separate  these  doubtful  rocks  from  the  surrounding  gneiss.  The 
several  materials  seemed  to  pass  insensibly  into  each  other  in 
numerous  sections,  which  were  examined  with  great  care. 
Within  the  present  month,  however,  one  of  the  members  of  the 
staff,  Mr.  C.  T.  Clough,  who  has  been  specially  engaged  in  this 
investigation,^  has  obtained  what  may  prove  to  be  conclusive 
evidence  on  the  subject.  He  has  ascertained  that  the  main 
bands  of  graphitic  schist  occur  evenly  bedded  in  an  acid  mica- 
schist,  in  which,  also,  thin  graphitic  layers  are  distributed  at 
intervals  of  an  inch  or  less.  These  rocks  are  sharply  marked 
off  from  the  true  gneiss,  though,  where  they  actually  join,  they 
appear  to  be,  as  it  were,  crushed  along  a  line  of  intense  move- 
ment. Mr.  Clough  and  his  colleagues  are  at  present  disposed 
to  believe  that  these  schists  are  really  an  older  series  of  sedi- 
ments, into  which  the  original  igneous  rocks  now  forming  the 
gneiss  were  erupted.  If  they  succeed  in  demonstrating  the 
correctness  of  this  inference,  they  will  have  established  a  fact 
of  the  highest  interest  in  regard  to  the  geological  history  of  our 
oldest  rocks.  Already  they  have  shown  the  thick  masses  of 
Torridon  sandstone  to  be  an  accumulation  of  sedimentary 
materials  of  pre-Cambrian  age.  They  will  push  back  the  geo- 
logical record  to  a  still  more  remote  past,  if  they  can  establish 
the  existence  of  a  yet  more  ancient  group  of  sedimentary  strata 
among  which  layers  of  graphite  and  beds  of  limestone  remain 
to  suggest  the  former  existence  of  plant  and  animal  life." 

The  session  on  Monday  was  opened  by  Sir  K.  S.  Ball  with 
a  paper  on  the  cause  of  an  Ice  age.  This  communication 
stated  that  the  author  had  a  work  in  the  press  dealing  with  the 
question  of  glacial  climates.  He  had  revised  Herschel's  figures, 
on  which  Croll's  deductions  were  based,  and  discovered  an 
arithmetical  error  of  considerable  consequence.  If  63  repre- 
sents the  number  of  heat- units  received  by  any  hemisphere 
during  summer,  its  winter  receipt  will  be  represented  by  37. 
Consequently,  during  a  period  of  high  eccentricity  the  63  units 
of  heat  may  be  received  in  199  days  or  in  166  days,  according 
to  the  position  of  the  equinoxes,  producing  either  a  long  and 
cool  summer  or  a  short  and  intensely  hot  one.  The  paper  did 
not  deal  with  geographical  considerations,  and  advocated  the 
occurrence  of  clusters  of  alternate  glacial  and  interglacial  periods 
at  each  phase  of  high  eccentricity  in  the  earth's  orbit.  This 
paper  excited  considerable  discussion,  in  which  Prof.  Sollais, 
Prof.  Wright  (of  Oberlin.  Ohio),  Mr.  Hall,  Dr.  Crosskey,  Dr. 
Hicks,  and  many  other  glacialists  took  part. 

NO.    1 142,  VOL.  44] 


Dr.  Crosskey  followed  with  his  Ref>ort  on  the  Distribution  of 
Erratics  in  England  and  Wales,  in  which  he  referred  to  the  useful 
work  done  by  the  North  of  England  Boulder  Committee,  in 
systematically  surveying  the  north  in  search  of  boulders  and 
groups  of  boulders.  Details  were  given  of  boulders  from  Lan- 
cashire, Cheshire,  Derbyshire,  Staffordshire,  and  Yorkshire,  and 
it  was  remarked  that  boulders  were  being  destroyed  so  rapidly 
that  many  described  in  former  reports  had  totally  disappeared. 
In  another  paper  the  same  author  controverted  a  statement  of 
Forbes  with  regard  to  the  glaciation  of  the  Dovrefjeld.  Wherever 
the  basement  rock  is  to  be  seen,  it  is  glaciated,  although  moiFalnic 
deposits  were  swept  away  and  redistributed  by  torrential  action 
at  the  close  of  the  Glacial  period. 

Prof.  Wright  read  a  most  interesting  paper  on  the  Ice  age 
of  North  America  and  its  connection  with  the  appearance  of 
man  in  that  continent.  The  glacial  deposits,  transported  from 
several  centres  mostly  outside  the  Arctic  circle,  and  the  absence 
of  a  Polar  ice- cap,  militated  against  an  astronomical,  and  for  a 
geographical,  cause  of  the  great  cold,  particularly  as  an  uplift 
of  the  glaciated  area  was  coincident  with  an  important  suhsid- 
ence  in  Central  America.  The  author  regarded  the  so-called 
*'  terminal  moraine  of  the  second  period  "  as  a  moraine  of  retreat 
due  to  the  first  glaciation,  and  thought  the  evidence  of  fores: 
beds,  mainly  to  the  south  of  the  area,  indicated  local  recessions 
of  ice,  and  not  a  single  great  interglacial  ep>ch.  Palaeolithic 
remains  similar  to  those  of  the  Spmme  and  Thames  have  been 
found  in  several  gravel  terraces  flanking  streams  which  drain 
from  the  glaciated  region,  and  made  up  of  glacier-bome  detritus ; 
they  are  regarded  by  the  author  as  deposits  of  the  floods 
which  characterized  the  closing  portions  of  the  Glacial  period. 
The  recession  of  the  falls  of  Niagara  and  St.  Anthony  gives  an 
antiquity  of  not  more  than  10,000  years  to  the  end  of  the  Glacial 
epoch — a  conclusion  supported  by  the  enlaigement  of  post- 
Glacial  valleys  and  the  silting  up  of  small  post-Glacial  lakes. 

Othtr  papers  read  on  this  day  were :  one  by  Dr.  Hicks,  who 
produced  specimens  of  boulders  from  Pembrokeshire,  which 
seemed  to  him  like  North  Welsh  or  Irish  rocks — ^his  picrite 
was,  however,  recognized  as  an  Irish  rock  by  geologists  in  ihe 
room,  and  in  any  case  a  flow  of  ice  down  the  Irish  Sea  and  over 
Pembrokeshire  seemed  to  be  clearly  proved ;  one  by  Mr.  Ken- 
dall, on  a  glacial  section  at  Levenshulme,  Manchester,  in  wrhicb 
he  gave  evidence  from  the  striation  of  the  subjacent  rock,  and 
the  intrusion  of  tongues  of  boulder-clay  into  it,  the  transport  of 
fragments,  the  orientation  of  large  boulders,  and  the  direction 
of  strise,  together  with  a  consideration  of  the  levels  of  the  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  rock  beneath,  that  the  district  had  been 
traversed  by  land  ice  coming  from  a  direction  a  few  degrees 
north  of  west ;  and  one  by  Mr.  Bolton  on  a  group  of  boaldcis 
from  Darley  Dale,  near  Matlock,  which  he  regarded  as  having 
been  washed  out  of  rocks  skirting  the  valley.  In  connection  with 
these  papers  may  be  mentioned  a  report  by  Mr.  Harrison,  who 
has  excavated  in  the  talus  under  some  rock-shelters  at  Oldbury 
Hill,  near  Ightham,  from  which  he  obtained  forty-nine  well- 
finished  Palxolithic  implements  and  over  600  waste  flakes,  which 
were  described  in  a  separate  paper  by  Prof.  Prestwich.  Prof. 
Wright  gave  also  a  brief  account  of  the  basaltic  lava  beds  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  which  are  of  post-Tertiary  age.  New  evidence  in 
favour  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Calaveras  skull  and  other 
human  remains  found  under  the  lava  beds  was  given  ;  and  the 
discovery  of  a  small  clay  image  in  a  similar  position  under  the 
western  edge  of  the  lava  plains  of  Idaho  at  Nampa  was  re- 
corded ;  the  lava  beds  are  correlated  with  the  glacial  deposits  of 
the  East. 

Mr.  Jones's  report  on  the  Elbolton  cave,  near  Skipton,  was  of 
unusual  interest.  Long-headed  human  skulls  were  found  with 
burnt  bones  and  charcoal  in  the  upper  stratum,  associated  with 
domestic  animals  and  pottery  ornamented  with  diamond  and 
herring-bone  patterns ;  while  at  a  much  lower  level — 13-15  feet 
below  the  floor — there  were  round  skulls,  much  more  decayed, 
in  connection  with  ruder  and  thicker  pottery  than  has  been 
found  in  any  other  part  of  the  cave.  No  flints  or  metal  of  any 
kind  have  been  found,  and  bone  pins  and  other  worked  bones 
are  the  only  human  implements  hitherto  discovered.  The 
remains  of  bear  and  hare  have  been  found  in  cave  earth  below 
this  level,  and  the  investigation  is  to  be  continued  in  the  hope 
that  remains  similar  to  those  of  the  Ray  Gill  fissure  may  yet  t>e 
met  with. 

An  interesting  discussion  was  raised  on  the  paper  by    Dr. 
Hicks  on  the  Silurian  and  Devonian  rocks  of  Pembrokeshire 


September  17,  1891 J 


NA  TURE 


481 


and  Devon.  The  Silurian  rests  transgress! vely  on  Ordovician 
and  pre-Cambrian  rocks  in  Pembrokeshire,  but  is  covered  by 
a  continuous  series  up  into  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  and  Car- 
boniferous ;  similarly  the  Morte  Slates,  which  the  author  re- 
gards as  the  oldest  rocks  of  North  Devon,  and  in  which  he 
has  recently  found  Lingulelia  Davisii,  are  covered  by  the 
Devonian  and  Culm  series  of  rocks.  Mr.  Ussher  described  the 
occurrence  of  a  volcanic  series  in  the  Lower  Devonian  rocks  of 
Tor  Cross,  and  traced  similar  diabasic  rocks  amongst  the 
chloritic  series  of  Prawle  Point,  the  excessive  alteration  of  these 
rocks  being  due  to  the  greater  nearness  to  the  old  resisting 
rocks  of  the  Channel.  In  this  conclusion  he  was  supported  by 
Mr.  Hunt,  who  described  the  occurrence  of  detrital  tourmaline 
in  the  Devonian  cliffs  at  the  north-east  end  of  Straiton  Sands, 
and  compared  it  with  the  occurrence  of  similar  material  in  a 
quartz-schist  west  of  the  Start  Lighthouse.  Both  schists  and 
sandstone  contain  detrital  tourmaline,  mica,  fine-grained  quartz, 
and  iron. 

Several  palseontological  papers  were  contributed.  Mr. 
Montagu  Browne  exhibited  teeth,  scales,  and  bones  of  Colo- 
bodus  from  Aust,  Watchet,  and  Leicestershire,  which  seemed 
to  indicate  the  identity  of  Colobodus  with  Lepidotus,  and 
possibly  of  Heterolepidotus  with  Eugnathus,  and  to  give  Colo- 
bodus an  extended  upward  range.  Mr.  Buckman  gave  an 
account  of  the  Ammonite  zones  in  the  Inferior  Oolite.  There  is 
a  marked  break  on  the  Continent  between  the  MurchisomB  and 
the  Smverbyi  zones,  which  appears  to  be  filled  up  by  the  zone  of 
Lioceras  concavum  in  England.  The  Sowerbyi  zone,  however, 
is  absent  in  England  from  all  localities  except  Dundry,  and 
Coombe  near  Sherborne  ;  and  the  author  therefore  sought  and 
obtained  a  grant  to  open  an  old  quarry  at  the  latter  locality,  in 
order  to  fully  investigate  the  fauna  of  the  Sowerbyi  zone,  and  its 
relationship  to  the  concavum  and  Sauza  zones.  Mr.  Storrie, 
of  the  Cardiff  Museum,  exhibited  a  fine  series  of  slides  and 
drawings  of  Pachytheca  and  Nemaiophycus^  and  gave  a  minute 
description  of  them  ;  this  elicited  some  discussion,  in  the  course 
of  which  Mr.  Murray  suggested  that  the  former  might  possibly 
be  the  egg  of  a  Crustacean  or  some  other  small  organic  body 
completely  incrusted  by  a  Nullipore.  Mr.  Smith  Woodward 
exhibited  Pterodactyl  and  Plesiosaur  bones  from  Brazil,  and 
gave  an  account  of  a  series  of  Miocene  fish-remains  from  Sar- 
dinia. Other  palseontological  papers  were  one  containing  a 
record  of  the  occurrence  of  a  variety  of  Estheria  minuta  in  the 
Lower  Keuper  building-stone  of  Chester,  by  Mr.  De  Ranee, 
and  one  by  Mr.  Vine  on  the  Bryozoa  of  the  Upper  Chalk.  Mr. 
B.  Thompson  gave  an  exhaustive  report  of  the  transition  bed 
between  the  Middle  and  Upper  Lias  in  Northamptonshire,  from 
which  he  had  obtained  a  large  and  valuable  series  of  fossils.  Mr. 
Newton  described  the  occurrence  of  Ammonites  jurensis  in  the 
Northampton  sands,  near  Northampton ;  and  Prof.  Hoyes 
Panton  gave  an  account  of  a  mastodon  of  very  large  size  at 
Highgate,  Ontario,  and  a  mammoth  from  Shelburne,  in  the 
same  province. 

The  occurrence  of  a  strip  of  Lower  Greensand  four  to  five 
miles  long  between  Shaftesbury  and  Child  Okeford,  and  running 
parallel  to  the  valley  of  the  Stour,  was  described  by  Mr.  Jukes 
Browne.  The  same  author  attempted  to  explain  monoclinal 
flexure  by  the  recurrence  of  movement  in  rocks  already  faulted, 
bat  covered  subsequently  by  unconformable  strata ;  movement 
along  the  faults  of  the  older  series,  under  the  influence  of  new 
pressure,  would  throw  the  overlying  series  into  monoclinal  folds 
or  faults.  The  existence  of  a  large  area  of  Kellaways  rock, 
near  Bedford,  and  the  extension  of  Fuller's-earth  works  at 
Woburn  were  commented  on  by  Mr.  Cameron. 

Several  of  the  Committees  appointed  last  year  had  done  good 
work.  The  Photograph  Committee  had  obtained  over  250  new 
photographs  of  geological  interest,  many  of  which  were  exhibited 
in  ihe  Section-room  or  at  one  of  the  soiries^  where  also  Prof. 
Wright  displayed  a  fine  series  of  transparencies  illustrating  the 
lava  and  glacial  deposits  of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Stirrup 
a  set  of  slides  of  the  dolomite  district  of  Languedoc.  The 
Earth-Tremor  Committee  had  been  testing  a  number  of  record- 
ing-instruments ;  Mr.  Smith  Woodward  reported  (hat  the  lists 
of  type  specimens  were  progressing,  and  that  many  large 
Museums  were  publishing  their  own  lists  of  types  ;  Mr.  De 
Ranee  gave  an  account  of  a  number  of  wells  in  Yorkshire,  Lin- 
colnshire, Notts,  Cheshire,  Shropshire,  and  Glamorganshire ; 
and  Mr.  Johnston-Lavis  sent  a  description  of  the  Vesuvian 
eruption  of  1890-91,  the  chief  part  of  which  has  already 
appeared  in  the  columns  of  Naturf. 

NO.    II 42,  VOL.  44] 


BIOLOGY  AT  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION, 


T^HE  papers  read  at  this  Section  were  fully  as  interesting, 
^  though  not  quite  so  numerous,  as  usual.  A  good  deal  of 
time  on  one  day  was  occupied  by  a  discussion  upon  animals  and 
plants ;  but  as  several  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion 
did  not  wish  their  remarks  to  be  reported,  it  has  been  thought 
better  to  leave  out  this  part  of  the  proceedings  of  Sec- 
tion D.  Botanical  papers  preponderated  over  zoological, 
but  it  was  not  found  necessary  to  divide  the  Section  into  two 
sub- Sections. 

Mr.  Grenfell  read  a  paper  upon  the  structure  of  Diatoms, 
describing  pseudopodia  in  these  organisms.  The  pseudopodia 
are  quite  easy  to  see  in  such  a  form  as  Melosira  with  even  a 
comparatively  low  power.  They  arp^very  long  and  stiff, 
radiating  outwards  from  the  periphery,  and  are  apparently 
non-retractile  (they  were  watched  for  an  hour  without  any 
movements  being  observed) ;  the  pseudopodia  are  sometimes 
nine  times  the  length  of  the  diameter  of  the  Diatom,  and  are 
occasionally  branched  ;  adjacent  Diatoms  were  sometimes  seen 
to  be  connected  by  a  fusion  of  their  pseudopodia.  It  was 
suggested  that  the  use  of  the  pseudopodia  is  to  keep  the  plants 
floating,  and  to  act  as  a  protective  cheveux  de  frise  against  their 
enemies.  These  Diatoms  were  compared  to  Heliozoa,  with 
which  they  have  evidently  not  a  little  resemblance  in  the  form 
of  the  pseudopodia.  Incidentally  Mr.  Grenfell  stated  that  he 
had  found  a  coating  of  cellulose  upon  the  green  corpuscles  of 
Archerinay  which  were  regarded  by  Lankester  as  chlorophyll 
bodies,  and  not  as  symbiotic  algse. 

Mr.  Wager  described  the  presence  of  nuclei  in  Bacteria;  they 
were  met  with  in  a  species  of  Bacillus  found  in  water  containing 
decaying  Spirogyra, 

Dr.  Gilson  read  a  paper  upon  the  nephridia  of  the  leech, 
Nephelis,  ITie  ciliated  funnels  appear  to  lose  their  connection 
with  the  rest  of  the  nephridium,  and  to  perform  the  function  of 
organs  for  the  propulsion  of  the  blood  along  the  channels  in 
which  they  lie. 

The  Plymouth  Zoological  Station  sent  a  record  of  work  done 
during  the  last  year  by  the  Director  and  by  Mr.  Cunningham. 

Mr.  Calderwood  read  a  paper  upon  some  economical  investi- 
gations which  had  been  carried  out.  He  stated  that  three 
investigations  had  been  started  within  the  present  year,  which  it 
was  hoped  would  prove  of  great  value  to  the  fishing  population 
of  this  country.  One  was  an  attempt  to  produce  an  artificial 
bait  for  use  in  long  line  fishing.  This  investigation  was  being 
carried  on  by  a  competent  chemist,  and  a  considerable  advance 
had  already  been  made  towards  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this 
difficult  problem.  Inquiries  were  also  being  conducted  with 
regard  to  the  occurrence  of  anchovies  on  the  south-west  coast  of 
England,  and  Mr.  Cunningham,  the  Naturalist  of  the  Associa- 
tion, had  carried  out  some  inquiries  at  fishing  stations  on  the 
south  coast.  At  present  no  net  small  enough  in  the  mesh  to 
capture  anchovies  was  employed,  but  that  fish  appeared  so  often 
when  the  ordinary  pilchard  nets  became  entangled,  as  to  suggest 
that  they  might  be  present  in  considerable  quantities.  Anchovy 
nets  had,  therefore,  been  constructed,  and  would  be  used  during 
the  pilchard  season  this  autumn.  An  investigation  was  also 
being  carried  on  into  the  condition  of  the  North  Sea  fisheries, 
which  were  declared  to  be  rapidly  declining.  It  was  proposed 
to  draw  up  a  history  of  the  North  Sea  trawling  grounds,  com- 
paring their  present  condition  with  their  condition  some  twenty 
or  thirty  years  ago,  when  comparatively  few  boats  were  at 
work  ;  to  continue,  verify,  and  extend  observations  as  to  the 
average  sizes  at  which  prime  fish,  such  as  soles,  turbot,  and 
brill,  become  sexually  mature,  and  to  collect  statistics  as  to  the 
sizes  of  all  fish  captured  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Dogger  Bank  and 
the  region  lying  to  the  eastward,  so  that  the  number  of  imma- 
ture fish  annually  captured  may  be  estimated.  Also  to  make 
experiments  with  beam  trawl  nets  of  various  meshes  with  a  view 
to  determine  the  relation,  if  any,  between  the  size  of  mesh  and 
the  size  of  fish  taken.  Mr.  Calderwood  added  that  a  regular 
survey  of  the  English  Channel  had  been  commenced,  not  only  in 
the  deep  water,  but  in  various  estuaries.  A  meteorological 
station  of  the  second  order  had  been  recently  established,  where 
observations  at  9  a.m.  and  9  p.m.  would  be  taken  daily  by  wet 
and  dry  bulb  thermometers,  barometers,  rain-gauges,  and  sun- 
shine-recorders. 

Mr.  J.  T.  Cunningham  read  a  paper  upon  the  reproduction 
of  the  pilchard.  The  ovum  of  this  fish,  described  as  such  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Association  for  1889,  was  stated  by  Pouchet 


482 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


not  to  beloog  to  the  pilchard ;  Pouchet  believed  that  the 
pilchard's  ovum  is  not  pelagic  The  identification  of  the 
ovum  was  shown  to  be  correct  by  further  observations  carried 
out  in  the  Laboratory  with  the  ova  obtained  from  the  mature 
fish.  Similar  results  have  been  obtained  by  Marion,  of  Mar- 
seilles. 

Another  paper,  by  the  same,  dealt  with  the  growth  of  food- 
fishes,  and  their  distribution  at  different  ages. 

(i)  ReUe  of  Growth  and  Agt  of  Sexual  Maturity. — Numerous 
specimens  of  the  flounder  (iV.  fUsus)  were  reared  from  the  larval 
state  in  the  aquarium  of  the  Plymouth  Laboratory.  Measured 
in  April,  when  a  year  old,  they  varied  from  4  to  19  cm.  (about 
I  i  to  7^  inches).  Specimens  obtained  in  the  Catte water,  and 
known  to  be  not  less  than  a  year  old,  are  from  12  to  19  cm.  in 
length.  None  of  these  captive  flounders,  nor  any  taken  in  the 
Cattewater,  were  sexually  mature,  but,  accordii^  to  Dr.  Fulton, 
of  the  Scottish  Fishery  Board,  sexually  mature  flounders  have 
been  observed  which  were  only  7  inches  long.  It  was  con- 
cluded, therefore,  that  {a)  the  rate  of  growth  varies  greatly  for 
difiierent  individuals,  but  its  maximum  for  the  first  year  is  19  cm., 
or  7i  inches  ;  {b)  sexual  maturity  is  not  reached  till  the  end  of 
the  second  year,  although  the  minimum  size  of  sexually  mature 
individuals  may  be  slightly  exceeded  by  some  specimens  in  one 
year's  growth. 

Similar  results  were  obtained  for  the  plaice  {PL  plaiessa)  and 
the  dab  {PL  limanda), 

(2)  Distribution. — The  young  of  the  above-mentioned  species 
in  their  first  year,  and  of  certain  round  fish,  especially  Gadus 
Juscus  and  G.  minutus,  occur  in  shallow  water,  within  the  10- 
fathom  line.  But  there  has  hitherto  been  considerable  difficulty 
in  obtaining  young  specimens  of  other  more  valuable  species  in 
order  to  study  their  rate  of  growth.  These  species — namely,  the 
sole,  turbot,  brill,  lemon  sole,  megrim  {Arnoglossus  megastoma), 
do  not  pass  the  first  year  of  their  lives  in  shallow  water.  Young 
soles  in  the  larval  state  occur  in  tidal  pools  at  Mevagissey,  and 
young  turbot  and  brill  2  to  3  cm.  in  length  are  commonly  found 
from  June  to  August  in  Plymouth  Sound  and  Sutton  Pool, 
swimming  at  the  surface  m  a  semi- metamorphosed  stage. 
Soles  a  little  over  16  cm.  in  length  are  frequently  taken 
in  Plymouth  Sound  in  summer ;  these  are  just  over  one 
year  old,  and  are  not  sexually  mature.  Turbot  23  to  34  cm. 
long  may  be  taken  in  5  to  7  fathoms  ;  these  also  are  over 
one  year  old  and  not  sexually  mature.  But  the  young  stages 
between  3  months  and  12  months  old  have  not  been  taken  in 
shallow  water,  and  apparently  live  at  depths  greater  than  10 
fathoms.  It  seems  that  our  commoner  and  more  valuable  food- 
fishes  do  not  attain  to  sexual  maturity  till  the  end  of  their  second 
year,  that  their  size  at  this  age  is  subject  to  great  individual 
variation,  and  that  the  young  in  the  first  year  of  growth  have  a 
characteristic  distribution.  Investigation  of  the  deeper  water 
from  this  point  of  view  is  now  being  carried  on  at  Plymouth. 

The  distribution  of  Crystallogobius  Nilssoni  was  recorded  by 
the  same  author.  It  had  been  found  by  Collett  in  the 
Christiania  Fjord  and  in  other  parts  of  Norway  ;  also  at 
Bohuslan,  in  Sweden.  Mr.  Cunningham  dredged  100  speci- 
mens at  a  single  haul  close  to  the  Eddystone,  in  27  fathoms  of 
water.  Day  mentions  only  one  specimen  found  in  British 
waters — one  taken  by  Thomas  Edwards  in  a  rock  pool  at  Banfll 
Mr.  Holt  subsequently  dredged  a  number  in  30  fathoms  in 
Ballinskelligs  Bay.  The  species  is  probably  fairly  abundant 
between  20  and  30  fathoms  on  smooth  sandy  ground  all  along 
the  British  and  Irish  coasts. 

Mr.  Cunningham  also  read  a  paper  upon  the  larvse  of  the  sea 
crayfish  (Palinurus  vulgaris) j  describing  most  of  the  stages,  and 
particularly  remarking  upon  the  presence  of  the  first  maxilli- 
pede  in  the  newly  hatched  larva,  which  had  been  stated  by 
Richter  to  be  absent. 

Prof.  Herdman  and  Mr.  J.  A.  Clubb  communicated  a  paper 
upon  the  innervation  of  the  epipodial  processes  of  some  Nudi- 
branchiate  Mollusca.  The  cerata  of  the  Nudibranchs  were 
regarded  by  Prof.  Herdman  as  being  probably  epipodial  out- 
growths. 

The  question  has,  however,  been  raised  lately  by  Pelseneer 
and  others  as  to  whether  the  so  called  epipodia  of  Mollusca  are 
all  homologous  structures,  and  one  of  the  subjects  of  controversy 
now  is  the  origin  of  the  nerve  supply  in  various  forms,  it  being 
supposed  that  where  the  processes  are  innervated  from  the 
pleural  ganglia  they  are  pallial  in  their  nature,  and  where 
supplied  from  the  pedal  ganglia  they  are  to  be  regarded  as 
outgrowths  from  the  foot. 


NO.    I  142,  VOL.  44] 


Consequently  it  seemed  of  importance  to  determine  afiesh 
the  origin  of  the  nerves  supplying  the  cerata  in  several  diflferent 
types  of  Nudibranchiata,  especiiUly  as  the  results  of  former  in- 
vestigations, depending  entirely,  we  believe,  upon  minute  dis- 
section, are  puzzling,  and  to  some  extent  contradictory.  We 
have  traced  the  nerves  from  the  ganglia,  by  means  of  serial  sec- 
tions, in  representatives  of  the  genera  Polycera,  Ancuia^ 
Tritonia,  Dendronotus,  and  Eolisy  with  the  following  results  : — 

In  Polycera  quadrilineaia  the  cerebral  and  pleural  ganglia 
are  completely  fused  to  form  a  cerebro- pleural  mass.  The 
''  epipodial "  nerves  are  found  arising  from  the  ventral  and 
posterior  part  of  this  mass  {i.e.  distinctly  from  the  pleoral 
ganglia),  and  they  run  along  the  sides  of  the  back  to  supply  the 
cerata]  ridges. 

In  Ancula  cristata  the  pleural  ganglia  are  fairly  distinct  from 
the  cerebral.  In  a  specimen  cut  into  about  500  sections  we  find 
in  the  looth  section  or  so  from  the  anterior  end  six  distinct 
ganglia  (the  cerebral,  pleural,  and  pedal  pairs)  surrounding  the 
oesophagus.  A  few  sections  further  back,  the  cerebrals  disap- 
pear, and  then  the  epipodial  nerves  are  found  arising  from  the 
dorsal  edge  of  the  pleural  ganglia.  The  nerves  soon  turn 
posteriorly,  and  then  give  off  their  first  branches  dorsally. 
These  branches  enter  the  mesoderm  of  the  body  wall,  and  can 
then  be  traced  back  through  over  a  hundred  sections  to  the  first 
pair  of  cerata,  which  they  enter.  The  main  nerve  passes  back 
to  the  remaining  cerata. 

In  Tritonia  and  Dendronotus  also  the  epipodial  nerves  arise 
from  the  pleural  ganglia  ;  but  in  Eolis  (or  Facelina)  coronata  we 
find  that  the  main  nerves  to  the  cerata  arise  distinctly  from  the 
pedal  ganglia.  We  have  also  traced  in  the  same  series  of  sec- 
tions the  ordinary  pedal  nerves  to  the  foot  proper  ;  so  there  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  nature  of  the  ganglia  from  which  the 
nerves  arise.  The  epipodial  nerves  spring  from  about  the 
middle  of  th^  pedal  ganglion,  rather  on  the  dorsal  surface,  and, 
after  a  short  course,  pass  through  the  muscular  layer  of  the  body 
wall  and  are  distributed  to  the  clumps  of  cerata. 

But,  in  addition  to  these  main  epipodial  nerves  in  Eolts^  we 
find  also  a  nerve  arising  from  the  compound  ganglionic  znass» 
immediately  ventral  to  the  eye  (probably,  therefore,  from  the 
pleural  element),  which  goes  to  the  front  cerata.  This  pleoral 
nerve  has  its  origin  distinctly  anterior  to  the  origin  of  the  main 
epipodial  nerves  from  the  pedal  ganglia. 

We  arrive,  then,  at  the  curious  result  tHkt  the  innervation  ot 
the  ceratal  processes  is  not  the  same  in  aU  these  Nudibranchs. 
In  Polycera,  Ancula,  Tritonia,  and  Dendronotus,  the  epipodial 
nerves  arise  from  pleural  ganglia,  or  from  the  ventral  and  pos- 
terior parts  of  cerebro-pleural  masses  ;  while  in  Eolis  the  chlei 
epipodial  nerves  are  from  the  pedal  ganglia,  but  there  are  also 
smaller  nerves  from  the  pleurals.  In  the  ordinary  Rhipido- 
glossate  Gastropod,  such  as  Trochus,  the  epipodial  ridges  and 
processes  are  supplied,  according  to  Pelseneer,  by  nerves  arising 
from  the  dorsal  part  of  the  elongated  pedal  ganglia.  So,  judg- 
ing from  the  nerve  supply  alone,  it  might  be  said  that  the  cerata 
of  Eolis  are  pedal  in  their  nature,  and  homologous  with  the  epi- 
podial processes  of  Trochus,  while  those  oi  Ancula  and  the  rest 
are  totally  distinct  structures  of  pallial  origin.  But  these  dorso- 
lateral processes  in  the  various  Nudibranchs  are  so  much  alike 
in  their  relations,  and  are  connected  by  such  series  of  gradations, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  they  are  not  all  homologous  ;. 
and  the  presence  of  the  accessory  epipodial  nerve  in  £ciis 
arising  from  the  pleural  ganglion  suggests  the  possibility  of 
another  explanation,  viz.  that  these  outgrowths,  starting  at  first 
as  pedal  structures  innervated  by  nerves  Irom  the  pedal  ganglia, 
may  have  acquired,  possibly  as  the  result  of  having  moved 
further  up  the  sides  of  the  body,  a  supplementary  nerve 
supply  from  the  adjacent  integumentary  nerves  arising  from  the 
pleural  ganglia,  and  this  supplementary  supply,  while  remaining 
subordinary  in  Eolis,  may  in  the  other  types  have  gradually 
come  to  supplant  the  original  epipodial  nerves,  which  are  now 
no  longer  found  in  such  forms  as  Polycera  and  Ancula.  This  is 
at  present  only  a  suggestion,  which  may  be  disproved  or  sup* 
ported  by  the  examination  of  the  nerves  of  a  number  of 
additional  Nudibranchs. 

Prof.  W.  N.  Parker  read  a  paper  containing  the  results  of 
some  experiments  on  respiration  in  the  tadpoles  of  the  common 
frog.  After  referring  to  the  great  power  of  adaptation  to  ex- 
ternal conditions  seen  amongst  amphibious  larvse,  the  author 
described  some  experiments  on  frog  tadpoles,  which,  alihoogfa 
not  yet  complete,  show  as  follows : — (i)  Soon  after  the  lungs 
become  functional — i.e.  in  tadpoles  measuring  more  than  2 cm. 


September  17,  1S91] 


NA TURE 


48 


in  length — the  gills  are  no  longer  sufficient  for  purposes  of  re- 
spimtion,  and  the  animals  die  in  a  very  short  time  if  prevented 
from  coming  to  the  surface  to  breathe.  (2)  If  tadpoles  are 
prevented  from  using  their  lon^  from  an  earlier  stage  onwards, 
ibe  gills  remain  perfectly  functional,  and  development  proceeds 
as  usual.  At  metamorphosis,  the  fore-limbs  are  slow  in  becom- 
ing free,  owing  to  the  retention  of  the  operculum,  that  on  the 
same  side  as  the  spiracle  appearing  first.  Eventually,  a  slit -like 
spiracle  is  present  on  either  side.  In  respiration,  the  mouth  is 
opened  and  closed,  as  in  the  tadpole.  Specimens  of  branchiate 
frogs  were  exhibited,  in  which  tne  tail  had  shrunk  to  less  than 
half  its  original  length. 

Exhibition  of,  and  remarks  upon,  some  young  specimens 
of  Echidna  aculeata^  by  Prof.  W.  N.  Parker.  The  spe- 
cimens are  from  the  collection  of  the  late  Prof.  W.  K.  Parker, 
who  received  them  from  Dr.  E.  P.  Ramsay,  Curator  of  the 
Australian  Museum,  Sydney.  They  are  much  curved  towards 
the  ventral  side,  the  snout  pointing  backwards,  and  the  tail,  in 
the  older  of  the  two  stages,  forwards.  The  vonnger  stage 
measures  along  the  dorsal  curve,  from  the  end  of  the  snout  to 
the  tip  of  the  tail,  12  cm.,  the  greatest  diameter  of  the  body 
being  3  cm.  ;  the  corresponding  measurements  of  the  older 
stage  are  respectivelv  21  '5  cm.  and  6  cm.  In  the  latter,  the 
body  is  covered  with  short  scattered  bristles.  In  both  stages 
the  snout  is  very  similar  in  form  to  that  of  Omithorhynchus, 
and  is  covered  by  a  thick  homv  layer,  but  in  other  respects  the 
specialization  characteristic  of  Echidna  is  already  apparent. 
The  gape  is  narrow,  and  extends  only  a  short  distance  down 
tbe  snout,  and  the  manus,  even  in  the  younger  stage,  is  already 
much  larger  and  stronger  than  the  pes.  The  tail  is  short  and 
cooical.  There  is  no  caruncle,  or  "  egg- breaker,"  in  the  snout, 
such  as  is  seen  in  Omithorhynchus,  A  few  points  in  the  struc- 
ture of  the  fore-part  of  the  head  in  the  older  stage  were  de- 
scribed. The  mouth  has  the  narrow  and  tubular  form  seen  in 
tbe  adult,  and  the  long  tongue  has  a  horny  tip.  The  glands  in 
relation  with  the  mou3i  and  nose  are  very  numerous.  There  is 
00  trace  of  any  teeth-rudiments,  and  in  manjr  other  respects  the 
structure  of  the  head  shows  extreme  specialization.  Tacobson's 
organ  is  laige,  and  highly  developed.  A  well-marked  *'  tur- 
binal "  is  present  in  it. 

Prof.  Howes  read  a  paper  upon  the  classification  of  fishes  by 
their  reproductive  organs.  On  comparison  of  the  urino-senital 
organs  of  those  Osteichthves  having  a  non-abbreviated  kidney 
with  the  same  organs  of  the  higher  Vertebrata  and  the  Elasmo- 
branchs,  the  female  genital  duct  and  the  kidney  are  seen  to  be 
inversely  proportionate  in  length.  No  feature  more  fully  cha- 
racterizes the  development  of  the  Mullerian  duct  than  the  ac- 
companying abbreviation  of  the  kidney  and  the  disappearance 
of  its  head  segment.  The  persistence  of  the  last-named  among 
tbe  Osteichthyes,  and  its  possible  retention  of  the  renal  function 
in  rare  cases,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  mode  of  develop- 
ment of  the  ovary  duct  in  these  fishes,  point  to  the  conclusion 
tbat  the  latter  is  in  no  way  homologous  with  the  Mullerian  duct 
as  ordinarily  understood.  Balfour's  belief  that  the  genital  ducts 
are  homologous  in  both  sexes  of  the  Teleosteans,  is  supported 
by  the  facts  of  anatomy  ;  and  compsurison  of  the  reprodaciive 
system  of  the  Canoids  with  that  of  the  Teleosteans  shows 
the  two  to  be  modifications  of  the  same  common  type ;  and 
the  absolute  structural  community  of  the  parts  in  the  males 
and  females  of  the  Sturiones,  uhile  further  confirming  Bal- 
four's doctrine,  is  oppnosed  to  Jungersen*s  implication  that 
the  subtle  differences  in  the  mode  of  development  of  the 
ducts  in  the  opposite  sexes  of  the  Teleostei,  are  indicative  of 
their  non-homology.  Tbe  facts  above  al laded  to  justify  us  in 
regarding  the  genital  ducts  of  the  Osteichthyes,  not  only  as 
homologous  in  the  two  sexes,  and  primarily  independent  of  the 
genital  glands,  but  as  distinct  structures  stti  generis^  probably 
unrepresented  in  all  other  Vertebrates.  The  Plagiostomi  and 
Holocephali,  in  which  vasa  efferentia  are  present  and  the  kid- 
ney becomes  an  accessory  to  reproduction  in  the  male,  may  be 
grouped  together  into  a  Nephrorchidic  Series^  as  distinguished 
Irom  an  Enihcrchidic  Series^  embracing  the  Ganoids  and  Tele- 
osteans. Comparison  of  the  pori  genitales  in  relation  to  the 
coalesced  ureters  of  the  Marsipobranchii  with  the  corresponding 
parts  of  the  females  of  those  Teleostei  destitute  of  genital  ducts, 
especially  in  consideration  of  the  facts  concerning  tbe  develop- 
ment of  the  parts  recorded  by  Scott,  Liszt,  and  others,  supports 
Rathke's  conclusion  that  tbe  ancestors  of  the  former  fishes  must 
have  possessed  genital  ducts.  Tbe  Osteichthyes,  although  spe- 
cialized in  respect  to  many  features  of  their  organization,  have, 

NO.    1142,  VOL.   44J 


together  with  the  Marsipobranchs,  retained  the  least  modified 
type  of  nrinogenital  organs  known  for  living  Vertebrates.  W. 
N.  Parker's  recent  and  important  discovery  that,  while  in 
Protopterus  a  Miillerian  duct  is  present,  vasa  e£ferentia  are 
absent,  and  the  testicular  products  are  discharged  through  a  duct 
more  nearly  comparable  to  that  of  the  bony  fishes  than  to  the 
genital  ducts  of  any  other  Vertebrates,  suggests  tbat  the  deve- 
lopment of  vasa  efferentia  and  the  assumption  of  a  genital  func- 
tion by  the  Wolffian  duct  may  have  been  effected  sul^equently 
to  the  formation  of  the  Miillerian  oviduct.  And  further  com- 
parison of  the  Dipnoi  with  the  Elasmobrandiii  suggests  that 
the  former  may  have  struck  off  from  the  Holocephalic  branch  of 
the  latter  before  the  difierentiation  of  the  ancestors  of  its  living 
membera. 

Another  paper  by  Prof.  Howes  dealt  with  the  customary 
methods  of  describing  the  gills  of  fishes:.  The  gills  of  Plagio- 
stomes  and  Marsipobranchs  are  not  unfrequently  enumerated  in 
relation  to  the  opposite  walls  of  the  visceral  sacs  which  give 
origin  to  them,  while  those  of  the  higher  fishes  are  enumerated 
in  relation  to  the  opposite  £Eu:es  of  the  septa  which  bear  them. 
The  confusion  arising  out  of  this  is  well  known  to  teachers,  and 
is,  in  itself,  sufficient  to  justify  the  introduction  of  a  revised 
nomenclature  for  the  parts  concerned.  Tbe  fisurts  of  develop- 
ment show :  (i)  [on  the  assumption  that  the  mandibular  or 
mouth  cavity  is  serially  homologous  with  a  pair  of  post-oral 
visceral  clefts]  that  each  gill  lies  in  front  of  its  corresponding 
skeletal  arch  ;  (2)  that  the  saccular  type  of  gill  met  with  in  the 
Marsipobranchs  and  Plagiostomes  is  that  from  which  the  pec- 
tinate one  of  the  higher  gnathostomatons  fishes  has  been  derived ; 
and  (3)  that  a  mandibular  gill  has  no  existence  in  living  fishes. 
Gills  of  the  Marsipobrandi-Plagiostome  type  may  be  conve- 
niently described  for  general  anatomical  purposes,  as  Cyito- 
branchicBf  and  those  of  the  higher  Telosteoid  type,  as  Ptctino- 
branchia ;  while  the  parts  of  the  individual  gills  themselves 
should  be  in  all  cases  enumerated  in  relation  to  the  visceral 
pouches  from  which  they  arise.  Thus,  the  spiracular  gill  of 
Elasmobrancbs  (often  termed  the  mandibular  pseudobranch) 
should  be  descrit>ed  as  the  hyoid  hemibranch,  and  the  opercular 
gill  of  the  higher  fishes  (often  termed  the  hyoid  pseudobranch) 
as  tbe  first  branchial  hemibranch.  Tbe  well-known  series  of 
buccal  filaments  met  with  in  certain  Chelonia  appear  to  have 
the  fundamental  relationships  of  gill-folios,  and,  in  view  of  the 
discovery  of  Dohrn  and  others  that  the  buccal  sac  would 
appear,  from  its  mode  of  development  in  the  Teleostei,  to  be 
the  morphological  equivalent  of  a  pair  of  gill  pouches,  the  pos- 
sibility that  these  filaments  may  (at  any  rate  for  tbe  most  part) 
represent  mandibular  gills  of  a  reversional  character  must  not  be 
overlooked. 

Dr.  Arthur  Robinson  communicated  some  facts  relative  to  the 
development  of  the  rat  and  tbe  mouse.  Tbe  most  important 
part  of  tbe  paper  dealt  with  the  relation  of  the  yolk  sac  to  the 
maternal  tissues.  Tbe  crypt  in  the  uterine  wail  which  lodges 
the  ovum  becomes  shut  off  from  tbe  rest  of  the  cavity  of  the 
uterus  by  a  fusion  between  tbe  distal  proximal  walls  of  the 
uterus.  The  greater  part  of  the  space  so  formed  is  occupied  by 
the  ovum  ;  the  remaining  portions  are  converted  into  maternal 
blood  sinuses  ;  the  blood  in  these  sinuses  bathes  the  trophoblast 
and  tbe  distal  end  of  the  yolk  sac.  Later,  the  distal  part  of  tbe 
yolk  cavity  is  obliterated  by  the  apposition  of  its  walls,  but  the 
proximal  portion  remains ;  diverticula  grow  out  from  from  this 
into  tbe  placenta,  which  maintain  the  intimate  relation  of  the 
yolk  sac  to  the  maternal  blood.  It  seems  probable,  in  view  of 
these  facts,  tbat  tbe  yolk  sac  plays  an  important  part  in  the 
nutrition  of  the  foetus.  Tbe  allantois  is  a  solid  mass  of  meso- 
blast  containing  no  diverticulum  from  the  alimentary  tract,  and 
does  not  become  attached  to  the  trophoblast  until  comparatively 
late  in  the  life  of  the  embryo,  i.e.  the  eleventh  day. 

Another  paper  by  the  same  was  entitled  "  Observations  upon 
the  Development  of  the  Spinal  Cord  in  Mus  musculus  and  Mus 
decumanus:  the  Formation  of  the  Septa  and  tbe  Fissures."  The 
anterior  and  posterior  septa  of  tbe  cord  were  stated  to  be  formed 
by  the  spongioblasts  of  the  cord  itself,  and  not  by  ingrowths  of 
the  enveloping  sheath  of  pia  mater. 

Prof.  Marcus  Hartog  communicated  an  outline  classification 
of  sexual  and  allied  mcxles  of  protoplasmic  rejuvenescence. 

I.  The  following  modes  of  rejuvenescence  occur  in  cellular 
and  in  certain  apocytial  organisms : — 

A.  Plastogamy  :  the  fusion  of  cytoplasta into  a  Plasmodium^ 
tbe  nuclei  remaining  free. 


484 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


B.  Karyogamy  :  the  union  of  cells  (gametes),  cytoplast  to 
cytoplast  and  nucleus  to  nucleus,  to  form  a  i-nucleate 
cell,  the  zygote.    The  following  variations  occur  : — 

1.  IsoGAMY.    The  union  of  gametes  undistiuguish- 

able  in  size,  form,  and  behaviour  ;  this  may  vary 
as  follows : — 

(<7)  Multiple  ;  between  several  gametes  (up 

to  6). 
[b)  Binary  :  between  a  pair  of  gametes ; 

or,  from  another  point  of  view — 

{c)  Indifferent:  between  any  gametes  of 
the  species. 

{d)  ExoGAMOUS:  between  gametes  of  dis- 
tinct broods  only. 

{e)  Endogamous  :  between  gametes  of  the 
same  brood  only. 

2.  Anisogamy  :  the  union  of  two  gametes  difiering 

chiefly  in  size  ;  the  smaller  {micro)  gamete  is 
maU^  the  larger  {mega-)  gamete,  female, 

3.  Hyperanisogamy  :    the  lemale  gamete,  at  first 

active,  comes  to  rest  before  fusion  with  the  male. 

4.  Oogamy  :   the  female  is  never  actively  motile ; 

the  male  is  termed  a  spermatozoon,  the  female  an 
oosphere. 

From  another  point  of  view  karyogamy  is — 

5.  Zooidiogamous  :  one  gamete  at  least  is  actively 

motile  (flagellate,  ciliate,  or  amoeboid). 

6.  SiPHONOGAMOUS  :  karyc^amy    is  effected   by  a 

tabular  outgrowth  from  one  or    both    of    the 
gametes. 

II.  In  apocytial  fungi  multinucleated  masses  of  protoplasm 
{ga  metoids)  may  conjugate  to  form  a  zygotoid,  by  a  siphono- 
gamous  process.     The  union  may  be  isogamous  or  anisogamous, 

* 

III .  Gametes  may  be  classified  as  follows : — 

A.  Kccordmg  io  thtir formation — 

1.  EusCHiST  :  formed  by  repeated  complete  divisions 

from  a  parent  cell,  the  gametogonium. 

(a)  EuTHYSCHiST :   each  nuclear  division  is 

accompanied  by  cell  division. 

(b)  Bradyschist:  the  nuclear  divisions  are 

completed  before  any  cell  division  takes 

place. 
{c)  IsoscHiST :  the  brood-cells  of  a  gameto- 
gonium are  all  equal  and  functional. 
(</)  Anisoschist:  the  brood- cells  are  unequal, 

some  of  them  being  reduced  to  aborted 

or  degraded  gametes. 

2.  Hemischist  :   the    divisions    are  limited  to  the 

nucleus,  none  occnrring  in  the  cytoplasm. 

3.  Aposchist  :  the  cell  divisions  do  not  occur,  but 

a    cell    directly    assumes    the    behaviour  of   a 
gamete. 

4.  Sym phytic  :  the  gameto-nucleus  U  formed  by  the 

fusion  of  several  nuclei. 

B.  According  to  their  behaviour ,  as — 

1.  Facultative  :  retaining  the  power  of  develop- 

ment if  karyogamy  fails  to  occur. 

2.  Obligatory  :    with    no    power  of  independent 

development. 

IV.  Paragenesis  will  include  the  following  modes,  usually 
grouped  under  the  term  parthenogenesis,  apogamy  {pro  part*), 
&c.  : — 

A.  True  Parthenogenesis  :  the  direct  development  of  a 
facultative  gamete  without  karyogamy.  This  may 
occur  in  the  case  of — 

(i)  Isc^ametes ;  (2)  Anisogametes  (male  and  female)  ; 
(3)  Oogametes. 


B.  Simulated  Parthenogenesis  : — 

1.  Cellular  :  a  cell  assumes  directly  the  behavioor 

of  a  zygote. 

2.  Apocytial  :  a  multinucleate  mass  of  protoplasm 

assumes  directly  the  behaviour  of  a  zygotoid. 

C.  Metagametal  Rejuvenescence: — 

1.  Unicellular  :  a  single  cell  in  the  neighboariiood 

of  the  gamete  assumes  the  form  and  behavionr  of 
the  zygote. 

2.  Multicellular  :  a  mass  of  cells  in  the  p»osition 

where  gametes  should  be  produced,  assumes  ibe 
character  of  the  young  organism  formed  by  the 
zygote. 

D.  Paragamy  or  Endokaryogamy  :  vegetative  or  ganietal 

nuclei  lying  in  a  continuous  mass  of  cytoplasm  fuse  to 
form  a  zygote  nucleu«. 

1.  Progamic  paragamy :   the    fusing  nuclei  are  the 

normal  gametonuclei  of  the  progamoos  cell  (ovum 
which  has  formed  i -polar  body). 

2.  Apocytial  paragamy  :  the  vegetative  nuclei  of  an 

apocytium  fuse  to  form  a  zygote  nucleus. 

The  President  of  the  Section  read  a  paper  by  himself  and 
Miss  Dorothea  Pertz,  on  the  artificial  production  of  rhythm  in 
plants.  The  apparatus,  devised  by  the  Cambridge  Scientific  Instru- 
ment Company,  was  exhibited.  The  plant  is  subjeaed  to  a  series 
of  aliemate  and  opposite  influences  from  light  or  graTitation, 
as  the  case  may  be.  The  plant  to  be  experimented  w^ith  is 
fixed  to  a  spindle,  which,  by  a  clockwork  escapement,  makes  a 
sudden  semi-revolution  every  half-hour.  When  the  clockwork 
is  stopped,  the  plant  continues  to  curve  with  an  acquired  rhythm, 
as  it  the  machinery  were  still  in  action.  This  is  similar  to 
certain  natural  rhythms — for  instance,  to  the  *'  sleep  "  of  flowers, 
which  for  a  short  time  continue  to  open  and  shut  although  kept 
constantly  in  the  dark. 

Prof.  Green  read  a  paper  on  the  occurrence  of  diastase  in 
pollen.  The  starch  in  the  pollen  grain  serves  as  nutriment  for 
the  growing  pollen  tube,  and  the  presence  of  the  fermeot 
converting  it  into  sugar  enables  it  to  travel  along  the  growing 
tube. 

Prof.  Vines,  in  a  paper  upon  diastase  in  foliage  leaves,  con- 
troverts the  opinion  of  Piof.  Wortmann,  who  stat^  that  diastase 
was  either  absent  from  the  foliage  leaves  of  plants,  or  present  in 
such  minute  quantities  that  it  could  be  of  no  physiological  im- 
portance. It  is  this  diastase,  and  not  the  protoplasm  of  the  cells, 
which  converts  the  starch  accumulated  in  the  leaves  into  sagar. 

Canon  Tristram  exhibited  and  made  remarks  upon  the  smallest 
known  species  of  parrot,  of  which  the  skin  measured  oolj  two 
inches  in  length. 


NO.   1142,  VOL.  44] 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  HYGIENE. 

\\^  E  printed  on  August  20  (p.  303)  an  account  of  some  of  the 
work  done  in  the  Section  of  Preventive  Medicine  in  the 
Congress  of  Hygiene.     The  following  is  the  conclusion  of  oox 
report : — 

Alcoholism. 

Sir  Dyce  Duckworth,  of  London,  opened  a  discussion 
on  ''The  Relation  of  Alcoholism  to  Public  Health  aini  the 
methods  to  be  adopted  for  its  Prevention." 

Prof.  Harald  Westergaard,  of  Copenhagen,  followed  w^ith  a 
paper  on  the  same  subject.  What  are  the  losses  of  life,  he  asked, 
caused  to  a  population  by  intemperance?  This  question  can  to 
a  certain  extent  be  answered  by  examining  the  causes  of  death, 
especially  delirium  tremens  and  chronic  alcoholism.  It  has  been 
objected  that  these  causes  of  death  supply  an  unsattsfaccory 
picture  of  drinking  excess,  because  the  wish  to  spare  the  feeling 
of  surviving  relatives  makes  returns  of  such  deaths  less  trust- 
worthy,  and  it  has  therefore  been  proposed  to  use  other  diseases 
as  a  measure — ^such  as  liver  disease  (especially  cirrhosis  of  the 
liver).  Vet  it  is  worth  while  to  examine  the  above-mentioned 
c^u^es  of  death.  In  most  countries  the  statistics  of  the  cause  of 
death  do  not  allow  conclusions  with  regard  to  alcoholism  corre- 
sponding to  those   for   Denmark  and  Norway.       But,    at    ail 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


485 


events,  the  statistical  data  sufficiently  show  that  a  great  part  of 
tlie  civilized  world  is  suflfering  greatly  from  the  effects  of  alco- 
holism.    The  investigations  of  the  Harveian  Society  make  it 
probable  that  in  London  one-seventh  of  all  adult  deaths  (males 
and  females)  is  directly  or  indirectly  due  to  the  consequences  of 
alcoholic  excess.     The  mortality  in  England  from  alcoholism  in 
1871-80  among  males  25  to  65   years  old   was  about    I    per 
cent,  of  all  deaths — nearly  800  yearly.     What  an  amount  of 
disease    and    poverty,  of   moral  and    physical  degradation,  is 
represented  by  these  800  deaths  !     In  Belgium  the  yearly  loss 
of  life  from  delirium  tremens  among  males  was  330  in  1870-89. 
Still  greater  have  been  the  devastations  of  drinking  in  Switzer- 
land.    Prussia  has  a  yearly  loss  of  1 100  males  from  delirium 
tremens.      Undoubtedly   we  should  find,  if  trustworthy  data 
could  be  had,  that  chronic  alcoholism  and  delirium  tremens 
alone  kill  many  thousands  of  men    every   year.      What  is   to 
be  done?      High    excises  are  generally  looked    upon   as    an 
excellent  weapon  against  alcoholism.     But  we  must  not  forget 
that  even  a  very  high  excise,  as  in  England,  does  not  prevent 
spirituous  liquors  from  coming  within  the  reach  of  anybody,  so 
long  as  the  number  of  public-houses  is  so  exceedingly  large  as 
in  this  country.     If  a  person  has  to  go  a  long  way  to  get  drunk, 
and  if  he  has  in  addition  to  pay  a  good  sum  for  it,  he  will  stop  to 
think  before  going.  Still,  high  excises  seem  to  have  some  effect ; 
the  German  law  of   1887  has,  for  instance,  reduced  the  con- 
sumption of   spirits    to  a   certain    extent.     But    generally  the 
reduction  of  the  consumed  quantity  does  not  seem  to  correspond 
with  the  increase  of  the  excise.    An  interesting  expedient  is  the 
new  State   monopoly  in  Switzerland.      Ten  per   cent,  of  the 
surplus  are  left  to  the  cantons  for  counteracting  alcoholism.     By 
r^iulating  the  price  the  monopoly  acts  like  an  excise,  and  the 
Government  takes  care  that  only  unadulterated  liquors  are  sold. 
The  monopoly  is  reported  to  have  had  a  good  sanitary  effect, 
and  it  has  caused  some  decrease  in  the  consumption  of  liquors. 
In  connection  with  excise  and  duties  every  effort  is  to  be  com- 
mended which  tends  to  render  the  access  to  intoxicating  liquors 
more  difficult.      Among   these    measures,    the    three    popular 
American  systems  deserve  our  attention — viz.  the  Maine  Jaws, 
local  option,  and  the  high-licence  system.     The  first  of  these 
expedients — the  prohibitory  system — has  been  tried  in  Maine 
and  some  other  American  Stales.     According  to  this  system,  it 
is  prohibited  to  manufacture  and  sell  intoxicating  liquors,  the 
only  exception  commonly  being  that  liquors  of  "  foreign  produc- 
tion "  may  be  imported  and  sold  in  the  original  packages.     But 
this  exception  is  unjust,  permitting  the  man  who  can  afford  it  to 
order  as  much  liquor  as  he  likes,  and  nearly  all  reports  agree  in 
testifying  to  the  perpetual  violation  of  these  laws.     One  curious 
fact  from  Maine,  where  the  system  was  adopted  in  1881  may 
be  mentioned.     During  the  years    1867-86,  8412  divorces  of 
marriages  took  place,  being  probably  several  per  cent,  of  the 
yearly  number  of  celebrated  marriages.     Of  these  no  less  than 
960,  or  II  per  cent.,  were  caused  by  intemperance,  combined  or 
not  with  other  causes.     It  thus  seems  that  intemperate  habits 
are  rather  frequent  in  this  State.     Curiously  enough,  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  (where  there  is    a  considerable  revenue  for 
licences)  shows,  under  nearly  the  same  regulations  concerning 
divorces   as   in   Maine,   the   same    proportion — viz.    1054  out 
of    9853.     It  seems  impossible  to  suppress    the    liquor  traffic 
in    the    larger    towns.      Between    the    Maine   laws   and    the 
high-licence  s>stem   is  an   intermediate  system — local  option. 
According  to  this,    it    is    left   to    the    citizens    of  a   village, 
town,    city,    or   a    larger  district,    to  vote  for   local  prohibi- 
tion.    This  system  seems  to  work  somewhat  better  than  the 
Maine  laws,  and  it  may  prove  useful  in  rural  districts,  the  con- 
trol in  small  communities  being  more  easily  carried  through ; 
but  in  larger  towns  it  is  probably  ineffective,  tempting  as  it  does 
to  a  surreptitious  liquor  traffic.     The  third  system — high  licences 
— has  been  introduced  in  several   States.     Under  this  system 
licences  for  the  sale  of  liquors  can  be  taken  out,  but  the  fees  are 
so  considerable  (for  instance,  500  or  looo  dollars  yearly)  that 
many  small  saloons  disappear.     In  some  cases  the  sale  of  liquors 
through  grocery  stores  is  entirely  slopped  (Illinois).     This  sys- 
tem is  reported  to  work  well  by  reducing  the  number  of  drinking 
saloons,  thus  lessening  the  opportunity  for  drinking.     It  is  main- 
tained  that    **the  high-licence  system   has  thrown  the  liquor 
traffic  into  the  hands  of  a  more  respectable  class  of  dealers," 
and  that  those  who  pay  high  licences  "help  the  authorities  in 
the  conviction  of  breakers  of  the  law,  under  the  fundamental 
principle  of  self-preservation."     It  is  also  to  be  recommended  to 

NO.    I  142,  VOL.  44] 


limit  the  numbers  of  licences  that  may  be  taken  out.  This  is 
the  case  with  the  Dutch  law  of  188 1.  Still  more  effective  have 
been  the  efforts  in  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Finland.  The  numbers 
of  bars  have  been  gradually  greatly  reduced,  especially  in  the 
rural  districts  ;  and  in  most  of  the  towns  the  so-called  "  Gothen- 
burg system  "  has  been  introduced.  According  to  this  system, 
adopted  since  1865  in  Gothenburg,  all  or  most  of  the  licences  in 
a  town  are  given  to  a  company  which  is  not  allowed  to  pay  more 
than  a  fixed  rate  of  interest  to  the  shareholders,  the  surplus 
being  spent  for  the  benefit  of  charitable  institutions  or  forming 
part  of  the  municipal  income.  The  result  has  been  a  great  re- 
duction of  the  number  of  bars.  In  Gothenburg  the  company  in 
1865  took  out  40  licenses,  but  at  once  reduced  the  number 
of  saloons  to  23.  The  persons  who  manage  the  saloons 
get  a  fixed  salary  for  the  sale  of  spirits,  and  are  there- 
fore not  tempted  to  encourage  the  customers  to  drink- 
ing. Moreover,  there  is  a  limitation  of  the  hours  during 
which  the  saloons  are  open,  and  other  steps  have  been  taken  to 
prevent  abuses.  Undoubtedly  this  system — in  connection  with 
the  great  diminution  of  the  number  of  bars  in  the  rural  districts 
of  the  country — has  contributed  very  much  to  the  conspicuous 
reduction  of  the  alcoholism  in  the  three  countries  before-men- 
tioned. A  very  practical  expedient  is  also  the  prohibition  of 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  at  groceries  and  similar  shops,  and 
this  provision  ought  never  to  be  omitted  where  steps  are  taken 
to  limit  the  number  of  saloons.  And  last,  not  least,  it  is  hi^ly 
desirable  to  regulate  the  opening  hours  of  the  saloons. 

Dr.  Isambard  Owen,  of  London,  said  he  took  part  in  the 
discussion  solely  to  correct  the  numerous  misquotations  current 
of  the  *'  Collective  Investigation  Report  on  Intemperance  of 
the  British  Medical  Association,"  of  which  Report  he  was  the 
author.  A  certain  table  of  figures  contained  in  the  Report 
had  been  quoted  apart  from  the  context  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  lead  the  public  to  believe  that,  in  the  view  of  the  author 
of  the  Report,  the  longevity  of  abstainers  fell  below  that, 
not  only  of  moderate  drinkers,  but  even  of  the  decidedly  intem- 
perate. The  conclusions  of  the  Report,  as  far  as  concerned  the 
general  health  of  the  public,  were  the  following : — (i)  That 
habitual  indulgence  in  alcoholic  liquors,  beyond  the  most 
moderate  amounts,  has  a  distinct  tendency  to  shorten  life,  the 
average  shortening  being  roughly  proportional  to  the  degree  of 
indulgence.  (2)  That  of  men  who  have  passed  the  age  of  25, 
the  strictly  temperate  live,  on  the  average,  at  least  ten  years 
longer  than  those  who  become  decidedly  intemperate.  (3)  That 
in  the  production  of  cirrhosis  and  gout, alcoholic  excess  plays  the 
very  marked  part  which  it  has  long  been  recognized  as  playing, 
and  that  there  are  no  other  diseases  anything  like  so  distinctly 
traceable  to  the  effects  of  alcoholic  liquors.  (4)  That,  cirrhosis 
and  gout  apart,  the  effect  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  rather  to  predis- 
pose the  body  towards  the  attacks  of  disease  generally  than  to 
induce  any  special  pathological  lesion. 

M.  Milliet,  of  Berne,  Dr.  Norman  Kerr,  of  London,  Mr.  J. 
Phillips,  of  London,  Sir  V.  Barrington,  L.C.C.,  Dr.  Robinson, 
of  Maine,  U.S.A.,  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  Prof.  E.  Alglave,  of  Paris, 
Dr.  Kinkead,  of  Galway,  Dr.  Arthur,  of  London,  Prof.  Bohmert, 
of  Dresden,  and  Dr.  Sonsino,  of  Pisa,  also  took  part  in  the 
discussion. 


On  Thursday  afternoon.  Dr.  W.  O.  Priestley  read  a  paper  "On 
the  Improved  Hygienic  Condition  of  Maternity  Hospitals,"  of 
which  the  following  is  an  abstract : — 

During  the  end  of  the  last  century  and  the  first  half  of  the 
present  one,  the  mortality  in  maternity  hospitals  was  very  large, 
both  on  the  Continent  and  in  Great  Britain.  According  to  Le 
Fort,  it  was  at  the  rate  of  34  per  1000,  while,  according  to  Miss 
Nightingale,  it  was  only  47  per  1000  when  patients  were  confined 
at  their  own  homes  ;  or,  according  to  Dr.  Matthews  Duncan,  8 
per  1000,  equal  to  i  in  125.  The  cause  of  the  increased 
mortality  in  lying-in  hospitals  was  the  prevalence  in  these  insti- 
tutions of  puerperal  fever,  75  per  cent,  bein^due  to  this  cause. 
The  infectiousness  of  puerperal  fever,  long  doubted,  was  at 
length  established,  and  also  the  fact  that  various  poisons,  brought 
from  the  dissecting  room — from  patients  suffering  from  erysipelas, 
eruptive  fevers,  and  the  like — became  the  germs  of  infection 
which  might  cost  the  lives  of  many  patients.  The  researches  of 
Pasteur,  Koch,  Lister,  and  others  have  shown  that  these  poisons 
owed  their  virulence  to  the  presence  of  microscopic  germs  which 
multiply  in  the  body  of  patients  and  produce  the  deleterious 


486 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


results.  Hence  it  came  to  be  recognized  that,  by  preventing  the 
ingress  of  these  germs  to  the  bodies  of  puerperal  patients,  com- 
parative safety,  even  in  Ijdng-in  hospitads,  was  attainable ;  and 
the  introduction  of  the  antiseptic  and  aseptic  methods  has  pro- 
duced not  only  a  remarkable  diminution  of  mortality,  but  also  of 
the  morbidity  or  illness  incident  to  the  puerperal  state.  A  short 
sketch  was  given  of  the  modem  metnods  adopted  in  several 
countries  to  insure  the  greater  safety  of  patients  in  maternity 
hospitals,  and  of  the  results  obtained  in  Europe  and  in  the  United 
States.  The  results  were  very  striking,  and  were  attributable 
mainly  to  the  introduction  of  the  antiseptic  or  aseptic  modes  of 
treatment,  although  other  improvements  are  not  lost  sight  of. 
In  concluding  he  called  attention  to  an  interesting  table  in 
which  were  thrown  together  the  statistics  of  maternal  deaths  in 
six  lying-in  hospitals,  situated  in  various  countries,  since  the 
introduction  of  aseptic  or  antiseptic  methods.  With  these  he 
had  contrasted  the  figures  of  M.  Le  Fort  before  the  era  of  anti- 
septics, and  Mr.  Newbatt,  the  distinguished  President  of  the 
Statistical  Society,  had  kindly  computed  for  him  the  diifference 
in  the  proportion  of  deaths  in  the  two  cases  : — 

Mortality  in  Maternity  Hospitals  from  all  Causes  in  various 
Countries  of  Europe  {Le  Fort). 

Bbporb  the  iNrKODocTioM  OP  Antiseptics. 

Deliveries.  Deaths.  Per  xooo. 

Total     888,312     ...     30,394     ...     34*21 

Aptbr  thb  Introduction  op  Antiseptics. 

Deaths  which 
would  have 
Date.  Deliveries.     Deaths.  occucred  oo 

basis  of  Le 
Fort's  6j(ures. 

Vienna     1881-5  ...     15,070  ...  106    ...  516 

Dresden    1883-7  ...      5,508  ...     57      ..  188 

Russia        188&-9  ...    76,646  ...  290    ...        ^,622 

New  York        ...  1884-6  ...       1,919  ...     15     ...  66 

Boston      1883-6  ...       1,233    ..     27     ...  42 

General  Lying-in 
Hospitd,  Lon- 
don      ...      ..  1886-9  ...      2,585  ...     16    ...  88 


Total 


—  102,961        511* 


3.5" 


Number  of  lives  saved  out  of  the  102,961  since  the  introduction 
of  antiseptics — 


Expected  deaths  on  Le  Fort's  basis 
Actual  deaths  


...  3522 
...    5" 


Saving  ... 


...         ■«• 


...  301 1 


Dr.  Priestley  said  it  would  be  seen  that  while,  according  to  M. 
Le  Fort,  the  maternal  deaths  in  European  lying-in  hospitals 
were  34*21  per  looo  under  the  old  rSgime^  the  mortality  is  now 
reduced  to  somewhat  less  than  5  per  1000.  This  computation, 
put  in  another  way,  indicates  that  if  the  former  rate  of  mor- 
tality had  been  maintained  3522  maternal  deaths  might  have 
been  expected;  the  actual  deaths  were  only  511.  In  other 
words,  3011  lives  of  mothers  were  saved  as  the  result  of  new  and 
purely  scientific  methods  of  treatment.  This,  he  thought, 
might  fairly  be  stated  to  be  one  of  the  most  striking  triumphs 
of  preventive  medicine.  It  was  no  mean  achievement  to  rescue 
from  death  more  than  3000  lives  of  women  in  the  acme  of  their 
maturity,  and  when  their  lives  were  most  valuable  to  their 
families. 

Dr.  Graily  Hewitt,  of  London,  Mr.  F.  Fowke,  of  London, 
and  Dr.  Leduc,  of  Nantes,  spoke  on  the  subject. 

A  paper  was  read  by  Dr.  y  C.  van  Dooremal,  of  The  Hague, 
on  "  La  Prevention  de  laCecite  professionnelle." 

Dr.  Sisley,  of  London,  read  a  paper  on  '*  The  Prevention  of 
the  Spread  of  Epitlemic  Influenza." 

Mr.  Weaver  and  Dr.  Felkin  took  part  in  the  discussion. 

Greene  Pasha,  of  Cairo,  read  a  paper  on  *'  The  Influence  of 
the  Nile  on  Mortality  in  Egypt.'' 

Dr.  Felkin,  of  Edinburgh,  read  a  paper  entitled  "Obser- 
vations on  Malaria  and  Enteric  Fever  in  Central  Africa,  and 
on  the  possible  Antagonism  between  Malaria  and  Phthisis." 

*  4*363  per  xooo. 

NO.   1142,  VOL.  44] 


Inspector-General  Lawson  and  Mr.  Weaver  spoke  on  this 
subject.  , 

Dr.  Lewis  Sambon,  delegate  of  the  Municipality  of  Naples, 
read  a  paper  on  "Measures  adopted  for  the  Prevention   of 
Infectious  Diseases  and  their  Relation  to  our  Knowledge  of 
Epidemics."    He  first  pointed  out  the  similarity,  which  b  most 
striking,  between  the  mode  of  development  and  diffusioo  of 
infectious  diseases  and  some  insect  pests,  such  as  locusts  for 
instance.     Both  have  likewise  their  endemic  areas,  both  their 
seasons  of  development,  both  in  some  years  spread  more  widely, 
and  at  long  intervals  give  rise  to  regular  plagues  ;  both  migrate 
in  the  same  constant  direction,  and  both  die  away  out  of  their 
endemic  areas,  subsiding  in  the  struggle  for  life.     He  said  that 
the  diffusion  of  species  by  currents  and  winds  will  make  us 
understand  the  peculiarities  in^the  spread  of  infections  diseases, 
which  had  given  rise,  in  all  time,  to  the  most  strange  theories. 
The  influence  of  atmosphere  has  been  very  little  studied  in  con- 
nection with  infectious  diseases,  and  by  this  he  did  not  mean 
the  registration  of  the    prevailing    lower    winds    during   an 
epidemic,  but  serious  bacteriological  researches  in  the  sinking 
sediment  of  the  atmosphere  and  in  meteoric  waters.      Instances 
of  animals  beine  carried  by  regular  winds  or  wind-storms  far 
beyond  the  limits    of   their   homes   are   universally    known. 
Insects  of  all  kinds  are  often  caught  hundreds  of  miles  from  the 
nearest  land,  out  on  the  high  seas ;   North  American  birds  not 
unfrequently  are  carried  across  the  Atlantic  to  Scotland.      Far 
more  important  is  the  influence  of  winds  and  currents  in  the 
distribution  of  microscopic  animals.     These  minute-  oiganisms 
or  their  germs,  generally  adhering  to  other  laiger  elements 
of  dust,   are  raised  and  carried  by  the  wind  until  they  are 
allowed  to  sink  again  to  the  soil  when  the  air  is  in  stillness. 
About  quarantine  Dr.  Sambon  said  that  not  only  our  modern 
investigations  proved  them  useless,  but  that  a  long  eKperience 
has  utterly  condemned  them.     England  has  been  accused  of 
being  commercially  and  politically  interested  in  the  abolition  of 
quarantine,  and  this  preconception  has  unfortunately  prevented 
many  from  valuing  the  most  scientific  and  liberal  ideas  which 
have  promoted  their  opposition  to  quarantine.  •  No  nation  can 
boast  of  having  held  public  health  so  high  above  commereia] 
interest  ;  and  we  must  also  remember  that  the  English,  at  one 
time,  have  been  the  most  sanguine  supporters  of  quarantine. 
Quarantine  was  first  instituted  by  the  old  republic  of  Venice, 
whose  life  and  power    lay  entirely  in  commerce ;    and  Dr. 
Sambon    said    that,    although    it    had    proved    so    disastroas 
to   finance,    so   useless    to    sanitation,    and    so    vexatious    to 
liberty,  he  was  proud  that  they  were  a  glory  of  his  conntiy. 
Dr.  Sambon  concluded  that  the  most  important  and  peihaps 
the  only  satisfactory  means  against  infectious  diseases  was  the 
sanitation  of  towns  and  the  hygiene  of  men.     In  speaking  of  the 
sanitation  of  towns  he  said  how  vast  areas  of  the  old  city  of 
Naples  had  been  recently  pulled  down  and  new  districts  had  been 
built.      A  large  and  splendid  supply  of  water  has  been  intro- 
duced since  1887,  a.nd  when  the  drainage  is  completed,  Naples 
will  be  one  of  the  healthiest  towns  of  Europe.     He  spoke  of  the 
poor  classes  of  all  our  large  towns,  and  said  how  they  were  the 
culture  grounds  of  epidemics,  and  finished  by  saying  that  it  is 
not  enough  to  improve  the  sanitary  conditions  of  a  town,  but 
that  the  principles  of  hygiene  should  be  impressed  on  the  minds 
and  consciences  of  people,  because  there  could  be  no  public 
hygiene  where  private  hygiene  was  not  understood. 

Deputy* Surgeon-General  Bostock,  C.B.,  and  Sir  Vincent 
Barrington,  delegates  of  the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board«  read 
a  joint  paper  on  *'  The  Hospital  and  Ambulance  Organization  of 
the  Metropolitan  Asylums  Board  for  the  Removal  and  Isolatioai 
of  Infectious  Diseases."  The  paper  was  illustrated  by  plans^ 
diagrams,  and  models. 

Surgeon-General  Bostock  said  that  the  present  accommoiatioo 
for  fever  and  diphtheria  consists  of  six  hospitals  : — 


Name.  Position. 

X.  Elastem    Homerton  ... 

2.  South-Eastern  ...  Deptford    ». 

3.  South- Western ...  Stockweli  ... 

4.  Western Fulham       ... 

5.  Nonh- Western...  Hampstead 

6.  Northern Wincnmore  Hill 


Acreage.    Na  of  beds. 


Popnlaiioa 


9 

•  •• 

44a 

mmm 

«,"4«43a 

ZI 

•  •• 

46s 

... 

94«.3Si 

8 

•  •• 

340 

... 

5fti,59* 

6 

•«• 

924 

69a»i33 

IT 

•m% 

435 

•M 

8&a,5i4 

36 

••• 

480 

•.• 

3383 


4.911,056 


The  first  five  are  in   London.     The  Northern   is  for  convales^ 
cents,  and  is  four  miles  outside  the  northern  boundary  of  the 


September  17,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


487 


district.    The  position  of  these  hospitals  is  shown  on  the  map. 
The  aTerage  length  of  the  journey  a  patient  has  to  be  carried  to 
reach  the  hospital  nearest  to  his  home  is  three  and  a  half  miles. 
During  1886-87  ^^^  number  of  beds  in  the  eastern  and  western 
districts  wras  found  to  be  insufficient,  and  steps  are  now  being 
taken  to  establish  an  additional  hospital  in  the  North-East  of 
London,  and  to  increase  the  number  of  beds  in  the  Western 
Hospital  to  400.     These  additions  will  give  a  total  number  of 
beds  for  fever  and  diphtheria  of  2959,  or  one  bed  for  every 
1423  inhabitants.     The  total  number  of  cases  of  fever  and  diph- 
theria admitted  into  the  managers'  hospitals  from  1870  to  the  end 
of  1890  was  55,204.     The  accommodation  for  small -pox  is  the 
Floating  Hospital  at  Long  Reach,  fifteen  miles  below  London 
Bridge.    It  contains  350  beds  for  acute  and  severe  cases  on  board 
the  Atlas  and  the  Ceutalia,  the  Endymion  being  used  for  ad- 
ministrative purposes,  and  800  in  the  convalescent  hospital  at 
Gore  Farm,  four  miles  distant  from  the  ships,  giving  a  total  of 
1 150  beds.      The  number  of  small-pox   cases  admitted  into 
hospital  since  1870  to  1890  is  56,979.     To  this  number  must  be 
added  1028  cases  other  than  small-pox,  making  a  total  of  58,007 
admissions.     The  river  service  is  exclusively  used  for  small-pox 
cases,  and  consists  of  three  wharves  on  the  Thames  in  London 
for  the  embarkation  of  patients.     The  wharves,  as  shown  on  the 
map,  are  the  "  West "  at  Fulham,  the  "  North  "  at  Poplar,  and 
the  "South''  at  Rotherhitbe.     In  each  there  is  a  floating  pier 
in  deep  water,  approached  by  a  bridge,  and  a  shed  into  which 
the  ambulance  carriage  drives,  with  an  examination  room.    As 
an  example  of  the  work,  it  may  be  stated  that  during  the  small- 
pox epidemic  of  1884-85,  1 1,060  cases  were  removed  from  their 
homes  to  the  Floating  Hospital,  175  doubtful  cases  were  sent 
from  the  wharves  to  the  land  hospitals,  38  cases  were  detained 
in  London  on  account  of  fog,  and  35  persons,  not  having  small- 
pox at  all,  were  vaccinated  and  taken   home.    The  greatest 
number  of  patients  taken  down  to  the  Floating  Hospital  in  one 
day  was  104,  by  the  Hed  Cross^  in  three  trips.     At  the  close  of 
the  epidemic  the  Ambulance  Committee  were  able  to  report 
the  satisfaction  they  felt  that  so  large  a  number  of  persons  of 
both  sexes  and  all  ages,  most  of  them  in  physical  suffering,  and 
many  helpless  from  disease,  had  been  carried  in  all  weathers, 
throughout  all   seasons  of  the  year,   and  to  a  great  extent 
daring  the  hours   of  darkness,   without  discomfort   or  detri- 
ment  to   the    patients,   and  without    mishap  to  any  person 
whatever. 

Sir  Vincent   Barrington,    after    urging    the    importance    of 
preserving  statbtics  of  work  done  from  an  economical,  as  well  as 
a  sanitary  point  of  view,  presented  statistical  papers  of  fever 
and  smidl*pox   cases  treated  in   Board  hospitals.      He  com- 
mented upon    the   supposed    prevalence  of  disease    in    1887, 
and  urged  every  publicity  to  be  given  to  Board  work,  to  get 
over  the  old  prejudices  of  the  working  classes  against  send- 
ing patients  to  the  isolated  hospitals.     He  showed  a  chart 
demonstrating  that  the  increased  use  by  the  public  of  the  Board 
hospitals  and  the  transport  from  1879  to  1890,  had  been  followed 
by  steadily  decreasing  fever  mortality  in  London.     Now  over 
half  the  cases  of  scarlet  fever  in  all  London  are  probably  treated 
in  Board  hospitals.     He  referred  to  the  improved  sanitation  of 
dwellings   and   the    decreasing    severity  of    the  type  of  the 
disease  as  factors  in  the  decreased  mortality  observed.     He 
presented  small-pox  pedigrees  in  non-epidemic  times,  show- 
wing  in   one  case  that    19   persons,  in  another   10    persons, 
were  infected  from  a  single  case.     Also  that  20  cases  of  the  53 
treated  this  year  had  been  barren  of  infecting  others  as  they 
were  so  rapidly  removed  to  flod.ting  isolated  hospitals.     The 
deduction  drawn  was  that  the  rapid  system  of  removal  of  recent 
years  by  the  combined  land  and  river  service  of  the  Board 
had  a  sensible  effect  in  checking  a  possible  epidemic.     He 
presented  the   forms  for  recording  the  evidence   of  the  ex- 
istence of    vaccination    cicatrices    on    the    improved    system 
adopted  after  conferences  with  Board  medical  officers  and  the 
Local  Government  Board,  and  advocated  other  sanitary  bodies 
adopting  the  same  system,  thus  facilitating  the  compilation  of 
statistics,  invaluable  for  the  advance  of  science,  and  therefore 
for  the  treatment  and  check  of  small-pox,  and  the  consideration 
of  protection  by  vaccination. 

Dr.  SeatoD,  of  London,  Dr.  Armstrong,  of  Newcastle,  Dr. 
Dndfield,  of  London,  Prof.  Stokvis,  of  Amsterdam,  and  Dr. 
Hanser,  of  Madrid,  also  spoke  on  this  subject. 

Surgeon- General  Beatson,  M.D.,  of  Eastbourne,  read  a 
paper  on  "  Prevention  of  Disease  in  Growing  Towns. '*^/«^^ 


NO.    1142,  VOL,  44] 


Prof.  Stokvis  and  Dr.  Dickson  spoke  on  the  subject. 

Dr.  Plstor,  of  Berlin,  read  a  paper  entitled  "  Ueber  die  Des- 
infection,"  of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract.  Dr.  Pistor 
dealt  with  the  general  rules  and  methods  to  be  observed  in  the 
disinfection  of  mfectious  diseases.  Such  rules  should  be  short, 
clear,  and  capable  of  being  understood  by  everyone.  Incinera- 
tion and  boilmg  for  half  an  hour  are,  of  course,  very  effectual 
disinfectants,  but  they  are  not  always  applicable.  A  i  to  2  per 
cent,  solution  of  caustic  soda  is  a  very  useful  disinfectant.  Other 
methods  are  steaming,  mechanical  cleansing  (such  as  rubbing, 
brushing,  &c),  carbolic  acid  solution  (2  to  5  percent.),  lime* 
water  containing  about  20  per  cent,  of  caustic  lime,  and  a  i  to  2 
per  cent,  solution  of  calcined  carbonate  of  soda.  These  methods 
and  solutions  are  effective  against  all  the  poisons  of  infectious 
diseases.  The  head  of  the  house  or  institution  ought  to  be 
responsible  for  the  disinfection  under  the  direction  of  the  doctor, 
and  a  record  ought  to  be  preserved  of  the  mode  of  disinfection 
used. 

Sir  William  Moore,  K.C.LE.,  Q.H. P.,  read  a  paper  on  "The 
Prevention  of  Fevers  in  India." 

A  discussion  followed,  in  which  Surgeon-General  Cook  of 
Bombay,  the  President,  Surgeon-General  Beatson,  Dr.  Leduc 
of  Nantes,  Dr.  Payne  of  London,  Surgeon- Major  Poole  of 
London,  and  Dr.  W.  Dickson,  R.N.,  took  part. 

Dr.  Prospero  Sonsino,  of  Pisa,  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Princi- 
pal and  most  Efficacious  Means  of  preventing  the  Spread  of 
Entozoal  Affections  in  Man.'' 

Dr.  Sandwith,  of  Cairo,  and  the  President,  made  a  few 
remarks. 

Dr.  F.  M.  Sandwith,  of  Cairo,  read  a  paper  on  "Cholera 
in  Egypt." 

Dr.  Stekoulis,  of  Constantinople,  and  Dr.  Simpson,  of  Cal- 
cutta, took  part  in  the  discussion. 

Dr.  Cuigenven,  of  Teddington,  read  a  paper  on  "The  Dis- 
infection of  Scarlet  Fever  and  other  Infective  Disorders  by 
Antiseptic  Inunction." 

Dr.  W.  Gemmell,  of  Glasgow,  spoke. 

Dr.  Phineas  S.  Abraham,  of  London,  read  a  i>at>er  entitled 
"  On  the  Alleged  Connection  of  Vaccination  witn  Leprosy." 

Mr.  Milnes,  of  London,  Dr.  Cassidy,  of  Toronto,  andf 
Surgeon- Major  Pringle  spoke  on  this  subject. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Williams  Freeman,  of  Andover,  read  a  paper  en- 
titled "  Importance  of  more  actively  enforcing  Ventilation  z- 
suggesting  a  Standard  of  Air  Impurity  as  a  Basis  of  Prosecu- 
tions." Dr.  Freeman  said  that  ventilation  is  of  well-recognized 
importance  ;  the  causation  of  phthisis  is  a  good  example  of  it. 
Foul  air  is  a  cause  of  tuberculosis  in  three  ways :  directly ^  by 
supplying  the  bacillus  to  the  lungs,  and  through  the  saliva  to  the 
intestinal  canal ;  indirectly^  by  causing  tuberculosis  in  cattle, 
and  by  so  reducing  the  human  body's  vitality  as  to  render  it  a 
suitable  nidus.  The  bacteriologist  leads  us  to  expect  that  fresh 
air  will  be  hostile  to  the  virus  ;  the  demographist  shows  that 
the  death-rate  from  phthisis  increases  from  islands,  coast  dis- 
tricts, agricultural  districts,  small  towns,  to  large  towns  ;  also' 
in  occupations,  according  to  their  exposure  to  the  open  air, 
from  farmers  and  fishermen  up  to  drapers  and  printers  (see  Dr. 
Ogle's  table).  The  loss  of  health  from  want  of  ventilation  is  so 
familiar  as  to  be  little  thought  of,  but  the  deaths  from  phthisis 
alone,  fully  preventable,  must  be  enormous.  The  Public 
H«dth  and  Factories  Acts  provide  for  proper  ventilation  of 
buildings.  Any  standard  that  public  opinion,  lay  and  medical, 
may  demand  might  be  enforced.  Beyond  seeing  to  the  cubic 
space  in  common  lodging-houses,  practically  nothing  is  done,  and 
the  air  of  buildings  is  often  "  dangerous  and  injurious  to  health." 
An  inspector  should  frequently  "sample"  the  air  of  buildings, 
and  if  it  exceed  a  certain  limit  of  impurity  the  owner  should  be 
prosecuted,  cubic  space  and  means  of  ventilation  being  left  for 
the  architect ;  the  limit  to  be  when  the  air  inside  a  build- 
ing contains  twice  as  much  carbonic  acid  gas  as  the  air 
outside  at  the  same  time.  This  would  usually  correspond 
to  De  Chaumont's  "  Rather  close,  organic  matter  becoming 
perceptible."  Students  of  preventive  medicine  should  demand 
this  reform  from  the  administrators  of  the  law.  Polluted  air  is 
as  recognizable,  preventable,  and  harmful  as  unsound  food  or  bad 
water,  and  shoiild  be  treated  on  the  same  lines. 

Two  other  papers  were  taken  as  read,  one  by  Dr.  S.  Lodge, 
Jun.,  of  Bradford,  entitled  "  On  the  Occurrence  of  the  Broncho- 
pulmonary form  of  Anthrax  amongst  Rag-pickers  in  England, 
and  Suggestions  for  its  Prevention,"  and  one  by  Dr.  H.   Rident, 


488 


NA  TURE 


[September  17,  1891 


of  Elbaafsur-Seine.  entitled  "  Des  Troubles  du  Cote  des  agents 
de  la  Respiration  chez  les  Fileurs,  et  de  leur  Consequences." 

After  a  speech  by  the  President,  complimenting  the  Secre- 
taries on  their  work,  and  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  President,  the 
meetings  of  the  Section  terminated. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Entomological  Society,  September  2. — Mr.  Frederick 
DuCane-Godman,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  G.  F. 
Scott-Elliot  exhibited  a  series  of  various  species  of  Diptera 
collected  on  RanunctilacicE^  Papaveraceat  and  CrucifercB.  He 
said  that  during  the  past  summer  he  had  studied  about  forty 
species  of  plants  belonging  to  the  orders  named,  and  that  they 
had  all  been  visited  by  insects  which  were  probably  necessary 
for  nectariferous  flowers.  The  majority  of  the  Diptera  caught 
were  not  confined  to  one  species  or  even  genus,  but,  in  view  of 
the  unmodified  character  of  the  flower  in  the  orders  named,  this 
was  only  to  be  expected.  Mr.  Verrall  observed  that  certain 
insects  affected  certain  plants,  but  that  the  Geraniacea  were 
seldom  visited.  The  discussion  was  continued  by  Mr.  McLach- 
Ian,  Mr.  Kirby,  and  others. — Mr.  W.  L.  Distant  exhibited  a 
specimen  of  the  orthopterous  insect  Himhaga  hastati^  De 
Sauss.,  which,  in  the  Transvaal,  he  observed  to  attack  and  feed 
on  Danais  chrysippus^  a  butterfly  well  known  from  its  protective 
character  and  distasteful  qualities  to  have  a  complete  immunity 
from  the  usual  Lepidopteral  enemies.  The  Hemisaga  lurked 
amongst  the  tops  of  tall  flowering  grasses,  being  consequently 
disguised  by  its  protective  resemblance  to  the  same,  and  seized 
the  Danais  as  it  settled  on  the  bloom.  From  close  watching 
and  observation,  Mr.  Distant  could  discover  no  other  danger  to 
the  life  of  this  well-known  and  highly  protected  butterfly. — Mr. 
T.  R.  Billups  exhibited  four  species  of  Diptera,  which  he 
believed  to  be  respectively  Oxycera  terminata^  PipeuUa 
annulata^  Clidogastra  punciicepSy  and  Oxyphara  arnicaf 
taken  at  Oxshott,  Surrey,  on  July  1 1  last.  He  men- 
tioned that  all  of  them  were  recorded  in  Mr.  Verrall's  list  only 
as  ''reputed  British."  He  also  exhibited  a  specimen  of 
Hypoderma  bovis^  Deg.,  taken  at  Plumstead  on  July  29  last. — 
Dr.  D.  Sharp,  F.  R.  S. ,  exhibited  several  species  of  ForficuUda^  and 
called  attention  to  the  diverse  conditions  of  the  parts  representing 
the  wings  in  the  apterous  forms. — Mr.  H.  Goss  exhibited  living 
larvae  of  Scoria  dealbata^  reared  from  ova.  They  were  feeding 
on  Polygonum  avicnlarty  but  not  very  freely  ;  Brackypodium 
sylvaticum  had  been  named  as  a  food-plant  for  this  species,  but 
he  did  not  And  that  the  larvae  would  eat  this  or  any  other  grass. 
— The  Rev.  Dr.  Walker  exhibited,  and  read  notes  on,  a  collec- 
tion of  Lepidoptera,  Hymenoptera,  Coleoptera,  Neuroptera, 
and  Diptera,  which  he  had  recently  made  in  Norway. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  7.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Remarks  on  the  influence  that  the  aberration  of  light 
may  exercise  on  spectroscopic  observations  of  solar  prominences, 
by  M.  Fizeau.  Several  observers  have  recently  measured  re- 
markably high  velocities  in  solar  prominences  by  the  application 
of  the  Doppler- Fizeau  principle.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  matter 
of  which  the  eruption  consists  be  ejected  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  ecliptic  with  a  velocity  equal  to  that  of  the  earth  in  its 
orbit,  the  prominence  will  suffer  an  apparent  displacement  of 
20" '445,  in  the  same  manner  that  a  star  is  displaced  by  20" '445 
owing  to  the  motion  of  the  earth  combined  with  the  velocity  of 
light.  Aberration  should  therefore  be  taken  into  account  in 
determining  the  positions  and  heights  attained  by  the  phenomena 
in  question. — On  the  nuipber  of  roots  common  to  several  simul- 
taneous equations,  by  M.  Emile  Picard. — On  the  blending  of  sepa- 
rate chromatic  sensations  perceived  by  each  of  the  two  eyes,  by 
M.  A.  Chauveau.  If  two  colours  are  simultaneously  and  separ- 
ately received  on  the  corresponding  points  of  the  two  retinas  and 
transmitted  respectively  to  the  nervous  centres,  do  they  blend 
together  at  these  centres  and  give  rise  to  the  sensation  of  the 
resultant  colour  ?  This  is  the  question  investigated  by  the 
author.  And  he  flnds  that  there  is  a  real  blending  of  the  colour 
perceptions  resulting  from  the  independent  excitation  of  each  of 
\ki.t  two  retinas. — On  the  influence  of  the  products  of  the  culture 


of  naphyloccque  dori  on  the  vaso-motor  nervous  system  and  on 
the  formation  of  pus,  by  M.  S.  Arloing. — Observations  of  the 
asteroid  discovered  by  Dr.  Palisa  on  August  30,  made  ai 
Toulouse  Observatory,  by  M.  E.  Cosserat.  Three  observations 
foe  position  were  made  on  September  I  and  one  on  September  3. 
— On  the  distribution  in  latitude  of  the  solar  phenomena  observed 
at  the  Royal  Observatory  of  the  Roman  Collie  during  the  first 
half  of  this  year,  by  M.  P.  Tacchini.  Prominences  have  been 
most  frequent  in  the  southern  solar  hemisphere,  as  was  also  the 
case  in  1889  and  1890,  and  the  maximum  of  frequency  in  tic 
zones  ±  4o''-5o°.  The  spots  and  facula;  have  preserved  their 
preponderance  north  of  the  equator,  with  maxima  of  frequency 
in  latitudes  slightly  lower  than  the  prominences.  All  the 
phenomena  have  been  rare  near  the  solar  equator. — Direct 
synthesis  of  primary  alcohols,  by  M.  Paul  Henry. — On  some 
attempts  to  reproduce  acid  rocks,  by  M.  H.  Le  Chatelier.-  On 
the  quantity  of  starch  contained  in  the  tubercles  of  the  radi-h, 
by  M.  P.  Lesage. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

LJvinestone  and  the  Exploration  of  Central  Africa :  H.  H.  Johnston  (Philip). 
—My  Water  Cure  :  S.  Kneipp,  translated  (BUckwo id).— Monthly  Weather 
Reports  of  the  Meteorolofi^cal  Office,  May  to  December  1887  (Eyre  and  Spottis- 
woode).— Houriy  Means,  1887  (Eyre  and  Spotti«iwoode).— Meteocologkal 
Observations  at  Stations  of  the  Second  Order,  1887  (Eyre  and  Spoctiswoodc). 
—Quarterly  Weather  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Onice,  July  to  Decembo' 
x88o,  and  October  to  December  1880  (Eyre  and  Spnttiswoode).— Cvclooe 
Tracks  in  the  South  Indian  Ocean  (Eyre  and  Spottiswoode),— Manntactuit 
of  Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alkali ;  vol.  i.  Sulphuric  Add,  2nd  edition  :  Dr.  G. 
Lunge  (Gumey  and  Jackson).— A  Hand-book  of  the  Destructive  Insecu  d 
Victoria,  Part  i:  C.  French  (Melbourne.  Brain).— Notes  on  Elementanr 
Physiography  :  H.  C.  Martin  (J.  Heywrood).— Pel  >ponnesische  Bergiahnea: 
Dr.  A.  Philippson  (Wien).— An  Account  of  British  Flics,  Part  i :  AL  C  E. 
Leigh  and  F.  V.  Theobald  (E.  StockX —Studies  from  the  Kindergaaeo, 
vol.  iv..  No.  I  (Laurie) —Carta  delle  Strade  Ferrate  I laliane  al  t' Apnle, 
1891  (Roma).— Jahrbuch  derk.  k.  geoloeischen  Keichsanstalt.  Jahrg.  1890,  xl- 
Band,  3  and  4  Heft  (Williams  and  Norgate).— Himmel  und  Erde,  >e^- 
ember  (Berlin,  Paetel).— L'Anthropologie,  1891,  Tome  ii.,  No.  4  (Pan*. 
Masson).— Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  vjI.  xiiL  Part  s 
(117  Victoria  Street). 


CONTENTS- 


PAGI 


Animal  Chlorophyll     By  Prof.   E.   Ray  Lankester, 

F.R.S 465 

Streatfeild's  Practical  Organic  Chemistry 466 

Telescopic  Work 467 

Our  Book  Shelf : — 

**  Abbildungen  zur  Deutschen  Flora  H.  Karsten's  "  .   467 
Aitkin  :  "  Elementary  Text-book  of  Botany  "  .    ...   467 
Letters  to  the  Editor  :— 

A  New  Mammal  from  Sumatra. — ^Prof.  A.  A.  W. 

Hubrecht sf& 

An  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus. — Arthur  Dendy  46S 

The  Sun's  Radiation  of  Heat— W.  Goff \^ 

Morley    Memorial    College.— Miss    Emma    Cons 

(Hon.  Sec.) 4^ 

American    Association    for    the    Advancement    of 

Science :  Washington  Meeting 469 

Rain-making  in  Texas.     By  H.  P.  B.    .......   473 

Notes 475 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Linear  Arrangement  of  Stars 47S 

Wolfs  Periodic  Comet 47S 

Geology  at  the  British  Association 479 

Biology  at  the  British  Association 4S1 

The  Congress  of  Hygiene 4S4 

Societies  and  Academies   ...  4SS 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 48S 


NO.    1 142,  VOL.  44] 


I  - 


NA  TURE 


489 


THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  24,  1891. 


PHYSICAL  UNITS  AND  CONSTANTS. 

Illustrations  of  the  CG.S,  System  of  Units ^  with  Tables 
of  Physical  Constants,  By  Prof.  Everett,  F.R.S. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

THIS  may  be  taken  to  be  the  fourth  edition  of  a  work 
first  published  by  the  Physical  Society  in  a  some- 
what different  form.  Those  who  know  Dr.  Everett  need 
not  be  told  that  he  has  done  everything  that  it  is  possible 
for  an  accurate,  painstaking  author  to  do,  to  bring  each 
successive  edition  as  near  to  perfection  as  possible.  The 
value  of  the  work  to  the  physics  investigator  is  exceed- 
ingly great,  as  everybody  knows  ;  but  it  is  not  so  generally 
well  known  that  it  is  an  excellent  class  exercise  book  for 
students.  There  is  much  new  matter  in  this  edition,  in- 
cluding determinations  of  viscosities,  terrestrial  magnetic 
elements,  magnetic  properties  of  iron  and  other  sub- 
stances, and  heat  measurements. 

The  labours  of  many  men  have  given  to  the  present 
generation  this  beautiful  system  of  units,  which  has  made 
physical  calculation  so  easy,  and  which  has  pointed  out 
in  certain  cases  the  directions  in  which  new  discoveries 
might  be  expected.    And  it  only  requires  a  short  study  of 
certain  parts  of  this  book  to  put  any  student  in  such 
possession  of  the  system  that  he  can  use  it  with  certainty 
and  ease.     Indeed,  to  become  well  acquainted  with  the 
scientific  method  of  calculation  has  almost  been  made 
too  easy  for  certain  clever  men  of  our  acquaintance.     It 
is  far  nobler  to  swim  the  Hellespont  than  to  cross  in  a 
steamer.     At  the  present  time  many  clever  men  are 
possessed  by  a  mania  for  crossing  the  Atlantic  in  boats 
of  eighteen  feet  keel.     It  adds  much  more  to  one's  credit 
to  talk  of  all  kinds  of  hybrid  and  home-made  magnetic 
influences,  than  to  use  the  simple  idea  of  self-induction. 
In  the  same  way  it  is  unfair  to  say  that  certain  practical 
engineers  shirk  the  study  of  Dr.  Everett's  book;  it  is 
much  better  to  put  it  that  these  gentlemen  have  too  much 
originality  to  follow  the  easy  path,  and  when  in  their 
practical  applications  of  physical  principles  they  adopt 
all  sorts  of  ingenious  units  of  their  own  manufacture  to 
whose  use  there  are  limits  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  we  can 
even  feel  sorrowful  over  their  skilfulness,  without  attempt- 
to  thwart  their  ambition. 

The  mechanical  engineer  is  accustomed  to  the  use  of  a 
curious  unscientific  want  of  system  in  his  calculations. 
His  unit  of  force  is  the  weight  of  a  pound  in  London. 
His  velocity  is  in  feet  per  second,  perhaps,  in  the  very 
same  calculation  as  that  in  which  his  pressure  is  in 
pounds  per  square  inch.  It  seems  to  be  too  late  to 
change  this.  No  engineer  can  venture  to  educate  his 
pupils  in  the  use  of  the  CG.S.  system  for  mechanical 
engineering  calculations.  Mrs.  Ali  Baba  measured  her 
gold  by  the  quart,  and  a  mechanical  engineer  thinks 
and  designs  and  talks  with  other  engineers  in  the  usual 
shop  units ;  and  we  may  as  well  think  of  altering  our 
decimal  system  to  a  duodecimal  one,  as  to  talk  of  an 
alteration  in  the  mechanical  engineer's  methods  of  cal- 
culation. It  is  a  very  gpreat  pity,  but  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  reform  seem  to  be  insurmountable.  The 
story  of  these   difficulties  is   too   long   for   the  present 

NO.   1 143,  VOL.  44] 


notice.  But  in  new  applications  of  physics,  in  electrical 
engineering,  for  example,  the  use  of  the  CG.S.  system  is 
not  only  easy  ;  it  requires  a  large  amount  of  ingenuity  in 
any  engineer  to  calculate  in  any  other  than  in  CG.S. 
units,  unless,  indeed,  he  ignores  all  the  experimental  de- 
terminations already  made  for  him  and  tabulated  in  the 
CG.S.  system.  And  yet  such  ingenuity  has  already  been 
exercised,  and  laborious  investigations  have  been  carried 
out  by  some  electrical  engineers,  with  the  result  that 
certain  parts  of  electrical  engineering  are  getting  to  be 
even  more  unscientific  in  the  units  employed  than  any 
part  of  mechanical  engineering.  On  behalf  of  the  cul- 
prits we  may  say,  however,  that  even  Dr.  Everett's  book 
— their  best  guide — has  not  given  them  the  precise  in- 
formation that  it  might  have  done.  In  the  subject  of 
heat,  we  can  now  ignore  the  steam-engine  constructor ; 
we  can  say  to  him,  "  Go  on  using  your  wretched  pounds 
per  square  inch  and  your  foot-pounds  per  minute,  and 
we  will  go  on  using  our  dynes  per  square  centimetre  and 
our  ergs  per  second  because  we  are  nearly  independent 
of  one  another" ;  but  we  can  make  no  such  speech  to  the 
electrical  engineer.  We  physicists  have  to  say  to  him 
that  we  rely  upon  him  to  make  new  discoveries,  to  state 
to  us  new  problems ;  and  if  he  gives  us  information  in 
vague  units  of  his  own,  we  cannot  tabulate  it  for  general 
use,  and  if  he  does  not  state  to  us  his  problem  in  the 
usual  language,  we  are  unable  to  understand  him,  and 
we  can  be  of  no  mutual  use  to  each  other.  But  when  he 
says  to  us  that  our  language  is  cumbrous,  that  he  has  ideas 
to  express  for  which  we  have  no  words,  when  he  uses 
towards  us,  properly  for  once,  that  adjective  "  academic  " 
which  has  been  more  misused  than  Shakespeare's  word 
"  occupy,"  the  culprit  and  the  judge  change  places. 

We  can  blame  him  if  he  invents  unsystematic  units, 
but  not  until  we  have  given  him  the  language  and  units 
that  are  correct.  And  in  some  particulars  the  electric 
engineer  has  the  right  to  blame  us.  For  example,  our 
definition  of  unit  electric  current  is  so  stupid  that  a  mul- 
tiplier or  divisor  of  tt  or  ^ir  enters  quite  unnecessarily 
into  all  electro-magnetic  calculation. 

Concerning  electro-magnets  and  the  magnetic  circuit  of 
a  dynamo  machine  or  a  transformer,  the  practical  en- 
gineer has  a  simple  and  quite  modern  way  of  considering 
problems,  not  yet  recognized  in  such  orthodox  books  as 
this  of  Dr.  Everett.  Magneto-motive  force  and  the 
magnetic  resistance  of  a  circuit  are  expressions  which 
cannot  be  found  in  such  a  book,  and  it  is  not  at  all  un- 
usual for  the  orthodox  physicist  to  treat  the  idea  under- 
lying the  use  of  such  expressions  with  profound  con- 
tempt. The  engineer  and  experimenter  care  less  than 
nothing  for  "  magnetic  susceptibility  "  or  for  "  intensity 
of  magnetization,"  or  for  "  free  magnetism  " ;  these  are, 
to  him,  mementos  of  the  time  of  twelve  years  ago,  when 
the  inventor  made  bricks  in  Egypt,  and  the  very  cleverest 
mathematical  electricians  were  only  distinguished  from 
other  inventors  by  the  greater  magnitude  of  their  blun- 
ders. Dr.  Hopkinson  and  Mr.  Kapp  and  Mr.  Bosanquet 
have  given  us  simple  ways  of  dealing  with  practical 
problems,  ahd  some  of  these  are  now  known  to  every 
apprentice  of  an  electric  engineering  factory ;  but  we 
know  of  no  mathematical  treatise  in  which  they  are  re- 
cognized. Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  Dr.  Everett,  in 
his  next  edition,  will  ignore  the  orthodox  critics,  and 

Y 


490 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


mention  ampere-hours^  and  ampere-turns,  and  Board  of 
Trade  units  f  It  would  perhaps  be  going  too  far  to 
expect  him  to  speak  of  the  drop  of  potential  per  ampere 
in  100  yards  of  "a  cable  of  nine-seventeens,"  for  he  does 
not  aim  at  displacing  the  electricians'  pocket-books  ;  but 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  of  all  engineers  the  electrical 
engineer  is  the  one  who  is  most  inclined  to  orthodoxy, 
who  most  leans  upon  the  mathematician  and  physicist, 
who  is  most  likely  to  use  such  a  book  as  this  ;  and  if  Dr. 
Everett  can  stretch  a  point  in  his  favour,  and  devote,  say, 
four  pages  to  "electrical  engineers'  pocket-book"  in- 
formation, it  will  bind  the  electrical  engineer  to  ortho- 
doxy for  ever.  Why,  for  example,  should  Dr.  Everett 
define  the  "impedance"  of  a  circuit  merely  with  refer- 
ence to  the  circuit  when  conveying  one  particular  kind 
of  alternating  current  ? 

This  book  deserves  much  more  than  a  short  notice, 
and  the  time  may  perhaps  come  when  one  of  our  leaders 
will  write  a  long  critical  article  on  the  whole  subject  of 
units,  pointing  out  the  great  differences  in  derivation  of 
calorimetric  units,  for  example,  and  the  mere  dynamical 
units  employed  in  mechanics  and  electricity — an  article 
which  will  teach  the  student  that,  although  electric  resist- 
ance has  the  same  dimensions  as  a  velocity,  yet  this  is 
a  very  different  thing  from  the  statement  that  it  is  a 
velocity ;  that,  in  spite  of  Paris  Congresses  and  Committees 
of  the  British  Association,  sec  ohm  is  a  scientific  name, 
and  quadrant  is  not.     But,  over  and  above  all  this,  the 
writer  of  the  article  must  not  be,  as  the  present  reviewer 
is,  a  poor  specialist ;  he  must  criticize  this  book  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  general  physicist.   This  book  contains 
the  results  of  all  the  best  experimental  work  of  more  than 
a  century.     It  is  a  book  of  mnemonics.     A  single  line  in 
the  whole  book  recalls  to  us  those  magnificent  memoirs 
of  Dr.  Andrews  which  revolutionized  our  ideas  on  liquids 
and  gases,  and  yet  that  single  line  is  quite  enough  to  the 
physicist.     It  is  dreadful  and  yet  pleasing  to  think  that 
all  the  work  of  a  great  man,  or  perhaps  of  a  generation 
of  great  men,  may  be  condensed  into  a  single  line  of  in- 
formation in  such  a  book  as  this.     Would  Dr.  Andrews 
trouble  himself  very  much  over  this  fact  if  he  were  alive } 
or  would  he  console  himself  with  the  thought  that  every 
physical  fact  discovered  since  1869,  and  here  recorded, 
was,  to  some  extent,  discovered  through  him,  because 
he  had  made  all  physical  workers  his  pupils  }    Would  he 
need  the  consolation  that  Newton  is  not  once  mentioned, 
and  that  Sir  William  Thomson  has  less  space  devoted  to 
him  than  the  meanest  of  his  pupils  ?     Hundreds  of  years 
hence,  the  scientific  world  will  be  the  better  for  the  ex- 
perimental work  now  going  on,  and  it  will  have  forgotten 
the  name  of  almost  every  worker.     Our  determination  of 
something  is  only  right  to  four  significant  figures,  and  so 
it  will  never  be  quoted  because  a  man  of  next  century 
will  have  measured  it  with  accuracy  to  five  significant 
figures.     How  many  of  us  can  be  sure  that  a  single  line 
of  such  a  book  as  this,  published  a  century  hence,  will  be 
devoted  to  the  record  of  any  of  his  experimental  results  ? 
Is  there  or  is  there  not  a  satisfaction  in  knowing  that, 
one  thousand  years  hence,  the  names  of  even  Faraday 
and  Maxwell  and  Thomson  will  be  as  little   known  as 
ours.     The  age  deserves  a   Homer,  and  a  memory  of 
thousands  of  years  ;  and  one  book  of  the  epic  ought  to  be 
a  list  of  all  the  men  mentioned  by  Dr.  Everett,  saying 

NO.    I  143,  VOL.  44] 


what  weapons  each  of  them  had  brought  for  the  common 
fight  against  the  powers  of  darkness.  But  alas,  the  new 
Homer  will  probably  not  come  into  being  for  another 
three  hundred  years,  and  he  will  be  a  blind  poet,  and  he 
will  probably  immortalize  the  wrong  people. 

John  Perry. 


OYSTERS. 

Oysters  and  all  about  them.  Being  a  Complete  HistOT)* 
of  the  Titular  Subject,  exhaustive  on  all  points  of 
necessary  and  curious  information  from  the  Earliest 
Writers  to  those  of  the  Present  Time,  with  numerous 
Additions,  Facts,  and  Notes.  By  John  R.  Philpots 
(London  and  Leicester  :  Richardson  and  Co.,  1891.) 

The  Oyster :  a  Popular  Summary  of  a  Scientific  Study. 
By  Prof.  W.  K.  Brooks,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity. (Baltimore  :  Johns  Hopkins  Press.  London 
Agents:  Messrs.  Wesley,  1891.) 

HISTORIANS  of  the  oyster  revel  in  ambitious  titles. 
**  The  Oyster  :  Where,  How,  and  When  to  Find, 
Breed,  Cook,  and  Eat  it  "  suggested  a  somewhat  extensive 
field  for  the  tiny  octavo  which  Cruikshank  illustrated, 
but  yet  greater  anticipations  are  raised  by  the  title  of  Mr. 
Philpots's  contribution  to  the  subject. 

Unfortunately,  this  promise  is  not  borne  out ;  not 
from  lack  of  labour  on  the  writer's  part,  but  from  the 
want  of  that  critical  knowledge  which  can  alone  make  a 
compilation  of  this  nature  valuable.  Mr.  Philpots  has 
thrown  together,  with  but  little  arrangement,  into  two 
volumes  of  1300  pages,  scraps  from  every  conceivable 
source  relating  to  the  oyster,  and  this  without  any  critical 
treatment  whatever  :  all  are  oysters  that  come  to  his 
dredge.  Since  at  least  as  much  erroneous  information  is 
current  about  the  oyster  as  about  any  other  well-known 
animal,  and  since  it  appears  to  exert  nearly  the  same 
deleterious  influence  as  the  horse  on  the  truthfulness  of 
those  who  deal  in  it,  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  the 
1 300  pages  abound  with  errors  and  contradictor)'  state- 
ments, and  form  a  most  untrustworthy  guide  to  the 
complicated  subject  of  which  they  treat. 

The  melancholy  side  of  the  situation  is  that,  had  the 
compiler,  evidently  an  enthusiast  for  his  subject,  devoted 
the  time  and  labour  expended  on  the  collection  of  para- 
graphs from  untrustworthy  authorities,  to  qualifying  him- 
self for  his  task  by  obtaining  a  personal  and  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  oyster  in  all  its  relations  of  life^ 
he  might  have  produced  a  less  bulky  work,  but  one  of 
permanent  value  ;  as  it  is,  the  only  passages  which  we 
have  been  able  to  identify  as  indicating  that  Mr.  Philpots 
has  seen  an  oyster  or  an  oyster-bed,  are  to  be  found  in 
his  account  of  ten  sorts  of  oysters  sent  to  him  by  a 
London  dealer,  among  which,  by  the  way,  the  real  native 
does  not  occur  (pp.  332-36),  and  in  chapter  xix.,  contain- 
ing a  short  account  of  the  Poole  fisheries. 

To  correct  the  errors  of  Mr.  Philpots's  authorities,  and 
to  indicate  his  omissions,  would  be  to  criticize,  not  one 
book,  but  all  the  readily  accessible  matter  which  has  been 
written  on  oysters  for  the  last  half-century ;  accessible 
matter  only,  for  even  as  a  compiler  Mr.  Philpots  has 
not  the  requisite  qualifications  for  his  task,  being 
seemingly  dependent  for  his  information  about  foreign 
oysters  upon  the  translations  and  abstracts  which  ha^-e 


September  24,  1891] 


MA  TURE 


491 


appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  Report  and  Bulletin 
of  the  United  States  Fish  Commission,  and  upon  the 
Hand-books,  &c.,  to  the  International  Fisheries  Ex- 
liibition.  These,  with  Grenville  Murra/s  "  The  Oyster, 
Where,  How,  When,"  &c  (1861  and  1863),  Williams's 
^  Silvershell ;  or  the  Adventures  of  an  Oyster"  (1856), 
and  Eyton's  "History  of  the  Oyster"  (1858),  are  the 
chief  part  of  his  stock-in-trade ;  to  which  may  be  added 
newspaper  articles,  reviews,  extracts  from  popular  natural 
histories,  &c.  Besides  these  "authorities,"  some  fifty 
pages,  largely  taken  from  Gwyn  Jeffreys's  "  Conchology," 
deal  with  Brachiopoda  (!),  Anomiadae,  Pectinidae,  and 
Ostreidae  ;  under  the  latter  family  there  is  an  account  of 
Ostrea  edults,  but  none  of  Ostrea  {Gryphaa)  anfrulata 
and  virginica^  although  the  book  does  not  profess  to  be 
confined  to  the  former  species ;  and  about  212  pages  are 
occupied  by  reprints  of  Parliamentary  papers  of  various 
sorts. 

The  only  chapter  in  which  we  are  at  one  with  Mr. 
Philpots  is  that  in  which  an  appeal  is  made  to  the 
Government  to  take  the  "  oyster  question  "  seriously  in 
hand,  though  even  here  we  cannot  but  regret  the  tone 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Unhappily, 
however,  there  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  the  inspectors 
sent  by  the  Board  to  report  on  oyster  fisheries  have  often 
been  unfit  for  their  task,  and  have,  sometimes  at  any 
rate,  been  freely  fooled  by  interested  parties,  for  want  of  a 
little  practical  acquaintance  with  their  subject.  This  has 
been  pointed  out  again  and  again,  not  only  as  regards 
oyster  fisheries,  but  also  in  connection  with  other  fishery 
questions  ;  but  it  cannot  be  pointed  out  too  often.  A 
point  to  which  Mr.  Philpots  should  have  drawn  public 
attention  is  that,  if  the  proposition  to  move  the  London 
drainage  outfall  to  Foulness  take  effect,  the  best  of  the 
few  remaining  grounds  for  breeding  the  almost  extinct 
*^  native"  {sensu  sirictd)  will  in  all  probability  be  ruined. 

A  book  of  a  different  calibre  is  that  of  Prof.  Brooks. 
It  is  avowedly  merely  an  attempt  to  rouse  the  State  of 
Maryland  to  take  such  measures  with  regard  to  the  oyster- 
fisheries  as  can  alone  prevent  their  ruin,  measures  such 
as  some  other  States  have  already  taken  with  marked 
success.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  of  Prof.  Brooks 
that  his  little  book  is  a  clear  and  accurate  summary  of 
what  is  known  about  the  American  species,  for  few  men 
can  speak  with  more  authority  on  the  subject.  We  can 
only  hope  that  the  Legislature  to  which  he  appeals  may 
be  more  far-sighted  than  our  own.  Had  the  restrictions 
which  he  advocates  been  laid  on  our  English  public  beds 
iifty  years  ago,  the  rare  "native  "  might  be  almost  as  cheap 
now  as  in  those  almost  forgotten  days  when  the  market 
was  not  yet  flooded  with  French  and  Dutch  produce 
posing  as  the  genuine  article,  and  oyster  grottos  were 
Si  familiar  feature  of  the  streets. 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MOSQUITOES, 
£>ragon'flies  v.  Mosquitoes.     (New  York ;   D.  Appleton 
and  Company,  1890.) 

THE  book  before  us  consists  of  three  prize  essays 
written  in  response  to  a  circular  issued  in  1889  to 
*'  The  Working  Entomologists  of  the  Country,"  offering 
certain  prizes  for  essays  containing  original  investigations 
on  methods  for  destroying  the  mosquito  and  the  house-fly. 

VOL.  44] 


The  prizes  were  offered  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Lambom,  whose 
position  as  Director  of  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi 
Railway  had  caused  him  to  spend  a  considerable  time 
encamped  in  the  swampy  forests  which  surround  the 
head  of  the  great  lake.  Here  he  came  into  contact  with 
mosquitoes  of  the  most  irritating  kind,  and  here  he  made 
the  interesting  observations  on  their  destruction  by  dragon- 
flies  which  stimulated  him  to  offer  the  above-mentioned 
prizes.  The  lines  laid  down  in  the  circular  as  to  the 
direction  which  the  investigations  should  follow  have 
reference  chiefly  to  the  destruction  of  these  insect  pests 
by  dragon-flies.  The  competitors  were  also  required  to 
examine  which  species  of  Odonata  are  best  adapted  for 
the  purpose,  to  investigate  their  habits,  and  the  possible 
methods  of  breeding  them  in  large  numbers.  But  al- 
though this  line  of  inquiry  is  suggested,  the  practical 
object  of  the  investigation  is  to  determine  whether  it  is 
possible  to  diminish  or  extinguish  the  noxious  Diptera, 
and  if  so,  by  what  means. 

The  essay  which  gained  the  first  prize  is  by  Mrs.  C.  B. 
Aaron,  who  gives  a  careful  account  of  the  habits  and 
life-history  of  both  the  Diptera  in  question,  and  of  the 
Odonata,  and  then  considers  the  advisability  and  the 
means  of  exterminating  the  former.  The  gravest  charge 
which  is  adduced  against  these  Diptera,  apart  from  the 
irritation  they  cause,  is  that  they  act  as  carriers  of  such 
parasites  as  Filaria,  and  possibly  of  some  species  of 
Taenia,  whilst  they  undoubtedly  serve  to  disseminate 
Bacteria  associated  with  certain  infectious  diseases.  In 
their  favour  it  may,  however,  be  said  that  they  act  as  very 
efficient  scavengers,  especially  during  the  larval  period 
of  their  life-history  ;  and  it  is  a  very  open  question  whether 
the  world  would  be  much  benefited  by  the  total  extinction 
of  the  two  genera  Culex  and  Musca.  Without  attempt- 
ing to  decide  this  point,  Mrs.  Aaron  proceeds  to  consider 
the  possibility  and  the  cost  of  attempting  their  exter- 
mination. 

The  plan  of  pitting  the  dragon-fly  against  the  gnat — a 
plan  similar  to  that  which  Prof.  Riley  has  brought  to 
such  a  successful  termination  by  encouraging  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  orange  scale,  Icerya  purchasi,  by  means  of  a 
small  beetle,  the  Vedalia  cardinalis,  imported  from 
Australia — is  dismissed  in  a  few  words,  for  reasons 
which  are  considered  at  greater  length  in  the  follow- 
ing essays  ;  but  several  mechanical  means  are  suggested, 
the  most  promising  and  cheapest  of  which,  in  the  case  oi 
the  mosquito,  is  to  spray  with  crude  petroleum  all  collec- 
tions of  stagnant  water  which  cannot  be  easily  drained. 
The  oil  forms  a  thin  film  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
effectually  clogs  the  aperture  of  the  breathing  tubes  as 
soon  as  the  larvae  come  to  the  surface,  as  they  must  do, 
for  air. 

The  authors  of  the  two  remaining  essays,  Mr.  Weeks 
and  Mr.  Beutenmuller,  divide  the  second  and  third 
prizes.  The  former  commences  his  essay  with  a  valuable 
table,  giving  details  of  the  time  of  appearance,  of  the 
comparative  voracity,  and  of  the  habitat  of  sixteen  spe- 
cies of  dragon-fly  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  New 
York.  From  these,  three  are  selected — Anax  Junius,  and 
yEschna  constricta  and  heros — ^as  the  most  likely  to  prove 
destroyers  of  mosquitoes.  When,  however,  the  life-histories 
of  the  opposed  insects  are  compared,  it  becomes  at  once 
evident  that  we  must  not  trust  to  the  Odonata  to  rid  us  of 


492 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


the  biting  Culicidae.  The  breeding  and  artificial  rearing 
of  dragon-flies  present  almost  insuperable  difticulties, 
for,  when  the  larval  stage  is  attained,  each  individual 
would  have  to  be  isolated,  because  they  are  apt  to  devour 
each  other  when  confined  in  a  limited  space.  Irre- 
spective of  the  question  of  breeding,  an  insect  which 
produces  but  one  brood  a  year,  and  lives  but  a  few  days 
in  the  imago  condition,  has  little  chance  of  seriously 
affecting  a  race  whose  numerous  annual  generations 
succumb  only  to  the  severest  weather.  In  its  natural 
condition  the  dragon-fly  does  not  correspond  sufficiently 
closely  with  the  mosquito,  either  in  time  or  space,  to  give 
it  any  real  chance  of  effecting  the  destruction  of  the 
latter ;  its  breeding-places  are  also  more  restricted,  as 
it  requires  a  volume  of  water  which  is  constant  for 
some  little  time,  whereas  the  mosquito,  with  its  quicker 
metamorphosis,  can  make  use  of  any  temporary  puddle. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  all  three  essays  is, 
that  if  a  serious  attempt  is  to  be  made  to  combat  these 
most  annoying  insects,  the  means  to  be  adopted  with 
most  chance  of  success  lie  rather  in  the  direction  of 
draining  swamps,  raising  fish,  and  encouraging  water- 
fowl in  the  infested  ponds,  and,  where  it  would  not  be 
injurious,  using  crude  oil,  than  in  any  efforts  to  increase 
the  supply  of  dragon-flies. 

Mrs.  Aaron  and  Mr.  Beutenmuller  have  appended  to 
their  essays  useful  lists  of  papers  on  the  subject  of  their 
work  ;  and  the  latter  has  added  a  preliminary  list  of  the 
Odonata  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  a  very  useful 
catalogue  of  the  "described  transformations  of  the 
Odonata  of  the  world."  The  book  is  illustrated  with 
several  plates,  which  depict  stages  in  the  life-history  of 
the  insects  in  question,  and  various  mechanical  devices 
for  attracting  mosquitoes,  by  means  of  lamps,  to  an  oily 
grave  ;  and  for  spraying  with  petroleum  the  water  in  which 
they  breed.  A.  E.  S. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Materials  for  a  Flora  of  the  Malayan  Peninsula.  No.  3. 
By  George  King,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c.  Reprinted  from 
the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  LX. 
Part  2. 

Dr.  King's  third  contribution  towards  a  flora  of  the 
Malayan  Peninsula  contains  the  Malvales^  and  comprises 
almost  as  large  a  proportion  of  new  species  as  the  two 
preceding  parts,  but  no  new  genus.  The  Malvaceae 
number  twenty-four  species  belonging  to  eleven  genera  ; 
the  Sterculiaceae,  forty  eight  species  belonging  to  twelve 
genera  ;  and  the  Tiliaceae,  fifty-eight  species  belonging  to 
nine  genera.  Although  25  per  cent,  of  the  species  are 
new,  there  are  only  three  of  the  first  natural  order  and 
five  of  the  second  ;  the  rest  belong  to  the  Tiliaceae,  of 
which  nearly  half  are  new.  Nine  out  of  ten  species  of 
Pentace  were  previously  undescribed,  and  only  two  others 
are  known.  There  are  seven  additional  species  of  the 
characteristic  genus  Elceocarpus^  out  of  a  total  of  twenty- 
three.  This  is  the  largest  number  of  any  one  genus, 
though  Sterculia  comes  next  with  twenty- two  species.  It 
will  be  perceived  that  the  new  species  are  almost  ex- 
clusively trees.  The  flora  of  Malacca  and  Cochin-china 
is  exceedingly  rich  in  the  arboreous  element ;  the  number 
of  new  species  described  by  Dr.  King  in  his  various 
monographs  and  by  Dr.  Pierre  in  his  "  Flore  Foresti^re 
de  la  Cochinchine  "  being  something  enormous. 

\V.  B.  H. 

NO.    1 143,  VOL.  44] 


Zoological  Wall  Pictures,  Three  Diagrams,  each  32 
inches  by  42  inches.     (London  :  S.P.C.K.) 

The  Animals  of  the  World,  arranged  according  to  I  heir 
Geographical  Distribution.  Third  Edition,  Revised 
and  Re-drawn.  Size,  58  inches  square.  (London :  Moffatt 
and  Paige.) 

The  first  named  'depict  (i)  fishes,  as  represented  by  the 
cod,  eel,  and  herring ;  (2)  chelonians,  as  exemplified  by 
the  common  water  tortoise  and  the  Greek  land  tortoise, 
together  with  drawings  of  parts  of  the  chelonian  skeleton  ; 
(3)  insect  pests,  in  the  persona  of  the  Pine  Bark  nnd 
Colorado  beetles,  the  larvae  of  which  are  delineated. 
The  diagrams  are  both  bold  and  accurate,  and  good  of 
their  class. 

The  second  named  embodies  an  attempt  to  represent 
the  distribution  of  the  animals  selected  in  latitudinal 
series.  The  plan,  although  a  good  one,  is  manifestly 
insufficient,  inasmuch  as  by  its  means  no  provision  can 
be  made  for  overlap.  However,  for  a  bold  wall  diagram, 
the  picture  may  be  recommended.  Its  meaning  is  at 
once  obvious  ;  and  a  fact  such  as  the  occurrence  of  seals 
and  whales  at  extreme  latitudes,  which  at  once  arrests 
the  attention,  is  sufficient  in  itself  to  arouse  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  in  any  active  mind.  In  future  editions  the  word 
"  Some"  might  with  advantage  be  substituted  for  the  article 
"  The  "  which  heads  the  title. 

CrozeVs  Voyage  to  Tasmania,  New  Zealand,  the  Ladrane 
Islands,  and  the  Philippines,  in  the  Years  177 1-72, 
Translated  by  H.  Ling  Roth.  Illustrated.  (London  : 
Truslove  and  Shirley,  1891.) 

In  1769  a  Tahitian  was  brought  to  Europe  by  Bougain- 
ville as  "  a  human  curiosity."  Afterwards  he  was  sent  to 
the  Mauritius,  the  Governor  of  which  was  instructed  to 
forward  him  to  his  destination.  The  task  of  restoring 
him  to  his  native  land  was  undertaken  by  Marion  du 
Fresne,  who  was  then  a  well-to-do  resident  in  the  tie  de 
France  ;  and  thus  originated  the  expedition  the  story  oi 
which  is  recorded  in  the  present  volume.  The  party 
started  in  two  vessels,  and  Marion  proposed,  in  the  course 
of  the  voyage,  to  [do  much  exploring  work — a  kind  of 
enterprise  for  which  he  seems  to  have  been  well  fitted,  as 
he  had  been  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  French  na^*y. 
Unhappily,  some  members  of  the  expedition,  including 
Marion  himself,  were  massacred  by  the  Maories.  The 
voyage,  however,  was  continued,  and  in  1783  an  account 
of  it  was  published  which  had  been  compiled  and  edited 
by  the  Abb<5  Rochon,  the  well-known  traveller,  from  the 
log  of  M.  Crozet,  who,  after  Marion's  death,  commanded 
one  of  his  two  ships.  It  is  this  account  which  Mr.  Ling 
Roth  has  translated.  The  work  will  be  read  with  interest 
by  students  of  the  history  of  geographical  discoverj-,  and 
a  good  many  of  M.  Crozet's  statements  about  savage  life 
have  considerable  value  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
ethnographer  and  the  anthropologist.  A  preface,  and  a 
brief  reference  to  the  literature  of  New  ZeaJand,  are  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  J.  R.  Boos^,  Librarian  of  the  Colonial 
Institute  ;  and  the  volume  contains,  besides  maps,  very 
good  illustrations  of  some  works  of  Maori  art. 

Livingstone  and  the  Exploration  of  Central  Africa.  By 
H.  H.  Johnston,  C.B.,  F.R.G.S.,  &c.  (London  :  G. 
Philip  and  Son,  1891.) 

This  volume  ranks  with  the  best  of  the  series  to  which  it 
belongs—"  The  World^s  Great  Explorers  and  Explorations.*' 
Mr.  Johnston  realizes  fully  the  splendour  of  Livingstone's 
achievements,  and  has  succeeded  admirably  in  bringing 
out  their  significance  in  the  history  of  African  exploration. 
He  begins  with  two  excellent  general  chapters  dealing 
with  the  "  natural  history  "  and  the  "  human  history  "  of 
Central  Africa  ;  and  afterwards  he  gives  vivid  accounts  of 
all  the  various  regions  traversed  by  his  hero.  Thus  the 
reader  is  enabled  to  form  his  own  opinion  as  to  the  value 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


493 


of  Livingstone's  services.  The  strictly  biographical  part 
of  the  work  is  equally  well  done.  All  the  world  aerees 
that  Livingstone  was  one  of  the  noblest  men  who  nave 
ever  devoted  themselves  to  travel.  This  is  felt  strongly  by 
Mr,  Johnston,  and  he  has  been  able  to  express  his  feeling 
effectively  without  extravagance  and  without  any  attempt 
at  fine  writing.  The  book  will  especially  interest  young 
readers,  but  may  be  studied  with  pleasure  and  profit  by 
readers  of  any  age.  There  are  many  good  illustrations 
from  photographs  or  drawings  by  the  author,  and  seven 
maps  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

( The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Ntither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of  refected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  ll^KTUKB.. 
Ho  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications,] 

The  National  Home-Reading  Union. 

When  one  remembers  the  difficulties  with  which  one's  own 
first  efforts  to  study  Nature  were  beset,  it  seems  a  pity  that  any 
youthftd  student  should  be  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  an 
organization  which  can  do  much  towards  making  his  path 
smooth. 

The  National  Home- Reading  Union  endeavours  to  guide 
chose  who  cannot  obtain  aural  instruction  into  the  safest  and 
most  attractive  roads.  Lists  of  books  are  drawn  up  ;  difficulties 
and  discrepancies  in  systematic  reading  are,  as  far  as  possible, 
foreseen  and  removed  in  the  pages  of  the  magazine  ;  questions 
are  answered  by  those  who  conduct  the  courses.  Last  year  and 
the  year  before,  the  courses  on  organic  and  inorganic  Nature 
were  in  the  charge  of  Mr.  Francis  Darwin,  Dr.  Hickson,  and 
Dr.  Kimmins.  This  year,  geologv  is  undertaken  by  Mr.  Marr, 
and  cryptogamic  botany  by  Mr.  Murray  ;  and  any  persons  who 
wish  to  work  at  these  subjects  may  save  themselves  much  labour 
and  misplaced  reading  by  writing  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Union, 
Surrey  House,  Victoria  Embankment,  for  a  prospectus.  Mr. 
Murray  tells  me  that  it  is  often  pitiful  to  see  how  much  effort 
has  been  wasted  by  people  who  come  to  the  British  Museum  to 
educate  themselves,  owing  to  the  need  of  guidance  to  the  right 
books  with  which  to  commence  their  studies. 

I  trust  that  this  good  work  will  commend  itself  to  you  as 
worthy  of  notice.  Alex.  Hill. 

Downing  Lodge,  September  17. 


Notoryctes  typhlops. 

Allow  me  to  protest  against  the  misnomer  "Marsupial 
Mole "  applied  to  Dr.  Stirling's  marvellous  mammal  by  Mr. 
Sclater,  both  in  the  Times  and  in  Nature.  "  Mole- like  Mar- 
supial "  it  may  be,  but  the  other  phrase  has  quite  a  different 
meaning,  and  either  shows  a  want  of  appreciation  of  important 
characters,  or  implies  a  theory  which,  however  plausible,  has 
not  been  proved.  Alfred  Newton. 

September  12. 


I  WISH  that  Prof.  Greenhill  would  kindly  explain  to  a  bewil- 
dered reader  of  your  paper  the  nature  of  his  quarrel  with 
•*  W  =  M^,"  and  with  the  writers  of  "theoretical"  treatises 
wlio  use  this  equation. 

To  those  trained  to  regard  quantity  of  matter  as  measured  by 
is  inertia,  and  who  regard  the  **  mass  "  of  a  body  as  the  quan- 
ity  of  matter,  so  measured,  which  it  contains,  the  equation 
biV  =  M^  has  a  pretty  clear  meaning. 

A  cerUin  body  ''has  a  mass  M/°this  being  the  measure  of 
ts  inertia  in  terms  of  that  of  the  mass-unit.  This  body  is 
»l>served  to  have  an  acceleration  ^.  We  argue,  from  Newton's 
rxperimental  laws,  that  there  is  a  force  acting  on  it ;  and  we 
aeasnre  this  force  by  a  number  which  is  the  product  of  the  two 
iimiibers,  M  (the  measure  of  the  mass  of  the  body),  and  ^  (the 
a^asure  of  the  acceleration  observed). 

NO.    1 143,  VOL.  44] 


If  we  observe  a  tight  string  attached  to  the  body  in  question, 
and  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  no  other  cause  for 
the  observed  acceleration,  we  say  that  M^  measures  the  tension 
T  of  the  string;  or  write  **T  =  M^."  If  the  acceleration  be 
due  to  the  presence  of  the  earth  only,  we  say  that  the  earth 
exerts  a  force  [the  ''half"  of  the  mutual  stress]  on  the  body, 
measured  by  M^.  This  force  we  call  the  "  weight  of  the  body  ' ; 
and  the  equation  W  =  M^  gives  us  the  measure  of  the  "weight"* 
as  deduced  from  the  observation  of  rate  of  change  of  momentum 
produced  by  it. 

If  I  felt  sure  that  Prof.  Greenhill  considers  M  to  be  still 

W 

merely  a  convenient  abbreviation  for  —  ,1  would  say  more  on 

•  ^ 
this  matter ;  but  I  am  in  doubt  as  to  what  are  the  views  of 

which  he  is  so  strong  an  opponent. 

I  see  that  he  wishes  to  abolish  "^"  from  works  on  hydro- 
statics. Why  ?  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  conveniently  indicate 
the  dependence  [cateris  paribusl  of  hydrostatic  pressure  on 
the  strength  of  the  earths  gravitational  field  of  force  at  any 
given  place  otherwise  than  by  the  introduction  of  ^.  But,  as  I 
have  already  implied,  I  am  as  yet  in  the  dark  as  to  the  precise 
nature  of  the  quarrel  between  Prof.  Greenhill  and  the  theorists. 

Devonport,  August  17.  W.  Larden. 

[We  look  to  America  for  dear,  unprejudiced  ideas  on  the 
definitions  of  elementary  dynamics,  and  Mr.  Frederick  Slate's 
letter  from  California  is  a  valuable  contribution,  to  which  I  hope 
Mr.  Larden  has  directed  his  attention. 

The  quotations  from  certain  elementary  treatises  which  form 
Mr.  Larden's  letter  are  the  statements  it  was  my  chief  object  to 
dispute  ;  according  to  this  school  of  writers,  the  Standard  Pound 
Weight  is  not  the  lump  of  platinum  preserved  at  the  Exchequer, 
but  rather  it  is  the  pressure  on  the  bottom  of  the  box  in  which 
it  is  kept. 

When  goods  are  sold  in  commerce  by  weight,  they  are 
weighed  in  scales,  and  the  weight  is  the  same  wherever  the 
weighing  is  carried  out,  whether  at  the  equator,  or  the  poles,  or 
in  the  Moon,  Sun,  or  Jupiter  ;  so  that  the  weight  cannot  be  said 
to  depend  on  the  local  value  of  g^  the  only  effect  of  which  is  to 
(lightly  alter  the  infinitesimal  strain  of  the  balance. 

Let  Mr.  Larden  consult  the  recent  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  Electrical  Standards,  to  see  how  carefully  the  units  must  be 
defined  to  satisfy  practical  commercial  requirements. — A.  G.  G.] 


When  I  was  young,  I  never  had  the  presumption  to  under- 
stand the  use  of  "^  in  Questions  connecting  mass  and  weight, 
and  I  fear  my  boy  takes  after  me. 

He  told  me  the  other  day  that  he  understood  how  a  falling 
body  could  have  its  velocity  increased  per  second  with  a  velocity  of 
gt  or  32  feet  per  second  ;  and  that  he  knew  that  m  =  stuff  in  a 
body,  and  w  =  its  weight,  but  he  could  not  see  what  the 
"blooming g**  (I  think  that  is  what  he  called  it)  had  to  do  with 
the  matter. 

I  replied  that  no  doubt,  if  we  could  only  understand  it,  it  had 
a  beneficent  use  in  the  economy  of  nature. 

Tommy  Atkins,  Senior. 


Sleep  Movements  in  Plants. 

I  READ  the  other  day  in  a  local  paper  that  "  Mr.  Seemann, 
the  naturalist  of  Kellett's  Arctic  Expedition,"  states  that  plants 
undergo  sleep  movements  at  regular  intervals  (presumably  once 
in  24  hours)  during  the  long  period  when  the  sun  never  sets. 
Has  thb  been  authenticated  ?  I  thought  it  was  well  known  that 
a  plant  does  not  undergo  periodic  variations  of  the  kind  if  it  has 
never  been  subjected  to  the  regular  succession  of  light  and  dark- 
ness. Other  instances  are  the  daily  periodicity  of  the  strength 
of  so-called  "  root-pressure  "  and  of  tne  rate  of  growth.  But  if 
the  above  observations  are  correct,  not  only  have  the  sleep- 
movements  become  independent  of  the  ordinary  determining 
conditions  in  the  individual,  but  they  have  become  hereditary  in 
the  species.  If  the  movements  really  possess  the  significance 
usually  assigned  to  them  (of  checking  excessive  radiation)  this 
would  seem  to  negative  the  prevalent  view  that  the  state  of 
panmixia  alone  suffices  for  the  disappearance  or  degeneration  of 
a  structure  or  mechanism.  A.  G.  Tansley. 

September  19. 


494 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


An  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus. 

Mr.  Dendy's  observation  of  the  extrusion  of  incompletely 
developed  eggs  in  Peripatus  is  not,  as  he  appears  to  think, 
entirely  new.  Captain  Hutton  was  the  first  to  observe  it,  in 
P,  nova-zealandicE,  and  I  confirmed  his  observation  for  the  same 
species  in  my  monograph  of  the  genus.  No  one  knows  whether 
^the  eggs  so  extruded  undergo  complete  development.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  the  process,  which  has  only  been  observed 
in  animals  in  captivity,  is  an  abnormal  one,  and  is  caused  by  the 
alteration  in  the  conditions  of  the  animal's  life.  We  know  that 
the  New  2^aland  species  does  bring  forth  fully-developed 
young. 

I  hope  that  Mr.  Dendy  will  carry  out  his  intention  of  fully 
investigating  the  development  of  the  Australian  species. 

A.  Sedgwick. 

Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  September  i8. 


A  Rare  Phenomenon. 

On  a  visit  to  Dunecht,  I  was  just  leaving  the  Observatory 
about  11.18  G.M.T.  on  the  loth  inst.,  when  I  saw  a  sharply- 
defined  straight  streak  of  light  arching  tbe  sky  from  east  to 
west.  It  was  about  l°  in  width,  and  of  uniform  brightness  from 
side  to  side,  but  more  intense  towards  the  western  horizon, 
where  it  disappeared  behind  the  trees  at  an  altitude  of  some  4^. 
Eastward  it  extended  across  the  constellation  of  Andromeda, 
near  the  girdle,  quite  beyond  the  convergence  point  of  auroral 
rays,  or  fully  120  from  the  western  horizon.  This  much  I  saw, 
but  cannot  say  if  the  streak  passed  north  or  south  of  the  Great 
Nebula. 

Endeavouring  to  lay  down  its  course,  I  perceived  that  it  was 
rapidly  fading,  and  at  the  same  time  drifting  southwards  at  a 
rate  of,  perhaps,  i**  in  five  minutes.  At  lih.  21 'om.  G.M.T. 
the  western  portion  was  considered  to  cross  the  celestial  equator 
in  R.  A.  262^**,  passing  through  a  point  in  R.  A.  310*"  and  Decl. 
+  23"*  (1840*0).  In  the  meantime  the  eastern  portion  had  faded 
away.  Although  there  was  a  bright  aurora  in  the  north-north- 
west, I  did  not  think  that  the  streak  was  auroral  in  character, 
but  rather  that  it  had  been  caused  by  the  passage  of  a  large 
meteorite.  Next  day,  however,  I  stumbled  on  an  account  of  a 
similar  appearance  seen,  together  with  an  aurora,  by  the  Rev. 
Edmund  Barrel,  at  Sutton  at- Hone,  in  Kent,  on  March  30, 
1 71 7  (O.S.).  In  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  xxx.,  afier 
describing  an  ordinary  aurora,  the  account  runs  : — 

**  Near  Eleven  a  Clock,  there  was  (besides  the  Northern 
Brightness)  a  long  Streak,  not  very  broad,  extended  Easi  and 
West :  Which  beginning  in  the  Serpent s- Heady  near  Hercules^ - 
Club,  and  covering  Arcturus,  proceeded  near  Btrinices  Hair, 
and  so  went  over  Cor  Leonis,  and  thence  to  Cantcu/a,  [Procyon, 
for  Sirius  had  already  set]  and  ended  a  little  beyond  that  Star. 
It  shone  very  bright  at  first,  hut  faded  away  in  about  Eight  or 
Nine  Minutes.  If  it  had  Motion  (which  I  am  not  sure  of)  it  was 
Southward.  I  waited  for  the  next  Fit  of  Brightness  of  the 
Aurora  ;  and  in  about  Seven  Minutes,  the  Eastern  Part  of  the 
Streak,  viz.  from  the  Serpent* s-Head  to  near  Rerinices  Hair, 
became  visible  again  tho'  dim,  and  was  quite  effaced  in  Four  or 
Five  Minutes  more  :  And  I  did  not  yet  perceive  any  Change  of 
its  Place." 

The  course  described  agrees  fairly  with  the  arc  of  a  great 
circle  120"  in  length,  joining  Procyon  and  the  head  of  Serpens. 

Assuming  the  Dunech^  arch  to  have  been  also  part  of  a  great 
circle,  its  highest  point  must  have  been  8**  50'  east  of  the 
meridian,  at  an  altitude  of  62**  24'  above  the  southern  horizon. 
The  Magnetic  Survey  of  Profs.  RUcker  and  Thorpe  gives  the 
point  to  which  the  dipping-needle  is  directed  as  19°  49'  E.  ;  alti- 
tude 71'  3',  for  1891  "69. 

A  letter  signed  "  Wigtownshire  "  in  the  Scotsman  of  Septem- 
ber 14,  dated  September  I2,  says  : — **  There  appeared  here 
last  night,  between  nine  and  ten,  a  very  bright,  luminous  arch, 
reaching  from  south-west  to  north-east.  It  extended  directly 
over  the  zenith  from  horizon  to  horizon,  and  formed  a  very 
interesting  spectacle  while  it  lasted,  which  was  only  about  half 
an  hour.  It  seemed  to  be  of  electric  origin  from  its  wavy 
motion,  and  was  slightly  tinged  pink  at  the  eastern  point  just 
above  the  horizon.  ..." 

Assuming  the  correctness  of  the  dates  on  which  the  arch  was 
observed — and  of  the  Dunecht  date  I  am  quite  certain — it 
seems  that  this  rare  phenomenon  was  visible  on  two  successive 
nights.  Ralph  Copeland. 

Royal  Observatory,  Edinburgh,  September  21. 

NO.    1143,  VOL.  44] 


Last  Friday,  the  nth,  my  attention  was  called  at  9  p.m.  to  a 
most  remarkable  appearance  in  the  sky.  It  consi>ted  of  a 
luminous  band  stretching  from  the  eastern  horizon  to  the  west, 
and  passing  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  zenith.  It  was  first  seen 
here  at  8. 20,  and  began  as  a  luminous  ray  coming  up  from  tbe 
west,  but  when  I  first  saw  it,  it  had  extended  as  described  from 
west  to  east.  It  was  like  a  straight  tail  of  a  large  comet  with 
its  head  below  the  horizon,  or  the  track  of  the  beam  from  a 
powerful  electric  search  light.  Its  eastern  end  lay  a  little  to  the 
south  of  the  Pleiades,  which  were  just  rising  ;  and  in  the  west  it 
passed  through  Corona  Borealis.  The  night  was  a  brilliant 
stai light  one,  and  small  stars  could  be  seen  through  tbe  lamiDOUS 
band.  It  was  seen  in  the  Co.  Kildare,  50  miles  from  here,  and 
there  it  passed  through  the  zenith  also,  which  woukl  show  that 
it  was  at  a  great  altitude.  It  gradually  faded  away,  and  was 
gone  at  9.30.  It  would  be  of  interest  to  know  if  it  was 
observed  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

W.  E.  Wilson. 

Daramona,  Streete,  Co.  Westmeath,  September  16. 


SOME  NOTES  ON  THE  FRANKFORT 
INTERNA  TIONAL  ELECTRICAL  EXHIBITION. 

I. 

ON  arriving  in  Frankfort  one  finds  oneself  in  a  lofty, 
palatial  railway  station,  compared  with  which 
King's  Cross  looks  meaii  and  Victoria  Station  is  a 
shanty.  This  new  terminus  at  Frankfort  is  not,  as  with 
us,  an  hotel  with  trains  whistling  and  shunting  in  the 
back  premises  ;  it  is  essentially  a  railway  station,  standing 
proudly  alone  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  towT.. 
And  the  practical  Englishman  is  as  much  impressed  by 
the  completeness  of  its  internal  arrangements  as  by  the 
anti-Ruskin  lesson  it  teaches,  that  architectural  skill  when 
fitly  applied  to  a  railway  station  can  produce  as  noble  an 
edifice  as  when  bestowed  on  a  temple. 

Leaving  the  railway  station  all  is  changed.  We  are  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town,  amid  unfinished  houses,  heaps 
of  bricks,  vacant  plots  strewn  with  rubbish,  and  the 
restless  hammering  of  the  house  contractor.  The  Exhibi- 
tion is  close  at  hand,  composed  at  first  sight  mainly  of 
wooden  hoardings,  temporary  structures,  "  restaurations," 
and  bier  hallen :  it  is  the  Chalk  Farm  fair  again  of  our 
early  youth,  or  Chicago  in  1873,  a  month  after  the  great 
fire.  Presenting  at  the  entrance  a  letter  bearing  the  magic 
pass-words  "Priifungs  Commission  der  Intemationalcn 
Electrotechnischen  Ausstellung/'  we  are  ushered  past  the 
barrier  with  bows,  and  find  ourselves  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  shows— Siemens  and  Halske's  Miniature  Theatre, 
admission  i\d.\  Electrical  Ballet, admission  ii'.,2J.,and  3^.; 
Diving  Pavilion,  seats  5//.,  standing  room  i\d.  \  Electrical 
Race  Course,  i\d.\  Siemens  and  Halske's  Dancing  Flames, 
'i\d,  ;  and  so  on,  all  over  the  Exhibition  grounds^  Have 
we  come  all  these  miles,  at  an  invitation  conveyed  to  us 
through  the  English  Foreign  Office,  merely  to  visit  a 
collection  of  what  are  literally  twopenny-halfpenny  shows  ? 

We  try  one  of  them,  the  Miniature  Theatre,  passing 
in  by  the  stage  door,  through  the  courtesy  of  Messrs, 
Siemens'  representative,  and  thus  avoiding  the  crowd  of 
people  that  flocks  in  at  every  one  of  the  many  afternoon 
and  evening  performances.  In  view  of  the  audience  are 
48  handles,  which  work  a  large  puppet  show,  but  a  puppet 
show  without  puppets,  without  music,  without  acting, 
without  even  a  joke.  Turning  any  one  of  36  of  these 
handles  towards  the  left  turns  on  a  group  of  little  white 
or  red  or  blue  incandescent  lamps  placed  at  the  sides,  at 
the  top,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  little  stage,  but  hidder. 
by  the  scenery  from  the  audience.  Turning  any  one  of 
these  handles  to  the  right  also  turns  on  the  respective  set 
of  lamps,  but  now  their  brightness  can  be  gradually 
diminished  by  revolving  one  of  the  remaining  12  handles, 
which  gradually  introduces  resistance  into  the  particuUr 
I  circuit.     For  example,  either  the  red,  or  the  white,  or  the 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


495 


blue  lamps  behind  any  side  wing,  top  drop,  or  set  piece, 
can  be  separately  turned  on,  or  all  can  be  turned  on  and 
the  brightness  of  the  lamps  of  any  one  colour  varied 
independently  of  the  brightness  of  the  remainder. 

A  bell  tinkles,  and  the  curtain  rises,  showing  a  pretty 
set  scene  of  a  Swiss  village  with  mountsiins  in  the  back- 
ground. It  is  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  attendant  slowly 
revolves  one  of  the  resistance  handles — the  daylight 
wanes,  the  shadows  grow  long,  the  sun  sets,  and  the 
snowy  peaks  of  the  mountains  are  ruddy  with  the  Alpine 
glow.  The  effect  is  so  lifelike  and  so  beautiful  that  a  ^pon 
taneous  gasp  of  admiration  is  forced  from  the  audience. 

Then  the  stage  grows  gradually  dark,  lights  are  seen  at 
the  cottage  windows,  but  the  night  is  stormy,  for  the 
attendant  now  works  the  handles  rapidly,  as  does  the 
organist  the  stops  when  performing  one  of  Bach's  fugues  : 
lightning  plays  on  the  hills,  now  a  blinding  flash  lights 
up  the  road,  the  houses,  and  the  waterfall ;  but  the  flashes 
grow  less  vivid,  and  one  sees,  or  thinks  one  sees,  the 
storm  blowing  away  over  the  mountain  tops.  Presently 
the  moon  rises,  the  audience  feel  the  quiet  of  the  bright 
moonlight  night,  then  the  dawn,  and  finally  the  sunshine 
bathes  the  scene  with  light. 

Since  the  opening  of  the  Exhibition  many  theatrical 
managers,  we  were  told,  had  ordered  complete  sets  of 
this  electric  apparatus  ;  and  no  wonder,  for  on  it  can  be 
played  a  symphony  in  the  music  of  colour. 

We  next  went  to  see  Messrs.  Siemens  and  Halske's 
"dancing  flames,"  the  seats  at  this  show  being  also 
well  filled  with  a  twopence-halfpenny  paying  audience. 
First,  Koeni^'s  manometric  flames  were  described  and 
shown  in  action  ;  then  Dr.  Froelich's  method  of  working 
them  from  a  distance,  the  elastic  membrane  of  the  little 
gas-bag  being  pushed  in  and  out,  not  directly  by  the  air 
puffs,  but  by  the  motion  of  the  ferrotyped  iron  disc  of  a 
telephone,  the  current  through  which  was  varied  by 
speaking  to  a  microphone.  Next  were  shown  some  ex- 
periments, extremely  interesting  to  the  electrician,  for 
illustrating  graphically  how  self-induction,  mutual  induc- 
tion, capacity,  &c.,  aflected  the  current  produced  by  an 
alternate  current  dynamo. 

We  presume  that  the  considerable  number  of  people 
who,  having  paid  for  their  entrance  to  the  Electrical 
Exhibition,  are  willing  to  form  group  after  group  and  pay 
an  extra  fivepence  at  the  many  performances  that  are 
given  daily  of  these  two  shows  by  Messrs.  Siemens  and 
Halske,  are  not  wholly  ignorant  of  what  they  are  paying 
to  see.  Probably,  therefore,  the  continued  attraction 
which  such  shows  have  for  audiences  drawn  from  the 
people  is  only  another  proof  of  the  fact  that  science,  and 
a  love  of  science,  have  permeated  to  a  much  lower 
stratum  of  the  nation  in  Germany  than  in  England. 

Numerous  must  be  the  Germans  not  much  above  the 
level  of  the  sightseers  at  a  village  fair  who  have  already 
listened  to  the  explanation  of  Dr.  Froelich's  method  for 
exhibiting  these  alternate  current  phenomena,  and  yet 
the  method  is  novel  to  the  majority  of  the  English  scien- 
tific visitors.  For  it  was  only  some  three  months  ago, 
when  Prof.  Perry  showed  his  new  steam-engine  indicator 
to  the  Physical  Society  of  London,  that  the  President 
suggested  how  he  thought  it  possible  that  that  in- 
strument might  be  converted  into  an  oscillating  tele- 
phone with  a  mirror  on  its  iron  disc,  and  used  for  pro- 
jecting on  a  screen  the  current  curve  of  an  alternate 
current  dynamo.  But  nobody  at  the  meeting  was  appa- 
rently aware  that  Dr.  Froelich  had  been  employing  a 
telephone  with  a  mirror  on  its  disc  for  this  very  object — 
such  is  the  resistance  to  the  spread  of  ideas  introduced 
by  difference  of  language. 

The  apparatus  employed  by  Dr.  Froelich  is  as  follows  : 
— A  large  telephone  iron  disc  has  a  small  piece  of 
looking-glass  stuck  on  it  eccentrically,  and  at  the  back  is 
a  horse-shoe  permanent  magnet,  the  soft  iron  pole-pieces 
4^i  which  are  wound  with  a  coil  carrying  the  current  pro- 

NO.    I  T43,  VOL.   44] 


duced  by  an  alternate  current  dynamo.  The  iron  disc  is 
therefore  pulled  more  or  less  by  the  magnet,  depending 
on  the  strength  and  direction  of  the  current  passing  round 
its  poles.  A  beam  of  light  from  an  electric  lamp  is 
reflected  from  this  mirror  on  to  a  screen,  and  as  the  alter- 
nating current  flows  round  the  magnet  a  vertical  line  of 
light  is  formed  on  the  screen,  the  position  of  the 
spot  of  light  on  this  line  being  at  any  moment  a 
measure  of  the  strength  and  direction  of  the  current 
produced  by  the  machine.  At  least,  this  will  be  the  case 
if  the  natural  period  of  vibration  of  the  telephone  plate 
be  very  small  or  very  large  compared  with  the  periodic 
time  of  the  current — a  condition  we  presume  Dr.  Froelich 
has  attended  to. 

To  produce  a  motion  of  the  spot  of  light  at  right 
angles  to  the  former  line,  Dr.  Froelich  does  not  cause 
the  telephone  to  be  moved  backwards  and  forwards  with 
an  oscillatory  motion,  by  the  rotation  of  the  dynamo 
armature,  as  suggested  at  the  Physical  Society  of 
London  ;  but  before  the  beam  of  light  reaches  the  screen, 
he  causes  it  to  suffer  a  second  reflection  from  one  of  a 
series  of  small  plane  vertical  mirrors,  arranged  around  the 
surface  of  a  cylinder  parallel  to  its  axis.  By  suitable 
worm-gearing,  the  quick  rotation  of  the  dynamo  causes  a 
somewhat  slow  rotation  of  this  cylinder,  but  quick  enough 
to  produce  an  apparently  continuous  horizontal  beam  of 
light  along  the  screen  if  there  be  no  current  flowing — that 
is,  if  the  mirror  on  the  telephone  plate  be  at  rest. 
Hence,  the  combination  of  the  vertical  and  horizontal 
motions  of  the  beam  produces  a  curve  which  shows  the 
shape  of  the  current-wave  extending  over  some  four  or 
five  periods. 

The  effect  of  adding  self-induction  or  mutual  induction 
or  capacity  to  the  circuit  is  instantly  seen  by  the  change 
in  the  shape  of  the  current-curve  on  the  screen,  and  the 
change  of  phase  is  also  evident  from  the  shifting  of  the 
whole  series  of  waves  sideways.  The  comparison  be- 
tween the  current  waves  in  the  primary  and  secondary 
circuits  of  a  transformer  is  also  very  prettily  illustrated. 

This  lecture  concluded  with  an  exhibition  of  an  ap- 
paratus that  has  been  constructed  for  Dr.  Froelich  for 
the  examination  of  compound  sounds.  On  a  shaft, 
turning  at  a  uniform  velocity,  are  eight  little  alternate 
current  dynamos,  and  by  pressing  down  a  piano  key, 
which  closes  the  circuit  of  the  particular  dynamo,  a 
current  is  sent  round  the  soft  iron  pole-pieces  of  the 
horse-shoe  permanent  magnet  at  the  back  of  a  telephone 
disc.  The  number  of  pole-pieces  and  armature-coils  on 
the  respective  dynamos  are  such  that,  on  pressing  down 
the  keys  in  succession,  the  telephone  emits  the  notes  of 
an  ordinary  musical  octave,  and  by  pressing  down  two 
or  more  the  compound  sound  is  heard. 

An  Englishman  finds  it  somewhat  exasperating,  if  he 
desires  to  see  the  whole  Exhibition,  to  have  to  be  con- 
stantly taking  out  his  purse  to  make  small  payments  for 
entrance  here  and  entrance  there  ;  but,  as  half  the  receipts 
for  the  shows  go  to  the  Exhibition  authorities,  they  will 
be  saved  from  the  financial y^^wr^?  that  attended  the  Edin- 
burgh Exhibition  of  last  year,  for  that  Exhibition  had  to 
be  finally  declared  bankrupt,  even  after  all  the  money 
guaranteed  by  the  promoters  had  been  called  up.  Further, 
the  shows  are  themselves  illustrations  of  the  application 
of  electricity  to  industry  and  art :  the  mere  bazaar  element, 
that  has  been  so  prominent  a  feature  at  some  of  the 
Exhibitions  held  at  EarFs  Court, is  practically  non-existent 
at  the  Frankfort  International  Electrical  Exhibition. 

International,  however,  the  Exhibition  is  but  in  name, 
the  comparatively  small  exhibits  of  one  or  two  English 
and  American  firms  only  serving  as  a  reminder  of  the 
magnificent  collections  of  electrical  machinery  and  appa- 
ratus England  and  America  could  have  contributed.  As 
a  display,  however,  of  the  part  Germany  is  playing  in 
the  development  of  electrical  industry,  the  Frankfort 
Exhibition  is  most  interesting. 


490 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


Two  separate  buildings  are  devoted  respectively  to 
electrical  railway  signalling  and  to  telegraphic  and  tele- 
phonic exhibits.  The  Government  have  contributed  an 
interesting  collection  of  historical  telegraphic  appa- 
ratus, from  which  it  may  be  seen  that  the  signalling 
instruments  have  been  going  through  the  same  sort  of 
evolutionary  changes  in  Germany  as  in  England,  with  this 
difference,  however,  that  our  apparatus  has  reached  a 
much  later  stage  of  development  than  theirs.  The  Ger- 
man telegraph  wires  have  been  well  erected,  although 
less  attention  than  would  satisfy  an  English  telegraph 
engineer  has  been  paid  in  obtaining  that  perfect  symmetry 
in  the  hanging  of  the  wires  which  is  necessary  to  avoid 
contacts  being  produced  between  them  as  they  are 
swayed  backwards  and  forwards  by  the  wind.  The 
underground  wiring  is  especially  good,  but  the  methods 
of  testing  and  signalling  are  antiquated,  and  the  routine 
of  the  Telegraph  Department  generally  is  fettered  with 
red  tape. 

There  is  one  detail,  however,  in  connection  with  the 
German  Post  Office,  that  forces  itself  on  the  admiration 
of  the  foreigner.  If  you  desire  to  send  money,  you  hand 
in  the  sum  at  the  post-office,  with  a  postcard  costing 
2\d ,  which  you  address  to  your  correspondent  with  details 
of  the  sum  sent,  and  receive  a  receipt  in  exchange.  But 
you  need  write  no  letter,  send  no  postal  order  nor  receipt, 
nor  trouble  your  correspondent  to  go  to  the  post-office  ; 
the  postman  delivers  to  your  correspondent  at  his  house 
or  office  your  postcard,  and  in  return  for  half  of  it  hands 
him  at  once  in  cash  the  sum  of  money  sent. 

The  display  of  telephonic  apparatus  at  the  Exhibition 
is  large  and  complete,  but  owing  to  the  activity  of  the 
commercial  traveller  of  the  day  in  keeping  English 
engineers  acquainted  with  practically  all  that  is  being 
done  abroad,  there  is  little  that  strikes  the  English  tele- 
phone engineer  as  new.  A  new  telephone  exchange 
switch-board,  constructed  by  Messrs.  Mix  and  Genest, 
contains,  however,  a  point  of  novelty,  and  a  switch-board 
of  this  description  has  just  been  adopted  at  the  Berlin 
Telephone  Exchange. 

The  general  arrangement  of  an  exchange  switch*board 
is  as  follows  :— The  wires  from  all  the  subscribers  are 
brought  to  all  the  clerks  at  the  exchange,  so  that  it  is 
possible  for  any  clerk  to  connect  any  subscriber  with  any 
other,  to  enable  the  two  subscribers  to  talk  to  one  another. 
The  calls,  however,  from  certain  subscribers  only  are  re- 
ceived by  any  particular  clerk ;  for  example,  of  all  the 
wires  coming  to  clerk  A,  only  those  from,  say,  i  to  loo 
are  provided  with  drop  shutters,  so  that  if  any  subscriber 
from  I  to  100  rings  up  the  exchange,  one  of  the  drop 
shutters  in  front  of  clerk  A  will  fall,  whereas  if  a  sub- 
scriber from  200  to  300  rings  up  the  exchange,  it  will  be  a 
drop  shutter  in  front  of  clerk  C  that  will  fall.  Each  clerk, 
therefore,  deals  with  the  calls  from  a  certain  set  of  sub- 
scribers only,  but  this  clerk  may  have  to  connect  any  one 
of  this  set  of  subscribers  with  any  other  of  the  same  set 
or  with  any  subscriber  of  any  of  the  other  sets ;  since,  of 
course,  any  subscriber  to  the  exchange  has  the  right  to 
be  put  in  communication  with  any  other. 

Suppose,  now,  that  clerk  A  receives  a  request  from 
subscriber  85  to  be  put  in  communication  with  subscriber 
560,  the  first  thing  to  find  out  is  whether  the  line  of  sub- 
scriber 560  is  free,  or  whether  it  has  been  already  con- 
nected with  some  other  subscriber  by  one  of  the  other 
clerks.  This  is  usually  ascertained  by  means  of  what  is 
known  as  a  'testing  wire,"  which  permeates  all  the 
switch-boards  of  all  the  clerks,  and  enables  any  clerk  to 
see  whether  any  line  coming  into  the  exchange  is  free  or 
not.  But  in  a  large  exchange  the  running  of  this  testing 
wire  throughout  all  the  switch-boards  necessitates  the 
employment  of  many  miles  of  wire,  and  it  is  to  avoid  this 
that  Messrs.  Mix  and  Genest  have  adopted  the  following 
new  device : — 

The  ends  of  the  plugs  which  the  clerk  presses  into  the 

NO.   1143,  VOL'  44] 


various  holes,  or  "  spring  jacks  "  as  they  are  technically 
called,  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  one  subscriber  with 
another,  are  made  electrically  in  two  parts,  the  tip  of  the 
plug  being  insulated  from  the  remainder  by  a  piece  of 
ebonite  ;  a  couple  of  cells  are  joined  up  at  the  exchange 
to  each  pair  of  plifgs,  in  such  a  way  that  on  inserting  the 
tip  of  the  second  of  a  pair  of  plugs  into  a  spring  jack,  an 
instantaneous  current  passes,  deflecting  the  needle  of  a 
galvanoscope  if  the  second  line  be  free.  For  examp>le, 
clerk  A  receives  a  call  from  subscriber  85  to  connect  him 
with  subscriber  560 :  he  inserts  one  of  a  pair  of  plugs  into 
the  spring  jack  85,  he  then  inserts  the  second  plug  into 
spring  jack  560,  and  as  the  top  of  this  second  plug  enters 
the  spring  jack  there  will  be  an  instantaneous  swing  of 
clerk  A's  galvanoscope  if  line  560  be  free,  in  which  case 
the  clerk  pushes  the  plug  home,  and  completes  the  con- 
nection between  subscribers  85  and  560.  If,  however, 
the  needle  of  the  galvanoscope  does  not  deflect,  the  clerk 
knows  that  line  560  is  occupied,  having  been  connected 
up  by  one  of  the  other  clerks,  and  instead  of  pushing 
home  the  plug  he  pulls  it  out,  and  tells  subscriber  85  to 
wait,  as  line  560  is  engaged. 

Long-distance  telephony  is  admirably  illustrated  by 
the  opera  at  Munich  being  heard  every  evening  with 
marvellous  clearness  at  the  Frankfort  Exhibition,  some 
200  miles  away. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  Exhibition — ^indeed, 
the  exhibit  that  has  brought  many  a  foreigner  hundreds 
of  miles  to  Frankfort— is  the  electrical  transmission  of 
power  from  Lauffen,  over  a  distance  of  109  miles.  No  mea- 
surements have  yet  been  made  by  the  jury,  of  the  exact 
amount  of  power  that  is  received,  or  of  the  efficiency  of 
the  transmission  ;  but  as  over  1000  sixteen-candle  lamps 
are  daily  fed  by  the  current,  as  well  as  an  electro-motor 
pumping  up  water  to  form  a  large  artificial  waterfall,  the 
actual  power  received  must  be  something  like  100  or  no 
horse. 

The  plans  had  to  be  rapidly  formed,  for  it  was  not  until 
May  I  that  it  was  definitely  decided  to  carry  out  the 
experiment.  The  transformers  have,  on  the  one  hand,  been 
duplicated,  from  an  anxious  dread  on  the  part  of  each 
firm  of  contractors  that  the  other  would  not  have  finished 
their  work  in  time  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  insulators 
of  the  proper  size  are  yet  only  partly  ready,  and  many  are 
defective  from  too  hurried  baking.  Permission  to  cany 
the  wires  had  to  be  obtained  from  the  four  Governments 
of  Baden,  Hesse,  Wiirtemburg,  and  Prussia,  and  ever>' 
step  of  construction  had  to  be  taken  under  the  depressing 
influence  of  cavilling  criticism.  But  in  spite  of  all  these 
difficulties,  it  has  been  conclusively  proved  that,  by 
means  of  three  overhead  bare  copper  wires,  each  onhr 
o'iSS  inch  in  thickness,  supported  on  poles  such  as  are 
used  for  ordinary  telegraph  lines,  it  is  possible  to  deliw 
some  no  horse-power  at  a  distance  of  nearly  no  miles 
from  the  water  stream  where  the  power  is  produced  ;  and 
further,  that  this  may  be  done  without  excessive  loss  by 
actually  maintaining  a  potential  difference  of  some  18,000 
volts  between  each  pair  of  wires. 

The  result  is  of  international  importance.  The  methods 
that  have  been  employed  (and  which  will  be  fully 
described)  will  probably  not  be  copied  in  detail  on  a 
future  occasion  ;  there  are  doubtless  faults  which  the 
cautious  engineer  can  criticize ;  but  the  broad  fact  still 
stands  out  prominently,  that,  by  an  experiment  as  bold 
in  conception  as  it  has  been  successful  in  its  realization, 
the  Allgemeine  Electricitats  Gesellschaft  of  Berlin,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Oerlikon  Works  of  Ziirich,  have 
made  the  thoughtful  realize  that  towns  like  Milan,  which 
are  within  30,  40,  or  50  miles  of  vast  water-power,  may 
become  the  industrial  centres  of  the  future.  It  is,  indeed, 
as  if  it  had  been  shown  that  such  towns  stood  on  an 
inexhaustible  field  of  smokeless,  dustless  coal. 

{To  be  continued^ 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


497 


SOME  POINTS  IN  THE  PHYSICS  OF  GOLh. 

II. 

IN  my  former  paper  {Nature^  Aug.  28,  1890)  the  main 
conclusions  were  based  to  a  great  extent  upon  the 
results  of  mere  eye  observations,  often  of  a  very  uncertain 
and  puzzling  kind.  The  data  so  obtained  were  unfor- 
tunately not  those  required  for  a  direct  investigation,  so 
that  my  processes  were  necessarily  of  a  tentative  character. 
During  and  since  the  last  College  session  I  have  been 
endeavouring  to  obtain  some  of  the  more  important  data 
in  a  direct  manner.  I  am  thus  in  a  somewhat  more 
favourable  position  than  before  but,  as  will  soon  appear, 
the  new  information  I  have  obtained  has  complicated 
rather  than  simplified  the  singular  problem  of  the  flight 
of  a  golf-ball. 

One  point,  however,  which  is  both  curious  and  important, 
has  been  clearly  made  out : — hammering  has  no  effect  (or, 
to  speak  more  correctly,  only  an  inconsiderable  effect)  on 
the  coefficient  of  restitution  of  a  golf  ball.  This  concl  usion, 
which  may  have  to  be  modified  if  the  striking  surface  be 
not  plane,  had  for  some  time  appeared  to  me  as  almost 
certainly  correct,  and  I  have  recently  verified  it  by  means 
of  the  Impact  apparatus  with  which  I  have  been  working 
for  some  years.  I  procured  from  St.  Andrews  a  number 
of  balls  of  the  same  material  and  make,  half  of  them  only 
being  hammered,  the  others  plain.  The  results  obtained 
from  a  hammered,  and  from  an  unhammered,  ball  did  not 
differ  much  more  from  one  another  than  did  those  of  a 
number  of  successive  impacts  on  one  and  the  same  ball. 
[In  the  Badminton  Library  \o\MmQ  on  Golf,  Mr.  Hutchin- 
son quotes  a  statement  of  mine  which  appears  at  first 
sight  diametrically  opposed  to  this  experimental  result ; 
and  thus  puts  me  in  the  position  de  nier  ce  qui  est  et 
d*expliquer  ce  qui  f^est  pas.  But  he  has  omitted  to  men- 
tion that  my  statement  was  expressly  based  on  the  alle- 
gation that  a  hammered  ball  had  been  definitely  found 
to  acquire  greater  speed  than  an  unhammered  one.  This 
seemed  to  me  even  at  the  time  very  doubtful,  and  I  now 
know  that  it  is  incorrect.]  Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  un- 
doubtedly beneficial  effects  of  hammering  must  be  ex- 
plained in  some  totally  different  way.  There  is  another, 
and  even  more  direct,  mode  of  arriving  at  the  same  con- 
clusion. To  this  I  proceed,  but  unfortunately  the  new 
point  of  view  introduces  difficulties  in  comparison  with 
which  all  that  has  hitherto  been  attempted  is  mere  child's 
play.  In  short,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  problem  of  a  golf- 
ball's  flight  is  one  of  very  serious  difficulty. 

In  my  former  article  1  took  no  account  of  the  rotation 
of  the  ball,  treating  the  problem  in  fact  as  a  case  of  the 
motion  of  a  particle  in  a  medium  resisting  as  the  square 
of  the  speed.  The  solution  I  then  gave  was  only  ap- 
proximate, and  limited  by  the  assumption  that  the  cosine 
of  the  inclination  of  the  path  to  the  horizon  might  be 
treated  as  unity  throughout.  The  illustrations  and  ex- 
tensions given  were  founded  on  the  same  basis  as  was 
the  solution  of  the  simpler  problem.  Shortly  after  it  was 
published  I  made,  by  the  help  of  Bashforth's  tables,  a 
more  exact  determination.  The  data  I  thus  arrived  at 
were  (in  Bashforth's  notation) 

A  =  1*9,     1/0—131  feet-secoDds,     ^  =  13° '5. 

From  these  the  tables  give  at  once 

Range  of  Carry ..  =  542  feet 

Maximam  Height         =    58    ,, 

Horizontal  Distance  of  Highest  Point 

from  Tee    ...         ...         ...         ...  =  350    »f 

Initial  Speed     =  480  feet -seconds 

Terminal  ,,        ...         ...         ...         ...  =    80  ,, 

Terminal  Inclination =  38''S. 

As  a  contrast,  take  X  =  I'l,  so  that  u^  =  100  feet- 
seconds.    To  obtain  the  observed  range  we  must  take 

NO.   1 143,  VOL.  44] 


0  =  23*'*25,  which  is  considerably  too  great.     The  other 
numbers  then  become 

Range  of  Carry =  543  feet 

Maximum  Height         =  100    ,, 

Horizontal  Distance  of  Highest  Point 

from  Tee    ...         ...  ...  ^  35^    »» 

Initial  Speed     =393  feet-seconds 

Terminal  ,,        ...         ...  ...  =    80  », 

Terminal  Inclination ~  54'''6 

The  first  numbers  are  in  remarkable  accordance  with  the 
numerical  details  of  really  good  drives  which  I  obtained 
from  Mr.  Hodge ;  and,  were  there  no  other  crucial  test 
to  be  satisfied,  the  problem  might  have  been  regarded  as 
solved  to  at  least  a  first  approximation.  But  I  felt  very 
suspicious  of  the  sufficiency  of  such  a  solution ;  espe- 
cially as  it  made  no  place  (as  it  were)  for  the  possibility 
of  a  path  in  part  straight,  or  even  occasionally  concave 
upwards,  which  I  have  certainly  seen  in  many  of  the 
very  best  drives.  And  my  doubts  were  fully  justified 
when  I  calculated  from  Bashforth's  tables  the  time  of 
flight  under  the  above  conditions.  For  they  give  1*5 is. 
for  the  first,  and  2'i3s.  for  the  second,  part  of  the  path  : — 
3*6  seconds  in  all ;  while  the  observed  time  of  flight  in  a 

j  really  gobd  drive  is  always  over  6  seconds,  and  some- 
times quite  as  much  as  7.  This  I  have  recently  verified 
for  myself  with  great  care  in  the  competition  for  the 
Victoria  Jubilee  Cup,  where  one  of  the  unsuccessful 
players  distinguished  himself  by  really  magnificent 
driving.  The  time  of  flight  in  the  second  of  the  above 
forms  of  path  is  about  4*8  seconds. 

The  initial  speed  in  the  first  estimate  seems  to  be 
excessive,  as  will  appear  from  the  experiments  to  be  de- 
scribed below.  This,  of  course,  is  one  mode  of  explain- 
ing how  the  time  of  flight  is  so  much  underrated.  But, 
if  we  keep  to  Bashforth's  value  of  the  coefficient  of  re- 
sistance, it  is  impossible  to  reduce  the  initial  speed  (while 
preserving  the  observed  range)  without  increasing  the 
angle  of  projection  and,  with  it,  the  greatest  height 
reached.  The  second  set  of  numbers  conclusively 
proves  this.  On  the  other  hand  if,  with  the  view  of  re- 
ducing the  initial  speed  and  thus  increasing  the  time  of 
flight,  we  assume  a  smaller  resistance,  we  may  keep 
range,  height,  and  initial  angle,  nearly  as  observed  ;  but 
we  shift  the  vertex  of  the  path  unduly  towards  the  mid- 
range.  The  only  way,  it  would  therefore  seem,  of  recon- 
ciling the  results  of  calculation  with  the  observed  data, 
is  to  assume  that  for  some  reason  the  effects  of  gravity 
are  at  least  partially  counteracted.  This,  in  still  air,  can 
only  be  a  rotation  due  to  undercutting. 

During  last  winter  I  made  a  considerable  number  of 
experiments  with  the  view  of  determining  the  initial  speed 
by  the  help  of  a  ballistic  pendulum,  but  the  results  of 
these  cannot  be  regarded  as  very  satisfactory.  My 
pendulum  was  a  species  of  stiff  but  light  lattice-girder 
constructed  of  thin,  broadish,  laths.  This  hung  from  hard 
steel  knife-edges  set  well  apart,  and  supported  a  mass  of 
moist  clay  of  about  100  lbs.  The  clay  was  plastered  into 
a  nearly  cubical  wooden  frame,  and  swung  just  clear  of 
the  floor.     The  ball  was  driven  into  it  from  a  distance  of 

I  about  six  feet,  and  as  near  as  possible  to  the  centre  of 
one  face.  The  effective  length  of  the  corresponding 
simple  pendulum  was  about  10  feet,  and  the  utmost  de- 
flection obtained  (measured  on  the  floor)  was  about  two 

;  inches.  From  these  data  I  deduced  an  initial  speed  of 
about  300  feet  per  second  only.  But  the  experiments 
were  never  quite  satisfactory,  as  the  player  (however 
skilful)  could  not  free  himself  entirely  from  appre- 
hension of  the  consequences  of  an  ill-directed  drive. 
In  fact,  several  rather  unpleasant  accidents  occurred 
during  the  trials,  especially  in  the  earlier  stages  ;  when 
the  pendulum  was  mounted  in  a  stone  cellar,  and  without 
the  hangings  and  the  paddings  which  were  employed  in 
the  later  work.    Although   the  clay  was  so  stiff  as  to 


498 


NA  rURE 


[September  24,  1891 


preserve  its  form  under  gravity,  the  ball  (when  it  struck 
the  face  near  the  centre)  always  penetrated  to  a  depth 
of  more  than  one  diameter,  and  splashed  fragments  of 
the  clay  to  a  considerable  distance.  These  were  usually 
replaced,  and  the  surface  levelled  for  a  fresh  experiment, 
as  soon  as  the  ball  was  dug  out.  The  speed  of  300  feet 
per  second,  thus  measured,  may  be  taken  as  an  inferior 
limit  to  the  initial  speed  in  a  really  fine  drive. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  resources  of  mere  particle 
dynamics  are  quite  insufficient  for  the  adequate  solution 
of  the  problem  of  long  driving  ;  though,  of  course,  they 
fully  meet  all  questions  connected  with  mere  approach 
shots  ;  and  that  the  rotation  of  the  ball  must  play  at  least 
as  essential  a  part  in  the  grandest  feature  of  the  game,  as 
it  has  long  been  known  to  do  in  those  most  distressing 
peculiarities  called  heeling,  toeing,  slicing,  &c.  But  when 
this  is  once  recognized,  it  is  only  the  beginning  of  sorrows  ; 
for  even  the  approximate  treatment  of  the  eddies  pro- 
duced by  the  rotation  ap[)ears  to  be  at  present  beyond  our 
powers. 

In  order  that  the  path  of  the  ball  may  be  (for  a  short 
time)  approximately  straight,  still  more  if  it  is  to  be  con- 
cave upwards,  the  downward  acceleration  due  to  gravity 
must  be  neutralized  by  the  effects  of  a  rotation  due  to 
undercutting,  [Of  course  enormous  speed  cduld  pro- 
duce the  approximately  straight  path,  but  not  the  con- 
cavity.] Hence  the  necessity  for  a  tee,  unless  the 
turf  be  exceptionally  soft,  in  order  that  the  club  may 
impinge  on  the  lower  part  of  the  ball.  Hence  also  one 
important  use  of  hammering,  viz.  that  the  undercut  ball 
may  take  as  much  angular  velocity  as  possible  : — the  other 
being  that  the  spin,  so  acquired,  may  tell  as  much  as 
possible  during  the  flight  The  gist  of  the  matter  is  thus 
seen  to  be  : — For  steady  flight  the  ball  must  have  rotation 
of  some  kind.  The  best  mode,  that  of  a  rifle-ball,  is  of 
course  unattainable.  The  others  produce  respectively 
heeling,  toeing,  dooking,  and  soaring.  Of  these  the  last, 
alone,  is  not  necessarily  disastrous  ;  and  it  is  therefore 
to  be  adopted. 

I  have  not  hitherto  succeeded  in  my  attempts  to  apply 
even  approximate  calculation  to  this  altered  set  of  con- 
ditions : — but  it  is  easy  to  see,  without  calculation,  that 
the  longer  the  path  of  the  ball  retains  nearly  its  initial 
inclination  to  the  horizon  (even  if,  in  achieving  this,  it 
should  have  to  expend  part  of  its  energy  of  translation 
along  with  that  of  rotation,  and  thus  diminish  the  range) 
the  longer  will  be  the  time  of  its  flight  during  the  carry. 

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  con- 
siderable spin  : — so  that  the  ideal  driver  should  be  in 
truth  a  Bulger,  but  with  the  important  variation  that  its 
bulge  should  be  of  considerable  curvature  and  in  a 
vertical^  not  a  horizontal  plane.  The  height  of  the  most 
prominent  part  of  the  face  (above  the  horn)  must  of  course 
be  less  than  the  radius  of  the  ball  How  much  less  can  be 
found  only  by  trial.  And,  in  addressing  the  ball,  the  player 
must  stand  directly  opposite  to  it.  Such  clubs,  however, 
could  be  profitably  used  only  by  really  good  players : — 
men  who  can  hit  with  what  part  of  the  club  they  please. 
The  reckless  swipers  of  the  present  generation,  who  slash 
nway  anyhow,  and  (with  ordinary  clubs)  manage  occasion- 
ally to  make  a  really  "tall"  drive,  will  probably  smash 
the  proposed  form  of  club  on  the  very  first  appearance  of 
topping.  As  to  those  who  propel  the  ball  by  "  skittling  " 
rather  than  driving,  any  change  must  be  an  improvement, 
so  that  they  should  welcome  the  proposed  novelty.  The 
matter  is  a  very  simple  one.  A  few  touches  skilfully 
applied  with  a  rough  file,  and  the  new  system  rises  at 
once  out  of  the  old. 

There  is  one  other  point  on  which  opinion  seems  to  be 
so  unsettled  that  an  allusion  may  be  made  to  it  here  : — 
the  effects  of  weather  on  the  carry  of  a  ball.  Of  course, 
other  circumstances  being  the  same,  the  only  direct  effect 

NO.    II  4  3,  VOL.  44] 


is  on  the  coefficient  of  resistance.  If  this  be  taken  as 
proportional  (roughly)  to  the  density  of  the  air,  it  may 
vary,  in  this  climate,  to  somewhere  about  ten  per  cent,  of 
its  average  amount,  by  increase  or  by  diminution.  It  has 
its  greatest  value,  and  the  drive  is  accordingly  shortest, 
on  a  dry  cold  winter  day  with  an  exceptionally  high  baro- 
meter. The  longest  drive  will  of  course  be  when  the  air 
is  as  warm  and  moist  as  possible  and  the  barometer  very 
low.  p.  G.  Tait. 


HOOKER'S  'WCONES  PLANTARUXf,'' 

nPHE  recent  issue  of  the  fourth  part  ot  voL  xx.  of 
-■•      the  entire  work  completes  the  volume,  and  closes 
the  third  series,  with  a  total   of  two  thousand  platesu 
This  useful,  and  now  indispensable,  publication  was  com- 
menced by  the  late  Sir  William  Hooker  in  1837,  and  the 
first  volume  was  dedicated  to  the  late  George  Bentham, 
who  is  described  in  the  dedication  as  an  '^ardent  pro- 
moter, not  less  by  his  patronage  than  by  his  writings,  of 
botany  and  horticulture."     Sir  William  Hooker  started 
the  "  Icones"  to  illustrate  some  of  the  numerous  novelties  in 
the  collections  which  were  pouring  into  his  herbarium  from 
various  parts  of  the  world,  especially  from  the  southern 
hemisphere,  at  that  period.    With  a  few  exceptions  by 
Harvey,  Gardner,  and  others,  the  drawings  and  descrip- 
tions were  by  Hooker  himself,  and  a  volume,  containing 
one  hundred  plates,  appeared  annually,  or  nearly  so.  The 
first  series  closed  with  the  fourth  volume  in   1841.     At 
this  date  the  founder  was  already   Director    of   Kew 
Gardens,  and  he  continued  the  work  to  the  tenth  volume, 
which  terminated  the  second  series.     Two  or  three  of  the 
later  volumes  of  this  series  were  illustrated  by  the  then 
rising  botanical  artist,  W.  H.  Fitch.    In  the  tenth  volume 
we  find  a  dedication  of  the  whole  ten  volumes  to  George 
Bentham,  in  much  the  same  words  as  the  first.    This  was 
in   1854.      After  an  interval  of  thirteen  years,  the  third 
series  was  commenced,  under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  J.  D. 
(now  Sir  Joseph)  Hooker ;  and  G.  Bentham,  D.  Oliver, 
and  J.  G.  Baker  were  contributors.    Mr.  Bentham,  we 
believe,  financed  the  undertaking.     This,  the  eleventh 
volume,  was  not  completed  until  1871  ;  but  it  is  a  most 
interesting  volume,  illustrated  by  Fitch,  and  containing 
among  other  things  many  of  the  endemic  plants  of  St. 
Helena.    The  second  volume  of  this  series,  the  twelfth  of 
the  whole,  was  also  illustrated  by  Fitch,  and  is  valuable 
for    the    figures    of   curious    new    genera  founded    by 
Bentham  and  Hooker  when  elaborating  their  **  Genera 
Plantarum." 

On  the  completion  of  this  volume,  in  1876,  a  difl&culty 
arose,  consequent  on  the  retirement  of  the  artist,  though 
there  was  no  actual  interruption  in  the  appearance  of  the 
parts.  But  it  was  impossible  to  replace  an  artist  like 
Fitch.  Indeed,  the  only  alternative  was  to  train  a  person 
to  do  the  work.  This  was  not  so  easily  accomplished  ; 
there  were  failures,  and  so  high  a  standard  of  excellence 
has  not  since  been  reached.  Nevertheless,  the  present 
artist  gives  as  good  drawings  as  could  be  expected  from 
dried,  flat  specimens,  and  the  botanical  details  are  usually 
as  full  as  is  necessary,  if  not  all  that  could  be  desired. 

Since  Mr.  Bentham's  death,  in  1884,  the  work  has 
proceeded  with  greater  rapidity,  and  is  now  ap[>earing  at 
the  rate  of  a  volume  per  year.  It  is  now  published  at  the 
expense  of  the  Bentham  Trustees,^  and  sold  at  about  half 
the  former  price  ;  and  since  his  retirement  Prof.  D. 
Oliver  has  undertaken  the  editorship.  Under  such 
favourable  auspices,  together  with  the  abundance  of 
material  in  the  Kew  Herbarium,  it  is  confidently  hoped 
that  the  interesting  character  of  the  work  will  be  fully 
maintained,  and  that  the  mechanical  production  of  it  will 
be  improved,  resulting  in  a  larger  sale.   The  later  volumes 


*  Of  a  fund  bcni  eathed  by 
science. 


Fertham  for  the  advancement  of  botanical 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


499 


contain  a  large  number  of  Chinese  novelties.  One  part 
of  the  last  volume  is  devoted  to  the  Stapelisc  of  South 
Africa.  The  seventeenth  volume  is  wholly  devoted  to 
new  ferns ;  and  the  first  volume  of  what  it  is  intended 
to  call  the  fourth  series  will  consist  entirely  of  orchids. 
Three  parts  of  this  have  already  appeared. 


ON  VAN  DER  WAALS'S  TREATMENT  OF 
LAPLACEPS  PRESSURE  IN  THE  VIRIAL 
EQUATION:  A  LETTER  TO  PROF.  TAIT 

MY  DEAR  PROF.  TAIT,— In  Part  IV.  of  your 
"  Foundations  of  the  Kinetic  Theor>'  of  Gases,"  ^ 
you  take  exception  to  the  manner  in  which  Van  der 
Waals  has  introduced  Laplace's  intrinsic  pressure  K  into 
the  equation  of  virial.  "  I  do  not  profess  to  be  able  fully 
to  comprehend  the  arguments  by  which  Van  der  Waals 
attempts  to  justify  the  mode  in  which  he  obtains  the 
above  equation.  Their  nature  is  somewhat  as  follows  : — 
He  repeats  a  good  deal  of  Laplace's  capillary  work,  in 
which  the  existence  of  a  large,  but  unknown,  internal 
molecular  pressure  is  established, -entirely  from  a  statical 
point  of  view.  He  then  gives  reasons  (which  seem,  on 
the  whole,  satisfactory  from  this  point  of  view)  for  assum- 
ing that  the  magnitude  of  this  force  is  as  the  square  of  the 
density  of  the  aggregate  of  particles  considered.  But 
his  justification  of  the  introduction  of  the  term  iijV^  into 
an  account  already  closed,  as  it  were,  escapes  me.  He 
seems  to  treat  the  surface-skin  of  the  group  of  particles 
as  if  it  were  an  additional  bounding-surface,  exerting  an 
additional  and  enormous  pressure  on  the  contents.  Even 
were  this  justifiable,  nothing  could  justify  the  multiplying 
of  this  term  by  {v  -  0)  instead  of  by  v  alone.  But  the 
whole  procedure  is  erroneous.  If  one  begins  with  the 
virial  equation,  one  must  keep  strictly  to  the  assumptions 
made  in  obtaining  it,  and  consequently  everything  con- 
nected with  molecular  force,  whether  of  attraction  or  of 
elastic  resistance,  must  be  extracted  from  the  term 
2(Rr)." 

With  the  last  sentence  all  will  agree ;  but  it  seemed 
to  me  when  I  first  read  Van  der  Waals's  essay  that  his 
treatment  of  Laplace's  pressure  was  satisfactory,  and  on 
reperusal  it  still  appears  to  me  to  conform  to  the  require- 
ments above  laid  down.  As  the  point  is  of  importance,  it 
may  be  well  to  examine  it  somewhat  closely.  The  ques- 
tion is  as  to  the  effect  in  the  virial  equation  of  a  mutual 
attraction  between  the  parts  of  the  fluid,  whose  range  is 
small  compared  with  the  dimensions  of  bodies,  but  large 
in  comparison  with  molecular  distances. 

The  problem  thus  presented  may  be  attacked  in  two 
ways.  The  first,  to  which  I  will  recur,  is  that  followed 
by  Van  der  Waals  ;  but  the  second  is  more  immediately 
connected  with  that  form  of  the  equation  which  you  had 
in  view  in  the  passage  above  quoted. 

In  the  notation  of  Van  der  Waals  (equation  8) 

i2»iV2  =  ^S/p  -  ^SRrcos  (R,  r), 

where  V  denotes  the  velocity  of  a  particle  ///,  which 
is  situated  at  a  distance  r  from  the  origin,  and  is 
acted  upon  by  a  force  R,  while  (R,  r)  denotes  the  angle 
between  the  directions  of  R  and  r.  The  intermediate 
term  is  to  be  omitted  if  R  be  the  total  force  acting  upon 
w.  It  represents  the  effect  of  such  forces,  f,  as  act 
mutually  between  two  particles  at  distances  from  one 
another  equal  to  p.  In  the  summation  the  force  between 
two  particles  is  to  be  reckoned  once  only,  and  the  forces 
accounted  for  in  the  second  term  are,  of  course,  to  be 
excluded  in  the  third  term. 

In  the  present  application  we  will  suppose  all  the 
mutual  forces  accounted  for  in  the  second  term,  and  that 
the  only  external  forces  operative  are  due  to  the  pressure 

*  E<5.  Trans.,  vol.  xxxvi  ,  Part  a,  p.  261. 

NO.    I  143.  VOL.  44] 


of  the  containing  vessel.  No  one  disputes  thkt  the  effect 
of  the  external  pressure  is  given  by 

-  ^2Rr  cos  (R,  r)  =  ':}pv  ; 
so  that 

V2fnV^  =  'ipv  +  i2p<^(p), 

if  with  Laplace  we  represent  by  </>(p)  the  force  between 
two  particles  at  distance  p.  The  last  term  is  now  easily 
reckoned  upon  Laplace's  principles.  For  one  particle  in 
the  interior  we  have 


/CO 


and  this,  as  Laplace  showed,^  is  equal  to  3K.  The 
second  summation  over  the  volume  gives  3KZ/,  but  this 
must  be  halved.  Otherwise  each  force  would  be  reckoned 
twice.     Hence 

i2wV2  =  ^pv  +  :4Kx/ 

=  ^v(p  +  K), 

showing  that  the  effect  of  such  forces  as  Laplace  sup- 
posed to  operate  is  represented  by  the  addition  to  p,  the 
pressure  exerted  by  the  walls  of  the  vessel,  of  the  intrinsic 
pressure  K.  In  the  above  process  the  particles  situated 
near  the  surface  are  legitimately  neglected  in  comparison 
with  those  in  the  interior. 

Van  der  Waals's  own  process  starts  from  the  original 
form  of  the  virial  equation — 

i2mV-  =  -  42Rr  cos  (R,  r), 

where  R  now  refers  to  the  whole  force  operative  upon 
any  particle ;  and  it  appears  to  me  equally  legitimate. 
For  all  particles  in  the  interior  of  the  fluid  R  vanishes  in 
virtue  of  the  symmetry,  so  that  the  reckoning  is  limited 
to  a  surface  stratum  whose  thickness  is  equal  to  the 
range  of  the  forces.  Upon  this  stratum  act  normally 
both  the  pressure  of  the  vessel  and  the  attraction  of  the 
interior  fluid.  The  integrated  effect  of  the  latter  through- 
out the  stratum  is  equal  to  the  intrinsic  pressure,  and,  on 
account  of  the  thinness  of  the  stratum,  it  enters  into  the 
equations  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  the  external  pres- 
sure exerted  by  the  vessel.  The  effect  of  Laplace's  forces 
is  thus  represented  by  adding  K  to  /,  in  accordance  with 
the  assertion  of  Van  der  Waals. 

I  am  in  hopes  that,  upon  reconsideration,  you  will  be 
able  to  admit  that  this  conclusion  is  correct  Other- 
wise, I  shall  wish  to  hear  more  fully  the  nature  of  your 
objection,  as  the  matter  is  of  such  importance  that  it 
ought  not  longer  to  remain  in  doubt. 

Believe  me  yours  very  truly, 

Ravleigh. 

L'Abbaye  de  St.  Jacut-de-la-Mer,  September  7. 


NOTES. 

The  French  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  met 
at  Marseilles  on  September  17,  under  the  presidency  of  M.  P. 
P.  Deherain,  who  chose  as  the  subject  of  his  address  the  part 
played  by  chemistry  and  physiology  in  agriculture.  The  meet- 
ing comes  to  an  end  to-day.  There  were  general  excursions  on 
Sunday  to  Aries,  and  on  Tuesday  to  Aix ;  and  it  is  proposed  that 
to-morrow,  the  25ih,  ihere  shall  be  a  final  excursion  to  the 
Mediterranean  coast. 

The  Congress  of  German  Naturalists  and  Physicians  was 
opened  at  Halle  on  Monday  by  Prof.  His,  of  Leipzig.  The 
meeting  was  attended  by  1 2 15  persons,  including  many  dis- 
tinguished foreign  physicians  and  men  of  science  and  280 
ladies. 

The  Helmholtz  celebration,  deferred  from  August  31,  is  now 
fixed  for  November  2.  After  the  ceremony  the  delegates  and 
others  will  dine  together  at  the  Hotel  Kaiserhof. 


*  See  alio  P/ti/.  Ma^.,  October  1890,  p.  292. 


500 


NA  TURE 


[September  24.  1891 


By  the  death  of  August  yon  Pelzeln,  which  took  place  on  the 
2nd  inst.  at  Ober-Dobling,  near  Vienna,  Europe  has  lost  one  of 
her  foremost  ornithologists.  He  had  been  in  failing  health  for 
some  years,  and  had  recently  retired,  after  forty  years*  service, 
from  his  post  of  Gustos  of  the  Imperial  Museum  at  Vienna, 
where  he  had  charge  of  the  collections  of  Mammalia  and  birds. 
Von  Pelzeln  will  be  always  celebrated  in  the  memory  of  zoologists 
by  his  important  essays  on  the  collections  in  the  Vienna  Mu- 
seum, but  his  most  enduring  work  will  be  found  in  the  famous 
''  Omithologie  Brasiliens,"  wherein  he  gave  a  detailed  account 
of  the  collections  made  by  the  great  traveller  Natterer  in  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century.  Only  last  year  he  published 
in  the  Annalen  des  k,k,  >:aturhisiorischen  Hof museums ^  an 
account  of  the  formation  of  the  collections  of  Mammalia  and 
birds  in  the  Imperial  Cabinet,  which  is  a  very  valuable  historical 
record.  The  amiability  of  his  character  and  his  great  knowledge 
of  zool(^  had  raised  up  for  Von  Pelzeln  a  host  of  friends  in 
every  country,  and  the  news  of  his  death  will  be  received  with 
wide-spread  regret. 

A  Reuter  telegram  from  New  York  announces  the  death  of 
Prof.  William  Ferrel,  the  meteorologist. 

The  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Lisbon  send  official  notice 
of  the  decease  of  their  Secretary,  Jose  Maria  Latino  Coelho, 
who  died  on  the  29th  ult.  at  Cintra,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six. 
Besides  his  Secretaryship  of  the  Academic  Royale  des  Sciences, 
Prof.  Coelho  held  the  post  of  Director  of  the  Mineralogical 
Section  of  the  Museum  at  the  £cole  Polytechnique  de  Lisbonne. 

The  death  of  M.  Wilken,  the  well-known  Dutch  ethnologist, 
has  excited  much  regret  in  Holland,  where  his  scientific  work 
was  greatly  appreciated.  He  was  forty-four  years  of  age,  and 
had  spent  some  time  as  a  Government  official  in  the  Dutch  East 
Indies,  where  he  had  ample  opportunities  for  carrying  on  his 
favourite  studies. 

Prof.  K.  Goebel  has  been  appointed  Professor  of  Botany  in 
the  University,  and  Director  of  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Munich, 
in  the  place  of  the  late  Carl  v.  Nageli. 

The  Photographic  Society  of  Great  Britain  announce  the 
holding  of  an  exhibition,  which  will  be  open  from  September 
28  to  November  12. 

The  most  interesting  part  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society's 
exhibition  on  Tuesday  was  a  series  of  the  so-called  carnivorous 
and  insect -eating  plants.  It  was  hoped  that  the  display  of 
this  series  would  tend  to  correct  some  very  mistaken  ideas 
which  are  said  to  be  current  on  the  subject.  According 
to  Mr.  Weathers,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Hor- 
ticultural Society,  some  persons,  relying  on  what  they  have 
heard,  will  assert  that  "  these  plants  can  easily  dispose  of  a 
beefsteak  or  mutton  chop  if  their  digestive  organs  are  in  thorough 
repair." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining 
Engineers  was  held  on  Tuesday  at  the  Mason  College,  Birming- 
ham, and  was  attended  by  about  120  members.  Mr.  T.  W. 
Embleton,  of  Leeds,  presided.  In  the  report  it  was  stated  that 
the  Council  had  not  yet  undertaken  any  special  inquiry  con- 
nected with  the  objects  of  the  Institution,  but  their  attention 
had  been  directed  to  the  question  of  safe  explosives  for  use  in 
mines,  the  mechanical  ventilation  of  mines,  and  other  subjects. 
By  the  permission  of  the  Durham  Coal-owners'  Association  and 
the  Durham  Miners'  Association,  a  report  upon  the  fumes  pro- 
duced in  mines  by  roburite,  tonite,  and  gunpowder  had  been 
printed  in  the  Transactions.  The  North  of  England  Institution 
had  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  so- 
called  "flameless"  explosives  for  use  in  mines.  A  paper 
sketching  the  geology  of  the  Birmingham  district  was  read  by 

NO.   1 143,  VOL.  44] 


Prof.  Lapworth.  A  paper  was  also  submitted  by  Mesrs.  W. 
F.  Clark  and  H.  W.  Hughes,  in  which  the  local  method  of 
working  the  thick  coal  was  described  to  the  visitors,  and  the 
peculiarities  of  the  South  Staffordshire  coal-fields  were  described 
in  technical  detail.  Mr.  Arthur  Sopwith  supplied  some  similar 
information  with  reference  to  the  North  Staffordshire  portion  of 
the  coal-field.  These  two  papers  were  taken  as  read,  and  the 
discussion  was  deferred  until  the  members  of  the  Institution  had 
visited  the  principal  Staffordshire  pits. 

A  Report  for  the  year  ending  May  31  last,  by  Mr.  G.  J. 
Swanston,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Marine  Department 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  upon  the  colour  tests  used  in  the  ex- 
amination of  candidates  for  masters*  and  mates'  certificates  in 
the  British  mercantile  marine  has  been  issued  as  a  Parliament- 
ary paper.  The  number  of  p^ersons  who  presented  themselves 
for  examination  f  jr  masters'  and  mates'  certificates  of  com 
petency  under  Form  *'  Examination  2  "  amounted  to  4688,  being 
an  increase  of  26  over  the  previous  year,  when  4662  were  ex- 
amined. In  the  past  year  31  persons  were  rejected  for  their 
inability  to  distinguish  colours,  as  compared  with  23  rejected  in 
the  previous  year.  The  number  of  persons  examined  in  ooloars 
only  under  Form  "Examination  2a"  amounted  to  601.  Of 
these,  32  were  rejected,  being  an  increase  of  over  I'Sper  cent, 
as  compared  with  the  previous  year,  when,  out  of  839  candidates 
examined,  29  were  rejected.  A  few  of  those  who  failed  to  pass 
succeeded  afterwards  in  satisfying  the  examiners.  One  roan, 
who,  on  March  3.  described  a  green  card  as  drab,  drab  as  green, 
pink  glass  as  salmon  and  green,  standard  green  as  blue,  bottle 
green  as  red,  and  neutral  as  green,  passed  a  fortnight  later, 
having  apparently  learned  to  distinguish  the  colours  in  the 
intervening  period.  The  mode  of  conducting  the  colour-test 
examination  described  in  the  Report  for  the  year  1887  is  still  ia 
operation  ;  but  Mr.  Swanston  notes  the  fact  that  the  whole 
subject  of  colour-vision  and  the  best  mode  of  conducting  the 
examinations  are  now  being  investigated  by  a  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Royal  Society. 

On  his  return  from  Japan,  sixteen  years  ago,  Prof  Rein,  the 
well-known  authority  on  Japanese  art  and  industry,  planted  in 
the  Botanical  Garden  at  Frankfort  some  specimens  of  the 
lacquer-tree  {Rhus  vernicifera\  from  which  the  Japanese 
obtain  the  juice  employed  in  the  production  of  their  famoas 
lacquer  work.  According  to  the  Times,  there  are  now  at 
Frankfort  thirty-four  healthy  specimens  of  the  lacquer-tree,  30 
feet  high  and  2  feet  in  girth  a  yard  from  the  ground ;  and  the 
young  trees,  which  have  sprung  from  the  original  tree's  seed, 
are  in  a  flourishing  condition.  It  seems  to  be  proved,  therefore, 
that  the  lacquer-tree  is  capable  of  being  cultivated  in  Europe, 
and  it  only  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  juice  is  affected  by 
the  changed  conditions.  The  Times  says  that,  to  ascertain  this. 
Prof.  Rein  has  tapped  the  Frankfort  trees,  and  has  sent  some  of 
the  juice  to  Japan,  where  it  will  be  used  by  Japanese  artists  in 
lacquer  work,  who  will  report  on  its  fitness  for  lacquering.  In 
the  meantime,  some  of  the  most  eminent  German  chemists  are 
analyzing  samples  of  the  juice  taken  from  the  trees  at  Frankfort, 
and  samples  of  the  juice  sent  from  Japan  ;  and  should  their 
reports  and  the  reports  from  Japan  be  favourable,  it  is  probable 
that  the  tree  will  be  laigely  planted  in  public  parks  and  oiher 
places  in  Germany.  In  course  of  time  a  skilled  worker  in 
lacquer  would  be  brought  over  from  Japan  to  teach  a  selected 
number  of  workmen  the  art  of  lacquering  wood,  and  in  this 
way  lit  is  hoped  that  a  new  art  and  craft  may  be  intro- 
duced into  Europe.  Prof.  Rein  has  been  conferring  with  the 
authorities  at  Kew  as  to  the  results  of  his  experiment. 

The  Hydrographic  Department  of  the  Admiralty  has  jost 
published  full  details  of  the  determinations  of  the  latitudes  and 
longitudes  of  six  stations  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa — namely, 


September  24,  1891J 


NA  TURE 


501 


Port  NoUotb,  Mossamedes,  Benguela,  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  Sao 
Thome,  and  Bonny.  The  obsenratioos  were  made  in  1889  by 
Cojimander  T.  F.  Pullen,  R.N.,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Finlay,  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Gill,  of  the  Cape  Observatory.  Whilst 
stationed  at  Bonny,  Commander  Fallen  saccambed  to  malarial 
fever,  and  Dr.  Gill  has  since  taken  charge  of  the  redactions. 
The  observations  woald  not  have  been  possible  but  for  the 
courtesy  of  the  officials  of  the  Eastern  and  South  African  Tele- 
graph Company,  who  placed  their  cables  at  the  disposal  of  the 
observers. 

Neptunia  for  July  gives  a  description  of  the  frigate  Scilla,  set 
apart  by  the  Italian  Government  for  the  hydrographic  explora- 
tioQ  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  of  its  scientific  fittings  and  instru- 
ments. By  the  end  of  September  the  Scilla  was  expected  to  be 
at  work  along  the  Italian  possessions  in  the  Red  Sea,  investi- 
gating the  fauna  and  flora,  and  the  temperature  at  different 
depths. 

Dr.  a.  Alcock,  the  Surgeon-Naturalist  of  the  Marine 
Survey  of  India,  is  able  to  give  a  most  favourable  report  of  the 
work  done  in  natural  history  on  board  the  Investigator  during 
•  the  year  ending  March  i,  1891.  The  deep-sea  researches  made 
great  progress.  Not  only  has  the  work  of  collection  been  much 
more  successful  since  the  use  of  the  reversible  trawl  and  wire- 
rope,  but  the  collections  themselves  are  becoming  better  ar- 
ranged ;  so  that  should  it  ever  be  decided  to  report  upon  them, 
group  for  group,  in  systematic  detail,  there  will  be  abundance  of 
material  all  soried  ready  to  the  hand.  Dr.  Alcock  is  most 
anxious  that  such  a  report  should  at  some  time  be  undertaken  ; 
for  apart  from  the  Marine  Survey  of  India  nothing  whatever,  he 
thinks,  is  likely  to  be  made  known  of  the  life  of  the  depths  of 
the  Indian  Seas,  and  of  the  physical  and  chemical  characters  of 
the  deposits  now  being  laid  down  on  the  bottom  of  those  seas. 
Further,  there  are  good  reasons  for  supposing  that  an  economic 
return  would  follow  from  the  careful  investigation  of  the  little- 
known  semi-bathybial  fauna  of  Indian  waters,  and  from  a  com- 
parison between  it  and  the  semi-bathybial  faunae  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Japanese  Seas  on  the  other. 

We  have  received  from  Messrs.  Philip  and  Son  a  new  orrery 
for  finding  roughly  the  positions  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  planets 
for  any  hour  of  the  year,  and  their  times  of  rising,  southing,  and 
setting.  In  general  appearance  it  resembles  their  well-known 
planisphere,  but,  in  addition,  it  is  provided  with  two  index 
arms  graduated  in  degrees  of  declination — one  for  the  sun,  and 
the  other  for  the  moon  or  planet.  The  operations  are  simple, 
but  the  instructions  given  scarcely  do  justice  to  the  arrangements 
for  carrying  them  out.  An  almanac  is,  of  course,  a  necessary 
accompaniment  to  the  orrery.  We  can  recommend  it  to  young 
students  of  astronomy. 

A  Botanical  Club  for  California  has  been  instituted  under 
the  presidency  of  Dr.  H.  W.  Harkness. 

We  learn  from  the  Botanical  Gazette  that  Prof.  J.  M.  Coulter 
has  been  spending  the  summer  in  studying  the  Cactaceae  of  the 
borders  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington ;  and  that  an 
expedition  has  been  organized  to  investigate  the  flora  of  Mount 
Orizaba,  Mexico,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  H.  E. 
Beaton. 

A  QUARTERLY  Review  of  Geological  Science  in  Italy  will 
shortly  appear  at  Rome,  edited  by  Sigg.  M.  Cermenati  and 
A.  Tellini. 

Mr.  Charles  Todd,  in  his  Report  on  the  Rainfall  in  South 
Australia  and  the  Northern  Territory  during  1890,  says  that 
without  doubt  **  the  feature  "  of  the  year  was  the  extraordinary 
rainfall  (especially  in  the  first  three  ^months)  over  the  eastern  and 
north-eastern  portions  of  the  continent,  which  continued  through- 

NO.   I  143,  VOL.  44] 


out  the  whole  year,  more  or  less,  in  New  South  Wales,  and, 
whilst  giving  that  colony  the  wettest  year  on  record,  caused 
some  stations  to  register  over  100  inches. 

The  Pilot  Chart  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean  for  September 
states  that  the  most  important  storm  of  the  month  was  the  hurri- 
cane that  devastated  the  island  of  Martinique  on  the  evening  of 
the  1 8th,  causing  the  loss  of  378  lives.  The  storm  seems  to 
have  been  of  comparatively  small  diameter,  and  it  probably 
originated  south-east  of  the  island,  which  it  passed  directly  over, 
on  a  west' north-west  track  towards  San  Domingo.  It  recurved 
over  the  eastern  Bahamas,  and  thence  moved  north-east  close  to 
Bermuda  ;  where  at  noon  of  the  27th  the  wind  blew  with  hurri- 
cane force  from  north-north-west.  The  weather,  the  same  as  in 
this  country,  was  unsettled  and  rainy  over  the  North  Atlantic 
generally,  especially  off  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States, 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  fog  has  been  reported.  A  sub- 
marine earthquake  was  experienced  at  loh.  30m.  a.m.  on  August 
23,  in  latitude  36"  44'  N.,  longitude  59"  47'  W.,  by  the  s.s. 
Robert  Harrowing ;  Captain  Hughson  reports  that  a  strange 
commotion  of  the  sea  increased  until  the  decks  were  filled  with 
water.     At  ih.  p.m.  the  sea  suddenly  fell  calm. 

Colorado  apparently  intends  to  be  well  represented  at  the 
great  Chicago  Exhibition.  Besides  the  mineral,  agricultural, 
and  educational  exhibits,  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  State  will  be 
shown  in  great  completeness.  Already  more  than  1000  speci- 
mens of  plants  have  been  pressed  ;  nearly  200  varieties  of  fruit 
have  been  duplicated  in  wax,  and  more  than  2000  species  of 
insects  have  been  mounted. 

Returns  have  been  collected  in  Prussia,  showing  the  extent 
to  which  buildings  belonging  to  the  State,  or  entitled  to  State 
subsidy  for  rebuilding  or  repair,  were  damaged  by  lightning 
from  the  year  1877  to  1886.  The  number  of  buildings  to  which 
the  returns  relate  is  53,502.  Of  these,  264  were  struck  during  the 
period  in  question,  or  about  five  for  every  1000  buildings  in  ten 
years  ;  and  in  81  cases  a  fire  resulted.  The  following  facts,  given 
originally  in  the  Reichsanzeiger^  are  reproduced  in  the  current 
number  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Journal: — Of  the  264  buildings 
struck,  107  hadjowers,  and  in  six  cases  only  the  tower  escaped 
being  struck.  Of  the  total  number  of  buildings  struck,  fifteen 
were  fitted  with  conductors,  and  of  these  latter  only  one  building 
escaped  injury.  In  two  cases  the  conductor  was  injured,  and  on 
one  occasion  the  lightning  passed  from  the  conductor  to  an  iron 
water  pipe.  In  five  cases  they  were  so  constructed  as  to  be 
either  dangerous  or  uselesj  ;  in  six  cases  they  were  not  struck  at 
all,  being  inadequate  for  the  size  of  the  building,  from  which  it 
will  be  seen  that  conductors  are  a  safeguard  against  lightning 
only  when  carefully  constructed  and  repaired,  and  fiited  in 
numbers  according  to  the  size  of  the  building  which  it  is  intended 
to  protect.  The  amount  of  injury  wrought  by  lightning  on  the 
53,502  houses  was,  on  the  whole,  inconsiderable,  being  only 
1,136,683  marks  (;f  56,834),  or  4306  marks  (;f 2 1 5)  for  each 
casualty,  or  21  marks  (a  guinea)  per  building  in  ten  years,  that 
is  2 'I  marks  (about  2r.)  per  building  per  annum. 

Some  parts  of  Australia  seem  to  be  admirably  suited  for  the 
growth  of  the  olive.  Mr.  Principal  Thompson,  of  Dookie,  says 
in  a  recent  report  that  700  olive  trees  planted  in  thai  district  are 
robust  and  healthy,  and  that  they  produce  splendid  oil.  He 
strongly  recommends  the  planting  of  the  olive  around  vineyards 
and  homesteads  for  shade  and  shelter,  and  to  give  a  picturesque 
appearance  to  the  rural  home.  Apart  from  the  making  of  oil, 
he  believes  it  would  pay  handsomely  to  grow  olive  berries  to 
feed  pigs  alone.  Last  winter  the  pigs  at  Dookie  (about  80 
head)  were  allowed  to  eat  up  the  fallen  berries  in  the  olive 
grove  ;  they  had  no  other  food  for  upwards  of  two  months,  and 
throve  amazingly,  their  skins  having  a  peculiar  shining  appear- 
ance, characteristic  of  animals  being  well  fed. 


502 


NA  TURE 


[September  24.  1891 


Tobacco  is  being  cultivated  with  much  success  in  the  German 
part  of  New  Guinea,  and  is  said  to  be  better  than  the  tobacco 
produced  in  Sumatra.  It  is  expected  that  there  will  be  a  great 
increase  in  the  amount  grown  during  the  coming  year. 

According  to  M.  d'Amagher,  the  Russian  correspondent  of 
the  Monde  Econofnique^  a  central  Agricultural  Institute  is  to  be 
established  in  Russia.  It  will  include  several  sections — agri- 
cultural, geological,  meteorological,  botanical,  chemical,  and 
technological ;  and  branches  will  be  formed  in  the  provinces. 

Unusually  fine  atmospheric  effects  were  produced  by  the 
clear  weather  of  the  Mediterranean  during  the  month  of  July. 
According  to  the  Mediterranean  Naturalist,  the  new  monthly 
periodical  issued  in  Malta,  the  phenomenon  of  irregular  diffrac- 
tion was  especially  shown  by  the  raising  of  the  line  of  sight  to 
such  an  extent  that  objects  at  great  distances,  at  other  times 
completely  concealed  from  view,  were  apparently  raised  so  much 
above  their  true  position  as  to  be  clearly  discernible  from  the 
shores  of  Malta  and  Gozo.  The  cliffs  of  the  coast- line,  and  the 
undulatory  contour  of  the  mountains  of  Sicily,  were  to  be  seen 
distinctly  with  the  naked  eye  on  July  ii  and  12,  while  the  out- 
lines of  Etna  stood  boldly  out  against  the  clear  azure  sky. 
Although  more  than  100  miles  away,  the  form  of  the  mountain 
was  perfectly  recognizable. 

The  honey  of  the  Malta  bees  has  long  been  noted  both  for 
its  purity  and  for  its  delicious  flavour.  A  writer  in  the  Medi- 
terranean Naturalist  says  the  flavour  is  largely  due  to  the 
extensive  crops  of  sulla  (clover)  that  are  annually  raised  through- 
out the  islands,  from  which  the  bees  derive  the  largest  propor- 
tion of  their  material.  It  is  estimated  that  to  collect  one  pound 
of  honey  from  clover,  62,000  heads  of  clover  must  be  deprived 
of  nectar,  and  3,750,000  visits  must  be  made  by  the  bees. 

Some  excellent  directions  for  the  collection,  preparation,  and 
preservation  of  birds'  eggs  and  nests  have  been  put  together  by 
Mr.  C.  Bendire,  and  published  by  the  United  States  Nation  a 
Museum.  He  begins  his  counsels  by  telling  the  would-be 
collector  that  unless  he  intends  to  make  an  especial  study  of 
oology,  and  has  a  higher  aim  than  the  mere  desire  to  take  and 
accumulate  as  large  a  number  of  specimens  as  possible  regard- 
less of  their  proper  identification,  he  had  better  leave  nests  and 
eggs  alone.  The  mere  accumulation  of  specimens,  Mr.  Bendire 
points  out,  is  the  least  important  object  of  the  true  oologist. 
The  principal  aim  of  the  collector  should  be  to  make  careful 
observations  on  the  habits,  call-notes,  song,  the  character  of  the 
food,  mode  and  length  of  incubation,  and  the  actions  of  the 
species  generally  from  the  beginning  of  the  mating  season  to 
the  time  the  young  are  able  to  leave  the  nest. 

At  one  of  the  meetings 'of  the  Wellington  Philosophical 
Society  in  1885,  Sir  Walter  Buller,  F.R.S.,  exhibited  a  series  of 
the  so-called  wandering  albatross,  and  expressed  his  belief  that 
there  were  two  species  under  the  common  name  of  Diomedea 
exulanSf  one  of  them  being  highly  variable  in  plumage,  and  the 
other  distinguished  by  its  larger  size  and  by  the  constancy  of  its 
white  head  and  neck.  But,  although  that  was  his  conviction,  he 
did  not  feel  justified  in  setting  up  the  new  species  and  giving  it  a 
distinctive  name  until  he  could  produce  incontestable  evidence 
of  its  existence.  From  a  paper  read  by  him  before  the  same 
Society  in  February  last,  and  published  in  the  new  volume  of 
the  Transactions  of  the  New  Zealand  Institute,  we  learn  that  he 
had  lately  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  sixteen  beautiful 
specimens  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages,  and  that  as  the  result 
of  his  study  of  these  specimens  he  had  no  hesitation  in  speaking 
of  a  new  species.  **Itis  undoubtedly,"  he  says,  **  the  noblest 
member  of  this  group,  both  as  to  size  and  beauty,  and  I  have 
therefore  named  it  Diomedea  regia, "  He  exhibited  before  the 
Wellington  Society  a  series  of  both  species,  and  in  the  cou'-s*  of 

NO.    I  143,  VOL.  44] 


some  remarks  on  them  stated  that  they  keep  quite  apart  from 
one  another  on  their  breeding-grounds,  and  do  not  commiogle 
*' except  when  sailing  and  soaring  over  the  mighty  deep,  where 
a  community  of  interest  and  a  common  pursuit  bring  many 
members  of  this  great  family  together." 

In  the  paper  in  which  he  deals  with  the  species  called  by  him 
Diomedea  regia^  Sir  Walter  Buller  refers  to  a  remarkable  cha- 
racteristic of  the  wandering  albatross — a  characteristic  which 
has  been  carefully  studied  by  Mr.  Harris.  At  a  certain  time  of 
the  year,  between  February  and  June — Mr.  Harris  cannot  ex- 
actly say  when — the  old  birds  leave  their  young  and  go  to  sea, 
and  do  not  return  until  October,  when  they  arrive  in  large  nnm- 
bers.  During  their  absence  the  young  birds  tiever  leave  the 
breeding-ground.  Immediately  after  the  return  of  the  old 
birds,  each  pair  goes  to  its  old  nest,  and,  afler  a  little  fondling 
of  the  young  one,  turns  it  out,  and  prepares  the  nest  for  the 
next  brood.  The  deserted  young  ones  are  in  good  condiiioa, 
and  very  lively,  frequently  being  seen  off  their  nests  exercising 
their  wings  ;  and,  when  the  old  birds  come  back,  a  young  bird 
will  often  remain  outside  the  nest  and  nibble  at  the  head  of  the 
old  one,  until  the  feathers  between  the  beak  and  the  eye  are 
removed,  and  the  skin  made  quite  sore.  The  young  birds  do 
not  go  far  from  land  until  the  following  year,  when  they  ac- 
company the  old  ones  to  sea.  When  the  young  are  left  in  the 
nest  at  the  close  of  the  breeding-season,  they  are  so  im- 
mensely fat  that  Sir  Walter  Buller  thinks  they  can  subsist  for 
months  without  food  of  any  kind.  Captain  Fairchild  has  de- 
scribed to  Sir  Walter  from  personal  observation  the  coming 
home  of  the  wandering  albatross,  and  the  peremptory  manner  in 
which  the  young  bird  in  possession  is  ordered  to  quit  the  nest, 
so  as  to  make  room  for  its  successor. 

The  habitsof  the  kingfisher  (^^/ir^^//z'tz^a;rj)  formed  thesubject 
of  an  interesting  paper  read  some  time  ago  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Hall  be- 
fore the  Auckland  Institute,  and  now  printed  in  the  Institute's 
Proceedings.  He  raised  the  question,  Is  it  customary  for  the  king- 
fisher to  capture  live  birds  ?  Last  winter  he  saw  one  with  a  live 
white-eye  in  its  mouth.  The  tree  the  kingfisher  was  perched  apon 
was  not  many  yards  distant  from  him,  and  he  distinctly  saw  the 
little  wings  flutter  convulsively  as  the  kingfisher  was  preparing 
to  beat  its  prey  against  the  branch.  So  it  could  not  have  been  a 
dead  bird  casually  picked  up.  Perhaps  this,  he  said,  was  an 
application  of  the  lex  talioniSf  for,  besides  being  mercilessly  per- 
secuted by  the  small  boys  with  their  catapults,  the  kingfisher  was 
not  infrequently  captured  by  the  common  hawk.  But  some- 
times the  hawk  does  not  come  off  best.  One  day  at  Parawai 
(Thames)  a  hawk  saihd  round  the  bend  of  a  hill,  followed  (acci- 
dentally, he  supposed)  by  a  kingfisher.  There  at  once  arose  a 
great  outcry,  and  the  hawk  came  again  in  sight,  bearing  the 
kingfisher  in  its  talons.  But,  nothing  daunted,  the  kingfisher 
with  its  pickaxe  of  a  bill  pegged  away  at  the  breast  and  abdomen 
of  its  captor  to  such  good  effect  that  the  hawk  was  glad  to 
liberate  its  prey,  whereupon  the  kingfisher  flew  away  apparently 
but  little  the  worse  for  the  encounter,  and  carrying  with  it,  he 
need  hardly  say,  the  full  sympathy  of  the  onlookers.  A  friend 
of  the  author  had  seen  a  kingfisher  dive  under  water  to  escape 
the  pursuit  of  a  hawk. 

Mr.  J.  Crawford,  State  Geologist  and  Mineralogist  of 
Nicaragua,  visited  in  1888  the  Amerrique  Indians,  from  whose 
ancestral  name  **  America  "  may  have  been  derived  ;  and  he  has 
lately  submitted  to  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  Historj  some 
interesting  notes  about  them.  They  occupy  a  hilly  region  in  the 
gold-mining  part  of  the  district  of  La  Libertad,  Nicangiu. 
where  there  are  *'true  fissures,'*  each  containing  gold  ic 
sufficient  quantities  to  give  profits  to  the  mine  and  mill  owners 
now  "operating  "  them.  A  few  melted  masses  of  gold,  weigb- 
ing   from   half  an   ounce   to   two   ounces  each,    pierced   viiS 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


503 


holes,  and  in  form  supposed  to  have  been  made  and  used  as 

ornaments  before  the  Spanish  occupation,  have  been  discovered 

in  the  district ;  and  Mr.  Crawford  regards  it  as  a  fair  inference 

that  the  Amerrique  Indians  who  dwelt  in  that  part  of  Nicaragua 

at  the  time  of  its  discovery  by  Columbus,   September  1502, 

picked  up  and  occasionally  mined,  melted,  and  used  gold  for 

sacred  or  ornamental  purposes.     The  Amerrique  Indians  are 

osttally  well  formed,  6  feet  6  inches  to 6  feet  8  inches  tall ;  and  they 

are  active,  and  appear  to  be  strong  and  healthy.     Nevertheless, 

they  are  dying  out  rapidly.  Probably  not  more  than  275  or  300  of 

them  are  now  living.     They  live  in  dim  pathless  forests,  and 

their  occupation  is  to   find  in  the   woods  various  species  of 

trees  {Sipkonia^    Casiilloa^    &c.)     They  deeply  scarify   these, 

collect  the  exuding  emulsion,  and  separate  the  contained  elastic 

("  India")  rubber  ;  and  this  *'  India"  rubber  they  carry  on  their 

backs  more  than  loo  miles  to  sell  to  merchants  in  Kama  or  at 

the  mouth  of  Rio  Matagalpa.     They  have  cleared  some  patches 

of  ground,  and  plant   corn  by  making  holes  in  the  soil  with 

pointed  sticks.     They  believe  that  with  allied  tribes  they  had  in 

veiy  ancient  times  a  mighty  prophet  or  cacique,  who  appeared 

suddenly,  fiill  grown,  in  their  territory,  and  that   to  him  many 

tribes  of  Indians  gave  allegiance.     The  impalipable  form  of  thfs 

ancient  chief  has  been  seen  by  very  old  Indians  proudly  walking 

and  gesticulating  on  the  top  of  Mesa  Totumbla.     He  is  buried 

in,  or  returns  by  day  to,  a  deep  cavern  in  this  Mesa  (a  mass  of 

gneiss) ;  and  he  indicates,  by  gestures,  that  he  will   one  day 

collect  the  Indians  into  a  great  army,  and  lead  them  in  person  to 

many  victories.     Mr.  Crawford  found  his  way  into  the  cavern, 

and  discovered  in  it  three  crania  of  Indians  with  other  bones  of 

their  bodies.     These  were  sent  in  18S9  to  the  Paris  Exhibition, 

and  were  afterwards  transferred  to  the   U.S.  National  Museum. 

A   few  crude  beads  or  ornaments,  evidently  earlier  than  the 

Spanish  occupation  of  Nicaragua,  were  also  found. 

The  following  are  the  arrangements  for  lectures  during 
October  at  the  Royal  Victoria  Hall :— October  6,  Prof.  T. 
Hudson  Beare,  the  steam-engine,  with  experiments ;  October 
13,  Rev.  Canon  Browne,  the  invasion  of  England  and  Battle 
of  Hastings,  with  illustrations  from  Bayeux  tapestry ;  October 
20,  Mr.  J.  R.  Green,  flowers  and  their  helpers  ;  and  October 
27,  Rev.  E.  Hill,  the  Channel  Islands. 

At  a  meeting  held  last  year  by  the  students  of  the  Kinder- 
garten department  of  the  New  York  College  for  the  Training 
of  Teachers,  various  papers  were  read  on  the  principles  and 
methods  of  the  Kindergarten.  These  papers  have  now  been 
issued  as  one  of  the  educational  monographs  of  the  New  York 
College.  Miss  A.  Brooks,  who  contributes  an  introduction, 
says  the  School  Board  of  New  York  City  is  considering  plans 
for  the  introduction  of  the  Kindergarten  system  into  its  schools  ; 
and  a  movement  begun  by  the  New  York  Kindergarten  Asso- 
ciation is  destined,  she  thinks,  *'  to  accomplish  great  things  for 
the  neglected  children  of  the  city." 

'*  Egyptian  Science,"  by  N.  E.  Johnson,  is  the  title  of  a 
work  which  will  shortly  be  published  by  Messrs.  Griffith,  Farran, 
and  Co. 

The  Durham  College  of  Science,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  has 
issued  its  Calendar  for  the  session  of  1891-92.  This  College 
represents  the  faculties  of  science  and  engineering  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Durham,  and  thus  constitutes  an  important  portion  of 
the  University  of  the  north  of  England.  But  it  does  not  restrict 
its  work  to  science  and  engineering  ;  it  fulfils  all  the  functions  of 
a  University  College.  • 

The  following  works  will  shortly  be  published  by  Messrs. 
Crosby  Lock  wood  and  Son: — *'The  Mechanical  Engineer's 
Pocket-book  of  Tables,  Formulae,  Rules,  and  Data,"  a  handy 

NO.    I  143,  VOL.  44] 


book  of  reference  tor  daily  use  in  engineering  practice,  by  D. 
Kinnear  Clark  ;  *'  The  Metallurgy  of  Argentiferous  Lead,"  a 
practical  treatise  on  the  smelting  of  silver-lead  ores,  and  the 
refining  of  lead  bullion,  including  reports  on  various  smelting 
establishments,  and  descriptions  of  modern  furnaces  and  plants 
in  Europe  and  America,  by  M.  Eissler ;  ''  Engineering 
Chemistry,"  a  practical  treatise  for  the  use  of  analytical  chemists, 
engineers,  iron  masters,  iron  founders,  students,  and  others, 
comprising  methods  of  analysis  and  valuation  of  the  principal 
materials  used  in  engineering  work,  with  numerous  analyses, 
examples,  and  suggestions,  by  H.  Joshua  Phillips  ;  *' A  Hand- 
book of  Brewing,"  a  practical  treatise  for  the  use  of  brewers  and 
their  pupils,  by  Herbert  Edwards  Wright;  "Condensed 
Machines,"  a  selection  of  formulae,  rules,  tables,  and  data,  for 
the  use  of  engineering  students,  science  clasfes,  &c.,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department, 
by  W.  G.  Crawford  Hughes;  "Milling,"  a  treatise  on 
machines,  appliances,  and  processes  employed  in  the  shaping 
of  metals  by  rotary  cutters,  including  information  on  making 
and  grinding  the  cutters,  by  Paul  N.  Hasluck,  with  upwards  of 
300  engravings  ;  "  Star  Groups,"  a  student's  guide  to  the  con- 
stellations, by  J.  EUard  Gore,  with  thirty  maps ;  "  Lessons  in 
Commerce,"  by  Prof.  R.  Gambaro,  of  the  Royal  High  Com- 
mercial School  of  Genoa,  edited  and  revised  by  James  Gault, 
Professor  of  Commerce  and  Commercial  Law  in  King's  College, 
London. 

Among  the  books  announced  by  Messrs.  George  Philip  and 
Son  are  the  following: — "Delagoa  Bay:  its  Natives  and 
Natural  History,"  by  Rose  Monteiro,  with  20  original  illustra- 
tions, after  the  author's  sketches  and  from  the  natural  objects,  by 
A.  B.  and  E.  C.  Woodward  ;  **  Paraguay :  its  History,  Com- 
merce, and  Resources,"  by  Dr.  E.  Bourgade,  with  13  illustra- 
tions and  a  large  coloured  map ;  "  Makers  of  Modern  Thought, 
by  D.  Nasmith,  Q.C.  ;  **The  Teacher's  Hand-book  of  Slojd, 
as  practised  and  taught  at  Naas,  by  Otto  Salomon,  Di- 
rector of  the  Naas  Seminarium,  with  over  130  illustrations  ; 
**  Hughes's  Class-book  of  Modem  Geography,"  an  entirely  new 
and  completely  revised  edition,  much  enlarged  by  J.  Francon 
Williams;  "Geography  of  the  British  Colonies  and  Foreign 
Possessions,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Faunthorpe,  new  and  revised 
edition ;  "  Systematic  Atlas,"  for  higher  school  and  general 
use,  a  series  of  physical  and  political  maps  of  all  the  countries 
of  the  world,  with  diagrams  and  illustrations  of  astronomical 
and  physical  geography,  specially  drawn  by  E.  G.  Ravenstein  ; 
"  The  Handy  Volume  Atlas  of  Astronomy,"  a  series  of  72 
plates,  with  notes  and  index,  by  Sir  Robert  Stawell  Ball, 
F.R.S.  ;  "The  Handy  Volume  Atlas  of  London,"  a  series  of 
64  maps,  with  notes,  compendium,  directory,  and  complete 
index;  "Atlas  of  Modern  Geography,"  new  and  enlarged 
edition. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Macaque  Monkeys  {Macacus  cynomolgus) 
from  India,  presented  respectively  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Sas^e  and 
Mrs.  Gregorey  ;  two  Sykes's  Monkeys  {Cercopithtcus  albigularis) 
from  East  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  Pardage  ;  one  Mozam- 
bique Monkey  [Cercopithecus  rufo  viridis)^  one  Garnett's  Galago 
{Galago garneiti)  from  East  Africa,  one  Blotched  Genet ((7^«<//rt 
iigritia)y  one  Ostrich  {Struihio  camelus)  from  East  Central 
Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  Freith  Anstmther ;  one  Coypu 
{Myopoiamus  coy  pus)  from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr. 
Spencer  H.    Curtis;  one  Golden   Eagle   {Aquila  chrysadus), 

European,   presented  by   Mr.    Herbert  Bray ;    one Sand 

Grouse   {Ft erodes )   from  South  Africa,  presented  by  Mr- 
Max  Michaelis;  two  Trocary  Pigeons  {Columba  irocary)  from 

Madeira,    received    from    Dr.    F.   J.    Hicks ;    one Elap* 

[Eiaps )  from  Australia,  presented  by  Mr.    E.    II.   Meek; 


t* 


it 


504 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


one  Rhomb-amarked  Snake  {Psammophis  rhflmbeatus)^  four 
Crossed   Snakes    {Psammophis   crucifer\   one   Hygian   Snake 

(Elaps  hygiiE),  two Snakes  {Dasypeltis  scabra)  from  South 

Africa,  presented  by  Messrs.  Herbert  Melville  and  Claude 
Beddington  ;  one  Smooth  Snake  {Coronella lavis),  two  Common 
Snakes  {Tropidonctus  natrix)  from  Oxfordshire,  presented  by 
Mr.  A.  W.  S.  Fisher ;  one  Otter  {Luira  vulgaris)  from  South 
Wales,  received  in  exchange ;  two  White-tailed  Sea  Eagles 
{Haliaettis  alHcillays)  from  Norway,  three  Indian  Python 
{Python  molurus)  from  India,  deposited  ;  one  Macaque  Monkey 
{Macacus  cynomolgus)  iTom  India,  one  Pardine  Gend  {Genetta 
pardina)  from  West  Africa,  purchased  ;  one  Vinaceous  Turtle 
Dove  ( Turtur  vinaceus\  bred  in  the  Menagerie. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Lightning  Spectra.— Mr.  W.  E.  Wood,  of  Washington, 
has  continued  his  observations  of  lightning  spectra  for  the  pur- 
pose of  determining  the  origin  of  some  of  the  lines  previously 
recorded  by  him  (Nature,  vol.  xlii.  p.  377).  The  result  is  that 
he  is  now  able  to  say,  in  the  Sidereal  Messenger  for  August : — 
''Lightning  spectra  present  but  the  characteristic  lines  of 
oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  carbonic  acid,  and — what  was 
puzzling  to  me — the  line  of  the  vapour  of  sodium.  The  absorp- 
tion bands  which  I  find  in  lightning  spectra  I  think  might  be 
produced  by  the  moisture  in  the  ajr,  a  large  quantity  being 
present  during  thunderstorms. "  It  is  suggest«i  that  the  sodium 
fine  owes  its  presence  to  the  existence  of  meteoritic  debris  in  the 
atmosphere. 

A  New  Asteroid. — The  315th  asteroid  was  discovered  by 
Charlois  on  September  i. 


THE  INTERNA  TIONAL  GEOLOGICAL  CON- 
GRESS :  WASHINGTON  MEETING, 

'T'HE  fifth  meeting  of  the  International  Geological  Congress, 
^  being  the  first  ever  held  in  America,  was  held  at  the 
Columbian  University,  Washington,  from  August  26  to  Septem- 
ber I,  with  an  attendance  of  sixty  or  seventy  foreigners,  from 
Austria-Hungary,  Canada,  Chili,  France,  Germany,  Great 
Britain,  Mexico,  Peru,  Roumania,  Russia,  Sweden,  and  Switzer- 
land, and  about  two  hundred  members  from  the  United  States. 
The  papers  and  discussions  were  generally  in  English,  though 
French  and  German  were  to  some  extent  spoken.  French  has 
been  the  language  of  all  the  previous  Congresses. 

Profs.  James  Hall  and  James  D.  Dana  were  elected  Honorary 
Presidents,  and  J.  S.  Newbery  Acting  President.  Owing  to  the 
absence  of  the  latter,  the  chair  was  tilled  in  turn  by  several  of 
the  Vice-Presidents. 

First  Day. — After  the  election  of  officers,  as  nominated  by 
the  bureau.  Prof.  Joseph  Le  Conte,  as  senior  Vice-President, 
took  the  chair,  and  delivered  the  opening  address,  in  which  he 
said  that  the  idea  of  an  International  Congress  was  bom  in 
America  in  1876.  Previous  meetings  have  been  held  at  Paris  in 
1878,  Bologna  in  1881,  Beriin  in  1885,  and  London  in  1888. 
He  briefly  stated  the  purposes  of  this  Congress,  which  were 
afterwards  carried  out — namely,  to  discuss  classification  of  the 
Pleistocene  rocks,  of  correlation,  and  of  map  notation.  He 
compared  the  maps  of  Europe  and  America,  showing  the  com- 
plexity of  the  former  and  the  simplicity  of  the  latter.  He  then 
considered  some  points  in  American  geology  : — (i)  The 
general  continuity  of  the  record.  (2)  The  prevalence  of  ex- 
tensive faults,  ranging  from  too  to  2000  feet,  and  extending 
over  great  distances.  (3)  Peculiarities  of  mountain  structure. 
Prof.  Gilbert  has  discovered  a  new  type  of  mountains  formed  by 
uptilted  strata.  The  Sierra  Nevada  is  an  illustration.  (4)  Ex- 
tensive lava  floods,  covering  areas  from  10,000  to  100,000  square 
miles  in  extent,  and  from  2000  to  4000  feet  deep.  No  such 
floods  are  found  elsewhere.  Those  of  India  are  the  nearest 
approximation  ;  but  in  Europe  the  lava  beds  are  small  and  much 
cut  up.  (5)  The  great  continental  movement,  commencing  in  the 
later  Tertiary,and  terminating  in  the  beginning  of  the  Quaternary, 
which  has  caused  changes  of  level  amounting  to  2500  or  3000 

NO.    II 43,  VOL.  44] 


feet  on  both  sides  of  the  continent.  (6)  The  ice-sheet  of  the  glactal 
epoch  was  first  and  most  completely  demonstrated  in  America. 

Other  addresses  were  delivered  by  Mr.  Hubbard,  Chairman  of 
the  Local  Committee  ;  Mr.  Noble,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who 
has  ofHcial  control  and  supervision  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
the  United  States ;  Prof.  Hughes  of  England,  Prof.  Gaodry  of 
France,  and  Major  Powdl,  Chief  of  the  Geological  Survey. 

Second  Day. — The  entire  day  was  occupied  by  a  dtscussion 
on  classification  of  the  glacial  Pleistocene  deposits.  Prof.  T.  C. 
Chamberlin  opened  the  discussion  by  stating  that  classification 
mi^ht  be  made  on  three  grounds :  (i)  structural ;  (2)  chrono- 
Ic^cal  ;  (3)  genetic.  The  first  was  very  easy,  being  an  obvious 
division  into  assorted  and  unassorted  drift.  The  second  was 
extremely  difficult,  and  could  not  be  accurately  made  till  after  a 
full  determination  of  the  third.  He  accordingly  proposed  the 
following  general  classes:  (i)  f)rmations  produced  by  the 
direct  action  of  Pleistocene  glaciers  ;  (2)  formations  produced  by 
the  combined  action  of  Pleistocene  glaciers  and  accompanyii^ 
glacial  drainage ;  (3)  formations  produced  by  glacial  waters 
after  their  issuance  from  Pleistocene  glaciers ;  (4)  formations 
produced  by  floating  ice  derived  from  Pleistocene  glaciers  ;  (5) 
formations  produced  by  shore  ice  and  ice  floes  due  to  low- 
Pleistocene  temperature,  but  independent  of  glacier  action  ;  (6> 
formations  produced  by  winds  acting  on  Pleistocene  gladal  and 
glacio-fluvial  deposits  under  the  peculiar  conditions  of  glaciation. 

This  paper  was  discussed  very  thoroughly.  Prof.  T.  McK. 
Hughes  pointed  out  that  the  classification  suggested  by  Prof. 
Chamberlin  was  purely  genetic.  He  then  explained  the  abun- 
dance of  striated  boulders  in  one  part  of  the  glacial  deposits 
and  their  absence  in  another.  If  the  supply  of  material  (that 
is,  of  rock  bosses  above  the  ice)  ceases  at  any  point,  then  all  the 
boulders  will  gradually  sink  through  the  ice  and  become  glaciated 
at  the  bottom.  Prof.  Hughes  also  thought  that  two  distinct 
types  of  ridges  formed  of  glacial  material  were  confused  under 
the  names — kames,  osars,  and  eskar.  He  also  explained  the 
"pitted  plains"  as  due  to  an  unusual  interruption  between  the 
hills  or  ridges  of  eskar  character.  He  expressed  his  opinloo 
that  the  glacial  p>eriod  was  a  continuous  one,  in  England  at 
least,  except  for  slight  changes  due  to  unimportant  oscillations. 

Mr.  McGee  mentioned  the  importance  of  land  forms  in  inter- 
preting geological  processes.  Any  primary  geological  classifica- 
tion must  be  genetic.  He  discussed  in  detail  the  following 
scheme  of  classification  of  Pleistocene  deposits : — 

Classification  of  Pleistocene  Formations  and  Land  Forms. 

A.  Aqueous  : 

1.  Below  base  level. 

a.  Marine. 

b.  Estuarine. 

c.  Lacustral. 

2.  At  base  level. 

a.  Littoral. 

b.  Mar^^h. 

c.  Alluvial  (certain  terraces,  &c.). 

3.  Above  base  level. 

a.  Torrential. 

b.  Talus  (including  playas). 

B.  Glacial : 

1.  Direct  (Chamberlin's  Class  I.). 

2.  Indirect  (Chamberlin's  Classes  II.  to  V.,  in  part). 

C.  Aqueo- Glacial  (Chamberlin's  Classes  II.  to  V.,  in  part). 

D.  Eolic  (Chamberlin's  Class  (?)VL). 

E.  Volcanic  : 

1.  Direct. 

a.  Lava  sheets. 

b.  Cinder  cones. 

c.  Tuffs,  lapilli  sheets,  &c 

2.  Indirect. 

a.  Ash  beds. 

b.  Lapilli  sheets. 

Prof.  Chamberlin,  in  closing  the  discussion,  said  that  there 
was  great  difficulty  in  applying  a  chronolc^cal  classificadoo, 
and  that  such  a  classification  might  even  act  as  a  barrier  to 
observation  and  to  the  recognition  of  the  truth.  Chronological 
classification  is  the  ultimate  goal  of  glacial  studies,  but  it  l> 
something  for  which  we  are  not  as  yet  prepared.  Red,  oxidized 
sub-soils  are  not  developed  in  northern  latitudes.  Organic 
deposits  between  glacial  layers  are  abundant  in  the  West,  but 
do  not  belong  to  a  single  horizon.     Many  facts  of  erosion  aci 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


505 


physical  geology  indicate  that  the  Glacial  epoch  in  America 
was  widely  differentiated  and  of  long  duration.  How  many 
distinct  periods  it  embraced  we  do  not  as  yet  know. 

Prof.  Cope  said  an  abundant  tropical  fauna  is  found  in  the 
"  Eqans  beds/'  which,  if  they  be  of  mterglacial  age,  indicates  at 
this  time  a  very  warm  climate.  This  fauna  is  succeeded  by  a 
truly  boreal  fauna.  In  this  is  contained  material  for  a  chrono- 
logical subdivision  of  Pleistocene  deposits. 

Third  Day. — The  President  announced  as  the  subject  for 
discassion,  the  correlation  of  geological  formations. 

Mr.  Gilbert  opened  this  discussion  by  presenting  a  general 
classification  of  methods  of  correlation. 

Strata  are  locally  classified  by  superposition  in  chronologic 
sequences.  Geologic  correlation  is  the  chronology  of  beds  not 
iD  visible  sequence.  For  convenience  in  discussion,  methods  of 
correlation  are  classed  in  ten  groups,  of  which  six  are  physical 
and  four  biotic. 

Physical  Methods  of  Correlation. 

(i)  Through  visible  continuity.  The  outcrop  of  a  bed  is 
traced  from  point  to  point,  and  the  different  parts  are  thus 
correlated  one  with  another. 

(2)  Strata  are  correlated  on  account  of  lithologic  similarity. 
This  method,  once  widely  prevalent,  is  used  where  the  distances 
are  small. 

(3)  Correlation  by  the  similarity  of  lithologic  sequence  has 
great  and  important  use  where  the  localities  compared  fall 
within  the  same  geologic  province,  but  is  not  safely  used  in 
passing  from  province  to  province. 

(4}  Physical  breaks,  or  unconformities,  have  a  limited  use, 
especially  in  conjunction  with  other  methods.  The  practice  of 
employing  them  in  the  case  of  localities  wide  apart  is  viewed 
with  suspicion. 

(5)  Deposits  are  also  correlated  with  their  simultaneous  rela- 
tions to  some  physical  event — for  example,  a  beach  with  the 
lake  beds  it  encircles ;  a  base  level  plane  with  a  contiguous 
subaqueous  deposit ;  and  alluvial,  littoral,  and  subaqueous 
deposits  standing  in  proper  topographic  relation.  In  the 
Pleistocene,  glacial  deposits  are  widely  correlated  with  reference 
to  a  climatic  episode  assumed  to  arise  from  some  general  cause. 

(6)  Deposits  are  correlated  through  comparison  of  changes 
they  have  experienced  from  geologic  processes  supposed  to  be 
continuous.  Newer  and  older  drift  deposits  in  different  regions 
are  correlated  according  to  the  relative  extent  of  weathering 
and  erosion  ;  induration  and  metamorphism  afford  presumptive 
evidence  of  age,  but  yield  to  evidence  of  other  character.  Meta- 
morphism holds  prominent  place  in  the  correlation  of  pre- 
Cambrian  rocks  where  most  methods  are  inapplicable. 

These  physical  methods  are  qualified  by  the  geographic  dis- 
tribution of  geologic  processes  of  change  and  of  geologic 
climates. 

Biotic  Methods  of  Correlation, 

(7)  A  newly-discovered  fauna  or  flora  is  compared  with  a 
standard  series  of  faunas  and  floras  by  means  of  the  species  it 
holds  in  common  with  them  severally. 

(8)  It  is  also  compared  by  means  of  representative  forms,  or 
through  genera  and  families. 

(70)  and  (&i)  These  comparisons  are  strengthened  if  two  or 
more  faunas  in  sequence  are  found  to  be  systematically  related  to 
the  faunas  of  a  standard  series. 

(9)  Two  faunas  or  floras  otherwise  related  are  compared  in 
age  through  their  relation  to  the  present  life  of  their  localities. 
This  method  was  applied  by  Lyell  to  Tertiary  rocks. 

(10)  Faunas  are  correlated  by  means  of  their  relation  to 
climatic  episodes  taken  in  connection  with  station.  For  ex- 
ample, boreal  shells  found  in  latitudes  below  their  present  range 
are  referred  to  glacial  time. 

In  general  the  limitations  to  accurate  correlation  by  biotic 
methods  arise  from  the  facts  of  geographic  distribution.  Cor- 
relations at  short  range  are  better  than  those  at  long  range. 

Biotic  correlation  by  means  of  fossils  of  different  kinds  may 
have  different  value.  In  general,  the  value  of  a  species  for  the 
purposes  of  correlation  is  inversely  as  its  range  in  time,  and 
directly  as  its  range  in  space.  The  value  of  a  biotic  group 
depends  (i)  on  the  range  of  its  species  in  time  and  space  ;  (2) 
on  the  extent  to  which  its  representatives  are  preserved. 

Prof.  K.  von  Zitiel  spoke  in  reference  to  the  biotic  methods, 
and  gave  his  opinion  of  the  relative  value  of  plants  and  animals 
for  purposes  of  correlation.     He  regarded  plants  as  relatively 

NO.   II 43,  VOL.  44] 


unimportant.  Among  animals,  those  which  are  marine,  lacus- 
trine, and  land  animals  may  be  distinguished.  Of  these  classes 
marine  invertebrates  are  most  valuable  for  purposes  of  correla- 
tion. The  vertebrates  change  rapidly,  but  are  frequently  alto- 
gether wanting.  For  instance,  no  vertebrates  occur  in  the 
Alpine  beds  corresponding  in  age  to  those  which  contain  the 
mammalian  fauna  of  the  Paris  basin.  In  certain  lacustrine 
deposits  invertebrates  may  be  absent,  and  in  such  cases  the 
vertebrate  fauna  is  the  surest  guide. 

Baron  de  Geer  emphasized  the  importance  of  a  numerical 
comparison  between  different  species.  The  actual  counting  of 
individuals  in  a  given  formation  is  of  great  value. 

Prof.  Marsh  expressed  his  agreement  in  general  with  the  con- 
clusions communicated  by  Prof,  von  Zittel,  but  would  give 
special  weight  to  vertebrate  fossils.  In  the  Mesozoic  and 
Tertiary  beds  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  he  had  found  that  the 
vertebrates  offer  the  surest  guide  for  correlation.  This  is  in 
part  because  invertebrates  are  either  wanting  or  are  lacustrine. 
Prof  Marsh  in  1877  named  a  sequence  of  horizons  after  the 
most  characteristic  vertebrate  genus  in  each  which  is  confined 
exclusively  to  it.  He  presented  an  outline  of  such  classification 
brought  down  to  date,  with  a  section  to  illustrate  vertebrate  life 
in  America. 

Mr.  C.  D.  Walcott  spoke  of  the  value  of  plants  for  purposes 
of  geologic  correlation. 

Prof.  T.  McK.  Hughes  spoke  of  the  present  and  growing 
tendency  towards  a  natural  classification.  The  evidence  is  com- 
plex, and  includes  a  considerable  variety  of  diverse  relations. 
He  pointed  out  exceptions  to  the  normal  conclusions  deduced 
from  superposition,  lithological  character,  and  similarity  of 
sequence.  We  must  have  a  system  of  criteria  so  varied  that  if 
one  or  more  fails  others  can  be  employed.  All  classes  of  evi- 
dence are  useful,  both  positive,  negative,  and  circumstantial. 

Major  J.  W.  Powell  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  specialization 
on  the  part  of  geologists  engaged  in  the  work  of  correlation. 
The  evidence  derived  from  physical  and  biotic  facts  might 
apparently  disagree.  But  that  a  satisfactory  result  may  be 
reached,  these  two  classes  of  evidence  must  be  brought  into 
harmony.  He  cited  an  example  from  his  own  experience,  of 
how  an  identification  of  synchronous  formations  might  be  made 
over  a  wide  area  through  a  union  of  physical  and  biotic 
methods. 

Mr.  W.  J.  McGee  remarked  that  in  the  coastal  plain  of  the 
United  States  physical  correlation  alone  is  employed.  The 
bases  accord  with  those  outlined  by  Mr.  Gilbert,  with  certain 
minor  modifications  and  an  important  addition,  as  follows ; — 


For  local  discrimination 
and  correlation 

For  correlation  through- 
out the  province 


For  correlation  with  con- 
tiguous provinces 

For  general  correlation... 


Visible  continuity  ; 
Lithologic  similarity  ; 
Similarity  of  sequence. 
Physical  breaks  viewed  as  in- 
dices of  geography  and  topo- 
graphy. 
'  Relation  to  physical  events, 
including     continental    move- 
ments, 
transportation  of  materials, 
land  sculpture,  &c. 
Homogeny  or  identity  of  origin. 


By  correlation  upon  these  bases  the  physical  history  of  a  con- 
siderable fraction  of  the  continent  may  be  so  definitely  ascer- 
tained as  to  permit-  fairly  accurate  mapping  of  the  geography, 
and  even  the  topography  of  each  episode  in  continent  growth. 
After  these  episodes  are  clearly  defined,  and  the  fossils  found  in 
the  formations  are  studied,  it  will  be  possible  definitely  to  as- 
certain the  geographic  distribution  of  organisms  during  each 
episode ;  then  palaeontology  may  be  placed  on  a  new  and 
higher  plane. 

Prof.  W.  M.  Davis  showed  that  it  was  possible  to  decipher 
geolc^ical  history  not  only  through  the  records  of  deposition, 
but  also  by  processes  of  degradation.  As  an  example  of  this 
method  he  explained  a  topographical  section  from  the  city  of 
New  York  westward.  In  this  we  have  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  an  ancient  peneplain^  or  base-level  lowland  of  Cretaceous  age. 
This  surface  was  subsequently  elevated  (more  toward  the  viest 
than  toward  the  east)  at  the  end  of  Cretaceous,  or  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Tertiary  time.  It  has  since  been  dissected  by  the 
excavation  of  more  recent  valleys.  The  Hudson  Valley  lowland 
was  cited  as  an  example  of  this  recent  dissection. 


5o6 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


Prof.  E.  VV.  Claypole  considered  that  the  different  methods 
of  geologic  correlation  differed  very  greatly  in  their  value.  It 
is  improbable  that  the  plant  or  mammalian  record  will  ever  equal 
in  its  perfection  that  of  the  marine  invertebrate  fauna.  The 
marine  fauna  is  to  the  geologist  what  a  primary  triangulation 
is  to  the  geodesist.  It  marks  out  the  main  divisions,  which  are 
subsequently  further  subdivided  through  the  aid  of  other  fossils, 
such  as  plants  and  vertebrates. 

Prof.  Cr  R.  Van  Hise  spoke  of  the  methods  of  correlation 
employed  for  pre-Cambrian  rocks,  which  occur  in  widely 
separated  areas  and  are  devoid  of  fossils.  Physical  data  only 
are  available  for  correlating  these  formations.  Experience  has 
shown  that,  among  all  physical  methods,  unconformity  is  by  far 
the  most  important.  Other  physical  criteria,  such  as  the  degree 
of  induration,  metamorphism,  and  relation  to  eruptives,  are 
valuable  for  the  subdivision  of  single  areas,  but  cannot  be  safely 
used  in  identifying  synchronous  formations  in  widely-separated 
areas.  The  idea  that  lithological  character  is  any  direct  proof 
of  geological  age  has  retarded  the  scientific  subdivision  of 
pre-Cambrian  rocks.  The  researches  of  Pumpelly  and  others 
in  the  eastern  United  States  have  demonstrated  that  Silurian, 
Devonian,  and  even  Carboniferous  deposits  might  become, 
under  certain  physical  conditions,  as  highly  crystalline  as  much 
more  ancient  rocks  of  the  West.  For  this  reason  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  abandon  such  terms  as  Huronian  and 
Knoeenawan.  Evidences  of  life  are  not  lacking  in  pre-Cambrian 
rocks,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  palaeontologist  will  succeed 
in  differentiating  several  separate  formations  below  the  Cambrian, 
as  the  Cambrian  itself  was  differentiated  from  the  base  of  the 
Silurian. 

Fourth  Day.— Prof.  E.  W.  Hilgard  laid  stress  upon  the 
importance  of  the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  species  in  the 
correlation  of  strata.  He  thinks  some  quantitative  estimation 
of  the  species  should  be  made.  He  is  of  the  opinion,  also,  that, 
as  compared  with  marine  fauna,  plants  have  but  little  value  for 
purposes  of  correlation  owing  to  their  local  distribution,  their 
accidental  proximity  to  water,  transportation,  and  preservation. 
Plants  can  be  so  used  only  after  large  areas  are  worked  over. 

Prof.  Lester  F,  Ward  continued  the  discussion.  He  de- 
veloped two  of  the  more  general  principles  of  correlation  by 
means  of  fossil  plants,  as  follows  : — 

( 1 )  That  the  great  types  of  vegetation  are  characteristic  of  the 
great  epochs  in  geology. 

This  principle  is  applicable  in  comparing  deposits  of  widely 
different  age  when  the  stratigraphy  is  indecisive.  For  example, 
even  a  small  fragment  of  a  Carboniferous  plant  proves  conclu- 
sively that  the  rocks  in  which  it  occurs  are  palaeozoic,  or  a  single 
dicotyledonous  leaf  proves  that  they  must  be  as  late  as  the 
Cretaceous. 

(2)  That  for  deposits  not  thus  widely  different  in  age,  as, 
for  example,  within  the  same  geologic  system  or  series,  ample 
material  is  necessary  to  fix  their  position  by  means  of  fossil 
plants. 

Neglecting  this  principle  has  led  to  the  greater  part  of  the 
mistakes  of  palacobotanists,  and  has  done  most  to  bring  palaeo- 
botany  into  disrepute.  Geologists  have  expected  too  much  of 
them,  and  they,  in  turn,  have  done  violence  to  the  truth  in 
attempting  to  satisfy  extravagant  demands.  On  the  other  hand, 
where  the  material  is  ample,  fossil  plants  have  often  corrected 
the  mistakes  of  stratigraphical  geologists,  and  solved  problems 
■concerning  geologic  age,  which  seemed  impossible  of  settlement 
by  any  other  class  of  evidence. 

Prof.  Plenry  S.  Williams  laid  stress  upon  the  relations  of 
species  to  the  conditions  of  deposition.  The  abundance  of  a 
species  varies  with  environment,  and  a  study  of  correlation 
should  embrace  a  study  of  these  conditions.  Sandstones 
deposited  near  shore  may  have  a  fauna  different  from  that  of  a 
limestone  deposited  off  shore  at  the  same  time,  and  a  change  of 
fauna  may  be  induced  by  a  change  of  the  conditions  of 
deposition.  The  age  of  beds  should  be  determined  by  com- 
paring species  of  the  same  genera  rather  than  by  comparing 
those  of  different  genera.  There  are  centres  of  abundance  which 
exhibit  great  variability  in  their  characters ;  outside  of  these 
centres  the  species  exhibit  varieties  which  may  be  called  extra- 
limital,  and  which  are  not  typical  though  they  have  often  been 
published  as  types. 

Prof.  Charles  Barrois  said  that  there  was  no  general  basis,  either 
biologic  or  lithologic,  for  the  correlation  of  the  pre-Cambrian  rocks 
of  Europe  with  those  of  North  America  ;  even  the  terms  applied 

NO.    I  143.  VOL.  44] 


to  these  rocks  were  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  Certainly  the 
divisions  used  in  France  cannot  be  correlated  with  those  now 
used  in  the  United  States.  General  correlation  cannot,  as  yet, 
be  based  upon  nonconformities  ;  autopsy  is  the  only  basis  upon 
which  a  comparison  can  be  instituted.  He  pointed  oot  certain 
parallelisms  between  the  histories  of  the  crystalline  schists  of 
America,  as  illustrated  by  Mr.  Pumpelly,  and  the  gneissic  rocks  of 
Brest,  where  the  Cambrian  slates  are  altered  to  gneisses  of 
Archaean  aspect,  while  the  alternating  fossiliferous  quartzites  are 
changed  to  crystalline  quartz.  Geologists  must  see  the  beds 
together  in  order  to  reach  a  common  understanding  of  the 
crystalline  rocks. 

Prof.  E.  D.  Cope  discussed  the  question  from  a  general  point 
of  view  with  especial  reference  to  the  value  of  vertebrates  for 
purposes  of  correlaticn,  particularly  for  inter- continental  correla- 
tion. He  pointed  out  that  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the 
present  verebrate  faunas  of  continents,  and  that  the  Taiiation  of 
such  forms  must  be  sought  in  vertical  rather  than  in  horizontal 
ranges.  Such  study  shows  that  we  have  had  invasions  of  a 
given  region  by  a  fauna  from  without ;  for  example,  a  South 
American  fauna  invaded  North  America  at  one  time  and  then 
retreated,  while  a  North  American  fauna  once  invaded  South 
America,  and  traces  of  it  still  remain  in  that  country.  He  is  in- 
clined to  believe  that  certain  vertebrate  forms  did  not  spread 
over  the  earth  from  a  single  place  of  origin,  but  that  they 
originated  at  different  places  upon  the  earth.  We  have  parallel- 
ism in  separate  places,  but  the  parallelism  is  defective  in  the 
Laramie. 

Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert  was  of  the  opinion  that  many  methods  of  cor- 
relation must  be  used.  He  doubted  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
correlation  of  non-fossiliferous  rocks  by  comparative  change,  even 
locally.  He  thought  the  abundance  and  scarcity  of  fossil  forms 
comparable  with  litholc^ic  differences,  and  considered  the  simple 
occurrence  of  a  species  as  valuable  for  purposes  of  correlation  as 
its  abundance. 

Fifth  Day. — Subject  for  discussion  :  map -colouring  and 
cartography. 

Major  J.  W.  Powell  exhibited  charts  illustrating  the  colour 
system  used  by  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey,  explained  the 
methods  of  using  the  colours,  and  gave  the  reasons  for  them. 
The  colours  assigned  to  rocks  of  different  ages  are  as  follows  :— 

Period.  Period  colour.                                    Mark. 

I.  Neocene.. Orange N. 

2    Eocene  Yellow E. 

3.  Cretaceous Yellow-green    K. 

4.  Jura-Trias  Blue-green    J. 

5.  Carboniferous    Blue  C. 

6.  Devopian    Violet    D. 

7.  Silurian Purple    S. 

8.  Cambrian  Pink  C. 

9.  Algonkian Red   A. 

The  colours  are  used  to  designate  geologic  periods,  puterns 
of  these  colours  designate  formations ;  minor  divisions  are 
usually  relegated  to  the  text.  The  number  of  patterns  for 
designating  formations  can  be  indefinitely  enlarged,  but  follow  a 
definite  system. 

Mr.  Joseph  Willcox  showed  that  in  the  scheme  described  by 
Major  Powell  the  colours  were  not  evenly  distributed  through 
the  chromatic  scale. 

Prof.  C.  R.  Van  Hise  pointed  out  that  Archaean  rocks  are 
shown  by  a  brown  underprint,  and  that  metamorphic  rocks  of 
known  age  are  given  the  colour  of  the  corresponding  unaltered 
rocks. 

Major  Powell  explained  that  it  was  not  attempted  to  select 
colours  equally  distributed  through  the  chromatic  scale,  but  to 
use  those  that  may  be  most  readily  recognized. 

Mr.  H.  ^L  Cadell  asked  why  black  and  gray  were  not  used. 

Major  Powell  replied  that  blue  was  used  in  place  of  the  dark 
shades  for  the  Carboniferous  ;  that  dark  colours  are  misleading 
in  regard  to  the  occurrence  of  coal,  which  occurs  in  the  Creta- 
ceous and  Tertiary  as  well  as  in  the  Carboniferous. 

Mr.  Christie  found  the  black  colour  very  inconvenient,  because 
it  often  made  the  details  of  the  map  covered  by  such  colours 
illegible. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Cadell  said  that  the  maps  of  the  Geological  Sur- 
vey of  Great  Britain  were  coloured  by  hand,  and  that  the  system 
used  by  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey  could  not  for  this  reasofl 
he  economically  employed. 


September  24,  1891] 


Mijor  Powell  eiplaiD«d  Ibat  the  U.S.  Survey  system  ii  rery 
economital  when  Ihe  cotour  paltemt  are  Iransrerred  lo  stones. 

Prof,  T.  McK.  Hughes  thoughl  il  Tery  difficult  to  devise  a 
scheme  that  will  meet  the  demands  of  everyone.  Some  refer- 
ence mnst  be  had  to  the  permanence  of  the  coliurs,  the  leadi- 
uea  with  which  they  can  be  applied,  and  Ihe  dislincttiess  irilh 
which  they  show  whnt  is  desiieH.     He  thinks  the  lidest  scheme 

In  Ihe  afternoon,  brief  lectures  were  given  by  Prof.  Chamber- 
lin,  Mr.  Gilbert,  Major  Powell,  and  Mr.  Emmons  upon  the 
geology  of  the  country  to  be  iravcrsed  by  the  long  eacursion. 

SiiTH  Day. — A  Committee  on  International  Bibliography 
KSi  appointed. 

Tde  Secietaiy  announced  that  Messrs.  Golier  and  Schmidt 
conTcy  an  invitation  from  the  Swiss  Government  to  hoid  the 
siith  Iniematioaal  Congress,  in  1S94,  In  Switzerland.  Mr. 
Golier  delivered  an  address  in  which  he  presented  the  invitation, 
and  the  Congress  unanimously  accepted  il.  The  following 
Swiss  members  were  appointed  a  local  committee,  with  power 
to  add  to  their  number  and  to  appoint  the  time  and  place  of 
meeting:  vii.  Meisrs.  Heim,  Renevier,  Lang,  Baiter,  Schmidt, 
lod  Golier.  On  ihe  motiot)  of  Prof.  Pumpelly,  a  vote  of  thanks  was 
passed  to  the  Swiss  Government  and  delegation.  It  is  thought 
that  Berne  will  be  selected  as  the  place  of  meeting. 

The  Geological  Survey  of  Russia  sent  an  invitation  lo  hold 
Ihe  seventh  Congress  in  Russia.  The  Ciar  joined  in  the  invita- 
tion. Prof.  Tschernychew  made  the  formal  presentation  of  the 
SDbjecI  lo  the  Congress.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Survey  and 
the  Ciar  wis  passKd,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress  was 
amhoriied  to  send  a  despatch  by  cable,  transmitting  the  vote. 

Tbe  President  of  the  Congress,  Prof.  I  e  Conte,  delivered  a 
btiet  closing  address,  summarizing  the  work  of  the  ses.'iion,  and 
after  passing  several  voles  of  thank?  ihe  Congress  adjourned. 


T/fE  SOCIETY  OF  FR/ENDS  OF  ASTROA'OMV 

AND  COSMIC  PHYSICS. 
"THE  Society  of  Friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmic  Physics, 
founde<l  May  19,  1S91,  ha^  been  formed  with  a  view  10 
the  organiialion  of  S)Stematic  activity  and  co-operation  in  re- 
search in  ihesub)ect!  named.  It  is  iniended  to  embrace,  chiefly, 
workers  in  asliooomic;il  science  in  Germany,  Austro-Hungary, 
Swilierland,  and  oihcr  neighbouring  countries,  and  natives  of 
these  countries  in  lli?  colonies  aod  elsewhere.  Members  of 
olher  nationalities  are,  liowever,  offered  a  welcome. 
The  head   centre  of  ihe  Society  is  Berlin.    The  subscription 


is  S.I 


larks. 


invited  from  individual  members,  which 
will  be  published  I'geiher  with  the  notices  of  meetings  and 
other  business  of  the  Society.  These  publications  will  bear  the 
title  "  Miltheilungen  der  Vereinigang  von  Freunden  der  Astro- 
nomie  und  kosmischen  Physik  "  ;  they  will  be  numbered  con- 
secutively, and  will  be  supplied  to  all  members  gratis,  but  will 
not  be  issued  at  r^ular  or  slated  intervals. 

These  communications  will  form  at  present  the  only  direct 
publication  of  the  Society,  until  it  is  formed  on  a  more  sub' 
stanlial  financial  basis  and  consists  of  a  larger  number  of 
member?  (in  the  first  four  weeks  the  number  rose  from  50  to 
100).  Contemporaries  are  at  libeit;  to  borrow  any  main 
ititerest  contained  in  the  Society's  communications,  of  ei 
acknowledging  ihe  source  from  which  they  are  derived. 

Endeavours  will  be  made  to  keep  the  Society  carefully  w 
the  limits  in  which  alone  it  can  be  successfully  active,  leaving 
DO  one  side  other  closely  related  branches  :  for  instance,  those 
of  the  Meteorological  and  Photographic  Societies  ;  but,  never- 
theless, endeavouring  10  preserve  the  closest  amity  and  co-opera- 
lion  with  the  related  Societies. 

The  Astronomische  Gesellschaft,  founded  in  Germany  in 
1S63,  i«  r^arded  by  the  new  Society  15  Ihe  principal  Society, 
whose  office  it  is  10  foster  astronomical  research  throughout  the 
whole  earth.  The  new  Society  bears  the  same  relalion  lo 
this  inlemalional  association  as  do  those  Aslronooiical  Societies 
already  established  in  England,  France,  Russia,  and  North 
Americft. 

The  principal  object  of  these  smaller  societies  is  to  collect 
observations  made  in  the  laigest  possible  number  of  districts, 
inasmuch  as  researches  in  astronimy  and  cosmic  ])hysics  are 
very  lai^ely  dependent  on  the  stale  of  ibe  weather,  and  Ihe 
relation  of  the  place  of  ul>^crv:ilion  to  the  phenomena  in  the 


In  ihe  new  Society  the  following  branches  of  work  have  been 
selected  :— (1)  Observations  of  the  sun  ;  {i)  of  the  moon  and 
surface  of  the  planets  ;  (3)  of  the  intensity  and  colour  of  Ihe 
light  of  the  stars  and  of  the  Milky  Way  ;  (4)  of  the  zodiacal  light 
---■  -Deleors  ;  (5)  of  the  polar  light,  magnetism  of  Ihe  earth,  earth 
nts,  and  ail  electricity  ;  (6)  of  the  clouds  and  halos,  and 
thunder  and  lightning  (care  being  taken  in  the  two  lait  groups 
not  to  encroach  upon  Ihe  ground  already  covered  by  the 
Meteoroi(wical  and  Phologniphic  Societies). 

Each  of  these  groups  is  presided  over  by  a  member  oF  the 
Society  whose  attention  is  especially  directed  lo  the  respective 
subject.  The  doty  of  these  Presidents  is  to  organize  the  cor- 
'espondence,  hold  branch  meetings,  and  preserve  Ibe  connection 


providing  of  apparatus,  especially  of  suitable  optic,  electric,  and 
magnetic  measuring  instruments,  charts,  boobs,  &c. 

The  statutes  of  the  Society  will  be  sent  post  free  on  applica- 
tion to  the  Secretary,  Herrn  Cand.  G.  Wilt,  Berlin,  N.W., 
Invalidenslrasse  57. 

The  President  of  the  Society  is  at  present  Prof.  Dr,  R.  Leh- 
mann-FilhM,  Berlin,  W.,  Wichmannslrasse  I  la. 

The  Committee  consists  of  ihe  six  members  presiding  over 
the  several  groups  of  research. 

The  Librarian  of  ihe  Society  is  Herr  Dr.  P.  .'^chwahn, 
Berlin,  N.W.,  Invalidenslrasse  57  ;  and  the  Treasurer,  to  whom 
subscriptions  should  be  sent,  Herr  Rendanl  Brucli,  Berlin. 
N.W.,  Invalidenslrasse  57. 


THE  PROTECTIVE  DEVICE  OF  AX 
ANNELID. 
A  MONGST  a  gathering  of  small  Serpulids,  &c.,  received 
■'"*■  from  Mr.  Sinei,  of  .jersey,  I  find  some  interesting  little 
worms  related  to  the  Sabellid:t.  They  build  a  thin  membrane- 
like lube,  about  onc-sevcnlieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  coated 
externally  with  flat  translucent  particles  of  sand.  Its  lower  end 
is  closed,  and  embedded  in  sponge  or  other  growths,  but  the 
upper  end  is  f/ce,  and,  when  the  heid  of  the  inmale  is  pro- 
truded, stands  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  high  in  the  water.  On 
Ihil  head  are  two  branchial  tufls,  each  having  five  branches 
beset  with  a  double  row  of  long  cilialed  filaments.  When  all 
are  fully  expanded  they  curve  backwards,  and  cover  an  area  oi 
about  one*tenlh  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  branches  decrease 
in  size  from  Ihe  inner  to  the  ouler  pairs,  and  at  the  l«ck  of  the 
longest  but  one  in  each  tuft,  near  its  base,  is  a  chocolate  or 


NO.    II 43.  VOL.  44] 


brown  coloured  veiicle.  T  he  two  smallest  branches  curve  back- 
wards round  the  mouth  of  the  liibe,  and  keep  up  a  constant 
whipping  or  flicking  motion. 

But  the  peculiarity  is,  ihat,  upon  the  retreat  of  ihe  animal, 
the  mouth  of  the  tube  not  only  instantly  closes  flatly  and  lightly 
by  collapse  of  the  sides,  but  the  lube  itself,  beginning  at  the 
tip,  proceeds  to  coil  up  like  a  spiral  spring,  looking  very  much 
like  a  young  lern-fiond.  This  is,  of  course,  an  effectual  pro- 
tection against  the  intrusion  of  enemies,  and  ihe  coiling  and 
uncoiling,  which  1  have  witnessed  many  limes,  is  a  most  curious 
sight. 

Fig.  I  shows  the  branchial  tufls  expanded.  Fig.  a,  lube  begin- 
ning to  coil  up.    Fig.  J,  lube  partly  coiledup— ajTrotesswhich  is 


5o8 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


sometimes  continued  much  further.  I  do  not  know  whether 
this  annelid  has  previously  been  noticed  or  described,  but,  if  so, 
I  shall  feel  obliged  to  any  of  your  readers  who  can  refer  me  to 
a  description.  Arnold  T.  Watson. 

Sheffield,  August  19. 


GEOGRAPHY  A  T  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCI A  TION. 

'X*HERE  was  at  least  one  very  satisfactory  feature  about  the 
^  Geographical  Section  at  the  Cardiff  meeting.  It  has  been 
the  practice  in  all  the  other  Sections  to  appoint  as  Presidents  men 
who  have  gained  a  high  reputation  as  specialists  in  their  own 
departments.  For  some  reason  this  practice  has  not  been  followed 
in  the  Geographical  Section.  True,  in  past  years  we  have  had 
such  men  as  Murchison,  Markham,  Gallon,  General  J.  T. 
Walker  ;  but  too  often  the  President  of  this  Section,  while  emi- 
nent as  a  soldier,  or  a  colonial  Governor,  or  as  a  Society  man, 
has  known  as  much  about  geography  as  "the  man  in  the  street." 
It  must  be  admitted  that  this  has  in  part  arisen  from  the  fact  that 
scientific  geographers  in  England  could  have  been  counted  on 
the  fingers  of  one  hand.  Happily,  through  the  recent  efforts  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  this  is  ceasing  to  be  the  case,  and 
when  the  Chairs  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  the  other  in- 
fluences which  are  at  work,  have  had  time  to  produce  results, 
geography,  in  one  or  other  of  its  aspects,  may  become  as  much  of 
a  career  in  England  as  it  is  in  Germany.  It  was  regarded  as  to 
some  extent  a  triumph,  and  an  earnest  of  what  is  coming,  that 
the  President  of  the  Section  at  Cardiff  was  a  geographer  pure 
and  simple.  Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein  has  long  t^en  regarded  as 
the  one  scientific  cartographer  in  the  United  Kingdom  (where  he 
has  been  naturalized  for  many  years)  ;  and  as  a  geographer,  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  term,  he  is  not  surpassed.  It  was  natural 
that  in  his  address  he  should  deal  with  the  progress  of  the 
subject  in  which  he  is  master.  His  address,  while  ostensibly 
dealing  with  cartography,  really  showed  the  growth  of  our  con- 
ception of  the  earth's  surface,  and  indicated  the  most  profitable 
aspects  in  which  we  may  deal  with  that  department  of  know- 
ledge whose  business  it  is  to  investigate. 

Amid  a  good  deal  that  was  trivial,  and  notwithstanding  the 
usual  modicum  of  sensation,  Section  £  did  some  solid  work  at 
Cardiff.  The  fact  is  that  the  only  incident  which  could  be 
regarded  as  sensational  was  the  appearance  on  the  platform  of 
Mrs.  French  Sheldon,  evidently  suffering  greatly  from  the 
accident  with  which  she  met  on  her  return  from  Kilimanjaro. 
But  Mrs.  Sheldon  was  able  to  tell  us  some  things  about  the 
people  in  East  Africa  that  had  never  come  within  the  ken  of  the 
male  traveller.  Moreover  her  account  of  the  curious  crater  lake 
Chala,  at  the  south-east  foot  of  Kilimanjaro,  was  a  real  contri- 
bution to  geographical  knowledge.  With  immense  difficulty  she 
and  her  companion  descended  the  dense  vegetation  which  covers 
the  precipitous  sides  of  the  crater,  and  navigated  the  tiny  lake 
on  a  raft,  which  was  continually  in  danger  from  the  swarms  of 
crocodiles.  Mrs.  Bishop  (Miss  Isabella  Bird)  was  anything 
but  sensational.  With  perfect  calmness  and  clearness  she  gave 
an  account  of  an  almost  unexplored  portion  of  the  Bakhtiari 
country  visited  by  her,  and  especially  of  its  interesting  inhabit- 
ants. Miss  E.  M.  Gierke's  paper  on  the  aborigines  of  Western 
Australia  was  more  suited  to  the  Anthropological  than  the 
Geographical  Section,  and  still  more  suited  to  a  missionary 
meetmg. 

Mr.  John  Coles's  paper  on  the  art  of  observing  showed  how 
comparatively  easy  it  is  for  any  man  of  average  intelligence,  and 
even  pupils  in  the  higher  classes  of  our  schools,  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  the  more  common  survey  instruments. 
An  excellent  paper  on  the  homology  of  continents  was  read 
by  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill,  who  showed  that  in  many  respects 
there  is  a  remarkable  family  likeness  among  the  continents, 
arising  from  the  fact  that  they  have  been  subjected  to  essentially 
the  same  influences.  Mr.  Silva  White,  in  his  paper  on  the 
comparative  value  of  African  lands,  attempted,  by  a  statistical 
method,  to  indicate  the  lines  of  least  resistance  against  the 
European  domination  in  Africa.  Mr.  Miller  Christy  gave  an 
elaborate  and  highly  instructive  paper  on  the  absence  of  trees 
from  prairies ;  his  conclusion  being  that  the  main  cause  of  the 
treelessness  of  American  prairies  has  been  forest  fires.  The 
paper  was  highly  suggestive,  showing,  as  it  did,  that  if  proper 
measures  were  taken  even  our  great  deserts  might  be  made  to 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

The  greater  part  of  one  morning  was  devoted  to  a  discussion 


on  acclimatization,  introduced  in  a  valuable  paper  by  Dr. 
Robert  Felkin.  The  author  showed  that  there  are  two  sdiools 
of  thought,  the  one  regarding  acclimatization  as  impossible,  the 
other  more  sanguine  and  pronouncing  it  possible.  Probably  the 
truth  will  be  found  to  be  a  mean  between  the  two.  la  con- 
sidering the  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  specify,  first,  the  ▼arioos 
nations  who  are  to  be  acclimatized,  and  secondly,  the  plaxres 
where  they  are  to  be  located.  As  regards  the  first  point,  the 
national  characteristics,  habits,  customs,  and  environment  must 
be  taken  into  account,  and  with  respect  to  the  second,  the  nature 
of  the  country,  its  climatology,  its  inhabitants,  their  mortality 
and  endemic  diseases  must  be  brought  under  survey.  The  next 
point  is  to  classify  the  various  European  nations,  and  it  becomes 
evident  that  they  can  only  become  readily  acclimatized  in  the 
temperate  zone,  where  climatic  and  other  conditions  are  approxi- 
mately akin  to  their  present  habitat  In  reference  to  Europeans 
becoming  acclimatized  in  the  tropics,  what  are  those  factors 
which  prevent  ir,  or  which  must  be  overcome  before  it  is  possible? 
They  are  as  follows :  heat,  cold,  damp,  various  endemic 
diseases,  especially  malaria,  and  those  constitutional  conditiotts 
induced  by  climate  which  either  destroy  the  immigrants  or 
diminish  their  fertility  after  one  or  two  generations.  Progress 
has  been  made  during  recent  years  in  enabling  persons  to  reside 
longer  and  to  enjoy  greater  health  in  the  tropics.  Whai 
probability  is  there  that  science  will  accomplish  still  more  in 
rendering  acclimatization  possible  for  Europeans  in  tropical 
countries  ?  It  must  be  said  that  both  Dr.  Felkin  and  those  who 
followed  him  in  the  discussion  occasionally  lost  sight  of  the  real 
point  at  issue.  The  adaptation  of  a  European  to  tropical  con- 
ditions for  a  few  years  is  one  thing ;  the  acclimatization  of  a  race 
in  a  climate  totally  different  from  that  which  has  been  its 
inheritance  is  another.  About  the  former  there  need  be  now 
no  difficulty  :  what  scanty  experience  we  have  leads  to  the  coor 
elusion  that  the  latter  is  practically  impossible.  What  we 
really  want  are  experiments  continued  over  three  or  foor 
generations. 

Colonel  Holdich,  of  the  Indian  Survey,  gave  somevaloable 
hints  in  his  paper  on  the  application  of  Indian  geographical 
survey  methods  to  Africa.  An  outline  of  the  methods  proposed 
may  be  summarized  as — (i)  The  adoption  of  a  rapid  systeoa  of 
triangulation  along  the  most  important  lines  for  first  survey.  (2) 
The  extension  of  a  graphic  system  of  mapping  from  these  lines 
by  means  chiefly  of  native  labour.  The  most  important  lines 
for  first  survey  are  the  international  boundary  lines.  Until 
lately  England  has  been  peculiarly  free  from  the  necessity  of 
demarcating  or  maintaining  national  boundaries.  Even  India 
offers  but  a  comparatively  short  line  for  defence.  The  new 
partition  of  Africa  largely  increases  her  responsibilities  in  this 
respect,  though  there  may  be  no  immediate  cause  for  action. 
There  is,  however,  a  great  necessity  for  a  topographical  acqoaint- 
ance  with  the  boundaries  adopted.  Only  a  small  portion  of 
them  apparently  follow  permanent  natural  features,  the  rest 
being  defined  by  rivers,  &c.  It  would  appear,  then,  advanta- 
geous to  commence  triangulation  along  the  boundary  lines. 
This  is,  however,  so  far  a  national  or  international  question,  and 
consequently  in  these  preliminary  stages  of  survey  State  assist- 
ance might  very  well  be  expected,  and  Imperial  resources  drawn 
upon  for  carrying  it  out  (i)  What  are  these  resources?  (2) 
What  is  the  nature  of  surveys  already  existing  in  Africa  ?  (3) 
What  is  the  nature  of  the  survey  we  ought  to  build  up  ?  Reply- 
ing to  (2)  and  (3),  we  find  that  if  a  continuous  and  comprehensive 
scheme  is  to  be  adopted,  with  unity  of  design  for  all  the 
scattered  districts  of  the  African  colonial  svstem,  nothing  has 
been  done  as  yet  which  would  assist  us  m  carrying  oat  our 
scheme.  This  scheme  should  be  largely  borrowed  from  expe- 
riences in  Asia.  A  consideration  of  it  shows,  in  reply  to  (i), 
to  what  extent  Imperial  survey  resources  might  be  utilized  daring 
the  processes  of  laying  out  the  preliminary  lines  of  triangulation. 
From  this  triangulation  the  extension  of  topography  would  there- 
after probably  depend  on  private  enterprise.  Then  followed  a 
short  consideration  of  the  general  topographical  processes  as 
carried  out  by  natives  of  India,  of  the  value  of  such  native 
labour,  and  of  the  possibility  of  raising  survey  establishments 
in  Africa  similar  to  those  which  have  done  such  excellent  work 
in  Asia. 

The  subject  of  reform  in  our  Ordnance  Survey  was  again 
introduced  this  year  in  an  elaborate  paper  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Crook, 
who  was  strongly  supported  by  a  number  of  speakers.  Mr. 
Crook  pointed  out  many  defects  in  the  large-scale  maps.  Some 
of  them  are  notoriously  behind  date  ;  they  are  issued  in  a  most 


NO.    I  143,  VOL. 


44] 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


509 


inconvenient  form  ;  they  are  far  too  expensive  ;  they  are 
difficult  to  obtain  outside  of  London.  The  Committee  of  this 
Section  sent  a  strongly-worded  resolution  to  the  Council  of  the 
Association,  recommending,  among  other  things,  that  the 
Directorship  of  the  Sutvey,  instead  of  being  merely  a  staff  ap- 
pointment, should  be  made  a  permanent  office.  Unfortunately, 
the  resolution  submitted  to  the  General  Committee  omitted  this 
and  other  important  points,  so  that  in  its  final  form  it  does  not 
amount  to  much. 

Mr.  James  Thomson's  paper  on  photography  applied  to 
exploration  contained  suggestions  of  great  practical  value.  He 
showed  the  value  of  the  camera,  not  only  in  recordinggeographical 
features  and  types  of  people,  but  even  as  an  adjunct  to  regular 
surveys. 

The  subject  of  geographical  education  was  introduced  in  a  short 
paper  by  Mr.  J.  Scott  Keltic,  who  spoke  of  the  results  which 
had  followed  the  action  initiated  by  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  a  few  years  ago.  Advances  have  been  made  in  many 
directions ;  Chairs  have  been  established  in  Oxford  and 
Cambridge ;  and  a  higher  conception  of  geography  and  of  its 
practical  utility  has  begun  to  prevail.  Happily,  the  attempt 
to  obtain  the  Section's  approval  for  the  foundation  of  a  local 
Geographical  Society  in  Cardiff  failed. 

Among  other  papers  worthy  of  mention  were  two  by  Colonel 
H.  Tanner,  of  the  Indian  Survey — one  on  a  new  method  of 
Bar-Subtense  surveying,  and  a  second  on  some  of  the  principal 
tribes  of  the  Himalayas. 


MECHANICS  A  T  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

TN  Section  G,  Mr.  T.  Forster  Brown,  an  engineer  well  known 
in  the  locality  in  connection  with  mining  industry,  was  the 
President.     There  was  an  average  list  of  papers,  but  the  dis- 
cussions were  not  so  full  as  is  sometimes  the  case  in  this  Section. 
As  a  consequence,  the  sittings  were  got  through  with  more  than 
ordinary  speed  ;  there  being  no  meeting  on  the  Saturday,  and  the 
whole  business  of  the  Section  was  completed  by  two  o'clock  on  the 
Tuesday  of  the  meeting.     The  President's  address  was  given  as 
usual  on    the    Thursday,   and  referred   to   mechanical   details 
in  connection  with  mining.     In  character  with  the  meeting  it 
was  brief.     The  usual  vote  of  thanks  having  been  moved  and 
seconded.  Prof.  Osborne  Reynolds  proceeded  to  read  the  third 
Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  action  of 
waves  and  currents  on  the  beds  and  foreshores  of  estuaries  by 
means  of  working  models.     It  will  be  remembered  that  this 
Committee  arose  out  of  a  paper  read  by  Prof.  Osborne  Reynolds 
at  the  last  Manchester  meeting  of  the  Association  ;  and  this,  in 
tarn,  arose  out  of  the  investigations  made  upon  a  working  model 
of  the  Mersey  estuary  in  connection  with  the  then  proposed 
Manchester  Ship  Canal  operations.     The  further  investigations 
referred  to  in  the  last  report  have  been  conducted  on  the  same 
system  as  previously  described.     The  chief  object  of  this  series 
has  been  to  obtain  further  information  as  to  the  final  condition 
of  equilibrium  with  long  tidal  rivers  entering  the  head  of  a  v- 
shaped  estuary  ;   to  obtain  more  complete  verification  of  the 
value  of  the  criterion  of  similarity ;  to  investigate  the  effect  of 
tides  in  the  generator  diverging  from  simple  harmonic  tides  ; 
and  to  determine  the  comparative  effect  of  tides  varying  from 
spring  to  neap.     It  would  be  impossible  in  this  brief  report  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Section  to  give  an  idea  of  the  results  at 
which  the  Committee  arrived,  or  rather  the  results  shown  by  the 
experiments,  more  especially  without  the  aid  of  the  diagrams  by 
which  the  Report  was  illustrated. 

The  next  business  was  the  reading  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  G. 
Chatterton,  in  which  a  sewer  was  described  that  has  lately  been 
constructed  to  carry  off  the  sewerage  of  a  neighbouring  district, 
and  thus  relieve  the  River  Taff  of  some  of  its  present  foul 
burden.  The  sewer,  no  doubt,  is  a  meritorious  engineering 
work,  but  not  one  of  magnitude  or  especial  novelty.  The  most 
notable  point  is  that  the  Taff  has  to  be  crossed  seven  times,  and 
this  is  effected  by  means  of  inverted  syphons  which  go  below  the 
river  bed.  The  principle,  of  course,  is  not  new.  The  chief 
interest  was  in  the  speech  made  by  Mr.  Baldwin  Latham  during 
the  discussion,  in  the  course  of  which  the  speaker  exclaimed 
against  the  ** faddists"  who  maintain  that  what  is  taken  from 
the  earth  should  be  returned  to  the  earth.  Mr.  Latham  is  of 
opinion  that  what  is  taken  from  the  earth  should  be  given  to 
the  sea.     The  ocean,  he  says,  was  given  to  the  engineer  as  a 


NO.    II43,  VOL.  44] 


receptacle  of  sewage — presumably  among  other  fun(!tions. 
Moreover,  Mr.  Latham  tells  us  that  it  is  more  profitable  to 
put  sewage  in  the  sea  than  to  keep  it  on  the  land.  It  en- 
courages the  growth  of  marine  fauna  ;  and  it  is,  so  Mr.  Latham 
says,  a  well-known  fact  that  where  there  is  most  sewage  there 
are  most  fish.  As  there  were  no  "faddists"  present,  Mr. 
Latham  had  it  all  hLs  own  way. 

Mr.  L.  F.  Vernon  Harcourt's  paper  described  the  engineering 
operations  carried  on  in  the  neighbouring  River  Usk  and  the 
harbour  of  Newport.  This  paper,  again,  did  not  bring  forward 
any  points  of  particular  novelty.  Mr.  Vernon  Harcourt  is  pro- 
ceeding on  the  now  fairly  well  recognized  lines  of  increasing  the 
tidal  flow.  Mr.  Abernethy  spoke  in  the  discussion,  and  told  the 
Section  how  he  had  once  resigned  his  position  in  connection 
with  the  Swansea  Harbour  Board  because  it  was  proposed  to 
canalize  the  river.  The  question  might,  we  think,  have  been 
discussed  with  advantage — although,  perhaps,  not  in  connection 
with  the  rivers  referred  to — how  far  volume  of  ebb  and  flow,  as 
compared  with  velocity,  is  the  ruling  factor. 

Mr.  W.  Key,  of  Glasgow,  described  the  system  of  ventilation 
and  heating  which  he  had  introduced  in  the  Victoria  Infirmary,. 
Glasgow.  Here,  again,  we  have  no  new  theories  enunciated, 
but  the  paper  was  none  the  less  valuable  on  that  account — per-- 
haps  more  valuable.  Mr.  Key  has  taken* recognized  principles, 
selecting  and  arranging  in  a  common-sense  manner,  and  put) 
them  into  practical  shape.  The  consequence  is,  we  hear,  that 
the  atmosphere  in  the  Infirmary  is  as  sweet  as  that  outside — in  fact,, 
more  so  ;  for,  whilst  there  may  be  fog  in  the  street  and  mist  on 
the  hill-side,  the  wards  are  dry  and  clear.  The  circulation  of 
air  is  by  rotary  fans  driven  from  a  gas-engine.  A  point  upon 
which  Mr.  Key  strongly  insists  is  a  screen  down  which  water 
is  constantly  trickling,  and  which  is  automatically  flushed  at 
intervals.  This  has  the  effect  of  converting  dust  and  other  float- 
ing particles  into  mud.  The  air  is  heated  over  steam-pipes  in 
the  winter.  Admission  is  5  feet  above  ground,  and  eduction  is 
from  the  floor- level,  so  that  dust  passes  off,  the  air  current 
assisting  gravitation. 

On  the  second  day's  sitting,  Friday,  August  21,  the  chief 
interest  was  absorbed  by  Sir  Edward  Reed's  paper,  in  which  he 
gave  certain  particulars  of  the  Channel  tubular  railway,  which 
he  proposes  some  day  to  construct,  supposing  the  Fates  are  pro- 
pitious. If  one  may  believe  the  eminent  engineers  who  took 
part  in  the  discussion,  the  Fates  never  will  be  propitious,  for 
Sir  Edward  violates  the  first  and  cardinal  rule  of  engineering 
enterprise  in  propounding  a  scheme  that  cannot  pay.  Sir 
Edward  says  his  double  tube,  which  is  to  be  laid  on  the  bottom 
of  the  sea — it  is  not  a  tunnel — will  cost  12  to  14  millions.  Sir 
Benjamin  Baker  says  that  Sir  Edward  must  double  his  figures, 
and  even  then  he  will  not  have  money  enough.  It  ha-*  been 
stated  on  the  highest  authority  that  the  Channel  traffic  would 
not  pay  interest  on  a  million  and  a  quarter  spent  on  harbours  ; 
and,  if  this  be  the  case,  there  would  be  a  poor  prospect  for  those 
who  would  subscribe  money  for  even  a  Channel  Tunnel,  far  more 
a  tubular  railway,  and  most  of  all  a  Channel  Bridge,  such  as 
Messrs.  Schneider  and  Hersent  propose.  Sir  Edward's  scheme 
is  sufficiently  heroic.  He  would  construct  two  mammoth  tubes, 
of  steel  plate  and  concrete,  20  feet  in  diameter.  The  tubes  would 
be  made  in  lengths,  and  when  two  lengths  were  completed  they 
would  be  joined  together  in  parallel,  50  feet  apart,  and  floated 
out  into  the  Channel  to  be  attached  to  the  completed  length. 
The  first  part  of  the  construction,  near  the  shore,  would  not  be 
difficult,  but  if  ever  Sir  Edward  gets  out  into  deep  water,  say 
200  feet,  he  will  find  troubles  enough.  All  work  is  to  be  done 
above  water.  Thus  the  end  of  the  completed  part  of  the  double 
tube  will  be  kept  afloat  until  a  fresh  length  is  joined  on.  Then 
that  will  be  allowed  to  sink,  and  the  last  attached  part  will  form 
the  end  of  the  completed  part.  In  this  way,  so  long  as  the  work 
of  construction  is  in  progress,  the  part  of  the  tubes  last  completed 
will  slope  up  from  the  sea  bottom  to  the  surface,  so  that 
the  next  length  may  be  attached.  The  scheme  is  splendid  in  its 
disregard  of  difficulties.  It  is  worthy  of  the  fervid  genius  of 
Jules  Verne. 

Prof.  W.  Robinson  next  read  a  paper  on  petroleum  engines. 
It  would  appear  that  this  description  of  motor  is  likely  to  come 
to  the  front,  if  one  may  judge  from  the  fact  that  their  manu- 
facture is  being  taken  up  by  some  important  engineering  firms. 
Priestman  Bros.,  of  Hull,  have  been  at  work  on  the  problem  for 
the  last  year  or  two,  and  it  is  chiefly  of  the  Priestman  engine 
that  Prof.  Robinson  speaks.  Crossley  Bros.,  of  Manchester, 
who  have  made  such  a  brilliant  success  with  the  Otto  gas  engine, 


5IO 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


have  now  taken  up  the  subject,  and  are  making  an  oil  engine  ; 
whilst  the  big  agricultural  engineering  firm,  Homsbys,  of 
Grantham,  have  also  turned  their  attention  in  this  direction. 
There  have  also  been  efforts  made  by  foreign  engineers.  A 
petroleum  engine  works  generally  on  the  same  principle  as  a  gas 
engine,  but  the  chief  trouble,  we  believe,  hitherto  has  been  to 
get  over  the  clogging  of  parts.  This  supplies  the  chief  feature 
in  the  Priestman  design,  in  which  there  is  a  spray  maker 
specially  designed  to  get  over  this  trouble.  A  jet  of  oil  is  first 
broken  up  by  compressed  air,  and  the  spray  is  then  further 
mixed  with  air,  heated  by  the  hot  products  of  combustion.  To 
cleanse  the  air  it  is  drawn  through  cotton  wool,  which  naturally 
has  to  be  renewed  from  time  to  time.  The  proportions  of  air 
and  oil  vapour  are  arranged  to  give  an  explosive  charge,  and  a 
regular  explosion  is  obtained  every  cycle  by  means  of  an  electric 
spark.  The  cylinders  are  water-jacketted.  Messrs.  Priestman 
have  fitted  a  pair  of  their  oil  engines  into  a  small  launch,  which 
is  said  to  have  answered  well.  Whether  petroleum  used 
explosively  in  an  engine  afloat  will  ever  oust  our  tried  but  very 
imperfect  servant  steam — as  the  gas  engine  is  superseding  the 
steam  engine  in  so  many  positions  ashore — is  a  very  open 
question.  Certainly  it  is  a  great  temptation  to  get  rid  of  the 
heavy  and  bulky  boiler,  which  takes  up  so  much  room  in  a  boat, 
but  much  remains  to  be  done  before  we  can  arrive  at  the  more 
logical  method  of  generating  heat  energy  in  the  place  where  it 
has  to  be  used.  It  may  be  that  that  terrible  exhaustion  of  our 
coal-fields,  about  which  we  heard  so  much  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Association,  will  be  indefinitely  postponed  by  the  using  of 
petroleum  or  other  hydrocarbon  as  a  source  of  motive  power. 
Put  that  is  another  story. 

Mr.  Beauchamp  Tower  described  some  improvements  in  de- 
tail which  he  has  introduced  in  the  design  of  that  beautiful  piece 
of  mechanism  by  which  he  has  secured  to  us,  by  means  of  gyro- 
scopically-controUed  hydraulic  gear,  a  steady  platform  at  sea ; 
and  Prof.  A.  C.  Elliott  read  a  paper  on  the  transmission  of 
power  by  compressed  air.  Dr.  \Villiam  Anderson  described 
his  revolving  water  purifier  ;  and  Mr.  Faija  gave  a  long  account 
of  many  points  in  connection  with  Portland  cement.  These 
were  all  the  papers  read  on  Friday. 

On  Saturday  there  was  no  meeting  in  Section  G,  and  Monday 
was,  according  to  custom,  devoted  to  electrical  matters.  Mr. 
\V.  H.  Preece  opened  the  proceedings  with  a  long  paper,  or 
rather  lecture,  on  the  London  and  Paris  telephone,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  was  enthusiastic  upon  the  success  which  had  been 
obtained.  He  is  sanguine  that  before  long  we  shall  be  able  to 
talk  between  London  and  Berlin.  Of  course,  he  improved  the 
occasion  by  insisting  on  the  necessity  of  metallic  returns,  a  point 
upon  which  all  will  agree  with  him  except  shareholders  in  tele- 
phone companies.  Naturally,  also,  Mr.  Preece  did  not  fail  to 
hint  how  much  better  off  the  British  public  would  have  been  had 
telephone  exchange  been  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Post  Office. 
Xo  doubt,  if  all  the  telephone'?  were  now  transferred  to  Mr. 
Preece's  guidance,  we  should  sooner  have  metallic  returns,  and 
.Christian patience  would  be  less  exercised  ;  but  the  question  may 
arise  whether  we  should  have  had  any  telephones  at  all  now  if 
.Government  monopoly  had  not  been  broken  through.  With 
Mr.  Preece  as  the  controlling  factor,  we  should  answer  "  Ves.'* 
But  there  are  other  sorts  of  Government  officials  than  Mr. 
Preece. 

Mr.  Bennett's  paper  on  the  telephoning  of  great  cities  referred 
mostly  to  the  arrangement  of  details  of  exchange. 

Prof.  G.  Forbes  read  a  long  paper,  in  which  he  gave  an 
account  of  recent  progress  in  the  use  of  electric  motors.  It  was 
of  an  interesting  nature,  and  dealt  largely  with  the  advance  that 
has  been  made  in  America.  We  trust  Mr.  Forbes  is  better  ac- 
quainted with  Transatlantic  electrical  practice  than  he  is  with  one 
branch,  at  least,  of  British  practice ;  for  when  he  said,  as  we 
understood  him,  that  there  are  no  electrical  cranes  in  England, 
he  was  certainly  wide  of  the  mark. 

Papers  by  Mr.  N.  Watts,  on  electric  fire-damp  indicators,  and 
by  J.  A.  Timmis,  on  electric  lighting  in  trains,  were  also  on  the 
list. 

On  Tuesday,  August  25,  Section  G  held  its  last  sitting,  and 
there  was  a  varied  selection  of  papers.  The  first  was  a  contri- 
bution  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Bennett,  in  which  he  advocated  a  system 
of  house-to-house  parcels  distribution,  which  would  certainly  be 
very  convenient  if  it  could  be  carried  out.  He  proposes  tunnels 
under  the  street  with  miniature  electric  railways.  That  would 
be  a  difficult  thing  to  arrange  in  any  of  our  cities,  the  space 
/being  so  occupied  by   gas-  and  water-pipes,   sewers,   electric 


wires,  hydraulic  mains,  and  many  other  things,  were  the  tunnels 
simply  to  be  run  straight  away  with  only  stations  at  distant 
points  ;  but  Mr.  Bennett  proposes  to  make  this  a  boase-to-hoose 
service,  each  subscriber  having  his  own  siding.  The  tnbe  woald 
be  rectangular,  with  two  lines  of  rails  one  above  the  other.  By 
means  of  semaphores  at  the  central  station,  worked  electrically 
by  the  passage  of  the  train,  so  that  the  operator  can  always  teU 
where  the  train  is,  and  by  further  electrical  connection  he  is 
able  to  shunt  the  train  into  the  subscriber's  own  siding.  When 
one  subscriber  wants  to  send  a  parcel  to  another,  he  procures  a 
truck,  and  despatches  this  through  the  tunnel  to  the  ceotnl 
station,  from  whence  the  operator  forwards  it  to  the  right 
address.  There  is  even  an  arrangement  for  unloading  aotoma- 
tically,  and  the  truck  can  then  be  brought  back  by  the  operator 
without  the  intervention  of  the  subscriber.  7*he  idea  is  fasci- 
nating, and  we  may  say  that  it  appears  quite  practicable ;  but  it 
will  not  come  yet.  Some  day,  when  we  determine  to  pull  down 
and  rearrange  London — as  manufacturers  throw  aside  obsolete 
but  perfectly  sound  machinery  to  gain  the  economy  of  some 
newer  designs — Mr.  Bennett's  electrical  exchange  may  come  m  ; 
and  then  the  blessing  it  will  be  to  the  community  will  be  in- 
calculable. We  can  have  a  five  minutes  collection  and  delivery 
of  letters  ;  butcher-boys  will  no  longer  whistle  at  the  side  door, 
and  the  baker  will  cease  to  scribble  on  the  gate-post. 

Mr.  W.  Worby  Beaumont  next  read  a  paper  on  internal  and 
external  work  of  evaporation.  This  is  one  of  a  series  of  mono- 
graphs which  the  author  has  prepared  on  this  subject,  but  the 
matter  is  to.)  abstruse  for  us  to  deal  with  in  this  very  brief 
account  of  the  four  days'  meeting.  Were  we  to  attempt  to 
abstract  the  paper,  it  might  lead  us  into  controversial  matter. 

Major  R.  de  Villamil's  paper  on  the  action  of  screw-pro- 
pellers was  a  praiseworthy  effort  to  accomplish  the  apparently 
hopeless  task  of  lifting  the  practice  of  designing  the  screw- 
propeller  from  the  region  of  empiricism — where  it  has  always 
dwelt — to  the  domain  of  pure  science.  We  fear,  however,  in 
spite  of  it,  that  the  marine  engineer  will  still  aidhere  to  the 
ancient  rule-<^)f-thumb  by  which  alone  he  is  now  guided.  It  is 
curious  that  the  man  who  has  done  most  to  improve  the  design 
of  the  screw-propeller  was  essentially  non-scientific.  He  made 
his  chief  discovery  in  an  endeavour  to  do  one  thing,  but  pro- 
duced the  reverse  result.  When  Griffith  first  used  the  spherical 
boss,  he  was  trying  to  produce  a  retarding  effect,  but  fonndf  on 
trial,  that  he  had  added  greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  the  screw. 

Mr.  Beaumont  also  read  a  paper  on  the  screw-propeller.  He 
described  a  method  of  reversing  the  direction  of  thrust  by  means 
of  feathering-blades,  on  the  well-known  Bevis  principle.  The 
advantages  claimed  were  that,  as  the  engines  and  screw  would 
be  always  running  in  one  direction,  there  would  be  no  momentum 
of  moving  parts  to  be  overcome  when  it  w^as  desired  to  go  from 
ahead  to  astern,  or  vice  versA,  and  therefore  there  would  be  less 
danger  of  breakage  of  the  mechanism.  The  proposal  was  some- 
what roughly  handled  in  the  discussion  which  followed,  but  we 
think  that  Mr.  Beaumont  fairly  held  his  own  in  his  reply.  The 
most  valid  objection  appeared  to  be  that  of  Mr.  Heard,  who 
pointed  out  that  the  pressure  on  a  given  area  of  the  blade  u-as 
by  no  means  constant  throughout  each  revolution,  and  the  dis- 
turbance would  cause  the  joints  of  the  mechanism  to  wear. 
For  this  reason  there  would  be  introduced  an  undesirable  and 
even  dangerous  play  on  the  pins  after  the  apparatus  had  been  in 
use  some  time. 

A  paper  upon  non-conducting  coverings  for  steam-boilers 
having  been  read,  the  business  of  Section  G  was  brought  to  a 
close  with  the  usual  votes  of  thanks. 


ANTHROPOLOGY  AT  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION, 

HP  HE  proceedings  began  with  the  President's  address,  after 
''-  which  Prof.  R.  K.  Douglas  read  a  paper  on  the  social  and 
religious  ideas  of  the  Chinese  as  illustrated  in  the  ideographic 
characters  of  the  language.  After  a  short  intnxluction,  showing 
that  the  Chinese  ideographic  characters  are  picture-writings,  the 
author  gave  an  account  of  the  earliest  or  hieroglyphic  form  of 
the  writing,  the  development  of  this  resulting  in  the  ideogiaphk 
characters.  The  social  habits  of  the  people  and  their  domestic 
life  were  illustrated  by  a  number  01  ideograms  descripdve  of 
their  household  arrangements  and  relationships.  The  antbor 
traced  in  the  written  characters  the  ideas  associated  with  men 
and  women,  their  virtues  and  their  fiulings ;  the  notioDs  connecled 


.^lO^   1x43,  VOL.  44] 


September  24,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


II 


with  marriage  ;  and  the  evidences  of  pastoral  as  well  as  of 
agricultural  habits  among  the  people.  The  paper  concluded 
with  references  to  the  coinage  of  the  country  as  described  in  the 
ideograms  employed  to  represent  its  various  forms. 

The  following  papers  were  also  read  :  on  recent  progress  in 
the  analysis  of  vowel-sounds,  by  Dr.  R.  J.  Lloyd  ;  family 
life  of  the  Haidas  (Queen  Charlotte  Islands),  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Harrison  ;  and  the  Report  of  the  North- Western  Tribes 
of  Canada  Committee.  This  last  is  again  the  work  of  Dr. 
Franz  Boas  in  the  interesting  ethnological  6eld  of  British 
Colambia.  It  consists  of  two  parts,  the  first  being  devoted  to 
the  Bilqula,  a  people  inhabiting  a  limited  tract  in  the  vicinity  of 
Dean  Inlet  and  Bentinck  Arms,  the  second  dealing  with  the 
physical  characteristics  of  the  tribes  of  the  North-west  coast 
region. 

Prof.  Max  Miiller  then  made  some  remarks  on  the  work  of 
Major  J.  W.  Powell,  Director  of  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 
He  said  that  he  had  just  received  the  proof-sheets  of  a  most 
important  publication  on  the  classification  of  the  Indian  languages 
spoken  in   America.     It   is  a  splendid  piece  of  workmanship 
from  Major  Powell,  the  indefatigable  Director  of  the  American 
Bureau  of  Ethnology.    The  publications  of  that  Bureau  count 
amongst  the  most  valuable  contributions    to    anthropological 
science,  and  they  reflect  the  highest  credit,  not  only  on  Major 
Powell  and  his  fellow- workers,   but  also  on    the    American 
Government,  which  has  sanctioned  a  very  large  outlay  for  the 
prosecution  of  these  studies.     There  is  no  stint  in  the  way  these 
volumes  are  brought  out,  and  most  of  the  papers  contained  in 
them  inspire  the  student  with  that  confidence  which  can  only  be 
produced  by  honest,  conscientious,  and  truly  scholarlike  work. 
Our  American  friends  have  perceived  that  it  is  a  national  duty 
to  preserve  as  much  as  can  still  be  preserved  of  the  languages 
and  thoughts  of  the  indigenous  races  who  were  the  earliest 
dwellers  on  American  soil.     They  know  that  the  study  of  what 
Prof.  Max  Miiller  ventured  to  call  intellectual  geology  is  quite 
as  important  as  that  of  terrestrial  geology,  and  that  the  study  of 
the  lower  strata  contains  the  key  to  a  right  understanding  of  the 
higher  strata  in  the  growth  of  the  human  mind.     Coming  genera- 
tions will  call  us  to  account  for  having  allowed  the  old  world  to 
vanish  without   trying  to  preserve  its  records.      People  who 
ask  what  can  be  the  use  of  preserving  the  language  of  the 
Mohawks  forget  what  we  would  give  if  some  scholar  at  the 
time  of  Cato  or  Csesar  had  written  down,  what  many  could 
then  easily  have  done,  a  grammar  of  the  Etruscan  language. 
Some  years   ago   the  author  had  succeeded  in  persuading  a 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
English  Government  to  publish  a    series  of  colonial  records, 
containing  trustworthy  information  on  the  languages,  customs, 
laws,   religions,   and   monuments  of  the  races  inhabiting   the 
English  colonies.     Lord  Granville  saw  that  such  an  undertaking 
was  a  national  duty,  and  that  the  necessary  funds  should  be  con- 
tributed by  the  various  colonies.     What  a  magnificent  work  this 
would  have  been  !     But  while  the  American  Government  has 
pushed  forward  its  work,  Lord  Granville's  scheme  expired  in  the 
pigeon-holes  oT   the   Colonial   Office.      America  may  well   be 
proud  of  Major  Powell,  who  would  not  allow  the  treasures  col- 
lected by  various  scholars  and  Government  ofhcials  to  moulder 
and  perish.     He  is  a  true  enthusiast,  not  a  man  of  mere  impulse 
and  good  intentions,  but  a  man  of  sustained  effort  in  his  work. 
He  deserves  the  hearty  thanks  of  the  Association,  and  more 
especially  of  the  Anthropological  Section. 

The  whole  of  Friday  morning  was  occupied  by  a  paper 
by  the  Marquess  of  Bute,  on  the  language  of  Teneriflfe.  The 
difficulties  in  the  study  of  the  languag^  are  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  aboriginal  words  have  been  collected  from  all  the 
islands  without  indicating  their  several  origins,  so  that  the 
Tenerifie  words  were  not  at  first  easily  distinguished.  Students 
hitherto  have  held  three  opinions  as  to  this  language.  The  first 
is  that  of  Dr.  Glas,  who  considered  the  language  American  (and 
the  people  African)  ;  the  second,  advanced  by  Sir  Edmund 
Scory,  classed  the  language  and  people  as  Berber  ;  while  the 
:hird  holds  that  the  Teneriffians  were  of  Aryan  origin. 

Dr.  Edward  B.  Tylor  read  a  paper  on  the  limits  of  savage 
religion.  It  has  lately  become  clear  by  the  inquiries  of  anthro- 
>ologists  that  the  world-famous  Great  Spirit  of  the  North 
^.mericaii  Indians  arose  from  the  teachings  of  the  Jesuit  mission- 
tries  in  Canada  early  in  the  seventeenth  century.  This  and 
inalogous  names  for  a  Supreme  Deity,  unknown  previously  to 
lative  belief,  have  since  spread  over  North  America,  amalga- 
oattng  with  native  doctrines  and  ceremonial  rites  into  highly 


NO-    1 1 43 1  VOL.  44] 


interesting  but  perplexing  combinations.  The  mistaken  attribu- 
tion to  barbaric  races  of  theological  beliefs  really  belonging  to 
the  cultured  world,  a<;  well  as  the  development  among  these 
races  of  new  religious  formations  under  cultured  influence,  are 
due  to  several  causes,  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  paper  to 
examine:  (i)  direct  adoption  from  foreign  teachers;  (2)  the 
exaggeration  of  genuine  native  deities  of  a  lower  order  into  a 
god  or  devil ;  (3)  the  conversion  of  native  words,  denoting  a 
whole  class  of  minor  spiritual  beings,  such  as  ghosts  or  demons, 
into  individual  names,  alleged  to  be  those  of  a  Supreme  Good 
Deity  or  a  rival  Evil  Deity. 

Mr.  H.  Ling  Roth  read  a  paper  on  couvade^  in  which  he  gave 
an  account  of  the  distribution  of  this  curious  custom,  and  showed 
that  the  savage  believes  that  there  is  some  hidden  link  which 
binds  the  new-born  child  to  its  father,  and  he  argued  that  the 
practice  of  cottvade  is  to  prevent  the  father  bewitching  his  child. 

In  a  paper  by  Mr.  S.  E.  Peal,  on  the  morong  and  other 
customs  of  the  natives  of  Asam,  the  author  shows  that  this  insti- 
tution of  the  morongj  or  club-house  for  the  unmarried,  is  very 
widely  distributed  over  t  he  whole  of  the  Indo-Pacific  region,  and 
he  argues  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a  relic  of  pre-marriage  communism. 
Moreover,  this  custom  being  so  often  found  associated  with 
others  of  a  distinctly  non-Aryan  character,  such  as  juming,  tat- 
tooing, blackening  the  teeth,  building  on  piles,  head-huntings 
&c.,  has  led  him  to  suspect  former  racial  affinity,  even  among 
such  widely  different  types  as  Papuan  and  Mongol,  Dravidian 
and  Sawaiori. 

A  paper  by  the  Rev.  B.  Danks,  on  the  burial  customs  of  New 
Britain,  was  read. 

In  a  paper  on  the  worship  of  meteorites.  Prof.  H.  A.  Newton^ 
on  Monday,  gave  a  series  of  accounts  of  divine  honours  having 
been  paid  to  meteoric  stones  in  early  times,  and  of  myths  and 
traditions  p'>inting  to  such  worship.  Particular  attention  was 
directed  to  the  indications  of  such  worship  that  are  found  in 
Greek  and  Roman  history  and  literature. 

Dr.  Garson  read  a  paper  on  some  human  remains  found  in 
Yorkshire.  He  dealt  principally  with  a  round  barrow  in  which 
skeletons  with  very  long  skulls  had  been  found.  These  skulls 
were  much  longer  and  narrower  than  the  heads  of  the  existing 
inhabitants  of  this  country,  and  corresponded  with  those  of  the 
Iberians.  The  average  height  of  the  persons  whose  skeletons 
were  found  in  this  barrow  was  a  little  over  5  feet  3  inches. 
The  discovery  of  flint  and  the  absence  of  iron  implements 
showed  that  the  burial  took  place  before  the  use  of  metals. 
The  Iberian  people  were  short,  had  dark  hair,  straight  noses,  flat 
foreheads,  and  no  ear-lobes.  It  was  a  race  quite  distinct  from 
the  Celtic  type,  which  afterwards  came  in  and  drove  them 
further  westwards  into  forests  and  swamps. 

A  paper  by  Miss  Buckland  was  read,  on  points  of  contact  between 
Old  World  myths  and  customs  and  the  Navajo  myth  entitled  "The 
Mountain  Chant."  The  author  drew  attention  to  the  numerous 
points  in  which  this  myth  reproduces  customs  and  beliefs  of  the 
Old  World.  Among  these  were  mentioned  the  singular  prohihi- 
tion  of  food  in  the  abode  of  spirits,  such  as  appears  in  the 
classical  story  of  Persephone,  but  which  is  found  slightly  modi- 
fied in  the  fairy  folk-lore  of  Europe,  in  Aino  and  Japanese  tales, 
and  in  New  Zealand.  Miss  Buckland  points  out  the  great  con- 
trast between  the  bloodless  Navajo  rites  and  the  sanguinary 
ceremonies  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  and  the  great  dissimilarity 
in  the  forms  of  the  Navajo  and  Mexican  gods,  as  denoting  an 
entirely  different  origin  for  the  two  religions,  incompatible  with 
the  belief  commonly  entertained  of  the  wholly  indigenous  cha- 
racter of  American  culture  ;  and  she  urges  that  the  Navajo  rites 
point  unmistakably  to  an  Eastern  origin. 

A  paper  by  the  Rev.  James  Macdonald,  on  East  Central 
African  custom^,  was  read.  The  customs  dealt  with  ranged 
over  the  whole  domestic  and  social  life  of  the  people. 

The  following  papers  were  also  read : — Prof.  G.  Hart  well 
Jones,  barbaric  Greece  and  Italy ;  J.  E.  Budgett  Meakin,  the 
Berbers  of  Morocco ;  Dr.  J.  S.  Phene,  a  comparison  of  ancient 
Welsh  customs,  devices,  and  commerce  with  those  of  contemporary 
nations  ;  W.  M.  Adams,  the  first  sea- wanderings  of  the  English 
race.  The  Report  of  the  Prehistoric  Inhabitants  Committee,  and 
the  Report  of  the  Elbolton  Cave  Committee,  were  also  read. 

On  Tuesday,  Dr.  Garson  read  a  paper  on  M.  Bertillon's 
method  of  criminal  anthropometry,  in  which  he  described  the 
plan  now  adopted  by  the  French  police  for  the  identification  of 
criminals. 

Dr.  S.  A.  K.  Strahan  read  a  paper  on  instinctive  criminality, 
its    true    character  and    rational   treatment.  -  The  instinctive 


512 


NA  TURE 


[September  24,  1891 


criminal  belongs  to  a  decaying  race,  and  is  only  met  with  in 
families  whose  other  members  show  signs  of  degradation  ;  in 
fact,  instinctive  criminality  is  bat  one  of  the  many  known  signs 
of  family  decay.  Not  only  is  criminality  hereditary,  but  it  is 
interchangeable  with  other  degenerate  conditions,  such  as  idiocy, 
epilepsy,  suicide,  insanity,  scrofula,  &c.,  and  it  is  a  mere  chance 
whether  the  insanity  or  drunkenness,  say,  of  the  parent,  will 
appear  as  such  in  the  child,  or  be  transmuted  in  transmission  to 
one  or  other  of  the  above-mentioned  degenerate  conditions. 
Alcoholism  is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  instinctive  criminality, 
but  insanity,  epilepsy,  and  suicide  are  often  transmuted  to  crime 
in  passing  to  the  children.  Senility  and  immaturity  of  parents 
are  also  fruitful  sources  of  crime  in  the  enfeebled  descendants, 
as  is  proved  by  the  statistics  of  Marro,  Korosi,  and  others.  The 
present  system  of  treatment  has  proved  a  disastrous  failure ; 
short  periods  of  punishment  can  have  no  effect  upon  the 
instinctive  criminal,  either  curative  or  deterrent.  Everything 
points  in  the  direction  of  prolonged  or  indefinite  confinement  in 
industrial  penitentiaries.  This  system  has  been  tried  with 
success  in  America,  and  life-long  detention  has  not  been  found 
by  any  means  necessary. 

Nicobar  pottery,  by  E.  H.  Man.  In  this  paper  Mr.  Man 
stated  that  the  little  island  of  Chowra  has  held  for  generations  a 
monopoly  of  the  manufacture  ;  and  the  entire  work  of  preparing 
the  clay,  as  well  as  of  moulding  and  firing  the  finished  utensil, 
devolves  on  the  females  of  the  community.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  island  appear  to  guard  their  art  jealously,  and  the  value  of 
trade-marks  is  recognized.  No  vessels  are  made  especially  by 
the  Nicobarese  for  funeral  purposes,  but  cooking  pots  are  among 
the  personal  and  household  requisites  which  are  laid  on  a 
grave  after  an  interment.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  any 
implement  answering  the  purpose  of  a  "  potter's  wheel.'* 

The  following  communications  were  also  received : — E. 
Seward,  on  the  formation  of  a  record  of  the  prehistoric  and 
ancient  remains  of  Glamorganshire  ;  Dr.  J.  S.  Phene,  on  recent 
Hittite  discoveries ;  Mrs.  S.  S.  Allison,  account  of  the 
Similkameen  Indians  of  British  Columbia ;  Report  of  the 
Anthropometric  Laboratory  Committee  ;  Report  of  the  Anthro- 
pological Notes  and  Queries  Committee  ;  and  the  Report  of  the 
Indian  Committee. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

The  American  Meteorological  yournal  for  September  con- 
tains the  concluding  part  of  an  article  on  mountain  meteorology, 
by  A.  L.  Rotch.  The  subjects  specially  treated  of  are  wind  and 
temperature  in  connection  with  atmospheric  pressure,  as  observed 
chiefly  at  the  Blue  Hill  Observatory.  The  wind  velocity  is  found 
to  be  two-thirds  greater  there  than  at  Boston,  about  500  feet 
lower,  but  the  difference  changes  for  various  hours  of  the  day.  At 
low  levels  the  wind  force  generally  increases  from  the  early 
morning  until  the  afternoon,  but  the  conditions  are  reversed  at 
higher  levels.  This  fact  was  pointed  out  by  Prof.  Hellmann 
in  1875,  when  studying  the  Mount  Washington  observations, 
and  the  same  fact  has  since  been  observed  at  Ben  Nevis  and 
other  Observatories.  The  wind  has  also  a  vertical  as  well  as  a 
horizontal  motion,  which  has  amounted  to  seven  miles  an  hour 
in  a  storm.  The  normal  temperature  at  the  summit  of  Blue 
Hill  is  2°  lower  than  at  the  base,  giving  a  decrease  of  i°for  each 
220  feet  of  ascent,  but  inversions  frequently  occur,  when  the 
temperature  of  the  base  is  lower  than  at  the  summit.  Instances 
of  this  are  given,  together  with  records  obtained  during  balloon 
ascents. — The  aspiration  psychrometer  and  its  use  in  balloons, 
by  Dr.  R.  Assmann.  Such  an  instrument  was  first  used  by 
Welsh  in  1853,  but  it  was  not  fully  adapted  to  use  in  balloons. 
The  apparatus  invented  and  described  by  Dr.  Assmann,  which 
is  intended  to  register  the  changes,  which  ordinary  thermometers 
do  not  show  quickly  enough,  is  made  by  Fuess,  of  Berlin.  The 
aspirator  may  be  driven  by  a  small  electric  motor,  instead  of  by 
clockwork. — The  Bergen  Point  tornado,  by  W.  A.  Eddy.  The 
track  was  about  nine  miles  south-west  of  New  York  City,  on 
June  16  last.  The  tornado  was  preceded  and  followed  by 
showers  of  large  hailstones,  and  extended  only  for  about  two 
miles. — The  hot  winds  of  California,  by  Lieutenant  J.  P.  Finley. 
The  period  during  which  these  winds  occur  is  from  May  to 
September  ;  the  thermometer  has  been  known  to  reach  118"  in 
the  shade,  and  the  winds  generally  occur  during  entire  absence 
of  clouds. — Altitude  and  hay  fever,  by  Dr.  W.  J.  Herdman. 
Special  attention  is  drawn  to  the  curative  influence  of  mountain 
stations. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  14. — M.  Dachaitre  in  tlie 
chair. — Recent  discussions  on  the  subject  of  cyclones,  by  M.  H. 
Faye. — A  contribution  to  the  botanical  history  of  the  truffle— 
KamrtU^  from  Damas  {Terfetia  Claveryi),  by  M.  A.  Chatin.  A 
description  of  a  new  species  of  trufHe — the  white  tnifiBe  of  the 
desert,  known  in  Syria  under  the  name  KamnU,  It  has  a  wide 
range,  the  same  species  as  this  found  near  Damas  having  been 
also  seen  in  the  desert  400  miles  south  of  Biskra.  It  forms  an 
important  article  of  food. — On  the  incandescence  of  pUtinom 
wires  under  water,  by  M.  Paquelin.  A  mixture  of  hydro- 
carbon vapours  and  air  is  led  over  a  specially  arranged  platinnD 
apparatus,  which  becomes  heated  almost  to  its  fusion  point,  aod 
will  then  remain  luminous  if  suddenly  plunged  into  water. — Ob- 
servations of  the  Comet  Wolf,  1884  III.,  made  by  the  amdi 
equatorial  (0*36  m.)  of  the  Lyons  Observatory,  by  M.  G.  Le 
Cadet. — On  the  yeast  of  wine,  by  M.  A.  Rommier.  Experi- 
ments made  on  the  production  of  wines  from  vines  of  the  same 
stock  grown  in  different  districts  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
ferments  producing  the  characteristic  bouquet  in  wines  of  different 
districts,  are  peculiar  to  those  districts  and  are  not  carried  to  nev 
districts  readily  by  the  transplantation  of  the  vines. — On  the 
determinism  of  sexuality  in  Hydatina  sen/a,  by  M.  Maapas. 


NO.    1 143,  VOL.  44] 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

Physical    Units    and    Constants.    By    Prof.    John 

Perry,  F.R.S 4S9 

Oysters      490 

The  Destruction  of  Mosquitoes.     By  A.  E.  S.   .    .    .    491 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

King :    **  Materials    for    a    Flora    of   the    Malayan 

Peninsula. "—W.  B.  H 492 

** Zoological  Wall  Pictures,"  and  "Animals  of  the 
World,   arranged  according  to  their  Geographical 

Distribution" 492 

"Crozet's  Voyage  to  Tasmania,    New  Zealand,  the 
Ladrone  Islands,  and  the  Philippines,  in  the  Years 

1771-72" 492 

Johnston :    "  Livingstone    and    the    Exploration    of 

Central  Africa  " 492 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The    National   Home- Reading    Union. — Dr.  Alex. 

Hill 493 

Notoryctes  typhlops. — Prof.  Alfred  Newton,  F.R.S,    493 
"W  =  M^.'^— W.   Larden;   A.   G.  G. ;  Tommy 

Atkins,  Senior 493 

Sleep  Movements  in  Plants. — A.  G.  Tansley    .    .    .    494 
An  Oviparous  Species  of  Peripatus. — Prof.  A.  Sed|^. 

wick,  F.R.S 494 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. — Dr.  Ralph  Copeland ;    W. 

E.  Wilson 494 

Some  Notes  on  the  Frankfort  International  Elec- 
trical Exhibition.     1 494 

Some  Points  in  the  Physics  of  Golf.     II.     By  Prof 

P.  G.  Tait 497 

Hooker's  * '  Icones  Plantarum  " 49S 

On  Van  der    Waals's    Treatment    of    Laplace's 
Pressure   in   the  Virial   Equation  :   A   Letter  to 

Prof.  Tait.     By  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S 499 

Notes 534 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Lightning  Spectra 504 

A  New  Asteroid 504 

The  International  Geological  Congress :  Washing- 
ton Meeting 304 

The  Society  of  Friends  of  Astronomy  and  Cosnoic 

Physics 507 

The  Protective  Device  of  an  Annelid.     (Illustraled,) 

By  Arnold  T.  Watson 507 

Geography  at  the  British  Association !    508 

Mechanics  at  the  British  Association 509 

Anthropology  at  the  British  Association 510 

Scientific  Serials 51a 

Societies  and  Academies 512 


NA  TURE 


513 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  i,  1891. 


THE  BACTERIOLOGICAL  EXAMINATION  OF 

WA  TER, 

Manuel  Pratique  d* Analyse  Bactiriologique  des  Eaux. 
Par  Ic  Dr.  Miquel.  (Paris :  Gauthier-Villars  et  Fils, 
1891.) 

THERE  18  probably  no  body  of  scientific  men  amongst 
whom  national  feeling  and  prejudice  are  so  little 
under  control  as  the  workers  in  the  domain  of  bacterio- 
logy. In  perusing  memoirs,  text-books,  dictionary-articles, 
and  literature  of  every  kind  bearing  upon  this  infant 
science,  the  reader  must  almost  invariably  take  into  con- 
sideration the  language  in  which  they  are  written,  more 
especially  whether  German  or  French ;  and  if  the  author 
belongs  to  neither  of  these  rival  nationalities,  it  is  not 
(infrequently  desirable  to  ascertain  in  which  of  the  two 
camps  he  has  been  educated,  for,  unless  this  be  made 
allowance  for,  a  warped  and  often  erroneous  impression 
will  be  carried  away. 

The  present  work  certainly  forms  no  exception  to  this 
state  of  things ;  indeed,  this  phenomenon  of  party-spirit 
is  regrettably  prominent.  Thus,  in  reading  one  of  the 
first  paragraphs,  beginning  with  ''  Les  premieres  statis- 
tiques  relatives  k  la  richesse  bact^rienne  des  eaux  furent 
public  par  moi,"  and,  indeed,  throughout  these  pages  we 
are  reminded  of  the  words  of  the  deeply  lamented  savani 
who  commenced  his  monumental  work  with  ''  La  chimie 
est  une  science  fran^aise,''  and  perhaps  even  more  of  the 
famous  utterance,  '*  L'^tat,  c'est  moi ! " 

Dr.  Miquel's  treatise,  consisting  of  194  pages,  is  divided 
into  five  chapters,  dealing  respectively  with  (i)  the  col- 
lection of  samples,  (2)  the  transport  of  the  collected  water, 
(3)  the  quantitative  analysis,  (4)  the  qualitative  analysis, 
(5)  the  interpretation  of  the  results  obtained.     On  these 
subjects  Dr.  Miquel  should  be  well  qualified  to  write, 
because,  as  he  informs  us,  it  is  only  in  his  laboratory  at 
Montsouris  that  the  bacteriological  examination  of  water 
has  been  carried  on  over  a  period  of  eleven  years.     In- 
deed, we  know  of  no  bacteriologist  who  has  so  entirely 
devoted  his  attention  to  the  subject  of  micro-organisms 
in  air  and  water  as  Dr.  Miquel,  whose  name  is  so  in- 
separably connected  with  'Mes  organismes  vivants  de 
I'atmosph^re/'    His  energies  have,  however,  apparently 
not  been  so  successfully  directed  to  the  aquatic  as  to  the 
aerial  microbes,  for  we  do  not  connect  Dr.  Miquel's  name 
with  any  of  the  more  important  advances  that  have  been 
made  in  our  knowledge  of  the  bacteria  in  water  during 
the  past  ten  years.      The  comparative  sterility  of  Dr. 
Miquel's  researches  in  this  direction  is  perhaps  partially 
to  be  accounted  for  through  the  extraordinarily  cumbrous 
method  of  water-examination  which  he  formerly  exclu- 
sively employed,  and  which  has  placed  him  at  a  great 
disadvantage  by  the  side  of  those  investigators  who  at 
once  availed  themselves  of  Koch's  methods,  which  Dr. 
Miquel,  like  many  other  French  bacteriologists,  has  only 
adopted  with  reluctance,  or  almost  under  compulsion. 
The  chief  interest  attaching  to  the  bacteriological  ex- 
amination of  water  lies  in  its  application  to  the  hygiene 
of  water-supply,  inasmuch  as  it  is  all  but  certain  that  two 
at  least  of  the  most  fatal  zymotic  diseases — cholera  and 

NO.   II 44,  VOL.  44] 


typhoid — can  be,  and  are,  constantly  propagated  through 
the  presence  of  specific  micro-organisms  in  water,  and 
indeed  the  majority  of  bacteriologists  are  agreed  as  to  the 
particular  forms  responsible  for  these  diseases.  On  this 
account  it  is  conceived  by  many  that  the  primary  object 
of  the  bacteriological  examination  should  be  the  search 
for  such  pathogenic  microbes.  This  view  is  apparently 
endorsed  by  Dr.  Miquel  when  he  says, ''  Le  but  que  doit 
poursuivre  le  micrographe  dans  les  analyses  bact^rio- 
logiques  de  Teau  est  sans  contredit  la  d^couverte  des 
organismes  pathog^nes  " ;  although  the  logical  conclusion 
to  be  drawn  from  the  pages  which  follow,  and  in  which 
he  details  the  methods  to  be  pursued  in  this  quest,  is 
that  such  an  investigation  is  generally  fraught  with  in- 
superable difficulties,  and,  for  sanitary  purposes,  prac- 
tically worthless.  Thus,  without  wishing  to  detract  from 
the  importance  of  the  discovery  by  Chantemesse,  Widal, 
and  others  of  the  typhoid  bacillus  in  certain  waters  which 
had  been  suspected  of  propagating  this  disease  amongst 
their  consumers,  it  is  surely  obvious  that,  even  if  this 
organism  could  be  detected  with  unerring  certainty  in 
any  water  in  which  it  was  present,  a  search  for  this 
bacillus  in  the  ordinary  course  of  water  examination 
would  still  have  only  a  very  subsidiary  interest.  Waters 
are  surely  not  only  to  be  condemned  for  drinking-pur- 
poses  when  they  contain  the  germs  of  zymotic  disease 
at  the  time  of  analysis,  but  in  all  cases  when  they  are 
subject  to  contaminations  which  may  at  any  time  contain 
such  germs.  Sewage-contaminated  waters  must  on  this 
account  be  invariably  proscribed,  quite  irrespectively  of 
whether  the  sewage  is,  at  the  time  that  the  water  is  sub- 
mitted to  examination,  derived  from  healthy  or  from 
diseased  persons.  In  die  present  state  of  our  knowledge 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  chemical  analysis  affords  us 
in  general  a  better,  although  a  far  from  perfect,  indication 
of  sewage  contamination  than  do  the  results  of  bac- 
teriological examination.  The  real  value  of  these  bac- 
teriological investigations,  if  judiciously  applied,  consists 
in  their  power  of  ftirnishing  us  with  information  as  to  the 
probable  fate  of  dangerous  organisms,  should  they  gain 
access  to  drinking-water.  It  is  by  their  means  that  we 
have  learnt  that  many  such  organisms  can  preserve  their 
vitality,  nay,  in  some  cases  can  actually  undergo  mul- 
tiplication, in  ordinary  drinking-water ;  that  they  are 
destroyed  by  maintaining  the  water  at  the  boiling-point 
for  a  short  time ;  and  that  they  are  more  or  less  perfectly 
removed  by  some  processes  of  filtration  and  precipitation, 
whilst  other  processes  of  the  same  nature  are  worthless, 
or  even  worse. 

These  important  results  are  of  the  greater  value 
inasmuch  as  they  have  been  obtained  not  only  by  ex- 
perimenting with  the  few  pathogenic  organisms  with 
which  we  are  at  present  acquainted,  but  by  studying  the 
effect  of  these  several  processes  on  the  complex  mixtures 
of  micro-organisms  that  are  to  be  found  in  natural  waters. 
The  rapidity  with  which  this  knowledge  has  been  ac- 
quired is  due  to  the  quantitative  accuracy  combined  with 
facility  of  manipulation  which  characterize  the  method  of 
gelatine-plate  culture.  It  has  been  repeatedly  urged 
against  this  method  that  it  is  incapable  of  revealing  many 
well-known  forms  of  bacteria  which  either  do  not  grow  in 
the  gelatine-peptone  medium  at  all,  or  at  any  rate  not  at 
those  temperatures  at  which  it  still  remains  solid,  and  it 

Z 


5H 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


is  in  this  respect  that  Dr.  Miquel  claims  superiority  for 
his  infinitely  more  laborious  method  of  "  ensemencements 
fractionn^s  "  in  bouillon.  It  is  obvious  that  labour  must 
be  no  consideration  if  any  great  scientific  advantage  is  to 
be  attained;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  unnecessary 
complication  of  processes,  without  corresponding  benefits, 
must  invariably  lead  to  the  retardation  of  scientific  pro- 
gress. Now,  it  would  certainly  appear  that  the  benefits 
obtained  by  MiqueFs  process  are  in  no  way  commen- 
surate with  the  additional  labour  which  it  entails.  Thus, 
his  process  is  also  incapable  of  revealing  all  the  mi- 
crobes which  may  be  present  in  water,  and  yields  at  best 
only  a  closer  approximation  to  the  total  number  than 
does  the  gelatine  method.  For  the  general  purposes  of 
the  bacteriological  examination  of  water,  however,  it  is  of 
very  little  consequence  whether  the  method  employed 
reveals,  say,  30, 50, 70,  or  90  per  cent,  of  the  total  number 
of  microbes  present,  all  that  is  required  being  a  result 
which  will  serve  for  comparison.  Thus,  supposing  it  is 
desired  to  ascertain  the  efficiency  of  some  process  of 
filtration,  provided  that  the  unfiltered  and  filtered  waters 
respectively  are  submitted  to  the  same  method  of  ex- 
amination, the  comparative  result  will  be  the  same 
whether  50  per  cent  only  or  all  the  microbes  present  are 
in  both  cases  enumerated.  Thus  putting  this  statement 
to  the  test  of  actual  experiment,  from  the  results  of  the 
gelatine-plate  method  of  examination  I  reported  to  the 
Local  Government  Board  in  1886  that  the  average  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  micro-organisms  present  in  Thames 
water  effected  by  the  sand-filtration  of  the  several  London 
water  companies  amounted  to— 

98*6  per  cent,  for  the  Chelsea  Company, 
99*1       ,,  ,,        West  Middlesex  Company, 

967       ,,  ,,        South wark  Company, 

98*2       ,,  ,,         Grand  Junction  Company, 

96*2       ,,  „        Lambeth  Company, 


whilst  Dr.  Miquel  in  1890  gives  as  the  effect  of  sand- 
filtration  on  the  water  of  the  River  Loire  a  reduction 
of  99*3  percent,  in  one  case,  and  99*4  per  cent,  in  another 
case.  A  concordance  more  complete  than  this  can  cer- 
tainly not  be  demanded.  Similarly  it  can  be  shown  that 
Dr.  Miquel's  method  of  water  examination  has  not  yielded 
any  results  of  importance  which  had  not  already  been 
arrived  at  before  by  other  investigators  using  the  more 
expeditious  method  of  plate  cultivation.  It  is  indeed  only 
for  such  differential  experiments  as  that  referred  to  above 
that  the  bacteriological  examination  of  water,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  is  really  of  much  value, 
for  any  judgment  as  to  the  purity  or  otherwise  of  a  sample 
of  water  based  upon  the  actual  number  of  microbes  found 
in  a  given  volume  of  it,  is  liable  to  lead  to  the  most  serious 
errors,  in  consequence  of  the  remarkable  power  which 
some  bacteria  possess  of  multiplying  to  an  extraordinary 
extent  in  waters  of  the  greatest  organic  purity  ;  in  fact,  it 
is  precisely  in  the  purest  waters  that  such  multiplication 
is  often  most  pronounced.  It  is  the  possibility  of  such 
multiplication  taking  place  which  renders  it  imperative 
that  samples  of  water  should  be  submitted  to  bacterio- 
logical examination  within  a  few  hours  of  their  collection. 
In  order  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  which  has  hitherto 
debarred  the  examination  of  waters  from  distant  sources, 
Dr.  Miquel  has  the  samples  transmitted  in  a  box  sur- 
rounded with  ice ;  to  this  there  are  manifold  objections, 

NO.    II 44,  VOL.  44] 


for  the  low  temperature  thus  secured  by  no  means 
completely  arrests  the  multiplication  of  some  bacteria, 
whilst  it  causes  the  destruction  of  others.  Dr.  Georg 
Frank,  of  Berlin,  on  the  other  hand,  seeks  to  overcome 
the  difficulty  by  deputing  to  persons-on  the  spot  the  task 
not  only  of  collecting  the  samples,  but  also  of  prepar- 
ing the  plate-cultures;  but,  considering  the  nature  of  the 
instructions  which  he  finds  it  necessary  to  g^ive  to  the 
novices  to  whom  this  work  may  fall,  the  expedient  does 
not  appear  very  promising.  The  following  is  a  verbatim 
extract  from  these  instructions  recently  published  in 
a  German  scientific  journal  of  repute,  which  surely 
demands  no  comment : — 

"  The  person  commissioned  with  the  collection  of  the 
sample  takes  off  his  coat,  turns  up  his  shirt-sleeves  on 
both  arms,  fastening  them  so  securely  that  they  cannot 
fall  down  of  themselves.  Then  he  washes  his  hands  and 
arms  most  carefully  with  soap  and  brush  to  above  the 
elbow-joint.  Special  care  must  be  bestowed  upon  tbe 
cleansing  of  the  finger-nails,  which  must  if  necessary  be 
treated  with  the  nail-file.  Finally,  the  person  in  question 
dries  himself  with  a  clean  towel." 

We  take  it  that  the  value  of  results  depending  upoo 
manipulations  carried  out  by  persons  requiring  these 
instructions  would  be  such  that  it  would  be  no  loss  if  thcj- 
were  dispensed  with  altogether.  Indeed,  unless  tbe 
bacteriological  examination  of  water  be  invariably  carried 
out  by  qualified  persons,  and  by  them  employed  only  in 
cases  where  it  is  really  capable  of  rendering  service,  it  is 
certain  to  fall  into  that  disrepute  which  has  so  freqaently 
been  drawn  down  upon  the  chemical  examination  of 
water  through  incompetent  analysts.  Indeed  the  bac- 
teriological method  has  already  seriously  suffered  in 
public  estimation  through  the  contradictions  which  have 
resulted  from  the  attempts  made  in  some  quarters  to 
classify  waters  according  to  the  number  of  microbes 
revealed  on  cultivation.  Such  arbitrary  standards  have 
already  done  much  mischief  in  the  case  of  the  chemical 
analysis  of  water ;  in  the  bacteriological  examination  they 
are  still  more  reprehensible,  and  it  is  deeply  to  be  re- 
gretted that  Dr.  Miquel,  in  this  most  recent  work  on  the 
subject,  should  seek  to  perpetuate  a  system  of  standards 
which  experience  shows  to  be  quite  untenable. 

The  work  concludes  with  some  excellent  recommenda- 
tions as  to  the  sterilization  of  water  for  drinking-purposes, 
a  subject  which  cannot  be  too  frequently  brought  into 
public  notice,  for,  using  Dr.  Miquel's  own  words,  **  la  vie 
d'un  homme  a  bien  sa  valeur  k  c6t6  du  prix  insignifiant 
auquel  revient  le  litre  d'eau  purg^  de  germes  qull  pent 
consommer  en  vingt-quatre  heures." 

Percy  F.  Frankland. 


EPIDEMIC  INFLUENZA. 

Epidemic  Influenza :  Notes  on  its  Origin  and  Meilu^of 
Spread,  By  Richard  Sisley,  M.D.  (London :  Long- 
mans, Green,  and  Co.,  1891.) 
THE  object  of  this  brief  treatise,  which  was  prepared 
before  the  issue  of  the  Report  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  is  to  prove  the  doctrine,  widely  held  by 
physicians  of  eminence  in  the  eighteenth  centur>*,  that 
influenza  is  contagious,  or,  more  strictly  speaking,  ia- 
fectious,  and  therefore,  in  the  ^opinion  of  the  author,  & 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


515 


to  be  included  among  the  diseases  of  which  notification 
is  locally  compulsory.  The  book  is  somewhat  peculiar 
in  its  arrangement^  but  in  the  essential  qualities  of  im- 
partiality and  clearness  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired. 
Many  readers  who  do  not  require  more  than  specimens 
of  evidence,  will  thank  Dr.  Sisley  for  compressing  the 
digest  of  ''  many  thousands ''  of  notes  into  such  narrow 
compass  ;  but  other  minds  will  require  a  chain  of  which 
every  link  is  massive,  to  guide  them  to  the  point  of  view 
whence  practical  conclusions  are  palpable.  If  the  manner 
of  statement  is  somewhat  bare,  and  examples  rather 
scanty,  in  the  exposition  of  a  strong  but  disputed  case, 
the  facts  brought  forward  bear  none  the  less  value  in 
their  neutral  setting,  and  go  far  to  justify  the  proposition 
with  which  he  confronts  us  at  the  outset,  derived  from  a 
study  of  the  distribution  of  the  disease  and  from  its 
pathological  character.  Valuable  assistance  from  Dr. 
Klein,  Prof.  Fleming,  and  many  others,  has  enabled 
him  to  include  in  his  pages  some  interesting  matter  re- 
lating to  the  microbic  nature  of  the  epidemic  and  its 
relation  to  a  similar  disease  in  animals.  After  all  that 
has  been  conjectured  on  the  latter  point,  it  appears  that 
evidence  of  any  unusual  prevalence  of  influenza  among 
animals  at  the  time  is  still  wanting. 

The  original  seat  of  influenza,  which  has  been  ob- 
scurely indicated  in  previous  times  as  lying  somewhere 
^  in  the  East,"  has  now  been  discerned  in  Mongolian  and 
Chinese  territory,  for  we  have  two  independent  accounts, 
each  speaking  of  influenza  as  not  uncommon  in  some 
parts  of  China.  In  Mongolia  "  it  seldom  proves  fatal, 
bat  travellers  are  careful  to  avoid  it,  and  no  one  would 
think  of  using  the  pot  or  ladle  of  a  family  suffering 
from  this  sickness."  If  the  disease  is  sporadic  and 
endemic  in  these  countries,  the  population  may  be  to 
some  degree  protected  against  epidemic  outbreaks,  for 
we  have  seen  in  Europe  that  the  tendency  to  spread  is 
much  less  marked  in  a  second  invasion  occurring  within 
one  year,  and  least,  on  the  whole,  in  those  places  where 
it  was  previously  most  severe. 

The  notes  from  Bokhara,  translated  in  this  volume, 
are  of  great  importance,  for  they  show  how  a  wet  spring 
had  turned  the  neighbouring  country  into  a  perfect 
marsh,  from  which,  when  the  hot  weather  set  in,  poison- 
ous exhalations  were  given  forth,  and  how  the  people, 
crowded  together  with  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep  between 
high  walls,  distressed  and  weak  with  starvation  and 
<lisease,  were  attacked  much  earlier  than  usual,  in  the 
first  heat  of  summer,  with  malaria,  and  how  this  was 
quickly  followed  by  an  epidemic  of  influenza,  reaching 
its  height  in  July  1889.  I'he  extension  of  the  disease 
westwards  from  Bokhara  by  the  flight  of  convalescents 
to  Russia,  and  eastwards  by  caravans  to  post-stations  in 
Siberia,  has  been  noticed  in  the  official  Report,  and  com- 
pletes the  evidence  connecting  the  European  epidemic 
^vith  the  miserable  condition  of  an  Asiatic  town.  Upon 
such  a  soil,  influenza  sprang  into  fatal  activity,  and  ac- 
quired, as  we  may  fairly  infer,  a  particular  virulence. 
In  similar  conditions,  amid  the  filth,  floods,  and  famines 
of  Asiatic  countries,  cholera  and  other  plagues  of  men 
2Lnd  animals  have  been  evolved  and  have  set  forth  on 
ibeir  destructive  march. 

By  reports  from  several  medical   officers,  and   by  a 
jxttmber  of  charts  showing  the  curve  of  prevalence  of  the 

NO-  1 144,  VOL.  44] 


disease  in  English  and  foreign  cities.  Dr.  Sisley  shows 
that  we  have  no  experience  of  any  sudden  prostration  of 
a  laiige  population  within  a  few  days,  such  as  was  formerly 
supposed  to  occur ;  but  that  the  rise  is  always  gradual 
from  a  few  cases  to  hundreds  and  thousands,  the  maxi- 
mum usually  occurring  from  one  to  two  months  after  the 
first  cases  in  the  locality  have  been  noted.  Last  century 
Dr.  Haygarth  had  been  fortunate  in  discovering  the 
person  who  brought  the  infection  to  each  place  in  his 
district.  If  equal  pains  had  been  taken  in  1890,  when  the 
disease  was  on  its  way  to  us  from  Russia,  the  persons 
who  conveyed  it  from  country  to  country  might,  no 
doubt,  have  been  identified.  The  author  has  not  been 
able  to  find  a  single  instance  in  which  there  was  a  sudden 
infection  of  a  large  number  of  people  without  the  previous 
existence  of  cases  of  the  disease ;  and  wherever  its 
coqrse  was  studied  with  care,  it  was  seen  to  spread  in 
the  same  way  as  other  infectious  diseases.  But  the 
"atmospheric''  doctrine,  though  previously  disproved 
with  regard  to  rabies,  cholera,  and  pestilence  in  general, 
still  finds  a  stronghold  in  consumption  and  influenza. 

The  classic  examples  of  ships  supposed  to  have  been 
attacked  on  the  ocean  by  wind-borne  influenza,  as  well 
as  those  of  towns  supposed  to  have  been  prostrated  "  in 
a  single  day,"  really  bear  testimony  to  the  insidious 
growth  of  the  disease  and  to  the  necessity  of  early  recog- 
nition. Neither  in  this  volume  nor  in  others  on  the  same 
subject  is  the  fact  sufficiently  dwelt  upon,  that  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  this  and  of  previous  epidemics 
in  successive  weeks  and  months  was  wholly  unlike  what 
would  have  occurred  if  the  germs  had  been  largely 
spread,  either  by  lower  or  by  upper  atmospheric  currents. 

The  total  exemption  of  lighthouse-keepers,  deep-sea 
fishermen,  and  unvisited  islands,  is  scarcely  noticed  by 
Dr.  Sisley,  but  he  considers  the  rarity  of  influenza  among 
prisoners  to  have  been  due  to  their  removal  from  sources 
of  contagion,  and  relates  a  very  interesting  case  of 
apparent  infection  of  a  man  on  his  way  home  from  a 
light-ship  through  contact  with  the  crew  of  a  fishing-boat, 
said  to  be  in  good  health. 

Dr.  Sisley  concludes  that  there  is  no  convincing  proof 
of  transmission  through  unaffected  persons,  letters,  &c.; 
but  a  series  of  cases  each  of  considerable  weight  surely 
amounts  to  evidence  strong  enough  to  justify  some 
precautions,  such  as  would  be  taken  with  the  organic 
dust  from  more  serious  diseases,  e,g,  scarlet  fever 
and  diphtheria,  which  are  so  transmissible.  There 
is  happily  a  great  deal  in  common  in  the  mode 
of  spread  of  most  zymotic  diseases,  and  disinfection 
as  usually  practised  could  hardly  be  misapplied  to  in- 
fluenza. The  same  may  be  said  with  regard  to  isolation, 
for  no  attack,  however  trivial  in  itself,  is  a  matter  of  in- 
difference to  the  public,  if  it  may  result  in  widespread 
illness,  loss  of  work,  and  distress.  A  short  retirement  is 
desirable  in  the  interest  both  of  the  patient  and  of  the 
public.  But  Dr.  Sisley  can  hardly  desire  that  notification 
should  take  place  on  exactly  the  same  lines  as  that  of 
other  diseases,  for  local  authorities  would  with  reason 
wince  at  the  expense ;  and  unless  the  notification  were  a 
national  undertaking,  no  district  would  be  adequately 
protected  thereby  from  imported  cases.  Complete  and 
national  measures  of  notification  and  isolation,  with  the 
co-operation  of  local  authorities,  would  be  much  more 


5^6 


NATURE 


[October  i,  1891 


likely  to  be  effectual.    An  expenditure  of  one-fiftieth  of 
the  cost  of  the  recent  epidemic  would  probably  secure 
the  country  from  any  such  infliction  in  future.     But  we 
must  admit  that  without  a  somewhat  strict  supervision  at 
ports  of  entry  during  the  period  of  prevalence  in  other 
countries,  and  without  provision  for  the  segregation  of 
slight    or    suspected    cases    during    that    period,  mere 
notification  would  not  be   likely  to  put  a  stop  to  the  ; 
spread  of  influenza.     The  early  cases  are  worth  taking 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  discover  and  isolate.    When 
once    many    cases    have   occurred    in    a    locality,    the  I 
further  progress  of  so  protean  a  disease  is  difficult  to  i 
arrest.      The    best    chance    of    averting  an   epidemic 
must  be  sought  in  scrupulous  care  for  early  isolation,  in  i 
tracing  the  movements  of  travellers  from  infected  towns, 
and  in  the  increased  practice  of  ventilation  in  private  j 
houses  and  in  public  gatherings.     Like  typhus,  influenza  I 
seems    incapable    of    inflicting    much    damage    except  ' 
through  the  medium  of  close,  confined,  and  impure  air, 
and  where  measures  of  isolation  and  disinfection  are  i 
used  it  seldom  spreads.     But  the  infectious  character  of 
influenza  must  be  internationally  recognized  before  pro- 
tective regulations  can  achieve  a  full  measure  of  success. 

R.  Russell. 


GENERAL  CHEMICAL  MINERALOGY. 

Allgemeine  Chemische  Miner alogie.  Von  Dr.  C.  Doelter, 
O.  Professor  der  Mineralogie  an  der  K.  K.  Universitat 
Graz.  With  14  Figures  in  the  Text.  (Leipzig :  W. 
Engelmann,  1890.) 

MINERALOGY,  at  first  purely  descriptive,  has  been 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  an  experimental  science 
by  the  application  of  the  principles  of  chemistry  and 
physics.  The  writer  of  a  mineralogical  text-book  is  thus 
met  at  the  outset  with  the  difficulty  of  deciding  what 
amount  of  knowledge  of  chemistry  and  physics  to  assume 
in  his  reader.  With  regard  to  the  chemical  side  at  least, 
the  rule  appears  to  be  to  assume  that  he  knows  very 
little,  and  yet,  somewhat  inconsistently,  to  make  the  ex- 
position of  the  atomic  theory  and  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  chemistry  so  brief  as  to  be  of  little  service  to 
one  who  has  had  no  previous  acquaintance  with  the 
subject. 

The  author  of  the  present,  in  many  respects  useful  and 
suggestive,  book  follows  the  same  lines.  The  whole 
account  of  the  fundamental  chemical  theories  occupies 
about  ten  pages  of  the  introduction.  The  same  fault  will 
be  found  in  other  parts  of  the  book :  e,g,  it  would  be  ' 
difficult  to  say  to  what  class  of  reader  a  large  portion  of 
the  chapter  on  chemical  analysis  would  be  useful.  In 
his  endeavour  to  introduce  as  many  extracts  as  possible 
from  the  current  literature  of  the  subject,  the  author 
allows  himself  in  many  places  to  become  somewhat 
sketchy.  In  spite  of  this,  the  book,  with  its  wealth  of 
information  u[>on  points  which  have  not  hitherto  found 
a  place  in  ordinary  mineralogical  text-books,  will  be 
found  to  give  a  very  good  idea  of  the  present  state  of 
mineralogical  science  from  a  chemical  point  of  view. 

The  arrangement  of  the  book  is  in  seven  sections,  viz. 
(i)  introduction;  (2)  chemical  crystallography;  (3)  che- 
mical analysis  of  minerals ;  (4)  synthesis  of  minerals  ; 
(5)  metamorphism  of  minerals  ;  (6)  formation  of  minerals 

NO.  II 44,  VOL.  44] 


in  nature ;  (7)  chemical  composition  and  constitution  ot 
minerals. 

In  the    introduction,  containing  an  account  of  the 
atomic  theory  and  its  consequences,  one  or  two  sugges- 
tive ideas  will  be  found  :  e,g.  the  correspondence,  pointed 
out  by  Tschermak,  between  the  chemical  law  of  multiple 
proportions  and  the  crystallographic  law  of  simple  para- 
meter ratios ;   and  also  the  analogy  between  the  law  of 
constant  proportion  by  weight  and  the  fundamental  crys- 
tallographic law  of  constancy  of  angle.    The  subject  ot 
chemical  crystallography  receives  very  full    treatment. 
Here    the    reader    is    initiated   into   the   mysteries   ot 
chemical      and     physical     isomerism,     polymorphism,, 
enantiotropy,  isomorphism,    isodimorphism,    isogonism,. 
morphotropy,  &c. ;    and  if  the  perusal  of  this  section, 
as  well  as  of  the  last,  on  the  constitution  of  minerals, 
shall  leave  him  with  a  rather  confused  and  unfavourable 
idea  of  the  subject,  the  fault  should  perhaps  be  rather 
attributed  to  the  present  imperfect  state  of  our  knowledge 
than  to  the  author.    At  present  it  is  in  most  cases  impos- 
sible to  say  whether  bodies  are  polymeric,  metameric,  or 
chemical  isomers. 

As  regards  isomorphism,  if  the 'formation  of  mixed 
crystals  is  to  remain  the  test,  the  original  definition 
of  Mitscherlich  must  be  modified  to  suit  the  £act 
of  the  formation  of  mixed  crystals  from  compounds 
ot  not  precisely  analogous  chemical  composition. 
Thus,  according  to  modern  views,  isomorphism  is  in 
some  degree  to  be  deposed  from  its  proud  position  as  an 
infallible  guide  to  chemical  composition.  The  insidious 
nature  of  the  attack  upon  this  ancient  stronghold  of  the 
faith  may  be  judged  by  a  comparison  of  one  of  the  latest 
definitions  of  isomorphism  with  the  original  definition  of 
Mitscherlich.  According  to  the  latter,  isomorphism  is 
the  power  which  two  or  more  compounds  of  analogous 
chemical  composition  possess  of  crystallizing  in  the  same 
or  similar  crystalline  forms,  and  of  mixing  in  vaiyii:^ 
proportions  to  form  homogeneous  crystals.  The  latest 
definition  is  that  bodies  are  isomorphous  which,  with  fcr 
the  most  part  similar  chemical  composition,  possess  the 
property  of  crystallizing  in  similar  crystalline  forms,  and 
of  forming  mixed  crystals  which  morphol<^cally  aad 
physically  graduate  into  each  other.  Such  a  change  it  is 
expected  would  lead  to  a  considerable  simplification  ie 
many  of  the  formulae  which  have  been  made  unnecessarily 
complicated  in  order  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of 
Mitscherlich's  definition. 

The  section  on  chemical  analysis  of  minerals  is  one  ot 
the  least  satisfactory  in  the  book.  Short  summaries  ot 
analytical  methods  can  be  of  little  service  to  any  class  of 
reader.  Amongst  matter  which  will  not  be  generally 
found  in  the  ordinary  chemical  text-book,  this  section 
contains  some  account  of  microchemical  reactions,  of  the 
methods  for  the  mechanical  separation  of  minerals,  so  as 
to  insure  pure  material  for  analysis,  and  directions  f<K^ 
the  course  of  analysis  to  be  pursued  in  the  case  of  the 
more  important  minerals. 

The  important  subject  of  mineral  synthesis  receives 
more  complete  treatment  than  any  other  in  the  book 
The  section  contains  general  accounts  of  the  various 
methods  for  the  artificial  production  of  minerals  by  che- 
mical reactions,  fusion,  sublimation,  electrolysis,  diffusion, 
&c.,  with  detailed  descriptions  of  the  apparatus  required. 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


517 


The  sections  on  the  metamorphism  of  minerals,  and  on 
the  formation  of  minerals  in  nature,  will  be  found  of 
great  interest  to  the  petrologist.  Here  are  described  the 
effects  on  minerals  of  heat,  of  gases  at  high  temperatures, 
of  fusion,  of  fused  magmas,  of  water  containing  carbonic 
acid,  &c.  In  the  last  section,  dealing  with  the  composi- 
tion and  constitution  of  minerals,  the  present  imperfect 
state  of  our  knowledge  is  brought  prominently  to  light. 
The  battle  is  still  being  fought  between  the  so-called 
chemical,  liquid,  and  crystal  molecule  ;  between  consti- 
tutional and  empirical  formulae.  Mineralogists  are  be- 
ginning to  understand  that  it  is  impracticable  to  attempt 
to  use  for  complicated  minerals  principles  which  are  only 
applicable  to  volatile  organic  compounds,  and  the  idea 
is  gaining  ground  that  many  minerals  are  molecular 
compounds  only  capable  of  existing  in  the  solid  state, 
the  crystal  molecule  being  built  up  of  different  chemical 
molecules. 

The  author  intends  to  supplement  the  present  work 
by  another,  entitled  ''Chemical  Mineralogy,"  in  which 
the  composition,  synthesis,  &c.,  of  each  individual  mineral 
will  be  treated  more  particularly.  The  present  volume 
is  intended  as  quite  a  general  treatise  on  the  subject  of 
mineral  chemistry  ;  in  fact,  we  cannot  help  thinking  that 
in  many  parts  the  treatment  is  far  too  general,  and  that 
the  book  has  been  partially  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  the 
volume  that  is  to  follow.  The  value  of  the  book  is  in- 
creased by  the  lists  of  references  to  the  literature  which 
precede  each  section.  G.  T.  P. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania :  Native  Flowers ^  Fruits ^  and 
Insects^  drawn  from  Nature^  with  Prose  Descriptions 
and  Illustrations  in  Verse.  By  Louisa  A.  Meredith. 
Executed  by  Vincent  Brooks,  Day,  and  Son.  (London 
and  New  York  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

Upwards  of  thirty  years  ago  Mrs.  Meredith  gave  the 
world  a  volume  containing  admirable  coloured  figures  of 
a  selection  from  the  many  beautiful  plants  and  insects 
that  inhabit  her  island  home,  Tasmania  ;  and  now,  in  the 
evening  of  a  long  life,  she  has  travelled  to  the  old  country 
to  publish  a  second  volume,  which  is  to  be  the  last.  Her 
purpose  achieved,  she  ''  hopes  to  return  and  end  her  days 
among  her  children  in  that  pleasant  colony,''  which  has 
given  a  brighter  home  to  so  many  of  our  kith  and  kin. 
Lovers  of  the  beauties  of  Nature  in  this  country  will 
find  much  pleasure  and  instruction  in  this  second  volume 
from  that  talented  lady's  pen  and  pencil,  and  will  be  able 
thereby  to  form  some  conception  of  the  totally  different 
kind  of  vegetation  from  our  own  that  clothes  this  remote 
southern  island,  as  well  as  the  great  Australian  country, 
for  it  is  only  a  part  of  the  same  flora.  To  the  colonists 
themselves  the  book  will  be  even  more  attractive,  as 
a  means  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  names  and 
affinities  of  the  beautiful  objects  with  which  they  are  sur- 
rounded. It  will  also,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  teach  them  to 
prize  and  preserve  these  rare  and  precious  gifts.  Like  all 
true  lovers  of  Nature,  Mrs.  Meredith  deplores  the  wanton 
destruction  of  rare  flowers  near  Hobart  by  thoughtless 
or  greedy  persons  whose  only  aim  seems  to  be  quantity. 

The  botanical  part  of  Mrs.  Meredith's  book  is  per- 
fectly trustworthy,  having  been  scrutinized  by  so  eminent 
an  authority  as  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  ;  and  Prof.  Westwood 
furnished  the  names  of  the  insects. 

Some  of  the  poems  have  a  special  interest  in  connection 
with  the  early  history  of  the  settlement  of  Tasmania. 

NO.    1 144,  VOL.  44] 


Notably  an  "Old  Story"  of  1834,  which  narrates  the 
massacre  by  aborigines  of  a  whole  family — father,  mother, 
and  seven  children. 

The  Elementary  Geometry  of  Conies^  with  a  Chapter  on 
the  Line  Infinity,  By  C.  Taylor,  D.D.  (Cambridge: 
Deighton,  Bell,  and  Co.,  1891.) 

Dr.  Taylor's  "  Geometry  of  Conies "  is  so  well  known, 
and  has  met  with  such  acceptance — this  is  the  seventh 
edition,  revised — that  we  are  not  called  upon  to  give  a 
detailed  account  of  it.  Two  additions,  however,  claim  a 
brief  notice.  A  new  chapter  (xii.)  contains  "  a  course  for 
beginners,'^  in  which  students  who  prefer  to  take  the 
three  conies  separately  have  a  selection  of  articles,  from 
the  text,  indicated  for  a  first  reading.  Further,  a  set  of 
duplicate  proofs  is  given  in  outline,  the  completion  of 
which  is  left  to  the  reader.  The  other  novelty  (chapter 
xi.)  is  "  a  new  treatment  of  the  hyperbola."  This  is  the 
expansion  of  a  paper  which  the  author  read  before  the 
Association  for  the  Improvement  of  Geometrical  Teach- 
ing, in  January  1890,  and  of  which  the  President  (Prof. 
Minchin)  is  reported  to  have  said :  '^  One  thing  that 
struck  him  about  the  paper  was,  that  Dr.  Taylor  arrived 
at  points  on  the  curve  in  a  very  much  more  rapid  and 
simple  way  than  any  he  had  previously  known  of."  The 
author  remarks  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  historical 
order  to  draw  the  asymptotes  before  tracing  the  curve, 
for  the  hyperbola  seems  to  have  been  discovered  from  its 
"equation"  (A.LG.T.  Report,  1890,  p.  12). 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  Dr.  Taylor  does  not 
give  a  proof  of  this  equation.  We  append  one.  Taking 
his  figure  on  p.  103,  we  draw  the  second  asymptote. 
Now  draw  PM  parallel  to  C/,  cutting  the  axis  in  K,  and 
the  second  asymptote  in  M  :  then, 

4CM  .  MP  =  4MK  .  MP  =  (MP-fMK)2-(MP-MK)* 

=  C/*  -  KP«  =  X»(;>N«  -  PN«)  (where  X  is  a 
constant) 

=  X5(S/>«  -  SP«) 

-  X«(S^'  -P^)  =  X«  .  SY»  =  C^  =  ^2  +  ^. 

Again,  let  PQ  be  any  chord  meeting  the  asymptotes  in 
py  q;  and  let  Q/,  P/«,  parallel  to  Qp^  Qq  respectively, 
meet  those  lines  in  /,  m.    Then  we  have 


hence 


^g  _ 

P/>_ 

P7  ^  Qf 

o« 

pm 

cp      Q/ ' 

Cm 

a  _PQ. 

Pm      Pp' 

Vp  =  Qir,  and  P7  =  /Q. 


Other  properties  occur  to  us,  but  the  above  are  classic 
properties  of  the  curve,  and  the  wonder  is  that  Dr.  Taylor 
has  not  applied  his  new  treatment  to  obtain  them.  There 
is  no  suggestion  that  they  can  be  so  obtained,  either  .in 
the  book  or  the  original  paper  as  printed  in  the  A.I.G.T. 
Report.  R.  T. 

Les  Engrais  Chimiques,    Par  Georges  Ville.     Septi^mc 
Edition.     (Paris:  M.  Engel,  1890.) 

This  is  a  new  edition  of  the  author's  lectures  on  chemical 
manures,  which  were  first  published  in  1868,  and  which 
have  been  translated  into  seven  languages.  An  English 
edition,  by  Mr.  Crookes,  was  published  in  1879.  The 
sixth  French  edition  has  been  out  of  print  for  about  ten 
years,  and  during  that  time  the  price  of  chemical  manures 
has  considerably  declined,  on  an  average  about  40  per 
cent.  On  this  account  the  author  has  introduced,  at  the 
end  of  the  volume,  a  chapter  containing  new  formulae  for 
mixed  manures,  based  on  considerations  of  market  value 
and  more  complete  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of 


5i8 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


crops.  Thus,  potassium  chloride  replaces  potassium 
nitrate  in  the  manure  for  leguminous  plants,  and  in 
some  cases  a  mixture  of  potassium  chloride  and  am- 
monium sulphate  replaces  potassium  nitrate ;  and  a 
few  other  alterations  are  suggested  in  the  treatment  of 
various  crops.  Thomas's  basic  cinder  is  not  mentioned 
as  a  source  of  phosphoric  acid.  The  lectures  themselves, 
and  some  controversial  matter,  are  reprinted  in  their 
original  form,  and  but  little  new  matter  is  added. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

\Tke  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  refected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  o/Natukil 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The  Bird -Collections  in  the  Oxford  University 

Museum. 

During  a  recent  visit  to  Oxford  I  took  the  opportunity  of 
examining  the  collection  of  birds  in  the  University  Musettm, 
and  beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  remarks  upon  its  condition. 

First,  as  regards  the  mounted  specimens,  there  are  three  series 
belonging  to  this  category  : — 

(i)  The  general  series  in  the  Central  Court.  This  numbers 
about  iioo  specimens,  which  are  contained  in  twelve  cases, 
placed  in  opposite  rows  of  six  each,  but  rather  mixed  up  with 
mammals,  shells,  and  other  objects.  The  specimens  are 
arranged  according  to  Gray's  "Genera,"  and  m  most  cases 
correctly  named.  But  many  of  them  are  in  bad  order  and 
not  well  set  up,  and  should  be  replaced  by  fresh  examples. 
The  whole  series  requires  renovation  and  rearrangement,  ac- 
cording to  some  modern  system,  and  the  orders  and  families 
should  be  designated  by  labels,  and  distinctly  separated  one 
from  another. 

(2)  The  collection  of  Arctic  birds  formed  by  Mr.  J.  Barrow, 
F.R.S.,  and  presented  to  the  Museum  by  that  gentleman.  This 
interesting  collection,  which  has  been  well  described  by  Mr. 
Harting  in  the  /bis,  is  placed  in  the  gallery.  It  is  well 
mounted  and  correctly  named.  But  it  is  a  question  whether  it  is 
desirable  to  keep  it  apart  from  the  general  series. 

(3)  The  British  series,  also  placed  in  the  gallery,  which  is  in 
fair  order,  although  it  also  requires  revision  and  rearrangement 
according  to  some  modem  system.  It  ought  not  to  be  difficult 
to  find  some  member  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union  to 
undertake  this  task,  provided  that  the  authorities  will  allow  him 
a  **  free  hand." 

Besides  the  mounted  specimens,  there  are,  as  I  understand, 
about  4000  skins  of  birds,  most  of  which  are  **  put  away "  in 
boxes  in  various  parts  of  the  building.  Of  these,  the  only  portion 
that  I  was  able  to  see  was  the  Bornean  collection  formed  by 
Mr.  Everett,  and  partly  described  by  Dr.  Bowdler  Sharpe 
in  the  Zoological  Society's  Proceedings.  These  are  placed 
in  some  drawers  in  the  main  hall.  The  other  skins  are 
stated  to  be  "  boxed  up,"  and  are  kept  partly  in  a  room  on 
the  ground  floor,  and  partly  in  some  "upper  chamber,"  to 
whidh  no  ready  access  is  possible. 

I  venture  to  suggest  that  one  of  the  side  rooms  in  the 
Museum  should  be  cleared  of  its  contents,  and  devoted  en- 
tirely to  the  bird- skins,  and  that  they  should  be  arranged  there 
in  cabinets,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to  the  ornithologist.  It  is 
hardly  right  for  a  great  and  rich  University  to  accept  collections 
from  persons  who,  in  the  words  of  the  late  Prince  Bonaparte 
put  forward  on  a  similar  occasion,  "croyant  qu*ils  travaillaient 
pour  la  science,  non  pas  travailles  que  pour  les  mites."  I  may 
add  that  any  assistance  that  I  can  give  in  carrying  out  this 
reform  will  be  most  gladly  rendered.  P.  L.  Sclater. 

3  Hanover  Square,  London,  W.,  September  4. 


Variation  and  Natural  Selection. 

In  Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan's  Presidential  address  to  the 
Bristol  Naturalists'  Society,  on  "The  Nature  and  Origin  of 
Variations  "  (of  which  he  has  kindly  sent  me  a  reprint  from  the 
Society's  Proceedings),  there  are  one  or  two  points  on  which 
there  seems  to  me  to  be  a  slight  misconoepUon ;  and  as  the 
difficulties  suggested  have  probably  occurred  to  other  naturalists, 


NO.   1 144,  VOL.  44] 


I  IK  ish  to  make  a  few  observations  in  the  hope  of  throwing  a 
little  light  on  this  obscure  subject. 

After  referring  to  the  proofs  of  the  variability  of  species  m  a 
state  of  nature  which  I  have  adduced  in  my  **  Darwinism  "  (to 
which  proofs  Prof.  Lloyd  Morgan  has  made  some  important 
additions  in  his  recent  work  on  **  Animal  Life  and  Intelligence") 
he  remarks : — **  We  have  been  apt  to  suppose  that  a  species  is  so 
nicely  adjusted  to  its  surrounding  conditions  that  all  variations 
from  the  type,  unless  of  a  very  insignificant  character,  would  be 
rapidly  and  inevitably  weeded  out.  This,  it  is  clear,  is  not  tme 
at  any  rate  for  some  species. "  And  a  little  further  on,  after  dis- 
cussing the  question  whether  variations  in  all  directions  occnrm 
equal  proportions — ^an  equality  which  does  not  appear  to  me  to 
be  at  all  necessary,  or  to  have  been  ever  suggested  as  occnirinp 
— he  says:  ''And  the  candid  biologist  must,  I  think,  adnut 
that  the  evidence  in  Mr.  Wallace's  third  chapter,  while  con* 
elusive  as  to  the  occurrence  of  variations,  gives  on  analysis  little 
or  no  evidence  of  any  selective  agency  at  \«ork." 

The  difficulties  here  stated  appear  to  me  to  depend,  chiefly, 
on  not  taking  account  of  some  important  facts  in  nature.  The  first 
fact  is,  that  the  struggle  for  existence  is  intermittent  in  character, 
and  only  reaches  a  maximum  at  considerable  intervals,  which 
may  be  measured  by  tens  of  years  or  by  centuries.  The  average 
number  of  the  individuals  of  any  species  which  reach  maturity 
may  be  able  to  survive  for  some  years  in  ordinary  seasons  or  under 
ordinary  attacks  of  enemies,  but  when  exceptional  periods  of 
cold  or  drought  or  wet  occur,  with  a  corresponding  scarcity  of 
certain  kinds  of  food,  or  greater  persecution  from  certain 
enemies,  then  a  rigid  selection  comes  into  play,  and  all  those  in- 
dividuals which  vaiy  too  far  from  the  mean  standard  of  efficiency 
are  destroyed. 

Another  important  consideration  is  that  these  epochs  of  severe 
struggle  will  not  be  all  of  a  like  nature,  and  thus  only  one  par- 
ticular kind  of  unbalanced  or  injurious  variation  may  be 
eliminated  by  each  of  them.  Hence  it  may  be  that  for  consider 
able  periods  almost  all  the  individuals  that  reach  maturity  may 
be  able  to  survive,  even  though  they  exhibit  large  variations  in 
many  directions  from  the  central  type  of  the  species.  During  such 
quiescent  periods,  the  chief  elimination  will  be  among  the  young 
and  immature.  Thus,  with  birds  probably  nine-tenths  of  the 
destruction  occurs  among  the  eggs  and  half-fledged  yooi^  or 
among  those  which  have  just  escaped  from  parental  care  ;  while 
those  which  have  survived  to  breeding  age  only  suffer  a  si^gjbt 
destruction  in  ordinary  years,  and  this  may  occur  partly  axioog 
the  less  experienced,  partly  auong  those  which  are  old  and 
somewhat  feeble. 

The  severe  elimination  that  occurs  in  the  earlier  stages  maybe 
thought  to  be  accidental,  but  I  doubt  if  it  is  really  so  except  ia 
a  very  small  degree.  The  protection  and  concealment  or  the 
eggs  and  young  in  the  nest  will  depend  chiefly  on  the  meotal 
qualities  or  instincts  of  the  parents,  and  these  will  have  been 
always  subject  to  a  rigid  selection  owing  to  the  fact  that  those 
with  deficient  instincts  will  leave  fewer  offspring  to  inherit  their 
deficiency.  And  with  young  birds  of  the  first  year  there  will  be 
an  equally  rigid  selection  of  the  incautious,  and  of  those  who  are 
deficient  in  any  of  the  sense-perceptions,  or  are  less  strong  and 
active  than  th^ir  fellows. 

The  proof  that  there  is  a  selective  agency  at  work  is,  I  think, 
to  be  found  in  the  general  stability  of  species  during  the  period/^ 
of  human  observation,  notwithstanding  the  large  amount  o^ 
variability  that  has  been  proved  to  exist.  If  there  were  ■ 
selection  constantly  going  on,  why  should  it  happen  that  th 
kind  of  variations  that  occur  so  frequently  under  domesticatio^ 
never  maintain  themselves  in  a  state  of  nature  ?  Exampks  of 
this  class  are  white  blackbirds  or  pigeons,  black  sheep»  and 
unsymmetrically  marked  animals  generally.  These  occur  not 
unfrequently,  as  well  as  such  sports  as  six-toed  or  stump-tailed 
cats,  and  they  all  persist  and  even  increase  under  domesticaiioB, 
but  never  in  a  state  of  nature  ;  and  there  seems  no  reason  foe 
this  but  that  in  the  latter  case  they  are  quickly  eliminated  throo^ 
the  struggle  for  existence — that  is,  by  natural  selection. 

One  more  point  I  will  advert  to  is  Prof.  Lloyd  Moxgu's 
doubt,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Ball,  "  whether  a  thicker  or  thinner 
sole  to  the  foot  is  a  character  of  elimination  value,  whether  it 
would  determine  survival  or  elimination,  and  make  all  the 
difference  between  passing  or  being  plucked  in  life's  great  cob- 
petitive  examination."  This  seems  to  me  to  be  a  rather  nnfior- 
tunate  objection,  since,  in  constantly  recurring  circamstaooes 
during  the  life  of  a  savage,  this  very  character  must  be  of  nal 
importance.     Whether  on  the  war-path,  or  in  pursuit  of  game, 


October  i,  1891] 


519 


Instruments  in  Just  Intonatioa. 
As  yoa  have  raised  once  more   (he  queition  of  jmily  in- 
toned initraments,  maf  I  offer  the  folloirmg  renarka?     It  does 
not  *ecm  likely  Ihst  any  arrangenienl  for  the  on;aTi  vould  be 

E radically  adopted  unless  it  pennils  as  mach  freedom  of  modu- 
iiion  and  of  execatioti  as  lha.t  of  equal  lempenimeal.  To 
permit  perfectly  free  modulation,  with  practically  perfect  inter- 
vals, Dothine  short  of  the  cycle  of  Rlty-lhree  will  ruHice.  Now  to 
conitmct  a  key-board  with  dfLy-three  notes  to  the  octave  which 
can  be  played  upon  with  the  lacility  of  a  twelve-note  key-board 
seenii  impossible.  But  the  problem  may  be  approached  differ- 
ently: aiit  is  only  neceiutyto'uae  twelve  DOlesat  a  tima,  thekey- 
ttonrd  migbt  remain  as  it  is,  and  cnly  a  mechanical  device  would 
t>«  required  to  make  these  twelve  keys  correspond  to  the  rigbt 
twelve  QOt  of  fifty-three  pipes  ;  if  the  services  of  an  asaistant  be 
a,11owed  (as  i^  onen  necessary  on  large  organs)  the  mechanical 
difficaltiei  could  easitjr  be  oTercome.      For  example,  airange  a 


ti-*ckefa ;  i.t.  each  tracker  w.intd  be  connected  to  two  or  three 
studs — B*|ih  CVI*lri    Atf'  finds  fo   tracker  46  for  iwiaiice. 
NO.  1144,  VOL.  44] 


or  when  escApIiy:  from  a  hamao  enemy  or  from  a  dai^eroui 
animal,  (he  thickness  of  the  sole,  its  insensibility  to  pain,  and 

its  resistance  to  wear  and  tear  must  have  aflen  determined  life 
or  death.  A  num  who  became  sore-footed  after  a  lonj;  day's 
Iramp,  or  one  whose  thin  sole  was  easily  cut  or  torn  by  stone* 
or  stumps,  could  never  compete  with  his  thicker  soled  com- 
panions, other  things  being  equal ;  and  it  seems  to  me  thai  it 
would  be  difficult  10  choose  a  alngle  physical  character  whose 
variallons  would  be  more  clearly  subject  lo  the  law  of  selection. 
With  the  greater  portion  of  Prof.  Lloyd  Morgan's  very  inter- 
esting address  I  am  in  perfect  accord,  and  it  is  because  his 
remarks  and  saggestions  are  usually  so  acute  and  so  well  founded 
■hat  I  have  thought  it  advisable  to  point  out  where  I  th'mk  that 
liis  objections  have  a  lets  stable  foundation. 

Alprkd  R.  Wallace. 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. 

The  rare  phenomenon  to  which  your  two  correspondents  refer 
in  their  letters  in  your  last  issue  (p.  494)  was  visible  here  at  pre- 
'cisely  the  same  time,  and,  viewed  from  Notlingham  Forest,  it 
presented  a  moit  interesting  sighL  It  is  curious  that,  as  both 
the  time  and  duration  of  the  pbenomenon  coincide  <rith  its 
appearance  here,  its  cbaracteriitics  should  be  so  dissimilar.  It 
had  more  the  appearance  of  a  weli-deRned  display  of  the 
aurora.  Rays  of  light  springing  from  the  hotiion  penetrated 
high  into  the  heavens,  lasting  about  10  or  15  seconds,  and  then 
disappeared,  others  taking  their  places.  Its  centre  appeared  to 
me  to  be  almost  due  north,  and.  from  notes  made  at  the  time, 
the  beams  or  luminous  rays  reached  an  angle  of  about  50°,  stars 
being  vi-ible  through  them.  There  was  no  arc  visible  of  the 
character  described  by  your  correspondents,  but  vertical  changing 
ravs,  several  of  which  were  distinctly  orange- tinted. 

Nottingham,  September  26.  Artfiur  Marskali. 


Your  columns  record,  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  observi-  . 
linns  of  the  aurora  10  which  I  called  attention  last  week.  It 
was  seen  also  in  Warwickshire,  the  coruscations  being  so  marked 
a*  10  remind  my  informant  of  ihe  searchlight  at  the  Naval  Ex-  ' 
htbition.  Mr.  E.  B.  Knobel  informs  me  that,  from  3  to  10  p.m.  I 
on  the  nth,  during  ivhich  lime  the  appearance  was  vbihle, 
active  magnetic  disturbances  were  noticed  at  the  Royal  Ubseiva-  I 
lory,  Greenwich,  illustrating  the  close  connection  which  has 
been  established  between  anroral  and  magnetic  phenomena. 
W.  Tuck  WELL. 

It  may  he  of  inleiest  to  your  readers  to  know  that  the 
*'  rare  phenomenon  "  mentioned  (p.  494)  was  seen  by  me  from 
Ryde,  I.W.,  on  Friday,  the  nth.  A  streak  of  light  (at  first 
thought  to  be  a  ray  proceeding  from  a  search -light),  was  visible 
near  the  Pleiades,  at  about  9.30,  eilending  over  an  arc  of  about 
45 ^  the  width  being  probably  about  1°.  It  gradually  faded  away, 
and  at  10  no  trace  of  it  wis  left.  F.  C.  LevAnDeh, 

30  North  Villaj,  Camden  Square,  N.W.,  September  a8. 


Opposite  these  studs  would  be  another  lel  of  117  connected  lo 
the  twelve  keys,  e.^.  C,  BJj;  Bjf,  D'l*,  4c,  all  to  the  key  C. 
Between  the  two  sets  of  studs  would  be  a  frame  carrying  twelve 
contact  pieces ;  the  frame  would  then  be  moved  along  guides  by 
the  aisiataat,  so  that  the  twelve  keys  were  electrically  connected 
to  the  right  duodene  of  sinda,  and  hence  could  be  made  to  open 
the  right  group  of  pipes. 

Thus  the  only  alteration  in  printing  required  would  be  to 
mark  the  duodene  on  the  music.  All  the  extra  complication 
would  be  thrown  on  the  mechanical  arrangements,  and  the 
organist  wonld  be  left  in  the  same  position  as  now.  It  seems  lo 
me  that  any  more  complicated  key-board  would  fail  in  a  large 
organ,  through  overburdening  the  organist. 

RoBT.  A.  Lghpbldt. 

Filth. College,  Sheffield,  September  14. 


UnUBual  Froal  Phenomenon. 

Thb  following  b  ertracied  from  a  letter  dated  Dubbo  Creek, 
nearTumnt,  New  South  Wales,  July  26,  1891  :— 

"  I  noticed  the  other  day  a  strange  effect  caused  by  the  late 
very  hard  frosta.  It  wai  a  peculiar  upheaval  of  the  crust  of  the 
ground  by  a  mass  of  innumerable  threads  of  ice  taking  the  form 
of  spun  glass  or  fine  asbestos  fibre.  There  were  five  layers  of 
this  ice.fibre,  the  uppermost  bearing  the  raised  earth-crust. 
Every    night's   frost    was    shown    '"■  '••   ■^^■'''■"■'••"    '-"-■  "f 


fibre 


%  distinctive    layer  of 


-  ■fiHBig'Ifitifir-iitsrM' 


I  have  only  shown  three  layers  ;  there  were  five,  but  this  may 
give  you  some  idea  of  its  appearance — quite  a  columnar  basaltic 
I  appearance, 

'  "Every  mirning  here  after  a  sharp  frost,  the  whole  of  Ihe 
j  ground,  where  not  covered  b^  grass  or  rubbish,  is  raised  up 
'  thus.  On  the  sides  of  the  cuttings  and  banks  of  our  claim,  these 
■  ice-fibres  may  be  seen  projecting  from  the  walls  in  bunches  of 
snowy  filaments,  like  spun  glass.  The  sun,  however,  soan 
causes  them  to  drop  off,  and  tbey  lie  in  heaps  of  some  'ix  inches 
in  depth."  A.   H.  White. 

Richmond,  Surrey. 

The  Dealmction  of  Mogquitoea. 

On  two  occasions,  when  proceeding  itortbwards  to  Arctic 
Norway,  I  was  much  interested  in  observing  the  fact  that  the 
plague  of  mosquitoei,  which  is  so  intolerable  there,  especially 
prevails  in  latitudes  beyond  the  northern  range  of  the  swallow. 

This  may  possibly  be  a  mere  coincidence,  but  I  think  it  is  not 
— an  opinion  strongly  supported  by  another  am!  very  broad  fact, 
viz.  that  in  a  given  district  in  our  own  country  the  gnats  become 
more  abundant  immediately  afier  the  departure  of  the  swallows, 
martins,  &c.  If  this  view  is  correct,  the  proteclion  of  these 
birds  should  be  added  to  the  devices  named  in  your  review  of 
"  Dn^on- flies  f.  Mosquitoei."  Such  protection  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  indiscriminate  semi  mental  ism  about  "small 
birds"  which  breaks  out  periodically  at  ibis  season  in  the  news- 
papers, and  inclades  such  feathered  vermin  as  the  thick-billed, 
seed -grubbing,  pea-shelling,  graminivorous  sparrow  amoi^  the 
objects  of  its  tenderness.  W.  Mattieu  Williaus. 

The  Grange,  Neudeo,  N.W. 


520 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


A  Tortoise  inclosed  in  Ice. 


During  the  last  winter  there  was  a  good  deal  of  correspond- 
ence in  the  columns  of  Nature  regarding  the  reriTability  of 
fish  and  insects  that  had  been  frozen  hard.  A  similar  pheno- 
menon with  r^[ard  to  the  tortoise  having  recently  come  nnder 
my  notice,  it  may  perhaps  be  interesting  to  some  of  your  readers 
to  have  it  put  on  record. 

Some  friends  of  mine  have  one  of  the  small  water-tortoises 
that  are  occasionally  exposed  for  sale  in  the  City.  Last  winter, 
this  tortoise  was  inadvertently  left  in  his  small  pond,  the  water 
of  which  froze  completely  into  one  block  of  ice,  inclosing  the 
tortoise.  When  the  thaw  came,  the  creature  was  found  alive 
and  flourishing.  I  especially  endeavoured  to  ascertain  whether 
the  tortoise  had  been  absolutely  and  completely  inclosed  in  his 
icy  casing,  or  whether  he  had  been  simply  frozen  into  the  ice, 
but  partly  inclosed  and  partly  free.  Un/ortunately,  however, 
in  spite  of  cross-examining  several  of  the  family,  I  was  unable 
to  obtain  a  perfectly  clear  and  definite  statement  on  this  point : 
one  of  my  friends,  however,  declared  that,  if  not  completely 
encased,  at  any  rate  only  the  arch  of  the  tortoise's  back  was 
free.  This  is,  however,  sufficiently  indefinite  to  debar  one  from 
asserting  that  all  access  of  air  was  denied  to  the  tortoise ;  and 
that  is  the  point  on  which  my  interest  chiefly  centred. 

F.  H.  Perry  Coste. 

7  Fowkes  Buildings,  Great  Tower  Street,  E.C., 

September  25. 


The  Soaring  of  Birds. 

I  HAVE  read  with  much  interest  Mr.  Peal's  account  of  the  soar- 
ing of  vultures,  pelicans,  adjutants,  &c.,  over  the  plain  of  Upper 
Assam  (Nature,  May  21,  p. 56).  Their  manner  of  flight  is 
identical  with  that  of  seagulls  and  harriers  over  the  Canterbury 
Plains  in  New  Zealand,  which  is  about  150  miles  lone  and  45 
wide  in  its  widest  part  These  birds  begin  to  soar  at  a  neight  of 
about  200  feet,  and  rise  in  slanting  spirals  to  2000  feet  and 
under.  The  gulk  are  much  the  most  numerous,  and  flocks  of 
them  may  be  seen  soaring  nearly  every  fine  day  in  summer. 
Sometimes  a  number  assemble,  and  after  going  round  in  circles 
for  a  short  time,  without  rising,  or  rising  very  little,  they  come 
down,  the  condition  of  the  air  being  apparently  unfavourable  for 
soaring.  Whenever  I  have  seen  a  flock  finish  an  ascent,  they  all 
reach^  the  same  height,  which  b  consistent  with  the  supposition 
that  they  go  as  high  as  they  can.  They  never  remained  at  the 
limit  of  their  ascent  even  for  a  short  time,  but  separated,  sailing 
away  downward  to  great  distances. 

The  explanation  of  soaring  given  by  Mr.  Peal'can  hardly  be 
the  true  one.  Bishop  Courtenay  has  shown  its  inade(|uacy  by 
proving  that  a  bird  in  a  uniform  horizontal  current  is  in  no 
respect  more  able  to  sapport  himself  than  in  a  calm.  Though 
carefully  looking  for  it,  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  the 
descent  which  Mr.  Peal  supposes  to  be  made  (he  does  not  say 
that  he  has  seen  it)  when  the  bird  is  going  with  the  wind. 

The  soaring  of  birds  shows  plainly  that  the  velocity  of  the 
wind  over  a  flat  country  does  not  increase  with  the  height  in  a 
perceptible  degree  up  to  great  heights.  If  there  were  such  an 
increase  at  anything  like  the  rate  near  the  ground,  a  bird  soaring 
would  be  out  of  sight  long  before  be  could  reach  loco  feet,  but 
birds  seem  to  drift  horizontally  at  nearly  the  same  speed  during 
the  whole  of  their  ascent.  The  increase  of  the  velocity  of  the 
wind  with  the  height  may  be  studied  by  observing  the  behaviour 
of  smoke  or  steam  carried  along  :  near  the  ground  the  increase 
is  easily  seen,  over  20  feet  it  is  very  small,  over  50  seldom  per- 
ceptible, a  wreath  of  smoke  over  that  height  being  carried  along 
without  any  relative  motion  of  the  parts,  or  so  little  that  it  could 
be  of  no  use  in  soaring. 

In  a  description  of  the  Failing  flight  of  the  albatross  (Nature, 
vol.  xl.,  p.  9)  I  mentioned  that  when  the  wind  is  at  right 
angles  to  the  course  of  a  steamer  attended  by  a  flock  of  alba- 
trosses, some  of  them  occasionally  follow  the  vessel  not  far  astern 
in  undulating  lines,  rising  against  the  wind  and  falling  with  it, 
and  turning  alternately  right  and  left ;  also  that  seagulls  do  an 
imperfect  imitation  of  this  kind  of  flight  over  flat  country,  nearly 
touching  the  ground  at  each  descent,  as  the  albatrosses  nearly 
touch  the  sea.  The  gulls  are  evidently  unable  to  reach  the 
height  from  which  the  previous  descent  was  made  without 
flapping  their  wings  a  few  times  during  the  second  half  of  each 
ascent.  Without  doing  this,  they  would  soon  come  to  the 
ground,  though  using  the  diflerential  motion  of  the  air,  where  it 


is  at  its  maximum,  to  the  greatest  advantage  possible.  It  seems^ 
therefore,  that  soaring  at  great  heights  caimot  be  explained  on 
the  same  principle  as  the  sailing  flight  of  the  albatross,  whote 
movements  are  confined  to  a  comparatively  thin  stratum  of  air 
next  the  sea,  in  which  the  velocity  of  the  wind  increases  rapidly 
with  the  height. 

In  Lyttelton  Harbour,  N.Z.,  which  is  surroonded  by  hflls 
except  at  the  entrance,  the  gulls  soar  by  using  the  upward 
current  on  the  slopes,  rising  in  spirals  in  precisely  the  same 
manner  as  when  soaring  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  plain.  The 
motive  power  in  the  former  kind  of  flight  is  evident,  and  perhaps 
throws  light  on  that  of  the  latter.  Standing  on  a  slope  of  about 
20%  and  about  100  feet  above  the  sea,  I  saw  a  flock  of  sulls 
sitting  on  the  water.  A  breeze  sprang  up ,  and  the  whole  nock 
began  to  ascend  over  the  slope.  Being  constantly  among  the 
shipping  they  are  very  tame,  and  several  came  within  12  feet 
of  me.  When  moving  against  the  wind  their  motion  with 
respect  to  the  earth  was  very  slow,  so  that  I  had  a  good  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  if  there  was  any  vibratory  movement  of  the 
wings,  but  no  movement  of  any  kind  was  visible.  The  ascent 
of  birds  over  a  slope  by  means  of  the  current  flowing  up  it,  and 
their  descent  in  long  inclines  at  a  small  angle  with  the  horizontal, 
show  that  rapid  motion  through  the  air  causes  a  great  resistance 
in  opposition  to  gravitation,  which  resistance  has  not  yet,  I 
believe,  been  accounted  for  quantitatively  on  mechanical  prin- 
ciples. 

The  explanation  of  soaring  at  great  heights  which  presents 
the  fewest  difficulties  seems  to  me  to  be—  that  it  is  done  by 
means  of  upward  currents.  This  has  been  suggested  by  several 
observers,  its  main  difficulty  being  the  uncertainty  that  there  are 
such  currents  of  sufficient  strength.  I  shall  try  to  show  that 
upward  currents  may  be  caused  in  two  ways,  but  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  give  a  direct  proof  that  the  currents  so  arisii^  are 
strong  enough.  If,  however,  birds  are  seen  to  soar  when  one  or 
other  of  these  causes  is  present,  there  is  a  strong  probability  that 
they  are  true  causes  of  soaring. 

Everyone  who  has  watched  the  working  of  a  woidmill  must 
have  seen  that  the  force  of  the  wind  varies  frequently,  and  some^ 
times  rather  suddenly.  It  is  evident  that  there  must  be  an 
ascent  of  air  in  front  of  a  current  moving  faster  than  the  avenge 
speed,  and  a  descent  of  air  behind  it.  As  an  example  of  tl^ 
a  cold  south-west  wind  was  blowing,  with  showers  of  rain  at 
intervals,  accompanied,  as  often  happens,  by  increased  force  of 
the  wind.  I  saw  a  flock  of  gulls  soaring  in  front  of  one  of  these 
squalls.  There  can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt  that  there  was  an 
ascending  current,  of  which  the  gulls  took  advantage. 

Mr.  W.  Ferrel  has  shown  (**  Popular  Treatise  on  the  Winds  "^ 
that  if  the  rate  of  fall  of  temperature  with  increase  of  height 
be  greater  than  the  rate  of  dynamical  cooling  of  an  ascending 
current,  the  atmosphere  is  in  an  unstable  state— that  is,  if  by  any 
cause  a  mass  of  air  be  started  in  an  upward  direction  in  snch  an 
atmosphere,  the  density  of  the  ascending  air  is  less  than  that  of 
the  surrounding  still  air,  so  that  the  ^rmer  would  be  drrren 
upwards,  and  an  ascending  current  established,  which  would 
tend  to  rush  up  to  the  top  of  the  atmosphere  if  the  instability, 
consequent  on  the  vertical  decrease  of  temperatnre,  should 
extend  all  the  way  up  ;  but  if  the  instability  did  not  extend  to 
the  top,  then,  at  its  limit,  the  impelling  force  would  cease,  and 
friction  would  soon  bring  the  ascending  current  to  rest.  Con- 
versely, in  an  unstable  atmosphere,  if  a  mass  of  air  be  started 
downward,  the  density  of  the  descending  air  is  greater  than  that 
of  the  surrounding  still  air,  and  the  descent  tends  to  continue 
down  to  the  ground.  Mr.  Ferrel  says  (p.  440) : — *'  The  nnstaUe 
state  in  unsaturated  air  occurs  mostly  on  very  dry  and  sandy 
soils  with  little  heat  conductivity,  when  the  weather  is  very 
warm,  and  the  heat  rays  of  the  sun  are  unobstructed  by  any 
clouds  above.  The  heat  thus  accumulates  in  the  surface  strata 
of  the  soil  and  the  lower  strata  of  the  atmosphere,  and  thus  is 
brought  about  the  unstable  state,  at  least  up  to  a  low  altirude, 
even  in  clear  dry  weather. ''  And  in  speaking  of  what  may  be 
called  a  multiple  tornado  (p.  412) :  *'  As  the  tornado  originates  in 
air  in  the  unstable  state,  it  often  happens  that  there  is  about  an 
equal  tendency  in  the  air  of  the  lower  stratum  to  burst  op 
through  those  above  at  several  places  in  the  same  vicinity  at  the 
same  time." 

This  tendency  of  the  lower  strata  to  burst  up  in  separate  spots 
may  exist  where  the  instability  is  much  less  than  that  required 
to  cause  a  tornado,  as  in  the  case  of  a  plain  strongly  heated  by  tke 
sun,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  gyratory  motion  round  the  ceoiie 
of  an  ascending  current,  there  would  be  no  whiriwind,  011I7  a 


NO.   II 44,  VOL.  44] 


October  i,  1891] 


NA TURE 


521 


quiet  ascent  of  air,  in  a  slanting  direction  if  there  were  any 
wind.  Snch  ascending  currents  may  be  of  small  area,  not  mudi 
laiger  than  the  circles  described  by  birds  when  soaring.  It 
seems  possible  that  the  object  of  describing  circles  may  be  to 
keep  within  the  ascending  current,  though  it  is  true  they  some- 
times describe  circles  when  the  ascending  current  is  up  a  slope 
and  not  limited  to  a  small  area.  If  a  plain  much  heated  by  the 
snn]  border  on  the  sea,  ascending  currents  will  soon  start  a 
sea-breeze,  and  the  cold  air  from  the  sea  will  soon  restore  the 
stability  of  the  atmosphere.  In  summer  the  sea-breese  blows 
over  the  Canterbury  Plains  four  or  five  days  a  week,  beginning 
between  8  a.m.  and  noon.  When  delayed  till  near  noon,  the 
soil  and  lower  strata  of  air  are  much  heated,  and  as  the  previous 
nights  are  cool,  the  conditions  for  causing  the  unstable  state  are 
present.  I  long  ago  remarked  that  the  MSt  time  to  look  out  for 
soaring  birds  is  at  the  commencement  of  the  sea-breeze  when  it 
is  late.  Soaring  is  much  oftenef  seen  here  in  summer  than  in 
winter,  and  is,  I  believe,  more  common,  and  the  species  of 
soaring  birds  more  numerous,  and  the  bixds  larger,  in  hot  than 
in  cold  climates — ^that  is,  in  dimates  where  the  unstable  state  of 
the  atmosphere  is  oftenest  caused  by  the  sun's  heat. 

Mr.  Peal  says:  ''That  there  are  no  uprushes  of  air  I  have 
fiurly  good  proof  in  the  small  tufts  of  cotton  from  the  Bonibyx 
maktharicMm  which  cross  the  field  of  my  telescope  when  examin- 
ing the  Noga  Hflls  at  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  miles ;  these  are 
always  beautifully  horizontal  at  elevations  of  from  200  to  2000 
feet,  coming  from  the  plains  and  hills  to  the  north-east  of  us." 
The  presence  of  light  bodies  at  great  heights  seems  to  show  that 
there  are  upward  currents  :  no  doubt  uprushes  of  air  at  a  large 
angle  with  the  horizontal,  and  of  considerable  area,  might  be 
detected  by  a  careful  observer  from  the  movements  of  small 
floating  bodies,  but  upward  slanting  currents  of  small  area  might 
easily  escape  observation. 

It  is  obvious  that  upward  currents  over  a  plain,  caused  either 
by  variations  in  the  velocity  of  the  wind  or  by  the  unstable 
state  of  the  atmosphere,  must  be  almost  insensible  near  the 
^und,  and  could  not  attain  their  full  strength  under  a  con- 
siderable height.    This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  over  plains 
birds  do  not  Degin  to  soar  at  less  than  about  200  feet.     It  soar- 
ing were  |x>ssible  in  a  uniform  horizontal  current,  they  would 
save  themselves  the  muscular  effort  of  rising  200  feet  and  over 
b^  the  active  use  of  the  wings,  and  would  begin  to  soar  imme- 
dutely  00  leaving  the  ground,  as  they  do  in  currents  blowing  up 
a  slope. 

I  have  often  obseored  gulls  with  extended  motionless  wings 
following  a  steamer  in  the  same  relative  position  for  several 
minutes.  In  every  case  it  was  clear  that  they  used  the  current 
diverted  upwards  by  the  hull.  Before  the  upward  eneigy  of 
this  current  is  exhausted,  a  fast  steamer  has  gone  a  good  many 
yards,  so  that  a  bird  is  supported  at  some  distance  astern.  Also 
an  upward  current  of  considerable  strength  would  flow  off  the 
mizen  sail  of  a  ship  s  ailing  near  the  wind  and  leaning  over. 
Cbristchurch,  N.Z.  A.  C.  Baines. 


Rain-making  in  Florida  in  the  Fifties. 

The  article  on  "  Rain-making  in  Texas  "  (Nature,  p.  473) 
recalled  to  my  memory  a  passage  of  Dr.  Th.  Reye's  book 
C'Wirbelstiirme,  Tornados,  &c.,"  Hanover,  1872),  in  which 
(at  p.  12  and  following)  the  author  in  question  translates 
quotations  from  J.  P.  Espv's  *'  Second  and  Third  Report  on 
Meteorolojy,  185 1,  auf  Befehl  des  Senates  der  Union  gedrukt" 
(Reyc's  note  at  his  p.  235  ;  quoting  also  fourth  Report,  1857). 
The  facts  related  were  observed  by  the  surve3nng  officers  Geoige 
and  Alexander  Mackay.  They  (in  Florida)  had  at  their  disposal 
great  quantities  of  rushes  (saw-grass),  which  they  set  in  flame, 
and  the  huge  conflagrations  were  invariably  followed  by  rain. 

September  22.  G.  P. 

A  Dog  Story. 

The  following  dog  story  may  interest  your  readers. 

As  I  went  to  the  train  one  morning,  I  saw  a  brown  retriever 
dog  coming  full  speed  with  a  letter  in  his  mouth.  He  went 
straight  to  the  mural  letter  box.  The  postman  had  just  cleared 
the  box,  and  was  about  20  or  30  yards  off  when  the  dog  arrived. 
Seeing  him,  the  sagacious  animal  went  after  him,  and  had  the 
letter  transferred  to  the  bag.     He  then  walked  home  quietly. 

Putney,  September  23.  John  Belu 

NO.    1 144,  VOL.  44] 


SOME  NOTES  ON  THE  FRANKFORT 
INTERNA  TIONAL  ELECTRICALEXHIBITION> 

II. 

A  Page  of  Modem  History. 

ELECTRIC  transmission  of  power  to  great  distances 
bids  fair  in  the  near  future  to  change  the  whole 
commerce  of  the  world,  and  yet  the  history  of  its  develop- 
ment is  all  comprised  within  the  last  fourteen  years.  In 
a  long  paper  read  in  the  early  part  of  1877  before  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  "  On  the  Transmission  of 
Power  to  a  Distance,"  the  author,  Prof.  Henry  Robinson 
(now  the  engineer  to  various  electrical  companies),  does- 
not  even  suggest  the  possibility  of  employing  electricity 
for  this  purpose.  So  that  in  the  discussion  Sir  William 
Siemens  remarked,  "  He  might  also  refer  to  another 
method  of  transmitting  power  to  a  distance,  which  did 
not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  author,  perhaps  because 
it  was  of  recent  date,  viz.  by  electric  conductors." 

A  week  later,  Sir  W.  Siemens,  in  his  Presidential 
address  to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  throws  out  the 
idea  of  utilizing  the  power  wasted  in  the  Falls  of  Niagara  ;: 
and  after  referring  to  the  use  of  high-pressure  water 
mains  and  quick-working  steel  ropes  for  transmitting 
power  over  one  or  two  miles,  he  says,  ''Time  will 
probably  reveal  to  us  effectual  means  of  carrying  power 
to  great  distances,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  alluding  to 
one  which  is,  in  my  opinion,  worthy  of  consideration-^ 
namely,  the  electrical  conductor.''  And  he  adds,  '*A  < 
copper  rod  three  inches  in  diameter  would  be  capable  of 
transmitting  1000  horse-power  at  a  distance  of,  say,  thirty 
miles.** 

The  use  of  the  electric  current  for  the  transmission  of 
power  over  considerable  distances  was,  therefore,  fully 
present  in  the  mind  of  Sir  William  Siemens  in  1877,  but 
not  apparently  the  employment  of  the  high  potential 
differences  which  are  absolutely  necessary  to  make  such 
a  transmission  commercially  possible.  For  a  copper  rod 
of  three  inches  diameter,  such  as  he  speaks  o^has  a 
cross-section  of  nearly  seven  square  inches,  and  could 
carry  some  5000  or  6000  amperes  without  undue  heating. 
Therefore,  even  when  the  problem  of  transmitting  looo 
horse-power  over  thirty  miles  was  in  question,  he  did  not 
contemplate,  apparently,  using  a  pressure  of  more  than 
about  100  volts. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  following  year,  1878,  in 
his  Presidential  address  to  the  Society  of  Telegraph 
Engineers,  he  refers  to  his  previous  statement,  and  adds, 
''Experiments  have  since  been  made  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  the  percentage  of  power  that  may  be  utilized  at 
a  distance."  The  result  obtained,  he  says,  is  that  "  over 
40  per  cent,  of  power  expended  at  the  distant  place  may 
be  recovered  " ;  but  Sir  William  adds,  in  reference  to  the 
60  per  cent,  loss,  "This  amount  of  loss  seems  con- 
siderable, and  would  be  still  greater  if  the  conductor 
through  which  the  power  were  transmitted  were  of  great 
length." 

The  length  of  the  conductor  employed  in  the  above  ex- 
periment is  not  given,  but  its  approximate  length,  as  well  as 
what  is  understood  by  "  great  length,"  may  be  gathered 
from  the  context ;  for  Sir  William  goes  on  to  consider  the 
problem  "  of  distributing  the  power  of  a  steam-engine  of, 
say,  100  horse- power  to  twenty  stations  within  a  circle  of 
a  mile  diameter  " ;  and  although  the  distance  to  which  it  is 
proposed  to  transmit  the  power  is  only  one  mile,  he 
assumes  that  the  loss  is  what  was  found  in  the  above 
experiment,  viz.  60  per  cent.  He  further  adds,  "  The  size  of 
the  conductor  necessary  to  convey  the  effect  produced  at 
each  station  need  not  exceed  half  an  inch  in  external 
diameter."  Clearly,  then,  as  the  power  proposed  to  be 
transmitted  by  the  half-inch  conductor  to  each  station  one 
mile  distant  was  only  5  horse,  there  was  no  idea  of  using 

'  Coniinued  from  p.  497. 


522 


a  potential  difference  in  the  transnuEsion  higbcr  than  that 
maintained  between  the  tenninals  of  a  lamp. 

Two  wrong  notions  misled  people  in  those  days— the 
one,  that  the  ma^iimum  efficiency  of  a  perfect  electromotor 
could  be  only  50  per  cent. ;  the  other,  quoting  the  remarks 
of  Sir  W.  Siemens  in  the  discussion  of  the  paper  read 
by  Messrs.  Higgs  and  Brittle  at  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers  somewhat  later  in  the  same  year  1878,  "In 
order  to  get  the  best  effect  out  of  a  dynamo-electric 
machine  3iere  should  be  an  external  resistance  not 
exceeding  the  resistance  of  the  wire  in  the  machine. 
Hitherto  it  had  been  found  not  economical  to  increase 
the  resistance  in  the  machine  to  more  than  one  ohm  ; 
otherwise  there  was  a  loss  of  current  through  ibc  heating 
of  the  coil.  If,  therefore,  there  was  a  machine  with  one 
ohm  resistance,  there  ought  to  be  a  conductor 
transmitting  the  power  either  to  the  light  or  the  electro- 
magnetic engine  not  exceeding  one  ohm."  He  then  goes 
on  to  consider  that  as  the  conductor  is  lengthened  its 
cross-section  must  be  increased  in  proportion  to  keep  the 
resistance  constant  at  one  ohm  ;  and  he  arrives  at  a  result 
quite  new  at  the  time,  vii.  that  if  the  number  of  dynamos 
in  parallel  were  increased  in  proportion  to  the  length  and 
cross-section  of  the  Iine,"it  was  no  dearer  to  transmit  elec- 
tromotive force  to  the  greater  than  to  the  smaller  distance." 

Sir  William  Thomson  grasps  at  once  the  novelty  and  im- 

Sortance  of  this  idea,  and  renders  it  even  more  important 
y  proposing  to  put  all  the  dynamos  in  series  at  one  end 
of  the  line,  and  all  the  lamps  in  series  at  the  other.  But 
it  would  still  appear  that  even  40  per  cent,  efficiency  for 
transmision  over  a  considerable  distance  could  only 
t>e  attained  when  "  there  were  a  sufficient  number  Of 
lamps "  to  make  it  necessary  to  use  many  dynamos  in 
parallel  in  accordance  with  Siemens's  proposal,  or,  many 
dynamos  in  series  in  accordance  with  Thomsons 
modification  of  Siemens's  proposal. 

In  1879,  the  electric  transmission  of  power  was  still 
such  a  Icrra  incognita  that  the  largest  firm  of  electrical 
engineers  in  Europe  could  not  be  induced  to  lender  for 
transmitting  power  over  ten  miles  in  India. 

At  the  British  Association  lecture  in  the  autumn  of  1879, 
Prof.  Ayrton  exposed  the  fallacy  of  assuming  that  50  per 
cent,  was  the  maximum  efficiency  theoretically  obtainable 
with  an  electromotor.  He  further  proposed  that,  instead 
of  employing  many  dynamos  at  one  end  of  the  line  and 
many  lamps  at  the  other,  there  should  be  used  a  single 
dynamo  and  a  single  motor,  with  much  wire  on  each  ;  that 
the  high  potential  of  the  line  necessary  for  economical 
transmission  of  power  should  be  maintained  by  running 
both  dynamo  and  motor  much  faster  than  hitherto  ;  and 
that  both  dynamo  and  motor  should  be  separately  excited. 
Ahhough  not  wholly  free  from  the  prevailing  idea  of  that 
day — tbatelectric  transmission  of  power  over  longdistances 
would  only  be  commercially  possible  when  a  very  large 
amount  of  power  had  to  be  transmitted — he  says,  after 
discussing  the  subject,  "So  now  we  may  conclude  that  the 
most  efficient  way  to  transfer  enet^y  electrically  is  to  use 
a  generator  producing  a  high  electromotive  force  and 
a  motor  producing  a  return  high  electromotive  force  ;  and 
by  so  doing  the  waste  of  piower  in  the  transmission  ought, 
I  consider,  to  be  able  to  be  diminished  with  our  best 
existing  dynamo -electric  machines  to  about  30  per  cent." 

This  was  perhaps  the  first  time  that  it  had  been  even 
suggested  that  the  efficiency  in  electric  transmission  of 
power  could  be  more  than  50  per  cent. 

Further,  the  lecturer  proposed  to  use  in  all  cases  this 
high  E.M.F.  motor,  whether  the  received  power  were 
required  for  motive  purposes,  for  light,  or  ibr  electro- 
plating ;  and,  as  experimentally  shown  In  the  lecture,  to 
generate  the  current  locally  in  the  two  latter  cases  by 
using  the  motor  to  drive  a  suitable  dynamo,  thus  giving 
the  first  illustration  of  the  employment  of  an  electric 
Transformer  in  the  actual  transmission  of  power  to  a 
distance. 


J  RE  [October  i,  1891 

Two  yean  later,  ■m.  in  1881,  the  aU  mistaken  notion, 
that  it  was  only  50  per  cent,  of  tbe  power  given  to  a 
dynamo  that  could  be  returned  by  the  motor,  was  apin 
propounded  during  a  discussion  at  the  Society  of  Arts ; 
and  tbe  Chairman,  Sir  W,  Siemens,  when  cornecting  tiie 
speaker's  error,  added,  "  Experiments  of  undoubted  ac- 
curacy had  shown  that  you  could  obtain  60  or  70  per 

In  this  year  two  very  important  (wopositions  were  put 
forward— the  one,  by  Sir  W.  Thomson,  at  the  semi- 
centenary  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  that,  in  the 
electric  transmission  of  power,  the  small  current  at  high 
potential  difference  should  be  employed  at  the  receiving 
end  of  the  line  to  charge  a  large  number  of  accumulator) 
in  series,  the  accumulators  being  subsequently  discharged 
in  parallel  for  supplying  light  or  power  to  a  town;  tbe 
other,  by  MM.  Deprei  and  Carpentier,  to  use  one  alter- 
nate current  transformer  at  the  sending  end  to  raise  the 
electric  pressure,  and  another  transformer  at  the  rcceiTiog 
end  to  lower  it  down  again,  the  arrangement  being  sym- 
bolically shown  in  Fig.  i. 


NO.  1 144,  VOL.  44] 


— DepRi  4i]d  Carper 


The  great  advantage  of  this  combination  is,  that  the 
pressure  along  tbe  line  may  be  very  high,  and  the  line 
therefore  composed  of  only  thin  wire,  whereas  the  pns- 
sure  between  the  leads  from  the  generating  dynamo  at 
the  transmitting  end,  as  well  as  the  pressure  between  tbe 
lamp  mains  at  the  receiving  end  of  the  line,  may  be  as 
low  as  if  the  dynamo  and  lamps  were  close  together. 

In  the  experiments,  however,  made  in  the  following 
year,  igSz,  to  transmit  power  from  Miesbach  to  Mnnich, 
along  thirty-five  miles  of  iron  telegraph  wire  o'l8  inch  m 
diameter,  the  current  going  by  one  wire  and  returning  by 
another,  M.  Deprez  did  not  employ  his  double  transfbnn 
ing  arrangement  described  above,  probably  because  alter- 
nate current  motors  were  then  quite  untried  practically. 
But,  instead,  he  used  a  direct  current  dynamo  generaiing 
a  potential  difference  of  some  1500  volts,  the  curreDtfrom 
which  set  in  motion  a  direct  current  motor,  wouod  m 
stand  a  similar  high  pressure,  placed  at  the  other  end  of 
the  telegraph  line. 

The  experiments  were  attended  with  various  break- 
downs of  the  dynamo,  which  was  probably  constiucitd 
on  tbe  usual  string-and-glue  fashion  of  those  days ;  ani 
finally,  after  repairs  had  been  effected,  the  power  given 
out  by  the  motor  at  Munich  was  only  a  fraction  of 
I  horse,  with  a  commercial  efficiency  of  about  one-third 

It  was,  thererore,  decided  to  repeat  tbe  experiment; 
the  next  year,  1883,  with  machines  constructed  mOR 
solidly,  and  for  the  convenience  of  the  jury  the  dynaau! 
and  motor  were  placed  close  together  in  the  workshops  of 
the  Northern  Railway  near  Paris,  one  terminal  of  cad 
being  connected  by  a  short  wire,  and  the  other  tenniuli 
by  a  telegraph  wire  o'i57  inch  thick  going  from  Paris  to 
Bourget  and  back  again,  a  distance  of  18,133  yards.  The 
power  used  in  driving  (he  dynamo  was  towards  tbe  cod 
of  this  set:ond  set  of  experiments  about  10^  horae,  kA. 
the  power  given  out  by  the  motor  about  5j  bocse.  ibe 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


523 


potential  dtflference  at  the  dynamo  terminals  being  some 
1850  volts. 

The  arrangement  of  the  machines  was  very  bitterly 
criticized  :  some  pronounced  the  result  a  great  success ; 
others  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  fraud,  that  the  power 
did  not  go  from  the  dynamo  at  Paris  to  Bourget  ana  back 
again,  but  that,  owing  to  leakage  from  one  of  the  tele- 
graph lines  to  the  other,  the  actual  distance  over  which 
the  power  was  transmitted  was  far  less  than  the  distance 
stated. 

The  next  experiments  were  made  with  the  same 
machines  rewound  and  improved  in  insulation.  They 
were  now  employed  to  transmit  power  over  %\  miles,  from 
Vizille  to  Grenoble,  a  pair  of  siliciuni  bronze  wires  0079 
inch  in  diameter  being  used  to  connect  the  dynamo  and 
motor.  A  difference  of  potential  of  about  3000  volts  was 
employed,  and  7  horse-power  was  given  off  by  the  motor 
w^ith  a  commercial  efficiency  of  62  per  cent. 

This  experiment  of  transmitting  power  from  Vizille  to 
Grenoble  in  1 883  was  distinctly  successful,  and  constituted 
a  great  advance  on  anything  m  electric  transmission  that 
had  been  attempted  before.  It  is  interesting,  for  example, 
to  compare  it  with  the  transmission  from  Hirschau  to 
Munich  by  Mr.  Schuckert  in  1882,  and  which  was  regarded 
as  very  striking  at  the  time  it  was  carried  out. 

Transmission  of  Power, 


Distance  in  miles 
Diameter  of  conducting 

wire  in  inches 
Horse-power  delivered 

by  electromotor     ... 
Commercial    efficiency 

of  the  transmission... 
Potential  difference  at 

terminals  of  dynamo 

in  volts 


1883. 
Hirschau  to  Munich.        Vizille  to  Grenoble. 


188a. 
u  to 

3i 
018 

5-8 
36 

700 


8? 
0*079 

7 
62 


3000 


Comparing,  then,  the  Vizille  transmission  of  1883  with 
the  Hirschau  transmission  of  1882,  we  see  that  the  dis- 
tance was  twice  as  great,  the  cross-section  of  the  wire 
less  than  one- quarter,  the  power  somewhat  greater,  and 
the  efficiency  nearly  twice  as  great ;  this  great  improve- 
ment being  effected  by  using  a  pressure  of  3000  instead 
of  700  volts. 

But  with  3000  volts  the  limit  of  constructing  the  com- 
mutator of  an  ordinary  direct  current  dynamo  or  motor 
is  reached — a  fact  which  was  not  appreciated  by  M. 
Deprez.  For  when  it  was  decided  somewhat  later  to  try 
and  transmit  200  horse-power  through  35  miles  of  copper 
wire  0*2  inch  in  diameter,  stretched  on  telegraph  poles 
between  Creil  and  Paris,  by  using  a  pressure  of  6000  or 
more  volts,  the  same  system  of  direct  current  dynamo 
and  motor,  that  had  been  employed  by  M.  Deprez  in  his 
previous  transmissions,  was  resorted  to.  The  result  was 
that  the  200  horse-power  had  to  be  reduced  to  100,  and 
the  dynamo  and  motor  were  burnt  up  time  after  time. 

Eventually,  after  the  expenditure  of  a  very  large  sum 
of  money,  spent  in  several  rewindings  of  the  machines, 
&C.,  M.  Deprez  succeeded  in  1886  in  obtaining  from  the 
shaft  of  the  motor  at  Paris  52  horse- power,  this  being  45 
per  cent,  of  the  power  spent  in  driving  the  dynamo  at 
Creil.  The  power  delivered  at  Paris  was  distributed  by 
coupling  a  low  potential  difference  dynamo  to  this  motor, 
and  using  the  current  developed  by  this  dynamo  for 
driving  various  smaller  motors,  so  that  the  power  actually 
delivered  to  the  pumps,  &c.,  was  somewhat  less  than  the 
52  horse  stated  above. 

In  the  use  of  a  dynamo  and  motor  each  with  a  high 
resistance  armature  and  a  low  resistance  field  magnet,  the 
fields  being  produced  by  separate  excitation,  and  in  the 
employment  of  a  motor-dynamo  for  utilizing  the  received 
power,  M.  Deprez  expressed  his  approval  of  the  very 

NO.   1 144,  VOL.  44] 


plan  proposed  by  Profs.  Ayrton  and  Perry  in  1879  tor 
*'  sending  by  even  quite  a  fine  wire  a  small  current,"  and 
so  obtaining  ''an  economic  arrangement  for  the  trans- 
mission of  power.'' 

This  experiment,  although  very  costly,  had  consider- 
able interest,  in  showing  that  as  much  as  52  horse-power 
could  be  actually  delivered  at  the  end  of  thirty-five  miles  of 
copper  wire  02  inch  thick,  and  that  a  pressure  of  6000 
volts  could  be  practically  employed  with  a  lead  covered 
insulated  conductor.  But  probably  the  most  important 
lesson  learned  from  it  wasi  that  when  the  distance 
over  which  power  had  to  be  transmitted  was  so  great  that 
a  pressure  of  6000  volts  became  necessary  to  obtain 
economy  in  the  conducting  wire,  an  alternating  and  not  a 
direct  current  ought  to  be  used. 

While  these  various  experiments  of  M.  Deprez  with 
direct  currents  were  being  carried  out,  the  transmission 
of  power  by  means  of  alternating  currents  had  been  pro- 
gressing in  the  face  of  considerable  opposition.  The 
exhibition  at  the  Aquarium,  Westminster,  m  the  spring  of 
1883,  will  probably  be  chiefly  remembered  from  its  being 
there  that  Messrs.  Gaulard  and  Gibbs  showed  what  they 
called  a  *'  secondary  generator,"  which  was  simply  an  im- 
proved form  of  RuhmkorfT  induction  coil,  without  the 
ordinary  vibrating  make  and  break.  A  current  from  an 
alternating  dynamo  was  sent  round  one  of  the  coils,  and 
to  the  terminals  of  the  other  were  attached  lamps,  the 
brightness  of  which  could  be  varied  by  pulling  out  the 
iron  core  of  the  induction  coil  more  or  less,  as  is  done 
with  medical  coils  to  alter  the  strength  of  the  shocking 
current. 

Nobody  thought  much  of  the  ''  secondary  generator '' ; 
it  seemed  to  have  no  very  special  use  ;  the  iron  core  felt 
very  hot,  so  that  there  would  be  a  new  waste  of  power 
introduced  into  electric  lighting  by  the  use  of  secondary 
generators.  Besides,  the  electricians  saw  that  Messrs. 
Gaulard  and  Gibbs  were  employing  methods  and  ap- 
paratus for  measuring  the  power  which  must  give  totally 
erroneous  results  when  used  with  alternating  currents ; 
and  so,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  invention  is  frequently 
ouite  ignorant  of  the  language  of  the  text-book,  they 
aecided  that  there  was  nothing  in  it 

But  Messrs.  Gaulard  and  Gibbs  believed  in  their 
secondary  generator,  whatever  electricians  and  the 
technical  press  might  say ;  they  put  them  at  the 
Notting  Hill  Gate,  Edgware  Road,  Gower  Street,  King's 
Cross,  and  Aldgate  stations  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway, 
joined  the  fine  wire  coils  of  all  the  generators  in  series 
with  one  another,  and  sent  a  small  alternating  current 
through  the  whole  circuit  from  a  dynamo  placed  at 
Edgware  Road.  Lamps  of  different  kinds  attached  to 
the  thick  wire  coils  of  each  of  the  generators  at  the  five 
railway  stations  burned  steadily  and  brightly ;  an  alter- 
nate current  motor,  even,  which  was  put  at  one  of  the 
stations,  revolved  rapidly :  but  what  a  great  waste  of  power 
there  must  be  in  all  this  unnecessary  transformation,  said 
the  learned. 

Well,  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  1884,  Dr.  J.  Hop- 
kinson  tested  the  efficiency  of  these  secondary  generators 
on  the  Metropolitan  Railway,  and,  to  the  surprise  of 
nearly  everyone,  it  came  out  close  on  90  per  cent. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  in  connection  with 
the  Exhibition  at  Turin,  power  was  transmitted  to  Lanzo, 
twenty-five  miles  away,  by  means  of  a  bare  overhead  wire 
rather  less  than  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and, 
by  means  of  Gaulard  and  Gibbs's  secondary  generators, 
the  power  was  distributed  at  Lanzo  and  elsewhere  along 
the  route,  for  lighting  incandescent  and  arc  lamps.  The 
jury  reported  that  the  efficiency  of  the  transformers  was  89 
per  cent.,  the  whole  distribution  strikingly  successful,  and 
a  prize  of  10,000  francs  was  awarded  to  Messrs.  Gaulard 
and  Gibbs  by  the  Italian  Government 

No  electromotors,  however,  appear  to  have  been 
driven  by  the  transmitted  power,  for,  even  in  1884,  alter* 


524 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


nating  current  electromotors  were  still   comparatively 
untried. 

Tests  of  a  secondary  generator  were  next  undertaken 
in  1885  by  Prof  Galileo  Ferraris,  of  Turin,  who  found 
the  efficiency  at  full  load  to  be  no  less  than  97  per  cent.,— 
a  value  even  higher  than  that  previously  published.  This 
investigation  is  the  more  memorable,  in  that  it  led  Prof. 
Ferraris  to  take  up  the  mathematical  and  experimental 
investigation  of  alternating  currents,  resulting  in  the  dis- 
covery and  construction  of  the  self- starting  alternate 
current  motor  in  1885,  and  to  extensions  of  considerable 
practical  importance  in  our  knowledge  of  the  action  of 
secondary  generators,  now  called  transformers.  And  so 
one  of  the  chief  lions  this  year  at  the  Frankfort  Exhibi- 
tion was  Prof.  Ferraris.  W.  E.  A. 

{To  be  continued.^ 


THE  GIRAFFE  AND  ITS  ALLIES. 

ALTHOUGH  coming  within  that  well-defined  group 
of  ruminants  known  as  the  Pecora,  the  Giraffe 
(the  sole  existing  representative  of  the  genus  Giraffa) 
stands  markedly  alone   among  the   mammals    of  the 

S resent  epoch ;  although,  on  the  whole,  its  nearest 
ving  relations  appear  to  be  the  deer  {Cervida),  More- 
over, not  only  is  the  giraffe  now  isolated  from  all  other 
ruminants  in  respect  of  its  structure,  but  it  is  also  ex- 
clusively confined  to  that  part  of  the  African  continent 
which  constitutes  the  Ethiopian  region  of  distributionists. 
When,  however,  we  turn  to  the  records  of  past  epochs  of 
the  earth's  history,  w  e  find  that  both  the  structural  and 
distributional  isolation  of  the  giraffe  are  but  features  of 
the  present  condition  of  things.  Thus,  in  regard  to  its 
distribution,  we  find  that  in  the  Pliocene  epoch  giraffes 
were  abundant  in  Greece,  Persia,  India,  and  China ;  and 
we  may  therefore  fairly  assume  that  they  were  once 
spread  over  the  greater  part  of  the  Palaearctic  and 
Oriental  regions.  Then,  again,  with  regard  to  their 
allies,  the  researches  of  palaeontologists  have  been  gradu- 
ally bringing  to  light  remains  of  several  large  extinct 
ruminants  from  various  regions,  which  are  more  or  less 
ne;irly  related  to  the  giraffe,  but  whose  affinities  appear 
to  be  so  complex  and  so  difficult  to  decipher,  that  not 
only  do  they  remove  the  stigma  of  isolation  from  that 
animal,  but  even  render  it  well-nigh  impossible  to  give  a 
definition  of  the  group  of  more  or  less  giraffe-like 
animals,  by  which  it  may  be  distinguished  on  the  one 
hand  from  the  deer  {Cervrda),  and  on  the  other  from  the 
antelopes  {Bovida).  Since  an  interesting  account  of  a 
new  extinct  Girafibid  from  the  Pliocene  deposits  of 
Maragha  in-  Persia  has  been  recently  given  by  Messrs. 
Rodler  and  Weithofer  in  the  Denkschriften  of  the  Vienna 
Academy,  the  present  time  is  a  suitable  one  to  offer  a 
brief  rSsumi  of  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  this 
group  of  animals,  and  the  different  views  which  have  been 
entertained  as  to  the  affinities  of  some  of  its  members. 

Among  the  chief  structural  peculiarities  of  the  giraffe, 
the  most  noticeable  is  its  great  height,  which  is  mainly 
produced  by  the  excessive  length  of  the  neck  and  limbs. 
The  fore-limbs  are,  moreover,  longer  than  the  hind  ones, 
as  is  well  shown  by  the  circumstance  that  the  radius,  or 
main  bone  of  the  fore-leg,  is  longer  than  the  tibia  in  the 
hind-leg ;  whereas,  in  other  living  ruminants  the  reverse 
condition  obtains.  The  skull  is  more  like  that  of  the 
deer  than  of  any  other  existing  ruminants,  this  being  shown 
by  its  general  contour,  and  also  by  the  presence  of  the 
large  unossified  space  below  the  eye,  which  completely 
separates  the  lachrymal  from  the  nasal  bone ;  a  con- 
dition but  very  rarely  met  with  in  the  Bovidce,  although 
found  in  the  skull  of  the  water-buck.  Then,  again,  the 
skull  resembles  that  of  the  deer  in  the  great  elongation 
of  the  portion  situated  behind  the  eyes,  i.e,  the  parietal 
region.     The  bony    processes    arising   from   the  skull 

NO.  1 144,  VOL.  44"! 


between  the  occiput  and  the  eyes,  and  clothed  in  the 
living  animal  with  skin,  are  not  strictly  comparable 
either  with  the  antlers  of  the  deer  or  the  horn  cores 
of  the  antelopes;  in  the  young  condition  they  are 
separate  from  the  bones  of  the  skull,  with  which, 
however,  they  imite  as  age  advances.  The  whole  of  the 
frontal  and  nasal  region  is  much  swollen  and  inflated  by 
the  development  of  air-cells  between  the  inner  and  outer 
layers  of  bone ;  and  at  the  junction  of  the  frontal  and 
nasal  bones  there  is  a  lar^e  oval  hillock-like  protuberance 
in  the  middle  line,  which  is  sometimes  termed  a  third 
horn.  This  excessive  inflation  of  the  region  of  the  face 
makes  the  appearance  of  this  part  of  the  skull  very 
different  from  that  of  the  deer,  in  which  it  is  much 
flattened.  The  grinding  or  molar  teeth  of  the  giraffe  are 
remarkable  for  the  peculiar  roughness  of  their  external 
coating  of  enamel,  and  also  for  their  broad  and  low 
crowns,  which  in  the  upper  jaw  lack  the  internal  addi- 
tional column  occuring  m  those  of  most  deer  and  many 
antelopes.  These  teeth  are,  however,  more  like  thcne  oif 
the  deer  than  those  of  other  ruminants,  although  they 
can  be  distinguished  at  a  glance  from  all  others  except 
the  larger  ones  of  the  under-mentioned  fossil  forms. 

Since  a  good  deal  depends  on  the  similarity  between 
the  structure  of  the  molar  teeth  of  the  giraffe  and  those 
of  the  extinct  ruminants  in  question,  it  may  be  well  to 
observe  that  the  characters  of  the  molar  teeth  among  all 
the  ruminants  are  of  great  importance  in  classification. 
Thus,  these  teeth  in  all  the  deer,  although  varying  to  a 
certain  extent  in  the  relative  height  of  their  crowns,  pre- 
sent the  same  general  structure,  those  of  the  upper  jaw 
being  comparatively  short  and  broad,  with  a  large 
internal  additional  column.  Then,  again,  in  the  Bozndft 
we  may  notice  that  each  of  the  several  groups  into  which 
the  antelopes  are  divided,  as  well  as  the  goats  and  sheep 
and  the  oxen,  are  severally  distinguished  by  the  cha- 
racters of  their  molar  teeth,  and  that,  although  the  teeth 
of  one  group  may  approximate  more  or  less  closely  to 
that  of  another,  we  do  not  find  any  instances  where  one 
member  of  a  group  possesses  teeth  of  a  totally  different 
type  from  those  of  the  other  representatives  of  the  same 
group.  These  facts  strongly  indicate  that,  when  we  meet 
with  fossil  Tuminants  having  molar  teeth  of  the  very 
peculiar  type  met  with  in  the  giraffe,  we  shall  be  justified 
m  considering  that  there  must  be  a  certain  amount  ot 
relationship  between  the  owners  of  such  teeth. 

Another  marked  peculiarity  of  the  giraffe  is  that  the 
humerus  has  a  double  groove  for  the  biceps  muscle, 
instead  of  the  single  one  found  in  ordinary  ruminants.  In 
regard  to  its  soft  parts,  the  giraffe  resembles  the  deer  in 
the  usual  absence  of  the  gall-bladder,  although  its  repro- 
ductive organs  are  constructed  more  on  the  Bovine  type. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  on  some  of  the  struc- 
tural peculiarities  of  the  giraffe,  we  may  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  its  fossil  allies.  The  genus  which  probably 
comes  nearest  to  the  giraffe  is  the  imperfectly  known 
Vishnutherium^  founded  upon  part  of  a  lower  jaw  from 
the  Pliocene  of  Burma,  but  to  which  have  been  referred 
some  upper  molars  and  bones  from  the  corresponding 
beds  of  the  Punjab.  This  animal  must  have  been  con- 
siderably larger  than  the  giraffe,  and  the  upper  molars 
are  remarkable  for  the  great  flatness  of  the  outer  sur£2ces 
of  their  external  columns,  in  which  respect  they  come 
nearer  to  the  corresponding  teeth  of  the  elk  than  do  those 
of  any  other  members  of  the  group.  The  posterior 
cannon-bone,  or  metatarsus,  assigned  to  this  genus, 
although  relatively  much  shorter  than  that  of  the  giraffe, 
is  more  elongated  and  giraffe-like  than  the  correspondiog 
bone  of  any  other  fossil  genus  in  which  this  part  of  the 
skeleton  has  been  descril^.  The  cervical  vertebra;  are 
also  more  elongated  and  giraffe-like  than  those  of  any 
of  the  under-mentioned  genera.  It  will  of  course  be  im- 
material if  these  bones  prove  to  belong  to  a  g^as 
distinct  from  Vishnutheriutn;  their  interest  lying  in  the 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


525 


circumstance  that  they  indicate  the  existence  of  an  animal 
to  a  great  extent  intermediate  between  the  giraffe  and 
the  following  genus. 

The  genus  Helladotherium  was  established  upon  the 
remains  of  a  large  giraffe-like  ruminant  from  the 
Pikermi  beds  of  Greece,  to  which  a  skull  from  the  Indian 
Siwaliks,  which  had  been  previously  regarded  as  referable 
to  the  female  of  Stvatherium,  proved  to  belong.  The 
Helladothere,  of  which  the  entire  skeleton  is  known,  was 
a  hornless  animal,  of  larger  size  than  the  giraffe,  but 
with  much  shorter  and  stouter  neck  and  limbs.  The 
skull  approximates  in  many  respects  to  that  of  the  giraffe, 
having  the  same  long  parietal  region,  but  with  a  minor 
development  of  cells  in  the  frontals,  and  the  important 
difference  that  there  is  no  unossified  space  below  the  eye. 
The  limbs  agree  with  those  of  the  girafie  in  the  great 
relative  length  of  the  anterior  pair,  as  is  shown  by  the 
radius  being  considerably  longer  than  the  tibia.  That 
the  Helladothere  was  not  the  female  of  the  Sivathere 
seems  to  be  evident  from  the  absence  in  the  Pikermi 
beds  of  the  antler-like  cranial  appendages  of  the  latter, 
which  are  comparatively  common  m  the  Indian  Siwaliks. 
The  intimate  affinity  existing  between  the  Helladothere 
and  the  giraffe  has  been  admitted  by  all  who  have  written 
on  the  subject. 

The  animal  recently  described  by  Messrs.  Rodler  and 
Weithofer  from  the  Persian  Pliocene,  for  which  the 
hybrid  name  A  Icicephaius  has  been  proposed,  tends  to 
connect  the  Helladothere  with  the  deer,  and  more  es- 
pecially the  elk.  Thus,  in  the  first  place,  the  front  and 
hind  limbs  are  approximately  equal,  the  length  of  the 
radius  and  ulna  being  nearly  the  same.  Then,  again, 
from  the  total  absence  of  air-cells  in  the  frontal  region  of 
the  skull,  the  middle  of  the  face  is  nearly  flat,  and  the 
orbits  have  their  frontal  borders  in  the  plane  of  the  face, 
instead  of  considerably  below  it,  as  in  the  Helladothere, 
and  still  more  so  in  the  giraffe.  There  is,  however,  no 
unossified  space  in  front  of  the  eye  ;  although  the  whole 
contour  of  the  skull  is  strikingly  elk -like. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  these  hornless  forms 
appears  to  be  that  they  serve  to  connect  the  giraffe  with 
less  aberrant  ruminants,  and  more  especially  the  Cervida^ 
and  also  that  the  unossified  vacuity  in  the  skull  of  the 
giraffe  is  probably  an  acquired  feature,  since  it  is  absent 
both  in  the  extinct  giraffoid  genera,  and  in  the  earliest  deer, 
like  the  Miocene  Ampkitragulus,  Both  giraffes  and  deer 
may,  therefore,  probably  have  had  a  common  ancestor 
more  or  less  closely  allied  to  the  lower  Miocene  genus 
Gelocus, 

Leaving  now  these  hornless  forms,  as  to  the  affinities 
of  which  there  has  been  no  dispute,  we  have  to  turn  our 
attention  to  another  group  provided  with  cranial  append- 
ages of  very  curious  and  still  imperfectly  understood 
structure,  in  regard  to  whose  relationship  exceedingly 
different  views  have  been  entertained.  This  group,  so 
far  as  we  know  at  present,  seems  to  be  confined  to  the 
Pliocene  of  India  and  Persia,  being  represented  in  the 
former  area  by  the  gigantic  Sivatkerium,  Bramatheriunty 
and  Hydaspitkerium^  and  in  the  latter  by  the  much  smaller 
UrmicUherium,  In  all  these  animals  the  skull  is  cha- 
racterized by  the  extreme  shortness  of  the  parietal  region, 
and  the  position  of  the  horns  or  antlers  immediately  over 
the  occiput ;  the  elevated  facial  profile  thus  produced  being 
in  very  striking  contrast  to  the  straight  one  of  the  deer.  In 
Bramatherium  and  Hyddspitherium  the  cranial  append- 
ages rise  from  a  massive  common  base,  and  the  latter 
genus  is  distinguished  from  all  the  others  by  the  presence 
of  an  unossified  space  below  the  eye,  corresponding  to 
that  of  the  giraffe.  Their  molar  teeth  are  very  similar  to 
those  of  the  Helladothere.  In  the  Sivathere,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  one  pair  of  large  branching  and  pal  mated 
cranial  appendages  rising  &om  separate  bases  imme- 
diately above  the  occiput ;  and  in  addition  to  these  a  pair 
of  much  smaller  conical  ones  placed  immediately  over  the 

NO.  1 1 44,  VOL.  44] 


orbits.  In  general  appearance  the  large  palmated  append- 
ages are  more  like  the  antlers  of  the  elk  than  those  of  any 
other  existing  ruminants  ;  but  the  absence  of  a  ''burr"  at 
their  base  indicates  that  they  v.ere  not  deciduous,  while 
the  deep  arterial  grooves  on  their  surface  suggest  that  they 
were  clothed  either  with  skin  or  with  a  horny  substance. 
The  molar  teeth  conform  to  those  of  the  giraffe — and  to 
a  less  degree  the  deer — having  the  same  rugose  enamel ; 
but  the  ridges  on  the  outer  surfaces  of  those  of  the  upper 
iaw  are  more  developed  than  in  the  other  extinct  genera.  A 
peculiarly  giraffe-like  and  cervine  feature  in  these  upper 
teeth  is  the  extension  of  the  anterior  extremity  of  the 
anterior  crescent  far  towards  the  outer  side  of  the  crown. 
Lastly,  the  humerus  of  the  Sivathere  resembles  that  of 
the  giraffe  in  the  presence  of  a  double  groove  for  the 
biceps  muscle  ;  while  the  form  of  the  terminal  bones  of 
the  feet  is  almost  identical  in  the  two  animals.  In 
the  small  Persian  Urmiatherium^  which  is  known 
only  by  the  hinder  portion  of  the  skull,  it  appears  that 
the  cranial  appendages  consisted  of  a  pair  of  unbranched, 
somewhat  compressed,  and  upright  processes  rising  im- 
mediately above  the  occiput. 

With  regard  to  the  affinities  of  this  group,  it  has  been 
argued  that  the  shortness  of  the  parietal  region  of  the 
skull,  and  the  position  of  the  cranial  appendages  imme- 
diately above  the  occiput,  indicate  affinity  with  certain 
African  antelopes,  such  as  the  Sassabi  and  its  kindred 
{Alcelaphus),  In  that  group  of  antelopes  it  is,  however, 
perfectly  clear  that  the  Matures  in  question  are  acquired 
ones  ;  the  allied  Blessbok  scarcely  possessing  them  in 
any  degree.  Again,  the  straightness  of  the  cranial  axis 
in  the  skull  of  Waller's  gazelle  {Gazella  wailert)  shows 
that  the  arching  of  this  axis,  which  is  so  characteristic  of 
most  antelopes,  is  likewise  a  feature  specially  acquired 
among  that  group  of  animals.  Moreover,  apart  from  this 
evidence,  no  one  who  thinks  for  a  moment  on  the  sub- 
ject can  believe  that  the  Sassabi,  with  its  narrow  sheep- 
like molars  and  true  horns,  and  the  Sivathere,  with  its 
broad  giraffe-like  molars  and  cranial  appendages,  which 
are  neither  true  horns  nor  true  antlers,  can  be  anything 
approaching  to  first  cousins  ;  and  yet  if  they  are  not  so, 
it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  similarity  in  the  structure 
of  their  skulls  must  have  been  independently  acquired. 
It  is  therefore  abundantly  clear  that  no  arguments  based 
on  these  resemblances  will  hold  water  ;  the  true  explana- 
tion probably  being  that  the  superficial  similarity  of  their 
skulls  is  solely  connected  with  the  support  of  cranial 
appendages  having  a  similar  position  in  both  groups. 

It  follows  from  this  that,  if  a  type  of  skull  with  a  short 
parietal  region,  a  curved  basal  axis,  and  horns  placed 
immediately  over  the  occiput,  has  been  independently 
developed  among  the  antelopes  from  a  type  of  skull  with 
a  long  parietal  region,  a  straight  basal  axis,  and  horns 
placed  over  the  orbits,  there  is  no  conceivable  reason 
why  a  similar  line  of  development  should  not  have  taken 
place  among  giraffe-like  animals.  Taking,  therefore,  into 
consideration  that  the  Sivathere  and  its  allies  have  molar 
teeth  like  those  of  the  giraffe,  that  their  cranial  append- 
ages could  be  derived  from  those  of  the  latter  by  special 
modification  and  development  better  than  from  those 
of  any  other  group,  that  their  humerus  has  a  double 
bicipital  groove,  that  the  terminal  phalangeals  of  their 
feet  are  giraffe-like,  and  that  the  proportions  of  their 
limbs  are  only  a  step  beyond  those  obtaining  in  the  ad- 
mittedly giraffoid  Helladothere,  the  evidence  in  favour  of 
regarding  these  animals  as  greatly  modified  Giraffoids  is 
so  strong  as  to  be  almost  a  certainty.  Indeed,  it  appears 
most  probable  that  we  ought  to  regard  the  Sivathere  and 
its  allies  as  holding  a  somewhat  analogous  position  among 
the  Giraffoids  to  that  occupied  among  the  antelopes  by 
the  Sassabi  and  its  cousins. 

The  writer  has  purposely  refrained  from  making  any 
reference  to  the  large  unossified  suborbital  vacuity  m  the 
skull  of  the  Hydaspi there,  as  reasons  have  already  been 


526 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


given  for  regarding  that  feature  as  an  acquired  one.  If, 
however,  that  view  be  incorrect,  the  presence  of  this 
vacuity  at  once  stultifies  the  statement  that  the  Sivathere 
can  have  no  kinship  with  the  giraffe  and  the  deer,  on 
account  of  the  absence  of  a  similar  vacuity ;  and  its 
presence,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  also  another  argument 
against  the  Sassabi  theory. 

The  last  representative  of  the  Giraffoid  animals  that 
we  have  to  mention  is  the  recently  discovered  Samothe- 
rium,  from  the  Pliocene  of  Samos,  a  figure  of  the  skull 
of  which  appeared  in  Nature,  illustrating  an  article  on 
the  extinct  mammals  of  those  deposits.  In  this  animal, 
the  elongated  form  and  straight  profile  characteristic  of 
the  skull  of  the  Giraffe  are  retained ;  and  the  teeth  are 
ahnost  indistinguishable  from  those  of  the  latter.  There 
is,  however,  no  development  of  air-cells  in  the  bones  of 
the  frontal  region,  so  that  the  upper  border  of  the  orbit 
is  approximated  to  the  plane  of  the  face  ;  and  the  cranial 
appendages  take  the  form  of  upright  compressed  pro- 
cesses rising  immediately  over  the  orbits.  These  ap- 
pendages, which  appear  to  have  been  inseparable  from 
the  bones  of  the  forehead,  are,  indeed,  very  similar,  both 
in  form  and  position,  to  the  horn-cores  of  certain  extinct 
antelopes,  but  we  are,  of  course,  unacquainted  with  the 
nature  of  their  covering.  If,  however,  as  seems  to  be 
undoubtedly  the  case,  the  Samothere  is  a  Giraffoid,  it 
would  seem  that  we  must  here  again  regard  this  super- 
ficial resemblance  to  the  antelopes  as  one  independently 
acquired. 

Finally,  if  the  views  expressed  above  are  anywhere 
near  the  truth,  it  would  appear  that,  in  the  Pliocene 
epoch,  Giraffoid  animals  played  a  very  important  rSle 
among  the  ruminants,  and  that  they  have  undergone 
modifications  and  developments  fully  as  marked  as  those 
which  we  observe  among  the  antelopes  at  the  present 
day.  Whether  the  circumstance  that  none  of  them,  ex- 
cept the  giraffe  (which  is  obviously  an  animal  incapable 
of  further  modification),  appears  to  have  obtained  an 
entrance  into  Africa  has  been  the  chief  reason  why  only 
a  single  representative  of  the  group  has  survived  to  our 
own  times  may  be  a  fair  subject  of  conjecture,  since  after 
the  Pliocene  epoch  both  India  and  Europe  seem  to  have 
been  unsuited  to  the  maintenance  of  many  forms  of  large 
Artiodactyle  Ungulates,  as  is  proved  by  the  disappear- 
ance from  those  regions  of  the  hippopotamus,  the  giraffe, 
and  a  number  of  antelopes  of  African  type.  R.  L. 


PHOTOGRAPHIC  MAGNITUDES  OF  STARS, 

THE  character  of  the  image  of  a  star  photographed  on 
a  sensitized  film  ;  the  relation  between  the  intensity 
of  the  light  photographed  and  the  blackened  disk  pro- 
duced ;  the  influence  of  the  time  of  exposure  on  the 
image — are  questions  now  receiving  much  attention.  For 
this  reason,  Dr.  Scheiner's  contribution  to  the  subject, 
embracing,  as  it  does,  the  latest  results  of  the  Potsdam 
Observatory,  is  especially  welcome  ;  but  these  results 
will  not  be  accepted  without  great  reserve,  contravening, 
as  they  do,  a  theory,  or  at  least  an  assertion,  that  has 
been  very  generally  accepted,  viz.  that  increasing  the 
intensity  of  light  is  exactly  equivalent  to  increasing  the 
time  of  photographic  exposure.  A  consecjuence  of  such 
a  law  would  1^  that  an  additional  magnitude  would  be 
impressed  on  the  film  by  increasing  the  time  of  exposure 
two  and  a  half  times  the  length. 

Such  a  law  cannot  be  rigorously  exact,  and  its  stoutest 
supporters  have  been  careful  to  confine  its  application 
"within  limits."  But  Dr.  Scheiner's  contention  is  that, 
owing  to  the  complex  character  of  the  disk  produced  on 
the  film,  such  a  principle  is  a  very  unsafe  guide,  either  as 
a  rule  for  the  determination  of  the  feeblest  magnitude 
impressed  on  the  negative,  or  as  offering  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  growth  of  the  diameter  or  area. 

NO.   1 1 44,  VOL.  44] 


In  the  first  place,  there  is  evidence  of  want  of  uni- 
formity of  actinic  action  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
the  stellar  disk.  A  mean  intensity  (0  may  be  assumed 
at  a  certain  distance  (r)  from  the  centre  of  the  image, 
where  the  intensity  is  I.  This  centre  will  not  be  a  geo- 
metrical point,  but,  owing  to  atmospheric  and  other  dis- 
turbances, will  occupy  a  small  area  of  radius  {p).  The 
intensity  (0  at  distance  (r)  will  depend  materially  on  the 
increase  of  the  area  (p),  which  may  be  represented 
^y  ^(p)-  Consequently,  the  simplest  expression  for 
i  —  l^ip)e^*",  where  a  is  the  coefficient  of  absorption 
of  the  sensitive  film.  On  comparing  two  stellar  disks, 
formed  on  the  same  emulsion,  and  treated  by  the  same 
developer,  this  expression  becomes 

and,  if  the  disks  be  on  the  same  plate,  p|  =  Po  ^^<^  A  ~  ^«* 
so  that  the  formula  can  be  simplified  to 


.(.,-.,)  =  ,0,;^=^ 


{mi  —  m^j) 


Exposure, 
m.    s. 

1  O 

2  O 

4    o 
8    o 

16    o 

0  24 

1  o 

2  30 

6  IS 

IS  38 


Instrument. 


In  order  to  derive  the  relation  between  diameters  and 
exposure,  put  I^  =  I]>  and  then 

log  ^  =  a(ri  -  ro). 

It  is  not  likely  that  such  an  expression  has  any  other 
value  than  to  serve  as  a  convenient  formula  for  interpola- 
tion. The  variable  character  of  a  under  different  con- 
ditions, but  always  depending  on  the  time  of  exposure,  is 
shown  by  the  following  table  : — 

Instrument.  a. 

Reflector      499     .. 

457     .. 
467     .. 

489     .. 

5 '39    •• 
13-in.  refractor  3*18     .. 

3'i6     .. 

3'33      • 

3*33      ■ 
4-48    .. 

Another  well-known  formula  in  which  magnitude  is  made 
to  depend  on  diameter  is  w  =  «  -  ^  logtD,  and  in  this 
case  if  is  shown,  notwithstanding  Dr.  Charlier's  results 
to  the  contrary,  to  be  a  function  of  the  time  of  exposure. 
The  results  are  as  follows  : — 


>> 


)) 


ft 
fi 


I* 


it 


5 -in.  refractor    4*12 

5-09 

5  47 
5-89 

7*51 
13-in.  refractor  2"67 

2 '20 

2-48 
300 


ti 
»* 


>> 


*i 


If 


i> 


Time  of 

exposure. 

h.   m. 

6 
Charlter. 

Time  of 
exposure. 

m.    s. 

6 
Scbetner 

0  13 

1  30 
20 

30 

6719 

6779 
6683 
6-814 

0  24 

..10 

2  30 

6  15 

5-17 

6-35 
7"o6 
8-08 

The  disagreement  is  conspicuous,  but  the  explanation 
offered  by  Dr.  Scheiner  is  scarcely  satisfactory.  He 
would  ascribe  the  constancy  in  the  value  of  ^,  found  by 
Dr.  Charlier,  to  the  fact  that  in  his  experiments  there  is 
always  a  large  absolute  value  of  the  time  coefficient  It 
will,  however,  be  observed  that  the  ratio  between  Dr. 
Charlier's  extreme  exposures  is  not  greatly  different  from 
that  which  obtains  in  Dr.  Scheiner's  experiments. 

If  it  be  admitted  that  the  product  of  intensity  by  the 
time  is  no^  a  constant  quantity,  it  becomes  a  matttf  of 
great  practical  importance  to  determine  what  is  gained 
on  a  photographic  plate  by  prolonged  exposure.  This 
question  forms  the  real  investigation  of  Dr.  Scheiner's 
two  papers,  and  though  some  of  his  results  may  be 
questioned,  yet  the  general  issue  is  so  grave  and  disquiet- 
ing that  it  may  not  be  utterly  ignored.  Passing  over  the 
details  of  his  method  of  examination,  and  the  precautions 
taken  to  insure  accurate  resuhs,  for  which  the  reputatioo 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


527 


of  the  Potsdam  Observatory  is  a  sufficient  guarantee, 
Dr.  Scheiner  presents  the  following  table,  in  which  is 
exhibited  the  faintest  magnitude  which,  under  certain 
varied  circumstances,  can  be  detected  on  a  photographic 

plate : — 

Tim«  of  exposure.  Faintest  roagnknde. 


in.    s.        "'Plate  I. 

Plate  II. 

Plate  III. 

Plate  IV. 

0  24    ...      9*0 

...     6-4 

...     77 

...     8-2 

I    0    ...       94 

...      7-25 

...     8-3 

...      875 

2  30     ...        99 

...     7  7 

...    8-55 

...    9-3 

6  15    ...     IO-6 

••    5*^5 

...    93 

...    9-65 

15  38    ...      — 

...    8-85 

...    97 

— 

It  will  be  noticed  that  while  each  successive  exposure 
is  2*5  that  of  the  preceding,  the  corresponding  gain  in 
liglit  is  considerably  less  than  one  magnitude.  From 
each  of  the  four  plates  the  gain  is  as  follows : — 


Plate 


If 

)f 


I. 

IT. 

III. 

IV. 


Gain  in  mag. 

0*53 
o*6i 

0*50 

0*48 


The  mean  is  0*53 — that  is  to  say,  instead  of  one 
magnitude  being  gained  by  continued  exposure  through 
each  successive  interval,  the  actual  gain  is  only  half  a 
magnitude.  The  exception  that  might  be  taken  to  these 
experiments  is,  that  the  detection  of  the  feeblest  stars  on 
a  plate  is  a  matter  of  doubt  and  great  practical  difficulty. 
Dr.  Scheiner  has,  however,  availed  himself  of  a  second 
test  by  counting  the  stars  on  a  plate  after  various  expo- 
sures. With  this  view  two  plates  were  taken  of  the 
region  round  c  Ononis,  one  with  an  exposure  of  one  hour, 
the  other  with  eight  hours'  exposure.  Therefore,  if  2*5 
times  the  exposure  produced  stars  a  magnitude  Winter, 
there  ought  to  be  a  gain  of  more  than  two  magnitudes  on 
the  second  plate,  and  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  number 
of  stars  impressed  would  follow  the  known  law.  On  the 
one-hour  plate  were  found  1174  stars,  on  the  eight-hour 
5689.  There  ought  to  have  been  on  the  long-exposed 
plate  over  10,000  stars,  so  that  roughly  speaking  only  one- 
half  of  the  stars  given  by  the  law  were  photographed. 
Further,  Argelander  has  catalogued  within  this  area  135 
stars,  and  therefore  it  might  have  been  anticipated  from 
the  law  of  increase  that  some  10,000  stars  would  have 
been  visible  on  the  one-hour  plate. 

This  margin  is  too  great  to  be  readily  explained  away. 
Of  course,  there  is  the  same  difficulty  in  perceiving  the 
minute  dots  that  represent  the  faintest  stars  as  in  the 
fonner  case,  and  further,  it  is  possible  that  the  law  of 
average  increase  of  the  number  of  stars  did  not  hold  in 
this  particular  part  of  the  sky.  It  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  a  law,  which  applies  with  more  or  less  accuracy  on 
the  average  to  the  whole  of  the  sky,  is  necessarily  ful- 
filled on  any  small  portion,  such  as  the  ten«thousandth 
part  If  the  stars  are  not  in  the  heavens,  they  cannot 
be  photographed.  Evidently,  it  would  be  unlikely  that 
on  every  thousandth  part  of  that  plate  would  be  found  the 
thousandth  part  of  the  total  number  of  stars  impressed. 

But  allowing^  for  errors  of  exaggeration  and  observa- 
tion, the  result  is  very  interesting,  and  not  a  little  alarming 
as  implying  that  photography  is  not  so  powerful  an  engine 
as  was  at  first  anticipated,  and  that,  to  accomplish  the 
full  hope  of  all  that  was  expected  of  it,  longer  exposure 
and  consequently  a  greater  expenditure  of  time  will  be 
needed.  Dr.  Scheiner  gives  a  little  table,  which  shows 
that  if  a  star  of  the  9*5  mag.  be  registered  in  24  seconds, 
then  in  190  minutes  a  star  of  the  i6'5  mag.  will  be  photo- 
graphed, supposing  a  whole  magnitude  to  be  gained  by 
successively  multiplying  the  exposure  by  2*5.  But  if  the 
gain  be  only  o'5  in  this  interval,  then  the  faintest  star 
impressed  will  be  only  13*0  mag.,  even  after  this  long 
exposure.  If  o-6  of  a  mag.  be  the  rate  of  increase,  then 
the  I3'6  mag.  will  be  seen  ;  if  07,  then  144  mag.  The 
truth  will  probably  be  found  near  this  latter  limit. 

NO.   II 44,  VOL.  44] 


NOTES. 

The  second  International  Folk  Lore  Congress  meets  at  the 
rooms  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  this  afternoon,  when  an 
address  will  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  the  President. 
Three  subjects  are  to  be  considered— folk  tales,  mythology,  and 
institutions  and  customs.  To  each  of  these  subjects  a  day  will 
be  devoted.  The  proceedings  will  be  brought  to  an  end  on 
Wednesday  morning  next. 

The  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  will  meet  at  the  Woolwich 
Arsenal  on  Tuesday  next.  The  members  are  to  be  conducted 
over  the  manufacturing  departments  at  the  Arsenal,  and  wilt  see 
quick-firing  and  machine  guns  in  practice.  On  the  following 
day  the  Institute  will  conclude  its  meeting  at  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers. 

The  third  biennial  senion  of  the  International  Statistical 
Congress  was  opened  at  Vienna,  on  Monday,  by  Baron  Gautsch, 
the  Austrian  Minister  of  Public  Instruction.  An  address  was 
delivered  by  Sir  Rawson  Rawson,  the  President. 

The  seventeenth  Annual  Congress  of  the  Sanitary  Association 
of  Scotland  was  held  in  Edinburgh  last  week.  Dr.  Farquhar- 
son,  M.P.,  President  of  the  Congress,  delivered  an  address 
''  On  a  Model  Hygienic  State,  or  a  Glance  at  the  Sanitation  of  the 
Future."  In  the  course  of  his  remaiks  he  urged  the  necessity  for 
more  organized  attention  being  given  in  Parliament  to  hygienic 
matters,  and  advocated  the  appointment  of  a  Minister  of  Public 
Heahh. 

The  Harveian  Oration  will  be  delivered  at  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians,  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Dickins3n,  at  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians,  on  Monday,  October  19,  at  4  o'clock. 

We  referred  last  week  to  the  death  of  Prof.  W.  Ferrel.  He 
was  born  on  Jaooary  29,  1817,  and  since  the  foundation  of  the 
American  Meteorological  Journal  he  was  a  frequent  contributor 
to  that  paper,  from  which  we  take  most  of  the  iollowiog  details 
of  his  life.  During  his  boyhood  he  was  kept  rather  closely  at 
work  on  his  father's  farm,  and  with  the  first  money  he  earned, 
he  bought  a  copy  of  Park's  '*  Arithmetic."  Having  also  a  liking 
for  astronomical  studies,  he  used  to  draw  a  number  of  diagrams 
upoil  the  doors  of  his  father's  farm,  describing  circles  with  the 
prongs  of  a  pitchfork.  In  1839,  he  entered  one  of  the  Colleges 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  graduated  at  Bethany  College  in  1844,  In 
1857,  he  became  an  assistant  in  the  office  of  the  "American 
Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Almanac,"  and  subsequently  entered 
the  U.S.  Coast  Survey  and  the  Signal  Office,  from  which  last  Ke 
retired  in  1886.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  1868.  Ferrel  b  described  as  an  ex- 
tremely diffident  man,  and  he  never  oaoe  sought  position  ; 
every  official  position  that  he  occupied  baviog  been  offered  to 
him.  His  first  paper  bearing  directly  on  meteorology  was  pub- 
lished in  1856,  with  reference  to  the  deflective  effects  of  the 
earth's  rotation  upon  the  motions  of  the  atmosphere  ;  and  this 
paper,  which  has  done  much  towards  establishing  meteorology 
on  a  scientific  basts,*  was  subsequently  revised  and  reprinted  as 
one  of  the  professional  papers  of  the  Signal  Service,  under  the 
title  *'  Motions  of*Flnids  and  Solids  on  the  Earth's  Surface."  In 
this  treatise  he  proposed  a  complete  analytical  investigation 
of  the  general  motions  of  the  fluids  surrounding  the  earth. 
These  ^papers  received  considerable  attention  and  discussion 
soon  after  publication,  especially  in  France  ;  in  America  and 
England  they  were  overlooked  until  recent  years,  but  they  are 
now  recognized  as  fundamental  propositions  in  the  study  of 
meteorology.  He  also  wrote  various  articles  on  the  tideii  which 
are  of  equal  significance  with  those  on  the  motions  of  ^the  atmo- 
sphere, and  he  constructed  a  **iaaxima  and  minims  tide- 
predicting  machine,'*  which  is  now  in  use  at  the  Coast  Survey 
Office  in  Washington.  The  last  of  his  numerous  works  upon 
meteorology  was  a  "  Popular  Treatise  on  the  Winds,"  publWied 


528 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


in  1889,  and  reviewed  at  length  in  our  columns  (vol.  xli.  p.  124). 
In  this  work  he  has  explained  at  length,  and  with  great  clear- 
ness, many  points  which  in  his.  other  writings  have  been  too 
mathematical  to  allow  of  their  being  generally  understood. 

We  have  already  recorded  with  regret  that  Miss  E.  A.  Ormerod 
has  considered  it  desirable  to  resign  her  post  of  Consulting  Ento- 
mologist of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  which  she  has 
occupied  for  about  nine  years,  having  been  appointed  in  1882. 
We  understand  that  her  reasons  for  resignation  are  partly  on 
account  of  health,  as  in  wet  and  cold  weather  she  cannot  take 
the  requisite  journeys  to  attend  Committees  without  risk  ;  partly 
on  account  of  claims  made  of  power  of  Council  to  direct  her  to 
render  service  in  reporting  elsewhere,  and  claims  also  made  as  to 
use  of  information  in  her  possession  beyond  what  the  terms  of 
her  engagement  granted.  These  claims,  we  understand,  have 
been  withdrawn,  but  Miss  Ormerod  considers  she  can  work 
more  efficiently  when  freed  from  the  anxieties  and  possible  ties 
which  public  office  necessarily  brings  with  it.  Miss  Ormerod's 
agricultural  entomological  work,  as  shown  by  her  annual  reports, 
has  now  been  going  on  steadily  for  at  least  fourteen  years,  having 
been  begun  several  years  before  she  was  elected  to  the  staff  of  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society ;  and  this  she  purposes  to  continue 
precisely  as  before  in  all  respects,  whether  as  regards  replies  to 
inquiries,  or  publication  by  herself  of  observations  in  the  form 
of  yearly  reports. 

In  an  article  on  Hooker's  '^  Icones  Plantarum,"  in  our  last 
issue  (p.  498)  we  attributed  the  plates  of  the  earlier  volumes 
to  Sir  William  Hooker.  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  informs  us  that 
they  are  all  the  work  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Fitch. 

A  VALUABLE  report,  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Shipley,  on  an  orange 
disease  in  Cyprus,  caused  by  a  scale  insect,  is  published  in  the 
September  number  of  the  Kew  Bulletin,  The  disease  appears 
to  have  been  noticed  in  Cyprus  for  the  last  six  or  eight  years. 
The  particular  insect  to  which  it  is  due  is  Aspidiotus  aurantiiy 
Maskell,  a  member  of  the  sub-family  Diaspina^  which,  with 
some  others,  compose  the  family  Coccida.  Mr.  Shipley  gives 
an  account  of  the  life- history  of  this  insect,  and  then  describes 
the  various  methods  of  dealing  with  it.  The  most  successful  of 
these  methods  is  the  gas  treatment,  a  full  description  of  which, 
by  Mr.  Coquillett,  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Shipley  from  Bulletin  No.  23 
of  the  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Division  of  Entomo- 
logy. We  may  note  that  Mr.  Shipley  is  anxious  to  obtain 
examples  of  Coccida  ■  which  infest  plants,  and  examples  of 
nematode  worms  parasitic  in  plants,  with  the  affected  parts  of 
their  respective  hosts.   . 

The  Kew  Bulletin  for  September,  besides  Mr.  Shipley's 
report  on  orange  scale  in  Cyprus,  contains  sections  on  the  re- 
discovery of  gutta-percha  trees  at  Singapore,  on  a  new  process 
for  recovering  some  portion  of  the  gutta-percha  which  is  left  in 
the  bark  of  the  trees  after  collection  by  the  ordinary  native 
method,  on  the  fodder  plant  Tagasaste,  and  on  Kangra 
buckwheat. 

The  Oesterreichische'Botaniscke  Zeitung  for  September  con- 
tains a  report  of  Dr.  A.  v.  D^en's  botanical  excursion  to  the 
island  of  Samothrace,  and  of  Dr.  R.  F.  Solla's  to  Southern 
Istria. 

The  fourth  number  of  the  first  volume  of  Contributions  from 
tke  U.S,  National  Herbarium^  published  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington,  consists  of  a 
description,  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Rose,  of  the  plants  collected  by  Dr.  E. 
Palmer  in  1890  in  Western  Mexico  and  Arizona.  Forty-five 
new  species  are  described,  and  several  of  these  are  illustrated 
by  plates.  Most  of  the  new  species  obtained  were  from  the 
ighbourhood  of  Alamos,  a  mining  town  of  about   io,coo 

NO.  II 44,  VOL.  44] 


inhabitants,  situated  180  miles  south-east  from  Goaymas,  at 
an  altitude  of  about  1275  feet,  where  there  are  both  a  dry 
spring  and  a  rainy  autumn  flora,  very  different  from  one 
another.  Dr.  Palmer  has  again  started  for  a  year's  exploration 
of  Western  Mexico. 

Some  valuable  and  interesting  notes  on  the  fertilization  of 
South  African  and  Madagascar  flowering  plants,  by  Mr.  G.  F. 
Scott  Elliot,  appear  in  Annals  of  Botany  (vol.  v..  No.  xix., 
August  1^91),  and  have  also  been  issued  separately.  They  re- 
present much  work  done  during  a  two  years'  botanical  trip. 
While  travelling,  Mr.  Elliot  found  it  impossible  to  make  as 
thorough  and  complete  observations  as  are  really  required  for  a 
proper  comprehension  of  all  the  adaptations  of  a  flower  to  in- 
sect visitors  ;  but  he  tried  to  collect  every  insect  which  be  saw 
visiting  flowers,  and  brought  home  with  him  a  numbered  collec- 
tion. Most  of  the  forms  secured  by  him  had  not  previously 
been  studied  in  their  native  haunts. 

The  Transactions  of  the  Liverpool  Biological  Society  for  1891 
contain  an  important  paper  by  Mr.  G.  Murray  on  the  Distriba* 
tion  of  Marine  Algae  in  space  and  in  time.  The  author  compares 
the  algal  flora  of  three  widely  separated  regions — ^the  Arctic  Sea^ 
the  West  Indian  region,  and  Australia  ;»  and  shows  in  a  table 
how  many  genera  and  species  are  common  to  any  two  of  the 
regions.  The  number  of  known  species  of  seaweeds  is  given  as 
259  in  the  Arctic  Sea,  788  in  the  West  Indies,  and  1132  in 
Australia.  Only  twelve  species  are  common  to  all  three  r^ioui, 
and  of  these  four  belong  to  the  Ulvese. 

A  GREAT  Mining  Exhibition  is  to  be  opened  at  Johannesbaif 
next  July,  and  exhibits  from  all  parts  of  the  world  are  invited. 

The  administration  report  of  the  Marine  Survey  of  India  for 
the  official  year  1890-91,  by  Captain  R.  F.  Hoskjm,  has  been 
published.  For  some  time  notices  had  been  received  from 
several  vessels,  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  shoals  lying  olf 
the  eastern  coast  between  Ennore  and  Pulicat  were  extending 
seaward.  In  the  early  part  of  1890,  therefore,  the  Iftzfestigator 
proceeded  to  this  neighbourhood,  and  made  a  survey  of  the  coast 
between  these  two  places,  carrying  the  soundings  out  to  the 
loo-fathom  line.  The  result  showed  that  no  material  diinge 
had  taken  place  in  the  size  or  position  of  the  shoals  from  the 
time  of  the  previous  survey.  The  work  of  the  season  ended  on 
May  7,  when  the  Investigator  arrived  at  Bombay.  In  October 
last  a  new  season's  operations  began,  and  at  the  time  when  the 
report  was  written  (March  9,  1 891)  the  survey  of  the  eastern 
coast  of  Hindustan  had  been  completed  to  lat.  16"  50^  N. 

The  report  of  Dr.  A.  Alcock,  surgeon-naturalist  on  board 
the  Investigator^  is  one  of  great  interest.  It  is  given  as  an 
appendix  to  that  of  Captain  Hoskyn.  We  have  already  re- 
ferred to  Dr.  Alcock's  account  of  the  general  results  of  his 
deep-sea  work.  It  may  be  noted  that  on  November  3,  1890^ 
the  deepest  haul  ever  made  in  Indian  seas — 1,997  fathoms — ^was 
successfully  carried  out  in  lat.  9"  34'  N.,  long.  85*  43'  15*  E.» 
the  bottom  being  Globigerina  ooze  with  pieces  of  water-voni 
pumice,  and  the  bottom-temperature  being  35""  F.  About 
2200  fathoms  of  wire  were  veered.  The  following  was  the 
entire  take  : — There  were  three  species  of  siliceous  sponges  and 
numerous  detached  spicules  oi  Hyalonema  ;  a  large  sea-anemone 
of  a  salmon-pink  colour,  with  bright  red  tentacles  ;  a  mutilated 
specimen  of  the  Brisingoid  Freyella  henthophila,  Sladen,  a  fine 
new  species  of  Hyphalaster^  and  a  small,  probably  new,  species 
of  Marsipaster  with  the  nidamental  poudies  widely  open  and 
full  of  ova ;  two  species  of  Ophiurids,  one  of  which  is  Ophio- 
mastus ;  three  species  of  Holothurians  including  Echinos6tM\ 
numerous  specimens  of  a  long-stalked  Ascidian  ;  two  spedmens 
of  a  very  large  species  of  Amphipod,  a  blind  Crangonid,  three 
species  of  macrurous  Crustaceans,  and  a  small  ScaptUum ;  a 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


529 


small  Lamellibranch ;  and  a  number  of  empty  annelid  tubes, 
some  of  which  were  constructed  of  Foraminifera' shells,  while 
others  consisted  of  agglutinated  silky  (siliceous)  threads. 

Mr.  W.  L.  Dallas,  assistant  meteorological  reporter  to  the 
Government  of  India,  has  written  a  valuable  paper  on  the 
meteorology  and  climatology  of  Northern  Afghanistan,  the  facts 
having  been  collected  by  officers  connected  with  the  Afghan 
Delimitation  Commission.  Taking  the  whole  of  the  record 
into  consideration,  Mr.  Dallas  thinks  it  may  safely  be  main- 
tained that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  disturbed  weather 
which  appears  over  North- Western  India  during  the  winter  and 
spring  months  is  the  result  of  disturbances,  which  either  effect 
simultaneously  the  whole  region  comprising  Afghanistan, 
Baluchistan,  and  North- Western  India*  or  which  have  appeared 
first  over  Afghanistan  and  secondly  over  India,  and  that  these 
disturbances  have  seldom  originated  in  India  itself  or  are 
confined  to  India. 

We  have  received  firom  the  Meteorological  Council  their 
Quarterly  Weather  Report  for  July  to  December  1880,  and 
Monthly  Weather  Report  for  May  to  December  1887.  The 
Quarterly  Reports,  which  commenced  with  the  year  1869, 
contain,  in  addition  to  the  monthly  and  five-daily  means  of  the 
observations  made  at  the  seven  observatoriesi  plates  of  the  con- 
tinuous curves  of  the  self-recording  instruments,  which  have 
been  etched  at  the  Office,  and  are  perhaps  the  most  complete 
and  perfect  series  of  meteoroI<^ical  curves  hitherto  published, 
and  also  a  condensed  account  of  the  most  important  meteoro- 
logical changes  of  the  period.  The  Quarterly  Reports  are  now 
discontinued,  and  the  publication  of  a  Monthly  Weather  Report 
was  undertaken  in  1884  in  substitution  for  the  Quarterly  Report, 
while  the  hourly  observations  and  means  have  been  published 
in  a  separate  volume.  This  Report  contains  the  results  of  ob- 
servations made  at  a  considerable  number  of  stations,  together 
with  a  chronicle  of  the  weather,  and  charts  showing  the  average 
conditions  of  the  various  elements.  Both  the  Quarterly  and 
Monthly  Weather  Reports  also  contain  a  number  of  elaborate 
discussions  of  various  allied  subjects.  The  Monthly  Reports  in 
the  form  hitherto  issued  have  been  modified ;  and  instead  of 
appearing  as  a  separate  work,  a  Monthly  Summary  of  the 
Weather,  on  a  more  concise  plan,  has  been  added  to  the  Weekly 
Weather  Report,  commencing  with  the  year  1S88.  With  the 
exception  of  the  years  1881-83  we  have  therefore  a  continuous 
and  valuable  record  of  the  weather — in  addition  to  such  as  is 
afforded  by  the  Daily  and  Weekly  Reports — since  1869,  and  we 
believe  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Council  to  connect  the  gap 
between  the  Quarterly  and  Monthly  Reports  at  an  early  date,  by 
a  discussion  of  the  weather  for  that  period.  We  shall  refer  in  a 
future  number  to  the  publications  which  deal  with  the  observa- 
tions and  results  at  the  Stations  of  the  Second  Order,  which  are 
more  particularly  of  a  climatological  character,  without  dis- 
cussions of  current  weather. 

The  Park  Commissioners  of  Boston,  U.S.,  have  set  apart 
three  parcels  of  land  for  the  establishment,  by  the  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History,  of  zoological  gardens  and  aquaria.  It  is 
essential  that  200,000  dollars  should  be  raised  before  any  attempt 
can  be  made  to  realize  the  scheme  as  a  whole,  but  if  a  third  of 
the  amount  were  subscribed,  one  of  the  two  proposed  aquaria 
might  at  once  be  instituted.  An  appeal  has  been  made  by  the 
Society  to  the  people  of  Boston  for  the  necessary  funds,  and  it 
will  be  strange  if  it  does  not  meet  with  a  ready  and  liberal 
response.  The  Society  is  sanguine  enough  to  think  that  every 
public-spirited  citizen  will  see  in  the  scheme  "an  addition  to  the 
forces  which  increase  the  intelligence  of  the  voter,  and  thereby 
tend  to  make  Boston  a  more  desirable  place  of  residence." 

Students  of  the  Ice  Age  will  read  with  interest  a  paper  by 
Mr.  N.  S.  Shaler  on  the  antiquity  of  the  last  glacial  period, 
submitted    to    the    Boston  Society  of  Natural   History,   and 

NO.   1144,  VOL.  44] 


printed  in  the  latest  instalment  of  the  Society's  Proceedings. 
Mr.  Shaler  differs  decidedly  from  those  geologists  who  suppose 
that  the  end  of  the  glacial  period  is  probably  not  very  remote 
from  our  own  day.  One  of  the  strongest  of  his  arguments  is 
derived  from  the  distribution  of  the  vegetation  which  in  America 
has  regained  possession,  by  migration,  of  the  glaciated  district* 
We  must  conceive,  he  points  out,  that  as  the  ice  retreated  and 
gradually  disappeared  from  the  surface  a  considerable  time  elapsed 
before  existing  forests  attained  their  organization.  He  assumes  as 
certain  that  the  black  walnut  and  the  pignut  hickory,  between 
Western  Minnesota  and  the  Atlantic  coast,  have  advanced,  on 
the  average,  a  distance  of  400  miles  north  of  the  ancient  ice 
front  to  which  their  ancestors  were  driven  by  the  presence  of  the 
glacial  sheet.  For  several  reasons  he  believes  that  the  north- 
ward progress  of  these  forms  must  have  been  due  mainly,  not  to 
the  action  of  streams  or  tornadoes,  but  to  the  natural  spread  of 
the  seed  from  the  extremities  of  boughs,  and  to  the  carriage  of 
the  seed  by  rodents.  But  allowing  for  every  conceivable  method 
of  transportation,  he  argues  that  a  period  of  ten  or  even  twenty 
thousand  years  is  wholly  inadequate  to  account  for  the  present 
distribution  of  these  large-seeded  trees.  If  they  occurred  only 
sporadically  in  the  northernmost  part  of  the  field  they  occupy, 
their  implantation  might  be  regarded  as  due  to  chance  action. 
The  fact,  however,  that  they  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  Minne- 
sota indicates  that  the  advance  was  accomplished  by  causes  of  a 
general  and  continuous  nature. 

"  Water-birds  that  live  in  the  Woods  "  formed  the  subject 
of  an  interesting  paper  read  lately  by  Mr.  G.  B.  Sennett  before 
the  Linnsean  Society  of  New  York.  About  a  dozen  species 
were  dealt  with,  the  most  interesting  of  them  perhaps  being  the 
tree  ducks  {Dendrocygna  auiumnalis  et  fulva).  The  former 
b  found  in  the  heaviest  timber  along  the  Rio  Grande  of  Texas» 
at  Lomita,  and  as  this  river  furnishes  no  sort  of  food,  it  adapts 
itself  to  circumstances  and  feeds  upon  seeds  or  grain.  These 
ducks  will  alight  upon  a  stalk  of  growing  com  with  the  ease  of  a 
blackbird,  and  are  quite  at  home  among  the  lofly  trees  where 
they  make  their  nests.  They  do  not  resort  to  the  river,  which 
is  so  cold  and  muddy,  from  the  melting  snows  of  the  mountain  s 
whence  it  flows,  that  all  vegetable  and  animal  life  save  the  gar- 
pike  is  wanting.  No  ducks  of  any  kind  are  found  upon  it.  A 
flock  of  cormorants,  about  four  miles  long  and  one  mile  and  a 
half  wide,  was  once  seen  by  Mr.  Sennett  in  Minnesota. 

Sparrows  do  not  seem  to  lose  in  New  Zealand  any  of  the 
audacity  for  which  they  are  famous  in  Europe.  In  a  paper  read 
some  time  ago  before  the  New  Zealand  Institute,  and  now 
printed  in  the  Transactions,  Mr.  T.  W.  Kirk  gives  an  example 
of  what  he  calls  their  *'  daring  and  cool  impudence."  Between 
Featherston  and  Martinborough  he  heard  one  day  a  most  un- 
usual noise,  as  though  all  the  small  birds  in  the  country  had 
joined  in  one  grand  quarrel.  Looking  up,  he  saw  a  large  hawk 
(C.  gouldi — ?k  carrion-feeder)  being  buffeted  by  a  flock  of 
sparrows.  They  kept  dashing  at  him  in  scores,  and  from  all 
points  at  once.  The  unfortunate  hawk  was  quite  powerless ; 
indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  no  heart  left,  for  he  did  not  attempt 
to  retaliate,  and  his  defence  was  of  the  feeblest.  At  last,  ap- 
proaching some  scrub,  he  made  a  rush  indicative  of  a  forlorn 
hope,  gained  the  shelter,  and  there  remained.  Mr.  Kirk 
watched  for  fully  half  an  hour,  but  he  did  not  reappear.  The 
sparrows  congregated  in  groups  about  the  bushes,  keeping  up  a 
constant  chattering  and  noise,  evidently  on  the  look-out  for  the 
enemy,  and  congratulating  themselves  upon  having  secured  a 
victory. 

If  we  may  judge  from  the  Report  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  Victoria,  for  the  year  1889-90,  the  farmers  of  that 
colony  are  likely  to  benefit  largely  by  the  work  of  the  agri- 
cultural authorities.  The  Department  is  efficiently  organized, 
and  has  a  thoroughly  scientific  conception  of  the  nature  of  its 


530 


NA  TURE 


[OCTOBFK    I,    1891 


duties.  Mr.  D.  McAlpiDe,  who  faas  been  appointed  consulting 
vegetable  pathologist,  presents  the  following  summary  of 
the  tasks  undertaken  by  his  particular  section:  (i)  special  in- 
vestigations concerning  the  rust  of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  and  other 
cereals,  and,  connected  with  that,  the  question  of  rust  on 
various  grasses — ^native  and  imported  ;  (2)  investigations  of  the 
life-histories  of  the  various  fungus  pests,  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  best  time  to  cope  with  them  ;  (3)  reports  upon  diseased  speci- 
mens sent  in  from  different  parts  of  the  colony,  and  the  best 
known  remedies  for  the  palliation  or  prevention  of  such  diseases ; 
(4)  collection  of  specimens  of  the  various  diseases  due  to  fungi, 
and  the  subsequent  formation  of  a  museum  for  educational  pur- 
ix>ses  ;  (5)  delivery  of  lectures  in  different  centres  on  the  fungus 
pests  most  prevalent  there  ;  (6)  preparation  of  illustrated  hand- 
books, describing  the  nature  of  the  various  diseases  and  the 
remedies  to  be  employed  where  possible ;  (7)  testing  various 
fun(;tcides  and  the  best  methods  of  applying  them  ;  (8)  visiting 
different  districts  in  order  to  find  out  prevailing  and  injurious 
fungi ;  (9)  contributing  periodic  reports  to  the  official  Bulletin 
of  the  Department. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Bath  Natural  History  and  Anti- 
quarian Field  Club  (vol.  vii.  No.  2),  Mr.  J.  F.  Mostyn  Clarke 
gives  an  account  of  the  geological  formations  exposed  in  the 
cuttings  of  the  Bridgwater  Railway,  the  construction  of  which 
opened  up  a  continuous  line  of  excavation  through  the  heart 
of  the  Polden  Hills.  Mr.  Clarke  had  charge  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  railway  until  near  the  completion  of  the  earth- 
work, so  that  he  had  excellent  opportunities  for  making  careful 
observations.  Geologists  may  be  glad  to  have  his  description  of 
the  strata  when  the  slopes  of  the  cuttings  are  overgrown. 

Messrs.  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.  have  published  the 
sixth  edition  of  ''An  Elementary  Treatise  on  the  Int^ral 
Calculus,"  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Williamson,  F.R.S.  In  thb edition 
the  work  has  been  revised  and  enlarged. 

Messrs.  Mitscher  and  Rostell,  6ia  Jagerstrasse,  Berlin, 
bave  issued  an  important  list  of  books  which  they  have  for  sale. 
The  works  relate  to  the  various  departments  of  botany. 

Two  communications  upon  the  volatile  carbonyl  compounds 
of  platinum,  from  Dr.  PuUinger,  of  TUbingen,  and  Drs.  Mylius 
and  Foerster,  of  Charlottenburg,  appear  in  the  last  number  of 
the  Berichte,  Since  the  preparation  of  the  remarkable  carbonyl 
compounds  of  nickel  and  iron  by  Messrs.  Mond,  Langer,  and 
Quincke,  these  platinum  compounds,  discovered  by  Schutzen- 
berger  in  the  year  1S68,  have  become  more  interesting,  and  the 
two  papers  now  before  us  add  considerably  to  our  knowledge  of 
them.  They  are  compounds  containing  platinum,  chlorine,  and 
carbon  monoxide,  and  Schutzenberger  assigned  to  them  the 
forauilee  PtCl,CO,  PtCl,  .  2CO,  and  2PtCl,  .  3CO  respectively. 
He  obtained  them  by  heating  spongy  platinum  to  a  tem(>era- 
ture  of  250°  C.  in  a  stream  first  of  chlorine  and  afterwards  of 
carbon  monoxide.  The  volatile,  readily  fusible,  and  crystalline 
sublimate  obtained  contained  a  mixture  of  the  three,  and  he 
effected  a  separation  by  extraction  with  carbon  tetrachloride,  in 
which  the  three  compounds  are  differently  soluble.  They 
are  well  defined  by  their  melting-points,  which  are  194^ 
142°,  and  130°  C.  respectively.  They  are  decomposed 
by  water  with  separation  of  platinum,  formation  of  hydro- 
chloric acid,  and  evolution  of  carbon  dioxide,  and  also,  in 
case  of  the  second  and  third  compounds,  of  carbon  monoxide. 
The  most  stable  of  these  compounds  and  the  best  investigated 
Is  the  simpler  one,  COPlCI].  It  appears  to  possess  a  distinctly 
basic  character,  so  that  it  is  able  to  combine  with  hydrochloric 
acid  to  form  a  compound,  COPtCl,  .  HCl ;  this  compound  is 
formed  in  solution  when  the  crystals  are  dissolved  in  concen- 
trated hydrochloric  acid.  The  two  other  compounds  are  decom- 
posed by  hydrochloric  acid,  losing  carbon  monoxide  and  forming 
the  hydrochloride  of  the  first  compound.    On  evaporation  of 

NO.  II 44,  VOL.  44] 


the  hydrochloric  solution,  the  first  compound  is  left  in  needle- 
shaped  crystals.  When  phosgene  gas,  COCI^  is  passed  over 
the  crjTstals,  drops  of  liquid  are  formed,  which  consist  of  a  solution 
of  the  compound  in  liquefied  carbonyl  chloride.  In  addition  to 
these  compounds,  the  bromide  and  iodide  orrespooding  to  the 
compound  COPtCl,  have  been  prepared.  When  the  hydro- 
chloric add  solution  of  the  latter  is  evaporated  on  a  water- 
bath  in  a  stream  of  hydrobromtc  acid  gas,  and  the  resnliiog 
compound  extracted  with  benzene,  the  filtered  solatlon  de- 
posits, on  cooling,  orange-red  needles  of  the  bromile, 
COPtBr^  The  bromide  has  likewise  been  obtained  by  Dr. 
Pullinger,  by  passing  carbon  monoxide  over  heated  platinous 
bromide.  Similarly,  the  iodide  has  been  prepared  by  evaporat- 
ing crystals  of  the  chloride  with  excess  of  hydriodic  acid  solu- 
tion, and  treating  the  residue  with  warm  benzene.  The  crystals 
of  the  iodide,  COPtI,,  which  separate  from  the  benzene  solution 
on  cooling,  are  deep  red  in  colour,  with  a  violet  surface  reflec- 
tion. The  chloride,  bromide,  and  iodide  exhibit  a  beautifully 
graduated  difference  of  properties.  Thus  the  chloride  is  yellow, 
the  bromide  orange,  and  the  iodide  red  in  colour.  The  nidtiug- 
points  are  194°,  18 1%  and  140°  respectively.  The  chloride  is 
readily,  the  bromide  difficultly,  and  the  iodide  not  at  all  volatile. 
The  chloride  is  strongly ,  hygroscopic,  the  bromide  less  so, 
and  the  iodide  permanent.  In  addition  to  these  compounds, 
another  has  been  obtained  by  Dr.  Pullinger,  of  the  composition 
PtCl,  .  2COCl^  in  the  form  of  non-volatile  yellow  crystals, 
readily  soluble  in  water,  from  which  it  recrystallizes  unchanged. 
It  appears  to  be  the  most  stable  of  all  these  platinum  compounds, 
but  is  only  obtained  in  very  small  quantity. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Influence  op  Aberration  upon  Observations  of 
Solar  Prominences. — Some  recent  observations  of  the  deve- 
lopment and  movement  of  solar  prominences  have  led  ^L  Fizean 
to  consider  the  influence  that  the  aberration  of  light  may  exer- 
cise upon  them.  A  note  relative  to  such  an  inquiry  is  contained 
in  Compies  rendus  for  September  7.  It  is  well  known  that,  in 
consequence  of  aberration,  the  longitude  of  the  sun,  and  there- 
fore of  the  prominences,  is  diminished  by  the  amount  of  the 
constant,  20" '44 5 — an  apparent  displacement  depending  upon 
the  earth's  orbitid  velocity.  And  it  results  from  this  that  if  a 
prominence  is  developed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ecliptic, 
and  the  luminous  matter  of  which  it  is  composed  has  a  velocity 
of  translation  eoual  to  the  velocity  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit,  its 
position  will  suffer  a  displacement  of  2o"'445,  which  mi^  be 
added  to  the  effect  due  to  the  earth's  motion,  or  otherwise, 
according  to  the  direction  of  propagation,  and  thus  give  rise  to 
corresponding  variations  in  distances  from  the  edge  of  the  sua. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  velocities  of  prominences  are 
not  uniform,  and  do  not  commonly  attain  the  required  value ; 
nevertheless  it  seems  that  the  high  velocities  which  have  been 
determined  must  give  rise  to  apparent  movements  which  depend 
upon  the  laws  of  aberration,  and  which  ought  to  be  taken  into 
account  in  precise  measurements. 

Another  point  touched  upon  in  the  communication  to  which 
reference  has  been  made  is  the  physical  nature  of  promin- 
ences. The  simplest  hypothesis  is  that  they  represent  ^oods  of 
incandescent  hydrogen  and  other  metallic  vapours ;  but  M. 
Fizeau  favours  the  idea  that  their  visibility  is  toe  result  of  the 
passage  of  electrical  discharges  through  gaseous  material . 

New  Asteroids.— The  317th  asteroid  was  discovered  by 
Charlois  on  September  8,  and  the  318th  on  September  il. 

SOME  OF  THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  ECONOMIC 

BOTANY,^ 

r\\]K  Association  demands  of  its  President,  on  his  retiremcDt 
^^  from  office,  some  account  of  matters  connected  with  the 
department  of  science  in  which  he  is  engaged. 

The  subject  which  I  have  selecte<l  for  the  valedictory  address 

'  Abstract  of  the  Presidential  address  delivered  before  the  Ajncricas 
Assoctatioa  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  WashingtoiK  August  1891.  by 
George  Lincoln  Goodale,  M  D.,  LUD.,  FUher  Professor  of  Natnnd  Ifistcr?- 
Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S. A. 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


531 


deals  with  certain  industrial,  commercial,  and  economic  ques- 
tions :  nevertheless  it  lies  wholly  within  the  domain  of  botany. 
I  iayite  you  to  examine  with  me  some  of  the  possibilities  of 
economic  botany. 

Of  course,  when  treating  a  topic  which  is  so  largely  specula- 
tire  as  this,  it  is  difficult  and  unwise  to  draw  a  hard  and  fast 
line  between  possibilities  and  probabilities.  Nowadays  possi- 
bilities are  so  often  realized  rapidly  that  they  become  accom- 
plished facts  before  we  are  aware. 

In  asking  what  are  the  possibilities  that  other  plants  than 
those  we  now  use  may  be  utilized  we  enter  upon  a  many-sided 
inquiry.  Speculation  is  rife  as  to  the  coming  man.  May  we  not 
ask  what  plants  the  coming  man  will  use  ? 

There  b  an  enormous  disproportion  between  the  total  number 
of  species  of  plants  known  to  botanical  science  and  the  number 
of  those  which  are  employed  by  man. 

The  species  of  flowering  plants  already  described  and  named 
are  about  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand.  Acquisitions  from 
unexplored  or  imperfectly  explored  regions  may  increase  the 
aggregate  perhaps  one-tenth,  so  that  we  are  within  very  safe 
limits  in  taking  ihe  number  of  existing  species  to  be  somewhat 
above  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand. 

Now  if  we  should  make  a  comprehensive  list  ol  all  the 
flowering  plants  vi^hich  are  cultivated  on  what  we  may  call  a 
fairly  laige  scale  at  the  present  day,  placing  therein  all  food  and 
forage  plants,  all  those  which  are  grown  for  timber  and  cabinet 
woods,  for  fibres  and  cordage,  for  tanning  materials,  dyes, 
resins,  rubber,  gums,  oils,  perfumes,  and  medicines,  we  could 
bring  together  barely  three  hundred  specie?.  If  we  should  add 
to  this  short  catalogue  all  the  species,  which,  without  cultivation, 
can  be  used  by  man,  we  should  find  it  considerably  lengthened. 
A  great  many  products  of  the  classes  just  referred  to  are  derived 
in  commerce  from  wild  plants,  but  exactly  how  much  their 
addition  would  extend  the  list,  it  is  impossible  in  the  present 
state  of  knowledge  to  determine.  Every  enumeration  of  this 
character  is  l.kely  to  contain  errors  from  two  sources  :  first,  it 
would  be  sure  to  contain  some  species  which  have  outlived  their 
real  usefulness  ;  and,  .secondly,  owing  to  the  chaotic  condition  of 
the  literature  of  the  subject,  omissions  would  occur. 

But  after  all  proper  *  xclusions  and  additions  have  been  made, 
the  total  number  of  species  of  flowering  plants  utilized  to  any 
considerable  extent  by  man  in  his  civilized  state  does  not  exceed, 
in  fact  it  does  not  quite  reach,  one  per  cent. 

The  disproportion  between  the  plants  which  are  known  and 
those  which  are  used  becomes  much  greater  when  we  take  into 
account  the  species  of  flowerless  plants  also.  Of  the  five  hundred 
ferns  and  their  allies  we  employ  for  other  than  decorative  pur- 
poses only  five  ;  the  mosses  and  liverworts,  roughly  estimated  at 
five  hundred  species,  have  only  four  which  are  directly  used  by 
man.  There  are  comparatively  few  Algae,  Fungi,  or  Lichens 
which  have  extended  use. 

Therefore,  when  we  take  the  flowering  and  flowerless  together, 
the  percentage  of  utilized  plants  falls  far  below  the  estimate 
made  for  the  flowering  alone. 

Such  a  ratio  between  the  number  of  species  known  and  the 
number  used  justifies  the  inquiry  which  I  have  proposed  for  dis- 
cussion at  this  time— namely,  can  the  short  list  of  useful  plants 
be  increased  to  advantage  ?    If  so,  how  ? 

This  is  a  practical  question  ;  it  is  likewise  a  very  old  one.  In 
one  form  or  another,  by  one  people  or  another,  it  has  been 
asked  from  early  limes.  In  the  dawn  of  civilization,  mankind 
inherited  from  savage  ancesiors  certain  plants,  which  had  been 
found  amenable  to  simple  cultivation,  and  the  products  of  these 
plants  supplemented  the  spoils  of  the  chase  and  of  the  sea.  The 
question  which  we  ask  now  was  asked  then.  Wild  plants  were 
examined  for  new  uses  ;  primitive  agriculture  and  horticulture 
extended  their  bounds  in  an>werto  this  inquiry.  Age  after  age 
has  added  slowly  and  cautiously  to  the  list  of  cultivable  and 
tttilizable  plants,  but  the  aggregate  additions  have  been,  as  we 
have  seen,  comparatively  slight. 

The  question  has  thus  no  charm  of  novelty,  but  it  is  as  prac- 
tical to-day  as  in  early  ages.  In  fact,  at  the  present  time,  in 
view  of  all  the  appliances  at  the  command  of  modem  science 
and  under  the  strong  light  cast  by  recent  biological  and  techno- 
logical research,  the  inquiry  which  we  propose  assumes  great 
importance.  One  phase  of  it  is  bein^  attentively  and  sys- 
tematically regarded  in  the  great  experiment  stations,  another 
phase  is  being  studied  in  the  laboratories  of  chemistry  and 
pharmacy,  while  still  another  presents  itself  in  the  museums  of 
economic  botany. 

NO.   II 44,  VOL.  44] 


Our  question  may  be  put  in  other  words,  which  are  even  more 
practical.  What  present  likelihood  is  there  that  our  tables  may, 
one  of  these  days,  have  other  v^etables,  fruits,  and  cereals, 
than  those  which  we  use  now  ?  What  chance  is  there  that  new 
fibres  may  supplement  or  even  replace  those  which  we  spin  and 
weave,  that  woven  fabrics  may  take  on  new  vegetable  colours, 
that  flowers  and  leaves  may  yield  new  perfumes  and  flavours  ? 
What  probability  is  there  that  new  remedhd  agents  may  be 
found  among  plants  neglected  or  now  wholly  unknown  ?  The 
answer  whidi  I  shall  attempt  is  not  in  the  nature  of  a  prophecy  ; 
it  can  claim  no  rank  higher  than  that  of  a  reasonable  conjecture. 

At  the  outset  it  most  be  said  that  synthetic  chemistry  has 
made  .and  is  making  some  exceedingly  short  cuts  across  this  field 
of  research,  giving  us  artificial  dyes,  odours,  flavours,  and 
medicinal  substances,  of  such  excellence  that  it  sometimes  seems 
as  if  before  long  the  old-fashioned  chemical  processes  in  the 
plant  itself  would  play  only  a  subordinate  part.  But  although 
there  b  no  telling  where  the  triumphs  of  chemical  synthesis  will 
end,  it  is  not  probable  that  it  will  ever  interfere  essentially 
with  certain  classes  of  economic  plants.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  a  synthetic  fibre  or  a  synthetic  fruit.  Chemistry 
gives  us  fruit-ethers  and  fruit-acids,  and  after  a  while  may  pro- 
vide us  with  a  true  artificial  sugar  and  amorphous  starch  ;  but 
artificial  fruits  worth  the  eating  or  artificial  fibres  worth  the 
spinning;  are  not  coming  in  our  day. 

Despite  the  extraordinary  achievements  of  synthetic  chemistry, 
the  world  must  be  content  to  accept,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  the 
results  of  the  intelligent  labour  of  the  cultivator  of  the  soil  and 
the  explorer  of  the  forest.  Improvement  of  the  good  plants  we 
now  utilize,  and  the  discovery  of  new  ones,  must  remain  the  care 
of  large  numbers  of  diligent  students  and  assiduous  workmen. 
So  that,  in  fact,  our  question  resolves  itself  into  this  :  Can  these 
practical  investigators  hope  to  make  any  substantial  advance  ? 

It  seems  clear  that,  except  in  modem  times,  useful  plants  have 
been  selected  almost  wholly  by  chance,  and  it  may  well  be  said 
that  a  selection  by  accident  is  no  selection  at  all.  Nowadays, 
the  new  selections  are  based  on  analogy.  One  of  the  most 
striking  illustrations  of  the  modem  method  is  afforded  by  the 
utilization  of  bamboo  fibre  for  electric  lamps. 

Some  of  the  classes  of  useful  plants  must  be  passed  by  without 
present  discussion  ;  others  alluded  to  slightly,  while  still  other 
groups  fairly  representative  of  selection  and  improvement  will 
be  more  fully  described.  In  this  latter  class  would  naturally 
come,  of  course,  the  food-plants  known  as 

I.  The  Cereals. 

Let  us  look  first  at  these. 

The  species  of  grasses  which  yield  these  seed-like  fruits,  or 
as  we  might  call  them  for  our  purpose  seeds,  are  numerous; 
twenty  of  them  are  cultivated  largely  in  the  Old  World,  but 
only  six  of  them  are  likely  to  be  very  familiar  to  you — namely, 
wheat,  rice,  barley,  oats,  rye,  and  maize.  The  last  of  these  is  of 
American  origin,  despite  doubts  which  have  been  cast  upon  it. 
It  was  not  known  in  the  Old  World  until  after  the  discovery  of 
the  New.  It  has  probably  been  very  long  in  cultivation.  The 
others  all  belong  to  the  Old  World.  Wheat  and  barley  have 
been  cultivated  from  the  earliest  times;  according  to  De 
Candolle,  the  chief  authority  in  these  matters,  al>out  four 
thousand  years.  Later  came  rye  and  oats,  both  of  which  have 
been  known  in  cultivation  for  at  least  two  thousand  years. 
Even  the  shorter  of  these  periods  gives  time  enough  for  wide 
variation,  and  as  is  to  be  expected  there  are  numerous  varieties 
of  them  all.  For  instance,  Vilmorin,  in  1880,  figured  sixty-six 
varieties  of  wheat  with  phiinly  distinguishable  characters. 

If  the  Chinese  records  are  to  be  trusted,  rice  has  been  culti- 
vated for  a  period  much  longer  than  that  assigned  by  our  history 
and  traditions  to  the  other  cereals,  and  the  varieties  are  corre- 
spondingly numerous.  It  is  said  that  in  Japan  above  three 
hundred  varieties  are  grown  on  irrigated  lands,  and  more  than 
one  hundred  on  uplands. 

With  the  possible  exception  of  rice,  not  one  of  the  species  of 
cereals  is  certainly  known  in  the  wild  state. 

It  is  out  of  our  power  to  predict  how  much  time  would 
elapse  before  satisfactory  substitutes  for  our  cereals  could  be 
found.  In  the  improvement  of  the  grains  of  grasses  other  than 
those  which  have  been  very  long  under  cultivation,  experiments 
have  been  few,  scattered,  and  indecisive.  Therefore  we  are  as 
badly  off  for  time-ratios  as  nre  the  geologists  and  archsnlogists 
in  their  statements  of  elapsed  periods.  It  is  impossible  for  us 
to  ignore  the  fact  that  there  appear  to  be  occasions  in  tlw  life  of 


532 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


a  species  when  it  seems  to  be  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the 
influences  of  surroundiogs.  A  species,  like  a  carefully  laden 
£hip,  represents  a  balancing  of  forces  within  and  without. 
Disturbance  may  come  through  variation  from  withini  as  from  a 
shifting  of  the  cargo,  or  in  some  cases  from  without.  We 
may  suppose  both  forces  to  be  active  in  producing  variation, 
a  change  in  the  internal  condition  rendermg  the  plant  more 
susceptible  to  any  change  in  its  surroundings.  Under  the 
influence  of  any  marked  disturbance,  a  state  of  unstable  equili- 
brium may  be  brought  about,  at  which  times  the  species  as  such 
is  easily  acted  upon  by  very  slight  agencies. 

One  of  the  most  marked  of  these  derangements  is  a  consequent 
-of  cross-breedinp;  within  the  extreme  limits  of  varieties.  The 
•resultant  forms  m  such  cases  can  persist  only  by  close  breeding 
-or  by  propagation  from  buds  or  the  equivalents  of  buds.  Dis- 
turbances like  these  arise  unexpectedly  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature,  giving  us  sports  of  various  kinds.  These  critical  periods, 
liowever,  are  not  unwelcome,  since  skilful  cultivators  can  take 
advantage  of  them.  In  this  very  field  much  has  been  accom- 
plished. An  attentive  study  of  the  sagacious  work  done  by 
Thomas  Andrew  Knight  shows  to  wluit  extent  this  can  be 
•done.  But  we  must  confess  that  it  would  be  absolutely  im- 
possible to  predict  with  certainty  how  long  or  how  short  would 
x^t  the  time  before  new  cereals  or  acceptable  equivalents  for 
•them  would  be  provided.  Upheld  by  the  confidence  which  I 
have  in  the  intelligence,  ingenuity,  and  energy  of  our  experi- 
•ment  stations,  I  may  say  that  the  time  would  not  prolxibly 
•exceed  that  of  two  generations  of  our  race,  or  half  a  centuiy. 

In  now  laying  aside  our  hypothetical  illustration,  I  venture  to 
ask  why  it  is  that  our  experiment  stations,  and  other  institutions 
jdealing  with  plants  and  their  improvement,  do  not  undertake 
investigations  like  those  which  I  have  sketched  ?  Why  are  not 
some  of  the  grasses  other  than  our  present  cereals  studied  with 
reference  to  their  adoption  as  food  grains  ?  One  of  these  species 
iirill  naturally  suggest  itself  to  you  all — namely,  the  wild  rice  of 
the  lakes.  Observations  have  shown  that,  were  it  not  for  the 
•difficulty  of  harvesting  these  grains,  which  fall  too  easily  when 
they  are  ripe,  they  might  be  utilized.  But  attentive  search 
might  find  or  educe  some  variety  of  Zizama,  with  a  more 
persistent  grain  and  a  better  3rield.  There  are  two  of  our  sea- 
shore grasses  which  have  excellent  grains,  but  are  of  small 
yield.  Why  are  not  these,  or  better  ones  which  might  be 
suggested  by  observation,  taken  in  hand  ? 

The  reason  is  plain.  We  are  all  content  to  move  along  in 
lines  of  least  resistance,  and  are  disinclined  to  make  a  fresh 
start.  It  is  merely  leaving  well  enough  alone,  and  so  far  as 
ihe  cereals  are  concerned  it  is  ind^d  well  enough.  The 
generous  grains  of  modern  varieties  of  wheat  and  barley  com- 
pared with  the  well-preserved  charred  vestiges  found  in  Greece 
by  Schliemann,  and  in  the  lake- dwellings,  are  satisfactory  in 
every  respect.  Improvements,  however,  are  making  in  many 
directions  ;  and  in  the  cereals  we  now  have,  we  possess  far 
better  and  more  satisfactory  material  for  further  improvement 
both  in  quality  and  as  regards  range  of  distribution  than  we 
•could  reasonably  hope  to  have  from  other  grasses. 
'  From  the  cereals  we  may  turn  to  the  interesting  groups  of 
plants  comprised  under  the  general  term 

II.  Vegetables. 

Under  this  term  it  will  be  convenient  for  us  to  include  all 
plants  which  are  employed  for  culinary  purposes,  or  for  table 
use,  such  as  salads  and  relishes. 

The  potato  and  sweet  potato,  the  pumpkin  and  squash,  the 
red  or  capsicum  peppers,  and  the  tomato,  are  of  American 
origin. 

All  the  others  are,  most  probably,  natives  of  the  Old  World. 
Only  one  plant  coming  in  this  class  has  been  derived  from 
Southern  Australasia — namely,  New  Zealand  spinach  (Tetra- 
gonia). 

Among  the  vegetables  and  salad-plants  longest  in  cultivation 
we  may  enumerate  the  following:  turnip,  onion,  cabbage, 
purslane,  the  large  bean  (Faba),  chick-pea,  lentil,  and  one 
species  of  pea  (garden-pea).  To  these  an  antiquity  of  at  least 
4000  years  is  ascribed. 

Next  to  these,  in  point  of  age,  come  the  radish,  carrot,  beet, 
garlic,  garden-cress,  and  celery,  lettuce,  asparagus,  and  the 
leek.  Three  or  four  leguminous  seeds  are  to  be  placed  in  the 
same  category,  as  are  also  the  black  peppers. 

Of  more  recent  introduction  the  most  prominent  are:  the 
parsnip,  oyster-plant,  parsley,  artichoke,  endive,  and  spinach. 

NO.   1 1 44,  VOL.  44] 


From  these  lists  I  have  purposely  omitted  a  few  whick 
belong  exclusively  to  the  tropics,  such  as  certain  yams. 

The  number  of  varieties  of  these  vegetables  is  astounding. 
It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  discriminate  between  doseFf 
allied  varieties  which  have  been  introduced  by  gardeners  and 
seedsmen  under  different  names,  but  which  are  essentially 
identical,  and  we  must  therefore  have  recourse  to  a  conserva- 
tive authority,  Vilmorin,  from  whose  work  a  few  examples 
have  been  selected.  The  varieties  which  he  accepts  are  suffi- 
ciently well  distinguished  to  admit  of  description,  and  in  most 
instances  of  delineation,  without  any  danger  of  confnsioiL 
The  potato  has,  he  says,  innumerable  varieties,  of  which  he 
accepts  fortj  as  easily  distinguishable  and  worthy  of  a  place  in 
a  general  list ;  but  he  adds  also  a  list,  comprising,  of  coarse, 
synonyms,  of  thirty-two  French,  twenty-six  English,  nineteen 
American,  and  eighteen  German  vaneties.  The  following 
numbers  speak  for  themselves,  all  being  selected  in  the  same 
careful  manner  as  those  of  the  potato:  celery  more  than 
twenty ;  carrot  more  than  thirty ;  beet,  radish,  and  potato, 
more  than  forty ;  lettuce  and  onion  more  than  fifty ;  turnip 
more  than  seventy;  cabbage,  kidney-bean,  and  gaidea  pea, 
more  than  one  hundred. 

The  amount  of  horticultural  work  which  these  nnmbeis 
represent  is  enormous.  Each  variety  established  as  a  race 
(that  is,  a  variety  which  comes  true  to  seed)  has  been  evolved 
by  the  same  sort  of  patient  care  and  waiting  which  we  have 
seen  is  necessary  in  the  case  of  cereals,  but  the  time  of  waiting 
has  not  been  as  a  general  thing  so  long. 

In  the  case  of  the  cabbage  there  are  important  morphological 
changes  like  those  to  which  Prof.  Bailey  has  called  attention  in 
the  case  of  the  tomato.  Suppose  we  are  strolling  aloag  the 
beach  at  some  of  the  seaside  resorts  of  France,  and  shoald  mil  in 
with  this  coarse  cruciferous  plant,  with  its  sprawling  leaves  and 
strong  odour.  Would  there  be  anything  in  its  appearance  to 
lead  us  to  search  for  its  hidden  merit  as  a  food-plant  ?  What 
could  we  see  in  it  which  would  give  it  a  preference  over  a  score 
of  other  plants  at  our  feet  ?  Again,  suppose  we  are  joameyiog 
in  the  high  lands  of  Peru,  and  should  meet  with  a  strong-smdl- 
ing  plant  of  the  nightshade  family,  bearing  a  small  im^nlar 
fruit,  of  sub-acid  taste  and  of  peculiar  flavour.  We  will  forther 
imagine  that  the  peculiar  taste  strikes  our  fancy,  and  we  conceive 
that  the  plant  has  possibilities  as  a  source  of  food.  We  should 
be  led  by  our  knowledge  of  the  potato,  probably  a  native  of  the 
same  region,  to  think  that  this  allied  plant  might  be  safely  tracf- 
ferred  to  a  northern  climate,  but  would  there  be  promise  oi 
enough  future  usefulness,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  to  warrant  ocr 
carrymg  the  plant  north  as  an  article  of  food  ?  Suppose, 
further,  we  should  ascertain  that  the  fruit  in  question  va^ 
relished  not  only  by  the  natives  of  its  home,  but  that  it  had 
found  favour  among  the  tribes  of  South  Mexico  and  Centrsl 
America,  and  had  l^n  cultivated  by  them  until  it  had  attained 
a  large  size ;  should  we  be  strengthened  in  our  venture  ?  Let 
us  go  one  step  further  still.  Suppose  that,  having  decided  upon 
the  introduction  cf  the  plant,  and  having  urged  everybody  to 
try  it,  we  should  find  it  discarded  as  a  fruit,  but  taking  a  place 
in  gardens  as  a  curiosity  under  an  absurd  name,  or  as  a  basis  for 
preserves  and  pickles  ;  should  we  not  look  upon  our  experimeot 
in  the  introduction  of  this  new  plant  as  a  failure  ?  This  is  not  a 
hypothetical  case. 

The  tomato,  the  plant  in  question,  was  cultivated  in  Europe 
as  long  ago  as  1554;  it  was  known  in  Virginia  in  1781  and  ia 
the  Northern  States  in  1785  ;  but  it  found  its  way  into  favoor 
slowly,  even  in  this  land  of  its  origin.  A  credible  witness 
states  that  in  Salem  it  was  almost  impossible  to  induce  people  to 
eat  or  even  taste  of  the  fruit.  And  yet,  as  you  are  well  aware, 
its  present  cultivation  on  an  enormous  scale  in  Europe  and  this 
country  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  meet  the  increasing  demand. 

Before  asking  specifically  in  what  direction  we  shall  look  for 
new  vegetables,  I  must  be  pardoned  for  calling  attentioo,  in 
passing,  to  a  very  few  of  the  many  which  are  already  in  limited 
use  in  Europe  and  this  country,  but  which  merit  a  wider  em- 
ployment. Cardon,  or  cardoon ;  celeriac,  or  turnip-rooted 
celery ;  fetticus,  or  corn-salad  ;  martjmia  ;  salsify  ;  sea-kale ; 
and  numerous  small  salads,  are  examples  of  neglected  treasures 
of  the  vegetable  garden. 

The  following,  which  are  even  less  known,  may  be  mentioned 
as  fairly  promising  ;— 

(i)  Arracacia  escuUnia^  called  Arracacha,  belonging  to  the 
parsley  family.  It  is  extensively  cultivated  in  some  of  the 
northern  States  of  South  America.     The  stems  are  swollen  near 


October  i,  1891] 


NA TURE 


533 


the  base,  and  produce  tuberous  enlargements  filled  with  an  ez- 
cellent  starch.  Although  the  plant  is  of  comparatively  easy 
caltivation,  efforts  to  introduce  it  into  Europe  have  not  been 
succesful,  but  it  is  said  to  have  found  favour  in  both  the  Indies, 
and  may  prove  useful  in  our  Southern  States. 

(2)  Ullucus  or  OIIucus,  another  tuberous-rooted  plant  from 
nearly  the  same  region,  but  belonging  to  the  beet  or  spinach 
family.  It  has  produced  tubers  of  good  size  in  England,  but 
they  are  too  waxy  in  consistence  to  dispute  the  place  of  the 
better  tubers  of  the  potato.  The  plant  is  worth  investigating 
for  our  hot  dry  lands. 

{3)  A  tuber-bearing  relative  of  our  common  hedge-nettle,  or 
Stackysy  is  now  cultivated  on  a  large  scale  at  Crosnes,  in 
France,  for  the  Paris  market.  Its  name  .in  Paris  is  taken  from 
the  locality  where  it  is  now  grown  for  use.  Although  its  native 
country  is  Japan,  it  is  called  by  some  seedsmen  Chinese  arti- 
choke. At  the  present  stage  of  cultivation,  the  tubers  are  small 
and  are  rather  hard  to  keep,  but  it  is  thought  ''that  both  of 
these  defects  can  be  overcome  or  evaded."  Experiments  indi- 
cate that  we  have  in  this  species  a  valuable  addition  to  our 
vegetables. 

We  must  next  look  at  certain  other  neglected  possibilities. 

Dr.  Edward  Palmer,  whose  energy  as  a  collector  and  acute- 
oess  as  an  observer  are  known  to  you  all,  has  brought  toeetber 
very  interesting  facts  relative  to  the  food-plants  of  our  North 
American  aborigines.  Among  the  plants  described  by  him 
there  are  a  few  which  merit  careful  investigation.  Against  all 
of  them,  however,  there  lie  the  objections  mentioned  before, 
namely : — 

(1)  The  long  time  required  for  their  improvement,  and 

(2)  The  difficulty  of  making  them  acceptable  to  the  community, 
involving 

(3)  T^e  risk  of  total  and  mortifying  failure. 

In  1854  the  late  Prof.  Gray  called  attention  to  the  remarkable 
relations  which  exist  between  the  plants  of  Japan  and  those  of 
our  eastern  coast.  You  will  remember  that  he  not  only  proved 
that  the  plants  of  the  two  regions  had  a  common  origin,  but  also 
emphasized  the  fact  that  many  species  of  the  two  countries  are 
almost  identical.  It  is  to  that  country  which  has  yielded  us  so 
many  useful  and  beautiful  plants  that  we  turn  for  n^w  vegetables 
to  supplement  our  present  food  resources.  One  of  these  plants 
— namely,  Stachys — has  already  been  mentioned  as  promising. 
There  are  others  which  are  worth  examination  imd  perhaps 
acquisition. 

One  of  the  most  convenient  places  for  a  preliminary  exa- 
mination of  the  vegetables  of  Japan  is  at  the  railroad  stations  on 
the  longer  lines — for  instance,  that  running  from  Tokio  to  Kobe. 
For  native  consumption  there  are  prepared  luncheon  boxes  of 
two  or  three  stories,  provided  with  the  simple  and  yet  embar- 
rassing chopsticks.  It  is  worth  the  shock  it  causes  one's  nerves 
to  invest  in  these  boxes  and  try  the  vegetable  contents.  The 
bits  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl  which  one  finds  therein  can  be  easily 
separated  and  discarded,  upon  which  there  will  remain  a  few 
delicacies.  The  pervading  odour  of  the  box  is  that  of  aromatic 
vinegar.  The  generous  portion  of  boiled  rice  is  of  excellent 
quality,  with  every  grain  well  softened  and  distinct,  and  this 
without  anything  else  would  suffice  for  a  tolerable  meal.  In  the 
boxes  which  have  fallen  under  my  observation  there  were  sundry 
boiled  roots,  shoots,  and  seeds  which  were  not  recognizable  by 
me  in  their  cooked  form.  Prof.  Georgeson,  formerly  of  Japan, 
has  kindly  identified  some  of  these  for  me,  but  he  says,  "  There 
are  doubtless  many  others  used  occasionally. '' 

One  may  find  sliced  lotus  roots,  roots  of  large  burdock, 
lily  bulbs,  shoots  of  ginger,  pickled  green  plums,  beans  of 
many  sorts,  boiled  chestnuts,  nuts  of  the  gingko  tree,  pickled 
greens  of  various  kinds,  dried  cucumbers,  and  several  kinds  of 
seaweeds.  Some  of  the  leaves  and  roots  are  cooked  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  beet-roots  and  beet-leaves  are  by  us, 
and  the  general  effect  is  not  unappetizing.  The  boiled  shoots 
are  suggestive  of  only  the  tougher  ends  of  asparagus.  On 
the  whole,  I  do  not  look  back  on  Japanese  railway  luncheons 
with  any  longing  which  would  compel  me  to  advocate  the 
indiscriminate  introduction  of  the  constituent  vegetables  here. 

But  when  the  same  vegetables  are  served  in  native  inns,  under 
more  favourable  culinary  conditions,  without  the  flavour  of 
vinegar  and  of  the  pine  wood  of  the  luncheon  boxes,  they  appear 
to  be  worthy  of  a  trial  in  our  horticulture,  and  I  therefore  deal 
with  one  or  two  in  greater  detail. 

Prof.  Georgeson,  whose  advantages  for  acquiring  a  knowledge 

NO.    1 144,  VOL.  44] 


of  the  useful  plants  of  Japan  have  been  unusually  good,  has 
placed  me  under  great  obligations  by  communicating  certain  facts 
regarding  some  of  the  more  promising;  plants  of  Japan  which  are 
not  now  used  here.  It  should  be  said  that  several  of  these  plants 
have  already  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Agricultural  Department 
in  this  country. 

The  soy  bean  {^Glycine  hispidd).  This  species  is  known 
here  to  some  extent,  but  we  do  not  have  the  early  and  best 
varieties.  These  beans  replace  meat  in  the  diet  of  the  common 
people. 

Mucuna  {Mucuna  capitata)  and  dolichos  {Dolichos  cultra- 
tus)  are  pole  beans  possessing  merit. 

Dioscorea,  There  are  several  varieties  with  palatable  roots.. 
Years  ago  one  of  these  was  spoken  of  by  the  late  Dr.  Gray  as- 
possessing  "  excellent  roots,  if  one  could  only  dig  them.'' 

Colocasia  antiquorum  has  tuberous  roots,  which  are  nutri- 
tious. 

Conopkallus  Konjak  has  a  large  bulbous  root,  which  is 
sliced,  dried,  and  beaten  to  a  powder.  It  is  an  ingredient  in 
cakes. 

Aralia  cardaia  is  cultivated  for  the  shoots,  and  used  as  we  use 
asparagus. 

CEnantfu  stolonifera  and  Cryptotania  canadensis  are  palatable 
salad  plants,  the  former  being  used  also  as  greens. 

III.  Fruits. 

Botanically  speaking,  the  cereal  grains  of  which  we  have 
spoken  are  true  fruits — that  is  to  say,  are  ripened  ovaries,  but 
for  all  practical  purposes  they  may  be  regarded  as  seeds.  The 
fruits  of  which  mention  is  now  to  be  made  are  those  com- 
monly spoken  of  in  our  markets  as  fruits. 

First  of  all,  attention  roust  be  called  to  the  extraordinary 
changes  in  the  commercial  relations  of  fruits  by  two  direct 
causes — 

(i)  The  canning  industry,  and 

(2)  Swift  transportation  by  steamers  and  railroads. 

The  effects  of^  these  two  agencies  are  too  well  known  to 
require  more  than  this  passing  mention.  By  them  the  fruits 
of  the  best  fruit-growing  countries  are  carried  to  distant  lands 
in  quantities  which  surprise  all  who  see  the  statistics  for  the 
first  time.  The  ratio  of  increase  is  very  startling.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  figures  given  by  Mr.  D.  Morris,  at  the  time 
of  the  great  Colonial  and  Indian  Exhibition  in  London. 
Compare  double  decades  of  years — 

I 
1845   **•    "*    "*     886,000 

1865   3>  185,984 

1885   7»587»523 

In  the  Colonial  Exhibition  at  London,  in  1886,  fruits  from- 
the  remote  colonies  were  exhibited  under  conditions  which 
proved  that,  before  long,  it  may  be  possible  to  place  such 
delicacies  as  the  cherimoyer,  the  sweet-cup,  sweet-sop,  ram- 
butan,  mango,  and  mangosteen,  at  even  our  most  northern 
seaports.  Furthermore,  it  seems  to  me  likely  that,  with  an  in- 
crease in  our  knowledge  with  regard  to  the  microbes  which 
produce  decay,  we  may  be  able  to  protect  the  delicate  fruits 
from  injury  for  any  reasonable  period.  Methods  which  will 
supplement  refrigeration  are  sure  to  come  in  the  very  near 
future,  so  that  even  in  a  country  so  vast  as  our  own,  the  most 
perishable  fruits  will  be  transported  through  its  length  and 
breadth  without  harm. 

The  canning  industry  and  swift  transportation  are  likely  to 
diminish  zeal  in  searching  for  new  fruits,  since,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  case  of  the  cereals,  we  are  prone  to  move  in  lines 
of  least  resistance,  and  leave  well  enough  alone. 

To  what  extent  are  our  present  fruits  likely  to  be  improved  ? 
Even  those  who  have  watched  the  improvement  in  the  quality 
of  some  of  our  fruits,  like  oranges,  can  hardly  realize  how 
great  has  been  the  improvement  within  historic  times  in  the 
character  of  certain  pears,  apples,  and  so  on. 

The  term  historic  is  used  advisedly,  for  there  are  pre-historic 
fruits  which  might  serve  as  a  point  of  departure  in  the  con- 
sideration of  the  question.  In  the  ruins  of  the  lake-dwellings 
in  Switzerland,  charred  apples  have  been  found,  which  are  in 
some  cases  plainly  of  small  size,  hardly  equalling  ordinary  crab 
apples.  But,  as  Dr.  Sturtevant  has  shown,  in  certain  directions 
there  has  been  no  marked  change  of  type — the  change  is  ia 
quality. 


534 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


la  comparing  the  earlier  descriptioDS  of  fmits  with  modem 
accounts,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  hifrh  standards  by 
which  fruits  are  now  judged  are  of  recent  establishment  Fruits 
which  would  once  have  been  esteemed  excellent  would  to-day 
be  passed  by  as  unworthy  of  regard. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  list  of  seedless  fruits  will  be  mate- 
rially lengthened,  provided  our  experimental  horticulturists 
make  use  of  the  material  at  their  command.  The  common 
fruits  which  have  very  few  or  no  seeds  are  the  banana,  pine- 
apple,  and  certain  oranges.  Others  mentioned  by  Mr.  Darwin 
a5  well  known  are  the  bread-fruit,  pomegranate,  arazole  or 
Neapolitan  medlar,  and  date-palms.  In  commenting  upon 
these  fruits,  Mr.  Darwin  says  that  most  horticulturists  "  look 
at  the  great  size  and  anomalous  development  of  the  fruit  as  the 
cause,  and  sterility  as  the  result,"  but  he  holds  the  opposite 
view  as  more  probable — that  is,  that  the  sterility,  coming  aboat 
gradually,  leaves  free  for  other  growth  the  abundant  supply  of 
building  material  which  the  forming  seed  would  otherwise  have, 
lie  admits,  however,  that  "  there  is  an  antagonism  between  the 
two  forms  of  reproduction,  by  seeds  and  by  buds,  when  either 
is  carried  to  an  extreme  degree,  which  is  independent  of  any 
incipient  sterility." 

Most  plant-hybrids  are  relatively  infertile,  but  by  no  means 
wholly  sterile.  With  this  sterility  there  is  generally  augmented 
vegetative  vigour,  as  shown  by  Nageli.  Partial  or  complete 
sterility,  and  corresponding  luxuriance  of  root,  stem,  leaves, 
and  flower  may  come  about  in  other  obscure  ways,  and  such 
cases  are  familiar  to  botanists.  Now,  it  seems  highly  probable 
that,  either  by  hybridizing  directed  to  this  special  end,  or  by 
careful  selection  of  forms  indicating  this  tendency  to  the  corre- 
lated changes,  we  may  succeed  in  obtaining  important  additions 
to  our  seedless  or  nearly  seedless  plants.  Whether  the  ultimate 
profit  would  be  large  enough  to  pay  for  the  time  and  labour 
involved  is  a  question  which  we  need  not  enter  into ;  there 
appears  to  me  no  reasonable  doubt  that  such  efforts  would  be 
successful.  There  is  no  reason  in  the  nature  of  things  why  we 
should  not  have  strawberries  without  the  so-called  seeds  ;  black- 
berries and  raspberries,  with  only  delicious  pulp;  and  large 
grapes  as  free  from  seeds  as  the  small  ones  which  we  call 
"  currants,"  but  which  are  really  grapes  from  Corinth. 

These,  and  the  coreless  apples  and  peari  of  the  future,  the 
stoneless  cherries  and  plums,  like  the  conmon  fruits  before- 
mentioned,  must  be  propagated  by  bud-division,  and  be  open 
to  the  tendency  to  diminished  strength  said  to  be  the  con- 
sequence of  continued  bud-propagation.  But  this  bridge  need 
not  be  crossed  until  we  come  to  it.  Bananas  have  been  per- 
petuated in  this  way  for  many  centuries,  and  pineapples  since 
the  discovery  of  AoMrioa,  so  that  the  borrowed  trouble  alluded 
to  is  not  threatening. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  recollect  that,  in  most  cases, 
variations  are  slight.  Dr.  Masters  and  Mr.  Darwin  have  called 
attention  to  this,  and  have  adduced  many  illustrations,  all  of 
which  show  the  necessity  of  extreme  patience  and  caution.  The 
general  student  curious  in  such  matters  can  have  hardly  any  task 
more  instructive  than  the  detection  of  the  variations  in  such 
common  plants  as  the  blueberry,  the  wild  cherry,  or  the  like. 
It  is  an  excellent  preparation  for  a  practical  study  of  the  varia- 
tions in  our  wild  fruits  suitable  for  selection. 

It  was  held  by  the  late  Dr.  Gray  that  the  variations  in  nature 
by  which  species  have  been  evolved  were  led  along  useful  lines 
— a  view  which  Mr.  Darwin  regretted  he  could  not  entertain. 
However  this  may  be,  all  acknowledge  that,  by  the  hand  of  the 
x:ultivator,  variations  can  be  led  along  useful  lines ;  and,  further- 
•more,  the  hand  which  selects  must  uphold  them  in  their  unequal 
strife.  In  other  words,  it  is  one  thing  to  select  a  variety,  and 
another  to  assist  it  in  maintaining  its  hold  upon  existence.  With- 
out the  constant  help  of  the  cultivator  who  selects  the  useful 
variety,  there  comes  a  reversion  to  the  ordinary  specific  type 
which  is  fitted  to  cope  with  its  surroundings. 

I  think  you  can  agree  with  me  that  the  prospect  for  new 
fruits  and  for  improvements  in  our  established  lavourites  is  fairly 
rgood. 

IV.  Timbers  and  Cabinet  Woods. 

Can  we  look  for  new  timbers  and  cabinet  woods  ?  Compara- 
tively few  of  those  in  common  use  are  of  recent  introduction. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  bring  into  great  prominence  some 
of  the  excellent  trees  of  India  and  Australia  which  furnish  wood 
of  much  beauty  and  timber  of  the  best  quality.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  all  the  timbers  of  the  South  Seas  are  characterized  by 
jremarkable  firmness  of  texture  and  high  specific  gravity.     The 

NO.   I  1 44,  VOL.  44] 


same  is  noticed  in  many  of  the  woods  of  the  Indies.  A  few  of 
the  heavier  and  denser  sorts,  like  Jarrah,  of  West  Australia, 
and  Sabicu  of  the  Caribbean  Islands,  have  met  with  deserved 
favour  in  England,  but  the  cost  of  transportation  militates 
against  them.  It  is  a  fair  question  whether,  in  certain  parts  of 
our  country,  these  trees,  and  others  which  can  be  utilized  for 
veneers,  may  not  be  cultivated  to  advantage.  Attention  should 
be  again  called  to  the  fact  that  many  plants  succeed  far  better 
in  localities  which  are  remote  from  their  origin,  but  where  they 
find  conditions  substantially  like  those  which  they  have  left 
This  fact,  to  which  we  must  again  refer  in  detail  with  regard  to 
certain  other  classes  of  plants,  may  have  some  bearing  upon  the 
introduction  of  new  timber  trees.  Certain  drawbacks  exist 
with  regard  to  the  timber  of  some  of  the  more  rapidly  growing 
hard-wood  trees  which  have  prevented  their  taking  a  high  place 
in  the  scale  of  values  in  mechanical  engineering. 

One  of  the  most  useful  soft-wooded  trees  in  the  world  b  the 
Kauri.  It  is  restricted  in  its  range  to  a  comparatively  small  area 
in  the  North  Island  of  New  Zealand.  It  is  now  being  cat  down 
with  a  recklessness  which  is  as  prodigal  and  shameful  as  that 
which  has  marked  our  own  treatment  of  forests  here.  It  sboold 
be  paid,  however,  that  this  destruction  is  under  protest ;  in  spite 
of  which  it  would  seem  to  be  a  question  of  only  a  few  yean 
when  the  great  Kauri  groves  of  New  Zealand  will  be  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Our  energetic  Forest  Department  has  on  its  hands 
problems  jiist  like  this  which  perplexes  one  of  the  new  lands  of 
the  South.  The  task  in  both  cases  is  double :  to  preserve  the 
old  treasures  and  to  bring  in  new. 

There  is  no  department  of  economic  botany  more  promising 
in  immediate  results  than  that  of  arboriculture. 

V.  Vegetable  Fibres. 

The  vegetable  fibres  known  to  commerce  are  either  plant 
hairs,  of  which  we  take  cotton  as  the  type,  or  filaments  of  last- 
tissue,  represented  by  flax.  No  new  plant  hairs  have  been  sug- 
gested which  can  compete  in  any  way  for  spinning;  with  those 
yielded  by  the  species  of  Gossypium,  or  cotton,  but  experiments 
more  or  less  systematic  and  thorough  are  being  carried  on  with 
regard  to  the  improvement  of  the  varieties  of  the  species.  Plant 
hairs  for  the  stuffing  of  cushions  and  pillows  need  not  be  referred 
to  in  connection  with  this  subject. 

Countless  sorts  of  plants  have  been  suggested  as  sources  of 
good  bast-fibres  for  spinning  and  for  cordage,  and  many  of  these 
make  capital  substitutes  for  those  already  in  the  factories.  But 
the  questions  of  cheapness  of  production,  and  of  subsequent 
preparation  for  use,  have  thus  far  militated  against  success. 
There  may  be  much  difference  between  the  profits  promised  by 
a  laboratory  experiment  and  those  resulting  from  the  same  pro- 
cess conducted  on  a  commercial  scale.  The  existence  of  sndi 
differences  has  been  the  rock  on  which  many  enterprises  seeking 
to  introduce  new  fibres  have  been  wrecked. 

In  dismissing  this  portion  of  our  subject  it  may  he  said  that  a 
process  for  separating  fine  fibres  from  undesirable  structaral  ele- 
ments and  from  resin-like  substances  which  accompany  them  is 
a  great  desideratum.  If  this  were  supplied,  many  new  species 
would  assume  great  prominence  at  once. 

VI.  Tanning  Materials. 

What  new  tanning  materials  can  be  confidently  sought  for? 
In  his  "Useful  Native  Plants  of  Australia,"  Mr.  Maiden 
describes  over  thirty  species  of  "wattles"  or  acacias,  and 
about  half  as  many  eucalypts,  which  have  been  examined  for 
the  amount  of  tanning  material  contained  in  the  bark.  In  all, 
eighty-seven  Australian  species  have  been  under  examination. 
Besides  this,  much  has  been  done  looking  in  the  same  directioB 
at  the  suggestion  and  under  the  direction  of  Baron  von  Mueller, 
of  Victoria.  This  serves  to  indicate  how  great  is  the  interest  ia 
this  subject,  and  how  wide  is  the  field  in  our  own  country  for 
the  introduction  of  new  tanning  plants. 

It  seems  highly  probable,  however,  that  artificial  tanning 
substances  will  at  no  distant  day  replace  the  crude  matters  now 
employed. 

VII.   RSSINS,  &C. 

Resins,  oils,  gums,  and  medicines  from  the  v^etable  kii^dom 
would  next  engage  our  attention  if  they  did  not  seem  rather 
too  technical  for  thb  occasion,  and  to  possess  an  interest  on  the 
whole  somewhat  too  limited.  But  an  allied  substance  m^ 
serve  to  represent  this  class  of  products  and  indicate  the  drift  <^ 
present  research. 

India  Rubber, — Under  this  term  are  included  numoous  sob- 


October  i,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


535 


Stances  which  possess  a  physical  and  chemical  resemblance  to 
cAch  other.  An  Indian  Ficus,  the  early  source  of  supply,  soon 
became  inadecjuate  to  furnish  the  quantity  used  in  the  arts  even 
when  the  manipulaiion  of  rubber  was  almost  unknown.  Liter 
supplies  came  from  Hevea  of  Brazil,  generally  known  as  Para 
rubber,  and  from  Casiiiloat  sometimes  called  Central  American 
robber,  and  from  Manihot  Glatiovii^  Ceara  rubber.  Not  only 
are  these  plants  now  successfully  cultivated  in  experimental 
gardens  in  the  tropics,  but  many  other  rubber-yielding  species 
have  been  added  to  the  list.  The  Landolphias  are  among  the 
most  promising  of  the  whole :  these  are  the  African  rubbers. 
Now  in  addition  to  these,  which  are  the  chief  source  of  supply, 
we  have  Willughbtia^  from  the  Malayan  Peninsula,  Leuconoiis^ 
Ckiiocarpus,  Alstonia,  Forsieronia^  and  a  species  of  a  genus 
formerly  known  as  Urosiigma,  but  now  united  with  Ficus, 
These  names,  which  have  little  significance  as  they  are  here  pro- 
nounced in  passing,  are  given  now  merely  to  impress  upon  our 
minds  the  fact  that  the  sources  of  a  single  commercial  article 
may  be  exceedingly  diverse.  Under  these  circumstances  search 
is  being  made  not  only  for  the  best  varieties  of  these  species  but 
for  new  species  as  well. 

There  are  few  excursions  in  the  tropics  which  possess  greater 
interest  to  a  botanist  who  cares  for  the  industrial  aspects  of 
plants  than  the  walks  through  the  Gardens  at  Buitenzorg  in  Java 
and  at  Singapore.  At  both  these  stations  the  experimental 
gardens  lie  at  some  distance  from  the  great  Gardens  which  the 
tourist  is  expected  to  visit,  but  the  exertion  well  repays  him  for 
all  discomfort.  Under  the  almost  vertical  rays  of  the  sun,  are 
here  gathered  the  rubber-yielding  plants  from  different  countries, 
all  growing  under  conditions  favourable  for  decisions  as  to  their 
relative  value.  At  Buitenzorg  a  well-equipped  laboratory  stands 
ready  to  answer  practical  questions  as  to  quality  and  composition 
of  their  products,  and  year  by  year  the  search  extends. 

I  mention  this,  not  as  an  isolated  example  of  what  is  being 
accomplished  in  commercial  botany,  but  as  a  fair  illustration  of 
the  thoroughness  with  which  the  problems  are  being  attacked. 
It  should  DC  further  stated  that  at  the  Garden  in  question 
assiduous  students  of  the  subject  are  eagerly  welcomed,  and  are 
provided  with  all  needed  appliances  for  carrying  on  technical, 
chemical,  and  pharmaceutical  investigations.  Therefore  I  am 
justified  in  saying  that  there  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  in 
the  very  near  future  new  sources  of  our  most  important  products 
will  be  opened  up,  and  new  areas  placed  under  successful 
cultivation. 

At  this  point,  attention  must  be  called  to  a  very  modest  and 
convenient  hand-book  on  the  "Commercial  Botany  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,*'  by  Mr.  Jackson,  of  the  Botanical  Museum 
attached  to  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  which  not  only  embodies 
a  great  amount  of  well-arranged  information  relative  to  the  new 
useful  plants,  but  is,  at  the  same  time,  a  record  of  the  existing 
state  of  things  in  all  these  departments  of  activity. 

VIII;  Fragrant  Plants. 

Another  illustration  of  our  subject  might  be  drawn  from  a 
class  of  plants  which  repays  close  study  from  a  biological  point 
of  view — namely,  those  which  yield  perfumes. 

In  speaking  of  the  future  of  our  fragrant  plants  we  must  dis- 
tinguish between  those  of  commercial  value  and  those  of  purely 
horticultural  interest.  The  former  will  be  less  and  less  cultivated 
in  proportion  as  synthetic  chemistry  by  its  manufacture  of  per- 
fumes replaces  the  natural  by  the  artificial  products  ;  for  example, 
coumarin,  vanillin,  nerolin,  heliotropin,  and  even  oil  of  winter- 
green. 

When,  however,  one  has  seen  that  the  aromatic  plants  of 
Australia  are  almost  free  from  attacks  of  insects  and  fungi,  and 
has  learned  to  look  on  the  impr^nating  substances  in  some 
cases  as  protective  agaiiist  predatory  insects  and  small  foes  of  all 
kinds,  and  in  others  as  fungicidal,  he  is  tempted  to  ask  whether 
all  the  substances  of  marked  odour  which  we  find  in  certain  groups 
of  plants  may  not  play  a  similar  rdle. 

It  is  a  fact  of  great  interest  to  the  surgeon  that  in  many  plants 
there  is  associated  with  the  fragrant  principle  a  marked  antiseptic 
or  fungicidal  quality  ;  conspicuous  examples  of  this  are  afforded 
by  species  of  Eucalyptus^  yielding  eucalyptol,  Styrax^  yielding 
styrone.  Thymus,  yielding  thymol.  It  is  interesting  to  note, 
too,  that  soine  of  these  most  modern  antiseptics  were  important 
constituents  in  the  balsamic  vulneraries  ot  the  earliest  surgery. 

Florists'  planf  s  and  the  floral  fashions  of  the  future  constitute 
an  engaging  subject,  which  we  can  touch  only  lightly.  It  is 
reasonably  clear  that  while  the  old  favourite  species  will  hold 

NO-   II 44,  VOL.  44] 


their  ground  in  the  guise  of  improved  varieties,  ibe  new  intro- 
ductions will  come  in  the  shape  of  plants  with  flowering  branches 
which  retain  their  blossoms  for  a  somewhat  long  period,  and 
especially  those  in  which  the  flowers  precede  the  leaves.  In 
short,  the  next  real  fashion  in  our  gardens  is  probably  to  be  the 
flowering  shrub  and  flowering  tree,  like  those  which  are  such 
favourites  in  the  country  from  which  the  Western  world  has 
gladly  taken  the  gift  of  the  chrysanthemum. 

Twice  each  year,  of  late,  a  reception  has  been  held  by  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  of  Japan.  The  receptions  are  in  autumn 
and  in  the  spring.  That  m  the  autumn,  popularly  known  as  the 
Emperor's  reception,  has  for  its  floral  aecorations  the  myriad 
forms  of  the  national  flower,  the  chrysanthemum  ;  that  which  is 
given  in  spring,  the  Empress's  reception,  comes  when  the  cherry 
blossoms  are  at  their  best.  One  has  little  idea  of  the  wealth  of 
beauty  in  masses  of  flowering  shrubs  and  treeSj  until  he  has 
seen  the  floral  displays  in  the  Imperial  Gardens  and  the  Temple 
grounds  in  Tokio. 

Conclusion. 

Lack  of  time  renders  it  impossible  to  deal  with  the  questions 
which  attach  themselves  to  our  main  question,  especially  as  to 
the  limits  of  effect  which  cultivation  may  produce.  We  cannot 
touch  the  problem  of  inheritance  of  acquired  peculiarities,  or  the 
manner  in  which  cultivation  predisposes  the  plant  to  innumer- 
able modifications.  Two  of  these  modincations  may  be 
mentioned  in  passing,  because  they  serve  to  exemplify  the 
practical  character  of  our  subject. 

Cultivation  brings  about  in  plants  very  curious  morphologi- 
cal changes.  For  example,  in  the  case  of  a  well-known  vege- 
table the  number  of  metamorphosed  type- leaves  forming  tne 
ovary  is  two,  and  yet  under  cultivation  the  number  increases 
irregularly  until  the  full  number  of  units  in  the  type  of  the  flower 
is  reached.  Prof.  Bailey,  of  Cornell,  has  called  attention  to  some 
further  interesting  changes  in  the  tomato,  but  the  one  mentioned 
suffices  to  illustrate  the  direction  of  variation  which  plants  under 
cultivation  are  apt  to  take.  Monstrosities  are  very  apt  to  occur 
in  cultivated  plants,  and  under  certain  conditions  may  be  per- 
petuated in  succeeding  generations,  thus  widening  the  field  from 
which  utilizable  plants  may  be  taken. 

Another  case  of  change  produced  by  cultivation  is  likewise  as 
yet  wholly  unexplained,  although  much  studied — ^namely,  the 
mutual  interaction  of  scion  and  stock  in  grafting,  budding,  and. 
the  like.  It  is  probable  that  a  further  investigation  of  this 
subject  may  yet  throw  light  on  new  possibilities  in  plants. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  most  practical  question  of  all, 
namely — 

In  what  way  can  the  range  of  commercial  botany  be  extended  ? 
In  what  manner,  or  by  what  means,  can  the  introduction  of  new 
species  be  hastened  ? 

It  is  possible  that  some  of  you  are  aware  of  the  great  amount 
of  uncoordinated  work  which  has  been  done  and  is  now  in  hand 
in  the  direction  of  bringing  in  new  plants. 

The  competition  between  the  importers  of  new  plants  is  so 
great  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  species  which  would  naturally  commend  them- 
selves for  the  use  of  florists,  for  the  adornment  of  greenhouses, 
or  for  commerical  ends,  have  been  at  one  time  or  another 
brought  before  the  public  or  are  being  accumulated  in  stock.  1  he 
same  is  true,  although  to  a  less  extent,  with  regard  to  useful 
vegetables  and  fruit.  Hardly  one  of  those  which  we  can  suggest 
as  desirable  for  trial  has  not  already  been  investigated  in 
Europe  or  this  ooantiy,  and  reported  on.  The  pages  of  our 
chemical,  pharmaomitical,  medical,  horticultural,  agricultural 
and  trade  journals,  especially  those  of  high  grade,  contain  a 
wealth  of  material  of  tnis  character. 

But  what  is  needed  is  this :  Chat  the  promising  plants  should 
be  systenoatically  investigated  under  exhaustive  conditions.  It 
is  not  enough  that  an  enthusiast  here,  or  an  amateur  there, 
should  give  a  plant  a  trial  under  imperfectly  understood  con- 
ditions, and  then  report  success  or  fsulure.  The  work  should 
be  thorough,  and  every  question  answered  categorically,  so  that 
we  might  be  placed  in  possession  of  all  the  facts  relative  to  the 
object  experimented  upon.  Hut  such  an  undertaking  requires 
the  co-operation  of  many  different  agencies.  I  shall  venture  to 
mention  some  of  these. 

In  the  first  place.  Botanic  Gardens  amply  endowed  for 
research.  The  Arnold  Arboretum*  tlM  Shaw  Garden,  and  the 
Washington  Experimental  Garden,  an  American  illustrations 
of  what  is  needed  for  this  purpose.  Univenltv  gardens  have  their 
place  in  instruction,  but  cannot  wisely  undertake  this  kind  of  work. 


536 


NA  TURE 


[October  i,  1891 


In  the  second  place,  Museams  and  Laboratories  of  Eco- 
nomic Botany.  Mncfa  good  work  in  this  direction  has  been 
done  in  this  country  by  the  National  Museum  and  by  the 
department  in  chaij^e  of  the  investigation  of  new  plants.  We 
need  institutions  like  th04e  at  Kew  in  England,  and  at 
Buitenzorg  in  Java,  which  keep  in  close  touch  with  all  the 
world.  The  rounding  of  an  establishment  on  a  scale  of  mag- 
nitude commensurate  with  the  greatness  and  needs  of  our 
country  is  an  undertaking  which  waits  for  some  one  of  our 
wealthy  men. 

In  the  third  place,  Experiment  Stations.  These  may, 
within  the  proper  limits  of  their  sphere  of  action,  extend  the 
study  of  plants  beyond  the  established  varieties  to  the  species, 
and  beyond  the  species  to  equivalent  species  in  other  genera. 
It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  so  much  of  the  energy  displayed 
in  these  stations  in  this  country,  and  we  may  say  abroad,  has 
not  been  more  economically  directed. 

Great  economy  of  energy  must  result  from  the  recent  change 
by  which  co-oidination  of  action  is  assured.  The  influence 
which  the  stations  must  exert  on  the  welfare  of  our  country  and 
the  development  of  its  resources  is  incalculable. 

In  the  last  place,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  co-operation  of 
all  who  are  interested  in  scientific  matters,  through  tneir  obser- 
vation of  isolated  and  associated  phenomena  connected  with 
plants  of  supposed  utility,  and  by  the  cultivation  of  such  plants  by 
private  individuals,  unconnected  with  any  State,  Governmental, 
or  academic  institutions. 

By  these  agencies,  wisely  directed  and  energetically  employed, 
the  domains  of  oommercud  and  industrial  botany  will  be  en- 
larged. To  some  of  the  possible  results  in  these  domains,  I 
have  endeavoured  to  call  your  attention. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELUGENCE. 

Prof.  Bonnby  will  beein  a  course  of  about  sixty  lectures  on 
geology  at  University  College,  London,  on  Tuesday,  October  6, 
at  noon,  and  a  course  of  ab^ut  eighteen  lectures  on  geology  for 
engineering  students,  on  Monday,  October  Z2,  at  2  p.m.  A 
class  for  students  preparing  for  the  B.Sc  degree  in  the 
University  of  London  will  meet  on  October  6  at  2  p.m. 

The  prizes  to  the  students  at  the  medical  school  of  St. 
Thomars  Hospital  will  be  distributed  to-day  by  Sir  G.  M. 
Humphry,  F.R.S. 

Lectures  will  be  delivered  in  Gresham  College,  Basinghall 
Street,  E.C.,  on  October  6,  7,  8,  and  9,  by  Dr.  E.   Symes  I 
Thompson,  Gresham  Professor  of  Medicine,  on  influenza  and 
its  results. 

Several  series  of  lectures  for  which  the  Salop  County 
Council  has  made  arrangements  have  been  begun.  They  are  on 
chemistry,  botany,  geology,  agricultural  chemistry,  management 
of  stock,  insect  pests  and  crop  diseases,  mechanics,  and  principles 
of  agriculture,  and  are  being  given  in  various  parts  of  the 
county.  Most  of  them  are  being  delivered  in  connection  with 
the  Oxford  University  Extension  Scheme. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  21.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair.^Admiral  Mouchez  made  some  remarks  on  the  second 
volume  of  the  Paris  Observatory  Star  Catalogue,  presented  to  the 
Academy.  The  Catalogue  contains  stars  between  the  right 
ascensions  6h.  and  I2h.,  and  about  500,000  observations  made  at 
Paris  during  the  last  fifty  years  have  been  utilized  in  its  con- 
struction.— On  the  colour  sensations  excited  in  one  eye  by 
coloured  light  which  illuminates  the  retina  of  the  other,  by  M. 
A.  Chauveau.  From  the  experiments  described  it  appears 
that  the  excitation  of  one  retina  by  coloured  light  influences,  not 
only  the  optic  nerves  of  this  retina,  but  also  those  of  the  opposite 
side,  so  that  the  latter  are  able  to  awaken  the  sensation  of  the 
colour  employed  whilst  the  excited  retina  only  sees  the  comple- 
mentary colour.  Thus,  if  a  white  surface  be  observed  for  a 
short  time  through  a  bit  of  coloured  glass,  using  only  one  eye, 
and  screening  the  other,  when  the  glass  is  taken  away  the  white 
ground  appears  to  be  tinted  with  a  colour  complementary  to  that 
of  the  glass.  This  is  an  old  experiment,  but  the  point  is  that  if 
the  first  eye  be  closed  and  the  screened  eye  opened  the  white 
surface  appears  to  be  tinted  with  the  same  colour  as  the  glass. —   , 

NO.   I  144,  VOL.  44] 


Observations  of  the  asteroid  discovered  by  Chariots  00  Augost 
28,  made  with  the  coutU  equatorial  of  Algien  Observatory,  by  M. 
F.  Sy.  Observations  for  position  were  made  on  Aogost  31  and 
September  7.— Observations  of  Wolfs  comet  (1884  e  IIL)  made 
with  the  cotidi  equatorial  (o'36m.  aperture)  of  Lyons  Observatory, 
by  M.  G.  Le  Cadet.  Obseifvations  for  position  were  made  00 
^ptember  9,  10,  1 1,  and  12. — On  the  partial  eclipse  of  Jupiter's 
first  satellite  by  the  shadow  of  the  second,  by  M.  J.  J.  uuiderer. 
This  phenomenon  occurred  on  August  14. — ^The  metamorphoses 
of  Acridium  peregrinum,  Oliv.,  by  M.  Charles  BrongniarL  The 
author  has  specially  observed  that  locusts  undergo  various  ooloiir 
changes  at  different  stages  of  their  existence. -^n  the  grafiiog 
of  underground  portions  of  plants,  by  M.  Lucien  Danid. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Mechanics  for  Bcginnere ;  Put  z.  Dynamics  and  Stadcs :  Rev.  T.  BL 
Lock  (MacmiUao).— Manual  of  the  Science  of  Reli^on :  ProC  P.  D.  C 
lie  U  Saussaye :  translated  by  B.  S.  Colyer-Fersunon  (LoognutDt).— 
Solutions:  Prof.  Ostwald;  translated  by  M.  M.  P.  Muir  (Loogaiaas). 
—Prindplea  and  Practice  of  Planbios:  S.  S.  Hellyer  (BcHl—Lttnar 
Radiant  Heat:  O.  Boeddicker  (WiOiams  and  Norxatel— llie  Uii- 
versal  Atlas,  Parts  z  to  6  (CassellX— Mayhew's  Illustrated  Hone  Doctor, 
revised  and  improved:  J.  L  Luptoo  (Griffith). — Poods  for  the  Fac,  3rd 
edition:  Dr.  Yorke-Davies  (ChattoX— On  the  A4jiistment  and  Testiii{  of 
Telescopic  Objectives:  T.  Cooke  and  Sons  (York,  Johnson).— Die  gto- 
graphtsehe  VerbieitunEderSaugedere:  Dr.  A  Nehring  (Beriin,  PonnecterV 
— De  Klimaten  der  Vo^rwereld  en  de  Geschiedenis  der  Zoo :  E.  Dnbob 
(Batavia.  Ernst). — Economic  Journal,  No.  3  (Macmillan).--IoiiniaI  of  the 
Astatic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  lix..  Part  2,  Nos.  4  and  5 ;  Vol.  fix..  Part  3, 
Supplement  No.  9  ;  Vol.  Ix.,  Part  3,  No.  x  (Calcutta).— journal  of  Physio- 
logy, vol.  zii.,  No.  4  (C^imbndge).— Calendar  of  the  University  College  of 
Wales,  Aberystwyth,  1891-^  ^Manchester,  Cornish).— Psvdiolosy:  K.  S. 
Granger  (Methuen). — Studies  in  Jewish  Statistics :  T.  Jacobs  (Nott).— 
Diphtheria:  Dr.  K.  Thome  Thome  (MacmillaiOL— E^Eperinwnu  m  Afro- 
dynamics  :  S.  P.  Langley  (WashingtonX — ^The  Story  of  the  Heavens,  iltk 
Edition :  Sir  R.  S.  Ball  (Cassell^— Deutsche  Seewarte— lodiscfaflr  Oaean, 
Ein  Atlas  (Hamburg,  FriederichsenX— Aiithmetical'Exerdsesin  Chemistry: 
Dr.  L.  Dobbin  (Edinburgh,  Thin). — La  Transcancasie  et  la  P^oinsak 
D'Apch^ton :  C  S.  Gulbenkian  (Riris,  Hachette).— Ueber  die  Fmntaad. 
ischen  Rapakiwi^estetne :  J.  J.  Sederholm  (Wien.  Holder), — ^Studieo  dbcr 
Arch&ische  Eraptivgesteine  aus  dem  Sudwestlichen  Finnland :  J.  T.  Seder- 
holm  (Wien,  Holder).— The  Eocene  and  Oligocene  Beds  of  the  Faru  Basn: 
Harris  and  Burrows  (Stanford). — Versuch  Qber  die  Erdgeschichtlicbe  Ent- 
wickelung:  Dr.  G.  Pfeffer  (Hamburg,  FriederichsenX 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

The  Bacteriological   Examination  of  Water.     By 

Prof.  Percy  F.  Prankland,  F.R.S 513 

Epidemic  Influenza.     By  R.  Russell 514 

General  Chemical  Mineralogy.    By  G.  T.  P 516 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Meredith:  "  Bush  Friends  in  Tasmania  " 517 

Taylor:  "The  Elementary  C^eomctiy  of  Conies."— 

R.  T 517 

Villc:  "  Les  Engrab  Chimiques  " 517 

Letters  to  the  Bditor  :— 

The  Bird-Collections  in  the  Oxford  University  Museum. 

—Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater,  F.R.S 51S 

Variation  and  Natural  Selection.— Dr.    Alfred   R 

Wallace 518 

A  Rare  Phenomenon.— Arthur  Marshall;  W.  Tuck- 
well;  F.  C.  Levander  . -    519 

Instruments   in  Just   Intonation. — Robt.  A.  Leh- 

feldt 5«9 

Unusual  Frost  Phenomenon.     {Illustrated,) — ^A.   H. 

White 519 

The    Destruction    of     Mosquitoes.— W.     Mattieu 

Williams 519 

A  Tortoise  inclosed  in  Ice.— F.  H.  Perry  Coste  .    .    5» 

The  Soaring  of  Birds.— A.  C.  Baines 5» 

Rain-making  in  Florida  in  the  Fifties.— G.  P.     .    .    .    521 

A  Dog  Story.— John  Bell 521 

Some  Notes  on  the  Frankfort  International  Elec- 
trical Exhibition.    II.    (Illustrated.)   By  W.  E.  A.  .    521 

The  Giraffe  and  its  Allies.     By  R.  L 524 

Photographic  Magnitudes  of  Stars 526 

Notes 5^ 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Influence  of  Aberration  upon  Observations  of  Solar 

Prominences 530 

New  Asteroids    . 530 

Some  of  the  Possibilities  of  Economic  Botany.    By 

Prof.  George  Lincoln  Goodale 530 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 536 

Societies  and  Academies 536 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Recei-ved 536 

• 


NA TURE 


537 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  8,  1891. 


THE  ICE  AGE  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  Ice  Age  in  North  America^  and  its  Bearings  upon 
the  Antiquity  of  Man.  By  G.  Frederick  Wright,  D.D., 
&c.  With  an  Appendix  on  "  The  Probable  Cause  of 
Glaciation,''  by  Warren  Upham,  F.G.S.A,  With  many 
new  Maps  and  Illustrations.  (London:  Kegan  Paul; 
Trench,  Triibner,  and  Co.,  Limited,  1890.)^ 

SWITZERLAND  has  been  called  the  playground  of 
Europe.  The  glacial  epoch  occupies  a  similar 
position  in  geology.  Here  the  student,  wearied  with  the 
precision  of  palaeontology  or  of  mineralogy,  may  revel  in 
dreams  of  omnipotent  glaciers,  wrap  himself  in  ice  sheets, 
throw  mental  somersaults,  swallow  self-contradictory 
arguments,  and  be  as  blind  to  unpleasant  facts  as  was 
Nelson  at  Copenhagen,  when  he  put  the  telescope  to  his 
useless  eye,  and  ''spoke  disrespectfully''  of  the  signal 
of  recall.  To  any  sarcastic  historian  of  the  progress  of 
geology,  the  literature  of  ice  and  its  effects  will  be  a 
boon,  since  it  is  so  rich  in  unsound  inductions  and  un- 
stable hypotheses. 

Dr.  Wright's  book,  however,  is,  on  the  whole,  a  favour- 
able exception  to  this  general  rule.  Passages,  no  doubt, 
may  be  found  here  and  there,  to  which  exception  might 
be  taken — notably  to  his  remarks  on  the  subject  of 
cirques,  in  which  he  regards  with  favour  opinions  which 
are  hard  to  reconcile  with  expressions  in  other  parts  of 
the  book,  and  rest  largely  on  an  erroneous  statement — 
namely,  that  cirques  "  are  confined  to  glaciated  regions," 
and  "  as  a  rule  .  .  .  occupy  positions  where  glaciers  first 
appear."  Still,  in  general  his  conclusions  are  supported 
by  facts,  very  clearly  and  carefully  described,  so  that  we 
feel,  even  if  occasionally  not  quite  convinced,  that  his 
view  is  worthy  of  careful  and  respectful  consideration. 

But  in  the  matter  of  ice  the  subject  is  long,  and  our 
space  is  brief.  It  will  be  better  to  abstain  from  criticism 
of  details  and  give  a  short  outline  of  those  parts  of  Dr. 
Wright's  book  which  will  be  of  most  interest  to  readers  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  As  he  states  in  his  preface,  his 
work  deals  not  only  with  the  Ice  Age  in  North  America, 
but  also  with  the  whole  subject  of  the  Glacial  Period. 
So  in  its  earlier  part  a  considerable  space  is  allotted  to 
glaciers  in  general  and  their  characteristics  ;  in  its  later, 
to  the  effects  of  the  Glacial  Period  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  its  cause,  its  date,  and  its  relation  to  the  history 
of  man.  These,  however,  we  shall  pass  over,  and  confine 
ourselves  to  the  section  dealing  with  glacial  action  on  the 
North  American  continent. 

After  a  sketch  of  the  existing  glaciers  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  Dr.  Wright  gives  the  results  of  a  study  of  the 
Muir  glacier  in  latitude  58°  50',  by  the  side  of  which  a 
small  party,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  camped  out  for  a 
month.  This  glacier  is  about  a  mile  wide  where  it  comes 
down  to  the  sea,  terminating  in  ice  cliffs  300  feet,  and 
sometimes  a  little  above  400  feet  in  height.  The  rise  in- 
land is  gradual — perhaps  about  100  feet  per  mile— and 
the  main  body  of  the  glacier  occupies  a  vast  amphi- 
theatre, with  diameters  ranging  from  30  to  40  miles. 
From  a  number  of  observations  it  appeared  that  the 
stream  of  ice  entered  the  inlet,  where  the  cross  section 

NO.   1145,  VOL.  44] 


was  about  five  million  square  feet  (5000  feet  wide  by 
1000  deep),  at  an  average  rate  of  40  feet  a  day  (70  feet 
in  the  centre  and  10  near  the  margin).  It  was,  however, 
evident  that  this  glacier,  for  some  time  past,  had  been  re- 
treating ;  indeed,  fresh  striations  and  dibris  could  be 
traced  to  more  than  2500  feet  above  its  present  surface. 
Dr.  Wright  also  found  below  the  end  of  the  ice  the  dead 
stumps  of  a  forest  of  cedar  trees,  erect,  and  rooted  in  a 
clayey  soil,  but  buried  beneath  glacial  gravel.  Probably 
this  was  deposited  by  streams,  flowing  from  the  advancing 
ice,  which  afterwards  overrode  the  mass. 

Dr.  Wright  estimates  the  amount  of  sediment  which  is 
now  being  washed  down  from  the  basin  of  the  Muir 
Glacier  as  equal  to  nearly  one-third  of  an  inch  per  annum 
over  the  total  area  (1200  square  miles)  which  it  occupies. 
In  regard  to  the  vexed  question  of  the  excavatOry  powers 
of  glaciers,  Dr.  Wright  expresses  himself,  as  a  rule, 
cautiously,  ascribing  to  them  the  formation  of  true  rock- 
basins  under  favourable  circumstances,  but  laying  stress 
upon  the  fact* that,  in  the  lower  part  of  their  course,  where 
they  are  beginning  to  spread  out  over  the  lowlands,  they 
can  pass,  as  in  the  case  mentioned  above,  over  quite 
incoherent  materials,  without  disturbing  them.  It  also 
seems  to  follow  from  his  remarks  that  he  regards  glaciers 
as  agents  of  abrasion  rather  than  of  erosion,  in  which  we 
have  no  doubt  he  is  correct.  As  another  indication  of 
his  general  caution  and  candour,  we  may  note  that  he  is 
careful  to  point  out  that  striated  stones  and  rock  surfaces 
do  not  always  prove  the  former  presence  of  a  glacier,  and 
may  not  even  have  been  produced  by  the  action  of  ice. 

A  large  part  of  the  book  is  devoted,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  to  a  description  of  the  glaciated  area  in  North 
America.  The  boundary  of  this,  as  Dr.  Wright  explains, 
is  sometimes  distinctly  marked  by  a  terminal  moraine,  at 
others  it  is  less  definite,  being  only  vaguely  indicated  by 
scattered  dibris.  But  in  his  opinion — and  here  he  ex- 
presses the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  American  geo- 
logists— there  was  a  time  when  a  large  part  of  Northern 
America  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  buried  beneath 
a  mass  of  ice.  There  is,  indeed,  a  driftless  area  in 
Wisconsin,  which  may  have  formed  a  kind  of  jardin 
on  a  gigantic  scale,  in  this  huge  mer  de  glace y  but,  speak- 
ing generally,  the  whole  region  of  the  great  lakes  was 
covered  by  an  ice- sheet  which  came  down  to  the  sea  at 
Long  Island  and  traversed  the  northern  part  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  thence  its  irregular  frontal  margin  can  be 
traced  to  the  south-west,  until,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  it  reaches  almost  as  far  south  as  the  37th 
parallel  of  latitude.  Of  the  various  indications  of  this 
vanished  ice-sheet,  the  smoothed  and  striated  surfaces  of 
rock,  the  moraines  and  boulder  clays,  the  "  kames  "  and 
'^drumlins,"  Dr.  Wright  gives  careful  descriptions  and 
illustrations,  usually  taken  from  photographs,  so  that  the 
evidence  is  presented  as  clearly  as  is  possible  to  the 
reader.  To  the  last-named  phenomena — the  "kames" 
and  "drumlins" — and  some  curious  hollows  which  he 
calls  *'  kettle-holes,"  Dr.  Wright  devotes  much  attention. 
The  first  he  regards  as  indicative  of  lines  of  drainage 
in  the  closing  stage  of  the  Ice  Age ;  the  second,  as 
early  terminal  moraines,  modified  in  shape  by  the  sub- 
sequent passage  of  the  ice  over  them,  and  so  anterior  in 
date  to  the  kames.  The  kettle-holes  occur  among 
morainic  deposits,  and    are   thus    explained: — As   the 

AA 


538 


NA  TURE 


[October  8,  1891 


ice  is  retreating,  a  mass  of  it  may  be  insulated ;  as 
this  melts,  the  superincumbent  material  tends  to  slip 
towards  the  edges,  and  thus  to  form  a  ring  of  d^ris^  by 
whichy  after  the  ice  has  disappeared,  a  hollow  is  inclosed. 
Dr.  Wright  also  adopts  the  opinion,  maintained  by  Prof. 
Claypole,  the  late  Prof.  H.  C.  Lewis,  and  others,  that  one 
effect  of  the  advance  of  this  great  mass  of  ice  was  to 
obstruct  the  flow  of  all  rivers  which  take  a  northerly 
course,  and  thus  to  convert  their  valleys  into  lakes. 

But  into  a  discussion  of  this  interesting  question,  and 
of  the  cause  of  the  glacial  epoch,  to  which  a  considerable 
space  is  devoted,  we  must  not  now  enter.  We  must  also 
pass  over  the  questions  relating  to  the  date  of  the  glacial 
epoch  and  its  relation  to  the  first  [appearance  of  meni 
merely  stating  that  Dr.  Wright  inclines  to  regard  the 
latter  as  pre-glacial,  but  the  former  as  less  remote  than 
is  generally  supposed.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that  he 
appears  to  be  a  careful  observer,  and  generally  a  cautious 
reasoner,  though  slightly  too  prone  to  quote  the  remarks 
of  others  without  due  criticism  ;  so  that,  on  th^  whole,  his 
book  presents  us  with  a  good  summary  of  the  results  of 
investigations  into  the  glacial  geology  of  North  America, 
and  will  be  valuable  for  purposes  of  reference  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  T.  G.  Bonney. 


THE  TOTAL  REFLECTOMETER  AND  THE 
REFRACTOMETER  FOR  CHEMISTS. 

Das  TotalreJUctometer  und  das  Refractometer  fiir 
CJiemiker,  ihre  Verwendung  in  der  Krystalloptik  und 
xur  Untersuchung  der  Lichtbrechung  von  FlUssig- 
keiten.  Von  Dr.  C.  Pulfrich,  Privatdocenten  an  der 
Universitat  Bonn,  und  Assistenten  des  physikalischen 
Instituts.  With  4  Lithographic  Plates  and  45  Figures 
in  the  Text.     (Leipzig  :  W.  Engelmann,  1890.) 

THIS  book  contains  an  exhaustive  account  of  one  of 
the  latest  devices  in  physical  optics  for  investigat- 
ing the  refractive  power  of  uniaxial  and  biaxial  crystals. 
The  idea  of  making  use  of  the  principle  of  total  reflection 
for  this  purpose  is  not  new.    Wollaston,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  brought  forward  a  method  in  which  the 
crystal  plate  under  examination  was  attached  to  a  glass 
prism ;  but,  owing  to  the  experimental  difliculties  involved 
in  this  process,  it  met  with  little  practical  application. 
The  instrument  constructed  by  Kohlrausch  in  1878,  in 
which  the  crystal  plate  was  immersed  in  a  strongly  re- 
fractive liquid,  was  a  distinct   advance,  and  has   been 
much  used.    Within  the  last  ten  years,  also,  Wollaston's 
apparatus  has  been  considerably  improved  by  Fussner 
and  Liebisch.     Both  these  instruments,  however,  have 
still  many  inconveniences,  and   it  is  the  claim  of  the 
author  that  the  method  which  he  has  devised,  and  which 
forms  the  subject  of  the  present  work,  is  free  from  these. 
To  give  some  idea  of  this  method,  without  entering  into 
practical  details,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  state  that  it  consists 
essentially  in  the  replacement  of  the  prismof  the  Wollaston 
instrument  by  a  glass  cylinder,  to  the  upper  plane  surface 
of  which  the  crystal  plate  is  attached.    The  cylinder  can 
be  rotated  about  its  long  axis,  so  that  the  refractive  phe- 
nomena in  all  azimuths  can  be  observed.    This  is  the 
distinguishing  feature  which  forms  the  chief  advantage  of 
the  new  method.    Thus,  by  illuminating  the  crystal  plate 

NO.   II 45,  VOL.  44] 


from  the  side  at  grazing  incidence,  and  slowly  rotating 
the  cylinder,  the  whole  extent  of  the  limiting  curves  of 
total  reflection  comes  under  observation.  By  a  qtedal 
method  of  illumination  from  all  sides  the  limiting  curves 
maybe  received  on  a  screen  beneath  the  cylinder  and  made 
visible  to  a  number  of  observers  ;  e.g,  in  the  case  of  a 
uniaxial  crystal  the  appearance  on  the  screen  will  be  the 
sectional  curves  of  the  wave-surface,  a  circle  and  ask 
ellipse  corresponding  to  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary 
rays. 

The  method  was  first  suggested  by  the  author  four 
years  aga  The  object  of  the  present  work  is  to  give  a 
complete  account  of  the  series  of  measurements  and  ob- 
servations which  have  been  made  with  the  instrument 
since  that  time  with  a  view  to  testing  its  usefulness  and 
trustworthiness.  After  some  preliminary  observations  on 
the  theoretical  principles  involved  in  the  method  of  total 
reflection,  the  author  gives  a  detailed  description  of  the 
construction  of  the  new  instrument  and  the  methods  of 
observation  by  which  it  is  possible  in  a  single  crystal  sec- 
tion to  ascertain  the  position  of  the  axes  of  elasticity,  to 
measure  the  optic  axial  angle'for  diflerent  colours,  and  to 
determine  the  principal  refractive  indices.  Of  special 
interest  is  the  section  on  the  appearances  in  the  direction 
of  the  optic  axes  of  biaxial  crystals.  Observations  made  on  a 
plate  of  asparagine,  cut  parallel  to  the  optic  axial  plane^ 
showed  distinctly  the  eflects  due  to  the  internal  and 
external  conical  refraction,  thus  supplementing  Lloyd's 
experiments  in  demonstrating  the  general  correctness  of 
the  Fresnel  wave- surface.  The  last  section  of  the  book 
deals  with  the  refraction  of  liquids,  and  contains  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  refractometer  for  chemists,  which  is  a  simpli- 
fied form  of  the  total  reflectometer,  in  which  a  prism 
replaces  the  cylinder.  Altogether,  a  perusal  of  the  work 
leaves  the  impression  that  the  invention  of  this  ingenious 
and  yet  comparatively  simple  method  for  investigating 
the  refractive  power  of  doubly  refractive  media  marks  a 
decided  advance  in  physical  science;  and  the  author 
appears  to  have  quite  substantiated  his  claim  to  have 
made  the  total  reflection  method,  which  has  long  bees 
recognized  as  theoretically 'the  most  promising,  also  a 
thoroughly  practical  one.  G.  T.  P* 


A  WEATHER  RECORD 
OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Const deractones  iemperiei  pro  7  anniSy  per  Magistrem 
Wilhelmum  Merle,  socium  dotnus  de  Merion.  Repro- 
duced and  Translated  under  the  supervision  of  G.  J. 
Symons,  F.R.S.     (London  :  Edward  Stanford,  1891.) 

IN  January  1337,  barely  forty-five  years  after  the  death 
of  Roger  Bacon,  and  ten  years  after  the  accession 
of  King  Edward  the  Third,  William  Merle,  a  Fellow  of 
Merton  College,  and  Rector  of  Driby,  in  Lincolnshire, 
commenced  a  journal  of  the  current  weather  as  expe- 
rienced partly  at  his  rectory  "in  Lyndesay,  near  the 
north-east  coast,"  and  partly  at  Oxford.  This  journal  he 
continued  month  by  month  for  seven  years,  or  up  to 
three  years  before  his  death,  the  notices  of  the  last  four 
years  being  considerably  amplified  over  the  earlier  entries; 
and  the  original  manuscript,  still  preserved  in  the  Bod- 
leian Library,  has  now,  thanks  to  the  initiation  of  Mr. 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


539 


^. 


G.  J.  Symons,  been  reproduced  in  facsimile  by  pho- 
tography, translated  from  the  monkish  Latin  of  the 
original  text  by  Miss  Parker,  and  published  in  a  hand- 
some small  folio  volume,  of  which  one  hundred  copies 
have  been  printed.  It  is  probably,  as  stated  on  the 
title-page,  the  earliest  known  weather  journal  in  the 
wrorld. 

The  manuscript  consists  of  nine  and  a  half  pages  of 
abbreviated  Latin,  written  on  vellum  in  a  distinct  and 
easily  decipherable  text,  and  is  apparently  in  excellent 
preservation.  It  is  bound  up  with  a  number  of  other 
manuscript  treatises  (one  of  which  is  also  by  Merle) 
dealing  with  weather  prognostication,  astrological  lore, 
and  other  subjects  which,  according  to  the  scientific 
views  of  the  day,  were  nearly  related  branches  of  know- 
ledge. Some  of  these  treatises  were  collected,  and  some 
written  by,  William  Reed,  who  was  Bishop  of  Chichester 
from  1369  to  1386,  and  who  bequeathed  them  to  scholars 
of  Merton,  "  being  of  his  kin."  Subsequently,  the  volume 
passed  into  the  possession  of  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  who, 
in  1634,  presented  it,  together  with  other  manuscripts,  to 
the  Bodleian  Library.  It  is  interesting  and  not  un- 
instructive  to  note  how  modest  a  figure  is  cut,  in  this 
scientific  record  of  the  fourteenth  century,  by  the  few 
pages  of  original  observation  amid  the  mass  of  specu- 
lative writings  in  which  they  are  buried  ;  and  how  in  the 
nineteenth  century  they  alone  retain  all  their  pristine 
value,  and  are  resuscitated  with  all  the  honours  of /a^- 
sindle  reproduction,  while  the  learned  treatises  on  the 
corjunctions  of  the  planets,  the  lunar  mansions,  and 
rules  for  prognosticating  the  weather,  are  left  undisturbed 
in  the  musty  dignity  in  which  they  have  reposed  for  more 
than  five  centuries. 

As  already  remarked,  Merle's  entries  are  at  first  very 
brief,  the  notice  of  each  month's  weather  seldom  exceed- 
ing two  lines  of  the  manuscript.  Thus  for  January  1337 
we  find : — 

"In  January  there  was  warmth  with  moderate  dryness, 
and  m  the  previous  winter  [or  the  previous  part  of  the 
same  winter  ?]  there  had  not  been  any  considerable  cold 
or  humidity,  but  more  dryness  and  warmth." 

Gradually,  however,  the  notes  expand,  and  it  is  not  a 
little  interesting  to  trace  how  by  degrees  the  journalist's 
growing  interest  in  his  probably  novel  undertaking  leads 
him  to  record  more  and  more  in  detail  the  facts  that  pre- 
sent themselves  to  his  daily  observation.  Thus  from  a 
brief  general  summary  of  the  characteristic  weather  of 
the  month,  as  illustrated  in  the  above  quotation,  at  the 
end  of  the  year  he  proceeds  to  record  the  character  of 
each  week,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  third  year  (1339)  he 
begins  to  notice  the  weather  of  a  few  special  days.  From 
the  beginning  of  1340  greater  amplification  is  indulged 
in  ;  the  monthly  notes  often  expand  to  six  or  eight  lines, 
and  in  the  final  year  of  the  record  (1343)  sometimes  to 
from  ten  to  fourteen  lines.  In  illustration  of  these  more 
detailed  entries,  the  notice  for  July  1343  may  be 
quoted  : — 

"  July.— Considerable  heat  on  the  first  five  days,  and  it 
was  great  on  the  3rd  and  4th.  On  the  4th,  two  or  three  hours 
before  sunset,  heavy  thunder  began  with  more  vivid  light- 
oing  than  I  think  I  had  ever  seen,  which  lasted  until  mid- 
night, with  heavy  rain.  5th,  light  thunder  about  sunset. 
On  the  6th  day  and  throughout  the  second  week  it  was 
JJJO.   II 45,  VOL.  44] 


gloomy,  and  there  was  a  slight  fog  occasionally.  12th, 
light  rain  ;  14th,  gloomy  ;  15th,  and  three  followmg  days,: 
considerable  heat ;  19th,  rain  which  penetrated  a  good> 
deal ;  2otb,  light  rain  ;  22nd,  rain ;  25th,  heavy  rain,  with 
heavy  thunder  in  the  night,  and  also  in  the  morning  of 
the  following  day.  All  the  remainder  was  rainy,  with 
fog,  and  rain  in  small  drops,  and  it  was  gloomy  the  whole 
time.  28th  in  the  night,  and  29th  in  the  morning,  thunder, 
with  heavy  rain.  There  was  lightning  with  the  last  two 
thunderstorms." 

For  the  last  four  years,  indeed,  Merle's  notes  are  suffi- 
ciently ample  to  allow  of  a  fair  estimate  of  the  weather 
of  those  years  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  present  day, 
and  perhaps  some  such  comparison  may  be  instituted  by 
those  who  have  at  command  the  ample  registers  of  our 
own  time  for  the  same  part  of  Lincolnshire.  Seeing  how 
great  have  been  the  changes  wrought  in  the  character  of 
the  surface  of  the  country,  by  the  clearing  of  forests, 
drainage,  and  the  extension  of  agriculture,  such  a  com- 
parison may  possibly  furnish  matter  of  great  interest. 

The  fourteenth  century  is  sadly  memorable  for  the 
disastrous  famines  and  pestilences  that  then  desolated 
England,  and  above  all  for  the  **  Black  Death,"  which 
half  depopulated  the  realm,  and  was  nowhere  more  fatal 
than  in  East  Anglia.  But  this  last  did  not  make  its  first 
appearance  until  the  end  of  1348,  about  a  year  after 
Merle's  death,  and  nearly  five  years  after  the  conclusion 
of  his  journal,  which  ends  abruptly  with  January  1344; 
and  although  a  severe  famine  is  recorded  in  1335,  and 
another  in  1353,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  the  years 
included  in  his  register  was  especially  disastrous.  The 
famine  of  1335  is  said  to  have  been  due  to  excessive  rain, 
and  we  may  perhaps  hazard  the  surmise  that  the  recent 
memory  of  this  visitation  was  the  stimulus  that  induced 
Merle  to  record  these  interesting  notes,  which  good 
fortune  has  preserved  for  us  through  five  and  a  half 
centuries.  H.  F.  B. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  South  Italian  Volcanoes,  Being  the  Account  of  an 
Excursion  to  them  made  by  English  and  other  Geologists 
in  1 889,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Geologists'  Association 
of  London,  with  Papers  on  the  Different  Localities  by 
Messrs.  Johnston-Lavis,  Platania,  Sambon,  Zezi,  and 
Madame  Antonia  Lavis  ;  including  the  Bibliography  of 
the  Volcanic  Districts,  and  Sixteen  Plates.  Edited 
by  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis,  M.D.,  F.G  S.,  &c.  Pp.  342. 
(Naples:  F.  Furchheim,  1891.) 

In  this  useful  volume.  Dr.  Johnston-Lavis  has  issued 
reprints  of  his  report  on  the  Italian  excursion  made  by 
the  members  of  the  Geologists'  Association  under  his 
direction,  and  of  his  abridged  sketch  of  the  geology  of 
Vesuvius  and  Monte  Somma,  already  noticed  in  this 
journal.  These  reprints  are  accompanied  by  several 
interesting  original  papers—namely,  one  on  the  thermo- 
mineral  and  gas  springs  of  Sujo,  near  Roccamonfina,  by 
Dr.  Johnston-  Lavis  himself ;  one  on  thegeology  of  Acireale, 
by  Signor  G.  Platania ;  another  entitled  **  Notes  on  the 
Eolian  Islands  and  on  Pumice-stone,"  by  Dr.  L.  Sambon  ; 
and  lastly  a  chapter  on  "The  Travertine  and  Acque 
Albule  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tivoli,"  by  Signor  Pietro 
Zezi.  These  various  memoirs  occupy  88  pages  of  the 
volume,  the  remainder  being  devoted  to  a  very  useful 
bibliography  of  Italian  vulcanology,  compiled  by  Dr. 
Johnston-Lavis  and  Madame  Antonia  F.  Lavis. 

Not  the  least  valuable  portion  of  the  work  is  the  series 
of  beautiful  photographs  taken  by  Dr.  Johnston-Lavis  from 


540 


NA  TURE 


[October  8,  1891 


well-selected  points  of  view,  and  admirably  reproduced  as 
small  quarto  plates.  These  plates  are  striking  illustrations 
of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  instantaneous  photo- 
graphy as  an  aid  to  vulcanological  study.  Among  them 
are  very  instructive  views  of  explosive  outbursts  from  the 
craters  of  Stromboli  and  Vulcano.  In  the  case  of  the 
small  explosions  from  the  first-mentioned  volcano,  the 
ejected  fragments  are  seen  in  the  midst  of  the  steam- 
douds  ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  more  violent  eruptions  from 
Vulcano  several  phases  in  the  same  outburst  have  been 
caught  at  intervals  of  a  few  seconds.  Those  who  already 
know  this  very  interesting  district  will  be  glad  to  have 
their  recollections  revived  by  these  admirable  plates ; 
and  those  who  have  never  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  the 
South  Italian  volcanoes  may  obtain  from  these  remarkable 
photographs  a  much  better  idea  of  the  localities  than  any 
descriptions  or  drawings  can  possibly  give. 

Buried  Cities  and  Bible  Countries,  By  George  St.  Clair, 
F.G.S.  (London  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner,  and 
Co.,  1 891.) 

Everyone  knows  that  recent  archaeological  research 
has  brought  to  light  a  vast  number  of  facts  which  are 
directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  ancient  Hebrew 
history.  The  object  of  the  author  of  the  present  work  is 
to  set  forth  the  more  important  of  these  facts,  and  to 
explain  their  significance.  He  deals  with  the  results  of 
exploration  in  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Mesopotamia ;  and 
he  has  a  chapter  on  Jerusalem,  with  regard  to  the  topo- 
graphy of  which  he  has  been  led  to  conclusions  different 
from  those  of  other  writers.  The  book  has  been 
prepared  for  the  benefit  of  persons  "  who  have  no 
time  to  follow  the  course  of  exploration,  and  no  taste  for 
technical  details'* ;  and  readers  of  this  class  will  find  in 
it  much  that  will  be  to  them  both  new  and  interesting. 
The  value  of  the  text  is  increased  by  good  maps,  plans, 
and  other  illustrations. 

Food^  Physiology^  &*c.  By  William  Durham,  F.R.S.E. 
(London  and  Edinburgh:  A.  and  C.  Black,  1891.) 

This  is  the  third  volume  of  a  series  by  Mr.  Durham, 
entitled  "  Science  in  Plain  Language."  The  author  does 
not  pretend  to  say  anything  new,  but  he  has  brought 
together,  and  arranged  clearly,  a  mass  of  facts  which 
will  no  doubt  be  of  interest,  and  may  be  of  practical 
service,  to  many  readers  who  have  neither  time  nor 
inclination  for  the  study  of  more  elaborate  treatises.  He 
begins  with  the  consideration  of  solid  and  liquid  foods, 
then  gives  some  account  of  the  constituents  of  food,  and 
finally  sketches  the  structure  and  functions  of  the  bodily 
organs. 

Blacki^s  Science  Readers,  (London  :  Blackie  and  Son, 
1891.) 

The  aim  of  this  series  is  to  arouse  the  interest  of  children 
in  the  common  objects  of  the  natural  world,  and  to  give 
them  some  insight  into  the  processes  by  which  articles  of 
ordinary  use  are  produced.  The  idea  is  excellent,  and  has 
been  very  successfully  worked  out.  The  series  consists 
of  five  little  volumes,  the  first  two  of  which  present  some 
**  lessons  on  common  objects."  From  the  third  volume 
the  reader  will  learn  something  about  the  simple  principles 
of  classification  ;  about  substances  used  in  arts  and  manu- 
factures ;  about  phenomena  of  earth  and  atmosphere  ; 
and  about  matter  in  three  states— solids,  liquids,  and 
gases.  The  fourth  and  fifth  volumes — by  the  Rev. 
Theodore  Wood— deal  with  animal  and  plant  life.  The 
facts  set  forth  have  been  carefully  selected,  and  they  are 
presented  in  a  bright,  easy,  natural  style  which  cannot 
fail  to  make  them  at  once  intelligible  and  attractive. 
Good  teachers  will  find  the  series  of  real  service  in 
helping  them  to  foster  in  the  minds  of  their  pupils  a  love 
of  accurate  observation  and  independent  reasoning. 

NO.   1 145,  VOL.  44] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

\Th€  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex' 
pressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertcke 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  qf'SATURK. 
No  notice  is  tahen  of  anonymous  communicationsJ] 

Comparative  Palatability. 

With  the  view  of  supplementing  the  experiments  carried  oat 
last  year  by  Mr.  F.  Finn  and  myself  (Nature,  vol.  xlii.  ppu 
571,  572),  I  have  been  feeding,  during  August  and  September, 
specimens  of  the  common  frog  and  toad. 

Among  Hymenoptera,  Bombi  are  readily  taken  by  frogs.  I 
have  records  of  B,  lapidarius  (drones  and  workers),  terrestris 
(queens  and  workers),  and  muscorum  (drones  and  workers). 
On  one  occasion  only  a  freely-feeding  frog  refused  to  atiack  for 
the  second  time  a  large  queen  of  terrestris,  which  had  stung  its 
mouth.  Many  of  the  insects  were,  however,  thus  taken  at  the  second 
attempt.  The  common  wasp  was  eaten  eagerly  by  frogs  and 
toads.  I  was  again  unfortunate  in  not  taking  any  Chrysidid^ 
Sirex  gigcu  was  attacked  both  by  a  frog,  for  which  it  seemed  too 
large,  and  by  a  toad,  under  whose  lip  it  appeared  to  insert  its 
ovipositor.  Neither  animal  ventured  to  seize  it  again— certainly 
for  an  hour  or  so.  I  was  then  obliged  to  abandon  the  observa* 
tion.     I  could  get  no  large  ichneumons. 

Of  Lepidoptera,  Vanessa  urtica  was  taken  by  frogs  and  toads, 
and  V,  io  by  a  frog.  Three  or  four  specimens  of  Pieris  rap^ 
and  napi  would  be  taken  in  succession  by  a  frog,  which  also  ate 
P.  brassica.  The  insects'  flutterings  did  not  seem  to  matter  : 
more  than  once  they  were  taken  on  the  wing.  A  toad  once  took 
P.  rapa,  I  was  surprised  to  see  a  frog  seize  a  dead  specimen  of 
this  butterfly,  which  had  been  lying  for  several  hours  in  the  in- 
closure.  It  was  partially  swallowed,  but  rejected  after  some 
seconds — having  unfortunately  been  taken  together  with  some 
cedar  needles.  Plusia  gamma  was  eaten  eagerly  by  both  frogs 
and  toads.  Hairy  caterpillars  {e.g.  of  Orgyia  antiqua  and 
Spilosoma  sp.)  were  taken  by  a  frog.  Smooth  green  larvae  were 
eaten  g^edily. 

Of  Diptera,  Eristalis  tenax  was  eagerly  seized  by  frogs  and 
toads.     A  red-tailed,  long-winged  fly  was  eaten  by  a  frog. 

Blatta  orientcUis  was  taken  without  hesitation  ;  as  were,  of 
course,  earthworms. 

Of  three  frogs  under  observation,  only  one  was  of  much  work- 
ing value.  This  specimen  (a  male)  became  in  a  fortnight  «o 
tame  as  to  attempt  to  take  the  handle  of  the  butterfly-net  with 
which  I  placed  the  insects,  &c.,  in  the  indosure.  This  fact  re- 
calls Mr.  £.  B.  Poulton's  observation,  that  his  tree-frogs  seized 
the  end  of  the  forceps  with  which  food  was  given  them. 

It  is,  perhaps,  worthy  of  notice  that  the  larvae  of  the  blow-flj, 
though  eaten  eagerly  by  toads,  are  frequently  passed  whole  from 
the  body ;  and  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  with  diflScultj 
digested. 

Want  of  time  has  prevented  my  experimenting,  as  I  bad 
wished  to  do,  with  Salamandra  maculosa,  Mr.  F-»  Finn  ofiaed 
a  specimen  to  ducks,  which  will  eat  the  small  newt,  and  found 
that  though  more  than  one  bird  observed  it,  and  one  even  ran 
towards  it,  it  was  not  touched.  The  observation  extended  over 
more  than  an  hour.  E.  B.  Titchenkr. 

Mote  House,  Mote  Road,  Maidstone,  September  25. 


Alum  Solution. 

Dans  le  no.  1141  de  votre  excellente  Revue,  M.  Na{uer 
Draper  demande  pour  quelle  raison  la  solution  d'aJun  a  etc  uni- 
versellement  adoptee  pour  I'absorption  des  radiations  de  grande 
longueur  d'onde.  Ce  n'est  point  pour  repondre  a  cette  questtoa 
que  je  vous  ecris,  car,  pas  plus  que  votre  correspondant,  je  oe 
connais  d'experiences  directes  suffisamment  exactes  desquelles  ii 
r^sulterait  que  la  solution  d'alun  absorbe  plus  que  I'ean  pore. 
Je  hasarderai,  cependant,  une  explication :  Teau  est  nn  des 
liquides  transparents  les  plus  absorbants  ;  I'alun  occupe  un  rang 
analogue  parmi  les  solides  ;  en  dehors  de  toute  verification,  si 
Tabsorption  selective  de  chacun  de  ces  corps  s'exerce  sur  cdc 
partie  differente  du  spectre,  on  peut  supposer  que  leur  melange 
exerce  une  absorption  plus  complete  que  chacun  des  corps  piis 
isolement. 

A  cette  occasion,  je  prendrai  la  liberie  de  relever  une  enear 
que  Ton  a  frequemment  commise  dans  ces  demiers  temps  82 
sujet  de  I'absorption  des  radiations  infra-rouges  par  I'ean.     Os  i 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


541 


oontume  de  definir  le  reodement  d'un  foyer  de  lumi^re  par  le 
nppoit  de  reaeigie  situee  dans  la  partie  visible  du  spectre  ^ 
I'energie  totale  rayonnee  par  le  foyer.  Sans  insLster  sur  ce  que 
cette  definition  a  de  d^fectueux  (je  traiterai  prochainement 
oette  question  dans  la  ReTme  ginirale  des  Sciences),  je  rappel- 
lerai  ^u'on  mesure  d'ordinaire  le  rendement  en  recevant 
sncoessiyement  sur  un  radiom^tre  quelconque  (pile  de  Melloni, 
bolomMre,  radiomicrom^tre  de  Boys)  la  radiation  totale  du 
foyer,  et  la  radiation  qui  a  traverse  une  certaine  ^paisseur  d'eau  ; 
on  admet  que  les  radiations  obscures  ont  ^t^  retenues,  et  on  fait 
le  quotient  de  ces  deux  quantites.  Aucun  physicien,  je  suppose, 
ne  croit  que  Tabsorption  par  I'eau  commence  k  Tendroit  pr^is 
oil  cesse  la  vision,  et  devient  imm^iatement  totale,  mais  on 
pense  en  general  que  le  resultat  ainsi  obtenu  est  assez  approch^. 

Or  nous  pouvons  determiner  directement  le  rendement  photo- 
g^nique  d'une  source  en  mesurant  la  superficie  des  courbes 
d'^ergie  rayonnante  visible  et  invisible.  En  partant  des 
nombres  de  M.  Langley,  on  trouve  ainsi,  pour  le  rendement 
d'une  lampe  k  gaz  une  valeur  comprise  entre  I  et  2  pour  cent. 
D'antre  part,  les  recherches  de  M.  Knut  Angstrom  ont  montr^ 
que  Tabsorption  par  I'eau  est  presque  nuUe  pour  X  =  i/a,  et  n'est 
totale  qu'i  partir  de  A  =  2^  environ.  Une  couche  ^paisse  d'eau 
laisse  passer  pres  de  10  pour  cent  de  I'energie  rayonnante 
iovisibie.  La  m^thode  ordinaire  donnerait  done,  pour  le 
rendement  d'une  lampe  k  gaz,  11  i  12  pour  cent,  c'est  k  dire 
one  quantite  sue  fois  trop  forte. 

Je  ne  quitterai  pas  ce  sujet  sans  faire  remarquer  le  singulier 
usage  en  vertu  duquei  la  puissance  de  la  radiation  solaire 
est  rapport^  k  la  minute,  tandis  que  toutes  les  puissances 
possibles — cheval,  horse-power,  watt,  ainsi  que  toutes  les  radia- 
tions— sont  exprim^s  par  rapport  k  la  seconde.  II  serait  temps 
de  fiure  disparaftre  cette  anomalie. 

Ch.  Ed.  Guillaume. 

Pavilion  de  Breteuil,  Sevres,  France, 
25  septembre,  1891. 


Weather  Cycles. 

With  reference  to  this  most  interesting  question,  may  I  be 
allowed  to  call  attention  to  the  following  figures  ?  Having  had 
to  consult  Dr.  Rutty's  ''Natural  History  of  Dublin,"  1772,  vol. 
ii.y  I  casually  found  on  p.  353  of  that  volume,  in  his  remarkable 
detailed  registry  of  the  weather  in  Dublin  for  a  long  series  of 
years,  the  following  remark :  "  It  has  been  remarked  that  the 
following  years  were  memorable  for  great  frosts  in  England, 
viz.  1638,  1661,  1684,  1708,  1716,  1739."  Now  the  intervals 
between  these  dates  are  23,  23,  24,  8,  23.  He  further  remarks, 
on  p.  368  : — '*  It  is  to  be  observed  that  whereas  since  the  great 
frost  of  1739,  until  the  latter  end  of  the  present  summer,  1744, 
we  had  generally  an  unusual  prevalence  of  dry  weather,  in 
autumn  our  usual  wet  weather  returned."  It  may  be  remarked 
that  the  interval  of  23  years  is  about  double  the  sun-spot  period, 
and  furthermore  that  the  years  mentioned  by  Rutty  correspond 
roughly  with  years  of  sun-spot  minima  or  maxima  as  given  in 
Wolfs  Catalogue,  mentioned  by  Guillemln  in  his  work  '*  Le 
Ciel "  (1877),  P*  104.  This  correspondence  would  appear  as 
follows : — 


Sun-spot  Year. 

Interval. 

Great  c^Ids. 
1638 

Interval. 

1639-5  min. 

205 

23 

1660     min. 

1661 

25 

23 

1685     min. 

16^4 

20 '5 

24 

1705*5  min. 

1708 

125 

8 

1718     min. 

1716 

207 

23 

1738  7  min. 

1739 

16-8  1 

'5) 

1755  5  max. 

[22-8 

1754 

23 

60) 

8 

1761-5  max. 

1762 

J.  p.  O'Reilly. 
Royal  Coll<^e  of  Science  for  Ireland,  Stephen's  Green, 

Dublin,  September  25. 

NO.   II 45,  VOL.  44] 


Occurrence  of  the  Ringed  Snake  in  the  Sea. 

The  readiness  with  which  the  British  snake  {Tropidonoius 
natrix)  will  enter  fresh  water  is  well  known.  Its  occurrence  in 
the  sea  seems  anomalous,  and  therefore  I  venture  to  submit  the 
following  details. 

The  specimen  in  question  was  seen  on  September  7,  from  a 
small  boat  on  the  east  coast  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  while  about 
a  thousand  yards  distant  from  the  shore,  and  about  midway 
between  Shanklin  and  Luccombe  Chines.  When  first  seen  it 
was  swimming  straight  out  to  sea — viz.  in  an  easterly  direction. 
The  sea  was  ^m  and  a  strong  current  was  flowing  from  the 
south,  so  that  the  creature  was  swimming  across  the  current. 
At  first  it  took  no  notice  of  the  boat,  but  as  the  boat  was  rowed 
towards  it,  it  changed  its  course  and  swam  directly  away  from 
the  boat.  It  was  soon  captured,  and  found  to  be  uninjured  and 
in  good  condition.  Upon  dissection  it  proved  to  be  a  male ; 
the  entire  alimentary  canal  was  absolutely  empty.  The  internal 
organs  were  free  from  disease  or  other  abnormality.  It  measured 
33  inches  in  length.  It  is  most  probable  that  this  snake  entered 
the  sea  about  a  mUe  from  where  it  was  obtained,  as  the  beach 
is  bounded  by  almost  perpendicular  cliffs,  some  300  feet  high,  at 
that  place.  J.  Cowper. 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. 

Mr.  Wilson's  letter  in  your  issue  of  September  24  (p.  494), 
recalls  what  I  myself  saw  on  the  same  evenmg.  On  Friday,  the 
nth,  I  was  returning  with  a  friend  to  town  after  a  day's  ramble 
in  Epping  Forest.  We  caught  the  8. 36  p.m.  train  at  Epping, 
which  b  due  at  Woodford  at  8.59,  and  was,  I  think,  only  a  few 
minutes  late.  Just  as  the  train  was  nearing  Woodford  Station, 
my  friend  and  myself  simultaneously  noticed  a  luminous  band, 
such  as  that  observed  by  Mr.  Wilson,  and  extending  from  the 
horizon  almost  to  the  zenith.  Our  first  unreflecting  thought  was 
to  refer  it  to  the  revolving  light  at  the  Naval  Exhibition,  only  it 
did  not  revolve,  and  the  direction  was  quite  wrong.  The  fact  that 
both  of  us  thought  of  this  is  indicative  of  the  appearance  which 
the  luminous  beam  bore.  The  night  was  clear  and  starlit,  and  I 
observed  that  the  point  in  the  horizon  from  which  the  beam  rose 
was  almost  under  the  Great  Bear,  but  a  little  to  the  left  as  I 
fact  d  it.  We  saw  it  only  for  a  minute  or  two  before  it  was 
hidden  from  us  by  the  shed  of  Woodford  Station,  in  which, 
station  we  stayed  for  what  seemed  a  long  while.  When  we  got 
into  the  open  country  again,  the  phenomenon  had  disappeared.  I 
may  add,  that  my  own  eye  being  unfortunately  defective  for  red,  I 
asked  my  companion  if  he  noticed  any  red  tinge  in  the  light,  and 
he  answered  that  it  seemed  quite  white. 

Burlington  House.  Herbert  Rix. 

The  narrow  luminous  band  described  in  Nature,  September 
24  (p.  494)  was  seen  here  on  Friday,  the  nth  inst.,  between 
8.30  and  9  p.m.,  at  the  same  time  at  which  it  was  seen  by  Mr. 
Wilson  in  the  county  Westmeath,  but  about  twenty-two  hours 
later  than  it  was  seen  by  Prof.  Copeland  in  Aberdeenshire.  It 
passed  close  south  of  Cassiopeia,  and  nearly  through  the  zenith. 
Half  an  hour  later  it  had  drifted  8**  or  10"  southward,  and  had 
become  very  faint. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  very  rapidly  moving 
"comet"  seen  by  Mr.  Eddie  at  Grahamstown,  South  Africa, 
on  October  27,  1890,  ¥ras  a  phenomenon  of  this  kind. 

J.  L.  E.  Dreyer. 

The  Observatory,  Armagh,  September  28. 


The  Heights  of  Auroras. 

The  rare  part  of  the  phenomena  described  by  your  corre- 
spondents is  the  extreme  narrowness  of  the  auroral  arches  seen 
on  the  loth  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  and  on  the  nth  at  Ryde. 
I  take  all  the  other  descriptions  on  the  iilh  to  refer  to  one  arch 
— a  different  one  from  that  seen  at  Ryde  ;  and  it  was  a  much 
wider  one,  and  therefore  less  unusual,  its  width  having  been 
about  5°  as  seen  here.  Your  correspondents  do  not  give  its 
width,  except  that,  as  seen  from  Nottingham,  it  was  evidently 
very  broad,  and  is  not  stated  to  have  been  an  arch  at  all,  though 
I  should  suppose  it  was  one.  The  observation  at  Nottingham 
Forest,  compared  with  those  further  north,  gives  a  good  oppor- 
tunity  for  ascertaining  the  height  of  the  top  of  the  aurora ;  but, 
as  Mr.  A.  Marshall  has  not  given  the  altitude  of  the  base  of  the 
aurora  as  seen  from  Nottingham,  there  are  no  materials  for  cal- 


542 


[October  8,  1891 


culaiing  Ihe  beii>ht  of  that.  I  mode  several  observalions  of  the 
poulino  of  (he  cenlial  line  of  the  itch.  I  m^ht  tptdlj  tlut  at 
9. 25  it  was  uR.  A.  20I1. 4»D.,  Dec).  +  33^°,aiid  R.A.  ob.  43m., 
DecL  +  33°,  and  it  moved  veiy  slowly. 

U  il  not  time  some  sjslemalic  effort  was  made  to  caicnlate 
the  heighla  of  anroras?  A  good  maoy  abservalioos  have  bccD 
TDode  on  thii  point,  showing  great  vaiialion  in  height ;  and  yet, 
beyond  the  conclusion  that  it  seems  probable  tbey  may  be  seen 
al  lown  devations  nearei  the  magnetic  pole  Chan  elsewhere,  ne 
know  nothing  b3  to  whether  ihey  vaiy  in  height  with  the  place, 
Ibe  lime,  or  flie  nature  of  the  auroras.  Now  ia  the  time,  seeing 
that  auroras  appear  to  be  becoming  more  nnmeroiu  than  they 
have  been  for  many  years  past.  T.  W.  Backhousi. 

Weu  Hendon  Hoiue,  Sunderland,  October  ;. 


Frem  One  Hundred  to  Twenty  Thousand  Volts. 

THE  incandescent  lamp  having,  by  1885,  reached  a 
fair  degree  of  perfection,  it  apfieared  that  the  one 
need  still  remaining,  in  connection  with  the  distribution 
of  the  electric  light  over  a  large  area,  would  be  supplied 
by  the  use  of  transformers.  For  a  transformer  with  many 
convolutions  of  fine  insulated  wire  on  one  coil,  and  a  few 
convolulioiu  of  thick  insulated  wire  on  the  other,  would 
transform  a  large  pressure  and  small  current  into  a  smalt 
pressure  and  large  current ;  hence,  if  such  a  transformer 
were  placed  in  each  house,  it  would  be  possible  to  light 
up  even  a  scattered  district  by  a  comparatively  fine  wire 
from  a  central  station,  whereas  previously  it  bad  seemed 


on  or  off.  There  are,  of  course,  two  conditions  to  befil^ 
filled  in  electric  lighting :   one,  that  turning  on  or  oS 

lamps  in  one  house  shall  not  afiect  the  brightnesi  of  the 
lamps  in  any  other  house  ;  the  other,  that  turning  on  or 
off  lamps  in  one  room  shall  not  affect  the  brightness  of  the 
lamps  in  any  other  room  of  the  same  house.  With  traas- 
formers  in  series,  the  first  condition  is  satisfied  by  keeptpf 
the  alternating  current  which  passes  through  the  finewireef 
^'ffMrycof/of  the  transformer  perfectly  constant;  but  this 
does  not  render  the  potential  difference  between  the  wins 
frmnihe  secondary  circuit,  at  house  mains,  independent  of 
the  current  in  this  secondary  circuit— that  is,  independent 
of  the  number  of  lamps  turned  on  in  the  house.  Conse- 
quently, the  series  arrangement  of  transformers  adopted 
by  Messrs.  Gaulard  and  Gibbs,  while  rendering  the  lajnps 
in  one  house  independent  of  those  in  another,  did  not 
attain  the  same  result  for  lamps  in  different  rooms  of  the 
same  house. 

Complaints,  therefore,  became  generaL  Various  nn- 
successfu!  devices  were  tried  to  remedy  this  evil,  when  in 
application  was  received  from  Mr.  Sebastian  Ziani  de 
Ferranti  to  be  allowed  to  try  a  transformer  which  he  Ind 
designed.  The  application  was  accepted,  for  Mr.  Ferranti, 
although  quite  young,  was  already  known  as  having  coa- 
structed  an  ingenious  alternate-current  dynamo,  and  in 
February  18S6  the  charge  of  the  Grosvenor  Galley 
central  station  passed  over  into  Mr.  Ferranti's  bands. 

The  new  engineer  recommended  that  the  system  of 
placing  the  transformers  in  series  should  be  totally  dis- 
carded, and  that  a  parallel  arrangement  should  be  adopted 


jper  conductors  many 
jnt  many  houses  even 
when  at  no  great  distance  from  one  another. 

Hence,  in  the  autumn  of  1885  we  find  Messrs,  Gaulard 
and  Gibbs  making  preparations  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery, 
Bond  Street,  for  establishing  there  the  pioneer  central 
station  for  London. 

But  the  method  they  adopted  was  that  of  placing  the 
transformers  in  series,  as  seen  in  Fig.  3,  and  this  system 
has  the  great  disadvantage  that  the  brightness  of  the 
electric  lamps  in  a  house  cannot  be  kept  automatically 
constant  when  other  lamps  in  ihe  same  house  are  turned 

'  ContiDued  riom  J^-iM' 


KG.  1 145,  VOL.  44] 


in  its  place,  as  in  Fig.  3,  because  a  well-made  transformet 
had  this  important  property— that  if  the  potential  differ- 
ence at  the  terminal^  of  the  primary  coil  were  kept  coo- 
stant,  the  potential  difference  between  the  terminals  i 
the  secondary  coil  would  also  remain  nearly  constant 
whatever  were  the  current  passing  through  this  drcoit; 
so  that  if  the  pressure  between  the  street  mains  wen 
always  kept  the  same,  the  brightness  of  the  lamps  would 
hardly  be  affected  either  by  turning  on  or  ofT  lamps  in 
the  same  or  in  any  other  house. 

Placing  the  transformers  in  parallel,  however,  would 
necessitate  working  at  a  low  pressure,  said  the  press,  and 
would  rob  the  transformer  system  of  all  its  value,  for  "it 
is  surely  not  proposed  for  one  moment  to  work  a  paraUd 
system  where  the  primary  has  a  difference  of  potential  of 
2000  volts."  However,  that  is  exactly  what  Mr.  Ferruti 
not  only  proposed  to  do,  but  what  he  actuall)r  carried  oat 
on  a  iai^e  scale,  so  that  his  mains  by  1888  stretchedfioffi 
Regent's  Park  to  the  Thames,  and  from  Chancery  Lane  tfi 
Hyde  Park,  supplying  current  to  some  20,000  glow-lamps. 
The  Board  of^  Trade  had  made  regulations,  about  K" 
volts  being  the  maximum  pressure  permitted  in  a  house; 
Parliament  bad  passed  the  Electric  Lighting  Act  of  iSSi, 
containing  clauses  rendering  the  development  of  tlic 
electric    lighting  industry  well  nigh  commercially  iio- 

Eossible;  but  Mr.  Ferranti  overcame  all  these  legalities  bf 
ridging  his  mains  from  house-top  to  house-top,  insttid 


October  8,  1891] 


.«f  pntdne  tbetn  under  ibe  streets  and  himself  under  the 
control  of  tbe  authorities. 

But  every  comer  at  the  Bond  Street  central  station 
had  soon  to  be  utilized  ;  a  dvnani' 
one  occasion  to  be  lifted  into  positi 
engine  necessarily  kept  always  ' 


existing  overhead  mains,  and  again  reduced  to  loo  voks 
on  entering  the  houses,  as  before. 

The  scheme  was  a  far-reaching  one  ;  permission  was 
asked  from  the  Baaid  of  Trade  by  tbe  London  Electiic 
Supply  Corporation,  the  outcome  of  the  original  Gtoe- 
venor  Gallery  Syndicate,  to  run  wires  along  27  railways 


"^      ^ 

0^ 

9Pr 

¥"%.            * 

5^  .  ^ 

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mSi 

OT 

,  5V-    ,  - 

^^ 

V    >~,"iifcf . 

^^N^n 

"^^H^^ 

^S 

s| 

rii 

^^^^^H 

5 

^^ 

^-              -.^i^^.V.;'    ■  -^ 

^H 

IK 

1 

constant  supply  of  current  to  the  hoiises.  I 
were  added  daily  to  the  list,  more  and  more  current  had 
to  be  generated  nightly,  in  ihe  face  of  engineering  difh- 
cnlties,  and  in  Ihe  teeth  of  injunctions  against  smoke, 
injunctions  against  dust,  and  injunctions  against  noise. 

A  fresh  start  became  imperatire,  so  it  was  decided  to 
build  at  Deptford,  6  miles  away  from  Bond  Street,  n  vast 


and  through  30  parishes ;  two  dynamos,  each  to  fnmisb 
1250  horse-power  at  10,000  volts,  were  built  with  special 
engines  to  drive  them,  as  seen  in  Fig.  4,  and  a  cable  laid 
to  London.  But  on  starting  the  dynamos,  when  they 
were  completed,  it  was  found  that  the  insulation  of  the 
cable  would  not  stand  io,aoo  nor  even  5000  voks ;  aad 
for  a  time  power  was  supplied  direct  from  Deptford  to 


generating  station,  which  should  be  the  largest  in  the 
«rorld,  and  to  use  the  Grosvcnor  Gallery,  and  probably 
ftesb  sites  to  be  obtained  in  town,  merely  as  traos/ormiDg 
Stations.  In  tbe  mains  between  Deptford  and  London  it 
^ma  decided  to  empitn'  10,000  volts,  to  be  reduced  to 
2400  in  London,  and  the  power  then  distributed  by  the 
NO.   IT45,  VOL.  44] 


the  houses  in  London,  one  transformation  at  the  houses 
themselves  being  alone  cHected. 

Then  Mr.  Ferranti  carried  out  his  original  intention  of 
constructing  the  main  of  two  concentric  copper  ttibcs,  to 
serve  respectively  as  the  going  and  return  conductor. 
The  inner  copper  tube,  20  feet  long,  seen  in  section,  A, 


544 


[OcTonER  8,  1891 


Fig.  5,  has  brown  paper  soaked  in  oioketit  rolled  round 
it  to  a  thickness  of  about  five-eighths  of  an  inch.  Outside 
this  is  slipped  a  larger  copper  tube,  B,  Fig.  5,  and  the 
whole  is  drawn  through  a  taper  die  under  great  pressure, 
which  has  the  effect  of  forcibly  compressing  the  paper 
and  consolidating  the  mass.     Next,  more  brown  paper 


soaked  in  melted  ozokerit  is  rolled  on,  to  a  thickness  of 
one-eighth  of  an  inch,  and  the  whole  slipped  loosely  into 
an  iron  tube,  D,  Fig.  5,  which  protects  the  cable  sub- 
sequently from  mechanical  injury.  To  fill  up  any  air 
spaces  that  may  have  been  left  between  the  iron  and  the 
outer  copper  tubes,  the  2o-feet  section  is  placed  over  a 


The  object  of  using  concentric  tubes  is  twofbld—lirst, 
as  the  outer  copper  tube  is  kept  practically  at  the  poten- 
tial of  the  earth,  it  is  impossible  to  get  a  severe  shock 
unless  the  inner  lube  is  touched,  and  this,  of  course, 
can  only  be  done  by  first  cutting  through  the  outer; 
second,  the  effective  increase  of  the  resistance  and  of  the 
self-induction  which  occurs  with  rapidly  altematiDg  cur- 
rents in  consequence  of  the  mutual  action  ofjthe  currents 
in  different  parts  of  the  conductor  on  one  another  is 
much  less  for  a  given  cross-section  of  copper  with  con- 
centric tubfs  than  with  two  insulated  rods  placed  side  by 
side.  For  example,  Sir  Willi&m  Thomson  has  calculated 
that  if  copper  be  employed  in  the  form  of  a  solid  rod, 
i'2  inch  m  diameter,  the  resistance  for  an  altenuuing 
current  of  a  frequency  of  80  per  second  will  be  31  per 
cenL  greater  than  for  a  steady  current. 

It  is  very  questionable,  however,  whether  these  ad- 
vantages  (if  usinj;  conceiilric   tubes  are  not   more  than 
compen^aied  for  by  the  large  electrostatic  capacity  that 
such  a.  cable  possesses.     For,  as  is  now  fully  recogniied, 
the  combination  of  capacity  and  self-induction  can  by  A  j 
species  of  resonance  cause  the  difference  of  potentiallik  j 
the  circuit  to  be  far  greater  than  the  E.M.F.  of  (i»-'| 
dynamo    ii^elf,   and   in   certain    cases,  very   dangerosdf  1 
greater. 

As  scan  a?  the  Deplford  main  was  constructed  tost 
10,000  vcjlts,  it  was  found  that  one  of  the  dynamos  9 
in  Fig.  -t  broke  down  at  this  pressure,  and  therefore  A 
many  nionihs  the  current  was  sent  from  Deptford  at  01 ' 
5000  vol  ti  ;  next,  the  transformer  room  at  the  Gros 
Gallery  was  buint  down  through  carelessness,  some/ 
worth  of  transformers  destroyed,  and  a  portion  otlmof  j 
don  left  in  darkness  for  two  or  three  weeks-     N 
formers  were  hasiily,  too  hastily,  constructed,  and  I 
current  was  turned  on  again  at   the  commcncem 
last  December  ;  but  after  a   few  days  the  transf 


fire,  and  melted  wax  pumped  in  between  the  two  through 
a  tube  inserted  in  a  hole  drilled  in  the  middle  of  the  iron 
tube. 

Fig.  6  shows  a  cross-section  of  the  finished  main  full 
size,  and  as  the  sectional  area  of  the  metal  in  each  of  the 
copper  tubes  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  square  inch,  the  main 
can  transmit  about  2000  horse-power  at  10,000  volts. 


(ine  after  another,  short-circuited  by  the  electiicJ 
I  ^parking  from  the  primary  coil  to  the  imn 
ti.Lnsformers,  and  all  the  houses  on  the  Londnl 
i^  Supply  Corporation's   system  again  left  in  daffe^i 

uring  the  nearly  perpetual  night  of  a  densely  ft 

The  Metropolitan  Electric  Supply  Company— I 
3l,o  disiribuies  an  alternating  current  by  means «Pl 


Fic.  S.— Femimi  iri 


The  main  heing  constructed  in  lengths  of  only  20  feet,  I 
some  1500  joints  have  had  to  be  made  in  6  miles  of  main, 
or  6500  joints  altogether  in  the  five  mains  which  have 
been  laid  from  London  to  Deptford.  These  joints  have  j 
been  made  without  solder,  in  the  way  shown  in  Figs.  7 
and  8,  pressure  alone  between  the  copper  tubes  having  . 
been  relied  on  to  maintain  good  contact.  I 

NO.    I  145,  VOL.  44] 


transformers,  butfrom  several  central  stations  in  the  taeait 
of  London  itself,  and  therefore  requiring  to  use  only  1000 
volts  and  a  single  transformation— came  to  the  rescue  io 
certain  districts,  but  in  others  the  householders  had  to  be 
left  to  their  fate,  as  it  would  have  been  far  too  expensitv 
10  run  special  mains  from  the  Metropolitan  Compacj"* 
merely  as  a  temporary  expedient- 


October  8,  1891] 


545 


Fioally,  in  March  of  this  year,  current  was  ^ain 
turned  on  from  Ueptibrd,  at  the  pressure  originally  pro- 
posed, viz.  10,000  volts.  IE  was  not,  however,  supplied 
from  the  dynamos  illustrated  in  Fig,  4 ;  but,  instead, 
Messrs.  Deprei  and  Carpentier's  plan  of  transforming 
up  and  transforming  down  again,  illustrated  in  Fig.  I, 
p.  522,  was  employed.  For,  by  this  time,  two  dynamos, 
formerly  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  each  of  600  horse- 
power, bad  been  taken  to  Deptford  and  erected  there,  as 
seen  in  Fig.  9  ;  new  steam-engines,  more  powerful  than 
those  formerly  employed  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  having 
been  constructed  to  drive  them. 

These  dynamos  generate  the  current  at  2400  volts, 
then,  by  means  of  transformers  at  Deptford,  this  is  raised 
to  lo^ocx)  volts.     On  the  power  arriving  in  London,  the 


London  at  a  pressure  which,  even  at  the  end  of  last  year, 
was  deemed  simply  visionary. 

But  as  a  commercial  undertaking  the  Deptford  trans- 
mission is  a  dreary  failure,  since  what  is  the  advantage  of 
hansmitting  the  current  6  miles  that  is  in  any  way  com- 
mensurate with  the  capital  already  expended.^  When 
nwer  can  be  obtained  \'ery  cheaply,  from  a  rapid  river 
■  example,  it  may  be  highly  remunerative  to  transport 
it  in  some  such  way  as  is  now  being  done  between 
Lauffen  and  Frankfort.  But  can  power  be  obtained  so 
much  more  cheaply  at  Deptford  than  in  London  to  make 
it  worth  while  transmitting  it  over  6  mites  i  Land  un- 
doubtedly costs  much  less  down  the  river  than  in  the 
heart  of  Lo 
generating  station  o 


Fic.  9.— Twoofilui 


hoTH-pover  dynamo*  at  the  bmck. 


pressure  is  transformed  down  again  to  2400  volts,  and  at 
the  houses  ibere  is  a  further  transformation  of  this  2400 
volts  to  100  volls.  There  arc,  therefore,  no  less  than 
three  transformations  of  pressure  between  the  dynamo 
terminals  at  Deptford  and  (he  lamps  in  the  houses  in 
London. 

Regarded  as  a  gigantic  experiment  in  electrical  engi- 
neering, the  Deptford  scheme  has  achieved  a  gallant 
victory,  for,  with  a  buoyancy  that  no  disaster  could  crush, 
and  with  the  determination  of  a  Napoleon  to  conquer 
every  mechanical  and  electrical  obstacle  in  the  way,  Mr. 
Ferrantihasslepby  step  succeeded  in  distributing  current 
to  quite  distant  parts  of  London  at  a  pressure  which  in 
1885  was  regarded  as  quite  impracticable,  and  for  the 
last  seven  months  be  has  been  sending  the  power  to 


NO.   1 145,  VOL.  44] 


water  might  perhaps  be  employed  to  work  condensing 
steam-engines  ;  but  such  economies  can  only  compensate 
for  a  fraction  of  the  yearly  interest  on  the  capital  ex- 
pended on  the  Deptford  scheme.  Indeed,  even  if  the 
station  at  Deptford  had  been  built  with  rigid  economy, 
and  only  large  enough  for  the  present  demand,  it  is 
questionable  whether  the  loss  of  power  in  three  trans- 
formations of  the  pressure  would  not  eat  up  much  of  the 
saving  that  could  be  effected  by  having  the  generating 
\  station  quite  out  of  London. 

I  As  it  is,  however,  the  London  Electric  Supply  Company 
I  have  been  so  engrossed  with  the  electric  lighting  of 
London  in  the  future,  that  they  have  practically  ignored 
the  present  wants  of  the  householder  ;  the  vast  building 
at  Deptford  has  been  constructed  lo  carry  a  second  story 


546 


NATURE 


[October  8,  1891 


of  boilers  and  engines,  when  it  is  very  doubtful  if  even 
the  present  story  can  be  wholly  utilized  for  a  long  time  to 
come ;  rows  of  boilers  and  furnaces  were  erected  some 
two  or  three  years  ago  to  supply  steam  to  drive  dynamos 
which  are  not  yet  made ;  tens  of  thousands  of  pounds 
have  been  expended  on  machinery  to  be  employed  in 
constructing  two  ten-thousand  horse- power  dynamos,  and 
the  armature  of  one  of  them,  43  feet  m  diameter,  has  had 
to  be  left  abandoned  only  half  finished,  because  there  is 
neither  money  nor  present  need  for  such  a  dynamo  at 
Deptford. 

And  while  all  these  provisions  for  the  future  electric 
lighting  of  London  on  a  vast  scale  were  slowly  proceeding, 
the  present  customers  were  left  sometimes  for  hours,  some- 
times for  days^and  occasionally  even  for  weeks  in  darkness : 
what  wonder  is  it,  then,  that  all  over  London  there  have 
have  been  growing  up  central  stations  supplying  a  direct 
current  at  low  pressure,  and  that  many  of  the  house- 
holders who  formerly  received  current  from  the  over- 
head wires  of  the  London  Electric  Supply  Corporation 
have  had  their  houses  connected  instead  with  the  low- 
pressure  underground  mains  of  other  companies  ? 

To  the  world  at  large,  however,  the  Deptford  under- 
taking has  been  of  immense  value,  for  it  has  shown  the 
possibility  of  practically  using  the  very  high  potential 
differences  absolutely  necessary  for  economically  trans- 
mitting power  over  such  distances  as  that  between 
Lauffen  and  Frankfort.  Hence,  maintaining  20,000  volts 
between  bare  wires  running  for  109  miles  along  the  side 
of  the  Neckar  railway,  at  a  height  of  only  16  feet  from 
the  ground,  sounds  much  less  startling  now  than  did  Mr. 
Ferranti's  proposal  made  and  acted  on  five  years  ago  to 
bring  only  one-tenth  of  this  pressure,  by  means  of  india- 
rubber  covered  conductors,  into  locked  transformer  rooms 
built  of  brick  in  the  basement  of  the  houses  supplied 
with  current  from  the  Grosvenor  Gallery. 

In  fact,  the  results  that  have  been  attained  through  Mr. 
Ferranti's  undaunted  courage,  and  the  well-filled  purses 
of  his  friends,  have  led  people  to  look  on  a  pressure  of 
20,000  volts  as  they  regard  a  velocity  of  70  miles  an  hour, 
so  that  to  day,  in  order  to  prevent  boys  climbing  up  any 
one  of  the  3000  ordinary  telegraph  poles  which  carry  the 
wires  from  Lauffen  to  Frankfort,  it  is  thought  sufficient 
to  merely  paint  a  skull  and  cross-bones  on  every  post  as 
an  indication  of  the  deadly  fate  that  awaits  the  climber.^ 

i^To  be  continued^ 


ON  VAN  DER  WAALS^S  TREATMENT  OF 
LAP  LACES  PRESSURE  IN  THE  VI RIAL 
EQUATION:  IN  ANSWER  TO  LORD 
RAYLEIGH. 

MY  DEAR  LORD  RAYLEIGH,— As  you  are  aware, 
I  did  not  see  your  letter  of  September  7  (Nature, 
24/9/91}  till  a  fortnight  after  its  date  ;  and  my  reply  has 
been  further  delayed  for  a  week  in  consequence  of  the 
closing  of  Edinburgh  University  Library  at  this  season. 
Even  now  I  can  refer  only  to  the  German  version  of  Van 
der  Waals's  pamphlet. 

Partly  on  account  of  its  unfamiliar  language,  but  more 
especially  on  account  of  a  very  definite  unfavourable 
opinion  expressed  by  Clerk-Maxwell  (Nature,  15/10/74) 
I  did  not  attempt  to  read  the  pamphlet  when  it  appeared  ; 
and  it  was  not  till  1888  that,  in  consequence  of  some  hints 
from  Dr.  H.  Du  Bois,  I  hastily  perused  it  in  its  German  form. 

The  passage  which  you  quote  from  my  paper  (where, 
by  the  way,  the  printers  have  unfortunately  put  resistance 
for  resilience)  is  certainly  not  a  very  accurate  description 
of  Van  der  Waals's  method,  but  it  represents  faithfully  the 
difficulties  which  I  felt  on  first  reading  the  pamphlet.  I 
said  that  Van  der  Waals's  **  justification  of  the  introduction 
of  the  term  ajv^  into  an  account  already  closed,  as  it  were, 

'  We  have  to  thank  the  EUcirician  and  the  Electrical  Review  for  some 
of  the  iUustmdcnt  used  in  this  article. 


escapes  me."  And  I  aun  not  surprised  that  it  did  sa 
For  the  statement  of  Clerk-Maxwell  had  prepared  me  lo 
look  for  error ;  and  when,  at  the  end  of  Chap.  VI.,  I 
met  with  the  formula 

t{v^b)^  R(i  +  a/), 

which,  a  couple  of  pages  later  (nothing  but  general 
reasoning  intervening),  somehow  developed  itself  into 


[p  +  ^^V-b)^K{l+aI), 


I  naturally  concluded  that  this  was  the  matter  adverted 
to.  I  spoke  of  the  first  of  these  equations  as  a  ^  closed 
account,"  because  of  the  process  by  which  b  had  been 
introduced.    To  this  point  I  must  presently  recur. 

I  had  not  examined  with  any  particular  care  the 
opening  chapters,  to  which  your  letter  chiefly  refers; 
probably  having  supposed  them  to  contain  nothing 
beyond  a  statement  and  proof  of  the  Virial  Theorem  (with 
which  I  was  already  familiar)  along  with  a  reproduction 
of  a  good  deal  of  Laplace's  work. 

Of  course  your  account  of  this  earlier  part  of  the 
pamphlet  (which  I  have  now,  for  the  first  time,  read  with 
care)  is  correct  But  I  do  not  see  that  any  part  of  my 
statements  (with  perhaps  the  single  exception  of  the 
now  italicized  word  in  the  phrase  **  the  whole  procedure 
is  erroneous")  is  invalidated  by  it  No  doubt,  the  sudden 
appearance  of  aji^  in  the  formula  above  quoted  is,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  accounted  for  ;  but  is  the  temi 
correctly  introduced  ? 

The  formula  you  give  would  lead,  on  Van  der  Waals's 
principles  as  to  the  interpretation  of  JS(//iV^,  to 

2/(/ +  K)  =  R(i  +  a/). 


or 


^(^  +  ^1)  =  R(^  + '^)- 


NO.  II 45,  VOL.  44] 


But  how  can  the  factor  (v  -  b)fv^  which  Van  der  Waab 
introduces  on  the  left  in  consequence  of  the  finite  dia^ 
meters  of  the  particles,  be  justifiably  applied  to  the  term 
in  K  as  well  as  to  that  in  /  /  Yet  to  apply  it  so  is  essential 
to  Van  der  Waals's  theory ;  for  without  it  the  resaltn^ 
equation  will  not  give  a  cubic  in  v^  and  cannot  therefore 
be  applied  to  the  isothermals  for  which  it  is  reqmied. 
And,  in  any  case,  it  could  scarcely  be  said  that  the  K 
term,  after  being  manipulated  in  this  manner,  is,  in  any 
strict  sense,  **  extracted  from  the  term  2(Rr).'' 

A  very  strange  thing  appears,  in  this  connection,  in  the 
German  version.  A  result,  due  it  seems  to  LofcaU 
(which,  in  ignorance  of  his  work,  I  had  reproduced  and 
published  in  the  first  part  of  my  paper),  leads  directly  to 
the  equation 

/z/  =  R(l+a/)(l+J); 

which  is  then  put  in  the  confessedly  approximate  form 

p{v  -  ^)  =  R(i  +  a/). 

Of  this  it  is  remarked  : — ''  was  genau  mit  dem  obigen 
Resultate  [that  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  factor 
{v  —  b)lv\  iibereinstimmt"  It  is  obvious  that,  when  we 
have  to  divide  both  sides  by  ^'  —  ^,  we  ought  to  i^estore 
the  proper  factor  on  the  right ;  and  thus  that  the  equatioa 
ought  to  take  the  final  form 


z/' 


V' 


instead  of  the  more  convenient  form 

R(i  +  a/) 


V  —  b 


in  which  Van  der  Waals  employs  it    But  then  it  wooid 
not  give  the  required  cubic  in  vl 

I  think  that  the  mere  fact  of  Van  der  Waals's  sayifig 
(in  a  passage  which  is  evidently  applicable  to  his  ova 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


547 


processes,  though  it  is  applied  only  to  that  of  Lorentz) 
^"^dieganze  Rechnung  doch  nur  bis  aaf  Grdssen  der  ersten 
Odaung  (wie  blv)  genau  ist "  throws  very  grave  doubt 
oa  the  whole  iiivestig:ation.  For  in  the  most  interesting 
part  of  the  critical  isothermal  of  CO,  the  fraction  blv 
cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  small  quantity  of  the  first 
order.  In  fact,  without  raising  the  question,  either  of 
Van  der  Waals's  mode  of  interpreting  the  term  i2(«rV*) 
or  of  the  paucity  of  constants  in  his  equation,  the  above 
consideration  would  of  itself  render  the  results  untrust- 
worthy. Van  der  Waals  has  most  opportunely  and  effect- 
irdy  called  attention  to  an  exceedingly  promising  mode 
of  attacking  a  very  difficult  problem,  and  his  methods 
are  both  ingenious  and  suggestive ;  but  I  do  not  think 
that  his  results  can  be  regarded,  even  from  the  most 
fevoarable  point  of  view,  as  more  than  *^  Guesses  at 
Truth,"* 

For,  if  we  take  the  experimental  test,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  (as  I  have  stated  in  \  65  of  my  paper)  "  Van 
der  Waals's  curves  cannot  be  made  to  coincide  with  those 
of  Andrews."  And  I  think  I  have  given  reasons  for 
bdiering  that  *^  the  term  of  Van  der  Waals's  equation, 
which  hie  took  to  represent  Laplace's  K,  is  not  the  statical 
pressure  due  to  molecular  forces  but  (approximately) 
Its  excess  over  the  repulsion  due  to  the  speed  of  the 
particles."  Of  course  I  mean  by  this  that,  when  Van  der 
Waals,  comparing  his  equation  with  experiment,  assigns 
a  numerical  value  to  his  term  a/z/',  he  is  not  justified  in 
regarding  it  as  the  value  of  Laplace's  K  ;  though  that 
quantity  was,  he  tells  us,  the  main  object  of  his  inquiry. 

Believe  me  yours  very  truly, 

P.  G.  Tait. 

St.  Andrews,  September  28. 


THE  EXISTING  SCHOOLS  OF  SCIENCE 
•       AND  ART 

AT  a  meeting  of  influential  science  and  art  teachers 
held  at  the  Charterhouse  School  of  Science  atnd 
Arty  Goswell  Road,  on  the  3rd  instant,  the  position  of 
existing  schools,  with  regard  to  the  fierce  opposition 
offered  by  highly- endowed  Polytechnics,  was  calmly  and 
broadly  discussed. 

For  many  years,  under  the  system  not  only  recognized 
but  encouraged  by  the  Science  and  Art  Department, 
schools  have  been  established  in  London  and  the  pro- 
vinces.    The  aid  afforded  by  the  Department  has  mainly 
been  (i)  to  contribute  largely  to  the  building  fund  of 
schools  intended  for  the  exclusive  teaching  of  science  and 
art  subjects,  and  (2)  to  remunerate  by  Government  grant 
the  services  of  the  teachers  engaged.    The  regulations  of 
the  Department  provide  that  such  aid  is  given  to  any 
centre  where  the  need  of  it  is  apparent.    It  is,  however, 
perfectly  well  known  that  the  teacher,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  was  the  person  upon  whom  the  duty  fell  to  organ- 
ize the  classes  and  set  the  ball  rolling,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  mention  any  school  or  institute  in  which  the 
motive  spirit  was  not  a  teacher. 

^  By  recent  Acts  of  Parliament  a  great  impetus  has  been 
^ven  to  that  side  of  science  and  art  instruction  known  as 
technical  education.  Funds  which  in  past  times  could 
only  have  been  raised  by  persistent  begging;  are  now 
forthcoming  almost  as  a  matter  of  routine.  In  the  pro- 
vinces there  is  every  sign  that  the  authorities  having  the 
administration  of  the  grant  of  public  moneys  intend  to 
recognize  existing  schools.  In  London  it  is  not  so. 
S^emes  for  the  erection  of  new  buildings  are  pushed 
forward  without  due  regard  to  those  institutions  already 
doings  a  good  work.  At  the  meeting  of  teachers  already 
referred  to  several  instances  were  cited.  The  People's 
Palace,  erected  almost  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  Bow  and 
J^romley  Institute,  has,  by  reason  of  its  endowment, 
greaiXy  hampered  and  harassed  the  older  institution. 

NO.   1 145,  VOL.  44] 


The  West  London  School  of  Art  succumbed  two  years 
ago  to  the  attack  of  the  Regent  Street  Polytechnic  ;  and 
now  the  St.  Martin's  School  of  Art,  one  of  the  best  known 
centres  of  instruction  in  the  metropolis,  has  closed  its 
doors.  Without  endowment  it  could  not  compete  with 
its  more  favoured  rivals.  The  closing  of  this  school  is 
the  more  to  be  regretted  because  of  the  high  tone  of  the 
work  carried  on  within  its  walls. 

Unfortunately,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  many  so-called 
schools  of  science  and  art  are  simply  carried  on  as  "  grant- 
earning  "  establishments,  and  the  country  would  lose  little 
or  nothing  if  they  were  closed  at  once.  But  there  are 
others  affording  excellent  science  and  art  instruction ;  and 
though  these  may  not  be  affected  by  the  present  Poly- 
technics, it  is  evident  that  the  schemes  yet  in  embryo  for 
the  erection  of  other  buildings  will,  if  not  properly  checked, 
raise  an  undignified  competition  with  the  older  schools. 
It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  great  public  importance  that 
the  established  institutions  should  not  be  overlooked  by 
the  London  County  Council.  If  new  buildings  are  deemed 
to  be  necessarv,  the  old  school  of  science  and  art  should 
be  treated  as  the  nucleus  of  the  enlarged  scheme. 

Two  points  of  error  seem  to  be  apparent  in  the  plan  of 
campaign  of  the  supporters  of  Polytechnics— (i)  that 
educational  work  must  be  associated  with  recreation  ;  and 
(2)  that  technical  education  has  a  very  limited  area,  and 
that  science  and  art  education  in  its  fullest  sense  is^ 
unnecessary. 

"  Schools  of  art,"  said  a  gentleman  to  me  recently,  **  arc- 
dead."     Surely  nothing  could  be  more  absurd.    As    I^ 
understand  technical  education,  it  is  the  application  of'' 
general  principles  to  a  specific    purpose.     Schools  of 
science  and  art — i.e.  schools  for  the  study  of  science  as 
science,  and  art  as  art— should  be  encouraged  as  much  as 
before.    This  can  be  done  without  interfering  with  the 
specific  application  of  such  study  to  a  particular  purpose. 
With  regard  to  the  question  of  recreation,  I  think  it 
would  be  found  that,  although  those  institutes  which  make 
much  of  athleticism  and  such  matters  attract  the  largest 
proportion  of  students,  the  attendance /r(9  raid  in  the  class- 
rooms, and  the  results  obtained  there,  would  not  favourably 
compare  with  an  institute  carrying  out  a  purely  educational 
programme.     At  the  meeting  referred  to,  one  teacher 
stated  that,  although  at  a  Polytechnic  with  which  he  had 
been  connected  only  seven  students  entered  the  class^ 
scores  of  young  men  could  be  found  in  the  billiard-room 
and  gymnasium.    At    the    Science    and  Art   Institute^ 
Wolverton,  one  of  the  best  and  most  practical  schools 
in  the  country,  it  was  decided  to  close  the  billiard-room 
in  consequence  of  the  serious  effect  it  had  upon  the 
attendance  of  students  at  the  classes.    I  am  personally 
acquainted  with  the  science  and  art  work  carried  on  at 
the  Regent  Street  Polytechnic.    Excellent  as  it  is,  it  would  *< 
be  still  better  if  it  could  be  relieved  of  the  recreative 
element. 

The  London  County  Council  has  shelved  for  a  time 
the  appropriation  of  the  funds  provided  by  the  Excise 
Act,  1890,  for  the  promotion  of  technical  education.  But 
the  matter  must  soon  come  up  again.  Healthy  competi- 
tion is  excellent,  but  in  this  matter  it  is  clearly  not  to  the 
interest  of  the  public  that  its  money  should  be  used  for 
pushing  on  a  new  venture  as  a  competitor  to,  and  in 
antagonism  with,  an  existing  institution.  The  best 
butcher's  shop  in  London  would  stand  a  poor  chance  if  a 
rival  establishment  run  with  money  raised  by  taxation,  and 
not  of  necessity  expected  to  pay  its  way,  opened  its  doors 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  ;  and  this  is  practically 
the  state  of  affairs.  The  teachers,  moreover,  have  a  per- 
fect right  to  be  beard  on  this  question.  Devoting  their 
best  years  to  the  training  necessary  for  science  and  art 
teaching,  it  may  be  urged  that  they  have  a  moral,  if  not 
a  legal,  claim  to  be  considered. 

In  concluding,  I  would  point  out  that  the  exponents  of 
technical  instruction  are  too  keen  on  "centralization." 


548 


NA  TURE 


[October  8,  1891 


Let  us  have  large  buildings  with  costly  apparatus  and 
every  convenience,  but  do  not  entirely  crush  the  small 
schools.  To  the  working  man  with  limited  time  and  means, 
weary  with  his  day's  toil,  a  modest  school  close  at  hand 
is  of  greater  service  than  a  huge  building  six  miles  away 
involving  railway  fare  and  loss  of  time.  By  careful 
arrangements  such  smaller  schools  can  be  preserved,  and 
largely  used  as  "  feeders  "  for  the  institutes  of  magnitude. 
The  whole  matter,  therefore,  of  science  and  art  schools 
und  future  Polytechnics  should  be  referred  to  duly  quali- 
fied men.  There  is  no  reason  why  existing  machinery 
should  not  fit  in  with  the  new  plant  to  make  an  harmonious 
whole.  Oliver  S.  Dawson. 


NOTES, 

The  autumn  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  was 
opened  at  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich,  on  Tuesday,  the 
greater  part  of  the  day  being  devoted  to  an  examination  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  Arsenal.  On  Wednesday  papers 
were  discussed,  and  to-day  visits  are  to  be  made  to  the  Naval 
Exhibition,  the  Enfield  Small  Arms  Factory,  and  the  Thames 
Iron  Works.  We  hope  to  print  next  week  an  account  of  the 
proceedings. 

An  exhibition  of  cone-bearing  trees  and  shrubs,  asters,  and 
sunflowers,  and  a  conference  upon  them,  were  opened  in  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society's  Gardens,  Chiswick,  on  Tuesday. 
Large  numbers  of  conifers  were  sent  from  various  parts  of  the 
country,  no  fewer  than  30  collections  coming  from  Scotland.  The 
first  prize  was  awarded  to  the  Dowager  Marchioness  of  Huntly 
for  her  collection  of  conifers,  the  second  to  Lord  Wimborne. 
The  largest  araucarian  cones  were  sent  from  Lady  Fortescue's, 
at  Dropmore,  Maidenhead,  where  there  is  an  araucaria  68  feet 
high — the  tallest  male  araucaria  in  this  country.  Kew  Gardens 
contributed  about  200  different  conifers.  On  Tuesday  papers 
were  read  on  asters  and  sunflowers.  The  conference  on  conifers 
began  on  Wednesday,  and  is  being  continued  to-day. 

A  Commission  of  engineers  representing  the  various  European 
Powers  is  to  meet  shortly  at  Cairo  to  consider  the  question  of  a 
storage  reservoir,  and  to  advise  the  Egyptian  Government  on 
the  subject.  The  Commission  will  be  required  to  select  a  site 
to  the  north  of  Wady  Haifa,  or  within  the  present  limits  of 
Egypt. 

The  organizers  of  the  International  Folk  Lore  Congress  are 
to  be  congratulated  on  the  success  of  their  undertaking.  The 
attendance  was  good ;  many  excellent  papers  were  read ;  and 
there  were  animated  and  suggestive  discussions  on  most  of  the 
problems  which  are  now  of  especial  interest  to  students  of  folk- 
lore. Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  as  President,  delivered  the  opening 
address,  in  which  he  presented  a  most  interesting  statement  of 
what  he  conceives  to  be  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
science.  Admirable  addresses  were  also  delivered  by  Mr. 
Sidney  Hartland,  Prof.  Rhys,  and  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  who 
presided  respectively  over  the  Sections  devoted  to  folk-tales, 
mythology,  and  institutions  and  customs.  The  members  of  the 
Congress  dined  together  at  the  Criterion  Restaurant  on  Tuesday 
evening. 

Students  of  psychology  and  philosophy  will  read  with  regret 
Prof.  Croom  Robertson's  "  valedictory  "  words  in  Af/W,  from 
the  editorship  of  which  the  state  of  his  health  makes  it  necessary 
for  him  to  retire.  For  sixteen  years  he  has  done  his  work  as 
editor  with  conspicuous  ability  and  success.  A  second  series  of 
the  Review  will  be  begun  next  quarter.  It  will  be  under  a 
co-operative  direction  which  promises,  Prof.  Croom  Robert- 
son thinks,  "a  far  more  effective  covering  of  the  ground  of 
psychology  and  philosophy  than  has  hitherto  been  attained." 

NO.    1 145,  VOL.  44] 


The  seventh  of  the  series  of  One  Man  Photographic  Exhibi- 
lions  is  now  being  held  at  the  Camera  Club.  It  is  open  to 
visitors  from  10  a.m.  to  4  p.m.  on  presentation  of  cards,  whkb 
can  be  obtained  from  members  or  from  the  Hon.  Secretaiy. 
The  exhibition  consists  of  photographs  by  Mr.  Ralph  W. 
Robinson. 

We  learn  from  the  Botanical  Gatelte  that  Mr.  O.  F.  Cook, 
Instructor  in  Biology  at  the  University  of  Syracuse,  U.S.A.1 
intends  starting  about  November  i  in  charge  of  an  expedition  to 
Liberia  and  other  parts  of  Africa,  with  the  object  of  studying 
the  natural  history  of  the  country,  especially  the  plants  and 
insects.  Mr.  Cook  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  anyone  who 
would  like  to  have  material  from  that  region. 

Yesterday  evening  a  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society,  Uni- 
versity College,  London,  was  held  in  the  Botanical  Theatre, 
University  College.  Dr.  W.  H.  Gaskell.  F.R.S.,  delivered  an 
address  on  a  new  theory  of  the  origin  of  Vertebrates,  deduced 
from  the  study  of  vertebrate  anatomy  and  ph3rsiology. 

The  Belgian  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  offers  a  prize  of 
25,000  francs  for  the  best  memoir  on  the  meteorological,  hydro- 
logical,  and  geological  conditions  of  the  countries  of  equatorial 
Africa,  regarded  from  the  sanitary  point  of  view.  The  sabjcct 
must  be  studied  with  special  reference  to  the  welfare  of  Europeans 
resident  in  the  Congo  State. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of 
Philadelphia  for  1891,  some  parts  of  which  have  just  reached  us, 
there  is  an  excellent  memoir  of  the  late  Dr.  Joseph  Leidy,  by 
Dr.  Henry  C.  Chapman.  It  is  followed  by  a  list  of  Dr.  Leidy's 
numerous  writings. 

In  a  valuable  paper  on  the  "  Rapakiwi,"  J.  J.  Sederholm,  of 
the  Geological  Survey  of  Finland,  has  furnished  petrograpbers 
with  a  trustworthy  description  of  the  mode  of  occarrenoe  and 
minute  structure  of  a  granitic  rock  whiclr  has  excited  muck 
interest,  but  has  hitherto  been  very  imperfectly  understood. 
The  official  maps  of  the  district  where  the  Rapakiwi  is  foand^ 
with  the  accompanying  memoirs,  were  published  abont  a  year 
ago  ;  and  the  last  number  of  Tschermak's  Minerahgiscken  umi 
Petrographischen  Mittkeilungm^  now  edited  by  Dr.  F.  Bedce 
contains  a  full  discussion  of  the  petrological  peculiarities  of  the 
rock.  Writing  from  the  famous  laboratory  of  Heidelberg,  Hot 
Sederholm  naturally  adopts  the  nomenclature  of  Prof.  Rosen- 
busch,  and  it  would  appear  from  his  description  that  the  Rapa- 
wiki  will  have  to  take  its  place  among  the  numerous  types  of 
"  granophyre  "  (using  this  term  as  Rosenbusch  does,  and  not 
as  originally  defined  by  Vogelsang)  which  constitute  links 
between  the  plutonic  granites  and  the  volcanic  rhyolites.  The 
excellent  photographic  illustrations  accompanying  the  memoir 
give  an  admirable  idea  of  the  peculiar  nodular  structure  of  the 
rock,  which  has  attracted  50  much  attention  to  it.  In  the  same 
journal,  we  find  a  second  memoir  by  Herr  Sederholm,  on  the 
Archaean  rocks  of  South -West  Finland,  describing  a  varied 
series  of  igneous  rocks,  and  discussing  the  effect  of  dynamo- 
metamorphic  action  upon  them.  The  general  condusions  of 
the  author  agree  with  those  to  which  the  study  of  similar  rocks 
in  other  districts  has  led  Lossen,  Roland,  Irving,  T^hmann, 
Williams,  Reusch,  and  Teall. 

Excellent  arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  ^tabhs^ 
ment  of  a  good  system  of  technical  instruction  in  F.sseT.  An 
organizing  joint  committee  of  the  County  Council  and  the  Essei 
Field  Club  was  lately  appointed  to  deal  with  the  question,  and 
funds  were  placed  at  its  disposal.  This  body  has  now  issued  a 
preliminary  schedule  of  subjects  to  be  taught.  Local  tedmical 
instruction  committees  are  invited  to  select  from  the  list  one  or 
more  subjects  which  they  may  deem  specially  suitable  for  theff 
respective  neighbourhoods.  When  several  such  bodies,  repre- 
senting adjacent  districts,  have  chosen  a  particular  subject,  tke 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


549 


oiganiiing  committee  will  select  a  teacher  or  lecturer,  and 
endeavour  to  arrange  a  circait  for  him  comprising  the  centres 
needing  his  services,  apparatus  and  illustrations  being  provided 
by  means  of  the  fund  for  that  purpose.  By  this  means  the  aid  of 
tboroixghly  qualified  and  equipped  instructors  may  be  obtained 
by  tbe  local  committees  at  a  cost  considerably  less  than  would 
be  incurred  if  each  centre  were  to  act  independently. 

Strenuous  efforts  are  being  made  in  Scotland  to  secure  that 
(he  country  shall  be  supplied  with  a  sound  and  adequate  system 
of  technical  instruction.  An  important  public  meeting  will  be 
held  at  Edinburgh,  on  Thursday,  October  29,  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  subject.  Lord  Elgin  will  preside,  and  it  is  expected 
that  several  members  of  both  Hou«es  of  Parliament,  and  others 
interested  in  the  question,  will  take  part  in  the  proceedings. 
The  following  are  the  provisional  agenda:— (i)  Chairman's 
address ;  (2)  report  on  action  taken  up  to  this  time  by  Town 
and  County  Councils— (a)  in  England,  [b)  in  Scotland— with 
reference  to  the  application  of  the  sums  available  for  technical 
education  under  the  Local  Taxation  (Customs  and  Excise)  Act, 
i^ ;  (3)  the  relation  of  the  Local  Taxation  Act  to  technical 
(including  commercial  and  agricultural)  education;  (4)  report 
on  various  agencies  already  available  for  technical  instruction  in 
Scotland — (a)  in  rural  districts,  (b)  in  towns;  (5)  the  amend- 
menU  necessary  in  the  Technical  Schools  (Scotland)  Act,  1887. 

The  Nicholson  Institute,  Leek,  of  which  Sir  Philip  Magnus 
is  President,  has  issued  its  Calendar  for  the  session  1891-92 ; 
and  an'admirable  Calendar  it  is,  presenting  many  varied  elements 
of  interest.  In  the  technical  school  connected  with  the  Institute 
there  will  be  classes  for  the  study  of  wood-carving,  modelling, 
bleaching,  hygiene,  and  other  subjects  ;  and  in  the  "science 
department"  instruction  will  be  given  in  botany,  physiology, 
physiography,  machine  construction  and  drawing,  and  practical 
plane  and  solid  geometry. 

An  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  is  about  to  be  estab- 
lished at  Sdo  Paulo,  in  Brazil,  an  endowment  of  200,000  dollars 
having  already  been  promised,  and  the  further  aid  of  the 
Government  secured.  The  Presidency  of  the  College  has  been 
offered  to  Prof.  L.  H.  Bailey,  the  American  botanist. 

In  the  Report  for  1891  of  the  Governors  of  the  Baltimore  Fish- 
ing School,  an  interesting  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  institution 
is  given.  The  progress  of  the  school  encourages  the  Governors 
to  believe  that  its  success  will  prove  of  great  advantage  to  Irish 
fisheries.  They  point  out,  however,  that  its  operations  are  not 
on  the  enlarged  scale  originally  contemplated ;  and  to  all  who 
can  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  youth  of  the  Irish  coasts 
being  trained  in  remunerative  industrial  pursuits,  the  Governors 
appeal  for  contributions  to  enable  them  to  extend  their  work. 
The  boys  are  thoroughly  instructed  in  everything  that  pertains  to 
the  labours  of  fishermen.  They  also  receive  the  literary  educa- 
tion usual  in  such  establishments  ;  and  a  special  class  has  been 
formed  for  the  teaching  of  elementary  navigation  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Science  and  Art  Department.  At  the  last  exa- 
mination in  this  subject  twenty-four  pupils  presented  themselves. 
Of  these,  not  one  failed,  twenty-two  passing  in  the  first  division, 
and  two  in  the  second. 

We  have  received  from  the  Meteorological  ^Council  a  copy  of 
the  "Meteorological  Observations  at  Stations  of  the  Second 
Order  "  for  the  year  1887,  containing  observations  and  results 
for  ^  stations.  At  21  stations  the  observations  taken  at 
9h.  a.m«  and  9h.  p.m.  are  printed  in  extenso,  and  the  whole 
work  is  on  the  same  plan  as  in  the  volume  for  1886  (Nature, 
vol.  xliii.  p.  20),  viz.  the  barometer  observations  are  given 
without  reduction  to  sea-level,  and  the  differences  between  the 
dry  and  wet  bulb  thermometer  readings  are  given  as  the  ''de- 
pression of  wet-bulb."     The  maximum  and  minimum  thermo- 

NO.   1 145,  VOL.  44] 


meters  are  read  at  9h.  p.m.,  and  the  readings  entered  to  the  day 
on  which  they  were  read.  The  rainfall  is  measured  at  9h.  a.m.» 
and  the  amount  registered  entered  to  the  previous  day.  Fog  is 
only  entered  when  the  observer  is  quite  enveloped  in  it.  This 
work  has  been  continued  in  a  more  or  less  complete  form  since 
1866  (when,  however,  there  was  only  one  station) ;  and  the  sum- 
maries contain,  inter  alia,  very  useful  risumis  of  the  state  of  the 
weather  and  wind-distribution,  and  afford  excellent  materials 
for  preparing  a  revised  climatology  of  the  British  Isles.  The 
work  is  accompanied  by  a  key  map,  showing  the  distribution  of 
the  stations,  and  indicating  those  which  belong  to  the  Royal 
and  Scottish  Meteorological  Societies :  it  will  be  seen  that  all 
districts  are  well  represented  except,  perhaps,  on  the  more  ex- 
posed western  coasts  and  islands.  A  special  table  is  also  given, 
showing  the  number  of  hours  of  bright  sunshine  in  each  month  for 
those  stations  at  which  sunshine-recorders  exist. 

The  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  U.  S.  Army  has,  just  before  the 
transfer  of  the  Meteorological  Service  to  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, issued  three  atlases,  bearing  upon  the  meteorology  of  the 
United  States,  showing — (i)  The  isobars,  isotherms,  and  winds  for 
each  month  from  January  to  December  for  the  years  1871-73,  a 
period  prior  to  the  regular  publication  of  the  monthly  charts.  The 
data  used  include  all  the  materials  possessed  by  the  Smithsonian 
Institution.  (2)  The  probability  of  rainy  days,  prepared  from 
observations  for  18  years  (1871-88).  The  average  number  of 
such  days  for  all  months  and  for  each  station  has  been  calcu- 
lated, and  the  percentages  thus  obtained  are  graphically  shown 
on  the  charts.  The  data  show  great  differences  of  distribution 
of  rainfall  in  localities  not  far  distant  from  each  other ;  the  in- 
fluence of  the  prevailing  direction  of  the  wind  in  increasing  the 
number  of  rainy  days  is  particularly  noticeable  in  the  Lake 
region.  (3)  The  average  monthly  cloudiness  for  the  period  1871- 
88.  Cloud  observations  show  indirectly  the  relative  amount  of 
sunshine,  as  it  may  be  assumed,  within  reasonable  limits,  that 
the  complement  of  cloudiness  will  be  sunshine.  The  investiga- 
tion of  this  element  is  useful  in  determining  the  suitableness  of 
certain  localities  for  health  resorts,  or  for  the  ripening  of  crops, 
and  the  charts  may  be  considered  as  standard  cloud  maps  of  the 
United  States. 

Dr.  King,  Director  of  the  Botanical  Survey  of  India,  has 
issued  a  Report  on  the  working  of  the  Botanical  Survey  in 
Assam  and  Burmah,  for  which  2000  rupees  are  annually  allowed, 
with  a  view  to  arranging  a  plan  for  working  by  native  collectors. 
Dr.  King  visited  Assan  in  the  latter  half  of  last  year,  and  found 
the  local  authorities  ready  to  afford  every  assistance.  Two  native 
collectors  were  secured,  and  set  to  work  near  Golaghat,  and  in 
the  Khasia  Hills.  The  Conservator  of  Forests  also  sent  a  large 
number  of  specimens  to  the  Herbarium  at  Calcutta,  and  a 
Eurasian  collector  was  employed  for  a  time  in  Cachar.  Some 
interesting  plants  were  also  obtained  from  the  base  of  the 
Eastern  Himalayas.  Fairly  good  work  was  done  in  Upper 
Burmah  by  a  native  collector,  and  his  specimens  are  now  in 
course  of  being  arranged  at  the  Calcutta  Herbarium.  The 
collecting  agencies  continue  working  during  the  present  year. 

Dr.  Prain,  the  Curator  of  the  Herbarium  of  the  Calcutta 
Botanical  Gardens,  accompanied  the  surveying  ship  Invisti" 
gcUor  during  part  of  her  operations  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal  last 
year.  By  a  special  arrangement.  Dr.  Prain  was  put  down  on 
the  Great  Coco  Island  for  a  few  days,  and  was  also  enabled  to 
pay  short  visits  to  the  Little  Coco  and  to  Rutland  Islands.  Ex- 
cept for  the  visit  made  by  Dr.  Prain  under  similar  circumstances 
the  previous  year,  the  Great  Coco  had  not  before  been  explored 
by  a  botanist,  and  the  Little  Coco  and  Rutland  Islands  were 
this  year  visited  for  the  first  time.  Accounts  of  these  visits  are 
to  be  officially  published  in  due  course. 


5  so 


NATURE 


[October  8,  1891 


A  NUMBER  of  small  expeditions  in  the  Chin  Hilb  and  on  the 
Bhamo  frontier  of  Upper  Barmah  have  been  arranged  for  next 
cokt  season.  In  the  Chin  country,  a  colamn  will  explore 
the  Chinboh  oonntrj,  and  four  other  columns  will  visit  the 
Baunghshe,  Tashon,  Tlangton,  Kanhow,  and  Nwengal  tribes. 
In  order  to  effect  a  settlement  of  the  Kachyen  tribes,  colu  nns 
vrfll  be  sent  out  from  Bhamo,  Mogoung*  and  Myitkynta.  An 
expedition  will  also  proceed  to  explore  the  amber-mines  and  the 
india-rubber  tracts,  and,  if  practicable,  join  hands  with  Assam. 

To  estimate  the  relative  merits  of  different  kinds  of  points  for 
lightning  conductors,  Dr.  Hess  recently  collected  and  examined 
nineteen  heads  of  conductors  that  had  been  struck  by  lightning 
{Electrot,  Zeits,),  His  conclusions  are  as  follows :  (i)  the  fusion 
of  points  of  lightning  conductors  by  lightning  causes  no  danger 
of  fire  through  scattering  of  fused  drops,  for  this  does  not  occur ; 
(2)  fine  and  smooth  points  receive  the  lightning  stroke  in  con- 
centrated form,  while  sharply  angled  and  ribbed,  also  blunt 
points,  divide  it  into  threads ;  (3)  platinum  needles  and  tips  have 
no  advantage  over  copper  points  ;  (4)  there  are  lightning  strokes 
which  are  capable  of  making  brass  wire  7*2  mm.  (say  0*29  inch) 
thick,  incandescent.  Unbranched  copper  conductors  should 
therefore  never  be  thinner  than  7*0  mm. 

In  submitting  to  the  Wellington  Philosophical  Society  some 
'^Cocdd  Notes''  lately,  Mr.  W.  M.  Maskell  expressed  regret 
that  entomologists  generally  did  not  devote  more  attention  to  the 
Coccidae.  He  believed  he  was  the  only  person  in  New  Zealand 
who  had  published  anything  on  the  subject.  In  the  Coccidse 
there  was  infinite  variety — ^a  variety  of  life-history,  habits,  and 
customs  that  seemed  greater  than  that  afibrded  by  any  other 
branch  of  entomology.  He  gave  instances  of  peculiarities  in 
these  insects — ^wonderful  vitality  in  some  cases,  and  the  boring 
habits  of  one  particular  insect  after  it  had  thrown  ofif  legs,  mouth, 
&C. — all  tending  to  prove  that  these  little  despised  creatures  were 
more  interesting  for  study  than  "  all  the  butterflies  *' 

Farmers  in  many  parts  of  Victoria  seem  to  be  fully  alive  to 
the  necessity  of  adapting  their  methods  to  the  conditions  under 
which  they  have  to  carry  on  their  work.  Mr.  David  A.  Crichton, 
in  a  report  printed  in  the  latest  Bulletin  (No.  12)  of  the  Victoria 
Department  of  Agriculture,  says  that,  although  farmers  are  sup- 
posed to  be  too  conservative  in  their  practice  to  do  much  in  the 
way  of  new  industries,  he  has  been  agreeably  surprised  to  find 
that  a  very  large  number  are  anxious  to  try  crops  other  than 
cereals.  Fruit  culture  in  particular  is  attracting  great  attention, 
and  he  feels  confident  that  before  long  it  will  become  one  of  the 
staple  agricultural  industries  of  the  colony.  He  is  doing  his  bes 
to  stimulate  this  particular  industry,  and,  in  addition  to  the  in- 
formation afforded  by  his  lectures,  he  makes  it  a  practice  to  visit 
as  many  places  as  possible,  to  advise  upon  the  selection  of  sites 
for  orchards  and  vineyards,  and  give  practical  lessons  in  pruning, 
training,  and  other  matters.  He  finds  that  this  assistance  is 
highly  appreciated,  and  his  services  are  in  great  demand  in  this 
respect.  Mr.  Crichton's  position  in  connection  with  the  Victoria 
Department  of  Asjriculture  is  that  of  "the  fruit  and  special 
industries'  expert." 

Mr.  John  H.  Cooke  is  publishing  in  the  Mediterranean 
Naturalist  an  interesting  series  of  observations  on  the  geology 
of  the  Maltese  islands.  In  the  September  number  he  refers  to 
Cala  Heio,  a  little  bay  between  Comino  and  Cominotto.  On  a 
bright  day,  he  says,  this  bay  presents  an  endless  succession  of 
the  most  brilliant  colours,  "which  commences  with  a  deep  blue, 
and  from  thence  passes  through  every  conceivable  gradation  of 
green,  orange,  and  white,  afler  attaining  the  last  of  which  it 
again  graduates  onward  in  the  distance  to  that  cerulean  blue 
that  is  so  characteristic  of  Mediterranean  waters."  The  setting 
of  the  picture  is  not  less  effective  than  the  picture  itself.  Around 
the  bay  are  many  caverns,  which  have  sombre-looking  entrances 

NO.    1 145,  VOL.  44] 


and  wildly-fantastic  shapes.  The  sides  of  these  cavenis  aie 
full  of  interest  for  geologists,  as  "  they  literally  teem  with  the 
remains  of  creatures  that  formerly  lived  and  died  in  the  wateis 
in  which  the  islands  were  built  up." 

Mr.  W.  Prbntis,  of  Rainham,  Kent,  describes  in  the  Octo- 
ber number  of  the  Zaohgist  an  interesting  case  of  a  wild  dock's 
forethought.     A  mowing  machine  was  set  to  work  round  the 
outside  of  a  field  of  lucerne  bordering  a  marsh,  diminishing  the 
circle  each  time  round  the  field,  leaving  about  two  acres  in  the 
centre.     A  wild  duck  was  seen  by  the  shepherd  to  fly  from  the 
piece  of  lucerne  that  was  left  with  something  in  her  beak,  and, 
happening  to  fly  near  him,  she  dropped  a  three  parts  incubated 
egg.     She  was  again  observed  by  the  shepherd,  and  also  by  the 
sheep-shearer,  carrying  another  egg  in  her  beak,  this  time  over 
the  marsh -wall  towards  the  saltings ;  and  again  she  was  seen  for 
the  third  time  carrying  an  egg  in  her  beak  in  the  same  direction. 
Next  day,  when  the  field  was  "  finished  "  by  the  removal  of  the 
last  piece  of  lucerne,  the  wild  duck's  nest  from  which  the  eggs- 
had  been  removed  was  discovered. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Harris,  Ealing,  records  in  Nature  Notts  (Sqit* 
ember  15)  a  remarkable  instance  of  "frugality"  in  bees.  The 
recent  extremely  rainy  weather  seems  to  have  sofgested  to  his- 
bees  that  there  would  probably  soon  be  an  end  of  hooey-making* 
Accordingly,  although  there  was  "  a  crate  of  fairly  filled  sactiooB- 
above  the  stock-box,"  they  adopted  vigorous  measures  to  prevent 
future  inconvenience.  "It  is  a  positive  fact,"  says  Mr.  Hazos, 
"that  my  bees,  not  content  with  ejecting  larvae  of  both  drones 
and  workers,  [Hroceeded  to  suck  out  the  soft  contents  of  the 
corpses,  leaving  only  the  white  chitinons  covering,  which  had 
not  hardened  sufficiently  to  prevent  the  workers  from  piercing 
it  with  their  mandibles,  and  then  inserting  their  tongues." 

Messrs.  R.  Friedlander  and  Son,  Berlin,  send  as  the 
latest  of  their  catalogues  of  botanical  books.  This  list,  besides 
various  works  on  the  distribution  of  plants  and  on  botanical 
exploration,  includes  a  great  number  of  writings  on  the  florae  of 
diflerent  parts  of  the  world. 

Messrs.  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Trubker,  and  Co.  an- 
nounce the  following  books  on  scientific  subjects  : — *'  Ccdour 
Blindness  and  Colour  Perception,"  by  F.  W.  Edridge-Green, 
M.  D.,  with  three  coloured  plates  (International  Scientific  Series} ; 
"  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Nests  and  Eggs  of  Birds  found 
breeding  in  Australia  and  Tasmania,"  by  A.  J.  North, 
with  21  full-page  plates ;  "English  Folk  Rhymes,"  by  G.  F. 
Northall ;  the  following  volumes  of  a  series,  "  Modem  Science,'* 
to  be  edited  ^by  Sir  John  Lubbock — "The  Cause  of  an  loe 
Age,"  by  Sir  Robert  Ball,  F.R.S.,  "The  Horse:  a  Study  in 
Natural  HUtory,"  by  William  Henry  Flower,  C.B.,  "The 
Oak  :  a  Popular  Introduction  to  Forest  Botany,"  by  H.  Mardiall 
Ward,  F.R.S.,  "The  Laws  and  Properties  of  Matter,"  by 
R.  T.  Glazebrook,  F.R.S.  ;— "On  Seedlings,"  by  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  with  numerous  figures  in  text ;  "  How  to  Use  the 
Ophthalmoscope,"  elementary  instruction  in  ophthalmoscopy,  by 
Edgar  A.  Browne,  fourth  edition,  completely  revised ;  "  Prin- 
ciples of  Political  Economy,"  by  Arthur  Latham  Perry;. 
"  Moral  Order  and  Progress,"  an  analysis  of  ethical  conceptions 
by  S.  Alexander,  second  edition  (Triibner's  Philosophical 
Library) ;  "  Chemistry  of  the  Carbon  Compounds,  or  Organic 
Chemistry,"  by  Prof.  Victor  von  Richter,  authorised  transUtion 
by  Edgar  F.  Smith,  new  and  enlarged  edition. 


Two  more  papers  by  Prof.   Curtius,  upon  the 
the  hydrate  of  his  recently  isolated  hydrazine  or  dii 

NH, 
I       ,   are    contributed   to  the  most  recent  nnmbcss  of   the 

NHj 

Journal  fur  praktischt   Chemie.      The  earlier  oomaMaication 
describes,  for  the  first  time,  the  neutral  sulphate  of  hydraane 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


551 


(N|H4)s  .  HSSO4.  Hydnudne  is  found  to  form  two  sulphates 
— tn  add  one,  NsH4  .  H2SO4,  and  the  neutral  one  now  de- 
scribed. The  add  sulphate  is  a  beautifully  crystalline  salt — an 
account  of  which  was  given  in  Nature,  voL  xliii.  p.  205.  It 
is  distinguished  by  its  high  melting-point,  254"*  C,  and  its  diffi- 
cult solubility.  The  neutral  sulphate  now  described  is  obtained 
by  CTaporation  of  the  solution  formed  by  neutralizing  hydrazine 
hydrate  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  first,  over  a  water-bath,  and 
finally,  as  the  new  salt  is  very  ddiquescent,  in  vacuo.  It  crys- 
tallizes in  laige  brilliant  tables,  melting  at  85^  It  is  precipitated 
in  a  most  curious  manner  from  its  aqueous  solution  by  alcohol, 
separating  as  an  oil,  which,  on  being  stirred  with  a  glass  rod, 
and  in  contact  with  a  small  crystal  of  the  salt,  immediately 
solidifies  to  a  fine  mass  of  crystals,  which,  like  those  obtained 
by  evaporation,  consist  of  anhydrous  (N^H^),  .  H,S04. 

The  second  and  much  longer  communication  describes  an 
important  series  of  new  compounds,  the  ketazines,  obtained  by 
the  action  of  hydrazine  hydrate  upon  ketone?.  The  simplest  of 
these  new  substances,  the  one  obtained  by  the  action  of  hydra* 
zine  hydrate  upon  acetone,  is  represented  by  the  formula 
CH,.  .CH, 

>C=N — ^N=CC         •  When  hydrazine  hydrate  is  dropped 

ch/  \ch, 

upon  loetoiie,  a  most  violent  reaction  occurs,  resulting  in  an 
explosioD  unless  the  acetone  is  snrronnded  by  a  freezing  mixture. 
When  tfaas  moderated,  however,  the  substance  above  formulated 
is  produced  together  with  water,  the  reaction  occurring  according 
to  the  following  equation : — 


CH|v  Cllgv  yCH 

a       >C0  +  N,H4 .  H,0  =         >C=N— Ni=:C< 

ch/  c^/  \ch 


<        +3H,0. 


By  allowing  the  product  to  remain  for  some  hoars  in  contact 
with  caustic  potash  the  water  is  removed,  and  upon  distillation 
the  new  ketazine  passes  over  in  the  pure  state.  It  is  a  clear 
liquid  possessing  a  sharp  odour  somewhat  resembling  that  of  the 
alkaloid  coniine.  It  boils  without  decomposition  at  iji**.  By 
employing  other  ketones,  such  as  methyl  ethyl  ketone,  diethyl 
ketone^  aad  others  of  the  same  type,  a  large  number  of  these 
ketaziftes  have  been  prepared.  Those  containing  fatty  ladides 
are  liqfnds^  md  those  containing  aromatic  groups  are  solids. 
The  iMPest  SMBihen  only  dissolve  in  water,  the  solubility 
rapidly  ^BaHBufaing  with  increase  of  carbon  atoms.  Adds  de- 
compoie  tlKBa  in  Ibe  cold,  with  assimilation  of  water,  into  their 
constituents ;  towards  alkalies,  however,  they  are  comparatively 
stable.  Light  exerts  a  decomposing  action  upon  them,  speci- 
mens placed  in  bright  sunshine  rapidly  becoming  yellow.  Re- 
ducing agents,  such  as  sodium  amalgam,  are  without  action 
upon  them,  and  they  appear  further  to  be  incapable  of  redudng 
dther  Fehling's  solution  or  (except  after  long  boiling)  ammonia- 
cal  solutions  of  silver  salts. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 

past  fortnight  include  two  Cormorants  {Phalacrocorax, 

sp.  inc.)  from  New  Zealand,  presented  by  the  Earl  of  Onslow, 
O.C.M.G. ;  a  Vet  vet  Monkey  [Cercopithecus  lalandii  9 )  from 
South  Africa,  a  White-fronted  Lemur  {Lemur  albifrons  9  }  from 
Madagascar,  presented  by  Captain  R.  C.  Stevenson  ;  a  Golden 
Agouti  {Dasyfrocta  agnUt),  a  Garden's  Night  Heron  {Nycticorax 
gardeni),  a  Heron  {Ardea^  sp.  inc.)  ^from  Surinam,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Frank  Fisher;  a  Common  Paradoxure  (Para- 
doxurus  iypui)  from  India,  presented  by  Miss  Bason ;  two 
BUckcaps  [Sylvia  atricapiUa\  two  Lesser  Whitethroats  \Sylvia 
curruca),  two  Goldfinches  (Carduelis  eUgans\  a  Marsh  Tit 
{Parks  palu5tris\  British,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Young,  F.Z.S.  ; 
three  Common  Vipers  {Vipera  berus)^  British,  presented  by 

NO.   II 4 5,  VOL.  44] 


Messrs.  A.  H.  R.  and  F.  R.  Wollaston ;  a  Macaque  Monkey 
{Macacus  cymnnolgus  9)  from  India,  presented  by  Mrs. 
Gwynne  ;  an  Indian  Civet  {Viverricula  malaccenn's) from  India, 
presented  by  Mr.  Herbert  Courtney  Hodson ;  two  Chilian  Sea 
Eagles  {Geranoaltus  melanoleucus)  from  Chili,  presented  by  Mr. 
H.  Berkeley  James,  F.Z.S.  ;  two  Grey-breasted  Parrakeets 
[Bolborkynchus  monachus)  from  Monte  Video,  presented  by 
Mr.  }.  C.  Wallace ;  two  Nightingales  {DauHas  ittscinia),  two 
Common  Whitethroats  {Sylvia  cinerea),  a  Blackcap  (Sylvia  atri^ 
capilla\  British,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Young,  F.Z.S.  ;  four 
Yellow  Wagtails  {Motacilla  raii),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  W. 
Swaysland  ;  a  Common  Cormorant  (PAalacrocorax  carbo)  from 
Scotland,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Barry,  M.P.  ;  fifteen  Striped 
Snakes  ( Tropidonotm  sirtalis)  from  North  America,  presented 
by  Mr.  J.  Gray ;  a  Solitary  Thrush  {Monticola  cyanus\  Euro- 
pean, a  Macaque  Monkey  {Macacus  cynomolgus)  from  India, 
deposited;  a  Sharpens  Wood  Owl  (Syrnium  nuchaU)  from 
West  Africa,  a  Testaceous  Snake  {Piyas  testacea)  from  Cali- 
fornia, two  Quebec  Marmots  {Aretomys  monax)  from  North 
America,  two  Scaly  Doves  {Scardafella  squatnosa)  from  South 
America,  purchased  ;  a  Ruddy-headed  Goose  {Bemicla  rubidi' 
eeps)  from  Falkland,  leoetved  in  exchange. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Physical  Appkaranxe  or  Periodic  CoMETS.~Comets 
possess  no  personal  characteristic  appearance  ;  but  Mr.  Barnard, 
writing  to  the  Astronomical  Journal^  No.  246,  suggests  that  it 
may  be  possible  to  arrange  those  of  short  period  according  to 
their  physical  peculiarities.  To  the  first  class  he  would  assign 
those  comets  which  are  large,  round,  and  very  gradually  brighter 
in  the  middle,  with  no  special  condensation,  and  of  a  very 
difiused  nature.  They  have  no  nudeus  or  tail,  and  are  so  de- 
ddedly  periodic  that,  trusting  to  this  peculiarity,  Mr.  Barnard 
predicted  that  the  comet  discovered  by  Swift  in  November  1889, 
and  D' Arrest's  comet  at  its  return  last  vear,  were  of  short  period. 
The  most  distinctive  members  of  this  dass  of  comets  are 
D'Arrest's,  Swift's  1880,  Brooks's  1886,  and  Swift's  1889. 
There  are  few  nebulse  that  resemble  this  class.  A  mndi  larger 
and  less  exdusive  dass  contain  comets  which  are  comparatively 
small,  and  which  have  an  indefinite  central  brightness  or  nucleus. 
Many  of  the  parabolic  comets  resemble  these,  and  there  are 
hundreds  of  nebulse  exactly  like  them  in  telescopic  appearance. 
To  this  class  are  assigned  comets  Faye ;  Wolf,  1884  III.  ; 
Finky,  1886  VII.  ;  Brooks,  1889  V. ;  Spitaler,  1890.  It  is 
possible  that  the  peculiarities  of  these  two  ^distinct  classes  of 
short-period  comets  may  furnish  some  information  as  to  their 
relative  ages. 

Discovery  of  Tempel-Swift's  Comet.— Mr.  Barnard 
found  this  comet  on  September  28,  and  Mr.  W.  F.  Denning 
discovered  it  independently  two  days  later  about  4**  south- 
west of  its  computed  position.  The  comet  passes  perihelion 
in  November.  Its  position,  according  to  M.  Bossert's  ephemeris, 
is  as  follows  : — 

Ephemeris  for  Paris  Midnight, 

Declination.        Brightness. 

..      +   3  248     ...       7*01 

3  54*0 

4  247     ...       777 

4  569 

5  308    ...      861 

6  6*4 

6  43*9    ...      9*54 

7  23-4 

8  4*8    ...     10-54 

8  48  3 

9  340    ...     11*64 

10  22*2 

II  12*8    ...    12-83 

The  comet  is  therefore  in  Equuleu^i  at  the  present  time,  and 
moving  towards  P^asus. 


I89Z. 

R 

ight 

Ascensit 

b. 

m.    s. 

Oct.    6 

21 

6     2 

„      8 

6  19 

}}    10 

6  55 

H      12 

7  51 

»  14 

9    9 

»  16 

10  48 

„  18 

12  49 

„     20 

15  t3 

i>     22 

18    0 

»     24 

21  12 

„     26 

24  50 

„     28 

28  56 

i>     30 

21 

33  30 

[OCTOBEK  8,    1S9I 


PHOTOGRAPHIC  DEFINITION. 

I. 
T  T  ia  a  matter  of  some  interest  to  deteimine  what  are  the  litnEts 
to  the  deliDiiion  obtainable  in  photographs.      lo  examining 
Ibis  question,  three  distinct  classes  of  problems  present  them- 
selves—namely :— 

(i)  Those  depending  on  the  wave-lengtb  of  light,  and  the 
action  of  a  per/eel  lens  on  such  wave-lengths. 

(3]  The  vanous  abetrations  of  real  lenses. 

(3)  The  qualities  of  the  different  sensitive  surfaces  on  which 
.1       -_...         .g  formed. 


suppoiitioa  that  the  lens  has  no  aberration  of  anji  kind,  i.t.  lilat 
all  the  waves  which  reach  it  from  any  point  arrive  at  the  image 
of  that  point  in  the  same  phase. 

The  image  thus  formed  consists,  as  is  well  known,  of  a  bright 
disk  suTToutided  by  alternate  dark  and  bright  rings,  the  intensity 
of  the  illumination  of  the  rings  decreasing  rapidly  at  each  suc- 
cessive ring,  reclioaing  outwalks  from  the  centre. 

In  order  that  the  images  of  two  neightiouriQg  points  may 


Points  nearer  to,  or  further  from,  the  lens  than  that  which  has 
its  image  ou  Ihe  plate  will  be  represented  on  the  latter  by  round 
pitches  of  light ;  these  being  the  seciioos  by  the  plate  of  the 
cones  of  rays  which  have  for  ibeir  summits  the  geometrical  fbd 
of  the  points,  and  for  their  slant  the  radius  of  the  aperture  -i- 
focal  length.*    Thus,  if  t  is  the  distance  before  or  bdUnd  the 

Elate  of  the  fo:;us  of  a  paint,  it  will  be  represented  on  the  plate 
y  a  patch  of  light  of  diameter 


This  diameter  can  be  diminished  by  the  use  of  a  diaphragm, 
i.e.  by  diminishing  A,  but  this  at  tbe  same  lime  iucreases  the 
diameter  of  the  images  of  points  whose  foci  are  on  the  plate. 
And  Ihe  resulting  average  defioilion  will  be  improved  by  dimin- 
ishing A  until  the  patch  of  light,  representing  the  p<Hnt  most 
out  of  focuo,  has  the  same  diameter  as  the  diHraction  disk  of 
the  image  point  in  focu'. 

If  we  suppose  the  photographic  plate  to  be  placed  at  sudi  a 
distance  from  the  lens  that  the  focus  of  the  nearest  object  i<  ai 
much  behind  the  plate  as  the  focus  of  very  distant  objects  is 
in  front  of  it,   we  shall   have,   to  delermiue   the  diameter  of 


appear  separated  from  one  another,  Ihe  central  disks  of  their 
images  ought  not  to  overlap.  If  the  disl^s  are  jusi  in  cont 
it  is  possible  that  they  would  appear  as  a  double  object  in 
photograph,  and  this  may  be  taken  a.i  ihe  limit  of  ihe  defining 
power  of^a  iens.  (See  Airy  "On  Light,"  and  Lord  Rayleigh 
"On  the  Theory  and  Manufacture  uf  Diffractijn  Gratings," 
Pkil.  Mag.,  1874.) 

Bat,  in  ordinary  photography,  objects  at  verr  various  distance; 
have  10  be  simultaneously  represented,  and  it  is  10  Ihe  deliniii 
Bltainabte  under  these  circumstances  that  1  wish  now  to  dir 
attention. 

On  refeTTing  to  the  papers  above -nentioned,  it  will  be  si 
that  the  diameter  of  the  central  disk  is 

where  \  U  the  wave- length  of  ligh', 
F  the  focal  length  of  the  lens, 
A  the  aperture  of  the  lens. 


Putting  F  m  principal  focal  length. 


,(Z±^)'  =  A' 


c  sutoni^nt  only.      Tl 
iicntiiy  ot  the  fighi  ii 


KG.    I  145'   VOL.  44] 


October  8,  1891] 


I    whence,  snbililnling  for  t  in  (i)  we  have 

V  *     VU  -  F 

iect  be  at  H  times  the 
nY  for  D, 


ThitgiTCsUie  value  of  A  as  a  linear  quanlity;  it  i*  oaual, 
however,  to  rectcon  the  diameter  of  stops  as  fractions  of  the  focal 

Dividii^,  therefore,  (3)  by  F, 


From  (4)  the  accompanying  table  has  been  compnted,  giving 
-  for  varioui  values  of  F  and  n,  (Fig.  i  gives  the  lame 
graphically. ) 

7aiU  siMiiiHg  ratio  of  aperture  to  focal  length  vihUA  givts  Iht 
btit  avirage  definition  when  the  nearal  abject  to  be  pheto- 
graphcdit  at  "n"  timei  the  focal  length  of  the  lens,  and 
distant  objects  are  a'so  in  view. 


>t  before  seen  it  poioled  out  that  the  ratio  ^-,  which 

;rs  with  the  value  of  F. 
between  two  puinl3(as  seen 
e  shown  as  separate  points 
on  the  photograph,  a  must  at  an;  rate  not  be  less  than  |-,  or 


givei  the  best  average  definition,  alli 

If  a  is  the  least  angular  distance 

from  the  centre  of  the  lens)  which  a 


v/? 


showing  that,  if  the  foreground  is  kept  at  a  distance  proportional 
to  the  focal  length  of  the  lens,  the  definition  improves  with  an 
increase  of  the  focal  length. 

On  the  oiber  hand,  if  the  nearest  object  is  at  some  lixed  dis- 
tance, D,  from  the  lens,  we  have  as  the  limit  for  a, 


an  eipression  which  Increases  wjth  F,  so  thai  for  a  given  piclnre 
taken  from  a  fiKed  position,  definiliolt  will  be  gained  by  the  nse 
of  a  short  focus. 

The  gain,  however,  in  this  respect  is  not  great,  for  in  practice 
D  it  always  a  coDsidenible  maltiple  of  F,  and  writing 


/ 


4D  +  = 


■  for   ■ 


2U  - 


it  will  be  aeen  that  when  D  is  many  times  ^i  y      -b  ""y  ' 
neglected  in  comparison  with  4D. 
Thus,  in  ordinary  cases  the  limit  for  a  is  .  /  -?  ,  and  is  ii 


NO.   1 145.  VOL.  44] 


when  a  view  containing  also  distant  ohjtc 
graphed  with  a  definition  reaching  a  certaiE 
on  tbe  above  eappoiiiion. 


and  if  we  put  a  =  i',  which  is  often  taken  as  the  least  angle 
separable  by  the  nnaided  eye,  and  \  as  iih«  inch, 

D  =  I  JO  inches, 
showing  that  if  the  picture  is  to  appear  as  well  defined  as  the 
natural  objects  themselves,  to  the  eye  placed  at  (he  position  of 
the  lens,  no  object  in  llie  view  must   be  nearer  the  latter  than 
about  13  feet.' 

Though,  as  above  stated,  the  focal  length  does  not  affect  the 
definition,  when  the  right-sized  stop  is  used,  it  does  the  rapidity 
wUh  which  a  picture  may  be  taken,  for  the  inteniiiy  of  the  light 


n  the  pl^e  is  measured  by  -- 


y_  ('"  -  ■)' 


That  is,  in  these  circumstances,  tbe  exposure  is  fmvenely  as 
the  focal  length. 

All  that  has  t>een  hitherto  said  refers  to  tbe  definitbn  in  the 
central  parts  of  the  plate. 

Tbe  definition  for  the  oblique  pencils  is  necessarily  worse.  For 
even  if  it  were  assumed  (hat  the  lens  was  perfect  for  oblique 
pencils,  the  points  out  of  focus  would  be  no  longer  represented 
by  circular  areas,  but  by  the  elliptic  projections  of  these  circles 
on  the  plane  of  the  plate. 

The  assumpiion,  however,  that  a  lens  is  perfect  for  oblique 
pencils  is  too  far  removed  from  actual  fact  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  consider  the  results  to  which  such  a  supposition  would 
lead. 

The  definition  for  (he  marginal  parts  of  the  photograph 
depends  on  the  various  aberrations  which  all  combinatioas  of 
lenses  suffer  from  in  tome  degree,  but  which  in  well-made 
examples  are  completely,  or  almost  completely,  corrected  for 

These  Bbeirationsare(l)spherical,  (a)  chromatic,  (3)  astig- 
matism, (4)  curvature  of  field. 

The  eflitcis  of  the  two  last  are  much  the  most  important,  and 
will  be  considered  first. 


a  angle  By 


Let  O  (Fig.  3)  be  the  optic  centre  of  (he  lens,  OF  the  ai 
of  the  lens,  and  F  the  principal  focus. 

Let  F.C  be  the  plane  of  the  plate,  FP  and  FS  the  curves  1 
which  the  primary  and  secondary  foci  respectively  lie. 

Let  Op  be  the  axis  of  a  pencil  inclined  to  OF  at 
and  meeting  FP  and  Fd  in  /  and  i.  Then  sp  n 
astigmatism  of  the  lens  for  a  pencil  of  obliquity  6. 

Putting  ^^  and  y,  for  the  ordinates  of  the  carves  FP  and  FS 
at  p  and  t,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  point  distant  d  from  the  axis 
of  the  lens,  will  be  represented  on  the  pianc  o(  the  plate  by  an 
oval  patch  of  light  whose  axes  are  A^'    and  A-^     in    direc^ 

lions  parallel  and  perpendicular  (o  Fj:  ;  A,  as  before,  being  (he 
aperture  of  the  lens. 

Any  formula  depending  on  the  actual  data  of  real  combina- 
tions of  lenses,  and  giving  the  values  of  Vf  and  y,  in  terms  of 
ladii  of  curvature  and  refiaclive  indices,  &c.,  of  the  lenses 
composing  them,  would  be  a  very  unmanageable  thing  for  the 


eK6sl ih 


with  a  leu 


554 


NATURE 


lOctober  8,  1S91 


|Mitpi»e  in  hand  \  bat  I  giv«  the  cnrrei  in  qoeatiofi  obtained  [Fig.  j  is  peculiar  in  having  the  nnuJ  tcIaiivc  poutiou^ik 

•AxperimennUly   fnr   ktcq    lenses    of   diflerent   Ijpes    in    mj      primary  and  sc(;ondaT>  foci  nvencd.] 


■ 

■ 

■ 

Flc.  3'— Enslith  Portr^l. 

fl 

M 

BH 

p 

H 

m 

I 

FHi.  4.— EnciUh  pgnnit. 

posKEsion  ((ee  Figs.  3  to  9).     All  tbeae  lenses  except  Fig.  S 
are  by  makcn  repvied  Id  be  tite  bat, 
NO.   I  145,  VOL.  44] 


•nd  McoLdary  loa  ftom  .  pi^^  ihiouRh  the  prindpal !»  ' 


OcTOUtR  8,    1 89  I J 


555 


right  laglf*  lo  the  axis  of  ihj  leoa,  nod  ai«  etpi^ssed  ai  Tnc- 
liam  of  (he  faetl  ItnKib. 
The  abicissK  aie  ihe  iudjiiiiioni  (ia  degrees)  of  ibe  penc'tU  to 

tliat  ibe  (iiaia  a  pineed  at  a  dulonce  r  iKhiad- 


QnlcM  Ifat  gewm]  ilandard  of  the  definition  ii  lowered  b]r  m. 
large  value  of  e. 

A"  «n  example  of  the  use  of  the  cnrres,  let  m  take  the  rapid 
rectilinear  No.  6,  and  compare  the  dednition  it  20°  obUqailf 
with  that  at  ifae  centre,  supposing  that  the  ncarett  object  u  aC 
adiaiance  ofzsF. 

This  gives  /  =  'oaF  neaily,  and  at  20°  jy  =  —  "033?^ 
J*!  =  +  '016  F,  bence  we  have  as  follows : — 


Tepresentcd  aa  ha\ing  a  width   -  '  neatly,  while  at  the  obliquity 
f  this  width   tecomes  ^  1—^  aearljr,  ace    dinj  to  whether  the 


slpoint,..    — -     -   ; 


•036 


This  shows  that  while  the  neareit  points  at  thii  obliquity  aic 
repteseDted  by  lon^  ovats  placed  as  if  radiating  from  the  axis, 
the  most  distant  points  become  similar  but  rather  smaller  ovals- 
wilh  their  lung  axes  at  riglil  angles  lo  the  foimer,  and  that  the 
length  at  the  orals  ii  about  twice  the  dlamctir  of  the  image 
formed  by  the  direct  pencils. 

In  the  same  way  ibe  defiaition,  as  for  as  it  dep^odi  on 
astigmatism  and  curvature  of  Geld,  at  any  obliquity  may  be 
found  for  any  tens  foi  which  j*/  and/,  are  known. 

Lauriston  Hall,  September  9.  A.  Uaudck. 

( Te  ii  cvnlinut/f,  ] 


inagc  nnder  consideration  Is  that  of  the  most  dliianl  or 
nearest  point. 

Hence,  aiiless_y  is  small  compared  with  e,   the  definiiloi 

rayi  ofoUiquiiy  0  will    be  sensibly  wo ne  than   in   the  cent 

the  plate,  >nd  a  reference  to  the  curves  for  j>  a-  d  j,  ihows  at 

glance  that  this  must  be  the  case  rve 

NO.    1 145,  VOL.  44] 


1°  fur  all  Ihe  lenses 


r/fE  KOH-T-NUR~A  CRITICISM. 
'pHE  true  history  of  the  Koh-i-Nor  diamond,  if  it  contd  he 
-'-  written,  would  be  a  singularly  interesting  ooe.  But  the 
historian  wonld  have  a  difficult  task.  The  pages  that  I  purpose 
writing  will  be  devoted  to  Ibc  criticism,  possibly  the  refuting,  of 
some  fallacies  that  hang  round  the  subject ;  but  Ihey  will  not 
deal  with  some  other  historical  diflicnlties  that  P  have  not  space 
even  to  indicate,  but  which  do  not  belong  lo  those  portions  of  the 
history  for  criticism  on  which  the  followtng  pages  are  designed. 

The  period  in  the  history  of  the  Koh<i-Nur  that  has  attracted 
the  noLice  of  all  modem  writers  on  the  diamond,  and  to  a 
d^ee,  I  tbink,  somewhat  beyond  its  importance,  is  the  five  or 
ten  minutes  dnring  which  the  French  diamond- dealer,  Tavemier, 
held  in  his  hand  the  most  important  of  the  Crown  jewels  of  the 
Emperor  Aumngiebe.  It  was  a  great  diamond,  and  the  record 
Tavemier  has  handed  down  in  bis  "Voyages,"  of  its  weight,  its 
form,  and  its  history,  will  have  to  be  critically  dealt  with. 

It  may  be  at  once  stated  that  the  disputable  point  regarding 
{  this  diamond  is  whether  it  was  a  certain  ancient  diamond  of 
I  fame  in  India,  or  one  moch  laiver  than  this  andect  stone,  that 
hid  been  found  not  very  long  before  Tavemier  was  present  at 
'  the  Court  of  Aumngiebe.  For  the  la^er  stone  I  shall  retain 
I  the  name  of  "  the  Great  MokdI  "  ;  for  the  older  and  more  famous 
I  one  the  title  of  the  Koh-i-Nur.  Some  hold  that  Tavemier  saw 
and  handled  the  Kob-i-Nur ;  others  that  bis  own  story  is  correct, 
and  that  it  was  the  Great  Mi^nl  that  he  described.  And  I 
should  add  that  some,  in  addition  lo  this  latter  view,  believe  the 
Great  Mogul  ought  to  be  called  the  Koh  i-Nur. 

Id  order  to  clear  the  ground,  I  may  say  that  while  attaching 
no  very  great  importance  to  the  qoestion  as  to  which  of  the  two 
first  views  is  the  correct  one — and  I  must  add  also,  valuing  at  a 
somewhat  low  estimale  the  historical  or  technical  accuracy  of 
Tavemier's  statements  on  [his  and  many  other  matters — I, 
some  thirty-five  years  ago,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
diamond  Tavemier  saw  was  probably  the  Kob-i-Nur,  and  that 
he  muddled  its  history  with  the  other  and  larger  diamond  that  I 
showed  to  have  been  probably  at  the  time  in  the  keeping  of 
Shah  Jahan,  the  captive  father  of  Aurangsebe.  The  merit*  of 
the  (juestioD  will  be  discnssed  in  their  proper  place  ;  but  while 
holding  myself  open  to  conviction  if  any  new  argnments  can  be 
biougbt  forward  against  my  view,  I  may  slate  that  none  yet 
announced  have  shaken  that  opinion. 

Until  the  fiiteemh  century  there  appears  to  have  been  one 
and  only  one  very  large  diamond  known  in  India  or  in  the 
world.  I  might  have  said  until  the  sixteenth  century  but 
that  there  is  a  record  of  two  and  an  nn authenticated  mmour'of  a 
third  during  that  century,  the  largest  of  which,  however,  was 


556 


NA  TURE 


[October  8,  1891 


very  likely  the  Koh-i-Nor.  Bat  that  one  large  diamond  of  the 
earlier  time  had  been  a  famous  stone  for  centuries.  Legends 
had  gathered  round  it,  and  tradition  had  linked  the  l^ends 
with  authentic  history  in  the  dawn  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
The  tale  was  told  briefly  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Wilson  in  the  sketch 
of  the  Koh-i-Nur  which  he  contributed  to  the  official  catalogue 
of  the  Exhibition  of  185 1.  No  more  competent  person  could 
have  performed  the  task  than  the  great  Orientalist  and  Sanscrit 
scholar,  with  his  large  experience  of  Hindoo  customs  and  modes 
of  thought.  And  he  wrote  the  notice  with  the  statements 
before  him  that  had  been  collected  in  the  bazaars  of  India 
by  order  of  the  Company  at  the  time  when  the  Koh-i-Nur 
became  a  Crown  jewel  of  the  Queen. 

The  latest  historian  of  the  Koh-i-Nur,  however,  dismisses 
this  curious  tradition  and  its  distinguished  narrator  by  the  some- 
what flippant  remark  that  "  it  has  afforded  sundry  imaginative 
writers  a  subject  for  highly  characteristic  paragraphs/' 

The  gentleman  who  writes  in  this  tone  of  the  eminent  cus- 
todian of  the  East  India  Company's  Library  cannot  be  expected 
to  treat  Mr.  King  or  any  other  man  of  learning  less  con- 
temptuously ;  but  his  qualifications  for  dealing  with  the  subject 
at  all  from  a  wider  point  of  view  than  that  of  the  old  French 
diamond-dealer  will,  perhaps,  be  fairly  '.called  in  question  by 
the  readers  of  the  following  pages. 

Yet  Dr.  Ball,  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department  in  Dublin, 
has  had  Indian  experience  on  the  Geological  Survey,  an  office 
that  ranks  deservedly  high  even  among  the  great  departments 
of  the  Indian  public  service.  He  has,  furthermore,  recently 
thought  the  Indian  part  of  Tavemier*s  "Voyages"  worthy  of  a 
fresh  translation,  which  he  has  effected  with  judgment  and  with 
notes,  the  topographic  part  of  which,  at  least,  appears  to  be  of 
considerable  value  and  interest  ;  and  he  has  otherwise  been  an 
author  on  subjects  that  came  before  him  in  India  as  a  geologist 
and  a  sojourner. 

It  is  probably  a  sort  of  loyalty  to  the  author  whom  he  has 
•deemed  worthy  of  so  much  of  his  time  and  industry  that  blinds 
him  in  his  advocacy  of  Tavemier's  statements,  notwithstanding 
their  manifold  inconsistencies  and  absence  of  scholarlike  quality. 
I  hope,  while  criticizing  his  hypotheses  and  statements  regarding 
the  Koh-i-Nur,  I  may  not  in  any  respect  quit  a  judicial  attitude 
to  appear  in  that  of  a  partisan. 

The  great  diamond  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  emerges 
tn  history  in  the  first  years  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  was  in 
1300  A.D.  in  the  hands  of  the  Rajahs  of  Malwa,  an  ancient  R4j 
that  had  at  one  time  spread  over  Hiodostan,  and  in  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  a  thousand  years  had  never  bent  to  a  Muham- 
madan  conqueror,  until  the  generals  of  the  Delhi  Emperor  Aid- 
ud-din  Muhammad  Shah  overran  its  rich  territory,  and  carried 
away  the  accumulated  treasure  of  Ujjein  in  the  first  decad  of  the 
fourteenth  century. 

The  date  of  1304  is  that  given  by  Ferishta  for  this  conquest, 
and  then  it  was  that  the  great  diamond  takes  its  place  in 
history.  In  1526  the  invasion  of  India  by  Babar  was  crowned 
b^  his  victory  on  the  famous  battle-field  of  Panaput.  Babar 
himself — in  those  memoirs  that  rank  only  after  the  "Com- 
mentaries "  of  Caesar  as  the  most  interesting  records  penned  by 
■a  great  conqueror — describes  the  reception  by  his  son  Humayiin 
of  the  great  diamond  among  the  treasures  which  he  was  sent 
forward  to  secure  at  the  strong  fortress  at  Agra.  Babar  gives 
■the  weight  of  the  diamond  as  being  computed  at  8  mishkals,  and 
in  another  place  he  compares  the  Muhammadan  weights  with 
those  of  the  Hindoo  system,  putting  the  mishkal  as  equivalent 
to  40  of  the  little  Hindoo  units  of  weight,  the  rati.  The  dia- 
mond, then,  weighed  near  about  320  of  these  ratis.  There  are 
several  lines  of  investigation  for  determining  the  weight  of  the 
mishkal ;  and  without  here  entering  on  a  long  but  interesting 
discussion  of  this  weight,  it  will  suffice  to  say  that  the  most  im- 
portant of  them  converge  on  a  value  of  from  73  to  74  troy 
grains.  If  the  mishkal  weighed  73*636  troy  grains,  8  such 
>mishkals  would  be  589*088  grains.  The  weight  of  the  Koh-i- 
Nur  diamond  in  the  Exhibition  of  185 1  was  589*52  troy  grains. 
It  may  be  added  that  this  latter  weight  is  equivalent  to  1861V 
English  carats  of  3*1682  troy  grains,  and  would  require,  to 
•make  up  the  320  ratis,  a  rati  of  the  value  of  I  '8425  troy  grains. 

It  is  very  remarkable  how  numbers  closely  corresponding  to 
one  or  other  of  these  values  for  the  weight  of  a  great  diamond, 
in  carats  or  ratis,  will  recur  in  the  subsequent  discussion.  Thus 
Anselm  de  Boot,  in  commenting  in  the  early  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  upon  some  observations  on   Indian  diamonds 


NO.    1 145,  VOL.  44] 


made  in  the  previous  century  by  Gardas  de  Orto  (a  Portuguese 
physician  at  the  Viceregal  Court  of  Goa),  states  the  largest  dia- 
mond Garcias  had  seen  to  have  weighed  187^  carats.  Gardas 
puts  its  weight  at  140  mangelins.  His  translator  (into  LatinX 
Le  CInze,  interprets  the  140  mangelins  as  equiTalent  to  700 
grains  (apparently  French  grains  of  the  old  poids  de  marc).  Bat 
De  Boot  evidently  either  had  some  separate  authority  for  his 
statement  that  the  largest  diamond  Garcias  had  seen  weighed 
187}  carats,  or  had  the  means  of  reckoning  more  correctly  than 
Le  Cluze  the  value  in  Dutch  or  in  Portuguese  carats  of  the  140 
mangelins  of  Garcias.  Garcias  was  in  India  for  thirty  years  in 
the  reign  of  Akbar,  a  reign  that,  commencing  three  yeais 
earlier  and  ending  three  years  later,  covered  "  the  spacioos 
times  of  great  Elizabeth  "  ;  and  if  any  European  of  the  many 
visiting  India  at  that  time  would  have  had  special  opportimityof 
seeing  the  great  diamond  in  the  treasury  of  Babar's  grandsoo,  it 
would  have  been  the  body-physician  of  the  Portuguese  Viceroy. 
Dr.  Ball  has  got  into  a  hopeless  mess  in  an  endeavoor  to  dis- 
credit observations  of  mine,  and  of  my  late  learned  friend  Mr. 
King,  regarding  this  allusion  of  De  Boot's  to  a  diamond  weighing 
i87i  carats.  Dr.  Ball  is  quite  mistaken  in  supposing  that  be  is 
the  first  person  who  had  an  acquaintance  with  De  Boot's 
sources  of  information,  with  Le  Cluze's  translation  of  Gardas 
into  excellent  Latin,  and  with  the  commentators  who  edited  De 
Boot  and  largely  plagiarized  from  Le  Cluze.  In  his  "  Natural 
History  of  Precious  Stones,"  Mr.  King  gave,  in  1866,  an 
account  of  all  these  persons  and  their  writings,  but  that  accom- 
plished scholar  would  certainly  never  have  fallen  into  so  absord 
an  error  as  Dr.  Ball  has  rushed  into  in  connection  with  De 
Boot's  allusion  to  a  i87i-carat  diamond. 

Garcias,  like  Le  Cluze,  was  a  botanist,  and  his  treatise  was 
on  Indian  botany.  He,  however,  devoted  a  few  pages  to  the 
precious  stones  in  vogue  in  India,  and  one  short  chapter  Is  gives 
to  the  diamond.  De  Boot  transcribed,  with  omissions,  these 
chapters  of  Garcias,  and  with  misprints  that  probably  arose  iroa 
the  statements  he  made,  and  even  the  pages  he  incorporated, 
being  in  the  form  of  notes  culled  by  him  from  a  great  variety  of 
sources,  of  which  Garcias  was  only  one.  Amon^  the  mispnnfii 
or  misapprehensions  in  De  Boot's  very  remarkable  book  oa 
stones  and  gems,  is  that  bv  which  he  always  substitutes  the  name 
of  Monardes,  a  writer  on  tne  botany  of  the  New  World,  in  lien  of 
that  of  Garcias,  an  error  the  source  of  which  Mr.  King  explained 
in  the  treatise  above  alluded  to.  Upon  the  passage  in  whkb 
De  Boot  refers  to  the  great  diamond,  and  which  mns  thus: 
"  Nunquam  tamen  majorem  (adamantem)  illo  qui  pendebat  187) 
ceratia,  cujus  mentionem  facit  Monardes,  inventum  fiiisse  pnto,'* 
Adrian  Tull,  a  Belgian  physician  who  edited  the  treatise  of 
Anselm  de  Boot,  adds  a  note  to  the  chapter,  correction  the 
name  Monardes  for  that  of  Garcias,  and  then  quoting  from  Le 
Cluze  another  note  introduced  at  the  end  of  his  translatioa  of 
the  diapter,  to  the  effect  that  he,  Le  CInze,  had  never  hioiself 
seen  a  laiger  diamond  in  Belgium  than  one  which  weighed  190 
grains.  Dr.  Ball  quotes  this  note  in  the  Latin  of  Le  Cluze  to 
show  that  De  Boot  did  not  know  what  he  was  writing  aboat, 
and  still  less  that  Mr.  King  and,  of  course,  myself  did,  inasmuch 
as  we  had  fastened  upon  De  Boot's  singular  statement  withon 
due  study  of  our  authors.  It  is  the  writer  of  the  "  true  histoiy  " 
of  the  Koh-i-Nur  who  has  not  gone  to  the  authorities.  Had  be 
done  so,  he  would  have  found  in  the  1605  edition  three  notes  oa 
this  passage  by  Le  Cluze.  In  the  first  he  analjrzes  Garcias's  140 
mangelins  into ' '  septingenta  grana,  sive  unciam  unam,  drachmiw 
unam,  scriptula  duo,  grana  quatuor.  Nam  mangelis,  nt  ante 
dixit  noster  auctor,  quinque  grana  pendit,  et  septnaginta  daobat 
granis  dragma  constat."  His  next  note  alludes  to  the  diamonds 
he  had  seen  himself  in  Belgium  ;  and  the  third  is  upon  certaiD 
crystals  known  as  Bristol  diamonds,  found  three  miles  from  that 
city. 

Passing  from  this  curious  aberralion  of  Dr.  BalPs,  we  oiiy 
ask,  What  did  De  Boot  mean  by  alluding  in  a  second 
passage  to  the  diamond  Garcias  had  seen  in  India  as  weighios 
i87i  carats?  As  I  have  said,  it  is  barely  possible  he  had  means 
external  to  Garcias's  statement  in  his  book  of  knowing  the 
weight  of  this  diamond.  The  weights  summed  together  ^  Le 
Cluze  were  apothecary  weights,  varying  somewhat  in  difiereot 
localities  in  Western  Europe  from  the  corresponding  divisioiis  of 
the  French  ounce  of  576  French  grains,  equivalent  to  472*1875 
troy  grains.  The  weight  of  the  diamond  on  the  French  systea 
would  be  573*776  grains  troy  according  to  Le  Cluze's  reckoning, 
In  terms  of  the  old  Netherlands  ounce  of  474*75  grains,  cnrreai 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


557 


in  Antwerp,  it  would  be  576 '95  troy  grains.  But  none  of  these 
are  carat  grains.  De  Boot,  on  the  other  hand,  in  estimating 
the  140  mangelins  as  187)  carats,  took  the  mangelin  not  at  the 
5  carat  grains  of  Garcias,  but  at  5*3568  such  grains,  taking 
probably  i\  carat  as  the  measure  of  the  mangelin  instead  of  li 
carat,  the  former  being  one  among  the  several  values  which  this 
variable  unit  had  in  different  places. 

The  187}  carats  of  De  Boot  would,  on  the  value  of  the 
Amsterdam  carat,  l\  of  which  equal  an  engle,  which  was  the 
sixteenth  part  of  the  Dutch  troy  mark,  give  a  weight  for  the 
diamond  in  question  of  593*437  troy  grains  :  the  weight  of  the 
Koh-i-Nur  having  been  589*5  troy  grains.  It  is  very  difficult  to 
ascertain  with  accuracy  the  values  of  the  different  units— marks, 
ounces,  carats — in  the  different  countries  and  cities  in  the 
seventeenth  century  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  even  the  mere  4 
giaios,  or  little  more  than  a  carat,  difference  between  De  Boot's 
estimate  of  the  140  mangelins  and  the  traditional  weight  of  the 
Koh-i>Nur  would  disappear  if  we  possessed  these  data  in  a  more 
complete  form.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Le  Cluze  was 
in  error  in  taking  the  apothecary  weight  instead  of  carat  weight 
in  translating  the  grains  of  Garcias. 

It  may  be  asked,  Why  devote  so  much  consideration  to  this 
casoal  statement  of  De  Boot's  ?  The  answer  is  twofold.  The 
astronomer  has  patiently  searched  in  the  records  of  early 
observations  for  any  that  might  indicate  the  position  at  a  former 
epoch  of  a  new-found  planet ;  and  so,  where  the  silence  about 
an  object  of  historical  interest  has  been  scarcely  broken  through 
two  or  three  centuries,  one  tests  any  observation  of  the  casual 
wayfarer  in  the  domain  of  literature  that  may  perhaps  shed  a 
ray  of  light  on  it.  The  other  reason  is  that,  if  not  disposed  to 
resent,  one  is  at  least  desirous  to  refute,  attack  on  those  who 
can  no  longer  give  their  own  answer  to  assailants  of  a  new 
generation,  who  perhaps  may  not  bring  to  an  investigation  the 
learning  or  the  patient  temper  of  those  who  have  gone  from  us, 
and  carried  great  stores  of  scholarly  learning  into  the  silence. 
Whether  I  am  right  or  wrong  in  the  explanation  I  have 
offered  of  De  Boot's  conversion  of  Garcias's  140  mangelins  into 
187^  carats,  I  trust  that  at  any  rate  I  have  shown  cause  for  the 
statement  \ri  Mr.  King  that  "  it  seems  as  if  he  (De  Boot)  had 
heard  of  the  Koh-i-Nur ;  it  being  scarcely  probable  that  two 
stones  should  be  co-existent  of  that  extraordinary  weight.'' 

In  dealing  with  another  of  those  coincidences  in  weight  to 

which  allusion  was  made,  and  one  example  of  which  has  just 

been  discussed,  we  get  on  the  delicate  ground  of  the  degree  of 

confidence  to  be  placed  in  Tavemier's  facts  and  figures,  and  the 

not  less  delicate  ground  of  a  theory  about  the  Koh-i-Nur,  started 

by  Dr.  Ball,  before  which  the  other  strange  vicissitudes  and 

hairbreadth  escapes  of  that  old  talisman  pale  into  insignificance. 

We  have  made  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  historic  Indian 

diamond  to  leave  it  for  a  while,  in  order  to  introduce  that  other 

greater  stone  which  we  have  designated  as  the  *'  Great  Mogul." 

fiemier,  from  personal  contact  with  whom  Tavernier  no  doubt 

derived  much  of  what  had  an  historical  character  in  his  volumes, 

describes  the  gift  by  Emir  Jumla,  a  Persian  adventurer  of  great 

ability  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  Golconda,  of  a  large  diamond 

to  the  Emperor  Shah  Jahan,  "ce  grand  diamant  que  Ton  estime 

sans  pareil. ''     It  was  an  appeal  to  his  cupidity,  and  to  a  real 

connoisseur's  passion  for  precious  stones,  at  a  time  when  the 

Emir  rwas  effecting  a  change  in  his  allegiance  from  Golconda 

to  Delhi — in  fact,  appealing  to  a  new  master  to  induce  him  to 

assail  the  old  one. 

In  1665,  Tavernier,  who  was  no  less  a  courtier  than  a  dealer, 
was  invited  by  Aurungzebe  to  present  himself  at  his  Court  to 
inspect  his  jewels. 

The  Emperor,  seated  on  the  peacock  throne,  could  see  the 
ceremony  that  was  conducted  in  a  small  apartment  at  the  end  of 
the  hall.  Tavernier  describes  the  patient  circumspection  with 
which  he  was  shown  the  various  stones  and  jewels  by  a  Persian 
custodian.  First  and  foremost  among  them  was  the  great 
diamond,  "  qui  est  une  rose  (a  rose-cut  stone)  ronde  (rounded 
but  not  necessarily  circular  in  form)  fort  haute  d'un  c6te." 
There  was  a  small  crack  at  the  edge  below,  and  a  little  flaw 
within.  It  was  of  fine  water,  and  weighed  319I  ratis,  which 
Tavernier  states  to  be  equivalent  to  "280  de  nos  carats,"  the  rati 
being  |  of  a  carat,  which,  however,  would  give  279*58  carats. 
Such  was  the  only  great  diamond  that  he  saw,  and  as  he  first 
described  it. 

He  proceeds  to  give  his  version  of  its  history.  It  was  the 
stone  given  by  the  Emir  Jumla  to  Shah  Jahan  ;  but  he  adds  that, 

NO.    1 145,  VOL.  44] 


whereas  it  had  then  a  weight  of  900  ratis  or  787}  carats,  it  was 
worked  down  by  a  Venetian  diamond-cutter,  Hortensio  Borgis, 
till  it  had  only  the  280  carats  weight  above  noted.  The  viordigrisie 
is  that  used;  Dr.  Ball  interprets  it  as  entirely  ^^wn^  down.  But, 
though  this  is  the  most  rational  meaning  of  this  technical  word,  it 
would,  as  Mr.  King  has  remarked,  have  taken  more  time  than  the 
few  months  which  intervened  between  the  gift  and  the  eclipse  of 
Shah  Jahan  for  the  mere  grinding  down  to  have  been  accom- 
plished by  the  processes  in  use  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
especially  in  India.  Undoubtedly,  therefore,  Hortensio  must 
have  availed  himself  of  the  cleavage  proi>erty  of  the  diamond  to 
aid  him  in  his  grinding  process.  Tavernier  goes  on  to  say, 
**  Apres  avoir  bien  contempts  cette  grande  pierre,  et  I'avoir 
remise  entre  les  mains  d'Akel-Kan,  il  me  fit  voir  un  autre 
diamant,"  &c.,  &c.  ;  and  he  then  describes  a  number  of  stones 
and  pearls,  of  which  he  gives  the  weights,  some  more  or  less  ap- 
proximately, some  definitely,  in  ratis  or  in  melscals  (or  mishkals). 
The  melscal  he  also  states  as  giving  6  to  the  ounce,  which  I 
think  is  probably  a  mistake  for  6^  to  the  ounce.  Finally,  he 
says  that  he  had  held  all  the  jewels  in  his  hand,  and  considered 
them  with  sufficient  attention  and  leisure  to  be  able  to  assure  the 
reader  that  his  description  of  them  is  exact  and  trustworthy,  as 
was  that  of  the  thrones  which  he  previously  had  ample  time  to 
inspect.  It  will  be  noted  he  does  not  say  he  weighed  any  of 
the  stones ;  nor  does  his  doing  so  seem  compatible  with  his 
description  of  the  scene. 

But  in  another  chapter  near  the  end  of  the  same  book  he  gives 
a  brief  enumeration  of  the  finest  precious  stones  he  had,  in  his 
long  travels,  known.  The  diamond  described  in  the  earlier  chapter 
is  alluded  to  now  with  slight  but  immaterial  variations  or  correc- 
tions as  to  weight ;  but  Tavernier  here  states  that  he  was  allowed 
to  weigh  the  stone,  and  he  further  adds  that  it  had  the  form  of  an 
egg  cut  through  the  middle.  Dr.  Ball  truly  notes  that  this  pro- 
cess may  be  performed  in  one  of  two  ways — longitudinally,  or 
transversely ;  and  that  the  Koh-i-Nur  in  1850  represented  the 
longitudinally  bisected  demi-egg,  but,  he  naively  adds,  ''This 
difference  of  form,  as  I  shall  explain,  was  the  result  of  the 
mutilation  to  which  it  was  subject." 

Tavernier's  statement  that  the  diamond  was  "  fort  haute  d'un 
cdtd  "  seems,  indeed,  hardly  to  accord  with  any  other  than  a 
longitudinal  section  of  the  egg. 

But  then,  as  if  to  make  his  description  inexplicable, 
Tavernier  appends  to  this  later  chapter — written  or  edited 
probably  by  another  hand  four  or  five  years  after  the  event  of 
his  handling  the  stone — a  rude  sketch  of  the  great  diamond 
that  he  saw.  It  may  be  conceived  as  an  extremely  inaccurate 
sketch  from  memory  of  a  semi- egg-shaped  stone  seen  "  end  on," 
or  of  a  cross-cut  half-egg  seen  from  any  point  of  view ;  but, 
except  for  the  trace  of  a  small  undercut  face  in  his  projection,  it 
has  not  any  resemblance  to  the  Koh-i-Nur.  In  width,  his  sketch 
is  very  slightly  larger  than  the  length  of  the  Windsor  diamond, 
but  in  no  other  dimension  does  it  at  all  compare  with  that  stone 
as  it  was  in  1850. 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  weight.  Babar's  diamond,  we 
have  seen,  weighed  about  8  mishkals,  or,  in  Indian  weights, 
about  320  ratis  (gold  ratis).  This  would  correspond  to  240 
pearl  ratis,  or  may  be  represented  as  224  of  the  Deccan  ratis  of 
Ferishta. 

The  diamond  Tavernier  saw  weighed,  he  said  (was  he  merely 
told  so,  or  did  be  really  weigh  it?),  319^  ratis,  only  half  a  rati 
different  from  Babar's  diamond.  But  Tavemier's  ratis  were  not 
those  which  Babar  reckoned  by,  and  his  carats  (nos  carats)  must 
[pace  Dr.  Ball)  have  been  French  carats.  Dr.  Ball  supposes  he 
has  contributed  to  the  published  data  of  this  tangle  of  contra- 
dictions one  new  fact  in  a  final  determination  of  Tavemier's 
carat,  and,  by  implicaiion,  of  his  rati  also.  Tavernier  gives  the 
weight  in  carats  of  the  yellow  diamond  of  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  now  in  the  Schatzkammer  at  Vienna.  The  weight  of 
this  stone  being  accurately  known,  and  being  also  given  by 
Tavernier  as  139^  carats,  it  is  not  difficult  to  determine  the 
value  of  this  particular  carat  to  be  3 '037  troy  grains.  This  is 
in  fact  identical  with  the  Florentine  or  Tuscan  carat,  as  Dr.  Ball 
points  out. 

That  gentleman  assumes  from  this  that  Tavemier  always 
employed  this  carat  in  his  calculations.  Such,  however,  is  quite 
incompatible  with  his  expression  on  other  occasions,  when  he 
speaks  of  **  nos  carats.^'  It  is  clear  that  Tavemier  took  the 
weight  of  this  Florentine  diamond  from  some  tmstworthy  Tuscan 
source,  giving  it  in  Florentine  carats.     In  fact,  it  is  an  illustra- 


558 


NA  TURE 


[October  8,  1891 


"tlon  of  what  seems  to  be  indicated  as  his  habit  ia  many  other 
iQstaaces.  He  i^tves  the  weights  of  stones  he  mentions  in  ratis 
■or  mmgelins,  or  in  mishkals,  and  proceeds  to  state  the  equi- 
valent weights  in  terms  of  tios  carats^  i.e.  of  the  Paris  carat ; 
for  no  Frenchman  would  designate  any  carat  other  than  one 
current  in  France  by  such  a  term. 

It  would  be  a  tedious  task  to  inflict  on  a  reader  the  minute 
detail  of  calculation  and  reference  to  statistical  authorities  that 
would  be  involved  in  a  critical  study  of  Tavernier's  assertions 
regarding  Indian  and  other  weights,  or  Dr.  Ball's  incursion  into 
that  study. 

But  one  fundamental  error  must  be  alluded  to,  that  vitiates 
the  accuracy  of  Dr.  BalTs  calculations.  He  is  possessed  of  the 
singular  belief  that,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  Tavemier  would 
have  been  familiar  with  the  French  ponderary  system  known  as 
the  sysUnte  transitoire  or  usutl,  which  was  introduced  by  the 
4aw  of  May  1812  into  France,  in  temporary  substitution  for 
the  old  livre  {poids  cU  marc)  of  9216  French  grains,  and  its 
subdivisions. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  follow  the  results  of  this  error ;  for 
the  only  interest  as  regards  our  inquiry  concerns  the  significance 
of  the  319*5  ratis  which  Tavernier  states  the  great  diamond 
of  Aurungzebe  to  have  weighed.  320  ratis  was  the  Hindoo 
'equivalenty  in  Babar's  time,  of  the  8  mishkals  of  Babar's 
•diamond,  and  the  Koh-i-Nur  in  1850  weighed  those  8 
mishkals. 

Tavernier  says  that  the  319*5  ratis  correspond  to  280  French 
•carats  {nos  carats).  Here,  then,  is  a  second  of  those  marvellous 
coincidences  in  numbers  to  which  we  have  already  made 
allusion — I  may  call  them  impossible  coincidences,  unless  they 
apply  to  one  and  the  same  diamond. 

Dr.  Ball  sees,  apparently,  no  difficulty  in  the  recurrence 
of  any  number  of  these  identical  figures  as  representing  the 
weights  of  huge  diamonds.  For  his  explanation  of  the  matter 
is  that  the  diamond  Tavernier  handled  was,  as  the  French  mer- 
•chant  asserted,  the  stone  that  Bemier  mentions  as  the  gift  of 
Emir  Jumla  to  Shah  Jahan  ;  that  it  did  weigh  319}  ratis,  but 
that  these  were  ratis  of  Tavernier's  standard,  equivalent,  in 
fact,  to  0*875  ^^  ^  carat,  whereas  Babar's  ratis  were  only  0*578 
of  a  carat  Dr.  Ball's  assertion,  however,  is  that  this  great 
diamond  is  the  Queen's  Koh-i-Nur,  but  that  after  Nadir  Shah's 
time  it  had  become  diminished  by  successive  chippings  per- 
formed on  it  by  needy  princes,  who  in  succession  owned  it,  and 
turned  its  severed  fragments  to  account,  until  finally,  and  pre- 
sumably bsfore  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Runjit  Singh,  this 
great  Mogul  diamond  had  shrunk  in  magnitude  from  its  asserted 
280  carats  to  186  carats — from  the  319^  ratis  of  Tavernier's 
reckoning  to  the  320  ratis  on  Babar's  reckoning  ;  in  a  word,  it 
had  become  reduced  by  this  astounding  process  to  the  precise 
8  mishkals  of  the  Koh-i-Nur  in  1526.  So  here  is  a  third 
coincidence  that  we  are  called  on  gravely  to  accept  as  serious 
history. 

The  only  originality,  however,  involved  in  this  singular  view 
of  history,  and  the  way  to  write  it,  is  the  reason  assigned  for 
the  whittling  down  of  the  diamond  from  the  asserted  2&)  carats 
to  186  carats.  Several  ingenious  persons  have  indulged  before 
in  speculations  as  to  the  synthesis  of  one  big  diamond  to  be  called 
the  Koh-i-nur  from  several  smaller  ones  scattered  about  the 
world,  with  a  fine  scorn  of  shape  and  weight  and  "  water"  in 
the  component  fragments,  and  of  any  historical  ground  whatever 
for  their  hypotheses.  The  late  Mr.  Tennant,  of  the  Strand, 
<even  engaged  the  services  of  the  great  Russian  diamond  in  this 
mosaic,  ignorant,  apparently  of  the  facts  that,  like  the  Koh-i-Nur, 
it  is  an  Indian-cut  stone  of  about  194  carats  weight,  and  is  of  a 
brownish-yellow  hue. 

But  the  coincidences  in  weight  of  various  phantom  diamonds 
-with  that  which  Babar  recorded  do  not  come  to  an  end  even 
with  this  crowning  wonder,  as  I  shall  presently  show. 

Perhaps  some  one  may,  in  parenthesis,  ask  what  evidence 
there  is  for  the  breaking  up  of  a  great  diamond  by  owners 
who  clung  to  the  Koh-i-Nur  with  a  tenacity  second  only  to  their 
own  hold  on  life.  To  this  the  answer  is  very  simple.  Not  one 
fact  or  plausible  argument  is  adduced  to  support  it.  Dr.  Ball's 
imagination  is  its  argument ;  and,  indeed,  I  cannot  find  one 
single  contribution  oi  fact  from  that  gentleman  to  the  history  of 
the  Koh-i-Nur  that  has  any  novelty  at  all.  There  remains, 
however,  a  question  that  has  to  be  answered,  whether  this 
mutilation  theory  be  ever  so  wild  or  were  ever  so  sane.  If 
Tavemier  saw  the  Great  Mogul  diamond,  where  was  the  old 


NO.   1 145,  VOL.  44] 


Hindoo  stone  ?  or  if  it  was,  as  I  have  supposed,  the  Hindoo  Kob- 
i-Nur  that  Tavemier  handled,  where  was  the  Great  Mogul? 

Tavernier  saw  no  second  diamond  of  the  first  rsnk  in  magni- 
tude. But  there  were  two  great  diamonds  somewhere — Babar*s 
and  Mir  Jumla's,  or,  as  I  have  designated  them,  ihe  Koh-i-Nur 
and  the  Great  Mogul.  One  or  oth^r  of  these  Tavemier  has 
described  :  where  was  the  one  he  did  not  see  ? 

It  is  now  thirty-five  years  ago  that  I  suggested  the  answer. 
Supposing,  as  I  did  and  do,  that  Tavemier  handled  the  Koh-i- 
Nur,  I  indicated  the  prison-palace  of  Shah  Jahan  as  the 
repository  of  the  Great  Mogul.  But,  whichever  diamond  it  may 
have  been  that  the  French  traveller  saw,  the  other  was  assuredly 
among  those  splendid  stones  that  the  old  Emperor  told  the  son 
who  had  usurped  his  throne  that  he  would  pound  to  dust  if 
their  surrender  was  insisted  on.  Anyone  read  in  Indian  history 
needs  not  to  be  told  that  the  threat  never  had  to  be  fulfilled ; 
that  Aumngzebe,  content  with  the  realities  of  power,  cared  little 
for  the  splendours  that  environed  it,  and  left  his  captive  father 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  allurements  and  the  external  pomp  and 
vanity  of  a  sovereign's  surroundings,  including  the  collection  of 
jewels  and  precious  stones  in  which  his  soul  delighted.  On  his 
death  they  were  brought  to  Aurungzebe  by  his  sister  Jehaniiay 
who  had  shared  her  father's  captivity. 

It  matters  nothing  to  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Koh-i-Nn 
whether  it  or  the  Great  Mogul  was  the  stone  that  remained  b 
the  custody  of  the  fallen  Emperor.  But  I  have  niaintained  thai 
it  was  more  probable  that  Shah  Jahan  should  have  retained  the 
diamond  that  may  be  styled  his  private  property,  as  having 
been  given  him  by  the  Emir  Jumla ;  and  that  therefore  the  stone 
seen  in  Aurangzebe's  possession  would  in  every  probability  have 
been  the  diamond  of  Babar,  which,  like  the  peacock  throne  and 
other  gorgeous  adornments  of  the  presence  chamber,  would,  as 
a  Crown  jewel,  have  remained  in  the  imperial  treasury. 

Of  course,  this  view  of  the  matter  involves  great  mx^vifigs 
as  regards  Tavemier's  accuracy.  It  involves  his  having  applied 
to  the  only  big  diamond  he  saw  the  stories  he  had  beard,  firoa 
Bemier,  no  doubt,  and  from  others,  regaiding  that  other  great 
diamond  given  by  the  Emir  Jumla  to  Shah  Jahan.  It  further 
involves  his  having  attempted  to  represent  in  a  drawing  a  dia- 
mond he  had  seen  several  years  before,  but  in  a  drawing  fo 
absolutely  unlike  the  Koh-i-Nur  as  to  be  hardly  recognizable  as 
representing  the  Queen's  diamond,  and  even  less  the  diamoad 
that  he  himself  described,  as  he  saw  it,  among  the  treasures  of 
Aumngzebe. 

The  Great  Mogul  diamond  had  been  cut  by  a  European  cutter. 
But,  so  far  as  it  is  of  any  value  at  all  as  evidence,  Tavemier's  draw- 
ing suggests  a  characteristically  Indian-cut  stone,  muchresemblii^ 
in  form  and  facetting  the  Russian  diamond  known  as  the 
"  Orloff,"  which  I  have  inspected,  and  can  aver  to  be  Indian  ia 
its  cutting.  The  Koh-i-Nur,  too,  to  which  I  personally  gave 
careful  attention  in  1851,  was  no  less  unquestionably  Indian  io 
its  facetting.  Models  in  plaster-of-Paris  made  directly  finooi  the 
diamond  confirm  this ;  and  traces  of  the  original  faces  iA  tUe 
diamond,  besides  two  large  octahedral  faces,  appear  to  ba«t 
been  worked  into  the  design  of  the  facetting.  The  rovs  o< 
facets  were  obviously  put  on  so  as  to  humour  the  original  fora 
of  the  stone  and  diminish  its  weight  as  little  as  possible ;  and 
notably  they  were  thus  skilfully  arranged  in  regard  to  the  upper 
edge  of  one  of  two  large  octahedral  faces  that  has  errooeoasly 
been  described  as  a  cleavage  plane  due  to  a  fracture  after  the 
cutting  had  been  performed.  In  fact,  it  and  another  laige  fiice, 
forming  the  base  of  the  crystal,  had  not  the  lustre  of  cleavage 
surfaces,  but  wore  the  aspect  of  faces  that  had  so  far  andeigoee 
attrition,  probably  in  a  river-bed,  that  the  angle  between  ihesi 
was  no  longer  quite  the  true  octahedral  angle.  The  facets  ia 
general  presented  an  imperfect  adamantine  lustre,  and  aj^ieared 
slightly  rounded,  the  result,  probably,  of  the  imperfect  process^ 
employed  by  the  native  Hindoo  lapidary,  especially  in  very  carif 
times. 

Even  Tavemier's  drawing  mdely  indicates  three  rows  of 
facets,  put  on  in  a  manner  that  hardly  consists  with  the  iashiaa 
of  a  rose-cut  diamond  of  European  workmanship. 

With  my  profound  scepticism  as  to  the  critical  value  of 
Tavernier's  arithmetic,  I  have  ventured  to  think  that  the 
simplest  explanation  of  all  these  instances  of  marvellous  recsr- 
rence  in  various  forms  of  the  numbers  representing  the  we^t 
of  the  Koh-i-Nur  is  best  explained  by  supposing  that  A1±J 
Khan  gave  Tavernier  the  traditional  weight  of  the  Bahir 
diamond  which  he  had  placed  in  his  hand,  and  that  the  Fresdi 


October  8,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


559 


mercfatn't  fnmslated  this  weight  into  carats,  not  as  from  the  old 
nids  of  Babar's  or  even  of  Akbar's  day,  but  from  the  pearl  ratis,  of 
one  or  other  value,  with  which  he  had  become  acauainted  in  the 
banan  of  India.  Tavemier's  rati,  as  calculated  from  the  Paris 
carat  on  the  ratio  of  |,  should  have  a  value  of  277088  troy 
gniiiSy  and  as  drawn  from  his  various  statements  of  equivalent 
iretthts  it  varies  from  2*4066,  in  one  case  2750,  to  2797  troy 
gnuos.  His  raishkal  also  he  pots  at  \  the  French  ounce,  f.r. 
787  troy  grains ;  which  should,  however,  probably  have  been 
6i  ounces  to  the  mishkal,  and  the  rati  of  Tavemier  is  entirely 
dissimilar  to  any  known  rati  of  ancient  or  modern  India. 

The  319}  ratis  is  readily  explained  on  this  hypothesis  ;  and  it  is 
really  too  laige  a  demand  on  our  credulity  to  believe  that  two  of 
the  largest  diamonds  in  the  world  should  be  severally  of  319^ 
ritis  and  320  ratis,  though  of  different  units  of  value,  when  a 
simpler  explanation  is  able  to  dispose  of  the  anomaly. 

I  have  said  that  the  marvellous  coincidences  of  weight  imported 
ioto  the  Koh-i-Nur  history  do  not  come  to  an  end  with  Babar's 
8  mishkals,  with  Anselm  de  Boot's  187}  carats,  with  Tavernier's 
319}  ratis,  nor  even  with  Dr.  Ball's  miraculous  chipping  pro- 
cess, resulting  in  a  reduction  of  the  Great  Mogul  diamond  to 
the  identical  weight  of  the  Koh-i-Nur  in  1850.  The  original 
diamond  of  Babar  had  to  be  accounted  for,  and  its  ghost  had  to 
be  laid.  So  another  coincidence  had  to  be  imported  into  the 
nirrative,  or  rather  ioto  the  romance.  Another  diamond  had  to 
be  found,  also  with  the  precise  weight  of  the  Koh-i-Nur,  and  this 
Dr.  Ball  has  ready  to  hand.  The  Darya-i-Nur,  or  '*  Sea  of  Light," 
reposes  in  the  treasury  of  the  Shah.  Sir  J.  Malcolm  saw  it,  and 
casoally  stated  its  weight  as  given  to  him  at  186  carats.  Now 
Sir  J.  Malcolm,  during  his  residence  at  the  Court  of  the  Shah, 
not  only  was  acquainted  with  the  marvellous  treasures  in  jewels 
broogfat  by  Nadir  from  the  palace  of  Delhi,  but  he  was  enabled 
10  \LV9t.  facsimile  drawings  of  them  made. 

B^  the  kindness  of  his  son,  General  Malcolm,  I  possess  the 
lacmgs  of  this  dazzling  wealth  of  jewellery.  The  Darya-i-Nur 
s  a  laige  flat  diamond  with  bevelled  edges,  and  in  the  form  of  a 
OQg  rectangle.  When  Malcolm  knew  it,  it  was  set  in  a  glorious 
^xy  of  mighty  rubies.  He  c^uld  therefore  have  only  known 
ts  weight  from  hearsay  evidence,  and  the  recorded  carats  were 
■Qst  likely  the  echo  of  those  associated  with  the  fame  of  the 
Coh-i-Nur.  Now,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  asserting  this  Darya- 
•Nar  to  bean  old  acquaintance  of  those  familiar  with  Tavernier's 
lages.  Unless  two  diamonds,  flat,  bevelled,  and  of  identical 
limensions^  can  be  shown  to  co-exist,  of  above  200  carats  weight, 
be  stone  known  as  the  Golconda  diamond  or  the  Table  diamond 
( no  other  than  the  Darya-i-Nur. 

It  happens  fortunately  to  be  one  of  the  few  stones  described 
y  Tavemier  to  the  form  and  weight  of  which,  as  given  by  him, 
re  can  attach  complete  confidence.  He  had  a  lead  model  made 
XMn  it  in  order  to  negotiate  its  sale :  and  he  gives  its  weight  as 
76I-  mangelins,  or  242^  "de  nos  carats."  This  gives  its  weight 
\  i^T^  troy  grains,  or  240  English  carats,  this  particular  man- 
din  being,  on  Tavemier's  estimate  of  if  of  a  carat,  about  4 '357 
Of  grains.  Tavemier  having  had  a  lead  model  made  of  this 
snarkable  flat  diamond,  he  figures  it  no  doubt  with  much 
cactitude.  A  copy  of  his  figure  and  of  the  tracing  of  the 
'aiya-i-Nur  is  subjoined,  in  which  it  will  be  seen  that  if  the  un- 
nmetrical  end  be  cut  <^  and  the  sides  more  accurately  squared, 
•  as  to  make  the  diamond  a  symmetrical  rectangle,  the  figures 
the  two  stones  become  identical  in  form  and  dimen&ion.  A 
rd  cut  to  represent  the  "  Golconda"  diamond,  and  the  parts  of 
as  described*  gave  the  ratio  of 

the  Golconda:  the  Darya-i-Nur  =  10  :  8*5, 

at  is  to  say,  the  portion  trimmed  away  was  about  15  per  cent. 
The  remaining  stone  would  thus  have  a  weight  of  about  214 
iglish  carats,  and  if  4  carats  be  allowed  for  the  bevelling  and 
lariog  oi  the  stone,  the  present  weight  of  the  Darya-i-Nur 
ould  be  about  210  English  carats. 

I  tmst  I  have  thus  laid  this  last  phantom  raised  by  the  author 
the  "  tme  history."  But  the  final  problem  as  to  the  Great 
9gul  diamond  still  remains. 

If  the  Queen's  proud  trophy  of  the  final  conquest  of  India 
indeed  the  great  Koh-i-Nur,  the  old  Malwa  diamond  descend- 
;  to  Her  Majesty  from  the  possession  of  Patan  and  Mogul 
nasties  of  Delhi ;  carried  off  to  Persia  and  named  by  Nadir ; 
Bed  as  the  potent  talisman  of  empire  by  Ahmed  Shah, 
i  held  by  his  Durani  descendants  till  it  came  back  to  India, 

NO.     1 145,  VOL.  44] 


the  oompanion  of  the  exile  of  Shah  Sujah,  and  then  torn  from 
him  by  the  grim  Lion  of  Lahore — ^true  to  its  destiny  as  '*  th  e 
possession,  ever,  of  him  that  was  the  strongest," — if  this  b  e 
indeed  the  stone  that,  from  early  times  to  I050,  preserved  it  » 
form  and  weight  of  8  mishkals,  where  was.  and  where  is  now , 
the  Great  Mogul  diamond  that  Bemier  told  of?    The  answer  i  s, 
I  believe,  the  simplest  and  the  most  natural :  It  is,  where  th  e 
historian  would  look  for  it,  in  the  treasury  of  Teheran.     On  e 
large  diamond,  standing  high  upon  an  elliptic  base,  is  there,  o  r 
was  there,  in  Sir  John  Malcolm's  day.     Its  long  diameter  is 
much  larger,  and  its  shorter  diajoeter  smaller,  than  that  of  the 
diamond  figured  by  Tavemier. 

I  do  not  assert  it  to  be  the  Great  Mc^ul.     I  assert  merely  that 
it  probably  is  that  great  diamond  ;  and  I  hope  that  in  what  has 


Golconda  Table  Diamond. 


■\ 

/ 

• 

y 

\ 

Darya  I-Nur. 

been  said  in  the  criticisms  I  have  here  offered  upon  the  writers 
on  the  Koh-i-Nur  I  have  averred  nothing  that  does  not  rest 
on  proof;  that  I  have  offered  no  conjecture  that  is  not  sup- 
ported by  reasonable  probability ;  and  that  I  have  made  no 
assault  on  any  theory  or  fact  asserted  to  be  such  by  others, 
without  at  least  offering  some  justification  for  my  criticism  in 
the  reasons  and  facts  I  £ive  been  able  to  adduce. 

A  troe  history  of  the  Koh-i-Nur  has  still  to  be  written.  T 
hope  I  have,  in  these  criticisms,  done  something  to  dear  the 
way  for  the  writer  of  it.  Other  avocations  and  duties  may  pre- 
vent my  undertaking  the  interesting  task.  At  any  rate,  if  it 
should  ever  be  mine  to  perform  it,  I  tmst  the  result  will  at  least 
bear  some  verisimilitude  to  a  tme  history. 

N.  Story- Maskelyne, 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

A  LARGE  portion  of  the  number  of  the  Botanical  Gautte  for 
July  is  occupied  by  an  instalment  of  Mr.  John  Donndl  Smith's 
' '  Undescribed  Plantsfrom  Guatemala  " ;  several  of  the  new  species 
are  figured.  New  parasitic  or  saprophytic  Fungi — Hyphomycetes 
and  Uredinese — ^are  described  in  this  number  by  Mr.  R.  Thaxter,. 
and  in  that  for  August  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Arthur.  In  the  latter,  M*.. 
T.  Holm  continues  his  study  of  some  anatomical  characters  of 
North  American  Graminese,  and  Mr.  F.  Lamson  Scribner  con- 
tributes a  sketch  of  the  flora  of  Orono,  Maine. 

The  numbers  of  the  youmal  of  Botany  for  August  anc^ 
September  contain  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  G.  Murray's  important 
paper  on  the  Algae  of  the  Clyde  sea-area,  accompanied  by  a. 
map  showing  the  various  depths.  This  paper  has  now  been 
issued  separately.  In  his  notes  on  Mycetozoa,  Mr.  A.  Lister 
describes  species  found  in  various  herbaria  not  included  in  Di  • 
Cooke's  **  Myxomycetes  of  Great  Britain  "—three  of  them  new 


56o 


NATURE 


[October  8,  1891 


The  paper  is  illustraled  by  five  platen.  Three  new  British 
species  of  Hieracium  are  described  by  Mr.  £.  F.  Linton  and 
Mr.  W.  H.  Beeby. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Sydney. 

Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  August  5.— H. 
C.  Russell,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — On  the  micro- 
scopic structure  of  Australian  rocks,  by  Rev.  J.  Milne  Currao. — 
The  Chairman  presented  the  Society's  bronze  medal  and  a 
money  prize  of  £2$,  which  had  been  awarded  to  Father  Cunan 
for  this  paper. — Prof.  Anderson  Stuart  exhibited  his  new  instru- 
ment for  demonstrating  the  nature  of  such  waves  as  those  of 
light. 

August  10. — H.  O.  Walker,  in  the  chair. — Notes  on  slicing 
rocks  for  microscopic  study,  by  Rev.  J.  Milne  Curran,  illus- 
trated by  rock  sections  in  various  stages  of  preparation  for 
mounting. 

August  12. — C.  W.  Darley,  in  the  chair. — Methods  of  deter- 
mining the  stresses  in  braced  structures,  by  J.  I.  Haycroft. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  28.— M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Notice  of  the  works  of  M.  P.  P.  Boileau,  by  M.  Maurice 
L^vy. — Remarks  on  the  international  prototype  of  the  metre, 
by  M.  Foerster. — Observations  of  four  asteroias,  discovered  at 
Nice  Observatory  on  August  28  and  September  I,  8,  and  1 1,  by 
M.  Charlois.  The  positions  on  the  dates  of  discoverv  are  given. 
— Verification  of  the  law  of  refraction  of  equipotential  surfaces, 
and  measurement  of  the  dielectric  constant,  bv  M.  A.  Perot. — 
Relation  between  the  index  of  refraction  of  a  body,  its  density, 
molecular  weight,  and  diathermancy,  by  M.  Aymonnet. — On 
the  cyclone  of  August  18,  at  Martinique,  by  M.  G.  Tissandier. 

Brussels. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  August  i. — M.  Plateau  in  the 
chair. — On  the  predominance  and  extension  of  Upper  Eocene 
deposits  in  the  region  between  the  Senne  and  the  Dyle,  by  M. 
Michel  Mourlon. — Direct  synthesis  of  primary  alcohols,  by  Dr. 
P.  Henry. — On  circular  sections  in  surfaces  of  the  second  degree, 
by  Prof  CI.  Servais. — On  the  curvature  of  lines  of  the  order/ 
possessing  a  multiple  point  of  the  order  p  -  I,  by  M.  A.  De- 
moulin. — Preliminary  notes  on  the  organization  and  development 
of  different  forms  of  Anthrozoaires,  by  M.  Paul  Cerfontaine. 
The  author  describes  a  new  Cerianthus  from  the  Red  Sea,  and 
names  it  Cerianthus  brackysonia.  He  has  also  studied  in  detail 
the  tentacles  of  Cerianthus  membranaceus^  and  the  variations  of 
these  organs  during  successive  stages  of  individual  evolution, 
and  relates  an  interesting  case  of  regeneration  observed  in 
Astrodes  calycularis, — Researches  on  the  lower  organisms,  by 
M.  Jean  Massart. 

GOTTINGEN. 

Royal  Scientific  Society.— The  Nachrichten  from  June 
to  August  189 1  contain  the  following  papers  of  scientific 
interest : — 

June. — Karl  Heun,  Berlin,  mathematical  note  on  the  in- 
tegration of  the  equation  for  the  motion  of  Gauss's  bifilar 
pendulum. 

July. — Fr.  Schilling,  note  on  an  interpretation  of  the 
formulae  of  spherical  trigonometry  when  complex  values  are 
assigned  to  the  sides  and  angles  of  a  spherical  triangle. 

August — Eduard  Riecke,  on  the  molecular  theory  of  piezo- 
electricity and  pyroelectridty. — Tammann  and  W.  Nernst,  on 
the  maximum  vapour  tension  of  hydrogen  liberated  from  solu- 
tions by  metals. — Tammann,  the  permeability  of  predpitate- 
films. — Eduard  Riecke,  on  a  surface  connected  with  the 
electrical  peculiarities  of  tourmaline.  —  David  Hilbert,  the 
theory  of  algebraic  invariants  of  forms  with  any  number  of 
variables. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

The  Univeraal  Atlas,  Part  7  (Ca«scll).— Food.  Physiology,  &c.  :  W.  Dur- 
ham (Black).— Briciffh  Edible  Fungi:  Dr.  M.  C  Cooke  (Paul).— South 
Africa,  fr.>in  Arab  Domination  to  British  Rule :  edited  by  R.  W.  Murray 
(Stanford).— An  Elementary  Hand-book  on  Potable  Water :  F.  Davb  (Gay 
and  Bird).— The  Birds  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Part  2  :  Wilson  and  Evans 
(Porter).— Differential  and  Inte^  Cakulus:  T.  H.  Miller  (Perdval).— 
Physiography:  J.  Spencer (Percival).— Geodesy:  J.  H.  Gore (Heinemann). 


NO.   II 45,  VOL.  44] 


—Electricity  and  Magnetism:  A.  GtullemiB;  translated  by  Prot  S.  P. 
Thompson  (Macmillany.— Annuaire  de  rObservatotre  Municipal  de  Moat* 
souris,  x8ox  (Paris,  Gauthier-Villars).— Stones  for  Building  and  Decoraika : 
G.  P.  Merrill  (New  York.  Wiky).— Taxidermy  and  Zook)gical  CoUectiw: 
W.  T.  Homaday  (Paul).— Dynamics  of  the  Sun  :  J.  W.  Davis  (  Sew  Yoric). 
—The  Man  of  (jenios :  Prof.  C.  Lombroio  ^cott)  —Ninth  Annual  Repot 
of  the  Fishery  Board  for  Scotbind,  Three  Pkrts  (Edinburgh).— Rkbercke 
Sperimentali  Intomo  a  Cote  Scintille  Elettriche  coostitmte  da  Maw 
Luminose  im  Moto  :  Prof.  A.  Righi  (B  >logna).^Prooeedings  of  the  liver 
pool  Geological  Society,  Part  3,  vol.  vi.  (livecpool).— Mind,  No.  64  (WSlius 
and  Noiigate).— Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  September  (Sub* 
ford).— Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricxalturml  Society,  3rd  series.  voL  n.,  Phrt  3 
(Murray). 


DIARY  OP   SOCIETIES. 

London. 

THURSDAY,  Octobbh  8. 
Camera  Club,  at  8.30. — Paper  by  (^ptain  Abney. 

MONDAY^  October  xa. 
Camera  Club,  at  8.3o.~Lantem  Eveniiq;. 

THURSDAY.Oxrtowoi  15. 
Camera  Club,  at  8.30.— Bacteria  Photographed:  Andrew  Pringle. 

CONTENTS.  PA(a 

The  Ice  Age  in  North  America.    By  Prof.  T.  G. 

Bonney,  F.R.S 537 

The  Total  Reflectometer  and  the  Refractometer  for 

Chemists.     By  Q.  T.  P 538 

A  Weather  Record  of  the  Fourteenth  Century.    By 

H.  P.  B 538 

Our  Book  Shelf: — 

Jobnston-Lavis :  «  The  South  Italian  Volcanoes '\  .  539 
St  Clair:  " Baried  Cities  and  Bible  Countries  "    .  .  540 

Durham  :  "Food,  Physiology,  &c." 540 

"  Blackie's  Science  Readers  " 540 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

Comparative  Palatability.— E.  B.  Titchener    ...  540 

Alum  Solution.— Ch.  Ed.  Quillaume 540 

Weather  Cycles.— Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly 541 

Occurrence  of  the  Ringed  Snake  in  the   Sea.— J. 

Cowper .   .   .   .  , 541 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. — Herbert  Riz  ;  Dr.  J.  L.  E. 

Dreyer 54J 

The  Heights  of  Auroras.— T.  W.  Backhouse  .  •  .  54i 
Some  Notes  on  the  Frankfort  International  Elec- 

.  trical  Exhibition.    III.  {lUustrated.) 54^ 

On  Van  der    Waals's    Treatment    of    Laplace's 
Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equation :   in  Answer  to 

Lord  Rayleigh.    By  Pro!  P.  Q.  Tait $46 

The  Existing  Schools  of   Science  and   Art.     67 

Oliver  S.  Dawson 547 

Notes 548 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Physical  Appearance  of  Periodic  Comets 55^ 

Discovery  of  Tempel-Swift's  Comet 55' 

Photographic   Definition.      I.     {Illustrated,)    By  A. 

Mallock 552 

The    Koh-i-Nur— a     Criticism.      {Illustrated.)     Bj 

Prof.  N.  Story-Maskelyne,  F.R,S 555 

Scientific  Serials 559 

Societies  and  Academies 5^ 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 5^ 

Diary  of  Societies 5^ 


NA  TURE 


5.61 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  15,  1891. 


PHYSICAL  CHEMISTRY. 

Outlines  of  General  Chemistry,  By  Wilhelm  Ostwald. 
Translated  with  the  Author's  sanction  by  James  Walker, 
D.Sc,  Ph.D.  I^p.  396.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co, 
1890.) 

THAT  much  may  be  gained  by  a  judicious  use  of  the 
methods  of  the  physicist  in  elucidating  chemical 
phenomena  most  chemists  will  admit ;  and,  considering 
the  rapid  strides  made  of  late  years  in  physical  chemistry, 
it  seems  surprising  that  so  little  has  been  done  to  give  a 
connected  account,  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  student,  of 
the  main  researches  in  this  important  field  of  investigation. 
Original  communications  on  physical  chemisiry  are  on 
the  increase.  The  chemist  has  now,  in  the  Zeitsckrift 
jur physikalische  Chemie^  a  periodical  devoted  exclusively 
to  this  branch  of  his  science,  and  during  the  four  years  or 
so  of  the  existence  of  this  journal,  its  success  has  testified 
amply  to  the  want  which  it  supplies. 

Ready  access  to  original  memoirs  is  not,  however,  the 
boon  of  the  ordinary  student ;  and,  even  if  it  were  other- 
wise, the  want  of  some  scheme  whereby  to  systematize 
his  reading  and  classify  his  information,  much  of  which 
is  still  open  to  wide  difference  of  opinion,  would  almost 
invariably  lead  to  confusion. 

The  majority  of  the  text-books  make  little  or  no 
attempt  at  supplying  this  want.  Occasionally  a  few  of 
the  larger  chemical  treatises  spare  a  few  pages  to 
"physical  methods,"  and  such  text-books  as  Meyer's 
"Modernen  Theorien"  or  Muir's  "Principles  of  Che- 
mistry" contain  much  of  the  matter  classed  under 
physical  chemistry. 

Yet  a  comprehensive  idea  of  what  has  been  done  in 
tracing  relationships  between  physical  properties  and 
chemical  composition  and  in  utilizing  physical  mea- 
surements in  investigating  chemical  change,  cannot  be 
obtained  from  most  text-books.  Indeed,  so  far  as  we 
know,  only  one  is  designed  to  serve  this  purpose,  and 
that  is  the  *'  Lehrbuch  der  Allgemeinen  Chemie  "  of  Prof. 
Ostwald.  "  Allgemeinen  "  rather  than  "  Physikalische  " 
"  Chemie ''  has  been  used  as  a  title  for  the  work ;  but  in 
the  main  it  deals  with  physical  chemistry.  The  book 
under  notice  seems  to  be  an  English  translation  of  an 
abstract  of  the  "  Lehrbuch  "  ;  and,  were  it  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  it  furnishes  a  well-conceived  syllabus  of 
the  subject-matter  of  general  and  physical  chemistry,  it 
would  be  worthy  of  careful  consideration. 

The  book  is  divided  into  two  parts — Part  I.  chemical 
laws  of  mass  ;  Part  II.  chemical  laws  of  energy. 

The  first  part  opens  with  stoichiometry.  The  laws  of 
chemical  combination,  the  determination  of  atomic 
weights,  and  a  useful  summary  of  the  atomic  weight 
estimations  of  the  different  elements  are  here  given. 
Then  follow  sections  treating  of  such  of  the  physical 
properties  of  gases,  of  liquids,  of  solutions,  and  of  solids 
as  the  chemist  must  be  familiar  with,  and  of  the  more 
important  relations  which  have  been  established  between 
such  physical  properties  and  chemical  composition. 

The  section  dealing  with  solutions  is  noteworthy  as 
containing  the  first  fairly  complete  statement,  in  an  Eng- 

NO.  1 1 46,  VOL.  44] 


lish  t^xt-book,  of  the  facts  grouped  around  the  physical 
theory  of  solution  which  has  arisen  out  of  a  knowledge 
of  osmotic  pressure.  Part  I.  closes  with  chapters  on 
chemical  systematics — the  choice  of  atomic  weights,  the 
periodic  law,  the  development  of  the  present  conception 
of  molecular  structure. 

In  the.  earlier  portions  of  the  second  part,  thermo- 
chemistry, photo-chemistry,  and  electro-chemistry  are 
discussed.  The  last  takes  up  the  constitution  of 
electrolytes,  electric  conductivity,  and  the  Arrheniiis 
dissociation  hypothesis. 

Chemical  dynamics  and  chemical  af](inity  are  treated 
in  the  last  two  sections,  and  afford  many  illustrations  of 
the  use  of  physical  methods  in  the  study  of  chemical 
change.  In  the  case  of  acids  competing  for  the  same 
base  are  found  instances  where  physical  methods  alone 
are  available  to  estimate  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
chemical  action.  In  these  sections,  the  exposition  of  the 
law  of  mass  action,  and  of  the  velocity  of  chemical 
change,  is  especially  clear.  Owing  to  recent  work  on  the 
subject,  the  discussion  of  affinity  is  here  more  complete 
than  in  the  "  Lehrbuch,''  and  however  unsatisfactory  the 
notion  of  fixing  specific  affinity  constants  be  considered, 
the  account  set  out  is  the  most  systematic  and  plausible 
yet  published. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  general  conception  of  the 
book  is  admirable  ;  it  contains  much  that  is  new  ;  to  the 
advanced  reader  it  will  be  refreshing  after  the  time- 
honoured  methods  of  the  ordinary  text-books.  Yet  the 
general  impression  which  we  think  will  be  formed  on 
looking  through  it,  is  that  the  attempt  made  to  compress 
information  into  tod  small  a  compass  has  detracted  much 
from  its  value. 

A  certain  amount  of  detail  is  always  necessary  to  in- 
telligent comprehension,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  book 
there  is  too  much  bald  statement  to  satisfy  the  reader 
who  approaches  the  subject  for  the  first  time.  Mainly 
for  this  reason  it  is  a  question  whether  the  work  will 
answer  the  expectation  of  the  author  that  it  will  "  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  student  who,  while  not  intending 
to  devote  himself  to  the  detailed  study  of  general  che- 
mistry, still  wishes  to  follow  intelligently  the  progress 
recently  made  in  this  important  branch  of  science.'' 

The  time  which  has  been  spent  in  preparing  the 
chapters  on  several  important  topics  seems  to  have  been 
inadequate.  For  instance,  the  molecular  volumes  of 
liquids  are  disposed  of  in  little  more  than  three  pages. 
Kopp's  laws  are  quoted,  although  not  one  of  them  can 
now  be  taken  as  valid  ;  Schiff's  inaccurate  rule  as  to  the 
volumes  of  isomers  also  finds  a  place.  Instead  of  appa- 
rently settling  the  question  by  stating  ^^  molecular  volumes 
to  be  additive  magnitudes  subject  to  constitutive  influ- 
ence," little  more  space  would  have  been  occupied  in 
showing  how,  in  different  groups  of  isomers,  the  volume 
varies  with  the  constitution.  If  recent  progress  on  the 
subject  was  to  be  made  use  of,  the  facts  that  the  effects  of 
molecular  weight  and  constitution  cannot  be  disen- 
tangled, that  even  from  the  comparison  of  compounds  of 
similar  constitution,  definite  atomic  volumes,  determined 
for  the  boiling-point,  cannot  be  obtained — that,  in  short, 
atomic  volumes  cannot  be  regarded  as  physical  constants 
-nought Purely  to  have  been  emphasized. 
The  desire  to  economize  space  is  probably  the  cause 

B  B 


562 


NA  TURE 


[OcTOiitR  15,  l8t,l 


of  several  examples  of  rather  mixed  information.    The. 
following  paragraph  occurs  on  p.  104 : — 

''^  Ordinary  dextrotartaric  acid,  for  .instance^^  has  pre- 
cisely the  same  properties  as  laevotartaric  acid ;  but  the 
compound  of  both  which  crystallizes  from  their  mixed 
solutions  on  evaporation — racemic  acid—has  quite  a 
different  character.  The  first-named  crystallize  anhy- 
drous, the  last  hydrated.  The  simple  acids  do  not 
precipitate  a  solution  of  calcium  sulphate.  The  com- 
pound acid  does,  and  so  forth.  Yet  it  should  be  em- 
phasized that  such  differences  only  occur  with  solid 
compounds  ;  racemic  acid  behaves  in  solution  like  a 
mixture  of  the  two  components. ' 

Seeing  that  this  book  is  one  of  the  very  few  in  which 
Van  der  Waals's  work  obtains  the  prominence  which  it 
deserves,  and  which  has  been  long  delayed,  it  seems  a 
pity  that  pains  have  not  been  taken  to  make  the  account 
accurate. 

On  p.  67  the  reader  is  led  to  infer  that  b  in  Van  der 
Waals's  equation  is  the  volume  of  the  molecules;  the 
true  value  of  b  is  four  times  the  volume  of  the  molecules. 
Again,  on  p.  90,  it  is  stated  that  the  equation  '^is 
deduced  only  for  the  case  where  the  volume  of  the  sub- 
stance is  eight  times  as  large  as  the  magnitude  ^"; 
correctly  given,  this  should  be,  ''is  deduced  for  cases 
where  the  volume  is  greater  than  2^."  ^ 

Admirable  as  may  be  the  exposition  of  the  theory  of 
solution  from  the  advanced  standpoint  here  taken 
up,  it  may  rightly  be  questioned  whether  the  student  is 
fairly  treated.  The  physical  theory  of  solution,  the 
dissociation  hypothesis,  no  one  knows  better  than  the 
author,  are  still  strongly  contested  :  should  the  student 
therefore  not  have  heard  a  little  more  of  the  other  side 
of  the  question  ?  Particularly  objectionable  is  the 
application  of  such  terms  as  Boyle's  law,  Gay  Lussac's 
law,  &c.,  to  solutions.  In  the  opening  chapters  of  the 
book  the  reader  is  familiarized  with  the  kinetic  theory 
of  gases  ;  he  is  enabled  to  form  a  mental  picture  of  the 
mechanism  which  results  in  the  pressure  of  a  gas.  How 
he,  or,  indeed,  anyone,  can  form  a  similar  picture  for  a 
solution,  when  the  molecules  of  the  solvent  have  also  to 
be  taken  into  consideration,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine. 
By  using  for  solutions  a  term  such  as  Boyle's  law,  which 
for  gases  is  capable  of  a  perfectly  definite  interpretation, 
the  real  difficulty  of  the  question  is  ignored,  and  miscon- 
ception is  almost  sure  to  arise,  especially  in  the  case  of 
the  beginner. 

We  noticed  in  passing  that,  on  p.  364,  polybasic  is 
used  for  dibasic ;  on  p.  370,  k^a  =  kji^a  should  be 
kyCL  =  k-Ji'a,  Frequently  there  is  no  distinction  be- 
tween the  type  of  letters  occurring  in  formulae,  and  that 
in  which  the  book  is  printed.  Reference  in  the  body  of 
the  book  to  portions  of  formulae  is  therefore  apt  to  lead 
to  confusion,  and  in  any  case  lacks  clearness,  as  may  be 
seen  on  pp.  297  and  369. 

The  work,  from  its  very  title,  apart  even  from  the 
reputation  of  the  author,  will  no  doubt  appeal  to  a  large 
class  of  readers ;  as  an  English  text-book  of  chemistry  it 
is  unique.  We  venture  to  think,  however,  that  if  such 
points  as  those  indicated  were  attended  to,  particularly 
the  question  of  space,  its  sphere  of  usefulness  would  be 
materially  enlarged.  J.  W.  R. 

'  Physical  Society  Memoirs,  i.  3,  453. 

NO.    II 46,  VOL.  44] 


UNITED  STATES  FISH  COMMISSION 
^  REPORTS. 

y  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Fish  Commission.    Vol 
VIII.  for  1888.    (Washington,  1890.) 

IN  188 1  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America  authorized  the  public 
printer  to  print  from  time  to  time  any  matter  furnished 
to  him  by  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Fish  and 
Fisherie&  relative  to  new  observations,  discoveries,  and 
applications  connected  with  fish  culture  and  the  fisheries. 
The  printed  matter  was  to  be  capable  of  being  distributed 
in  parts,  the  whole  was  to  form  an  annual  volume  or 
Bulletin  not  exceeding  500  pages,  and  the  edition  was 
to  be  limited  to  5000  copies. 

Seven  volumes  of  this  important  series  have  since  been 
published,  and  have  been  noticed  in  our  pages.  Tbey 
were  composed  chiefiy  of  translations  or  republications  of 
articles  on  fish  or  fisheries  which  had  appeared  in  Euro- 
pean periodicals  or  as  Slate  documents ;  extracts  from 
the  official  correspondence,  with  statistics  of  work  done ; 
and  often  of  short  articles  of  direct  scientific  interest 
on  American  fish ;  the  whole  forming  a  most  valuable, 
practical  encyclopaedia  of  everything  relating  to  the 
economic  study  of  fish. 

An  eighth  volume,  dated  1890,  but  being  the  Bulletin 
for  1888,  has  just  been  issued  from  the  Washington  Press. 
The  increased  operations  of  the  United  States  Fish  Com- 
mission during  1888  have  made  it  possible  to  devote 
almost  the  whole  of  this  volume  to  the  results  of  the  woric 
of  the  Commission,  and  it  will  be  found  to  contain  matter 
of  considerable  interest.  The  size  of  the  volume  has 
been  slightly  enlarged,  so  as  to  afford  room  for  larger 
illustrations. 

Of  the  twelve  memoirs  or  papers  contained  in  this 
volume,  five  relate  to  local  collections  of  fishes.  Mr. 
Tarleton  H.  Bean  gives  notes  on  a  collection  made 
at  Cozumel,  Yucatan :  sixty  species  are  enumerated ; 
two  new  species  are  described  and  figured.  Mr.  C.  H. 
Bollman  reports  on  the  fishes  of  Kalamazoo,  Calhoun, 
and  Antrim  counties  in  Michigan.  Mr.  S.  A.  Forbes  con- 
tributes a  preliminary  account  of  the  invertebrate  animals 
inhabiting  Lakes  Geneva  and  Mendota,  in  Wisconsin, 
and  gives  some  particulars  of  the  fish  epidemic  in  the 
latter  lake  in  1884.  Mr.  C  H.  Gilbert  describes  some 
fish  from  the  lowlands  of  Georgia.  Mr.  D.  S.  Jordan 
gives  a  report  of  explorations  made  during  1888  in  the 
Alleghany  region  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Ten- 
nessee, and  in  Western  Indiana,  with  an  account  of  the 
fishes  found  in  each  of  the  river- basins  of  those  regions. 

In  a  review  of  the  genera  and  species  of  Serranidae,  b> 
D.  S.  Jordan  and  C.  H.  Eigenminn,  we  have  an  enu- 
meration of  all  the  genera  and  species  belonging  to  this 
family  found  in  the  waters  of  America  and  Europe,  to- 
gether with  the  synonymy  of  each,  and  analytical  keys  b} 
which  the  different  groups  may  be  distinguished.  One 
hundred  and  nineteen  species  are  admitted,  and  thim- 
four  genera.  This  memoir  is  illustrated  with  ten  plates. 
Mr.  J.  W.  Collins  contributes  a  paper  on  improved  typc> 
of  vessels  for  use  in  the  market  fisheries,  with  some  note^ 
on  British  fishing- steamers  ;  and  Mr.  W.  F.  Page  gives 
an  account  of  the  most  recent  methods  of  hatching  fish- 
eggs.     Mr.  T.  H.  Bean  reports  favourably  on  the  ffeasi- 


October  15,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


563 


bility  of  introducing  the  mountain  mullets  of  Jamaica 
<Agonostoma)  into  some  of  the  Alpine  streams  of  the 
Southern  States  ;  and  Mr.  R.  Rathbun  gives  a  detailed 
report  on  the  introduction  of  lobsters  to  the  Pacific  shores 
•of  the  United  States. 

The  two  most  important  contributions  to  this  volume 
arc,  however,  those  by  Lieutenant  Tanner,  "On  the 
Result  of  the  Explorations  of  the  Fishing-grounds  of 
Alaska,  Washington  Territory,  and  Oregon  during 
1888,"  and  by  Mr.  John  A.  Ryder,  "  On  the  Sturgeons 
and  Sturgeon  Industries  of  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the 
United  States." 

Although  it  had  been  known  for  many  years  that  the 
Pacific  coasts  of  North  America  were  abundantly  pro- 
vided with  edible  fishes,  it  was  not-until  1880  that  the  exact 
species  of  these  were  correctly  determined  ;  the  Alaskan 
cod  proving  to  be  the  same  species  as  that  of  the 
North  Atlantic.  The  absence  of  large  and  convenient 
markets  hindered  the  development  of  the  Ps^cific  coast 
fisheries;  but,  with  the  completion  of  the  railroad  system, 
this  state  of  things  has  changed,  and  a  strong  interest  is 
now  being  shown  in  all  that  relates  to  the  development 
of  the  fish  industry.  This  Report  affords  us  the  first  ac- 
curate information  that  has  been  obtained  respecting 
most  of  the  fishing-grounds  in  Alaska.  The  five  banks 
whose  positions  were  indicated  by  older  surveys — namely, 
Davidson,  Sannakh,  Shumagin,  Albatross,  and  Portlock 
banks — were  more  thoroughly  examined  than  were  the 
intervening  areas,  some  of  which,  however,  may,  upon 
further  examination,  prove  to  contain  fishing-banks  of 
«qual  value,  and  not  inferior  in  size,  to  at  least  the 
smaller  of  the  banks  mentioned. 

Good  fishing  was  obtained  at  nearly  all  localities  where 
trials  were  made  with  hand-lines,  whether  upon  defined 
banks  or  upon  the  more  level  grounds  between  them,  and 
it  seems  natural  to  infer  that  the  entire  submerged  plateau 
from  off  Unalashka  Island  to  Fairweather  Ground  is  one 
immense  fishing-bank,  limited  upon  the  outer  side  only 
by  the  abrupt  slope,  which  may  be  said  to  begin  about 
the  loo-fathom  curve. 

Although  the  great  bulk  of  this  Report  relates  to  the  fish- 
ing-banks and  fishes,  yet  we  get  various  glimpses  of  many 
interesting  facts  relating  to  other  of  the  vertebrate  and  to 
many  of  the  invertebrate  forms  met  with.  OfTTopoflf 
Island,  large  masses  of  sea-urchins,  star-fishes,  and  large 
Medusae  were  found  in  the  seine  nets,  and  the  hooks 
became  entangled  with  fine  specimens  of  sea-pens  (Pen- 
natula).  At  the  Lighthouse  Rocks  a  landing  was  made, 
to  examine  a  large  rookery  of  Steller's  sea-lion  {Eumeto- 
pias  stelleri).  Several  hundreds  of  these  animals  were 
found  crowded  together  upon  a  very  limited  area.  As 
the  party  landed,  the  old  sea-lions  came  tumbling  down 
over  the  rocks  in  great  eagerness  to  reach  the  sea ;  a  few, 
whose  retreat  was  intercepted,  were  seen  to  jump  from 
their  high  positions  directly  into  the  water,  apparently 
sustaining  no  injury  from  the  plunge,  although  the  dis- 
tance was  considerable,  especially  for  such  large  animals. 
A  couple  of  killer  whales  (Orca),  attracted  by  the  dis- 
turbance and  the  sight  of  so  many  seals  in  the  water, 
came  quite  close  to  the  rocks,  causing  the  seals  to  gather 
nearer  the  shore,  and  to  cast  frightened  looks  of  alarm 
towards  the  whales,  whose  dorsal  fins  showed  not  less  than 
four  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water.     These  rocks 

NO.  II 46,  VOL-  44] 


were  entirely  destitute  qf  vegetation.  Off  Trinity  Islands, 
large  quantities  of  crustaceans,  worms,  moUusks,  echino- 
derms,  and  sponges  were  taken — an  especial  feature  of 
the  haul  consisting  of  over  a  hundred  specimens  of  a 
fine  large  free  crinoid.  As  all  these  specimens  will  find 
their  way  to  the  United  States  National  Museum,  we 
may  expect  soon  to  have  recorded  many  additions  to  the 
marine  fauna  of  the  North  Pacific. 

Mr.  John  A.  Ryder's  paper  will  also  be  perused  with  great 
interest.  Having  undertaken  to  report  on  the  sturgeons 
and  sturgeon  fisheries  of  the  eastern  rivers  of  the  United 
States,  he  repaired  in  May  1888  to  Delaware  City, 
which  is  described  as  a  very  important  centre  of  the 
sturgeon  fishery.  Two  species  of  the  genus  Acipenser 
are  to  be  found  in  the  waters  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
the  United  States  ;  these  are  A.  sfurio,  L.,  and  A.  brevi- 
rostriSy  Le  Sueur.  The  former  (the  common  sturgeon)  is 
the  only  one  of  any  commercial  importance  at  Delaware, 
as  Le  Sueur's  species  is  so  rare  that  only  five  specimens 
of  it  were  taken  by  Mr.  Ryder  ;  and  since  the  date  of  its 
first  being  described,  in  181 7,  it  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  until  now  again  recognized.  Of  the  other  American 
species,  one  is  the  very  distinct  fresh- water  sturgeon  of 
the  Lake  region,  and  two  others  are  to  be  found  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 

The  embryological  data  of  this  memoir  have  been  in  a 
good  measure  drawn  from  the  author's  original  investiga- 
tions, but  he  has  fortunately  also  given  us  in  addition 
details  from  the  writings  of  Balfour,  Knoch,  Parker, 
Zograff,  and  Salensky.  He  found  it  perfectly  practicable 
to  fertilize  artificially  the  sturgeon's  roe,  and  thinks  it  pos- 
sible that  millions  of  young  sturgeon  might  be  developed 
in  this  way.  He  treats  in  detail  of  the  dermal  armature 
of  the  sturgeon's  body,  illustrating  this  part  of  his  sub- 
ject by  numerous  photogravures,  describes  the  organs 
of  locomotion,  the  lateral  line  system,  the  viscera,  and 
lymphatics.  The  sources  of  the  food  of  this  fish  and  its 
peculiar  habits  are  next  considered,  and  special  informa- 
tion is  given  about  the  preparing  of  the  fiesh  for  market, 
and  the  manufacture  of  the  caviare.  A  very  useful 
bibliography  of  the  literature  relating  to  the  sturgeon  is 
appended.  This  memoir  is  illustrated  by  twenty-two 
plates. 


THE  CATALOGUE  OF  THE  WASHINGTON 
MEDICAL  LIBRARY, 

Index  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon- Generates 
Office,  U.S.  Army.  Vol.  XL  Phaedronus— Regent. 
Pp.  1 102.     (Washington,  1890.) 

THE  appearance  of  these  very  fine  folios  year  by 
year  for  the  last  eleven  years  is  a  very  good 
proof  to  all  lovers  of  books  and  collections  of  books  in 
Europe  that  they  have  some  sympathetic  friends  in 
America  who  have  the  will  and  the  power  to  make  one 
at  least  of  their  finest  libraries  well  known  throughout 
the  world.  Its  title  as  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  may  once  have  sounded  like  the  name 
of  a  collection  of  musty  Blue  books  tied  together  with 
red  tape ;  but,  thanks  to  the  energy  of  its  Librarian, 
Mr.  J.  S.  Billings,  which  we  feel  constantly  in  the 
monthly  publication  of  the  Index  Medicus,  everyone 
knows   now    that    it    is    nothing    of    the    kind,    but 


564 


NA  TURE 


[October  15,  1891 


one  of  the  first  medical  libraries,  if  not  the  first,  in 
the  world,  containing  much  more  medical  literature 
than  is  to  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  the  richer  English 
corporations,  the  Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  or  of  the  more  learned  and  active  Societies, 
such  as  the  Royal  Medical  and  Chirutgical  Society,  or, 
indeed,  in  the  British  Museum  or  Biblioth^que  Nationale. 
And  though  the  Washington  Library  is  of  comparatively 
recent  date,  going  back  only  some  thirty  years,  yet  it 
contains  a  very  fine  collection  of  books  both  of  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries  ;  and  at  the  same  time  the 
great  difficulty  of  the  maker  of  a  catalogue  to  a  modern 
library,  viz.  the  immense  mass  of  the  newspaper  and 
periodical  literature  of  to-day,  has  been  fairly  faced  and 
overcome.  During  the  past  year,  287  periodicals  have 
been  added  to  the  list  of  those  that  are  taken  in,  raising 
the  total  number  to  about  7500,  of  which  at  least  3900  are 
current.  The  vast  aggregate  of  articles  in  these  are  duly 
catalogued,  each  under  the  head  of  its  subject-matter.  It 
is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  we  should  find  80  of 
these  large  square  folio  pages  filled  in  the  present  volume 
with  entries  under  the  heading  Phthisis,  -jZ  under  Puerperal 
Diseases,  67  under  Pregnancy,  und  56  under  Pneumonia. 
Even  as  devoted  entirely  to  a  lesser  matter  like  the  pulse? 
there  are  catalogued  150  volumes  and  350  articles  in 
periodicals.  The  care  with  which  the  records  of  the 
smallest  steps  in  the  past  history  of  medicine  have  been 
preserved  is  shown  by  the  accumulation  of  twenty-five 
editions  of  the  "  Pharmacopoeia "  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  of  London  from  the  years  1657  to  185 1. 
Under  such  headings  as  Psychology,  we  may  see  the 
wide  range  also  of  the  larger  subjects  embraced  in  the 
Library,  for  the  collection  under  this  heading  begins  with 
many  expositions  of  Aristotle,  and  does  not  neglect  Plato, 
but  takes  in  also  the  recent  books  of  modern  authors, 
such  as  the  last  edition  of  Herbert  Spencer's  "  Principles 
of  Psychology"  and  Taine's  "De  I'Intelligence."  The 
eleventh  volume  of  this  magnificent  catalogue  brings  us 
to  within  measurable  distance  of  the  end  ;  from  the 
analogy  of  lesser  works,  in  fact,  it  seems  probable  it  may 
be  completed  in  three  or  at  most  four  volumes,  and  it 
will  then  be  a  great  monument  among  modern  catalogues, 
and  in  its  articles  under  subject  titles  form  a  ^most  valu- 
able dictionary  to  all  who  are  seeking  a  clue  to  the 
cpmplete  historical  study  of  medicine  and  surgery. 

A.  T.  Myers. 

OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Dictionary  of  Political  Economy.  Edited  by  R.  H, 
Inglis  Palgrave,  F.R.S.  Part  L  Abatement — Bede. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1891.) 

This  is  a  first  instalment  of  what  promises  to  be  a  very 
valuable  addition  to  the  English  library  of  political 
economy.  The  plan  of  the  work  is  laid  down  on  broad 
lines,  and  includes  not  only  articles  dealing  with  strictly 
economic  subjects,  and  explanations  of  legal  and  business 
terms,  but  good  (though  necessarily  brief)  accounts  of 
historical  events  bearing  on  economic  history',  such  as  the 
establishment  and  downfall  of  the  ateliers  nationaux  in 
Paris  in  1848,  and  biographical  notices  of  deceased  writers 
whose  life  and  work  has  had  any  connection  with  the 
development  of  economic  theory  or  practice.  That  the 
biographical  section  of  the  dictionary  is  conceived  in  a 
liberal  spirit  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  first 
parr,  now  under  review,  includes  notices  of  Addisdn  and  J 

NO.   1 1 46,  VOL.  44] 


Thomas  Aquinas ;  the  claim  of  the  former  to  a  place  in  a 
dictionary  of  political  economy  is  based  in  the  main  on 
the  fact  that  he  held  an  official  position  in  the  Government 
of  his  time  as  one  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade. 
This  rather  remote  connection  with  economics  may  be 
open  to  criticism;  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
Mr.  Palgrave  will  include  in  his  dictionary  the  honoured 
names  of  William  Wordsworth  and  Robert  Bums.  It  is 
not,  however,  desirable  to  say  anything  in  the  way  of 
criticism  which  should  tend  to  narrow  the  scope  of  the 
work.  Its  interest  and  vitality  depend,  to  a  large  degree, 
on  its  broad  inclusiveness. 

The  biographical  articles  are  particularly  well  done,  and 
we  would  single  out  that  on  the  late  Mr.  Bagehot  for 
special  commendation.  It  g^ves  not  only  the  dry  facts  of 
his  career,  but  presents  a  living  picture  of  a  peculiarly 
fascinating  personality,  and  also  a  very  just  estimate  of  his 
place  in,  and  services  to,  economic  literature.  Among  the 
most  important  articles  in  the  present  instalment  of 
the  dictionary  may  be  mentioned  that  on  agricultural 
communities,  by  Prof  T.  S.  Nicholson,  and  th^t  on  banks. 
The  former  gives  an  admirable  summary  of  the  conditions 
of  life  in  existing  village  communities  in  Russia  and  India, 
and  also  a  digest  of  the  results  arrived  at  by  the  researches 
of  Sir  Henry  Maine,  Mr.  Seebohm,  and  M.  de  Laveleye, 
as  to  the  existence  of  various  forms  of  village  communities 
in  the  remote  past  in  our  own  and  other  countries.  The 
article  on  banks  gives  an  historical  sketch  of  the 
development  of  banking  in  various  countries,  contributed 
by  different  writers,  each  with  special  knowledge  of  his 
own  portion  of  the  subject.  Thus  we  have  brought 
together  within  the  compass  of  a  few  pages  an  account  of 
the  land  banks  and  the  Schulze  Delitsch  credit  banks  of 
Germany,  the  savings  banks  (trustee  and  Post-office)  of 
England,  and  the  popular  banks  of  Italy. 

The  names  of  the  contributors  to  the  present  volume, 
and  also  those  who  have  promised  their  assistance  in  the 
preparation  of  the  rest  of  the  work,  are  a  guarantee  of 
its  high  value  to  all  students  of  social  and  economical 
subjects. 

South  Africa^  from  Arab  Domination  to  British  Rule, 
Edited  by  R.  W.  Murray,  F.R.G.S.  With  Maps,  &c. 
(London  :  Edward  Stanford,  1891.) 

One  of  the  objects  of  this  book  is  to  bring  out  the  con- 
trast between  Portuguese  rule  in  South  Africa  and  the 
influence  exerted  by  England.  The  contrast  is  certainly 
striking  enough  ;  and  it  is  shown  most  clearly,  as  in  the 
present  work,  by  a  simple  statement  of  historic  facts.  In  the 
first  chapter.  Prof.  Keane  sketches  the  career  of  the  Portu- 
guese in  the  various  South  African  regions  they  have  domin- 
ated. This  is  followed  by  translations  from  the  "  Africa '' 
of  Dapper,  a  Dutch  writer  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
showing  that  at  that  time  the  Portuguese  stationed  on 
the  African  coasts  made  no  effort  to  acquire  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  interior.  The  editor  then  records  the 
main  facts  relating  to  the  Dutch  and  English  settlements 
in  the  south,  and  the  recent  movements  northward  to 
Bechuanaland,  Matabeleland,  and  Mashonaland.  Mr.  J. 
W.  EUerton  Fry,  late  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Cape 
Town,  Lieutenant  of  the  British  South  African  Com- 
pany's expeditionary  force,  gives  an  account  of  what  he 
himself  observed  during  the  march  into  Mashonaland  in 
1890;  and  much  information  with  regard  to  the  east 
coast  of  Africa  at  Beira,  Pungwe,  and  the  Zambesi  is 
presented  in  notes  from  the  diary  and  correspondence  of 
Mr.  Neville  H.  Davis,  late  surveyor  and  hydrographer  to 
the  Queensland  Government,  who,  in  1890,  accompanied 
an  expedition  sent  to  East  Africa  to  discover  whether 
there  was  any  mineral  or  other  wealth  in  concessions 
granted  by  the  Mozambique  Company.  The  book  has 
not  been  very  systematically  planned ;  but  it  brings 
together  so  many  facts  which  are  not  readily  accessible 
elsewhere,  that  it  cannot  fail  to  interest  readers  whose 


October  15,  i8yi] 


NA  TURE 


565 


-attention  is  for  any  reason  especially  directed  to  South 
Africa.  It  includes  several  excellent  maps,  and  two  en- 
gravings of  Cape  Town,  showing  Cape  Town  as  it  was 
in  1668,  and  as  it  is  in  .1891. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

{Tkt  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents »  Ndther  can  he  undertake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  "Saturr, 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

A  Pink  Marine  Micro-organism. 

While  dredging  lately  in  Loch  Fyne,  I  noticed  through  the 
clear  water,  in  a  little  shallow  bay  on  the  north  side  of  the 
entrance  to  East  Loch  Tarbert,  a  number  of  pink  patches  on 
the  sand.  These  could  just  be  reached  by  wading  from  a  boat 
at  the  lowest  tides,  and  were  then  found  to  be  roughly  circular 
spots,  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  where  the  clean  while  sand  was 
discoloured,  most  of  the  surface  grains  being  almost  exactly  the 
tint  of  ordinary  pink  blotting-pap>er. 

Under  a  low  power  of  the  microscope,  it  is  seen  that  the  pink 
particles  are  ordinary  clear  quartz  sand-grains,  incrusted  with 
little  bright  pink  jelly  masses,  generally  of  elongated  or  sausage- 
like forms,  and  averaging  o'l  mm.  in  length.  Further  mag- 
nification shows  that  each  jelly  mass  is  crowded  with  minute 
-very  short  rods,  or  ellipsoids,  of  about  0*0015  mm.  in  length, 
and  about  half  as  much  in  breadth. 

This  appears  to  be  a  micro-organism  in  the  zoogloea  condition, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  any  such  pink  marine  form,  living  on 
-dean  sand,  in  pure  sea  water,  has  been  noticed.  It  may  possibly 
be  one  of  the  forms  of  Beggiatoa  rosea-persicina,  but  it  does 
not  agree  satisfactorily  with  any  of  the  descriptions  I  have 
access  to  here.  I  have  still  some  of  the  material  alive  in  sea 
water,  and  shall  be  glad  to  hand  it  over  to  any  biologist  who  is 
now  working  specially  at  such  forms,  and  would  like  to  inves- 
tigate this  one,  W.  A.  Herdman. 

University  College,  Liverpool,  October  6. 


Advertisements  for  Instructors. 

The  friends  of  technical  education  can  no  longer  complain 
that  the  subject  is  not  receiving  attention.  The  numerous  ad- 
vertisements for  instructors  of  all  sorts,  from  County  Councils 
and  other  bodies,  colleges  and  schools  are  full  evidence  that 
much  is  being  attempted. 

Whether  all  the  plans  and  proposals  and  experiments  will 
Jead  to  the  hoped-for  results  only  time  will  show.  Some  of  us 
have  our  doubts  as  regards  many  of  them. 

Meantime,  one  of  the  advertisements  deserves  a  passing 
notice.  A  well-known  technical  school  is  in  search  of  *'  a 
demonstrator  in  the  Metallurgical  Department  to  take  the  lec- 
tures in  geology  and  mineralogy,  and  to  give  instruction  in 
dry  assaying  and  in  iron  and  steel  analysis"  (see  Nature 
of  this  week). 

This  is  certainly  a  large  and  considerably  mixed  "order," 
calculated  to  make  thoughtful  people  wonder  what  sort  of  in- 
struction is  expected  to  be  given  by  this  gifted  person  (who  is 
to  have  the  princely  sum  of  £\QO  per  annum) ;  and  whether,  if 
the  "  metallurgical  demonstrator "  is  to  throw  in  geology 
and  mineralogy  as  a  sort  of  extra  to  his  own  special  work,  the 
other  demonstrators  and  professors  are  expected  to  be  equally 
widely  qualified  ;  let  us  say  a  chemical  demonstrator  to  give 
lectures  on  mechanical  engineering  and  ship-building  ? 

Ncwcastle-on-Tyne,  October  10.  M. 


*' Rain-making." 

I  THINK  the  following  will  be  of  interest  to  your  readers  in 
connection  with  the  "rain-making"  experiments  in  Texas.  On 
October  i,  at  5  p.m.,  five  tons  of  gunpowder  was  exploded 
in  a  single  blast  at  the  Penrhyn  slate  quarries  in  order  to  clear 
away  a  very  large  mass  of  useless  rock.  A  strong  wind  had 
been  blowing  all  day,  and  the  clouds,  though  heavy,  were  high  ; 
there  had  been  no  rain,  and  not  much  sunshine,  and  the  tem- 
perature was  somewhat  low. 

Immediately  after  the  explosion  the  wind  fell  to  a  dead  calm, 

NO.    1 1 46,  VOL.  d.d.1 


which  lasted  about  5  or  6  minutes,  and  20  minutes  later  a 
fine  rain  began  to  fall,  which  soon  became  heavy  and  continued 
for  an  hour  and  a  half.  By  7  p.m.  all  disturbances  produced  by 
the  explosion  had  apparently  passed  away,  and  the  weather  Was 
again  similar  to  what  it  had  been  during  the  day.  The  rainfall 
was  entirely  local,  there  being  npne,  as  far  as  I  could  learn, 
outside  a  radius  of  6  or  7  miles  from  the  quarry. 

W.  R.  PiDGEON, 


Alum  Solution. 

With  reference  to  the  question  raised  by  Mr.  H.  N.  Draper 
in  Nature,  vol.  xliv.  p.  446,  as  to  the  practical  superiority  of 
an  alum  solution  over  simple  water  in  absorbing  such  radiations 
as  are  chiefly  instrumental  in  producing  heat,  I  may  recall  some 
experiments  made  by  myself  five  years  ago  (Brit.  Assoc.  Report, 
1886,  p.  309).  Thesonrceofradiationemployedwas  a  paraffin  lamp 
with  a  glass  chimney,  the  various  solutions  were  contained  in  a 
glass  cell  with  parallel  sides,  and  the  "radiometer"  was  a  deli- 
cate thermopile,  the  face  of  which  was  blackened  with  camphor 
smoke.     The  following  results,  among  others,  were  obtained  : — 

Solutions,  &c.  Diathermancy. 

Empty  cell 1000 

Water  distilled         197 

Water  from  tap ...  200 

Alum,  saturated  solution     204 

It  is  clear  therefore  that,  at  least  under  conditions  like  those 
of  my  experiment,  plain  water  will  answer  the  purpose  of  an 
absorbent  rather  better  than  an  alum  solution.  Possibly  the 
*'alum  cell"  tradition  rests  upon  no  better  foundation  than  many 
others,  which  are  generally  accepted  simply  because  it  does  not 
occur  to  people  to  question  them. 

Shelford  Bidwell. 

October  10. 


B.Sc.  Exam.  Lond.  Univ.  1892. 

There  are,  I  believe,  in  London  at  the  present  time  a  number 
of  men  desirous  of  offering  geology  as  one  of  three  subjects 
required  at  the  Degree  Examination  in  Science,  but  who  are 
deterred  from  so  doing  by  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to 
obtain  adequate  evening  class  tuition  in  this  subject. 

Enquiries  at  the  various  teaching  institutions  have  failed  to 
discover  a  single  op[>ortunity  for  working  up  to  the  required 
standard  in  both  theoretical  and  practical  branches. 

I  have  therefore  laid  the  matter  before  Prof.  Wiltshire,  of 
King's  College,  Strand,  with  the  result  that  he  has  very  kindly 
consented,  in  the  event  of  enough  men  requiring  it,  to  supple- 
ment his  lectures  on  geology  and  mineralogy  by  a  course  of  in- 
straction  in  petrology,  embracing  the  study  of  hand  specimens 
and  microscopical  examination  of  rock  sections. 

By  giving  publicity  to  the  matter,  it  is  hoped  that  a  sufficient 
number  of  B.  Sc.  candidates  will  be  forthcoming  to  ensure  the 
establishment  of  this  class. 

The  time-table  for  the  complete  course  wilUbe  as  follows  :— 

!  Petrology     ...  6-7  p.m. 
Mineralogy  ...  7-8    „ 
Geology       ...  8-9 


}f 


The  lectures  and  practical  work,  together  with  the  summer 
field  excursions,  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Wiltshire,  will 
prove  a  great  boon  to  such  as  are  prevented  from  attending  day 
courses,  and  will  undoubtedly  secure  admirable  preparation  for 
the  examination  specified. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  anyone  interested  in  the  matter, 
so  that  arrangements  may  at  once  be  made  for  the  first  sitting 
to  take  place  on  Monday,  October  19. 

Edward  J.  Burrell. 

People's  Palace,  Mile  End  Road,  E. 


Some  Notes. 

Those  who  have  visited  Venice  in  spring  know  how  rampant 
mosquitoes  become  after  the  flight  of  the  swallows,  which  have 
kept  them  in  check,  for  the  north — usually  in  May. 

A  word  for  the  sparrows — which  have  been  very  active  in  the 
gardens  hereabouts  this  season,  preying  on  the  green  flies  and 
larvee  infesting  the  creepers  and  ferns  in  particular ;  but  very 
few  starlings  have  been  observed,  to  the  great  increase  of  earth- 


566 


NA  TURE 


[October  15,  1891 


worms  in  the  lawns.  The  cnme-fly,  which  usually  swarms  in 
the  fields  of  the  Mansfield  estate  in  September,  has  been  yery 
rue,  too,  this  season.  The  dragon-fly  yisited  us  this  summer 
for  the  first  time. 

Apropos  to  the  records  of  the  "  rare  phenomenon/'  such  a 
summer  aurora  was  observed  at  Rothbury,  Northumberland,  in 
the  latter  half  of  August  1880. 

^o  conclude  this  farrago  of  notes :  for  "  non  pas  travaill^s "  in 
Mr.  Sclater*s  quotation  of  the  Prince  of  Canino's  words  (xUv. 
p.  518),  read  *'  n'ont  .  .  ."  J.  J.  WALKER. 

Hampstead,  N.  W.,  October  3. 


THE  MOLECULAR   PROCESS  IN  MAGNETIC 

INDUCTION,  * 

MAGNETIC  induction  is  the  name  given  by  Faraday 
to  the  act  of  becoming  magnetized,  which  certain 
substances  perform  when  they  are  placed  in  a  magnetic 
field.  A  magnetic  field  is  the  region  near  a  magnet,  or 
near  a  conductor  conveying  an  electric  current  Through- 
out such  a  region  there  is  what  is  called  magnetic  force,  and 
when  certain  substances  are  placed  in  the  magnetic  field 
the  magnetic  force  causes  them  to  become  magnetized  by 
magnetic  induction.  An  eflective  way  of  producing  a  mag- 
netic field  is  to  wind  a  conducting  wire  into  a  coil,  and  pass 
a  current  through  the  wire.  Within  the  coil  we  have  a 
region  of  comparatively  strong  magnetic  force,  and  when 
a  piece  of  iron  is  placed  there  it  may  be  strongly  mag- 
netized. Not  all  substances  possess  this  property.  Put  a 
piece  of  wood  or  stone  or  copper  or  silver  into  the  field,  and 
nothing  noteworthy  happens  ;  but  put  a  piece  of  iron  or 
nickel  or  cobalt  and  at  once  you  find  that  the  piece  has 
become  a  magnet.  These  three  metals,  with  some  of  their 
alloys  and  compounds,  stand  out  from  all  other  substances 
in  this  respect.  Not  only  are  they  capable  of  magnetic 
induction — of  becoming  magnets  while  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  magnetic  field — but  when  withdrawn  from  the 
field  they  are  found  to  retain  a  part  of  the  magnetism  they 
acquired.  They  all  show  this  property  of  retentiveness, 
more  or  less.  In  some  of  them  this  residual  magnetism 
is  feebly  held,  and  may  be  shaken  out  or  otherwise 
removed  without  difficulty.  In  others,  notably  in  some 
steels,  it  is  very  persistent,  and  the  fact  is  taken  advantage 
of  in  the  manufacture  of  permanent  magnets,  which  are 
simply  bars  of  steel,  of  proper  quality,  which  have  been 
subjected  to  the  action  of  a  strong  magnetic  field.  Of  all 
substances,  soft  iron  is  the  most  susceptible  to  the  action 
of  the  field.  It  can  also,  under  favourable  conditions, 
retain,  when  taken  out  of  the  field,  a  very  large  fraction 
of  the  magnetism  that  has  been  induced— more  than  nine- 
tenths — more,  indeed,  than  is  retained  by  steel ;  but  its 
hold  of  this  residual  magnetism  is  not  firm,  and  for  that 
reason  it  will  not  serve  as  a  material  for  permanent 
magnets.  My  purpose  to-night  is  to  give  some  account  of 
the  molecular  process  through  which  we  may  conceive 
magnetic  induction  to  take  place,  and  of  the  structure  which 
makes  residual  magnetism  possible. 

When  a  piece  of  iron  or  nickel  or  cobalt  is  magnetized 
by  induction,  the  magnetic  state  permeates  the  whole 
piece.  It  is  not  a  superficial  change  of  state.  Break  the 
piece  into  as  many  fragments  as  you  please,  and  you  will 
find  that  every  one  of  these  is  a  magnet.  In  seeking  an 
explanation  of  magnetic  quality  we  must  penetrate  the 
innermost  framework  of  the  substance — we  must  go  to 
the  molecules. 

Now,  in  a  molecular  theory  of  magnetism  there  are 
two  possible  beginnings.  We  might  suppose,  with 
Poisson,  that  each  molecule  becomes  magnetized  when 
the  field  begins  to  act.  Or  we  may  adopt  the  theor>'  of 
Weber,  which  says  that  the  molecules  of  iron  are  always 
magnets,  and  that  what  the  field  does  is  to  turn  them  so 

'  Abstractor  a  Friday  Evening  Discourse  delivered  at  the  Rojral  Tn«titution, 
pn  May  22,  1891,  by  y  A.  Ewingt  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Applied 
Mechanics  and  Mechanism  in  the  University  of  Cambridi^e. 

NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


that  they  face  more  or  less  one  way.  According  to  this 
view,  a  virgin  piece  of  iron  shows  no  magnetic  polarity, 
not  because  its  molecules  are  not  magnets,  but  because 
they  lie  so  thoroughly  higgledy-piggledy  as  regards  direc* 
tion  that  no  greater  numl^r  point  one  way  than  another. 
But  when  the  magnetic  force  of  the  field  begins  to  act, 
the  molecules  turn  in  response  to  it,  and  so  a  prepon- 
derating number  come  to  face  in  the  direction  in  which 
the  magnetic  force  is  applied,  the  result  of  which  is  that 
the  piece  as  a  whole  shows  magnetic  polarity.  All  the 
facts  go  to  confirm  Weber's  view.  One  fact  in  particular 
I  may  mention  at  once— it  is  almost  conclusive  in  itself. 
When  the  molecular  magnets  are  all  turned  to  face  one 
way,  the  piece  has  clearly  received  as  much  magnetization 
as  it  is  capable  of.  Accordingly,  if  Weber's  theory  be 
true,  we  must  expect  to  find  that  in  a  very  strong  mag- 
netic field  a  piece  of  iron  or  other  magnetizable  metal 
becomes  saturated^  so  that  it  cannot  take  up  any  more 
magnetism,  however  much  the  field  be  strengthened. 
This  is  just  what  happens :  experiments  were  published 
a  few  years  ago  which  put  the  fact  of  saturation  beyond  a 
doubt,  and  gave  values  of  the  limit  to  which  the  intensity 
of  magnetization  may  be  forced. 

When  a  piece  of  iron  is  put  in  a  magnetic  field,  we  do 
not  find  that  it  becomes  saturated  unless  the  field  is 
exceedingly  strong.  A  weak  field  induces  but  little 
magnetism  ;  and  if  the  field  be  strengthened,  more  and 
more  magnetism  is  acquired.  This  shows  that  the 
molecules  do  not  turn  with  perfect  readiness  in  response 
to  the  deflecting  magnetic  force  of  the  field.  Their 
turning  is  in  some  way  resisted,  and  this  resistance  is 
overcome  as  the  field  is  strengthened,  so  that  the  mag- 
netism of  the  piece  increases  step  by  step.  What  is  the 
directing  force  which  prevents  the  molecules  from  at 
once  yielding  to  the  deflecting  influence  of  the  field,  and 
to  what  is  that  force  due }  And  again,  how  comes  it 
that  after  they  have  been  deflected  they  return  partially* 
but  by  no  means  wholly,  to  their  originsd  places  when  the 
field  ceases  to  act } 

I  think  these  questions  receive  a  complete  and  satis- 
factory answer  when  we  take  account  of  the  forces  which 
the  molecules  necessarily  exert  on  one  another  in  con- 
sequence of  the  fact  that  they  are  magnets.  We  shall 
study  the  matter  by  examining  the  behaviour  of  groups 
of  little  magnets,  pivoted  like  compass  needles,  so  that 
each  is  free  to  turn  except  for  the  constraint  which  each 
one  suffers  on  account  of  the  presence  of  its  neighbours. 

But  first  let  us  see  more  particularly  what  happens 
when  a  piece  of  iron  or  steel  or  nickel  or  cobalt  is  mag- 
netized by  means  of  a  field  the  strength  of  which  b 
gradually  augmented  from  nothing.  We  may  make  the 
experiment  by  placing  a  piece  of  iron  in  a  coil,  and 
making  a  current  flow  in  the  coil  with  gradually  increased 
strength,  noting  at  each  stage  the  relation  of  the  induced 
magnetism  to  the  strength  of  the  field.  This  relation  b 
observed  to  be  by  no  means  a  simple  one :  it  may  be 
represented  by  a  curve  (Fig.  i),  and  an  inspection  of  the 
curve  will  show  that  the  process  is  divisible,  broadly,  into 
three  tolerably  distinct  stages.  In  the  first  stage  [a)  the 
magnetism  is  being  acquired  but  slowly :  the  molecules, 
if  we  accept  Webe?s  theory,  are  not  responding  readily— 
the^  are  rather  hard  to  turn.  In  the  second  stage  (^} 
their  resistance  to  turning  has  to  a  great  extent  broken 
down,  and  the  piece  is  gaining  magnetism  fast.  In  the 
third  stage  {c)  the  rate  of  increment  of  magnetism  faOs 
ofif :  we  are  there  approaching  the  condition  of  satora- 
tion,  though  the  process  is  still  a  good  way  from  being 
completed. 

Further,  if  we  stop  at  any  point  of  the  process,  sudi  as 
p,  and  gradually  reduce  the  current  in  the  coil  until 
there  is  no  current,  and  therefore  no  magnetic  field,  we 
shall  get  a  curve  like  the  dotted  line  PQ,  the  height  of  Q 
showing  the  amount  of  the  residual  magnetism. 

If  we  make  this  experiment  at  a  point  in  the  first  stagt 


October  15,  1891] 


567 


(11),  we  shall  .find,  as  Lord  Rayleigh  has  shown,  little  or 
no  residual  magnetism  ;  if  we  make  it  at  any  point  in  the 
second  stage  {S),  we  shall  find  very  much  residual  mag- 
netism ;  and  if  we  make  it  at  any  point  in  the  third  stage 
(f),  we  shall  find  only,  a  little  more  residual  magnetism 
than  we  should  have  found  by'  making  the  experiment 
at  the  end  of  siage  *.  That  part  of  ihe  turning  of  the 
molecules  which  goes  on  in  stage  a  contributes  nothing 
to  the  residual  magnetism.  That  part  which  goes  on  in 
stage  £  contributes  little.  But  that  part  of  the  turning 
which  goes  on  in  stage  6  contributes  very  much. 
In  some  specimens  of  magnetic  metal  we  find  a  much 


sharper  separation  of  the  three  stages  than  in  others-  Bf 
Applying  strain  in  certain  ways  it  is  possible  to  get  tte 
stages  very  clearly  separated.  Fig,  2,  a  beautiful  in- 
stance of  that,  is  taken  from  a  paper  by  Mr.  Nagaoka 
—one  of  an  abl«  band  of  J.ipanese  workers  'who  are 
bidding  fair  to  repay  the  debt  that  Japan  owes  for  its 
learning  to  the  West.  It  shows  how  a  piece  of  nickel 
which  is  under  the  joint  action  of  pull  and  twist  becomes 
magnetized  in  a  growing  magnetic  field.  There  the  first 
stage  is  excepiionally  prolonged,  and  the  second  stage 
is  extraordinarily  abrupt. 


The  bearing  of  all  this  on  the  molecular  theory  will  be 
evident  when  we  turn  to  these  models,  consisting  of  an 
assemblage  of  little  pivoted  magnets,  which  may  be 
taken  to  represent,  no  doubt  in  a  very  crude  way,  the 
molecular  structure  of  a  magnetizable  metal.  I  have 
here  some  large  models,  where  the  pivoted  magnets  are 
pieces  of  sheet  steel,  some  cut  into  short  fl.it  bars,  others 
mio  diamond  shapes  with  pointed  ends,  others  into 
shapes  resembling  mushrooms  or  umbrellas,  and  in  these 
the  magnetic  field  is  produced  by  means  of  a  coil  of  in- 
sulated wire  wound  on  a  large  wooden  frame  below  the 
magnets.  Some  of  these  are  arranged  with  the  pivots  on 
NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


a  gridiron  or  lazy-tongs  of  jointed  wooden  bars,  SO  that 
we  may  readily  distort  them,  and  vary  the  distances  of 
the  pivots  from  one  another,  to  imitate  some  of  the  effects 
of  strain  in  the  actual  solid.  But  to  display  the  experi- 
ments to  a  large  audience  a  lantern  model  will  serve  best. 
In  this' one  the  magnets -are  got  by  taki^  to  pieces 
numbers  of  little  pocket  compasses.  The  pivots  are 
cemented  to  a  glass  plate,  through  which  the  light  passes 
in  such  a  way  as  to  project  the  shadows  of  the  magnets 
on  the  screen.  The  magnetic  force  is  applied  by  means 
of  two  coils,  one  on  either  side  of  the  assemblage  of 
magnets  and  out  of  the  way  of  the  light,  which  together 
produce  a  neatly  uniform  magnetic  field  throoghout  the 
whole  group.    You  see  this  when  I  make  maAifest  the 


field  in  a  well-lqiown  fashion,  by  dropping  iron  filings  on 
ibe  plate. 

We  shall  first  put  a  single  pivoted  magnet  on  the  plate. 
So  long  as  no  fi^ld  acts  it  is  free  to  point  anyhow— there 
is  no  direction'  it  prefers  to  any  other.  As  soon  as  I 
apply  even  a  ve^  weak  field  it  responds,  turning  at  once 
into  the  exact  direction  of  the  applied  force,  for  there  was 
nothing  (beyond  a  trifling  friction  at  the  pivot)  to  prevent 
it  from  turning. 

Now  try  two  magnets.  I  have  cut  off  the  current,  so 
that  there  is  at  present  no  field,  but  you  see  at  once  that 
the  pair  has,  so  to  speak,  a  will  of  its  own.  I  may  shake 
or  disturb  them  as  I  please,  but  they  insist  on  taking  up 
a  position  {Fig.  3)  with  the  north  end  of  one  as  close  as 


possible  to  the  south  end  of  the  other.  If  disturbed  they 
return  to  it:  this  configuration  is  highly  stable.  Watch 
what  happens  when  the  magnetic  field  acts  with  gradually 
growing  strength.  At  first,  so  long  as  the  field  is  weak 
(Fig.  4),  there  i^  but  tittle  deflection  ;  but  as  the  deHection 
increases  it  is  evident  that  the  stability  is  being  lost,  the 
state  is  getting  more  and  more  critical,  until  (Fig.  5)  the 
tie  that  holds  them  together  seems  to  break,  and  they 
suddenly  turn,  with  violent  swinging,  into  almost  perfect 
alignment  with  the  magnetic  force  H.  Now  1  gradually 
remove  the  force,  and  you  see  that  they  are  slow  to 
return,  but  a  stage  comes  when  they  swing  back,  and  a 


568 


[October  15,  1891 


complete  removal  of  the  force  brings  them  into  the  con- 
didoD  with  which  we  began  (Fig.  3). 

■  If  we  were  to  picture  a  piece  of  iron  as  formed  of  a 
vast  number  of  such  pairs  of  molecular  magnets,  each 
pair  far  enough  from  its  neighbours  to  be  practically  out 
of  reach  of  their  m^netic  influence,  we  might  deduce 
many  of  the  observed  magnetic  properties,  but  not  all. 


In  particular,  we  should  not  be  able  to  account  for  so 
much  residual  magnetism  as  is  actually  found.  To  get 
that,  the  molecules  must  make  new  connections  when  the 
old  ones  are  broken  ;  their  relations  are  of  3  kind  more 
complex  than  the  quasi -matrimonial  one  which  the  ex- 
periment exhibits.    Each  molecule  is  a  member  of  a  larger 


community,  and   has  probably    many  neighbours  close 
enough  to  affect  its  conduct. 

We  get  a  better  idea  of  what  happens  by  considering 
four  magnets  (Fig.  6).  At  first,  in  the  absence  of  deflect- 
ing magnetic  force,  they  group  themselves  in  stable  pairs 
— in  one  of  a  number  of  possible  combinations.    Then— 


as  in  the  former  case — when  magnetic  force  is  applied, 
they  are  at  first  slightly  deflected,  in  a  manner  that  exactly 
tallies  with  what  I  have  called  the  stage  a  of  the  magnet- 
izing process.  Next  comes  instability.  The  original  ties 
break  up,  and  the  m^nets  swing  violently  round ;  but 
finding  a  new  possibility  of  combining  (Fig.  7),  they  take 
NO.  1 146,  VOL.  44] 


to  that    Finally,  as  the  field  is  fiirther  stieDgthened,  Ihcr 
are  drawn  into  perfect  aUgnment  with  the  apphed  uox- 

netic  force  (Fig.  8). 

We  SEC  ill';  same  ihree  stages  in  a  multiform  group 
(Figs.  9,  10,  11).  .\t  (irsl,  the  group,  if  it  is  shuffled  by 
any  casual  disiurbance,  arranges  itself  at  random  in  lines 
that  give  no  resultant  polarity  (Fig.  9).  A  weak  force  pn- 
duces  no  more  than  slight  quasi-clastic  deflectioni ;  a 
stronger  force  breaks  up  the  old  lines,  and  forms  new  onci 


more   favour.ibly  inclined  10   the  direction  of  tile  fertc 

(Fig.  10).     A  very  strong  force  brings  about  salmalioii 
(Fig.  n). 

In  an  act  11. li  ji;cce  of  iron  there  are  multitudes  of  gtoups 
lying  diffciL!  1;  direcied  to  begin  with — perhaps  iilso 
different  a5  refjards  the  spacing  of  their  ruembei^  Somi; 
enter  the  second  Stage  while  others  are  still  in  die  first, 
and  so  on.     Hence,  the  curve  of  magnetiiation  does  not 


consist  of  perfectly  sharp  steps,  but  has  the  rounded  oiB' 
lines  of  Fig.  i. 

Notice,  again,  how  the  behaviour  of  these  assembly 
of  elementary  magnets  agrees  with  what  I  have  ^ 
about  residual  magnetism.  If  we  stop  strengthenioe  >i" 
field  before  the  first  stage  is  passed — before  any  of  tb' 
magnets  have  become  unstable  and  have  tumbled  rounl 
into  new  places — the  small  deflection  simplv  disappeus, 


October  15,  1891J 


NAtURM 


569 


and  there  is  no  residual  effect  on  the  configuration  of  the  stage  is  reached  when  instability  begins,  and  ihett  reversil 
group.  But  if  we  carry  the  process  far  enough  to  have  occurs  with  a  rush.  We  thus  find  a  close  imitation  of  all 
tmstable  deflections,  the  effects  of  these  persist  when  the  '  the  features  that  are  actually  observed  when  iron  or  iuiy 
(brce  is  removed,  for  the  magnets  then  retain  the  new     of  the  other  magnetic  metals  is  carried  through  a  Cyclic 

magnetizing  process  (Fig.  12).  The  effect  of  any  such' 
,  process  is  to  form  a  loop  in  the  curve  which  expresses " 
the  relation  of  the  magnetism  to  the  magnetizing  force. ' 
The  changes  of  magnetism  always  lag  behind  the  changes 
of  maguetizing  force.  This  tendency  to  lag  behind  is 
called  magnetic  hysteresii. 
We  have  a  manifestation  of  hysteresis  whenever  a  mag- 
'  netic  metal  has  its  magnetism  changed  in  any  mariner 
'  through  changes  in  the  magnetizing  force,  unless  indeed 
I  the  changes  are  so  minute  as  to  be  con^ned  to  what  1 
>  have  called  the  first  stage  {a.  Fig.  i).  Residual  magnetism 
j  is  only  a  particular  case  of  hysteresis. 

Hysteresis  comes  in  whatever  be  the  character  or 
!  cause  of  the  magnetic  change,  provided  it  involves  such  ' 
,  deflections  on  tlie  part  of  the  molecules  as  make  them' 
become  unstable.  The  unstable  movements  are  not  re- 
versible with  respect  to  the  agent  which  produces  them  ; 


grouping  into  which  they  have  fallen  (Fig.  10). 
And  again,  the  quasi-etastic  deflections  which 
go  on  during  the  third  stage  do  not  add  to  the 

residual  magnetism. 


Notice,  further,  what  happens   to  the  group  if  after 

applying  a  magnetic  force  in  one  direction  and  removing 

it,  1  begin  to  apply  force  in  the  opposite  direction.    At 

first  there  is  litile  reduction  of  the  residual  polarity,  till  a 

HO.    1 146,  VOL.  4|.] 


of  mUTKtJfUlOD  LD  Ult  ITOn  \i 

hArdcnrd  by  BUvtchios  (bb). 


that  is  to  say,  they  are  not  simply  undone  step,by  step  as 
ihe  agent  is  removed. 

We  know,  on  quite  independent  grounds,  that  when 
the  magnetism  of  a  piece  of  iron  or  steel  is  reversed,  or 
indeed  cyclically  altered  in  any  way,  some  work  is  spent 
in  performing  the  operation — energy  is  being  given  to  the 
iron  at  one  stage,  and  is  being  recovered  from  it  at 
another ;  but  when  the  cycle  is  taken  as  a  whole,  there  is 
a  net  loss,  or  rather  a  waste  of  energy.  It  may  be  shown 
that  this  waste  is  proportional  to  the  area  of  the  loop  in 
our  diagrams.  This  energy  is  dissipated  ;  that  is  to  say, 
it  is  scattered  and  rendered  useless :  it  takes  the  form  of 
heat.  The  iron  core  of  a  transformer,  for  instance,  which 
is  having  its  magnetism  reversed  with  every  pulsation  of 
the  alternating  current,  tends  to  become  hot  for  this  very 
reason  ;  indeed,  the  loss  of  energy  which  happens  in  it, 
in  consequence  of  magnetic  hysteresis,  is  a  serious  draw- 
back to  the  efficiency  of  alternating-current  systems  of 
distributing  electricity.     It  is  the  chief  reason  why  they 


5?<^ 


NA  TURE 


[October  15,  1891 


leqUire  much  more  coal  to  be-  burnt,  for  every -unit  of 
electricity  sold,  than  direct-current  systems  require. 

The  molecular  theory  shows  how  this  waste  of  energy 
occurs.  When  the  molecule  becomes  unstable  and 
tumbles  violently  over,  it  oscillates  and  sets  its  neigh- 
bours oscillating,  until  the  oscillations  are  damped  out 
by  the  eddy  currents  of  electricity  which  they  generate  in 
the  surrounding  conducting  mass.  The  useful  work  that 
can  be  got  from  the  molecule  as  it  falls  over  is  less 
than  the  work  that  is  done  in  replacing  it  during  the 
return  portion  of  the  cycle.  This  is  a  simple  mechanical 
deduction  from  the  fact  that  the  movement  has  unstable 
phases. 

I  cannot  attempt,  in  a  single  lecture,  to  do  more  than 
glance  at  several  places  where  the  molecular  theory  seems 
to  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  obscure  and  complicated 
facts,  as  soon  as  we  recognize  that  the  constraint  of 
the  molecules  is  due  to  their  mutual  action  as  magnets. 

It  has  been  known  since  the  time  of  Gilbert  that  vibra- 
tion greatly  facilitates  the  process  of  magnetic  induction. 
Let  a  piece  of  iron  be  briskly  tapped  while  it  lies  in  the 
magnetic  field,  and  it  is  found  to  take  up  a  large  addition 
to  its  induced  magnetism.  Indeed,  if  we  examine  the 
successive  stages  of  the  process  while  the  iron  is  kept  vi- 
brating by  being  tapped,  we  find  that  the  first  stage  (a)  has 
practically  disappeared,  and  yjutxt,  is  a  steady  and  rapid 
growth  of  magnetism  almostprom  the  very  first.  This  is 
intelligible  enough.  Vibration  sets  the  molecular  mag- 
nets oscillating,  and  allows  them  to  break  their  primi- 
tive mutual  ties  and  to  respond  to  weak  deflecting  forces. 
For  a  similar  reason,  vibration  should  tend  to  reduce  the 
residue  of  magnetism  which  is  left  when  the  magnetizing 
force  is  removed,  and  this,  too,  agrees  with  the  results  of 
•observation. 

Perhaps  the  most  effective  way  to  show  the  influence  of 
.vibration  is  to  apply  a  weak  magnetizing  force  first,  before 
tapping.  If  the  force  is  adjusted  so  that  it  nearly  but  Aot 
quite  reaches  the  limit  of  stage  (a),  a  great  number  of  the 
molecular  magnets  are,  so  to  speak,  hovering  on  the 
verge  of  instability,  and  when  the  piece  is  tapped  they  go 
over  like  a  house  of  cards,  and  magnetism  is  acquired 
with  a  rush.  Tapping  always  has  some  effect  of  the  same 
kind,  even  though  there  has  been  no  special  adjustment 
of  the  field. 

And  other  things  besides  vibration  will  act  in  a  similar 
way,  precipitating  the  break-up  of  molecular  groups  when 
the  ties  are  already  strained.  Change  of  temperature 
will  sometimes  do  it,  or  the  application  or  change  of 
mechanical  strain.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  we  apply 
pull  to  an  iron  wire  while  it  hangs  in  a  weak  magnetic  field, 
by  making  it  carry  a  weight.  The  first  time  that  we  put  on 
the  weight,  the  magnetism  of  the  wire  at  once  increases, 
often  very  greatly,  in  consequence  of  the  action  I  have  just 
described  ^Fig.  1 3).  The  molecules  have  been  on  the  verge 
of  turning,  and  the  slight  strain  caused  by  the  weight  is 
enough  to  make  them  go.  Remove  the  weight,  and  there 
is  only  a  comparatively  small  change  in  the  magnetism, 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  molecular  turning  that  was  done 
when  the  weight  was  put  on  is  not  undone  when  it  is 
taken  off.  Reapply  the  weight,  and  you  find  again  but 
little  change,  though  there  are  still  traces  of  the  kind  of 
action  which  the  first  application  brought  about.  That  is 
to  say,  there  are  some  groups  of  molecules  which,  though 
they  were  not  broken  up  in  the  first  application  of  the 
weight,  yield  now,  because  they  have  lost  the  support 
they  then  obtained  from  neighbours  that  have  now  en- 
tered into  new  combinations.  Indeed,  this  kind  of  action 
may  often  be  traced,  always  diminishing  in  amount, 
during  several  successive  applications  and  removals  of  the 
load  (see  Fig.  13),  and  it  is  only  when  the  process  of 
loading  has  been  many  times  repeated  that  the  magnetic 
change  brought  about  by  loading  is  just  opposite  to  the 
magnetic  change  brought  about  by  unloading. 

Whenever,  indeed,  we  are  observing  the  effects  of  an 

NO.  1 146,  VOL.  44] 


alteration  of  physical  condition  on  the  magnetism  of 
iron,  we  have  to  distinguish  between  the  primitive  effect, 
which  is  often  very  great  and  is  not  reversible,  and  the 
ultimate  effect,  tvhich  is  seen  only  after  the  molecular 
structure  has  become  somewhat  settled  through  many 
repetitions  of  the  process.  Experiments  on  the  effects  of 
temperature,  4»f/Strain,  and  so  forth,  have  long  ago  shown 
this  distinction  to  be  exceedingly  important :  the  mole- 
cular theory  iipakes  it  perfectly  intelligible. 

Further,  th^  theory  makes  plain  another  curious  result 
of  experiments  When  we  have  loaded  and  unloaded  the 
iron  wire  many  times  oVer,  so  that  the  effect  is  no  longer 
complicated  by  the  primitive  action  I  have  just  described, 
we  still  find  tliat  the  magnetic  changes  which  occur  while 
the  load  is  bejng  put  on  are  not  simply  undone,  step  by 
step,  while  thje  load  is  being  taken  off.  Let  the  whole 
load  be  divided  into  several  parts,  and  you  will  see  that 
the  magnetisin  has  two  different  values,  in  going  up  iind 
in  coming  down,  for  one  and  the  same  intermediate  value 
of  the  load.  The  changes  of  magnetism  lag  behind  jthc 
changes  of  load  :  in  other  words,  there  is  hysteresis  hi  jtbe 


t 


Fig.  13. — Effects  of  loading  a  soft  iroa  wire  in  a  constant 


relation  of  the  magnetism  to  the  load  (Fig.  14).  TTiis  is 
because  some  of  the  molecular  groups  are  every  time 
being  broken  up  during  the  loading,  and  re-established 
during  the  unloading,  and  that,  as  we  saw  already,  in- 
volves hysteresis.  Consequently,  too,  each  loading  and 
unloading  requires  the  expenditure  of  a  small  quantity  0/ 
energy,  which  goes  to  heat  the  metal. 

Moreover,  a  remarkably  interesting  conclusion  follovs. 
This  hysteresis,  and  consequent  dissipation  of  energ>', 
will  also  happen  though  there  be  no  magnetization  of  tbe 
piece  as  a  whole  :  it  depends  on  the  fact  that  the  mole- 
cules are  magnets.  Accordingly,  we  should  expect  to 
find,  and  experiment  confirms  this  (see  PhiL  Trans.,  1885. 
p.  614),  that  if  the  wire  is  loaded  and  unloaded,  even 
when  no  magnetic  field  acts  and  there  is  no  magnetism, 
its  physical  qualities  which  are  changed  by  the  load  vill 
change  in  a  manner  involving  hysteresis.  In  particular, 
the  length  will  be  less  for  the  same  load  during  loading 
than  during  unloading,  so  that  work  may  be  wasted  in 
every  cycle  of  loads.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  per- 
fect elasticity  in  a  magnetizable  metal,  unless,  indeed,  ibe 
range  of  the  strain  is  so  very  narrow  that  none  of  the 


October  15,  1891] 


NATURE 


571 


inolecnies  tumble  ibraug^  unstable  states.  This  may 
bave  something  to  do  with  the  fact,  well  known  to 
engineers,  that  numerous  repetitions  of  a  straining 
action,  so  slu;ht  as  to  be  safe  enough  in  itself,  have  a 
daz^erous  effect  on  the  structure  of  iron  or  steel. 

Another  thing  on  which  the  theory  throws  light  is  the 
phenomenon  of  time-lag  in  magnetization.  When  apiece 
of  iron  is  put  into  a  steady  magnetic  field,  it  does  not 
take  instantly  all  the  magnetism  thai  it  wili  take  if  time 
be  allowed.  There  is  a  gradual  creeping  up  of  the  mag- 
netism, which  is  most  noticeable  when  the  field  is  wealc 
and  when  the  iron  is  thick.  If  you  will  watch  the  manner 
in  wbidt  a  ^oup  of  little  magnets  breaks  up  when  a  mag- 
netic force  IS  applied  to  it,  you  will  see  that  the  process 
is  one  that  takes  time.  The  first  molecule  to  yield  is 
some  outlying  one  which  is  comparatively  unattached — 
as  we  may  tuce  the  surface  molecules  in  the  piece  of  iron 


Fig.  15,  from  one  of  Hopkinson's  papers,  shows  what  is 
observed  as  the  temperature  of  a  piece  of  steel  isgradually 
raised.  The  sudden  loss  of  magnetic  quality  occurs  when 
the  metal  has  become  red-hot ;  the  magnetic  quality  is  re- 
covered when  it  cools  again  sufficiently  to  cease  to  glow. 
Now,  as  regards  the  first  effect— the  increase  of  suscepti- 
bility with  increase  of  temperature—- 1  think  that  is  a  con- 
,  sequence  of  two  independent  effects  of  heating.  The 
j  structure  is  expanded,  so  that  the  molecular  centres  lie 
further  apart.  But  the  freedom  with  which  the  molecules 
obey  the  direction  of  any  applied  magnetic  force  is  in- 
creased not  by  that  only,  but  perhaps  even  more  by  their 
I  being  thrown  into  vibration.  When  the  field  is  weak, 
j  heating  consequently  assists  magnetization,  sometimes 
very  greatly,  by  hastening  the  passage  from  stage  a  to 
sta^e  6  of  the  magnetizing  process.  And  it  is  at  least  a 
I  conjecture  worth  consideration  whether  the  sudden-loss  of 
magnetic  quality  at  a  higher  temperature  is  not  due  to  the 
1  vibrations  becoming  so  violent  as  to  set  the  molecules 
I  spinning,  when,  of  course,  their  polarity  would  be  of  no 
I  avail  to  produce  magnetization.  We  know,  at  all  events, 
I  that  when  the  change  from  the  magnetic  to  the  non- 
]  magnetic  state  occurs,  there  is  a  profound  molecular 
'  change,  and  heat  is  absorbed  which  is  given  out  again 
when  the  reverse  change  takes  place.  In  cooling  from  a 
;  red  heat,  the  iron  actually  extends  at  the  moment  when 
this  change  lakes  place  (as  was  shown  by  Gore),  and  so 
much  heal  is  given  out  that  (as  liarrelt  observed)  it  rc- 


tolK,  It  falls  over,  and  then  its  neighbours,  weakened 
b^  the  loss  of  its  support,  follow  suit,  and  gradually  the 
disturbance  propagates  itself  from  molecule  to  molecule 
throughout  the  group.  In  a  very  thin  piece  of  iron — a 
fine  wire,  for  instance — there  are  so  many  surface  mole- 
cules, in  comparison  with  the  whole  number,  and  con- 
sequently so  many  points  which  may  become  origins  of 
disturbance,  that  the  breaking  up  of  the  molecular  com- 
munities is  too  soon  over  to  allow  much  of  this  kind  of 
lagging  to  be  noticed. 

Effects  of  temperature,  again,  miy  be  interpreted  by 
help  of  the  molecular  theory.  When  iron  or  nickel  or 
cobalt  is  heated  in  a  weak  magnetic  field,  its  susceptibility 
to  magnetic  induction  is  observed  to  incre.ise,  until  a  stage 
ii  reached,  at  a  rather  high  temperature,  when  the  magnetic 
quality  vanishes  almost  suddenly  and  almost  completely,  i 
NO.  1 146,  VOL.  44] 


glows,  becoming  brightly  red,  though,  just  before  the 
change,  it  had  cooled  so  far  as  to  be  quite  dull.  [Experi- 
ment, exhibiting  retraction  and  re-glow  in  cooling,  shown 
bv  means  of  a.  long  iron  wire,  heated  to  redness  by  the 
electric  current.]  The  changes  which  occur  in  iron  and 
steel  about  the  temperature  of  redness  are  very  complex, 
and  I  refer  to  this  as  only  one  possible  direction  in  which 
a  key  to  them  may  be  sought.  Perhaps  the  full  explana- 
tion belongs  as  much  to  chemistry  as  to  physics. 

An  interesting  illustration  of  the  use  of  these  models 
has  reached  me,  only  to-day,  from  New  York.  In  a 
paper  just  published  in  the  Electrical  World  (reprinted 
m  the  Electrician  for  May  29,  1891),  Mr.  Arthur  Hoopes 
supports  the  theory  I  have  laid  before  you  by  giving 
curves  which  show  the  connection,  experimentally  found 
by  him,  between  the  resultant  polarity  of  a  group  of  little 
pivoted  magnets  and  tbe  strength  of  the  magnetic  field, 
when  the  field  is  applied,  removed,  reversed,  and  so  on. 
I  shall  draw  these  curves  on  the  screen,  and  rough  as 
they  are,  in  consequence  of  the  hmited  number  of 
magnets,  you  see  that  they  succeed  remarkably  well  in 
reproducing  the  features  which  we  know  the  curves  for 
solid  iron  to  possess. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  fairly  claimed  that  the  models 
whose  behaviour  we  have  been  considering  have  a  wider 
application  in  physics  than  merely  to  elucidate  magnetic 
processes.  The  molecules  of  bodies  may  have  polarity 
which  is  not  magnetic  at  all — polarity,  for  instance,  due  to 
static  electrification~underwbi(htbey  group  themselves  in 


572 


NA  TU^£, 


[October  15,  1891 


stable  forms,  so  that  energy  is  dissipated  whenever  these 
are  broken  up  and  rearranged.  When  we  strain  a  solid 
body  beyond  its  limit  of  elasticity,  we  expend  work  irre- 
coverably in  overcoming,  as  it  were,  internal  friction. 
What  is  this  internal  friction  due  to  but  the  breaking  and 
making  of  molecular  lies?  And  if  internal  friction,  why 
.lOt  also  the  surface  friction  which  causes  work  to  be 
spent  when  one  body  rubs  upon  another?  In  a  highly 
suggestive  passage  of  one  of  his  writings,^  Clerk  Maxwell 
threw  out  the  hint  that  many  of  the  irreversible  processes 
of  physics  are  due  to  the  breaking  up  and  reconstruction 
of  molecular  groups.  The  models  help  us  to  realize 
Maxwell's  notion,  and,  in  studying  them  to-night,  I  think 
we  may  claim  to  have  been  going  a  step  or  two  forward 
where  that  great  leader  pointed  the  way. 


THE  SUN'S  MOTION  IN  SPACE, 

CCIENCE  needed  two  thousand  years  to  disentangle 
»^  the  earth's  orbital  movement  from  the  revolutions 
of  the  other  planets,  and  the  incomparably  more  arduous 
problem  of  distinguishing  the  solar  share  in  the  confused 
multitude  of  stellar  displacements  first  presented  itself  as 
possibly  tractable  little  more  than  a  century  ago.  In  the 
lack  for  it  as  yet  of  a  definite  solution  there  is,  then,  no 
ground  for  surprise,  but  much  for  satisfaction  in  the  large 
measure  of  success  attending  the  strenuous  attacks  of 
which  it  has  so  often  been  made  the  object. 

Approximately  correct  knowledge  as  to  the  direction 
and  velocity  of  the  sun's  translation  is  indispensable  to  a 
profitable  study  of  sidereal  construction  ;  but  apart  from 
some  acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  sidereal  construc- 
tion, it  is  difHcult,  if  not  impossible,  of  attainment.  One, 
in  fact,  presupposes  the  other.  To  separate  a  common 
element  of  motion  from  the  heterogeneous  shiftings  upon 
the  sphere  of  three  or  four  thousand  stars  is  a  task 
practicable  only  under  certain  conditions.  To  begin 
with,  the  proper  motions  investigated  must  be  established 
with  general  exactitude.  The  errors  inevitably  affecting 
them  must  be  such  as  pretty  nearly,  in  the  total  upshot, 
to  neutralize  one  another.  For  should  they  run  mainly 
in  one  direction,  the  result  will  be  falsified  in  a  degree 
enormously  disproportionate  to  their  magnitude.  The 
adoption,  for  instance,  of  a  system  of  declinations  as 
much  as  i"  of  arc  astray,  might  displace  to  the  extent 
of  10°  north  or  south  the  point  fixed  upon  as  the 
apex  of  the  sun's  way  (see  L.  Boss,  Asir,  Jour.^  No.  213). 
Risks  on  this  score,  however,  will  become  less  formidable 
with  the  further  advance  of  practical  astronomy  along  a 
track  definable  as  an  asymptote  to  the  curve  of  ideal 
perfection. 

Besides  this  obstacle  to  be  overcome,  there  is  another 
which  it  will  soon  be  possible  to  evade.  Hitherto,  in- 
quiries into  the  solar  movement  have  been  hampered 
by  the  necessity  for  preliminary  assumptions  of  some 
kind  as  to  the  relative  distances  of  classes  of  stars.  But 
all  such  assumptions,  especially  when  applied  to  selected 
lists,  are  highly  insecure ;  and  any  fabric  reared  upon  them 
must  be  considered  to  stand  upon  treacherous  ground. 
The  spectrog^aphic  method,  however,  here  fortunately 
comes  into  play.  "Proper  motions"  are  only  angular 
velocities.  They  tell  nothing  as  to  the  value  of  the  per- 
spective element  they  may  be  supposed  to  include,  or  as 
to  the  real  rate  of  going  of  the  bodies  they  are  attributed 
to,  until  the  size  of  the  sphere  upon  which  they  are 
measured  has  been  otherwise  ascertained.  But  the  dis- 
placements of  lines  in  stellar  spectra  give  directly  the 
actual  velocities  relative  to  the  earth  of  the  observed 
stars.  The  question  of  their  distances  is,  therefore,  at 
once  eliminated.  Now  the  radial  component  of  stellar 
motion  is  mixed  up,  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  the 

•  "Encyc.  Brit.,"  Art.  "  Constitution  of  Bodies." 
NO.    I  146,  VOL.   44] 


tangential  component,  with  the  soUr  movement;  and 
since  complete  knowledge  of  it,  in  a  sufficient  number  of 
cases,  is  rapidly  becoming  accessible,  while  knowledge  of 
tangential  velocity  must  for  a  long  time  remain  partial  or 
uncertain,  the  advantage  of  replacing  the  discussion  of 
proper  motions  by  that  of  motions  in  line  of  sight  is 
obvious  and  immediate.  And  the  admirable  work  carried 
on  at  Potsdam  during  the  last  three  years  will  soon  afford 
the  means  of  doing  so  in  the  first,  if  only  a  preliminary 
investigation  of  the  solar  translation  based  upon  measure- 
ments of  photographed  stellar  spectra. 

The  difficulties,  then,  caused  either  by  inaccuracies  in 
star-catalogues  or  by  ignorance  of  star-distances,  may  be 
overcome  ;  but  there  is  a  third,  impossible  at  present  to 
be  surmounted,  and  not  without  misgiving  to  be  passed 
by.  All  inquiries  upon  the  subject  of  the  advance  of  our 
system  through  space  start  with  an  hypothesis  most  un- 
likely to  be  true.  The  method  uniformly  adopted  in  them 
— and  no  other  is  available — is  to  treat  the  inherent 
motions  of  the  stars  (their  so-called  motus  peculiarts) 
as  pursued  indifferently  in  all  directions.  The  steady 
drift  extricable  from  them  by  rules  founded  upon  the 
science  of  probabilities  is  presumed  to  be  solar  motion 
visually  transferred  to  them  in  proportions  varying  with 
their  remoteness  in  space,  and  their  situations  on  the 
sphere.  If  this  presumption  be  in  any  degree  baseless, 
the  result  of  the  inquiry  '\s/>ro  tanto  falsified.  Unless  the 
deviations  from  the  parallactic  line  of  the  stellar  motions 
balance  one  another  on  the  whole,  their  discussion  may 
easily  be  as  fruitless  as  that  of  observations  tainted  with 
systematic  errors.  It  is  scarcely,  however,  doubtful  that 
law,  and  not  chance,  governs  the  sidereal  revolutions. 
The  point  open  to  question  is  whether  the  workings  of 
law  may  not  be  so  exceedingly  intricate  as  to  produce  a 
grand  sum-total  of  results  which,  from  the  geometrical 
side,  may  justifiably  be  regarded  as  casual. 

The  search  for  evidence  of  a  general  plan  in  the  wan- 
derings of  the  stars  over  the  face  of  the  sky  has  so  fiar 
proved  fruitless.  Local  concert  can  be  traced,  but  no 
widely-diflused  preference  for  one  direction  over  any 
other  makes  itself  definitely  felt.  Some  regard,  never- 
theless, must  be  paid  by  them  to  the  plane  of  the  Milk} 
Way  ;  since  it  is  altogether  incredible  that  the  actual  con- 
struction of  the  heavens  is  without  dependence  upon  the 
method  of  their  revolutions. 

The  apparent  anomaly  vanishes  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  profundities  of  space  and  time  in  which  the  fun- 
damental design  of  the  sidereal  universe  lies  buried.  Its 
composition  out  of  an  indefinite  number  of  partial  systems 
is  more  than  probable ;  but  the  inconceivable  leisureliness 
with  which  their  mutual  relations  develop  renders  the 
harmony  of  those  relations  inappreciable  by  short-lived 
terrestrial  denizens.  "  Proper  motions,"  if  this  be  so,  aie 
of  a  subordinate  kind  ;  they  are  indexes  simply  to  the 
mechanism  of  particular  aggregations,  and  have  no  d^ 
finable  connection  with  the  mechanism  of  the  whole.  No 
considerable  error  may  then  be  involved  in  treating  thenit 
for  purposes  of  calculation,  as  indifferently  directed ;  and 
the  elicited  solar  movement  may  genuinely  represent  the 
displacement  of  our  system  relative  to  its  more  immediate 
stellar  environment  This  is  perhaps  the  utmost  to  be 
hoped  for  until  sidereal  astronomy  has  reached  another 
stadium  of  progress. 

Unless,  indeed,  effect  should  be  given  to  Clerk  Max- 
well's suggestion  for  deriving  the  absolute  longitude  of 
the  solar  apex  from  observations  of  the  eclipses  of 
Jupiter's  satellites  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  voL  xxx.  p  109)- 
But  this  is  far  from  likely.  In  the  first  place,  the  revo- 
lutions of  the  Jovian  s)  stem  cannot  be  predicted  with 
anything  like  the  required  accuracy.  In  the  second 
place,  there  is  no  certainty  that  the  postulated  pheno- 
mena have  any  real  existence.  If,  however,  it  be  safe 
to  assume  that  the  solar  system,  cutting  its  way  through 
space,  virtually  raises  an  ethereal  counter-current,  and  if 


October  15,  i8^f] 


NA  TURE 


57 


■^ 
^ 


it  be  further  granted  that  light  travels  faster  with  than 
against  such  a  current,  then  indeed  it  becomes  specula- 
tively possible,  through  slight  alternate  accelerations  and 
retardations  of  eclipses  taking  place  respectively  ahead 
of  and  in  the  wake  of  the  sun,  to  determine  his  absolute 
path  in  space  as  projected  upon  the  ecliptic  That  is  to 
say,  the  longitude  of  the  apex  could  be  deduced  together 
with  the  resolved  part  of  the  solar  velocity  ;  the  latitude 
of  the  apex,  as  well  as  the  component  of  velocity  perpen- 
dicular to  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  remaining,  however, 
unknown. 

The  beaten  track,  meanwhile,  has  conducted  two  recent 
inquirers  to  results  of  some  interest.  The  chief  aim  of 
each  was  the  detection  of  systematic  peculiarities  in  the 
motions  of  stellar  assemblages  after  the  subtraction  from 
them  of  their  common  perspective  element.  By  varying 
the  materials  and  method  of  analysis,  Prof,  Lewis  Boss, 
Director  of  the  Albany  Observatory,  hopes  that  correspond- 
ing variations  in  the  upshot  may  betray  a  significant 
character.  Thus,  if  stars  selected  on  different  principles 
give  notably  and  consistently  different  results,  the  cause 
of  the  difference  may  with  some  show  of  reason  be  sup- 
posed to  reside  in  specialities  of  movement  appertaining 
to  the  several  groups.  Prof  Boss  broke  ground  in  this 
direction  by  investigating  284  proper  motions,  few  of 
which  had  been  similarly  em ployea  htiort  {As tr.  Jour., 
No.  213).  They  were  all  taken  from  an  equatorial  zone 
4**  20'  in  breadth,  with  a  mean  declination  of  -|-3%  ob- 
served at  Albany  for  the  catalogue  of  the  Astronomische 
Gesellscbaft,  and  furnished  data  accordingly  for  a  virtually 
independent  research  of  a  somewhat  distinctive  kind.  It 
was  carried  out  to  three  separate  conclusions.  Setting 
aside  five  stars  with  secular  movements  ranging  above 
100",  Prof.  Boss  divided  the  279  left  available  into  two 
sets— one  of  135  stars  brighter,  the  other  of  144  stars 
fainter,  than  the  eighth  magnitude.  The  first  collection 
gave  for  the  goal  of  solar  translation  a  point  about  4° 
north  of  a  Lyrae,  in  R.A.  280°,  Decl.  -f  43  ;  the  second, 
one  some  thirty-seven  minutes  of  time  to  the  west  of 
d  Cygni,  in  R.A.  286°,  Decl.  -f  45^  For  a  third  and  final 
solution,  twenty-six  stars  moving  40' -100"  were  rejected, 
and  the  remaining  253  classed  in  a  single  series.  The 
upshot  of  their  discussion  was  to  shift  the  apex  of  move- 
ment to  R.A.  289°,  Decl.  -f  51°.  So  far  as  the  difference 
from  the  previous  pair  of  results  is  capable  of  interpreta- 
tion, it  would  seem  to  imply  a  predominant  set  towards 
the  north-east  of  the  twenty-six  swifter  motions  subse- 
quently dismissed  as  prejudicial,  but  in  truth  the  data 
employed  were  not  accurate  enough  to  warrant  so  definite 
an  inference.  The  Albany  proper  motions,  as  Prof  Boss 
was  careful  to  explain,  depend  for  the  most  part  upon  the 
right  ascensions  of  Bessel's  and  Lalande's  zones,  and  are 
hence  subject  to  large  errors.  Their  study  must  be 
regarded  as  suggestive  rather  than  decisive. 

A  better  qudity  and  a  larger  quantity  of  material  was 
disposed  of  by  the  latest  and  perhaps  the  most  laborious 
investigator  of  this  intricate  problem.  M.  Oscar 
Stumpe,  of  Bonn  {Astr,  Nach.,  Nos.  2999,  3000)  took  his 
stars,  to  the  iiumt)er  of  1054,  from  various  quarters,  if 
chie6y  from  Auwers's  and  Argelander's  lists,  critically 
testing,  however,  the  movement  attributed  to  each  of  not 
less  than  16"  a  century.  This  he  fixed  as  the  limit  of 
secure  determination,  unless  for  stars  observed  with  ex- 
ceptional constancy  and  care.  His  discussion  of  them  is 
instructive  in  more  ways  than  one.  Adopting,  the  addi- 
tional computative  burden  imposed  by  it  notwithstanding, 
Scbonfeld's  modification  of  Airy's  formulae,  he  introduced 
into  bis  equations  a  fifth  unknown  quantity  expressive  of 
a  possible  stellar  drift  in  galactic  longitude.  A  negative 
result  was  obtained.  No  symptom  came  to  light  of 
**  rotation  "  in  the  plane  of  the  Milky  Way. 

M.  Stumpe's  intrepid  industry  was  further  shown  in  his 
disregard  of  customary  "scamping"  subterfuges.  Ex- 
pedients for  abbreviation  vainly  spread  their  allurements  ; 

NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


every  one  of  his  2108  equations  was  separately  and  reso- 
lutely solved.  A  more  important  innovation  was  his  sub- 
stitution of  proper  motion  for  magnitude  as  a  criterion  of 
remoteness.  Dividing  his  stars  on  this  principle  into 
four  groups,  he  obtained  an  apex  for  the  sun's  translation 
corresponding  to  each  as  follows  : — 


r../v.,«       Number  of 
*^'°"P-    included  stars. 


Proper  motion. 


Apex. 


X«       ■  •  • 

551 

II.  ... 

340 

III.  ... 

105 

IV.    ... 

58 

// 


0*i6  to  0*32    ...  R.  A.  287*4  Decl.  +42 
0-32  to  0-64    ...      „     2797        ,,       40-5 

0*64101*28  ...  ,,  287*^  y^  321 

I  28  and  upwards '„     2?5'2        ,1       30'4 


Here,  again,  we  find  a  marked  and  progressive  descent 
of  the  apex  towards  the  equator  with  the  increasing 
swiftness  of  the  objects  serving  for  its  determination^ 
leading  to  the  suspicion  that  the  most .  northerly  may  be 
the  most  genuine  position,  because  the  one  least  affected 
by  stellar  individualities  of  movement.  By  nearly  all 
recent  investigations,  moreover,  the  solar  point  de  mire 
has  been  placed  considerably  further  to  the  east  and 
nearer  to  the  Milky  Way,  than  seemed  admissible  to 
their  predecessors  ;  so  that  the  constellation  Lyra  may 
now  be  said  to  have  a  stronger  claim  than  Hercules  to 
include  it ;  and  the  necessity  has  almost  disappeared  for 
attributing  to  the  solar  orbit  a  high  inclination  to  the 
medial  galactic  plane. 

From  both  the  Albany  and  the  Bonn  discussions,  there 
emerged  with  singular  clearness  a  highly  significant  re- 
lation. The  mean  magnitudes  of  the  two  groups  into 
which  Prof  Boss  divided  his  279  stars,  were  respectively 
66  and  86,  the  corresponding  mean  proper  motions  21  "'9 
and  2o"*9.  In  other  words,  a  set  of  stars  on  the  whole 
six  times  brighter  than  another  set  owned  a  scarcely 
larger  sum-total  of  apparent  displacement.  And  that  this 
approximate  equality  of  movement  really  denoted  approxi- 
mate equality  of  mean  distance  was  made  manifest  by 
the  further  circumstance  that  the  secular  journey  of  the 
sun  proved  to  subtend  nearly  the  same  angle  whichever 
of  the  groups  was  made  the  standpoint  for  its  survey. 
Indeed,  the  fainter  collection  actually  gave  the  larger 
angle  (i3''73  as  against  12" -39),  and  so  far  an  indication 
that  the  stars  comp)Osing  it  were,  on  an  average,  nearer 
to  the  earth  than  the  much  brighter  ones  considered 
aparL 

A  result  similar  in  character  was  reached  by  M. 
Stumpe.  Between  the  mobility  of  his  star  groups,  and 
the  values  derived  from  them  for  the  angular  movement 
of  the  sun,  the  conformity  proved  so  close  as  materially 
to  strengthen  the  inference  that  apparent  movement 
measures  real  distance.  The  mean  brilliancy  of  his 
classified  stars  seemed,  on  the  contrary,  quite  inde- 
pendent of  their  mobility.  Indeed,  its  changes  tended 
in  an  opposite  direction.  The  mean  magnitude  of  the 
slowest  group  was  60,  of  the  swiftest  6*5,  of  the  inter- 
mediate pair  6*7  and  61.  And  these  are  not  isolated 
facts.  Comparisons  of  the  same  kind,  and  leading  to 
identical  conclusions,  were  made  by  Prof.  Eastman  at 
Washington  in  1889  (Phil.  Society  Bulletin,  vol.  xi.  p.  143; 
Proceedmgs  Amer.  Association,  1889,  p.  70- 

What  meaning  can  we  attribute  to  them  ?  Uncritically 
considered,  they  seem  to  assert  two  things,  one  reason- 
able, the  other  palpably  absurd.  The  first— that  the 
average  angular  velocity  of  the  stars  varies  inversely 
with  their  distance  from  ourselves— few  will  be  disposed 
to  doubt ;  the  second— that  their  average  apparent  lustre 
has  nothing  to  do  with  greater  or  less  remoteness— few 
will  be  disposed  to  admit  But,  in  order  to  interpret 
truly,  well-ascertained  if  unexpected  relationships,  we 
must  remember  that  the  sensibly  moving  stars  used 
to  determine  the  solar  translation  are  chosen  from 
a  multitude  sensibly  fixed ;  and  that  the  proportion  of 
stationary  to  travelling  stars  rises  rapidly  with  de- 
scent  down   the  scale   of  magnitude.    Hence  a  mean 


574 


NA  TURE 


[October  15,  1891 


struck  in  disrc|gard  of  the  zeros,  is  totally  mislead- 
ing; while  the  account  is  no  sooner  made  exhaustive 
than  }ts  anomalous  character  becomes  largely  modified. 
Yet  it  does  not  wholly  disappear.  There  is  some  warrant 
for  it  in  nature.  And  its  warrant  may  perhaps  consist 
in  a  preponderance,  among  suns  endowed  with  high 
physical  speed,  of  small,  or  slightly  luminous,  over  power- 
fully radiative  bodies.  Why  this  should  be  so,  it  would 
be  futile,  even  by  conjecture,  to  attempt  to  explain. 

A.  M.  Clerke. 


NOTES, 

The  respect  in  which  science  is  held  in  Germany  was  strik- 
ingly displayed  on  Tuesday,  when  Prof.  Virchow  celebrated  his 
seventieth  birthday.  The  occasion  was  regarded  as  one  of 
national  importancei  and  much  hooour  was  done  to  the  inves- 
tigator who,  in  the  course  of  his  great  career,  has  given  a  fresh 
impetus  to  so  many  departments  of  research.  In  the  morning, 
congratulations  were  offered  to  him  in  the  large  hall  of  the 
Kaiserhof  Hotel,  Berlin.  The  room  was  crowded  with  pro- 
fessors, academicians,  and  men  of  science  from  all  parts  of 
Europe ;  and  on  a  long  table  were  innumerable  presents,  medals, 
diplomas,  and  addresses.  Short  speeches  were  delivered  on 
behalf  of  a  series  of  deputations,  the  first  of  which  was  headed 
by  Dr.  Bartsch,  one  of  the  chief  officials  of  the  Ministry.  A 
deputation,  consisting  of  the  professors  of  the  Medical  Faculty 
of  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  headed  by  Prof.  Hirsch,  the 
Dean,  was  followed  by  another  from  the  Berlin  Academy  of 
Science,  for  which  Prof,  von  Helmholtz  spoke.  Dr.  von 
Forckenbeck,  the  Burgomaster  of  Berlin,  heading  a  deputation 
from  the  Municipality  of  the  capital,  presented  Prof.  Virchow 
with  the  fieedom  of  the  city,  referring  gratefully  to  all  that  he 
had  done  to  improve  the  health  of  the  community.  An  address 
and  medal,  sent  by  English  scientific  bodies,  were  presented  by 
Dr.  Simon  and  Mr.  Honley,  and  then  came  congratulatory 
addresses  from  the  Medical  Faculties  of  many  foreign  cities, 
including  Amsterdam,  Brussels,  Stockholm,  St.  Petersburg, 
Moscow,  Pavia,  and  Tokio.  The  Virchow  gold  medal,  for 
which  contributions  had  been  sent  from  all  sections  of  the 
medical  world,  was  presented  by  Prof.  Waldeyer.  Frau  Vir- 
chow received  a  silver  replica,  and  bronze  copies  were  given  to 
the  other  members  of  the  family  and  to  the  scientific  bodies 
which  had  subscribed  for  the  medal.  In  the  afternoon,  a 
second  meeting  was  held  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Pathological 
Institute,  where,  as  the  Berlin  correspondent  of  the  Times  says, 
"an  almost  endless  procession  of  learned  bodies  and  other 
corporations,  presenting  gifts  and  addresses,  defiled  before  Prof. 
Virchow."  The  day's  proceedings  lasted  from  lo  a.m.  to  4 
p.m. ;  but  it  was  noted,  we  are  glad  to  say,  that  Prof.  Virchow 
"seemed  in  no  way  fatigued  by  his  exertions."  More  speeches 
were  delivered  in  the  evening,  when  a  "  Commers,"  or  reunion, 
of  his  Mends  and  admirers  was  held  in  Kroll's  Theatre. 

The  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  will  be  held  on  Wednesday  evening,  October  28,  and 
Thursday  evening,  October  29,  at  25  Great  George  Street, 
Westminster.  The  chair  will  be  taken  at  half- past  seven  p.m. 
on  each  evening  by  the  President,  Mr.  Joseph  Tomliason.  The 
ballot  lists  for  the  election  of  new  members,  associates,  and 
graduates  having  been  previously  opened  by  the  Council,  the 
names  of  those  elected  will  be  announced  to  the  meeting.  The 
nomination  of  officers  for  election  at  the  next  annual  general 
meeting  will  take  place.  The  following  papers  will  be  read  and 
discussed,  as  far  as  time  permits : — On  some  details  in  the  con- 
struction of  modem  Lancashire  boilers,  by  Mr.  Samuel  Boswell 
(Wednesday) ;  First  Report  to  the  Alloys  Research  Committee, 
by  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts- Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.  (Thursday). 

NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


The  anniversaiy  meeting  of  the  Mineralogical  Society  will  be 
held  in  the  apartments  of  the  Geological  Society,  Bariangtoa 
House,  on  Tuesday,  November  10,  at  8  p.m. 

The  International  Congress  of  Analytical  Chemists  and 
Microscopists  met  at  Vienna  on  October  12  and  13.  The  snb- 
ject  discussed  was  the  adulteration  of  food-stuffs. 

Great  preparations  are  being  made  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Australasian  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  whidi 
is  to  be  held  at  Hobart,  Tasmania,  in  January  next.  It  is 
expected  that  the  meeting  will  be  most  successful.  The 
members  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Tasmania  are  congiatnlatiiig 
themselves  that  Mr.  Giffen,  the  eminent  statistician  and  political 
economist,  proposes  to  attend  the  meeting  and  to  read  a  paper. 
His  Excellency  Sir  R.  G.  C.  Hamilton,  who  will  preside,  tried 
some  time  ago  to  secure  the  presence  of  Prof.  Huxley  alsa 
Prof.  Huxley  replied  that  he  had  pleasant  recollections  of 
Tasmania  as  it  was  forty-three  years  ago,  and  it  would  have 
interested  him  very  much  to  revisit  the  colony  and  compare  the 
present  with  the  past,  but  he  regretted  that  the  state  of  hb  health 
prevented  him  from  accepting  the  invitation. 

One  of  the  last  surviving  pupils  of  Dalton  died  at  Bolton  00 
October  6.  Mr.  William  B.  Watson  was  bom  at  Bolton  io 
January  18 12,  and  educated  at  the  local  grammar-school.  He 
afterwards  studied  for  some  years  under  Dalton  at  Manchester, 
and  became  so  devoted  to  his  teacher  that  he  was  chosen 
to  help  in  the  nursing  of  Dr..  Dalton  during  the  illness 
following  his  first  paralytic  seizure.  Mr.  Watson  also  assisted  io 
many  of  Dalton's  researches,  and  is  mentioned  by  name  in  his 
papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  on  the  composition  of 
the  atmosphere  as  "  an  ingenious  pupil  of  mine,  Mr.  William 
Barnett  Watson."  Mr.  Watson  had  a  wonderful  store  of 
anecdotes  about  his  old  master,  and  used  to  speak  with  pride  of 
the  great  care  he  took  in  all  his  work.  As  an  instance  may  be 
mentioned  the  pains  he  took  to  compensate  for  his  oolonr- 
blindness.  Dalton  u^ed  to  say  that  the  bloom  on  a  maiden's 
cheek  and  the  colour  of  a  faded  green  table-doth  seemed  to  him 
one  and  the  same,  and  that  he  could  only  distinguish  between 
the  fruit  and  leaves  on  an  apple-tree  by  their  difference  in  shape. 
Dalton  had  a  book  containing  different  colours  of  floss  sOk, 
and  below  these  he  carefully  noted  the  names  given  to 
them  by  non-colour-blind  people,  adding  what  the  colour 
appeared  to  him  to  be.  Careful  methods  such  as  these  enabled 
him  generally  to  give  an  accurate  description  of  the  colour  of  \ 
precipitate.  Mr.  Watson  carried  on,  together  with  his  elder 
brother,  Mr.  H.  H.  Watson,  a  very  extensive  practice  as  an 
analytical  chemist,  and  was  much  consulted  in  legal  and  com- 
mercial cases.  ^•. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Charles  Smith  Wilkinson,  the  Govemmeat 
Geologist  of  New  South  Wales,  will  be  felt  as  a  gmtloss, 
especially  in  his  own  colony.  His  enthusiasm  in  the  canse  of 
geological  science,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  geological 
features  of  Eastern  Australia,  and  his  admirable  pexsoul 
qualities  had  made  him  greatly  valued.  Mr.  Wilkinson  was  a* 
original  member  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Walesj 
and  president  of  that  Society  in  the  years  1883  and  1884.  His 
death,  which  took  place  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  on  the  26th  of 
August,  was  announced  to  the  Society  on  the  evening  of  the 
same  day. 

La  Nature  announces  the  death  of  Profl  Edouard  Lucas,  who 
presided  over  the  Sections  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy  at  the 
recent  meeting,  at  Marseilles,  of  the  French  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science.  A  pile  of  plates  fell  one  day  after 
dinner  while  he  was  at  Marseilles,  and  he  happened  to  be  strock 
in  the  cheek  by  a  fragment  of  the  broken  earthenware.  The 
hurt  became  more  and  more  troublesome,  and  afber  his  retvm 


October;  1 5»  1891] 


NA  TURE 


575 


to  Paritf  he  died  of  eiirripclas*  M.  Lucas  wms  forty-nine  yean 
ol  age.  He  was  a  brilliant  lecturer,  and  the  author  of  several 
valuable  books,  the  most  important  of  which  is  his  "  R^reations 
Mathematiques." 

Application  has  been  made  for  20,000  square  feet  of  space 
for  the  electrical  display  from  Great  Britain  at  the  "World's 
Fair  "  at  Chicago.  Electricity^  the  new  weekly  journal  pub- 
lished at  Chicago,  remarks  that  this  application  should  "  set  at 
rest  all  doubts  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  exhibit  to  be  made 
by  British  manufacturers  of  electrical  apparatus." 

Mr.  C.  £.  Kelway  is  now  showing  at  the  Royal  Naval 
Exhibition  an  invention  which  promises  to  be  of  great  practical 
value.  It  consists  of  an  apparatus  for  marine  and  general 
electrical  signalling.  A  number  of  electric  incandescent 
lamps  are  placed  in  a  suitable  frame,  from  which  insulated 
wires  are  led  to  a  key-board,  similar  to  those  used  in  type- 
writers, or  compound-switch.  A  key  is  appropriated  for  each 
letter  of  the  alphabet  and  for  numerals.  On  this  key  being  de- 
pressed the  electric  current  is  switched  on  to  the  lamps  repre- 
senting the  corresponding  letter,  which  is  at  once  shown  to  the  ob- 
server. On  the  pressure  being  removed  the  lights  disappear,  and 
the  next  letter,  or  numeral,  is  in  like  manner  shown,  the  words 
being  spelt  out  at  a  rate  more  quickly  than  by  the  Morse  system. 
Mr.  Kelway  claims  that  the  applications  to  which  this  invention 
can  be  put  are  numerous.  It  might,  he  thinks,  be  of  great 
service  in  naval  tactics,  and  prove  invaluable  for  military  pur- 
poses. He  also  points  out  that  it  would  enable  mercantile  vessels 
to  communicate  readily  with  each  other  and  with  the  shore. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  asks  whether  there  are  any  firms  which 
supply  magic  lantern  slides  dealing  with  geological  subjects. 

The  marine  laboratory  of  biology  and  zoology,  which  is  to  be 
instituted  at  Bergen  next  year,  will  be  open  to  any  foreign  in- 
vestigators who  may  desire  to  study  the  marine  fauna  of  that 
part  of  Scandinavia. 

The  complete  list  of  subscribers  to  the  memorial  to  Bishop 
Berkeley,  which  has  just  been  issued,  contains  the  names  of 
Profs.  Huxley  and  Tyndall,  in  company  with  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin  and  a  mnnber  of  bishops  and  deans.  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Mr.  Balfour  meet  together  in  the  same  list.  The  memorial 
is  a  beautiful  recumbent  figure  by  Mr.  Bruce  Joy,  R.A.,  which 
has  been  placed  in  Cloyne  Cathedral.  The  inscription  to  be 
placed  on  the  monument  has  not  yet  been  announced. 

The  Sociedad  Cientifica  '*  Antonio  Alzate,"  of  Mexico,  who 
have  lately  moved  into  new  quarters,  have  just  resolved  to  throw 
open  their  scientific  library  to  the  general  public.  They  are 
appealing  on  this  ground  to  all  foreign  professors  and  scientific 
authors  to  send  copies  of  their  works  to  the  library. 

The  Engineers'  and  Architects'  Institute  of  Vienna  have 
resolved  to  petition  the  Austrian  Government  that  engineer 
attaches  should  in  future  be  appointed  to  the  embassies  and 
legations  in  London,  Berlin,  Paris,  St.  Petersburg,  Rome, 
Washington,  and  to  one  Oriental  city  to  be  hereafter  selected. 

The  Royal  Horticultural  Society  has  issued  a  list  of  fruits 
which  might  be  profitably  cultivated  by  cottagers  and  small 
farmers  in  this  country.  The  list  (to  which  are  added  notes  on 
planting,  pruning,  and  manuring)  ought  to  be  widely  distributed. 
It  contains  all  the  information  that  is  really  necessary  for  the 
development  of  a  most  important  industry. 

According  to  a  telegram  sent  from  San  Francisco,  a  severe 
shock  of  earthquake  was  felt  there  on  October  1 1,  but  no  damage 
was  done.  At  Napa,  California,  where  a  heavy  shock  was  ex- 
perienced, the  chimneys  were  thrown  to  the  ground,  and  several 
buildings  were  shattered.  The  State  Insane  Asylum  is  reported 
to  have  been  damaged,  fissures  being  made  in  the  walls.  The 
inmates  were  seized  with  panic. 

NO.    XI46,  VOL.  44] 


We  take  from  La  Nature  of  the  3rd  inst.  the  following.  p|ir- 
ticulars  respecting  the  destructive  cyclone  whidi  visited  Mar- 
tinique on  the  28th  of  August  last.  The  curve  of  a  Richard 
barograph  shows  that  the  barometer  commenced  to  fall  about 
2  p.m.,  when  it  stood  at  29*92  inches,  while  between  7  and 
8  p.m.  it  fell  from  2972  inches  to  2870  inches.  The 
wind  at  this  time,  too,  reached  its  greatest  violence,  and  con- 
tinued with  hurricane  force  for  several  hours,  passing  alternately 
from  N.  £.  to  South.  The  recovery  of  the  barometric  pressure 
was  equally  rapid,  the  reading  being  about  2970  inches  before 
10  p.m.  M.  Sullyi  of  Saint  Pierre,  writes  that  the  lightning 
was  constant,  with  varying  intensity  before  and  after  the  passage 
of  the  centre.  The  sound  of  the  thunder  was  scarcely  perceptible, 
owing  to  the  howling  of  the  wind  and  the  noise  caused  by  the 
falling  roofs  and  houses.  Globular  lightning  was  seen  on  all 
sides  during  the  hurricane  ;  the  country  folks  speak  of  globes  of 
fire  which  traversed  the  air  for  several  minutes,  and  burst  about 
two  feet  above  the  ground.  All  the  towns  and  villages  were 
greatly  damaged,  the  crops  destroyed,  and  that  usually  verdant 
country  presented  the  appearance  of  the  depth  of  the  most 
severe  winter.     The  deaths  are  said  to  be  420  in  number. 

In  the  review  of  September  in  the  U.S.  Pilot  Chart,  it  is 
pointed  out  that  the  month  was  unusually  stormy  on  the 
North  Atlantic,  as  indicated  by  the  storm  tracks  plotted  on  the 
chart.  Two  of  these  tracks,  however,  represent  August  storms, 
one  of  them  being  the  track  of  the  Martinique  hurricane,  and 
another  the  track  of  the  hurricane  that  passed  east  of  Bermuda 
on  August  27.  The  Martinique  hurricane,  it  appears,  moved 
west-north-west  along  a  somewhat  irregular  track,  crossing 
over  Puerto  Rico,  Turk's  Island,  Crooked  Island,  and  lower 
Florida,  finally  dying  out  in  the  north-eastern  Gulf.  This 
unusual  course  makes  it  of  special  interest,  and  its  failure  to 
recurve  seems  to  have  been  due,  possibly,  to  the  opposition  of 
the  Bermuda  hurricane,  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  deflection 
towards  Vera  Cruz  of  the  Cuban  hurricane  of  September  1888. 
The  Bermuda  hurricane  appears  to  have  originated  about  300 
miles  S.W.  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  on  August  19. 

The  correspondent  of  the  Times  at  Alexandria  telegraphed 
on  October  1 1  that  three  colossal  statues,  ten  feet  high,  of  rose 
granite,  had  just  been  found  at  Aboukir,  a  few  feet  below  the 
surface.  The  discovery  was  made  from  indications  furnished  to 
the  Government  by  a  local  investigator,  Daninos  Pasha.  The 
first  two  represent  in  one  group  Rameses  II.  and  Queen  Hent- 
mara  seated  on  the  same  throne.  This  is  unique  among 
Egyptian  statues.  The  third  statue  represents  Rameses  stand- 
ing upright  in  military  attire,  a  sceptre  in  his  hand  and  a  crown 
upon  his  head.  Both  bear  hieroglyphic  inscriptions,  and  both 
have  been  thrown  from  their  pedestals  face  downwards.  Their 
site  is  on  the  ancient  Cape  Zephyrium,  near  the  remains  of  the 
Temple  of  Venus  at  Arsinoe.  Relics  of  the  early  Christians 
have  been  found  in  the  same  locality. 

We  learn  from  the  Brighton  Herald  that  a  discovery  full  of 
interest  to  archaeologists  has  been  made  in  Sussex.  During  some 
excavations  near  the  depot  of  the  Artillery  Volunteers  at  South- 
over,  Lewes,  the  workmen  uncovered  as  many  as  twenty-eight 
skeletons.  They  were  all  buried  close  to  the  surface,  and 
within  an  area  of  about  130  feet  by  50  feet.  As  there  were 
skeletons  of  women  as  well  as  of  men,  it  is  concluded  that  the 
site  was  not  that  of  a  battle-field,  but  "pi  a  place  of  burial.  A 
similar  find  was  made  in  1830  at  Mailing  Hill,  which  is  not  far 
distant.  The  remains  now  found  were  accompanied  by  a  large 
number  of  weapons  and  ornaments,  the  characteristic  features 
of  \ihich  point  to  the  fact  of  their  being  Anglo-Saxon.  The 
skeletons  have  been  reinterred,  but  the  weapons  and  other 
articles  have  been  placed  in  the  museum  of  the  Sussex  Archaeo- 
logical Society  at  Lewes  Castle. 


57^ 


NATURE 


[OCTOBE^L  15,  1 89 1 


'M&.  Clement  L.-  Walker/  while  carrying  on  geological 
work  'in  Sontli- Western  New  Mexico,  has  also  been  parsaing 
archaeological  researches  in  that  most  interesting  region  daring 
the  last  two  years.  He  proposes  to  publish  a  detailed  account 
of  his  investigations,  and  in  the  meantime  he  briefly  records 
some  of  them  in  the  Augdst  number  of  the  American  Naturalisty 
On  the  eastj  west,  and  middle  branches  of  the  Gila  River,  in 
the  Mogollon  Mountains,  there  is  an  extremely  rough,  wild, 
and  broken  tract ;  and  here,  in  the  rugged  clifik,  are  found 
great  numbers  of  ancient  clifT-dwellings.  Mr.  Webster  deyoted 
considerable  time  to  the  study  of  these  dwellings,  making  plans 
and  sketches,  and  copying  the  drawings  of  many  of  the  more 
interesting  and  extensive  hieroglyphics  painted  on  the  rocks. 
One  of  these  ancient  pueblos  of  the  cliff-dwellers  is  situated  in 
a  lolly  cliff  which  forms  the  side  of  a  deep,  narrow  cafion 
extending  out  from  the  west  branch  of  the  Gila.  This  cliff- 
dwellers'  village  is  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation,  and  consists 
of  upwards  of  twenty-eight  rooms.  Among  the  relics  obtained 
in  the  rooms  were  specimens  of  several  kinds  of  cloth,  all  made 
from  the  fibre  of  the  Spanish  dagger,  matting  of  bear-grass, 
willow-work,  sandals,  cords  of  various  sizes,  feather-work,  a  ball 
and  large  skein  of  twine  of  the  same  material  as  the  cloth, 
human  and  animal  bones,  stone  utensils,  great  quantities  of 
corn-cobs,  com,  squash  or  pumpkin  rinds,  seeds  and  stems, 
corn-husks,  beans,  gourds,  pottery,  braided  human  hair  of  a 
brown  colour,  &c.  ;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  a  perfectly 
preserved  cliff-dweller  mummy.  This  was  a  mummy  of  a  small 
child,  with  soft  brown  hair,  similar  to  that  found  braided,  only 
finer.  It  was  closely  wrapped  in  a  considerable  amount  of  two 
varieties  of  coarse  cloth,  woven  from  the  fibre  of  the  Spanish 
dagger,  then  wrapped  in  a  large  nicely-woven  mat  of  bear-grass, 
and  tied  on  by  cords  of  the  same  material  as  the  cloth  to  a  small 
curiously-shaped  board  of  cotton-wood. 

Some  fine  caves  have  lately  been  discovered  near  Southport, 
Tasmania.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Tasmania 
in  June,  an  account  of  them  was  given  by  Mr.  Morton,  who  had 
visited  them.  They  are  situated  about  four  miles  from  Ida  Bay^ 
and  a  fairly  good  road  leads  to  them.  The  entrance  is  through 
a  limestone  formation.  A  strong  stream  flows  along  the  floor  of 
the  chambers.  The  first  chamber  reached  by  Mr.  Morton  and 
those  who  accompanied  him  showed  some  fine  stalactites,  and 
along  the  floor  some  fine  stalagmites  were  seen.  On  the  lights 
carried  by  the  party  being  extinguished,  the  ceiling  and  sides  of 
the  caves  seemed  studded  with  diamonds,  an  effect  due  to 
millions  of  glow- worms  hanging  to  the  sides  of  the  walls  and  from 
the  ceilings.  Further  on,  several  chambers  were  explored,  each 
revealing  grander  sights.  The  time  at  disposal  being  limited, 
the  party  had  to  return  after  traversing  a  distance  of  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile,  but  from  what  was  observed  the  caves  evi- 
dently extended  a  distance  of  three  or  four  miles.  The  only 
living  creatures  seen  were  the  glow-worms.  These  caves,  under 
proper  supervision,  should  become,  Mr.  Morton  thinks,  one  of 
the  great  attractions  of  the  south  of  Tasmania. 

In  the  Quarterly  Statement  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund, 
it  is  announced  that  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Survey  of  Eastern 
Palestine,''  by  Major  Conder,  has  been  issued  to  subscribers.  It 
is  accompanied  by  a  map  of  the  portion  of  country  surveyed, 
special  plans,  and  upwards  of  350  drawings  of  ruins,  tombs, 
dolmens,  stone  circles,  inscriptions,  &c  It  is  also  announced 
that  the  new  map  of  Palestine,  so  long  in  hand,  is  now  ready. 
This  map  represents  both  sides  of  the  Jordan,  and  extends  from 
Baalbek  in  the  north,  to  Kadesh  Bamea  in  the  south. 

Mr.  E.  R.  Morse  contributes  to  the  October  number  of  the 
Engineering  Magazine^  a  periodical  issued  at  New  York,  an 
interesting  paper  on  marble  quarrying  in  the  United  States. 
Within    recent    years   the  use  of  American  marble  both  in 

NO.    1 146,  VOL.  44] 


cemeteries  and  in  buildings  has  become  very  extensive.  Virions 
foreign  marbles,  such  as  the  Afrcan  Red,  Belgiunl  Bhck,  and 
Mexican  Onyx,  are  employed  in  the  interior  decoralibQ  of 
buildings  ;  but  only  Italian  marble  can  be  said  to  cpme  really 
into  competition  with  the  American  product,  and  the  importa- 
tion of  this  stone  into  the  United  States  amounts  only  to  aboat 
one-sixth  of  the  value  of  the  marble  produced  and  sold  at  home. 
The  quarrying  of  marble  is  practically  limited  at  present  to 
Tennessee,  Geoigia,  Maryland,  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and 
Vermont.  Large  and  valuable  deposits  may  exist  elsewhere, 
but  the  expense  of  testing  deposits  is  so  great,  and  the  chances 
that  the  product  of  new  quarries  may  prove  unsaleable  are  io 
numerous,  that  Mr.  Morse  thinks  that  new  marble  fields  are  not 
likely  to  be  developed  soon. 

The  "  basking  shark  "  (Selache  tnctxima^  L. )  is  apparently  no 
very  uncommon  visitor  in  New  Zealand  waters.     In  the  new 
volume  of  the  Transactions  and  Proceedings  of  the  New  Zealand 
Institute,   Mr.   T.  F.   Cheeseman,  Curator  of  the  Auckland 
Museum,  describes  a  specimen,  over  34  feet  long,  which  was 
stranded  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wade  River.     Mr.  R.  H. 
Shakspere,   of  Whangaparaoa,   who   saw  the  specimen  veiy 
shortly  after  it  was  stranded,  has  informed  Mr.  Cheeseman  that 
every  spring  several  individuals  of  the  same  species  can  be  seen 
near  the  entrance  of  the  Wade  River,  and  along  the  shc^es  of 
Whangaparaoa  Peninsula.     He  believes  that  they  visit  these 
localities  in  search  of  their  food,  which  he  thinks  is  composed  of 
small  Medusa  and  other  pelagic  organisms.    They  can  be  e^y 
recognized  from  their  habit  of  swimming  on  the  surface  of  the 
water,  a  portion  of  the  back  and  the  huge  dorsal  fin  being 
usually  exposed.     It  is  from  this  circumstance,  taken  with  the 
fact  that  their  motions  are  very  often  slow  and  sluggish,  that 
they  have  received  the  name  of  the  "  basking  shark."    They 
are  easily  approached  and  harpooned,  and  on  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland  as  many  as  five  hundred  have  been  taken  in  a  angle 
season.     The  liver  often  weighs  as  much  as  two  tons,  yielding 
sixt03.isight  barrels  of  oil.     A  few  years  ago,  when  sharks'  oil 
was  oCgreater  value  than  it  is  at  present,  the  oil  from  a  single 
fulio^ized  specimen  would  often  realize  from  £4,0  to  £s^' 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales, 
on  June  29,  Mr.  Froggatt  exhibited  some  living  beetles  (fam. 
Curculionida),  which  afford  a  good  example  of  protectire 
coloration.  They  were  found  at  Wellington,  N.S.W.,  on  the 
trunks  of  Kurrajong  trees  (Stercuiia)^  the  bark  of  which  they 
resemble  so  closely  in  tint  and  general  appearance  that  it  was 
quite  by  accident  Mr.  Froggatt  first  recognized  their  true 
character. 

Messrs.  Gauthier-Villars  have  sent  us  the  "Annuaire" 
for  189 1  of  the  Municipal  Observatory  of  Montsouris.  It  con- 
tains, as  usual,  a  g^eat  mass  of  carefully  selected  and  well 
arranged  information.  We  may  especially  note  a  collection  of 
old  meteorological  observations  made  at  Paris,  and  the  following 
papers  :  Parisian  climatology,  by  M.  Leon  Descroix  ;  chemi- 
cal analysis  of  the  air  and  of  waters,  by  M.  Albert  Levy ; 
thirteenth  memoir  on  organic  dust  in  the  air  and  in  waters,  by 
Dr.  Miquel. 

Messrs.  G.  L.  English  and  Co.,  New  York,  have  found  it 
necessary  to  issue  a  supplement  to  the  catalogue  of  minerals 
which  they  published. in  June  1890.  So  great  has  been  the 
demand  for  minerals  that  they  had  three  collectors  at  woik 
during  the  summer— one  in  Europe,  another  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  United  States  and  in  Mexico,  and  a  third  ia 
Colorado. 

The  new  number  of  the  Journal  of  Anatomy  and  Physidio^ 
opens  with  some  valuable  notes  by  Dr.  R.  Havelock  Charies, 
on  the  craniometry  of  some    of  the  ontcaste  tribes  of  the 


October  15,  1891']. 


NA  7  URE 


577. 


Panjab.  He  presents  a  series  of  tables  drawn  from  the 
measdrement  of  fifty  skulls  collected  by  him  in  the  com  para- 
tive  anatomy  museum  of  the  Medical  College,  Lahore.  These 
skulls  are,  in  Dr.  .Charles's  opinion,  frpm  individuals  of  aborigi- 
nal as  distinguished  firom  Aryan  progeny,  with  the  exception  of 
certain  m^acephalic  examples  among  the  group  of  Moham- 
medan male  types.  In  these  exceptional  cases  descent  may 
be  derived  from  thQ  more  recent  Mohammedan,  invaders,  who 
were  distinct  both  fr<Jm  the  Aryan  possessors  on  the  one  hand, 
and  from  the  dispossessed  aboriginal  races  on  the  other. 

The  Department  of  Public  Instruction  in  New  South  Wales 
has  issued  a  second  edition  of  **  Wattles  and  Wattle- Barks,"  by 
J.  H.  Maiden.  It  appears  as  No.  6  of  the  Technical  Education 
Series.  The  pamphlet  is  intended  to  supply  Australian  farmers, 
tanners,  merchants,  and  others  with  authentic  information  in 
regard  to  the  value  of  wattles.  According  to  the  author,  the 
demand  for  good  wattle-bark  becomes  greater  every  year,  and 
the  supply  does  not  cope  with.  it.  The  word  "  wattle,"  we  may 
note,  has  become  in  Australia  practically  synonymous  with 
'•acacia," 

An  interesting  experiment  has  been  lately  made  by  M. 
Chabry,  of  the  Soci^t^  de  Biologic,  with  regard  to  the  pressure 
which  can  be  produced  by  electrolytic  generation  of  gas  in  a 
closed  space.  While  the  highest  pressure  before  realized  in  this 
way  was  447  atmospheres  (Gassiot),  M.  Chabry  has  succeeded 
in  getting  as  high  as  1200  ;  and  the  experiment  was  broken  off 
merely  because  the  manometer  used  got  cracked  (without  ex- 
plosion). The  electrolyzed  liquid  was  a  25  per  cent,  soda 
solution.  Both  electi'odes  wei'e  of  iron :  one  was  the  hollow 
Sphere  in  which  the  gas  was  collected ;  the  other  an  inner  con- 
centric lube.  The  current  had  a  strength  of  ij  ampere,  and 
was  very  constant  daring  the  experiment,  which  w^as  merely  one 
preliminary  to  a  research  m  which  very  high  pressures  were 
desired. 

The  first  series  of  lectures  given  by  the  Sunday  Lecture 
Society  begins  on  Sunday  afternoon,  October  18,  in  St.  George's 
Hall,  Langham  Place,  at  4  p.m.,  when  Sir  James  Crichton 
Browne,  F.R.S.,  will  lecture  on  "Brain  Rust.".  Lectures  will 
subsequently  be  given  by  Mr.  Frank  Kerslake,  Mr.  Walter  L. 
BickncU,  Mr.  W.  E.  Church,  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.R.S., 
Mr.  A.  W.  Clayden,  and  Sir  Robert  Ball,  F.R.S. 

An  important  paper  upon  persulphates  is  contributed  by  Dr. 
Marshall,  of  Edinburgh,  to  the  October  number  of  the  Journal 
^f  the  Chemical  Society,  The  anhydride  of  persulphuric  acid, 
SiO,,  was  obtained  by  Berihelot  in  the  year  1878,  by  subjecting 
a  well-cooled  mixture  of  sulphur  dioxide  and  oxygen  to  the 
silent  electrical  discharge.  He  afterwards  found  that  a  substance 
possessing  oxidizing  properties,  and  which  appeared  to  be  per- 
sulphuric acid,  was  formed  in  solution  during  the  electrolysis  of 
lairly  strong  solutions  of  sulphuric  acid  ;  it  appeared,  in  fact,  to 
be  identical  with  the  substance  obtained  by  dissolving  his  crystals 
of  S2O7  in  water.  The  anhydride  does  not  dissolve  in  water 
Without  partial  decomposition,  a  considerable  proportion  decom- 
posing into  sulphuric  acid  and  oxygen,  and  hitherto  no  salts  of 
persulphuric  acid  have  been  obtained  in  the  solid  state.  Dr. 
Marriiall  has  now  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  potassium,  ammo- 
nium,  and  barium  salts  in  fine  large  crystals.  During  the  course 
of  an  experiment  in  which  an  acid  solution  of  potassium  and 
cobalt  sulphates  was  being  electrolyzed  in  a  divided  cell,  it  was 
found  that  a  quantity  of  small  colourless  crystals  separated.  A 
Solution  of  these  crystals  in  water  gave  only  a  faint  precipitate 
With  barium  chloride,  but  on  warming  barium  sulphate  slowly 
separated  and  chlorine  was  evolved.  The  solution  also  liberated 
iodine  from  potassium  iodide.  The  crystals  were,  in  fact,  potas- 
siam  persulphate,  KSO4.     It  was  next  sought  to  prepare  them 

NO.   1146,  VOL.  44] 


from  hydrogen  potassium  sulphate.  A  saturated  solution  of  this^' 
salt  was  submitted  to  electrolysis  in  a  similar  apparatus,  and  at 
the  end  of  two  days  a  white  czystalline  deposit  of, potassium  pet- 
sulphate  commenced  to  form.  The  crystals  were  from  time  to 
time  removed  until  a  considerable  quantity  of  them  had  been, 
accumulated.  These,  when  recrystallized  from  hot  water» 
yielded  large  tabular  crystals,  and  sometimes  long  prisms  when 
formed  at  the  surface  of  the  liquid.  Analyses  of  pare  samples 
yielded  numbers  agreeing  perfectly  with  the  formula  KS04* 
From  determinations  of  the  conduct  ivity  of  dilate  solutions  it  • 
would  appear  that  the  correct  molecular  formula  is  KSO4  and 
not  KgS^Og.  On  ignition  of  the  salt,  oxygen  and  sulphuric 
anhydride  are  evolved  and  potassium  sulphate  is  left.  The 
crystals  are  not  very  soluble  in  water,  100  parts  of  water  at  o"* 
dissolving  1 77  part  of  KSO4.  The  aqueous  solution  gradually 
decomposes,  hydrogen  potassium  sulphate  being  formed  and 
oxygen  liberated.  The  pure  freshly  prepared  solution  is  neutral 
to  test  paper.  The  solution  yields  no  precipitate  with  any  other 
salt  by  double  decomposition,  the  persulphates  of  most  other 
metals  appearing  to  be  more  soluble  than  potassium  persulphate. 
A  solution  of  lead  hydrate  in  potash  yields  a  precipitate  of  lead 
peroxide  on  boiling.  With  silver  nitrate  no  immediate  precipi- 
tate is  formed,  but  the  liquid  gradually  acquires  an  inky  appear* 
ance  and  after  some  time  a  black  precipitate  of  silver  peroxide> 
AgO,  is  deposited.  It  would  appear  that  silver  persulphate  is 
dissolved  by  water.  Fehling's  solution  gives  a  red  precipitate  of 
copper  peroxide.  Ferrous  sulphate  is  rapidly  oxidized  to  ferric 
with  considerable  rise  of  temperature.  Organic  colouring 
matters,  such  as  litmus,  are  bleached.  Alcohol  is  oxidized  to 
aldehyde  in  presence  of  water,  but  absolute  alcohol  has  no  action 
on  solid  potassium  persulphate.  The  pure  crystals  have  a  cooling 
saline  taste,  which  leaves  a  peculiar  after-taste.  The  impure 
salt  evolves  ozone  slowly.  Freshly  prepared  crystals  have  no 
odour,  but  after  a  time  they  emit  a  peculiar  pungent  odour  quite 
different  from  that  of  ozone,  and  which  appears  to  be  due  to 
persulphuric  anhydride.  When  warmed  with  concentrated  nitric 
or  sulphmic  acids  the  oxygen  is  liberated  lai^ely  in  the  form  of 
ozone.  With  hydrochloric  acid  chlorine  is  evolved.  The 
ammonium  salt  NH4SO4  has  been  prepared  in  a  similar 
manner ;  it  crystallizes  in  long  prisms  and  mucli  resembles  the 
potassium  salt.  The  barium  salt  crystallizes  in  beautiful  large 
interlocking  prisms  containing  four  molecules  of  water  of  crystalli- 
zation. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  {Maccuus  cynomolgus  6 ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  Barratt  Lennard ;  a  Rhesus 
Monkey  {Macacus  rhesus  $ )  from  India,  presented  by  Miss 
Corrie  Chisholm  ;  two  Common  Marmosets  {Ifapale  jacchus) 
from  Southeast  Brazil,  presented  by  Mrs.  Frederick  Betts ; 
two  Bernicle  Geese  {Bemicla  leucopsis\  two  Brent  Geese 
(Bernicla  brenta),  European,  presented  by  Mr.  Cecil  Smith ; 
a  Gamet  {Sula  dassana),  British,  presented  by  Dr.  Davis; 
eleven  Gold  Pheasants  {Thaumalea  picta  <Js),  two  Amherst 
Pheasants  [Thaumalea  amherstice  6  6),  two  Silver  Pheasants 
{Euplocamus  nycthemerus  (J  9 )  from  China,  a  Common  Pheasant 
{Phasianus colchius  <J), British,  four  Ruddy  Sheldrakes  {ladoma 
casarca),  European,  presented  by  Mr.  Edwin  J.  Poyser ;  a 
Common  Chameleon  {Chamaleon  vulgaris)  from  North  Africa, 
presented  by  Mr.  F.  Manners ;  a  Macaque  Monkey  [Macacus 
cynomolgus)  from  India,  deposited. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Measurements  of  Lunar  Radiant  Heat.— Numerous 
measurements  of  lunar  radiant  heat  have  been  made  at  Birr 
Castle  Observatory  by  Lord  Rosse  and  Dr.  Copeland,  and  the 
results  obtained  have  been  published  from  time  to  time.  During, 
the  total  lunar  eclipse  of  October  4,  1884,  Dr.  Otto  Boeddicker, 


578 


NA  TURE 


[October  15,  1S91 


Lord  Rose's  present  assistant,  carried  out  a  series  of  observa- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  striking  result  previously 
arrived  at  by  Dr.  Copeland,  viz.,  that  "the  maximum  of  heat 
seemed  to  occur  somewhat  before -full  moon."  It  was  then 
found  that  "  The  heat  as  before  diminished,  and  increased  again 
nearly  proportionally  to  the  li^t,  becoming  inappreciable  on 
reaching  the  limits  of  totality.  The  minimum  of  heat  apparently 
fell  later  than  that  of  illumination.  But  the  most  remarkable 
thing  was  that  while  during  the  short  interval  between  the  first 
contact  with  the  penumbra  and  the  commencement  of  total 
phase,  all  appreciable  radiation  vanished,  between  the  end  of 
total  phase  and  the  last  contact  with  the  penumbra,  and  even 
forty  minutes  later,  the  heat  had  not  returned  to  the  standard 
for  full  moon,  being  deficient  by  about  12  per  cent."  These 
focts  are  remarked  upon  by  Lord  Rosse  in  an  introduction  to  a 
paper  by  Dr.  Boeddicker,  giving  the  results  obtained  during  the 
lunar  eclipse  of  January  28,  1888  (Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Dublin  Society,  Series  IIL,  vol.  iv..  Part  ix.,  1891).  The 
measurements  of  radiation  were  commenced  about  an  hour 
before  the  first  contact  with  the  penumbra,  and  a  decrease  of 
heat  seems  even  then  to  have  set  in.  But  excluding  this  diminu- 
tion of  heat  exhibited  by  the  curve  connecting  the  observations, 
there  is  indisputable  evidence  that  the  decrease  had  definitely 
commenced  about  three  minutes  before  the  eclipse  b^an,  and 
probably  fifteen  minutes  before.  This  indicates,  therefore,  that 
the  terrestrial  atmosphere  extends  to  a  height  of  not  less  than  190 
ipiles,  and  intercepts  the  sun's  rays  before  any  part  of  the  moon 
has  entered  the  earth's  shadow.  In  1888,  as  in  1884,  the  anomaly 
of  the  heat  not  returning  to  its  standard  value  even  I  hour  40 
minutes  after  the  last  contact  with  the  penumbra,  was  observed. 
Dr.  Boeddicker  enumerates  the  series  of  observations  required 
to  elucidate  these  interesting  points,  and  hopes  soon  to  publish 
some  further  results  of  his  investigations. 

Two  New  Variable  Stars.— The  Rev,  T.  E.  Espin  has 
foand  two  new  variable  stars  in  Cygnus,  viz.  D.M.  +  36"* '3852 
and  D.M.  +  49°*3239.  They  are  tx)th  of  a  strong  red  colour. 
The  first  has  a  Type  III.  (Group  II.)  spectrum,  and  the  second 
belongs  to  Type  IV.  (Group  VI.). 

A  New  Asteroid. — The  asteroid  observed  by  Dr.  Palisa 

on  August  12  turns  out  to  be  Medusa  n«),  as  was  suggested  by 

Dr.  Berberich.     On  this  account,  the  asteroids  from  (^  to  (^ 

must  be  numbered  from  (sis)  to  W\^  and  the  one  discovered  on 

September  24  by  Charlois  will  be  ^is). 

.  A  New  Comet. — A  bright  comet  was  discovered  on  October 
2,  by  Mr.  E.  E.  Barnard,  at  Lick  Observatory,  in  R.A. 
yh.  31m.  24s.,  and  Decl.  -27**  54'.  It  was  moving  to  the 
sbath-east. 


THE  IRON  AND  STEEL  INSTITUTE, 

n^HE  autumn  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  was  held 
-■•  on  Tuesday  the  6lh  inst.  and  Wednesday  the  7th  inst., 
under  the  presidency  of  Sir  Frederick  Abel.  After  the  excite- 
ment of  last  year's  meeting  in  the  United  States,  the  gathering 
of  last  week  fell  rather  flat.  As  our  readers  are  aware,  it  is 
the  custom  of  this  Society  to  hold  two  meetings  each  year — the 
first,  in  the  spring,  being  in  London,  and  the  second,  in  the 
autumn,  either  in  the  provinces  or  abroad.  This  year  it  was 
proposed  that  Birmingham  should  be  the  place  of  meeting,  but 
the  great  town  of  the  Midlands  does  not  appear  to  have  re- 
sponded to  the  overtures  made,  and,  no  other  invitation  being 
forthcoming,  the  Council  was  thrown  back  on  the  metropolis. 
In  one  point,  at  any  rate,  the  meeting  was  a  success,  as  on  Tues- 
day a  larger  number  of  members  travelled  down  to  Woolwich, 
where  a  visit  had  been  arranged  to  the  Royal  Arsenal,  than 
perhaps  have  ever  been  got  together  before  on  an  excursion. 

The  excursions  are  generally  the  leading  feature  of  the 
autumn  meetings,  but  there  was  but  one  organized  for  the 
meeting  just  past— namely,  that  to  Woolwich  Arsenal.  The 
following  is  a  list  of  the  papers  read  :  —On  the  constitution  of 
ordnance  factories,  by  Dr.  William  Anderson,  F.R.S.,  Director- 
General  of  Ordnance  Factories ;  on  the  measuring  instruments 
used  in  the  proof  of  guns  and  ammunition  at  the  Royal  Arsenal, 
Woolwich,  by  Captain  Holden,  R.A.,  Proof  Officer  at  Wool- 
wich ;  on  the  manufacture  of  continuous  sheets  of  malleable  iron 
and  steel  direct   from    fluid  metal,    by  Sir  Henry  Bessemer, 


F.R.S.  ;  on  illustrations  of  progress  in  material  forshipbailding 
and  engineering  in  the  Royal  Naval  Exhibition,  by  W.  H. 
White,  C.B.,  Chief  Constructor;  on  the  forging  press  hjW. 
D.  Allen,  Sheffield  ;  on  an  undescribed  phenomenon  in  the 
fusion  o^  mild  stee^by  F.  J.  R.  CaruUa;^Deii)y ;  ondhe  cUniitt- 
tion  of  sulphur  from  pig-iron  by  J.  Maasener,  of  Hoeide, 
Germany  ;  on  the  Metalluigic  Department,  Sheffield  Technical 
School,  by  B.  H.  Thwaite,  Liverpool. 

The  first  two  papers  were  read  at  the  Litersry  Institute, 
Woolwich.  Dr.  Anderson's  contribution  was  taken  first  It  is 
a  curious  fact  that  the  Director-General  of  Ordnance  Factorie^ 
whose  admirets  used  to  claim,  before  he  occupied  his  present 
position,  that  he  was  too  scientific  to  be  a  successful  business 
man,  should  have  contributed  what  is  perhaps  the  least  scicsli6c 
paper  to  be  found  within  the  Transactions  of  the  Institute.  The 
paper  was  what  its  title  indicated,  strictly  a  description  of  the 
constitution  of  the  Royal  Ordnance  Factories.  It  told  bowlhej 
comprise  the  Laboratory,  Gun  Factory,  and  Carriage  Depart- 
ment at  Woolwich,  the  Gunpowder  Factory  at  Waltham  Abbey, 
and  the  Small  Arms  Factories  at  Enfield  Lock  and  Birmin^um. 
These  establishments  are,  the  author  faid,  ''supposed"  to  be 
worked  on  commercial  principles.  Dr.  Anderson  is  an  accaraie 
and  careful  man,  as  has  been  proved  bj  much  good  sdeotific 
work  in  the  field  of  mechanical  engineering  which  he  has  dose, 
and  there  is  much  virtue  in  his  "supposed."  Ifeveramaoo- 
facturing  establishment  were  worked  with  a  view  to  profit  after 
the  manner  of  Woolwich  Arsenal,  the  profits  probably  would  be 
very  small.  The  paper  tells  us  that  ;f400,ooo  b  mvested  ia 
stores,  ;f  557i945  m  buildings,  and  jf7i8,949  in  machinery. 
By  far  the  larger  part  of  the  work  is  done  on  the  piece,  or  oo 
the  fellowship  system.  The  number  of  hands  employed  is aboot 
17,000,  of  which  13,000  are  at  Woolwich.  In  the  fioancial 
year  1889-90,  the  value  of  completed  work  issued  amoontedto 
;^2, 259, 1 26.  The  expenditure  on  all  services,  complete  and  is* 
complete,  was  ^2,590,053,  of  which  wages  were  responsible  (or 
<^i>339»045>  ^d  materials  for  ;f  1,005,224.  The  average  wage 
earned  per  week  per  man  and  boy  is  32^.,  and  about  ;^i9,oooi 
year  is  spent  in  medical  attendance,  which  the  men  recetre  free. 

Captain  Holden's  paper  was  on  an  interesting  subject,  bat 
was  far  too  brief  to  treat  it  in  anything  approaching  an  adequate 
manner.  In  addition  to  which  illustrations  are  necessary  to 
make  dear  the  working  of  the  various  delicate  instruments  used 
in  the  measurement  of  the  velocity  of  projectiles,  but  no  wiD 
diagraoB  were  exhibited.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  actnl 
machines  were  shown,  but  these  are  a  very  poor  substitute  Hor 
sectional  drawings,  as  one  can  see  nothing  but  the  outside. 
The  Novez-Leurs  chronoscope.  Prof.  Ba^orth's  cbronognph, 
Schults's  revolving  dram,  together  with  the  various  modificatioo 
of  it  which  have  been  introduced,,  were  all  briefly  referred  ta 
Most  of  these  instruments  are  ftdrly  well  known,  although  not  is 
general  use.  The  Le  Boulonge  instrument,  which  is  the  ooe 
now  universally  used  for  determining  the  velocity  of  projectiks 
outside  guns,  was  shown  and  its  action  illustrated.  Theanthor 
mentioned  that  when  the  Le  Boulonge  instrament  was  first 
introduced  the  highest  normal  muzzle  velocities  of  guns  were 
about  1000  feet  per  second.  "  Now,"  Captain  Holden  slid, 
*'  they  are  double  that  amount ;  and  it  is  probable  they  vil 
reach  3000  feet  per  second."  As  an  instance  of  the  accaracy 
required  in  instruments  of  this  nature,  the  author  gave  ibe 
following  example:  "The  case  of  a  shot  whose  mean  velocity 
between  two  screens  placed  180  feet  apart  is  1800  feet  per 
second.  A  variation  of  one  foot  above  or  below  x  800  feet  per 
secood  is  represented  by  a  decrc  ase  or  increase  in  time  of  oidjr 
'0005  of  a  second  approximately."  In  order  to  work  widua 
such  narrow  limits  the  greatest  care  has  to  be  taken  to  eliniiute 
all  sources  of  error  in  the  instrament,  and  the  precautions  takes 
are  briefly  outlined  in  the  paper. 

After  the  reading  of  these  two  papers  the  members  were  cob- 
ducted  round  the  Arsenal,  but  such  official  wrath  was  threatened 
against  any  person  who  wrote  for  printing  about  anything  be 
saw  that  we  are  too  frightened  to  make  further  reference  to  this 
part  of  the  proceedings. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  meeting  the  members  assembled  at 
the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  Sir  Frederick  Abel,  the  I^ 
sident,  again  occupying  the  chair.  The  first  paper  taken  w«s» 
contribution  b^  Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  in  which  he  described  sa 
invention  of  his,  devised  nearly  half  a  century  ago.  This  cob> 
sisted  of  the  rolling  of  steel  sheets  direct  from  the  molten  metal 
as  tapped  from  the  furnace  or  converter.  The  process  is  simpk 
in  the  extreme,  and  one  can  only  marvel  that  the  present  cob- 


NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


October  15,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


579 


plicated  and  costly  methods  should  have  stood  so  long,  consider- 
ing that  Sir  Henry  Bessemer's  patents  have  long  since  expired, 
uA  his  direct  proce^s  is  open  to  anyone  to  adopt.  The  metal, 
as  tapped  from  the  famace,  in  place  of  being  run  into  ingots, 
to  be  afterwards  rolled  into  slabs  or  billets,  is  just  poured  on  to 
the  top  of  a  pair  of  water-cooled  rolls  placed  with  their  axes 
in  the  same  horizontal  plane.  The  rolls  are  caused  to  revolve, 
and  the  molten  metal  finds  its  way  down  between  the  space  left 
between  them,  and  is  thus  rolled  out  Into  a  continuous  plate  or 
sheet;  the  chill  received  in  passing  through  the  rolls  being 
sufficient  to  solidify  the  metaJ.  That  the  process  is  possible 
Sir  Hen^r  proved  over  iforty  years  ago  ;  that  it  may  be  made 
commercially  successful  appeared  to, be  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  the  many  competent  critics,  who  spoke  in  the  discussion. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  would  seem  that  the  only  reason 
why  there  should  not  be  a  radical  change  in  the  way  of 
manufacturing  steel  plates  is  that  the  process  is  open  to  every 
one,  and,  as  there  are  no  pa'ent  rights  to  be  acquired,  it  may 
be  worth  no  one's  while  to  go  to  the  initial  expenses  of  starting 
a  new  process  just  to  show  competitors  how  to  do  the  same 
thing. 

Mr.  W.  H.  White's  paper  on  the  shipbuilding  material  at 
the  Naval  Exhibition  was  a  useful  and  interesting  contribution, 
although  not  so  exhaustive  as  might  have  been  desired.  It 
would,  however,  be  too  much  to  expect  so  important  a  public 
servant  as  the  Director  of  Naval  Construction  to  devote  his 
lime  to  writing  treatises  for  technical  Societies.  What  Mr. 
White  has  written  is  of  interest.  He  points  out  how  the  work 
of  shipbuilding  has  been  simplified  and  cheapened  by  the  steel 
manufacturer,  who  now  rolls  many  special  sections,  such  as 
Z  bars,  channel  bars,  H  bars,  T  bulbs,  and  angle  bulbs,  thus 
saving  a  vast  amount  of  building  up  and  riveting  in  the  actual 
construction  of  the  ship.  The  increase  in  the  size  of  plates, 
both  for  ship  and  boiler  work,  was  also  pointed  out  by  the 
author.  Two  specimens  of  bjiler  plate  are  shown  in  the 
Exhibition,  which  are  both  i^in.  thick  and  respectively  42  ft. 
long  by  6i  ft.  wide,  and  31  ft.  long  by  7}  ft.  wide.  Another  way 
in  which  the  steelmaker  and  founder  has  helped  the  shipbuilder 
is  in  producing  complete  parts  of  ships,  such  as  stem  frames 
and  stems,  especially  the  spur  sems  of  war  vessels,  which 
necessarily  have  to  be  of  massive  construction.  In  old  days, 
when  such  parts  were  made  of  wrought  iron,  the  forging  had  to 
he  machined  to  foim  the  recesses  or  "rabbets"  necessary  for 
the  attachment  of  plating.  That  was  excessively  costly  work, 
and  in  the  case  of  such  heavy  articles  was  most  difficult  to 
accomplish  at  all.  With  steel  castings  little  or  no  machining 
is  required.  Mr.  White  exhibited  a  large  hull  diagram  of  a 
ram  bow  for  a  recent  battle-ship.  The  part  issmade  hollow,  or 
rather  recessed,  and  shelves  are  cast  on  to  receive  the  plating  of 
the  decks,  and  the  attachment  of  breast  hooks,  &c.  The  author 
also  referred  to  the  exhibits  of  armour  plate  made  at  the  Ex- 
hibition, bat  the  subject  is  too  lengthy  for  us  to  go  into  here, 
excepting  to  say  that  nickel  steel  has  been  proved  by  test  to 
show  such  good  results  for  armour  that  some  of  the  secondary 
armour  platirg  for  five  first  class  battle-ships  is  now  being  made 
of  that  material. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Allen,  in  his  paper,  described  a  forging  press, 
which,  although  it  has  been  at  work  for  some  years  at  the 
Bessemer  Works  in  Sheffield,  is  so  ingenious,  and  so  new  to 
most  people,  that  we  shall  attempt  to  describe  it.  The  press 
has  the  appearance  of  a  steam  hammer,  and,  indeed,  there  is  a 
steam  cylinder  at  the  top,  just  as  in  a  hammer.  The  use  of  the 
steam,  however,  is  only  to  raise  the  tup  when  the  hydraulic 
pressure  is  released.  The  press  consists  of  an  anvil  block  below 
and  a  ram  above,  the  work  being  in  a  vertical  direction.  The 
ram  works  in  a  hydraulic  cylinder,  and  is  carried  through  the 
top  end  of  the  latter  in  the  shape  of  a  stout  shaft  or  shank, 
which  may  be  described  as  a  tail  rod  to  the  ram.  Attached  to  this 
is  the  piston  rod  of  the  steam  piston*,  the  latter  of  course  working 
in  its  own  cylinder.  The  steam  cylinder  and  hydraulic  cylinder 
are  therefore  placed  tandemwi^e,  the  latter  being  underneath. 
The  hvdraulic  cylinder  is  supplied  with  water  at  pressure  by  a 
suitable  pump,  the  barrel  of  the  pump  being  in  direct  communi- 
cation with  the  hydraulic  cylinder,  there  being  no  valve  of  any 
kind  between  the  two.  It  we  have  made  our  explanation  clear, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  ram  will  descend  and  ascend  stroke  for 
stroke  with  the  pump  plunger^  (the  same  water  flowing  back- 
wards and  forwards  continuously),  it  being  remembered  that  the 

'  There  are  actually  two  plungers,  the  pump  being  of  the  duplex  type  ; 
but  this  is  a  detail  which  does  not  affect  the  principle. 

NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


steam  cylinder  has  always  a  tendency  to  lift  the  ram.  Thus^ 
upon  the  pump  making  a  forward  stroke,  the  water  in  its  barrel 
is  forced  into  the  hydraulic  cylinder ;  the  ram  is  thus  forced 
down,  and  gives  the  necessary  squeeze  to  the  work  on  the  anvil. 
The  pump  plunger  then  starts  on  its  return  stroke,  and  so,  by 
enlarging  the  space  in  the  pump  barrel,  enables  the  hydraulic 
ram  to  rise  and  press  the  water  out  of  the  cylinder  and  back 
into  the  pump.  The  rising  of  the  ram  is  caused  by  the  lifting 
action  of  the  steam  under  the  piston ;  the  latter,  it  will  be 
remembered,  being  attached  to  the  ram.  Of  course  the  water 
pressure  is  sufficient  to  overcome  the  steam  pressure  on  the 
downwa):d  stroke.  The  chief  use  of  this  press  is  to  produce 
work  of  any  given  thicknesses  within  the  range  of  the  machine^ 
This  end  is  attained  by  regulating  the  volume  of  water  used* 
The  action  may  be  explained  as  follows.  We  will  suppose, 
merely  for  simplicity  sake,^  the  content  of  the  pump  barrel  to  be 
one  cubic  foot,  and  that  of  the  hydraulic  cylinder,  when  the 
ram  is  at  the  full  extent  of  its  stroke,  to  be  two  cubic  feet.  We 
will  neglect  the  connecting  pipe  between  the  two,  as  that  is  not 
a  variable  .and  does  not  affect  the  principle.  If  there  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  pump  but  one  cubic  foot  of  water  as  the  plunger 
moves  forward,  it  will  drive  all  this  water  (omitting  clearance) 
into  the  hydraulic  cylinder,  and  the  ram  would  therefore  only 
descend  one  half  its  stroke.  If  the  stroke  were  two  feet  the 
travel  would  be  12  inches,  whilst  there  would  be  12  inches 
of  space  between  the  anvil  and  the  lower  side  of  the 
squeezing  tool  on  the  end  of  the  ram.  Objects  of  12  inches, 
or  above  12  inches  in  thickness,  could  therefore  be  forged. 
If,  however,  an  article  6  inches  thick  had  to  be  worked, 
another  half  cubic  foot  of  water  would  have  to  be  admitted.  As 
the  pump  barrel  would  only  accommodate  one  cubic  foot  of 
water,  the  extra  half  cubic  foot  would  remain  permanently  in 
the  hydraulic  cylinder,  and  the  ram  would  therefore  not  go,  by 
six  inches,  to  the  top  of  its  stroke  ;  in  other  words,  the  traverse 
of  the  ram  would  be  carried  six  inches  nearer  the  anvil.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  upward  movement  of  the  ram  is  efifected 
by  the  sieam  cylinder,  which  is  powerful  enough  to  lift  the  dead 
weight  of  the  I  am,  but  is  overcome  by  the  hydraulic  pressure. 
It  will  be  seen  that  by  regulating  the  volume  of  water  in 
the  machine,  the  ram — although  always  making  the  same 
length  of  stroke— can  be  kept  working  at  any  given  distance 
from  the  anvil :  the  ram  and  pump-plunger  making  stroke  for 
stroke  as  the  water  flows  backwards  and  forwards  between  the 
barrel  of  the  pump  and  hydraulic  cylinder.  The  device  is  no 
less  important  than  ingenious.  In  ordinary  forging,  reliance 
has  to  be  placed  for  accuracy  of  Work  on  the  skill  of  the  work- 
man. It  is  surprising  how  near  perfection  a  good  forgeman 
will  anive  by  constant  practice.  Such  men  are  necessarily 
scarce,  and  as  a  consequence  very  highly  paid,  but  even  the 
nearest  approximation  of  eye  and  hastily  applied  callipers, 
with  the  cnance  of  getting  a  little  too  much  work  on  at  the  last 
minute,  cannot  equal  the  absolutely  correct  results  of  this  auto- 
matic system.  There  is  a  very  ingenious  valve  for  regulatine 
the  admission  of  water  to  fine  gradations,  so  as  to  get  work 
accurately  to  gauge,  but  we  have,  perhaps,  given  enough  descrip- 
tion of  mechfiknism  for  one  article*  - 

Mr.  CaruUa's  paper  was  interesting  and  suggestive.  He  was 
engaged  in  melting  Bessemer  scrap  in  pots  when  a  crucible 
gave  way  in  the  furnace  just  as  fusion  was  nearly  complete,  the 
greater  part  of  the  contents  flowing  out  into  the  fire.  The 
melter  was  just  bringing  the  crucible  out,  and,  instead  of  finding 
an  empty  broken  crucible  in  the  tongs,  he  discovered  a  number  of 
shells  corresponding  in  shape  with  the  pieces  originally  charged, 
but  quite  hollow.  This  was  Mr.  Carulla's  unaccounted  for 
phenomenon,  upon  which  he  invited  an  explanation.  This  dis- 
cussion was  not  satisfactory,  and  it  was  evident  that  those  wh6 
spoke  had  not  prepared  their  ideas.  This  was  not  the  fault  of 
the  speakers,  but  of  the  way  in  which  the  business  of  these 
meetings  is  carried  on.  The  remark  applies  not  only  to  the 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  but  to  most  of  the  technical  Societies 
of  the  same  class.  When  a  meeting  is  held,  a  mass  of  papers 
arc  brought  forward  and  read  more  or  less  hurriedly,  and 
members  get  up  to  make  such  remarks  as  may  occur  to  them  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment.  It  is  needless  to  poi&t  out  that  no 
satisfactory  discussion  of  matters  involving  scientific  principles 
can  be  carried  on  in  this  way.  Mr.  Carulla's  paper  is,  as  we 
have  said,  suggestive,  and  a  complete  explanation  of  the  facts 
he  states  would  doubtless  lead  to  most  important  discoveries  in 

'  The  press  ram  makes  a  stroke  of  9t\  inches,  and  its  diameter  is  30  inches. 
The  total  pressure  at  3  tons  per  square  inch  would  be  1700  tons. 


58o 


NATURE 


[October  15,  1691 


metallurgical  science.  In  such  cases  as  this  we  think  it  would 
t>e  wise  to  read  the  paper  and  then  postpone  discussion  until  the 
next  meeting  ;  or,  by  preference,  to  have  the  paper  printed  in 
the  Journal  of  Proceedings,  and  at  a  meeting  subsequent  to  its 
appearance  call  for  discussion.  It  would  appear  evident  that 
the  interior  of  the  pieces  of  scrap  had  a  lower  melting-point 
than  the  exterior  parts  which  formed  the  shells  obtained,  and  the 
explanation  of  the  variation  in  melting-point  was  the  point 
requiring  cbnsideration.  Liquation  of  the  elements  is  naturally 
the  first  suggestion,  but  this  only  shifts  the  uncertainty,  for 
liquation  is  itself  an  obscure  matter.  Mr.  Snelus  would  explain 
the  matter  by  decarbonization  at  the  surfnre,  which  would 
render  the' interior  parts  more  easily  fusible,  lie  had,  in  raking 
out  a  furnace,  found  pigs  of  which  only  the  outer  skin  remained 
as  metal,  the  case  thus  formed  being  filled  with  graphitic  carbon. 
Mr.  Gatbraith  attributed  the  phenomenon  to  the  surface  of  the 
metal  pieces  having  absorbed  an  infusible  oxide  when  at  a  high 
temperature.  There  was,  however,  more  in  the  circumstances 
described  than  the  meeting  was  prepared  to  explain  oflf  hand, 
and  it  would  be  well  if  the  discussion  conld  be  reopened  at  the 
spring  meeting  or  brought  on  again  by  another  paper. 

The  contribution  of  Mr.  Massenez  was  in  many  respects  the 
most  valuable  of  the  meeting.  It  is  a  pleasing  thing  to  see  a 
foreign  steelmaker  putting  his  experience  so  unreservedly  at  the 
disposal  of  his  English  fellow-workers,  and  the  thanks  of  the 
Institute  are  doubly  due  to  the  author  for  his  valuable  and 
practical  paper.  There  is  also  an  economic  lesson  in  this 
matter,  for  the  apparatus  described  owed  its  introduction  to  the 
•German  colliers'  great  strike  of  two  years  ago.  Since  then  there 
has  not  only  been  a  diminution  in  the  amount  of  coal  wrought, 
but  the  quality  has  also  fallen  off,  so  that  the  proportion  of 
sulphur  in  the  coal  has  much  increased.  This  necessitated  a 
desulphurization  process,  the  method  of  which  forms  the  subject 
•of  the  paper.  Manganiferous  molten  pig,  poor  in  sulphur,  is 
added  to  sulphuretted  pig  iron,  poor  in  manganese  ;  the  result 
being  that  the  metal  is  desulphurized,  and  a  manganese  sulphide 
slag  is  formed.  The  mixer  in  which  the  process  is  carried  on  is 
a  large  vessel  in  appearance,  to  judge  by  the  drawings  shown, 
■like  a  converter.  The  apparatus  in  use  at  Hoerde  will  hold 
seventy  tons  of  molten  pig,  but  it  has  been  shown  that  a  vessel 
of  about  twice  the  size  would  be  advisable.  Details  of  the 
working  are  given  by  the  author,  and  will  be  of  great  use  to 
-steelmakers  working  with  phosphoric  pig.  In  the  discussion 
which  followed  several  speakers  bore  testimony  to  the  value  of 
the  invention.  Sir  Lowthian  Bell  intimating  that  a  saving  of 
2J.  4^.  per  ton  could  be  made  by  this  method  over  the  process 
-of  re-melting  pig  in  the  cupola  ;  a  step  which  has  to  be  taken 
when  it  is  desirable  to  combine  the  product  of  different  blast 
furnaces.  In  the  large  mixer,  metal  from  two  or  more  furnaces 
can  be  brought  together. 

The  only  remaining  paper  was  a  contribution  by  Mr.  B. 
Thwaite,  in  which  particulars  were  given  of  the  metallurgical 
department  of  the  Sheffield  Technical  School,  which  was  read 
in  brief  abstract  by  obe  of  the  clerical  staff ;  after  which  the 
meeting  was  brought  to  a  conclusion  by  the  usual  votes  of  thanks. 


CARL  WILHELM    VON  NAGELL 

^T*HE  death  of  Carl   Wilhelm  von  Nageli,  on  May  lo,  189 1, 

'''      removes  the  last  survivor  of  that  distinguished  group  of 

botanists  who,  .^ide  by  side  with  zoologists  such  as  Schwann  and 

KoUiker,  laid,  half  a  century  ago,  the  foundations  of  modern 

histology.    The  career  of  Nageli  is  of  special  interest  for  the 

.history  of  botany.     During  a  period  of  fifty  years  he  held  a 

leading  position  in  the  advance  of  the  science ;  and,  while  his 

•activity  began  in  the  early  days  of  Schleiden's  predominance,  his 

most  recent  work  is  in  touch  with  those  latest  developments  of 

biology  which  are  connected  with  the  name  of  Weismann.     His 

work  reached  every  side  of  the  science.      Systematic  botany, 

morphology,  anatomy,   chemical  and  physical  physiology,  the 

theory  of  heredity  and  descent,  as  well  as  histology,  all  bear 

lasting  traces  of  his  influence. 

Kageli  was  bom  on  March  27,  1817,  at  Kilchberg,  near 
Zurich,  and  w.-is  the  son  of  a  country  doctor.  As  a  child  he 
was  devoted  to  books,  but  he  soon  showed  a  taste  for  natural 
history,  which  appears  to  have  been  in  some  degree  inspired  by 
his  sister.  His  education  as  a  boy  was  begun  at  a  private 
school,  of  which  his  father  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  was 
•completed  at  the  ZUrich  Gymnasium,  where  he  did  well.     He 


NO.    I  146,  VOL.  44] 


then  matriculated  at  the  recently- established  University  of 
Zurich,  with  the  view  of  studying  medicine.  As  a  studenr,  he 
is  said  to  have  been  strongly  influenced  by  the  ^'Natar* 
philosophie,"  as  taught  by  Oken.  He  soon  lost  his  taste  for 
medical  studies,  and,  owing  to  his  mother's  influence,  was 
allowed  to  migrate  to  Geneva,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  botany  under  De  Candolle. 

Nageli  took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Ziirich  in  1840 :  hb  dis- 
sertation on  the  Swiss  species  of  Cirsium  was  dedicated  to 
Oswald  Heer,  and  was  his  first  contribution  to  that  miirate 
investigation  of  species  which  formed  so  characteristic  a  part  of 
his  life's  work. 

Subsequently  Nageli  spent  a  short  time  at  Berlin,  stodyii^, 
among  other  things,  the  philosophy  of  Hegel.  A  meta|diysial 
tendency  marks  his  writings,  all  through  life,  and  indeed 
favourably  distinguishei  his  work  from  that  of  many  lest  coltl- 
vated  scientific  writers  ;  bat  Nageli,  in  one  of  his  later  papcrr, 
expressly  denies  that  he  was  ever  himself  an  Hegelian. 

Nageli's  next  migration  was  to  Jena,  and  here  he  came  under 
the  influence  of  Schleiden,  by  whom  he  was  initiated  into  micro- 
scopic work.  It  was  not  long  before  the  association  of  these 
two  great  men  bore  fruit.  In  1844  appeared  the  6rst  number  of 
the  Zeiisckrift  fur  Wissenschaftliche  Boianik  under  the  editor- 
ship of  Schleiden  and  Nageli.  The  connection  of  the  former 
with  the  new  venture  was  only  a  nominal  one,  and,  indeed,  all 
the  papers  but  two  are  the  work  of  N^eli  hioasdf.  The 
influence  of  Schleiden  however,  is  manifest  throughout,  sonrae- 
t  mes  in  an  injurious  degree,  though  the  independence  of  Nagelt 
gradually  asserted  itself  To  this  brilliant,  though  short-lived 
publication  we  shall  return  presently.  In  1845  Nageli  married, 
and  on  his  wedding  tour  he  spent  a  long  time  on  the  south-west 
coast  of  England,  and  there  collected  much  material  for  his 
important  work  on  "Die  neueren  Algen-systeme,"  published  in 
1847. 

On  his  return  to  the  Continent  he  became  a  Privatdocent  at 
Zurich  and  lecturer  at  the  veterinary  school,  and  soon  afterwards 
he  was  appointed  Professor  Extraordinarius.  In  1850  his  associa- 
tion with  Cramer,  so  fruitful  of  good  work,  began.  His  colleague 
says  of  this  time  :  **  £s  war  eine  schone  zeit !  da  wurden  nicfa*. 
bloss  Staubfaden  gezahlt  und  Blattformen  beschrieben  ;  es  giof; 
in  die  Tiefe,  ans  Mark  des  Lebens  !"  It  was  the  microscopic 
practical  work  with  Nageli  which  made  the  deepest  impression 
dn  bis  distinguished  pupil ;  his  lectures,  though  clear  and  fall  of 
matter,  do  not  appear  to  have  been  specially  brilliant,  bat  be 
possessed  the  highest  qualification  of  a  teacher  in  being  himself 
a  great  maker  of  knowledge. 

After  declining  a '* call"  to  Giessen,  Nageli  in  1852  became 
Professor  at  Freiboig  im  Brei^au,  where  most  of  the  work  was 
done  for  the  "Pflanzenphysiologische  Untersuchungen,"  published 
in  conjunction  with  Cramer  in  1855-58.  In  1855  Nagdi 
accepted  the  post  of  Professor  of  General  Botany  in  the  new 
Polytechnic  at  Zurich ;  his  work  at  this  time  was  hindeicd 
by  the  temporary  failure  of  his  eyesight,  owing  to  too  mich 
microscopic  work. 

In  1857  Nageli  was  summoned  to  the  Professorship  of  Botaoy 
at  Munich,  where  King  Maximilian  II.  was  striving  to  render 
his  capital  as  distinguished  in  science  as  it  already  was  in  ait 
This  post  Nageli  continued  to  hold  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
At  first  somewhat  distracted  from  his  original  work  by  practical 
duties  in  connection  with  the  organization  of  the  institute  and 
gardens,  Nageli  soon  resumed  his  proper  activity,  and  continued 
for  thirty  years  more  to  produce  a  magnificent  series  of  researches 
on  the  most  varied  subjects.  Unfortunately,  Nageli's  woik  was 
excessive,  and  from  the  age  of  sixty  onwards,  his  h  ealih  b^aa 
to  suffer,  so  that  he  was  ultimately  compelled  to  give  up  teach- 
ing. An  attack  of  influenza  during  the  epidemic  of  \Vb^^ 
seriously  shattered  his  already  failing  strength,  and  from  the 
effects  of  I  his  he  never  completely  recovered.  He  lived 
long  enough  to  celebrate  in  great  honour  the  jubilee  of  hii 
doctor's  degree,  and  thus  to  look  back  on  half  a  century  vi 
continuous  work  for  the  advancement  of  science,  a  retrospect 
such  as  few  savants  can  have  enjoyed.^ 

Without  attempting  to  give  an  adequate  account  of  Nageii*s 
scientific  work,  a  task  which  would  far  exceed  both  the  limhs  of 
this  article  and  the  powers  of  the  writer,  some  idea  may  be 
given  of  the  salient  points  in  his  career  as  an  investigator. 

Nageli's  first  histological  paper,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  is  oe 
the  development  of  pollen  (1841).      This  already  marks  a  de- 

*  The  details  of  NUgeli's  life  are  t^kco  from  the  funeral  address  dei««xed 
by  his  colleague,  ProC  Cramer,  and  published  in  the  Nent  ZHnktr  Zcitmn 
for  May  16,  1891. 


October  15,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


581 


dded  advance  on  Schleiden's  theory  of  free-cell  formation*  for 
Niigeli  maintains  that  the  special  mother-cells  are  pot  formed 
directly  around  a  cytoblast  (nucleus)  but  around  the  whole 
granular  contents,  in  the  middle  of  which  a  free  cytoblast  lies. 
It  was  longi  however,  before  Nageli  completely'  freed  himself 
from  the  influence  of  Schleiden's  histological  iheorie^.  It  is 
interesting  that  in  this  paper  he  described  anl  clearly  figured 
the  two  nuclei  in  the  pollen-grain  of  an  QEnothera,  though  he 
did  not  know  that  this  was  a  constant  phenomenon.  The  im- 
portance of  this  observation  was  not  appreciated  until  Elfving, 
Strasburger,  and  Guignard,  investigated  the  subject  in  our 
own  day. 

Nageli's  "  Botanische  Beitrage  ''  contributed  to  the  volume  of 
Linfiea  for  1842,  include  some  important  papers.  In  those  on 
the  development  of  stomata  and  on  cell-formation  in  the  root- 
apex,  he  endeavoured  to  reconcile  his  own  accurate  observations 
with  Schleidenian  theories,  and  was  thus  led  to  oppose  Unger, 
who  had  already  recognized  that  vegetative  cell-formatinn  is  a 
process  of  division.  A  paper  on  Fungi  in  the  interior  of  cells  is 
interesting,  because  the  existence  of  such  endophytic  forms  was 
at  that  time  regarded  as  establishing  a  presumption  in  favour  of 
spontaneous  generation. 

The  Zeitschrift  Jur  Wissenschaftliche  Botanik^  1844-46,  is  a 
very  remarkable  publication.  It  never  got  beyond  its  hrst 
volume,  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  book  of  its  size 
has  been  more  important  for  the  progress  of  the  science. 
Nageli's  introductory  paper,  "  Ueber  die  gegenwartige  Aufgabe 
der  Naturgeschichte,  insbesondere  der  Botanik,"  is  very  meta- 
physical in  tone,  and  is  not  free  from  a  certain  youthful  pedantry. 
Great  stress  is  laid  on  the  absolute  difference  of  species — a  con- 
ception which,  as  Nageli  tells  us  in  one  of  his  later  works,  did 
not  prevent  his  believing  even  then  in  the  origin  of  species  by 
descent.  The  study  of  development  is  treated  as  a  philoso- 
phical necessity,  and  anatomy,  or  the  study  of  mature  structure, 
is  denied  to  be  a  science.  This  is  perfectly  just ;  no  one  did 
more  for  anatomy  than  Nageli  himself,  but  he  rec(^nized  that  it 
only  becomes  scientific  in  union  with  development  and  physiology. 
He  further  insists  that  the  knowledge  of  development  as  a  whole 
is  the  only  sound  basis  for  classification — a  principle  which  still 
remains  to  be  carried  out.  The  highe>t  importance  is  attached  to 
the  cell  theory,  ^Mhich  was  exp>ected  to  do  as  much  for  botany 
and  zoology  as  mathematics  had  done  for  physics,  or  atomic 
formulx  for  chemistry — an  expectation  which  cannot  be  regarded 
as  unjustified.  Nageli  severely  criticized  the  theories  then 
current,  according  to  which  cell-formation  is  a  process  of 
crystallization.  Some  of  the  most  doubtful  of  his  own  later 
generalizations,  howe«er,  were  affected  by  the  same  source  of 
error — namely,  too  great  eagerness  to  find  a  simple  physical 
explanation  for  biological  phenomena. 

Nageli,  in  this  paper,  devotes  much  space  to  the  distinctions 
between  animals  and  plants.  He  decisively  rejects  the  idea  of 
a  transition  between  the  two  kingdoms,  on  the  ground  that  this 
would  contradict  the  **  Absolutheit  der  Begriffe" — an  argument 
which  now  seems  strangely  out  of  place  in  natural  science. 
^  The  whole  paper  is  of  great  interest  as  showing  the  point  of 
view  from  which  biological  questions  were  regarded  at  that  time 
by  a  brilliant  and  philosophical  naturalist  just  entering  on  his 
life's  work. 

The  two  papers  in  the  Zeitschrift^  on  the  nuclei,  formation 
and  growth  of  vegetable  cells  (1844  and  1846),  are  of  the 
greatest  imporiance  to  histolc^y,  finally  establishing  the  constant 
occurrence  of  cell-division  as  the  one  mode  of  vegetative  cell- 
formation.  This  conclusion  was  only  reached  in  its  complete- 
ness in  the  second  of  the  two  papers.  Although  Unger's  and 
Mohl's  views  of  the  details  of  the  process  were  in  some  respects 
the  more  correct,  still  Nageli  established  the  main  facts  of  the 
division  of  the  nucleus  and  of  the  cell  on  a  broad  basis  of 
observation.  These  papers,  as  well  as  one  on  the  utricular 
structures  in  the  contents  of  cells  (nuclei,  nucleoli,  chloro- 
phyll granules,  &c.)  were  traiislated  by  Henfrcy  for  the  Ray 
Society,  to  the  great  benefit  of  English  students,  as  the  writer 
of  this  article  can  testify. 

In  the  same  journal  there  are  several  algological  papers,  the 
most  important  of  which  is  the  complete  and  admirable  account 
of  Caulerpa  prolifera^  the  extraordinary  histological  structure  of 
which  and  its  relationship  to  the  other  Siphonex  Nageli  already 
thoroughly  understood.  It  is  interesting  that  in  this  paper  he 
describes  both  the  cell-wall  and  the  cellulose  rods  as  growing  by 
apposition,  a  view  to  which  we  have  now  returned,  owing  to  the 

NO.    1 146,  VOL.  44]  ~^ 


observations  of  Strasburger  and  Noll,  in  opposition  to  Nageli's 
own  later  theory  of  intussusception  propounded  in  1858. 

The  paper  on  Delesseria  hypoglossum  contains  an  elaborate 
account  of  the  cell-divisions  by  which  the  thallus  is  built  up. , 
Nageli  here  characteristically  attributes  great  importance  to  the  . 
introduction  of   ideas  of  absolute    mithemalical    formi    into 
physiology  and  systematic  botany. 

The  discovery  of  spermatozoids  in  the  Ferns  is  one  of  the 
most  important  recorded  in  this  volume.  The  essential  points 
in  the  structure  and  development  of  the  antheridia  are  described 
rightly,  and  the  movements  of  the  spermatozoids  very  accurately 
traced.  Nageli  calls  attention  to  the  nuclear  reactions  of  the 
substance  of  the  spermatozoids.  He  demonstrates  the  homology 
of  these  b'>dies  with  those  of  the  mosses  anl  Chara  and  of 
animals.  Nageli  was  at  that  tim:  necessarily  completely  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  relation  of  the  spermatozoids  to  spore  formation, 
for  the  arch<*gonia  and  the  process  of  fertilization  were  first  dis- 
covered by  S  xminski  four  years  later. 

Among  other  papers  of  fundamental  importance  may  be 
mentioned  that  on  the  growth  of  mosses,  in  which  the  apical 
cell-divisions  and  the  development  of  the  protonema  are  clearly 
inade  out ;  that  on  the  growth  of  the  stem  in  vascular  plants, 
a  work  which  laid  the  foundation  of  our  knowledge  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  vascular  bundles,  and  that  on  the  reproduction  of 
the   R'liz  )carps.      This  last   is  especially  interesting.      It    is. 
direcieir  though  very  cautiously,  against  the  Schleidenian  theory 
of  fenilizition  as  applied  to  these  plants.     It  is  singular  how 
this  theory,  according  to  which  the  end  of  the  pollen-tube,  afler 
penetrating  the  embryo-sac,  itself  bscame   the  embryo,  too'c 
possession  of  the  minds  of  botanists  at  that  time,  and  led  some- 
times to  the  strangest  confusions,  sometimes  to  a  chance  re- 
cognition of  homologies,  which  could  only  be  legitimitel^  prove  I 
at  a  later  period  of  research.     In  the  case  of  the  Rhizocarp-, 
the  Sch lei  lenian  theory  assumed  that  these  plants  werereali/ 
Phanerogams.     Hence  we  find  that  he  and  Nageli  agree  i  1. 
calling   their  microspores  pollen-grains,   their  microsporangi  i 
anthers,  their  macrosf>ores  embryo-sacs,  and  their  macrospor- 
angia  ovules,  a  terminology  which  very  nearly  expresses  ou  * 
present  view  of  their  homologies  as  established  by  Hofmeister. 
Nageli  discovered  the  spermatozoids  of  these  plants  as  well  as 
the  prothallus  and  arch^onia,  but  he  shows  the  greatest  reserve 
in  correcting  Schleiden's  extraordinary  mistakes. 

It  is  worth  remarking  that  at  this  early  period  the  homology 
of  pollen-grains  with  spores  was  generally  admitted,  and  at 
first  we  wonder  how  this  true  result  could  have  been  arrived  at 
so  prematurely.  Here  again  the  Schleidenian  theory  affords  the 
explanation.  The  pollen-grain  was  regarded  as  a  spore,  which 
on  germination  produced  the  embryo- plant,  not  as  do  the  spores 
of  Cryptogams  in  the  open  air,  but  within  the  embryo-sac  of  th  \ 
ovule.  This  conclusion  was  of  course  strengthened  by  a  mor^ 
legitimate  argument  drawn  from  a  comparison  of  the  mode  of 
origin  of  pollen-grains  and  spores. 

A  less  fortunate  result  of  the  same  theory  appears  in  a  paper 
in  the  Zeitschrift^  **  Ueber  das  Wachstum  und  den  Begriff  des 
Blattes."  Nageli  here  erroneously  attributes  to  the  stem  and 
its  branches  an  endogenous  origin.  That  this  holds  good  for  the 
primary  axis,  he  proves  by  stating  that  it  is  derived  from  th(^ 
pollen-grain,  which  itself  arises  endogenously  within  the  anther ! 

We  have  dwelt  long  on  this  Zeitschrift^  as  it  affords  a  remarkg 
able  insight  into  the  state  of  botanical  questions  during  the  earlier 
part  of  the  most  brilliant  period  of  progress  which  the  science 
has  known.  The  very  name,  yourncUfor  ** Scientific"  Botany ^  is 
characteristic,  expressing  the  somewhat  arrogant  claims  of  the 
enthusiastic  naturalists  of  the  new  school  of  that  day. 

The  next  period  in  Nageli's  career  is  marked  by  the  publi- 
cation of  two  important  algological  works  :  *'Die  neueren  Algen- 
systeme  und  Versuch  zur  Begriindung  eines  eigenen  Systems  der 
AlgenundFlorideen,"  1847,  and  "Gattungen  einzelliger  Algen," 
1849.  It  cannot  be  said  that  Nageli  was  altogether  happy  in 
his  generalizations  on  algological  subjects,  though  his  special 
work  was  often  of  the  greatest  value.  At  that  time  he  included 
the  Lichens  among  the  Algae  and  excluded  the  Florideae.  The 
Algae:  in  his  sense  were  distinguished  from  the  Fungi,  not  only 
by  the  presence  of  chlorophyll  and  starch,  but  also  by  the  absence- 
of  spontaneous  generation,  while  they  differed  from  the  Floridea: 
and  all  the  higher  plants  in  being  destitute  of  sex.  The  Florideae, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  regarded  as  sexual  and  as  closely  allied  to 
the  Mosses...  He  recognized  their  antheridia  as  the  male  organs, 
but  regarded  the  tetraspores  as  the  product  of  a  female  organ 


582 


NA  rURE 


[October  15,  1891 


on  account  of  their  superficial  resemblance  to  the  spore-tetrads 
of  the  higher  Cryptogams.  The  carpospores,  which  are  the  real 
sexual  products,  he  regarded  as  gemmae  like  those  of  Marchantia^ 
with  the  cups  of  which  he  compared  the  cystocarps.  Sdch  views 
were  excusable  at  that  time,  but  Nageli,  as  we  shall  see,  adhered 
to  them  later  on  with  excessive  pertinacity. 

Nageli  was  perfectly  acquamted  with  the  conjugation  of 
Desmids  and  Zygnemaceae  and  imperfectly  with  the  fertilization 
of  Vaucheria,  but  he  imagined  that  these  processes  were  too  in- 
constant to  be  regarded  as  sexual. 

Nageli  was  at  that  time  much  more  successful  in  dealing 
with  the  vegetative  organs  of  the  Algae,  and  he  rightly  protested 
against  the  generalization  current  down  to  our  own  day,  that 
all  Algae  are  destitute  of  leaves. 

His  conviction  that  the  Algae  are  without  exception  sexless 
led  him  in  1849  to  reject  Decaisne  and  Thuret's  discovery  of  the 
spermatozoids  of  Fucus,  which  he  re^rded  as  spores.  Of  his 
later  algological  papers,  the  most  important  is  that  on  the 
Ceramiaceae,  published  in  i^i.  In  this  the  procarpia  and 
trichogynes,  the  true  female  organs,  are  described  and  accurately 
figured  ;  but  Nageli  faijed  to  recognize  their  true  nature,  and 
still  maintained  his  old  view  of  the  sexuality  of  the  tetraspores. 
The  whole  credit  of*  the  discovery  of  the  real  state  of  the  case 
thus  belongs  to  the  French  botanists  Thuret  and  Bomet. 

The  "  Pflanzenphysiologische  Untersuchungen  "  of  Nageli  and 
Cramer  (1855-8)  contain  among  other  papers  of  importance 
Nageli's  huge  work  on  starch  grains  (about  6co  quarto  pages  !), 
which  is  of  great  general  value  as  embodying  his  views  on  the 
growth  of  starch  and  cell -wall  by  intussuscep^on  and  on  the 
molecular  structure  of  organized  bodies.  For  many  years  this 
micellar  theory,  as  it  was  afterwards  called,  was  regarded  as 
Nageli's  greatest  achievement.  Sachs,  in  1875,  said  in  his 
"  History  of  Botany"  :  "Nageli's  molecular  theory  is  the  first 
successful  attempt  to  apply  mechanico-physical  considerations  to 
the  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  organic  life."  More 
recent  i'esearch  has  shown  that  this  attempt,  like  its  predecessors, 
was  premature,  and  though  Nageli's  ingenious  and  carefully 
elaborated  hypotheses  must  still  arouse  our  admiration,  we  can 
scarcely  now  regard  them  as  having  added  much  to  our  know- 
ledge either  of  the  growth  or  structure  of  organized  bodies. 
The  book  on  **  Starch  Grains,"  however,  quite  apart  from 
theoretical  considerations,  will  always  remain  a  marvellous 
monument  of  research.  It  contains  a  vast  mass  of  systematic 
and  descriptive  matter  in  addition  to  the  speculations  which 
have  made  it  famous.  The  micellar  theory  was  farther  de- 
veloped in  subsequent  papers  *'  on  the  behaviour  of  polarized 
light  towards  vegetable  organisms"  (1862);  ''on  crystalloid 
protein  bodies"  (1862);  and  "on  the  internal  structure  of 
vegetable  cell-membranes"  (1864).  It  is  presented  in  its 
perfected  form  in  the  important  work  on  the  microscope,  pub- 
lished by  Nageli  and  Schwendener  in  1877. 

The  papers  in  the  **  Phy^iologische  Untersuchungen  "  bear  the 
name  of  Nageli  or  of  Cramer  respectively,  but  it  appears  that 
they  mutually  assisted  each  other  throughout ;  hence  it  is  not 
out  of  place  to  mention  here  Cramer's  fine  researches  on  the 
apical  growth  of  Equisetum,  which  to  this  day  serve  as  a 
model  (rarely  approached)  for  all  such  investigations. 

No  sooner  were  these  investigations  with  Cramer  completed 
than  another  great  undertaking  was  commenced  in  the  publica- 
tion of  the  "  Beitrage  zur  Wissenschaft lichen  Botanik  "  (1858^8). 
This  began  with  the  great  paper  "  On  the  Growth  of  Stem  and 
Root  in  Vascular  Plants  and  on  the  Arrangement  of  the  Vascular 
Bundles."  This  is  the  most  important  ot  Nageli's  purely  ana- 
tomical works,  and  i^  of  the  greatest  permanent  vsUue.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  bulk  of  our  knowledge  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  vascular  tissues  in  plants  still  depends  on  this  work. 
Other  valuable  papers  in  the  '*  Beitrage  "  are  those  on  the  use  of 
the  polarizing  microscope,  on  the  growth  in  thickness  of  the 
Sapindaceae  (another  ideal  pattern  of  anatomical  research),  and 
on  the  origin  and  growth  of  roots,  in  which  last  Leitgeb  co- 
operated. Until  the  quite  recent  work  of  Van  Tieghem  and 
Douliot,  this  was  undoubtedly  the  most  important  investigation 
on  the  subject. 

Among  Nageli's  later  works  there  are  two  which  have  had  a 
lasting  influence  on  our  views  as  to  the  biology  and  physiology 
of  the  simplest  plants.  In  "Die  niederen  Pilze"  (1877)  he 
treats  of  moulds,  yeasts,  and  bacteria  in  relation  to  infectious 
diseases  and  hygiene.  In  this  work  an  excessive  scepticism  is 
displayed  as  to  the  existence  of  definite  species  among  the 
lowest  organisms,  such  as  bacteria.     There  is  no  longer  any 

NO.    II 46,  VOL.  44] 


doubt  that- species  are  neither  more  nor  less  distinct  amow 
these  simple  beings  than  among  the  higher  plants,  bat  Nagf£ 
did  a  real  service  in  showing  that  each  of  these  species  may 
appear  in  a  namber  of  morphologically  and  physiologically 
dtnerent  fomv. 

Nageli's  "Theorie  der  Gahning"  (1879)  demonstrated  the 
relation  between  the  processes  of  fermen  ation  and  respiration, 
and  established  the  modem  view  of  fermentation,  according  to 
which,  to  use  the  words  of  Prof.  Vines,  "living  protoplasm, 
besides  undergoing  decomposition  itself,  can  induce  decomposi- 
tion in  certain  substances  which  are  brought  within  the  sfHieit 
of  its  influence." 

It  remains  to  consider  briefly  an  aspect  of  Nageli's  work, 
which  is  from  some  points  of  view  the  most  interesting  of  all — 
namely,  his  relation  to  the  theory  of  descent.  The  elaborate 
observations  on  variable  species,  especially  in  the  genus  Hiera' 
cium^  which  Nageli  carried  on  throughout  his  whole  life,  side  by 
side  with  his  histological  and  physiological  work,  specially 
qualified  him  to  take  up  an  independent  position  with  reference 
to  the  problems  of  evolution. 

In  his  paper  "  Die  Entstehung  und  Begriff  der  natnrhistor- 
ischen  Art  (1865),  Nageli  for  the  first  time  discusses  this 
question  in  the  light  of  Darwin's  work.  His  belief,  however, 
in  the  origin  of  species  by  descent  was  no  new  thing,  but  had 
been  tacitly  held  by  him  throughout  his  whole  scientific  career, 
and  had  been  definitely  expressed  in  his  paper  on  iodividnality 
in  Nature,  published  in  1856.  In  his  work  of  1865  he  gave  an 
admirably  clear  exposition  of  natural  selection,  but  was  unable 
lo  accept  it  as  affording  a  sufficient  explanation  of  evolution. 
He  believed  that  variation  has  a  definite  direction,  always  tend- 
ing towards  the  greater  complexity  and  perfection  of  the  organism 
(Vervollkommnungstheorie).  On  this  view  the  development  of 
the  race,  like  that  of  the  individual,  has  a  definite  course  as- 
signed to  it  beforehand.  He  protests  that  there  is  nothing 
supernatural  involved  in  this  doctrine,  and  that  it  does  not 
necessarily  require  sudden  transformations.  On  this  latter 
question,  however,  he  speaks  very  uncertainly,  and  states  that 
transitions  between  certain  morphological  types  appear  to  he 
unthinkable  and  impossible.  One  seems  to  catch  here  an  edio 
of  his  older  teaching  about  the  "  Absolutheit  der  Begriffe." 

The  perfecting  process,  he  says,  knows  no  rest ;  hence  all 
plants  would  have  become  Phanerogams  by  this  time  were  it 
not  that  spontaneous  generation  takes  place  at  all  periods. 
Thus  the  flowering  plants  of  our  own  day  have,  on  this  view, 
the  longest  family  history,  and  trace  their  descent  from  the  first- 
formed  "  Urzellen,"  while  the  vascular  cryptogams  had  a  some- 
what later  origin,  and  have,  consequently,  not  had  time  10 
advance  so  far,  the  mosses  again  arose  more  recently  still,  and 
so  on  with  all  the  groups  of  plants.  According  to  this  singular 
hypothesis,  there  is  no  actual  blood  relationship  between  the 
higher  and  lower  forms  of  any  one  epoch.  They  have  had  a 
similar  but  not  a  common  origin.  This  remarkable,  but,  as  it 
seems  to  us,  retrogressive  theory  was  maintained  by  Nageli  to 
the  close  of  his  career. 

But,  whatever  view  may  be  taken  of  this  speculation,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Nageli  saw  clearly  the  great  tact — since  brought 
home  to  us  by  the  works  of  Weismann  and  his  school — that 
the  causes  of  variability  are  internal  to  the  organism.  This 
important  doctrine,  based  on  original  experiments  and  obsenra- 
tions,  is  maintained  in  a  paper  entitled  "  Ueber  den  Einfla^s 
ausserer  Verhaltnisse  auf  die  Varietatenbildung  im  Fflanzen- 
reiche"  (1865).  He  shows  that  "  the  formation  of  the  uoore  or 
less  constant  varieties  or  races  is  not  the  consequence  and  the 
expression  of  external  agencies,  but  is  determined  by  internal 
causes  "  ;  while  the  modifications  dhectly  produced  by  external 
influences  are  inconstant,  and  do  not  give  rise  to  varieties.  We 
think  it  must  be  allowed  that,  on  this  essential  point,  Nageli 
was  at  that  time  somewhat  in  advance  of  Darwin  himself. 

Other  works  of  that  period  deal  with  the  laws  aflfectxng  the 
distribution  of  species,  and  with  the  phenomena  of  hybridiza- 
tion. Inthe"Theorie  der  Bastardbildung"  (1866)  the  peca- 
liarities  of  hybrids  are  explained  as  due  to  the  favourable  or 
unfavourable  changes  produced  by  crossing,  in  the  interaal 
coadaptation  of  the  organs  of  the  ofispring. 

A  paper  on  the  social  origin  of  new  speaes  (1872)  results  io 
the  conclusion  that  groups  of  new  forms  are  likely  to  aitse 
simultaneously,  rather  than  isolated  new  species. 

Finall/,  something  must  be  said  of  the  great  work  published 
in  1884,  **  Die  mechanisch-physiologische  Theorie  der  Abstas- 
mungslehl-e, "'which  states  at  great  length  Nageli's  final  con- 


October  15,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


58 


elusions  as  to  evoltttjon  and  heredity.  The  fundamental  idea  of 
this  weigh^.work  is  t^^e  conception  of  the  Idioplasm,  namely, 
oFa  definite  portionof  tJie  generarprotoplasm,  to  which  alone  is 
Gommitted  the  transmission  of  hereditary  characters.  This  idea, 
as  Weismann  points  oat,  is  a  fruitful  one,  and  will  live,  and  is 
indeed  incorporated  in  all  recent  theories  of  heredity.  N'ageli's 
speculations,  however,  as  to  the  details  of  the  distribution 
and  molecular  structure  of  this  idioplasm  are  of  much  more 
doubtful  value,  and  rvst  on  no  firm  basis  of  actual  observation. 

Nageli  rightly  argues  that  the  character  of  the  fertilised  t^ 
must  be  determined  by  a  minute  amount  of  idioplitsm  and 
not  by  the  cytoplasm  generally,  because  the  characters  of  the 
male  and  female  parent  are  on  the  average  equally  represented  in 
the  offipring  in  spile  of  the  enormous  difference  in  the  bulk  of 
the  cytoplasm  of  spermatozoid  and  ovum. 

It  was  only,  however,  after  the  idioplasm  had  been  identified 
by  Weismann  and  Strasburger  with  a  definite  constituent  of  the 
nucleus  that  the  theory  acquired  a  positive  basis. 

Kageliinthe  '*  Ab^tammungslehre"  points  out  that  fertili- 
zation  can  only  consist  in  the  direct  union  of  solid  idioplasmic 
bodies,  and  thus  on  theoretical  grounds  arrives  at  a  conclusion 
which  has  been  fully  confirmed  by  the  observations  of  Van  Bene- 
den,  Strasburger,  and  Guignard.  He  also  shows  that  while  in  the 
higher  organisms  idioplasm  alone  is  necessarily  transmitted  from 
parents  to  offspring,  in  the  increase  of  the  lower  plants  and 
animals  by  division,  the  descendants  acquire  a  share  of  the  nutri- 
tive protoplasm  also.  Hence  in  the  latter  the  conditions  of 
culture  maj  directly  affect  the  descendants,  as  Nageli  found  in 
his  observations  on  bacteria.  These  views  are  in  essential 
agreement  with  those  of  Prof.  Weismann  on  the  continuity  of 
the  germ-plasm,  as  brought  forward  a  year  later,  though 
on  other  points  there  is  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion. 

Nageli  insists  in  his  preface  to  this  book,  that  the  subject 
of  heredity  can  only  be  authoritatively  treated  by  a  physiologist, 
and  he  no  doubt  regarded  his  micellar  theories  as  an  im- 
portant contribution  to  the  question.  In  this  his  view  is  some- 
what one-sided,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  all  recent  advance 
in  our  knowledge  of  the  essential  points  in  reproduction  has 
come  from  the  morphological  side. 

Niigeli's  attitude  towards  the  question  of  spontaneous  genera- 
tion is  interesting.  In  his  early  days  he  had  no  doubts  as  to  the 
spontaneous  origin  of  many  Fungi,  and  thought  that  this  could 
be  experimentally  demonstrated.  In  1865  he  gave  up  the  ex- 
perimental evidence,  but  believed  in  the  origin  de  novo  at  all 
epochs  of  simple  vegetable  cells.  In  the  **  Abstammungslehre  " 
he  still  maintains  that  spontaneous  generation  is  constantly  in 
progress,  but  no  longer  holds  that  even  the  lowest  known 
organisms  can  arise  in  this  way.  His  supposed  primitive  living 
things  {Probien)  are  as  much  more  simple  than  bacteria,  as  these 
are  jfiort  simple  than  the  highest  animals  or  plants. 

As  regards  the  causes  of  evolution,  Nageli  in  his  great  work 
appears  to  limit  the.  field  of  natural  selection  even  more 
narrowly  than  in  his  earlier  essays.  Its  function,  according  to  his 
later  views,  consists  in  the  separation  and  definition  of  races  by 
the  elimination  of  ill-adapted  forms,  rather  than  in  determining 
the  origin  of  the  races  themselves.  In  a  brilliant  illustration  he 
pictures  natural  selection  as  pruning  the  phylogenetic  tree,  though 
powerless  to  cause  the  putting  forth  of  new  branches.  He  still 
regards  evolution  as  a  necessary  progress  towards  perfection 
determined  by  the  constitution  of  the  organism  itself,  and  more 
especially  of  its  idioplasm. 

This  view  is  only  needed  if  we  assume  with  Nageli  the  exist- 
ence of  purely  morphological  characters — of  characters,  that  is, 
which  are  not,  and  never  have  been,  of  the  nature  of  adapta- 
tions. It  appears  to  us  to  have  been  sufficiently  shown  by  Prof. 
Weismann  and  others  that  the  existence  of  such  characters  is  an 
unnecessary  assumption.  As  biology  advances,  we  learn  every 
day  the  function  of  characters  which  had  before  appeared  to  us  to 
be  useless,  and  the  whole  tendency  of  investigation  is  to  prove 
that  all  characters  whatsoever  are  either  of  direct  use  to  their 
present  possessors  or  have  l>een  inherited  from  ancestors,  to 
whpmj  at  the  time  when  they  were  acquired,  they  were  equally 
advantageous.  It  would  be  difficult  to  cite  a  stronger  instance 
of  a  "  morphological  character  "  than  the  alternation  of  genera- 
tions which  so  clearly  characterizes  the  higher  cryptogams.  Yet 
it  has  been  lately  shown  by  Prof.  Bower  that  this  may  well  have 
been  an  adaptive  character  at  its  first  origin,  the  sporophyte 
being  adapted  for  taking  possession  of  the  dry  land,  while  the 
oophyte,  owing  to  the  mode  of  fertilization,  was  compelled  to 
retain  a  lowly  and  semi-aquatic  habit. 

NO.   II 4 6,  VOL.  44] 


We  have  given  a  very  incomplete  and  imperfect  sketdi-of  the 
life-work  of  one  of  theiQ.ost  illustrious  of  that  iUnArions  band 
of  botanists  to  whom  the  chief  advances  of  our  9cieQce  are  due. 
Much  of  his  work  has  of  necessity  been  left  quite  unnoticed. 
But  on  even  a  cursory  glance  through  the  writings  of  Niigeli  the 
conviction  is  forced  upon  us  that  he  was  a  man  not  only  of 
exceptionally  wide  scientific  and  philosophical  training  and  of 
great  literary  power,  but  also  one  of  real  genius,  and  as  far 
removed  as  possible  from  that  narrow  specialism  which  b  the 
besetting  sin  of  so  much  modem  scientific  efibrt.  The  judg- 
ment of  Niiseli's  colleague.  Prof.  Cramer,  that  he  was  "  a  truly 
great  man,  cannot  be  dismissed  as  the  exaggerated  language  of 
personal  affection,  but  expresses  a  truth.  Though  some  of  his 
theories  may  be  abandoned,  a  vast  sum  of  permanent  achieve- 
ment will  alwajs  remain,  and  the  influence  of  Nageli  on  the 
future  of  our  science  will  be  powerful  and  lasting. 

D.  H.  Scott. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford. — Full  term  commences  on  Saturday,  October  17. 
The  following  lectures  in  science  generally  have  been  adver- 
tised : — 

The  Savilian  Professor  of  Geometry  (J.  J.  Sylvester)  will 
lecture  on  surfaces  of  the  second  order,  illustrated  by  the  models 
with  which  that  department  has  been  supplied  at  the  request  of 
the  Professor. 

The  Professor  of  Astronomy  (Rev.  C.  Pritchard)  proposes  to 
lecture  on  the  methods  of  determining  astronomical  constants, 
and  offers  practical  instruction  with  the  transit  circle  and  solar 
spectroscope. 

Rev.  Bartholomew  Price  (Sedleian  Professor  of  Natural 
Philosophy)  lectures  on  hydromechanics. 

The  Professor  of  Experimental  Philosophy  (R.  B.  Clifton) 
will  lecture  on  electricity ;  and  instruction  in  practical  physics  is 
offered  by  Mr.  Walker  and  Mr.  Hatton  at  the  Clarendon 
Laboratory.  Lectures  on  mechanics  and  experimental  physics 
are  offered  by  Rev.  F.  J.  Smith,  at  the  Millard  Laboratory. 

The  Waynflete  Professor  of  Physiology  (J.  S.  Burdon- Sander- 
son) will  lecture  on  the  subjects  required  for  the  final  examina- 
tion in  the  School  of  Physiology,  and  Mr.  Dixey  will  lecture  on 
histology.  Practical  instruction  on  this  latter  subject  will  be 
given  by  Mr.  Kent. 

In  the  subject  of  Chemistry,  the  Waynflete  Professor  (W. 
Odling)  will  lecture  on  animal  products,  while  the  Aldrichian 
Demonstrator  (W.  W.  Fisher)  wUl  give  a  series  of  lectures  on 
the  non-metallic  elements.  Mr.  J.  Watts  lectures  on  organic 
chemistry,  and  the  instruction  in  practical  work  is  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  Watts,  Mr.  Veley,  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Marsh. 

The  Deputy  Linacre  Professor  of  Human  and  Comparative 
Anatomy  (E.  Ray  Lankester)  offers  a  course  of  lectures  on  com- 
parative anatomy  and  embryology.  This  course  is  intended  for 
seniors.  There  will  also  be  a  junior  course  for  beginners  and 
candidates  for  the  preliminary  examination  in  animal  morphology 
conducted  by  the  Deputy  Linacre  Professor  and  Dr.  W.  B. 
Benham.  This  last-named  gentleman  will  also  lecture  on  the 
Chaetopoda. 

The  Professor  of  Geology  (A.  H.  Green)  offers  two  courses 
of  lectures,  one  on  physical,  the  other  on  stratigraphical 
geology. 

The  Reader  in  Anthropology  (E.  B.  Tylor)  will  lecture  on 
the  origin  and  development  of  language  and  writing. 

The  Sherardian  Professor  of  Botany  (S.  H.  Vines)  lectures, 
this  term,  on  elementary  botany. 

The  Hojje  Professor  of  Zoology  (J.  O.  Westwood)  lectures 
and  gives  informal  information  upon  some  of  the  orders  of 
Arthropoda. 

In  the  department  of  medicine,  Sir  H.  W.  Adand,  Bart., 
gives  infonpal  instiuction  on  modes  of  medical  study.  ^  This 
instruction  is  given  at  the  Museum,  where  arrangements  will  be 
made  for  one  or  more  demonstrations  in  illustration  of  subjects 
bearing  on  public  health.  Dr.  Collier  and  Mr.  Morgan  ^ive 
demonstrations  for  the  Professor  on  Medical  and  Surgical 
Patholo^.  The  Lichfield  Lecturer  in  Clinical  Medicine  (W. 
Tyrrell  Brooks)  will  lecture  on  the  physical  signs  of  disease, 
and  the  Lecturer  in  Clinical  Surgery  (A.  Winkfield)  offers 
instruction  on  the  treatment  of  fractures,  &c. 

The  Lecturer  in  Human  Anatomy  (A.  Thomson)  offers  a 


sU 


JSTA  TURE 


[October,  ii  5,  1891 


course  of  lectures  on  human  osteoloey,  and  a  series  of  demon- 
strations will  be  arranged  to  meet  the  requirements  of  those 
working  in  the  department.  The  dissecting-room  will  be  open 
daily  for  practical  work  and  instruction. 

The  Rev.  H.  Boyd,  Principal  of  Hertford  College,  *has  been 
nominated  Vice-Chancellor  for  the  ensuing  year. 

A  mathematical  fellowship  has  been  awarded  at  Merton 
College  to  Mr.  Arthur  Lee  Dixon,  B.A.,  formerly  scholar  at 
Worcester  College.  Mr.  Dixon  was  placed  in  the  first  class 
both  at  Moderations  and  in  the  final  Mathematical  Schools.  He 
-obtained  the  Junior  Mathematical  Scholarship  in  1887  and  the 
Senior  Mathematical  Scholarship  in  189 1.  Also  at  Corpus 
Christ!  College  a  mathematical  fellowship  has  been  awarded  to 
Mr.  Arthur  Ernest  Jolliffe,  scholar  of  Balliol  College.  Mr. 
Jolliffe  was  placed  in  the  first  class  by  the  Mathematical  Mode- 
rators in  1889,  and  in  the  first  class  by  the  Examiners  in 
Scientiis  mathematids  et  phjrsids  in  1891.  He  also  obtained 
the  Junior  Mathematical  Scholarship  in  1889. 

Cambridge. — The  erection  of  the  Newall  telescope  is  nearly 
•completed.  Prof.  Adams  was  able  to  use  it  for  the  first  time 
last  week,  and  took  an  observation  of  Neptune. 

Prof.  Ewing  announces  that  the  new  Engineering  Laboratory 
is  ready  for  use,  and  will  be  occupied  this  term. 

Mr.  F.  Blackman,  of  St.  John's  College,  has  been  appointed 
Demonstrator  of  Botany. 

By  the  return  of  Prof.  Jebb,  the  University  enjoys  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  represented  in  Parliament  by  a  Senior  Classic  (Dr. 
Jebb)  and  a  Senior  Wrangler  (Sir  G.  G.  Stokes). 

Sixty-four  candidates  entered  for  the  examination  in  sanitary 
science  held  last  week.  Of  these  forty-three  have  passed  both 
parts  of  the  examination,  and  receive  the  diploma  in  Public 
Health. 

The  Lecturer  in  Geography  (Mr.  Buchanan,  F.R.S.)  will 
this  term  lecture  on  phvsical  and  chemical  geography,  with 
especial  reference  to  land  surfaces  and  their  development  under 
elimatic  and  other  agencies. 

The  vote  in  the  Senate  on  the  question  whether  a  syndicate 
shall  be  appointed  to  consider  alternatives  for  Greek  and  Latin 
in  the  Previous  Examination  will  be  taken  on  Thursday, 
October  29,  at  2  p.m. 

University  Extension, — It  is  announced  that  Mr.  T.  D. 
Galpin,  of  the  firm  of  Cassell  and  Co.,  Limited,  has  offered  to 
the  Dorset  County  Council  the  sum  of  ;^iooo  to  be  invested  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  scholarships  to  send  natives  of  Dorset 
to  the  Summer  Meetings  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The 
scholarships  will  be  awarded  to  the  writers  of  the  best  essays, 
and  it  is. proposed  that  the  examination  should  be  conducted  by 
the  University  Extension  Committee  of  the  Oxford  Delegates  of 
Local  Examinations.  The  scholarships  are  to  be  awarded 
without  distinction  of  sex,  or  any  political,  sectarian,  or  social 
distinction  whatever. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS, 

The  American  youmal  of  Science^  October  1 89 1,  Some  of 
the  possibilities  of  economic  botany,  by  George  Lincoln  Goodale. 
This  is  the  Presidential  address  delivered  before  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Washington  in 
August  last. — On  the  vitality  of  some  annual  plants,  byT.  Holm. 
The  author  enumerates  several  species  of  plants  which  show  a 
tendency  to  vary  from  annual  to  biennial  or  perennial. — A 
method  for  the  separation  of  antimony  from  arsenic  by  the 
simultaneous  action  of  hydrochloric  and  hydriodic  acids,  by 
F.  A.  Gooch  and  E.  W.  Danner. — Notes  on  allotropic  silver, 
by  M.  Carey  Lea.  The  blue  form  of  allotropic  silver  is  mainly 
considered.  The  action  of  light  on  this  form  is  remarkable,  for 
its  effect  is  first  to  increase  the  sensitiveness  to  reagents  and  then 
to  completely  destroy  it.  This  reversing  action  is  analogous  to 
that  which  light  exerts  upon  silver  bromide.  Mr.  Lea  has  also 
examined  the  point  as  to  whether  in  the  reduction  of  silver,  the 
allotropic  or  the  normal  form  is  produced,  and  he  finds  that  when 
the  silver  passes  from  the  condition  of  the  normal  salt  or  oxide 
to  that  of  the  metal,  the  reduced  silver  always  appears  in  the 
ordinary  form.  But  when  the  change  is  first  to  sub-oxide  or  to 
a  corresponding  sub-salt,  the  silver  presents  itself  in  one  of  its 
allotropic  states. — Structural  geolo^  of  Steep  Rock  Lake, 
Ontario,  by  Henry  Lloyd  Smyth. — On  the  so-called  amber  of 
Cedar  Lake,  North  Saskatchewan,  Canada,  by  B.  J.  Harrington. 
The  resin  or  *'  retinite"  examined  by  the  author  had  a  hardness 


NO.   1 146,  VOL.  44] 


of  about  2*5,  and  a  specific  gravity  1  '055  at  20^  C.  An  analysis 
gave  for  its  composition,  carbon  8o'03,  hydrogen  10 '47,  and 
oxygen  9 '5a — Geological  horizons  as  determined  by  vertebrate 
fossils,  by  O.  C.  Mush.  The  method  of  defining  ge<^ogical 
horizons  by  vertebrate  fossils  was  first  used  by  the  author  in 
1877,  and  appears  to  afibrd  the  most  reliable  evidence  of  climatic 
and  other  geological  changes.  It  is  now  extended  and  revised. 
A  section  accompanies  the  paper  representing,  in  their  geologi- 
cal order,  the  successive  strata  at  present  known  with  certaintj 
from  characteristic  vertebrate  fossils. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  October  3.— M.  Duchaitre  in  the 
chair. — On  the  variations  of  composition  of  Jerusalem  artichokes 
from  the  point  of  view  of  mineral  matters,  by  M.  C.  Lediartier. 
The  author  gives  the  results  of  some  investigations  made  at  die 
Rennes  Agricultural  Station,  on  the  culture  of  artichokes  in 
soils  differently  treated.  He  has  also  studied  atmospheric  in- 
fluences as  indicated  by  cultures  on  similar  plots  for  three  con- 
secutive years. — Observations  of  Wolf's  comet  made  with  the 
great  telescope  of  Toulouse  Observatory,  by  M.  £.  CosseiaL 
Observations  for  position  were  made  and  are  recorded,  extendii^ 
from  August  13  to  September  28. — On  the  ^ue  of  electrostatic 
tension  in  a  dielectric,  by  M.  L.  de  la  Rive. — On  the  simal- 
taneous  existence,  in  cultures  of  Staphylocoque  pyog^m^  of  a 
vaccine  substance  capable  of  being  precipitated  by  alcohol,  and 
of  a  substance  soluble  in  alcohol,  by  MM.  A.  Rodet  and  J. 
Courmont. — On  some  parasite  Copepods,  by  M.  Eugene  Cano. 
— Observations  of  the  fall  of  a  solar  prominence  into  a  spot,  by 
M.  E.  L.  Trouvelot.  The  observations  relate  to  some  remark- 
able luminous  filaments  occurring  in  a  group  of  spots  from 
August  6  to  August  zo. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

The  Physical  Geology  and  Geography  of  Ireland :  E^  Hull,  2nd  ediooD 
(Stanford).— On  Surrey  Hills,  a  Son  of  the  Marshes  (Blackin'osd). — B^  Sea- 
shore, Wcod.and  Moorland:  £.  Step  (Partridge). — An  Imroductian  to 
Human  Physiology:  Dr.  A.  D.  Waller  (LongroansX— Guide  to  the  Ea« 
amtnalions  in  Phy&iography.  and  Answers  to  Que  scions  :  W.  J.  Hairisoo 
(Blackie). — Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,  October  (Gumey  and  Jaclcsoa). 
— London  and  Middlesex  Notc-bocic,  vol.  i.,No.  3(E.  Stock)^ — BoCanisdier 
Tahrbficher  fur  Systematik  '  Pflanzengesschichte  und  Pflanzengeographk, 
Vierzehnter  Band,  3  Heft  (Leipzig,  Engelmano). — Quarterly  Joomal  of  tbe 
Royal  Meteorological  Society,  July  (StanfQrd).--Mcteoro!ogical  Rec(»cL 
vol.  X.  No.  40  (Stanford). — Himmel  und  Erde,  October  (Berlin). 

CONTENTS.  PAGi 

Physical  Chemistry.     ByJ.  W.  R 561 

United  States  Fish  Commission  Reports 562 

The  Catalogue  of  the  Washington  Medical  Library. 

By  Dr.  A.  T.  Myers 563 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

"Dictionary  of  Political  Economy" 564 

*'  South  Africa}  from   Arab  Domination    to   Biitish 

Rule" 564 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

A  Pink  Marine  Micro-organism. — Prof.  W.  A.  Herd- 
man     ....••  565 

Advertisements  for  Instructors. — M. 565 

"Rain-making."— W.  R.  Pidgeon 565 

Alum  Solution.— -Shelford  Bidwell,  P.  R.S.     ...  565 
B.Sc    Exam.     Lond.     Univ.     1S92. — Edward    J. 

Burrell 565 

Some  Notes.— J.  J.  Walker,  F.R.S 565 

The   Molecular  Process    in   Magnetic   Induction. 

ililustrated.)    By  Prof.  J.  A.  Ewing,  F.R.S 566 

The  Sun's  Motion  in  Space.     By  A.  M.  Clerke  ...  573 

Notes 574 

Our  Astronomical  Column : — 

Measurements  of  Lunar  Radiation 57; 

Two  New  Variable  Stars 57S 

A  New  Asteroid 57S 

A  New  Comet 57S 

The  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 57S 

Carl  Wilhelm  von  Nageli.     By  Dr.  D,  H.  Scott    .    .  5S0 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 5S3 

Scientific  Serials 3S4 

Societies  and  Academies :;Sl 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received  ......  ;S4 


NA  TCJRB 


585 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  22,  1891. 


RUDOLF  VIRCHOW  AND  HIS  COUNTRYMEN, 

THE  German  people  are  to  be  congratulated  on  the 
brilliant  way  in  which  the  seventieth  birthday  of 
Prof.  Virchow  was  celebrated  last  week  in  Berlin.     We 
say  the  German  people,  because  the  entire  nation  asso- 
ciated itself  with  the  scientific  societies  in  doing  honour 
to  the  illustrious  investigator  of  whose  achievements  it 
has  for  many  a  day  been  so  justly  proud.     Everyone 
who  devotes  the  slightest  attention  to  science  is  aware 
that  Prof.  Virchow  occupies  a  prominent  place  among 
the  foremost  intellectual  leaders  of  the  present  age.    As 
the  Times  has  said,  *'  So  much    has  he   done,  and   so 
thoroughly  has  he  done  it,  that  it  is  difficult  for  this 
generation  to  apprehend  the  full  magnitude  of  his  work. 
Open  a  book  on  medicine,  and  especially  any  volume  on 
pathology,  composed,  it  matters  not  much  where,  before 
Virchow  began  his  observations,  and  compare  it  with 
one  composed  with  the  light  of  his  endless  investigations 
to  guide  the  author  :  a  veritable  revolution  in  conceptions 
and  terminology  has  taken  place  ;  at  every  turn  you  read, 
*  All  this  is  understood  since  Virchow  wrote,'  or  words  to 
that  efi'ect  ;   and  you   are   referred  to  his  multifarious 
'epoch-making'  articles   scattered    through  many  pro- 
fessional and  technical  periodicals."    By  his  great  prin- 
ciple, "  Omnis  cellula  ex  cellula,"  he  made  a  contribution 
of  the  highest  importance  to  biological  science ;  and  his 
conception  of  cellular  processes  introduced  wholly  new 
and  mosi  fertile  ideas  as  to  all  the  phenomena  of  disease. 
The  science  of  pathology  as  it  is  now  understood  and 
taught  we  owe,  indeed,  mainly  to  his  insight  and  labour, 
and  the  recent  advances  which  have  been  made  in  it  by 
other  explorers  have  been  made  on  the  lines  he  has  traced. 
U  Prof.  Virchow  had  done  nothing  else  for  science,  this 
alone  would  have  secured  for  him  imperishable  fame ; 
but  his  energies  are  so  varied  that  it  has  been  impossible 
for  him  to  content  himself  with  one  department  of  re- 
search.     As  a  student  of  archaeology,  ethnology,  and 
anthropology,  he  is  hardly  less  eminent  than  as  a  patho- 
logist.    In  all  these  sciences  he  has  marked  an  era  by 
his  writings,  and  by  the  personal  influence  he  has  exerted 
on  the  Berlin  Gesellschaft  fiir  Anthropologie,  Ethnologie, 
und  Urgeschichte,  which  he  founded  in  1869.    In  practical 
life,  too,  as  a  member  of  Parliament  and  of  the  Municipal 
Council  of  Berlin,  Prof.  Virchow  long  ago  made  himself 
a  great  power  in  Germany.     He  has  missed  no  oppor- 
tunity of  expounding  the  laws  of  public  health,  and  of 
insisting  upon  their  importance  ;  and  a  striking  testimony 
to  the  value  of  his  work  in  this  direction  may  be  seen  in 
the  improved  sanitary  condition  of  the  German  capital. 

To  the  Germans  it  seemed  perfectly  natural  that,  when 
so  illustrious  a  man  of  science  completed  his  seventieth 
year,  the  nation  should  offer  its  congratulations  on  the 
splendid  results  he  had  accomplished.  Would  an  English 
man  of  science  of  corresponding  intellectual  rank  have 
received  similar  tokens  of  popular  gratitude  and  respect  ? 
Unfortunately,  the  question  answers  itself;  and  it  would 
be  well  worth  the  while  of  Englishmen  to  consider  care- 
fully the  causes  which  have  led  to  the  contrast  in  this 
respect    between  them  and  their  German  kinsfolk.     It 

NO.    II 47,  VOL.  44] 


may  be  said  that  Germans  are  more  demonstrative  than 
Englishmen,  but  this  by  no  means  accounts  for  the  very 
different  ways  in  which  scientific  discoverers  are  treated 
in  the  two  countries.  The  real  root  of  the  difference  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  importance  of  science  is  much  more 
highly  estimated  in  Germany  than  in  England,  and 
especially  by  the  Governments.  For  several  genera- 
tions, the  various  German  Governments  have  done 
everything  in  their  power  to  foster  scientific  investi- 
gation. With  this  object  in  view,  they  have  spent 
money  freely  and  wisely,  allowing  themclves  to  be 
guided,  not  by  impulse  or  caprice,  but  by  the  advice 
of  men  of  wide  experience  and  knowledge.  They 
were  quick  to  note  the  influence  which  might  be  exerted 
on  industrial  development  by  technical  education ;  and 
the  result  is  that  Germany  has  for  some  time  had  as 
many  technical  schools  and  colleges,  adequately  equipped, 
as  are  necessary  for  her  wants.  We  need  scarcely  say 
how  very  different  is  the  spirit  that  has  hitherto  animated 
our  own  Government.  The  idea  of  most  English  states- 
men about  science  seems  to  be  that  it  is  a  bore  and  a 
nuisance,  and  that  the  less  they  have  to  do  with  it  the 
better  for  themselves  and  the  public.  Even  for  tech- 
nical instruction  they  declined  to  make  provision,  until, 
by  an  accident,  the  present  Government  found  itself  in 
possession  of  a  fund  which  it  did  not  know  how  to  get 
rid  of  except  by  giving  the  County  Councils  authority  to 
use  it  for  the  establishment  of  technical  schools  and 
classes.  Is  it  surprising  that  when  their  rulers  act  in  this 
way  the  mass  of  the  British  people  should  be  utterly 
indifferent  to  scientific  progress?  The  Germans  have 
been  accustomed  all  their  lives  to  see  science  encour- 
aged, and  all  classes  learn  therefore  to  regard  it  as  an 
essential  factor  in  the  evolution  of  their  national  life. 
This  week  they  have  had  a  fresh  example  of  the  respect 
in  which  science  is  held,  the  Emperor  having  appointed 
Prof.  Helmholtz  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council,  with  the 
title  of  Excellency.  In  the  telegram  announcing  to  Prof. 
Helmholtz  the  honour  conferred  on  him,  the  Emperor 
took  occasion  to  refer  with  pride  to  the  lustre  shed  on 
Germany  by  his  s  ientific  achievements.  Nothing  of  the 
kind  is  ever  done  here. 

The  influence  of  education  must  also,  of  course,  be 
taken  into  account.  There  is  still  some  dispute  in 
Germany,  as  in  other  countries,  about  the  exact  place 
which  properly  belongs  to  science  in  general  education  ; 
but  there  is  no  dispute  at  all  as  to  the  importance  of 
training  children  to  recognize  the  benefits  which  science 
in  all  its  branches  has  conferred  on  mankind.  More- 
over in  the  "  Realschulrn  "  an  excellent  scientific  training 
is  provided  for  those  who  either  have  little  power  of  ap- 
preciating classictil  literature,  or  who  are  likely  to  be  best 
fitted  for  their  future  work  by  the  study  of  science.  And 
in  elementary  schools  an  cftbrt  is  everywhere  made  to 
interest  children  in  the  facts  and  laws  of  nature,  and  to 
give  them  some  conception  of  the  objects  and  methods  of 
scientific  inquiry.  How  far  we  lag  behind  the  Germans 
in  these  respects  all  true  "  educationists  "  know.  We 
have  made  only  a  beginning  in  the  use  of  science  as  an 
instrument  of  popular  culture,  and  many  years,  we  fear, 
may  pass  before  we  shall  have  applied  it  sufficiently  to 
render  scientific  conceptions  a  really  vital  element  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  community. 

C  C 


586 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


It  is  not  for  the  sake  of  men  of  science  that  we  desire  to 
see  more  widely  diffused  an  inteliigentappreciation  of  their 
work.  A  celebration  like  that  of  last  week  necessarily  brings 
with  it  sad  as  well  as  happy  reflections.  "After  all," 
said  Bluntschli,  the  famous  jurist,  on  a  like  occasion,  '^  it 
is  an  end,  not  a  beginning."  Prof.  Virchow  is  fresh  and 
vigorous,  and  the  world  may  still  reasonably  expect  from 
him  much  sound  work ;  but  we  may  be  sure  that,  in 
responding  to  congratulations,  he  hadalittleof  Bluntschli's 
feeling ;  and  it  is  possible  that,  if  he  had  consulted  his 
own  wishes  only,  he  would  have  preferred  to  celebrate  his 
seventieth  birthday  more  quietly.  But  it  is  good  for  a 
nation  to  express  on  such  occasions  the  admiration  and 
reverence  excited  by  a  long  and  great  career.  The  mere 
fact  that  men  desire  to  honour  one  whose  title  to  distinc- 
tion is  that  he  has  advanced  human  knowledge  proves 
that  they  have  interests  higher  than  those  of  a  material 
character ;  and  it  inevitably  tends  to  deepen  and 
strengthen  the  best  and  most  enduring  of  their  impulses. 
We  should  be  glad,  therefore,  if  Englishmen  had  as 
strong  a  wish  as  Germans  to  display  a  hearty  apprecia- 
tion of  the  triumphs  achieved  by  their  great  scientific 
thinkers.  That  would  be  the  most  effectual  of  all  proofs 
that  they  had  begun,  as  a  people,  to  understand  how 
momentous  is  the  part  which  science  has  played,  and 
must  continue  to  play,  in  the  modern  world. 


ELECTRIC  LIGHT  FITTING-GOOD  AXD  BAD 

WORK. 

Electric  Light  Fitting :  a  Hand- book  for  Working  Elec- 
trical Engineers^  By  John  W.  Urquhart.  (London  : 
Crosby  Lockwood  and  Son,  1890.) 

THIS  book  is  exactly  what  it  professes  to  be— a  prac- 
tical book  for  practical  men — and  is  vastly  superior 
to  "  Electric  Light,"  by  the  same  author.  The  detailed 
instructions  given  in  the  first  42  pages,  on  the  erecting, 
managing,  and  repairing  dynamos,  are  admirable,  and 
are  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  book  in  the  English 
language.  The  young  electrical  engineer  will  find  just 
the  information  he  needs  :  how  to  fit  up  a  large  dynamo 
when  received  in  parts  from  the  makers  ;  how  to  prevent 
the  commutator  becoming  rough  in  use  ;  exactly  what  to 
do  if  it  be  rough ;  how  to  prevent  sparking  at  the  brushes ; 
how  to  attach  a  new  commutator  and  make  joints  in  the 
armature  wires  ;  what  to  do  if  the  dynamo  heats ;  and 
how  to  get  over  the  various  other  difficulties  met  with  in 
the  dynamo-room. 

The  author,  in  these  early  chapters,  and  indeed 
throughout  the  book,  uses  the  expression  "constant 
current "  for  direct  current ;  and  although  the  action 
of  the  regulators  of  the  Brush  and  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston  constant  current  dynamos  is  correctly  described, 
and  clear  illustrationsgiven  of  their  construction,the  reader 
is  left  in  the  dark  as  to  the  exact  use  of  these  regulators. 
Or,  rather,  the  only  definite  statement  as  to  the  function  of 
the  Thomson-Houston  regulator,  that  it  is  "  for  causing 
the  machine  to  evolve  more  or  less  current  as  required," 
is  certainly  much  more  likely  to  lead  the  reader  wrong  than 
right.  Further,  to  say  that  "  in  Siemens's  alternator,  or  the 
Ferranti  dynamo,  *  lead  '  must  be  given  to  the  brushes  " 
(an  instruction,  of  course,  quite  impossible  to  carry  out,  as 

NO.  II 47,  VOL.  44] 


alternate  machines  have  no  commutators,  but  only  col- 
lecting rings),  will  probably  destroy  the  correct  impression 
about  lead  which  the  practical  man  may  have  denved 
from  reading  the  previous  page. 

In  spite  of  these  defects,  however,  chapter  i.  is  eicel- 
lent,  but  we  cannot  speak  quite  as  highly  of  chapter  ii., 
"  On  Localizing  Dynamo  Faults,  and  Observations  respect- 
ing Accumulators."  In  describing  the  test  for  the  existence 
of  leakage  between  the  iron  framework  and  the  earth,  the 
author  makes  an  error  that  we  have  met  with  before,  in 
stating  that  a  deflection  of  a  galvanometer  whose  ends 
are  connected  respectively  with  the  iron  framework  and 
the  earth  indicates  leakage  between  these  two.  This  is 
equivalent  to  saying  that  a  conductor  not  having  the  poten- 
tial of  the  earth  proves  that  it  is  in  connection  with  the 
earth.  In  the  "  Hints  to  Accumulator  Attendants"  there 
are  some  very  useful  suggestions,  but  the  instructions  for 
deciding  when  an  accumulator  is  charged  confirm  the 
impression  we  gave  when  reviewing  the  author's  "  Elec- 
tric Light,"  that  the  author  had  not  derived  his  knowledge 
of  storage  cells  from  a  practical  acquaintance  with  them. 
For  he  says  that  they  must  not  be  so  much  discharged  that 
they  cease  to  give  any  current ;  and  in  the  chapter  on 
'*  Switch  Board  and  Testing  Work,"  that  the  E.M.F.  of  ac- 
cumulators, in  discharging,  should  never  be  allowed  to  fall 
below  0*5  volt  per  cell.  Such  instructions  are  about  as 
useful  as  saying  that  a  horse  should  not  be  worked  until 
he  dropped,  for  if  accumulators  were  to  be  regularly  dis- 
charged until  their  E.M.F.  fell  to  a  value  even  three  times 
as  great  as  the  limit  prescribed  by  Mr.  Urquhart,  they 
would  be  speedily  ruined. 

Why  these  two  statements  about  the  discharge  limit  of 
storage  cells  should  be  given  in  different  parts  of  the  book, 
with  information  about  '*  Running  Dynamos  in  Parallel.' 
the  "  Periodicity  of  Alternators,"  &c.,  inserted  between, 
we  do  not  know.  In  a  somewhat  similar  way,  the  author 
returns  again  and  again  in  different  parts  of  the  book  to  the 
subject  of  insulation  resistance.  Each  time,  no  doubt,  valo- 
able  information  is  given  ;  but  why  not  have  put  it  all  to- 
gether, so  that  the  working  electrical  engineer  could  have 
at  once  read  up  the  subject,  without  having  to  turn  up  a 
number  of  references  "i  This  sort  of  scattering  of  informa- 
tion runs  through  the  whole  book,  and  rather  suggests  the 
idea  that  no  very  serious  attempt  was  made  to  sort  out  in- 
formation written  down  by  the  author  as  it  occurred  to  him 
at  different  times. 

We  do  not  think  that  the  explanation  on  p.  54- 
"  alternators  work  according  to  a  *  phase,* "  is  ver)'  locid 
Further  on,  the  author  says  the  number  of  phases  per 
second  is  the  periodicity,  and  later  that  periodicit)*  and 
phase  ai  e  the  same  thing.  On  p.  51  we  are  told  '*  a 
fall  of  five  volts  in  a  hundred  affects  the  brightness  of 
the  lamps,"  from  which  a  person  might  easily  obtain  the 
wrong  impression  that  a  fall  of  two  or  three  per  cent  was 
not  observable,  and  be  astonished  when  he  read,  on  p- 
72,  "  that  a  fall  of  five  volts  in  a  hundred  in  the  working 
pressure  will  cause  lamps  which  burn  brightly  at  a  hui- 
dred  volts  to  become  very  dull."  He  would  also  DOt  be 
able  to  reconcile  the  statement,  "  upon  well  conducred 
systems  the  pressure  upon  the  mains  is  never  allowed  to 
vary  more  than  one- half  per  cent.,*'  with  the  variation  cf 
2  per  cent,  up  and  2  per  cent,  down,  which  is  alIo»td 
by  the  Board  of  Trade.    Nor  is  it  possible  to  understacd 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


87 


the  rale  with  reference  to  the  wiring  of  a  house,  "It 
shoold  show  an  insulation  resistance  of  at  least  *i  meg- 
ohm per  lanfyy"  since  this  would  make  the  insulation  of  an 
installation  the  higher  the  greater  the  number  of  lamp- 
faoMers,  whereas  of  course,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  very 
reverse  is  the  case. 

Chapter  iv.,  on  "Arc  Light  Wiring  and  Fitting/*  is 
full  of  practical  suggestions;   the  instructions  on   the 
trimming  of  arc  lamps,  and  the  precautions  that  ought  to 
be  adopted  in  order  to  keep  arc  lamps  in  good  working 
order,  will  greatly  help  the  young  engineer  when  he  is 
first  put  in  charge  of  arc  lamps.     It  is  a  pity,  however, 
that  when  the  author  is  speaking  of  supplying  constant 
current  to  a  variable  number  of  arc  lamps  running  in 
series,  he  should  say,  "  but  the  shunt  or  compound- wound 
machines  are  supposed  to  regulate  themselves,  which  they 
very  often  fail  to  do.*'    For  we  never  heard  of  a  compound- 
wound  machine,  still  less  of  a  well-made  shunt  machine, 
which  professed  to  produce  a  constant  current  when  the 
external  resistance  was  varied.    And  this  mistake  is  em- 
phasized in  the  next  section,  on  running  arc  lamps  in 
parallel,  since,  although  it  is  quite  rightly  said  of  the 
attendant,  that  ''  his  chief  care  is  to  keep  the  potential 
difference  between  the  leads  the  same,'*  Mr.   Urquhart 
states,  **  This  is  usually  effected  in  part  by  the  dynamo 
itself  when  a  shunt-wound  machine  is  used,  or  by  regu- 
lating the  speed  " ;  and  he  makes  no  reference  here  to  the 
use  of  a  compound- wound  machine,  as  if  it  were  not  the 
special  function  of  this  type  of  machine  to  keep  the 
potential  difference  between  the  mains  constant. 

There  is  a  good  illustration  on  p.  107  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston   lightning  arrester,  with  an  explanation  of  its 
construction,  but  no  hint  is  given  that  the  electric  arc  pro- 
duced by  the  lightning  flash  is  magnetically  blown  out 
and  thus  extinguished.     And  in  the  large  perspective 
illustration  of  a  Thomson- Houston  transformer,  given  in 
this  chapter,  the  thickly-insulated  leads  are  shown  with  a 
thick  copper  conductor  inside  them,  while  the  lightly- 
insulated  leads  have  a  thin  conductor,  and  since,  in  the 
description  of  a  transformer,  it  is  not  stated  that,  besides 
transforming  from  a  high  to  a  low  potential  difference^ 
this  apparatus  also  transforms  from  a  small  to  a  large 
current^  it  would  be  quite  possible  for  a  beginner  to  read 
this  book,  and  wonder  why  people  went  out  of  their  way 
to  construct  dynamos  to  produce  one  or  two  thousand 
volts,  and  then  had  to  employ  special  apparatus  at  the 
consumers'  premises  to  lower  this  high  potential  dif- 
ference.    ''It  is  usual  to  put  the  secondary  circuit  to 
earth,"  probably  expresses  the  author's  view  (as  it  also 
does  the  reviewer's)  of  the  proper  way  to  guard  against 
accidents    being  produced    by  a  contact    between  the 
primary  and  secondary  circuits  of  a  transformer,  but  it 
certainly  does  not  represent  the  ordinary  practice. 

The  name  "  impedance  coils "  is  suggested  for  in- 
ductive coils  used  to  diminish  a  varying  or  an  alternating 
current  ;  but  the  necessity  for  this  name  arises  from  the 
expression  *^  choking  coils,"  which  is  commonly  used  in 
this  sense,  having  been  wrongly  employed  by  the  author 
for  any  kind  of  resistance  coils,  such  as,  for  example,  a 
Qon-inductive  resistance  used  with  a  steady  current. 

Chapter  v.,  on  "Wiring  for  Incandescent  Lamps," 
ibounds  in  useful  hints,  and  is  illustrated  with  several 

NO.    II 47,  VOL.  44] 


well-executed  woodcuts.  Admirable,  however,  as  may 
be  the  switches,  fuses,  &c.,  constructed  by  Messrs.  Wood- 
house  and  Rawson,  the  succession  of  illustrations  with 
the  names  of  that  firm  underneath  tends  to  give  the  im- 
pression that  there  are  no  other  manufacturers  of  such 
apparatus.  Surely  the  weighted  fuses  made  by  the  Acme 
Works,  the  switches  of  Messrs.  Siemens — which  provide 
a  metallic  circuit  for  the  current  but  expend  the  flash,  pro- 
duced by  opening  the  circuit,  on  carbon  contacts — and 
the  switches  of  Messrs.  Crompton,  were  worthy  of  a 
reference. 

If  the  well  thought  out  precautions  detailed  in"  Methods 
for  Running  Wires  "  had  been  followed  in  all  the  wiring  of 
houses  that  has  been  carried  out  during  the  past  few  years, 
we  should  not  have  heard  of  those  very  justifiable  com- 
plaints of  occupiers  who,  after  taking  the  lease  of  a  house, 
temptingly  described  in  the  agent's  list  as  fitted  through- 
out with  the  electric  light,  find  that  they  have  to  entirely 
re-wire  the  house  before  the  insurance  office  will  allow 
the  current  to  be  turned  on.  We  thoroughly  agree  with 
the  author  that  "  There  is  one  leading  maxim  for  a  con- 
tractor putting  in  electric  light,  and  it  is  to  avoid  contracts 
that  do  not  allow  of  the  best  class  of  material  and  labour 
being  used  throughout."  We  should  also  like  to  impress 
on  the  general  public  that  the  plummer,  or  the  carpen- 
ter's handy  man,  is  not,  as  they  seem  to  think  he  is,  any 
more  capable  of  fitting  up  an  electric  installation  than  he 
is  of  setting  a  broken  leg. 

We  do  not  understand  why,  as  a  definition  of  ^'  cleat 
wiring,"  Mr.  Urquhart  says,  **This  means  uncovered 
wires  run  &c."  :  surely  cleats  are  frequently  employed  to 
hold  down  covered  as  well  as  uncovered  wires.  On  p. 
185  the  temperature  is  not  stated  at  which  "the  ohm  is 
the  resistance  offered  by  a  column  of  mercury  i  square 
millimetre  in  cross-section  and  106  centimetres  long." 
Power  and  work  are  said  to  be  synonymous,  and  foot- 
pounds said  to  be  analogous  with  volt-amperes.  The 
output  of  1000  watts  'Ms  called  under  the  Board  of  Trade 
regulation  a  kilowatt^*  whereas  the  late  Sir  William 
Siemens,  and  not  the  Board  of  Trade,  originated  this 
name.  '*  As  lamps  are  now  made,  each  would  probably 
give  a  light  of  20  candle-power,  the  watts  per  candle- 
power  being  2*5."  Would  that  we  could  buy  glow  lamps 
which  had  a  decent  life,  while  needing  only  25  watts  per 
candle. 

Sir  William  Thomson's  rule  about  the  right  sectional 
area  to  give  to  a  conductor  "  is  only  a  suggestion  made 
for  the  protection  of  buildings  from  fire."  We  thought 
everyone  knew  that  it  was  a  rule  for  settling  the  thickness 
of  the  conductor  with  which  maximum  economy  could  be 
obtained. 

The  rules  about  jointing  leads  are  exact  and  valuable  ; 
we  do  not,  however,  like  the  general  rule  of  using  the 
body  of  a  chandelier  itself  to  serve  as  the  return,  and  we 
think  this  rule  ought  to  be  followed  only  when  the  return 
wire  is  throughout  the  installation  an  uninsulated  one. 

Chapter  vi.  gives  a  good  resume  of  the  pros  and  cons 
regarding  the  use  of  the  body  of  an  iron  ship  as  the 
return  for  ship  lighting  ;  while  chapter  vii.  gives  the  sub 
stance  of  the  rules  issued  by  the  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  in  connection  with  fire  risks  and  danger  to 
life. 


588 


NA  TURE 


''OlTOUER  22,    1 891 


MORE   SUGGESTIONS  FOR   COUNTY 

COUNCILS, 

County   Councils  and  Technical  Education,      By  J.  C. 
Buckmaster.     (London :   Blackie  and  Sons.) 

UNDER  the  above  title  Mr.  Buckmaster,  who  for 
many  years  has  been  connected  as  teacher,  lec- 
turer, and  organizer  with  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment, gives  some  statistics  relating  to  technical  educa- 
tion, and  his  views  on  the  best  way  of  utilizing  the  funds 
in  the  hands  of  County  Councils.  We  need  hardly  say 
that,  backed  as  they  are  by  so  long  an  experience,  his 
opinions  deserve  the  most  careful  and  respectful  con- 
sideration. 

Briefly  stated,  Mr.  Buckmaster  believes  in  class  teach- 
ing as  opposed  to  lectures,  and  in  utilizing  as  far  as 
possible  existing  elementary  and  science  and  art  teachers. 
"  Unless,"  he  says,  "  the  sympathy  of  teachers  and  other 
educationists  can  be  enlisted,  the  most  carefully  considered 
schemes  of  County  Councils  can  only  end  in  partial  or 
complete  failure."     Again, 

"  Lectures  by  themselves  are  never  to  be  highly 
valued  as  a  means  of  education.  In  a  lecture  on 
science,  to  create  and  sustain  an  interest,  you  must 
be  popular,  and  to  do  this  you  avoid  the  complex 
difficulties  of  the  science,  which  are  often  the  only  intel- 
lectual parts  of  ii.  .  .  .  Lectures,  unless  followed  up  by 
thought  and  reading  on  the  part  of  those  who  hear  them, 
fail  as  a  means  of  education,  &c.,  &c." 

All  this  is  excellent,  and  the  warning  is  useful.  But 
when  Mr.  Buckmaster  comes  to  the  application  of  these 
principles  he  is  not  quite  so  happy.  For  example,  he 
is  unjust  to  the  University  Extension  system,  which  he 
does  not  clearly  understand,  and  treats  as  though  it  were 
mere  popular  lecturing,  like  the  work  of  the  old  Mechanics* 
Institutes.  Now,  though  we  have  no  belief  that  the  Uni_ 
versity  Extension  machinery  can  fill  the  place  of  ele- 
mentary class  teaching,  we  cannot  accept  the  implied 
suggestion  that  courses  of  ten  or  twelve  lectures  (often 
arranged  in  sequences  of  two  or  three  sets  of  twelve 
lectures),  each  lecture  followed  by  a  class  for  the  more 
serious  students,  and  by  written  paper  work  corrected  by 
the  lecturer,  and  the  whole  course  tested  by  independent 
examination,  form  an  engine  of  instruction  scarcely  above 
the  level  of  a  clever  conjuror's  performance. 

His  constructive  suggestions  are,  first,  to  use  element- 
ary teachers  to  give  object-lessons  in  simple  science — a 
most  useful  proposal,  about  to  be  carried  out  in  various 
counties  as  soon  as  the  teachers  themselves  can  be  properly 
trained  for  the  work ;  and  secondly,  to  multiply  science 
and  art  classes.  "  The  best  technical  instruction  for 
some  time  will  be  a  wider  development  and  extension 
of  the  educational  work  of  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment by  means  of  night  classes  and  continuation  science 
and  art  schools."  This  depends,  of  course,  on  the  mean- 
ing to  be  attached  to  "  development."  If  it  merely  means 
multiplication,  the  statement  is  open  to  serious  question. 
No  one  can  know  better  than  Mr.  Buckmaster  the  special 
dangers  attaching  to  the  system  which  he  advocates — 
the  abuses  which  grow  up  round  a  system  which  makes 
the  financial  success  of  the  class,  and  usually  the  salary 
of  the  teacher,  depend  on  the  result  of  an  examination. 
In  our  opinion,  the  machinery  of  the  Science  and  Art 

NO.    1147,  VOL.  44] 


Department  will  long  continue  to  be  a  most  useful  and 
important  factor  (though  not  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
agencies)  in  the  development  of  technical  instruction. 
But  the  present  is  the  great  chance  to  consolidate  and 
improve,  rather  than  merely  extend  the  work.  If  the 
County  Council  funds  are  so  granted  as  to  correct  the 
evils  which  inevitably  arise  out  of  such  a  system  of  pay- 
ments on  results  as  is  adopted  by  the  Department — if  its 
control  is  used  to  render  more  effective  the  inspection  as 
opposed  to  the  mere  examination  of  science  and  art 
classes — then  the  portion  of  the  grant  given  to  promote 
the  work  aided  by  the  Science  and  Art  Department  vrill 
be  well  spent.  But  no  claim  on  the  part  of  this  or 
any  other  single  agency  to  a  monopoly  of  all  technical 
instruction  above  the  rank  of  that  which  can  be  given 
by  the  village  teacher  can  be  conceded.  Mr.  Buck- 
master  does  not  in  so  many  words  make  the  claim,  but 
he  sometimes  seems  to  imply  it  by  minimizing  the  value 
of  most  other  experiments  which  County  Councils  are 
attempting.  It  is  virtually  a  plea  for  educational  bureau- 
cracy against  local  experiment.  But  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  stage,  if,  indeed,  we  ever  do  so,  when  variety 
of  experiment  can  be  dispensed  with.  Some  of  the  ex- 
periments will  probably  fail.  But  it  is  only  by  wide  and 
free  experimenting  that  the  "  fittest "  will  be  discovered. 
Mr.  Buckmaster  has  confined  himself,  probably  on  pur- 
pose, to  the  elementary  branches  of  technical  instruction, 
and  is  silent  on  its  higher  developments.  Manual  work 
he  only  just  mentions,  and  not  with  much  sympathy.  His 
criticisms  on  the  wood-carving  taught  by  ladies  in  villages 
is  not,  perhaps,  too  severe  ;  but  it  is  strange  that  he  does 
not  give  a  hint  that  systematic  manual  training  may  be 
(as  it  has  been  for  a  long  time  in  other  countries,  and 
lately  in  our  own)  made  of  real  educational  value.  Not 
a  word  is  said  of  the  worst  defect  of  all  in  our  educational 
system — the  want  of  good,  cheap,  secondary  schools. 
which  the  present  grant  may  do  so  much  to  remedy. 

Though,  however,  Mr.  Buckmaster  takes  a  rather 
cramped  and  narrow  view  of  the  outlook,  his  pamphlet  is 
full  of  valuable,  if  rather  partial,  ideas. 

The  pamphlet  opens  and  concludes  with  some  usefiil 
statistical  and  other  information  taken  from  various  pub- 
lications of  the  National  Association  for  the  Promotion 
of  Technical  and  Secondary  Education.  Readers  who 
do  not  know  the  source  from  which  these  pages  are 
derived  may  be  puzzled  by  a  reference  to  "the  Com- 
mittee "  (p.  41),  which  by  some  error  in  editing  has  been 
left  still  standing,  without  explanation,  in  Mr.  Buck- 
master's  pamphlet. 


[  THE  MISSOURI  BOTANICAL  GARDEN. 

Missouri  Botanical  Garden :  Second  Annual  Report,  By 
William  Trelease.  Pp.  188  ;  Plates  48,  reproduced 
Photographs  5,  and  Plan  of  Garden.  (St  Louis, 
Missouri :  Published  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  1S91.) 

THE  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Missouri  Botanical 
Garden  have  instructed  the  Director  to  edit  for 
publication  each  year  a  volume  setting  forth  the  objects 
of  the  Garden  and  the  School  of  Botany,  and  the  results 
accomplished  by  each.  The  first  volume  of  this  series 
was  issued  in  December  1890,  and  contained  an  account 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


589 


of  the  Garden  and  School.    The  present  volume,  there- 
fore, really  begins  the  series  of  annual  reports,  and  to- 
gether with  the  reports  we  have  a  revision  of  the  North 
American  species  of  EpUobium.    In  the  earlier  part  of 
the  book  details  are  given  of  the  appointment  of  six 
garden  pupils  to  scholarships  in  accordance  with  a  reso- 
lution adopted  by  the  trustees  at  a  meeting  held  in 
November  1889.      Each  scholarship  conferred  may  be 
held  by  the  recipient  for  a  period  not  exceeding  six  years, 
subject  to  certain  conditions.    The  holders  of  scholar- 
ships are  repaid  for  their  services  to  the  Garden,  and  at 
the  expiration  of  the  six  years  are  entitled  to  examina- 
tion by  the  Garden  Committee.     Cn  passing  such  exa- 
mination to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Committee  and  Director, 
they  receive  a  certificate  of  proficiency  in  the  theor>'  and 
practice  of  gardening.    The  only  scientific  paper  in  the 
volume  is,  as  we  have  just  mentioned,  a  revision  of  the 
genus  Eptlobium,  the  American  species  occurring  north 
of  Mexico  being  those  studied.     This  genus  differs  from 
all  the  other  capsule-bearing  Onagracea^  except  the  Cali- 
fomian  Zauschneria^  in  having  its  seeds  provided  with 
an  ample  coma  at  the  apex.     While  it  reaches  great 
development  in  New  Zealand,  EpUobium  is  essentially  a 
genus  of  temperate  and  cold   climates,  and  the  most 
widely    distributed    species    are    those    of    Arctic    and 
Alpine  regions.     In   Alaska  a  few  such  species  ^occur, 
which    are    otherwise    confined   to    the    adjacent  part 
of  Asia.     More  widely  distributed  Arctic-Alpine  immi- 
grants from  the  Old  World  to  the  New  are  E,  spicatum^ 
E,  IcUifolium^  E.  palustre,  E.  alpinum^  &c.    E.  hirsutumy 
E,  parviflormny  and  £".    adnatum^  also  occur  as  acci- 
dental waifs.     The    genus   passes  into   South   America 
along  the  backbone  of  the  continent ;  few  members  of 
this  family  extend  very  far  across  the  Mexican  boundary 
in  either  direction.      The    most    interesting   biological 
features  of  the  genus  are  those  connected  with  the  means 
of  vegetative  propagation,  pollination,  and  dissemination. 
The  contrivances  by  which   species  survive  the  winter^ 
and  are  vegetatively  propagated,  in  this  respect  attain  an 
extreme  degree  of  differentiation,  one  in  particular  having 
acquired   aerial    bulblets.      The    large -flowered   species 
appear  to  be  regularly  proterandrous,  the  duration  of  the 
dichogamy  being  brief  in  most  of  them,  and  the  smaller- 
flowered   seem  to  be  always  synacmic  and  self-fertile, 
although  with  the  probability  of  frequent  intercrossing  by 
aid  of  insects  attracted  by  the  nectar  which  is  secreted 
within   the   calyx  tube.      The  genus  is  of  no   striking 
economic  value.     The   North   American  Epilobia  have 
been  mostly  described  by  De  Candolle,  Torrey  and  Gray, 
Haussknecht  and   Barbey ;   the  more  notable  works  of 
more   limited  range    being    Hooker's    "  Flora    Boreali- 
Amcricana,"  and  Brewer,  Watson,  and  Gray's  **  Botany 
of  California."    Prof.  Trelease  in  his  revision  enumerates 
38  species,  which  number  includes  the  following  novel- 
ties :  E,  holosertceum,  E.  delicatulupn,  and  E,  clavatum. 
The  well-known  sections  Chamanerion  and  Lysimachion 
are  still  adhered  to,  the  latter,  of  course,  being  by  far  the 
larger.     In  the  analytical  key  the  main  divisions  depend 
on  whether  the  stigma  is  deeply  4-lobed  or  4-cleft,  or 
entire  or   only  notched.     Subdivisions  are  founded  on 
whether  the  seeds  are  smooth,  or  papillately  roughened- 
The  name  E.  spicatum,  Lam.,  is  used  instead  of  angusti- 
folium^   the   typical   angustifolium   of  Linnaeus    being, 

KO.  1147,  ^^^'  4 


according  to  Prof.  Haussknecht,  what  is  commonly  known 
as  E.  Dodonaiy  Vill.  We  are  glad  to  see  that  Prof.  Tre- 
lease differs  from  Prof.  Haussknecht  in  not  adopting  a 
new  name  for  what  is  left  of  the  original  E.  alpinum 
The  E,  alpinum  of  Linnaeus  included  with  this  E, 
Hornemanni  and  E.  anagallidifolium^  but  we  think  that 
the  name  may  well  stand  for  one  of  the  segfregates.  The 
genus  EpUobium  has  always  proved  a  difficult  subject ; 
and  Prof.  Trelease  is  to  be  congratulated  on  his  careful 
treatment,  and  successful  arrangement,  of  the  North 
American  members.  The  48  plates  w^ill  be  found  of 
great  help  to  students  of  these  plants  ;  they  are  not  quite 
of  uniform  merit,  but,  taken  as  a  whole,  they  give  the 
essential  details,  stress  being  laid  on  the  varied  form  of 
the  stigma  and  seed.  Additional  illustrations  are  some 
well-reproduced  photographs  taken  in  the  Garden,  and  a 
plan  of  the  grounds  (scale  -i^)  in  five  sections. 

£.  G.  B. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Story  of  the  Heavens,  By  Sir  Robert  Stawell 
Ball.  Eighteenth  Thousand.  (London :  Cassell  and 
Company,  1891.) 

In  the  preface  to  this  edition.  Sir  Robert  Ball  remarks 
that  he  has  taken  the  opportunity  to  *'  revise  the  work  in 
accordance  with  the  progress  of  astronomy  during  the 
last  four  years,''  and,  generally  speaking,  new  facts  and 
theories  are  briefly  referred  to.  A  few  points,  however, 
are  hardly  brought  up  to  date.  For  example,  the  spec- 
trum of  the  Andromeda  nebula  is  said  to  be  *'  a  faint 
continuous  band  of  light"  (p.  462),  although  it  is 
now  definitely  known  that  this  continuity  does  not  exist. 
We  also  find  no  reference  to  the  many  stars  now 
known  to  have  bright  lines  in  their  spectra.  The  author 
thus  misses  a  chance  of  exercising  his  well-known  descrip- 
tive ability  in  an  account  of  the  connection  between  such 
stars  and  nebulae  ;  the  similarity  of  the  two  being  so 
considerable  that  Pickering  has  followed  Lockyer  in 
arranging  them  in  a  single  group.  Dr.  Huggins's  old 
view  as  to  the  coincidence  of  the  nebula  line  with 
nitrogen  is  mentioned  merely  to  be  dismissed  as  erro- 
neous. Why,  therefore,  is  no  notice  taken  of  the 
suggested  magnesium  origin  of  the  line — for,  on  any  pub- 
lished evidence,  the  edge  of  the  magnesium  fluting  is 
nearer  the  proper  position  than  the  nitrogen  double? 
We  would  also  point  out  that,  according  to  recent  obser- 
vations, the  apex  of  the  sun's  way  is  much  nearer  Lyra 
than  Hercules.  Telescopic  changes  in  comets  are  fully 
described,  but  the  accompanying  changes  in  their  spectra 
are  not  touched  upon.  Motions  of  stars  in  the  line  of 
sight  are  considered  ;  but  not  those  of  nebulae,  although 
Mr.  Keeler's  observations  have  been  published  for  some 
time.  In  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  a  tendency 
to  eschew  spectroscopic  questions,  and  hence  much  of 
the  most  beautiful  part  of  the  story  of  the  heavens  is  left 
untold. 


By    Horace   C. 
John  Heywood, 


Notes  on   Elementary   Physiography, 
Martin.     (London  and  Manchester  : 
1891.) 

The  author  has  collected  a  lot  of  scraps  of  information 
from  standard  writers  on  physiographical  matters,  and 
has  strung  his  gleanings  together  to  form  this  book.  And 
if  he  were  an  adept  at  compilation,  and  knew  how  to  best 
arrange  and  connect  facts,  this  plan  of  printing  extracts 
verbatim  might  be  commendea.  But  when  Mr.  Martin 
selects  notes  which  by  themselves  are  incorrect,  and  inter- 


590 


NA  TURE 


[October  22, 1891 


polates  in  others  crude  statements  which  render  them 
tidiculous,  he  does  an  injustice  to  the  authors  to  whom  he 
acknowledges  his  indebtedness,  and  he  shirks  responsi- 
bility by  saying  that  "these  notes  do  not  lay  claim  to 
originality/'  Could  anything  be  more  misleading  than 
the  following  description  of  sun-spots  on  p.  148?  "They 
seem  to  rise  suddenly  to  a  great  height,  cool,  and  then 
sink  back  into  the  photosphere.  They  are  due  to  up- 
rushes  of  incandescent  hydrogen,  and  are  identical  with 
the  red  flames  seen  during  an  eclipse/'  And  the  figure 
that  accompanies  this  text  cannot  be  a  sun-spot  at  all, 
but  must  be  something  else  inserted  by  mistake.  Another 
blunder  occurs  on  p.  59,  where  a  section  of  an  intermittent 
spring  is  shown  upside  down.  The  figures  are  mostly  very 
coarse  and  poor,  especially  the  moraines  on  p.  62,  the 
section  through  a  cinder  cone  on  p.  89,  and  one  of  a 
volcano  on  p.  90  ;  whilst  the  two  figures  of  ocean  bottoms 
on  pp.  102  and  103  give  a  very  wrong  idea  of  their  nature. 
There  is,  of  course,  a  deal  of  information  in  the  book,  but 
no  attempt  is  made  to  give  it  interest.  In  fact,  akhough 
the  author  is  a  teacher  of  physiography,  it  is  very  evident 
from  his  work  that  he  has  not  paid  attention  to  the 
practical  side  of  his  science,  or  verified  any  of  the  pheno- 
mena he  essays  to  describe.  As  a  book  of  reference  the 
work  before  us  is  untrustworthy  ;  and  as  a  work  for 
students  of  elementary  physiography  it  is  useless  and 
much  to  be  condemned. 

Thomas  Sopwith^   M.A.^  C.E.^  F.K.S.;  with  Excerpts 
from  his  Diary  of  Fifty-sn'cn   Years.     By  B.  Ward 
Richardson,  F.R.S.     (London:  Longmans,  Green,  and 
Co.,  1891.) 

Mr.  Sopwith  died  in  1879  ai  the  age  of  seventy-six.  He 
was  not  eminent  as  an  original  scientific  investigator,  but 
he  was  a  man  of  great  vigour  and  freshness  of  mind, 
and  had  won  the  affection  of  a  wide  circle  of  friends 
by  his  genial  and  happy  temper.  For  many  years  he 
resided  at  Newcastle  as  an  engineer  and  railway  surveyor. 
Afterwards  he  removed  to  Allenheads,  where  he  served 
as  the  chief  agent  of  Mr.  T.  \V.  Beaumont's  lead-mines 
in  Northumberland  and  Durham.  Dr.  Richardson's 
book  will  recall  Mr.  Sopwith  vividly  to  the  minds  of  his 
friends,  and  it  contains  many  things  which  will  be  of 
interest  even  to  readers  who  were  not  personally  ac- 
quainted wiih  him.  During  the  long  period  of  fifty-seven 
years  he  kept  a  diary  regularly  :  and  of  this,  of  course. 
Dr.  Richardson  has  made  liberal  use.  The  extracts 
show  that  Mr.  Sopwith  studied  closely  the  currents  of 
scientific  opinion,  and  formed  his  own  judgment  about 
them  in  a  shrewd  and  independent  spirit. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

\T he  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  eft  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  o/Natukk. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications, "[ 

Electric  Transmission  of  Power. 

Your  article  of  the  ist  inst.  on  the  International  Electrical  Ex- 
hibition (p.  522),  says  :  "  In  those  days  (before  1879)  two  wrong 
notions  misled  people — the  one,  that  the  maximum  efficiency  of 
a  perfect  electromotor  could  be  only  50  per  cent.  ;  the  other, 
quoting  the  remarks  of  Sir  VV.  Siemens,  'in  order  to  get  the 
best  efect  out  of  a  dynamo- electric  machine,  there  should  be  an 
external  resistance  not  exceeding  the  resistance  of  the  wire  in  the 
machine.'" 

These  two  notions  are  really  one  :  the  first  follows  by 
immediate  inference  from  the  second. 

Your  article  says  a  little  further  on  :  "  At  the  British  Associa- 
tion in  1879,  Prof.  Ayrlon  exposed  the  fallacy  of  assuming  that 
50  per  cent,  was  the  maximum  efficiency  theoretically  obtain- 
able from  an  electromotor.  .  .  .  This  was  perhaps  the  first  time 

NO.    I  147,  VOL.  44] 


that  it  had  ever  been  suggested  that  the  efficiency  ia  electric 
transmission  of  power  could  be  more  than  50  per  cent." 

Hiis  is  a  mistake  as  to  historical  fact.     Many  yean  ago,  I  am 
not  sure  of  the  date,  but  it  was  long  before  the  dymaovas 
invented,  I  had  some  conversation  with  the  late  Prof.  Joule 
about  mechanical  equivalents  and  motive  power,  in  whidi  be 
told  me  that  an  electromotor  (worked,  of  course,  by  a  Toltaic 
battery)  bad  shown  a  very  high  percentage  of  effidency— I  think 
he  said  79  per  cent.,  and  I  am  sore  it  was  far  above  50.    laid, 
"How  is  that  compatible  with  Ohm's  demonstration  that  the 
efficiency  of  an  electric  circuit  is  at  a  maximum  when  the  re- 
sistance of  the  battery  is  equal  to  that  of  the  rest  of  tfcbedrcait?* 
to  which  he  replied,  "The  maximum  effect,  in  Ohm's tbenea, 
does  not  mean  the  maximum  work  done  by  the  oxidation  of  a 
given  quantity  of  zinc,  but  the  maximum  effect  obtainable  6od 
a  given  surface  of  zinc  plates."     "  I  see,"  said  I,  *' just  as  in 
the  case  of  the  steam-engine,  the  problem  of  getting  the  naii- 
mum  of  useful  effect  from  a  given  weight  of  coals  is  a  dificROt 
one  from  that  of  getting  the  maximum  of  power  from  a  ginn 
area  of  piston." 

This  appears  to  be  an  instance  of  a  truth  being  grasped  by 
one  of  the  great  masters  of  science  long  before  it  passed  wSxt 
general  teaching.  And  it  is  also  an  instance  of  a  truth  being  » 
mistaken  as  to  mislead  :  Ohm's  law  was  evidently  undostood 
to  bear  a  significance  that  it  did  not  really  bear. 

Belfast,  October  13.  Joseph  John  Murpht. 

[That  Joule  had  clear  and  correct  views  regarding  theeffidencj 
of  an  electromotor  driven  by  a  voltaic  battery  was  pointed  oat 
some  years  ago,  being  mentioned,  for  example,  by  Pro!  S.  P. 
Thompson  in  his  book  on  '*  Dynamo- Electric  Machinery."  Bat 
in  the  paragraph  quoted  by  Mr.  Murphy  from  Nature  of 
October  i,  the  expression  ''electric  transmission  of  power  "bad 
reference  to  the  combination  of  apparatus  exhibited  at  the 
lecture  in  question — had,  in  fact,  the  meaning  usually  attndied 
to  this  expression,  viz.  the  employment  of  a  dynamo  to  ooorert 
mechanical  energy  into  electric  energy  at  one  end  of  a  pair  of 
wires  of  some  length,  and  the  employment  of  a  second  dynamo 
at  (he  other  end  of  the  wires  to  convert  the  electric  eneigy  bad 
again  into  mechanical  eneigy. 

Now,  not  only  would  it  have  been  somewhat  difficult  to  foretell 
what  would  be  the  combined  efficiency  attainable  by  the  employ- 
ment of  two  dynamos  as  generator  and  motor,  at  a  period  **  long 
before  the  d>namo  was  invented,"  but  even  do»  n  to  1879  no 
one  had  succeeded  in  practically  transmitting  power  by  means  of 
this  combination  with  an  efficiency  of  as  much  as  50  per  oeot. 
over  a  distance  of  even  one  mile. 

The  only  direct-current  dynamo  in  common  use  at  that  dale 
was  the  series- dynamo,  and  that  machine,  as  is  well  knovo, 
differs  radically  in  its  behaviour  from  a  voltaic  battery.  F<x 
while  it  is  when  a  voltaic  battery  is  developing  a  very  small 
current  that  it  gives  power  most  economically  to  tbe 
outside  circuit,  the  series-dynamo,  when  only  a  very  small 
current  is  passing  through  it,  develops  practically  no  ekdio- 
motive  force,  no  power,  and  therefore  has  a  very  low  efBciencj. 
Hence,  aUhou^h  electricians  were  undoubtedly  mistaken  in 
fancying  that  there  was  a  theoretical  limit  of  50  per  ceoL  intbe 
efficiency  when  two  dynamos  were  employed  in  the  transmissiofi 
of  power,  neither  the  error,  nor  its  correction,  were  of  that 
obvious  character  in  1879  that  one  might  imagine  from  reading 
Mr.  Murphy's  letter.— W.  E.  A.] 


Rain -making. 

In  1883  I  published  in  Nature  (vol.  xxviiL,  p.  83)  « 
account  of  some  experiments  which  I  made  to  explain  tbe 
curious  phenomenon  commonly  seen  at  the  Bocca  of  the  Solfataia 
of  Pozzuoli :  paper  or  brushwood  is  kindled  near  the  fumarole, 
and  the  action  of  the  flame,  even  when  its  duration  has  been 
very  brief,  is  observed  for  some  time  after  in  the  relatively  great 
increase  of  cloudy  vapour  that  appears  to  roll  out  of  tbe  Boco 
and  to  rise  from  the  surrounding  minor  fumaroles.  .\ccordi^ 
to  Prof.  Arcangelo  Scacchi,  this  increasd  condensation  of 
vapour  is  due  to  the  carbon  dioxide  produced  in  the  oombmtioB; 
this  gas  causing  condensation  from  the  highly  saturated  median 
in  the  sane  way  as  fumes  become  visiUe  when  conceotnicd 
hydrochloric  acid  is  exposed  to  ordinary  air.  My  expeiimeois 
of  1883  tend  to  show  that  not  only  carbon  dioxide,  bat  (in  ^' 
cordance  with  the  views  of  Dr.  Aitken  on  the  fonnatioii  w 
cloud  or  mist)  the  increase  of  solid  corpuscles  made  to  flostio 


October  22,  1891] 


NA TURE 


591 


the  vapoor-ladcn  air  inside  or  near  the  fumarole,  might  be  the 
cause  of  a  rapid  and  continuous  condensing  of  the  invisible 
▼apour.  I  noticed  that  the  "  powdering  "  of  the  air  with  any 
kind  of  dust  increased  the  cloudy  column  issuing  from  the 
'  Bocca  of  the  Solfatara.  I  am  therefore  led  to  believe  that  the 
action  of  a  paper-  or  faggot- flame  in  causing  the  increase  of 
▼isible  vapour  from  the  Bocca  of  the  Solfatara  is  due  both  to  the 
production  of  carbon  dioxide  and  to  the  increase  of  solid 
particles  of  soot  and  of  light  unburnt  fragments  made  to  rise 
and  float  in  the  air. 

These  experiments  may  help  in  explaining  the  action  of  ex- 
plosives in  causing  a  downfall  of  rain.  Not  only  docs  the 
explosion  produce  a  certain  amount  of  carbon  dioxide,  but  dust 
is  widely  scattered  in  the  air,  and  carried  upwards  by  the  hot 
gases  produced  in  the  explosion.  If  the  results  of  the  experi- 
ments in  Texas  and  Kansas  by  General  Dyrenfurth  and  Prof. 
Curtis  be  confirmed,  it  would  be  interesting  to  see  if  the  con- 
densation of  vapour  in  the  atmosphere  could  be  better  insured 
by  purposely  increasing  the  quantity  of  dust  produced  in  each 
explosion.  The  effect  would  perhaps  be  enhanced  if  the  dust 
were  of  a  markedly  hygroscopical  nature :  the  scattering  in 
high  air  of  very  minute  particles  of  calcium  chloride  should 
help  in  the  making  of  cloud  and  rain.  Italo  Giglioli. 

Laboratory  of  Agricultural  Chemistry, 

Royal  Agricultural  College,  Portici,  near  Naples, 

October  12. 


Weather  Cycles  and  Severe  Winters. 

The  following  view  of  the  relations  of  severe  winters  is  one 
which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  stated. 

Consider  the  79  years  1812-90  (at  Greenwich),  and  let  us 
take,  as  a  measure  of  winter  cold,  the  mean  temperature  of  the 
three  months  December,  January,  and  February.  Divide  the 
series  of  years  at  i860  ;  giving  a  first  series  of  48  years  (1812- 
59),  and  a  second  of  31  years  (1860-90). 

Now  consider  the  first  series.  The  coldest  winter  in  it  is 
1813  (meaning,  by  that,  1813-14).  The  coldest  of  the  following 
winters  is  1829  ;  the  coldest  of  the  following,  1840  ;  then  come 
(reckoning  similarly)  1844  and  1846  (equal),  1854,  1859.  The 
absolute  order  of  decreasing  severity  is  to  some  extent  the  same, 
but  at  certain  points  the  order  of  time  is  reversed. 

Next  take  the  second  series.  The  coldest  winter  in  this  is 
1890  («./.  1890-91) ;  the  coldest  of  those  preceding,  1878  ;  the 
coldest  of  those  preceding,  1870  ;  then  come  (similarly)  1864 
and  i860. 

Thus  we  have  a  succession  of  severe  winters  of  decreasing 
severity,  and  another,  after  it,  of  growing  severity. 

We  may  tabulate  the  data  : — 


Severe  winters 
with  lessening 
severity. 

1813 
1829 
1840 
1844 
1846 

1854 
1859 


Mean 
temperature. 

3i*9 
332 

33*9 
34-91 
34-9$ 
356 
37  4 


Severe  winters 
with  growing 
severity. 

i860 

i?64 
1870 
1878 
1890 


Mean 
temperAiure. 

37  4 
37*1 
36-4 
34*6 
341 


These  data,  put  into  the  form  of  a  graphic  diagram,  give 
a  wave  whose  crest  (mildest  of  the  severe  winters)  we  seem  to 
have  passed  in  the  sixties.  And  it  would  appear  judging  by  the 
past,  that  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  bottom  of  the  hollow  ; 
bnt  that  after  some  years*  interval  we  may  have  a  winter  even 
more  severe  than  last,  possibly  we  may  have  more  than  one,  of 
growing  severity. 

It  is  right  to  state  that,  as  far  as  1856,  the  values  of  mean 
temperature  used  are  those  of  Mr.  Belleville,  reduced  to  sea -level, 
as  given  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  Eaton  to  the  Royal  Meteorological 
Society  (Quarterly  Journal,  January  1888) ;  after  .that  date, 
those  of  Greenwich  Observatory,  published  annually.  The  slight 
difference  in  kind  does  not  materially  affect  the  result. 

In  the  Meieoroiogis.-he  Zeitsckrift  for  September,  M.  Woeikof 
considers  the  question  whether  winters  in  Russia  have  been 
growing  warmer,  and  hi»  examination  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
records,  from  1744  to  1890  (noting  the  number  of  cold  days), 
leads  to  an  affirmative  answer.  The  number  of  very  cold  days 
has,  on  the  whole,  fallen  off  considerably  in  the  later  sixty-three 

NO.    I  147,  VOL.   44] 


years  compared  with  ihe  earlier,  and  in  the  second  half  of  our 
century,  as  compared  with  the  eighteenth  and  the  earlier  half 
of  the  nineteenth. 

This,  he  finds,  corresponds  with  popular  opinion  for  Northern 
and  Central  Russia,  according  to  which  intense  frosts  have  become 
more  rare  ;  but  in  the  south,  in  the  Crimea,  the  Caucasus,  and 
Turkestan,  there  have  been  complaints  of  colder  winters  of  late. 

Mr.  Glaisher  some  time  a^o  expressed  the  view  that  our  winters 
had  been  becoming  milder.  I  have  seen  a  criticism  of  this  view, 
to  the  effect  that  the  proximity  of  Greenwich  to  such  a  rapidly 
growing  city  as  London  might  have  to  do  with  such  a  result.  If 
the  facts  are  as  I  have  suggested  above,  a  growing  severity  has 
taken  the  place  of  growing  mildness,  and  the  criticism  referred 
to  would  fail  to  apply.  A.  B.  M. 

A  Lunar  Rainbow. 

On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  October  17,  at  about  6.30  p.m., 
the  rare  and  interesting  phenomenon  of  a  lunar  rainbow  was 
observed  from  Patterdale,  Westmoreland.  On  the  south-ea^^t, 
the  moon,  which  had  just  risen,  brightened  the  sky  behind  the 
mountains,  while  on  the  north-west  there  hung  a  uniformly  dark 
and  unbroken  screen  of  haze  or  rain-cloud,  which  h'ghtened 
off  somewhat  and  was  more  scattered  on  the  extreme  west. 
With  its  highest  point  lying  almost  exactly  north-west,  a  semi- 
circle of  pale  whitish  light  was  projected  against  this  vapoury 
curtain.  The  bow  was  quite  complete,  but  much  brighter  and 
sharper  on  its  northern  arc  than  on  that  falling  south.  The 
brighter  portion  fell  over  weird  and  clear  into  Glenridding  (a 
favourite  haunt  of  sun-painted  rainbows),  and  as  seen  striped 
against  the  dark  hill-sides  of  that  valley,  appeared  to  emit  a 
pale  blue  phosphorescent  glare.  At  one  time  a  shred  of  the 
daik  smoky  haze  scudded  over,  but  did  not  completely  obscure 
the  highest  reaches  of  the  spectral  light.  The  radius  appeared 
smaller  than  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  solar  rainbow,  and  the 
breadth  of  beam  was  about  one-half  thereof,  or  perhaps  rather 
less.  The  spectacle  having  lasted  for  about  eight  minutes, 
light  rain  began  to  fall,  and  then  the  sky  in  a  very  short  time 
became  quite  clear  and  star-lit,  and  all  was  over. 

P.  Q.  Keegan. 

Patterdale,  Westmoreland,  October  17. 


The  Destruction  of  Mosquitoes. 

The  recent  mention  of  this  subject  in  your  pages  reminds  me 
that  I  was  told  a  few  years  ago  by  an  English  gentleman  who  has 
a  most  beautiful  place  on  ihe  Riviera  that  he  had  freed  his 
property  from  this  pest. 

The  property  in  question  is  a  peninsula,  and  for  that  reason 
is  exceptionally  open  to  separate  treatment.  On  the  Riviera,  as 
mat  y  of  your  readers  will  know,  fresh  water  is  a  somewhat  rare 
commodity,  and  all  of  it  that  the  inhabitants  can  lay  hold  of  is 
stored  for  future  use  in  tanks  or  small  receptacles. 

The  larva  of  the  mosquito  lives,  as  I  understand,  only  in  fresh 
water.  Consequently,  on  the  Riviera  he  is  found  in  the  tanks  I 
have  named. 

The  carp  is,  I  am  told,  passionately  fond  of  the  larva  of  the 
mosquito,  and  the  Englishman  I  refer  to  had  extirpated  the 
insect  by  putting  a  pair  of  the  fish  in  every  tank. 

The  plan  is  not  one  that  could  be  adopted  everywhere,  but  it 
is  worth  bringing  under  the  notice  of  those  whose  circumstances 
are  like  those  of  the  Riviera.  S.  \.  M. 


Law  of  Tensions. 

Possibly  many  science  teachers  find  some  little  difficulty  in 
satisfactorily  demonstrating  to  a  class  the  "  law  of  tensions " 
for  vibrating  strings.  In  practice,  unless  the  sonometer  is 
fixed  vertically,  the  error  introduced  by  friction  at  the  pulley 
(especially  with  heavy  weights)  is  so  great  that  the  real  tension 
is  very  different  from  that  represented  by  the  weight  attached. 
Even  if  the  apparatus  be  thus  fixed,  the  changing  of  the  weights 
occupies  time,  and  a  comparison  wire  is  necessary,  which  must 
first  be  tuned  to  exact  unison.  The  following  admirable  and 
very  simple  method  was  suggested  to  me  by  one  of  my  students, 
and  possibly  there  are  some  teachers  to  whom  the  idea  is  new. 

Instead  of  applying  tension  by  attaching  weights,  the  result 
may  be  effected  much  more  readily  by  means  of  an  ordinary 
spring  suspension-balance,  such  as  is  often  used  for  weighing 


59^ 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


parcels.  By  this  method  the  tension  may  be  regulated  to  wiihin 
naif  a  pound,  and  increased  or  decreased  so  rapidly  that  the 
heightening  of  pitch  is  clearly  recognized  without  the  use  of  an 
auxiliary  wire.  H.  G.  Williams. 

Congregational  School,  Caterham. 


The  Koh-i-Nur :  a  Reply. 

It  is  a  far  from  pleasant  task  for  me  to  set  about  replying  to 
Prof.  Maskelyne's  criticism  of  my  history  of  the  Kohi-Nur.  I 
desire  to  say  what  must  be  said  with  all  respect  for  him,  but  the 
tone  of  some  of  his  remarks  renders  this  a  task  of  exceeding 
difficulty.  All  I  care  about  is  to  get  at  the  truth,  and  in  order  to 
do  so  I  have  spared  neither  time  nor  labour.  I  cannot  suppose 
that  you  would  grant  me  space  sufficient  for  answering  in  detail 
all  the  statements  in  Prof.  Maskelyne's  article ;  nor  do  I  seek  for 
such  space,  because  I  deem  it  to  be  sufficient  for  those,  several  of 
them  experts,  who  have  accorded  my  views  their  hearty  support 
and  approval — Firstly,  to  state  here  in  a  general  way  that  having 
very  carefully  studied  Prof.  Maskelyne's  long  article  it  has  not, 
in  my  opinion,  in  the  very  smallest  degree  shaken  the  facts  I 
have  quoted,  and  the  deductions  from  them  which  are  to  be  found 
in  my  appendix  to  "  Tavemicr's  Travels,"  and  in  the  article  pub- 
lished in  the  April  number  of  the  English  Illustrated  Magazine 
of  the  present  year.  Indeed,  I  might  go  further,  and  say  that  this 
attack  very  materially  confirms  the  strength  of  the  position  upon 
which  I  have  taken  my  stand.  Secondly,  I  shall  select  a  few 
points  onlv  which  afford  clear  issues  without  any  mystification, 
as  to  which  side  the  balance  of  evidence  lies  upon,  and  invite 
readers  to  draw  their  own  conclusions. 

Before  going  further  I  think  I  should  recall  to  no:  ice  the 
review  of  my  edition  of  '*  Tavernier  "  which  appeared  i  i  Nature 
last  February  (vol.  xliii.  p.  313),  and  the  English  Illustrated 
Magazine  for  April,  from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  a  >uggestion 
made  in  the  review  has  since  been  acted  upon,  with  the  result 
that  was  anticipated. 

Prof.  Maskelyne  states  that  there  is  an  absence  of  novelty  in 
my  facts.  Just  so,  it  is  the  old  facts  that  I  rely  upon,  not  the  mis- 
quoted and  distorted  variants  which  are  to  be  found  in  so  many 
writings.  In  my  earliest  allusions  to  this  subject,  many  years 
ago,  I  made  some  mistakes,  from  blindly  following  authorities 
whom  I  now  know  to  have  been  misled  as  to  their  facts.  Since 
then  I  have  learnt  how  necessary  it  is  to  check  all  statements  as 
of  fact  in  reference  to  this  subject,  and  not  to  place  too  implicit 
a  trust  on  quotations,  no  matter  how  eminent  the  authority  who 
makes  them  may  be. 

Is  it  conformable  to  the  judicial  position  which  Prof. 
Maskelyne  claims  to  occupy,  to  say  that  I  dismiss  Prof. 
H.  H.  Wilson,  and  what  he  narrates,  **by  the  somewhat 
flippant  remark  that  '  it  has  afforded  sundry  imaginative 
writers  a  subject  for  highly  characteristic  paragraphs'"?  the 
facts  being  these— I  never  referred  to  Prof  H.  H.  Wilson  ;  I 
did  not  even  know  before  that  he  was  the  writer  of  the 
anonymous  note  in  the  official  catalogue  ;  and  more  than  that, 
I  had  not  that  particular  contribution  to  the  subject  in  my  mind 
when  writing  the  above  words. 

Still  further,  with  regard  to  the  judicial  position,  I  do  not  think 
it  is  apparent  in  any  of  Prof.  Maskelyne's  subsequent  remarks. 
They  are  those  of  an  advocate  who  smites  his  opponent  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  and  seeks  to  disparage  him  by  imply- 
ing that  he  has  as^aulted  the  reputation  of  men  (whom  all  must 
honour),  when  he  has  merely  pointed  out  misquotations  in  their 
writings  and  expressed  dissent  with  their  conclusions. 

I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  admiration  for  the  laie  Mr.  King's 
work,  but  this  cannot  and  should  not  restrain  me  from  pointing 
out  misquotations  and  misprints  in  his  books  when  treating  of 
the  subjects  with  which  he  has  dealt.  To  ju^tify  this  1  shall 
quote  but  a  few  instances  which  I  have  noticed,  out  of  many. 
On  pp.  78  and  82  ("  Natural  History  of  Precious  Stones,"  Bohn's 
edition,  1870)  the  weight  of  the  Mogul's  diamond  is  stated  as 
on  Tavernier's  authority  to  have  been  240  carats  and  on  the 
plate  208  carats,  instead  of  279^^  carats. 

The  Koh-i-Nur  is  stated  on  p.  82  to  have  weighed  184  carats 
instead  of  i86xV»  ^n<^t  strangest  of  all,  when  recut,  that  is  to  say 
in  its  present  condition,  its  weight  is  given,  pp.  75  and  347,  as 
102^  and  on  the  plate  as  102\  carats,  whereas  its  true  weight  is 
106  iV  carats. 

On  p.  68  he  deduces  an  argument  from  the  note  by  Clusius, 
which  is  referred  to  by  Prof.  Maskelyne,  and  given  in  the  original 
in  my  paper ;  the  whole  force  of  his  argument  depending,  how- 


ever, on  the  change  of  the  word  Belgium  of  the  original  to 
Europe  in  his,  Mr.  King's,  own  rendering  of  it. 

I  might  add  to  this  list,  but  sufficient  has  been  stated  to  show 
that  such  statements  require  the  most  careful  scrutiny,  by  whom- 
soever they  may  have  been  made. 

On  pp.  81-82  will  be  found  Mr.  King's  dissent  from  Prof^ 
Maskelyne's  theory  about  the  identity  of  Babar's  diamond  with 
the  Mogul's  ;  the  difference  of  opinion  between  them  being 
very  wide  indeed,  though  Prof.  Maskelyne  does  not  think  it 
necessary  to  refer  to  it  in  his  article. 

With  reference  to  what  Prof.  Maskelyne  writes  about  De  Boot 
and  Garcia  de  Orta,  I  shall  only  say  that  I  am  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  both  authors'  works,  and  that  I  assert  again  that 
the  statement  wrongly  attributed  to  Monardes,  and  quoted  as 
from  Mr.  King  by  Prof.  Maskelyne,  was  an  unsound  and  danger- 
ous link  in  the  chain  by  which  it  was  proposed  to  connea  Bal»r's 
diamond  with  the  Koh-i-Nur. 

It  was  a  statement  convenient  to  use,  but  what  if  I  had  used 
it  first,  and  had  also  misquoted  the  authority  ?  Would  the  terms 
Prof.  Maskelyne  employs  about  my  aberration,  &c.,  have  been 
considered  strong  enough  ?  There  was,  however,  no  aberration 
whatever  on  my  part,  and  Prof.  Maskelyne  has  himself  now 
fully  demolished,  as  anyone  may  read,  the  authentidiy  of  the 
link  he  formerly  used  as  a  very  material  element  in  his  chaiD. 
How  can  he,  then,  still  cling  to  the  fragments  of  this  shattered  link, 
while  he  dismisses  so  peremptorily  Malcolm's  statement  ab^oi 
the  weight  of  the  Darya- i-Nur  ?  Will  he  ever  again  use  that  link, 
or  quote  Monardes  as  his  authority  ?  {Edinburgh  Revirii\  vol. 
cxxiv.,  z856,  p.  247.) 

I  still  venture  to  think  that  my  conclusion  as  to  the  kind  of 
carat  used  by  Tavernier  is  a  legitimate  one.  At  the  end  of 
chapter  xviii.,  book  ii.,  he  says,  where  computing  from  their 
weights  the  values  of  diamonds  to  a  Hard,  *Me  Diamant  da 
Grand  Mogol  pese  279^^  carats "  {sic) ;  and  in  the  very  next 
paragraph,  'Me  Diamant  du  Grand  Due  de  Toscane  pese  139^ 
carats." 

'Irue  it  is,  as  pointed  out  by  Prof.  Maskelyne,  that  Tavernier 
in  some  other  passages  defines  the  carats  as  **nos  carats";  he 
does  not  say,  however,  "carats  de  France,"  and  the  meaniDg 
therefore  I  take  to  be  the  carats  employed  by  himself  and  his 
confraternity  as  contrasted  with  Indian  measures  of  weight. 

The  value  of  the  abbas  or  pearl  ralti  of  2 '66  grains,  or  sewn- 
eighlhs  of  the  Florentine  carat,  has  also  been  approximately 
arrived  at  by  other  relations  given  by  Tavernier ;  conversely, 
therefore,  it  proves  his  carat  to  have  been  the  Florentine. 

I  know  of  several  early  writers  who  have  written  about  the 
Grand  Duke's  diamond,  and  by  them  Tavernier  is  referred  to  as 
the  authority  for  its  weight,  which,  as  even  Prof.  Maskelyne 
admits,  was  given  in  Florentine  carat«.  I  think  all  the  dr> 
cumstances  justify  the  belief  that  it  was  probably  weighed  by 
Tavernier  himself  with  his  own  weights  and  scales.  Now  as 
to  the  weighment  of  the  Mogul's  diamond,  in  one  passage 
Prof.  Maskelyne  (p.  557)  states  that  Tavernier  does  not  say  be 
weighed  any  of  the  stones,  and,  in  another,  on  the  same  page, 
**  The  diamond  Tavernier  saw,  weighed,  he  said  (was  he  merely 
told  so  or  did  he  really  weight  it  ?),  319^  raiis." 

The  pages  of  Tavernier  give  the  following  very  explicit  ansi»er 
to  this  query.  He  says,  "Ce  diamant  appartient  au  Grand 
Mogol,  lequel  me  fit  I'honneur  de  me  le  laire  monirer  avec 
tons  ses  autres  joyaux.  On  voit  la  forme  oil  il  est  demcnre 
etant  taille,  ct  m'ayant  estS pemtis  de  le  testrjay  trouve  ^^ d far 
3194  rat  is  qui  sont  279y^  de  nos  carats,  ' 

I'his  is  precise  evidence  enough  that  he  did  weigh  the  stone 
himself,  and  if  the  carats  were  French  instead  of  the  lighter 
Florentine  carats,  which  I  believe  them  to  have  been,  the  sicne 
was  so  much  the  heavier,  and  therefore  still  more  removed  in 
weight  from  Babar's  stone. 

lavernier,  I  must  remind  the  reader,  besides  Bemier,  is  oor 
only  authority  for  what  is  known  about  the  Mogul's  stone,  as 
such,  and  what  I  have  protested  against  and  still  protest  against 
is,  the  suppression  or  rejection  of  such  precise  statements  as  the 
above,  while  others  of  his  which  fit  in  with  particular  thtorics 
are  accepted.  .  , 

In  various  directions  I  have  been  enabled  to  show  Tavemieis 
minute  accuracy  about  matters  not  connected  with  his  trade  as  a 
jeweller,  and  >nhen  he  speaks  as  an  expert,  in  the  practice  of  his 
own  profession,  he  deserves,  and  proves  that  he  deserves,  a  Tcry 
different  treatment  from  that  which  he  has  received.  It  is  jor 
this  reason,  and  not  because  I  am  blind  to  his  faults,  that  1  gi"^ 
him  my  loyal  support.     I  have  already,  in  vol.  ii.  of  "  TaTcrnier  s 


NO.    1 147,  VOL.  44] 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


593 


Travels,"  stated  that  some  corrections  of  values  given  in  vol.  L 
are  required  in  consequence  of  the  identification,  made  too  late 
for  their  correction,  of  the  value  of  Tavernier's  carat,  but  the 
present  discussion  as  to  the  Koh-i-Nur  is  quite  independent  of 
that. 

With  regard  to  the  mutilated  condition  of  the  Koh-i-Nur,  I 
have  nothing  to  add  ;  the  statement  as  to  its  condition,  quoted  by 
me,  and  the  figures  and  models  of  the  stone  appear  to  be  suffi* 
cient  proof  that  portions  had  been  removed  by  cleavage,  which 
would  account  for  the  difference  between  its  weight  and  the 
Mogul,  as  described  by  Tavernier,  and  I  .still  retain  that 
opinion. 

It  is  not  of  the  least  importance  as  regards  the  main  question, 
whether  my  suggestion  should  prove  correct  or  not,  that  if  Babar*s 
stone  has  survived  it  may  be  identical  with  the  Darya-i-Nur,  to 
which  Malcolm  attributed  a  weight  of  186  carats.  Prof.  Maske- 
lyne,  upon  a  system  of  calculation  which  I  cannot  admit  as 
applicable  to  the  case,  as  we  do  not  know  the  thicknesses  of  the 
stones  which  he  compares,  gives  to  the  Darya-i*Nuran  estimated 
weight  of  210  carats.  For  the  present,  therefore,  I  prefer 
Malcolm's  definite  statement  to  Prof.  Maskelyne's  theory  about 
the  attributed  weight  being  the  ''echo  associated  with  the  Koh- 
i-Nur." 

I  shall  have  something  to  say  about  the  Golconda  table  dia- 
mond, and  about  a  great  many  other  diamonds  and  other  precious 
stones  too,  on  a  future  occasion.   In  that  woik  I  shall  be  as  careful 
to  give,  as  I  have  hitherto  been,  chapter  and  verse  for  every  | 
statement  of  fact   quoted,  and  I   shall    trust   the  histories  so  \ 
supported  will   find  acceptance   from    those   who  care    to   in- 
vestigate the  evidence  in  favour  of  the  conclusions  connected  * 
therewith.  ^ 

I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  appreciate  the  full  force  of  the  phrase 
**  verisimilitude  of  a  true  history" — the  last  words  of  Prof.  Maske- 
lyne's  article — but  of  this  I  am  certain,  that  if  ever  I  should  see 
a  history  of  the  Koh-i-Nur  following  the  lines  of  that  article, 
I  shall  {^^\  bound  to  make  another  and  special  '*  incursion  "  into  , 
the  subject  in  defence  of  Tavernier  if  not  of  myself. 

Dublin,  October  12.  V.  Ball.       ' 


THE  NAUTICAL  ALMANAC, 

TT  has  been  known  for  some  little  time  that  Dr.  John 
^  Russell  Hind,  F.R.S.,  who  for  many  years  past  has 
been  responsible  for  the  production  of  the  national  ephe- 
mcris,  would  soon  seek  that  retirement  to  which  his  long 
services  and  his  distinguished  career  entitle  him.  At  the 
end  of  the  year,  he  will  relinquish  the  office  of  Superin- 
tendent of  the  "  Nautical  Alamanac,"  and  the  good  wishes 
and  kindly  sympathy  of  the  astronomers  of  many  nations 
will  follow  him  in  the  retirement  he  is  seeking. 

His  successor  has  been  appointed,  and  in  Mr.  A.  M. 
W.  Downing  we  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
Admiralty  have  made  a  happy  selection,  and  that  under 
his  auspices   the  high  character  and  reputation  of  the 
I'  Nautical  Almanac ''  will  be  fully  maintained.    M r.  Down- 
ing has  long  been  associated  with  meridian  astronomy 
in  its  best  traditions;  and  in  his  position  of  greater  respon- 
sibility and  greater  freedom  we  entertain  the  hope  that  his 
astronomical  reputation    will   be  fully   maintained  and 
extended.      He    may   be   said    to    enter  on    his   office 
at  a  time  when  the  **  Nautical  Almanac  "  is  on  its  trial. 
The  arrangement  of  the  book,  and  the  information  it  con- 
veys, were  practically  settled  by  a  Committee  some  sixty 
years  since.     How  efficiently  that  Committee  performed 
its  task  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  so  little  alteration  has 
been  needed  for  so  long  a  period.     But  the  outcry  for 
change  has  gone  forth  :  new  committees  are  deliberating 
and  reporting,  and  it  will  be  among  Mr.  Downing's  first 
duties  to  give  shape,  alike  to  the  suggestions  of  irrespon- 
sible authorities,  as  well  as  to  incorporate  the  recommen- 
dations of  recognized  committees  in  a  new  and  improved 
*'  Nautical  Almanac" 

One  great  difficulty  which  has  to  be  encountered,  and 
of  which  it  is  not  easy  to  see  the  proper  solution,  is  due 

^NO.   II47,  VOL.  44] 


to  the  fact  that  the ''  Nautical  Almanac  "  seeks  to  supply  the 
wants  of  two  very  different  classes  of  persons— namely, 
astronomers  properly  so  called,  and  nautical  men.  The 
former  demand  very  considerable  detail  in  the  exhibition 
of  the  several  computations,  the  latter  are  satisfied  with 
a  very  few  final  results.  The  former  class  is  a  small 
one,  and  a  very  moderate  edition  would  satisfy  their 
demands.  The  latter  class  is  a  very  large  one,  and 
necessitates  the  printing,  it  may  be,  of  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  copies.  The  first  question  therefore,  it  seems, 
which  must  claim  the  attention  of  any  Committee,  or  of 
any  Superintendent,  is,  whether  it  be  desirable  to  sepa- 
rate the  "  Nautical  Almanac''  into  two,  or  it  may  be  more, 
sections — one  circulating  among  astronomers,  the  other 
among  mariners.  Private  enterprise,  anxious  to  minister  to 
the  wants  of  a  rapidly  increasing  mercantile  marine,  has 
long  supplemented  the  "  Nautical  Almanac"  with  a  5 miller 
and  pirated  edition,  valuable  to  sailors,  but  detrimental  to 
the  circulation  of  what  may  be  considered  the  legitimate 
ephemeris.  Would  it  not  be  better  ifthe  Admiralty  could  see 
their  way  to  publish  an  ephemeris  with  other  nautical  infor- 
mation, entirely  for  the  use  of  the  marine .?  Such  a  course 
is  followed  by  the  Governments  of  other  countries.  The 
German  Government  publish  at  Berlin  a  compact 
"  Nautisches  Jahrbuch,"  admirably  adapted  for  naval 
purposes.  This  example  is  followed  in  Austria  and  in 
America,  and  we  believe  that  the  sale  of  our  "Almanac "to 
the  naval  men  of  those  countries  has  fallen  off  in  the 
last  years,  or  at  least  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  increase 
of  foreign  tonnage. 

Such  questions  are  of  importance,  as  concerning  not 
only  the  financial  position  of  the  work,  but  its  influence 
in  our  own  and  foreign  navies.  There  are,  however, 
others  touching  the  scientific  and  purely  astronomical 
side  of  the  compilation.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  vexed 
question  of  the  introduction  of  empirical  terms  in  the 
final  positions  of  the  moon.  Astronomical  purists  will 
maintain  that  the  position  of  the  moon  should  be  that 
assigned  by  a  purely  gravitational  theory,  to  facilitate  the 
comparison  of  that  theory  with  observation.  Others 
demand  that  the  place  of  the  moon  should  coincide,  as 
accurately  as  possible,  with  observation  ;  and  looking  at 
the  large  portion  of  the  "  Nautical  Almanac  "  devoted  to 
"  lunar  distances,"  it  would  seem  (if  this  section  is  ever 
used)  that  it  is  desirable  that  the  distances  given  should 
represent  observed  facts.  After  a  naval  man  has  been  at 
the  trouble  of  observing  and  reducing  a  lunar  distance,  to 
ask  him  to  apply  a  correction  for  the  error  of  moon's 
place  seems  wanton  and  irritating.  And  if  the  amount  of 
the  empirical  correction  is  clearly  ascertainable,  it  can  be 
easily  removed  before  instituting  a  comparison  between 
observation  and  that  theory  from  which  the  moon's  pi  ice 
has  been  computed.  But  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  both 
classes  of  astronomers  will  try  the  tact  and  ability  of  the 
new  Superintendent  to  the  utmost. 

The  section  devoted  to  the  apparent  places  of  the  stars 
has  also  been  submitted  to  considerable  criticism.  No 
doubt  here  enlargement  is  needed,  and  possibly  im- 
proved places  of  the  stars,  particularly  of  circumpolar 
stars  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  are  much  wanted. 
But  on  this  point  the  new  Superintendent  is  himself  a 
weighty  authority.  He  has  worked  much  and  success- 
fully in  the  determination  and  removal  of  systematic 
differences  from  star  catalogues,  and  their  reduction  to 
known  and  recognized  standards.  So  that,  under  his 
influence,  w^e  may  hope  that  this  section  will  take  and 
maintain  a  foremost  position. 

Mr.  Downing  has  undertaken  a  very  important  duty,  of 
great  national  importance,  at  a  very  critical  period.  We 
fully  believe  that  he  will  grapple  with  this  task  success- 
fully, and  that,  in  his  efforts  to  improve  our  ephemeris,  he 
will  have  the  assistance  and  support  of  all  classes  of 
astronomers. 


594 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


RAIN-MAKING  IN  TEXAS, 

IN  Nature  of  September  17  (p.  473),  Mr.  H.  F.  Blan- 
ford  has  discussed  at  considerable  length  the  rain- 
niaking  experiments  in  Texas,  on  the  basis  of  such 
information  as  was  attainable  from  newspaper  reports. 
Inasmuch  as  these  telegraphic  reports  have  not  only  been 
inadequate,  but  also  frequently  inaccurate  And  mislead- 
ing, the  writer,  who  was  the  meteorologist  of  the  Expedi- 
tion, is  led  to  give  the  following  brief  summary  of  the 
experiments  and  their  results. 

The  experiments,  which  have  been  quite  independent 
of  the  direction  or  patronage  of  the  Weather  Bureau, 
have  been  carried  on  by  the  Hon.  R.  G.  Dyrenfonh,  Spe- 
cial Agent  appointed  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 
The  plan  of  exploding  oxy-hydrogen  balloons  was 
adopted  as  one  of  the  principal  methods  to  be  employed, 
and  several  months  were  spent  in  preparing  the  necessary 
materials  and  apparatus.  Preliminary  experiments  made 
in  Washington  demonstrated  that  a  tremendous  concus- 
sion could  be  produced  by  the  explosion  of  balloons  10 
feet  in  diameter,  filled  with  a  mixture  of  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  in  the  ratio  of  two  to  one.  In  addition  to  the 
explosion  of  balloons,  preparations  were  made  to  fire 
sticks  of  dynamite  carried  up  in  the  air  by  kites,  and  to 
explode  rackarock  (an  explosive  consisting  of  three  parts 
of  potassium  chlorate  to  one  part  of  nitrobenzol)  and 
dynamite  on  the  ground. 

With  materials  for  carrying  out  these  three  lines  of 
experiment,  the  party  went  to  an  isolated  ranch  twenty- 
three  miles  north-west  of  Midland,  Texas  (lat.  32°  14', 
long.  102°  12').  The  inauguration  of  the  experiments 
attracted  great  attention  throughout  the  whole  south- 
western section  of  the  country,  and,  locally,  people  went 
from  all  the  surrounding  counties  to  witness  the  opera- 
tions. Actual  trial  in  the  field  soon  developed  the  fact 
that  the  preparations  for  the  balloon  experiments  were 
entirely  inadequate.  Accidents  occurred  to  the  furnaces 
for  generating  the  gas,  which  took  much  time  to  repair, 
windy  weather  prevented  the  filling  of  the  balloons,  and  a 
combination  of  other  sources  of  delay  rendered  this  line 
of  experiment  a  practical  failure.  One  or  two  balloons 
were  exploded  on  several  days,  but  these  were  too 
itvr  in  number  and  too  infrequent  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  an  adequate  experiment.  Similarly  it  was  found  im- 
possible with  the  small  available  force  to  operate  the 
kites  to  advantage,  and  in  windy  weather  they  were  quite 
unmanageable  ;  so  that,  although,  in  all,  quite  a  number 
of  dynamite  sticks  were  fired  in  the  air  in  this  way,  yet 
as  a  line  of  effective  experiment  this  also  proved  a  failure. 
The  only  explosions  that  were  made  on  a  scale  even 
approximately  commensurate  with  the  requirements  were 
those  of  rackarock,  and  it  may  be  stated  that  all  the 
effective  operations  essential  at  Midland  can  be  dupli- 
cated in  every  essential  particular  with  1500  pounds  of 
rackarock  together  with  500  feet  of  wire  and  a  small 
portable  dynamo. 

The  first  rain  that  occurred  after  the  party  reached 
Midland  began  shortly  after  noon  on  August  10,  and  con- 
tinued at  intervals  until  evening.  The  amount  of  rainfall 
was  not  measured,  but  it  was  stated  in  the  language  of 
the  country  to  be  a  good  "grass  rain."  The  writer,  who 
was  en  route  to  Midland,  met  similar  sharp  showers  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon  near  Sweetwater,  100 
miles  to  the  eastward.  On  the  preceding  evening  some 
preliminary  explosions  had  been  made,  but  only  on  a 
small  scale,  and  no  result  was  anticipated.  In  the  tele- 
graphic despatch  that  was  sent  reporting  the  rainfall,  no 
causative  action  was  claimed — in  fact,  such  action  was 
explicitly  disclaimed  in  the  telegraphic  report,  which 
stated  "  we  do  not  think  the  explosions  actually  produced 
the  storm,  as  they  were  not  on  a  large  enough  scale. 
The  preliminary  trial  was  made  simply  to  test  the 
efficiency  of  the  special  blasting  powder."    The  firing, 

NO.   1147,  VOL.  4zl] 


which  was  not  over  half-a-dozen  blasts,  was,  then,  simply 
a  preliminary  trial  of  material,  and  not  in  any  sense  an 
experiment  to  produce  rain. 

On  August  ]6,  17,  1 8,  and  20,  cloudy  weather  very 
largely  prevailed,  and  numerous  thunderstorms  were  seen 
on  the  horizf^n  that  did  not  visit  the  ranch.  Cn  eack  <tf 
these  days  blasts  of  rackarock  and  of  dynaniitie  were 
fired  while  heavy  cumulus  or  dense  storm-clouds  ivere  in 
the  field.  In  several  instances,  when  a  dense  tbreatenfiig 
cloud  was  overhead,  a  sharp  detonating  explosion  of 
rackarock  or  of  dynamite  was  followed  at  an  interval  of 
30  to  40  seconds  by  a  spatter  of  rain,  or,  if  it  was  already 
sprinkling,  the  blast  was  followed  by  a  very  noticeable 
increase  of  the  drops.  This  interesting  result  occurred  a 
sufficient  number  of  times  to  indicate  that  the  pheno* 
menon  was  a  real  effect  of  the  explosions.  On  none  of 
these  days,  however,  was  the  amount  of  rainfall  appre- 
ciable, except  on  the  i8th,  when  it  was  two-hundredtfas 
(002)  of  an  inch.  The  i8th  opened  cluudy,  and  oM 
settlers  predicted  rain  for  the  afternoon,  whether  the 
experiments  should  be  made  or  not.  To  what  extent, 
therefore,  the  explosions  that  were  made  were  infiuentisd 
in  producing  the  002  inch  that  fell  is  obviously  very 
difficult  to  determine,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  efficacy 
of  the  explosions  it  is  practically  valueless. 

The  next  explosions  were  on  the  evening  of  Aognst 
21,  when  156  pounds  of  rackarock  were  fired  in  14 
blasts.  During  the  night  a  genuine  norther  came  on, 
the  wind  blew  from  the  north,  the  barograph  curve  roec 
rapidly,  the  temperature  fell  rapidly,  and  during  the  neit 
forenoon  a  fine  mist  prevailed.  This  change  of  weather 
was  quite  extraordinary  and  unexpected,  and  with  its 
accompanying  mist  was  attributed  to  the  heavy  firing 
of  the  evening  previous ;  but  the  norther  had  been  on 
its  way  for  several  days,  and  the  fine  mist  was  evidendy 
due  to  the  uplifting  by  the  cold  north  wind  of  the  warm 
moist  air  of  the  plains.  At  numerous  points  in  the 
State  where  the  air  was  more  humid  a  heavy  rainfall 
occurred. 

The  last  experiment,  which  in  magnitude  was  the 
greatest  of  all,  took  place  on  the  evening  of  August  25, 
after  the  writer  had  departed.  The  conditions  were 
thought  to  be  extremely  unfavourable  for  rain,  and  the 
party  was  advised  to  wait  for  a  more  propitious  occasion. 
The  firing,  however,  was  carried  on  until  11  p.ni.,  when 
the  party  retired  for  the  night.  It  is  reported  that  *•  at 
3  a.m.  the  heavy  rolling  of  thunder  disturbed  the  sleepers, 
heavy  banks  of  clouds  were  seen  advancing,  almost  con- 
stantly lighted  by  most  brilliant  lightning.  An  hour  later 
the  rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents  on  the  ranch,  and  did  not 
cease  till  8  a.m.'*  Unfortunately,  records  of  the  amtntmt 
of  rainfall  have  not  yet  been  received,  but  I  am  inforoied, 
by  a  gentleman  who  was  present,  that  **it  was  nothii^ 
but  a  sprinkle."  Further  light  is  thrown  on  this  rainfefi 
by  the  weather  map  for  8  p.m.  eastern  time,  of  Augvsl 
25.  Rainfall  is  shown  in  New  Mexico  to  the  north-west 
of  Midland,  Texas,  and  the  forecast  officer  made  the  fol- 
lowing prediction  :  **  For  Eastern  Texas,  generally  fair, 
except  local  showers  on  the  extreme  south-east  coast 
and  the  north- west, ^^  Here  we  have  an  official  pre- 
diction made  in  Washington  City  of  probable  showers 
over  the  district  in  which  the  experimenters  were 
operating,  and  for  the  very  night  in  which  the  thander- 
storm  followed  the  last  of  the  explosions  to  prodoce 
rain. 

In  view  of  these  facts^  it  is  scarcely  necessary  for  me 
to  state  that  these  experiments  have  not  afiorided  any 
scientific  standing  to  the  theory  that  rain-storms  can  be 
produced  by  concussions.  But,  if  the  adherents  of  the 
theory  maintain  that  '*  no  experiment  has  been  tried  ths 
is  worthy  of  the  name,  and  that  no  results  ought  to  be 
looked  for,''  it  will  be  difficult  to  take  opposite  ground. 

George  E.  Curtis. 
Smithsonian  Institution,  October  9. 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


595 


COLOUR-BLINDNESS  GENERALLY 
CONSIDERED. 

COLOUR-BLINDNESS  has  now  passed   from  the 
category  of  ailments  denominated  interesting,  and 
is   recognized  as  a  visual  infirmity  the  importance  of 
which  cannot  be  over-estimated.    Before  entering  upon 
a  discussion  of  the  subject  it  will  be  well  to  lay  down  a 
definition  of  colour-blindness  that  shall  run  on  all  fours 
with  the  latest  scientific  findings  in  the  matter.     Colour- 
blindness is  merely  the  inability  of  the  eye  to  recognize 
the  quality  of  the  light  that  falls  upon  it,  i.e.  to  discriminate 
between  ether  waves  of  varying  refrangibility,  the  im- 
pingement of  which  upon  the  retina  conveys  to  us  the 
sensation  of  colour.     Total  colour-blindness  is  the  in- 
ability to  distinguish  any  colours.  To  a  person  so  afflicted 
all  bodies  are  either  black,  or  white,  or  grey,  according  to 
the  intensity  of  the  light  reflected  from  them.    T:iis  form 
of  the  disease  is  very  rare.     Colour-blindness  in  ordinary 
is  merely  a  question  of  degree,  no  two  persons  having 
exactly  the  same  colour  perception.      A  popular,  but 
erroneous,  belief  respecting  human  vision  is  that  good 
eyesight,  i.e,  accurate  perception  of  form  and  distance, 
carries  with  it  a  keen  perception  of  colours.     This  belief 
is  deeply  rooted,  the  impression  that  colour  perception  is 
an  integral  part  of^^^// eyesight  being  of  almost  universal 
adoption.    The  eye,  however,  that  has  the  most  perfect 
appreciation  of  form  and  distance  may  utterly  fail  to  dis- 
criminate between  two  differently  coloured  objects  of  the 
same  shape,  and  placed  at  equal  distances  from   the 
observer.     In  this  case  a  variation  in  the  intensity  of  the 
light  reflected  from  the  objects  under  view  would  enable 
the  colour-blind  to  discriminate  between  them,  for  along 
with  colour  ineptitude  there  generally  exists  the  most 
delicate  sense  of  discrimination  as  to  the  relative  inten- 
sities of  two  sources  of  light. 

The  majority  of  people  are  undoubtedly  afflicted  with 
a  mild  form  of  colour-blindness.  They  are  physically 
incompetent  to  differentiate  exactly  between  the  nicer 
shades  of  the  more  composite  colours,  such  as  browns, 
greys,  and  neutral  tints.  Yellow  would  appear  to  be  the 
colour  that  gives  least  trouble  to  the  colour-blind,  and 
blue,  if  strongly  illuminated,  is  readily  recognized. 

Red  would  appear  to  be  the  colour  the  want  of  the 
sense  of  which  may  be  said  to  be  characteristic  of  colour- 
blindness; and  as  a  person  blind  to  red  is  usually  blind  to 
its  complementary  colour,  green,  ordinary  colour-blindness 
may  thus  be  defined  as  the  inability  to  discriminate  between 
red  and  green.    The  norm  il  eye  would  appear  capable 
of  analyzing  white  light  into  three  coloured   elements, 
one  of  which  is  red  ;  the  colour-blind  eye,  on  the  other 
band^  analyzes  white  light  into  two  elements,  neither  of 
which   is  red.      Why    this  visual  defect  should  mani- 
fest  itself   in  inability  to  distinguish  that  part  of  the 
spectrum  which  is  the  result  of  the  slowest  of  the  series 
of  etiiereal  undulations  is  by  no  means  clear.     Physio- 
logical knowledge  as  to  the  exact  relationship  between 
externa]  colour  factors  and  our  mental  idea  of  colour  is 
yet  in  its  infancy.     A  consensus  of  opinion  would,  how-  j 
ever,  appear  to  obtain,  that,  of  the  rods  and  cones  to 
w^hich  the  ner>e  terminals  of  the  retina  are  generally 
compared,  the  latter  are  responsible  for  the  processes  of 
analysis  by  which  a  compound  ether  wave  is  decomposed 
into  its  constituent  elements,  each  of  which  pioduces  an 
influence  upon  a  corresponding  nerve  fibre.     That  the 
rods  and  not  the  cones  are  least  responsible  for  our  sen- 
sations of  colour  would  jippear  to  be  borne  out  by  the 
Fact  that  among  predatory  animals,  to  whose  nocturnal 
babitat  a  colour  percipient  apparatus  would  be  an  unne- 
cessary adjunct,  the  cones  are  wanting,  while  the  rods  are 
irery  highly  developed.     Which  theory  may  be  ultimately 
accepted  as  best  explaining  the  varied   phenomena   of 
:€ilour-blindness  is  at  present  matter  of  speculation. 
Authorities  on  colour-blindness  are,  however,  agreed 

NO.  1 147,  VOL.  44] 


that  in  the  majority  of  cases  it  is  congenital ;  that  to  a 
great  extent  it  is  amenable  to  the  same  laws  that  govern 
the  transmission  of  other  hereditary  tendencies  ;  and 
while  in  some  very  few  cases  where  it  is  induced  by  ac- 
cident, such  as  concussion  of  the  brain,  or  is  the  residual 
product  of  some  malady  or  alcoholic  excess,  it  may  be 
palliated,  yet  colour-blindness  is  absolutely  incurable. 

The  knowledge  that  something  like  3  to  4  out  of  every 
100  of  our  adult  population  are  afflicted  with  colour- 
blindness is  of  serious  importance,  anJ  statistics  show 
that  this  is  no  over-estimation  of  the  case.  The  following 
table  shows  the  percentage  obtained  from  a  large  number 
of  cases ; — 


Examin  r. 


Number 
Examined. 


Holmgren     32,165  men 

Dr.  Joy  Jcffiies       ...   18,556     ,, 
London  Committee  ..  14.846     ,, 


Total     ...  65,567  men 


Number 

Co'our- 

blind. 

1,019 

764 
617 

2,400 


Ptr- 
centase. 

3168 
4117 
4-156 


The  percentage  of  female  colour-blinds  is  much  less. 
My  own  findings  show  o"i62  ;  Dr.  Joy  Jeffries,  however, 
found  a  lower  proportion  than  this,  as  among  14,557 
females  tested  only  1 1  were  colour-blind. 

This  great  disparity  between  the  numbers  of  the  colour- 
blind in  the  two  sexes  has  been  long  known,  and  various 
causes  have  been  assigned  as  accountable  for  it.  As  far 
back  as  1855,  Prof.  Wilson,  while  admitting  the  superiority 
of  colour  perception  in  the  female,  could  not  believe  that 
the  number  of  colour-blind  women  were  so  few  as  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  men  similarly  afflicted.  He 
took  up  the  view  that  women  were  not  so  willing  to  be 
tested  as  men,  so  that  unless  they  were  me.nbers  of  some 
public  institution  it  was  quite  a  voluntary  matter  whether 
they  were  tested  or  not.  He  argued,  too,  that  women 
attached  greater  importance  to  perception  for  colour  than 
men  do,  and  would  consequently  strive  to  screen  their 
defect  from  others.  Thus  the  only  women  who  would 
voluntarily  submit  to  be  tested  for  colour  would  be  those 
who  had  no  doubt  but  they  were  possessed  of  perfect 
colour-vision. 

Unfortunately,  however,  this  method  of  reasoning  is 
based  upon  an  hypothesis  altogether  fallacious.  Colour- 
blind people  do  not  of  themselves  realize  their  condition. 
They  cannot  tell  that  there  is  any  difference  between  red 
and  green  as  they  see  them,  and  red  and  green  as  viewed 
by  the  normal  eye. 

The  fact  that  females  have  more  practice  in  handling 
colours  than  males  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  this 
disparity,  unless  we  assume  that  the  present  condition  of 
the  female  colour  percipient  is  the  resultant  of  the  gradual 
development  and  training  transmitted  through  ages  of 
time.  The  superior  colour  percipience  of  the  female 
must,  we  believe,  be  regarded  as  an  inherent  quality  of 
the  sex,  which  no  amount  of  individual  artificial  training 
and  practice  can  attain  to. 

There  is  just  one  thing,  however,  which  may  discount 
a  little  this  feminine  superiority.  As  colour-testing  was 
first  applied,  too  much  importance  was  attached  to  the 
correct  naming  of  colours,  and  as  this  is  a  province  in 
which  the  masculine  section  of  humanity  is  decidedly 
inferior,  the  ratio  of  male  to  female  colour-blinds  may 
have  been  increased  in  consequence.  Assuming  that  the 
percentage  of  366  of  adult  male  colour-blinds  is  correct, 
we  are  confronted  with  the  fact  that  there  are  over  4000 
colour-blind  seamen  in  the  British  mercantile  marine. 
This  number  is  exclusive  of  pilots,  canal  or  lightermen ^ 
and  firemen.  Now,  all  of  the  4000  are  liable  to  be  called 
upon  to  officiate  as  look-outs,/.^,  they  may  be  placed  in 
circumstances  where  it  is  necessary  they  should  distinguish 
instantaneously  between  the  colours  of  the  regulation 
side-lights  of  an  approaching  vessel.  As  far  back  as 
1877,  the  Board  of  Trade,  acting  in  accordance  with  the 


596 


NA  TURE 


[October  22, 1891 


recommendation  of  the  ophthalmic  section  of  the  British 
medical  profession,  came  to  the  conclusion  ''that  all 
candidates  for  masters'  or  mates'  certificates  shall  pass 
a  test  examination  as  to  their  ability  to  distinguish  the 
following  colours,  which  enter  largely  into  combination  of 
signals  by  day  or  night  used  at  sea ;  viz.  black,  white, 
red,  green,  yellow,  and  blue  "  ;  and  they  state  that  "  the 
Board  have  been  led  to  this  decision  because  of  the 
serious  consequences  which  might  arise  from  an  officer 
of  any  vessel  being  unable  to  distinguish  the  colour  of 
the  lights  and  flags  which  nre  carried  by  vessels." 

So  far  so  good.  But  there  the  matter  stopped.  An 
officer  failing  to  pass  in  colours  is  not  deterred  from  going 
to  sea ;  his  certificate  is  simply  endorsed  ^^  failed  to  pass  in 
colours^  and  then  it  is  optional  with  the  owners,  //  they 
know  of  a  man's  colour  imperfectness,  to  engage  him  or 
not.  In  the  majority  of  cases  they  do  not  know.  Wishing 
to  obtain  accurate  information  as  to  the  views  of  the 
Liverpool  shipowners  upon  this  subject,  I  submitted  to 
them  the  following  queries  : — 

(i)  Do  you  consider  a  colour-blind  officer,  mate,  or 
captain,  competent  to  have  command  of  a  vessel,  steam 
or  sailing  ? 

(2}  Would  you  consider  a  colour-blind  man  fit  to  be  a 
look-out  man  ? 

In  reply,  no  firms  answered  both  questions  in  the 
negative,  while  one  answered  both  in  the  affirmative. 

Six  said  "  Yes,"  to  the  first  quer>',  and  "  No,"  to  the 
second. 

Six  expressed  the  opinion  that  no  colour-blind  officer 
should  have  command  of  a  vessel  ;  but  that  colour- 
blindness was  not  a  barrier  to  a  seaman  officiating  as 
look-out. 

The  language  of  the  firms  that  answered  both  questions 
in  the  negative  was  such  as  to  show  that  there  was  not 
the  slightest  hesitancy  in  the  minds  of  the  writers  as  to 
the  utter  undesirability,  not  to  say  danger,  of  employing  a 
colour-blind  man  in  any  capacity  in  which  he  was  re- 
sponsible, in  part  or  whole,  for  the  safe  navigation  of  the 
vessel. 

Such  expressions  as  "  emphatically  no,"  "  absolutely 
unfit,"  **not  fit  to  serve  on  a  ship,"  "  very  unsuitable,"  &c., 
show  in  unmistakable  terms  the  views  held  by  Liverpool 
shipowners  on  the  suTsject. 

Liverpool  shipowners  certainly  seem  alive  to  the 
dangers  of  colour-blind  employes.  The  practice  of  pri- 
vate examination  would  seem  to  be  coming  into  common 
practice  among  first-class  firms.  But  the  Board  of  Trade 
have  still  to  realize  that  look-out  men,  as  well  as  officers, 
should  not  suffer  from  colour-blindness.  If  shipowners 
themselves  deem  it  necessary  for  their  own  interests,  and 
the  safety  of  the  voyageurs  and  property  intrusted  to 
their  care,  to  debar  colour-blind  seamen  from  their 
service,  it  is  surely  incumbent  upon  the  Board  of  Trade, 
in  the  interests  of  the  travelling  community  over  whose 
welfare  they  are  supposed  to  preside,  to  make  perfect 
colour-vision  a  causa  sine  qud  non  that  shall  apply  to  all 
seamen  of  our  mercantile  marine.  It  is  but  fair,  however, 
to  that  complex  and  overburdened  instrument  of  govern- 
ment to  ada  that  they  have  introduced  a  so-called  volun- 
tary test,  whereby  a  seaman,  on  payment  of  a  fee  of  i  j., 
may  be  tested  as  to  the  perfectness  of  his  vision  for 
colour.  Such  a  test  must,  from  the  very  necessities  of 
the  case,  be  absolutely  worthless.  What  A.B.  would  be 
likely,  had  he  the  slightest  suspicion  of  his  colour-blind- 
ness, to  seek  that  confirmatory  evidence  which  would 
debar  him  from  following  his  calling  ?  Sailors  may  be 
pardoned  if  they  prefer  to  remain  in  a  state  of  blissful 
ignorance  as  to  their  colour-vision,  since  they  have  no- 
thing to  gain,  and  possibly  everything  to  lose,  by  under- 
going an  examination  in  colours.  It  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  there  are  not  wanting  those  who  aver  most 
positively  that  colour-blindness  is  not  responsible  for 
maritime  disaster  of  any  description  whatever. 

NO.   II 47,  VOL.  44] 


Rear- Admiral  P.  H.  Colomb  is  of  this  opinion.  In 
discussing  the  action  of  the  Washington  International 
Maritime  Conference  relative  to  colour-blindness,  he 
stated,  *'  I  never  knew  myself  a  case  of  collision  where 
colour-blindness  was  in  question.  The  statements  were 
generally  perfectly  clear  that  wrong  helm  was  given 
deliberately  in  the  face  of  the  colour  seen,  and  as  no 
authoritative  teaching  had  existed  to  show  that  it 
mattered  what  colour  was  seen  as  long  as  danger  was 
denoted,  I  have  never  been  able  to  lay  stress  on  the 
colour-blind  question." 

Again,  Admiral  Colomb  expressed  the  opinion  ''that 
collisions  at  night  occurred  through  the  helm  being 
ported  to  the  green  light,  and  starboarded  to  the  red 
light." 

Undoubtedly  this  is  a  fertile  source  of  disaster,  but 
seamen,  unless  we  assume  them  wilfully  negligent,  or 
astoundingly  nervous,  could  hardly  fail  to  act  correctly 
at  the  critical  moment  in  so  many  instances,  if  there 
were  not  some  other  factor  at  work  which  brought  them 
to  grief  I  admit  the  truth  of  Admiral  Colomb's  stal^ 
ment  as  to  collisions  at  night  occurring  through  the  helm 
being  ported  to  the  green  light,  and  starboarded  to  the 
red.  But  I  would  go  further,  and  inquire  why  such  a 
wrongful  procedure  should  be  adopted  in  so  many  cases. 
I  cannot  believe  it  is  done  wilfully  with  the  intent  of 
causing  collision,  I  cannot  accept  nervousness  on  the 
part  of  men,  many  of  whom  have  spent  a  lifetime  at 
sea,  as  the  sole,  or  even  a  likely  cause.  1  believe  that  in 
many  cases  the  reason  why  the  helm  is  ported  to  the 
green  light  and  starboarded  to  the  red  light  is  that  the 
persons  responsible  for  the  porting  and  starboarding  are 
visually  incapable  of  differentiating  between  one  coloar 
and  the  other. 

Admiral  Colomb's  cause  is  undoubtedly  the  immediate 
means  of  effecting  the  collision  ;  but  that  cause  traced 
to  its  original  source  will,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  shov 
neither  negligence  nor  ner\'Ousness,  but  will  stand  r^ 
vealed  as  the  inevitable  resultant  of  eyesight  that  cannot 
distinguish  red  from  green.  Pronouncements  such  as 
those  quoted  above,  coming  from  those  in  high  places, 
and  pregnant  with  the  weight  of  authority  that  usnalW 
attaches  to  such  utterances,  are  mainly  responsible  fcr 
the  general  laxity  and  half-hearted ness  which  are  so 
characteristic  of  the  Board  of  Trade's  officials  in  respect 
to  colour-blindness.  A  p)erusal  of  the  records  of  inquiries 
into  collisions  at  sea,  or  of  the  courts  which  settle 
questions  of  maritime  and  commercial  law  arising  the^^ 
from,  reveals  an  astounding  amount  of  conflicton* 
evidence  as  to  the  relative  positions  of  the  colliding 
vessels  as  judged  by  their  side-lights.  It  would  be  more 
charitable  to  suppose  that  the  witnesses  examined  were 
colour-blind,  rather  than  guilty  of  wilful  and  deliberate 
perjury.  In  such  cases  the  question  of  a  look-out's  colocr 
percipience  is  never  discussed.  An  examination  of  the 
witness  on  the  spot,  as  to  his  capability  of  discriminat- 
ing between  the  port  and  starboard  lights  of  a  ship, 
would  set  at  rest  the  question  of  his  physical  competence 
to  assist  in  elucidating  the  problems  under  considera- 
tion. 

The  Dutch  Government  has  long  been  alive  to  die 
dangers  accruing  from  induced  colour-blindness— I  'JS« 
the  term  induced  in  contradistinction  to  congenital— and 
adopt  the  most  drastic  measures  to  prevent  a  colour- 
blind officer  from  holding  a  position  in  their  mercanule 
marine.  Among  other  qualifications  necessary  to  pro- 
cure a  warrant  empowering  a  man  to  act  as  mate  in  the 
merchant  marine,  the  royal  order  requires  : — 

"  Colour  perception  perfect  for  transmitted  light  in  one 
eye,  and  at  least  one  half  in  the  other,  according  to 
Donders's  method." 

Also  that  "  the  report  and  declaration  of  the  expert,  as 
required  in  the  above,  shall  be  considered  valid  for  (ae 
month  only  from  the  time  the  test  is  made." 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  7  URE 


597 


In  Holland  the  tests  are  made  by  experts.  In  England 
they  arc  applied  by  persons  who,  however  well  ihey 
mav  be  qualified  to  examine  candidates  in  navigation 
and  seamanship,  have  certainly  no  locus  standi  in  the 
matter  of  reponing  upon  the  per/ectness,  or  otherwise,  of 
a  man's  visual  organs. 

The  tests  themselves  that  these  navigation  examiners 
have  to  apply  are  far  from  being  perfect.  They  are 
established  upon  a  wrong  principle.  Candidates  are 
made  to  name  colours,  and  accordmg  to  the  Parliament- 
ary Report  of  1887  **the  only  reasons  for  which  they 
are  reported  as  having  failed  are  inability  to  distinguish 
red  from  green,  and  either  from  black  by  daylight,  and 
red  from  green  and  either  from  ground  glass  by  artificial 
light.^' 

Candidates  are  first  required  to  give  correct  colour 
names  to  a  series  of  eight  cards  coloured  black,  red, 
green,  pink,  drab,  blue,  white,  and  yellow,  respectively. 
A  candidaite  is  passed,  however,  if  he  names  correctly 
the  first  three. 

The  second  test  consists  in  naming  the  colours  of 
glasses  some  eleven  in  number,  viz.  ground  glass,  stan- 
dard red,  pink,  three  shades  of  green,  yellow,  neutral  tint, 
two  shades  of  blue,  and  white.  The  candidate  need,  how- 
ever, only  name  the  ground  glass,  the  standard  red,  and 
the  standard  green. 

Clearly,  with  such  tests  as  these,  the  colour-blind  may 
easily  escape  detection. 

The  Board  of  Trade  return  relative  to  colour  tests  for 
the  year  ending  May  31, 1891,  shows  that  out  of  4688  can- 
didates who  presented  themselves  for  masters'  and  mates' 
certificates,  31  were  rejected  on  account  of  deficient 
colour  sense.  That  these  should  be  rejected  after  serving 
an  apprenticeship  to  the  sea,  is  manifestly  unfair.  The 
test  should  be  applied  at  the  commencement  of  their 
nautical  career,  and  not  when  the  initial  stage  is 
passed.  Four  of  the  31  were  reported  as  passing  on  sub- 
sequently undergoing  examination,  although  medical 
expert  opinion  is  emphatic  in  stating  that  colour-blind- 
ness is  absolutely  incurable.  Perhaps  it  may  be  that  the 
examiners  were  disposed,  by  their  leniency  in  passing 
young  men  whose  previous  "  failure  in  colours "  proved 
them  colour-blind,  to  atone  in  some  slight  form  for  the 
bad  system  which  allows  lads  to  spend  the  best  years  of 
their  life  in  mastering  the  irksome  details  of  a  profession, 
before  it  informs  them  that  they  are  visually  unfitted  for 
it.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  investigation  into  the 
whole  system  of  colour-testing  at  present  being  con- 
ducted by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Royal  Society, 
may  lead  to  thorough  and  effective  reforms. 

T.  H.  BlCKERTON. 


ON  VAN  DER  WAALS'S  TREATMENT  OF 
LAPLACE'S  PRESSURE  IN  THE  VI RIAL 
EQUATION:   A  LETTER  TO  PROF,  TAIT, 

MY  DEAR  PROF.  TAIT,— I  gather  from  your  letter 
of  September  28  (Nature,  October  8,  p.  546)  that 
you  admit  the  correctness  of  Van  der  Waals's  deduction 
from  the  virial  equation  (i)  when  the  particles  are  infinitely 
small,  in  which  case 


(/>  +  ^.)  *  =  iSw/V' .   ....    (I) 


a  representing  a  cohesive  force,  whose  range  is  great  in 
comparison  with  molecular  distances  ;  and  (2)  when,  in 
the  absence  of  a  cohesive  force,  the  volume  of  the  particles 
is  small  in  comparison  with  the  total  volume  Vy  in  which 
case  the  virial  of  the  repulsive  forces  at  impact  gives 

p{,v-b)^}fim\!' (2) 

For  hard  spherical  masses,  the  value  of  b  is  four  limes 
the  total  volume  of  the  sphere.     But  you  ask,  "  How  can 

NO.    II 47,  VOL.  44] 


the  actor  (t/  —  ^)/7',  which  Van  der  Waals  introduces  on 
the  eft  (in  the  first  case)  in  consequence  of  the  finite 
dian  eters  of  the  particles,  be  justifiably  applied  to  the 
term  in  K  (or  a\v^]  as  well  as  to  that  in/  ?" 

In  my  first  letter  I  desired  to  avoid  the  complication 
entailed  by  the  consideration  of  the  finite  size  of  the 
particles  ;  but  it  appears  to  me  that  the  argument  there 
given  (after  Van  der  Waals)  suffices  to  answer  your 
question.  For,  if  the  cohesive  force  be  of  the  character 
supposed,  it  exercises  no  influence  upon  any  particle  in 
the  interior,  and  is  completely  accounted  for  by  the  addi- 
tion to/  of  alv"'.  In  so  far,  therefore,  as  (2)  is  correct 
when  there  is  no  cohesive  force,  the  effect  of  such  is 
properly  represented  by 


(^  +  ^2)(^-*)=i2'«V» 


(3) 


in  which  b  is  to  be  multiplied  by  ^/z/',  as  well  as  by  p. 

Yours  very  truly, 
October  13.  Rayleigh. 


NOTES. 

At  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  on  Monday,  when  the 
Harveian  Oration  was  delivered  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Dickinson,  the 
Baly  Medal  was  given  to  Prof.  Michael  Foster  for  distinction  in 
physiology ;  the  Morgan  Medal  to  Sir  Alfred  Garrod  for  dis- 
tinction in  clinical  medicine. 

Dr.  Dickinson,  in  the  Harveian  Oration,  presented  an 
admirably  clear  and  vigorous  account  of  Harvey's  great 
discovery,  and  of  the  scientific  results  to  which  it  has  led. 
The  earliest  and  most  important  of  these  results  was  the 
completion  of  Harvey's  work  by  the  discovery  of  thi  capil- 
lary system  by  Malpighi,  who  was  born  in  the  year  in  which 
Harvey  published  his  famous  treatise.  "  Harvey,"  said  Dr. 
Dickinson,  *'  had  never  seen  a  capillary,  nor  did  the  state  of  the 
microscope  in  his  time  allow  of  it.  He  was  fain  to  conclude 
that  the  blood  passed  from  the  arteries  to  the  veins  partly  by 
anastomoses  hut  mainly  by  percolation,  as  water,  to  quote  his 
own  illustration,  percolates  the  earth  and  produces  springs  and 
rivulets.  Had  it  been  possible,  we  may  imagine  the  delight 
with  which  he  would  have  witnessed  the  completion  by  vessels 
of  his  circular  route."  Dr.  Dickinson  also  referred,  among 
other  results  of  Harvey's  discovery,  to  embolism,  and  to  our 
knowledge  of  inflammation,  or  at  least  as  much  of  it  as  con- 
cerns the  capillaries.  In  conclusion,  he  said  : — **  Knowledge 
has  been  advancing  since  Harvey's  time  in  many  and  inde- 
pendent lines ;  the  achievements  of  Bell,  Bright,  and  Addison 
had  no  direct  connection  with  his,  but  it  is  not  too  much  to 
assert  that  the  medicine  of  to-day  is  scarcely  less  permeated 
w  ith  the  results  of  Harvey's  discovery  than  is  the  human  body 
with  the  circulation  he  discovered.  It  does  not  make  him 
small  to  say  that  what  he  found  out  must  have  come  to  light 
had  he  never  lived.  If  Columbus  had  not  discovered  America 
some  one  else  must  have  done  so  before  now.  The  law  of 
gravity  might  even  have  been  revealed  in  the  fulness  of  time  to 
another  if  not  to  Newton.  Bat  the  discoverer  is  before  his 
time ;  in  this  lies  one  measure  of  his  praise ;  another,  and  a 
more  important  one,  is  in  the  results  of  his  discovery." 

The  Electrical  Exhibition,  to  be  opened  at  the  Crystal 
Palace  on  January  i  next,  promises  to  be  one  of  great  interest 
and  importance.  The  requests  for  space — which  already  exceed 
a  total  of  200 — include  electric  lighting  plants  for  country  and 
town  houses,  for  mines,  for  steamships,  for  railway  trains,  and 
even  for  private  carriages.  There  are  also  included  the  newest 
forms  of  motors,  generators,  accumulators,  and  other  machinery 
employed  for  producing  and  storing  electricity.  Several  of  th**^ 
more  important  exhibits  at  the  Frankfort  Exhibition  will   be 


59« 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


transfeired  to  the  Crystal  Palace.  The  apparatus  section  will 
include  a  complete  set  of  Sir  William  Thomson's  standard 
electric  instruments,  new  electro-medical  and  electro-thermic 
apparatus,  the  latest  improvements  in  telephony  and  telegraphy, 
and  also  the  most  recent  electrical  appliances  for  war  purposes, 
blasting,  signalling,  &c.  Special  buildings  are  now  in  course  of 
erection  for  boilers  and  other  heavy  machinery. 

The  Municipality  of  Genoa  has  voted  the  sum  of  15,000  lire 
in  aid  of  the  International  Botanical  Congress  which  is  to  be 
held  in  that  city  in  September  1892  to  celebrate  the  fourth 
centenary  of  the  discovery  of  America. 

The  French  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  will 
meet  at  £esan9on  in  1893. 

The  Russian  Geographical  Socie'y  has  awarded  its  great 
Constantine  Medal  to  Prof.  Sludsky  for  his  researches  into  the 
figure  of  the  earth  and  his  geodetical  work  generally.  Another 
Constantine  Medal  has  been  given  to  Prof.  Pontehnya  for  his 
researches  into  the  ethnography  and  the  languages  of  the  Great 
Russians,  the  Little  Russians,  and  other  Slavonians.  His  two 
works  on  the  Russian  grammar  far  surpass  all  previous  works  of 
the  kind,  not  only  in  the  number  of  examples  but  in  the  novelty 
and  importance  of  his  conclusions  as  to  the  structure  of  the 
Russian  and  other  Slavonian  languages ;  while  his  works  on 
Great  and  Little  Russian  folk-lore  are  full  of  new  and  profound 
observations.  The  Count  Liitke's  medal  has  been  awarded  to 
S.  D.  Rylke  for  an  elaborate  work  on  the  determinations  of 
longitudes  in  Russia  by  means  of  the  telegraph ;  the  probable 
error  of  the  chief  determinations  does  not  exceed  o'oi6  of  a 
second  of  time.  Another  work  of  the  same  geodesist  deals  with 
the  possible  errors  of  levellings,  as  dependent  upon  temperature  ; 
they  appear  considerably  to  exceed  those  admitted  in  the  best 
treatises  on  this  subject.  We  also  learn  from  Mr.  Rylke's  re- 
searches that  the  level  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  as  deduced  from  long 
series  of  observations,  r^ularly  sinks  in  the  direction  from  north 
to  south.  Other  gold  medals  have  been  awarded  to  Rovinsky, 
for  a  work  on  the  geography  and  history  of  Montenegro  ;  to  M. 
Filipoff,  for  researches  into  the  changes  of  the  level  of  the  Caspian 
Sea  ;  to  M.  Obrulcheflf,  for  a  geological  and  orographical  sketch 
of  the  Transca^pian  region  ;  and  to  M.  Priklonsky,  for  a  work  on 
the  Yakutes.  Some  silver  medals  have  been  awarded  for  works, 
chiefly  in  ethnography,  of  minor  importance. 

Dr.  A.  R.  Forsyth,  F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  M.  J.  M.  Hill  have 
been  nominated  to  fill  up  ihe  vacancies  caused  by  the  retirement 
of  Dr.  Hirst,  F.  R.S.,  anJ  Mr.  Lachlan  from  the  Council  of  the 
London  Mathematical  Society. 

Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  has  returned  to  England  from  South 
Africa,  where  he  has  been  at  work  on  behalf  of  the  British 
South  Africa  Company.  Accompanied  by  Mr.  Grant,  a  son 
of  Colonel  Grant,  he  crossed  the  plateau  between  Lake  Nyassn 
and  Lake  Bangweolo,  and  we  learn  from  the  Times  that  he 
has  been  able  to  make  important  rectifications  in  the  geography 
of  the  Bangweolo  region.  The  lake,  as  shown  in  our  maps,  is 
incorrectly  laid  down,  mainly  because  the  one  definite  and 
precise  observation  taken  by  Livingstone  has  not  been  adhered 
to.  The  lake  is  re  illy  only  a  backwater  of  the  Chambeze  (the 
source  of  the  Congo),  which  enters  from  the  east,  and  issues 
from  the  west  of  the  lake  as  the  Luapula.  I'he  lake,  in  fact, 
lies  in  a  very  slight  depression  of  the  plateau  to  the  north  of  the 
Chambeze- Luapula.  Even  in  the  rainy  season  Mr.  Thomson 
believes  the  lake  does  not  exceed  23  feet  at  its  deepest.  The 
southern  shores  are  clothed  with  forests,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Mr.  Thomson  encamped  far  within  the  bed  of  the  lake  as 
it  is  laid  down  in  most  maps.  In  the  rainy  season  the  water  of 
the  lake  spreads  out,  and  covers  for  some  distance  the  ground 
on  which  the  forest  stands. 

NO.    I  147,  VOL.  44] 


Mr.  W.  L.  Sclater,  the  (Deputy  Superinteodoit  of  the 
Indian  Museum,  Calcutta,  will  proceed  to  Upper  Aram  is 
December  next,  upon  a  collecting  expeditian  for  the  bneft  of 
the  Museum.  From  Makum  he  will  ascend  the  DihiDgrivcarm 
boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dapha,  one  of  its  conflaents  from  the 
north,  and  establish  his  camp  at  some  convenient  spot  in  the 
Dapha  valley.  At  the  head  of  the  Dapha  valley  rises  Dapha 
Bum,  a  mountain  of  some  15  000  feet  in  altitude,  on  the  frootien 
of  Chinese  territory,  so  that  there  is  a  good  prospect  of  the 
occurrence  of  Chinese  forjas  in  the  district.  The  Dapha 
valley  has  been  described  geographically  by  Mr.  S.  £.  Peal, 
who  visited  it  in  1882  (see  J.  A.S.B.,  liL,  pt.  2,  p.  7),  bat  ka» 
not  been  much  explored  zoologically.  Mr.  Sclater  will  psy 
special  attention  to  mammals  and  birds. 

Mr.  Frank  H.  Bigelow,  who  has  been  acting  as  asasUat 
in  the  U.S.  Nauiical  Office,  has  been  appointed  to  a  DevlJ^ 
created  professorship  in  the  American  Weather  Burean.  His 
work  will  relate  to  terrestrial  magnetism  and  solar  plijsia^ 
especially  in  their  relation  to  meteorology. 

News  has  been  received  of  M.  Paul  Maury,  who  started  in 
March  last  year  for  a  tmtanical  expedition  in  Mexico,  and  of 
whom  nothing  had  been  heard  since  his  departure.  He  appears 
to  have  made  a  successful  exploration  of  the  province  of 
Huasteca. 

Dr.  S.  Winogradsky,  of  Zurich,  has  been  appointed 
director  of  the  scientific  bacteriological  section  of  the  near 
Bacteriological  Institute  at  St.  Petersburg. 

A  NOTic  e  which  will  be  read  with  interest  by  owoeisof  gems 
has  been  issued  by  Dr.  A.  Brezina,  the  Director  of  the  Miaezal 
Department  of  the  Natural  History  Maseam  at  VieoM.  It 
relates  to  the  doings  of  a  young  man  who,  on  September  26, 
contrived  to  conceal  himself  in  the  Department  just  before  the 
time  for  the  closing  of  the  Museum.  He  was  caught,  andfonnd 
to  be  armed  with  a  revolver,  and  to  have  in  his  possession  files 
and  other  implements.  He  had  also  in  his  possession  oearlf 
600  gems,  some  of  them  cut,  but  the  majority  in  their  naioral 
state.  He  has  a  passport,  in  which  lie  is  described  as  Hugo 
Kahn,  of  Berlin;  but  he  has  also  called  himself  Krony,  Kronek, 
Kornak,  Kronicsalsky.  His  age  is  twenty-four  ;  he  measure  in 
height  170  cm. ;  he  is  slender,  has  a  longish,  handsome  fiue,  is 
of  a  brownish  complexion,  has  dark  hair,  grey  eyes,  and  a  light' 
brown  beard,  which  is  of  feeble  growth.  Upon  the  whole,  he 
is  an  attractive-looking  person.  He  has  made  several  jouneys 
in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy  ;  and  between  the 
middle  of  July  last  and  the  beginning  of  September  he  travelled 
through  Pyrmont,  Ems,  Strasburg,  Basel,  Milan,  Genoa,  Nice, 
Monaco,  Genoa,  Venice,  to  Vienna.  Most  of  the  gems  (the 
names  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  a  rock  crystal,  he  does  not 
know)  he  professes  to  have  bought  from  a  barber  in  Marseilles. 
As  it  is  important  that  the  former  owner  or  owners  should  be 
known,  Dr.  Brezina  prints  a  list  of  the  gems,  with  the  request 
that  anyone  who  has  information  about  them  will  communicate 
with  him. 

On  Monday  the  centenary  of  the  Royal  Veterinary  College  ia 
Great  College  Street,  Camden  Town,  was  celebrated  by  a 
luncheon  given  in  a  lent  which  had  been  erected  in  front  of  the 
new  buildings.  The  Duke  of  Cambridge,  President  of  the 
College,  took  the  chair,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  among  the 
guests.  In  proposing  the  toast,  *' Success  and  continued  pros- 
perity to  the  institution,"  the  Prince  of  Wales  contrasted  the 
important  position  of  the  College  at  the  present  day  with  its 
humble  beginnings  a  hundred  years  ago. 

We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Percy  W.  MyH 
of  Blight's  disease,  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty- 


October  22,  i8yi] 


NA  TURE 


599 


two,  ftt  Ealing,  on  October  7.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
ability  bolh  in  literary  and  scientific  pursuits.  lie  was  a 
good  botanist,  and  proved  himself  a  roost  able  editor  of  Nature 
Notes,  the  journal  of  the  Selbome  Society.  The  work  with 
which  his  name  will  be  identified  is  the  "Pronouncing 
Dictionary  of  Botanical  Names,"  appended  to  Nicholson's 
•* Dictionary  of  Gardening";  it  is  now  recognised  as  a 
standard  work  by  botanists.  Unfortunately  his  professional 
duties  did  not  enable  him  to  leave  a  margin  ;  so  that  it  is  pro- 
posed to  raise  a  "  Myles  Memorial  Fund "  on  behalf  of  his 
widow  ;  and  any  contributions  will  be  thankfully  received  and 
at  once  acknowledged  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  G.  Ilenslow,  Drayton 
House,  Ealing,  London,  W. 

The  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  has 
issued  a  list  of  subjects  on  which  it  invites  communica- 
tions. The  list  is  to  be  taken  merely  as  suggestive,  not  in 
any  fense  as  exhaustive.  For  approved  papers,  the  Council 
has  the  power  to  award  premiums,  arising  out  of  special  funds 
bequeathed  for  the  purpose.  A  detailed  list  is  given  of  the 
awards  made  for  original  communications  submitted  during  the 
past  session. 

More  than  ten  earthquake  shocks  were  felt  in  the  island  of 
Pantellaria,  between  Sicily  and  the  Tunisian  coast,  between 
5.30  p.m.  and  4  a.m.  on  October  14-15.  Some  of  the  shocks 
were  nither  violent,  and  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  left  their 
houses  and  parsed  the  night  in  the  streets  or  in  the  open  country. 
According  to  intelligence  receiveil  at  the  Central  Meteorological 
Bureau,  Rome,  from  Pantellaria  on  October  18,  shocks  of  earth- 
quake continued  to  be  felt  in  the  island.  A  remarkable  pheno- 
menon is  announced  in  connection  with  these  seismic  distur- 
bances. A  new  volcano  has  risen  from  the  bed  of  the  sea,  not 
far  from  the  coast  of  the  island,  and  has  been  throwing  up 
masses  of  stones  and  rubbish  to  a  considerable  height.  A 
■"slight  eruption"  from  it  was  referred  to  in  a  telegram  sent 
from  Rome  on  October  20. 

Last  winter  there  were  some  reports  that  sunset  phenomena 
had  greatly  increased  in  brilliancy,  as  if  something  similar  to 
the  optical  disturbance  following  the  Krakatab  eruption  had 
occurred.  Herr  Busch  has  remarked  {Mtt,  Zeit.)  how  difficult 
it  is  to  recognize  gradual  variations  in  such  phenomena,  or  to 
say  where  they  pass  beyond  the  normal.  Even  the  brown-red 
Bishop's  ring  may  be  legarded  as  quite  normal  in  winter.  A 
much  more  sure  method  of  finding  an  optical  disturbance  of  the 
atmosphere  is  measurement  of  the  polarization  of  light.  Herr 
Busch  has  carried  this  on  systematically  for  some  years  with  a 
Savart  polariscope,  and  a  simple  instrument  for  measuring  angles, 
determining  the  height  of  the  two  neutral  points  (Babinet's  and 
Arago's)  at  sunset.  Now,  the  values  for  this  height,  in  February 
and  May  last,  considerably  exceed  those  obtained  in  the  three 
previous  years,  and  come  near  those  in  1886,  when  the  last 
traces  of  the  great  atmos|<heric  disturbance  were  still  everywhere 
perceptible.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  some  optical  disturbance 
has  been  really  present,  the  beginning,  extent,  and  cause  of 
which,  however,  are  in  obscurity.  Thedesirability  of  systematic 
observations  in  different  places  is  pointed  out. 

lNotirissueofOctober8(p.  549)  we  drew  attention  to  three  atlases 
issued  by  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  U.S.  Army.  We  have 
now  to  record  the  publication,  dated  June  15  last,  of  an  atlas 
containing  seventy-two  charts  showing  the  normal  temperature 
conditions  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  by  decades,  three 
deeades  to  each  month,  for  8h.  a.m.  and8h.  p.m.,  Washington 
time.  Although  the  Signal  Service  has  been  in  existence  up- 
wards of  twenty  years,  it  had  not  before  been  able  to  accumulate 
sufficient  actual  observations  at  any  one  hour,  or  set  of  hours, 
from  which  normal  values  could  be  derived.  The  values  and 
isotherms  contained  in  the  present  atlas  are  based  upon  nine 

NO.   1 147,  VOL.  44] 


years'  observations,  1881-89.  The  charts  have  been  carefully 
prepared,  for  the  work  of  the  Forecast  Division,  and  will  also  be 
vei7  useful  in  furnishing  general  information  upon  the  average 
temperature  of  North  America.  The  work  has  been  prepared 
under  the  supervision  of  General  Grecly,  although  issued  by  the 
new  Weather  Bureau. 

The  Ealing  Middlesex  County  Times  (October  17)  prints  the 
following  account  of  an  incident  which  occurred  at  "The 
Grange,"  the  residence  of  Mr.  Yates  Neill,  Ealing,  on  Wednes- 
day, October  14  : — **  It  appears  that  during  Tuesday  night  a  large 
branch  of  one  of  the  magnificent  chestnut  trees  standing  in  the 
ground  was  broken  off  by  the  force  of  the  wind,  and  fell  on  two 
stripling  chestnut  trees  near  the  wall.  On  Wedhesday  momhig, 
the  gardener,  a  man  named  Parker,  was  engaged  in  sawing  the 
detached  bough,  Mr.  Delancey  Neill  and  Mr.  Verlie  Neill 
watching  the  operation.  Just  before  noon,  the  first-named 
gentleman  saw  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  a  ball  of  fire  fall, 
and  striking  the  tree  in  an  oblique  direction,  alight  on  the 
ground  within  two  or  three  yards  of  where  the  three  were 
standing,  whence  it  rebounded  and  exploded  with  a  sound  like 
dynamite.  Although  neither  of  them  was  struck,  the  shock 
was  so  great  that  for  a  time  all  three  were  dazed,  Mr.  Vertle 
Neill,  indeed,  being  thrown  down,  and  rolling  over  two  or 
three  times.  His  brother  was  the  first  to  recover  from  the 
shock,  and  promptly  went  to  his  help,  and  he  was  removed  to 
the  house,  where  the  feeling  of  dizziness  speedily  wore  off;  and 
beyond  somewhat  severe  headaches,  which  lasted  for  some 
hours,  neither  of  the  gentlemen  nor  the  gardener  appeared  to 
have  suffered  any  ill  effects.  The  trunk  of  the  tree  struck  by 
the  meteor  presents  the  appearance  of  having  been  burned  in  a 
zigzag  direction  for  a  distance  of  some  20  or  30  feet." 

Most  people  who  visit  Greece  devote  their  attention  mainly 
to  the  remains  of  ancient  art.  Dr.  Philippson,  of  Berlin,  is  of 
opinion  that  they  might  also  with  advantage  spend  sone  time  in 
climbing  the  mountains  of  Greece.  In  the  Zei^schrift  des 
Detttscken  und  Oesterreichischen  AJpjnvereins  he  deals  with 
the  subject  in  a  capital  paper,  which  has  been  issued  separately. 
He  gives  an  attractive  account  of  his  own  experiences  in  climb- 
ing Mount  Chelmos,  in  the  Peloponnese,  describing  admirably 
the  impression  produced  upon  him  by  the  Styx.  Dr.  Philippson 
shows  that  in  the  Highlands  of  Greece  there  is  still  much  good 
work  to  be  done  in  topography,  geology,  and  meteorology  ;  and 
he  sees  no  reason  why  some  of  it  should  not  be  accomplished 
by  tourists. 

Messrs.  W.  H.  Allen  and  Co.  have  published  a  second 
edition  of  the  late  Mr.  R.  A.  Proctor's  "  Other  Suns  than  Ours." 

The  new  numl)er  of  the  Internationa'es  'Archiv  fiir  Ethny- 
graphie  opens  with  a  most  interesting  paper  (in  German)  by  Dr. 
I.  Zemmrich  on  *' The  Islands  of  the  Dead,  and  related  Geo- 
graphical Myths.''  The  author  shows  how  widely  diffused  is  the 
belief  that  there  are  far-off  happy  islands,  where  all  sorts  of 
enjoyments  are  in  store  for  the  dead  ;  and  he  suggests  that 
Atlantis,  ab)ut  which  so  much  has  been  ^^ritten,  was  originally 
one  of  these  mythical  realms.  Dr.  J.  Jacobs  concludes  his 
critical  examination  (in  Dutch)  of  Dr.  Ploss's  view  of  the 
significance  of  circumcision. 

Mr.  G.  J.  Symons,  F.  R.S.,  contributes  to  the  current  number 
of  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Royal  Meteorological  Society  a 
learned  paper  on  the  history  of  rain-gauges.  It  was  read  before 
the  Society  on  March  18,  in  connection  with  the  annual 
exhibition,  and  is  one  of  the  series  in  which  hygrometers, 
anemometers,  instruments  for  travellers,  thermometers,  sunshine 
recorder?,  barometers,  marine  instrument^,  apparatus  for 
studying  atmospheric  electricity,  solar  radiation  instruments, 
and  the  application  of  photography  to  meteorology,  have  been 


6oo 


NA  rURE 


[October  22,  1891 


successively  dealt  with.  Among  the  remaining  contents  of  the 
number  are  papers  on  the  following  subjects :  meteorological 
photography,  by  A.  W.  Clayden ;  on  the  variations  of  the 
rainfall  at  Cherra  Poonjee,  in  the  Khav  Hills,  Assam  (plate), 
by  H.  F.  Blanford,  F.R.S. ;  some  remarkable  features  in  the 
winter  of  1890-91  (four  illustrations),  by  F.  J.  Brodie  ;  the  rain- 
fall of  February  1891,  by  H.  S.  Wallis  ;  "South-east  Frosts," 
with  special  reference  to  the  frost  of  1890-91,  by  the  Rev. 
F.  W.  Stow. 

In  the  latest  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Philosophical 
Society,  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton  gives  some 
vocabularies  from  the  Musquito  Coast.  He  obtained  them  from 
the  Rev.  \V.  Siebarger,  a  missionary  of  the  United  Brethren,  now 
resident  in  that  region.  The  most  important  of  the  vocabularies 
is  a  list  of  words  from  the  language  of  the  Ramas  tribe,  the  only 
specimen  of  their  tongue  Dr.  Brinton  has  ever  secured.  These 
people  live  on  a  small  island  in  Blom  field  lagoon.  There  are  at 
present  about  250  of  them.  All  of  them  have  been  converted 
to  Christianity,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  very  old 
persons,  are  able  to  speak  and  read  English.  Their  native 
language  is  rapidly  disappearing,  and  in  a  few  years,  probably, 
no  one  will  use  it  fluently  and  correctly.  They  are  large  and 
strongly  built,  and  are  described  as  submissive  and  teachable. 
Their  language  has  always  been  regarded  as  wholly  different 
from  that  of  the  Musquito  Indians,  who  occupy  the  adjacent 
mainland  ;  and  Ibis  is  sho\\  n  to  be  correct  by  the  specimen  sent  to 
Dr.  Brinton.  It  bears  no  relation,  he  says,  to  any  other  tongue 
along  the  Musquito  Coast.  It  does  not,  hoA'ever,  stand  alone, 
constituting  an  independent  stock,  but  is  clearly  a  branch,  not 
very  remote,  of  a  family  of  languages  once  spoken  near  Chiriqui 
lagoon,  and  thence  across— or  nearly  across — to  the  Pacific. 

The  Penang  Administration  Report  for  1890  contains  some  in- 
teresting observations  on  the  little-known  aborigines  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula.  Observations  made  during  the  course  of  the  year  go 
to  show  that  the  Sakai  (as  distinguished  from  the  Semang,  or 
Pangan,  as  the  Negrito  tribes  are  called  by  the  Malays  of  Perak 
and  Pahang  respectively)  are  far  more  numerous  than  was  for- 
merly supposed,  and  the  President  U  of  opinion  that  there  may 
be  more  than  5000  men,  women,  and  children  in  the  district  of 
Ulu  Pahang  alone.  The  country  on  both  sides  of  the  mountain 
range,  which  forms  the  watershed  of  the  Jelai,  S^Iom,  Btdor, 
and  Kampar  rivers,  is  thickly  inhabited  by  Sakai,  who,  although 
one  or  two  large  villages  exist,  live  for  the  most  part  in  groups 
of  from  two  to  three  families.  These  Sakai  are  divided  into 
two  distinct  tribes,  called  by  themselves  Sen  oi  and  Ten-be 
respectively,  the  former  being  the  more  civilized  and  more  ac- 
cessible tribe,  while  the  latter  are  but  little  known  to  the  Malays. 
Both  the  Tembe  and  Sen-oi  dialects,  however,  resemble  one 
another  so  closely  that  it  would  seem  to  b^  evident  that  they 
originally  sprang  from  the  same  source.  Words  to  express  any 
numerals  higher  than  three  are  not  found  in  the  dialect  of  either 
tribe. 

The  mareograph  in  the  harbour  of  Pola,  according  to  Lieut. 
Gratzl  {Met.  Zeitsch.),  often  shows,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
tidal  curve,  certain  more  or  less  regular  oscillations,  generally 
wiih  a  period  of  about  15  minutes  (some  with  one  of  7  minutes). 
These  appear  to  be  of  the  nature  of  seiches,  and  to  be  caused  by 
squalls,  which  drive  water  from  the  open  sea  into  the  partly 
inclosed  basin  of  the  harbour,  where  it  rises  as  a  wave,  retires, 
rises  again  to  a  less  height  (as  only  part  of  the  surplus  water 
escapes),  and  so  on.  Thus,  in  the  evening  of  July  6,  1890, 
after  a  stiff  west-north-west  squall,  there  were  eight  pronounced 
oscillations,  the  strongest  showing  about  1*4  inch  difference  of 
level  in  16  minutes.  In  another  case,  the  harbour  level  rose 
higher  than  it  had  done  for  15  years.  The  latter  squall  (a 
strong  south-west  one)  affected  al<io   the   Trieste  mireograph, 

NO.    IT 47.  VOL.  44] 


which  showed  nine  wide  oscillations  with  a  mean  period  of 
I  hour  46  minutes.  Lieut.  Gratzl  suggests  observations  as  to 
whether  sudden  impulses  of  "bora"  against  the  Italian  cotst 
might  not  heap  up  the  water  there,  so  that  a  return  wave  might 
affect  the  Austrian  mareographs ;  also  whether  certain  sudden 
currents  which  injure  fishermen's  nets  in  the  Dalmatian  canals 
may  not  be  connected  with  those  waves. 

A  CAT  bom  with  only  two  legs  (the  fore-legs  being  absent 
from  the  shoulder-blades)  has  been  recently  described  by  Prof. 
Leon  of  Jassy  {Naturw.  Rundsch  ).  It  is  healthy,  and  goes 
about  easily,  the  body  in  normal  position.  When  startled,  or 
watching  anything,  it  raises  itself  to  the  attitude  of  a  kangaroo, 
using  the  tail  as  a  support.  This  animil  has  twice  borne 
kittens ;  in  both  cases  two,  one  of  which  had  four  feet,  Iht 
other  only  two. 

We  learn  from  Dr.  Woeikof 's  notes  of  a  journey  in  the 
Caucasus  published  in  the  Russian  Izvestia^  that  the  Rassitn 
Ministry  of  Ways  and  Communications  has  issued  a  very  in- 
teresting work  on  the  snow-slips  of  the  Kazbek  glaciers,  accom- 
panied by  an  atlas  of  maps  and  plans.  Careful  measurements 
of  the  variations  in  the  position  of  the  lowest  end  of  the 
Devdorak  glacier  since  1878  have  been  made,  and  the  resolts 
are  given  in  the  atlas.  A  house  has  been  recently  built  close 
to  the  glacier,  and  it  is  c  )nnected  by  a  road  (available  for  hoises) 
with  the  villages  beneath.  An  experienced  guide,  who  b 
bound  to  accompany  the  men  of  science  and  tourists  who  may 
intend  to  vi^it  the  glacier,  stays  in  the  house. 

A  KIND  of  artificial  honey  which  has  lately  been  produced 
seems  likely  to  become  a  formidable  rival  of  natural  honey.  It 
is  called  **  sugar  honey,"  and  consists  of  water,  sugar,  a  small 
proportion  of  mineral  salts,  and  a  free  acid ;  and  the  taste  and 
smell  resemble  those  of  the  genuine  article.  Herr  T.  Weigle 
brought  the  subject  before  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Bavarian 
Association  of  the  Representatives  of  Applied  Chemistry,  and 
there  is  a  paragraph  about  it  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  Journal. 

Rats  at  Aden  appear  to  have  a  vigorous  appetite,  and  to 
adopt  .remarkable  ways  of  gratifying  it.  Captain  R.  light, 
writing  on  the  subject  from  Aden  to  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay 
Natural  History  Society,  says  the  rats  in  his  house— which  is 
overrun  with  them — demolish  skins,  braces,  whips,  &c ;  and 
one  night  he  awoke,  feeling  a  rat  gnawing  at  his  toes.  This 
happened  in  spite  of  a  dog  (a  good  ratter)  being  in  the  room. 
Captain  Light  was  lately  watching  his  pony  being  shod,  and 
noticed  the  hoof  apparently  cut  away  all  round  the  coronet, 
wherever  it  was  soft.  He  accused  the  •*  nalband  **  of  doing  this 
in  addition  to  the  usual  rasping  of  the  hoof  to  suit  the  shoe. 
The  "syce"  said  that  the  rats  had  done  it,  and  that  they  came  at 
night  and  ate  away  not  only  the  pony's  hoofs  but  those  of  the 
goat  and  kid,  and  that  these  animals  were  greatly  tormented  by 
the  rats.  Captain  Light  examined  the  hoofs,  and  found  beyond 
doubt  that  such  was  the  case,  the  marks  of  the  teeth  being 
plain  ;  moreover,  he  found  that  the  horns  of  the  kid,  which  had 
been  about  half  an  inch  high,  were  eaten  flush  with  the  head. 
Next  morning,  too,  a  large  rat  was  discovered  in  the  bedding 
under  the  horse.  It  had  evidently  been  killed  by  a  kick  from 
him. 

Two  new  methods  of  preparing  azoimide,  NjH,  the  hydride 
of  nitrogen  isolated  last  year  by  Prof.  Curtius,  of  Kiel,  have 
been  discovered.  As  announced  at  the  time  in  Nature  (vol 
xliii.  p.  21),  Prof.  Curtius  prepared  this  remarkable  compound 
by  reacting  with  his  previously  isolated  hydrazine  hydrate, 
N2H4.  H,0,  upon  hippuric  acid,  converting  the  hydrazme  de- 
rivative thus  obtained  into  its  nitroso- derivative,  and  decompos- 
ing an  alkaline  solution  of  the  latter  with  sulphuric  add.  An 
I  aqueous  solution  of  azoimide  was  obtained  upon  distilling  the 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


601 


product  of  the  latter  operation.  In  order  to  obtain  the  free 
compoand  itself,  the  silver  salt  was  prepared  by  allowing  the 
distillate  to  flow  into  a  solution  of  silver  nitrate,  and  the  preci- 
pitated silver  salt,  after  drying,  was  decomposed  with  sulphuric 
acid.  In  a  subsequent  communication  (comp.  Nature,  vol. 
xliii.p.  378),  Prof.  Curtius,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Radenhausen, 
showed  that  the  pure  compound  was  a  very  volatile  liquid,  boiling 
at  37°,  and  of  feai  fully  explosive  properties.  In  the  current 
number  of  the  Berichte^  Drs.  Noelting  and  Grandmougin,  of 
Miilhausen,  publish  a  preliminary  note,  in  which  they  describe 
a  new,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  constitution  most 
important,  method  of  preparing  the  liquid.    The  phenyl  ester  of 

azoimide  is  the  diazobenzene  imide  of  Griess,  Cells — N^  |  , 

^N 

just  as  chlorbenzene  is  the  phenyl  ester  of  hydrochloric  acid. 
In  view  of  the  great  stability  of  the  esters  of  aromatic  radicles, 
it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  diazobenzene  imide  wou'd 
yield    azoimide    upon     saponification.       But     Drs.     Noelting 
and    Grandmougin     considered    that     it    might     be    passible 
to   obtain    the    latter    by    decomposing  a  nitro- derivative   of 
diazobenzene   imide   by   means  of  alkalies,   inasmuch  as    the 
introducti  )n  of   nitro-groups   generally  effects    a    considerable 
increase  in  the  mobility  of  the  acid  radicle,  rendering  its  removal 
by  processes  of  saponification  much  less  difficult.     They  there- 
fore prepared  the  dinitro- derivative  of  diazobenzene  imide  from 
dinitro-aniline  by  means  of  the  usual  diazo- reaction — conversion 
into  the  perbromide,  and  treating  whh  ammonia.    \Vh<.n  treated 
with  alcoholic  potash,  this  dinitro-diazobenzene  imide  readily 
decomposes  into  the  potassium  salt  of  dinitro-phenol  and  azo- 
imide.   Upon  acidifying  the  product  of  the  reaction  and  subject- 
ing it  to  distillation,  an  aqneons  solution  of  azoimide  passes 
over,  which  may  be  converted  into  the  anhydrous  liquid  by  the 
melh  .d  described  by  Prof.  Carlius.     The  properties  of  the  an- 
hydrous azoimide  obtained  by  this  new  method  agree  completely 
with  those  detailed  by  Prof.  Curtius. 

The  second  new  method  of  preparing  azoimide  was  com- 
municated by  Dr.  Thiele,  of  Ilalle,  at  the  Versammlung 
deutscher  Nalurforscher  und  Acrzte,  held  in  that  city  in  Sept- 
ember last.     In  the  course  of  an  investigation  of  the  compounds 

/Nil, 
of  guanidine,     nitro  guanidine     was    obtained,     C     N— NO^. 

\NH, 

Upon  treating  this  compound  with  acetic  acid  and  zinc  dust,  it 
19  reduced  to  amido-guanidine,  a  substance  which  foims  well- 
crystallized  salts.  By  boiling  the  latter  with  soda,  decomposi- 
tion ensues,  wiih  formation  of  free  hydrazine,  NjH^,  which  may 
be  very  conveniently  prepared  by  this  method.  Upon  sul»jecting 
the  nitrate  to  the  diazo-reaction,  the  diazo-nitrate  of  guanidine 

is   obtained,    C^V — N     N — NOj.      This   compound    readilv 

\NH 

breaks  up  on  warming  into  two  compounds,   one  of  which  is 

azoimide,   and  the  other  a   complex  acid  of  the  composition 

C=N N 

CNsH*,  and  the  curious  constitution   |  |  ||  .     The  azo^ 

NHo  NH— N 

imide  may  be  obtained  by  distillation  in  a  manner  similar  to 
that  described  above. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Bonnet  Monkey  {Macacus  sinicus  6 )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  Harrow;  a  Macaque  Monkey 
{Macacus  cyftomoigus)  from  India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Cotton  ;  a 
Common  Marmoset  {HapaU  jacchus)  from  South- East  Brazil, 
presented  by  Mrs.  Trelawny ;  a  Gannet  {Sula  bassana),  British, 
presented  by  Mr.  J.  Hitchman  ;  a  Smooth  Snake  {Coronella 
fatns)  from  Hampshire,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Adams ;  ten 
Smooth  Snakes  (Coronclla  lavis),  born  in  the  Gardens. 

KO.    1147,  VOL.  44] 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Distribution  of  Lunar  Heat. — Mr.  Frank  H.  Very's 
essay  on  the  distribution  of  the  moon's  heat  and  its  variation 
with  the  phase,  which  gained  the  prize  of  the  Utrecht  Society  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  in  1890,  has  recently  been  published.  A 
bolometer  in  connection  with  a  very  sensitive  galvanometer  was 
used  in  the  rest  arch,  and  the  plan  has  been  to  project  an  image 
of  the  moon  about  3  centimetres  in  dinmefer  by  a  concave 
mirror;  and  to  measure,  not  the  heat  from  the  whole  of  this, 
but  only  that  in  a  limited  part  of  ir,  from  ^  to  ^  of  the  area  of 
the  disk,  the  ol  servations  being  repeated  at  different  points  and 
at  different  phases.  Measures  made  six  houis  after  full  moon 
show  that  the  east  limb  was  hotter  than  the  west  limb  in  the 
proportion  of  92*2  to  88*9.  In  one  observation,  made  a  day 
after  full  moon,  the  excess  of  heat  at  the  east  limb  was  much 
larger.  There  is  a  regular  decreiuent  of  heat  in  passing  from 
higher  to  lower  latitudes,  and  observations  on  this  point  appear 
to  indicate  that  heat  is  accumulated  after  many  days  of  con> 
tinuous  sunshine.  The  heat  in  the  circumferential  zone  of  the 
full  moon  differs  from  that  of  the  centre  by  about  20  per  cent. 
In  this  respect,  therefore,  the  thermal  image  is  like  the  visual 
one.  There  seems  to  lie  soi.e  evidence  that  bright  regions 
radiate  a  little  more  than  dark  during  the  middle  of  the  lunar 
day ;  but  this  is  not  quite  proved,  and  with  a  low  altitude  cf 
the  sun  the  effect  is  reversed.  A  comparison  of  the  curve 
drawn  by  Zollner  for  the  moon's  light  with  that  deduced  from 
Mr.  Very 's  observations  brings  out  the  point  that  visible  ra)s 
form  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  to.al  radiation  at  the  full 
than  at  the  partial  phase<,  the  maximum  for  light  being  much 
more  pronounced  than  that  for  the  heat.  The  diminution  of  the 
heat  Irom  the  full  to  the  third  quarter  is  shown  to  be  slower  than 
its  increase  from  the  first  quarter  to  the  full.  This  result  agrees 
with  that  obtained  at  Lord  Rosse's  Observatory,  and  is  direct 
evidence  of  the  storage  of  heat  by  lunar  rock-. 


by 


GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA. 

'"['*HE  Geological  Society  of  America  met  at  Washington  tn 
•*■       Augusi  24  and  25.     Owing  to  the  death  of  the  Proiileut, 
Prof.    Alexander    Winchell,   Vice-President   Gilbert    took   the 
chair. 

The  metting  was  01  ened  with  an  address  on  the  late  President 
his  brother,  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell.  Alexander  Winchell 
was  born  on  December  31,  1824,  in  Dutcbe^s  County,  N.V., 
and  died  at  Ann  Aibor  on  February  19  la^t.  His  work  was 
many  sided.  He  had  studied  to  be  a  civil  engineer;  had  a 
strong  leaning  towi.rJs  theology.  He  also  read  medicine  and 
was  a  tine  maihemaiician.  He  loved  music,  wrote  poetry,  and 
modelled  in  ciay  and  plaster.  Asa  financial  resource  he  became 
a  teacher,  and  was  very  successful.  lie  became  famous  by  his 
arguments  on  "The  iiible  History  of  the  Creation,"  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Christian  Advocate  '*  Adamites  and  Pre-Adamiies," 
an  exposition  of  Scriptural  and  scientific  harmony.  For  fjur 
years  he  lectured  on  geology  at  Vanderbilt  University.  During 
his  long  connection  witri  the  University  of  Michigan  he 
wrote  many  scientific  articles  of  a  popular  nature,  and  did 
a  great  deal  to  popularize  geological  science.  The  speaker 
spoke  eloquently  of  his  dead  brother's  long  and  splendid  con- 
nection with  the  Ann  Arbor  University.  I  lis  death  was  m  >st 
touchingly  described.  Oddly  enough  the  last  words  he  uttered 
in  public  were  these  :  *'  When  I  speak  to  you  again  it  will  be  of 
the  inhabitants  of  another  world."  He  had  just  finished  his 
weekly  lecture,  and  referietl  in  his  cljsing  sentence  to  the  sub- 
sequent lecture  that  was  never  dclivertd.  He  discovered  many 
new  geological  species,  and  many  other  geologists  testified  their 
admiration  for  him  by  naming  after  him  species  they  discovered. 
His  great  work  for  the  Geological  Society  was  touched  on,  and 
the  speaker  expressed  his  conviction  that  the  next  generation 
would  keenly  feel  the  beneficent  influence  of  his  brother's  work. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  memorial  Prof.  Edward  Orton,  Dr.  C. 
A.  White,  and  Mr.  C.  R.  Van  Hiseweie  appointed  a  committee 
to  draft  resolutions  expressive  of  the  Society's  regret  at  the  death 
of  its  President. 

Prof.  Dr.  Guslav  Steinmann,  of  the  University  of  Freiburg, 
Germany,  read  the  first  paper,  which  consisted  of  the  description 
of  a  geological  map  of  South  America.  A  large  copy  of  the 
map  was  hung  up  beside  the  plaiform,  and  small  replicas  were 
distributed  amor^g  the  audience.  Dr.  Meinmann,  who  is  a 
young,  btaided,  spectacled,  typical  German  student,  was  sent  to 


6o2 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


South  America  by  the  Strasburg  University  some  ten  years 
ago,  and  spent  some  two  years  making  a  most  thorough  research 
in  the  geology  of  the  continent,  the  tangible  result  being  ihe 
remarkably  complete  map  exhibited.  His  researches  in  South 
America  prove  that  there  is  a  most  remarkable  similarity  between 
the  geology  of  the  two  Americas,  and  especially  between  the  geo- 
logy of  the  southern  United  States  and  the  southern  continent. 

The  second  paper  was  by  Dr.  August  Rothpletz,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Munich,  Germany,  on  the  Permian,  Triassic,  and 
Jurassic  formations  in  the  East  Indian  Archipelago.  The 
doctor's  paper  was  devoted  to  the  description  of  soiie  Mesozoic 
and  Palaeozoic  fossils  c dlected  in  two  of  the  Indian  islands  by 
his  friend  Dr.  Wichmann,  during  a  geological  exploration  of 
the  islands.  Dr.  Wichmann  being  geologist  of  the  University 
of  Utrecht,  Holland,  the  collections  were  of  particular  value, 
and  Dr.  Rolhpletz's  description  and  classification  of  them,  to 
which  he  devoted  his  pnper,  was  thorough  and  minute.  He 
took  occasion  to  ridicule  some  of  the  classiBcations  of  fossils 
which  put  them  in  one  category  when  found  in  one  place  and  in 
another  when  found  somewhere  else. 

"  Thermometamorphism  in  Igneous  Rocks"  was  the  title  of 
the  next  paper  presented.  It  was  by  Mr.  Alfred  Harker,  of  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  England,  and  dealt  with  the  effects 
of  high  volcanic  temperatures  in  the  formation  of  rocks.  He 
-described  the  results  of  his  researches  in  the  lake  region  of 
England,  where  the  volcanic  forces  of  nature  were  particularly 
well  marked. 

Prof.  Alexis  Pavlow  of  the  University  of  Moscow,  Russia, 
presented  a  paper  entitled  '*  Sur  les  Couches  Marines  terminant 
•le  Jura^ique  et  commen9ant  le  Cretace,  et  sur  I'Histoire  de 
leur  Faunc." 

Another  paper,  also  in  French,  presented  by  Prof.  Max 
Lohest,  of  the  University  of  Liege,  Belgium,  was  entitled 
''Sur  THomme  ccntemporain  du  Mammouth  en  Belgique." 
The  contemporaneous  existence  of  man  was  supported  by  proofs 
additional  to  those  heretofore  given. 

Baron  Gerald  de  Geer,  of  Sweden,  gave  an  interesting 
account  of  recent  changes  of  level  along  the  sea-board  of  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula. 

The  most  important  new  matter  presented  was  a  paper  on 
**  Foss'l  Fishes  of  the  Lower  Silurian  Rocks  of  Colorado,"  by 
Mr.  C.  D.  Walcott,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
The  discovery  of  the  fossil  fish  remains  is  of  recent  date,  and 
attracts  great  attention  among  zoologists  and  geologists  fronn  its 
•carrying  back  into  the  past,  over  a  great  time  interval,  our 
knowledge  of  vertebrate  life.  They  are  the  oldest  vertebrate 
remains  known,  and  appear  to  be  the  ancestral  types  of  the 
great  ichthyic  fauna  of  the  classic  * '  old  red  sandstone "  of 
Europe,  and  the  Devonian  group  of  America. 

In  the  discussion,  Profs.  Von  Zittel,  Jaekel,  and  F.  Schmidt 
-compared  the  fish  remains  exhibited  with  those  of  the  Devonian, 
and  stated  that  the  Upper  Silurian  types  were  not  represented 
tn  the  fauna. 

Second  Day. — From  the  .committee  appointed  to  draft  ap- 
propriate resolutions  relative  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Alexander 
Winchcll,  the  President  of  the  Society,  Prof.  Orton  made  a 
report  which  was  adopted.  The  resolutions  reported  paid  a  just 
and  touching  tribute  to  the  character  of  the  deceased,  and 
fittingly  acknowledged  the  great  services  which  he  had  rendered 
to  the  science  in  the  course  of  the  forty  years  of  arduous  and 
unremitting  toil  which  he  had  devoted  to  its  investigation.  To 
his  writings  and  lectures  were  attributed  in  a  great  degree  the 
growing  liberality  and  enlargement  of  thought  of  the  more 
senous-minded  portion  of  the  community  in  regard  to  the  theory 
of  organic  evolution  as  presented  by  Darwin  and  his  successors. 
Dr.  Winchell,  the  report  affirmed,  stated  and  defended  with 
marked  ability  and  courage  and  persuasive  power  this  the  most 
characteristic  and  far-reaching  doctrine  of  modem  geological 
science.  *'The  first  enunciation  of  this  doctrine,"  the  report 
stated,  **  was  sure  to  awaken  distrust  and  even  bitter  ho  tility 
among  a  large  class  of  people  because  of  its  apparent  in- 
compatibility V  ith  5ome  of  their  most  fundamental  convictions 
and  belief?.  To  disregard  the  sincere  apprehension  of  this 
great  class,  compri^^ing,  as  it  doe«,  so  much  of  the  moral  and 
intellectual  force  of  the  bidy  politic,  would  be  heartless.  To 
mock  at  its  fears,  ill  founded  though  they  were,  would  be  worse. 
What  worthier  service  to  science  and  the  community  than  to 
disarm  hostility  by  showing  that  the  evolutionary  philosophy,  so 
far  from  degrading  and  dishonouring  man,  makes  him  in  a 
peculiar  sense  the  h?ad  and  crown  of  the  creation?" 

NO.    II 47,  VOL.  44] 


In  seconding  the  resolutions  Dr.  C.  A.  White  paid  a  warm 
tribute  to  Dr.  Winchell,  with  whom  he  had  been  on  terms  of 
intimacy  for  manv  years.  As  a  further  mark  of  respect  the 
resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  rising  vote. 

The  first  paper  presented  was  by  Dr.  Frederick  Schmidt,  of 
S*^.  Petersburg,  Russia. 

Prof.  Gregoire  Stefanescn,  of  the  University  of  Bacbarest, 
Roumania,  presented  "  Sur  T  Existence  du  Dlnotheriam  v^ 
Roumanie,"  the  next  paper.  The  Professor  read  it  in  French, 
illustrating  it  by  drawings  on  the  blackboard,  and  after  he  bad 
finished,  Prof.  Dr.  Charles  Barrois  read  it  over  again  inEagltsh, 
so  that  those  who  did  not  know  French  might  not  lose  it. 
Though  quite  short  the  paper  was  very  interesting.  It  brieflj 
described  a  large  number  of  bones  of  the  Dinotherium  foaod 
widely  distributed  over  Roumania,  which  indisputably  po'iDled 
to  the  existence  of  this  almost  unknown  extinct  animal  io  that 
land  counties^;  years  ago.  This  was  probably  the  largest  mammal 
that  ever  inhabited  the  earth,  its  epoch  being  the  Tertiary  period. 
It  had  enormous  tusks,  that  curved  downward  and  l>ackwanl  in 
such  a  way  that  it  could  only  hurt  itself  with  them,  and  probably 
had  a  massive  trunk.  In  character  it  more  nearly  resembled  the 
elephant  and  rhinoceros  of  modem  ages  than  any  other  knovD 
animal. 

Prof.  A.  N.  KrassDof,  of  the  Charkow  University,  Russia. 
read  the  next  paper  on  the  black  earth  of  the  steppes  of  Soothem 
Russia,  its  origin,  distribution,  and  points  of  resemblance  viih 
the  soils  of  the  prairies  of  America.  The  paper  traced  the 
resemblance  between  the  Russian  steppes  and  the  Americaii 
prairies  to  their  similar  origin  in  the  layers  of  the  vegetables 
of  years.  Their  remarkable  fertility  was  touched  on  generally, 
and  a  technical  account  of  the  origin  of  the  two  plains  vas 
given. 


TECHNICAL   CHEMISTRY. 

TN  his  Cantor  Lectures  on  Photographic  Chemistry,  deliTte 
last  spring  before  the  .Society  of  Arts,  and  ju-t  issued  by  itc 
Society  in  a  separate  form.  Prof.  Meldola  opens  with  soa» 
remarks  on  the  special  position  of  technical  training  in  chemistry, 
which -should  be  carefully  conisdered  in  connection  with  the 
present  widespread  movement  in  the  direction  of  techoial 
education  throughout  the  country.     He  says  :  — 

*' There  are  many  who  identify  technical  instruction  witbtbe 
teaching  of  some  handicraft,  a  notion  which  has  no  doabt  arises 
from  the  identification  of  technical  skill  with  manual  dexterity 
in  some  mechanical  industry.  By  the  adoption,  either  tacitly  or 
openly,  of  this  narrow  definition,  the  chemical  industries  ban 
suffered  to  a  very  large  extent  in  this  country,  because  their 
progress  is  more  dependent  on  a  knowledge  of  scientific  prin- 
ciples, and  much  less  dependent  on  manual  dexterity  than  aay 
of  the  other  subjects  dealt  with  in  schemes  of  technical  tnsinictic*. 
Now,  in  order  to  give  technical  instruction  in  a  subject  like  pbo:o- 
graphy,  which  is  so  intimately  connected  with  chemistry,  we  toaj 
adopt  one  of  two  courses.  The  student  may  become  a  practical 
photographer  in  the  first  place,  and  may  then  be  led  on  to  (be 
science  of  his  practice  by  an  appeal  to  the  purely  chemical 
principles  brought  into  operation.  This  may  be  called  th« 
analytical  method.  The  other  method  is  to  give  the  student  i 
training  in  general  chemistry  first,  and  then  to  specialize  bs 
knowledge  in  the  direction  of  photography.  This  may  b( 
regarded  as  a  synthetical  method. 

**  In  other  departments  of  technology,  and  especially  intbost 
where  the  underlying  principles  are  of  a  mechanical  nature,  thf 
analytical  method  may  be,  and  has  been,  adopted  with  sacces. 
It  is  possible  to  lead  an  intelligent  mechanic  from  his  every-iiaf 
occupations  to  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  principles  of  me- 
chanical science  by  making  use  of  his  experience  of  phenomeu 
which  are  constantly  coming  under  his  notice.  From  this  its 
sometimes  argued  by  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  regardiag 
technical  instruction  fom  its  purely  analytical  side,  that  tedt- 
nical  chemistry  can  be  taught  by  the  same  method.  Sobu 
teachers  may  possibly  succeed  in  this  process,  but  my  o« 
experience,  both  as  a  technologist  and  a  teacher,  has  led  me'o 
the  conclusion  that,  for  chemical  subjects,  the  analytical  metbcc 
is  both  too  cumbersome  and  circuitous  to  be  of  any  real  ptacdai 
use.  No  person  engaged  in  chemical  industry  inanycapad? 
— whether  workman,  foreman,  manager,  or  proprietor— can  be 
.  taught  the  principles  of  chemical  science  out  of  hb  ova 
J  industry,    unless    he    has    some    considerable     knowledge  c^ 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


603 


general  principles  to  start  with.  No  person  ^ho  is  not 
groimded  in  such  broad  principles  can  properly  appreciate 
the  explanation  of  the  phenomena  with  which  his  daily  ex- 
perience brings  him  into  contact,  and  if  his  previous  training  is 
insufficient  to  enable  him  to  understand  the  nature  of  the 
cbaoges  which  occur  in  the  course  of  his  operations,  he  cannot 
derive  any  advantage  from  technical  instruction.  These  remarks 
will,  I  hope,  serve  to  emphasize  a  di&tinction  which  exists 
between  technical  chemistry  and  other  technical  subjects,  and  I 
have  thought  it  desirable  to  avail  myself  of  the  present  oppor- 
tunity of  calling  paiticular  attention  to  this  point,  because  it  is  • 
one  which  is  generally  ignored  in  all  discussions  on  technical  I 
education.  I 

"The  reason  for  this  difference  in  the  mode  of  treatment  of 
chemical  subjects  is  not  difficult  to  find.  The  chemical  tech- 
nologist— the  man  who  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  useful 
products  out  of  certain  raw  materials — is,  so  far  as  the  purely 
scientific  principles  are  concerned,  already  at  a  very  advanced 
stage,  although  he  may  not  realize  this  to  be  the  case.  The 
chemistry  of  manufacturing  operations,  even  when  these  are  of 
an  apparently  simple  kind,  is  of  a  very  high  order  of  complexity. 
There  are  many  branches  of  chemical  industry  in  which  the 
nature  of  the  chemical  changes  undergone  by  the  materials  is 
very  imperfectly  undei  stood ;  there  is  no  branch  of  chemical 
industry  of  which  the  pure  science  can  be  said  to  be  thoroughly 
known.  For  these  reasons  1  l^elieve  that  I  am  justified  in 
stating  that  the  chemical  technologist  is  working  at  a  high  level, 
so  far  as  the  science  of  his  subject  is  concerned,  and  this 
explains  why  he  cannot  be  dealt  with  by  the  analytical  method. 

'*  The  general  considerations  which  have  been  offered  apply 
to  the  special  subject  of  photography  with  full  force.  A  person 
may  become  an  adept  as  an  opei'ator  without  knowing  anything 
of  physics  or  chemistry  ;  there  are  thousands  of  photographers 
all  over  the  country  who  can  manipulate  a  camera  and  develop 
and  print  pictures  with  admirable  dexterity,  who  are  in  this 
position.  If  we  adopt  the  narrow  definition  of  technical  instruc- 
tion, ne  should  appoint  such  experts  in  our  Colleges,  and 
through  them  impart  the  art  of  taking  pictures  to  thousands  of 
others.  But  would  our  position  as  a  photographing  nation  be 
improved  by  this  process  ?  I  venture  to  think  not.  We  might 
be  carrying  out  the  ideas  of  certain  technical  educators  by 
adopting  this  method,  but  I  do  not  imagine  that  in  the  long  run 
the  subject  itself  would  be  much  advanced ;  our  position  in  the 
scale  of  industry  would  not  be  materially  raised  by  the  wholesale 
manufacture  of  skilful  operators.  And  so  with  all  other  branches 
of  applied  chemistry ;  it  is  technologists  whose  knowledge  is 
based  on  a  broad  foundation  that  are  wanted  for  the  improve- 
ment of  our  industries.  These  are  the  men  who  are  raised  in 
the  technical  high  schojls  of  the  Continent,  and  whose  training 
the  Continental  industries  have  had  the  wisdom  to  avail  them- 
selves of." 


AN  ASTRONOMERS  WORK  IN  A  MODERN 

OBSERVATORY} 

'T^HE  work  of  astronomical  observatories  has  been  divided 
'*'  into  two  classes,  viz.  astrometry  and  astrophysics.  The 
first  of  these  relates  to  astronomy  of  precision,  that  is  to  the 
determination  of  the  positions  of  celestial  objects ;  the  second 
relates  to  the  study  of  their  physical  features  and  chemical 
constitution. 

Some  years  ago  the  aims  and  objects  of  these  two  classes  of 
obcervatories  might  have  been  considered  perfectly  distinct,  and, 
in  fact,  were  so  considered.  But  I  hope  to  show  that  in  more 
recent  years  their  objects  and  their  processes  have  become  so 
interlaced  that  they  cannot  wnh  advantage  be  divided,  and  a 
fully  equipped  modem  observatory  must  be  understood  to 
include  the  work  both  of  astromdry  and  astrophysics. 

In  any  such  observatory  the  principal  and  the  fundamental 
instrument  is  the  transit  circle.  It  is  upon  the  position  in  the 
heavens  of  celestial  objects,  as  determined  with  this  instrument 
or  with  kindred  instruments,  that  the  whole  fair  superstructure 
of  exact  astronomy  rests  ;  that  is  to  say,  all  that  we  find  of 
information  and  prediction  in  our  nautical  almanacs,  all  that 
we  know  of  the  past  and  can  predict  of  the  future  motions  of 
the  celestial  bodies. 

'  Friday  Evening  Discourse  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  by  Dr. 
I>jivid  Gill,  F.R.S.,  Her  Majesty's  Astronomer  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
on  May  29.  1891. 


NO.    1 147,  VOL.  44] 


Here  is  a  very  sir  all  and  imperfect  model,  but  it  will  serve- 
to  render  intelligible  the  photograph  of  the  actual  instrument 
which  will  be  subsequently  projected  on  the  screen.  [Here  the 
lecturer  described  the  adjustments  and  mode  of  using  a  transit 
circle.] 

>A*e  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  photographs  of  the 
instiument  itself.  But  first  of  all  as  to  the  house  in  which  it 
d\ielis.  Here,  now  on  the  screen,  is  the  outside  of  the  main- 
building  of  the  Ro}al  Observatory,  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  I 
select  it  simply  because,  being  the  observatory  which  it  is  my 
privilege  to  direct,  it  is  the  one  of  which  I  can  most  easily 
procure  a  series  of  photographs.  It  was  built  during  the  years 
1824-28,  and  like  all  the  observatories  built  about  that  time, 
and  like  too  many  built  since,  it  is  a  very  fair  type  of  most  of' 
the  things  which  an  observatory  should  not  be.  It  is,  as  you 
see,  an  admirably  solid  and  substantial  structure,  innocent  of- 
any  architectural  charm,  and  so  far  as  it  affords  an  excellent 
dwelling- place,  good  library  accommodation,  and  good  rooms  for 
computers,  no  fault  can  be  found  with  it.  But  these  very 
qualities  render  it  undesirable  as  an  observatory.  An  essential 
matter  for  a  perfect  observatory  should  be  the  posssibiliiy  to- 
equalize  the  internal  and  the  external  temperature.  The  site 
of  an  instrument  should  also  be  free  from  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  chimneys  or  other  origin  of  ascending  currents 
of  heated  air.  Both  these  conditions  are  incompatible  with 
thick  walls  of  masonry  and  the  chimneys  of  attached  dwelling 
houses,  and  therefore,  as  far  as  possible,  I  have  removed  the 
instruments  to  small  detached  houses  of  their  own.  But  the 
transit  circle  still  remains  in  the  main  building,  for,  as  will  be 
evident  to  you,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  transport  such  an 
instrument. 

The  two  first  photographs  show  the  instrument,  in  one  case 
pointed  nearly  horizontally  to  the  north,  the  other  pointed 
nearly  vertical.  Neither  can  show  all  parts  of  the  instrument, 
but  you  can  see  the  massive  stone  piers,  weighing  many  tons 
each,  which,  resting  on  the  solid  blocks  10  feet  below,  support 
the  pivots.  Here  are  the  counter- weights  which  remove  a  great 
part  of  the  weight  of  the  instrument  from  the  pivots,  leaving 
only  a  residual  pressure  sufficient  to  enable  the  pivots  to  preserve 
the  motion  of  the  instrument  in  its  pioper  plane.  Here  are  the 
microscopes  by  which  the  circle  is  read.  Here  the  opening 
through  which  the  instrument  views  the  meridian  sky.  The 
obi erver's  chair  is  shown  in  this  diagram.  His  work  appears 
to  be  verv  simple,  and  so  it  is,  but  it  requires  special  natural 
gifts,  patience  and  devotion,  and  a  high  sense  of  the  importance 
of  his  work  to  make  a  first-rate  meridian  observer.  Nothing 
apparently  more  monotonous  can  be  well  imagined  if  a  man  is- 
"  not  to  the  manner  born.'' 

Having  directed  his  instrument  by  means  of  the  setting  circle 
to  the  required  altitude,  he  clamps  it  there  and  waits  for  the 
star  which  he  is  about  to  observe  to  enter  the  field.  This  is 
what  he  sees.     [Artificial  transit  of  a  star  by  lantern.] 

As  the  star  enters  the  field  it  passes  wire  after  wire,  and  as 
it  passes  each  wire  he  presses  the  key  of  his  chronograph  and 
records  the  instant  automatically.  As  the  star  passes  the 
middle  wire  he  bisects  it  with  the  horizontal  web,  and  again 
similarly  records  on  his  chronograph  the  transit  of  the  star  over 
the  remaining  webs.  Then  he  reads  ofif  the  microscopes  by 
which  the  circle  is  read,  and  also  the  barometer  and  thermometer, 
in  order  afterwards  to  be  able  to  calculate  accurately  the  effect 
of  atmospheric  refraction  on  the  observed  altitude  of  the  star  ;.. 
and  then  his  observation  is  finished.  Thus  the  work  of  the 
meridian  observer  goes  on,  star  after  star,  hour  after  hour,  and 
night  afier  night ;  and,  as  you  see,  it  differs  very  widely  from' 
the  popular  notion  of  an  astronomer's  occupation.  It  presents 
no  dreamy  contemplation,  no  watching  for  new  stars,  no 
unexpected  or  startling  phenomena.  On  the  contrary,  there  is 
beside  him  the  carefully  prepared  observing- list  for  the  night, 
the  previously  calculated  circle  setting  for  each  star,  allowing 
just  sufficient  time  for  the  new  setting  for  the  real  star  after  the 
readings  of  the  circle  for  the  previous  ol)servation. 

After  four  or  five  hours  of  this  work,  the  observers  have  had 
enough  of  it  ;  they  have,  perhaps,  observed  fifty  or  sixty  stars, 
they  determine  certain  instrumental  errors,  and  betake  them- 
selves to  bed,  tired,  but  (if  they  are  of  the  right  stuff)  happy 
and  contented  men.  At  the  Cape  we  employ  two  observers  — 
one  to  read  the  circle,  and  one  to  record  the  transit.  Four 
obseivers  are  emplc>ed,  and  they  are  thus  on  duty  each  alter- 
nate night.  Such  is  the  work  that  an  outsider  would  see  viere^ 
he  to  enter  a  working  meridian  observatory  at  night,  but  he 


6o4 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


would  find  out,  if  he  came  next  morning,  that  the  work  was  by 
no  means  over.  By  far  the  largest  part  has  yet  to  follow.  An 
observation  that  requires  only  two  or  three  minutes  to  make  at 
night,  requires  at  least  half  an  hour  for  its  reduction  by  day. 
Each  observation  is  affected  by  a  number  of  errors,  and  these 
have  to  be  determined  and  allowed  for.  Although  solidly 
founded  on  massive  piers  resting  on  the  solid  rock,  the  con- 
stancy of  the  instrument's  position  cannot  be  relied  upon.  It 
goes  through  small  periodic  changes  in  level,  in  collimation,  and 
in  azimuth,  which  have  to  be  determined  by  proper  means,  and 
the  corresponding  corrections  have  to  be  computed  and  applied  ; 
and,  also,  there  are  other  corrections  for  refraction,  &c.,  which 
involve  computation  and  have  to  be  applied.  But  these  matters 
would  fall  more  properly  under  the  head  of  a  special  lecture 
upon  the  transit  instrument.  I  mention  them  now,  merely  to 
explain  why  so  great  a  part  of  an  astronomer's  work  comes  in 
the  daytime,  and  to  dispel  the  notion  that  his  work  belongs  only 
to  the  night. 

One  might  very  well  occupy  a  special  lecture  in  an  account  of 
the  peculiarities  of  what  is  called  personal  equation — that  is  to 
say,  the  different  time  which  elapses  for  different  observers 
between  the  time  when  the  observer  believes  the  star  to  be 
upon  the  wire,  and  the  time  when  the  finger  responds  to  the 
message  which  the  eye  has  conveyed  to  the  brain.  Some  ob- 
servers always  press  the  key  too  soon  ;  some  always  too  late. 
Some  years  ago  I  discovered,  from  observations  to  which  I  will 
subsequently  refer,  that  all  observers  press  the  chronograph  key 
either  too  soon  for  bright  stars  or  too  late  for  faint  ones. 

Other  errors  may,  and  I  am  sure  do,  arise  both  at  Greenwich 
and  the  Cape,  from  the  impossibility  of  securing  uniformity  of 
outside  and  inside  temperature  in  a  building  of  strong  masonry. 
The  ideal  observatory  should  be  solid  as  possible  as  to  its 
foundations,  but  light  as  possible  as  to  its  roof  and  walls — say, 
a  light  framework  of  iron  covered  wiih  canvas.  But  it  would 
be  undesirable  to  cover  a  valuable  and  permanent  instrument  in 
this  way. 

But  here  is  a  form  of  observatory  which  realizes  all  that  is 
required,  and  which  is  eminently  suited  for  permanent  use. 
The  walls  are  of  sheet  iron,  which  readily  acquire  the  tem- 
perature of  the  outer  air.  The  iron  walls  are  protected  from 
direct  sunshine  by  wooden  louvres,  and  small  doors  in  the  iron 
walls  admit  a  free  circulation  of  air.  The  revolving  roof  is 
a  light  framework  of  iron  covered  with  well-painted  papier- 
machi. 

The  photograph  now  on  the  screen  shows  the  interior  of  the 
observatory,  and  this  brings  me  to  the  description  of  observa- 
tions of  an  entirely  different  class.  In  this  observatory  the  roof 
turns  round  on  wheels,  so  that  any  part  of  the  sky  can  be 
viewed  from  the  telescope.  This  is  so,  becau'^e  ihe  instrument 
in  this  observatory  is  intended  for  purposes  which  are  entirely 
different  from  those  of  a  transit  circle.  The  transit  circle,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  used  to  determine  the  absolute  positions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  ;  the  heliometer,  to  determine  with  greater 
precision  than  is  possible  by  the  absolute  method  the  relative 
positions  of  celestial  objects. 

To  explain  my  meaning  as  to  absolute  and  relative  positions. 
It  would,  for  example,  be  a  matter  of  very  little  importance  if  the 
absolute  latitude  of  a  point  on  the  Royal  Exchange  or  the  Bank  of 
England  were  one-tenth  of  a  second  of  arc  (or  lo  feet)  wrong  in 
the  maps  of  the  Ordnance  Survey  of  England — that  would  con- 
stitute a  small  absolute  error  common  to  all  the  buildings  on  the 
same  map  of  a  part  of  the  city,  and  common  to  all  the  adjoining 
maps  also.  Such  an  error,  regarded  as  an  absolute  error,  would 
evidently  be  of  no  importance  if  every  point  on  the  map  had  the 
same  absolute  error.  There  is  no  one  who  can  say  at  the  present 
moment  whether  the  absolute  latitude  of  the  Royal  Exchange — 
■nay,  even  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich — is  known  to 
10  feet.  But  it  would  be  a  very  serious  thing  indeed  if  the  re- 
lative positions  on  the  same  map  were  lo  feel  wrong  here  and 
there.  For  example,  if  of  two  points  marking  a  frontage 
boundary  on  Cornhill,  one  were  correct,  the  other  lo  feet  in 
error,  what  a  nice  fuss  there  would  be  !  what  food  for  lawyers  ! 
what  a  bad  time  for  the  Ordnance  Survey  Office  !  Well,  it  is 
just  the  same  in  astronomy. 

We  do  not  know,  we  probably  never  shall  know  with  cer- 
tainty, the  absolute  places  of  even  the  principal  stars  to  one-tenth 
of  a  second  of  arc.  But  one-tenth  of  a  second  of  arc  in  the 
measure  of  some  relative  position  would  be  fatal.  For  example, 
in  the  measurement  of  the  sun's  parallax  an  error  of  one-tenth 
of  a  second  of  arc  means  an  error  of  i, coo, coo  miles,  in  round 

NO.    1147,  VOL.  44] 


numbers,  in  the  sun's  distance  ;  and  it  is  only  when  we  can  be 
quite  certain  of  our  measures  of  much  smaller  quantities  than 
one-tenth  of  a  second  of  arc,  that  we  are  in  a  position  to  begin 
seriously  the  determination  of  such  a  problem  as  that  of  the 
distances  of  the  fixed  stars.  For  these  problems  we  most  use 
differential  measures — that  is,  measures  of  the  relative  positions 
of  two  objects.  The  most  perfect  instrument  for  such  purposes 
is  the  heliometer. 

Lord  McLaren  has  kindly  sent  from  Edinburgh,  for  the  par- 
poses  of  this  lecture,  the  parts  of  his  heliometer  which  are 
necessary  to  illustrate  the  principles  of  the  instrument. 

This  instrument  is  the  same  wmch  I  used  on  Lord  Crawford's 
expedition  to  Mauritius  in  1874.  ^^  ^^  ^^^  kindly  lent  lo  me 
by  Lord  Crawford  for  an  expedition  to  the  Island  of  Ascension 
to  observe  the  opposition  of  Mars  in  1877.  In  1879,  when  I 
went  to  the  Cape,  I  acquired  the  instrument  from  Lord  Craw- 
ford, and  carried  out  certain  researches  with  it  on  the  distances 
of  the  fixed  stars. 

In  1887,  when  the  Admiralty  provided  the  new  heliometer 
for  the  Cape  Observatory,  this  instrument  again  changed  hands. 
It  became  the  property  of  Lord  McLaren.  I  felt  rather  dis- 
loyal in  parting  with  so  old  a  friend.  We  had  spent  so  many 
happy  hours  together,  we  had  shared  a  good  many  anxieties 
together,  and  we  knew  each  other* s  weaknesses  so  well.  But  my 
old  friend  has  fallen  into  good  hands,  and  has  found  another 
sphere  of  work. 

The  principle  of  the  instrument  is  as  follows.  [The  instni- 
ment  was  here  explained.] 

Tliere  is  now  on  the  screen  a  picture  of  the  new  heliometei 
of  the  Cape  Observatory,  which  was  mounted  in  1887,  and  has 
been  in  constant  use  ever  since.  It  is  an  instrument  of  the  mofi 
reBned  modem  construction,  and  is  probably  the  finest  appantos 
for  refined  measurement  of  celestial  angles  in  the  world. 

[Here  were  explained  the  various  parts  of  the  instnimeBt 
in  relation  to  the  model,  and  the  actual  procefses  of  obseni* 
tion  were  illustrated  by  the  images  of  artificial  stars  projected  oo 
a  screen.] 

Here,  again,  there  is  little  that  conforms  to  the  popular  idea 
of  an  astronomer's  work  ;  there  is  no  searching  for  objects,  no 
contemplative  watching,  nothing  sensational  of  any  kind.  0& 
the  contrary,  every  detail  of  his  work  has  been  previously 
arranged  and  calculated  beforehand,  and  the  prospect  that  lies 
before  him  in  his  night's  work  is  simply  more  or  lea  of  a 
struggle  with  the  difficulties  which  are  created  by  the  agititioQ 
of  the  star  images,  caused  by  irregularities  in  the  atmospheric 
refraction.  It  is  not  upon  one  night  in  a  hundred  that  the 
images  of  ^tars  are  perfectly  tranquil.  You  have  the  same  effect 
in  an  exaggerated  way  when  looking  across  a  bog  on  a  hot  day. 
Thus,  generally,  as  the  images  are  approached,  they  appear  to 
cross  and  recross  each  other,  and  the  observer  must  either  seia 
a  moment  of  comparative  tranquillity  to  make  his  definitire  Is- 
section,  or  he  may  arrive  at  it  by  gradual  approximations  till  he 
finds  that  the  vibrating  images  of  the  two  stars  seem  to  pas 
each  other  as  often  to  one  side  as  to  the  other.  So  soon  assach 
a  bisection  has  been  made,  the  time  is  recorded  on  the  chrono- 
graph, then  the  scales  are  pointed  on  and  printed  off,  and  so  the 
work  goes  on,  varied  only  by  reversals  of  the  segments  and  of 
the  position  circle.  Generally,  1  now  arrange  for  thirty-two 
such  bisections,  and  these  occupy  about  an  hour  and  a  hal£  By 
that  time  one  has  had  about  enough  of  it,  the  nerves  are  somewhat 
tired,  so  are  the  muscles  of  the  back  of  the  neck  ;  and  if  the 
observer  is  wise,  and  wishes  to  do  his  best  work,  be  goes  to 
bed  early  and  gets  up  again  at  two  or  three  o'clock  in  tbemon- 
ing,  and  goes  through  a  similar  piece  of  work.  In  fact,  this 
must  be  his  r^ular  routine  night  after  night,  whenever  the 
weather  is  clear,  if  he  is  engaged,  as  I  have  been,  on  a  laig^ 
programme  of  work  on  the  parallaxes  of  the  fixed  stars,  or  oc 
observations  to  determine  the  distance  of  the  sun  by  obserraticKi? 
of  minor  planets. 

1  will  not  speak  now  of  these  researches,  because  they  ait 
still  in  process  of  execution  or  of  reduction.  I  would  nihcr, 
in  the  first  place,  endeavour  to  complete  the  picture  of  a  n^his 
work  in  a  modem  observatory. 

We  pass  on  to  celestial  photography,  where  astrometiy  a^ 
astrophysics  join  hands.  Here  on  the  screen  b  the  intenorof 
one  of  the  new  photographic  observatories,  that  at  Paris.  [Brief 
description.] 

Here  is  the  exterior  of  our  new  photographic  observatory^ 
the  Cape.  Here  is  the  interior  of  it,  and  the  instrument.  [Bric) 
description.] 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


605 


The  observ€r*s  work  during  the  exposure  is  simply  to  direc 
the  telescope  to  the  required  part  of  the  sky,  and  then  the  clock- 
work nearly  does  the  rest— but  not  quite  so.  The  observer 
holds  in  his  hand  a  little  electrical  switch  with  two  keys;  by 
pressing  one  key  he  can  accelerate  the  veloci  ty  of  the  driving- 
screw  by  about  i  per  cent.,  and  by  pressing  the  other  he  can 
retard  it  I  per  cent.  In  this  way  he  keeps  one  of  the  stars  in 
the  field  always  perfectly  liisected  by  the  cross-wires  of  his 
guiding  telescope*  and  thus  corrects  the  small  errors  produced 
partly  by  changes  of  refraction,  partly  by  minute  unavoidable 
errors  in  cutting  the  teeth  of  the  arc  into  which  the  screw  of  the 
driving-shaft  of  the  clockwork  gears. 

The  work  is  monotonous  rather  than  fatiguing,  and  the  com- 
panionship of  a  pipe  or  cigar  is  very  helpful  during  long  ex- 
posures. A  roan  can  go  on  for  a  watch  of  four  or  five  hours 
very  well,  taking  plate  after  plate,  exposing  each,  it  may  be, 
forty  minutes  or  an  hour.  If  the  night  is  fine,  a  second  observer 
follows  the  first,  and  so  the  work  goes  on  the  greater  part  of  the 
night.  Next  day  he  develops  his  plate,  and  gels  something  like 
ihis.     [Star*cluster.] 

Working  just  in  this  way,  but  with  the  more  humble  appara- 
tus which  you  see  imperfectly  in  the  picture  now  on  the  screen, 
we  have  photographed  at  the  Cape  during  the  past  six  years  the 
whole  of  the  southern  hemisphere  from  20*^  of  south  declination 
to  the  South  Pole. 

The  plates  are  being  measured  by  Prof.  Kapteyn,  of  Gronin- 
gen,  and  I  expect  that  in  the  course  of  a  year  the  whole  work, 
containing  all  the  stars  to  9^  magnitude  (between  200,000  and 
300,000  stars)  in  that  region,  will  be  ready  for  publication. 
This  work  is  essential  as  a  preliminary  step  for  the  execution  in 
the  southern  hemisphere  of  the  great  work  inaugurated  by  the 
Astrophotographic  Congress  at  Paris  in  18S7,  the  last  details  of 
which  were  settled  at  our  meeting  at  Paris  in  April  last.  What 
we  shall  do  with  the  new  apparatus,  perhaps  1  may  have  the 
honour  to  describe  to  you  some  years  hence,  after  the  work  has 
been  done. 

We  now  come  to  an  important  class  of  astronomical  work, 
more  purely  astrophysical,  for  the  illustration  of  which  I  can  no 
longer  appeal  to  the  Cape,  because  I  regret  to  say  that  we  are 
not  yet  provided  with  the  means  for  its  prosecution.  I  refer  to 
the  use  of  the  spectroscope  in  astronomy,  and  especially  to  the 
latest  developments  of  its  use  for  the  accurate  measurement  of 
the  velocity  of  the  motions  of  stars  in  the  line  of  sight.* 

It  is  beyond  the  province  of  this  lecture  to  enter  into  history, 
but  it  is  impossible  not  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  chief  im- 
pulse to  astronomical  work  in  this  direction  was  given  by  Dr. 
Huggins,  our  Chairman  to  night — nay,  more,  except  for  the 
early  contributions  of  Fraunhofer  to  the  subject,  Dr.  Huggins 
certainly  is  the  father  of  sidereal  spectroscopy,  and  that  not  in 
one  but  in  every  branch  of  it.  He  has  devised  the  means, 
pointed  the  way,  and,  whilst  in  many  branches  of  the  work  he 
btill  continues  to  lead  the  way,  he  has  of  necessity  left  the 
development  of  othtr  branches  to  other  hands. 

From  an  astronomer's  point  of  view  the  most  important  ad- 
vance that  has  been  made  in  spectroscopy  of  recent  years  is  the 
sudden  development  of  precision  in  the  measures  of  star  motion 
in  the  line  of  sight.  The  method  remained  for  fifteen  or  sixteen 
years  quite  undeveloped  from  the  condition  in  which  it  left  the 
hands  of  Dr.  Huggins,  and  certainly  no  progress  in  the  accuracy 
attained  by  Dr.  Huggins  was  made  till  the  matter  was  taken  up 
Dr.  Vc^el  at  Potsdam.  At  a  single  step  Dr.  Vogel  has  raised 
I  he  precision  of  the  work  from  that  of  observations  in  the  days 
of  Ptolemy  to  that  of  the  days  of  Bradley— from  the  days  of 
the  old  sights  and  pinnules  to  the  days  of  telescopes.  There- 
fore I  take  a  Potsdam  observation  as  the  best  type  of  a  modern 
spectroscopic  observation  for  description,  especially  as  I  have 
recently  visited  Dr.  Vogel  at  Potsdam,  and  he  has  kindly  given 
me  a  photograph  of  his  spectroscope,  as  well  as  of  some  of  the 
work  done  with  it. 

A  photograph  of  the  Potsdam  spectroscope  attached  to  the 
equatorial  is  now  on  the  screen.     [Description.] 

The  method  of  observation  consists  simply  in  inserting  a  small 
photographic  plate  in  the  dark  slide,  directing  the  telescope  to 
the  star,  and  keeping  the  image  of  the  star  continuously  on  the 
slit  during  an  exposure  of  about  an  hour ;  and  this  is  what  is 
obtained  on  development  of  the  picture. 

If  the  star  remained  perfectly  at  rest  between  the  jaws  of  the 

,  *  The  older  methods  enabled  us  to  measure  motions  at  right  angles  to  the 
line  of  sight,  but  till  the  spectroscope  came  we  could  not  measure  motions  in 
the  line  of  sight. 


NO.    I  147,  VOL.  44] 


slit  (he  s^ecdum  would  be  represented  by  a  single  thread  of 
light,  and  of  course  no  lines  would  be  visible  upon  such  a 
thread  ;  but  the  observer  intentionally  causes  the  star  image  to 
travel  a  little  along  the  slit  during  the  time  of  exposure,  and  so  a 
spectium  of  sensible  width  is  obtained. 

You  wilt  remark  how  beautifully  sharp  are  the  faint  lines  in 
this  spectium.  Those  who  have  tried  to  observe  the  spectrum 
of  Sirius  in  the  ordinary  way,  know  that  many  of  these  fine  lines 
cannot  be  seen  or  measured  with  certainty.  The  reason  is  that 
on  account  of  irregularities  in  atmospheric  lefraction,  the  image 
of  a  star  in  the  telescope  is  rarely  tranquil,  sometimes  it  shines 
brightly  in  the  centre  of  the  slit,  sometimes  barely  in  the  slit  at 
all,  and  the  eye  becomes  puzzled  and  confused.  But  the  photo- 
graphic eye  is  not  in  the  least  dislurbed  ;  when  the  star  image  is 
in  the  slit,  the  plate  goes  on  recording  what  it  sees,  and  when 
the  star  is  not  in  the  slit  the  plate  does  nothing,  and  it  is  of  no 
consequence  whatever  how  rapidly  these  alternate  appearances 
and  disappearances  recur.  The  only  difference  is  that  when 
the  air  is  very  steady  and  the  star's  image,  therefore,  always  in 
the  sLt,  the  exposure  takes  less  time  than  when  the  star  is 
unsteady. 

That  is  one  reason  why  the  Potsdam  results  are  so  accurate. 
And  there  are  many  other  reasons  besides,  into  which  I  cannot 
now  enter.  What,  however,  it  is  very  important  to  note  is  this, 
that  we  have  here  a  method  which  is  to  a  great  extent  inde- 
pendent of  the  atmospheric  disturbances  which  in  all  other 
departments  of  astronomical  observation  have  imposed  a  limit 
to  their  precision.  Accurate  astrospectroscopy,  therefore,  may 
be  pushed  to  a  degree  of  perfection  which  is  limited  only  by  the 
optical  aid  at  our  disposal  and  by  the  sensibility  of  our  photo- 
graphic plates. 

And  now  I  think  we  have  sufficiently  considered  the  ordinary 
processes  of  astronomical  observation  to  illustrate  the  character 
of  the  work  of  an  astronomer  at  night.  The  picture  should  be 
completed  by  an  account  of  his  work  by  day  ;  but  to  go  into 
that  matter  in  detail  would  certainly  not  be  within  the  limits  of 
this  lecture.  It  is  better  that  I  should  in  conclusion  touch  upon 
some  recent  remarkable  results  of  these  day  and  night  labours. 
It  is  these  after  all  that  most  appeal  to  you  ;  it  is  for  these  that 
the  astronomer  labours  ;  it  is  the  prospect  of  them  that  lightens 
the  long  watches  of  the  night  and  gives  life  to  the  otherwise 
dead  bones  of  mechanical  routine. 

Let  us  take  first  some  spectroscopic  results.  To  explain  their 
meaning  let  me  remind  you  for  a  moment  of  the  familiar  analogy 
between  light  and  sound. 

The  pitch  of  a  musical  note  depends  on  the  rapidity  of  the 
vibrations  communicated  to  the  air  by  the  reed  or  string  of  the 
musical  instrument  that  produces  the  note,  a  low  note  being 
given  by  slow  vibrations  and  a  high  one  by  quick  vibrations. 

Just  in  the  same  way  red  light  depends  on  relatively  slow 
vibrations  of  ether,  and  blue  or  violet  light  on  relatively  quick 
vibrations.  Well,  if  there  is  a  railway  train  rapidly  approaching 
one,  and  the  engine  sounds  its  whistle,  more  waves  of  sound 
from  that  whistle  will  reach  the  ear  in  a  second  of  time  than 
would  reach  the  ear  were  the  train  at  rest.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  train  is  travelling  at  the  same  rate  away  from  the  observer, 
fewer  waves  of  sound  will  reach  his  ears  in  a  second  of  time. 
Therefore  an  observer  beside  the  line  should  observe  a  distinct 
change  of  pitch  in  the  note  of  the  engine  whistle  as  the  train 
passes  him,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  such  a  change  of  pitch  can 
be  and  has  been  observed. 

Just  in  the  same  way,  if  a  source  of  light  could  be  moved 
rapidly  enough  towards  an  observer  it  would  become  bluer,  or 
if  away  from  him  it  would  become  more  red  in  colour.  Only  it 
would  require  a  change  of  velocity  in  the  moving  light  of  some 
thousands  of  miles  per  second  in  order  to  render  the  difference 
of  colour  sensible  to  the  eye.  The  experiment  is,  therefore,  not 
likely  to  be  frequently  shown  at  this  lecture  table  ! 

But  the  spectroscope  enables  such  changes  of  colour  to  be 
measured  with  extreme  precision.  Here  on  the  screen  is  the 
most  splendid  illustration  of  this  that  exists  at  present,  viz. 
copies  of  three  negatives  of  the  spectrum  of  a  Aurigae,  taken  at 
Potsdam  in  October  and  December  of  1888,  and  in  March 
1889. 

The  black  line  (the  picture  being  a  negative)  represents  the 
bright  line  H7  given  by  the  artificial  light  of  hydrc^en,  the 
strong  white  line  in  the  picture  corresponds  to  the  black  absorp^ 
tion  line  which  is  due  to  hydrogen  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
star. 

Why  is  it  that  the  artificial  hydrogen  line  does  not  correspond^ 


6o6 


NA  TURE 


[October  22,  1891 


^ith  the  stellar  line  in  all  these  pictures  ?  The  answer  is,  either 
the  star  is  moving  towards  or  from  the  earth  in  the  line  of  sight, 
or  the  earth  is  moving  from  or  towards  the  star.  But  in  De- 
"Oember  the  earth  in  its  motion  round  the  sun  is  moving  at  right 
singles  to  the  direction  of  a  Anrigse :  why  then  does  not  the 
stellar  hydrogen  line  ajree  in  position  with  the  terrestrial 
hydrogen  line?  The  simple  explanation  is  that  a  Aurigse  is 
«ioving  with  respect  to  the  sun. 

In  what  way  is  it  moving  ?  Well,  that  also  is  clear ;  the 
stellar  line  is  displaced  towarels  the  red  end  of  the  spectrum-^ 
that  is  to  say,  the  star  light  is  redder  than  it  should  be  in  con- 
-sequence  of  a  motion  of  recession  ;  this  proves  that  the  star  is 
moving  away  from  U4,  and  measures  of  the  photograph  show  the 
rate  of  this  motion  to  be  15^  miles  per  second.  We  also  know 
that  in  October  the  earth,  in  its  motion  round  the  sun,  is  mov- 
ing towards  a  Aurigae  nearly  at  the  same  rate  as  we  have  just 
seen  that  a  Aurigae  is  running  away  from  the  sun.  Conse- 
quently, at  that  time,  their  relative  motions  are  nearly  in- 
•sensible,  because  both  are  going  at  the  same  rate  in  the  same 
direction,  and  we  find  accordingly  in  October  that  the  positions 
of  the  stellar  and  artificial  hydrogen  lines  perfectly  correspond. 
Finally,  in  March,  the  earth,  in  its  motion  round  the  sun,  is 
cnoving  away  from  a  Aurigie,  and  as  a  Aurigse  is  also  running 
4iway  from  the  sun,  the  star-light  becomes  so  much  redder  than 
normal  that  the  stellar  hydrogen  line  is  shifted  completely  to 
one  side  of  the  hydrogen  and  artificial  line. 

The  accuracy  of  these  results  may  be  proved  as  follows  : — 

If  we  measive  all  the  photographs  of  a  Aurigae  which  Dr. 
Vogel  has  obtained,  we  can  derive  from  each  a  determination  of 
the  relative  velocity  of  the  motion  of  the  star  with  respect  to  our 
•earth. 

Of  course  these  velocities  are  made  up  of  the  velocity  of 
cnotion  of  a  Aurigx  with  respect  to  the  sun  (which  we  may 
reasonably  assume  to  be  a  uniform  velocity)  and  the  velocity  of 
the  earth  due  to  its  motion  round  the  sun.  Bat  the  velocity  of 
4he  earth's  motion  in  its  orbit  is  known  with  an  accuracy  of 
•about  one  five-hundredth  part  of  its  amount,  and  therefore, 
within  that  accuracy,  we  can  allow  precisely  for  its  effect  on 
<he  relative  velocity  of  the  earth  and  a  Aurigae.  When  we 
have  done  so  we  get  the  following  results  for  the  velocity  of 
the  motion  of  a  Aurigae  with  respect  to  the  sun.  You  see  by 
the  following  table  how  beautifully  they  agree  in  the  Potsdam 
results,  and  how  comparatively  rough  and  unreliable  are  the 
results  obtained  by  the  older  method  at  Greenwich  : — 

a  AurigiC — Potsdam, 


Date. 

Observed  relative 

motton  of 

earth  and  star. 

Motion  of 
earth. 

Concluded  motion. 
Star  relative  to  the 

x888. 

Miles  per  sec. 

snn. 

October  22 

•  •  • 

+    2-5 

— 

130 

+  '5  5 

1,       24 

•  ■  • 

+    3-1 

— 

124 

+  15  5 

„       25 

•  ■  • 

+    3-1 

— 

124 

+  15  5 

„       28 

•  •  • 

+    2-5 

— 

II-8 

+  14*3 

November  9 

*  •  • 

+    6-8 

— 

87 

+  15 '5 

December  i 

•  •  ■ 

+  II-8 

— 

3« 

+  149 

„       13 

•  •  • 

+  14  9 

+ 

0-6 

+  143 

1389. 

Januaiy  2  ... 

•  •• 

+   23*5 

+ 

6-8 

+  137 

February  5 

•  •  • 

+  32*9 

+ 

14-3 

+  18  6 

March  6    ... 

•  •  • 

+  34*2 

+ 

i6'8 

+  17-4 

a  AurigtJ: — Greemvich, 

Dale. 

Observed  relative 

motion  of 
earth  and  star. 

Motion  of 
earth. 

Concluded  motion. 
Star  relative  t^  Che 

1887. 

Miles  per  sec. 

sun. 

January  26 

•  *• 

-h    l6'4 

-H 

12*6 

+    3-8 

February  16 

■  «« 

+  3*-4 

-»- 

'59 

•     +  18-5 

October  22 

•  •  • 

+  39-8 

— 

13-5 

+  52-3 

M       25 

•  ■  • 

+  25-4 

— 

130 

+  384 

M       29 

*•  ■ 

+  4^*6 

— 

121 

+  527 

xS88. 

December  7 

•  •  » 

-h  290 

— 

I  2 

+  36-2 

1889. 

February  15 

•  •• 

+  23 -8 

-1- 

160 

+    7-8 

March  5    ... 

•  •  • 

-H  20*3 

+ 

171 

+    ^^ 

September  17 

•  •  • 

+  18 -6 

- 

13-3 

+  33*3 

19 

«  •• 

+  21-8 

— 

167 

+  38  5 

25 

•  •  • 

+  24-8 

— 

16-5 

+  41-3 

November  25 

•  •• 

+  24  5 

— 

4 '9 

+  29*4 

NO.    I  147 

\  VOL.  44' 

I  believe  that  in  a  few  years — at  least,  in  a  pariod  of  time 
that  one  may  hope  to  see-^we  shall  not  be  content  merely  to 
correct  our  results  for  the  motion  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit  only, 
and  so  test  our  observations  of  motion  in  the  line  of  sight,  bat 
that  we  shall  have  arrived  at  a  certainty  and  precision  of  work- 
ing which  will  permit  the  process  to  be  reversed ^  and  that  we 
shall  be  employing  the  spearoscope  to  determine  the  velocity 
of  the  earth's  motion  in  its  orbit,  or,  in  other  words,  to  deter- 
mine the  fundamental  unit  of  astronomy,  the  distance  of  the 
sun  from  the  earth. 

I  will  take  as  another  example  one  recent  remarkable  spedro* 
scopic  discovery. 

Miss  Maury,  in  examining  a  number  of  photographs  of  stellar 
spectra  taken  at  Harvard  College,  discovered  that  in  the  spec- 
trum of  /S  Aurigae  certain  lines  doubled  themselves  every  two 
days,  becoming  single  in  the  intermediate  days.  Accurate  Pots- 
dam observations  confirmed  the  conclusion. 

The  picture  on  the  screen  shows  the  spectrum  of  3  Aurigx 
photographed  on  November  22  and  25  of  la^t  year.  In  the  first 
the  lines  are  single  ;  in  the  other  every  line  is  doubled.  Mea- 
sures and  discussion  of  a  number  of  these  photographs  have 
shown  that  the  doubling  of  the  lines  is  perfectly  accounted  for 
by  the  supposition  of  two  suns  revolving  round  each  other  in  a 
period  of  four  days,  each  moving  at  a  velocity  of  about  70  mils 
a  second  in  its  orbit. 

When  one  star  is  approaching  us  and  the  other  receding,  tbe 
lines  in  the  spectrum  formed  by  the  light  of  the  first  star  will  be 
moved  towards  the  blue  end  of  the  spectrum,  those  in  tbespe^ 
trum  of  the  second  star  towards  the  red  end  of  the  spectram. 
Then,  as  the  two  stars  come  into  the  same  line  with  us,  their 
motions  become  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  sight,  and  thdr 
two  spectra,  not  being  aflected  by  motion,  will  perfectly  cob- 
cide  ;  but  then,  after  the  stars  cross,  their  spectra  again  sepi* 
rate  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  so  they  go  on. 

Thus  by  means  of  their  spectra  we  are  in  a  position  to  watch 
and  to  measure  the  relative  motions  of  two  objects  that  we  can 
never  see  apart — nay  more,  we  can  determine  not  only  their 
period  of  revolution,  but  also  the  velocity  of  their  motions  io 
their  orbits.  Now,  if  we  know  the  time  that  a  body  takes  to 
complete  its  revolution,  and  the  velocity  at  which  it  moie^, 
clearly  we  know  the  dimensions  of  i!s  orbit ;  and  if  we  know  the 
dimensions  of  an  orbit  we  know  what  attractive  force  is  neces- 
sary to  compel  the  body  to  keep  in  that  orbit,  and  thus  we  are 
able  to  weigh  these  bodies.  The  components  of  jS  Aurigc  are 
two  suns,  which  revolve  about  each  other  in  four  days ;  they  are 
only  between  7  and  8  millions  of  miles  (or  one-twelfth  of 
our  distance  from  the  sun)  apart,  and  if  they  are  of  eqosi 
weight  they  each  weigh  rather  over  double  the  weight  of 
our  sun. 

1  have  little  doubt  that  these  facts  do  not  represent  a  per- 
manent condition,  but  simply  a  stage  of  evolution  in  tbelife> 
history  of  the  S3^tem,  an  earlier  stage  of  which  may  have  beeo 
a  nebular  one. 

Other  similar  double-stars  have  been  disovered  both  at  Pots- 
dam and  at  Cambridge,  U.  S.,  stars  that  we  shall  never  see  se{»- 
rately  with  the  eye  aided  by  the  most  powerful  telescope ;  hot 
time  does  not  permit  me  to  enter  into  any  account  of  them. 

I  pass  now  to  another  recent  result  that  is  of  great  cosmicii 
interest. 

The  Cape  photographic  star  charting  of  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere has  been  already  referred  to.  In  comparing  the  ezistiBg 
eye-estimates  of  magnitude  by  Dr.  Gould  with  the  photographtv 
determinations  of  these  magnitudes,  both  Prof.  Kapteyn  aoJ 
myself  have  been  greatly  struck  with  a  very  coasiderabie  sys- 
tematic discordance  between  the  two.  In  the  rich  parts  of  tbe 
sky — that  is,  in  the  Milky  Way— the  stars  are  systemtCieillf 
pfaotograpfaicaHy  brighter  by  comparison  with  the  eye-obdcm 
tioDs  than  they  are  in  the  poorer  part  of  the  sky,  and  that  not 
by  any  doubtful  amount,  but  by  half  or  three  fourths  of  a  10$- 
nitude.  One  of  two  things  was  certain — either  that  the  eJ^ 
observations  wtre  wrong,  or  that  the  stars  of  the  MflkyWay 
are  bluer  or  whiter  than  other  stars.  But  Prof.  Pickeiiogi  of 
Cambridge,  America,  has  lately  been  making  a  complete  photo- 
graphic review  of  the  heavens,  and,  by  placing  a  prism  in  6ott 
of  the  telescope,  he  has  made  pictures  of  the  whole  sky  likethi;. 
[Here  two  examples  of  the  plates  of  Pickering*s  spettiuscopk 
/>MrcAw»j/^rMif/ were  exhibited  on  the  screen.]  He  has  <fi^ 
cussed  the  various  types  of  the  spectra  of  the  b  ighter  star%  as 
thus  revealed,  according  to  their  distribution  in  the  sky.  He 
finds  thus  that  the  stars  of  the  Sirius  type  occur  chiefly  io  tk 


October  22,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


607 


Milky  Way,  whilst  stars  of  other  types  are  fairly  divided  over 
the  sky. 

Now,  >tars  of  ihe  Sirius  type  are  very  while  stars,  very  rich, 
relative  to  other  stars,  in  the  rays  which  act  most  strongly  on  a 
photographic  plate.  Here,  then,  is  the  explanation  of  the 
results  of  our  photographic  star-charting  and  of  the  discordance 
between  the  photographic  and  visual  magnitudes  in  the  Milky 
Way. 

The  results  of  the  Cape  charting  further  show  that  it  is  not 
alone  to  the  brighter  stars  that  this  discordance  extendi,  but  it 
extends  also,  though  in  a  rather  less  degree,  to  the  fainter  stars 
of  the  Milky  Way.  Therefore,  we  may  come  to  the  very  re- 
markable conclusion  that  the  Milky  Way  is  a  thing  apart,  and 
that  it  has  been  developed  perhaps  in  a  different  manner,  or 
more  probably  at  a  different  and  probably  later  epoch,  from  the 
rest  of  the  sidereal  universe. 

Here  is  another  interesting  cosmical  revelation  which  we  owe 
to  phot(^raphy. 

.  You  all  know  the  beautiful  constellation  Orion,  and  many  in 
ibis  theatre  have  before  seen  the  photograph  of  the  nebula  which 
is  now  on  the  screen,  taken  by  Mr.  Roberts. 

Here  is  another  photograph  of  the  same  object,  taken  with 
a  much  longer  exposure.  You  see  how  over-exposed,  in  fact 
burnt  out,  the  brightest  part  of  the  picture  is,  and  yet  what  a 
wonderful  development  of  faint  additional  nebulous  matter  is 
revealed. 

But  I  do  not  think  that  many  persons  in  this  room  have  seen 
this  picture,  and  probably  very  few  have  any  idea  what  it  repre- 
sents, it  is  from  the  original  negative  taken  by  Prof.  Pickering, 
with  a  small  photographic'  lens  of  short  focu-,  after  six  hours* 
exposure  in  the  clear  air  of  the  Andes,  10,000  feet  above  sea- 
level. 

The  field  embraces  the  three  well-known  stars  in  the  belt 
of  Orion,  on  the  one  hand,  and  /S  Oripnis  (Rigel)  on  the  other. 
You  can  hardly  recognize  these  great  white  patches  as  stars ; 
their  ill-defined  character  is  simply  the  result  of  excessive  over- 
exposure. Bat  mark  the  wonders  which  this  long  exposure  with 
a  lens  of  high  intrinsic  brilliancy  of  image  has  revealed.  Here 
is  the  great  nebula,  of  course  terribly  over-exposed  ;  but  note 
its  wonderful  fainter  ramifications.  See  how  the  whole  area  is 
more  or  less  nebulous,  and  surrounded  as  it  were  with  a  rin^ 
fence  of  nebulous  matter.  This  nebulosity  shows  a  special 
concentration  about  3  Orionis. 

Well,  when  Prof.  Pickering  got  this  w  mderful  picture,  know- 
ing that  I  was  occupied  with  investigations  on  the  distances  of 
the  fixed  stars,  he  wrote  to  ask  whether  I  had  made  any  obser- 
vations to  determine  the  distance  of  /S  Orionis,  as  it  would  be  of 
great  interest  to  know,  from  independent  evidence,  whether  thb 
very  bright  star  was  really  near  to  us  or  not.  It  so  happens 
that  the  observations  were  made,  and  their  definitive  reduction 
has  shown  that  /3  Orionis  is  really  at  the  same  distance  from  us 
as  are  the  faint  comparison  stars.  /3  Orionis  is,  therefore,  prob- 
ably part  and  parcel  of  an  enormous  system  in  an  advanced  but 
incomplete  state  of  stellar  evolution,  and  that  what  we  have  seen 
in  this  wonderful  picture  is  all  a  part  of  that  system. 

I  should  explain  what  I  mean  by  an  elementary  or  by  an 
advanced  state  of  stellar  evolution.  There  is  but  one  theory  of 
celestial  evolution  which  has  so  far  survived  the  test  of  time  and 
comparison  with  observed  facts,  viz.  the  nebular  hypothesis  of 
Laplace.  Laplace  supposed  that  the  sun  was  originally  a  huge 
gaseous  or  nebulous  mass,  of  a  diameter  far  greater  than  the 
urbit  of  Neptune.  1  say  originally — do  not  misunderstand  me. 
We  have  finite  mindj  ;  we  can  imagine  a  condition  of  things 
which  might  be  supposed  to  occur  at  any  particular  instant  of 
time  however  remote,  and  at  any  particular  distance  of  space 
however  great,  and  we  may  frame  a  theory  beginning  at  another 
lime  still  more  remote,  and  so  on.  But  we  can  never  imagine  a 
theory  beginuing  at  an  infinite  distance  of  time  or  at  an  in- 
finitely distaut  point  in  space.  Thus,  in  any  theory  which  man 
with  his  finite  mind  can  devise,  when  we  talk  oi originally  we 
simply  mean  at  or  during  the  time  considered  in  our  theory. 

Now,  Laplace's  theory  begins  at  a  time,  millions  on  millions 
of  years  ago,  when  the  sun  had  so  far  disentangled  itself  from 
chaos,  and  its  component  gaseoivs  particles  had  by  mutual  at- 
traction so  far  coalesced,  as  to  form  an  enormous  gaseous  ball, 
far  greater  in  diameter  than  the  orbit  of  the  remotest  planet  of 
our  present  system.  The  central  part  of  this  ball  was  certainty 
much  more  condensed  than  the  rest,  and  the  whole  ball  revolved. 
There    is  nothing  improbable  in  this  hypothesis.     If  gaseous 


matter  came  together  from  different  parts  of  space,  such  coali- 
tion would  unquestionably  occur,  and  as  in  the  meeting  of  oppo- 
site streams  of  water  or  of  opposite  currents  of  wind,  vortices 
would  be  created,  and  revolution  about  an  axis  set  up,  such  as 
we  are  familiar  with  in  the  case  of  whirlpools  or  cyclones.  The 
resultant  would  be  rotation  of  the  whole  globular  gaseous  mass 
about  an  axis. 

Now  this  gaseous  globe  begins  to  cool,  and  as  it  cools  it 
necessarily  contracts.  Then  follows  a  necessary  result  of  con- 
traction, viz  the  rotation  becomes  more  rapid.  This  is  a  well* 
known  fact  in  dynamics,  about  which  there  is  no  doubt.  Thus, 
the  cooling  and  the  contracting  go  on,  and,  simultaneously,  the 
velocity  of  rotation  becomes  greater  and  greater.  At  last  the 
time  arrives  \^hen,  for  the  outside  particles,  the  velocity  of  rota- 
lion  becomes  such  that  the  centrifugal  force  is  greater  than  the 
attractive  force,  and  so  the  outside  particles  break  off  and  form 
a  ring.  Then,  as  the  process  of  cooling  and  contraction  pro- 
ceeds still  further,  another  ring  is  formed,  and  so  on,  till  we 
have,  finally,  a  succession  of  rings  and  a  condensed  central  ball. 
If  from  any  cause  the  cooling  of  any  of  these  rings  does  not  go 
on  uniformly,  or  if  some  of  the  gaseous  matter  of  the  ring  is 
more  easily  liquefied  than  others,  then  probably  a  single  nucleus 
of  liquid  matter  will  be  formed  in  that  ring,  and  this  nucleus 
will  finally,  by  attraction,  absorb  the  whole  of  the  matter  of 
which  the  ring  is  composed — at  first  as  a  ga  eons  ball  with  a 
condensed  nucleus,  and  this  will  fmally  solidify  into  a-  planet. 
Or,  mean\»hile,  this  yet  unformed  planet  may  repeat  the  history 
of  its  parent  sun.  By  contraction,  and  consequent  acceleration 
of  its  rotation,  it  may  throw  off  one  or  more  rings,  which  in  like 
manner  condense  into  satellites  like  our  moon,  or  those  of 
Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  or  Neptune.  Such,  very  briefly  out- 
lined, is  the  celebrated  nebular  hypothesis  of  Laplace.  No  one 
can  positively  say  that  the  hypothesis  is  true,  still  less  can  any- 
one say  that  it  is  untrue.  Time  does  not  permit  me  to  enter 
into  the  very  strong  proofs  which  Laplace  ur^ed  in  favour  of  its 
acceptance. 

But  I  beg  you  for  one  moment  to  cast  your  imaginations  back 
to  a  period  of  time  long  antecedent  to  that  when  our  sun  had 
begun  to  disentangle  itself  from  chaos,  and  when  the  fleecy 
clouds  of  cosmic  stuff  had  but  commenced  to  rush  together* 
What  should  we  see  in  such  a  case,  were  there  a  true  basis  for 
the  theory  of  Laplace?  Certainly,  in  the  firi»t  place, we  should 
have  a  huge  whirlpool  or  cyclone  of  cosmic  gaseous  stuff,  the 
formation  of  rings,  and  the  condensation  of  these  rings  iniO' 
gaseous  glol.es. 

Remembering  this,  look  now  on  this  wonderful  photograph 
of  the  nebula  in  Andromeda,  made  by  Mr.  Roberts.  In  the 
largest  telescopes  this  nebula  appears  simply  as  an  oval  patch  of 
nearly  uniform  light,  with  a  few  dark  canals  through  it,  but  no> 
idea  of  its  true  form  can  be  obtained,  no  trace  can  be  found  of 
the  significant  story  which  this  photograph  tells.  It  is  a  picture 
that  no  human  eye,  unaided  by  photography,  has  ever  seen.  It 
is  a  true  picture  drawn  without  the  intervention  of  the  hand  of 
fallible  man,  and  iminfluenced  by  his  bias  or  imagination.. 
Have  we  nut  here,  so  at  least  it  seems  to  me,  a  picture  of  a  vec}^ 
early  btage  in  the  evolution  of  a  star- cluster  or  sun- system — a 
phase  in  the  history  of  another  star  system  similar  to  that  which 
once  occurred  in  our  own— millions  and  millions  of  years  ago» 
when  our  earth,  nay,  even  our  sun  itself,  '*  was  without  fora> 
and  void,*'  and  "  darkness  was  on  the  face  of  the  deep." 

During  this  lecture  I  have  been  able  to  trace  but  very  imper- 
fectly the  bare  outlines  of  an  astronomer's  wo>  k  in  a  modern 
observatory,  and  to  give  you  a  very  few  of  its  latest  results — 
results  which  do  not  come  by  chance,  but  by  hard  labour,  and 
to  men  who  have  patience  to  face  dull  daily  routine  for  the  love 
of  science— to  men  who  realize  the  imperfections  of  their 
methods,  and  are  constantly  on  the  alert  to  improve  them. 

The  mills  of  the  astronomer  grind  slowly,  and  he  must  be 
infinitely  careful  and  watchful  if  he  would  have  them,  like  the 
milN  of  God,  to  grind  exceeding  small. 

I  think  he  may  well  take  for  his  motto  these  beautiful  lines — 

"  Like  the  star 
Which  shines  afar, 
VViih^ut  haste, 
Wiihout  rest, 
Let  eich  man  wheel 
With  !«teady  sway. 
Round  the  ta^k 
Which  rules  the  day, 
And  do  his  best." 


NO.   I  147,  VOL.  44] 


NA  TURE 


[October  2:,  1 


SOCIETIES  A,VD  ACADEMIES. 
Academy  of  Sciences,   Ootobtr  ii.— M.  Dacharfre 


ithe 


chair.— On  Ihe  theory  of  tbe  anlnginism  of  visual  fields,  by 
M.  A.  ChiurKiu. — An  apparatus  for  carrying  oui  various  ex- 
periments connected  with  (he  slody  of  binocular  conlra>,I,  by  the 
sameaulhor.  The  instnimenl  described  is  that  used  by  M. 
ChaDveau  in  Ihe  eiperimenls  the  results  of  which  were  com- 
municated  to  the  Academy  on  September  7  and  zl.  In  the 
main  it  coniisis  of  a  stereoscope  having  arrangements  by  means 
of  which  exact  equality  of  himinons  impressions  may  be  realiied, 
and  the  colours  of  the  two  fields  altered  independently.— New 
rh.-au  of  isotherms  (or  carbonic  acid,  by  M,  E.  H.  Amagat. 
The  author  has  determined  the  i-olherms  of  carbonic  acid  for 
every  10°  from  0°  to  loo°,  and  also  those  corresponding  10  32°, 
35°>  '37°>  '98°,  and  258° ;  the  pressure*  having  been  taken  up  to 
1000  atmospheres.  The  results  obtained  are  graphically  shown 
in  the  accompanying  figure,  in  which  the  abscissae  represent 
pressures,  and  products  of  PwV  fur. iih  the  ordina'  "'     '    * 


of  the  composition  of  Jerusalem  artichokes  at  dilTerent  periods  of 
their  growth  ;  rili  of  the  leaves,  byM,  G.  Lechattier.  Analyses 
of  the  dried  black  leaves  which  appear  on  Jerusalem  artichokes 
in  the  autumn  have  been  made,  and  the  results  compared  with 
analyses  of  green  and  yellow  leaves.  The  effect  of  different 
ferliliiers  on  iheir  composition  has  also  been  studied.  It  appears 
that  the  black  leaves  must  have  had  the  same  composition  as  the 
green  leaves,  and  the  substances  which  they  lose  are  atilized  for 
the  Dulrition  of  the  higher  leaves  of  the  plants.  They  preserve 
their  vitality  as  long  as  the  soil  furnishes  the  plant  with  sufficient 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash.  But  if  either  of  these  fertilizers  be 
absent,  the  leaves  begin  to  dry  up. — Observations  of  Tempel- 
Swift's  periodic  cornel,  made  at  Paris  Observatory  with  the 
West  Tower  equatorial,  by  M.  G.  Bijourdan.  Observations 
for  position  were  made  on  October  S  and  9.  It  is  remarked  : 
"The  comet  is  an  excesiively  feeble  nebulosity,  at  Ihe  extreme 
limit  of  visibility  :  it  is  round,  from  r-5  to  2'  in  diameter,  and 
slightly  brighter  towards  the  centre." — Observations  of  the  same 
comet,  made  at  Paris  Observatory  with  the  East  Tower 
equatorial,  by  Mdlle.  D.  Klumpke.  An  observation  for 
position  was  made  on  October  9.— Experimental  researches 
on  "personal  equation"  in  transit  observations,  by  M.  P. 
Stroovant.     The  author  has  deler.nined  hii  "peraonil  equa- 

.NO.    I  147,   VOL.  44] 


of 


if  stellar  points  and  di>ks  under  diSnai 
:ian  of  the  field  of  the  triescope  m- 
ployed.  His  equation  was  very  dilTerent  »hcn  the  prectdiif 
edge  was  observed  to  transit  than  when  the  passage  of  ibclollm. 
ing  edge  was  noterl.  It  uas  also  subject  to  a  ili^ht  taiiuioo. 
Observations  by  the  "eye  and  ear  method  "  show  a  lendfnijio 
choose  cen.iin  tenths  of  a  second  in  preference  la  others.— Od 
conji^ate  s>slems  and  on  the  deformation  of  surfaces,  by  M,  f, 
Cossera'.— On  tin  bo- machines,  by  M.  Ralean,— Va-iiiion  of 
the  electromotive  force  of  piles  with   pressure.  Iijr  M.  Hnii 

Gilbaull.     Taking  the  formula  y"^  =  dz;   in  which  E  =  tlEc- 

</Ji 
Ironnotive  force,  g  the  quantity  of  electricity  dertlopn)  ind 
prodncing  a  variation  of  volume  v,  and  /  the  pressorr,  tht 
author  has  calculated  the  variations  of  the  electromotive  iaia<i 
dilTerent  piles,  and  finds  that  the  results  agree  eitremdf  wdl 
with  those  arrived  al  eaperimenlally  up  Co  a  prniure  olico 
atmospheres.^A  multitubular  electric  accumulator,  bji  M,  D, 
Tommasi.— Calculation  of  the  specific  heals  of  liq^lid^  bjH. 
G.  Hinrichs. — Melling-point  of  certain  binary  orginic  ifsuai, 
by  M.  Leo  Vignon.—Calori metric  researches  on  the  otuii 
silicium  and  aluminium  in  cast-iron*,  by  M.  F.  Oimond.— Hoi 
of  formation  of  platinic  bromide  and  of  its  principal  carapDoadi, 
by  M.  I, con  Pigeon. — Contribution  to  the  study  of  hemilo- 
loaires;  on  the  hematoioaires  of  the  frog,  by  M,  AlphMw 
Labbe. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

TheLlfcRonumor  an  Algebraist:  C.  W.  Pierce (Boitui,Cgn>lBL - 
Blackic's  ikitnce  R«ders,  1 11.  (Bbckic^-Receoii  Proirei^i  IlrilE*nba' 
Iio^i  dell' EteuHciii ;  Pane  PHini,  DelleDinamo:  Prof.lR.  PenidillCbB 
H«pliX-A  Manual  of  L."Bic:  J.  Wellon.  voL  i.(Clive).— TtJI-bookolCo* 
tuntive  Anitomy:  Dr.  A.  Uog  i  tnniUted  by  H.  H.  and  M  BHwi. 
Pan  I  (Uacnillan). — Photograpliy  Afulied  to  ihe  Uicroacgp? ;  F,  W,  Uifc 
ailfft),— PhotomphicPuiima;  H.  Schnauis,  mnilaled (IM<),~H»Jf 
Ut  of  Books  on  Mining:  H.  E-  HJnkpm  (Gay  and  Bird) -.4  Trai. 
on  Ni(rogeD(J.  He^WnXid). — A  Cootributioa  to  ihe  Hiiiorf  ofRxip-GaDfT^- 
C  J.  Symont.— The  Constilutjonil  Devekipmcnl  at  JaiMn.  rU^ii:  1. 
lvtiii«a(Baltiinore)^— PnktBcheiTudienbuch  der  PhDUcnubi  Llr.l. 
'oeeUBcrJin,  Oppenhdm). — Bullelia  of  (he  Amencan  ' 
ol.  HUi.  No.  )  (New  York).— Encyklopiedie  der  N. 
...  ^  .  ....   ,^\„: ..  "-,rgaw> 


t^ 


CONTENTS.  fAGi 

Rudolf  Virchow  and  hii  CountTymen    .        ^ 

Electric  Light  Fitting— Oood  and  Bad  Work    ...  586 

More  Suggeaiiona  for  County  Couricila p' 

The  Missouri  Botanical  Garden.    By  E.  G.  B.  .  .  .  jS! 
Our  Book  Shelf  1— 

Ball:  "  The  Story  of  the  Heavens  "      5* 

Martin:  "  Notes  on  Eiemeolary  Physiography  "  .   .  -  ^ 
Richardson:      "Thomas    Sopwilh,     M.A.,    C.E., 

F.R.S." 59" 

Lettera  to  the  Bditoi : — 

Electric    Transmission    of    Power.- Joseph   John 

Murphy  ;  W.  E.  A S9» 

Rain-making— Dr.  Italo  Oiglioli S!" 

Weather  Cycles  and  Severe  Winters.- A.  B.  H,  .  .  i9l 

A  Lunar  Rainbow.— Dr.  P.  Q.  Keegan     591 

The  Destruciion  of  Mosquitoes. —S.  A.  M W 

Lawof  Tensions.— H.  G.  WilliamB 3' 

The  Koh-i-Nur :  a  Reply.— V.  Ball,  P.R.S.     ...  J^J 

The  Nautical  Almanac 59) 

Rain-makiagin  Texas.     By  Prof,  George  E.  Curtis  591 
Colour-blindness  generally  Considered.      By  T.  H. 

Bickenon  ....  59) 

On   Van   der    Waala's    Treatment     of    Laplace's 
Pressure   in   the   Virial    Equation :    a   Letter  to 

Prof.  Tall.     By  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S jM 

Notes 59J 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

Distribution  of  Lunar  Heat *^' 

Geological  Society  of  America ^' 

Technical  Chemistry.    B}>  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.  601 
An  Astronomer's  Work  m  a  Modem  Observatory. 

By  Dr.  David  Gill,  F.R.S *i 

Societies  and  Academies   ..>.  ^ 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received ^ 


NA  TURE 


609 


I 


THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  29,  1891. 


COPTIC  PALEOGRAPHY, 

Album  de  Paliographie  Copte  pour  servir  h  P Introduction 
PaUographique  des  "  Actes  des  Martyrs  de  I  £gypte/* 
Par  Henri  Hyvemat    (Paris:  Leroux,  1888.) 

N  all  the  wide  range  of  subjects  connected  with 
archaeology,  it  would  perhaps  be  difficult  to  find  one 
so  little  studied  as  that  the  name  of  which  stands  at  the 
head  of  this  article.  It  ii  not  that  it  is  unimportant ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  most  important ;  it  cannot  be  said  to 
be  uninteresting,  for  the  most  elementary  study  of  the 
subject  shows  it  to  possess  considerable  attractions  for 
the  philologist,  historian,  and  antiquary.  The  little  in- 
terest which,  until  the  last  few  years,  has  bsen  shown  in 
matters  relating  to  the  Coptic  language  and  literature  is 
probably  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  printed  Coptic 
texts  are  scarce,  and  that  the  comparatively  few  manu- 
scripts which  exist  are  scattered  throughout  the  libraries 
of  Europe. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  year  1885  M.  Hyver- 
nat  began  to  publish  the  martyrdoms  of  famous  Coptic 
saints,  with  a  translation  in  French  entitled  "  Les  Actes 
des  Martyrs  de  I'^ypte  " ;  the  Coptic  texts  were  edited 
chiefly  from  manuscripts   in  Ihe  VHtican  and  Borgian 
Libraries.  Considerable  interest  was  aroused  by  his  work, 
aild  it  was  hoped  that  scholars  would  soon  possess  accu- 
rate copies  of  the  texts  of  the  martyrdoms  which  form  so 
large  a  section  of  the  rich  collections  of  Coptic  manu- 
scripts at  Rome.    It  may  be  argued  that  the  narratives  of 
the  sufferiags  and  deaths  of  Coptic  martyrs  have  much  in 
common,  and  that  a  few  examples  of  this  class  of  litera- 
ture would  have  been  sufficient ;  but  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  historical  allusions  and  incidental  remarks 
made  in  them  give  them  a  value  far  beyond  their  import- 
ance as  religious  documents  ;  while  the  uncommon  words, 
and  unusual  forms  of  the  Greek  words  which  their  writers 
borrowed,  enrich  the  Coptic  lexicon,  and  afford  material 
for  the  student  of  hieroglyphics  who  makes  a  comparative 
study  of  the  dialects  spoken  by  the  Copts  and  by  their 
ancestors  the  subjects  of  the  Pharaohs.    The  first  volume 
of  the  work,  in  four  fasciculi,  has  appeared,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  the  second  volume,  which  is  promised  to  con- 
tain a  critical  introduction,  &c.,  will  not  be  long  delayed. 
Meanwhile,  however,  M.  Hyvemat  has  given  us  his 
''  Palaeographic  Album,"  and  it  is  to  this  important  pub- 
lication  that  we    must    now  give  our  attention;    the 
scientific  plan  which  he  has  followed  in  setting  before 
scholars  facts  and  nothing  but  facts,  and  his  systemitic 
arrangement  of  them,  make  his  work  most  welcome.   The 
first  Coptic  scholar  who  gave  his  attention  to  the  subject  of 
Coptic  palaeography  was  Zoega,  the  Dane,  and  in  his 
famous    "  Catalogus  Codicum   Copticorum,''    published 
(after  his  death)  at  Rome  in  1810,  are  given  seven  plates 
containing  specimens   of  the   writing  found    in  Coptic 
manuscripts  of  various  periods  ;  since  that  txmt  facsimile 
specimens  of  important  manuscripts  have  been  published, 
aSy  for  example,  a  page  of  the  famous  Gnostic  work, 
•*  Pistis  Sophia,"  in  the  "  Facsimiles  of  Ancient  Manu- 
scripts,   &c.,"    issued   by  the    Palaeographical    Society 
(Oriental  Series,  plate  42,  1878). 
NO.   1 1 48,  VOL.  44] 


The  work  before  us  contains  fifty-seven  large  folio 
plates,  upon  which  are  reproduced  by  photography  about 
one  hundred  examples  of  Coptic  writing  ;  the  execution 
of  these  plates  is  perfect,  and  M.  Hyvernat  has  shown 
great  knowledge  and  judgment  in  making  the  selection. 
The  original  manuscripts  are  preserved  in  Rome,  Milan, 
Turin,  Naples,  Paris,  London,  and  Oxford ;  and  the  time 
and  labour  spent  by  him  in  reading  and  examining  them 
must  have  been  very  considerable.  The  manuscripts — 
that  is,  books  made  of  parchment  and  paper,  for  M. 
Hyvemat  excludes  inscriptions  upon  stones,  and  papyri, 
whether  contracts  or  otherwise— belong  to  all  periods ; 
the  earliest  cannot  be  later  thin  the  sixth  .century  A.D., 
and  the  latest  dates  from  the  last  century.  We  have  thus 
for  palaeographical  investigation  a  field  of  not  less  than 
twelve  hundred  years. 

The  specimens  of  the  writings  anterior  to  the  ninth 
century  have  been  taken  from  manuscripts  which  are,  by 
the  common  consent  of  the  best  authorities,  admitted  to 
belong  to  this  period  ;  all  those  after  the  ninth  century 
are  taken  from  dated  manuscripts,  and  thus  there  is  no 
doubt  possible  as  to  their  age.  The  wisdom  of  this  plan 
is  evident,  for,  in  the  case  of  uncial  writing,  the  character 
of  which  practically  remained  unchanged  among  the 
Copts  for  centuries,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  assign  an 
exact  date  to  a  manuscript  unless  a  dated  standard  is 
forthcoming.  Coptic  manuscripts  which  are  to  be  attri- 
buted to  the  sixth  or  seventh  century  are  rare,  and 
as  examples  of  them  M.  Hyvemat  has  selected  the 
Gnostic  treatise  called  "  Pistis  Sophia"*  (Brit.  Mus.,  No. 
51 14)  and  the  life  of  St  Pachomius  ;  *  the  pages  are  small 
quarto  in  size,  with  two  columns  of  writing  to  the  page, 
and  ornamentation  is  rare.  In  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries  the  writing  becomes  firmer  and  bolder,  the 
pages  are  larger,  and  the  sides  of  the  columns  are  orna- 
mented with  graceful  designs  and  birds  (doves  ?).  The 
picture  of  Job  and  his  three  daughters  (PI.  5),  wearing 
Byzantine  costumes  and  ornaments,  is  very  instructive. 
PI.  6  gives  a  leaf  from  a  palimpsest  manuscript,  inscribed 
in  Coptic  with  verses  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  in 
Syriac  with  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Peter  of  Alexandria. 

Of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  we  have  fine  speci- 
mens of  manuscripts  containing  homilies,  canons,  ser- 
mons, martyrdoms,  &c. ;  the  pages  are  large,  the  writing, 
in  two  columns,  is  bold  and  handsome,  the  initial  letters 
of  paragraphs  are  large,  and  stand  away  from  the 
columns,  which  are  often  profusely  decorated  with  birds, 
flowers,  ornaments  in  the  shape  of  vases,  &c.  The 
last  pages  of  works  of  this  period  often  contain  portraits 
of  those  who  are  referred  to  in  them,  and  the  larger 
manuscripts  have  full- page  illustrations  of  the  subject- 
matter  ;  as,  for  example,  Theodore  the  General  over- 
throwing the  dragon  and  rescuing  the  widow's  children 
(PL  16),  St.  Mercurius  destroying  Julian  the  Apostate 
(PL  17),  and  **  Moses  the  Prophet"  standing  with  bare 
feet  by  the  side  of  the  burning  bush  (PL  19).  On  Pis.  14, 
21,  and  32  are  some  interesting  examples  of  Coptic 
cryptography  and  cursive  writing.  At  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century  the  first  page  of  each  work  in  a  manuscript 
is  ornamented  with  deep  borders  of  tracery  and  interlacing 

«  The  text,  with  Latin  transUtion,  was  published  by  Schwartxc  at  Berlin 

«  Tae  text,  with  French  translation,  was  published  by  Am^lineau,  "  His- 
toire  de  Saint  Pakhdme  "  (Paris,  1889). 

D  D 


6io 


NATURE 


[October  29,  1891 


iiv  varimis  colours^  aod  the  initial  letters  are  very  large 
(Pte.  34,  3»). 

A  fine  example  of  the  writing  and  illumination  of  the 
thirteenth  centnry  is  that  giren  on  PI.  i,  from  a  Coptic 
and  Arabic  Evanglelariuin  written  a.d.  I2$o;  in  it  St. 
Mark,  seated,  is  about  to  receive  in  a  napkin  the  book  of 
the  Gospels  from  St.  Peter,  and  by  his  side  is  a  stand  in 
the  shape  of  that  used  to  hold  a  Koran  ;  opposite  is  a 
scene  in  which  John  the  Baptist  is  bapti^ng  Christ  in  the 
Jordan,  tn  the  presence  of  two  angels,  who  bold  napkins, 
and  above  them  is  descending  from  blue  heavens  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  form  of  a  dove.  Behind  John  the 
Baptist  is  a  tree,  in  the  trunk  of  which  an  axe  has  been 
stsuck.  Of  illustrated  Gospels  of  this  period  we  have 
excellent  specimens  on  Pis.  44-47,  where  the  Transfigura- 
tion, the  devils  entering  the  swine,  the  Marriage  at  Cana, 
the  Last  Supper,  the  Crucifixion,  &c.,  display  a  quaint 
mixture  of  ancient  Coptic,  Byzantine,  and  Arab  methods 
of  illumination  and  ornamentation.  Of  manuscripts  of 
the  thicteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  good  examples 
are  given  on  Pis.  50  foil.,  with  facsimiles  of  the  ela- 
borate crosses  of  the  period  and  of  the  portraits  of  the 
four  Evangelists  in  circles.  The  space  at  our  disposal 
will  not  allow  a  more  detailed  description  of  the  contents 
of  the  ''Album  de  Pal^ographie  Copte"  than  that  given 
above,  which  will  serve  to  indicate  the  great  value  of  the 
work  to  scholars. 

The  Copts,  or  "  Egyptian "  Christians,  played  no  un- 
important part  in  the  history  of  Egypt  after  the  preach- 
ing of  St.  Mark  at  Alexandria,  a.d.  64  ;  and  from  that 
time  until  the  present  day  they  have  steadily  and  consist- 
ently maintained  their  religious  opinions  without  change. 
They  clung  fast  Uy  their  language,  in  spite  of  the  wide- 
spread use  of  Greek  in  Egypt  in  the  earlier  centuries 
of  this  era ;  and  although  they  adopted  the  Greek  alphabet, 
with  the  addition  of  some  few  signs  from  the  demotic 
and  borrowed  largely  £rom  the  Greek  vocabulary,  they 
did  not  cease  to  write  their  books  in  Coptic  nor  to  cele- 
brate the  services  of  their  Church  in  that  language.  After 
the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Arabs,  the  Copts  held 
positions  of  dignity  and  importance  there  for  some 
hundreds  of  years ;  bat  about  the  twelfth  century  they 
seem  to  have  fallen  into  poverty  and  contempt,  and  about 
a  century  later  it  seems  that  they  ceased  to  produce 
literary  woiks  ;  moreover,  the  growing  custom  of  adding 
Arabic  translations  by  the  side  of  the  Coptic  texts  proves 
that  the  knowledge  off  Coptic  was  dying  out.  During  the 
next  few  centuries  it  probably  became  the  study  of  the 
learned.  In  the  course  of  the  last  two  ceatnaries,  travellers 
in  the  East  haive  brought  to  Europe  numbers  of  Coptic 
manuscripts,  and  among  those  deserving  special  mention 
are  Pietro  deUa  Valle,  and  Huntingdon,  Assemani,  Curzon 
and  Tattam.  The  revival  of  Coptic  learning  was  begun 
by  Abela,  a  Maltese  ;  and  his  work  was  carried  on  by 
Kircher,  PetrsKus,  Jablonski,  Renaudot,  Wilkins,  Vansleb, 
Lacroze,  Tuki,  George,  Zoega,  Quatrem^re,  Tattam,  and 
Peyron:  among  those  who  have  done  much  excellent 
work  in  Coptic  during  the  presei^  century  are  Scbwartze, 
Lagarde,  Revillout,  and  Ruckert.  The  recent  works  of 
Am61ineau  and  Hyvernat  show  that  serious  attention  is 
now  being  paid  to  the  Coptic  language  for  philological 
and  ecclesiastical  purposes,  and  that  the  publication  of 
new  material  is  going  on  rapidly. 

NO.    II 48,  VOL.  44] 


In  conclusion,  all  lovers  of  Coptic  literature  owe  a  debt 
of  gratitude  to  M.  Henri  Hignard,  formerly  President 
of  the  Academic  de  Lyon,  for  his  liberality  in  under- 
taking the  expense  of  publishing  this  work,  and  to 
M.  Hyvernat  for  the  excellent  way  in  which  he  has 
made  use  of  the  AMds  so  generously  plaeed  9k.  Ue 
disposal. 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  {NATURAL  HISTORY) 

CATALOGUES. 

Systematic  List  of  the  Frederick  E,  Edwards  Collection 
of  British  Oligocene  and  Eocene  Mollusca  in  the 
British  Museum  {Natural  History);  with  References 
to  the  Type  Specimens  from  similar  Horizons  con- 
tained in  other  Collections  belonging  to  the  Geological 
Department  of  the  Museum.  By  Richard  BtiHen 
Newton,  F.G.S.  Pp.  xxviii.  and  365,  with  a  large 
Folding  Table.  (London :  Printed  by  order  of  the 
Trustees.  Sold  by  Longmans  and  Co. ;  Quaritdi ; 
Dulau  and  Co. ;  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibncr,  and 
Co.  ;  and  at  the  Natural  History  Museum.     1891.) 

THE  interest  which  attaches  to  the  records  of  past 
periods  of  our  earth's  history  is  greatly  enhanced 
when  we  find  them  in  the  strata  forming  the  very  ground 
beneath  our  feet.  Such  is  the  explanation  of  the  origin 
of  the  well-known  Edwards  Collection  of  Eocene  Aiol- 
lusca,  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  volume  before  vm^ 
Mr.  Frederick  Edwards  resided  at  Hampstead  some  fif^ 
years  ago,  at  a  time  when  the  Primrose  Hill  tunnel  of 
the  London  and  North- Western  Railway  was  formed, 
and  the  Archway  Road,  Higbgate,  had  lately  been  cut, 
and,  later  still,  the  Great  Northern  tunnel  under  Copen- 
hagen Fields.  These,  and  many  brick-field  excavations 
in  the  north  of  London,  led  to  the  discovery  of  abundant 
fossil-remains  around  his  residence,  and  attracted  the  at- 
tention not  only  of  Mr.  Edwards,  but  of  Dr.  Bowerbank, 
Mr.  Wetherell,  ProL  John  Morris,  Mr.  Searies  V.  Wood 
and  his  son,  Mr.  Sowerby,  Mr.  White,  Mr.  Page,  and  other 
geologists  living  in  Highbury,  Higbgate,  Hampstead, 
and  Kentish  Town,  who  formed  among  themselves  a 
small  Naturalists'  Society,  known  as  the  ^  London  Clay 
Club,"  the  members  of  which  met  periodically  at  each 
other's  houses^  to  coni|iare  and  exchange  specinaens, 
and  to  name  the  fossils  they  had  discovered  in  the 
London  clay.  Mr.  WetherdI,  Dr.  Bowerbank,  and  Mr. 
Frederick  Edwards  made  most  extensive  collections ;  but, 
whilst  Wethereil  and  Bowerbank  collected  from  the 
London  Clay,  the  Chalk,  and  other  formations*  Mr. 
Frederick  Edwards  devoted  all  his  attention  to  the 
Mollnsca  of  the  London  Clay  and  other  Tertiary  beds  of 
the  south-east  of  England.  All  his  summer  holidays 
were  spent  in  such  spots  as  the  New  Forest  (where,  at 
Brockenhurst,  Bramshaw,  Lyndhurst.  and  many  other 
spots,  assisted  by  Mr.  Henry  Keeping,  he  opened  nomer- 
ous  trial-pits)^  or  at  Barton  and  Hordwell  on  the  coast 
of  Hampshire,  Colwell  Bay,  Headon  Hill,  Osborne, 
Hempsted,  Bembridge  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  Brackles- 
ham  Bay,  Sussex.  He  collected  at  all  these  places,  and 
carefully  recorded  ^ixt  localities  from  whence  his  specimens 
were  derived.  With  infinite  care  he  mounted  and  named 
these  delicate  Tertiary  shells,  and  the  beautiful  specimens 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


6fi 


so  pfefMured  have  been  preserved  in  their  entirety  in  the 
National  Museum. 

After  the  formation  of  the  Palseontographical  Society, 
a  large  nomiber  of  Mr.  Edwards's  Mollusoa  were  mono- 
graphed by  him  from  1849  to  1S60  (five  parts),  and  con- 
tinued by  S.  V.  Wood,  1861  to  1877  (four  paits) ;  and 
papers  were  published  in  the  L/mdam  Ge^Ugical  yenmal, 
the  GtoUgisiy  the  CeoUgical Magtainiy  and  the  Quarterly 
Jounud  of  the  Geological  Society  of  London. 

The  unpublished  labour  which  Mr.  Edwards  expended 
on  his  cabinets  greatly  exceeded  that  which  he  devoted  to 
the  pubttcation  of  a  part  of  their  contents,  as  may  readily 
be  seen  by  a  study  of  his  collection;  and  when  it  is 
known  that  this  work  was  all  performed  in  the  leisure 
hours  of  a  busy  life  as  a  Master^in-Chancery,  heariag  and 
decidi]^^  law  cases  in  Chambers  all  day,  one  is  astonished 
10  find  how  much  he  was  able  to  accomplish. 

The  collection  contains  no  fewer  than  39,191  spe- 
cimens, referred  to  1805  species  of  MoUusca,  divided  into 
the  foUowing  classes : — 


8S 
162 

2 

6 


tf 


and  648  species  of  Lamellibrtnchiata, 
1 1 27         ,,        Gasteropoda, 
14         ,,        Scapbopoda, 
16         ..        Cephalopoda. 


>t 


1805 


Of  this  number  585  are  manuscript  species,  proposed  by 
F.  £.  Edwards,  which  have  not  yet  been  described ;  so 
that  niearly  one*third  has  to  be  deducted  from  the  above 
total  if  we  would  arrive  at  the  actual  number  of  species 
already  figured  and  described. 

It  may  be  objected  that  these  manuscript  names  ought 
not  to  have  been  printed ;  but  Mr.  Newton  points  out,  in 
the  preface  to  his  catalogue,  that  these  have  got  into  cir- 
culation abroad  in  lists  published  by  German  and  French 
palaeontologists,  with  whom  Mr.  Edwards  had  corre- 
sponded, until,  Uke  some  paper-currencies,  they  have 
obtained  for  themselves  an  artificial  value,  and  it  would 
be  incsoftvenient  to  omit  to  mention  them  in  a  list  of  Mr. 
Edwards's  own  collection.  Mr.  Newton,  moreover,  pro- 
mises shortly  to  describe  and  figure  them,  thus  giving 
them  tbetr  full  specic'vaiuey  a  promise  which  we  sincerely 
trust  he  will  find  leisure  to  perform. 

In  addition  to  the  specimens  in  F.  £.  Edwards's  own 
collection,  figured  and  described  by  himself  and  others, 
all  those  in  the  Brander,  Sowerby,  Dixon,  Bowerbank, 
and  Wetherell  collections  are  duly  recorded ;  so  that  much 
valuable  infomuition  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  these  types, 
and  references  to  the  works  in  which  they  are  recorded 
lias  been  carefully  brought  together  in  this  volume  by 
Mr.  Newton. 

Apart  from  the  vast  variety,  as  well  as  the  rare  beauty 
of  fonm,  by  which  the  Mollusca  of  the  Eocene  period  at 
once  arrest  the  attention  of  even  the  most  unlearned,  to 
the  student  of  palaeontology  they  afford  unmistakable 
^evidence  of  the  existence  in  this  earliest  Tertiary  period 
of  subtropical  marine  conditions  over  this  portion  of 
the  earth's  sui&ce,  which  now  forms  South-eastern  Eng- 
land. Several  extinct  forms  of  Nautilus  and  Cuttlefishes, 
associated  with  huge  species  of  Ceritkium,  Cowries 
Cones,  Volutes,  and  such  genera  as  RosttUaria^  Mitra^ 
Margiwlla^    Cancellaria,  Oliva^   Ovular  and   S€r0pk5y 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


with  Terebray  Pireniay  PhoruSy  SolariuMy  Neritay  and 
Chitotiy  make  up  a  rich  display  of  Mollusca  belong- 
ing to  the  warmer  seas  of  die  globe,  and  if  we  add 
such  genera  as  Pkoladomyay  Spondylus^  Crassaiella^ 
and  many  of  the  other  bivalves,  they  tell  the  same 
tale.  Crustacea,  Echinodermata,  and  Corals  were  also 
present,  together  with  numerous  Turtles,  whilst  along 
the  shores  of  the  rivers  huge  Crocodiles  patiently  awaited 
the  Palctotheria  and  Anoplotheria  from  the  neighbour- 
ing lands.  Terrestrial  vegetation,  washed  down  from 
the  Eocene  continent,  also  proves  to  be  of  a  tropical  kind 
— Palms,  Cacti,  Dryandra,  Maple,  Aealea,  Acacias,  with 
others,  belonging  to  more  temperate  latitudes, forming  a 
part  of  the  vegetation  of  our  island  to  day.  Nor  were 
the  terrestrial  Mollusca  unaffected  by  the  increased  tem- 
perature, for  we  find  lai^e  Bulimi  and  Helices  unlike 
those  now  living  in  this  country,  whilst  the  species  of 
Limnea  and  PlcMorbis  were  both  large  and  very  abun- 
dant, and  were  associated  with  PotamideSy  Melania,  and 
other  exotic  genera  in  its  streams.  '  That  there  must 
have  been  at  that  time  a  close  connection  between  our 
English  Eocene  area  and  the  much  larger  Eocene  area 
of  France,  cannot  be  doubted,  for  the  beds  of  the  Paris 
basin  and  those  of  Hampshire  and  London  are  capable 
of  close  correlation,  and  many  genera  and  species  are 
common  to  both  areas. 

Mr.  Newton. has  fortunately  obtained  the  co-operation 
of  Mr.  George  F.  Harris,  who  has,  in  an  appendix,  added 
some  valuable  tables,  showing  the  probable  equivalent 
horizons  of  our  several  English  Tertiary  beds  with  those 
on  the  Continent,  in  France,  Belgium,  and  Germany, 
and  as  far  east  as  Austria  and  Italy,  and  southwards  to 
Spain.  These  tables  will  prove  of  the  greatest  value  to 
the  student  who  seeks  to  understand,  and  even  to  map 
out,  the  former  geographical  extent  of  the  several  succes- 
sive Tertiary  deposits  of  Europe,  with  their  varied  land, 
freshwater,  and  marine  records  of  past  life,  both  animal 
and  vegetable. 

Most  of  the  points  dealt  with  by  Mr.  Newton  in  the 
introducti<m  to  his  list  have  reference  to  questions  of 
priority  in  names,  and  explanatory  notes  in  justification  of 
some  which  have  been  abolished — either  because  the 
name  had  been  pre-occupied  for  a  genus  of  fishes,  or 
birds,  or  reptiles,  &c ,  or  because  it  had  been  discovered 
that  another  author  had  previously  described  the  same 
shell,  and  had  at  an  earlier  date  given  it  another  name. 
Many  old  favourites  have  thus  been  relegated  to  obscurity, 
whilst  ^?esh  names,  dug  up  from  some  forgotten  corner, 
have,  by  the  law  of  priority,  taken  their  places.  Thus : — 
Meretrix,  Lamarck,  1799,  takes  the  place  of  his  better 
known  Cytherea  of  1806,  the  latter  having  been  applied 
by  Fabricius,  in  1805,  to  a  dipterous  insect.  Tritotiy  De 
Montfort,  18 10,  gives  place  to  Lampusia,  Schumacher, 
1817,  ''having  been  applied  by  Linnaeus  to  a  Cirripede  in 
1767."  But  as  no  genus  of  Cirripedes  is  known  by  that 
name  at  present,  this  is  a  needless  and  undesirable  altera- 
tion, especially  as  Mr.  Newton  remarks,  ''the  genus 
Triton  still  continues  a  favourite  name  among  concho- 
logists";  we  would  add,  "long  may  it  continue"  so. 
Darwin  says :  "  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  Triton  de- 
scribed by  Linnaeus  was  only  the  exuvice  of  some 
Balanus  (probably  B,  porcatus),  Linnaeus  mistaking  the 
proboscidiformed  penis  for  the  mouth  of  his  imagined 


6l2 


NA  TURE 


[October  29,  1891 


distinct  animal"  (Darwin's  Balanida^  Ray  Soc,  1854^ 
p.  158). 

It  would  be  an  immense  gain  if  every  name  proposed 
to  be  altered  had  to  pass  through  a  regularly-constituted 
committee  of  investigation  before  it  was  accepted  and 
allowed  to  pass  current ;  as  it  is,  endless  confusion  must 
arise,  and  needless  alterations  will  for  ever  be  made, 
serving  no  good  end  to  science. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Newton's  systematic  list  of  the  Eocene 
and  Oligocene  Mollusca  of  our  British  strata  w^ill  prove 
extremely  valuable  to  all  those  who  take  an  interest  in 
our  Tertiary  deposits  and  their  contained  organisms. 
Every  curator  of  a  palseontological  collection  must  have  it, 
as  a  work  of  reference,  by  his  side,  as,  for  this  section  of 
fossils,  it  takes  the  place  of  **  Morris's  Catalogue,"  now 
long  out  of  date.  We  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  other 
sections  treated  in  a  similar  manner — indeed,  Messrs. 
A.  Smith  Woodward  and  C.  D.  Sherbom  have  already 
catalogued  the  fossil  Vertebrata  of  the  British  Isles  in 
1890,  and  the  work  has  been  published  by  Dulau  and  Co. 


THE  LIFE  AND  WORK  OF  A  NORFOLK 

GEOLOGIST, 

Memorials  of  John  Gunn :  being  some  Account  of  the 
Cromer  Forest  Bed  and  its  Fossil  Mammalia.  Edited 
by  H.  B.  Woodward  and  E.  T.  Newton.  Pp.  xii ,  120 ; 
13  Plates  (Portrait  and  Fossil  Mammalia).  (Norwich  : 
W.  A.  Nudd,  1891.) 

ALL  students  of  the  geology  of  the  eastern  and  central 
parts  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  will  welcome  this 
book,  as  giving  the  well-matured  opinions  of  a  geologist 
whose  life-work  was  chiefly  concerned  with  the  Forest 
Bed  and  its  associated  formations,  Crag  and  Drift. 
Those  too  who  knew  Mr.  Gunn  must  be  glad  to  have 
this  memorial  of  so  courteous,  kindly,  truth-seeking  a 
man.  No  one  enjoyed  his  friendship  but  was  the  better 
for  it,  and  the  writer  looks  back  on  days  spent  in  his 
company,  both  in  the  field  and  at  meetings  of  the 
Norwich  Geological  Society,  as  amongst  the  happiest 
events  of  a  long  sojourn  in  the  Eastern  Counties.  Until 
reading  this  book  he  did  not  know  the  politics  of  Mr. 
Gunn,  and  he  is  glad  to  find  another  of  many  instances 
in  which  such  matters  are  kept  in  the  background,  as 
regards  scientific  intercourse  and  personal  friendship. 

To  those  who,  like  the  writer,  are  not  greatly  enamoured 
with  biography  and  its  multiplicity  of  personal  details  it 
is  satisfactory  to  find  this  part  of  the  book  artistically 
treated,  by  Mr.  Woodward,  in  only  27  pages,  which  are 
full  of  interest.  The  best  memorial  of  a  scientific  man 
is  the  work  that  he  has  done  and  by  which  he  will  be 
known  in  the  time  to  come,  and  it  is  to  Mr.  Gunn's  work 
that  the  editors  chiefly  direct  our  attention.  After  the 
memoir  and  about  13  pages  of  notes  on  some  of  his 
geologic  papers,  the  book  takes  the  form  of  a  short  essay 
on  the  Cromer  Forest  Bed  and  its  fossil  Mammalia,  by 
the  hand  of  Mr.  Gunn  himself;  that  is  to  say,  from  notes 
practically  completed  by  him  shortly  before  his  death. 

For  the  task  of  bringing  these  matters  before  the  public 
no  better  editors  could  have  been  chosen.  One  of  them, 
who,  in  his  Geological  Survey  work,  was  brought  much 
in  contact  with  Mr.  Gunn,  may  be  called  the  hereditary 
geologist  of  Norfolk.    The  other  has  for   some  years 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


given  great  attention  to  the  study  of  the  fossil  Mamnulia 
of  the  Forest  Bed,  and  indeed  has  made  himself  the 
chief  authority  on  the  subject 

In  1864,  Mr.  Gunn  helped  to  found  the  Norwich  Geo- 
logical Society,  of  which  he  was  the  first  and  the  last 
President,  retiring  from  that  post  only  for  six  years 
(1877-83)  in  order  that  it  should  be  filled  by  officers  of 
the  Geological  Survey  who  were  stationed  in  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk :  a  graceful  compliment.  He  was  also  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Norfolk  Archaeological  Society, 
an  active  member  of  the  Norwich  Science  Gossip  Qub, 
and  a  member  of  the  Norwich  Museum,  which  he 
enriched  by  his  fine  collection  of  fossil  mammals. 

Now  that  coal  has  been  found  underground  at  Dover^ 
and  that  there  may  be  some  chance  of  a  search  for  it 
being  made  in  the  Eastern  Counties,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  Mr.  Gunn  was  the  first  to  advocate 
trial-work  in  Norfolk. 

On  the  ground  that  "  unanimity  doe?  not  prevail  in 
regard  to  the  nomenclature  of  the  strata  "  of  the  Norfolk 
cliffs,  Mr.  Woodward  gives  a  useful  table,  on  p.  40* 
showing  the  classifications  of  Gunn,  of  Prestwich,  and  of 
C.  Reid  ;  but  that  of  Wood  might  have  been  added  with 
advantage ;  and  he  draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
cliffs  are  cut  back  greatly  year  by  year,  so  that  earlier 
observers  may  have  seen  something  different  from  later 
ones.  As  the  loss  of  coast  is  still  going  on,  and  the 
Forest  Bed  seems  not  to  reach  far  inland,  a  happy  time 
may  come  when  that  Series  will  cease  to  furnish  any 
ground  for  contention :  in  this  matter  the  geologists  of 
the  future  may  have  to  take  the  work  of  their  foregoers, 
without  the  luxury  of  upsetting  it. 

In  his  account  of  the  Forest  Bed  Series,  Mr.  Gunn 
holds  to  the  view  that,  as  a  rule,  the  trees  grew  on  the 
spots  where  the  stumps  are  now  found.  He  describes 
firstly  the  Estuarine  Soil,  then  the  Forest  Bed  proper, 
then  the  Reconstructed  Forest  Bed  (a  division  not 
hitherto  recognized,  and  hardly  likely  to  be,  recon- 
struction seeming  to  occur  in  various  parts  of  the  Series}* 
and  lastly  the  Unio  and  Rootlet  Bed  ;  but  it  should  be 
noted  that  other  observers  take  the  Forest  Bed  and  the 
Rootlet  Bed  to  be  onQ.  His  use  of  the  term  Laminated 
Beds,  for  the  immediate  successor  of  the  Forest  Bed 
Series,  is  unfortunate,  as  such  names  usually  are,  for 
lamination  is  common  in  the  Chillesford  Clay  below  and 
in  some  of  the  Glacial  Drift  above. 

Mr.  Gunn*s  notes  conclude  with  remarks,  in  some 
detail,  on  the  Proboscidea  of  the  Norwich  Crag  and  of 
the  Forest  Bed  Series,  and  on  the  Cervidae  of  the  latter, 
chiefly  based,  with  the  plates,  on  the  specimens  which  he 
so  liberally  gave  to  the  Norwich  Museum.  The  notes 
are  followed  by  a  list  of  his  geological  and  archaeological 
papers,  ranging  over  forty-eight  years,  from  1840  to  1S87. 

The  plates  of  Mammalian  fossils  are  well  executed; 
but  it  is  a  pity  that  those  of  Proboscidea  and  those  of 
Cervidae  are  not  numbered  consecutively,  instead  of 
independently.  The  portrait  that  forms  the  frontispiece 
is  a  good  one,  and  the  book  is  well  printed. 

Few  geologists  can  expect  their  names  to  be  handed 

down  to  posterity  by  so  fine  a  set  of  specimens  as  those 

of  the  Gunn  Collection  in  the  Norwich  Museum,  and  by 

'  so  interesting  a  literary    accompaniment  as  that  now 

noticed.  W.  W. 


October  29,  1891] 


NAj.  ure 


613 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Melanesians :  Studies  in  their  Anthropology  and  Folk 
Lore.  By  R.  H.  Codrington,  D.D.  (Oxford  :' Clarendon 
Press,  1891.) 

In  this  book  Dr.  Codrington  gives  us  the  results  of  ob- 
servations and  inquiries  made  in  the  Melanesian  Islands 
from  1863,  when  he  first  visited  them,  to  1887,  when  he 
left  the  Melanesian  Mission.  He  does  not  profess  to 
offer  a  complete  account  of  the  Melanesian  people  ; 
nevertheless,  the  work  is  one  of  great  value,  for  it  is  in 
the  main  a  record,  not  of  what  Europeans  say  about  the 
natives,  but  of  what  the  natives  say  about  themselves. 
The  most  careful  of  European  inquirers  may,  of  course, 
mistake  the  real  significance  of  what  natives  tell  them  ; 
but  Dr.  Codrington  seems  to  have  been  at  all  times  fully 
conscious  of  this  danger,  and  to  have  done  his  best  to 
guard  agamst  it. 

He  begins  with  a  chapter  on  the  discovery  of  the 
Melanesian  Islands,  and  on  their  geology  and  zoology. 
The  ethnology  of  Melanesia  he  does  not  attempt  to  deal 
with  ;  but  he  discusses  thoroughly  the  facts  relating 
to  kinship  and  marriage  connection  among  the  Mela- 
nesians, starting  wiih  the  proposition  that  the  division  of 
the  people  into  two  or  more  classes,  which  are  exogamous, 
and  in  which  descent  is  traced  through  the  mother,  is  the 
foundation  of  native  society.  He  also  gives  a  good 
account  of  the  position  of  the  chiefs.  A  chapter  is 
devoted  to  property  and  inheritance,  and  this  is  followed 
by  a  description  of  secret  societies  and  clubs,  a  knowledge 
of  both  of  which  is  essential  to  a  proper  comprehension 
of  Melanesian  life. 

The  religion  of  the  Melanesians,  like  that  of  all  savage 
and  barbarous  peoples,  is  a  subject  of  great  difficulty  ; 
but  Dr.  Codrington  is  able  to  present  clearly  what  seem  to 
beat  least  its  main  outlines.  Students  of  the  evolution  of 
religious  conceptions  will  read  with  especial  interest  what 
he  has  to  say  about  ''mana,"  a  supernatural  power  or 
influence  which  is  supposed  to  act  in  all  kinds  of  ways 
for  good  and  evil,  and  which  everyone  tries  to  possess 
or  control.  The  objects  of  worship  are  spirits,  some  of 
which  were  formerly  men,  while  others  belong  to  an  inde- 
pendent and  higher  class.  All  these  beings  are  full  of 
*'  mana,"  and  many  suggestive  facts  about  the  popular 
belief  in  them  will  be  found  in  the  chapters  on  sacrifices, 
prayers,  spirits,  sacred  places  and  things,  magic,  posses- 
sion, and  intercourse  with  ghosts.  There  are  also  good 
chapters  on  birth,  childhood,  and  marriage  ;  death,  burial, 
and  "after  death.'* 

The  chapters  on  the  arts  of  life,  and  on  dances,  music, 
and  games,  contain  an  immense  number  of  interesting 
facts,  well  arranged  ;  and  in  a  chapter  entitled  **  Miscel- 
laneous," the  author  treats  of  several  disconnected  sub- 
jects, such  as  cannibalism,  head-taking,  and  castaways. 
The  concluding  chapter  is  in  some  respects  the  best  of 
all.  It  consists  of  stories,  divided  into  three  groups — 
animal  stories,  myths  and  tales  of  origins,  and  wonder 
tales.  These  stories  are  not  only  pleasant  to  read,  but 
provide  excellent  materials  for  those  who  devote  them- 
selves to  the  comparative  study  of  folk-tales. 

We  may  note  that  there  are  some  very  good  illustr::- 
tions,  especially  in  the  chapter  on  the  arts  of  life. 

Guide  to  Examinations  in  Physiography^  and  Answers  t^ 
Questions,  By  W.  Jerome  Harrison,  F.G.S.  (London  • 
Blackie  and  Son,  1891.) 

The  author  of  this  little  work  of  forty-eight  pages  is 
well  known  as  a  successful  teacher,  of  wide  experience  in 
connection  with  classes  recognized  by  the  Science  and 
Art  Department.  It  is  avowedly  a  guide  to  the  art  of 
passing  an  examination,  the  author  giving  it  as  his 
opinion  that  "  knowledge  of  any  subject  is  not  the  only 
requisite  to  successfully  passing  an  examination  in  it." 

NO.  1148,  VOI.  44] 


Unfortunately,  this  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  true.  Some 
candidates  are  apt  to  make  an  injudicious  choice  of 
questions,  while  others,  again,  spend  too  little  time  in 
.studying  them,  and  consequently  wander  from  the  pbi^t. 
Few  who  read  Mr.  Harrison's  notes  will  fail  to  profit  by 
the  sound  advice  which  he  g^ves. 

The  first  part  gives  general  information  about  the 
Science  and  Art  Department  and  its  objects,  and 
applies  equally  to  all  the  subjects  in  which  its  exami- 
nations are  held.  The  questions  which  have  been  given 
in  the  elementary  stage  since  1882  are  answered  in 
Part  III.  The  appear  to  be  sufficiently  good  to  satisfy 
the  examiners. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR, 

I  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents,  Ntithtr  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  2^  ATVRX. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

A  Difficulty  in  Weiamannism. 

Wkismann's  theories  of  heredity  and  sexual  reproduction 
have  been  criticized  from  many  a  priori  points  of  view.  The 
following  remarks  are  an  attempt  to  apply  to  his  theory  of  repro- 
duction a  ttsi  familiar  to  the  mathematician  ;  and  assuming  its 
truth,  to  follow  out  the  deductions  from  this  assumption.  The 
result  is  a  startling  one  I  believe  the  following  theses  will  bC; 
accepted  as  an  impartial  statement  of  the  main  points  of  the 
theory  : — 

I.  Each  primitive  germ-cell,  of  either  sex,  contains  a  number 
of  ancestral  germ-units,  the  Ahnenplasmas  ;  and  this  number  is 
constant,  for  the  s|  ecies  at  least. 

II.  These  ancestral  germ-units  are  far  more  constant  and  un- 
changeable in  character  than  the  species  itself. 

III.  They  lie  associated  together  in  the  germ-cell  without  loss 
or  alteration  of  their  individual  personalities. 

IV.  The  number  contained  in  the  mature  ovum  and  spermato- 
zoon is  reduced  by  one-half ;  and  in  the  fertilized  ovum  or 
oosperm  the  number  is  restored  to  the  normal  by  the  summation 
of  the  Ahnenplasmas  of  the  two  fusing  cells.  This  process  is 
comparable  to  the  shuffling  of  two  packs  of  cards  by  taking  half 
from  each  and  joining  the  talons  or  remainders  to  form  a  new 
pack. 

V.  The  possible  combinations  under  this  process  are  so  nume- 
rous as  to  explain  the  variations  among  the  offspring  of  sexual 
union. 

Accepting  these  statements,  we  next  inquire,  How  are  we  to 
conceive  of  these  ancestral  units,  the  Ahnenplasmas?  Two 
hypotheses  may  be  given  in  answer  to  this  question  :^ 

A.  Each  Ahnenplasma  unit  corresponds  to  an  individual  of 
the  species  itself ;  and  if  put  under  proper  trophic  conditions 
would,  singly,  reproduce  such  an  individual. 

B.  The  Ahnenplasmas  correspond  to  the  primitive  Proto- 
zoan ancestors,  which,  accoiding  to  theory,^  could  alone  reproduce 
modifications  due  to  external  causes  (acquired  modifications). 

According  to  hypothesis  A,  the  Ahnenplasmas  of  living 
man  are  Anihropic  ;  those  of  our  Simian  forebears  were  Simian  ; 
and  so  we  get  Protochordate,  and  finally  Protometazoan 
Ahnenplasmas  in  the  germ-cells  of  our  more  and  more  remote 
ancestors.  In  other  words,  the  Ahnettplasms  have  varied  in- 
definitely i  and  at  the  same  rate  tvith  the  race.  This  inference 
not  only  renders  the  shuffling  process  unnecessary  to  explain 
variation  ;  but  it  is  inconsistent  with  thesis  II.,  the  very  founda- 
tion of  Weismann's  theory  of  heredity. 

According  to  hypothesis  B,  the  Ahnenplasmas  of  all  Metazoa 
licing  similar  and  Protozoan,  if  the  numbers  are  equal  and  the 
shuffling  fair  any  two  parents  may  beget  any  offspring  what- 
ever ;  on  the  plane  of  thesis  V.,  a  lione&s  might  be  expected  to 
bring  forth  a  IolM»er  or  a  starfish  or  any  other  animal,  which, 
as  we  know,  does  not  take  place  in  Na  ure.  The  only  escape 
from    this   result  is   to  assume    the   postulates — (l)  that   the 


*  "  Hereditary  variability  ...  can  only  arise  in  the  lowest  unfcrillular 
organisms ;  and  .  .  .  necessarily  passed  over  into  the  higher  organisms 
when  they  first  appeared"  (WeiRmanr,  "On  Heredity."  Enghsh  ALtion, 
p.  379).  This  passage  would  seem  to  render  hypothesis  B  necessiry  for  the 
theory. 


6i4 


NATURE 


[October  29,  1891 


monber  of  AhnenpksmM  varies  from  species  to  species ;  (2) 
tiMt  the  fwvtb§r  m  fhe  eomhtnation  and  not  the  charaiter  of  the 
AhMBplRsaias  determines  the  species.  And  as  there  is  not  a 
particla  of  evidence  for  the  latter  postulate,  we  may  say  that 
on  hypothesis  B  the  theory  bieaks  down  by  its  non^conforraity 
^liih  the  facts. 

.  We  have  then  the  dilemma,  from  which  I  see  no  escape,  that 
the  theory  is  inconsistent,  on  A  with  itself,  on  B  with  the  facts. 
When  once  worked  out  and  fairly  put  into  words,  which  was  not 
so  rasy  as  it  may  appear,  this  argument  seemed  so  obvious  that 
I  felt  sure  it  must  have  been  long  since  niiged,  confuted,  and  dis- 
missed. Bnt  not  having  found  any  reference  to  it,  I  now  state 
it  fully,  in  the  hope  that  the  question  raised  may  be  thoroughly 
discussed.  Marcus  Hartog. 

Dublin,  October  12. 


Rain-making  Experiments. 

Your  last  number  contains  an  article  by  Prof.  Curtis  on  the 
'*  rain-making  "  experiments  in  Texas,  in  which  no  reference  is 
made  to  the  report  published  in  the  October  number  of  the  North 
American  Review  by  General  Dyrenforth,  who  directed  the 
operations.  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  remarkable  differences 
which  exist  between  the  statements  of  Prof.  Curtis,  the  meteoro- 
logist of  the  expedition,  and  Greneral  Dyrenforth,  its  director. 
On  August  10,  Prof.  Curtis,  who  had  not  yet  arrived  at  the 
scene  of  the  experiments,  believes  that  only  sharp  showers  or 
*'good  grass-rain"  fell;  General  Dyienforih  says  the  amount 
was  nearly  2  inches.  On  August  18,  Prof.  Curtis  says  that  only 
0*02  inch  of  rain  fell ;  General  Dyrenforth  says  that  *'  drenching 
rain  fell  in  torrents  for  two  and  a  half  hcurs,"  and  that  driving 
from  the  encampment  to  Midland,  a  distance  of  25  miles,  the 
road  traversed  was  covered  for  6  or  8  miles  under  4  to  40  inches 
of  water.  It  is  impossible,  under  these  circumstances,  for  those 
interested  to  come  to  any  conclusion  at  present  with  regard  to 
the  actual  results  of  the  experiments.  May  I  draw  your 
atttntion  further  to  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  Manchester 
Guardian  of  the  13th  inst.,  in  which  a  suggestion  was  made 
precisely  similar  to  that  put  forward  by  Prof.  Giglioli  in  your 
last  liumber.  If,  as  seems  probable,  the  experiments  of  Mr. 
Aitktn  amply  suffice  to  explain  any  positive  results  obtained,  it 
is  e%ident  that  the  explosions  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  on  which 
G<mral  Dyrenforth  relies  so  much,  are  useless,  and  that  the 
smoke-producing  rackarock  does  all  the  work.  In  an  ex- 
trtmely  sceptical  and  very  justly  critical  article,  which  follows 
that  of  General  Dyrenforth  in  the  North  American  Revirti\ 
Prof.  Simon  New  comb,  while  scouting  the  ''concussion" 
theories  of  General  Dyrenforth,  says,  indeed,  that  smoke 
panicles  may  possibly  serve  as  nuclei  for  the  condensation  of 
water  vapour ;  but  he  is  evidently  unacquainted  with  the  re- 
markable work  of  Mr.  Aitken,  which  throws  so  much  light  on 
the  matter.  H. 

Manchester,  October  24. 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. 

Having  just  returned  from  Norway,  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
record  that  the  band  of  light  which  was  observed  by  many  of 
your  corresi>ondents  on  September  ii,  was  remarkably  brilliant 
in  N.  lat  62°,  extending  from  the  horizon  to  the  zenith,  but 
not  beyond.  It  was  nearly,  but  not  quite,  equal  in  width 
throughout  the  90%  and  therefore  must  either  have  been  much 
wider  at  the  base  than  at  the  apex,  or  elae  at  an  immense  alti- 
tude. Some  clue  to  the  estimation  of  this  altitude  would  be 
afforded  by  an  accurate  record  of  the  zenith  distance  as  observed 
in  England. 

I  may  add  that  the  aurora  borealis  was  distinctly  visible  in  the 
north  and  north-west  at  the  same  time,  but  this  band  rose  from 
the  noith-east,  which  led  me  to  conjecture  that  it  might  belong 
to  a  comet ;  however,  on  the  following  night  it  did  not  recur, 
and  I  then  thought  it  might  have  been  caused  by  sonie  sun- lit 
cirri  at  a  great  elevation,  but  it  is  now  obvious  that  this  was  not 
the  case.  The  remarkable  feature  was  its  concurrence  with, 
and  yet  apparent  difference  from,  the  ordinary  aurora. 

Richmond,  Surrey,  October  24.  W.  Duppa- Crotch. 


The  phenomenon  observed  by  Dr.  Copeland  (Naturb, 
September  24,  p.  494)  at  11.18  p.m.  on  September  10  at 
Dtinecht,  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Wilson  at  9  p.m.  on  September  11 
in  Co.   Westmeath,    and  by  other  observers  on  the   iitb  in 

NO.    1 148,  VOL.  44] 


several  parts  of  England,  was  obMrred  by  a  party  of  three, 
including  myself,  at  9.30  p.m.  on  September  25  at  BaUater,. 
Aberdemhire. 

It  appeared  as  an  intea«'e  white  beam  of  light  ftretcbnig 
from  east  to  west  and  directly  overhead,  of  unifonn  width  and 
perfectly  steady.  It  seemed  quite  low  down,  almost  as  if  il 
might  light  up  the  summit  of  the  church  spire  were  it  movccS 
a  little  further  towards  the  south.  At  ir.30  the  lifibt  had 
become  diffuse,  and  it  appeared  at  a  much  greater  elevar 
tion,  though  maintaining  its  general  direction  from  east  to> 
west.  W.  N.  Hartley. 

October  23. 

Earthquake  at  Bournemouth. 

We  had  a  sharp  momentary  shock  of  earthquake  here  at  four 
o'clock  this  afternoon.  I  happened  to  have  my  eyes  fixed  on  a 
plant  with  long  variegated  leaves  on  my  dining-room  table. 
Suddenly  there  was  a  heavy  sound  as  of  some  subterranean  fall, 
and  simultaneously  the  leaves  of  this  plant  were  violently  aei- 
tated — waved  up  and  down — for  some  seconds.  It  was  as  if  it 
had  risen  vertically  and  then  fallen.  It  was  wholly  mimoved 
by  so  much  as  a  tremor  the  rest  of  the  afternoon.  I  tried  to 
reproduce  anything  like  the  same  disturbance  by  band,  bat  witb* 
out  success.  Henry  Cecil. 

Bregner,  Boumemouth,  October  25. 


I  HAD  read  Mr.  Slate's  letter  (NATtTRE,  vol.  xliv.  p.  445), 
and  admired  it ;  moreover,  I  found  myself  in  agreement  with 
him«  But  it  seems  to  me  strange  that  Prof.  Greenhill  sbcrald 
approve  of  it.  For  Mr.  Slate  takes  as  his  gravttatioBal  «nt  of 
force  *''th€  wiigki  tf  otH  pound  under  eireumstatKes  speciJUd 
.  .  .  {locality y  vacuum).**  Surely  this  implies  that  he  agfiees 
with  the  theorists  (Prof.  Greenhill's  foes)  when  they  say  that 
"  the  weight  of  a  given  body  depends  on  the  local  valve  of  p" 
Prof.  Greenhill,  on  the  contrary,  speaking  of  aaods,  says  that 
** the  weight  cannot  be  said  to  vary  with  the  local  vabn  tf  g^* 
(Nature, vol.  xliv.  p.  493),  I  would  ask  him,  then — 

(i)  What  name  does  he  give  to  the  earth's  pull  on  a  ^ven 
body  ?  Or,  what  is  it  that  a  spring  balance  measures  when  the 
said  body  is  hung  from  it  ?  He  cannot  say  "  its  weight'* ;  for 
the  pull  referred  to  varies  with  g^  while  Prof.  GreenfaiU's 
'<  weight "  does  not.  I  conclude  that  he  has  no  speda!  name 
for  it.  The  theorists  have  ;  and  they  thereby  grain  in  brevity 
without  losing  by  ambtgnity,  since  they  do  not  employ  the  wonl 
"  weight "  in  any  other  sense  is  their  text-books. 

I  would  also  repeat  the  si  ill  unanswered  question  --^  (s> 
How  does  Prof.  Greenhill  give  the  expression  for  hydrostatic 
pressure  at  a  given  depth  in  any  locality,  if  he  banishes  *'^"? 
(Nature,  vol.  xliv.  p.  341).  And  does  he  conclude  that  Mr. 
Slate  does  not  use  **^**  in  hydrostatics? 

Again  ...  (3)  Does  Prof.  Greenhill,  in  common  with  Ifr. 
Slate  and  the  theorists,  use  the  word  mass  in  speaking  of  the 
fundamental  units ;  and,  if  so,  in  what  sense  ? 

In  the  science  of  dynamics  we  rec  agnize  two  properties  of 
matter:  .  .  .  (L ) its i/r^/io  ;  .  .  .  {\i.) the edtraction 
it  and  other  matter.  The  theorists  use  the  word  meus 
they  refer  to  quantity  of  matter  as  measured  by  its  imrtia  ; 
they  use  the  word  weight  when  they  refer  to  the  e^ttreution.  of  a 
given  body  to  the  earlh.  For  commercial  purposes  it  is  ooo- 
venient  to  measure  quantity  of  matter  by  balancing  its  wei^ 
against  that  of  the  standard  lump  of  platinum,  its  multipftesp 
and  sub- multiples.  Hence  the  everv-day,  sli|;htly  ambigiaotts*  use 
of  the  word  *'  weight "  in  matters  m  which  we  are  not  concerned 
with  inertia.  But  in  the  science  of  dynamics,  of  which  Newton's 
laws  are  the  foundation,  we  are  concerned  primarily  with 
inertia.  The  theorists,  therefore,  in  their  text-books,  regard 
the  well-known  lump  of  platinum  as  the  standard  pounds  the 
British  unit  of  mass.  They  thus  have  the  word  **  weight  **  free, 
and  say  {e.g. )  i  hat  the  weight  of  the  standard  pound  is  measured  by 
the  resultant  pressure  that  it  exerts  (in  vacuo)  on  the  bottom  of  the 
box  in  which  it  lies.  It  requires  more  than  general  expressions 
of  condemnation  to  show  that  any  other  system  of  nomendatoie 
is  clearer  or  less  free  from  ambiguity,  or  that  the  eqmfion 
W  =  M^  has  not  as  much  meaning  as  any  other  dynamical 
equation.  (I  may  refer  back  to  my  letter,  Nature,  voL  xliv. 
p.  493).  W.  Lardeh. 

Devonport,  September  26. 


October  29,  1891] 


61S 


AlUrnait  Current  Motors. 

ALTERNATE  current  motors  constitute  one  of  the 
most  striking  features  a.t  the  Frankfort  Exhibition, 
And  the  cotnmerciai  use  of  such  motors  will  probably  date 
from  this  year,  so  that  the  one  great  objection  to  the 
employment  of  alternating  currents  for  the  electric 
transmission  and  distribution  of  power  will  soon  dis- 
appear. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  direction  of  rotation  of  an 
ordinary  series,  or  shunt,  direct  current  motor  is  the  sa.me 
whichever  way  the  direct  current  passes  round  the  motor, 
in  spite  of  a  patent  of  Mr.  Edison's  to  utiliie  the  contrary 
fact  on  electric  railways  ;  hence  it  follows  that  if  an  alter- 
nate current  be  sent  round  such  a  motor  it  will  start 
roiating  and  develop  mechanical  power.    Only  a  corn- 


it  is  necessary  to  first  make  the  armature  rapidly  rotate 
by  mechanical  means  at  such  ■  speed  that  any  armaiufe 
coil,  A,,  moves  forward  by  the  distance  between  two  sf 
Ihe  poles  M,,  M,  of  ihe  field  magnet  in  haJf  the  periodic 
time  of  the  alternation  of  ihe  current.  Wlien  this  speod 
has  been  once  attained,  the  machine  will  go  on  running  as  a 
powerful  and  efficient  alternate  current  motor,  at  a  per- 
fectly definite  speed,  depending  simply  on  the  rate  pf 
alternation  of  the  current,  and  independent  within 
wide  limits  of  the  load  put  on  the  motor. 

So  that  when  the  armature  of  the  motor  is  once  "  in 
step"  with  that  of  the  dynamo  the  two  will  continue  "in 
step,"  whatever  be  the  amount,  within  wide  limits,  of  the 
power  iransmicied. 

When  a  considerable  amount  of  power  has  to  be 
sent  from  a  source  to  a  distant  town,  and  bas  there  to 
be  distributed  for  light  or  for  driving  machinery,  it  will 
certainly  be  best  (as  far  as  our  present  knowledge  goes) 
to  use  alternating  currents  in  the  transmission  of  the 
piower  between  the  two  distant  places,  because  with 
alternating  currents  the  pressure  can  so  easily  be  trans- 
formed up  at  the  source,  and  transformed  down  again 
at  the  other  end  of  the  line. 

But  in  the  d  stribution  of  the  received  power  direct 
rrents  are  the  more  convenient,  since  they  can  he 
lized  for  light,  for    electroplating  and   elect  rot  y  ping. 


paratively  small  power  and  efficiency,  however,  will  be 
obtained:  first,  because  Ihe  large  self-induction  of  the 
field  magnet  of  the  motor  will  seriously  diminish  the 
strength  of  the  alternating  current  ;  secondly,  because,  in 
consequence  of  the  rapid  reversals  of  the  magnetism, 
much  power  will  be  wasted  in  heating  the  iron  core  of 
the  field  m^net,  even  although  this  core  be  laminated 
like  that  of  the  armature. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  direct  current  be  sent  round 
the  field  magnet,  M„  M^,  M,,  of  an  alltrnate  current 
machine,  and  an  alternating  current  round  the  arma- 
ture, Aj,  Aj,  A,  (Fig.  10),  the  armature  will  not  move, 
because  at  every  two  of  the  successive  rapid  reversals  of 
the  current  the  armature  receives  an  impulse  in  opposite 
diFeclioDS.  To  enable  such  a  machine  to  work  as  a  motor. 


NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


.,  nb. 


well  as  for  small  and  large  direct  current  electro- 
both  of  which  have  already  reached  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  perfection,  and  are  of  course  self- 
starting.  Hence  it  is  probable  that  there  will  be 
employed  a  synchronizing  alternate  current  motor, 
coupled  mechanically  to  a  direct  current  dynai 

tr  being  used  to  supply  current  to  the  town  and 
excite  the  field  magnets  of  the  motor.  Such  combina- 
tions, seen  in  Fig.  It,  are  exhibited  by  Messrs.  Siemens 
and  Halske  in  the  Frankfort  Exhibition,  the  alternate 
current  motor  being  to  the  left  and  the  direct  current 
dynamo  to  the  right  in  the  figure. 

In  the  particular  form  of  direct  current  dynamo  shown 
in  Fig.  1 1 ,  and  which  represents  a  type  much  used  now 
on  the  Continent,  the  field  magnets  are  inside  the  rotating 
armature,  and  the  wires  on  the  outside  of  the  Gramme 
ring  itself  are  bare,  and  act  as  the  commutator. 

The  impossibility  of  starting  the  simple  synchronizing 
motor  with  an  alternating  current  will  be  of  little  conse- 
quence when  a  large  amount  of  power  has  to  be  trans- 
mitted, seeing  that  In  the  receiving  station  there  will  be 
several  sets  of  geared  alternate  current  motors  and  direct 
current  dynamos,  some  of  which  will  be  always  running  day 
and  night.  Hence, to  start  any  ahernate  current  motor,  all 
that  need  be  done  will  be  to  send  round  the  direct  c  irrent 


[October  29.  i8< 


dynamo,  attached  to  the  motor  to  be  started,  a  portion  of 
the  direct  current  that  is  being  produced  hy  one  of  ihe 
running  dynamosL  This  will  cause  the  stationary  direct 
current  dynamo  to  start  running  as  a  motor,  and  when 
the  right  speed  has  been  attained — that  is,  when  the  moinr 
is  in  step  with  the  distant  alternate  current  dynamo — the 
alternate  current  can  be  switched  on   to   the  alternate 

Actual  plans  are  being  seriously  got  out  at  the  present 
time,  for  using  this  exact  method  to  transmit  5000  horse- 
power over  forty  miles  in  Tasmania,  the  received  power 
bein^  transformed  by  ten  such  combinatirins  as  are  seen 
in  Fig.  1 1,  each  of  500  horse-power. 

This  subdivision  of  the  machinery  at  the  receiving 
end,  if  accompanied  by  a  similar  subdivision  of  the 
generating  plant  at  the  sending  end  of  the  line,  will  have 
another  most  important  advantage,  vii.  that  a  breakdown 
of  a  dynamo  or  of  a  motor  will  not  cause  a  stoppage  in 
the  supply  of  power.  \  factory  U,  no  doubt,  worked  at 
present  with  a  single  large  engine  ;  the  propulsion  of  a 
steamer  depends  on  the  turning  of  a  single  powerful 
screw  ;  but  neither  the  unexpected  stoppage  of  the  factor)- 
engine  for  say  half-an-hour  once  every  two  or  three  months, 
nor  the  delay  of  an  Atlantic  hner  in  mid-ocean  for  the 
same  time  once  in  every  half-dozen  voy^es,  would 
necessarily  mean  ruin.  Were,  however,  the  10,000 
horse- {Mwer  dynamo  at  Deptford  lo  be  ever  finished  and 
worked  at  its  full  oiitpiil.  it  would  be  necessary,  in  order 
to  avoid  a  temporary  hitch  leading  to  ihe  turning  o(T 
the  current  from  many  thousands  of  glow  lamps,  and 
the  plunging  of  a  neighbourhood  into  darknes',  to 
always  have  dynamos  of  a  capacity  of  10.000  horse- 
power kept  idle  in  reserve. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  size  of  each  dynamo  in  a 
central  station  should  be  something  like  one-tenth  of  the 
maximum  output,  and  that  it  is  sufficient  to  keep  one, 
'  or  at  the  most  two  such  dynamos,  as  a  reserve,  to  pre- 
vent temporary  breakdowns  interfering  with  the  steady 
supply  of  current.  Until,  then,  a  single  centr.il  station 
is  lighting  some  500,000  glow  lamps— or  more  than  ten 
times  the  total  number  at  present  attached  to  tbe 
mains  of  the  London  Electric  Supply  Corporation — no 
one  but  the  Brunei  of  electricity  would  have  had  the 
courage  to  embark  on  a  10,000  horse- power  machine. 

At  any  rate,  nhen  during  the  next  year  or  two  it  is  re- 
quired to  transmit  a  large  amount  of  power  over  a  con- 
siderable distance,  it  is  probable  that  several  alternate  . 
current  synchronizing  motors,  each  coupled  to  a  direct  ■ 
current  dynamo,  will  be  employed  at  the  receiving  end  of  i 

In  cases,  however,  where  there  already  exists  an  ex-  ' 
tended  system  of  distributing  alternate  currents  for  electric  ! 
light,  the  introduction  of  motors  into  small  workshops  I 
antj  private  houses  will  hardly  be  possible,  unless  the  ' 
motors  can  be  made  self-starting.  Mr.  Zipernowski's  1 
motors,  employed  fjr  driving  Ihe  tools  in  a  Cirpentcr's  ' 
shop  at  the  Frankfort  Exhibition,  have  been  made  self- 
starting,  and  also  fairly  efficient,  by  adopting  a  com- 
promise between  the  simple  direct  current  motor,  which 
IS  self-siarting  but  inefficient  when  used  with  alternating 
currents,  and  the  alternate  current  synchronizing  motor, 
which  is  efficient  but  not  self-starting. 

The  device  employed  by  Mr.  Zlpernowski,  and  which  is 
based  on  a  communication  made  by  Prof.  G.  Forbes  to  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  some  eight  years  ago,  is  as 
follows  :~Send  the  alternating  current  round  the  field 
magnet  as  well  as  round  the  armature  of  an  alternate 
cunent  motor  (Fig.  to),  and  attach  a  commutator  to  the 
armature  so  as  to  reverse  the  current  (lowing  round  the 
field  magnet  every  time  the  armature  colls  A,,  A„  A,  pass 
the  field  magnet  coils  M,,  M^,  M,.  On  sending  the  alier- 
nalc  current  round  such  a  motor,  the  motor  will  start,  but 
sinte  at  lirst  the  rapidity  of  alternation  of  the  current  will 
be  far  greater  than  the  rapid'ly  of  commutation  there 
NO.    I  i  48.  VOL.  44] 


will  be  much  sparking  at  the  commutator  and  waste  ct 
power.  As,  however,  the  armalure  turns  more  and 
more  qu'ckly,  the  commutation  will  be  effected  more 
and  more  rapidly,  until  at  last  the  armature  will  attain 
such  a  speed  that  every  time  the  current  is  re- 
versed by  the  distant  dynamo  the  portion  of  the 
current  flowing  round  the  field  magnet  of  the  motor 
will  be  commutated  by  the  rapidly  rotiUing  antulufc. 
Hence  the  current  flowing  round  this  field  magnet  will 
now  be  alwa\  s  in  the  same  direction-  But  as  it  will  not 
be  always  of  the  same  strength  there  wilt  be  more  waste 
of  power  than  with  a  simple  synchronizing  motor. 

Such  an  arrangement  as  that  adopted  by  Mr. 
Zipemowski,  then,  furnishes  a  motor  which,  although  not 
as  efficient  and  powerful  for  its  weight  as  the  syncbto- 
nizing  motor  previously  described,  has  the  advantage  cf 
synchronizing  fairly  well,  of  beiog  self- starling,  and  of 
giving  far  betterresults  than  a  direct  current  motor  with 
laminated  field  magnets  used  with  alternating  currents. 

It  is  possible,  however,  as  proved  by  Prof,  Ferraris  in 
188s,  to  design  an  alternate  current  motor  on  totally 
different  principles,  and  to  construct  a  machine  which 
will  work  not  merely  without  a  commutator,  but  without 
even  any  sort  of  rubbing  contact.      So  that,  in  fact,  the 


Fig.  13. — RouULDE  mugiKtic  licli]  jrtoduad  by  ttro  aitemaiiDg  carmia 

ends  of  all  tbe  wires  on  a  Ferraris  motor  may  be  per- 
manently soldered,  and  the  motor  left  in  the  hands  of  a 
person  who  knows  how  to  oil  a  machine  but  who  is  quilt 
Ignorant  of  the  trimming  and  adjustment  of  Ihe  brushes 
of  an  ordinary  direct  current  motor. 

Round  an  iron  ring  are  wound  four  coils,  as  seen  in 
Fig.  12,  and  through  the  two  distinct  circuits  are  sent  two 
harmonic  alternating  currents  having  the  same  perioiUc 
time  and  maximum  amptitude,  but  differing  by  90' in 
phase.  The  ring  will  therefore  receive  two  magnetia- 
tions  along  two  fixed  diameters  at  right  angles  to  ooe 
another,  the  two  magnetizations  alternating  approximaldT 
according  to  the  sine  function  of  the  time,  and  diffefiog 
by  90^  in  phase.  And  the  composition  of  these  two 
magnetizations  will  give  a  ^^  rotating  magnetic  field"  n'^''^ 
will  make  one  complete  rotation  in  lEe  periodic  time  ef 
alternation  of  the  current. 

Six  values  of  the<e  two  currents  are  indicated  in  Fig' 
12,  the  currents  in  a,  c,  and  e,  being  of  their  maximuai 
value  in  coils  I,  Ij,  and  nought  in  colls  II,  11^;  while  lo 
#,  d,  and  /,  the  currents  in  the  four  coils  are  eqiul, 
being  eich  of  the  maximum  value.  The  arrow  indi- 
cates the  position  which  in  each  case  would  be  taken  up 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


617 


by  a  suspended  compass  needle,  the  point  of  the  arrow 
indicating  the  north-seeking  pole  of  the  compass  needle. 

If  in  puice  of  the  suspended  compass  needle  there  be  a 
piece  of  copper,  currents  will  be  induced  in  this  copper  by 
the  rotating  magnetic  field,  tending  to  make  the  cylinder 
follow  the  Held.  Hence,  if  the  copper  take  the  form  of  a 
cylinder,  with  its  axis  coinciding  with  the  axis  of  the  ring, 
and  supported  so  that  it  can  rotate  about  this  axis,  the 
cylinder  will  run  after  the  rotating  field  until  it  catches  it 
up,  when  the  two  will  move  nearly  synchronously  together. 
On  applying  a  resistance  to  the  rotation  of  this  cylinder — 
that  is,  on  making  the  motor  do  work — the  speed  of  the 
cylinder  will  be  checked,  but  a  small  diminution  of  speed 
will  cause  large  currents  to  be  induced  in  the  copper, 
and  a  pulling  force  to  be  exerted  between  the  rotating 
field  and  the  Tagging  cylinder,  tending  to  drag  the  cylinder 
round.  Hence  this  arrangement  of  Prof.  Ferraris  produces 
not  merely  a  self- starting  alternate  current  motor,  but 
one  which  runs  almost  synchronously  with  the  dynamo  for 
wide  variations  in  the  load,  and  which  has  neither  com- 
mutator, rubbing  contacts,  brushes,  nor  the  possibility  of 
sparking. 

Within  the  past  few  weeks  we  have  learnt  that  the 
idea  of  obtaining  a  rotating  magnetic  field  was  mentioned 
by  M.  Marcel  Deprez,  in  a  French  patent  dated  May 


the  copper  cylinder  originally  used  by  Prof.  Ferraris  was 
next  made  hollow,  and  the  interior  filled  with  soft  iron, 
the  iron  being  laminated  in  planes  at  right  angles  to  the 
axis,  to  prevent  currents  being  induced  in  the  iron  ;  and  to 
make  the  currents  induced  in  the  copper  cylinder  follow 
the  most  useful  path  the  next  step  was  to  make  a  num- 
ber of  cuts  through  the  hollow  copper  cylinder  parallel  to 
the  axis  of  rotation.  Practically,  then,  the  rotating  por- 
tion becomes  a  laminated  cylinder  of  iron,  on  which  is 
wound  insulated  wire  parallel  to  the  axis,  as  in  a 
Siemens  armature,  but  with  this  difference,  that  all 
the  wires  are  electrically  joined  together  at  each  end 
of  the  cylinder. 

A  two- phase  alternate  current  motor  was  constructed 
and  used  by  Prof.  Ferraris  in  his  laboratory  at  Turin  in 
1885.  But  not  appreciating  the  practical  importance  of 
his  own  invention,  and  thinking  that  no  motor  requiring 
more  than  two  wires  could  interest  anyone  but  the  natund 
philosopher,  Prof.  Ferraris  occupied  himself  with  attempts 
to  utilize  the  rotatory  magnetic  field  in  measuring  the 
resistance  of  conductors  and  with  mathematical  investiga- 
tions on  alternate  currents.  It  was  not,  therefore,  until 
the  spring  of  1 888  that  the  results  of  his  researches  were 
published  ;  when,  a  few  months  later,  commercial  motors 
based  on  exactly  the  same  principles  were  brought  ouc 


A  Sin  (-0) 


ffl 


\ 


-^ ^ 

ASin(-6)'ACotJ:ff) 


A  C0*(-e) 


Wk 


Fig.  13.— Schuckert  two-phase  alternate  current  generator  and  trarolbrmer.    The  arrows  indicate  the  actual  direction  of  the  currents  for  the  position  of 

the  armature  shown. 


1883.  In  that  patent,  when  speaking  of  the  magnetic 
field  produced  by  the  current  flowing  round  a  Gramme 
ring,  he  says :  "  Cette  rotation  du  champ  magn^tique  pent 
itre  obtenue  sans  /aire  mouvoir  aucune  piice  /  pour  cela 
on  fera  naitre  le  champ  d  I  aide  de  deux  courants  dont  les 
points  d* entree  sont  sur  deux  diam^tres  perpendicuiaires ; 
PaimentaHon  de  ce  champ  sera  alors  une  rhultante  dont 
la  position  d^etid  des  intensitis  relatives  des  deux  courants^ 
ainsi  que  cela  a  Hi  ddcrit  ci-dessus  pour  le  comparateur 
des  courants  J  il  suffit  de  /aire  varier  le  rapport  de  ces 
intensitis  pour  f aire  toumer  cette  rdsultantey  et  avecelle  le 
champ  magnitique!* 

It  does  not,  however,  appear  to  have  occurred  to  M. 
Deprez  that  this  rotation  of  a  magnetic  field  might  be  em- 
ployed to  induce  currents,  and  thus  give  motion  to  a  piece 
of  metal  placed  inside  the  Gramme  ring  ;  nor  does  he  say 
anything  about  two  harmonic  alternate  currents  differing 
by  90"*  in  phase  producing  the  exact  variation  of  current 
required.  Although,  then,  what  may  be  called  the  geo- 
metrical idea  of  producing  a  rotating  magnetic  field  was 
certainly  clearly  described  by  M.  Deprez,  the  credit  of  re- 
discovering this  principle,  and,  what  is  far  more  important, 
of  applying  it  in  the  design  of  the  two-phase  alternate 
current  motor,  is  due  to  Prof.  Ferraris. 

To  increase  the  strength  of  the  rotating  mignetic  field, 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


with  considerable  dclat  by  Mr.  Tesla,  of  Pittsburg,  who 
had  been  working  independently  in  the  same  direction. 

To  produce  two  alternate  currents,  differing  by  90°  in 
phase,  the  following  device  (Fig.  13)  may  be  adopted, 
and  is  the  one  employed  by  Messrs.  Schuckert  in  trans- 
mitting power  at  2000  volts  from  the  Palm  Garden  at 
Frankfort  to  the  Exhibition,  and  by  Messrs.  Siemens  and 
Halske  for  experiments  on  rotatory  field  alternate  current 
motors  in  the  Exhibition;  the  latter  firm,  however, 
not  employing  the  special  form  of  transformer  shown 
symbolically  in  Fig.  13.  In  addition  to  the  armature 
of  a  Gramme  dynamo  being  joined  up  in  the  well- 
known  way  with  the  ordinary  direct  current  com- 
mutator (this  commutator  and  brushes  rubbing  on  it 
not  being  shown  in  Fig.  13),  four  points  at  equal  distances 
on  the  armature  are  permanently  connected  with  four 
metal  rings,  Rj,  R^,  R31  and  R4,  which  rotate  with  the 
armature.  Then  it  is  easy  to  prove  that  while  the 
machine  is  producing  a  direct  current,  used  for  exciting 
the  field  magnets  as  well  as  for  any  other  purpose  desired, 
the  current  passing  through  the  wires  attached  to  the 
brushes  B^,  B^iand  the  current  passing  through  the  wires 
attached  to  the  brushes  B3,  B4,  each  alternate  very  nearly 
as  the  sine  function  of  the  time,  the  one  reaching  its 
maximum  value  when  the  other  is  nought. 


[October  29, 1S91 


The  actual  machine  employed  for  liiis  purpose  by  ,  direct  current,  it  will  rotate  as  a  nmlor  fesentini  lJ« 
Messrs.  Sdiuckett  ia  the  maltipolar  dynamo  showit  in  two  alternate  currents,  and  also  domg  mechanicil  woA 
Fig.  14,  the  direct  current  commutator  and  brushes,  as  if  re<iaired  ;  lastly,  if  supplied  with  the  tvi*  altaMt 
niell  as  the  four  rings  and  brashes  for  the  two  alternating  .  currents,  it  will  work  as  a  two-pbase  altemate  contnt 


currents,  being  here  seen.     If  rotated  mechanically,  it  .  motor  generating  a  direct  current,  as    well  i 

will  produce  a  direct  current,  as  well  as  two  alternating  |  mechanical  work. 

:nts  differing  by  90°  in  phase ;    if  supplied  with  a  I  When  transmitting  power  to  a  distance,  tbetwo-^hue 
NO.  II 48,  VOL.  44] 


OCTO^  29,   1891] 


619 


alternate  potential  differences  are  transformed  up  from  The  actual  metliod  employed  by  Messrs.  Schudcert  for 

about  TOO  to  2000  volts  ;  and  to  enable  the  transmission  winding  this  special  transformer,  as  well  as  its  appearance 

to  be-  effected  with  three  wires  instead  of  four  Messrs  |  wlien  completed,  are  seen  from  Figs,  ij  and  16.    This 

Schuckert  arrange  the  transformer  at  each  end  of  the  line  transformer,  then,  instead  of  consisting  of  merely  a  double 


f^a^*' 


as  shown  symbolically  in  Fig.  13.  Hence,  if  the  currents 
produced  by  the  dynamo  be  represented  by  A  sin  8  and 
A  cos  S,  the  currents  in  the  main  wires,  W3,  Wi,  and 
W„  will  be  represented  by  A  cos  (-  fl),  A  sin(-  ff),  and 
A  1  sin  (-  ^  -I-  cos  (-  0)1  respectively. 


ring  of  laminated  iron  as  indicate!  i 
diagram.  Fig.  13,  may  be  regarded  as 
of  a  connected  series  of  laminated  iro 
wedge-shaped  cross-section, 

(To  ire  ecmitnuetf.) 


I  the  symbolical 
being  composed 
.  rings,  eacn  of  a 


T//E  OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  MUSEUM} 
"^  HE  following  memorandum  is  based,  not  only  upon 
■*■  observations  niade  during  a  recent  visit  10  Oxford, 
but  also  upon  a  fairly  intimate  knowledge  of  the  origin 
and  progress  of  the  different  departments  of  the  Museum, 
arquired  at  various  intervals  of  time  extending  over  more 
than  thirty  years. 

In  entering  upon  the  consideration  of  the  subject  which 
you  have  referred  to  me,  it  will  first  be  necessary  to  define 
the  purposes  for  which  the  Museum  is  maintained.  These 
I  take  to  be  somewhat  manifold,  but  they  may  be  classed 
as  follows ;  — 

A.  Thetirstand  main  purpose  is  undoubtedly  toassist 
in  the  educational  work  of  the  University,  by  illustrating 
the  teaching  of  the  professors  and  lecturers. 

Besides  this,  however,  it  subserves,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  other  and  what  may  be  considered,  as  compared 
with  the  first,  secondary,  but  nevertheless  important  func- 
tions-   These  are— 

B.  The  exhibition  of  a  collection,  arranged  in  a  sys- 
tematic, orderly,  and  attractive  manner,  open  to  the  in- 
spection, under  proper  regulations,  of  all  members  of  the 
University,  and  also  of  residents  in  and  visitors  to  the 
town,  which  shall  tend  to  awaken  and  keep  up  an  interest 
in  various  subjects  of  which  most  educated  persons, 
besides  those  actually  engaged  at  the  moment  in  obtaining 
instruction,  desire  to  possess  some  knowledge  Such  a 
collection  is  a  most  legitimate  adjunct  to  the  University 
as  a  place  of  general  culture. 

C.  Certain  collections  have  already,  and  possibly  will 
in  future,  become  added  to  the  general  Museum,  the  aim 
and  scope  of  which  reach  beyond  either  of  the  above, 


's  Report  to  I  he  Com 


■A  by  Ihc 


HO.  1148,  VOL.  44] 


,  being  of  value,  not  to  tbe  ordinary  student,  not  to  the  man 
I  or  woman  of  average  general  culture,  but  only  to  the  ad' 
vanced  student  who  wishes  10  enter  seriously  into  the 
,  pursuit  of  some  special  branch  of  knowledge.  Such  is 
the  Hope  Collection  of  Insects,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
the  Pitt-Rivers  Ethnographical  Collection. 
i  It  ii  a  grave  question  how  far  such  collections  should  be 
I  niaintained  at  the  cost  of  the  University.  On  the  one 
hand,  they  must  be  a  cause  of  expense,  without  which  no 
collection  of  any  value  can  be  maintained  ;  and  the 
larger  and  better  ordered  they  are,  the  greater  must  be 
the  cost  (A  maintaining  them.  Unless  properly  cared  for, 
'  not  only  as  regards  actual  preservation  of  the  objects 
'  contained  in  them,  but  also  as  regards  the  continual  re- 
;  arrangements  and  augmentations  necessitated  by  the  ad- 
:  vauce  of  science,  they  will  become  comparatively  valueless 
in  the  course  of  time.  If  the  care  of  many  such  collec- 
tions were  undertaken  unaccompanied  by  special  endow- 
j  ments  for  their  maintenance,  the  burden  would  become 
I  such  as  only  a  national  institution  could  afford. 
I  On  the  other  hand,  looking  at  the  University,  not 
!  merely  as  a  place  for  the  education  of  youth,  but  also  as 
;  a  centre  of  culture  for  the  whole  country,  the  possession 
I  of  some  such  collections  is  of  great  importance.  As  Ibey 
contain  in  them  objects  which  can  be  found  nowhere  else, 
I  they  attract  men  of  learning  and  science,  not  only  from 
other  parts  of  tbe  country,  but  also  from  distant  places,  to 
j  visit  the  University,  or  even  to  become  permanent  resi- 
j  dents.  The  value  of  collections  of  rare  books,  even  upon 
I  subjects  interesting  to  scholars  whose  numbers  are  very 
.  limitcHl,  have  long  been  recognized.  From  the  same  point 
j  of  view,  special  collections  of  rare  specimens  of  natural 
history  or  works  of  art  may  take  their  place  in  the  general 
scheme  of  a  University  Museum,  but  the  care  of  such 
collections  should  not  be  undertaken  without  full  con- 


620 


NATURE 


[October  29,  1891 


sidenation  as  to  whether  the  meiins  will  be  forthcomiDgio 
maintain  them  in  a  state  of  efficiency. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  Pitt-Rivers  Collection  as  coming 
partly  under  this  head^  but,  admirably  and  instructively 
displayed  as  it  now  is^  it  may  also  be  considered  as  be- 
longing to  my  second  category  ;  and  the  numerous  human 
interests  awakened  by  a  study  of  its  contents,  and  the 
many  branches  of  culture  it  comes  in  contact  with,  make 
it  an  adjunct  to  the  Museum,  of  the  great  importance  of 
which  no  one  should  entertain  a  doubt  I  should  be  glad 
to  remark,  in  passing,  that  the  building  in  which  it  is 
housed  appears  to  me  the  most  successful,  as  regards 
economy  of  space,  capacity  for  orderly  arrangement,  and 
good  lighting,  of  any  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 

The  next  point  for  consideration  is  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  subjects  to  be  illustrated  in  the  Museum  (ex- 
cluding the  special  Pitt- Rivers  Collection  just  referred  to). 
These  seem  already  to  have  been  determined  as  including 
physiology,  human  anatomy,  comparative  anatomy, animal 
morphology,  zoology,  pathological  anatomy,  palaeonto- 
logy, geology,  and  mineralogy  ;  therefore  the  whole  of 
animal  biology  (botany  being  provided  for  elsewhere),  with 
the  addition  of  geology  and  mineralogy.  The  teaching 
of  these  subjects  is  divided  between  the  Regius  Professor 
of  Medicine,  the  Waynflete  Professor  of  Physiology,  the 
Linacre  Professor  of  Human  and  Comparative  Anatomy, 
the  Lecturer  in  Human  Anatomy,  the  Hope  Professor  of 
Zoology,  the  Professors  of  Geology  and  of  M  ineralogy.  It 
must  be  recognized  by  everyone  that  the  boundaries  of 
these  subjects  are  most  difficult  to  define,  and  must  be 
constantly  shifting  with  the  advance  of  knowledge.  For 
instance,  comparative  anatomy  and  palaeontology  may 
both  be  included  under  the  broad  general  heading  of 
zoology,  which  without  the  aid  of  both  can  be  but  im- 
perfectly understood.  Whatever  dividing  lines  are  drawn 
between  different  sections  of  the  collection,  identical 
specimens  are  often  required  to  illustrate  more  than  one 
subject.  The  remains  of  extinct  animals  are  required  to 
complete  the  story  of  their  living  representatives  ;  they 
are  also  required  to  illustrate  the  ancient  history  of  the 
earth,  and  to  define  the  progress  of  geological  time  and  the 
order  and  succession  of  strata.  The  relation  between  the 
collections  used  to  illustrate  the  teaching  of  the  Waynflete, 
the  Linacre,  and  the  Hope  Professors,  must  also  be  more 
or  less  arbitrary  and  artificial.  In  all  these  matters  mutual 
convenience  must  be  studied,  and  the  specimens  which  lie 
on  the  borderland  of  two  subjects  should  be  made  in 
some  way  available  for  the  teaching  of  both,  otherwise  a 
great  duplication  will  be  necessary. 

With  regard  to  general  administration,  it  appears  to 
me  desirable  that  there  should  be  a  governing  body  for 
the  whole  Museum,  comparable  to  the  standing  com- 
mittee of  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum,  or  the 
Museum  Committee  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  or 
the  Museums  Syndicate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge. 
The  Delegates  constitute  such  a  body  at  Oxford,  but 
possibly  their  constitution  or  powers  might  be  modified 
and  more  clearly  defined  than  they  seem  to  be  at  present. 

This  body  should  be  composed  of  members  of  the 
University  specially  selected  for  fitness  for  the  office ; 
seven  or  nine  would  probably  be  the  most  convenient 
number,  so  that  representatives  may  be  found  upon  it  of 
various  branches  of  science  included  in  the  Museum,  and 
also  some  members  of  general  business  or  administrative 
capacity.  They  should  meet  at  occasional  and  stated 
intervals,  and  should  determine  general  questions  affect- 
ing the  Museum  as  a  whole,  the  relations  of  its  com- 
ponent elements  one  to  another,  the  allotment  of  space 
and  the  apportionment  of  the  grants  for  the  service  of  each 
department,  the  general  control  of  expenditure,  and  also 
the  care  of  the  building,  furniture,  &c.  It  is  not  advisable 
that  they  should  interfere  with  the  details  of  the  arrange- 
ment of  each  department  as  long  as  these  appear  to  be 

NO.   IT 4 8,  VOL.  44] 


satisfactorily  carried.  mit«  The  Keener  of  the  Mttseun 
should  be  the  active  executive  officer  of  this  gOYcnung 
body,  carrying  out  their  views  in  the  interv^s  of  the 
meetings,  and  bringing  before  Iheir  notice  any  subjects 
which  seem  to  require  their  consideration. 

Each  professor,  as  the  representative  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced state  of  knowledge  of  his  subject,  should  be  the 
responsible  curator  of  the  specimens  belonging  to  his 
department,  having  such  assistance  provided  him  as  may 
be  needful.  He  should  be  called  upon  to  present  to  the 
governing  body  an  annual  report  of  the  condition  of  the 
collections  under  his  care,  and  of  the  accessions  which 
have  been  made  to  it  during  the  year. 

The  actual  specimens  in  the  various  collections  will 
naturally  arrange  themselves,  both  as  regards  the  purpose 
for  which  they  are  kept,  and  their  mode  of  conservation, 
under  three  distinct  classes. 

1.  A  working  set,  mostly  of  common  objects,  which,  if 
damaged,  can  be  i-eadily  replaced,  and  which  can  be  put 
at  the  disposition  of  the  ordinary  student  to  examine  and 
handle.  Such  collections  are  absolutely  essential  to  prac- 
tical teaching,  but  they  should  form  no  part  of  the  per- 
manent Museum  of  the  University,  and  should  be  kept 
in  the  rooms  specially  devoted  to  study. 

2.  The  permanent  exhibited  series  displayed  in  the 
grand  court  and  corridors  of  the  Museum,  the  use  of 
which,  in  addition  to  teaching  students,  is  referred  to 
under  the  heading  B,  near  the  beginning  of  this  report 
Great  care  is  required  in  selecting  and  arranging  these, 
as  well  as  in  their  preservation  and  display.  Every 
specimen  exhibited  should  have  a  definite  object,  and 
should  be  so  placed  that  it  can  be  thoroughly  well  seen. 
As  a  general  rule  they  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  show 
what  they  are  intended  to  teach  without  moving  them 
from  their  places,  and  if  this  must  be  done  under  proper 
restrictions,  all  due  precautions  should  be  used  that  they 
do  not  become  damaged  or  destroyed.  Although  for  the 
purposes  of  custody,  arrangement,  and  nomenclatare, 
these  must  be  under  the  care  of  a  particular  professor, 
they  are  in  a  certain  sense  the  common  property  of  all 
who  have  a  right  of  access  to  the  Museum.  This  is 
another  reason  for  not  removing  them  from  their  places 
(apart  from  the  injury  that  might  thereby  accrue  to  them) 
without  definite  cause,  as  they  should  be  always  available 
for  study,  the  processors  and  demonstrators  rather 
bringing  their  classes  to  them  than  removing  them  to  the 
class-rooms. 

3.  The  collections  kept  for  advanced  researches. 
Although  these  are  not  exhibited  in  the  ordinary  sense  of 
the  word,  they  should,  if  retained  at  all,  be  kept  in  a 
situation  and  under  conditions  which  make  them  readily 
accessible  to  all  who  can  profit  by  their  examination  under 
suitable  regulations.  Their  preservation  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  the  progress  of  science,  as  among:  them 
are  often  to  be  found  zoological  "  types,'*  or  the  individual 
specimens  upon  which  the  name  of  the  species  was  in- 
stituted, and  which  must  be  referred  to  by  zoologists  for 
all  future  time  in  cases  of  difficulty  in  determining  that 
name.  To  permit  the  loss  or  deterioration  of  a  **type ' 
specimen  is  a  serious  offence  in  the  eyes  of  the  zoo- 
logist.    The  Hope  Collection  abounds  in  such  types. 

Nothing  more  need  be  said  at  present  about  the  first 
and  third  of  these  sections  of  the  Museum,  but  the 
second,  the  exhibited  series  occupying  the  body  of  the 
great  hall,  requires  consideration  in  a  little  more  detail 

It  is  divided  at  present  into — 

(i)  Mineralogy.  Of  the  value  and  arrangement  of  this 
section  I  am  not  competent  to  speak. 

(2)  Geology.  This  collection  is  mainly  palaeontological, 
and  the  arrangement  appears  to  be  partly  stratigraphical 
and  partly  zoological.  In  many  groups  the  collection  is 
rich,  but  taking  it  altogether  there  appears  to  be  a  number 
of  unnecessary  duplicates,  and  much  rearrangement  is 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


621 


reauired  to  bring  it  into  good  exhibition  and  teaching 
order.  I  would  suggest  that  in  a  collection  illustrating 
geology  (and  not  the  zoology  of  extinct  animals,  so  often 
in  museums  confounded  with  that  science)  the'  strati- 
graphical  arrangement  should  be  followed  as  strictly  as 
possible,  and  also  that  there  should  be  a  good  series 
illustrating  dynamical  geology,  or  the  processes  by  which 
the  materials  forming  the  earth's  crust  have  been 
fashioned  and  arranged  as  we  now  see  them. 
I  •  (3)  Animal  Biology.  This  section  occupies  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  floor  space  of  the  Museum,  and  is  at  present 
broken  up  into  various  small  series  involving  much  repe- 
tition and  duplication,  and  also  difficulty  of  finding  any 
particular  object  or  illustration  required. 

In  the  middle  of  the  hall  is  a  series  of  specimens  merely 
showing  the  external  appearance  of  certain  groups  of 
animals,  stuffed  vertebrates  and  the  shells  of  mollusks, 
and  stony  skeletons  of  corals,  &c.  If  this  collection 
were  incorporated  in  the  general  series  of  animal  biology, 
not  only  would  much  duplication  be  avoided,  but  a  more 
instructive  and  scientific  exhibition  would  be  provided. 
Many  of  the  present  specimens  of  this  series,  especially 
the  mounted  mammals  and  birds,  are  in  such  bad  con- 
dition that  they  have  no  educational  value — they  only 
mislead  instead  of  teaching  ;  but  before  destroying  them 
they  should  all  be  submitted  to  the  examination  of  some 
expert  in  the  group  to  which  they  belong,  as  there  may 
be  interesting  or  rare  specimens  among  them,  though 
their  value  is  scarcely  to  be  lecognized  by  the  ordinary 
observer  in  their  present  condition. 

The  imperfection  of  any  zoological  series  that  does  not 
illustrate  extinct  as  well  as  recent  forms  is  continually 
becoming  more  apparent  as  science  advances ;  some 
attempts  have  already  been  made  to  remedy  this  defect 
in  the  zoological  series,  but  a  considerable  transfer  of 
specimens  to  it  from  the  department  of  geology  will 
result  in  advantage  to  both. 

By  a  rearrangement  of  the  biological  series,  with  incor- 
poration of  the  so-called  zoological  specimens  (excluding 
the  Hope  Collection,  which  I  presume  is  always  to  be 
kept  apart)  much  economy  of  space  could  be  effected, 
and  some  of  the  confusion  which  now  appears  to  exist  in 
this  department  of  the  Museum  in  consequence  of  the 
numerous  apparently  independent  series  of  specimens 
will  be  obviated. 

The  great  question  of  the  primary  arrangement  of  the 
biological  collection,  whether  on  the  physiological  or 
Hunterian  system,  or  upon  a  system  based  upon  zoo- 
logical classification,  will  have  to  be  carefully  considered. 
Much  is  to  be  said  for  either,  but  whichever  is  adopted 
should  follow  the  method  of  teaching  of  the  professor 
and  his  assistants.  The  point  to  be  aimed  at  is  that 
every  specimen  should  be  readily  found,  and  be  in  juxta- 
position with  other  specimens  which  are  related  to  it, 
and  which  should  be  studied  in  conjunction  with  it.  As 
the  classification  of  animals,  except  as  regards  the 
greater  divisions,  is  still  a  matter  of  much  uncertainty, 
and  continually  changing  according  to  the  advance  of 
knowledge,  or  the  opinions  of  individual  zoologists,  it  is 
not  a  satisfactory  basis  for  the  arrangement  of  a  collec- 
tion intended  to  illustrate  prfnciples  rather  than  details. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Hunterian  system  often  brings 
into  juxtaposition  specimens  related  only  by  some  remote 
analogy  ot  function,  and  having  no  real  correspondence  or 
homology.  Probably  a  zoological  arrangement  for  the 
main  divisions,  and  one  based  upon  a  comparison  of 
organs  or  systems  for  the  secondary  divisions,  will,  on 
the  whole,  be  found  most  convenient. 

I  am  hardly  in  a  position  to  say  how  far  the  Professor 
of  Physiology  requires  a  special  collection  to  illustrate 
his  teaching.  Probably  the  general  biological -series  will 
supply  all  that  is  necessary  to  refer  to  in  illustration  of 
his  lectures,  especially  as  the  tendency  of  modern  phy- 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


siology  seems  to  be  to  separate  itself  from  morphology, 
and  confine  itself  more  to  biological  chemistry  and 
dynamics. 

Another  question  which  has  been  raised  is,  whether 
human  anatomy,  as  distinguished  from  general  biology, 
requires  a  separate  section  of  the  Museum,  and  how  the 
great  and  important  collection  of  crania  of  the  races  of 
men,  which  under  Prof.  Rolleston  became  one  of  the 
special  features  of  the  Museum,  should  be  treated  and 
utilized  for  instruction.  These  are  questions  that  time 
will  probably  solve.  Much  depends  upon  the  view  taken 
of  the  duties  of  the  Lecturer  on  Human  Anatomy,  whether 
he  should  teach  upon  a  broad  and  philosophical  basis,  or 
whether  he  should  aim  mainly  at  enabling  his  pupils  to 
pass  the  standard  now  required  by  the  examining  bodies. 
But  this  trenches  upon  the  larger  and  more  complex 
subject  of  what  should  be  the  aim  of  the  University  in 
keeping  up  a  Medical  School. 

The  Pathological  Collection  will,  of  course,  remain  as 
at  present  under  the  care  of  the  Professor  of  Medicine. 

In  looking  round  the  Museum  at  the  present  time,  one 
of  its  greatest  wants  appears  to  me  to  be  proper  labelling. 
The  different  sections  of  the  Museum  should  be  distinctly 
marked  off  from  each  other.  Every  case  should  have  a 
conspicuous  label  on  the  top  of  it,  indicating  the  nature 
of  its  contents.  Every  specimen  should  have  one  in- 
dicating why  it  is  there  and  what  it  teaches.  This  will 
involve  a  large  amount  of  labour  and  expense  in  printing, 
but  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  if  the  collections  are  to 
fulfil  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  formed.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  spend  much  time,  labour,  and  cost  in  obtain- 
ing, preparing,  and  preserving  a  specimen,  and  then  to 
stop  short  of  the  one  thing  needed  to  make  it  of  use. 
Better  have  fewer  specimens  in  a  complete  state.  A 
printing  press  might  be  established  in  the  building  and 
kept  constantly  at  work,  but  as  it  would  be  difficult  to 
apportion  the  claims  upon  its  services  of  the  different 
curators,  it  might  be  better  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  the  University  Press  by  which  labels  (of  a  uniform 
character)  for  the  whole  Museum  would  be  printed  at  a 
fixed  charge,  and  paid  for  out  of  the  funds  of  the  depart- 
ment requiring  them.  As  in  a  large  number  of  cases 
only  a  single  copy  of  a  label  is  required,  it  is  possible  that 
some  system  of  type- writing  might  be  more  economical, 
and  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  effectual. 

Of  the  importance  of  complete  catalogues  of  every 
department  ot  the  Museum,  it  would  seem  almost  super- 
fluous to  speak,  were  it  not  obvious  that  much  is  needed 
in  this  respect. 

Lastly,  it  appears  to  me  that,  although  more  work- 
rooms and  class-rooms  may  be  necessary  for  the  growing 
needs  of  the  scientific  departments  of  the  University, 
there  is  ample  space  in  the  present  building  for  some 
time  to  come  for  the  exhibited  portion  of  the  Museum. 
The  collections  are  rich,  contain  many  instructive  and 
valuable  objects,  and  do  great  credit  to  the  zeal  and 
energy  of  those  by  whom  they  have  been  brought  together. 
What  is  really  required  now  is,  not  so  much  that  they 
should  be  increased,  as  that  they  should  be  better  arranged, 
better  cared  for,  and  that  all  inferior  and  defective  speci- 
mens should  be  gradually  replaced  by  better  ones.  Oxford 
has  done  very  much  in  past  times  to  initiate  and  keep  up 
a  high  standard  of  museum  work,  but  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  great  advances  are  being  made  in  this 
respect,  not  only  in  this  country  but  all  over  the  Continent, 
and  the  standard  is  being  continually  raised.  All  such 
work  is  both  laborious  and  costly,  but  when  done  the 
result  is  fully  commensurate  to  the  labour  and  expense 
bestowed  upon  it.  An  ill-arranged  museum  has  been  well 
compared  to  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  tossed  about  in- 
discriminately, meaning  nothing  ;  a  well-arranged  one  to 
the  same  letters  placed  in  such  orderly  sequence  as  to 
produce  words  of  counsel  and  instruction. 


[October  29,  1891 


FURTHER  RESEARCHES  UPON  THE 
ELEMENT  FLUORINE. 
CINCE  thepublicalionbjrM.  Moissan  of  his  celebraterl 
•^  paper  in  the  Annalts  de  Chimie  el  de  Physique  for 
December  1887,  describing  the  manner  in  which  he  had 
succeeded  in  isolating  this  remarkable  gaseous  element, 
a  considerable  amount  of  additional  information  has 
been  acquired  concerning  the  chemica]  behaviour  of 
fluorine,  and  important  additions  and  improvements  have 
been  introduced  in  the  apparatus  employed  for  preparing 
and  experimenting  with  the  gas.  M.  Moissan  now 
gathers  together  the  results  of  these  subsequent  re- 
searches— some  of  which  have  been  published  by  him  from 
time  to  time  as  contributions  to  various  French  scientific 
journals,  while  others  have  not  hitherto  been  made  known 
—and  publishes  them  in  a  long  but  most  interesting  paper 
in  the  October  number  of  the  Annales  de  Ckimie  el  de 
Pkynque.  Inasmuch  as  the  experiments  described  are  of 
so  extraordinary  a  nature,  owing  to  the  intense  chemical 
activity  of  fluorine,  and  are  so  important  as  filling  a  long 
existing  vacancy  in  our  chemical  literature,  readers  of 
Nature  will  doubiless  be  interested  in  abrief  account  of 

JMPROVKD  APPARATUS  FOR   PREPARING   FLUOBmE. 

In  his  paper  of  1887,  the  main  outlines  of  which  were 
gtv«n  in  Nature  at  the  time  (1887,  vol.  xxxvii.  p.  179), 


This  improved  fonn  of  the  apparacns  is  shown  is  Hk 
accompanying  %ure  (Fig.  ■),  which  is  reproduced  froB 
the  memoir  of  M.  Moissan.  It  consists  esientiall^  of 
two  parts — the  electrolysis  apparatus  and  the  puti^ng 
vessels.  The  electrolysis  apparatus,  a  sectional  view  A 
which  is  given  in  Fig.  3,  is  similar  in  form  to  UiM  de> 
scribed  in  the  paper  of  18S7,  but  much  larger.  The  It- 
tube  of  platinum  has  a  capacity  of  160  c.c  It  is  fittad 
with  two  lateral  delivery  tubes  of  platinum,  as  in  dw 
earlier  form,  and  with  stoppers  of  Suor-^par,  F,  inserted 
in  cylinders  of  platinum,  p,  carrying  screw  threads, 
which  engage  with  similar  threads  upon  the  interior 
surfaces  of  the  limbs  of  the  U-tube.  A  key  of  biaai, 
E,  serves  to  screw  or  unscrew  the  stoppers,  and  between 
the  flange  of  each  stopper  and  tbetopofeach  branch  of  tbe 
U-tube  a  ring  of  lead  is  compressed,  by  which  mean* 
hermetic  closmg  is  effected.  These  fluor-spar  sioppar*, 
which  are  covered  with  a  coating  of  gum-lac  during  tbe 
electrolysis,  carry  the  electrode  rods,  /,  which  are  thus 
perfectly  insulated.  M.  Moissan  now  employs  etectroda 
of  pure  platinum  in>tead  of  iridn- platinum,  and  the 
interior  end  of  each  is  thickened  into  a  club  shape  in 
order  the  longer  to  withstand  corrosion.  The  appaiatu 
is  immersed  during  the  electrolysis  in  a  bath  of  U(|aid 
methyl  chloride,  maintained  in  traoqail  ebullition  at  — z^. 
In  order  to  preserve  the  methyl  chloride  a*  long-  at 
possible,  the  cylinder  containing  it  is  placed  in  an  outer 


M.  Moissan  showed  that  pure  hydrofluoric  acid  readily 
dissolves  the  double  fluoride  of  potassium  and  hydrogen, 
and  that  the  liquid  thus  obtained  is  a  good  conductor  of 
electricity,  rendering  electrolysis  possible.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that,  by  passing  a  strong  current  of  electricity 
through  this  liquid  contained  in  a  platinum  apparatus, 
free  gaseous  fluorine  was  obtained  at  the  positive  pole 
and  hydrogen  at  the  negative  pole.  The  amount  of 
hydrofluoric  acid  employed  in  these  earlier  experiments 
was  about  flfteen  gT.ims,  about  six  grams  of  hydrogen 
potassium  fluoride,HF.KF,  being  added  in  order  to  render 
it  aconductor.  Since  the  publication  of  that  memoir  a  much 
lariier  apparatus  has  been  constructed,  in  order  to  obtain 
the  gas  in  greater  Quantity  for  the  study  of  its  reactions, 
and  important  additions  have  been  made,  by  means  of 
which  the  fluorine  is  delivered  in  a  pure  state,  free  from 
admixed  vapour  of  the  very  volatile  hydrofluoric  acid.  As 
much  as  a  hundred  cubic  centimetres  of  hydrofluoric  acid, 
together  with  twenty  grams  of  the  dissolved  double 
fluoride,  are  submitted  to  electrolysis  in  this  new  appa- 
ratus, and  upwards  of  fjur  litres  of  pure  fluorine  is 
delivered  by  it  per  hour. 


NO. 


1148,  VOL.  44] 


^  [ass  cylinder  containing  fragments  of  calcium  chloride ; 
by  this  means  it  is  surrounded  with  a  layer  of  dry  air,  a 
bad  conductor  of  heaL 

The  purifying  vessels  are  three  in  number.  The  fiist 
consists  of  a  platinum  spiral  worm-tube,  of  about  40  cc- 
capacily,  immersed  also  in  a  bath  of  liquid  methyl  chlori^ 
maintained  at  as  low  a  temperature  as  possible,  aboaE 
-So°.  As  hydrofluoric  acid  boils  at  19°  5  (Moissan), 
almost  the  whole  oFthe  vap6ur  of  this  substance  which  is 
carried  away  in  the  stream  of  issuing  fluorine  is  condensed 
and  retained  at  the  bottom  of  the  worm.  To  remove  the 
last  traces  of  hydrofluoric  acid,  advantage  is  taken  of  the 
fact  that  fused  sodium  fluoride  combines  with  the  free 
acid  with  great  energy  to  form  the  douUe  fluoride  HF.NaF- 
Sodium  fluoride  also  possesses  the  advantage  of  moI 
attracting  moisture.  After  traversing  the  worm  coa?- 
denser,  therefore,  the  fluorine  is  caused  to  pass  ibrougfe 
two  platinum  lubes  fliled  with  fragments  of  fused  sodiuM 
fluoride,  from  which  it  issues  in  an  almost  perfect  stale  <rf 
purity.  The  junctions  between  the  various  parts  of  the 
apparatus  are  effected  by  means  of  screw  joints,  betwea 
the  nuts  and  flanges  of  which  collars  of  lead  are  com- 


October  29,  1891] 


NATURE 


623 


pressed.  During  the  electrolysis  these  leaden  collars 
become,  where  exposed  to  the  gaseous  fluorine,  rapidly 
converted  into  lead  fluoride,  which,  being  greater  in  bulk, 
causes  the  joints  to  become  hermetically  seated-  In  order 
to  elTect  the  electrolysis,  26  to  28  Bunsen  elements  are 
employed,  arranged  in  series.  An  ampere-meter  and  a 
•commutator  are  introduced  between  the  battery  and  the 
•electrolysis  apparatus  ;  the  former  affording  an  excellent 
indication  of  the  progress  of  the  electrolysis. 

As  the  U-tube  contains  far  more  hydrofluoric  acid  than 
•can  be  used  in  one  day,  each  lateral  delivery-tube  is  fitted 
with  a  metallic  screw  stopper,  so  that  the  experiments  may 
be  discontinued  at  any  time,  and  the  apparatus  closed. 
The  whole  electrolysis  vessel  is  then  placed  under  a  glass 
bell-jar  containing  dry  air,  and  kept  in  a  refrigerator  until 
■again  required  for  use.  In  this  way  it  maybe  preservedfull  of 
acid  for  several  weeks, ready  at  any  time  for  the  preparation 
of  the  gas.     Considerable  care  requires  to  be  exercised 
not  to  admit  the  vapour  of  methyl  chloride  into  the  U- 
tube,  as  otherwise  violent  detonations  are  liable  to  occur. 
When  the  liquid  methyl  chloride  is  being  introduced  into 
the  cylinder,  the  whole  apparatus  becomes  surrounded 
with  an  atmosphere  of  its  vapour,  and  as  the  platinum  U- 
tube  is  at  the  same  instant  suddenly  cooled,  the  vapour  is 
liable  to  enter  by  the  abducting  tubes.     Consequently,  as 
soon  as  the  current  is  allowed  to  pass  and  fluorine  is 
liberated  within  the  U-tube,  an  explosion  occurs.  Fluorine 
instantly  decomposes  methyl  chloride,  with  production  of 
flame  and  formation  of  fluorides  of  hydrogen  and  carbon, 
liberation  of  chlorine,  and  occasionally  deposition  of  car- 
bon.    In  order  to  avoid  this  unpleasant  occurrence,  when 
the  methyl  chloride  is  being  introduced  the  ends  of  the 
lateral  delivery-tubes  are  attached  to  long  lengths  of 
caoutchouc  tubing,  supplied  at  their  ends  with  calcium 
chloride  drying  tubes,  so  as  to  convey  dry  air  from  outside 
the  atmosphere  of  methyl  chloride  vapour.     If  great  care 
is  taken  to  obtain  the  minimum  temperature,  this  difiiculty 
may   be  even  more  simply   overcome  by  employing  a 
mixture  of  well-pounded  ice  and  salt  instead  of  methyl 
chloride  ;  but  there  is  the  counterbalancing  disadvantage 
to  be  considered,  that  such  a  cooling  bath  requires  much 
m  ore  frequent  renewal. 

CHEMICAL  REACTIONS  OCCURRING  DURING  THE 

ELECTROLYSIS. 

In  the  paper  of  1887,  M.  Moissan  adopted  the  view 
that  the  first  action  of  the  electric  current  was  to  effect 
the  decomposition  of  the  potassium  fluoride  contained  in 
solution  in  the  hydrofluoric  acid,  fluorine  being  liberated 
at  the  positive  pole,  and  potassium  at  the  negative  ter- 
minal. This  liberated  potassium  would  at  once  regenerate 
potassium  fluoride  in  presence  of  hydrofluoric  acid,  and 
J i berate  its  equivalent  of  hydrogen  : 

KF  =  K  +  F. 
K-|-HF=  KF-I-H. 

But  when  the  progress  of  the  electrolysis  is  carefully 
followed,  by  consulting  the  indications  of  the  ampere- 
meter placed  in  circuit,  it  is  found  to  be  by  no  means  as 
regular  as  the  preceding  formulae  would  indicate.  With 
the  new  apparatus,  the  decomposition  is  quite  irregular 
at  first,  and  does  not  attain  regularity  until  it  has  been 
proceeding  for  upwards  of  two  hours.  Upon  stopping 
the  current  and  unmounting  the  apparatus,  the  platinum 
rod  upon  which  the  fluorine  was  liberated  is  found  to  be 
largely  corroded,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  U-tube  a 
<|iiaiitity  of  a  black,  flnely  divided  substance  is  observed. 
This  black  substance,  which  was  taken  at  first  to  be 
metallic  platinum,  is  a  complex  compound,  containing 
one  equivalent  of  potassium  to  one  equivalent  of  plati- 
num, together  with  a  considerable  proportion  of  fluorine. 
Moreover,  the  hydrofluoric  acid  is  found  to  contain  a 
small  quantity  of  platinum  fluoride  in  solution.  The 
electrolytic  reaction  is  probably  therefore  much  more 

NO,   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


very  feeble. 

X  =  68s  5  feeble. 

i» 

6835      » 

»» 

677       strong 

feeble. 

6405            M 

i» 

634 

i> 

623 

t) 

complicated  than  was  at  first  considered  to  be  the  case. 
The  mixture  of  acid  and  alkaline  fluoride  furnishes 
fluorine  at  the  positive  terminal  rod,  but  this  intensely 
active  gas,  in  its  nascent  state,  attacks  the  platinum  and 
produces  platinum  tetrafluoride,  PtF4 ;  this  probably 
unites  with  the  potassium  fluoride  to  form  a  double 
salt,  possibly  2KF.PtF4,  analogous  to  the  well-known 
platinochloride  2KCI.PtCl4;  and  it  is  only  when  the 
liquid  contains  this  double  salt  that  the  electrolysis  pro- 
ceeds in  a  regular  manner,  yielding  free  fluorine  at  the 
positive  pole,  and  hydrogen  and  the  complex  black 
compound  at  the  negative  pole. 

PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  FLUORINE. 

Fluorine  possesses  an  odour  *which  M.  Moissan  com- 
pares to  a  mixture  of  hypochlorous  acid  and  nitrogen 
peroxide,  but  this  odour  is  usually  masked  by  that  of  the 
ozone  which  it  always  produces  in  moist  air,  owing  to  its 
decomposition  of  the  water  vapour.  It  produces  most 
serious  irritation  of  the  bronchial  tubes  and  mucous 
membrane  of  the  nasal  cavities,  the  eflects  of  which 
are  persistent  for  quite  a  fortnight. 

When  examined  in  a  thickness  of  one  metre,  it  is  seen 
to  possess  a  greenish-yellow  colour,  but  paler,  and  con- 
taining more  of  yellow,  than  that  of  chlorine.  In  such  a 
layer,  fluorine  does  not  present  any  absorption-bands. 
Its  spectrum  exhibits  thirteen  bright  lines  in  the  red, 
between  wave-lengths  744  and  623.  Their  positions  and 
relative  intensities  are  as  follows : — 

A  =  744 
740 

734 

714 
704 

691 
6875 

At  a  temperature  of  —  95°  at  ordinary  atmospheric 
pressure,  fluorine  remains  gaseous,  no  sign  of  liquefac- 
tion having, been  observed. 

METHODS  OF  EXPERIMENTING  WITH   FLUORINE. 

When  it  is  desired  to  determine  the  action  of  fluorine 
upon  a  solid  substance,  the  following  method  of  pro- 
cedure is  adopted.  A  preliminary  experiment  is  first 
made,  in  order  to  obtain  some  idea  as  to  the  degree  of 
energy  of  the  reaction,  by  bringing  a  little  of  the  solid, 
placed  upon  the  lid  of  a  platinum  crucible  held  in  a  pair 
of  tongs,  near  the  mouth  of  the  delivery-tube  of  the 
preparation  apparatus.  If  a  gaseous  or  liquid  product 
results,  and  it  is  desirable  to  collect  it  for  examination, 
small  fragments  of  the  solid  are  placed  in  a  platinum 
tube  connected  to  the  delivery-tube  by  flexible  platinum 
tubing  or  by  a  screw  joint,  and  the  resulting  gas  may  be 
collected  over  water  or  mercury,  or  the  liquid  condensed 
in  a  cooled  cylinder  of  platinum.  In  this  manner  the 
action  of  fluorine  upon  sulphur  and  iodine  has  been 
studied.  If  the  solid,  phosphorus  for  instance,  attacks 
platinum,  or  the  temperature  of  the  reaction  is  sufficiently 
high  to  determine  the  combination  of  platinum  and 
fluorine  (towards  500'),  a  tube  of  fluor-spar  is  substituted 
for  the  platinum  tube.  The  fluor-spar  tubes  employed  by 
M.  Moissan  for  the  study  of  the  action  of  phosphorus 
were  about  twelve  to  fourteen  centimetres  long,  and  were 
terminated  by  platinum  ends  furnished  with  flanges  and 
screw  threads  in  order  to  be  able  to  connect  them  with 
the  preparation  apparatus.  If  it  is  required  to  heat  the 
fluor-spar  tubes,  they  are  surrounded  by  a  closely  wound 
copper  spiral,  which  may  be  heated  by  a  Bunsen  flame. 

In  experimenting  upon  liquids,  gre.at  care  is  necessar}', 
as  the  reaction  frequently  occurs  with  explosive  violence. 
A  preliminary  experiment  is  therefore  always  made,  by 
allowing  the  fluorine  delivery-tube  to  dip  just  beneath 
the  sudiace  of  the  liquid  contained  in  a  small  glass 
cylinder.      When  the  liquid    contains  water,  or  when 


624 


NA  TURE 


[October  29^  1891 


hydrofluoric  acid  is  a  product  of  the  reaction,  cylinders 
of  platinum  or  of  fluor-spar  are  employed.  If  it  is  re- 
quired to  collect  and  examine  the  product,  the  liquid  is 
placed  along  the  bottom  of  a  horizontal  tub«  of  platinum 
or  fluor-spar,  as  in  case  of  solids,  connected  directly  with 
the  preparation  apparatus,  and  the  product  is  collected 
over  water  or  mercury  if  a  gas,  or  in  a  cooled  platinum 
receiver  if  a  liquid. 

During  the  examination  of  liquids  a  means  has  acci- 
dentally been  discovered  by  which  a  glass  tube  may  be 
filled  with  fluorine  gas.  A  few  liquids,  one  of  which  is 
carbon  tetrachloride,  react  only  very  slowly  with  fluorine 
at  the  ordinary  temperature.  By  filling  a  glass  tube  with 
such  a  lic^uid,  and  inverting  it  over  a  platinum  capsule 
also  contaming  the  liquid,  it  is  possible  to  displace  the 
liquid  by  fluorine,  which,  as  the  walls  are  wet,  does  not 
attack  the  glass.  Or  the  glass  tube  may  be  filled  with 
the  liquid,  and  then  the  latter  poured  out,  leaving  the 
walls  wet ;  the  tube  may  then  be  filled  with  fluorine  gas, 
which,  being  slightly  heavier  than  air,  remains  in  the 
tube  for  some  time.  In  one  experiment,  in  which  a  glass 
test-tube  had  been  filled  with  fluorine  over  carbon  tetra- 
chloride, it  was  attempted  to  transfer  it  to  a  graduated 
tube  over  mercury,  but  in  inclining  the  test-tube  for  this 
purpose,  the  mercury  suddenly  came  in  contact  with  the 
fluorine,  and  absorbed  it  so  instantaneously  and  with  such 
a  violent  detonation  that  both  the  test-tube  and  the 
graduated  tube  were  shattered  into  fragments.  Indeed, 
owing  to  the  powerful  affinity  of  mercury  for  fluorine,  it 
is  a  most  dangerous  experiment  to  transfer  a  tube  con- 
taining fluorine  gas,  filled  according  to  either  the  first  or 
second  method,  to  the  mercury  trough;  the  tube  is  always 
shattered  if  the  mercury  comes  in  contact  with  the  gas, 
and  generally  with  a  loud  detonation.  Fluorine  may, 
however,  be  preserved  for  some  time  in  tubes  over 
mercury,  provided  a  few  drops  of  the  non  reacting  liquid 
are  kept  above  the  mercury  meniscus. 

For  studying  the  action  of  fluonn'e  on  gases,  a  special 
piece  of  apparatus,  shown  in  Fig.  3,  has  been  constructed. 


Fig.  3- 

It  is  composed  of  a  tube  of  platinum,  fifteen  centimetres 
long,  closed  by  two  plates  of  clear,  transparent,  and 
colourless  fluor-spar,  and  carrying  three  lateral  narrower 
tubes  also  of  platinum.  Two  of  these  tubes  face  each 
other  in  the  centre  of  the  apparatus,  and  serve  one  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  fluorine  and  the  other  of  the  gas 
to  be  experimented  upon.  The  third,  which  is  of  some- 
what greater  diameter  than  the  other  two,  serves  as  exit- 
tube  for  the  product  or  products  of  the  reaction,  and 
may  be  placed  in  connection  with  a  trough  containing 
either  water  or  mercury.  The  apparatus  is  first  filled 
with  the  gas  to  be  experimented  upon,  then  the  fluorine 
is  allowed  to  enter,  and  an  observation  of  what  occurs 
may  be  made  through  the  fluor-spar  windows.  One  most 
important  precaution  to  take  in  collecting  the  gaseous 
products  over  mercury  is  not  to  permit  the  platinum 
delivery-tube  to  dip  more  than  two  or  at  most  three 
millimetres  under  the  mercury,  as  otherwise  the  levels  of 
the  liquid  in  the  two  limbs  of  the  electrolysis  U-tube 

NO.   1 148.  VOL.  44] 


become  so  different  owing  to  the  pressure,  that  the 
fluorine  from  one  side  mixes  with  the  hydrogen  evolyed 
upon  the  other,  and  there  is  a  violent  explosion. 

ACTION  OF  FLUORINE   UPON  THE  NON-METALLIC 

ELEMENTS. 

Hydrogen. — ^As  just  described,  hydrogen  combines 
with  fluorine,  even  at  —  iy  and  in  the  dark,  with  explo- 
sive force.  This  is  the  only  case  in  which  two  elementary 
ga^es  unite  directly  without  the  intervention  of  extraneous 
energy.  If  the  end  of  the  tube  delivering  fluorine  is 
placed  in  an  atmosphere  of  hydrogen,  a  very  hot  blue 
flame,  bordered  with  red,  at  once  appears  at  the  mouth 
of  the  tube,  and  vapour  of  hydrofluoric  acid  is  produced 

Oxygen, — Fluorine  has  not  been  found  capable  of 
uniting  with  oxygen  up  to  a  temperature  of  500°.  On 
ozone,  however,  it  appears  to  exert  some  action,  as  will 
be  evident  from  the  following  experiment.  It  was  shown 
in  1887  that  fluorine  decomposes  water,  forming  hydro- 
fluoric acid,  and  liberating  oxygen  in  the  form  of  ozone. 
When  a  few  drops  of  water  are  placed  in  the  appa- 
ratus shown  in  Fig.  3,  and  fluorine  allowed  to  enter, 
the  water  is  instantly  decomposed,  and  on  looking  through 
the  fluor-spar  ends  a  thick  dark  cloud  is  seen  over  the 
spot  where  each  drop  of  water  had  previously  been. 
This  cloud  soon  diminishes  in  intensity,  and  is  eventually 
replaced  by  a  beautiful  blue  gas— ozone  in  a  state  of 
considerable  density.  If  the  product  is  chased  out  by 
a  stream  of  nitrogen  as  soon  as  the  dense  cloud  is 
formed,  a  very  strong  odour  is  perceived,  different  from 
that  of  either  fluorine  or  ozone,  but  which  soon  gives 
place  to  the  unmistakable  odour  of  ozone.  It  appears 
as  if  there  is  at  first  produced  an  unstable  oxide  of 
fluorine,  which  rapidly  decomposes  into  fluorine  and 
ozone. 

Nitrogen  and  chlorine  appear  not  to  react  with 
fluorine. 

Sulphur, — In  contact  with  fluorine  gas, sulphur  rapidly 
melts  and  inflames.  A  gaseous  fluoride  of  sulphur  is 
formed,  which  possesses  a  most  penetrating  odour,  some- 
what resembling  that  of  chloride  of  sulphur.  The  gas 
is  incombustible,  even  in  oxygen.  When  warmed  in  a 
glass  vessel,  the  latter  becomes  etched,  owing  to  the 
formation  of  silicon  teirafluoride,  SiF4.  Selenium  and 
tellurium  behave  similarly,  but  form  crystalline  solid 
fluorides. 

Bromine  vapour  combines  with  fluorine  in  the  cold  with 
production  of  a  very  bright  but  low-temperature  flame. 
If  the  fluorine  is  evolved  in  the  midst  of  pure  dry 
liquid  bromine,  the  combination  is  immediate,  and  occuxs 
without  flame. 

Iodine, — When  fluorine  is  passed  over  a  fragment  of 
iodine  contained  in  the  horizontal  tube,  combination 
occurs,  with  production  of  a  pale  flame.  A  very  heavy 
liquid,  colourless  when  free  from  dissolved  iodine,  and 
fuming  strongly  in  the  air,  condenses  in  the  cooled  receiver. 
This  liquid  fluoride  of  iodine  attacks  glass  with  great 
energy,  and  decomposes  water  when  dropped  into  that 
liquid  with  a  noise  like  that  produced  by  red-hot  iron. 
Its  properties  agree  with  those  of  the  fluoride  of  iodine 
prepared  by  Gore  by  the  action  of  iodine  on  silver 
fluoride. 

Phosphorus, — Immediately  phosphorus,  either  the  ordi- 
nary yellow  variety  or  red  phosphorus,  comes  in  contact 
with  fluorine,  a  most  lively  action  occurs,  accompanied  by 
vivid  incandescence.  If  the  fluorine  is  in  excess,  a  fum- 
ing gas  is  evolved,  which  gives  up  its  excess  of  fluorine 
on  collecting  over  mercury,  and  is  soluble  in  water. 
This  gas  is  phosphorus  pentafluoride,  PF^,  prepared 
some  years  ago  by  Prof.  Thorpe.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
the  phosphorus  is  in  excess,  a  gaseous  mixture  of  thb 
pentafluoride  with  a  new  fluoride,  the  trifluoride,  PFj, 
a  gas  insoluble  in  water,  but  which  may  be  absorbed  by 
j  caustic  potash,  is  obtained.      The  trifluoride,  in  tun, 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


625 


combines  with  more  fluorine  to  form  the  pcntafluoride,  the 
reaction  being  accompanied  by  the  appearance  of  aflame 
of  comparatively  low  temperature. 

Arsenic  combines  with  fluorine  at  the  ordinary  tem- 
perature with  incandescence.  If  the  current  of  fluorine 
is  fairly  rapid,  a  colourless  fuming  liquid  condenses  in  the 
receiver,  which  is  mainly  arsenic  trifluoride,  AsF„  b  ut 
which  appears  also  to  contain  a  new  fluoride,  the  pcnta- 
fluoride, ASF5,  inasmuch  as  the  solution  in  water  yields 
the  reactions  of  both  arsenious  and  arsenic  acids. 

C<nr^<7// —Chlorine  docs  not  unite  with  carbon  even  at 
the  high  temperature  of  the  electric  arc,  but  fluorine  reacts 
even  at  the  ordinary  temperature  with  flnely-divided 
carbon.  Purified  lampblack  inflames  instantly  with  great 
brilliancy,  as  do  also  the  lighter  varieties  of  wood  charcoal. 
A  curious  phenomenon  is  noticed  with  wood  charcoal :  it 
appears  at  first  to  absorb  and  condense  the  fluorine,  then 
c|uite  suddenly  it  bursts  into  flame  with  bright  scintilla- 
tions. The  denser  varities  of  charcoal  require  warming 
to  50°  or  60"^  before  they  inflame,  but  if  once  the.  combus- 
tion is  started  at  any  point  it  rapidly  propagates  itself 
throughout  the  entire  piece.  Graphite  must  be  heated 
to  just  below  dull  redness  in  order  to  eflect  combination ; 
while  the  diamond  has  not  yet  been  attacked  by  fluorine, 
even  at  the  temperature  of  the  Bunsen  flame.  A  mixture 
of  gaseous  fluorides  of  carbon  are  produced  whenever 
carbon  of  any  variety  is  acted  upon  by  fluorine,  the  pre- 
dominating constituent  being  the  tetrafluoride,  CF4. 

Boron. — The  amorphous  variety  of  boron  inflames 
instantly  in  fluorine,  with  projection  of  brilliant  sparks 
and  liberation  of  dense  fumes  of  boron  trifluoride,  BFs. 
The  adamantine  modification  behaves  similarly  if 
powdered.  When  the  experiment  is  performed  in  the 
fluor-spar  tube,  the  gaseous  fluoride  may  be  collected  over 
mercury.  The  gas  fumes  strongly  in  the  air,  and  is  in- 
stantly decomposed  by  water. 

Silicon, — The  reaction  between  fluorine  and  silicon  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  these  extraordinary  mani- 
festations of  chemical  activity.  The  cold  crystals  become 
immediately  white-hot,  and  the  silicon  burns  with  a  very 
hot  flame,  scattering  showers  of  star-like,  white-hot 
particles  in  all  directions.  If  the  action  is  stopped  before 
all  the  silicon  is  consumed,  the  residue  is  found  to  be 
fused.  As  crystalline  silicon  only  melts  at  a  tempera- 
ture superior  to  1200°,  the  heat  evolved  must  be  very  great. 
If  the  reaction  is  performed  in  the  fluor-spar  tube,  the 
resulting  gaseous  silicon  tetrafluoride,  SiF4,  may  be 
collected  over  mercury. 

Amorphous  silicon  likewise  bums  with  great  energy  in 
fluorine. 

ACTION   OF   FLUORINE  UPON    METALS. 

Sodium  and  potassium  combine  with  fluorine  with  great 
vigour  at  ordinary  temperatures,  becoming  incandescent, 
and  forming  their  respective  fluorides,  which  may  be  ob- 
tained crystallized  from  water  in  cubes.  Metallic  calcium 
also  burns  in  fluorine  gas,  forming  the  fused  fluoride,  and 
occasionally  minute  crystals  of  fluor-spar.  Thallium  is 
rapidly  converted  to  fluoride  at  ordinary  temperatures,  the 
temperature  rising  until  the  metal  melts  and  finally 
becomes  red-hot.  Powdered  magnesium  burns  with 
great  brilliancy.  Iron^  reduced  by  hydrogen,  combines 
in  the  cold  with  immediate  incandescence,  and  formation  of 
an  anhydrous,  readily  soluble,  white  fluoride.  Aluminium^ 
on  heating  to  low  redness,  gives  a  very  beautiful  luminosity, 
as  do  also  chromium  and  manganese.  The  combustion  of 
slightly  warmed  zinc  in  fluorine  is  particularly  pretty  as 
an  experiment,  the  flame  being  of  a  most  dazzling  white- 
ness. Antimony  takes  fire  at  the  ordinary  temperature, 
and  forms  a  solid  white  fluoride.  Lead  and  mercury  are 
attacked  in  the  cold,  as  previously  described,  the  latter 
with  great  rapidity.  Copper  reacts  at  low  redness,  but  in 
a  strangely  feeble  manner,  and  the  white  fumes  formed 
appear  to  combine  with  a  further  quantity  of  fluorine  to 

NO.    1  148,  VOL.  44] 


form  a  perfluoride.  The  main  product  is  a  volatile  white 
fluoride.  Silver  is  only  slowly  attacked  in  the  cold. 
When  heated,  however,  to  100°,  the  metal  commences  to 
be  covered  with  a  yellow  coat  of  anhydrous  fluoride,  and 
on  heating  to  low  redness  combination  occurs,  with  in- 
candescence, and  the  resulting  fluoride  becomes  fused, 
and  afterwards  presents  a  satic-like  aspect.  Gold  becomes 
converted  into  a  yellow  deliquescent  volatile  fluoride  when 
heated  to  low  redness,  and  at  a  slightly  higher  tempera- 
ture the  fluoride  is  dissociated  into  metallic  gold  and 
fluorine  gas. 

The  action  of  fluorine  otl  platinum  has  been  studied 
with  special  care.  It  is  evident,  in  view  of  the  corrosion 
of  the  positive  platinum  terminal  of  the  electrolysis  ap- 
paratus, that  nascent  fluorine  rapidly  attacks  platinum  at 
a  temperature  of  -  23°.  At  100°,  however,  fluorine  gas 
appears  to  be  without  action  on  platinum.  At  500^-600° 
it  is  attacked  strongly,  with  formation  of  the  tetra- 
fluoride, PtFf,  and  a  small  quantity  of  the  protofiuoride, 
FtFg.  If  the  fluorine  is  admixed  with  vapour  of  hydro- 
fluoric acid,  the  reaction  is  much  more  vigorous,  as  if 
a  fluorhydrate  of  the  tetrafluoride,  perhaps  2HF.PtF4, 
were  formed.  The  tetrafluoride  is  generally  found  in  the 
form  of  deep-red  fused  masses,  or  small  yellow  crystals 
resembling  those  of  anhydrous  platinum  chloride.  The 
salt  is  volatile  and  very  hygroscopic.  Its  behaviour  with 
water  is  peculiar.  With  a  small  quantity  of  water  a 
brownish-yellow  solution  is  formed,  which,  however,  in  a 
very  short  time  becomes  warm  and  the  fluoride  decom- 
poses ;  platinic  hydrateis  precipitated,  and  free  hydrofluoric 
acid  remains  in  solution.  If  the  quantityof  water  is  greater, 
the  solution  may  be  preserved  for  some  minutes  without 
decomposition.  If  the  liquid  is  boiled,  it  decomposes 
instantly.  At  a  red  heat  platinic  fluoride  decomposes 
into  metallic  platinum  and  fluorine,  v/hich  is  evolved  in  the 
free  state.  This  reaction  can  therefore  be  employed  as  a 
ready  means  of  preparing  fluorine,  the  fluoride  only  re- 
quiring to  be  heated  rapidly  to  redness  in  a  platinum 
tube  closed  at  one  end,  when  crystallized  silicon  held  at 
the  open  end  will  be  found  to  immediately  take  fire  in 
the  escaping  fluorine.  The  best  mode  of  obtaining  the 
fluoride  of  platinum  for  this  purpose  is  to  heat  a  bundle 
of  platinum  wires  to  low  redness  in  the  fluor-spar  reaction 
tube  in  a  rapid  stream  of  fluorine.  As  soon  as  sufficient 
fluoride  is  formed  on  the  wires,  they  are  transferred  to  a 
well-stoppered  dry  glass  tube,  until  required  for  the  pre- 
paration of  fluorine. 

ACTION  OF  FLUORINE  UPON  NON-METALLIC 

COMPOUNDS. 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen, — When  the  horizontal  tube 
shown  in  Fig.  3  is  filled  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas 
and  fluorine  is  allowed  to  enter,  a  blue  flame  is  observed 
on  looking  through  the  fluor-spar  windows  playing  around 
the  spot  where  the  fluorine  is  being  admitted.  The  de- 
composition continues  until  the  whole  of  the  hydrogen 
sulphide  is  converted  into  gaseous  fluorides  of  hydrogen 
and  sulphur. 

Sulphur  dioxide  is  likewise  decomposed  in  the  cold, 
with  production  of  a  yellow  flame  and  formation  of 
fluoride  of  sulphur. 

Hydrochloric  acid  gas  is  also  decomposed  at  ordinary 
temperatures  with  flame,  and,  if  there  is  not  a  large  excess 
of  hydrochloric  acid  present,  with  detonation.  Hydro- 
fluoric acid  and  free  chlorine  are  the  products. 

Gaseous  hydrobrotnic  and  hydriodic  acids  react  with 
fluorine  in  a  similar  manner,  with  production  of  flame 
and  formation  of  hydrofluoric  acid.  Inasmuch,  however, 
as  bromine  and  iodine  combine  with  fluorine,  as  previously 
described,  these  halogens  do  not  escape,  but  burn  up  to 
their  respective  fluorides.  When  fluorine  is  delivered 
into  an  aqueous  solution  of  hydriodic  acid,  each  bubble 
as  it  enters  produces  a  flash  of  flame,  and  if  the  fluorine 
is  being  evolved  fairly  rapidly  there  is  a  series  of  very 


626 


NA  TURE 


[October  29,  1891 


violent  detonations.  A  curious  reaction  also  occurs  when 
fluorine  is  similarly  passed  into  a  50  per  cent,  aqueous 
•solution  of  hydrofluoric  acid  itself,  a  flame  being  pro- 
duced in  the  middle  of  the  liquid,  accompanied  by  a 
■series  of  detonations. 

Nitric  acid  vapour  reacts  with  great  violence  with 
fluorine,  a  loud  explosion  resulting.  If  fluorine  is  passed 
into  the  ordinary  liquid  acid,  each  bubble  as  it  enters 
produces  a  flame  in  the  liquid. 

Ammonia  gas  xs,  decomposed  by  fluorine  with  forma- 
tion of  a  yellow  flame,  forming  hydrofluoric  acid  and 
liberating  nitrogen.  With  a  solution  of  the  gas  in  water, 
-each  bubble  of  fluorine  produces  an  explosion  and  flame, 
as  in  case  of  hydriodic  acid. 

Phosphoric  anhydride,  y^Yien  heated  to  low  redness,  burns 
with  a  pale  flame  in  fluorine,  forming  a  gaseous  mixture  of 
fluorides  and  oxy fluoride  of  phosphorus.  Pentachloride 
^nd  trichloride  of  phosphorus  both  react  most  energetic- 
ally with  fluorine,  instantly  producing  a  brilliant  flame, 
and  evolving  a  mixture  of  phosphorus  pentafluoride  and 
free  chlorine. 

Arsenious  anhydride  also  aflbrds  a  brilliant  combus- 
tion, forming  the  liquid  trifluoride  of  arsenic,  AsFg.  This 
liquid  in  turn  appears  to  react  with  more  fluorine  with 
-considerable  evolution  of  heat,  probably  forming  the 
pentafluoride,  AsFs.  Chloride  of  arsenic,  AsClj,  is  con- 
verted with  considerable  energy  to  the  trifluoride,  free 
chlorine  being  liberated. 

Carbon  bisulphide  inflames  in  the  cold  in  contact  with 
fluorine,  and  if  the  fluorine  is  led  into  the  midst  of  the 
liquid  a  similar  production  of  flame  occurs  under  the  sur- 
face of  the  liquid,  as  in  case  of  nitric  acid.  No  carbon  is 
deposited,  both  the  carbon  and  sulphur  being  entirely 
converted  into  gaseous  fluorides. 

Carbon  tetrachloride^  as  previously  mentioned,  reacts 
only  very  slowly  with  fluorine.  The  liquid  may  be  satu- 
rated with  gaseous  fluorine  at  i  y,  but  on  boiling  this  liquid 
a  gaseous  mixture  is  evolved,  one  constituent  of  which  is 
<:arbon  tetrafluoride,  CF4,  a  gas  readily  cipable  of  absorp- 
tion by  alcoholic  potash.  The  remainder  consists  of 
another  fluoride  of  carbon,  incapable  of  absorption  by 
potash,  and  chlorine.  A  mixture  of  the  vapours  of  carbon 
tetrachloride  and  fluorine  inflames  spontaneously  with 
detonation,  and  chlorine  is  liberated  without  deposition  of 
carbon. 

Boric  anhydride  is  raised  to  a  most  vivid  incandescence 
by  fluorine,  the  experiment  being  rendered  very  beautiful 
by  the  abundant  white  fumes  of  the  trifluoride  which  are 
liberated. 

Silicon  dioxide,  one  of  the  most  inert  of  substances  at 
the  ordinary  temperature,  takes  fire  in  the  cold  in  con- 
tact with  fluorine,  becoming  instantly  white-hot,  and 
rapidly  disappearing  in  the  form  of  silicon  tetrafluoride. 
The  chlorides  of  both  boron  and  silicon  are  decomposed 
by  fluorine,  with  formation  of  fluorides  and  liberation  of 
chlorine,  the  reaction  being  accompanied  by  the  production 
of  flame. 

ACTION   OF   FLUORINE  UPON   METALLIC  COMPOUNDS. 

Chlorides  of  the  metals  are  instantly  decomposed  by 
fluorine,  generally  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  and  in 
certain  cases,  antimony  trichloride  for  instance,  with  the 
appearance  of  flame.  Chlorine  is  in  each  case  liberated, 
and  a  fluoride  of  the  metal  formed.  A  few  require  heating, 
when  a  similar  decomposition  occurs,  often  accompanied 
by  incandescence,  as  in  case  of  chromium  sesquichloride. 

Bromides  and  iodides  are  decomposed  with  even 
.greater  energy,  and  the  liberated  bromine  and  iodine 
burn  in  the  fluorine  with  formation  of  their  respective 
fluorides. 

Cyanides  react  in  a  most  beautiful  manner  with  fluo- 
rine, the  displaced  cyanogen  burning  with  a  purple  flame. 
Totassium  ferrocyanide  in  particular  affords  a  very  pretty 

NO.    1 148,  VOL.  44] 


experiment,  and  reacts  in  the  cold.  Ordinary  potasamn 
cyanide  requires  slightly  warming  in  order  to  start  the 
combustion. 

Fused  potash  yields  potassium  fluoride  suhI  osone. 
Aqueous  potash  does  not  form  potassium  hypoflnodte 
when  fluorine  is  bubbled  into  it,  but  only  potassium 
fluoride.  Lime  becomes  most  brilliantly  incandescent, 
owing  partly  to  the  excess  being  raised  to  a  very  high 
temperature  by  the  heat  developed  during  the  decom- 
position, and  partly  to  the  phosphorescence  of  the  calcium 
fluoride  formed. 

Sulphides  of  the  alkalies  and  alkaline  earths  are  also 
immediately  rendered  incandescent,  fluorides  of  the  metal 
and  sulphur  being  respectively  formed. 

Boron  nitride  behaves  in  an  exceedingly  beautiful  man- 
ner, being  attacked  in  the  cold,  and  emitting  a  brilliant 
blue  light  which  is  surrounded  by  a  halo  of  the  fumes  of 
boron  fluoride. 

Sulphates,  nitrates,  and  phosphates  generally  require 
the  application  of  more  or  less  beat,  when  they  too  are 
rapidly  and  energetically  decomposed.  Calcium  phos- 
phate is  attacked  in  the  cold  like  lime,  givijig  out  a 
brilliant  white  light,  and  producing  calcium  fluoride  and 
gaseous  oxyfluoride  of  phosphorus,  P0F3.  Calcium  car- 
bonate  also  becomes  raised  to  brilliant  incandescence  when 
exposed  to  fluorine  gas,  as  does  also  normal  sodium 
carbonate;  but  curiously  enough  the  bicarbonates  of  the 
alkalies  do  not  react  with  fluorine  even  at  red  heat. 
Perhaps  this  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  fluorine 
has  no  action  at  available  temperatures  upon  carbon 
dioxide. 

ACTION  OF  FLUORINE  UPON  A  FEW  ORGANIC 

COMPOUNDS. 

Chloroform.-^V^\itVi  chloroform  is  saturated  with 
fluorine,  and  subsequently  boiled  carbon  tetrafluoride, 
hydrofluoric  acid  and  chlorine  are  evolved.  If  a  drop  of 
chloroform  is  agitated  in  a  glass  tube  with  excess  of 
fluorine,  a  violent  explosion  suddenly  occurs,  accompanied 
by  a  flash  of  flame,  and  the  tube  is  shattered  to  pieces. 
The  reaction  is  very  lively  when  fluorine  is  evolved  in  the 
midst  of  a  quantity  of  chloroform,  a  persistent  flame  bums 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  carbon  is  deposited,  and 
fluorides  of  hydrogen  and  carbon  are  evolved  together 
with  chlorine. 

Methyl chloride\%  decomposed  by  fluorine,  even  at  —  23\ 
with  production  of  a  yellow  flame,  deposition  of  car- 
bon, and  liberation  of  fluorides  of  hydrogen  and  carbon 
and  free  chlorine.  With  the  vapour  of  methyl  chloride, 
as  pointed  out  in  the  description  of  the  electrolysis,  violent 
explosions  occur. 

Ethyl  alcohol  vapour  at  once  takes  fire  in  fluorine 
gas,  and  the  liquid  is  decomposed  with  explosive  violence 
without  deposition  of  carbon.  Aldehyde  is  formed  to  a 
considerable  extent  during  the  reaction. 

Acetic  acid  and  benzene  are  both  decomposed  with 
violence,  their  cold  vapours  burn  in  fluorine,  and  when  the 
latter  is  bubbled  through  the  liquids  themselves,  flashes  of 
flame,  and  often  most  dangerous  explosions,  occur.  In  the 
case  of  benzene,  carbon  is  deposited,  and  with  both 
liquids  fluorides  of  hydrogen  and  carbon  are  evolved. 
Aniline  likewise  takes  fire  in  fluorine,  and  deposits  a lai^ 
quantity  of  carbon,  which,  however,  if  the  fluorine  is  in 
excess,  burns  away  completely  to  carbon  tetrafluoride. 

Such  are  the  main  outlines  of  these  later  researches  of  M. 
Moissan,  and  they  cannot  fail  to  impress  those  who  read 
them  with  the  prodigious  nature  of  the  forces  associated 
with  those  minutest  of  entities,  the  chemical  atoms,  as 
exhibited  at  their  maximum,  in  so  far  as  our  kuowledge 
at  present  goes,  in  the  case  of  the  element  fluorine. 

A.  E.  TUTTON. 


OCTOBBR  29,   1 891] 


NA  TURE 


6:^7 


THE  HUXLE  Y  LA  BORA  TOR  Y  FOR 

BIOLOGICAL    RESEARCH, 

AND  THE  MARSHALL  SCHOLARSHIP, 

SCIENTIFIC  friends  and  former  papils  of  Prof. 
Hoxley  will  alike  be  gratified  to  learn  that  an 
appropriate  method  has  been  devtsed  for  establishing 
a  permanent  memorial  of  his  great  services  to  the  insti* 
tution  with  which  his  name  has  been  so  long  identified. 
The  late  Sir  Warington  Smyth,  whose  loss  we  had  to  de- 
plore rather  more  than  a  year  ago,  was  the  last  surviving 
member  of  the  original  staff  of  the  School  of  Mines,  as 
founded  by  Sh*  Henry  dtf  la  Beche  in  1851.  Prof.  Huxley, 
who,  as  long  ago  as  1854,  succeeded  Edward  Forbes  in 
the  Chair  of  Natural  History,  continues  to  hold  the  post 
of  Honorary  Dean  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  with 
which  the  School  of  Mines  is  now  incorporated  ;  and 
although,  since  1885,  compelled  by  ill-health  to  discon- 
tinue the  work  of  lecturing,  he  is  still,  we  are  happy  to 
say,  able  to  take  a  kindly  interest  in,  and  to  exercise  a 
general  supervision  over,  the  biological  studies  carried 
on  in  the  school 

How  much  the  Central  Institution  for  training  teachers 
in  science,  which  is  now  located  at  South  Kervsiington, 
owes  to  the  organizing  faculty  and  unremitting  labours  of 
Prof.  Huxley,  only  those  who  have  been  associated  with 
him  in  the  work  can  form  any  just  estimate.  During'  the 
first  twenty  years  of  its  existence  all  attempts  at  practical 
teaching  in  the  School  of  Mines  were  restricted  to  the 
subjects  of  chemistry  and  metallurgy,  the  space  available 
in  the  Jermyn  Street  buildings  only  permitting  of  the 
existence  of  very  small  and  inconvenient  laboratories  in 
connection  with  those  two  branches  of  science. 

Soon  after  the  first  establishment  of  the  school,  larger 
and  more  convenient  premises  for  carrying  on  the  chemi- 
cal instruction  had  to  be  obtained  in  Oxford  Street ;  and 
in  18/2^  on  the  unanimous  recommendation  of  the 
Council,  the  teaching  of  chemistry,  physics,  and  biology, 
was  transferred  to  the  building  at  South  Kensington, 
which  had  been  originally  designed  as  a  School  of  Naval 
Architecture.  At  subsequent  dates,  as  the  inadequacy 
of  the  Jermyn  Street  buildings  to  accommodate  both  the 
school  and  the  Geological  Survey  made  itself  more 
strongly  felt,  the  divisions  of  geology,  mineralogy,  metal- 
lurgy, applied  mechanics,  and  mining,  were  successively 
removed  to  the  same  place. 

No  sooner  did  Prof.  Huxley  find  an  opportunity 
aflforded  to  him,  than  he  energetically  devoted  himself 
to  the  realization  of  a  long-cherished  scheme  for  establish- 
ing a  system  of  practical  laboratory-instruction  in  biology, 
including  both  its  zoological  and  its  botanical  aspects. 
The  ground  was  broken  by  a  short  vacation  course,  in 
which  an  attempt  was  made  to  supply  such  practical  in- 
struction to  persons  engaged  in  teaching;  this  course 
was  given  in  the  summer  of  i87i,and  in  the  following 
year  the  same  system  of  laboratory-instruction  in 
biology  was  introduced  into  the  ordinary  School  of 
Mines  curriculum.  In  establishing  at  South  Kensington 
the  biological  laboratory  which  has  become  the  model 
of  so  many  similar  institutions  at  home  and  abroad, 
Prof.  Huxley  sought  and  obtained  the  advice  and  co- 
operation of  many  of  his  fellow-workers  in  science, 
among  whom  may  be  sf>ecially  mentioned  Profs.  Michael 
Foster,  Thiselton  Dyer,  Ray  Lankestcr,  and  Rutherford, 
with  Dr.  Martin  and  Dr.  Vines.  In  carrying  on  and 
further  developing  the  work,  he  has  had  the  assistance  of 
Profs.  Jeffrey  Parker  and  F.  O.  Bower,  in  the  zoological 
and  botanical  departments  respectively,  and,  in  succession 
to  them,  of  Mr.  G.  B.  Howes  and  Dr.  D.  H.  Scott. 

From  the  period  of  the  first  foundation  of  the  School 
of  Mines,  the  importance  had  been  kept  in  mind  of  com- 
bining original  research  with  the  work  of  teaching.  No 
one  at  the  present  day  needs  to  be  reminded  of  the 
numerous    important    investigations  whici    have    been 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


prdsectited  by  Prof.  Huxley,  both  at  Jermyn  Street  an<> 
Soufb  Kensington^    Memoirs  of  the  highest  vake  oif 
various  branches  of  comparative  anatomy  and  palaeonto- 
logy haire  been  interspersed  with  notable  contributions  \th 
geology,  to  anthropology,  and  to  botany ;  and  from  tinve 
to  time  excursions  have  been  made  still  farther  afield 
(predatory"  excursiofis  they  were  regarded  by  some),  into 
realms  of  thought  m^re  remote  from  the  ordinary  domain 
of  the  zoologist.    But  in  all  these  varied  avocations  the 
interests  of  the  teaching  work  were  never  forgotten  ;  and 
it  was  made  evident  that  the  teacher,  while  carrying  on 
investigations  himself,  was  ever  ready  to  suggest,  stima- 
late,  and  supervise  the  investigations  of  others. 

When,  in  1885,  ill-health  compelled  Prof  Huxley  to 
relinquish  his  daily  occupations  in  the  school,  it  was 
found  that,  during  the  more  than  thirty  years'  occupancy 
of  his  post,  he  had  accumulated  a  most  valuable  library 
of  research,  composed  of  treatises  and  journals  dealing 
with  every  branch  of  biological  science.  This  library  he 
generously  determined  to  present  to  the  institution,  the 
interests  of  which  he  had  so  long  and  earnestly  laboured 
to  promote.  The  Council  of  the  School,  in  accepting 
this  valuable  gift,  recommended  that  the  room  where  these 
books  were  kept,  and  in  which  Prof  Huxley  had  so  long 
carried  on  his  work,  should  be  entirely  set  apart  for  bio- 
logical research  ;  and  the  proposal  at  once  met  with  the 
sanction  of  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on 
Education* 

The  Huxley  Laboratory  for  Biological  Research  is  now 
arranged  to  accommodate  twostudents,  who  will  undertake 
investigations  in  connection  with  some  branch  of  zoology^ 
botany,  or  palaeontology,  the  work  being  carried  on  under 
the  supervision  of  the  professors  and  assistant  professors- 
of  the  school.  With  a  valuable  library  and  all  necessary 
appliances  for  work  supplied  to  them,  it  may  be  hoped 
that  the  genn/s  loci  will  not  be  without  its  influence  upon 
these  research  students,  and  that  a  long  series  of  import- 
ant observations  xsoiy  be  made,  which  will  constitute  an 
enduring  and  a  worthy  memorial  of  Prof.  Huxley's  con^ 
nexion  with  the  school. 

It  happens,  very  opportunely,  that  something  in  the 
way  of  a  small  endowment  has  already  been  provided  to 
aid  this  scheme  of  biological  research.  As  long  ago  as 
1882,  Miss  Sarah  Marshall,  of  Warwick  Gardens,  Ken- 
sington, wrote  to  Prof.  Huxley,  informing  him  of  her 
intention  to  bequeath  the  sum  of  j^iooo,  and  her  scientific 
books  and  instruments,  to  the  Department  of  Science 
and  Art,  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  prize  or 
scholarship  in  biology,  in  memory  of  her  father,  the  late 
Mr.  Marshall  of  the  Bank  of  England.  By  the  recent 
death  of  Miss  Marshall,  this  bequest  has  now  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on 
Education,  and,  by  the  advice  of  the  Council  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Science,  it  has  been  decided  that  the  interest 
of  the  legacy  shall  be  annually  paid  as  a  scholarship  to  a 
meritorious  student,  to  aid  him  in  carrying  on  some  biO'- 
logical  investigation  in  the  Huxley  Laboratory.  We  can 
only  hope  that  this  modest  attempt  at  the  endowment 
of  research  may  be  attended  with  success  ;  and  that  this 
success  may  be  so  conspicuous  as  to  encourage  others  to 
imit.ite  the  example  of  Miss  Marshall,  so  that  bequests  of 
a  similar  charActer  may  be  made  in  connexion  with  this 
and  other  institutions  where  scientific  researches  can  be 
carried  on. 


ON  VAN  DER  WAALS'S  TREATMENT  OF 
LAPLACE S  PRESSURE  IN  THE  VI RIAL 
EQUATION:  IN  ANSWER  TO  LORD  RAY- 
LEIGH, 

]\/l  Y  DEAR  LORD  RAYLEIGH,— From  the  heading 
^^  of  your  first  letter,  and  from  the  wide  scope  of  the 
passage  you  quoted  from  my  paper,  1  imagined  that  you 
mtended  to  raise  the  whole  question  of  Van  der  Waals's 


628 


NA  TURE 


[October  29,  1891 


treatment  of  Laplace's  pressure.  Otherwise  I  should  not, 
in  my  answer,  have  referred  to  his  b  or  to  the  unfortunate 
results  of  comparing  his  formula  with  experiment.  I 
should,  in  fact,  have  contented  myself  with  the  acknow- 
ledgment that  you  had  given  an  accurate  account  of  the 
contents  of  a  portion  of  V^an  der  Waals's  earlier  chapters, 
.which  I  had  carelessly  missed  on  the  first  hasty  perusal ; 
and  that  these  contents  justified  the  expression  3Kt//2  as 
the  virial  of  Laplace's  pressure.  But  to  this  I  should 
certainly  have  added  that,  even  had  I  been  fully  cognizant 
of  that  portion  of  the  pamphlet  when  I  wrote  my  paper, 
I  should  probably  not  have  modified  (at  least  to  any 
serious  extent)  the  passage  you  quoted. 

For  (i)  that  passage  contains  the  distinct  statement  that, 
from  the  statical  point  of  view,  reasons  "  satisfactory  on 
the  whole  "  were  given  by  Van  der  Waals  for  regarding 
Laplace's  pressure  as  proportional  to  the  square  of  the 
density.  And  it  would  have  been  illogical  on  my  part  to 
object,  except  on  the  ground  of  insufficient  generality,  to 
the  equation 


(/  +  ~)u  =  iS('««''), 


though  I  might  have  regarded  the  mode  of  its  establish- 
ment as  obscure  or  even  doubtful. 

In  fact,  the  equation  which  is  one  of  the  main  features 
of  my  own  paper,  viz.  : — 

PV  +  -A-   =.  i2(,;,«1)  .  (l  +    -  ^\ 

includies  it  as  the  particular  case  when 

^  =  O,     a  =5  O. 

What  I  objected  to  was  a  totally  different  thing  : — viz. 
the  above  equation  manipulated  by  the  introduction  of 
the  factor  (z/  -  b)lv  in  the  left-hand  member. 

Again  (2)  the  equation 

is  obtained  in  my  paper  (§  64),  and  is  there  spoken  of  as 
'*  perfectly  legitimated^  but  only  on  the  distinct  condition 
that 

where  /9  is  four  times  the  sum  uf  the  volumes  of  the 
particles  (§  30),  "  be  small  in  comparison  with  the  other 
terms  in  the  [virial]  equation^  As  one  of  these  terms  is 
the  quantity  2(//2i/'')/3  itself,  this  implies  that  for  the  truth 
of  the  equation  ^Iv  must  be  a  small  fraction  ;  and  it  is 
most  certainly  not  so  at  the  critical  point  of  carbonic 
acid,  which  furnished  the  first  and  one  of  the  most 
important  cases  for  the  application  of  the  virial  method. 
In  fact  the  equation  above,  when  correctly  obtained, 
comes  originally  in  the  form  (in  which  it  ought  to  be 
preserved) 

pv  =  \^{fnu^)  .  (i  +  J) ; 

again  a  particular  case  of  my  own  equation,  viz.  when 

A  =  o,    a  =  c,    ^  =3  /3. 

Here  the  factor  ijv  is  (roughly)  proportional  to  the 
number  of  collisions  per  particle  per  second,  and  it  is  in 
that  capacity  that  it  appears  in  the  equation.  As  I  said 
in  my  former  letter,  it  is  impossible  (at  least  with  Van  der 
Waals's  mode  of  interpreting  l,{tnu^))  to  derive  from  this 
a  cubic  in  v\  even  when  the  term  alv^  is  introduced  as  a 
simple  addition  to/  : — unless,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  indispensable  cubic,  we  write  vli^u  —  /3) 
in  place  of  (v  -f  /3)/z/,  on  the  right-hand  side ;  which  is, 
practically,  what  Van  der  Waals  does.  The  true  mode  of 
getting  a  cubic  here,  if  we  keep  to  Van  der  Waals's  inter- 
pretation of  2(//i«*),  is  to  write  /9/(2/  -  y)  instead  of  /3/z/. 
This  can,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  be  justified  ;  the 
other  method  can  not. 

On  the  question  of  the  introduction  by  Van  der  Waals 
of  the  factor  (z/-  b)\v^  whether  or  not  it  is  applied  alike  to 

NO.   1148,  VOL.  44] 


p  and  to  K,  I  regret  to  find  that  our  views  must  continue 
to  differ.   For  it  appears  to  me  that  when  once  the  various 
teims  of  the  virial  equation  have  been  correctly  extracted 
from  the  expression  2(Rr),  we  have  no  right  to  modify  any 
of  them*    There  seems  therefore  to  be  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  the  procedure  in  Van  der  Waals's  sixth  chapter 
is  entirely  wrong  in  principle :— except  in  so  far  as  (in  ^e 
German  version)  he  borrows  some  correct  expressions 
from  Lorentz.    The  meanings  of  v  and  of  /,  in  the  tenn 
pv  of  the  virial  equation,  are  (from  the  very  beginning  of 
the  inquiry)  definitely  assigned  as  total  volume  and  ex- 
ternal pressure : — so  that  this  term  cannot  in  any  way  be 
altered.     No  more  can  the  term  2(m»*)/3,  or  the  ratio  of 
these  two  terms.    Van  der  Waals's  argument  seems  (for 
his  pamphlet  is  everywhere  somewhat  obscure)  to  be  Uiat 
(when  there  is  no  molecular  force)  in  consequence  of  the 
finite  diameters  of  the  particles  the  pressure^  for  a  given 
amount  of  kinetic  energy  ^  will  be  greater  than  if  these 
were  mere  points.    Perfectly  true  :— but  wc  must  seek  the 
expression  for  this  increase  of  pressure  in  the  remaining 
parts  of  the  term  2(Rr),  and  not  artificially  introduce  it 
by  diminishing  the  multiplier  of  /  in  a  term  already 
definitely  extracted.     And   further,  if  this  procedure  of 
Van  der  Waals  were  allowed  to  pass  without  protest  in  so 
far  as  the  term  pv  is  concerned,  I  think  that  we  should 
logically  be  forced  to  treat  the  term  YJv  (not  to  the  same 
but)  to  a  very  different  factor:— for  A^r^  the  consideration 
of  the  finite  volumes  of  the  particles  would  appear  to  call 
for  a  reduced  rather  than  an  increased  value  of  K ;  and 
therefore  analogy  would  require  a  multiplication  of  the 
term  Kv  by  some  such  expression  as  {^  -+-  i)lv^  where  y  is 
essentially  positive, — Yours  very  truly, 

P.  G.  Txn. 
Edinburgh,  17/10/91. 

NOTES, 
To-PAY  the  Senate  of  Cambridge  University  will  decide 
whether  official  inquiry  shall  be  made  as  to  the  expediency  of 
allowing  alternatives  for  one  of  the  two  classical  languages  in  the 
Previous  Examination,  either  to  all  students  or  to  any  classes  of 
students  other  than  those  already  exempted.  Everyone  who 
devotes  attention  to  questions  connected  with  the  higher  edaa- 
lion  recognizes  the  importance  of  the  i^sue,  and  the  discasaoo 
of  the  subject  has  been  followed  with  wide-spread  interest. 

The  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechamol 
Engineers  began  yesterday  evening,  and  will  be  continued  this 
evening,  at  25  Great  George  Street,  Westminster.  The  pipcn 
to  be  read  and  discussed,  as  we  have  already  stated,  are  by  Mr. 
Samuel  B  is  well  and  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts- A  usicn,  F.R.S. 

The  Geologists'  Association  will  hold  a  conversazione  it 
University  College,  Gower  Street,  on  Friday  evening,  Nofem- 
ber  6.  Members  are  invited  10  send  exhibits,  and  to  kt  the 
secretaty  know  the  nature  of  the  object  or  objects  they  propose 
to  bhoM'. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultaral  Society  in  the 
Drill  Hall,  Westminster,  on  Tuesday,  there  was  an  interotiug 
display  of  autumn  foliage  arranged  for  xsihetic  effect.  A  lec- 
ture was  delivered  by  Mr.  U.  J.  Veitch,  who  urged  that  trees 
and  shrubs  in  gardens  and  plantations  should  be  selected,  OQt 
only  with  a  view  to  their  summer  beauty,  but  also  with  regard  to 
their  autumn  hues  ;  and  he  had  many  suggestions  to  offer  as  to 
the  various  ways  in  which  these  hues  may  be  most  effectitely 
contrasted. 

Prof.  Boys  has  arranged  his  apparatus  for  the  repetilioaof 
the  Cavendish  experiment  in  the  basement  of  the  Clarendoa 
Laboratory,  Oxford.  The  experiment  will  be  proceeded  witk 
immediately. 

We  regret  to  have  to  record  the  death  of  Dr.  Philip  Heiten 
Carpenter,  F.K.S.,  the  fouilh  son  of  the  late   Dr.  W.  R  Car 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


629 


penter,  C.B.,  F.R.S.      He  was  found  dead  in  his  dressing- 
room  at  Eton  College,  on  Wednesday,   October  21.     At  the 
ioqnest  it  was  fonnd  that  he  had  killed  himself  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  chloroform  daring  temporary  insanity.     Dr.  Car- 
penter was  in  his  fortieth  year,  and  had  been  a  science  master 
in  Eton  since  1877.     The  following  summary  of  his  scientific 
work  in  given  by  the  Times,     He  was  a  member  of  the  scientific 
staff  of  the  deep-sea  exploring  expeditions  of  Her  Majesty's 
steamships   Lightning  {x^fA)  and  Porcupine  {l%6g-Jo)  ;  and  in 
1875  ^c  ^^^  appointed  assistant  naturalist  to  Her  Majesty's  ship 
Valorous^  which  accompanied  Sir  G.  Nares's  Arctic  expedition 
to  Disco  Island,  and  spent  the  summer  sounding  and  dredging 
in  Dayis  Strait  a*id  the  North  Atlantic.    Dr.  Carpenter  devoted 
himself  continuously  from  1875  ^^  studying  the  morphology  of 
the  Echinoderms,  more  particularly  of  the  Crinoids,  both  recent 
and  fossil.     In  1883  he  was  awarded  the  Lyell  Fund  by  the 
Geological  Society  of  London  in  recognition  of  the  value  of  his 
work,  and  in  1885  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 
His  chief  memoirs  and  papers  were  as  follows: — "Notes  on 
Echinoderm  Morphology,"  i.-xi.,   1878-87  ;  **  On  the  Genus 
Actinometra,"  1877  \  "  Report  upon  the  Crinoidea  dredged  by 
H.M.S.  Challenger,"  Part  I.  "The  Stalked    Crinoids,"  1885. 
Part  II.   •*TheComatul8e,"  1888;  •*  Report  upon  the  Coma- 
tolac  dredged  by  the  U.S.  Coast  Survey  in  the  Caribbean  Sea," 
1890.     In  conjunction  with  Mr.  R.  Etheridge,  Jnn.,  he  prepared 
the  "Catalogue  of  the  Blastoidea  in  the  Geological  Depart- 
ment of  the  British  Museum,"  1886  ;  and  he  also  wrote  nume- 
rous papers  published  in  the  Proceedings  or  Transactions  of  the 
Royal,  Linnean,  and  Geological  Societies. 

Mr.  Gborge  Sibley,  who  was  for  many  years  well  known 
as  an  engineer  in  India,  and  had  also  a  considerable  reputation 
as  a  traveller,  died  at  his  residence  at  Catherham  on  Sunday 
last  at  the  age  of  ixty-seven.  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Sibley 
has  left  a  legacy  for  the  purpose  of  founding  engineering  scholar- 
ships in  the  University  of  Calcutta. 

Dr.  J.  Eduard  Polak,  who  died  at  Vienna  on  October  8, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  Persian 
cholars  of  hb  time.  He  went  in  185 1  to  Teheran,  where  he  lec- 
tured at  the  medical  school,  and  became  physician  to  the  Shah. 
Daring  his  nine  years'  residence  in  Persia  he  visited  most  parts 
of  the  country  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Vienna  he  wrote  his  well- 
known  work,  "  Persien :  das  Land  und  seine  Bewohner,"  in 
which  he  presented  an  excellent  summary  of  the  knowledge  he 
had  acquired.  In  response  to  an  invitation  from  the  Shah,  he 
again  visited  Teheran.  He  read  before  the  Geographical  and 
Anthropological  Societies  of  Vienna  many  valuable  papers  on 
Persia  and  its  antiquities. 

The  International  Geological  excursion  in  America,  which 
started  on  September  2  last,  ended  on  October  9  after  a  most 
successful  and  interesting  trip.  In  all  there  were  ninety  geo- 
logists, and  the  arrangements  as  regards  trains,  &c.,  left 
nothing  to  be  desired.  The  route  chosen  lay  through  the 
petroleum  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  the  prairies  of  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,  and  Dakotah,  the  corn-lands  of  North  America, 
and  the  twin  centres  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis.  From  the 
Yellowstone  River  the  party  journeyed  to  the  beautiful  geyser 
region  of  the  National  Park,  where  they  made  a  stay  of  seven 
days,  then  to  the  rising  mountain  district  of  Butte,  as  well  as  to 
the  Mormon  town  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  salt  wastes  of 
the  Great  Salt  Lake.  They  then  skirted  the  table-lands  in 
South  Utah,  and  turned  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where 
they  visited  the  chief  places  of  geological  interest,  including 
Pike's  Peak,  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  &c.  At  this  point  many 
of  the  party  returned  home,  going  by  way  of  Chicago,  Niagara 
Falls,  and  New  York.  The  smaller  number  that  remained 
undertook  a  laborious  and  exhausting  expedition  through  the 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


deserts  of  New  Mexico  and   Arizona  to  the  San  Francisco 
mountains  and  to  the  Grand  Cafion  of  Colorado ;  they  visited 
a  group  of  165  volcanoes  and  craters,  and  also  a  deep  valley 
the  sides  of  which,  with  their  many  and  various-colonred  stones, 
fall  58CO  to  6000  feet  to  the  great  Colorado  River  below.    From 
this  standpoint  they  had  an  excellent  view  of  the  materials  com- 
posing the  upper  surfaces  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  they  could 
not  but  be  struck  by  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  the  work 
accomplished  by  Nature  in  digging  out  this   enormous  river 
cafion.     The  following  are  some  of  the  places  visited  on   the 
return  journey:  La  Jun^a,  Kansas  City,  Chicago,  Niagara  Falls, 
Albany,  and  Boston.     Altogether  the  excursion  was  a  thorough 
success,  and  the  Americans  deserve  much  credit  for  having 
arranged  so  good  a  programme  for  their  visitors. 

Prof.  Russbll  and  his  party  have  returned  from  the 
Alaskan  wilds,  which  they  penetrated  to  a  distance  of  forty 
miles  inland,  from  Icy  Bay  to  the  base  of  Mount  St.  Elias. 
They  constructed  a  camp,  and  remaine^l  there  two  months, 
making  geological  surveys  and  taking  observations.  Prof. 
Russell  says  :— "  We  began  the  ascent  of  Mount  St.  Rlias  on 
June  3.  Our  progress  was  not  obstructed  until  we  reached  an 
altitude  of  nearly  10,000  feet.  Then  we  found  glaciers.  After 
many  perilous  adventures  we  attained  the  height  of  14,500  feet 
This  1^  been  the  estimated  height  of  the  mountain,  but  we 
found  it  nearly  5000  feet  higher.  It  was  impossible  for  us  Co 
proceed  any  further,  as  we  were  suffering  too  much  from  the 
hardships  already  endured.  Many  of  the  men  were  exhausted 
and  very  weak.     The  Alaskan  Indians  were  most  hospitable 


to  us. 


t> 


The  report  by  Mr.  James  Dredge  and  Sir  Henry  Trueman 
Wood  on  their  recent  visit  to  Chicago  is  printed  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Arts  (October  23).  This  report  was  presented 
last  week  to  the  Royal  Commission  which  has  been  appointed 
to  organize  the  English  Section  at  the  Chicago  "  World's  Fair." 
The  Commission  have  decided  to  appoint  the  following  Com- 
mittees :  Finance,  Fine  Arts,  Indian,  Colonial,  Engineering, 
General  Manufactures,  Electricity,  Agriculture,  Mines  and 
Metallurgy,  Textile  Industries,  Science  and  Education,  Trans- 
portation ;  also  a  Committee  of  Ladies  to  correspond  with 
the  Ladies'  Committee' at  Chicago.  They  propose  to  invite  the 
assistance  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  as  Local  Committees.  A 
prospectus  relating  to  the  Chicago  Exhibition  has  been  issued 
by  the  Rojral  Commission. 

The  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  have  issued 
for  general  circulation  their  regulations  as  to  the  a^l  mission  of 
students.  This  is  followed  by  an  excellent  account  of  the 
various  educational  institutions  in  the  British  dominions  where 
instruction  isgiven  bearing  on  the  profession  of  civil  engineers. 

In  his  report  on  the  working  of  the  Central  Museum,  Madras^ 
during  1890-91,  Mr.  Edgar  Thurston,  the  Superintendent,, 
notes  that  he  made  two  official  tours  in  company  with  his  taxi- 
dermists. During  the  first  of  these,  as  in  several  previous  years, 
he  stayed  on  Rimesvaram  Island,  where  he  was  mainly  engaged 
in  the  collection  and  preservation  of  marine  worms  and  moU 
luscan  shells,  which  have  since  been  sent  to  England  and  Ger- 
many to  be  worked  up.  Many  specimens  of  the  brightly 
coloured  "  coral-fishes,"  which  abound  over  the  fringing  coral- 
reefs,  were  also  preserved  by  the  glycerine  process  introduced 
by  Mr.  A.  Haly,  of  the  Colombo  Museum,  for  the  preservatioa 
of  colours.  His  stay  on  Ramesvaram  Island  completed,  he  paid 
a  short  visit  to  Tuticorin,  to  work  out  some  doubtful  points  in 
connection  with  the  anatomy  of  the  pearl  oyster.  In  his  second 
tour  he  made  large  collections  illustrative  of  the  arts,  industries, 
manufactures,  and  natural  history  of  the  places  visited  in  the 
Bangalore,  Hassan,  Shimoga,  and  Mysore  districts.  These  col- 
I  lections  include  Srivanbelgola  brass-ware,   Sorab  and  Sagar 


^JO 


NA  TURE 


[October    29,  i?9i 


-saadal-wood  carviog,  ChanaapatQa  silk  and  toySi  Mysore  in- 
iaid  ware,  gold  jewellery  from  B^lur,  batterOie^,  lizards^  snakes, 
•^bc  A  report  on  this  tour  will  be  publiihed  after  a  further  visit 
to  the  Mysore  province,  a  large  aiea  of  which  remains  io  be 
•«]i^red. 

The  other  <J«y,  Mr.  Flinders  Petiie  delivered  at  the  Owens 
-College,  Manchester,  a  most  interesting  address  on  exploration 
in  Egypt.  It  had  been  thought,  be  said,  that  the  immense 
flQoands  of  rnbbtsh  indicating  the  sites  of  towns  had  been  made 
-on  purpose,  bat  they  resulted  from  the  natural  decay  of  the 
mnd-biick  buildings.  These  heaps  of  ruined  walls  and  earth 
and  potsherds  rose  even  to  eighty  feet  high  in  some  places  ;  but 
•other  ancient  sites  were  much  less  imposing,  and  might  even  not 
-attract  notice  on  the  open  desert.  The  higher  the  mound  the 
longer  the  place  had  been  inhabited  ;  and  if  the  surface  was  of 
a  late  period,  the  earlier  parts,  which  were  most  needed,  were 
•under  such  a  depth  of  rubbish  as  to  be  practically  inaccessible. 
Much  could  be  known  at  first  sight ;  and  prospecting  had  now 
tieeome  as  scientific  a  matter  in  antiquities  as  in  geology. 
Knovifig,  by  a  glance  at  the  sherds  on  the  top,  what  was  the 
^test  period  of  occupation  of  the  site,  and  knowing  the  usual 
cate  of  accumulation  of  a  mnd-brick  town — about  five  feet  in  a 
<ecituiy~we  could  guess  how  far  back  the  bottom  of  the  mound 
must  be  dated.  *  Other  remains  bad  difierent  indications.  If  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  mound  there  was  a  wide  flat  crater,  that 
was  probably  the  temple  site,  surrounded  by  houses  which  had 
accumulated  high  on  all  sides  of  it.  Speaking  of  the  results  of 
•exploration,  Mr.  Petrie  said  tliat  we  now  realized  what  the 
eourse  of  the  arts  had  been  in  Egypt.  In  the  earliest  days  yet 
4cnown  to  us — about  4000  B.C. — we  found  great  skill  in  executing 
accurate  and  massive  stonework,  such  skill  as  had  hardly  ever 
i>een  exceeded.  We  found  elaborate  tools  used,  jewelled  saws 
and  tubular  drills.  We  saw  the  pictorial  arts  as  folly  developed 
as  they  were  for  thousands  of  years  later.  But  what  led  up  to 
this  we  were  still  feeling  for. 

To  what  uses  did  primitive  men  apply  the  stone  hammers 

which  they  made  in  such  large  numbers  ?    This  <|uestion  Mr. 

J.  D.   McGuire  tries  to  answer  in  a  paper  in  the  American 

AnlhrepohgUt  for  October.     His  theory  is  that  the  hammer  was 

probably  "  the  tool  upon  which  race«  living  in  the  Stone  Age 

celied  more  than  upon  any  other  object  to  fashion  stone  imple- 

«Mots. "    It  was  used,  he  thinks,  not  only  to  peck  an  axe  or  celt 

into  shape,  but  to  rub  or  polish  the  implement  after  it  had  been 

shaped ;  and,  to  illustrate  this,  he  gives  a  figure  representing 

-a  typical  hammer  of  quartzite,  from  McMinn  County,  Tennessee, 

the  periphery  of  which  is  pitted  by  use,  while  the  flattened  sides 

show  that  it  must  have  been  a  rubbing-stone  as  well.     To  prove 

that  the  work  suggested  could  be  done  by  a  stoqe  hammer^  he 

cepresents  an  axe  of  close-grained  black  porphyry,  which  he 

himself  pecked  out  and  grooved  by  means  of  such  an  imple- 

inent     The  task  occupied  him  about  five  hoars.    As  ordinary 

-stone  axes  are  made  of  softer  material,  he  thinks  they   were 

fHTobabJy  produced  in  a  much  shorter  time. 

Dr.  H.  von  Wlislocki  contributes  to  the  current  number 
•of  Globus  a  capital  paper  on  the  handicrafts  of  Hungarian 
gypsies,  whom  he  has  had  many  opportunities  of  observing.  If 
we  may  judge  from  the  illustration*:,  they  have  a  considerable 
aptitude  for  design.  In  the  summer  they  make  bottles  out  of 
pumpkins,  which  they  decorate  with  various  drawings.  On 
each  bottle  the  space  is  divided  into  four  zones,  crosses  being 
eut  into  the  uppermost  zone,  serpents  into  the  second  one, 
•circles  into  the  third,  and  zigzag  lines  into  the  fourth.  The 
crosses  mean  "  May  you  be  happy  !  " ;  the  serpents,  "  May  you 
4iave  no  enemies!";  the  circles,  "May  you  always  have 
money ! " ;  the  zigzag  lines,  **  May  you  be  healthy ! " 
Brandy  is  kept  in  the  bottles  ;  and  when  a  guest  is  received,  the 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


first  gypsy  who  drinks  says,  "  May  you  be  happy ! " ;  the  second, 
"May  you  have  no  enemies!" — and  so  on.  Pret^r  walking- 
sticks  are  also  among  thie  thii^  made  by  the  Hiugsrian 
gypsies.  On  the  top  of  one  of  those  sketched  in  the  trtide  two 
female  heads  are  admirably  carved.  These  represeat  Aoc,  tbe 
Queen  of  the  Keschalyis,  or  forest  fairies,  who  dwell  among 
the  mountains,  where  they  sit-^three  being  always  together— 
on  rocks,  spreading  out  their  long  hair  over  tbe  valleys,  thus 
giving  rise  to  mists.  Queen  Ana  Jives  in  a  Uack  pdace,  and 
sometimes  wanders  over  the  world  in  the  form  of  a  irog.  Frogs, 
toads,  and  serpents  are  her  favourite  animals.  Wbea  de 
meets  anyone  in  her  natural  form,  she  exclaims  "  Ana ! ", 
which  means  "  Bring ! "  Should  the  person  understand  the  ay 
and  bring  a  frog,  a  toad,  or  a  serpent,  he  is  richly  rewarded. 
If  he  fails  to  do  so,  he  is  either  killed  with  a  piece  of  a  rock,  or 
struck  by  some  terrible  malady. 

The  Timts  of  October  22  has  an  interesting  article  on  "Oar 
Position  with  regard  to  Rainfall,'*  compiled  from  tbe  statistici 
published  by  Mr.  Symons  and  the  Meteorological  Office.  Tbe 
rainfall  during  the  present  month  has  been  so  heavy  thit  in 
many  places  the  amount  up  to  the  morning  of  the  i8ch  was  in 
excess  of  the  average  for  the  whole  month.  In  London  this 
excess  amounted  only  to  0*3  inch,  while  at  Valentia  Island  and 
at  Stomoway  it  amounted  to  nearly  2  and  3  inches  respectively, 
and  the  amount  which  fell  during  the  next  few  days  has  greatly 
increased  the  excess.  But  for  the  10  years  ending  with  18S9 
the  rainfall  over  the  United  Kingdom  differed  only  by  i  per 
cent,  from  the  average  of  the  last  50  years.  The  values  for  tbe 
present  year,  up  to  the  i8th  instant  (as  shown  by  the  last  Weekly 
Weather  Report  then  published},  were  rather  in  excess  of  the 
average  over  the  southern*  midland,  and  western  parts  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  north  of  Scotland,  while  in  the  rtmaining  districts 
there  was  still  a  deficiency.  For  the  whole  period  since  the 
end  of  1889,  there  was  only  one  district,  viz.  Scotland  (N.), 
in  which  the  total  fall  was  in  excess  of  the  average.  In  Scothad 
and  the  midland  and  south-western  counties  of  England,  tbe 
deficiency  was  still  very  large.  The  question  is  asked— Are  we 
likely  to  have  in  the  years  immediately  advancing  more  or  less 
rain  than  during  the  last  few  years  ?  While  the  question  can' 
not  be  answered  with  absolute  confidence,  the  grouping  of  yean 
into  decades  or  other  regular  periods  eliminates  most  of  the 
non-periodic  variations,  and  shows  whether  any  secular  altera- 
tions are  taking  place.  There  is  no  doubt  that  since  1887,  at  all 
events,  the  rainfall  over  England  has  been  much  below  the 
average ;  and  a  consideration  of  all  the  facts  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  such  a  period  of  scarcity  is  very  likely  to  be  folloved 
by  one  of  abundance,  and  that  the  coming  few  years  will  pro- 
bably be  more  rainy  than  those  recently  experienced,  althoogb 
possibly  the  increase  will  not  occnr  in  the  summer  mooths-at 
a  time  when  it  wonld  be  Bioat  noticed. 

The  new  number  of  Petermann^s  MUteUut^gen  opens  with 
some  interesting  extracts  from  the  diary  of  the  late  Dr.  Aotoo 
Stecker,  written  during  his  journey  in  Abyssinia  and  the  Gafla 
countries  in  1880-83.  Stecker  died  before  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  writing  a  full  and  systematic  account  of  his  trarels. 
In  the  present  extracts  he  notes  not  only  the  phjrsical  charac* 
terislics  of  the  regions  to  which  they  relate,  but  the  mannas 
and  customs  of  the  natives.  A  good  map  makes  it  easy  for  tbe 
reader  to  trace  his  route. 

A  Greek  gardener  lately  expressed  the  opinion  that  oonge^ 
figs,  olives,  and  grapes  grown  in  Australia  are  inferior  to  those 
grown  at  Smyrna  and  Athens.  This  having  been  bnraght  to  the 
attention  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  New  South  Wale^ 
letters  were  addressed  to  the  British  Consuls  at  Naples  and  Mar- 
seilles asking  for  a  consignment  of  the  best  varieties  of  grap^ 
figs,  and  olives  grown  in  Italy  and  France.    On  receipt  of  these 


October  29,  1891] 


NA  TURE 


631 


cntttngs,  experiments  are  to  be  carried  out  at  the  most  sttitable 
of  the  experimental  stations  about  to  be  established  throughout 
the  colony,  with  a  view  to  the  propagation  of  the  finest  varieties 
of  the  respective  fruitk  With  the  same  object  in  view  applica- 
tion 1ms  been  made  to  Mr.  T.  Hardy,  of  South  Anatnlia,  for  a 
number  of  cuttings  of  various  vines  he  has  cultivated,  and  to  Sir 
Samuel  Davenport,  of  Beaumont,  South  Australia,  for  cuttings 
of  the  olive  and  fig  trees  grown  by  him.  The  whole  of  these 
cuttings  wiU  go  to  fonn  the  standard  collections  of  all  the 
di&rent  kinds  of  firoit  which  it  is  intended  to  estabUsh  at  cack 
of  the  experimental  stations. 

Im  the  Rwm*  AgricoU^  published  in  Mauritius,  M.  A.  Dadnity 
de  Grandpr^  gives  an  account  of  his  attempts  to  raise  sogar-cane 
from  seeds.  The  seeds  were  sent  from  Barbados  by  the 
Governor  in  March  1890.  M.  de  Grandpre  planted  them  with 
the  greatest  care,  and  after  five  days  was  fortunate  enough  to 
obtain  five  minute  seedlings  out  of  the  hundred  seeds  used. 
The  young  plants  he  raised  did  not  all  prove  equally  vigorous, 
and  he  was  able  to  save  only  one,  which,  at  the  time  when  his 
report  was  written,  had  formed  a  fine  clump  of  twenty  shoots 
with  long  ribbon  leaves.  "I  believe, *'  he  says,  "  that  we  may 
with  reason  cherish  the  most  sanguine  hopes  from  die  propagsr 
tion  of  sugar-cane  from  seeds — more  espectally  if  we  try  an 
intelligent  system  of  cross-fertilization  of  the  varieties  we  pos^ 
sess — rather  than  by  planting  cuttings,  which  maintain  without 
appreciable  alteration  the  respective  characteristics  of  the  parent 
plants.  Thus  we  shall  be  able  to  supplement  the  weak  points 
in  oar  best  varieties  of  sugar-cane  by  crossing  them  with  others 
which  are  remarkable  for  the  qualities  it  is  intended  to  infuse 
into  them,  and  we  shall  moreover  obtain,  by  a  process  of  selec- 
tion, a  cane  rich  in  saccharine  matter,  which  will  enable  us  to 
compete  successfully  against  the  highly  impioved  sngsiE-heet." 

Mr.  a.  W.  Morris  contributes  to  the  current  number  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Bombay  Natural  History  Society  an  interesting 
paper  on  abnormal  horns  of  the  Indian  antelope.  We  have  as 
yet  little  definite  information  as  to  the  cause  or  causes  of  such 
abnormalities.  Mr«.  Morris  suggests  that  severe  ininries  to  the 
skull,  inflicted  either  during  battle  or  through  some  accident, 
are  the  main  causes  that  produce  abnormalities,  the  horn  on  the 
injured  side  being  thrown  out  of  its  natural  course  by  the  con- 
cussion or  damage  sustained. 

The  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  prints  in 
its  Proceedings  a  list  of  the  Echinoderms  obtained  by  Mr. 
Frederick  Steams,  of  Detroit,  in  the  Bahama  Islaods  ia  the 
years  1887  and  1888.  The  list  has  been  drawn  up  by  Mn  J.  £. 
Ives.     It  includes  S  description  of  a  new  species  of  Amphiara. 

A  vALtJADLE  revised  list  of  British  Echinoidea,  by  Mr. 
William  £.  Hoyle,  has  been  printed  in  the  Proceedings  o£  the 
Royal  Physical  Society,  Edinburgh,  and  is  now  issued 
sepasately.  ■  The  author  gives  a  bri^f  diagnosis  of  each  spasiaa, 
such  as  will  enable  the  eolleetor  to  identify  it  on  tfae  spotr 

Mkssrs.  J.  AND  A.  Churchill  have  publisiied  a  second 
edition  of  the  English  translation  of  Dr.  A.  Chauveau's  '*  Com- 
parative Anatomy  of  the  Domesticated  Animals."  Dr.  George 
Fleming  is  the  translator  and  editor.  In  preparing  the  new 
edition,  Dr.  Fleming  has  kept  in  vitw  ihe  ntcc»ilies  of  ad. 
vandng  veterinary  education  in  the  English-«peakln^sdlool8»  Ue 
has  introduced,  therefore,  a  considerable  number  of  ''amend- 
ments,  alterations,  and  additions." 

BfzssRS.  Henry  Sothrran  and  Co.  propose  to  issue  a 
work  entitled  '*Game  Birds  and  Shooring  Sketches,"  by  J.  G. 
Millais,  F.Z.S.  The  work  will  illustrate  the  habit%  modes  of 
capiture,  and  stages  of  plumage  of  game  birds,  and  the  hybrids 
aiNl  varieties  which  occur  among  them. 

NO.   1 148,  VOL.  44] 


Thk    University    College    of   North  Wales  has  issued  it» 
Calendar  for  the  year  1891-92. 

LECTT7RES  on  the  following  subjects  will  be  given  at  the  Royal' 
Victoria  Hall  on  Tuesday  evenings  during  the  month  of 
November :  -^November  3,  Mr.  F.  W.  Rudler,  "  Some  Very 
Ancient  Britons";  November  lOv  Dr.  Ridcal,  "London' 
Fogs'*;  November  17,  Dr.  W.  D.  Halliburton,  ** Skin  and* 
Bones  **  (second  lecture) ;  November  24,  Rev.  C«  £.  Brooke,. 
"  A  HoUday  in  the  Far  West." 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  daring  the 
past  week  include  a  White-fronted  Lemur  (Lemur  albifrtms  d) 
from  Madagascar,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  M.  NichoU  ;  a  Ring- 
tailed  Coati  {Nasmt  nrfa)  from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr. 
A.  D.  Watson ;  a  Buffon's  Skua  (Siircorarius  parasUictL^^  North 
European,  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Hart,  F.Z.S.  ;  two  Coau- 
mon  Cuckoos  [Cuculus  canorus),  British,  presented  respectively 
by  Mr.  H.  Lindsay  and  Miss  Ord ;  a  Burbot  {Lofa  vulgaris) 
from  the  Trent,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  T.  Burrows ;  a  Macaque 
Monkey {JIfacaeus  cyrtomolgus  9 )  from  India,  a  Lion  Marmoset 
{Midas  rvsalia)  from  South-East  Brazil,  an  Australian 
(Casuarius  australis)  from  Australia,  deposited. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Zodiacal  Light  and  AFR0Ri«.— On  the  supposition 
that  the  zodiacal  light  is  an  extension  of  the  solar  corona,  and 
that  the  latter  mainly  consists  of  light  reflected  from  meteoritic 
particles  circling  round  the  sun  over  the  spot  zones  and  parallel 
to  the  plane  of  the  equator,  Mr.  M.  A.  Veeder  explains 
(Rochester  Academy  of  Sciences,  January  26,  1891)  why  in 
middle  (latitudes  the  phenomenon  is  brightest  in  March  and 
October,  in  the  former  case  after  sunset,  and  in  the  latter  before 
sunrise,  and  also  the  fnct  that  at  these  times  one  margin  of  the 
band  is  better  defined  than  the  other,  and  more  exactly  bcluded 
within  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  whilst  at  other  seasons  there  i» 
decreasing  orightness,  and  both  edges  become  ill-defined. 

An  investigation  of  observations  of  [aurorse  and  magnetic  per* 
turbations  shows  that  they  may  be  arranged  in  periods  having^ 
the  same  length  as  that  of  a  synodic  rotation  of  the  sun.     And 
it  appears  that  the  areas  most  frequented  by  sun-spots  are  most 
actively  concerned  in  the  production  of  aurone.    Extending  the 
research,  Mr.  Veeder  believes  that  the  belt-like  distribution  or 
atmospheric  pressure  about  the  magnetic  poles  as  a  centre  is- 
very  largely  dependent  upon  magnetic  induction  of  solar  volcanic 
oriffin,  conveyed  from  the  sun  to  the  earth  through  the  mediusfr 
of  ue  coronal  extensions  referred  to  above. 

Comet  1 1891. — The  following  orbit  has  been  computed  by 
Prof.  Campbell  for  the  comet  discovered  by  Prof.  Barnard  oik 
October  2 : — 

T  =  1891  November  875  G.M.T. 

a  =  215  58  )Mean  £q.  1891. 
t=    7550] 
q  =  I'Ol66. 

On  October  30  the  comet  is  in  the  position  R.A.ioh.  53m.  7s.^ 
Ded.  -  54°  43'.     It  is  therefore  not  visible  in  our  latitudes. 

Two  New  Asi'eroids. — A  new  minor  planet,  (us),  of  the- 
thtrteenth  magnitude  was  disco vered  byM.  Charlois  on  October 
8,  and  another,  ^),  by  Dr.  Falisa  on  October  11. 

The  latter  observer  has  given  the  name  of  Thora  to  (S)^. 

Olga  to  (^,  and  Fratemitas  to  (^ 

Double  Stars* — Mr.  S.  W.  Bumhsm  announoas  that  he- 
is  preparing  a  general  catalogue  of  all  the  double  stars  discovered 
by  him,  and  would  be  glad  to  receive  any  unpublished  measases 
of  them,  Nos.  i  to  1224. 

Jupiter's    First   Satellite.— Some   recent  observations  - 
made  at  Lick  Observatory  show  that  the  first  satellite  of  Jupiter 
is  ellipsoidal,  and  that  one  of  its  longer  axes  is  directed  to  the.- 
plaaet*s  ceniie. 


632 


NATURE 


[October  29, 1891 


THE    INTERNATIONAL    METEOROLOGICAL 

CONFERENCE. 

'T'HIS  meeting,  which  was  more  or  less  of  a  private  character, 
-''  as  it  was  not  organized  in  any  way  through  diplomatic 
channels,  took  place  at  Munich  from  August  26  to  September  2. 
It  was  held  in  the  building  of  the  Technical  High  School,  and 
was  attended  by  32  members,  representing  most  European  and 
some  extra- European  countries.  As  to  the  latter,  the  United 
States  contributed  four  members,  while  Brazil  and  Queensland 
sent  one  each.  Roumania  and  Bulgaria  for  the  first  time  took 
part  in  one  of  these  meteorological  gatherings.  Dr.  Lang,  the 
head  of  the  Bavarian  meteorologiod  system,  was  appointed 
President^  and  Prof.  Mascart  (Paris)  with  Prof.  Harrington 
(Washington)  Vice-Presidents.  The  Secretaries  were  Dr.  Erk 
(Munich),  Mr.  Scott,- and  M.  Teisserenc  de  Bort  (Parb). 

The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  most  important 
practical  results  and  recommendations  of  the  Conference. 

'All  temperatures  published  after  1901  are  to  be  referred  to 
the  readings  of  the  air  thermometer.     Actinometrical  observa- 
tions are  not  held  to  be  sufficiently  certain  to  justify  their  general 
introduction.     The  application  of  a  ventilating  arrangement  to 
wet-bulb  thermometers    was    recommended.      Rain, — It  was 
decided  to  count  as  days  of  rain  those  on  which  0*005  ^och 
(o'l  mm.)  of  rain  was  measured,  and  to  print  monthly  the 
number  of  days  on  which  0*05  inch  (or  i  mm.)  fell.     Snow. — A 
note  is  to  be  made  in  monthly  schedules  of  the  number  of  days 
on  which  about  half  the  country  surrounding  the  station  is  under 
snow.      Clouds, — A    new  classification    of  clouds  to    replace 
Howard's,  proposed  by  Prof.  Hildebrandsson  and  the  Hon.  R. 
Abercromby,  was  adopted  b^  a  laige  majority,  England  and  the 
United  States  being  dissentients.      A  committee  was  then  ap- 
pointed to  consider  the  question  of  typical  cloud  pictures  m 
genera],  taking  the  above  classification  more  or  less  as  a  basis  of 
afrangement.     A  report  was  also  received  and  adopted  on  the 
observation  of  the  motions,  &c ,  of  cirrus  and  other  high-level 
clouds.     Wind, — Robinson's  anemometer  was  the  only  form  of 
instrument  discussed.     It  was  decided  that  no  instrumental 
results  should  be  published  unless  the  instrument  had  been 
previously  compared  with  a  standard,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly.    Timt, — A  proposal  to  recommend  the  adoption  of 
universal  or  zone  time  was  emphatically  rejected,  on  the  ground 
that  local  time  can  alone  be  used  for  climatological  inquiry.    It 
was  further  decided  in  all  publications  to  insist  on  commencing 
the  day  with  midnight  as  o  hours.     Gravity  correction,-^\\.  was 
decided  to  introduce  the  practice  of  correcting  barometrical 
readings  for  the  force  of  gravity  at  lat.  45''  after  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1901. 

Mr.  Wragge,  for  Queensland,  and  Captain  Pinheiro,  for  Brazil, 
gave  interesting  notices  of  what  is  being  done  for  meteoro- 
logy in  their  respective  countries.  It  was  resolved  that  an 
International  Meteorological  Committee  should  be  constituted  to 
prepare  for  a  possible  Congress  in  Paris  in  the  year  1896.  The 
Committee  is  to  consist  of  17  members,  of  whom  14  were  elected, 
and  it  was  decided  to  fill  the  3  vacancies  by  the  co-option  of 
extra- European  meteorologists.  The  officers  of  the  Committee — 
Messrs.  Wild  and  Scott — were  reappointed. 

The  questions  relating  to  terrestrial  magnetism  were  referred 
by  the  Conference  to  a  special  sub-committee,  whose  decisions 
will  appear  in  the  published  report  of  the  proceedings. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  October  19. — M.  Duchartre  in  the 
chair. — Memoir  on  the  underground  temperatures  observed  at 
the  Mus<him  d'Histotre  Naturelle,  during  the  winter  1893-91, 
by  M.  Henri  BeoquereL  A  thermo-electric  arrant^ement  was 
used  for  the  determination  of  the  temperatures  beneath  two 
surfaces,  one  of  which  was  covered  with  sand  and  devoid  of 
vegetation,  whilst  the  other  had  grass  and  some  plants  growing 
upon  it  The  two  soils  were  similar,  and  in  each  case  the 
temperatures  were  taken  at  five  points,  having  depths  ranging 
between  5  cm.  and  about  60  cm.  The  obasrvations  extend 
from  November  i,  1890,  to  March  31,  1891,  the  temperatures 
being  taken  at  6  a.m.  and  3  p.m.  daily.  These  have  been 
plotted,  and  the  resulting  curves  strikingly  show  the  variations 
which  occurred  in  the  interval,  and  the  extinction  of  detail  with 
increased  depth.  The  diurnal  variation  at  the  greatest  depth 
was  a  few  tenths  of  a  degree,  whilst  that  of  the  air  was  about 
I4^     At  a  depth  of  18  cm.  beneath  the  sandy  covering  the 

NO.   II 48,  VOL.  44] 


variatbn  was  the  same  as  in  air^but  at  all  the  other  points  th* 

effect  was  reversed — that  is,  the  temperature  fell  from  6  a.m.  to 

3  p.m.,  and  rose  during  the  night.     It  also  appears  from  the 

observations  that  Fourier's  theory  of  the  differential  relatioa 

existing  between  temperature,  time,  and  depth  of  thermometci^ 

represents  very  well  the  propagation  of  heat  in  a  superBcUi 

layer    of   soil,    and    that    the    coefficient   of  ooDdoctirity  a|{ 

this    layer    for    determined    conditions   of  humidity  may  bo] 

deduced    from    observations    of    underground    temperatnreL^ 

A    certain    thickness    of  earth   protects  the  roots  of  plaotii 

from  the  effects  of  a  sharp  frost,  rmt  it  may  not  be  equally  effi«' 

cacious  against  a  long  one  of  less  intensity,  for  the  velocity  of; 

propagation  of  a  variation  of  temperature,  and  the  depth  at; 

which  this  variation  is  felt,  depends  upon  the  duration  of  its! 

period.     A  layer  of  grass,  covering  soil,  has  the  same  pn>tectii]((| 

effect  during  the  winter  as  that  of  about  50  cm.  of  moiild.--Re> 

searches  on  the  cause  of  rheumatic  diathesis,  by  )bL  F.  P.  te 

Roux. — Observations  of  Wolf's  periodic  comet,  made  at  Algieis 

Observatory  with  the  telescope  of  0*50  m.  aperture,  by  MM.  Ram* 

baud  and  Sy.     Observations  for  position  were  made  on  Augut 

4,  5,  8,  and  31,  and  on  September  7. — On  the  reduction,  to  a 

canonical  form,  of  equations  from  derived  partials  of  the  fiist 

order  and  the  seeond  degree,  by  Mr.  EUioL— On  cyclic  systems, 

and  on  the  deformation  of  surfaces,  by  M.  E.  Cosserat.^Calca* 

lation  of  the  magnetic  rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarization  of 

light,  by  M.  G.  Hinrichs.     The  simple  law  connecting  the 

rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarization  with  the  thickness  of 

the  medium  traversed  is  shown  to  be  applicable  to  the  mole* 

cular  rotation  of  a  normal  paraffin. — On  a  new  method  for 

estimating  nitric  acid  and  the  total  nitrogen,  by  M.  E.  Boyer. 

The  method  is  founded  upon  the  reduction  of  nitric  acid  to  am* 

motiia,  by  oxalates  and  sulphur,  in  the  presence  of  soda-lime.— 

On  the  action  of  nitric  acid  on  dimethyl  ortho-anisidine,  by  M. 

P.  van  Romburgh. — On  \^^  globulicide  power  of  blood  seram, 

by  M.  G.  Daremberg.     The  author  terms  **  pouvoir  ghbtdicide^* 

the  power  possessed  by  the  serum  of  the  blood  of  one  animal  to 

destroy  the  red  corpuscles  of  the  blood  of  another  of  a  different 

species.     And  the  destructive  power  of  serum  for  microbes  is 

called  ' ' poHvoir  microbicide, "    The  effiscts  produced  in  each  case 

have  been  studied. — On  the  nature  of  the  movement  of  the 

chromatophores  of  Cephalopods,  by  M.  C.  Phisalix. 


CONTENTS.  PAGi 

Coptic  Palseography 609 

British  Museum  (Natural  History)  Catalo|n>®s  ...   610 
The  Life  and  Work  of  a  Norfolk  Qeolocist.     By 

W.  W 612 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Codrington :    "  The  Melanesians :   Studies   in  their 

Anthropologv  and  Folk- Lore" 613 

Harrison  :  **  Guide  to  Examinations  in  Physiography  "  613 
Letters  to  the  Bditor  :— 

A    Difficulty    in    Weismannism. — Prof.     Marcus 

Hartog 613 

Rain-making  Experiments. — H 614 

A  Rare  Phenomenon. — W.  Duppa-Crotch ;  Prof. 

W.  N.  Hartley,  P.R.S 614 

Earthquake  at  Bournemouth. — Henry  Cecil  ....    614 

W  =  M^.— W.  Larden 614 

Some  Notes  on  the  Frankfort  International  Blec- 

trical  Exhibition.    IV.  {lUustrated,) 615 

The  Oxford  University  Museum.    By  Prof.  ^V.  H. 

Flower,  F.R.S 619 

Further  Researches  upon  the  Element  Fluorine. 

{Illustrated,)    By  A.  E.  Tutton 622 

The  Huxley  Laboratory  for  Biological  Research, 

and  the  Marshall  Scholarship 627 

On  Van  der    Waals's    Treatment    of    Laplace's 
Pressure  in  the  Virial  Equation :  in  Answer  to 

Lord  Rayleigh.     By  ProC  P.  G.  Talt 627 

Notes 628 

Oar  Astronomical  Column : — 

The  Zodiacal  Light  and  Aurorse 631 

Comet  e  1891     631 

Two  New  Asteroids 631 

Double  Stars 631 

Jupiter's  First  Satellite 631 

The  International  Meteorological  Conference   .    .   .    632 
Societies  and  Academies 633 


I 


BIKOtH.L